Exhibition at Architecture Center Amsterdam (ARCAM), 17 July – 11 September, 2010. Free entrance.

Last week the exhibition Fashion & Architecture kicked off with a good party at the Amsterdam Architecture Center (ARCAM). Along with ARCAM and office for architecture and urbanism V2A, fashion label OntFront has challenged four creative duos to enter into a design process. Each duo comprises a fashion designer and an architect who have teamed up specially for this occasion. The results are interesting and impressive.

Cross-over projects are common in the world of fashion as well as in the world of architecture. However, intensive collaborations between fashion designers and architects are pretty new, while there are lots of similarities between the two professions. Both deal with creation of volumes and take constructive principles in mind. At the same time, more and more fashion designers aim to make timeless products that fight high turnover rates, and architects attempt to create buildings and structures that are increasingly flexible, fluid and responsive to the environment. Mutually inspired, the designers cut through the dogmas of their own discipline and allow the visitor an insight into the creative process. The exhibition shows which new design statements have derived from an intense and extraordinary collaboration between professions that have not much in common at first sight. That makes this exploration very appealing and definitely worth visiting.

The four teams involved in the project are Iris van Herpen and Jan Benthem/Mels Crouwel (Benthem Crouwel Architekten), Mattijs van Bergen (MATTIJS) and Anouk Vogel (Anouk Vogel Landscape Architecture), Farida Sedoc (Hosselaer) and Nicole/Marc Maurer (Maurer United Architects), and Kentroy Yearwood (Intoxica) and Jeroen Bergsma (2012 Architecten).

Oberhausen Gasometer, 2 April – 30 December, 2010. Project of the European Capital of Culture Ruhr.2010.

In the amazing big Gasometer in the German city of Oberhausen, the exhibition ‘Out of this World – Wonders of the Solar System’ is currently taking place. The exhibition sheds a light on the world beyond this world, with particular attention for the effort of mankind to find out more about it. As the Gasometer is enormously big and dark, one really feels like being in outer space, which sets a great contextual atmosphere for the exhibition. Particularly spectacular is the enormous artificial moon hanging down from the roof of the 126 meters high gasometer. It’s said to be the biggest moon on earth, and honestly, I indeed can’t imagine another fake moon to be bigger.

The exhibition ‘Out of this World’ takes its visitors off on a journey into the cosmos. It shows our solar system as a huge process of growth and decay. Spectacular reproductions of the planetary system, extraordinary images of the sun, of the planets and their moons, precious historical instruments and the most modern technology of space research graphically present to us the drama of the birth and development of our solar system – up to its end. The exhibition ‘Out of this World’ combines natural science, cultural history and artistic points of view. In the spirit of the ‘International Year of Astronomy 2009’, ‘Out of this World’ invites visitors to marvel, wonder and reflect – this exhibition offers us a cosmic experience inside the unique industrial cathedral that is the Oberhausen Gasometer.”

The exhibition starts in the area below the former gas-pressure disc with a space-filling scene: the sun and its planets hover there as if on a disc in a 68 metre-wide room. Large format images, obtained during the latest American and European space missions, show our solar system, its development and its wonderful multiformity. On the gas-pressure disc, cult relicts, historical telescopes, measuring instruments, astronomical charts and old globes – and beside them the most modern instruments of space research are to be found. Here it becomes clear how findings concerning cosmic happenings always made progress when new observation technologies revolutionised the gaze into the depth of the macrocosm and the microcosm. On the basis of the exhibits, it is, moreover, shown how the ideas about the origins and the development of the solar system changed from the myths of primitive peoples up to our scientific age.

Finally, the arena provides a unique experience of space over which the roof extends at a height of 100 metres. As a gigantic sculpture here the largest moon on Earth, with a diameter of 25 metres, is shown. The installation passes through, with a soft background music, all of the phases of the moon from new moon to full moon. The romantic character of this moon experience supplements the scientific part of the exhibition in a moving way. The exhibition ‘Out of This World – Wonders of the Solar System’ is jointly organised by DLR (German Aerospace Center) and Gasometer Oberhausen GmbH to mark the International Year of Astronomy 2009. It offers unique items on loan from important international space companies as well as museums of technology, cultural history and art. Beyond the exposition the Gasometer itself provides a great view at the Ruhr Area’s industrial heritage and is worth paying a visit.

Saturday, July 31, 2010, 12.30–5.00 p.m., Artscape Wychwood Barns, Toronto. Click here for more information.

