Gartzea Zaldua · Hernani
About
I work where architecture meets new technology, connecting the physical and the digital world around the documentation and conservation of heritage.
- Based in
- Hernani, old town
- Studies
- Degree in Architecture Fundamentals (Fundamentos de la Arquitectura), UPV/EHU · 2022–2027
- Now
- 3D modeller at Isuuru Arquitectos · columnist at Gaur8
- Tools
- Blender · AutoCAD · Agisoft Metashape
I live in the old town of Hernani, and that has played a key role in my passion for heritage, for looking after it and for digitising it.
I study architecture at the UPV/EHU. Alongside my studies I digitise heritage: I measure buildings through photogrammetry, from the ground and by drone, and keep them in three dimensions.
Gorabilaz is my own space for that work; the rest I do in a research team and in a studio: from precise plans to large-scale models for urban analysis.
I also take photographs, on commission and on my own account: races and local festivals, bands, building works, heritage and landscape. With a drone, when it helps, from above.
And I write. Once a month, in Gaur8, about architecture, the city and heritage, also for those who know nothing about architecture.
In my own words
Without memory, there is no people.
- 01
Heritage
My interest in heritage comes from my Basque identity. Buildings are witnesses to our history, and their stories deserve to be known. Heritage is the memory of a people, and without that memory there is no neighbourhood, however small, and no Basque Country. As Lurdes Iriondo, a fellow native of Urnieta, put it: “Beste esku batzuek jasoko dute gure lana; ez gera alferrik pasako” (other hands will take up our work; we shall not have lived in vain).
- 02
Scanning
Scanning buildings in 3D is a way of caring for and studying that memory. Photographs and drawings were once the most effective way to record heritage; today, new technologies offer far more precise possibilities. A 3D model lets you see a building as a whole, exactly as it is, with all its imperfections.
- 03
Photography
My love of photography began on my travels, portraying the places I visited. Later I turned the camera to my own surroundings: to the spaces we see every day and still pass by unnoticed, to catch their quiet charm. That, too, is a way of understanding and recording what surrounds us.
What I do
Five ways of working, one way of looking.
- 01
Heritage →
Photogrammetry from the ground and by drone, to digitise heritage: from precise plans of historic palaces to large-scale models for urban analysis.
- 02
Digital fabrication
CNC milling machines, laser cutting and 3D printers to turn ideas into physical prototypes and models.
- 03
Graphic expression
Plans, diagrams and renders: turning complex technical data into clear, aesthetic material, for academic publications and exhibitions alike.
- 04
Photography →
Commissions and personal series: sports events, music groups, architecture and landscape; from the ground and from the air, in photographs and short videos.
- 05
Writing →
Every month, in the Gaur8 supplement of GARA: on architecture, the city and heritage, also for readers who are not experts in these subjects.
Background
Work, research and study. Most recent first.
present
3D modeller ↗
Isuuru Arquitectos · Internship · Donostia
I produce renders of the studio's projects.
present
Architecture critic ↗
GARA · Gaur8 · Part-time
A monthly opinion column (“Begiradak”): architecture, the city and heritage.
Writing →2026/10
Assistant ↗
RAZ · Part-time · Hybrid · Donostia
Drawings, 3D renders and photogrammetry, on mobility issues.
2025/12
Research fellow · Heritage survey and photogrammetry
UPV/EHU · Remote
A project by Daniel Luengas: a typological study of early medieval palaces and tower houses in the Basque Country. High-resolution scanning of historic buildings (ground and aerial), point-cloud processing to obtain orthophotos, and detailed elevations.
2025/12
FabLab assistant
UPV/EHU · School of Architecture · Donostia
Technical support in the lab: advice on preparing digital files, and operation and maintenance of the laser-cutting, CNC and 3D-printing (FDM) equipment.
2025/10
Research fellow · Photogrammetry and 3D
UPV/EHU · Remote
For “Auzo Bizigarriak”, a project by Aritz Diez Oronoz and Ezequiel Collantes, with the research team studying suburban expansion in the Basque Country: photogrammetric scans of three municipalities, renders for an academic research book, and 3D-printed models for a public exhibition.
Education
2027/07
Degree in Architecture Fundamentals (Fundamentos de la Arquitectura)
UPV/EHU · Donostia
Tools and techniques
On my own account, occasionally
Photogrammetrist
Scanning and rendering of buildings, coats of arms and villages, with Agisoft Metashape and Blender.
Gorabilaz →3D modeller
3D models and renders, as occasional independent work.
- Photogrammetry
- Agisoft Metashape
- Blender
- AutoCAD
- 3D rendering
- Digital fabrication
- 3D printing
- Laser cutting
- CNC milling
«Infernuraino, euskal kulturaz hitz egitera joango banintz.»“All the way to hell, if it were to speak of Basque culture.”