AA Summer School 2018 - UNIT 4

AntropoTypes

The Self & the Palimpsest

“The reality that I perceive for you is in the form you give me; but this is the reality for you and not for me; the reality you perceive for me is in the form that I give you; but this is the reality for me and not for you; and for myself I have no other reality except in the form that I can give myself. And how? Building myself, indeed.”

Through these words, the protagonist of One, No One and One Hundred Thousand (L. Pirandello, 1926) concludes that if his body can be one, his spirit certainly is not. His true persona, exposed to the multiple masks, dictating the reality of social existence, is constantly in the process of being constructed.

The unit will question London’s multiplicity, to grasp its faceted self. We will investigate tratidional markets - emblematic places of accumulation - to craft composite masks. We will dissect urban characters and re-compose spatial fragments - to construct AntropoTypes, within a collective architectural piéce.

The Self: Unmasking London’s Markets During these three weeks, we will sample and represent London’s multiple architectural self. We will investigate the city’s main markets - traditional, touristic or ethnic - as they have always been privileged spaces of accumulation to grasp the London’s relentlessy evolving culture. Etherogeneous landfill of fragmented props, they feed the soul of hungry observers and compulsive collectors. Markets exceed their architectural stageset, clashing the primitive flavour of ancestral routines with constantly updated sets of mirabilia. Much more than a series of stalls, sellers and buyers, they offer an effective portrait of contemporary urban rituals - framing a crucial part of the image that London offers to its inhabitants and visitors.

We will operate gathering objects, recording moments and drawing urban fragments to translate London’s markets into a series of urban characters. The unit will use this compound of goods, actors, procedures and spatial details in order to define spatial personalities: conceptual simulacra, enabling architecture to be represented as a cluster of personified instances. To delineate this process, we will draw analogies with famous British collectors. Particular cases, where the house and the accumulated objects are shaping the owner ‘s identity - as essential layers to define personality and perspective on society, space and culture.

AA Summer School 2– 20 July 2018

1. Kyoto Face House 2. Bertjan Pot, Masks 3. Anthropomorphic house in England 4. Magnhild Kennedy, Damselfrau 5. Edson Chagas, Tino Passe 6. Anthropomorphic house in France 7. Paul Klee, Puppets 8. Casa Mila, Gaudi 9. Anthropomorphic house in Germany 10. Mahakala, Buddhist mask 11. The Boston Government Service Center 12. Edson Chagas, Tino Passe 13. Marie Rime, Masques 14. Church in Florida 15. Bertjan Pot, Masks 16. Anthropomorphic house in Italy 17. Bruno Munari, Alla Faccia

AntropoTypes We will finally craft London’s personified instances into a series of composite masks, each of them becoming a physical archetype with antropomorphic features. We will be affected by Pareidolia, always looking for hidden human traces when examining architectural examples. We will hybridize the extrtacted geometrical rules with the symbolism of folkloric masks to find the appropriate proportions between the elements.

Eventually, through a process of appropriation, accurate composition and intuitive assembling, students will define and implement effective techniques to craft archetypical lineaments into facial expressions.

The final outcome of the project will be a peculiar snapshot of London, where its multiple Self - the Antropotypes - stand and act in front of a continuous architectural stage set. Each AntropoTypical mask will be paired with his owner/creator, becoming thus an alive puppet to embody its assigned market within the reconstructed urban realm of London. We will create a theatrical background, a crafted animated panorama where to act as spatial characters - performing the impossible attempt to re-compose and present London’s multiplicity into one single piece of layered work.

The Palimpsest: Constructing the Architectural Piéce The whole course will be a journey through different modes of production, where the fabrication process will be as relevant as the final outcome. We will focus on model making, from 3D printing, lasercutting and cnc machine to casting and moulding.

1st Phase: The students will be divided in four groups, each of them creating a mask based on the analysis of a specific market.

2nd Phase: The students will collectively fabricate a layered background, where to stand while inhabiting the masks previously created.

WEEK 1 Monday 2 10:00 Introduction + Unit Presentations

Tuesday 3 Visit: Billingsgate Fish Market Visit: Smithfields Meat Market

Wednesday 4 Visit: LASSCO (The London Architectural Salvage and Supply)

Thursday 5 Work Session: Fabricate the structure (skeleton) of the masks.

