Appropriations: Architectural Actions for Inhabiting Collective Space

One result of the experience of the pandemic is a reactivation of thinking about urban space in the light of challenges that have hitherto remained more or less hidden, ranging from the effects of climate change in many of its senses (sustainability, health, mobility) through to the complementarity of public space and housing, the desire to incorporate external spaces into the domestic experience, and the question of the long history of appropriation of and belonging to collective spaces.

With this background, Appropriations is a joint initiative of the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona and the Department of Architectural Projects at the Vallès School of Architecture (ETSAV) of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) with the aim of fostering these reflections by means of organising a week-long workshop bringing together students from the Department in a theoretical and practical exercise based on studying nine urban spaces in the centre of Barcelona: Plaça MACBA, Rambla del Raval, Plaça Reial, Plaça de la Gardunya, Plaça del Pi, Portal de l'Àngel, Avinguda de la Catedral, Plaça Terenci Moix, and Passatge Bernardí Martorell. The aim of the workshop is to use the tools of architecture to analyse the uses of these spaces and to suggest simple actions for transforming them by increasing urban biodiversity and the quality of the public space.

The workshop will be led by Fabrizio Gallanti, architect and director of the arc en rêve architectural centre in Bordeaux and will take as its reference the Archive of the European Prize for Urban Public Space in order to contextualise the work within the history of public space in European cities over recent decades.

Monday 6 September at 10a.m. will be the opening session of the workshop in the CCCB Hall, with the participation of Fabrizio Gallanti, Alessandro Scarnato, Amadeu Santacana, Itziar González and Judit Carrera.

In the final session of the workshop, to be held at the CCCB on 10 September at 4a.m., the students will present the results of their work and their proposals for the nine sites will be discussed.