Archifutures 132

Future
Architecture
Platform
A field guide
to the future
of architecture
Edited by &beyond
Compiled by jean jaques
Future
Architecture
Platform
Future Architecture platform
Archifutures
A field guide to the future

of architecture
Compiled by jean jaques
dpr-barcelona edited by &beyond

Contents
9
Domains of Influence
A discussion about data, archives,
taxonomy, context and credit
Interview with Mariabruna Fabrizi &
Fosco Lucarelli
By James Taylor-Foster
27
In The Prison of the Present
A short guide to post-futurist design
strategies
By Ana Jeinić
Illustrations by Andreas Töpfer
45
You Can’t Have One Without the Others
The future of designing for the urban
environment
Interview with Filipe Estrela and Sara
Neves, Ilirjana Haxhiaj and Jeta Bejtullahu,
Holly Lewis and Oliver Goodhall,
By Fiona Shipwright
61
Common Places
Plan Común’s public greenhouse for
Graz
By Felipe de Ferrari, Kim Courrges, Diego
Grass & Thomas Batzenschlager
73
The Bigger Picture
Socially-informed urban transformation
6
By Aleksandra Zarek
7
8
Domains
of Influence
9
A discussion about data,
archives, taxonomy,
context and credit
Interview with Mariabruna

Fabrizi and Fosco Lucarelli
By James Taylor-Foster
10
A discussion about data,archives, taxonomy, context and credit
Interview with Mariabruna Fabrizi and Fosco Lucarelli by James Taylor-Foster
ownership?”
11
ambiguity about
important simply
is becoming more
because there is an
“Perhaps authorship
Taxonomies
Archifutures
An archivist is traditionally concerned with James Taylor-Foster

gathering information and then classifying it James Taylor-Foster is
according to largely pre-existing categories. a writer, curator and
architectural designer. He is
But in the era of “big data” the sheer volume of the European Editor-at-Large
information now being generated makes this at ArchDaily and co-curated
the Nordic Pavilion at the 15 th
process nigh on impossible. Instead of archiving, Venice Biennale Architecture
we now tend to talk of data harvesting or mining. Exhibition in 2016. He is
also a Visiting Professor
IBM claims that back in 2012, 2.5 billion GB of data at Università iuav di
was generated every day, of which 80 percent Venezia (IT), a regular radio
broadcaster and a former
of this data is unstructured, and that there are editor of lobby magazine
now more than one trillion connected objects and (Bartlett, ucl).
devices generating data across the planet.1 We
are documenting the present in ever-accelerating
real‑time, and the gap between ourselves and the 1 Source: ibm Annual Report
data is closing exponentially. 2013
Previous spread:
The Castle detail, screenprint
and graphite on paper.
Image: Ryan Whelan
This page: Possibilities,

artwork piece for saam
Shanghai, 2015.
Image: Timo Lenzen
What does this mean for architects? James Taylor-Foster,

European Editor-at-Large for ArchDaily, the “world’s
most visited architecture platform”, talks with architects
Mariabruna Fabrizi and Fosco Lucarelli, founders of
socks, an image-driven online magazine, about changes
in archiving, data, taxonomy and responsibility in
architecture publishing online.
12
Domains of Influence Taxonomies
Perhaps we should begin by defining the Mariabruna Fabrizi (MF)

difference between archiving and data For me data collection and
collection. This situation has evolved a archiving are two different
great deal over the past decade, which things. Archiving requires
begs the question: has archiving become selection, somehow. Even, for
data collection, or is it at the very least example, with a ubiquitous
heading in that direction? If so, what are website like Wikipedia, there
the implications? is a sort of encyclopaedic
will behind it. It’s a selection
– but it wants to talk about
everything. When I think about contemporary archives,
Dreaming of recess #2,

graphite on paper, 2015.
Image: Ryan Whelan
13
Archifutures
Asimov’s Foundation Series comes to mind: the notion

Mariabruna Fabrizi
that we don’t exactly know where the future is going, and & Fosco Lucarelli
perhaps our civilisation is doomed, but we somehow try
Mariabruna Fabrizi and Fosco
to keep all of our knowledge in an ordered way. I think Lucarelli are two Italian
data collection is much more about optimising processes architects. They are currently
based in Paris where they
– making a better selection for marketing reasons, for founded the architectural
instance. practice Microcities and
also conduct independent
architectural research
Fosco Lucarelli (FL) In spite of what Mariabruna argues, through their website socks.
They work as assistant
I still feel that the word “archive” – or the act of archiving teachers at the l’Éav&t in
– represents a general attempt to collect vast amounts of Marnes La Vallé, Paris and
at the epfl, Lausanne.
data. I think this is utopian in a way, and socks is not They were the content
interested in that. To me, data collection is without a curators of The Form of Form
exhibition in the 2016 Lisbon
Architecture Triennale.
MF It depends on the scale. In the act of selecting and curating, all
For some large organisations three of us, in one way or another, are in-
like Facebook, for instance, it’s volved in what could be described as con-
all about data. But when you temporary digital archiving in relation to
work at a smaller scale, like the field of architecture; we’re just oper-
socks, data is a only a small ating at different scales and in different
part of the equation because ways. We each deal with large volumes of
we cannot control it; we don’t information in the form of data and rep-
know much about what to do resent it. In the act of re-presenting, this
with it, and we try not to think material begins to accumulate new data in
too much about it. We extract terms of who is looking at it, how long they
some information out of it, are looking at it, where and how are they
of course, but it doesn’t really are sharing it and so on. You start getting
influence what we are doing. these pathways of propagation through
To take data out of content the tendrils of the internet; data packets
requires a sort of critical mass. extend and distend until they have depar-
ted the point of the “curated” archive. Is
it more accurate to suggest that digital ar-
chiving is becoming more about data col-
lection than conventional curation?
14
It’s interesting that you suggest that you MF We imagine [our website]
have very little control over the data as a territory of images and
that you are accumulating. Large-scale information, and we imagine
operations control the small-scale but, as ourselves and our users
a collective, small-scale operations can navigating pathways through
also control the dominant forces on the it. Before the internet, or
internet. For instance, algorithms can be before we had such a large-
deceived – quite easily, for now at least – scale data on the internet, we
to present particular data through certain had magazines with editorials
social media platforms, if you have the that provided a set of keys to
knowledge, experience and flexibility to unlock your way through their
manipulate them; if you have, as you put content. We are looking to find
it, the required “critical mass”. other keys to give to people
who want to access the data,
One of the defining parameters of an and there are many ways to
archive, in the physical sense at least, do it. We don’t give editorial
is that it can be accessed and that access guidance, but create a sort of
is tangible. By now, we have become so chain between content. You
accustomed to the notion that practically begin with one item of content
anybody can access the internet but, in that is connected to many
your position as the producers of a digital others. People follow their
archiving project, do you ever consider the own paths, and these paths
concept of access? How people are – or are are a way to create access.
not – accessing the data you re-present? In this sense, we are sort of
at a midway point between
providing something that is
curated by us but also opens other curatorial possibilities
for the readers themselves.
Opposite: Untitled, from

the series Erbgericht, 2014.
© Andrea Grützner
15
16
So with conventional print publishing,

where one or a set of keys is handed to a MF We collect architectural
reader by an editor with a very clear idea magazines from the past – like
of their position in the world and how they Casabella, for instance – and
would like their readers to be positioned you can really identify which
in the world, it is easier to control how are the “Mendini” issues and
information is disseminated and how, which are the “Gregotti” issues:
to a certain degree, it is interpreted. from the cover to the editorial,
How different is your mode of editing or the selection, the way the
curation of data to the “tried and tested” photos are chosen, and the
print model? relationship between text and
image. What happens now, as
we agreed earlier, is that we are at a point at which the
internet is becoming more mature as a medium and people
High Dive: flying somersault

forwards, from The fifth
Olympiad: the official report
of the Olympic Games
of Stockholm 1912,
by Erik Bergvall, 1913.
Image: Public Domain
have more instruments to navigate their way through it.
FL All of the “free” access to data that has been the norm
during the last decade is becoming more restricted today.
17
Archifutures
Perhaps one of our responsibilities is to try to keep this

