Rituals

PRO
LOG
UE.
IE School of Architecture
& Design
Rituals No. 1 | Fall 2019

What is Prologue
Prologue is a student-run publication, designed and edited by Architecture
and Design students at IE University. Prologue serves as a new platform for
discussion and self-expression through various narratives and contributions
from students. We aim to go beyond the acquired knowledge within the
university and developed new narratives through personal experience,
research and inquiry.
All issues are centred around a theme that triggers curiosity and allows for
exploration in the contemporary world of architecture and design as well as
the theoretical understanding that has been constructed over time.
RITUALS
Our mission is to explore the intellectual
landscapes of Architecture and Design, as well as
the hidden banalities of daily life.
Prologue wants to thank the School of Architecture and Design for their
support and eagerness to help us launch this project. We especially want to
thank Cem Kayatekin who took on a role of advisor and mentor through the
process of defining what we wanted Prologue to be; from asking the difficult
questions to steering us in the right direction when we veered off course.
His commitment was essential in the accomplishment of this first issue. We
would also like to thank Romina Canna who was the first person to truly
believe in this project and encouraged us to ‘just do it’.
Many thanks to David Goodman and Martha Thorne who, with such busy
schedules, were able to meet regularly to hear about the project proposal,
advise us on the best ways to move forward and provided an immense
support all the way through.
Thank you to James Miller, our guest writer, for his inspiring contribution
to this first issue.
Finally, thank you to all the students involved and for investing their time
and energy in the creation of Prologue.

The Crew
Naomi Njonjo Ana Leopold Mae White Ujal Gorchu
Chief Editor
Theme Editor
Visual Design
Content Creation
ii
iii
Anurag Phalke Myriam Barba Moira Burela Sebastián Argüello
Visual Design
Content Creation
Sarah Al Atiyat Clara Gade Cyrile Vanthournout
Content Creation
Administration

From Your Editiors
Hello reader!
We’re excited you’re here. We are a group of IE Architecture and Design
students who have come together to form Prologue, a publication focused
on analyzing the world through a design-critical lens. Our goal is to use this
platform to explore, dissect, and discuss some of the unrecognized forces in
our daily lives. It is not meant to be an encyclopedia, but instead, a collection
of insights from students within the bachelors of Architecture and Design.
RITUALS
Prologue was formed during the Spring semester of 2019, by a group of
students who wanted an outlet to explore architecture and design outside of
class, in an accessible and experimental way. Through weekly meetings, we
discussed our visions for the publication and how we viewed design’s role in
the world around us. We decided to choose a theme because of the unified
but diverse range of topics that can emerge from one. We put a lot of ideas
on the table, from utopian ideals to ecosystems, and finally deciding on the
theme of “rituals.” Each member of our group took this theme and ran with
it, focusing on their own research and perspective of how rituals manifested
into their lives.
So, why choose rituals as our starting point? The scale of a ritual can range
from checking Instagram before bed to the mass migration of people in
and out of cities everyday at rush hour. It can be the design of a religious
sanctuary to a rite of passage. From secular to religious, built form to social
construct, rituals are up to interpretation. Is a ritual defined as a ceremony?
As a life cycle? As a routine? Who and what defines how important a ritual
is? How do we use objects in our rituals, from toothbrushes to dropping the
ball on New Year’s Eve?
We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed making it. At the very
least, we hope we introduced you to a different way to think about some of
the rituals in our world, and urge you to find your own to consider.
Thank you, and may reading this publication become a new ritual for you.
Theme Editor and Chief Editor
Ana Leopold and Naomi Njonjo

Contents
6
10
14
22
28
30
38
42
44
Take a Seat
Moira Burela Chavarria
Designing for Crowds
Anastasia Leopold
Justice & Equality
Ujal Gorchu
Conversation with Fernando Pino
The Food Clock
Sebastián Argüello
Local Knowledge, Everyday Patterns and
Vulnerability Reduction
James Miller
I made myself into a Social Experiment & Deleted
all my Social Media Accounts
Mae White
Beauty is Strange, isn't it?
Sarah Al Atiyat
Conversation with Zuloark
iii
iv

Take a Seat
Text & Illustrations by Moira Burela Chavarria
PROLOGUE
1. Fiell, C., & Fiell, P. (1997).
1000 chairs. Köln Colonia:
Taschen.
Chairs are essential objects of our daily lives, serving a core
and intrinsic function that hasn’t changed for thousands of
years: to provide a seat. As you are going through this text, it’s
most probable that you are reading this while sitting on a chair.
Now, start paying attention to the object in which you are in
contact with. The appearance, material, color, and how you
feel when sitting there, or even try to remember the last chair
you have sat on. It is a fact that the existence of this object
plays a vital part of our daily activities due to its universality.
It is therefore a necessity that finds no difference on its user.
On special ceremonial occasions a chair over sizes and elevates
to become a throne and a symbol for authority. The constant
interaction from the moment of taking public transport in the
mornings, to sit on a car for hours from one city to another, or to sit at
home having lunch with the family. This object’s presence not only shapes
people’s routines but also reflects contemporary societies. Its materiality
and form has suffered an evident evolution throughout
time, representing a whole range of items with unique
personalities. Its relevance takes place on its understanding
of the relationship between design and how it affects the
quality of life and productivity. Consequently, chair design
provides a range of visual effects to spaces but most of all,
it helps to improve the standards of living. “It could be said
that when we design a chair, we make a society and city in
miniature,” says the British architect Peter Smithson.
The history of modern furniture design has responded
to the methods of the time. Steam bending technology
introduced the Thonet No. 14 chair that is widely considered a wooden
design classic that became part of almost every house in that time. 1 Tubular
steel used by Marcel Breuer or Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe revolutionized
both the appearance and the way of producing chairs in the first half of
the 20th century. In 1948, The Museum of Modern Art launched a lowcost
furniture competition where Charles and Ray Eames presented the

Eames Plastic Chair. 2 "Getting the most of the best to
the greatest number of people for the least" was their
main goal. The importance of this specific proposal
becomes valuable when demonstrating how the role of a
designer was able to responsibly serve a public in useful
and helpful manners. Their proposal presented a new
material to the design of furniture that was fibreglass
reinforced polyester along with a concept introduced
for the very first time in history: a one piece shell chair.
Its method of work was described by Herman Miller as a
combination of art and science, design and architecture,
process and product, style and function. The constant experimentation lead
them to the creation of an object that immediately became eye-catching.
The success of the innovative proposal was noticeable in 1950 when the
mass production started having a commercial success. Later on it became
a recognizable design icon of the modern age that has
been reproduced countless times.
The revolutionary design allowed iterations according
to the environment in which the chair was going to be
placed. The appropriate selection of the base chair
or the arms, allowed it to be suitable to the consumer
requirements. The prolific and adaptable design of the
shell allowed it to be used in a variety of settings in the
case that the family expanded. Creating a number of
combinations such as the task chairs serving in offices
with wheels providing flexibility, the dining chairs applicable for family
environments, stadium chairs, low chairs, rocking chairs, auditorium chairs,
stacking chairs, chairs with and without upholstery, chairs in myriad colors,
chairs for waiting areas, etc.
2. Stewart, D. (1999, 05).
EAMES: THE BEST SEAT IN
THE HOUSE. Smithsonian,
30, 78-82,84,86,88,90.
6
7
The Eames chair produced by the manufacturer VITRA, was suitable for
office spaces aiming for more flexibility, to home or living areas combined
with the indicated base or for house living rooms.
Or for public spaces with more concurrency of
people. The innovative design reached such a
success that the company decided to fabricate it
in order to meet the demands for public seating
areas adapting it by simply placing a beam.
The office boom in the 50’s required lightweight,
TAKE A SEAT

easy to clean and robust furniture that made
the Eames family even more successful
by creating an object capable to respond
different necessities that up to the present day
remain timeless.
PROLOGUE
The essential presence of chairs lies in
the fact that they provide commodity
and comfort, creating an emotional impact with the person sitting on it.
Therefore, since the conception of the idea, its creation represents a circle
that is articulated around nature, society and technology. Aligned one after
another on a theater, arranged around a table for dinner, placed over a
beam on an airport, chairs are unnoticeable everywhere. The process and
studies to get the final product include tracing the human body, which make
a chair the most human thing to design. Therefore, its functional presence
in our daily activities will remain intact as the design will continue evolving.
On the whole, the Eames chair by the designers Charles and Ray Eames
illustrates how one design can push the boundaries of a whole system of
production and technologies, not only bringing a new conceptual approach
into discussion, but also reinterpreting the everyday spaces for the users.
MOIRA BURELA CHAVARRIA

8
9
TAKE A SEAT

Designing for
Crowds
Text & Illustrations by Anastasia Leopold
PROLOGUE
The experience of being crowded – pushing your way through the
humid chaos of people at a metro stop or filing out of a stadium after a
concert – is something many people have experienced. All of the spaces
where we experience crowds like stadiums, public transport stations, and
tourist destinations, are interesting moments to observe how these spaces
accommodate large numbers of people. Sometimes they are designed,
sometimes they develop over time. At the crossroads of these two types
of spaces are pilgrimage sites, which pose an especially interesting
balance of history, rituals, and modern tourism. Two of the most wellknown
pilgrimage ritual sites are those associated with the Muslim hajj
pilgrimage to Makkah and the Jewish Western Wall, or Kotel, in Jerusalem.
The different organization of these pilgrimage sites shows how they have
developed uniquely due to their distinct uses.
The two sites deal with the same design constraints with respect to
maintaining the spiritual experience of the pilgrims and a safe environment
for the movement of thousands to millions of people. In addition to
catering to the spiritual and cultural patterns associated with each site,
crowd management must also consider inherent threats to health like being
exposed to sickness and the potential of stampedes and overcrowding.
While both of these pilgrimage sites have been visited for centuries and share
these common constraints, they also have inherently different elements.
For hajj, Muslim visitors journey to Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Over the course
of the 8th to 12th of the Islamic month Dhulhijja, pilgrims visit four cities
and perform a series of rituals. Each year, these holy sites accommodate
two to three million visitors at the same time. Due to the massive amount of
people who journey every year, pilgrims start to arrive up to five weeks prior
to the start of the hajj. The hajj itself has a trajectory, starting in Makkah.
On the contrary, the Western Wall is a pilgrimage site accessed year-round by
a wider range of visitors such as local Jews who come to pray daily, religious
pilgrims, and tourists. In ancient times, Jews flocked to the Western Wall for
the three pilgrimage holidays of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Today, 50

