Low cost low tech Architecture

Low cost low tech Architecture. Low-resolution avant-garde inventions and strategies, Alessandro Rocca, Sassi, 2010, pp. 208, € 24.00

In a strange coincidence, the book by Alessandro Rocca and the last issue of "Volume" devoted to the architecture of extraterrestrial exploration are sitting on my desk at the same time. At first sight, there could not be two more distant topics. On the one hand, the pauperistic (but chic) idea of obtaining the most with the least that the global crisis has left to our design fantasies and on the other, strict performance requirements and multi-billion technologies and investments: low key (in terms of cost, technology, definition ...) vs. the starry heights (in all senses).

However, both areas of research, pushed to diametrically opposed extremes by temporal contingency and the drive to explore, challenge architecture to justify its necessity, and along with that, the meaning of its very action. If, in fact, the space (for manoeuvring) for the design of (architectural) space inevitably decreases (orbital) space, radical cost reductions can be just as threatening for the free unfolding of qualitative research. There is no denying that the most economic architecture is that which is not built and that, if it must be, a safe (and universally practiced) expedient for cutting costs is to save on the architect's fees ... But it is also true that hardship is the mother of invention and economy of means tends to result in a necessary and convincing order in terms of operational logic and visual outcome.

The irreconcilable contradictions between the luxury that, in any case, is represented by our profession and the tendency towards a new frugality, between the dissipation of experimental architecture and the conservation of resources, is tackled by Alessandro Rocca and by the different, interesting projects presented in this wise book that is free from ideological prejudices and the improbable ambition of being all-encompassing. Rather than proposing solutions that are reliable, consistent and reproducible (the infamous "best practices" that every good project aims to surpass), his eyes examine "inventions and strategies" that are necessarily partial, but which can produce a significant shift in conceptual approach and perception. Thus we navigate among well-landscaped gardens, open spaces, pavilions, small dwellings, social building projects and headquarters of African NGOs (where the issue of cost-effectiveness becomes even more stringent), and even a London design hotel and a Paris concept store, pausing from time to time to reflect upon how the effective use of the different design strategies are deployed to transform budget constraints into opportunities for innovation and quality.

Mass production, modularity and organization of materials resolve the variable geometry of the Interboro Garden in New York and Vicente Guallart's landscaping in Vinaròs. Raw and unfinished materials add tactile quality and continuous variation to the A12 Pavilion in Otterlo. The replacement of walls and windows with moveable curtains adds a flexible space - the "Magic Cube" by Peter Gabrijelcic - to a restored villa in Ljubljana. Industrial greenhouses superimposed on a simple concrete structure achieve excellent performance, in terms of circulation and energy savings, of the residential block by Lacaton & Vassal in Mulhouse. An intimate and comfortable microclimate within the vast space of an art school in Hexham (Davidson Rafailidis) is created through the use of bubble wrap.

Here, as in several other examples in the book, the ready-made and self-building play key roles, both in terms of executive accuracy (the tea house by A1 architects in Prague) and in the acceleration of processes of marginal differentiation and identification (social housing projects by Elemental in Chile and Mexico). In Japan, the exploitation of minimal lot sizes inspires the uniqueness of the realizations by Atelier Tekuto and Shuei Endo. In Paris, an interior lined with recycled wood contrasts the expensive clothes in the L'Eclaireur by Arne Quinze; while the elegant nonchalance with which the peeling walls of the Rough Luxe Hotel by Rabin Hage form the backdrop for refined furnishings immediately tempers its coldness...

At a time when architecture needs to find the words and ways to cope with its shrinking prospects, these and other projects in Alessandro Rocca's essay show how the need to adopt subtractive practices (in terms of time, space, technology, work, operations, variety etc.) can be overturned – in a narrative sense - by the multiplication of meaning, going clearly beyond the well-known connection between simplicity, elegance and appropriateness.