FREESPACE round table: Italy, Spain and Mexico.

The Iris Ceramica Group, in partnership with Matimex and Versitalia, promotes a round table focusing on FREESPACE, the theme of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in the Italian pavilion at 15:30 on October 19th.
Mario Cucinella of studio MC A, curator of the Italian Pavilion, and architectural studios Batlle i Roig Arquitectes of Spain and Harari Landscape Architecture of Mexico will participate in a round table discussion moderated by Dr. Angelo Maggi of IUAV Venezia and organised by Floornature, the architecture and design culture portal of the Iris Ceramica Group. Minister Alfredo Feria, Deputy Consul in the Mexican Consulate in Milan, will also attend.

“Space, free space and public space can also mean the presence or absence of architecture, if we consider this as the idea moulding our living space”. This is the theme that will be addressed by three architectural practices from three very different places, offering an opportunity to identify common roots in design, understand their respective expressions of the theme of FREESPACE and above all see how their responses in their designs have addressed the issue of sustainability.
The theme the architects will discuss is a favourite theme of the Iris Ceramica Group, which works on all aspects of reducing energy consumption and polluting emissions from production and supplies the world of architecture with materials that can play an active role in sustainability. This commitment was underlined by architect Mario Cucinella himself at the presentation of the group of companies as technical sponsor of the Italian Pavilion: “We share a profound common vision of sustainability with the Iris Ceramica Group. The company has had a strong focus on the issue for many years, ever since it was established in the 70s, when the owners already had a clear vision of the relationship between industrial production and pollution. Now, almost 50 years later, this vision has become a part of the company’s heritage, and the problem has been transformed into an opportunity that is not only economic but environmental.”.

Environmental issues linked with the social and ethical dimension are the elements underlying the projects exhibited in the Italian Pavilion and in the recent installation Pollution 2018 - RefleAction created by the SOS School of Sustainability and MC A Mario Cucinella Architects with the Iris Ceramica Group during Cersaie 2018.
The theme is relevant to the guest studios’ recent projects. In Spain, Batlle i Roig planned the landscape renovation of the Garraf landfill site, “transforming its essence as a dump into an open space to visit, full of natural importance" as Mara Corradi notes in Floornature.
In Mexico, Harari Landscape Architecture completed a major landscaping project under the leadership of architect Claudia Harari: LA PASTORA Linear Park and La Pastora Reserve Park in Guadalupe. The project presented by Christiane Bürklein in Livegreenblog is a manifesto of the Mexican studio’s modus operandi. Begun to compensate for the environmental impact of the construction of the new football stadium, Estadio BBVA Bancomer, nicknamed El Gigante de Acero (The Steel Giant), LA PASTORA Linear Park and La Pastora Natural Reserve Park restore the park and rehabilitate the river bed in juxtaposition with a vast range of sports and leisure activities, bringing about a concrete improvement in the quality of life for the population with new economic and cultural growth in the community.

(Agnese Bifulco)

RESTAURACIÓ PAISATGÍSTICA DEL DIPÒSIT CONTROLAT DE LA VALL D’EN JOAN
Architects: Batlle i Roig (Enric Batlle, Joan Roig) www.batlleiroig.com
Photography: © Jordi Surroca

LA PASTORA linear park + La Pastora natural reserve park
Landscape architecture design: HLA Harari Landscape Architecture www.hararilandscape.mx
Images: Courtesy of HLA

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