Dr. Antonio Lara Bocanegra

Antonio is Assistant Professor at the Department of Building Structures and Physics, at the School of Architecture (ETSAM) of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) and researcher at the Timber Construction Research Group (GICM). With a strong interest in architectural and structural design, geometry, sustainable construction and digital fabrication, Antonio carries out his main research activity in the field of timber gridshells, the development of new high-performance timber products and mass timber buildings design. His doctoral thesis entitled “Elastic timber gridshells. From material to construction“, under the supervision of professors Dr. Manuel Guaita Fernández and Dr. Francisco Arriaga Martitegui, obtained the qualification Cum laude and International PhD Mention. This work has received several prizes, such as the Enrique Fuentes Quintana Award for PhD Theses 2022, from the FUNCAS foundation, in the category of Engineering, Mathematics, Architecture and Physics; the Margarita Salas Research Award for PhD Theses 2022, from the Community of Madrid, accesit in Environmental Sciences; and the Honorable Mention Winner of Young Scientist Award 2018, received at the World Conference on Timber Engineering 2018 (South Korea).

He is graduated in Architecture (MScArch 2004) with a minor in Building Structures from the University of Seville (US). During his studies, he collaborated as an assistant in the subjects of Geometry and Building Structures. His final degree project (PFC) was nationally selected for publication in the special issue PFC2004 of COAV journal. In 2006, Antonio completed a Master in Business Administration at ETSAM-UPM. Subsequently, he obtained with honors the Diploma in Advanced Studies (proficiency in academic research) from US in the knowledge area of Mechanics of Continuous Media and Theory of Structures with the dissertation titled Analytical evaluation and design criteria for strength improvement of timber-timber joints due to the influence of the rope effect. Later, he completed a Master in Structural Timber Engineering at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) where he improved his knowledge in design and construction of timber structures. He received one of the three awards for the best Master in timber engineering thesis titled Gridshell made of Eucalyptus globulus. In the last years, Antonio has received five grants from the European Commission for Research & Innovation through Cost Actions for training activities on structural timber in different European Universities.

Antonio has over thirteen years of professional experience in private practice. He worked in different design offices, such as Factor(ia), Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos and Ataria. He has collaborated on a wide range of projects, including ephemeral architecture, residential buildings, public buildings and urban planning, many of them awarded. In 2007 Antonio founded the ArEA Arquitectura y Urbanismo office, which provided consulting services in the field of structural analysis and developed research work on sustainable architecture and urban planning, some of them through R&D projects with public financial support. He also developed multiple own architectural projects, several of them awarded, such as the 1st Prize to the Best Built Building (COAH XVIII Architecture Competition) for a Kindergarten with timber structure.

In 2007 Antonio joined as Associate lecturer in ETSAS-US where he taught Building Structures for 6 years and created and coordinated the course on Architectural Design of Wooden Structures and Digital Fabrication. He was also deputy director of the Digital Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab Sevilla-ETSAS) and regular invited Lecturer in several Masters focused on timber engineering. In 2018 Antonio joined the ETSAM-UPM, where he teaches in the Timber Structures course of the Master in Building Structures and the Timber Construction course organized by GICM. Antonio has created, together with Dr. Almudena Majano, the course on Design and Digital Fabrication of Timber Structures.

As a researcher, Antonio has carried out three short-term research stays in European Institutions and has participated in several national and international R&D projects, all of them related to sustainable construction and timber structures. Among the research works are the development of new high-performance timber products and the structural design and construction of elastic timber gridshells. Antonio is the author of the PEMADE Gridshell and the Impulso Verde Building, a highly energy-efficient building with a hybrid mass timber structure of 18m high, built entirely using local wood species. He is co-author of 16 articles in top specialized peer-reviewed journals, 1 chapter of book, 1 patent and more than 15 contributions in nationals and international congresses. He is currently researcher of the R&D Project Gridadigtion funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, being the coordinator of the working groups together with Dr. Almudena Majano. He is also member of two Technical Committees for Standardisation: CEN 140/SC 05 (Timber Structures – Eurocode) and CEN 056/SC 06 (Timber Structures).

Last research projects

Recent publications