Agreement

This Framework Collaboration Agreement springs from the mutual desire of the Cultural Affairs Agency of the Government of Navarre and the Fundación Arquitectura y Sociedad to act jointly so that the Foundation may pursue its aims in Navarre, in Spain, and in the world.

Both parties wish to cooperate in the organising and carrying out of diverse cultural events, such as the World Architecture and Society Congress, and prizegivings, exhibitions, and seminars, some of which will take place within or otherwise touch upon the territory of Navarre.

A Foundation for Study with a Global Scope

It is a wonderful idea to have a foundation for analysing, reflecting upon, and making proposals for architecture and its ultimate aim, which is to serve society.
 
Architecture and society are the two basic concepts that explain its aim of opening new paths between two realities that can never be disassociated, and indeed, from whose conjunction and harmonisation there may arise important innovations.
 
Architecture –regarded since classical antiquity as one of the six fine arts– has always been a manifest element of the culture, the society, and the civilization from which is springs, a symbol that has retained its power and relevance over time, speaking eloquently of each era, each style, and each trend.

That is why architecture is more valuable to the extent that it most faithfully represents the values of the society in which it is made. And that value is greater still if we are not speaking of the architecture of times past, but rather the architecture of the future, within the framework of human prospects, and of the better world to which we all aspire for the coming generations.

In the design of this new foundation launched by the Navarrese architect Patxi Mangado, I notice two features which strike me as especially important. One is the interest in addressing architecture in the Third World, projecting our ideas and our focus beyond the cities and buildings of the town or the country in which we live, and to other countries and other latitudes, where people's needs are more pressing than our own. Our world is one, global and interconnected, and that is how we must experience it, feeling a commitment to the needy wherever they, are and acting accordingly, in the spirit of generosity and solidarity, as the Foundation proposes.

And the second especially noteworthy aspect is the international nature and scope of a foundation based in and native to Navarre. I aver that this is deeply satisfying to the citizens of our region, who for a long time have taken a keen interest in architecture, both as symbol and as practical reality. This should lead us to support the Foundation as a platform open to valuable contributions, and to leading figures in different professions, from different countries, and with different ways of thinking and creating.

Miguel Sanz Sesma
President of the Government of Navarra