A groundbreaking exhibition titled "Architecture is Cooperation," curated by Josep Ferrando, is showcasing innovative collaborative projects that demonstrate how architecture can serve as a powerful tool for international development and community empowerment. Running until September 30, 2025, at Casa de la Arquitectura in Madrid, the exhibition highlights cooperation projects led by Spanish professionals, organizations, and communities working together to address urgent global challenges such as access to decent housing and essential services.
The exhibition itself serves as a testament to sustainable construction practices, featuring an innovative installation design using earth and wood materials that embody the principles of circular economy. The display employs blocks of rammed earth combined with laminated wood profiles in a carefully engineered dry construction system. This approach allows the entire installation to be easily assembled and disassembled for reuse in other contexts, avoiding the use of mortars or permanent binders that could compromise the future integrity of the materials.
Organized by the General Directorate of Urban Agenda, Housing and Architecture of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (MIVAU), the exhibition presents cooperation projects funded by both public and private sources. These initiatives focus on responding to basic human needs while demonstrating how architecture can adapt to time and context, maintaining a strong presence while leaving a light environmental footprint. The projects showcase examples of architects and communities working together through architecture that refuses to impose itself on places but remains willing to transform and evolve.
The innovative construction methodology of the exhibition required a meticulous approach that recognized each component's capacity for easy assembly and disassembly. The rammed earth blocks are stacked dry and kept under compression through tightened straps, allowing structural tension to become part of the installation's formal language. Wood plays both structural and articulating roles, with beams acting as locking elements that stabilize the entire structure by resting on the rammed earth walls. Clamps placed perpendicular to the beams generate controlled pressure that prevents overturning while stiffening the installation transversely without requiring fixed joints or invasive anchors.
Among the 20 case studies featured in the exhibition, three projects exemplify the collaborative spirit that defines this approach to architecture. The Child and Family Care Centers in Rwanda, implemented between 2012-2014 by ASA Studio (Active Social Architecture), represents one of UNICEF Rwanda's flagship projects. Co-founded by Nerea Amorós Elorduy and Tomà Berlanda, the Kigali-based studio designed and constructed nine early childhood and family development centers for UNICEF and the Rwandan Government.
These centers are conceived as material and systemic ecosystems that balance the relationship between communities and their environment, integrating seamlessly with Rwanda's physical and cultural landscape. The conceptual design approach relies on two fundamental pillars: the role of a central space as a catalyst for community gathering and the implementation of a modular structure adapted to different terrains and situations. The project employs a concatenated and incremental modular system using local materials to address the climatic and topographic challenges of Rwanda's geography.
The CEM Kamanar Secondary School in Senegal, designed by dawoffice and funded by Foundawtion, demonstrates another successful model of architectural cooperation. Located in Thionck Essyl, this school for 500 students emerged from a 2014 meeting in Barcelona between architects David García and Aina Tugores and local authorities seeking to address overcrowding at the area's only existing secondary school. Under the motto "Let's make school," the project was designed not only to provide education but also to serve as a training ground for local masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other professionals.
Throughout the construction process, 164 community members participated directly in the project, which also received the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture in the 2020-2022 cycle. The school utilizes local materials and techniques, primarily clay in compressed earth blocks, to ensure climatic comfort. This technique enables the development of catenary vaults, a geometry that works entirely in compression and maximizes the use of local materials. The modular design allows for flexible expansion according to future needs, with trees organizing spaces and accompanying courtyards and plazas.
The third highlighted project, "Houses Free of Indoor Pollution in Remote Rural Areas of Nepal," represents the work of the Awasuka Program, derived from the Nepali Aawas Sudhar Karyakram (Habitat Improvement Program). Since 2011, this program has promoted housing improvements in rural Nepal, focusing on improving living conditions in remote communities by providing technical knowledge related to habitat improvement for safer housing construction.
Since 2019, the program has concentrated on installing improved stoves with chimneys to combat indoor pollution, which according to the World Health Organization causes 24,000 premature deaths annually in Nepal. The program has scientifically evaluated the installed stoves with the aim of influencing public policy and promoting long-term solutions. These studies have been presented at health conferences to demonstrate how improved stoves contribute to efficient and economical solutions while addressing multiple Sustainable Development Goals including health, poverty reduction, gender equality, and climate action.
According to curator Josep Ferrando, the selection of cooperation projects was based primarily on the relevance of each initiative's social impact, the degree of active community participation, and their value as examples of collaborative work between architects and citizens. The diversity of contexts and scales was also considered to reflect different modes of cooperation and highlight the collective nature of these endeavors.
The exhibition emphasizes that cooperation extends beyond acts of generosity to represent a call to awareness for those who believe in human dignity. While cooperation projects work to dignify individual lives, global transformation represents a collective challenge that requires sustained effort and collaboration across borders, cultures, and professional disciplines. Through showcasing these exemplary projects, "Architecture is Cooperation" demonstrates how thoughtful, community-centered design can address some of the world's most pressing challenges while respecting local contexts and empowering communities to build better futures.
