Names to Know at the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial: Fake Industries Architectural Agonism
OE House by Fake Industries with Aixopluc Hevia
Alforja, Catalonia
This private residence, finished in 2016, is both a traditional Catalan rural home and a contemporary warehouse. The architects designed two houses in one, with a summer structure made of steel and polycarbonate on the ground floor and a wood and brick winter space in the upper story.
Photo © José Hevia
Velodrome for the City of Medellín by Fake Industries with Farzin Lotfi-Jam, Brice Suite, igg – office for architecture, and El Equipo Mazzanti
Medellín, Columbia
The architects designed this sports facility with the intention of integrating it with a pre-existing park, extending the public space into the velodrome. Using a roof structure independent from the track, the building’s perimeter is undefined and permeable.
Image courtesy FKAA
Spanish architects Cristina Goberna and Urtzi Grau established Fake Industries in 2008 and now work across offices in New York, Barcelona and Sydney. RECORD asked them five questions about their work in preparation for the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Scroll through the slideshow above to see some of their key projects.
Architectural Record: Tell us about your practice. What differentiates you from other firms?
Fake Industries Architectural Agonism (FKAA) is an architectural office of diffuse boundaries and questionable taste that explores the power of Replicas (or agonistic copies) FKAA provides architectural tools to mediate between citizens, institutions, the public sphere, and disciplinary knowledge. Bridging the professional world and the environments of architectural academia, the office reclaims the architect’s role as a public intellectual—that is, one who earnestly risks his or her credibility to question hegemonic beliefs.
How do you get into the creative headspace?
Through productive disagreement.
Who are your design heroes?
Those we have been stealing works from.
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What do you hope to contribute to the Chicago Biennial?
An Original Copy.
Most importantly, when it comes to pizza, deep dish or thin crust?
In Chicago, deep dish always.
The Chicago Architecture Biennial runs from September 19, 2017, to January 7, 2018. Read more of our coverage of the event here
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