José María de Lapuerta Montoya

José María de Lapuerta Montoya is one of Spain's most distinguished architectural educators and practitioners. He graduated as Arquitecto Superior from the ETSAM (Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid) in 1983, earned his doctorate in 1996, and was appointed Catedrático de Proyectos Arquitectónicos at the ETSAM in 2007 — a position he holds to this day, with 4 sexenios de investigación. He has been a faculty member at the ETSAM since November 1990, leading the 'Unidad Lapuerta' design unit.

He is the founder and director of the Master in Collective Housing (MCH) — a full-time international postgraduate programme jointly awarded by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and ETH Zürich, running continuously since its 1st edition in 2006. He is also the founder of the Master in City Sciences (MCS) at UPM, which he has directed since May 2012 (the MCS introduced a model for postgraduate urban intelligence education that goes 'beyond the smart city' concept). He was appointed by the UPM Rector to coordinate the 'Iniciativa Ciudad del Futuro' and has directed the 'El Campus del Futuro' project and book at UPM since 2015.

His international teaching record is extensive: he has been Profesor Ad Honorem at the Universidad de Montevideo (since March 2006); guest professor or lecturer at universities in Nantes, Campinas (Brazil), FAO USP and Escola da Cidade (São Paulo), Harvard, Universidad Católica de Lima (Peru), ETH Zürich, Universidad de los Andes, and Split (Croatia). He is Director and Coordinator of the Cono Sur joint doctoral programme (UPM + Universidad de la República de Uruguay) and has been the director of multiple doctoral theses and thesis tribunals. He served as Expert and Team Leader for the European Union on the "Study on EU Cooperation for Sustainable Urbanisation in India" (2015). He has been a member of the National Commission for evaluation of research activity (CNEAI, Aneca, 2020), the Cultural Council of Madrid, and the COAM Governing Board (as representative of the High Council of Architects). He is a member of the Research Group on Collective Housing (GIVCO) at ETSAM-UPM. In October 2022 he was curator of the exhibition 'Amaneceres Domésticos' at the SALA ICO — a major show on the present and future of European housing for the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (05/10/2022 – 15/01/2023), with an accompanying co-authored book. He delivered the conference "Affordable Housing Activation: Removing Barriers" at the UIA International Forum 2022.

His architectural practice — DL+A Arquitectos, co-founded in 1983 with Carlos Asensio and now directed with Paloma Campo Ruano — has a 40-year track record of awarded buildings in Spain, Brazil, and Peru. Recent recognition includes the Primer Premio Antonio Palacios de Urbanismo y Arquitectura 2025 (Alcalá nº 141, Madrid — best new building of the last five years, awarded by the Mayor of Madrid on 9 November 2025); Premio COAM 2022 (Alcalá 141); Premio ASPRIMA-SIMA 2022; and the Colegio Brains PassivHaus Plus — the first PassivHaus Plus school in Spain, honoured at the International PassivHaus Congress in Wuppertal (Germany) and featured in Babelia (El País) as one of the best buildings of 2021.

At MIAWS, José María de Lapuerta serves as Program Director. He shaped the curriculum around the conviction that AI should be learned the way architecture is practised — through projects, not isolated tool tutorials. His pedagogical model is process-first: the curriculum follows the actual phases of design, from territorial reading through fabrication and professional integration, so students develop transferable judgement rather than tool-specific habits.