Lacaton & Vassal, winner of the ‘Mies van der Rohe’ Award, will close the summer courses of the University of the Basque Country about housing

2019 September 5

• The Basque Country Architecture Institute (IAE) hosts the course entitled ‘RE-housing: 1st Housing Laboratory in Euskadi’, which will cover challenges such as the redensification and flexibility of the habitat. During that period, the free-entrance exhibition ‘Tabula non rasa’ will be re-opened in Santa Teresa Convent in San Sebastián, showing the work of the Lacaton & Vassal team which won the prestigious European Union award.

This is a must-see exhibition for the housing and architecture sectors on 17, 18 and 19 of September at the Basque Country Architecture Institute (IAE), based in the Santa Teresa Convent in San Sebastián. The summer course entitled ‘RE-Housing: 1st Housing Laboratory in Euskadi’ will take place over those dates. Organised by the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the University of the Basque Country and the Basque Government through the IAE itself, the course will cover three subjects: “the redensification of the habitat in the rural environment, the redensification of the habitat in the urban environment and the experimentalism and flexibility of the habitat.” Registrations for the course are already open. The course will take place before the International Architecture Biennial of the Basque Country, Mugak.

The summer course stands out for the high-level of the participating teachers. Among the 26 speakers, Anne Lacaton and Jean Philippe Vassal, both from France, stand out. The studio established by both of them won the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture — Mies van der Rohe award this year. The UE recognised the quality of their architectural production in the transformation of three huge buildings from the 1960s in Bordeaux.

Besides Lacaton & Vassal, other interesting names will lead the course, such as Xavier Monteys, Josep Ricart or Inés Sánchez Madariaga. Monteys is university professor at the Department of Architectural Projects of the Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña and teaches at the Barcelona Architecture School. He is also the principal investigator of the HABITAR group, has written books such as Casa Collage and collaborates as a columnist with El País.

Josep Ricart belongs to HArquitectes, a studio formed by four young architects which has already received numerous recognitions. Sánchez Madariaga is an expert in gender perspective in the UNESCO Chair of the Madrid School.

During the talks, the new Habitability Decree and the Standards for Housing Design and Non-Residential Accommodation of the Basque Government will also be presented by Pablo García Astrain, director of Housing and Architecture.

Coinciding with the summer course and taking advantage of the presence of Anne Lacaton and Jean Philippe Vassal, the exhibition ‘Tabula non rasa’ will be re-opened to the public. Its key component is dedicated to the work of the French studio which won the Mies van der Rohe 2019 Award. This will be the last chance to see this exhibition in the Basque Country. The exhibition will be open from 11 am to 2 pm and from 5 pm to 8 pm from 17-19 September.