What was the proposed population of Superstudio’s Continuous Monument? What would the density of Rem Koolhaas’ Exodus plan for London have been had it ever been realized? How would they compare in scale to Kenzo Tange’s Tokyo Bay project, or to Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse? Which of the two would have contained more green areas? 49 Cities sets out to crunch the numbers of several centuries of unrealized urbanism, all the way from the Roman city to the great utopian projects of the 20th century. Through plans, sections, diagrams, charts and scale drawings, 49 cities are observed statistically and presented in an unprecedented comparative study, the result of a research project conducted over several years. Despite the fact that they never actually existed, this history of utopian urbanism provides a remarkable insight into our understanding of the contemporary metropolis.
"Throughout history, architects and planners have dreamed of ‘better’ and different cities – more controllable, more defensible, more efficient, more monumental, more organic, taller, denser, sparser or greener. With every plan, radical visions were proposed, ones that embodied not only the desires but also, and more often, the fears and anxieties of their time.
With the failure of the suburban experiment and the looming end-of-the world predictions – from global warming and waste to post-peak oil energy crises and uncontrolled world urbanization – architects and urbanists find themselves once more at a cross-road, fertile for visionary thinking. Today’s meeting of intensified environmental fears with the global break down of laissez-faire capitalism has produced a new kind of audience, one that is ready to suspend disbelief and engage in flights of the imagination to radically rethink the way we live.
Recognizing the recurrent nature of our environmental preoccupations and their impact in shaping utopias of the past, 49 cities inscribes our time within a larger historical context, rereading seminal projects and visionary cities of the past through an ecological lens of the present that goes beyond their declared ideology to compare and contrast their hypothetical ecological footprint.
49 cities is a call to re-engage cities as the site of radical thinking and experimentation, moving beyond ‘green building’ towards an embrace of ideas, scale, vision and common sense combined with delirious imagination in the pursuit of empowering questioning and re-invention."
Amale Andraos, Dan Wood
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APRIL 2009 NEWS
BOOKLAUNCH: MON APRIL 6, 6:30pm EVAN DOUGLIS: AUTOGENIC STRUCTURES
"Autogenic Structures" offers an alternative vision for the future of architecture, a timely and invaluable contribution to the debate concerning emergent surfaces and the next generation of building membranes in this era of extreme computational control. An esteemed group of architects and educators discuss a range of cultural perspectives surrounding Evan Douglis' innovative pedagogical research.Topics considered include:the future relationship between structure and ornament; the value of mass customization for the next generation of modular building components; and, the role of smart materials in creating a sustainable universe.
DOCUMENTARY SCREENING: WED APRIL 8, 7:00pm MAX BILL: THE MASTER'S VISION With a presentation by director Erich Schmid
Erich Schmid's film moves between the dynamic fields of art, aesthetics and politics. Max Bill (1908-1994) was arguably the most important Swiss artist of the 20th century and the most famous student to come out of the legendary Bauhaus in Dessau. He was an ardent anti-fascist and his avant-garde work as an artist, sculptor, architect and typographer showed a life-long sense of social responsibility and an environmental awareness. Today, his views have become eerily topical. (Presented in association with the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York)
A WEEK OF MOVIE SCREENINGS CHINA TOWN, A MOVIE BY LUCY RAVEN
Tuesday 7 - Saturday 11 April at 3pm, 4pm and 5pm Saturday 11 April at 7pm: final screening with director's presentation
China Town traces copper mining and production from an open pit mine in Nevada to a smelter in China, where the semi-processed ore is sent to be smelted and refined. Considering what it actually means to "be wired" and in turn, to be connected, the video follows the detailed production process that transforms raw ore into copper wire-in this case, the literal digging of a hole to China-and the generation of waste and of power that grows in both countries as byproduct. Animated from sequences of digital still photographs and ambient sound recorded on location, China Town focuses on the contemporary recycling of the American landscape and industrial economy as raw mineral wealth for a developing nation.
10 DAYS OF EVENTS IN A MOBILE PAVILION RAUMLABOR BERLIN: SPACEBUSTER MANHATTAN AND BROOKLYN, 16-26 APRIL
Spacebuster is a mobile inflatable structure that serves as an entirely portable, expandable pavilion. A new iteration of a past Raumlabor project, the Küchenmonument (presented in Europe in 2006-8), Storefront will bring Spacebuster to the US for the first time this April, when it will travel throughout New York for 10 consecutive evenings hosting various community events. The pavilion is comprised of an inflatable bubble-like dome that emerges from its self-contained compressor housing. The dome expands and organically adjusts to its surroundings, be it in a field, a wooded park, or below a highway overpass. The material is a sturdy, specially-designed translucent plastic, allowing the varying events taking place inside of the shelter - dance parties, lecture series, or dinners - to be entirely visible from the outside and likewise the exterior environments become the events' backdrops.
May 5 - Storefront Spring Benefit
Honoring gallerist Max Protetch and artist Madelon Vriesendorp and thanking former Board President Belmont Freeman
To be held at The Standard, New York, designed by Polshek Partnership Architects 848 Washington Street, NYC (map) 5 May, 7:00 - 9:30pm: cocktails, canapés, and silent auction Festive attire, tickets required
With a silent auction featuring works by Vito Acconci, Atelier van Lieshout, Gabriele Basilico, Beth Campbell, Mary Ellen Carroll, Tony Feher, Dan Graham, Steven Holl, Sarah Jones, Sze Tsung Leong, Shirin Neshat, Marjetica Potrc, Tobias Putrih, Cordy Ryman, SANAA, Tomas Saraceno, Kate Shepherd, Kiki Smith, Do Ho Suh, Phoebe Washburn, Richard Woods, Lebbeus Woods, Andrea Zittel, and many others.
