Capital Reform

Designed and curated by Carlos Mombiela , Alejandro Caraballo, Nicolás Martín and Carlos Rebolo, the exhibition Capital Reform will be open to the public from 21 April to 20 June 2025 on the Miguel Fisac floor of the headquarters of the Official College of Architects of Madrid. Diseñada y comisariada por Alejandro Caraballo, Nicolás Martín, Carlos Mombiela y Carlos Rebolo, la exposición Capital Reform se podrá visitar desde el 21 de abril al 20 de junio de 2025 en la planta Miguel Fisac de la sede del Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid. In Spain, the accumulation of regressive economic cycles over recent decades has led to both a reduction in the scale of projects that young (and not so young) architects can aspire to and a growing mistrust in the discipline's ability to tackle the major challenges of the present. However, it is precisely in the field of housing, one of the open political and economic fronts of our time, that a new generation has managed to demonstrate its ability to reformulate everyday space. For architects who took their first professional steps after the outbreak of the 2008 crisis, small-scale intervention, particularly in the domestic sphere, has become the central focus of their practice. Particularly in the Spanish capital, with its considerable existing housing stock, home renovation is the means by which architects are offering a more local and user-friendly version of the profession, in contrast to the maximalist visions of the past. Renovation is thus proving to be a bridge between crucial contemporary debates: from adapting to new lifestyles and family structures to incorporating gender perspectives into home design, not to mention optimising existing buildings for sustainable purposes.