Epson sceglie Facebook per parlare con gli Architetti

Le nuove tecnologie, i trend del futuro, le risposte alle domande dei professionisti. Epson realizza una TAB sul proprio profilo Facebook per dialogare con gli architetti.
Cinisello Balsamo (MI) – 10 maggio 2012. Sulla pagina Facebook di Epson Italia è nata la nuova TAB “Epson per l’Architettura” dedicata al mondo degli architetti. Da tempo la società ha scelto i social networks per comunicare con il suo pubblico, costituito non solo da chi stampa a casa o da appassionati di fotografia e di proiezione, ma anche da professionisti di piccole-medie imprese. Tra cui gli architetti, dai quali proviene una crescente domanda di informazioni e contatti. Epson ha quindi deciso di creare una TAB specifica (in cui si parlerà di architettura, design, nuovi trend tecnologici e prospettive future per questi professionisti).
Il progetto “Epson per l’Architettura” nasce con un confronto, in ambito internazionale, tra docenti ed esperti di architettura provenienti da Italia, Francia, Germania, Spagna e Gran Bretagna che si sono riuniti nei mesi scorsi per dar vita a un Think Tank (con l’obiettivo di interrogarsi sulle prospettive dell’architettura da oggi al 2020. In ambito universitario, Epson ha inoltre in atto una collaborazione con la facoltà di Architettura dell’Università di Ferrara e sostiene altri progetti proposti da giovani architetti o volti a insegnare come fotografare l’architettura, calibrare i propri strumenti prima della stampa e stampare progetti CAD e rendering con le stampanti Epson.
La TAB sulla pagina Facebook di Epson Italia ha lo scopo di offrire informazioni a tutti i professionisti del settore, ma vuole anche essere un collettore di domande, dubbi, richieste, cui far fronte in ottica collaborativa, per supportare tecnologicamente gli studi di architettura italiani.
Il Gruppo Seiko Epson
Epson, leader mondiale nell’innovazione e nell’imaging, ha come impegno primario quello di superare la visione e le aspettative dei clienti, in tutto il mondo, con tecnologie che garantiscono compattezza, riduzione del consumo energetico, alta precisione, attraverso una gamma di prodotti che va dalle stampanti, ai videoproiettori 3LCD per il business e la casa, sino ai dispositivi elettronici e al quarzo. Con capogruppo Seiko Epson Corporation che ha sede in Giappone, il Gruppo Epson conta quasi 75.000 dipendenti in 100 società nel mondo ed è orgoglioso di contribuire alla salvaguardia dell’ambiente naturale globale e di sostenere le comunità locali nelle quali opera. www.global.epson.com

Epson Italia
Epson Italia S.p.A. svolge la propria attività con l’obiettivo di fornire prodotti e servizi che soddisfino al meglio i clienti e, in sintonia con la filosofia del Gruppo Epson di cui fa parte, è impegnata ad operare come soggetto attivo in armonia con l’ambiente naturale e sociale in cui è inserita. Epson è presente in Italia con una filiale già dal dicembre 1987, che ha registrato per l’anno fiscale 2010 un fatturato di oltre 200 milioni di Euro e impiega oggi circa 150 persone. www.epson.it

Per ulteriori informazioni:
Silvia Carena – PR Manager – tel. 02.66.03.2.1 – e-mail: silvia_carena@epson.it
Epson Italia spa – Cinisello Balsamo (MI) – Via Viganò De Vizzi, 93/95 - www.epson.it

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Title:
Living Layers III
artist:
Valentina Vannicola
curated by:
Wunderkammern
location:
Wunderkammern
text by:
Simona Antonacci
dates:
from 17 May to 28 June 2012
inauguration:
Thursday 17 May at 7 pm
collaboration and sponsors:
in collaboration with MACRO (Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma), sponsored by Regione Lazio, Provincia di Roma, Roma Capitale Municipality VI

On 17 May 2012, Wunderkammern will present “Living Layers III”, the new photographic series by Valentina Vannicola for Living Layers, a project created in collaboration with the MACRO (Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma).

