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II The Limits of Fiction in Architecture I December 2017Pablo Bronstein I Office Kovacs I Thomas Gordon Smith I Adam Nathaniel Furman I Keith Krumwiede I Giona Bierens de Haan I Point Supreme I Nicolò Zanatta I Lütjens Padmanabhan I Lorenzo Lazzari I Sabrina Morreale I Neyran Turan I ATLAS OF PLACES I Jesùs Vasallo I kosmos architects I Gruppo Torto I Andreas Amodio, Giulia Furlan, Mario Beeli

II The Limits of Fiction in Architecture. The Image Isssue

3 CARTHA

Editorial

5 PabloBronstein

Erecting of the Paternoster Square Column

7 OfficeKovacs

Mausoleums

10 ThomasGordonSmith

Matthews Street House watercolor

12 AdamNathanielFurman

Democratic Monument

17 KeithKrumwiede

Monuments of another America

20 GionaBierensdeHaan

El Extraordinario Cine Argentino

22 PointSupreme

Athens as an island / Open air cinema

25 NicolòZanatta

Uchronia - Space of Becoming

28 LütjensPadmanabhan

Binningen II

30 LorenzoLazzari

Elegy for a party

32 SabrinaMorreale

Unlearning from Barcelona

34 NeyranTuran

Middle Earth: Dioramas for the planet

39 ATLASOFPLACES

Semiotics

42 JesúsVasallo

Downtown Bestiary: Generic Architecture and Abstract Beauty in Downtown Houston

44 kosmosarchitects

Borderland

46 GruppoTorto

The P.P. Layouts & The Illusion of the Domestic

48 AndreasAmodio,GiuliaFurlan,MarioBeeli

House in Uehara, Kazuo Shinohara Villa Tugendhat, Mies van der Rohe, Brno, Czech Republic

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EditorialCARTHA

On the night of the 29 December 1940, London was hit by one of the heaviest bombings during The Blitz1 des-troying most of the buildings around the Paternoster Row, curiously leaving the neighbouring St. Paul’s Ca-thedral intact. From 1961 to 1967 the Corporation of London, partially inspired on a proposal by Sir William Holford, redeveloped the destroyed area with a project that ended up being both unsuccesful and controversial due its highly contested modern architecture2 and a very low occupancy rate. This led to a point when, only 20 ye-ars after its completion, a new competition to redevelop the area was organised, resulting in a winning proposal by Arup. Then, in 1990, the result of the competition was dismissed in favour of a plan by architect John Simpson championed by HRH Prince of Wales. This plan howe-ver was perceived as a “Pastiche”3 and was never execu-ted due to the 1993 recession. Finally in 1996 a master plan by Sir William Whitfield was selected and success-fully developed up until its conclusion in 2003.

The development, currently owned by The Mitsubi-shi Estate Co.4, consists of a large central square inserted in the urban fabric, with small roads cutting through the blocks around it. At the center of the square, a Port-land stone corinthian column of 23 meters high stands as the main monument of the area. Clearly inspired by

Christopher Wren’s Monument to the Big Fire and Inigo Jones’ west portico of the old St. Paul’s cathedral, the column designed by Whitfield, functions not only as a symbol of the square but also as a ventilation shaft for a service road under it. Half monument half technical fa-cility, private while seeming public, corinthian but built in the early 2000s, real and fake. The column embodies a series of contradictions and accidents that surpass by far its mere physical presence and historical context, mimicking the common imaginary of what monuments should look like while performing a technical function for a public infrastructure.

