Organization

Critic|all International Conference on Architectural Design and Criticism is organized by:

Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos / Architectural Design Department
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura / ETSAM School of Architecture
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid / Polytechnic University of Madrid

Call for papers
#un-thology

While Theory is produced, the History of Theory has to be constructed. Such an ambitious scope has been achieved by many different means but, among those, Anthology stands out as an effective instrument to present and connect apparently autonomous discourses in a way that actually describes a time-lapse situation. It performs a diagnosis.

The act of collecting –flowers, poems or architectural theory pieces [1]– is not innocent. Being the written equivalent of the museum, Anthologies curate knowledge, providing meaning for a collection of fragments. Not only Anthology is a genre that, as Sylvia Lavin once pointed, creates a genealogy for the present [2], but also this kind of selected inventory of the past always claims a certain agenda for the future.

Paradoxically, the advent of what has been called ‘the end of theory’ in the late 90’s ran parallel to the publication of the two most significant anthologies that can be identified until now. The edited volume by Joan Ockman [3] was born as seminar material and covers the period from 1943 to 1968. The one compiled by Michael Hays [4] starts precisely at that point and, despite the openness implied in its title, concludes around 1993. Both anthologies largely differ in scope and purpose: while Ockman interest lays in the unveiling of modernism continuities under the more general concept of ‘culture’, Hays collection is a clear call to the critical function of ‘theory’ as a mode of resistance to, and mediation with, the sociopolitical context in which it is produced.

Certainly there are some other architectural text compilations that could be cited here, but only to load the scale towards the American commanded construction of the History of Theory, and in any case, none of them go hardly beyond the turn of the millennium. This would be the case of Kate Nesbit’s volume advocating for a ‘new’ agenda or the one edited by Neil Leach [5] providing source texts form outside the discipline. The same could be stated of the two-volume collection curated by Francis Mallgrave [6] that unfolds in a holistic manner from Vitruvius to the first years of the 21st Century. The only exception to these western-anglo-saxon oriented compilations is The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory [7], which addresses many contemporary debates from a wide variety of geographical and cultural points of view, resulting in a complex structure that nevertheless cannot be called an anthology, strictly speaking.

Amid this panorama, we put forward the following question: Is Anthology an obsolete instrument for current times or does it contain some kind of purpose? In front of the globalized flow of information, whether generated or consumed in endless forms of exchange and heterogeneous media, which parameters should we apply to handle relevance, content or completeness?

The construction of the next index of Theory will have to deal with the very idea of its usefulness, either as a classifying device, an editing instrument or the enhancement of an agenda. The impossibility of covering the whole spectrum of strands urges to confess partiality before taking the first step, loosing therefore the aspirations of encyclopaedic completeness that anthologies usually claim. It would be an impossible collection: never finished and, for this very reason, carrying out a critical stance towards the genre as an academic chimera.

Therefore, if we were to compile such an alternative Un-thology, which criteria should be implemented to make the choices of relevant texts? Should we dive into the endless ocean of officially indexed papers that grows exponentially in a monthly base? Are editorial statements still capable of identifying the new directions in architectural thought? How to deal with amateur writers in relation to institutionalized research conduits? What would be the rate of practicing architects authors vs other scholarship profiles?

You can download the full Call for Papers here.

The 3rd edition of the Critic|all Conference welcomes contributions that critically address these and other questions related to the proposed topic. We expect to receive two types of materials:

Con-texts
Short introductory essays that provide a context for a text dated between 1993 and the present and that is credited to be a significant spot in the recent history of architectural theory. In addition to the necessary review of what has already been said about the text, the paper should develop original arguments and clearly state the reasons why it should be included in a hypothetical Un-thology. We do not expect mere laudatory comments, but new insights on already published material.

The original text must not exceed 5.000 words, and should accompany the submittal. Justified excerptions are allowed. Papers should be 2.000 words length and must be written in English, unless the language of the source text is Spanish. Papers dealing with originals in any other language must provide a translation of it into English and should also be written in English.

No abstract is needed. Peer reviewing will be carried out in a single phase taking into consideration the full-paper submittal.

Full-paper Deadline: 1 February 2018

Length: 2.000 words max.

Research Articles
Well constructed essays than engage with the problematization of the concept of Anthology, whether confronting two opposite discourses, analyzing the structure of previous compilations or discussing the procedures of architectural ideas dissemination. We expect interpretive work that draws new relations between things. The most basic form of this type of manuscript should present a thesis, back it up with arguments in the supporting body paragraphs and then bring the paper to a conclusion.

