S(uper-small)ESAM in Belarus is coming next year!

Hi everybody:) Me is back! (I mean, I came back:))

Name of the project: Architecture of Degradation Against Degradation of Architecture (Project ADDA)

Place: Minsk, Belarus - Kossovo, Belarus

Time: April 2006

Introduction For The last few decades (or even longer) Big Architecture has been quoting itself, getting inspired by itself, feeding by itself. It may be telling you stories, may be full of allusions and collisions, it may be ecological, technological and incredibly plastic. But it can no longer touch your heart, so it’s not real art anymore.

It is Degradation of Architecture.

But even in a modern city there is a place for a beauty that is natural and spontaneous. Many people are more impressed by buildings, which have been abandoned by human and now are being swallowed by time, factories that were built without any consideration of aesthetics, than by commercially successful masterpieces of modern architecture.

Degradation, chaotic destruction makes visible strains in the construction of the building, which were hidden by the cover of communications, just like a talented sculptor makes visible a form that was hidden in a piece of marble.

This is the Architecture of Degradation.

Can we oppose architecture of degradation to degradation of architecture? This is the question I want to rise on the workshop of ADDA.

Number of participants: up to 30

Foreigners among them: 60%

Number of tutors: 5 persons

I propose to have minimal requirements for the sponsor’s support, especially on the room and special equipment, and that’s why the involvement of Belarusian participants would increase enormously. For example, one of the requirements for a Belarusian would be providing two foreign participants with the accommodation and helping them with adaptation to Belarusian way of life.

Intended result: The participants would arrange temporary exhibitions in certain spots (locuses) that have the spontaneous beauty of degradation. The exhibitions would contain projects of architectural intervention on these locuses. This virtual intervention must provide the inclusion of locuses into the cultural space of the city or town (a simplified example: one may turn an abandoned train into a picture gallery, a bar, a shower room and a reception of empty bottles for successive acquaintance of the homeless with the beauty). These exhibitions, covered by required advertisement, would let us:

make the success of the action noticeable
show the beauty of the locuses to the interested citizens
turn the attention of the government and the architectural community to the possibility of reconstruction of industrial buildings and territories without destruction of their specific beauty.

Attention! ADDA action doesn’t propose to build anything in 1:1 scale, only to make a research, project and present projects.

Here the main intended stages of an action are mentioned:

Stage one – Introduction Place: Minsk Length: 3-4 days Content: Excursions, lections, discussions and other means of informational and emotional rise. Participants’ job: get some understanding of the problem; get to know each other and the tutors; have a look at the locuses, which are proposed for the workshops.

Stage two – Emotional immersion Place: Kossovo. Length: 2-3 days. Content: not identified. Participants’ job: see the last of the proposed locuses, define the structure of the workshops and principles of their work.

Stage three – Projecting Place: Minsk. Length: 6-7 days. Content: workshops. Participants’ job: work out and prepare for the presentation of the projects of architectural intervention, which allow inclusion of decaying architectural surroundings into the cultural space of the city. Each workshop works over one locus.

Presentation of the results: Presentation of the results of the workshops (which would be images, models, projections) would take place in the locuses directly, with the attraction of all the interested public and the representatives of the architectural community.

Some of the possible locuses: -Concrete channel in Minsk water-green semicircle. Abandoned train -Ventilation chamber of the 15-th building of BNTU -DOT in front of the building of Belarusian State Project Institute -Palace in Kossovo

Attention for all the foreign participants! Although I hope to get the official support of ADDA, it still remains an semi-informal action. In Belarus it means a not-so-high level of comfort, particularly – the use of public transport, specific toilets (in the country) etc.

Organisers: Concept - Gosha Zaborski NC - Ura Hetman Local organisation - Zmitser Savel'ev and BASA

Full presrentation is in process. Waiting for your interest & comments!