If we were in a parallel more Sci-fi world

So shocking news, that as a mac user and lover has shocked my world, Steve Jobs has very sadly died. 
Without wanting to start stories too soon, it did give me thought for a new sci-fi story. Invisage a brave new Apple world, where this would be the year OJ (our Jobs) 35 (35 years on since the first computer sale) where we are never told that he has actually died and his image is maintained, a little like Equilibrium or The Prisoner without a real person behind it. I'm struggling to find any new interesting sci-fi so if someone would like to take this and run with that would be great. Having said that I think I would actually love an Apple world, it'd be so stylish and clean and would run smoothly. Til then I'll stay here in PC world (no pun intended) and carry on reading the classics. Be seeing you.

Always visit your grandmother.

On the 26th I was in London and swung by the Architecture Foundation for a little talk by none other than the self-professed grandmother of architecture Denise Scott-Brown. Short of feeling very aware that I knew no one at this very small event and making a not so subtle early exit (damn infrequent trains home) this was a really enjoyable a very insightful talk. The main topic was architecture and planning and the benefit of uniting these disparate spheres. I think the thing I found most interesting was Denise's use of social sciences and planning to inform the architecture across several scales. For example for the design for a university campus the location of the buildings was based on various densities of students and cultural spaces and the desire lines through the city and the form of the building accomodated these and it's design was based on internal desire lines creating social spaces that were based on where people would be rather than being forced.

The video of this talk is going to be uploaded by the Architecture Foundation so keep your eyes peeled round here

Whilst in London I also went to a little exhibition of Jean-Claude and Christo at the Annely Juda gallery. This was of their drawings and models, which I have to say are pretty stunning in themselves sometimes. There were just really successful drawings for in a single piece displaying everything you needed to know about the project. Like this drawing, perspective, plan, details and a sample of the material, very nice.

Oh Zumty!

So over the summer I made two little visits to Peter Zumthor's Serpentine Pavilion. First was the opening night, which was probably not the best time to see it as it was jammed and you couldn't really get the chilled out Hortus Conclusus vibe he was perhaps going on. However even on the second visit I wasn't convinced, I just felt it was a bit nothing, the corridors were quite fun and slightly atmospheric but where was the burnt wood and the heavily scented plants? It all seemed slightly half-hearted and not really up to Zumthor standards, even on a second less busy visit, which the confused and unimpressed face of my non-architecty co-visitor summed up.

I did however on the opening night slip Zumthor a flyer for our degree show in London, he was a no show tho, what a loser!

Which is better...?

The Venice architecture biennale 2010, or the art biennale 2011, there's only one way to find out... FIIIGHT!

In the red corner for team architecture we have Janet Cardiff's '40 Part Motet'. Weighing in with 40 speakers in an oval and some hard fought for seats in the centre this is a tough one to beat.

And in the blue corner for team art we have the new kid on the block and underdog for this fight Christian Marclay's 'Clock'. Considerably heavier than his opponent with some very comfortable sofas and 24 hours of film with time references for each minute.

And Cardiff starts off the proceedings with a point for providing a needed respite in the Arsenale but Marclay hands down takes the lead on this one, with sofas so good there was at least one man sleeping in the room.
Marclay is knocked back by the overwhelming effect of all Cardiff's singers in unison, but fights back with a huge note for attention to detail and sheer time and effort involved.
What's this? Just when you thought Cardiff was down she throws out the single speaker providing a unique viewpoint on the choir.

So in conclusion for me although 'The Clock' was thoroughly enjoyable and real kudos for shifting through god knows how many films to find all those references, Janet Cardiff's piece has just got a bit more depth.

Overall as well I thought the architecture biennale was better, this may be because I have a bias, but I think it was more unified. Having said that the art biennale had a few more stand out pieces, like Urs Fischer's wax pieces (I like time related pieces). Or James Turrell's light piece, which this photo doesn't really do justice but the 45 minute wait might have. 

Lil Trip

So August involved a jaunt round central Europe. This involved many standard panoramics of cities which now looking at the pictures I struggle to identify and more train journeys than I can count on all my fingers and toes. Amongst this trip were a couple of unexpected joys, firstly this 'building' (?) A case of what you can remove before you completely destroy the building. Is this successful preservation, is there any point in preserving just the facade (and more curiously the back) of the building or might you just as well take the whole thing down and start again? This made me think of Rem's contribution to the Venice Biennale 2010 which caused a little thinking about this topic. Obviously there are many sides to this debate, and although ripping out the entire inside of the building may result a slight loss of soul I do think maintaining the street facade is a positive, therefore reducing disasters such as this...
















Also reminded me of this which is just quite fun and tasty, in particular I'm a fan of the ones that you're not quite sure if they're real or not.


Think a visit to see what goes in the middle could be due!

Chit-Chat

So going back a lil bit I gave a talk on J.G Ballard, examining how High-Rise can be used a critique of modern living. This was part of the Alternative Worlds series hosted by the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies.

http://igrs.sas.ac.uk/events/seminars/alternative-worlds.html

Well this is hopefully now going to be developed into a book featuring chapters by all the speakers, arriving on your shelf late 2012. To keep you going til then here's a little taster....



JG Ballard’s High-Rise as a critique of modern living.

JG Ballard’s writing has often been seen as indicative of our society, examining
our psychology and environment. This paper therefore aims to use Ballard as a
way of understanding our relationship with architecture and technology.

It will focus on JG Ballard’s 1975 book High-Rise, which explores the resident’s
changing psychology and relationship with the architecture and technology.
I will examine this relationship in terms of the response to technology, its
alienating affect, the isolation and internalisation caused by the architecture and
the inter-relationship between the mind, the body and the environment.

Ballard explores the architecture and technology not as the reason for the
change in the resident’s thoughts and actions but sees them as the medium
for a more free psychological expression. Ballard’s writing will be compared
to existing realities and investigations into society and psychology, in order
to determine the relevance of his writing and how we can use it to better
understand the society we live in.

Through this examination this paper hopes to reveal the ways in which Ballard
has looked at technology, architecture and society and the relationship between
them. Also how Ballard’s writing is relevant and reflective of society, taking his
hyper-real situations and understanding what they may say about human reality.
To this end the question being posed is: How is JG Ballard’s High-Rise reflective
of humanity’s relationship to technology and architecture?

Pics from the Private View

So Territories opened last Tuesday.

Couple of pics from the evening, which went pretty well with most of the free booze getting nicely polished off!

Photos by Holly Jean Crosbie

Exhibition time

Brighton has landed in London, if only for 10 days...

Territories is an exhibition organised by a group of architecture students from the University of Brighton, including yours truly.



Territories : An area of knowledge, activity and experience

A collaborative exhibition representing a discourse between current graduates and previous students now working in practice.

Close to Old Street, Moorgate and Barbican tube, the show is held below the temporary office of Amin Taha Architects, 115 Golden Lane (off Old Street) EC1Y 0TJ

http://architecturebrighto​n.wordpress.com/

tweeting @BtonUndrgrdArch