Living Layers III by Valentina Vannicola stems from a long period spent discovering a chaotic and harsh urban context: the territory surrounding the Roman neighbourhood of Tor Pignattara.
Valentina Vannicola’s new photographic series for Wunderkammern is a significant turning point with regard to her previous work, which was set in the more reassuring landscape of the Maremma area in northern Lazio: Living Layers, with its manifold means of interpreting a territory, has led the artist to abstract the city from its present day existence, taking it into the suspended time of a parallel universe, in which “the obsessions, suffering and secrets of the human being” come alive.
On exhibition at Wunderkammern will be images arising from the artist’s feelings when faced with the stories, experiences and sensations emerging from this specific urban landscape: a series of photographs that constantly combine literary and cinematographic references and see the participation of ordinary people, everyday inhabitants-actors who are drawn in, becoming protagonists in the work of art.
Photographer, but also director, costume and set designer, Valentina Vannicola (born in Tolfa (VT) 1982) graduated in Film Theory at “La Sapienza” University in Rome and subsequently received a diploma from the Scuola Romana di Fotografia. In December 2009, she held her first exhibition with the title Su(l)reale, curated by Nathalie Santini at S.T. foto libreria galleria in Rome. In 2010, she won second prize for the best photography portfolio at the Fotoleggendo Festival. In April 2011, she held a solo exhibition entitled Valentina Vannicola.Tra letteratura e fotografia, curated by Anna Cestelli Guidi, during the Festa del libro e della lettura in the section Libri come at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. In September 2011, she exhibited her latest work L’Inferno di Dante (Dante’s Hell), curated by Benedetta Cestelli Guidi, at the 10th edition of FOTOGRAFIA Festival Internazionale di Roma, at the MACRO in Testaccio; she published the volume L’Inferno di Dante, edited by Benedetta Cestelli Guidi, with Postcart, with an introduction by Niccolò Ammanniti; she took part in the exhibition Characters at the Wunderkammern (Rome), with the series dedicated to La principessa sul pisello (The princess and the pea). In 2012, she took part in the project Pink Vision-Art Science and Bricks for Vision Lab/Triennale in
Milan; she exhibited at the Mia Art Fair (Milan) with bicigi photography art gallery and at Citerna Fotografia, Festival d’arte fotografica. Valentina Vannicola is a member of the OnOff picture agency and is current ly collaborating with Wunderkammern gallery.
Living Layers is a long-term project curated by Wunderkammern that seeks to stimulate interpretations of the territory found in Municipality Roma 6 and of its Living Heritage (the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills of a territory – Unesco 2003) by means of contemporary art, involving artists stemming from differing realms of research, proposing transversal and previously un-exhibited interactions in urban public space. The Living Layers project, which began in 2010 in collaboration with the MACRO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma – with the young artists Alexander Hamilton Auriema and Valentina Vetturi co-ordinated by Cesare Pietroiusti, continued in March 2012 with the project by the American urban artist, Mark Jenkins. Living Layers III – Valentina Vannicola – from 17 May to 28 June 2012

opening hours: Wednesday to Saturday from 5 to 8 pm – free entry
by appointment: + 39 3407752984 +39 3498112973 Press office: + 39 3425176871
WUNDERKAMMERN
via Gabrio Serbelloni 124, Rome +39 0645435662 – www.wunderkammern.net – wunderkammern@wunderkammern.net

My Masochism is the new title chosen for the new and intriguing event that the creative Roman team of Cityvision will presents next May 19th, 2012 at 4pm at the MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, via Nizza 138.

After the experience and the success of I Have Seen The Future and Y1, a new independent architecture event, will features theLondonarchitect Robert Stuart-Smith, design director and founding partner of Kokkugia.

The underlying theme of the new Cityvision issue and the event itself will be the theme

“MY MASOCHISM”  that calls for a critical and ironical remark on the perverse attitude of being architect/artist/creative.

“If masochism means to be pleased by an act of violence on our body, then it is certainly inherent in the role of an architect.”

During the event will be also presented and freely distributed CityVision Magazine # 6 with cover artwork by Luigi Presicce, artist in residence at the Macro from February to May 2012.

For this event, CityVision, choosed a short festivals. From May 18th until 20th, Rome will be affected by two other interesting and important appointments also related to the theme “MY MASOCHISM.”

On May 18th at 19.00 at the Boffi-Barberini showroom in Rome a Preview will take part. During the evening, reserved for journalists and professionals, ome prominent personalities from the world of architecture will be answering the question “What is your masochism?”.

On May 20th, at 20.20, the cycle of events will end with the Pecha Kucha Night Rome 6 organized by CityVision and Renault at the Circolo degli Artisti where will be presented also the new electric car Twizy.

Curated by Francesco Lipari and Vanessa Todaro

with Paolo Emilio Bellisario and Marco Arciero

web site:  mymasochismproject.tumblr.com | e-mail: info@cityvision-mag.com

phone: + 39 06.39031053

Free Entrance

ORGANIZATION  CityVision

ACADEMIC PARTNER  AA School

MAIN SPONSOR  Renault

PARTNERS Boffi Barberini – Radisson – Tecnoart – Multicom srl

MEDIA PARTNERS  Shoo TV – Architonic – Archinect – Atemporary studio – Circolo Degli Artisti

Robert Stuart-Smith / London

www.kokkugia.com

Kokkugia is a progressive architecture and urban design practice exploring generative design methodologies developed from the complex self-organising behavior of biological,social and material systems. It is a networked practice, led by Roland Snooks and Robert Stuart-Smith, with offices in New York and London, operating through design, research and teaching.

