ARCHITECTURE:The Things Around Us
The project “The Things Around Us” is a collaboration between Canadian Center of Architecture (CCA), Rural Urban Framework (Joshua Bolchover and John Lin) and 51N4E (Johan Anrys and Freek Persyn). It is an ongoing discussion on how and why we should rethink the role of the architect, the project questions the meaning of context in today’s increasingly polymorphous, extensive, and global urban space.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: CCCA Archive
Context, as we understand it, is today more than ever defined by a collision of forces that no single, professionalized form of expertise, like architecture, can decipher on its own. Whether in capital cities or the most remote villages, the term “building” ends up feeling less indicative of a process of creation than the output of a careful coordination—an intricate choreography—of conflicting influences. The architect, therefore, is necessarily just one player within this network. What does it mean for the architect to operate within an expanded network of players and assume a more humble, modest place in a rich ecology of practice? “The Things Around Us” takes shape through a publication, a series of web articles, and an exhibition that marks the reopening of the CCA’s galleries. Rural Urban Framework (Hong Kong) and 51N4E (Brussels) work at the seams of urbanization, with projects situated in transitional settlements in Ulaanbaatar, in the new vernacular of rural China, in the transforming centres of Western European cities and in Albania’s shifting public spaces. Comparing their research and design processes, The Things Around Us questions the extents and certainties of architecture against backdrops of indeterminate notions of citizenship, unstable stages of urbanization, and insecure economies and ecologies. The project is structured as an open-ended catalogue of fragments—a partial inventory of tactics and references, experiments, completed works, and failures—rather than an exhaustive presentation of the offices’ work. In 2005 the Chinese government announced its plan to urbanize half or approximately 350 million of the 700 million rural citizens by 2030. At the same time, Joshua Bolchover and John Lin set up Rural Urban Framework (RUF), a research and design collaborative based at The University of Hong Kong. Conducted as a non-profit organization providing design services to charities and NGOs working in China, RUF has built or is currently engaged in over 15 projects in various villages in China. The projects include schools, community centers, hospitals, village houses, bridges, and incremental planning strategies. As a result of this active engagement, RUF has been able to research the links between social, economic and political processes and the physical transformation of each village. 51N4E is rooted in Europe, where comfort slows down change. In the face of a democratic and ecological deficit, transformation happens here in a space that is already occupied by multiple and often parallel realities. In this context, we use design to help overcome opposition and create integrated value and new experiences. 51N4E is a self-steering collective that wants to empower people to be both autonomous and connected. It does so by organizing the supportive processes needed for a collaborative design culture. This collaboration platform combines the internal studios with a growing network of external partners. As such, it mirrors today’s complex reality and produces an ecosystem of knowledge.
Info: Curator: Francesco Garutti, CCA Concept: Johan Anrys, Joshua Bolchover, John Lin and Freek Persyn, Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), 1920 Rue Baile, Montréal, Duration: 16/9/2020-21/3/2021, Days & Hours: As of 1/10/2020 the CCA building, will be closed, www.cca.qc.ca
