Architecture & Environment: Anna Devís & Daniel Rueda

Anna and Daniel are two Valencian architects who have joined their passion for photography and design to show us cities from another point of view. Their work teaches us to see things from another perspective, they inspire change.

What does creativity and design mean to you?

For us, they are invariably two sides of the same coin, we don't understand one without the other! We could say that a design is successful when it solves the problem it had to solve in a simple, straightforward and aesthetic way, and to get to that point we believe that creativity is absolutely essential. 

What part of a city is your favorite one?

What a difficult question! And even more so since every city is unique. The fact is that our way of perceiving the city and our work always go hand in hand. That's why it's so difficult for us to choose. 

We spend the whole day looking at possible locations for our images. We like large projects where the scale can even displace you a bit. But we also like day-to-day architecture, the one you see every morning on your way to work. 

For us the challenge is not so much in the place itself, but in trying to reinterpret through our photographs a space intended for purposes totally different from the use that our imagination gives it.

Architecture is the basis of your work, how would you like the cities of the future to be like?  

We can all agree that the city of the future should be more accessible, quieter, and less polluting. By this we mean that in the city of the future we will walk more and choose better the vehicles that take us where our feet cannot. 

But, personally, we believe that there is another more specific type of pollution that should also be taken into account when designing new cities or improving existing ones: visual pollution. And it is not only the task of architects and urban planners to improve the design of buildings and the rest of the urban elements with which we co-inhabit cities. 

It is also our responsibility to learn to value and care for them as they deserve. Only if we care about the cities we live in today, one day we’ll live in the city we all dream of.  

We understand that your creativity and taste for design is your lifestyle, do you apply it to all your daily situations?  

We try to! For us, good design is a source of happiness, and being surrounded by beauty and functionality is something that puts us in a very good mood. Sometimes it's not easy because not all areas of life have the same possibilities, but whenever possible we try to find attractive and interesting solutions for even the smallest problems. In this way, even the most trivial daily tasks can brighten one's day.

How important is the relationship between creativity and the change we need on the planet?  

Undoubtedly, we face a huge challenge as a species. A challenge so great that good intentions and the individual actions of the most aware and informed will not be enough, but will require the involvement of each and every one of us. 

And it is clear that to solve the problem we will need creative minds with revolutionary ideas. 

However, to put them into action it will be a sine qua non condition that we all understand the seriousness of the problem and the need for a major change. It is not for us to say, but perhaps it is a question of not continuing to repeat the same doomsday messages that remind us of the planet we are going to leave behind if we do nothing, but also of offering a message of hope and illusion inspired by the city of the future that we can achieve in exchange for a small effort.

What inspires you the most (in general terms)? (People, buildings, books, colors, etc).  

Although photography and architecture are the two main pillars on which our work is based on, when we look for inspiration we don't usually turn to photographers or architects. It is with illustrators that we feel most identified.

After all, like their work, our photographs also begin with a sketch of just a few lines. So, although one's work is obviously never the result of a single source of inspiration, it is true that we find the infinite possibilities that fit on a blank sheet of paper particularly stimulating.

If you had a loudspeaker to shout one thing to the world, what would you say?  

That we should shout less and listen more, but we wouldn't say it too loudly ;). We have motives to believe that the reason we often fail to get those who think differently from us to understand us is because we haven't bothered to understand their point of view in the first place. 

We believe that by understanding where their beliefs come from or why they think the way they think we will be able to find better arguments to express our position. 

If you could only choose one color, what would it be? and, why?  

Black, without a doubt. Although we love our work to be colorful and rich in shades, for the rest black is the color we gravitate towards by default. So much so that one of the two of us has been wearing this color in his daily life for years. We're not going to tell you who, that's for you to find out for yourselves!

Thanks @anniset and @drcuerda for inspiring change!