Al Manakh launches its website at Art Dubai and Sharjah Biennial 9
16-21 March 2009

The team responsible for Al Manakh 2 is expanding its network in the Gulf with researchers, correspondents and photographers. Yesterday, March 16, Rem Koolhaas one of the editors of Al Manakh gave a lecture at the Sharjah Biennial 9, sharing his experiences in the Gulf region over the last five years. Koolhaas touched upon his respect for the region and how his insights to the Gulf have developed through professional experience. He approached the Gulf as a mirror for the Western mind set, as the ultimate extravaganza that architecture worldwide suffered from. Largely developed with Western stakeholders, Dubai heard its first dismissal from those same sources. Now when the credit crisis -generated by the West- is hitting the Gulf region, that same Western world that hugely profited from the wealth is now the first to proclaim its decline.

Koolhaas pointed out that the real dynamics in the region are a lot more complex and subtle than generally perceived. To monitor and analyze those developments, the Al Manakh team launched its website “almanakh.org” in preparation for the publication Al Manakh 2, Export Gulf/.

The first Al Manakh (2006) is available at the bookstore at Dubai Art Fair, featuring detailed analyses of cities like Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai and Kuwait City. Contributions from international and regional architects and planners plus contributions from the Gulf’s most active participants in making these cities create an informative window into the region. The 496-page volume is filled with interviews, essays, charts and exclusive photographs.

Al Manakh 2 will be released in February 2010 and is exclusively supported by the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council.

For more info:
Pink Tank: info@pinktank.ae
or
Archis: lb@archis.org

Last week(end) Volume has been present in an exposé of magazine culture around the world. Tokyo and Luxembourg to be precise. In Tokyo, Volume was exhibited in the We ♥ Magazines Library
which opened last week in Omotesando Hills, Tokyo.

We ♥ Magazines Library – Tokyo

[viewbook 60852/27d6f5d1b61fff ]
Colophon2009 – Luxembourg (see slideshow full screen)

Another celebration of the independent periodical took place in Colophon2009 in Luxembourg. Magazine makers from all over the world gathered in a congregation discussing, lecturing and networking in concert with publishers, distributors, designers and other magazine enthusiasts. Volume was invited as one of the ten Magazines to outfit an exhibition space, capturing some of the spirit of the our publication. Volume’s exhibit was titled “The Situation Room,” referring to the crisis management space under the White House, and evoking imagery of Ken Adam‘s War Room he designed for Dr. Strangelove.

On the 7 meter high walls of the Volume situation room two windows on the world were projected, one with imagery of the various RSVP events that were organized since 2004, on the other textual commentary and analysis of the RSVP events. A dialogue between image and text. Between these two projections an eight seat conference table where the agenda’s for architecture that emerged from these events be discussed. Surfacing one of the central drives of the Volume project: uncovering new urgencies an opportunities for architecture.

Thursday 19 March

From wacko hippy-esk ideology, ‘sustainability’, or ‘eco-friendly’, or ‘green’ has now become globally accepted. But, as what? As an environmental urgency, as a political issue, as a technical problem, as a historical destiny, or as a new world order? And with which consequences?

The sustainability consensus is dangerous, since the concept has no political content and can be used for any cause. Carbon neutrality and zero emissions are like magic formulas, cover ups for complicated ethical questions about the inequalities in our societies. Architecture is called to rescue the planets future with eco-cities and sustainable design but what is this future is rarely discussed.

We invite you to join us in the examination of sustainability, and answer questions as: whose, what kind of and sustainability in which way? Help us setting the zero point, and let’s search for the strategies after zero and plan more sustainable furtures.

Program
Afternoon
An expert meeting
Experts design Zero Point Manifesto for Sustainability
With Stefano Boeri, Arjen Oosterman, Piet Vollaard, Marjetica Portc and others

10.30 – 12.00 Discussion session
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch
13.00 – 14.30 Writing session

Evening
A public debateBy host Ole Bouman

20.10 – 20.30
‘Planning Sustainability after Zero’
Stefano Boeri on Sustainable Utopias and Dystopias
Moving away from the anthropocentric observation of the urban condition, Stefano Boeri understands non-growth and human retreat as producing valuable urban eco-systems. Reforestation protects natural zones and green corridors shelter animals from the anthropocentric world. These potentially create new ways of exchange between wildlife and human beings.

20.30 – 20.50
‘Searching Sustainability after Zero’
Marjetica Potrc on Sustainable strategies after urban crisis
Places where 20th century modernism failed have articulated new dialog
between rural and urban. New rural – urban coexistence is at the core of the existential concerns of contemporary society. Marjetica Potrc will give examples from her research projects in Amazonia, New Orleans, Detroit and the Nieuw West neighborhood of Amsterdam.

20.50 – 21.00
Break

21.00 – 21.15
Commentary

21.15 – 21.45
Debate

21.45 – 22.00
‘Manifesto presentation’
Arjen Oosterman

Marjetica Potrc
Marjetica Potrc is a Ljubljana-based artist and architect. She is best
known for her on-site projects using participatory design, her drawing
series, and her architectural case studies. Her work has been
exhibited extensively throughout Europe and the Americas.

Stefano Boeri
Stefano Boeri is an architect and director of Boeri Studio and editor in chief of the magazine Abitare. Boeri teaches urban design at the Milan Polytechnic, he is visiting professor at the Harvard Design School and he is the founder of the research agency Multiplicity. Previously he worked as editor in chief of Domus magazine.

Arjen Oosterman
Arjen Oosterman is editor-in-chief and publisher of Volume, an independent quarterly magazine that sets the agenda for design. By going beyond architecture’s definition of ‘making buildings,’ it reaches out for global views on designing environments, advocates broader attitudes to social structures, and reclaims the cultural and political significance of architecture. Created as a global idea platform to voice architecture any way, anywhere, anytime, it represents the expansion of architectural territories and the new mandate for design.

Friday 20 March

The current real estate crisis is hitting communities all around the world hard, for example in the American mid-west, in Southern-Europe and in the Gulf region. The magnitude of this crisis will reshape our cities. Therefore, there is a desperate need to reframe the issues at stake so that they can be addressed in a creative and productive way.

In February, ARCHIS in cooperation with Abitare, Netherlands Architecture Institute and the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Tech held an RSVP event in Warren (USA), a city close to Detroit where 80 % of the population is depended on the automotive industry. The event focused on finding pragmatic answers to how we can move from crisis to project.

Join this practical discussion!!

A report-back and discussion meeting at the NAI on 20 March 2008 is aimed at providing cities in need with clues and concepts to revive the public domain, to re-energize its urban spirit and to revitalize its trust in dialogue as the essence of civic life.

Perspectives of the debate:
1. A concrete community-based bottom-up strategy to deal with the real estate crisis.
2. A clear example, from the top-down perspective of the global community of architects, urbanists and planners, as to how to approach the current real estate crisis.

Program:
Host: Arjen Oosterman, editor in chief Volume magazine

Proposals:
1. Toni Moceri, County Commissioner for the city of Warren introduces the real estate challenge in the US and the community DIY strategies developed during the RSVP in Warren. She maps out key questions.
2. Alexander d’Hooghe, head of the New Monumentality Studio at MIT reflects on the global real estate crisis and introduces his ideas on the rehabilitation of the suburb.
3. Lieuwe Conradie, AM concepts

Ole Bouman, NAi director, discusses the pros and cons of both approaches.

Discussion:
The host invites the audience to think through whether approaches are applicable and where additional creative thinking is needed.

Toni Moceri
Toni Moceri is a Macomb County commissioner representing the northwest portion of the City of Warren. She is also strategic development coordinator at the Michigan Suburbs Alliance. In the past, she has been a cultural researcher focusing on topics of urbanism. Her work includes research for Shrinking Cities, a project funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. She studied at the Bauhaus Kolleg in Dessau, Germany, and has a master of research degree in Humanities and Cultural Studies from the London Consortium.

