The National Colonization Institute (INC) program stimulated Spain's devastated post-war economy through the creation of new irrigation systems. Dams and canals were built that would bring water to three hundred new towns inhabited by settlers, migrants in their own land.

Ana Amado and Andrés Patiño revisit, more than five decades after its completion, an undertaking that transformed the Spanish landscape and the lives of its forgotten protagonists in an integral and planned manner.

Coordinated by: Santiago Varela

In collaboration with: College of Architects of Alicante

Anna Bofill. ABSTRACT CONFERENCE

COMPOSING SPACES AND SOUNDS

Three perspectives: architecture, music, feminism. Composing to give meaning to the forms in which we live. To inhabit them, to listen to them, when one inhabits a space, it is perceived through all the senses. Sounds are there in everything, whether we want them to be or not. We can fill space with created sounds or not, and if there are no sounds, then the natural environment or your own body sounds or resonates. Composing is organizing (chaos). Distributing pure or complex geometries. Organic forms (existing in nature) can be pure or complex as well. Everything can be formalized from a landscape to sounds.

Architecture and urban environments also from other perspectives, music and feminist theories. Examples at different scales from residential complexes to urban fabrics and buildings, and some musical compositions.

Intra-actions with Uriel Fogué.

In its latest reports, the United Nations Environment Programme calls for a "rapid transformation of societies" to address the climate crisis. In them, architecture is identified as one of the basic fields of action where a possible ecological collapse is at stake.

What can we do?

Inaction is not an option. Architecture must shift from its usual positions. This lecture will present four shifts that, we believe, reposition architectural practice within an ecological framework.

Uriel Fogué

Doctor of Architecture (extraordinary award UPM 2015, finalist X BIAU 2016). Professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and Columbia University. Was visiting teacher at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).

Co-directs the architecture office elii, which was part of the Spanish Pavilion at the 18th and 15th Venice Architecture Biennales (the latter, Golden Lion 2016). Among other international recognitions, it has two works selected in the European Union Prize For Contemporary Architecture Mies Van Der Rohe Award (2015, 2019) and one work awarded the Golden Prize Holcim Awards 2023 (together with Husos and Ultrazul, promoted by the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation). His work Yojigen Poketto was selected as one of the 20 visionary domestic spaces of the last 100 years in the exhibition 'Home Stories 100 Years, 20 Visionary Interiors', Vitra Design Museum (2020). He is co-founder of the Crisis Cabinet of Political Fictions.

Ramón Esteve "Design as Sensory Experience. From the City to the Object".

In this presentation, we explore an experiential vision of design, unified by architecture and encompassing all scales, from urban planning projects to object design. We analyze the importance of production processes, both industrial and artisanal, in defining design details that emphasize the conceptualization of each work. We focus on the sensory perception of spaces, conceived as 'design ecosystems', with the aim of promoting the well-being of inhabitants.

MirAcle architects. Sonia Miralles Mud and Arturo Calero Hombre "...something more than a congress center..."

The beach is the public space par excellence. This is where our proposal for the Alicante congress center starts: it is not just about building a structure, but creating a great public space. The proposals and locations that over the last sixty years have tried to make the construction of the palace a reality are so varied that if we were to combine them all on a plan, we would almost be drawing the most significant references and identities of the city: its coast, its neighborhoods, its mountain, its history, its castle, its port and the sea… something more than a congress center…

Coordinates: Santiago Varela

Collaborates: Territorial College of Architects of Alicante.

Flow 81, Architecture LAB: "Swimming Against the Current"

In retrospect, looking back, what has brought us to where we are and what will take us to where we want to go is very simple: being true to ourselves, to our original idea, and to what resonates with us. This seems very easy and straightforward, but it is not. Along the way, you encounter many obstacles that cause that flow to carry you in a current where you lose your focus and essence. This talk is about how to swim against the current in this world and how it is possible if you have the right "stones."

Organized by: Santiago Varela

In collaboration with: College of Architects of Alicante

Elena Orte: "Ecosystem Design at the Gabriel García Márquez Library in Barcelona"

Elena Orte is a graduate architect and holds a Master's degree in Advanced Architectural Design from ETSAM at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. In 2005, she co-founded the SUMA studio in Madrid together with Guillermo Sevillano. She is a lecturer at the IAAC in Catalonia and at the IE in Madrid, and has been an Assistant Professor at ETSAM. Recently, her studio won the Emerging EU Mies Award 2024. She has participated in international juries, seminars and workshops, and her projects have been published in prestigious architecture magazines.

