Symposium: Concrete Utopías.1960s ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM

Former bank of London or Lloyds Bank. By Clorindo Testa, Buenos Aires. Picture from buenosairesphotographer.com

The 1960s was a transformative decade for architectural practice in the Americas, Europe and Asia. It coincided with the social and cultural transformations initiated by student protests and the emergence of the global village theorized by Marshall McLuhan. During those years, a number of architects and urban planners began rethinking the utopian legacy of modernity by looking at the city as a new space and place of intense social interaction. A number of scholars and architects will convene at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture to discuss the innovations of the utopian projects put forth during the 1960s as well as their relevance to today.

All events will take place in the UH Architecture Auditorium, Rm. 150.

The symposium is free and open to the public.

For more information email Michelangelo Sabatino at msabatino@uh.edu and/or go to NEWS at 

http://www.michelangelosabatino.com/

International Association for the Study of Environment, Space, and Place. Call for Papers

Bolivian festival. From companymagazine.org

SEVENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF ENVIRONMENT, SPACE, AND PLACE

SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY: APRIL 29 - MAY 1, 2011

CONFERENCE THEME: THE SPACING OF FESTIVE ENACTMENTS

The Conference seeks to foster Crossdisciplinary—Interdisciplinary—Transdisciplinary conversations on the subject of the festive, festivity, festival in terms of spatial production: produced and producing. Presentations are to be 25 minutes with an additional 10 minutes for questions and discussion. Papers may be submitted for possible publication in the journal Environment, Space, Place. Panels are welcome.

Befitting a Feast: convivial, jovial, mirth, merrymaking, cheerful, rejoicing, glad, gaiety, joyous.

The festive is not merely a subjective feeling; the festive is not merely a spatial site designated/constructed to be a festive place. The festive involves spatial inscription including both enactments and built environments. The site of a World Series with its celebratory festivities becomes a site of horror during an earthquake. An ordinary city block becomes the site of the festive through the spatial enactments constituting “a block party.” Our goal for this conference is to examine festive enactments as taking place through the opportunities and limitations afforded by the spacing of built environments. How is spatiality itself agency in the production of the festive? How do festivities produce their own spatiality? How is built space to be constructed to promote the festive?

SEND ABSTRACTS OF APPROXIMATELY 200 WORDS BY FEBRUARY 10, 2011 TO

Troy Paddock: paddockt1@southernct.edu

Persons interested in chairing sessions should also contact Troy Paddock

Send abstracts of approximately 200 words by February 10, 2011 to,

Troy Paddock: paddockt1@southernct.edu

For topics and more info:

http://www.towson.edu/iasesp/papers.htm

MUSIC IN ARCHITECTURE - ARCHITECTURE IN MUSIC Symposium

Philharmonic of Berlin. From cotidianul.ro

From Michael L Benedikt, ACSA Distinguished Professor, Director, Center for American Architecture and Design at University of Texas at Austin:

"Architecture is frozen music," as Goethe once wrote, and the phrase continues to resonate in this age.

With new and traditional compositional techniques, new and traditional physical and sonic materials, and deeper notions of "performance" in hand, the Center for American Architecture and Design and the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin are pleased to announce the MUSIC IN ARCHITECTURE - ARCHITECTURE IN MUSIC Symposium.

Scheduled for October 19-22, 2011, the Symposium will involve live performances of competition-winning composition installations and commissioned works, as well as paper presentations and roundtables, all with media coverage.

We would very much appreciate your forwarding this Call for Competition Entries and Call for Papers to architecture and music colleagues and students that you think might be especially interested:

http://soa.utexas.edu/caad/mia-aim/

Definition of Biourbanism

Urban growth as an organism. Simulation by Myriam B. Mahiques

This definition proposed by professors Antonio Caperna, Alessandro Giuliani, Nikos A. Salingaros, Stefano Serafini, Alessia Cerqua, is reproduced on Thoughts of Architecture and Urbanism with their permission:

¨Biourbanism focuses on the urban organism, considering it as a hypercomplex system, according to its internal and external dynamics and their mutual interactions.

The urban body is composed of several interconnected layers of dynamic structure, all influencing each other in a non-linear manner. This interaction results in emergent properties, which are not predictable except through a dynamical analysis of the connected whole. This approach therefore links Biourbanism to the Life Sciences, and to Integrated Systems Sciences like Statistical Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Operations Research, and Ecology in an essential manner. The similarity of approaches lies not only in the common methodology, but also in the content of the results (hence the prefix “Bio”), because the city represents the living environment of the human species. Biourbanism recognizes “optimal forms” defined at different scales (from the purely physiological up to the ecological levels) which, through morphogenetic processes, guarantee an optimum of systemic efficiency and for the quality of life of the inhabitants. A design that does not follow these laws produces anti-natural, hostile environments, which do not fit into an individual’s evolution, and thus fail to enhance life in any way.