The Paternoster column is definitely not the only built structure that embodies Fiction in several of its layers, but it proved to be of great help when asking ourselves where the limits between Fiction and Reality stand in built or un-built Architecture. In the same logic, we decided to take the case study as research and communication tool for the whole cycle. It allowed us to assure a certain degree of cohe-rence and relatability in the outcome of both issues, while presenting a stable basis for possible further development. This relatability is in turn reinforced by the ambivalence / complementarity in the choice of format for the two issues which suggests yet another possible line of research related to the influence of the medium in current representations

1 German bombing offen-sive against Britain in 1940and1941,duringtheSecondWorldWar.

2 www.paternostersquare.info

3 Deyan Sudjic, If only Sir Christopher Wren alive today. TheObserver19January2003

4 www.paternostersquare.info

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of Fiction and Reality. The 29 case studies in this cycle, 12 in text and 17 in

image, set Fiction free from preconceived ethical or po-litical judgements and place it under an uncompromised light. They offer valuable, critical insights from multiple perspectives, reflecting on the question launched in our calls while expanding on it in rich and refreshing ways, drawing from the current context and relating it to his-torical references, to multidisciplinary traces and to fic-tional realms. They attempt to find the slightest possibi-lity of a steady path up the slippery slope of the research on the Limits of Fiction in Architecture.

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PabloBronstein

Erecting of the Pater Noster Square ColumnC

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Technique:Inkandpencilonpaper,artist’sframeDimensions:222x150cmDate:2008

Tate CollectionCourtesy Herald St, LondonPhoto Alex Delfanne

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1PabloBronstein(b.1977,BuenosAires)livesandworksinLondon. BronsteinwastherecipientoftheTateBritainCommission2016,forwhichheproducedHistoricalDancesinanAntiqueSettingintheDuveenGalle-ries.In2016healsodesignedthesetforTheCreationproducedbyRam-bertandreenactedatGarsingtonOpera,Buckinghamshirebeforetou-ringtoSadler’sWells,London.HealsohadasoloshowentitledWallPompatPallantHouseGallery,Chichester.In2015BronsteinhadsoloshowsatNottinghamContemporary,NottinghamandChatsworthHouse,Derby-shire,aswellasattheMuseoMarinoMarini,FlorenceandTheMuseumofFineArts,Houston.Othersoloexhibitionsinclude:REDCAT,LosAngeles(2014);Centred’ArtContemporain,Geneva(2013);InstituteofContem-poraryArt,London(2011);KunsthalCharlottenborg,Copenhagen(2011);SculptureCourt,TateBritain,London(2010)andTheMetropolitanMu-seumofArt,NewYork(2009). Recentgroupexhibitionsinclude:IdeaHome,MiddlesbroughInstituteofModernArt,Middlesbrough(2017);Spaceswithoutdramaorsurfaceisanillusion,butsoisdepth,GrahamFoundation,Chicago(2017);Bri-tishArtShow8,variousvenues,UK(2015-2017);CollectedbyTheaWest-reichWagnerandEthanWagner,WhitneyMuseumofAmericanArt,NewYorkandCentrePompidou,Paris(2016-2017);GalerieRudolfinum,Prague(2016);L’AnnéedernièreàMarienbad,KunsthalleBremen(2015);HistoryisNow:7ArtistsTakeonBritain,HaywardGallery,London(2015)Folkes-toneTriennial,curatedbyLewisBiggs,Folkestone(2014);Curiosity:ArtandthePleasuresofKnowing,curatedbyBrianDillon,HaywardTouringexhibition(2013-2014);IdealStandardForms,Galleriad'ArteModerna,Turin(2013);Arkhaiologia:ArcheologyinContemporaryArt,CentrePas-quArt,Biel (2011);SceneShifts,BonniersKonsthall,Stockholm(2010);MOVE:ChoreographingYou,HaywardGalleryTouring(2010-2011).

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OfficeKovacs

Mausoleums

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OFFICEKOVACSisadesignstudiobasedinLosAngeles.OFFICEKOVACSworksonprojectsatallscalesfrombooks,exhibitions,installations,inte-riors,homes,speculativearchitecturalproposalsandpublicarchitecturecompetitions.TherecentdesignworkofOFFICEKOVACSincludesapro-posalforadogparkindowntownLosAngeles,ahonorablementionintheMALIdesigncompetitionforanewcontemporaryartwinginLima,Peru,andtherenovationofanairstreamtrailerintoamobileretailstorethattravelsthePacificCoastHighway.

