The Association of Marble Entrepreneurs of Andalusia, AEMA, announces the celebration of the third edition of the “Program for the promotion of the natural stone industry and innovative surfaces, focused on architecture students”, an important project aimed at future architects, which is fully funded by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines of the Andalusian Regional Government, with the participation of 45 postgraduate and master students from the universities of Seville, Granada and Malaga.
Over the course of two days, students will have the opportunity to explore in depth the principles and tradition behind the Macael Brand. Through a practical and academic approach, students will be immersed in the transformative potential of this industry, with a program that includes specialized lectures and guided visits to the quarries of Macael and various companies in the region.
The specialized talks will take place at the AEMA offices, and will include the participation of architects such as Ms. Elisa Valero, who will give a talk entitled “Carvers of space, when the hardest stone is the void”, and Miguel Malato, architect of Ferrer Arquitectos studio, who will share his experience in the talk “Sustainability and natural stone in the latest projects of Ferrer Arquitectos”, highlighting the role of stone in sustainable construction and its integration in contemporary projects.
The students will also make guided visits to several companies in the sector. Among the companies visited are Mármoles La Viña, a stone exhibition company, Luxury Stone Tino, specialized in project development, and Mármoles Gutiérrez Mena, dedicated to stone projects and craftsmanship. In addition, students will have the opportunity to learn about the operations of the multinational Cosentino, a global leader in innovative surfaces. The tour includes a special stop at the majestic sculpture “Woman of the Almanzora”, a work by the famous artist Antonio López, which pays tribute to the female figure and the Almeria landscape. The program will culminate, on Friday, November 15, with the attendance of the students to the Macael Awards gala, an event organized by AEMA, which has recently presented the winners of its thirty-seventh edition.
This program, co-organized by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines, the Ministry of University, Research and Innovation and the Association of Marble Entrepreneurs of Andalusia, aims to educate and train future architects, who will be the prescribers of this industry in the future. The initiative acquires special relevance when remembering that one of the winners of the Macael Awards 2022, the architect Luis Escarcena, was precisely one of the students who participated in the first editions of this program when it was held in the nineties. This fact demonstrates the importance of recovering this training action, which is already consolidated in its third edition, providing young professionals with a direct perspective of the creative and sustainable possibilities of natural stone and compact surfaces.
