Paper Chandeliers - Spain 
Cristina Parreño

Biography 

Cristina Parreño Alonso is a licensed architect in Spain and UK, with ten years of professional experience working in Madrid and London. She holds a Masters and Bachelor degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering from the University of Madrid, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura (ETSAM) where she graduated with honors. 

She started her professional career in Madrid. Later she moved to London and joined Foreign Office Architects (FOA), where, as project director she was responsible for a number of projects in Spain and UK for several years.

Since 2009, she has been working on her own practice and teaching at various architecture universities. She has taught design studio at the University of Western Australia, at the State University of New York at Buffalo and she currently teaches graduate and undergraduate design studios at MIT School of Architecture and Planning.

She has won several architectural competitions, among others, the 1st prize for the Urban Rehabilitation of the Business complex AZCA in Madrid, award for the Housing Competition for Young Architects J5 in Andalusia and Honorable Mention for the National Library of Slovenia. Her work has been published in newspapers like El País and El Mundo and in several architectural magazines like Quaderns, Via Arquitectura and Arquitectura COAM.

Paper Chandeliers

Paper Chandeliers is an experimental space where the simplicity of the materials appears as a counterpoint to the most advanced technology of fabrication. The paper tube as an element becomes the generator of a dialogue among temporality, the transformation of the space and the modulation of light.  A big undulating roof made out of a recyclable material illuminates the spatial environment mediating between the art installation and the architectural project.  The project was selected to be built for the yearly International Art Fair ARCO Madrid 2013 and was supported by MIT Architecture. 

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