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"Current medical advances in the area of infertility medicine and neonatology have made total ectogenesis (the gestation of a human being entirely outside the body of a human female) less a figment of the imagination of science fiction writers ... and more a realistic possibility for those living in the not so distant future." S Gelfand, and J R Shook, Ectogenesis - Artificial Womb Technology and the Future of Human Reproduction, New York: Editions Rodopi B. V., 2006, p2
A few weeks ago, Adam Smith presented at the RCA architecture interim show in London a project called Golden Orb Spider Farm which speculates on a plausible near future where we become reliant on synthetic organs to replace body parts, in particular the womb. The project is based on research into how spider silk might become a material of choice for prototyping scaffolds on which to grow human tissue. Research in tissue engineering has indeed found that silk is a better substance than polymeric materials to construct such 'scaffolds'. Fully functioning hearts and wombs have already been grown artificially on silk scaffolds. For example, Canadian company Nexus Biotechnologies is manufacturing Biosteel(TM), a high-strength synthetic spider silk from the milk of genetically modified goats. The fiber material is allowing for the development of new products in a wide range of fields - from bulletproof vests to scaffolds for artificial human organs - including wombs. Advances in reproductive science and medicine would enable the complete gestation of a human embryo outside a woman's body, within the next 5-10 years. In the ethically complex scenario where humans are brought to life in artificial wombs, one can imagine that mother would want to demonstrate maximum love and commitment by providing the the finest and most luxurious womb they could afford. Rather than the synthetic unglamorous Biosteel, mothers might look for rarer, naturally produced alternatives. Golden Orb spider silk, the most precious silk in the world, might answer their wishes. Last year already, a large and rare textile was made entirely of Madagascan Golden Orb spiders silk - demonstrating its inherent strength, beauty and value.
Golden Orb spider farm speculates that employers may want to persuade their high calibre employees to delay having children in return for hi-tech fertility insurance. Female employees would receive glass Gold Orb spider farms in which to house and breed spiders. The women would feed spiders with flies every day. Once a month, a silking machine would extract several metres from each spider in the farm. In due course this gift is passed on to the child that emerges from the silky womb. Once used, this object might take on a new role of a family heirloom.
Golden Orb Spider Farm is part of a wider architectural project entitled Genatorium - Breeding Ground for the Risk Averse. The project explores societies' tendency to implement anything that makes things safer and more egalitarian - sometimes with unintended consequences. It is based on a wide amount of research encompassing fertility technologies, the gender pay gap, health-and-safety culture and social disparity in London. Adam Smith is a final year MA architecture student at the Architectural Design Studio 4 of the Royal College of Art in London. Tutored by Gerrard O'Carroll, Nicola Koller and Rosy Head, ADS4 researches emerging social trends and technologies to create scenarios which allow for critique and speculation. All images courtesy Adam Smith. |
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Publisher Birkhauser says: Designers and architects have to make decisions regarding color every day. But how does one find the necessary inspiration? The appropriate color? How do other designers and artists deal with the issue? With "Chroma," the Greek word for color, as its title, this illustrated book provides answers to these questions and makes it clear that color is much more than mere decoration - it is one of the central problems of creative work. In the process, "Chroma" embraces the sensuous experience of color, inspiring and seducing the reader with unusual projects, from industrial products to color field painting. The book presents works by younger designers like Stefan Diez and Arik Levy as well as famous artists like Ellsworth Kelly. All of the works are presented in large-scale reproductions and also in a kind of color gradient, in which they are assigned to the chapters "monochromatic," "multichromatic," and "achromatic." The spectrum encompasses all conceivable shades and combinations, from brilliant and colorful through tasteful and subdued all the way to black-and-white contrasts. An additional chapter analyzes the work of outstanding artists, architects, and designers like Gerhard Richter, Konstantin Grcic, and Sauerbruch Hutton, who grapple with color to an unusual degree and have formulated characteristic chromatic worlds. An alphabetical index provides background information on the artists and studios selected.
The book is delightful and colours are dangerous. They'd make you buy and like almost anything. Hundreds of photos illustrate the importance of colour for turning buildings and vases alike in drab to fab and glorious. The first 273 pages immerse you in colours. The volume begins on a pale mayonnaise hue and evolves gradually to the deepest black via the most vibrant or faded pink, red, yellow or blue. I didn't see much turquoise, that so-called 'colour of 2010', though. Without any text to disturb the chromato-orgasm, you're left to make your own conjectures and connections.
Following the complaints of the neighbours, the orange building had to be repainting in green:
Did you ask for multichromatic?
