Alejandro Aravena, remarkable creator, Pritzker Prize laureate, chairman of the jury of this prestigious competition, and finalist of the Mies van der Rohe Award, is both a theorist and practitioner of socially engaged architecture.

He recently visited Poland upon an invitation from Geberit, during which he engaged with media representatives, and delivered a lecture in Warsaw and Krakow, titled “Alejandro Aravena and the architecture, that prioritizes the people and places, that need it most.” Aravena's first public appearance in Poland was a true celebration of architecture.

The press conference held at the Geberit headquarters at 1 Postepu Street on September 18 provided media representatives with the opportunity to personally meet Alejandro Aravena. The meeting was attended by Karolis Bacevičius, Managing Director of Geberit Sp. z o. o., and Justyna Zborowska, Advertising and PR Manager, was moderated by Bogna Świątowska, a journalist and culture promoter, and the president of the Bęc Zmiana New Culture Foundation.

ELEMENTAL’S main objectives

The architect introduced journalists to the mission of the ELEMENTAL studio, founded by him in 2001, which creates projects with a social focus. The studio’s themes revolve around the intersection of architecture, economics, and politics. The projects are preceded by public consultations, a topic the architect discussed with great commitment. During such gatherings, Aravena explained, an architect’s attitude should not communicate to future residents, “I know everything, you know nothing”, nor should an architect act out of pity or be dictated by the community. Instead, should learn from the community, and find out why they prefer certain solutions over others. As Aravena puts it, the goal is to “do something better than what the conditions allow.” The architect revealed to the media representatives that his own challenge is overcoming the desire to control the final outcome, and he recommends the same to other architects because, in his words, “In social housing, the process of working on the project is more important than the project itself.”

An award, that brings to the top

Alejandro Aravena, a laureate of the Pritzker Prize and the chairman of the jury since 2020, was asked by the meeting’s moderator, Bogna Świątkowksa, about the prestigious award’s importance to its recipients. Aravena emphasized the symbolic significance of the Pritzker Prize and the profound sense of mission held by the honourees. He explained the factors that influenced the jurors when awarding this year’s prize to Sir David Alan Chipperfield. At the core of his approach to design, much like Aravena’s, lies the responsibility for the impact that architecture has on society and the environment. According to Alejandro Aravena, architects must possess the ability to identify the right tool to meet the community’s expectations they are designing for and address their needs. The result is wise and sustainable architecture, which can also sometimes mean refraining from action. Sometimes it’s better not to do anything”, says Aravena.  Among the questions from journalists, was the topic of educating young architects in the context of Aravena’s teaching activities.

He was a professor at Harvard University from 2000 to 2005. Aravena advises younger colleagues to ask questions before they start creating an object. For himself, the most important aspects of his work revolve around meetings, discussions, and the exchange of ideas.

Awareness of contemporary issues

Alejandro Aravena cannot be pigeonholed. Described mainly as a specialist in social housing, building in areas affected by natural disasters, and creating participatory projects and architecture involved in solving political crises, Aravena also accepts commissions reserved for star architects. When asked why he gets involved in such projects, he replied that he does it because of the other challenging tasks associated with them, such as those related to global warming. The Chilean architect is rightfully recognized as an architect-activist. When there’s a problem to solve, and something good can be done for people or the planet the architect rises to the occasion.

In the architectural world

In the next stage of Alejandro Aravena's visit to Poland, the architect was a special guest at events organised by Geberit in Warsaw and Krakow. On 19 September, an expert conference was held at the Association of Polish Architects, (Polish: Stowarzyszenie Architektów Polskich, SARP) exhibition and conference pavilion in Warsaw, during which the architect gave a lecture 'Alejandro Aravena and the architecture that prioritizes the people and places, that need it most'. The lecture was preceded by an industry meeting attended by Polish and foreign architects and a Q&A session. Speakers included: Brda Foundation, CO-HATY, Habitat for Humanity, PORT Architects, Spolka, MAK, Marlena Wolnik, Kuba Snopek, Architectural Studio Xystudio and Anton Kolomieitsev with the team.

The Krakow lecture took place on 20 September at the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology. Official presentations were accompanied by meetings and discussions among the attendees. Alejandro Aravens’s first public appearances in Poland were a nationwide revelation and a true celebration of architecture.

Aravena: It is important to ask questions, and not seek answers

During the lectures, the special guest spoke openly and accessible about his aims, working methods, successes, but also failures. For Aravena, creating an iconic project is not the ultimate goal. What matters most is the social benefits. Chilean considers asking questions, rather than seeking answers to be the most important stage of a design team's work. When questioning, architects should focus on safety issues, the way buildings are used and their character. They should also consider the atmosphere they are meant to create, and the emotions they are meant to evoke. According to Aravena, the more complex the question, even beyond architecture, the simpler the project becomes. Concentrating on what is fundamental while eliminating what is unnecessary guarantees the creation of timeless structures both physically and culturally,

Structure and residents

Once the structure is complete, the entire building can be considered finished. In the final analysis, that is what counts. According to the architect, if the structure is well executed, everything else "will fall into place by itself". Construction is the most important, technically challenging, and expensive element, as per Aravena’s view. This belief is reflected in his social housing projects, such as Villa Verde Housing in the city of Constitucion and Monterrey Housing. Aravena's idea is to create high-quality architecture that is inclusive and accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy part of society. The participation of residents in the process, along with the agreements with future tenants, plays a crucial role. During the lectures, Alejandro Aravena also gave a glimpse of his latest project, the main headquarters of The Inter-American Development Bank in Buenos Aires, a facility being built not in the city centre, but in the slums. The architects, led by Arvena, faced two challenges: how to ensure that the building was connected to transport nodes and how to ensure security. The idea came to design a building-bridge spanning over a railway line, a structure that serves as both a building and a commute route to the other side of a city.

Personal side