Transcription

Prior to a studio trip to Ghent, Belgium, the Unit worked in pairs to study a built reference by a Belgian architect. Studies included works by Juliaan Lampens, Jacques Dupuis, Rene Heyvaert, and Jos Vandriessche. Through drawing, models, and photography, these studies attempted to distil the essence of the original project - the moments and gestures within the Belgian architecture that can be considered irreducible.

These fragments were subsequently transcribed, plucked from their original context and placed onto a new social and spatial context in Battersea. A 1:20 ‘corner model’, which extracts a specific spatial relationship found in the Belgian project, is inserted to a Battersea site model. Tensions between site and reference - created by the Transcription - are then interrogated through model-making and drawing.

Crucially, while the reference buildings were almost entirely domestic in scale and character, the Transcription process manipulated their architecture for a contrasting public use in Battersea.

The Transcription project culminated with ‘Re-Practice, Re-Visit, Re-Turn’ - an exhibition in February 2020 at deSingel, Antwerp. The exhibition was made possible through collaboration between Unit 8, Architecten Jan de Vylder Inge Vinck, the Flanders Architecture Institute, and Philip Christou. The Unit drew on the creative energy of our many collaborators to produce a series of ‘Project 4’ hand-drawings, celebrating the reference buildings and the Transcription process.

Unit 8 would also like to thank the following contributors, who assisted with the collection of reference materials and the facilitation of visits:

Kana Arioka, Jan de Vylder, Inge Vinck, Philip Christou, Jos Vandriessche, Jacques Bedoret, Marius Grootveld, Jan Thoames, Filip Dujardin, Cedric Libert, Maurizio Cohen, Kristyna de Schryver, Sophie de Caigny and Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens