Symposium on Hope and Action in Architecture
Hope and Action in Architecture is the theme of the 2024 edition of the annual symposium on architecture. In the keynote lectures on May 17, 2024. Benedikt Hartl of Opposite Office (morning session) and Momoyo Kajima of Atelier Bow-Wow (afternoon session) bring their unique perspective to the theme. Both keynote lectures are followed by a discussion moderated by Anssi Lassila.
The annual symposium on arhicturecture is organized by the Finnish Association of Architects, SAFA. This year the event takes place in Seinäjoki, a city known for its many significant buildings by Alvar Aalto, including the Administrative and Cultural Center as well as the Suojeluskuntatalo, an early work of Aalto. The main event takes place in the Seinäjoki City Theater, wich is part of the Cultural Center.
On Saturday, May 18, 2024 there is a program of site visits featuring a tour of the Seinäjoki Station Area that is currently under construction as well as the Taika Kindergarten by OOPEAA, and much more.
- Hope and Action in Architecture
- May 17, 2024
- Program 9.30 – 17.30
- Keynote Lecture by Benedikt Hartl at 10.30
- Keynote Lecture by Momoyo Kajima at 16.00
- Seinäjoki City Theater
- For the full program of the event, see HERE.
Architecture Competitions as Action
Benedikt Hartl is the founder of Opposite Office established in 2017. Prior to forming a practice of his own, he worked in architecture offices in Munich, Zurich and Paris. He also teaches architecture in several universities. Opposite Office is known for their active participation in the public debate and for leveraging architecture competitions as a means of making an active statement on topical societal concerns. Last year, their proposal “Halailla luontoa” was selected as winner of the Europan 17 competition for the Helsinki site.
In is presentation, Benedikt Hartl will address the theme of Hope and Action in Architecture from the point of view of “lost” competitions. Drawing from both his personal experience of architecture competitions and from comments by people in the media about the projects of the office, he discusses the roles of the architect and the client. He also reflects on the challenges of getting commissions as a young architecture office.
- For more information on the work of Opposite Office, see HERE.
Behavioral Architecture
Momoyo Kajima founded the Atelier Bow-Wow together with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto in 1992. The studio is based in Tokyo. They are known for their small scale projects that skilfully make use of the the tight urban fabric of compact cities to create spaces that in an ingenious way respond to the patterns of behavior arising from the context and the uses that they serve. In addition to their work in Japan, their approach is illustrated in their Four Boxes Gallery in Denmark.
In addition to her work with the studio in Japan, Momoyo Kajima is professor of Behavioral Architecture at the ETH Zurich in Switserland. She has also taught at Harvard, the Danish Royal Academy of Art, Tsukuba University and the Delft Technical University. Both in her research and in her work as an architect, she takes a humanist approach.
Together with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, she has published several books including Pet Architecture (2002), Graphic Anatomy (2007) and The Architecture of Atelier Bow-Wow (2010). Momoyo Kajima was awarded the RIBA International Fellowship in 2012 and the Wolf Prize in 2022. She was the curator of the Pavilion of Japan at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2018.
In her presentation, Momoyo Kajima will reflect on how hope and action get materialized through architecture.
- For more information on the work of Atelier Bow-Wow, see HERE.