Interview with Liam Young for Arch2o.com

January 29, 2017

Pleased to have had the opportunity recently to interview Liam Young, of Tomorrow's Thoughts Today and the AA's Unknown Fields Division, for Arch2o.com.

Future-Perfect-stage-set-model_photgrapher-Catarina-Botelho.jpg

This is the latest in a series of interviews which delve into the work and philosophy of a handful of contemporary architects who are actively re(de)fining not only architecture proper, but what it means to be an architect today and, perhaps, in the future.

“These speculative projects are not at all about the future, really, they’re about the present. (...) It’s just a distancing lens that allows us to look back in on the present in new and unexpected ways. Perhaps a better way to describe these speculative projects is not ‘the future’ at all, but as a kind of ‘visionary present’, a re-framing of the present that allows us to see it in new ways.”

Liam Young is an architect who operates in the spaces between design, fiction, and futures. He is a founder of the think tank Tomorrows Thoughts Today, and also co-runs the ‘Unknown Fields Division’ at the Architectural Association, all while holding numerous teaching positions worldwide. The Unknown Fields Division is a nomadic studio that sets off on annual expeditions to the ends of the earth exploring the alternative worlds, alien landscapes, industrial ecologies and precarious wilderness set in motion by the powerful push and pull of the city’s desires. Tomorrows Thoughts Today is a London-based futures think tank exploring the consequences of fantastic, speculative and imaginary urbanisms. Liam’s projects develop fictional speculations as critical instruments to survey the consequences of emerging environmental and technological futures.

The interviewer, Zack Saunders (founder of ARCH[or]studio in the US and Arch2O contributing editor) takes this opportunity to speak with Liam on the recalibration of the Unknown Fields Division, its’ recent book-launch, his plans to coordinate a curious new program at Sci-ARC, his two recent short-films, and how new technologies might generate new forms of culture, among other things …

The full interview can be found here: www.arch2o.com/interview-liam-young-arch2o/

2017.

news:

The American Museum of Natural History Butterfly Feeders has been awarded a “Best of the Best” Red Dot Award for Design Concept!

Butterflies are important harbingers of environmental change. The conservatory and feeders offer not just a visceral experience, but also an opportunity to learn about butterflies in their active role to support diverse ecosystems. Visited by millions of children and adults, the vivarium invites people to encounter hundreds of fluttering, variegated butterflies among blooming tropical flowers and lush green vegetation. Biomorphic feeders highlight their fragile life cycle and why it is critical that we protect these precious specimens.

Developed for Terreform ONE, a nonprofit architecture and urban design research-based studio located in NYC.

Credits: Mitchell Joachim, Vivian Kuan, Zack Saunders.

www.red-dot.org/

2021.

Pleased to be on the design team for Terreform ONE’s project, the Bio-Informatic Digestor, chosen for display at this year’s Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture.

The Bio-Informatic Digester is a machine in the garden that utilizes mealworms to eat styrofoam packaging from e-waste. At the base, the tesseract shaped white cube showcases mealworms devouring community donated styrofoam. It erodes over time to reveal a pre-made graph of future zero-waste projections. Tapping into a new mandate of recycling, this project demonstrates a method of biologically-driven recycling that can contribute to urban biodiversity. Furthermore, the project visualizes the often-unseen beneficial live insect behavior in cities. Manifesting ecological routines into a visible spectacle is a utilitarian mechanism for building awareness and communicating intentions. Instead of burying or hiding urban metabolic infrastructure, reversing its presence is desirable. Foregrounding nature as an aestheticized and functional event in its myriad of forms is an excellent design objective. Giving citizens the capacity to see waste, energy or water systems in flux highlights their value and immediacy.

Mitchell Joachim, Vivian Kuan, Nicholas Gervasi, Theo Dimitrasopoulos, Zack Saunders.

Shenzhen BI-CITY BIENNALE OF URBANISM/ARCHITECTURE. Eyes of the City, Section 6: Artificial Ecologies. Curated by Carlo Ratti.

www.eyesofthecity.net/monarch-sanctuary-bioinformatics/

f.a.s.e. V2 @ Today Art Museum

Experimental Future | Online Exhibition:

The “Experimental Future” was initiated by the Today Art Museum in collaboration with NewArt* to collect works for the most imaginative creators, and the selected outstanding works will have the opportunity to be featured and displayed on the “Future Cloud Museum” online platform.

