Mataró, 2022

Studio house in the former Bakunin street in Mataró

Developers: Domènec and Delícia Burset
Project: Domènec
Executive project: Mizien Arquitectura
Construction management: Ioia Brullet
Technical architect: Pere Roig
Builder: Crol, sl.

Transformation of an “casa de cós” into a studio-house between party walls.

In many towns in Catalonia the house of “cós” is the most common type of urban house during the pre-industrial period and the industrial revolution, becoming a massive model in the second half of the 19th century. It will be, in fact, the habitual residence for the working class people before the introduction in the early twentieth century of the model of “cases barates” (social housing projects of cheap houses, usually with only one floor) and later of the social housing blocks.

The word “cós” or bay designates the scope between two parallel walls that support the ceiling of beams or vaults. The width of the traditional bay in the houses of “cós” is adequate so that the beams do not to sway or the push of the vaults is moderate so as not to have to make buttresses on the walls. Usually, the width of the bay or “cós” was 25 “pams” (a hand span, about 20 cm), although it is admitted that the width may be between 20 or 30 “pams”.

The traditional “casa de cós” consists of a ground floor and a first floor. On the ground floor, you enter through a space that was usually workshop, a workspace. The staircase with a pantry under the vault gave way to the kitchen. In the kitchen, he ate and made his life around the table. From the kitchen, you went out to a patio with a small orchard. On the first floor there were two bedrooms.

There are many studio-houses case that resonated as we projected and built the Bakunin 86 studio-house. From the optimistic container of Charles and Ray Eames, the sobriety of the house-workshop of Jorge Oteiza in Irun, or the experimental studio-house of Melinkov (and its staircase – spinal column). But if there is a project that especially echoes it is the studio- house of Antoni Tàpies (1960-1963) designed by José Antonio Coderch. Although the dimensions and complexity of the projects are not comparable, there are certain coincident circumstances: the urban environment of narrow streets and aligned houses, the narrow and long estate, the construction between dividing walls or the need to filter and control sunlight.

The program of the studio-house Bakunin 86 wanted to collect the main elements of the “casa de cós”: on the ground floor we enter directly to the building by the workshop or work space, a staircase leads us to the first floor, an open floor that is articulated around the kitchen, on the second floor there are the bedroom and on the roof a small orchard.

A spinal column-library-staircase articulates the whole project.

Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova – MSUM, Ljubljana, May 2012

Mentors: Domènec & Tadej Pogacar

Participants: Vid Avdic Batista, Sabina Bakula, Boris Beja, Lea Bradaševic, Vesna Crnivec, Blažka Drnovšek, Lela B. Njatin, Anja Kozlan, Tatjana Legat Lokar, Tea Pristolic, Zala Kurincic, Nina Rojc, Kaja Mihajlovic, Gal Košnik, Brina Ivanetic, Nina Pufic

The Ciza Museum

The Ciza Museum is a mobile device used for artistic interventions, presentations or exchange in public space. The device is intended to be taken to various well frequented spots in the city to activate public dialog, discussion, presentation or communication.

Ciza is the Slovene word for pushcart, traditionally used for transporting locally grown produce to the market. The Ciza Museum was first used in Ljubljana in a public intervention in which zucchini were distributed among passersby, individually wrapped in pieces of paper with short “problematic” statements uttered by local politicians that put in evidence their reactionary positions, stupid, or xenophobic demagoguery (in Slovenia the popular expression “sell zucchini” means “sell bill of goods”).

The Ciza Museum comes as a result of a public workshop that took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova in Ljubljana in May 2012 in the framework of the exhibition “This is Not a Museum. Mobile devices lurking”.

Roulotte is a flexible publishing project which compiles information about projects devised in specific contexts.
Roulotte thus becomes a kind of permanently circulating, mobile exhibition.

