New Urban Blueprints Urban Blueprints
a new
urban BLUEPRINT
F eAtu re s
In a recent conversation with SLEEK’s art
editor, the artist Ahmet Ögüt remarked
that architects are becoming the new
activists. “They’re on the ground, arguing
with the government, changing spaces,”
he said. This view might seem surprising as
contemporary architecture has once again
become dominated by vulgar displays of
wealth such as London’s One Hyde Park,
where a five-bedroom apartment costs
a cool £75 million. Moreover, in terms of
building, the profession has become the
domain of ‘starchitects’ – a term coined
by the Wall Street Journal in 2014 referring to big designers such as Zaha Hadid,
Rem Koolhas and Frank Gehry, whose
names are brands in themselves.
Under this economic and aesthetic regime,
style has commonly taken precedence over
substance, and the needs of communities
have been frequently ignored. However, a
new breed of architects are shaking up the
relationship between money, people and
buildings.
From ELEMENTAL’s revolutionary housing
scheme for squatters in Chile to Turner
Prize-winning group ASSEMBLE’s regenera tion schemes in the UK’s towns and
cities, the profession is emerging as catalyst
for change.
C olle Ct i v e ArC h i t e Ct u r e
As the collectives ELEMENTAL
and ASSEMBLE
take home prestigious awards,
and the next VENICE ARCHITECTURE
BIENNALE will be all
about SUSTAINABILITY, AFFORDABILITY
and new architectural modes,
we speak to the collectives driving this new
ARCHITECTURAL VISION.
Naturally, some people aren’t convinced by the efficacy of these ideas.
Writing in The Architect’s Newspaper after Assemble triumphed at the
Turner Prize last December, Fred Scharmen wrote, “Awarding an art prize
for nice adaptive reuse of half-demolished public housing is like giving an
award for the prettiest band-aid on a sucking chest wound.” This seems
disingenuous. Independent groups like Assemble can be held no more
responsible for the structural problems that have created this “sucking
chest wound” than the inhabitants of the buildings they refurbish. They
also arguably draw attention to the need for political solutions in the UK’s
housing crisis. And in doing so they raise a more profound question about
the nature of ownership and public space itself: Who should have the right
to shape the places we live in?
In the run-up to the 2016 Venice Architecture Bienniale curated by
ELEMENTAL, SLEEK speaks to the South American bureau’s director
Alejandro Aravena, as well as Assemble, Collective Disaster and Something
Fantastic about their practice, their politics and the demise of the
starchitect.
143
C olle Ct i v e ArC h i t e Ct u r e
Text ALISON HUGILL
Assemble
Fe At ure s
OTOProjects. Courtesy: Assemble
The idea behind ASSEMBLE’S Turner pri-
Smith, part of the group’s success is due to their nonconformist identity. “Going into a
ze winning project began as a callout for
situation calling yourself an architect puts up a barrier between you and the community you’re
ideas from a community scheme revitalising
working with,” says Smith. “We try to get around this by saying we’re not architects, and by es-
Granby Four Streets, a residential area of
tablishing real relationships with people.”
semi-dilapidated social housing made up of
turn-of-the-20th-century redbrick vernacu-
It’s a novel approach, and one that seems to be working. Since they formed in 2010 they’ve
lar dwellings in Toxteth, Liverpool. Follow-
worked on several socially-oriented programmes. These include East London horticultur-
ing riots in 1981, the council acquired many
al scheme Limborough Gardens, a child-led research project into play in Bristol’s Leigh
of the houses in the area for redevelopment,
Woods, and a temporary School of Narrative Dance at the MAXXI gallery in Rome. Other
causing hundreds of people to leave, and nu-
high profile jobs include a £1.8 million commission to create a gallery for Goldsmiths uni-
merous properties to fall into disrepair.
versity in an old Victorian South London bath house, and The Cineroleum, a petrol station
on Clerkenwell Road that they converted into an open cinema.
