·

JOSEPCAMPS·OLGAFELIP | ...self

conversation · nuances · expression

editor: Félix Arranz | associated editor: Jaume Prat

architecture + architects

scalae ebook collection vol. #002, english draft edition

february 2013

ISBN: when final ebook and print editions are published

bookID: scalae.net-campsfelip-self-draftENG-20130228-120000

·

scalae documents, broadcasts, and stimulates debate around, criticism of, and research into architects and other agents involved in the narration, creation, and construction of architectures that provide shelter for people’s lives and aspirations.

www.scalae.net

[collection credits]

Félix Arranz, editor and director

Jaume Prat, associated editor

editorial board

Eugeni Bach, Jordi Badía, Antonio Bedmar, Eva Blanco, Josep Cusidó, Olga Felip, Borja Ferrater, Ferran Figuerola, Beth Galí, Jordi Ludevid, Fernando Marzá, Josep Lluís Mateo, Ariadna Perich.

industries board

Cricursa · Lamp · Ciments Molins · Figueras International Seating

guest entities:

Banc de Sabadell · Hydro Technal Alumafel · Roca Sanitario SA · Roca Barcelona Gallery · Andreu World · Fundación RBA

institutional network

guest entities:

Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya (library) · Institut Ramon Llull · Arquitectes per l'Arquitectura · Associació Arquinfad del Foment de les Arts i el Disseny · Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona, UPC · LaSalle URL · ESARQ UIC · Catalunya Radio

[scalae international ebook collection]

The scalae architecture + architects international ebook collection is a European initiative that began in Barcelona. It became a reality through the support and teamwork of a group of experts, institutions, and companies that are committed to the internationalization of industries and their work, product intelligence for the construction industry, and the configuration of an architectonic project based on cultural exchange and debate.

The collection is based on scalae’s earlier publications and initiatives: print publications (scalae 0.0; 2003), podcasts (scalae 1.0; 2005), and the scalae.net rss documentaries (scalae 2.0; 2009), complementary undertakings which are all still available.

Each issue in the collection focuses on a single Catalan, Spanish, European, or international architect, studio, or architectural agent, and the text is divided into three sections. The first section, ...self, is a transcription of a conversation -also available online as a podcast- that covers the principles, processes, and results of the person or studio in question. It also includes a selection of significant graphics or drawings of theirs or which reflect their style. The second section, ...from, includes the subject’s opinions, experience, or critiques of topics and objects they hold dear. The third section, ...about, reflects others’ opinions, experiences, and critiques of the subject’s creations, techniques, and professional and personal output. The ...self, ...from, and ...about sections make up a complete issue. Together, the texts are published as free, internationally distributed ebooks in English, Spanish, and Catalan in .mobi (Kindle®) and ePub (iBook, iPad, eReaders) formats.

In the final stage of this open production process -which includes both the ebooks and the online material- the issues in the collection become available for low-cost, on-demand printing for those wishing to have a paper version and for public reference libraries in Catalonia and the rest of Spain and in international centres for architecture and culture.

The collection is testimony to the efforts of many people –a fractal map of involvement on the part of the editorial board and multiple other agents– whose only motivation is the desire to open up ideas, documentation, and research so as to foster debate. Their work does not rely on sponsorship or conventional advertising but rather on collaboration: companies produce original articles about their work, which constitute an alternative –and direct– form of expression.

[issue credits]

· issue: josepcamps·olgafelip ...self, draft, ENG

#002 scalae architecture + architects ebook collection, february 2013, scalae ed, Barcelona (Catalonia; Spain; Europe)

· editor: Félix Arranz

· associated editor: Jaume Prat

· social management: Montserrat Arnau

· english translation: Victoria Patience [nativawordcraft.com]

· photographs: Marcel Asso, Pedro Pegenaute

· drawings & sketches:  josepcamps·olgafelip

. technical & distribution support: Micky Bou [ysi.net]

. free distribution & subscriptions: archbib.com

. printed paper version (february 2014)

. ebooks@scalae.net

. disponible la versió en català d'aquest ebook a archbib.com

. disponible la versión en español de este ebook en archbib.com

[conversation]

In their first conversation with Félix Arranz, Josep Camps and Olga Felip –who together form the studio ARQUITECTURIA– explain the basis for their work as architects, teachers, researchers, and professional activists. The two come from the far ends of Catalonia: Josep from Tortosa (on the River Ebro) and Olga from Girona (on the River Onyar). Given that Girona is also where their studio is based, and that much of their work has been in Tarragona, they’re very aware of the flow of people through Catalonia and how this gravitates towards Barcelona. A large part of the conversation focuses on their beginnings as architects, the way they work, and the relationships that have emerged between the world of industry and their studio, which though barely more than five years old has garnered a constant stream of local, national, and international prizes for its work. The following section contains the transcript of this conversation, the complete version of which you can also listen to, in Spanish, in the scalae.net documents section.

we’re river people...

