Jesse Reiser: "Projection & Reception"

At best, technology can deliver conclusive solutions to trivial problems of culture, while culture in its most robust forms resists final capture by technology. Technique is thus a way of combating technological inertia: it forms the essence of style. The mark of a mature project in architecture is characterized by the systematic flouting of its founding principles. Youthful reliance on the rigor of the exact disciplines (i.e. mathematics, engineering, computation) matures into the ability to craft precise forms of fiction; it is what separates an architect’s use of geometry from that of a mathematician, or the architect’s use of forces from that of the engineer. Maturity thus is a process of becoming undisciplined.

This lecture explores the groundbreaking exo-skeleton O-14 tower in Dubai by New York-based practice, Reiser + Umemoto . Jesse Reiser will give an account of the design’s realization and present a manifesto of sorts, as he delves into the complex interrelationships this architectural model weaves between technology, expression and politics in the context of the ‘nowhere place’ of the global city. The lecture will also examine the firms two ongoing projects in Taiwan: the Taipei Pop Music Center and the Kaohsiung Port Terminal as well as the recent University of Applied Arts Vienna competition proposal.

Reiser + Umemoto, an internationally recognized architectural firm, has built projects at a wide range of scales: from furniture design, to residential and commercial structures, up to the scale of landscape design and infrastructure.  Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto have practiced in New York City as Reiser + Umemoto since 1986, and their work has been widely published and exhibited for over 20 years.  Reiser + Umemoto carries tremendous momentum forward in 2013 with the completion of design for the Kaohsiung Port Terminal, and the groundbreaking of the Taipei Pop Music Center, both recent international competitions.  Also recently in 2010, Reiser + Umemoto celebrated the completion of the O-14 office tower in Dubai, which has received numerous international honors.

Extra: Bar before and after lecture

IMPORTANT: Please RVSP here  (limited number of seats)

Organized by  Stockholm Association of Architects through Ulrika Karlsson, Daniel Norell and Frida Rosenberg, in collaboration with KTH Arkitekturskolan.