POLITICS OF THE HYPERWALLSNAKY LINES OF DENSIFICATION IN MEXICO CITY

AA Intermediate Unit 8 2017-18

Unit BriefPolitics of the Hyperwall

Snaky Lines of Densifi cation in Mexico City

As Mexico City has grown to become one of the world’s largest and most sprawling metropolises, its population has increased in exponential terms. The results of the city’s endless urbanisation are severe and distressing, with an unequal distribution of infrastructure and services, both visible and invisible barriers and daily commutes that cover extraordinarily long distances. Yet this seemingly unmanaged megalopolis is now rethinking itself through the new CDMX Plan that proposes inserting 40,000 new homes per year between now and 2030 into the existing urban fabric. And yet the plan does not address the biggest challenge: social inclusion. In a city dominated by its own informality, there is a need to both articulate and reimagine the living conditions of emerging social structures beyond the assumed possible horizon of housing commodifi cation.

Intermediate Unit 8 therefore proposes the hyperwall as a new line of densifi cation, which follows existing infrastructural, natural and socio-spatial conditions, to break through the barriers that hijack the informal megalopolis. Snaky, mixed-use strips related to city infrastructures, with a relevant housing component, will be individually proposed (ranging from 1–3km long and 20 x 50m in width) for an estimated 5,000 users. Examples of linear urban confi gurations – such as Ciudad Lineal by Soria, the Sotsgorod by Miliutin, Le Corbusier’s Cité linéaire, Aff onso Eduardo Reidy’s Pedregulho Housing Complex, and L’illa by Rafael Moneo and Manuel de Solà-Morales – will be scrutinised to understand this urban typology. As in the myth of the Aztec deity Quetzalcoalt, the feathered snake, these urban proposals will delineate sinuous linear intervals along conditions of supposed mutual exclusion – between humans and nature, politics and economy, life and death.

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Unit WorkIn Inter Unit 8 we believe that the work of an architect is fundamentally intellectual. This does not mean that architects could not need to master certain techniques in order ar-ticulate their own ideas properly, but these techniques have to be subordinated to intellectual and conceptual preocupations which guide them. Following this principle, Inter Unit 8 proposes an intermediate year work based on a compelling argument related to political, social and cultural questions able to give certain guidance to design work throughout diff erent stages. Thus the unit-work will be phased according to a learning process using diff erent tools and skills to acquire a complex understanding of the mediation between socio-politics, cultural matters and most importantly architecture.

This academic year Inter Unit 8 work will be focus on designing a range of proposals for a new line of densifi cation in Mexico City. Each HYPERWALL proposal will be supported by rigorous socio-cultural, urban, spatial and material investigations developed through diff erent small briefs distributed along the fi rst two terms. A prolifi c production of drawings, im-ages, texts and material tests will be encouraged, but only in relation to precise and sophisticate individual arguments. During the second and third term proposals will be interrogated according to diff erent concepts and requirements, including those registered during the fi eld trip to Mexico.

Design Portfolio Finally, at the end of the year, the work will be summarized in a A2 main portfolio, which will prove the ability to consistently relate theoretical enquiries with each design solution, three small booklets summarizing analysis of relevant case studies: city observations-investigations and a report on housing and ways of living; and some key models describing material experimentations at diff erent scales. In addition, large size drawings will be presented to clearly represent the spaces created in each individual proposal. These drawings will help to demonstrate a control on the HYPERWALL design. Portfolio checks will occur at the end of each term. The laying out of portfolios and booklets is seriously considered by the unit, as they are a fundamental part to communicate individual arguments and ideas. Students will be expected to know specifi c software such as In-design and Illustrator for this purpose.

Unit TutorsFrancisco González de Canales and Nuria Álvarez Lombardero are co-founders of Canales & Lombardero and Politics of Fabrication. Francisco studied architecture and theory at ETSA Seville, ETSA Barcelona and Harvard University, and worked for Foster + Partners and Rafael Moneo. He has lectured in England, Chile, Mexico, Spain and the US. Among his recent publications are First Works, Experiments with Life Itself, Rafael Moneo: A Theoretical Re‚ ection through the Professional Practice and Rafael Moneo: Building, Teaching and Writing. Nuria studied architecture and urbanism at ETSA Madrid and the AA and worked for Machado & Silvetti Associates. She has previously taught at the University of Cambridge, Bartlett, TEC Monterrey and University of Seville. Her work on gender studies in architecture and urban typologies has been widely published, as her award-winning book Arquitec-tas: Redefi ning the Practice. Both hold a PhD and are co-authors of Politics and digital fabrication: an ongoing debate (2017) and have been teaching Intermediate Unit 8 since 2009.

