Architectuul.

Engaged Village Architecture

Fri, 10 Jun 2022 15:26:37 +0200

SKROZ attracted attention for the first time with the first prize in the competition for the City Library in Labin. Another interesting projects are the Chickenville Farm and the Eco Farm of Black Slavonian Pigs. We discussed about their typologies and concepts.

SKROZ Animulor.

How do you with a time distance look at your first commission, a competition project for the City Library in Labin?

SKROZ: The project for the City Library in Labin was designed by a group of authors. Some of them, Margita Grubiša, Marin Jelčić and Ivana Žalac are the part of today’s SKROZ office, the three other involved colleagues were Igor Presečan, Zvonimir Kralj and the designer Damir Gamulin. The whole project documentation as well as construction came very soon after the competition. As we were very young architects we were instantly thrown into real life of architecture and became part of difficult negotiations with building conservators, contractors who had no sensibility for architectural heritage preservation and the investor the City of Labin.

The project for the city library in Labin. | Photo © Ivan Dorotić

The whole project was under immense public pressure and extremely short deadlines. Today, when we are looking back at that whole situation, considering the years and experience that we had, we are actually very pleased with the achieved results. We have put a lot of energy and effort into this project and happily managed to achieve good results. The whole concept was to emphasise the old atmosphere of the building and to maintain the strong contrast of spaces - from the marble hall that used to be sort of salary hall to the modest bathroom of the miners. We knew the project succeeded once we received touching feedback from the miners who once worked there.

How does the client influence the social context of the architecture?
SKROZ: As architects we have a huge responsibility towards society so we definitely try to tackle social components in any project we do. In our opinion, most of the projects could be socially engaged, no matter the content and the type of the client. For example, tourism projects, which are very common private projects in Croatia, could give back to community adding the value by using the benefits of surrounding cultural area, using local stories and local resources and by introducing the benefits of the surroundings (including local producers) to the future customer. In such way tourism not solely exploits the location, but acts as a mediator to upgrade the life quality within the community.

Unfortunately, this kind of scenarios are rather rare, and usually the guests/ users of these spaces dictate the direction of the development. However, there are some shiny examples of socially engaged private projects/investors. One of such projects is for sure Chickenville, which came out of plain wish of the investor to educate the kids in the rural area about chickens, so in the project we managed to merge tourism, education and production-farming. In addition, that same investor built a hall for everything, which in the end became not only private space but also space for community activities.

Of course, in the case of the public investor such as the city, bigger emphasis is put on the social quality of the project and it is easier to achieve it by providing spaces specifically intended for the community (eg. City stairs). In this case it is very important to include the citizens into decision making process in order to achieve greater social impact and overall satisfaction.

Does socially engaged architecture need a wealthy investor?
Socially engaged architecture does not necessarily need a wealthy investor, but the one that is prepared to look at things from a different perspective and add an extra value to the project.

Pedestrian connection between the city waterfront and the city of Ploče in Croatia. | Photo © Marko Mihajlević

There are individuals who are intentionally or unintentionally willing to rise the entire community with their spirit and enthusiasm. Usually, this kind of people do not consider only personal interests and are well aware of benefits of prosperity of the entire community.

We have learned this on the example of our dear friend and investor with whom we have been cooperating for many years. Cooperation started in 2004 with the construction of a small kindergarten, followed with an open-air park - that he was happy to make accessible to the public for local performances and shows, then a small hotel - where we materialised intangible heritage - a chicken coop intended for the education of children and our latest project, a multifunctional hall next to the park where children exercise and have rolling school but it is also intended for private festivities. In short, during 15 years period, together with us he managed to create a complex that resembles and serves as a small community centre.

How do you form a team of collaborators when designing a project?
SKROZ: Team of collaborators depend upon the type of project that we work on and we certainly try to keep team interdisciplinary. Designers, artists as well as landscape architects are very common collaborators in almost all of our projects. Diversity in team is very important as we believe that different point of view is necessary and can upgrade the project especially in specific typologies.

Chickenville - why, how, who?
SKROZ: Over the course of years we had a very successful collaboration with our client Željko Franja were we managed to achieve trust and confidence in our design. As it all happens by chance, he talked one day with his nephews and realised a fact that in spite of living in rural area kids are not familiar with eggs and chickens and where they come from.

Chickenville is a unique chicken coop project located in a small village near Samobor, Croatia. | Photo © Dorotić+Bosnić (up) & Ervin Husedžinović (below)

Therefore, Željko decided to build an organic egg farm where kids form the kindergarten and schools could come and learn about the processes involved in egg production. There were lot of challenges in this project combining two ambivalent functions such as children education and farming, accomplishing the highest standards of eco-farming with limited budget, designing attractive complex that would bring visitors to the small village. The most important task of all was to achieve maximum respect for function, which we achieved through building the units that follow the strict parameters and regulations on eco-friendly poultry farming, providing chickens with proper accommodation and optimise the farmers’ work.

Being not only an eco friendly farm, but a tourist-educational site as well, the settlement is introducing visitors to chicken raising. | Photo © Dorotić+Bosnić

How to design for animals?
SKROZ: Designing settlements for animals does not differ a lot from designing housing for human user. Animals have their own needs, hierarchy and structure that have to be respected, so everything could function without too much stress for animals. It is a great challenge to master a new topic that one is not familiar with. In general, the farm must function as a perfect machine tailored to the needs of animals, but also ensure easy breeding and maintenance and have good ventilation and lighting. We are trying to satisfy all these parameters through architecture and design without introducing expensive technology.

How to look at the architecture in the contemporary village?
SKROZ: In general, context is very much important for us in our design. For understanding the village and its architecture we are learning from the past, later then applying that knowledge to become an inspiration for a twist in contemporary architecture rather than just a plain replica of rural architecture. In addition, our interventions, set in rural environment are smaller in scale so they can be almost merged within the current rural context.

Eco Farm of Black Slavonian Pigs - why, how, who?
SKROZ: Sin ravnice, our future to be clients, were searching for a suitable architect to design their Eco Farm of Black Slavonian Pigs. After they saw our Chickenville project they contacted us and as our client would say the rest is history!

Stables in the farm are always open. | Photo © Dorotić+Bosnić

At that time, their farm has been existed for several years during which they have bred these interesting autochthonous Croatian pigs completely in the open, since they are resistant species that do not need any shelter. Yet as the market needs grew, so did the farm. The client has soon realised that they need some form of controlled breeding. The initial project brief required accommodation for 400 pigs. For us this was the first encounter with the pig farm project and we saw it both as a huge and fun challenge.

An important factor in choosing the material was the resistance of the elements in direct contact with animals. | Photo © Dorotić+Bosnić

The priority was to arrange a functional facility and to allow easy breeding, but also a comfortable life for animals. Together with the investor we have managed to optimize the organization of our farm in relation to standard farm projects. Additionally, our intention was to create a building merged with the traditional architecture of the Slavonian region, and to create architecture that naturally inhabits endless Slavonian fields and carries a spirit of traditional Slavonian outbuilding.

SKROZ was founded as a result of a long-term collaboration of Ivana Žalac, Margita Grubiša, Marin Jelčić and Daniela Škarica. | Photo © Sanjion Kaštelan

Kvadrato: Bulid Different

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 10:17:57 +0200

An international conference on sustainable building in all its facets “Build Different” has innumerable touch points: circular economy, the common good, climate crises, the rise of the digital - almost all domains of architecture are being redefined. We will have to build differently.

But what does different architecture look like? Which production models does it follow and how do we make them common practice? All this we discuss right before the opening of Documenta XV with Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal (FR), Andreas Hofer (CH), raumlabor berlin (DE), Atelier Fala (PT), Bauhaus der Erde (DE), Lacol - arquitectura cooperativa (SP), Ruangrupa (ID) and many others as well as students from Kassel, Germany and the whole of Europe.

The conference programme being put together by Kvadrato, an editorial team comprising editors of Architectuul, Domus and Volume and the Department of Buildings Economics at Universität Kassel | Architecture, Urban Planning, Landscape Planning.

Sustainable-Sustainable Architecture

Fri, 27 May 2022 04:54:27 +0200

Critical Concrete is an architectural social initiative in Porto that provides an alternative way of teaching, learning and creating architecture. Through running workshops, summer school programs and combining both theoretical and practical activities, the project fosters sustainability in close collaboration with the community.

Reconstruction of a roof for a vulnerable family in the context of a social project, co-funded by the district municipality of Ramalde. | Photo © Critical Concrete

The founder of Critical Concrete Samuel Kalika studied mathematics and fine arts before he moved to Berlin to coordinate the ZK/U Center for Arts and Urbanistics of Berlin (2011 – 2016). In 2015 he founded Critical Concrete as a socially relevant cultural project, a production centre, platform for makers and locals in a suburb of Porto. Hit by the housing poverty they encountered when scouting for spaces, Samuel and Juliana Trentin — first project coordinator — redesigned the project for it to be a solution to tackle this issue and introduce young people to its reality.

Why have you started Critical Concrete?
Samuel Kalika: I was working in Berlin and as I have beforehand lived in Spain for almost seven years I wanted to start something in the Southern Europe, mostly because the quality of life is better. When I arrived in Porto I wanted to set up an idea of an activation of a project space that could offer possibilities to change the urban environment doing different workshops and programs. Visiting different places in Porto opened a deeper problem, especially the housing opportunities.

House renovation of a vulnerable family in the context of a social project, co-funded by the Esposende Municipality. | Photo © Critical Concrete

Portugal is one of the countries in Europe that has one of the worst conditions when it comes to housing. If we compare in terms of energy poverty, Bulgaria is the worst in Europe and immediately afterwards comes Portugal. A fact that a lot of Portuguese people lives in poverty with problematic housing conditions gave us this push to start this social architecture initiative instead of project space I was mentioning at the very beginning.

Therefore you initiated the idea of social architecture through the educational format?
SK: Our starting point was organising the summer school project, where we kicked out the project with a direct social impact by a crowdfunding the action through an educational format. So the students would pay for the educational format that would cover most of the cost of refurbishment of the sites and mentors’ work.

Participatory design of a public space re-qualification in Apúlia, co-funded by the Esposende Municipality. | Photo © Critical Concrete

Critical Concrete is a practice with the focus in solving different housing problems?
SK: We work within the district municipality to find a family unit that would be in a situation of housing distress. We organise three weeks workshop for the complete refurbishment of the house. Our result is a social and sustainable architecture.

Covid pandemic brought solitude and isolation; how did you work during these times?
SK: Before the pandemic we organised four summer schools from 2016 - 2019, which we stop during the pandemic and move to a long term educational program. We set up a plan of post-graduation course, a kind of a master that last for one year. It is a specialisation program that we set up in collaboration with ESAP (Escola Artistica do Porto) and evaluate the degree.

Carpentry workshop with the Inter-generational University of Ramalde. | Photo © Critical Concrete

Participatory design and construction of outdoor furniture for a community space in Ramalde (Porto). | Photo © Critical Concrete

In such way we developed the theoretical experience of summer school and instead of having an intense hands-on practice in only three, we extended it over six weeks. We still have two workshops, just in longer period of time during the whole year. With online classes we still focus on the idea of the execution of one third theoretical and two third of practical program. In such way a new educational system, our learning platform of sustainability is created as an autonomous project Criti.co.

You are also funding self sufficient projects?
SK: The transition of this work become clear during the pandemic. It was very clear the we need to be more robust if we want to survive. We engage a valid group of people to create a social impact and become an advocative for sustainability.

So you create an open source in collaboration with different partners?
SK: Yes, for sure.

When we talk about Critical Concrete, we talk about new construction materials and prototypes?
SK: This is an ongoing research that we are developing. At our own start we realised how ignorant we were when it comes to use of the sustainable materials. That’s why we started to question ourself the possibility of using such materials as mycelium. Our first insulation prototype was very simple and when we started to work with mycelium we realised how fireproof, how resistant to water and how biodegradable is. We are still testing, working on the prototypes so this is still a research phase that needs more time and money to be fully developed and realised.

Hands-on workshop with the students of Critical Concrete and ESAP’ Sustainable-Sustainable Architecture post-graduation. | Photo © Critical Concrete

What is the importance of self-build projects?
SK: We are using our project space for prototyping. We test anything we would like to apply to a client’s home. The most emblematic test was the asbestos roof of the workshop, which we remove and built a green semi intensive roof. This was a challenge to work with wooden materials. Part of the green roof lay on the new foundation where we used the structure of old tires. We collaborated with organisation dealing with the insolation panels made of corks. There are many small solutions, which shall be discovered, tested and implemented into new solution for better living conditions.

Samuel Kalika is the founder of Critical Concrete. After studying mathematics (BA – Paris VI, 2003) and fine arts (MA – UPV, Valencia & CAFA, Beijing, 2011), Samuel moved to Berlin to coordinate the ZK/U Center for Arts and Urbanistics of Berlin (2011 – 2016). There, he worked mainly around the problematics of sustainability of DIY, placements of artists in non-artistic organisations and coordinated the artistic residency. In parallel, he was developing socially engaged artistic projects 2010. In the continuation of his work at the ZK/U, Samuel founded Critical Concrete in 2015. The intention of the project was to create a socially relevant cultural project, a production centre, platform for makers and locals in a suburb of Porto. Hit by the housing poverty they encountered when scouting for spaces, Samuel and Juliana — first project coordinator — redesigned the project for it to be a solution to tackle this issue, resolve some situation, and sensibilise young people to this hidden reality. On a second stage, the production centre Co-Lateral was opened in September 2016 in the neighbourhood of Francos, in the North West of Porto.

Documenta Urbana: Making Visible

Mon, 23 May 2022 05:19:04 +0200

Documenta Urbana: Making Visible will take place in Kassel during the conference Build Different and the Documenta XV opening week-end. The Summer School harks back to a 1982 project by the sociologist, artist and teacher Lucius Burckhardt. Under the moniker Documenta Urbana: Making visible, he selected 15 problematic locations, all public spaces in Kassel, and invited artists, architects, designers and urbanists to make them visible and reimagine them. Unfortunately, and in spite of a successful campaign at the time, 40 years later most of these locations remain problematic. We will now investigate two of these locations in the centre of Kassel. The Summer School team will collect information, analyse and develop an understanding of what can be done. As a conclusion a set of specific interventions will be elaborated and performed by the team. This will coincide with the opening of Documenta XV.

The Summer School is a full-time, five-day intensive course embedded in the conference “Build Different” comprising a set of design studios, on-site interventions, lectures and parties. Tutors, lecturers and critics include teachers from Kassel University and guests from the Build Different conference.

To apply please send your cv and a 250 words text on why you want to participate (as single pdf file) to: a.dernbach@uni-kassel.de. Deadline is June 1, 12.00 am (CET), noon. Students from all fields of study are welcome.

***

The summer school is free of charge for all participants. It comprises a visit to Documenta XV during the opening week-end as well as a free access to the “Build Different” conference.

As a summer school participant, you are eligible to receive 3 credits in the fields of architecture, landscape planning or urban planning.

All participants will receive free accommodation (as long as beds are available) during the duration of the course (nights from Tuesday to Saturday).

We will do our best to get free accommodation for all applicants (i. e. also students not selected for the summer school), if you also plan to attend the conference. As an applicant you will be able to attend for a reduced ticket price of € 15.

If you do not want to participate in the Summer School, but still would like to attend the conference, you are very welcome. Please go to kvadrato.org to register.

For more information or questions please contact Ann-Kathrin Dernbach (a.dernbach@uni-kassel.de), Fachgebiet Bauwirtschaft u. Projektenwicklung, ASL | Universität Kassel, Universitätsplatz 9, 34127 Kassel

Masterpieces in Africa: Open Call for Digital Fellowships

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 12:59:00 +0100

In collaboration with Docomomo Architectuul announces an open call for 6 Digital Fellowships to be awarded to students and young professionals in architecture based in Ghana, Uganda or Nigeria. Deadline for Applications is February 15, 2022 on the following application form here.

Shared Heritage Africa: Rediscovering Masterpieces is an opportunity to investigate and document buildings to understand how politics works and about the nature of the relationship between state and society. The project focuses on the rediscovery of post-war modern buildings from the 1950-1970s in Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.

The 6 month long digital fellowship program involves participants working on documentation, investigation and representation of post-war modernist buildings where fellows will be involved in online tutoring and in-person activities undertaken over the period.