The purely chromatic experience is followed by interviews with or essays about mighty colour-wizards: designers Fernando & Humberto Campana, Konstantin Grcic, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, architects Sauerbruch Hutton, UNStudio and artists Rupprecht Geiger, Gerhard Richter, Anselm Reyle. No a single woman then. The texts reveal the role of colour in their work, the way they combine it with shapes and materials, the control they might or might not have on the shades they use, the ones that intimidate them or those that have had a particular importance in their own story. Nothing will prevent me from closing this story with yet another Carsten Höller:
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The winners of the Europan 10 competition have been announced a few days ago. Europan is a European federation of national organisations, which manages architectural competitions followed by building or study projects. Only young European architects are invited direct their ideas and visions to issues of city development, urban planning and architecture. Being a jury member of Europan Norway has certainly been one of the highlights of 2009 for me. Not only because i learnt so much (though i'm not so sure that the jury learned much from me!) but also because one of the sites we had to get to know turned out to be extremely interesting under several aspects. First of all, Vardø is ridiculously beautiful:
Then there's the location of Vardø. It is Northern Norway's oldest and easternmost town and as such is swept in darkness 2 months of the year and exposed to cold winds from the Arctic. The motto in Vardø's coat of arm is most suggestive: Cedant tenebrae soli - darkness shall give way to the sun. Vardø was once a prosperous trade centre with strong ties to Russia. In recent years, however, the place has been hit hard due to the changes in the fishing industry, previously a corner stone of the society. Young people are leaving the area due to the harsh weather conditions and what appears to be unexciting professional perspectives. With its strikingly beautiful landscape and charming architecture, Vardø has its place on the touristic map. If you want to visit it, a boat will sail you there and give you one hour and not one minute more to have a tour and sail to your next destination. The projects submitted to the competition for the Varø site had to respond to the Europan 10 topic of Regeneration: in areas with a strong identity but with obsolete functions, how can spaces be adapted to a new dynamic of uses? In the case of a site such as Vardø, the regeneration involves changes in the use(s) of the site rather than a modification of the space itself. The jury looked for proposals that dealt with strategies, and investigated the historical and geographical context. Each of the winning entries is fascinating in its own way. Taken together they form a truly thought-provoking perspective on what young architects can bring to local urban challenges. The winning project, Repositioning the Remote, puts forward several possible short-, medium- and long-term strategies for the regeneration of Vardø. The runner up project, Datarock, devises a bold but pragmatic strategy. The honorable mention, The White, is an out of this world meta-project that invites us to imagine the contribution that mythology could bring to the future of the Norwegian city. The First Prize went to Repositioning the Remote
Oh! This is nice, i can copy paste the text on the competition website as i'm the one who wrote it ages ago for the catalog Europan 10 in Norway - Book of Results: The strategy proposed by Repositioning the Remote is articulated around short-, mid- and long-term objectives which embrace the cultural, industrial and ecological facets of Vardø. First, cultural spaces would take the place of abandoned industrial structures, providing a boost to the local community and attracting interest from outside the area. The winning team forecasts that by 2030, Vardø will play an important role in Norwegian energy production by monitoring, exploiting and servicing nearby oil reserves. Concurrently, Vardø will consolidate its unique position as an outpost of ornithology and marine biology in the Arctic, protecting the fragile ecology of the Barents region.
In the distant future, Vardø will have to face pressing challenges which range from finding a place in Norway's post-oil economy, meeting the effects of global warming and raising aquacultural and hothouse production to a higher level of self-sufficiency. Repositioning the Remote suggests that Vardø take advantage of its powerful offshore Arctic winds to create energy for local needs, while distributing the surplus to the southern regions. Vardø's harbour will be reconfigured to face the rising level of the sea, encouraging new modes of production in the process. In the meantime, the interstitial and reconfigured harbour area would be welcoming a 24-hour sunlit greenhouse to produce Arctic char and stock king crab for trade abroad. The authors of Repositioning the Remote are: Team leader Ana Reis (Portugal) with the contribution of Ross Langdon, (Australia), Kelly Doran (Canada) and Louis Hall (UK) The runner-up is Datarock
Isn't this fantastic? I can close my eyes and copy/paste the text explaining Datarock because i wrote it as well for the catalog. Datarock turns the daunting remoteness and Arctic climate of the city into its biggest advantage, while at the same time providing an answer to the world's ever-growing need for the storage of digital data. In fact, Datarock suggests the creation of a brand new industry for the area: the data centre. Also called a 'server farm', a data centre is a facility that stores digital information made available on the Internet. Far from being as intangible as the goods they store, these infrastructures require huge amounts of energy to cool down. Installing them in extremely cold but inhabitable regions is therefore a natural solution.
