Collective Processes - Image 5 of 6 — Collective Processes, Counterpractices in European Architecture

Published on December 07, 2021

Although the hierarchically organized office, with its claim to individual authorship, still dominates the architectural landscape, horizontally organized collectives with alternative approaches to planning and thinking about architecture are increasingly emerging.

In this insightful survey of renowned European collectives in architecture, Donat-Cattin provides an introduction and overview of the range of their working methods, forms of organization, goals, and projects. A roundtable discussion offered the participating collectives an opportunity to discuss their particular experiences and to debate larger questions of changing the architectural process and the approach to the discipline itself.

The collectives represented are: A-A Collective, (ab)Normal, Assemble, baukuh, CNCRT, Colectivo Warehouse, Collectif Etc, constructLab, false mirror office, Fosbury Architecture, la–clique, Lacol, n’UNDO, orizzontale, raumlabor, X=(T=E=N), and Zuloark.

Preface

QUESTIONING AUTHORIALITY: THE POSSIBILITY OF CHANGE
- On the Collective and Other Kinds of Horizontal Organizations
- Europe: a Socioideological Condition
- The Gap Between Academia and Practice
- New Ways of Working and Technological Possibilities
- A New Type of Architectural Project: The Self-Initiated One

COLLECTIVE PROCESSES: COUNTERPRACTICES IN EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE
- How Do We Practice and Why Do We Practice? A Collective Discussion with the Actors
- Proposing Alternative Ways of Practicing Architecture in the 2000s: Discussions with the Pioneers
1. baukuh: Architecture as a Collective Operation
2. raumlabor: Engaging the Public Eye
3. zuloark: A Liquid Professional Framework

- Widening Up the Spectrum of Architecture in the 2010s: Seven Questions to Fourteen Contemporary Collectives
1. BEGINNINGS How To Get Together and Why
2. STATEMENTS Founding Acts
3. REFERENCES Question of Identity
4. WORKING SPACE Space of Interaction
5. ORGANIZATION Horizontality
6. DEVELOPMENT Fluidity and the Necessity to Morph
7. ARCHITECTURE Action for Reaction, Proposing an Alternative

- Open Conclusion/s: Rethinking Architecture

INDEX OF PRACTICES: INTRODUCING THE ACTORS
- (ab)Normal
- A-A Collective
- Assemble
- CNCRT
- Colectivo Warehouse
- Collectif Etc
- constructLab
- false mirror office
- Fosbury Architecture
- la–clique
- Lacol
- n’UNDO
- orizzontale
- X=(T=E=N)