SPAINLAB stems out of a clear strategy: proving that the true value of Spanish architecture does not lie as much in the final image it materializes, but showing instead that its real future demands support and attention to personal investigative processes. None of the seven installations tries to display certainties; on the contrary, all of them are but an excuse for each team to keep investigating, test its ideas, build prototypes of their work in progress and share their liveliest body of work.
Despite their seemingly disparate careers, there are several defining characteristics to them all: All of them are working internationally and their attitude towards their discipline operates beyond styles and trends, which is often risky.
The exhibition, which has the innovation and investigation as the main topic, is curated by the architects Anton Garcia-Abril and Débora Mesa (Ensamble estudio). Edited by Inma Maluenda and Enrique Encabo and designed by Juan Roldán, it will contain two important texts written by two members of the scientific committee: one written by Nader Tehrani, Head of the Architecture Department at Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), offering a critical review of research in architecture in Spain; and the other, a dialogue between Hans Ulbrich Obrist and Spain’s innovative master Miguel Fisac.
The book is available for free download in Fundación de Arquitectos website. Besides, SPAINLAB will be also available as a digital platform, designed by the architects Daniel Ibañez, Rodrigo Rubio, Pablo Rey Mazón and Alfonso Sánchez Uzábal.
