An incomplete structure is an open, free, undetermined space and subject to any events and activities. Maybe that is why all the buildings are beautiful when under construction: because at this stage there is still hope they will result in some architecture, there is still room to imagine the product of that construction as something not as predictable and mediocre as that of neighboring buildings already completed.

There is an architectural pattern in Belo Horizonte, in Petropolis, in Manaus and other hilly Brazilian cities which is little explored, and it is precisely in the pattern of voids that supports apartments and offices in the most mountainous of their districts. It’s a pattern reminiscent of buildings under construction; scaffoldings which makes incomplete a complete architecture, which support finished buildings with another architecture under construction.

The qualities of this pattern – which then could be called semi-open architecture – can be extended to other areas of these cities. Instead of denying it, the openness of this pattern should be assumed so that we could transfer it to other buildings, to other homes, to other monuments. This can be a form of praise of the typical pattern of these cities, a celebration of what they really have to document, a proof that a city with an air of incompletion must take advantage of this condition.

And then, openness would spread to the four corners of the world, taking that freedom of uses to the frozen buildings, leveraging new activities in public spaces, extending the beauty of the pattern as if it were a tumor capable of revitalizing existing constructions. A city plagued by this pattern might be a city under construction forever, forever incomplete, forever open, forever process – and never product.

Domus
Building Design 1
Arquitectura Viva
Revista Época
The Guardian
The Independent
Riba Journal
Financial Times
ArchDaily
The Londonist
Wallpaper
BBC
Building Design 2
Frame Magazine
KultureFlash
Jornal Estado de Minas
AU

There are also two videos on YouTube: one with The Factory’s Round 2 performed at the V&A, and another with the construction time lapse of Spiral Booths:

“Unseen is [the Lab Collective] response to Vazio S/A’s unique architectural structure Spiral Booths.  Unseen explores concealed relationships set around the peak and abyss of a spiral staircase, charting the emotional and psychological fluctuations that occur between two people.  As the spectators are guided through this theatrical experience, they will witness the force that these destroyed relationships have wrought within the space.

“Using a haunting soundscape and uninhibited interaction, we invite you to take part in this consuming performance, questioning how far we can ever comprehend the relationships of others, even when we invade their intimacy.

Directed by: Bethany Pitts
Produced by: The Lab Theatre Collective
Performed by: TBA”

Source: The Lab Theatre Collective website, www.thelabcollective.co.uk

“On 25th, 26th and 27th of June The Factory presents 6 short new plays by 6 writers specially written for this most venerable, this most English, this most unsuspecting of institutions.

“Please do come and be part of the uncontrollable. The Porter Gallery at The Victoria and Albert Museum.
Entrance is Free.

Friday 25.6.10 – 1900 & 2030
Saturday 26.6.10 – 1300 & 1500
Sunday 27.7.10 – 1300 & 1500″

Source: text from The Factory’s invitation

“This book collects various actions and proposals of intervention in the urban space brought by the Urbanacion organization along with La Casa Encendida, developed between 2007 and 2009. It also includes the projects of urban intervention and appropriation carried out in different More…parts of the world by raumlabor, Recetas Urbanas/Santiago Cirujeda, Vazio S/A, aaa (atelier d’architecture autogeree), Einfach/Mehrfach (Viena), Green Guerrillas, Cascoland, Bruit du frigo and [R]activa, with the theoretical texts by Merijn Oudenampsen, stre Szymczak, Klaus Obermeyer, Stany Cambot and Gil Doron; the result of the workshops by Carlos Teixeira, Lara Almarcegui, raumlabor, Sterni and Pied la Biche, as well as the winning and finalist projects of the urbanaccion2 contest. This publication is a part of the collection of books on urban reflection: Housing and Domestic Space in the XXI Century, Think Madrid.”

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Designers, politicians, communities, businesses, participants and visitors are all agents and stakeholders in a massive swarm of interests and possibilities that will ultimately shape the cities and lives in Brazil’s near future.

Curated by London-based architect Ricardo de Ostos, the exhibition explores how unique associations between mainstream and underground forces can open new fields for innovative buildings and city planning. The exhibition itself is an assemblage of diverse urban elements, including already built and yet to be built projects, from individual buildings to larger city scale projects. Aiming for fresh ideas, it displays projects that explore trans-disciplinary and spontaneous networks between the social, economic and cultural. Maverick cooperation and urban experiments in and for the city are uncertain, and at times unpredictable, but fundamental to encourage social progress.

‘Swarming Futures’ brings together a cross-section of current, cutting-edge Brazilian architectural proposals. Selected projects include large infrastructural interventions, such as the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Park, designed by BCMF, as well as local and sensitive proposals by São Paulo practice MMBB.The inventive Brazilian-French architects Triptyque display their well-known ecological projects alongside new and exciting experiments. Strengthening the speculative vein of the exhibition theme, Vazio S/A present their hyper-critical project ‘The Ultimate Skyscraper’ which discusses the impact of large scale commercial developments, while additional features investigate innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration in the contemporary scene of Brazilian architecture.