Tatiana Bilbao: The House and the City

A Harvard Graduate School of Design tem vindo a partilhar um conjunto de conferências que vale a pena acompanhar, merecendo destaque a palestra de Kenneth Frampton sobre a arquitectura contemporânea nos países com economias de mais rápido crescimento, em particular a China.
No vídeo acima podem assistir à recente apresentação de Tatiana Bilbao, arquitecta sediada na cidade do México, dando a conhecer de forma detalhada o seu processo de trabalho, do entendimento do lugar ao cuidado com a materialidade dos processos de construção, procurando criar espaços humanizados capazes de auxiliar o desenvolvimento cultural e económico das comunidades em que se inserem.

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”The House and the City”, conference with Mexican City based architect Tatiana Bilbao for The Harvard Graduate School of Design. Tatiana Bilbao, through the work of her multicultural and multidisciplinary office based in Mexico City, attempts to understand the place that surrounds her and to translate its rigid codes into architecture. As a reaction to global capitalism, the studio aspires to regenerate spaces in order to humanize them and to open up niches for cultural and economic development.

Ellen van Loon (OMA): conferência Distância Crítica

Conferência de Ellen van Loon, arquitecta sénior da OMA, integrada no ciclo Distância Crítica organizado pela Trienal de Arquitectura de Lisboa. Gravado no dia 17 de Fevereiro de 2016. Os mais interessados não devem deixar de subscrever o canal da Trienal no YouTube.

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Ellen van Loon, from OMA, at Critical Distance, Lisbon, February 17, 2016. Fast-forward to minute 4:45 to access Ellen’s lecture in English. Conference promoted by Lisbon Architecture Triennale.

The great architectural divide

The PC [politically correct] takeover of architecture is complete: the Pritzker Prize has mutated into a prize for humanitarian work. The role of the architect is now “to serve greater social and humanitarian needs”, and the new laureate is hailed for “tackling the global housing crisis” and for his concern for the underprivileged. Architecture loses its specific societal task and responsibility, architectural innovation is replaced by the demonstration of noble intentions and the discipline’s criteria of success and excellence dissolve in the vague do-good-feel-good pursuit of ‘social justice’.
I respect what Alejandro Aravena is doing and his "half a good house" developments are an intelligent response. However, this is not the frontier where architecture and urban design participate in advancing the next stage of our global high-density urban civilization.
I would not object to this year’s choice half as much if this safe and comforting validation of humanitarian concern was not part of a wider trend in contemporary architecture that in my view signals an unfortunate confusion, bad conscience, lack of confidence, vitality and courage about the discipline’s own unique contribution to the world.

— Patrik Schumacher, via Facebook.

Patrik Schumacher’s very public reaction to this year’s Pritzker Prize announcement didn't exactly come as a surprise. The outspoken director of Zaha Hadid Architects seems to have a propensity for controversy and doesn’t shy away from a good altercation with strangers on the social web.
Despite the severity of his words or the platform used to convey them, it would be wise to avoid any temptation to personalize the discussion. There’s likely much more to consider than the mere clash of individual personalities or “styles”. In fact, however inadvertently, his stance portrays the greater divide that stands before the architectural profession in the 21st century.

At the core of this dispute stands a divergent understanding of the role architecture should play in society today. In his repeated affirmation of Parametricism as the paradigmatic style of our era, the forefront of architectural discourse and innovation in an age of globalization and market-led economies, Patrik Schumacher has emphasized the notion that architecture and politics shouldn't be associated.
Socially-engaged practices, such as the one recognized by this year’s Pritzker, stand on the opposite side of the barricade. Architecture should not only be politically engaged, it is inevitably an extension of a political discourse.


Image credits: Hufton + Crow.

The idea that Parametricism, both as a movement or a conceptual discipline, is devoid of politics seems to have correspondence with the neoliberal stance regarding the “amorality” of economic agents – an affirmation that is everything but neutral concerning “morality”. If anything, it is in fact a politically charged manifestation of the ideas of its time. Paradoxically, the term was officially “coined” by Patrik Schumacher in 2008, at the peak of the greatest financial crisis of our generation.
If Parametricism is indeed an architecture of its time, it seems to reflect the peak of an era of irrationalism, the product of forty years of credit-based monetary expansion. A financial, economic, political, social bubble. An architecture fitting for a culture of "non-crisis".