Papers should be 5.000 words length and must be written in English and will be preceded by a 300 words Abstract. Peer reviewing will be carried out in two phases.

Abstract Deadline: 8 November 2017

Full-paper Deadline: 1 February 2018

Length: 5.000 words max.
Guidelines for authors
This two-day conference, to be held in Madrid 26-27 April 2018, aims to bring together both young and established scholars from every discipline concerned with architectural thought, no matter if it is approached from history, historiography, theory or design.

All accepted contributions will be included in the digital proceedings of the conference, a publication on CD with ISBN that will be given to the registered participants, which will also be available online. Depending on the amount of works submitted, the Scientific Committee will carry out a selection of papers for its oral presentation during the conference.

Please note that there are two different ways to contribute to Critic|all Conference:

Con-Texts
If you are contributing with a con-text, download the con-text guidelines+template (no more than 2,000 words, excluding notes and bibliography), and follow these instructions:

0. Download template

Click here to download the con-text guidelines+template

1. Authors / Registration.

Each author can submit only one work but can be co-author of others.

To submit a con-text it is not necessary to be registered. Only if your proposal is accepted it will be necesary that every author registers in order to be included in the Conference Digital Proceedings and to be considered for invitation to present orally.

2. Drafting standards and format

Only papers formatted on the model of the downloadable template will be considered. It should not be altered in any of the following parameters: type and font size, margins, header and footer.

As this type of contribution aims to provide a context for a previously published written piece, authors must accompany their work with the original text to which they refer. This source text must not exceed 5.000 words. Justified excerptions are allowed. The bibliographic reference must appear on the top part of the first page following the Chicago-Turabian Style.

3. Submission.

For the submission, it is necessary to attach two independent files to an email sent to the Scientific Secretariat sec@criticall.es. They should be named as follows:

1_threewordsofthetitle_namesurname.doc (for the paper)

2_threewordsofthetitle_reftext.pdf (for the reference text) It should not exceed 2Mb.

Only those emails received before 24:00h (local time) February 1, 2018, will be considered. Any changes to the scheduled dates will be reported through the conference website.

4. Language.

Papers should be written in English, unless the language of the source text is Spanish. Papers dealing with originals in any other language must provide a translation of it into English and should also be written in English.

5. Anonymity.

To ensure anonymity during the blind peer review process, any personal data will be removed by the organizers, and a code will be assigned to each submittal before sending the material to the reviewers.

6. Blind peer review.

For the paper to be accepted, it is required that at least one report is positive. Paper acceptance and registration ensures the publication of the full paper in the digital proceedings, a CD with ISBN that will be given to the participants. In addition, in light of the 2 reports by the reviewers, the Scientific Committee will invite some authors to present their work orally during the Conference.

7. Notification of acceptance

The acceptance or rejection of the full papers will be communicated to the authors by email.

Research Articles
If you are contributing with a research article, please download the research abstract template.

Once your abstract has been accepted, you can use this full paper guidelines+template (no more than 5,000 words, excluding notes and bibliography) and follow these instructions:

0. Download templates

Click here to download the research abstract template

Click here to download the full paper guidelines+template

1. Authors / Registration.

Each author can submit only one work but can be co-author of others.

To submit an abstract it is not necessary to be registered. If the abstract is accepted after the blind peer review, every author must register in order to send the full paper.

3. Drafting standards and format

Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words, and must not contain illustrations, footnotes or block quotes

Only abstracts and full papers formatted on the model of the downloadable template will be considered.

4. Submission.

For the submission of the abstract, it is necessary to attach an independent file to an email sent to the Scientific Secretariat sec@criticall.es. It should be named as follows:

A_threewordsofthetitle_namesurname.doc

Only those emails received before 24:00h (local time) November 8, 2017, will be considered.

For the submission of the full paper, it is necessary to attach an independent file to an email sent to the Scientific Secretariat sec@criticall.es. It should not exceed 2Mb and be named as follows:

B_threewordsofthetitle_namesurname.doc

Only those emails received before 24:00h (local time) February 1, 2018, will be considered.

Any changes to the scheduled dates will be reported through the conference website.

5. Language.

Abstracts and full papers should be written in English.

6. Anonymity.

To ensure anonymity during the blind peer review process, any personal data will be removed by the organizers, and a code will be assigned to each submittal before sending the material to the reviewers.

