Vicente Guallart is a visionary in modern architecture and urban planning. Here are two facts that support this statement: twenty years ago, when technology had not yet entered the sector, he was the first director of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. And, in 2014, he envisioned the post-COVID city model in his essay “The Self-Sufficient City”.

Guallart has no shortage of merits and experience. He combines expertise in both public and private sectors, as well as in teaching. He has participated several times in the Venice Biennale, founded the Fab Lab Barcelona, and has taught at international universities such as HSE in Moscow or IAAC programs. Furthermore, he was the chief architect of the Barcelona City Council between 2011 and 2015, where he introduced renaturalization policies for the Catalan capital.

Currently, he combines his role as a professor with developing projects in his firm and in Urbanitree, a company founded with Dani Ibáñez (current director of IAAC). We make CONNECTION WITH… Vicente Guallart to look back and analyze if the future will be as expected: combining nature and technology in our cities.

You have always been interested in architecture, to the point of working as a construction worker to understand it up close. How has your conception of the profession changed by living this experience?

Construction has a social component, and there I learned the passion of someone who, doing whatever it is, wants to give their best. I saw the humility of workers on site, understanding that homes are a social good and that there are people behind them: those who conceptualize and those who inhabit these ideas.

From architecture, we are in the middle of the design process; we must shape these places, and we are an important part of the value chain, but it is also essential to highlight that this chain is very broad and involves different professions.

 

You have experienced architecture from different perspectives: as chief architect of the Barcelona City Council, as the first director of IAAC, and from your own studio. What lessons do you draw from your background in both public and private sectors, and how do you think they should coexist?

In each of these stages, I discovered how we can contribute to designing better cities, so that people live well in them, and to creating innovative and creative architecture. I believe that having performed these roles has allowed me to contribute to the progress of cities.

 

You have also worked in culturally diverse places like Cameroon, Russia, and China, always excelling in technological innovation. How have these countries influenced you? What have you left behind, and conversely, what do you think you have contributed to those places?

The world is very diverse in cultural and political terms. In Russia, progress is perceived only by the elites. Cameroon, on the other hand, is a very young society that wants to learn but is hindered by its political environment and colonial past. It has a contradiction: its urban clock is still in a phase of exploiting unsustainable materials and techniques. In Europe, we want to remove asphalt from streets, while in Africa, they want to asphalt them because many are dirt roads. Our job is to help accelerate these urban clocks and even support skipping some steps in the transition towards decarbonizing the planet.

China is almost a continent with a strong collective will to progress and is undergoing transformation across the entire country and at all scales. An example is the international competition we won in 2020 to set standards for buildings in a new city located 100 kilometers from Beijing. It involved high ecological standards, where people could live, work, and rest within their homes. This standard was designed during the lockdown, considering how post-COVID cities should be. We have replicated this in Spain with Urbanitree through the “Terraces for life” project, the tallest social housing building constructed in CLT in Spain.

 

How has the world of public procurement evolved concerning sustainability and people’s well-being?

One thing I learned working in the City Council is that by modifying very few rules, profound changes can be promoted. An ordinance can influence what is prioritized in public procurement. Why are social concepts introduced and not ecological ones? There must be a translation of political discourse into actions, a commitment from both public and private sectors. In the end, major investors want to ensure their assets over time, and that can only be achieved with buildings that have ecological certifications. Regarding these certifications, I think all evolution will come from Europe and the Urban Agenda.

 

How do institutions like IAAC benefit professionals and society, and how do they complement university education?

I believe that university education is a basic need that, although very powerful in Spain, does not delve into many aspects fundamental to the profession.

At IAAC, we develop post-professional masters, attracting people from all over the world to train. IAAC was founded when digital technologies were arriving in our lives, always aiming to be ten years ahead of what is on the market. There was no Facebook, Google, or AI, but we wanted to push the boundaries of architecture and have that impact led by the professional and design fields, not just the economic and technological ones. The years have proven us right, as students from around the world have trained at the Institute, and more research projects with other institutions are continuously developed.

IAAC continues to evolve. If twenty years ago the new frontier was the digital world, now it is the ecological revolution through the use of new materials like wood, the real application of the circular economy…

 

It’s been over ten years since the publication of your book “The self-sufficient city.” Do you think we are moving towards the paradigm you advocated in your work?

In 2011, we started talking about a city made up of productive neighborhoods, at a human pace, within a zero-emission metropolis. The first part, which would be the 15-minute city, is already an idea promoted in many cities. A zero-emission continent is the mantra of the European Union, driven through programs like the New European Bauhaus. In this regard, I think places like Barcelona have a duty to lead the transformation because they have always been pioneers in urban transformations.

 

How can nature and technology coexist in urban planning? What do you think of projects like Proto Zoöp Zeeburg in Amsterdam, designed for the coexistence of plants, people, and animals?

I am particularly interested in biocities, and in fact, I am preparing a publication on this. Since the industrial revolution, every fifty years, a new urban model emerges. After the modern city of the Bauhaus in the twenties, which used concrete massively, automobiles, and promoted the functional segregation of the city, in the seventies, urban center renewal was pushed. Nowadays, the new paradigm is to make cities follow nature’s rules and absorb CO2 instead of generating it. Regarding resources, the model is greater local production and less consumption.

 

What materials do you think should prevail in construction, and how can we promote them?

Each era has its objectives and, therefore, its materials and technologies. In the 20th century, the big question was how to create strong and flexible structures quickly, hence concrete appeared. Currently, the challenge is to decarbonize construction to reduce global warming. New generation wood, industrialized, and the conversion processes of traditional materials are fundamental, as well as measuring the traceability of products.

We should bet on materials from the region where we build, and that these are low-emission or carbon sinks. This will also help activate a productive economy in rural areas. The city-rural differences will balance, minimizing depopulation and the risk of fires in many countries around the world. In Spain specifically, we have extensive forest resources in Teruel, Soria… where there is an opportunity to begin this territorial rebalancing.

 

What technology will help achieve these goals?

We are at the beginning of the digital revolution, and these processes take time. It makes sense for cities to have a digital twin because a general urban plan cannot be a fixed picture; it must address migrations, economic flows, or changes in people’s behavior. There are many aspects that the digital world helps to understand better than traditional planning.

We will live in buildings that, thanks to their digital attributes, will manage energy, water, or food production. Local social networks can also be promoted, and people can reconnect on a neighborhood scale because they know each other through digital mechanisms.

 

Which work from your studio are you most proud of?

I follow Frank Wright’s phrase: my best work will be the next one I do. There is always an opportunity to make a better project.

 

How do you find inspiration in your daily life? Are you more into books, social media, museums…?

I am fascinated by discovering people who do innovative things and want to change the world. I am increasingly interested in history because I think part of the future is already written and constantly repeats. We have often been able to anticipate because we understood past trends and saw those moments of change that have driven new futures.