ANDREWKOVACSisanAssistantAdjunctProfessoratUCLAArchitecture&UrbanDesignwhereheteachesdesignstudiosandseminarsatboththeundergraduateandgraduatelevel.From2012-2013Kovacswastheinau-guralUCLATeachingFellow.KovacsstudiedarchitectureatSyracuseUni-versity(BachelorofArchitecture),TheArchitectureAssociationinLon-don,andPrincetonUniversity(MasterofArchitecture).Kovacs'workonarchitectureandurbanismhasbeenpublishedwidelyinthearchitecturalpressincludingA+U,Pidgin,Project,Pool,Perspecta,Manifest,Metropo-lis,Clog,Domus,andFulcrum.Additionally,Kovacsisthecreatorandcura-torofArchiveofAffinities,awebsitedevotedtothecollectionanddisplayofarchitecturalb-sides.In2015KovacspublishedthebookArchitecturalAffinitiesaspartoftheTreatiseseriesorganizedandsponsoredbytheGrahamFoundationinChicago.

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Matthews Street House watercolorThomasGordonSmith

"I designed Matthews Street House for an empty lot in Ber-keley, California in 1978 with the idea of using economi-cal construction methods and salvaged columns to make a house for my young family. The cost was prohibitive, however, and instead of being constructed, the design was exhibited in three museums and widely published, inclu-ding in Newsweek Magazine. To me, the house still signifies the potential for the rebirth of classical architecture."ThomasGordonSmith

Technique: Watercolour ofthefacade

Courtesy DAM Collection

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ThomasGordonSmithcombinedthepracticeofarchitectureandteaching.SmithtaughtatUCLA,Sci-Arch,YaleUniversity,andtheUniversityofIllinois,ChicagobeforehewasappointedchairmanoftheSchoolofArchitectureattheUniversityofNotreDame,Indiana,wherehetransformedtheSchoolintoaclassicalprogram.SmithwontheRomePrizeinArchitectureattheAmericanAcademyinRomein1979andhisfaçadeandarchitecturaldesignscontribu-tedtotheStradaNovissimaVeniceBiennale,ThePresenceofthePast,in1980.

Smith’spublicationsincludeClassicalArchitecture:RuleandInvention,Vi-truviusonArchitecture,andbooksrelatedtoearly19thcenturyAmericanarchitectureandfurniture.Professionalprojectsincludearchitecturalde-signfortheBenedictineAnnunciationAbbeyatClearCreekinOklahoma;OurLadyofGuadalupeSeminaryinNebraska;theClassicalGalleriesintheAmericanWingoftheMetropolitanMuseumofArtinNYC;severaluni-versitybuildingsinCaliforniaandIndiana;andresidencesbuiltinCalifornia,Illinois,Indiana,Wisconsin,andSouthCarolina.

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Democratic MonumentAdamNathanielFurman

Democratic Monument is aproposal for a new kind ofTownHallforBritishcities.Itre-groups various civic func-tions into one visually sym-boliccompositionofarchitec-tural forms that reconfigureandexpressvaryingreferen-ces,ornamentandallusions,dependingonthemetropoli-tanareaitissituatedinandembodies.Itisanexpressionofurbanpride,chromaticjoy,andarchitecturalcomplexity.

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AdamNathanielFurmanisadesignerbasedinLondon.HeistrainedinArchitectureandFineArt,andworksinthoseareasaswellasproducts,interiors,writingandteaching.HisworkhasbeenexhibitedinLondon,Paris,NewYork,Milan,Rome,Eindhoven,Minneapolis,Portland,Vienna&Glasgow,isheldinthecollectionsoftheDesignMuseum,theSirJohnSoane'sMuseum,&theAbetMuseum,andhasbeenpublishedwidely.HehaslecturedattheRIBA,UCBerkeley,CardiffUniversity,InnsbruckUniver-sityandtheCasadell'ArchitetturaRome,amongstothers.