7. Blind peer review.

After the reception of abstracts, and in light of the 2 reports by the reviewers, the Scientific Committee will invite authors to submit a full paper. This requires that at least one report is positive. Abstract acceptance and registration ensures the publication of the full paper in the digital proceedings, a CD with ISBN that will be given to the participants. Depending on the quality of the full papers, the Scientific Committee will invite some authors to present their work orally during the Conference.

8. Notification of acceptance

The acceptance or rejection of the abstracts will be communicated to the authors by email.
Schedule
November 8th, 2017 Deadline for abstracts
December 8th, 2017 Communication of abstract acceptance
February 1st, 2018 Deadline for early-bird registration
February 1st, 2018 Deadline for full papers
March 3rd, 2018 Announcement of invitations for oral presentations
April 10th, 2018 Deadline for standard registration
April 26th – 27th, 2018 Celebration of the conference
Program
thursday 26th
10:00 – 10:30 Accreditations & Welcome Pack

10:30 – 11:00 Welcome and Presentation
Silvia Colmenares + Luis Rojo. Directors Critic|all

11:00 – 13:30 con-texts
[this section will take place in Spanish]

11:00 “Teóricos francotiradores. La posibilidad de un pensamiento dibujado como práctica específicamente arquitectónica” | Lina Toro, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain and IE School of Architecture and Design, Dep. Projects, IE University, Segovia, Spain

11:08 “Poché. Historia y vigencia de una idea” | Raúl Castellanos, Universitat Politècnica de València, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Valencia, Spain

11:16 “Ways of seeing” | Jorge Borondo, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Barcelona, Spain

11:24 “Notas sobre una arquitectura líquida” | Alvaro Moreno, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain

11:32 “Aftermath” | Rodrigo Rubio, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain

11:40 “Artefactos energéticos: la energía como parámetro proyectual” | Martino Peña, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Arquitectura y Tecnología de la Edificación, ETSAE, Cartagena, España

11:48 “Paradoxes of Domesticity and Modernity” | Elena Martínez Millana, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain

11:56 “Play to the Gallery” | Esteban Salcedo, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain

12:04 “Rincones de la función” | Damián Pluganou, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain

12:12 “Con P de Pragmatismo” | Luz Carruthers, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain

12:20 “Martha Stewart. A contemporary icon” | Luis Moreda, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain

12:28 “Proyectos encubiertos: entrevistas entre arquitectos” | Antonio Cantero, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain

12:36 “Estímulos y reacciones, deseos y afectos, fibras e hilos intencionales” | Luis Navarro, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain

12:45 Discussion

13:30 – 14:30 Lunch time

14:30 – 16:00 panel #1. Anthology problematized
14:30 “Anthology is ontology. The power of selection and the ‘worldmaking’” | Alessandro Canevari, Università degli Studi di Genova, dAD, Genova, Italy

14:45 “Anthology as collection: Althusser vs. Benjamin” | Marcos Pantaleón, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid, Spain

15:00 “Theorem. A case for an Anthology today” | Giacomo Pala, Institute of Architectural Theory (Architekturtheorie), Innsbruck, Austria

15:15 “Historicizing the desire to historicize” | Carlos Tapia Martín + Jorge Minguet Medina, Grupo de Investigación OUT_Arquías. Departamento de Historia, Teoría y Composición Arquitectónicas. ETS Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain

15:30 Discussion | Moderators: Ignacio Borrego, Full Professor at the Technische Universität Berlin. Sergio Martín Blas, Associate Teacher. Architectural Design Department, ETSAM (UPM)

16:00 – 16:30 Coffee Break

16:30 – 17:45 panel #2. The Spanish perspective
16:30 “Reassessing Spanish Modernity Discourses through Mass Media” | María Antón Barco + Verónica Meléndez, ESNE, Madrid, Spain

16:45 “Architectural theory anthologies from a Spanish perspective” | Aida González Llavona, Universidad de Castilla La-Mancha, Escuela de Arquitectura de Toledo, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Área de Historia y Composición, Toledo, Spain

17:00 “Writings on Photography and Modern Architecture in Spain. A critical reading of a Contemporary Anthology” | Amparo Bernal + Iñaki Bergera, University of Burgos, Graphic Expression Department, Polytechnic School, Burgos, Spain / University of Zaragoza, Architecture Department, School of Engineering and Architecture, Zaragoza, Spain

