IE School of Architecture & Design Newsletter - July & August 2021

Click here if you are having trouble viewing this message.

IE A&D Logo

time to focus on

Monthly theme or title

THE IMPORTANCE OF 'THIRD PLACES'

With summer upon us, we’re taking stock of the past academic year. If this one has taught us anything, it’s how badly we yearn for a shared sense of space.

Over at the architecture biennial in Venice, audiences are being urged to think of ‘a new spatial contract’, as the exhibition asks: ‘How will we live together?’ Inspired by this question, we need to better appreciate our spatial environments and understand how different kinds of shared spaces can create togetherness.

In response to COVID-19, we closed our borders. We locked down cities, towns and even neighborhoods. Our attention turned from the global to the local, to what lies a 15-minute walk or bike ride away - but what we found there was not enough to meet our need for community.

For those of us in the fields of urban planning, architecture and design, it’s clear that cities and towns need more shared spaces to interact in. ‘Third places’, as sociologists might call them: spaces that favor social cohesion, enable daily human connections and let us live together even when forbidden from entering each others’ homes.

Have we settled too comfortably into our restricted, local, home-based routines? Perhaps. So, as we look forward to the next chapter, it’s time to celebrate shared living and community-building instead. Thankfully, our students, alumni and faculty are a source of inspiration for this.

Cristina Mateo

Associate Dean, IE School of Architecture and Design

Competition for a career in real estate: enter before

2 September

Those pursuing a career in the property world now have the chance to win a scholarship for out Master in Real Estate Development programs. We have launched this new competition in partnership with Ingka Centres, who have an exciting new develpment underway in London, and we're seeking the brightest ideas about the role of retail in city-making.

Ingka Centres - the parent company of widely-loved furniture brand Ikea - will transform an urban plot worth €200 million into its first mixed-use space in an inner city location, with over 27,000 sq. m. of facilities. Our challenge asks applicants to submit thoughts on this new project, which is likely to have a fascinating impact on the area’s real estate, architecture and community.

ENTER NOW

IE alumni design new village to meet the challenge of decarbonisation

A new co-living, co-working complex, complete with vegetable gardens and vertical greenery, will be built in Madrid’s airport district, with the aim of reducing the CO2 associated with construction by over 75%. Behind the proposal, called Petit Village, are three alumni from IE University’s BuiltTech advanced program, which explores digital and technological transformation in architecture, engineering and construction.

The team was awarded the project through the Reinventing Cities competition, an initiative by the C40 global network of cities dedicated to tackling climate change. The new construction, which will provide long-term and temporary housing, will be carbon-free, with near-zero energy consumption and a zero energy balance.

READ MORE

Environments and solutions that transform lives: Dezeen features

10 student projects

The work that our architecture and design undergraduates produce at the end of their degrees reflect the power that architects and designers have to transform people's daily lives by creating environments and solutions that challenge today's realities. 10 of these thought-proving projects can now be found published by Dezeen, the world-leading online architecture and design magazine.

From pedestrian bridges that promote sustainable culinary tourism and a structural intervention to prevent flooding to communal compost bins that generate natural energy and biotextiles made of algae, these projects act as a powerful showcase of the forward-looking and entrepreneurial spirit of our student community.

READ MORE

What does it take to be a designer?

Design is all about how products can endure and evolve through time, according to Andrea Caruso, adjunct professor at IE School of Architecture and Design and co-founder of Madrid’s Ciszak Dalmas studio. And so, as he explains in this new video, a good designer can look back to the past and create something long-lasting for the future.

But whether crafting cutting-edge retail spaces for leading urban brands or furniture items that help make a cosy home, simplicity always lies at the heart of good design. “Simplicity is complicated,” explains Caruso. “Being simple and easy-to-use is the most difficult thing you can design.”

WATCH

Level zero: Taking revival to the streets

They say the sky's the limit - but it's actually at the street level that some of the biggest urban transformations are taking place, according to Carmen Panadero, professor in out Master in Real Estate Development.

In her new article for IE Insights, Panadero argues that the pandemic has created a paradigm shift on the ground floor, from the evolving role of physical retail and leisure outlets to traffic, pedestrianization and the use of empty space. “Level zero is key to street revival,” she says. “What is clear is that our cities, and particularly the ground level of our streets, are not returning to what they were in pre-pandemic times.”

READ

Smart Commitment: Cities of Tomorrow

July 29, 1.pm (CEST)

Online

While smart cities use data from citizens, buildings and devices to improve the urban environment, uncertainty looms over their future. This masterclass - led by Carlos Temprano, architecture director at AECOM Spain and professor at IE School of Architecture and Design - looks at how smart cities measure and analyse data in order to ensure productivity and development. Organised by IE Southeast Asia and IE Greater China, the event considers the need to future-proof such models, exploring how smart urban planning can ensure prosperity, sustainability and resilience in the cities of tomorrow, in order to improve a city’s social functions despite increasing urban density.

REGISTER

Shigeru Ban at Hay Festival Segovia

September 17, 7.30 pm (CEST)

IE University Segovia

There are plenty of reasons to look forward to September - namely, the 16th edition of Hay Festival Segovia. For this landmark celebration of words and ideas, we present Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, famed for his strong, durable structures made out of seemingly weak materials like paper tubes. Ban, who was recently appointed Ambassador to the EU’s New European Bauhaus initiative, will converse with Martha Thorne, Dean of our school, about some of his latest works, from museums to disaster relief projects, as well as a new initiative to be developed soon on our campus in Segovia.

REGISTER

Architecture and design summer reading

There’s a wealth of reading recommendations out there for architecture and design lovers looking to get lost in a good book this summer.

Architecture critic Edwin Heathcote listed his top 5 for the Financial Times, from an architectural guide to sub-Saharan Africa to a huge new volume about Italian modernist legend Gio Ponti. Silvia Benedito’s exploration of weather and sensation and Charlie Koolhas’ homage to five cities are among Domus magazine’s 20 picks, while Azure suggests the latest work by Bruce Mau, founder of Massive Change, which they say provides “a roadmap for radical optimism” for these unprecedented times.

What’s on your architecture and design reading list this summer? Let us know via email or on Instagram!

Share the newsletter

Not yet a subscriber? Want friends and family to subscribe?

SIGN UP HERE

OUR MAILING ADDRESS:

IE School of Architecture and Design

Velázquez, 130 – Madrid, Madrid 28006 – Spain

Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

We take the opportunity to inform you that we have improved our Privacy Policy in order to comply with the new European Union General Data Protection Regulation. We encourage you to read our new Privacy Policy and we thank you for being a part of our community.

At any time, you can exercise your rights to data access, rectification, erasure, and object, as well as restriction and portability, and withdraw your consent, as explained in the new Privacy Policy.