data accessible. This might be considered a democratic
dream – which is a little utopian – but we still feel that is
one of the responsibilities we have today when we publish
on the internet.
MF This idea of attention as In the December 1997 issue of Wired mag-
a currency really shifts the azine – back when Wired was just on pa-
nature of editorial work that per – a theoretical physicist called Michael
we were just talking about. Goldhaber wrote an article called “Atten-
Before this situation came tion Shoppers!”. He said – to paraphrase
along, a reader had fewer – that “the economy of attention, not in-
choices if they wanted to learn formation, will become the economy of
about architecture compared cyberspace.” Information, he said, was
to today. Your attention was endless, but attention – which is defined by
already captured. Now you how many “eyeballs” there are in the world
have to make a product or a able to consume information – is a finite
way of showing content that resource; perhaps the most consequential
is engaging, and this changes finite resource. He argued that, eventu-
everything completely. As ally, the currency of money will be replaced
little as ten years ago, the entirely by the currency of attention be-
internet was less engaging cause it is our scarcest and most valuable
and interesting compared to resource, collectively and as individuals.
books and magazines. Now His words were enormously prescient in
it’s completely the other way terms of understanding the situation un-
around. With magazines there folding before us now. For every single
was this idea of authority major internet platform – through which
somehow. people access contemporary archives and
which sit somewhere between informa-
tion gathering and media organisations
– is the single most important resource
simply because they are able to transform
it most easily into financial revenue.
18
Goldhaber also observed in the same arti- MF It is also about authorship
cle that what he found fascinating about today, too. From the point
Hollywood movies is that they developed of view of socks, we are
an amazing acknowledgement of people interested in authorship, but
by means of credits. When a book is made, most of the time we are more
not everyone involved in bringing it about interested in the relationships
is credited. The proofreaders or the sub- between content. More than
editors simply don’t appear in colophons. what makes something specific,
On the internet, in the same way as Holly- we’re interested in what makes
wood movies then and now, credits are all- it common. For us it is about
important. On ArchDaily, and particularly more than the single person,
in relation to the Projects Archive, credits it’s about a chain of knowledge
are central to the way that buildings are – because everybody is an
published. Acknowledgement operates author of course.
almost as a currency. But Goldhaber was
also raising a more interesting discussion: FL The fact that the
attention is only the aim of the game as importance of the individual
long as everybody wants a slice of it, made is becoming eroded by the
more valuable because it is finite. Credits amount of information is very
– metadata – are important because every- interesting. According to what
one wants their five seconds in the spot- you suggest, James, authors
light. seem to be alarmed by this
erosion, or disappearance, of
the individual. We started
ArchDaily
socks more than ten years ago as a way to overcome – it’s
Begun as a simple blog
in Santiago de Chile by sort of a paradox – the spread of vehicles of information
David Basulto and David like Tumblr or Pinterest. They didn’t exist at the time,
Assael in 2008, ArchDaily
(archdaily.com) has now but they were incubating. We were far more interested in
developed into a multilingual retrieving the actual information that was behind a single
international platform for
architects and architecture image or in a single text or single medium of production.
with some 500,000 daily When we became interested in an image, we tried to...
readers and some 160 million
page views per month in 2016.
MF ...find the story behind it...
FL …and, naturally, when you start investigating
19
Archifutures
something you start making threads and working on nets

SOCKS
of information; you end up creating a sort of tissue of
socks (socks-studio.com)
information or relationships. The fact that these images is an online “magazine”
come from an historical knowledge base, which is also founded and edited in 2006
by Mariabruna Fabrizi and
related to a certain context, can also be generalised as Fosco Lucarelli. Evolving
human production. In this sense we try to create our own its format over the years,
socks has become a
taxonomies. The amount of information is the amount platform for speculation
of relationships between different works and different and discussion which, by
“dismantling traditional
authors, or different groups of authors and movements. So modes of classification, aims
to offer alternative tools for
contemporary investigation
and production”.
Parkview Ct, from the

illustration Still Life series,
pencil on paper, 2015.
Image: Mike Lee
taxonomies can be a way of grouping this information and

going beyond limited historical and contextual specificities.
20
Let’s focus on images. The image has be- MF For an image to be able
come the primary means of communica- to do this, means that it’s very
tion through the internet. Images and dense. When an image is able
moving images have taken pole position at to attract people somehow,
the top of the consumption chain, perhaps it always means there is
stemming from the image-centric dis- something more behind it. So
semination of culture, media and enter- we cannot say that it’s “just” an
tainment that developed through film and image.
television. While an image on the internet
is comprised of the same bits and bytes that FL In its singularity, an image
construct text, the retrieval systems devel- can convey all these tissues of
oped over the last couple of decades have information. Take for example
been basically designed to give priority to a recent post that we published
the image. And when socks, for example, on SOCKS about the work of
take a single image in order to investigate the photographer Jeff Wall. It’s
it and add a whole tissue of information not just photography that he
around it, it’s still that single image that produces; it’s an entire world
first gets people and invites them to enter of information – a constructed
the rabbit hole that you have dug for them. landscape; a relationship with
The image is still paramount even after other pictures in the past; a
the research is conducted and presented. relationship with culture and
so on. I don’t mean that every
Yejiri Station, Province of

Suruga, woodblock colour
print from the series Thirty-
six Views of Mount Fuji, no.
35, circa 1832.
Artist: Katsushika Hokusai.
Image: Public Domain
21
Archifutures
image that we publish is so dense and so structured, but

in a way every image is a text; every image is a body of
information.
MF I think it is just as The fact that images are easy to read,
important as it was before. and very quickly, means that they hold a
There are people and work lot of weight and value in terms of their
behind this information – it’s role in the economy of attention. So who
just the incredible mass of it... owns these images, and who holds control
of their propagation, becomes very inter-
FL It is culturally important, esting. In the world of print, ownership
much more than in terms of rights are usually addressed within the
economic profit. It is culturally realm of national laws. But on the inter-
important in the sense that we net things are a little more complex in
need to know who produced terms of the lack of control over how they
an image, under what spread. Do you think that ownership of
conditions and in what kind of information like images and text, or even
relationship to other things. film and music, is less important now
than it has been?
MF Sometimes it’s very Perhaps authorship is becoming more

difficult to define the limits important simply because there is an
too. For example, we are ambiguity about ownership?
seeing a lot of collages at the
moment. Who owns a collage?
The person who modified it? The one who put the parts
together? Just as in the case of remixing music, who is the
ultimate author? On the other hand, there is also much
more collaboration taking place. Wikipedia is a good case
in point – who can we say writes the articles?
FL We are in an ambiguous stage. The importance of

crediting is also in an intermediate state. At the beginning
22
23
24
of the internet nobody really cared if their content was on

Previous page: A sudden gust
of wind (after Hokusai), 1993. there or not because you couldn’t profit from it, neither
Transparency in lightbox, economically nor in terms of recognition. Today, if you
229 x 377. Photo: Jeff Wall,
courtesy of the artist are on specific platforms you can be recognised and your
authorship recognised and, of course, you can profit from
that. You need your name to be there but if you affirm
your authorship for profit, it clashes with the work being
shared, being used, being remixed, and so on.
The notion of archiving, or the intelli- MF Yes, I completely agree.

gent archive, is no longer simply a pas- We cannot be moralistic
sive entity or simple repository then. It about being fascinated with
has become, and is becoming, something an image and just taking it
in which, as you say, information can be at face value. It will always
written, can be mixed, can be reused, and depend on individual
notions of authorship are now pursued in students, but teachers of
favour of collaboration. In terms of con- architectural studios do have a
text, where does this leave representation responsibility there now.
in architecture? Does this mean that ar-
chitects should be taught differently about FL We have a responsibility to
how to handle and deal with context and teach what’s behind a human
precedence – two important things which product…
are, more often than not, lost once an im-
age has entered cyberspace? MF ...and to give a critical
approach. The fact that we
don’t have access to certain
information about images and projects doesn’t mean we
can just pick some parts of them and glue them together...
FL …and decontextualise them.
MB We need to teach students what’s behind an image,

to say an image is not just something you use because it
looks nice. They are artefacts in themselves; there is a
25
Archifutures
culture behind them that you cannot take lightly.
FL At the same time, as internet producers, we have been

accused of fostering this very attitude that you’re talking
about. We need to acknowledge the fact that we have huge
power in this respect; this power must be used according
to the potential it has intrinsically, but in a critical way.
We cannot assume that it’s just interesting to put stuff on
the internet and for other people to use it. We need to
invite people to interrogate content themselves, investigate
what’s behind a singular human product and the
relationships that it has: in the past, the present and also
in the future.
26
In the Prison
of the Present
A short guide
to post‑futurist
design strategies
27
By Ana Jeinić
28
In the Prison of the Present After the Future
“We live in an age

characterised by the
collapse of the very
A short guide to post-futurist design strategies
idea of the future.”

