By now you have probably heard that UNStudio, the Dutch firm led by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, is on target to relaunch this June as an open-source web-based knowledge hub… that, by the way, will still pursue adventurous architecture. We could say they are “launching” this initiative, but it seems more accurate to say they themselves are “relaunching”.
Because of the difficult economic climate in Europe, van Berkel and Bos began to reimagine the practice along the lines of something more fluid, flexible, and agile, a knowledge-based approach to how they work within the office and how they engage the larger world. They are basing this around four topics or “knowledge platforms”: sustainability, materials, organization, and parametrics.
The model for this was internet start-up culture and online knowledge sharing platforms where the spirit of collaboration and co-creation are the drivers. The notion of the solitary genius designer with the notebook full of ideas is swapped out for a hive of thought and potential accidents that may come from bumping into strangers on the Web. Let me rephrase. Bumping into strangers with a purpose, that purpose being to improve how buildings are designed.