Robert is a Design Director and a Founding Partner of Kokkugia. He holds a Masters in Architecture + Urbanism from the Architectural Association School of Architecture’s Design Research Laboratory (AA.DRL). He teaches at the AA where he is a Studio Master in the AA.DRL and co-coordinator of Digital Design. He has previously taught atRMITUniversity(Australia), the University of East London (UK), and is an internationally invited lecturer and critic.

Kokkugia are currently working on projects in Australia, Mexico and the US.

We speak of course, just to remove immediately any doubt to those who may have, architecture and power are not two worlds so distant from what you might think. For years, every person who has been a point of reference for people or that has decided to found a new society, has resorted to the symbolic physical object to mark its territory. Not surprisingly, the phrase “to lay the first stone” is recurrent and linked to the principle and to the building world; without a first stone, a brick, a cement casting we should not go anywhere. And architects are very well aware of that. Excluding prehistory and caveman age, man has always built: a fence, a temple, a house, a pyramid, and the significance of this action can not be said in any case, accidental. The architect is the right hand of power, not always by choice.

Totalitarian regimes and dictatorships are the historical moments in which greater emphasis has been given to this relation, there are those who like Hitler was lost without Speer at his side to erect and tend to his public and representation spaces, there’s Stalin and Scusev’s Russia, now transformed in the capital of duty free and the architects of the fascio and Mussolini’s Italy, the power that gave more space to architecture as a celebration of a nation and of a city, Rome.

To be in the mind of the architects of that time, who were faced with unique opportunities to build as happened to 28 year old Terragni with the House of Fascio in Como, is impossible, some had no choice and had to make the most with that opportunity, others were celebrators of what they believed in.

Everything is acceptable, everything questionable, a series of episodes that have slowly dissolved this condition of dependence between power and architecture, but the dissolution is not a cancellation and from the 50s till today, there are countless examples of close relations between designers and States.

The Grande Arche de La Défense by Mitterrand, the Dome of the Reichstag by Sir Norman Foster, Niemeyer and Kubitschek’s Brasilia, the Kahn’s National Assembly of Bangladesh and the one in Kuwait by Jorn Utzon. Being a famous architect, means to be known by students, by the advisor of the head of state or

by the head of state himself and inevitably this can lead to the occasion and to the choice to work for a power, the choice is not debatable, and the reasons may be infinite: “I could experience, my work would be built, my work would be celebrated by a nation and known by the world.” Delirium of omnipotence? Maybe, or simply just thoughts about their future, but also a willingness to expose themselves to criticism and negative comment.

It happens less frequently (and it’s a good thing) to meet a client who says, “I want to build my empire, something that represents me and I want you to be the one who creates all this!”, but there are other types

of possibilities. Tirana with the competitions for the new facilities is giving the example, Berlin and Barcelona have done so up to a few years ago, Copenhagen is constantly changing and building soon may come the time for the war stricken countries of the Balkans and Eastern Europe to revolutionize their image.We no longer speak about celebration, but marketing and appearance, about builders who decide to invest capitals to change the image of a city, there are even companies that change the view of a landscape such as Vitra, which has created a campus

of architectural experimentation in Weil am Rhein – Germany, where, since 1989, they built uncessantly: Gehry, Sanaa, Hadid, Herzog & De Meuron, Ando, Grimshaw and pieces of history like the Dome of Buckminster Fuller are so reconstructed.

It is natural to think that everything that binds architecture and power can always aim towards a negative thought, until you realize that there is a country like Libya, destroyed from inside that is looking for a new identity, lost and mistreated in a few months, which decided to hold a contest to recover the area of Bab al-Aziza – Gheddafi’s headquarters destroyed last August by NATO bombing.

This is what architecture can do, as well as a support to power, it can also become a means to remove that power itself. The sumptuousness is canceled, the targets may change, the built environment can be shot down, the celebration can not last forever and that which resists, what remains is transformed and becomes part of culture. Architecture becomes the subject of several researches and the architect, a piece of history.

www.mariaazzurrarossi.tumblr.com

Warsaw is often considered chaotic. The downtown is made of urban scale elements which are not sufficiently present in the collective consciousness. The massive scale of the Second World War’s destruction largely removed the city’s fabric and gave the postwar planners a huge freedom to rebuild the city as a mixture of reconstruction and newly created urban parts, in socialist-realist and modernist manner.

The architectural historian Tomasz Markiewicz recently prepared the exhibition: “Let’s Build a New Home. The Reconstruction of Warsaw in the period 1945–1952” held by the “History Meeting House” in Warsaw.

