Architecture for emergencies: (utopic) prefab shelters for Valencia floods

Date : Le 11 février 2025 à 17 h 30

Lieu : Amphithéâtre 1120 du Pavillon de la Faculté de l'aménagement

Résumé : 
On October 29, 2024, an extraordinary episode of rainfall occurred in the Valencia area, causing severe flooding that devastated entire towns. 224 people lost their lives, and 70,000 homes suffered varying degrees of damage. Architecture students in Alicante, who were at that time designing a luxury prefabricated modular ‘glamping’ structure, decided to explore the possibility of adapting their proposals into self-sufficient emergency shelters to provide housing for those affected who had lost their homes. Sustainability, both environmental and social, was the central focus of the proposals: the projects are self-sufficient, feature bioclimatic design, and enhance common areas and social interaction at the expense of exclusively private spaces. This experiment, in addition to promoting activism and social responsibility among future architects, has demonstrated the versatility and adaptability of industrialized modular architecture to different contexts and situations. The conference is complemented by other emergency projects for natural disasters or migration crises, developed in international workshops.

Conférencier Dani Sirvent : 

Doctor Architect, he finished his studies in Architecture at ETSA Valencia (1999) and also in Building Technology Engineering at EPS Alicante (1996). Professor of Architecture at the University of Alicante with 25 years of teaching experience. Visiting professor at 20 Universities in 4 continents. He has been awarded the 'Hersus prize' on Modern Heritage hosted by the UNESCO chair.
Specialization in lightweight prefabrication, industrialization with 3D modular aggregative systems, and sustainable and bioclimatic construction. Coordinator of international workshops to design emergency shelters for natural disasters using industrialized systems. Research lines: minimum dwelling with common collective spaces, new forms of communal living, and their relationship with workers' housing. He has published several books on Architecture and Technology.
Founding partner of “Traltur” Rope Access cooperative company, he also runs his own Architecture Bureau “Dani Sirvent” where he develops his professional activity uninterruptedly since 2004.