Stuff is... (An Incomplete Guide to Freestyle Model Making)
There’s a lot of stuff here.
A Proposal for Collective Living II (Homage to Sir John Soane) was exhibited at the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial. The model was produced in the summer of 2017 through an improvised model making approach that was a 3-dimensional assemblage of altered readymade objects, spatially compacted together.While making the model we referred to this improvised model making approach as freestyling. At the end of the Chicago Biennial the model was shipped to a new home in Japan. At some point, between leaving the Chicago Architecture Biennial and arriving in Japan the model was severely damaged, revealing just how much stuff was in the model. While this may seem like a liability in the life of the model, it instead has become an opportunity to give the model a new life through its repair, or freestyle repair.
The following is an incomplete list of freestyle modeling approaches:
Image courtesy of O.K. (Office Kovacs).
stuff is searched
stuff is hunted
stuff is browsed
stuff is scavenged
stuff is unearthed
stuff is discovered
stuff is found
stuff is sorted
Image courtesy of O.K. (Office Kovacs).
stuff is discussed
stuff is anticipated
stuff is negotiated
stuff is designed
Image courtesy of O.K. (Office Kovacs).
stuff is bargained for
stuff is bought up
stuff is paid for
stuff is acquired
stuff is exchanged
stuff is picked up
stuff is collected
stuff is gathered
stuff is accumulated
stuff is arranged
stuff is organized
stuff is categorized
Image courtesy of O.K. (Office Kovacs).
stuff is traded
stuff is hoarded
stuff is hidden
stuff is amalgamated
stuff is oriented
stuff is played
stuff is improvised
Image courtesy of O.K. (Office Kovacs).
stuff is documented
stuff is scanned
stuff is measured
stuff is archived
stuff is calculated
stuff is recycled
stuff is repurposed
stuff is scrutinized
stuff is removed
stuff is renovated
stuff is demolished
stuff is altered
stuff is converted
Image courtesy of O.K. (Office Kovacs).
stuff is cut
stuff is sanded
stuff is masked
stuff is painted
stuff is stained
stuff is patched
stuff is overlaid
stuff is trimmed
stuff is sliced
stuff is sized
stuff is chopped
stuff is clad
stuff is subtracted
stuff is added
stuff is replaced
stuff is glued
stuff is adjusted
Image courtesy of O.K. (Office Kovacs).
stuff is built
stuff is stacked
stuff is leveled
stuff is arranged
Image courtesy of O.K. (Office Kovacs).
stuff is packed
stuff is crated
stuff is bolstered
stuff is lifted
stuff is moved
stuff is navigated
stuff is transported
stuff is strategized
stuff is updated
Image courtesy of O.K. (Office Kovacs).
stuff is coordinated
stuff is photographed
stuff is exhibited
Image courtesy of O.K. (Office Kovacs).
stuff is damaged
stuff is tbc…
Andrew Kovacs is an Assistant Adjunct Professor at UCLA Architecture & Urban Design where he teaches design studios and seminars at both the undergraduate and graduate level. From 2012-2013 Kovacs was the inaugural UCLA Teaching Fellow. Kovacs studied architecture at Syracuse University (Bachelor of Architecture), The Architecture Association in London, and Princeton University (Master of Architecture). Kovacs’ work on architecture and urbanism has been published widely in the architectural including A+U, Pidgin, Project, Pool, Perspecta, Manifest, Metropolis, Clog, Domus, and The Real Review. Additionally, Kovacs is the creator and curator of Archive of Affinities, a widely viewed website devoted to the collection and display of architectural b-sides. In 2015 Kovacs published the book Architectural Affinities as part of the Treatise series organized and sponsored by the Graham Foundation in Chicago. Kovacs’ design studio, Office Kovacs works on projects at all scales from books, exhibitions, temporary installations, interiors, homes, speculative architectural proposals and public architecture competitions.
