Latin American Steel Conference: Architect Maria del Carmen Fernandez Saiz receives Alacero Excelence Award 2015
Alacero – Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 12, 2015. Yesterday and as part of Alacero-56 Conference last day of activities, the Brazilian-born and longtime based in Argentina architect, Maria del Carmen Fernandez Saiz received the Alacero Excellence Award 2015 in a ceremony in front of 600 representatives of Latin American steel industry.
Every year, the Latin American Steel Association –Alacero- recognizes a person or organization that has excelled as a member of the steel industry or because of his lifelong achievements and contributions to promote the use of steel. As host country, the Argentine Organizing Committee, chaired by Engineer Martin Berardi, choose the person to receive the award.
In the person of the architect Fernandez Saiz, the Argentine Organizing Committee also recognizes the work of the School of Architecture of the National University of Cordoba that has developed a remarkable job during the past seven years promoting and teaching the use of steel in construction and design among its students. Since 2009, this University won all Alacero Steel Design Contests For Students of Architecture, at a national level.
Maria del Carmen Fernandez Saiz received her architecture degree in 1987 from the National University of Cordoba, Argentina. Since then, through her work and teaching, she has collaborated in the promotion of steel as construction material and teached the advantages of its use.
Currently, she is part of the leading team of the newly created graduate career “Specialization in Structural Design in Architecture”, a joint project between the School of Architecture, Planning and Design and the School of Physical and Natural Sciences of the National University of Cordoba.
This specialization, of which Architect Fernandez Saiz is one of the creators, seeks to fill a vacant area in the training of professionals in the field of structural design, articulating issues arising from calculation,dimensioning and structural analysis with the architectural design, based on the interdisciplinary contributions from both specializations.
This graduate studies focus on training in the use of current design, analysis and problem solving procedures to find solutions to different structural types of architectural work (including steel structures) in accordance with the latest technical tools, while managing design criteria to address the structural topic in the project.
Maria del Carmen Fernandez Saiz also is also lecturer in “Structures and Structural Design” at the School of Architecture and Urbanism of the National University of Córdoba.
She has also specialization degrees in Argentina and from the University of Stuttgart (Germany) and the University of Bologna (Italy).
About Alacero
Alacero –Latin American Steel Association- is the organization that brings together the Steel Value Chain of Latin
America to promote the values of regional integration, technological innovation, corporate responsibility and social and environmental sustainability. Founded in 1959, Alacero is formed by 49 companies of 25 countries, whose production –of about 70 million annual tons- represents 95% of the steel manufactured in Latin America. Alacero is a Special Consulting Organization to the United Nations and is recognized as International Non-Government Organization by the Republic of Chile, host country of Alacero´s headquarters.