MOMENTARY MANIFESTO
FOR
PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE
1. DO
Design by doing is architectural beta-testing. Build 1:1 models in the public domain that function as immediate site analysis, architectural test case and social condenser. Put your practice to theory. Do the unthinkable: build a manifest, write a building.
2. MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL
People like pretty things.
3. USE NEW OLD MATERIALS
Celebrate mass consumption. Reveal the beauty of the everyday, by using ordinary objects in a different manner. Look beyond traditional construction materials, and re-introduce old crafts with new fabrics. Create social value from worthless stuff.
4. COOK
Food is social construction material. It unites people. Cook, drink and dine together. A mere cookie can be the answer to a big brief.
5. CREATE A PUBLIC
Shakespeare said it: "all the world's a stage". Architects have the world's largest audience. Discover for whom you are designing and respond to the res publica with the proper act. Public architecture is the staging of all events of life, and our tools can be those of performance artists.
6. MIND THE DETAILS
All details contribute to the architectural atmosphere. If you want people to meet, tie the drinks together and hand them out in pairs. A piece of rope is architecture too.
7. ACT UNSOLICITED
Reprogram the brief, the building and the profession. Consider re-use of vacant office buildings rather than designing new ones. Use your own office 24/7 and program the space as club at night. Partake in society, rather than architecture competitions.
8. BE PERSONAL
Establish human relationships. This social construction material is just as important as bricks and mortar. Communicate and educate. Host an excursion and exemplify the unknown. Step onto the street and speak the language of those who will live in your buildings.
9. PUT EVERYONE AROUND ONE TABLE
Different people have different agendas. Place the client, manager, municipality, resident and neighbour around one table and they will communicate. Everyone is amateur and professional. An amateur can be a true expert at "residing", and a professional client may have no knowledge of architecture. Make the architecture at the table the subject of conversation and catalyst for the process. This creates mutual understanding, and speeds up the design process remarkably.
10. DESIGN THE RULES AND THE GAME
Arrive early. Architectural decisions are made in the urban planning process. Design this process and ensure a great outcome.
11. PLAY THE CITY
Play the city, don't plan it. Cities are shifting. Incorporate existing bottom-up initiatives and let these inform the top-down. Design a script rather than a blueprint; be the director. Reserve space for change and celebrate the informal.
12. SHOW THE GENIUS OF THE LOCI
Reveal the potential of the place by building a temporary building overnight. Hand it over to the public, accompanied by one simple rule: a free stay in exchange for a personal contribution to the building. The qualities will show on site.
13. CONFUSE
Create architecture that is mutable and open to multiple interpretations. People will discover it and thereby make it their own. Architecture that confronts each person?s imagination creates opportunities for communication between the private and public domain, and between individuals.
14. BE BIASED
Carry a strong signature and be opinionated. Who wants to listen to someone with no ideas?
15. ABSTAIN FROM AUTHORSHIP
Celebrate change. See architecture as an open source; a gift in which others are challenged to participate. In order to bring about social relationships through architecture, one has to give up copyright claims.
16. BE THE CURATOR
Urban renewal is the future. Within extant city layouts, new architecture is about reprogramming; about social planning, temporary events, sports, education, art, and media. Find the right experts in these fields and curate the environment in which they can act together.
17. BE AN URBAN ARCHITECT
The public domain is the future. Real architectural quality often does not lie in the building, but in the public domain. Design this domain as if you would a facade.
18. BUILD MENTAL MONUMENTS
There's always a need for places for people to gather. Combine the real with the virtual in pop-up buildings; like an analogue facebook or a physical webforum. Make momentary monuments: one-day events can last a lifetime in the collective memory of the visitor.
19. SMILE
Enjoy what you do and have fun.
Design by doing is architectural beta-testing. Build 1:1 models in the public domain that function as immediate site analysis, architectural test case and social condenser. Put your practice to theory. Do the unthinkable: build a manifest, write a building.
2. MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL
People like pretty things.
3. USE NEW OLD MATERIALS
Celebrate mass consumption. Reveal the beauty of the everyday, by using ordinary objects in a different manner. Look beyond traditional construction materials, and re-introduce old crafts with new fabrics. Create social value from worthless stuff.
4. COOK
Food is social construction material. It unites people. Cook, drink and dine together. A mere cookie can be the answer to a big brief.
5. CREATE A PUBLIC
Shakespeare said it: "all the world's a stage". Architects have the world's largest audience. Discover for whom you are designing and respond to the res publica with the proper act. Public architecture is the staging of all events of life, and our tools can be those of performance artists.
6. MIND THE DETAILS
All details contribute to the architectural atmosphere. If you want people to meet, tie the drinks together and hand them out in pairs. A piece of rope is architecture too.
7. ACT UNSOLICITED
Reprogram the brief, the building and the profession. Consider re-use of vacant office buildings rather than designing new ones. Use your own office 24/7 and program the space as club at night. Partake in society, rather than architecture competitions.
8. BE PERSONAL
Establish human relationships. This social construction material is just as important as bricks and mortar. Communicate and educate. Host an excursion and exemplify the unknown. Step onto the street and speak the language of those who will live in your buildings.
9. PUT EVERYONE AROUND ONE TABLE
Different people have different agendas. Place the client, manager, municipality, resident and neighbour around one table and they will communicate. Everyone is amateur and professional. An amateur can be a true expert at "residing", and a professional client may have no knowledge of architecture. Make the architecture at the table the subject of conversation and catalyst for the process. This creates mutual understanding, and speeds up the design process remarkably.
10. DESIGN THE RULES AND THE GAME
Arrive early. Architectural decisions are made in the urban planning process. Design this process and ensure a great outcome.
11. PLAY THE CITY
Play the city, don't plan it. Cities are shifting. Incorporate existing bottom-up initiatives and let these inform the top-down. Design a script rather than a blueprint; be the director. Reserve space for change and celebrate the informal.
12. SHOW THE GENIUS OF THE LOCI
Reveal the potential of the place by building a temporary building overnight. Hand it over to the public, accompanied by one simple rule: a free stay in exchange for a personal contribution to the building. The qualities will show on site.
13. CONFUSE
Create architecture that is mutable and open to multiple interpretations. People will discover it and thereby make it their own. Architecture that confronts each person?s imagination creates opportunities for communication between the private and public domain, and between individuals.
14. BE BIASED
Carry a strong signature and be opinionated. Who wants to listen to someone with no ideas?
15. ABSTAIN FROM AUTHORSHIP
Celebrate change. See architecture as an open source; a gift in which others are challenged to participate. In order to bring about social relationships through architecture, one has to give up copyright claims.
16. BE THE CURATOR
Urban renewal is the future. Within extant city layouts, new architecture is about reprogramming; about social planning, temporary events, sports, education, art, and media. Find the right experts in these fields and curate the environment in which they can act together.
17. BE AN URBAN ARCHITECT
The public domain is the future. Real architectural quality often does not lie in the building, but in the public domain. Design this domain as if you would a facade.
18. BUILD MENTAL MONUMENTS
There's always a need for places for people to gather. Combine the real with the virtual in pop-up buildings; like an analogue facebook or a physical webforum. Make momentary monuments: one-day events can last a lifetime in the collective memory of the visitor.
19. SMILE
Enjoy what you do and have fun.
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