Eurohigh
Opening the Tower
EuroHigh as a theme was set up in order to bring forward the differences between the various cultures of the high-rise. It was organized as a semester-long master level design studio offered within the program of The Why Factory. One of its objectives was to introduce and utilize within the studio quick and creative ways of using LEGO bricks as a new modelling material. For that purpose 18 studio participants were granted 1 million LEGO bricks to their disposal during the design process. The studio is aided and enriched by the expertise of KRADS, a young architecture firm based in Denmark and Iceland, who have set up various workshops based on exploring fundamental architectural principles through LEGO bricks.
The LEGO brick as basis for this exercise had clear advantages. – It framed the architectural problem, enabling an intensified focus on the relationship between mass, as the generic program, and void, as the representation of public space within the building. Also, the pixelated nature of LEGO bricks immediately imposed the importance of the small grain within a large structure.
The ambition of this experiment in a broader sense focuses not only on the European skyscraper and the use of the LEGO brick as a design method but on the power of the pixel as such. In this exercise as well as in the forthcoming ones The Why Factory would like to explore how much power the individual pixel might have in configuring a collective entity. Research is planned to be concluded in form of a publication and a travelling exhibition further in 2012.
Tutors
Prof. Winy Maas, Alexander Sverdlov, Ania Molenda
Students
Jaap de Jong, Marina Ferrando, Alise Jekabsone, Jayson Johnstone,Valerie Krautzer, Qian LAN, Bill Lee, Albert Mark, Ana Melgarejo, Vincent Paar, Marcus Parviainen, Alex Parvu, Pedro Pitarch, Mihaela Radescu, Marie-Lahya Simon, Leo Stuckardt, Calvin Tanikaya, Cyrus Wong
Guest Critics
Karin Laglas, Agnes Wijers, Kristján Eggertsson, Kristján Örn Kjartansson, Mads Bay Møller, Sander Mulders
Collaborators
KRADS, Lego, Arup