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Unit SupportWorkshops and Seminars

In the fi rst two terms a series of seminars and talks will be organized. These will cover diff erent subjects related to design development, such as theories on fundamental ele-ments to spatially organize a hyperwall, the urban history and present political social and cultural state of Mexico DF, and some recent ideas on housing. On the other hand, there will be two workshops to learn specifi c representational and design techniques. In the fi rst term there will be a Rhino workshop to help those who are low-skilled in this tool and a Grasshopper workshop for those who are high-skilled at it. In the later terms a Photoshop and VRay workshop will help to represent spatial atmospheres created.

History and TheoryStudents joining Unit 8 should have a strong interest in social, cultural, urban and architectural theories, aiming to translate this into specifi c design proposals. Ideas and theories employed in philosophy, literature, art and architecture are considered fundamental for design development, driving the unit work both materially and conceptually. Stu-dents are encouraged to combine HTS with their own unit research and to fi nd a common conceptual grounding for both. The unit recommends to familiarize with the reading list provided at the end of this docuemnt in the fi rst weeks of the academic year. Specifi c seminars related to the unit interests related to provided bibliography will be conducted

throughout the year.

TutorialsMondays or Tuesdays, and Fridays. Any enquire to: interunit8@gmail.com Schedule will be announced via email and in https://politicshyperwall.wordpress.com/

Technical StudiesInter 8 understands the Technical Studies investigation as an integral part of the design process, that is indeed based on a certain material quality intend-ed to be built. Working on a large building like the hyperwall suggest a Technical Studies investigation on the following topics: structure, light, material and construction; but any other interesting topic related to this typology is welcomed to be discussed. This part of the Third Year work in the Second Term is constructed with the TS tutors with unit tutors acknowledge. As the unit follows TS Option 2, fi nal submissions will be in the fi rst week of Term 3. Technical research should be document-ed and collected in order to support concepts and viable technical solutions underpinning the main design project. Further information on the TS is given in this document.

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UNIT TRIPSMexico DF and Yucatan

At the end of the First Term, weeks 11 and 12, we will travel for 10-12 days to Mexico DF, capital city of Mexico, and Yucatan Peninsula, centre of Mayan culture. Specifi c visits to local exemplary buildings in Mexico DF (Mexico) will be arranged. These visits will be focus on understanding the infrastrutural works, civic engagement of recent big building and the diff erent ways of living in the city. In this unit trip past and present in architecture will go hand in hand. From ancient past, we will walk through the Aztec archeological sites of Mexico DF (Teotihuacan, Xochicalco and Tlatelolco) and climb Mayan piramids in Yucatan (Tulum, Chichen Itza and Uxmal). On the other hand, examplary buildings from twentieth century architects will be visited in Mexico DF, such as Luis Barragan’s houses, Juan O’Gorman’s buildings and Felix Candela’s structural constructions. Recent civic buildings will be also part of this itinerary, like Jumex Museum by D. Chiperfi eld, Vasconcelos Library by A. Kalach and Soumaya Museum by F. Romero. Recent housing proposals will be one of the trip major interests, such as exclusive housing blocks in La condesa by D. Dellekamp, residential compounds by A. Kalach or Cervantes Tower by F. Romero. In addition, we will visit some informal housing examples to cover all ways of living in the city.

This trip will help to get certain knowledge of local architectural culture, material experimentation and ways of living. The trip is part of the unit work. Observations will be summarized in

a booklet or video that will be evaluated. If any student at the unit would not be able to travel to Mexico, we would elaborate a strategy individually to continue developing the proposal.

SpainDepending on the work progress and reviews, a second non-compulsory visit to housing examples in Spain will be organize at the end of the Second Term during the Spring Break.

