AgriHub

TEAM DATA

Team Representative: Esperanza Campaña Barquero (ES) – architect; Associate: Gustavo Rojas Pérez (ES) – architects
Contributor: Alejandro Fuentes Cano (ES) – architect

Pasaje Diego de Siloé 2, 18001 Granada (ES) 
+34 646 012 904- mail@architecturalmatter.es – architecturalmatter.es

See the complete listing of portraits here
See the site page here

^{G. Rojas Pérez, E. Campaña Barquero & A. Fuentes Cano}

VIDEO (by the team)

INTERVIEW

1. How did you form the team for the competition?

We already had our own firm, Architectural Matter.

2. How do you define the main issue of your project, and how did you answer on this session main topic: the place of productive activities within the city?

We seek the idea of a balanced ‘ecosystem’ where domestic and working activities are made compatible in the scenario of everyday events. We envision this place as an agri-food hub – a point for territorial concentration of productive, commercial and technological activity around organic agriculture and its products for the Lasarte-Oria area. A lively neighbourhood where the market coexist with a laboratory for research on food and organic farming as well as with educational activities, workshops, storage and logistics spaces and other type of places for collective or individual work.

3. How did this issue and the questions raised by the site mutation meet?

We looked at the increasing importance of different productive economies in the rural context of the Gipuzcoan province. Sustainable farming is starting to become crucial for the territory due to the social awareness regarding healthy eating and environmental care. This movement is acquiring a powerful presence thanks to the growth of local and inter-municipal networks that pursue the dissemination of a pedagogy about the benefits of organic products and seek their commercialization by effective means.

4. Have you treated this issue previously? What were the reference projects that inspired yours?

Not exactly, but the topic of experimental housing has been our main field of exploration since we graduated from MCH Master’s degree in Collective Housing from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 2009. Later, we were contracted as researchers at GIVCO (Research Group in Collective Housing) at the same university. There, we got familiar with the classic examples of traditional and modern housing, projects that have been part our architectural language ever since. For “Agrihub” we combined this knowledge with references from the local landscape using the typology of the ‘caserío’ as a starting point for our design. It informs us on the different aspects of rural life: the coexistence of domestic and productive spaces, the efficiency and the formal honesty.

5. Urban-architectural projects like the ones in Europan can only be implemented together with the actors through a negotiated process and in time. How did you consider this issue in your project?

More than as project, we devised “Agrihub” as a methodology. It is conceived as a way of understanding a site within its territory by means of an architectural typology that pays attention to the past while meeting the needs of the future. In our view, this idea of prevalence, of the reinterpretation of the valid codes of the local identity, is the vector that can lead to the success of the implementation processes.

6. Is it the first time you have been awarded a prize at Europan? How could this help you in your professional career?

Yes! And it was our first attempt! Our firm has been participating in competitions and public tenders since 2010, but we had never tried Europan. We are extremely satisfied of having received this recognition that we understand as a slap on the back for many years of consistent work. For us Europan is more than a competition, it implies the possibility of exploring radical ideas far from the commercial side of contemporary architecture. It also means visibility, acknowledgment and the opportunity of becoming part of a great community of dedicated architects.

TEAM IDENTITY

Office: Architectural Matter
Functions: Architects
Average age of the associates: 35 years old

Has your team, together or separately, already conceived or implemented some projects and/or won any competition? If yes, which ones?

We started our firm Architectural Matter in 2010 and ever since we have been participating in competitions and public tenders. The most representative have been the Casa de la Música de Ibiza (3rd Prize), the Municipal Indoor Pool of Estepona-Málaga, the Municipal Theatre of Navas de San Juan—Jaén (1st Prize), the Municipal Market of Villanueva de la Serena-Badajoz or the Health Center of Plasencia-Cáceres, all in Spain. Aside, we run SALTO Proyectos , a business line oriented to the local market, where we receive commissions from private clients mainly in the residential field, such as renovations, single family houses and collective housing.