to 70 thousand people congregate in the Western Wall Plaza for the priestly
blessing every year at the start of Passover. It is now also used as space to
gather for other events like bar mitzvahs, Israeli Independence Day, or
Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The rituals of both pilgrimages are notably different in almost all aspects.
Each of the ritual sites is a product of the physical ritual, contributing to
how differently these sites have developed. At the Kotel, visitors pray and
tuck written prayers in the cracks of the wall. This process is relatively static,
and is oriented to a single wall. There are many rituals which comprise
a hajj, but two key ones which revolve around a landmark are tawaf and
rami. The ritual of tawaf is vital as the hajj will be considered null if it
is not performed at all or incorrectly. 1 Performing the tawaf is a complex
ritual which, in summary, requires the film to start facing the Black Stone
1. “Tawaf.” Al-Islam, 27 Aug.
2015, www.al-islam.org/
hajj-rituals-ayatullah-ali-alhusayni-al-sistani/tawaf.
2. The Pilgrim's Guide to the
Ka`Bah - Tawaf, www.dalilalhaj.com/en/altawaf_mt_1.
htm.
Hajj
Sites
Makkah - Masjid al-Haram
which hosts Kaaba
Mina - Jamarat Bridge
Arafat - Assembly
Muzdalifah - Sleep & collect
stones
Rituals
Five days of ritual and travel
across the cities of the hajj
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11
Pilgrims
2 - 3 million pilgrims
during hajj
100,000 at any other time
and circle seven times around it; facing, stopping, and reciting prayers at
different corners of the mosque surrounding the Kaaba. The first three
rounds are a quick jog, but without running. If any of the conditions of tawaf
are not met, the tawaf must be started over. 2 The other key ritual in hajj is
rami. To perform rami, pilgrims used stones collected from Muzadalifah to
throw at the Jamart columns as a symbolic stoning of the devil. This process
is repeated multiple times throughout the hajj. 3
These rituals require the pilgrim to engage with the site and landmark in
intrinsically different ways. As a result, each site has developed naturally
in response to the rituals. The courtyard of the Masjid al-Haram mosque
forms a round pathway around the Kaaba, perfect for the circumambulation
necessary for the tawaf ritual. For the rami ritual, the Jamart columns are
at the center of a bowl form, large enough to ensure the pilgrims don’t hit
3. Mohammad Yamin,
Moteb Albugami. An Architecture
for Improving Hajj
Management. Kecheng Liu;
Stephen R. Gulliver; Weizi
Li; Changrui Yu. 15th International
Conference on
Informatics and Semiotics
in Organisations (ICISO),
May 2014, Shanghai, China.
Springer, IFIP Advances in
Information and Communication
Technology, AICT-
426, pp.187-196, 2014, Service
Science and Knowledge
Innovation. <10.1007/978-
3-642-55355-4_19>.
DESIGNING FOR CROWDS

4. Mohammad Yamin,
Moteb Albugami. An Architecture
for Improving Hajj
Management.
5. AFP. “Tens of Thousands
Crowd Western Wall for
Priestly Blessing.” The Times
of Israel, The Times of Israel,
6 Apr. 2015, www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-gatherat-western-wall-for-priestlyblessing-2/.
each other across the bowl with space and a funnel to collect and remove
the stones once they have been thrown. This circular form allows maximum
access for pilgrims. By contrast, the Western Wall gives an axis to its plaza.
All prayer and ritual is done facing the wall, with men and women separated.
Because not all tourists are religious, there also needs to be a space for
tourists to see the Kotel without engaging in the rituals. Because of this axis
and non-religious tourist base, open plaza was needed adjacent to the wall.
Beyond the rituals associated with each site, the sheer number of pilgrims
and visitors differentiate the form of these pilgrimage sites as well. There
are two to three million pilgrims who make the hajj every year, and about
100,000 pilgrims who visit the sites at any other time of the year. 4 This is
an entirely different scale than the Kotel, which holds an estimated 50,000
- 70,000 people at a time during peak holidays like the start of Passover. 5
Kotel
Sites
Western Wall
PROLOGUE
Rituals (shown in Map)
Daily Prayer
Religious Pilgrim Prayer
Bar & Bat Mitzvahs
Priestly Blessing at the
Start of Passover
Pilgrims
50,000 - 70,000 for Priestly
Blessing
This scale of pilgrimage is reflected in the scale of each of these sites. The
large scale of pilgrimage for hajj matches the fact that there are multiple
cities involved, each with the capacity for millions of people. The Western
Wall pilgrimage is much smaller, so it only needs one plaza to accommodate
its visitors. Another aspect of the size of pilgrimage is the time frame
that it takes place. While pilgrims travel to both sites year round, hajj is
concentrated to just five days, and pilgrims can stay in the area up to five
weeks prior and five weeks after. Pilgrimage to the Western Wall is must
more evenly spread out across the year, with increases of pilgrimage for a
few key holidays. This means both sites have pressure points, but for the
Western Wall, these days are much more temporary.
ANASTASIA LEOPOLD

The large quantity of simultaneous visitors brings up a variety of issues
to take into consideration in the management of these sites. One is
the capacity of these sites to hold their pilgrims. All the cities of hajj –
Makkah, Muzdalifah, Mina, and Arafat – must have enough space to hold
the maximum amount of hajj pilgrims, and resources transport them and
make them safe. While Makkah, Mina, and Arafat all have capacities for 2
million people or more, Muzdalifah barely has the capacity for one million.
Pilgrims have to find places to sleep like roads, hills, alleys, and rooftops.
This puts pilgrims in a vulnerable situation, especially in a time of religious
observance. This is partly due to the transportation system of trains and
road leading to Muzdalifah, which have eaten into most of the city–land
that could be used to increase capacity and housing. 6 All these cities do
not have the means to provide for hajj years that exceed 2 million, and the
possibility of growing numbers in the future.
6. Mohammad Yamin,
Moteb Albugami. An Architecture
for Improving Hajj
Management.
Large crowds also risk overcrowding. Landmark-based pilgrimage posing an
interesting problem, as the thousands to millions of pilgrims all flock to
single points in the city. For these pilgrimages, all the visitors are coming to
perform their rituals at the Kotel, the Kaaba, or the Jamarat columns. At the
same time, thousands of pilgrims may be trying to occupy the same space at
once. In the worst case, this can become deadly. In 2006, there was a deadly
stampede at the Jamarat columns which killed 350 people. 7 To avoid this,
the spaces around these landmarks must be designed to not only hold a large
amount of people, but also provide ample room for circulation and vision.
Non-architectural interventions should also be put in place to provide order
and safety.
While these pilgrimage sites have been formed by distinct rituals and history,
there are lessons to be learned when understanding how these sites have
been formed and how to appropriately intervene. Each site has their own
constraints in terms of amount of pilgrims, time frame, and requirements to
achieve a completed pilgrimage. These aspects must be balanced with the
aspects of the pilgrimage themselves, like how the courtyards of the Masjid
al-Haram mosque form a courtyard based around the circumambulation
of the Kaaba, or a plaza oriented to the Western Wall. The sites may have
developed organically, but modern interventions must accommodate
for ample space for ritual, circulation, transportation, and amenities for
pilgrims.
12
13
7. Mohammad Yamin,
Moteb Albugami. An Architecture
for Improving Hajj
Management.
DESIGNING FOR CROWDS

Justice & Equality
Exploration of Human Nature Through Rituals
Text & Illustrations by Ujal Gorchu
PROLOGUE

"Nearly allied to the idea of impartiality, is that of equality;
which often enters as a component part both into the
conception of justice and into the practice of it, and, in the
eyes of many persons, constitutes its essence."
John Stuart Mill
As Stuart Mill noted more than 150 years ago, we tend to have a hard time
defining the relationship between justice and equality, and it is still the case
now. In most capitalist societies, equality is seen as having equal rights and
opportunities. How people use these assets, though, is completely up to
them. So ultimately, equality does not mean sameness or equal outcome.
However, this is not the only way these terms have been related to each
other, and the differences in interpretation usually stem from different
understandings of human nature. In communism, one could hardly
differentiate between justice, equality and sameness. The notion of justice
was built upon the idea of equal redistribution of wealth, and in order to
sustain justice, this paradigm had to be maintained. This kind of ideology
constitutes the way we deal with national problems but also forms our dayto-day
habits. What this essay will dwell on is the way Leninist ideology and
understanding of human nature related concepts of justice and sameness
and how it formed the collective identity of the Soviet people. There are
many ways to tackle this issue, however, one of the fascinating phenomena is
how these communist paradigms and ideologies shaped the domestic rituals
in Soviet communes—коммуналка [kommunalka]—as incarnations of
distinct local belief systems.
1. Mill, J. (2014). Utilitarianism
(Cambridge Library
Collection - Philosophy).
Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. doi:10.1017/
BO9781139923927
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15
In a broad sense, rituals are behavioral patterns that are used to reinforce
a specific belief system shared in a given society. They tend to be organic
or externally imposed and almost always start as tools serving an end goal.
However, as we will see with the kommunalkas, sometimes rituals stop
being mere tools and become an end in themselves. Rituals go through their
metamorphosis, and some of them die without ever becoming prominent
while others become independent cornerstones of collective identity.
KOMMUNALKA
The idea of the kommunalka is pretty simple: After the 1917 revolution,
Bolsheviks, facing a housing shortage, confiscated huge apartments that
belonged to the former Russian bourgeoisie and reconfigured them into
smaller units redistributing them among the working class, who could only
afford to live in the outskirts before the revolution. This, in turn, created
JUSTICE & EQUALITY

demographically diverse groups of several families (up to ten families at
times) living together and sharing amenities like bathrooms, kitchens, and
circulation spaces. For someone living in the West, this would have sounded
like madness, but ironically after almost a hundred years, it is kommunalkas,
rebranded as “co-living” spaces in Europe and the U.S.A, that are reaching
a noteworthy height of fashionability within the context of contemporary
architectural and social utopias.
In theory, the “equality” in resource distribution observed in the
kommunalkas was meant to free people from their greedy, materialistic
instincts and encourage a more collective spirit. Heyran Gorchu, who spent
a considerable part of her adult live in USSR recalls:
PROLOGUE
First encounter with the complex ringing system.
"Living conditions were not the best, but you could not
complain because it was not about the individual, but
about the nation. The nation had a big agenda, and we
all were tiny workers doing our best to make the farfetched
dreams come true. When you are subjected to
the national propaganda for that long, one of the two
UJAL GORCHU

things happens: you either start believing in the things
that once seemed absurd or you just learn to go on
with your daily life in partial apathy." 2
2. Gorchu, H. (2019, February
22). Personal interview.
So how were the rituals based on conformity manifested in the built
environment of kommunalkas?
One encounters the first signs of this even before entering the kommunalka.
The door is populated with self-made doorbells that belong to each of the
residents. Sometimes though, instead of having separate ones, the doorbell
is shared between several people, in which case a different protocol emerges.
Ring once for Alexey in room number one, twice for Akhmed in number
two, three times for Daria, etc. One can imagine having a guest-friendly
neighbor living in room number six.
Then, one had to proceed through a long corridor, littered with old cabinets
embedded in the wall, some chairs, bicycles, garments, knots, and bales of
old wrapping paper hanging on the walls. The corridor is a place for all
and a place for no one. Since it was rarely lit, nobody dared to walk to the
bathroom that was at the end of the corridor at night, and everybody used
specific vessels to satisfy their bathroom needs. The fun part began in the
morning when those families all had to use the bathroom to empty their
vessels and bladders. Using the bathroom was a particular ritual because
residents had to negotiate and agree upon a schedule for the bathroom in
terms of who will use the bathroom at what hours and for how long based on
their working schedules. Even though most residents tried to be considerate,
there would always be an elderly person whose main joy in life would be to
play the “bad cop.”
16
17
The commune was a particular type of a family, everyone knew everything
about others, and nobody shied away from articulating their dissatisfaction
when necessary. When you failed to stick to the bathroom routine, others
made sure to remind you that “the bathroom is not for enjoying it.”
Calculation of maintenance expenses was an exciting part of the commune
life as well. Since the bill was prescribed to the whole commune,
representatives of families would periodically get together in order to
decide on quotas. Some things were more straightforward, like splitting the
electricity bill between everybody in the house. "But what if someone had
JUSTICE & EQUALITY

PROLOGUE
Apartment I
Illustration courtesy of
Communal Living in Russia,
https://kommunalka.
colgate.edu.
UJAL GORCHU

18
19
JUSTICE & EQUALITY

PROLOGUE
Splitting utility costs was a long procedure with many variables.
an iron and they cook pancakes on them?" 3 Ilya Utekhin, professor at the
Faculty of Anthropology at the European University of St. Petersburg asks
jokingly. Then, the rituals of negotiation became more subjective and rules
were bent if the commune as a whole fancied the person.
3. Утехин, Илья. “Разговор с
Государством.” Arzamas, 28
Jan. 2019, arzamas.academy/courses/6/5
Kommunalkas had a high density of social interactions, and despite a certain
romantic and utopian appeal among architects today, this tightly knit social
fabric had its panoptic implications. Everyone was constantly on a stage and
under a spotlight. Everyone was a part of this play, both as an actor and as
a spectator. It was almost impossible to readjust to a kommunalka lifestyle
later on in life. For people moving into the kommunalkas, it was hell on
earth, while others that were fortunate enough to be born and raised there
tended to gradually develop a specific type of immunity in order to stay sane
throughout the decades.
Kommunalkas were initially meant to be temporary solutions while the
government dealt with more significant issues. So in the end, all of the rituals
described earlier, revolved around a grand cause: a far fetched goal that was never
attained. This is also one of the reasons why people living in the kommunalkas
barely complained about the horrible living conditions but once the “big promise”
was gone most of the people did not have a hard time moving on.
UJAL GORCHU

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the rituals coined with
kommunalkas were forgotten, however, it would be naive to call it a
failed experiment as kommunalkas were complex social fabrics that
involved numerous agents and agencies intertwined in ways we still do not
understand holistically. They definitely did not create the exemplary living
conditions for Soviet people, and most of the rituals are long forgotten now
as they were sustained by idealized promises of better days. However, there
are some specific things that can still be observed in Post-USSR societies,
Andrei Barbje, an architect from Moscow recalls:
"We would always visit each other’s rooms for small gettogethers
on weekends and holidays. It was like a ritual;
it still is. It was always customary when you visited to
bring a small gift, so it was all very friendly. Living in a
kommunalka really shapes you. Before I do something, I
always think about whether this will bother someone else.
It is about self-control, and learning to take responsibility
for your actions from a very young age, simply because
you're surrounded by so many people." 4
Most of the people moving to newer high-rises still suffer from alienation
simply because they do not know any of their neighbors. The feeling of
home, with all of its quirks and imperfections is still something people look
back at.
The kommunalka rituals that were meant to support the Soviet idea of
justice through equality ended up forming a different dynamic within the
community. This dense social fabric created a unique environment for the
exploration of different kinds of kinship. While our ancient predecessors
intentionally used rituals to create ties of kinship necessary for survival, in
the case of kommunalkas these rituals, even though initially designed for
something different, led to a subconscious exploration of human nature
with all its beauties and horrors.
4. Утехин, Илья. “Разговор с
Государством.” Arzamas, 28
Jan. 2019, arzamas.academy/courses/6/5
20
21
5. “Why Some Russians Miss
the Soviet Kommunalka.”
Public Radio International.
Accessed September 9, 2019.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2011-12-13/why-some-russians-miss-soviet-kommunalka.
The Russian poet and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky, who grew up in a
communal apartment in Leningrad, wrote:
"For all of the despicable aspects of this mode of
existence, a communal apartment has its redeeming
side as well. It bares life to its basics; it strips off any
illusions about human nature." 5
JUSTICE & EQUALITY

Conversation with
Fernando Pino
Interview & Illustrations by Naomi Njonjo
Transcript by Cyrile Vanthournout
PROLOGUE
Have you ever wondered what professors are up
to when they were not advising us on the needed
square footage for artist residencies in New York,
criticizing our choice of green, or questioning
the chosen interface between our design and the
public?
As students we tend to, unconsciously, dissociate
professors from being normal people like us. We
acknowledge their important role and impact in
our academical journey but rarely do we get to
relate with them outside of the environment in
which they teach.
Through this conversation with Fernando
Pino, Design professor at IE University and
the Polytechnic University in Madrid and Co
Founder of Paredes Pino Architects, we were
able to dig a little bit into his life and many
roles as husband, father, professor, advisor,
architect, designer, coordinator, etc... and it
was fascinating to be allowed into the intimate
narrative of his day to day life.
What was the most striking was Fernando's
energy and passion for life, his family and
problem(s) solving design.
Fernando Pino & Roman Bust

Prologue: Fernando, we know that you
have a crazy work ethic and schedule, that
you are very intense about work but that
you somehow still find time to do other
things. Can you tell us a little bit more
about this?
Fernando: Yes, I think this is something
that started when I was a student. Instead of
having the type of internship programs like
you have here, I made my own internship
program. I was studying in the public
school in Madrid and I saw that I could
not find the things that for me are related
to capital-A architecture. In our university
program we used to study math, physics,
all these type of technical conditions on a
high level, so until third year you could not
touch anything that had to do with design.
At that moment, I needed to do something
that was more in connection with the real
profession, so I started to work at the same
time as I was studying, In the mornings I
was working and in the afternoon I was
attending classes. This was the first moment
in which I started to combine.
You mean working in an architecture
studio?
Fernando: Yeah, working in a studio with
now well known architects, at the time, it
was a very small studio. Emilio Tuñón was
still working with Rafael Moneo, in the
afternoons so he was leading the same type
of double life. Around that time, I realised
the people with more time on their hands
got less things done.
"I organized my life in a very
efficient way, so each time I
was trying to design or study
I knew I only had one hour, or
half an hour, so I needed to
do everything in a very useful
way cause I had no more time
to do it."
If you are using your time in a very precise
way this helps because you can modulate
and organise your agenda to have time
for everything, for family, for sports. For
example, nowadays, I don't have time to
go to the gym, but I’m using a bike to get
around Madrid. So it’s a way to do exercise
even though there is no time to exercise.
I use the time to move around the city to
do exercise. And, I try to follow this same
efficiency in my architecture practice.
"I'm always repeating, time and
time again, to students that
they need to propose responses
to one specific issue, solving
several ones with the same
gesture."
So what is a typical day for Fernando Pino?
Fernando: A typical day starts at 6
o'clock in the morning. For me, this is the
moment where I can do research and read,
without WhatsApp and all these tools of
communication (also tools of disturbance).
It is a way to say: this is my time, this is the
time before I go to my office. I have my time
to research, to think about certain types
of strategies, to see what the next step is.
I work in various research teams and now
I’m involved in the organization of things
like: congresses, articles for publishings,
etc... so this is my time. Then, I start my
office work at 10 o'clock.
I have breakfast with my wife, and if I can,
also with my son and my daughter. Now it
is more difficult because they are growing
up and they are making their own thing.
They have their own rituals?
Fernando: (laughs) Yeah, they have their
own rituals that are not crossing mine but
it’s something that is completely normal.
Then I go to my office. There is this type
of bike moment going to my office and in
my office I’m either working on a project
22
23
INTERVIEW

