The BIArch Open Lectures part of the Institute’s public program, which complements the MBIArch Master’s degree program. Stay tuned for more information on our Spring 2010 agenda.

In the meantime, enjoy the videos:

BIArch Open Lectures: Smiljan Radic “Un Ruido Naranjo” from BIArch on Vimeo.

BIArch Open Lectures: Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, “Architectural Behaviorology” from BIArch on Vimeo.

Smiljan Radic, “one of the most interesting architects working today”, as Miquel Adrià of Arquine magazine metioned in his introduction, was invited to deliver the Barcelona Institute of Architecture’s first Open Lecture. The talk, entitled “Un Ruido Naranjo” (An Orange Tree Noise), not only met the high expectations that were set on it, but pleasantly surprised those present with a beautiful short film prepared by Radic specially for the occasion. The video is an extremely intimate and unique look at Radic’s architecture, and a refreshing take on presenting a body of work. We are happy and honored to be sharing the film along with the full-length video of Radic’s lecture on the Media section of our webpage. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Links to the videos:

Introduction by Miquel Adrià
Smiljan Radic, “Un Ruido Naranjo”

In a few minutes the room was abuzz with people, the air heavy with expectation. The event began with an introduction by Joan Roig, Vice President of BIArch’s Board of Directors, and Jorge García de la Cámara, the Institute’s Academic Director. They spoke of the BIArch’s intention to create an open architecture forum of shared reflection and public debate. They explained how BIArch’s global outlook, supported by the Institute’s Open Lecture series, is built around architectural highlights from the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Miquel Adrià, a Catalan émigré who has lived in Mexico for the past fifteen years, and founder and editor-in-chief of Arquine magazine, acted as a bridge between the audience and Radic, who is also familiar with the concept of displacement (A Chilean architect with a rich Croatian heritage) and likes to think of being in permanent movement. According to Adrià, “In order to understand, one must look for commonality from afar and for difference from up-close.” As a first step toward familiarity from a distance — “and Chile is far away from everywhere,” — Adrià identified Radic as part of a young generation of Chilean architects with a strong global presence. He also traced the peculiarities of Radic’s work and persona (his Venetian training, his particular aesthetic, the diversity of his works). The audience came to understand Radic and were better prepared to grasp his distinctness.

Soft-spoken, Radic recounted the circumstances leading to the conference, and shared some of his own reflections of the relationship between Spain and Chile; As a student he experienced the “clear-cut” Spanish architecture of the 1990s, something he considered distinct from the “diffuse” (at times precarious) realities and sensibilities of his own context.

The lecture grew more intimate. Radic spoke sparingly, suggesting an eagerness to show his work, which took the form of a video prepared especially for the occasion. Fascinating footage flashed on the screen, bringing to mind photos on an old slide projector: a random string of intimate and slightly bizarre scenes.

The video showed examples of Radic’s architecture interspersed with an array of what he called “soft data” —stories, anecdotes, bits of biography and chance— which are attached to his projects, a reflection of the embedded emotional and narrative elements that contrast the “hard” data of program and calculation that dominate traditional architectural presentation techniques. The soft data consisted of a series of figures: nomads, dust-laden Ford trucks crossing deserts, gypsies on ships, shacks on remote islands, monoliths, whispers, and elephants in circus tents. The presentation was both challenging and endearing. It perfectly transmitted Radic’s conviction of “projecting in the rough,” thoughtfully saturating things to draw out their essence.

The lecture was at times elusive, a bit intimidating in its scope of references and intricacies, but obviously heartfelt. Audience questions focused on the qualities of architecture as craft, as narrative, as a retraction, as an embrace with landscape. Like the hoards in Radic’s stories, we came together as a group, “to listen, together.” Afterwards we each went our own way, leaving with a sliver of shared atmosphere of the lecture (that orange noise), and the room was silent again.

Photo by Pedro Hernández Martínez

Smiljan Radic is a remarkable figure in contemporary architecture. His particular vision rings through every single one of his projects, be it a delicate, fleeting structure, a house with sober detailing, or an ambitious, urban-scale public commission. Radic’s work is difficult to pin down, and at times he might be considered something of an outsider, particularly when compared to many of his high-profile colleagues — a fact we consider by all means fortunate. It is not by chance, then, that BIArch has invited Smiljan Radic to inaugurate the Institute’s Open Lectures series, this coming Tuesday, October 6th, in the auditorium of La Pedrera.

After obtaining his degree in Architecture from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 1989 and furthering his training in Venice and Greece, Smiljan Radic went on to win Chile’s Colegio de Arquitectos award for most promising architect under 35 in 2001. Architectural Record included Radic as part of its “Design Vanguard” in 2008, and shortly thereafter the American Institute of Architects named him Honorary Fellow.

Radic’s work challenges the conventional notion of design practice without straying from the act of making architecture. Together with sculptress Marcela Correa, Radic has put together an oeuvre that is complex yet visceral and incredibly engaging; an architecture bordering on the atemporal.

Published extensively in journals such as 2G (which dedicated a monograph to his work), A+U, Arq, Casabella, Detail, Lotus, and Quaderns; Smiljan Radic has also been Visiting Professor at the University of Texas and recently took part in the “Crossing Now” exhibition at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.

He will be introduced by Miquel Adrià, founder and editor-in-chief of Arquine, an international journal of architecture published in Mexico City, where Adrià is also director of the master’s program at the Centro Metropolitano de Arquitectura Sustentable (Metropolitan Center for Sustainable Architecture).

The conference, titled “Un ruido naranjo” (An Orange Noise) is scheduled for 8 pm, and will be held in the auditorium of La Pedrera (Passeig de Gràcia, 92). The conference wil be delivered in Spanish. For more information on Radic’s conference and the BIArch’s Open Lecture series, please contact us at info@biarch.eu.