The article presents the findings of a research project that focuses on the role of rural areas as key players in addressing the current climate emergency. The article addresses the challenge of a just energy transition by examining the obstacles to the implementation of renewable energy infrastructure. The investigation is situated within the context of Galicia, a rural region in the northwest of Spain. The study conducted an extensive review of the literature, surveys, and interviews, which revealed a significant gap between local communities and planning decisions to be one of the primary obstacles to a just transition. In light of these findings, the research puts forth an integrated planning methodology founded on social and metabolic principles. This methodology investigates the communal management of energy resources with the objective of improving local welfare and integrating this into the planning process. This methodology proposes a series of steps and associated tools for the analysis of the potential for local energy generation using biomass, hydropower, solar, and wind infrastructures. Landscape and social considerations are articulated through continuous community engagement. The energy generation capacity will be used as a catalyst to address the most pressing issues and to improve living conditions in rural areas. The article confirms the need for a holistic approach to energy infrastructures, paying particular attention to landscape integration and endogenous development.

The proposal is to analyse critically the development of the Workshop, an educational space shared by several subjects in the Architecture Degree, during the first five years of implementation in the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de la Universidade da Coruña (ETSAC). Specifically focused in the second course and from the point of view of the Architecture Project subjects, has the Workshop improved the training of the project? An analysis of the different teaching methodologies implemented is carried out, as well as of the diverse approaches of the student’s works, of the internal functioning and the management of the teaching staff, of the variations in the contribution of all the subjects involved, of the connections and overlapping with the own subject’s workshop, of the student learning and academic performance obtained. The difference between what is stated in the Study Plan and what is happening in the classroom day by day. Se propone realizar un análisis critico del desarrollo del Taller, un espacio de enseñanza compartido por varias asignaturas, en el Grado en Arquitectura durante sus cinco primeros años de funcionamiento en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de la Universidade da Coruña (ETSAC). Específicamente centrado en el segundo curso, y desde la perspectiva de las asignaturas de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, ¿el Taller ha mejorado la enseñanza del proyecto? Se analizan las diferentes metodologías docentes empleadas, los enfoques de los trabajos desarrollados por el alumnado, el funcionamiento interno y gestión de los diferentes equipos docentes, variaciones en el aporte de cada una de las asignaturas implicadas, conexiones y solapamientos con el taller propio de cada asignatura, el aprendizaje del alumnado y los resultados académicos obtenidos. Se visibilizará la diferencia entre lo escrito en el Plan de Estudios y aquello que sucede en el día a día del aula.

Se analizan los proyectos arquitectónicos relacionados con el paisaje natural en los que Jorge Oteiza participó, junto a distintos arquitectos, a lo largo de los años cincuenta. El punto de partida es el estudio que realiza sobre el paisaje en su libro Interpretación estética de la estatuaria megalítica americana (1952), estableciendo relación con el Monumento al prisionero político desconocido. A continuación, desde el material conservado en su archivo personal, estudiamos su intervención en la basílica de Aránzazu y en el proyecto para una capilla del Camino de Santiago, confrontándose las diferentes reflexiones de Oteiza sobre el lugar de estos proyectos arquitectónicos, que se conectan con la lectura del libro Saber ver la arquitectura de Bruno Zevi. Su trabajo en los montes de Aguiña (Navarra), con el arquitecto Luis Vallet, es la clave para entender su evolución escultórica y arquitectónica. Establece una nueva relación con el paisaje en el que se plantea el proyecto, produciéndose un avance en sus ideas espaciales, que se reflejaron en sus esculturas, escritos y proyectos arquitectónicos posteriores. Oteiza se sirve de experiencias y cuestiones arquitectónicas para definir la relación con el paisaje natural en el que trabaja. Además, se establecen relaciones con obras de land art, como por ejemplo de Richard Serra, entendiendo alguno de estos proyectos como precedentes.

Interview with the Indian architect Anupama Kundoo who develops her practice, research, and teaching in a strongly interconnected way. Her works starts from two principles: the low impact for the environment of her proposals and the strong contention that she establishes with the socioeconomic context in which they are. Besides, she has developed her work in different cultural contexts around the world, which gives a wide view to the issues of contemporary architecture. From this point of view, Kundoo reflects a necessary approach of understanding Architecture that, ten years after the global economic crisis, moves away from the positions of the start architect system and faces the profession’s future from her personal attitude.

Different economic and social crises in recent decades in Spain have driven alternative models of access and housing production to the conventional ones promoted by the inhabitants. This paper conducts an exploratory study to define the historical framework in which these phenomena appear and establish a classification according to their main characteristics. Through a review of specialised literature, the fundamental concepts necessary for an initial categorisation of these processes have been selected. It has been concluded that there are two fundamental categories: one seeking a solution to emergency situations and the other seeking consolidation over time. The most representative cases have been selected to illustrate the different categories through an online search and visits to four of these projects. This analysis aims to fill a gap in the knowledge of the current Spanish housing system, related mainly to the form of tenure of main-dwelling, concerning these alternative models, which could allow the development of new measures to correct existing problems.