On 30 September the Saló de Graus at UIC Barcelona hosted an extension to the 2019 Latin American Architecture Biennale (BAL) organised by the Association for Strategic Reflection on Architecture (AREA) in cooperation with Pamplona City Council, the Vasco-Navarro College of Architects, the University of Navarra, the Government of Navarra and the Ministry of Development. This event, held at UIC Barcelona, was organised by the assistant director of Institutional Relations at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Íñigo Ugalde.
The Peruvian studio Llona was in charge of opening the series of talks. Their representative, Michelle Llona, described some of the projects they are working on, among which an open catalogue including work representing the modern architectural movement in Peru particularly stands out. Subsequently there was a talk by architect Joao Paolo, a representative of the Brazilian studio OBRA Arquitetos, who described some of their projects, in which the organisation of the physical and sensorial optimisation of space through the use of various types of circulation. Horacio Cherniavsky then took the floor as a representative of the Paraguayan studio Equipo de Arquitectura, and underlined the value of vernacular architecture and working in cooperation with local artists. The Argentinian architect Luciano Intile, representative of IR Architecture studio, continued from there. Intile described some of his studio’s projects, based on setting up training workshops to involve local communities in constructive processes. The series of talks ended with Mexican architect Marcela González, who runs Oficio Taller studio. González, who has links with Barcelona due to the time he spent at the Carlos Ferrater studio as a student, underlined the importance of patios in his projects as well as taking advantage of shadows.
The BAU extension held at UIC Barcelona ended with a lecture by architect Nicolás Campodónico, who is a curator for the Bienal in the section representing his country, Argentina. In his lecture, Campodónico described five aspects that are necessary for architectural work and said that he always aims to incorporate them: light, space, material, location and time.
