AA HONOURS 2015: ELENI MARIA TZAVELLOU GAVALA, DIPLOMA 4 Excerpt
Territoriality, Power and Fragility of Extraction
26 June 2015
Architectural Association, London
“Once upon a time in the middle of nowhere, in the misty desert with nomads and pearl fishers, oil and gas were discovered…”
The fairytale of major oil producers attaining wealth and witnessing rapid urbanisation processes in the iconic portrait of the desert is a construct. The production of space is not a side effect, but a project. It becomes my project at a time when architectural knowledge is unfolding, restructuring and revealing that it is a landscape at risk.
This sole dependency on natural resource extraction for Qatar is simultaneously their “raison d'être” and an Achilles heel. It generates fragile systems, exposed territories and vulnerable spatial configurations.
How do you negotiate through architecture?
The answer was amalgamated with Maria Radjenovic. We propose in consensus a larger platform of dialogue between two projects, building constantly a thesis and an antithesis. It is an apparatus to negotiate, where negotiation for us was not only the product, but also the method.
The real honour was the privilege to be educated by John Palmesino and Ann-Sofi Rönnskog. I also feel blessed to be surrounded by rare friends like Maria. All enveloped within the uniqueness of the AA cosmos.
For more information:
Diploma 4 Unit Brief
AA Honours on AA Conversations