Context 167 - March 2021

52 C O N T E X T 1 6 7 : M A R C H 2 0 2 1 Vox pop Laura Alvarez Who has been your greatest inspiration? My parents. My mother Maria, who pursued social justice, equality and environmental protection, and my father Oscar, who was the image of self-discipline, commitment and work ethic. They both dedicated their lives to support my development and my work. What has been your best idea? I don’t think the path into architecture and urbanism was an idea, sooner or later it was going to happen. I could not say I have ever had a ‘most creative idea’ either; my work is merely a reflection of my values, and my ideas are always about finding ways to make things happen. My best idea has been emigrating to the UK where, despite the barriers in our industry, I still found the support and encouragement to grow and a greater opportunity to express myself freely. What would you like to have been if you had not become a conservationist? I have always been interested in history, archaeology and anthropology, but I believe, regardless of what I did for a living, I would have always been a conservationist at heart. Constructing a future that respects the past and learns from it is the best way to grow, understanding a place’s identity and building up on it. How do you reply when at a party someone asks what you do? I usually say I am an architect who works in town planning. Many people still do not know what an urban designer does. What is the biggest frustration inyour job? Lack of skills causes me great frustration, especially when it leads to unnecessary public spending. Over the years, I have learnt that having qualifications does not mean being qualified for a job. What would you like to be doing in five years’ time? I would like to be influencing the new generations, encouraging students and new graduates to think outside the box and challenge the status quo, despite having to work in such a constrained and bureaucratic system. What is your favourite building? I never think about buildings, I think about places: the building with its setting, its history and how it came to be what it is today. It would probably be something simple, humble and understated. Perhaps some charming Jacobite town house in an old Scottish village or a Tudor home in Stratford-upon-Avon orYork, with lots of hand-crafted wood. Your favourite place? It has to be New Lanark. Every time I visit, I feel uplifted, calm and enlightened by the place. A setting where industry, nature and domestic life blend in delightfully showing us that it is possible to have all three in harmony, and with outstanding beauty. Your favourite book? Possibly Kenneth Frampton’s Modern Architecture: a critical history , which I have read many times. I tend to make annotations in my books so when I go back to them I can take up where I left off and develop my own thoughts a little further. What do you do in your spare time? I like being productive, so all my hobbies involve either making or learning. I draw and paint, I indulge in good, old-fashioned knitting in the evenings and I bake at the weekend.When I read, I rarely choose fiction, as I prefer to immerse myself in archaeological evidence, historic accounts or anthropology of place. I also enjoy playing my bass guitar. What organisations are you amember of? Urban Design Group, Nottingham Urban Room, Climate Assembly Nottingham, Nottingham Good Food Partnership, and Community Organisers Notts. I am a local host for the Place Alliance. Which one issue would you particularly like the IHBC to campaign on? The relevance of adequate site analysis, which is often weak, meaningless or even absent from planning applications. Good design is only possible with an in-depth understanding of place: both physically and demographically.This issue needs to be at the heart of higher education in all placemaking- related fields. I would like the IHBC and all other professional bodies to challenge curricula and course- accreditation criteria. Laura Alvarez (see page 25) is senior principal urban design and conservation officer at Nottingham City Council.