Manuel Ocaña, born in 1966, is an architect
based in Madrid, Spain. In addition to working as an architect, he has also
worked as a road manager for a pop group from the 90s, as well as a locksmith,
carpenter, and photographer. He has been an associate professor of
architectural projects and a member of the Master Habilitation Committee at the
Technical University of Madrid (2007-2019), where he has published books such
as "Madrid Monumental: Exorcity". He has also taught and served on
juries at the European University, IE University, the School of Architecture at
the University of Alicante, and PUCP in Lima, Peru.
His work focuses on understanding architecture
through the production of technical thinking, and has been analyzed among 150
architecture firms worldwide in the Global Political Compass of Architecture
2016, categorized as skeptical and populist. He has published his texts and
projects in international architecture magazines such as El Croquis, A+U,
Volume Magazine, Bauwelt, and Arquitectura Viva. The Foundation of the Official
College of Architects of Madrid has published a monograph on his work titled
"Risky Business".
Some of his notable projects include the Santa
Rita Geriatric Center in Ciudadela, a building for assisted living configured
on a single floor with 60 rooms arranged in a clover shape that face a system
of gardens, Ocaña de España, a controversial housing development with a
dramatic scenography in Ocaña, Toledo, and the headquarters of Casa
Mediterráneo in the former Benalúa station in Alicante (2010-2013). He also
represented Spain at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014, curated by
Iñaki Abalos. In 2022 Manuel Ocaña is Curator of the Spanish Pavillion in
Venice Architecture Biennale with the Project Foodscapes.
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