BACK TO THE FUTURE
'T Zoet (NL) - Special Mention
TEAM DATA
Associates: Maria Vittoria Tesei (IT) – architect urbanist, Flavio Martella (IT) – architectural and urban theorist
info@m2ft-architects.com
www.m2ft-architects.com
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TEAM PORTRAIT
VIDEO (by the team)
INTERVIEW
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1. How do you define the main issue of your project in relation with the theme “Living Cities Imagining architecture taking care of the milieus”? And in which way do you think your project can contribute to an ecological and/or social evolution?
“Back to the future” challenges the traditional urban dichotomies between human and non-human, rural and urban, productive areas and living environment. It explores the possibility of a new urban paradigm based on the symbiosis between humans and non-humans, between production and nature, to achieve the resiliency that a territory needs to face the challenges of climate change and the continuous economic-productive and health crises that we are now used to have.
2. How did the issues of your design and the questions raised by the site mutation meet?
One of the most important objectives of the proposal is to reach a new coexistence between humans and nature, throughout a holistic approach can contribute to rebalance the metabolism of the site and the near territory, restoring the water cycles, the damaged soil, the biodiversity, the wildlife, the human life and productive economies, preparing the “foundations” for a new regenerative urban landscape that, thanks to its resilience, will evolve autonomously over the next few years.
PROJECT:
Yes, but the Europan Competition was an opportunity to finally test researches, thoughts and speculations we have been working on for the past few years. Our line of thought is influenced by numerous writings and research that have explored the concepts of intersectionality, post-human, coexistence, trans-scalarity and temporality. Apart from this, we always have in mind some reference projects on these themes that inspire our practice (see images).
SITE:
“Back to the future” was conceived from the beginning as a spatio-temporal process that tends towards a reconstruction of social and individual practices to connect non-humans and humans within several stages, actors and temporalities. This strategy follows the principles of the “Nature restoration law” issued by the EU in 2022, moving away from the architectural call to turn this area into another place where the status quo is privileged revolving around just human needs without considering the environmental context.
REFERENCES:
As professionals and as an architectural practice we seek to design by pivoting on the concepts of: sustainability, more-than-human, design by care, human scale and creating places. The team was thus assembled to enhance this approach and to be able to bring out the specific qualities of ‘T Zoet. Each one of us contributed with a relevant and multi-disciplinary contribution to this complex and articulated issue.
6. How could this prize help you in your professional career?
We believe that the Europan, and the Special Mention we gratefully received, is a moment to engage in a constructive dialogue with the municipality of Breda and the other designers to rethink established urban dynamics in search of potential new ways of shaping the living environment. A dialogue that can only grow us as designers and consolidate our ideas, perhaps even helping us to better settle the studio and its team.
TEAM IDENTITY
Legal status: Office-Collective
Team name: m²ft architects
Average age of the associates: 33 years old
Has your team, together or separately, already conceived or implemented some projects and/or won any competition? if so, which ones?
We have received several prizes in international architectural competitions of schools, public spaces, strategic masterplans, and we also received awards and recognitions for architectural research. In particular, apart from receiving the Runner-Up prize for the Europan17 Austria X Slovenia in Celje, we received the First Prize for the “Futura” Competition for a Middle School in Battipaglia (IT), for which we also delivered the technical and economic feasibility project; the Second Prize for the Urban Redevelopment of a Green Corridor in Putignano (IT), the Third prize for a Middle School and Sports Park in Scandicci (IT), and the Third Prize for the Urban Redevelopment of a Square in San Piero (IT).
WORKS:
