Rubén García Rubio

Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism

Program Director for Sustainable Urbanism

Ruben Garcia Rubio is an architect, urbanist, educator, and researcher. He is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment, where he also serves as Director of the Sustainable Urbanism program.

His work and research focus on spatial design at the intersection of architecture and urbanism, enriched by a historical lens. He approaches design as an intellectual and artistic pursuit, as well as a social and ecological response to contemporary challenges, addressing issues from territorial systems to detailed architectural scales.

He is the author or editor of several notable publications, including “Riverhood: A Geographic City Model” (Actar, forthcoming), “Dubai Forward”
(Maggiole Editore, 2020), “Dubai Pop Up” (Maggiole Editore, 2019), “ZAXXI: Architecture in Zamora in the 21st Century” (Castile and Leon Institute of Architects Foundation, 2011), and “Subtract Architecture” (Castile and Leon Institute of Architects Foundation, 2010). He has served as guest editor for nine volumes of the Sintesis Architecture Collection and for academic journals such as ZARCH (issue #15: Urban Processes, Water Dynamics & Climate Change) and ANANKE (issue #86: United Arab Emirates: Urban Landscape and Modern Heritage).

His scholarship has been published in over 35 peer-reviewed papers in academic journals, like The Plan Journal, EGA Journal of Architectural Graphic Expression, ZARCH, Arts, and Ra (Revista de Arquitectura), and in major international conferences such as UIA, ACSA, ARCC, SAH, EAAE, ISUF, and Docomomo. His research has received awards and has been exhibited globally by institutions such as UN-Habitat, the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, and the Oslo Architecture Triennale. In 2012, he was a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome.

Ruben is also the co-founding principal of studioVRA, a research-driven design studio focused on site-specific and sustainable architecture across scales and geographies. The studio’s work has been recognized internationally by institutions like The Chicago Athenaeum (USA), the Association of Professional Architects (Italy) or the Castile and Leon Institute of Architects (Spain); by architectural publications like The Plan Magazine (Italy), Architizer (USA) or Dezeen (UK); and by architectural events like the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (Spain) or the Quito Pan-American Biennial of Architecture (Ecuador). Their projects have appeared in Arquitectura Viva, C3, Arquine, IW, Frame, Arketipo, de Architect, Wettbewerbe Aktuell, and ERA21, and have been exhibited from the United States to Costa Rica, Greece, including in the historic Italian Palladian Basilica. Before joining Tulane, Rubén taught at the University of Zaragoza, Valladolid, and Malaga (Spain); the American University in Dubai; and the University of Roma Tre and the Polytechnic University of Milan (Italy).

He holds a B.Arch and M.Arch from the University of Valladolid (Spain), a Ph.D. in Architecture from the same institution (Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Award), and a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Roma Tre (Italy).