Next stop, Massachusetts (USA) were we met Willian O’Brien Jr, who has been developing his architectonic vision under the name WOJR since 2013.

They understand their work more as an intellectual project that has a kind of business by-product. “We think of architecture first and foremost as an act of cultural production”, they say.

“To rehearse” is probably one of their favourite activities. They rehearse ideas over and over, as they are “hoping to find an aspect of that project that helps [them] do something that [they] wouldn’t do otherwise”.

“What is unique about a thing becomes the lens which all decisions get made.”

Metaphorically speaking, something very similar to pealing an onion and finding a new layer every time. “We hope those ideas find their way into other projects.”

But is there space for “rehearsing” during construction? 

”I don’t think there is a 1-to-1 correspondence between the visualisation and the built work. One is aspirational and projective and other is, let’s say, much more opportunistic and discoverable.

“That’s something I have been thinking about a lot. What is the status of the visualisation once the work is built.”

Nevertheless, keep in mind that “it can be iterated, it can be rehearsed.”

Guest: William O’Brien Jr. , WOJR (Massachusetts, USA)

Host: Ana Catarina Silva (Porto, Portugal)

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