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KeithKrumwiede

Monuments of another America

A scenic wallpaper in fourparts depicting life in andaround the oversized esta-tesofFreedomland,an ima-gined inhabitation of Tho-masJefferson'sgreatgriddedgame board of real estatespeculation. First exhibitedatthe2017ChicagoArchitec-ture Biennial, The Monu-ments of Another AmericaisbasedonXavierMader's1814wallpaper, The Monuments of Paris.

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KeithKrumwiedeistheauthorofAtlas of Another America: An Architec-tural Fiction(ParkBooks,2016).HestudiedattheUniversityofCalifor-nia,BerkeleyandtheSouthernCaliforniaInstituteofArchitectureandhastaughtatRiceUniversity,YaleUniversity,theMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology,theNewJerseyInstituteofTechnology(whereheservedasthedirectorofgraduatearchitectureprogramsfrom2012-2017)andattheUniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeley,whereheiscurrentlyavisitingassociateprofessor.Krumwiedeisthewinnerofthe2017-2018ArnoldW.Brunner/KatherineEdwardsGordonRomePrizeinArchitecture.InRomehewillworkonessaysandprojectsforanewbook,The New World: Ar-chitecture After the End of Work.

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El Extraordinario Cine ArgentinoGiona Bierens de Haan

Study for what's left fromArchitecture when it comes to dreams

Technique:OilpaintDimensions:120x90cmDate:2017

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GionaBierensdeHaangraduatedfromtheEPFL(écolepolytechniquefédéraledeLausanne)in2012.Hefoundsthestudio"LeRepaireFantas-tique"togetherwithLaurentChassotandSimonPilletandrunsitfrom2012to2017.HehasbeenteachingintheinteriordesigndepartmentattheHEAD(artschoolGeneva)from2012and2015.Heregularlycollabo-rateswithotherartists(YannGross,AugustinRebetez).Hisartproductionisexposedinternationally(Edinburgh,Montreal,BuenosAires).In2017hedevelopsandbuildsanopenairCinemaintheNorthofArgentina(ElExtraordinarioCineArgentino).HeiscurrentlylivinginbetweenSwitzer-landandArgentina.

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Athens as an islandPoint Supreme

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Open air cinemaPoint Supreme

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PointSupremeArchitectswasfoundedinRotterdamin2008byKonstantinosPantazisandMariannaRentzouandisnowbasedinAthens.Theirworkinte-gratesresearch,architecture,urbanism,landscapeandurbandesign.

KonstantinosPantazisstudiedarchitectureattheNationalTechnicalUni-versityAthens(2002),anddidaMasterofExcellenceinArchitectureatTheBerlageInstituteRotterdam(2002-2005).HehasworkedforavarietyofofficesinAthensandabroadincluding:MVRDVinRotterdam(2007-08),AltoonandPorterinAmsterdam(2006),51N4EinBrussels(2005),FarjadiFarjadiinLondon(2004),OΜΜ-RemKoolhaasinRotterdam(2003-04),YushiUeharainAmsterdam(2003)andJunAokiinTokyo(2002),HecurrentlyteachesatPatrasUniversity.

MariannaRentzoustudiedarchitectureattheNationalTechnicalUniversityAthens(2002),anddidaMasterofArchitectureattheBartlettSchoolofAr-chitectureinLondon(2003-2004)followedbyfurtherstudiesattheDesignAcademyEindhovenwithDroogDesigners.FollowingworkinginAthenssheworkedforMVRDVinRotterdam(2005-2006)andOMA-RemKoolhaasinRotterdam(2005,&2007-2008).AtOMAsheworkedonadiverserangeoflargescaleprojectsintheMiddleEastandledtheDubaiCreektheatreand‘DubaiNext’inBasel.

