In September and October 1971, Instant City was built in Ibiza, next to Cala Sant Miquel, and in just one month. This inflatable, colorful and ephemeral city, designed by the architects Carlos Ferrater, Fernando Bendito and José Miguel de Prada, and made of plastic fabric, has remained in the memory as an example of collective architecture. It was an alternative expression, typical of the hippie era, a unique contribution of design to young culture, as was the music at the festivals held in Woodstock or the Isle of Wight.
52 years later, the spirit of the Instant City is now alive in Menorca, adapted to the 21st century. Between July 18 and 25, a structure inspired by the tensegrity of the American Buckminster Fuller was erected in Son Aiet, near Ciutadella, with the competition of a small group of students. In other words, a light work of wood, with vaults and based on a basic geometry, conceived as a general rehearsal for another one of larger dimensions that will be proposed to be erected in Menorca in a year’s time. Also during the aforementioned days, and under the motto “A structure for a settlement”, a program of conferences has been offered, by architects such as Ignacio Paricio, Jordi Garcès or Lluís Clotet.
Carlos Ferrater, who has been another of the speakers and promotes the initiative through the Fundació Pavelló de Son Aiet, frames this project in a restlessness that is no longer related to those of the hippies, but to others more typical of the conjuncture current, such as healthy eating and spatial planning. Its ultimate purpose is the defense of vegetable gardens, a widespread system in Menorca which, in its opinion, is at the base of zero kilometer food, and is now threatened by new territorial plans.
Along these lines, a congress is also being organized there that will bring together, in 2024, nutritionists from all over the world, to discuss their priorities and, in passing, to claim the productive system of the “gardens”. Ferrater aims, in this way, to combine in a single initiative the commitment to territorial planning, healthy nutrition, education and sustainability.
