Barozzi Veiga, established in Barcelona in 2004, operates globally, undertaking commissions in both public and private sectors, specializing in the creation of cultural, civic, and educational buildings. Architects Fabrizio Barozzi and Alberto Veiga founded the studio, which consists of 25 professionals of various nationalities with extensive collaboration experience. Fabrizio and Alberto regularly give lectures on their theoretical background and design approach, participating in academic activities worldwide. In 2020, both were appointed as foreign members of the Academy of Architecture, a prestigious French scientific society seeking to recognize architectural quality.
With a consciously international perspective, the firm has received numerous awards over the years and is currently involved in projects in countries such as Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, China, and the United Arab Emirates. They also have a significant commission in the United States, where they are developing a new master plan that will transform the Art Institute of Chicago.
Let's get to know you, Fabrizio, and the studio a bit better...
How do you respond to the assertion by some experts that define your projects by an aesthetic of clean lines and theatrical austerity? Does this align with your perception of your own architectural work?
Everyone interprets architecture differently, and to some extent, I can identify with this assertion. I believe that, rather than seeking clean lines, our projects tend to be highly synthetic, striving to eliminate any superfluous elements. We only try to build what is truly necessary and useful for a specific program and situation without exceeding it.
This perspective contributes to the feeling that our projects are very clean, as we do not aspire to do more than necessary.
We always maintain a certain moderation in our work, which translates into a perception of austerity, with the intention of not taking actions beyond what is proposed.
Regarding the theatrical aspect, I have some doubts about it. There are always moments in a project or specific spaces where we strive to make the narrative representative. Most of our works focus on cultural public buildings, which must have an impact on their context and significant representativeness in certain spaces.
The Mies van der Rohe Award you received in 2015 is a prominent recognition in contemporary architecture. How did this award influence your architectural approach and the future perception of your work internationally?
Receiving this award was a significant milestone in our career, first because it was completely unexpected, and second because this type of recognition marked a change in the cycle, opening up the possibility for young teams like ours to be considered, which turned out to be beneficial for us. These kinds of awards expand job opportunities, although they also entail a greater responsibility to maintain that level of excellence. From a professional standpoint, it was a crucial achievement that allowed us to approach commissions that we probably would not have obtained otherwise.
Participation in international competitions seems to be a constant in your activity. How do you select the projects you participate in, and what importance does competition have in your creative approach?
Since we set up the office, we have always been involved in various competitions. Firstly, because we consider it intellectually interesting to face different situations and projects. Secondly, because we felt comfortable; in fact, we, like other studios, began to internationalize as a result of the economic crisis, although we were already working abroad before that period. This comfort is due, in part, to our constant identification as a European studio.
So participation in projects related to cultural or public facilities scattered throughout Europe has been something that has naturally attracted us. There was never a very clear strategy on which projects to design; rather, we were guided by those that represented a challenge and that we found interesting for our internal research.
Your proposal for the PortziX 2023 Architecture Competition was selected as the winning design. Could you reveal what inspired you and how you tackled the specific challenges of the project?
PortziX 2023 is one of the most recent competitions we have been involved in. We decided to participate because of its privileged and interesting location in the city of Brest, on a promontory overlooking the Bay of Brest and the Atlantic Ocean.
The project involves designing the headquarters for a leading company in underwater technology and advanced geolocation systems. The combination of a program we had never addressed before, working for a technologically relevant company, and the unique and beautiful context of the site were factors that sparked our interest in participating.
The project is presented as a tribute to the imposing, sinuous, and characteristic landscape of the area. On the other hand, the building is characterized by its extreme efficiency and orientation towards self-sufficiency, responding to the needs of a client that has technology and research as distinguishing features. Essentially, it is a building that seeks to minimize its carbon footprint as much as possible.
Speaking of inspiration, could you share a particularly curious or unexpected place that has significantly influenced any of your projects?
