Séminaire Phyllis Lambert École d architecture, Université de Montréal, Hiver 2012 Infrastructures territoriales Conception et organisation : Alessandra Ponte Il a été noté récemment que l architecture aurait pris un «tournant géographique». De fait, un groupe émergent d architectes s inspire de la géographie, en empruntant des concepts et des théories, ainsi que les outils de représentation de cette discipline. Aujourd hui, au lieu de plans, de coupes et de volumétries figurant des espaces, de plus en plus nous sommes confrontés à des propositions architecturales exprimées sous forme de cartes, c est- à- dire à la représentation cartographique des mutations temporelles et spatiales inscrites dans les éléments topographiques. En conséquence, de telles figurations offrent l image de multiples flux : ceux de la matière, de l énergie, des personnes et de l information. Cette fascination pour la cartographie a été déclenchée, au moins partiellement, par la révolution numérique, celle qui a eu lieu dans la représentation géographique et a généré des phénomènes facilement accessibles comme Google Earth, ainsi qu une variété de systèmes d information géographique. Cependant, au- delà de la fascination qu exercent ces nouveaux outils numériques, les nouveaux «géo- architectes» semblent vouloir tenter d élargir leurs champs d intervention et de redéfinir leurs modes d action. N étant plus exclusivement engagés avec l objet architectural, les géo- architectes pensent en termes d environnement et de territoire. Désormais, ceux- ci développent leurs propositions par des systèmes adaptables et souples, conduisant à des infrastructures de type hybride. Dernièrement, ce dernier type d'intervention a été l objet de débats et de controverses, mais aussi de rencontres productives, établissant des passerelles entre plusieurs disciplines, comme l urbanisme, l architecture, l architecture de paysage, ou l urbanisme paysager. Les débats récents sur la question des infrastructures évoquent couramment les significations relativement nouvelles de l expression, son utilisation omniprésente (déclinée avec des connotations diverses dans plusieurs domaines), ainsi que l'étymologie du terme. Le préfixe latin infra, qui signifie «au dessous», suggère quelque chose de caché. Par exemple, dans la «Ville invisible» de Lewis Mumford, la nature des systèmes mécaniques et des réseaux urbains se présentait comme un monde dissimulé, inférieur et infernal. Toutefois, la visibilité croissante et l ubiquité grandissante des infrastructures contemporaines nous obligent à reconsidérer les multiples significations du terme. Pour son édition 2012, nous proposons que le Séminaire international Phyllis Lambert prenne la forme d un colloque consacré à la question de l infrastructure, au sens large et à une échelle territoriale. Le colloque aura lieu à l École d'architecture de l Université de Montréal, le 31 mars 2012. Samedi 31 mars 2012, 10:00 Mot de bienvenue : Anne Cormier, Directrice, École d architecture, Université de Montréal Introduction : Alessandra Ponte, Université de Montréal Première séance, 10:20 13:00 Modérateurs : Fabrizio Gallanti, Centre Canadien d Architecture, Montréal. Lola Sheppard, University of Waterloo, Lateral Office. Antoine Picon, GSD, Harvard University, Cambridge: Qu est- il arrivé au territoire? Les infrastructures et leur esthétique à l heure des nouvelles technologies. [10:20 11:00] Janike Kampevold Larsen, AHO The Oslo School of Architecture and Design: Art, Roads and Power Lines: The Thin Energies of Northern Infrastructure. [11:00 11:40] Pedro Ignacio Alonso, Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile: Infrastructure and the Annihilation of the Antarctic: The Mapping of Ice and Water in the First Continent Discovered by Photography. [11:40 12:20] Table ronde [12 :20 13 :00] Deuxième séance, 14:30 18:00 Modérateurs : Talia Dorsey, The Commons Inc., Montréal. Aaron Sprecher, McGill University, Montréal. Mason White, University of Toronto, Lateral Office. Pierre Bélanger, GSD, Harvard University, Cambridge: Landscape as Infrastructure. [14:30 15:10] Liam Young, AA School, Londres : Landscapes of Unnatural History. [15:10 15:50] Pause Paula Meijerink, École d architecture de paysage, Université de Montréal : Visualiser les manifestations politiques dans le Nord. [16:05 16:45] Luis Callejas, Luis Callejas. Landscape. Architecture., Medellín (Colombie) / Toronto: Heavy Clouds and Weightless Infrastructures. [16:45 17:25] Table ronde [17 :25 18 :00]
