Reading Room

The Basque Country Architecture Institute ‘becomes’ a library with the arrival of the itinerant installation Reading Room, a space that collects and maps innovative publishing projects by emerging architecture studios in Europe.

More than 70 publications from more than 25 European countries, in the form of books, magazines, fanzines, independent publications and experimental formats, make up a catalogue of works that address various urgent issues in the global architectural debate, such as the relationship between city and people, where new forms of participation and collaborative projects are explored; the links between the city and responsibility, to reflect on how we contribute to our living environments; the confluence between the city and technology and the challenges this poses; or delve into the imaginaries and aesthetics of cities. 

The pieces designed by Itinerant Office complete the installation by exhibiting this large editorial catalogue and give the proposal an itinerant and mouldable character that allows the installation to be adapted to any environment. They are modules composed of prefabricated and industrialised base elements, domestic and common, deliberately personalised through the designed pieces. Each includes different arrangements and textures to display the selection of publications categorised by their respective editorial formats: a drawer unit that includes the books; zig-zag magazine rack trays that include magazines and other periodical formats; and perforated sheet steel surfaces that display fanzines and other small publications.

Both the selection of publications and the exhibition itself are the result of the current edition of the New Generation Festival, which is still ongoing (2020-22) under the name ‘New Urban Challenges’. After its inauguration in June 2021 at the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome and its visit to Florence, it can now be visited in the Basque Country until 1 May. 

This new itinerancy has the support of the Dutch Embassy in Spain, thanks to which the Basque Country Architecture Institute will have two guests who will adress the project through conferences on 28 and 29 April. They are Donna Van Milligen Bielke, founder of Studio Donna Van Milligen Bielke, and Elma Van Boxel, co-founder of ZUS. Both have a publication in Reading Room:  ‘In Between, the urban architecture of Donna van Milligen Bielke’ (2019) and ‘City of Permanent Temporarity Incomplete & Unfinished’ (2019), respectively. More information coming soon.

Check the selection of publications.