 All right, good morning everyone. I'd like to get started so we can stay relatively on time thank you so much for coming today and I have to welcome you to Avery Hall and also to Avery Storm which has been rather hectic for everyone and I really appreciate all the speakers who've Had some delays rather significant but are here nonetheless. So I'm really pleased to welcome you to the school and to begin today's Symposium on housing called acts of design new housing paradigms in North America. I Think before really starting I just want to extend some thanks also To the dean for her support for the conference today also in general supporting the housing studio the studio has been a very long has a long history here at Columbia and And Recently we've been traveling and so that's been a large undertaking for the studio. So thanks to her for that also, I want to draw some attention to an exhibition of the students work and some of our travel that is in the Kind of the exhibition space at the top of the stairs on the way to the elevator and so to thank Irene Sun Wu and Tiffany as well as all the students who put together their work that they've done so far this semester So that will give you a little bit of a reflection on what we've been looking at in the housing studio And also to Lila and to see and and Stefan Bodaker Who have been very instrumental in making this day come about so thank you so much for all your hard work For today. So a little bit of an overview of the housing studio It is a studio that's been offered at the school for somewhere between 45 and maybe 50 years So there's a very long history and somewhat tradition at the school perhaps may be one of the only traditions I think Columbia isn't necessarily known for traditions But nonetheless, we are always looking at housing here in the architecture program and the masters of architecture program And in the core sequence. So it is the last semester in the core sequence in the second year This semester fall studio There are about little under 90 students and we have eight studios and we all work together on one site but each of the faculty members looks at a given problem that I write and write a response and lead their own studio section So we have a very intense semester Looking at in this case a studio site in the South Bronx So the studio is very much grounded in New York and the history of housing in New York This is in a way to reflect upon the history of the studio at the school and also to Acknowledge and recognize that across the faculty and all of the different departments that we have here Urban design urban planning real estate historic preservation The PhD program and so on that we have many faculty who have Invested much of their careers and their interests in housing from Richard Plunts Kenneth Frampton Wendell and right Michael Bell is also here today part of the conference Reinhold Martin and and so on not to exclude anyone the list is quite long also practitioners that have been instrumental in working on housing and thinking about the design of housing from Stephen Hall to Laurie Hawkinson and Many of our other visitors that come to the school to teach in advanced studios. So I think we're quite strong in thinking about issues around housing not just in New York City but around the world and globally and that has been something that the studio itself has come up against in different capacities and Recently to also think perhaps more carefully about North America And that's something we've been doing now in the studio for the past three to four years The students traveled earlier in the semester to Mexico City. It was our second trip in the last three years last year we went to Chicago and Are going to be traveling again probably in the next couple of years looking again at at different cities in North America But we're still thinking about that this conference then in a way helps serve All of us here to think more critically about the issue around housing and design and architecture So with that said, I'd like to get started just a brief overview. I will be moderating and Organize a conference today. I'm also going to be joined by Adam Frampton who will Moderate the second session this morning. He's also teaching here in the housing studio and principle of his own architecture office Only if and he also works on housing Kassim Shepard will be moderating a panel this afternoon He teaches courses on narrative and digital storytelling in the urban design program at GSAF And he was the founder of urban omnibus and his first book city makers the culture and craft of practical urbanism was published last year Michael Bell an architect and tenured faculty member here is also going to be a moderator this afternoon He also led the housing studio for more than a decade prior to me and served as the director of the master of architecture program for almost 15 years and Will be Leading a session with some of the practicing architects that are coming later on and right and hold Martin will conclude today's Session by moderating our closing panel. Reinhold is the director of the PhD program and also runs the Buell Center here for study of American architecture so with with that I'm going to introduce a little bit the first panel where we're going to focus on Collective project or a group project. Let's say in part Some of the speakers for today and the thinking of the themes are very much tied and Instrumental to the way that the housing studio is working So on one hand our conference is really geared to the students and that they are working in pairs So I thought it's very valuable for them to see how not only the subject of housing and its Relationship to design practices and architecture where housing is located within an architectural practice But to also look at the way in which architects are now working and perhaps a particular generation my generation Working more collaboratively and working together on certain projects And so with that we're going to look at a case study Territory of gigantes which is in West Calientes in Mexico And it will be formed. I will be moderator for the panel But I'm so pleased to have here today Derek Della camp an architect with his own office Della camp architectos founded in 1999 in Mexico City. He also is recently taught at Cornell Simon Hartman is a founding partner of HHF based in Basel, Switzerland And is also currently teaching at Yale and on his own and his office HHF is teaching at the GSD Anna Fugineer is a partner at Mayo and has recently joined the faculty here at Columbia in coordinating core one And Tatiana Bilbao who runs her own office Tatiana Bilbao a studio in based in Mexico City Has also been a teacher here at Chisap as well as rice and Yale and has been coordinating and overseeing the project Territory of Digi Ganti's master plan and Organize the architects for the panel. So I think if