Production of Architecture: Space for the Middle Class People

In Kafka’s unfinished novel The Man How Disappeared, published posthumously as Amerika in 1928, we come to visit a familiar and still somewhat uncanny place. Tiny aero planes shearing through the sky above a hundred thousand seat sport stadium, brass bands playing in illuminated hotel foyers, an Italian delegation outside La Guardia immigration hall all wearing cowboy boots. A whole universe of impressions of a world never visited. From a European perspective America was at the time Kafka wrote about it, but never visited, still understood as a mythical place. Embraced as a land of dreams and promise, it was close and simultaneous but just out of reach, mediated through gossip, speculation, images, stories, movies, posters and whispers.

These types of unchartered territories or surfaces for our projection of utopia played an important role in structuring our societies’ notion of place. Today we witness how such symbolic spaces are being transformed, islands of potentiality seem to continually be shrinking, becoming more and more striated and inscribed in an increasingly tighter and tighter network of political protocols and economic strategies. Deliberate or not, an over-arching project for an emerging alternative architectural practice would seem to be to discuss the control of the utopian dimension of society. What role does architecture and the architect play in this discussion about the future of public spaces?

When studying the material for Norra Djurgårdsstaden (Stockholm Royal Seaport), with its approximately ten thousand apartments and thirty thousand office spaces, it becomes clear that the vision laid out by the city planning office has taken all kinds of economical, environmental and technical considerations. However, there is very little said about what kind of social life that could be anticipated. On the website it says, ”inspiring opportunities and quality of life will abound throughout the area”, but what exactly does this mean?

Around 120 years ago the Folkets Hus (house for the people) movement spread through Sweden, the growing working-class came together and opened public meeting points in existing buildings. This rose from a need for community gatherings and venues for culture in a rapidly changing political landscape. In the beginning this centers were not allowed to be located in the city centers for the fear of revolutionary activities. Later on these Folkets Hus became more and more accepted and they were often specially designed for their purposes.

What would be the content of a contemporary Folkets Hus and what would it look like in our political, economical and social environment?

This course is a collaboration between Tor Lindstrand and Erik Wingquist from Testbedstudio.

HOUSE/HOME: Final Review

25-26 March the School of Architecture KTH. Critics: Boel Hellman, Tor Lindstrand, Lukas Thiel and Erik Wingquist

During the spring of 2010 we have been working on what makes a house a home.

Over the last decade building costs for single family houses have doubled in Stockholm (from app. 10 840 SEK/square meter in 1998 to 22 985 in 2007). Prices of land has followed the same trajectory. The average area of a single family house is more or less constant (128 square meter in 1998 vs. 136 in 2007). What has happened to the quality of housing during the same period? Your assignment is to analyse the current local trends in housing, use of materials, spatial organisation, construction principles and make a proposal for an alternative single family house. The average production cost for a house is currently 2 979 000 SEK. How much architecture does that buy you?

Is it possible to think architecture that, instead of routinely obsessing with style and external attributes, actually relates to contemporary building materials, construction technologies and modes of production? The topics of economy, material and building procedures will be tested on a single family house located in Stockholm.

Projects by: Guido Brandi, Luis Frenando Cazares Reyes, Magdalena Celinska, Mathilde Duvier, Matias T. Grez, Moritz Holenstein and Federico Rossi, Ken Iriyama, Andrew Lee, Yusuke Mino, Aaron Nyren, Inge Louise Olberts, Lena Pipkorn, Nea Tuominen, Ann Charlotte Wiklander and Alberto Zanelli

SEE ALL PRESENTATIONS HERE

Material Week Assignment

The results from the first week assignment to research new/alternative building materials. Each group was asked to put together a presentation of 10-15 possible building materials and show how these are meant to be used and suggest how the use of these alternative construction/material could produce additional/alternative architectural qualities. What relation has it to the field of architecture? If used as the basis for architectural conceptualization what kind of architecture does it/could it produce? What aesthetics are produced?

