Pulp fiction

The concept of the workshop was to develop 6 fields of play directed by 6 teams so as to produce a reflection around and on the new lines of thought in contemporary architecture and the contemporary position of the architect in this socio-cultural scenario. A mix between reflection and playing games, thought and action. A hybrid that mixes critics and actions. Finally, a critical action.

We had less than 48 hours to energetically produce a critical and propositive action.

An action-production whose definition was to be open to the individual criteria of the 6 invited production and thought groups, and that could be developed as a punctual action, as an active object , as a giant map or any special or material form of manipulation that activates the positive-critical reflection of the spectator.

The answer was to be festive and/or ludicrous. The aim was to answer the question posed through a process of “productive games”, both intense and rapid (object, action or installation) and to occupy or, in any case, transform a space inside IAAC (6 simultaneous spaces, like a multi-track circus).

The invited teams: 6 fields, 6 teams:

José Maria Torres Nadal and Antonio Sanmartín

Josep Maria Garcia Cors

Juan Alfonso Zapata

Studio G – Mathilde Marengo, Jeannette Sordi and Anna Varaldo

Joan Maroto, Lis Marrani and Ana Martinez

Luciana Asinari and Silvia Brandi

The structures and performances were presented on the 28th through an itinerant multi ring circus presentation party.

Axel Sowa spoke first, with a 5 part presentation revolving around 5 different re-positions in architectural theory history relevant to understand today’s re-position. The division in 5 parts was not a casual choice, as Candide itself is divided into 5 sections: Analysis, Essay, Project, Encounter and Fiction.

But before starting with the 5 parts, Axel spoke briefly about the concept of Re-positioning…In Architecture, theory often deals with the origins, or the myth of this discipline, Architecture Magazines offer a break from this means of dealing with theory…

1_Re-postionaing materials and the making of Architecture.

With industrialization in the 30s architecture is in some way marginalized and therefore is forced to re-postion itself with respect to industrial production. In a way, the Advanced Architecture of the 30s was cast-iron Architecture.
Two main magazines of interest of this period, that both depict this situation well: The Builder, presented in a weekly paper format, that aimed to create a community in which to share knowledge in a neutral way, presenting a new idea of building professional knowledge for architects in the form of a trade magazine; and Le Génie Civil, that, in its first edition, presented the Ecole Centrale, a school that provided its students with a new idea of empirical knowledge.

2_Re-positioning the Future.

This is clearly based on the idea that there is a future, linked with the ideas of making plans, a key element to architecture, which is in some ways a kind of utopian element. Here Axel spoke about Esprit Nouveau by Le Corbusier, a man who built himself as an architect using the media. He was a networker. Le Corbusier presented a 3D version of his magazine, the ”Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau“, at the Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs of 1925. He produced this pavillion as a space projected towards the future, but also a space to advertise his magazine.

3_Re-positioning Affinity.

After the 50s, the first period of modern architecture, a series of “family magazines” that is a magazine based on a network of friends. The magazine becomes a sort of family album, a form of elective affinity, such as Team 10 (Smithson) or Archigram. The later has a very playful relation to the media, preenting the idea of the family as a kind of instant pleasure, there is no tolerance for the long run.

4_Re-positioning the Discipline.

Here Axel spoke of his experience at L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui where they reconsidered the discipline in a moment in which the star system was starting to flail, focusing on which might be the problems of the next 20 years, such as: Financing, presenting a research on what you can obtain for 1000euro/m2 around the globe; or aging, Europe is an aging continent, how do people live in their space, and how one can make design inclusive…

5_Re-positioning Knowledge.

In this moment Axel invited us to think about the position of journals and magazines in our time, and also to reflect on Architecture theory…is it a science?

For Axel Architecture theory is: first of all an encyclopaedic discipline, rooted in literary traditions and customs; it is constantly evolving; as an academic discipline, it can not rely on commonly accepted methods; and it stimulates curiosity and engenders the construction of questions.

