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Robert graduated as an architect in 2007 from the Universitat Politécnica de Barcelona. When he finished his degree he moved to London to work for Rafael Vinyoli Architects (RVA). In 2010 he won a scholarship from Caja Madrid where he obtained an MA from The Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He co-founded the design studio Arctora together with Abraham Zamcheck and carried out several large design projects in China. He worked in California for two years in the architecture office Sosaki Walker Architects (SWA). In 2012 together with Carolina Hidalgo, he founded the design studio HAPI (Híbridos de Arquitectura Paisaje e Investigación) in Quito, Ecuador.
Since 2013, he continues to recover from his accident in Barcelona where he currently lives. He has worked for the Instituto Municipal de Personas con Discapacidad (IMPD) on evaluating accessibility in the city of Barcelona. He has also did a report for the Diputación de Barcelona on accessibility in the town of Polinyà which is located in the outskirts of Barcelona. His accident has made him more sensitive to the suffering of other people and therefore a better architect. His difficulties of speaking resulting from the accident, has brought him together with people who are more willing to act rather than just talk. His goal in life is to help other people with functional diversity and that is why he started his own architecture office specialized in accessibility in urban contexts. |
Now I enumerate some rules that should make you think:
Rule 1: don’t trust statistics. They are not absolute truth, and you shouldn’t trust them if it prevents you from doing things. You must think that you can do everything. For example, I am in a wheelchair, and I have a speech impairment. Jokingly, I say that my goal is to play soccer and sing opera. It’s impossible and hardly of my interest but my objectives help me to keep fighting to try to get better.
Rule 2: you must be patient. Things get better slowly. Sometimes it is disheartening and frustrating, but rehabilitation is essential. I do lots of physiotherapy but also by myself I go to the gym and the swimming pool. That helps me to be strong and do what I like the most, eating. I also do speech therapy to speak better. I try to keep my mind healthy by doing psychotherapy. Before I went to the psychiatrist and took medication to control my frustrations. Now I do not need any medicine and mentally am totally healthy and can control my frustrations.
Rule 3: try to be resilient but forget about your past. You cannot go back to an initial state of how you were before. You must see what happened as an opportunity to focus on other new things and build your future. Life is an evolution. You must think of your life as dynamic and human. For example, in order to understand myself and my surrounding, the car accident has allowed me to read about neuroscience and the city. I have related them in a new way and present my ideas in an article on the “Brain City.”
Rule 4: try to build a happy life. What makes me happy is to help other people. By helping other people, you help yourself. I am terrible busy with my activities and my research. Also, I am independent. I live with my new girlfriend in a house that I love and managed to buy. With my new girlfriend we do everything together. Money does not make you happy. Life is more important.
Rule 5: don’t worry about having a great job. Opportunities for disabled people are hard to come by, particularly when we are discriminated against by society. You should not get tired of doing things because it gets hard to refuse them. You must behave according to the priorities you give yourself. For me is my mental and physical well-being. For example, I receive help from Adolfo my coach. Everything is a process. You must trust that you will achieve your objectives. But what is important is the process and not so much the objective.
Rule 6: everything is unjust, and we must live with discrimination. We must not feel frustrated but live the best way possible; things get better with time. We must accept injustice but try getting motivated to change things. You must think that there are other people who have suffered the same thing. You must find them and be part of an organization that supports you. Be part of a community of people with similar problems. Be part of a similar group of people that suffered the same. I myself take part in many organizations, including two municipal organizations that support disabled people.
Rule 7: do not feel bad for yourself. Being a victim does not help achieve your goals. You are adaptable, flexible in the face of what has happened. You are different from “normal” people, but everyone is different. Now you are part of the diversity of the world. You must defend and promote this diversity.
Rule 8: never give up. Whatever happens, even if it is as bad as my experience, you must keep fighting for a better life. I have learned that from my sister. She always had my back, and she gave me unconditional help. For example, I was no good in French but I always had her support when it came to going to summer camps in France. With her beside me I had the strength of keep fighting, get better, and never feel alone. Now I speak French perfectly. It has been two years she is not with us, but I still feel her help and support. My present girlfriend helps me a lot, encouraging my getting better. She helps me with the physical and speech therapy. Sharing my life with her makes me feel happy even through everything that has happened to me these last 10 years.
