Quaderns #262: A Gut Reaction

Quaderns d’arquitectura i urbanisme #262 is provocatively
titled “Parainfrastructures”, an invented word that is rich with
ambiguity. Are we to understand this as a type of subsidiary or
ancillary infrastructure operating parallel to a more official one? Or
does it refer, in the sense of “paramedic”, to a temporary,
quick-response, emergency infrastructure? Certainly, it suggests
something more subversive, or perhaps we could say something more
“underground” than ordinary infrastructure.



“Are we now completely unable to dream of antiinfrastructure?” asks John May in his introductory essay titled “Infrastructuralism:
The Pathology of Negative Externalities.” His insightful and
provocative critique is followed by four case studies, together
comprising a section of the magazine titled “1 Essay x 4 Cases”. Of the
four cases that follow, the first, Heathrow Airplot by Paisajes
Emergentes, is arguably the only outright piece of antiinfrastructure: it
proposes to prevent the expansion of Heathrow Airport by positioning a
series of large Pink Floyd-like balloons to occupy flightpaths so that
they literally stand–or float–in the way of progress. The other three
cases (Brockholes Wetland Visitor Centre by Adam Khan, Lolita restaurant
by Langarita-Navarro, and Nagelhaus by Caruso St John), all of which
have something to do with highway infrastructure, relate more tenuously
to May’s thesis. Significantly, the texts accompanying each of these
four works are architects’ project statements; not critical reflections.
The same goes for the works included in the Observatory section at the
end of the magazine. I guess architecture critics need not apply here.



The sections in the middle, “Archive 1971”, “3 Essays x 1 Case”, and
“Guest” are much more coherent and watertight. The Archive section
features a different year in every issue; a sort of blast-from-the-past.
In this issue, the year 1971 is featured, and includes an interview
with José Miguel de Prada Poole followed by historical research and
firsthand accounts of the building of experimental inflatable
structures. 3 Essays x 1 Case looks back at Girona-Costa Brava Airport, a
building which has had its share of ups and downs during its lifetime.
The instigation to look back and reflect on past work is one of the most
significant turns this edition of Quaderns has taken. Architecture
takes on a life of its own when it becomes inhabited; a reality that can
sometimes be stranger than fiction. For an architecture magazine to
critically reflect back on the real life of buildings, and not just ones
idealized in design intentions, is praiseworthy. The conduciveness of
architecture to a better shelf-life might just become a little more
lubricated.



Continuity can be seen as another quality of this edition of Quaderns
magazines. Each issue begins with a review of the last one and ends
with a segue into the next, which in this case is preservation. A
debate, if it were (only) to erupt, is well served by the weaving of a
continuous thread through consecutive issues of a magazine. And
provoking debate is exactly what magazines such as Quaderns should be
doing.



[Originally published at http://quaderns.coac.net/en/2011/09/reaccions-262-gomezmoriana/ ]