About Us

CRAL is a dedicated research center at UPC—established in 2000 and promoted by ETSAV—that brings together the research, knowledge-transfer, and innovation capacities of the school’s faculty. It focuses these capacities on research projects and programs in architecture, urbanism, and territorial studies, as well as on collaborative agreements with public administration, civil society, and the productive sector. Its goal is to generate reflection and knowledge in areas such as housing, rehabilitation, urban regeneration, infrastructure, public space, environment, landscape, and heritage.

The current context makes it especially relevant to engage in joint reflection among the affiliated faculty, allowing CRAL to focus on the school’s areas of specialization and to shape the future of the discipline.

Collaborative Networks

In 2025, two Institutional Chairs will be launched at the Sant Cugat Campus. The RUMB Chair, promoted by the Barcelona City Council, focuses on the territorial regeneration of the Baix Besòs area. The Public Space Chair, promoted by the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona’s Public Space Service (AMB), aims to transform metropolitan public spaces toward resilience and sustainability. In both cases, CRAL contributes its expertise and resources to work collaboratively.

Relationship with Teaching

The knowledge generated through knowledge-transfer activities can be closely linked to teaching, through key projects—often in workshop format—that connect the school with society via the Master’s in Architecture (MArq), the research Master’s programs in Sustainable Intervention in the Built Environment (MISMeC) and Architectural Design Ecology (MADE), as well as workshops within the Bachelor’s in Architectural Studies. This is a bidirectional process: topics explored by students and faculty can materialize into concrete projects, or, conversely, research on a specific problem can serve as teaching material.

Campus Lab Vallès

In addition to ETSAV and the faculty team, CRAL has access to the ETSAV Model Laboratory and the CRITT Fabrication and Prototyping Laboratory, which provide the infrastructure and equipment to support research, knowledge transfer, and innovation. In this sense, the campus itself becomes an active experimental space, open to researchers and students, following the Campus Lab concept.

Research Team