Study
ARM
Architecture / Built / Subversive / Expanded Brief
On the exterior facade of Australia’s then-new national museum, ARM wrote subversive messages with braile dimples pressed into the anodized aluminium cladding: ‘Forgive us our genocide’ and ‘Sorry’, alluding to the black history of Australia. These dimples were noticed by a public servant just days after the opening, and after hiring a braile interpreter to decipher the message, the bureaucrat consequently amended the reading with silver discs - making the initial words illegible. ‘Sorry’ became ‘ryors’. By going beyond the explicit brief, and inserting evidence of an unsanctioned and regrettable history in this national building, ARM revitalise architecture’s ability to provoke and challenge the politics of identity. www.a-r-m.com.au
Media / Concept / Bureaucratic /Speculative
MVRDV
NL28 / 2008 / The Netherlands In 2005, The Netherlands Olympics Committee and Sporting Federation (NOC*NSF) launched a working group with representatives from sport, the government, science, and the world of industry and commerce to create an Olympic sports climate. MVRDV, with students from the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and the Berlage Institute, took this opportunity and collaborated for two years to complete: a economic feasability study, precedent studies and spatial designs. This self-initiated scheme gave the impetus for the government to pursue the idea in earnest, and earned MVRDV a voice in how this plan proceeds. www.mvrdv.nl
Activism
Unsolicited
National Museum Australia Braile / 2001 / Canberra