Treeness

TEAM DATA

Team Representative: Diego Martín Sánchez (ES) – architect; Associate: Noemí Gómez Lobo (ES) – architect

furii studio
402, 3-14-14 Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0064 (JP)
+81 70 3960 3981 – hola@furiistudio.com – furiistudio.com

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^{N. Gómez Lobo, D. Martín Sánchez}

INTERVIEW

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

We have been working together since 2011, and running furii studio since 2017.
 

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?

There was a time when a squirrel could travel across the Iberian Peninsula without touching the ground. Treeness proposes the creation of a new kind of industry that will make this possible today. Tree nurseries have existed in Madrid since the early XIX century, providing all the trees, bushes and seasonal plants of the city. This municipal production could be one more strategy to cope with the European Union request, which has reported the city of Madrid to the Court of Justice because of its levels of CO2. Additionally, the City of Madrid already has a vast system of protected natural areas, forest parks, and city-managed green areas that will be benefited from this implementation. And according to the data provided by the City Council, this tree population produces an economic value of 30.820.811 € every year for the city making the project also sustainable economically.
 

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

Treeness considers that this production could be catering to a broader array of clients: forestry industry, other cities, agriculture, research, conservation biologists, etc. Finally, every deserted urbanized area that was developed during the “ladrillo” era will flourish as newly planted forests. Nowadays there are three municipal Nurseries, that they remain isolated from the city because of their lack of mix with other uses. Instead of enforcing the obsolete horizontal zoning, the site will become a test example for hybridization. The tree production industry is mixed with offices, residences, commercial. Learning from the traditional urban tissue of the historic town of Vallecas, the uses will be intertwined organically in a dense fabric that will remain human in scale. Against the “tabula rasa” developments carried out in the periphery of Madrid, thought for the car. The new development will grow as needed with time and developed in stages, adapting itself to the social and physical context.
 

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

We have previously materialized the concept of urban forestry in two pavilions for the last two Bi-City Biennials in Shenzhen, in collaboration with Atelier Bow-Wow. For this project we were very much interested in the dystopian landscape of Dutch greenhouses captured by Luca Locatelli for National Geographic. And also by the drawings of Yann Kebbi for the exhibition Capital Agricole in Pavillon de l’Arsenal led by SOA.
 

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?

In this regard, our experience in the previous Europan implementation process has proved to be instrumental for us, structuring the proposal in three intertwined chapters. First, we elaborate a wide range of analytical drawings of the new typology we are proposing, that will behave as a set of tools for negotiation with the other agents. Secondly, we survey in detail the actual context in order to understand the socio-urban dynamics where the project is going to be inserted in. And finally we provide a potential but rooted solution that aims to excite the current mindset of the city.
 

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

This is the second time that we participate in Europan, and fortunately it is also the second time we have been awarded. Since the previous edition of Productive cities, we have been developing our proposal together with Madrid City Townhall. It has been an extremely rewarding learning process for us, as well as a kickstarter for our professional career. Additionally, we are also grateful to Europan for giving us the opportunity to meet other fellow winners and their inspiring work.

TEAM IDENTITY

Office: furii studio
Functions: Architecture
Average age of the associates: 31 years old

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

Fortunately, we were co-winners in Europan 14 in Madrid. Since then, we have been working with the Department of Public Space of the City. The initial proposal turned into a new design for a central public square, that currently it is on the detail design phase. During the past couple of years we have also realized two separate pavilions for the last two Hong Kong-Shenzhen Biennials together with Atelier Bow-Wow. Besides we have been participating in several competitions, and occasionally being awarded, like the Second Price in the International Shopping Plaza Concept Competition in 2016.