Chicago, IL: “Cut. Join. Play.” is one of 124 entries now on display in the U.S. Pavilion at the prestigious 2012 Venice Biennale. The project is a collaboration between Chicago-based MAS Studio (run by SOM alumnus Iker Gil), SOM Associate Andrew Obendorf, Andrew Clark and Julie Michiels. The project — which developed templates to create plywood street furnishings — won a 2010 competition held by Architecture for Humanity Chicago and was built that summer on a vacant lot in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Gil (IG) and Obendorf (AO) recently sat down with SOM Communications Manager Edward Keegan and Communications Coordinator Beth Murin to discuss the project, its ideas and process.
How did “Cut. Join. Play.” become part of the Biennale?
IG: There was a process to submit projects to the U.S. Pavilion based on the theme, “Spontaneous Interventions.” They were looking for projects initiated and built by designers, a bottom-up approach. We did this project in 2010 and it seemed a good fit.
Curator David Chipperfield set the tone for this Biennale as “Common Ground.” He said at the opening, “This is an exhibition of architecture. It’s not sociology or urban politics.” How does your project respond to that idea?
IG: Architecture is policy making and sociology and a lot of things. Part of the project was how to create a framework to allow people to use it the way they feel it should be used. Engage them in a way that takes their needs and interests into consideration. Otherwise, the project cannot be successful. It’s about changing perceptions. It’s about thinking about the opportunities already available in the city. You don’t always need $30 million or $400 million to create a public space.
AO: It’s a little project but it had a big effect. It’s simple enough that people can screw the bolts and paint the forms. It makes a difference by building something small with an immediate impact rather than trying to direct policy.
Was the project meant for one specific site?
AO: The original idea was that it was a prototype. It was something that could be moved or changed and the brief was inclusive of any vacant lot in Chicago that needed activation; it was for $1,000 and a limited amount of time. Something that was temporary that could be put up and taken down easily. While to this point it’s something singular, the hope is that it grows to be something else. We’re developing templates so it could be replicated. There’s hope that it grows.
How did the project initially come about?
IG: In 2010 Architecture for Humanity Chicago organized a street furniture competition. It asked how to reactivate empty lots and put street furniture there. Our approach was to do a system that is flexible—a template people can appropriate to their specific conditions. After we won the competition that’s when they told us what the site was going to be. It is important to point out that while Architecture for Humanity hosted the competition, other organizations such as Archeworks, Positive Space and Enlace were involved along the process of the project’s implementation.
Do any of these still exist?
IG: No, but it was supposed to be for three months during the summer, and they lasted for six months. It was done with plywood as it is a readily available and inexpensive material, in order to change the perception about that site. It’s not meant to be the definitive solution, but a way of testing things. That’s the interesting thing about this type of project—your investment is minimum, but your return could be huge.
So the budget was $1,000?
IG: It actually turned out to be zero, because all the plywood was donated, as well as the paint, soil and plants. We donated a couple of units we had built as prototypes. It was built by Architecture for Humanity Chicago, Archeworks, Enlace, us, the Alderman, City Year, and the community—people in the neighborhood as part of Earth Day [April 24th, 2010]. The first day we built the structure and the second day they brought the plants. After that, they used these to apply for the city to turn it into a permanent park and I believe they received $100,000 to start the process.
Your project is a big idea, but such a small physical thing. The whole idea of spontaneous interventions is that we live in a time when budgets don’t allow for much. How has this project influenced the trajectory of your own careers and your own ideas about architecture?
AO: It’s a great example of what collaboration can do. It’s about a single idea and that can be on a small-office or large-office scale. If you have the right people, something big can come from one idea. Iker tries to bring different voices to the table, to come up with a collective idea that may be bigger than what one person would do. We do that similarly here [at SOM] — just on a different scale. The genesis of the ideas and the minds around the table are very similar and what I learned from this is that those collective voices can multiply an idea to be much bigger than what you thought it could be when you were doing it.
What backgrounds do each of you bring to the table?
IG: All four of us are architects, but our parts are completely different. I work in architecture and city-scale projects, but I’m involved in research, publishing and teaching. Julie works in interiors in a corporate office. Andrew [Clark] works in graphics and industrial user experience projects. Andrew [Obendorf] is more a traditional architect, as a designer at SOM. We are four people who work in different aspects of architecture, but we all understand what everybody’s saying and we bring different things to the table.
What do you think will be the result of this year’s Biennale?
AO: Some of the spontaneous intervention projects are a similar scale to what we’re doing, some are huge. To be included in that group of people that are doing really great things all over the country using design as a voice to affect their communities is something that we are very excited about.
IG: It’s good to have the “official” recognition in an event of this caliber. It’s a great opportunity to show policymakers the effect that design can have on places. There are 124 examples of what you can do and the benefits that those projects had in the community. We need to look at old problems with fresh eyes and use design to help shape urban policies.
For more information about “Spontaneous Interventions” at the 2012 Venice Biennale, visit www.spontaneousinterventions.org. For more information about “Cut. Join. Play.” visit www.mas-studio.com/work/cut-join-play.
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