Contextually he released an interview on this very same topic where he points out powerful assertions concerning precise strategical military purposes behind the official propaganda. These theories are most likely true in consideration to all the so called post-communistic countries, something that can affect the way of approaching the urban development debate.

MURANOW – MDM

Realization: 1952-1954

architects: Barbara Andrzejewska, Stanisław Szurmak, Stanisław Brukalski, Waldemar Hinc.

“The Warsaw uprising of 1944 is one of the reasons for the development of so many wide streets and empty spaces in the center. It would be hard here to build a barricade…It is not a secret that the Plac Konstytucji’s gates leading to Sniadeckich st. or Koszykowa st. are sized on the height and width of the tanks” - Tomasz Markiewicz

PLAC DEFILAD 

The square was built in 1955 along with the Palace of Culture and Science.

“It’s width and structurally reinforced surface suggest it was meant to be an emergency airport”

Tomasz Markiewicz

TRACA WZ

The east-west freeway is the first infrastructural investment after the Second World War. (1947-1949)

architects: Henryk Stamatello, Józef Sigalin, Stanisław Jankowski, Zygmunt Stepinski, Jan Knothe, Biuro Odbudowy Stolicy (BOS)

“The W-Z route became a priority and therefore it was built within only 2 years. It is obvious that the crucial connection between east and west was a strategical issue, very important for the russians”

Tomasz Markiewicz

MUZEUM WOJSKA POLSKIEGO

It is the museum of the polish army and was opened by Józef Piłsudski right after

the year 1920.

Nowadays it’s located in the city center awaiting to be replaced in a proper site.

The new museum headquarter should be completed in the 2013

WAWRZYSZEW

It is a neighborhood made of 9 blocks of flats designed in 1973 by Ryszard Tomicki to host the workers of the HUTA WARSZAWA (Warsaw Steel Plant) which neighbours the site.

Each of them contains 20 000 inhabitants.

The buildings are placed with no regard for the existing urban structure of the neighborhood placed between the HUTA WARSZAWA and the city center.

It is common knowledge among the tenants that those blocks were meant to absorb the shock wave generated

by the bombing of the plant.

The Steel Plant was considered the first sensible target in case of war

WISLA

Warsaw is the only european capital which is not taking advantages from the riverside.

The Polish army guided by Józef Piłsudski defeated the Bolshevik army in a legendary battle called “Miracle at the Vistula” in august 1920.

“We do not know for sure, but it’s very possible that the Russians insisted on clearing the land on the Vistula, to make it easily ferried 

and consequently harder to defend.”

Tomasz Markiewicz

WODA OLIGOCENSKA

In Warsaw there are 107 fountains, water is extracted from 200 meters under ground. This pavilion was designed by Szymon Bogumił Zug in 1776-1779.

“The Warsaw uprising in 1944 went on for 63 days. Stalin decided to staunch the acces to the water when he understood that it would be an essential resource in case of rebellion…when communism collapsed the city re-opened those sources”

Tomasz Markiewicz

The ideal place for me is the one where it is most natural to live as a foreigner. (I. Calvino)

The only thing in the world able to keep a city alive is its history. But history, as we well know, is formed by the people who live through it, who are the bones and muscles, blood and guts of the generative and evolutionary process of cities. Yet those who live in a city have a non-role in the dynamics of institutional planning, dynamics that tend to overpower, rather than empower, the life of citizens.

A city breathes, grows and sickens as though it were an urban organism which, like biological organisms, can develop immune systems to combat the pathogenic agents that constantly attack it. As in nature, the city too, despite its wounds, manages to rebuild itself. And regenerate. Healing its tissues, just like people.

As with certain people, cities can be recognised by their scars, their signs: the more numerous they are, the more fascinating they become; the deeper they are, the more structure they create.

But if cities are macro-organisms, then the inhabitants are their immune system. It is, in fact, the citizens – the internal architecture of the city – who bear the burden of repairing the breaches in the urban organism, reconstructing those tissues (buildings, social aspects) that have been torn apart by traumatic events.

Today, this happens in some of Rome’s neighbourhoods: the life and work of the inhabitants is the main driving force behind urban, economic and social renewal.

And it happens in Tor Pignattara: a cultural and multi-ethnic microcosm where experimentation and contemporary culture are finding fertile ground.

This borderline neighbourhood is a popular destination for young couples in search of “a culturally vibrant milieu that is also liveable”, as well as for many immigrants who find the right space here to bring their communities back together. “Torpigna” is, in other words, a place in which “one feels at home”, judging by the stories of those who have chosen to live here or have decided to create new projects with the idea of enhancing the Living Heritage of this area.