we're ready. I understood Tatiana is here. Yes, I great And so she will be the first speaker. Thank you so much Thank you and good morning everyone. I'm very happy to be here. Thank you Hillary for organizing these I think It is it is a project that We've been doing collectively as Hillary said and I think it's an incredible opportunity of thinking How can we imagine housing? In a in a very specific context of Mexico, but obviously I think the issues that we're tackling are issues that could be basically applicable in many many ways to the whole world because we're talking about What collectivity means what a community means what those ties can make these plays a better place for humans to live and the project started almost Probably five years ago And this is located in a city in the center of the country in the state and of Aguas Calientes The city is the same name of Aguas Calientes. It's a relatively small city for Mexican standards. It's a bit of a Big bigger than 800,000 people What it is also kind of not standard from Mexico. It's that it's a city that it's very well planned And it's a city that has an enjoys a specific quality of life that it's a little bit in higher Enablerage of that of Mexican cities It's a capital of a small state, but it's a capital of a wealthy small state But it also shares the same problematics that probably all the cities in the world housing how to house all the people there and how to house it with a Standard or good quality of life so this city is crossed by a power line that divides when it touches the city and Currently and the government decided to relocate that line or to Subterrain it and these leaving a big part of of Of the city with an opportunity to be built The city this the site basically has an impact that goes to 38% of the size of the city So we were hired to do a master plan As I said five years ago We analyzed the whole city as this is a project that impacts really the metropolitan area And we understood the potentials of the site is very well located And it's very central to the to the city and it is easy Linkable in many many ways although it's a line and that right now creates kind of a scar in the city that it's empty Just with these power lines running on top of it So we understood that we needed to break that limit that these line poses to the city Tissue and we needed to understand how to meet that in order to provide also housing densified the housing and mixed program in order to Try to keep the the expansion of the city to the west to the inner part of the city There was done a very big master plan that included the whole area We call it program a partial which is a special plan of land use and direction of the whole zone and then we were Proposing a master plan for the for exactly those sites that were going to be liberated by the The removal of the power lines We wanted to create a strategy as I said that with with the the existing green spaces would link this area easily destinationally, but also vehicularly to the center of the city And these way trying to erase that scar that the the line really Imposes right now. We proposed a set a master plan that included several And mix uses trying to fulfill a little bit of those uses that were Lacking in each sector. We divided the plan in four sectors and we work by sectors We understood specifically the characteristics of each one and we propose specific programs for each of them and then After three years of work the government change the government Elected a different Governor from a different party and normally in Mexico. This means the projects are dead. That's it end of it But fortunately the governor that arrived then saw a big opportunity and wanted to retake the project back and So he asked us to continue developing the project the master plan that was in a schematic At a schematic moment and at the same time to develop two blocks so we saw it as an incredible opportunity of First developing the two blocks and then informing back the master plan since the master plan had no rush We thought it was very important to Hold hold the master plan back and try to to think how that those The design of those two blocks could inform the master plan then so what to do invite invite six architects from different parts of the world to do it we went to the site and the government Decided exactly which of the two blocks Were needed to be developed one was going to be developed the north one by the government the the seed the Housing department of the government of the state and the south one by the in front of it which is the bank that subsidized and founds the housing in Mexico and So we brought all these architects to Mexico City For three days. We started having first workshops in the table without First going to the site Understanding what could be a collective idea for proposal for these two plans? We gave we put in the table a lot of ideas and then we went to the site all together We discussed the possibilities we discussed the intense relationship to the That this site has to the neighbors and the difficult relationship that these poses We started sketching and understanding what could happen there discussing several hours and at the end We end up these three days with general Smaller master plans for each of the blocks the north block Developed by Arquilab in in architects Masias Peredo and work AC and the south block developed by Moss a studio Mario HHF Derek Delecam dogma and ourselves and This way we decided how to create a collective that was designed by everybody and then Specific buildings designed by each of the offices Then we each of us went away work with our own buildings We decided to do a check board that would allow to bring those combinations of individual Projects together and then we started Discussing again, what is that public ground that would give these cohesion or collective idea in this place? We started Purposing those classes and those collective areas understanding that this could become a platform of equal materiality but with richness of program that would allow to be literally the platform for those Living units designed by different architects but combined and interposed within each other and this is how we arrived to the final design that it's already Done constructions documents are delivered this past week And I think that the diversity of those designs really allow for people to to identify or to to be in conflict with the place As much as be in this collective space that will reunite all of them together what we did and I'll do it very quickly The strategy of our own buildings was to understand that we had to build with the the building is for typologists for sizes of Units and we decided to use those four units and interpose them On different floors to create this idea of progression That the stair would lead you then a little bit a trick to understand how within this