Datarock is not designed to function as a separate entity, but rather to service Vardø. The warmth continuously produced by the data centre would be used to heat new and existing public spaces while answering the daily needs of the city's inhabitants. The data centre itself is fused within the landscape; half buried, half submerged, it appears on the horizon like a rock from which three luminous cubes emerge. Located on the edge of the city limits, it evokes the atmosphere of a lighthouse.
Interestingly, the project proposes that this industry would create a new form of 'digital tourism' in Vardø. People will flock to see the material face of the Internet, while sustainable energy practices will exploit the heat produced by the massive machines for various facilities in the area. The authors of Datarock are: team leader Gauthier Le romancer (France) in association with Guillaume Derrien (France). The White received an Honorable Mention
The Myth is dying. It is about to be defeated. There is a war between the two worlds: Rationality and Myth. By these two phrases from Adorno and Horkheimer The White states the historical and mythological context of the high north in the minds of the Europeans. The White calls upon ancient cartography and the texts by the likes of Dante Alighieri, Gilles Deleuze, Senecae to question the sensibility of envisioning Vardø under its sole oil-producing, tourist magnet or business potentials. The White might not propose the most straight-forward and factual solution but it certainly brings a new twist on the Vardø discussions. The discussion we had during the jury process and the ones that all the winners of the competition will have very soon in Vardø to reflect on the new profile and strategy for the city. The White has a slight Italo Calvino touch. It reminded me as well of the work of Etienne-Louis Boullée which i discovered as a teenager in one of my favourite movie, The Belly of an Architect.
The White invites Vardø to embrace its geographical position at the border of reality and mythology. Vardø is the gate to the unknown. In the architects own words: The collective unconscious characterized Vardø as the last city of the North, populated by devils, witches, monsters and men praying to the Moon. Colonizing Vardø would correspond to the fall of Myth, to the decay of its own identity: as Odysseus destroyed the Sirens imposing his reason to their irrational song. Therefore, to reject the logical fate of Vardø we enhance the power of Myth. We do not expect to reverse the machine of rationality but rather to erode its internal processes inserting a worm of doubt. The authors of The White are: team leader Federico Perugini (Italy), in association with Francensco Marullo, (Italy), Valentina Signore (Italy) and Alejandra Climent Monsalve (Spain.) More information about the competition and the winning entries in Europan 10 in Norway - Book of Results, edited by Espen Røyseland and Øystein Rø.
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Publisher Princeton Architectural Press says: Interactive Architecture is a processes-oriented guide to creating dynamic spaces and objects capable of performing a range of pragmatic and humanistic functions. These complex physical interactions are made possible by the creative fusion of embedded computation (intelligence) with a physical, tangible counterpart (kinetics). A uniquely twenty-first century toolbox and skill set--virtual and physical modeling, sensor technology, CNC fabrication, prototyping, and robotics--necessitates collaboration across many diverse scientific and art-based communities. Interactive Architecture includes contributions from the worlds of architecture, industrial design, computer programming, engineering, and physical computing. These remarkable projects run the gamut in size and complexity. Full-scale built examples include a house in Colorado that programs itself by observing the lifestyle of the inhabitants, and then learns to anticipate and accommodate their needs. Interactive Architecture examines this vanguard movement from all sides, including its sociological and psychological implications as well as its potentially beneficial environmental impact.
To be honest, i wasn't expecting to be so impressed with the book. I've read and even reviewed e few books on similar topics. They are sexy, glossy, intelligent, packed with jaw-dropping examples of interactive architecture, they have the right amount of geekiness (it feels serious but not to the point of putting off a dilettante like me), their excitement is contagious. This book goes further though. Interactive Architecture explores the trends, promises, means and ways of IA as well as its sociological and psychological implications. Kemp and Fox embrace innovation and cutting edge developments but they are also wary of being over-enthusiastic. Throughout the book they tackle issues that are essential to but also challenging for the field of IA: its economical feasibility, the need for a new pedagogical approach, the necessity of a cross-discipline communication, the questions raised by privacy, ethics, environmental impact or convenience. The book doesn't waste time on the fairground aspects of everything interactive. Right from the start, the authors question the way interactivity is conceived today by refering to the pioneering works and reflections done by the cyberneticians of the early '60s. Their idea of interactivity was a two-way street, a 'conversation' between the human and the machine, no a mere reactive approach. Their work and ideas are coming back in favour today thanks to the likes of Usman Haque and Ruairi Glynn. The works that illustrate the book keep you on a roller-coaster: you might read about the way interactive architecture can help care for the elderly but a few pages later you enter sexier waters with Daan Roosegaarde's 4D-Pixel installation or with Servo + Smart Studio's Lattice Archipelogics. Interactive Architecture is a very approachable -but intense- crash course for anyone who look for an in-depth study of the IA field. It is also a book to put into the hands of the most devoted expert. Some of the projects and directions discussed by the book:
Image on the homepage by Rob Kassabian. |
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Previously: Open City: Designing Coexistence - Part 1, Community and Part 2, Refuge. Third part of my report on Open City: Designing Coexistence, the main exhibition of the 4th International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam. The idea of the Open City is understood as 'an urban condition that enables diverse cultures and lifestyles to coexist'. The exhibition was subdivided in 7 sections, one of them was dedicated to Reciprocity - Urban Bartering Strategies in Jakarta.