Foodprint Toronto is the second in a series of international conversations about food and the city. When you look at the city through the lens of food, what do you see?

Following on the success of its first event, Foodprint NYC, which was held in front of a packed house at Columbia University’s Studio-X earlier this year, the program for Foodprint Toronto will include four panel discussions: Zoning Diet, a conversation about the ways zoning, policy, and economics shape Toronto’s food systems; Culinary Cartography, an exploration of what can we learn when we map Toronto using food as the metric, Edible Archaeology, a look at Toronto’s food history in the context of the present; and Feast, Famine, and Other Scenarios — a chance to speculate on the opportunities and challenges of Toronto’s possible food futures.

In order to create truly lively, passionate, and thought-provoking panel discussions, Rich and Twilley are bringing together a range of panelists whose work deals with the same issues from very different points of view. In addition to food producers such as First Nations fisherpeople Natasha and Andrew Akiwenzie, and practicing architects such as Lola Sheppard and Robert Wright, panelists include food activists (Kathryn Scharf of The Stop Community Food Centre), writers (John Knechtel of Alphabet City Media and Shawn Micallef of Spacing magazine, for example), policy makers (Barbara Emanuel of the Toronto Board of Health), business consultants (Michael Wolfson of the Toronto Food Business Incubator) and many others.

Foodprint Toronto audience members can expect an afternoon of debate that provides context for today’s food headlines and fresh insight into the challenges and opportunities of feeding the Toronto of tomorrow. According to Nicola Twilley, Foodprint Toronto’s co-curator, “With the Toronto Board of Health having just formally adopted a new city-wide food strategy, the timing couldn’t be better for a truly cross-disciplinary discussion that explores the past, present, and future of food and the city.” Co-curator Sarah Rich adds, “There’s so much we’re looking forward to talking about in Toronto: from the fight for street food to the transportation infrastructure of the Ontario Food Terminal, and from the evolution of school meals to the challenge of scaling up urban agriculture.”

The Foodprint Project was born out of Rich and Twilley’s shared frustration that, despite the current proliferation of food-themed events, conferences, and debates, the hidden corsetry that shapes food and cities is rarely, if ever, discussed. Zoning, economics, infrastructure, culture, history, transportation, demographics, policy, access — all of these forces intersect within our food systems, which in turn shape and are shaped by the cities in which we live. As humankind becomes an increasingly urban species (the population of the Greater Toronto Area is projected to grow to 8.6 million by 2031), cities face a pressing and unsolved challenge: how to feed their citizens sustainably at scale?

The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X–197X
Maastricht

The opening of the successful traveling exhibition Clip, Stamp, Fold in Maastricht marks a renewed interest in various forms of engagement in the field of architecture and urbanism. The exhibition, based on research by Beatriz Colomina and her Princeton students on so-called ‘little magazines’ in the 1960s and 70s, was initially staged at Storefront in New York, November 2006. (A part of this research was published in Volume 10). It has since traveled to several cities in the US and Europe, including the lesser-known architectural hubs of Oslo, Vancouver and Murcia. What is interesting about the exhibition is not only its content, but also that it is a growing archive; with every new installation, a local or regional addition is added to the core of the exhibition. In Maastricht, the extension (called ‘Staple’ so the full title becomes Clip/Stamp/Fold/Staple) is a series of Dutch magazines that fit the profile that were published from the 80s up to the present. Volume is represented in this section that was researched by Marina van Bergen.

Image Dirk van den Heuvel

With lectures by Colomina on the exhibition and by Mark Wigley on Constant’s New Babylon project (and its appearance in little and not so little magazines), and with the presentation of the latest issue of Oase dedicated to architectural criticism, the program was loaded. And somehow, the round table discussion on the current role and possibilities of little magazines had to be fitted in as well, which besides Colomina and Wigley, also featured Axel Sowa (former editor of l’Architecture ‘d Aujourd’Hui), Véronique Patteeuw and Tom Vandeputte (from periodical Oase), Herman Verkerk (of defunct Forum magazine) and myself. The roll call of speakers prohibited an in-depth debate; while some relevant issues were touched upon (among them finance, independence and their interrelation), I’ll mention a few here that were not discussed.

