English

WS-2014

As things, structures, buildings, industries, even ideas disappear, they either leave a void or are replaced by something else. Often, the disappearance of one is a necessary prerequisite for the emergence of another, at other times the emergence of the new initiates or hastens the decline of the old.

The phenomenon of replacement and of disappearance is one with which we are being continually confronted in a world where the frontiers lie within, where the speed of change seems to be steadily increasing. Yet there is a disparity between the rapidity of social, technological and economic change and the physical and built environment. As the immaterial evolves faster and faster, the physical reality and those concerned with constructing it are challenged to formulate strategies that will keep pace.

As architects, we will be challenged more and more to reconcile the broken fabric of reality left by the disappearance of structures once deemed solid with the demands of not only our present, but of a prognosticated future. This is the basis of our studio.

Disappearances we will study and whose implications we will translate into the architectural realm will be diverse and span a wide range of phenomena, from the decline of industries that leave entire waterfronts fallow, from the disappearance of political units that give rise to new borders and the structures and buildings occasioned by their appearance to the disappearance of supposedly essential needs and structures made obsolete by advancing technology and social change.

Our studio will challenge students to identify and thoroughly research such phenomena to a point where a solution can be formulated in the architectural realm. Students are expected to take a very personal and individual stance on solving problems of both local and universal significance.

Selected Students: Sasa Ciabatti, Christian Zammit, Tijana Savic