65. AITC: Hardcore Formalism with WAI Think Tank

Postcolonial Landscape image by WAI Think Tank

“In the kingdom of architecture the shapes reign supreme.”

- WAI Think Tank

What is architecture and what is its frontier of thinking in the time of Corona virus? This week, we talk with WAI Think Tank’s Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski about their backgrounds, their multi-dimensional practice, and how they think architecture will be affected by this global pandemic.

Timestamp Outline 

3:20    Vikram introduces Nathalie Frankowski and Cruz Garcia of  WAI Think Tank

5:45    Cruz discusses origins of their practice - the last economic crash of 2008

11:00    discussion of different modalities of their practice

12:45    how practice reponds to capitalism and a specific economic position

13:40    narrative architecture as an alternative to modernism

15:55    “For us, narrative architecture is a form of architecture that employs architectural strategies...presentation and representation...in order to create stories that reveal the hegemonic ideologies behind architecture.” - CG

16:30    “Why do you have modernism in your crosshairs?” - VP

18:30    “Cruz, why don’t you talk to me about the project of decolonization that you think your work engages.” - VP

19:30    The Postcolonial Room

24:00    Nathalie talks about the crisis of the present and the postcolonial question.

27:00    “What are new modalities of architecture that you would like to see and practice in?” - VP

31:15    “What has the global pandemic revealed to you about the world?” - VP

38:30    Loudreaders event series

40:20    Luisa Capetillo 

48:35    “What is the relevance of Object Oriented Ontology in the current pandemic?” - VP

52:00    In the kingdom of architecture the shapes reign supreme

52:20    discussion of formalism

53:00    “Form has always been a tool that the powerful have understood, but the oppressed are not allowed to use it in the same way.” - CG

55:40    “all the modernist projects...had at its core, we think, a very humanist approach. A lot of the modernist project was about making the life of everyone better…” - NF