Solutions to Vacancy

Nicholas Bastis, David Fleishman, Brandon Pass and Beidler Elementary

Forms of Spectacle and Solutions to Vacancy sought to subvert the normative construction and distribution hierarchies of destination-object architecture.  By building and celebrating the "opening" of a replicated 1:1 scale Frank Gehry structure in an under served neighborhood of Chicago's west side, the installation and performance examined certain architectures as symbols of capital power, testing the perceived strength of Gehry's aesthetic and its rumored ability to seemingly transform a neighborhood's social and economic infrastructure.  By working with various groups in the community- an elementary school, a homeless employment organization, and a church - the participatory process attempted to transfer the symbolic ownership of a famous architectural object to those that had largely been excluded from Chicago's centrally invested 'City Beautiful' model.  The project became a platform to not only test current and historical trends in architecture and planning, but to challenge the distribution of such urban renewal methodologies and alter their power structures.

The replica achieved its realistic look with the use of laminates and veneers but was built almost entirely from degradable materials, allowing for participation in the assembly process from people of all ages and construction experience and avoiding any permanent imposition of the architectural experiment on the community.  Structures typically have an undirectional impact on their surroundings, but by building the replica from impermanent materials, it was easily affected, allowing a two-way conversation between it and its surrounding environment. 

Instructions for how to build the replica have been distributed in cities throughout the country free of charge as a way of open sourcing the architectural material and continuing the conversation beyond the event itself.  The instructions became a vessel for the project's critique and helped to demystify an easily replicated yet coveted form.

To download a copy of the instructions, please click here for front and back

This video is a compilation of excerpts from the building process, which took place between September and October, and of the opening event on October 9th, 2010.