Books by Pauline Lefebvre
En 2061, dans un monde où l’accès à l’eau et à l’alimentation s’est complexifié, où les ressource... more En 2061, dans un monde où l’accès à l’eau et à l’alimentation s’est complexifié, où les ressources énergétiques se raréfient, des personnages arpentent différents quartiers de Bruxl, une mégapole marquée par de forts contrastes sociaux, politiques et technologiques.
Neuf nouvelles captivantes et inventives dans lesquels il est autant question de réalité virtuelle, de lentilles connectées, de pratiques de pollinisation manuelle, d’étranges insectes changeant de couleur en fonction de l’humeur des personnes, de jeunes hackeureuses, que d’un festival pour se désintoxiquer du virtuel…
À l’origine de ce livre, il y a un « jeu narratif » proposé à des jeunes d’aujourd’hui par une équipe pluridisciplinaire de chercheureuses et d’artistes qui se sont rencontré·es autour du philosophe Bruno Latour.
Penser-Faire. Quand des architectes se mêlent de construction / Thinking-Making. When Architects Engage in Construction, 2021
"Les architectes ne font pas des bâtiments, ils les imaginent et les dessinent." Cet ouvrage expl... more "Les architectes ne font pas des bâtiments, ils les imaginent et les dessinent." Cet ouvrage explore des situations, actuelles ou historiques, qui troublent cette division entre conception et construction. Il met ainsi en perspective une certaine tendance à la valorisation du « faire » à l'oeuvre en architecture, à travers diverses pratiques : l'enseignement par la production à l'échelle , les expérimentations matérielles en situation de conception, l'esthétisation des traces de la construction, le réemploi de matériaux, la fabrication digitale, la construction en terre crue ou encore l'autoconstruction. Au fil des chapitres, l'ouvrage interroge les promesses du « faire » quant à d'autres rapports possibles à la matière, aux techniques, aux acteurs et à l'environnement.
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"Architects do not make buildings, they design them." This book explores situations, whether contemporary or historical, which challenge this division between design and construction. It investigates the growing prominence of making in architecture through a series of case-studies: design-build pedagogies, material experimentations in the design process, the aestheticization of traces of the construction, the use of reclaimed materials, digital fabrication, the crafts attached to raw-earth construction, or practices of self-building. Throughout its eleven chapters, the book interrogates the promises of making in terms of other possible relationships to materials, techniques, actors and the environment.
From the first fieldtrips for the design of a library in Burundi to involving over 150 workshop p... more From the first fieldtrips for the design of a library in Burundi to involving over 150 workshop participants in the construction of a public building in Belgium, the stories compiled in this book tell how BC architects & studies engage in acts of building. BC believes that, in order to have a positive impact on our society, architects need to intervene beyond the narrow definition of the professional who designs and controls the execution of buildings. Hence, BC ventures into material production, contracting, knowledge transfer and community organization, which all influence their design approach.
The book is structured around a collection of stories that take artefacts as points of departure. These tools, machines and formwork were used for the construction of four projects. Around them, a multitude of actors and processes come to the fore and, from there, the image of a hybrid architecture practice starts to emerge. BC’s take on the act of building progressively evolves from local and very specific experiences, as the stories bring forward a series of interwoven themes, such as the choice to work with local resources and skills, the interest for materials such as earth and hempcrete, the thrill of pioneering, the risks that come together with experimenting, the inscription into an existing building culture and network of builders, the organization of workshops or building camps, the need for fruitful collaborations, the necessary redefinition of the professional boundaries, the direct engagement in material production and construction, etcetera. By describing the way BC designs and performs the act of building, the book suggests ways in which BC hopes architecture can contribute to our world in transition.
This book is the result of the work that Pauline Lefebvre, researcher and theoretician of architecture, conducted at, with and about BC architects & studies. She researched their practice as part of her broader inquiry about architects’ increased involvement in construction and materials as a renewed form of political engagement in architecture. For four months, she was a full-time participant in the activities of the office. From her direct observations and a series of interviews, she collected the stories that are told in this book, and the themes that reflect the peculiar characteristics of BC’s work. Together with BC, she designed this book as both an independent proposition and a complement to the participation of BC architects & studies in the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara.
Papers by Pauline Lefebvre
A+, 2024
Materials that require little processing (such as raw earth, fibres and wood) are highly prized t... more Materials that require little processing (such as raw earth, fibres and wood) are highly prized today for their excellent carbon footprint and potential circularity. But a veil of suspicion still hangs over them: doesn’t their degrad- ability make them more fragile? It is therefore tempting to subject them to processing so as to make them competitive with their ‘cooked’ equivalents (cement, steel, bricks). And yet, shouldn’t we be arguing, on the contrary, that it is also because their durability depends on the care they receive that they can be described as ecological?
A+, 2024
Les matériaux à faible transformation (terre crue, fibres, bois) sont aujourd’hui prisés pour leu... more Les matériaux à faible transformation (terre crue, fibres, bois) sont aujourd’hui prisés pour leur excellent bilan carbone et leur potentielle circularité. Mais une suspicion continue de peser sur eux : leur dégradabilité ne les rendelle pas plus fragiles ? Il est dès lors tentant de les transformer pour les rendre compétitifs par rapport à leurs équivalents « cuits » (ciment, terre cuite, acier). Ne devrait-on pas pourtant, au contraire, affirmer que c’est aussi du fait que leur durabilité dépend des soins qui leur sont apportés qu’ils peuvent être qualifiés d’écologiques ?
Matières, 2024
Ce court article explore comment la maintenance touche aux confins de l’architecture dans la mesu... more Ce court article explore comment la maintenance touche aux confins de l’architecture dans la mesure où leur rapprochement pousse cette dernière à questionner la pertinence du projet comme seul mode d’action. Un pas plus loin encore, la « dé-projection » se pose comme alternative à la maintenance dans les cas où celle-ci n’est plus désirable, engageant les concepteur·ices à contribuer à rendre acceptable, voire désirable, la fin de ce qui ne doit plus être maintenu. Chacune à leur manière, maintenance et « dé-projection » sont situées à l’autre extrémité du spectre par rapport à la création de nouvelles infrastructures, et constituent dès lors des voies pour envisager ce que devient l’architecture une fois pleinement prise la mesure de la finitude de notre monde.
Co-concevoir en architecture. Formes de collaboration et hybridations de savoirs, 2023
Ce chapitre explore deux situations de collaboration à l’occasion desquelles des architectes s’av... more Ce chapitre explore deux situations de collaboration à l’occasion desquelles des architectes s’aventurent sur le terrain professionnel des entrepreneurs. Ils leur empruntent, ponctuellement ou durablement, outils, tâches, gestes et modes de fonctionnement. Ils outrepassent ainsi, de manière plus ou moins substantielle, les limites du cadre professionnel dans lequel ils sont supposés opérer. Ces situations ont ceci de particulier que le projet sur lequel architectes et entrepreneurs collaborent n’est d’ailleurs pas directement un projet d’architecture mais plutôt un projet constructif. Nous analysons ici comment se déploient précisément ces situations de collaboration où des architectes font, en quelque sorte, « incursion » sur le terrain des entrepreneurs. En retraçant les conditions qui rendent ces incursions nécessaires ainsi que leurs effets sur les pratiques impliquées, nous visons à mettre en lumière les transformations qu’elles engagent autour de certaines normes professionnelles.
