The cycle "Architect as a civil activist" is a joint initiative of the Swiss Council for Culture "Pro Helvetia", the International Institute of Architecture i2a and the MARCH school. Within its framework, lectures are delivered by young Swiss architects, in whose practice and research there is a noticeable interest in design as a civic engagement. Switzerland is the world "champion" in matters of civil society and public participation in governing the country. But only when comparing such different social environments as Switzerland and Russia, one can understand the importance of this movement. At the end of the lecture cycle, i2a and MARSH will hold a round table to discuss the role of the architect in Russian civil society. The discussion focuses on architectural and artistic projects in Switzerland, which create a public platform for architectural discussion, strengthen cooperation between Russia and Switzerland and support the "public value" of architecture, its civic and educational role. The upcoming lectures of the cycle "Architect as a civic activist" will be held on May 20, 2014 - TRIBU Architecture (Lausanne) and June 10, 2014 - Pool Architekten (Zurich). The curators of the program are Alessandro Martinelli and Ludovica Molo.
Director of the Institute of Architecture i2a Ludovica Molo explained that for the Swiss architecture forum, which she heads, the study of territories and environments is a matter of studying modern reality. Architecture helps in reading and understanding the phenomena of life. And the selection of lecturers to speak at MARCH is a chance for Russians to see Swiss “unity in diversity”. Architects are from different regions of the country, graduated from different universities, and each has its own approach to design, its own ways of interacting and influencing the surrounding reality.
Nikola Ragushi confirmed this thesis with his speech. His hometown Lugano is a city in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. Nicola graduated from the School of Architecture at the University of Geneva and lives in Barcelona. Although, judging by his story, he lives and works in flight: the beginning and end of the performance was visually framed by a video map of Europe with the movement of aircraft in real time. Customers and beloved brothers (Nikola has three of them) have different Eurasian addresses, including one on the shores of the Persian Gulf. In addition, Nicola organized an intercultural exchange - Connection Import – Export - a program to strengthen ties between Switzerland and other countries to “better understand the profession of architecture and its importance in society”.
The program is being developed as a single project in the form of a series of traveling exhibitions, forums, exchanges and meetings. These are not reporting reviews for temporary or territorial reasons: each new city or region, joining the project, offers its own theme that corresponds to its cultural context. Suffice it to mention the last two: “Ticino. Architecture and Territory "and" Barcelona. Social housing in an urban context”- last year these exhibitions were held in both Spain and Switzerland. The expositions are composed of works by architects up to 50 years old - they were selected by a professional commission. The age qualification is a fundamental moment, for example, for Ticino, whose modern architecture became famous in the 80s of the last century and strengthened its reputation thanks to the projects of the generation of Mario Botta.
However, over the past decades, following the change in the landscape, the design context has fundamentally changed: low-density cities have expanded their spaces so that valleys have turned into limitless settlements, where it is pointless to look for a suburb and a center. In enclaves separated by roads, the quality of life has changed. In this situation, “local design rules” alone are no longer enough - how to position a building in relation to a road or on a slope. Architects face new challenges. Therefore, it was important for the organizers of the exhibition to understand: how developed is critical thinking among young people? Is there a desire to collaborate with the urban community, and not just reproduce the design techniques of the 1980s and 1990s? Are they ready to correctly assess the changed conditions in order to make architecture that meets the needs of society?
“Social housing in an urban context” is exactly how the younger generation of Catalan architects have convincingly responded to current social demands. The Connection_Export Barcelona project has identified new types and new ways of integrating housing and public space. Nikola Ragushi showed several objects at the lecture.
For example, the multifunctional bureau Coll-leclerc in the Eixample, in dense old buildings. The architects erected two narrow buildings at a depth of 28.5 meters with an offset relative to each other, organizing a pedestrian zone between them, which at the same time became a schoolyard and accommodated sports grounds. In one building - primary classes, in the second - 45 apartments of 45 m2appears to be subsidized housing for young people. Fundamentally - a change in the typology of development, the possibility of revising city standards and norms. For what? To create effective programs that meet the needs of different groups of citizens. What groups they can be can be seen from other Barcelona objects.
In the Torre Julia project - a multi-storey building on a small plot by the bypass road - the architects were faced with the task of locating a sports center, an office for a developer company and apartments for the elderly. Placed, creating also large public spaces for various local organizations and groups.
And in the “mixed use” house from the Exe. Arquitectura bureau for 32 apartments - 44 underground garages, however, and the Medical Center, in addition, is a common space for the residents of the house and the townspeople. In fact, this is a nursing home, where the wards live with their guardians, the internal premises are organized according to the principle of maximum autonomy of the “neighbors”. At the same time, the object is not isolated from the city, literally - physically and functionally - is included in the fabric of the street … And every time the social needs of future residents for the architect are equated in value with the TK. In one project, it is important not only to provide insolation to each apartment, but to provide common spaces for sunbathing and air baths, in another - to arrange a consumer service center for young tenants of studio apartments. Each time - a different spatial scenario, which requires the designer to interact with specialists of various professions, including humanities.
The Connection Import – Export program builds on the experience of Nicola Ragucha at the Agency for Architecture Support in Barcelona (AAAB). The agency brings together an interdisciplinary team, which is based on an educational experiment: during open workshops, direct communication between students and teachers is possible, and they conduct research together. Students are taught modern ways of project visualization, talk about business development models. The AAAB Club hosts book presentations and film screenings, where they reflect on light in photography and how sensuality can turn into a sexual obsession. Architects celebrate Vancouver's sustainability efforts, host drinks and painting balls, and discuss Connection and the historic cities exhibition program. Such a dense and varied joint pastime of designers of different generations undoubtedly develops formal and informal ties between colleagues, openness and communication, and, most importantly, expands the understanding of the aspects of human-space interaction.
The inevitable question is: how do architects find not so much time as money for this? The level of preparation, design, PR of all these events and exhibitions speaks of productive interaction with sponsors. The way it is. And it is no coincidence: according to Nikol's story, two-thirds of the efforts are spent on finding and attracting partners to projects. The ability to communicate, persuade and captivate is as necessary for a modern architect as drawing.
Yes, Nikola Ragushi is primarily an architect, and the design practice of his XNF Arquitectes bureau is carried out in different directions. This is the expansion of the residential development of the city in Catalonia, the development of the sports zone in the El Papillol area, the creation of scenery for the opera, the reconstruction of old houses like a magical transformation, the construction of new objects, for example, a private house, where one of the windows opens into a water tank, which, in turn looks like a natural element of the landscape.
The bureau has many artistic exhibitions, and among the unexpected solutions is the presentation of material in transparent tubes that the audience can rotate. A separate topic is fashion. XNF Arquitectes created a space for the prestigious brand in sheer fabrics, on which a display was printed on the 168-year history of the clothing company.
For several years of cooperation, the bureau has been connecting with an organization for the support of young artists and designers, which organizes fashion shows in the most unexpected places in Barcelona. Thus, within the framework of the spring cultural program of the metro of the capital of Catalonia, a parade of creations by novice couturiers was held at one of the central stations.
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And the bureau of Nikola Ragushi figured out how to arrange a dressing room for models on the middle lane of the travolator, to separate the flows of passengers, and to make the show entertaining and comfortable for everyone. And this example shows that even temporary structures help to create a powerful effect and long-term communication.
