12 projects that pay attention to kids
02/09/2021.
[Children's architecture]
metalocus, MARÍA FERNANDA MORA
metalocus, MARÍA FERNANDA MORA
Children's architecture is that which offers children spaces suitable for their scale, ergonomics and needs, adding a pedagogical yet fun touch that interacts with the little ones, allowing them to explore and learn through play, exploration and wonder, stimulating their imagination.
In their early years, children develop cognitive and motor skills, so it is important to stimulate learning and communication in them from an early age.
Children's architecture seeks to create innovative spaces where children's learning can be stimulated in a healthy, fun, and stimulating way. It is primarily responsible for educational spaces, museums, playgrounds, play areas, among others.
In their early years, children develop cognitive and motor skills, so it is important to stimulate learning and communication in them from an early age.
Children's architecture seeks to create innovative spaces where children's learning can be stimulated in a healthy, fun, and stimulating way. It is primarily responsible for educational spaces, museums, playgrounds, play areas, among others.
Nursey School BVMI by MGM Arquitectos. Photograph by Jesús Granada.
Nursey School BVMI by MGM Arquitectos. Photograph by Jesús Granada.
Nursey School BVMI by MGM Arquitectos. Photograph by Jesús Granada.
Nursey School BVMI by MGM Arquitectos. Photograph by Jesús Granada.
Renovation and extension of the Helvetia School by El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by Alejandro Arango.
Renovation and extension of the Helvetia School by El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by Alejandro Arango.
Renovation and extension of the Helvetia School by El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by Alejandro Arango.
21 Atlántico Kindergartens by El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by Alejandro Arango.
21 Atlántico Kindergartens by El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by Alejandro Arango.
21 Atlántico Kindergartens by El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by Alejandro Arango.
Educational Park of Marinilla by El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by © Rodrigo Dávila.
Educational Park of Marinilla by El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by © Rodrigo Dávila.
Educational Park of Marinilla by El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by © Rodrigo Dávila.
Redbridge SChool in Lisbon by ARX Portugal. Photograph by FG+SG - Fotografia de Arquitectura.
Redbridge SChool in Lisbon by ARX Portugal. Photograph by FG+SG - Fotografia de Arquitectura.
Redbridge SChool in Lisbon by ARX Portugal. Photograph by FG+SG - Fotografia de Arquitectura.
Tuxtla Gutierrez Children's Museum by C Cúbica Arquitectos. Photograph by Jaime Navarro Soto.
Tuxtla Gutierrez Children's Museum by C Cúbica Arquitectos. Photograph by Jaime Navarro Soto.
Tuxtla Gutierrez Children's Museum by C Cúbica Arquitectos. Photograph by Jaime Navarro Soto.
Children's City by Aleph Zero + Rosenbaum. Photography by Cristobal Palma
Children Village - Fundação Bradesco, Tocantins, Brazil by Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero. Photograph by Leonardo Finotti.
Children Village - Fundação Bradesco, Tocantins, Brazil by Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero. Photograph by Leonardo Finotti.
Design of a new elementary school in Montévrain, Louis de Vion school group by Vincent Parreira. Photograph by © Luc Boegly.
Design of a new elementary school in Montévrain, Louis de Vion school group by Vincent Parreira. Photograph by © Luc Boegly.
Design of a new elementary school in Montévrain, Louis de Vion school group by Vincent Parreira. Photograph by © Luc Boegly.
Lolly Laputan Fairyland Premium Kids Café by Wutopia Lab. Photograph by CreatAR Images.
Lolly Laputan Fairyland Premium Kids Café by Wutopia Lab. Photograph by CreatAR Images.
Lolly Laputan Fairyland Premium Kids Café by Wutopia Lab. Photograph by CreatAR Images.
Polycarbonate Neverland. Aranya Kid's restaurant by Wutopia Lab. Photograph by CreatAR Images.
Polycarbonate Neverland. Aranya Kid's restaurant by Wutopia Lab. Photograph by CreatAR Images.
Polycarbonate Neverland. Aranya Kid's restaurant by Wutopia Lab. Photograph by CreatAR Images.
Kindergarten by COBE. Photograph by © Rasmus Hjortshøj.
Kindergarten by COBE. Photograph by © Adam Mørk.
Kindergarten by COBE. Photograph by © Rasmus Hjortshøj.
LILY by WAO. Photograph by Sergio Grazia.
LILY by WAO. Photograph by Sergio Grazia.
LILY by WAO. Photograph by Sergio Grazia.
Many architects and designers throughout history have developed this type of architecture for children, such as the designer Alma Siedhoff-Buscher of the Bauhaus, or the Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck.
Siedhoff-Buscher developed research into children's pedagogy and designed furniture and toys for children, the most significant of her projects being the "nursery" of the model house "Haus am Horn" in 1923. While van Eyck reclaimed urban spaces after the war with "playgrounds" that nurtured children's imagination and gave them a space in the city.