Architectures Wallonie-Bruxelles Inventaires # Inventories 2020-23, 2023
Extrait : Ce texte propose d’explorer certaines des stratégies mises en œuvre par les architectes... more Extrait : Ce texte propose d’explorer certaines des stratégies mises en œuvre par les architectes lorsqu’iels travaillent sur des bâtiments existants. Quel rôle les architectes peuvent-iels jouer face à ces problématiques ? Cette question se pose aussi du fait que l’arbitrage entre transformation ou démolition-reconstruction n’est, la plupart du temps, pas du ressort de ces professionnel·les : iels interviennent souvent trop tard, une fois la programmation établie. Tout de même, au moment du concours ou des études techniques qui mènent à l’esquisse, iels ont parfois une marge de manœuvre pour envisager, pour chaque situation qui leur est confiée, quelle option parait la plus judicieuse.
OASE, 2022
This paper discusses different ways in which the term ‘hairy’ can serve to describe a building. ‘... more This paper discusses different ways in which the term ‘hairy’ can serve to describe a building. ‘Hairy’ first refers to the peculiar texture of the hemp-lime covering a pavilion built near Antwerp by BC architects & studies. As an aesthetic feature of the building, it points to the first question I want to address in this text, which is the kind of aesthetics architects choose to adopt when advocating the use of ecological materials. In the second part of my argument, I explore how ‘hairy’ can also be understood in a more figurative way, when it suggests that the choice of these materials also come entangled with various environmental, social and political concerns. These two interconnected meanings of the term ‘hairy’ allow me to highlight the role that materials can play in binding together aesthetic and ecological concerns in the field of architecture.
The Hybrid Practitioner, 2022
Following architects at work from within the architecture firm, allows to describe architecture i... more Following architects at work from within the architecture firm, allows to describe architecture in the making, instead of studying their production once built and/or published and rather than relying on their established discourses. Such a pragmatist approach tends to provisionally eclipse what architects have to say about their work to emphasize material design operations. In order to question this tendency, this paper focuses on a process I observed during one of my fieldworks where words played a central role: the process that led the four founding partners of the firm to establish and communicate what they called their “values”, under the form of a short text which was to replace the “about” section of their website. Following this process within the firm, allows me to show how material it actually is: not only does it require many artefacts, visuals, materials, gestures, etc. besides words, but it is inextricably entangled with many other processes in which the architects take part at the same time, such as assembling portfolios and slideshows, evaluating and documenting past projects, as well as designing current ones and prospecting for future ones. I am interested in this particular process because my research investigates the forms that architects’ political or social engagements take within their daily practice, beyond the posture they might explicitly claim. I had chosen that firm because part of their discourse is precisely about favoring the practical and concrete aspects of architecture at the expense of theorizing what they do. Yet, once in the firm, it was impossible to ignore the time they were actually spending on discussing what they were doing and how to communicate about it, writing various forms of texts and constantly looking for the right formats and words. My activity as a researcher taking notes, making sense of what they were doing, and writing papers, was not so foreign to their practice as architects after all! Focusing on the making of their “values” allows to address my main hypothesis: architects’ engagements are not prior nor external to their practice and production. They are not prior intentions that end up formalized in their sketches, models, mockups, organization, behavior, etc. They are rather themselves in the making through these very concrete things and processes. They are not merely made of a different material, such as ideas, words or attitudes. In a pragmatist perspective, values manifest themselves in what we care for, what we attempt to sustain; they are thus not abstract but observable. Values are not what explains architects’ work but what needs to be explained thanks to the meticulous depiction of what architects do and how they are made to do. This paper shows how practicing research within architecture firms doesn’t necessarily impose to choose practice against discourses but prevents from establishing any strict a priori distinction between the two, to rather consider a series of interconnected socio-material practices.
