Architecture

This book brings together a series of reflections and practices
around issues of local and trans-local cultural production
within different contexts in Europe, prompted through the
agency of a collaborative and networked project: Rhyzom
(www.rhyzom.net).

All these cultures developed within local contexts are intrinsically
related to political, economic, social and material aspects
and to specific temporalities, spatialities, individual and
collective histories and experiences. Like the whole Rhyzom
project, the book is an attempt to create transversal links and
connections within and across different local framings and to
seize instances of the dynamic and complicated nature of notions
of ‘local’ and ‘culture’ through multiple forms of practice,
which address the critical condition of culture in contemporary
society. In relations with ‘local, and ‘trans-local’, ‘place’
and ‘culture’, issues of conflict and contest, ecologies, politics
and care practices, common and commonality, institutions and
agencies are addressed.

The book is written by architects, artists, activists, curators,
cultural workers, educators, sociologists, geographers and
residents living in different rural and urban areas in Europe
and is addressed to anyone concerned with the relation between
culture, subjectivity, space and politics today.
The list of projects and topics presented in the book is open:
the Rhyzom website provides the framework for further
displays and possible collaborations.

URBAN ACT. A handbook for alternative practices

Editor: atelier d'architecture autogérée (aaa), PEPRAV

Contributors: Texts by Jochen Becker, Kathrin Böhm (public works), Axel Claes (PTTL), Margit Czenki, Siynem Ezgi Saritas, Jesko Fezer, Mathias Heyden, Brian Holmes, Antonio Negri, Pascal Nicolas-Le Strat, Constantin Petcou, Doina Petrescu, Anne Querrien, Christoph Schäfer (Park Fiction)

2007

This document is the outcome of a series of discussions and collaborations with a number of people, involved directly or indirectly in a project within a European network. It shows a collective desire to create connections between different practices and research on the city. URBAN ACT condenses the idea of a certain type of activism, of a way of acting and organising actions, which is probably a common thread for all the contributors.

The book is distributed by the editors and through a network of voluntary agents, at the price of 20 euros per copy under the principle: 'one book sold/one book free' for the distributing agent. Resulting funds cover a part of the printing costs. A free PDF of the book is available for downloading on www.peprav.net and www.urbantactics.org

The ‘Common Grounds’ Colloquium was a workshop-based event
which took place on the 14th/15th of January 2011 at Gladstone’s
Library, St. Deniol’s. It was organised by James Benedict Brown
and Anna Holder, students from Queens University Belfast and
the University of Sheffield. The event was devised in response to
a growing awareness that as architects we have a particular way of
thinking about and carrying out research, whilst also a magpie-like
approach, often borrowing from other disciplines.

‘Common Grounds’ was a name chosen to signify the need for
developing a shared body of knowledge, and a place to collaborate
and reflect on these concerns.. The following review, co-authored
by a participant and a workshop organiser, gives an account of the
event and draws out emerging themes and commonalities of
experience which can be used to develop understanding of the
specificities of doctoral research in architecture and the built environment.

This paper critically examines the relationship
between the practices of participation and participation
as economy. In recent years, and particularly in
response to the global market failure of 2008 and
subsequent global recession, the UK government,
in line with those of the US and many in Europe,
has told citizens that resources are scarce in order
to pursue the neoliberal policy of ‘austerity’.1
In this

context, where we, as citizens, must ‘do more with
less’, rather than address the unequal distribution of
resources, participation becomes a way to ‘make do
and mend’ the urban fabric, both spatial and social.
Participation is diverted from its development as a
radical ‘redistribution of power’.

The authors of this paper are two women trained
in architecture and planning, who write, teach and
practice in Sheffield, a post-industrial city in the
north of England. Currently, as part of two doctoral
research projects, we are following separate lines
of enquiry into the ‘how and why’ of participation in
the production and appropriation of the built environment
in the UK. In this paper, we draw on and
explore the resultant empirical work.

The Co-series has been developed by artist Charlotte Morgan and designer Julia Udall through a common interest in the points at which art and architecture practices intersect. Exploring the multiple ways in which we engage with the city, the events aim to create a space in which to share practice, projects and ideas within a small group including specialists and non-specialists. The overarching theme of the series draws focus on the potentials of support, communality, collaboration, co-production, coexisting and cooperation in domestic, professional, social and educational contexts.

Co Working: Making Diverse Economies focused on the economy: co-production, labours of care, volunteering, social enterprise, gifts, bartering, salvaging and cooperatives.

with The Precarious Workers Brigade/ Kim Trogal/ Andy Abbott/ Myfanwy Taylor/ Florian KOssak

The event included a brief tour of Portland Works, a series of presentations, opportunities for discussion, refreshments and an introduction to the new Makers Workshop, a place set up to foster collaboration and innovation and the sharing tools and expertise.

Portland Works, Community-Owned Cutlery Factory
Portland Works has been in continuous use for metalwork manufacturing since it was built in 1876. It was home to a number of Little Mesters, self-employed craftsman who share a source of energy and collaborate to fulfil manufacturing contracts.

