Our masters course has taken shape over the years, evolving in format, staff and curriculum since its inception in 2004. The now official course, originally titled Master of Cooperation in Architecture, was founded by Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi, principals of New York’s SLO Architecture. Just last week, Urban Omnibus published an interview highlighting Schachter and Levi’s latest work, a series of long-term projects along the Bronx River Greenway, that brings together local youths, university students and experts to realize investigations and interventions along the Bronx River.
At the beginning of the interview Amanda talks about how she and Alexander started out and mentions their work as professors of our masters course at Barcelona’s ESARQ-UIC:
We both graduated from architecture school in 1996 and after about a year working in New York, we felt that Spain was where things were happening, where architecture was being made. We ended up living and working in Spain for ten years, five years working for other people, and then five years teaching graduate and undergraduate students in the “Cooperation and Architecture” programs at ESARQ-UIC in Barcelona. The focus was social action: bringing design students and residents of Barcelona’s marginalized neighborhoods together to work on long-term projects. A major characteristic of our work is spending long periods of time with others to get something done; nothing can be done in a moment.
Make sure to read the full article for more about their latest projects, the Bronx River Crossing and Bronx River Right-of-Way.