The Next Generation 1st prize 2014 for Europe went to Hani Jaber, Ricardo Mayor, Héctor Muñoz, and Ignacio Taus of DAT Pangea (Spain) for a series of three socially focused architectural designs, entitled “X Marks the Spot”. Their portfolio of projects included a spatial plan and agricultural restructure, a productive urban garden as well as temporary spaces for public engagement.

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui (‘A’A’) talked to Hani Jaber about the impact of the Award on his work as an architect – which takes key social problems into consideration while offering appropriate design solutions to address specific issues at hand.

‘A’A’: Could you describe the project you submitted in the LafargeHolcim Awards for Sustainable Construction for which you won a Next Generation prize? What is the current status of this project?

Hani Jaber: We were awarded for three different projects whose design propositions aim for a dialog between architecture and politics, taking key social problems into consideration while offering appropriate design solutions to address specific issues at hand.

The projects tackle, for example, the devastating social conditions of workers in the agricultural sector in the region of Almería in Southeast Spain and the lack of public parks in cities and towns throughout the region. Similarly, measures are offered to improve the role of public spaces in neighbourhoods in the city of Madrid. Considering the shared spirit of the group, the jury strongly recommended an equal sharing of the prize awarded to the team.

‘A’A’: What was the impact of this Award on your professional activity as architects?

Hani Jaber: First of all, the Next Generation prize allowed us to create a global network and broaden our horizon. Recently, we have developed several interesting works, one of them, in France, is a 21 meters geodesic dome design for the collective POC21. On this project, we collaborated with Quatorze, a French collective of architects, committed to encourage social and responsible projects. We are really proud of it.

Secondly, from the moment we received the Award, we have kept going with our personal research, looking for a new architectural perspective, focus on social needs; we are thinking on how architecture could be somehow a learning platform for a better society. The world needs a change and we have to give an answer because the architect plays a major role in reshaping the society.

Consequently, this Award has also boosted our self-confidence in our career and has encouraged us to work towards a positive change. And finally, it made us dream and believe that there are a lot of people who are interested in the concept of sustainability, so we are working on these ideas and developing a viable solution.

‘A’A’: What are your main current projects? Are you still in touch with the LafargeHolcim Foundation’s network and/or other Awards prize-winners? If so; in what context?

Hani Jaber: Currently, we are developing several works. A really significant one is a “tiny house” for Europe. It was thought as a house without land, as an answer to the thousands of refugees and immigrants who are running away from their country. They arrive to Europe, every day looking for a livelihood. But, they are not allowed to do so, as they are not EU citizens, they can’t have a new home.

So, we give an answer to this social problem! Simply by giving a home without land, without property, and really easy to built with some help from the current local factories and Fablabs inside the city, that allows to create an open source tiny house. We have built the first prototype, and now, we are also looking for sponsors to help us develop a second one as an open source where everyone can get the knowledge to build his/her own home and live anywhere.

On the other hand, we are in touch with some companies, talking about a partnership to build an ephemeral pavilion in a public space as a way to show how architecture could be an answer to the current society issues, far away of the branding architecture.

Yes, we are in touch with the LafargeHolcim Foundation, and they are really interested in our research – they are trying to support us, giving us voice in workshops and congress, which means new opportunities for us.

Read the original interview at:

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui