Material for regeneration

Architect Olga Subirós is researcher and curator of the long-running exhibition ‘Matter Matters. Designing with the world’ at the Barcelona Design Museum (DHub). She advocates a radical transformation of production models in the context of the climate emergency.

Matter is extremely important. With its mass and volume, it makes up our planet Earth. Every material choice made by design and architecture professionals counts. When designing and introducing it into production and transformation systems, it affects the balance or imbalance of the complex ecosystem in which we live.

Olga Subirós’ exhibition analyses the relationship between design and matter, marked by the legacy of colonialism, extractivism and mass consumption. In a context of climate emergency, it proposes a transition towards a regenerative model that promotes design practices committed to the restoration of the planet. There are 700 pieces by more than 200 professionals from the fields of design, architecture, research and art, both national and international, where traditional methods and proposals for the future coexist.

Olga Subirós is a curator and PhD researcher at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia. Her practice, developed under the concept of Displaying Emergency, explores the interconnected impact of datafication, ecological emergency and social change through exhibitions, installations and public programmes that encourage critical thinking and cultural transformation. In this interview, she discusses and exemplifies the search for strategies and resources for ecosystem regeneration.

The word sustainability is used for everything today. What would you say is its most authentic meaning and what is its scope?

“Authentic sustainability cannot be reduced to a label or market strategy. It involves a radical transformation of ways of life, economic models and production systems. The exhibition Matter Matters shows this from the perspective of materiality. An example in architecture is the use of cork in the Reggio School in Madrid in Spain (designed by Andrés Jaque/Office for Political Innovation), which not only provides thermal insulation with a material that is not of petrochemical origin, but its use on the facade also allows microbial life to grow, creating an architecture in symbiosis with the environment.”

As curator of ‘Matter Matters’, you note the exhaustion of the extractivist model. How would you describe the current state of the planet?

“We are at an eco-social turning point. The extractivist logic has reached its limit and its consequences are clear to see: we witness climate emergency, loss of biodiversity and structural pollution. In the exhibition, Joanie Lemercier's audiovisual work Slow Violence highlights this with the destruction of the Hambach forest 40 km from Cologne in Germany to extract coal. The mine and the power stations surrounding it are the most polluted place in Europe. This type of destruction challenges us directly.”

What strategies should architecture and design adopt now?

“We must move towards models that not only reduce impact, but also regenerate ecosystems. This is reflected in projects such as the 6HPP Santa Eugènia social housing block on the Spanish island Mallorca, by Carles Oliver and Xim Moyá. There, local materials such as marés stone (Ed.: a kind of sandstone) are used in walls, recycled wood in beams and Posidonia (Ed.: a kind of ‘seagrass’) insulation, reducing the ecological footprint without compromising architectural quality. It is a clear example of how architecture can be low-emission, regenerative, ecological and socially just.”

Should we move towards strict regulation of material extraction?

“Yes, but the solution is not only technical or legislative. It is also cultural. There is a lack of awareness and knowledge about the origin of the objects we use. The exhibition features the installation ‘Materia Situada’ (Situated Matter), which examines 20 everyday objects purchased in Barcelona, highlighting the link between materials, extraction and environmental justice. For example, the exhibition includes the Fairphone mobile phone, whose cobalt is certified as fairly mined by Faircobalt.”

In the transition to a regenerative model, what immediate steps should the sector take?

“Designing ‘with’ the world means working from a perspective of interdependence, care and regeneration. For example, the La Borda de Lacol project in Barcelona - a cooperative housing building constructed in CLT (cross-laminated timber) - demonstrates how CO₂ emissions can be reduced by 65% simply through the choice of material.”

“Designing ‘with’ the world also means integrating local knowledge and valuing the life cycles of objects and spaces. Architecture can be regenerative not only from an environmental point of view, but also socially and emotionally. A significant example is the renovation of the Sala Beckett in Barcelona by the Flores y Prats studio, which recovers materials and traces from the original building to preserve the collective memory of the neighbourhood. This type of intervention brings an emotional dimension to design, which is key to building a lasting and responsible bond with the environments we inhabit.”

What are the main alternative proposals in these ‘new ways of designing with the world’, taking into account the impact on humans and non-humans?

“Some proposals work with cultivated biomaterials such as mycelium or bacterial cellulose, such as Geo-Llum, a prototype public lighting fixture created from geobacteria that produces electricity without energy consumption. Other examples, such as Sara González de Ubieta's experimental footwear, explore living materials such as scoby fungus and algae, demonstrating a practice that not only minimises impact but also establishes alliances with life.”

The title of the exhibition is based on the slogan ‘Matter Matters’ by philosopher and physicist Karen Barad, who posits that matter should be understood as a dynamic and relational reality. Could you expand on this concept and where her proposals take us?

“Karen Barad invites us to think of matter as something active, with agency, in constant relation with other forms of life and with environments. The exhibition is based on this approach: matter is not only displayed, but activated as a discursive agent. For example, Strata Incognita by Grandeza Studio confronts us with the ground as a living space, populated by millions of organisms, where our waste, if not toxic, can be composted and is part of the planetary metabolism.”

The exhibition highlights the DHub's historical collections and brings them into dialogue with contemporary design to reflect on the past, present and future. What lessons do you draw from this dialogue?

“The dialogue reveals how design has been part of extractivist and colonial processes, and how we can critically reactivate them today. A clear example is how the use of exotic woods such as ebony, sourced from colonised territories, contributed to deforestation and the devastation of ecosystems. This history contrasts with current practices of using local wood and with contemporary pieces that revalue materials considered ‘imperfect’. The exhibition thus allows us to reinterpret heritage from a situated, ecological and decolonial perspective.”

The exhibition is part of Barcelona's World Architecture Capital 2026. What should we demand and expect from this event?

“We must demand that 2026 is not just a symbolic celebration, but a moment of transformation. Barcelona must lead the way in architecture committed to climate and social justice. The exhibition launches this call with the installation ‘Hyperobjects’, which opens with a large 20-metre-wide window overlooking the city. The city is a hyperobject designed by humanity that does not ‘fit’ in the exhibition.”

What are the major challenges facing cities in the 21st century?

“In fact, cities are where the main challenges of the 21st century are concentrated: emissions, resource consumption, inequalities... They must become infrastructures for care and regeneration. In Matter Matters, the installation Red Smokes by El Último Grito reminds us that we are living in a systemic crisis, but also in a space where we can rethink everything.”

Considering that more than half of the world's population already lives in urban environments, and that this figure is expected to rise, what do architecture and urban planning propose to solve this problem?

“Uncontrolled urban growth has created heat islands, segregation, and massive consumption of energy and materials. The exhibition presents alternatives such as 10k House by architects Takk, which proposes low-cost, low-impact solutions in domestic architecture, or the use of local materials in 6HPP Santa Eugènia, which I mentioned earlier. The key is to work from a local and regenerative perspective.”