archrypt.
- the time capsule as a design-driven method for the end times -
what: installation displaced in Delft, at the CA2RE | CA2RE+ Conference | RECOMMENDATION, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture & the Built Environment
with: arch. ph.d. Gianluca Croce and arch.phd. Valentina Rodani
where: Trondheim (Norway), Hamburg (Germany), Trieste (Italy), and Ljubljana (Slovenia)
when: 2019-2021
key words: time capsules, archive, apocalypse, design-driven research, archeology of the future
performance in Trieste with: arch. ph.d. Taufan ter Weel, arch. ph.d. S. Iuri
Earthquakes and tsunamis, but also extreme climatic phenomena attributable to global warming, widespread pollution, pandemics, economic and humanitarian crises, wars, terrorist attacks, and social conflicts, mark an era, ours, in which catastrophe appears as a condition with which humanity interfaces daily, resulting in a permanent state of emergency. On the one hand, the cause-effect relationship between the human activities of modern societies and possible catastrophes appears obvious. On the other hand, it is possible to note how apocalyptic narratives have emancipated themselves from an eschatological dimension and, as a product of the human mind, they appear as the representation of the fear of the end of man in the world. Apokálypsis, “revelation,” means discovering, unveiling, and revealing. Whether to represent extreme apocalyptic conditions or produce specific emergency solutions, architecture has always faced the apocalypse, creating an abundance of strategies and projects, both imaginary and practical. Moreover, in addition to these considerations, it raises the critical issue of preserving and transmitting the traces of a civilization that risks disappearing. Therefore, what tools of knowledge for the archaeologists of the future? And consequently: is it possible to organize a repertoire of strategies, theories, and projects so that this heritage can constitute not only a cultural archive but also, above all, a potential operational kit capable of responding to the multiple purposes of the world that arise? Taking up the idea developed in the 1940s by Thornwell Jacobs on the time capsule intended as a deposit of the knowledge of humanity, the ready-made operation combines archetypal and powerfully symbolic forms, proposing a selection of theories, projects, and tools - organized according to a horizontal scalar (from XS to XL) and vertical for catastrophic themes - which have faced the relationship with highly critical contexts. By proposing the transmission of the memory of architecture through an architecture of memory, however, intends to underline its disciplinary relevance, hoping for its presence also in a post-apocalyptic future.
BUILDING THE ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVE: THE CONTENT
BUILDING THE ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVE: THE CONTAINER
Archrypt aims to be a critical-operational work on transmitting architectural memory through an architecture of memory.
Archrypt refers to the ancestral dimension of architecture connected to its function of time capsule ante litteram
APOCALIPSIS CUM FIGURIS: PERFORMING THE ARCHIVE