9.19 - 10.19

www.todayartmuseum.com/

Log 44

CONTENTS

Daisy Ames, “MRL”

Pier Vittorio Aureli, “Appropriation, Subdivision, Abstraction: A Political History of the Urban Grid”

George Baird, “Phenomenology Upside Down: A Response to Log 42”

Fred Bernstein, “Sweet Sixteen Acres”

Ludovico Centis, “An American Temple”

Michelle Chang, “Something Vague”

Cynthia Davidson, “On the Record with Kenneth Frampton”

Luis Fernández-Galiano, “The House of Government”

Douglas Hartig, “Tower Foundations: An Interview with Daniel Libeskind”

Alicia Imperiale, “An ‘Other’ Aesthetic: Moretti’s Parametric Architecture”

Renee Kemp-Rotan, “Injustice Poetic: Monument, Museum, and Metaphor”

Michael Meredith, “44 Low-Resolution Houses”

Rafael Moneo, “Seeking the Significance of Today’s Architecture”

Jesse Reiser & Nanako Umemoto, “It Could Always Be Otherwise”

Zack Saunders, “New Solidarities: #digitaldisobediences”

Christophe Van Gerrewey, “A Weissenhofsiedlung for Amsterdam”

xx voto, “Written After Work: A Letter to ANY 4”

And observations on a Supreme Court decision, houseplants, and MoMA PS1.

Fall 2018

ww.anycorp.com/store/log44

SOILED No. 6: Deathscrapers is now available at Printed Matter, Inc. in NYC!

www.printedmatter.org/catalog/47471

"Printed Matter, Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit grant-supported bookstore, artist organization, and arts space presently located at 231 11th Avenue in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. Printed Matter focuses on publications made and distributed by artists. (...) Many radical, avant-garde and experimental artists and writers have been linked to Printed Matter, Inc. Figures in its early history were critic and artist Lucy Lippard, artist Sol LeWitt, and Carl Andre among others. Printed Matter served as a sort of support system for avant-garde artists as well as a place of community, oftentimes balancing functions as both a producer of books as well as an exhibition space and center of the downtown arts scene."(1)

"As one of the world’s largest publicly available source for artists' books, Printed Matter is an important voice in a vibrant and expanding field. At the heart of our mission is a longstanding open submission process, inviting artists and independent publishers to submit their books for sale at Printed Matter. We circulate over 32,000 publications annually on behalf of artists and small presses through our non-profit store in Chelsea, our online catalog and other distribution channels. With a commitment to representing and engaging a diverse community of artists, Printed Matter is in many cases one of the few outlets for artist-made publications on the peripheries of mainstream distribution networks."(2)

http://soiledzine.org/

DEATHSCRAPERS summons the architecture that surrounds the dearly departed. Seeking alternately to soften death’s physical and emotional toll or cultivate death’s instrumental potential, the stories of Deathscrapers span all scales of spaces for the dead and the bereaved to examine how living people engage with dead bodies, expired buildings, and comatose cities. While death may be a solemn subject and discussing it openly is often taboo in American culture, this issue of SOILED offers an optimistic and human attitude toward understanding how spatial and architectural issues actively participate in death culture.

IN THIS ISSUE: Zack Saunders re-appropriates dead bodies as surrogate wombs for human gestation. Jessica Charlesworth crafts curious memento mori objects to engage human mourning and loss. Office S&M constructs totemic memorials for our online identities. Irena Gajic draws nine speculative rooms to die in. David Weissman & Dan Weissman converse about the design and medical ramifications of spaces for palliative care. Kyle Branchesi & Shane Reiner-Roth reconsider unrealized, aborted, and condemned buildings as sites to cultivate architectural character. Galo Cañizares panders stills from an architectural snuff film, recording the material demise of three architectural projects. Courtney Coffman translates the psychology of self-destructive desire into architectural terms. Ryan Flener & Samuel Mortimer call upon architects and city planners to set fire to our existing cities. Manon Mollard projects a parallel world of the dead alongside the familiar city of the living. (3)

Soiled Magazine, Issue No. 6: Deathscrapers. Edited by Joseph Altshuler. 2016.

