Unit 21
Ambiguous Territories Abigail Ashton, Andrew Porter
Year 4 Marianna Filippou, Layal Merhi, Fernanda Mugnaini, Sophie Richards, Samson Simberg, Angeline Wee, Sarish Younis Year 5 Jamie Lilley, Calum Macdonald, William Molho, Jens Kongstad Olsen, Francesca Pringle, Charlotte Reynolds, James Simcock The Bartlett School of Architecture 2015
Thanks to our practice tutor Tom Holberton and engineer Brain Eckersley. Thank you to our critics: Rachel Cruise, Stephen Gage, Christine Hawley, Paul Legon, Frédéric Migayrou, Ned Scott, Bob Sheil, Emma Spierin A massive thank you to Rhys Cannon and Gruff Architects for use of their CNC equipment We are grateful to our sponsors, Pringle Brandon Perkins + Will
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Unit 21 has recently looked at cities that both border the edge of Europe – Istanbul and Tangiers – as well as cities that are very much at the heart of Europe such as Berlin, Copenhagen and London. This year, we chose to look at two cities – London and Helsinki. Helsinki is very much at the edge of Europe. After Reykjavic, it is the second most northerly capital city in the world, at the edge of the beginning of the northern tundra and the transition from predominantly farmland to forest. Finland only joined the European Union in 1995. Although they were already members of the European Free Trade Association this accession effectively ended their neutral status during the cold war period. Whilst membership of the EU is only one measure of what being part of Europe might mean, it is clear that Finland has had a very different history from the classically Romanesque countries. Indeed, up until 1917 Finland was for 108 years formally part of Russia and before that a Swedish territory. Tensions with Russia inevitably still remain and in recent years the Russian government has made very strong threats to discourage Finland from joining the NATO alliance. Russian influence is very much in evidence through the historic architecture of Helsinki. It is this Russian and Scandinavian history that still puts Finland very much, despite its recent joining of the EU, on the edge of Europe. This condition of tension, defined by being on a political, geographic and climatic edge, has preoccupied the unit this year. We looked at the context of the city as not just a location for architecture but to utilise the layers of history, political structures, population, ecology and information networks as the motivators for the production of new architectural space. We considered emerging urban digital realms, typically defined by datascapes and invisible networks such as social media, which already organise and define new space and behaviours in the city.