In the Prison of the Present

By Ana Jeinić
29
Archifutures
Building on her essay “Where Have All the Flowers Ana Jeinić
Gone?” from Volume 2 of the Archifutures series, Ana Jeinić was born in
architectural theorist Ana Jeinić addresses the Yugoslavia in 1981. She
has since lived, thought,
architect’s fear of the future yet further by taking learned and taught in
a critical look at some current strategies for a Graz, Venice, Amsterdam,
Berlin, Edinburgh, and
“post-futurist tomorrow”. The following strategies Zagreb. Upon completing
were written for the 2017 exhibition she curated her studies in architecture
in Graz, she mainly worked
at the Haus der Architektur in Graz entitled: as an architectural theorist
“Architecture After the Future”.* and educator and aims to
become a utopianist in
the future. She considers
According to social theorists, such as Marc Augé or herself a futurist who
despises “futurist design”;
Franco “Bifo” Berardi, we live in an age characterised
a progressivist critical of
by the collapse of the very idea of the future. In technological optimism;
a universalist detesting
the last decades of the twentieth century, alongside
all forms of essentialism;
recurring economic crisis, discouraging reports to a communist rejecting
post‑socialist nostalgia and
the Club of Rome and the apparent collapse of the
an internationalist opposing
socialist project, our belief in the future was irreparably neoliberal globalisation.
Much of her personal and
shattered. Considering that the architectural project,
professional commitment
in the conventional sense of the term, has always comes from the persuasion
that only the life that projects
been a project of the future, the situation has had
itself into the future is worth
profound consequences for architecture as a discipline. living and that only the
society that strives towards
Understanding and revealing different ways by which
a utopian horizon is a truly
contemporary architecture has been adapting to emancipated society.
post‑futurist social conditions therefore presents a major
task for the contemporary discourse on architecture.
It is also a necessary prelude to the imminent debate
on how to reintegrate the dimension of the future
once again into the architectural and broader cultural
imagination. The short texts below about post-futurist
design strategies have been developed with this aim
in mind, as a part of the Architecture After the Future
curatorial and research project. It is important to note * First published at
that the outlined strategies do not constitute an ultimate architecture-after-the-future.org
in 2017 and reproduced here
taxonomy of the post-futurist design culture – they are with kind permission of
conceived as a deliberately provisional and open-ended the author.
30
mapping, which, without striving to provide a precise and

supposedly objective representation of reality, content
themselves with facilitating orientation within the present
architectural culture shaped by the loss of the future.
The late late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries

Reluctant Strategy saw the emergence of the “architect-activist” – the
designer who, abandoning the concept of top-down,
large-scale, future-oriented projects, engages in localised,
small-scale, participatory practices framed by a moderately
critical political agenda. However, the passionate
involvement of “activist-architects” and their tendency
to conduct the building process from the first conceptual
draft all the way to construction has been paralleled by
the rise of diverse forms of “architectural passivity” – the
conscious withdrawal of the architect from the design
process. As elaborately described by architectural theorist
Miloš Kosec, this reluctant attitude has taken manifold
shapes in architecture: from the decision to delegate
certain aspects of the form-finding process to forces and
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Archifutures
agents beyond the architect’s control, such as the tendency

Andreas Töpfer
to leave the building unfinished in order to enable active
appropriation on the part of future occupants, to the Andreas Töpfer is a freelance
graphic designer, illustrator
Bartlebian refusal to engage in a project altogether or and drawing artist. He works
propose any significant changes to existing environments. for the Berlin publisher
Kookbooks, which he
The last of the described manifestations of “architectural founded in 2003 together
reluctance” is seen as the most radical and politically with the poet and editor
Daniela Seel. He has worked
significant one – refusing to design means a disruption as art director, designer and
of both a concrete building project (and through that, illustrator for the Canadian
publication Adbusters under
the capital investment embedded in it), but also a the name Bill Texas, and
disruption of the very ideology of innovation, creativity, is currently visual editor,
designer and illustrator for
productivity, and entrepreneurship, which has long since the Norwegian literature and
been mobilised for constructing the public image of the culture magazine Vagant.
He works at Milchhof
architectural profession. Atelier in Berlin. His latest
book is Speculative Drawing,
together with A. Avanessian
There is, however, something more that gets lost when (Sternberg Press).
architects assume the Bartlebian position – it is the
very projectivity (the essential capacity of architectural
design to construct hypothetical spaces and envisage
future realities) that is undermined as well, and, with
it, the raison d’être of architecture as a discipline. One
could argue that we should accept and even celebrate
this loss: why be sentimental and mourn architecture’s
demise when its main purpose (creation of future
worlds) embodies the capitalist logic of envisaging,
constructing, and exploiting potential futures for the
sake of profit? But is it really like that? Has the future
always been thoroughly absorbed into and monopolised
by the market, or is it rather an anomaly of the late-
twentieth and early twenty-first centuries? It seems that
what unites the two seemingly opposed strategies of the
contemporary left – the activistic impetus and its reluctant
counterpart – is their common renunciation of the future:
the first position is characterised by acting here and now,
while the latter refuses to act altogether. Whenever the
32
emancipatory movements decide to break free from

this self-imposed imprisonment in the present moment,
they will have to liberate the future once again from the
bondage of financial markets, commercial inventions and
military‑scientific ventures. In this context, reclaiming
architecture means reclaiming the future!
Until not so long ago, reflexion was considered a privilege

Reflexive Strategy of architectural theory and criticism, whereas architecture
itself was seen as an immanently future-oriented, projective
discipline. However, such a clear orientation of the design
practice and its resulting distinction from theoretical
disciplines has been considerably loosened during the last
few decades. Already Peter Eisenman and several other
protagonists of the 1988 Deconstructivist Architecture
exhibition in New York used the architectural project as
a tool for “critical” interpretation and “deconstruction” of
inherited design formulas and not so much for anticipation
of the future. From then on, the reflexive strategy, which
can be described as a tendency to maximise the analytical
dimension of design, while simultaneously minimising
its projective component, has been adopted by several
generations of architects. Instead of envisaging the
future, the reflexive project reveals, interprets, questions,
deconstructs, recombines, reframes, polarises, radicalises,
or politicises the past. This turns the present moment
into a permanent construction site where the past is being
productively recontextualised. Certainly, such reflexive
(re)constructions influence future prospects as well, but
rather as a by-product than as the primarily goal.
While Eisenman’s interpretative gesture addressed

the formal grammar of architectural design, which
he conceived as an autonomous semiotic system, the
subsequent generation of reflexive architects counteracted
33
Archifutures
his “isolationist” approach by turning their analytical

tools away from a narrowly architectural (formal,
constructive and typological) towards a broader social
(cultural, ecological and political) dimension of the built
environment. However, as its proclamatory title and
symbolic location (New York) suggest, the Re‑constructivist
Architecture exhibition of 2016, curated by Jacopo
Costanzo and Giovanni Cozzani, announced once again
the comeback of the “formalist” reflexivity of Eisenman’s
generation, signalling a renewed interest in “genuinely
architectural” concerns and re-engagement with the
inherited repertoire of spatial forms, typologies, concepts,
and narratives. This circular movement from the introvert
over the extrovert and back to the introvert form of
architectural reflexivity gives rise to an awkward question:

Is architecture that has deliberately renounced its inherent
future orientation condemned to repeat the cyclical
movement in which the centrifugal effect of the extrovert,
politically conscious and trans-disciplinary analytical
endeavours of one generation is always followed by next
generation’s centripetal drive towards more introspective,
hermetic and inner-disciplinary forms of reflexivity?
In spite of considerable differences in the context of
34
their application and the ambitions of their protagonists,

Ephemeral Strategy pop-up constructions, tactical design, temporary spatial
interventions, informal urbanism, flexible planning,
guerrilla architecture and similar popular concepts all have
something in common – they are not built for the future
but for the here and now. They deliberately renounce
durability and accept (or even promote) ephemerality
as the incontestable social condition. They merge the
temporal distance between the development of the project
and its materialisation. The “project” gets absorbed by the
“practice”. The future gets squeezed into the present.
The fascination with ephemerality is rooted in the

critique of durability, solidity, and bureaucratic rigidity,
all of which have been equally deprecated by both the
neoliberal right and the alternative left ever since the
post-war Keynesian economic order started getting shaky
in the late twentieth-century. Taking this uneasy political
convergence into consideration, it should not come as a
surprise that architectural manifestations of the vogue for
ephemerality reach from posh pop-up stores of corporate
fashion houses and noble jewellery manufacturers all
the way to fanciful low-tech temporary constructions
built by architect-activists to serve as protest camps and
progressive art festivals. However, beyond its ubiquitous
popularity across the global architectural community, the
condition of ephemerality also symbolises the cruel reality
of migrant life – the depressing everyday experience of the
millions of people caught in the permanent impermanence
of emergency shelters and refugee camps. Can it be that
these places, rather than the valuable achievements
of temporary design, epitomise the post‑futurist
environment in the most radical sense of the term
– the conglomerate of temporary settlements of the people
without the future in the world of floating capital, shifting
35
Archifutures
territories, invisible arms and proxy wars?
The only form of truly utopian architecture that
flourishes in our essentially anti-utopian era engages with

constructing oases of safety and sustainability amongst Salvational Strategy
the ever-expanding war zones and wastelands of global
capitalism. Salvational projects reach from low‑tech
emergency shelters and replicable microstructures for
the poor and displaced to high-tech, self-sufficient,
green, smart and protective superstructures for the
36
37
38
affluent. Some of these projects have much in common

with futuristic utopias of the high modern era: faith
in technological development, the vast spatial scale of
proposed interventions, radical changes in prevailing
lifestyles and their material conditions, and, last
but not least, the futuristic orientation itself. There
exists, however, a crucial difference in the way that
twentieth‑century visionary architects understood and
related to the future as compared to their contemporary
successors. It seems as if the future changed its sign from
positive to negative – if the function of modernist utopias
was to anticipate the promising future, then the role of the
salvational architecture of our era is to save us from the
effects of apocalyptic scenarios, including climate change,
ecological disaster, depletion of resources, escalation of
poverty, forced migration etc. Floating constructions for
climatic migrants, encapsulated high-tech oases in regions
affected by desertification, intelligent surveillance systems
for cities in the “age of terror” and artificial environments
for the preservation of endangered species do not promise
us a bright future.
It is sometimes claimed by the proponents of the

salvational strategy that self-destructive tendencies of
contemporary capitalism are inevitably leading towards
an ultimate shipwreck, so that the best we can do is to
build a dispersed network of self-organised lifeboats,
instead of vainly trying to save the vessel destined to sink
under it own weight. However, if all architects, urbanists,
engineers, political activists and rebellious masses were to
give up imagining, desiring and building better future(s)
for the global society and instead focused on promoting
alternative lifestyles and cooperative practices on the
self-constructed life rafts beyond the sinking ship of the
neoliberal world order, would they be able to provide
39
Archifutures
enough rafts for housing billions of castaways? At the

end of the day, isn’t every salvational strategy condemned
to end up as an elitist endeavour capable of saving only
those of us who already posses the minimum of resources
needed to sustain life?
Conceived as a visual metaphor of the architecture of

