Architecture, Art & Culture - Ambra Verlag

8 | Architecture | Theory
Lukas Feireiss (Ed.)
Space Matters
Exploring Spatial Theory
and Practice Today
Pages Approx. 190
Ills. 50
Format 15,5 × 23,5 cm
Binding Softcover
Price Approx. € 27.16 | $ 32.56 | £ 21.35
ISBN 978-3-99043-563-2, English
Available June 2013
Available in the US July 2013
An inspiring expansion of the contemporary
discourse on space
A2— ALFREDO BRILLEMBOURG & HUBERT KLUMPNER
GRAN HORIZONTE: CURRICULUM FOR A NEW CITY
closely. In the favelas, the bulk of the population is disadvantaged
in one way or another. The lives of children with autism
or Down’s syndrome are particularly difficult, as few public
and private spaces are designed or adapted to fit their needs.
In locating the school for autistic children, known as FAVA, on
a sloping site, it was important for us to leave open as large an
area as possible for a park, which is something rare in the center
of the city. Therefore, we designed the building as a compact
volume and set it in one corner of the site. As a result,
the spatial program extended to a five-story structure. In Caracas,
however, lifts are service-intensive installations and would
make a building of this kind unsuitable for the students, many
of whom experience increased anxiety in elevators. Our solution
was to build a long ramp around the outside of the building.
Access to the first two floors is via the sloped topography.
The development was financed from a new tax conceived to
flow into structures with a social role. Companies can donate
up to 100 percent of their annual tax to finance such schemes.
We work in a complex environment that calls for simple
solutions. That means using available local materials and labor.
Most people believe that low-cost construction must be inferior
to expensive forms of building. We wish to overcome prejudices
of this kind as well as outdated ideas regarding how a
project should be developed. Only if we shift our expectations
away from a product, to a process, and reconsider traditional
development strategies, will we be able to find economically
feasible solutions for the masses of people in the slums. And
only if we do that will we have vibrant cities for every stratum
of society that lives in them. Looking at our Earth as a whole,
we find a new vision for our urban planet, and for all of us who
live within it.○
THE CITIES
ON OUR
PLANET NEED
MORE THAN
OFFICE TOWER
BLOCKS,
MUSEUMS,
OPERA HOUSES,
AIRPORTS, STA-
DIUMS, ETC.
Interdisciplinary contributions on the
timeless architectural theme of “space”
With pieces by Elsa Prochazka, Hubert
Klumpner &amp, Alfredo Brillembourg,
Markus Miessen, Michael Obrist, Lilli
Hollein and many others
Writen for cultural researchers and those
in creative professions, such as architects,
artists and curators
54
A
EDUCATION:
As the subject of earnest discussion, the
meaning of space reaches far beyond the
horizon of a single discipline. Lukas Feiriss
has assembled a collection of international
contributions for Space Matters, a publication
of the space & design strategies study
program of the Univeristy of Art and Design,
Linz, Austria to create an inspiring expansion
of the contemporary discourse on
space. The publication addresses cultural
resarchers and readers in creative professions
– architects, artists, curators, scientists
and students in all the related fields
as well as those members of a broader
audience that are interested in the incorporation
of space and the pratices with
which it is designed in cultural, social and
humanities-oriented contexts.
Related Titles:
Moravánszky (Ed.): Architekturtheorie im
20. Jahrhundert, 978-3-99043-258-7