Since 2009, co+labo has evolved into a fairly large network of former + current students, members + associates, colleagues + friends, celebrating our plus, that binding, collaborative symbol from our logo, which signifies the core values bringing us together. On Sunday, all of those who were nearby and free, came to Shibuya for a dinner, drinks, discussions and laughs (a lot of fun and laughing, although the picture may suggest otherwise).
In Vers une achitecture de la jouissance, Henry Lefebvre (the foundational thinker behind the ethos and praxis of co+labo) wrote about "the dignity of bearing the + sign, that of joy, happiness, enjoyment, of sensuality - the sign of life"*, thus bringing together, in a single sentence, many of the key-words which define the aims of our laboratory.
When designing our logo, Vuk added another, all-important nuance - the colour of life.
For us, as throughout the Lefebvre's theory of space, "architectural practices are to be conceptualized as transversal, that is to say cutting across ontological categories and contributing to all phases of research, programming, designing, construction, and the continuous appropriation of buildings."**
* Stanek, Łukasz, "Introduction", Toward an Architecture of Enjoyment, University of Minnesota Press, 2014 (p. lix)
** Henri Lefebvre, Toward an Architecture of Enjoyment, University of Minnesota Press, 2014 (p30)
