Between Housing Demand and Environmental Goals: Alejandro Aravena on Incremental Solutions and Net-Zero Concrete
Between Housing Demand and Environmental Goals: Alejandro Aravena on Incremental Solutions and Net-Zero ConcreteSave this picture!USB Basic Services Unit Prototype installed in Venice. Image © celestiastudioDuring the Time Space Existence exhibition, organized by the European Cultural Centre in Venice, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena and his firm ELEMENTAL unveiled a full-scale prototype for a new approach in incremental housing solutions. Titled the USB Core, standing for Basic Services Unit housing prototype, this proposal aims to demonstrate how efficient construction can provide all the essential housing components in a minimal space. The prototype is also the result of a collaboration between the architecture office and concrete manufacturer and researcher Holcim, and is built out of a newly developed type of net-zero concrete mix. It also incorporates fully recycled aggregates, in alignment with circular economy principles. The collaboration aims to demonstrate a more environmentally conscious yet cost-effective way of providing essential services to at-risk communities without harming the planet.While on site in Venice, ArchDaily's managing editor Maria-Cristina Florian had the chance to sit down with Alejandro Aravena and discuss the implications of this collaboration, the urgent need for housing, and the role of the architect as the coordinator of a process involving many actors.
this picture!A key innovation of the project is the new formulation of concrete that significantly reduces carbon emissions by integrating in its composition "biochar," a charcoal-like material that permanently sequesters the CO2 that would otherwise be released at the end of the life of organic matter. One kilogram of biochar is calculated to prevent the release of 3 kilograms of CO2, making it a carbon sink, meaning it has a negative carbon footprint. Integrating it within a low-carbon formulation of concrete reduces the overall footprint without compromising performance. With an average transportation distance of 300 km for cement and 100 km for aggregates, the resulting biochar concrete mix has a net-zero carbon footprint, according to Holcim's Life Cycle Assessment. Additionally, this innovation complements other sustainable strategies like recycling of aggregates from demolition waste, a process that prevents the use of virgin natural resources and ensures a circular building process. The prototype in Venice used the Biochar mix in addition to 100% recycled aggregates. Related Article Alejandro Aravena’s Elemental and Holcim Collaborate on Carbon-Neutral Housing at the 2025 Venice Biennale this picture!ArchDaily: One of the main questions that drove this project is an almost Shakespearean one: "To build or not to build?" It represents two contradicting forces of the building industry: on the one hand, the need for housing, on the other, the need to protect the environment. How can those two forces be made to point in a similar direction?Alejandro Aravena: Now is a time when we are witnessing this Catch-22 situation: the pressure is to accommodate people in a decent living environment. In the conditions of the migration towards cities, migration between countries, if you don't offer a proper solution, then the living conditions worsen. It's not that people will stop coming; they're coming to cities and migrating anyhow, but they are living in awful conditions. This is not just a humanitarian disaster, it creates the perfect conditions for Narcos, organized crime criminality, and too many people who have nothing to lose. It leads to a social and political crisis. So, from a multidimensional point of view, there is a huge and urgent need to build a proper, decent living environment.this picture!The materials that we have available nowadays to produce this huge scale are limited, and when I'm saying huge scale, we're talking about a million people per week migrating into cities who, if not accommodated properly, will live in slums. On average, we have to provide solutions with just per family. We call it the 3-S menace: Scale, Speed, and Scarcity of means. If we don't build, people will come anyhow and create this social ticking time bomb. We don't know how to solve that, but imagine we create enough knowledge and that governments align to create policies so that we can build for that amount of people, with the current building materials, taking into consideration the consequences on the environment and the planet. If you don't do anything, you have a problem. And if you do something, you have a problem. Until now, it was one or the other, and one had to choose. When you live in a developing country, you choose people over the environment. If not, people who can build by themselves will build, using the same materials, so the carbon footprint is still there. - Alejandro Aravena Therefore, the moment we heard that there was some scientific research being done and knowledge was being developed in the concrete industry, one of the industries that has the largest presence in the built environment, there was excitement. People want to build resilient homes, so as soon as they can, they will go for something solid. Concrete is at the top of those expectations. With this innovation, there is a material that can potentially dissolve this Catch-22 situation, that can capture carbon and sink it into the material so that when you build, you're doing