bioreboot: the architecture of R&Sie(n)

virtual model: hypnochamber is an interior space, a zone of immersion in which to take part in a prerecorded hypnosis session that helps the visitor escape from the alienation of social control and experience the new condition of citizenship. (…)

authors: giovanni corbellini, alessandro rocca, françois roche publisher: princeton architectural press year: 2010 size: 224 pages, 24.0 x 16.5 cm isbn: 9781568988696

http://www.papress.com

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machines are always pretending to do more than what they were programmed to do. it’s their nature. their behavior induces in us phantasms, frustrations, and fears inspired by their ability to break free and threaten us…

content ‘bioreboot: the architecture of R&Sie(n)’ discusses the work of french architects françois roche and stephanie lavaux (they change the name of their paris-based practice every few years and are currently called R&Sie(n)) who mix real-life possibilities with science fiction scenarios, resulting in a kind of anthropomorphic psychology.

the book compiles nineteen of the firms projects that are illustrated with renderings, photographs, illustrations and plans exhibiting the research of R&Sie(n) – considering modes of interaction between individual desires and built structures, imagining a biopolitical system of electronic interconnection (where each person can formulate his own requests in realtime) functioning in integration with a pre-psychic level measured by microsensors scattered in the ether, capable of chemically recording the level of metabolites and therefore gauging the amount of collective stress.

the robot for collection of biomass, and view of the building: the concrete threat of weapons and minefields, from which humans are barred, has made the demilitarized zone (on the north korea-south korea border) a natural oasis. this absence represents the fundamental theme of the project, whose open spaces are crossed only by the biomorphic robot used for the collection and scattering of grass, leaves, branches and other items from the forest.

scenario 1) recognition of the situation on the demilitarized zone. here danger is woven with paranoia and its theatricality 2) recognition of the specificities of the urbanism of heyri, where domesticity is fully embedded in the public area and the client becomes the support for public services 3) the sense of paranoia becomes erotic, thanks to the sweet ballistic impacts in a volume extended from the mountain that absorbs the program.

a view of the demilitarized zone and position of the project

scenario 1) detection of the mosquito-borne west nile virus on the island of trinidad 2) mixing of this objective paranoia with the desire for safety 3) development of a klein bottle twist between the two contradictory elements: humans and insects

4) observation of the life and death of mosquitoes in the house trap 5) introduction of a fragile structure and materials (such as fabric netting) everywhere, in recognition of the island’s geographical position (it is naturally protected against hurricanes).

plan and sections: the clients, an art-collecting couple, wanted a home for short vacations. the flight trajectory of the mosquito provides the form for the tubular spiral that supports the building and its double skin.

6) weaving together all of the surfaces of the house – floor, façade and roof – with plastic wire and plastic shrink wrap. 7) resonance between the buzzing of the mosquitoes and the vibration of the structure

interior of the trap: the choice to use polyethylene fabric, made with the came bottles used for the homemade traps, underlines the dual connection between the theme and its local interpretation.

diagram with the positioning of the trap and interior view

virtual model: this transformable building reacts to the rhythm of the seasons in the winter it appears like a solid cutout of ice and snow, with cavities similar to those found in glaciers. in the summer it resembles the piles of stones used in these areas to mark borders. a small pool collects rainwater and supplies it to the artificial snowmaking system the phase of transformation of the water thus becomes an integral part of the building.

front cover

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