PROLOGUE
with my partner, visiting the building site,
attending a conference or a meeting, the
things that are the normal day to day life
of an office.
We have a double head office, an architecture
office that designs urban plans or buildings,
etc., and we also make competitions on
architecture or commissions, etc. We are
also involved in industrial design of offices,
so designing and producing objects such
as chairs, or tweezers for cooking. We try
to do different things related to design
because we are in love with all those type
of objects, which are the smaller part of the
architecture. That means the one that is in
contact with your body. It is more related
with texture; it’s very precise. It’s not
something that we measure in centimetres,
it’s smaller than millimetres. In Spanish
we call them “micras”, it’s similar in
English, it’s the tenth part of a millimetre.
Sometimes the design of these type of
curvatures, texture or the steps are related
to this measurement.
When I can, I have lunch with my wife,
other times I have lunch in the office with
my partner or we go out. That’s another
two hours, depending on the day.
tables to discuss themes or topics related
to the research in the university. I’m the
coordinator of the other teachers.
A final thing this year, I am a coordinator
and curator with 3 other professors of a
series of lectures with people coming from
abroad, explaining dual practices. This
refers to someone who is working as an
architect in an office with a very successful
career in this sector and who is also teaching
at the university with a very powerful
position in it. We are inviting people from
Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and
Paris, for example. They are sharing with
us their knowledge of the professional life
and how sometimes the more theoretical
things you are proposing in the academic
world are the things that you are applying
to the professional world at the same time.
So in the end, when I return at home, I
share with the family these things and we
talk. This is one of the advantages of dinner
in Spain, it’s a very late one.
"We gather with the family, talk
about our day and the things
we are making."
Some days I have to come here, to the
university to teach on Tuesdays or Fridays
depending on the semester. Mondays,
Tuesdays and Fridays I’m teaching in the
School of architecture, the polytechnic one,
in Madrid. I can be in a group from 7:00pm
till 9:00pm. I’m teaching a master seminar
now that is related with how the spaces can
be transformed by pieces of furniture. How
the architecture is completely transformed
by the position of the furniture and the
furniture itself. It is something that is light
architecture and the furniture is a trigger to
the spaces.
I'm also the coordinator for the people
that are starting their doctoral thesis. They
are writing research documents and I’m in
charge of one special event that is to collect
all these texts and to produce different
Then, the weekend is sacred. It is something
that is for me and my family.
So no work at all? No research either?
Fernando: If it is possible, yes. We are
trying this type of thing where every
Saturday morning we take our bikes to have
a very big route, my wife and I. These are
things we need to do, because it’s a way to
maintain the other intense part; the other
part of life that is with other activities and
another intensity in another sector. I think
that an architect needs to say, for example:
this is the moment to visit exhibitions
in Madrid etc, to see paintings or to see
movies. It’s a way to be in contact with
other things that are part of another world
that exists.
FERNANDO PINO

It seems like something that is hard, at
least when you are studying architecture,
is to keep in mind that you can do other
things than architecture. We are so
ingrained in this culture that tends to be
a 24/7 architecture and design affair.
So even when you are not working on
architecture and design, you are going
to see exhibitions that have to do with
architecture and design, watching movies
that were recommended by professors in
relation to architecture, etc...
Fernando: Yes, I know but, on the other
side I think an architect needs to be in
contact with reality and people. To see that
people are going out to the disco or to have
a beer is something that is also cultural.
We are designing these spaces, these flows,
these movements for people, for all of us.
We are making these actions.
"If you are only making these
beautiful, pure, stupid things you
are not making architecture."
You are making something that is very
refined, sometimes you end up making
things that are closer to sculptures or very
stylistic pieces more than friction pieces
that are in contact with people. It is taking
out all these type of randomness of the life,
all these types of readjustments of things. I
always use this as an example: The way you
are using the beach is completely different
from the way that I am using it. Someone
could say, "I would like to be close to the
bar and drinks", so the way to put the
towel would be completely different than
someone sunbathing. It would also be
completely different for someone that is an
obsessive swimmer and needs to be close to
the water. The beach is a single field that
is absorbed with a lot of different types of
people using it.
The way we can deal with architecture
is more or less similar to these type of
decisions. You need to be alert to these
other big ranges of possible behaviours.
"We need to do something
that is capable to absorb all
the different possible types of
people inside our buildings."
That needs to be affordable or useful for
the maximum amount of people possible,
not only for the creators of the exhibitions
on architecture.
There is this notion when talking about
urban spaces, about how good public
space is based on how well it can "absorb"
all kinds of behaviour even the unexpected
ones. Do you think you are able to grasp
this in the context of Spain because you
know and understand the culture? Do you
think it’s harder to design something in a
culture where the routines are completely
different? Let’s say you have a competition
in Switzerland or like Brussels. What is
your approach to understanding all of that
complexity of human behaviours?
Fernando: I think it’s something
completely different to design here or in
England or in Asia for example. Sometimes
we use the same words to define certain
things but the concept behind these words
are not exactly the same.
"When we are saying public
space, the thing that we are
understanding here in Spain or
what they are understanding
in Turkey or in Norway or
Finland is completely different.
Because of how the circles
of intimacy are also different
depending on the cultures."
The proximity with other people is really
diverse; the way to use the public spaces, if
you have the feeling that you are bothering
someone or not.
24
25
INTERVIEW

PROLOGUE
I’m really interested in the invisible things;
those that I feel are like an aura. If someone
is crossing this type of limit, this type of
boundary, you feel uncomfortable and
these are completely different, depending
on the culture. This is the first circle, but
there are other circles that are group circles
or gathering ones that are compressing
part of this intimacy circle and are creating
a new type of limit, a new dynamic of
moving, a new dynamic of use or the way
people colonize the space. These are things
you need to detect.
For instance, we are making an addition
on top of an existing house. It's a house
overlapped on top of an existing one. They
need to share a single plot with the same
swimming pool and the same trees but
being two independent houses. I was saying
this because, when you are working in this
type of new circle, you are dealing with the
intimacy of people in their homes or their
habitat. They have certain type of common
rituals. For example, in one of them, we have
conversations, previous to make any type of
line of design, to understand the things they
are trying to explain to us. They'll tell us:
we need this thing and this thing in terms of
program, in a very formal way of "we need
this/we love this" but in the end when you
are in a conversation with them, they are
saying in the “in-between lines” what the
things are they actually need.
"You need to detect these things
that aren’t the very obvious
ones, the invisible ones."
So for example: "we need to maintain
our unity as a family, but the toilets are
something completely split, we cannot
share the toilets. This is crucial for us,
because otherwise the thing we are splitting
is our marriage."
Oooooh so you mean between husband
and wife!
Fernando: Yes, so instead of making this
type of suite with this hotel experience,
with a fancy toilet, they need their own one
but with different type of requirements.
"I would like mine with natural sunlight,
no I prefer one that is smaller." I need to
have the shower in a small space because
I’m naked and I feel vulnerable so I feel
better if I’m in a smaller space. But, the
guy is two meters tall and says: "I need the
shower as high as possible and I like to sing
in the shower." In the end, they are asking
for things that are just the opposite. And
you know this is just a very funny example
but there are other things that talk about
more normal rituals and behaviours related
to the weekend and friends and parties.
Related to spaces? Like, where you receive
guests, where you work, where you have
breakfast, etc?
Fernando: Yes, like what are the
movements I make in the house? How
important is vegetation for me? All this
information is only the last minutes of a
long conversation so you need to detect
them.
"You have to see, that this part
of the sentence is the crucial
one to understand what kind
of atmosphere they are trying
to obtain through our work as
architects."
The house is a program that for us is not
so complicated, somewhere to put a bed,
somewhere to put a kitchen, somewhere to
put a table, somewhere to put a couch and
watch TV. It’s something that apparently is
not so complicated with a lot of available
information about it.
FERNANDO PINO

But, to do something that is like a glove for
their hands you need to do something that
is more connected with the way they live
and I think that this contact with the reality
is something that at some point in the past
the architects lost. They were so involved
with the need to build the theoretical
aspects that are maintaining their direction
as an architect... They needed to build their
own internal/inner laws to produce their
work.
This is a quote by Mies van der Rohe: "It
is impossible to invent the world every
morning". You need to repeat certain things
but in fact, in the last century we feel like if
we are not creating something and we are
repeating things from other architects, we
are making something that is not valuable.
We feel the need to invent our way, our own
path.
We see it everyday in design studio, when
we think we have this brilliant idea it only
takes one moment of research to find that
somebody has already done it? So when
do you think that changed? When do you
think the architect stopped being in that
role of applying the theory of what they
found directly?
Fernando: I think this aspect that you
need to do something completely new,
starting from scratch, is something that
belongs to the starting point of the last
century, with the avant-garde. In the past,
people were making these renaissance
palaces very comfortable repeating certain
things but with certain kind of variations.
For example, when you read a text or
you read the commentaries of Rem
Koolhaas talking about their office. They
are producing a range of interpretations
of things because it is part of their brand.
It is like a collage but in a very smart and
very intelligent way. They apply things
with a lot of risks but doing it through a
very systematic way of working, that is
producing buildings that are very different
each time. So the system is the same, or the
way to cook is the same but every dish is
different because it is combining different
ingredients at different moments and
different types of fire and different types of
pots etc. In the end the final dish is always
different.
Well, this was super interesting, thank
you Pino! I just wanted to finish with one
question tying it back to the overall theme.
If you were to strip down your schedule of
the week and just keep one thing that you
do repetitively and can’t let go of? What
would it be? What is the most meaningful
for you.
Fernando: The family for sure! Because
the other things are things that of course
in the field of architecture are really
important because I love design but that I
can do when I’m with my family. My wife
is also an interior designer, so sometimes
we are sitting designing/redesigning how
we can modify the house; but we don’t have
the time...
At this point in time, we are visiting
exhibitions, etc. which for us is also family
time since we are sharing a common
interest. On the other hand we are also
visiting more things to relax, with really
good food etc.
"Those are very quiet moments
and if you start renouncing
these things you are losing
your life."
26
27
INTERVIEW

The Food Clock
Data collection & Graphics 00 by Sebastián Argüello
00
21 03
21 03
PROLOGUE
18
18
06
06
15 09
15 09
12
12
The eating routine is a ritual inherent to living beings. As humans, our time and place of
eating The can eating highly routine vary on is a ritual cultural inherent level. Considering to living beings. this, As it humans, is the objective our time of and this place timegraph of
to eating explore can differences highly vary on found a cultural in eating level. routines. Considering A survey this, it was is the made objective asking of 100+ this timegraph people of
to explore different differences ages and found nationalities in eating routines. to explore A survey their day-to-day was made asking eating 100+ habits. people of
different ages and nationalities to explore their day-to-day eating habits.
Research shows patterns quite curious about human behaviour. After surveying all responses,
Research shows patterns quite curious about human behaviour. After surveying all responses,
we discover characteristics true to each of the three meals. Breakfast seems to have the most
we discover characteristics true to each of the three meals. Breakfast seems to have the most
wide range of time distribution. On the complete opposite, lunch is definitely the most
wide range of time distribution. On the complete opposite, lunch is definitely the most
condensed meal in terms of time.
condensed meal in terms of time.
Extra
Extra
meals
meals
seem
seem
to
to
be
be
scattered
scattered
throughout
throughout
all
all
day,
day,
but
but with
with
a concentration
concentration
between
between
lunch
lunch
and
and
dinnertime.
dinnertime.

survey participants’ age distribution
28
29
extra meal names
snack
merienda
afternoon snack
midnight snack
morning snack
tentempié
homenaje
gôuter
guilty pleasure
post-workout snack
THE FOOD CLOCK

Local Knowledge,
Everyday Patterns,
and Vulnerability
Reduction
Text by James Miller
PROLOGUE
James works as an Assistant Professor of Environmental
Design University of Oregon and holds a PhD in Sustainable
Architecture from the same institution.
We reached out to James because we felt his expertise on
the ritual of rebuilding would not only expose our students
to this sort of research, but also provide us with another
perspective to what a ritual can be.
James Miller produces research focused on social justice
issues, with a focus on post-disaster recovery, humanitarian
design, and public housing. He understands the
importance of indigenous knowledge is mitigating disaster
relief in nations affected by climate change, but also the
need to incorporate inclusive urbanism into the way we
design the built world. Much of his research involves island
nations, such as the Marshall Islands and Haiti.

