Els nous realistes, an exhibition that opened last night at the Dhub, is the launch of the new generation of Catalan and Balearic architects. According to its curators, Joan Roig and Carme Ribas, it is not just another generation, but the “most powerful and cohesive” since the 80s of the 20th century, which adds a new link in the chain that goes from Modernism to the School of Barcelona, passing through GATCPAC or Grup R.
Roig and Ribas place the first manifestations of this generation in 2008, the year of the financial crisis. Its members, who are around 50, had only graduated for a few years and had studied at a time when iconic architecture was booming, with the predominance of parameters of professional success that are now questioned. Upon entering the labor market, they encountered a bleak panorama: the COAC recorded a 95% drop in professional visas in one year, which forced almost half of Barcelona studios to fold their sails. They were, therefore, forced to investigate, to open their own path, sometimes grouping together in collective offices.
HArquitectes, Peris/Toral, Bosch/Capdeferro, Claudi Aguiló, Maio, Carles Enrich, Lacol, Josep Bunyesc, Nua, Ted'A Arquitectes, Francisco Cifuentes or Carles Oliver are some of the thirty long names gathered in this exhibition, in the that personal lines are not highlighted, although they exist, but shared convictions and attitude. They all defend environmental awareness, the reduction of energy expenditure and the impact of architecture on nature; the recovery of traditional materials (wood, ceramics, earth, etc.), preferably local and often presented in nature, without coatings; reviewing program needs and adjusting comfort patterns; also strict cost control, from the phase of choosing materials to containing its ecological footprint.
Many of these authors were trained at the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura del Vallès (ETSAV), where they had professors such as Albert Cuchí or Xavier Monteys, who were decisive in their orientation, and to which many were assigned because they were from outside of Spain. Barcelona. This fact has determined another common characteristic: the dissemination of its studies throughout the Catalan and Balearic territory, with offices in Sabadell, Girona, Olot, Lleida, Tarragona or Palma, unlike other stages in which Barcelona was the undisputed Catalan architectural capital. .
Els nous realistes offers visitors a collective approach to this new generation, and does so with austerity in keeping with that of its protagonists. It opens, behind its façade of pop portraits by Poldo Pomés, with a pine tree structure, designed by Amarar/Aulets, which reflects the constructive potential of wood without the help of screws or glue, and is complemented by an installation by Albert Faus. It continues with rooms on the cooperative phenomenon; on the recovery of materials (which, incidentally, has given new impetus to manufacturers of hydraulic flooring or blinds); about the interiors, photographed (by Adrià Goula and José Hevia) and displayed like a Pompeian frieze, highlighting harmony, as well as with plants and a few models; or on the windows and intermediate spaces.
These rooms surround another central one, where thirty projects are exhibited, schematically documented, according to the curators the most interesting of the last fifteen years. On the floor, a carpet reproduces the new floor plan of Maio's 110-room project.
The exhibition ends with a manifesto from Societat Orgànica, an architectural cooperative that helps a good part of those gathered to optimize the sustainability of their works. In it they allude to the essential transformation of the model that still governs construction, and that now wastes energy, water and materials, generating a lot of waste. Summary in five points: frugality, eco-efficiency, relocation, circularity and compensation. Or, in other words, a synthesis of moderation and ingenuity; a Miesian “more is less” in an ecological key; a commitment to nearby materials and energies; the transformation of waste into new resources; and the correction of the deterioration caused.
