The premise of this exhibition is to create of series of questions about the roles and the responsibilities architects and designers produce in the working environment where mankind inhabits. There is a wide variety of proposals in the recent past that address issues that are an investigation of materials, spaces, transportation, applications, product development, sustainability, affordability, housing, green architecture, cultural and social identity, theory-based design, etc. that has created a multitude of styles and approaches in Architecture objectively.
In the state of 21st Architecture Century much of the attention has been many building forms created in the public spectrum. Most notability, Architects like Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhass, Morphosis have become celebrities in their own right, which commands attention on their work around the world. This is not an antithesis in order to replace their roles. This is an exercise of our thought process that will enable to create an infinite number of possibilities for futures to come without the expense of being elusive and exclusive. Meaning, there is a wide variety ideals that doesn’t come in expense of losing the basic principles of historical context, mapping of existing conditions, affordability, social boundaries, and civic pride. There is more to offer than what is out today.
Disney Hall by Frank Gehry and Partners
Right now, our sprawling densely populated cities, especially in Los Angeles, are at it most critical stages where there is an important need to shift our priorities in how we should live our lives. The emergence of cultural influences is shifting our local communities into a global community. Also, housing is coming at the crossroads where development is being scrutinized on where it should be built and utilized.
The premise of this ideal came from the work of the Swiss-French Architect of the early 20th century name Le Corbusier (1887-1965). His writings, theoretical studies and designs reinvent and served a model the way society was moving. Addressing and acknowledging the use of the automobile and the means that man is the machine. His writings and work from L’ Espirit Nouveau became the staple of Modern Living and still influenced today’s cultural society. He sought to recreate the old rules of Architecture into new forms of social engagement.
While his ideals are revolutionary and appropriate at times, it can be contended from different points of view regarding the dependence of fossil fuel energy, lack of mass transportation, autocracy of one's work, less of an organic approach towards design and the importance of preservation in the environment. Based on time, space and mathematics, his beliefs on housing should be a component of heavy industry, mass-production, and should be erected along major busy streets. All his writings came from the book called The Modular I and II.
Le Modular I & II by Le Corbusier
New housing to compensate the new residents in the US from the year 2000 to 2030 will increase by 34 million units, while another 23 million units will need to be replace in order to accommodate 60 million full- and part-time jobs that will be created. The importance of new housing in cities is so evident because there is a paradigm shift in our cities infrastructure to come up with proposals to alleviate population growth and traffic.
The exhibition will consist proposals addressing the following guidelines:
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The sites for the proposal will have to be an actual location somewhere in Los Angeles or the outskirts area from LA where the audience is familiar with and is accessible to it.
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Using alternate materials, applications or construction that are considered sustainable and the possibility of being technologically mass-produced.
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Design a program that will play a role for the community.
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To attune to modern complexities in the world that reality exists.
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Each proposal shall be unique in stature and possess a level of openness, diversity and clarity, depending on the area’s demographics, which will serve the community for years to come.
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The end product of the design shouldn’t contradict on what is being proposed or theorized when it is being applied.
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Personal and professional background is always encouraged. Eventually, the content of his/her work will be subjective to his/her sensitivity.
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To bring the area a sense of identity, which people can distinguish, interact and relate within its community.
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To collaborate with other individuals or influences to insure the diverse nature of the exhibit.
The location of the exhibit has not been determined but it is an ongoing process of searching a site that will be strategically vital in addressing issues of revitalization, renewal and identity. Noting, areas for growth, accessibility, density of neighborhoods and public centers & space with urban nodes for pedestrian activity or a product of a community are essential. It will be a consensus and appropriateness that will determine the location of the exhibit. The decision to choose the site will be made 3-4 months prior to the opening, unless otherwise noted.
Cultural Identity is an important argument to build a relationship between diverse groups of people and the physical space together. Non-conforming, liberated, celeboratory and diversified people in communities are becoming global against suburban shopping malls, repetitive development/ design, globalization and gentrification, which is determined by the automobile, sprawl and freeways/interstate highways. Hybrid forms of diversity instills vitality and replenishes the soul of social/cultural interaction.
Diversity is a congruence of multicultural state that typifies the integration of culture, class, religious backgrounds, which will only influence and inspire dialogue and understanding, Similiar to Cultural Identity.
