WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

Not yet decided landscapeAt first glance the landscape of Nida is marked by a certain fragility. The sand dunes are in constant motion, the scenery stretching out in front of us is ever changing, seemingly as transitory as the sand itself which creates it.Only after a more careful observation we begin to notice another quality which marks this place. It is the invisible force of the wind, which persistently shapes this territory, powerful enough to vanquish entire cities and bury them deep below the sand for ages to come. That indecision between uncontrollable force of the wind and fragility of the sand dunes becomes the essence of Nida's beauty, which can be compared to Kant's idea of the sublime. It is within that space of tension between those two prevailing features that unfolds the operative field for our architectural intervention. Our team perceives the landscape of Nida as a dynamic phenomenon, stretched out in time, which cannot be fully grasped only by observation of its physical elements (such as topography, fauna and flora). In order to unleash its hidden, indecisive potential it is necessary to recognize the creative power of the wind and attempt to describe it following its own principles. In other words, the goal of our project is not merely to recognize the wind as a transforming force in shaping Nida's landscape but to use this Eolic energy to highlight these processes and to draw up a new and fascinating representation of the place.

Not yet decided place

Our team perceives creative process as a series of decisions to be made… or deliberately not made. In other words, to consciously postpone making decisions until the constrains met in the process become unavoidable and powerful enough to create potential for generating “primary” solutions.In this sense we perceive 'not yet decided' as a conscious choice, a positive action that offers a possibility to reflect upon the relationship between the creator, his piece and the context in which it is formed. According to the theory of the contemporary contextual design, one of the first decisions to be made in the process of creating a piece of architecture is a conscious selection of the site. Following that decision and through acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the place we are able to create an object, which will be responsive and sensitive part of its context. (Context awareness > Conscious architecture)Our proposal explores a hypothesis where refusing to select a project site becomes an impulse to reverse the traditional way of perceiving the relationship between architecture and its context. The structure resulting from such process will then become a device to learn about its surroundings.(Conscious architecture> Context awareness)

Our aim is to build a kinetic structure, which will stroll through the beach using wind power and through its movement creating new paths and recognizing the internal and external boundaries of this fluid territory (forest, sand dune, rocks, water or man made structure). Through its wind powered movement along the beach this lightweight frame will leave its material footprint, ephemeral testimony of the spatial potential unleashed, which will then be transferred onto paper by us to create a new map of the place. As well as being the transforming factor of the territory, the wind also becomes the driving force for our structure which then allows us to rewrite the landscape. This is why we’ve chosen to call our walking structures Anemotextus.

ANEMOTEXTUS : “Re-writing landscape with wind”

- ANEMOS from ancient Greek ἄνεμος, ánemos « wind ».- TEXTUS (text) from Latin texō « to weave, to assemble ».

Our kinetic structure is therefore a measuring device for creating a specific, volatile map of the place, which uncovers realities previously unseen or unimagined. The device will recreate the place in our minds over and over, but each time with new and diverse consequences. We are aspiring to create a structure which will encourage the students to expand their perception of relationships between art an engineering as well as between man made architecture with its natural surroundings. We wish to demonstrate that architecture can be a productive and liberating instrument, a world-enriching agent, a tool for creating new maps of the world.

In our understanding « mapping is a fantastic cultural project, creating and building the world as much as measuring and describing it (…). In this active sense the function of mapping is less to mirror reality than to engender the reshaping of the worlds in which people live. »

James Corner

CONNECTION WITH NIDAOur project is based on prolonged meditation of Nida's natural environment, which led us to a desire of understanding the Eolic processes responsible for shaping this indecisive landscape. We believe that this is the key to understanding the way its local community lived for centuries coexisting in balance with the surrounding nature, its history also marked by tragic events such as cities being buried underneath the sand. However, much more than this retrospective journey, we are fascinated by the actual possibility to create an empirical (based on multiple senses) connection between the substantial phenomenons and the participants of the workshop as well as the community of Nida, who will become curious about the rickety skeletal structures, wind flâneurs, strolling along the coast. We are aspiring to create an experience, which is both a playful challenge – through experimenting with simple structures the students will find out about the principles behind the influence of wind on objects, as well as an emotional stroll along the beach for everyone, which brings about the childhood dreams about chasing a floating kite.

We believe that the final outcome of the exercise, our volatile map will allow the community of Nida to rediscover the place inhabited by them and encourage them to create their own maps, based upon their own personal experience of the surrounding environment.

Just like our walking structures, chaque homme doit inventer son chemin Jean Paul Sartre

WORKSHOP OUTCOMEConsidering the duration of the workshop (11 days) and the number of participants (10-15 people) we are planning to split the exercise into 3 stages.

STAGE 1 – COGNITION (3 days)At the start of this stage each student will receive a booklet describing the program, aims of the workshop, materials and tools related to the exercise. (when/why/how?)The booklet will also contain graphic instructions describing the principles behind the wind driven structures, a kind of alphabet of the basic elements which could be joined together to create more complex constructions.After familiarizing with the material the students (in groups 3-5 people) with our support will begin to build scale models using straws and paper.During that stage we are planning to test the models on the beach to begin assessing the site conditions and attract the attention of local people and tourists. Our experiments will be interlaced with kinetic exercises, which will allow for anyone interested to experience the wind in an unusual way.

STAGE 2 - CONSTRUCTION (6 days) Throughout the duration of the second stage the students (split in groups of 3-5 people) will be challenged with building a large scale structure (maximum 2 meters) of their own design using PVC pipes, linen fabrics, cutting tools, duct tape, nylon strings and cable ties. Depending on the number of participants we are planning to build 2-3 structures. Each group will be supported by one tutor, who will advise them as well as documenting their efforts through photos and videos. In addition to that, we are planning to arrange daily talks and seminars for the whole group which will involve subject such as:

influence of wind on structures supported by case studies

evolution of the term 'genius loci' in contemporary architecture

relationship between architecture and nature in western culture

relationship between art and engineering, examples of kinetic sculptures etc.

STAGE 3 - DOCUMENTATION (2 days)During the stage 3 the students will release their structures on the beach, allowing them to spontaneously stroll along the coast. The participants will walk along their structures documenting it through photos, videos, talking to passers by but above all drawing maps of the process, which will then be transferred onto the computer and put together in in one piece.The resulting virtual map interlaced with photos and videos will be then presented as a final outcome of the workshop and shared online in the form of video or website. The importance is for the participants to be able to share their workshop experience after returning back home.