We’re really Mediterranean. Josep is from Tortosa, and Olga from Girona. Girona is known for the four rivers and the acequia that run through it. The old town is its most iconic feature. The city was originally built on high ground, far from the flood zones of the River Onyar, but as it grew it spread along the river banks, giving rise to the well-known facades built right over the water. In Tortosa, the city’s iconic roots have been totally abandoned and instead our culture and economy revolve around the River Ebro. It is the geographical connection between the towns that lie along it, from the county of La Ribera to the Delta. We’re river people.

Olga comes from a family of architects. When she was little she spent hours and hours playing in the family studio.

We met in Barcelona, the halfway point between our two cities, working at Javier Sanjosé’s studio. We didn’t cross paths at university because we graduated five years apart, Josep in 2000 and Olga in 2005. The School of Architecture of Barcelona made its mark on us. It was a very intense experience, academic work aside. So was living in Barcelona as outsiders. The city was very new and exciting for us... We’re doing our PhDs now. Olga is finishing her thesis on the German section of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, and Josep is studying three of Steven Holl’s works and the way they connect to his writings. We have a real passion for research. Olga loves archives. Perhaps this passion is connected to the idea of collecting. It’s also a good way to travel and get to know other cities...

Starting our professional lives wasn’t very difficult at that point. We won our first competition in 2006. You took part in competitions and if you won, you started a studio. Mariel·la Agudo, who was inseparable from Olga when they were classmates at university, has organized the studio for us. She became part of it in 2007, working from Barcelona.

The Girona School of Architecture was founded in 2005. Josep began work there as an associate professor that first year, which was one of the reasons that we decided to base ourselves in Girona. Coming here was part of a pact that included taking part in all the competitions in Tortosa. Things have worked out well and we’re very happy here. The city is a good size, there’s lots going on here, it’s close to Barcelona, the sea, and the Pyrenees, so we really don’t miss the metropolis too much. At the same time, our surroundings help with the little everyday things; everything is close and that helps us work at a pace that isn’t any slower than in the big city but is more organized.

a way of working that can be shared...

We are constantly learning, and being able to share our experiences is a good thing. We always reflect on our projects when they’re finished, so that each one is absorbed into the thought process that allows us to become aware of how we do things. The first project where we identified what we stood for was the Ferreries Civic Centre. It was also Olga’s first work. During our first years, we didn’t really question what we were doing, we tried things out, feeling our way forward... There was a lot of discussion! It’s important to understand one another without looking for a middle ground or something in common. We prefer to keep going until we get as far as we can together.

We’ve done several projects in a historic neighbourhood, in both renovation and work on public spaces. The two came together in the Ferreries Civic Centre. We filtered our ideas and then distilled what we were left with. It might look natural and spontaneous, but it isn’t really... It’s not spontaneous at all. We avoided making assumptions and instead worked from other inputs. We came up with lots of options that tackled different issues. Then we went through a process of elimination. That experience left us with a way of doing things. We think it’s important for people who work in the studio to be able to get involved and go in search of a process, a way of working that can be shared...

we use our intuition in competitions...

We work on the different aspects of each project simultaneously: the site, the programme, and the material. Each project is on several desks, and for those who are new to our studio, the process might seem unconnected and disconcerting... But we gradually weave it all together and tie up the loose ends. This way of advancing on all fronts at the same time in a non-linear fashion, right up to the deadline, inevitably implies very hard work at the last minute. The different processes fit together in the end, after research and parallel work on each of the parts. It’s a method that gives everyone in the studio a role and a graphic representation system that is coherent with both the method and the results.

Mariel·la oversees the planning of the studio, that is, how to organize everything, structure information, divide up tasks... Then we define how to tackle the project and how to deal with each of the three parts: site, programme, and material. Analyzing the site in minute detail, its history, what you experience there, how you experience it, and how it is perceived. Proximity. There’s a lot of field work in proximity. Thinking about the site, talking to people, producing critical drawings not so much of what you can see but of what the place could become. The programme and typology are where we try to appreciate cultural aspects and ritual. Internal organization, the relationship between spaces, measurements, scale, and dimensions... An analysis of relationships that is almost mathematical. The abstraction of more personal relationships and also of those that are established between the interior and the exterior. In the early phases, as in competitions, tactility and tectonics can only be guessed at. Material, textures, light and shadow... we try to define the atmosphere. These are the three obstacles we need to get around to reach an agreement. The three threads that are worked on independently and crossed over one another at different stages to weave the project together. It’s team work, and knowing what each person’s strongest points are is important. In these three areas – site, programme, and material – each of us gradually finds their place, position, and role. One of us might be drawing up the final site plan for one project when work hasn’t even begun on the sketches for the other two areas...  Even so, you can already start to sense things.

materials that we can get to know over time...

We don’t have a preconceived or favourite material, but what we are sure about is our intention to work with materials that we can get to know over time. That we can explore. In the case of the Civic Centre, we chose our materials based on the need for lightness, as the soil was alluvial and could not take too much weight. So we thought that a dry construction system would be best. We were sure that the exterior would be metal.

While we were working on the project we realized that there is a constructive discourse about metal that we have gradually incorporated into our way of thinking. It’s has to do with two economic and productive levels: on the one hand, the local scale, working with craftspeople or small businesses; and on the other, a national or even international scale, connected to bigger business that create their products industrially.  This is connected to the features we want from the material, and where we decide to source it from.