Yardhouse. Courtesy: Assemble
However, over the last ten years, local res-
SLEEK №49
idents have fought demolition plans and
Paloma Strelitz believes that what unites her group is their passion for renovating decaying,
formed a Community Land Trust (CLT) to
disused or ignored urban spaces. “The city can be very disempowering,” she says. “So what
fix their neighbourhood. Assemble joined
we’re trying to address is the disconnection between people, buildings and infrastructure. The
forces with the CLT to refurbish ten homes
built environment is man-made and malleable, so we explores opportunities for people to shape
and establish the Granby Workshop, a social
their surroundings.” Assemble’s projects are often public, participatory, and in some cases
enterprise selling domestic items made from
temporary. Like the pop-up shop and the use of shipping containers as substitutes for com-
bits of demolished buildings. Subsequently,
mercial and residential developments, their work is undoubtedly symptomatic of the UK
the London-based design group won the
austerity programme. However, in this age of decreased public spending, the beauty of their
Turner gong at the Tate in December last
work lies in their ability to help communities maximise their resources and regenerate ne-
year – becoming the first ‘non-artists’ to
glected districts. The next few years will show if they can also take on planning restrictions
do so – and this February Granby CLT was
protecting approximately 1 million long-term empty houses in England and Wales. But for
awarded arts council funding for a winter
the time being, their projects will continue to empower the public, and that can only be a
garden. According to group member Giles
good thing.
145
BXL Swings in the cracks. Copyright: Louisa Vermoere
Interview JENI FULTON
C olleC t i v e ArC h i t e C t u r e
Collective
Disaster
Fe Atu re s
Research image: Mount Olympus
Collective Disaster is a group of architects, artists, activists, philoso-
In our view, the task of the designer is to intervene in patterns of
phers, scientists and economists based in Brussels and Berlin, whose
contemporary communication patterns and facilitate a constructive
work lies at the interstices of aesthetics, politics, ethics and science.
dialogue. However, every time we’ve tried something we’ve come
This multidisciplinary approach means that their portfolio is broad,
up against resistance, so we’ve had to become activists, yes. The
encompassing “Usine du Trésor Noir” (“Black Treasure Factory”), a
critic Justin McGuirk once said that architects hoping to change the
public toilet linked to a bio-waste convertor, “Miracle Mountain” a
world are going to require political will-power, and we agree with
spring heated by energy generated by a composter, and “BXL swings in
that assertion as. Unless we question dominant forms of culture,
the cracks”, a guerrilla project placing benches, ladders and tables fash-
things will stay the same.
ioned from appropriated domestic materials in and around Brussels.
Underlying this outlook is their focus on people power and the envi-
You’ve written elsewhere that guerrilla strategies are an effective way
ronmental problems facing humanity. They spoke to Sleek via email.
for people to express themselves.
We start from the premise that what is ‘common’ is first of all yours.
How did Collective Disaster start?
You can use it and improve it, and you have a responsibility for it,
Collective Disaster started as a network of friends from different
too. So the city is ours, and if you can you should use it, just as
academic, professional and technical backgrounds who wanted de-
much as you’d use your living room.
velop their ideas. Our aim is to affect public opinion through creativity and design, and the dynamic of our team has changed as
What determines your approach for each project?
we’ve evolved. Calling it a team is misleading. We’re just a loosely
Circumstances. That might sound weak, but the human capacity to
affiliated group of people acting under shared title.
adapt to our environment is crucial for survival. Other than that we
don’t have any rules or regulations. We enjoy putting questions on
Are you engaged with architectural activism?
the table and making people think about how their values haven’t al-
We try to follow Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire’s dictum that
ways been accepted as universal truths, and that change is possible.
“dialogue cannot exist unless dialoguers engage in critical thinking.”
SLEEK №49
147
UC Innovation Center – Anacleto Angelini, 2014, San Joaquín Campus,
Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Photo: Felipe Diaz
Text JENI FULTON & MAGDALENA TORRES
C olleC t i v e ArC h i t e C t u r e
Elemental
Fe Atu re s
Ocho Quebradas House, 2013 – ongoing. Los Vilos, Chile
Rendering: ELEMENTAL
Upending traditional architectural hierar-
for customisable, flexible units that can be adapted to each family’s budget and needs.
chies and putting people at centre of design
ELEMENTAL’s work is characterised by a participatory design process, whereby initial
are the cornerstones of Chilean agency
plans are discussed with the local community, and modified according to their input. This
ELEMENTAL’s vision. “We’re a ‘do tank’,
method was used to great effect in Constitución, a city devastated by an earthquake in 2010,
not a think tank,” says director Alejandro
where the bureau publically displayed their plans to find out what the locals thought. “We
Aravena, who received a Pritzker prize for
tackle the issues that are relevant to our proposals, and we believe that identifying the questions,
architecture in January’s annual awards.
and thus the problems, is more important than going straight to the answers,” says Aravena.
