What is rural? What do we call rural architecture? The title of the new series of a + t magazine questions what we have known so far as rural context, the limits of which are increasingly diffuse. This first issue identifies pieces of very different scales which aim to provide architecture for those who inhabit the countryside, both human and non-human.

CONTENTS (English/Spanish)

WHAT'S GOING ON OUT THERE? Aurora Fernández Per

A Countryside Story

Philippe Madec, Atelier Provisoire, Pépitomicorazon, 2PM. Loupiac’ Method. Loupiac (France) 2018.

A Well Cultured Rural Complex

Architectural interventions in Shatwell Farm.

Stephen Taylor Architects. Shatwell Farm Cowshed and Haybarn. Yarlington, Somerset (United Kingdom) 2015.

Hugh Strange Architects. Drawing Matter Archive. Yarlington, Somerset (United Kingdom) 2014.

David Grandorge and Unit 7 at the Cass. Finnforest Pavilion. Yarlington, Somerset (United Kingdom) 2008-2019.

A Centre for the Centre

DierendonckBlancke. Oc Kasterlee and De Met. Kasterlee (Belgium) 2012-2017.

Reclaiming Old Structures

Fala Atelier. Housing Abragão, Penafiel (Portugal) 2016-2018.

Densifying the Centre

Seiler Linhart. New Centre. Jonen (Switzerland) 2017. 

Friendly Environment for Families

Studio Velocity. Kowa Public Apartment Complex. Mihama, Aichi (Japan) 2017.

Rethinking the Right Location for Education

MASS Design Group. University of Global Health Equity. Butaro, Burera District (Rwanda) 2019.

Developing Short Chains

a25architetti. Bressanella Agricultural Pavilion. Besana in Brianza (Italy) 2018.

Stabilizing Communities with Affordable Housing

Oopeaa. Puukuokka block. Kuokkala, Jyväskylä (Finland) 2011-2018.

Attracting Migrants from the City

Atelier Bow-Wow. Satoyama Nagaya Hoshinogawa. Yame, Fukuoka (Japan) 2017-2018.

Readapting Uses and Users

Lenschow & Pihlmann. Student Village. Damagervej 8, Viby J. (Denmark) 2016.

Hideouts for Animals and Urbanites

Gartnerfuglen Arkitekter & Mariana de Delás.

Grooming retreat. Santanyi, Mallorca (Spain) 2014.

Hidden place.Telemark (Norway) 2017.

Pozo Podenco. Mallorca (Spain) 2016.

Paradises

Urban Park Strategies

Increasingly, and at a faster pace, nature becomes culture and as this occurs, so continues the construction of an increasingly artificial and imaginary paradise lost.

The paradises of today are those public spaces where multiple spiritual postures fit, where each one is built while experiencing them.

Javier Mozas traces a walk in search of paradise, through 5 historical models, starting in the 17th Century and ends at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Aurora Fernández Per identifies and analyses within the selected works design strategies and actions with which to create accessible paradises for the citizen.

The STRATEGY series, initiated in 2010, defines scalar scopes, evidences disciplinary origins and composes a grid that overlaps the project to offer a new vision of it.

CONTENTS (English/Spanish)

A WALK IN SEARCH OF PARADISE. Javier Mozas          

The Themed Walk

The Leasowes. William Shenstone. Halesowen. West Midlands (United Kingdom), 1743.

Nature as Bearer of Meaning

Parc Jean-Jacques Rousseau. René-Louis de Girardin, Jean-Marie Morel. Ermenonville (France), 1763-1774.

The Public Park as a Lung

Birkenhead Park. Joseph Paxtont. Birkenhead (United Kingdom), 1843-1847.

Repairing the Territory

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, Jean Darcel. Paris (France), 1867.

The Open Space System

The Emerald Necklace. Frederick Law Olmsted. Boston (USA), 1878-1896.