Editors: Xavier Arenós, Domènec, Martí Peran
Published by: ACM www.acm-art.net

www.roulottemagazine.com

contact:

[email protected]

2010

Perimetro de Barcelona

Un proyecto de ON Barcelona
Coordinación: Domènec, Pau Faus y Pere Grimau

Enlace
Video-documental

Este proyecto, del colectivo ‘Observatorio Nómada Barcelona’, fue realizado para la exposición inaugural del nuevo centro de arte Canòdromo Meridiana de Barcelona. El trabajo planteaba una confrontación entre la ciudad/arquitectura proyectada y aquella real. Partimos, para este diálogo, del edificio del Canódromo de Antoni Bonet, una obra emblemática de la arquitectura moderna catalana y un ícono de la periferia barcelonesa de la década de los sesenta. ‘Canòdrom/Canòdrom’ proponía una exploración de este edificio a dos niveles. Uno urbanístico (contextualizándolo con el resto de la ciudad) y otro arquitectónico (vinculándolo a su memoria como lugar). En ambos casos, renunciábamos a analizar el edificio del Canódromo Meridiana desde sus virtudes estéticas o constructivas. Para nosotros, el verdadero valor de cualquier edificio es su condición de espacio ‘vivido’ vinculado a la cotidianidad de la ciudad, del barrio y de sus vecinos. Así, si el hombre modélico fue la medida del proyecto arquitectónico y urbanístico moderno, proponíamos con estas dos miradas al hombre cotidiano como medida e interlocutor de lo que denominamos urbanismo y arquitectura real.

Uno de los principales argumentos esgrimidos para la transformación del Canódromo Meridiana en un nuevo centro de arte contemporáneo, fue la voluntad de revitalizar zonas de Barcelona alejadas de su sobresaturado centro. Partiendo de esta supuesta voluntad de acercamiento a los márgenes, nos propusimos desarrollar la primera parte de este proyecto explorando a píe todo el perímetro de la ciudad de Barcelona. Esta extensa área urbana se encuentra además, en su gran mayoría, emparentada generacionalmente con el edificio de Antoni Bonet. El Canódromo fue el punto de partida y de llegada de una ruta que duró ocho días. Caminamos, en la medida en que nos fue posible, por esa difusa línea que separa los bastidores y el escenario de la ciudad. El objetivo era conocer y vincular de primera mano los diversos entornos urbanos periféricos.

La segunda mirada que propuso este trabajo se centró específicamente en el edificio del Canódromo. Son muchas las lecturas que se han hecho de esta aclamada obra arquitectónica. Nosotros quisimos también interpretarla, pero no desde su valor formal, sino desde su memoria como lugar. El Canódromo Meridiana estuvo operativo entre los años 1963 y 2006, siendo en ese momento el último canódromo en funcionamiento en España. Ubicado en el barrio obrero del Congrès de Barcelona, el edificio se convirtió rápidamente en un punto de encuentro para los vecinos de un barrio faltado de espacios públicos. La gratuidad de acceso y sus amplios espacios lo hacían un lugar idóneo, no sólo para apostar, sino también para pasar la tarde en compañía o echarse una buena siesta al Sol. Nuestra mirada a este reciente pasado se formalizó en un video documental, donde antiguos trabajadores y usuarios del Canódromo nos hablaron de sus recuerdos y vivencias vinculadas a este lugar. Esta experiencia vivencial era, a nuestro parecer, el verdadero valor del edificio de Antoni Bonet.

Finalmente, el proyecto formó parte de la exposición inaugural ‘Canòdrom 00:00:00? en el nuevo centro de arte contemporáneo. Para la muestra, se ubicó en la antigua grada del edificio una selección de imágenes de nuestro recorrido y el video documental. Se editó el libro ‘Canòdrom/Canòdrom. Un recorrido por los límites de Barcelona’ donde se muestran más de trescientas imágenes realizadas por todos los participantes en nuestra travesía alrededor de la ciudad.