Women in Pragmatism: Past, Present and Future, 2022
The introduction of pragmatism in architectural discussions in the early 2000s caused fierce obje... more The introduction of pragmatism in architectural discussions in the early 2000s caused fierce objections by those who thought that abandoning critical theory and adopting pragmatism instead would take architecture adrift. This chapter highlights moments within this debate when pragmatism was presented as a forceful alternative to critical theory in terms of the political engagements it requires from practitioners and thinkers who adopt it. Among those who did that most convincingly were two female architectural historians and theoreticians. Joan Ockman organized a major conference on pragmatism and architecture in New York in 2000. Gwendolyn Wright was part of that event and published in its wake a series of texts connecting the influence of pragmatism with socially-oriented architectural practices. Tracing the role of these two protagonists, the chapter also touches upon the fate of feminism within this intellectual history.
Penser-Faire. Quand des architectes se mêlent de construction / Thinking-Making. When Architects Engage in Construction, 2021
FR — Ce chapitre revient sur l’exposition X Artefacts qui visait, à travers dix objets réalisé... more FR — Ce chapitre revient sur l’exposition X Artefacts qui visait, à travers dix objets réalisés par des architectes belges, à explorer des situations qui avaient mené ces concepteurs à intervenir dans le champ de la construction. Pour la plupart réalisés à l’échelle 1:1, avec les matériaux qui seront au final mis en œuvre sur le chantier, ces objets permettent d’étudier les modalités opératoires du « faire ». Ils sont autant de points d’entrée vers les pratiques dont ils sont issus. Les matériaux de construction et leur mise en œuvre sont- ils préalables, centraux, actifs dans le travail des architectes ? Les auteurs de ces artefacts revendiquent-ils des affinités avec le « faire » ? Cet engagement implique-t-il des redistributions disciplinaires et une redéfinition du rôle des différents acteurs impliqués ? Finalement, ces artefacts sont aussi des moyens, pour ces architectes, de communiquer sur certains aspects de leur pratique, entre autres à l’occasion d’expositions comme celle dont il est question ici, un événement qui participe lui-même de facto au mouvement de valorisation du « faire » dont il entend témoigner.
EN — The exhibition X Artefacts seeks to explore situations in which ten Belgian architecture firms ventured into the field of construction. Gathering ten objects fabricated by the architects at scale 1:1 and made from materials used in construction, the exhibition was an inquiry into the ways and means of making in architecture, questioning the perceived difference between the tools for making and the tools of design. The artefacts permitted to examine the practices that shaped them. Do materials and situations play a particularly crucial and active role for these architects? Do they claim affinities with making? Does their engagement in making involve a redistribution of the roles and disciplinary or professional reconfigurations? The chapter ends with a reflection on how these artefacts participate in the way architects communicate their work. Therefore, the role of an exhibition such as X Artefacts is two-folded: it bears witness to the current valorization of making in architecture and participates in its development.
Penser-Faire. Quand des architectes se mêlent de construction / Thinking-Making. When Architects Engage in Construction, 2021
"Architects do not make buildings, they design them." This book explores situations, whether cont... more "Architects do not make buildings, they design them." This book explores situations, whether contemporary or historical, which challenge this division between design and construction. It investigates the growing prominence of making in architecture through a series of case-studies: design-build pedagogies, material experimentations in the design process, the aestheticization of traces of the construction, the use of reclaimed materials, digital fabrication, the crafts attached to raw-earth construction, or practices of self-building. Throughout its eleven chapters, the book interrogates the promises of making in terms of other possible relationships to materials, techniques, actors and the environment.
Le Philotope, 2020
Cet article interroge comment mes travaux de recherche en architecture entremêlent étroitement un... more Cet article interroge comment mes travaux de recherche en architecture entremêlent étroitement une part descriptive et une part spéculative. À travers l’exposé de deux projets distincts, je précise pourquoi il a importé d’en passer par la description et comment, au sein même des descriptions et à partir d’elles, ont pu se déployer des formulations plus spéculatives. En tant qu’architecte et chercheure en architecture, je suis effectivement tenue par un attachement profond à cette pratique, tout en étant mue par un trouble persistant quant à ses défauts, me poussant à déployer une attention particulière à ce qu’elle pourrait devenir, si…
Clara Architecture Recherche, 2016
This issue of Footprint explores the potential role of analytic philosophy in the context of arch... more This issue of Footprint explores the potential role of analytic philosophy in the context of architecture’s typical affinity with continental philosophy over the past three decades. In the last decades of the twentieth century, philosophy became an almost necessary springboard from which to define a work of architecture. Analytic philosophy took a notable backseat to continental philosophy. With this history in mind, this issue of Footprint sought to open the discussion on what might be offered by the less familiar branches of epistemology and logic that are more prevalent and developed in the analytic tradition.
