Remembering Harold Fallon (1977–2026)

The Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador team mourns the loss of our dear friend, colleague, and collaborator, Dr. Harold Fallon, who died at his home in Brussels on July 20, 2026, following a prolonged illness with cancer. Harold was a visionary architect, co-founder of the AgwA architectural firm in Brussels, and professor in the Faculty of Architecture at KU Leuven. He was also a founding member of Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador, alongside his wife and fellow architect Evelia Macal Guerra, Amanda Grzyb, Reynaldo Hernández, Pedro Cabezas, Juan Bello, Beatriz Juárez, Felipe Tobar, Julio Rivera, Miriam Ayala, Marta Tobar, and other members of Asociación Sumpul.

Harold was at the peak of his career as an architect. Just months before his death, AgwA, in collaboration with architecten jan de vylder inge vinck, received the prestigious 2026 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award for the transformation of the Palais des Expositions in Charleroi, Belgium. In 2024, Harold also received the Uniservitate Award in Rome for his Surviving Memory service-learning course at KU Leuven, which brought architecture students into sustained collaboration with Salvadoran communities through participatory design and construction projects. His work reflected a profound commitment to architecture as a collaborative practice, grounded in relationships with communities and attentive to the social, political, and historical contexts in which buildings and public spaces take shape.

Over the last nine years, Harold worked with members of the Surviving Memory team on an extraordinary range of initiatives, including academic articles, an edited book, exhibitions, fundraising campaigns, community-based architectural projects, and the design and construction of massacre memorials. Among his most significant contributions was the Sumpul River Massacre Memorial at Las Aradas, Chalatenango, completed in 2025. Working closely with Evelia Macal Guerra, architect Thomas Montulet, community coordinator Roberto Urbina, Asociación Sumpul, the youth artist cooperative Colectivo Matiz, and researchers and students from Western University and KU Leuven, Harold helped guide a deeply collaborative process of designing and building a memorial to the approximately 600 civilians killed during the May 14, 1980, Sumpul River Massacre. The memorial is a testament not only to his extraordinary creativity and architectural vision, but also to his steadfast commitment to solidarity with war-impacted communities and massacre survivors in El Salvador.

Harold was brilliant, wildly creative, multilingual, surprisingly sensitive, and hilarious. He was a committed teacher, an extraordinary mentor, the best tour guide, and one of the hardest-working people we have ever known. He brought tremendous intellectual energy, generosity, humour, and curiosity to everything he did. His deep knowledge of El Salvador, his fluency in Spanish, and his ability to build meaningful relationships across cultures and disciplines made him an invaluable member of our international team. He believed deeply in the importance of working alongside communities rather than designing for them, and he approached his collaborations with both humility and an unwavering commitment to the people with whom he worked.

Our hearts are with Evelia and their children, Victor and Camila, as well as their extended family, friends, students, and colleagues in Belgium, El Salvador, and around the world as they continue to grieve this tremendous loss. Harold and Evelia also lost their son Arthur in 2018. We recognize the profound grief that their family has endured and extend our deepest condolences and solidarity.

It is difficult to imagine how our team will move forward without Harold, but we will continue our work to honour his memory. None of us knows how much time we will have on this earth, but Harold accomplished so many beautiful things during the too-brief time that he was here. He will live on in the structures he designed, the memorials he built, the solidarity he cultivated, and especially in the memories of all the people whose lives he touched so deeply and meaningfully.

Rest in peace, our brilliant friend.

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