The work presented in “COLD war COOL digital” is of significance as approximately 190 million apartments were built using pre-fabricated concrete panel building systems during the Cold War years. The use of these prefabricated systems ushered in a new construction paradigm that transferred building efforts from the construction site to the factory and resulted in housing blocks that were functional, cheap, and quick to assemble. These systems were exported and adapted internationally, which reveals their diversity and variability within worldwide cross-cultural relationships of exchange and influence. Films and other forms of documentation from the Cold War era will be exhibited to provide the context in which these buildings were produced.
EXHIBITION:
"COLD war COOL digital"
February 19-March 20, 2013
Hazel and Robert Siegel Gallery
Higgins Hall, 61 St. James Place, Brooklyn
Gallery Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9 AM to 5 PM
Opening Reception: Monday, February 18 at 6:15 PM
Curator: Catherine Ingraham, professor, Pratt Institute School of Architecture
Exhibition By: Pedro Ignacio Alonso, professor, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and program director, Architectural Association School of Architecture, and Hugo Palmarola Sagredo, doctoral candidate, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Sponsors: 3D Systems Corporation; ZCorp; Pratt Institute's School of Architecture; the Universidad Catolica de Chile; Chilean Arts and Culture Council; and the Architectural Association.
SYMPOSIUM:
"COLD war COOL digital: variable, pre-constructed, consequential"
Thursday, February 28 at 6PM
Higgins Hall Auditorium, 61 St. James Place, Brooklyn
Moderator: Catherine Ingraham, curator, "COLD war COOL digital," and professor, Pratt Institute School of Architecture
Panelists: Pedro Ignacio Alonso, professor, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and program director, Architectural Association School of Architecture; Adrian Forty, professor, Bartlett School of Architecture, University of London; James Garrison, adjunct associate professor, Pratt Institute School of Architecture; Hugo Palmarola Sagredo, doctoral candidate, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; and Tom Wiscombe, professor, Southern California Institute of Architecture
Please click here for directions to Pratt's Brooklyn campus, and here for a map of the Brooklyn campus.
Image composite with examples of the diverse housing prototype systems on display as part of "COLD war COOL digital." Image Credit: Courtesy Pedro Alonso.
Pedro Alonso es arquitecto, Magíster en Arquitectura PUC (2000) y Doctor en Arquitectura (Ph.D) por la Architectural Association (AA) de Londres, Inglaterra (2008). Desde 2005 enseña en la Architectural Association, actualmente como profesor visitante en el programa de Magíster en Historia y Pensamiento Crítico (MA HCT); y es profesor en la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, donde se desempeña como Jefe del Programa de Magister en Arquitectura- MARQ.
Hugo Palmarola es Diseñador PUC y Máster en Teoría e Historia del Diseño Industrial por UNAM México. Actualmente su trabajo sobre Ciencia, Tecnología y Sociedad (CTS) aborda la construcción de imaginarios y procesos de asimilación tecnológica dentro del cine.