Rule 9: accept that your life has been altered radically. My life was beautiful before. I was with my girlfriend in Ecuador; we met during my studies at Harvard and were truly in love. I moved to Ecuador from Laguna Beach where I was living by the beach. I wanted to build my life with her in Ecuador, and loved her family. Then the accident happened and that changed my life completely. Is like having another totally different life. So, my goals and my dreams have changed completely. Is like being reborn.
Rule 10: embrace the strange relation we have with life and death. My sister told me before she passed away that everyone dies. That’s the nature of life, everyone dies. My girlfriend perished in the accident. That happened in a moment, and I almost died. My sister’s passing was a slow moment but the last thing she heard through my mom’s phone (because I could not travel to Toronto) was me saying “I love you”. At that moment she died. Her last words to me before she could no longer talk were also “I love you”.
Rule 1: don’t trust statistics. They are not absolute truth, and you shouldn’t trust them if it prevents you from doing things. You must think that you can do everything. For example, I am in a wheelchair, and I have a speech impairment. Jokingly, I say that my goal is to play soccer and sing opera. It’s impossible and hardly of my interest but my objectives help me to keep fighting to try to get better.
Rule 2: you must be patient. Things get better slowly. Sometimes it is disheartening and frustrating, but rehabilitation is essential. I do lots of physiotherapy but also by myself I go to the gym and the swimming pool. That helps me to be strong and do what I like the most, eating. I also do speech therapy to speak better. I try to keep my mind healthy by doing psychotherapy. Before I went to the psychiatrist and took medication to control my frustrations. Now I do not need any medicine and mentally am totally healthy and can control my frustrations.
Rule 3: try to be resilient but forget about your past. You cannot go back to an initial state of how you were before. You must see what happened as an opportunity to focus on other new things and build your future. Life is an evolution. You must think of your life as dynamic and human. For example, in order to understand myself and my surrounding, the car accident has allowed me to read about neuroscience and the city. I have related them in a new way and present my ideas in an article on the “Brain City.”
Rule 4: try to build a happy life. What makes me happy is to help other people. By helping other people, you help yourself. I am terrible busy with my activities and my research. Also, I am independent. I live with my new girlfriend in a house that I love and managed to buy. With my new girlfriend we do everything together. Money does not make you happy. Life is more important.
Rule 5: don’t worry about having a great job. Opportunities for disabled people are hard to come by, particularly when we are discriminated against by society. You should not get tired of doing things because it gets hard to refuse them. You must behave according to the priorities you give yourself. For me is my mental and physical well-being. For example, I receive help from Adolfo my coach. Everything is a process. You must trust that you will achieve your objectives. But what is important is the process and not so much the objective.
Rule 6: everything is unjust, and we must live with discrimination. We must not feel frustrated but live the best way possible; things get better with time. We must accept injustice but try getting motivated to change things. You must think that there are other people who have suffered the same thing. You must find them and be part of an organization that supports you. Be part of a community of people with similar problems. Be part of a similar group of people that suffered the same. I myself take part in many organizations, including two municipal organizations that support disabled people.
Rule 7: do not feel bad for yourself. Being a victim does not help achieve your goals. You are adaptable, flexible in the face of what has happened. You are different from “normal” people, but everyone is different. Now you are part of the diversity of the world. You must defend and promote this diversity.
Rule 8: never give up. Whatever happens, even if it is as bad as my experience, you must keep fighting for a better life. I have learned that from my sister. She always had my back, and she gave me unconditional help. For example, I was no good in French but I always had her support when it came to going to summer camps in France. With her beside me I had the strength of keep fighting, get better, and never feel alone. Now I speak French perfectly. It has been two years she is not with us, but I still feel her help and support. My present girlfriend helps me a lot, encouraging my getting better. She helps me with the physical and speech therapy. Sharing my life with her makes me feel happy even through everything that has happened to me these last 10 years.
Rule 9: accept that your life has been altered radically. My life was beautiful before. I was with my girlfriend in Ecuador; we met during my studies at Harvard and were truly in love. I moved to Ecuador from Laguna Beach where I was living by the beach. I wanted to build my life with her in Ecuador, and loved her family. Then the accident happened and that changed my life completely. Is like having another totally different life. So, my goals and my dreams have changed completely. Is like being reborn.
Rule 10: embrace the strange relation we have with life and death. My sister told me before she passed away that everyone dies. That’s the nature of life, everyone dies. My girlfriend perished in the accident. That happened in a moment, and I almost died. My sister’s passing was a slow moment but the last thing she heard through my mom’s phone (because I could not travel to Toronto) was me saying “I love you”. At that moment she died. Her last words to me before she could no longer talk were also “I love you”.