Lacol: Cooperative Ecosystems

Cristina Gamboa is a chartered architect and co-founder of Lacol, a cooperative of architects established in 2014 in Barcelona. Lacol’s practice embraces architecture, urbanism, housing policies, and participatory processes, blurring the limits of the different disciplines to define a cross-sectional and participative approach. At Lacol, she focuses on researching participative approaches to design and developing cooperative housing and housing policies, tested in ongoing projects. Cristina currently teaches at the Architectural Association in London and ETSAB in Barcelona.

Gabriel Cira is a licensed architect and historic preservation consultant based in Massachusetts. He is a professor in the History of Art at MassArt, where he teaches the longstanding Architecture of Boston course; he also teaches community-engaged practice courses at Boston Architecture College, and has also taught at MIT and the University of Tokyo. Gabriel's work and research focuses on historic preservation, vernacular/popular histories, ecological resilience, accessibility and preservation, and infrastructure history.

Quilian Riano is the Assistant Dean of Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture, working across the school’s architecture, landscape, and planning programs to develop and manage programmatic and pedagogical projects. Prior to this, he served as the Associate Director of Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC), where he provided strategy and design coordination for the CUDC’s urban design, applied research, publication and academic activities. Quilian has worked in and with public institutions, such as New York City’s Department of Design and Construction as a lead design strategist and the National Park Service as an urban design consultant. Quilian is also the founder and lead designer of DSGN AGNC, a design studio exploring new forms of political design, processes and engagements through architecture, urbanism, landscapes and art. Quilian is an initiator and core member of Dark Matter University.