Our rapidly urbanizing world combined with our
capitalist mode of production through extraction
places more souls in vulnerable situations, leading
to the increased occurrence of disasters.
Furthermore, the rationale that western systems of knowledge are superior
to all others has left billions of people vulnerable to risk. We are reliant on
technocratic solutions, reliant on experts to solve complex problems. 1 Income
disparities lead to economic injustices that leave low-income communities
more vulnerable to environmental hazards. Those more prone to disasters
are also those with the least capacity to mitigate vulnerability or prevent
them. The magnitude of destruction following natural hazards, such as sea
level rise, receding glaciers, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 2017 Hurricane
Maria, and this spring’s massive floods in the midwestern United States
are all resultant of development’s failure to promote social welfare. Global
climate change, slow onset disasters, like natural disasters, disproportionately
impact disenfranchised communities, such as Indigenous communities and
communities in the Global South.
30
31
1. Beck, Ulrich. 1992. Risk
Society: Towards a New Modernity.
Theory, Culture & Society.
London ; Newbury Park,
Calif: Sage Publications.
With the onset of colonization and slow shift in the culture-environment
relationship due to the infusion of western design and building practices, the
deep relationship with nature that maintained resilient communities begins
to erode. The transformation of habitation accelerated after World War II
came hand in hand with the rapid implementation of modernization and
neoliberal policies, resulting in a restructuring of the built-environment into a
world of alien architecture. Through a lens of critical vernacular architecture,
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, EVERYDAY PATTERNS AND ...

2. Mileto, C., F. Vegas, L. Garcia
Soriano, and V. Cristini, eds.
2014. Vernacular Architecture:
Towards a Sustainable Future.
1st Edition. London: Taylor &
Francis.
3. Cardinal, Douglas, and George
Melnyk. 1977. Of the Spirit: Writings.
Edmonton: NeWest Press.
the built-environment perpetuates settler-colonial relations that leaves local
communities vulnerable and reliant on western aid / assistance. Modern
architecture does not hold the intricate relationship to and respect for the
environment and its hazards 2 . It does not hold the architectural design ethics
inherent in Indigenous and local knowledge systems 3 . It is reliant on extractive
practices for materials and its design methodology creates asymmetrical power
structures 4 . Arguably the transformation of traditional settlement patterns to
rational, western settlement patterns creates reliance of local communities in
the Global South on the Ameri-Eurocentric regimes of the west.
PROLOGUE
4. Nay, Eric. 2018. “Canonizing
Le Corbusier: The Making of
an Architectural Icon as Colonial
Hegemony.” Dissertation,
Toronto, ON: University of
Toronto.
Chang, Jiat-Hwee. 2010. “Building a
Colonial Technoscientifi c Network:
Tropical Architecture, Building Science
and the Politics of Decolonization.”
In Third World Modernism,
edited by Duanfang Lu, 211–35.
New York: Routledge. https://doi.
org/10.4324/9780203840993-17.
The modernist approach to both disaster mitigation and post-disaster recovery
continues to be practiced today, continuing the neocolonial dominance of
western / Eurocentric architectural solutions to contexts across the globe.
Design and building practices as ‘social’ or ‘economic’ development, which
include many examples of public interest design / social innovation design
/ humanitarian design / etc., perpetuate colonial ideology and continue
to disenfranchise segments of the population. Historically, post-disaster
reconstruction policies and practice ignore the embedded knowledge of the
affected population. The application of locally represented architecture,
infusion of local knowledge within the production of the built-environment,
and learning from the local vernacular are surprisingly on the cutting edge of
social impact design, rather than the status quo; Indigenous populations of
the world have been developing design methodologies that demonstrate an
intimate relationship with the local environment and its resources, celestial
bodies, and the cosmos for millenia; the methods developed allow for the
sustainability of communities to live with the land. The establishment of
relationships within the space between human, nature, and spirit form
frameworks for design based on everyday life and cultural production,
demonstrating the nuances of iterative processes. This is the dialectical
relationship of culture and the environment. In Haiti for instance, local
knowledge was produced through an intimate relationship with and reliance
on the land for life - many lessons of which were taught to early marooners
by local indigenous communities. As these knowledge systems formed, they
altered the landscape while maintaining livelihoods and respect for natural
hazards. They produced built environments that met the socio-cultural-spatial
needs while engaging in sustainable resource extraction, thus supporting the
resilience of the system as a whole.
Examining the production of social space in self settled post-disaster
settlements in Leogane and Port-au-Prince, Haiti and the cultural production
of the built environment in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, this article
JAMES MILLER

aims to demonstrate the importance of everyday cultural practice in both
mitigating vulnerability and building post-disaster resilience. The local
knowledge of communities provides the social framework for resilience,
containing social and cultural capital. The issue is that local and indigenous
knowledge is eroded or discarded by western advancements in ‘modernization’
and technology - globalization has perpetuated the neoliberal regime
while delegitimizing locally constructed knowledge systems. As western
architectural ideals fail to provide resilience in the Global South, a resurgence
of local and indigenous knowledge is necessary. The questions remain, how
do we reframe the significance of local and indigenous knowledge, and how
do we reinforce its capacity to create more resilient communities?
Haiti: Local Knowledge in Post-disaster
Reconstruction
Research I conducted in Haiti during 2012, two years after the devastating
earthquake, provides insight into everyday actions in post-disaster recovery 5 .
The everyday actions in self-settled post-disaster camps demonstrates the
inclusive nature of traditional settlement patterns born of local knowledge.
Social capital is generated through the local production of a socio-culturally
supportive built-environment. The research focused on the traditional
settlement pattern known as the lakou to identify how everyday social patterns
reconstruct the spatial organization of the lakou within self-settled postdisaster
camps. The lakou is simply the organization of familial houses within
the constraints of familial land parcels. The spatial organization of dwellings
is typically clustered, forming courtyards between multiple generations of the
family. In urban settings such as Port-au-Prince, this structure either evolves
into the structure of a multi-family residence or a compacted courtyard
central to familial rooms; however, it has largely been lost due to the influence
of modernization.
32
33
5. Miller, James. 2013. “Redefining
the Lakou: The Resilience
of a Vernacular Settlement
Pattern in Post-Disaster
Haiti.” Dissertation, Eugene,
OR: University of Oregon.
Through interviews and documentation of multiple self-settled camps across
Port-au-Prince and Leogane, it became clear that the spatial organization of
dwelling clusters emulated the lakou. Investigation demonstrates that those
surrounding informal courtyards tended to either be family or persons that
saw each other as close-knit, regardless of land ownership. It became apparent
that families and individuals created the social space of the courtyard along
with the clustering of dwellings through social memory - it was reproduced
through their habitus (the socio-cultural structure(s) one is born, raised, and
educated in that informs our way of knowing and being in this world). Analysis
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, EVERYDAY PATTERNS AND ...

of this reproduction demonstrates that physical proximity correlates with
social proximity - families began to rely on each other and build strong bonds
with each other regardless of kinship. To give an example, Single mothers
were provided assistance in child rearing, food and necessary resources were
shared, and neighbors kept an eye on the security of each other’s dwellings.
Thus, individuals had more freedom to leave behind their children and
belongings to seek employment.
Investigating the structures of everyday habitus in post-disaster reconstruction
provides a lens into more impactful and localized processes of reconstruction.
It demonstrates that in resistance to the oppressive structures of modernization
and the westernization of the built-environment, local knowledge continues
to prove a generative force for supporting livelihoods. This notion is further
supported by research being conducted with communities facing the impacts
of climate change and slow-on-set disasters.
PROLOGUE
6. Miller James. 2018. “The
Continuity of Deep-Cultural
Patterns: A Case Study of
Three Marshallese Communities.”
Dissertation, Eugene,
OR: University of Oregon.
The Marshall Islands: Indigenous Design
Knowledge in Climate Change Adaptation
Over the past four years, I conducted research in the Republic of the
Marshall Islands to examine the intricate relationship of culture and the builtenvironment
6 . The Republic of the Marshall Islands is a small atoll nation in
the middle of the Pacific Ocean halfway between Hawaii and Australia that
consists of 32 atolls in a vast area of ocean. As a low lying atoll nation, the
RMI is receiving the blunt force of climate change and sea level rise. They are
at the center of the debate on the International Status of Climate Refugees
along with Tuvalu and Kirbati. Similar to many nations in the Pacific, the
Republic of the Marshall islands were colonized by Europe (Germany),
Japan, and lastly and most significantly by the United States. Within the built
environment, traditional Marshallese architecture and settlement planning
was largely replaced. In construction practices, the Marshallese became
reliant on imported materials, technology, and methods. Not unlike other
regions across the Global South, the Western concrete structure is seen as the
only safe structure to storm a typhoon or mitigate sea inundation.
The Marshallese built-environment was further affected by the impacts of
the US nuclear program, most notably the Bravo Shot - a 15 megaton atomic
bomb that eradicated life on Bikini Atoll, along with the ancestral homes of
an entire population (the population was relocated to Rongerik Atoll prior to
JAMES MILLER

testing and then Kili Island). More recent typhoons further largely replaced
the vernacular architecture of remote atolls with USDA rural housing and
disaster relief housing. It might appear as though the Marshallese identity to
place and relationship with the land was forever changed through the forces
of colonization, but it was not - or at least not at the core of the Marshallese
culture. It is easy to forget that the influence of colonization is only 200
years deep, and the Marshallese have survived on Aelon Kein (our atolls) for
millennia.
In studying the persistence of Indigenous Knowledge within the Marshallese
creation and adaptation of the built-environment, I gained knowledge of six
important components of the Marshallese way of life. The six components
provide generative mechanisms that shape space, place, and the environment
in a manner that maintains the Marshallese way of life - even if expressed
within a modern / western aesthetic. These are 1.) Land as wealth and 2.)
Land as Identity, both of which are embedded within the weto, which
represents the land tenure system through matrilineal inheritance of the
Marshallese; 3.) Ippan Doon or “Togetherness,” which manifests in the
clustering of housing; 4.) Juon Kijeek or “One Fire One Family,” which
represents the interconnection of family through the sharing of resources and
stories; 5.) Emlapwoj, which represents the multi-generational family living
arrangement; and. 6.) Process-built housing, which represents the iterative
process in developing effective design solutions that support everyday life.
34
35
The big question for the Marshall Islands, along with thousands of
communities across the globe is: How will we ensure the cultural continuity
of climate migrants? The numbers are staggering. We know that the current
state of our cities and our attitudes will not serve spatial justice to these
populations, so what do we do?
As relationships are communicated through patterns of time and space, the
production of the built-environment is developed through the communication
of pattern languages of design and at the center of this language are these
aspects of Marshallese culture. I believe that these can inform our creation
of more inclusive cities for displaced Marshallese as well as other coastal
populations of Oceania, and I believe these land based knowledge systems
provide resonance for other climate migrants across the world. By allowing
community-based knowledge to prosper and grow in a new home, we provide
resilience for each community.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, EVERYDAY PATTERNS AND ...