In this article we have compiled 12 children's architecture projects that use strategies that take children into account and adapt to their needs, awakening their curiosity and interacting with them in a pedagogical but fun way. This article presents projects by the following architects and studios: MGM Arquitectos, El equipo Mazzanti, ARX Portugal, C Cúbica Arquitectos, Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero, AAVP, Wutopia Lab, COBE, and WAO.
1. Integrating the sense of community. Nursey School BVMI by MGM Arquitectos
The project by MGM Arquitectos, located in Seville, focuses on building a nursery school, reforming the pathologies of the existing classrooms, and creating an area of access and separation from the existing school.
MGM Arquitectos defines a functional program of several classrooms organized around a eucalyptus tree, where all the classrooms face each other and create an outdoor play area. In addition, the classrooms have doors with access to the playground creating a labyrinth structure, with the pedagogical intention of relating knowledge, research, participation, and strategy planning, individually and/or collectively.
The structure has been a fundamental element in the configuration of the project, it has been designed as play furniture in itself, which at the same time provides a great unity to the whole of the roof.
2. A learning and playing building itself. Renovation and extension of the Helvetia School by El equipo Mazzanti
El equipo Mazzanti has designed the refurbishment and extension of the Helvetia School, considered an Asset of National Cultural Interest, which was founded in 1954 by the Swiss community in Bogotá.
The premise of El equipo Mazzanti is to respond to new forms of teaching, designing a playful learning device, where the architecture serves as a third teacher, while at the same time seeking to be respectful of the original building. To this end, they create an English courtyard by sinking one level and organize the project into two wings, a smaller one for primary school and a longer one for secondary school.
The project is a spatial instrument based on discontinuity and the appearance of meeting subspaces, seeking the greatest spatial diversity that will awaken the children's curiosity and invite them to discover their emotions, opening windows for learning and stimulating the processes of cognitive bodily development, using the empty space as an instrument for play.
3. Modules and patterns of association in educational architecture. 21 Atlántico Kindergartens by El Equipo Mazzanti
In the project 21 preschools in Atlántico, El Equipo Mazzanti develops a design proposal for twenty-one projects in different urban and semi-urban locations in the northern city of Atlántico, in Colombia. In this project, the architecture hopes to become a prototype of educational needs coverage, social change, inclusion, and urban revitalization, through the use of public space as a community meeting point and a point of reference for the people.
As the main objective, El equipo Mazzanti proposes an educational architecture designed like an organism capable of changing and adapting to new forms of teaching, as well as to the relationships between students, their families, and the community.
El equipo Mazzanti implements open and adaptive systems, through modules that adjust their constructive strategy according to the conditions of each of the kindergartens, adapting to different topographical, urban, social, or programmatic situations. In this way, it manages to develop buildings that relate to the geography and topography where they are inserted.
4. Educational park of Marinilla by El Equipo Mazzanti
The Marinilla Educational Park is designed by El Equipo de Mazzanti as a meeting place around learning as a natural habit of knowledge construction, through dialogue and exchange between its visitors, the built environment, and the surrounding natural landscape.
The aim of El Equipo Mazzanti is for the Marinilla Educational Park to be more than a building, and to become a public space in itself. To achieve this, they propose a building of permeable materiality, with prefabricated panels of expanded mesh, transforming the building into a semi-open space, in constant contact with the exterior.
In addition, with this project, El equipo Mazzanti seeks to make known, promote and preserve the cultural identity of the Paisa community. The building is conceived as a network of unfinished spaces, with the capacity to connect to similar pieces and thus expand its impact on an urban level.
5. Two opposite building typologies. Redbridge School in Lisbon by ARX Portugal
Redbridge is a new international school located in the heart of Lisbon. In this project ARX Portugal had an ambitious challenge, both in terms of the location of the site and the pedagogical aspect, to create an innovative school with a human approach, promoting creativity, the joy of learning, and openness to international multilingual exchange.
ARX Portugal proposes two opposing building typologies and unifies them through a wooden structural system. To the north, it proposes the main building, an urban and longitudinal four-story building that houses the school's main program.
To the south, it proposes a low pavilion that houses kindergarten classrooms and a small administrative and teachers' space. The organic form of this pavilion seeks to define an environment of symbiosis between the building and nature, through its concave facades resulting from the location of existing trees and a set of proposed new trees.
6. Tuxtla Gutiérrez Children's Museum by C Cúbica Arquitectos
The Tuxtla Gutiérrez Children's Museum is a sustainable project with great social impact, designed by C Cúbica Arquitectos, and its unique architecture is based on the reinterpretation of the orography of the state of Chiapas, where it is located.
The Tuxtla Gutiérrez Children's Museum aims to promote values in Chiapas children through educational activities that encourage respect for the natural and cultural biodiversity of the state, seeking to create a meaningful learning experience.
C Cúbica Arquitectos reduced costs in all aspects of the building, making efficient use of national materials. In addition, aspects of sustainable architecture were taken into account to reduce the building's energy consumption.