Phyllis Lambert Seminar École d architecture, Université de Montréal, Winter 2012 Territorial Infrastructures Conception and organisation : Alessandra Ponte It has been recently noted that architecture has taken a geographical turn. In fact, an emerging group of geographical inclined architects is currently borrowing theories and concepts from geography together with the discipline s representational tools. Instead of plans, sections, and volumetric representations of spaces, we are now seeing more and more architectural proposals expressed in form of cartographical representations mapping in time and space the transformations of topographical features as well as fluxes of matter, goods, energy, people and information. This fascination with mapping has been triggered, at least partially, by the digital revolution that has taken place in geographical representation and generated easily accessible phenomena like Google Earth and various forms of geographic information systems. However, beyond the captivation with such new digital tools, "geo- architects" appear to be striving to expand and redefine their fields and modes of intervention. No longer strictly engaged with the architectural object, geo- architects think in terms of environments and territories, and develop their proposals in forms of adaptable systems and flexible or hybrid infrastructures. This last type of intervention in particular has lately been the focus of debates, controversies, or productive encounters between multiple disciplines such as urbanism, architecture, landscape architecture and landscape urbanism. Recent debates about the question of infrastructure recurrently mention the relatively new currency of the term, its present ubiquitous use (declined with diverse connotations in multiple domains), and the etymology of the word. The Latin prefix infra, meaning below, suggests something concealed from view, inferior and infernal. Such was in fact the nature of the mechanical and service systems mapped, for example, in Lewis Mumford s invisible city. However, contemporary infrastructures growing visibility and ubiquity invite to reconsider and multiply the readings of the term. The proposal is that the 2012 Phyllis Lambert Seminar will take the form of a colloquium devoted to the question of infrastructure in an expanded sense and at a territorial scale. The colloquium will be held at the École d architecture, Université de Montréal, March 31, 2012. Saturday, March 31, 2012, 10 :00 Opening Remarks: Anne Cormier, Directrice, École d architecture, Université de Montréal Introduction: Alessandra Ponte, Université de Montréal First Session, 10:20 13:00 Respondents: Fabrizio Gallanti, Centre Canadien d Architecture, Montréal. Lola Sheppard, University of Waterloo, Lateral Office. Antoine Picon, GSD, Harvard University, Cambridge: Qu est- il arrivé au territoire? Les infrastructures et leur esthétique à l heure des nouvelles technologies. [10:20 11:00] Janike Kampevold Larsen, AHO The Oslo School of Architecture and Design: Art, Roads and Power Lines: The Thin Energies of Northern Infrastructure. [11:00 11:40] Pedro Ignacio Alonso, Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile: Infrastructure and the Annihilation of the Antarctic: The Mapping of Ice and Water in the First Continent Discovered by Photography. [11:40 12:20] Round Table [12 :20 13 :00] Second Session, 14:30 18:00 Respondents: Talia Dorsey, The Commons Inc., Montréal. Aaron Sprecher, McGill University, Montréal. Mason White, University of Toronto, Lateral Office. Pierre Bélanger, GSD, Harvard University, Cambridge: Landscape as Infrastructure. [14:30 15:10] Liam Young, AA School, London: Landscapes of Unnatural History. [15:10 15:50] Break Paula Meijerink, École d architecture de paysage, Université de Montréal : Visualiser les manifestations politiques dans le Nord. [16:05 16:45] Luis Callejas, Luis Callejas. Landscape. Architecture., Medellín (Colombia) / Toronto: Heavy Clouds and Weightless Infrastructures. [16:45 17:25] Round Table [17 :25 18 :00]
Notices biographiques Biographical Notes Conférenciers Speakers Pedro Ignacio Alonso studied architecture and holds a MSc in Architecture from the PUC in Chile (2000) and completed his Ph.D at the Architectural Association (2007). He has taught at the AA since 2005, currently as Visiting Tutor at the History and Critical Thinking MA Programme and as the director of the AA 'Visiting School Programme' to Santiago. Since 2009 he teaches design and architectural theory at the PUC in Chile, institution where he directs the Masters Programme in Architecture MARQ. His publications include Deserta (with Thomas Weaver, AA Files 62, London 2001); and A panel s tale: KPD and the Politics of Assemblage (with H. Palmarola, AA Files 59, London 2009). Together with Hugo Palmarola he received a RIBA Research Trust Award for his ongoing study on the Soviet KPD system and the politics of Cold War prefabrication (2008). More recently he has been awarded with a Research Grant from The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California (2010), and with a Fellowship as Visiting Scholar at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal (2011). In 2011 he was awarded with a grant by the Prince Claus Fund (Amsterdam) to publish his book Deserta (ARQ, 2012) Pierre Bélanger is a Landscape Architect and Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His academic research and public work focus on the convergence of urbanism, landscape and ecology in the interrelated fields of planning, design and engineering. Bélanger is editor of the Landscape Infrastructures DVD (Canadian National Research Council, 