Biourbanism acts in the real world by applying a participative and helping methodology. It verifies results inter-subjectively (as people express their physical and emotional wellbeing through feedback) as well as objectively (via experimental measures of physiological, social, and economic reactions).

The aim of Biourbanism is to make a scientific contribution towards: (i) the development and implementation of the premises of Deep Ecology (Bateson) on social-environmental grounds; (ii) the identification and actualization of environmental enhancement according to the natural needs of human beings and the ecosystem in which they live; (iii) managing the transition of the fossil fuel economy towards a new organizational model of civilization; and (iv) deepening the organic interaction between cultural and physical factors in urban reality (as, for example, the geometry of social action, fluxes and networks study, etc.).¨

References:

Nikos Salingaros, Twelve Lectures on Architecture. Algorithmic Sustainable Design, Solingen: Umbau Verlag, 2010.

Nikos Salingaros, Antonio Caperna, Michael Mehaffy, Geeta Mehta, Federico Mena-Quintero, Agatino Rizzo, Stefano Serafini, Emanuele Strano, «A Definition of P2P (Peer-To‐Peer) Urbanism», AboutUsWiki, the P2P Foundation, DorfWiki, Peer to Peer Urbanism (September 2010). Presented by Nikos Salingaros at the International Commons Conference, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin, 1st November 2010.

Milena De Matteis, Stefano Serafini (eds.), Progettare la città a misura d’uomo. L’alternativa ecologica del Gruppo Salìngaros: una città più bella e più giusta, Rome: SIBU, 2010.

Stephen Marshall, Cities, Design & Evolution, London: Routledge, 2008.

Peter Newman Tima Beatley, Heather Boyer, Resilient Cities. Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change, Washington: Island Press, 2009.

Joseph P. Zbilut, Alessandro Giuliani, Simplicity. The Latent Order of Complexity, New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2007.

Sergio Porta, Paolo Crucitti, Vito Latora, “The network analysis of urban streets: a primal approach”, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 33 (2006), pp. 705-725.

Juval Portugali (ed.), Complex Artificial Environments. Simulation, Cognition and VR in the Study and Planning of Cities, Berlin - Heidelberg - New York: Springer, 2006.

Michael Batty, Cities and Complexity: understanding cities with cellular automata, agent-base models, and fractals, Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2005.

Christopher Alexander, The Nature of Order, 4 vol., Berkeley, CA: Center for Environmental Structure, 2002-2005.

Juval Portugali, Self-Organization and the City, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2000.

Grant Hildebrand, Origins of architectural pleasure, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999.

Stephen R. Kellert, Edward O. Wilson (eds.), The Biophilia Hypotesis, Washington: Island Press, 1993.

René Thom, Esquisse d’une Sémiophysique, Paris: InterEditions, 1991.

Antonio Lima-de-Faria, Evolution without Selection. Form and Function by Autoevolution, London – New York – Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1988.

Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity (Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the Human Sciences), Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1979.

Conrad H. Waddington, Tools for Thought, London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1977.

Edgar Morin, La Méthode I: La Nature de la Nature, Paris: Seuil, 1977.

Ludwig von Bertalanffy, General System Theory, New York: George Braziller, 1968.

Read more about Biourbanism:

http://www.biourbanism.org/

Gruppo Salingaros:

http://grupposalingaros.net/home.html

Call for Papers: Reducing Urban Poverty

Urban poverty. Picture from blog.magnumphotos.com

Building on the success of last year’s paper competition, USAID’s Urban Programs Team, in cooperation with the International Housing Coalition (IHC), The World Bank, the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Comparative Urban Studies Project (CUSP), and Cities Alliance, is once again seeking paper submissions for an upcoming policy workshop and paper competition on urban poverty in the developing world. Winning papers will be published and selected authors will present their papers in a policy workshop to be held in Washington, D.C. in October 2011.

Papers should be linked to one of the following topical areas:

Land Markets & Security of Tenure

The absence of efficient land and housing markets and lack of secure tenure for both renters and home

owners are important impediments to urban and economic development in developing countries. Papers

on these topics should explore strategies and approaches that would enable property markets to function

better and would provide increased security of tenure and strengthened real property ownership rights.

Papers might examine such topics as: legal and regulatory policies and frameworks that facilitate the

functioning and efficiency of real estate markets; tenure security for tenants and homeowners; property

ownership in slums and informal settlements; the availability of land to house lower income households;

titling and registration systems; the availability of public information about property values and market

data; gender aspects of tenure security and property rights.

