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P R A C T I C E S E M I N A R S E C O N D P R O J E C T ….……….…….……………………………..….

PROJECT 01
[TIME: THE HISTORICAL AVANT-GARDES. VALUE: POWERFUL IMAGES AND THE FORMULATION
OF THE MANIFESTO]

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this five-week project is to work on the ability of the avant-gardes to produce, beyond striking images
and vehement manifestos, an entire genealogy of works indebted to them, and often far removed from the
avant-gardes themselves in terms of space, time, and even cultural field. In this sense, the avant-gardes can be
understood as laboratories of ideas that shake the present but, above all, fertilize the future.

This project addresses the question of visual references, both through a retrospective look at the 1920s and
1930s, and also as a projection both backward and forward in time. That is, starting from certain projects,
themes, and formats of the main avant-gardes, the objective is to investigate and suggest diverse architectural
genealogies with which to underpin a possible archaeology of the future.

While it is a common characteristic of all avant-gardes to express a clear and manifest will to break with the past
and embrace the future in an openly belligerent attitude toward history—after all, “avant-garde” is a military
term—it is no less true that, to oppose something effectively, it is essential to have a deep understanding of it.

This understanding of what the avant-gardes reject and deplore comes both from their temporal proximity to it
and the training within their rules and principles: to destabilize the system, one must know it very well. This
situation is evident, for example, in the evolution of Pablo Picasso, who could paint Les demoiselles d'Avignon
(1907) because he had absolute mastery of academic composition techniques, which allowed him to break the
classic rules of art one by one.

A similar phenomenon occurs with avant-garde architects, as Collin Rowe brilliantly highlighted for the first time
in his essay “The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa” (1947). This text reveals the secret intimacy of the relationship
between Palladio’s Villa Foscari (“La Malcontenta”), built around 1560 in the Venice region, and Le Corbusier’s
Villa Stein-de Monzie from 1927 in Garches, near Paris.

ASSIGNMENT/TOPIC

FIRST TASK: REFERENCES + GENEALOGY

The first task is to investigate dreams, desires, or future visions that became reality long after they were first
envisioned by the historical avant-gardes. Therefore, starting from the given designs, drawings, or images (see
Presentation and Cases PDF), or from others provided by students themselves, they must find in modern and
contemporary architectural history different works and projects that are clearly inspired by them.

Each team must choose a minimum of 10 references and replicate their images as shown in the examples in this
presentation (one image per item, focusing on issues such as form, materiality, concept, analogy, poetics, etc.).
For this task, no projects by one author may be replicated with works by the same author. And if references from
other artistic fields—photography, film, graphic compositions, etc.—are chosen, these references must have an
architectural response. It will be valued if students also propose and respond to some references that are not
included in the list of cases attached.
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Among the images and references provided, each group will study the motivations, themes, and later impact of
those images that they consider to be true prophetic visions. Then, they will propose a genealogy laid out
through a timeline with various projects or works built throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries which, in
their opinion, may be indebted to or reflect their more or less utopian reference. Finally, each group will extend
their chronology into the future, venturing a prediction of the evolution of architecture based on the chosen
theme with suggestive images.

The aim thus is to search within one of the architectural works of the avant-garde movements for possible
connections with works from the past, present, and future, whether recent or not, in order to identify a current
of continuity that allows us to understand ‘progress’ as a ‘variation’ of the ‘theme’ of ‘tradition’ and to
comprehend the importance of historical knowledge as a fruitful source of inspiration for contemporary projects,
and speculation on future possibilities.

SECOND TASK: ARCHITECTURAL MANIFESTO

For the second part, the invitation is to look toward the future from our present through the lens provided by the
medium that, in architecture, was founded by the avant-gardes: the manifesto.

The project involves writing, illustrating, and designing a brief manifesto on the topic chosen by the group after
taking a cultural, sociopolitical, or critical stance toward our current world. This may be linked to or independent
of the work undertaken for the first task. In this regard, both the tone (vehement) and language (provocative and
without nuance or half-measures) that characterized avant-garde manifestos in their time should be taken into
account, as they remain highly relevant to this genre today.

TYPE
Group work (4-6 students).

SCHEDULE
Five weeks (sessions):
P2S1. Presentation of the activity (lecturer): 14-15.10.2024
P2S2. Ongoing work review (lecturer-students). References and timeline proposal: 21-22.10.2024
P2S3. Ongoing work review (lecturer-students). Timeline and first idea for students’ manifesto: 28-29.10.2024
P2S4. Ongoing work review (lecturer-students). Manifesto: text, images, layout: 04-05.11.2024
P2S5. Project submission and public presentation of results (students): 11-12.11.2024

Students are encouraged to consult with their instructor to get help with the organization of research and in
preparing the materials, documents and summary for the presentation. Students are expected to attend and
participate in public debates as well as to contribute to assessing other students’ work.

FINAL PRESENTATION AND SUBMISSION

For a period of 5-10 minutes, each team must present the background, methodology, and most relevant results
of their work.

Group work
For the first part, a PDF file containing the work of juxtaposing references and echoes, along with the creation of
a timeline expressive of the evolution of a particular topic.
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For the second part, a PDF file with the designed manifesto and a printed copy of it.

The folder should be named as follows: P2GXGY (example: P2G1G1), where: P2 (Project 2) / G1 or
G4 (Practice Group) / GX (Team Number).

Individual work
A PDF file containing a text of approximately 500 words, highlighting the most relevant ideas from the two
readings proposed for this project (The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa by Colin Rowe and After the Manifesto by
Craig Buckley). It will be essential to argue how these ideas have guided or helped reflect on the collective work;
additionally, commentary on other aspects of these texts that are considered of interest will be valued. This
individual work, along with attendance and participation in practice sessions, will adjust the group’s grade by +/-
1 point.

The folder with all the group and individual materials must be submitted via UACloud (Evaluation) before
deadline: Monday or Tuesday, November 11 or 12, 2024 at 23.59 h.

EVALUATION CRITERIA
Presentation (25%); graphic quality of the submitted materials (25%); relevance of the associated references and
conceptual interest of the timeline (25%); originality of the manifesto, as well as the group’s understanding of
the substance and form of this literary genre (25%).

REQUIRED READINGS:
ROWE, Collin. The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1976 (first
published in The Architectural Review in 1947). Homonymous chapter available at:
https://monoskop.org/images/9/96/Rowe_Colin_1947_1976_The_Mathematics_of_the_Ideal_Villa.pdf

BUCKLEY, Craig. (ed.): After the Manifesto. New York: GSAPP, 2015. Homonymous chapter available at:
https://www.arch.columbia.edu/books/reader/16-after-the-manifesto#reader-anchor-0

RECOMMENDED READINGS:
CONRADS, Ulrich. Programs and Manifestos on 20th Century Architecture. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1970.
https://monoskop.org/images/4/40/Conrads_Ulrich_ed_Programs_and_Manifestoes_on_20th-
Century_Architecture_1970.pdf

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