2009) and his most recent publications include Urbanism beyond Engineering (Infrastructure Sustainability & Design, 2012), Regionalization (JOLA, 2010), Redefining Infrastructure (Ecological Urbanism, 2010), Landscape as Infrastructure (Landscape Journal, 2009). Bélanger is a government- appointed member of the Ontario Food Terminal Board and recipient of the Professional Prix de Rome awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts. Luis Callejas is an Architect formed at Universidad Nacional de Colombia and visiting professor at University of Toronto. Luis has been visiting instructor at Harvard GSD, The Oslo School of Architecture and Scola da Cidade in Sao Paulo. Luis Callejas has recently founded Luis Callejas. Landscape. Architecture., an itinerant studio and international research platform. The practice establishes a reciprocal dialogue between landscape, architecture and infrastructure through environmental operations. In the four years since practicing as an architect, Luis Callejas has designed and realized two of the most relevant projects in Latin America for sports public infrastructure: The aquatic center for the South American Games 2010, and the complete renovation of the main soccer stadium in Bogotá, Colombia. In December 2010 Luis Callejas was selected as one of the world s best young practices by the Iakov Chernikhov foundation in Moscow. Before starting Luis Callejas. Landscape. Architecture., he was one of the founding members of Paisajes Emergentes (four years of partnership with architects Edgar Mazo and Sebastian Mejia), and collaborated to the complete renovation of the Botanical garden in Medellín, Colombia and the studios of artists Luis F. Pelaez and Hugo Zapata. Janike Kampevold Larsen holds a Dr. Art. in Literature and is Associate Professor at the Institute of Urbanism and Landscape at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. She has done research and written on the Norwegian Tourist Routes as part of the research project Routes, Roads and Landscapes, aesthetic practices en route 1750-2015. She is currently working on the Norwegian North and establishing a teaching program in Tromsø, Norway that will be addressing the emerging challenges in the circumpolar territories and landscapes. Recent publication: Routes, Roads and Landscapes, Hvattum, Brenna, Elvebakk, Kampevold Larsen (eds), (London: Ashbury Publishing Ltd 2012). She is working on a book on the Tourist Route Project. Paula Meijerink est directrice de l École d architecture de paysage de l Université de Montréal depuis l automne 2011. Elle a reçu son Baccalauréat en architecture de paysage de l Université Larenstein aux Pays- Bas, a étudié la philosophie à l Université d Utrecht et obtenu un MLA de la Graduate School of Design de Harvard. Jusqu en 2010, elle a été Assistant Professor à la GSD de Harvard et professeure invitée à l Université McGill en 2011. Paula Meijerink est fondatrice de WANTED Landscape et a été designer principale chez Martha Schwartz Partners jusqu'en 2001. Ses projets ont été publiés dans 2G Dossier, Hybrids, Only With Nature, Reading the American Landscape et dans Art in Public. Elle a réalisé On Asphalt qui a pour but de transformer, par des projets novateurs, la perception culturelle des espaces d asphalte. En 2010, elle complète pour la ville de New York un projet pilote sur la rue et, en 2011, elle développe un prototype de rue piétonne à Montréal, qui a reçu le prix «Vers des rues plus conviviales : les meilleures mesures d apaisement de la circulation». Elle travaille actuellement à la conception et à la réalisation de deux parcs publics dans la région de Boston. Antoine Picon : Ingénieur, architecte et docteur en histoire, Antoine Picon est chercheur à l Ecole nationale des Ponts et Chaussées et professeur à la Graduate School of Design de Harvard. Ses travaux portent sur les rapports entre changement scientifique et technique et transformations de l'architecture et de la ville. Il a
notamment publié Architectes et ingénieurs au siècle des Lumières (1988), Claude Perrault ou la curiosité d un classique (1988), L Invention de l ingénieur moderne (1992), La Ville territoire des cyborgs (1998), Les Saint- Simoniens, raison, imaginaire et utopie (2002), Culture numérique et architecture : Une introduction (2010). Il a également dirigé plusieurs ouvrages collectifs, notamment un dictionnaire des ingénieurs, L'Art de l'ingénieur, publié en 1997 par le Centre Pompidou. Liam Young currently lives and works in London as an independent urbanist, designer and futurist. Liam was named by Blueprint magazine as one of 25 people who will change architecture and design in 2010. He is founder of the futures think tank Tomorrows Thoughts Today, a group whose projects explore the consequences of fantastic, perverse and speculative architectures and urbanisms. His projects develop fictional near- future scenarios as critical instruments to instigate debate about the social, architectural and political consequences of emerging biological and technological futures. Liam also curates events and