17:15 Discussion | Moderators: Carmen Espegel, Tenured Professor Architectural Design Department, ETSAM (UPM). Jesús Ulargui, Tenured Professor Architectural Design Department, ETSAM (UPM)

friday 27th
10:00 – 11:30 panel #3. Anthology today
10:00 “Space and the otherness. An anthology” | Leandro Medrano + Luiz Recamán + Mariana Wilderom + Raphael Grazziano , University of São Paulo, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, History of Architecture and Project Aesthetics Department, São Paulo, Brazil

10:15 “Practical theorization in the digital era” | Belén Butragueño + Javier Raposo + Mariasun Salgado, UPM, Department of Architectural Graphic Ideation, School of Architecture (ETSAM), Madrid, Spain

10:30 “Catching glimpses. The fragment-anthology as a strategy for architectural research” | Mattias Kärrholm + Paulina Prieto + Rodrigo Delso, Lund University, Architecture and the Built Environment, Lund, Sweden, and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, Spain

10:45 “Towards a (new) Historiography of Architecture for a Digital Age” | Guido Cimadomo + Vishal Shahdadpuri Aswani + Rubén García Rubio, Universidad de Málaga, Departamento Arte y Arquitectura, ETS Arquitectura, Málaga, Spain and Al Ghurair University, College of Design, Dubai, Emirates Arab United

11:00 Discussion | Moderators: Juan Elvira, Assistant Professor Architectural Design Department, ETSAM (UPM). Lluis J. Liñán, Teacher at the Master in Advanced Architectural Projects, ETSAM (UPM)

11:30 – 12:30 Coffee Break

12:30 – 14:00 Key-note speaker
“Configuring a discipline. Anthologies in architectural theory” | Hilde Heynen, Full Professor Architectural Theory. University of Leuven. KU LEUVEN. Belgium.

14:00 Closing cocktail
Digital Proceedings

Click to download
Organization
Critic|all International Conference on Architectural Design and Criticism is organized by:

Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos / Architectural Design Department
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura / ETSAM School of Architecture
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid / Polytechnic University of Madrid
Direction
Silvia Colmenares

Silvia Colmenares is a PhD Architect and Assistant Professor of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM), where he currently serves as Sub-Head for Research and Publishing well as a member of the Academic Commission of the PhD Program. She is a member of the ARKRIT Research Group, devoted to architectural criticism, having contributed to research projects on collective dwelling and public space. She has been responsible for the General Coordination of the two editions of Critic|all: International Conference on Architectural Design and Criticism, and editor of its associated publications. Her academic research focuses on a critical re-reading of the terms with which modern architecture has been commonly described, in the light of the concepts of functional indifference and formal neutrality. She has lectured or been invited critic at KTH Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan Stockholm, ISCTE Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, UEL University of East London, IE University, Universidad San Pablo CEU and Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. Since 2001, she co-directs the architecture office Colmenares Vilata Arquitectos.

Luis Rojo

Luis Rojo is a PhD Architect and Assistant Professor of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM), where he currently serves as MPAA Master Program Academic Secretary, as well as a member of the Academic Commission of the PhD Program. Rojo obtained the PhD in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Madrid with a dissertation on the contaminations of Le Corbusier’s discourse through the instruments of Surrealism during the 1920’s. Rojo has been Visiting Professor at the Harvard School of Design and the B&S School of Architecture at the City College of New York, and Visiting Professor of History and Theory at the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra. He has been co-editor of the journal CIRCO COOP since 1992. Together with Begoña Fernandez-Shaw founded Rojo/Fernández-Shaw architects, an architecture office based in Madrid. The firm oriented its practice towards the design and construction of public works, architectural competitions and academic research, and their work has been selected for the Spanish Architecture Bienale, the Biennale di Venezia and the FAD prize.
Scientific Committee
Juan Herreros

Juan Herreros is Full Professor of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM) and Director of the Advanced Design Program of Columbia University in New York GSAPP. He has lectured at other American universities such as Princeton and IIT Chicago, and at several European institutions, such as the Architectural Association in London, the EPFL in Lausanne, the Faculty of Architecture of Ljubljana (ULFA) and the University of Alicante. Juan Herreros founded Abalos&Herreros in 1984, the LMI (Liga Multimedia Internacional) in 1999, Herreros Arquitectos in 2006 and Estudio Herreros in 2014. His works have been published, awarded prized and exhibited, and among these, highlights are Light Construction-1995, Groundswell-2004 and On Site-2006, carried out in MOMA, NY.

