Ah, ti arhitekti, ki vedno živijo v oblakih. Izgubili so stik z realnostjo.
A v marcu 2020 smo stik z realnostjo izgubili vsi. Virtualnost je postala resničnejša od vsakdana, ujetega med štiri stene lastnega stanovanja. Preselili smo se v oblake. Z ustvarjanja in raziskovanja s pomočjo makete, skice in neposrednega pogovora v risalnicah naše fakultete smo v manj kot tednu dni preskočili na digitalna orodja ustvarjanja in mentoriranja, ki smo jih po sili razmer za naslednje tri mesece tudi posvojili. S pomočjo »oblakov« smo si študenti in mentorji izmenjavali risbe, načrte, komentarje, animacije, filme in za silo popravljene osnutke. Ure in ure videokonferenc smo namenili virtualnemu projektiranju. Kaj v resnici pomenita arhitektura in urbanizem v oblakih, pa bo podrobneje razkrila letošnja razstava.
Delo na daljavo je zarezalo v samo bistvo arhitekturnega in urbanističnega ustvarjanja, ki ga najbolj nazorno opišemo s Pallasmaajevim pojmom »misleče roke«. Digitalizacija, raztelešenje in odtujitev uveljavljene pedagoške prakse so brez dvoma spodbujali določen spekter produkcije, a ga obenem odrezali od njegove vitalne peristaltike in ožilja.
Kljub vsemu bomo arhitekti in urbanisti vseeno z veseljem ostali v oblakih, saj »prostor v oblaku« ni le prispodoba načina predpreteklega dela, temveč nas nagovarja z bistveno pomembnejšo alegorijo. Naše delo mora, predvsem v svojih akademskih okvirih, ohraniti in negovati svojo naravnanost v imaginacijo in sposobnost preseganja realnega. Skozi pedagoško raziskovanje mora spodbujati poglede preko vsakdanjika, pragmatizma, rutine in posploševanja. Četudi nas ob spogledovanju z nebom stalno opozarja Ikarjeva tragedija domišljavosti in samoljubja, se moramo zavedati, da družbena vloga Fakultete za arhitekturo ni omejena s tem, da rešuje aktualna prostorska vprašanja, ampak mora kot ena redkih institucij s tovrstnim privilegijem problematiko prostora razpirati, ji dajati širino, vizijo in čvrste vrednostne okvire družbe prihodnosti. Slednje bo uspelo le, če bomo v raziskovalno in pedagoško delo s študenti znali vtkati tudi pletivo še nepredstavljivega in nestvarnega. Tudi ko se v naslednjem študijskem letu vrnemo na trdna tla risalnic in predavalnic, bomo v svojem snu in inspiraciji ostali v oblakih.
Spletna razstava brez dvoma odpira novo poglavje v sistematični predstavitvi in arhiviranju vsakoletne študijske produkcije. Upamo, da bo slednja pri študentih, pedagogih in obiskovalcih dobro sprejeta ter da bo s svojim sistematičnim pristopom h kategorizaciji projektov in raziskav postala stalen vzporedni del vsakoletne junijske razstave v prostorih fakultete in pregledne publikacije izbranih projektov in raziskav Intro.
— Matej Blenkuš
Ah, these architects… They always live in the clouds. They have lost touch with reality.
But in March 2020 we all lost touch with reality. Virtuality became more real than the reality of daily life, captured within the four walls of our apartments. We moved into the cloud. From design and research based on scale models, drawings and direct conversations in our faculty studios, we jumped to digital design and mentoring tools in less than a week, and due to the circumstances we adopted the new tools and approaches for the next three months. With the help of clouds students and mentors exchanged and shared drawings, plans, comments, animations, movies and barely revised drafts. We spent hours and hours in video conferences, engaged in virtual design. Nevertheless, the true meaning of architecture and urbanism in the cloud will be revealed in more detail by this year’s exhibition.
Remote work has cut deeply into the essence of architectural and urban design, which is best described with the Pallasmaa’s concept of the “thinking hand”. Digitalisation, disembodiment and alienation of established teaching practices have undoubtedly contributed to intensification of a specific part of production; however, it was cut off from its vital peristalsis and blood lines.
Nevertheless, architects and urbanists will be happy to remain in the clouds, as “the space in the clouds” is not merely a metaphor of past times, but it holds a much more significant allegory. Our work – especially within its academic boundaries – needs to preserve and nurture its orientation towards imagination, and the ability to go beyond reality. Through teaching and research, the studies need to promote perspectives beyond the daily routine and generalisation. Despite the constant reminder of Icarus’ tragedy of vanity and narcissism when we try to reach for the skies, we should keep in mind that the social role of the Faculty of Architecture is not limited to resolution of current spatial issues, but it needs to exploit its rare privilege to open up spatial issues, and provide for the broadness of discussion, vision and strong values frameworks of social future. This will succeed only if we are successful at weaving the fabric of unimaginable and unreal into the fabric. Even when we descend back to the solid floors of faculty studios and lecture rooms at the beginning of the upcoming academic year, our dreams and inspiration should remain in the clouds.
The online exhibition is definitely opening up a new chapter in the systematic presentation and archiving of annual students’ production. However, we hope that the latter will be accepted by the students, teachers, as well as visitors, and that its systematic approach to categorisation of projects and research will become a constant parallel component of the traditional annual June exhibition in the faculty premises and Intro – a summary publication of selected projects and research.
— Matej Blenkuš
Organizacija in vsebinska zasnova spletne razstave: izr. prof. mag. Anja Planišček, asist. Ana Kreč
Uvodno besedilo: dekan, izr. prof. dr. Matej Blenkuš
Lektura in prevod uvodnega besedila: Gašper Bračko
Grafično oblikovanje spletne strani in promocijskih gradiv: Domen Ermenc
Tehnična postavitev in programiranje: Tadej Hiti, Sašo Kerin