They will contribute to the online platform Architectuul and the new digest/Blog Shared Heritage Africa, allowing for exchange with the professional actors and society, locally and globally. The results shall be presented and discussed at the 17th International DOCOMOMO Conference in Valencia (Spain) in September 2022. Each fellow will receive a travel grant for joining the conference.

Find more about coordinators, members, sponsors and partners of the project on new Architectuul site and check your eligibility here.

All Photo © Jean Molitor

Yeah, Let’s Build Together!

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 15:59:42 +0100

YEAH! is looking for recently realised projects, completed after 2012, from the domestic to the public scale, designed by emerging practices based in the European territory. The projects should be framed in one of the two YEAH! categories: Habitats and Hybrids. APPLY HERE!

Selected participants will be invited to join the YEAH! public program between April 15 and 17 2022 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg. The organisers will provide a stipend to be used by the participant to cover the trip to Luxembourg, accommodation in the city and any other expenses derived from his/her/their participation.

Utopias: How Will We Live Together

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 09:52:47 +0200

Koper, a small Mediterranean city on Slovenia coast, hosted the first international summer school of architecture Informal City: Temporary Autonomous Utopias for the architecture for people.

Koper’s Dogville Waterfront. | Photo © Aleš Rosa

The right to use public space, the right to water and the right to the city were the central highlights in Koper from 01 to 10 September 2021 in the former Libertas warehouse. Students of architecture and design from various European countries, with three international mentors and several lectures created solutions for temporary use of neglected spaces in historical centre of Koper. The new utopian content was created to enable a new urbanity based on inclusive social integration, social solidarity and ecological development through solidarity cooperation.

The project space in the warehouse Libertas in Koper. | Photo © Domen Grögl

The collective Avtomatik Delovišče played an important role in creating suitable ideas and solutions - enable the understanding and application of new strategies to shape the participatory process and social design in cities in the post-pandemic period.

Tired. | Photo © Domen Grögl

Under the program of the first summer school of architecture, organized in cooperation with the Municipality of Koper, the Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana, the Faculty of Architecture, the Faculty of Pedagogy at the University of Primorska, Coastal Galleries Piran and other partners, the UAU! team composed by the Italian architect Alessio Rosati from MAXXI Rome Museum, Christina Serifi, a researcher at the Braunschweiger School, Elian Stefa, involved in DIY projects in the Albanian city of Vlora and the island of Shazan, and Boštjan Bugarič, Senior editor of Archtectuul gave a major push to start this program.

Christina Serifi in discussion with the director of the documentary “Up To The Last Drop: The Secret Water War in Europe” Yorgos Avgeropoulos.

Other lecturers and participants were besides artist and architect Marjetica Potrč, associate professor at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts Barbara Predan, curator at the Museum of Architecture and Design Maja Vardjan, Greek director Yorgos Avgeropoulos also Avtomatik Delovišče members Mateja Filipič, Erik Jurišević with KONNTRA team - Mirjana Lozanovska, Silvija Shaleva, young director Rebeka Bratož Gornik, architect Nina Vidić Ivančič and RTV Slovenia journalist Nataša Mihelič and Tageszeitung journalist Martin Reichert.

Marjetica Potrč talked about nature as a subject. | Photo © Domen Grögl

Mirjana Lozanovska, Erik Jurišević (both KONNTRA) with Elian Stefa during the lunch break in Libertas. | Photo © Domen Grögl

Elian Stefa, Boštjan Bugarič and Alessio Rosati. | Photo © Domen Grögl

Martin Reichert from Tageszeitung in discussion with Katherine Ball, which was involved into the Floating University program in Berlin | Photo © Domen Grögl

Marjetica Potrč and Katherine Ball during their talk. | Photo © Domen Grögl

Koper’s Dogville Waterfront. | Photo © Aleš Rosa

How has the political transformation over the last thirty years affected changing patterns of behaviour, values, and beliefs about life and understanding of cities; which examples of temporary use shall be developed at the abandoned spaces on Koper’s waterfront and how to create a new urbanity based on inclusive social integration, solidarity and ecological inclusion based on cooperation. These were just some of the topics dealt with by 16 undergraduate and postgraduate students of architecture and design from various European countries. Beside the students the Libertas warehouse doors were also wide open to city residents and visitors interested in topics.

Lecturing cathedral. | Photo © Domen Grögl

Barbara Predan during the final presentations. | Photo © Aleš Rosa

The school took place at three locations in Koper: in the Libertas warehouse, at the K67 Kiosk designed by Saša Mächtig which Obalne Galerije Piran kindly handed over to the collective for six months and in new University of Littoral project space BankArt.

Kiosk K-67 was staging many activities. | Photo © Domen Grögl

After a week-long devastating fire in the studio, the Independent Coastal Radio NOR reappeared from the temporary studio in the kiosk within three hours interviews with local active citizens, the president off the local community Koper Center Jadran Čalija, advisor for culture at the Municipality of Koper Vesna Pajić, activist and cultural worker Irena Urbič and Neza Čebron Lipovec among others.

BankArt is a new project space in the space of previous bank in one of the main street of the historic city centre of Koper. | Photo © Domen Grögl

Miha Dešman and Vlatka Ljubanović lead the studio at the Ljubljana’s Faculty of Architecture, which was solving the topic of the Koper’s north waterfront. Their work was presented at BankArt, a new project space of the department of Design and Visual Arts at the Faculty of Pedagogy. The brick facade of the port’s warehouse can be replaced by a transparent and green facade, which would help create a better microclimate in this area in the future. The proposal to install small self-sufficient modular units in the building enables the water recuperation and installing solar collectors on the roof, where various contents from sports, community, cultural and urban gardens are created.

Learning. | Photo © Domen Grögl

The civil initiative Novi Slavnik was also present at the summer school, as we presented to the participants an example of good practice on how we can strive together for architecture and urbanism for people. In this context, it is important to create enough green space in the city and the right to adequate access to drinking water and the sea. Water is more expensive on the coast than in the interior of Slovenia, so why not water the greens around the city with water from the roofs, which would be collected in special reservoirs placed at the Libertas warehouse or the commodity reserve facility?

The Table for Future for students in Libertas and for dwellers in the main city square. | Photo © Jadranka Šturn and Boštjan Bugarič

The term Informal City was coined years ago when I brought my former mentor and good friend Marjetica Potrč to Koper and first drove her around the ring of the shopping area, and later we walked around the historical city centre of Koper. Marjetica, who is active in Latin America to Africa with her work with communities, commented that Koper is an informal city, as the residents do not have a common development denominator, the common dictionary, which can be understood by every resident. And this is also one of the activities we developed at this year’s summer school of architecture: within the creation of the common dictionary of the city we learned from people.

Barbara Predan, KONNTRA, Alessio Rosati and Martin Reichert during the final presentations. | Photo © Aleš Rosa

Alessio Rosati final talk. | Photo © Aleš Rosa

We want to put Koper on the map of cities that have quality public spaces that need to be equipped with appropriate content. The claim that usually ‘nothing is given’ is not a reason not to start the process somewhere. It takes willpower, optimism and proper involvement of people in the planning processes, and this enables development directions for the city. There is a lot of work on the street, among people, for people.

Projection bombing lead by Elian Stefa. | Photo © Boštjan Bugarič

Koper has very great potentials for gentrification and touristification, so in this phase and exactly this time period it is important to set the contents that will generate development in the city and form the boundaries to which gentrification can be carried out. We in the team believe in optimism and we think that this is the only right way for the development of the city” said Bugaric optimistically.

Many thanks to first year’s alumni Chris Woodvine, Terri Doyle, Alexandra Maximova, Diana Kocjančič, Jovana Liščević, Johanna Jüttner, Jonas Vizi, Erona Bexheti, Edmond Drenogllava, Adnan Jurca Avci, Deja Kofol, Pia Groleger, Luka Pleskovic, Denis Esakov, Martin Valinger Sluga, Erszbet Hosszu and Odin.

writen by Petra Vidrih and previous published by Primorske Novice

Astor Victoria Design Project

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 11:38:28 +0200

Astor Victoria Design Project is directed towards students and practitioners under 35 in the field of architecture and design. The competition is a hostel refurbishment in a Victorian House, originally constructed in the 1860s in London Victoria.