regularity that we needed to to To achieve for costs reasons would give us a possibility also to create a singularity for each apartment So a slight difference with a big Possibility of giving and encouraging for a very living in this place. Thank you very much I'm gonna quickly share a small number of projects that have to do with two things like a much larger collective effort where many of my colleagues here have been also involved and Also, though is the center of investigation is in for Navite who has had an incredible number of initiatives that have kind of unite us around these different projects and also The earthquake the earthquake that happened almost a little over a year Which while it was a tragic event It is also true that it has been a major Cattle it's forced to bring a number of architects to work together in issues of social housing and public space So like two years ago in this research center in for Navite led by Carlos Edillo and Julia who is here with us They did this project called territory The territory of habitante so they asked a number of architects I think it was close to a hundred architects to design a prototype house for a different bio-climatic Case so we worked in we had done a number of projects in wood and we were Assigned this house or prototype house in in the area of Mitra can where there is a wood community and This so we designed this more like a structure than a specific house and then later In for Navite commission most Hillary and Michael to do a master plan to build these houses 30 of them in this place called up and and this is just a quick image of their master plan where they designed the upper building is like the main building that has services and then this the 32 prototype houses later they this is Like three weeks ago, so these houses are almost finished and there should be an opening in a few weeks I'm sure Julia will talk about that So later they did this competition for this lower lot here that was like the missing piece with the master plan and The program for this building is a laboratory for materials which kind of reinforces the idea of this experiment or Museum of different prototype of housing we entered the the competition and we won with this proposal and This is the other major project that kind of brings us all together or this group of colleagues The one that that then I just explained and that we will be talking further Kind of the discussion. So like I said, the other really big event Was the earthquake like many of you must know there had been an An earthquake just 32 years to the exact date So this 19 of September of 2017 we were hit with this really big earthquake This is a map the blue dot right here is where our office is and the build the red dots are buildings that were either Collapsed or had major Damages the yellow ones are the ones that had a lesser damage And I'm showing this image to kind of see how close we were to kind of like the epicenter of the area that was most damage in Mexico and also because These are two images are just buildings just a few blocks away from our office and what I Pretend with this is to just show how personal it was and and I can even say that it was a life-changing Experience for everyone in the office that can really reset our efforts and reset our focus in our work We were doing the work we were doing with with housing This is a number which I think is conservative Maybe Julian can give us another number, but of the number of houses in rural areas that had to be abandoned I mean that either collapse or had major damages in the later days after the earthquake Through what's up the a number of architects built this platform That was called reconstruing Mexico that Diana was a big part of it Carlos said he was a big part of it and in just a few days We had almost like a hundred and fifty participants. It was I mean the energy in it was really incredible They formed a number of groups that were gathering to Kind of a structure this effort in everyone in their own offices We're doing things like the immediate things that they could help with in our office We had so many people from different countries that we served as translator for people coming from abroad to check for safety in in public buildings or in buildings and Later we started we did a team back and kind of figured out where we would take it from there And we started working with different o and g's and different institutions Institutions which you can see right here and kind of led us to a further effort down the line So this is kind of the area where it happened and I'm just going to briefly walk you through the number of houses this is interesting because this is kind of like An image of kind of the the context where we're working with this houses really small rural communities That had an incredible damage both in their public buildings and in their housing So through these o and g's and institutions we were approached to work with these different families and Designed this really really small houses with the sense of urgency in average these houses cost around $8,000 and what's really really interesting is this is an exercise that really makes you Work or forces you to work with the most essential elements many of these communities Have incredible limitations not only in the type of materials you can have access to but also with the Specialized hand labor so case by case you have to work with that community and kind of figure out what makes sense They're what's kind of like the right thing to do with each of these specific cases So these are just quick images in this case. For example, this Earth bricks are part of the materials that you could get in this specific community. This is salvador salvador This is a moving story salvador is blind This is the how the image of the house where he lived Which was an adobe house and all that was left is this door that we then later on reintegrated into the project Salvador's house because he was convinced that he wanted an adobe house again And so we worked in this case with what was available and these are hay packs so Then this turned into a workshop in the university for other houses to be built We also did funding for many of these houses So we really kind of integrate ourselves to these effort in a broader way that had not just to do with Designing specifically. These are other of the communities where we designed Again, this is this is a project led by infona beat in this case in this Oaxaca community area that is really really poor and Finally this project or how these Housing effort kind of led us to later on design public space that is related or Interweave with this social housing and collective effort This is johutla again another project led by infona beat and what was special in johutla. I mean it was one of these places that was Really mediatic because of how much of the public space