“And we use the city as a platform for cre-
“And by engaging with the different demands of our stakeholders, who include politicians, locals,
ating equality by identifying problems in
environmental advisors and others, we maintain our connection with society.”
transportation, housing and elsewhere where
Doing this, the Santiago-based architects are also working against their industry’s perceived
we think we can improve people’s lives.”
wisdom, which very rarely values public consultations, and where sustainability is hardly
ever considered a top priority. “One of the biggest mistakes architecture makes is that we’re
Founded in 2000 with the objective of improv-
expecting society to be interested in the specific problems of architecture,” says Aravena. “Instead,
ing social housing in Chile, ELEMENTAL
architects need to adjust to what society is discussing. We should just provide the forms that can
consists of Aravena, Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan
translate social problems into solutions.”
Cerda, Victor Oddó and Diego Torres. For
Later this year, Aravena will curate the Venice Architecture Bienniale, where ELEMENTAL’s
one of their initial projects, they construct-
ideas about modern living will doubtlessly influence the event’s direction. But with such a
ed social housing for squatter families in
thoroughly radical approach to his profession, how does he view his own role as an architect?
the town of Iquique. Realising that after
“Cities consist of frictions and barriers,” continues Aravena, “but they also harbour the solutions
purchasing the land, they only had enough
to those obstacles, too, and that’s where architects have a very important job, because they have
cash to fit the dwelling with the bare essen-
the potential to turn those conflicting forces into material forms, and solve some of the complex
tials, they enlisted the DIY know-how of the
problems that different societies face. All it takes is the creativity to translate strategic opportu-
building’s residents to finish the rest. They
nities into proposals.”
have since replicated this approach, allowing
SLEEK №49
149
Text WILL FURTADO
C olleC t i v e ArC h i t e C t u r e
Coalitions, with Monadnock and Trans
Courtesy: Something Fantastic
Changing the world might not be a top priority for most gradu-
work there included researching informally overgrown social hous-
ates, but that’s exactly what motivated Berlin-based architect trio
ing, such as Cidade de Deus, and exhibiting their pro jects at the São
Something Fantastic. Having graduated from at the Berlin Univer-
Paulo Biennial. They also encouraged government planners to con-
sity of the Arts in 2009, Elena Schuetz, Leonard Streich and Julian
sider favelas and their previously stigmatised communal qualities in
Schubert were eager to put their knowledge into practice. Their first
their development ideas. “Favelas are built house by house, which is
pro ject was a 220-page illustrated manifesto based on their MA the-
the complete opposite of the standard way buildings are constructed,
ses that set out their pragmatic yet ambitious principles. “It was a
and that’s super interesting,” says Schubert.
good chance to think about what we wanted,” says Schuetz. “It just
Indeed, some of their other projects are similarly unorthodox. Specu-
felt like the right thing to do, rather than planning things as we went
lative design “The White City” implements Steven Chu’s hypothesis
along, which is the common route.”
that painting all roofs white will reflect radiation back into space,
and the “Nighttrain Station” aims to extend’s Berlin night train ser-
Photo: Daniel Burchard
Perret Schaad SS15 fashion show, Kronprinzenpalais, Berlin
Something
Fantastic
Fe Atu re s
Something Fantastic’s philosophy is straightforward: keep it simple.
vices in order to completely supplant short-haul flights. However,
In their view, one of the major failings of 20th century avant-garde
Something Fantastic don’t see themselves as activists, because they’re
design is the fact it was shrouded in such complicated terms that
wary that such practices diminish government responsibility and in-
people without an arts degree couldn’t understand. “These designers,
vestment. “It just doesn’t work for us,” says Schubert. “We admire
they saw the buildings as triumphs even though they were intangi-
groups that take that stance be we think it’s unfair that they have to
ble for most people,” says Streich. Conversely, Something Fantastic
do so without much funding and with so much personal effort. But
value functionality, smartness and eco-friendliness, a good example
we’re sure that things will change. We always try to stay positive.”
of which is their “Dumpling Express”, a streamlined, solar-powered
mobile cooker designed for street vendors.
Moreover, their practice isn’t just focussed on design and publishing,
but encompasses academia, too. After they released their manifesto,
SLEEK №49
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich invited them to
venice Architecture Biennale 2016, titled
work on a postgraduate programme in urban design in Brazil. Their
reporting From the Front
will open in mAy 2016 .