Lunch in the Indian restaurant next door to a Pakistani call centre, shopping in the neighbourhood market and then a quick visit to the Chinese “less than a euro” shop; or a haircut at the Egyptian barber’s and then a coffee at the Bengali bar on the corner.

In the span of a few decades, these neighbourhoods have gone from being broken and depressed areas of the urban body to areas of rediscovery, revival and repair of worn out tissues. In Rome, these neighbourhoods are proving to be a valid hypothesis for a more stimulating urban and social life: able to satisfy the needs of individuals while also respecting a community that is not homogeneous, yet nonetheless cohesive.

Creative and colourful with its numerous languages and identities, its intense aromas and spicy flavours, its multi-ethnic soul and downmarket body, Tor Pignattara is in the full flood of a “socially and culturally sustainable” revival.

A revival that is also occurring thanks to the pioneering initiatives of small and courageous associations which have enabled art to come into contact with the territory, such as the Living Layers project promoted by Wunderkammern; and that is continuing thanks to the increasing presence of architectural studios and cultural centres, places for research, clubs and restaurants which are ever more frequent in the neighborhood.

The bold choice of bringing art and contemporary thought into an area that was considered to be on the outskirts of the city (and of culture, too) bears witness to the necessity and desire to wager on the future of our cities precisely in those borderline areas that lie between the old fringes and the new historic centre: areas, in which the scars created by urban planning are still visible, but that are rich in history and a fertile soil which, if properly tended, will produce the fruit of peaceful, multi-ethnic and stimulating co-habitation, for which our future (and even more our present) will inevitably need to make space.

Epson 20|20 Vision Think Tank brings together leading architects to debate the key elements that will help architects be successful in the lead up to 2020.

The key ingredients that will drive success for European architecture practices in the run up to 2020 are astute people, a focus on sustainable designs and renovation, the ability to work internationally and smart design, management and presentation technology.

These were the conclusions of the five leading architects from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain who gathered at the Epson 20|20 Vision Think Tank at the Royal Academy of Arts in London to discuss their recommendations for a successful architectural practice in the run up to 2020.

The closed session brought together Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, Grimshaw Architects (UK); Claudi Aguilo, dataAE (Spain); Olivier Celnik, Z.Studio (France); Ben Dieckmann, ingenhoven architects (Germany); and Prof. Antonello Stella, University of Ferrara (Italy). This diverse group represented countries that account for almost 60% of the 524,000 architects in Europe today.

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Epson is a leading manufacturer of large-format quality colour and CAD inkjet printers, plus small format inkjet/laser printers and projectors used by architects worldwide. As a result, Epson is committed to understanding the on-going needs that face the architecture community. The company has launched the Epson 20|20 Vision project to better understand the needs and pressures of architecture practices both today and in the lead up to 2020.

The 20|20 Vision project combines the Think Tank event with European research that evaluated architect’s views on issues such as expected growth, business ambition, competition and opportunity, technology requirements and the skills and knowledge needed from this and the next generation of architects.

The Epson 20|20 Think Tank architects, representing small, medium and large practices, debated the challenges and opportunities for growth, the benefits of diversification and inter-practice collaboration, practice management skills and the impact of technology.

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Their top recommendations were:

• Employ smart people who can easily learn new skills and adapt to the changing world of architecture

• Use the latest and most flexible design, management and presentation technology that you can afford so you can spend more time on thinking and creativity

• Improve project management flexibility and efficiency to deliver on deadline and reduce costs

• Create more complex architectural designs that convey more depth of experience to the client

• Diversify your services and work internationally through global partnerships and overseas offices to expand your business opportunities

• Focus on sustainable design and ways to renovate and reuse existing buildings

• Improve your communication and marketing skills to build strong client relationships

• Focus on ways to cut the time from design to build

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Duncan Ferguson, Director of Pro-Graphics and New Business Development, Epson Europe comments:

“ The Think Tank showed that architecture practices of all sizes across Europe are broadly facing the same challenges. These multifaceted organisations have to combine creative thinking with the challenges of managing and marketing a competitive business, both locally and on a global scale. While they recognise the important role that software and hardware tools play in their practice, above all it has to be easy to use, fast, flexible and produce high quality results.”

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Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, Grimshaw Architects, UK

“While technology tools are important, it’s the ideas in the first place that count of course. There can be a danger of focussing too much on building a wonderful 3D model. I believe the future lies in going back to basics, creating the conceptual drawing by hand and being able to transpose this directly into a construction plan without involving making a time-consuming 3D model at all. I believe the technology will come that will allow us to do this. But above all it has to be fast and easy to do – it cannot interrupt the creative process.”