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TERM 1 TERM 2 TERM 3

MATERIAL & SHAPE FORM FIELD PROGRAMME

W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W/ W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W/ W8 W9 W10 W11 W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W/ W8 W9

UNIT TRIP - M

EXICO

VISIT

- SPA

IN

WORKSHOP 1

WOR

KSHO

P 2

UNIT SCHEDULE

TECHNICAL STUDIES FINAL SUBMISSION

TECHNICSAL STUDIES PREVIEWS

4th & 5th June 2nd year REVIEWS

12th & 13th March 2nd year PREVIEWS2nd year

3rd year

12th January REVIEW 11th & 12th June

3rd year FINAL CHECK

29th & 20th March3rd year PREVIEWS

20st June 3rd year

RIBA 12

SHAPETerm 1 - Weeks 1-4

SHAPING THE HYPERWALL: As a starting point the unit will explore through models the initial shape of 15 Ha plan (150.000 m2 maximum) hyperwall. For this aim, the exercise will encompass two explorations: the overall shape and the intricacy of its fragments. This exploration will be fi rst developed in a purely intuitive manner. Diff erent materials, such as paper, cardboard, cloth, foam, cables, wood and metal sticks, will be initially use to have a range of schematic shapes that will be later used to defi ne formal ideas.Students are invited to feel comfortable with these materials, and learn rules and modeling criteria out of their manipulation.

After a critical analysis of these fi rst models to fi nd their intrinsic principles, two models of the HYPERWALL will be constructed individually. The fi rst a 1:500 scale model will show the overall shape of the “snake” while the second 1/200 model will show in more detail its intricacy. In this second exploration, the experimentation will be focused on material aspects of the proposal. Stiff er materials such as wood, metal, stone, terracota and plaster are recommended to discover other possibilities for HYPERWALL schematic designs.

References: Mathias Goeritz, Manuel Felguerez, Jorge Yazpik, Jorge Oteiza, Eduardo Chillida, Saloua Raouda , Lygia Clark, Gego and Helio Oiticica, among others.

Reference Books:

- Yve-Alain Bois: Geometric abstraction: Latin American art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros collection, New Haven : Yale University Press, 2001.

- Christian Del Castillo: Goeritz Guide, Mexico DF: Arquine, 2016.

- Studio Aikieu: Material Alchemy, Amsterdam : BIS, 2014.

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FORMTerm 1 - Weeks 5-8

FINDING FORMAL PRINCIPLES: Following the defi nition process of individual proposals, examples at diff erent scales of linear urban confi gurations, such as Ciudad Lineal by A. Soria, the Sosgorod by Miliutin, La cité linéaire by Le Corbusier, Pedregulho by A. Reidy or L’illa by R. Moneo and M. Solà-Morales, will be scrutinised to understand this urban typology. General aspects defi ning these diff erent examples form, such as voids, modularity, porosity, repetition and circulation, will be explored by diagrams. As we are working with a building typology with a big presence in the city, we will review those texts re‚ ecting on bigness, such as the well known re‚ ection by Rem Koolhaas. Critical studies on bigness and large-scale formal proposals will help to understand hyperwall spatial organisation.

DEFINING FORMAL INTRICANCY: Consequent fi ndings of previous exercise will be later applied to initial hyperwall proposals. Here we will study digramatically various spatial organiza-tions of medium and small scale buildings to fi nd new compositional solutions for this typology. The initial proposals will evolve through diff erent compositional iterations.

Seminar: The Sphere and the Labyrinth and Bigness (tbc)

Workshop: Rhino and Grasshopper (date tbc)

Readings:

- Rem Koolhaas, “Bigness and the Problem of Large,” OMA< Rem Koolhaas, and Bruce Man, S, M, L, XL, New York: Monacelli Press, 1995, pp. 494-516.

