Ruin Academy
Encyclopedia
Ruin Academy is an independent cross-over architectural research center
in the Urban Core area of Taipei City, Taiwan
. It is 'set to re-think the industrial city and the modern man in the box' through research and a series of workshop
s.
The Ruin Academy occupies an abandoned 5-story apartment building in central Taipei. All the interior walls of the building and all the windows are removed in order to grow bamboo
and vegetables inside the house. The professor
s and student
s are sleeping and working in mahogany
made ad-hoc dormitories and have a public
sauna
in the 5th floor. All the building is penetrated with 6 inch holes in order to let “rain inside”.
The architectural control is in a process of giving up in order to let nature to step in. So far it is not giving up – it is too lazy. Architectural control will be given up. Modernism is lost and the industrial machine will become organic. This happens in Taipei and this is what we study. Ruin Academy is an organic machine.
, urban design
, environmental art
and other disciplines of art
and science
within the general framework of built human environment. Anarchic Grandmothers, Academic Squatting, Urban Acupuncture
-these are some of the ideas behind the Ruin Academy. The Academy workshops include:
Local Knowledge is a theme penetrating through all the research elements and tying the Thirg Generation Taipei to the site-specific natural environment. The Academy is operated by the Taiwanese JUT Foundation for Arts & Architecture, in cooperation with Finland-based Casagrande Laboratory
.
The Ruin Academy received the World Architecture Community Award in 2011.
is the theory
of the Third Generation City, the organic ruin of the industrial city. The Academy is focused in the research of the ruining processes of Taipei that keep the city alive. The element of Ruin is viewed as something man-made having become part of nature.
Third Generation City follows the first generation where humans' peacefully coexisted with nature and the second generation built walls and stone structures everywhere in an attempt to shut out nature. In the third generation however, nature, which can never be truly shut out, grows back through the ruins, through the cracks in the wall, sucking human nature back into the wider nature. Third Generation City concentrates on local knowledge and urban acupuncture.
The Third Generation City is the industrial city ruined by the people - human nature as part of nature. The elements of the Third Generation Taipei are:
. The newspaper is an open form collage of the Academy's thinking on the future of the built human environment.
Research center
A research center is a facility or building dedicated to research, commonly with the focus on a specific area. There are over 14,000 research centers in the United States...
in the Urban Core area of Taipei City, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. It is 'set to re-think the industrial city and the modern man in the box' through research and a series of workshop
Workshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s.
The Ruin Academy occupies an abandoned 5-story apartment building in central Taipei. All the interior walls of the building and all the windows are removed in order to grow bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
and vegetables inside the house. The professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
s and student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s are sleeping and working in mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
made ad-hoc dormitories and have a public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
sauna
Sauna
A sauna is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities....
in the 5th floor. All the building is penetrated with 6 inch holes in order to let “rain inside”.
The architectural control is in a process of giving up in order to let nature to step in. So far it is not giving up – it is too lazy. Architectural control will be given up. Modernism is lost and the industrial machine will become organic. This happens in Taipei and this is what we study. Ruin Academy is an organic machine.
Research Topics
The research and design tasks move freely in-between architectureArchitecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, urban design
Urban design
Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, and in particular the shaping and uses of urban public space. It has traditionally been regarded as a disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape architecture, or architecture and in more recent times has...
, environmental art
Environmental art
The term environmental art is used in two different contexts: it can be used generally to refer to art dealing with ecological issues and/or the natural, such as the formal, the political, the historical, or the social context....
and other disciplines of art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
within the general framework of built human environment. Anarchic Grandmothers, Academic Squatting, Urban Acupuncture
Urban Acupuncture
Urban Acupuncture is an urban environmentalism theory which combines urban design with traditional Chinese medical theory of acupuncture. This strategy views cities as living, breathing organisms and pinpoints areas in need of repair...
-these are some of the ideas behind the Ruin Academy. The Academy workshops include:
- Organic AcupunctureAcupunctureAcupuncture is a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of solid, generally thin needles in the body....
