Page 34 - Are-You-a-Model?

12:05 Salome Schepers ETH Zürich
The mock-up
In September 2021, one could count 23 mock-ups in Zürich. They are omnipresent in the urban land- scape as the side effect of excessive construction activity. Situated on the plot rather than the archi- tect’s office, they are models at a critical moment of transition. Mock-ups are a laboratory bringing ar- chitects and builders together to collaborate. Their ephemeral nature reveals possibilities for solutions beyond regulations. They are models of a complex social, political and economic field within which ar- chitecture positions itself.
The master thesis studio at ETH Zürich su- pervised by Jan de Vylder, Silke Langenberg and Maarten Delbeke in Fall 2021 focused on mock-ups. Students investigated their various meanings and development scenarios. Projects explore how mock- ups announce the forthcoming transformation of a place and its impact on the inhabitants. A project focuses on a mock-up commissioned by the Swiss Federal Railways for an office tower for which no tenants could be found, and explores how the mock- up becomes an agent for speculation. Another pro- ject links the mock-up of an office building to single family houses at the periphery of Zürich and builds on the unintentional combination of two seemingly opposite typologies, revealing a system of social ideologies and economic power that shape the built environment.
Our contribution discusses through student projects how mock-ups act as a magnifying glass and showcase not only current technical standards and aesthetic preferences but also refer to the driv- ing forces behind the current building activity.
Paper with Orkun Kasap, Jan de Vylder, Maarten Delbeke and Silke Langenberg
12:25
Adrian Lahoud Royal College of Art
Beth Hughes Royal College of Art
Set and setting: Architecture and the rehearsal of sense
The destiny of the architectural model changes with the birth of mass media. Like the projects they pur- port to represent, three-dimensional physical mod- els increasingly circulate as images. We claim that architectural models cannot be understood outside of the network of sensors, screens, and software platforms that structure their mediation and value. We describe this network as a set. The set produces unique sensory and imaginative effects in relation- ship to making, collaboration, and viewing. Sets are powerful because they are originally contradictory and discontinuous, liberating uncertain relationships between models and audiences with respect to motivation and meaning. Through a series of case studies, we will examine the way architects, artists and performers utilise sets as a creative tool within their practice, proposing a provisional theory for the effects they generate.
Salome Schepers is a research assistant at the Chair of Construction Heritage and Preservation at ETH Zürich. She recently finished her Master’s degree in Architecture at ETH Zürich after a bachelor from EPFL Lausanne and LTH Lund, Sweden. Next to her studies, she has worked in several prac- tices in Australia and Switzerland.
Adrian Lahoud is Dean of the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art. In 2019, he curated the inaugural Sharjah Architecture Triennial on the theme ‘Rights of Future Gen- erations. He is currently working on a project exploring the intersection of architecture, anthropology and semiotics.
Beth Hughes is the Head of Architecture at the Royal College of Art. In 2019 she was thematic curator for the 2019 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. She is currently trus- tee of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Her current research explores the securitisation of the mediterranean and Italian fascist colonialism.
34 FRIDAY, 4.11.22 ARE YOU A MODEL?