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May 1, 2020, 2:15 pm

co+labo radović international round table Urban Questions in the Times of Coronavirus

As reported in one of previous post of 19 April (below), as a co-Chair of the Advisory Board of Public Space Experts, City Space Architecture (CSA) Darko will coordinate co+labo radović efforts within the "2020: A Year without Public Space under the COVID-19 Pandemic “ initiative. In preparations for an emergency issue of the Journal of Public Space that will address challenges which the pandemic poses to urban life, Darko invited a group of colleagues, experts on public space whose work and ideas he respects to an online discussion "Urban Questions in the Times of Coronavirus". The tasks were to reflect upon and present their key observations, to formate positions related to the crisis and thoughts about future, and to suggest questions which need to be taken on board and addressed over the weeks, months, and years to come.

On 1 May 2020 co+re partners Darko Radović (Keio University, co+re) and Davisi Boontharm (Meiji University, co+re) chaired two round tables, with rich exchanges of ideas between urban experts from four continents and across seven time zones - Antonella Bruzesse (Politecnico di Milano), Stephen Cairns, (ETH Future Cities Laboratory, Singapore) Alenka Fikfak, (University of Ljubljana), Pieter Klomp (City of Amsterdam), Beatriz Maturana Cossio(Universidad de Chile), Ana Medina(Universidad des las Américas), Eiji Oguma(Keio University, Tokyo) David Sim(Gehl, Copenhagen), Sidh Sintusingha (University of Melbourne) and SalineVerhoeven, s-coop, Amsterdam, to which Kengo Kuma (KKAA, University of Tokyo) has also provided his thought provoking written contribution.

That was a very promising launch of the project which will occupy much of the attention in co+labo, co+re and projects conducted by associated individuals and institutions. We will keep you posted ...

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May 15, 2020, 11:30 am

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co+labo radović co+labo's Yamashita Shohei + Renato Magni receive their PoliMi Masters

Earlier this year, amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic which has hit Italy, and Milano in particular exceptionally hard, two co+labo members have received their Masters Degrees from Politecnico di Milano - Yamashita Shohei completing his Keio-PoliMi Double Degree, and Renato Magni, ABC exchange student at co+labo his Laurea Magistrale.

Yamashita-san's summary of his RE-STADIUM (above), describes "a project with the main aim to rethink the concept and design of the sports structures for the mega-events such as the FIFA World Cup, that require a high spectator capacity which is unsustainable in the long term. The proposal for more sustainable development is presented through a highly integrated plot to the urban context, adaptability with minimum intervention and environmental impacts while meeting stadium requirements. Design solutions were implemented for the 2026 Championship New York Stadium by integrating the research of global phenomena related to sport structures, analysis of the existing context, urban-social problems and environmental challenges. The main goal was to lay architectural, constructive and engineering solutions into the stadium design that is built for blending into its context by hosting a mixed-use residential complex." In autumn, this project will enter The Youth Actively Building the Future Environment project, sponsored by Val San Martino Lions Club.

By placing his project in Japan, Renato used his co+labo experience to the maximum. His Suzugami centre (below): "is an experimental public space, that allows various modes of activity, where sports, nutrition and education come together under one large roof. The project puts in place an obvious gesture: the mending of the forest within a lot currently in disharmony with the surrounding green context. Here a light structure defines the new space, contrasting the dynamism of the underlying soil. Harmony between buildings and users is the criterion that guided all the design considerations. The building was designed according to the principles of sustainable architecture in a multidisciplinary perspective. Energy supply is entrusted both to technical solutions and to the use of technologies that save resources. The layout and arrangement of the individual zones are designed to create optimal microclimatic conditions. All areas of the building with greater use intensity have been subjected to analysis to ensure the maximum level of comfort. The architectural design is further supported by structural checks and optimised through energy simulations that ensure the building's performance."

In parallel to this academic success, Yamashita-san was promoted to the status of junior architect in Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects in Paris. Currently he is, as many of us teleworking but - from Paris.
Renato seeks to start architectural career in some international architectural practice. As he has illustrated in a montage below, he will be not the first one to make such move, and all of his co+labo friends believe that he is going to be as good as Kobe.

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May 15, 2020, 4:19 pm

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co+labo radović co+labo starts its very special + unusual 12th year at Keio - online

The School year 2O2O-21 was always to be special. This is the 12th and final year of co+labo @ Keio University The outbreak of Coronavirus has added more than a nuance to that. All of our plans, which included many activities and events, visitors and workshops, had to be cancelled or, to out it euphemistically - postponed. The Pandemic has, perhaps, announced a new era. It has forced us to think and act in new ways, different to what we have experienced and known before. As reported in the 1 May post (below), co+labo is already active in an international initiative which seeks ways to (re)think architecture, cities and urban cultures within this new context.
The 2O2O school year has started much later than we usually begin. While we used to celebrate the beginning of semester 1 in a culturally meaningful and undeniably beautiful way, with hanami, traditional Japanese cherry blossom viewing (and drinking!) event, we now meet on Webex and Zoom - which certainly impoverishes the experience of thinking and learning together. Darko describes that the semester would normally start with "a series of lectures introducing the co+labo way, for new students 'indoctrination sessions' about becoming, and for others about diving deeper into what it means to be a co+labo member. In those lectures, I would invoke some of my intellectual Pantheon, trying to position those ideas towards (in)direct usefulness for what we were to be doing over the next one (undergraduate), three (Masters) or more (PhD) years at co+labo. Usual sources of ideas were coming from the lineages of Socrates to Plato, Heidegger to Nancy, all the way to Bogdanović, Perec, Debord, for many unexplainably Jullien, some recent acquisitions and the likes. Architectural, artistic, and urbanistic contextualisations were bringing in Praxiteles, Vitruvius, Michelangelo, Cerdà, and other diverse thinkers and makers which are impossible to copy or uncritically take on, all the way to broader urban and cultural thinking of always relevant Marx, Lefebvre, Derrida, Cixous, Badiou ... Placing co+labo into these networks of ideas was meant to inspire and help co+labo members to (intellectually) fly. The primary task was always to make our members think (together). Some contemporary and, let's conditionally say, more 'practical' (but never entirely and directly 'useful') thinkers would help me point at entry points into our research and design-research projects to come. One of the regulars was Alberto Manguel. I like to start with his beautifully provocative question"'what do we think about when we look at the work of art?', only to broaden it towards inquiry into 'what we think when we look at ... a city, building, street, piazza ... at people?' That was in hope that Manguel's depth might be contagious. Roland Barthes was my usual next step, helping locate both co+labo and myself, as a gaijin, in Japan - before venturing further into theories and practice of urbanity".

Then, various guest lectures would start coming in. From the next week we are going to begin simulating that, of course - online. (What else but simulation of reality could be done online?!)
There will be enriching talks by co+labo research associates (starting with Rafael Balboa), PhD researchers (Satoshi Sano, Sanja Žonja), visiting professors (Neno Kezić). But, the opening will be given to Manguel himself in, for Coronavirus times, first-hand contact - via his two youtube talks: "On Reading Images" and "Don't You See What I Mean?". If you wish, let Alberto Manguel help you feel this co+labo moment.

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May 16, 2020, 6:19 am

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co+labo radović co+labo research fellow Rafa Balboa delivers 1st 2O2O guest lecture

Following his leadership of co+labo team in an international design competition (the results of which we are still awaiting), Rafael Balboa opens our 2O2O Webex guest lecture series with his pet research topic - Principles of Prostho-Urbanism.
Gracias, Rafa!