had been damaged So in this case we infona beat focus more in the rebuilding of public space and the housing space So there's a number of different projects here. This is a small bridge. It's been commissioned to Oma. There's a Alberto kalach doing a school and we are doing two different projects with a really close friend Camilo Restrepo and it is a church which is right here and a community center, which is up there and Very quickly, this is the park with the park had a community center Which was a really really damaged to the point where it had to be demolished which was right here So we took that as an opportunity to open the space In this case get rid of that building up there and open the space to make it public and really integrate it into the Neighborhood and what it is. It's a really simple portico typology that has to do with a grid in the park This is meant for really simple things like having an ATM Having a tortilla place and just really like community really simple community services and Finally this church also designed with Camilo that had to do with the previous church falling. So this was the 18 Late 18th century church of johutla and this was a church that was built in the year 2000 so this one collapsed and this one was damaged to the point that they had to Bring it down. So we were I mean in this case johutla is an incredible place in terms of its Climate and also its vegetation. So we were immediately inspired by Felix Candela in his open chapel in Cuernavaca which is just a few miles away from that and So again, this is an open chapel That has to do with public space and kind of also what we felt was really moving in this case It's kind of like the psychological impact that these spaces have after an event like an earthquake Hit no, I mean I'm Swiss and I think I'm an example of It's doubt. It's a little bit of doubt if you do social housing In Mexico as a Swiss and I would be happy that this is also addressed today. So We did one little building in in Mexico in another Group project that was kind of the back Pack or the duffel we had and I show you Quickly the images of a guy who came to our office and said I have no money But I have a very nice plot in Brazil and I would like you to do a house so Which made us think of another project we have done in in China, which is orders 100 for those who know that where We had to compete with the situation that 100 different people designed a house and we were kind of brought back to ourselves and did Something which is the most simple way to construct spaces and with the kind of a stupid joke of the roof being our HGF Sign for a Google Earth 3 this is the reason so we had this guy coming from Brazil who said I want to have a house and a fan of yours and we said, okay We cannot really deliver and I think this is the the question here What can you deliver as architect in a situation so far away? And we said I mean one can do any with anything a good house Your name is Pat and your plot has the size that we can have a serious pee on it and That's what we I mean This is then quickly done if you want to of course it's then more complicated than you think in the beginning But this is this like use the most common way of how to Build and give it something special These are renders he duly then did that with his friends there and Sent us photographs of the construction process and now it's there. It's built No, so that was kind of the the background we had when we were attacking the the question of how to respond to Tatiana's question or at the question of that site and I mean I don't have to repeat the master plan, but I didn't know if Tatiana would even make it So I put these images so this is the site It's a site which is kind of difficult neighborhood next to it with a lot of introversion But also then We all agreed we saw it and thought this can be a real Neighborhood, it's not about Emergency housing is it's just I mean how to build the part of the city and that's why we were also so happy About this idea of just do one and then inform the master plan and not do a long master plan with everything Kind of set and and then to apply it So we knew it will be something like this wild mix it got in the end We knew by looking at other examples. We did research in the question What can we do? You know with the the the question is clear. You can almost not spend money But you cannot just do the most banal building neither because otherwise you would have to renounce to the job as an architect from Switzerland because if it's just about What is the rule there? Then we just spent? miles in the plane and and money so Okay, we said what we can do is that we just I mean someone picked us for a reason We don't maybe don't know why but we can do So the the job like we do our jobs and maybe that is then a part of the diversity of how people attack a question and this can be This can be like the benefit for the project We got Brief and we got the brief with the square meters and we got the brief with the question of how to Fit that on the plan. You see that that's our plots Even if the checkerboard is very uniform, of course It creates a big variety of spaces based on the fact that here one is missing So this one has a different condition here than there. This one is Totally at the edge. So we wanted to reflect that in our flow plan On the project then we had the second thing with that this whole this whole operation is in a slope Which leads to half? Heights of differences. So we thought maybe we can kind of combine we do simple houses combine the Entrances to have one expressive moment Like an element, which is a big common stare, which is also a social space and we try to Then do something with that we saw that Next to when we drove with the bus that there is something like a tradition for steel bigger steel operations in the site which I think has to do with the with the car industry there Yeah, so Very simple. So we said we can do something special and we can do Something with the floor plan, which as a basic idea is we don't want to have any technical shaft so age floor instead of investing in in Technical equipment we wanted to have just all natural ventilation Now I just go through the floor plans and this The Elements so we have this kind of the the program with the smaller housing units and the Lower parts and then the question of how to get these light situations we want It's one is with this Round stair the other one is with the squares there Ah Here you see the more or less so this floor plans of the most modest Parts which we could do with the double height space to get light Even if you want privacy inside That's another lower part house then we have in the upper floors always this motif of you come in and You kind of find then the light in the end The most simple way this is a house which is just next to the site. So here also someone kind of gave