Interview: Hyperscapes Research Office (HRO)

Central Image: HRO Archive

We met with Hyperscapes Research Office, an interdisciplinary open-ended working group of creators, to talk about contemporary issues concerning the research and critical approaches to space in design and architecture. HRO was established in 2020 and from the beginning engaged in research on difficult topics such as ecology, refugee and planetary urbanization as well as their connection to architecture and urban planning. The team members at the moment are Konstantinos Venis, Filippo Albertini, Giada Zuan, Virginia Pozzi, Periklis Lazarou and Diogo Ferreira, however, HRO does not consist of a given number of members. Within their work, the very interesting issue of questioning the limits of architecture through design is explored. Tradition, the means of production and the architectural process itself are perhaps at odds with the environment in which the built space exists and is used. How could these places be understood, not only by the architecture that defines them but also by the greater biological and socio-political spheres that sustain them? These, and many more, were the main issues of our discussion with HRO. 

Design Research

What is the value of multidisciplinarity in modern design and architecture? Can the practice of design touch cross the threshold of the scientific experiment through the collaboration between different scientific and creative disciplines?

Multidisciplinary perspectives in design and architecture signify the necessity for new paradigms and disciplines, techniques and vocabularies. Multidisciplinary practices are not arbitrary; they grow organically out of natural tendencies common to adjacent forms of practice. The bifurcation of collective practices may lead to the emergence of new epistemic shifts. Through the agency of architecture, design, critical research, data collection and cartography, we seek evidence for the development of alternative methodological devices which raise urgent questions about the desirable futures of the planet. An integral part of our process has also been the open collaboration with professionals and scholars, academics and non-academics, from various fields such as urban sociology, programming, diplomacy, climatology, activism, architecture and art. This collaborative effort gave us the ability to approach complex issues that do not necessarily fall within the canonical boundaries of architectural practice and knowledge, gathering contributions from diverse areas of experience and expertise. These collaborations are key drivers for the expansion of architecture and design. 

Documentary

What issues concern you and what are the methodology and research tools with which you approach challenging contemporary issues?

The unequal distribution of wealth and power has fostered new forms of violence, which are also accelerated by ecological catastrophes, entangled with pandemics, failed harvests, the rising threat of eco-fascism, and the millions of refugees yet to come. On a spatial level, the “urban'' has exploded, reaching a planetary condition of urbanization with no historical precedent of how to serve a planet of 10 billion humans, triggering multiple crises on a socio-political and climatic-ecological level, with the amplification of massive human migrations towards borders and viable climatic zones. Today’s crisis is also a crisis of the self, dealing with a posthuman reconceptualization. These planetary processes are deeply interconnected and entangled, but also intensify each other. Interdisciplinary practices are necessary to frame these complex contemporary issues, being able to identify them from multiple perspectives and see their correlations, but also they encourage finding unique alternatives given by the mixture of expertise and they can help empower the dispossessed while raising questions of responsibility.

How do you include the concept of violence in your work, how does it relate to architecture?

The argument is that there’s an inherent violence of architecture on bodies. Hard architecture – such as doors, walls, corridors, and fences – does not just organize bodies into space, but also enforces them since we cannot go through these elements. Most of the walls that surround us materialize private property. They do not just materialize a space where the organization of bodies is taking place through a line drawn on the floor, but also the politics that goes through them. Although the concept of private property has not emerged within capitalism, we could rather say that capitalism has invented a hyper form of private property which we know as borders. Borders define economies, inclusion and exclusion, they define rights, privileges, and the geopolitics that goes with them. From an architectural point of view, a border is not just a line that separates one country from another. Within this territory, a whole system of apparatuses materializes the border. Architectural elements and the production of infrastructure can function as an ecological legitimization for implanting security tools in border zones, for dispossessing people of agricultural lands which leads to the eviction of villages and displacement of the agrarian economy and indigenous communities. For instance, the militarised dams in southeast Turkey enforce a camouflaged border between Turkey and Syria which also represents a network of weaponized infrastructure. Therefore we question: is violence always inherent to architecture? Through our work, we investigate violence’s spatial and physical features and how they are interconnected to human externalities.

Planetary forces

How do you approach the concept of the archive, a concept that preoccupies the creative industry and many individual artists today? Are there any relevant examples from your work?

Archives are a function of knowledge, a tool to organize information: they are the raw material of memory. The architecture of the archive allows its exploration and gives freedom to make new associations. The archive can be a powerful tool according to its accessibility. “The Archipelago of Hyperscapes” is the web design tool associated with our work and implies the archive's logic in an open-ended way. The result is a platform where it is possible to display materials and experiment with an ever-growing set of information, by questioning who will access it and what possible interactions can be established. The archive can be an active tool for collectivizing processes and for speculating on alternative imaginaries, sharing and exploring new research threads, collecting materials and generating open-ended discussions.

Violence

Archives inhabit the present and merge the past and the futures of species, animals, machines and humans. ‘Hyperscapes’ is about the exploration of these imaginaries by displaying a particular set of data - which is being collected and generated through our research and design. The resulting topography is a landscape made of documents, images, spaces, objects, maps, videos, and datasheets.

Narratives

Is there a need for a redefinition of architectural and design "tradition" when the Earth changes and deviates from the familiar? What is the role of the designer, the architect, and the artist in approaching a different future?

We believe a redefinition of our practice is indeed necessary and our profession tests challenging boundaries by promoting critical thinking and alternative approaches. The field of knowledge of architecture and design is not definable as it used to be in the past decades. We do not abandon the specificity of this practice and the specificity of this knowledge, but we do integrate it into this process. Can we frame architects and designers among the cultural workers who, through cultural practice, use their tools and knowledge to uphold the narratives of those who are marginalized and dispossessed? We believe that architectural knowledge and practice may contribute to this. Our objective is to mobilize our knowledge, experiences and skills, supporting movements to understand space and the way it is involved in social organizations and also empower the latter by giving them the tools to develop their own opinions. Together, we want to support the idea that it is necessary to rethink how architecture and design are shaping our world and their responsibility towards society.

Violence