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.