This City Connections Project shows the diversity of complementary architectures made in the metropolitan areas of Barcelona, Basel and Brussels and that provide high added value to the spaces that facilitate community life. This is how the city is built because the different visions, well selected by the project curators, create debate, and even though the general goals are common – social, ecological, technological, political and economic – the ways to deal with them are not the same, achieving shared habitable spaces in which more people can feel included.
In the case of Barcelona, although housing has a high component of personal space, we find a prominent group of projects seeking ways to improve community life, whether from a bottom- up process or from top-down. In all cases, it should be emphasised that the examples chosen seek to ensure access to decent and affordable housing while maintaining public ownership of the land, combating speculation on housing and encouraging the community management of buildings. Cooperatives have a long tradition in Catalonia, including housing, but as well as other places in Europe they had continued to evolve, in Barcelona they appeared again with strength relatively recently. Public housing, still mostly sold in contrast to French territories, is slowly evolving and typologies are introduced that allow a much better adaptation to the social reality of the 21st century. Despite the slow and conservative dynamics of administrations, some people within them struggle and risk making changes possible, accompanied by architects who put forward proposals for the future within very rigid parameters. This includes both housing types and constructive forms that introduce proximity materials and that are appropriate to the proposed types.
IVAN BLASI CONTRIBUTION FOR THE BCN CATALOG | IVAN BLASI, Director of Prizes and Programs Fundació Mies van der Rohe
Nicola Regusci introduces the Cities Connection Project to the Mexican public, then explains the theme of the 6th edition of CCP. Ms Ludovica Molo, moderator, then invited the speakers to briefly present their projects selected for the CCP06 Shared Living Spaces exhibition. Mr. Simon Hartmann, together with Mr. Simon Frommenwiler, presented project N°04: Lichtstrasse. Ms Laurence Creyf then presented project N°03: Masui 96. Finally, Mr Stéphane Kervyn presents project N°13: Tapis Urban.
The exhibition CCP06, Sahred living spaces is presented as a part of the 6th CCP edition which connect three cities: Basel-Wallonia-Brssels Barcelona. The previous editions have been held between Barcelona, some Swiss cities ( Geneva, Zurich, Ticino ) and Wallonie-Brussels one of the Belgian federal region. The Cities connection Project is a connector between cities and their contemporary architecture, with the aim of generating synergies between architects, cultural agents and institutions. Architecture exhibitions are the focus of this project, we select 20 projects for each participating city, bu also we organize lectures, round tables, guided visits and informal meetings in order to create links between the involved architects.
The sharing of spaces and the diversity of programs, are the common points of the selected project presented in the upstairs exhibition CCP06. In our opinion, one of the main features of the Cities Connection Project are the design processes and approaches developed by these architects in different social, geographic, and political contexts. You can list the exhibition CCP06 after this round table…..
CCP06 ROUND TABLE | BRU-BSL
Nicola Regusci, architect and co-founder with Xavier Bustos, Cities Connection Project
Ludovica Molo is architect founder of StudioWe architects with Felix Wettstein and President of the Swiss Federation of architrectes.
Laurence Creyf Is co founder of Vanden Eeckhoudt-Creyf architectes a Brussels based architecture practice Simon Hartmann and Simon Frommenwiler are founder, with Tilo Erlkach, of HHF Architekten an office based in Basel, switzerland
Stéphane Kervyn is founder of K2a office based also in Brussels.
NICOLA REGUSCI, CCP | LUDOVICA MOLO, MODERATOR | Laurence Creyf, Vanden Eeckhoudt-Creyf architectes | Stéphane Kervyn, K2a Architectes | Simon Frommenwiler and Simon Hartmann, HHF Architekten
( CITIES )
Given that CCP always suggest different topics about contemporary projects within the context of different cities i would like architects to introduce themselves by describing one negative and one positive aspect of the city in which they practice their work: Basel and Brussels.
Urban strategies of Basel and Brussels….? ̈
Basel is developing the transformations of a lot of former industrial districts and in Brussels I find very interesting the strategy of Contrat de quarter that is an action plan, aimed at improving the living environment of a precarious neighborhood. Could you develops these topics and find perhaps some common points about urban strategies….?!
