co+labo radović  research in progress day of Masters and Undergraduate presentations  

Following an intensive series of guest lectures, talks and discussions, this week the turn was for co+labo Masters and Undergraduate students to present the current moment in their own research projects. Amami Iwata, Jumpei Kawamoto (illustration below), Shinichi Nishibori, Hiroki Shigemura (M2), Oguri Yurino and Reiya Sasaki (UG) received comments and guidance from (see above) Professor Davisi Boontharm (Meiji University IAUD and co+re platform), Dr Rafael Balboa (Studio Wasabi and co+labo), Professor Neno Kezić (University of Split), Darko, and co+labo's PhD candidates Sanja Žonja and Sano-san, setting those projects up for the next phase. One of the important nuances which distinguishes 2020 from the eleven previous co+labo@Keio years was provided by Coronavirus pandemics, which questions the ways we used to conduct some important aspects of our work (such as fieldwork, workshops, various collaborative efforts).

co+labo radović    A Picture Is Worth a 1000 Words - Guest Lecture by Bratislav Gaković     

Special guest in the co+labo 2O2O lecture series, Bratislav Gaković talk decided to deliver his presentation in an unusual format, which was not to be a lecture at all! Announcing his talk, Braca explained: "I have conceived the session as a game. A game with pictures. After a very short introduction I will present you a bunch of images in an attempt to attract your attention. Should some of presented images touch you, and you would like to know more about them – the game is on. If nothing touches you - the game is over. These “trigger” pictures will be on your screens for about 60 seconds (left).

Then, they will disappear. If something intrigued you, just write down a number next to the image and ask me to tell you more about it. My answer will be followed by short explanation with some more images of the same thing - and hopefully, it will give us all the chance to expand the discussion on that theme.
In some distant way this is a continuation of Rafa’s lecture on images. Not quite though. This is totally subjective. There is no objectivity, no detachment in this. No universal knowledge, no universal truths. This is in fact a presentation of some of my work with the addition of a couple of other images. Images that mean something to me. So, these images are me. I am these images. It’s all personal. The presentation will have no references, no citations, no footnotes... All I will be talking about has been amalgamated in my head and I do not know the origins of that ‘knowledge’ any more.  If there is any knowledge in it, that is.

A picture is worth a 1000 words

Does this saying imply that pictures can talk? I think yes. Moreover, they talk to people in their own languages.  Spooky?! It is often said that the first mass communication started with images, long before the written or printed word was used.

I am talking as an architect now:  In our line of work, a picture seems to be worth more than a 1000 words.  Imagery is possibly the most important strategic/tactical weapon we have in our arsenal. We are using it all the time, through the process of designing and constructing a building or whilst conceiving and implementing an urban design plan/concept. At different stages of the process we are using different types of images. We are using them in communication with the clients, the builders, the reps, the planners, in discussions with our colleges...  Mastering the art of presentation (of which the visual presentation is usually a key part), is as important for us as being creative or possessing the necessary technical knowledge."

This was a generous present from a seasoned architect and urbanist to co+labo students of architecture and urban design and regular  contributors. As intended, it was nor followed by a discussion  but it was an (pro)active part of discussion in itself. As such, it fit perfectly into old co+labo practices of favouring indirect over direct (and thus directive) provision of information, provocation and inspiration over information to passively absorb and implement.
As always, co+labo has recorded the talk and several fragments are presented on this blog (above).

While Darko's collaboration with Braca dates back to 1980s Belgrade and the unique environment of CEP, collaboration with co+labo  has started in 2012, the he joined us in the workshop conducted in Manchester in association with Leeds University and Professor Greg Keefe, left). co+labo participants were Darko, Sano-san and now OB Ken Akatsuka, Shinnosuke Hoshikawa, Takaaki Kato and Charles Lemonnier.

In briefest, Bratislav Gaković is a Yugoslav and British architect, with rich international professional experience (1979-1989 in Yugoslavia, 1989-2018 in the UK), with a wide range of projects which included a large number of Urban Development Plans, Master Plans, architectural schemes for clients from former Yugoslavia, and major schemes working with Austin-Smith: Lord, The Open University,  John S Bonnington Partnership,  EGS Design,  Downs Variava and Ian Simpson Architects. Braca has entered more than forty architectural and urban design competitions – and won some twenty awards. His of Non-domestic Building Stock, which started at the Open University in the a990s is now based at the Bartlett School of Graduate Studies at University College London.

co+labo radović  a collaborative co+labo Keio + Meiji db Studio PhD Seminar+discussions  

In an effort to diversify feedback and increase quality of discussion at the highest level of studies, Darko Radović and Davisi Boontharm have organised a collaborative PhD Seminar, focusing at two current doctoral projects at Keio/co+labo and Meiji/I-AUD: Sanja Žonja's research of street art and graffiti and their impact on the identity of the place, and Ivana Angelova's investigations of buried rivers and canals of Tokyo and their significance for local communities.

co+labo radović     co+labo 2O2O Research in Progress Day presentations+discussions       

After several guest lectures and research presentations, and internal research development sessions, co+labo  held its first 2O2O Research in Progress Day. Undergraduate and Masters presentations were followed by feedback and discussion, involving Professor Neno Kezić (University of Split, 2O2O Distinguished Visiting professor at Keio University, co+labo), Rafael Balboa (2O2O Research Associate at co+labo), Satoshi Sano (co+labo Adjunct Secretary, Visiting Lecturer at Keio University), Sanja Žonja (co+labo PhD researcher) and Darko Radović. Current co+labo, slightly paraphrased draft proposals include - Undergraduate: "The relationship between human-scaled urban gaps, roji and micro-greenery in Tsukishima" (Yurino Oguri), "Reconstruction of  roadside stations in earthquake affected regions of Japan" (Reiya Sasaki), and Masters: "Personal time in public spaces; Hillside Terrace and Bonus Track projects, Tokyo" (Yuki Mori); "Design characteristics of church architecture in Tokyo and their presence in the city" (Amami Iwata), "Multilayered  urban space of railway stations and their surroundings, case of Yamanote Line" (Jumpei Kawamoto), "The type-morphological analysis of urban canals and canal-side lives, Edo-Tokyo (with references of Bangkok)" (Shinichi Nishibori), and "Hidden, undesigned human-scaled spaces in XL precincts of Tokyo, case of Ginza Chuo Dori" (Hiroki Shigemura). The session was co-chaired by Darko and Sanja (... whose gesture, on the photo above, was not a comment of quality of any particular presentations). co+labo lecture, discussion and research presentation sessions continue ...

co+labo radović     co+labo guest lecture and discussion programme 2O2O continues ...      

Our 2O2O lecture series continued with fourth instalment of Rafael Balboa's inspirational lectures - this time on Diagrammatic Thinking in Architecture, and Sanja Žonja's presentation and discussion related to her Doctoral research into graffiti and street art, focusing at Tokyo, the city where "graffiti do not exist". Rafa's and Sanja's talks inspired good discussion and opened a number of issues to be taken upon in the events that follow.  

co+labo radović   Rafa Balboa's second guest lecture + co+labo research in progress day   

co+labo 2O2O takeoff continued with Rafael Balboa's second lecture and first co+labo research in progress session.