“At the beginning of my career I had direct contact with the construction business through my family, so I sought to specialize on that field to provide my services to my father´s engineering company clients.

As my studies progressed, my expectations were being partially fulfilled by academia. Although I was not properly receiving the information I was looking for, receiving basic data and knowledge was necessary. I believe that everything you learn encourages you and will be part of your general wisdom.

That experience really helped me to realize everything I was NOT interest as potential future work fields.

At the end of the degree, something came up that made me realize that university is only a platform that shows you the multiple range of opportunities the architect profession has to offer, but only you can draw your own personal path, and knowing which trail to choose is always easier with the proper orientation.

Working on my final Degree Project at the LEAP offices, I realized how different Practice and Academy actually are.

In a classroom, you are competing against your peers. But in an international contest, you are not only seeking to achieve a good grade, but also demonstrate that you are capable of adding value to a team and excelling as a professional in the real world.

Despite the fact that at first it was difficult for us to work properly as a team, as time went by, I became more confident in the capabilities of my colleagues, seeing how a very interesting project emerged from a powerful concept.

I clearly perceived the moment when we started to get in tune and understood what the process to elaborate an architectural project really meant. I think that was decisive in achieving the recognition of the jury among the more than 600 participating teams from all over the world (Jury Commendation in the Professional Category).

That teaching-learning experience was vastly different from the previous ones. I think there are cases where theory is valid, in the creative field it is essential at the beginning as a first step, but practice is where you really assimilate your knowledge. One could read 20 books on how to ride a bike, and it will help to make it easier, but you won’t learn to ride until you get on one.

That experience totally influenced what I am now, not only professionally, but also as a person. It made me see the world from a very different angle. My travel experiences, my appreciation of art and my interest in providing the best for future generations multiplied.

I think it is very important for students to go through a process like this to nurture their understanding of the profession in the real world and not leave the university without clear direction.

I think there are few firms where they value you beyond your production capacity, where you really learn architectural design and understand its methodology, where a competition project arises and you participate actively while it develops. LEAP taught me to appreciate my worth”.