IaaC Lecture Series 2008-2009 > Lucy Bullivant
Masterplanning Futures
Lucy Bullivant
While spatial masterplans for cities historically set their physical structure and form, today's masterplanners attempt to bring about on a more holistic basis the physical, social and economic revival of urban centres or districts. Their work is optimally part of a participatory, multidisciplinary process, and counteracts laissez-faire attitudes towards planning with various forms of urban identity management. For some planners, strengthening social equality of citizens is central to this process, while in other cases differentiating a ‘must visit’ destination and diversifying land uses is of highest priority. Whether top down or more bottom-up in attitude, masterplanners are more likely nowadays not to prescribe a rigid blueprint, but instead aim to incubate the future.
Lucy Bullivant is an architectural curator, author and critic. The author of many books including Anglo Files: UK architecture's rising generation (Thames & Hudson, 2005), Responsive Environments: architecture, art and design, V&A Contemporary, 2006) and 4dsocial: Interactive Spatial Environments (AD/Wiley, 2007), she has curated numerous exhibitions including Space Invaders (2001, British Council), Kid size: the material world of childhood (1997, Vitra Design Museum) and The near and the far, fixed and in flux (1996, XIX Triennale di Milano) and conferences such as Softspace (Tate Modern, 2007). She writes for The Financial Times, Domus, The Plan, a+u, Harvard Design Magazine and Indesign, and is preparing her next book on masterplanning and two new exhibitions in London. One explores the revalorisation of landscape design for public spaces in the UK; the other, new responsive architecture.
IaaC - Web site »

The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia launches the digital fabrication summer workshop
The aim is to produce the Venice Biennale installation that Guallart Architects, IaaC and the Bcn Fab Lab, with the collaboration of Bestiario, will present during the Venice Biennale, based on digital fabrication procedures. The aim of the workshop is to produce an installation designed by Guallart Architects, IaaC, and the BCN Fab Lab in collaboration with Bestiario (website) that will be presented during the Biennale of Venice which this year has a focus on digital fabrication procedures.The installation Hyperhabitat: Reprogramming the World, will reproduce, in 1:1 scale, a youth dwelling with sharing spaces. It will be fabricated with from acrylic and interconnected with information systems to the networks and urban systems of larger scales. Multimedia designers, software and hardware programmers, designers and other experts of diverse disciplines will participate in the production of the installation. For more information, please contact: www.iaacblog.com/venice Requirements: architects and students of architecture or design with computer design skills will be admitted. Aim: The aim will be to fabricate items for the installation through digital fabrication, laser cutter machines and other techniques to be taught during the workshop. Aim: The aim will be to apply the digital fabrication techniques to be taught during the workshop to machine output, including large scale laser cutting machines.
Phases: The workshop is subdivided in three stages:
Workshop 01: 07July - 19July
Workshop 02: 21July - 02August Assembly
Workshop: 04August - 11August (Venice)
Selection: Each sub-workshop will be composed by 20 participants. The workshop is subdivided in two workshops of two weeks each one. The applicants can choose to participate in one or both sub-workshops. Among both sub-workshops participants, five people maximum will be selected to travel to Venice for the Assembly Workshop. Registration: until july 7th. 2008. All participants that successfully complete the workshop will be mentioned as participants in the production of the installation in the Venice Biennale. Accommodation: Participants should look for accommodation options in Barcelona. Registration Price: 500 euros each workshop .. [ read more ] »
IaaC - Web site »

Journey Part I by Michael Reynolds: New Earthship Coffee Table Book
Many people all over the planet know of Earthships. But few really know what they are and fewer still know what the effort is really all about. Some think they are just buildings made of old tires - “what a neat idea” - they think. Others think they are solar buildings made of recycled materials - “great”. Still others are aware of the fact that they are an attempt (getting quite successful) at making totally sustainable homes from by-products of our society. Even this is still an incomplete understanding.
Plants of various types and species once covered the planet. Their existence made the planet more. They contributed to - they were - the nature of the planet. Now, it is humanity that is becoming the nature of the planet. There is a major difference. Plants have a way of unconsciously and continuously making the planet better for themselves and other creatures. Humans have a way of consciously and continuously making the planet worse for themselves - and for plants and other creatures.
My reaction to this is that, the more we interact with and learn from plants and the Earth, the more we will learn about our own survival. Our life methods must evolve to be more like those of planets. Intelligence or not, plants have it together on the Earth - we don't.
The Earthship concept is an effort to slowly evolve humanity in a direction - a method of life - that continuously improves that life by its very nature. This involves changing building methods, changing utility methods, changing living methods, and ultimately changing thinking and understanding methods. This is a journey, the destination of which cannot be perceived - only imagined.
The Earthship concept must be elastic enough to presently conform to existing dogma while strong enough to evolve that dogma in the future. It will cause some pain in terms of disruption of the 'tried and true'. It will enter every arena that exists and grow like a virus as it effects the thinking of what happens tomorrow while flavoring the reality of what is happening today.
It is now only a seed being planted everywhere. As this seed grows, we will find that we are making homes and sanctuaries for plants instead of human leaders, kings and politicians, because it is plants that will truly be guiding us and nurturing us, not human leaders, kings and politicians. We have recreated the world - it doesn't work. Now we must find the humility to follow and emulate other forces on this planet. The Earthship is the vessel toward that end. - Michael Reynolds .. [ read more ] »
Earthship - Web site »