Architecture UPon Architecture – reinterpretATION

Architecture upon Architecture examines reflections formulated by practicing architects and artists from other disciplines on their way of using and reinterpreting works of the past, as well as the artistic results of this practice.

Architectural heritage is usually understood as comprising specific, physical phenomena: buildings, urban structures, and landscapes. The project Architecture upon Architecture aims to broaden the concept to also include material that exists in the form of architectural representations: drawings, models, photos, etc.

Architectural heritage is a reservoir of knowledge; not only about what architecture was in the past – but also about what it might potentially be in the future. This kind of knowledge can be found in the existing, built architecture – but also in architectural representations.

In the project, the term ‘reinterpretation’ refers to the way in which architectural heritage is kept alive by the active recirculation of architectural motifs and spatial configurations, and the strategies involved when introducing these in the design process.

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The concept of reinterpretation consequently has a cultural conservation dimension – but, quite significantly, it also has a critical, forward-looking dimension. The thesis of the project is that the meeting between existing architectural motifs and current project scenarios holds aesthetic as well as social potentials.

Architecture upon Architecture examines reflections formulated by practicing architects and artists from other disciplines on their way of using and reinterpreting works of the past, as well as the artistic results of this practice.

In parallel with this, these reflections and approaches are presented and tested in design studios, letting students experience the dialogue between history and the creation of new architecture through their own interpretations of existing material.

The project “Architecture upon Architecture – Reinterpretation” aims to inform teaching at Aarhus School of Architecture.

The project’s ambition is to offer the students experience with and an understanding of the architectural knowledge architectural representations may hold and how this knowledge might be activated artistically. Consequently, the project is focused on identifying the specific architectural knowledge contained by architectural historical material – independently from the specific historical circumstances of its creation.