Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Convertible Cities 2011 - Tirana/Albania - the video
After 2 weeks of intense discussions and debates, we finally had a series of students deliver their work and we are happy to present the video to you here.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Convertible Cities 2011 - Tirana/Albania - work 1
the first days of hard working students in the new faculty building in Tirana, giving views to a very neutral and white work space and a very green and open land scape . . . .
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Convertible Cities 2011 - Tirana/Albania - the Program
Title: Field of Informality: Tirana
Lecturers: Sarah Calburn/Dustin Tusnovics
Program: Formal/Informal Tirana Mapping
Students: 4th year
Time: 2 weeks
Location: POLIS Uni/Tirana
Modality: individual elaborations
This studio seeks to understand, explore and expand the limits and potentials contained within the terms 'formal' and 'informal' as they apply to a cross section of Tirana.
Time: 2 weeks
Location: POLIS Uni/Tirana
Modality: individual elaborations
This studio seeks to understand, explore and expand the limits and potentials contained within the terms 'formal' and 'informal' as they apply to a cross section of Tirana.
We understand these terms to operate across a range of scales and qualities: they are mental, social, economic, political, architectural, urban and cultural, and they operate here both historically and contemporaneously.
Informal thinking (however it comes into being) ranges from the lateral, imaginative and radical to the outright illegal. Formal thinking ranges from an idealised rationality of highest sophistication and order to outright oppression.
We believe that the architect needs to move, continuously, between these two ranges of thought.
Could Tirana be seen as a perfect example of both these states of thought and action?
The studio will operate in 2 parts:
Week 1:
Students will critically map a strip of the city, from edge to edge, from the outskirts towards the airport across the Kombinat area to the centre across the 'valley of colours' to the northern landscape of the housing complexes, crossing all urban densities, scales and situations.
This critical mapping aims to expose and expand all techniques that may fall within the formal - informal continuum.
Mapping techniques will be developed from sketch into 3 dimensions to form a final 'map-strip' sculpture.
Mapping/formal languages will each develop in response to qualities mapped and expressions sought.
Week 2:
Identified formal/informal techniques will be developed into expanded narratives for positive architectural action. Students will make architectural interventions into their mapped areas using these developed conceptual bases.
Projects will be presented in 3D-models, and linked, again, to form a strip. Project scales will vary depending on the aims.
All work will be undertaken as individual projects.
Detailed Program:
Week 1:
Day 1:
Morning:
Lecture by D and S on global informalities,
Strip areas handed out to student pairs.
Readings handed out.
Straight onto bus:
Afternoon: Tour Guides: 'Describe your City' Bus trip across the strip, (lunch along the way) students to act in turn as tour guides to their parts (need microphone), describing the areas we are passing through, and ad libbing on the formal/informal conditions we are passing through.
Day 2:
Morning:
Lecture: by D and S on mapping
Work: drawing in studio, starting to map, draw, think, etc
Afternoon: crits and discussion of formal/informal conditions found so far: discussion of relevant mapping languages
Day 3:
Morning: work: expansion of formal/informal conditions from 2D into 3D mapping languages
Afternoon: crits and discussion: refinement of 3D languages alongside conceptual frameworks
Day 4:
All day work, informal crits for those who need them in afternoon
Day 5:
Morning: work and final assembly of strip
Afternoon: presentation of 3D strip:
Need to present concise conceptual outcomes taking account of readings.
Intermediate evaluation of each pair, based on the work of first week.
Weekend task: to think about a possible intervention in terms of mapping concept
Week 2:
Day 1:
Morning: present intervention idea based on expanded mapping narrative
Afternoon: work
Day 2:
Morning: work, 2D
Afternoon: work, informal crits
Day 3:
Morning: work into 3D
Afternoon: group crit session, formal
Day 4:
All day work, model making, informal crits
Day 5:
Morning: assemble model strip for final exhibition (including all material!!!!!)
Afternoon: Final Presentation to jury
some definitions of informality:
informal/ɪnˈfɔːml/_
▶adjective
- 1 relaxed and unofficial; not formal.
- 2 of or denoting the grammatical structures, vocabulary, and idiom suitable to everyday language and conversation rather than to official or formal contexts.
Definitions of informality on the Web:
- a manner that does not take forms and ceremonies seriously
- ease: freedom from constraint or embarrassment; "I am never at ease with strangers"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn - The condition of being informal
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/informality
Adjective
informal (comparative more informal, superlative most informal)
- Not formal or ceremonious; casual.
an informal get-together
- Not in accord with the usual regulations; unofficial.
an informal agreement
informal clothes
- (of language) Reflecting everyday, non-ceremonious usage.
- (horticulture) Not organized; not structured or planned.
Synonyms: heterodox, irregular, unceremonious, unconventional, unorthodox
Antonyms: ceremonial, ceremonious, conventional, formal, orthodox, regular, routine
Definition of INFORMAL
1
: marked by the absence of formality or ceremony <an informal meeting>
2
: characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary, casual, or familiar use <informal clothes>
— in·for·mal·i·ty \-(ˌ)fȯr-ˈma-lə-tē, -fər-\ noun
— in·for·mal·ly \-ˈfȯr-mə-lē\ adverb
in·for·mal·i·ty
–noun, plural -ties for 2.
1.
2.
some links:
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