BRICK MASONRY CONSTRUCTION

RE-USE/GARBAGE/PIANOS

MATERIALS from a LIFECYCLE PERSPECTIVE

MATERIAL STUDIES

TRANSFORMATIONS

Production of Architecture: HOUSE/HOME

During this course we will examine how contemporary building materials and technologies relate to the production of architecture. New modes of production and new materials have continually developed and changed during the last few decades, at the same time it has become difficult to trace how this development have transformed the way we understand architecture. Traditional modernistic ideals as honest accounts of material, function and construction have given way to an increasing occupation with architecture as image, which in turn has lead to an increasing separation between architecture/construction and form/structure. Today we see built examples of this simplified and problematic attitude towards architecture as a complex process. The ambitions in this course are to see if it is possible to reformulate these issues. Is it possible to think architecture that, instead of routinely obsessing with style and external attributes, actually relates to contemporary building materials, construction technologies and modes of production? The topics of economy, material and building procedures will be tested on a single family house located in Stockholm.

As Found: A concept that Alison and Peter Smithson start using in the beginning of the fifties. It originates in the photographs taken by Nigel Henderson of his neighbourhood Bethnal Green in London. A kind of documentary photography that we have become accustomed to and that if produced today maybe would be seen as a cliché. At the time Alison and Peter Smithson were appealed by their directness and investigating qualities. The formal aspects of photography as composition stood back for a different kind of expression. The core concept of As Found is to accept the value of the everyday. All aspects of the built environment could function as a fundament for an architectural proposal. It is an invitation to see further than too academic and known models and instead open our eyes to that which surrounds us.

New Brutalism: “Brutalism to us meant direct, but to others it was synonymous with oversized, raw and concrete beams three times as thick as necessary” Alison and Peter Smithson didn’t see brutalism as much as a style as a method of work. An aesthetic that demanded to be rediscovered every time, without prejudice, and by that it became pop and experimental. Something conceptual as well as empiric. This meant that form only became a tool, a generator with no preconceived logic. It is this freedom that gives rise to a consistent lack of formal homogeneity in there projects and an obvious uninterest in formal beauty.

Rethink: We are surrounded by extraordinary examples of natural and anonymous designs; those with fitness to purpose, radical styling, and clever innovation. But how many of us really stop to notice? Anonymous worlds of unrecognized and unnoticed designs are waiting to be discovered and acknowledged by an industry which has failed to embrace fully its ancestry. Do we really have to wait for the next World War to unclutter our heads and blast a torrent of fresh air through this stale discipline? The answer lies around us.

The Flying Proletarian Seminar 19-20 Nov 2009

“This is a hole. It always has been and still is. But now it is a hole into the future. We’re going to dump so much through this lousy hole into your world that everything will change in it. Life will be different. It’ll be fair. Everyone will have everything he needs. Some hole, huh? Knowledge comes through this hole. And when we have the knowledge, we’ll make everyone rich, and we’ll fly to the stars, and go anywhere we want. That’s the kind of hole we have here.”

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky

In collaboration with the theory course ”New Realities – from Realism to Utopia” at the Art Academy (KKH) we will spend two days examining different movements between realism and utopia. The starting point being historic texts and contemporary discussions, variations on how we can relate to visionary thinking today.

FULL INFO HERE

The New Slussen

Starting with a competition at 7:30 AM in the morning and inauguration at 7 PM November 6:th 2009. This promises to be speedarchitecture at it’s best.

Minimal economy/maximum output for everyone.

Final Review Slussen Part 1

26-27 October, KTH. Guest critics Martin Miljand, Erik Wingquist and Malin Zimm

During the autumn of 2009 we are working on Slussen, a highly congested site in the centre of Stockholm.

Over the last century the advances of technology has, with an ever-increasing rate, changed the human condition. The traditional position of architecture as a manifestation of power, both actual (i.e. military installations) and symbolic (i.e. cathedrals), has given way to more fluid forms, were distribution and control of information has become the overarching goal of those wishing to influence society. The traditional virtues of architecture seem to have hit an invisible, soft and transforming wall. As a reaction, we now witness mainstream contemporary architecture either obsessing with style and expression or simply giving up and cynically reducing architecture to a commodity for the market.

