Reading Buildings as Metaspace Reverse Engineering the Urban Theory of Chora Institute of Architecture and Urbanism

Abstract

The present study is based on a general interest in the transforma- tional aspect of architecture, based on the idea of the 'building as a moving project' (Latour and Yaneva, 2017). During the 1990s, Chora Institute of Architecture and Urbanism developed a complex theory and methodology dealing with urban phenomena based on scenarios and prototype institutions formulat- ed through negotiated dialogues. The basis of this theory is that urban phenomena are comparable to the expression of emotions. The city is seen as a sentient entity with a consciousness, and the task of new urban practice, the Urban Curator, is to stir and manage these forces through specific operations and procedures. The foundation of this abstract urban theory can be tracked back to the architectural practice of Raoul Bunschoten, and it is argued that the conceptual work of Chora rests firmly on the notion of the spatial. This is primarily expressed in their diagrammatic drawings, where the diagrams explaining the theory and those of the Urban Gallery, a central operational tool, can be seen as abstract building structures. A further point of interest is the Mini-Scenario, the key part of the first step (Database) of the methodology. Here situations found in the field are analysed according to four process categories: Erasure, Origination, Transformation and Migration (EOTM), which form a specific analytical protocol for revealing hidden properties of the urban context, what Chora calls Metaspace. Combining these two particular aspects of Chora's work, a reverse reading is proposed: If the urban theory is based on a strong spatial idea, where the city is read as a vast fluid building whose workings can be revealed through a specific process analysis (EOTM)—an attempt can be made to read buildings as urban processes governed by hidden forces. This would address transformational properties of buildings, such as former uses, traces of previous inhabitants, and spatial conflicts in daily use, in ways that have not been fully explored yet.