A new way of making commercially-worthless ceramic tiles profitable
 

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We have spoken with Architec Enrique Fernández-Vivancos about LifeCersuds Drainage System

LC. What does it mean for you to undertake a project of the characteristics of LIFE CERSUDS? Have you welcomed it with satisfaction, with uncertainty, what has it meant to you? 
EFV. LIFE CERSUDS brings us closer to a new and exciting way of working that I hope will consolidate in the future. The architect is currently involved in the design of a project by applying solutions and materials provided by industry or technical research, to respond to the specific needs of a developer through proposals that are finally implemented by a builder. In contrast, in LIFE CERSUDS all these actors who usually act separately: architect, industry, research institutes, promoter and builder, work together from the outset with a shared objective oriented towards the common good. In this case, this objective is the adaptation of cities to climate change as an overarching theme for projects financed by the European Union's LIFE programme.

LC.Technically, which or what are the most important challenges it has posed to you?
EFV. The project proposes the possibility of using the stock of ceramic tiles of low commercial value, forming recycled ceramic pavers that due to their high water permeability can be used in the urbanization projects of the public space associated with an urban sustainable drainage system SUDS. These drainage systems allow the recovery of the hydrological behaviour of the soil prior to urbanization, decreasing the risk of flooding, reducing CO₂ emissions associated with paving and possibly contributing to reduce the urban warming effect known as "heat island". As can be seen from this complex description, the objectives are ambitious, but the fundamental challenge is to achieve them by means of technical solutions that are simple enough to be applicable in other interventions with the usual budgets for this type of action. In fact, the project will be replicated in the cities of Aveiro (Portugal) and Fiorano (Italy).

LC. Before this installation, how do you think the citizens and the thousands of tourists who visit Benicàssim every year will react (a municipality that hosts international events such as renowned music festivals: the International Festival of Benicàssim (FIB), the Rototom Sunsplash, the Francisco Tárrega competition for classical guitar, just to name a few of the events it hosts)?
In my opinion, ceramics is at the same time a material that is associated with the traditional and contemporary, so that it is usually closer to the citizenry than other alternatives. On the other hand, the proposal is based on environmental values, such as those explained above, and social values such as improving accessibility in the urban environment or creating suitable places in the city to stay and rest, not just for mobility. In any case, one of the main objectives of the project is to know the opinion of the citizens and learn from it.

LC.What can architecture do to help combat the negative effects of climate change?
EFV. It may sound obvious, but the first step would be the recovery of common sense that leads to doing what is necessary using only the essential resources, if we look around us it is evident that this attitude is not as frequent as it should be. From this point on, if we take into account that forecasts indicate that in the coming decades the majority of the world's population will live in cities, it is clear that urban planning and architecture will play a decisive role in global strategies to face the climate change. The recovery of buildings and infrastructure in disuse, the return to the life forms of the compact city, the reconquest of public space as a social place, the promotion of soft mobility, the improvement of the energetic behaviour of buildings, are some of the lines of work that are currently being carried out.
 
LC. If you had superpowers and in an instant you could make an ideal city appear, what would it be like?
EFV. American critic Lewis Mumford said that life is better than utopia. That's why my ideal city is an impossible mix of the cities I've lived in and been happy in. It would have something from Granada and Venice that combines the solidity of the past and the extraordinary of its territory, but also from Helsinki and Valencia that share a strong dynamic character and an optimistic attitude towards the future. 

LC. And what would your ideal house be like?
EFV. We architects like to remember that Leon Battista Alberti thought in which he spoke of the city as a big house and the house as a small city. So continuing with the previous reasoning about the utopian city my ideal home is another impossible mix between the house of my childhood and the house my dreams.

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