1. A provisional typology. There are several motors that can propel a magazine: a) economy/trade; b) (serious) criticism; c) discontent/reaction/opposition; d) vision/pursuit. Little magazines are usually in category c) or d), but as the exhibition also indicates, trade magazines can have a period of ‘self inflicted’, chosen ‘littleness’. This is often related to a particular movement or style and usually comes with a new editorial team ‘that takes over’. There is also a position that is not ideologically informed or starts from ‘truth’, but is based on a pragmatic engagement with the present, based on analysis of the current conditions and what is needed to move forward. To name just two options, this explorative attitude can take the form of a project, like Volume, crossing conventional boundaries between academia, office and journalistic platform, or it can be taken as a format or formula: hand the magazine as instrument to a different crew every three years in order to empower different voices one after another.

2. On the battle field of thought, little magazines have been very influential; however, these days the internet seems to be the easy accessible, low cost medium to use, alternative to this laborious, hard-to-distribute form of communication. It hasn’t happened yet in the field of architecture, or at best it is just starting. Yes, individual bloggers can be influential, like certain journalists and critics in newspapers, but a dedicated publication on the web, that persistently explores certain themes and advocates a particular approach… I haven’t seen it yet, although BLDNGBLG, Action!, wemakemoneynotart, or Mammoth may prove me wrong. The collector’s item aspect, the insider’s tip, the ‘when will it arrive’ feeling, the carefully composed and designed quality; maybe it doesn’t exist in virtual space, where open access is the essence. There are these hidden corners for sharing among kindred spirits, but even there the time element (instant availability, instant reaction expected) is making a difference. On the other hand, what could a ‘little magazine’ on the web be? The financial hurdle is so much lower that the criterion of independence is almost meaningless.

3. Criticism is usually seen as a method to distinguish between good and not so good. To broaden the definition, it is one of the means to test cultural values and criteria of quality. In combination with the notion of ‘resistance’, it becomes a mechanism inside the system to ensure a degree of dynamism, and to integrate new ideas and developments into the dominant culture.

Criticism can also be understood as an element in research and knowledge production. This kind of criticism starts with the will to know and to understand. The connection between worlds of criticism and their relation with the phenomenon of the little magazine, it is the subject of Clip/Stamp/Fold/Staple. The exhibition doesn’t take sides: it is more an invitation to define or establish one’s own position as a visitor. As far as Volume is concerned, the choice between reflection, mediation and intervention was made from the outset: tweaking the system. If elevating various voices is a fifth typology (see point 1), then tweaking can be called the sixth typology.

Click here to read/download Arjen Oosterman’s essay ‘Becoming small and being great’ on Issuu.

NAiM/Bureau Europa: Clip/Stamp/Fold until 26 September 2010.
bureau-europa.nl

21-30 July, 2010, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. More information here. Application deadline: 9 July, 2010. Click here to apply.

The second international Summer School run by the Academy of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation aims to organise an idea contest within the framework of a summer school, where, inspired by the ‘Growing House’ from 1932, fantasies for a multi-local living in today’s Dessau shall be thought up.

In 1932, Martin Wagner organised the competition ‘The Growing House’ which was announced in several leading architectural magazines. The idea was conceived during a time of radical change in housing policy after ‘the Golden Twenties’: virtually over night the achievements made during this era in building and urban development seemed to have become worthless. The Great Depression had brought on a crisis in the building industry. Housing construction dropped down to a third of what it had been in the 1920s. The housing shortage drove people to the suburbs, into allotments and small summer houses. Some observers were talking about an ‘exodus from the cities’ which could cause cities to ‘die’. For others it was an expression of an emerging new form of settlement. The competition revisited a theme which had already been spreading virulently during the hardship of the post-war years: ‘Growing’ as a form of ‘natural building’ which would offer an adjustment strategy in times of abrupt swings from crisis to boom. 24 model houses were built to designs from the prize winners and members of the working party and were presented in the summer of 1932 in the exhibition ‘Sonne, Luft und Haus für alle’ (Sun, air and homes for all). Despite the crash of the building industry, one of the decisive criteria was the use of the most advanced construction technology, that is industrial prefabrication. Unlike the heydays of the ‘New Building’ in the 1920s, this exhibition presented solutions to those on a low-income who dreamed of their own home: houses which were flexible enough to adapt to shifting economic conditions and a constant change in family structures, and needed a minimum of resources to do so. Also living under difficult economic conditions had made the connection to the garden a prominent theme. What’s more, the exhibition title ‘Sun, air and homes for all’ put an emphasis on the recreational value of the garden. The Berlin exhibition made deliberate use of the metaphor of athletic sunbathing people and created an active link between home and leisure. The entries wanted to be understood as contributions to the emergence of a new type of settlement. But because they were reminiscent of bungalows they were criticised for being merely extendable weekend cottages or summer houses. For Wagner the economic crisis was heralding the end of the market economy and a shift towards socialism.

