Architecture as Invention

writing for George A. Toloudis (1947-2018), architect, engineer, and inventor.

bz @Changing Cities

From theatre to factory to...

 "The society of the 18th century was still dominated by ritual forms of interaction. The public space resembled a stage, a theatre. The body also represented a stage. It was a dressed puppet without soul, without psychology, that has to be draped and decorated and fitted out with signs and symbols. The wig framed the face like a painting. The fashion itself was theatrical, and people were properly in love with scenic presentations. A lady's coiffure was also designed as a scene, representing either a historical event (pouf à la circumstance) or an emption (pouf au sentiment). These emotions, however, did not reflect conditions of the soul. The emotions were mainly played with. The face itself became a stage on which various characters were represented with the help of beauty spots (mouches). If they were placed at the corner of the eye, they meant passion. Placed on the lower lip, they indicated frankness of the wearer. The face understood as a stage is utterly remote from that face we find presented today on Facebook.

The nineteenth century discovered work, and play became increasingly distrusted. There was now much more work than play: the world resembled a factory rather than a theatre. The culture of theatrical presentation gave way to the culture of interiority. This development can also be seen in fashion. Stage costumes and ordinary clothes began to differ more and more. The theatrical element disappeared from fashion. Europeans started to wear work clothes:"

...

"The cult of authenticity erodes public space, which disintegrates into private spaces. Everyone carries their own private space with them wherever they go. In public space, one has to leave aside the private and play a role. It is a space for scenic presentations, a theater. The play, the drama is essential to it:"

...

Today, the world is not a theater in which roles are played and ritual gestures exchanged, but a market in which one exposes and exhibits oneself. Theatrical representation gives way to pornographic exhibition of the private."

pages 18-21 , The disappearance of rituals, Byung-Chuk Han

work during post-remote (GSD panel)

The pandemic has obviously affected the way we work, collaborate, and communicate with each other. We invested our hopes and solutions for when we return « back to normal ». But as we are experiencing this return, it is clear it is not yet post-covid (health continues to be a concern). At the same time the standards, norms, and priorities have changed, in many aspects, beyond health. How do we navigate through this transition? How do we create a desired place to work and how do we establish work and life balance? 

These are some of the ideas and questions that have emerged from our discussions with current students, recent graduates, and among ourselves. And led to the creation of the panel "Navigating the Life We Want Post-GSD." It has been a pleasure to co-organize the panel but mostly to hear how some of our brilliant participants address some of these concerns. 

 
Some of the questions dealt on how to build trust, how to maintain the access to the essential informality, how to be happy together, content while working? Others evolved around problems such as gender inequalities, labor that is left out, global/local supply chains, delays and interruptions, but also on positive view, speeding times (end of bureaucracy?) as well as opportunities for getting closer to each other (since we now know everything about each other)! 

The importance of the site visit, knowing the context where you work would seem essential for some of the previous generation architects, but it has not been a priority lately. The importance of culture specificity, understanding the other(s). One question that entails some of the above, and it is important during this new nomadism, is what and/or who is local nowadays? 
 
Personally, in times of uncertainty having people with whom you can navigate the crises together, is key.  As one of the panelists perfectly described it is all about « creating a dream together »!  

About the panel:

Navigating the Life We Want Post-GSD

Presented by the GSD Alumni Council’s Student/Alumni Xchange Committee

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm ET

Virtual Event, Zoom

How we work as professionals interested in the planning, design, construction, and management of a better built environment continues to change.

The paradigm of working long hours in a bustling studio environment without a life/work balance is a thing of the past. And yet, fully embracing technological solutions that (when left unchecked) risks a lifestyle disconnected from the collaboration and community needed to fulfill a happy work life and prosperous career.

There are other approaches that can achieve our desired outcomes, but our (post) Covid horizons require each of us to be more proactive in the shaping of these realities by working with our employers, employees, clients, investors, and partners. Come hear from a range of professionals at different points within their careers discuss this new paradigm and related options.

Moderator:

Brie Hensold MUP ’07, Co-Founding Principal, Agency Landscape + Planning, Cambridge, MA

Panelists:

Yannis Kitanis MArch ’09, Founding Principal, OKTANA, Athens, Greece

Kaley Blackstock AB ’10 ,MArch ’15, Sustainability Consultant, Gensler, Phoenix, AZ

Nina Chase MLA ’12, Co-Founding Principal, Merritt Chase, Pittsburgh, PA

Diana Ramirez Jasso PhD ’12, Dean, School of Architecture, Art, and Design at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, Center-South Region

Once registered, attendees will receive a confirmation email containing a unique link to attend the panel discussion.

