Architecture Ad Lib: A Field Guide

Abstract

The role of the architect has increasingly been to draw a project before its conception and coordinate for all the eventualities of construction. But as we know, the practice if architecture is at the whim of a whole host of contingencies. Whether it be climate change, economic crisis, natural disasters, changes in the global supply chain or simply just an erratic client. This way of thinking inherently positions the architect in the role of diligent planner, charged with an impossible task.

If there’s one thing an architect can count on, it’s that nothing goes according to plan.

The noble plan put forward by the architect, is thus a necessarily living process that must adjust to the obstacles we find in our path, a fact we often choose to ignore. We instead find ourselves defaulting to an exploitive resource culture in order to wiggle, shake, squeeze, hammer, or slam our plans to fit, all in the pursuit of perpetuating the myth of ‘according to plan’. This thesis demands an alternative mode of working to address the very crises that make our practice vulnerable. What kind of architecture emerges when we embrace uncertainty, rather than resist it?

Explored here is a series of alternatives to the ‘ideal’ architectural story that results in a typical plywood shed. Each project responds to a new story, where something has gone gravely awry. Rather than resist these constraints, each project welcomes the opportunities found in leveraging their respective obstacles. These fables result in important morals which in turn lend a set of strategies. Together, they provide a non-procedural toolset that help leverage the trials and tribulations of practicing in an increasingly unpredictable world. This is Architecture Ad Lib, a field guide to those very moments of architectural uncertainty.