On 9 February, the UIC Barcelona Aula Magna lecture theatre hosted the inaugural session of the series of lectures, Foros 2022. The lecture titled “The dissolution of functional typology” featured architect Rosa Rull, founding partner of the studio Bailo Rull Arquitectura – + ADD Arquitectura, and Luis Basabe, founding partner of the architecture and urban planning studio Arenas Basabe Palacios Arquitectos. The session was moderated by lecturer Iñigo Ugalde from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture. 

Lecturer Juan Trias de Bes, director of this year’s series of lectures, welcomed the two guest speakers and presented the objective of the programme to students. “Foros 2022 seeks to generate awareness about architecture today and about where and how you can work professionally as architects in the future”, he said. 

Rosa Rull then gave a historical overview of the evolution of housing typologies in Europe from the industrialisation of the late 19th century to the present day. “In the European context, most buildings retain the same urban elements as they did a century and a half ago and therefore there has been no substantial adaptation to the new socio-economic context, nor to our contemporary lifestyle”, she said. “We must bear in mind that by erecting a building we are shaping the urban landscape”, she emphasised.

Along these same lines, Luis Basabe, speaking of some his own projects, called for the need to evolve towards a more flexible architectural paradigm and introduced the concept of the liquid city, which involves understanding the city as a process of production of space to which, he assured, citizens must also have access. “Individualism is killing urbanity. The main question we have to ask ourselves is who is making architecture, and we strongly believe that people should have access to the production of the city”, he said.

Foros 2022 is organised under the theme “The leap into the void”. This new series calls for self-awareness regarding architecture today in its different aspects and fields of application. As a new feature, the lecture series is introducing a new format based on a two-way dialogue between professionals from the sector who partake in sessions structured by themes linked to current architectural practice and the challenges facing the sector.