Search

En 1964, un joven Cedric Price se unió a la exitosa directora y productora teatral Joan Littlewood para concebir un proyecto con la ambiciosa intención de transformar la concepción del tiempo libre y la educación de una devastada Gran Bretaña tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial. El proyecto del Fun Palace nunca llegó a construirse, quedando los dibujos de Price como única documentación. Usando principios de cibernética, el proyecto se configura como un armazón estructural que encierra una máquina interactiva sin un programa definido en constante transformación. Un tablero de combinaciones sin una única solución que anticipa la arquitectura paramétrica. A partir de la recopilación de los dibujos originales de Price, el artículo presenta la reconstrucción virtual del proyecto, incluyendo nueva documentación y un análisis de la alterabilidad de los elementos en constante cambio que definen al Fun Palace.

In a context of ecological crisis, one of the major challenges of architecture is to provide sustainable and enduring solutions. The challenge is even greater considering that contemporary societies are characterized by permanent transformation. In the 1960s, Cedric Price designed the Fun Palace, a building which, conceived as a temporary event, became a referent from which lessons can be drawn to envision an ephemeral and enduring architecture. The aim of this article is to identify principles from the Fun Palace for a sustainable practice of the profession, resonating with the demands of the current ecological crisis.

Copyright of Dearq is the property of Universidad de los Andes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As the 1970s faded, Lebbeus Woods set about memorialising the great theoretical physicist Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity. A cosmic scale and an anti‐gravity mode of this visual and poetic remembrance is embodied in his Einstein Tomb project. Joseph Becker, Associate Curator of Architecture and Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, articulates its evolution, marrying Woods's cyclic epistemology with the quadripartite mandala form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El Fun Palace, el emblemático complejo cultural iniciado en Londres en 1961 por Joan Littlewood y Cedric Price y cuya agenda iría progresivamente ganando en contingencia e inestabilidad hasta 1975, circula sin cesar en la investigación académica de la arquitectura en la actualidad. Sin embargo, el programa cultural del proyecto que emana del archivo y el papel de Littlewood en él aparecen en cierto modo neutralizados en estos discursos. Este artículo reconstruye los casi sesenta años de historia de la recepción del Fun Palace para investigar críticamente las condiciones que influyeron en la construcción de sus distintivas imágenes. La compleja topología del archivo del Fun Palace se vislumbra como un actor principal en la constitución de los modos de recepción del proyecto en la actualidad: la investigación académica y el activismo.

Whilst lamenting the passing of so many inspirational and creative voices, Peter Cook can still hear the echoes of a 30‐year period of iconoclasm that was the antecedent and antithesis of the circumspect introspection of architectural design today. Here he celebrates Alsop's achievements and records some shared traits. The power of Alsop's oeuvre is ever‐present for those who occupy and encounter his buildings, and his persona lingers in the air for those who knew him well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Will McLean discusses the close bond and respect between his artist father Bruce McLean and Will Alsop, and shares insights into some of their important collaborations. Will McLean had worked as a teenager in Alsop's office, was inspired by him to study at the Architectural Association and subsequently worked on a number of key office projects in the 1990s. He observed first‐hand the creative ethos and free‐ranging discipline that his father and Alsop worked relentlessly – and with unfailing good‐humour – to materialise in projects for buildings, paintings and products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clare Hamman gives us a peek into the impressive collection of Alsop paintings held by the Marco Goldschmeid Foundation, and ruminates on the applications for which Alsop used his painterly instincts. Firstly, this was to clear his own mind of preconceived ideas, then, as a catalyst for creativity in his office and with collaborators, as well as a prompt for open‐minded discussion with clients. Hamman positions the role of painting in Alsop's design practice as both a life‐giving force and powerful means of popular communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kester Rattenbury convenes the long‐running Supercrit series at the University of Westminster, London. Here she describes proceedings at Supercrit #8, which presented Alsop's 'Le Grand Bleu' in Marseille, France, the competition‐winning building for the headquarters of the regional government of the Hôtel du Département des Bouches‐du‐Rhône. The event was conducted without its star performer, who had, alas, died six months prior. The invited panellists represented a range of design inputs from engineers to artists, each demonstrating their respect for Alsop and his creative verve while offering critical reflections on this ground‐breaking project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of Alsop & Lyall's first built works was a swimming pool at Sheringham in Norfolk, close to Alsop's family home, and was a long, extruded form. Paul Finch followed Alsop's entire career through the eyes of a journalist, making the connection between the use of the formal extrusion as design tactic and many of the buildings and schemes that came later. Coupled with Alsop's non‐belief in the old 'form follows function' idiom, this allowed him to create vivacious architectural designs, urban districts and whole cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the work of British architect Will Alsop (1947–2018). His architecture was aimed at allowing beautiful resolutions to emerge truthfully from the actual condition of our towns and cities and replacing a little misery in the world with a little joy and delight', and he did this with style and showmanship.