something good for the environment, not just reducing harm. We see this as a potential chance to finally be able to move ahead, not having to choose between one or the other. That's why we said, let's partner with somebody that has the research and development capacity to advance this.this picture!The only thing we did here was ask What is most needed? What is the kind of project that, if this works, may have an impact on the social dimension but also on the environmental dimension? That is why we went to this Core of Basic Services. In the end, this is where every settlement starts and it is what takes care of the basic needs of the population: health to start with, the fire resistance, seismic resistance, and then maybe we'll be able to channel the people's own capacity to be part of the solution, not of the problem of the built environment.this picture!AD: Could you elaborate on this idea that poor communities have this under-appreciated capacity to build, but often do so in a dysregulated manner, making them vulnerable? Additionally, how does your incremental process, which you have been promoting for years, address this issue?AA: Whatever you picture when you think of a slum, it's a very dense, overcrowded environment of a poor quality, unarticulated roofs and walls, and shacks. Of course, one could see that it is a problem; there are health issues, basic sanitation is not there, one could see this as an incapacity to create a decent built environment.this picture! From another point of view, it could be seen that, despite not having any type of aid, technical support, or scientific knowledge, people are intuitively able to put a roof on top of their heads. And this is a big force. - Alejandro Aravena In a country like Chile, the two rounds of class census showed that 2/3 of the square meters built in Chile do not have a building permit. The formal thing that we've studied in the universities, or the presumption that the government is part of the building program, that's an exception. The majority is in this other case. Therefore, unless we look at this situation as part of the solution, instead of part of the problem, we will never arrive at creating those conditions needed to address the need for a decent building environment.this picture!So, what is missing there? When you look at the slum picture, what is needed is not more construction, it is in what is not built. If you think of any city, like Copenhagen or even Manhattan, places we associate with a good quality of life, the ratio between public and private space is close to 1 to 1. When you go to a slum, that proportion drops to less than 1 to 10, so for every square meter of non-built land, there are 10 square meters of private space. What does it mean? An ambulance cannot enter, a fire truck cannot enter, people just circulate, but they have no place to gather. Where do children play in such an environment? In this context, what is extremely important, more than adding more square meters, is who coordinates what's not going to be built. Because that is a big force that you can channel. Instead of resisting or replacing, our job is first and foremost to create the conditions for the common ground, for the common space not to be occupied by individual actions. Individual actions, even if well-intentioned, cannot guarantee the common good. We have been systematically understanding that our role as a designer, is not being the provider, but the channel for a much bigger force that could be part of the solution or not part of the problem. this picture!AD: Continuing on this point, what is the role of the architect? Should they learn to let go of some of the control that they've been taught to hold? AA: The architect has to understand that, for the big challenges, what we have to deliver is a process and not a product. Control is guaranteeing quality in the end, so we have to be responsible from the beginning to the very end, but in most cases, your job stops when the building is finished. In housing or in disaster relief, because it is a much bigger challenge, the day you finish, it only starts, and then the big forces take over.this picture!You must understand the logic behind these big forces. You place your designs as frames that will make people's lives easier, not more complicated. Then, in this framework, the individual actions can guarantee the common good, so the role of the architect is to protect and enable this spontaneous care for the common good. You cannot just cross your fingers and hope that people will not invade the street.Geometry and clarity of shape have been studied from the 60s and the 70s. In Chile in the 70s, we had what was called "Operation Chalk", meaning that we used chalk to mark on the ground what was private land and what was a public space. This allowed for the rules of the game to be clear for the collective, so in the end, this apparently marginal operation made a big difference. The Law of Indies in the whole of Latin America was similar, setting a simple geometrical rule, yet the cities that had the capacity to develop came from these very basic shapes. In Spanish, they had what was called "alarife", somebody who traced on the ground, on the land, showing who's going to have what, what is going to be public, what we can't provide. This apparently offensive move is at the very core of a process that later allows for a loss of control.this picture!We want to just introduce a couple of things, like a structure that is solid, that is fire resistant, that provides basic