Health

The World Health Organization recognizes the rapid increase of people living in cities as one of the most

important global health issues of the 21st century. This issue is particularly important in Sub-Sahara

African, Asian, and Latin American cities struggling with persistently high disease rates and rapidly

urbanizing populations. Solutions lie in both improving health services and improving the living

environment of poor urban residents, especially their access to safe water and sanitation services. We

welcome papers analyzing approaches to identifying and addressing urban health challenges in

developing countries.

Livelihoods

The urban poor exhibit extraordinary innovation and resiliency in the face of extreme challenges and

marginalization. Papers on this sub-topic should explore the ways that the urban poor work themselves

out of poverty by adapting to the economic, political, social, and various other constraints that they face.

Papers might discuss: informal economy; enabling environment and regulatory policies; access to credit,

microenterprise development, and income generation.

Papers should be policy-based and solutions-oriented and should critically examine existing projects

and/or propose new strategies for tackling issues related to urban poverty. Papers from a variety of

disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary perspectives are appropriate, including (but not limited to) urban

planning, economics, political science, geography, public policy, sociology, public health, and

anthropology. For more information, please contact Nancy Leahy (nleahy@usaid.gov).

For more information on last year’s competition, please visit:

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1410&fuseaction=topics.ev...

http://www.planetizen.com/node/47876

Ayuda para la restauración de la Iglesia redonda de Belgrano

¨La redonda¨ de Belgrano. Foto de Wikipedia

Esta iglesia histórica es un hito en el Barrio de Belgrano; su nombre es Parroquia de la Inmaculada Concepción, pero los vecinos la conocemos como ¨la redonda de Belgrano¨. He vivido a unas dos o tres cuadras de ella, y me resultaba difícil pasar sin entrar. En su recinto, hemos celebrado el bautismo del hijo de una de mis más queridas amigas. Ahora leo que están restaurando y los fondos no alcanzan.

Reproduzco el texto publicado en mibelgrano.com.ar y debajo dejo otro link para que conozcan un poco de su historia:

Esta foto de skycraperscity.com muestra un Belgrano incipiente, y la construcción de la parroquia comenzada en 1876 http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=55634345

Ayudemos a la Iglesia

La Iglesia Inmaculada Concepción, "La Redonda", necesita $ 45.000 para realizar los arreglos más urgentes, para que no se derrumbe. Ya cedieron mamposterías y revoques por la humedad. Todo empeoró por la vibración del tránsito y la extensión del subte D.

La falta de mantenimiento está haciendo desprender buena parte de las molduras de su cúpula redonda. La parroquia no tiene plata para las obras, por eso salió a pedirle ayuda a la gente.

El 8 de diciembre la iglesia, que queda en Vuelta de Obligado y Juramento, festejará su cumpleaños número 125. Y los años se hacen sentir. El tiempo resintió su estructura, hecha —como se construía a principios del siglo XIX— de ladrillos de barro. Se levantó cuando Belgrano quedaba en el medio del campo. Ahora la rodean edificios, por la esquina pasan 18 líneas de colectivos y a una cuadra, por avenida Cabildo, el subte.

Hace unos 20 años empezó a tener filtraciones de humedad, pero dicen en la parroquia que todo empeoró con la extensión del subte D, en el 91. "Desviaron todo el tránsito de Cabildo por el frente de la iglesia, y esa vibración sumada a los cimbronazos de las excavaciones produjeron rajaduras en el techo y las paredes", contó el cura párroco, Rafael Morán Díaz.

Por ellas empezó a filtrarse humedad que terminó haciendo ceder mamposterías y revoques. En el verano se cayó una hilera de molduras del exterior de la cúpula, justo en el arenero que está al lado del templo. Hace más de un año tuvieron que techar el interior con una mediasombra negra para que el revoque y el cielorraso no cayeran sobre la gente.

"El peligro es que a la larga pierda estabilidad. Si esto sigue va a empezar a afectar los cimientos", explicó Ricardo Czapla, el arquitecto que está cargo de los trabajos de recuperación de La Redonda, como conocen a la iglesia en el barrio y aún más allá de sus límites.

Para parar la humedad necesitan hacer un tratamiento hidrófugo, es decir sellar todas las filtraciones. "Nos presupuestaron $ 45.000, una cantidad a la que lamentablemente no llegamos. El poco dinero que nos entra por donaciones lo usamos para pagar sueldos y para el trabajo social", se lamentó Morán. La iglesia tiene un merendero, que atiende con comida y ropa a más de 80 familias. Esa cifra, aclaran, es sólo para evitar que la estructura se siga deteriorando. La restauración de los frescos de su cúpula y de las más de cien molduras de su nave se llevará otros $ 600.000.

