Design with others¶

Adrià Garcia i Mateu, Markel Cormenzana & Milena Calvo Juarez

21-24 November 2023

Contents¶

Soil¶

The first day we met at Còopolis, in Can Batlló to start the more theoretical part of the day. At first with a presentation from Markel about Holon and the context we were gonna work with the next days. But mostly, Markel introduced to us the concept of “Soil” and what it entails, for example: the microorganisms living in and out of soil, the issue of waste and soil contamination, a cultural sense of the soil as in the history and traditions it holds, the different technologies and methods to manage soil or the worldwide food transport system. All of these topics are related to one another going through the concept of “soil”.

As a second part of that first class we had an assignment to fulfill. We had to explore 100 m2 of soil that Markel had not delimited and do a research on the conflicts/problems that we detected. As a representation of this research, we had to create an installation to tell what we had discovered.

In my case, when I started to explore the area I saw many conflicts that could interest me but I decided to focus on the soil as a literal concept. I spent 20 minutes walking around the area, just observing how the soil changed, with my eyes fixed on it. I detected that there were many textures and colors in that soil, and the interesting thing is that I detected that there were groups of textures and colors, and those groups were also associated to different sounds.

To represent my research, I made a very simple video with the textures, colors and sounds that I detected with my mobile phone.

Land¶

La Borda visit

The second day started with a visit to La Borda building. Adrià gave us a very detailed tour of all the spaces in the building, he even generously invited us to visit his house. The interesting part of the visit was the explanation of the project behind the La Borda building. La Borda is the first cooperative housing in Spain and is built on a land in cession of use.

I think it is appropriate to recommend the 30 minutes documentary about the project. https://www.ccma.cat/3cat/t1xc3-lacol/video/6247592/

With the visit we realized the importance of politics in the design and the possibilities that we have within reach and we do not always see.

That second day was dedicated to the concept of “Land”, and with the beginning in La Borda it was clear to us from the beginning that land is not only a natural element, it also has social, political and cultural connotations.

After we had replenished ourselves with so much information we proceeded to have meetings with the groups that we had created the day before and started to think about areas of real interest that we all had and to do research on organizations that are currently working in these areas or communities that might be interested in collaborating.

In my case, the group I was part of, we were very interested in the biodiversity of the city, the coexistence between species and the use of architecture/design to re-integrate the animal world into the urban world.

Visits¶

Makers Zone BCN visit

The initiative aims to be “accessible to anyone” and to stimulate community engagement, becoming a reference point for diverse creative activities. The association behind the project consists of individuals with varied interests, ranging from cosplay and decoration to carpentry, forging, and laser work. The goal is to establish a versatile maker space where anyone can participate and promote traditional craftsmanship. To use the tools, individuals need to become members and pay a monthly fee, and the space also offers stable workstations, resembling a coworking environment but with noise, smells, and people constantly engaging in creative activities. The founders emphasize the importance of a multifunctional space that encourages continuous knowledge exchange while maintaining well-defined areas for specific material usage.

Ateneu fabricacio Gracia visit

The Ateneu de Fabricació de Gràcia, situated in a renovated former industrial warehouse in the Vila de Gràcia neighborhood, is a public space dedicated to education and project creation in digital manufacturing, particularly emphasizing digital fabrication. As the fifth facility in the Ateneus Network of Barcelona, its mission is to promote creativity and innovation through socio-technological development projects using design and art methodologies, with a specific focus on digital literacy, craftsmanship, textiles, fashion, and biomaterials. The space is equipped with software and manufacturing machines that empower the community to transform ideas into tangible products for present and future societal needs. The Ateneu de Gràcia features four specialized workspaces, including areas for textiles and fashion, additive manufacturing and electronics, a laboratory for biomaterials and biotechnology, and the Taller Brut for heavier or larger-scale fabrication. Additionally, an open and versatile space called Àgora accommodates exhibitions, workshops, conferences, and houses a ceramic 3D printer.

Deliverable¶

We spent the last two days of the seminar in our class at IaaC and in groups trying to reach the final goal of the seminar: assembling all the different concepts and learnings about soil and land, our personal interest and the surrounding communities to design a future community intervention, taking also care of the community engagement and the whole process it takes to finally design product/service…

Group: Vania, Marcus, Carmen, Carlotta, Oliver, Everardo and Núria

Goal: Potentiate the integration of biodiversity in Carrer d’Àlaba, Poblenou, Barcelona.
Communities: Nest City Lab (indoor garden/coffe shop/cultural space) & BAM (Associaió Bioarquitectura Meditarrànea)

As a final delivery we came up with a community engagement plan to reach the goal we had set. The objective of the plan is to engage both Nest City Lab and BAM into a collaborative process with us to reimagine the street they share and come up with designs to potentiate and promote the stree’s biodiversity of pollinating species.

While tracing the plan, we soon realized that the issue wasn’y which design we ahd to come up with to solve the biodiversity of the street, but how could we generate interest on the topic in the community so they would be motivated to participate. Our plan doesn’t include a final producte design, it includes little actins/interventions that are meant to collaborate with the communities.

The first plart of the plan consists of a communication campaign, so we tried to design some of the posters that would be part of the campaign.

Finally, we made a video to illustrate how bees feel in the street. While emboding the bee figure in our intervention area, we became even more aware of the problem and confirmed our initials assumptions.

You will find our whole thinking process in this Miro Board:

Final Reflection¶

Thinking about the project where we worked on making Carrer d’Àlaba in Barcelona more biodiverse, I had some good and not-so-good feelings about it.

What Went Well:

Teamwork: It was nice working with different people. Everyone had their own ideas, and it was interesting to see how we could put them all together.
Focus on Community: Instead of just coming up with a final design, we decided to get the community involved. We wanted people to care about making their street more full of life, especially for pollinators like bees.
Small Actions Instead of Big Designs: We chose to do small things with the community instead of just making one big thing. This way, we could keep working with the community and not just finish a project and leave.

What Could Have Been Better:

Not Enough Time: The biggest problem was that we didn’t have enough time. Making a whole plan for the community in just a week was tough. More time would have helped us think deeper.
Missing Theoretical Learning: I wish we had learned more theory about the problems we were trying to solve. Understanding more about biodiversity and community engagement would have made our plan stronger.
Need for Examples: It would have been great to see examples of other projects like ours. Seeing what worked in other places could have given us good ideas.

Final Thoughts: I liked the project, but having more time and learning more theory would have made it better. Also, looking at other projects could have given us cool ideas. I learned that making a community care about something is more important than just making something for them. In the future, I hope we have more time for projects and learn more about the theories behind what we’re doing.

Last update: June 21, 2024