In the Summer of 2007, the photo pasted above toured the blogs. Farmer Abu Hassan Ahmad had to move in order to be closer to his mother. He was so attached to his home, he decided to take it with him. "The 56 year old farmer said several village elders got about 150 villagers to help with the 'big move". Besides helping to carry the house half a kilometer to the new site, the villagers also took part in a "gotong-royong" (communal working together) to clear the land at the new location. It took an hour to move the house." The picture illustrates in a striking way the concept that the Reciprocity section of the Open City exhibition explores. Before i go any further i need to mention that the exhibition design of Reciprocity was stunning. It was inspired by the Wayang Kulit, Indonesia's famous shadow puppets:
Reciprocity - Urban Bartering Strategies in Jakarta focuses on the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Curators Daliana Suryawinata and Stephen Cairns investigated the key role that bartering is fulfilling in developing countries. It is estimated that between half and 3/4ths of the economies in developing countries are based on reciprocity. Around 40% of the GNP is generated in shadow economies that rests on this practices of give and take. This kind of informal economy is not only often more important than the official economy, its importance will also increase dramatically in the coming years as the cities in poor countries undergo explosive population growth. Whether it entails physical goods or services, reciprocity often comes with an emotional, personal component. Reciprocity examines how this system of barter and returning of favors affects the infrastructure and vitality of Jakarta where a large majority of its 23 million inhabitants receives its wages in kind, and creates its own alternative chain of supply and demand.
Because the practice has permeated all aspects of their society, Indonesians have an expression for this form of informal economy. They call it Gotong royong, an expression often translated into English as 'reciprocity' or 'mutual assistance'. Through an idea competition called Gotong Royong City, the IABR in collaboration with Ikatan Arsitek invited architects and urban designers to reflect on the way Gotong Royong might be re-invented and applied to reform urban and architectural life. The winning entry was the design concept "Jakarta Bersih!" by Dutch firm Nunc Architects. Nunc's plan relocates a part of the overpopulated Kampung into two-sided high-rise
Making a living out of garbage is nothing unusual in Jakarta. The men and women who search through the 28,000 cubic meters of trash that Jakarta produces each day are called Pemulung. They look for valuable items, plastic, paper, metal which they can then sell for a few rupees (see also: Bas Princen, Mokattam Ridge (Garbage city)). They bring the trash to a local middleman who in turn dispatches them to an official recycling operation.
One of the facades of the buildings imagined by NUNC are designed as huge billboards. The revenue from this 70 meters high advertising could be used to facilitate and finance the cleaning communities in a scheme where commerce meets charity.
To read about the other winners of the competition, head to designboom. Open City: Designing Coexistence is open at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) until January 10, 2010. |
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Previously: Open City: Designing Coexistence - Part 1, Community
Open City: Designing Coexistence, the main exhibition of the 4th International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam, has been sub-divided into seven areas of investigation. I reported on Community a couple of days ago. Now comes the turn of Refuge - Architectural Propositions for Unbound Spaces, curated by Phillip Misselwitz and Can Altay. Refuge - Architectural Propositions for Unbound Spaces explores the causes and spatial impact of migration through voluntary or involuntary "refugees" who are transforming cities around the globe. Individuals or groups are elegantly or forcefully encapsulated from within the context of the city and society. Refuge produces an ever more atomized urban tissue where the "camp" has become both spatial paradigm and everyday reality, be it in the form of a gated community, slum, or humanitarian refugee camp.