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Uchronia - Space of BecomingNicolòZanatta

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NicolòZanatta(1990)isaVenice-basedarchitectandphotographer,ha-vingworkedcloselywithItalianarchitecturalphotographerAlessandraChemollo.HegraduatedfromIUAVUniversityofArchitectureofVenicein2017withamasterthesisontheworkingsofGianBattistaPiranesi,An-tonioSant’EliaandAldoRossi,tutoredbyprofessorFabrizioGayandpro-fessorRenatoBocchi.Beitviaphotographyand/orarchitecturalmodels,hisresearchareaistheexplorationofalternativestotheideaofa“gi-ven”configurationofReality.Brodsky&Utkin,MassimoScolari,FrançoisSchuiten,DinoBuzzati,ItaloCalvino,alllegitimatelycontributetotheDis-coursearoundArchitectureanditsadvancement.Anythingthatcanhelpusreplytotheinnatequestionofourprofession,whichhassometimesbeenforgotten,theveryurgent“how could things could be instead?”.

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Binningen IILütjensPadmanabhan

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LütjensPadmanabhanArchi-tekten, Apartment BuildinginBinningen,2014

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LütjensPadmanabhanArchitectswasestablishedbyOliverLütjensandThomasPadmanabhanin2007.TherecentworkofthepracticefocusesonhousingintheresidentialdistrictssurroundingthecitiesofZürich,Ba-selandMunich.Despitetheirloveforamorerefined,urbanearchitecture,OliverLütjensandThomasPadmanabhanhavelight-heartedlyembracedthefactthatmostoftheircommissionsaresetinthemundaneanonymityofsuburbia.Their interest incomplexarchitecturalexpressionhasdis-tancedthepracticefromthecraft-orientedmainstreamofSwissarchitec-ture.Thecurrentprojectsexploretheimpossibletaskofreconcilingtheautonomyoftheexteriorfacadewiththetypologicaluncertaintyofinte-riorspacesandlooseurbancontexts.AfterteachingasassistantsatETHZürichOliverLütjensandThomasPad-manbhanwereguestprofessorsatTUMunichandEPFLausanne.

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Elegy for a partyLorenzoLazzari

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Elegyforaparty:the San Samuele Theater byA.CodognatoandotherfictionsbyG.Bella,ortheinventionofVeniceasfestival-city.

Technique:Collage

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0LorenzoLazzari isaresearchgrantholderattheClusterLABLSD, IuavUniversityofVenice.HestudiedArchitectureattheIuavofVeniceandattheETSABofBarcelona.HegraduatedwiththethesisSpecies of Rooms,aresearchonthecorrelationbetweenindividualmemoriesandtheinti-matespaceoftheroom,coordinatedbyMalvinaBorgheriniandXavierMonteys.HerecentlycollaboratedwithTEd’AarquitectesinPalma,Spain.HehaseditedthepublicationDevenirs (Iuav,Venice2017)withGianmarcoCausi,EgidioCutilloandElenaGianelloni.HepublishedtheworkForma della Crisi. Crisi della formainthevolumeDall’archivio: rimontaggi radi-cali (Iuav,Venice2016)curatedbyMalvinaBorgheriniandSaraMarini.HeexhibitedSpecies of RoomsintheexhibitionEsemplare: il paradosso del libro in copia unica(Venice2017),curatedbyMarioLupanoandSaraMarini.Hisresearchrangesfromthepoliticalrepresentationofurbanfes-tivalstotherepresentationofthememoryinthedomesticspace.

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Unlearning from Barcelona SabrinaMorreale

“Forwhatitseemsmostrealismostfalseandwhatseemsmostremoteitisperhapsthemost real since it is least animitation.” _Bricolage - LeviStrauss

"Eat-Use-Repeat”

Thesupermarkethasbecomeabenevolentsourceoffoundobjects,buildings,references.Take what you want, copywhatyousee.Onlyfortodaymonuments are half price!Architecturalcommoditiesassouvenirs of a memory thatis no longer there. Citizens,hurry up and buy your ownpiece.Moneybackguaranteeofanowemptyandfakecity.

