deCOASTruction

deCOASTruction
Trans*plant Workshop
EASA 2011 Cadiz, Spain

UrbanBuddy is sponsoring four architects from Barcelona with the facilitation of their Trans*plant workshop at the 2011 EASA conference in Cadiz, Spain. EASA stands for the European Architecture Students Assembly, however the EASA concept represents more than that…

Trans*plant Workshop.

Description
At the beginning of the workshop, the students will be divided in groups of 3-5 people. The work will consist in a series of public space performances in different city sites, and at different hours. In a manner of a quick construction or delimitation of a parasite space, that will somehow affect the host space, the transplant.
–For this purpose, different preconceived toolkits will be given to each group (ropes, fabrics, LED lights, pre-fabricated doors with its own modular construction system) to begin this dialogue between the body and the urban fabric- immediately transplanting parts of the city through performance/installation.
–Each performance will be recorded stop motion with digital cameras to be analyzed after by all the groups together: the method, the reactions, the evidence, the behaviour. This information will serve as a starting point for the next day performance series.
–Options to make adjustments to installation/performance will be available- either fabricating/re-organizing performance material to better suit the participants goals as they evolve during the workshop.
–The second part of the workshop will consist in analyzing the results of these performances. Making conclusions and evolving the performance through the workshop.
–The final installation will be a final “performative construction”. A playground will be created in the site of the jail. each project study will be plugged in this playground. this installation, as final presentation, will be the occasion to offer a space of interaction to the visitors; a space to co-habitate with.
–See documentation & timetable sections for more information.

deCOASTstruction.

Description
The massive urbanization and densification created by tourism is and has created a physical and psychological pressure on the coast line of Cadiz and Spain. The Statutory/Building regulations to tackle this sprawl have resulted in further compounding this pressure.
The aim of this workshop is to question the boundaries and the characteristics of this line – what defines it?, could it be extended to take off the pressure? could it be blurred? how does the act of transplanting behavior’s across this line through performance/installation inform the host and/or para site?
Is the urban condition finally some sort of prison that we need to escape? …Where is the limit?

Workshop Outcome.

Performance Construction
The final installation will be a final “performative construction”, that will be made with the same tools given at the beginning, and will include the interaction of the visitors (“tourists”), in a matter of a physical and sensorial understanding of the schemes studied. It will symbolically take place inside of the old prison (Santa Catalina Stronghold). It will be an interactive playground of co-habitation.

Strategic Alliance.

EASA
EASA stands for the European Architecture Students Assembly, however the EASA concept represents more than that. It represents an ambitious initiative at an international level, absolutely unique in the European university field, developed by and for architecture students. Since1981, over 400 students traveling from more than forty European countries, are meticulously selected by an open competition, to participate in the annual summer assembly which manifests as a two week workshop which is held in a different European city each year. This is a non-profit event where participants and organizers take part in workshops, lectures and debates, with the common goal of enriching the city in which it is held, and therefore, enriching themselves.
CADIZ
Cadiz, the oldest western city, throughout the centuries has been one of the cities that has experienced more changes, a fact that is noticeable in its urban pattern.
The Andalusian coast, as with the rest of the Spanish coast, has experienced huge changes throughout the last decades due to the tourist boom in Spain. These changes are visible in all the regions with different intensity. However it is not the city of Cadiz itself where these occurrences have developed to the fullest, due to its stra- tegical location, but in the southern part of the area as well as in many coastal parts of Cadiz where the holiday neighbourhoods express a violent relation with the environment.
Inkeeping with the theme of urban character, easa011 proposes to participate and work inside the city through workshops developing alternatives to urban problems at a practical and theoretical level during the two weeks of the Assembly.
Regarding the venues for the Assembly, the team have already confirmed several places that could host the event. They are: ‘San Sebastian’ castle, two schools and sports halls. In addition to this, there is a number of spaces available in which to develop the different workshops: ‘Santa Catalina’ fortress, ‘La Candelaria’ fortress and a building that belongs to the University of Cadiz.

Dates.

July 21st to August 7, 2011