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FIELDTerm 1 - Weeks 10-12 Term 2 - Weeks 1- 3

ANALYZE MEXICO CITY URBAN FABRIC: Before deepening into material aspects of the block the unit should be familiarize with the diff erent formal aspects of Bogota city. In groups, the unit will create an archive of drawings in diff erent scales with information about the urban grain, voids, density and urban form. A special attention will be given to those possible linear corridors with possibilities of densifi cation, for instance existing infrastructural lines, boulevards, streetsides or natural channels of water (rivers or waterways). Readings on Mexico city history and an understanding of its comples socio.economical structure will be also conducted to understand the evolution and confi guration of its urban fabric.

Seminar: Mexico DF urban history and contemporary confi guration (date tbc)

Readings:

- Alva-Martínez, Ernesto: Ciudad de México: guía de arquitectura = Mexico City: an architectural guide, Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Obras Públicas y Vivienda, 1999.

- Arturo Almadoz Marte: Planning Latin America’s capital cities 1850-1950, London: Routledge, 2002.

- Felipe Correa & Carlos Garciavelez Alfaro: Mexico City: between geometry and geography = entre geometría y geografía, Novato, CA: Applied Research and Design Publishing, 2014.

- Urban Age: South American Cities: Securing an Urban Future, London: LSE, 2007.

- Richard Burdett: Living in the endless city: the Urban Age project by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society, London: Phaidon, 2008.

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UNDERSTANDING NEOLIBERALISM: The second exploration will consist in a investigation of neoliberal consequences in Mexico City political, economic and social structures, and most importantly in its urban fabric. For the last four decades neoliberalism has aff ected its structure creating major polarization in its population, a extensive construction of gated communites and exclusive apartment towers at the same time informal settlement were extendingly growing in its sourrounding territory. The city is presently asking for a densifi cation of its urban fabric as the population growth is unstoppable. Housing in central areas are part of this equation, as major number of jobs arelocated there and public transport is not effi cient enough.

Documentary: The Shock Doctrine by M. Whitecross & M. Winterbottom, 2009.

Readings:

- Sader, Emir: The Weakest Link? Neoliberalism in Latin America, New Left Review, n.52, 2008.

- Harvey, David: A brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford University Press 2005.

- Tafuri, Manfredo: Architecture and Utopia: Design and Capitalist Development ,Cambridge: Mit Press: 1976.

- Tahl Kaminer, Miguel Robles-Duran and Heidi Sohn(Eds.): Urban asymetries: studies and projects on neoliberal urbanization, Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2011.

FINDING OUT ABOUT SOCIO-CULTURE ASPECTS AND WAYS OF LIVING: A research on Mexican socio-cultural, political and economic issues will be conducted before and during the unit trip and summarized in a collection of maps, diagrams, photographs and video fragments.This investigation of Mexican ways of living, diff erent cultural cus-toms and spatial characteristics where everyday life takes place will be expressed in diff erent analytical diagrams and information maps that will be completed after the unit trip.

Reference books:

- David McCandless: Knowledge is Beautiful, London: William Collins, 2014.

- Rebecca Solnit: Infi nite City: A San Francisco Atlas, San Francisco: University of California Press, 2010.

- Steven Heller: Infographics Designers’ Sketchbooks, New York: Princeton Architectural Press , 2014.

Readings:

- Guardiola-Rivera, Oscar: What if Latin America Ruled the World?How the South Will Take the North into the 22nd Century, London: Bloomsbury, 2011.

Movies:

Los Olvidados by Luis Buñuel (1950), El callejón de los milagros by Jorge Fons (1995), Amores Perros by Alejandro González Iñárritu (2000) &Frida by Julie Taymor (2002).

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UNIT TRIP TO MEXICO DF AND YUCATAN: This trip will help to complete the initial re‚ ections on how citizens’ everyday life activities construct politics in this city. This will be an oppor-tunity to visit notable examples of local architecture by Luis Barragan, Juan O’Gorman, Felix Candela, Alberto Kalach, Fernando ROmero, Derek Dellekamp and Rojkind Arquitectos. Archeological sites in Mexico DF (Teotihuacan, Cuauhtémoc, Xochicalco and Tlatelolco) and Yucatan (Tulum, Chichen Itza and Uxmal) will show the tradition in building. After unit trip, students will elaborate some analytical drawings of the architectural examples visited. All documents produced will be compiled in a Unit Booklet or VIdeo that will complete the fi rst hypothesis elaborated in London. A conclusion from this portfolio will help later to defi ne both the location for each building proposal and its programmatic content.

