EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
BECOMING A SENIOR ARCHITECT RESEARCHER
Do your students love the idea of designing spaces that make people’s lives better? Are they excited about architecture, getting inspired by working in architectural offices and taking on creative projects? Do they find it interesting to upgrade existing buildings to meet the needs of elderly people? If they’re a mix of creative, practical, and passionate about improving people’s lives through architecture, then this career sheet is for them. Meet Silvia Urra, an Architect and researcher at Tecnalia!
Meet Silvia Urra
For this STEM Job Profile, we talked to Silvia Urra. She is a key contributor to the Urban Transformation Lab within the City, Territory, and Environment area. Her focus is on researching and implementing strategies to create more welcoming, healthier, and inclusive urban environments, particularly for vulnerable groups. She’s dedicated to translating community needs into urban regeneration and planning processes, collaborating with various stakeholders, including citizens, public administration, academia, and industry. Her work is powered by digital tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Digital Twins of the city, using technology to drive equitable and sustainable urban development.
“I decided to be an architect because of my grandfather, he always told me that I should be an architect. My current research field has come from a mixture of causalities and my own personal interest in improving people´s quality of life. I have had a very good relationship with my grandmothers, and I have seen how different barriers in the environment have not allowed them to keep on doing their normal life when their personal conditions have changed”.
Curious to find out more about this job? Read about the related skills and scroll down to find and download her career sheet!
SKILLS
Find out the key skills to becoming an Architect.
Analytical skills
“The capacity to make the analysis of the situations, find the reason behind them, understand the existing data, and try to solve the problem through new and existing research”.
Communication
“Regarding communication skills apart to write and present the results of the research every time you are involved in projects that intend to get the needs of people translated into solutions it´s key to listening and collaborating.”
Business Analysis
“Understanding the financial and strategic aspects of architecture and research projects is crucial. It involves assessing budgets, resources, and project viability, ensuring that your work aligns with both architectural goals and research objectives.”
Creativity
“Architecture and research often demand innovative thinking. Being creative in your approach allows you to envision unique design solutions and research methodologies that can set your work apart and contribute to groundbreaking results.”
Project Management
“The ability to plan, execute, and oversee projects efficiently is vital. You must manage timelines, resources, and teams effectively to ensure that your architectural and research endeavors are completed on schedule and within budget.”
Leadership
“Strong leadership skills are a must, whether you’re leading architectural design teams or research groups. The ability to inspire and guide others, set a vision, and drive projects toward successful outcomes is critical”.
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Advice to take away
“Don’t close doors, do not think that you can’t. None of the decisions you make related to what you want to study will be absolute, the professional career is very long with infinite possibilities. Technology is a very useful tool to achieve many things, use it”.
– Silvia Urra
This Career sheet has been provided by means of the URBANAGE project.
The STE(A)M IT project has received funding from the European Union’s ERASMUS+ programme project STE(A)M IT (Grant agreement 612845-EPP-1-2019-BE-EPPKA3-PI-FORWARD) coordinated by European Schoolnet (EUN). The content of the document is the sole responsibility of the organizer and it does not represent the opinion of the European Commission (EC), and the EC is not responsible for any use that might be made of the information contained.