This competition challenges creative designers to pioneer compelling ideas in travel and hospitality, making use of constricted spaces to create beautiful and functional rooms and common areas. The winning proposal will receive a £3,000 prize, along with a flight/transport and accommodation at the hostel to work on the full design.

It is also hoped that the winner will be interested in being commissioned to work on the project with the in-house construction team, for a design fee that will be agreed prior to commencement of works. The winner will then be able to gain the experience of working right the way through a project from start to finish.

Pre registration period: August 1– 15 September 2021. Submissions in by 15 October. Entrants can be an individual or as part of a group. For full entry requirements and how to enter visit Astor Hostels website.

Informal City: 2 Days To Go!

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 09:39:03 +0200

The International Summer School Informal City: Temporal-Autonomous Utopias opens up topics on how the transformation of the system over the past thirty years has affected changing patterns of behaviour, values, and beliefs about living and understanding cities on the case study of Koper, Slovenia.

Koper before development of the Port, 1955. | Source Archive of Port of Koper

Examples of temporary use of empty spaces and staging of new city venues with content that is open to all city users will seek to create new urbanity based on inclusive social integration, social solidarity and ecological inclusion on the basis of participatory cooperation.

Plan of Giacomo Fino for Koper’s morphology, 1619. | Source HISTRIA

The island of Koper from 1781 drawing’ by Francesco del Pedro and Marco Sebastiano Giampiccoli, where are evident 52 churches, also described by Bernik (1968, 199). | Source Pokrajinski arhiv Koper, SI PAK KP 344, t. e. 1.

The research work will be based on an analysis (with the aim of understanding) of the current situation in Koper. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss in open public platforms through contextual interviews with various interested publics, and later through methodological processes of inclusive social design to develop potential concepts including urban and architectural planning. This can serve the Municipality of Koper as a basis for the municipal spatial plan. Based on a well-thought-out and in-depth realized process, a new vocabulary will be defined for residents, spatial users and policy makers in order to create a common language for spatial development.

Mihevc’ study for the urban development project of Koper in 1961. | Source N. Čebron Lipovec (2012)

The development of the silhouette of Koper. | Source Guček (2000)

The first summer school will introduce the topic of water recuperation, the promotion of organic food production methods and the creation of a connected community. It will enable participants to both understand and apply new strategies to shape the participatory process and inclusive lifestyles in cities throughout the post-COVID period.

A view on the historical city centre with a new city’s park and parking on the left, an unfinished complex on the right and the port behind. | Photo © Enota

In addition to the listed activities in the new center of culture Libertas, we created a series of events for the upcoming months. From the iconic Kiosk K-67 relocated in Koper for a special collaboration between Obalne Galerije Piran and Avtomatik Delovišče, to the BankArt project space of VUO program by University of Primorska, Faculty of Education. In order to produce and share the knowledge, content analysis and results will be disseminated through various media: Primorske novice in the monthly Prostorska frka, Radio Koper Koperiskop and WELTRAUM radio show on Indepented Coastal Radio NOR.

Temporary use of the unfinished complex Solis. | Photomontage © Bugarič

In parallel, the urban acupuncture table for the future will be tested for the community. The table will be a stage to address the audience, while participants will share food, exchange informal ideas and open new cultural dialogues. The table is also an infrastructure where the production and distribution of food is celebrated, which is an introduction of an ecologically more conscious community.

With the international summer school, participants will gain experience in working in interdisciplinary teams and learn about ways to develop social innovations. In other words, participants will learn skills that will help them become agents of change and better team players in interdisciplinary groups while working on projects with tangible social effects. Therefore, the curriculum systematically focuses on improving the soft skills of the participants, presenting them with the best work methodologies through both theory and practice.

Tomos Skyscraper before the renovation. | Photo © Boštjan Bugarič

As an answer to growing economic and social problems in all their complexity can only be a comprehensive and multidisciplinary intertwined solution that grows out of cooperation and interdisciplinary participation.

Exhibition at the temporary use in Tomos Skyscraper. | Photo © Natalija Gajić

UAU! (Urban Activation Unit) Temporary Utopia aims at reaching and being reached by a truly global audience, overcoming geographical and cultural differences, in order to contribute to finding possible answers to some of the relevant urban issues of the present times.

We believe ‘everything is architecture’ and consider the latter as one of the last remaining humanistic activities, in which one can read the traces of many subjects, processes and compromises. The architectural project can still be considered as the convergence point of many different knowledge which must find a balance in order for it to be realized. Temporary Utopia is born from our interest in those alternative forms of pedagogy, capable of collecting and interpreting the many signals coming from communities around the world, asking for more just and accessible spaces and cities where everyone feels welcome and that everyone can equally call his/her own.

We aim at using collective intelligence and mutual exchange through design, in order to amplify people’s voices beyond ordinary borders, thanks to an educational program that is as complex and fun as it is solid and coherent. In said process, both listening before acting and having fun while doing is essential. By consequence we consider any design form as necessarily suspended between sustainable play and achievable dream, that’s why we believe in utopias as essential in order to rediscover the pleasure of architecture, outside academies.

Building Of The MonthWe celebrate a 100 birth anniversary of Werner Düttmann. On this occasion the...

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 00:59:39 +0200

Building Of The Month

We celebrate a 100 birth anniversary of Werner Düttmann. On this occasion the Brücke Museum in Berlin presents an exhibition of his 34 built projects.

Düttmann in front of Menne’s house in 1965 | Photo © Ingeborg Lommatzsch

Duttmann built three significant residential complexes in the southern part of Friedrichstadt according to the paradigm of a historical city critical reconstruction. With the residential complex on Mehringplatz (1966–1975), Düttmann implemented a bold, modern, large-scale form within a densely arranged, urban residential ensemble.

Housing in 1975. | Photo © AdK, Düttmann

He breaks through the historical block system in Wassertorstrasse (1968–1970) by spanning the high-rise slab over two blocks and towering over the existing buildings. Hedemannstrasse (1973–1975) is based on a reconstruction of the historical urban block.

The A106 federal motorway should have been built in close proximity to the Block 601 but due to strong resistance, the planning of the so-called southern bypass was abandoned by the Senate. This can be clearly seen in Düttmann’s urban form, as he arranged tallest buildings in the north like a protective wall towards the non realized motorway.

The highway A106 was meant as a southern bypass from Schöneberg via Kreuzberg to Köpenick and should intersect with A102 at Oranienplatz in Kreuzberg. | Via Sally Below

Residential raised terraces on the ground floor. | Photo © AdK, Düttmann

Düttmann’s development on Hedemannstraße opens the block generously on Puttkamerstraße completing the existing building with an addition to a smaller courtyard. Nothing on this block is schematic, every corner is formulated differently and reacts to what is already there.

Floor plans of the different apartments. | Plan via H. Ochs

The modern approach can be seen very clearly on the facade. In contrast to the subsequent new block buildings by postmodern architects, Düttmann does not differentiate the facade design according to courtyard and street facade. For him, it is primarily about the optimal light and the production of the same quality for each individual apartment, not about the supposed stringency of a certain type of building.

The view from Taz. | Photo © Uwe Rada, Taz

The Spatial Formations

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 10:33:02 +0200

In the frame of the Tbilisi Architectural Biennial an exhibition The Spatial Formations is set in Berlin to be presented to the wide audience. The exhibition examines and presents relationships between residents and their habitats on eight prevailing dwelling types of Tbilisi in Georgia.

Tbilisi has many soviet mass produced housing and stalinist buildings. The focus of the project done by W2KSHOP collective is to examine social relations within a structure. The project was guided by questions: how is a building constructed and transformed by architects and non-architects? What can they state about the past and the present mentalities? What can we learn from analyzing the tactics and strategies of improving one’s living spaces? How are the residents influenced in times of crisis?

The Spatial Formations
KUNSTPUNKT BERLIN, Schlegelstraße 6, 10115 Berlin-Mitte
from 19.08. - 05.09.2021
Opening hours: Wed-Sun 15:00 – 19:00
Guided tour: Wed August 25 / Sat August 28, 15:00

The Venice Architecture Biennale Project

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 08:49:33 +0200

Architectuul turns ten years old and, in order to celebrate such an important anniversary, launches a research project dedicated to the most important architecture event in the world, the Venice Architecture Biennale.

