Architecture springs up again in the streets. Concéntrico 03

The path that Concéntrico proposes for visitors during the May bank holiday moves through locations in the old town of Logroño that are interpreted by the perspective of creators, who in many cases are not from the city, rediscovered through the festival as though it were another.

The proposal is completed with a series of conversations about architecture in Ibero-America that will take place in the third edition of Concéntrico with professionals from Chile, Brazil, Portugal and Spain thanks to the participation of Acción Cultural Españolathrough the Spanish Culture Internationalisation Program (PICE) in the visitor modality.

The Chilean architect Pola Mora, expert in architecture journalism and Master in Cultural Management through the University of Chile; the Brazilian researcher Brígida Campbell, author of the work on urban art Art for a sensitive city; her compatriot, the architect Pedro Rossi, coordinator of the Architecture and Town Planning courses in the Higher School of Paraíba; and the Portuguese architectLuis Fernandes, executive producer of Canal 180, the first public television channel which is completely dedicated to culture, art and creativity.

Nine creative teams.-
Among the creative teams that will participate in Concéntrico 03 is the Madrid architectural studioPicado de Blas with a table-height articulated centipede that will spend a few days interfering with movement through the secluded Plaza de San Bartolomé, suggesting that this is a space where anything that can possibly occur on a surface could take place: a market, a tasting, a covert meal…

The cloister of  the church of Santa María de Palacio, one of the most secluded spaces in the event as it is normally closed to the public, will host a piece by the Catalan designerGuillermo Santomà, an architect with international projection and author of the acclaimed Casa Horta in Barcelona: a fountain that the creator reconstructs as a fictitious element after the last restoration of the cloister that took place in the 80s.

The installations for some of the Concéntrico locations participated through public tender. This is the case of that which will occupy the square next to the only visible remains of the Revellín Wall, by DP Architects from Singapore that were inspired by the star product of this land for their winning proposal: a space that plays homage to Rioja wine through the wooden casks that are masterfully deconstructed by the Asian architects to wooden boards, rings and hoops, offering an interesting sensory experience.

The other work selected by the tender will serve as the ephemeral festival headquarters. Origami, the winning proposal from the Galician team led by the architect Manuel Bouzas, is paper full of folds and constructed with the festival material joined together using hinges. Interestingly, it is an idea that is much more oriental than that of the Singapore team, where the force of gravity does the rest of the work.

The French team Shalumo+Ma, from Bordeaux in representation of the Festival de Architectures Vives de Montpellier with which Concéntrico maintains an exchange, will be in the inner patio of the Public Library with the composition Topos, “place” in Greek, a topography that transforms the use of the space.

Three local teams have been selected to participate in this Architecture and Design Festival: that formed by the architects Domingo and Antonio García-Pozuelo, who, through modules, mirrors and reflections, construct alternative pathways through the Plaza de Santa Ana where the pedestrian can perceive the historical surroundings with panoramas of the so-called itinerary city; the Higher School of Design of the city participates with a group of students in an installation that is a tradition in the festival, that this year will be at Calado de San Gregorio, an experience rather than a space; and in the patio of Casa Farias, in Calle Mayor of the city and far from the current route of the same, will be the proposal by Arquitect, a multi-disciplinary studio of architects, surveyors, engineers and interior designers with local roots, that proposes an invented city in an area that has yet to be integrated.

A vineyard in the outskirts.-
The visitors to Concéntrico will have two opportunities to abandon the historical centre of Logroño in order to discover the outskirts of the city. Picnic is the name of the ephemeral architectural proposal by the young Catalan studio TAKK for one of the most interesting novelties of this edition: Viña Lanciano, the vineyard embraced by the meander drawn by the Ebro river near Logroño,where Bodegas LAN practices artisanal and sustainable viticulture will become, through a structure of milled wood in the shape of a round bed measuring five metres with an enclosure of six metres, in a space that is transparent to the landscape for meetings, sitting down, looking at one another, talking, drinking and eating.

The Wúrth Museum is the other excuse for discovering the outskirts. The unexpected Rioja headquarters of the German museum will host, thanks to the collaboration of Concéntrico with Istituto Europeo di Design, the exhibition called Chairs for..., a display of furniture created by the Product Design students of the IED Design School in Madrid. The chair, a mythical piece, showing its multiple uses: to think, read, isolate oneself, relax, play, socialise... The Concéntrico program in the Museum is completed by a round table on April 21st, ahead of the inauguration of the Festival, with the Medecorama collective, designers that have directed the exhibition works, and a Lamp Workshop on the 29th where the public will select a chair and learn first hand how a product is worked on, in this case a lamp, so that it is most adequate for the selected piece.

Concéntrico 03 is organised by the Cultural Foundation of La Rioja Architects (FCAR) together with Javier Peña Ibáñez, director of the initiative, in collaboration with the Town Hall of Logroño, Acción Cultural Española, Garnica, Government of La Rioja, Bodegas Lan, Würth Museum La Rioja, Istituto Europeo di Design and Goethe Institut.