Assisting discussions for the elaboration of Proposals on the Built Environment and Architecture

The PECa! Debates were online debate sessions developed by Zuloark between experts in different fields to open to the public the challenge of developing the Law on the Quality of Architecture and the Built Environment.

The Directorate General of Urban Agenda and Architecture (DGAUA) had to complete the legal framework established by the Land Law and the LOE, taking into consideration the Davos Declaration, and proposed a process of institutional opening that would generate consensus between civil society and professionals. This process was called PECA (Spanish abbreviation for Proposals on the Built Environment and Architecture).

Beyond the conventional process of drafting and processing such a law in Spain, the participatory process PECa! accompanies and opens the debate to the public through its website and thematic meetings between professionals, working groups, sectoral representatives and dissemination among the academic and collegiate sector. Topics such as social, environmental, communication, public, historical protection and innovation are discussed.

The curator’s proposal for the PECa! panel discussions aimed to form a sufficiently diverse, representative, useful and pluralistic group of panellists, taking into account aspects such as gender parity, background, profile and age. The audiovisual proposal, produced in collaboration with Malasombra Estudio, sought to connect the Palacio de Zurbano with the different technical correspondents in different parts of the country.

The Law on the Quality of Architecture was finally approved in the Senate Plenary, without any votes against, in June 2022.

La entrada PECa! Debates se publicó primero en zuloark.

A new space for learning about the city and its conflicts

Citykitchen is an experimental programme born in 2012 that proposes to explore and develop new tools for collaboration and urban management between citizens, the Public Administration and professionals from different fields.

This project is promoted by the architecture collectives Basurama and Zuloark in complicity with Intermediae and supported by La Mesa, an initiative for sharing citizen projects around tables where public management issues are discussed. Following this trajectory, the Citykitchen Tables were created, a programme of meetings between citizen groups and technical professionals from the Madrid City Council hosted by Intermediae. Its aim is to experiment with new dynamics of collaboration to learn how to manage, among many people, other ways of making and managing the city.

The menu of Citykitchen Tables

Can a table become an urban infrastructure that takes part in the interventions for the development of the city itself? In the search for this answer, a working space is generated that periodically meets to think and cook the six meetings that make up the ‘menu’ of the Citykitchen Tables:

The Aperitif and Entremeses are the moments to present the Campo de la Cebada and the Autobarrios San Cristóbal project as active cases of a form of coexistence with the Administration, addressing issues such as responsibility and care for the space shared by citizens, economic sustainability and the empowerment of the citizens and associations involved to continue with these projects once the driving group hands over its responsibility to the community.

The First Course takes as an experience a project of the Administration that incorporates the participation and collaboration of an active citizenry: Paisaje Tetuán. In this case, the theme of public commissioning is used as a pretext for analysing new forms of intervention protocol and urban contract.

The Second Course presents the case study of Urban Gardens for the analysis of some of the problems that intersect in the emerging construction of the city and its coexistence with ‘the public’, with the intention of developing and proposing useful tools that allow us to develop the possible futures that we imagine.

During the Desserts, the closing moment of the public meetings, several national and European governance projects and citizen initiative projects are presented and a common reflection on a virtual future is carried out, making it possible to better understand the working contexts of each actor and the difficulties that each one is facing. The last meeting, the ‘Sobremesa’, is mainly used by the driving group to draw conclusions on the most recurrent themes and possible lines of work for the future.

The achievement of Citykitchen is not to transcend the citizenship-administration dichotomy, but to overcome the antagonism that traditionally relates them. Citykitchen recognises two parts that are different because they come equipped with different knowledge and is able to generate a pedagogy that defends this diversity of knowledge, sensibilities and ways of being as a new motor for teaching and learning, speaking and listening.

La entrada Citykitchen se publicó primero en zuloark.

