Our culture, to some extent, still functions under the shadow of the Renaissance principles. At least in the field of Big Urban Planning. In the same way as a French garden from the 17th century tried to manipulate and control nature, a very influential trend of urban rationalization wants to create a perfect world, in opposition to improvised and makeshift human settlement. But that is not the creative dimension that we live in.

Urban design has much to do with freedom and strength, because they are fundamental features of nature. Rather than obeying fixed and canonical criteria, architecture must be organic and should be adapted to surrounding spaces and their inhabitants.

We are convinced that urban centres are much like living organisms, whose bodies are fully dependent on the proper operations of their component parts. In this light, a human settlement must operate as a harmonious system that allows its constituent parts to work together in synchronous rhythm. A urban planner, a designer or an architect should not apply massive surgery to the body of a city; his or her intervention should be limited to the wise provider of solutions. Making life easier for dwellers is far more creative and valuable than trying to control it.

Urban planning is the realm of freedom and futurism. Will the users of the future be able to reinterpret and modify their urban surroundings? If future urban surroundings were malleable, organic and nearly sentient, will our architecture feel the need to change, grow or establish symbiotic relationships with other architectures? We don’t know, but these questions serve as an induction for our design process.

Text: Pablo García
Graphic Design: Romain Roy-Pinot