NEOTOPIA is searching for neo-vernacular utopias to counterbalance our dystopian present. We choose to see architecture as the visible outcome of political situations. As such, buildings are the material evidence of a social and economic history and cannot be understood as autonomous forms. NEOTOPIA is interested in contemporary informal architectures; what we like to call the neo-vernacular. Although often born from social injustice, self-built urban environments can be seen as the physical result of a temporary utopia. They are the result of the direct conjunction of human needs and economic factors, free from the mediation of the architect or the control of the legislative power. Avoiding the aestheticisation of poverty, we look at these architectures driven by a strict economy rather than abstract concepts and question top-down approaches to architecture. Far from the groomed city centres, our studio looks at the forgotten suburbs of the neo-capitalist landscape. For the first two semesters, we have studied the outskirts of Lisbon (Portugal) and the greenhouses area of Almeria (Spain); a diverse city at the crossroads of colonisation and migration routes. We look at architecture through the lens of workmanship and understand the act of building as an Action. Manual labour and the economy of means guide us through the process of design, using human movement as a starting point. Far from formalism, we create architectures born from the deep understanding of the often-painful act of construction and see architecture as a social and political act rather than a design exercise.

NEOTOPIA is the design studio led by architect Leopold Banchini (Geneva) at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio (Swtizerland), since 2021, where I am teacher assistant together with Pablo Garrido Arnaiz (Basel).

Mockup and installation photos by Giovanni Emilio Galanello g-e-galanello.eu