“Cross-generational Housing” invites citizens to ask themselves if houses meet the requirements of the new ways of life

2019 October 18

• The opening of this interactive exhibition took place in Donostia/San Sebastián on Friday and was attended by Eneko Goia, Major of Donostia; Iñaki Arriola, Minister for Environment, Land Planning and Housing of the Basque Government; and Juana Otxoa-Errarte, President of the Professional Association of Basque-Navarre Architects.
• The show is housed in an ephemeral wooden construction in the Zuloaga square and can be visited until the 27th of October in the framework of the Basque Country International Architecture Biennial Mugak/.
• Starting this Saturday, several activities will build on the topics proposed in the exhibition, such as the première of a documentary film about food and the city and several lectures.

 

San Sebastian, 18th October 2019

What is today’s society like? What are its needs? What are dwellings like, in which all those people live? The interactive exhibition “Cross-generational Housing” – organised by the Donostia/San Sebastián City Council through its programme Donostia Lagunkoia and the Professional Association of Basque-Navarre Architects (COAVN) in Gipuzkoa – opened this morning in the framework of the 2nd Basque Country International Architecture Biennial programme. The opening was attended by Eneko Goia, Major of Donostia/San Sebastián; Iñaki Arriola, Minister for the Environment, Land Planning and Housing of the Basque Government; Juana Otxoa-Errarte, President of COAVN Gipuzkoa and the expert team that worked on the project.

The show invites citizens to reflect on the dwellings they are living in today and to ask themselves if they answer to the requirements of the new ways of life of the 21st century. It proposes a game aimed at breaking the barriers of conventional housing to promote the kind of dwelling people and families – in all their diversity – might need. The exhibition is located in the Zuloaga square, San Sebastian, inside a wooden structure built for the occasion, and can be visited until the 27th of October.

Eneko Goia, Major of Donostia/San Sebastián, started by welcoming all visitors. For the City Council of Donostia, “this show offers an optimal opportunity to foster a public debate on the validity and the ability of the present housing model to answer people’s needs throughout their lives. It also invites us to explore what kind of changes could be introduced in housing design and which actions could support the necessary evolution”

The Minister for Environment, Land Planning and Housing of the Basque Government, Iñaki Arriola, manifested that “society is constantly changing; dwellings must be flexible and adapt to new ways of life and relationship among the people living in them. Public authorities must ensure this basic principle, which will be approached by the future Habitability Decree and Housing Design Regulations”.

Finally, Juana Otxoa-Errarte explained that Architecture faces a great challenge and plays a very important role in the transformation of housing and cities: ”families, ways of life, new needs… changed over the years; dwellings and cities need to adapt to the needs of those who live in them”. Therefore, “Cross-generational Housing” will show actual examples of new designs, which try to give an answer to the challenges of, present society and dwellings: ageing, gender equality, different kinds of family, etc.

Among the projects shown, EEEstudio and Lys Villalba will present the remodelling of a country cabin built with recyclable materials. By rearranging its elements, the rural space becomes liveable for families accustomed to urban environments (an invitation to look back to rural areas when rural Spain is becoming empty).

Col.lectiu Punt 6, a multidisciplinary group of female professionals, will propose to intertwine urban planning and care networks, thus going beyond housing to adapt cities to concepts designed for gender equality and elderly and children care.

For its part, SAAT will present in San Sebastián the example of Entrepatios Las Carolinas, an actual initiative of collaborative housing in Madrid in which the building’s residents participated in its configuration from the beginning by defining common spaces and dwellings and deciding on their evolution in time.

Maio Architects will also focus on the test of time in homes. They will show a project in Barcelona for which they have created a different configuration of housing. Rooms have the same size but not a designated purpose; each family can tailor them according to their model, size and daily life routines. It even allows residents to buy spaces if their needs change over time.

Lacol Cooperative Architecture will show their co-housing project in Barcelona and Enorme Estudio will describe their experimentation with flexible furniture.

The whole exhibition is an answer to the claims and concerns of present society about climate change. In this sense, Otxoa-Errarte explained that “it is not by chance that this exhibition is housed in a wooden structure; it is a gesture aimed at promoting the use of more ecological materials” and highlighted that a large part of its materials will be given a new use, thus encouraging a circular economy.

Parallel Activities

“Cross-generational Housing” will open for the public in the Zuloaga square of Donostia/San Sebastián until the 27th of October. Starting today, the exhibition will launch several activities. On Saturday 20th of October at 18.30h, the San Telmo Museum of Donostia will offer the première of the documentary film “A Conversation About Food and the City” (by Grupo Habitar). It illustrates the relationship between food and city configuration and how new forms of eating (or even of cooking or not cooking) have an impact on cities. Its creators, who will attend the screening, highlighted that “food is presently urban planning and urbanity, not only due to everything related with its elaboration, distribution and sale, but because of its growing presence in public spaces and the actions it triggers in them”.

Besides, each day of the exhibition at 12.45h., the show will host alternatives to usual dwellings in “micropills”: brief presentations of projects that are already ongoing and help to have a glimpse of possible housing proposals for the future:

Sunday, 20th of October: Enrique Espinosa (EEEstudio & Lys Villalba)

Monday, 21st of October: Carles Baiges (Lacol Arquitectura)

Wednesday, 23th of October: Alfredo Lérida (Maio Architects)

Thursday, 24th of October: Fernando Campos, Elena Castillo, Iñaki Alonso, Marta Torralba (Satt Arquitectura)

Friday, 25th of October: Roser Casanovas and Sara Ortiz (Colectivo Punto 6)

The Zuloaga square will not be the only place to visit “Cross-generational Housing”. Still in the framework of Mugak/, the exhibition will move to the Cemento Rezola Museum, where it can be visited from the 27th of November until the 29th of February 2020.

This show is only possible thanks to the following actors:

Partners: Department for the Environment, Land Planning and Housing of the Basque Government; Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa

Sponsors:  Egoin, Kursaal Group, Niessen, Enedi Group (UPV/EHU). Arima Hotel, Láser Audiovisuales; Morgan Crea, Q+D, Ondarreta, Katagraphic Rotulacion

Participants: Enorme; HABITAR / INHABITING', Research Group of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Lacol cooperative Architecture, LyS Villaba, EEEstudio, sAtt: Open Architecture; Co-lectiu Punt 6