Alexander D’Hooghe
Alexander D’Hooghe is assistant professor of architectural design at MIT Architecture. A founding member of the design firm ORG, with projects in the Netherlands and Belgium, D’Hooghe has also practiced as an urban designer and architect with the Chan Krieger firm of Boston and with Professor Marcel Smets in Belgium. He has taught at the Harvard Design School both as instructor and visiting critic.

Arjen Oosterman
Arjen Oosterman is editor-in-chief and publisher of Volume, an independent quarterly magazine that sets the agenda for design. By going beyond architecture’s definition of ‘making buildings,’ it reaches out for global views on designing environments, advocates broader attitudes to social structures, and reclaims the cultural and political significance of architecture. Created as a global idea platform to voice architecture any way, anywhere, anytime, it represents the expansion of architectural territories and the new mandate for design.

Thursday 19 March

From wacko hippy-esk ideology, ‘sustainability’, or ‘eco-friendly’, or ‘green’ has now become globally accepted. But, as what? As an environmental urgency, as a political issue, as a technical problem, as a historical destiny, or as a new world order? And with which consequences?

The sustainability consensus is dangerous, since the concept has no political content and can be used for any cause. Carbon neutrality and zero emissions are like magic formulas, cover ups for complicated ethical questions about the inequalities in our societies. Architecture is called to rescue the planets future with eco-cities and sustainable design but what is this future is rarely discussed.

We invite you to join us in the examination of sustainability, and answer questions as: whose, what kind of and sustainability in which way? Help us setting the zero point, and let’s search for the strategies after zero and plan more sustainable furtures.

Program
Afternoon
An expert meeting
Experts design Zero Point Manifesto for Sustainability
With Stefano Boeri, Arjen Oosterman, Piet Vollaard, Marjetica Portc and others

10.30 – 12.00 Discussion session
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch
13.00 – 14.30 Writing session

Evening
A public debateBy host Ole Bouman

20.10 – 20.30
‘Planning Sustainability after Zero’
Stefano Boeri on Sustainable Utopias and Dystopias
Moving away from the anthropocentric observation of the urban condition, Stefano Boeri understands non-growth and human retreat as producing valuable urban eco-systems. Reforestation protects natural zones and green corridors shelter animals from the anthropocentric world. These potentially create new ways of exchange between wildlife and human beings.

20.30 – 20.50
‘Searching Sustainability after Zero’
Marjetica Potrc on Sustainable strategies after urban crisis
Places where 20th century modernism failed have articulated new dialog
between rural and urban. New rural – urban coexistence is at the core of the existential concerns of contemporary society. Marjetica Potrc will give examples from her research projects in Amazonia, New Orleans, Detroit and the Nieuw West neighborhood of Amsterdam.

20.50 – 21.00
Break

21.00 – 21.15
Commentary

21.15 – 21.45
Debate

21.45 – 22.00
‘Manifesto presentation’
Arjen Oosterman

Marjetica Potrc
Marjetica Potrc is a Ljubljana-based artist and architect. She is best
known for her on-site projects using participatory design, her drawing
series, and her architectural case studies. Her work has been
exhibited extensively throughout Europe and the Americas.

Stefano Boeri
Stefano Boeri is an architect and director of Boeri Studio and editor in chief of the magazine Abitare. Boeri teaches urban design at the Milan Polytechnic, he is visiting professor at the Harvard Design School and he is the founder of the research agency Multiplicity. Previously he worked as editor in chief of Domus magazine.

Arjen Oosterman
Arjen Oosterman is editor-in-chief and publisher of Volume, an independent quarterly magazine that sets the agenda for design. By going beyond architecture’s definition of ‘making buildings,’ it reaches out for global views on designing environments, advocates broader attitudes to social structures, and reclaims the cultural and political significance of architecture. Created as a global idea platform to voice architecture any way, anywhere, anytime, it represents the expansion of architectural territories and the new mandate for design.