7. RIBA International Emerging Architect for Children Village by Aleph Zero
The Children's Housing - Fundação Bradesco, designed by Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero, is a residential project that complements an educational program, located in the vastness of the Brazilian tropical savannah, in Formoso do Araguaia, Brazil. The project is inspired by the place, the indigenous beauty, and their knowledge, seeking to rescue the local culture.
Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero proposes an organization in villages for the new residence, based on the need to add value to the existing complex and encourage a sense of belonging for the students of the Canuanã school. The architects' design, together with the students, a series of interactive complementary programs to improve the quality of life and strengthen the bond between the students and the school, thus demystifying the school as a single learning space and adding a layer of homelike value to it.
The proposed new villages aim to increase children's self-esteem through the use of local techniques, creating a bridge between vernacular techniques and a new model of sustainable housing.
8. Design of a new Elementary School in France by Vincent Parreira
The Louis de Vion school complex, designed by AAVP, is located in a vague setting in Montévrain, Paris. AAVP organizes the complex as a small miniature city, a school village.
The exterior void pushes the project towards the proposed interior squares, where transparencies and courtyards are implemented to organize the educational program. Once the child crosses the threshold of this school complex, he or she enters a different world, evoking, with its materiality, troglodyte houses, vernacular architecture, the complex becomes a place of play and refuge for children.
In the Louis de Vion school complex, AAVP aimed to encourage and develop children's curiosity through architecture, and a first encounter with the mysteries of the world.
9. Lolly Laputan Fairyland Kids Premium Kids Café by Wutopia Lab
Fairyland Premium Kids Café, designed by Wutopia Lab, is the first educational family restaurant in China, the client wanted children to be able to enjoy learning and be entertained at the same time.
Wutopia Lab was inspired by a drawing of a "fairyland dream" by one of the daughters of a team member. Through this educational café for children, Wutopia Lab wanted to make fairyland a reality, allowing more children to enjoy this dream come true.
The Cloudy Town forms the central space of the children's wonderland. In this space, they can enjoy the Ocean of Clouds made of acrylic, with treehouses, slides, and a ball pool, alternating with dining rooms and lounges immersed in a fantasy aesthetic, which manages to entertain both children and adults.
10. Polycarbonate Neverland. Aranya Kid's Restaurant by Wutopia Lab
Wutopia Lab designs 'Neverland', a restaurant for children that arises from the renovation of a part of the Aranya clubhouse in China.
Wutopia Lab proposes the use of translucent materials in combination with diffuse lighting, creating an experience in which the sense of texture, scale, and direction is lost in this space. The children's restaurant becomes a polycarbonate Neverland, the original façade is wrapped in polycarbonate panels, blending prairie village style with contemporary Art Deco, creating a new translucent façade.
At the edge of the main space, there are baths of different colors and sounds, a pool mirror, a stainless steel slide, a trampoline, a bubble tree, and a mysterious picture book area, these spaces are a series of hidden corners in this "unknown land" that Wutopia Lab hopes children will discover for themselves.
11. Kindergarten by COBE
The Danish studio COBE designed an integrated kindergarten in a historic area of Copenhagen, Denmark. The garden consists of five small units, up to three stories high, unified constructively by vertical louvered facades and green roofs.
From the outside, the kindergarten looks like a small city for children, inside, it is coherent and efficient. COBE creates a small, compact and exciting space for children, which is at the same time functional and flexible in its everyday use.
Siedhoff-Buscher developed research into children's pedagogy and designed furniture and toys for children, the most significant of her projects being the "nursery" of the model house "Haus am Horn" in 1923. While van Eyck reclaimed urban spaces after the war with "playgrounds" that nurtured children's imagination and gave them a space in the city.
In this article we have compiled 12 children's architecture projects that use strategies that take children into account and adapt to their needs, awakening their curiosity and interacting with them in a pedagogical but fun way. This article presents projects by the following architects and studios: MGM Arquitectos, El equipo Mazzanti, ARX Portugal, C Cúbica Arquitectos, Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero, AAVP, Wutopia Lab, COBE, and WAO.
1. Integrating the sense of community. Nursey School BVMI by MGM Arquitectos
The project by MGM Arquitectos, located in Seville, focuses on building a nursery school, reforming the pathologies of the existing classrooms, and creating an area of access and separation from the existing school.
MGM Arquitectos defines a functional program of several classrooms organized around a eucalyptus tree, where all the classrooms face each other and create an outdoor play area. In addition, the classrooms have doors with access to the playground creating a labyrinth structure, with the pedagogical intention of relating knowledge, research, participation, and strategy planning, individually and/or collectively.
The structure has been a fundamental element in the configuration of the project, it has been designed as play furniture in itself, which at the same time provides a great unity to the whole of the roof.
2. A learning and playing building itself. Renovation and extension of the Helvetia School by El equipo Mazzanti
El equipo Mazzanti has designed the refurbishment and extension of the Helvetia School, considered an Asset of National Cultural Interest, which was founded in 1954 by the Swiss community in Bogotá.
