Ura Eta Natura

TEAM DATA

Team representative: Gerard Duran Barbarà (ES) – architect
Contributors: Anna Casadevall Sayeras (ES), Joana Tril Queralt (ES) – students in architecture

Marques De Mulhacen 53, 08034 Barcelona – España
+34 619 283 589 – info@gerardduran.com – www.gerardduran.com

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

^{G. Duran Barbarà, A. Casadevall Sayeras & J. Tril Queralt}

INTERVIEW
^{Click on the images to enlarge}

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

We met in university when Gerard was working as an assistant professor in 4th year architectural project. We began to work together for Europan 12 and have frequently collaborated ever since.

2. How do you define the main issue of your project, and how did you answer on this session main topic: Adaptability through Self-Organization, Sharing and/or Project (Process)?

Achieving to project without constraining the city’s futures is the key for urban adaptability. Landscape is the medium that gives the tools to work the concept of process applying temporality. Then rereading the city from its geography grants its self-sufficiency, as if it was an ecosystem. The anthropological link with nature increases values and forms of social relationship, reformulating new urban landscapes.

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

The geographical city discovers natural traces by changing the existing urban structure, furthermore recovering the path of the estuaries, one of them is the main urban void caused by the railway. Then the watercourse marks a greenway hierarchy, prioritizing pedestrian and respectful fluxes, thereby obtaining “macro block” that enable sustainable management of the city.

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

We were already interested in the competition’s topics but this was the first project in which we were able to develop them further. Michel Desvigne’s work methodology of the landscape as well as his texts is an important reference for us.
The illustrations hereafter are taken from Michel Desvigne’s works.

5. Today –at the era of economic crisis and sustainability– the urban-architectural project should reconsider its production method in time; how did you integrate this issue in your project?

Working from the essence of the place makes it possible to modify the city through the local landscape, therefore in a sustainable way. The project is then based on reprise urban void and natural environment, confronting the problem to a global reading of the city to ensure sustainable economic development. We don’t feel it as an urban production problem otherwise a new point of view 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?

We are very glad and grateful because of the opportunities that this award offers. This is the first time we have been rewarded at Europan, so we had the chance to discuss about the topics of the competition with other professionals. We could reconsider our roll as architects in the city expanding our Outlook of the profession.