Project Agenda
There is a common notion of "paper" and "real" architecture. Mentioning program in the architectural discourse or talking about "event spaces" is often put in the first group, while the latter one often has a solely relationship to form; but form can not exist without program, so there is no form...
I refuse to accept that programmatic methodology can only survive on paper (and sometimes it is being realized, like in Parc de la Villette - a landscape designed for a joy of architects only). There is no space without people, and there is no physical notion of the space without the movement of the body through space, no movement without program... And so we go on in circles...
My point is: by refusing to deal with the idea of programmatic architecture only on a level of conversation and theory I also do not accept that form is also understood to be "secondary" in this methodology.
In general: there HAS to be MORE then just empty form, left to be filled with whatever / wherever / whenever. At the same time, the form is not an "accident", it is not a "space of negotiation", an "unintended space", "space of uncertainty" etc. The form has to be strictly defined by the architect - and the architect is not only form maker, but also the creator of atmospheres, joys, phobias, memories, expectations.
Therefore I believe that the position of true iconicity through program / event can only be legitimated if the form is absolutely supporting the concept and if the notion of the form is at least as strong as the argument of the concept itself.
SITE
After the first post-war reconstruction work by the Europeans and Americans, Sarajevo is slowly falling in its own apathy. The city deals with topographic difficulties (stretched long valley imbedded in a chain of Bosnian mountains), the post-economic crisis is hitting hard, since the city has hardly recovered from the economic war consequences and last but not least: a lack of identity (due to the demographical shifts but also because of the lack of recognition as capitol of the country).
Two major events mark the collective conscious of the city: First is the 1984 Winter Olympics - maintained as collective memory of "better times". The second one is a re-occurring one: Sarajevo Film Festival, held every year in 2 weeks of august.
EVENT
I am thinking about an architecture, activated in the 2 weeks of the year, and then de-actived, transformed into a different space. A space which will spend half of a year being a memory and the other half being an expectation of the event. (last week was the festival, two weeks ago was the festival, 1 month ago was the festival.... the festival will be in a month, the festival will be in 2 weeks, the festival which will start in a week, the festival starts tomorrow). A space as object of desire, the desire activated by a regular (and temporary) event.
PLAN
Here are some sketches I have been making today; My intention is to develop a plan which can be read differently by looking at it in 2 different scales (it should inform as well when perceived on a scale of a city or of a building). I am attracted by the idea of fragmenting the plan over the whole city (and creating organization / relationships / structures of pieces) and at the same time by dividing the fragments themselves into smaller entities / components (just led by the ideas of porosity, more and less intensive voids / canyons channelizing the flow of the program).
I don't want to be diagrammatic though, but struggling to get away from it!
Anyway, this is the first impression of where my head and my pen are going:
Hello Denis,
I think in the section where you talk about the event, it is clear what you are trying to do and it is a nice continuation on the topic of the re-brief (absence/presence, use/dis-use/ab-use). It is interesting that the space becomes activated only for a specific event and then it stays probably partially empty. I think the sketches you did could be interesting, even if I am not clear what they are so it is difficult to talk about it. But in those sketches you are trying to organize elements, forms... and it is much better than deforming the city as you did in the other entry. Leave out Plecniks from now on and work on your proposal, and start answer questions like, if it is a building for an event then:
1. which event? The Sarajevo Film Festival? Is it the right event? Is there other events that are important and happen more often? (for instance to give you some examples: churches are planned for the event of the ceremony, in the weekend they are full and during the week almost empty; for the stadiums is similar... think at an even that is not too ephemeral or temporary, or make it less temporary)
2. what is the scale? How big is it? Are there a series of space, like I can read on your sketch on page 1, bottom left? Are they all somehow related/connected (like if you imagine the fence in the re-brief that was creating a border)? Is this border/boundary an important element that can let activate or deactivate your spaces?
With this first plan, try to understand and answer 1 or 2 questions: like which event and which scale and organization can be appropriate. Use the terminology you where using in your re-brief. You are actually doing it on your text but not much on your drawings yet.
Again, leave out the plan-in progress entry, and I suggest you to go back to your initial sketches and try to explain with one drawing your text. I think it is interesting and you are in the right directions, narrow it down and have only 1 or 2 questions that you try to visualized.