On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona ring road, the Confederation of Architectural Project Workshops (CTPA), with the support of Barcelona Regional, is organising a hackathon on the weekend of 19 to 21 October which will bring together nearly five hundred architecture students from across Catalonia. Entitled “Un-covering Barcelona’s ring roads”, the event aims to foster creativity and reflection about an urban infrastructure which, since its construction, has been a backbone to the city of Barcelona. Architectural Design lecturers from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture will take part in this initiative alongside students from the School. The route includes a stop at UIC Barcelona on Sunday 21.
“This initiative puts Barcelona on a par with cities like Paris or Amsterdam which are reflecting on the future of their ring road systems. Despite ring roads being a reality in many European cities, these roads are being challenged since they do not resolve congestion, traffic reduction has only been short-lived in central areas and since they are practically exclusively designed for private vehicles”, the event management highlighted.
The programme will kick off on 19 October at 6 p.m. in the modernist building of the former Sant Pau hospital. The event will include an open debate with architects Josep Bohigas, Francesc Muñoz, Maria Rubert de Ventós and Maria Sisternas. From 20 October, the students will start their route along Barcelona’s ring roads stopping at different points where Architecture lecturers and students from different architecture schools will try to reflect on, debate and propose new visions for this infrastructure designed for the 1992 Olympic Games. Moreover, areas for improvement such as the network, mobility and new uses and facilities, will be discussed. The route will take place over two days and the participants will get around by bike on the first day and on foot or by public transport on the second day. Sunday 21, in the evening, the projects on ways to improve Barcelona’s ring roads will be displayed, after which there will open vote in the Aula Magna between two of the proposals.
The CTPA is an association made up of lecturers and students in the Projects area from the six architecture schools in Catalonia: ETSAB, ETSAV, La Salle, IAAC, ETSA Reus and our very own UIC Barcelona School of Architecture. Each year the CTPA proposes working on a topic of general concern with a view to bringing society and architecture closer together. This year’s edition “Un-covering Barcelona’s ring roads” is also supported by Barcelona City Council and Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB).
