Date
March 16th, 2016
Speaker
Sampo Ruoppila (University of Turku, Finland)
Discussant
Carlo Salone (University of Turin)
Author: admin
Learning from Gulf Cities 2016 – New York City
Inspired by the classic book, Learning from Las Vegas produced in 1972 by architectural scholars Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour, we can learn from new, even “outlandish” cities. They often reveal trends otherwise obscured by attention to more traditional urban sites. Rather than ridicule or deplore, we look for lessons relevant for other cities around the world. Seemingly arising out of isolated desert locales, Gulf cities are in fact both receivers and exporters of contemporary shifts – in tastes, capacities, and urban consequences. This is because, more than ever, urban places interconnect across the globe; their spectacles travel, their investments travel, and their buildings travel. This prompts both intra-regional and international comparisons.
In conjunction with the opening, Amale Andraos (Dean of the GSAPP, Columbia University) gave the lecture “Old Centers, New Centers: Architecture, Representation, and the Arab City”
Leaflet of the 2016 Learning from Gulf Cities exhibition
The City of Renderings
Year
2016
Description
Nastasi, M., (2016) “”The City of Renderings. Photorealism, spectacle and abstraction in contemporary urban landscapes””, En: Alcolea, R.A, Tárrago-Mingo, J., (eds.), en Congreso internacional: Inter photo arch “”Interacciones””, celebrado en Pamplona, los días 2 al 4 de Noviembre de 2016, (pp. 274-285).
Eco-Cities. From A Transnational Planning Idea To Local Realities
Student
Liana Mandradzhieva
Supervistor and Tutor
Davide Ponzini (Politecnico di Milano)
Fabio Manfredini (Politecnico di Milano)
Course of study
BSc Architectural
Academic year
2015-2016
Starchitecture. Scenes, Actors and Spectacles in Contemporary Cities [Second edition]
Internationally renowned architects are at centre stage in public debates, not only with reference to designing aesthetically striking artefacts, but also to urban regeneration programmes and urban branding. The narrative of the ‘Bilbao effect’ has been spreading worldwide, apparently leading cities to compete in collecting spectacular projects and buildings, sometimes with little regard for their urban context. Despite the fact that these forms of urban development have been changing the landscape in several cities, attention and explanations regarding the rationalities implied in such decision making and localization processes are today limited and sometimes misleading. The authors offer a critical reappraisal of oversimplified interpretations of star architecture and its many urban implications. Drawing on the study of relevant architectural decision-making processes in Bilbao, Abu Dhabi, Paris, New York City and the Vitra Campus and on an original photographic corpus, the book argues that these phenomena have high territorial variety, depending on local as well as more contingent factors. The book explains that architectural and urban spectacles are often used by urban policymakers in order to drive political consensus, maximize media exposure and eventually cover economic and real-estate interests, potentially inducing perverse or even paradoxical effects. It pragmatically outlines critical perspectives for interpreting architectural and urban projects as meaningful elements of contemporary urban landscapes.
Ponzini D. Nastasi M., Starchitecture. Scenes, Actors and Spectacles in Contemporary Cities, New York: Monacelli Press [second edition, 2016].