7. Saberi, Parastou. 2017. “Toronto
and the ‘Paris Problem’:
Community Policing in ‘Immigrant
Neighbourhoods.’” Race
& Class 59 (2): 49–69. https://doi.
org/10.1177/0306396817717892.
Bragg, Bronwyn, and Lloyd L.
Wong. 2016. “‘Cancelled Dreams’:
Family Reunification and Shifting
Canadian Immigration Policy.”
Journal of Immigrant & Refugee
Studies 14 (1): 46–65. https://doi.org
/10.1080/15562948.2015.1011364.
Pemberton, Simon, and Jenny
Phillimore. 2018. “Migrant
Place-Making in Super-Diverse
Neighbourhoods: Moving beyond
Ethno-National Approaches.” Urban
Studies 55 (4): 733–50. https://
doi.org/10.1177/0042098016656988.
PROLOGUE
Back To The Big Picture
The neoliberal city does not act kindly on the cultural ways of knowing. In cities
like Toronto, new arrivals are often alienated. 7 Displaced Indigenous Peoples feel
the impacts of this even more greatly. In Honolulu, disenfranchising homeless
Kanaka Maoli is an act of the state to deracinate the rights and identities of our
ancestors. 8 Yet there’s an amazing thing about deep cultural patterns - they have
a way of fighting back and creating space. How do we address spatial justice and
create more inclusive cities? How do we ensure that a pluriverse of world views
share the right to the city, the right to the environment, the right to an economy,
the right to social equity, and the right to autonomy.
I argue that decolonizing planning and design professions is necessary to
increase the capacity of community resilience to disasters. Giving more power
to communities and building autonomy. What if the design of our cities could
support the identities of resettled communities and lessen culture loss? What
if a pluriverse of identities and ways of knowing could find equity and justice
within an inclusive built-environment! Design and urban planning help achieve
this. There are case studies of transnational Marshallese communities where
this is happening and the common reason is the lack of regulation. Regulations
hinder the generative capacity of immigrant communities. How do we deregulate
while maintaining health, safety, and wellness? One could argue that
codification of building design, means and methods along with urban planning
processes is a structure of the state to control the populous, or in the vein of this
article - maintain colonial control.
8. Casumbal-Salazar, Iokepa.
2017. “A Fictive Kinship: Making
‘Modernity,’ ‘Ancient Hawaiians,’
and the Telescopes
on Mauna Kea.” Native American
and Indigenous Studies
4 (2): 1–30.
Kauanui, J. Kēhaulani. 2008.
Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism
and the Politics of Sovereignty
and Indigeneity. Durham, N.C.:
Duke University Press. http://dx-
.doi.org/10.1215/9780822391494.
Goodyear-Ka’opua, Noelani,
Ikaika Hussey, and Erin Kahunawaika’ala
Wright. 2014. A
Nation Rising: Hawaiian Movements
for Life, Land, and Sovereignty.
Duke University Press.
Going back to the findings from my research and connections of indigenous
knowledge systems across Oceania. Here are five recommendations that can be
enacted by architects, designers, planners, policy makers, and educators.
First, listen to the words, thoughts, ways, and spirit of Indigenous Peoples, our
voice has been silenced for too long and now it provides a way forward. Our
ancestors thrived for millenia prior to colonization and our Peoples will thrive
again.
Second, consider how to allow for the autonomy of the multiplicity of world
views in the city. We need to provide space for communities to identify
themselves within the city. Along with identifying one’s way of life in the city and
everyday life, Michael Mossman 9 suggests the need for a third space - a place of
interaction: “a place where differences touch, interact, disrupt, unsettle and de-
JAMES MILLER

centre pre-existing narratives to produce a structure for marginalized cultures to
symbolize themselves to their counterparts.” Community participation must be
at the center. Providing autonomy also might entail programs that provide tax
incentives for cooperative land management or first time homebuyer programs
with self-built housing via collectives.
9. Mossman, Michael. 2018.
“Third Space in Architecture.”
In Our Voices: Indigeneity
and Architecture, edited by
Rebecca Kiddle, Iuugugyoo
Patrick Stewart, and Kevin
O’Brien, 198–209. China: ORO
Editions.
Third, the communication of a pattern language helps maintain relationships -
based on spatial organization and knowledge systems. In the context of housing
programs you have to take into consideration the social composition of cultural
groups as well as the spatial patterns of daily life. This includes for instance,
allowing for the persistence of the cookhouse or at the minimum its symbolic
importance. It also requires the consideration of multi-generational living
arrangements. As demonstrated in Emlapwoj, these arrangements are central
to generational knowledge sharing with the framework of family centered and
community-based knowledge.
Fourth, lobbying for changes in restrictive municipal codes, building codes,
and others is needed. To create inclusive urbanism requires the restructuring of
existing codes and ordinances in order to be inclusive of alternative community
systems. To provide an example, regulations in Springdale, Arkansas are
hindering the autonomy of the growing Marshallese community. 10 Based on
field studies I conducted in Springdale during the summer of 2014, restrictions
on the number of individuals residing in a rental hinder the establishment of
multi-generational living arrangements and the Emlapwoj. In addition, the
school system clashes with the community when it has difficulty tracking
the location of students, who may be staying with different family members
at different addresses at any given time (Miller correspondence with Carmen
Chong Gum, RMI Consulate).
Fifth, building processes that come from a deep relationship to the land, to the
environment, and to each other need space to thrive. Considerations of material
choices and maintenance are necessary to support cultural norms. Through
participatory and engaged processes in planning, development, design, and
construction, culturally supportive realities will be born. This means making
these mechanisms accessible and inclusive of marginalized populations.
36
37
10. Miller, James. 2017. “Expanding
Micronesian Enclaves
& the Verge of Climate Displacement:
A Case Study of
Marshallese Place Identity in the
United States.” In Two Utahs:
Religious and Secular Landscapes
in the Great Basin West.
Salt Lake City, UT.
For our future generations, It is time to act. Let us learn from the knowledges
of those who have protected the lands we work, play, act, and thrive on for
millennia.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, EVERYDAY PATTERNS AND ...

PROLOGUE
I Made Myself
into a Social
Experiment &
Deleted All My
Social Media
Accounts
Text & Illustrations by Mae White
MAE WHITE

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39
I MADE MYSELF INTO A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

PROLOGUE
If you’ve ever woken up in the
morning to scroll through Instagram for an
hour or checked Facebook to see the amount
of likes your new profile picture got, you are
probably in the same boat I was in: sucked
obliviously in the realm of social validation.
The so called “ritual” of connecting with
people through social media through
instant messaging and simply liking posts
either on Instagram or Facebook makes
interactions with people passive; it’s hard to
have an idea of what kind of effects it has
on us until it was gone. While social media
poses a superficial way of interacting with
people at an obvious level, we are victims
of trapping ourselves in this virtual place to
the point that it can influence our buying
habits, political views, and self esteem. The
very thing that social media platforms were
made for, human interaction, has actually
prevented us from truly engaging in it.
Through my experiences, I’ve come to
realise that there has to be a better
way of meaningfully socialising
through a different platform than
the traditional ones we know and
use today.
Before I dive into my experience during
these social media-less months, most
people would wonder why I decided
to do it in the first place. I had been
a secretive owner of a personal
blog that I had been running
for five years, and after so many
years this blog became my way
of talking to people without ever
really “talking” to them. I
used to post various pictures
of my accomplishments
on Facebook, or pictures
showing the world I had
friends I loved
on Instagram,
and of course
send my friends funny occurrences on
Snapchat. I soon came to realise that the
reason I did this was because of my “fear
of missing out,” surely I wasn’t really well
liked by my peers if my public profiles didn’t
say I was. The more I used these platforms,
the more I realised how unhappy it made
me feel, though I couldn’t explain to you
exactly why. So, I got rid of all of them.
After being free of social media pressures
for about 6 months now, it has become
clear that social media has changed my
behaviour in ways it wasn’t supposed to.
During the 2017 American presidential
elections, very strategic political posts
flooded my Facebook newsfeed, making
it very hard to be certain on a candidate
during the voting period. Whether we
address it or not, the “like” system that
Instagram and Facebook feeds off of has
created an ideal amongst men and women
of what is ideal or not even though the
photos are highly edited and posed. I spent
many hours of my life styling my body,
my face, my clothes, as if they were the
“make or break” factor of my personality
which turns out, is completely wrong.
I felt as though the moment I stopped
posting photos of myself, the more I tried
to work on the “substance” under the skin.
I actually became interesting (I hope)!
Additionally, influencers on Snapchat and
Instagram have begun to make money off
of sponsorships and superficiality that
polluted a rather innocent concept of
photo sharing to encourage us to buy more
and keep the consumerist wheel spinning.
With that, a lot of authenticity is lost when
we start distinguishing our social selves
from our real selves. It has even created
a new habit among our generation for
people to go to pretty places, not to enjoy
them for its culture or beauty, but to take a
photo in front of them to make it look like
we’re living our “best lives”. Because, you
MAE WHITE