The milieu in which Alsop was educated, mixed and worked was crucial to the original architect he became. Samantha Hardingham describes those heady days, particularly the influence of the Architectural Association in the early 1970s and its rich menagerie of denizens of the period. She focuses on a critical and enigmatic mentor, Cedric Price, for whom Alsop worked and asserted as a profound influence on his design thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of New Architecture is the property of New Architecture Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Faysal Tabbarah is Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Architecture at the American University of Sharjah and co‐founder of design studio Architecture + Other Things (A+OT). Here he explores alternative forms through the painterly, the natural environment and the architectonic with the aim of developing new and original ways of constructing material that can be used for building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently Director of the London Design Biennale, Victoria Broackes was previously Senior Curator for the Department of Theatre and Performance at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, where she was instrumental in assembling some of the museum's blockbuster music exhibitions. One of the most visited and iconic was 2017's 'Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains'. Here she tells its story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Architect Joe Morris was a student of Simon Allford and Paul Monaghan's design unit at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. After graduation he joined the still‐small practice and subsequently rose through the ranks before leaving to form his own architectural firm, Morris+Company, which has worked with AHMM on some large urban schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roger Zogolovitch, founder and Creative Director of Solidspace, and AHMM founding director Simon Allford have had a decades‐long relationship developing ideas and building together. Over the years their friendship has been consolidated by fine dining and mutual respect that has made Solidspace a serial client. And one where architect and client work as a symbiotic whole. Here Zogolovitch writes of their kipper breakfast meetings and of two recent developments for apartments and offices in South‐East London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing on behalf of AHMM, Simon Allford describes the founding directors' catalytic joint project, the Fifth Man, developed in their final year at university: its insights, the personalities that influenced it and how, over 30 years later, its dictums are still a guiding light in their contemporary practice as they explore the idea of how the ordinary can become ExtraOrdinary architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archigram founder member and co‐founder of CRAB Studio Peter Cook remembers early soirées at architectural theorist and historian Reyner Banham's house, coming across first David Allford and seeing the early flowerings of his son Simon Allford and Paul Monaghan as teachers and architects, and their subsequent professional rise during his tenure as Chairman at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editor of AD Neil Spiller interviews the four founders of AHMM: Simon Allford, Jonathan Hall, Paul Monaghan and Peter Morris. The discussion embraces topics that include the history of the firm, architectural education and above all their thoughts on architectural praxis and the pragmatic philosophies behind the practice and its success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on developing the delightful city. Topics include Battleship Building is an instantly recognisable landmark that brightens up the often-drab approach to Central London along the M4 motorway, and the school was an experiment by the client and architects to create a super-school that questions and updates what a school might be in terms of ambience, layout and social integration.

At a time of worldwide political fractionalisation and growing social and economic disparity, Ian Ritchie discusses the public role, responsibilities and self‐created myths of the architect and how these are conveyed vis‐à‐vis society, the public, the profession and the wider world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a connection between theoretical schemes such as Archizoom's No‐Stop City and the virtual and augmented worlds of today. Guest‐Editor Luke Caspar Pearson, Director of the Undergraduate Architecture Programme at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, explores video‐game spaces and his own architectural gaming environments, demonstrating their resonance with avant‐garde concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is architectural discourse haunted by an avantgarde future that never materialised? Los Angeles‐based critic, curator and editor Mimi Zeiger describes how these tropes, many of which relate to the preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s, are recycled and repurposed by contemporary practitioners. She cautions that such feedback loops, orbits or revolutions strip meanings, narratives and politics from original source materials, which not only leaves a vacuum of nostalgia at the centre of the discourse, but also limits the discipline's ability to speculate on the pressures of our present moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses Cedric Price's project to transform Two Tree Island, located in the Thames Estuary, into a leisure complex. The plan, drafted between 1971 and 1973 and which never materialized, was produced against a background of alternative planning theory discussions that were prevalent in Britain during the 1960s and the early 1970s. From a historical point of view, Two Tree Island is an illuminating example of the conceptual depth with which the notion of the environmental design was being used. Despite an undeniable lack of precision in the use of data and descriptors, the project is still of conceptual interest because of the way it defines the landscape based on the convergence of physical and cognitive approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a research which shows the range of services offered by temporary practices of architects. It highlights the collaboration of architects for research and innovation in practice and shift in architectural design. An overview on the scope and modes of evaluation of research involving practitioners and additional types of institutions such as RMIT University in Melbourne or the London School of Architecture (LSA), is also emphasized.