Manhattan, The City of the Captive Globe – Rem Koolhaas’s
famous drawing from 1972 – shows the potentially Relativistic Strategy
infinite orthogonal grid, with plots occupied by iconic
buildings, each referencing a particular avant-garde
movement and embodying a different “architectural
ideology”. The relentless grid enables and structures the
coexistence of otherwise irreconcilable projects, reducing
them to a collection of isolated and mutually indifferent
mascots advertising specific world views and design
vocabularies. More than being just a representation of
diverse streams of architectural modernism, the buildings
depicted in the rendering are inseparable from the
promises of bold futures characteristic of the modern
era. However, the gesture of levelling achieved by the
grid deprives these promises of all their radicalism,
transformative potential and collective nature, turning
them into exchangeable objects of individual desires
and preferences. Thus, the drawing reveals the destiny
of the avant-garde project in the era of neoliberalism:
the culture of total interchangeability and unlimited
consumer choice has caused the ultimate relativisation
and disempowerment of the utopian horizons embedded
in progressive architectural designs.
The relativistic pluralism of future scenarios doesn’t

just occur, however, as an a posteriori effect of
commercialisation and pacification of the once radical
projects – it can also represent a conscious approach to
40
design. Incorporating into the project a range of different

possibilities for its further realisation; leaving the design
consciously ambivalent; conceiving it as an assemblage
of mutually incongruous elements; or turning it into a
catalogue of independent options – all these strategies can
be viewed as examples of architectural relativism. Their
underlying intention is mostly a mixture of post‑modern
irony and a desire to escape the determinant and restrictive
character of architectural projects, which by their very
nature rather channel than expand the trajectories of the
future. The relativistic project, on the contrary, embodies
the values of democratic pluralism and freedom of choice,
while dismissing universalism and totalitarianism: it
encourages us to choose our favourite futures and compose
our personal utopias. However, it is difficult to believe
that any of these individual future perspectives possess
the capacity to divert the fatal trajectory of capitalist
development, which at the moment seems to lay down the
ultimate future horizon for all of us. It appears more likely
that we need a common project – a democratically developed
and collectively conducted one – to transform our common
world. Certainly, architects cannot achieve this goal alone
(it is rather a task for broad social movements and political
forces), but what the practice of architecture can do is to
turn a socially produced future horizon into a variety of
tangible spatial forms.
Since the very beginning of the capitalist era, the term

speculation has assumed a profoundly negative connotation
Speculative Strategy – to speculate (in the narrow sense of the term) means to
anticipate future scenarios with the aim of making personal
profit, regardless of the cost to others. Rather than enabling
substantial changes, profit-oriented future speculations
projected back onto the present, tend to undermine every
41
Archifutures
possibility for transgressing the underlying conditions

of the present order: when online shopping companies
for example, use their customers’ previous purchases
to estimate their “future wishes” and translate these
calculations into personalised shopping suggestions, they de
facto impede any significant changes in customers’ tastes,
interests and behavioural patterns. Thus, by depriving the
future of its substantial capacity to bring change, market
speculations are not signs of recovery from the cultural
implosion of the future, but rather its most troubling
symptoms. There is however, more to speculation than
sober financial calculus.
If understood in a wider sense, speculative reasoning proves
indispensable for philosophical theorisation, utopian
projects and projective imagination in general. It is this

transformative potential of speculation that has animated
its recent reassessment within theoretical and design
disciplines – there is hope arising among philosophers and
architects alike that using speculation beyond and against
its common (profit-driven) field of application may turn the
future once again into the medium of emancipatory change.
In line with the described intellectual realignment, the
label “speculative design” has achieved a vertiginous
42
ascent among the vogue words of contemporary

architectural discourse, making it ever more difficult to
define what the term exactly refers to. What can be
observed however, is that architectural practices described
as “speculative” tend to engage in individual projects of
limited scale, while broader social movements with a
projective focus and the capacity for interconnecting these
dispersed efforts and giving them a common direction
have not yet consolidated. As a result, being left without a
wider framework capable of envisaging and enforcing
systemic alternatives, “speculative projects” run the risk of
not achieving much more than giving the outcomes of the
capitalist financial and technological hyper-production a
more “friendly” appearance, socially beneficial functions
and a “subversive touch”. In other words, as long as the
impetus of speculation has not managed a radical shift
from the predominantly individual, technical, pragmatic,
and context-defined agency to the resolutely collective,
political, utopian and context-defining one, the separate
speculative practices confined to the sphere of design will
hardly help us break through the horizon of the possible
(defined by self-reproductive patterns of global capitalism)
and reach the possibility of the impossible.
43
44
You Can’t
Have One
Without
the Others
45
The future of designing
for the urban environment
Interview with Filipe Estrela

and Sara Neves, Ilirjana Haxhiaj
and Jeta Bejtullahu,
Holly Lewis and Oliver Goodhall
By Fiona Shipwright
46
The future of designing for the urban environment
Interview with Filipe Estrela and Sara Neves, Ilirjana Haxhiaj and Jeta Bejtullahu,
Holly Lewis and Oliver Goodhall, by Fiona Shipwright
practice.”
47
“Before we are
citizens and it’s
our professional
architects we are
our conscience as
citizens that shapes
New Urban Resilience
Archifutures
Keller Easterling has described urbanism today Estrela Neves

as “a mobile, monetised technology”, suggesting Estrela Neves (Filipe Estrela
that “some of the most radical changes to the and Sara Neves) is a recently
established studio in Porto,
globalising world are being written, not in the Portugal. With architecture,
language of law and diplomacy, but rather in the collaborations, studio,
website and identity under-
spatial information of infrastructure, architecture construction, they have been
and urbanism”. She sees architecture as becoming working on different kind
of projects – from urban
an infrastructural element of a wider system, that housing refurbishment and
of the “free trade zone”.1 rural collective spaces in
Portugal, to collaborative
housing projects and earth
This interview with three sets of architects: Filipe Estrela construction in Asia and
Africa.
and Sara Neves of estrela neves (Portugal), Ilirjana Haxhiaj
and Jeta Bejtullahu (Albania) and Holly Lewis and Oliver 1 Zone: The Spacial Softwares
of Extrastatecraft, Keller
Goodhall, founding partners of We Made That (UK), Easterling, placesjournal.org
who all submitted projects to the Future Architecture June 2012
platform, illustrates the extremely broad range of focus
amongst contemporary architects in the design of urban
living and working spaces. Three urban projects, three
approaches, all seeking to design living and work spaces
within contemporary, interconnected, social, political and
economic issues of Western city life. All three examples
show clearly that you can’t plan for one aspect without
planning for the others. More than ever, architecture
today is about far more than building buildings and
urbanists and architects need to be equipped to address
the complexity involved with looking in all directions at
once.
Previous spread:
High level lettering and estate
entrance improvements.
Image: Thomas Adank
© We Made That
48
You Can’t Have One Without the Others New Urban Resilience
The emergence of the sharing economy

brought with it promises of decentralisa- Filipe Estrela and Sara
tion and democratisation under an um- Neves (FE & SN) First of all,
brella of techno-positivism. These aspects we don’t believe we live in
have since been co-opted by late capital- a globalised world but in a
ism (think: Uber, zero hours contracts, globalised Western world. If
Airbnb as gentrifier, etc.). How can new globalisation means sharing
ideas avoid the same fate? and integration, the rest
of the world isn’t part of
globalisation, it just suffers
from its collateral effects. We have also been working in
underdeveloped countries and our thoughts and projects
on those places are based on totally different suppositions.
So our answers here relate to the “Western world”.
4th
industrial it permane nt pr
of of
revolution pr dweller/family it
air cyber p hysical systems
internet of things
airpnd house ren
t wo
rk
cloud computin g
guest client
inter- des-
oper ality cen tralisation
air housing
profit
dwell
sharing independe nt
econom y work
profit
air house work services

economic at
profit shar e home
and dwell
dwell
profit stays with th e
permane nt dwellers
In the 1980s, personal computers were supposed to

