Biography

In the southwest Rocky Mountains, my formative years were spent shaping, and shaped by, nature. My architectural career proceeded to harness natural forces and materials through the planning, design and construction of communal rainwater catchment pavilions in Rwanda; solar/geo-thermal powered, net-zero energy neighborhoods and mixed-use urban infill projects in the USA; and self-sufficient, digitally-fabricated engineered timber homes, greenhouses, public space interventions, and future 'Biocities' in Spain. My doctoral research investigates how geospatial networks can inform place-based natural material value chains for development we’ll need to meet the demand for a worldwide doubling of built floor area by 2060 - while mitigating and adapting to global climate change by advancing carbon neutrality, resource security, ecosystem services, and ecologic as well as human health and wellbeing.

Previous Education

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia Advanced Ecological Buildings 2019
University of Colorado at Boulder Env. Design: Architecture 2014

Links

https://valldaura.net
https://www.instagram.com/mnmnsalka
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsalka