TEDGlobal 2013
Xavier Vilalta: Architecture at home in its community
Filmed:
Readability: 4.1
1,048,889 views
When TED Fellow Xavier Vilalta was commissioned to create a multistory shopping mall in Addis Ababa, he panicked. Other centers represented everything he hated about contemporary architecture: wasteful, glass towers requiring tons of energy whose design had absolutely nothing to do with Africa. In this charming talk, Vilalta shows how he champions an alternative approach: to harness nature, reference design tradition and create beautiful, modern, iconic buildings fit for a community.
Xavier Vilalta - Architect and urbanist
Barcelona-based architect Xavier Vilalta works in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He adopts and updates traditional design principles to construct modern buildings that truly suit their environment. Full bio
Barcelona-based architect Xavier Vilalta works in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He adopts and updates traditional design principles to construct modern buildings that truly suit their environment. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
My work focuses on the connection of
0
537
2517
00:15
both thinking about our community life
1
3054
3507
00:18
being part of the environment
2
6561
1660
00:20
where architecture grows from the natural
3
8221
2288
00:22
local conditions and traditions.
4
10509
3472
00:25
Today I brought two recent projects
5
13981
2149
00:28
as an example of this.
6
16130
2273
00:30
Both projects are in emerging countries,
7
18403
2076
00:32
one in Ethiopia and another one in Tunisia.
8
20479
3039
00:35
And also they have in common
9
23518
1759
00:37
that the different analyses from different perspectives
10
25277
3032
00:40
becomes an essential part of the final piece of architecture.
11
28309
4583
00:44
The first example started with an invitation
12
32892
2742
00:47
to design a multistory shopping mall
13
35634
2023
00:49
in Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa.
14
37657
2305
00:51
And this is the type of building
15
39962
2295
00:54
we were shown as an example, to my team and myself,
16
42257
2825
00:57
of what we had to design.
17
45082
2164
00:59
At first, the first thing I thought was,
18
47246
2075
01:01
I want to run away.
19
49321
1950
01:03
(Laughter)
20
51271
2061
01:05
After seeing a few of these buildings --
21
53332
2308
01:07
there are many in the city --
22
55640
1800
01:09
we realized that they have three very big points.
23
57440
3442
01:12
First, these buildings, they are almost empty
24
60882
2096
01:14
because they have very large shops
25
62978
1781
01:16
where people cannot afford to buy things.
26
64759
2971
01:19
Second, they need tons of energy to perform
27
67730
2840
01:22
because of the skin treatment with glass
28
70570
2168
01:24
that creates heat in the inside,
29
72738
1968
01:26
and then you need a lot of cooling.
30
74706
1640
01:28
In a city where this shouldn't happen
31
76346
1961
01:30
because they have really mild weather
32
78307
1895
01:32
that ranges from 20 to 25 degrees the whole year.
33
80202
3749
01:35
And third is that their image has nothing to do
34
83951
3190
01:39
with Africa and with Ethiopia.
35
87141
2155
01:41
It is a pity in a place that has such rich culture and traditions.
36
89296
5602
01:46
Also during our first visit to Ethiopia,
37
94898
2820
01:49
I was really captivated by the old merkato
38
97718
2128
01:51
that is this open-air structure
39
99846
2181
01:54
where thousands of people, they go and buy things
40
102027
1892
01:55
every day from small vendors.
41
103919
2367
01:58
And also it has this idea of the public space
42
106286
2288
02:00
that uses the outdoors to create activity.
43
108574
3242
02:03
So I thought, this is what I really want to design,
44
111816
3366
02:07
not a shopping mall.
45
115182
1789
02:08
But the question was how we could do a multistory,
46
116971
3280
02:12
contemporary building with these principles.
47
120251
2889
02:15
The next challenge was when we looked at the site,
48
123140
2456
02:17
that is, in a really growing area of the city,
49
125596
2548
02:20
where most of these buildings that you see in the image,
50
128144
2484
02:22
they were not there.
51
130628
1602
02:24
And it's also between two parallel streets
52
132230
2672
02:26
that don't have any connection for hundreds of meters.
53
134902
2367
02:29
So the first thing we did was to create a connection
54
137269
3394
02:32
between these two streets,
55
140663
1736
02:34
putting all the entrances of the building.
56
142399
2199
02:36
And this extends with an inclined atrium
57
144598
2785
02:39
that creates an open-air space in the building
58
147383
2328
02:41
that self-protects itself with its own shape
59
149711
2729
02:44
from the sun and the rain.
60
152440
1802
02:46
And around this void
61
154242
1656
02:47
we placed this idea of the market with small shops,
62
155898
3303
02:51
that change in each floor because of the shape of the void.
63
159201
3770
02:54
I also thought, how to close the building?
64
162971
2271
02:57
And I really wanted to find a solution
65
165242
1910
02:59
that would respond to the local climate conditions.
66
167152
3463
03:02
And I started thinking about the textile
67
170615
2108
03:04
like a shell made of concrete
68
172723
1881
03:06
with perforations that would let the air in,
69
174604
3571
03:10
and also the light, but in a filtered way.
70
178175
2624
03:12
And then the inspiration came from these beautiful
patterns of the Ethiopian women's dresses.
patterns of the Ethiopian women's dresses.
71
180799
5804
03:18
That they have fractal geometry properties
72
186603
2175
03:20
and this helped me to shape the whole facade.
73
188778
2131
03:22
And we are building that
74
190909
1605
03:24
with these small prefabricated pieces
75
192514
2141
03:26
that are the windows that let the air and the light
76
194655
3438
03:30
in a controlled way inside the building.
77
198093
1982
03:32
And this is complemented by these small colored glasses
78
200075
2382
03:34
that use the light from the inside of the building
79
202457
2603
03:37
to light up the building at night.
80
205060
2886
03:39
With these ideas it was not easy first to convince the developers
81
207946
4122
03:44
because they were like,
82
212068
1156
03:45
"This is not a shopping mall. We didn't ask for that."
83
213224
2688
03:47
But then we all realized that this idea of the market
84
215912
5809
03:53
happened to be a lot more profitable than the idea of the shopping mall
85
221721
2774
03:56
because basically they had more shops to sell.
86
224495
2720
03:59
And also that the idea of the facade was much, much cheaper,
87
227215
4074
04:03
not only because of the material compared with the glass,
88
231289
2228
04:05
but also because we didn't need to have air conditioning anymore.
89
233517
2688
04:08
So we created some budget savings
90
236205
2157
04:10
that we used to implement the project.
91
238362
1897
04:12
And the first implementation was to think
92
240259
1932
04:14
about how we could make the building self-sufficient in terms of energy
93
242191
3240
04:17
in a city that has electricity cuts almost every day.
94
245431
3334
04:20
So we created a huge asset by placing photovoltaics there on the roof.
95
248765
4217
04:24
And then under those panels
96
252982
2081
04:27
we thought about the roof like a new public space with gathering areas and bars
97
255063
3736
04:30
that would create this urban oasis.
98
258799
2814
04:33
And these porches on the roof,
99
261613
1790
04:35
all together they collect the water to reuse for sanitation on the inside.
100
263403
4736
04:40
Hopefully by the beginning of next year, because we are already on the fifth floor of the construction.
101
268139
5162
04:45
The second example is a master plan
102
273301
3055
04:48
of 2,000 apartments and facilities in the city of Tunis.
103
276356
3279
04:51
And for doing such a big project, the biggest project I've ever designed,
104
279635
3934
04:55
I really needed to understand the city of Tunis,
105
283569
2265
04:57
but also its surroundings and the tradition and culture.
106
285834
4122
05:01
During that analysis I paid special attention to the medina
107
289956
3108
05:05
that is this 1,000-year-old structure that used to be closed by a wall,
108
293064
3977
05:09
opened by twelve different gates, connected by almost straight lines.
109
297041
4449
05:13
When I went to the site, the first design operation we did
110
301490
4369
05:17
was to extend the existing streets, creating 12 initial blocks
111
305859
4020
05:21
similar in size and characteristics to the ones we have in Barcelona
112
309879
3184
05:25
and other cities in Europe with these courtyards.
113
313063
2991
05:28
On top of that, we selected some strategic points
114
316054
2785
05:30
reminded of this idea of the gates and connecting them by straight lines,
115
318839
3201
05:34
and this modified this initial pattern.
116
322040
2770
05:36
And the last operation was to think about the cell,
117
324810
2450
05:39
the small cell of the project, like the apartment,
118
327260
2690
05:41
as an essential part of the master plan.
119
329950
1778
05:43
And for that I thought, what would be the best orientation
120
331728
3173
05:46
in the Mediterranean climate for an apartment?
121
334901
2299
05:49
And it's north-south, because it creates a thermal difference between both sides of the house
122
337200
4763
05:53
and then a natural ventilation.
123
341963
2863
05:56
So we overlap a pattern that makes sure that most of the apartments
124
344826
3586
06:00
are perfectly oriented in that direction.
125
348412
2140
06:02
And this is the result
126
350552
1460
06:04
that is almost like a combination of the European block and the Arab city.
127
352012
3765
06:07
It has these blocks with courtyards,
128
355777
1598
06:09
and then on the ground floor
129
357375
1123
06:10
you have all these connections for the pedestrians.
130
358498
2136
06:12
And also it responds to the local regulations that establish
131
360634
3107
06:15
a higher density on the upper levels and a lower density on the ground floor.
132
363741
3663
06:19
And it also reinforces this idea of the gates.
133
367404
3546
06:22
The volume has this connecting shape
134
370950
1892
06:24
that shades itself with three different types of apartments
135
372842
3302
06:28
and also lets the light go on the ground floor in a very dense neighborhood
136
376144
3643
06:31
And in the courtyards there are the different facilities,
137
379787
2900
06:34
such as a gym and a kindergarten
138
382687
1730
06:36
and close by, a series of commercial [spaces] that bring activity to the ground floor.
139
384417
4070
06:40
The roof, which is my favorite space of the project
140
388487
2800
06:43
is almost like giving back to the community the space taken by the construction.
141
391287
3710
06:46
And it's where all the neighbors, they can go up and socialize,
142
394997
2284
06:49
and do activities such as having a two-kilometer run in the morning,
143
397281
3537
06:52
jumping from one building to another.
144
400818
3384
06:56
These two examples,
145
404202
2359
06:58
they have a common approach in the design process.
146
406561
3384
07:01
And also, they are in emerging countries where you can see
147
409945
2579
07:04
the cities literally growing.
148
412524
2146
07:06
In these cities, the impact of architecture in people's lives of today and tomorrow
149
414670
4741
07:11
changes the local communities and economies at the same speed as the buildings grow.
150
419411
5141
07:16
For this reason, I see even more importance
151
424552
2608
07:19
to look at architecture finding simple but affordable solutions
152
427160
5030
07:24
that enhance the relationship between the community and the environment
153
432190
4061
07:28
and that aim to connect nature and people.
154
436251
3918
07:32
Thank you very much.
155
440169
1898
07:34
(Applause)
156
442067
1827
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Xavier Vilalta - Architect and urbanistBarcelona-based architect Xavier Vilalta works in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He adopts and updates traditional design principles to construct modern buildings that truly suit their environment.
Why you should listen
Named young architect of the year at the Leaf Awards in 2008, Xavier Vilalta is the founder of XVA, a Barcelona-based design team operating in the fields of architecture, urbanism and research.
The TED Fellow and his team have worked on more than 60 projects, including homes, schools, cultural institutions and commercial buildings everywhere from Africa to the Middle East. Declaring that "we love nature and we care about people," the team's design philosophy is to connect the old and the new, co-opting and updating the best thinking of past traditions to create modern buildings that are both deeply respectful of the past and searingly contemporary.
Recent projects include the Lideta Mercato shopping mall in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and a concept for a series of urban gardens in Qatar.
Xavier Vilalta | Speaker | TED.com