On 2 September, the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture will inaugurate the new academic year and, like every year, it will begin with a new edition of the Vertical Workshop. This year’s title is “Unlimited city. Designing Inclusive and accessible urban furniture for Barcelona”, and it will be held from 2 to 9 September. During the Workshop, students from second to fifth year in Architecture will be divided into teams to design flexible and inclusive urban furniture elements based on the principles of universal design. These elements must follow the strategies of tactical urbanism to achieve the transformation of the Eixample neighbourhood in Barcelona with the aim of generating inclusive and participatory spaces for all citizens. 

This new edition of the Vertical Workshop will be led by lecturer Iñigo Ugalde and coordinated by Nacho Vallhonorat, a partner from the Studio Detres architect’s studio, and is sponsored by the Healthcare and Social Consortium of Catalonia, with further support from urban furniture editor Urbidermis. During the week-long workshop, students will be divided into working groups and supervised by prestigious professionals, among them UIC Barcelona lecturer Alfons Puigarnau and architects Enrique Arenas, Fernando Molina and Alvaro Velasco. In addition, during the first days of the workshop, students will attend lectures by experts such as Sonia Hernández-Montaño, an architect who specialises in bioconstruction and healthy spaces and founder of Arquitectura Sana studio, as well as Mia Serra, an architect who is also general manager of Urbidermis.

Inclusive and accessible urbanism
The proposals made by these future architects must be based on the principles of universal design and contribute to the transformation of urban space in order to move toward an inclusive and participatory city model Universal design is a relatively new design paradigm, aimed at the development of accessible environments based on the premise that all people, regardless of their abilities, must not only have access to but also be able to participate in all the activities and uses it provides. 

“Most of today’s urban furniture, such as benches, fountains, rubbish bins, paper bins, etc., is not adapted and is therefore difficult for some people to use. For example, the mechanism to open the lids of rubbish bins on the street can be very difficult for an elderly person or a person with reduced mobility to use. Water fountains are not suitable for people who find it difficult to bend over, and the design of some benches is uncomfortable for people who suffer from obesity,” explains Vertical Workshop director Iñigo Ugalde.  

Once divided into teams, the Architecture students must identify deficiencies in current urban furniture and develop alternative designs that generate social interaction, contribute to the activation of urban life and guarantee use for as many people as possible. 

On 9 September, the projects created by the students will be assembled and installed in situ, on a real scale, in the vicinity of the main UIC Barcelona campus. The projects will be evaluated by an external jury in which representatives from the Healthcare and Social Consortium of Catalonia, urban furniture editor Urbidermis and Barcelona City Council will participate.