The way we live, and our need for architecture is constantly in flux. The assignment for this course is to examine these new borders, and work on projects were architecture and definitions of space can take on new meaning. The task will be to apply this new knowledge on Slussen, a well-known, highly debated site in centre of Stockholm.

SEE ALL PRESENTATIONS HERE

Production of Architecture: Week Assignment Slussen Part 1

Here are the presentations from the first two weeks of the course. Each group were assigned a couple of applications, features and/or phenomenas as a point of departure, with the challenge to cross reference, add, deconstruct and remix. The overall ambition with this first assignment was to open up for new ways of thinking around architecture, space and cities.

ANALOG/DIGITAL

We started analysing what analogue and digital are as concepts in a general way, investigating the meaning of these two words from the past to the present. We decided to focus on Slussen. We tried to understand our topics better by recording a movie, in which we used both analogue and digital tools and mixing them together and using ourselves as actors and tools at the same time. We tried to experience Slussen by looking at the existing urban fabric, understanding the potential of the place and its own character, showing it as a real attractive place and experiment with ourselves as living exhibitions. DOWNLOAD: ANALOG / DIGITAL

LIFE HACKING

Life hacks are the tools or processes that are used to organise and filter information to increase productivity and essentially make life easier. When several data sources are combined, a new product is created – a mashup. We look at these concepts and investigate how they may be useful to both analyse Slussen and how they can be used as tools to produce architecture. These concepts can be both interpreted in a conventional way, but also allow us to perceive and conceive architecture from a new perspective. LINK: LIFE HACKING

PHOTO / 3D

Architects like to see and show Slussen in a certain way which is not the same as the peoples vision of this much discussed place. By using the internet we got a different image. Maps with user content are showing what captures peoples imagination like Katharinahissen and Debaser. We were also interested in navigating and understanding Slussen with modern technology google earth, gps, cellphones,…where can this lead in the future? For the moment we have the technologies but they are like a butterfly waiting in its cocoon. Maybe the technology will make this kind of complex spaces appear simple or even customisable for individual needs. DOWNLOAD: PHOTO / 3D

SHARING / SOCIAL NETWORKS

A network can be online, on-site, visible and/or invisible. An on-site social network becomes visible only when they are sharing. In order to make networks visible at Slussen, we asked whether people knew of a paper shop nearby. Online, people share photos, videos, ideas about architecture and aesthetics. People propose or react. How can we use these networks for producing architecture? If you use a network, rhetorics are important. Our proposal is to set up a website forum in which people propose and discuss the architecture that is to be built. Will e-democracy decide our future built environment? DOWNLOAD: SHARING / SOCIAL NETWORKS

Production of Architecture 2009-10

Research and science is not really about finding answers but about asking questions. There is no future in answers, if we eventually find everything out, this will ultimately mean the undoing of science, the reason to learn and the production of knowledge. So why is it then that architectural practise is so much about consolidating that which we already know? Maybe one possible answer is that accepted knowledge and conventional wisdom is comforting. If we all agree that something is good, proper and well done, then we don’t really have to think. Cities are about uncertainties, a dynamic and complex web of relations between people, organisations, ownerships, interests, opportunities, and transactions. If this is true why are so many architects then so concerned with the city as physical manifestation? A tendency to emphasize aesthetics over politics. It seems that even though cities include architecture, architecture as a practise contradicts many of the properties that constitutes a city.

This studio will take its starting point in the city, its phenomenas, properties and complexities in order to invigorate and push architectures performative sides. It is not so much about what architecture looks like but rather what architecture does. This will happen through extensive studies of how cities are produced, how architecture is linked to the production of images as well as hands-on fieldwork on the fabric of our built environment. The studio is divided into two blocks, each holding two separate and independent courses. Along side of the courses there will be series of lectures and seminars on urbanism, alternative architectural practise, new media, contemporary philosophy and architectural theory.

