AA Mexico City Visiting School 2012

AA Mexico City Visiting School 2012

Prototypical Networks

Mexico City

Summer (25/06/2012 to 06/07/2012)

Centro Cultural de España 

Building upon a body of research established in its first year, the visiting school will continue its engagement with Mexico City from an infrastructural point of view taking advantage of the challenges and opportunities it poses/offers for the viability of one of the biggest metropolis on earth. The workshop will be constructed around key infrastructural issues such as the “Recovering of Waterscapes” and the “Reinforcement of Mobility Networks”. They will form the spine for the intervention through PROTOTYPICAL strategies within a tactical URBANISM framework.

The objective will be to explore and develop the concept of “urban prototype” capable of accommodating change and a degree of indeterminacy within the design process which will acquire its specificity by means of its on-site materialization. Paradigms of self-organized systems, distributed networks and uprising complexity will be introduced through systemic based design techniques, setting up counter models to conventional urban design and planning.

Based on this brief, students will have the opportunity to develop their skills through different methodologies based on the exploration of local conditions, engineering techniques, material processes, and the experimentation with digital, fabrication and representational tools.  

The visiting school will run parallel units by AA tutors and graduates from across the school giving participants the opportunity to experiment the different lines of research currently being developed at the AA, in particular the visiting school will directly engage with the investigations within the research cluster “Urban Prototypes “. 

In addition to this a symposium and series of lecture will to bring key figures, local and international, directly related to the design of the city (Minister of Urban development, architects and urban designers, authorities, artists among others). The event will finish with students presenting their work to local authorities and relevant actors and a public exhibition of the results.

Eligibility

The workshop is open to current architecture and design students, phd candidates and young professionals. All applicants should submit a CV and portfolio.

Applications

The deadline for applications is 11 June 2012. Application forms and additional information are available online at: www.prototypicalnetworks.net and applications can be submitted to: visitingschool@aaschool.ac.uk. 

Schedule & Venue

The school runs in summer from 25/06/2012 to 06/07/2012 in Mexico City. This is an intensive, studio-based programme requiring full-time participation. 

Accommodation & Costs

Accommodation during the workshop is not provided, but accommodation at an affordable hotel can be advised. The AA Visiting School requires a fee of £695 per participant which includes a £50 Visiting Student Membership, made payable to the AA School of Architecture.