- Spontaneous and often illegal urban farms and community gardensCommunity gardeningA community garden is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people.-Purpose:Community gardens provide fresh produce and plants as well as satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment...
balancing the industrial Taipei and tuning the city towards the organic.
- Spontaneous and often illegal urban farms and community gardens
- RiverRiverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
UrbanismUrbanismBroadly, urbanism is a focus on cities and urban areas, their geography, economies, politics, social characteristics, as well as the effects on, and caused by, the built environment.-Philosophy:...
- A form of landscape urbanismLandscape urbanismLandscape Urbanism is a theory of urbanism arguing that landscape, rather than architecture, is more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience. Landscape Urbanism has emerged as a theory in the last fifteen years...
aiming in natural river restoration in urban conditions and reconnection of the modern city and the river natureNatureNature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
.
- A form of landscape urbanism
- Illegal ArchitectureArchitectureArchitecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
- Architecture that uses the OfficialOfficialAn official is someone who holds an office in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority .A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in public...
City as a “growing platform and energy source, where to attach itself like a parasite and from where to leach the electricityElectricityElectricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
and waterWaterWater is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
… [The Instant City's] illegal urban farms or night markets is so widespread and deep rooted in the Taiwanese culture and cityscape that we could almost speak of another city on top of the “official” Taipei, a parallel city – or a para-city.”
- Architecture that uses the Official
Local Knowledge is a theme penetrating through all the research elements and tying the Thirg Generation Taipei to the site-specific natural environment. The Academy is operated by the Taiwanese JUT Foundation for Arts & Architecture, in cooperation with Finland-based Casagrande Laboratory
Marco Casagrande
Marco Casagrande, , is a Finnish architect, environmental artist, architectural theorist, writer and professor of architecture. He graduated from Helsinki University of Technology department of architecture .- Early life :...
.
The Ruin Academy received the World Architecture Community Award in 2011.
Third Generation City
The core of the Ruin Academy's cross-over architectural philosophyPhilosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
is the theory
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
of the Third Generation City, the organic ruin of the industrial city. The Academy is focused in the research of the ruining processes of Taipei that keep the city alive. The element of Ruin is viewed as something man-made having become part of nature.
Third Generation City follows the first generation where humans' peacefully coexisted with nature and the second generation built walls and stone structures everywhere in an attempt to shut out nature. In the third generation however, nature, which can never be truly shut out, grows back through the ruins, through the cracks in the wall, sucking human nature back into the wider nature. Third Generation City concentrates on local knowledge and urban acupuncture.
The Third Generation City is the industrial city ruined by the people - human nature as part of nature. The elements of the Third Generation Taipei are:
- Anarchist Gardener
- Spontaneous community gardensCommunity gardeningA community garden is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people.-Purpose:Community gardens provide fresh produce and plants as well as satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment...
and urban farms oparating outside the official urban development.
- Spontaneous community gardens
- Urban NomadNomadNomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
/ Instant Taipei- Light weigh and movable citizen architectural actions attached on top of the static city.
- Urban Acupuncture
- Architecture that is in the position of producing needles for the urban QiQiIn traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
.
- Architecture that is in the position of producing needles for the urban Qi
- Compost
- Independent, self organized and often illegal communities that are organically editing the official city.
- River Urbanism
- A form of landscape urbanism - city developed from the viewpoint of river nature.
Anarchist Gardener
The Ruin Academy is publishing its own independent free newspaper the Anarchist Gardener edited by Nikita WuNikita Wu
Nikita Wu is a Taiwanese writer and arts manager. She was the curator of the Future Pavilion in the Taiwan Design Expo 2005 and a project manager in the Taiwan Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2006, for WEAK! architects in the 2009 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture...
. The newspaper is an open form collage of the Academy's thinking on the future of the built human environment.
External links
- Urban Ruins: Abandoned Building Houses Architecture Academy Web Ecoist
- Ruin Academy Designklub
- Ruin Academy Archello
- Ruin Academy Urbipedia
- Farming in a Ruin Jeroen Beekmans, The Pop-Up City