I graduated as an architect in 2010 at ETSAM with a Thesis Project titled “Community Center in the Courtyard of Eternal Bliss”. I designed a mix-used complex located in the Macau Inner Harbor, a heritage Chinese neighborhood built on a maze of connected alleys and courtyards and dotted by an intricate network of temples and shrines that were my primary inspiration for this project. Standing next to it, a historic opium-smoking parlor called “Courtyard of Eternal Bliss” survived the merciless pressure of property developers; this rows of South China brick shophouses would serve as an entrance to the community center.
There are many people I should thank for This project. First of all, Macanese architecty Adalberto Tenreiro who brought me first to this place during my short stay at The University of Hong Kong and gave me chance to wander and document the captivating streets of old Macau. Then, he introduced me to Luis Sales Marques, president of the Institute of European Studies of Macau, who kindly welcome me there. The Sino-Spanish Cooperation Program by the Polytechnic University of Madrid, lead by her International Affairs Vice-rector Dr. Angel Álvarez, granted support to his research work. Dario Gazapo supported my application and, of course, my thesis director Concha Lapayese.