Sponsored by the GSD Alumni Council’s Student/Alumni Xchange Committee, GSD Development and Alumni Relations & GSD Career Services

 

Architecture is workshop

 Δεκέμβριος, «γιορτές» και η δυνατότητα να πηγαίνεις με τον μπαμπά στου κ. Τάκη για πρότζεκτ. Δεν μπορώ να περιγράψω την αίσθηση αυθεντικότητας που προσέφερε ένα τέτοιο εργαστήριο, το κρυο, η σόμπα, η μυρωδιά, αυτός ο «ένας άλλος κόσμος». Παλιότερα και το γραφείο του μπαμπά ήταν έτσι, πάνω στο πατάρι βράδυ. Σε αυτούς τους χώρους υπάρχει η αίσθηση ότι ο χρόνος σταματάει. Λίγο το στουντιο στο Vermont μυρίζει έτσι. 

What is Architecture? Series 8/23

single-minded

 "We inherited that single-minded system from an early and outmoded project for national consolidation.

In today's readjustments to global dynamics, mono is a malady of adolescent societies. "

page xv, Bilingual Aesthetics. A New Sentimental Education, Doris Sommer,

becomes again

 "At the end of the meal the chopsticks are thrown away, the few plates are washed and put away, and the dining-room becomes the sitting-room again. Later on it will be a bed-room. There is no moving of furniture, no complication, no clattering of knives, forks and spoons. Everything is of the simplest."

page 108, How one lives in a traditional Japanese House, Design as Art, Bruno Munari. 

Dedes

Dedes (1993)

[Ρουμί]

Αφέντης μας έν κι αγαπούμεν τον

κι απ' εκείνον έν καλή η ζωή μας.

Γιατί γύρισες, γιατί βρώμισες;

πε με τι έπαθες, πε με τι έχασες!

(Άι καρδιά μου, άι ψυχή μου!

άι το ετούτο μου, άι το εκείνο μου,

αχ σπίτι μου, αχ στέγη μου!

Αχ θησαυρέ μου, αχ χρυσοπηγή!)

Έλα καλέ μου, έλα σάχη μου·

χαρά δε δίδεις, δος μας άνεμο!

Που διψά πίνει, που πονεί λαλεί·

μηδέν τσάκωσες, καλέ, το γυαλί;

He is our Master and we love him

and because of Him our life is good.

Why have you come back, why did you get dirty?

Tell me what happened to you, tell me what you have lost!

(Oh my heart, oh my soul,

oh my this, oh my that,

ah, my house, ah my shelter!

Ah, my treasure, ah golden spring!)

Come my darling, come my shah,

you give no joy: give us the wind!

Who thirsts, drinks; who hurts, cries out;

darling, have you smashed the glass?

*Από τον ιστότοπο opudjis

the man is a guest house

Ο Ξενώνας

[Ρουμί]

Ο άνθρωπος είναι ένας ξενώνας.

Κάθε μέρα ένας καινούργιος ερχομός,

μια χαρά, μια θλίψη, μια κακία,

μια στιγμιαία συνειδητοποίηση φτάνει όπως ένας απρόσμενος επισκέπτης.

Υποδέξου τα όλα!

Ακόμα κι αν πρόκειται για ένα πλήθος καημών,

που βίαια αδειάζουν το σπίτι από τα έπιπλά του,

φέρσου σε κάθε καλεσμένο με αξιοπρέπεια,

θα μπορούσε κάλλιστα να σε ετοιμάζει

για μια χαρά καινούργια.

Τη νηφάλια σκέψη, την ντροπή, τη υστεροβουλία,

υποδέξου τες στην πόρτα χαμογελώντας και κάλεσέ τες μέσα.

Να είσαι ευγνώμων για καθετί που έρχεται,

γιατί έχει σταλεί ως οδηγός απ’ τον επέκεινα κόσμο.

*Από τον ιστότοπο catisart

A New Rule

[Rumi]

It is the rule with drunkards to fall upon each other,

to quarrel, become violent, and make a scene.

The lover is even worse than a drunkard.

I will tell you what love is: to enter a mine of gold.

And what is that gold?

The lover is a king above all kings,

unafraid of death, not at all interested in a golden crown.

The dervish has a pearl concealed under his patched cloak.

Why should he go begging door to door?

Last night that moon came along,

drunk, dropping clothes in the street.

"Get up," I told my heart, "Give the soul a glass of wine.

The moment has come to join the nightingale in the garden,

to taste sugar with the soul-parrot."

I have fallen, with my heart shattered -

where else but on your path? And I

broke your bowl, drunk, my idol, so drunk,

don't let me be harmed, take my hand.

A new rule a new law has been born:

break all the glasses and fall toward the glassblower.

*found in All Poetry