know, you’re not living your best life unless
someone else says you are.
I deleted WordPress because I found out that
all the conversations that I was supposed to
be having with real people, face to face or
over a voice call with my mom, was being
dumped into a website that would only be
read by three or four people tops. There
was no two-way conversation either, it was
more like I was shouting into an abyss and
hoping for someone to hear me. Of course,
at the time I was maintaining the blog, it
was definitely a form of self-therapy for me.
However, this practice started dominating
my life and became corrosive to my progress
towards being an active member of society.
Problems, to a certain extent, are
a means of forming deeper human
connections with people once
shared; being vulnerable in front of
people is what makes us human and
should be celebrated, not shoved to
a corner of the internet.
However, now that I’ve been relatively social
media free for a couple weeks, I must say
that I haven’t felt more disconnected in my
life (which seems obvious but hear me out).
Maybe in high school, we didn’t have much
to say about things we didn’t understand,
but in university we’re collecting insights
that are larger than ourselves. For the first
time, I felt the rawest need to be heard, and
to not have an outlet to speak. Even though
I’ve replaced my old habits by reconnecting
with my parents and close friends, it still felt
as though some important insights weren’t
reaching a sphere that was public enough.
I think deep down everyone believes that
there’s something they need to share and
wants to be heard by the right people, or
the people who can do something with that
information, and thus the phenomenon
of social media was born. My concern
now is that neither Facebook, Snapchat,
Instagram nor a personal WordPress were
the right outlets for this kind of social
interaction worth spreading.
The most interesting observation is
that the need for social media will
always exist, but the means by which
we go about “doing” social
media can and will change.
Even though our attention spans
are getting too small to read more
than 500 words, we have to wonder
how much of that is due to the fact that
we’re glued to a platform that tries to say so
much in small ways. Instead of relying on 10
second images, or small tweet style text to
bridge a relationship, perhaps a platform that
helps us connect our personal experiences/
insights to larger issues locally or abroad
could prevent the negative side effects from
overuse that none of the other platforms
have been able to achieve. This could be as
simple as having a profile with topics one
may be passionate about as a header for their
own experiences that would fall underneath it,
which can be aided with photos or references
to other people or websites. These experiences
can be shared directly to people who you
feel are interested in it as well to create
a smaller, more intimate discussion
that may lead to greater insights but
would still give an opportunity for
others to join the conversation.
Though this would make people
retreat to a more private way of
life, it could help steer conversation
in a more deeper and meaningful way even
to those who are not geographically close
to us. It would also, most importantly, help
accomplish the very thing social media was
supposed to help us do: to connect and feel
connected.
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41
I MADE MYSELF INTO A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

Beauty is strange,
isn't it?
Text by Sarah Al Atiyat
1. “BEAUTY | Meaning in the
Cambridge English Dictionary.”
Cambridge Dictionary,
dictionary.cambridge.org/
dictionary/english/beauty.
Accessed 8 Apr. 2019.
Beauty, is the quality of being pleasing, especially to look at 1 but this quality
has changed and altered along the years. In fact, the female standard of beauty
has gone through many drastic changes over the last few centuries and with
those changes, many questions were raised. Questions like: can people agree
on a certain standard of beauty or is it purely subjective? Is our concept of
beauty based on golden ratios and perfect proportions or is it constructed by
the society we live in? There are many more questions and debates and this
standard of beauty is related to nations, generations and even politics. An
interesting question to raise is how beauty rituals react to such changes within
women’s standards.
PROLOGUE
2. Caseley, Laura. "Learn How
Our Standards Of Beauty Have
Changed Throughout History."
LittleThings.com. N.p., 13 Feb.
2016. Web. 13 Sept. 2019.
3. "The Timeless Beauty Tips
Elizabeth Taylor Passed Down
to Her Granddaughter." Southern
Living. N.p., n.d. Web. 13
Sept. 2019
4. Thomas, Christopher &
Jensen, Ricard. (2009). A Brief
Overview of American Advertising
and Posters during
World War II. Advertising &
Society Review. 10 .
Beauty rituals were inherited long before social media and advertising. In
ancient Egyptian and Greek civilizations, beauty rituals were dictated by
the canons of beauty and what men found desirable. For example, ancient
Egyptians, both men and women, wore makeup like heavy black eyeliner and
signs of beauty were slim waists and wearing braided wigs. 2 Generations later,
these beauty standards are almost forgotten and new standards emerged. At a
certain age, a girl would start paying attention to what her mother would put on
her face and then the mother teaches the girls all about make up products and
skincare. Think of how Elizabeth Taylor passed down the artistry of applying
eye makeup and lipstick to her granddaughter, and how the latter remembers
her grandmother always having a comb, a mirror, and a facial moisturizer by her
night-stand. 3 Of course, such rituals were affected by advertisements women
saw in glossy magazines, TV, department stores, etc. In the 1940s and 1950s,
the main source of advertisements was the TV, after WWII, people felt the urge
to spend a lot of money on whatever products they saw on the TV. 4 Before
advertisements and TV these rituals were somewhat personal, more intimate
and unaffected by a third invisible hand that influenced women through witty
marketing techniques. Mothers taught their daughters their tips and tricks and
showed them what products they used simply because those beauty products
worked for them and their mothers before them.
Fast forward to recent years, what we put on our face and the ritual we go
through to achieve perfect skin has definitely been affected by social media.
All the giant skincare and makeup brands use social media as a platform to

advertise their products and it is a very successful marketing tactic. So much
so that the beauty industry has become a $5.5 trillion industry! 5 However,
things got even more interesting when regular people like you and me started
establishing a career on social media and after securing a good followers base,
companies start reaching out for those "influencers" (just like they reach out
for celebrities) and pay them to advertise their products and of course the
followers are swayed to buy and use such products because their favorite social
media "influencer" uses them. Simply put, an influencer, in our modern day, is
“someone who affects or changes the way that other people behave, for example
through their use of social media.” 6 Since they affect how people behave,
they also affect their daily rituals, including beauty rituals. If we think about
it, we have let complete strangers meddle in our beauty rituals and affect our
purchasing habits, it’s rarely about a mother teaching her daughter anymore but
rather the daughter basing her entire beauty routine on that of an influencer or
a model. Not everyone is influenced by these new influencers’ trends but if we
take Facebook, for example, it is the most influential social media site in which
19% of consumer purchase decisions are influenced by Facebook posts. 7
It has become such a habit that people are obsessed with what celebrities and
influencers put on their face. Big names such as Vogue resolved to YouTube
to put videos of daytime and night-time skincare routines of such celebrities.
You’d see the likes of supermodels Cindy Crawford and Candice Swanepoel
in silk robes in a nice looking bathroom of a hotel applying expensive products
on their faces in front of a mirror. You’d be shocked by the transformation that
you would most definitely want to buy their products thinking you’ll get the
same dashing result, but you often forget the editing processes and Photoshop
these videos go through, you often forget the $1000 dollar facials and extensive
dermatologist appointments. You and I are the regular consumers that such
videos and posts are targeted at, because we are swayed to change more
traditional beauty rituals for those of supermodels and celebrities hoping to
get acne-free glowing-to-the-gods kind of skin because these supermodels and
celebrities have set the current standard of beauty.
5. "How Social Media Is Shaping
the Beauty Industry (+5
Social Media Strategies for
Beauty Brands)." Influencer
Marketing Hub. N.p., 25 June
2019. Web. 13 Sept. 2019.
6. “INFLUENCER | Meaning
in the Cambridge English
Dictionary.” Cambridge
Dictionary, dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/influencer.
Accessed 7
May 2019.
7. https://shanebarker.com/
blog/influencer-marketing-statistics/.
42
43
In an era of consumerism and social media, we are constantly tempted to buy
certain products and alter our beauty routines to be in sync with the trend, to be
more beautiful, to be just like “them”. We often forget that our skins and bodies
aren’t like them and we most definitely do not have top notch dermatologists
at our disposal 24/7. It should be more about being mindful of what we put on
your skin because that’s the kind of beauty ritual that will last. Maybe we need
to take a step back and reconnect with old beauty habits and incorporate the
new ones in a mindful way. On a final note, we must always remind ourselves
that beauty ideals are ever-changing and nothing stays the same and so beauty
is strange, isn’t it?
BEAUTY IS STRANGE, ISN'T IT?

Conversation with
Zuloark
Interview & illustrations by Sebastian Arguello & Naomi Njonjo
Transcript by Clara Gade
PROLOGUE
Zuloark, is an award winning architecture
and urbanism collective, best known for its
collaborative spirit and urban interventions, is
currently based in Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid
and Mexico City. We met with Aurora Adalid
and Luis Galán, two of the founders of Zuloark,
in their co-working offices in Madrid.
To our surprise, in correspondence with Aurora
prior to the meeting, she suggested that we have
come for the interview around lunch time and
then join them for one of their office’s ritual, 2
for 1 burger Thursday!
Meeting with both Aurora and Luis allowed us
to dive at the heart of the complex social and
professional structure of the collective, as well
as, their rituals, both professional and personal.
*Text translated from Spanish.
Aurora Adalid & Luis Galán

Sebastian: Good afternoon! We would like
to start talking about the rituals that happen
in the studio , and their relationships to the
way you work and live.
Naomi: As a way to kick off the conversation,
we found it curious that you invited us
specifically to come for lunch, is lunch
something that you consider a ritual that
everybody in the studio shares?
Aurora: Yes, we are used to have lunching
together. It is a ritual that has been changing
through the years! For example, nowadays
we normally stop working and wait for each
other to go eat. We usually make salads
together, or something along those lines. On
Thursdays, like today, we sometimes go for
hamburgers because of special day offers. We
really enjoy this moment because most of the
time when we are working here, everybody is
concentrated on their own things and it’s nice
to gather and be together for a while.
I think it’s a really nice opportunity to meet
the collective and relate with one another.
"We are a collective but we
have a strange identity; we are
always mixing with others."
For example, we have "Manulia," originated
from the mix between Manu and Julia. Manu
works in Zuloark and Julia is something inbetween,
she's not from Zuloark but she’s
kind of been here the whole time. (laughs)
Since then, they are Manulia.
We imagined the collective as a "matriochka,"
like the doll. We also like to speak of people
that are close friends as "soles," which stands
for "satellites of love."
Naomi: I read on your website a statement
that says: "Zuloark never equals Zuloark",
which echoes this idea of constant change
and evolution of the studio. Could you
maybe tell us more about that? How did
it start? How is it relevant nowadays to be
working as a collective as opposed to a
traditional structure.
Aurora: Well first of all, I don’t know if it’s
relevant to work as a collective but it’s just
what fits for us. A few years ago, there was
a boom about collectives.
"There were a lot of people
saying that there was no more
need for traditional work.
There was a lack of building
necessities. Some people were
saying that collectives could be
the solution."
For us, it is a professional structure, an
organizational model. It involves governance;
the way we make decisions, and the way we
relate to each other. Now, the reason we used
to say that "Zuloark never equals Zuloark :" it
began when we met each other at university in
2001, more or less. Regularly, we have a week
every year that we call "Zuloark congress." It is
really an international congress. For example,
Luis, our colleague, was at ZuloMexico and
is now returning. We also have StudioBerlin
and another studio in Brussels. This congress
is a moment throughout the year when
we can all come together, for a week, and
focus on ourselves. We can design the way
we are going to organize the studio the
following year. Every year, the organization
of the studio changes, because we, as people,
change. Now, I am almost forty, Zuloark is
completely different than when I was twenty.
"The collective is, for us, a
place that grows with us."
What is also important for us is how the
founders of the collective are not necessarily
the core of the collective. For example,
upstairs is Natasha. She used to be an intern
in Zuloark, but three months later she was
"super-core" of the studio.
"The people who participate
are the people who are defining
the work, interests, tasks and
development of the collective."
44
45
INTERVIEW