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Claudi Aguilo, dataAE, Spain

“Architects are taught to be creative, they are not taught how to run a business and how technology tools can benefit them. We need to distinguish between two types of software and technology: those that help you produce architecture and those that help you think about architecture. There are good tools that help you produce and print designs. Software that allows you to simulate the detailed behaviour of architecture and spaces is also gaining in importance.”

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Olivier Celnik, Z.Studio, France

“Architects are resistant to change but they need to use the latest communications, design and BIM software to be competitive in the future. BIM in particular is going through a revolution now. BIM allows a small practice to behave like a large practice because it allows you to work and collaborate on complex projects quickly and efficiently. While architects are interested in the technology of construction, they are not interested in new digital technology that can help them. BIM is not expensive or difficult, architects just have to take it and work with it.”

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Ben Dieckmann, ingenhoven architects, Germany

“We are a big practice with a big reputation and handle a lot of projects within Germany and globally. Our clients are looking for buildings that make a statement and many like to work with architects outside of their countries who can bring fresh ideas and design. There are fewer boundaries these days and a great deal of cultural exchange going on at the moment within the world of architecture. As a result we are a very multinational company with 15 nationalities out of 80 people in our practice.”

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Prof. Antonello Stella, University of Ferrara, Italy

“As Italy has the highest number of architects in Europe we have to look globally for growth. In the past globalisation was an opportunity for Italian architects, today it is a necessity. In my practice I am obliged to go to France, Germany and China. Young architects will have to think globally in the future. Good technology is an important asset for an international practice. Power is nothing without control and technology can give architects increased control and competitive advantage.”

IB: What is your understanding of temporary architecture/ design, what is enduring for you?

BB: Hmm, well, that is a single question that requires two answers. A lot of people associate us with so-called temporary architecture, although it is not our aspiration to exclusively do that kind of work. We aren’t ideologists about architecture that lasts for a relatively short period. We make projects that are calibrated for a particular place and a particular set of economic and logistical circumstances – one circumstance is time. All physical things are temporary – they are constantly transforming either through accretion or entropy. The paces of these phenomena help determine whether we refer to something as temporary.

We approach the conceptual aspects of projects with lifecycle in mind because a lot of our projects are commissioned to live for only a few months. If that means they are understood as “temporary,” so be it. Several projects with

life spans of less than six months or so have been presented to us in the past several years; we have worked with them. If we had waited for so-called “permanent” projects to drop in our lap seven years ago when we began Ball Nogues, we’d only just be seeing our work first work built.

I see something happening within the culture of architecture reflected in temporary projects. It has to do with dynamics between economic interests. A lot of the people who commission design and architecture now achieve some of the things that architecture used to achieve in terms of identity with a temporary environment rather than a building. “Temporary” entails less commitment for the person who is raising the money and there is often less risk for the designer than a building. Young people without track records are eligible to design these projects and because the blogosphere and digital mediascape lack the hierarchy of print media, a work that costs $1000 can become world-renowned in a few weeks. “Temporary” is in-step with the limits of the contemporary cultural attention span.

However you categorize it, pop-up, installation, retail, event design, these respond to the rapid turnover of ideas in our culture more nimbly than conventional buildings. They can keep pace with the proliferation and circulation of images in the electronic media. The representation of this type of work in the electronic media is both driven by and contributing to the phenomenon.

Installation, a particular subset of “temporary” has become one of the central means for architects to explore and claim intellectual territory prior to establishing a career making buildings. Architects used to create chairs as testing grounds for ideas, now they create installations.

What is enduring for me? Work lives on as a set of ideas and in images, drawings and text but also as memories for me and for the people who experienced the work first hand.

IB: What is a daydream of yours? 

BB: Harmony between my personal life and my work so the work comes out of personal values and interests versus me chasing some ideal. If that makes any sense (laughs).

IB: I think you are in a privileged situation as you can do things that you really like to do; so many architects do things or have done things that they do not like 

BB: Me too (laughs), I spent a lot of time making things that were less than ideal. but we are not making buildings. That is not to say we won’t make them, but perhaps we never will. Either way, I want this to be a choice. I like very much what we are doing.

IB: What is poetry for you? Explain to me 

BB: That isn’t easy to answer, poetry is intangible; I can’t establish a formula or theory for poetry. We look for poetry early in the development of a project, and if we find it, we nurture it as the project evolves. It often entails a kind of harmony between the methods of production, a conceptual angle on the work and visual esthetics . . . but even if all that is present in the project, it doesn’t mean the work is poetic.

Could I define poetry in any clear terms? No.

I think, by definition, it is something that is illusive and very clear at the same time. With respect to what we do, it is appropriate for a particular moment a particular place and a particular time.

IB: What is your next upcoming big project?

