Bio: Clara Lundeberg has studied at the School of Architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, Sweden since 2001. The year 2005, she worked at the architecture office Strategisk
Arkitektur."Less Is More" is fake! Why leave out anything? Everything around us has been made by someone...who had a thought! Everything has been constructed, everything is architecture. More is never enough!THE SECOND LIFE-PROJECT:
The Refinery by Clara Lundeberg / Canone VavoomThe Phenomena: Before modernism , architects were more inspired by visual effects. The function did not
have to express in its form . The staircase in Tassel House of Victor Horta, the Grosse Schaus pielerhaus
in Berlin of Hans Poelzig and Gaudi´s apartment buildings in Barcelona are examples of architecture that
were inspired of na ture. Architects also used already existing buildings from historical times, such as
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ward Willits House that a lmost looks like a Chinese Temp le.
Though modernism influenced the main profession of architects, there were those who still worked with
the illusion and form but also comb ined it with func tion. Louis Kahn is one example of an architect that
worked with ar chitecture expression rather than modernism.
Today architectu re still reflects on modernism, however there are example that show no influence from
modernism at all, such as Las Vegas Casino bu ildings, and the Swedish example Jakri borg, that looks like
an old Hansa town. In the fast expanding Shanghai, there are new areas that look just like Swedish cities,
for example Loudian Town that got its appearance from Sigtuna, a small town closed to Stockholm. So the
question is; are architect s today afraid to get their inspiration from e xperiments from new influence s, and
therefore look back in history books for answers or just rely on the comfortable modernism?My Influence: In this course we have been working in an online game, called Second Life. Since we have
been using such a new medium, I wanted to work with raw and high tech elements. Therefore I have been
studying big mechanical structure, such as space stations and refineries, but I have also got inspired by
small structures such as compute r chips and game s. Because Second Life is just visual, the function is
less important, and the conditions in the game are far from what we are used to experience.Description: Second Life is a way of living distant from our regula r life on earth. Here you can fly, there is
always sunshine, and you don’t have to eat or sleep. You don’t need staircases or roof s, neither kitchen s
nor bedroom s. So do we have to have arch itecture in Second Life? Yes, but far from customary buildings.
In Second Life the experience and the impr ession of architecture are the most important constructions .
A Refinery is a building elemen t that in general impresses people. The giant pipes, the industrial ra wness,
the smoke and fire, are components that contribute to an e xcited scenic illus ion. But this Refinery in
Second Life is not only a fascinating structure, it has also a function. The idea is that an avatar can use
the pipes of The Refinery for sliding, and e xperience uncontrolled movement by sliding down.
This Refinery would unfortunately not been build in real life, but due to the conditions in Second Life the
Refinery is fully possible and hopefully supply avatars with joy and e xcitements.Tensta Streamers
Winter Badesciff Berlin nov06..Tensta Streamers:
Tensta has today two urban squares. One attached to the subway, on a higher level,
and the other one on a lower level at Tensta Art gallery. The squares are badly
connected to each other, and the lower open area is not used as much as it could be.
To join these to urban spaces and to make them full of life, a big
colourful roof of plastic streamers is my proposal to Tensta. The streamers are
fastened on the roofs of the Tensta Centrum, the subway station and the garage, and
are joined together at the lower level. When being under this rich roof, the boundaries
between the different levels will be vaguer, because you are under the same roof.
Moreover will the roof provide curiosity to go under the roof, and so people will also
inhabit the lower level.
This lively roof will be temporary between 14-21 December in Tensta. It
will be build of the students of the course and be used of the inhabitants of Tensta.
