STUDIO 8 ARCHITECTS

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(GB)

CJ Lim (*1964)

 

 

 
Presentation
       
 
     
A professor at the Bartlett School in London, CJ Lim established Studio 8 architects in 1994. Winner of the competition for the UCL Cultural Centre in London (1995), CJ Lim also designed Guest House that same year; it is based on an artificial animated landscape and it continually changes according to climatic variations and the inhabitants' activities. CJ Lim does away with the limits between "architectonics" and his environment by calling on kinematic architecture, whose interactive volumes are open to the most diverse fluctuations. This architecture lacks "interiority" in the usual sense, and has become "externalised" in view of the continual adaptability of its components to the activities of the occupants and to the environment.
   
       
       
       
     
         
 
       
 
Exhibition
       
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Beyond Elegance
   
           
     

Conventional thinking tells us that architectural drawings are a means to an end, a vehicle by which information is transmitted - they do not play the same role or have the same value as fine art. Cj was part of a generation of students at the Architectural Association whose milieu demanded a reappraisal of that status. The debate may be determined, for those who see the drawing as an unchallenged force and continue for those who celebrate its speculative and propositional power. I feel that cj would argue that these drawings are a vehicle, for he can see their physical realisation in his minds eye, but for most, they are a fantastic virtuoso performance of line and paint, deliberately and obstinately abstract, brilliant compositionally, a web of form that conjures a complex world, some of which might be realised, some that will always remain an enigma. Cj's cultural background must surely influence what we see, layer upon layer; the curious paradox of the pedantically practical coupled with wilful fantasy and an often naive disregard for the limits of modern technology.(...)
The early influences of architectural discussion at the AA in the 80's were perhaps in a period that many would consider seminal, the architectural critique was sharp edged and positional, the catalyst, was always drawings that challenged our conventional understanding of architecture as product based and challenged the narrow channels through which architectural ideas flowed.(...) It was within this climate that Cj developed his own idiosyncratic spatial and functional juxtapositions, these early student drawings were not the part of the 'genre' of critical angst, more an illustrated intrigue with what was then seemingly outrageous functional marriages.(...)
His work is not inherently technical, there is no fascination with smart or intelligent systems, they are perhaps too unobtrusive for his purpose. The architectural world that is created is one of flamboyant showmanship and exquisite tailoring, architecture as a cerebral pursuit or vehicle for state of the art science is left for others to pursue. His references are more likely to be Goldsworthy, Moholy Nagy and Marey than NASA.(...)
Spatial manipulation can of course be taken to various levels of sophistication, but there are more ephemeral qualities that cj refers to that will necessarily demand the interference of some science in order to achieve the goal. The early work of Dan Flavin, the later work of Gary Hill, the mechanical installations of Rebecca Horn, are masters of spatial manipulation and theatre using as much ingenuity with computer circuitry as with the chisel or paint brush. Cj's architecture aspires to the qualities of these pieces. Architecture as a form of inhabited art at this level, should become an inhabited science.(...)

   
       
     
     
     
           
     
UCL Cultural Center - London, UK, Competition 1996 (1st price)
   
           
     

The University College London Museum is an inhabitable void within the urban context of Bloombury. This "positive space" has been shifted, fractured and sculpted into an internal courtyard housing all the exhibition spaces. UCLM is enclosed within four kinetic walls providing a perimeter for the site : the "Projection Wall", where light is projected through the building onto the flank wall, signposting the collections on each floor ; the "Temporary Display Wall" where the collection of contemporary art work is exhibited running from top to bottom of the building ; the"Interactive Wall" is the public front of the building, on Gordon Street. A laminate of LCD glass electrically controls the transparency of this facade subjected to a constantly transient state.
On the "Shadow Wall", by day or by night, the light casts an animated image of the building.

   
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City Threshold - Londres, Angleterre, Concours 1994 (3eme prix)
   
           
     

This project addresses the issues of visual contact. It reveals the thresholds as environments with degrees of transparency and projection, rather than a tangible boundary. The wing shaped mesh panels approximately positioned disguise the faces form every angle and delineate distinct routes providing varying intensities of privacy. Lights set into the road and pavement occasionally project a silhouetted yet disguised figure on to the facade of adjacent buildings. As the panels stretch out into Wardour Street and into Old Compton Street the inserted architecture becomes increasingly solid to form a series of elevated catwalks, walkways and platform cafes. Each element is given a specific character by the use of specific lighting. The narrow catwalk dictates a singular approach to revelation. Plain panelled backdrops highlight the completed performance as selective integration across the threshold is achieved.