Globalization is a threat towards communities where gentrification and sprawl are deterritorializing and standardizing communities, where local traditions are disappearing by the conglomeration of corporate entities. Lifestyle centers (The Grove, Downtown Disney in Anaheim), mega malls, deterioration of localized/ small business and the waste of resources has and will cause an adverse effect on the psyche of livelihoods. None of it represents Sustainability and Cultural Identity.
Sustainability integrated into the design and practice to bring forward a new narrations of living in a sustainable world.and Reintroduce a certain lifestyle by recycling, use non-toxic materials, designing prefab units adn storage containers, alternative habits towards living, more open space, smaller livable places & density, perm-aculture, alternative energy, buildings that are LEED certified and utilizing public transportation for tthe protection of the environment.
Contextualism in architecture and urban planning will be a direct part in producing sociopetal conditions, which will engage directly and indirectly to existing conditions and to serve as a binding force for the residents into believing that modern society that can be context-sensitive, identifiable and socially active. It is a language that is part design ingenuity and part preservation.
Density given to development. Shaping or reshaping the city's landscape with solid, open and transparent spaces.
Research investigating social conditions, (political, metaphorical, technological) that will engage directly and indirectly to the climate and to serve as a binding force for the residents into believing that modern society that can be context-sensitive, identifiable and socially active. It is part of a approach that is design ingenuity and preservation.
“The form is part of the world over which we have control, and which we decide to shape while leaving the rest of the world as it is. The context is that part of the world, which put demands of the form, is context. Fitness is a relation of mutual acceptability between the two. In the problem of design, we want to satisfy the mutual demands which the two make on one another. We want to put the context and the form into effortless contact or frictionless coexistence”.
from ‘Notes on the Synthesis of Form’ by Christopher Alexander
The whole exhibition will take part on the Fall of 2008 (September) with an opening filled with a diverse group of live music, food and a social gathering in a festive atmosphere. It will give an opportunity for the Designers, Architects, Musicians, Writers, etc. to display and witness a wide variety of approaches and involvement. It could only to confirm the approach as collectively diverse, multicultural, socially responsible, alternative to the mainstream and open.
In conclusion, here are some descriptions to convey poetically the vision of this exhibition:
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An integration of social classes into a realm of space and entertainment.A sense of place that speaks about diversity and technology with art, sculpture, murals, graffiti, and digital art media into the fold.
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Complete connection to the masses with public transportation, accessibility and awareness.
To live and work at the same place.
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New social center to be a treasure for the community that contains its own permanent identity and magic.
The use of advanced technology to curtail the cost of construction and lifecycle.
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Being inclusive with the rest of the region. Non-private. Not to be involve into elitism.
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A sense of belonging, wonderment, security, restraint and inviting amongst ourselves. To become one community.
Pedestrian oriented with lush greenery in a park-like setting.
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A place of growth and revitalization.
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Paths open to gardens, courtyards, fountains, hidden spaces and platforms formed by buildings and different materials used in different parts.
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Community-based garden where neighbors grow their own herbs and vegetables organically.
Social and political statement regarding status and welfare for the common man and woman.
To build an area of repose and reflection.
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To create a hybrid form of space, time and memory.
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The disappearance of corporate adventures and the appearance of localized markets.
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Non-toxic and Fuel-efficient homes/ units and transportation that will eliminate pollutants in the air.
A consciousness of cultural experiences of site, building and people; the phenomenology of history, race and class.
To express truth, democracy and the pursuit of happiness.
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At this time, there will be further information in the coming months thru the website and blog where you can be informed and to contact for your participation. Leave your email address in order to be updated and to participate. The focus of this website is to build an area of multiple interest to steer the direction of the website.
Notes:
Le Corbusier, Le Modular, 2 volume set, (Massschusetts Institute of Technology, 1968)
Aurthur C. Nelson, America Circa 2030: the Boom to Come, (Architect Magazine, Published date: October 15, 2006) "Does the housing downturn have you spooked about future development? Fear not, says urban planning analyst Arthur C. Nelson. There's plenty of space just waiting to be built."
"Globalization" (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
"Contextualism"(Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Christopher Alexander, Notes of the Synthesis of Form, (Harvard University Press; New Ed edition (October 24, 2006).