TO #WhatToSustain | Helena Majó

#whattosustain

TO was the name by which Etsav’s prototype to the Solar Decathlon 2019 edition went by, but it was also the name of the team and the two-year long process beforehand.

Although we were very satisfied with the theoretical content produced and the building itself; for many, the important part of the experience was not just designing and constructing the “house” but the personal growth that came from being part of a large group of people working at once.

For me, it was fundamental to the project and my role in the team was frequently trying to give tools for our own self-management in what tried to be horizontal methods.

In a way, the assembly was my battle field and the objective was the best possible team cooperation. With this I also ended up managing aspects such as the team’s living organization for the month we spent in Szentendre. Here, the concept “to sustain” also referred to grocery store trips and meal planning.

ETSAV

f6f30593-4e10-4e3e-a087-cdff459269b8_edi

Captura de pantalla 2019-01-12 a les 12.

RAMEN-YA HIRO

Entrevista Cugat media

CAMPAMENTS

The outset was for a critical approach on how the built environment is a constraint to everyday life. The starting point were ourselves, as a comprehensive exercise of our daily routine from which we drew five basic premises that drove the line of the project, our manifesto.

1. To broaden the scope of the project so that it not only presents a sustainable housing model, but fosters a change towards an ecologic lifestyle. We believe that, in a consumer based society, the idea of sustainability is not enough, ecology has to be included into the tone (TO in Catalan), represented by magenta.

2. This change starts with small actions at home, with a critical attitude towards our daily habits. The activities that make up our routine are constantly adapting to new contexts, but architecture has a slower rhythm. Buildings still stand for obsolete standards and housing frequently represents a rigid, hierarchic, social structure.

3. We acknowledge that home is beyond the house, we carry out domestic actions everywhere in the city. Activities traditionally imagined inside a house take place wherever a service is available,

4. The only common agent is ourselves, as such, change starts with self-criticism. Architecture should not hide it’s functioning, but facilitate a conscious inhabitant. It is for this that we consider our project a pedagogic exercise.

5. Our prototype is a communicative tool. It’s the result of our process, a material space, constructed by us, that serves as an interactive and educational stage.