THE PANEL AND THE PUBLIC
( SHARED LIVING SPACES ) Let’s proceed with the exhibition topic: Shared Living Spaces.
It seems that in recents years this topic has become very important because for example the restrictions caused by the pandemic. A mixed use program and the attempt to provide buildings with different spaces for people to interchange and sharing among people is an added value for the project. On this issue for many years in Switzerland we are experimenting with this kind of spaces for example in cooperative housing…..
Increasing demand from users of these types of spaces has feedback in program requests from public public developers …?!
…….or are the architects themselves coming up with innovative solutions in this field …?! Can you give us some examples on this from your design experience…?! In Belgium do you have some similar experiences of Cooperative Building…..? ̈
SIMON HARTMANN SPEAKING
( INTERNATIONAL )
I would like to continue with a topic that affects several architectural firms: projects and collaborations with architects abroad: 3 questions and 3 brief answers for every office in order to introduce the topic of international architecture competitions….
HHF
HHF is an office architecture practice that develops many projects abroad and in collaboration with others architects: Swiss consulate Chicago, Urban neighbourhood development in Luxembourg , Berlin’s biggest shopping mall etc….This international dimension of your office is how this international dimension of your office came about ?! Because the tri-national location of the city Basel …..?! International competitions…?!
Given that we are in Mexico and I know that the HHF office co-participe in a project with Tatiana Bilbao I would like to ask wich is your experience of collaborating between Switzerland and Mexico specifically in a project carried out in Strassbourg….!?
On the other side the Belgian Vanden Eeckhoudt-Creyf architectes and K2a develop their projects exclusively in Brussels and mostly focused on single family houses and some collective buildings, but I find in your web a project in London and on tin Barcelona…..How is born this collaboration abroad and how was this experience for your practice……?!
Stéphane Kervyn ( K2a Architectes ) | Simon Frommenwiler and Simon Hartmann ( HHF Architekten )
( ARCHITECTURE INSTITUTIONS )
In Basel the SAM, Museum of Architecture and others important institutions plays an important role in the dissemination of building culture, do you have in the Wallonie-Bruxelles Federation an equivalent Museum or Institution….. In Switzerland and Belgium, in the French speaking part, there are two important institutions insuring the international dissemination of contemporary architecture: Wallonie-Bruxelles Architecture and Prohelvetia that support with Amb, Area metropolitana de Barcelona, the exhibition CCP06.
What do you think about that…?! Have you suggestions about this topic…..
60 architectural projects were selected for this exhibition at the El Rule Cultural Center. Their common thread is that they all connect in some way with Brussels, Basel, Barcelona. And this exhibition is part of a program to recognize avant-garde architectural projects. In this exhibition you will see some of the most interesting projects that come together in these three cities. What can we learn from them?
Galería El Rule. Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas 6, primer piso, Centro Histórico. Jueves 22 de septiembre, 5:30pm.
MEXTROPOLI PROGRAMMEXTROPOLI PROGRAM
ROUND TABLE BEFORE THE OPENING | BARCELONA
ROUND TABLE | MODERATOR XAVIER BUSTOS
Shared living spaces is the theme chosen for this edition of CCP_06. Sharing spaces and activities, as well as the diversity of programs, are the common points of the projects selected in this exhibition. Different approaches and processes tested and compared by architects and public administrations from different cities or countries while working in very heterogeneous contexts.
Now, invited by the MEXTRÓPOLI festival and hosted by the El Rule Cultural Center, we have the opportunity to share with Mexican society the 60 architectural projects that make up the exhibition, carried out in three European countries and, above all, it opens a door to imagine a new intercontinental connection between European cities and Latin American cities in the future, which will surely bring a great richness to the debate and new and interesting points of view to this network of connected cities.
