Architecture students from 22 countries carry out thirty projects based on the ‘Benidorm model’

The nearly 500 architecture students from more than twenty European countries who have met at the 44th annual meeting of the European Assembly of Architecture Students (EASA) will develop up to thirty projects, as well as workshops, ephemeral constructions, audiovisual projections, talks and interactions with citizens and the urban fabric until next Saturday, August 10, the day of its official closing. The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, together with the councillor for Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles and other members of the municipal Corporation, visited this Monday the Mestre Gaspar López public school, where the operations centre is located, to learn first-hand about some of the activities that are being developed within this ‘EASA Shanzai’.

‘EASA Shanzai’ is the name that the organisers have given to the event, based on the Chinese term ‘Shanzai’, which means ‘fortified mountain’ but which has evolved to represent a unique style of production, copying and adaptation in various industries, from electronics to fashion or pop culture. And, in the field of urban planning, the spirit of the assembly “aims to follow the example of those students who 50 years ago went to Las Vegas to learn about the American city, exploring the landscape of Benidorm and delving into its sustainability strategies and the various urban scenes it has”, as explained by the organisers.

During the visit to the facilities where this meeting of young Architecture students is taking place, the members of the organising team have accompanied the councillors on a route in which they have been able to witness some of the constructions that have been carried out in the courtyards of this school and, in addition, during the next few days they will go out to explore the urban fabric. Among them, some boats built with different types of recycled materials; a solar cooker; a cart where ice cream is made in an artisanal way; a huge bubble; as well as some brick constructions made with the idea that they remain stable in the courtyard of Mestre Gaspar López.

Mayor Toni Pérez has described this meeting as a “wonderful experience that EASA has proposed for Benidorm, with nearly 500 young architecture lovers from 22 countries who have come to the city to learn about our model, our ecosystem, the sustainability of the city”. Regarding this visit, Pérez has indicated that “we have come to learn from them, to know how to understand the planet, life, social relations,… with these young people who have many concerns and who have been able to build a city and an ecosystem in itself”.

The mayor recalled that “EASA has been promoting these meetings for many years, it has done so in large capitals mainly in Europe and now they do it with us where they share their model of life”. Toni Pérez is confident that, “just as they have already transformed the school, we hope that this assembly will encourage new experiences of habitability, of sharing spaces and that this will permeate the city with all the activities that are being carried out there.”

All the activities that are being carried out will culminate this Saturday, August 10, during the closing ceremony of the event, which will include a surprise experience in the Plaza de SS MM los Reyes de España.
EASA has been holding its assemblies for 43 years and has its origins after the teachers' strike that occurred in Liverpool in 1981. At that time, a group of Architecture students organized themselves to begin developing activities outside the school, the idea took shape and grew and today it unites students from many European and Latin American countries until it has become the largest in Europe. This is the second time in 43 years that this assembly has been held in Spain and the first time in the Valencian Community. Representatives from all member countries will meet in Turkey next September to decide where the 45th annual meeting will take place.