Studio. Every architect's favorite word. Well, depending on the day and the person at least. It wouldn't be a REAL architecture study abroad experience with no design classes. Anyways, I am on my third week of school here at ETSAV and studio is in full swing. It's somewhat of a refreshing yet overwhelming experience all at the same time because it is something I have never done before - attempt to bring a community together through one architectural intervention. How does one attempt to unite a neighborhood that has been divided by the physical intervention of a concrete box enclosing a metro line? That is the question my Capstone studio is asking me to answer for the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona. We began our initial study of the area by visiting the neighborhood's "hotspot" - Can Vies. Since 1997, the building has been occupied by squatters who turned the 19th Century structure into a cultural center for the neighborhood. As a result of their illegal occupation of the building, the squatters were forcibly evicted by police in May of this year after plans to demolish Can Vies by the local government were finalized. Protests against the demolition broke out in Sants and other cities around Spain. The demolition was stopped and the squatters reclaimed Can Vies, vowing to rebuild. |
--Jennifer