Friday 6 Guest Lecturer Lorenzo Vitturi

Saturday 7 Work Session: Fabricate the structure (skeleton) of the masks.

Sunday 8 Brick Lane Market/ Columbia Rd Flower Market Collecting found objects

14:00 Unit Selections +

20:00

John Soane Museum collection

Introduction to the brief AntropoTypes + Group Division

Work Session: Curate the selection of props, pictures and fragments collected from the markets.

(Consistent topics) Film Session: The Best Offer G. Tornatore

Drinks!

Guest Lecturer Magnhild Kennedy

Work Session with Lorenzo Vitturi:

+ Collective Discussion

Catalogue of props + Assembling the masks

Work Session:

Enjoy London!

Markets translated into characters: curate the catalogue of props (drawings, pictures, videos)

Film Session: Vatel R. Joffé

WEEK 2 Monday 9

Tuesday 10

Wednesday 11

Thursday 12

Friday 13

Saturday 14

Sunday 15

10:00 Work Session: Refining Mask’s Skeleton + Catalogue of Props

INTERIM JURY

Guest Lecturer Marie Rime

Workshop: Originals & Replicas 3D Printing casting LaserCut

Work Session:

Work Session:

Assembling the Masks

Assembling the Masks

Work Session + Tutorials

Work Session:

Enjoy London!

14:00 Work Session with Marie Rime

Pre-Jury Rehersal

Transform the Catalogue of Props to shape the Mask’s Skeleton

Work Session: Assembling the Masks

Enjoy London!

Refining the AntropoTypes

20:00 Dinner + Drinks!

WEEK 3 Tuesday 17

Wednesday 18

Work Session:

Work Session:

Work Session:

Construction Masks vs Stage-set

Defining Narrative and Symbolism

Curating the Architectural Piéce

Work Session:

Tutorials in Unit Space

Tutorials in Unit Space

(Refining the AntropoTypes)

(Refining the AntropoTypes)

Thursday 19 Pre-Jury Rehersal

Friday 20 FINAL JURY

14:00 Crafting the animated panorama

Pre-Jury Rehersal

20:00 Party + Drinks!

Saturday 21

Sunday 22

AA Summer School 2– 20 July 2018

Monday 16 10:00

Bibliography Alla faccia! by Bruno Munari, Paperback, 1992 El Alto by Peter Granser, Paperback, 2016 Maske, by Phyllis Galembo, Chika Okeke-Agulu, Hardcover 2016 Deep Veils: Erik Laheureux and Pencil Office, by Erik L. Heureux, Grit Vltavsky, 2014 The way of the masks by Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1988 Paul Klee: Hand Puppets by Eva Widekehr, Felix Klee, Zentrum Paul Klee, Hardcover 2008 Dusk by Axel Hoedt, Hardcover, 2015 Filmography La miglior offerta, G. Tornatore, 2012 Vatel, R. Joffé, 2000

Sabrina Morreale Sabrina is an Architect and Illustrator based between Bangkok and London. She is collaborating with various magazines as Rivista Studio, Cartha Magazine and Elle as illustrator and with the RIBA as curator assistant. Her projects have always been related to the idea of fragmentation, using different media, enhancing the process of how things are made and assembled together.

She constantly work with model making experimenting through casting, weaving and different fabrication techniques.

Lorenzo Perri Lorenzo graduated with Honours from the Architectural Association in 2016. He has taught as a consultant for Intermediate 7 and Diploma 8 at the Architectural Association, while participating to several competition with international firms (Amid.

Cero9, Elemental). He is the cofounder of the research-based Plakat Platform and architectural practice Ecòl. Obsessed with geometry and aesthetics, precision and expression, before architecture he studied engineering and classical piano.

Lemonot is a design and research platform co-founded by Sabrina Morreale and Lorenzo Perri, who graduated together from the Architectural Association in London. Their work investigates architectural production and its implications on other disciplines. They use Architecture as a methodology to reach different outcomes: from toys to pastry tools, from tattoos to story-telling.

Programme Heads of the AA Visiting School El Alto, their academic activity focuses on contemporary folklore and cultural assemblages.

They taught at the AA Summer School since 2016, investigating gifs and kitbashing techniques. They are now Adjunct Professors at INDA International Program in Design and Architecture in Bangkok, Thailand. www.lemonot.co.uk

@_lemonot