Making urbanism from the smallest scale
Since 2013, Zuloark has been collaborating with the Javeriana University of Bogotá in its PEI programme (Programme of International Experiences), hosting its Architecture and Design students in Madrid to carry out a series of participatory design and construction workshops in conjunction with local communities. This line of workshops is called Hand Made Urbanism, understanding the city and the capacity we have to improve it from a multi-scalar perspective, where the smallest constructive details affect and relate to much broader environments, from the scale of the neighbourhood to the city itself. Thus, we intervene in urban planning from the smallest scale: that of urban planning made with our own hands.
Since 2013 there has been a succession of buildings from the PEI programme, hosted in different parts of Madrid, which have become living laboratories of urban planning:
The auditorium of 100 chairs
The first Hand Made Urbanism workshops were the traditional summer workshops in the Campo de Cebada, a public space of vital importance in the history of the neighbourhood of La Latina that was for many years self-designed and managed by the neighbourhood.
In the first edition, the idea was to build an auditorium by putting together a large number of small chairs that were designed and built in situ with material donated to the Campo de Cebada. In the second edition, the work was different; instead of equipping the Campo with small infrastructures, a working methodology was proposed that would allow many people to work on small objects that could be used and shared with others. For the third edition, it was decided to prioritise the care of the space and efforts were dedicated to rehabilitating, caring for and protecting the furniture that was already in use.
Neighbours from El Campo de Cebada, ACETSAM, Daetsam, Medialab-Prado, students from PEI Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, the Alcalá University Alumni Delegation of Architecture, San Jorge University of Zaragoza, CASC Villena, Zuloark, Basurama and PKMN architects participated in these workshops.
Battle Royale
In 2015, PEI students returned to Madrid for a week of Hand Made Urbanism workshops at Medialab Prado, a cultural laboratory open to the city. Zuloark, together with the Basurama and PKMN architects collectives, called this edition ‘Battle Royale’, after a film directed by Takeshi Kitano in 2000. In the film, a group of students are destined to live on a deserted island with a number of personal tools, needing collective intelligence to power these tools and survive.
Based on this plot, a collaborative strategy was designed for groups who were assigned a toolbox and an outline based on a 60x60cm pixel grid, within which they had to design the best possible piece of furniture by seeking alliances. Their surprise at the end was to discover that the set of elements, which functioned as a catalogue of independent pieces, exceeded their expectations when assembled into a final piece.
Experimental furniture for the library
In 2022, the students participating in the PEI programme were able to connect with the community of the Villaverde neighbourhood in Madrid through a new edition of Hand Made Urbanism workshops. During one week, a co-design and co-construction workshop was held at the María Moliner Public Library where pieces of urban furniture were developed to serve as new infrastructures for the outdoor space of the Library.
This space, of approximately 400 m2, was presented as a place of opportunity for urban experimentation. Each of these pieces can serve as an individual bench, but they can also be combined and create larger compositions such as an urban parliament, meeting points or play spaces. Parallel to the construction, several lectures by Madrid-based architects and designers took place, creating a rich learning context.
Huerta Los Pinos has a new auditorium
In 2023, a new Hand Made Urbanism workshop was held to design and build furniture to equip the Huerta Los Pinos. Considering the participatory nature of this community, the aim is to generate a learning environment open to all interested people (neighbours, young people, adults, families and public entities), with whom we work collaboratively to improve the public space.
Being Huerta Los Pinos a new space for development and experimentation, a small auditorium is designed and built to host self-organised public events. Different tribunes for seating are created, as well as the stage that frames it and different elements that take care of the environment, such as birdhouses.
This edition of the PEI is developed in collaboration with the social laboratory platform for environmental solutions Redes por el clima, the project for reconnecting with nature in the urban context Sendas Ocultas and the active community of Huerta Los Pinos and the Asociación Vecinal La Unidad de Villaverde.
A particular school playground
In the last edition of PEI 2024, the idea was to design new furniture for the playground of the Navas de Tolosa Infant and Primary School in Villaverde. The project aimed to create an open learning environment where PEI students can integrate with a group of proactive young people who are already working with Villaverde council.
In the workshop, a series of multi-faceted tables and benches were built for resting, eating or meeting as a parliament, as well as a play area adjacent to the school. Collaborative ways of working were tested and different forms of innovation in design and architecture were introduced through the practices of the invited guests.
On this occasion, work was carried out in a joint framework that brought together two major initiatives. On the one hand, the event Compromiso con el climaX, developed by the Madrid City Council, La Casa Encendida of Fundación Montemadrid and the ITD of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. And, on the other hand, the Programme for Guidance, Advancement and Educational Enrichment (PROA+), in which the Navas de Tolosa School and the Ministry of Education collaborate through the Subdirectorate General for Territorial Cooperation and Educational Innovation.