his I mean the views and searching for the views and the Sun was the main issue So this is then how these two buildings operate in the hall Hello everyone, I'm mana Pujanea. I'm here speaking on behalf of Maya and of his base in Barcelona He hasn't been an extraordinary project for I think for all of us It was a great opportunity to to to work collectively, but not not only that to design collectively and and as you and the result that we're presenting today, it's quite obvious how this Work has influenced the project itself So you cannot detach the built form from the urban form and be diverse and that's kind of that's a real Consequent of this going back and forth from offices to collective discussions and etc. That was mentioned in so our project for territory of gigantes is is an evolution of Research on type housing typology that we have had at the office for a long time now and it's a it's a research on specifically on how Obstruction in domesticity everything started with this Art piece that it's an art piece of from Nickers Rook title Spoke a story without characters and we encountered this art piece years ago and for us was really Attractive by its its level of obstruction so what the artist did was basically to reenact isn't reenactment honor of Comic Donald Donald duck comic and he basically erase all the characters and any any text and Anything that could be literal and suddenly Everything that was at the back on a second stage until then became on the front in at the first stage and Suddenly a certain level of abstraction Allow that any story could happen Within the same format and for us was really attractive how to allow this Obstruction and how to translate that into the domestic So we start claiming in the office that what we need was is actually generic rooms or abstract rooms So spaces that are not predetermined in In it with its domestic program But allow any domestic program to happen at that time It was a specifically a reaction to how Housing was being built in Spain that most of our housing stock is defined by To and address to just one social type what probably we could call the family type so based on a structure of mother-father one two children and We we were aware that our society in Spain is much more wider more than the 70% of our society doesn't respond to that Social type so we're claiming to start designing houses that could allow to answer to this wider social reality alongside that references that reference of of this abstraction I I've been researching about kitchenless houses in in worldwide, but specifically here in New York and and at the turn of the 1820s century There was a large Volume of apartments that lack of kitchens and apart from that The rooms were also the apartments were able to expand and decrease So suddenly the house was understood as a system where its part of the parts could be added and subtracted on demand and That allow us to reflect on the need also to have a diffuse limit of the house itself Why our houses have always the same surface so therefore the same type of a space and However, and on the opposite our social need our life needs change so much through through our lifetime. So How to kind of understand our social needs and start proposing houses that can be Adaptable to that as well in terms of surface We start then to talk about the idea of a diffuse house at the house a house that can Be defined depending on our needs in terms of spaces and rooms and therefore which limits are not clear and Termit as well. So we're claiming to have not predetermined program houses But also not predetermined limit limited surface houses The first Attempt to to put these ideas into practice was in a housing block that we built in Barcelona years ago where the building had 110 rooms that could be Compiled to form different types of of Apartment and at the same time each room was not predetermined in program So even the kitchen could be placed in any room at that time We start working with the idea of big doors also to raise even in a stronger manner the ambiguity Of the limit of the room itself So suddenly just a big I guess it's kind of simple trick But a big door allows you to connect to two rooms. It's really simple But at the at the same time it provides a lot of richness in terms of apartment uses And I'm quoting all these because definitely for us Territory of Ginagantes project has been an evolution of of in this typology. This is our proposal for for a was calientes where every apartment has Six spaces At the same time as generic as possible and the problem is not predetermined and the doors We kept on the idea of using big doors But as we did a really simple move and if in Barcelona housing block We built the doors in the middle of the room here. The doors are just in the corners Allowing a larger Possible flexibility of combining the spaces so all those Rooms are subtracted and and added in order to to allow different combinations and at the same time We started to work with the idea of the mistake and the error to raise a specificity in a generic system and we will learn that and with a project that It was defined by a grid by a strict order and suddenly that order was Producing these kind of mistakes and other spaces when encountering a pre-existent limit and suddenly we realized that thanks to those Situations the order exists. So and also we start valuing the idea of the mistake as suddenly something that Despite generic set of generic spaces allows you to raise certain type of specific sitting So in ours, I was calientes. We have this kind of suddenly Kind of Mistakes that allow to be specific at the same time generic The structure is really simple Looking for, you know, trying to make it as simple as possible in order to make it as economical as possible and on the rooftop We We talked a lot about Also with with the rest of the teams how to raise collectivity and not only in the urban plan But also in our buildings. So in the rooftop is it has just, you know, like two simple The walls that divide the rooftop in four spaces and Our aim is to kind of invite appropriation on that rooftop So in Mexico if you have a wall, suddenly you're gonna have Something built on it. So accepting the idea of appropriation and growth through time Through little glimpses. So for us these walls, we know that they're probably gonna fence and you know Like try to appropriate those spaces in the future and for us is accepting kind of the few the nature of the place itself And also instead of designing a simple simple Stare what we did was to expand it to the point that it's Ambiguous in a sense that it's not it's too big to be just a stare But it's not Adequate to be a proper private terrace So suddenly this kind of odd device for us is an architectural apparatus that forces Discussion and dialogue among neighbors. So in order to fence it and therefore to appropriate it