On 22 September, Patricio Martinez, founding partner of PMMT, and Rita Barata, the studio’s marketing director, spoke at the latest Barcelona Ceramics Chair at UIC Barcelona School of Architecture with their seminar titled “The thousand faces of ceramics”.  

The talk was introduced by the Chair’s director, Vicenç Sarrablo, who underlined the value this studio has placed on ceramics in many of its projects. “PMMT has been researching healthy architecture and materials for many years now and has always advocated the use of ceramics in their projects”, stressed the lecturer.  

Patricio Martínez continued by explaining their studio’s philosophy to the students, for which he gave several examples of both local and international projects such as the Primary Care Centres in Amposta and Santa Agnès de Malanyanes, Machala Hospital in Ecuador and FSF Hospital in Bogota, Colombia.  “We see architecture as a collection of tools that we can use to solve problems, and for that, we hold functionality to be the central pillar in our work”, he explained.  

Rita Barata spoke at the end of the session and explained what they’ve been working on in the studio’s department for innovation, which is geared towards developing healthy concepts and products (architectural, industrial, technological, etc.) that are beneficial for society. The Friendly Materials website is undoubtedly one of their most important projects, and provides an open-access guide on healthy materials for professionals in the construction and architecture sector.