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SabrinagraduatedfromtheArchitecturalAssociationin2016.SheiscollaboratingwithvariousmagazinesasillustratorandwiththeRIBAascuratorassistant.Herprojectshavealwaysbeenrelatedtotheideaoffragmentation,authorshipandoriginality,enhancingtheprocessofhowthingsaremadeandassembledtogether.Lately,shefoundedLemonot,aplatformusingarchitectureasamethodologytoreachdif-ferentoutcomes:toys,pastrytoolsandstorytelling.

www.sabrinamorreale.comhttps://www.instagram.com/_lemonot/

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Middle Earth: Dioramas for the planet NeyranTuran

Middle of the Earth: Dioramas for the Planet isageo-architec-turalfiction,whichpositionscli-mate change as a cultural andpoliticalideathatrequiresare-newed architectural imagina-tion.Theprojectimaginesana-tural history museum, whichcontains large scale dioramasthateachdisplaysaspecificpro-blembroughtbyclimatechangetaking place at the “middleof the earth,” i.e., around theequator,theearth’szero-degreelatitude:themeltingoftheice-bergs, deforestation in Braziland Indonesia, plastic waste inthePacificOcean,sandmininginSingapore, and the e-wastedump sites in Ghana. Ratherthanlimitingtheroleofclimatechangefordesigntoaproblemto solve, the project specula-tesonarchitectureasameasureagainst which the world mightberead.

ENTRANCEHALL.Thereliefmaptableshowingtheactuallocationof the museum, situated at thecoordinates00N00E,theexactlo-cationonEarthwheretheequa-tor crosses the prime meridianneartheGulfofGuinea,Africa.

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TRIPTYCHOFAIRCONDITIONING.Diorama depicting the ext-ravagantuseofair-conditio-ningaroundthezero-degreelatitude.

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PLASTIC PACIFIC HALL. Dio-rama portraying the plastictrashinthePacificOcean.

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ROOMOFICEBERGS.Dioramaportrayingthemeltingoftheicebergsandtheirdrifttothecoastal regions within theearth’szero-degreelatitude.

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NeyranTuranisanAssistantProfessorattheUniversityofCalifornia-Ber-keleyandapartneratNEMESTUDIO,anarchitecturalofficethathasbeenrecognizedwithseveralawards,includingthe2016ArchitecturalLeagueNewYorkPrizeforYoungArchitects,2016Architects’NewspaperBestofDesignAward,NotableAwardatCore77DesignAwards2017,andaGra-hamFoundationAward.NEMESTUDIO’swork,rangingfrominstallationstobuildingsandlandscapes,hasbeenexhibitedinternationallyatStorefrontArtandArchitectureGallery,ParsonsNewSchoolofDesignGalleryinNewYork,WursterGalleryinBerkeley,ChicagoArchitectureBiennial,SALTinIs-tanbul,PiazzaleDonatelloinFlorence,MichiganUniversityTaubmanCol-legeMainGalleryandmostrecently,atthe3rdIstanbulDesignBiennialcu-ratedbyBeatrizatColominaandMarkWigley.Turan’sworkdrawsontherelationshipbetweengeographyanddesigntohighlighttheirinteractionfornewaestheticandpoliticaltrajectorieswithinarchitectureandurba-nism.Turanisthefoundingchief-editoroftheHarvardUniversityGradu-ateSchoolofDesignjournalNewGeographiesandwastheeditor-in-chiefofthefirsttwovolumesofthejournalNewGeographies0(2008)andNewGeographies:AfterZero(2009).Someofherrecentwritingshavebeenpu-blishedinjournalsandeditedbooksincluding,Perspecta(MITPress),AreWeHuman?(LarsMullerPublishers),Climates:ArchitectureandthePlane-taryImaginary(ColumbiaUniversityGSAAP&LarsMullerPublishers),20/20:EditorialTakesonArchitecturalDiscourse(AAPublications),Offramp,ARPAJournal,SANROCCO,Scenario Journal,Conditions,MONU,ThinkSpace,ARQA,Bidoun,Thresholds,TheSuperlativeCity,LandscapesofDevelop-ment,andMega-Cities.