La Verbena de la Paloma: fiesta, worship and zarzuela

In the context of Spain’s representation at the Prague Quadrennial in 2023, the exhibition ‘La Verbena de la Paloma: fiesta, worship and zarzuela’, presented at the Cervantes Institute in Prague, was designed.

A verbena is a popular festival in a neighbourhood or locality, usually associated with a patron saint. In the case of the Verbena de la Paloma, it honours the Virgen de la Paloma, the popular patron saint of Madrid, and people take to the streets dressed as chulapas and chulapos to the rhythm of chotis in a great celebration of the common imaginary. This exhibition, which brings together elements of the verbena itself as well as the Zarzuela inspired by it, aims to bring the public closer to the streets of Madrid and recreate the festive atmosphere of August nights in the city. 

The space is structured in three parts, as well as the guiding thread of the exhibition: temple, street and theater. The temple has a circular shape, crowned by ribbons that refer to the crown of the Virgen de la Paloma, giving the space a more sacred connotation. In the street, the religious iconography of the Virgen de la Paloma is interwoven with the theatrical and musical evocation of the characters of the Zarzuela. This is made up of two lines of panels that can be traversed on both sides, giving rise to different scenes, such as the projection of a film or the discovery of an old pianola. The crowning of the panels on the street alludes to the triangular shawl decoration of the balconies of Madrid. 

Finally, the theater crowns the end of the street with its decorative façade, in the style of the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. The presence of two old seats invites you to sit down to watch and listen to scenes from the zarzuela Verbena de la Paloma, after having walked around the stage full of record covers, photos by Martín Santos Yubero, writings by Tomás Bretón and Ricardo de la Vega and costumes and Manila shawls. The entire exhibition space is accompanied by musical offerings that help to recreate this celebratory scene. The gaze of the illustrator Cristina Daura re-imagines the iconography of the verbena and closes the exhibition.

The project thus invites people to discover this Spanish cultural legacy that fills our public spaces with richness. The echo of this celebration has also reached the International Classical Theatre Festival of Almagro, in Ciudad Real, after the end of the Quadrennial. 

La entrada Prague Quadrennial 2023 se publicó primero en zuloark.

How does the life of young people relate to the history of Berlin? How can young people actively participate in the development of the city?

Urbane Künste ERbeLEBEN is a cultural education project that since 2018 invites children and young people to participate artistically in the discourse on public space as creative inhabitants of the city and to get involved in urban development. The project addresses young people as ‘heritage bearers’, i.e. as young people who experience Berlin’s heritage and carry it forward in their own personal way.

In consultation with the art teachers of the participating courses, a number of guest artists and architects design artistic lessons in which the students reflect on their understanding of urban space. How does their everyday perception of urban space differ from institutional perceptions? How does their current life relate to Berlin’s history? What do they as students understand by heritage? What wishes, visions and demands do they have for their city? The aim is to rediscover urban space together with young people, to understand it as a learning opportunity and to playfully transform it into a platform for artistic interventions that bring together the past and the future.

Actively collaborating since 2018, Zuloark has designed the exhibition design of the past editions, adapting different public spaces and art galleries in the Mitte district to artistic installations of different kinds; from audiovisual projections to sound installations, murals, sculptures, textiles…, always following a specific theme that guides each edition.

La entrada ERbeLEBEN se publicó primero en zuloark.

Mobile street furniture made from recycled materials

In the summer of 2017, the Imagina Madrid program commissioned us to create seven letters: I.M.A.G.I.N.A, which would travel to different public squares to host community activities before becoming part of the Matadero Madrid facilities.

In line with our Second Lives design philosophy, the choice of materials prioritizes reuse. For the platforms, we use wood from decommissioned benches in the city of Madrid, a recycling project that began with the Herminio Operation during Conama 14. Additionally, streetlight globes from the public lighting storage facility are repurposed to compose the seven letters. These materials, originally designed for public spaces, are given a second life and stand out for their durability and resistance, ensuring their functionality over time.

