Architekturzentrum Wien - Assemble. How We Build - a podcast by CastYourArt.com

Architekturzentrum Wien - Assemble. How We Build
Their revolutionary design repairs instead of destroying, it is an avantgarde that recycles instead of inventing. In their projects they take what they find and then improve it. They repair what the institutions are not able to repair.

This „optimistic“ exhibition that demonstrates what changes architecture can make in the lives of the inhabitants, has been curated by Katharina Ritter and the AzW’s new director Angelika Fitz. The first show of her term in office is also the first ever comprehensive display of Assemble’s work. At the same time she organized a guest professorship for the collective at the Vienna University of Technology.

Under the title“How we build“ they worked with the students on the traditional building material in Vienna, the brick. In the patio of the AzW a DIY brick pavilion is being built collectively, as a project. It will evnetually serve as a meeting place and workshop.

Ten of their implemented „prototypes“ are on display in the AzW, partly on a large scale. Videos, drawings and other demonstration material shows how the projects are put into effect in participative processes. An accompanying publication by the AzW provides further documentation about the projects.

Material samples of their work, such as a ceiling-height fragment of the facade made for their co-working project „Yardhouse“ where they constructed affordable artist studios, or a replica of the wall structure of their project OTOprejoects in London, a concert hall with walls made of rubble-filled rice bags and he plasterwork -made of debris as well- give a tangible impression of their ingenious construction designs.

The 18 eqitable members of the collective are the first non-artists to receive the Turner Prize awarded by the Tate Gallery, in 2005. It is one of the most prestigious awards in contemporary art.

In their projects with their participative DIY approach, they combine collective action with ecological and economical sustainability.

The first intervention of the recent graduates after meeting in Cambridge, was „The Cineroleum“, a collectively constructed pop-up cinema in an abandoned gasoline station. One of the projects purposes was to bring cinema back to the center of town, away from the suburban cinema centers. At the end of every session the separating curtain would be lifted, creating a street theatre and a public space. This curtain is on display in the AzW as well.

Another one of their projects in Liverpool finally earned them the Turner Prize: Granby Four Street, a historic worker’s house estate. Here the group cooperated with the local community and designed a sustainable revitalization plan for the neighbourhood. Until now there are still functioning social businesses run by the locals as results of the program.
The Blackhorse Workshop is another example of user-oriented architecture with sustainable social companies being set up during the project.

Currently Assemble is planning the new art gallery of London’s Goldsmith College.
Since their first project, The Cineroleum, Assemble managed to conserve their spirit of improvisation and transience. The interest for spaces and their usage is as important for them as construction itself. The pleasure of hands-on work goes along with the empowerment of the residents.
Their notion of architecture puts less emphasis on designing monumental buildings, but rather on a process-oriented series of participative cooperations and activities, of which construction is just one aspect.
In their short seven years of existence, Assemble managed to develop their work further in scale, from the pop-up cinema to larger and more influential projects. Hopefully the configuration and reappropriation of living environments by local grassroots initiatives turns out to be a sustainable trend after all. (written by Cem Angeli)

Architekturzentrum Wien | www.azw.at
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