inhabited mindmapping: is it possible to inhabit an idea?
Architecture has been always exhibited as a representation of national/multinational interests (Olympics, EXPOs), showing technological, aestetic and social progress / improvement. A representation of national/multinational capability to compete within the worldmarket. Specific parts of the city may get erased and cleaned to open space for a complete artificial territory that will be constructed. (Paris: Eiffeltower Exposition Universelle, a World’s Fair 1889, Barcelona Olympics 1992, etc…)
How far invades architecture every days experience and remembrance of its inhabitants? WHOM belongs the city and for what reasons?
Inhabited mindmapping has been a project together with the catalan architect Gerard Cuartero i Betriu.
We have chosen the two buildings, Habtitat 67 in Montreal Canada and Walden 7 in Barcelona, because they were built in an era of social and industrial transformations and intented to materialize the new ideals for living together in order to create a practice of a new common experience. We have examined two buildings, Habtitat 67 in Montreal Canada and Walden 7 in Barcelona focusing on the question:
Is it possible to inhabit an idea?
Habitat 67
Habitat 67 was built for the major theme exhibition of 1967 Montréal World Exposition. As a demonstration, the project pioneered in design and construction of prefabricated housing. As an urban building type, Habitat’67 sought to mix residential, commercial and institutional uses to create a more vital neighbourhood, and to provide the amenities of the single-family home in a form adaptable to high densities and constrained budgets. Habitat 67 has been built in 1967, forty years ago: meanwhile terms and conditons of work, process of production, living, pleasuretime and family have been changed: How is it like to live in a forty year old (social) construction ?
Are there common spaces that weren not planned? how do people appropiate social given space - do they accept it or do they create different spaces or even boderlines that have not been foreseen?
Walden 7
In 1972 began the construction of Walden 7 with the team Taller d’Arquitectura around Ricardo Bofill. At that time, the sixties, Catalunya was faced with the problems of its own poor, plus the new poor who were pouring into Barcelona and the rest of Catalunya from all the corners of Spain, mostly from the south: Andalucía and Múrcia. And the fascist Government of Spain quickly began the construction of what they called ‘social housing’. All this kind of emergency architecture and urbanism was constructed with speculation as the main used material. The Taller d’Arquitectura was resolutely against these appartment blocks, shoe boxes, wich began to proliferate in the urban countryside. They detested the idea that a few blocks oriented towards the south with minimum surface areas were sufficient reply to the real problems of society. They wanted to integrate all classes in the city. This was the idea of Walden 7: no segregation but integration.
more information of the project: http://inhabitedmindmapping.net
Interview with Yona Friedman