Architecture as a “Connection”

Every year Cities Connection Project (CCP) chooses two European cities and connects them throughtheir shared knowledge and renowned architects’ projectsin a ‘back and forth’ event. 

The project exhibits 20 selected works from both cities hosted in the guest city and proposes roundtables, discussion meetings with professionals, conferences and other activities open to the general public. 

Cities Connection Project, which regularly connectsoutstanding European city architecture with the city of Barcelona, has chosen Genevafor its second event. The project, led by architects Nicola Regusci and Xavier Bustos, began in 2013 born from a desire to establish cultural networks between Barcelona and guest cities. 

"The goal is for architects to explore new approaches to looking at our cities, establish professional relationships and share their vision on urban development", explains Cities Connection Project co-founder, Nicola Regusci.

Besides the exhibition of 20 selected works from both cities, the event includes a catalogue, conferences, roundtables, discussion meetings with professionals and institutions and several visits to the local architecture studios, with the aim of generating synergies between architects, cultural agents, administrations and universities. According to the selection criteria, the Connection project aspires to create a showcase for functional architecture committed to the current social reality, breaking away from mass media architecture. Architects under the age of 50 have built the selected works during the last ten years. 

"We have managed to gather professionals who have actually had an impact on the current architectural panorama of both cities. This is a significant achievement because it seldom happens that architects meet together to share and connect, in both formal and informal environments", says Cities Connection Project co-founder, Xavier Bustos.

Last year, Barcelona connected to the Swiss region of Ticino, under the theme "Architecture and Territory". This year is the turn of Geneva, with future events already being considered in cities like Berlin, Zurich and Brussels. The aim of Cities Connection Project is for each event to be the catalyst for an ongoing dialogue between architects from the selected cities. 

"We imagine a future with a wide European network of connections between professionals and institutions, a neuronal system capable of generating a critical and open-minded vision about the projection of our cities", Bustos and Regusciac knowledge.

The second edition of Cities Connection Project will take place in Barcelona from 13th to 23rd November with the support from the Arts Santa Mònica Centre de la Creativitat. The exhibition Import GENEVA, under title “BuildingGeneva_Projects versus challenges”, is dedicated to 20 collective housing projects built during the last ten years by architects from Geneva.

Export BARCELONA, the second phase of the exchange, will take place from 5th to 26th February 2015, where 20 selected Catalan architects will present their work at the Geneva SICLI Pavilion, thanks to the collaboration between Cities Connection Project and the Maison de l'Architecture.