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2014.02.04
the beginning of Unthinking an Architecture
The Meta Sudantis is the point from which to start a measure of distance to or from. (Is that the correct definition?) The theory that the Pantheon marks the spot where Romulus ascended into heaven/left Earth also seems to be a place to start 'unthinking'. The Pantheon leads to many other issues/topics: promenade architecturale, Pantheon paradigm/reenactment, osmotic/electro-magnetic architecture (outside inside, light), gateway to heaven (Danteum. Promenade architecturale), and whatever else is in the collection pages.
Unthinking an Architecture will follow the 'pleasure of the text' paradigm; taking pleasure in always unthinking the architectural topic being investigated; continually utilizing an atypical treatment of the matter at hand. Taking pleasure in turning the texts into architectures (themselves). Should the title be Unthinking Architectures? That harks back to schizophrenia + architectures, and there is indeed inspiration there (in terms of a continual generation of data). And there is more inspiration: SMLXL, Lequeu, Hejduk's books, Piranesi's works, Metapolis Dictionary, MOVE, Learning from Las Vegas. Or, how about using the top ten must have architecture books:
Le Corbusier, Oeuvre Complète 1957-65.
Dal Co and Forster, Frank O. Gehry: The Complete Works.
John Hejduk, Adjusting Foundations.
El Croquis 131/132 and El Croquis 134/135 (OMA/AMO/Rem Koolhaas).
James Stirling - Michael Wilford & Associates: la Nuova Galleria di Stato e Stoccarda.
van Berkel and Bos, MOVE.
Liane Lefaivre, Leon Battista Alberti's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Oppositions 18.
Lotus International 35 or Learning from Las Vegas (first edition).
Luigi Ficacci, Piranesi: The Complete Etchings?
or Epicentral, Learning from Girard Avenue, Theatrics Times Two...
The Meta Sudantis also brings up a number of tangential issues: innuendo, Love Park, Parkway Interpolation, Ichnographia Quondam, the Triumphal Way (both directions--there's lots of architecture to analyze and design there).
So, how does all this get to the cutting edge, the place where architectures are unthought? Perhaps the destination is reached when the texts turn into architectures (themselves). All the stories turn into (new) designs. Today's work with the Danteum and the Palace of Ottopia is a prime example of how the 'stories' generate their own 'unthought' architectures.
Now there are glimpses of how Quondam will continue to operate. The whole site is open to unthinking, interpretation, experimentation, but there is a formal place for Unthinking (an) Architecture(s) to unfold and fold again. Or is it to be more labyrinthine? The whole undoing could be connected by links. In any case, proceed by always unthinking whatever is to be figured out, or whatever obstacle might be in the way, or whatever graphics might be best suited for the representation. Does all the unthinking occur within the space-time continuum?
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