The premise of El equipo Mazzanti is to respond to new forms of teaching, designing a playful learning device, where the architecture serves as a third teacher, while at the same time seeking to be respectful of the original building. To this end, they create an English courtyard by sinking one level and organize the project into two wings, a smaller one for primary school and a longer one for secondary school.
The project is a spatial instrument based on discontinuity and the appearance of meeting subspaces, seeking the greatest spatial diversity that will awaken the children's curiosity and invite them to discover their emotions, opening windows for learning and stimulating the processes of cognitive bodily development, using the empty space as an instrument for play.
3. Modules and patterns of association in educational architecture. 21 Atlántico Kindergartens by El Equipo Mazzanti
In the project 21 preschools in Atlántico, El Equipo Mazzanti develops a design proposal for twenty-one projects in different urban and semi-urban locations in the northern city of Atlántico, in Colombia. In this project, the architecture hopes to become a prototype of educational needs coverage, social change, inclusion, and urban revitalization, through the use of public space as a community meeting point and a point of reference for the people.
As the main objective, El equipo Mazzanti proposes an educational architecture designed like an organism capable of changing and adapting to new forms of teaching, as well as to the relationships between students, their families, and the community.
El equipo Mazzanti implements open and adaptive systems, through modules that adjust their constructive strategy according to the conditions of each of the kindergartens, adapting to different topographical, urban, social, or programmatic situations. In this way, it manages to develop buildings that relate to the geography and topography where they are inserted.
4. Educational park of Marinilla by El Equipo Mazzanti
The Marinilla Educational Park is designed by El Equipo de Mazzanti as a meeting place around learning as a natural habit of knowledge construction, through dialogue and exchange between its visitors, the built environment, and the surrounding natural landscape.
The aim of El Equipo Mazzanti is for the Marinilla Educational Park to be more than a building, and to become a public space in itself. To achieve this, they propose a building of permeable materiality, with prefabricated panels of expanded mesh, transforming the building into a semi-open space, in constant contact with the exterior.
In addition, with this project, El equipo Mazzanti seeks to make known, promote and preserve the cultural identity of the Paisa community. The building is conceived as a network of unfinished spaces, with the capacity to connect to similar pieces and thus expand its impact on an urban level.
5. Two opposite building typologies. Redbridge School in Lisbon by ARX Portugal
Redbridge is a new international school located in the heart of Lisbon. In this project ARX Portugal had an ambitious challenge, both in terms of the location of the site and the pedagogical aspect, to create an innovative school with a human approach, promoting creativity, the joy of learning, and openness to international multilingual exchange.
ARX Portugal proposes two opposing building typologies and unifies them through a wooden structural system. To the north, it proposes the main building, an urban and longitudinal four-story building that houses the school's main program.
To the south, it proposes a low pavilion that houses kindergarten classrooms and a small administrative and teachers' space. The organic form of this pavilion seeks to define an environment of symbiosis between the building and nature, through its concave facades resulting from the location of existing trees and a set of proposed new trees.
6. Tuxtla Gutiérrez Children's Museum by C Cúbica Arquitectos
The Tuxtla Gutiérrez Children's Museum is a sustainable project with great social impact, designed by C Cúbica Arquitectos, and its unique architecture is based on the reinterpretation of the orography of the state of Chiapas, where it is located.
The Tuxtla Gutiérrez Children's Museum aims to promote values in Chiapas children through educational activities that encourage respect for the natural and cultural biodiversity of the state, seeking to create a meaningful learning experience.
C Cúbica Arquitectos reduced costs in all aspects of the building, making efficient use of national materials. In addition, aspects of sustainable architecture were taken into account to reduce the building's energy consumption.
7. RIBA International Emerging Architect for Children Village by Aleph Zero
The Children's Housing - Fundação Bradesco, designed by Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero, is a residential project that complements an educational program, located in the vastness of the Brazilian tropical savannah, in Formoso do Araguaia, Brazil. The project is inspired by the place, the indigenous beauty, and their knowledge, seeking to rescue the local culture.
Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero proposes an organization in villages for the new residence, based on the need to add value to the existing complex and encourage a sense of belonging for the students of the Canuanã school. The architects' design, together with the students, a series of interactive complementary programs to improve the quality of life and strengthen the bond between the students and the school, thus demystifying the school as a single learning space and adding a layer of homelike value to it.
The proposed new villages aim to increase children's self-esteem through the use of local techniques, creating a bridge between vernacular techniques and a new model of sustainable housing.
8. Design of a new Elementary School in France by Vincent Parreira
The Louis de Vion school complex, designed by AAVP, is located in a vague setting in Montévrain, Paris. AAVP organizes the complex as a small miniature city, a school village.
The exterior void pushes the project towards the proposed interior squares, where transparencies and courtyards are implemented to organize the educational program. Once the child crosses the threshold of this school complex, he or she enters a different world, evoking, with its materiality, troglodyte houses, vernacular architecture, the complex becomes a place of play and refuge for children.
