about us
“Architecture is life,
Frank Lloyd Wright
or at least it is life itself taking form and therefore it is the truest record of life
as it was lived in the world yesterday,
as it is lived today or ever will be lived”
Since 2018
architoursmad
local architects
signature experiences
exclusives
local businsses
sustainables
respectful by the city and its citizens
This project started in 2018 as a complementary activity to my work as an architect. After more than 20 years carrying out architectural projects, I started to lead a series of architecture tours in Madrid designed by me, as a local architect. As a difference and an added value, I offer you a visit led by a local architect who has studied, worked and lived in Madrid. In addition to the architectural and historical context, he will provide you the sociological context.
Architoursmad are more than archietcture tours for architects.
What it started as something designed only around architecture, architecture students and architects who visit us, the proposal has grown to become a proposal for all audiences. Providing historical and artistic context, we have added places to go shopping or where to enjoy the best gastronomic offer. In all tours, the best design of all times is always one of the differential added values of our proposal.
we are moved by the passion for architecture that we want to share with Madrid residents and visitors, whether you are an architect or a mere lover.
Architoursmad was born with the intention of filling the gap in Madrid for architecture, urban planning, landscaping, interior design, design and history tours, for all audiences and not exclusively for professionals. I offer you routes designed and carried out by a local architect. After having enjoyed this type of experiences with other local architects in other cities around the world, the opportunity arose in Madrid. With all modesty, I would like to follow the path of the Chicago Architecture Center or Bauhaus Center en Tel Aviv, among other institutions that I admire. I also try to complement the COAM offer, which is often not accessible to visitors or Madrid residents, with schedules that are incompatible with the activities of this institution.
tours designed and leaded by local architects
This project has been growing thanks to the trust of locals and visitors interested in getting to know the architecture of Madrid, until it has become the best-rated architecture tours in Madrid
We have discovered together the history of Madrid through the look at its most emblematic buildings, in their historical and artistic, but also political and sociological context. Rediscovering corners of the city already visited and small hidden gems, only accessible to a few, until now. We have taught many Madrid citizens to look up when they walk through their city and discover everything that is behind those buildings that they had passed in front of all their lives without realizing the richness of details they show. During the pandemic, we managed to get many Madrid residents to rediscover the history of their city through a look at its buildings. Likewise, we have had numerous visitors from other places, national and international, with whom we have shared a few hours of exchange that are enriching during the architours and at the end, having a drink and exchanging unforgettable talks.
we get many Madrid residents to rediscover the history of their city through looking at its buildings in their historical, artistic, political and sociological context.
emilio orduña architect
founder
director
ETSAM
Polytechnic University Madrid
architect
2005
emilioorduñaarch
I was born in Madrid a few years ago, although I am not a “cat”, I have lived most of my life here. I studied Architecture at the ETSAM of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, after years filling the family home with my first models built with TENTE-LEGO bricks and drawings of utopian cities or television sets. In 2006 I moved to the city center, Lavapiés, where I live, so I can tell you first-hand the most recent history, including the effects of gentrification, two economic crises and a pandemic, with its impact in architecture, the city and the lives of those of us who live in.
In 2002, I started working as an architect, carrying out very diverse projects in Madrid and other cities, in different architecture and engineering firms as you can see in my profile on Behance and Linkedin. Since 2021, I combine my work as an independent architect with that of a professor of interior design for hotels for the Udima-Insenia master’s degree. As you can see, I like to transmit my passion for all what I have been learning through out my life.
I love to travel and I love visiting cities and buildings that I have admired and studied before. I enjoy when they are explained by fellow architects from other countries who provide the historical and sociological context, enriching the experience and making those moments of exchange together unforgettable. I also like politics and its connections with architecture in each historical moment.
I started this project in 2018 with the intention of filling that gap in Madrid for all those who are into architecture, urbanism, history, interior design, art or design, by vocation, profession or mere hobby. I have managed to turn the share of my passion about Madrid, its architecture and history, into my job.