Lejla Vujicic | University of Pennsylvania (original) (raw)
Papers by Lejla Vujicic
Zbornik radova Građevinskog fakulteta, 2017
Architecture, conventionally understood, needs to be discussed both in terms of object and object... more Architecture, conventionally understood, needs to be discussed both in terms of object and objecthood since it involves constant feedback between the two. According to Bernard Cache, architecture is "the art of introducing interval in a territory in order to construct frames of probability." This particular definition leaves enough flexibility both for an object and larger environmental systems to be addressed. Production of architecture, in Cache's terms, consists of "framing, selecting and arranging" and results in object that is defined by its boundaries (framing), that has selected vistas towards outside world (selection) and finally, has arranged internal spatial configuration (arrangement). Architectural object is a large scale entity that has special status in the world in terms of its relationship to the subject. It requires constant feedback between visual system and motor behavior. This paper investigates potential challenge in human perception that is posed by certain contemporary architecture production. It argues that morphogenesis based on design processes that negotiate unpredictability and result in extended gestalt and open ended figuration tends to challenge our habitual perceptual patterns. The question takes us furthermore to what is in literature called 'gestalt switch' which results in necessity for what we name 'extended gestalt.' New architectural object is, at least in the world of experimental architecture, spatially complex hybrid which, through topological maneuvers enabled by computer technologies, has possibility of 'violating' our habitual preconceptions of perception of objecthood. It is our intention to theorize the work of gestaltists in relationship to the work of particular contemporary architecture theorists and practitioners and show that there is a need to include uncertainty as an essential element of the understanding architectural space and form of the new age which supersedes simple basic form creation characteristic of the well-known modernist architecture.
Zbornik radova Građevinskog fakulteta, 2018
Abstract This dissertation addresses the problem of historical time theorized and practiced betwe... more Abstract This dissertation addresses the problem of historical time theorized and practiced between 1953 and 1977 in Italian architecture and urbanism. It argues that many Italian architects of the post-war period addressed history in a complex manner that went beyond ...
Abstract Urban space can be transformed through theatrical events. This thesis discusses how thea... more Abstract Urban space can be transformed through theatrical events. This thesis discusses how theatrical space in the city is a space/occasion in which a particular revealing of the phenomena that constitute the everyday city might take place. It examines the ...
Ernesto Rogers was the key figure of the postwar Italian architecture. Architect, educator, write... more Ernesto Rogers was the key figure of the postwar Italian architecture. Architect, educator, writer, editor, he was a man of a great erudition and talent. As with many intellectuals of the post-Second World War Italy, he theorized history and used somewhat eclectically sources to promote his idea of continuity as a temporal model in architecture. His theory came on one hand out of particular Italian prewar intellectual tradition but was also based on a wide spectrum of resources such as Enzo Paci, Henry Bergson, John Dewey and Henri Focillon, among others. It found its way into writing a story of architecture in some of the work of his office, namely project for Torre Velasca in Milano that we will use as case study in this paper. Following his idea of "sensing the history" he created buildings and pieces that are in constant state of flux between what one might feel is familiar, a "true" representation of the history and, on the other hand, estrangement that comes with desire to physically embody history in the field of preexisting environments (i.e. cities or natural environments) that was never really present. The result was the uneasiness that comes with the question of representation of history in the physical form that oscillates between history as we imagine it and history as a source of future imagination.
Arq-architectural Research Quarterly, Jun 1, 2015
Gregotti's retreat to modern architecture One might recognise two issues as possible starting poi... more Gregotti's retreat to modern architecture One might recognise two issues as possible starting points for the discussion of time in Gregotti's theory. First, modernity shows itself as the surface of a long history of processes of transformation, of 'reshaping plasma', that goes back to a time of technological change before the nineteenth century. Following the tradition of Italian architectural theoretical thought, Gregotti could not but consider history as cumulative rather than progressive. As if subscribing to Vattimo's notion of weak thought, well before it was developed, the postwar Italian architect and thinker had to 'revise, to suspend and doubt learned judgment if necessary for construction of a new horizon of historic rationality'. 8 On the other hand, Gregotti, like others, ascribed radical change in the arts and history arq. vol 19. no 2. 2015 161 history Vittorio Gregotti's interpretation of the relationship between time and architecture in his 1966 text Il territiorio dell'architettura was played out in his 1972 project for the Universtity of Calabria.
This dissertation addresses the problem of historical time theorized and practiced between 1953 a... more This dissertation addresses the problem of historical time theorized and practiced between 1953 and 1977 in Italian architecture and urbanism. It argues that many Italian architects of the post-war period addressed history in a complex manner that went beyond ...