On the one hand, construction has become very demanding in terms of the standards it has to meet, including legal norms. In this sense, the (spanish) Technical Building Code hasn’t helped at all, because it only passes wet construction systems in advance. According to their parameters, the approval of all other systems is up to the technicians. The code doesn’t contemplate more complex systems because they are not on the market. What are sold are independent industrialized components, but rarely a construction system. There’s no culture of patenting. As such, we have to work on the building features and requirements with a company during the planning stage if we want to solve the problem to a single specification, with a system. This type of company usually works with large-scale economies, most are connected to the groups that manufacture the materials in question, and are organized around sales teams and fitters.

Thinking up a system allows us to have good quality control during construction, provide all the necessary features in one go, and reduce costs. With metal, we do this by reducing the thickness of the material using industrialized cutting and folding systems. This allows us to work on buildings with a single material, with a larger-scale, higher-volume system.

And then there’s the knowledge of local artisans and manufacturers, people who are in the trade, who can do what other companies can’t due to costs, or because of machinery... and who need heavy-duty material to be able to work on it, weld it... That’s why we like projects to respond to what was defined during the planning stage, but also to the unexpected things that might happen along the way. So the material takes on a tectonics that has to do with the tactility of the specifications and of the material itself, and with taking care that the job is done well. This production system allows us to work with changes in scale and with the way people come into contact with the building, whether their first encounter is more visual –because the building has been finished by a company– or more tactile –because craftspeople have been involved.

We have tried to combine those two production systems. We believe it to be a social and political issue. A country’s economy should take both systems into account. Combining them, working on each of them individually, almost making them touch is what provides structure and proximity. The building.

we have reversed the order of traditional design...

At moments like these, we’re entrepreneurs, above all else. This means that the commission process can get messy. Nobody rings our bell asking us for what they need, in fact, the opposite happens: you put yourself in a context where you notice an opportunity, and you look for a way to develop it. One example is the company Sifera, where —as the result of a development company’s concern over how hard it was for lots of people to get a house built— we thought about how to develop a construction system.  The industrialized system allows us to optimize building times and simplify the construction process, whilst working with precision, rigour, and flexibility. It is a luxury product, aimed at a discerning market.

We started work on this two and a half years ago by researching the most appropriate systems, developing the prototype as a team, and imagining what the company might be like. We carried out our research together with the manufacturers, which we were sure would always be more or less the same firms, so that there would be a certain continuity of know-how within the company.  We decided to work and draw for them, reversing the order of traditional design. We’ve now built the first prototype on the PGA Golf Resort in Caldes de Malavella, where most buyers are foreigners. Things will develop from here. “Commission” is not a word that we can keep using these days.

catching the wave...

We’re living in unpredictable times. You have to be like a surfer trying to catch the next wave as it comes in. Catching the wave. That’s within the reach of every architecture student, but you have to sharpen your instincts and pay heed to your intuition. New architecture graduates have started their professional lives during this crisis and so they have better chances of developing through it and handling it well.

The profession as it was twenty years ago still exists. And it will continue to exist. Because the trade is what it is, if we open up our field of vision to the international arena, we’ll find that in other countries, there’s no such perception of a change in the professional paradigm. It’s the context here in Spain that defines that perception. In Switzerland or England, architecture —and above all, the figure of the architect— is not about to topple over. In contrast, here in Spain, new ways of developing architecture are opening up due to the financial and professional situation the field is in, along with European society’s new awareness of our social and environmental surroundings. It would be great if this attitude spread to schools of architecture, in a broad sense. Radically so. Now. One of the greatest imbalances that exist between universities and professional practice in our country is precisely this rather narrow way of teaching architecture that is neither particularly flexible nor adaptable to the reality that surrounds us today.

That reality is, in a way, a vibrant one. We believe that the current state of affairs, although uncertain, is also exciting. With regard to internationalization, the key is not to go about it desperately, but naturally. It’s never a good idea to look for work outside the country just because you’re out of options, because you’re sure to make mistakes. You don’t have a sense of objectivity. Another route is working with industry: industrial research. In our case, this is another surfer-style approach. We found a company that was interested in exploring a new area, we took the opportunity and made it our own, approaching it in light of the current situation. That’s what we’re doing.

Finally, there’s that kind of research that isn’t simply scientific, academic, historical, or project-related, but that touches other disciplines that aren’t really in our field, blurring the boundaries. In this sense, we try to move beyond our little world, the clients and other agents surrounding us. It takes an effort to move outside your comfort zone. Whenever we see an opportunity, we try to take advantage of it to move outside of what we understand as our professional practice. We like that..

[nuances]

A second conversation, this time with Jaume Prat and Félix Arranz, provides an in-depth exploration of some of Josep Camps and Olga Felip’s concrete experiences as architects as a way of understanding their research-based relationship with industry, their way of working and planning, and their involvement in the Swimming Pools at Jesús (Tarragona) or the central “9 works” space at the Vogadors/Architectural Rowers exhibition of Catalan and Balearic architecture at the 2012 Venice Biennale.

fundamental principles: construction without a scale...

Over the course of an architecture degree you find out about a wide range of materials and come into contact with plenty of catalogues for them, but your actual knowledge of them is very limited. Realizing that takes time. It’s a slow, cumulative process. There isn’t much information out there. Some sources of information even contradict each other, say from one manufacturer to the next... Once you’ve more or less got it all worked out, you need to listen to lots of people and apply your knowledge on the basis of what you know at that point. This means admitting to your mistakes and fixing them.

With the Ferreries Civic Centre, we knew what the components for the facade would be like. We discovered that by folding metal sheeting it becomes highly rigid, but this didn’t give us any a priori information about the anchoring system to be used.

Through this process, elements from one project have flowed over into others. One example is Ascó, where the facade system we used was inherited from our design for the Ferreries Civic Centre. At Ferreries, we used the sheeting as cladding on a substructure, but the properties that derive from its geometry mean that it’s almost suitable as a freestanding structure and it can be assembled using very few supports. As such, cladding made from folded metal sheeting might end up being cheaper than standard cladding.

You also have to know how a material will be perceived, its ability to generate light and shadows. And until you use the material in question, it’s hard to know what it will be like. Working with it is a learning curve, in which you build on your mistakes. It opens up lines of work.

Our philosophy isn’t about a specific material, but about a way of working with materials. The plaza at the apse of Tortosa Cathedral began as an almost exclusively geometric issue. The idea was to repeat the concentric shape of the cathedral apse, which ultimately defines the way people cross the square. The gaps in the metal mesh are filled with concrete. Even the paving is made up of a series of small repeated elements. Independently of whether the elements in question are large or small, they provide the same amount of information. It’s a constructive transposition of elements that is not to scale. We are interested in these elements, which refer back to relationships, a context, to elements that do relate to physical fact. Construction without a scale.

processes: it’s a question of strategy...

When we approach projects, we hide behind a protection mechanism: we try to work from three different starting points: context, system, and material. None of them can dominate the others. The building system, which is to do with typology, is just one of these points, and all three are constantly influencing one another. This counterbalances the ineffectiveness of regulations, the imperfections of the system... There is no hierarchy between these three areas, and their independence from one another protects the system if we approach one of them is badly. It’s a question of strategy.

For example, school typologies tend to repeat themselves over a period of time. They are monotonous, one-off constructions, but they allow us to structure the educational services for a given geographical area in an egalitarian fashion. Understanding this context, which we could call the social structure, while simultaneously developing the other two areas, enables us to ground this apparently timeless, abstract sort of architecture in a specific place, to enter into a dialogue with the site, to recreate it.

We accept that we’re only a small part in the process of thinking up, promoting, and building this type of structure, the part that puts them in their place. In the case of building a school within the state school network, it simply wasn’t viable in the context of a single project to assume that we’d be able to make such a huge effort all by ourselves –that is, rethinking the entire education system and the way it’s managed and so on. We’re not the only people who take part in the process of thinking up a building. It’s better to pour that energy into issues that we can actually work on ourselves. Or into improving these preestablished parameters by making incremental changes and keeping the building close to its surroundings and inhabitants. Repeating yourself without self-criticism can lead to stagnation.

results: relating to industry...

Our relationship with the world of industry is articulated through concrete experiences. We happen to have worked several times with LAMP, both on projects of our own and in conjunction with another studio. Small public buildings like the ones that we’ve built don’t give us room to think up a specific type of light fitting for each project. What we do is to look for standardized, certified fittings. The pieces are finished. In other places, such as the facades, they are individual pieces that can be assembled on-site one by one. In cases like these we try to define and systematize the way they’ll be used.

With regard to lighting, our work together begins with how we want to illuminate the spaces, which we discuss with the company in relation to its products. There is no joint research. There would be if we were asked for a specific piece. We’d love that! We send them our idea, they adjust it so that it works, we rule things out, and then we start over again. It so happens that LAMP, and lots of other lighting companies, are family-run. They started making their products in a workshop, and some of them still do, maintaining that original spirit. There, in that workshop, we work with components that can be put together by hand, that are easy to mix and match. This is possible because their original structure is very small. Even so, making a certifiable product is such an expensive and bureaucratic process that an open production system would be unfeasible, even though it would be compatible with the way Lamp works.

One issue that could be of interest to our profession is working with industry. And for industry to be able to export know-how in which architects could be involved, something that hasn’t been done up to now. You design a product, not a system. This isn’t just a professional opportunity for architects, but would give added value to industry.

In other disciplines, there is large-scale industry and then smaller satellites that develop the products or concepts that industry is unable to. Independent design studios. They design and develop and digest systems that are not their own, then relaunch them. Small structures need to be used but without their forming part of entrepreneurial costs.

The way forward needs to be a concrete project. If we don’t try, it’ll never happen. Each project is unique and can never be repeated. It’s a case of trial and error. It’s healthy for each project to be different and specific, but not everything that’s involved in a project is like that.

There need to be lots of agents. Working as a network. Literally. Sharing whatever it is that someone’s been thinking about with someone else who can digest it and get something out of it, and so on. That’s why systems need to be slightly open.

everything else: the form wasn’t important...