The I.M.A.G.I.N.A. letters are designed to travel. The design is optimized to facilitate transport and reduce fuel consumption. Furthermore, the integration of photovoltaic solar panels with batteries, twilight sensors, and high-efficiency lighting transforms the installation into furniture powered entirely by clean energy.

I.M.A.G.I.N.A. is accompanied by plants sourced from municipal nurseries in the areas where the letters are installed, which are largely watered with reused water.

The letters serve multiple functions in urban environments, including as benches, tables, or spaces for gatherings. Their autonomous lighting system also allows them to be installed anywhere, even for nighttime events.

The design considers a long lifecycle, enabling the project, initially conceived as ephemeral, to have second and third lives. I.M.A.G.I.N.A. returns to the Madrid City Council as furniture crafted from the remains of its own urban infrastructure, ready to continue occupying and enriching the city’s public spaces.

La entrada I.M.A.G.I.N.A. se publicó primero en zuloark.

MAD and PAZ Go Places: Reusable and Sustainable Furniture Made from Recycled Materials from the Madrid City Council Municipal Warehouses

The Madrid City Council participates annually in the National Environmental Congress (CONAMA), an event dedicated to promoting sustainability. Zuloark collaborates each year with the City Council in designing its pavilion for the exhibition.

For each edition, we design the pavilion using materials recovered from the municipal warehouses, while also considering its second life. Instead of being dismantled at the end of the congress, the intervention is relocated to other areas of Madrid, where it gains a new purpose.

For CONAMA 2016, we designed three furniture-letters as the main feature of the space, spelling out the word MAD. These letters have a blue metal structure that supports large light fixtures, specifically luminaires recovered from the municipal lighting warehouses—sodium lamp globes that were progressively being removed from the city and becoming waste. These luminaires were repurposed with new LED elements powered by solar panels.

La entrada CONAMA 16 – MAD PAZ se publicó primero en zuloark.

Autonomy and disability in rural areas through collaborative urbanism

Here Be Dragons (“Hic sunt dracones”) was a phrase used in the Middle Ages to describe the unknown territories beyond the explored world. On maps, these uncharted areas were often adorned with sea serpents and other mythical creatures.

Here Be Dragons is a project that works with people with disabilities to increase visibility, empowerment, and promote autonomy, abilities, and equality within this community. These individuals, particularly in rural and peripheral areas, are often less visible and less involved in communal life.

The project fosters a more inclusive urbanism through artistic and collaborative practices. These practices encourage the development of work habits, stimulate observational skills, and inspire transformative changes in participants, helping to build self-esteem.

The first edition takes place in the fall of 2019 in Santa Cruz de La Palma, specifically in the peripheral neighborhoods of La Dehesa, Las Nieves, and Velhoco.

Here Be Dragons builds connections between different groups to create a network that explores new ways of living and sharing public spaces. The project involves artists Clara Moreno and local artist Raisa Maudit, in collaboration with Plena Inclusión Canarias, various associations, and occupational centers whose members possess a deep knowledge of the local history and context. It also works with neighborhood associations, municipal workers, botanists, and even the parish priest of the Royal Sanctuary of Our Lady of Las Nieves.

Through a variety of workshops, participants share experiences and learnings via walks, urbanism workshops, and design and construction sessions. These activities highlight the natural surroundings, flora, memory, and heritage of iconic places like the Royal Sanctuary of Las Nieves and the Barranco de Las Nieves.

The project culminates in a “pilgrimage” through the ravine, activating various points along the path with furniture designed and built by participants, the artists, and Zuloark.

By installing this furniture and engaging in activities such as plant collection, drawing, storytelling, and gathering personal interests, memories, and music, the project fosters the reclamation and reinterpretation of public spaces. It emphasizes the value of the natural and cultural heritage of the area while enhancing the visibility and inclusion of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities through artistic practices in the rural context.

The “pilgrimage” invites families and the broader community to participate, encouraging collective reflection on how to improve our surroundings through learning, collaboration, and building inclusive and sustainable networks.

