Interview With Eric Goldemberg Of MONAD Studio

Eric Goldemberg: Fabio, it is my enjoyment to attempt at answering this concern by saying that I may not match any of the job descriptions you discuss, or I might be all of them at the same time ... however I like rather the unidentified alternative much better due to the fact that it provides me and my partner Veronica Zalcberg the opportunity to keep challenging any tags that people may wish to use to our activities and ruminations.
I am also a scholastic (I am a full-time teacher and digital style organizer at the School of Architecture at FIU - Florida International University in Miami), a book author, exhibitions curator & producer, even a video artist and basic cultural scavenger too-- you need to see the kinds of odd things that are built up at our MONAD Studio storage facility! ... but let's simply state that 'architect' is an all-encompassing term that synthesizes our spatial engagement with the world of design, and that 3D digital design and fabrication is our medium of option, our expertise that allows us access to other channels of expression.
3dd: So what is with the snorkeling? I think the photo on the website is genius!
EG: Yes, it is somewhat funny and informal but likewise reveals our existential angst; the immersion into a liquid medium where one is devoid of bounding coordinates liberates the senses to capture spatial relations of the body through multiplicitous vectorial trajectories that otherwise would be obscured by conventions and presumptions about how the world is to be perceived. Through our work we question precisely the rhythmicity of the cognitive procedure; we have an interest in the impacts of perception and the capability to inflect such affective activity; to provoke, to tease, and to morph the physical environment by means of digital strategies; some individuals call that architecture and we do not disagree with them.
3dd: I make sure nobody has ever asked you the most basic concern yet. What is it for you architecture?
EG: I would say that architecture is a shifting ground because the term is nowadays being utilized for all sorts of things beyond the domain of architecture itself; it has actually been co-opted by political campaigns, by the business world in general, in addition to ending up being an 'autonomus knowledge' term that describes the structure or procedure of the "becoming" of anything, truly.
For MONAD Studio architecture refers both to a hardcore family tree of our disciplinar development-- I dealt with Peter Eisenman and Asymptote Architecture/Hani Rashid + Lise Anne Couture; and Veronica worked with a group of Greg Lynn, F.O.A./ Alejandro Zaera-Polo + Farshid Moussavi, UN Studio/Ben van Berkel + Caroline Bos, and RUR/Jesse Reiser + Nanako Umemoto in New York -, along with the chance to check out a network of art cooperations through style, beyond what would be developed as the limits of the discipline; this is done through exhibition style, digitally produced paintings and sculptures, cooperations with video-artists and musicians, etc. In any case, our expeditions of that limit are constantly made with the lens and the mind of an architect, constantly seeking for a spatial-emotional measurement of any problem at hand. In other words, although we get involved on numerous various mediums, we constantly run as architects that we are.
A good example of our approach to architecture is the Memorial for the Victims of the Tsunami in Thailand, where there is an emotional reaction to the coming from tragedy and yet it is arranged spatially into parts that distribute the perceptual charge across a field condition, engaging the sublime scale of the affected landscape and arranging the territory for architecturally fluid experiences. The yard formations weave paths whereby there is a break-down in the magnitude of the occasion which returns to haunt as the memory of numerous micro-events ripple in succession, connected seamlessly down the mountain and all the method down to the beach and ocean blue. The job made the most of a current drainage channel and magnified it to boost the spectacle of water partly flooding the courtyards, increasing and decreasing according to necessary rhythms that customize the perceptual field across the multiplicitous yards and thus producing a space for reflection, an area to experience the depth of the interplay between memory and identity.
3dd: Monad Studio's design work as you already pointed out is shared with your partner. Can you present us much better likewise to Veronica Zalcberg?
We share all style responsibilities, and she is also my inspiration; she has a wild spirit that takes place through her paintings and it comes back to our designs through strange feedback processes; so far her artwork functions on a parallel dimension-- even though we do all in the very same storage facility-- but there is an unspoken viral contamination throughout her painter activity and our architecture. Veronica is also now leading our nascent furnishings and item design endeavor which is challenging MONAD to continue the refinement of digital fabrication strategies, pushing the perceptiveness of comprehensive resolution and assembly procedures that industrial products require.
3dd: I love the statment: 'Monad Studio is a style research practice with focus on spatial perception related to balanced affect.' Can you describe to us what you suggest by that?
EG: Our practice is focused on teasing architectural results related to the perception of rhythms in space, enhanced by digital innovation and fluid, three-dimensional design.
This is much better explained in my approaching book 'Pulsation in Architecture' which is coming out in late September released by J.Ross Publishing Inc. and I think it can be a contribution to our field at a time when digital architecture is begging for a (more culturally robust) agenda beyond a simple instrumentality.
A survey of practices about our affective capacity to sense balanced affect in area, it resonates with Antoine Picon's version of efficiency in architecture.
It highlights the function of digital design as catalyst for a new spatial perceptiveness associated to rhythmic understanding. It proposes a novel critical reception of computational architecture based in the capacity for the reception of digital style to engage with core elements of the discipline such as time-based operations and performance. The generative engine of digital architecture revitalizes a discourse of part-to-whole relationships through the lens of balanced affect.
There is a paradigm shift in spatial understanding due to the extensive usage of computational methods and the capacity to change huge quantities of data into spatial patterns of performance. Pulsation introduces the basic animate capacity of living form and improves our perception of architectural area throughout the multiple scales of a job, from digital creation to fabrication.
