Speaking (of) Architecture

To stimulate seeing, thinking and ‘speaking’ architecture in ways other than conventional practice dictates, we devised two projects for second year interior architecture students. We identified prior architectural constructs, a tower in one case and two parallel walls in the other, and questioned how they could be imagined differently. Alongside the objects, we assigned activities which did not lend themselves to be housed in given architectural types: clowning, unicycling, acrobacy, fortunetelling. The challenge of establishing meaningful links between the objects and the designated activities initiated architectural reinterpretations at various levels. The two problems diverged at this point: the project entitled ‘Wall of Entertainment’ resulted in the transformation of the object whereas ‘Towers’ involved the mutation of the activity. Seemingly intact entities generated new forms, presumably ordinary functions yielded unusual narratives. In each case, ordinarily unheeded components of architectural constructs and programs were explored, producing unconventional designs.