for yourself You have to discuss with your neighbor and to kind of achieve an agreement among neighbors That's why the the form themselves if you look at them each building has its own form So for us also, it's kind of an experiment It's something that we really like from in front of it that they were all the time encouraging us to push the boundaries and to Propose new typologies and test those say apologies for future social housing Typologies and we thought that okay Let's try different forms in different buildings and as a Laboratorium to understand how different neighbors and can occupy those odd forms So we have from really simple ones to extremely big ones and For us those terraces are definitely a place in between the private the most private and the most public And in between a space that allows to connect the domestic and to the urban and to expand Domesticity to the urban space. Thank you very much I thought it would be good to just have maybe a general discussion about the process of working together a little bit and also, you know to to talk a little bit more carefully about collaboration in the context of your offices and Thinking through the problem of housing So that's sort of one point I guess maybe three maybe three things we could touch on all together I think just that a sort of synopsis of collaborating What that means in each of your practices because I think all of us to varying degrees have had experience with that But I think would be worthwhile to talk about that in the context of also the subject of housing and because we're as architects we're often Collaborating with each other with colleagues with consultants But then to also look at the community as a collaborator in a way and interfacing with them at different at different levels Would be good. I think I would also like to talk a little bit about issues around Public space because it's came up in almost everyone's presentation and I I often reference in teaching an essay by Lena Bobarty Where she writes about houses to museums and kind of questioning and Sort of claiming that houses are not just houses and thinking about housing and it has to include also Amenities and she doesn't use the word amenities But that idea of what are what else informs Housing in a more cultural level that you can't just build housing without without that component and I think in the case of Gigantes how that is addressed or how you could how you've been addressing that in your in your practice And I guess maybe in just a more direct way because this is also a question somehow for the students as well Since we visited Mexico City in the beginning of the semester And we also visited many of your offices, which was amazing for the students I think to Look at your work in advance and then have the opportunity to come to your office and see How you're working and the types of projects you're working on but how how you And maybe for for the side more of the table Who may have not worked in Mexico before but what what are the takeaways from from that experience? So anyway, I'm not sure maybe where the panel would want to start exactly but I Can take on collaborations and I truly believe that architecture Now these must be a collaborative act I don't understand how to do architecture if not especially if you're addressing a collective problem, I think Designing it collectively will allow for that complexity and Even a little bit of cows on it that could beat those possibilities of more people to identify with the place To have more relationship with it, even if it's a conflicted one And therefore it's very hard to achieve that when you have one soul mind. So for me really architecture has become a collaborative act and not only as a possibility but as a necessity and I think specifically in this project I think that for me was very important to also bring to the table Minds that we're thinking about collective housing elsewhere, not only in Mexico because we often We know how to to operate in our own territory and definitely we have a certain even more constraints than elsewhere because Really when in Mexico when you mean social housing or minimum housing is minimum absolutely minimum And I wanted to bring those exterior thinkers that would be thinking on collective housing in different places of the world even as in different context as Simon in Switzerland in order to to have that perspective in order to understand if those possibilities were able to also accommodate in these contexts so Well, I I do I understand that Therefore giving a collective platform to a Respond of a collective housing Was the key for this specifically? My name is Yachen Schleich. I'm Derek's partner and and I think it's really What Tatiana said it's really True, so We were doing social housing a lot of exercises before and we are really already on track Somehow in one direction because we already know how much can it cost how to optimize the square meters How to fit everything that that it's at the end viable to to build Sometimes we achieve it some sometimes we don't and with this exercise having people from from from other places And they showed us somehow really other approach They made their effort on other points than than we did and that makes it really This opens really up the possibilities and I think it's it's also the the whole idea of this master plan is to show Possible developers for all this trip What is possible and not to do always always the same things on in that sense? It was really good and And and I'm sure everybody struggled a lot with their reality, you know because of how many square meters had the mix was really really Strict what we had to achieve the cost was really low The material palette was really narrow So so all did an effort but always preserving what they wanted to To achieve So and I think an anus case that was this collective space of the stair and the roof and in Simons case it was the It was this Natural light and ventilation for all the rooms and I think that They achieved that so I think it's it was Quite successful I would like to add to that the honest comment about the collective Proso or is only collective a way to do I mean I think we all struggle This has maybe less to do now with Social housing, but we all struggle with the fact that there is the Architecture, I mean if it just stays long enough people will have the possibility To come up with their own narrative, you know, they get they get that a building is there And if it's long enough there then it it will mean something to someone and then in our profession we try to Give a start not to a project make it have a meaning or or more of a meaning already By something we pack on top of it something we give which is not only the function and I think this you can do as as individual person and Or you can do it as a group. I just think that the Individual statement of an architect of