This article examines the concept of pre-design as a preliminary phase of a research-by-design methodology. The aim is to reveal the importance of this first stage in the development of an architectural project process and to provide new information on the relationships that occur with the rest of the design phases and, ultimately, with the final design result. The research is carried out experimentally through on-site action in a post-disaster environment. The case study took place in the town of Chamanga, Ecuador, after the seismic event of 2016, which required a reconstruction process. The situation was conducive to applying pre-design methods and reflecting on the results. The research results highlight the importance of establishing the criteria for action and how these must be selected based on successive 'observation-projection' iterations. It also shows how the pre-design is already a determining part of the final design due to the decisions taken during the process. This research contributes to identifying the variables and characteristics of a pre-design phase and provides new insights into understanding the architectural project as a research process.

El bloque hueco de hormigón nace a mediados del siglo XIX como una alternativa económica al sillar de piedra natural. Con tan humilde origen, el bloque se ennoblece poco a poco de la mano de célebres arquitectos como Frank Lloyd Wright, primero, o Louis I. Kahn, Aldo van Eyck y Herman Hertzberger, después. El presente artículo recorre el camino que dignifica el bloque de hormigón desde su inicial carácter imitativo hasta su normalización constructiva; para atribuirle finalmente, reducido ya a su forma esencial, funciones relevantes e incluso simbólicas.

Purpose: City planning and construction have embraced circular economy principles, converting them into various indicators. Particularly in the European context, the question “what architecture for circularity?” is answered with policies focusing on techniques, materials and disassembling construction. This paper analyzes a new approach to sustainable design and explores the concept of Km0 architecture. The objective is to demonstrate the design strategies of a contemporary architecture based on local resources and knowledge, an architecture that works with the shortest possible loop in circularity, i.e. with the cycle that consumes the least amount of energy.Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents two ways of understanding sustainability in architecture: the first as a result of policies and the second associated with the design and innovative-based New European Bauhaus initiative. Within the scope of this last understanding, the authors analyze three cases on the Spanish Mediterranean coast that have recently received media attention and prominence. The selection responds to a specific climate adaption through a certain typological and functional diversity of the works.Findings: The studied cases exhibit a more equitable and cost-effective circularity based on the time factor, have long life-cycle designs and serve as repositories of cultural identity. Km0 architecture reduces emissions using local resources and mitigates environmental conditions by combining traditional and modern design strategies.Originality/value: This paper fulfills an identified need to study the local understandings of the built environment that would ensure a more fair and inclusive European green transformation.

Este estudio explora la compleja interacción entre tiempo y espacio en el contexto de la reconstrucción post-desastre e introduce una perspectiva novedosa que trasciende las concepciones estáticas tradicionales asociadas con la arquitectura y la planificación urbana. A través de un análisis multiescala que integra dimensiones temporales (memoria, observación y proyección) con escalas espaciales que van desde edificaciones individuales hasta el tejido urbano más amplio, los resultados muestran que la reconstrucción no es meramente un proceso de reconstrucción física, sino también un acto de resignificar y reinterpretar el tiempo y el espacio. Se introduce el concepto de “tiempo cero” como un momento de estasis que precede a la reconstrucción, mientras que el “movimiento” se analiza como una metáfora del viaje hacia una renovada armonía espacial y social. Este artículo destaca la influencia mutua entre las prácticas de reconstrucción y las percepciones temporales y espaciales de los individuos, y sugiere enfoques de planificación que valoran la temporalidad y la flexibilidad espacial. Contribuyendo al debate sobre la resiliencia urbana, esta investigación ofrece perspectivas para enfoques de reconstrucción post-desastre sostenibles, inclusivos y arraigados en la comunidad.

In 1962 Umberto Eco published Opera aperta, an essaydevoted to the analysis of the relationship addresser – addresseethrough the artwork, in accordance with the philosophicalthought of the moment. The transfer to architecture,from a semantic perspective, did not take long to come,and several consequences of this new understanding ofthe discipline can be highlighted in the theoretical and thepractical fields. Driven by the economic and productiveconditions, works were ascribed to a systematic nature ofthe project, where the indeterminacy of form enlarged thestudy of its possibilities. This article analyses this fact throughthree case studies: The Venice Hospital project, by LeCorbusier and Guillermo Jullian de la Fuente, the Universityof Toulouse-Le-Mirail constructed by the team Candilis-Josic-Woods, and the Alison and Peter Smithson’s Kuwaiturban studies and government offices.