Autumn 2009 (virtual)

When faced with the discussion about “real” and “virtual” architecture one encounters many different traces. One is leading towards a way of addressing architecture as a result from various “forces” or “powers”, where the constructed space is understood as something that manifests the predominating one. As a consequence, architects and theorists have been using the idea of the virtual and the network as a tool to resist powers or at least make the powers in question visible; to the beholder, but also to the producing architects. Terms like “open source” and “share-ware”, borrowed from computer science, has been popular in the field of visual arts as well as in architecture. Production, collaboration, community, peer-to-peer, has been buzzwords in recent theory and practice. The courses examine the history, theory and practice of representation and the production of architecture. We will see to what extend projective systems have affected our understanding of space through the evolution of media such as painting, photography, film and computer generated imagery. The representation of objects as we see them and their measured description, two tasks that are conventionally distinguished in architectural drawing, will be shown to have been unwittingly, in many respects, mutually determined and transformed. In this course we study relations between virtuality and architecture. It is not about creating material about architecture but rather to use images and virtual platforms as a tool to produce architecture. We will be working with online platforms like 3D applications, game engines and simulators to look for the specificity of architecture from different perspectives.

Spring 2010 (actual)

The courses aim to develop an understanding for alternative processes in the production of urban conditions. We will look into how non-planning and positions between fast forward late capitalism and residues of traditional planning methodologies have started to produce new understandings of our urban environment. We will introduce and propose new concepts and tools to work on topics of urban development. Away from traditional models of planning and ill-disguised cynical trends towards a more down to earth, active and participatory approach to urban and spatial questions. During these courses we will examine how contemporary building materials and technologies relate to the production of architecture. New modes of production and new materials have continually developed and changed during the last few decades, at the same time it has become difficult to trace how this development have transformed the way we understand architecture. Traditional modernistic ideals as honest accounts of material, function and construction have given way to an increasing occupation with architecture as image, which in turn has lead to an increasing separation between architecture/construction and form/structure. Today we see built examples of this simplified and problematic attitude towards architecture as a complex process. The ambitions in this course are to see if it is possible to reformulate these issues. Is it possible to think architecture that, instead of routinely obsessing with style and external attributes, actually relates to contemporary building materials, construction technologies and modes of production? The topics of economy, material and building procedures will be tested on a small but complex program for a temporary city planning office on a given site.
The projects will have a practical and a theoretical part. There will be a series of lectures, seminars and film programs where specific architectural problems will be illuminated and related to theoretical discourses in art, literature and film. Basic architectural categories such as representation and construction will be discussed in relation to modern media theory, semiotics and psychoanalyses. Another theme is architecture as aesthetic paradigm within philosophy and other artistic fields. A running theme is the ambition to try to connect theory to the everyday. The practical part will consist of work in the studio, group assignments, weekly individual tutorials, and reviews with invited guest critics.

Institute for Research

Over the last five months students of architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology has been working in Tensta, using Tensta Art Centre as a base. The final course Cities Are Made of This has been about producing a concept for an architectural project that can be realized in a week and with an economy of 2000 EUR.

This year’s winner is the project Institute for Research (IR).

IR is an allotment garden in Hjulsta (F11) that teachers, students and others will manage over the next five years. The site will, among other things, work as an open university, a place for experimenting and as a proposal for another architecture.

The project presents an opportunity to consider architecture by referencing the Persian gardens of impossibilities, the pleasure gardens in Byzantium, the dioramaesque Zen gardens, medieval kitchen gardens, the cartesian mathematics of the Barock and all the way to the Chelsea Flower Show. The project is not only a garden but also a social site that proposes the possibility to host series of events. The Institute for Research addresses topics of organisation, ownership and liability. What constitutes the formation of an institution ultimately lays in whether it is accepted as one.

We have focused our work on economy of effect, significant changes with small means. Instead of thinking that changing something means doing the opposite, which means simply reversing the image in the mirror and continuing doing the same, this work is all about changing the way things change. During the first week there has been movie nights, barbeques and seminars on future faculties of architecture along side some hard-core gardening, dehydration and blisters.

Tensta Konsthall