the the creator Always smells a little bit difficult for me today and I think that these group projects have an interesting side, which is it's from the start not about Anna did that or Tatiana did that but it's about it's a conversation. It's not so absurd. It's about a few people who try to engage in Conversation about what is important now for that project in a specific moment And that is then already interesting enough that you can refer to that when you live there when you When you when you're interested in that so I Really think that this is what happened between us. We will see then if it's ever built No, I mean you never know with these kind of projects, but I think that no one of us Came to Mexico with the plan of what to do. No one of us Left with the precise idea and I mean so in the end We all had to react to each other even if we did not Do a set of rules more than this kind of checkerboard and what in front of it gave us as a Like normal social housing rules and and I think this is this is really nice To do as a project, but I also think it's only relevant as a prototype and not so much as Then a way of how to do a big number of houses Could you maybe talk a little bit about I think for more for the sake of the audience perhaps and because we talked a Lot about this with the students even because they were able to go there, but to see You know the For maybe lack of a better way to put it but the incredible Design culture that exists in Mexico City. I think especially right now amongst architects and But there is a very strong scene there Just in general, I mean speaking more broadly and in relation to let's say New York for instance, which has its own set of you know characters and Concerns going on I think it would be worthwhile to talk a little bit about that I think, you know, maybe even the I would say my observation from working there With all of you and within Fana Vita, especially that the there is an incredible Intensity and concern about building and as I think Derek you presented of course you have situations like earthquakes that are you know, obviously important to consider and at a wide scale and But that the investment in building and the thinking through materials and location and variety of different climates even thinking about the work for All the different houses that were designed across the whole country Then ultimately had to be reconfigured for this one location for instance But the the thinking that's going into all of that work right now Would be interesting to hear a little bit more From you guys about that and observations versus let's say other places because you're also all working in other other places I'm so always happy when I disagree. I do not disagree and I think I really think that from what I have seen in Mexico Most of it is bad architecture. No, I mean what is built is I mean like everywhere in the world No, I mean wherever it's not a special concern I'm not and then there is a scene of people who are do good Objects, but this is everywhere the same that this is only a very reduced amount of people who even care about the questions we talk about and I think It's beautiful that this exists, but I mean I do not Like across the country and I think wow so many Thoughtful buildings, but I can I could not tell you any place in the world where I think So I'm but I think it's beautiful that these younger generation has the possibility to do It's the same as Switzerland I mean well, I think what in in Mexico what is true is that in the 80s and 90s there were really no architects involved in the Discourse or even the design of social housing. No, so it it happened very clearly at a time where the rules changed two things happen in parallel the neoliberalization of the economy versus the Like privatization of communal land and the necessity of finding a scheme of producing massive social housing for the increasing Migrants from the urban a rural areas to the Urban areas that led to a production of houses that it was just like an industrial production Developers producing boxes in millions literally 11 million homes were produced in a Bit of more than a little bit more than 20 years in Mexico And I think what is the different nowadays is that there is a generation that it's involved in the production of social housing by being first critics of the system and by understanding it getting in and trying to propose different things and At the same time being given the opportunity of participating by institutions like in for Naveed or private developers as well that I That it's really changing the scene at least in Mexico City And I don't know how it's comparable to other places But what it is different from last decade to these decade in the in the country is that know that there's a generation of architects With an amount important amount of interest in social housing and in going in tackling these These problematics, but still it's only the 1% of yes Commentaries I do think that There is a generation right now in Mexico that I agree in very little numbers But yet that has formed a body of work that I think is kind of interweaved or related in the sharpness of how they have Answered to a specific reality And I think that's also true for a generation of architects right now in Switzerland You could consider the same thing in Spain, but I think it has to do with a number of architectures architects having opportunity to build on the public space and on these commissions that have a social impact and And the other factor being that there is it like a common vision and I think that is new to Mexico I agree with that. Then that was not the case with previous generation of architects in Mexico But What I what I value a lot about working in this project and working in in in Mexico is actually There's a huge difference between how social housing is produced in Spain and how social housing is produced in Mexico And and we we know that because we have two projects on the With the same goal one in Barcelona and one in you know with Calientes and and the the discussion and how their address is So different as I was mentioning to all like in front of it since the beginning Asked us to to kind of produce something that could push the discipline farther and could push Social housing farther understanding the contemporary complexities and how our society behaves So they were asking us not to replicate all models But rather to reflect on all technologies and to understand how those typologies should evolve in order to understand Contemporary conditions and I think that that's a question for instance that we don't find in social housing in Spain where most of the program is pre-determined most of even even the You know that the the law is taken to a point that you can You can almost not propose anything else than it's not defined by the law So I think that also I think that that's the main