LIGHTER THAN AIR - PARIS ATELIER

Columbia University GSAPP together with Architect A. Gottesman

T H E PA R I S AT E L I E R P R O G R A M : An Art and Architecture collaborative With visiting artist Tomas Saraceno Summer 2013 June 3rd - July 15th

a r t + d e sign & production + craft & collabora t i o n + a e s t h e t i c p r a c t i c e + b u s i n e s s m o d e l

Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation Lab for Applied Building Science PARIS ATELIER The Paris Atelier is a five-year research initiative that will investigate the role of the architect as an artist and critical maker. The 6-week program is aimed at young professionals and students pursuing an advanced architectural degree who are seeking to expand their understanding of the world of art and the process between ideas and their realization. The Paris Atelier endeavors to provide a platform to explore the role of the architect as a critical maker- a designer and artist. To explore how architectural concepts and methodologies relate to both contemporary art & the creative process. Participants in the course will engage their surroundings with specific interventions that use the scale of the body as their metric. They will be offered a unique and profound insight in to the world of contemporary art in general and the Parisian scene in particular.

A RT & ARCHITE C T U R E

Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) together with Arch. Asaf Gottesman is creating a new program that will be located at Columbia’s European Global Center at Reid Hall in Paris and will focus upon the potential of the architect as an artist. The program will challenge the basic premise that architects offer a service rather than a product and will investigate through master classes, accompanying lectures and workshops the means by which architects may expand their own creative careers. Within the scope of the program will be an investigation of the state-of-the-art architectural and artistic fabrication technologies and how the boundaries that currently define Architecture within the marketplace can be expanded to integrate both the commercial and cultural domains of the art world.

The Paris Atelier Program will begin on the 3rd of June for a period of six weeks and will enable students to work with the remarkable architecture/artist Tomas Saraceno. The workshop will include guest speakers from within various domains of the Parisian Art world including museum, municipal and independent curators, gallery owners, auctioneers, dealers, journalists, art critics, bloggers, managers of art foundations, as well as, art collectors. The workshop will culminate in a symposium and an exhibition. After the exhibition, an annual Publication will be created at Columbia University that will become part of a larger publication at the end of the five-year initial study.

A vital aspect of architectural education is the study of the act of making. The Paris Atelier Program is designed to explore the role of the architect as a critical maker, a designer and an artist. The Program will foster research into the relationship between architectural production (both traditional and experimental) and allied artistic endeavors. It will also address the roles of architects, artists and designers within society & the marketplace and how architects may benefit from adopting additional roles. The Program’s primary target audience will be architectural students & practicing architects who are looking to broaden their creative potential either within the marketplace or within an advanced architectural degree program.

The aim of the Paris Atelier Program is to set a pattern in place for a new educational model that will contribute to an expansion of the field of architecture and contribute to a new educational program with an international reach that will broaden the way architects address the scope and nature of the architectural profession and in particular its relationship to the Art World.

P R O GRA M

For the Summer 2013 Paris Atelier, GSAPP is delighted to announce that Tomas Saraceno will join the program as a Visiting Artist. Like visionary architects of the past (Buckminster Fuller and Archigram, among others), Saraceno reshapes physical space and human behavior through his futuristic speculations.

Tomas’ work can be found at http://www.tomassaraceno.com.

2013 Atelier

Each year students at the Paris Atelier will examine a site specific theme that engages a broad conceptual topic (such as the relationship between digital and analog, or process and object) within a six-week workshop that concludes with an annual symposium, exhibition, and publication of participants’ explorations and creations. Throughout the workshop participants will work with the Atelier Masters (professionals selected for their innovative and provocative expertise in their subject) on a thesis developed with the Atelier Director, to advance the understanding of how architectural techniques and creative processes may enable architects to navigate the art world. The workshop will be complemented by cultural and industrial studies that engage contemporary Architecture, Art, Design, and Construction.

The Paris Atelier Program is led by Phillip Anzalone, the Director of Laboratory for Applied Building Science at Columbia University (www.arch.columbia.edu/labs/fablab). Professor Anzalone has developed and directed numerous workshops globally engaging the theories and practice of handcraft and computational production in object and spatial based designs.

Key features of the Paris Ateliers program including the artist lecture series and excursions to acclaimed and notable art institutions in Paris will be curated and coordinated by co-founding Partner, Asaf Gottesman.

I N STRUCTION The program will provide instruction and supervise the investigation of advanced design tools as well as lectures focused on the art world. Students will learn advanced digital fabrication and production techniques, while simultaneously studying various players and settings for exchange within the art world, such as museums, galleries, web-based art, auction houses, etc. Study of these areas will be integrated through a hands-on project focused on producing functional systems. Through regularly scheduled group and individual critiques with the Atelier Master and invited critics, each participant will be mentored and encouraged to develop a unique direction while contributing to a collaborative production. The focus of the study will be to bring the technical and business skills towards the same goal: defining a new methodology for production and exchange in the space between the worlds of art and architecture.

Symposium & Exhibition

The workshop will culminate in a symposium and exhibition that will bring the Atelier Master together with guest lecturers and critics to engage in a discussion centering on the workshop’s production and its implications to the future of the profession. Following the exhibition, an annual publication will be created at Columbia University that will become part of a larger text at the conclusion of the five-year initiative. As part of the exhibition, workshop participants will collaborate with industry partners to develop new means of working with computational design, material processes, and assembly of spatial constructions.

C U RRI CULUM

Location

The Paris Atelier program consists of many of the features of the GSAPP program including: • Regular one-on-one critiques • Weekly group discussion critiques • Tutorials on digitally based design, production and analysis • Lectures and discussions by recognized leaders in the fields of art and architecture • Field trips to facilities, museums, projects, and other related sites in Paris and beyond • A final exhibition, symposium, and publication of work produced. The academic elements of the program will be taught primarily by faculty of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation of Columbia University

PARIS ATELIER

SCHEDULE (Summer 2013, June 3rd – July 15)

Lectures

• The current overlap between Art and Architecture • Modern to Contemporary Art and Architecture • History of Installation design • Art judging, branding, marketing, sales

Workshop Tutorials (computational and material) • Computer Modeling • Scripting, Simulation and Analysis • Circuit design and assembly • Sensors and Actuators • Additive & Subtractive Fabrication Processes • CAD/CAM/CAE

• High-performance Materials • Fibers and Composites • 3D Prototyping and Full-Scale Manufacturing • Digital and Manual Fabrication Integration • Installation and Exhibition Techniques

The Paris Atelier will be based at Columbia University’s Global Center at Reid Hall near the Luxemburg Gardens in the heart of Paris, and will expand its reach to include fabrication facilities throughout Europe. Participants will work in a group studio environment in Reid Hall, and will use the grounds as a test-bed for spatial exploration.

Reid Hall is owned and administered by Columbia University and is located on the rue de Chevreuse near the Luxembourg Gardens. The building is open every day and available for student use until 11:00 pm. The original building was constructed in the early eighteenth century. It now has a 4,000 volume library, classrooms, studio space, reading rooms, administrative offices, and an interior courtyard and garden. In addition to extensive field experience in Paris’ historic center and its expansion in the new cities of the banlieu, events for Paris Atelier participants include guided visits to museums, galleries, artist & design studios, alternative design spaces, and facilities for fabrication and manufacturing.