On 6 February, Dogma launches their book Urban Villa, co-published by Black Square and Flanders Architecture Institute. As part of the event, Carles Baiges Camprubí, from the architects’ cooperative Lacol, will give a lecture on their practice and get in dialogue with Martino Tattara and Pier Vittorio Aureli of Dogma. At the book launch, we explore how architectural design adds quality to collective living and how architects expand their roles via organising with communities and negotiating with the public authorities. While the lecture of Carles Baiges Camprubí, from Lacol, provides insights into examples in Spain, Dogma shares their approach to collective housing in various geographies with a focus on the urban villa type.
book and research
The Urban Villa is a continuation of Dogma’s years-long research on housing typologies and their contemporary interpretations. The book is composed of historical research on the urban villa type from the 16th century to today and urban villa designs by Dogma. It also provides insight into the existing norms and regulations about housing policies in Belgium.
lecture
Carles Baiges Camprubí is an architect from ETSAB-UPC in Barcelona and has a master's degree in Urban Sociology from Universiteit van Amsterdam. He is one of the founding members of the cooperative of architects Lacol and a member of La Borda cooperative housing.
Lacol generates community infrastructures for the sustainability of life, as a key tool for the eco-social transition, through architecture, cooperativism and participation. It has been awarded several recognitions, including the Emerging category of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Awards 2022, and has been selected in the biennials of architecture in Venice (2016, 2021), Buenos Aires (2017) and San Sebastián (2019).
book presentation
publication
The urban villa is a mid-size, multi-family housing type which originated in the 1800s and has since become a staple housing type in many European cities and beyond. Its distinguishing characteristics are its density and speculative nature. The urban villa was born in an attempt to resolve aspirations to suburban living with the pressure of land costs. Despite its somewhat controversial reputation, the urban villa has been a (commercial) success due its indisputable appeal to all kinds of dwellers. The goal of this study is twofold: to revisit the rather elusive history of the urban villa, and to develop this architectural type in opposition to its speculative origins by treating it as the most appropriate form for affordable, public and cooperative housing.
more about the publicationexhibition
Architectural firm Dogma is known for its research into the evolution of housing in a rapidly changing society. In this exhibition, the architects take the urban villa as a starting point for the promotion of collective living.
more info06.02.2025
20h
DE SINGEL (Blauwe Zaal)
Desguinlei 25
2018 Antwerp
Free, but registration is necessary
English
the Flemish Community
There are spaces reserved for wheelchair users in all halls of DE SINGEL. Please contact us in advance at tickets@desingel.be so that we can reserve a space for you. You can use an elevator to reach the halls. Enter through the main entrance of DE SINGEL and make your way down the ramp to the left of the stairs to take the lift. Read more about the accessibility