La Cebadilla was a small village created to house the workers of the Poqueira Hydroelectric Power Plant, located in the ravine of the same name. This plant was part of the hydroelectric development in La Alpujarra, taking advantage of the mountain rivers. Its construction prompted the creation of settlements for those who worked in the area.
History and origin
Founded in the mid-20th century, La Cebadilla was home to some 200 people during the height of the hydroelectric industry in La Alpujarra. The village, located at an altitude of 1,540 meters, was difficult to access due to its mountainous geography, which kept its inhabitants relatively isolated. For supplies, the residents depended on an “errand boy”, in charge of bringing food and basic products every two days from nearby villages, which reinforced their disconnection from the outside world.
The abandonment
The decrease in activity and the automation of processes at the plant accelerated depopulation. Added to this, the absence of transportation and the harsh conditions led to progressive abandonment, so that by the end of the twentieth century, the town was uninhabited and the houses began to deteriorate.
La Cebadilla today
Despite its abandonment, the place retains its historical value as a testimony of a time when the hydroelectric marked life in La Alpujarra. The ruins, irrigation ditches and roads are traces of a past that still echoes in the landscape.
- Raise awareness of the importance of preserving the historical, architectural and social memory of spaces.
- Promote a sustainable approach in the retrofitting and use of existing buildings.
- Reinforce the value of heritage conservation in architecture and design education.
- Create and maintain an international platform of professionals to share experiences, define criteria and evaluate an educational model focused on adaptive reuse.
The Team
José Antonio González Casares, PhD
José Antonio González Casares is an architect and Building Engineer by University of Granada, where he also finished his Phd in Structures of Historical Buildings. He is director of ESADA since the beginning in 2013. Jose has also worked as a teacher in the University of Granada and University of Malaga, both in Spain. Along with his academic and teaching experience, he has also worked as an architect in rehabilitation of public houses and for one of the most important monuments in Europe, La Alhambra. At present, he is teaching Creativity and Project Methodology in ESADA for the Interior Design Degree.
Carmen Gómez Vélez
Technical Architect and Building Engineer. He has directed construction works from 1998 to 2010. He has participated in a BIP Year 2023/2024 in Lithuania on the use of materials in ephemeral spaces. She has been teaching Interior Design in the subject of Materials I from 2019 to the present.
Reviewer and member of the Editorial Board of the research journal Concept with ISSN 2952 - 1572.
President of the association of businesswomen of Granada AMEGA and member of the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Granada.
Director of ESADA.
María José Duran Vaquero, PhD
Architect by Seville University in Spain and is Master in Interior Design in Listed Buildings by ESADA where she worked in the rehabilitation of a listed building in the city centre of Granada. She has also taken a course on historical fabrics and timber structures. She works for MAntonio Studio in developing different architectural projects and teaches at ESADA Vectorial Representation and Building Rehabilitation since 2015 with outstanding results. She conveys her passion with interior design and heritage to her students.
N. Ebru Karabağ, PhD
N. Ebru Karabağ has received her B.Arch. from Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Architecture, M. Arch. and Ph.D. from Restoration Department of Natural and Applied Science Institution of same university. She practiced as an Architect and developed various projects, including adaptive reuse projects. Since 2007 she has been working as an instuctor at Yasar University Faculty of Architecture. She has developed and taught a range of undergraduate and graduate courses. Her main research topics include Adaptive Reuse of Historical Buildings, New Additions to Old Buildings, Urban Archaeology, Contextual Architecture and Interventional Design Approaches. She is one of the co-founders of the Design & Research Group RITM (Restoration Intervention Transformation Modification), which was established in 2013. She is the Field Coordinator of an Interior Architecture Graduate Program titled RITM. She is the member of DOCOMOMO Working Group of Turkey.
Sergio Taddonio
Sergio Taddonio completed his Undergraduate and Master Programs at the Faculty of Architecture of Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy). He has been collaborating part-time as a Lecturer of Interior Design Studios at Kent State University (Florence branch) and at the same time he has been practicing as Architect and Interior Designer, collaborating for more than ten years with Sandro Cammilli’s Architectural Office in Florence (Italy), completing several projects for new industrial buildings, historical building renovations and a large number of commercial spaces. He started to teach as a full-time Lecturer at Yasar University, Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design in May 2012. His research Interests are related with Adaptive Reuse of Buildings, Cultural Heritage & Conservation, Contemporary Design in Historical Settings and Furniture Design. He is the Co-founder of RITM Restoration Intervention Transformation Modification, a Design & Research Group established in 2013 under the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design of Yaşar University, focusing on the relation between design and the transformation process of the historical layer of urban settlements.
Angelos Psilopoulos, PhD
Angelos Psilopoulos is an architect and educator, AUTh, NTUA, currently working as a tenured Lecturer at the Department of Interior Architecture, University of West Attica.
His research has been presented and published in a variety of internationally accredited peer reviewed conferences and publications, and he has taken part in a number of Research Programs, on themes varying from vernacular architecture and heritage to contemporary issues in the practice and theory of Architecture.
He is currently teaching 2nd, 3rd and 8th Semester design studios that focus on issues of identity, critical approaches and heritage preservation, while his research interests remain focused on foundational issues of Architecture, as examined within a broader, interdisciplinary, theoretical and critical scope.
Maria Moira, PhD
Maria Moira was born in Athens. She graduated from School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens in 1986. She acquired her master’s degree in the field of “Design-Space-Culture” from the NTUA in 2002. She presented her phd in the section III “Architectural language, Communication and design” at the NTUA in 2012 with the title: “The indiscernible city of Herakleion”. Literary representations of the city during periods of reconstruction: the poetics of transition, Herakleion at the threshold of modernism.
She teaches architectural design and exterior spaces design at the department of Interior Architecture. In the main focus of her research interest, lies the relationship between literary representations and city. She has participated in many conferences and also she has written articles in scientific magazines and collective books. She lives in Athens She is currently working as an Architect.