Out of all the things we’ve done, there is one particularly curious one, which is a commission for an object-character for the Catalan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

We took on the commission in a rather systemic fashion. What we’ve explained in terms of methods of construction is something we also experienced with other issues outside architecture. Like cinema.

We thought about the cinema when this object was comissioned, because we wanted it to be a way of perceiving the swimming pools we designed for the town of Jesús in three dimensions. We began by researching the available techniques for moving that reality – the pools at Jesús –to Venice. We looked into the earliest virtual reality tools, such as stereoscopics, then we looked for the equipment itself. That search led us into the fascinating world of collectors who have these incredible private collections... Because of their expertise – which has almost become an obsession – collectors are sought after by big businesses developing 3D products, because they’re able to reinterpret techniques from 150 years ago. It’s said that the techniques for filming in 3D that are being used today are not quite right, and that they make you feel dizzy. In art, the relationship between technique and language is of paramount importance. You can tell an amazing story, but if the technique isn’t right, it won’t work. At the moment, 3D images don’t jump more than a metre from the screen. They should be touching you. And that won’t happen if you diverge images from a single camera digitally. Collectors are giving their input to the industry (even though they’re mostly pensioners!), testing out the new cameras, and giving their opinions. They have information that is more precise than anyone else’s, and industry recycles this. The creation of the artefact for the biennale wasn’t something we particularly thought through. There was a conversation with the organizers that was decisive. The object had to be relational. It had to be very silent, giving away very few clues. The little viewfinders do that. This really connects to the swimming pools. That interior-exterior state, a silent object that, when you get closer, turns out to be permeable, has no sense of scale, that you can look inside... the form wasn’t important. It’s an object to look at, but the feeling you get is that it’s looking at you. The visual cone has been inverted. That also surrounds you. It’s what happens to a swimmer at the pools. It’s mystery and provocation. Do I have to look at it or is it looking at me?

The issue of reversibility is very important to us and our work. This dislodging, this not knowing whether we are inside or out, inverting the facade from day to night, turning Renaissance perspective around... Ambiguous spaces are key. We know for sure that either of the two could become the other. A constant interchangeableness.

...in search of precise lighting with ARQUITECTURIA

by Ignasi Cusidó and Pep Cusidó

LAMP’s relationship with Josep Camps and Olga Felip, a married couple of architects settled in Girona, founders of the studio ARQUITECTURIA, began in April 2009, thanks to the collaboration in the Civic Centre project in Ferreries.

The old market of the Ferreries district, a public building unused for decades, had to be renovated and was expanded to house the new Civic Centre of the city of Tortosa. It was a tight budget but did not overlook the importance of good lighting; on the contrary, in fact. ARQUITECTURIA wanted to conserve the building and make the most of the natural light entering through the original windows and, in turn, reinforce this with just the right level of indirect light. Having carried out the relevant lighting tests, in the main hall they chose spot lighting through recessed luminaires around the perimeter. The final result was a pleasant, natural, clean space combining the old with the new, giving life to the activity of the local residents of Ferreries.

For the Piscinas de Jesús project, we also gave ARQUITECTURIA lighting advice. Once again a public project with a tight budget which forced us to work with standard elements. Even so, they both took care of the smallest detail, and seeing how light is taken so much into consideration is very rewarding for the industry.

The special sensitivity ARQUITECTURIA has for light is enviable. The care with which they treat it, and the meticulousness and clarity of how they want to illuminate their spaces and what concept they wish to convey makes it very easy to work together.

Our family business allows us to be close to the architect, researching together and seeking the most suitable lighting solutions for each project. We realize that each project has its own soul and personality, and have never wished to lose this closeness to the designers in order to understand what they need at all times. We like challenges and are concerned about seeking new ways of treating light.

One of us had the opportunity to accompany Josep Camps, among other renowned architects, to an exhibition organized by the Cervantes Institute in Japan in September 2011. Being able to travel together in a city as impressive as Tokyo, listen to their architectural speeches, understand their way of experiencing and seeing architecture, brings us into contact with their vision and helps us know them better, in order to be able to meet their needs more precisely.

Since then, we continue to count on each other for lighting support and advice of any kind, to treat light as it deserves. And it is a pleasure for us to work with professionals who love light as much as we do.

(translation: spain alphatrad)

...an excellent performance team

by Narcís Mundet i Anglada

The concept SIFERA has evolved from an architectural model designed in order to gather the latest trends to become a reality. The initial idea was to get a coordinated team formed by technicians, the architects Olga Felip and Josep Camps, and industrialists as an excellent performance team throughout the building work, but mainly in the design phase, where tasks are defined and coordinated to be later held while developing the know-how of the company. This first stage has been instrumental in developing the concept as it has allowed us to lay the foundations of a new model and reduce the execution times of the different phases of the project. We have also detected a priori some issues that were hidden in a traditional work and they were only detected in the final delivery. These have been eliminated or minimized.

During the last three years running this business, we tested pre-industrialized construction with wood structure on complex uneven land and we found its feasibility. We found that the commitment to bring pre-industrial and pre-designed items really helped us to reduce construction costs and it opened the door to customize the design according to customer demands. However, it took some effort among the industrialists in order to become a multidisciplinary team sharing a common goal, due to they had several concerns in order to be coordinated among themselves. The current economic crisis has helped us in some way, because all of the team members wanted to reduce construction costs without reducing the quality and deliver the final order with the awareness of being part of the important process.