The papers brought together here are situated in the context of a discipline in transformation that seeks a fundamental approach to its own tools, logic and approaches. In this realm, the approaches of logic and epistemology help to define an alternate means of criticality not subjected to personalities or the specialist knowledge of individual philosophies. Rather the various articles attempt to demonstrate that such difference of background assumptions is a common human habit and that some of the techniques of analytic philosophy may help to leap these chasms. The hope is that this is a start of a larger conversation in architecture theory that has as of yet not begun.
For full issue see:
http://footprint.tudelft.nl/
Ardeth, 2018
What does it take to describe the design of an object from the point of view of the object itself... more What does it take to describe the design of an object from the point of view of the object itself? What are the implications of writing on its behalf, in the first person and in the active voice? Through the partial and biased description of a single scene of observation, this paper explores the way ethnographies of architecture and their accompanying theories, such as the actor-network theory, are able to widen our conceptions of the design participants’ agency. Undertaken as a writing experiment, the chosen mode of description aims at expanding our ability – as observer and as designer – to account for, and work with, multiple gradients of existence. By amplifying and specifying the various ways in which the object-in-the-making is participating in the design decisions, the text does not only push the limits of our usual accounts of design, it also insists on the active attention that all participants of the design process, human and non human, require.
Architecture Philosophy, 2016
Architectural Theory Review, 2018
Departing from observations collected in an architecture firm, this essay investigates the way in... more Departing from observations collected in an architecture firm, this essay investigates the way in which an architect expressed his concerns for what the material he intended to use “wants to do”. Adopting a speculative and pragmatist perspective, I detect there a possibility of thinking about architects’ responsibility as a moral exchange with beings involved in the design process. The text addresses two interpretations of that situation that could hinder the possibility of a more relational architectural practice. The first reduces the designer’s formulation to a rhetorical means to expose his ability to take constraints into account. The second interprets it as the expression of the architects’ moral obligation to respect the material’s intrinsic nature. Two diverging notions of responsibility are at stake, which are here contrasted with a third one. Built on a materialist view on ethics, the ethological perspective allows the acknowledgement of what the material and the designer become capable of together.
Footprint, 2017
By the late 1990s, the once fruitful alliance between architecture and continental philosophy was... more By the late 1990s, the once fruitful alliance between architecture and continental philosophy was perceived as being responsible for the apparent schism between architectural theory and practice. In that context, some saw Pragmatism as a potential alternative for reviving the architectural discourse. This paper first considers how this enterprise was actually more of a continuity than rupture with former philosophical affinities. The introduction of Pragmatism in architecture was discussed in the same breath as previous developments based on Deleuze and Foucault, mostly around the ‘diagram’. Architectural thinkers were then following the recent revival of Pragmatism in American philosophy, carried out by figures like Rorty, and based on a reconciliation between American Pragmatism and Continental philosophies. This might explain why they favoured Pragmatism at the expense of contemporary analytic philosophy. This also explains why their initiative was not as successful as they expected: the alternative did not appear as offering enough of a contrast. In the second part of the paper, I take this non-fulfilment as an opportunity to explore – to speculate – what Pragmatism could have contributed to the ‘post-critical’ scene that followed in the early 2000s. The main post-critical move is a shift away from ‘meaning’ towards the material, sensuous ‘effects’ of architecture. Pragmatism appeared relevant, as its main gesture is to consider effects rather than causes and to dismiss all discussions that have no practical bearings. But Pragmatism has more to offer than just a refocus on practice. My hypothesis is that Pragmatism expands the obligations of architecture. It doesn’t just bring to the fore concrete, seductive ‘effects’ of buildings; it also insists on considering their broader ‘consequences’ on the environment – physical as well as social and cultural – and on inventing ways of dealing with them.