Copyright of Constelaciones (2340-177X) is the property of Fundacion Universitaria San Pablo - CEU and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Alrededor de 1970, Cedric Price y los miembros de Archigram solían presentar sus propuestas de hinchables, cúpulas geodésicas, robots o sistemas prefabricados formando parte de escenas paisajistas. El artículo esclarece la inserción de estos panoramas dentro de una tendencia histórica con fuerte significado cultural. Los historiadores Leo Marx y Reyner Banham lo conceptualizaron como la difícil búsqueda de un paisaje medio: un modelo ponderado y estabilizado por el arte, que desde el siglo XIX actúa bajo la creencia de que la máquina construirá un jardín.

What does the rise of automated retail mean for our future? Architect Clare Lyster, who is Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, looks at its various emerging forms: cashierless grocery stores, low‐cost solar‐powered mobile retail units, self‐driving food delivery vehicles, walls of QR codes in public places ... Rather than signalling a dystopian future of diminishing human interaction, she sees them as being in the lineage of work by visionary architects and urbanists from the 1960s such as Yona Friedman and Cedric Price, with the potential to increase urban equitability and empower remote communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calls to reinvent architectural practice have been a steady part of the profession from its inception. Widely published cultural writer Douglas Murphy, who teaches in the architecture departments of the Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins in London, tracks the variety of forms they have taken: from reactions to specific historical and technical developments, to perennial concerns regarding the architect's standing in society and on the building site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the emerging new mode of architectural practice with a very different set of role models, creating new types of outputs that associate to a very different set of values. It mentions that the discipline of architecture is re-emerging while the profession starts to shrink. New Modes Versus Old Modes is emphasized.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s architectural education saw to the emergence of radical attempts to reconnect pedagogy with ‘the real world’ and to forge greater social responsibility in architecture. From this epoch of important political, social, and environmental action, this article discusses three ‘encounters’ between architecture and pedagogy with the aim to study how architecture can contribute to learning innovation. While the International Design Conference held in Aspen in 1972, shows how architects and educators explored the potential of the city as a learning resource, architect Cedric Price’s radical proposals for mobile forms of learning, demonstrate the importance of visionary imaginations. Finally, revolutionary-anarchist architects and planners of the time, including Colin Ward and Brian Anson, experimented with the empowering potential of education. Via these three encounters, this article highlights the role of imagination and experimentation, typically associated with architecture, in triggering societal and pedagogical change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the relentless drive for efficiency, our lives are increasingly dominated by decision-making algorithms imposed from above. As Usman Haque observes, this leaves us feeling disenfranchised. Umbrellium, the team he cofounded to design and deploy participatory platforms, is working to re-establish community engagement. Its ongoing VoiceOver project in the village of Horden, County Durham, shows how people can be encouraged to connect beyond their usual sphere and to make collective decisions, enhancing their sense of ownership of the outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the spring of 2013, Akira Suzuki, the Japanese architectural critic, editor and Professor of Architecture at Musashino Art University, issued an invitation to three architects to design and self-build a tree house for HC Andersen Park in the suburbs of Tokyo. He observes how the resulting ephemeral structures, built out of the trees themselves, invited interaction with visitors and, and were 'less material buildings with solid roofs and walls than 'conditions' or 'happenings''. He discerns that the widespread adoption of social media in Japan has resulted in a paradigm shift. This has moved creativity away from the folly, as an object of contemplation, scale-less and position-less on the landscape's horizon and solitary in the mind. In its place, the solitary browsing of networks is causing people to meet in actual space, which resists the easy flows of internet connectivity without imposing walls or rooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late Paul Coates was one of the first students at the Architectural Association (AA) in London to submit an international computation-based diploma, in 1969. Responsible for introducing a series of computational techniques, Coates was also the founder of the MSc in Computing and Design at the University of East London, and in 2002 the Centre for Evolutionary Computing in Architecture (CECA). In this unpublished article from 2008, which has been prepared and rewritten for publication by Christian Derix, Coates recounts his pursuit of 'the particle physics of architecture' - geometric rules that inform both unplanned and planned human occupation of space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]