Sylvia Lavin

Sylvia Lavin is the Director of Critical Studies and M.A./Ph.D. programs in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA, where she was Chairperson from 1996 to 2006, and The Curatorial Project, a collaborative design and research group that supports critical engagement with experimental architecture in the public realm. She has taught at Princeton, Harvard, Columbia and numerous other institutions and has achieved recognition by the award of several grants and awards, most recently from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Getty Research Institute, and the Graham Foundation.

Hilde Heynen

Hilde Heynen is Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Planning at the University of Leuven. Her research focuses on issues of modernity, modernism and gender in architecture. She is the author of Architecture and Modernity. A Critique (MIT Press, 1999) and the co-editor of Back from Utopia. The Challenge of the Modern Movement (with Hubert-Jan Henket, 010, 2001) as well as Negotiating Domesticity. Spatial productions of gender in modern architecture (with Gulsum Baydar, Routledge, 2005). She also co-edited The Sage Handbook of Architectural Theory (with C. Greig Crysler and Stephen Cairns, Sage Publications, 2012)

James Graham

James Graham is the Director of Publications at Columbia GSAPP, where he is also an Associate Assistant Professor. He is the director of Columbia Books on Architecture and the City imprint, for which he has edited or and co-edited a number of volumes, including Climates: Architecture and the Planetary Imaginary (2016) and 2000+: The Urgencies of Architectural Theory (2015). In 2014, he founded the Avery Review, an online journal dedicated to thinking about books, buildings, and other architectural media.

Valéry Didelon

Valéry Didelon is an architect, historian and architecture critic. He lectures at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Malaquais where he teaches theory and design, and he is a member of the Architecture Culture Société (ACS) research group. He is also editor of Criticat, a bi-annual journal he co-founded in 2008. He is the author of several books including La controverse Learning from Las Vegas, published (2010) and Yours critically: writings on architecture, from issues 1-10 of Criticat (2016).

Federico Soriano

Fedrico Soriano is a PhD Architect and Tenured Professor of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM), where he has served as Director for the period 2012-16. A member of PRoLab research group, he develops an on-going investigation on shrinking (encoger). He alternates his professional work in Soriano& Palacios with research and criticism, writing in different books and specialized magazines. He co-directs the journal Arquitectura COAM and he is the director and editor of the magazine Fisuras de la Cultura Contemporánea.

Milla Hernández Pezzi

Milla Hernández Pezzi is a a PhD Architect and Tenured Professor of the Architectural Composition Department in ETSAM (UPM) since 1978, teaching Theory and History of Architecture subjects, specializing in the production of the XXth Century in general and specifically in the Modern Movement. As a member of the Paisaje Cultural research group she has been the researcher in charge of and I+D+i Project on contemporary housing. Since 1989 she has been teaching at PhD Programs in the ETSAM and Universidad de Chile, being also invited to lecture at the Institut Catalá de Cooperació Iberoamericana UPC.

Carmen Espegel

Carmen Espegel is a PhD Architect and Tenured Professor of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM) and member of the GIVCO research group. Her investigation focuses on three fields: collective housing, architectural critique and woman-architecture. She has been invited to lecture at AIA, TU Delft and FAU USP among others. Her book Heroinas del Espacio (2008) is a technical and theoretical synthesis of women’s roll in modern architecture. In the professional field she started her career in 1985 and, together with Concha Fisac, she set up Espegel-Fisac Architects in 2003.

Carmen Martínez Arroyo

Carmen Martínez Arroyo is a PhD Architect and Tenured Professor of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM), where she was Sub-head of the DPA for the period 2008-12. Her doctoral thesis titled La densidad del límite, obtained the extraordinary prize in 2003-2004. She is professionally associated with Rodrigo Pemjean since 1993.

Nicolás Maruri

Nicolás Maruri is a PhD Architect and Associate Professor of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM), where he coordinates ARKRIT research group, devoted to architectural criticism. He has lectured at various universities including AA London, San Sebastian, Segovia SEK, Valencia and Navarra. Since 1987 he develops his professional practice with Atxu Amann and Andrés Cánovas. Their works have been exhibited in the AA in London, in the NAI of Rotterdam, in IIT of Chicago, in Arizona CAPLA, in the Venice Biennale, in the Cervantes Institute in Río, Sao Paulo, Paris, Rome and New York.