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SemioticsATLASOFPLACES

Theseries“FUCKCONTEXT?DOUBT CONTEXT!” is thefirstproductionofanongo-ingresearchontherelation-shipbetweeneconomical,so-cial and political factors inarchitecture.Itquestionsthefashionabletrendofmuseu-mification, speculation andgentrificationofEuropeanci-ties by mixing old and new,disturbing our too familiarreality,inordertoaccentuatefaultsandopportunities.Thedissensus that emerges canbetragic,comicattimes,butitcanalsobeastrongstate-ment: the architecture thatdemonstrates as insufficientwhatispresentedtousastheonlypossiblerealitybeginstoinvent the future. It cannotchangetheworld,butitcanhelpusawake to theneces-sity todoubt itand,maybe,changeit.

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MurizDjurdjevicandThomasPaturetgraduatedfromtheÉcolePolytech-niqueFédéraledeLausannein2016.MuriznowworksforHerzog&deMeuroninBaselandThomasforMADEINinGeneva.TheyarebotheditorsatATLASOFPLACES,anonlinejournalfoundedin2015,whosemissionistostandoutinanincreasinglyuniformarchitecturalmedialandscapeforitscriticalvision/research,in-depthanalysisofcontemporaryissuesandpu-blicationsthatilluminatethestateandrelationshipbetweenarchitecture,technologyandsociety.

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Downtown Bestiary: Generic Architecture and Abstract Beauty in Downtown HoustonJesúsVasallo

DowntownHoustonismadebytheunrulycollisionofge-nericboxescladwithnorma-tive facades. In few placesare parking garages moredifficult to tell apart fromoffice towers, departmentstores from police stations.Whatdoallthosebigblankboxes dream of becomingoncealltheworkershaveleftto the suburbs and down-townisemptyforthenight?

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JesúsVassalloisaSpanisharchitectandwriter.BasedinHouston,TexasandMadrid,Spain,hisworkinterrogatestheproblemofrealisminar-chitecturethroughtheproductionofdesignprojectsandscholarship.HeistheauthorofSeamless: Digital Collage and Dirty Realism in Contem-porary Architecture (ParkBooks,2016).HisprojectsandarticleshavebeenpublishedinternationallyinmagazinessuchasAAFiles,2G,Log,HarvardDesignMagazine,FutureAnterior,Domus,orArquitecturaViva.In2015Vassalloopenedanindependentdesignpracticethatbridgesarchitec-tureandurbanismthroughanunderstandingofbothasmaterialculture.

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Borderlandkosmosarchitects

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KOSMOSArchitectsisanofficecollaboratingvirtually,bringingto-getherpartnersbasedinBasel,Moscow,BangkokandNewYork.KOSMOSdesignsprojectsandenvironmentsofalltypesandscales:fromadoorhandletoacity;fromhardcorearchitecturetopop-upartinstallations.Theofficecombinesartandtechnology,globalexperiencewithrespecttolocalcontext,EuropeanprofessionalismandRussiandrive.

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The P.P. Layouts & The Illusion of the DomesticGruppoTorto

“HeHimself[SamRegan]wasa believer; He affirmed themiracle of translation, thenear-sacredmomentinwhichtheminiatureartifactsofthelayout no longer merely re-presentedEarthbutbecameEarth.Andheandothers,joi-nedtogetherinthefusionofdoll-inhabitation by meansof theCAN-D,were traspor-tedoutsideoftimeandlocalspace. Many of the colonistwere as yet unbelievers; tothemthelayoutsweremerelysymbolsofworldwhichnoneofthemcouldanylongerex-perience.But,onebyone,thebelieverscamearound.”

