In the last several years, a crisis of capitalist development has redefined our understanding of cities in terms of international policy making, political constituencies and individual and collective political expressions in the urban realm. Inter Unit 8 has been experimenting with possible new scenarios for this political readjustment at a global scale, departing from its most basic expressions in the city. As a result, students have constructed innovative political arguments by experimenting with the relationship between everyday material activities–such as waiting for a bus, dancing, chatting in the streets, or wheeling and dealing in the city squares–and a particular material organization. In these common everyday practices, students have found the materials from which to reconstruct the political experience in the city. Manifested in public and constructed as a physical material expression, these everyday practices acquire a political value — understanding the political as what Hannah Arendt described as action in public — and redefine new models of the interaction between the individual and the collective in the public arena.

30.1.10

Combined Tutorial

Inter Unit 8 combined tutorial will be with Inter Unit 10 students and tutors next Friday 5th February in 37 Bedford Square building 1st floor from 10am to 7pm.
http://aainter10.blogspot.com/

Grasshopper Seminar

The first seminar of Grasshopper by Jheny Nieto will be from 11am to 1pm next Wednesday 3rd February in Open Room 4. Please bring your laptops to the seminar.

The next seminars will be in the following order,

11am-1pm Sat. 6th February Open Room 3
11am-1pm Wed. 10th February Open Room 3
11am-1pm Wed. 24th February Open Room 3
11am-1pm Sat. 27th February Open Room 3
11am-1pm Wed. 3rd March Open Room 3

Tutorials B04 W2

Next week tutorials will be in Inter Unit 8 Space following this order,

Tuesday 2nd February
10.00 Kayvan
10.30 Atta
11.00 Maud
11.30 Liza
12.00 Merve
13.30 Gary
14.00 Stavros
14.30 Costa
15.00 Olivia
15.30 Karl

Wednesday 3rd February
13.30 Max
14.00 Yong
14.30 Uliana

29.1.10

Brief 04 W2

W3 Permeability/Porosity
01-05 Feb

Building on the discussing from the first term, the politics of skin openings will be reassessed through students’ designs throughout this week. Each student will provide an efficient system of openings for the skins that is consistent with the political argument being presented.

Readings
Steven Holl, Experiments on Porosity, The Architectural Review, 2006.

References
Steven Holl, Sarphatistraat Offices, Amsterdam, 1996-2000.
Francois Roches I' ve Heard About: Hypnotic Chamber, 2006.

24.1.10

Pin up Brief 04 W1

The First Pin-up after our trip to Havana will be on Friday 29th January in Open room 3 Bedford Square building from 10.00 to 7pm aprox. From 4pm to 5 pm Charles Tashima will show Portfolio examples.

22.1.10

Tutorial Brief 04 W1

First tutorial after Havana travel will be on Tuesday in Open Room 3. From 12 to 7pm we will be reviewing your work to be presented next Friday. Before this tutorial a seminar will be lectured by Jeroen van Ameijde.

Brief 04 W1

W1 Shape/Space
25-31 Jan
Skins are not only thin, flat surfaces, but they have also proven their ability to produce and incorporate space within their thickness. Students will evaluate these properties using their own designs by producing a different range of models and schematic drawings.

Readings
David Leatherbarrow & Mohsen Mostafavi, Surface Architecture, MIT Press, 2002.
Richard Sennett, Fall of the Public Man, London: Faber, 1986.

References
Frank Ghery, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2003.
Herzog and de Meuron, Ciudad el Flamenco, 2005.
Canales + Lombardero Patio House Without House, 2006.

04 Brief

QUESTIONING SKINS

After your initial contact with La Habana, students will initiate a systematic questioning of these skins through issues and concepts specific to the relationship between individuals and building skins. These include shape/space; permeability/porosity/transparency; reflection/projection; representation/phenomenology; and participation/interaction. (5 weeks)

20.1.10

Revision of Arguments and Portfolios

Next Friday 22nd of January we will review your portfolios. Please bring your work till date and ideas for next steps in your design for Plaza de La Revolucion. We will appreciate if you bring your photos of the trip with you to be share in the Unit. The meeting will be held in Intermediate Unit 8 as we did at the end of the first term.

10.00 Atta/Olivia/Kayvan

12.00 Gary/Uliana

2.00 Max/Stavros /Merve/Liza

4.30 Maud/Yong

6.00 Karl/Costa

TS3 Meeting

Next Thursday 21st of Janury we will have a meeting with TS3 tutors in Intermediate Unit 8 Space at 3pm. Please bring your work and ideas to organize your work till the end of the year.

6.1.10

Travel to Cuba

Intermediate Unit 8 will be in Havana from the 6th to the 19th of January.



Design and research work of Intermediate Unit 8 Architectural Association School of Architecture London UK