Candide is a direct reference to Voltaire, and even more so to its full title Candide: or, Optimism…Axel is still optimistic, and considers theory crucial in order to produce sound objects.

Ricardo Devesa began his presentation with the Wikipedia definition of Architectural Theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architectural_theory), then asking us to reflect on what it means to build up theory from an architectural magazine. He developed his position through 4 editorial experiences.

1_Quaderns.

Every issue was a different topic revolving around contemporary issues. How do we theorize…through current projects, a conceptual theory frame, links with other disciplines…

2_Verb, Architectural Boogazine.

What is the best way to show and write about a project…photography and manipulation, or extra information added, no longer using common photographic techniques…What does the building mean to the consumer?

3_Basa.

How can we theorize a context, like that of the Canary Islands…How to understand an ultra peripheral territory? How to study this touristic architecture in a cultural way? Why does this architecture work in this context? Through photographs these questions find their answers.

4_DC Papers.

A more scientific academic approach…

In the end the 4 experiences define 4 positions, that can be related to the positions proposed by Axel: Quaderns re-positions the future, Verb re-positions affinities, Basa re-positions the discipline, and DC Papers re-positions knowledge.

Candide and DC Papers are both online journals revolving around the concept of questioning and communicating architectural knowledge.

Ten years after the appearance of the Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture IAAC boosts The Green Dictionary, an ambitious multi-format project (print and digital) focused on sustainable development issues, energy self-sufficiency , creative management of resources, innovation and interaction with the environment, recycling and urban renaturation, sensitive contexts, intelligent cities, relational spaces, active natures, permaculture and more.
The Green Dictionary will be a collective effort boost by IAAC involving recognized experts, IAAC current students and the big IAAC alumni community, collaborative international research units and new incentives and energies.

The presentation was divided into 3 parts:

1. The short film “Codigo 7” by Nacho Vigalondo
2. The presentation of a built project through 6 conditions
3. The project of the Centro de Salud San Martin by Pedro Urzáiz and Carlos Pérez-Pla

Part 1: Codigo 7

A man wakes up in the morning and makes coffee, not knowing who is trapped in a virtual reality world or discover his true identity. The same scene is then depicted with 3 different narrations resulting finally in three different stories…which one was true? Does it matter?

Vigalondo famous trilogy, whose first delivery was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 3rd edition of Nodofilmfest.com.

Part 2: The presentation of a built project through 6 conditions

The six conditions presented were the diagram, the program, the material, the floor plan, the cross section, and a construction detail.

How one perceives an architecture, or an architectural element, and the relations between these, their organization, the friction between these, and the margin of error, all contribute to a diverse and ever changing tale or story.

Part 3:Centro de Salud San Martin by Pedro Urzáiz and Carlos Pérez-Pla

Finally, after having heard the tale of the Centro through the diagram, program, material, floor plan, cross section, and detail, we were able to really visualize the project and understand the concept of a non-linear description, resulting in an interesting debate on how far one can push this non-linear way of thinking in architecture.

The lecture was presented in four parts:

I. DUALITIES AND DICHOTOMIES: DIVISIONS, OPPOSITIONS  AND CONTRAPOSITIONS

II. A RECURSIVE DIAGRAM: LOST PARADISE, LATENT PARADISE, FORBIDDEN PARADISE, THE LOST PARADISE / THE LALTENT PARADISE/ THE FORBIDDEN PARADISE (OR THE HELL)

III. HYBRID SCENARIOS: COUPLING, HYBRIDIZATION AND PARADOXES IN ARCHITECTURE AND THE CONTEMPORARY CITY

IV. RETURNING TO…BEAUTY AND/IS THE BEAST…A HYBRID UNIVERSE.

I. DUALITIES AND DICHOTOMIES

DIVISIONS, OPPOSITIONS  AND CONTRAPOSITIONS

The dichotomous division has been at the root of most logical and explorative approaches of reality (classical or modern, symbolic or rational) and refers to a set – or system – of dual categories that divide it on opposite sides and are subject to an antagonistic bipartition.

