The field of architecture has the potential to influence human relations in countless ways through the built space. In small-scale projects, in particular, the challenges of tackling the dialogue between the space and the individual are combined with the task of conveying ideas to inspire people to explore the use of these minimal spaces.
Architecture shapes how we live and come together. Amidst a pandemic and protests around the world, architects and designers are speaking out to condemn injustice and build space for empathy and understanding. In listening, they are looking to how we live together, and in turn, how we can create a more equitable and just world.
The architectural model: a tool, a sculptural artifact, a prized possession, and yet in the digital age of BIM and Virtual Reality, perhaps becoming an enigma, a relic for settling dust. And yet, we are still making them. If you imagine that famous photo of earth from space, of every model ever made in a single image, it raises the question - where are they all? Where does the architectural model go to die?
"The role of public buildings should be the first to show quality, sustainability, and an embrace of the people," says Copenhagen native and architect, Dan Stubbergaard, in this recent video from the Louisiana Channel. In COBE: Monuments of the Future, Stubbergaard speaks in favor of architecture that reinforces the welfare state, beginning with the philosophy behind the process: "Our buildings are like a hard disk of our memory or history" says Stubbergaard, "and you can see that this was the best you could do at that time."
Founder and creative director of COBE in Copenhagen, Stubbergaard focuses his practice on work varying from public space to large urban planning. Stubbergaard explains how architecture can be a way to understand how cities grow, live, break down and grow again. It is the architecture, the buildings and structure that direct people to the most popular cities, as it is "embedded into the history."
