Emotional Heritage

Architects Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats of Flores & Prats offer visitors of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia an intriguing insight into their extraordinary design process through countless design iterations, drawn and modeled. “Emotional Heritage”, their installation in the main exhibition curated by Lesley Lokko and located at the Corderie, showcases the practice’s extreme sensitivity in capturing the accumulated layers of history that exist in every site, even those that are not immediately visible; and their exceptional skill in transforming existing structures into emotional spaces.

A large, dense and welcoming space, crowded with fragments of incessant work that transforms into a narrative, substantiating a unique approach to architectural design that positively exalts a personal approach to rehabilitation. Amidst dozens of studio models and hand drawings, in-progress design iteration open for collaboration, marvelous repositories of documentation, films, and animations, photographs of buildings under construction, visitors find themselves immersed in the intensity of Flores & Prats’s projects, presented with descriptive accounts of their creation and an invitation to participate. In a laboratory-like atmosphere, amidst endless stimuli and spotlights, the architects Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats guide visitors into their world.

Architects Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats, founders of Flores & Prats www.floresprats.com, are participating in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, entitled “The Laboratory of the Future” and curated by Lesley Lokko. The exhibition will run from May 20th to November 26th, 2023.

The aim of the installation is to occupy the Corderie space as if it was their own studio in Barcelona, moving the atmosphere of their creative space through this open material which presents the themes and interests that are on the actual tables of the studio, ready to open a conversation with visitors of the exhibition.

Flores & Prats at the Biennale Architettura.
This is the fourth time that Flores & Prats participates in the Venetian event. After the Biennale Architettura 2014 as part of the Collateral Event “Grafting Architecture. Catalonia at Venice,” the Biennale Architettura 2016 in the Spanish Pavilion (awarded the Leone d’Oro for the Unfinished exhibition) and the Biennale Architettura 2018 in the main exhibition FREESPACE curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara and in the Holy See Pavilion (along with 9 other international architects, they were each invited to build a chapel on San Giorgio Island — their chapel is still open to the public), this year Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats were invited by Lesley Lokko to be part of the “Dangerous Liaisons” section of the main exhibition at the Corderie of the Arsenale in Venice. The section is composed of practitioners from around the world who work across disciplinary boundaries, geographies, and new forms of partnership and collaboration.

Emotional Heritage, the exhibition by Flores & Prats.
“Emotional Heritage” is the title of the installation conceived by Flores & Prats to respond to curator Lesley Lokko’s interpretation of the exhibition as a workshop and laboratory. Architects and practitioners across an expanded field of creative disciplines draw out examples from their contemporary practices to guide visitors on a journey of discovery and to imagine the future. The immersive installation by Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats offers a glimpse of their fertile and bustling workspace where their architectural designs take shape. The exhibition encourages visitors to explore and engage with their creative process.

The audience is invited to experience how Flores & Prats observe places and built spaces as repositories of emotions and memories. According to Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats, “People are not the only ones to contain the memory of a place. Buildings are also imbued with memories of the uses and lives that occupy them. The built environment reflects social behavior, speaking of a way of using the ground, sky, and a way of inhabiting. As an architect, reading the memories held in buildings and people is to think about a future that counts on the past.” This idea is reflected in the studio’s cultural approach and in its projects, especially those focused on the rehabilitation of old structures for new occupations.

The architects also suggest that when a building is closed and abandoned, it still remains alive in the memories of those who lived there. These abandoned buildings carry civic and moral values embedded through use and time, along with the stories of the people who used them over the years. These occupations have created an invisible constellation of social relationships that expand the influence of the building to a universe around it.

Four themes, six projects.
The “Emotional Heritage” installation is structured around four themes that explore the subject, and features six projects by the Catalan architecture duo. The themes serve as a guide for visitors to navigate through the graphic material displayed on tables and containers.

The four themes are:
1. Drawing with time.
According to Flores & Prats, the advantage of working with existing buildings is that it allows the architects to observe and learn from what has already been created. They record everything they observe and incorporate the temporal dimension of the building into their design. By drawing the existing building, they make it their own and express the different generations that built it. The project selected by the architects to exemplify this theme is the Mills Museum in Palma de Mallorca (completed in 2002). Here they focused on enhancing the existing qualities and geometries, amplifying them through excavation and the introduction of natural light, to the point that their influence on the whole space was multiplied.

2. The value of use.
The concept of heritage is not based on monetary value or grandeur, but rather on time and collective experience. This is evident in ordinary architecture where layers of history are present in every detail, waiting to be remembered. Even seemingly insignificant elements of abandoned buildings, such as doors and windows, have value in terms of their use. Drawing and cataloguing these elements is a way to understand and appreciate building culture. The two projects featured here are the Yutes Warehouse in Barcelona (completed in 2005), that introduced them to the discipline of reuse, and Sala Beckett, also in Barcelona (completed in 2017), rehabilitated by restoring both its physical and social heritage.

3. The open condition of the ruin. The architects describe the experience of being inside a ruin and how it presents itself as a patient and silent witness to the passage of time. The ruin is a palimpsest, where different periods are joined together, creating a timeless character that invites interpretation offering a connection between one’s own memories and the memories of the place. The project for the Variétés Cultural Laboratory in Bruxelles (ongoing), developed alongside Ouest Architecture to give new life to a 1930s theater, is presented here.

4. The right to inherit.
Each generation has the right to adapt the legacy of the past to current conditions, but this should be done with critical reflection and respect for the material and emotional history of what is inherited. An understanding and incorporation of what was there before is required, leading to a balance where design actions are not completely novel but rather an evolution of what existed previously. Two projects are featured here. For the Casal Balaguer Cultural Centre in Mallorca, developed with Duch- Pizà Arquitectes and completed in 2016, the architects converted an aristocratic house that dated back to the 14th century, was renovated in the 16th century, and expanded in the 18th century, from a private family residence to a public building accessible to the entire city. La Favorita Fab Lab in Barcelona (ongoing), which repurposes an abandoned industrial complex, takes into account external conditions beyond the building itself as a heritage to preserve. This includes the trees growing along its facade and the vast sky surrounding the site.

Details on the installation.
Flores & Prats have interpreted their exhibition space as an open and collaborative workshop, integrated with its neighboring installations. The studio displays various materials, commonly used in their research and development of projects, on tables or free- standing satellites, creating an atmosphere of material flow beyond the tables, encouraging visitors’ interaction.

Sketches and models are arranged on the tables, providing an introduction to the six projects that showcase the “Emotional Heritage” approach of Flores & Prats. These projects are presented as open and unfinished documents, inviting visitors to participate in the research and design process. Display devices, such as containers and models on legs, are located near the tables, showcasing fragmented pieces of material that were used in the design phases to test proportions and facilitate conversations with clients and builders. These trunks serve as archives for the models once the project is complete and allow for a deeper exploration of the various themes that emerge. The exhibition also features films and animations, providing a critical lens through which to view the creative process and explore the stories and situations that shape the final product.

Flores & Prats’s participation in the Biennale Architettura 2023 confirms their role in the international architectural debate. It celebrates their remarkable ability to capture the accumulated layers of history present in every site, even the ones that are not immediately visible; and their skillful talent in transforming existing structures into emotional spaces. Their ongoing project for the Théâtre des Variétés in Bruxelles, developed with Ouest Architecture and due for completion in 2024, proposes an open, inclusive public space to welcome debates, art and musical performances, and to celebrate public encounters, aiming to reactivate the place for its new use while retaining its unique spatial and material qualities.