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CROSSING: Dialogues for Emergency Architecture
Texts PRODUCTORA

1. Introduction Architecture Firm:

PRODUCTORA is a Mexico City–based office founded in 2006. Its founding members are Abel Perles (1972, Argentina), Carlos Bedoya (1973, Mexico), Victor Jaime (1978, Mexico), and Wonne Ickx (1974, Belgium). Each member’s educational, cultural and professional background contributes to the studio’s diverse approach to projects. Rather than adhere to an established development strategy, PRODUCTORA develops ideas through intuitive explorations and experimentation. Hence the name PRODUCTORA, which in Spanish means “producer” or “production company” and indicates continuous production as a testing method.
The office is currently working on projects in Mexico and abroad (Asia, South America) ranging from single-family dwellings to office and public buildings. PRODUCTORA’s work has been published nationally and internationally and is consistently involved in national and international competitions. PRODUCTORA was the winner of the Young Architect’s Forum organized by the Architectural League in New York (2007) and its work was presented at the second Architectural Biennale Beijing (2006), the 44 Young Architect’s exhibition in Barcelona, Spain (2007) and the Venice Biennale in Italy (2008). PRODUCTORA was selected by Herzog & de Meuron as one of the architectural studios to build a villa for the Ordos100 Project in Inner Mongolia, China and won the International Competition for the CAF Headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela in collaboration with Lucio Muniain (2008).

2. Introduction on Design:

When we began to work on our project for ‘Crossing: Dialogues for Emergency Architecture’ we focused just as much on the idea of dialogues – as a platform for thought and exchange of ideas - as on the idea of emergency architecture – as the construction of the real physical object.  Based on an earlier investigation we did for our project for the Tsunami Memorial Site (Open Competition, Oslo, 2006) we defined “disaster” as a cultural construction as opposed to what in the context of unadulterated nature would be considered “change.” In the first part our text we discuss the way in which disaster is always directly connected to a cultural notion of space and time. When thinking about the design of a physical emergency unit, we tried to relate the ideas found in Gestalt psychology and the Theory of Perception with the way in which we make, perceive and build space. This investigation is expressed in the second part of the text where we discuss the perception and appropriation of space through interaction and participation.  Here again, just as in the Tsunami Memorial Site project, we try to offer not just an answer to the urgent needs of a disaster situation, but a broader perspective and reflection on built space and how architecture defines and delimits a space on earth.

On nature, culture and disaster:

According to Aristotle nature is the beginning and the cause of movement, of the inherent evolution and constant change of things. When we observe nature throughout time, we perceive how fragile and blurry the limits are between its different elements: life and death, solid and air, sea and land all seem to coexist in an ever-evolving landscape. The history of nature is the tale of invisible metamorphoses and spectacular incidents in a scenography without curtains: on an almost microscopic or extremely slow level - the accumulations of corals, the evolution of animal species or the movement of tectonic plates - or by specific eruptions such as with earthquakes, fires, floods, droughts, plagues, hurricanes; nature evolves without conscience. It is there.
As a deeply human characteristic incited by the idea of reason, the function of culture is to give a meaning to the natural order. One of the most fundamental acts of civilized man is the conquest of space (territory): to draw a rectangle in the sand in order to delimit what’s yours. The inside is defined as cultivated space, while the outside is nature. This instinctive need to make an enclosed space, a delimitation or boundary embodies the quest for a space of comfort and protection against the natural elements. The superimposition of culture onto nature has always represented the ferocious conquest of the other; the result which is an unstable equilibrium of opposites. Geography questions nature, frames the known world, and classifies it by landscapes and territories: the layout of the mapa mundi. By introducing culture into the environment, we force the context into the logic of historical space and time, into the frameworks of nostalgia and ideology.
Nature has no memory; it doesn’t recognize guilt. It is set outside any historical order. Within the pure context of nature “disaster” does not exist: it is called change. The disaster is a cultural denotation of the natural phenomenon of abrupt change. Without the superposition of human structures (culture) on nature, disasters - as such – do not exist. In the aftermath of a natural disaster the balance between nature and culture is radically interrupted. It is in these moments that man stands still and rethinks his situation. It reminds him of the ancient fight against savage nature, or – in somewhat more contemporary terms - of his fragile equilibrium with the surrounding ecological system.  Disaster thus reactivates our consciousness about nature.

Gestalt theory and the appropriation of space:
The psychological concept of Gestalt developed by German psychologists in the 1920s observes how the human brain tends to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes or totalities. In the 1930s and 40s Gestalt psychologists focused on visual perception, most notably Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka who founded the so-called Gestalt approaches of forming perception. Their aim was to investigate the global and holistic processes involved in perceiving structures in the environment. The theory refers to the form-making capability of our senses, particularly the capacity for visually recognizing figures and whole forms out of a collection of simple lines and curves. What may be Gestalt psychology's most enduring influence on art and design came out of a paper by Max Wertheimer titled "Theory of Form," published in 1923. Nicknamed "the dot essay" because it was illustrated with abstract patterns of dots and lines, Wertheimer concluded that certain gestalts are enhanced by our innate tendencies to constellate, or to see as "belonging together" elements that look alike, are close together, or have structural economy. The research into this subject crystallized into the Gestalt laws of perceptual organization which include the ‘law of proximity’, the ‘law of similarity’, the ‘law of Prägnanz (or figure-ground)’, the ‘law of symmetry’ and the ‘law of closure’. This last law seemed like an interesting departure point for thinking about our emergency architecture unit because it posits that we perceptually close up or define objects that are not, in fact, complete, in other words, our mind fills in gaps of information.
Based on this principle, in our proposal for ‘Crossing: Dialogues for Emergency Architecture,’ we suggest building only a minimal number of real walls, thus generating a maximum amount of space that can be experienced and appropriated. We suggest the possibility of delimiting the space by only building its four corner columns. By framing a space – either completely or partially - man can define and delimit his own territory. The basic structure offers constructive solidity, both physically and metaphysically: strong corners, a definition of a place, a horizon above you, openings and solid foundations. Based on this grid, occupants can apply their own creativity to start shaping and expanding their new home. We consider the participation of the inhabitants in the development of their new home as a key element for the successful appropriation of the housing units. Instead of handing over a completely finished emergency dwelling, this housing unit requires immediate intervention and invention by the new owners instilling them with a stronger sense of belonging and ownership. In different regions and situations the basic structure can be built with site-specific construction systems: brick, cement blocks, concrete or even wood, all depending on which materials are available in a specific place at a specific time. The aggregated enclosures, roofs, doors, windows, interior division walls, etc. will be applied by the new users of the module. Depending on the region and what material they have at hand these construction systems can be temporary materials such as earth walls, wooden pallets, plastic sheets, palm leaves, recycled glass parts, etc. or - in a later stage - more permanent material such as wood, brick, glass, metal etc.
We hope that our proposal will lead to a different way of thinking about emergency architecture; not just as a temporary housing solution but as a true starting place for a new future. We believe that this new point of departure can only be successful if it emerges out of the joint efforts between an institution that can provide a basic and intelligent framework and the survivors who act as participants in the creation of their new homes, implementing their own local traditions, collective hopes and personal desires.