151
urban BLUEPRINT
F eAtu re s
In a recent conversation with SLEEK’s art
editor, the artist Ahmet Ögüt remarked
that architects are becoming the new
activists. “They’re on the ground, arguing
with the government, changing spaces,”
he said. This view might seem surprising as
contemporary architecture has once again
become dominated by vulgar displays of
wealth such as London’s One Hyde Park,
where a five-bedroom apartment costs
a cool £75 million. Moreover, in terms of
building, the profession has become the
domain of ‘starchitects’ – a term coined
by the Wall Street Journal in 2014 referring to big designers such as Zaha Hadid,
Rem Koolhas and Frank Gehry, whose
names are brands in themselves.
Under this economic and aesthetic regime,
style has commonly taken precedence over
substance, and the needs of communities
have been frequently ignored. However, a
new breed of architects are shaking up the
relationship between money, people and
buildings.
From ELEMENTAL’s revolutionary housing
scheme for squatters in Chile to Turner
Prize-winning group ASSEMBLE’s regenera tion schemes in the UK’s towns and
cities, the profession is emerging as catalyst
for change.
C olle Ct i v e ArC h i t e Ct u r e
As the collectives ELEMENTAL
and ASSEMBLE
take home prestigious awards,
and the next VENICE ARCHITECTURE
BIENNALE will be all
about SUSTAINABILITY, AFFORDABILITY
and new architectural modes,
we speak to the collectives driving this new
ARCHITECTURAL VISION.
Naturally, some people aren’t convinced by the efficacy of these ideas.
Writing in The Architect’s Newspaper after Assemble triumphed at the
Turner Prize last December, Fred Scharmen wrote, “Awarding an art prize
for nice adaptive reuse of half-demolished public housing is like giving an
award for the prettiest band-aid on a sucking chest wound.” This seems
disingenuous. Independent groups like Assemble can be held no more
responsible for the structural problems that have created this “sucking
chest wound” than the inhabitants of the buildings they refurbish. They
also arguably draw attention to the need for political solutions in the UK’s
housing crisis. And in doing so they raise a more profound question about
the nature of ownership and public space itself: Who should have the right
to shape the places we live in?
In the run-up to the 2016 Venice Architecture Bienniale curated by
ELEMENTAL, SLEEK speaks to the South American bureau’s director
Alejandro Aravena, as well as Assemble, Collective Disaster and Something
Fantastic about their practice, their politics and the demise of the
starchitect.
143
C olle Ct i v e ArC h i t e Ct u r e
Text ALISON HUGILL
Assemble
Fe At ure s
OTOProjects. Courtesy: Assemble
The idea behind ASSEMBLE’S Turner pri-
Smith, part of the group’s success is due to their nonconformist identity. “Going into a
ze winning project began as a callout for
situation calling yourself an architect puts up a barrier between you and the community you’re
ideas from a community scheme revitalising
working with,” says Smith. “We try to get around this by saying we’re not architects, and by es-
Granby Four Streets, a residential area of
tablishing real relationships with people.”
semi-dilapidated social housing made up of
turn-of-the-20th-century redbrick vernacu-
It’s a novel approach, and one that seems to be working. Since they formed in 2010 they’ve
lar dwellings in Toxteth, Liverpool. Follow-
worked on several socially-oriented programmes. These include East London horticultur-
ing riots in 1981, the council acquired many
al scheme Limborough Gardens, a child-led research project into play in Bristol’s Leigh
of the houses in the area for redevelopment,
Woods, and a temporary School of Narrative Dance at the MAXXI gallery in Rome. Other
causing hundreds of people to leave, and nu-
high profile jobs include a £1.8 million commission to create a gallery for Goldsmiths uni-
merous properties to fall into disrepair.
versity in an old Victorian South London bath house, and The Cineroleum, a petrol station
on Clerkenwell Road that they converted into an open cinema.