Notes: 1.) Text via >en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printed_Matter,_Inc<. 2.) Text via >www.printedmatter.org/what-we-do<. 3.) Text via >soiledzine.org/<.

Candela Novembre: il mio Salone del Mobile

"Per la Design Week 2016, l’influencer e business woman avrà un’agenda fitta di impegni. Le abbiamo chiesto i suoi indirizzi must (li trovate nella gallery) e la sua survival guide per l’evento milanese più creativo dell’anno"

Sbodio 32 the Raw Edition, Via Sbodio 32/2 (Ventura Lambrate): una mostra che esplora la nuova frontiera dell'artiganato, grazie all'avvento di tecniche digitali per realizzare opere ibride, che incorporano legno, metallo, cemento e carta in creazioni moda, architettura, arredamento e prodotti di uso quotidiano."

by Alessandra Paudice

http://www.glamour.it/beauty-stories/personaggi/2016/04/11/candela-novembre-il-mio-salone-del-mobile/

SBODIO32 is an alternative exhibition project at Ventura Design District in Lambrate

"SBODIO 32 is a project based exhibition of 800+ sqm in Fuorisalone / Milan Design Week that interacts with the public through a series of events, seminars and workshops. The exhibition is held at the Ventura Design District in Lambrate area; one of the most vibrant areas of Milan's design week. It showcases innovative works produced by a range of contemporary emerging talents within the fields of Industrial Design, Product Design, Fashion Design and Architecture in the era of the design paradox between materiality and Advanced design techniques."

(...)

"Fuorisalone.it is the official guide to Milan Design Week."

www.fuorisalone.it/2016/en

Exhibition Examines the Future of Nutrition

(...)

"Feed Me was a pop-up exhibition that took place during NYCxDesign 2015. The show challeged designers to create artifacts that commented on or visualized future products that related to nutrition and food. The exhibition included work from 22 designers ranging from practical to conceptual. The show was organized by Grouphug, a collective that aims to address global problems faced by society through a design lens."

"F.A.S.E. (Flavor Augmenting Scent Emitters) by Oscar Salguero and Zack Saunders is a wearable scent generator concept that replicates food smells. The project imagines a scenario 70 years in the future where all food is manufactured in homogeneous form and separate devices generate taste and smell."

(...)

by Dave Pinter

www.psfk.com/2015/05/feed-me-at-nycxdesign-2015-exhibition-future-of-nutrition.html

10 Things to See During New York Design Week 2015

A concise guide from Core77's editors to help you navigate this year's events.

(...)

FEED ME at Los Perros Locos:

"What does the future of food look like? This concept is taken up by designers across the country in 20 provocative proposals ranging from market-ready products to visionary concepts. Visitors can expect to find a host of imaginative and pleasantly wacky ideas, including scratch and sniff vitamins, nasal flavor enhancement accessories, and wearable pizza. Sure to be an unconventional respite from NYDW fairs! Opens May 8."

(...)

by Core Jr

www.core77.com/posts/36804/

(a)biotic convergence

about 9 years ago

Final Voting for Jefferson Avenue Pocket Park design Competition

2221 Jefferson Ave., Richmond, VA.

"Designs by Alex Beatty, Zack Saunders, Naomi Siodmok, Bennett Smith, and Scott Wiley have been selected by the judges as finalists for the Jefferson Avenue Pocket Park Design Competition.

All are invited out to vote at the final, public round of judging on Thursday, October 30 from 6:30 – 8:30 PM at the East District Family Resource Center (2405 Jefferson Ave). Come meet the finalists and view their creative designs. All members of the public attending will be given the opportunity to vote for the favorite design. These votes will be added to the panel of judges’ final score to determine the ultimate winner.

The Jefferson Pocket Park competition aims to beautify and transform the Jefferson Avenue corridor into a cherished, environmentally friendly community space focusing on the triangular plot of land at 2221 Jefferson Avenue in Richmond. Better Housing Coalition (BHC) and BHC’s junior board have collaborated with Storefront for Community Design, Friends of Jefferson Park, and the Enrichmond Foundation to support the competition and development of the pocket park.

The goal is to submit a final design to appropriate City departments by Spring 2015 with fundraising to take place soon after, with installation to occur sometime in 2016."

by John M

www.chpn.net/news