BAQ XXIII. A reconciliation between project, theory, and academia
13/11/2022.
[Quito] Ecuador
metalocus, VERÓNICA ROSERO, ENRIQUE FERRERAS
metalocus, VERÓNICA ROSERO, ENRIQUE FERRERAS
Tomorrow, the Quito Pan-American Architecture Biennale 2022 begins. In this article, we review some of the expectations about this event that already has 23 editions. Under the title “Inflections. To see again” the BAQ XXIII proposes a contemporary reflection on the capacity for innovation and adaptation of architecture to transitions and crises. With keynote speakers such as Enrique Walker, Carme Pinós (day 1), Gustavo Utrabo (day 4), Martino Tattara from Dogma, and William Curtis (day 5), the event will take place between November 14 and 18 at Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana.
Assuming the current situation as a turning point, the initial approach doesn’t stand out for its novelty; however, it does stand out for its relevance. The recent pandemic (not yet overcome) highlighted the need for a disciplinary rethinking that reformulates the relationship between inhabitants and architecture, with special emphasis on the dwelling. Thus, in recent years reflections on everyday life, spatial (in)definition, and the need for collective meeting spaces have gained strength in the media.
However, it is important to consider that these issues cannot be addressed solely from a physical and/or functional approach. In this sense, it seems necessary that the debates have a broader and more complex perspective considering aspects intrinsic to their social interpretations. Incorporating these reflections neither mean losing the north (scope and limits) of the discipline nor the "loss of something substantial" (1). In fact, it rather helps to interpret it holistically.
Assuming the current situation as a turning point, the initial approach doesn’t stand out for its novelty; however, it does stand out for its relevance. The recent pandemic (not yet overcome) highlighted the need for a disciplinary rethinking that reformulates the relationship between inhabitants and architecture, with special emphasis on the dwelling. Thus, in recent years reflections on everyday life, spatial (in)definition, and the need for collective meeting spaces have gained strength in the media.
However, it is important to consider that these issues cannot be addressed solely from a physical and/or functional approach. In this sense, it seems necessary that the debates have a broader and more complex perspective considering aspects intrinsic to their social interpretations. Incorporating these reflections neither mean losing the north (scope and limits) of the discipline nor the "loss of something substantial" (1). In fact, it rather helps to interpret it holistically.
BAQ XXIII.
Martino Tattara and Pier Vitorio Aureli. Photograph courtesy of BAQ.
Carme Pinos. Photograph by Xavier Jubierre Busquets.
Gustavo Utrabo. Photograph courtesy of BAQ.
The last three editions (including this one) build a consistent ideological line, which is beginning to be fruitful by consolidating the synergistic relationship between academia, theory, and project, promoting critical and reflective debate on the proposed topics. This notion is reinforced by the continuity of a new volume that collects critical analyzes of architectural works (both local and international) prepared by universities and independent professionals. Although this catalog is not new; the real involvement of the local academy is a recent integration(2) that highlights the search for an intradisciplinary dialogue.
In this sense, the BAQ 2022 constitutes an evolution concerning other previous biennials that focused their agenda primarily on project presentations. This is how a change is observed, where the speakers combine designer architects, critics, and academics, reconciling the three traditional families of the discipline. This reconciliation is also observed in the hard categorization of some profiles that are characterized by a multifaceted exercise that establishes a bidirectional relationship between research and project.
The origin of the speakers and critics also marks a line of thought, integrating characters from Latin America, Asia, and Europe(3) with a broad and heterogeneous vision above localisms and biased visions that in recent years have built a superficial and stereotyped vision of Ecuadorian and Latin American architecture. Thus, the public should expect horizontal debates away from neo-populism and paternalism(4).
