A new issue of the COAC's magazine Quaderns d'Arquitectura i Urbanisme has been published and is now available to members at the various Association offices. Issue number 272 is entitled Cosmetic Techniques. Edited by architects Nuria Casais and Ferran Grau, the new issue of Quaderns explores the cosmetic management of architectural language in a European context, comparing the concepts of order and ornament.

Issue 272 of Quaderns sets out to analyse different cosmetic techniques (Kipnis) through a critical cross-examination on three levels, corresponding to the three stages of a project. Firstly, it addresses the current state of "the face of the European city" – built, rebuilt and transformed. This chapter features ten urban chronicles based on an interpretation of five European cities: London (Guillermo López), Paris (Enric Llorach), Milan (Matilde Cassani), Copenhagen (Nuria Casais and Ferran Grau), and Zurich (André Bideau). In this section, three projects in London (Group Work + Amin Taha), Paris (Eric Lapierre Experience) and Milan (OMA) illustrate urban faces of the contemporary European context.

Secondly, "Surface and Depth" discusses the definition of architectural objects by analysing the concept of artifice, both from an external viewpoint of architecture (Pep Avilés) and the perspective of public interior architecture (Mark Pimlott). The pairing of the MCBA (Barozzi Veiga) and the FRAME (Bruther + Baukunst) showcases the surface and depth of two apparently opposing projects.

In digital zoom format, "The Fragment and the Whole" studies architectural fragments while simultaneously considering the identity of the whole. "Expanded Materiality" by Javier García-Germán and Miquel Rodríguez studies the act of construction as the foundation of architectural identity, while "Three-Dimensional Poems" by David Bestué considers the fact that "matter is the boundary between the mental and the physical". The transformation and expansion of two houses exemplifies a present-day material debate: Villa Hammer (by Herzog de Meuron and Sauter von Moos), and Mas JEC (by Aixopluc).

Finally, in the form of an epilogue there is an interview with three architectural practices who share the common denominator of operating abroad from their offices in Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona: Estar, Barozzi Veiga and Addenda.

Quaderns at home
You can pick up this issue of Quaderns from our various Association branches, or ask us to send you a copy along with your next order to La Cooperativa Jordi Capell.

Next issue
The next issue of the magazine will be produced by the winning teams of the competition run last year [2] by the Association: Josep Ferrando and Marta Poch.