(Poster Design: Reiya Sasaki)

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May 23, 2020, 4:34 pm

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(flyer design Yurino Oguri)
co+labo radović Sano Satoshi joins Rafa Balboa in co+labo 2O2O guest lecture series

In the spirit of the co+labo's Lefebvrian, generous + +++ + ++++ sign, on Tuesday 26 May 2O2O the laboratory members will be exposed to a "surplus" of ideas. The second instalment of Rafael Balboa's lecture (below) will be followed by Sano Satoshi's talk which brings together his rich professional portfolio and the extracts from his just completed doctoral research. The aim is, as always, to help corrupt the minds of co+labo youth, precisely in the way in which Socrates did and which Yukichi Fukuzawa proudly followed - as outlined in Darko's SD Graduation Speech delivered 25.3.2019:
- do not follow the paths which are already mapped out for you, do not blindly obey social customs
- seek, propose and create new, different directions which lead to a true life.

- seek how to be good and how to do good; how to be happy.

(flyer design Reiya Sasaki)

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June 1, 2020, 10:01 am

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co+labo radović Rafa Balboa's second guest lecture + co+labo research in progress day

co+labo 2O2O takeoff continues with Rafael Balboa's second lecture and first co+labo research in progress session.

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June 7, 2020, 2:32 pm

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co+labo radović co+labo guest lecture and discussion programme 2O2O continues

Our 2O2O lecture series continues with fourth instalment of Rafael Balboa's inspirational lectures - this time on Diagrammatic Thinking in Architecture (below), and Sanja Žonja's presentation and discussion related to her Doctoral research into graffiti and street art, focusing at Tokyo, the city where "graffiti do not exist" (above).

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June 16, 2020, 9:47 am

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co+labo radović co+labo 2O2O Research in Progress Day presentations+discussions

After several guest lectures and research presentations, and internal research development sessions, co+labo held its first 2O2O Research in Progress Day. Undergraduate and Masters presentations were followed by feedback and discussion, involving Professor Neno Kezić (University of Split, 2O2O Distinguished Visiting professor at Keio University, co+labo), Rafael Balboa (2O2O Research Associate at co+labo), Satoshi Sano (co+labo Adjunct Secretary, Visiting Lecturer at Keio University), Sanja Žonja (co+labo PhD researcher) and Darko Radović. Current co+labo, slightly paraphrased draft proposals include - Undergraduate: "The relationship between human-scaled urban gaps, roji and micro-greenery in Tsukishima" (Yurino Oguri), "Reconstruction of roadside stations in earthquake affected regions of Japan" (Reiya Sasaki), and Masters: "Personal time in public spaces; Hillside Terrace and Bonus Track projects, Tokyo" (Yuki Mori); "Design characteristics of church architecture in Tokyo and their presence in the city" (Amami Iwata), "Multilayered urban space of railway stations and their surroundings, case of Yamanote Line" (Jumpei Kawamoto), "The type-morphological analysis of urban canals and canal-side lives, Edo-Tokyo (with references of Bangkok)" (Shinichi Nishibori), and "Hidden, undesigned human-scaled spaces in XL precincts of Tokyo, case of Ginza Chuo Dori" (Hiroki Shigemura). The session was co-chaired by Darko and Sanja (... whose gesture, on the photo above, was not a comment of quality of any particular presentations). co+labo lecture, discussion and research presentation sessions continue ...

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June 21, 2020, 3:19 am

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co+labo radović a collaborative co+labo Keio + Meiji db Studio PhD Seminar+discussions

In an effort to diversify feedback and increase quality of discussion at the highest level of studies, Darko Radović and Davisi Boontharm have organised a collaborative PhD Seminar, focusing at two current doctoral projects at Keio/co+labo and Meiji/I-AUD: Sanja Žonja's research of street art and graffiti and their impact on the identity of the place, and Ivana Angelova's investigations of buried rivers and canals of Tokyo and their significance for local communities.