Architectural Research Quarterly, 2015
In the post-Second World War period, Italian architects opened up a debate on the role of history... more In the post-Second World War period, Italian architects opened up a debate on the role of history and time in architectural discourse that resulted in multiple interpretations of historical time in their work. Vittorio Gregotti, one of the main protagonists of the discussion, offered an interpretation of time based on an assemblage of intellectual tendencies, from phenomenology to structuralism and the history of the longue durée. This paper traces ideas that Gregotti developed in his less known and as-yet un-translated texts such as Il territiorio dell’architettura from 1966 as well as in his project for the University of Calabria from 1972. In these, Gregotti makes an original contribution to the problem of history in relationship to urban and natural environments.
Abstract Urban space can be transformed through theatrical events. This thesis discusses how thea... more Abstract Urban space can be transformed through theatrical events. This thesis discusses how theatrical space in the city is a space/occasion in which a particular revealing of the phenomena that constitute the everyday city might take place. It examines the ...
In the last severaldecades architecture has questioned how to relate with the most complex model ... more In the last severaldecades architecture has questioned how to relate with the most complex model we have, a model of life, and developing a comprehensive technique, this paper looks at the ways in which ecological model opened up Architecture,
Drafts by Lejla Vujicic
This paper aims to propose new perspectives on architectural object in the Anthropocene era throu... more This paper aims to propose new perspectives on architectural object in the Anthropocene era through the concept of adaptive reuse. It examines several principles derived from the architectural and philosophical inquiry that can contribute to redefining the status of the contemporary architectural object. The Anthropocene presents a unique challenge. It signifies not only a geological shift but also demands a reevaluation of the complex relationship between nature and culture. Moreover, it raises the question of whether progress for humanity may necessitate a moment of self-erasure or even the monumental dismantling of the modernist ego. In addition, history shows us that the modernist linear concept of time where the world is a unidirectional set of causes and effects, although more convenient for human comprehension, is potentially disastrous as it does not take into consideration a multitude of feedback loops in our reality. In the context of the complexities of the Anthropocene, we propose that adaptive reuse can serve as a catalyst for a paradigm shift in redefining the architectural object, offering valuable insights into its potential positive impact on both human and non-human environments. As the process of adapting always assumes sets of previous behaviors, i.e. existing buildings, adaptive reuse first requires the right question to be posed within the existing system and, secondly, it ideally requires a relational attitude in which an architectural object is always a thing of a special status in the world, one that has the potential of speaking of elusiveness in Graham Harman's words. With insights from thinkers like Harman, Bruno Latour, and Beau Lotto, we can now explore the novel status of the architectural object within an extended ecological context. We find that adaptive reuse is one of those practices where the modernist legacy of relationalism is already dismantled which provides us with a compelling experiment to think architecture not only in terms of interconnectivity and interdependence but also in terms of objects of surprise and estrangement.
Zbornik radova Građevinskog fakulteta, 2017
Architecture, conventionally understood, needs to be discussed both in terms of object and object... more Architecture, conventionally understood, needs to be discussed both in terms of object and objecthood since it involves constant feedback between the two. According to Bernard Cache, architecture is "the art of introducing interval in a territory in order to construct frames of probability." This particular definition leaves enough flexibility both for an object and larger environmental systems to be addressed. Production of architecture, in Cache's terms, consists of "framing, selecting and arranging" and results in object that is defined by its boundaries (framing), that has selected vistas towards outside world (selection) and finally, has arranged internal spatial configuration (arrangement). Architectural object is a large scale entity that has special status in the world in terms of its relationship to the subject. It requires constant feedback between visual system and motor behavior. This paper investigates potential challenge in human perception that is posed by certain contemporary architecture production. It argues that morphogenesis based on design processes that negotiate unpredictability and result in extended gestalt and open ended figuration tends to challenge our habitual perceptual patterns. The question takes us furthermore to what is in literature called 'gestalt switch' which results in necessity for what we name 'extended gestalt.' New architectural object is, at least in the world of experimental architecture, spatially complex hybrid which, through topological maneuvers enabled by computer technologies, has possibility of 'violating' our habitual preconceptions of perception of objecthood. It is our intention to theorize the work of gestaltists in relationship to the work of particular contemporary architecture theorists and practitioners and show that there is a need to include uncertainty as an essential element of the understanding architectural space and form of the new age which supersedes simple basic form creation characteristic of the well-known modernist architecture.
Zbornik radova Građevinskog fakulteta, 2018
Abstract This dissertation addresses the problem of historical time theorized and practiced betwe... more Abstract This dissertation addresses the problem of historical time theorized and practiced between 1953 and 1977 in Italian architecture and urbanism. It argues that many Italian architects of the post-war period addressed history in a complex manner that went beyond ...
Abstract Urban space can be transformed through theatrical events. This thesis discusses how thea... more Abstract Urban space can be transformed through theatrical events. This thesis discusses how theatrical space in the city is a space/occasion in which a particular revealing of the phenomena that constitute the everyday city might take place. It examines the ...
