Mariana Esponda Cascajares

Mariana Esponda Cascajares
Born
🏫 Education	PhD, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña; MArch & BArch, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
💼 Occupation

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Mariana Esponda Cascajares is a Mexican–Canadian conservation architect, educator and academic. She is known for her publications and teachings in sustainable Heritage conservation in Canada, Mexico, and Spain. Her research into sustainable heritage conservation ranges from in-depth understanding of historical construction techniques to cultural and natural heritage, integrating environmental construction techniques, and social and economic practices. Her projects include restoration on modernist historical facades, adaptive reuse on churches, monasteries and industrial buildings, home renovations, condition assessments, and rehabilitation to existing structures in public and private sectors.

Early life and education

Mariana Esponda Cascajares was born in Mexico, and graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture as well as a Master of Architecture from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in 1997 and 1999 respectively. During and following her time at UNAM, Esponda was a Junior Architect at multiple architecture firms in Mexico.

Esponda moved to Barcelona, Spain, where she attained a PhD in Architecture, Construction & Rehabilitation from the Barcelona School of Architecture in 2004. Esponda's thesis was on the Assessment of the Intervention with Concrete in Restoration of Historical Buildings in Spain and in Mexico, completed in the Department of Restoration and Construction at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain. During this time, Esponda also worked as a Junior Architect in Barcelona. Following the completion of her PhD, Esponda was a Senior Conservation architect for Built Heritage in Barcelona.

Since 2005, Esponda has held teaching and research roles at the University of Minho, Technical University of Catalonia, and Carleton University. Esponda is the Coordinator of the Conservation Program in the Azrieli School of Architecture, Carleton University, the first program in Canada where undergraduate students can specialize in understanding current infrastructure and heritage buildings.

Career

In 1996, Esponda began her career working as a junior architect at Despacho Arq. Gonzalez Cardenas in Mexico. She held this position until 1998, when she went on to intern as a junior architect at Casa Amable, in Mexico. During her time there, Esponda focused on renovations and additions for pre-existing buildings. In 1999, Esponda moved to Barcelona and began working as a junior architect at Trac Rehabilitacio, an architectural firm that specializes in rehabilitation of buildings. She worked specifically on rehabilitation and restoration of building facades during this time.

While Esponda worked towards her PhD, she maintained a position as a junior Conservation architect with Adell Associats in Barcelona. After defending her thesis in 2004, Esponda became the Senior Conservation Architect for the same firm. Between 2006 and 2008, Esponda was a Senior Conservation Architect and Project Manager for built heritage at Trac Rehabilitacio in Barcelona.

Esponda's projects have included rehabilitation to existing structures, restoration to modernist historical facades, adaptive reuse on churches, monasteries and industrial buildings, family home renovations, and condition assessments on historical buildings.

Since 2008, Esponda has been an Associate Professor and the Coordinator of the Conservation Program in the Azrieli School of Architecture at Carleton University. This is the first program in Canada where undergraduate students can specialize in understanding current infrastructure and heritage buildings. Esponda's approach to teaching involves community-led, collaborative projects.

Since 2017, Esponda has organized and taught with multidisciplinary experts in the Azrieli Continuing Education (ACE) on Heritage, where professionals gain more knowledge on heritage values and policies, heritage property evaluation, digital documentation strategies, repairing historical structures, and approaches to adaptive reuse.

Research

Since 2005, Esponda has researched the use, evolution, pathologies, and adaptive reuse of reinforced concrete masterpieces in Spain, Italy, Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Her ongoing research looks at the challenges in the lack of recognition for heritage values (material and immaterial), the existence of knowledge gaps regarding adequate conservation techniques, and the reluctance to apply suitable rehabilitation methodologies. Esponda's research also has focused on developing studies on the interaction between traditional techniques and new materials in heritage buildings, with a special focus on assessment of traditional building technologies and to allow a new life through contemporary interventions and adaptive reuse.

Between 2015 to 2018, she studied different vernacular architecture from the Laurentians, Quebec and in 2020 the Ottawa Valley, bridging the connection between people and place by translating the oral histories into a tangible form of documentation. Esponda explored the physical aspects of the square log houses, such as the use of traditional building materials, craftsmanship, and construction techniques, which intersected with the socio-cultural values linked to living conditions, sense of place, collective memory of the community, and how climate change has affected those dwellings. Her research on this topic was published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage Management & Sustainable Development in 2017.

In 2019, through the International Research Seed Grant and SSHRC New Paradigm New Tools grant, Esponda organized a workshop in Mexico to study "Concrete Conservation: Developing Methodologies for Modern Heritage in Seismic Zones." Esponda brought 16 undergraduate and graduate students studying conservation practices at Carleton University to Mexico in 2018. The intent of the trip was to explore how 20th-century buildings at UNAM Campus (a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site) were affected by the Mexico earthquake in September 2017. The Cosmic Rays Pavilion, a hyper paraboloid concrete shell which is 16 mm thick, was built in 1951 by the architect Felix Candela. The documentation process used emerging digital technologies to better understand the pavilion's structure, its evolution, and to assess any damages from the 2017 earthquake. After analyzing the digital 3D model, Esponda and her team discovered a gap between the red roof membrane and the concrete shell. This discovery was made possible using contemporary documentation to visualize the current physical state of this building at a high degree of accuracy. Currently, Esponda is collaborating with an international multidisciplinary group of experts on understanding the main threats to the structural integrity of the pavilion, as well as protecting and conserving these hyper paraboloid masterpieces of Candela in Mexico City.