sanitation, water, sewage, and electricity, cross ventilation for the worst case scenario. This way, when families arrive, they don't have to perform complicated and difficult structural operations. Every dollar that they spend is just on things that are relatively easy for them to achieve, or that are closer to their personal identity or taste, like the color, finishes, or furniture, because all the complicated technical operations have been taken care of by the professionals involved.AD: Can you expand on what is the concept behind the USB Core, and how is this different from the other incremental housing strategies you have been developing? AA: Normally, by the Chilean housing policy, you have to deliver basic sanitation, a bathroom, a kitchen, and partition walls that are fire-resistant and seismic-resistant. For this proposal, we decided to do it in 2 floors because it achieves more density in the future.this picture! By being able to accommodate the square meters that the policy requires in two floors, we have more chances to have denser projects, therefore being able to spend more for expensive land, and because of that, have a better location in the city, which leads to a better integration into the network of opportunities and services that cities concentrate, instead of being expelled in a low density, far-away periphery, segregated from those opportunities. A certain density is needed in low-rise to be able to be well located in the city. Because of the policy, in addition to sanitation, we need to provide at least two rooms. That requires more resources and more time. When you're under pressure, let's say you're in a disaster situation, where you have to build as fast as possible, if you receive a shelter like a tent or other emergency intervention, that tends not to have this basic sanitation core. Rooms are relatively easy to add later on. To have a kitchen and a bathroom, and a partition wall it's rather difficult to build properly by a family. What we have been exploring is how, in case there is an emergency, we can compress and be more radical in what we are offering. The aim is to have more efficient resources, which are always scarce in the public sector, and to reach more families instead of providing more complete solutions, but only to a few. In this last case, in the meantime, the others cannot wait. They will produce their own built environment, but in very bad conditions.this picture!this picture!This is why we are compressing. Some of the housing we conceived at ELEMENTAL did start like that, but then the policy required us to add more rooms, so we did that. The USB core is just the more radical version because, in between the units, we would like not to have anything at the beginning, but become a big part of what the families, or other sources of financing, bring. This is the most radical version also because of the material that has a net-zero carbon footprint. This is something that was not available before.this picture!For the prototype here in Venice, when we started working with the site, we received this requirement of maximum weight per square meter. Previous solutions would have been too heavy for the place, so we were required to take out weight. The effort of taking out matter without losing resistance led us to think beyond the shape of a circular hole, to many other shapes. We took this as an opportunity to address one of the pending issues we had: how can we engage emotionally with the families, so that when they receive something, they feel there is a more careful treatment, the notion of beauty. Somehow, when you're dealing with the strict conditions, it tends to be that aesthetics are the first to be sacrificed. Given that we now have building systems that were not available 10 years ago, like robots doing the form work, the way to extract matters gives us a degree of freedom while maintaining the same resistance. What about the pattern? Can we make a workshop with the families? Maybe it could change from one to the next one.this picture! This process of customization introduces some level of detail, which is something that people prefer. Take a look at Venice: more lines somehow are more appealing. They're interpreted as more care, instead of a blank wall. I think that in this case, we are making a more radical solution in terms of public policy, but at the same time, a more careful solution in terms of the emotionally involved potential outcome of this equation that has many dimensions that have to be solved at the same time. this picture!AD: In this equation, the choice of material is also important, and concrete seems to be the preferred option, especially for these conditions. Why is that? Why is concrete specifically essential? AA: Before going into concrete, let's imagine the sum of attributes that you need to fulfill, and then, if there is more than one material, we would consider it. It has to be durable: if you're going to spend resources, make sure that the results will last. There's something that is atomic in human behavior that doesn't appreciate temporary solutions; something that holds and persists through the test of time is very important. If you are benefiting from a public policy, you are not getting funding for things that do not last. In a country that has to choose between education, hospitals, infrastructure, or housing, it wants to make sure that the result will have a quality that is certified and that it will be physically there in the next couple of decades.this picture! It has to be so resistant, it