harvard symposia on architecture solid series Standards and dimensions are the sites where the political revolution occurs. organization or design?solidsolid harvard symposia on architecture solid series organization or design?2 independent magazine oF architecture+technoLogy autumn 2015. issue 46 Free oF advertising editors aurora Fernández per Javier mozas graphic concept aurora Fernández per Layout and production delia argote managing idoia esteban communication and press patricia garcía editor, engLish-Language version Ken mortimer editor, spanish-Language version aurora Fernández per Javier mozas submissions, subscriptions & orders a+t architecture publishers tel. +34 945 134276 submission@aplust.net orders@aplust.net www.aplust.net pubLisher a+t architecture publishersb issn 1132-6409 isbn 978-84-608-7749-3 Frequency: bianual (spring and autumn) printing gráficas irudi s.l. vi-503/2016 distribution (europe, usa, canada, australia, asia) idea books nieue herengracht 11. 1011rK amsterdam. the netherlands tel. +31 20 6226154 Fax +31 20 6209299 idea@ideabooks.nl www.ideabooks.nl (spain, portugal and Latin america) a+t architecture publishers tel.+34 945 134276 orders@aplust.net www.aplust.net copyrights copyright of the edition: a+t architecture publishers. copyright of the projects, articles and photographs: their authors. all the material has been provided by harvard gsd department of architecture. no part of this publication, including the cover, may be reproduced or transmitted without the express authorization in writing of the publisher. cover pierre bélanger, quoted from the discussion of the symposium on architecture: organization or design? harvard gsd, 15th october 2015. chuck hoberman, patent of reversibly expandable doubly-curved truss structure, 1990. a+t architecture publishers general Álava, 15 2ºa. 01005 vitoria-gasteiz. spain. www.aplust.net3 editoriaL committee iñaki Ábalos aurora Fernández per collin gardner mariana ibáñez Javier mozas harvard symposia on architecture committee iñaki Ábalos shantel blakely aurora Fernández per collin gardner mariana ibáñez sharon Johnston mark Lee ali malkawi Kiel moe Javier mozas carles muro antoine picon iii symposium: organization or design? curator: mariana ibáñez this second volume of the soLid series, published in collaboration with harvard gsd department of architecture, represents together with the first volume, design techniques, two approaches to the same question: how is the architectural project constructed? We act upon organizations that are social assemblies, sequences in time, or spatial networks. at the same time, organizations act upon us architects. questioning organization leads us to question how architects are operating today. is design reducible to organization –or organization to design? Este segundo volumen de la serie Solid, editada en colaboración con Harvard gSd department of Architecture, representa junto con el primer volumen, dESign TEcHniquES, dos formas de abordar la misma pregunta: ¿cómo se construye el proyecto de arquitectura? Actuamos sobre organizaciones que son conjuntos sociales, secuencias en el tiempo, o redes espaciales. Al mismo tiempo, las organizaciones actúan sobre nosotros los arquitectos. cuestionar las organizaciones nos lleva a cuestionar cómo operan los arquitectos en la actualidad. ¿Es el diseño reductible a organización o la organización a diseño? solid sERiEs harvard symposia on architecture4 contents. organization or design? harVard symposia on architectUre. solid series organization or design? mariana ibáñez ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 out oF time pierre bélanger ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 edge cases andrew Witt..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................36 design or organization? Lluís ortega .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 42 generative organization: aLgorithms oF invention chuck hoberman .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 46 organisation sanford Kwinter ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 54 conversations ethics and hacking ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 68 tool problem .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 69 digital era ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 70 matter or organization? ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 71 design of time in real-time ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 72 technical subjectivity ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 73 modeLs. the seLF-aLienation oF organizations ciro najle ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 74 organization |& design panagiotis michalatos ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 82 oRganization oR dEsign? conTEnTS5 contents. organization or design? harVard symposia on architectUre. solid series conversations the architect is present ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 85 organs and modalities ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 86 organization or obsession ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 86 Working with noise .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 87 Feelings and affects .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 87 peopLe, process and products hanif Kara .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 88 things as hoLes: voids Within patterns sergio Lopez-pineiro ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 92 bricKs LiKe you, or, three reminders andrew holder .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 104 design organization to design giovanna borasi .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 112 organization or design? versus design techniques iñaki Ábalos ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 122 organization oF the symposium collin gardner ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 124 biographies ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 125 PH oT o: ZA rA T ZA n Ev6 Mariana ibáñez: OrganizatiOn Or Design? harVarD syMpOsia On arChiteCtUre. sOliD series LOS ARQUITECTOS ORGANIZAN La tercera entrega de los Symposia on Architecture se centra en la cuestión de la organización. De hecho, todo tiene que ser organizado. La cuestión de cómo definir y calificar la organización es un debate abierto. Las disci- plinas científicas, por el contrario, comienzan a partir de la hipótesis de que la realidad está organizada y de que las relaciones constitutivas de esta organización pueden ser estudiadas y en última instancia, conocidas. Sin em- bargo, ¿es posible o incluso productiva una teoría uni- versal de la organización, en términos de arquitectura? Un número notable de arquitectos ha decidido respon- der a esta pregunta a lo largo de la historia y muchos continúan haciéndolo hoy en día. A medida que la fascinación inicial por las acrobacias digitales declina –la versión del arquitecto de la aus- teridad pos-crisis–, junto con la presencia continua de las herramientas digitales en la práctica del diseño, ha redirigido el espíritu del diseño de vuelta a la idea de la organización. Como resultado de la prevalencia del tra- bajo computacional en el diseño, muchos de los debates actuales se centran en el tema de los datos. Pero los datos por sí mismos no somenten a ninguna presión al proyecto arquitectónico. Es la manera en que los datos se adquieren, cuantifican, manipulan y evalúan lo que diferencia unos resultados de otros. En otras palabras, trabajar con datos, antes de reclamar su eficacia ilimita- da, es un problema de organización. El problema de la organización tiene un doble impacto en nuestra disciplina. Como arquitectos y diseñadores, trabajamos con múltiples organizaciones –materiales, espaciales, formales y programáticas. Orga- nizamos elementos, espacios y los aconte- cimientos que les corresponden. Actuamos sobre organizaciones que son conjuntos so- ciales, secuencias en el tiempo, o redes es- paciales. Al mismo tiempo, las organizacio- nes actúan sobre nosotros, los arquitectos. Cuestionar las organizaciones nos lleva a cuestionar cómo operan los arquitectos en la actualidad. ¿Es el diseño reducible a organización o la organización a diseño? ORGANIZACIÓN INfLExIONADA En el uso normal, la organización denota una “estructu- ra de elementos relacionados o conexos”.1 Patrick Schu- macher, por ejemplo, expresa este significado común cuando escribe que “la organización se basa en la distri- bución de las posiciones de los elementos espaciales y ARCHITECTS ORGANIZE The third installment of the Symposia on Architec- ture centers on the issue of organization. Indeed, everything needs to be organized. The question of how we define and qualify organization is an open debate. Scientific disciplines, in contrast, begin from the hypothesis that reality is organized, and that the constitutive relationships of this organization can be studied and ultimately known. Yet, is a universal the- ory of organization possible, or even productive, in architectural terms? A notable number of architects have undertaken to answer this question through- out history, and many continue to do so today. The declining appeal of digital acrobatics –the ar- chitect’s version of post-crisis austerity– along with the continuing presence of digital tools in design practice, has redirected design’s present-day ethos back to the thought of organization. As a result of computer-work’s prevalence in design, many of to- day’s debates center on the issue of data. But data alone bears no pressure on the architectural pro- ject, it is how data is acquired, quantified, manipu- lated, and evaluated that differentiates outcomes from one another. In other words, data, before it can lay claim to boundless efficacy and agency, is first a problem of organization. The problem of organization has a dual impact on our discipline. As architects and designers, we deal with manifold organizations –material, spatial, for- mal, programmatic, and others. We organize ele- ments, enclosures, and the events that appropriate them. We act upon organizations that are social assemblies, sequences in time, or spatial networks. At the same time, organizations act upon us archi- tects. Questioning organization leads us to question how architects are operating today. Is design reducible to organization–or organi- zation to design? ORGANIZATION INFLECTED In normal use, organization denotes a spatial “struc- ture of related or connected items”.1 Patrick Schu- macher, for instance, expresses this familiar mean- ing when he writes that “Organization is based on the distribution of positions for spatial elements and their pattern of linkages”. In this regard, no build- ing exists without an indwelling spatiotemporal OrganizatiOn Or Design?* Mariana Ibáñez *Introduction to the III Symposium on Architecture: Organization or Design?, held at Harvard GSD on 15th October 2015. Introducción al III Symposium on Architecture: Organization or Design?, celebrado en Harvard GSD, el 15 de octubre de 2015. 1. Oxforddictionaries.com, s.v. “Organization,” Accessed August 01, 2015, http:// www.oxforddictionaries. com/us/definition/ american_english/7 Mariana ibáñez: OrganizatiOn Or Design? harVarD syMpOsia On arChiteCtUre. sOliD series Cedric Price. Diagrams of MAGNET project, 1994; the architect as the organizer of a process. Source: Hardingham, Samantha. Cedric Price: Opera. Wiley-Academy, 2003Next >