Readings:

- Barry Bergdoll & Carlos Eduardo Comas: Latin America in Construction: Architecture 1955-1980, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2015.

- Luis E. Carranza & Fernando Luiz Lara: Modern Architecture in Latin America: Art, Technology, and Utopia, University of Texas Press, 2015.

- Mariana Leguia(Ed.): Latin America at the crossroads, AD Magazine, Chichester: John Wiley, 2011.

- Edward R. Burian: Modernity and the architecture of Mexico, Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1997.

- Jean-François Lejeune: Cruelty & utopia: cities and landscapes of Latin America, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005.

- Juan Rulfo: Pedro Paramo, Serpent’s Tail, 2014.

- Octavio Paz: The Labyrinth of Solitude, Penguin Books Ltd, 1996.

- Barbara E. Mundy: The death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the life of Mexico City, University of Texas Press 2015

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PROGRAMMETerm 2 - Weeks 4-8

PROGRAMMATIC INSERTIONS: Fisrt Term urban analysis catalogue and research done during the unit trip will help to select a linear location in Mexico City The capability of programmatic anchors in specifi c locations to engage with the city public space will be put into question. The proposals can take any location in the city, vacant or not, as their aim is to change existing dyanmics by densifying it.

Readings

- Bernard Tschumi, “Program”, in Architecture and Disjunction, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1994. pp. 99-168.

- Alexander D’ Hooge: The Liberal Monument. New York: Princeton, 2010.

- Amanda Reeser Lawrence (ed.): RE: Programming, Praxis 8, New York:, 2007

PROGRAMMATIC COMPOSITIONS: First term research into political, socio-cultural and economic aspects of Mexico city will inform the programmatic brief of each proposals. Respond-ing to the con‚ ict generated by private investments and public gobernamental strategies in this city context, the hyperwall proposals will include two main programmatic parts - housing and various civic programmes-. A specifi c investigation on housing and diff erent ways of living, as they relate to both informal and formal horizontal structures, will be done before composing the entrails of the hyperwall. All documents will be compiled in a small Unit Booklet.

Seminar The habitat in Mexico. http://conurbamx.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/libro-vivienda-social.pdfReadings:

- Davis, Mike: Planet of slums, London; New York: Verso, 2006.

- Priscilla Connolly: “The case of Mexico City, Mexico”, Understanding Slums: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements 2003.

- Marcos L. Rosam, Ute E. Weiland & Ana Alvarez: Handmade Urbanism: from community initiatives to participatory models, Berlin : Jovis, 2013

- Richard Sennet: Together: The Rituals Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation, London : Penguin, 2013.

. José Castillo: “Urbanism of the Informal: Transformations in the urban fringe of Mexico City” in Praxis, journal of writing and building, issue two, volume one. pp. 102-111.

- Jose Castillo, BOMB, No. 94, The Americas Issue: Mexico and the Gulf, Winter, 2005/2006.

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BACK TO THE CITYTerm 3 - Weeks 1-4

POLITICS OF THE HYPERWALL: Building on the discussing on formal aspects, the politics generated by the hyperwall in the city fabric will be assessed. The placement of the hyperbuildg in its particular location will bring the context forward in the progress of design defi nition. Hyperwall proposals will be interrogated regarding their relationships with its immediate context and the passer-by. Permeability, porosity and accesibility of the building design in relation to the rest of the city will be evaluated.

References:

- Gonzalez de Canales, Francisco & Alvarez Lombardero, Nuria : Right to the Form, Arquitectos, 2010, Núm. 181, pp. 62-63.

- Canales & Lombardero, “New Formalism”, Lecture at Architectural Association, 2017.

INSIDE-OUT, OUTSIDE-IN: The richness of live inside linear building confi gurations is always diffi cult to read from outside dense, but they are key in defi ning them. Architects such as Paul Rudolph and Rafael Moneo were concious of this diffi culty using unusual drawing techniques at their time to represent it. Following their example, specifi c graphic representations will be explored to show the relation between inside and outside, and its consequences in the overall shape of the proposal.

TRANSITS: Interior connections between programmes and diff erent levels of privacy will be questioned. The results will be expressed through sections and conceptual drawings exploring relationships established between diff erent space. These scenarios are also an opportunity to work with diff erent building users, interior environments and the impact of circulation main trajectories. Past and present, collapsing of diff erent social classes and intersection fo private/public spaces will be expressed. This will include a more detailed conception of the internal spaces created, their multilayered variables and sensual perception.

Workshop: Rhino, VRay and Photoshop (tbc)

Readings:

- Arendt, Hannah: “The Public and the Private Realm” in The Human Condition, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1998, pp.22-78.

- Evans, Robin: Figures, doors and Passages: in Translation from drawings to buildings, pp.55-92.

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MATERIALITYTerm 3 - Weeks 4-8

Continuing with the work previous terms, the unit will fi nally explore through detailed models the material defi nition of hyperbuildings at closer scales. Throughout this phase, con-cepts will acquire a more accurate material expression. Creative explorations on material and construction possibilities draw on the richness of local culture as an alternative to global mainstream mass production will be comsidered within the unit. Third years will Integrate appropriatly their technical studies and material decisions within hyper-building designs.

Readings:

- Petra Lange-Berndt: Materiality, London : Whitechapel Gallery, 2015.

- Chris Lefteri: Materials for Design, London: Laurence King Publishing, 2014.

References:

- Lecture by Bijoy Jain from Studio Mumbai---- http://www.aaschool.ac.uk//VIDEO/lecture.php?ID=1972.

- Lecture by Carlos H Matos & Umberto Bellardi Ricci- Beton Machine -----http://www.aaschool.ac.uk//VIDEO/lecture.php?ID=2743

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UNIT BIBLIOGRAPHYMATERIAL & SHAPE

BOIS, Yve-Alain: Geometric abstraction: Latin American art from the Patri-cia Phelps de Cisneros collection, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.

DEL CASTILLO, Christian: Goeritz Guide, Mexico DF: Arquine, 2016.LEFTERI, Chris: Materials for Design, London: Laurence King Publishing, 2014.

LANGE-BERNDT, Petra: Materiality, London: Whitechapel Gallery, 2015.

ON LATIN-AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE BERGDOLL, Barry & COMAS, Carlos Eduardo: Latin America in Construction: Archi-

tecture 1955-1980, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2015.CARRANZA, Luis E. & Lara, Fernando Luiz: Modern Architecture in Latin America: Art,

Technology, and Utopia, University of Texas Press, 2015.LEGUÍA, Mariana (Ed.): Latin America at the crossroads, AD Magazine, John Wiley, 2011.BURIAN, Edward R.: Modernity and the architecture of Mexico, Austin, Texas: Univer-

sity of Texas Press, 1997.LEJEUNE, Jean-François: Cruelty & utopia: cities and landscapes of Latin America,

New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005.

PROGRAMMEDAVIS, Mike: Planet of slums, London; New York: Verso, 2006.ROSAM, Marcos L., WEILAND, Ute E. & ALVAREZ, Ana: Handmade Urbanism: from

community initiatives to participatory models, Berlin : Jovis, 2013SENNET, Richard: Together: The Rituals Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation, Lon-

don : Penguin, 2013.

MEXICO CITYALMANDOZ MARTE, Arturo: Planning Latin America’s capital cities 1850-1950, Lon-

don: Routledge, 2002.BURDETT, Richard: Living in the endless city: the Urban Age project, London: Phaidon, 2008.CORREA, Felipe & GARCIAVELEZ ALFARO, Carlos: Mexico City: between geometry

and geography = entre geometría y geografía, Novato, CA: Applied Research and Design Publishing First edition. 2014.

ERNESTO, Alva-Martínez: Ciudad de México: guía de arquitectura = Mexico City: an ar-chitectural guide, Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Obras Públicas y Vivienda, 1999.

HERNANDEZ, Felipe (Ed.): Marginal Urbanisms: Informal and Formal Development in Cities of Latin America, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017.

KAMINER, Tahl, ROBLES-DURAN, Miguel and SOHN, Heidi (Eds.): Urban asymetries: studies and projects on neoliberal urbanization, Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2011.

MUNDY, Barbara E.: The death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the life of Mexico City, University of Texas Press, 2015.

RESEARCH FIELDGUARDIOLA-RIVERA, Oscar: What if Latin America Ruled the World? How the South

Will Take the North into the 22nd Century, London: Bloomsbury, 2011.HARVEY, David: A brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford University Press, 2005.PAZ, Octavio: The Labyrinth of Solitude, Penguin Books Ltd, 1996.RULFO, Juan: Pedro Paramo, Serpent’s Tail, 2014.TAFURI, Manfredo: Architecture and Utopia: Design and Capitalist Development, Cam-

bridge: MIT Press: 1976.

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TECHNICAL STUDIESfor 3rd years only

Structure and MaterialityInter Unit 8 explores the role of large city building structures in the context of the rapid social and economic changes experimented in Latin-American metropolises. In particular, we are interested in exploring the tension and negotiation between long dense buildings and city urban fabric. In the Mexican context this also implies con‚ icts between permanence and change, public and private, or in other words, between stable of top-down policies or urban schemes and unstable bottom-up processes.

This exploration implies a level of sophistication in the possibilities of stability and responsiveness of the building which requires a certain technical resolution. This year the unit will work on individual hyperwall design proposals that will contain both civic programmes and housing units for 5.000 users in a footprint between 1 to 3 km long and 20 to 50 meters width. This condition suggests a possible TS exploration of large span structures. As the unit brief is also concern about material questions, TS research can be focus on material and construction possibilities drawn from the richness of local culture, and also on new environmental possibilities related to them.

Student’s WorkStudents’ work for TS has been structure in diff erent stages along the three terms. These stages run parallel to the development of the design. Students will start to defi ne their TS research topic by the fi rst week of the second term, when designs are developed enough and transformation, adaptation, and change is requested according to the unit brief. Once the topic has been proposed and defi ned, most of the work for the TS will be developed through the term with assistance of the TS tutors. Students will analyze the fundamental aspects of their technical interest, select and analyzed relevant case studies, apply their research to the design development, experiment with diff erent possibilities working with models, mockups and simulations.

TutorialsTS tutorials should be established by the academic coordinator with TS tutors. We strongly recommend all students to book in advance and use these tutorials intensively for the develop-ment of their designs. These sessions, as indicated from Ts Technical Master, are not teaching sessions but an opportunity for the students to be helped to discover the potentials of their projects. One or two sessions with an expert from outside the school will be appointed in the second term according to the students’ needs.

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TS SCHEDULETERM 1

WEEK 9 - First meeting with TS tutors to understand TS work dynamic and development.WEEK 10 - Contribution of TS tutors in End of the First term Jury.

TERM 2WEEKS 1-2 DEFINITION. Coherent description of the TS theme according to the de-velopment of the design deciding between structural innovations or vertical interfaces defi nition.WEEKS 3-4 COMPREHENSION. Analysis of the fundamental aspects implied and selec-tion and analysis of relevant case studies with the guidance of TS tutors.WEEKS 5-6 EXPERIMENTATION. Experimentation with diff erent possibilities and hypoth-esis as part of the design exploration in its technical aspects WEEKS 7-8 APPLICATION. Translation of the acquired knowledge to the reinforcement and development of the unit designWEEK 9 TS3 INTERIM JURY OPTION 2 WEEKS 10-11 REVISION. Assimilation of the criticism derived from the interim, improv-ing the necessary aspect for the development of the TS

TERM 3WEEK 1 CONCLUSIONS. Gathering of information and clear presentation of the resultsWEEKS 1 TS3 FINAL SUBMISSION OPTION 2WEEKS 2 HIGH PASS. panel and exhibition.

TS BIBLIOGRAPHY

Asterios Agkathidis: Modular structures in design and architecture. Amsterdam : BIS Publishers, 2009

Philip Beesley: Hylozoic ground: liminal responsive architecture, Riverside Architec-tural Press, 2010

Michael Bell: Solid states: concrete in transition. New York : Princeton Architectural Press, 2010

Gail Peter Borden: Matter: material processes in architectural production. London: Routledge, 2011

Blaine Erickson Brownell: Material strategies: innovative applications in architecture. Architecture briefs, 2012

R. M. Davies: Space Structures: Blackwell Scientifi c Publications, 1966 Drew, Phillip: Frei Otto: Form and Structure, Westview Press, 1976Heinrich Engel: Structure Systems, Praeger, 1968Virginia Fairweather: Expressing structure: the technology of large-scale buildings. Ba-

sel: Birkhauser, 2004Malcolm Holzman: Material life: adventures and research in the application of building

materials. Mulgrave, Vic. : Images Publishing, 2008

Makowski, Z. S.: Steel space structures, Michael Joseph, 1964

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IMAGES INDEXPage 1 - Muralla Roja - Red Wall in Calpe by Ricardo Bofi ll, 1973.

Pages 2,14, 30 & 39 - May Ibentourment, Hyperbuilding proposal in Lima, Peru, Inter 8, 2015-16Pages 3 &31 - Fang Lee, Model of a hyperbuilding , Inter 8, 2015-16

Page 5 - External Examiners Review , Inter 8, 2015-16. Image By FGC.Page 7 - End of the Year Jury at AA, Inter 8, 2016-17. Image by Valerie Bennet.

Page 8 - Teotihuacan Archeological SIte, 2011. Image by NALPage 9 - Aerial View of Mexico DF.

Page 10 - Images of Barragan’s house by the architect, 1948, Biblioteca Vaconcelos by A. Kalach, 2006, Jumex by D. Chipperfi eld, Mexico DF, 2013.Page 11. Images of Bacardi Factory by F. Candela, 1960, UNAM LIbrary by J. O’Gorman, 1956, Soumaya Museum by Fernando Romero, Mexico DF, 2011.

Page 13 - Abstract models by Salouda Raouda,.Page 15- Wooden Model by Arvind Roy, Plaster Model By May Saloui and Metal Model by Oussama Garti of High-rise proposals. Inter 8, 2016-17

Page 16 - Roadtown Popular Science, 1932, Ciudad Lineal by Arturio Soria, 1886, and Plan Obus in Argel by Le Corbusier, 1931.Page 17 - Ville Linaire by Gilles Gauthier, Lower Manhattan Expressway, project, New York City by Paul Rudolph,, 1967-72 , and Roadtown by Edgar Chambless, 1910,

Page 18- High-rise studies by Marion Delaporte, Inter 8, 2016-17.Page 19 . Mexico DF. Endless City Book by LSE.

Page 20 - Torre Latinoamericana, Mexico City Centre and Torres Satelites by L. Barragan and A. Goeritz.Page 22 - Scenarios in a high-rise community by Kwang Yi Go and Nefeli Stamatari, 2016-17, and a hyperbuilding housing condition in Lima by Aoi Phillips, 2015-16, Inter 8.

Page 23 - Mexico DF Skyline.Page 24 - Quetzacoal Piramid in Chichen Itza, National Anthropological Museum of Mexico and Barragan’s House, Mexico.

Page 26 - Cover of Social Housing Report in Mexico by Mexican Governement.Page 27 - Housing in a vertical hyoerbuilding by Clara Schwartz, Inter 8, 2015-16.

Page 28 - Housing proposal in Bogota by Marion Delaporte, 2016-17, and in Lima by Irene Squilloni and Fang Lee, Inter 8, 2015-16.Pages 32 & 33 - High-rise housing building for Colombian indigenous communities in Bogota by Kwang Yi Goh, 2016-17, Inter 8.

Page 34 - Material experimentations and models of all Inter 8 students, 2016-17.Page 35 - Terracota Model of a Market Proposal ina block typology by Raya Shaban, Inter 8, 2014-15.

Page 36 - DIff erent material experimentations for a block proposal in Buenos Aires by Naida Iljazovic, 2012-13.Page 40 - Drawing of TS solution for a Hiperbuilding by May Ibertourment, High Pass 2016.

Page 41 - TS Models by Ja-Seung David Koo, High Pass 2014, Marion Delaporte, 2016 & Atura Ariffi n, High Pass, 2014.Page 42 - Barragan’s House by L.Barragan, Mexico DF, 1948.

AA Intermediate Unit 8 2017-18