Architects and studios including Francesc Muñoz, Raphael Zuber, MAIO, DOGMA, TEd’A, Piovene Fabi, Bosshard Vaquer and De Vylder Vinck Taillieu shared their experience in the main lecture hall.

Geographer Francesc Muñoz opened this year’s cycle with his lecture “Pantone Landscapes”, which delved into the hypothesis of “urbanalization”, which he first suggested a few years back. This concept, Muñoz explained, remains in effect today and can be seen in what he calls the “copy & paste urbanism” on display in cities’ historic centres; the expanses of water and of glass towers at waterfronts; the commercial streets and the areas around airports. In an later interview he argued that “we need the complete antithesis of nostalgia. A good diagnosis would be to confront and contemplate not the city that we want to have, but the city that we do have, not the city that we had before, but the city that we have now”.

Notable Swiss architect Raphael Zuber gave an overview of his own work in his lecture “111”. His oeuvre clearly demonstrates his way of dealing with architecture based on the concept and study of geometric simplicity. For Zuber, there is never a single idea for a single project: the process is always a confluence of many different aspects and influences.

The newly formed Catalan MAIO studio also contributed to the cycle with their lecture “Not Here, Not Now.” They used their own projects to argue that architecture cannot be understood in isolation, but rather must be considered as part of a whole, of a broader and more complex cultural and social network. “We’re not interested in things as they are, but in things as they have the potential to become. As for provocation in relation to time, we don’t understand things as having a fenced-in time. We’re more interested in the process they undergo over the years”, they said.

Pier Vittorio Aureli, one of the founders of the DOGMA studio, gave the lecture “Living/working: How to live together”. His research focuses on the relationship between architectural form, political theory and urban history.

According to the Majorcan studio TEd’A, which gave the lecture “Habitual”, architecture can only remain a relevant discipline on a social and artistic level through understanding of and reflection on the past. Jaume Mayol, a member studio, said “I’ve never been interested in this exceptionality of the day to day. I believe that the most interesting thing about human beings is that which becomes habit with time. These mundane, calm things are what I prefer.”

The Italian architects from Piovene Fabi presented “Triangles”, a journey through their work that connected projects of different scales and in different contexts. Based on their experience, they asserted that “things work if you think on every level at the same time”.

The founders of the Catalan/Swiss studio Booshard Vaquer talked about their own unique way of approaching architecture. The main characteristic of their work is the way in which they transform pre-existing work.

The Belgian studio De Vylder Vinck Taillieu gave the final lecture. They used their work to illuminate the importance of having a critical vision of the architect’s social responsibility and they way that this vision is a tool for moving beyond individual projects.

The Foros ESARQ Cycle is both a subject designed to encourage debate on the reality of architecture and a series of conferences that are open to the public. The different viewpoints it presents allow students to formulate their own understanding of the concept of architecture. 

The cycle, “A Matter of Things”, was directed by Jorge Vidal, who led this year’s reflection on how architects work in the urban context. Vidal said, “Everything we work on is a matter of things. Relationships or contradictions are established between them and it is this set of relationships, exhibited in a particular place and at a particular moment in time, that comprise what we know as ‘architecture’. We are calling for an architecture that develops with attention to the qualities of the environment that we all share, an architecture that creates a meeting point and a place of discovery. We are calling for a process where we find human commitment and the condition of architecture behind every project.”

All of last year’s lectures can be seen on the School of Architecture's Vimeo channel. Videos of this year’s lectures will be available beginning in September.