Federica Fusiardi, Riccardo Bianchini
(Grand Prix)
The subject "Design beyond East and West" was really important
for us. We know that is impossible to learn such different
cultures in few months, but the effort to make them part
of your knowledge and experience is in our opinion the
right way to interpret a word like "globalization". The
opportunity, given to people by the development of physical
and digital communications, to understand something more
about people living in other parts of this planet will
be the only way to work together on the main problems
of mankind. In many things people live n a similar way
in cities all over the word (the subject of this year
competition was symptomatic about this matter), but in
many other aspects they are different; only curiosity
and reciprocal interest will permit us to build a better
word and a useful architecture.
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Greg Biancardi (Golden Prize)
I approached the subject as a way to not only a study
some of the strongest ideas from both cultures but also
as opportunity to introduce my own ideas about the process
of design with respect to Housing Architecture and Interiors
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Adam Russell (Golden Prize)
The phrase 'Design Beyond East and West'. Served well as a heading
to represent the entire content of the brief. In this context
we interpreted the subject on a number of levels.
Firstly, East and West is considered as a cultural junction.
A junction between the two rapidly colliding cultures of East
and West. A borrowing and intertwining of elements from both
East and West. A supersaturation of social and cultural meaning
of each. Beyond East and Beyond West.
Secondly 'Design beyond East and West!' can be considered as
a new culture that we need to aspire to. Rather than a homogenous
culture that is clearly defined. We felt it might be a fractured
and disparate culture comprised of a series of sub-cultures.
These apparently different sub-cultures. These apparently different
sub-cultures are united through their super-informed nature
and their growing ability to walk the planet leaving behind
significantly smaller ecological footprints than their western
ancestors. This cultural evolution is necessary due to growing
conflict between physical and social interactions of a family,
and the time and interface requirements of data interactions
particular to our digital epoch.
'Design beyond East and West' can also be considered as a new
way of designing or a new philosophical approach to design.
Generators of architectural designing or a new philosophical
approach to design. Generators of architectural design solutions
can become systems based with resulting schemes allowing a framework
for unpredictable future evolutions.
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What do you think about
current trends in architecture and interior design within the
culture of modern housing? Also, please give us your perspective
on the future development of residential construction and design.
Federica Fusiardi, Riccardo Bianchini
(Grand Prix)
Current trends in architecture and design seem to be quite contradictory:
post-postmodern, hi-tech ethnic influences, neo organicism and
so on…But, despite this, there is a common underlying trend,
which is emerging, we may define it "necessary rationalization",
which doesn't refer to a formal language. In the contemporary
society, inwestern countries as well in eastern ones, houses
and furniture will be more and more like components of a complex
system made by a bunch of nets providing communications, accessibility,
food, work and all services necessary in people life.
This is an opportunity but also a risk; working at home, for
example, could be a great opportunity in modern chaotic towns
but also away to destroy private life as well as time for cultivating
personal interests and play an enriching life. This situation
will lead to a more rationalized way to design towns, buildings
and furniture in order to control such complex relationships,
but also will require to architects a greater responsibility
to predict its negative consequences.
Another example of rationalization is the emerging eco-compatible
design, which correctly aims to minimize non-renewable resources
consumption in urban design as well as in building and furniture
ones.
The problem is that this kind of "rationalized" approach to
design will not be sufficient by itself to provide automatically
good architecture, in latin words it's a "condicio sine qua
non", one of the tools a good designer will have to know.
Our effort is to match a responsible approach to new architecture
requirements with the consciousness that every person is different
in his own experience, in culture, in needs; in our opinion
good architecture in the future will integrate the above mentioned
necessary rationalized approach with a strong interest for people's
dreams and emotions, building houses that speak to people souls,
not simply to theirbodies, giving value to socialization, to
friendship, to cultural heritage; rediscovering, for example,
food like a cultural and social experience.
Greg
Biancardi (Golden Prize)
What do you think about current trends in architecture and interior
design within the culture of modern housing? Also, please give
us your perspective on the future development of residential
construction and design.