PhilipK.Dick,The Three Stig-mata of Palmer Eldritch(NewYork:Doubleday,1965),36

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GruppoTorto,foundedin2016,isaresearchcollectiveofyoungarchitectswhograduatedatPolitecnicodiMilanoandworknowindifferentinternati-onalstudiosacrossEurope.Themainresearchtopicsrevolvearoundarchitec-tureandurbanismwherebythefocusisdirectedontheanalysisofdysfunc-tionalconditionsofourcities.ThegroupisbasedonthecommoneffortofFranzBittenbinder,MartinaBovo,ClaudiaConsonni,MattiaInselvini,ChiaraLippi,GianmarioPandozzi,EnricoPintoandLuigiSavio.

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House in Uehara, Kazuo ShinoharaAndreasAmodio,GiuliaFurlan,MarioBeeli

After coming to the conclu-sion that the most relevantand commonly shared valuenowadays is experience, wesat togetherand sharedourmemories, thoughts, ideasaboutbuildingswehadseenandexperiencedorjustfoundtriggering as architects. Wedid this avoiding to look atplansandimages,andtrans-latedourdialoguesintosket-ches.Theattemptofdrawingexisting buildings by heart,based on nothing else thanexperiencesoonenoughlostany aim of showing thingshow they really are. We en-ded up bringing in fanta-sies, personal memories andperceptions, interpretations,desires, critiques and so on.Acollectionoffictionalima-gesgrownoutofexperienceof many existing buildingswassuddenlyonthetable.Itshows the fictional cores ofthesepiecesofarchitecturebeyondthelimitationsofre-ality,justasfeltinpersonandstoredinourhead.Whatwefoundoutisthathowweseethingsanddecodethemintoideasand feelings is thefic-tionalpotentialwithintherealworld.

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Villa Tugendhat, Mies van der Rohe, Brno, Czech RepublicAndreasAmodio,GiuliaFurlan,MarioBeeli

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AndreasAmodio(1982)isanItalianarchitectbasedinMilan.HestudiedattheAcademyofarchitectureofMendrisio,USI,Switzerland,andgra-duatedin2007.Heopenedhisownpracticein2008andlateronthesameyearbecameateachingassistantattheChairofValerioOlgiatiinMendri-sio.HetaughtandworkedinSwitzerlandforover7yearsandin2015re-turnedtoItaly,wherehecurrentlycontinueshispractice.

MarioBeeli(1983)isanarchitectbasedinZurich.HestudiedarchitectureattheSwissFederalInstituteofTechnologyandgraduatedwithProfessorChristianKerez.Aftergraduatingin2009heopenedhispractice.HehaspreviouslyworkedintheofficesofAtelierBow-WowinTokyoandValerioOlgiatiinChur.From2011until2015hewasteachingassistantforVale-rioOlgiatiattheAcademyofarchitectureofMendrisio.Currentlyhecol-laborateswithdifferentarchitectsonvariousprojects.

GiuliaFurlan(1985)isanarchitectbasedinMendrisio.Shestudiedar-chitectureattheAcademyofarchitectureofMendrisio,andgraduatedin2009.AfterworkinginLondonandinZurich,shefoundedherpracticeinTicino.ShecurrentlyisateachingassistantattheChairofValerioOlgiatiinMendrisioandcollaborateswithdifferentarchitectsonvariousprojectsinSwitzerland,FranceandItaly.HavingtaughttogetherinMendrisioforfouryears,thethreeofthem,eachbringingindifferentyetcompatiblepositions,havedevelopedacommoncreativeprocess.

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carthamagazine.com

Editorial BoardElena ChiaviPablo Garrido ArnaizFrancisco Moura VeigaFrancisco Ramos OrdóñezRubén Valdez

LayoutEsther Lohri

CollaboratorGonçalo Frias

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