SYMMETRIES is a platform led by Iñaqui Carnicero, Jacobo García-Germán and José María Sánchez and a set of initiatives devoted to think about the dialogue between past and present in the urban structures of cities with a Roman origin. SYMMETRIES draws links between places, institutions and universities from Spain and the rest of Europe with the common argument of architectural education. The result of this initiative is holding Workshops + Congresses with architects and architecture students.

SYMMETRIES can be framed within the growing interest and concern for the heritage aspects of architecture and the city, particularly in the context of the crisis of the prevailing urban models that has become so evident in the Spanish context of the last two decades making a reconsideration of old urban fabrics something relevant as an area of reflection with renewed interest.

The ability to intervene in the problems and opportunities offered by the contemporary city from within the study of the ancient city appears as a privileged frame of work for architects and students due to at least two apparent conflicts: first the constant decoupling between the need for preservation of many historic cores and the programmatic requirements imposed on these towards a proper functional performance (traffic, tourism, housing, etc.). Second, the constant dialectic between visions that value the freezing of historic cities in their current configuration against those who advocate for a continuous transformation, in order to adapt to ever-changing demands.

These concerns, coupled with the necessary containment in new construction investment required in the medium-term future due to the current economic crisis, which in turn will increase the importance of the disciplines of conservation and restoration, require a platform tuned with the University and architectural education able to creatively tackle these issues. A platform dedicated to thinking about the city of tomorrow from within the past, implement flexible learning formats and recover for architects and students a fascination with the past, understood as a privileged mechanism for reading the contemporary city.

Last Call: 26 January 2012
More Information: www.symmetries.com