Echaron mano a los ahorros de la iglesia y lograron juntar $ 1.500. Con esa plata contrataron a tres obreros que están sacando los revoques flojos. Antes un grupo de voluntarios de la parroquia los fotografió para restaurarlos si consiguen el dinero. Hicieron lo mismo con el cielo raso cubierto de guardas. Están pintadas a estilo trompe l'oeil, una técnica que simula profundidad. También descolgaron la araña, agarrada a dos soportes demasiado oxidados para sostenerla.

Nadie sabe qué va a pasar cuando se acabe esa plata. Sólo hay una iglesia que depende del Gobierno porteña, la Santa Felicitas, en Barracas. Y, por ahora el apoyo oficial es sólo técnico. La directora de Patrimonio de la Ciudad, Nany Arias Incolla, lo explica: "Tenemos un equipo de arquitectos que ya asesoró a varias iglesias, pero, lamentablemente, no contamos con presupuesto para este tipo de trabajos". En el Arzobispado la situación no es demasiado distinta. "La gente cree que la Iglesia es una institución llena de dinero, pero la plata que entra siempre es menor que la que sale. Por eso, en estos casos , la única alternativa que tenemos es pedirle ayuda a la gente", explicó su vocero, Guillermo Marcó.

Y ya empezaron: habilitaron una línea telefónica para donaciones y prepararon una carpeta para salir a pedir ayuda a empresas. Además, reparten volantes en misa explicando los problemas a los vecinos. La Inmaculada Concepción no sólo es el símbolo de Belgrano, sino que forma parte del patrimonio histórico de los porteños. "En Buenos Aires sólo hay otras dos iglesias de una sola nave y de cúpula circular —explica Juan Carlos Poli, uno de los arquitectos que restauró la Catedral metropolitana— Fue un alarde constructivo para la época. Es una pena que nadie se dé cuenta de la importancia que eso tiene para la Ciudad".

La Inmaculada Concepción recibe donaciones en Obligado, de martes a viernes de 9 a 12 y de 16 a 19. El teléfono de la secretaría parroquial es 4784-3596. Precisan dinero y materiales.

http://www.mibelgrano.com.ar/laredonda.htm

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1345908-renovado-esplendor-luce-la-iglesia-la-redonda-de-belgrano?origen=NLCult&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=titulares&utm_campaign=NLCult

Environment and feeling

Forest. Image from educacion2.com

¨The problem of how environment and feeling are related comes to a head with the question, can a sense of spaciousness be associated with the forest? From one viewpoint, the forest is a cluttered environment, the antithesis of open space. Distant views are nonexistent. A farmer has to cut down trees to create space for his farmstead and fields. Yet once the farm is established it becomes an ordered world of meaning -a place- and beyond it is the forest and space. The forest, no less than the bare plain, is a trackless region of possibility. Trees that clutter up space from one viewpoint are, from another, the means by stand one behind the other as far as the eyes can see, and they encourage the mind to extrapolate to infinity. The open plain, however large, comes visibly to an end at the horizon. The forest, although it may be small, appears boundless to one lost in its midst.¨

REFERENCE

Space and Place. By Yi-Fu Tuan. Spaciousness and Crowding, p. 56. Minnesota, 2007

El orgullo del arquitecto

Bones´wall. By Myriam B. Mahiques

Nosotras no hemos sido creadas, sino, como todo organismo, gestadas, desde el momento en que los esclavos arrastraron estas enormes piedras. Con ellas convinimos tomar la forma correspondiente a su tectonicidad; a cambio, les permitiríamos moverse libres en nuestro interior, para abrir y cerrar pasadizos a discreción. Con las enredaderas tortuosas acordamos nos escondieran, optando algunas por moldearse al laberinto vegetal, que desbarató su esqueleto pétreo, pero, en esencia, en lo oscuro de sus entrañas, aún permanecen allí.

No imaginó el arquitecto que seríamos muchas más en el mundo, atemporales, hermanadas en nuestros principios, distintas a la vista de quien permitimos nos descubra ocasionalmente; de lo contrario, no tendríamos razón de ser, ni gozaríamos de las opiniones de científicos y charlatanes, quienes nos han tildado de monumentos, observatorios, tumbas, y hasta de creaciones extraterrestres!

El arquitecto, desconocedor de nuestros acuerdos previos, creyó que sus planos eran respetados al detalle. Lo observamos disfrutar de la grandiosidad de ¨su obra¨, y el orgullo lo instó a contemplarnos desde afuera y desde adentro, incauto a nuestra estructura celosa que lo atrapó a él y sus trabajadores sin piedad; nos teñimos de su brillante rojo sanguíneo, devoramos sus huesos y los convertimos en parte de nuestros muros, dejando a los sarcófagos reales como excusa de nuestra existencia.

Escuche el microrrelato ilustrado con fotos: