Thom Mayne Lecture: What's next?

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, Thom Mayne lectured at SCI-Arc on March 14, 2012.

This lecture was part of the wonderful series of lectures that happens every semester at SCI-arc. It was also a continuation of the dialog opened up after the Eisenman lecture.

 Thom Mayne @ SCI-Arc. 03-14-2012. (c) Manori Sumanasinghe

Click on this link to watch the video:


http://www.sciarc.edu/sciarc_player.html?vid=http://www.sciarclive.com/Lectures/2012_03_14_ThomMayne.flv&title=Thom%20Mayne


The videos is a part of the SCI-Arc public lecture archive

Lecture by Peter Eisenman at SCI-Arc

I have the urge to apologize to you for not posting frequently enough. But then again, if you study architecture or know anything about the education of an architect you will understand therefore, forgive me for my not-very-frequent presence in the blogosphere. I am sorry and I will try my best to post more.....

We recently had Peter Eisenman Lecturing at SCI-Arc. I had the privilege to watch one of the reviews he took part, his lecture the same day evening and the Graduate Thesis Symposium the next day.

Eric Owen Moss Introducing Peter Eisenman @ SCI-Arc. 03-05-2012. (c) Manori Sumanasinghe

Graduate Thesis Symposium with (from left) Elena Manfredini, Hernan Alonso Diaz, Jeff Kipnis, Peter Eisenman, and Eric Owne Moss @ SCI-Arc. 03-06-2012. (c) Manori Sumanasinghe

Peter Eisenman, no doubt one of the most admired architects today, raised quite a debate during his lecture.

You can watch the lecture here:
http://www.sciarc.edu/sciarc_player.html?vid=http://www.sciarclive.com/Lectures/2012_03_05_PeterEisenman.flv&title=Peter%20Eisenman

He did confuse the audience quite a bit with the project vs. practice theory.

To paraphrase him "Architecture does not respond to social or political situations"... What do you think? I want to side with Moss, Mayne and Kipnis on this issue. Not because I admire them or they are attached to our school, but because my personal conviction is that architecture do impact people and architecture has the ability to reach out to people. See, I think that solutions for most of the social, political, and economical issues that are present in the world today can be found by addressing the problems from many angles. We live in a world today that everything is interconnected. Nothing exists in its singularity, on its own. The problems of the society themselves are a result of failure of many things rather than just a singular incident. Therefore the solutions should also be comprehensive and integral. I feel that architecture provides and opportunity to address these problems and is one of the many aspects of society that should contribute to the improvement of the overall human development. This is a topic I would like to discuss further as I go along. I would like to invite you to start a conversation with me on this ....

Following this lecture, the next day was the Graduate Thesis Symposium. The panel included Mr. Eisenman, Architecture critic Jeff Kipnis, SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss, SCI-Arc Grad Director Hernan Diaz Alonso and Faculty Elena Manfredini. I hope SCI-Arc post that video as well because it was a great follow up to the debate and the topics discussed at the lecture the day before.

We had Jeff Kipnis lecturing the next day so stay tuned to that video link because his lecture took the debate a bit further and next week's lecture is one of my favorite architects Thom Mayne and I will post the links when they become available.

All the videos are a part of the SCI-Arc public lecture archive.

Retrocognitions - Interview with Wagner Alegretti

I found this video on YouTube. It is an interview with Wagner Alegretti, the author of the book Retrocognitions: An investigation into memories of past lives and the periods between lives.

The video is in Portuguese but you can see English subtitles.



If you are interested in watching the whole video, click here

TV interview :)

We did an interview on our school TV station on Consciousness & Architecture. Hope you enjoy it.

COP15 video

IAC decided to submit an entry to a competition that took small videos about Environment and Climate issues that is related to the Copenhagen summit in December. So we got to work and got our hands dirty.....

IAC being a truly international organization we decided to have volunteers from different countries talk about our responsibilities to our environment in their native languages. It was also appropriate to produce this video at the campus because conservation and sustainability is a big part of the facility.

The video came out pretty cool. Check it out here .

Here is the transcript in case you don't understand all the languages :D

The International Academy of Consciousness is a volunteer-based, non-profit organization dedicated to consciousness research and education. We have taught in 40 cities around the world, from L.A. to Tokyo, but we are making an appeal to you today from our Campus in the Alentejo region in southern Portugal: let us work together to raise awareness on climate change!

We study what is popularly known as human essence, atman, ego, spirit, or intelligence principle – that which we all are. Our scientific research into extraordinary experiences such as near-death and out-of-body experiences has led us to a new, non-mechanistic paradigm. Rather than seeing ourselves and all living beings as things or machines, we discover that consciousness and life extend beyond the physical dimension and common senses. Our experience shows us that this kind of paradigm shift leads to many positive changes, including greater ecological awareness.

We present IAC’s Phytoenergy Laboratory. It is designed to facilitate the connection between individuals and nature, through the perception of bioenergy. Bioenergy has been part of cultures throughout history and around the world. It is also known as chi, qi, prana, axe, vital energy and dozens of other terms. In the US, for instance, the National Institutes of Healths are researching it as the biofield.

In this laboratory, people are able to perceive their subtle energy field as well as that of the trees and so on. This helps us realize a greater communion with nature and our School of Spiritual Evolution called Earth.

The Projectarium is the world’s first laboratory specifically designed to facilitate the projection of the consciousness, also known as out-of-body experience or OBE. The OBE and allied phenomena can be used to extend scientific investigation beyond the normal physical senses. Similarly, the IAC trains individuals to achieve OBE’s as a way discover that they are more than the physical body through personal experience.

Research shows that people have near-death and out-of-body experiences tend to become more fraternal and universalist with a greater sense of stewartship for the Earth.

Faced with the realization that our life can have real purpose, that our thoughts and energy have a real impact, and that we survive death and will likely return to Earth in future life times, we inevitably have a keep ecological awareness. This is reflected in our sustainable construction and living practices at the IAC Campus.

Our buildings have been constructed with the highest thermal efficiency. All laboratories, including our tree-top laboratory, have been constructed without damaging the local flora. We have an active OASIS Project, which aims to enhance the local flora and fauna at the IAC Campus, which is one of the few no-hunting zones in the area. The campus has an ongoing taxonomy project that catalogs the thousands of species of the ecosystem.

Besides our conservation practices, we are developing a rain water reclamation system to help us deal with the increasing drought in this already arid region. Climate change has a direct impact in the sustainability of this facility and the entire region.

We will continue to promote multidimensional self-awareness and building our campus in a sustainable way…

Raise your voice... raise your awareness on climate change!

… A healthy Earth is vital for the evolution and survival of humankind. !

That's me right at the very end of the video, speaking in Sinhalese... :)