Poetry and Politics in the Architecture of John Hejduk

Social Center Trisca

Towers in Gaigás

John Hejduk believed in the poetics of architecture. However, when his buildings are more architectonic is when they are simply buildings and not built statements. An example of this difference are the two buildings in Spain by him (thanks again, Clara): one is a built poem; the other a beautiful and useful building. Both are authentic jewels and both are in Santiago de Compostela. It is good, anyway, to read, watch and listen to his poetry first hand, and to contemplate his paintings-designs too.

Above all, Hejduk was a passionate professor of architecture:

" I believe in the social contract therefore I teach. I believe that the University is one of the last places that protects and preserves freedom, therefore teaching is also a socio/political act, among other things. I believe in books and the written word, therefore I fabricate works with the hope that they will be recorded in books. I am pragmatic and believe in keeping records. I believe to record is to bear witness. The book I wrote, Victims is to bear witness and to remember. I believe in the density of the sparse. I believe in place and the spirit of place."

John Hejduk

Reflexivity and transformative action (Margaret Archer)

Clear speech on various interpretations of reflexivity, but artistic. Archer defines reflexivity as:

mental capacity of normal people to consider themselves in relation to the social context, and the social context in relation to themselves.

Her patient review of other sociologist's definitions is worth spending 45' listening to her coherent and beautiful structured discourse. Wikipedia gives a rather comprehensive view of reflexivity in the social sciences.

Reflexive Architecture Laboratory (RAL), Laboratorio de Arquitectura Reflexiva (LAR)

Reflexive Architecture Laboratory (RAL), a paper related to the design studios of professors Miguel Jaime and Eugenia Lopez Reus, is going to be presented at an international congress sponsored by the Spanish Universities of Vigo, Santiago de Compostela and A Coruña. The I Congress of University Teaching is going to take place from the 2^nd to the 4^th of June in the beautiful city of Vigo, and it will gather together experts from various countries that are trying to build the European Space for Higher Education.

The RAL combines the reflexive theory of architectural creative process (JAIME, 2000), the importance of context in innovation (LOPEZ REUS, 2002) and modern pedagogical techniques that improve creativity, commitment and excellence.

The RAL has been assessed by the Quality Agency of Castilla León (2005-2008), Benchmarking meetings (2008), and, which is more important for the reflexive philosophy of the RAL, has been highly appreciated by the users of the laboratory, the students, in the surveys (2005-2009). The Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca is about to publish the paper “Las sesiones ECCC en el LAR”, one of the pedagogical techniques of the RAL.

Mirar para otro lado

The newspaper of Segovia has published and article of mine (in Spanish) that relates the financial and the architectural crisis. The main idea is that the utopia did not started with Fukuyama's "end of the history" but with the oil embargo of the OPEC in 1973. There are two more articles on the subject that are specially interesting: Joe Nocera points out in The New York Times the fallacy of the rationality of markets and Ignacio Sotelo, in El Pais, explains (in Spanish too) the differences between current crisis and the 1929's crack.

Paris vaut bien une messe

I was so impressed by Niemeyer's building in Paris that I did not recommend anything but the best in december. But, I have to say that it is one of the cities that offers more if you are really interested in architecture today. Of course there is Le Corbusier, etc., and the city itself, but L'Arsenal and la Cité de l'Architecture are instruments to better understanding and enjoying the city, its architecture and modernity in general. I realized all this reading and watching an excelent article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/magazine/14paris-t.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=paris+ouroussoff&st=nyt) and video in the New York Times about Paris plans, by Nicolai Ouroussoff (to read the article copy the address in your browser directly, otherwise it sends you to the video). At L'Arsenal there is a huge exhibition on the new plans reported in the NYT.