The CCA has announced the launch of To Build Law, the second chapter of Groundwork, a three-part film and exhibition series exploring the conceptual development and field research of contemporary architects cultivating alternative modes of practice.
Groundwork aims to ask how we understand the making of architecture in the present moment, and how architects situate themselves in relation to changing natural and disciplinary boundaries. The exhibition aims to ask questions such as: ‘What to build, or not build?’ ‘Is a building the end point of architectural production?’ ‘What to do with the existing building stock?’ ‘How to intervene in the landscape?’ and ‘How to engage with the increasing environmental and social complexities of a site?’
According to a 2020 report by the UN Environment Programme, the construction industry accounts for at least 38 per cent of carbon emissions globally, operating with narrow methods geared toward profit. Buildings are held as assets, torn down, and redeveloped, with limited consideration of community and environmental impacts.
The documentary and exhibition To Build Law follows the Berlin-based collaborative architecture practice bplus.xyz (b+) and the Zurich-located chair for architecture and storytelling s+ (station.plus, D-ARCH, ETH Zurich) as they establish a policy lab, HouseEurope!, to propose industry reforms and shift cultural norms.
The project observes b+’s radical experiments beyond the fringes of conventional architectural practice, during various phases of conceptualization and development of a European Citizens’ Initiative meant to incentivize renovation over demolition and new construction.
Guided by an urgency to understand the ways that architects are enacting change in the built environment, curator Francesco Garutti, alongside film director Joshua Frank, will be presenting a reportage of urban fragments and legal pathways in which architecture reveals itself as an open process of establishing partners, drafting positions, convening meetings, strategizing campaigns, and collecting votes to build a movement that aims to change the conditions of the architectural discipline in Europe.
To Build Law is the second chapter of Groundwork, which launched in May 2024 with Into the Island.
The exhibition will be on display until September 14, 2025.
For more information on the exhibition, click here.
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