Depending on who you’re asking, a conversation regarding architecture might entail discussing aesthetics, the human perception of spaces or even reinterpretations of styles through time. But architecture, in general terms, cannot be comprehended (much less enjoyed) through a small lens; it’s the product of the macro, a direct response to the places we inhabit, without forgetting the circumstances and changes that shaped them. This emphasis on research and context as a tool for design is the main strength of Somatic Collaborative, a New York based design and research practice. Architect Felipe Correa, founder and current director of Somatic, recently presented the firm’s methodology and approach to urban planning, as well as its connection to growing Latin American cities, in his virtual conference for the University of Puerto Rico’s School of Architecture, titled Building a Culture of Representation.
The Collaborative, as Correa explained at the beginning of the conference, intersects four primary elements: architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and engineering, all of which function in a symbiotic way to analyze and design within urban or rural contexts. As a result, constant experimentation through different fields is generated, leading to the design of everything from private and public buildings, to residences and furniture. Their urbanistic approach (influenced by the work of past architects such as Manuel de Solá in Barcelona and Aldo Rossi in Rome) seeks to develop design in dynamic ways, particularly the exploration of urban settings to develop design partis. However, over half of the firm’s initiatives are research based as opposed to design commissions; with the goal of developing and/or improving existing investigative models for educational purposes.
One of such investigative projects, as presented through the conference, is São Paulo: A Graphic Biography, a detailed study led by an interdisciplinary and international team, which documents the city’s rapid transformation from a pre-war industrial hub to the densely populated metropolis as we know it today. Documented in a series of analyses, drawings and photographic material, the exhibition, presented for the first time at the Galeria de Cidade at Escola de Cidade in 2015, is compiled in a book of the same name. The investigation emphasizes São Paulo’s post-industrial lands shifting to become habitable, alongside the transformation of the Paraná River into a vast hydraulic resource (an issue, that, Correa argues, has contributed to a wide-spread, infrastructure-related disaster). Other topics explored feature the verticalization of the city, as well as the implementation of transportation systems through the decades. From another angle, the study also documents the city’s varying cultures, geometries, and architectural typologies, an especially interesting theme given the city’s colonial-era European influence and its background as the birthplace of Latin American modernist icons such as Lina Bo Bardi’s SESC Pompéia and Oscar Niemeyer’s Copan.
The exhibition, which was well acclaimed as the first detailed study on the city’s urban evolution, proved to be an educational journey through one of the world’s largest cities. On the other hand, both Felipe Correa’s work and Somatic Collaborative’s process highlight the value of urbanism and its close relationship to design. But at the end of the day, and while presented in the exhibition as a world in and of itself, São Paulo is just one fraction of a continent that’s full of life, history and both cultural and ecological diversity. It’s clear the world needs more meaningful discussions regarding Latin American cities and their architecture; an interdisciplinary, multi-scale investigative approach, much like Somatic Collaborative’s, might just be the perfect way to do it.
Perhaps by engaging architecture at a multi-scale level while considering interdisciplinary perspectives, can we generate much needed conversations on the design and history of Latin American design and their cities.
References:
Bosch, F. P. (2019, September 30). Outsider's Fascination with São Paulo Leads to Book and Exposition. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/culture/2019/09/outsiders-fascination-with-sao-paulo-leads-to-book-and-exposition.shtml
São Paulo: A Graphic Biography Exhibition. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/279419/so-paulo-a-graphic-biography-exhibition/
Somatic Collaborative: About. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://somatic-collaborative.com/about
Comments