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Books by Pauline Lefebvre
Neuf nouvelles captivantes et inventives dans lesquels il est autant question de réalité virtuelle, de lentilles connectées, de pratiques de pollinisation manuelle, d’étranges insectes changeant de couleur en fonction de l’humeur des personnes, de jeunes hackeureuses, que d’un festival pour se désintoxiquer du virtuel…
À l’origine de ce livre, il y a un « jeu narratif » proposé à des jeunes d’aujourd’hui par une équipe pluridisciplinaire de chercheureuses et d’artistes qui se sont rencontré·es autour du philosophe Bruno Latour.
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"Architects do not make buildings, they design them." This book explores situations, whether contemporary or historical, which challenge this division between design and construction. It investigates the growing prominence of making in architecture through a series of case-studies: design-build pedagogies, material experimentations in the design process, the aestheticization of traces of the construction, the use of reclaimed materials, digital fabrication, the crafts attached to raw-earth construction, or practices of self-building. Throughout its eleven chapters, the book interrogates the promises of making in terms of other possible relationships to materials, techniques, actors and the environment.
The book is structured around a collection of stories that take artefacts as points of departure. These tools, machines and formwork were used for the construction of four projects. Around them, a multitude of actors and processes come to the fore and, from there, the image of a hybrid architecture practice starts to emerge. BC’s take on the act of building progressively evolves from local and very specific experiences, as the stories bring forward a series of interwoven themes, such as the choice to work with local resources and skills, the interest for materials such as earth and hempcrete, the thrill of pioneering, the risks that come together with experimenting, the inscription into an existing building culture and network of builders, the organization of workshops or building camps, the need for fruitful collaborations, the necessary redefinition of the professional boundaries, the direct engagement in material production and construction, etcetera. By describing the way BC designs and performs the act of building, the book suggests ways in which BC hopes architecture can contribute to our world in transition.
This book is the result of the work that Pauline Lefebvre, researcher and theoretician of architecture, conducted at, with and about BC architects & studies. She researched their practice as part of her broader inquiry about architects’ increased involvement in construction and materials as a renewed form of political engagement in architecture. For four months, she was a full-time participant in the activities of the office. From her direct observations and a series of interviews, she collected the stories that are told in this book, and the themes that reflect the peculiar characteristics of BC’s work. Together with BC, she designed this book as both an independent proposition and a complement to the participation of BC architects & studies in the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara.
Papers by Pauline Lefebvre
EN — The exhibition X Artefacts seeks to explore situations in which ten Belgian architecture firms ventured into the field of construction. Gathering ten objects fabricated by the architects at scale 1:1 and made from materials used in construction, the exhibition was an inquiry into the ways and means of making in architecture, questioning the perceived difference between the tools for making and the tools of design. The artefacts permitted to examine the practices that shaped them. Do materials and situations play a particularly crucial and active role for these architects? Do they claim affinities with making? Does their engagement in making involve a redistribution of the roles and disciplinary or professional reconfigurations? The chapter ends with a reflection on how these artefacts participate in the way architects communicate their work. Therefore, the role of an exhibition such as X Artefacts is two-folded: it bears witness to the current valorization of making in architecture and participates in its development.
The papers brought together here are situated in the context of a discipline in transformation that seeks a fundamental approach to its own tools, logic and approaches. In this realm, the approaches of logic and epistemology help to define an alternate means of criticality not subjected to personalities or the specialist knowledge of individual philosophies. Rather the various articles attempt to demonstrate that such difference of background assumptions is a common human habit and that some of the techniques of analytic philosophy may help to leap these chasms. The hope is that this is a start of a larger conversation in architecture theory that has as of yet not begun.