BB: It is a permanent installation within the new Bradley West International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. We will also be completing, this week, an artwork in Edmonton, Alberta. Gaston is up there installing it right now.

IB: Can you explain a little bit?

BB: That project in Edmonton is called Talus Dome; it is near the banks of the North Saskatchewan River next to a freeway bridge that crosses the River. It is a sort of synthetic earthwork crossed with a post digital, space-aged architectural pavilion. It was constructed with approximately one thousand mirrored stainless steel spheres assembled to assume a shape that is a cross between a pile of gravel or sand and a parabolic dome.

IB: In what scale is the artwork?

BB: We sized it so it can be “photographed” by people in cars speeding past along the freeway. It is large enough to suggest a full scaled geological feature in the Alberta landscape or perhaps a remnant of human activity such as a pile of gravel or construction debris. It is about 11 meters at its base and about 9 meters tall.

IB: What inspires you/what methods of inspiration do you use?

BB: A central concern in our work is the planning of production methods; the design of the factory before the design of the object. Craftsmanship inspires us. We study the making of things in industries ranging from automotive to fishing nets, to guns, to macramé, you name it. We watch fabrication and craft demonstration videos on YouTube; they inspire us to think about how different manufacturing processes can be applied at an architectural scale. So, our initial inspiration often is not directly related to design, architecture or art. We start with a premise about production and then go about designing of our own way making things.

IB: So more or less like ordinary people?

BB: If by ordinary you mean non-designers and non-artists, then yes. In general, we are looking at craft. It is interesting to see fabrication experiments posted on YouTube. Like a guy inflating a steel pillow (hydro-forming) with high-pressure water… the videos demystifies what otherwise might seem to be an elaborate production method when in fact it is actually accessible to us and can be performed in our studio (laughs).

IB: Sounds like fun!

BB: Oh yes, very much. Backyard videos are just an example; there is so much visual information available on the web about craft, manufacturing and fabrication today.

Twenty years ago it would have been very difficult to learn about hydro forming without visiting a manufacturing facility, now I can look up the topic on YouTube and watch 50 demonstration videos. This aspect of communication is dramatically transforming architecture and design and is often overlooked in the discourse. A lot of the discussion is focused on the software tools, the computational approach but I think the exchange of knowledge about craft knowledge through videos is a transformative factor in design culture.

IB: How is Janet Jackson?

BB: I don’t know… she is probably embroiled in a lawsuit, fighting over the Michael Jackson estate (laughs)!

IB: How was it with her in making the music video?

BB: Oh! It was interesting! That was a long time ago!

I was working for Virginia Lee, who was the production designer for the video. Mark Romanek, the director is very demanding, but as fuel for our creative process he gave us these elliptical instructions about the set he expected us to create. He asked us to imagine apartheid era South Africa in the late1960’s, and a party happening within an abandoned public works building that had been designed by a western colonial modernist architect who had a big ego but wasn’t very talented. (laughs) Those were great instructions! So to frame the design exploration, we came up with some terms to describe what we were after. We called it “modern, decorative, ecumenical banality”; these words gave us guidelines for developing the design.

IB: Sounds like fun!

IB: You have also made the set design for Audi, today this would be made on computers, no?

BB: Well, they still build sets for commercials and films but sets are often a hybrid between virtual and physical environments. They might physically construct certain elements of the environment for a given scene and then put a green screen behind them and link them to a digital environment; they would then put together the physical and digital into a single moving image. There are a lot of ways one could make that Audi commercial today.

IB: So, do you think that computers can change fantasy, the aspects of fantasy?

BB: You mean does it change how people imagine the world?

IB: Yes!

BB: Absolutely! Without question, because this technology is us, and we are part of technology: we are enmeshed in an evolving ecosystem of which technology is a part. So offcourse there is a transformation! We live in a culture where information technology is like the air we breathe; we can’t escape it. So, whether one sees it or not, digital technology impacts the contemporary imagination, it has to.

www.ball-nogues.com

Architecture and fashion are two creative disciplines continuously merging into one. Oma/Rem Koolhaas started in 2006 their ongoing series of temporary catwalk installations for Prada, creating a specific temporary setting for the fashion shows. Architecture and Fashion, buildings and Couture have similar approaches when it comes to creating or manufacturing. Both disciplines follow a precise idea of tectonic, in both cases the creative process has to take in consideration how to put together the different pieces of the final product.

Boffo started in 2010 an interesting way of collaboration between architects and fashion designers with an initiative called “Building Fashion”. Through a competition selection process one fashion designer is paired with an architect to design a pop-up store showcasing their work.

I visited the opening of Nicola Formichetti’s pop- up store designed by duo architects Gage/Clemencau. We engaged in an interesting conversation.

AO: When do you think about the tectonic aspect of your project in the design process? When do you think about assembly?