Refuge is subdivided into 4 categories, each illustrated by 3 examples found in various locations around the world. I picked up only one for each section of the exhibition. Artist Thomas Kilpper opened the section Providing Refuge with a poetic and burning appeal to build A Lighthouse for Lampedusa! Providing Refuge explores how architects respond to the need of temporary spaces of refuge that offer protection to fragile or threatened constitutencies, or that legitimate expressions of a human desire for withdrawal, safety, seclusion and loneliness.
Every year, some 20 000 refugees, mostly from Africa, try to reach Europe via Lampedusa, a tiny Italian island between Sicily and Tunisia. Aid organisations estimate that one in ten die during the dangerous crossing. Once they've set foot on 'the promised land', immigrants are directed to a 'Welcome Centre' which inadequacy is creating a worrying humanitarian situation.
Thomas Kilpper, along with a team of architects, engineers and local people, hope to build a lighthouse with a powerful beam that would provide orientation at sea and help reduce the danger to life. Furthermore, the ground floor of the lighthouse would host an arts center. The discussions, exhibitions, concerts and other cultural events organized there would attract both new visitors to the island and local people, giving them an opportunity and space to learn from and listen to each other. This project underlines the need for a solution to the refugee problem: it's not possible to solve it via restrictions and declaring a 'state of emergency'. We call for a humanitarian and just immigration and integration policy in Europe. None of the refugees is illegal. We oppose any idea to establish a 'Fortress Europe'. The lighthouse will be a self-confident signal: 'here we are, we do not hide'. Preventing Refuge are proactive projects that aim to prevent entire groups of city dwellers from becoming refugees.
After the 2003 Rose Revolution, Georgia embraced a wild capitalism. Spatial planning became suspect, public assets were quickly privatized, and the city faced rampant land and property speculation, leaving the city authority without strategic plan. Some 2,000,000 m2 of newly developed areas threaten to destroy Tbilisi and led to large-scale urban displacement. A city already filled with thousands of war refugees has transformed citizens into refugees in their own city. FAST, One architecture and local artists outlined a The New Map of Tbilisi to expose all spatial and infrastructural projects being imagined or built in the city, highlighting its lack of strategic coherence. It also shows how refugees from earlier civil wars and current residents are displaced. And, it tracks how public buildings, spaces, and parks were privatized, left to stand empty due to the crisis, then to be reclaimed by internally displaced persons.
By exposing corrupt land deals and making the effect of failed statehood transparent, the "New Map of Tbilisi" aims to empower citizens to take positive action, providing a platform for grass root initiative, civil society institutions and municipal authorities alike to re-engage in a strategic discussion on the urban future of Tbilisi. Laboratories of Returns, one of the projects i discovered in the Dismantling Refuge section, examines return from exile. When return becomes possible, the site of origins is already irrevocably transformed. Return is never a simple turning back of time, a return is always a return to the already built.
The notion of "return" has defined the diasporic and extraterritorial nature of Palestinian politics and cultural life since al Nakba in 1947-48. The work of Alessandro Petti, Sandi Hilal and Eyal Weizman urges architects to engage in a discussion about the revisiting, re-occupation, and appropriation of the already built. Their research and proposals on the appropriation of settlements and military bases to be evacuated -the "future archaeology" of Israel's occupation -- has been recently expanded to include other instances of displacement such as the afterlife of Italian colonial architecture in Libya.
Improving Refuge focuses on the estimated 1.4 million Palestinians living in camps spread across Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank and Syria. These makeshift areas are among the most densely populated in the world. Living conditions, as we all know (but pretend to ignore), are abominable. Camps are a place of temporary-emergency refuge but they also need to be habitable. They hover between stillness and action. The Infrastructure and Camp Improvement Program launched by the UN attempts to introduce strong community-driven urban planning that would enable people living in the camp to go beyond the victim mentality.
I found the practice of Participatory Community Mapping particularly fascinating. ARC, the Arab Resource Collective, invited Palestinians living in several refugee camps in Lebanon to collectively draw maps of their respective camps from memory. The resulting maps chart live experiences rather than the usual landmarks. Political fault lines, social affiliations, and the loci of power manifest themselves from the bottom-up. No only do these maps undermine derogatory assumptions about unruly spatial configurations, they also expose the glaring injustices of the Lebanese government's policy regarding Palestinian refugees. The maps betray the absence of workplaces, except for grocery stores, mini-markets and pharmacies. In the writ of Lebanese regulations, Palestinian refugees are barred from performing dozens professions, including the practice of law, medicine, engineering, etc.
Open City: Designing Coexistence of the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam is on view until 10 January in the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI). Photo on the homepage via EU Australia online. |