SUMA has won national and international competitions, including libraries and public housing in Spain. Their work has been awarded multiple times, such as the Mies van der Rohe Emerging Award 2024, Best Public Library of the Year 2023 (IFLA), and the First Prize COAM 2023, among others.

The Gabriel García Márquez Library, inaugurated in 2022 in the Sant Martí de Provençals neighborhood, Barcelona, has transformed a "non-place" —a former parking lot behind a police station— into a vibrant civic center. Known as the "Guggenheim of La Verneda," this library stands on an elevated plaza that expands public space and improves pedestrian circulation. Beyond being a knowledge center, the library responds to historical demands of the neighborhood, providing a space for meeting and social cohesion.

The building's design, inspired by volumes stacked like books, combines a laminated wood structure and steel elements, achieving the largest exposure of wood in Europe to date. Accredited with LEED Gold certification, the library stands out for its sustainability strategies, such as photovoltaic panels, rainwater reuse, and a ventilated facade.

Organized around a triangular courtyard, the library offers versatile spaces that promote social interaction and the exchange of ideas. Its innovative design has been recognized as the Best Public Library in the World in 2023 and the Mies van der Rohe Emerging Award 2024. Since its opening, it has strengthened social bonds in the neighborhood, becoming a cultural and social landmark, affectionately known as a "Palace of the People". Organizes: Santiago Varela

Collaborates: College of Architects of Alicante

The Alicantino Institute of Culture Juan Gil-Albert held on September 27 at the MACA, the second panel within the "Legacies and Creation" conference, under the title "Contemporary Art. Visual Artists". Free admission until capacity is reached.

The precariousness and lack of resources of artists, especially older ones, and the safeguarding of their legacies is the main topic on this occasion. We will try to understand this problem firsthand through the contributions of artist, museum and gallery, and to learn about possible solutions given the widespread abandonment at the state level.

The panel will be composed of Eva Lootz, a visual artist who recently donated part of her work to the National Museum Reina Sofía Art Center; José de la Mano is a gallery owner who has been working for some years with the estates of national and international artists; and Raquel Gómez del Val, who is responsible for the Department of Artwork Registration at the National Reina Sofía Art Center Museum. They are exceptional guests who, through their testimonies, will give us the opportunity to learn about examples that will serve as reference and will surely prove to be inspiring.

House, swimming pool, school. Diego Jiménez of DJarquitectura.

Diego Jiménez López (Motril, 1972), Doctor of Architecture, professor at the School of Architecture of Málaga since 2010. Co-founder of the architecture studio DJarquitectura since 2001.

Among current projects, the development of the Málaga Litoral Plan project stands out, following the first prize in the international competition for the integration of the Málaga port-city. He was recently selected with his transformation project of the Fine Arts courtyard for the exhibition "The Construction of a Country" which showcases a tour of approximately sixty-five models of buildings constructed in Spain by Spanish architects from the transition to the present day. Organized by ES- the House of Architecture of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda.

He has participated by presenting research proposals on housing in the EUROPAN forums while exhibiting these works in Athens (Greece), Lisbon (Portugal), Dordrecht (Netherlands), Neuchatel (Switzerland), Vienna (Austria), Madrid, Alcorcón and Ceuta (Spain), Helsinki (Finland).

He has exhibited his work at the CCCB in Barcelona, Andalusian Center of Contemporary Art in Seville. Selected in the exhibition "Couples & Co.: 22 Mirror Stories on Spanish Architecture" in Berlin, Hamburg, Seville and Granada. School of Arts of the University of Évora (Portugal) within the framework of Mostra Espanha 2015. Cibeles Center for Culture and Citizenship, Madrid. School of Design at Tongji University, Shanghai.

Coordinates: Santiago Varela

Collaborates: College of Architects of Alicante

Francisco Picó. Architect. The Dream of Modernity. Tales of a Bridge.

From the account of the adventure of the project and construction of the San Jorge de Alcoy bridge, as a pretext, with a perspective from the present day, we will observe the fate of the dream of modernity at the end of the twenties of the last century, of an architect, an engineer, a construction company, and a city.

Coordinated by: Santiago Varela

In collaboration with: Territorial College of Architects.