Xavier Vilalta: Architecture at home in its community

82,951 views ・ 2013-10-25

TED


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My work focuses on the connection of
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both thinking about our community life
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being part of the environment
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where architecture grows from the natural
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local conditions and traditions.
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Today I brought two recent projects
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as an example of this.
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Both projects are in emerging countries,
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one in Ethiopia and another one in Tunisia.
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And also they have in common
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that the different analyses from different perspectives
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becomes an essential part of the final piece of architecture.
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The first example started with an invitation
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to design a multistory shopping mall
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in Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa.
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And this is the type of building
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we were shown as an example, to my team and myself,
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of what we had to design.
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At first, the first thing I thought was,
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I want to run away.
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(Laughter)
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After seeing a few of these buildings --
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there are many in the city --
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we realized that they have three very big points.
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First, these buildings, they are almost empty
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because they have very large shops
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where people cannot afford to buy things.
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Second, they need tons of energy to perform
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because of the skin treatment with glass
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that creates heat in the inside,
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and then you need a lot of cooling.
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In a city where this shouldn't happen
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because they have really mild weather
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that ranges from 20 to 25 degrees the whole year.
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And third is that their image has nothing to do
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with Africa and with Ethiopia.
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It is a pity in a place that has such rich culture and traditions.
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Also during our first visit to Ethiopia,
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I was really captivated by the old merkato
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that is this open-air structure
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where thousands of people, they go and buy things
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every day from small vendors.
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And also it has this idea of the public space
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that uses the outdoors to create activity.
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So I thought, this is what I really want to design,
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not a shopping mall.
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But the question was how we could do a multistory,
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contemporary building with these principles.
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The next challenge was when we looked at the site,
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that is, in a really growing area of the city,
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where most of these buildings that you see in the image,
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they were not there.
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And it's also between two parallel streets
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that don't have any connection for hundreds of meters.
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So the first thing we did was to create a connection
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between these two streets,
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putting all the entrances of the building.
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And this extends with an inclined atrium
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that creates an open-air space in the building
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that self-protects itself with its own shape
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from the sun and the rain.
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And around this void
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we placed this idea of the market with small shops,
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that change in each floor because of the shape of the void.
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I also thought, how to close the building?
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And I really wanted to find a solution
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that would respond to the local climate conditions.
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And I started thinking about the textile
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like a shell made of concrete
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with perforations that would let the air in,
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and also the light, but in a filtered way.
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And then the inspiration came from these beautiful patterns of the Ethiopian women's dresses.
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That they have fractal geometry properties
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and this helped me to shape the whole facade.
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And we are building that
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with these small prefabricated pieces
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that are the windows that let the air and the light
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in a controlled way inside the building.
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And this is complemented by these small colored glasses
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that use the light from the inside of the building
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to light up the building at night.
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With these ideas it was not easy first to convince the developers
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because they were like,
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"This is not a shopping mall. We didn't ask for that."
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But then we all realized that this idea of the market
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happened to be a lot more profitable than the idea of the shopping mall
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because basically they had more shops to sell.
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And also that the idea of the facade was much, much cheaper,
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not only because of the material compared with the glass,
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but also because we didn't need to have air conditioning anymore.
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So we created some budget savings
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that we used to implement the project.
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And the first implementation was to think
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about how we could make the building self-sufficient in terms of energy
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in a city that has electricity cuts almost every day.
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So we created a huge asset by placing photovoltaics there on the roof.
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And then under those panels
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we thought about the roof like a new public space with gathering areas and bars
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that would create this urban oasis.
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And these porches on the roof,
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all together they collect the water to reuse for sanitation on the inside.
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Hopefully by the beginning of next year, because we are already on the fifth floor of the construction.
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The second example is a master plan
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of 2,000 apartments and facilities in the city of Tunis.
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And for doing such a big project, the biggest project I've ever designed,
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I really needed to understand the city of Tunis,
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but also its surroundings and the tradition and culture.
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During that analysis I paid special attention to the medina
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that is this 1,000-year-old structure that used to be closed by a wall,
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opened by twelve different gates, connected by almost straight lines.
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When I went to the site, the first design operation we did
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was to extend the existing streets, creating 12 initial blocks
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similar in size and characteristics to the ones we have in Barcelona
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and other cities in Europe with these courtyards.
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On top of that, we selected some strategic points
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reminded of this idea of the gates and connecting them by straight lines,
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and this modified this initial pattern.
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And the last operation was to think about the cell,
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the small cell of the project, like the apartment,
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as an essential part of the master plan.
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And for that I thought, what would be the best orientation
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in the Mediterranean climate for an apartment?
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And it's north-south, because it creates a thermal difference between both sides of the house
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and then a natural ventilation.
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So we overlap a pattern that makes sure that most of the apartments
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are perfectly oriented in that direction.
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And this is the result
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that is almost like a combination of the European block and the Arab city.
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It has these blocks with courtyards,
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and then on the ground floor
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you have all these connections for the pedestrians.
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And also it responds to the local regulations that establish
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a higher density on the upper levels and a lower density on the ground floor.
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And it also reinforces this idea of the gates.
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The volume has this connecting shape
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that shades itself with three different types of apartments
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and also lets the light go on the ground floor in a very dense neighborhood
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And in the courtyards there are the different facilities,
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such as a gym and a kindergarten
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and close by, a series of commercial [spaces] that bring activity to the ground floor.
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The roof, which is my favorite space of the project
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is almost like giving back to the community the space taken by the construction.
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And it's where all the neighbors, they can go up and socialize,
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and do activities such as having a two-kilometer run in the morning,
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jumping from one building to another.
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These two examples,
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they have a common approach in the design process.
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And also, they are in emerging countries where you can see
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the cities literally growing.
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In these cities, the impact of architecture in people's lives of today and tomorrow
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changes the local communities and economies at the same speed as the buildings grow.
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For this reason, I see even more importance
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to look at architecture finding simple but affordable solutions
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that enhance the relationship between the community and the environment
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and that aim to connect nature and people.
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Thank you very much.
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(Applause)
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