PROJECT SELECTED IN THE XV EDITION OF LA BEAU

The 15th edition of the Spanish Architecture and Urban Planning Biennial (BEAU) is organized by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, through the Directorate General of Urban Agenda and Architecture, in collaboration with the Higher Council of the Spanish Architects' Associations (CSCAE) and the Arquia Foundation. This edition is born with the vocation of bringing architecture and urban planning closer to the public and will have a double physical venue and a third virtual venue.

From June 28 to September 16 the Barcelona Pavilion, by Mies Van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, and from July 2 to September 23 the Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, by Juan Ribero Rada will host an event that brings together the most relevant proposals of Spanish architecture and urbanism of the last three years (2018-2020), and will be curated by a team of architects formed by two studios located in Valladolid and Barcelona: Óscar Miguel Ares, Anna Bach and Eugeni Bach.

Through a full program of exhibitions and activities both in its double venue and in relevant cultural institutions such as the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea in Barcelona or the Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, the XV BEAU aims to be a meeting place that transcends the strict field of architecture and urban planning to vindicate both its social and cultural value as well as the need to respect and care for these disciplines.

The 15th edition of the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism will be structured around a theme present in the social debate: Empty Spain, Full Spain. Strategies of conciliation.

From the most specific approaches to the most generic questions -Is a residence for the elderly in empty Spain the same as in full Spain, how should we approach the challenges surrounding housing in both contexts, what should our response be in terms of public space, how should architecture approach concepts that have different meanings in both territories-, the curatorial proposal of the BEAU rests on an integrating vocation between two very different territorial realities and two ways of understanding life.

The 15th BEAU will thus try to offer an overview that contributes to the approach and reflection on the conciliation capacities that architecture and urban planning can have with respect to the two territorial realities that exist in the country; that of a dense, dynamic and populated Spain; and that of another one with less density, more invariable and uninhabited. All this, through seven themes: Territory, Society, Sustainability, Gender, Demography, Collectivity and Economy.

Both from the point of view of the design and the choice of the different venues, the XV BEAU is conceived to be an experience compatible with the current health context and the necessary security measures, with exhibitions developed outdoors and in contact with the environment; and designed to be able to adapt, in an itinerant way, to multiple places and contexts, so that it can be extended over time and also show the permeable nature both in the curatorial concept and the design of the proposal.