Air profit and dwell.
© Filipe Estrela & Sara Neves democratise access and bring improvements in working
conditions and life quality. But they did not. Instead
they caused longer working hours and the age of high
49
Archifutures
productivity. Now the Fourth Industrial Revolution has

We Made That
brought with it an employment crisis. Some say machines
will extinguish some jobs forever and the solution for We Made That is a young
British architecture and
technological unemployment is to reduce working hours urbanism practice working
and share out the remaining work amongst more people. in the public realm founded
by Holly Lewis and Oliver
We believe that the same will happen with sharing Goodhall. They work with
economy models. That begins by accepting these new regional and local authority
clients, and third sector
models as part of our contemporary society so that they organisations across the
become part of civic law. UK, including projects in 22
of London’s 33 boroughs,
as well as work for the
Furthermore, we will only change the system from the Greater London Authority
and Transport for London.
inside out, using its own tools to reinvent it, subvert it They specialise in high street
and use it against itself. It’s also necessary to recognise regeneration, industry and
mixed-use development,
that any economic movement that intends to resist late cultural infrastructure,
capitalism must grow slowly and remain small. Size is the healthy neighbourhoods,
public engagement and
major problem of late capitalism: the fact that the richest placemaking.
one percent own more than 99 percent of the world’s
population, and that the 99 percent are so dependent on
the one percent. The perfect scenario would be to equally
distribute the profit between everyone in the chain, but
realistically the only way to come close to changing it is
to keep the one percent away. That is, to extinguish the
“model owners” by avoiding attracting their interest with
models that don’t have economic scale. We need many,
small economic sharing circles.
Holly Lewis and Oliver Goodhall (HL & OG) Our proposals
for Supermix in the City don’t imply decentralisation per
se. We’re interested in more sophisticated spatial planning
that uses technological understanding and design to move
beyond crude “zoning” approaches that separate places
where stuff is made from places where people sit behind
desks and places where people live. Some of the best bits
of cities are diverse and multiplicitous, but our experience
is that this isn’t how we’re building now. The process of
50
delivering “mix” has the potential to end up either highly

controlled, or completely uncontrolled; we think that some
level of control is required if it’s to be successful.
With such a plethora of smaller, individ-

ual initiatives working at a local scale, is FE & SN We believe that
there a danger of losing the sense of our decentralisation is a way
place in the real-life (non-digital) social to recover an awareness
network? How do you maintain an aware- of scale, sense of place and
ness of scale? How can we engender more cooperation. The sharing
collective ways of living and thinking economy originally grew out
within decentralised schemes? of peer-to‑peer exchange and
presupposes mutual benefit. It
recovers the idea of exchange
from a dependence perspective. In peer-to-peer exchange
there’s another factor in play: the peer will, the decision-
making power. We are dependent not only on money but
on a personal connection as well. It could be a system of
individuals, but individuals that depend on each other.
And if you depend, you care.
This is exactly the key assumption of Airpnd. The

decision-making power should be in the hands of those
who permanently live in the house, who directly and
physically share its space, and not in the hands of absent
landlords. Airpnd is a typology to foster this dynamic of
dependence on the dweller’s decision, so the “sharable
spaces” are placed inside larger family houses.
Ilirjana Haxhiaj and Jeta Bejtullahu (IH & JB)

Our project concerns the problems of an segregated
suburban neighbourhood in the Kosovan city of Gjakova,
sustaining a very isolated community within. It is not only
unpleasant for the residents, but also a big burden on the
51
Archifutures
municipality and society in general. Our approach stems

Ilirjana Haxhiaj
from the concept of productive cities, where the focus and Jeta Bejtullahu
is leaning back towards individual initiatives that work
Ilirjana Haxhiaj is attending
on a local scale or within a local context. We have been master studies at Gdańsk
thinking how to develop infrastructure that will serve the University of Technology
in Poland and currently
people that are part of this community and at the same undertaking an internship
time preserve their particular culture and increase their in the Czech Republic.
Jeta Bejtullahu studied
income. Our idea was primarily concerned with creating a architecture and urban
centre to reduce, re-use and recycle, which will not only have planning in University of
Prishtina in Kosovo; Czech
an impact on the local environment and reduce the trash Technical University in
on the site but will also economically benefit the people Prague and the Polytechnic
of Šibenik in Croatia. She
of this community. The aim is to engage residents in is currently working at
small individual works, where they will help and improve the Kosovo Architecture
Foundation as a project
themselves, their families and the community in general. coordinator in Gjakova.
Additionally, the project intends to break the pretext of
FE & SN Neighbourhoods used The concept of neighbourhood seems to

to be considered a physical be a core feature in all three of your ideas.
concept, a place geographically But with living and working patterns con-
located and inhabited by a group stantly changing, what do you understand
of people with considerable neighbourhood to mean? How adaptable
interaction. And a group of is your idea to this kind of changing situ-
people that inhabited one specific ation?
place used to be a community,
due to their interactions, their common interests, values or
routines. These two concepts used to be part of the same
thing and one without the other wouldn’t make sense. In
the past, people needed a physical place to interact, but
today they don’t, so the two concepts happen separately.
Nowadays we are freer to search for and choose which
communities to belong to. Our neighbourhood doesn’t limit
our choices as before and that makes it more likely to find
people of different nationalities, with difference religions
and diverse interests living in the same neighbourhood.
52
A neighbourhood’s identity ends up being the result

Air Profit and Dwell
(Airpnd) of different people’s choices rather than a place where
residents’ interests and values are shaped by their
Air Profit and Dwell is
a housing typology that neighbours. With Airpnd, our main goal was to create a
combines home profitability place where permanent and temporary dwellers coexist,
with dwellers’ protection.
The fourth industrial in a more integrated manner, but not as part of the same
revolution, in which community, only of the same neighbourhood.
everything is interoperable
and systems are being
decentralised, is triggering
new employment patterns.
According to efip, one
quarter of EU workers are
freelancers. It is the fastest
growing sector of the EU
labour market. In the usa,
by 2020 it is estimated that
the freelance sector will be
50 percent. Independent
workers, working anytime
and anywhere, move
through space in a different
way from the traditional
home-work-home daily
routine. This is re-designing
the housing-services
dichotomy. “Working at
home” and “working aboard
temporarily” are common
habits of today that are
polarising the permanence
of citizens at home. The
sharing economy appeared
to be providing a way to
strengthen independence
from vertical systems, with
housing as a key product. IH & JB As much as our society is constantly changing
But then house profit
became a business system and with it, the living environment too, we are heading
in which “home” fell out of towards a scenario that will soon suffer from a lack of
the equation. In contrast,
Air Profit and Dwell is an cohesion, with people not being integrated into their
ideological approach but also surroundings and so on. The challenge is with the
an interpretation synthesised
into form, relying on form as particular neighbourhood itself, where a large group of
transformer of ideologies into people living together have similar beliefs and norms.
daily life changes.
Even though that the situation is changing every day, they
still live together and are not that open to change because
53
Archifutures
they fear mixing, merging and losing their customs. From

Opposite page: “Boycott
this standpoint, our idea was to make them feel more Airbnb” poster in Berlin,
secure by increasing the level of awareness to people 2016. © Fiona Shipwright
outside the neighbourhood by showing some of their

culture.
Should we be thinking of a communal

FE & SN Yes, we think that, economy (social) as opposed to sharing
within the ethical standards of economy (individual)? Is profit a dirty
our current society, profit is a word?
dirty word, but we don’t agree
with that assessment. In our opinion
that view represents an elitist moralism. Late capitalism
feeds on the society’s basic need for money and on the fact
that to live without profit means to live outside the society.
Society is such a major achievement that most people don’t
want to renounce – or can’t even conceive of renouncing –
it. Alternatively, if we are part of the 99 percent of people
who own less and we decide to disown profit within the
society, then that will worsen the balance and increase the
possessions of the richest one percent. So, speaking for
the 99 percent, we believe that profit abstinence is worse
than embracing it moderately. The problem, once again, is
the distribution of profit and not profit itself. If communal
means that sharing economy models are not owned by one
single person or organisation but rather equally distributed
by all those who use it, then yes, we should be thinking
of a social/communal economy. But what really interests
us is how to implement those models. That’s exactly why
we named our project “air profit and dwell”. We consider
it crucial to think about and create new models and
typologies where profit is a central issue, presenting new
solutions to distribute it in a more equal way. And for us,
those solutions start with bringing back the issue of scale:
small scale.
54
55
Archifutures
56
Does an abundance of hybrid spaces end