has to be durable, it has to be fireproof, it has to be seismic proof. Families have to feel that if they want to expand, they can touch the wall and understand that "Oh, I can't take it out because it's solid, I'd better not mess with the structure because my security and safety depend on that." Safety and security, and the feeling of safety, matter a lot. What other materials out there in the world would feel all that? There are not that many options. That is why, I think, concrete tends to end up being rather high in the list, not to mention costs, because the cost per performance is difficult to equal.this picture! The issue is how to improve the carbon footprint of this material that has so many other favorable attributes. The development of this new biochar concrete finally adds to this list. If you want to make it sustainable and good for the environment, you now have another option. But it's not these other attributes or the environment; it adds to the same list. This is something that we were interested in seeing how we can benefit from this, and at the same time, help to develop. AD: This opens up another topic, which is the wider collaborations across industries. How do you see these collaborations going forward? What is their role in the architectural profession? AA: By nature, architecture has to be collaborative. I mean, it's not just me as an architect waking up in the morning and having an incredible desire to build a building. If I were a sculptor, I could do that, but not as an architect. In the first place, somebody has to need the building, then funding will come from either the state or a private resource, and then, you don't build the things with your own hands. You have to understand that the building industry will provide workers with knowledge, with skills, and with procedures that have a sequence.this picture! You have to make sure that whatever you produce makes social sense and makes political sense. Therefore, by nature, architecture has historically been required to speak many languages, so that it can channel all that knowledge into what you are delivering as a solution. You are sitting around the table with many other professionals. Sometimes, the more complex the question, the greater the need for synthesis. If there's any power in design, that's the power of synthesis. You have to establish the priority, you have to establish a hierarchy. At the core of what we do as architects, we are trying to do projects, and a project is organized information in a proposal. It is not a diagnosis, it is not a report, it's always the negotiation having listened to all, the budget, the code, the need, the social pressure, it is the moment when somebody picks up the pen in the meeting and says, What if we do this?this picture!That jump into the void of making a proposal and taking the risk to do a proposal is the key. You may fail, somebody might find an issue, point out that this would fail here and there. You take this information and reiterate, but you have to take the risk of organizing the conversation around the proposal. If you have a conversation about the origin of the problem, the meeting never ends, and the energy is very negative. The moment you throw in a proposal, the energy in the room changes. By nature, this process has always been collaborative, but the specific role that we play as architects is to be able to organize all the information in a proposal. It is listening to many languages, but in the end, the language you speak is that of giving form to the places near where people live. That's what we do. It's not more complicated than that, but also not easier than that. Sometimes your role is to have control over the entire process, sometimes it is in recognizing that this is so much bigger than ourselves, so others take over: the social workers, the families themselves, the building industry. It changes from question to question, but in general, I would say that we understand we are required to speak different languages: that of economics, that of code, that of politics, and how to communicate with people. However, our ultimate way to engage in these non-architectural conversations is by doing what we know best, which is design. This is a non-architectural conversation we enter with specific knowledge of architecture. This is, I'd say, the dance between specific knowledge and non-specific questions. this picture!AD: Looking towards the future, what are the next steps for this concept? AA: An institution, in order to lend money to a country, may require that the country fulfill sustainability goals. We now have this new material that can respond if this becomes a condition. Normally, this would come from financing institutions that are interested in not just solving social problems but also environmental issues. If we can specify this new material as designers, it has a higher chance of checking more boxes at a political level. And if it checks more boxes, it is more likely to be replicated and repeated. It is about having one more tool in the toolbox that was not available before; it provides more goods and benefits at the same cost. The moment you can show a prototype or give an example, it demonstrates that it is possible. For us, it is desirable for this material and this solution to be multiplied as many times as possible.this picture!We invite you to check out ArchDaily's comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Venice Biennale.