Dichotomous thought, in this sense, builds a classification method in which hierarchical divisions and subdivisions typically include two parts, two sections, two elements, ie only two mutually exclusive sides..

The dichotomous division is directly associated with dualism as a doctrine that affirms the existence of two separate and antagonistic principles – opposing faced and confronted – and also, in a broader sense, essentially different orders:

Ideal and real, material and spiritual, nature and culture (art), physical order and moral order,

Reason and emotion (sense and sensibility), even and odd, positive and negative, good and evil,

… Masculine and feminine, etc.

Also in the architectonical and traditional logic

the spatial order would be divided in typologic, dichotomic and deterministic taxonomies.

– “up and down”

– “horizontal and vertical”

– “exterior and interior”

– “figure and ground”

– “volume and surface”

– “city and territory”

– “natural and artificial”

– “architecture and landscape”

– “landscape and infrastructure”

– “infrastructure and architecture”

– “skin and structure”, etc.

Then going on to elaborate Film dichotomies depending on a recursive pattern, Film paradigms.

II. A RECURSIVE DIAGRAM

LOST PARADISE, LATENT PARADISE, FORBIDDEN PARADISE

THE LOST PARADISE / THE LALTENT PARADISE/ THE FORBIDDEN PARADISE (OR THE HELL)

Scenarios and recursive schemes that lead to the emancipation/regeneration (through mutation or metamorphosis) of the “monster” (the threat) or to its disappearance (death and/or elimination)

> dissolution of the danger or threat of mix, impurity or “pollution”

RECURSIVE SCHEME

1–Woman –beauty,  young–  presented in the city ( reassuring scenario > the civilisated, the artificial, the human (ARS)

2– Travel –mandatory and initiation– to the nature: fear and fascination (the strange, the sublime, the wild nature (NATUS)

3– Discovery of the dwelling or fortress of the beast

(mysterious, remote, inaccessible, forbidden… lost paradise…)

4–Appearance and meeting of the being… the monster or the beast

(mysterious, monstrosity, wildness, supernatural, strange, threatening, etc.)

5– Horror and terror, aversion and repulsion, fear and/or rejection.

6– Kidnap and abduction: resistance

7– Forced Retention and mandatory coexistence. Initial rejection, resignation and adaptation.

The monster (the beast) in hia “hábitat”, latent paradise…

8– Approach (subtle and/or explicit). Complicity and gallantry

9–Wish and attraction. Seduction. Temptation and union attempt

> danger of mixture or crossing, of contagion, ”corruption” and/or “pollution”(impurity).

Attempt usually frustrated

10– Outcome: crisis and catharsis. Rupture of the “spell”.

Redemption or disappearance  of the being (or sublimation) by:

– regeneration and metamorphosis / tranfiguration of the monster –towards the normalized

– or dead, liberation and elimination of the threat…and of the forbidden paradise…)

END. Recodification of the ancient dichotomic essences: towards the normalized

(interdiction of monsters generation: impure hybrids)

III. HYBRID SCENARIOS

COUPLING, HYBRIDIZATION AND PARADOXES IN ARCHITECTURE AND THE CONTEMPORARY CITY

Beauty and the Beast as a paradigm of dualities. This is expressed in particular through the fear of particular couples, unconventional unions, that is hybrids. These hybrids or unconventional couples, that often are consequent to some form of mutation, are considered forbidden, consequently implying some form of punishment. In architecture there are often mixes, or hybrids. In this sense, these hybrids become operative paradoxes.

Beauty and the Beast depicts this particular paradigm, as, finally, the Beast holds all the elements of Beauty, the Beast is a hybrid himself, a mixture, he is not the contraposition of Beauty, he is simply complex and irregular, as in the open logic environment conditions:

Dynamism  (Evolution), Complexity (Simultaneity), Diversity (Plurality), Transversality (Connectivity), Interaction (Interchange)

>>>> Open logic

>>>> Informational order

>>>> Extroverted shape

IV. RETURNING TO…

BEAUTY AND/IS THE BEAST…A HYBRID UNIVERSE.

