With a Keen Sense of Crisis
Before we gradually become accustomed to the “idea of a world without a future,” as the anthropologist Marc Augé predicted in his 2011 book The Future, it is time to cultivate a new awareness of crises. According to Augé, our view of the future has been paralyzed by a series of fears—expressions of a planetary crisis—where people have suddenly realized that something fundamental has stopped functioning. These fears stem from multiple crises—ecological, economic, cultural, humanitarian, and territorial—that disrupt all systems and structures on this planet.
Crises have always existed, but the density and variety of contemporary crises seem to have reached a new magnitude. If we perceive crisis not as an inevitable catastrophe but as a turning point in space and time within a transitional phase, then a crisis also represents an opportunity for change. Understood as a productive state, heightened crisis awareness can become a catalyst for action, providing the basis for reshaping concrete circumstances. The urgency accompanying a crisis often generates a heightened readiness to act. Instead of succumbing to despair, we can leverage the crisis as a catalyst for transformation.
This energy for action, born out of necessity, compels us to develop new perspectives, adapt to altered circumstances, and seek innovative approaches that we might not have considered under normal conditions. Such experiences not only make us more resilient but also more confident and courageous. In this way, crisis becomes the starting point for positive transformation, motivating us to act more consciously and purposefully.
This raises the question of whether spatial concepts and architectural strategies can serve as fundamental frameworks for societal negotiation and transformation. With a Keen Sense of Crisis appeals to the critical spirit of architecture and questions its relationship to crisis. Architecture projects, with their inherently complex spatial, temporal, and conceptual dimensions, hold substantial potential for critical engagement.
Aaron Betsky’s book The Monster Leviathan: Anarchitecture (MIT Press, 2023) explores visionary and utopian architectural concepts that challenge traditional notions of building and space. The “Monster Leviathan” refers to a metaphorical beast symbolizing the overwhelming and sometimes chaotic nature of modern cities and architectural ambitions. Betsky illustrates how this concept has been interpreted in various ways, from Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision of the city as a living organism to more abstract and fantastical representations in art and culture. Betsky argues that these utopian projects are not merely intellectual exercises but valuable tools for imagining alternative worlds. Through these visionary designs, he suggests, we can explore possibilities for a more sustainable and socially just future and expand the boundaries of what architecture can become.
With a Keen Sense of Crisis calls for fearlessly developing new visions that are imaginative enough to counter the current state of disillusionment and exhaustion toward the future.
@./studio3 we approach this topic through architectural-artistic projects under the title
TOWARDS NEW ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION
from emerging intelligences to 1:1 interventions
which we will collaboratively develop and design. In this context, the notion of assemblage is crucial, as it encompasses heterogeneity, environmental awareness, and emergence. Contemporary philosophy often engages with this concept when seeking new strategies to navigate an uncertain future.
Further more we negotiate the assemblage with the bricolage as well as material qualities with ecological considerations.
Architecture operates through relationships and communicates via scale. The 1:1 projects by ./studio3 initiate collective processes that raise awareness about architecture’s comprehensive responsibility from conception to realisation. These projects highlight the challenges and opportunities in architectural creation that go beyond function, generating public interest and becoming spatially and aesthetically significant. Built objects become instruments responding to cultural, social, and political contexts. The translation of ideas into reality is documented and becomes open to public discussion, gaining presence through experience, realisation, and memory. The emphasis on collective realisation underscores the importance of social interaction in architecture, aiming to embed and develop innovative achievements in everyday society.
… with material of all sorts
Jane Bennett defines assemblages as “ad hoc groupings of different elements, of living materials of all kinds, not determined by hierarchies.” She even attributes “thing-power” to things and understands objects to be alive because they are effective and capable of affecting matter. No material or component has sufficient dominance to determine the assemblage. In the midst of a global energy crisis and the shortage of natural resources, there is an urgency to understand buildings no longer as homogeneous entities, but as open assemblages that connect, break apart, and change without end.
@./studio3 we explore virtual interactive spaces and collaborative, network-based crowd interactions and their impact on the architectural design decision-making process. By expanding into real-time virtual environments, we develop new design languages and critically examine emerging modes of living in digital worlds. Our research investigates how XR and AI models and their modalities impact collaborative design, reshaping our understanding of space, rituals, and authorship. We question the role of technology in shaping architectural environments and redefine how we perceive and inhabit hybrid realities, articulating visions for architecture that embraces the complexities of digital-physical coexistence and proposes new frameworks for our shared futures.