Yardhouse. Courtesy: Assemble
However, over the last ten years, local res-
SLEEK №49
idents have fought demolition plans and
Paloma Strelitz believes that what unites her group is their passion for renovating decaying,
formed a Community Land Trust (CLT) to
disused or ignored urban spaces. “The city can be very disempowering,” she says. “So what
fix their neighbourhood. Assemble joined
we’re trying to address is the disconnection between people, buildings and infrastructure. The
forces with the CLT to refurbish ten homes
built environment is man-made and malleable, so we explores opportunities for people to shape
and establish the Granby Workshop, a social
their surroundings.” Assemble’s projects are often public, participatory, and in some cases
enterprise selling domestic items made from
temporary. Like the pop-up shop and the use of shipping containers as substitutes for com-
bits of demolished buildings. Subsequently,
mercial and residential developments, their work is undoubtedly symptomatic of the UK
the London-based design group won the
austerity programme. However, in this age of decreased public spending, the beauty of their
Turner gong at the Tate in December last
work lies in their ability to help communities maximise their resources and regenerate ne-
year – becoming the first ‘non-artists’ to
glected districts. The next few years will show if they can also take on planning restrictions
do so – and this February Granby CLT was
protecting approximately 1 million long-term empty houses in England and Wales. But for
awarded arts council funding for a winter
the time being, their projects will continue to empower the public, and that can only be a
garden. According to group member Giles
good thing.
145
BXL Swings in the cracks. Copyright: Louisa Vermoere
Interview JENI FULTON
C olleC t i v e ArC h i t e C t u r e
Collective
Disaster
Fe Atu re s
Research image: Mount Olympus
Collective Disaster is a group of architects, artists, activists, philoso-
In our view, the task of the designer is to intervene in patterns of
phers, scientists and economists based in Brussels and Berlin, whose
contemporary communication patterns and facilitate a constructive
work lies at the interstices of aesthetics, politics, ethics and science.
dialogue. However, every time we’ve tried something we’ve come
This multidisciplinary approach means that their portfolio is broad,
up against resistance, so we’ve had to become activists, yes. The
encompassing “Usine du Trésor Noir” (“Black Treasure Factory”), a
critic Justin McGuirk once said that architects hoping to change the
public toilet linked to a bio-waste convertor, “Miracle Mountain” a
world are going to require political will-power, and we agree with
spring heated by energy generated by a composter, and “BXL swings in
that assertion as. Unless we question dominant forms of culture,
the cracks”, a guerrilla project placing benches, ladders and tables fash-
things will stay the same.
ioned from appropriated domestic materials in and around Brussels.
Underlying this outlook is their focus on people power and the envi-
You’ve written elsewhere that guerrilla strategies are an effective way
ronmental problems facing humanity. They spoke to Sleek via email.
for people to express themselves.
We start from the premise that what is ‘common’ is first of all yours.
How did Collective Disaster start?
You can use it and improve it, and you have a responsibility for it,
Collective Disaster started as a network of friends from different
too. So the city is ours, and if you can you should use it, just as
academic, professional and technical backgrounds who wanted de-
much as you’d use your living room.
velop their ideas. Our aim is to affect public opinion through creativity and design, and the dynamic of our team has changed as
What determines your approach for each project?
we’ve evolved. Calling it a team is misleading. We’re just a loosely
Circumstances. That might sound weak, but the human capacity to
affiliated group of people acting under shared title.
adapt to our environment is crucial for survival. Other than that we
don’t have any rules or regulations. We enjoy putting questions on
Are you engaged with architectural activism?
the table and making people think about how their values haven’t al-
We try to follow Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire’s dictum that
ways been accepted as universal truths, and that change is possible.
“dialogue cannot exist unless dialoguers engage in critical thinking.”
SLEEK №49
147
UC Innovation Center – Anacleto Angelini, 2014, San Joaquín Campus,
Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Photo: Felipe Diaz
Text JENI FULTON & MAGDALENA TORRES
C olleC t i v e ArC h i t e C t u r e
Elemental
Fe Atu re s
Ocho Quebradas House, 2013 – ongoing. Los Vilos, Chile
Rendering: ELEMENTAL
Upending traditional architectural hierar-
for customisable, flexible units that can be adapted to each family’s budget and needs.
chies and putting people at centre of design
ELEMENTAL’s work is characterised by a participatory design process, whereby initial
are the cornerstones of Chilean agency
plans are discussed with the local community, and modified according to their input. This
ELEMENTAL’s vision. “We’re a ‘do tank’,
method was used to great effect in Constitución, a city devastated by an earthquake in 2010,
not a think tank,” says director Alejandro
where the bureau publically displayed their plans to find out what the locals thought. “We
Aravena, who received a Pritzker prize for
tackle the issues that are relevant to our proposals, and we believe that identifying the questions,
architecture in January’s annual awards.
and thus the problems, is more important than going straight to the answers,” says Aravena.