The result of all these parts enables us to think of the building as a system where all the pieces fit perfectly. We research the technologies that we have available in the area and encourage the use of local renewable energy sources. The systems and materials used in the process are innovative, environmentally friendly, with a strong research in their development. The work is pre-assembled in the workshop, avoiding the inclemency of the weather, reducing the tolerances of traditional construction, and providing a greater degree of quality control work. We have made reverse re-engineering of the installations before building them.

We launch a way to work from the beginning as a team with a common goal, and we get the customer satisfaction by providing the contribution of all the team members in the project.

(translation: Anna Mundet i Anglada)

[expression]

The following section contains editorial reflections and a small collection of visuals produced by Josep Camps, Olga Felip, Mariel·la Agudo, and other members of the ARQUITECTURIA studio. They are organized into two sets of four illustrations, with each series corresponding to two different projects: The Ferreries Civic Centre and Museum, and the Swimming Pools at Jesús. In each series, the first three illustrations represent the three different research paths the studio uses to develop its projects, while the fourth documents how the intentions and results of these separate processes converge to give rise to the final project and the work itself. The finishing touch to the illustrations are the fish, which pay testimony to the irony and sense of humour of these two architects, the fisherwoman and fisherman, the river people, Olga and Felip.

...three takes, three paths, three discussions of a vanishing shape

by Jaume Prat and Félix Arranz

Take 1. Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, about a flight attendant down on her luck, was made into the only Quentin Tarantino film that the director did not also write. The film –which was released in 1997 under the title of Jackie Brown– tells the story of a scam that takes place before the spectator’s very eyes. Everything is out in the open, nothing is hidden. The ending is shown from as many different points of view as there are main characters. When each character has reached a certain point in the story, things rewind to the beginning and start over. The multiple viewpoints appear to give us objective knowledge of the events in the story. They also reveal how lacking our observational skills are. Watching it a second time helps things fall into place and showcases the director’s virtuosity when it comes to dreaming up contexts, entire worlds that reach far beyond what the camera lens can capture.

Take 2. In a conversation with Luis Harss that was included in the book Los Nuestros (Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1966), Julio Cortázar strives to pinpoint what he understand “shapes” to be:

It’s the feeling (...) that, despite our individual destinies, we form part of shapes that we do not know about. I think that we are all part of shapes. For example, at this precise moment we could be forming part of a structure that might continue a couple of hundred metres from here, where perhaps there are other people who don’t know us, just as we don’t know them. I constantly feel the possibility of connections, of closing circuits that relate us with one another beyond all rational explanation and all human bonds.

This notion became the basis for Cortázar’s short stories and, in particular, his novel Hopscotch. It points to an understanding of reality in which everything constantly takes on meaning (form, shape) and losing it, making reality unattainable. Above all, he points to a reality made up of the simultaneous existence of infinite layers, or rather, infinite lines that intersect at random, resulting in countless momentary shapes that appear and disappear regardless of whether those who sometimes catch a glimpse of these shapes just before they vanish are aware of it or not.

Take 3. Olga Felip and Josep Camps’s own words, their selection of drawings, and their form of visual expression all show that their architecture takes shape in a similar fashion to Tarantino’s  narration through alternative takes of the same event, and also to the indefinite composition of Cortázar’s shapes. They examine reality, the project, and define it simultaneously from multiple independent points of entry, and from overlapping points of view: their intuition about the context, organization systems, the nature of the material. These converge to form a coherent –albeit fragile and ephemeral– shape: the heart of a slice of reality summoned through an object (or situation) that is built in dialogue with its surroundings, affecting them and suggesting improvements to them, a stage that proffers an ambiguous game in which the inhabitant does not know if he part of the audience or an actor. Josep and Olga, along with Mariel·la Agudo, walking three different paths that eventually converge during each project, capture that shape and return it as architecture, partly for other people’s benefit, and partly for the sheer thrill of it.

The series of illustrations that follow try to provide evidence of this game for the projects in Ferreries and Jesús. Using different techniques – from collage to dihedral projections: ground plans, perspectives, sections, elevations, or schemes – Josep and Olga show these three paths into the project, resulting in the final shape this takes. Each illustration forms a complete scene, finished, independent, but ready to form part of a montage with the scenes on either side of it. These independent illustrations show an alternative exploration and speak of an ongoing project that is defined by its very mutability, its ability to adaprt to a certain site, to certain people, to and certain needs without loosing one iota of its autonomy.