up doing the same thing Airbnb et al have HL & OG Cities change, that’s
been criticised for: changing the makeup what they do. Our concern
and character of a city at an alarming is that diversity is one of the
pace, while potentially driving out long most positive and invigorating
term residents? urban characteristics. This
means diversity in population,
diversity in uses, diversity in
affordability. Where profit is prioritised in the building
Redevelopment of cities, certain populations are favoured by the system
of Social Housing – this can lead to exclusion. Change is not the enemy,
Infrastructure
homogenisation is.
When we think about the
future of architecture we
tend to think about the
increasing influence of
technology and presume
that all people will have
access to it. But there are
entire neighbourhoods in
Europe and elsewhere that
do not have the most vital
facilities. This project is
about revitalising a social
housing neighbourhood
inhabited by the rae (Roma,
Ashkali and Egyptian)
community in the suburbs
of Gjakova in the Republic of
Kosovo. The aim is to develop
infrastructure that will serve FE & SN Isn’t harmoniously blending temporary and long-
this community as well as
preserve their traditional term residents one of the main challenges facing western
culture. A new reduce-re- urban areas today? Couldn’t we consider that this should
use-recycle centre will be
created that will not only will be precisely the main feature of a contemporary hybrid
have an impact on the local space? Airpnd starts from that assumption in that it is
environment by reducing
the trash on the site but will more than a building; it is a housing typology matrix.
also boost the local economy Nowadays a city has to embrace temporary dwellers and
by providing employment
and empowerment alongside suitable spaces need to exist for them, but at the same time,
the recycling factory, with the dissemination of these spaces must not take priority
workplaces in the form of
workshops for handicraft over the spaces for long-term residents. For this reason, we
and artisans to make and sell propose a “mixed residents” building with specific features
their products.
57
Archifutures
to respect each type’s necessities. Each long-term citizen’s

Previous spread:
residence has a hybrid space that can be used as they want Grab & Go roadside cafe
– it could be rented to a tourist, student or someone on a and spinning signage.
Image: Jakob Spriestersbach
business trip but it could also be an office, an art gallery © We Made That
or a yoga room. The hybrid space can even be used as a
Opposite page:
permanent expansion of long-term resident’s home, but Commissioned billboards
the opposite can never happen. The most important thing promoting local businesses,
Blackhorse Lane,Walthamstow.
for us is giving the decision-making power to long-term Image: Jakob Spriestersbach
residents, while preserving the common sphere. © We Made That
IH & JB Given that all What is the role of the architect and archi-
indicators point to a difficult tecture here? Are they solution-designers
social and economic situation, or merely filling in the gaps left by negli-
where the dominance of gent governments?
multi-member households
also indicates low levels
of economic development and in most cases, only one
family member is employed while women are left
entirely outside the labour market, then it is necessary
to initiate proposals and solutions that engender social
and economic development for this minority community.
The architect’s task is to bring small changes to the
community by helping engage them in work and activities
that will improve their welfare. Although there are a lot of
Timeless communication, 2016.

Image: Jeta Bejtullahu
58
continuous donations and support from the government

(central and local), we still see a great need for concrete
action to be taken to combat this isolation.
HL & OG Architects can show a vision for a different way

of making our cities. This skill of communication is the
key trick!
FE & SN Before we are architects we are citizens

and it’s our conscience as citizens that shapes our
professional practice. Some prefer to separate their
duty as professionals from their duty as citizens when
they seek an active participation in society’s issues.
We believe that through our profession we can more
actively and in a more structured manner contribute to
society’s development. Furthermore, architecture is a
powerful instrument to change and fix some of society’s
rules because it gives them a form. Architecture can
translate laws in daily routines and is capable of slowly
changing society’s conduct. In this way, architects and
architecture should always embrace the mission of having
a complementary role to government.
How do you believe new hybrid spaces will

change cities in a wider context? HL & OG Supermix in the City
envisions vibrant, dynamic
places. In many places these
already exist, but accepted wisdom, particularly in the
contemporary West, is that separating uses in our cities is
better than mixing them. We don’t buy this.
FE & SN Cities are part of a bigger ecosystem – one that

includes villages, agriculture, forests, oceans, etc. – and
cannot be seen in isolation. For years, cities were at the
59
Archifutures
centre of everything – all thoughts, plans or investment

Supermix in the City
– and the other parts of the ecosystem were simply viewed
as resources or facilities for cities. In our opinion this is We Made That studied over
1,000 businesses in London
slowly changing. We have also been working on housing operating from industrial
models for the countryside in the belief that today, with sites. These businesses
are under threat due to
access to information, easy communication and travel, high operational costs and
new urban and rural housing solutions have to development uncertainties.
The usual solution –
complement each other. Only a common strategy makes particularly in the context of
sense and it is this joint vision that will truly change cities a housing-led bottom line – is
“mixed use development”, but
in a wider context. The rise of hybrid spaces will just be a there is a need to aspire to
consequence of the increasing number of people in transit a condition beyond “mixed
use”. We need a “supermix”:
due a more direct communication and exchange between a bolder and more thoughtful
the two types of agglomerations. approach to fit-out, servicing
and adjacencies that captures
a more varied and radical
conception, which intensifies
industrial sites and shapes
new development schemes to
include a greater variety of
workplaces; one with more
imaginative conceptions
of what our buildings
and neighbourhoods can
accommodate. Under current
conditions, the ability of
the market alone to deliver
supermix is limited, yet
the term is also explicit in
its value – a supermix can
build‑in more resilience,
diversity and character into
our cities, both spatially
and socially. Encouraging
supermix in our cities
will create new types of
architecture: schools that
are also houses, factories
combined with community
centres, libraries that attract
enterprise and commerce,
and more.
60
Common
Places
By Felipe de Ferrari,
Kim Courrèges,
Diego Grass
& Thomas Batzenschlager
61
Plan Común’s
public greenhouse
for Graz
62
Common Places
“The goal is to
offer alternatives,
which reaffirm
the public value of
Plan Común’s public greenhouse for Graz
architecture as the
Diego Grass & Thomas Batzenschlager
By Felipe de Ferrari, Kim Courreges,
way of thinking and

Common Places
building our cities.”
63
Archifutures
Critiquing the economic impulse behind the Plan Común

construction of urban spaces, Chilean office Plan Común has been
Plan Común take an actively political approach developing Common Places
since 2012: strategies to
to reclaiming the right to the city with a public maximise and strengthen
greenhouse proposal for Graz in Austria. public and collective space
– understood as a key aspect
of architecture, regardless of
Common Places takes a critical position towards what is its scale or programme
– using the means of simple
happening around us.
architecture tools: critical
discourse, research, design
Common Places draws on the behaviour of people, and building. We are
buildings and things. convinced that radical, basic
– even silent – forms are
more likely to be relevant
Common Places comes out of a critical understanding of
and universal, and serve
specific contexts and programmes. as a support for collective
use and imagination. “We
Common Places has a disregard for the status quo, use a critical and strategic
approach towards briefs
including commissions and clients. and commissions, in order
to question and transform
Common Places proceeds from an active engagement with spatial hierarchy and uses.
We intend to work within an
ordinary demands and needs.
ethic of the collective, aiming
at relevance and usefulness
Common Places follows a clear strategy to maximise for the many.”
collective space in every project.
Common Places exhibits an economy of means, a radical

understanding of resources such as time.
Regardless of the usual pragmatic aspirations that many

of us may have, it is impossible to strip off the ideologies
of our cities. In many countries (in our case Chile) we
live under a neoliberal model, one in which cities are
understood as mere devices to increase the market value
of private property.
At the same time, our cities are also victims of the Previous page: Proposal
conceptual inability and lack of vision exhibited by local for a public greenhouse in
Andreas-Hofer-Platz in Graz,
authorities, urban experts and decision-makers. This has Austria, 2016. Isometric
provoked the proliferation of indeterminate terrains, drawing © Plan Común
64
Common Places
the generic (in the pre- and post-Koolhaas sense) and

“common” places, in the worst sense of the word.
Common Places research:

public interiors. © Plan In reaction to this and other related issues, we can see
Común how communities and societies around the world are now
mobilising against the consequences and iniquities of the
system: recent demonstrations in Chile, Spain, Brazil and
the United States are just the tip of the iceberg of reaction
against the many inconsistencies within our models of
development, distribution of wealth and lifestyles.
Citizens are aiming to reclaim the public sphere. This
has also been an important stimulus for our practice:
we try to engage our work within a framework of radical
transformation in opposition to the neoliberal context
within which we operate.
65
Archifutures
As architects, designers, authorities and citizens, we must

reclaim our common rights to the public realm in the city.
The city is controlled at present by the ups and downs
of the market economy. We believe our discipline could
counteract this process by creating collective public spaces
that hold no value for the market economy – ones that
are even sometimes detrimental to private or individual
interests – by taking a strategic approach to architecture
and thus producing new ways to inhabit the world.
Common Places research:

continuous sheds.
© Plan Común
Common Places is a collaborative research project initiated

and promoted by the Chilean architecture office Plan
Común, founded in 2012. Its focus is on research and
the production of strategies and projects for maximising
public and collective spaces. This began through
questioning the validity of current operative models –
whether ideological, economic, cultural or normative
– in order to produce new and fertile public spaces using
our own design skills and architectural tools. The goal
66
Common Places
is to offer alternatives, which reaffirm the public value