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June 21, 2020, 4:33 pm

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co+labo radović A Picture Is Worth a 1000 Words - Guest Lecture by Bratislav Gaković

The next talk in the co+labo 2O2O lecture series is, according to our special guest Bratislav Gaković - not going to be a lecture at all! Braca explains: "I have conceived the session as a game. A game with pictures. After a very short introduction I will present you a bunch of images in an attempt to attract your attention. Should some of presented images touch you, and you would like to know more about them – the game is on. If nothing touches you - the game is over. These “trigger” pictures will be on your screens for about 60 seconds. Then, they will disappear. If something intrigued you, just write down a number next to the image and ask me to tell you more about it. My answer will be followed by short explanation with some more images of the same thing - and hopefully, it will give us all the chance to expand the discussion on that theme.
In some distant way this is a continuation of Rafa’s lecture on images. Not quite though. This is totally subjective. There is no objectivity, no detachment in this. No universal knowledge, no universal truths. This is in fact a presentation of some of my work with the addition of a couple of other images. Images that mean something to me. So, these images are me. I am these images. It’s all personal. The presentation will have no references, no citations, no footnotes... All I will be talking about has been amalgamated in my head and I do not know the origins of that ‘knowledge’ any more. If there is any knowledge in it, that is.

A picture is worth a 1000 words

Does this saying imply that pictures can talk? I think yes. Moreover, they talk to people in their own languages. Spooky?! It is often said that the first mass communication started with images, long before the written or printed word was used.

I am talking as an architect now: In our line of work, a picture seems to be worth more than a 1000 words. Imagery is possibly the most important strategic/tactical weapon we have in our arsenal. We are using it all the time, through the process of designing and constructing a building or whilst conceiving and implementing an urban design plan/concept. At different stages of the process we are using different types of images. We are using them in communication with the clients, the builders, the reps, the planners, in discussions with our colleges... Mastering the art of presentation (of which the visual presentation is usually a key part), is as important for us as being creative or possessing the necessary technical knowledge."

This present of a seasoned architect and urbanist to co+labo students of architecture and urban design and regular contributors is, thus, not going to be followed by a discussion but - a discussion in itself. co+labo will, as always record the talk and share several fragments on this blog.

While Darko's collaboration with Braca dates back to 1980s Belgrade and the unique environment of CEP, collaboration with co+labo has started in 2012, the he joined us in the workshop conducted in Manchester in association with Leeds University and Professor Greg Keefe, left). co+labo participants were Darko, Sano-san and now OB Ken Akatsuka, Shinnosuke Hoshikawa, Takaaki Kato and Charles Lemonnier.

In briefest, Bratislav Gaković is a Yugoslav and British architect, with rich international professional experience (1979-1989 in Yugoslavia, 1989-2018 in the UK), with a wide range of projects which included a large number of Urban Development Plans, Master Plans, architectural schemes for clients from former Yugoslavia, and major schemes working with Austin-Smith: Lord, The Open University, John S Bonnington Partnership, EGS Design, Downs Variava and Ian Simpson Architects. Braca has entered more than forty architectural and urban design competitions – and won some twenty awards. His of Non-domestic Building Stock, which started at the Open University in the a990s is now based at the Bartlett School of Graduate Studies at University College London.

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July 1, 2020, 2:33 pm

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co+labo radović research in progress day of Masters and Undergraduate presentations

Following an intensive series of guest lectures, talks and discussions, this week the turn was for co+labo Masters and Undergraduate students to present the current moment in their own research projects. Amami Iwata, Jumpei Kawamoto (illustration below), Shinichi Nishibori, Hiroki Shigemura (M2), Oguri Yurino and Reiya Sasaki (UG) received comments and guidance from (see above) Professor Davisi Boontharm (Meiji University IAUD and co+re platform), Dr Rafael Balboa (Studio Wasabi and co+labo), Professor Neno Kezić (University of Split), Darko, and co+labo's PhD candidates Sanja Žonja and Sano-san, setting those projects up for the next phase. One of the important nuances which distinguishes 2020 from the eleven previous co+labo@Keio years was provided by Coronavirus pandemics, which questions the ways we used to conduct some important aspects of our work (such as fieldwork, workshops, various collaborative efforts).