For full issue see:
http://footprint.tudelft.nl/
Neuf nouvelles captivantes et inventives dans lesquels il est autant question de réalité virtuelle, de lentilles connectées, de pratiques de pollinisation manuelle, d’étranges insectes changeant de couleur en fonction de l’humeur des personnes, de jeunes hackeureuses, que d’un festival pour se désintoxiquer du virtuel…
À l’origine de ce livre, il y a un « jeu narratif » proposé à des jeunes d’aujourd’hui par une équipe pluridisciplinaire de chercheureuses et d’artistes qui se sont rencontré·es autour du philosophe Bruno Latour.
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"Architects do not make buildings, they design them." This book explores situations, whether contemporary or historical, which challenge this division between design and construction. It investigates the growing prominence of making in architecture through a series of case-studies: design-build pedagogies, material experimentations in the design process, the aestheticization of traces of the construction, the use of reclaimed materials, digital fabrication, the crafts attached to raw-earth construction, or practices of self-building. Throughout its eleven chapters, the book interrogates the promises of making in terms of other possible relationships to materials, techniques, actors and the environment.
The book is structured around a collection of stories that take artefacts as points of departure. These tools, machines and formwork were used for the construction of four projects. Around them, a multitude of actors and processes come to the fore and, from there, the image of a hybrid architecture practice starts to emerge. BC’s take on the act of building progressively evolves from local and very specific experiences, as the stories bring forward a series of interwoven themes, such as the choice to work with local resources and skills, the interest for materials such as earth and hempcrete, the thrill of pioneering, the risks that come together with experimenting, the inscription into an existing building culture and network of builders, the organization of workshops or building camps, the need for fruitful collaborations, the necessary redefinition of the professional boundaries, the direct engagement in material production and construction, etcetera. By describing the way BC designs and performs the act of building, the book suggests ways in which BC hopes architecture can contribute to our world in transition.
This book is the result of the work that Pauline Lefebvre, researcher and theoretician of architecture, conducted at, with and about BC architects & studies. She researched their practice as part of her broader inquiry about architects’ increased involvement in construction and materials as a renewed form of political engagement in architecture. For four months, she was a full-time participant in the activities of the office. From her direct observations and a series of interviews, she collected the stories that are told in this book, and the themes that reflect the peculiar characteristics of BC’s work. Together with BC, she designed this book as both an independent proposition and a complement to the participation of BC architects & studies in the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara.
EN — The exhibition X Artefacts seeks to explore situations in which ten Belgian architecture firms ventured into the field of construction. Gathering ten objects fabricated by the architects at scale 1:1 and made from materials used in construction, the exhibition was an inquiry into the ways and means of making in architecture, questioning the perceived difference between the tools for making and the tools of design. The artefacts permitted to examine the practices that shaped them. Do materials and situations play a particularly crucial and active role for these architects? Do they claim affinities with making? Does their engagement in making involve a redistribution of the roles and disciplinary or professional reconfigurations? The chapter ends with a reflection on how these artefacts participate in the way architects communicate their work. Therefore, the role of an exhibition such as X Artefacts is two-folded: it bears witness to the current valorization of making in architecture and participates in its development.
The papers brought together here are situated in the context of a discipline in transformation that seeks a fundamental approach to its own tools, logic and approaches. In this realm, the approaches of logic and epistemology help to define an alternate means of criticality not subjected to personalities or the specialist knowledge of individual philosophies. Rather the various articles attempt to demonstrate that such difference of background assumptions is a common human habit and that some of the techniques of analytic philosophy may help to leap these chasms. The hope is that this is a start of a larger conversation in architecture theory that has as of yet not begun.
For full issue see:
http://footprint.tudelft.nl/