co+labo radović     Soft City book launch and lecture by David Sim@Reopening the Split Case 
A long-time co+labo associate, David Sim - Partner and Creative Director in Gehl, Copenhagen - has joined Reopening the Split Case Workshop with a very special contribution - the launch of his just published book, Soft City. 

Soft City is about ease and comfort, where density has a human dimension, adapting to our ever-changing needs, nurturing relationships, and accommodating the pleasures of everyday life. How do we move from the current reality in most cites—separated uses and lengthy commutes in single-occupancy vehicles that drain human, environmental, and community resources—to support a soft city approach? David draws from his vast design experience to make a case for a dense and diverse built environment at a human scale, which he presents through a series of observations of older and newer places, and a range of simple built phenomena, some traditional and some totally new inventions. As always, he offers inspiration, ideas, and guidance for anyone interested in cities. 

Hosting David, seeing his long-awaited book, and experiencing an energising presentation was a very special pleasure for all of us involved in co+re, and explorations of the pleasures of everyday life! After the lecture co+labo team has organised Japanese Party, and the following morning, David joined desk-top discussions.

co+labo radović      a regular co+labo late summer season of workshops reopened in Split     

In the city of Split the recently established collaborative platform co+re (Davisi Boontharm and Darko Radović) and University of Split (Neno Kezić et al.) have organised an architecture and urban design workshop - Reopening the Split Case. As the name suggests, the workshop follows a successful event The Split Case, which was conducted in this city in 2011, and resulted in a very well received book. While in 2011 we focused at centrality, the complexities of life in/of Diocletian’s Palace, in 2019 Reopening the Split Case explores the pleasures of everyday, urban life, sun, sea, body, mind. The workshop is conducted in the ancient, 1700 years old tower of Diocletian's Palace and the Rowing Club Gusar.

Reopening the Split Case seeks and values innovation in both discovery and creation of (pre)conditions for good urban life, equally seeking, finding, observing, exploring, understanding, (re)conceptualising and helping new qualities of life to emerge. The participants are both (re)searching the existing pleasures of everyday life and (re)imagining new kinds and levels of quality in Split, within the framework of the right to the city, the quality of life beyond the bounds of consumption. The rigour of critical and creative thinking will be employed to test the working hypotheses, discoveries and proposals.

The participating academics, experts and institutions are University of Split; Professor Neno Kezić, Ana Grgić, Jere Kuzmanić, Bruno Bartulović, Snježana Perojević  + local experts + Darko Radović Keio University co+labo, Mita Akira, Mita Lab. + Tadej Glažar University of Ljubljana + Davisi Boontharm and Ko Nakamura, Meiji University dbStudio + Piyalada Thaveeprungsriporn, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok + Ana Medina, Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ecuador + Rafael Balboa, Kuma Lab, University of Tokyo +  David Sim, Gehl, Copenhagen + (as always when co+labo and now co+re are involved) + ++ MUCH more. The teams include students from Austria, China, Croatia, Ecuador, Iran, Japan, Singapore and Slovenia. co+labo team are Amami Iwata, Muxi Yang, Yuki Mori and Koki Suzuki.

The Workshop is one of the cases in which co+re tests its innovative, top-heavy workshop format, aiming to produce original, enjoyable and potent thinking about making and living cities, and to find ways of engagement in actual change. This workshop is a step towards the next stage in co+re activities, building upon previous stages, such as Theory and Practice at Politecnico di Milano, Singapore, University of Florence etc..

co+labo radović      co+labo research in progress:Ivan Filipović+Sanja Žonja  PhD seminars    

Intensive co+labo guest lecture/seminar research Semester 1 2019 programme has ended with presentations by two of the current co+labo PhD students, Ivan Filipović (final year) and Sanja Žonja (1st year), and discussion. That was followed by an intensive brainstorming session. exploring issues triggered by third co+labo PhD candidate, Satoshi Sano (3rd year). Discussants included our regular visiting academics Professor Davisi Boontharm and Dr Alice Covatta and PhD students from co+labo, Keio SFC and Meiji University.

co+labo radović    P.S. as at the end of every co+labo project, CDW ended@an izakaya party  

co+labo radović    Day 3 and completion of Keio Architecture CDW Events @ Hiyoshi Campus 

Day 3, brief summary:
- Keio Architecture Students and Visitors Award has been handed to Maroya Horigaya (Almazán Laboratory) by Professor Gabriele Masera (Politecnico di Milano). The runners up were Amami Iwata and Norimi Kinoshita (both co+labo Radović)
With that, the Comprehensive Design Workshop Events 2019 have been concluded. As reported over the last three days on this blog live (below), CDW Keio Architecture Exhibition, Public Lectures and International Symposium were very well received and generated new energy for continuing efforts to help the oldest university in Japan make a discrete graduate programme in Architecture and Urban design.  

co+labo radović     Day 2 updates on Keio Architecture CDW Events @ Keio Hiyoshi Campus   

Day 2, brief summary:

-  Keio Architecture Symposium Sports, Bodies and Spaces: everyday life and major events part 1 organised in collaboration with Keio Institute for Physical Education

Chair Professor Toshiaki Sasaki

Sports and Bodies presentations, by students of Institute for Physical Education

Bodies and Space presentations, co+labo+Politecnico di Milano Double Degree students Kohei Yamashita, Olena Kopytina and Renan Prandini. Yamashita-san's scheme for Mamushi Dani has received 1st Prize in Keio Architecture CDW Masters Competition.