NF: We approach the design of our project from the point of view of the construction. Our complicated shapes derive from a thorough research on tectonic and assembly. We want to create possible objects and a buildability within our complex architectural language.

AO: How do fashion and architecture merge in your project?

NF: Fashion is the fastest of the artistic industry; you can create something in an hour and wear it for an hour. Architecture is the slowest; we take ten years to accomplish a project. It was the most difficult thing here to put together a fast piece of architecture. We blended architecture with fashion resulting in one fused thing. The space we designed is totally boring when empty as the faceted mirrored surface is constantly reflecting itself. You need content, fashion for it to become a very dynamic space that is in constant change as you who move through the space.

AO: What’s the role of software in your work? Are digital tools totally driving your process or are the phenomenological aspects of architecture still an important part of the design?

NF: I would say, it used to be that way, maybe ten years ago I was totally dedicated to Maya, architecture went definitely through that phase, but we need to move beyond that. I’m much more interested in the end product now, the effect that it produces which is certainly a phenomenological aspect of it. There are many people writing about re-saturation of architecture towards the aesthetic effects, Jeff Kipnis, Silvia Lavin, the most progressive part of the industry is moving toward the sensuous, the senses involved in the perception of architecture.

AO: How do you reconcile your language and your way to work with a limited budget?

NF: Well there are two ways to deal with a limited budget. One is to do a bad project that compromises everything you wanted to do.

The other way is to get people on board that are really interested, raise money, and get collaborators. This is exactly how we made the pop up store. We got a number of corporations involved, people dedicating their time, their expertise because they were excited we were making something innovative and new. This way the project becomes a form of research.

AO: I agree with you. It is important to choose projects worth working on. Nicola, how did Boffo help you in the process of creating the pop-up store?

NF: I lived in Rome and I went to architecture school, only on paper! I moved to London and really started my career in fashion. I was searching for a creative innovative architect, and Boffo really helped me to select the right designer for the pop-up store. When I saw the renderings of Mark Foster’s office, I was immediately sure that was the design I was looking for.

AO: I saw your last Mugler collection and it’s very architectural. In which point of the creating process do you come up with the idea of how to assemble all the pieces?

NF: What it is important to me are the fabrics and the shape at the same time, but my process is a deconstructivist process, almost destroying the shape and making it more organic. Sometimes I tend to go against the nature of the material itself. That’s the moment where I think about construction.

Another type of approach is Asher Levine and the digital sets for his SS 2012 collection. It started as a sort of challenge between us after the interview.

This experiment has been first done- again-by AMO/OMA in the Prada Look Book SS 2009. They produced an exploration of the collection’s domain of inspiration: Divinity, tribalism and primitive symbolism graphically represented through the dialogue of references between fashion and imagery.

Asher Levine SS 2012 collection refers to the theme of a spreading epidemic in a city-society much like our own. “The Plague unable to be contained, soon affects exponentially until forced militarization of society becomes the last stand to combat the infection and its growth”. Levine with the help of our office, tried to imagine not only the transformation that affected human life, but how the city itself is transformed by the infection, corrupting the buildings through a series of gigantic parasite-like objects.

AO: Asher, which is the creative process that allows you how to put together the different parts that compose your clothes?

AL: I see my work as something very sculptural and organic. I create unique pieces, like an artist sculpture and then I focus on how the different parts go together.

AO: There is a lot in common with architects in this process.

AL: Architecture and Fashion are very close disciplines. You put together buildings and I put together clothes. The amount of effort in the creative process is the same. We create something that is in your mind after an inspiration. For my SS2012 collection I thought about a virus spreading in the world. There are a lot of references in our society.

AO: Zaha Hadid recently released an interview stating that architecture is one of the most painful professions. In general all the creative jobs are difficult and very hard to emerge. How did you start?

AL: I went to Pace University for Managerial entrepreneurship, but I knew that was not what I wanted to be. I bought a sewing machine and I placed it in my apartment. This is how I started. But I used everything I learned in school to manage myself.

AO: I think you succeeded. Let’s go back to materials and textures.

AL: Those are important elements of my work. They come at an early stage of my creative process. In fact I can spend a lot of time searching for the right fabric and then start to build the concept around it.

AO: Are digital environments like the one we created a possible future platform to tell the story and the concept behind a fashion collection?

AL: Imagery is a powerful tool that helps fashion designers tell the story of their inspirations or references. I think a digital environment as a setting for a fashion collection is a very powerful idea that could be used massively in the future.

These interviews and collaborations took place in New York City during fashion week in September 2011 featuring the work of some of the most interesting and innovative figures in the world of fashion and architecture.

www.nicolaformichetti.com

www.asherlevine.com

www.gageclemenceau.com