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My work focuses on the connection of

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both thinking about our community life

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being part of the environment

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where architecture grows from the natural

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local conditions and traditions.

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Today I brought two recent projects

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as an example of this.

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Both projects are in emerging countries,

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one in Ethiopia and another one in Tunisia.

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And also they have in common

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that the different analyses from different perspectives

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becomes an essential part of the final piece of architecture.

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The first example started with an invitation

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to design a multistory shopping mall

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in Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa.

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And this is the type of building

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we were shown as an example, to my team and myself,

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of what we had to design.

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At first, the first thing I thought was,

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I want to run away.

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(Laughter)

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After seeing a few of these buildings --

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there are many in the city --

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we realized that they have three very big points.

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First, these buildings, they are almost empty

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because they have very large shops

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where people cannot afford to buy things.

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Second, they need tons of energy to perform

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because of the skin treatment with glass

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that creates heat in the inside,

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and then you need a lot of cooling.

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In a city where this shouldn't happen

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because they have really mild weather

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that ranges from 20 to 25 degrees the whole year.

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And third is that their image has nothing to do

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with Africa and with Ethiopia.

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It is a pity in a place that has such rich culture and traditions.

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Also during our first visit to Ethiopia,

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I was really captivated by the old merkato

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that is this open-air structure

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where thousands of people, they go and buy things

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every day from small vendors.

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And also it has this idea of the public space

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that uses the outdoors to create activity.

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So I thought, this is what I really want to design,

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not a shopping mall.

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But the question was how we could do a multistory,

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contemporary building with these principles.

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The next challenge was when we looked at the site,

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that is, in a really growing area of the city,

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where most of these buildings that you see in the image,

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they were not there.

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And it's also between two parallel streets

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that don't have any connection for hundreds of meters.

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So the first thing we did was to create a connection

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between these two streets,

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putting all the entrances of the building.

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And this extends with an inclined atrium

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that creates an open-air space in the building

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that self-protects itself with its own shape

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from the sun and the rain.

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And around this void

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we placed this idea of the market with small shops,

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that change in each floor because of the shape of the void.

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I also thought, how to close the building?

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And I really wanted to find a solution

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that would respond to the local climate conditions.

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And I started thinking about the textile

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like a shell made of concrete

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with perforations that would let the air in,

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and also the light, but in a filtered way.

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And then the inspiration came from these beautiful buttons of the Ethiopian women's dresses.

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That they have fractal geometry properties

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and this helped me to shape the whole facade.

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And we are building that

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with these small prefabricated pieces

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that are the windows that let the air and the light

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in a controlled way inside the building.

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And this is complemented by these small colored glasses

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that use the light from the inside of the building

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to light up the building at night.

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With these ideas it was not easy first to convince the developers

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because they were like,

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"This is not a shopping mall. We didn't ask for that."

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But then we all realized that this idea of the market

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happened to be a lot more profitable than the idea of the shopping mall

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because basically they had more shops to sell.

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And also that the idea of the facade was much, much cheaper,

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not only because of the material compared with the glass,

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but also because we didn't need to have air conditioning anymore.

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So we created some budget savings

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that we used to implement the project.

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And the first implementation was to think

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about how we could make the building self-sufficient in terms of energy

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in a city that has electricity cuts almost every day.

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So we created a huge asset by placing photovoltaics there on the roof.

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And then under those panels

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we thought about the roof like a new public space with gathering areas and bars

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that would create this urban oasis.

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And these porches on the roof,

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all together they collect the water to reuse for sanitation on the inside.

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Hopefully by the beginning of next year, because we are already on the fifth floor of the construction.

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The second example is a master plan

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of 2,000 apartments and facilities in the city of Tunis.

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And for doing such a big project, the biggest project I've ever designed,

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I really needed to understand the city of Tunis,

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but also its surroundings and the tradition and culture.

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During that analysis I paid special attention to the medina

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that is this 1,000-year-old structure that used to be closed by a wall,

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opened by twelve different gates, connected by almost straight lines.

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When I went to the site, the first design operation we did

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was to extend the existing streets, creating 12 initial blocks

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similar in size and characteristics to the ones we have in Barcelona

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and other cities in Europe with these courtyards.

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On top of that, we selected some strategic points

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reminded of this idea of the gates and connecting them by straight lines,

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and this modified this initial pattern.

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And the last operation was to think about the cell,

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the small cell of the project, like the apartment,

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as an essential part of the master plan.

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And for that I thought, what would be the best orientation

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in the Mediterranean climate for an apartment?

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And it's north-south, because it creates a thermal difference between both sides of the house

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and then a natural ventilation.

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So we overlap a pattern that makes sure that most of the apartments

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are perfectly oriented in that direction.

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And this is the result

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that is almost like a combination of the European block and the Arab city.

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It has these blocks with courtyards,

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and then on the ground floor

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you have all these connections for the pedestrians.

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And also it responds to the local regulations that establish

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a higher density on the upper levels and a lower density on the ground floor.

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And it also reinforces this idea of the gates.

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The volume has this connecting shape

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that shades itself with three different types of apartments

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and also lets the light go on the ground floor in a very dense neighborhood

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And in the courtyards there are the different facilities,

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such as a gym and a kindergarten

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and close by, a series of commercial [spaces] that bring activity to the ground floor.

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The roof, which is my favorite space of the project

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is almost like giving back to the community the space taken by the construction.

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And it's where all the neighbors, they can go up and socialize,

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and do activities such as having a two-kilometer run in the morning,

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jumping from one building to another.

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These two examples,

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they have a common approach in the design process.

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And also, they are in emerging countries where you can see

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the cities literally growing.

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In these cities, the impact of architecture in people's lives of today and tomorrow

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changes the local communities and economies at the same speed as the buildings grow.

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For this reason, I see even more importance

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to look at architecture finding simple but affordable solutions

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that enhance the relationship between the community and the environment

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and that aim to connect nature and people.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)