Their presentations were followed by discussion which touched upon some concrete ideas about the future of sport and recreation facilities at Keio Hiyoshi Campus

-  Kengo Kuma, Architecture and City After Olympics; second Keio Architecture in the Science and Technology Distinguished Series.The lecture was introduced by Professor Darko Radović and Dean Eiji Okada, and followed by discussion of Professor Estanislau Roca (UPC Barcelona) and question time.

-    Keio Architecture Symposium Sports, Bodies and Spaces: everyday life and major events part 2,

Introduced by Darko Radović, Professors Neno Kezić, Gabriele Masera, Tadej Glažar and Estanislau Roca delivered a series of short, inspiring lectures, which where followed by discussion and regret that there was not much more time. But, our collaboration with our partners Politecnico di Milano, University of Ljubljana, University of Split and Universidad Politecnica de Cataluña continues.

co+labo radović     Day 1 updates on Keio Architecture CDW Events @ Keio Hiyoshi Campus   

Day 1, brief summary:

Opening of Keio Architecture CDW Exhibition 2019

Masters, Undergraduate and System Design Competition Jury

Masters, Undergraduate and System Design Competition Awards Ceremony
Masters Award 1 - Yamashita, co+labo Radović

Masters Award 2 - Kinoshita, co+labo Radović

Undergraduate and SD Award 1 - Shimizu, Almazán Lab

Undergraduate and SD Award 2 - Ibaraki, Almazán Lab

Distinguished Lecture Series - Lecture 1: Fumihiko Maki+Yoshio Taniguchi, which was followed by a cocktail party and speeches by Professors Akira Haseyama, President of Keio University, Eiji Okada, Dean of the Faculty Science and Technology, which celebrates its 80th anniversary, Hiroto Kobayashi, Darko Radović and Akira Mita (all Keio Architecture).

co+labo radović     Day 0  co+labo&Keio Architecture CDW Exhibition, Lectures+Symposium   

Unquestionably the biggest of co+labo effort since foundation of our laboratory in 2009 was to help Keio University establish a discrete, international architecture and urban design programme. With second Keio Architecture Comprehensive Design Workshop (CDW) Exhibition, Guest Lectures and Symposium, which are all part of broader celebrations of the 80^th anniversary of the Faculty of Science and Technology, that dream is getting closer to reality than ever. All that was possible to do bottom-up has been accomplished, and these events will show that that is not little. The visitors will see the latest efforts of Keio Architecture students and the Awards Ceremony, attend two events in Science and Technology Distinguished Lecture Series and attend the Sports Bodies Spaces Symposium, which we co-host with Keio Institute for Sport and Education. Besides Keio Architecture students and professors Darko Radović, Hiroto Kobayashi, Jorge Almazán, Tatsuya Kishimoto and Akira Mita, the list of participants includes Fumihiko Maki, Yoshio Taniguchi, Kazuyo Sejima, Kengo Kuma, Estanislau Roca, Neno Kezić, Gabriele Masera, Tadej Glažar, Takashi Suo, Takuomi Saikawa, Satoshi Sano, Motoo Chiba, Katsuhito Komatsu and more. Join this Keio architectural and urban feast!

co+labo radović     co+labo teams earn Honorary Mentions at an international competition     

Two discrete co+labo teams took part in an interesting international design competition for requalification of a traditional market in Bologna. Two separate efforts, and deserved recognition go to co+labo Team - Shinichi Nishibori, Manca Košir, Amami Iwata, Muxi Yang, Norimi Kinoshita, Shun Kato on the image below), and co+labo Team a - Jumpei Kawamoto, Shohei Yamashita, Koki Suzuki, Yuki Mori, Can Krivec. Warm co+labo congratulations for these two efforts.

We do competitors to advance design-research culture, to stimulate creative and critical thinking in our laboratory and in Keio Architecture. The process of thinking and making competition entries itself is always rewarding, but - a nod from the Jury adds a nice nuance to that pleasure. (an update on this success of co+labo students will follow)

co+labo radović     special seminar on research methods in architecture and urban design     

Second special guest lecture dedicated to supporting current co+labo research will be delivered by Vuk Radović, a co+labo co-founder (2008) and followed by small, thematic group discussions. Vuk will share with us his recent work on urban morphology. As he explains, the development of the concept went through many iterations. After the initial emphasis on form, modernist architects concentrated their efforts on function. Later still, in the mid-twentieth century, a group of Italian architects introduced the notion of process into the field, and additional schools of morphological thinking were developed by their French and English counterparts. The lecture will focus at practical application of the Italian school, the Muratori approach and Gataldi's General Theory of Urban Morphology.