In the Louis de Vion school complex, AAVP aimed to encourage and develop children's curiosity through architecture, and a first encounter with the mysteries of the world.
9. Lolly Laputan Fairyland Kids Premium Kids Café by Wutopia Lab
Fairyland Premium Kids Café, designed by Wutopia Lab, is the first educational family restaurant in China, the client wanted children to be able to enjoy learning and be entertained at the same time.
Wutopia Lab was inspired by a drawing of a "fairyland dream" by one of the daughters of a team member. Through this educational café for children, Wutopia Lab wanted to make fairyland a reality, allowing more children to enjoy this dream come true.
The Cloudy Town forms the central space of the children's wonderland. In this space, they can enjoy the Ocean of Clouds made of acrylic, with treehouses, slides, and a ball pool, alternating with dining rooms and lounges immersed in a fantasy aesthetic, which manages to entertain both children and adults.
10. Polycarbonate Neverland. Aranya Kid's Restaurant by Wutopia Lab
Wutopia Lab designs 'Neverland', a restaurant for children that arises from the renovation of a part of the Aranya clubhouse in China.
Wutopia Lab proposes the use of translucent materials in combination with diffuse lighting, creating an experience in which the sense of texture, scale, and direction is lost in this space. The children's restaurant becomes a polycarbonate Neverland, the original façade is wrapped in polycarbonate panels, blending prairie village style with contemporary Art Deco, creating a new translucent façade.
At the edge of the main space, there are baths of different colors and sounds, a pool mirror, a stainless steel slide, a trampoline, a bubble tree, and a mysterious picture book area, these spaces are a series of hidden corners in this "unknown land" that Wutopia Lab hopes children will discover for themselves.
11. Kindergarten by COBE
The Danish studio COBE designed an integrated kindergarten in a historic area of Copenhagen, Denmark. The garden consists of five small units, up to three stories high, unified constructively by vertical louvered facades and green roofs.
From the outside, the kindergarten looks like a small city for children, inside, it is coherent and efficient. COBE creates a small, compact and exciting space for children, which is at the same time functional and flexible in its everyday use.
"With this project, we wanted to create a world class day care center. A place that gives the best possible environment for our children to grow up in, and which promotes children’s learning and creativity. Located in a historic area of Copenhagen consisting mainly of nursing homes and senior housing, we have been very aware of ensuring a coherence between the historical area and the new build. From being a last destination for many people’s long lives, the area is now also a place where children grow up and start their lives"
Dan Stubbergaard, founder and Creative Director of COBE.
12. Jumping on water. LILY by WAO
WAO has designed LILY, a floating structure in Poitiers, France. In LILY, WAO proposes an alternative and flexible architecture that offers a playful and sensorial experience, temporarily transforming the central lake of Futuroscope into a children's playground.
The LILY complex is made up of five giant buoys, which house trampolines, fun places for jumping or lounging in the sun. They are moored to a deck on which one can walk, contemplating the large white volumes in their relationship with the water.
In this installation, WAO combines manufacturing with technological innovation, which allowed for a short production and assembly period.
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José Morales, Juan González Mariscal, Sara de Giles Dubois. MGM Arquitectos
MGM Arquitectos, Morales Giles Mariscal Arquitectos, is an architecture studio founded by José Morales and Juan González Mariscal in 1987. In 1998 Sara de Giles Dubois joined the studio as a new partner. It was in 2004 when the firm acquired the name Morales de Giles Arquitectos SL.
The firm's work has been carried out mainly on the basis of important awards in conceptual competitions. The projects have been developed looking for quality solutions at each stage, a strong coherence between all aspects of the project and a particular attention to details obtained through absolute control of materials and technological solutions.
Their works have been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2000, 2002 and 2006; at the ON-SITE: New Architecture in Spain exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA); and in the biennial of Spanish architecture in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2007 and 2009.
As for prizes, they have been awarded numerous prizes, among which are: The International Spanish Architecture Prize 2017, The Spanish Architecture Prize 2013, finalist in the Mies van der Rohe Prize in 2001 and 2009, first prize in the AIT Awards 2012 and 2014, Awarded in 2016 in the XIII Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism as well as in the X Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism.
José Morales is a Professor in the Department of Architectural Projects at the University of Seville since 2004. He founded the architecture studio MGM Morales, Giles, Mariscal in 1987.
He has been a visiting professor at various universities, including: Technnische Universitat de Berlín (Germany), Universidad Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona (Spain), Escola da Cidade. Sao Paulo. (Brazil), School of Architecture of Nancy (France), University of Montevideo, (Uruguay), University of Navarra ETSA of Pamplona (Spain); Ecole d ’architecture de Paris Val de Seine (France), University of Applied Sciences Hochschule de Bochum (Germany).
He has been curator of the XIV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism together with Sara de Giles.
Sara de Giles Dubois is a PhD architect and Professor of Architectural Projects at the ETSA in Seville since 1998. Since then she has shared an architecture studio with José Morales, as a main partner, at MGM Arquitectos.
She has been a visiting professor and lecturer at various universities, including: International University of Catalonia, Barcelona, ENSA Paris Val de Seine (France). Escola da Cidade. Sao Paulo. (Brazil), Ryerson University, Toronto (Canada), University of Montevideo, (Uruguay), University of Applied Sciences Hochschule de Bochum (Germany), USAT de Chiclayo (Peru), School of Architecture of Cuenca (Ecuador).
She has been curator of the XIV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism together with José Morales.
The firm's work has been carried out mainly on the basis of important awards in conceptual competitions. The projects have been developed looking for quality solutions at each stage, a strong coherence between all aspects of the project and a particular attention to details obtained through absolute control of materials and technological solutions.
Their works have been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2000, 2002 and 2006; at the ON-SITE: New Architecture in Spain exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA); and in the biennial of Spanish architecture in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2007 and 2009.
As for prizes, they have been awarded numerous prizes, among which are: The International Spanish Architecture Prize 2017, The Spanish Architecture Prize 2013, finalist in the Mies van der Rohe Prize in 2001 and 2009, first prize in the AIT Awards 2012 and 2014, Awarded in 2016 in the XIII Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism as well as in the X Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism.
José Morales is a Professor in the Department of Architectural Projects at the University of Seville since 2004. He founded the architecture studio MGM Morales, Giles, Mariscal in 1987.
He has been a visiting professor at various universities, including: Technnische Universitat de Berlín (Germany), Universidad Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona (Spain), Escola da Cidade. Sao Paulo. (Brazil), School of Architecture of Nancy (France), University of Montevideo, (Uruguay), University of Navarra ETSA of Pamplona (Spain); Ecole d ’architecture de Paris Val de Seine (France), University of Applied Sciences Hochschule de Bochum (Germany).
He has been curator of the XIV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism together with Sara de Giles.
Sara de Giles Dubois is a PhD architect and Professor of Architectural Projects at the ETSA in Seville since 1998. Since then she has shared an architecture studio with José Morales, as a main partner, at MGM Arquitectos.
She has been a visiting professor and lecturer at various universities, including: International University of Catalonia, Barcelona, ENSA Paris Val de Seine (France). Escola da Cidade. Sao Paulo. (Brazil), Ryerson University, Toronto (Canada), University of Montevideo, (Uruguay), University of Applied Sciences Hochschule de Bochum (Germany), USAT de Chiclayo (Peru), School of Architecture of Cuenca (Ecuador).
She has been curator of the XIV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism together with José Morales.
Giancarlo Mazzanti
Giancarlo Mazzanti (1963, Barranquill, Colombia) is the director of El Equipo de Mazzanti. He studied Architecture at University of Javeriana in Bogotá, 1987, with PhD in History and Theory in Architecture and Industrial Design, 1991, at University of Florence, Italy.
He has been professor at University of Javeriana, Andes and Tadeo Lozano in Bogotá. He has participated as speaker at University of Princeton, Pratt, Yale, Berkeley, Venize, Monterrey, Buenos Aires, Católica del Perú among others.
He has been awarded as winner of the XX Bienal Colombiana de Arquitectura in the public spaces category in 2006, in the Bienal Iberoamericana in the Best Architecture Building category in 2008 and in the Bienal Panamericana de Arquitectura in the architecture design category in 2008.
Nuno Mateus, José Mateus. ARX portugal
ARX Portugal, Founded in 1991 by Nuno Mateus e José Mateus. In 1993, ARX was the subject of the exhibition "Real Reality" which opened the cycle of Exhibitions of Architecture of CCB. Since then it has participated in numerous exhibitions. Highlights the Exhibition "ARX - Arquivo / Archive" at the Centro Cultural de Belém, inserted under the celebrations of its 20 years.
Nuno Mateus, graduated in Architecture from Faculdade de Arquitectura / Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (FAUTL) in 1984 and completed in 1987 the "Master of Science in Architecture and Building Design" at Columbia University in New York. Together with José Mateus, founded in 1991 ARX Portugal Arquitectos. Ph.D. in Architecture at Faculdade de Arquitetura / Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (FAUTL), 2013. Guest Associate Professor at Faculdade de Arquitetura / Universidade Técnica de Lisboa and at Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa. Was Director of the Department of Architecture of Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa between 2004 and 2007. Lecturer in several conferences on the work of ARX Portugal in Portugal and in several institutions around the world. Worked previously with Peter Eisenman in New York (1987-1991) and Daniel Libeskind in Berlin (1991).
