le droit à la ville

If you have access to today's Nordlys newspaper (Friday 18 June) you can read another article by Gisle - this one is about the right to the city.

update: the text (in norwegian) is now available here.

WinD - As Found

World in Denmark is an annual research conference taking place in Copenhagen. This year we're here to present and discuss our paper Findings - using complexity as investigation tool: the plan as dynamic process.

Det store rum

We're in Copenhagen for the book release, Det store rum - a debate book where we participate with an article is published by Realdania. Links and info soon.







update: Det store rum is now possible to download here.

Malmö - City in Progress

We're in Malmö for the opening of the City in Progress exhibition at the Town Hall. Our studio City as Biotope at Bergen Architecture School is invited together with students from Alnarp and Lund to propose thinking and projects around themes as: rising sea level, integration and city growth. We thank Director of City Planning at Malmö Stad, Christer Larsson, for the invitation.

V&A small spaces

We are invited to participate in the Victoria & Albert exhibition 1:1 architects build small spaces with our concept Forever Forest / Endless Sea.

We're in London at the pre-première for the exhibition that will officially open 15 June and be on until 30 August.

20 selected architects from all over the world participate with concepts on the themes of: Cocoon / Womb, Dialogue / Collaboration, Escape / Retreat, Laboratory / Shed, Outside / Inside, Performance / Fiction, Playtime / Dreamspace, where the last one was ours to interpret.

This is (parts of) how curator Abraham Thomas described the exhibition in his invitation to us a year ago: At a time when the conception of architecture within the general public’s consciousness has come to be defined by large-scale, ambitious projects monopolised by a handful of internationally-focussed practices, this exhibition attempts to explore and celebrate a building strategy concerned with small-scale structures, singular design visions and a modesty of purpose.

Set amid the current economic and social climate which is rapidly developing in opposition to the recent trend for grandiose building schemes, this exhibition will explore a new agenda for design and construction which allows us to return to architecture as an ‘idea’, as a basic human need for shelter – a space for retreat and contemplation on a human scale. In the context of a cultural landscape ever more concerned with ‘appropriate design’, this exhibition aims to present examples of architecture pre-occupied with an aesthetic of quietness, combined with a renewed sense of function and instinctive purpose.

The architects will be encouraged to explore specific architectural and social typologies, each reflecting the intrinsic human need for modest, private spaces which can offer a vital refuge from everyday life. The exhibition will generate debate and discussion around the idea of creating personal space, and how we occupy this space both physically and emotionally. The structures will refer to historical and cultural precedents, whilst also reflecting contemporary examples of agile responses to such small-scale building strategies.

letter from le56 in 20th

Doina Petrescu, our friend at aaa, sends us some good news from the 20th arrondissement, to spread around us:

Dear friends,
You have visited, seen, published or just heard about our project Passage 56, St Blaise Paris which has recently been awarded a special mention within the European Prize for Public Space competition. www.publicspace.org

The project has been currently selected for another competition: Prix Grand Public des Architectures contemporaines de la Métropole Parisienne, which presents to the public opinia a selection of recent successful projects in Paris. The 56 is probably the ONLY bottom-up project in the selection, realised with very little money and the participation of inhabitants of the area who have gradually became users and managers of the space. We will be very happy if you can support the Passage 56 bid by voting (or/and commenting) on www.prixpublicarchi.com/espaces_publics/ by 30 June.

Many thanks for your support
aaa and Le56

what's on at 56: 56stblaiseactualites.wordpress.com/ photos: aaa/le56

NAF+SMAQ

The Northern Norway architect association invites to the annual meeting followed by the award cermony for the Northern Norway architecture award and a lecture by Sabine Müller of SMAQ, Berlin.
At Driv (3rd floor), Friday 11 June at 18.00

det store rum

The danish debate publication Det store rum will be released in June. The book is published by Realdania and contains several articles about regional planning, like Points of Departure - en kontinuerlig reformulering av planens mål og virkemidler by Gisle, co-written with Magdalena.