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July 12, 2020, 3:28 pm

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co+labo radović co+labo guest lectures continue with Davisi's Boontharm talk on research

Starting from a premise that, in simplest terms, research is about acquiring knowledge, this lecture elaborates how to conduct research in architecture and urban design. In Doing Research, Professor Davisi Boontharm will cover the key components of every research project: formulation of research questions; doing literature review; choosing and conducting appropriate, qualitative and quantitative, research methods; and the ways to present research results – at undergraduate and graduate levels. And, for co+labo significantly, her particular emphasis is on - how to enjoy doing research!

As Davisi Boontharm is with co+labo since its very foundation, to co+labo members and Keio students she needs no introduction. For the record at this blog it suffices to only remind that is Professor of architecture and urban design at Meiji University, Tokyo, International Program in Architecture and Urban Design. Her international career stretches from France, via Thailand, Singapore and Australia, to Japan. Davisi’s research and teaching are interdisciplinary and cross-cultural, with strong emphasis on environmental and cultural sustainability. Her research interests focus on resource approach to urban requalification and creative milieu. She has published several research books and a number of academic papers. Her passion for cities also finds its expression in creative work, with some of her drawings and paintings exhibited in Italy, Japan, Croatia and Slovenia.

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July 17, 2020, 4:29 am

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co+labo radović Reality Check - Neno Kezić delivers the next in co+labo lectures series

In 2020 Neno Kezić, Professor of Architecture at the University of Splitand Arhipolis is a Guest Professor (Global) at Keio University, Graduate School of Science and Technology. That was the result of our rich collaboration which, since 2005, included a number of international workshops and symposia - the latest of which was Reopening the Split Casein September 2019. Although the Coronavirus outbreak has delayed his visit to Tokyo, since April Neno is involved in our various, Webex-based research and design-related activities. In the announcement of his first co+labo lecture, he explains how: "following the presentations on various research topics, this lecture questions and presents the "next step", how the research induces and triggers ideas and project concepts. It asks:
How dedicated research induce / inform / inspire the specific concept?
What are the means and methods to provoke / initialise creativity in design?

What is the role of individual influences and experiences for design practice?

What is the relationship between design hypothesis and built project?

How the reality check corresponds with initial design concepts and premises?"

These topics will be presented and discussed through Neno's own projects, ranging from urban to single building scales.

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July 31, 2020, 10:40 am

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co+labo radović co+labo students successful@the end of semester design presentations

Semester 1 for architecture and urban design students at Keio Yagami Campus is, to a large degree, dominated by design studios. In 2020, the significant difference in relation too pervious years was brought about by strict measures introduced in response to the Coronavirus outbreak. All of our undergraduate and graduate studios were fully conducted online, pushing everyone involved, students, guest teachers and critics and staff outside the comfort zone and business as usual. And, the results turned out to be very good.
Undergraduate Design Studios, which are traditionally conducted under the seizu III umbrella, produce informal design graduation projects (to be matched in semester 2 with System Design Research Theses). The participating students are also entitled to enter the annual SD Design Competition, which offers further, external competition opportunities.
While seizu III assessment addresses both the quality of process (the learning curve of individual students), SD Competition looks exclusively at the quality of product (design itself). The seizu III Jury consists of studio leaders, chaired by subject coordinator - professors Jorge Almazán, Tatsuya Kishimoto and Darko Radović.

SD Competition Jury consists of two Special Guests, assisted by Seizu III studio leaders. In 2020, Special SD Competition Jury Guests were Professor Davisi Boontharm (Meiji University, co+re) and Sano Satoshi (Eureka, Keio).
Both co+labo students who took part have been awarded:

1st prize Oguri Yurino for her project “Self-greening architecture: Living in a vertical Roji” (above), and

3rd prize Sasaki Reiya for his “Living in the edge: Life of people oozing on the street” (below).

