This young architect strolls across the millennium bridge, looking at London as a landscape that needs to be drawn.
Eugenio Blanco
From this point, the view is a stage which contains a mixture of industrial brick buildings intermingled with new steel and glass constructions that have become emblematic of London and which are scattered across the City.
Cesc leans on the balustrades of the bridge, as if he knows something is about to happen and all of a sudden he takes out his camera and takes a shot of an angle that has grabbed his attention, a shape that he hadn´t noticed before or a set of lights on the roof terraces. Then he delves back into his thoughts about shapes and livability, about design and functionality. It is as if the city has turned into a jigsaw puzzle of cement in his mind.
It could be said that the city of London, its appearance and its imposing personality, is shaping the way he sees architecture. This is surely one of the most intimate tributes that Cesc owes to the city of London “to this immediate and provisional city” where, like so many, he arrived in autumn 2009 to escape the financial crisis in Spain and to find his future in one of London´s many prestigious architecture studios.
Learning to fight
Cesc was under pressure and confused when he arrived in London, after leaving New York and an interesting job offer behind him, having been through swine flu and with a large amount of uncertainty.
It was his girlfriend, who is now in Spain, who pulled him out of himself, and encouraged him while he traipsed around the city and the internet (the other virtual city) with his CV and his portfolio.
He had enough money to live on for three months.
Three months was the amount of time that he gave the city to offer him his opportunity.
If nothing happened he would have to return to Spain which was turning into a barren desert of offers for young architects. In these first months, Cesc Massanas´ story is not too different from that of so many other young people who head to London in search of their opportunity.
Everything requires a great deal of effort, or as Cesc says “the city offers you many things but it asks you for a lot in return”. London, a city which receives so many foreigners in search of work, has developed an enormous filter based on the patience and stamina of those who come. This means that, without a doubt, “you have to wise up and fight for your place”.
After two unsuccessful interviews, many unanswered applications, realizing that his English was “not as expressive as he had believed” and a lot of money spent, his opportunity came just when he had decided to go back home.
Foster and Partners, one of London´s most reputable architectural firms, invited him to an interview and one week later let him know that he would be starting work with them in a few days. He says that the visual power of his portfolio was key to him being offered the job.
However, his work was not over.
If getting such a prestigious job was a high mountain then keeping up with the 90 hour working-weeks that came with it was like climbing Everest.
Cesc kept up with the pace and the pressure, he settled into his job and he began to understand the workings of such a large company.
“One of the most important things that I have learned is an understanding of the entire building process, from the moment the contract is signed to the building being completed”.
Cesc is not only an architect. He also has clear artistic talent which can be seen in some of his prize-winning paintings.
He recognizes that at the moment he does not have the time and energy to paint, but he says that he tries to develop his creativity in the studio, “although it is not always easy because your idea has to pass through many filters before it becomes formed”. He is convinced that persistence brings success.
Designing a life
After almost two years at Foster, Cesc feels satisfied with his life in London. He lives in Finsbury Park “one of those areas of London that seems to be poor but isn´t” and he has adapted well to the ways of the city: he jogs in Clissold Park, he goes to Borough market when he can and has the occasional drink in The Lexington. He likes the city´s “heterogeneity” and he worries about becoming one of the many who came to London to open doors and who stayed forever, continually putting off going back home for the next year.
However, he acclaims the welcoming spirit and the opportunities that London offers. And he has a warning for anybody that wants to try their luck in London, “if you want to come then you need lots of energy and patience” Although he insists that there is no such thing as a negative experience in London however complicated or frustrating it may be, because “everything keeps adding up and adding up”.
These words should not be forgotten: they are spoken by somebody who knows the soul of the city through its buildings and who has understood that there are few places that better symbolize “the art of making it on your own” than London.
(Translated by Zoë Thurston – Email: zothurston@yahoo.co.uk) – Photos supplied by the interviewee
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