Politics of Fabrications Laboratory (PFL) is a research-through-design initiative which explores the changing political implications of material experimentation when applied to the construction of public urban space.

PFL 1 – (1-12.08.2011) – Ciudad Abierta, Valparaiso, Chile
In 2011, the first of PFL Workshop took place in Ciudad Abierta (Open City) in Valparaiso (Chile), where we will be experimenting with architectural structures in wood. The Ciudad Abierta is an inspiring initiative promoted by a group of artists, poets and architects who looked for an alternative way of living in a vast landscape of dunes facing the ocean. Led by architect Alberto Cruz and poet Godofredo Lommi, the city was founded in 1971 as an open site that included residences for artists and architects and the Architecture School of the Catholic University in Valparaiso. Students and residents have built their constructions in the city as a way of linking poetry and space ever since. Long crossings along the territory, poetic acts and collaborative gatherings have been the basis of each construction foundation in this magical city. Ciudad Abierta is still in continuous expansion and configures one of the most intriguing landscapes of experimental architecture in the world.

PFL 2 – (6-17.08.2012) – CUJAE, Havana, Cuba
The second stop was in the University of Havana, Cuba (CUJAE). The pearl of the Antilles, the city of infinite wealth in the colonial world, is now a rotting paradise looking for a new future, but it still seduces by demonstrating its otherness within the global condition. Havana traps its visitors in an intense tapestry of smell and touch that allows a different vantage point from which to redefine our idea of material expression. From this point we started opening up ideas for new constructions in the public space of the university