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#between #housing #demand #environmental #goalsBetween Housing Demand and Environmental Goals: Alejandro Aravena on Incremental Solutions and Net-Zero Concrete
Between Housing Demand and Environmental Goals: Alejandro Aravena on Incremental Solutions and Net-Zero ConcreteSave this picture!USB Basic Services Unit Prototype installed in Venice. Image © celestiastudioDuring the Time Space Existence exhibition, organized by the European Cultural Centre in Venice, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena and his firm ELEMENTAL unveiled a full-scale prototype for a new approach in incremental housing solutions. Titled the USB Core, standing for Basic Services Unit housing prototype, this proposal aims to demonstrate how efficient construction can provide all the essential housing components in a minimal space. The prototype is also the result of a collaboration between the architecture office and concrete manufacturer and researcher Holcim, and is built out of a newly developed type of net-zero concrete mix. It also incorporates fully recycled aggregates, in alignment with circular economy principles. The collaboration aims to demonstrate a more environmentally conscious yet cost-effective way of providing essential services to at-risk communities without harming the planet.While on site in Venice, ArchDaily's managing editor Maria-Cristina Florian had the chance to sit down with Alejandro Aravena and discuss the implications of this collaboration, the urgent need for housing, and the role of the architect as the coordinator of a process involving many actors.
this picture!A key innovation of the project is the new formulation of concrete that significantly reduces carbon emissions by integrating in its composition "biochar," a charcoal-like material that permanently sequesters the CO2 that would otherwise be released at the end of the life of organic matter. One kilogram of biochar is calculated to prevent the release of 3 kilograms of CO2, making it a carbon sink, meaning it has a negative carbon footprint. Integrating it within a low-carbon formulation of concrete reduces the overall footprint without compromising performance. With an average transportation distance of 300 km for cement and 100 km for aggregates, the resulting biochar concrete mix has a net-zero carbon footprint, according to Holcim's Life Cycle Assessment. Additionally, this innovation complements other sustainable strategies like recycling of aggregates from demolition waste, a process that prevents the use of virgin natural resources and ensures a circular building process. The prototype in Venice used the Biochar mix in addition to 100% recycled aggregates. Related Article Alejandro Aravena’s Elemental and Holcim Collaborate on Carbon-Neutral Housing at the 2025 Venice Biennale this picture!ArchDaily: One of the main questions that drove this project is an almost Shakespearean one: "To build or not to build?" It represents two contradicting forces of the building industry: on the one hand, the need for housing, on the other, the need to protect the environment. How can those two forces be made to point in a similar direction?Alejandro Aravena: Now is a time when we are witnessing this Catch-22 situation: the pressure is to accommodate people in a decent living environment. In the conditions of the migration towards cities, migration between countries, if you don't offer a proper solution, then the living conditions worsen. It's not that people will stop coming; they're coming to cities and migrating anyhow, but they are living in awful conditions. This is not just a humanitarian disaster, it creates the perfect conditions for Narcos, organized crime criminality, and too many people who have nothing to lose. It leads to a social and political crisis. So, from a multidimensional point of view, there is a huge and urgent need to build a proper, decent living environment.this picture!The materials that we have available nowadays to produce this huge scale are limited, and when I'm saying huge scale, we're talking about a million people per week migrating into cities who, if not accommodated properly, will live in slums. On average, we have to provide solutions with just per family. We call it the 3-S menace: Scale, Speed, and Scarcity of means. If we don't build, people will come anyhow and create this social ticking time bomb. We don't know how to solve that, but imagine we create enough knowledge and that governments align to create policies so that we can build for that amount of people, with the current building materials, taking into consideration the consequences on the environment and the planet. If you don't do anything, you have a problem. And if you do something, you have a problem. Until now, it was one or the other, and one had to choose. When you live in a developing country, you choose people over the environment. If not, people who can build by themselves will build, using the same materials, so the carbon footprint is still there. - Alejandro Aravena Therefore, the moment we heard that there was some scientific research being done and knowledge was being developed in the concrete industry, one of the industries that has the largest presence in the built environment, there was excitement. People want to build resilient homes, so as soon as they can, they will go for something solid. Concrete is at the top of those expectations. With this innovation, there is a material that can potentially dissolve this Catch-22 situation, that can capture carbon and sink it into the material so that when you