In 1913 Portland Works was the first place that stainless steel cutlery was ever manufactured. One hundred years later in 2013 it became the world’s first community-owned cutlery factory.

During the decline in manufacturing of the1970s the tenants of Portland Work diversified. Artists and musicians moved in side-by-side with toolmakers, knife makers and a silverplater.

In response to threatened closure and conversion into flats, over 500 people came together and purchased Portland Works to retain it as a place of making in the city. Applying an asset lock to counter gentrification threats, they now run it for the benefit of the community, developing heritage, small business and culture on site.

The Diverse Economies event included the launch of the ‘makers lab’ at Portland Works. This space gathers together shared tools and creates a space for teaching, tinkering and repair workshops.

The Diverse Economies event brought together an audience of makers, artists, activists, researchers and community workers with the invited speakers.

The Co-series has been developed by artist Charlotte Morgan and designer Julia Udall through a common interest in the points at which art and architecture practices intersect. Exploring the multiple ways in which we engage with the city, the events aim to create a space in which to share practice, projects and ideas within a small group including specialists and non-specialists. The overarching theme of the series draws focus on the potentials of support, communality, collaboration, co-production, coexisting and cooperation in domestic, professional, social and educational contexts.

Co-Housing/Living/Building focused on ways of living together.

From historical and contemporary housing projects to experiments in the fields of art and design, the event reflected upon the impact of technological, economic and social change upon the home environment and its potential future development.

with Jeremy Till/ The Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home/ Cristina Cerulli/ Sarah Staton

Along with presentations from speakers and opportunities for discussion, the Shirle Hill Cohousing Group introduced their project.
Shirle Hill, Co-Housing
Our hosts for the second event were the Shirle Hill co-housing group who temporarily ushered out builders in order to welcome in a ‘sold out’ audience to their building site and home. They introduced the event by talking a little about their process and their decision to live with one another.

The site near the centre of Sheffield was formerly a large house and grounds, and more recently used by the NHS as a hospital. The Shirle Hill Co-housing group are building five self-contained units with a large number of shared spaces and facilities, both internal and external, including space for 20 bicycles and two unicycles. The project involves the retrofit and refurbishment of the old building undertaken by the co-housing group themselves, and the creation of five low-energy and environmentally sustainable new dwellings (targeting the AECB Silver Standard) designed by social enterprise architects Studio Polpo.

The Co-series has been developed by artist Charlotte Morgan and designer Julia Udall through a common interest in the points at which art and architecture practices intersect. Exploring the multiple ways in which we engage with the city, the events aim to create a space in which to share practice, projects and ideas within a small group including specialists and non-specialists. The overarching theme of the series draws focus on the potentials of support, communality, collaboration, co-production, coexisting and cooperation in domestic, professional, social and educational contexts.

Co-Dreaming focused on dreaming in relation to transformation of the self, the collective and the city.

Formed around three presentations from artists, architects, researchers and writers followed by an open discussion, the event will reflect upon subjectivities, agency and the potentials of dreaming with others as a transformative force, drawing widely upon time, desire and the relationship between interior and exterior worlds.

with Jane Rendell/ Sam Vardy & Paula McCloskey/ Hester Reeve/ Michelle Bastian/ Renata Tyszczuk

Bloc Projects, Artspace
Bloc Projects is an artist-led project space in the centre of Sheffield, UK. They present and commission exhibitions, events, residencies, exchange projects and educational activity in their gallery and courtyard. Established in 2002, the organisation provides a platform for early-mid career artists and encourages experimentation, collaboration across disciplines and critical dialogue among artists, audiences and partners in the city and further afield.

Throughout its history Bloc Projects has supported artists and artist groups from across the UK and Europe working in a wide range of media, delivered partnerships projects with a range of organisations and been a long-term member of the Art SheffieldConsortium.

In the context of a lack of financial security within the arts and the voluntary sector, and to mark what feels like a natural next stage of development after the organisation’s twelve years of running, Bloc Projects decided to undertake a period of organisational development while renovating and expanding their small gallery space. This build project was beginning at the time Co- Dreaming took place, and the sense of fluctuation, fragility and collective endeavour within it, combined with the creativity, visioning, dialogue and interplay of personal and public space inherent in the dynamic of the surrounding artists studios, came together as a rich backdrop against which to pose the questions asked through the event.

This practical, hands on introduction guides you through the basics of undertaking research in day-to-day architectural practice helping you to exploit the growing opportunities on offer. It explores how developing a research specialism can improve the quality of your projects, help to define your brand and generate new channels of revenue with innovative services for clients.

The text is divided into four sections focussing on different types of Architecture Research Practice; commercial, cultural, social and technology. Each section includes a series of inspiring case studies written by practitioners themselves on the way in which research benefits their business as well as an essay by an expert which sets these projects in their methodological context.  In this way the book highlights the broad spectrum of research being undertaken and the practical implications for the practice and their projects.

This is designed for architects and practices who want to develop a clear specialism that adds brand value and will enable them to access new funding streams as well as students of architecture who are getting to grips with architectural research.  This book will inspire cutting edge and innovative architectural practice that can clearly demonstrate its impact and value to non-architect clients.