An emerging thread of rhythmic sensibility binds loosely a study of practices consisting of contributions by Peter Eisenman, EMBT/Miralles-Tagliabue, Jeffrey Kipnis, Greg Lynn, UN Studio/Van Berkel-Bos, P.Scott Cohen, RUR/Reiser+Umemoto, Asymptote, Ali Rahim, Minimaforms/Theo Spyropoulos, Hernan Diaz Alonso, Ruy-Klein, Gage-Clemenceau, Commonwealth/Boira-Coombes, NOX/Lars Spuybroek, Evan Douglis, Ed Keller, Kokkugia/Roland Snooks, and others.
3dd: You have such an international background and you have spent so much time working in Argentina too! Your work however is very various from what we generally see coming out of South American offices. Were your work and your orientation towards architecture constantly so comparable to what you do today or did they evolve in time?
The systemic nature of those jobs is in my blood stream, no doubt about that. The interest in concerns relating to repetition and distinction, rhythmic understanding, and memory & identity have to do with that heritage and our interest in the ideas of the progressive in New York are also to be traced back to that early formation; both Veronica and I craved what was going on at Columbia University for a long time while creating and building our early jobs in Buenos Aires, and we lastly went to study at Columbia in 2001-2002, which was an influential experience for the type of work we do now. We feel today that our work is getting here at a plateau of interest and elegance that can only be possible by integrating our South American origin with the strong desire for the experience at the American academia, particularly the exposure to the digital culture that was so hot throughout our stay at Columbia-- where I later on taught studios with Hernan Diaz Alonso and Hani Rashid too.
Being from Argentina, we bring a particular strength, enthusiasm, and ingenuity to approaching and fixing design problems that separates our practice and provides it a specific taste that is the result of being awake, all senses alert to deepen expressive opportunities presented by every task, be it a building, an art installation, a book, or a painting. They are all approached with the muscle of the naked eye.
3dd: The work that you show online on www.monadstudio.net is an excellent teaser for discussions on what the future might be or likewise on what the present must look like. Is there a real expediency behind these jobs?
EG: Absolutely! We are now on developmental stage of 3 jobs that serve as lorries for the exploration of the essential innovation. One of them is The Wolfsonian-FIU Museum exhibition task where we are running in various capacities, from co-curators to manufacturers and designers of the exhibit setup that will show Art Nouveau items from the museum's collections designed by the similarity Hector Guimard, Henry van de Velde, and Victor Horta, in discussion with digitally made items designed by contemporary designers such as Greg Lynn, Hernan Diaz Alonso, Mark Gage, and David Ruy.
Our display system includes several vitrine-environments woven together by a system of 'raised roots' that produce the visual story and support the lighting and atmosphere of The Wolfsonian's galleries. We are going through the procedure of studying numerous models of high-density foam coated with polyurethane-treated paint, and a great deal of sanding! The most difficult part is adjusting the trim of the polygonal modeling so that one can subdivide the geographies of the components and justify the assembly: simply put, we are attempting to determine how to cut the salami, effectively!
3dd: This is a truly cool metaphor the among the salami! Now, I am going to ask you this just since otherwise our readers will ask it to me rather! Which software do you utilize the most?
EG: I use primarily Maya for 3D modeling; it is nearly a 3rd partner! We also use a variety of software application for the various phases of a job, consisting of Rhino for digital fabrication and 3D Max for visualization.
3dd: Is there a specific relationship between the software application you use and the kind of architecture you produce? I see in your work a lot of polygonal and natural modeling, is this the result of your computer system abilities or something you were pursuing straight with your creativity?
EG: Working within the restraint and the reasoning of any offered software is prehistoric to optimizing the expressive capacity of the work that is going to come out, as well as being able to set yourself up to be 'stunned' by combinatorial logics and extraordinary relational effects. We do not seek complete knowledge of a provided software; rather, we pick to focus in a couple of various tools that allow us to produce our style strategies, be it polygonal modeling or nurbs surface areas driven.



For MONAD Studio architecture refers both to a hardcore family tree of our disciplinar formation-- I worked with Peter Eisenman and Asymptote Architecture/Hani Rashid + Lise Anne Couture; and Veronica worked with a group of Greg Lynn, F.O.A./ Alejandro Zaera-Polo + Farshid Moussavi, UN Studio/Ben van Berkel + Caroline Bos, and RUR/Jesse Reiser + Nanako Umemoto in New York -, as well as the opportunity to check out a network of art partnerships through style, outside of what would be conceived as the limitations of the discipline; this is done through exhibition design, digitally made paintings and sculptures, cooperations with video-artists and musicians, etc. We share all style responsibilities, and she is likewise my inspiration; she has a wild spirit that transpires through her paintings and it comes back to our designs through mysterious feedback procedures; so far her art work functions on a parallel dimension-- even though we do all in the exact same storage facility-- but there is an unspoken viral contamination across her painter activity and our architecture. It proposes a novel vital reception of computational architecture based in the capacity for the reception of digital design to engage with core aspects of the discipline such as time-based operations and performance. The interest in concerns relating to repeating and difference, rhythmic understanding, and memory & identity have to do with that heritage and our interest in the concepts of the avant-garde in New York are likewise to be traced back to that early formation; both Veronica and I craved what was going on at Columbia University for a long time while creating and developing our early jobs in Buenos Aires, and we finally went to study at Columbia in 2001-2002, which was an influential experience for the type of work we do now. One of them is The Wolfsonian-FIU Museum exhibit job where we are running in different capabilities, from co-curators to producers and designers of the exhibit installation that will display Art Nouveau things from the museum's collections designed by the likes of Hector Guimard, Henry van de Velde, and Victor Horta, in discussion with digitally produced items designed by modern architects such as Greg Lynn, Hernan Diaz Alonso, Mark Gage, and David Ruy.