Jesús Ulargui

Jesús Ulargui is a PhD Architect and Tenured Professor of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM), where he currently serves as Sub-head for Educational Innovation. In 1995 he founded dMPU with Sergio de Miguel and Eduardo Pesquera González, and from 1999 to 2012 he worked with Eduardo Pesquera González in UP Arquitectos. In 2013 he founded Ulargui Arquitectos, his current office through which he pursues his professional, teaching and researching activity.

Juan Elvira

Juan Elvira is a PhD Architect and Assistant Professor of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM), and he also teaches Urban Design at IE University. He obtained his Phd degree with honors in 2015 with a dissertation titled Ghost Architecture. Space and the production of Ambient Effects, awarded with 1st mention at Arquia/Tesis foundation thesis prize in 2015 and finalist at the Bienal Iberoamericana de Arquitectura 2016. Together with his partner Clara Murado he develops his professional practice in Murado-Elvira Arquitectos.

Maria José Pizarro

María José Pizarro is a PhD Architect and Assistant Professor of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM), where he currently serves as Academic Secretary. Her doctoral thesis obtained an honorable mention in the IX Bienal Iberoamericana de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, and was shortlisted for the Arquia Tesis competition in 2013. She has been professionally associated with Óscar Rueda since 1996 and together they run Rueda Pizarro Arquitectos S.L.P.

Fernando Rodríguez

Fernando Rodríguez is a PhD Architect and Associate Teacher of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM). In 2007 he founded FRPO Rodríguez & Oriol with Pablo Oriol. In 2015 he received the doctoral thesis extraordinary prize with his thesis “An infrastructural understanding of the architectural project”.

Sergio Martín Blas

Sergio Martín Blas is a PhD Architect and Associate Teacher of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM). Since 2009 he has coordinated the NuTAC research group in UPM, and he currently is responsible of the PhD Programe of the DPA. He has been a lecturer and visiting researcher in IUAV, TU-Delft, TU-Berlin and Cooper Union.

Diego García Setién

Diego García Setién is a PhD Architect and Associate Teacher of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM) where he is part of the ProLab research group. He has also been Assistant Professor (TT) at Arizona State University. Since 2002 he collaborated with the journal Tectónica as an architectural analyst and critic. His research interest focuses on architecture as a technical object. He co-founded Ecosistema Urbano in 2001, being part of it until 2007, when he founded gaSSz studio with Silvia Sánchez.

Nieves Mestre

Nieves Mestre is a PhD Architect and Associate Teacher of the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAM (UPM). She has taught and given lectures in Syracuse University, London Architectural Association, IUA Venezia, Nottingham University, the Sapienza Universitá di Roma, TU Munich or Budapest University of Technology. She combines teaching and research with her professional activity based in COMBO LAB.

José Aragüez

José Aragüez is an Associate Professor of Architecture at Columbia GSAPP, and a Ph.D. candidate in the History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton. He is a New York-based independent architect and writer with working experience at offices in Spain, Holland and London. Aragüez has led an international project titled The Building that was developed in two symposia in 2014 and a theory seminar at Cornell University in Fall 2015 and culminated in a book published by Lars Müller in November 2016.

Jesús Vassallo

Jesús Vassallo is a PhD Architect and he is currently an Assistant Professor at Rice University. His research focuses on the problem of realism in architecture, dealing with a series of collaborations and crossovers with other visual arts. He is the author of Seamless: Digital Collage and Dirty Realism in Contemporary Architecture (Park Books, 2016) and is currently working on a second book manuscript titled Epics in the Everyday.

Juan Ruescas

Juan Ruescas is a PhD Architect and he is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor, Stuckeman Career Development professorship in design at the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State University. His research is objectified in different mediums, an oeuvre that is comprised of large-scale canvas series, art pieces, and installations.

Ignacio Senra

Ignacio Senra is a PhD Architect Architect graduated from ETSAM in 2006 and Master from Columbia University in 2009, where he received the Honor Award for Excellence in Design. For a period of time, he has been an assistant instructor at the ETSAM. Since 2010 he shares an architectural office with Elisa Sequeros, focusing his research on contemporary housing.

