LONDON SUMMER SCHOOL ARCHITECTUR AL ASSOCIATION MONDAY 3 – FRIDAY 21 JULY 2017
Studio State or the (im)possibility of a true and collective now “Architecture is the printing-press of all ages, and gives a history of the state of the society in which it was erected, from the cromlech of the Druids to those toy-shops of royal bad taste.”—Lady Sydney Morgan (as quoted by Sir Banister Fletcher’s in A History of Architecture)
In the proposal for a tragic, comic and satyric stage-set, Sebastiano Serlio articulated the relationship between architectural expression and social ideal. The noble and idealised buildings take on a dream-like or visionary quality, a promise of a higher, more perfect reality. Scena tragica, Stage design by Sebastiano Serlio, 1545.
A TRUE AND COLLECTIVE NOW
In the search of a true and collective now, this studio will declare a Studio State on Monday 3rd of July 2017, the first day of the London Summer School. Together we will postulate an alternative society. We will formulate the demands that stem from our communal ideals and will design a state that embodies the dreams and aspirations of a collective now. DEFINING VALUES
What can the architectural language of a new State be and how does this architecture reflect the values that it represents? The Studio will examine the social constructs that underpin identity and representation in architectural expression. John Ruskin’s provocative remark on the eloquence of architecture proposed that we seek two things from our buildings: they must shelter us, and, more importantly, they must speak to us. Buildings speak of democracy or aristocracy, openness or arrogance, welcome or threat, a sympathy for the future or a hankering for the past. While creating our state, we will debate the meaning of peoples, ideas and political agendas. Examining the notion that buildings speak helps us to place the values we want to live by at the very centre of our architectural activity – rather than merely what we want them to look like.
The layer of ice covering the Thames in winter 1683 spontaneously excited a carnival on the water. Sleds, a bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet plays and interludes, tipling and other lewd places emerged – a bacchanalian triumph. A Frost Fair on the Thames at Temple Stairs, Abraham Hondius, 1684.
ARCHITECTURE OF OUR STATE
Our Studio State will exist for only three weeks within the confines of our studio and will begin with the ceremonious act of demarcating our borders. By building walls and gates, it will become clear where the Studio State starts and where its sovereignty ends. Over the course of the Summer School, we will develop a material culture for our new State. Through analysis, discussion, debate and, above all, making, we will deliver the architecture of our state’s institutions, constructing them in the inverted setting of the studio interior. These institutions will form the backdrop to a public square at the heart of the studio space in the form of 1:3 facades.
Twentieth-century art historians are divided as to whether the triptych’s central panel is a moral warning or a panorama of paradise lost. The central water-bound globe in the middle panel’s upper background is a hybrid of stone and organic matter. It is adorned by nude figures cavorting both with each other and with various creatures, some of whom are realistic, others are fantastic or hybrid. The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch, around 1500 (detail).