That era, as we know, began its demise in that same year of 2008. And, just as much, Parametricism runs the risk of becoming an architecture of the past, even in its forthcoming manifestations. What does the world of architecture, and architects around the world, have to learn from it? Hyper-structural buildings often characterized by a gross disproportion between the container and its contents, with an inversely proportional relation between the built and the lived; an architecture fiercely engaged in providing to the visitor the ecstasy before its own obesity.

As we are learning fast, bad politics will always result in bad architecture – and that’s something that not all the rhetoric in the world can hide.


Image credits: Vhils.

One question remains though: where is the forefront of architecture today? What epitomizes the vanguard? Aravena’s “half a good house” or the latest curvy condo in NY? If architecture is to affirm any kind of ethical commitment towards society, these interrogations should be acknowledged: do we really care about the cutting-edge skeletal residential tower by the beach in Copacabana, when you have over one million people living in favelas in the background?

By disregarding socially engaged architectural practices, Patrik Schumacher displays a tragic absence of understanding of the profound transformations that are likely to take place in this century. Having exhausted a financial model of debt-based-growth, beyond all sustainability, we are likely to witness unforeseen changes in our economic paradigm that will ultimately impact our professional landscape.

After the downfall of the CDO market and its worldwide ramifications, after the sovereign debt crisis instigated by the same rating agencies that were giving triple-A status to subprime mortgage-based CDOs right before the collapse, after the recession caused by misguided austerity policies that increased unemployment and poverty, we are now witnessing symptoms of an alarming shutdown of the global economy – impacting heavy industrial machinery enterprises, extracting industries, oil and gas companies, and now, financial markets around the world.

Making matters worse, we are simultaneously facing unquestionable signs of the impact of human activity on the planet. During this century, we are likely to face environmental transformations that will impact agriculture and other forms of human production. We will confront water shortage in several parts of the globe and a dramatic need to embrace more sustainable forms of energetic consumption.


Image credits: JR.

All these changes will impact our political and social landscape in ways we cannot yet perceive, but already we are faced with massive migrations, poverty and relentless inequality. And just as much, architecture too will be summoned to participate in the process of finding answers to these manifestations and the ways in which these will be expressed in the built environment. It's only by facing the prospect of these interconnected transformations that we can establish a true notion of what is critically relevant in our times.

This is the great architectural divide that stands upon us today. One may seek refuge in the ivory towers of globalized corporations, with these harsh realities far away from view, and find a comfortable living designing for the one percent. Just don't act surprised if your work is not particularly engaging, and least of all relevant, to the other ninety-nine.

Denise Scott Brown on Architecture's Star System

Architecture is by far not all design, but the act of designing itself is not all design. Half of it is analysis. And there’s room for creativity in analysis. And if you haven’t been creative about analyzing your problem, you probably won’t be very creative about designing it either.

— The Architectural Review: Denise Scott Brown on Architecture’s Star System.

Em entrevista para a The Architectural Review, Denise Scott Brown reflecte sobre os efeitos que a opacidade do discurso da crítica tem na ascensão de um sistema de vedetas individuais e na importância de valorizar outras formas de participação na profissão, em particular através da criatividade colaborativa na arquitectura.

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In an interview with The Architectural Review, Denise Scott Brown reflects on architecture’s star system as the product of an enclosed critical domain, reinforcing the importance of valuing collaborative creativity as a fundamental part of architectural practice.

Peter Zumthor: Different Kinds of Silence

Entrevista muito recente de Peter Zumthor ao Louisiana Channel. O arquitecto Suíço fala do seu percurso pessoal, desde a sua infância aos estudos na cidade de Nova Iorque, abordando inúmeros aspectos do seu processo de trabalho e da sua forma de encarar a vida.

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In a recent interview with the Louisiana Channel, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor talked about his personal journey, from the early days of childhood to his studies in NYC, sharing insights into his work process and his thoughts on life and architecture.