This is where Architectuul’s VAB project starts from.

True to the spirit that animated the birth of the platform and nourished its development throughout all these years, its open worldwide community traces back the history of the Venetian event by investigating its different editions, their protagonists and the many more or less known events that characterized them, through the textual contributions of professionals, historians, curators, critics, scholars or simple enthusiasts from all over the world.

In Vino Veritas Biennale Style! by Bekim Ramku

Just as in Venice curators are offered with a space to work on in order to develop a personal take on the main theme of the exhibition, Architectuul’s VAB project aims at providing a platform for people to look back at the previous editions of the Venetian event, its celebrated triumphs, spectacular failures, and their endless facets. Each and every one of them is considered as a ‘cold case’ worth being reopened and investigated further to shine a light on a particular show, an event or those people that have often been overlooked or deserve being remembered.

Arnell, P. and Scully, V. (1985): Aldo Rossi-Buildings and projects. Rizzoli International Publications, New York.

Teatro del Mondo: An Odyssey by Mladen Jadrić

The VAB project will not feature academic essays nor dissertations but rather short personal stories, when not anecdotes, aimed at taking readers to the lagoon city and back in time, behind the scenes of an initiative that, through its ups and downs, always represented the gathering moment for the international architectural community, initially restricted to a few close friends and then gradually enlarged to become an unmissable appointment on the global cultural agenda.

Proposal for the French Pavilion at the XLIV Venice Biennial of Art. | Project © Jean Nouvel, Emmanuel Cattani & Associes; photos © Georges Fessy

Is It Possible To Exhibit Architecture? by Thibaut de Ruyter | Photo © Bella Sabirova

The last decade has seen the development of countless curatorial studies and, with them, the publication of as many books on the history of exhibitions as well as on those exhibitions that made history. A little later the research was extended to architecture shows that were placed under a magnifying glass and this inevitably led to scrutinize the largest architectural event of all, the one that for almost half a century, at more or less regular intervals, takes place in Venice.

Adrian Paci at the Albanian Pavilion of the 2014 VAB.

Moments of Transition by Elian Stefa | Photo © Delfino Sisto Legnani

Born in the aftermath of the ideological and cultural crisis that shook Italy and the western world at the end of the 1960s, the Venice Architecture Biennale can be considered a work in progress developed through the different approaches of its several directors, sometimes contradicting themselves from one edition to another.

Culture Under Construction, The Collectivity of Cultural Space Mexican Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2012 at San Lorenzo Church | Arquine

The Invisible Church by Tania Tovar Torres

The first real display of architecture in Venice dates back to 1968, when within International Art Exhibition of the Biennale Carlo Scarpa curated Linee della ricerca contemporanea: dall’informale alle nuove strutture bringing together within a single space laid out by Scarpa himself the work of artists, photographers, set designers, graphic designers, ceramists and architects in order to achieve that integration between the various artistic practices which the Biennale since its inception always aimed at.

Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II and the ex-Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl front of the bungalow of the Chancellor in Bonn.

Emblem Of A Better Germany? by Florian Strob

Nevertheless, unlike the Art Biennale from which it stemmed and despite the many recent studies and investigations mentioned earlier, it is still difficult to precisely indicate the first edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale and erratic has been its cadence so far.

Discarded foundational stone of Dom Revolucije. | Photo © Stojan Stamenić

What Fundamentals? Revisiting Treasures in Disguise: The Ominous Ruins of Montenegrin Modernism by Sonja Dragović

Its 17^th edition was meant to take place in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic not only forced the organizers to postpone the event but also took the life of the man who envisioned it in the 1970’s: Vittorio Gregotti. In 1975 the latter was commissioned to reformulate the Biennale of Art, opening it to the public debate, taking it out of the Arsenale Gardens and extending it to the city and the Veneto region. It is for all these reasons that Gregotti decided to include architecture and, by doing so, renaming the event International Exhibition of Visual Arts and Architecture, an appellation with which the reformed Biennale was officially inaugurated and, for the first time in its history, developed around the unifying theme of the environment, foreseeing national participation.

The Greek Experiment by Dimitris Grozopoulos

In that same year, Gregotti also anticipated the next International Art Exhibition with a series of one-off events aimed at relaunching the Biennale and communicating its new cultural policy. It is in this context that one should consider the Proposte per il Mulino Stucky exhibition set up at the Magazzini del Sale, where the results of the open ideas competition for the recovery of the former unused flour mill threatened with demolition were presented. It was the first occasion in which a common theme for the confrontation between art and architecture was proposed, an approach adopted in all ensuing editions starting with Ambiente, partecipazione, strutture culturali in 1976.

Metavilla by Merve Bedir and Jason Hilgeford

In compliance with the Biennale reform, that same edition was characterized by a greater opening to new areas of interest, such as architecture, presenting three different exhibitions simultaneously set up in as many locations of the lagoon city: one dedicated to design (Werkbund 1907. Origini del design), one to the history of contemporary architecture (Razionalismo e architettura in Italia durante il fascismo) and one on the future of the discipline through the comparison between the European and the North American schools (Europa-America, centro storico, suburbio). This approach showed greater sensitivity to everyday issues as well as to the general public, trying to present the initiative not only as exclusively cultural but also capable of attracting tourists. Since the mid-eighteenth century, architecture exhibitions had always been the subject of public debate and it is in such a longlasting tradition one should place the conference ‘Quale Movimento Moderno’ hosted at the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido of Venice where, as in CIAM and Team 10 gatherings before, architects from both Europe and the United States discussed the possible future of architecture and its practice.

August of 1975 | Drawing © K. Krokos

The Introverted “Seismograph” by Christina Serifi | Photo © Norman Posselt

According to Vittorio Gregotti himself, those initiatives were mostly carried out quickly and without relevant success, but they were all meant to lay the foundation of Utopia e crisi dell’antinatura. Intenzioni architettoniche in Italia, the first true architecture exhibition opened in 1978.

A large crowd waiting to hear the presentation for the opening of the Great Britain pavilion (2016). | Photo © Cristiano Corte

Navigating the Venice Architecture Biennale Opening Weekend: Between Observing and Belonging by Lavinia Scaletti

To Gregotti’s somewhat elitist approach followed the pop one chosen by Paolo Portoghesi who anticipated the inauguration of the 1st International Architecture Exhibition in 1980 by entrusting Aldo Rossi with the realization of a floating structure known as the ‘Teatro del Mondo’, thus starting a dialogue with the city and that promotional communication strategy culminating with the celebrated ‘Strada Novissima’ in the Corderie dell'Arsenale, turning architecture into a theme of public debate through its spectacle and festivalization.

The ‘stage set’ changed day by day. Photo © STEALTH.unlimited

Out There A Change Was Going To Come by Piet Vollaard

That’s more or less where Architectuul’s VAB project starts from.

Catalogues from the previous Venice Biennials. | Photo © Stefano Gobbi

We hope you enjoy this endeavour as much as we enjoyed discussing and developing it with the help of all those who generously contributed with the stories you’ll be reading in the up and coming months.

by Alessio Rosati

City Walks: Trieste Aperol Spritz

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 09:06:08 +0200

In Trieste city walk we stores of the writer and poet Rainer Maria Rilke and James Joyce. Before enjoying an aperol spritz we could check few works of architects Max Fabiani, Ernesto Nathan Rogers and Carlo Scarpa.

National Centre was built by a cosmopolitan trilingual Italian-Austrian-Slovenian architect Max Fabiani in 1904. As a symbol of Slovenian presence has been a thorn in the Italian nationalists and fascists, who has therefore burned it on 13 July 1920.

Fabiani created as well the Bartoli House, located at the beginning of Corso Italia. One of the best known Art Nouveau buildings in the city was ordered by the Countess Muratti Bartoli.

The large windows are reminiscent of the legacy of Otto Wagner.

The Revoltella Museum was founded in 1872 by Baron Pasquale Revoltella. In 1963 Carlo Scarpa received the order for the restructuring of the museum.

Ernesto Nathan Rogers realized a service station in Trieste for the Eagle refinery in 1953. After a long period of neglect, the fuel dispenser called Rogers Station, has been transformed into a space for cultural events.