Research grants

Esponda's research has and continues to be supported through multiple research grants. A collaboration with 14 other universities, the SSHRC Partnership (2022–27) Grant assesses Quality in Canada's Built Environment: Roadmaps to Equity, Social Value and Sustainability. She represents Carleton University as the Chair of the Cluster: “Adaptive Reuse for a Sustainable Future”. Her team is examining how adaptive reuse is being used in Canada, and the socio-cultural, heritage, and environmental benefits that can be achieved while ensuring economic viability. As part of this research, the research team is developing an inventory of adaptive reuse case studies across Canada.

Additionally, Esponda has been awarded the Mitacs (Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems) Grant. Partnered with a local firm, Esponda's research focuses on the history of concrete in Ottawa with the intent to craft three historical narratives that lay the foundation for understanding, evaluating and proactively stewarding the rehabilitation of the City's existing concrete buildings. Through the research of the evolution of local cement mixes, the advancement of concrete construction techniques, and the progression towards a plethora of casting and forming practices, this research acknowledges concrete's historic, aesthetic and technological values as an innovative construction technique of the twentieth century.

Further research through Mitacs and Carleton University assesses "How the Climate Change is impacting heritage buildings, and which are the appropriate mitigation/adaptation strategies, specifically in the Atlantic Coast (2020–2023)". This research in the Maritimes traces consequences of climate change in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, with the objective to build interest in climate resilience through the avenue of understanding heritage conservation and its methods. The purpose of the project is to find heritage architecture best practices that can simultaneously mitigate current destruction occurring at the sites of study, while contributing to the promotion of more sustainable construction and adaptation of heritage.

Publications

Books

• M. Esponda, Sant Rafael Pavilion. Architectural Survey and Adaptive Reuse. Hospital St. Pau, Barcelona Lulu.com / ISBN 978-1-329-00940-0, 2014
• M. Esponda, K. Coulhart and C. Jacobs, Ottawa New Edinburgh Club 2017. Digital Documentation & Fourth Year Studio, Azrieli School of Architecture, Carleton University
• M. Esponda, Hanna, M and J. Babe, Documentation and Conservation of World Heritage Sites for the Mexico Design Study Abroad, 2021. Azrieli School of Architecture, Carleton University

Chapters

• Esponda, M. De Sivo, B. &  Díaz, C., Il Vasto a Napoli y el Ensanche de Barcelona, due realita a confronto, Schede di rilevamento degli edifici n.1 e 2. 2001
• Esponda, M. F. Vanlaethem, Défis de la préservation de l’architecture de Josep Lluis Sert, La Sauvegarde de l’architecture moderne ; Presses du L’Université du Québec 2013
• Esponda, M. Community-Built and Preserved Material Culture: Square- Log Cabins in the Village of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Community-Built, Routledge 2017
• Esponda, M., Elizabeth Macfie & Lyette Fortin, Parliament: Building Evolution to Evolution of Thinking, McGill Queen's University Press (MQUP) 2021
• Esponda, M. & Coman, T, Heritage at Risk: Mobilizing Canadians Towards Adaptation Strategies, in the Maritimes, Built Heritage and Global Climate Change Cardiff University, 2023

Journal articles

• Esponda, M. Archaeological Zones in Italy and Greece Restored with Reinforced Concrete, Arquitectura & Restauración 2010
• Esponda, M. La Fundación Miró en Barcelona: proceso constructivo, valoración de daños y criterios de intervención, ACADEMIA XXII, Centro de Investigaciones, Facultad de Arquitectura, UNAM. Año 3. No. 4 2012
• Esponda, M. Memory and new use for an historic ruin: revitalization, Int/AR Journal. Vol. 04 Department of Interior Architecture. Rhode Island School of Design. 2013
• Esponda, M. Adaptation & Transformation: Mediterranean Architecture in North America, RISCat, Italy, No. 3 2014
• Esponda, M., Piranello F. and Stanga, Ch. Log House in les Laurentides. From oral tradition to an integrated digital documentation based on the re-discovery of the traditional constructive-geographical repertoires through digital BIM data archive, Annals/ Journal of Cultural Heritage Management & Sustainable Development. (Fall) 2017
• Esponda, M., Mendoza M, Cordero, L. The Cosmic Rays Pavilion: the first hypar concrete shell in Latin-America, constructed at Ciudad Universitaria campus, Mexico City (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Iron and Steel in Construction History. Seventh Volume in Construction History and Society. Queen's College Cambridge 2020
• Esponda, M. Los retos en el patrimonio para un futuro sustentable, Jornada TAEU 2021. Tecnología de la Arquitectura, de la edificación y del Urbanismo. Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya. 2021
• Esponda, M., Dialogue and Community Awareness: Sharing responsibility to reduce risk damage on World Heritage Site, GA2020 ICOMOS Scientific Symposium, Sydney, Australia 2023

References

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