benedetta tagliabue touches on the sense of belonging

new ‘building conversations’ episode presents benedetta tagliabue

at the 2021 venice architecture biennale, holcim gave the floor to twelve influential architects, recording their opinions and ideas in a comprehensive video series called ‘building conversations’. the distinguished professionals, which include hashim sarkis (see here), lina ghotmeh (here) and fabio gramazio (here), share their view on architecture, as well as its latest trends. in the fourth episode of the series, the company spoke to benedetta tagliabue, co-founder of the barcelona-based office miralles tagliabue EMBT, about the importance of space and the sense of belonging.

all interviews are available on the holcim’s youtube channel, while they will all be presented in a series of upcoming articles on designboom.

san giacomo church (see more here)

image © paolo fassoli

about benedetta tagliabue

benedetta tagliabue is the co-founder and current director of the international architecture firm miralles tagliabue EMBT (find more here), which was founded in 1994 in collaboration with enric miralles. among her most notable projects built are the edinburgh parliament, diagonal mar park, the santa caterina market in barcelona, campus universitario de vigo, and the spanish pavilion at the 2010 shanghai world expo which was awarded the prestigious RIBA international ‘best international building of 2011’ award.

in ‘building conversations’, tagliabue talks about the importance of space and the sense of belonging, explaining how architecture can help relax boundaries in difficult built environments. ‘the way to dilute conflict is to offer some kind of soft answers: an architecture that is not imposing, [that] maybe resembles the people who already live there,’ she explains. ‘we try very much to keep in mind this idea that people have to feel well in that place.’

‘miracoli a milano’ proposal (see more here)

image © miralles tagliabue EMBT

holcim takes action

promoting wellbeing in the built environment is a pressing need, as more and more people move into urban landscapes and three billion people are expected to need affordable housing and adequate sanitation by 2030. it would be easy to take a utilitarian approach to this challenge — but tagliabue offers an alternative vision, one that may help foster unity and community, but that requires a little imagination about what is possible.

inspired by tagliabue’s views, holcim (find more here) is also working towards responding to more questions like: how do we build these new living spaces? how do we build greener cities? or empower society with smarter infrastructure? or improve living standards for all? with the help of the ‘building conversation’ series, the company draws influence from different dedicated professionals and tackles the issues mentioned above, as part of its larger mission to build progress for people and the planet.

spanish pavilion for expo shanghai 2010 (see more here)