GSAPP Conversations

UP students Laura Postarini and Tyrene Calvesbert speak with Ananya Roy, Professor of Urban Planning, Social Welfare and Geography and inaugural Director of the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA Luskin, in advance of her lecture at the school on February 25, 2019. They discuss Ananya Roy’s current research around metropolitan segregation and racial banishment in Los Angeles, and decolonization of the urban planning discipline in the United States.

“What might decolonial logics look like? In urban planning, it starts with thinking about the role of our discipline and profession in this colonial violence…I want to know what reparations urban planning is going to make for the tremendous colonial harm that we have inflicted. I want to know how our instruments of planning are deeply colonial or imperial, or rooted in the extermination of indigenous people in this country. What then do we do with those instruments? The moment of Trumpism ironically is an opportunity for us to have these conversations.” – Ananya Roy

Axelle Dechelette, a dual degree student in the MARCH and MSCCCP programs, speaks with Daniel Fernández Pascual & Alon Schwabe of Cooking Sections, a duo of spatial practitioners based in London. Cooking Sections are the designers behind Offsetted, the exhibition currently on view in the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery at GSAPP. The exhibition features an immersive installation of matter collected from New York City trees — including bark, branches, trunks, leaves, and clippings — and assembles a constellation of narratives about the political and economic interests that have both protected and displaced the city’s trees under the pressures of urbanization.

“We are trying to challenge the vision that you need to assign a monetary value to nature in order to protect it, which some decades ago, was kind of a first step towards changing the perception of the environment among decision makers. But today, we believe that we can take a step forward and start thinking of trees, not as service providers, but just as trees.” – Daniel Fernández Pascual

Axelle Dechelette, a dual degree student in the MARCH and MSCCCP programs, speaks with Daniel Fernández Pascual & Alon Schwabe of Cooking Sections, a duo of spatial practitioners based in London. Cooking Sections are the designers behind Offsetted, the exhibition currently on view in the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery at GSAPP. The exhibition features an immersive installation of matter collected from New York City trees — including bark, branches, trunks, leaves, and clippings — and assembles a constellation of narratives about the political and economic interests that have both protected and displaced the city’s trees under the pressures of urbanization.

“We are trying to challenge the vision that you need to assign a monetary value to nature in order to protect it, which some decades ago, was kind of a first step towards changing the perception of the environment among decision makers. But today, we believe that we can take a step forward and start thinking of trees, not as service providers, but just as trees.” – Daniel Fernández Pascual

MARCH student Luiza Furia speaks with Lola Sheppard, founding partner of Lateral Office, in advance of her lecture at the school on February 18, 2019. They discuss Lateral Office’s work in rural and remote environments, particularly in the Canadian North, and the role of research in rethinking design in such places.

“In the Canadian North... architecture has been conceived of as the envelope to keep brutal elements out. While that is an inevitable responsibility of the building, we are interested in learning from indigenous practices to say, perhaps there are other ways to interface with the environment where the building, or structure, or infrastructure can be more porous.” - Lola Sheppard

MARCH student Luiza Furia speaks with Lola Sheppard, founding partner of Lateral Office, in advance of her lecture at the school on February 18, 2019. They discuss Lateral Office’s work in rural and remote environments, particularly in the Canadian North, and the role of research in rethinking design in such places.

“In the Canadian North... architecture has been conceived of as the envelope to keep brutal elements out. While that is an inevitable responsibility of the building, we are interested in learning from indigenous practices to say, perhaps there are other ways to interface with the environment where the building, or structure, or infrastructure can be more porous.” - Lola Sheppard

Dean Amale Andraos speaks with faculty Andrés Jaque, director of GSAPP’s MSAAD program and founder of the Office for Political Innovation, an architectural practice based in New York and Madrid. They discuss Jaque’s current projects and the need for immediate action in pushing the boundaries of architecture and design to reinvent the way our spaces work.

“When we look at newspapers, everything that’s on the front page has architecture in it. If we think of geopolitical tensions, environmental issues, projects like the Green New Deal, all of them are loaded with architecture and design. Immediately, it’s a discussion about housing…territory…fences…borders. It’s a discussion about architectural elements.” - Andrés Jaque

Dean Amale Andraos speaks with faculty Andrés Jaque, director of GSAPP’s MSAAD program and founder of the Office for Political Innovation, an architectural practice based in New York and Madrid. They discuss Jaque’s current projects and the need for immediate action in pushing the boundaries of architecture and design to reinvent the way our spaces work.

“When we look at newspapers, everything that’s on the front page has architecture in it. If we think of geopolitical tensions, environmental issues, projects like the Green New Deal, all of them are loaded with architecture and design. Immediately, it’s a discussion about housing…territory…fences…borders. It’s a discussion about architectural elements.” - Andrés Jaque

Daniel Bernal, a dual degree student in the MArch and Real Estate Development programs, speaks with Sandra Barclay and Jean Pierre Crousse, co-founders of Barclay & Crousse Architecture, in advance of their lecture at the school on February 4, 2019. Barclay & Crousse was founded in 1994 in Paris, and has been based in Lima since 2006. The studio manages a wide range of transcontinental programs that explore the relationships between landscape, climate, and architecture.

“The future of architects, at least in our country, is not the traditional way of being an architect where you have your office and you wait for clients to come. You have to be aware. Nowadays, you have to propose your knowledge of being an architect in places where nobody expects that an architect can be useful.” - Jean Pierre Crousse

Daniel Bernal, a dual degree student in the MArch and Real Estate Development programs, speaks with Sandra Barclay and Jean Pierre Crousse, co-founders of Barclay & Crousse Architecture, in advance of their lecture at the school on February 4, 2019. Barclay & Crousse was founded in 1994 in Paris, and has been based in Lima since 2006. The studio manages a wide range of transcontinental programs that explore the relationships between landscape, climate, and architecture.

“The future of architects, at least in our country, is not the traditional way of being an architect where you have your office and you wait for clients to come. You have to be aware. Nowadays, you have to propose your knowledge of being an architect in places where nobody expects that an architect can be useful.” - Jean Pierre Crousse

Christine Giorgio, a third year M.Arch student, speaks with Julia Burdova and Olga Aleksakova of Buromoscow in advance of their lecture at the school on January 28, 2019. Buromoscow is based in Moscow, and was founded in 2004. The duo is also teaching advanced studio VI at GSAPP during the Spring 2019 semester. Buromoscow’s work reflects urban change in post-soviet Russia, and is known for changing the face of prefabricated mass housing.

“[In Russia], people have a very abstract idea about home and building...When people look for a place to live, there is no image of how it can be different. They buy sheer square meters and not a dream...it’s very mechanical. For architects, this is very attractive...the chance to work with a system, something mechanical, something that can be reproduced. It’s a challenge and we totally embraced it.” - Olga Aleksakova