   
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The Guest House, The Landscape + Environmental Register,
Japon, 1995
   
           
     

The Guest house exists only in an animated artificial and topographical landscape. The form is in direct relationship to the fluctuating host environment as the relocation of elements kinetically addresses any introduced circumstances. The forms of the house are dependant on both the internal programme provided by the occupants and the exterior environment. The architectonic pieces have many assembly permutations, haphazardly configured by infinite sequences of circumstances. Only an oscillating dialogue between guest and host, constantly corrupted by the presence of the occupants, exists as definable. The boundary which exists between the host and the Guest house cannot be clearly defined. The fractured and dynamic landscape encroaches into the house blurring the boundary between the two. A door may become a floor, a canopy become a bed and then a wall. The traditional architecture of the house has become adaptive and responsive within a highly interactive dialogue.

   
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Ephemeral Field, 1998
   
           
     

This assemblage illustrates the intricate system of interactions between life and our environment. Here, the space-making uses an electrical field which we can't see or hear or touch. This intangible membrane can retain heat, repel water particles, and control levels of internal light/temperature levels. If an external electrical charge is brought into this electrical field, its statu quo alters. The nomadic service-pod carries such an electrical charge and is therefore acted on by the field; and in doing so, performs an endless series of spatial dialogue with its surrounding. The electrical field liberates us from the traditional methods of space-making, questions the socials economics of personalised spaces and planning laws of cities. We can have "space-vending-machines" and these "space-packs" can come in different sizes; all we have to do is just plug it into the nearest electric socket! Space-making has therefore become a late 20th century "throw-away" consumer product.

   
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Resources
       
 
 
Biography
       
     
CJ LIM - STUDIO 8 Architects.
CJ LIM (1964)
1982/87 - Diplômé de l'AA School avec Peter Cook et Christine Hawley.
Enseignement :
1999 - University of North London et The Bartlett, University College, Londres.
1997 - Stadelschule, Frankfurt.
1996 - Curtin University, Perth.
1991/1983 - Architecte assistant (Zaha Hadid, Eva Jiricna, Peter Cook et Christine Hawley).

1994 - Fonde STUDIO 8 Architects à Londres.
1997 - Premier récipiendaire du RIBA Award for Academic Contribution in Architectural Education ( idem en 1998)
Principaux projets et réalisations :
1996 - UCL Cultural Centre, Londres (1er prix)
1995 - Triennale d'Architecture Nara / Toto (mention honorable) ; Guesthouse, Japan (conc.).
1994 - 6th Shinkenchiku / Takiron : City Threshold (3ème prix).
1993 - 1989 - Concours sur invitation.
1988 - Housing : A Demonstration Project (1er prix)
1987 - Bridge of the Future, Japon (2ème prix).
Exposition :
1996 - Exposition itinérante - Europe / Australie / USA - "441/10..We'll reconfigure the space when you're ready".
   
           
 
Bibliography
       
     
Bibliographie sélective de cj LIM :
1998 - Architects Journal n°1, vol. 207 (janv.).
1997 - Special Narrative : cj LIM, monographie 1988 / 1996, JS+W Publishing, Taiwan ; GA Houses n°52 ; Shinkenchiku, Japon (juillet) ; Domus n°796 (sept.) ; Building Design n°1332 et 1333 ; Architects Journal n°21, vol. 206 (déc.).
1996 - cj LIM / Studio 8 Architects Monograph, Ind-E8 Publishing, Londres ; AA Files n°32 ; Building Design (août) ; Architects Journal n°7, vol. 203 ; Werk, Bauen + Wohnen n°6, Suisse ; Artifice n°4 (mai) ; UCL News n°11, vol. 4 ; Architecture + Urbanism Japan, n°308 ; Document 4 Australie (déc.) ; Trien-Nara n°3, Japon.
1995 - Architects Journal n°20 et 21, vol. 202 ; Building Design n°1244 ; Shinkenchiku (mars) ; Artifice n°2 ; Compe+Contest, n°39, Japon.
1993 - Building Design n°1134 / 1135.
1992 - Architects Journal, vol. 196 ; Building Design n°1069.
1991 - New Acropolis Museum, National Gallery, Athènes, Catalogue d'exposition.
1990 - Building Design n° 987, 1003, 1004 et 1013 ; Art Random, Peter Cook : Conversations, Editions Kyoto Shoju International, Japon.
1988 - Building Design n°890 ; Architects Journal, vol. 187.