Dispersed facilities. Conversion of ground floor premises as catalysts for transformative social uses.
The challenge has taken shape in the observation of the back room of the ‘manteros’ store in the Raval neighborhood. A space that solves the problem of a warehouse and logistics of the commercial space, but at the same time, has become a small social facility. It is the place where they meet, where struggles are fleshed out, posters are prepared; a place where they rest, where they pray, where they do their homework, charge their mobile phones; a place where they gather to eat… Activities that guarantee their presence at a street level, open to everyone, where they can all be together. This model – rare, undervalued, almost non-existent in generic commercial establishments – is part of an idea of community that improves our quality of coexistence.
A strategy that is based on equipping the neighborhood, not by adding objects to the street but by providing the neighborhood with premises. Taking advantage of the enormous opportunity the pandemic has offered, the endemic neglect of shopping locally, the streets can become green, but with back rooms. For the neighborhood, to store tables, games, lighting, a storage space, a space for recycling. But also to give coverage to a city conscientious about care and shelter, as well as the environment, where meals can be cooked, where homeless people can spend the night… Pocket-sized solutions, dispersed and hybrid facilities. Distributed throughout the streets, such as in London, where the tube stations are inside buildings.
If beyond the necessary commercial dynamics, the streets are also endowed with community back rooms, we will surely find ourselves in a new scenario of transformation that will inevitably result in the necessary social engagement. The streets must stop being seen only as capital U urban and buildings must take joint responsibility in redefining the scope of what is public.
Can we imagine the possibilities? Can we spread back rooms of this kind throughout our cities?

Phase 0 and Phase 1 are a compilation of the results obtained during the workshop in Barcelona, specifically the Sutura challenge, where all the schools met for five days (30/01/23-03/02/23) to work together.

The following phases correspond to the results obtained by each school back in its seats, adapting the work dynamics to their teaching plans.