Ignacio Borrego

Ignacio Borrego is Full Professor at the Technische Universität Berlin since 2016, after 14 years of docent activity at the Technical University of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM-UPM).
He graduated in Madrid in 2000 receiving the Best Student Prize of that year, and the 1st National Prize for the best academic record in Spain, 2000. His doctoral thesis “Informed Matter” obtained in 2015 the X Arquia Tesis First Prize.
He founded the architectural office dosmasuno arquitectos with Néstor Montenegro and Lina Toro in 2003 and founded Ignacio Borrego Arquitectos in 2014. He has received 36 national and international prizes in architectural competitions and architectural awards, such as
COAM Prize, A+ Prize, and AIT Award Selection.
The venue

Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Avda. Juan de Herrera 4, 28040 Madrid
Registration
Standard fee (deadline April 10th, 2018): 150.00€
Early-bird fee(deadline February 1st, 2018): 100.00€
Post-graduate students: 100.00€
MPAA#9 student: free

Registration fee includes:
- Welcome pack
- Publication of the full paper in the digital proceedings (if accepted in the peer-review process)
- Certificate of attendance
- Closing reception
Accepted papers will be included in the digital proceedings of the conference, a publication on CD with ISBN that will be given to the registered participants, which will also be available online.
Depending on the amount of works submitted, the Scientific Committee will carry out a selection of papers for its oral presentation during the conference.
It will be necessary to be registered for the full paper to be included in the proceedings and considered for oral presentation.

Registration form
Download here
To register, please send the completed form along with a copy of the bank transfer to admin@criticall.es
Post-graduate students must also attach proof of payment of current tuition fees.
MPAA#9 students only need to send the completed form.

Bank Account details
Bank name: Caixabank
IBAN: ES5621009194172200680011
BIC/SWIFT CODE: CAIXESBBXXX
Recipient: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Concept: Criticall_ full name of the registered author
Contact
General: conference@criticall.es
Scientific secretary: sec@criticall.es
Administration: admin@criticall.es
Press: press@criticall.es
Critic|others
The 2018 Critic|all Conference is the third edition of a biennial program started in 2014. Here you can see what happened in the previous editions:

Critic|all 2016
The second edition of Critic|all Conference took place from the 20th to the 22nd of June, 2016.

Call for papers
#out-onomy

In its second edition, Critic|all proposes as subject matter the reflection on the considerations that architectural specificity has kept in relation to the architectural discipline itself. Faced with a vision that believes that architecture cannot be an isolated medium, that is, autonomous – not only regarding social culture but above all, the social, political and economic environment of the world in which it is immersed, – we find those visions that, in the opposite way, consider that the architectural discipline is strictly about herself, and therefore employs a self language whose confirmation is determined by a collection of very defined historical forms.

However, there is only one set of facts, ideas, forms and styles that over time grows larger. All of them belong to us and any of them can be interpreted or seen as an architectural event. And there are infinite paths of interpretation of those facts, ideas, shapes and styles. There are those which make use of critical tools outside the own instrumental of the architectural discipline, inheritors of other intellectual and scientific fields. Others, instead, claim the delimitation of the discipline itself to be the main scope of the critical task.

We propose the term out-tomy as a new framework to overcome this classic dichotomy. Discipline is no longer a place, or reserve that the ‘academy’ defines, setting a boundary between the self and the alien. It is a gaze, a reading or modification. It is a glance that is both outside and inside at the same time, which is stranger to the architectural discipline but also understands it.

The autonomy of architecture is not in its technologies or methodologies. It is a capacity of thought to respond freed from pre-established theories, critically untethered to specific techniques, exclusively catering for the systematic managed and chosen for each time. That autonomy requires us to put ourselves out of the matter we want to analyze, manipulate or produce. At the same time we know we cannot make decisions without being directly involved in that matter. It does not act on things but between things, right in the heart of the matter.

The term out-tomy combines an internal autonomy, described from within as the preservation of certain discipline that is memory, is history and it is also specific technique, with an external autonomy, that is defined from the outside and influenced by other fields and cultures, attentive to society, politics and economy, the forces that rule the world. Anyone overrides the other but both have merged into a specifically contemporary gaze.

Between the desire of ‘unit’ and ‘self-referral order’ as a translation of the concept of discipline and the pursuit of ‘fragmentation’ and ‘autonomy of the parts’ as translation of the importance of the accurate and current, the dichotomy is perfectly solved as long as we recognize that both visions have created a situation where they no longer confront each other but simultaneously blend.

This double condition of placing ourselves at both sides of the limit, seeing interior and exterior at the same place, of being outside because of looking from the inside and vice versa, is a contemporary feature that we want to collect, display and confirm at this conference.

