© Thomas Johannessen
As part of the programming ahead of the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale, the “Degrowth” curatorial team have released a book in association with Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO.) The book, titled “Being Tectonic” was developed with students as part of a course focusing on domestic architecture.
While the word ‘tectonic’ – a word referring to texture and tangibility – looms large in architecture, the 2019 curatorial team argues that a ‘20th-century preoccupation with efficiency’ has left the tectonic relationships at the heart of architecture behind. Phrases like ‘seamless’ and ‘smooth’ instead dominate the conversation, implying expertise and a high-tech nature in opposition to the rough and inherently textured nature of ‘tectonic.’
“In human tectonics, this same inclination for simplification has infected our social worlds, diminishing our capacity to engage with complexity in our society and be present in our relationships with each other,” explain the curators. “As Umair Haque put it in his article for the Harvard business review of the same name, ‘Our economy is obsessed with efficiency and terrible at everything else.’”
Being Tectonic explores what it might mean to abandon the notion of efficiency and seamlessness within both architectural and social contexts – and suggests that texture lends necessary richness to our lives.
News via Oslo Architecture Triennale