homeroom

Alexander D’Hooghe and ORG for Permanent Modernity
PRESENTATION followed by a dynamic discussion between the architect & audience

> Is the landform an architectural proposition to structure suburban growth ?
> Is the generic building an aesthetic principle of anti-expressionist architecture ?
These are two propositions subject to Home-Room #14 judgment and discussion.

“Title: Design for a big-box neighborhood based on the abolition of the buffer zone principle as made possible by the invention of the electric car”

The Organization for Permanent Modernity is a project in architectural urbanism. It exists to further the emancipation of individuals by raising their consciousness about the character of the territories in which they live. We aim for this liberation through a collision with architecture. Architecture’s autonomy is thus placed at the service of a bigger project - territorial consciousness.

•The Organization has an Office in Brussels and Boston, which designs buildings and urban plans.
•The Organization also has a research group based at MIT.
•Their work has been featured in several magazines, such as Volume, Archis, Perspecta, Block, Neutra, New Geographies, etc.

Recent projects by the Organization for Permanent Modernity has included a plan for the coastal defense and development of the Low Countries at the North Sea, a competition win for the biggest landfill in the world (Saemangeum, South-Korea), and a study into the potential of high-speed rail in the USA. Current architecture projects include the design of a 1000ft- landform building in the suburbs of Brussels as an alternative to suburban sprawl. A second project is a ‘generic’ building’, a 200,000 sq.ft. container without program. Both are due for construction in 2012.

HOME-ROOM #10 Guests Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu: SO-IL win design competition for summer installation

We are very happy for Florian and Jing that they won the prestigious PS1 / MOMA Young Architects Program.
That means they will do this years installation in the art center courtyard. The courtyards installation is also venue for the famous Saturday afternoon WARM UP PARTIES.
They came up with a really new approach, which invites to interact with the installation.

They also did a beautiful video of their POLE DANCE designproposal. check out the link...

PRESENTATION followed by a think tank with the architects

Some thoughts on Space, Networks, and the Future of Knowledge Creation” by AUM studio – Carla Leitão & Ed Keller
What happens when the Library of Congress can fit in your pocket?
What will the consequences of informational ubiquity be in the next decade?



Home-room is starting-up 2010 with AUM studio and their new ongoing project, Lodi Library, NY. This is an opportunity to get updated on their latest research, speculations and experiments.
Nothing is better than to start the New Year with “collective forms of knowing” that are shared and discussed in our/your(s) home-room.

As technologies of preservation and diffusion of information advance, with the promise of preserving massive amounts of information [exponentially produced and exchanged] - libraries, and in particular, public libraries - face a unique challenge in rethinking the archive’s relationship to the creation of new knowledge. How can the new form of the archive- distributed across the network- become active, regenerating public spaces and intensifying the strengths of localized cultures? Will a ’space’ emerge which nurtures and celebrates choices in preservation & exchange, and the actualization and inventions of populations and their respective cultures? Will the concept of culture itself remain?

AUM Studio is an architecture and multimedia design firm co-founded by Carla Leitao and Ed Keller in NYC, in 2003.
Carla and Ed are also design professors in graduate and undergraduate levels of architecture schools in the NY area.
The work of the studio encompasses projects of residential, commercial and institutional architecture as well as design of multimedia installations, online multi-player game scenarios and film scripts.


Home-room is starting-up 2010 with AUM studio and their new ongoing project, Lodi Library, NY. This is an opportunity to get updated on their latest research, speculations and experiments.
Nothing is better than to start the New Year with “collective forms of knowing” that are shared and discussed in our/your(s) home-room.

“Mirage” (Fata Morgana, Germany 2007) is an intense play on trust and dependence of a couple, stranded in the desert. The movie captured everybody’s attention not only with its amazing landscape imagery.

After the screening film maker Simon Groß, author Nana Ekvtmishvili and editor Stefan Stabenow shared their insights of making a movie and the experiences of shooting in the desert and how the movie changed in the post/production.
Unfortunately the movie is not available in the US.

Check out the talk on our VIDEO page.

One worked for SANAA. One worked for Herzog & de Meuron. Their paths crossed through the ETH.

Peter Sigrist of Müller Sigrist Architects (Zurich) has his offece set up in Zurich. Florian Idenburg of Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu (Brooklyn) has his office set up in New York.

