PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort
Jameos del Agua hosted last Thursday the presentation of the new Association of Architects of Lanzarote, chaired by Miguel Ángel Fontes, who has taken over from Blanca Fajardo after the segregation process of this Demarcation.
"The fact of being an official, independent association, we hope that it will be noticed at an institutional and collegiate level," Fontes pointed out on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero, where he explained that the new Association of Architects of Lanzarote will work "in two aspects": one internally "looking for a more efficient association" for the members and, another, to "position itself" at an "institutional level." "To speak and bring to the island a lot of sustainable urban planning architecture," he specified.
"I am very critical and I say that many times we have remained in the title of Biosphere Reserve. We must start working on those principles for which we were worthy of that Reserve. We must start talking about the city model we want to achieve, the pedestrian of the city," said the dean of the Association of Architects of Lanzarote, for whom it is important to "stop and start rethinking the city."
"There are many cities that are 20 years ahead of us" with "very interesting interventions." We have to look up and look at cities that have managed to make sustainable urban planning in favor of the person above the vehicle," said Miguel Ángel Fontes."The association has remained in the background and I think it is time for it to be on the front line from a technical basis and that we start to debate," he added.
Fontes has also encouraged members to participate in the competitions that are announced in Lanzarote and has pointed out that the Association of Architects of Lanzarote is also willing to participate in those that "are interesting" and "real." "That they have a financial file, availability. We are not going to collaborate in projects that stay in the drawer," he warned.