Do you want to hear more? Join us and reserve the walk by writing an email to bostjan@archtectuul.com

***

Saturday, 25 September 2021
Meeting point at National Centre at 10.00 am
Duration of the walk: 1 hour
Minimum number of participants: 5

The architectural city walk in Trieste is organized in collaboration with Piran Days of Architecture, Dessa Gallery. The tour will be guided by the architect dr. Bostjan Bugarič.

The Story Of The Abandoned Car Factory Pragovka

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 08:39:07 +0200

Prague is a city of postcard-perfect architecture: from immaculate works of Gothic beauty – like St. Vitus Cathedral and the 13th century Old New Synagogue in Josefov – to the statue-lined Charles Bridge, or the monumental neo-Renaissance building of the National Museum looking out across Wenceslas Square. It is not a city that most would associate with industrial decay, however Prague’s former palaces of industry are no less grand, even while history is in the process of burying them.

The Praga Car Factory Pragovka. | Photo via E-Factory.cz

The Praga Car Factory Pragovka on the city’s eastern edge was once the beating heart of the Czechoslovak manufacturing industry. It played a significant role in the city’s 20th century history, but it was here at the Prague’s darkest days was set into motion. In 1968 workers at Pragovka sent a letter to the Soviet Embassy requesting support in the fight against liberalisation. This letter, published in Pravda, would then be used as justification for the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.

The Praga Car Factory today. | Photo Katka Havlíková

Pragovka is abandoned since the turn of the 21st century and is now a sprawling ruin, its extravagant factory halls succumbing slowly to time and nature. In 2017 I went to explore what was left of it. The Car Factory was founded in 1907 as a manufacturing site in the eastern suburbs of Prague, with just 30 employees. Two years later, its parent company adopted the name ‘Praga’ – the car brand used the Latin form of the city’s name in the hope of sounding more international. During WWI the Praga factory (then known as the First Czech-Moravian Machine Factory) supplied the Austro-Hungarian army; then after 1918 and the independence of Czechoslovakia, it began to focus more on passenger cars.

The main hall of the Pragovka factory in 2017. | Photo Katka Havlíková

The large, angled windows allowed plenty of natural light to enter, reducing electricity costs. | Photo Katka Havlíková

In 1927 Praga was incorporated into the new ČKD (Českomoravská Kolben-Daněk) group, one of the largest engineering companies in Czechoslovakia. Among other vehicles (including tanks, locomotives, tractors, motorcycles and metro cars), ČKD produced cars under the Praga, Škoda and Tatra brands, and was famous for making the Tatra T3 tramcar – a design which would sell almost 14,000 units, and become an iconic sight on the streets of socialist cities from Sarajevo to Tashkent. Meanwhile as many as half of the taxis on Prague’s streets had rolled out of this factory.

Left: Cover of a 1962 sales brochure from Strojexport, featuring the Tatra T3 tramcar. Right: Vintage poster featuring the Tatra T77.

In recent years, the Pragovka complex has been recognised as a heritage site and some of its spaces have been developed into an arts district. There is a retro-themed ‘Pragovka Cafe,’ and the place hosts film screenings, concerts and festivals. Reportedly as many as a hundred local artists have studios now on the former factory grounds, while the large E-Factory building has been converted into a gallery space.

Some outer buildings still remain, linked by covered walkways. Other buildings have been bulldozed. | Photo Katka Havlíková

There’s talk of building apartments here too in future, a trendy new community rising up amidst the industrial decay. A large part of the complex remains off-limits for now though – and it was here that we entered. During the visit of Prague was fortunate enough to be offered a tour of its best ruins the local photographer Katka Havlíková.

Raised gas pipes above an overgrown courtyard. | Photo Katka Havlíková

The factory has been abandoned long enough for creepers and graffiti to cover many of its surfaces. | Photo Katka Havlíková

Katka picks a careful path through the debris-field, towards the first of the factory’s grand production halls. | Photo Katka Havlíková

She led us around the back of the factory where we scrambled up a slope of rubble to reach a promontory at the corner of the former yard. Ahead of us lay a sea of green. Thick vegetation hid the concrete courtyard, with only the occasional street light, rising like drowning hands from water, to suggest that anything unnatural lay beneath. The main buildings, those still standing, were just visible through the trees and so we cut a path down through the overgrown wreckage towards the old factory halls.

The largest of Pragovka’s manufacturing halls looks no less grand today with its full-height windows. | Photo Katka Havlíková

After poking around in a few of the outer buildings that rise now out of bushes and debris, we made it finally to the main manufacturing halls of Pragovka. It was strange to see a building this grand left to ruin. The complex was built back in a time when factories and power plants were temples of the people – places of pride, not merely function, their spaces defined with grand architectural flourishes. This main hall could have been a train station, not a car factory. Natural light illuminated the hall from floor-to-ceiling windows (much of their glass still intact), while pillars supported an arched ceiling high above.

Nature creeps into Pragovka – vines find a way inside through broken window, letterboxes, or any other breach in the outer wall. | Photo Katka Havlíková

We didn’t see the new arts district at all – a fact indicative of just how large this complex was – but it was hard to imagine how any small business or community project could successfully take over a space like this. The factory halls were beautiful, but built on such a scale that maintenance and repairs would be an extraordinary burden, particularly after all these years of decline.

Two levels of offices lined the wall. | Photo Katka Havlíková

A staircase connects floors inside the main building. | Photo Katka Havlíková

The seeming inevitability of this factory’s ruin cast a melancholy mood over the few hours we spent wandering the halls of Pragovka. Right now, like this, with the warm sun slicing in sideways through the dirty glass windows, and the greenery of nature’s scouts – along with bursts of bright graffiti – lending fresh colour to the otherwise muted palette of pastel-painted walls and pillars: Pragovka might never look this good again.

Old ledgers amongst broken glass in the courtyard.| Photo Katka Havlíková

When Pragovka falls, much of its history will be buried with it; and perhaps for some, that might be for the best. Pragovka is remembered not only as the heart of the Czechoslovak manufacturing industry, but it is also a place where the communists made their stand – forever linking these buildings with a historic victory for the pro-Soviet movement. In 1968 the Soviet Union and its allies led an overnight invasion of Czechoslovakia – to suppress the Prague Spring, a growing liberalisation movement under First Secretary Alexander Dubček. Although history remembers the event as an act of totalitarian foreign aggression, that invasion was not, in fact, universally unwelcome.

A wall has collapsed to reveal the stairwell inside. | Photo Katka Havlíková

Numerous workers’ unions in Czechoslovakia supported Soviet intervention in their country, and one of the key triggers of the invasion was a letter of invitation, that was written here, at the Praga Car Factory. In 1971 the Czechoslovak journalist Josef Maxa authored A Year is Eight Months, which recounts the events of the Prague Spring and leading up to the invasion. “Moscow’s Pravda published a letter from ninety-nine workers in the Pragovka factory in Prague to the Soviet Embassy,” he wrote. “The letter denounced the Czechoslovakian enemies of socialism and of the Soviet Union.” That document was known as the “Letter of the Ninety-nine Praguers,” and it warned the Soviet Embassy how: “the manifestations of the democratisation of society in our republic threaten the building of socialism and in so doing, attack the blood-hardened friendship between the Czech and Soviet peoples” (as paraphrased by Martin Půlpán).

Rooftop above one of the manufacturing halls.| Photo Katka Havlíková

The letter claimed that all honest citizens of Czechoslovakia felt safer in the presence of Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops occupying their country. When Pravda printed the letter, on 30 July 1968, along with all ninety-nine signatures, the document would be used as justification for the swift invasion that followed in August. The incoming normalisation government that subsequently took charge of Czechoslovakia would valorise the authors of that letter – raising a memorial plaque at the main entrance to Pragovka, that read: “In the revolutionary tradition of this great workers’ nation, a letter with ninety-nine signatures was sent to the USSR in the critical year of 1968, requesting support and assistance in fighting anti-socialist forces.”

A bright and airy side room near the main factory floor. | Photo Katka Havlíková

Nowadays that plaque is long gone. The gates of Pragovka stand barred, and the halls where the letter was written are lost to a maze of rubble, weeds and graffiti. The factory’s decline today is an inevitability – it is a temple to a lost industry, a relic displaced from its time and no longer fit for purpose in the new industrial landscape of the Czech Republic.