The global financial market crisis of 2008 had internationally almost analogous consequences. The collapse of the property market placed many homeowners with mortgages in a desperate position.  Some critics were even talking of the ‘end of suburbia’. Even though for Germany the effects were less dramatic, the global financial crisis showed once again the fragility of an urban development based on speculation. In addition, different mobility options and flexibility demands have a severe impact on today’s living conditions. New combinations of sedentariness and mobility, migration and living can be observed, which go hand in hand with changes in space use and spatial requirements. Dessau serves as a good example of this development. In the 1920s, the Bauhaus city was a showcase for innovative experiments in social housing thanks to prefabrication and industrialisation. Today, Dessau is not only affected by out-migration and shrinkage, and the subsequent loss of value on the property market, but with new nationally and transnationally oriented institutions a mobile class has evolved which commutes between the large urban centres Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg and Frankfurt and the big small town. Students, academics, university lecturers, civil servants, cultural sector workers, artists, asylum seekers, migrant workers and commuters make up the growing number of ‘Dessauers’ without having a permanent residence in the city. They spend two to three days a week in Dessau and make only limited use of the city’s infrastructure, of cultural, educational and consumer offers. At the same time many local residents are affected by unemployment and poverty, and rents make up a large percentage of their income. Out of work, many have to make do with their flat and allotment and cannot afford a larger space to accommodate guests or family members who no longer live permanently in Dessau.

Featured workshops at the international summer school are ‘Garden shead XXL’, ‘Boarding house’, ‘Global home Platte’, and ‘Home comforts on the move’.

Please join us at Shelter for an informal get-together with some of the contributors and members of the editorial team of Al Manakh: Gulf Continued, today from 7:30 pm. You will also have the opportunity to get your copy of Al Manakh: Gulf Continued at a discounted price.

Thursday 3 June, 6 pm, Architectural Association, London. With Rem Koolhaas, Brett Steele, Todd Reisz and Shumon Basar.

The table will discuss architectural books and introduce Al Manakh: Gulf Continued, an essential and comprehensive guide to the cities of the Gulf, produced by AMO, Archis, Pink Tank and NAI. A follow-up to the first installment of Al Manakh – made in the very different moment of 2007 – this 536-page book of interviews, travelogs, analyses, propositions, infographics and photography explores the growing interconnectedness of the region and the complex impact of the financial crisis.

In the AA’s front room, Rem Koolhaas and Al Manakh editor Todd Reisz will discuss the implications of the book and OMA’s continuing work in the Gulf region. This event coincides with the last days of the exhibition OMA Book Machine in the AA’s gallery next door.

For more information, visit aaschool.ac.uk, almanakh.org, oma.eu.

Al Manakh Gulf Continued Debate
May 19, Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi), Rotterdam
With Hani Asfour, Rem Koolhaas, Ronald Wall

After a year in the making, the mammoth Al Manakh marched into the NAi in Rotterdam on May 19, just after being launched a few nights earlier in Abu Dhabi.

Editor Arjen Oosterman commenced by presenting the publication itself. Unlike the first Al Manakh, which ‘looked like it had been dragged off the internet and onto the page’ (wrote Justin McGuirk from the Guardian), Oosterman mentioned Al Manakh: Gulf Continued had another look and feel, which was delivered by editor Todd Reisz and designer Irma Boom: with less focus on architectural extravaganza and more nuance on voices in the region. These voices were structured into four chapters (Crisis and Crises, Vision, Export and Cohabitation) and connected through a system of cross-references developed by Editor Todd Reisz to bridge the often contradictory and overlapping views.

Rem Koolhaas explained that there is a need to counter the usual media coverage on the region. We need to get ourselves informed on an important and influential part of the world, which we often prefer to mock or ignore. He also questioned the perspective from which we see the region. Underlying all of the articles in the publication, Koolhaas commented, is the notion of economics, which he challenges as being the ultimate default in the world (of architecture). He asked whether there are other underlying values: do we not dream of other things?

Following Koolhaas, Hani Asfour, an architect working between Dubai and Beirut, continued to dream. However, his dream was one of a Gulf region that could transform into a post-oil knowledge economy. Hani Asfour conjectured that the bubbling and exchange of knowledge could already be witnessed in spaces like Shelter and Traffic in Dubai. However, one could also take the example to KAUST in Saudi Arabia, where traditional university departments have been replaced by clusters of academics forming around problems (see John Gravois, Al Manakh: Gulf Continued, p. 412).

