Carlos Martínez Criado

Carlos is a Predoctoral Fellow in the Department of Structures and Building Physics at the Higher Technical School of Architecture (ETSAM) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), and a researcher in the Timber Construction Research Group (GICM). He is currently working on his PhD thesis titled “Reticulated Timber Shell Structures in the Age of Industrialization: Elastic Bending, Carpentry Joints and Digital Fabrication”, supervised by Dr. Antonio José Lara, and framed within the R&D&I project “Construction system for reticulated shell structures based on new high-performance wood products and digital manufacturing technology – GRIDADIGTION”, in which he participates as a team researcher.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fundamentals of Architecture (ETSAM, 2020) and a Master’s degree in Architecture (professional qualification) (ETSAM, 2021). During his Master’s studies, he began his research activity through a UPM scholarship to collaborate in the Department of Structures and Building Physics at ETSAM on the project “Application of digital carpentry to the design of reticulated timber shell structures built through elastic deformation”, under the supervision of Dr. Antonio José Lara. This work continued for the following two years (05/2021–05/2023) as a Research Assistant under the guidance of Dr. Mª Almudena Majano, through the “Grant for the hiring of research assistants and laboratory technicians co-financed by the European Social Fund under the Youth Employment Operational Programme and the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI)”. In 2024, he joined the European project CONNECT4C as a contracted postgraduate researcher for one year. Throughout this period, his training has focused on the design of timber shell structures, computational design, parametric modelling, computational geometry of complex surfaces, carpentry joints, and digital fabrication. In parallel, he has had the opportunity to transfer part of the knowledge gained through research by collaborating in the course “Experimental Workshop II: Design and Digital Fabrication of Timber Structures” in the fourth year of the Bachelor’s degree in Fundamentals of Architecture at ETSAM (UPM), coordinated by Professors Dr. Almudena Majano and Dr. Antonio Lara.

Carlos currently participates in several projects, in addition to those already mentioned, all sharing a common focus on sustainable timber construction. These include the THRIVE project, funded by INTERREG SUDOE, which promotes active management and valorisation of broadleaved species in southwestern Europe; and the TimberEDU project, funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme, which aims to modernize higher education in timber construction through the development of interdisciplinary content, digital tools, and collaboration among universities, research centres, and industry partners. To date, his scientific output includes five contributions to international conferences, one article under review, and three others in advanced stages of preparation. He also served as a member of the organizing committee of the III Ibero-Latin American Congress on Timber in Construction (CIMAD 2024).