The Beast is, finally, both:

human (rational, sensible)  and animal (irrational, brute)

civilizated (educated,“artificial”) and savage (uneducated, “natural”)

attractive (elegant) and repulsive (rude, deformed)

normal (quotidian) and unusual (strange)

positive (right, generous) and negative (twisted, selfish)

pure (innocent, noble) and impure (perverse, sinuous)

is also

sophisticated and primitive

pleasant and unpleasant

welcoming and horrible

reassuring and threatening

predictable and unpredictable

tolerant and despotic

conventional and heterodox

sensible and fearsome

good and bad

Beast is a mixture

is an hybrid… a crossing…

a impure being… because of complex and irregular

rather than because of perverse o perverted…

This lecture culminated with a revisitation of the tale of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, in an advanced

Manuel believes that in the last 20 years a new way of thinking has emerged, that is a new operative logic, associated to a new territory of research, or “mental map”, through more open ways of conceiving and organizing the dynamics and irregularities of space. Hence thinking with a more effective spatial formulation and communication, being less prejudiced and more relational with respect to its information (intended in the wider sense, that is as an active vector of exchange).

A new relational and “informational” logic ultimately connected with the understanding of our environment, hence of the dynamic systems and their relative irregular structures, capable of combining, through links, multiple events and heterogeneous processes (for example complex energies) contingently activated and concurred in the same field of action and vibration.

In particular, the debate touched a series of topics, or doubts arisen during Manuel’s research, that are to be the theme for the students’ next research exercise (The man with x-ray eyes):

1_ Are we working with a new architectural logic – a new thought – or just with new technological tools?

2_ Are we in a new cultural time – informational – or even in a predominantly post-modern culture?

3_ Can we really speak of a “new architecture” – complex, advanced, interactive, informational, etc. – or are we just assisting to the wrinkling, the folding – the mannerist warp – of the modern and post-modern architectures?

4_ Can we detect, in “these new operational logics”, a propositive-critical attitude towards the system –radicalism, rebellious, alternative, etc.- or just a propositive-conformist attitude (and / or collaborationist) with the system? (operational-optimism vs. fresh-conservatism?)

5_ What differences of modern radical avant-garde of the 60’s (alternative) to the advanced innovation (reactive) of the 2000′s (strategic)?

6_ Can we talk about a shared and cultural adventure and research in recent architecture or just about a combination (a sum) of individual trajectories?

7_ If we can speak of a same relational logic … why join Greg Lynn – or Hernan Alonso for example – to Lacaton-Vassal … or MVRDV?

8_ What differentiates the anticipatory explorations (heterodoxes) of the radical modern architecture to the pioneering explorations (heterotopics) of the “informational” advanced architecture?

These doubts brought forth interesting thoughts, and other doubts or questions…

→Does Grasshopper bring us to design a process rather than a building?

→Can we design a process without formalization/ a formal concept?

→How abstract is the process?

→Are we inventing logics according to our tools?

→Does Advanced Architecture create tools that improve humanity? How much do these benefit our society?

→If post-modern architecture is a gesture, calligraphy; is advanced architecture a movement, trajectories in space, the strategy of a process?

→If modern architecture is about structure, is advanced architecture about infrastructure?

→If complexity is a contradiction in modern architecture, is it a symbiosis in advanced architecture?

… and many more.

All of this was topped off with a series of images, diagrams, maps and plans allowing us to complete the theoretical concepts with visual information.

With some seemingly innocent questions on the Architect Mediator we aimed to establish a strong position.
What is the architect’s position nowadays?
Between what information is it located?
What exactly does this translate into?

Through the presentation of post-tweets, an intellectual positioning from non conventional routes of theory, we mapped out what, collectively, we feel is an architect today, generating an intense debate around this theme.

The map revealed diverse individual concepts (post-tweets) that cluster around common themes (selected keywords) forming densities of ideas and generating an overall view, and our answer to those seemingly innocent questions.