Last weekend I had the opportunity to assist to the 14th International Conference of Architecture: InterAccion in Panama City, Panama, which takes place every three years. 

The event featured some great lectures and one of my favorites was delivered by PENDA design studio. It turned out to be educational and entertaining, and quite visionary as well.

I took a lot of notes so I will share a bit of the outline.

At the beginning of this month Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta of Spanish studio RCR Arquitectes have been named as the 2017 laureates of the Pritzker Prize, architecture's most prestigious award, and this is a wonderful annual event to give us the opportunity to talk and think about the significance of contemporary architecture.

The 2017 Pritzker Prize was a surprise to many, being awarded to three individuals for the first time since the prize began in 1979. Besides, this was a relatively low profile firm, located in the small town of Olot in Catalonia and I confess I was not too familiar with their work either. However, this does not diminish their importance, they have done fantastic work and deserve the praise.

Last week I participated in a conversational debate with a group of colleagues to talk about the prize, the firm's projects and core ideas, and how this meets the end of representing a contribution to the architecture practice. The dialogue was very interesting and offered a lot of food for thought, so I will take the chance to share some views around this topics.