“And we use the city as a platform for cre-
“And by engaging with the different demands of our stakeholders, who include politicians, locals,
ating equality by identifying problems in
environmental advisors and others, we maintain our connection with society.”
transportation, housing and elsewhere where
Doing this, the Santiago-based architects are also working against their industry’s perceived
we think we can improve people’s lives.”
wisdom, which very rarely values public consultations, and where sustainability is hardly
ever considered a top priority. “One of the biggest mistakes architecture makes is that we’re
Founded in 2000 with the objective of improv-
expecting society to be interested in the specific problems of architecture,” says Aravena. “Instead,
ing social housing in Chile, ELEMENTAL
architects need to adjust to what society is discussing. We should just provide the forms that can
consists of Aravena, Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan
translate social problems into solutions.”
Cerda, Victor Oddó and Diego Torres. For
Later this year, Aravena will curate the Venice Architecture Bienniale, where ELEMENTAL’s
one of their initial projects, they construct-
ideas about modern living will doubtlessly influence the event’s direction. But with such a
ed social housing for squatter families in
thoroughly radical approach to his profession, how does he view his own role as an architect?
the town of Iquique. Realising that after
“Cities consist of frictions and barriers,” continues Aravena, “but they also harbour the solutions
purchasing the land, they only had enough
to those obstacles, too, and that’s where architects have a very important job, because they have
cash to fit the dwelling with the bare essen-
the potential to turn those conflicting forces into material forms, and solve some of the complex
tials, they enlisted the DIY know-how of the
problems that different societies face. All it takes is the creativity to translate strategic opportu-
building’s residents to finish the rest. They
nities into proposals.”
have since replicated this approach, allowing
SLEEK №49
149
Text WILL FURTADO
C olleC t i v e ArC h i t e C t u r e
Coalitions, with Monadnock and Trans
Courtesy: Something Fantastic
Changing the world might not be a top priority for most gradu-
work there included researching informally overgrown social hous-
ates, but that’s exactly what motivated Berlin-based architect trio
ing, such as Cidade de Deus, and exhibiting their pro jects at the São
Something Fantastic. Having graduated from at the Berlin Univer-
Paulo Biennial. They also encouraged government planners to con-
sity of the Arts in 2009, Elena Schuetz, Leonard Streich and Julian
sider favelas and their previously stigmatised communal qualities in
Schubert were eager to put their knowledge into practice. Their first
their development ideas. “Favelas are built house by house, which is
pro ject was a 220-page illustrated manifesto based on their MA the-
the complete opposite of the standard way buildings are constructed,
ses that set out their pragmatic yet ambitious principles. “It was a
and that’s super interesting,” says Schubert.
good chance to think about what we wanted,” says Schuetz. “It just
Indeed, some of their other projects are similarly unorthodox. Specu-
felt like the right thing to do, rather than planning things as we went
lative design “The White City” implements Steven Chu’s hypothesis
along, which is the common route.”
that painting all roofs white will reflect radiation back into space,
and the “Nighttrain Station” aims to extend’s Berlin night train ser-
Photo: Daniel Burchard
Perret Schaad SS15 fashion show, Kronprinzenpalais, Berlin
Something
Fantastic
Fe Atu re s
Something Fantastic’s philosophy is straightforward: keep it simple.
vices in order to completely supplant short-haul flights. However,
In their view, one of the major failings of 20th century avant-garde
Something Fantastic don’t see themselves as activists, because they’re
design is the fact it was shrouded in such complicated terms that
wary that such practices diminish government responsibility and in-
people without an arts degree couldn’t understand. “These designers,
vestment. “It just doesn’t work for us,” says Schubert. “We admire
they saw the buildings as triumphs even though they were intangi-
groups that take that stance be we think it’s unfair that they have to
ble for most people,” says Streich. Conversely, Something Fantastic
do so without much funding and with so much personal effort. But
value functionality, smartness and eco-friendliness, a good example
we’re sure that things will change. We always try to stay positive.”
of which is their “Dumpling Express”, a streamlined, solar-powered
mobile cooker designed for street vendors.
Moreover, their practice isn’t just focussed on design and publishing,
but encompasses academia, too. After they released their manifesto,
SLEEK №49
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich invited them to
venice Architecture Biennale 2016, titled
work on a postgraduate programme in urban design in Brazil. Their
reporting From the Front
will open in mAy 2016 .
151