Ephraim Joris :

The undeniably hard process of developing a structure and narrative to write the book (now called methods but surely this will change) commenting on a body of work is now supported/nurtured/momentarily-sidetracked-yet-surely-helping-in-the-end by another postgraduate quest.

Last week I presented a reflection on my work as part of a PhD proposal on the practice of architecture at the GRC Conference in Ghent organized by RMIT and Sint Lucas. I presented 4 main chapters in commenting on my work describing the concept of distant-near-connections in the design of space. These chapters are now being unraveled in ‘methods’ (the book). (The PhD proposal was accepted and thus marks the new quest)

The first chapter as presented at the GRC conference;

Surrounded by Malta’s historical legacy I started my career as an architect confronted with the undeniable importance of working within a historical perspective. In practice this was done by designing towards the unlocking of an understanding of a significant past in the manipulation/design of spaces. With this particular conceptualization of place whereby place implies strong relationships between a person and a physical location with its embedded history, this early work with Architecture Project nurtures specific ‘distant’ connections with the aim to set up a critical dialogue between the designed object and its immediate context. This work drifts in modes of a ‘functionalist’ canon exploring architectonic composition in dialogue with a historical context by taking on ephemeral qualities suggesting all new interventions could be moved or taken away again and thus restores the historical context in its ‘empty’ state. This type of work is not over. It still resonates and structures current projects.

(Below recently completed work and older work by Architecture Project)