Supercrits
Supercrits take major experimental projects that have
‘changed the weather’ of architectural thought and practice – and
put them back into the design studio 'crit' format for open public
and expert debate.
Wherever possible, the original
protagonists are invited to present their own projects (which may
be built or unbuilt, and may include books and exhibitions as well
as buildings) to a panel of international critics and to an open
audience of students, professionals and an interested
public. The first two books based on the series have just been
published by Routledge.
Supercrits have always attracted speakers and critics of the
highest calibre. The series so far consists of:
Supercrit 1: Cedric
Price: Potteries Thinkbelt (November 2003)
Presented by the panel due to Price's untimely death. Speakers
included Paul Barker, Stephen
Mullin, Paul Finch, Jeremy
Melvin.
Supercrit 2: Venturi and Scott
Brown: Learning From Las Vegas (March 2004)
Presented by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. Speakers
include Robert Maxwell, Paul
Davies, Sean
Griffiths, Sam Jacob, David
Dunster, Karin Jaschke, Sarah
Chaplin.
Supercrit 3: Richard Rogers: Centre Pompidou
(April 2005)
Presented by Richard Rogers. Speakers include
Gianni Franchini, David Greene, Kester Rattenbury, Luigi
Prestinenza Puglisi, Rowan
Moore.
Supercrit 4: Bernard Tschumi:
Parc de la Villette (October 2005)
Presented by Bernard Tschumi. Speakers include Peter
Cook, Bruce McLean, Nigel
Coates, Carlos Villaneuva Brandt,
Murray
Fraser.
Supercrit 5: Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York,
(May 2006)
Presented by Rem Koolhaas. Speakers include Mark
Wigley, David
Greene, Alejandro
Zaero-Polo, Madelin Vriesendorp,
Sean
Griffiths.
Supercrit 6: Leon
Krier, Poundbury, Dorchester (October
2008)
Presented by Leon Krier. Speakers include Michael
Wilford, Sarah Wigglesworth,
Jules Lubbock, James Woudhuysen,
Sean Griffiths.
Supercrits as events have been
consistently full to capacity and are internatio
nally reviewed in the
design press. We have attracted support from the Architecture
Foundation, who now help us to run and promote the series, and have
won commercial funding and in-kind support for individual events.
Other sponsors include Academy-Wiley, the CCA, the Slade Breakfast
Club and Jackson Coles.
In December 2007, the first two books on the series were published
by Routledge, designed by John Morgan Studio. More books are
planned, as are other events hopefully including members of
Archigram on the eponymous Archigram magazine, and Zaha Hadid on
the Hong Kong Peak project
Like the event series, these books are aimed at both a new and an
expert audience; introducing the projects to newcomers with
original descriptions, extensive illustrations, and adding generous
footnotes and sources to a full transcript of the debate, while
engaging the original designers and critics new and old in the
ongoing debate which still surrounds these seminal projects.
Supercrit Books
Learning from Las
Vegas
Potteries Thinkbelt