Underground Matters. Invisible Architectures - Future | Presentation + Route

Underground Matters. Invisible Architectures is a program consisting of three sessions combining talks and visits, each focused on a temporal dimension —past, present, and future— to understand the role of the underground in shaping the contemporary city. Each session proposes a transversal and accessible approach, with contributions from different disciplines that provide knowledge and context, complemented by guided visits that allow participants to directly experience these spaces.

This third and final session focuses on the future, highlighting the strategic role of the underground in urban regeneration and in addressing major contemporary challenges, particularly climate change.

The session begins with a series of short talks lasting approximately one hour, designed for a general audience and approached from a multidisciplinary perspective. The presentations will address the underground from different fields —such as urban policy, geography, engineering, and architecture— offering diverse and complementary perspectives. Participants will include Jean-Louis Missika, political scientist; Francesc Muñoz, geographer; Joan Geli, engineer; and architects Maria Buhigas, Rosina Vinyes-Ballbé, Elisabeth Ulrika Sjödahl and Alberto Reques.

This will be followed by a series of visits that allow for a deeper exploration of the topics through direct experience: the underground facilities of the Poblenou Audiovisual Campus (UPF), the Districlima energy plant, and the service galleries of the MediaTIC building, where the session will conclude.

Please note: due to the nature of some of the visits, attendees who have safety footwear are advised to wear it.

Framed by the question “What is the value of the underground in the future city and architecture?”, the talks and visits invite reflection on questions such as:

• What future strategies do cities propose in relation to the underground?
• How have underground spaces been reused in other urban contexts, such as Paris?
• What relationship exists between landscape and the underground?
• Who owns the underground and how is it managed?
• What could be the future uses of the urban underground?
• How can underground infrastructures generate new urban dynamics, for example around metro stations?
• How can service networks be organized more efficiently beneath the streets?
• What are heating and cooling networks, and how do they operate in contexts such as the 22@ district?

Original idea, concept, and development: Rosina Vinyes-Ballbé (ETSAB-UPC), Marc Chalamanch, and Carmen Santana (Archikubik).

Collaborator and communications manager: Arnau Jaume Parés (Architecture student at ETSAB).

Acknowledgements: to the 21 speakers who join us, and to the 9 institutions/organizations that open the doors to their invisible architectures.