exhibitions including the annual Thrilling Wonder Stories series and runs the nomadic teaching studio the Unknown Fields Division at the Architectural Association in London. Each year the division travels to extreme landscapes to explore the Unknown Fields between cultivation and nature and spin cautionary tales of a new kind of wilderness. Modérateurs Respondents: Talia Dorsey, architect, is the founding principal of The Commons Inc, a strategic design and development agency based in Montreal, focused on large scale industrial/regional planning, urban design and cultural development projects. Originally from Montreal, she pursued her architectural education at Princeton University (BA) and MIT (MArch). Prior to founding her practice, she spent four years in The Netherlands at the architectural firm of Rem Koolhaas OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture). She there worked within AMO, their creative think tank division, on projects that demanded applied architectural thinking, though were not exclusively manifest as buildings. Such projects included the Hermitage 2014 Masterplan (St Petersburg, RU), Zeekracht (North Sea masterplan, EU), Haus der Kunst (Munich, DE) and research projects on Preservation, 70s Soviet architecture, Lagos (Nigeria), et al. Her personal and professional work has received numerous awards and has been published and exhibited internationally. In conjunction with her practice, she is Adjunct Professor at McGill University and has previously taught at the Université de Montréal, Harvard and MIT. Fabrizio Gallanti est directeur associé chargé des programmes au CCA de Montréal. Après une formation d architecte à l Université de Gênes, Italie, il a obtenu un doctorat d architecture à Politecnico di Torino. Il est un des membres fondateurs de gruppo A12, collectif consacré à l art et à l architecture basé à Gênes et Milan (1993 2004). Il collabore avec Francisca Inzulza sur des projets d architecture (Faculté des Lettres, UDP, Santiago de Chile, 2002-2005; Europan 8 Kristiansand Norvège, premier prix, 2006) et de recherche (documentaire The Block, 2004; installation Dónde, Shenzhen Biennale 2009). Gallanti a enseigné à la Pontificia Universidad Católica et Universidad Diego Portales à Santiago de Chile et à Politecnico di Milano à Piacenza, en Italie. Consultant pour l architecture auprès du rédacteur en chef du magazine Abitare entre 2007-2011, il a aussi dirigé la rédaction du site internet de Abitare. Ses articles ont paru dans de nombreuses revues, parmi lesquelles 32, A+U, Abitare, Domus et Il giornale dell architettura. Il a été président du jury de sélection de la Akademie Schloss Solitude à Stuttgart, Allemagne (2002-2006). Outre la coordination de la série de conférences données à la Triennale de Milan sous le titre «Multiplicity, a Collection of Sites» (1999-2000), Gallanti a assumé la direction du festival Urbania à Bologne (2009) et du séminaire international «ArchiLiFe» à Saint- Nazaire (2010). Lola Sheppard is an architect and educator based in Toronto. She received her B.Arch from McGill University and her M.Arch from Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture. She is a founding partner of Lateral Office (2003) with Mason White, a firm dedicated to the productive overlap of architecture, landscape, infrastructure and urbanism. She is also a co- director of InfraNet Lab, a research laboratory dedicated to probing the spatial by- products of contemporary resource logistics (2008). Her research examines the production of fourth natures landscapes and ecologies that exist as mutant conditions of technological enhancement. She is also pursuing a research entitled Next North, which examines infrastructures capacity to sustain local ecosystems and cultures in the Canadian Arctic. Lola is co- editor of Bracket [goes Soft] and Bracket [at Extremes] (2011). North. Lateral Office was awarded the Pamphlet Architecture no. 30, published by Princeton Architectural Press (2011), the Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League of New York (2011), and the Canadian Prix de Rome (2010). Aaron Sprecher is Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture in the Faculty of Engineering, McGill University, and has taught at UCLA, Rice University and Syracuse University. Aaron Sprecher is co- founder and partner of Open Source Architecture, an international collaborative research group that brings together leading international researchers in the fields of design, engineering, media research, history and theory. His research and design work focuses on the synergy between information