Recently as a result of our advances with computer technologies
there has been an increase in the amount of attention given
to design, which can only be good for architecture and home
design. These new technologies have enabled designers to study,
communicate and produce their design ideas quicker and more
effectively. I would like to see architects and designers use
these tools to open up previously closed markets. This would
require residential construction and design to become more specific
and more humanistic and less a product of economical constraints
Adam Russell (Golden Prize)
The deeper one explores the richer the results. For the purposes
of this question : consider- trend as a course of development
rather than as taste of the day. Today's housing trends acknowledge
the breakdown of the nuclear family. Urban living is being re-addressed
as a desirable alternative to life suburbs. The need to be able
to work, entertain, relax and escape within tighter home spaces
is generating new typologies of housing.
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We understand that your
work has been modeled upon Chinese residential architecture.
Could you explain in a little more detail about how you arrived
at the conceptual idea of a space centering on Light and Movement?
Federica Fusiardi /Riccardo Bianchini
(Golden Prize)
We have wanted to design a nonstatic environment, we think it
would be terrible form a family going home at evening, warm
up some frozen foods and sitting in front of the TV till is
time to sleep…
We've made an attempt to conceive a house that would suggest
experiencing every-day behaviors like a game, like a little
performance in which everyone is a main character.
For us, the best way to do this was using both light and movement;
movement because it keeps people and object in a creative relationship
and allows objects to become part of a kind of ceremony but
also because movement reconfigure the space in different ways
allowing a dialogue between the two key-points of our project
(the food and the knowledge nest) and involving people to use
them. Light was chosen because it's the key to give objects
and spaces an inner life as well as different aspects and functions
when they are opened or closed. One important matter is that
this is artificial light; in contemporary architecture natural
light has a leading role, but in this circumstance was important
also to control artificial lighting: both because of the subject
of the competition (it seems not very serious to presume that
all residential apartments will be perfectly sun orientated)
and also because we know that a working family meets normally
at early morning and at evening
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You earned many favorable responses
from the expert work you performed in developing a program around
the Cultures of Family Members. What relevant factors do you
think are most crucial when it comes to the execution of Housing
Architecture and Interiors?
Greg
Biancardi (Golden Prize)
I feel that the inhabitants must come first when one begins
to design a home. Every person has several unique habits or
quirks that can become an exceptional source for creative design
solutions. In this case since we did not start of with a site,
I felt that a stereotypical look into the separate lives of
each member of the single child family and the dynamics that
occur between each of the family members provided opportunities
for interesting design solutions, and even acted as a road map
as to how the home should be designed
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You have suggested a design
approach that focuses on digitally based solutions. Exploring
this notion, what roles and functions do you think digital technology
should play in developing neighborhood cultures and architecture,
for both today and tomorrow?
Adam Russell
(Golden Prize)
Digital technology is as had to pin down as the information
it carries. The rae at which technology is developed, implemented
and superseeded is staggering. A generation in digital systems
can be as short as a year or 2., Architecture and the built
environment on the other hand move at a much more measured pace.
Planing and approvals take time, the economic and material resources
necessary for new built forms dictates that they must last longer.
People and communities find
Themselves caught in a schism between habitation and information.
Learning is now biased towards absorbing Information rather
than by first hand experience. Knowledge is almost at a stage
where it's not what you keep in your head but what you keep
on your hard disk. Perhaps the younger generations find less
meaning in architecture today's it doesn't move at their pace.
How does Architecture fit into these new ways of living and
learning?
BUILDING AS INTERFACE : Building need to be considered as an
interface with the digital environment in addition to the urban
natural environment. Rather than a receptacle to house digital
technology they need to embody the technology.
BUILDING AS FILTER : Architecture needs to more readily receive,
transport, mediate, transmit and emit digital information. A
new level of digital servicing should put the fabric of the
building -online- allowing it's systems to be monitored and
modified in accordance with the evolving needs of the buildings
occupants.
BUILDING AS COLLECTOR : It is now time for buildings to begin
producing their own sustainable energy and collect and recycle
water and waste.
In pursuit of carbon neutral buildings architecture needs to
be less resource intensive and more able to adapt to change
without the need to be rebuilt. Built form will always be both
an expression of today's culture and at the same time a creator
of tomorrow's culture
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