Whenexperiencebecomes asourceofinspirationforothers

On the contrary, the architectural success that Lacol received mostly by the realization of the CHP of La Borda is beyond the limits of the district Sants. La Borda became a reference point, not only for several group of citizens willing to form and construct their own cooperative -such as La Morada, a housing cooperative project far away from the district of Sants- but also for a number of public administrations interested in replicating co-operative initiatives based on the model of cession of cooperative use (CHP). At the same time, it seems that they support other practitioners and city planners, transferring knowledge and experience -both procedural and technical- to them and to other projects in the larger area of the metropolitan city of Barcelona –including conferences, lectures, guide books, and research books. The continuation of commons, from hard skills and in-situ knowledge to the replication of the outcome as a common share platform. Despite the seemingly reduced action in Can Batlló, they put effort to replicate the CHP spreading their knowledge gained by their practices involved during Can Batlló!

Summer 2023, London. The LFA, London Festival of Architecture, proposes for this year festival’s theme: In Common. A festival full of workshops and discussions around architecture to test and promote new ideas. This allows to rethink how we create, reclaim, maintain and govern the city of London, to create a city which is truly open, accessible and safe to all, by looking specifically at what connects the people and what doesn’t.

Rendered image , showing one of the main facades of the future CHP of La Morada. A housing cooperative in he city of Barcelona, far from the community and the site of Ca Batlló, but still inspired by them and the practices of the architectural cooperative Lacol. source: Lacol (n.d.) LA MORADA HABITATGE COOPERATIU [EN PROGRÉS], image, Lacol, Available at: https:// www.lacol.coop/projectes/ morada-habitatge-cooperatiu/ (Accessed: 26 January 2023).

Rendered image , showing the interior facades of the future CHP of La Morada. With inspiration of the CHP of La Borda and the traditional corralas, the housing unit are facing towards the patio, creating a reference point for the community, and embracing social interactions.

source: Lacol (n.d.) LA MORADA HABITATGE COOPERATIU [EN PROGRÉS], image, Lacol, Available at: https:// www.lacol.coop/projectes/ morada-habitatge-cooperatiu/ (Accessed: 26 January 2023).

It seems that the architecture scene started to get overwhelming of ideologies and processes of commoning. But it just the beginning! As Lacol have shown through their empirical experiences, commoning, both as a process and as an outcome, is a long path that demands motivation and community participation. Not only, participation of the community, but also and most important participation in the community. In the community’s struggles, cultural customs, social needs and patterns, political activities, and activism. In order for the architect to be integrated in their community, and so then he architect to integrate the community into the final infrastructure that the architect design for them –and why not with them. As La Borda has proved, it is a long process of construction of an ecology of community infrastructures and common space that starts long before the design process. Because common space, like a threshold, invites people from different perspectives to interact, communicate, discuss, and therefore develop together new ideas. Ideas though, that comes from real needs, such as the threats of neoliberal practices which citizens around Europe experience more and more, like Can Batlló’s community in Barcelona.

However, in the recent decades, Lacol’s contribution to the practices of commons in Can Batlló’s neighborhood is not the only example of commoning in the architecture field. There are several projects, which were designed from locals’ initiatives and/or with community participation across Europe. A spectrum of different cases, where architects are co-designer, co-creator, or even co-resident. What makes Lacol so different though, is their contribution in all these phases –at least in the community infrastructures of the Block 4, the Block 11, and the CHP of La Borda- which enabled them, not only to develop an architectural vocabulary that encourages regeneration of commons through social interaction, maintenance, and domestic care –such as corridors, atrium, communal spaces for the micro and macro community- but also to bring more awareness to the architectural community -and city planners and beyondof the metropolitan area of Barcelona in order to replicate their practices as solution to several communities’ needs. And by doing that, the designers are not meant to impose a model of living to the users. It’s more as an outcome of processes of collaboration and community-led practices.

Although it seems that their participation is different and that future projects have different characteristics than the first projects offered in Can Batlló, the reason may be the amount of responsibilities and complexities that arise with and thus limit their intentions. It also may be the threat from the neoliberal market which respond to the city’s needs faster, and with a more conventional way to the city’s regulations and funding.

It is acceptable that their practices are still evolving because of the acknowledgment that commoning is in constant shape since diverse communities have various needs in different times and spaces. Are others going to follow, enriching the practices not only of Lacol, but also of Can Batlló? Can it become the norm where common space is the catalyst in the design? The presence of communities in the center of the design and the process feel vital.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Marc Dalmau Torvà for their contribution to the knowledge of the history of Can Batlló’s community actions and the process of realization of the cooperative housing projects of Empriu and La Borda, as well as the architectural cooperative Lacol for the access to their documents for the latter project. I particularly wish to thank Jean-Didier Bergiliez and Vincent Brunetta for their help and their pertinent suggestions during the writing of this article.

Reference list

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