ARCHITECTURE OF SENSES
Concluded in 2010, the first short film focuses on a project by German based firm, ‘Stifer + Bachmann architects’: School Bouldering and Climbing Centre in Brunico (Italy). According to the architects, the idea was to create a “vigorous design” being this, “perhaps, the frst climbing centre in the world to be designed specifcally as a school sport facility.” For having created a façade possible to climb, we have chosen this short to open this session focusing on the interaction between architecture and the senses, for being an example of how original options can be taken in order to further deepen this connection. In a stark contrast, where we can experience a disconnection between space and body, we exhibit Today. To the sound of seven recorded conversations collected in The Province House of North Brabant (NL) we are shown the iconic building’s engine that keeps the structure running. The original design by Hugh Maaskant (1907-1977) was recently renovated by ‘KAAN Architecten’ hoping to harmonize the old and new. The spectator is only allowed to passively witness the building’s monumentality. Closing the session, we present A Lovable House, a documentary that privileges the warmth of the first short, in detriment of the coldness of the second. Having been inaugurated in 1941, the City Hall of Aarhus was designed by architects Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971) and Erik Møller (1909-2002) with furniture design by Hans Wegner (1914-2007). We get to know the complete story of this iconic hall, why has the building generated controversy even before it was built and how its world-famous architecture ended up conquering the hearts of those who live around it, considered it to be outrageously elegant.
This session is a reminder of architecture’s power to make us feel embraced or repelled.
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