Navapalos Foundation
| Navapalos Foundation | |
|---|---|
| Purpose: | Sustainable development |
| Chair: | |
| Managing directors: | Ana Vera |
| Consist: | since 1996 |
| Founder: | Erhard Rohmer |
| Seat: | Madrid |
| Website: | navapalos.com |
The Navapalos Foundation was a pioneering project in the field of earth building , renewable energy , low-cost housing and development aid . Most of the Foundation's activities took place from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century. The Spanish charitable foundation owes its name to the abandoned historic village of Navapalos in the province of Soria in Spain. The village of Navapalos served as a research facility, demonstration object and as the seat of summer academies. The “Navapalos” foundation is one of the most important projects in the world in the field of sustainable development , environmental protection and development aid. The founder and president of the foundation was the architect Erhard Rohmer (1943–2017), the managing director is Ana Vera.
Foundation goals and activities of the foundation
The work of the foundation, which has worked closely with the “Inter-Acción” ( NGO ) development service for the past 30 years , is broad. In the area of research and development , the focus was on earth building techniques (“building with earth”) from a historical, systematic and global perspective. Other focal points of the work were the research of renewable energies (wind, water, solar and bioenergy) and the development of low-cost housing strategies. The foundation was not only involved in research, but also in Teaching. A cooperation agreement with other Spanish research and teaching institutions - in particular with the University of Valladolid , the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and the Polytechnic University of Madrid - has made it possible to hold hundreds of summer academies and summer courses since 1984 . Since Navapalos is not connected to any public energy supply and draws all of its energy from renewable energies alone, a whole generation of young students and scientists was taught that it is possible to “get out” of conventional energies and “switch to environmentally friendly energies” ". The foundation's activities not only consisted of research and teaching, but also included specific projects that it carried out in collaboration with the “Inter-Acción” development service. The foundation is not only active in Spain , but also in numerous Latin American countries, such as Nicaragua and Colombia in particular . An overview of these projects, publications and exhibitions of the foundation can be found in the book "Fundación Navapalos, Inter-Accion ONGD Eco-Centro Navapalos Plan 2003-2010" and in the book "Inter-Accion ONGD, Fundación Navapalos: Premios y Prensa, ECO Centro Navapalos SL Nuevas Tecnologias; Productos, Materiales para la Planificación y Edificación Medioambential ”.
history
The Navapalos Foundation emerged from the Spanish ECO-Centro Navapalos founded in 1985, which in turn was brought into being by the development service “Inter-Acción” ( NGO ), an “Association of Friends of Local Spanish Architecture ” founded on December 6, 1982 and the traditional, Spanish, folk construction methods ”. While the “Inter-Acción” association set itself the task of preserving and protecting traditional Spanish architecture when it was founded, the fields of activity of the service and the foundation have expanded over the course of time. Over the past 30 years, they have included both Research into traditional building techniques (in particular earth building ), as well as research into renewable energy , the development of low-cost housing strategies, technology transfer and, in addition, the implementation of specific development projects. Since 1985 the village has served as a research and educational facility, as well as a center for the demonstration of renewable energy and innovative construction technology . The foundation (or “Inter-Acción”) has more than twenty major international congresses in Navapalos
As early as 1993, the Spanish anthropologist , historian and essayist Julio Caro Baroja agreed to take over the patronage of the foundation. In order to preserve the memory of its honorary president, the foundation has held an "Aula Julio Caro Baroja" every two years since Baroja's death in 1995 in cooperation with the University of Valladolid , where anthropological questions and the relationship between man and nature are discussed . The last Aula Julio Caro Baroja took place in 2006.
The foundation owes its name to the historic, abandoned village of Navapalos in the Soria province in the north of Madrid . The historical importance of the village is evident from the fact that it is mentioned as "Nava de Palos" in the oldest known text in Spanish - the Cantar de Mio Cid (around the end of the 12th century). The village consists of 18 houses, two Arab watchtowers and a church that has been converted into seminar rooms with booths for simultaneous translation . In the immediate vicinity of the village there are important Spanish sights such as the Castillo de Gormaz - one of the oldest and most northerly Arab fortresses in Spain - and the small town of El Burgo de Osma-Ciudad de Osma , which is twelve kilometers from Navapalos.
Awards
Over the past 30 years, the foundation and the development service have received numerous awards for their work and projects. The classifications of the United Nations should be emphasized :
- 1998; UN- HABITAT , classification of the Navapalos ECO center as “GOOD”; Categories: Depopulation / Sustainable Development .
- 2002, UN- HABITAT ; Grade “GOOD” for a project in Telpaneca, Nicaragua .
The grand opening of the exhibition “Arquitectura con tierra” in the “Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos de Madrid” by the Queen of Spain, SM Sophia of Greece , was a special honor for the foundation and the development service . The exhibition, whose curator was Erhard Rohmer, took place as part of the XIII. ICOMOS World Congress . The international honorary president of ICOMOS, Michael Petzet , and the then mayor of Madrid , José María Álvarez del Manzano, were also present at the opening .
Already in 1992 the son of the Spanish queen - then "Prince of Asturias" and today's King of Spain SM Felipe VI. - the patronage of the “VIII. International Working Meetings ”of the Navapalos Center. In the Spanish context, the award of the Navapalos project as an important "contribution to the development of bioclimatic architecture and environmental protection " by the state government of Castilla y León should also be emphasized.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Orden de 27 de febrero de 1996 por la que se inscribe en el Registro de Fundaciones Docentes Privadas la denominada "Fundación Navapalos", de Navapalos (Soria)
- ↑ Funding ID in the Dubai Award for Best Practice Catalog 2000 (Spanish and English)
- ↑ Navapalos Tomo I
- ↑ Navapalos Tomo II
- ↑ "Asociación Amigos de la Arquitectura Autóctona y de las Tradiciones Populares de España"
- ↑ See e.g. B. the VIII International Working Meeting Navapalos 1992
- ↑ a b Navapalo's search results in the Best Practices database , accessed on May 12, 2017.