Sebastian: It is almost as if Zuloark does not
depend on anyone, being an independent
entity of its own since its creation. It feels
as if people change and shape it as they
come and go, without necessarily being its
essence.
Aurora: Yes, there are a lot of things that are
like patterns, habits, and rituals, but I think it
is more like an atmosphere, a way of doing,
and a way of being more than a clear structure.
Naomi: You said you have studios in various
countries. The people in these different
studios, are they people that started in
Madrid and then moved abroad?
narrative was: "I arrive at 8:30 - 9:00 in the
morning and leave the studio at midnight.".
We even met on Saturdays and we had
activist events together on Sunday. I had no
personal life.
Sebastian: It becomes 24/7, reaching a
point where you are so passionate about
what you do that it becomes part of your
personal life.
Aurora: That’s it. It’s very strange and
very tricky because it never ends. You have
a never-ending working life. A few years
ago, based on the German model, we began
to force each other to go on holidays.
PROLOGUE
Aurora: This is really, really strange. For
example, in Brussels we have a Spanish guy.
Here, we used to have a Belgian guy.
Sebastian: It is almost like an exchange?
Aurora: Yeah. (laughs) In Germany there is
a Spanish and a Colombian girl.
"The movements inside of the
collective have always been for
love."
Naomi: Moving on, is the studio's flexibility
to adapt to personal lives something that’s
beneficial for the collective’s structure? Or
is it something challenging?
Aurora: I think it is easy in this collective,
because we have understood from the
beginning that each one of us are really,
really, really different.
Naomi: You wouldn’t go on holidays???
Aurora: Yes, sometimes, but we decided
to establish a minimum of days we should
leave. We’ve been working the past years to
reduce our working hours.
Naomi: Have working habits changed
through the years?
Aurora: Two different things have
happened. On the one hand, today we
have more experience, so we produce
quicker. On the other hand, before we used
to work in pairs. The reason why is that
someone who was an expert in the topic of
work would always pair up with someone
with less experience. This method was
relevant for our structure since it combined
a project manager with someone in the
process of learning. We are always learning.
It was something really refreshing, I think.
Sebastian: That’s how it should be. In a lot
of companies, people are expected to put
the company above their personal lives.
It shouldn’t be that way because in the
end, that’s just as important if not more.
Probably more.. Definitely more.
Aurora: I should say, we really lacked
personal lives until a few years ago because
we were always working. The day-to-day
Detail decoration in Zuloark's office space.
ZULOARK

Sebastian: So this method doesn't happen
today?
Aurora: No, no, no it has only changed a bit.
We haven’t changed it consciously. We still
like to have two people per project, but in real
life we are super busy all the time, and most
of the time one out of the two has the most
work.
Apart from this, overall our projects are
much more effective, at par with German
standards (laughs).
Sebastian: Another topic we wanted to
touch upon is growth. We understand that
this collective started as a student initiative.
We want to know how the studio and its
dynamics have changed as you guys have
grown older and gained responsibilities
such as marriage and children.
Aurora: Well, the line between having
children and not (having them) was really
definite (laughs). We have changed our work
environment, making more time for ourselves
and our personal lives. I have not worked at
night since many years ago. However, some
people still do so!
Last year, we signed up for a competition
to design a library. Funny enough, we had
two different teams proposing two different
designs. The team I was in began working
months before, however, in this team, four
people had babies. We were a complete failure
(laughs). The other team had older children,
they knew how to work with it. They finished
their design in only one weekend.
Naomi: When you were younger, and
you started this collective, was it similar
to what us university students know as
"studio culture"?
Aurora: Definitely! When it began, we
were still in university. We would go to
each other's houses after school, and get
together to work! Eventually, in 2003, we
rented a working space. It was a very old
house... One of our professors told us that
we couldn't possibly take any clients there.
We moved to a nicer place and began to
participate in competitions, while still doing
our university tasks. Requests, expositions,
more competitions came to us, until we asked
ourselves : "should we work in other studios,
but still maintain this on the side?"
*Luis enters the meeting room*
Luis: For me, it’s very interesting how you
learn to manage your time. The studio is a
place where you have a lot of people who
manage their time very well, but some parts
of their lives very badly.
When I came from Mexico it was such a big
deal. I came into the studio, and everything
was completely different! Not so much in
the professional part, but the personal way
of living. People worked a lot of hours in the
studio, reducing time for personal things.
That was a difficult part to understand: the
rhythms and how people managed their time
with families, pleasure and all that you have
to do.
Sebastian: What were other things from
Mexico that gave you culture shock? What
other habits were different from Spain?
Luis: Life in Mexico... it’s more unpredictable.
Things aren’t as planned; one week you could
be doing something, and the week after it
changes. This unpredictability is something
you have to deal with a lot. In Spain, it’s
completely the opposite. If something
unusual happens, it's the exception. In a
meeting at Mexico, nobody arrives on time.
Another big difference was work intensity.
I had a big problem with that, because in
Mexico I found myself demanding a denser
work-flow from many people, and they just
didn’t work that way. I guess that’s a similar
gap there is between other European countries
and Spain.
It was weird. I was also working with
someone from Germany, from the Goethe
Institute. I don't understand how, but
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INTERVIEW

they were very good at understanding and
handling things. They were more relaxed. I
kept on asking: "how do you do it? How are you
not nervous about this?" I don’t know how but
it was a cultural match for them, so they
arranged things better than I did.
to inject new play-spaces throughout Madrid.
The fact that the city and the way of living lacked
these spaces has changed the way I see urbanism.
I am hoping to present myself to a competition or
something along those lines. This sort of activism
enables me to see projects differently.
PROLOGUE
Sebastian: I’m from Nicaragua, so I can
really relate. Latin America is all very
similar when it comes to work-pace. For
us, meeting times are always, as a rule of
thumb, delayed by an hour. If you arrive
at the time agreed, even the hosts aren't
ready. A bit nonsensical, but it's culture.
Naomi: Throughout your career, is anything
you always found time to do, despite crazy
schedules? Something outside of studio
culture that was personal?
Luis: Honestly, I don’t think so (laughs). I
like routines. Doing something every week
consecutively, it makes me feel really good.
But I don’t know... Now in my personal
life, I give a lot of importance to eating, I
guess. Cooking. It’s such a pleasure. It just
takes everything out of your mind. To cook
you have to go shopping, prepare the food,
and invite some people. When I’m cooking
- that’s when I feel I’ve done things well.
I’ve achieved something. I have time. After
the meal, there’s a nice time to talk. I try
to do that more; it’s a priority for me. It
is a dream to have that once a week - every
Wednesday I try to cook for someone else.
Aurora: I always write during breakfast. A
paragraph, or whatever. I really enjoy that
moment.
Sebastian: Do you feel that your personal
rituals affect the way you design and feel
about architecture and design?
For instance, my family places a really big
importance on cooking and that makes
the kitchen a really special space for me.
Speaking of the library competition I mentioned
earlier, it was curious to see that in the group full
of babies, elevators and the main entrance was
completely different than the others'. Things in
our lives open up new visions, different perspectives
that you once did not have. Nowadays, at the
urban scale, people fight for cycling... But then out
of a sudden you meet someone with hip problems
that depends on bus or taxi systems.
"Incorporating things you
learn in your personal life into
your work is fundamental. It
transforms the way we design".
Luis: In Mexico everyone spoke about how much
time it took to commute to certain areas. Some
people travelled for an hour and a half everyday!
They lost three hours of their lives daily!
"It was right there that I learned
something so valuable - I lived and
touched that experience. My way
of thinking public transportation
completely changed."
There was another thing I learned. Over there,
people did not really have time to participate in
group activities. I am normally used to speaking
in plural, in doing things cooperatively. However, I
learned that you also have to understand yourself
as an individual, in order to work collectively."
Aurora: That's exactly what is looked for; an
atmosphere of comfort, in which everyone can
be exactly themselves. That is very important for
architecture.
Aurora: For me there are two lanes... One that
affects what is professional, and another that affects
activism. For example, right now I am involved in
a group called "right to play," in the city. It looks
Many times, architects design for other architects.
Architecture magazines are not designed for
clients... they are made for other architects.
ZULOARK

Naomi: That has a lot to do the idea of the
"social architect." In our generation, the
users are increasingly becoming the main
focus. A lot of your projects are very large
scale, you’re able to keep the "individual"
and get what works best with them in the
group. How do you manage that when you
work with people outside the collective,
how do you bring out the specificities in a
way that works with the design?
Aurora: When you’re doing it outside the
collective, understanding ingredients to be
able to de-construct the situation and see
its dynamics is key.
Usually, we are in the middle of a creative
process. It's a really intimate moment when
people have ideas and work with many
different concepts. Part of the process is
not to mediate, but try to combine all the
ideas on the table into something new. It
can be complicated.
Luis: It also important to know if you have
a good main design idea. The idea has to
have flexibility, and develop.
Designing public spaces is tricky. When
you design for a big collective, spaces are
used in many different way. It is difficult to
consider all of them at the same time.
You have to admit that your design will
inevitably work better for some people
than for others.
"When everyone is perfectly
happy that means the design
isn’t that great."
It should be like a 7 out of 10. You must
have people that really love it, and others
that hate it.
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Post-lunch conversations at Zuloark.
INTERVIEW

IE School of Architecture & Design