Factory fifteen are better known for their RIBA's silver medal winning project; Robots of Brixton. The project was quickly slated by architectural critics such as Schumacher who see this sort of allegorical and imaginative work as an 'idiosyncratic, unreal understanding of what constitutes a worthy design brief'. Adding, 'it is difficult to see what such works achieve and contribute to the advancement of the discipline of architecture'. Admittedly these type of projects lack perhaps a rooting in todays mechanisms for building and construction, however they are very much making statements which respond to thinking surrounding very real issues today. Normally they include some sort of social commentary, like the Robots of Brixton, which used the metaphor of robots to allude to racism and exploitation of immigrants, and often this is expressed in the future because such social interventions always take time to grow. From this the urban spaces that come out are often reminiscent of urban slum architecture; favellas of Brazil or peripheral cities of African capitals.
As a result what I take from this work is not only the political message, which is relevant, but the new exciting aesthetic. It may be higgldy piggldy in an almost too fantastical way, but its enough to stir up some respect and interest in informal building techniques which go ignored in European cities.
Perhaps looking at them could take design away from an often numbing standardisation and create something exciting.
I'm also very surprised by how strongly Patrik Schaumacher feels Architecture should be divorced from making political messages;
'I believe that architecture is a sui generis discipline (discourse and practice) with its own, unique societal responsibility and competency. As such it should be sharply demarcated against other competencies like art, science/engineering and politics.'
I'm still not sure how I feel about that, but it seems partially true. Nevertheless I think that as a person that must be extremly difficult. If you are making a public building surely there is some aspect of a politcal message being made?
I also started looking at Factory Fifteen's new stuff. There's a new short film in the making called 'Jonah'. Like Robots of Brixton, Jonah also features many of these precarious intricate structures hanging off of the city but this time the story is set in Zanzibar and stars Daniel Kaluuya, who seems to pick really good projects.
As a result what I take from this work is not only the political message, which is relevant, but the new exciting aesthetic. It may be higgldy piggldy in an almost too fantastical way, but its enough to stir up some respect and interest in informal building techniques which go ignored in European cities.
Perhaps looking at them could take design away from an often numbing standardisation and create something exciting.
I'm also very surprised by how strongly Patrik Schaumacher feels Architecture should be divorced from making political messages;
'I believe that architecture is a sui generis discipline (discourse and practice) with its own, unique societal responsibility and competency. As such it should be sharply demarcated against other competencies like art, science/engineering and politics.'
I'm still not sure how I feel about that, but it seems partially true. Nevertheless I think that as a person that must be extremly difficult. If you are making a public building surely there is some aspect of a politcal message being made?
I also started looking at Factory Fifteen's new stuff. There's a new short film in the making called 'Jonah'. Like Robots of Brixton, Jonah also features many of these precarious intricate structures hanging off of the city but this time the story is set in Zanzibar and stars Daniel Kaluuya, who seems to pick really good projects.
Jonah Trailer from Factory Fifteen on Vimeo.
