Radical Preservation
Architecture is in a critical state.
With digital software erasing its history, architecture needs a radical new city of preservation.This new state of architecture lies in building types that do not yet exist. Architecture is purported to be in an era of so-called digital expansion, but it is really in a state of constant repetition. The digital expansion of software and its ability to rapidly generate diversity has been blindly embraced. But rather than embrace the digital realm’s proclivity for erasure, architects should look to precedents of historically analogous structures to produce a state of architecture in which the tradition can evolve. Using the act, the object, and its physical presence, building can ensure the continued development of ideas through a non-digital medium as new digital technologies evolve and old ones become obsolete. Histories past, present, and forgotten can unlock architecture’s digital controls and radicalize all structures by defining radicality as preservation. Preserving and remembering in the physical object has become the new radical.. The notion of radical preservation is timeless; it simultaneously includes the past and future states of architecture. The current state of architecture is in desperate need of radical preservation to keep our building traditions from being lost through recurring digital nightmares.
The use of historic references and analysis is a means of discovery we practice with all Chicago Underground Practice projects. Our practice summarizes the causes and analysis under the umbrella of Radical Preservation. Radical preservation is our method of reversal from the known state of restoration into an active model constantly renewing the architectural objectives and constructions within contexts of differing scales. These contexts and the associated causes fundamentally transform the conditions of existing structures into ever-changing states of Radical Preservation. The lessons of Radical Preservation translate to the real world as historic sites are reconsidered and transformed into new functioning architectural programs.
The competition project “Re-imaging the Astrodome, aka King of Texas”, was selected as the site of the Seventh Wonder of the World gone dormant and rendered obsolete.The event described below took place on national television. Chicago Underground Practice refabricated the event by gathering information, constructing it as one of the many inhabitants of the Village of Radical Preservation ( a fictional means of representation that collects architectural artifacts for the production of narratives.)
On the night of Thursday,September 20, 1973 Billie Jean King rode into the Astrodome like Cleopatra on a crimson-draped litter before a crowd of 30,472, for a $100,000 winner-takes-all tennis match against Bobby Riggs. She rode out the King of Texas.
Howard Cosell wore a tuxedo to announce the ABC broadcast of “Battle of the Sexes,” live from the Astrodome on September 20, 1973. One of Cosell’s favorite sayings was “What is popular isn’t always right, and what is right isn’t always popular.” Billie Jean King epitomized Cosell’s aphorism by demonstrating women’s equality to a worldwide television audience of approximately 90 million people in 37 countries—a larger audience than both the 1973 and 1974 Super Bowls.
This project of Radical Preservation physically represents the 40th anniversary of September 20, 1973 as a pivotal moment in earning respect and awareness for gender equality as a universal freedom.
Architecture is in a critical state.
With digital software erasing its history, architecture needs a radical new city of preservation.This new state of architecture lies in building types that do not yet exist. Architecture is purported to be in an era of so-called digital expansion, but it is really in a state of constant repetition. The digital expansion of software and its ability to rapidly generate diversity has been blindly embraced. But rather than embrace the digital realm’s proclivity for erasure, architects should look to precedents of historically analogous structures to produce a state of architecture in which the tradition can evolve. Using the act, the object, and its physical presence, building can ensure the continued development of ideas through a non-digital medium as new digital technologies evolve and old ones become obsolete. Histories past, present, and forgotten can unlock architecture’s digital controls and radicalize all structures by defining radicality as preservation. Preserving and remembering in the physical object has become the new radical.. The notion of radical preservation is timeless; it simultaneously includes the past and future states of architecture. The current state of architecture is in desperate need of radical preservation to keep our building traditions from being lost through recurring digital nightmares.
The use of historic references and analysis is a means of discovery we practice with all Chicago Underground Practice projects. Our practice summarizes the causes and analysis under the umbrella of Radical Preservation. Radical preservation is our method of reversal from the known state of restoration into an active model constantly renewing the architectural objectives and constructions within contexts of differing scales. These contexts and the associated causes fundamentally transform the conditions of existing structures into ever-changing states of Radical Preservation. The lessons of Radical Preservation translate to the real world as historic sites are reconsidered and transformed into new functioning architectural programs.
The competition project “Re-imaging the Astrodome, aka King of Texas”, was selected as the site of the Seventh Wonder of the World gone dormant and rendered obsolete.The event described below took place on national television. Chicago Underground Practice refabricated the event by gathering information, constructing it as one of the many inhabitants of the Village of Radical Preservation ( a fictional means of representation that collects architectural artifacts for the production of narratives.)
On the night of Thursday,September 20, 1973 Billie Jean King rode into the Astrodome like Cleopatra on a crimson-draped litter before a crowd of 30,472, for a $100,000 winner-takes-all tennis match against Bobby Riggs. She rode out the King of Texas.
Howard Cosell wore a tuxedo to announce the ABC broadcast of “Battle of the Sexes,” live from the Astrodome on September 20, 1973. One of Cosell’s favorite sayings was “What is popular isn’t always right, and what is right isn’t always popular.” Billie Jean King epitomized Cosell’s aphorism by demonstrating women’s equality to a worldwide television audience of approximately 90 million people in 37 countries—a larger audience than both the 1973 and 1974 Super Bowls.
This project of Radical Preservation physically represents the 40th anniversary of September 20, 1973 as a pivotal moment in earning respect and awareness for gender equality as a universal freedom.
Location: Chicago, Illinois
T. Joseph Surjan - design scientist & writer
S. Hjelte Fumanelli - project architect & digital modeling
T. Joseph Surjan - design scientist & writer
S. Hjelte Fumanelli - project architect & digital modeling