build, you're doing something good for the environment, not just reducing harm. We see this as a potential chance to finally be able to move ahead, not having to choose between one or the other. That's why we said, let's partner with somebody that has the research and development capacity to advance this.this picture!The only thing we did here was ask What is most needed? What is the kind of project that, if this works, may have an impact on the social dimension but also on the environmental dimension? That is why we went to this Core of Basic Services. In the end, this is where every settlement starts and it is what takes care of the basic needs of the population: health to start with, the fire resistance, seismic resistance, and then maybe we'll be able to channel the people's own capacity to be part of the solution, not of the problem of the built environment.this picture!AD: Could you elaborate on this idea that poor communities have this under-appreciated capacity to build, but often do so in a dysregulated manner, making them vulnerable? Additionally, how does your incremental process, which you have been promoting for years, address this issue?AA: Whatever you picture when you think of a slum, it's a very dense, overcrowded environment of a poor quality, unarticulated roofs and walls, and shacks. Of course, one could see that it is a problem; there are health issues, basic sanitation is not there, one could see this as an incapacity to create a decent built environment.this picture! From another point of view, it could be seen that, despite not having any type of aid, technical support, or scientific knowledge, people are intuitively able to put a roof on top of their heads. And this is a big force. - Alejandro Aravena In a country like Chile, the two rounds of class census showed that 2/3 of the square meters built in Chile do not have a building permit. The formal thing that we've studied in the universities, or the presumption that the government is part of the building program, that's an exception. The majority is in this other case. Therefore, unless we look at this situation as part of the solution, instead of part of the problem, we will never arrive at creating those conditions needed to address the need for a decent building environment.this picture!So, what is missing there? When you look at the slum picture, what is needed is not more construction, it is in what is not built. If you think of any city, like Copenhagen or even Manhattan, places we associate with a good quality of life, the ratio between public and private space is close to 1 to 1. When you go to a slum, that proportion drops to less than 1 to 10, so for every square meter of non-built land, there are 10 square meters of private space. What does it mean? An ambulance cannot enter, a fire truck cannot enter, people just circulate, but they have no place to gather. Where do children play in such an environment? In this context, what is extremely important, more than adding more square meters, is who coordinates what's not going to be built. Because that is a big force that you can channel. Instead of resisting or replacing, our job is first and foremost to create the conditions for the common ground, for the common space not to be occupied by individual actions. Individual actions, even if well-intentioned, cannot guarantee the common good. We have been systematically understanding that our role as a designer, is not being the provider, but the channel for a much bigger force that could be part of the solution or not part of the problem. this picture!AD: Continuing on this point, what is the role of the architect? Should they learn to let go of some of the control that they've been taught to hold? AA: The architect has to understand that, for the big challenges, what we have to deliver is a process and not a product. Control is guaranteeing quality in the end, so we have to be responsible from the beginning to the very end, but in most cases, your job stops when the building is finished. In housing or in disaster relief, because it is a much bigger challenge, the day you finish, it only starts, and then the big forces take over.this picture!You must understand the logic behind these big forces. You place your designs as frames that will make people's lives easier, not more complicated. Then, in this framework, the individual actions can guarantee the common good, so the role of the architect is to protect and enable this spontaneous care for the common good. You cannot just cross your fingers and hope that people will not invade the street.Geometry and clarity of shape have been studied from the 60s and the 70s. In Chile in the 70s, we had what was called "Operation Chalk", meaning that we used chalk to mark on the ground what was private land and what was a public space. This allowed for the rules of the game to be clear for the collective, so in the end, this apparently marginal operation made a big difference. The Law of Indies in the whole of Latin America was similar, setting a simple geometrical rule, yet the cities that had the capacity to develop came from these very basic shapes. In Spanish, they had what was called "alarife", somebody who traced on the ground, on the land, showing who's going to have what, what is going to be public, what we can't provide. This apparently offensive move is at the very core of a process that later allows for a loss of control.this picture!We want to just introduce a couple of things, like a structure that is solid, that is fire resistant, that