Earlier this year, two co+labo teams took part in prestigious Europan Competition for architects under the age of 40. While our teams have not received any of the awards, from that decisive perspective of the quality of learning, the ways in which the teams worked were rewarding in itself. It was great to see the teamwork, intensive cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary communication in action, numerous tabled and freely negotiated ideas, critical thinking and other complex dimensions of teamwork in action - trying to challenge the limits of conventional thinking.
co+labo took part in two of the 2017 Europan competitions - Amsterdam (coordinated by Post Doc Fellow Alice Covatta) and Barcelona (coordinated by PhD Candidate Ivan Filipović). Below are brief descriptions written by project coordinators, and illustrations of their "Amsterdam Piarcoplein: Waste Land" and "Productive Patchwork for Barcelona".
Amsterdam Piarcoplein: Waste Land (text by Alice Covatta)
The idea for was to push the upcycling process till it
becomes a social act. Today Piarcoplein embodies
the non-lieux absence. Arisen from the infrastructural bigness, Piarcoplein is
merely an intersection for transportation movements where the only human
activities consists in parking the car, quickly crossing the plot and catching
the train in Sloterdijk Station. Our strategy with the concept
of waste land, introduces the zero waste philosophy to the Piarcoplein, making
it the first Waste Land in Amsterdam. In order to achieve that, we propose a
productive life cycle for the waste in addition to a complementary composition
of activities summarized in three design steps: the collection of the waste,
the creative repair and reuse, and the recycling process which activates new
social knowledge and cooperation.
Waste Land design proposal
works both spatially and temporally. The pure shape of a circle was chosen to
bind the temporal activities and also to create a powerful mark for a new
collective space: the agora, archetypal shape for public activities linked to
the postindustrial polis. The circle creates the boundary between the outside
and the inside, outside the productive urbanscape with a multitude of programs
and inside the agora, a flexible void aimed to enhance educational activities.
Like the Zone for Andrej Tarkovsky's movie Stalker, the sense of the agora can
be felt by the action of crossing the boundary, although the site core itself
is not visible at a glance.
Nine elements are bound together
in the circle: the factory/shop, the farm/seed storage, the stage, the
cafe/cooking laboratory, the market, the parking/residence, the gallery, the
garbage collection/workshop and the bike parking. While the elements across the
circular boundary accommodates dual functions of both production and education,
the elements outside specializes either of the two functions. The flow of the
activities follows the productive life cycle management. For example, a broken
bicycle can be repaired in the factory while some of its non-repairable
components can be transformed in a handicraft workshop to make a unique
furniture that can later be sold in the market.
In our
continuously changing society with the increasing number of consumers,
co+labo’s Waste Land transforms the leftover materials into innovative ideas
and holds the responsibility to create an utopian dimension where sustainability
coincides with imagination.
Productive Patchwork for Barcelona (text by Ivan Filipović)
The
main focus point as well as core concepts are embodied in conceptual terms of patchwork, flexibility and low-rise-high-density
(LRHD). Proposed design concept emphasizes processes of self-determination and
flexibility as one of the key points that propose quality to newly developed
area. By doing so, one creates patchworks
of functions, forms and activities that seamlessly fit together and enrich one
another. In this sense, transitional spaces become very important: connections
between different patches. These transitional spaces have, as in the main
concept, possibility of transformation of functions and activities as to provide
diverse and vibrant neighborhood.
Teamwork Producing Patchwork of Ideas
Working
in a team, even at the best of times, can be challenging. Add eleven international
students to the mix, bringing their vastly different backgrounds and qualities
to the table. Some might see this as a problem, but not us. co+labo
spirit views variety as a spice of life, and in that sense it chose to boldly
solder on. Initial communication problems were overcome (don’t explain, draw
it!) to create a truly collaborative force, enriching one another and,
unbeknownst to the participants until the very end, weave a patchwork of our
own, reflecting the strife for continuous improvement, exchange of ideas and
respect of others’ opinion and hard work. In this sense, everyone won and came
through the other side of the looking glass standing a little taller (no magic mushrooms
needed!)
co+labo will be doing design competitions in semester 1 2018. If you have any suggestions - please let us know.