Dubai was also singled out by economic geographer and Al Manakh contributor Ronald Wall. With a dazzling and complex network diagram of the world, Wall highlighted the relations of global investments between cities, and championed Dubai as the only GCC city with a diverse portfolio beyond oil.

Due to all of the hyperbole that Dubai attracts, there were several other cities that were seldom mentioned during the evening: Jeddah, Riyadh and Kuwait City among them. In the discussions after the presentations, Hani Asfour stressed the diversity of the region at stake because the cultural, economic, religious and social differences are enormous. Publications like the Al Manakh – according to him – could help in a better understanding of the region’s specificities. But on the night, social and political conversations were overshadowed by talk of economic transition. Perhaps, with the decline of the euro, Westerners have money on their mind. In the Gulf, people go about their business as usual.

Wednesday 19 May, 2010, auditorium Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam. Open: 4:30 pm, start: 5 pm. Entrance fee: € 5, reduction fee € 3 (students, Friends of the NAi). Register here.

Speakers will include Ole Bouman, Hani Asfour, Rem Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf, and Ronald Wall.

Following the release of Al Manakh Gulf Continued, a special issue of Volume Magazine, the NAi will organize a debate in collaboration with OMA, Archis/Volume and Pink Tank. Al Manakh Gulf Continued offers readers another view of urban development in the Gulf region. This time focusing on how the cities remain re-invent themselves and about their position related to the rest of the world.

Two-day conference, 3 and 4 May 2010, auditorium Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam. With Jolyon Leslie, Kai Vöckler, Sultan Barakat, a.o. Time: 9.30 am-5 pm (Mon), 10.00 am-5 pm (Tue). Language: English. Click here for the full program of the conference. Please scroll down for details regarding reservation.

Architecture of Peace is an international long-term research and action project in which a large number of stakeholders are involved. The project will consist of local case studies, interventions, university research studios, debates, publications and exhibitions. The public kick-off of the programme will be a two-day conference in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on the 3rd and 4th of May, 2010. Participants include architects, urbanists and professionals from the fields of development studies, sociology and conflict studies.

‘Schoolyard’ (Aernout Mik, 2009)

Cities in the post-conflict rebuilding phase have recurrent, comparable problems. Political power vacuums at the national level and the absence of civil self-monitoring generate uncontrolled forces which seriously damage the cities’ chances for recovery. For this reason it is necessary to scrutinize the aid and planning strategies we have used and intensify the search for possible alternatives. We call upon all those working in the field of politics, aid, architecture, and community work and development cooperation to share their knowledge and experience and rethink how to rebuild the community by a smart reconstruction of the city. The integral approach will provide innovative insights to create new tools and methods to approach reconstruction. The outcome will be an inventory of case studies and good practices as well as an inventory of clear themes for further research and proposed partners to conduct that research. These themes are not only relevant for post-war areas, but also for conflict situations within societies in transformation.

Reconstruction is a highly political process in which every step that is seen to favour one side over another can ignite new violence. Unbalanced reconstruction can create new inequalities, which would lead to new grievances. How then can reconstruction also be an instrument of peace? This project concentrates mainly on the second phase out of the three phases of reconstruction that can be distinguished:

• In the first phase, provisional shelter and other forms of temporary construction dominate, from make shift refugee camps to large-scale relief infrastructure. The military still plays a large role.
• In the second phase, people try to resume everyday life. There is no real coordination yet, and the lack of control and process often leads to ethnic enclaves, gated communities, illegal settlements, and urban sprawl. It is in this phase that structures get shape which later on, when regulatory institutions start to function, constrain interventions. It is especially in this phase that rebuilding takes place in a form that, later on gives rise to new conflicts. But this phase could also offer a window of opportunity to advocate positive interaction and reduce the chance of a resumption of conflict.
• In the third phase, institutions have been created that start a more coordinated process, in which space is allocated, property titles are acknowledged, and longer-term infrastructure development is planned. This phase resembles more closely the normal processes of city planning, in which outcomes are negotiated between different groups and authorities, and less the result of spontaneous actions of inhabitants.

Registration
The first lecture day of the conference is open to all. Click here to register.
The second workshop day is limited to a group of 50 people. If you wish to join the workshop please sent an email indicating your specific interest to rsvp@archis.org before Wednesday April 23 and we’ll get back to you before Monday April 26. The conference will be free of charge.