A House A Palace

The exhibition at Architektur Galerie Berlin addresses the relation of form and performance in ways that are at odds with the bureaucratic understanding of sustainability.

When Le Corbusier published the book “Une Maison – Un Palais” – which is per se a methodological manifesto deeply rooted in the academic tradition – he was addressing the belief in that all the complexities of institutional buildings were contained in the most elemental shelter or hut. More interestingly, he suggests that Architecture appears only when an architect is able to link the most simple pavilion or hut with a palace.

A House, A Palace. Exhibition view at Architektur Galerie Berlin, 2016

Dualisms: A House, A Palace is the title of a research and design studio taught in the Fall of 2015 and Spring of 2016 and which marked the beginning of Harvard GSD’s new Superstudio program. Taught by Iñaki Ábalos, the studio addressed the relation of form and performance in ways that are at odds with the bureaucratic understanding of sustainability as well as of the formal mimetic of all the clichés in use. Instead, they looked for a new idea of beauty based on this dual approach to form and performance that we familiarly call our nice Monsters.

A House, A Palace. Exhibition view at Architektur Galerie Berlin, 2016

“A House, A Palace” features the work developed by Caio Barboza, Sofia Blanco Santos, Erin Cuevas, Tamotsu Ito and Jerónimo van Schendel. The success of the studio has been predicated on the relentless understanding through research and prototyping of climate, material culture, and program. The projects demonstrated in this collection of student work exemplify the many dualisms each established within their own context as well as they further advance the discourse on thermodynamics.

A House, A Palace. Exhibition view at Architektur Galerie Berlin, 2016
A House, A Palace. Exhibition view at Architektur Galerie Berlin, 2016
A House, A Palace. Exhibition view at Architektur Galerie Berlin, 2016
A House, A Palace. Exhibition view at Architektur Galerie Berlin, 2016


until 17 December 2016
A House, A Palace
Curated by: Caio Barboza, Sofia Blanco Santos, Jerónimo van Schendel Erice
Instructor: Iñaki Ábalos
Architektur Galerie Berlin
Karl-Marx-Allee 96, Berlin