Museum Cemento Rezola invites to 'Thinking the city' in a temporary exhibition

2021 November 3

• It is the result of a citizen participation project that invites us to think about the transformation and future of cities in terms of environmental sustainability and social urbanism.
• 'Thinking the City' will be open from tomorrow until 26 March 2022, offering a collaborative and plural view on architecture, urban planning, social welfare and the environment.
• This afternoon more relevant architecture professionals will be at Mugak/ 2021: the VAUMM and TEd'A Arquitectes studios will be at the Institute of Architecture of the Basque Country.
  

The Museum Cemento Rezola, owned by Cementos Rezola-Heidelberg Cement Group, today opened the temporary exhibition 'Thinking the city'. This is the first temporary exhibition of the museum after the renovation of its facilities, located in the Añorga neighbourhood of San Sebastian.

The exhibition, included in the Mugak/ Biennial programme and open until 26 March 2022, is the result of a citizen participation project that invites us to think about the transformation and future of cities in terms of environmental sustainability and social urban planning. It therefore brings together a collaborative and plural perspective on architecture, urban planning, social welfare and the environment.

Sponsored by the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, the exhibition includes the participation of the International Architecture Biennial of the Basque Country Mugak/, Urbanbat, the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the UPV/EHU (ETSA), Atzegi, IZA Centre-Fundación Matia, Elkartu, Gure Kabia Retirement Home Association, Amassorrain ikastola, Altza Herri Ikaste, Atzegi, Centro IZA-Fundación Matia, Elkartu, Asociación Hogar de Jubilados/as Gure Kabia, Amassorrain ikastola, Altza Herri Ikastetxea SJC HLHI, Axular Lizeoa, Zuhaizti ikastola and Intxaurrondo Hegoa ikastetxea.

The opening ceremony was attended by José María Echarri, honorary president of Cementos Rezola-HeidelbergCement Group; José Ángel Medina, curator of the third Mugak/ International Architecture Biennial of the Basque Country; and Antonio Nolasco, director of the Cementos Rezola factory in Añorga.

Antonio Nolasco, director of the Cementos Rezola factory in Añorga, pointed out that "with this exhibition, Museum Cemento Rezola has created a space for active work in the construction of the city in terms of sustainability and social development. It also contributes to creating a reflective and active work space for the construction of the city based on the closest environment: the neighbourhood".

Thinking the city' is a collective exercise and a call to citizens to position themselves as active agents in the construction of cities, to explore new ways of using public space in which environmental sustainability and social urbanism make it possible to create a more habitable, resilient and less hostile city.

The aim of the initiative is to become a starting point for rethinking the use of inhabited spaces and to serve as a tool for transforming them.

 

Transforming the 21st century city

Thinking the city' aims to take visitors through these reflections, desires, challenges and proposals for the transformation of the city in the 21st century. Various groups have participated in all of them. Thus, in the section 'The accessible and inclusive city', Elkartu, IZA-Matia Fundazioa and Atzegi offer a view of an inclusive and accessible city where everyone can benefit from the social, economic, cultural and political opportunities offered.

The city also involves children. In this sense, work has been carried out with educational centres to project the city of San Sebastian in the future. More than 200 children from Amassorrain ikastola, Altza Herri Ikastetxea SJC HLHI, Axular Lizeoa, Zuhaizti ikastola and Intxaurrondo Hegoa ikastetxea took part in this innovative initiative.

The section 'Public space makes city. The co-created city, the projected city' is a project carried out in collaboration with the students and teaching staff of the course on Open Space and Urban Facilities Management at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the UPV/EHU (ETSA). Finally, in the section 'The city that accompanies you', conversations have been held in "working progress" with the women of the Association of the Gure Kabia Retired Persons' Home in Añorga.

 

More workshops and conferences

This afternoon the Habic cluster is organising the workshop 'Designing workspaces', in the Basque Living Donostia space in Tabakalera, aimed at specialised media, architecture and design professionals and manufacturers of office solutions, among others.

In addition, the Basque Institute of Architecture will host the first prominent speakers of this year's edition. This afternoon it will be the turn of the San Sebastian studio VAUMM and the Mallorcan TEd'A Arquitectes, at 18:00 and 19:30 respectively. Tomorrow there will be a conversation between Alberto Veiga, from Barozzi Veiga, and Marta Rincón, from Acción Cultural Española, at 19:30h also at the Institute of Architecture.