Ernesto Rogers was the key figure of the postwar Italian architecture. Architect, educator, write... more Ernesto Rogers was the key figure of the postwar Italian architecture. Architect, educator, writer, editor, he was a man of a great erudition and talent. As with many intellectuals of the post-Second World War Italy, he theorized history and used somewhat eclectically sources to promote his idea of continuity as a temporal model in architecture. His theory came on one hand out of particular Italian prewar intellectual tradition but was also based on a wide spectrum of resources such as Enzo Paci, Henry Bergson, John Dewey and Henri Focillon, among others. It found its way into writing a story of architecture in some of the work of his office, namely project for Torre Velasca in Milano that we will use as case study in this paper. Following his idea of "sensing the history" he created buildings and pieces that are in constant state of flux between what one might feel is familiar, a "true" representation of the history and, on the other hand, estrangement that comes with desire to physically embody history in the field of preexisting environments (i.e. cities or natural environments) that was never really present. The result was the uneasiness that comes with the question of representation of history in the physical form that oscillates between history as we imagine it and history as a source of future imagination.
Arq-architectural Research Quarterly, Jun 1, 2015
Gregotti's retreat to modern architecture One might recognise two issues as possible starting poi... more Gregotti's retreat to modern architecture One might recognise two issues as possible starting points for the discussion of time in Gregotti's theory. First, modernity shows itself as the surface of a long history of processes of transformation, of 'reshaping plasma', that goes back to a time of technological change before the nineteenth century. Following the tradition of Italian architectural theoretical thought, Gregotti could not but consider history as cumulative rather than progressive. As if subscribing to Vattimo's notion of weak thought, well before it was developed, the postwar Italian architect and thinker had to 'revise, to suspend and doubt learned judgment if necessary for construction of a new horizon of historic rationality'. 8 On the other hand, Gregotti, like others, ascribed radical change in the arts and history arq. vol 19. no 2. 2015 161 history Vittorio Gregotti's interpretation of the relationship between time and architecture in his 1966 text Il territiorio dell'architettura was played out in his 1972 project for the Universtity of Calabria.
This dissertation addresses the problem of historical time theorized and practiced between 1953 a... more This dissertation addresses the problem of historical time theorized and practiced between 1953 and 1977 in Italian architecture and urbanism. It argues that many Italian architects of the post-war period addressed history in a complex manner that went beyond ...
Architectural Research Quarterly, 2015
In the post-Second World War period, Italian architects opened up a debate on the role of history... more In the post-Second World War period, Italian architects opened up a debate on the role of history and time in architectural discourse that resulted in multiple interpretations of historical time in their work. Vittorio Gregotti, one of the main protagonists of the discussion, offered an interpretation of time based on an assemblage of intellectual tendencies, from phenomenology to structuralism and the history of the longue durée. This paper traces ideas that Gregotti developed in his less known and as-yet un-translated texts such as Il territiorio dell’architettura from 1966 as well as in his project for the University of Calabria from 1972. In these, Gregotti makes an original contribution to the problem of history in relationship to urban and natural environments.
Abstract Urban space can be transformed through theatrical events. This thesis discusses how thea... more Abstract Urban space can be transformed through theatrical events. This thesis discusses how theatrical space in the city is a space/occasion in which a particular revealing of the phenomena that constitute the everyday city might take place. It examines the ...
In the last severaldecades architecture has questioned how to relate with the most complex model ... more In the last severaldecades architecture has questioned how to relate with the most complex model we have, a model of life, and developing a comprehensive technique, this paper looks at the ways in which ecological model opened up Architecture,
This paper aims to propose new perspectives on architectural object in the Anthropocene era throu... more This paper aims to propose new perspectives on architectural object in the Anthropocene era through the concept of adaptive reuse. It examines several principles derived from the architectural and philosophical inquiry that can contribute to redefining the status of the contemporary architectural object. The Anthropocene presents a unique challenge. It signifies not only a geological shift but also demands a reevaluation of the complex relationship between nature and culture. Moreover, it raises the question of whether progress for humanity may necessitate a moment of self-erasure or even the monumental dismantling of the modernist ego. In addition, history shows us that the modernist linear concept of time where the world is a unidirectional set of causes and effects, although more convenient for human comprehension, is potentially disastrous as it does not take into consideration a multitude of feedback loops in our reality. In the context of the complexities of the Anthropocene, we propose that adaptive reuse can serve as a catalyst for a paradigm shift in redefining the architectural object, offering valuable insights into its potential positive impact on both human and non-human environments. As the process of adapting always assumes sets of previous behaviors, i.e. existing buildings, adaptive reuse first requires the right question to be posed within the existing system and, secondly, it ideally requires a relational attitude in which an architectural object is always a thing of a special status in the world, one that has the potential of speaking of elusiveness in Graham Harman's words. With insights from thinkers like Harman, Bruno Latour, and Beau Lotto, we can now explore the novel status of the architectural object within an extended ecological context. We find that adaptive reuse is one of those practices where the modernist legacy of relationalism is already dismantled which provides us with a compelling experiment to think architecture not only in terms of interconnectivity and interdependence but also in terms of objects of surprise and estrangement.