technologies, computational languages and automated digital systems, examining the way in which technology informs and generates innovative approaches to design processes. Co- curator and co- editor of the exhibition and publication The Gen(H)ome Project (MAK Center, Los Angeles, 2006), design curator of Performalism (Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2008), he chaired the ACADIA 2010 conference, co- curated the exhibition Evolutive Means at Pratt Institute and The Cooper Union (New York), and is now co- editing Architecture in Formation (Routledge, 2013). Recently, he received the prestigious Canada Foundation for Innovation award in support of a research on the synergy between evolutionary computational principles and fabrication processes. Mason White is Assistant Professor in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. He is the co- founder of Lateral Office, in partnership with Lola Sheppard, and a founding Director of InfraNet Lab, a non- profit research collective probing the spatial by- products of contemporary resource logistics. Recent publications include "Coupling: Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism" (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011) and "Bracket 1: On Farming" (Actar, 2010). Logistique Logistics Hotel Terrasse Royale 5225 Côte- des- Neiges, Montréal, Québec Téléphone : (514) 739-6391 Sans frais : 1-800- 567-0804 info@terrasse- royale.com Nous avons réservé des chambres pour les conférenciers à l hôtel Terrasse Royale. Bien noter que le séminaire ne peut couvrir que les frais de la chambre. Tous les frais additionnels, de services, d interurbains, etc. ne sont pas inclus. (L hôtel pourra demander une carte de crédit pour ces frais additionnels, mais la chambre elle- même est payée.) We have booked rooms for lecturers at the Hotel Terrasse Royale. Please note that the seminar can only cover the cost of the room. Incidentals, room service, long distance calls, etc. are not covered. (The hotel may ask for a credit card for incidentals, but the room itself has already been covered.) Conception Organisation Alessandra Ponte est professeure titulaire à l École d'architecture de l'université de Montréal. Elle a enseigné l histoire et la théorie de l architecture et du paysage dans les écoles d architecture du Pratt Institute de New York, de l Université de Princeton, de l Université de Cornell, de l Institut Universitaire d Architecture de Venise et de l ETH à Zurich. Elle a publié des articles et des essais dans de nombreuses publications internationales, un ouvrage sur Richard Payne Knight et le pittoresque au 18 e siècle (Paris, 2000) et à titre de coéditeur avec Antoine Picon, d une collection des textes sur l architecture et les sciences (New York, 2003). Depuis les cinq dernières années, elle a été responsable de la conception et de l organisation du Séminaire international Phyllis Lambert, une série de colloques sur des sujets contemporains en architecture. Elle a été le commissaire de l exposition Environnement total : Montréal 1965-1975 (Centre Canadien d Architecture, Montréal, 2009) et a récemment collaboré à l exposition et coédité le catalogue de God &Co: François Dallegret Beyond the Bubble (London: Architectural Association, 2011). Elle complète présentement une série d enquêtes sur les paysages nord- américains pour la publication prochaine de Maps and Territories (London, 2012). Lieux du séminaire Seminar location Le séminaire Phyllis Lambert se tiendra à : The Phyllis Lambert Seminar will be held at : École d architecture de l'université de Montréal Pavillon de la Faculté de l aménagement 2940, chemin de la Côte- Sainte- Catherine Montréal (Québec) H3T 1B9 Amphithéâtre 3110 S.V.P. arriver à l École d architecture à 9h30 le matin du séminaire, afin d assurer les détails techniques. De préférence, inclure votre présentation sur une clé USB. Si vous prévoyez utiliser votre ordinateur portable, ne pas oublier les câbles AV! Please arrive at the School of architecture at 9h30 on the morning of the seminar, to insure technical details. Preferably include your presentation on a USB memory stick. If you intend to use your laptop computer, do not forget to bring AV cables!
Restauration Le café sera servi le matin du séminaire ainsi qu à la pause ; un goûter sera fourni à l heure du midi à l École d architecture. Une réception aura lieu dans le hall principal de la Faculté à la clôture du séminaire. Coffee will be served on the morning of the seminar as well as during the break ; lunch will be provided at the School of architecture. A reception will take place in the Faculty s Hall at the closing of the seminar. L hôtel et l École d architecture sont à une distance de 10 minutes de marche, ou à une station de métro sur la ligne bleue. A 10- minute walk separates the hotel from the school of architecture, or one metro station on the blue line. Si vous le désirez, le restaurant Olivieri : Librairie + Bistro est situé sous l hôtel et sera ouvert le vendredi soir. If you wish, a restaurant, Olivieri : Librairie + Bistro, is located below the hotel and will be opened on Friday evening. Personnes ressources Contact information Alessandra Ponte [ Organisation ] Résidence Home : 1.514.344.4845 Portable Cell : 1.514.476.4301 Courriel email : alessandra.ponte@umontreal.ca Stephan Kowal Résidence Home : 1.514.397.2271 Portable Cell : 1.514.836.7855 Courriel email : stephan.kowal@umontreal.ca Logistics : Karolina Jastrzebska karolvj@gmail.com Technical audio- visual support : Xavier Proulx xavier@derechef.com