BarcelonaCatalonia and the Balearic Islands will once again play a prominent role in the Spanish pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale: 11 of the 16 works in the project Internalities they are from Catalan and Mallorcan studios, including Bosch & Capdeferro, Josep Camps and Olga Felip (Architecture), Harquitectes, Munarq, Peris + Toral and Ted’A. The selection is the result of an open call and, also, by invitation of the commissioners, Roi Salgueiro Barrio and Manuel Bouzas Barcala. Regarding the thesis of the pavilion, the selected works represent the application of “internalities”, that is, actions that “do not create externalities or waste and that seek a balance with the territory”, as stated by the competition jury of the pavilion In addition, the curators have organized the 16 works selected through “not usually envisaged” approaches such as “material, crafts, processes, waste and a return to what is local”.
The Catalan and Balearic works that can be seen in Venice are: the block of wooden houses in Girona 6×6 (by Bosch & Capdeferro Arquitectura), the rehabilitation of the Flix agricultural cooperative, to turn it into a multipurpose and cultural space (from Camps Felips Arquitecturia); a house in Gautegiz-Arteaga (by Emiliano López Mónica Rivera Arquitectos); social housing 2104 (from Harquitectes); the Loggia Baseliana pavilion in Switzerland (by Isla Architects); the Moià Fire Department (by Josep Ferrando, Pedro García, Mar Puig and Manel Casellas), the Hoya Mediterranean Gardens, in Almeria (KAUH Architecture and Landscaping); the Ca na Pau house in the Mallorcan town of Binissalem (de Munarq); 43 compacted earth social housing in Ibiza (by Peris+Toral Arquitectes), The Day After house (by TAKK) and another house, Ca na Catalina and Joan in Llubí, Mallorca (by TEd’A Arquitectes).
Architectural tools that can be taken to other places
For the jury, “the project Internalities has tangible tools that bring new value to a new architecture for current and future challenges. These tools are considered extrapolable to other places in order, from the micro, to reach the macro, to propose an enriching line of work for the theme of this biennial”. Likewise, Internalities delves into the austere and experimental line of the Spanish pavilion at the 2016 Architecture Biennale, also with a strong Catalan presence, which received the Golden Lion for the best state pavilion of that edition. The 16 participating works were selected from among 171 participants in the call promoted by the Spanish government’s general secretariat for Urban Agenda, Housing and Architecture. On the other hand, the presentation of each one in Venice will have the uniqueness that it will be done by an architect who is not the author and a local photographer.
The 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, which will be held from May 10 to November 23, is curated by Italian architect and engineer Carlo Ratti. With his project, titled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective, Ratti sees architects as creators of deep, effective and rapid solutions to deal with climate change, instead of resigning themselves to the fact that architecture remains one of the biggest sources of polluting gas emissions. For this reason, Ratti approaches the built environment and urban space from the perspective that the discipline of architecture is central, but not exclusive, and that it interacts with other disciplines including art, the ‘engineering, biology, data science, social and political sciences and the sciences of planetary systems.
Source: www.ara.cat
