Apparata

For SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, nearly 100 architects, designers, and creative practitioners from around the world present groundbreaking works and ideas in Chicago. Represented across these practices are a diverse set of perspectives, each responding to the profound cultural, social, and environmental transformations shaping our world. As the opening of SHIFT draws near, the Biennial launches a series of curated features introducing these studios, beginning with the architectural practices of APPARATA (@apparata_studio ), Balparda Brunel Oficina de Arquitectura (@bboarq ), and SO–IL (@solidobjectives ). Each of these studios contribute distinctive, multifaceted approaches and innovative solutions to the evolving discourses surrounding collective housing, consistently demonstrating profound consideration of natural resources and environmental impacts in their practices. From APPARATA’s socially engaged, materially conscious projects, BBOA’s multiscalar investigations into housing grounded in Latin American contexts, and SO–IL’s transformative civic and cultural interventions that synthesize craft with a global vision, each studio reflects a shared commitment to employing architecture as a means of reimagining space, society, and human relationships with the environment. Images: 1. APPARATA, “A House for Artists,” 2021. Photo: Johan Dehlin; 2. APPARATA, Astrid Smitham and Nicholas Lobo Brennan; 3. Balparda Brunel Oficina de Arquitectura, Morrison, 2020. Photo: Javier Agustín Rojas; 4. Balparda Brunel Oficina de Arquitectura, team portrait; 5. SO–IL, “450 Warren,” 2022. Photo: Iwan Baan; 6. SO–IL, team portrait. #CAB6 #SHIFT2025 #chicagoarchitecturebiennial

🌟 A House For Artists by @apparata_studio - Finalist in the new construction category This work brings together twelve social housing units for artists and their families in London. It includes a workspace and a community art space open to the public, programmed by the residents themselves. The shared spaces, including landings, are designed as places to dwell, wherein each element has multiple functions (the window sill is a seat, the lift lobby can be used for shared meals). Even the most banal space can become domestic, intimate, collective, social. 🏠 Adaptability is provided at multiple levels: for the resident in their home, for the social landlord to adapt apartment sizes, through adaptability to a hotter climate using passive approaches to shading and cooling, and through adaptability of the building as a whole to change function entirely, decades into the future. 🔗 Find out more about the finalists of the first edition of the European Collective Housing Award at the link in the biography. 📸 Martina Ferrera, Johan Dehlin, David Grandorge, Apparata #EuropeanCollectiveHousingAward #HousingAward #Award #Housing #Vivienda #ViviendaColectiva #Premio #London #AHouseforArtists #Apparata #ApparataStudio #arcenreve #eai_iae_ #Euskadi #France #Europe

BEACON: Bradford City of Culture 2025 Shortlisted Entry w/APPARATA @apparata_studio @structure.workshop The project learns from Bradford’s past and present, its working people’s history and its diasporic communities to create an architecture that is inviting, intuitive, informal, useful and open. Based around a public “Alinda”, or veranda, of semi-outdoor space, the Bradford Beacon inverts the idea of the traditional performance spaces to face outwards rather than inwards. The project, which moves easily to different sites, is a contemporary take on the mobile theatricality of British funfairs and intricately painted Pakistani trucks, combined with low carbon construction techniques for an era of climate uncertainty. An Icon for Bradford:The Beacon is visible from a distance, memorable and characterful. The facade, which plays with colour and shape, will be developed together with local community groups. The installation itself, is quick enough to become a performance in itself. The structure integrates fabric borrows ideas around looms from across the world to create safely moving parts that allow the structure to be completely transformed several times a day for different kinds of events. The project envisions Beacon to act as a social condenser – a melting pot of culture, debate and equal representation that glows with the light brought by the people. The primary objective of a social condenser is to affect the design of public spaces, with a view of deconstructing perceived social hierarchies in an effort to create socially equitable spaces. As a beacon of culture and representation the venue will emanate its values through cohabitation and colours representing the different communities.

Please come down for Open House Festival! 16th September 2023 Drop-in between 2-6pm for architecture talks, family workshops, food and music! Link in the bio @opencity_uk @ahouseforartists @createlondon @mayorofldn @lbbdcouncil See open house website for more detail. Photo #DavidGrandorge

We are incredibly honoured that House For Artists has been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, the Stephen Lawrence Prize, and the Neave Brown Award for Housing @riba , and are incredibly thankful to all of those involved, especially the residents and community. The photo here shows the convivial facade of A House For Artists with loggias and patio in the sky. Photo by @stale_eriksen Thank you to to our incredible clients @lbbdcouncil , project co-commissioned by @createlondon , delivered by @befirstregeneration and supported by the @mayorofldn . With the incredible project ambassador @alanmeasles ! @ahouseforartists ! And to our team: #MenziesConsultants #ExpeditionEngineering @maxfordhamllp #arteliagroup #MLMGroup #goddardconsulting @murphy.group #Apparata #AHouseForArtists #HouseForArtists #StephenLawrencePrize #NeaveBrownAward #StirlingPrize