THE STATE OF ARCHITECTURE
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY
How will architects characterize the beginning of the 21st century? What are
the key conversations that will shape architectural theory and practice in the
decades to come?
To coincide with the publication of INDEX Architecture (MIT Press/Columbia Books of Architecture), the
Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation presents the conference The State of Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st
Century, Friday March 28th and Saturday March 29th in Wood Auditorium, Avery.
Hall.
Friday, March 28 (9:30 - 6:30)
Aesthetics + Urbanism
How do we explain the current popularity of avant-garde objects mixed with
rearguard urbanism? What would constitute an avant-garde urbanism?
Kenneth Frampton (Moderator) , Stan Allen / James Corner, Winy Maas,
Michael Sorkin, Robert Stern, Kathryn Dean (Respondent), Gregg Pasquarelli (Respondent)
Politics + Material
Material is typically thought of in relation to aesthetics or structure.
But does it also have a political dimension? Is it possible to provoke through
materials?
Steven Holl (Moderator), Wiel Arets, Detlef Mertins, Toshiko Mori, Jesse
Reiser / Nanako Umemoto, Evan Douglis (Respondent), Victoria Meyers (Respondent)
Detail + Identity
First there was molding, then the reveal, now “blobs” with their
claim of seamlessness. Why is the detail (or absence of detail) such a longstanding
fixation for architects? Is it possible that the detail is the place where architecture
confronts its cyclical identity crisis?
Laurie Hawkinson (Moderator), Andrew Benjamin, Catherine Ingraham, Thom Mayne,
Kas Oosterhuis, Michael Bell, Scott Marble (Respondent), Yolande Daniels (Respondent)
Form + Influence
Is there a connection between avant-garde form and political influence?
Does form “matter” outside its aesthetic value or does it influence
the social world only through secondary effects?
Mary McLeod (Moderator), Odile Decq, Peter Eisenman, Jeffrey Kipnis, Alejandro
Zaera-Polo / Farshid Moussavi, Karl Chu (Respondent)
Reception and Book Release for INDEX Architecture on 100 level Avery Hall
Saturday, March 29 (10:00 - 6:30)
Globalization + Criticism
Architects are extending their reaches to ever-further realms, even as the
architectural media remains regional in terms of influence. What is the relation,
if any, between globalization and criticism?
Joan Ockman (Moderator), Colin Fournier, Enrique Norten, Terence Riley,
Saskia Sassen, Mark Taylor, Yehuda Safran (Respondent), Gwendolyn Wright (Respondent)
Organization + Bodies
Recent discussions about events, performance, program, cybernetics, and
organization all relate to the coordination of human activities. What is the
nature of the human subject that is implied by each of these various approaches
– about the docility or freedom of the bodies that inhabit architecture?
Reinhold Martin (Moderator), Christian Girard, Elizabeth Grosz, Sanford
Kwinter, Sylvia Lavin, Hani Rashid, Ed Keller (Respondent), Scott Marble
(Respondent)
Electronics + Perception
Much has been said about the effects of new technologies on perception in
the 19th century. What are the 21st-century modes of spatial perception, and
how do they influence architecture?
Mark Wigley (Moderator), Nigel Coates, Elizabeth Diller, Lars Spuybroek, Anthony
Vidler, Sulan Kolatan (Respondent), Frederic Levrat (Respondent)
Envelope + Public/Private
Do the new envelopes – amorphous, high-tech, glass, etc. – have
a relation, either iconographic or functional, to the programs they include
and the contexts they exclude? Are they truly performative, or do they merely
reinforce the separation between the public and private spheres?
Bernard Tschumi(Moderator), Beatriz Colomina, Zaha Hadid, Michael Hays, Greg
Lynn, Wolf Prix, Mark Rakatansky (Respondent)
Keynote speakers:
Rem Koolhaas (February 26)
Frank Gehry (March 25)
The conference is free and open to the public.
Seating is limited. Conference events will be simulcast
in rooms throughout the School.
