As architects have long known, and as students of architecture are discovering, from time to time we encounter the reaction “But it’s ugly!” when sharing our creative visions with others. What’s going on – is this simply a subjective observation of taste, or a deeper suspicion when confronted with something new? The philosopher Umberto Eco offers us a tantalizing clue about the power of ugly: “Beauty is, in some ways, boring. Even if its concept changes through the ages, nevertheless a beautiful object must always follow certain rules…Ugliness is unpredictable and offers an infinite range of possibilities. Beauty is finite. Ugliness is infinite…” If, as Eco states, the value of ugliness is in its unpredictability and rule-breaking status, then it is at the margins of the discipline where design opportunity lurks and the rules of engagement can be more readily challenged. This will be the central focus of this class: apart from acceptable new buildings, in what other ways might architects shape the lived-in environment? Students who are curious about alternative ways of practicing, or find themselves gravitating towards architecture that exists outside the boundaries of convention, will have an opportunity to dig deeper into histories, theories, and methodologies for what we’ll call the ‘good, the bad, and the ugly’. Examples are many: the work of Atelier Bow-Wow is influenced by their graphical studies of Tokyo’s anonymous buildings – they name it ‘no-good architecture’ - where oddly-paired functions defy logic, yet make perfect (and humorous) sense. For them, quirks and irregularities produce their own forms of beauty. For architect-sculptor Tony Smith, size and purpose are subverted in Die, a constructed 6ft cube that is too large to be an object, too small to function architecturally. So what do we do with it? And early in their careers in the 1970’s, architects/theorists Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour challenged stylistic convention with ideas that still resonate with young practices today, by assigning high disciplinary value to ironic materials, low budgets, and buildings derived from ‘the ugly and the ordinary’. Other Architecture will be part wild idea think-tank, part visual workshop, part investigative seminar, and part out-of-classroom exploration. Our working method is centered on topics and tactics intended to resonate with your other studio courses at CCA, and to open new paths of action as you enter the profession.

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