Internalities
MUHBA Oliva Artés
Barcelona, ES
2026
Internalities, co-curated by Manuel Bouzas and Roi Salgueiro, represented Spain at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2025. The exhibition has since toured Spain, arriving at Barcelona’s MUHBA Oliva Artés in 2026, as part of the UIA International Congress of Architecture. The exhibition explores how architects can (and must) minimize the environmental externalities associated with production processes in order to move toward the decarbonization of construction. Internalities highlights the work of a new generation of Spanish architects whose practices are characterized by the use of local, regenerative, and low-carbon-footprint resources. Collectively, they contribute to deepening the regional ecologies of materials such as wood, stone, and earth, as well as the forests, quarries, and soils from which they come. These works thus generate new territorial balances and develop new agreements between ecologies and economies.
The term Internality stands in contrast to the notion of Externality. The latter was coined in 1920 by economist Arthur Pigou and refers to the environmental repercussions that are not accounted for in standard production processes. The construction sector generates externalities when we extract Materials, burn Energy, displace local Labor, generate Residues, and release Emissions. These externalities create a serious imbalance between the buildings we construct and the territories we impact. Combined, they account for 37% of global CO₂ emissions. Fostering Internalities is a radical way to drastically cut this percentage.
The exhibition brings together a central installation, Balance, and five complementary research projects. Through 16 scales presenting 16 recent architectural works, Balance demonstrates approaches to reducing carbon emissions and restoring territorial balance in Spain. The research projects examine five themes—Materials, Energy, Labor, Residues, and Emissions—across five Spanish regions. Each pairs local architects and photographers to investigate a particular territory and resource, grounding the exhibition’s argument in specific landscapes and practices.
︎︎︎For more info: www.internalities.eu
Curators:
Roi Salgueiro
Manuel Bouzas
Commissioner:
MIVAU Government of Spain, AC/E.
In collaboration with:
Council of Barcelona, Generalitat de Catalunya, AECID, FINSA, Arquia Foundation, IAAC,
Contributors:
Abalo Alonso, Natura Futura, Bamba Studio, BeAr, Bosch. Capdeferro, Branco del Río, Camps Felip Arquitecturia, López Rivera, H arquitectes, Isla, Josep Ferrando, Pedro García, Mar Puig, Manel Casellas, KAUH, Munarq, Peris+Toral, Sergio Sebastián, TAKK, Ted’A, Daniel Ibáñez, Carla Ferrer, María Azkarate, Aurora Armental, Stefano Ciurlo, Luis Díaz Díaz, Anna Bach, Eugeni Bach, Caterina Barjau, Lucas Muñoz, Ana Amado, Carles Oliver, David Mayol, Milena Villalba,
Visual Identity:
Miguel Angel Quiroga
Photographer:
Luis Díaz Díaz
