CONSTRUCTING (activist) PRACTICE

CONSTRUCTING (activist) PRACTICE is the third edition of the daylong symposium that traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe critically engaged in contemporary design conflicts.

This lecture will be hosted in Wood Auditorium at Columbia GSAPP and live-streamed on GSAPP’s YouTube channel.

Similar to the 2017 and 2019 editions, this year’s conference will be focused on the transition from education to practice, and the idea that one’s own practice can be a project in itself - designed, built, and maintained - and necessarily nourished by important commitments in today’s contradictory climate replete with overflowing dimensions.

Organized by Professor Juan Herreros, the symposium hosts fifteen international activist firms taking part in four panels to discuss ingredients that shape our profession and expand our definition of architecture today such as Cultural Instigations, Local Technologies, Built Speculations, and Circular Reparations.

Each panel includes a twenty-minute presentation by 3-4 firms on their respective contexts, ambitions, and influences relevant to their founding and early years, followed by joint discussions on their experiences and strategies.

The firms participating this year are:

9:45-10:00am

Welcome and Introduction: Dean Andres Jaque and Juan Herreros

10:00am-11:40am

Panel One: CULTURAL INSTIGATORS / Moderator: Alessandro Orsini

Johnny Leya, Traumnovelle, Belgium

Jorge Sobejano and Álvaro Molins, BURR STUDIO, Spain

Alejandro Saldarriaga Rubio, ALSAR-ATELIER, Colombia

11:40am-12:00pm: Break

12:00pm-1:40pm

Panel Two: BUILT SPECULATIONS / Moderator: Galia Solomonoff

Leonid Slonimskiy and Artem Kitaev, KOSMOS, Austria/Switzerland

Pedro Varella and Caio Calafante, GRUA, Brazil

Hayao Odagiri, Kenji Seo and Mizuho Watanabe, Garage, Japan

Nemanja Zimonjic and Scott Lloyd, TEN, Serbia/Switzerland

2:00pm - 3:00pm: Break

3:00pm-4:20pm

Panel Three: LOCAL TECHNOLOGIES / Moderator: David Benjamin

Papa Omotayo, MOE+AA, Nigeria

Thongchai Chansamak and Patcharada Inplang, Sher Maker, Thailand

Matej Honc and Richard Kilo, Kilo / Honč, Slovakia

4:20pm-4:40pm: Break

4:40pm-6:20pm

Panel Four: CIRCULAR REPARATIONS / Moderator: Marc Tsurumaki

Martin Real and Florencia Sobrero, Taller General, Ecuador

Peter Lényi and Ondrej Marko, 2021 ARCHITEKTI, Slovakia

Emiliano García Martin, ASPJ, Mexico

Ruben Teodoro, Colectivo Warehouse, Portugal

6:30pm-7:00pm

Closing Comments: Juan Herreros

This event content is equivalent to 8 AIA/CES total learning credits. Please contact events@arch.columbia.edu for more information.