Redesigning the city of the future for centenarian lives.
In 2050, according to the HelpAge Global Ageing Index, Spain will be one of the most aged countries in the world. In this context, IKEA, Madrid Design Festival, Barcelona Design Week and Valencia World Design Capital have worked throughout the year with professionals, design students and citizens from all over the country to weave joint alliances, reflect and redesign the city of the future for the longest-lived society in history.
In this project I represented my university in a multidisciplinary team, formed by students and design professionals in the IKEA project "Next Gen: Seniors" under the challenge: "Redesigning the city of the future for centenarian lives".
Arcadia was a region of ancient Greece that over time has become the name of an imaginary country, created and described by poets and artists, where happiness, simplicity and peace reign in an idyllic environment. What would be the 'Arcadia' of the XXI century?
With 'Arcadia' we propose a scheme of floors to convert unused or abandoned buildings into residences of the future that are open to the city. It is somewhat of a gradient from private to public, in which the lower floors have public services in which senior citizens can feel useful to society and the upper floors are private mini-homes that represent the continuity of the home. Ikea will make the project documentation open source so that any municipality or organization can put it into operation.
Arcadia is the result of many months of work by a wonderful team in which, representing ETSAUN, University of Navarra, I have had the opportunity to be part of. Thanks to the whole team of Madrid Design Festival, Barcelona Design Week and Valencia World Design Capital for the organization, to IKEA for hosting the project and to my school for giving me this amazing opportunity.
But above all I am especially grateful to my team: Carmen Baselga (Taller de Proyectos Carmen Baselga), Paula Casanovas Sanz (Anima), Beatriz Gomez Casares & Carmina Casajuana (MYCC Arquitectos), María Ángeles (Student at Barreira Arte + Diseño) and Raquel Hernández Bermejo (Student at ESNE).
The exhibition will be open to the public from November 2 to 4, 2022 at the Colegio Territorial de Arquitectos de Valencia (CTAV) at Calle d'Hernán Cortés, 6.
Comments