easa

Architecture of an Arch

All day Tue-Fri, the entrance of Facultat de Geografia i Història.

With the installation ARCHITECTURE OF AN ARCH, the aim is to share another model of spatial limit that suggests a sensitive state of the body capable of embracing other bodies that surround it through our natural movement to achieve a mutual affectation.

The project is based on the study of a geometric language — Geography of Thought — as a visual system of validation that our body uses to formulate an order with the spaces that surround it. 

Here, we propose a transition from the two-dimensional imprint of the body’s trace to a habitable architecture with the intention to translate the geometry of the body's movement to the geometry that serves as a support for classical architecture to configure its design and subsequent construction. In this way, we propose the possibility that the body can establish spatial relations with an architecture based on their mutual affectation. Thus, exploring a new way for the body to operate with architecture through touch, making the surfaces we inhabit more a membrane of skin than a wall. An architecture as a witness of two bodies. An architecture based on the intermediate space shared by these two bodies.

Finally, we do not want to define a particular way of thinking spaces but a collaborative conversation between bodies — human or not. We propose that the constructive elements (walls, floors, ceilings, etc.) could respond to the geometric logic proposed by our research with the aim of obtaining greater well-being for the body while enhancing and promoting its development. 

To this end, as part of our contribution to the EASA conference we are offering a collaborative design session in the form of an exploratory study supported by the BODYinTRANSIT Project. The study is an initial exploration on how spatial structure could affect our body experience, perception, and movement. Participants will have the opportunity to experience the building of a cardboard architecture and to inhabit an already constructed one. They will reflect on how these structures increase, diminish, and transform the perception of their body and the space and how both perceptions could interrelate. This exploratory inquiry with open-ended questions will serve as a basis for future more formal research studies on the topic. 

Spaces for the co-design session are limited to 15 participants and prior registration is mandatory by filling this form or contacting ksriniva@pa.uc3m.es

— The study Geography of Thought on which this project is based is led by Jaime Refoyo and Karunya Srinivasan. 

— The project Architecture of An Arch brings together the research on architecture from Jaime Refoyo's geometric language of the body and Daria Kovaleva's research on lightweight structures (ILEK, University of Stuttgart), along with Karunya Srinivasan's movement and cognitive neuroscience research (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid).

— The participatory research aspect of this project is supported by BODYinTRANSIT: a research project led by Prof. Ana Tajadura-Jiménez and funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 101002711).