[referencies]

Twelve online references about the works, projects, and discourse of Olga Felip and Josep Camps, ARQUITECTURIA. The first is the biographical profile for ARQUITECTURIA at scalae.net (1). The following five entries each refer to a work published on scalae.net, which form a graphic supplement to this ebook. These are: the plaza at the apse of Tortosa Cathedral (2), the First Aid Center at l’Aldea, Tarragona (3), the Energy Museum at Ascó (4), a Judicial building in Balaguer (5), and the Industrialized SIFERA house (6). The seventh reference is Arquitecturia’s own website (7). The eighth, an article about the plaza at the apse of Tortosa Cathedral, among other things, from Jaume Prat’s blog "Arquitectura, entre otras soluciones" (8), and the ninth, an article by ARQUITECTURIA on Oriol Bohigas (9). The tenth is a video of a conference given by Olga Felip in English at the Barcelona Biarch (10). The eleventh is another video, this time of a conference given by Josep Camps and Olga Felip in Buenos Aires (11). The twelfth is the website for the exhibition Vogadors/Architectural Rowers, which included the Swimming Pools at Jesús, created especially for the 2012 Venice Biennale (12).

1: josepcamps·olgafelip Profile

2: Plaza at the apse of Tortosa Cathedral

3: First Aid Center at l’Aldea

4: Energy Museum at Ascó

5: Judicial building in Balaguer

6: Industrialized SIFERA house

7: josepcamps·olgafelip ARQUITECTURIA website

8: article ...about "sobre la plaza del ábside -spanish-" (Jaume Prat)

9: article ...from "la moda i Bohigas -català-" (Josep Camps)

10: video Olga Felip conference, Biarch -Barcelona-

11: video ARQUITECTURIA conference, AE 2012 -Buenos Aires-

12: exhibition vogadors.cat

In 2006, Josep Camps and Olga Felip began ARQUITECTURIA  [www.josepcampsolgafelip.net], making the studio both a company and a workshop that focuses on architecture, design, and urban planning. They have worked on cultural, residential, and medical projects in both the public and private sectors. The projects of theirs that have been built include the Ferreries Civic Centre, the Ascó Energy Museum, the Health Centre at L’Aldea, Tarragona, and the Swimming Pools at Jesús. They have also developed a pre-industrialized housing system. Josep Camps and Olga Felip were included in the Thee Architectural Record’s 2011 Design Vanguard list, an annual selection of ten up-and-coming international architectural studios. In 2010, they won one of the 40 under 40 awards given by the European Center of Architecture and the Chicago Athenaeum. This prize recognizes 40 emerging European architectural studios for their work as a whole. They were also awarded one of the 2010 European Architectural Forum Awards in the Young Architect of the Year category. Within Spain, they received a special mention in the Young Architect category of the XI Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennale (BEAUXI), a special mention Arquia/Próxima Prizes from Fundación Caja de Arquitectos, and the AJAC VII Prize, awarded by the College of Architects of Catalonia every two years.

[net & fractal map]

The editors would like to thank the individuals and companies that were invited to sit on the editorial and industries boards of the scalae architecture + architects international ebook collection for their support, hard work, and suggestions. We are also grateful to the public bodies and institutions that were asked to participate through our institutional network. Their inspiration and generosity enabled us to launch the collection, polish the ideas that underlie it, perfect the processes used to create it, and hone the goals we share. Their help has made it possible for this issue to reach the hands of those who are interested in architecture and the agents that take part in the creation of it.

We’d also like to thank Olga Felip, Josep Camps, and Mariel·la Agudo, along with the entire ARQUITECTURIA studio, for the time and effort they put into making this ebook a point of reference that allows comparisons to be drawn between the philosophies and results of first-rate teams of European and international architects during their first few years of professional experience. This document will also help contribute to understanding the ways that different generations of architects and different agents involved in the many facets of what we call architecture approach and resolve architectural projects and works.

We are grateful for Pedro Pegenaute and Marcel Asso’s lovely photos. As well as reflecting the moving synergy and mutual appreciation between Josep and Olga, they put the finishing touch to the graphic material included in this issue, along with the hilarious cartoons Olga has drawn of herself and Josep.

With regard to the FRACTAL MAP and the contributions that will necessarily nourish subsequent ebooks in this collection (specifically the “...about” and “...from” titles), the earliest versions of which are available on Scalae.net, we are grateful for Iñaki Ábalos, Josep Camps, Carlos Quintáns, Marta García-Orte, Jaume Blancafort y Patricia Reus, Juan Domingo Santos and Miquel Lacasta’s generosity in giving us a small collection of pearls of wisdom that include his obsessions, interests, and personal curiosity around concrete aspects of the work of Oriol Bohigas and MBM arquitectes. At the same time, the masterful Jaume Prat has come up with a regular series of articles that aim to reveal paths in which context, reports, analysis, and criticism are complementary rather than alternative terms, in keeping with our hopes for this collection.

Thank you to Apple and Amazon for including scalae ebooks as downloads in their respective shops.

Finally, we would like to thank the thousand and more enthusiasts from around the world who signed up for the the first ebook in this collection (Oriol Bohigas, “...self”) through archBIB.com, and who will thus also receive this book and those that follow. We are grateful to many of them for their efforts to help users who are not familiar with the technology in question to be able to read these ebooks. Below is a quick guide on how to read Scalae ebooks on different devices:

The scalae architecture + architects international ebook collection distributed by archBIB as mobi and ePub files can be read using a range of devices: Smartphones (Apple iPhone, Android, and Windows), tablets (Apple iPad, Android, and Windows), ebook readers (Kindle® and ePub readers), and computers (using Kindle® ePub reading apps).

