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Gonzalo José López Garrido

Position

Assistant Professor 
Email golopezg@calpoly.edu
phone 805.756.2490
Office 21-209
Web page knitknotarchitecture.com

Areas of Expertise

Architectural Design: 
          Collective strategies 
          Public Space
          Socio-Ecological Urgencies
Urbanism: 
          Radical Cartography 
          Urban Analyses 
          Urban History 
Representation:
          Argumentative Drawing 
          Hybrid Drawing

Profile

Gonzalo José López Garrido is a practicing architect, educator and scholar, Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Design, partner at the architecture practice knitknot architecture, and Assistant Professor at Cal Poly CAED.

His dissertation, entitled “The Participatory City. Collaborative working methods applied to urban planning. The cases of American shrinking cities: Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Detroit” looks at the aforementioned cities and takes the process of shrinkage they have gone through in the second half of the twentieth century as the ground of opportunity for the raise of participatory bottom-up methods in Urban Planning and Design, exploring the concept of Participation in Urbanism.

In his practice, knitknot architecture, Gonzalo works alongside his partners on design and research projects that examine architecture as a form of ‘commoning’ - that is, as labor practices, legal frameworks, and participatory techniques that invite collective actions. The collective was awarded in 2022 and 2015 with the prestigious prize Europan, in Spain and Norway, the runner up prize in the City of Dreams Pavilion competition in 2017, and the INTBAU Excellent Award for Community Engagement in 2018.

Before joining Cal Poly in 2024, Gonzalo was an Adjunct Associate Professor at Pratt Institute School of Architecture since 2016, where he taught Studios in the first and fourth year, Degree Project, and Urban Genealogies in the History and Theory Department. Besides Pratt, he has experience teaching at New Jersey Institute of Technology [NJIT], New York Institute of Technology [NYIT], Rutgers University and The City College of New York [CCNY].

Experience

Educational Credentials:

Ph.D. in Sustainability and Urban Regeneration, Urban Planning and Design Department, Polytechnic University of Madrid, School of Architecture, Madrid, Spain, October 2023. Graduated with Highest Honors.
M.Arch, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, School of Architecture, Barcelona, Spain, 2009

Teaching Experience:

Assistant Professor, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA. 2023-Present
Adjunct Associate Professor, Pratt Institute, School of Architecture, Brooklyn, New York. 2015-2023
Adjunct Associate Professor, City College of New York, Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, New York. 2019-2023
Visiting Professor, New York Institute of Technology [NYIT], New York. 2017-2020
Lecturer, Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Jersey. 2017
Adjunct Faculty, New Jersey Institute of Technology [NJIT], New Jersey. 2015-2016

Professional Experience:

Founder/Partner, knitknot architecture, New York/Berlin/London. 2013 – Present
Architect, mecanoo architecten, New York & Delft. 2016-2018
Architectural Designer, Kohn Pedersen Fox [KPF], New York. 2014-2016
Junior Architect, Office for Metropolitan Architecture [OMA]. 2012-2014
Licenses/Registration:
Licensed Architect, COAR La Rioja, Spain. 2010 - Present

Scholarship

Selected Publications

  • López Garrido, G. J. (2024) “La Ciudad Participativa. Formas de trabajo colaborativo aplicadas a la planificación urbana”, Cuadernos de Investigación Urbanística, 150 (monograph) 
  • López Garrido, G. J. (2022) “Baltimore and the Neighborhood Design Center. Participatory approaches to urban design under conditions of urban shrinkage” (1968–2000), Journal of Urban Design, 27:6, 649-668
  • López Garrido, G. J. (2021). “Radical Geography and Advocacy Mapping: The Case of the Detroit Geographical Expedition and Institute (1968–1972)”. Journal of Planning History, 20(4), 291-307.
  • López Garrido, G. J. (2015). “Towards a New Urbanism. Emergent Strategies”. MONU Magazine, 23, 20-27.
  • López Garrido, G. J. (2014). “Architecture Critic in Twitter times”. POST Magazine, 04.

Selected Activities:

  • Scientific Committee Member. Cuadernos de Investigación Urbanística. From 2024 
  • Hearst Lecture Committee Chair. 2024/2025 
  • Faculty Mentor for the K-12 Architecture Program “Thom Mayne Young Architects” [TMYA], Pratt Institute School of Architecture, Brooklyn. 2022-2023.
  • Member of the ‘Faculty Development Fund’ Committee, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. 2021-2022.
  • Senator-at-large, Pratt Institute’s Senate, Brooklyn, Bew York. 2019-2022.
  • Member of the ‘Students Affairs’ Committee, Pratt Institute School of Architecture, Brooklyn. 2017-2019.
  • Member of the ‘Curriculum Committee’, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. 2017-2018.

Selected Awards:

  • Teacher Scholar Support, “From Type to Prototype: Building Through Collaborative Methods and Materials”. CalPoly CAED. 2024. 
  • Pioneering Pedagogies Award, “Socio-Ecological Urgencies”, Pratt Institute School of Architecture. 2022.
  • Europan 16 Special Mention, “Social Scaffolding”, Spain. 2021.
  • The Davidson Prize Shortlisted Project, “Camera Lucida”, United Kingdom. 2021.
  • Intbau Excellence Award in Community Engagement Winner, “El Jicarito School”. 2018.
  • Concentrico 04 Finalist, “Pele-Mele”, Spain. 2028.
  • City of Dreams Pavilion Competition Runner Up, “MARL”, United States. 2017.
  • Europan 13 First Prize, “Osurbia: Redefining Suburbia”, Norway. 2015.
  • Extension of Salo Art Museum First Prize, “Wrapping”, Finland. 2008.

Selected Exhibitions

  • CITY:Details Exhibition, Moscow Urban Forum. 2021.
  • Edify Exhibition, NYU Eisner ant Lubin Auditorium. 2019.
  • COCA-17: MediAcciones, Nuevos Ministerios Madrid. 2017.
  • Knitknot architecture: current work, USC LA. 2016

​Updated 10.04.24

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