La entrada Here be dragons La Palma (Canary Islands) se publicó primero en zuloark.

A project for the visibility of people with disabilities in rural environments through artistic practices and urbanism.

‘‘Here be dragons’ (“Hic sunt dracones”) is what was written in the Middle ages maps by seamen at unexplored territories. “Here be Dragons” (Aqui Hay Dragones) is a project for the visibility of people with disabilities in rural environments through artistic practices. Working alongside people with disabilities and local artists, the project seeks to empower and promote the autonomy, capacities and equality of a community that lacks participation in common life. This project explores inclusive art and urbanism, using creative practices as tools for the rural communities of people with disabilities to concur the public space of their territories.

La entrada Here Be Dragons se publicó primero en zuloark.

Protection and conservation of Madrid’s common commercial graphic heritage

PACO GRACO is a project dedicated to the defense and preservation of Madrid’s commercial graphic heritage, understanding this heritage as an essential part of the city’s memory. Its goal is to safeguard old shop signs from neighborhood businesses that, in recent years, have been dismantled and destroyed on a massive scale.

Since 2017, the Paco Graco collective has been collecting commercial graphics from numerous businesses that close in Madrid, rescuing them from disappearing. It not only recovers handcrafted signs from century-old shops but also those from more recent businesses that barely remained open for a few years. Through these pieces, the project brings back the stories of these businesses and the people behind them, retelling them through exhibitions, tours, web platforms, maps, and documentaries.

This collection, which now includes over 150 signs, can be seen as a graveyard of businesses, a museum of displaced shops and streets, or even a witness to what our public space has been and could become. It serves as a kind of textual palimpsest, a lesson in the history of Spanish graphic design with its aesthetic and political changes, and an exploration of the transformations our cities undergo.

Throughout its journey, this project has connected with a diverse group of artists, historians, designers, and neighbors who have long worked to conserve and highlight this heritage through photography and other artistic practices, as well as through the implementation of public and civic policy initiatives. This network of individuals has united under the umbrella of the Iberian Network for the Defense of Graphic Heritage, seeking to collaborate with similar initiatives on a European scale.

PACO GRACO has been featured in spaces such as the Casa del Reloj at Matadero Madrid (Cuida tu barrio, 2019), La Casa Encendida (Los Rótulos de Paco Graco, 2023–24), and CentroCentro (No va a quedar nada de todo esto, 2023–24). Public interest has allowed the project to expand beyond the design sphere, demonstrating that the preservation of a city’s heritage acts as a social unifier, raising awareness about the importance of preserving the identity fabrics of neighborhoods and cities.

PACO GRACO is an ongoing project because we believe the best way to preserve heritage is to keep it alive. So, if you know of a sign at risk of being lost, contact us.

Will there be anything left of all this?

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La entrada PACO GRACO se publicó primero en zuloark.

A large-scale playground for all generations on Madrid’s Gran Vía

We envision LNEB (La Noche En Blanco) as an opportunity for testing a new kind of urbanism. During this event, pedestrians become the protagonists of the city, enabling interactions on an unprecedented scale. We aim to transform the city through participatory actions, where the real spectacle is the people themselves—acting, participating, and reshaping the spaces we offer them.

For the materialization of the elements, we use recycled materials and standard construction materials. This approach allows us to both reduce costs and increase the density of proposals, while also achieving an aesthetic of the unfinished—elements that can be transformed by each participant on that night.

Basically, we intend something very simple: we want the photos that capture what happened at LNEB 2010 to focus not on impressive installations or large setups, but on the people who participate and engage with the space—and later, on the places where these pieces travel, the true destinations for which they were originally conceived.

The “Second Lives” of objects is a central element of the project, which aims to meet the city’s needs by using LNEB’s funds to generate collective activities during that night, and which can later be reallocated to spaces where they are needed.

La entrada Gran Vía – Gran Obra se publicó primero en zuloark.