In a progressively global and connected society, drawing closer to the local sphere and with difference becomes particularly urgent. Will the architectural solutions of modern projects adhere to the contemporary paradigm, that requires specific proposals fine-tuned to each social and economic context? This panel is moderated by Mariana Pestana, architect and curator of the Victoria & Albert Museum, who notes: “the spread of large real estate groups and expansion of rental platforms such as Airbnb poses the risk of homogenising the urban landscape, by standardising modes of habitation. It is therefore critical that we consider horizontal models of architectural production”.

These issues are discussed by two architects who develop participative research processes and implement residential projects that have been adjusted to new forms of domesticity. The London-based collective, Assemble, comprising 18 architects and designers, is represented here by one of its founders, Anthony Engi Meacock. Somewhat to its own surprise, the collective won the prestigious 2015 Turner Prize (which had never been awarded to “non-artists” before) for its social project to transform a housing estate in Liverpool. The residents took part in the renovation of ten dilapidated houses into public and residential spaces, which had a broader social effect on the overall community. Andrés Jaque is the founder of the Office for Political Intervention, the studio based in Madrid and New York that won a Silver Lion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale and the 2016 Friedrick Kiesler Prize, which celebrates intersections between art and architecture.

Simultaneous translation.