The wall in a former office space. | Photo Katka Havlíková

Though Pragovka’s political history likely doesn’t help to endear these halls to the citizens of contemporary Prague – and it’s hard not to read some level of symbolism as this celebrated factory, once enshrined like a victorious battlefield in Czechoslovakia’s communist historiography, is slowly carved up, and crushed, by the oncoming future.

–

by Darmon Richter

[adapted with permission from an article at Ex Utopia]

Critical Concrete: Sustainable Sustainable Last Call!

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 17:12:01 +0200

The first phase of August applications for Critical Concrete Sustainable Sustainable Architecture postgraduate programme is approaching!

As part of the community, we are aware you are passionate about architecture, sustainability and making a difference with Critical Concrete so we’d like to encourage you to apply for the Sustainable Sustainable postgraduate programme! For further information check the application guidelines, requirements, and APPLY TODAY!

The holistic learning approach and hybrid structure of the program will keep you engaged through an exceptionally international and enriching online learning environment. The program includes courses with a multidisciplinary approach about Vernacular Architecture, Natural Building, Sustainable Construction, Sustainable Projects, Social Cities, Urban Ecological Development and Participatory Design and Communication. The highlight of the programme is the opportunity to apply the knowledge gathered throughout the semesters during the Practical Laboratories hosted in Porto, Portugal!

The program starts in October 2021 and ends in July 2022! The first application call is closing 13th August and we will be reviewing and accepting candidates then. Another call will be open until September 10th, yet we highly encourage you to apply as soon as possible to secure your place.

Want to learn more about Critical Concrete´s mission and gain more insights into SSA post graduation? Check it online here: SSA + Critical Concrete

California Case Study Houses

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 09:15:17 +0200

In January 1945 John Entenza, the editor and publisher of Arts & Architecture magazine, announced the Case Study Houses Program (CSHP), which was envisioned as a creative response to the impending building boom expected to follow the housing shortages of the Great Depression and World War II.

Entenza encouraged participating architects to use donated materials from industry and manufacturers to create low-cost, modern housing prototypes that might foster a dialogue between architectural professionals and laymen. The Case Study Houses were built between 1945-1966 mostly in LA by Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig and Eero Saarinen.

Case Study House #8 at the Pacific Palisades in LA. | Photo via Wikipedia

The Eames House is a landmark of mid-20th century modern Architecture and was constructed in 1949 by Charles & Ray Eames to serve as their home and studio.

The Eames House consists of two glass and steel rectangular boxes: one is a residence; one a working studio. | Photo © Herman Miller

The design was first sketched out by Charles Eames with Eero Saarinen in 1945 as a raised steel and glass box projecting out of the slope and spanning the entrance drive before cantilevering dramatically over the front yard.

The house emphasise connection to the desert landscape while offering shelter from harsh climatic conditions. | Photo via Blenheim Gang

The Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs was designed by Richard Neutra in 1946. It is one of the most important examples of International Style architecture in the United States.

With a simple rectangular design, the house is divided into two separate sections. | Photo via Urbipedia

The Case Study House #18b was the more successful in the series of Craig Ellwood. One of the most significant improvements was the preconstruction factory structure and combining this with other pre-built elements such as walls, floors. Another standard feature was the sliding doors in the living spaces of the house that overlooked the terrace and a pool for entertaining guests or family.

The design emphasizes harmony of materials and balance between interior and exterior through the use of terraces, water and skylights. | Photo via The City Project

In the Case Study House #21, an early-career exploration, Pierre Koenig used a constrained set of industrial materials—primarily steel and glass—to execute a pure expression of his design approach. His philosophy of functionality and honesty in aesthetics manifests in a structure that appears simple but contains complexity in plan and organization.

Case Study House #22 in the Hollywood Hills was designed by Pierre Koenig. The house is considered an iconic representation of modern architecture in Los Angeles during the 20th century.

The house was made famous by a photo of Julius Shulman showing two women leisurely sitting at a corner of the house with a panoramic view of the city through the floor-to-ceiling glass walls at night. | Photo © Julius Shulman

The highly publicized program ran from 1945 to 1964, spanning thirty-six individual designs, many of which were never constructed. The initial program announcement stated that “each house must be capable of duplication and in no sense be an individual performance” and that “the overall program will be general enough to be of practical assistance to the average American in search of a home in which he can afford to live.”

The Architorture Of The Last Two Decades

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 10:03:18 +0200

In 2014 I wrote a text on the Venice Biennale focusing on reading the historic strata of Kosovo’s cities how multiple layers created as a complex result of historic, social circumstances and even of political systems. It was not hard for me to identify the clear traces of every period.

The will of Emperor Justinian who, through the glory of Ulpiana, sought to leave his mark on the lands where he hailed from, was clearly visible, just like the influence of the Orthodox church on the Medieval social order through churches and monasteries. The five hundred years of Ottoman rule left traces in every aspect of life by dominating the outlines of localities with their numerous domes and minarets. The stains of the Austro-Hungarian neo-classicism – regardless how indirectly - they pass hereby and all the way to the post-World War Two Yugoslavia, which extended the slogan of “absolute equality of the self-governing socialist order and uniformity of the masses without social classes” to the city development policies via buildings balanced both in cost and expression.

The most difficult period for me to articulate was largely – and still is nowadays – the one following the recent war (since 1999). This may be so due to its close time distance. After all, it is also a physical rule that one cannot see in broader plane the things that are nearer. From a general perspective I have defined this period as confusing, disconcerted, lacking a clear vision, which is also mirrored in in the same confusing, disconcerted measures and forms and lack of vision in its architecture. I still attempt to clarify it, at least by providing my entirely individual viewpoint, without insisting at all on its absolute veracity.

Right after the war there was a huge boom of construction in Prishtina and other Kosovo cities. Initially, it appeared to be a need for shelter, on the one side because of the devastation of the war, and on the other side due to prohibition of construction during the ten-year regime of Milošević. However, soon enough, from a need for shelter it was transformed into a greed for riches. The city began to be treated as a gigantic construction plot where a building had to be erected on every unoccupied spot. Individual houses and residential areas, built with love in the 1980s, covered by tasteful greenery such as in the quarters of Pejton, Bregu i Diellit, Dodona, Tophane or Emshir, were forced to hive those up to the builders in compensation of some apartments. In other words, plots that once communicated gracefully with the individual houses placed in compliance with their size thus creating a harmony amongst them, were violated by the gigantic multi-apartment buildings. In the absence of cadastral books that were stolen by the Milošević regime while they were leaving Kosovo, various wrongdoers had the opportunity to build on numerous public spaces multi-apartment buildings for commercial purposes only.

Another thing that significantly affected the disfigurement of the city was the way socially owned enterprises were privatised. In most cases, the property of these socially owned enterprises was privatised not to revive their industrial or commercial character but seen through the lens of being attractive plots for construction. The most flagrant case if that of “Fazita” quarter in the heart of Prishtina, which overnight was transformed from an economic area with super low density of constructions to a hot construction area for buildings up to 40 stories tall, without giving a second thought to doing any additional interventions public infrastructure needed!

These three scenarios of the city’s destruction: the assault on the individual residence neighbourhoods, the assault on public properties, and the abuse with the privatisation process were not accidental but rather followed a clear strategy for super-profit for the builders. Cities were treated as construction plots with the purpose of maximal appropriation of riches while forgetting entirely the quality of life of citizens, addressing common needs and in the process also destroying, disfiguring, and neglecting the presence of violent and traumatic past.

Therefore, we would not be able to understand this twenty-year period without looking at how those few public spaces left were treated, such as central squares, promenades, parks, etc., that could not be privatized or usurped. Although they were not privatized it does not mean they were not misused. The powers of this time were very clear about the importance of demonstrating their power by being present in the centre of the public. Thus, despite not making any efforts to create any new public spaces, they made no compromise in being present at all costs in the existing ones. For a few years after the war, to continue nowadays, the public spaces were filled with sculptures depicting the protagonists of the recent war. So far, it is quite understandable. They did not do anything that all powers, at least in the last 2500 years of civilisations around the world did not. What is obvious though is the way HOW THEY DID IT?! This in fact leads us to understand WHY THEY DID IT?!

