This is a documentary by Al Jazeera on the Spanish architect, Santiago Cirugeda.
While watching this I was struck by the determination of his studio to make a difference to people’s lives, which sometimes takes them outside of the law. The proof of their projects is in the building: the circus was popular until it was forced to close, and the school classrooms erected as an ‘educational experience’ were clearly required by the students.
Cirugeda does not wait for planning permission if he does not think it will arrive. He identifies the immediate needs of local people, and then addresses them with his projects. Some may see this as an idealistic luxury that architects as a profession can ill-afford; we have families to support and bills to pay. Perhaps a more constructive question would be to ask how we can engender a situation where these decisions are not brave and illegal, but simply the right ones to make, as they are within the law?
Infrastructures of Autonomy 