This article presents a mode of orientation in the variety of objects and the tumult of definitions of the architecture thesis. A doctoral colloquium on the return of ornament in contemporary practices, in May 2013 at the University of Montreal, confirmed, if confirmation were needed, that the same questioning could give rise to a surprising heterogeneity of epistemological aims 1. A comparison of twelve approaches from major North American, European, and South American schools, made it possible to outline and test a first version of a mode of categorization of theses. In September 2013, this model was put to the test of the sixty or so texts selected for the second « Rencontres doctorales en architecture » at the École nationale supérieure de Paris-Belleville. This « compass of theses and theoretical aims » must however be understood as a hypothesis subject to epistemological debate.

REFERENCE:

Jean-Pierre Chupin, « Dans l’univers des thèses, un compas théorique », Les Cahiers de la recherche architecturale et urbaine [En ligne], 30/31 | 2014, mis en ligne le 14 septembre 2017, consulté le 16 octobre 2021.
URL : http://journals.openedition.org/crau/370 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/crau.370

Reimagining Waiting for the Bus is an open access book edited by Carmela Cucuzzella, Jean-Pierre Chupin, Emmanuel Rondia and Sherif Goubran published by Potential Architecture Books (Montreal, 2021).

This creative guide, the result of an international competition, is a synthesis of the best ideas in the form of a free resource aimed at stimulating citizen discussion and community group engagement around the improvement of small urban environments connected to bus stops.

This richly illustrated, educational guide presents ideas that encourage appreciation of urban spaces by emphasizing the importance of nature, art and design. Reimagining Waiting for the Bus invites citizens to think about creative approaches, neighborhood by neighborhood, bus stop by bus stop, that would energize these public spaces in an interactive, poetic, critical and meaningful way: shifting the immediate environment of bus stops from a merely functional spatiality to a multi-purpose spatiality.

This is not about redesigning the bus shelter, but about making waiting for the bus more pleasant, in various ways, encouraging citizens to use the bus instead of their car, all year round, including during hot summer days and long periods of freezing winter.

The ideas extracted from projects from many countries are not presented as solutions but as illustrated principles gathered in 5 vectors going from culture to social dimensions, from ecological concerns to technological innovations and, in general, to everything that can increase the feeling of well-being.

The result of a research and creation process, this guide aims to encourage citizens to take hold of these often neglected spaces in which waiting should be given all the attention necessary to enhance public transport.

REFERENCE:

Cucuzzella, C., Chupin J.-P., Rondia, E., Goubran, S., (2021), Reimagining Waiting for the Bus, Montréal, Potential Architecture Books, 139 pages. ISBN 9781988962054

REFERENCE:

Catros, Aurélien and Leblanc, Maxime, “When Boston Isn’t Boston: Useful Lies of Reconstructive Game Models”, Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review (TDSR), VOLUME XXXII, # II, 2021, 23-37.

This is Not a Nest: Transcultural Metaphors and the Paradoxical Politics of International Competitions

Jean-Pierre Chupin, Université de Montréal

Published in:

Footprint, Delft Architectural Theory Journal, issue #26, Vol 14, n1, Spring 2020. Pages: 63-82

Although the architecture competition has been analysed through a number of rhetorical lenses, the recurring production of transcultural metaphors, particularly in international competitions, remains to be addressed as a genuine disciplinary phenomenon. The hypothesis of competitions as contact zones is particularly appropriate for the study of international events, in which competitors forge broad analogical figures to bridge cultural differences. Recent studies in the cognitive understanding of analogical matrices have considerably reinforced the theories on metaphors. Our analytical grid characterises analogical matrices to identify levels of symbolic operations through the differentiation of formal, structural and conceptual analogies. We first dig into a sample of competition project nicknames (Crystal, Bird’s Nest, DNA, Cloud, Lace, Stealth, etc.) to confirm that these tropes have a paradoxical status at the intersection of architects’ intents and public expectations. We then summarise an in-depth hermeneutical discourse analysis of forty North American international competitions. This indicates a fourfold series of expectations to which competitors hope to provide answers in an international ‘conflict of interpretations’. Adhering to the theory of speech acts, we suggest that performative metaphors in competitions appear less as indicators of designers’ intentions than as products of the broader context surrounding competitions themselves. We conclude with a proposed grid indexing four types of contact zones in which metaphorical relationships are actively created and not just repeated.

Keywords: International Competitions, Analogies, Metaphors, Analogical Matrices, Discourse Analysis, Speech Acts