2017 Vertical workshop

Billy and Land2Stand, first prize winners in the 21st edition of the Vertical Workshop organised by the ESARQ - School of Architecture at UIC Barcelona

The Billy and Land2Stand prototypes were proclaimed winners in the 21st edition of the Vertical Workshop, organised by the ESARQ - School of Architecture at UIC Barcelona, titled Exhibition Spaces, in which students built flexible structures capable of adopting distinct forms or configurations in order to accommodate works of different natures or mediums.

Photography: prototype "Billy" ©Aitor Estevéz

Photography: prototype "Billy" ©Aitor Estevéz

Following the presentation of the projects at the CCCB Sculpture Garden, the jury, which consisted of art expert Dr Concepción Peig; architect and professor of Urbanism at the Barcelona School of Architecture, Maria Rubert de Ventós; and Guillem Carabí, a professor of Composition at UIC Barcelona, deliberated and announced the winners in a ceremony presided by the directors of this year’s Vertical Workshop, Manuel Arenas and Maria José Díaz.

First prize was awarded to the prototypes Billy and Land2Stand, while the Audience Award went to the project Exhibition Scape.

Photography: prototype "Land2Stand" ©Aitor Estevéz

Winners

The project Billy, directed by School alumni Guillermo Santomà and Marta Esqueu, is based on the systematisation and creation of a method to control apparent disorder. This method consists of identifying, listing and narrowing down materials to, by ordering them on a coordinate access, pinpoint the position of each element and thus determine their exact location. The result provides for the full control of versatile projects displayed by themselves and also offers numerous possibilities to adapt exhibitions to the space and lend them their own distinctive character.

Land2Stand, a project developed by a group of students led by lecturer Iñaki Baquero and former ESARQ - School of Architecture student Oriol Anglada, generates exhibition space based on arte povera. According to the students: “On the one hand, the objective was to maintain the concept of arte povera and leverage the materiality available to us, generating something that is at once container and content. On the other, we wanted to explore the constraints of exhibition spaces; our project is based on concepts such as transportability, malleability and modularity, generating three-dimensional spaces from a two-dimensional element: the frame.

All of these reflections helped us create a space that elicits a series of sensations, as well as a unique experience in terms of both the display element and the element on display.”

Vertical Workshop

The Vertical Workshop has been one of the School's most important and representative events since its founding in 1997. It involves all undergraduate students in years two through five, who are divided into teams headed by nationally acclaimed young architects and carry out real architecture projects for social purposes.