(The runner up was Okuyama Yukio of Almazán Lab and her “暮らしにとりこむ Firewall”).

This year there was no competition for Masters students, but in Masters Studio B 2O2O both co+labo's members received the highest marks - Iwata Amami ("Re:", above) and Mori Yuki ("Productive Shirokane", below) who took part in the project taught by Keio Architecture regular guest teachers, Kondo Tetsuo and Chiba Motoo. The members of the jury included Studio Leaders, architects Noemí Gómes Lobo and Yushi Uehara and Keio professors Almazán, Kishimoto and Radović.

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September 4, 2020, 3:40 pm

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co+labo radović learning by doing: co+labo in international competition

Following the initiative of the award winning architect Bratislav Gaković, co+labo team lead by Rafael balboa, another professional of considerable experience and co+labo Visiting Fellow in 2020 took part in an interesting competition of ideas - Cool Abu Dhabi Challenge. In educational terms, the intensity and quality of work with those two architects provided learning experience which, to co+labo student team, already constitutes an award.
As still, long after the submission of competition entries, the organisers have not released the results, we assume that our Alchemy proposal was not one of the winning scheme. Regardless of official recognition, before the start of the new semester and new we want to celebrate this excellent effort and success of our team.
Sincere co+labo congratulations and thanks go to Braca, Rafa and the team of students - Amami Iwata, Junpei Kawamoto, Shinichi Nishibori, Hiroki Shigemura and Yuki Mori. Well done!

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September 11, 2020, 3:13 pm

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co+labo radović co+labo continues its tradition of annual design-research workshops

On 12 September co+labo will, along with a number of strategic partners, open new, 2020 design workshop - this time in the town of Klis, which is located at the outskirts of Split. The Klis Case 2O2O, co-organised and chaired by the co+re founders Darko Radović and Davisi Boontharm, and Professor Neno Kezić of the University of Split, continues the tradition of annual international urban and architectural design workshops which were regularly conducted in and around the city of Split – from the inaugural Split Case in 2011, via Anatomy of Islands Workshops at islands of Vis and Lastovo (2012-18), to Reopening the Split Case (2019), where we have introduced the co+re “top-heavy” workshopping concept. That format ensures an efficient kick-off of intense exercises, involving a seasoned team of collaborating institutions, teams and individuals, keen to challenge boundaries between teaching and learning.

The Coronavirus pandemic has taught us to be flexible. The preparations for The Klis Casewere based on co+re principle not to give in, but to build in the mechanisms which will enable the delivery of contents that is best at the given moment. Consequently, the 2020 co+re Workshop aims to, besides by now well-established and known quality of its architectural and urban design educational and research outcomes, take positive attitude towards the new condition and advance ways of collaboration at an (enforced) distance, to bring in and advance international experiences and useful practices which all of the participants have acquired since the start of the pandemic. The 2020 Workshop also decidedly moves towards the explicit emphasis on interdisciplinarity, in response to the key strengths of the key organising partners - Keio, Meiji and Split Universities.

The participants in co+re workshop The Klis Case 2020 are coming from four continents, with students from seven universities in Asia, Australia, Europe and South America: the City of Klis Team, Mayor Jakov Vetma, Ivan Vetma; Ivan Aiduk; + students and mentors from: University of Split; Neno Kezić + local experts + Keio University, Tokyo; Darko Radović, Rafael Balboa, co+labo; Mita Akira+ Politecnico di Milano, Gabriele Masera + University of Ljubljana; Tadej Glažar, Alenka Fikfak + Meiji University, Tokyo, Davisi Boontharm dbStudio + King Mongkut University, Bangkok, Chanyaporn Bstilier + Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ana Medina + David Sim, Gehl, Copenhagen+ Ray Lucas, Manchester Metropolitan University+ Bratislav Gaković, Belgrade+ Milica Muminović, Univ. of Canberra + Sidh Sintusingha, Univ. of Melbourne, Australia.

The Klis Case Workshop 2020 is supported by the Municipality of Klis, which suggested the preliminary list of sites that will trigger the Workshop, making sure that it provides not only educational and research benefits, but also contributes to development to the visions for better future of this energetic and aspirational community. While themselves important, these sites will also facilitate discussions about the Klis region as a whole, feed interdisciplinary explorations, and help the Klis Case identify other places and practices to be considered within the project. Topographically demanding, the sites of Klis provide an arena for innovative coordination of planning, territorialism, urbanism, urban and architectural design, civil and other engineering, and their creative and inspirational synthesis.
This blog will be providing regular updates from this event.

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September 13, 2020, 2:31 pm

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The Klis Case workshop student team members are:

Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy, University of Split, Croatia: Niko Borković, Zdravka Đajić, Nora Dešković, Iva Grbavac, Bruno Janković, Ana Ljubić, Ivana Šatara. Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia: Maša Blažič, Urška Jernej, Dylan Gubbels, Blaž Parežnik, Vladimir Tripkovič, Tadej Gregorič, Lovro Pintar, Ivana Gligorovska, Bojan Nikolovski; International Program in Architecture and Urban Design (I-AUD), Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan: Misa Aoki, Hiroya Himeno, Yuji Hirota, Mai Iiyama, Shohei Kosugi, Suguru Sasaki, Ryuji Tomiya; co+labo, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan: Amami Iwata, Jumpei Kawamot, Yuki Mori, Shinichi Nishibori, Yurino Oguri, Reiya Sasaki, Hiroki Shigemura; Politecnico di Milano: Daniele Bertuzzi (Italy), Paolo Del Duca (Italy), Mona Gaber (Iran), Islam Rihan (Egypt), Nur Yemisci (Germany); Universidad des Las Americas, Quito, Ecuador: Santiago Aguire, Arturo Cevallos, Emilia Romero, Ariana Urgiles, Andres Vergara; and University of Canberra: Viktoria Holmik

co+labo radović The Klis Case days 1+2: fieldwork+online sessions across four continents

The Klis Case co+re workshop has started on Saturday, 12 September, in real spaces of Knežev Dvor of the Fort of Klis, with welcome and detailed introductions by coordinators, Professors Neno Kezić, Darko Radović and Davisi Boontharm. The opening lecture, "The Brief History of Klis" was delivered by Dr Ivan Alduk, an archeologist who specialises in history and excavations of the Fort and surrounding areas.

The focus of the Workshop is on two strategic areas, as suggested by Mayor Jakov Vetma:

Markezina Greda (the Marquez’s Beam), located in the Northwestern section of the Klis area (with archeological remnants from to 5-7 century CE) which towers over the 339 m high Fort by 234 m. It became a popular challenge for experienced rock climbers, rewarding them with majestic views over the Fort, Klis, Solin, Split, Adriatic Sea and its many islands.

Kamenolom Klis Kosa (the Klis Kosa Stone Quarry), located on the slopes of the Southeastern hill, covers a vast area 350m above the sea level. Controversial due to invasive mining which affected geological situation of the spring of Jadro River, the Quarry is likely to cease its operations in near future. That opens this huge and brutally scared site to planning and design imagination, to fine critical and creative, programmatic and formal investigations – from territorial to architectural scales. While themselves important, these two sites will also facilitate thinking about the Klis region as a whole, feed interdisciplinary explorations, and help the Klis Case identify other places and practices that could be addressed within the project. Topographically demanding, the sites of Klis provide an arena for innovative coordination of planning, territorialism, urbanism, urban and architectural design, civil and other engineering, and their creative and inspirational synthesis.