provides basic sanitation, water, sewage, and electricity, cross ventilation for the worst case scenario. This way, when families arrive, they don't have to perform complicated and difficult structural operations. Every dollar that they spend is just on things that are relatively easy for them to achieve, or that are closer to their personal identity or taste, like the color, finishes, or furniture, because all the complicated technical operations have been taken care of by the professionals involved.AD: Can you expand on what is the concept behind the USB Core, and how is this different from the other incremental housing strategies you have been developing? AA: Normally, by the Chilean housing policy, you have to deliver basic sanitation, a bathroom, a kitchen, and partition walls that are fire-resistant and seismic-resistant. For this proposal, we decided to do it in 2 floors because it achieves more density in the future.this picture! By being able to accommodate the square meters that the policy requires in two floors, we have more chances to have denser projects, therefore being able to spend more for expensive land, and because of that, have a better location in the city, which leads to a better integration into the network of opportunities and services that cities concentrate, instead of being expelled in a low density, far-away periphery, segregated from those opportunities. A certain density is needed in low-rise to be able to be well located in the city. Because of the policy, in addition to sanitation, we need to provide at least two rooms. That requires more resources and more time. When you're under pressure, let's say you're in a disaster situation, where you have to build as fast as possible, if you receive a shelter like a tent or other emergency intervention, that tends not to have this basic sanitation core. Rooms are relatively easy to add later on. To have a kitchen and a bathroom, and a partition wall it's rather difficult to build properly by a family. What we have been exploring is how, in case there is an emergency, we can compress and be more radical in what we are offering. The aim is to have more efficient resources, which are always scarce in the public sector, and to reach more families instead of providing more complete solutions, but only to a few. In this last case, in the meantime, the others cannot wait. They will produce their own built environment, but in very bad conditions.this picture!this picture!This is why we are compressing. Some of the housing we conceived at ELEMENTAL did start like that, but then the policy required us to add more rooms, so we did that. The USB core is just the more radical version because, in between the units, we would like not to have anything at the beginning, but become a big part of what the families, or other sources of financing, bring. This is the most radical version also because of the material that has a net-zero carbon footprint. This is something that was not available before.this picture!For the prototype here in Venice, when we started working with the site, we received this requirement of maximum weight per square meter. Previous solutions would have been too heavy for the place, so we were required to take out weight. The effort of taking out matter without losing resistance led us to think beyond the shape of a circular hole, to many other shapes. We took this as an opportunity to address one of the pending issues we had: how can we engage emotionally with the families, so that when they receive something, they feel there is a more careful treatment, the notion of beauty. Somehow, when you're dealing with the strict conditions, it tends to be that aesthetics are the first to be sacrificed. Given that we now have building systems that were not available 10 years ago, like robots doing the form work, the way to extract matters gives us a degree of freedom while maintaining the same resistance. What about the pattern? Can we make a workshop with the families? Maybe it could change from one to the next one.this picture! This process of customization introduces some level of detail, which is something that people prefer. Take a look at Venice: more lines somehow are more appealing. They're interpreted as more care, instead of a blank wall. I think that in this case, we are making a more radical solution in terms of public policy, but at the same time, a more careful solution in terms of the emotionally involved potential outcome of this equation that has many dimensions that have to be solved at the same time. this picture!AD: In this equation, the choice of material is also important, and concrete seems to be the preferred option, especially for these conditions. Why is that? Why is concrete specifically essential? AA: Before going into concrete, let's imagine the sum of attributes that you need to fulfill, and then, if there is more than one material, we would consider it. It has to be durable: if you're going to spend resources, make sure that the results will last. There's something that is atomic in human behavior that doesn't appreciate temporary solutions; something that holds and persists through the test of time is very important. If you are benefiting from a public policy, you are not getting funding for things that do not last. In a country that has to choose between education, hospitals, infrastructure, or housing, it wants to make sure that the result will have a quality that is certified and that it will be physically there in the next couple of decades.this picture! It