MUGAK Biennial will analyse new housing models as an answer to population ageing

2017 October 13

• The seminar will take place in San Sebastian on the 9th and 10th of November and focus on architecture from the point of view of life expectancy improvement.
• In parallel, architect Paz Martín will present an exhibition with her research project called ‘ageINg’.

The I International Architecture Biennial MUGAK, which will take place in San Sebastian from the 6th of November to the 31st of January, will discuss the challenges and needs posed by population ageing in the area of housing. It will also study different residential alternatives and new housing models for older social groups.

The seminar, jointly organised by the San Sebastian City Council and the Matia Gerontology Institute, the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the Basque Country University - UPV/EHU and the Biennial MUGAK, aims to analyse housing from different points of view in the social context of a progressively ageing population.

The Mayor of San Sebastian, Eneko Goia, and the Biennial Curator, Pedro Astigarraga, formalised in a meeting the inclusion of this Seminar in the official programme of MUGAK and set its date for the 9th and 10th of November.

The Seminar, entitled ‘Houses in an Ageing Society’, will discuss many different aspects such as: the adaptation of permanent residences, new collaborative living models, the need for housing policy planning to include the diversity of the elderly population, the different ageing processes, architectural obstacles, urban planning in the framework of an increasingly higher life expectancy, frailty or dependence as a barrier, etc.

Different lectures and round tables, professionals and experts will analyse the evolution of housing models in Europe, the significance of a having a home in the old age, as well as the need for Architecture to adapt to demographic and social changes. They will also study collaborative housing projects and the legal and financial instruments in force to adapt housing stock to demographic change. 

On the second day, the housing model for the elderly in the Nordic Countries as well as the works and reflections of the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the Basque Country University - UPV on housing and ageing will be presented. Finally, public housing policies and social housing for an ageing society will be addressed.

Noteworthy lecturers will attend the Seminar, such as the architect Marc De Rooij, who will speak about the importance of architecture in demographic change, and the architect Lone Sigbrand from the Aalborg University (Denmark), an expert on care facilities design for people with dementia. The list of speakers also includes Paz Martín, Pablo García Astrain, Andrés Labella, Alex Mitxelena, Heitor García Lantarón, Mayte Sancho and Diego Herranz.

Exhibition 'ageINg'

Parallel to the Seminar, the Koldo Mitxelena Cultural Centre will host the exhibition ‘ageINg’, a research project by the architect Paz Martín.

The Mayor of San Sebastian, Eneko Goia, explained that the inclusion of this Seminar in the Biennial “derives from a working line promoted by the City in their programme ‘Donostia Lagunkoia’, aimed at fostering a friendly city for the elderly”.

Goia considers it 'appropriate and necessary that architects and experts discuss, analyse and propose solutions for urban planning and city generation from that point of view'. 'This in-depth-analysis in the framework of the Architecture Biennial can consolidate housing solutions for the next 20 to 30 years', he added.

The MUGAK programme will be announced next week on the Biennial's website and on social media: Facebook, Twitter (@MUGAKbienal) and Instagram (@MUGAKBienal).