All these sculptures, erected on all squares around Kosovo can easily be divided into two categories. The first category, the one where sculptures feature severe flaws in proportions, made by amateur authors, and the second, the one where sculptures are made correctly within the principles of the post-World War II socialist realism. The latter, mainly done by prominent sculptors from the Republic of Albania where this style was highly developed, often achieve perfection within this style which yet is insufficient to enjoy the status of an artwork as it disregards the necessary component of WORK – TIME. Therefore, we easily note both in the first and second instances that the arrival of these protagonists in the public spaces more than a sincere willingness to honour their sacrifices is a political will to impose and highlight WHO BROUGHT THE FREEDOM. Thus, the entire artistic focus of these works in on detailing and emphasizing the military weaponry and less the psychology and intellect of the protagonists and not at all their sublime ideal: FREEDOM. So, the hero of our freedom may have an intellectual past, such as Hamëz Jashari – teacher, Agim Ramadani – poet and artist, Edmond Hoxha – student, but cast in bronze they cannot ever appear to be without a RIFLE, as it should be emphasized that freedom was a result of the RIFLE alone and in no way of any other activity. This, including the necessary aesthetic socialist-realist speech that was a result of the explicit request of those who commissioned the sculptures of the incoming political power, which is connected with socialist-realism on the ideological plane, wished to demonstrate their political power in this space, and it had to match the political ideology they represented. This is how they laid the foundations of their political future by manifesting their power in the space.

The last element but maybe the most important one that manifests more clear the objectives of “city-builders” of last twenty years, are the phenomenon of Gated Communities as a satellite neighborhoods around Kosovo’s cities. These walled neighborhoods like in medieval cities, where as kind of “welcome” is the lever where you need to be pre-legitimized and filmed by cameras before you enter, today are the shelters of most of those who have been responsible for making our cities. Politicians, city planners, builders, “all kind of patriots owners of our freedom”, have given up from the “quality” they created in our cities and their own comfort they find in luxury villas with pools inside walled neighborhoods.

This is very similar to the content of the movie “Elysium” (2013) by Neill Blomkamp, where those responsible for the quality of life on the planet, having turned it into a source of their own benefits without any condition for normal live, had built for themselves the luxury satellite in space where the living environments were fabulous. Although they claimed to have solved not their only permanent way of living luxuriously at the expense of oppressing the other but even the key to immortality, the end of the film does not show the same.

Finally, I do not know whether 20 years are sufficient to name a period with its own name but if I had to do that, based on the fundamental function of architecture – which is to provide the best living facilities, from what the areas constructed in the last twenty years represents, the name that would best fit it would be ARCHITORTURE.

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VAB 13: Arbër Sadiki

Arbër Sadiki (1977), architect, lecturer, critic. Graduated from Polytechnic University of Tirana, he holds a PhD degree from the University of Belgrade focused to the relationship between social circumstances and architecture in Prishtina between: 1945-1990. Assistant curator of the Kosovo pavilion at the 14 Venice Biennale. Nominee of Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Geneva. Recipient of the award “Annual Prize for Scientific Work in the Field of Cultural Heritage”, 2020, awarded by the Ministry of Culture, for his publication entitled: “Architecture of Public Buildings in Prishtina: 1945-1990, Social and Shaping Factors”.

The Museum Of Meme

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 10:36:53 +0200

The proposal of Alvar Aaltissimo for the Museum of Meme in Milan is a new contextual story of new ways of communication in architecture presentation.

Given the huge popular support of the “NO PONTE” movement, aimed at preventing the hypothetical, eventual and unsafe realization of an aerial passage between the two Arengari of Piazza Duomo in Milan, the project proposal proposes to propose an underground passage between the two buildings, lightened from above by a glass volume (similar to the pyramid of the Louvre, let’s say).

This pyramid will create new iconic values and will be the underground heart of the new distribution of the two museums. The collection will consist of the most important and significant memes in history and the exhibition itinerary will clearly explain the evolution of the most important means of communication of our time.

At the Museo del Memecento classic memes and more modern ones will coexist together. The path will not be strictly chronological. The large double-height room, corresponding to the Sala Fontana, will house the Spongebob large golden statue.

Platform For Fictional Competitions #3: 1.5 m Architecture

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 07:29:17 +0200

In the last story from Daniel De León Languré triptych of the first Platform for Fictional Competitions (Concursos Inventados). The third edition present 1.5 m Architecture: Reappropriation of public space after Pandemic.

Carlos Monsiváis, chronicler of Mexico City, used to say that while in the periphery the urban sprawling reigned and space was always more abundant than time, in Downtown the exact opposite was true, time is infinitely larger than space. In pandemic, living in a city where the culture of congestion prevails implies a great effort that each member must make to reconfigure his or her idea of both urban and personal space, which is already scarce.

The city’s main square, the Zócalo, ranks as one of the 10 busiest places in the world with about 10 million visitors a year. It is the symbolic center of the city and the site of all kinds of public events: protests demanding radical political changes, celebrations, concert venues, temporary camps for victims of natural disasters, sports championships and even religious recruitment. It is the square where the mass confronts and recognizes itself, where it becomes aware of its power. With public policies that promote isolation and where in various nations there are temptations to re-impose authoritarian measures that the mass have historically faced with the force of its excessive growth, the architecture of the city of tumult must also recognise the needs of accumulation to which the mass and the individuals that constitute it are accustomed.

It is in this society where precarious economic development opportunities are the immediate priority over healthcare in which the citizens cannot afford to isolate themselves to do online work. In the absence of vaccines the definition of interpersonal distance is the key to survival as well as the cheapest and most accessible antibody.

A flexible structure is proposed with a module of 1.5 m, a minimum distance to limit contagion but sufficient to enable daily interactions. The new architecture of protest, congestion, transparency, social overlapping and human traffic jams should enable a reappropriation of public space, understanding it no longer as a two-dimensional plane but as a three-dimensional space that creates opportunities after so much sacrifice.

Sustainable Sustainable Architecture

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 08:45:54 +0200

This last academic year Critical Concrete has run its first post-graduation programme in Sustainable Sustainable Architecture (SSA).

For this the social architecture NGO, based in Porto, collaborated with Escola Superior de Arte Porto (ESAP). They offered an educational experience to the students which consisted of theoretical online classes combined with hands-on workshops on a construction site renovating a home located in the North of Portugal.

The theoretical curriculum facilitates insights into sustainable construction techniques, paired with theory in just-social transformations whereas the two practical Laboratories give the students a chance to really apply the natural building techniques in ongoing social projects in Portugal.

The SSA is a unique programme in the architecture field because it encourages people from different disciplines to engage and actively collaborate between diverse fields of knowledge. This way students from the humanities, design, urban planning and architecture work on developing innovative sustainable strategies, where they each contribute with their own expertise. Throughout this journey, the students are guided by an international consortium of highly experienced mentors and receive theoretical lessons in an online format.

Through practical assignments the students get to apply the knowledge they have gained in their immediate environments. These range from leading a bike repair station in Ethiopia to sampling everyone’s local earth as a building material. Additional discussion rounds facilitate an international learning experience in various approaches to sustainable solutions. Working together with Critical Concrete as an NGO diversifies the learning experience. Its hybrid dynamic gets out of a strictly academic environment and students have the chance to apply the theory in the real world. As Helene, a student of the program notes: “My favourite part of this course is to connect to so many different backgrounds, different people, different concepts and new solutions.”

During their workshop, they were able to collaborate in the refurbishing of a modest social housing unit in Esposende, using natural construction techniques. The 6 weeks of participatory design and hands-on construction teaches the students about sustainable facilitation and planning, defining the architecture career as a change agent to work with people, not for the people.

Their experience in this first year of the programme exemplifies the start of a revolutionary architectural education. As Viviana, an SSA student states: “I think through doing this course I am more empowered to take on more challenging paths”. The methodology puts a focus on the inclusion of everyone in the planning and building process, proving to be an effective method to achieve a sustainable and successful realisation of different projects.

After one year, the students will graduate in July 2021. If working together towards a sustainable future through natural construction and participatory processes is something that interests you check out the application for round 2 of Sustainable Sustainable Architecture.

The applications for the next academic year are now open here