Scientific Committee
Organizers
Direction: Federico Soriano
General Coordination: Silvia Colmenares
Assistant to General Coordination: Sálvora Feliz

Scientific Committee
Amadeu Santacana
Federico Soriano
Luis Rojo
Luz Paz Agras
Nuria Álvarez Lombardero
Rafael Pina

Reviewers
Alejandro Virseda
Almudena Ribot
Ana Fernando Magarzo
Ángel Martínez García de Posada
Antonio Miranda
Ariadna Perich
Arturo Blanco
David Archilla
Debora Domingo
Emilia Hernández Pezzi
Fernando Casqueiro
Fernando Rodríguez
Francisco García Triviño
Ginés Garrido
Ignacio Borrego
Iñaki Carnicero
Jacobo García-Germán
Jesús Vasallo
José Jaraiz
Maria Teresa Muñoz
Marta Pelegrín
María Hurtado de Mendoza
Mª José Pizarro
Nicolás Maruri
Paloma Gil
Raul Castellanos
Raúl Del Valle
Santiago de Molina
Verónica Meléndez

Digital proceedings

Click to download

Edited Book

Click to read a preview of the book

Critic|all 2014
The first edition of Critic|all Conference took place from the 12th to the 14th of June, 2014.

Call for Papers
utopian-pragmatism
pragmatic-utopianism

As we approach the present, the ambiguity of the real escapes traditional historiographical classifications. In recent years, the difficulty involved in working in an increasingly ambiguous environment has resulted in an atlas multiplication that has awakened our desire to become collectors, whilst returning the leading role to history and encouraging examination of the taxonomies of the present. On his particular journey, the architect has become a curator, a historian, an analyst, and an observer. Whilst we acknowledge both the necessity and the interest of the architect as an expanded figure, we must be aware of the risk entailed in pushing certain boundaries that may radically transform the ways in which architecture has traditionally approached its relationship to the real- that is, the tension generated by the project.

Today, and tomorrow, we discover radical action upon the everyday using the tools of the ordinary, the trivial, and the infra-ordinary. We understand that the best intellectual stance is that which adopts the most chimerical ideas when they interfere with ordinary, everyday life, disguised as normality.

Seeking to transcend the dichotomy between pragmatism and utopia, the 1^stInternational Conference on Architectural Design and Criticism makes an appeal for criticism, a critical call whose aim is to examine and work on the ambiguous field of possibilities that emerge from the intersection of the concepts of pragmatic-utopianism and utopian-pragmatism. In order to do so, three main research areas have been defined.

TOPICS

#1 POSITIONS

Positions aims to approach the main critical positionings that configure the current intellectual landscape, identifying both their pragmatic aspects and their utopian aspirations. Which authors have been able to operate significant change on architectural practice in the past and the present? What is the current relevance of the areas of interest defined by their texts?

#2 METHODS

Methods seeks to identify different approaches to architectural criticism and practice from a purely disciplinary approach, as well as its comparison to other areas of knowledge. Could the theoretical definition of architectural research be dependent on such a methodological differentiation?

#3 FORMATS

Formats investigates the means by which architectural criticism is both disseminated and assimilated, understanding that the way in which thought is transmitted needs to be followed by an individual project. To what extent can potential, new formats of thought generate a real debate where both positionings and approaches can be contested or reasserted?

Scientific Committee
Organizers
Direction: Federico Soriano
General Coordination: Silvia Colmenares

Organizing Committee
Nicolás Maruri
Rafael Pina
Fernando Casqueiro
José Antonio Ruiz Esquiroz
Esperanza Campaña
Gustavo Rojas
Sálvora Feliz
Marcos Cortés
Elena Romero

Scientific Committee
President: Antonio Miranda

Almudena Ribot
Antonio González Capitel
David Archilla
Emilia Hernández Pezzi
Federico Soriano
Fernando Casqueiro
Françoise Fromonot
Horacio Torrent
Javier Frechilla
Joan Ockman
José Pérez de Lama
Juan Miguel Hernández de León
Manuel Gausa
María Teresa Muñoz
Nicolás Maruri
Paloma Gil
Paula V. Álvarez
Rafael Pina
Santiago de Molina

Digital Proceedings

Click to download

Edited Book

Click to read a preview of the book

#out-onomy

utopian-pragmatism pragmatic-utopianism

utopian-pragmatism
pragmatic-utopianism