“At the beginning of the 1960s, the’Alison and Peter Smithson, a young British architect couple, built themselves a small country cottage to spend weekends in with their children…”
Fifty years have passed since the Smithson couple built a little cottage in a rural setting to spend their weekends, but Sergi and Adelina talk to us about it on their blog Our House To put us in the picture. And the fact is that between one and another there are certain similarities.
Sergi and Ade are a couple of architects that they created in 2005 Udeu Architecture and Production, a specialised study in building and ephemeral architecture. Breaking the rules they had imposed on themselves since they met at university (never ever working together), and after spending a time collaborating in various offices (him) and in museography projects I have exhibition design (she), they decide to start a joint professional project upon realising the opportunity of joining forces and talents. The result has been a tandem that works and complements each other to perfection.
But how do the Smithsons fit into all this? Well, because just like them, Sergi and Ade They plan to build a small house in a village near the Ribera de l'Ebre. The area, a rural hamlet of about 100 inhabitants, fascinated Sergi, who immediately saw its full architectural potential. In this semi-lost virgin spot, one could say it all began.
Defenders of a traditional architecture far removed from classifications and labels, the need to share this concept and involve the general public gave birth to the idea of creating a blog, and what better way to do so than by explaining the entire construction process of their future little house. Thus was born Our House, a space with a clear educational purpose where they share impressions and explain all the processes in a way that is understandable and intelligible both for fellow professionals and for anyone interested in renovating or building a home.
Claim the'domestic architecture and they believe in the importance of valuing the craft above the grandiloquence that sometimes accompanies the discipline. “As Coderch said in the 50s, we don't need more geniuses, but more artisans,” Sergi tells us. For Ade, architecture is something that evolves: “you leave the home functioning in terms of lighting, spatial relationship and fulfilling a programme that the people who have used it need, but at the same time it must be neutral enough for people to make it their own.”.
Let's start the interview talking about the blog and finish by reflecting on the'modern architecture and the pioneer “geek-gurus” of what was'sustainable architecture. And Sergi and Ade, like the Smithsons, are architects, but the kind who “get their hands dirty”.
A space with a clear educational purpose where they share impressions and set out all the processes in a way that is clear and understandable both for industry colleagues and for anyone interested in renovating or building a home.