Facebook redesign: the most important change that nobody noticed

Is the Facebook trending algorithm ruling your social web experience?

Blogs are dead, Facebook is dying, and the machines are taking over. That seemed to be a popular theory just a few months ago. Now, maybe these ill-fated feelings resonate with the idea strongly rooted in western culture that if something isn’t growing, it’s necessarily dying. But it does raise interesting points for debate.

As Jason Kottke stated in a later post, blogs aren’t really dying. They have, however, lost their former relevance as content providers for news pages and feed aggregators. Blogging has become an enclosed ecosystem, operating internally within its own sphere. More importantly, the blog format, the iconic reverse-chronological stream that became an almost universal reference of web-page design, is being replaced by automatic trending algorithms.

Pages like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, use complex algorithms to determine what topics are trending in the moment. That means that posts, or entries, are attributed a degree of importance that is determined automatically, based on the number of “likes”, “comments” and “shares” that they receive.

The problem is that things may not be as transparent as they seem. In the case of Facebook, trending has been the default visualization mode for some time now. The option to view entries in chronological order was available at the top of the news feed, making it plainly visible. However, it didn’t seem to memorize your preference. Once you logged back in, it reverted to Facebook’s default option.

The recent redesign brought by Facebook introduced a curious subtlety. This option is still reasonably accessible, but it is hidden in the news feed button, making it less obvious for many users. Also, once you choose the chronological option, a message appears at the top of the stream, and stays there, advising you to go back to what it considers “the most important” posts.

What does this mean? It means that Facebook is subtly imposing its trending algorithm on you. This is a profound transformation of the way we’ve been accessing information on the internet. It values what is most popular, but disregards the uniqueness of what is special. As a consequence, you will not see many of the things that are being posted by your friends or the pages you follow. And it gets worse. Facebook’s monetization system allows pages to pay small fees to promote their posts and access a wider range of users. As expected, paid posts will be valued preferentially by its algorithm. Veritasium has an interesting analysis of this problem.



Because most people tend to use Facebook’s default visualization option, it allows Facebook to manipulate its criteria of relevance to leverage its business model. It seems to do so by imposing a curious mechanism: as a page grows in followers, its posts seem to reach less and less users, in relative terms, “inviting” page owners to promote their posts, paying Facebook’s fees. Such system, of course, wouldn’t work if every user chose the reverse-chronological visualization option.

Which raises a fundamental question: should we allow trending algorithms to determine the way we access information online and ultimately rule our internet experience?

Ar-cat-ectural digest

It is my firm belief that thousands of years of architectural history have been leading us to this very moment. Indeed, one day, all buildings will look like cats. More images of this pretty looking school can be found here. ‘Tis glorious…

Liberty City Noire

Grand Theft Auto IV Walkabout Series is a visual essay by Duncan Harris.

Dead End Thrills is considered the bible of the trade when it comes to the art of screenshot capture. Its author, British gaming journalist Duncan Harris, is regarded as one of the most brilliant video game photographers in the world. He has been capturing the beauty of virtual landscapes for several years using advanced modding techniques and customized image filters.
Grand Theft Auto IV Walkabout Series is one of his latest visual essays, a black-and-white incursion through the game’s iconic Liberty City. The strong emphasis on eye-level perspective and low camera angles accentuates the sharp realism of the pictures, reflecting an aesthetic proximity to the images usually seen in movie stills. Make sure to visit his website to see the full gallery.

Architecture in Video Games pinboard

If you liked The Architect’s Guide to Life in Video Games you may enjoy my Pinterest pinboard dedicated to this very subject. Architecture in Video Games is a gallery with many examples of fictional buildings, cities, landscapes, and even entire worlds, which have become a part of the history of this fascinating medium. I’ll continue adding new images as I go so keep checking for updates. If you’re a Pinterest member, feel free to follow me there and let me know so I can follow along with your pins as well.

The Architect’s Guide to Life in Video Games

The Architect’s Guide to Life in Video Games is my latest article for Architizer. A short essay presenting 10 exciting examples of video gaming landmarks, ranging from single megastructures to entire cities and wide open landscapes. A list of remarkable virtual places everyone should visit.

