The Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) in collaboration with The Why Factory and TU Delft announce the opening of the exhibition “The Why Factory: Research, teaching and public engagement (2006-2016)” reflecting on a decade’s research on the future of cities. The exhibition is organized around nine claims along which the activity of The […]

The Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) in collaboration with The Why Factory and TU Delft announce the opening of the exhibition “The Why Factory: Research, teaching and public engagement (2006-2016)” reflecting on a decade’s research on the future of cities.

The exhibition is organized around nine claims along which the activity of The Why Factory has evolved in the last ten years: the need for new leadership in urbanism and architecture in Visionary Cities; the wish for common sense in a world that seems to be dominated by individualism in (Wego City; the advocacy for wildlife in Biodivercity; the claim for openness in Porocity; the desire for amazement in We Want World Wonders; the hope and need for acceleration of the green agenda in Green Dream; the push for the combination of small scale in densification actions in The Vertical Village; the exploration of radical trend breaks and their effects in City Shock; the excitement and amazement of the new material changes in Barba; the expression of fear of the ultimately killing Absolute Leisure; and soon Copy Paste, a pamphlet for referencing and development.

“There is so much to do in order to make our future good. More funding is needed to do research and to produce visualisations on future mobility, future democracies, future economies, future healthiness, etc. And more funding is needed to share this work with the world and make it accessible to all”, says Maas.

The exhibition will open on 15th December 2016 and can be visited for free until 30th January 2017. On the same day, at 7 pm, Winy Maas will give the lecture ‘What’s Next?’ at the COAM Auditorium presenting the work of The Why Factory, a global think-tank that aims to analyse, theorize and construct future cities.

The Why Factory is a research and education institute that focuses in the development of our cities. It belongs to the Faculty of Architecture of the Delft University of Technology, and is led by Professor Winy Maas, founding partner of MVRDV. It is a research-led process of trial and error, where the goal is sometimes unclear and the end is open, which leads to an exciting journey with a potentially spectacular outcome.

MVRDV are the  architects of projects including the Dutch Pavilion at Hannover Expo 2000, the Silodam building in Amsterdam, Markthal in Rotterdam, and their proposal for the future of Paris “Grand Paris Plus Petit”.

Major support for the exhibition is provided by The Embassy of The Netherlands in Spain and The Delft University of Technology.

Location: Assembly Hall,  Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid, Calle de Hortaleza, 63, 28004 Madrid

For further information click here (site in Spanish)

THE WHY FACTORY TEAM

Curators: Winy Maas, Javier Arpa with Claudia Mainardi

Design: Winy Maas, Javier Arpa, Claudia Mainardi

Production: Claudia Mainardi, Chun Hoi Hui, Giovanni Bellotti, Adrien Ravon

Contractor: Dypsa

Acknowledgements: Ulf Hackauf, Tihamér Salij, Félix Madrazo, Arend van Waart, Amber Leeuwenburgh, Andrea Degenhardt, Patrick Janssen, Irene Visser-Berends, Jan Knikker, Isabel Pagel, John Manaves.

COAM TEAM

Dean: José María Ezquiaga

Cultural Management: Carmen García Jalón, Jose Alfonso Álamo, Aitana Rodríguez

Communication: Ariadna Cantis, Natalia Sáez

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