Our Approach
Ecosystemic architecture

Architecture that weaves connections between people, materials and territory. Ecosystemic design activates social ties, promotes the use of biomaterials such as wood and assumes a high level of ecological responsibility through mechanisms such as mediation, translation and association, inscribing human, non-human and environmental agents into a living and meaningful architectural network.

We are an architecture studio specialising in housing and unique public works, with an approach based on research and pioneering and entrepreneurial drive.

People

We work as empathetic, committed and unbiased professionals. We get the most out of every project and add value to it.

Elena Orte | Guillermo Sevillano

Principal Architects

Bio

SUMA has been run by Elena Orte and Guillermo Sevillano since 2005. Both are architects who graduated from the Madrid School of Architecture (ETSAM) and hold Master’s degrees in Advanced Architectural Design. Guillermo has a PhD in Architecture from ETSAM with a thesis entitled
“Beyond Pandora’s Hope: Socioconstructivism as a Projective Tool in Architecture. Theoretical and genealogical framework in the 20th century,”
and a Master’s degree in Architectural Design from Columbia University in New York.

They combine professional practice with teaching. Both teach at ETSAM and IAAC (Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia) as part of the Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings & Biocities (MAEBB) programme. Elena is a professor at IE School of Architecture & Design in Madrid, where she leads the Advanced Design Studio – Sustainable Strategies course and has taught at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

SUMA’s work has been widely recognised with national and international awards, including the Emerging Mies van der Rohe Award 2024, the COAM and FAD Awards 2024, the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona 2022, and the award for Best Public Library in the World 2023 (IFLA) for the Gabriel García Márquez Library in Barcelona. The Our-Shleves-Houses housing cooperative project in Madrid has received awards including the ASPRIMA SIMA 2023 Award for Best Real Estate Development in Housing, the REBUILD Advanced Architecture Awards 2021 for Industrialised Construction, and the AMAD Wood Architecture Awards 2023-2024 Runner-up Prize.

His projects have been published in magazines such as
Detail
,
AV Proyectos
,
Arketipo, Archiscopie.

Equipo actual

Marta Romero, architect. Álvaro Romero, architect. Efraín Redondo, architect
Clara Sevillano, architect. Anny Peña, architect specialising in architectural communication. Pablo Malga, technical architect. Ana Toader, administrator.

News

SUMA has won several national and international competitions and they have also been selected and awarded prizes in competitions such as the Helsinki Central Library and the Verín Arts Center in Galicia.

Awards