“We propose of architecture as the way of thinking and building our
demercantilised, cities. Within this are all kinds of interesting themes and
political and stra- issues, from the urban to the intimate private scale. The
tegic projects for potential of architecture to help generate these spaces
the public and is unlocked using disciplinary tools such as text and
society at large.” drawings utilising canonical architectural elements.
We propose demercantilised, political and strategic
projects for the public and society at large: 50 strategies
designed by a network of collaborating architects around
the world, that should be activated by a community
mobilised to shaping our future cities. The catalogue of
strategies, due to be published soon, is just a first phase of
the research. We are interested in finding a real context
for them and to deal with a real network of actors in order
to pursue further the feasibility of each case.
In order to test one of the strategies in a real context,

the House of Architecture (HDA) in Graz and ISSS
research&architecture, invited Plan Común to propose
an alternative transformation of Andreas-Hofer-Platz – a
historical plot in the centre of the city – in the context of
the Form follows… exhibition held at the HDA in 2016.
Originally the site of a Carmelite church and monastery

Context – and known as Karmeliterplatz – the earlier buildings
were demolished to make way for a fish market. The plot
was then sold by the Graz Municipality in 1913 and today
contains a subterranean parking garage – one of the most
important in the city centre – and a service / bus station.
Although the site – now called Andreas-Hofer-Platz – is
now private property and not a product of specific urban
planning, local citizens continue to call it a “square”.
67
Archifutures
In 2012, a competition was organised by Acoton Real

Estate, which bought the site from Shell AG in 2008 for
12.5 million euro. The brief was to build commercial
stores, offices, restaurants and housing over the maximum
allowable area of 13,500 square metres. At that time the
budget for the whole project was 50 million euro and the
winning proposal was a design by Atelier Thomas Pucher.
For us, the results of the competition were not good
enough. Our critique is not just of the design approach
taken in the different proposals but mainly of the attitude
of the participating architects in the competition. All
the proposals we reviewed lacked critical awareness and
they all fell short of the demands of the brief. According
to the curators of an exhibition at Haus der Architektur
(in which this proposal was included), the public demand
was for more green space rather than office space. Four
years since the competition, the status of the square still
remains unclear.
Plan Común saw an architectural counter-proposal as

the best way to move on from this stasis. Our proposal Proposal:
therefore is to build a public greenhouse of 2,100 square Public Greenhouse
metres, defined by a double-pitched roof form. The
greenhouse responds directly to the demands of Graz
citizens, offering a volume of air warmer than outside,
the humidity perfect for growing different plants, a pool
to collect rainwater from outside and a garden to colonise
the plinth and polycarbonate walls of the greenhouse’s
interior. In its centre, the existing bus station will be
updated to allow space for small shops and workshops
related to agriculture; its roof will be reinforced and
converted into an open terrace for different uses with
views towards the garden and surroundings. The existing
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69
Archifutures
70
Common Places
Previous page and this

page: Interior of the public
greenhouse proposed for
Andrea-Hofer-Platz, Graz.
© Plan Común
subterranean parking could be updated to contain
complementary facilities for future stages of the project.
This new public “void” provides a unique spatial condition
in the context of Graz. It will act as an experimental field
to be appropriated by citizens of all ages.
The political reference of the text on the billboard

Message: “Die Grüne that forms part of the proposal is straightforward: Die
Alternative” Grüne Alternative (The Green Alternative) – the slogan
of the Green Party in Austria which has been relatively
successful in containing the steady rise of the extreme-
right in the country, setting an example – from our
perspective – for the rest of the world. Architecture
can also contribute towards disrupting the logic of the
extreme right in Austria, Europe and abroad and helping
counteract its rise.
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Archifutures
The slogan: Die Grüne Alternative also relates to a different

possible future for Andreas-Hofer-Platz: one that is not
decided by private interests but oriented towards the
public realm and aligned with a more sustainable and
simple lifestyle. It will be a specific type of greenhouse
designed to behave in an urban context and the third
recognisable new intervention along the Mur River, after
the Kunsthaus and the Murinsel, albeit one less iconic and
more humble than its predecessors.
The façade of the proposed

public greenhouse across
Andrea-Hofer-Platz. © Plan
Común
Why should we abandon our hopes regarding public

space? Are we condemned to have residual public spaces
defined by the market all the time? We call for all the
interested institutions, authorities, civic associations and
citizens to recover this plot for the city.
72
The Bigger
Picture
Socially-informed
urban transformation
By Aleksandra Zarek
73
74
The Bigger Picture
“Cohesive
regeneration cannot
always be delivered
through isolated
Socially-informed urban transformation
restorations of
The Bigger Picture
single buildings
By Aleksandra Zarek
without a larger
integrated strategy.”
75
Archifutures
Architect Aleksandra Zarek presents her thesis Aleksandra Zarek

work: an holistic approach to urban transformation Aleksandra Zarek is an
as a basis for socially-informed evolution of cities, architect currently working
at award-winning Stephenson
increased quality of life and sustainable urban Studio in Manchester. Her
revival focussed on the example of the Kortepohja internationally-oriented
experience includes various
Student Village in Jyväskylä, Finland. practices in Berlin, Lisbon
and Poland. She was trained
at the University of Sheffield
The problem of adapting and updating old building stock
and Tampere University
to contemporary living standards is currently being faced of Technology, where she
developed an interest in
by many cities across Europe and beyond. This necessity
using architectural and
holds the potential to enhance social sustainability in urban design as a tool for
social engagement and urban
urban areas. However, cohesive regeneration cannot
transformation.
always be delivered through isolated restorations of single
Her housing vision for
buildings without a larger integrated strategy.
the future was awarded a
purchase prize by
the City of Lahti in the ara
This project involves the transformation of the Student
Home 2049 international
Village in the Kortepohja district of the Finnish city of student design competition.
Jyväskylä, which is the subject of a proposal to renovate
and rejuvenate it. The scheme was commissioned by
the University of Jyväskylä’s Student Union (JYY) and is
presently awaiting implementation.
The main goal of the project is to revitalise the

existing building stock through a holistic approach at
multiple scales, in order to create a high-quality-living
environment for students and JYY’s staff as well as
re‑establish the Student Village’s presence in the context
of Kortepohja and Jyväskylä. The modernist façades of the
Village’s historic core, designed by Erkki Kantonen’s office,
were listed and given heritage status in 2008, meaning a
sensitive strategy of respectful transformation is required
for any renovation.
Previous page: Kortepohja

The project is based on three interlocking scales, which exterior proposal.
form the framework for a comprehensive, socially-focused © Aleksandra Zarek
76
The Bigger Picture
revival: a development plan for Kortepohja; a masterplan

for the Student Village and a detailed retrofit of the
central Rentukka Student Union building.
A university city The city of Jyväskylä is located in central Finland and

with the legacy in the western part of Finnish Lakeland. Jyväskylä
of Alvar Aalto University, students from which form the body of the
Student Village’s residents and a significant proportion
TO LAAJAVUORI
SCALE 1
Rautpohja Bay |
Recreational area
SCALES 2 - 3
RENTUKKA
Student Village Masterplan
(Scale 2)
+ Rentukka Student Union
(Scale 3)
SCALE 1
Kortepohja entry zone
TO CITY CENTRE &
UNIVERSITY
of the local population, has been a catalyst for the

Kortepohja Student Village
plan. © Aleksandra Zarek development of the city and in establishing its national
and international reputation.
The university’s campus, as well as many other buildings

across Jyväskylä, were designed by Alvar Aalto, whose
77
Archifutures
reputation contributes to the international image

of the institution and the city. This academic- and
design‑oriented context provides a strong rationale for the
rejuvenation of the village whilst at the same time being
designed to enrich students’ experience and improving the
quality of the built environment.
The first scale of intervention concentrates on the overall

development plan for Kortepohja. The district is situated Scale 1:
in the north-western part of the city, around three Kortepohja District
kilometres from its central core and the academic campus. development plan
Kortepohja aerial view.

