Functional Spaces

In Episode 3, the Ideal Spaces team is joined by Stan Allen, an architect and Professor of Architecture at Princeton. Stan holds degrees from Brown University, The Cooper Union and Princeton.  In 1991 he established an independent practice, and since that time, has pursued parallel careers as architect, educator and writer. He has taught at Harvard, Columbia and Princeton, and served as Dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton from 2002 to 2012. His books include Points + Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City (1999); Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation (2008); Landform Building: Architecture’s New Terrain (2011); and Four Projects: A Stan Allen Sourcebook (2017). His most recent book, published in 2020, is Situated Objects, a book of buildings and projects located in the Hudson River Valley where he lives and works.

We discuss architecture as a material practice that should anticipate and continuously evolve over time and architecture as the immaterial structures and spaces between things. We explore the importance of re-connecting architecture with time and process, to once again find a human measure that makes functional spaces sustainable, human living environments.

In this episode, the contributors are:

00:01:09 Stan Allen, Points + Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City (1999) New York: Princeton Architectural Press https://papress.com/products/points-and-lines-diagrams-and-projects-for-the-city
00:01:12 Stan Allen, Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation (2008) London: Routledge https://www.routledge.com/Practice-Architecture-Technique-and-Representation/Allen/p/book/9780415776257
00:01:17 Stan Allen and Marc McQuade, Landform Building: Architecture’s New Terrain (2011) Lars Muller, Princeton University School of Architecture https://www.lars-mueller-publishers.com/landform-building
00:01:20 Stan Allen and Benjamin Wilke, Stan Allen: Four Projects (2017) San Francisco: Applied Research and Design Publishing https://www.appliedresearchanddesign.com/product/stan-allen/
00:01:26 Stan Allen et al, Situated Objects and Projects by Stan Allen (2020) Zürich Park Books https://www.park-books.com/index.php?pd=pb&lang=en&page=books&book=1203
00:07:04 Stan Allen, Strategies and Tactics Lecture (2006), Architectural Association School of Architecture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_7WYaKcvG4&t=3528s
00:09:18 Downsview Park Competition, Ontario, Stan Allen and James Corner (2000) https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/publication/case-downsview-park-toronto/
00:14:00 Bauhaus Dessau-Törten Housing Estate. https://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/en/architecture/bauhaus-buildings-in-dessau/dessau-toerten-housing-estate.html
00:15:53 Greek philosopher Protagoras of Abdera (born c. 490 BCE, Abdera, Greece—died c. 420): ‘Man is the measure of all things.’
00:23:10 Michel de Certeau (1925 – 1986): ‘Space is a practiced place.’ http://faculty.washington.edu/plape/citiesaut11/readings/de_Certeau_1985_Practices_Space.pdf
00:29:00 Paperless Studios at Columbia University https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/articles/issues/4/origins-of-the-digital/33488/paperless-studios
00:36:35 Name of ‘Ideal Spaces’ from the Greek idea and eidos: https://issuu.com/idealspaces/docs/ideal_spaces_exhibition
00:38:30 Gregory Bateson (1904 – 1950): ecological thinking, information exchange.
00:41:41 John Cage (1912 – 1992): silences that are as important as the notes in a rhythm
00:58:25 Ideal Spaces website: https://www.idealspaces.org/ Instagram @idealspaceswg