difference So in Mexico social housing as the stood as a tool to kind of have an influence beyond Social housing and have an influence on the market and have an influence on real estate developers and stuff That's what to change housing behaviors may well in the Spain still is not that the case and I just think that was only this exercise in my experience. It's the same as you described Barcelona It's the same in Mexico. I think this specific exercise is an experiment And that's why That's so yeah, this is a prototype of experimentation, which is does not reflect like on But the Anna invites us all to design together. That's something that doesn't happen in social housing So you then have you know this this collective discussions that through Dialogue and discussion you have like a group of brilliant minds thinking together about how to define something It's a really generous act Because you are working probably five product that is one of it has also But I see it's So I think there are several projects that they're they're really pushing limits Even with private developers that you also have worked in different parts of the country that we have worked and that I think several People that are going to present later on so I know it is a very small percentage But I think it is not only like one thing and an experiment. I do believe that there is a difference On what is happening in several offices in Mexico than before And I think it's it's also That's why we are here Because it's it's special. No, it's not that the normal practice, but I think it's also Really important to say that I think it is successful And I hope that in other places people do that kind of experiment because Yes everywhere it's the same the as soon as It's it's social housing or it's highly equipped like hospitals or so the book of rules of how you should the manual of What you should do get so thick that That you can almost not go out of the box anymore So this is one successful experiment of how to open that Okay, I think we'll be talking about this throughout the day for sure and as we look at other cities and other examples Presented a little later, but I just wanted to see if there are any questions from the audience We have time for there's a question back here and and and Eric also most of the presentations. I caught the end of Miss we can it is that okay? So we have Huge problems in sunset practice in many other traditionally working class neighborhoods in New York City Where will be the displacement the economy displacement is through the roof? Land disappeared into public land disappeared into private hands in the last decade or so While the neighborhoods were still asleep at the wheel of what was coming their way so my question is somewhat not political maybe to any of you Did you while in Mexico City? Did you hear the issue of? What we would call euphemistically nowadays affordable housing Workforce housing as part of the political campaign for the presidency. That's my first question Because I'm curious because we're not doing too well with that here and to the housing that that I caught at the end of Miss quick and his presentation with the four stories and though the wonderful I'm sorry. I have to write hate to cut you off, but we just have this one question. Okay, so was that What if I may was that? Intergenerational or it was just to particularly one particular generational group well, I think in the political Campaigns in Mexico housing is a constitutional right so it is not only in political campaigns It is a mandate for the government to provide dignified and enjoyable housing for all which it's Never fulfilled completely enough. No, but so it is every all the time in political In terms of Social types I am like from the beginning. We were all discussing how to address different Apartment types, but also how to Engage different social types and that's that's that's embedded in all the buildings So it's not just ours, but in general You have to consider also the site is dividing two neighbor like two sides of the neighborhood One is more rough. The other one is more pacified Let's say so this in between that none of those areas have services. So there's a huge lack of simple thing as a bakery a store, you know, so alongside in the kind of the wish to have diversity of social types it was mainly also to be able to kind of Connect both areas and allow a process of pacification that it was not a radical from one day to but you know, like smoothing things out from and trying to connect both areas that have actually really Different realities through placing services on the ground floor a strategically place You know to allow that connection to happen So it's not only through different social types, but also through different services that we Organized together to allow these two communities to start meeting I just wanted to quickly say that the South block was done by us sitting here in the table And also Tokoma who's missing but Martino tartar. I sitting there So I'm glad that we are all in the auditorium at least Eric yeah, hi, I'm Eric. I'm really interested in the relationship between the The master plan which is a kind of something we're moving away from as a sort of paradigm shift the implementation of a Laboratory of types or prototypes and their reproducibility which connects a little bit to Anna's comment about the generic in a specific So what happens after? Territory of the King and this is built. How does info Navito the city? You know take this on as a framework to what extent is it reproduced to what extent does it become a set of rules? To what extent does it become appropriated even before it, you know, it gets built how Tatiana maybe a question for you How do you imagine this would serve as a catalyst? Well, maybe we ask cooler then but I think that maybe we just built it first they well the idea for for it is to become an Experiment and to see if really the moves that we did created in these block and then further on in the block that you're also Hopefully soon going to start Designing as well Would inform what what could happen in the rest of the nine kilometers long of these line So my hope is that this gets built before we have to hand in the rest of the master plan I'm really hoping that that Timing can happen because it would be very very formative for the rest of the city if this is tested in a way one of the Lines of the Constitution says that the government has to provide dignify and enjoyable housing for every Mexican citizen and Then there that's in the Constitution and then there's a lot of laws that direct the State how to he had how they have to act but they but it's mandated in the Constitution All right, I think we'll have to save questions for for another break But thank you so much to the panelists and we're going right into our second panel and I'm going to invite Adam Frampton to the podium