José Mateus, graduated in Architecture from Faculdade de Arquitectura / Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (FAUTL) in 1986. Together with Nuno Mateus, founded in 1991 ARX Portugal Arquitectos. Guest Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), in Lisbon. Ph.D. candidate in Architecture at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). President of the Director's Board of Lisbon Architecture Triennale, was also Executive Director of the events Trienal 2007 and Trienal 2010. Is also currently a member of Babel’s Editorial Board and a member of the Experts Group of the advisory board to the Art in the Lisbon’s Public Space. Was President of the Southern Regional Assembly of the Ordem dos Arquitectos (2008-2010), as well as Vice President of the Direction of the same Regional Section (2005-2007). Was Author/Coordinator of the magazine Linha (Architecture, Design and Landscape) of the weekly newspaper Expresso. Was also author/coordinator of the two television series Tempo & Traço for SIC Notícias Channel. Lecturer in Portugal and in several institutuions around the world. He took part of the jury of the Architecture Prize of São Paulo Biennial in 2003, Europan Spain 2007, ArchiFad 2011 and Experts Board to European Prize for Urban Public Space 2012.
Arquitectos C·Cúbica
C·Cúbica Arquitectos, is a multidisciplinary firm founded in 1990 by the architects Emilio Cabrero, Andrea Cesarman and Marco Coello. The three are graduates of the Anahuac University and since their beginnings in professional activity 26 years ago, they have dedicated themselves jointly to the creation of architectural spaces. C Cubica was born as a channel of expression before the passion that, from the beginning, united them for architecture and functionality and harmony within it.
The creativity and aesthetic understanding of the office has been reflected in homes, residential complexes and mixed-use buildings, as well as in the conceptualization and promotion of projects of different types in the field of graphic design, industrial and corporate image.
The philosophy of C Cubic has been based on finding a balance between form and function in each of its projects.
In 2009, the firm founded Design Week Mexico, an annual event that celebrates and promotes Mexican architecture and design in the international arena. In 2015, in a collaboration with the government of Mexico City, Design Week México obtains the headquarters of World Design Capital for 2018. This type of event positions Mexico and the participants at the international level.
The creativity and aesthetic understanding of the office has been reflected in homes, residential complexes and mixed-use buildings, as well as in the conceptualization and promotion of projects of different types in the field of graphic design, industrial and corporate image.
The philosophy of C Cubic has been based on finding a balance between form and function in each of its projects.
In 2009, the firm founded Design Week Mexico, an annual event that celebrates and promotes Mexican architecture and design in the international arena. In 2015, in a collaboration with the government of Mexico City, Design Week México obtains the headquarters of World Design Capital for 2018. This type of event positions Mexico and the participants at the international level.
Gustavo Utrabo - Pedro Duschenes. Aleph Zero
Aleph Zero was established in Curitiba by Gustavo Utrabo and Pedro Duschenes, the architectural firm Aleph Zero operates in areas ranging from furniture design, exhibitions, residential and commercial architecture to urban scale projects, for both public sector clients and the private sector. We seek for each project a unique atmosphere, formed through a collaborative process with artists, philosophers and specialized consultants. Since its foundation, Aleph Zero had its work recognized in national and international publications and awards.
About the name
According to Jose Luis Borges short story, the Aleph contains all possibilities, objects, and events, of past, present and future, from all perspectives, observable through a single point hidden in the attic of Carlos Argentino Daneri. It is the conformation of infinity, everything contained in an infinitesimal and recursive part, since the Aleph also contains an Aleph, which contains another Aleph, successively.
Zero is the invention of nothingness, the composition of the object does not exist, the perversion of numbers, it is the conformation of the void. Once reached it is so unstable, so close to doing rhizome that soon connects itself and acquires value. The zero is the minimum factor of possibility for all other things.
In set theory of Georg Cantor (1845-1918) Aleph is the letter used to denote the size (cardinality) of infinite sets. Aleph Zero is the first infinite cardinal, in which are included the prime numbers, integers, rational numbers, algebraic numbers, finite binary strings and finite subsets of any countable infinite.
Aleph Zero represents, conceptually, the differentiation of the infinite, of the indefinite, the possibility of making comparable what is immeasurable, to conform emptiness, potential for all events. More than void and infinity by themselves, we are interested in the different ways in which concepts can be decomposed and recomposed in general.
To us, Philosophy, Art, Literature, and Architecture itself, take part in a constant pursuit for distinct elements that intensify the critical reflection based on the understanding of reality, the capability to generate alternatives, and the pertinence of a certain desire to a specific place/time/culture.
There is no conformation a priori, instead, there is perversion. The design is understood as a process where dissonant forces are nourished and forced to collide, settling down new oblique ways which, therefore, are attacked and questioned, becoming after each cycle more consistent, until the moment when they begin to converge towards a common direction, consonant with the initially (re)imagined concept-desire.
About the name
According to Jose Luis Borges short story, the Aleph contains all possibilities, objects, and events, of past, present and future, from all perspectives, observable through a single point hidden in the attic of Carlos Argentino Daneri. It is the conformation of infinity, everything contained in an infinitesimal and recursive part, since the Aleph also contains an Aleph, which contains another Aleph, successively.
