José Miguel Prada Poole

 

José Miguel Prada Poole (Valladolid, 1938). With a PhD in Architecture, José Miguel Prada Poole has been a professor of Architectural Projects and doctorate studies at the Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid (UPM), As guest professor, Dr. Prada gave classes at the Architecture School and Centre for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as at various architecture schools in Canada, Venezuela, and Chile. He is one of Spain’s leading experts in Bioclimatic Architecture and Urban Planning, Light Structures, and Pneumatic Architecture. His projects have been recognised through numerous Spanish and international contests, including the noteworthy National Architecture Award of Spain in 1976 for his Ice Skating Rink project in Seville (Hielotrón).

Between 1968 and 1973, he was an active member of the Automatic Generation of Art Forms Seminar at the University of Madrid’s Data Centre, a pioneer in the use of computers as a tool for artistic creation, where he shared experiences with artists such as José Luis Alexanco, Soledad Sevilla, Eusebio Sempere, José María Yturralde, and Elena Asins. The fruits of this period are some of his most noteworthy essays on aesthetics, such as “Proposición para la obtención de un criterio de selección en la obra pictórica combinatoria”, “Estética Cibernética”, “Introduction a l’Esthetometrie Hypothétique”, and “Actions gravitatoires dans la composition”, all of which published by the University of Madrid’s Data Centre.

His works have been written about in publications such as Architectural Design, Domus, Architecture d’Aujourd’Hui, Techniques & Architecture, Fortune, and Neuf. He is the author of exemplary Spanish architecture projects such as Instant City, built for the 7th Congress of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) held in Ibiza in 1971, Pamplona’s Cúpulas de los Encuentros in 1972, and the Palenque building for the Seville Expo '92, among others.