The government of Catalonia wants to ban housing speculation. It is currently studying the constitutional legality of banning the ownership … More
Tag: housing
Down with High-Rise, Up with Mid-Rise
From 2005 to 2013, I taught a seminar in the Metropolis Masters Program in Architecture and Urban Culture titled “LandSpec” … More
Espacios ambiguos
Espacios versátiles, flexibles e indefinidos, hacia una arquitectura doméstica sostenible y resiliente. [Publicado originalmente en Poch, Marta, editora: Vivienda en … More
Ambiguous Spaces
Versatile, flexible, undefined spaces: towards a sustainable and resilient domestic architecture [Originally published in Marta Poch, ed.: Housing in the … More
Just another earth brick in the wall
[Originally published in the September 2024 issue of The Architectural Review] Comfort is the reason we construct most buildings. The … More
Public Property
[Originally published in The Architectural Review in April 2022] Before the arrival of steel and concrete, the most widely used … More
Presenting the E-Window®
Are windows really necessary in buildings? Is an LED panel that simulates a window an acceptable substitute? Some seem to … More
Home is Where the Pathologies Are
Here we are, in the ninth month of coronavirus crisis, eagerly awaiting the birth, any day now, of a new … More
Reassessing the Street-in-the-Sky in Times of Coronavirus
As Covid 19 spreads its way around the world, a fear of urban density is similarly catching on, with suburbs, … More
Cocooning in Balconville
With lockdown in effect in many parts of the world, and urban streets and squares largely empty, residential balconies have … More
The Poseidon Adventure
[Originally published in The Architectural Review July-August 2019] The small, idyllic Mediterranean island of Formentera, Spain, isn’t the first place … More
Viviendas para vivir
[originalmente publicado en BCN MÉS #79] En las últimas décadas, hemos logrado conectar la ciudad con el mar, hemos creado espacios … More
Electoral Architecture
Elections for the mayorship of Barcelona are coming up later this year, and we’re already being delivered promises in the … More
Small City Architecture: Walden 7 as a Social Network
[Originally published in RocaGallery.com. Versión en castellano sigue a continuación] “The city is like a great house, and the house … More
Housing Thinking
[Originally published in HOUSE US, eds. Jae Sung Chon and Kent Mundle (Winnipeg: OCDI Press, 2018)] In comparison to the … More
Notes from a Recent Construction Site Visit
I was recently fortunate enough to be shown a truly interesting work of architecture currently under construction in Barcelona: La … More
Dizzying Inequality
Ben Wheatley’s film High Rise, a multi-story about decadence and class war in a Brutalist housing estate in London, brought plenty … More
Revisiting Casa Bloc
The architecture of housing differs fundamentally from the architecture of other building types in that it is never a purely qualitative … More
Twisted Logic: Turning Torso as ‘Innovative’ Housing?
I recently had the pleasure of visiting Malmö, Sweden; best known –in terms of contemporary architecture– for its Santiago Caltrava-designed … More
Multiple Discovery, Idea Theft, or Tweaking?
Having an original idea is everything in architecture. Its history is one of innovations and breakthroughs; of new ideas, materials, and … More
Criticalista 