The ceremony began with a few words from Pere Vall, the Director of the ESARQ-UIC, Marta Benages, the Assistant Director of Students of the ESARQ-UIC, and Carlos Pereda, the 2013 winner of the National Architecture Award of Spain and a guest jury member who attended all the student presentations while the projects were on display in the Oval Hall of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. All of the speakers stressed the high level of the class projects and the good relations between all the graduates after eleven months of intense work. Jaime Llull, the class's student representative, had some moving words to say to his professors, classmates and their families for all their help during the years of study. The diplomas were then awarded and, finally, the graduates, family members, teachers and ESARQ-UIC staff members celebrated with refreshments in the School garden.
Pere Vall began the commencement ceremony by congratulating all the students and praising the lecturers responsible for the 2013-2014 academic year's final degree projects for their intense involvement and impeccable work throughout the year. He also thanked the families of all the students for their hard work and support, and for collaborating on this major undertaking.
Marta Benages spoke about the important new stage the new graduates would soon embark on and said she hoped they would do so with the values they had demonstrated throughout the programme: solidarity and commitment. She said that they would have to remember and maintain these values throughout their professional careers. Benages highlighted the enviable atmosphere of collaboration and good feeling that reigned in the school throughout the academic year. She said it was very important, especially in a school of architecture, where individualism can sometimes steal the spotlight from group work. She finished with the words "trust", "respect" and "enthusiasm", and said she hoped the students would always remember them in their professional careers.
Miquel Lacasta, in representation of the lecturers in charge of the final year projects workshops, congratulated the students for the result and showed his satisfaction with their work. And thanked Carlos Pereda, this year's graduation ceremony speaker, for "the succession of different moments" during the project presentation period.
Carlos Pereda spoke about the intensity and quality of the projects presented by the new Architecture graduates. He recommended that they always concentrate on their next big step and said that the future is in ideas and that architecture is a discipline that lies somewhere between invention and memory. Pereda also discussed the importance of concentrating on size when making architecture. He said, "You have to make the small things bigger". He spoke about how hard the profession of architect is right now and said that the new graduates would certainly experience it, but he also said, "If there is chance to be optimistic, why not take it? Life is about moving forward and that can only be done with optimism."