+iPad: by opening the epub files you received by email using the preinstalled iBooks app

+iPhone: as above, after first installing the iBooks app.

+The Kindle app can also be downloaded for iPhone and iPad, in which case download the mobi file version of the ebook.

+Android and Windows: using the Kindle app, in which case you need to download the mobi file,

+Android and Windows: using ePub reading apps, in which case downlaod the ePub file.

Computer options, all of which use ePub files:

+Adobe Digital Editions is the official (free) application

+ Mozilla Firefox add-on which allows you to read ePub files directly from the browser

+ Sony ereader

There is also a Kindle app for computers, in which case download the mobi file format of the ebook.

Barcelona, february 2013

[notes]

[get involved]

Sharing this content through social networks is very simple: most ebook devices and apps allow you to highlight a paragraph or phrase and share it via your Facebook or Twitter account (once you have set up this feature on your device).

We welcome new articles, opinions, or comments on these conversations with ARQUITECTURIA, their personal work, or their professional work as an architects firm. Proposals* should be sent to ebooks@scalae.net -if accepted by the editorial board, texts will be published on the scalae.net site and may be included in the appropriate ...about volume of the scalae ebook collection.

*Texts must not exceed 4000 characters including spaces in the language of the writer’s choice. The author(s) should establish a critical connection between their own professional background or personal interests and the world of architecture or that of agents that have been published or written about in a scalae “...self” ebook. For further information, see the articles in the documents section on www.scalae.net

[subscripció]

Why subscribe? You will automatically receive, free of charge, all the new issues and updates in the collection in the appropriate format for the device or app of your choice (iPod, iPhone, Android, Kindle®, ePub reader, iPad, tablets, notebook, or desktop). We have found the following apps and devices to be the most versatile: the Amazon Kindle®, the Kindle® apps for Windows, Apple OS X, Android, and Apple iOS, and the iBooks app for Apple iOS. Subscriptions website: www.archbib.com

[technical note]

This issue of the scalae architecture + architects international ebook collection is a “draft” version of the ...self volume on the architects Josep Camps y Olga Felip. Its Book ID is: scalae.net-campsfelip-self-draftENG-20130228-120000. The issue became available online on 28 February 2013. In subsequent months, corrections and updates to the earlier content will be incorporated to produce the “ready” and “final” versions of the text. The “final” version will be available in print as a book for libraries and collectors. The ...about and ...from volumes on the same subject may also become available in coming months, and will be subject to the same revision process before the publication of the print version (please see the complete explanation of the collection for more information)

[collection catalogue]

published ebooks...

· scalae ebook "...self Oriol Bohigas" [iTunes] [archBIB]

· scalae ebook "...self Josep Camps & Olga Felip" [iTunes] [archBIB]

· scalae ebook "...self Josep Ferrando" [iTunes] [archBIB]

ebooks "in press"...

· scalae ebook "...self Anna & Eugeni Bach"

· scalae ebook "...self RCR arquitectes"

· scalae ebook "...about Oriol Bohigas"

· scalae ebook "...from Jaume Prat Ortells"

[copyright]

This is the second book in the scalae architecture + architects international ebook collection. From their studio ARQUITECTURIA, Josep Camps and Olga Felip talk about the way the see themselves, their cities of origin (Girona and Tortosa), their understanding of the profession and how it relates to industry, their way of working using independent lines of research, and their experience at the Venice Biennale. As usual, original drawings, bibliographical references, and an invitation to join the conversation make up the rest of the issue.

The Digital copies of the scalae architecture + architects international ebook collection are free, so it is not allowed for sale. If you wish to show us your gratitude for the reading, please consider to make a contribution to Arquitectes Sense Fronteres NGO and its cooperative programs.

(cc) 2013 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (by-nc-sa). You may not use this work or any work derived from it for commercial purposes. Any resulting work may only be distributed under a license identical to this one.

Table of Contents

SCALAE | JOSEPCAMPS·OLGAFELIP | ...self

[collection credits]

[scalae international ebook collection]

[issue credits]

[conversation]

we’re river people...

a way of working that can be shared...

we use our intuition in competitions...

materials that we can get to know over time...

we have reversed the order of traditional design...

catching the wave...

cartoons, by Olga Felip

[nuances]

fundamental principles: construction without a scale...

processes: it’s a question of strategy...

results: relating to industry...

everything else: the form wasn’t important...

venetian expo object by arquitecturia

humans, by Marcel Asso

...in search of precise lighting with ARQUITECTURIA

...an excellent performance team

[expression]

...three takes, three paths, three discussions of a vanishing shape

Ferreries, context

Ferreries, system

Ferreries, material

Ferrerias, crossroad

Jesús, context

Jesús, system

Jesús, material

Jesús, crossroad

Fisheye

Pez-ON (Nipple fish)

[referencies]

QRs

ref: Tortosa, Tarragona

ref: L'Aldea, Tarragona

ref: Ascó, Tarragona

ref: Balaguer, Lérida

ref: Caldes de Malavella, Gerona

[net & fractal map]

[notes]

[upcoming issues from the scalae ebook collection]

[copyright]