Zero is the invention of nothingness, the composition of the object does not exist, the perversion of numbers, it is the conformation of the void. Once reached it is so unstable, so close to doing rhizome that soon connects itself and acquires value. The zero is the minimum factor of possibility for all other things.
In set theory of Georg Cantor (1845-1918) Aleph is the letter used to denote the size (cardinality) of infinite sets. Aleph Zero is the first infinite cardinal, in which are included the prime numbers, integers, rational numbers, algebraic numbers, finite binary strings and finite subsets of any countable infinite.
Aleph Zero represents, conceptually, the differentiation of the infinite, of the indefinite, the possibility of making comparable what is immeasurable, to conform emptiness, potential for all events. More than void and infinity by themselves, we are interested in the different ways in which concepts can be decomposed and recomposed in general.
To us, Philosophy, Art, Literature, and Architecture itself, take part in a constant pursuit for distinct elements that intensify the critical reflection based on the understanding of reality, the capability to generate alternatives, and the pertinence of a certain desire to a specific place/time/culture.
There is no conformation a priori, instead, there is perversion. The design is understood as a process where dissonant forces are nourished and forced to collide, settling down new oblique ways which, therefore, are attacked and questioned, becoming after each cycle more consistent, until the moment when they begin to converge towards a common direction, consonant with the initially (re)imagined concept-desire.
VINCENT PARREIRA
Vincent Parreira was born in the summer of 1969, last academic degree earned in 1995 at the UPA-Paris La Villette, he settles his office aavp architecture in Paris in 2000. Then architecture becomes for him a acquisition tool, a support for expression, for cultural and social involvement, for political participation, always without compromise. From the memory of places, from territory complexity and beauty, to people’s life practicing architecture can’t be done without love and rage.
Yu Ting Wutopia Lab Architects
Wutopia Lab is founded by the chief architect Yu Ting in Shanghai, which is an architecture company based on a new paradigm of complex system. Wutopia Lab regards Shanghai's culture and life style as a starting point, using architecture as a tool to promote sociological progress within building practice. Wutopia Lab focuses on human and is dedicated to link different aspects of urban life: traditional, daily and cultural to interpret Urbanian lifestyle, and to develop acontemporary Chinese aesthetic based on Shanghai.
While facing each project, Wutopia Lab's practices are promoted to show different innovative strategies, thinking modes and forms. Wutopia Lab is committed to comprehensive design, not only to complete the concept and deepen of buildings, but also focuses on early planning and analysis along with landscape and interior design. Wutopia Lab also has the capacity to coordinate and collaborate different types of departments and on-site construction.
While facing each project, Wutopia Lab's practices are promoted to show different innovative strategies, thinking modes and forms. Wutopia Lab is committed to comprehensive design, not only to complete the concept and deepen of buildings, but also focuses on early planning and analysis along with landscape and interior design. Wutopia Lab also has the capacity to coordinate and collaborate different types of departments and on-site construction.
DAN STUBBERGAARD. COBE
COBE is a limited liability company owned by Founder and Creative Director Dan Stubbergaard. COBE is a progressive and contemporary community of architects that focuses on architecture and design – from buildings to public space, to large scale urban planning. In 2005 Dan Stubbergaard and Vanessa Miriam Carlow founded COBE. The name COBE is derived from the two cities the founders are coming from - COpenhagen and BErlin. Since its establishment, COBE has gained international recognition through the realization of beautiful and innovative projects.
Today, COBE is two separate companies - one seated in Copenhagen (COBE ApS headed by Dan Stubbergaard), and one in Berlin (COBE Berlin GmbH headed by Prof. Dr. Vanessa Miriam Carlow). The two offices have shared a number of projects in the past, and apart from developing projects individually, they continue to share and collaborate on selected projects - also in the future.
COBE is situated in a refurbished warehouse centrally located on the Copenhagen harbor front, and currently employs approximately 50 dedicated architects, urban planners and administrative staff of different nationalities.
COBE is run by a management team consisting of Dan Stubbergaard and a core team of Project and Administration Managers. Together, they are responsible for the company’s overall development and strategic long-term goals.
All projects are developed in project teams, made up of a mix of senior and junior architects, which are led by a Project Manager. Cross-disciplinary teamwork is central in our working method and each project team cooperates with a wide range of external experts in order to obtain the best opportunities and potential towards finding innovative solutions in each particular project.
Selected awards.-
[2012] Nykredit’s Architecture Prize. Nykredit Foundation.
MIPIM Award - Best Refurbished Building. The Library Marché International des Professionnels de l'Immobilier.
[2011] Copenhagen Award for Architecture - Best Public Building. The Library. City of Copenhagen.
[2006] The Golden Lion. Best National Pavilion. International Venice Biennale of Architecture.
Wild Architectural Objects WAO
WAO was created in 2017 by Irina Cristea, David Joulin and Grégoire Zündel. All WAO projects were built with TP Arquitectura, specialist in temporary structures, represented by Anton and Adria Miserachs.
