Local as available: redefining tradition

Abstract

The meaning of local in architecture cannot be conceived today without considering the effects of a global world. Available materials are not produced locally, as they used to be, and tradition — as a collective knowledge based both on locally obtained materials and on socio-cultural demands — is no longer a useful learning tool in metropolitan areas like Barcelona, where new architecture is designed and built without considering such historical link. The scale of knowledge has dramatically changed and has become more generalist, but the requirement of real sustainability calls this scenario into question. In this respect, Vallès School of Architecture, ETSAV, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, is now reassessing its five-year undergraduate curriculum towards a gradual integrated learning approach around the work and reflection of students in the design studios, and the topic of this Conference is an opportunity to examine this reassessing process in the light of the interaction of local and global issues in architectural education. This paper exposes some recent academic experiences which could be used as a lever to reorient ETSAV and explores the scope and potential of redefining tradition to regain the consideration and logics of a basic working tool, according to what local availability may involve in diverse areas of knowledge.