Therefore, BAQ 2022 attendees can expect a series of substantive debates, even though most of the invited profiles and projects to be exhibited, worked on these ideas in a pre-pandemic context. It is the task of BAQ 2022, with a program that emphasizes and grants a special place to the debate of a series of projects (including those of its speakers), to reflect on whether the proposals, whether theoretical or projectual approaches, were raised with a pertinent and coherent vision about the problems revealed in this crisis. A priori, it is highly probable that these discussions, rather than generating closed conclusions, constitute a contribution to a contemporary debate that is under construction and therefore unfinished.
Nevertheless, it is still a complex task. Architecture, as a social construct, and the result of time and space is subject to processes where the effects of the forced transitions to which it has been exposed historically are observed with greater perspective in the long term(5).
NOTES.-
1. As an example of this idea, José Juan Barba mentions that in the case of characters such as Tschumi "This conceptualization of architecture, despite its brilliance, has generated detractors, such as those who see in these approaches the loss of something substantial -such as the value of the physical part of architecture - or they think that these ideas leave in second place the references to the built context in front of the interaction of the individual, in front of the primacy of man.”
Barba, José Juan. 2019. CONGRESO ANYWAY. La ciudad de las ciudades. Barcelona: Fundación Arquia
2. In the last 3, the local academy was incorporated in a real way in the critical analysis of the academic catalogs. In previous years, the Academic Catalog was a kind of event proceeding with minor contributions from a small group of professionals.
3. The United States is indirectly present through the background and education of several speakers.
4. We recommend reviewing chapter 3 of the book “Crítica de Choque” by Fredy Massad, a keynote speaker present in the two previous Biennials (2018 and 2020).
5. This issue is highlighted, for example, in the book "X-ray Architecture", research that came to light in 2019 and was consolidated in 2021 even though it had its origin in 1980 when Beatriz Colomina assures that "there was not yet a climate for that type of research…” that proposed a close relationship between tuberculosis and architecture.
Barba, José Juan. 2019. CONGRESO ANYWAY. La ciudad de las ciudades. Barcelona: Fundación Arquia
2. In the last 3, the local academy was incorporated in a real way in the critical analysis of the academic catalogs. In previous years, the Academic Catalog was a kind of event proceeding with minor contributions from a small group of professionals.
3. The United States is indirectly present through the background and education of several speakers.
4. We recommend reviewing chapter 3 of the book “Crítica de Choque” by Fredy Massad, a keynote speaker present in the two previous Biennials (2018 and 2020).
5. This issue is highlighted, for example, in the book "X-ray Architecture", research that came to light in 2019 and was consolidated in 2021 even though it had its origin in 1980 when Beatriz Colomina assures that "there was not yet a climate for that type of research…” that proposed a close relationship between tuberculosis and architecture.
More information
Verónica Rosero
Verónica Rosero. (Quito - 1981) PhD in Architecture (Universidad de Alcalá, 2015) with the thesis "Demolition: the black hole of modernity", published by Editorial Diseño. Master in Architecture and City Projects (2009). International Doctorate Mention for research stays at the Delft University of Technology. Architect (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, 2006). She is currently an associate professor of Architectural Design and Final Degree Projects at the Universidad Central del Ecuador and Architectural Criticism at the Universidad de las Américas. External professor of the PhD in Architecture at the University of Alcalá. Central University Award 2019, indexed publications category, and BAQ XXIII Pan-American Award, printed books category. She has published in specialized magazines and given talks in Ecuador, Spain, France, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Mexico. Co-founder of I+D+A Architecture Studio with Néstor Llorca.
Enrique Ferreras
Enrique Ferreras. (1987) M.Arch at the University of Valladolid (2013). Ph.D. Candidate for the Ph.D. Architectural program at the University of Alcalá (2018- present). He is currently an associate professor in the areas of Architectural Design and History and Theory of Architecture at Universidad Internacional SEK (Quito, Ecuador). He combines his academic activity with his professional practice as an architectural designer. He has published articles and given talks at events such as the XXI Bienal de Arquitectura de Quito (panelist) or the XVII Seminario de Arquitectura Latinoamericana.
Categories
Our selection