has to be so resistant, it has to be durable, it has to be fireproof, it has to be seismic proof. Families have to feel that if they want to expand, they can touch the wall and understand that "Oh, I can't take it out because it's solid, I'd better not mess with the structure because my security and safety depend on that." Safety and security, and the feeling of safety, matter a lot. What other materials out there in the world would feel all that? There are not that many options. That is why, I think, concrete tends to end up being rather high in the list, not to mention costs, because the cost per performance is difficult to equal.this picture! The issue is how to improve the carbon footprint of this material that has so many other favorable attributes. The development of this new biochar concrete finally adds to this list. If you want to make it sustainable and good for the environment, you now have another option. But it's not these other attributes or the environment; it adds to the same list. This is something that we were interested in seeing how we can benefit from this, and at the same time, help to develop. AD: This opens up another topic, which is the wider collaborations across industries. How do you see these collaborations going forward? What is their role in the architectural profession? AA: By nature, architecture has to be collaborative. I mean, it's not just me as an architect waking up in the morning and having an incredible desire to build a building. If I were a sculptor, I could do that, but not as an architect. In the first place, somebody has to need the building, then funding will come from either the state or a private resource, and then, you don't build the things with your own hands. You have to understand that the building industry will provide workers with knowledge, with skills, and with procedures that have a sequence.this picture! You have to make sure that whatever you produce makes social sense and makes political sense. Therefore, by nature, architecture has historically been required to speak many languages, so that it can channel all that knowledge into what you are delivering as a solution. You are sitting around the table with many other professionals. Sometimes, the more complex the question, the greater the need for synthesis. If there's any power in design, that's the power of synthesis. You have to establish the priority, you have to establish a hierarchy. At the core of what we do as architects, we are trying to do projects, and a project is organized information in a proposal. It is not a diagnosis, it is not a report, it's always the negotiation having listened to all, the budget, the code, the need, the social pressure, it is the moment when somebody picks up the pen in the meeting and says, What if we do this?this picture!That jump into the void of making a proposal and taking the risk to do a proposal is the key. You may fail, somebody might find an issue, point out that this would fail here and there. You take this information and reiterate, but you have to take the risk of organizing the conversation around the proposal. If you have a conversation about the origin of the problem, the meeting never ends, and the energy is very negative. The moment you throw in a proposal, the energy in the room changes. By nature, this process has always been collaborative, but the specific role that we play as architects is to be able to organize all the information in a proposal. It is listening to many languages, but in the end, the language you speak is that of giving form to the places near where people live. That's what we do. It's not more complicated than that, but also not easier than that. Sometimes your role is to have control over the entire process, sometimes it is in recognizing that this is so much bigger than ourselves, so others take over: the social workers, the families themselves, the building industry. It changes from question to question, but in general, I would say that we understand we are required to speak different languages: that of economics, that of code, that of politics, and how to communicate with people. However, our ultimate way to engage in these non-architectural conversations is by doing what we know best, which is design. This is a non-architectural conversation we enter with specific knowledge of architecture. This is, I'd say, the dance between specific knowledge and non-specific questions. this picture!AD: Looking towards the future, what are the next steps for this concept? AA: An institution, in order to lend money to a country, may require that the country fulfill sustainability goals. We now have this new material that can respond if this becomes a condition. Normally, this would come from financing institutions that are interested in not just solving social problems but also environmental issues. If we can specify this new material as designers, it has a higher chance of checking more boxes at a political level. And if it checks more boxes, it is more likely to be replicated and repeated. It is about having one more tool in the toolbox that was not available before; it provides more goods and benefits at the same cost. The moment you can show a prototype or give an example, it demonstrates that it is possible. For us, it is desirable for this material and this solution to be multiplied as many times as possible.this picture!We invite you to check out ArchDaily's comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Venice Biennale.
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