Alberto will have his own references, but in my case, if there is something that has marked me, probably because I am an architect, it is a project that I discovered at a very young age, even before entering university: the Casa Malaparte, located on the island of Capri. In fact, we recently wrote a short essay exploring how this project has influenced our own framework. Its style brought me closer to contemporary architecture almost as an epiphany, so I think it has fundamentally influenced a certain way of working in the studio.
Casa Malaparte is a notably simple yet extraordinarily complex project. It is a prism with an impressive staircase, an element that transforms the perception of the building as a whole. In a sense, our own projects share that essence: they are direct and straightforward in one aspect, but always incorporate an element, comparable to the striking staircase of Casa Malaparte, that alters the understanding of the project itself. There is a beautiful analogy between this project and the approach of our studio.
Your statement that "the success of a building comes when people make it their own" is intriguing. How do you cultivate that emotional connection between architecture and users in your designs?
The inherent risk for any architect is the potential disconnect with society or how society perceives certain types of architecture. In our case, most of our projects are public buildings that play a relevant role in cities and their context. It's important for users to make these buildings their own because, in the end, we design projects in response to different needs.
Once the building is constructed, the architect takes a back seat, and it is expected that the construction will endure for decades. Ultimately, the building should become a space where people take ownership and use it beneficially for the community. Beyond architectural discourses about how it is built or what it is, it is essential that it is genuinely useful for the community it serves, which is a fundamental aspect when constructing certain types of public projects.
The connection between historical and contemporary design is evident in the renovation of the Casino Knokke-Heist. How do you address the challenge of preserving the history of the place while introducing contemporary elements?
Many of our projects involve transforming existing buildings or extensions, and we strive to integrate them as naturally as possible. We never seek a historical rupture; quite the opposite, we aim to achieve continuity with the tradition or history surrounding the building.
The project can be radical in how it organizes the program or in certain decisions, but formally, we believe that architecture must establish this continuity with its context. For us, this approach is a priority because it preserves the diversity of each place and opposes the idea of uniformity.
Each project is always very unique in its approach and execution. While there are common elements that thread them together, each one unfolds in a very singular way in a specific context. In the case of the casino in Knokke-Heist, we aimed to convert a building designed by Belgian architect Leon Stynen into a cultural and arts center, relocating the casino elsewhere. In this project, we tried to preserve much of the original structure, which is valuable and interesting, while using Stynen's elements to configure a new architecture. It's like a different cake with the same ingredients.
In terms of sustainability, how do you incorporate environmentally friendly solutions into your projects, and how important is sustainability in your practice?
It's an obvious starting point; every architect assumes that each new building has to be extremely efficient and sustainable. We prefer to approach sustainability in a holistic way where the community takes ownership of the building and knows how to use it. This community appropriation, in itself, is a way of making construction sustainable, as it contributes to its durability over time.
Is there any ongoing project that you can share some details about and find particularly exciting or challenging?
Currently, we are involved in several projects, many of which are confidential, becoming a significant challenge in the architecture sector. In fact, I would say that 60% of the projects we are developing in the office require confidentiality. However, there is a project in Miami destined to be an artist residence that I hold dear. If everything unfolds as expected, it will be a very relevant project for the studio, as it manages to merge various research conducted in previous projects. This one, in particular, can bring together different themes that have always been interesting to us.
Although the project is small, it presents a highly attractive and innovative program. If everything progresses as planned, this project could mark another milestone in the trajectory of our studio.
In the current architectural landscape, what do you believe is the most crucial role that architects must play in creating sustainable and aesthetically meaningful environments?
Everyone assumes that architects must integrate their creations sustainably to counteract the climate crisis we are experiencing. Simultaneously, it is important for an architect to convey the relevance of architecture. In many countries, although perhaps to a lesser extent in Spain, the role of the architect and architecture itself has been devalued. I believe that architecture nowadays responds more to other types of economic forces than to the belief that a well-conceived project can improve the lives of citizens and society in general.
Often, architecture is perceived almost as an economic good rather than a public and social good. It is important for us, as architects, to be able to convey through sensible, innovative, and sustainable architecture, the relevance of building functioning cities. Tackling this challenge will be crucial in the coming years.