As Roger Waters, of the famous Pink Floyd band, is to stage a concert in Bucharest, the 28th of August, ICARCH (International Architectural Competitions), in association with the Romanian architecture magazine AdeP (Atelierul de Proiectare) decided to launch an international architecture competition, under the motto: “A HOUSE FOR PINK FLOYD”.
As inspired by Pink Floyd’s music and stage performance, the competition shall bring a breath of fresh air into architecture, in the same way as the famous band did to music, holding the band’s successful musical creation as inspiration.
The Music – Architecture relation is the more relevant in this case, as 3 out 4 founding members of Pink Floyd studied architecture, including Roger Waters. The name of their most important album, as well as this year’s tour title, is in itself evocatory to this purpose: THE WALL.
We pursue to express the creative spirit of Pink Floyd, by means of promoting an architecture, that’s both committed and committing, on several levels, not only in terms of aesthetics or music, but also socially, politically, even psychologically and spiritually.
The theme of the contest wishes to develop architecture’s potential to reconnect to a discipline, that’s already associated to it in traditional aesthetics, as architecture and music are considered to be the only “abstract” arts, operating with mathematical elements, as they are not explicitly inspired by nature, as all other types of art, traditionally are. Hence, the famous dictum “architecture is frozen music”, claimed to be Goethe’s, Schelling’s or Schiller’s.
CONTEST THEME
There are walls all around us… and the thickest and the tallest are those within. What wall(s) did Roger Waters and Pink Floyd want to break in their immensely successful album The Wall? Mainly that wall that creates that almost mythical box modern architects especially are notorious for trying to break.
In a more or less remote past the architect was never obsessed about “breaking the box” Such words are unheard of from Vitruvius to Palladio… so why now…? Another obsession of modern architecture, “space”. Such word (not to mention the obsession) is not present in the written works of the above mentioned architects.
But Roger Waters and Pink Floyd, trained in architecture as they were, used an architectural metaphor to express a revolt, a “j’accuse” against any kind of artificially imposed “order.” Against tyranny, be it that of a school teacher, a religious or political leader of questionable integrity, against any controlling authority that could make life on this earth unbearable.
The function of art, almost by definition, is TO BREAK WALLS. Thus, an art that does not “break walls”, that is, an art that does not bring anything new by adding to what we call “tradition” what we call “invention”, fails to do its job.
We ask you TO DO YOUR JOB: that is, to BREAK THE WALLS that irritate your life, your society, your time, through architecture. Fight IMPOSITION, in any way it might manifest itself. Fight sclerosis. Fight conformity! Fight the hypocrisy of many of those in power! Fight for a CHANCE TO BREATHE. Fight for Multiplicity in Unity. Fight for Poetry, since poetry, genuine poetry, in any way it manifests itself, does exactly this: IT BREAKS DOWN WALLS. When walls are broken down, LOVE EMERGES, and Fear runs away.
The British writer E. M. Foster wrote: “Only connect!” We ask you to explore the generic theme of “breaking the wall” in as many ways as possible and as freely as possible. Create an architecture as intense and inspiring as this celebrated album of Pink Floyd. Listen to the music again, watch the film, and then feel, think, draw and model. BUILD. BUILD A BROKEN WALL. BUILD A WALL THAT UNITES, NOT ONE THAT SEPARATES. BUILD A BEAUTIFUL WALL. Or scream, scream as loudly as possible against all the prisons of this world, against all those artificially built walls that trap all of us in the name of FEAR. TEAR THEM DOWN, dear architect!
REGISTRATION AND PROJECT SUBMITTING DEADLINE
Registration: until the 10th of August 2013
Submitting the projects: until the 10th of August 2013
Results: 20th August 2013
For more info on the contest and to register, go to: www.adep.ro/contest/
All info and images courtesy of www.adep.ro
