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Spatial intervention
Tüüne-Kirstin Vaikla / Urmo Vaikla
Vaikla Studio
The placeoffers peoplea space thatempowers their identity, where
theycanmeetotherpeoplewithwhom theysharesocial references.
According to Marc Augé ‘Non-Places, introduction to an Anthropol-
ogy of Supermodernity’, the non-places, on the contrary, are not
meeting spaces and do not build common references to a group. A
non-place is a place we do not live in, in which the individual re-
mains anonymous and lonely.
Theworkshop focuseson the relationshipof the spaces (past) and
the users (future), evaluating spatial layers and human behaviour-
al patterns. The workshop investigates, on the basis of case-stud-
ies the activation of space and forms of spatial intervention tac-
tics focusing on physical, mental and social strata of space.
The process is dealing with the questions: How to revitalize an
anonymous space (a derelict space or a non-space)? How is it
possible to direct people’s behaviour through physical space and
how space affects the human atmosphere? How fragile could be
transformed into resilient?
The topic is about activating an existing anonymous space with
the help of design solutions, installations, using
fragile
material
like paper, plastic, thread etc to create and discover the potential
resilience
of its structure. The aim is to create a new synergy work-
ing on sites in interdisciplinary groups of students and local com-
munity. The task is to search for physical and mental layers of flex-
ibility and elasticity how to transform fragile into resilience.
—Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla is a spatial researcher and an interior archi-
tect who explores the social and artistic dimensions of space and
recently defended her doctoral thesis
Re-purposing Space: the
Role and Potential of Spatial Intervensions
at the Estonian Acade-
my of Arts. She is a supervisor of transdisciplinary projects in EAA
and has gained international experience at RMIT University of Mel-
bourne as a lecturerand guest research fellow.
Tüüne-Kristin is the curator the SISU interior architecture symposi-
ums inTallinn/Lucerneandeditor-in-chiefoftheSISU–LINE interior
architecture research journal.
—UrmoVaikla isa practicing interiorarchitect, his field of interest is
film-making and photography about the relationshipof people and
spatial environment. Urmo has worked as associate professor in
theDepartmentofInteriorArchitectureattheEstonianAcademyof
Arts and served as the president of Estonian Society of Interior Ar-
chitects.
Tüüne-Kristin and UrmoVaikla are the founders and partners ofVai-
kla Studio. They have represented Estonia at the 13th Venice Archi-
tecture Biennale with a project
How Long is the Life of a Building?
and are currently working with the spatial design project for the
2017 Estonian Presidency of the EU Council in Tallinn and Brussels
with their team.
Cladding, a discourse
predicated on the surface
Camiel Van Noten / Angel Solanellas Terés
Sergison Bates
Structure and cladding
During this workshopwe will investigate the concept of resilience
by returning to the primordial idea of the enclosure, which pro-
tects and gives form to a space. Resilience implies both persis-
tence and change: two seemingly opposing concepts, which are
embodied in architecture by both structure and cladding. This dis-
tinction is perhaps most famously illustrated by Semper’s
thoughts on the origins of architecture. According to Semper, the
true and legitimate representation of the idea of enclosure was
originally enacted by woven fabrics. First there is cladding, a
building’s dress, second there is solid wall or structure to hold it
up. Besides providing protection and shelter, cladding is by ne-
cessity representational. It forms a buildings face and is the visi-
ble, colorful, and sensible — in a word symbolic — boundary of
space. It can be described as a discourse predicated on the sur-
face.
An imprint on a surface
Making and consequentially thinking though making, will play a
central role in the workshop. Over the course of a week we will fo-
cuson the techniqueofcasting.Wewill study theworkof artists in
the likes of Rachel Whiteread, Isamu Noguchi, and Ben Nicholson.
By pressing, casting, scraping, by the act of making, we will work
collaboratively to produce a set of life size cladding tiles: a hands-
on experiment in texture, scale and shape and an investigation on
the symbolic and representational potential of cladding.
—Camiel Van Noten isan architectand researcher based in London.
Graduating in 2012 at the KULeuven, his graduation project investi-
gated alternative homeownership structures in East New York, an
area gravely struck by the foreclosure crisis. After working in Paris
fortwoyears, Camiel joined Sergison Batesarchitects in 2014. Asa
projectarchitect heworksonmany large-scale housing projects in
Belgium. In 2016 he contributed to EUtopia, the possibility of an is-
land, an exhibition to mark and celebrate the 500th anniversary of
ThomasMore’sUtopia. Camiel taughtan interdisciplinarystudiofor
the master students of the University of Antwerp and regularly con-
tributes to academic discourse as a visiting critic at numerous in-
stitutions including the London Metropolitan University, the Archi-
tectural Association School of Architecture, and the KULeuven.
—Angel Solanellas Terés is an architect and researcher based in
London. Graduated in 2011 and master in Theory and Practice in
Architectonic Design in 2013 both at ETSAB, UPC. He has been in-
volved indifferent researchgroups in theUniversitat Politècnicade
Catalunya and he is currently developing his Phd Thesis at CERCLE
Researchgroup.In hisprofessional roll hecollaboratedthreeyears
with Ramon Sanabria Arquitectes Associats in Barcelona develop-
ing middle and big size public facilities. Angel joined Sergison
Bates architects in 2016, where he works in the development of
housing projects in Antwerp, Munich and other European cities.
Angel combines research and professional work with teaching ex-
perience being Associate Professor in design at ETSAB during the
period 2013-2015,Assisting professorofStephen Batesat ESTAB in
2016 and currentlycollaboratingwith StephenTaylorat the London
MET.