© Aleksandra Zarek
The purpose of the scheme at this level is the physical
and metaphorical consolidation of new and existing zones
within its neighbourhood as well as reconnecting it back
into the context of the city.
Kortepohja, whose construction was initiated in the 1960s

as a result of the city’s and university’s growth, constitutes
a peaceful residential area. Although it features a number
of compelling modernist buildings and recreational zones,
the perception of connectivity in the neighbourhood is
severely disrupted by many undeveloped sites.
78
79
Archifutures
80
The Bigger Picture
A series of holistic interventions in the district seek to

improve the connectivity of its different areas such as
the Student Village, the Laajavuori recreational park,
the Rautpohja Bay area around the reservoir, or the
entry zone to Kortepohja from the city centre. The
scheme provides a detailed recreational proposal around
the Rautpohja reservoir while suggesting the future
development of the entry zone as an area of extended
student housing.
The interventions around Rautpohja refresh its image as

a scenic reservoir with significant wildlife. A boardwalk
links the network of facilities, such as an observation
pier, a public sauna, educational centre with allotments
and open-air theatre, stimulating a rich and diverse
recreational experience. This both enhances opportunities
to contemplate the natural environment whilst offering
leisure opportunities for students and local residents.
The route could be extended to other adjacent areas, such
as Laajavuori or around the Haukanniemi peninsula,
emphasising the district’s integrated character.
The Kortepohja Student Village, located in the heart

Scale 2: of Kortepohja, forms the subject of the second scale of
Kortepohja Student development. The village constitutes multiple layers
Village masterplan of development embedded in the context of the city’s
and university’s growth. Its modernist core, with five
high-rise blocks and the central Rentukka building,
designed by Erkki Kantonen, Niilo Hartikainen and Jukka
Kolehmainen, was built between 1968-1972 and has been
listed since 2008. The village also includes subsequent
construction from the 1970s, 1990s and most recently
2010-2012.
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Archifutures
Originally, the village was infused by the omnipresent “Originally,

spirit of academia created by its community of students the village was
and academic staff living in a close-knit neighbourhood, infused by the
in which Rentukka performed as an important social omnipresent
hub. At present, despite high numbers of students and spirit of
their activities in the area, the fatigued appearance of the academia
village has been the victim of unstructured and superficial created by its
developments. community
of students
and academic
staff living in
a close-knit
neighbourhood.”
Previous page: Kortepohja

district pier proposal.
© Aleksandra Zarek
Top: Kortepohja current state
© Aleksandra Zarek
Bottom: Kortepohja
promenade proposal.
© Aleksandra Zarek
82
The Bigger Picture
To revive this dynamic atmosphere, this second scale of

rejuvenation aims at consolidating the village through
strengthening its circulation and visual perception. The
front area, which one is confronted with when arriving
from the city centre, lacks strong imagery and a clear
sense of orientation. In addition, visual perception of
Rentukka as a social hub is currently disturbed by a vast
car park, trees and other fragmented additions.
To resolve these issues in this key part of the village, its

external spaces have been redefined into new functional
zones. This has been achieved by the introduction of a
new underground car park, which has freed up space
for the insertion of new infrastructure above, including
a students’ services pavilion, housing blocks and sports
areas. Re-establishing the visual presence of Rentukka and
its function as a community centre entailed the careful
redesign of the approach to the building. It is now served
by a prominent landscaped promenade with different
surface treatment from the adjacent square.
The previously unused courtyard at the rear is now

activated by a new greenhouse pavilion containing a
community kitchen, complemented by outdoor growing
facilities. These interventions aim at enhancing the
existing greenery whilst improving circulation with a
new landscaped path, lined with seating arrangements,
floor lighting and marking the way to further parts of the
village and ultimately to the Rautpohja recreational zone.
A new housing cluster has been proposed to replace
buildings designated for demolition by the client. The new
blocks have their own court and are designed specifically
for students with families, being sited in a slightly more
removed location with proximity to the recreational
Rautpohja zone.
83
Archifutures
The Rentukka community building, which forms the

centrepiece of the historical core of the Kortepohja Scale 3:
Student Village, is the subject of the most detailed level of Rentukka Student
all the interventions undertaken. Community Building
retrofit
Rentukka operated as a vibrant social and cultural centre
for the area throughout the decade following its opening
in 1972. At the moment its aesthetic appearance, as well as
functionality, suffers from its peculiar layout with a rigid
grid of columns and numerous partition walls, which has
created poorly lit and cramped spaces at all levels. The top
floor, which at the peak of the building’s former life once
served as a chic restaurant, is currently being used only
on an extremely occasional basis for social events.
The fundamental changes proposed to the interior are
Rentukka lobby current state.

© Aleksandra Zarek
based on notions of openness, spatial clarity of functions,

better light performance and reference to the sculptural
appearance of the original building. Due to the heritage
status of Rentukka’s external envelope, most radical
interventions had to be accommodated within the
building’s shell, which stimulated the creation of tailored
84
The Bigger Picture
design solutions.
The main concept is based on opening up the ground
and top floors to a new atrium, flooded by the light from
Rentukka lobby proposal.

© Aleksandra Zarek
a generous skylight, which replicates the form of this

primary void. A continuous motif in the proposal is the
profile of the concrete balustrade, which encircles the
volume of the staircase and central void. This proposal,
together with the free-form lobby and main skylight,
is designed to convey an idea of spatial coherence,
undoubtedly lacking in the previous interior layout.
The orthogonality of Rentukka’s external prisms and
it bold columnar grid are now counterbalanced by
fluid, curvilinear shapes, which reference Alvar Aalto’s
architecture across Jyväskylä University and the city.
One side of the atrium is enclosed by a curtain wall to

allow light from above to penetrate the volumes of the
gym on the top floor and the library on the ground floor.
The smooth, white finish of walls and ceilings is designed
85
Archifutures
to maximise reflection of natural light and create a subtle

contrast with the warmth of timber elements such as
floors, café counter and library shelving.
Student societies, previously scattered throughout the

village using temporary arrangements, are now integrated
into new functional areas within Rentukka, emphasising
its social centrality. Some of them – for example, a new
student services desk, cafe, library, gym and open study
zone – are placed around the lobby to encapsulate its
public atmosphere. The top floor also features a generous
group exercise space, art workshops and choir rehearsal
space. The separate Lillukka wing now accommodates
a cooking club on the ground floor and an auditorium
in the basement, which also incorporates a new band
rehearsal space.
In order to enhance the clarity of the original volumes,
Rentukka’s exterior will be cleared of its old superfluous
additions. The outdoor area in front of the building is

Left: Rentukka exterior
now animated by means of the adjacent new public square current state. © Aleksandra
and connecting promenade, as shown in the masterplan Zarek
for the Student Village. This further showcases the Right: Rentukka exterior
proposal. © Aleksandra Zarek
consolidated character of the interventions across all
scales of development in the Kortepohja district, Student
86
The Bigger Picture
Village and Rentukka.
The three levels of interventions throughout the

transformation proposal of Jyväskylä’s Kortepohja Student
Village formed a comprehensive foundation for its
socially-oriented revival. The framework consolidating
a development plan for the district, a masterplan for the
Student Village and a detailed retrofit of Rentukka acted as
a basis for cohesive regeneration, which was built around
an integrated and socially sustainable redevelopment
strategy.
Recognising the potential of rejuvenation of a single

building as a catalyst for integrated regeneration of the
area was a key characteristic of the scheme and a crucial
driver in conceptualising other development scales to
create a multi-dimensional and therefore holistic
transformation proposal, which addresses the city’s
international reputation as a centre for academic
excellence and of modernist design by Alvar Aalto.
87
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Interview with Mariabruna

An archivist is traditionally concerned with James Taylor-Foster

This page: Possibilities,

What does this mean for architects? James Taylor-Foster,

Perhaps we should begin by defining the Mariabruna Fabrizi (MF)

Dreaming of recess #2,

Asimov’s Foundation Series comes to mind: the notion

Opposite: Untitled, from

So with conventional print publishing,

High Dive: flying somersault

Perhaps one of our responsibilities is to try to keep this

something you start making threads and working on nets

Parkview Ct, from the

taxonomies can be a way of grouping this information and

Yejiri Station, Province of

image that we publish is so dense and so structured, but

MF Sometimes it’s very Perhaps authorship is becoming more

FL We are in an ambiguous stage. The importance of

of the internet nobody really cared if their content was on

The notion of archiving, or the intelli- MF Yes, I completely agree.

FL …and decontextualise them.

MB We need to teach students what’s behind an image,

culture behind them that you cannot take lightly.

FL At the same time, as internet producers, we have been

“We live in an age

idea of the future.”

Illustrations by Andreas Töpfer

mapping, which, without striving to provide a precise and

The late late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries

agents beyond the architect’s control, such as the tendency

emancipatory movements decide to break free from

Until not so long ago, reflexion was considered a privilege

While Eisenman’s interpretative gesture addressed

his “isolationist” approach by turning their analytical

architectural reflexivity gives rise to an awkward question:

their application and the ambitions of their protagonists,

The fascination with ephemerality is rooted in the

territories, invisible arms and proxy wars?

The only form of truly utopian architecture that

flourishes in our essentially anti-utopian era engages with

affluent. Some of these projects have much in common

It is sometimes claimed by the proponents of the

enough rafts for housing billions of castaways? At the

Conceived as a visual metaphor of the architecture of

The relativistic pluralism of future scenarios doesn’t

design. Incorporating into the project a range of different

Since the very beginning of the capitalist era, the term

possibility for transgressing the underlying conditions

projects and projective imagination in general. It is this

ascent among the vogue words of contemporary

Interview with Filipe Estrela

citizens and it’s

Keller Easterling has described urbanism today Estrela Neves

The emergence of the sharing economy

air house work services

In the 1980s, personal computers were supposed to

productivity. Now the Fourth Industrial Revolution has

delivering “mix” has the potential to end up either highly

With such a plethora of smaller, individ-