ARCHITECTURE SURVEYS
The State of Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st Century
A two-part documentary, 58 minutes each, color
This video (2 x 58 minutes) documents an historic two-day conference organized in March, 2003 by Bernard Tschumi, then Dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture. The conference assembled some of the greatest minds in architecture. Most participants presented cutting edge concepts and ideas.
| With the participation of:
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Stan Allen
Wiel Arets
Michael Bell
Andrew Benjamin
Jennifer Bloomer
Karl Chu
Nigel Coates
Beatriz Colomina
Peter Cook
James Corner
Yolande Daniels
Kathryn Dean
Odile Decq
Elizabeth Diller
Evan Douglis
Peter Eisenman
| Colin 4nier
Kenneth Frampton
Leslie Gill
Christian Girard
Elizabeth Grosz
Zaha Hadid
Laurie Hawkinson
Michael Hays
Steven Holl
Catherine Ingraham
Ed Keller
Jeffrey Kipnis
Sulan Kolatan
Sanford Kwinter
Sylvia Lavin
Fred Levrat
| Greg Lynn
Winy Maas
Scott Marble
Reinhold Martin
Thom Mayne
Mary McLeod
Detlef Mertins
Victoria Meyers
Toshiko Mori
Farshid Moussavi
Enrique Norten
Joan Ockman
Gregg Pasquarelli
Wolf Prix
Mark Rakatansky
Hani Rashid
| Jesse Reiser
Terence Riley
Yehuda Safran
Saskia Sassen
Michael Sorkin
Lars Spuybroek
Robert Stern
Mark Taylor
Bernard Tschumi
Nanako Umemoto
Ben van Berkel
Anthony Vidler
Mark Wigley
Gwendolyn Wright
Alejandro Zaera-Polo
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The conference program included:
Day 1
Aesthetics + Urbanism
How do we explain the current popularity of avant-garde objects mixed with rearguard urbanism? What would constitute an avant-garde urbanism?
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?
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 the detail the place where architecture confronts its cyclical identity crisis?
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?
Day 2
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?
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?
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?
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?
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