Abstract
The subjects of this paper are the ‘Little Mesters’ of Sheffield, UK. The ‘Mesters are self-employed master craftspeople whose day-to-day work is dependent on repairing, recycling, and maintenance, in ways that are intertwined with the urban fabric, flows of goods, and collaborative manufacturing spanning generations. This long-established, yet fragile web of mutuality and reciprocal practices of repair by highly-skilled workers is under threat from enclosure, and yet, I argue, simultaneously offers possibilities for reclaiming the commons. Through collaborative mapping and activist work with a campaign group over eight years, I examine an instance of existential threat to a factory, Portland Works, home to Little Mesters. Through strategies of distributed design prompted by this threat, cultures and practices of repair have been harnessed, and repair has become politicised, dispersed and future-orientated, prefiguring the post-capitalist city. The enclosure of commons is particularly spatial and material, and therefore disruptive of certain more egalitarian forms of relating and organising; politically, economically, pedagogically and ecologically. I argue that practices of repair found in this instance offer possibilities to address such ruptures, through the ethical decisions they prompt, the assemblages they generate, or gestures of care they manifest. Repair is often conceptualised temporally, as an activity that returns something to a former state, yet I wish to assert its spatial and material agencies; as productive of spaces and relations, dependent on them, and potentially restorative of them. In doing so I claim its value to support the reclaiming of common failures, amplification of existing instances of commoning, and the development of heterogeneous networks of commoners.

Commons, Repair, Little Mesters, Distributed Design, Prefiguration, Commoning

Both a learning platform and a pedagogical experiment, Urban School Ruhr is built upon the foundational belief that experts and amateurs can, together, build a space of critical exchange and knowledge transfer.
USR prioritises exchange and dialogue that is not necessarily attached to specific outcomes, results or interventions in built reality, instead understanding conversation as the first step to co-producing cities.
Explorations in Urban Practice, the first edition in the Urban School Ruhr Series, draws from and reflects upon USR’s experiences to date whilst also looking to the future of urban practice in contemporary cities.
The book presents the reader with key current questions in the field: how can we learn city making? How should we understand the political concept of commoning for this purpose? And how can we discuss intervention as a strategy for enacting urban change?


Spatial practice and urban studies have seen a diversification and politicisation over recent decades. Although professional and institutional forces still dominate, approaches grounded in relational thinking, activism, art practice, socially engaged initiatives and counter-economic strategies have a powerful lineage. Entwined within these histories of spatial practice is a narrative concerned with crucial questions of how we might learn about such spatial praxis; about the historical and contemporary urban condition and the relation of the subject within it; about future imaginaries of what it might mean to be, or to become, an architect, urban designer, or spatial practitioner; and about learning how to learn. Global crises around capitalism and climate change, including extreme inequality, mass displacement of people, and devastation of biodiversity, make urgent the need to take responsibility and understand the potential agencies of a spatial practitioner. At the same time, the increasing bureaucratisation and the limited imagination of the neoliberal institution about what society might be are reducing the scope of educational programs. This limitation extends to the understanding of the roles and competencies such practitioners may require, and where and how they might intervene. How might we make better accounts and take responsibility in the way we learn, practice and research? Such complex concerns are not limited to one domain, and require operating transversally 1 .This means working across disciplines and practices, uniting practice and theory and bringing together the social, political and pedagogical: "Learning to think differently is both a political and a pedagogical project since both pedagogy and politics involve processes of change and transformation. Indeed, change and transformation are critical in the area of environmental education and environmental politics, both of which… presume and reinstate a separation between what constitutes 'us' and the 'environment'." 2 The Spaces of Learning traversed and established by Urban School Ruhr in response to these conditions reflect a historical lineage of critical activity that transposes pedagogical experiments within and across the urban realm. It is the specificity of this relationship that we would like to pursue in particular as a line of flight through this complex entanglement of the spatialities of alternate pedagogies 3. If pedagogy is, as Friere suggests, about challenging relations and subject positions, spatiality and the urban are crucial, since as Margaret Kohn states: "[s]pace is one of the key ways in which the body perceives power relations. The physical environment is political mythology realised, embodied, materialised." 4

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<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/341315667">Co-incidences and the multiplicities of &#039;Co-&#039;</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/tesserae">TESSERAE</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

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<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/338880369">Constituent relations across the city: three perspectives from practice</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/tesserae">TESSERAE</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

In this session, we propose speaking across and from three different spatial practices of which we are part, and which are situated in different socio-spatial conditions: a place of their own (an art/spatial research practice); Studio Polpo (the UK’s first social enterprise architectural practice); and Architecture Sans Frontieres - UK (a non-profit aiming to make community development integral to architectural practice and teaching). By sharing moments of co-incidence from these practices that seek to co-otherwise we seek to show thinking and acting with co-ness is generative of creative, relational processes and resistant practices. Studio Polpo designs situated and collaborative approaches to create objects, structures, initiatives and research-led resources that enable transformative social change. To this end we self-initiate projects to support diverse economies of participation and exchange through spatial intervention. We have facilitated the collective ownership and/or mana...