The rest of the day way led to further immersion into the new ways of work and use of resources of which we were reminded by Coronavirus - real-life communication between the on-cite and on-line team members, drone recording, live exchange of ideas across four continents.
On Sunday simultaneously in the morning (Japan and Australia), afternoon (Croatia, Italia, Slovenia) and in the middle of the night (Ecuador), the intensive programme of workshop inputs continued with mini-lectures by Darko Radović ("On Intangibles, and the rest"), Ray Lucas ("Why I Draw"), Bratislav Gaković ("Scar and Scale"), and Rafael Balboa ("On Connectivity, Metamorphology and Creative Thinking"), followed by discussions. After the break, students presented first results of their investigations, elements of analysis and initial ideas where all that could go.

On Monday, co+re workshop continues with new set of lectures and intensive studio work.

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September 15, 2020, 11:19 am

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co+labo radović The Klis Case days 3+4: fieldwork+lectures+design sessions intensify

On Monday, 14 September The Klis Case continued with a series of inputs - Sidh Sintusingha and "Landscape Urbanism", Akira Mita's "Biofield Space and Interface", Chanyaporn Bstieler's "Creating Night-time Identity of a City with Lighting masterplan", and Gabriele Masera's "Reinventing Milan's Railway Yards", which were delivered live from Melbourne, Tokyo, Bangkok and Milano. The lectures were followed by discussion and, in the afternoon one of the co+re innovations in online teaching of design was introduced - simultaneous work in six "studio rooms", across four time-zones and continents. Professors from seven universities were "door knocking" on The Klis Case "Rooms" and joining student design teams, offering their comments and advice. The functioning of these experimental collaborative clusters, in which students from various universities meet in virtual space and jointly work on a single project is of fundamental importance for the Workshop. Although not surprising, it was still pleasant to the organisers to confirm that all four formats that were implemented by now and which constitute The Klis Case - the fieldwork, real-time lectures, plenary discussion sessions and these experimental "rooms" function as planned.
On Tuesday after the third final set of lectures (Davisi Boontharm's "On Requalification", Milica Muminović's "Place as Assemblage", Ana Medina's "XS Urban Life", and Alenka Fikfak's "Lie in Between"), it was time to test plenary presentation and discussion of student design ideas, concepts and, in some cases, already drafted concrete proposals. The progress was encouraging and 24 hours per day work in this co+re workshop in which the sun never sets continues ...

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September 16, 2020, 2:13 pm

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On Wednesday, 16 September Ms Maja Kovač-Levantin, a reporter from the regional station Televizija Jadran met and interviewed organisers of The Klis Case, professors Darko Radović, Neno Kezić, Davisi Boontharm.
You can access an extract from those interviews here (time: 14' 42" - 20' 42").
Although the report is in Croatian language, the background images and video clips provided by co+re provide a sense of The Klis Case atmosphere and how these new, challenging intercontinental ways in which the workshop operates are reframing but not damaging the team spirit, desire to learn and impress.

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September 19, 2020, 12:56 pm

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co+laboradović The Klis Case, days 5+6+7+8: new ways in collaborative workshopping

The design of this entry in colaboradovic.blogspace.com was affected by changes

introduced by blogger.com. The enforced changes forced the departure from our

formatting which was established eleven years ago. We hope to be able to return,

to our standard image soon. In the meantime - our apologies to regular viewers.

The Klis Caseco+re workshop, one in which the sun never sets, continued with design crit sessions conducted in six parallel rooms, self-managed by six complex, international, interdisciplinary teams, and rich plenary interim presentation.

Besides the quality of design work, The Klis Case projects which are in advanced stages of making, the process, the way in which this experimental workshop was conceptualised and in which it is being conducted was nothing short of exciting. Over the years, our workshops have always provided the intensity and quality of both work and its products; the initial fears about the effects of the imposed and sudden move online are proving to be largely unfounded. The impression is that the workshop produces an increase quantity of work and of its quality. That is still only perceived, and will be analysed by a separate co+re research project (which unfolds in the background of The Klis Case. Tomorrow, on Sunday 20 September, the final review in front of the Mayor of Klis Mr Jakov Vetma and his team will add another important dimension, a touch of local passion and realism.

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