Peter and Florian were talking about their different experiences and their different understanding on teaching and building. The evening developed to a very exciting discussion about architecture today.

FRIDAY, NOV 13 7 pm:
SCREENING followed by a talk with cinematographer, director and co-autor

Laura and Daniel, a young European couple, are traveling in the Moroccan desert when their car suddenly breaks down. The enigmatic Nick comes to their aid, repairs the car and promises to take them back to Agadir. Instead, however, he takes them further and further into the inhospitable desert…



After a long summer break we take home-room back home.
Berlin-based cinematographer Stefan Stabenow is visiting the city together with his collaborators the director Simon Groß and the author Nana Ekvtmishvili. So we took the chance to invite them to our home-room for a screening of their movie “Fata Morgana” (2007) and to share the challenges and struggles to put together the motion picture.
The movie was financed through grants of multiple institutions and it was shown at several festivals, including Cannes.

SUNDAY, MAY 17
5 pm Architecture Face-Off: Peter Sigrist + Florian Idenburg
8 pm Experimental Musician: Rafael Toral

Home-room is going international! With the opportune visits of a Swiss architect and a Portuguese Musician as well as a high-in-demand Brooklyn-based Dutch architect, we are hosting our first-ever double feature for double the fun, with architecture first and music to follow. Come for one or both events!

Peter Sigrist of Müller Sigrist Architects (Zurich), and Florian Idenburg of Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu (Brooklyn), both successful young architects straddling practice and academia, will battle it out over a discussion on current trends of architectural practice, their projections on post-crisis design agency, and their trans-Atlantic differences.

The experimental electronic musician Rafael Toral from Portugal is currently touring the North East US with his new record SPACE ELEMENTS. He will give us a special presentation that will expose some of the making and concepts behind his music. Rafael Toral also produced many records in Portugal, including the Portuguese Band Supernova.
He is a frequent experimenter with Sonic Youth, with whom he will play May 16th at the No Fun Fest at Williamsburg’s Music Hall.

Alysa Nahmias is creating a Documentary on Architecture of the Revolution in CUBA.

Following a visit at the Havana Country Club, Fidel and Che decided to have an art school built at the site. An ambitious architectural project followed, which is still unprecedented in formal and spatial exploration. After being dismissed for many decades because it did not follow the rational paradigms of socialist building production, the partially still unfinished buildings are now being renovated and rehabilitated for what they are: Masterpieces of Architecture.

UNFINISHED SPACES, will be a beautiful movie in which Alysa is telling the stories of the buildings and the people involved.

Please join us and support Alysa’s movie. 20 $ admission are a donation for the post-production and include drinks and food.
More info and event pogram @ AJNAFILM.com

#9 with Igor Martinovic had a very insightful and very entertaining talk and discussion after Man on Wire. We were very happy that he could make it.

Please check out the talk from our VIDEOS PAGE.
[You will need to what the move elsewhere, but the insights you can only get here…]

#8 Jonathan Lott and Brain Price from PARA presented their work with a discussion on the role of the quality of work for young architects today.
A truly great event with a truly insightful presentation showing their work.
Please check out the Video Stream.
Better graphic images can be found HERE.

Homeroom is very happy to present the film screening of:

Home-Room #8: “MAN ON WIRE”
The film’s Director of Photography Igor Martinovic will be our special guest, joining us for a discussion session afterwards.

By the way…. the movie won the Oscars this year for BEST DOCUMENTARY, so we are very excited!

Continuing with our discussions on architecture and its allied disciplines, this film not only presents a stunning feat of one man’s daring conquest of an architectural icon but also a chance to look at our built environment from a different point of view. The exhilarating performance between the tops of the Twin Towers not only required mental and physical acuity but also a precise and nuanced understanding of the mechanics of a building, its reactions to the wind, and the physical repercussions on the high-wire. These and all the myriad contingencies unite the performer with the building in one gripping and unforgettable synchronicity.

Award-winning cinematographer Igor Martinovic, will join us to share his experiences, insights and opinions on the making of the film, the spatial implications behind his work, and anecdotes of working with the legendary Philippe Petit.

PARA-PROJECT: Architects Jonathan Lott and Brian Price will converse about their proposal for the P.S.1 outdoor installation, their practice and their agency.

Joins us for their presentation on March 1st at HOMEROOM.

OFFICE LINK