Kenneth Frampton lecture (video)

Kenneth Frampton was in Portugal a few days ago to receive the Lisbon Architecture Triennale Lifetime Achievement Award. The following conference was recorded in January 31st, in Oporto, and was an opportunity to revisit his personal journey as an academic and critic. If you don’t understand Portuguese, simply fast-forward to minute 13:30 to access Kenneth Frampton’s lecture. The video is available here, courtesy of CT CHANNEL.TV.

Sensing Spaces: Álvaro Siza and Souto de Moura

One of the presentation videos of the Royal Academy exhibition Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined, featuring Pritzker Prize winners Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura.

Pulse Park

There’s nothing more exciting than the perfect blend of imagination, architecture and landscape design. The Pulse Park, a public playground located in the Danish town of Ry, is one of those magical places where everything seems to come together perfectly. The project was created by multidisciplinary architecture office CEBRA. Now, I'm sure there are things the mighty nordic peoples of Denmark can't do very well, I just can't seem to figure out what those are...

Elvas, illustrations by André Letria

A beautiful set of illustrations by André Letria, dedicated to the Portuguese city of Elvas. The Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications is a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2012, and you can find more about it here.

Castelo Branco Cultural Center

I was fortunate to witness several key-moments in the construction of this beautiful cultural center, designed by Josep Lluís Mateo, and it’s wonderful to see it complete. Visit Mateo Arquitectura to access a gallery of images captured by Spanish-based photographer Adrià Goula and additional info on this project.

Christmas Gifs galore

Man With Sparrows, by Thoka Maer.

Here’s everything you need to decorate your blog or website during this holiday season, a collection of highly irreverent Christmas Gifs curated by London-based artist/designer Ryan Todd. The project is now on its second year so make sure not to miss last year’s entries, they’re just as wacky. Via Fast Company.

Eis tudo aquilo que precisam para decorar o vosso blogue durante esta época festiva, uma colecção de Gifs Natalícios promovida pelo artista londrino Ryan Todd. O projecto está agora no seu segundo ano, por isso não percam as imagens igualmente loucas do ano anterior. Via Fast Company.

The steps of Punta Pite

Punta Pite, landscape architecture by Teresa Moller. Don’t miss the beautiful video of this project directed by Pablo Casals-Aguirre, available here.

Space. Again…

It turns out you don’t have to wait for Elysium to indulge yourself with the ultimate space experience, right here on Earth. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is a Space-themed hotel, with robots and everything. I’m not going to lie… I would definitely spend a night in one of those individual capsules, although I'd rather stay in the captain’s quarters. Via Kotaku.

Parece que já não é preciso esperar pela estação orbital Elysium para nos aventurarmos na derradeira experiência intergaláctica, aqui na Terra. Sim, senhoras e senhores, existe um Hotel espacial, com robôs e tudo. Fica na China. Via Kotaku.

Space Stations galore…

A follow-up to yesterday’s post, here’s the link to an outstanding image gallery I used for reference featuring many examples of fictional space stations, a Pinterest collection kept by sci-fi enthusiast John Day. He has other albums on the subject of science-fiction so make sure to visit his main page for more. The gallery dedicated to Future Cities is an absolute must-watch.

Na continuidade do post de ontem deixo a ligação para uma galeria de imagens que usei como referência, incluindo muitos exemplos de estações espaciais imaginárias, uma colecção mantida no Pinterest por um entusiasta da ficção científica chamado John Day. Não percam os seus outros álbuns dedicados a este tema, em especial uma galeria sobre cidades do futuro, absolutamente a não perder.

The Architect’s Guide to Life in Outer Space

The Architect’s Guide to Life in Outer Space is my first article for Architizer. A tongue-in-cheek essay about some of the best science fiction space stations you can choose from, to live long and prosper…

The Architect’s Guide to Life in Outer Space é o meu primeiro artigo para o Architizer. Um ensaio ligeiro sobre algumas das melhores estações espaciais da ficção científica, para viver longamente e prosperar…