co+laboradović   Studio B presentations complete a very special semester of design at Keio 

The Project of Keio Graduate School of Design, which has been introduced by Fumihiko Maki and taught by a group of excellent young Japanese architects - Sano, Meijo, Kondo, Saikawa, ended in front of the examination panel headed by Kazuyo Sejima. Studio B 2016 produced a number of interesting schemes, exploring the next stage of advancement of studies in the fields of architecture and urbanism at the oldest university in Japan. We will be organising an exhibition and publication of those works and ideas - and will keep you posted.

In the meantime, you can find a little bit more about the Studio B grand finale - here.

co+laboradović    UNU Post-Doc Fellow Jessica Zumaran completes her project @co+labo  

co+labo's Jessica Pineda Zumaran has completed her Research Fellowship at the United Nations University with a comptehensive overview of her project at the UNU Headquarters in Aoyama. 
Jessica's contribution to co+labo was simply outstanding. We all wish her the success at  her new post at the University of Chile and Catholic University of Chile (COES), in Santiago de Chile.

co+laboradović farewell to international co+labo members completing their projects with us
At the end of the semester, we had to say good bye to a group of co+labo international members, who have made our laboratory richer and better. 
Dr Jessica Pineda Zumaran, the United Nations University Post Doctoral Fellow, was a co+labo member since 2014. She conducted excellent research in the field of livable cities and provided a substantial inputs to all laboratory projects, in particular in training our undergraduate and Masters research students. Jessica has accepted a Ray Pahl Research Fellowship in Urban Studies at the University of Chile and Catholic University of Chile (COES), in Santiago de Chile. co+labo and Jessica will continue what we have started and hope to further extend our collaboration.
Roxane Czarnobroda, who joined us from L'Ècole Normale de Lille, has successfully completed her Double Masters Degree, spanning the gap between her original, engineering background and our urban design themes.  
Our other French member, Adam Masset, after spending a year as an exchange student at co+labo, returns to ULB, La Chambre-Horta in Bruxelles, as will Enrico Sterle and Nicoló Panzeri, will complete their studies at yje SBC Programme of our strategic partner, Politecnico di Milano.
Visiting fellows and exchange students add quality and provide a critical nuance to the very special atmosphere of co+labo, promoting, in more than one way, our "philosophy" of inclusion, our +. Having spent time with us at Keio, they forever stay co+labo members.
Departures are always sad, but  - at the start of the new semester new group of international students will be joining the laboratory. More about that - soon.

co+laboradović       final architectural+urban design Studio B presentation on 25 July 2016     

This year Keio's Studio B was special in a number of ways. The theme was Keio Graduate School of Design, K-GSD. The task for Keio Masters students was to imagine the best model for reseraching, teaching and learning architectural and urban design within the unique environment of the oldest university in Japan, and to find its best spatial expression. The Studio was delivered in an innovative format. Four young, exciting architects Tetsuo Kondo, Toshiki Meijo, Takumi Saikawa and Satoshi Sano taught their  approaches to design both at the University and in their offices. K-GSD project was introduced by a legend of Japanese architecture, Fumihiko Maki. It will be completed on 25 July, in front of the Jury headed by another great Japanese and Keio's great, Kazuyo Sejima. Studio B was coordinated by co+labo's Darko Radović and eight co+labo took part.

 

  

co+laboradović  co+labo undergraduates completed 2016 architectural+urban design studio 

This year within the final undergraduate Seizu III, the Studio Radović topic was Tokyo Ground-floor Project: Ginza and the right to the city. co+labo's Daisuke Kobayashi, Mei Morimoto, Mayuko Mikogami, Keitaro Onishi, Yasue Takasu and Yohei Yamashita (below) have explored a wide-range of themes related to our overarching principles of environmentally and culturally responsible design. After the successful defense, their projects now qualify for the Keio Undergraduate Thesis Design Competition, to be held in early autumn.

The Jury Seizu III members were Keio Professors Almazán, Kishimoto, Radović (subject coordinator) and, as a guest, Professor Davisi Boontharm (Sophia and Keio Universities). 

co+laboradović  special guest lecture - André Correa do Lago@co+labo on Tuesday 21 June 
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co+laboradović    co+labo OB-kai, gathering of former+current students+friends in Shibuya   

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)