CCP06 | GALERIA EL RULE | CDMXCCP INVITATION LETTER TO MEXTROPOLI
MEXTRÓPOLI is the most important Architecture and City Festival in the Americas, which brings together more than 80,000 people designing cities: students, citizens, professionals, tourists, creatives, public servants, artists, opinion leaders and experts in the field, to generate knowledge, exchange and a new vision of the city through architecture.
It activates reflection and the exchange of experiences through conferences, exhibitions, dialogue tables, workshops with experts, installations in public spaces, routes and specialized visits, book presentations, and other events.
It turns Mexico City into a powerful cultural, tourist, and citizen attraction by promoting reflection on: housing, mobility, public space, and equity, among other topics of urban interest. It is the meeting of culture through architecture.
ARCHITECTURE WITH SOCIAL RESPONSABILITY THEME IOF MEXTROPOLI 2022
Architecture “every day moves further away from being that discipline of pharaonic projects and is being understood for what it is: a discipline with social responsibility,” says Andrea Griborio, director of the Mextrópoli City and Architecture Festival. “It is necessary to understand that architects are here to make useful, sustainable habitats; we must understand the various ways of inhabiting space.”Claiming the social dimension of architecture and its potential to propose solutions to the urban challenges of the 21st century will be the focus of the reflections of the ninth edition of the Mextrópoli festival, which will take place from September 21 to 25 in the Mexican capital.
The meeting, which this year will be face-to-face, will be distinguished by including in its program the 12th Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, organized by Spain. That the general theme of both meetings be “Living on the margins”, according to Andrea Griborio, has the purpose of making visible and putting on the table the social vocation that architecture has and should have.
“It is about how we can think or share practices that show that it can be something more and not just something decorative; how we architects can become instruments, tools or contribute to improving the quality of life of citizens”, explains the architect of Venezuelan origin.
Among the participants in the impressive Teatro Metropólitan, with a capacity of more than 3,000 people, were presented: the Argentine architect Ana Falu, winner of the XII BIAU Lifetime Achievement Award, the Brazilian Marta Moreira, the Colombian Camilo Restrepo, the Chilean Cecilia Puga, the Spanish Iñaki Ábalos, the Mexican Loreta Castro, the Spanish Zaida Muxí and Josep María Montaner , the Swiss Simon Frommenwiler and Simon Hartmann, the English Jane Hall – Assemble, or the Mexican Tatiana Bilbao, and the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, presenting alternative ways of working.
LECTURE BY HHF ARCHITECTEN | SIMON FROMMENWILER-SIMON HARTMANN
On Sep 21, 2022 HHF co-founders Simon Hartmann and Simon Frommenwiler were invited for a lecture in Mexixo City at Mextrópoli, the XII Iberoamerican Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism. Under the title of Architectural Topographies the duo presented HHF strategies and methodologies concerning projects in Mexico, France, China and Switzerland to a live audience of circa 2,000 people.
CCP06 | PODIUM | STÄDTEBAU & ARCHITEKTUR KANTON BASEL-STADT
Podium CCP06
Podium XIV «Learning from … (not Las Vegas)»
The S&A Urban Planning & Architecture department of the Building and Transport Department of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, which is responsible for Basel’s further development in terms of building culture, launched a recurring discussion on the future of the urban living space with the forum Urban Planning ‘Basel 2050’. An exhibition and a series of public events in cooperation with S AM Swiss Museum of Architecture, examined the urban development of Basel from yesterday, today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow in the fall of 2020.
As part of this discursive and participatory building culture festival, 10 panels were held on topics such as planning discourse, public space, ecology, borders, living, working, living together and climate. They continued in 2021 with more panels on the porous, green and blue city. S&A has condensed the materials and insights of the last two years into a so-called ‘Position 2022’.
Basel certainly has more in common with Barcelona and Brussels than just a B in its name. What experiences have these cities made with goals that ‘Basel 2050’ also sets itself? Which processes determine the topics of the future there? How are planning and pilot projects implemented and how willing are Barcelona and Brussels to take risks and experiment?
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Beat Aeberhard, Kantonsbaumeister und Leiter S&A Städtebau & Architektur Kanton Basel-Stadt