El Prat de Llobregat, Barcelona, 2008 – 2009

ON Barcelona (Coordination: Domènec, Pau Faus, Pere Grimau)

Collaboration: Universitat de Barcelona

Exhibition: ‘Observatori Prat’. Sala Muntadas, El Prat (Barcelona)

‘ON Prat’ was a collective project by ‘Observatorio Nómada Barcelona’ (Nomad Barcelona’s Observatory ). The work was commissioned by the local government of el Prat, in order to analyze how the recent, and constant, urban transformations of the city were affecting its surroundings. The city of El Prat is mainly known for hosting Barcelona’s larger infrastructures, such as the airport, the high-speed train tracks or a wide extension of the Port area, among others. The presence of these huge elements linked to the big city, has to deal, at the same time, with the Llobregat’s river delta, a huge and highly protected natural environment.

Our analysis of the site began with a series of walking tours around the city. To walk and to experience directly the territory is for us a highly effective tool to understand the main features of any urban landscape. Between November and April, we made nine daily roams around the outskirts of El Prat. These explorations included the participation of Cultural Management Master students from the University of Barcelona (UB).

Our continuous presence on the territory ended up giving some information about the place. We found a great difficulty to walk freely in the environment of El Prat. Its Hyperspecialized planification turned out to be the reason for its continuous fences, limitations and obstacles one was constantly finding while walking around el Prat. At the same time, we also understood that this flat fluvial landscape requires continuous vertical elements to watch, signal or advertise. Following these interpretations, we generated two lines of work: ‘El Prat Archive’ (a collection of images of the territory) and ‘El Prat Prosthesis’ (an action-manifesto about the characteristics of the place)

‘El Prat Archive’ was made exclusively by the pictures taken by all the participants in the different walks. We understood this archive as a documentation of a ‘present moment’ of this landscape in a constant state of transformation. Some of the images were also used to highlight the elements we considered most representative of the place.

Finally, the action ‘El Prat Prosthesis’ was raised as an interaction within this urban landscape. We decided to confront the difficulties found when trying to walk freely through el Prat. To do so, we were equipped with a ‘prosthesis’, an extension of our body that would allow our mobility and observation in the territory. The ideal accessory was a folding ladder, easy to transport and to install. We walked the surroundings of the city again, this time equipped with ‘El Prat Prosthesis’. The action was meant to become a manifesto: The pertinence of our prosthesis highlighted some features of the territory.

This work was part of the exhibition ‘Observatori el Prat’, between the months of May and June 2009, at Torre Muntadas’ art space of El Prat. The project ‘ON Prat’ showed the two approaches tested over the territory: Observation (Archive) and interaction (Prosthesis)

Osservatorio Nomade/Barcelona (Domènec, Pau Faus, Giulia Fiocca, Pere Grimau, Paolo Nadalin, Elvira Pujol, Anna Recasens, Lorenzo Romito, Glòria Safont-Tria, Jordina Sangrà, Laia Solé, Joan Vila-Puig, Debora Zanette)
2007

Routes around the Barcelona
urban area

Rieres/Rambles is a territorial research project promoted by Stalker, and organised by the OSSERVATORIO NOMADE/BARCELONA. It is part of a series of similar projects undertaken previously, such as Campagna Romana (Rome, 2006) and Barilonga (Bari, 2006). The project aims to find incidences of new models for interpreting territory in the Greater Barcelona Area based on direct, collective and transdisciplinary experiences that have the practice of roaming as their basis. Two phases of work: «Roaming» and «Variable Distances and Multiple Identities».
«Roaming»: A three-day group walk (12th-14th April 2007) with five different departure points and five areas of simultaneous research: Sitges and the Garraf; Olesa de Montserrat and the Baix Llobregat; Viladecavalls and the Vallès Occidental; Llinars del Vallès and the Vallès Oriental; and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres and the Maresme.
«Variable Distances and Multiple Identities» (2007-2009): This involved the creation of workshops and working groups in order to carry out research into, reflect on and promote new models for interpreting territory in the Greater Barcelona Area.
The exploration of the Greater Barcelona Area on foot as the basis for territorial research, involves adopting a position outside the guidelines that construct the standardised experience of everyday life. By observing and listening to the erratic roaming line we have been able to experience a reality that eschews superficial categorisations and offers multiple possibilities for research far removed from media simplifications.