Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal in Conversation with Mathieu Wellner
“We feel it is our duty to start from scratch with each new project. That can also mean fundamentally questioning our own profession – and, with that, the way architecture is practiced. In this case, it seemed quite natural and the right thing to do.” This is how Jean-Philipe Vassal from Lacaton & Vassal describes […]
Snøhetta’s Performative Architecture / Bart Lootsma
On the occasion of a special issue of l’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, Bart Lootsma reflects on the specific quality of the Norvegian office Snøhetta. “Snøhetta’s architecture largely relies on performative aspects. It is an architecture of events, that rather asks What it can do?, to paraphrase Jeffrey Kipnis, than what it’s internal coherence should be.
Total Immersion / Bart Lootsma
Bright lights in big cities have fascinated architects from the start. Erich Mendelsohn, for example, published several photographs of New York’s Broadway in ‘Amerika, Bilderbuch eines Architekten’ in 1928. Cornelis van Eesteren used the same photograph in slide shows in the 1920s to convince his audiences that the functionals city was not necessarily boring. So, […]
Towards the Kaleidoscope / Bart Lootsma
“Contemporary civilization differs in one particularly distinctive feature from those which preceded it: speed. The change has come about within a generation, ” wrote the historian Marc Bloch in the nineteen thirties. Speed, as a particular attribute of movement has been Paul Virilio’s theme for several decades now and his ideas may help us structure […]
Holland Village in Japan (translated Version) / Paul Meurs
In the 1990’s, at Momura Bay in Japan, a Holiday resort was built which looks exactly like an old Dutch city. Photographic records of this project show that a credible cityscape can be created out of nothing. Or maybe the opposite applies, i.e. that Dutch cities are actually not much more than sloppily made amusement […]
Architectural Criticism and the Media Industry / Bart Lootsma
Architecture has changed from a discipline in service of the larger part of the population through public housing, public buildings, public spaces, urban planning and design to a particular and already in itself disparate nichte of the real estate business that has more to do with the media industra than with public tasks. Architectural criticism […]
Mashup / Bart Lootsma
HHF architects (Tiilo Herlach, Simon Hartmann und Simon Frommenwiler) is a young, Basel-based international practice with projects in Switzerland, Germany, the United States, China, Mongolia and Mexico. The work of HHF is defined by the paradoxical desire to be direct and down to eath on one hand and sophisticated on the other. This may explain […]
New Frontiers, Sleeping Beauties / Bart Lootsma
‘New Frontiers, Experimental Tendencies in Architecture’ is an exhibition on emerging Austrian and Slovakian architecture, curated by Florian Medicus and Jan Bahna. It was first shown in Bratislava in March 2010 and will be hosted by ORTE in Vienna later this year. This text is a preface to the catalogue, a special issue of the […]
Observer and Visionary – Theory and Practice of Stefano Boeri Architects / Bart Lootsma
Over the last decades, Stefano Boeri became one of the most interesting players in architecture and urbanism in Europe. An architect and academic, he became a founder of the international research network Multiplicity, an editor of magazines like DOMUS and Abitare and finally a politician, as City Councillor for Culture of the city of Milan.
What’s the Question? More Questions / Bart Lootsma
In the book “What’s the Question?”, Tor Inge Hjemdal and Nora Aursand Iversen asked 16 Nowegian architects to phrase questions or issues considering the current and future state of architecture. Bart Lootsma wrote a critical introduction. Image Lars Ringdal, Vy Architects. More Questions Just the other day, Timothy Moore from Architecture Australia interviewed me. He […]
Tattoos and Strong Feelings at the 2010 Venice Biennale / Bart Lootsma
Architecturaltheory.eu is present in the German pavillion at the 2010 Venice Biennale as part of the Sehnsucht project. In cooperation with Prof. Ruth Berktold of the Hochschule München, Mathieu Wellner is in charge of a workshop about ’10 Strong Feelings in Architecture’, the results of which will be presented on Thursday September 23. Bart Lootsma […]
Reinhold Messner in conversation with Bettina Schlorhaufer: I should have made an architect……
The extreme mountain climber and former member of the European Parliament Reinhold Messner is now making a name for himself as a museum expert. Under the motto “one idea – five buildings” his aim is to present his collections of art and curiosities in five “Messner Mountain Museums”. Messner’s role as the provider of ideas […]