Production Urbanism

The Industrial Revolution caused a paradigm shift from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy, giving birth to the industrial city. ‘City’ became synonymous with a concentration of factories causing unfiltered scenes between centres of production and urban dwellings. The corrupted image of the city ultimately led to the displacement and separation of production away from residential zones in the 20th century. However, new innovative manufacturing technologies are allowing a coexistence between factories and dwellings through hybrid typologies that blend production back into the urban fabric. This AD issue discusses the implications of the re-emergence of production as an architectural and urban agenda through hybrid models that engage a new socioeconomic shift. Given the contemporary circumstances of a global pandemic affecting global supply chains, it is necessary to deliver a vision for a new productive urbanism that allows autonomous circular economies to flourish. Our 21st-century cities have an obligation to explore a new industrial revolution of shared economies that optimise the use of the legacy systems, infrastructure and building stock. Yet it is ultimately up to architecture to take arms in delivering new typologies.

Contributors: Frank Barkow, Michele Bonino and Maria Paola Repellino, Kristiaan Borret, Vicente Guallart, Tali Hatuka, Doojin Hwang, Yerin Kang and Chihoon Lee, Kengo Kuma, Wesley Leeman, Scott Lloyd and Alexis Kalagas, Winy Maas, DK Osseo-Asare, Marina Otero Verzier, Nina Rappaport, and Shohei Shigematsu.

Featured architects: Barkow Leibinger, DJH Architects, Goldsmith, Kengo Kuma & Associates, MVRDV, OMA, and TEN.

Dongwoo Yim and Rafael Luna are the founding partners of PRAUD, a design and research firm based in Seoul and Boston, founded in 2010. Yim received his master’s degree at Harvard University and the bachelor’s degree at Seoul National University, and Luna received his master’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their practice has focused on researching production urbanism through an array of scales, typologies and mediums in order to investigate circular economies as catalysts of urban regeneration through hybrid architecture. Their investigations on hybrid typologies between production and housing, propelled by new manufacturing technologies, propose an alternative urban housing model for future equitable cities. Currently, their research focuses on the Seoul megalopolitan condition, where urban manufacturing is still valid within the city, through “makeshift” urban production typologies. This is expected to be presented at the upcoming Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021. Their work on Production Urbanism extends from academia, published writings and exhibitions. Both, Luna and Yim, have taught for several years at various international institutions, including RISD, Washington University in St. Louis, and the Chinese Academy of Arts. Currently, Yim is an assistant professor at Hongik University and Luna is an assistant professor at Hanyang University. Their studio topics have focused on an evolution of the socialist microdistrict, which aggregated factories and dwellings together in a single urban block, adapting this model to capitalist scenarios and sites. Their findings have been published in international journals, and exhibited at key venues such as MoMA, the 2014 Venice Biennale Golden Lion winning Korean Pavilion, and at the Seoul Biennale in 2017, 2019, and expected 2021. Their curatorial roles have also promoted the topic, producing exhibitions such as the 2018 Factory for Urban Living. Most recently, they served as curators of the Cities Exhibition in the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2019 where they presented a collective dialogue on new industrial models. Their publication includes, North Korean Atlas, I Want to be METROPOLITAN: Boston Case Study, City after Urbanism, and Unprecedented Pyongyang, among others. They are the award winning team of 2013 Architectural League Prize and DAM Publication Award in 2014.