#BenjaminWells

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(via Benjamin Wells)

Tbilisi City Forum is an attempt to redesign processes of urbanism in Tbilisi, through proposing an architecture which facilitates city making as a collective, democratic endeavour. Its focus is a disused power station in the centre of the city, which is transformed into an active organisation where the evolving project of the city can be revealed, defined, challenged and reimagined.

The project challenges the current processes of governance in Tbilisi by providing the infrastructure for a strategic and conflictual urbanism to evolve. Conflict here is considered to be intrinsic to democratic society, yet sits in opposition to the consensus encouraged in Tbilisi’s post-political context. The re-politicising of urbanism is dependent on the provision of an arena where differences can be confronted and channelled into productive outcomes - here lies the project of architecture.

Knowledge, research, discussion, debate and presentation emerge as the primary foundations of the organisation, and constantly challenge one another programmatically and architecturally. The centre facilitates the curation of ideas and knowledge for the city through workspaces for small scale urban actors, supported by a city archive and various civic functions. A range of discursive spaces allow these issues to be negotiated, debated and then acted upon, and several exhibition and gallery spaces present this to a wider public. By connecting a diverse network of stakeholders, the project aims to democratise the act of city making, and in doing so impact decisions in the interest of both the city and its citizens.

This organisation is framed and directed by architecture, and can be understood as a composition of parts, the ensemble of which becomes a figure of the city at large by representing some its intrinsic conflict and variation. This reveals itself in the relationships between old and new, conflicting formal languages, materiality, the gradient between inside and out, public and private, defined and undefined space. A new pedestrian bridge connects the contentious Rose Revolution square directly with the disused power station, transforming its main hall into a public promenade which circulates a scale model of the city. The project also marks a symbolic reclamation of the river front, and this gradient of public spaces defines the project as a piece of urban infrastructure as much as a working organisation. A complex architectural composition embedded within a holistic urban strategy aims to unite the building with its object of concern; the city.

The idea of the project was realised through Another Architecture - a three day exhibition and symposium held in Tbilisi in May 2017. The design, organisation and curation of this event became a central part of the project, testing it’s political agency on the site of the power station. You’ll find evidence of and reflection on Another Architecture elsewhere in this publication.

Tbilisi City Forum explores the extent to which the building can become truly civic - representative of, accessible to and acting for a public. It does so by reviving a ruin through a reinterpretation of civic architecture, by curating agonistic political processes and through reimagining the project of the city.

[benjaminwellsarchitecture]

[ultimavoce]

Macron annuncia lotta all’antisemitismo. Il presidente francese intende combattere l’odio contro gli ebrei su due piani: quello delle associazioni razziste e antisemite e quello sui social.

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Gli antefatti

Sabato scorso, il filosofo ebreo Alain Finkielkraut era stato attaccato da alcuni gilet gialli con insulti antisemiti. Uno degli aggressori è stato fermato a Mulhouse – città ove risiede. Si tratta di Benjamin Weller, di 36 anni, di padre algerino e madre francese, convertito all’Islam solo in età adulta, ma nel gruppo dei salafiti dal 2014. Aveva partecipato a manifestazioni anti-israeliane in Libano, con l’associazione dei palestinesi di Mulhouse. Nel movimento dei gilet gialli, Weller frequentava la rotatoria di Kingersheim. Tuttavia, era già stato allontanato per le sue idee religiose troppo radicali.

Qualche giorno fa, sono state profanate circa 80 tombe del cimitero ebraico di Quatzenheim, in Alsazia, dove martedì scorso Macron si è recato e ha annunciato nuove misure per combattere l’antisemitismo, che si è manifestato, ancora una volta, proprio ieri vicino  Lione: svastiche e scritte provocatorie “Shoah blabla…” sono state rinvenute su una stele di pietra nel Giardino della memoria di Champagne au Mont d’Or.

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Secondo i dati raccolti dal ministero degli Interni francesi, in Francia nel 2018 si è avuto un aumento  del 74% degli atti antisemiti (541 aggressioni verbali e fisiche denunciate contro 311 l’anno precedente).

Le decisioni di Macron

Troppa indignazione, troppe parole, ma i risultati non sono sufficienti.

Così ha esordito Macron alla cena annuale del Consiglio di rappresentanza delle organizzazioni ebraiche in Francia (Crif).

Il premier francese ha promesso nuove leggi contro l’antisemitismo che si muovono su due piani.

Il primo riguarda l’abolizione di tutte le associazioni che promuovono l’odio o invitano all’azione violenta. In particolari a quattro associazioni di estrema destra:  Blood and Honour, Hexagone, Combat 18 e Bastion Social. Quest’ultimo è considerato il “gemello” di Casapound poiché da esso ha tratto ispirazione e strategie – apertura di sedi in tutte le città finanziandosi con attività commerciali.

“La Francia deve tracciare nuove linee rosse“, ha dichiarato Macron, che non si è fermato qui ed ha annunciato anche nuove disposizioni per combattere l’odio razziale e antisemita su Internet – che il secondo livello sul quale intende prendere provvedimenti. Quindi, entro il mese di maggio, ci sarà una proposta di legge per perseguire legalmente le piattaforme che ospitano siti antisemiti, ma anche pene severe se non rimuovono messaggi di odio contro gli ebrei, ricordando “uno dei casi peggiori, quello di Twitter, che ci mette anche mesi per toglierli“.

Il nostro Paese – come d’altronde tutta l’Europa e quasi tutte le democrazie occidentali – sta affrontando una rinascita dell’antisemitismo senza precedenti dai tempi della seconda guerra mondiale. Ancora una volta, l’antisemitismo uccide in Francia.

Infine, Macron ha proposto di allargare la nozione di antisemitismo e comprenderla in quella di antisionismo dato che, secondo il premier francese, essa rappresenta “una forma moderna di antisemitismo“. L’antisionismo potrebbe essere perseguibile anche da un punto di vista penale.

Questa la linea di Macron contro l’antisemitismo. Ma il suo “pugno duro”sarà sufficiente?

Domenico Di Maura

#Macron annuncia #lotta all'#antisemitismo. Il premier francese prenderà #provvedimenti su #associazioni #razziste e #antisemite e sui #messaggi di #odio nei #social. #Allargamento della #nozione di #antisionismo come forma di #antisemitismo. Macron annuncia lotta all'antisemitismo. Il presidente francese intende combattere l'odio contro gli ebrei su due piani: quello delle…

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About me

Hi, I’m Benjamin Wells. Architect - Designer - Writer - Photographer. 

Currently based between København and London.

Master of Architecture from Political Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. My thesis project Tbilisi City Forum - The Project of the City attempted to redesign processes of urbanism in the capital of Georgia through proposing an architecture which facilitates city making as a collective, democratic endeavour. The project has been highly acclaimed and exhibited widely, and was awarded full marks by Copenhagen’s City architect. 

Alongside the architectural proposition was the organisation, design and curation of Another Architecture - a three day exhibition and symposium in Tbilisi which explored the potential of the idea of the project.

I currently work with the Danish Association of Architects in Copenhagen, curating and managing a UIA Commission that endeavours to create a global architect’s response to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Ishinomaki Port - a project proposing a civic industrialisation in Ishinomaki, Japan - has been awarded 2nd place in the Social Tectonics competition organised by the Danish and Japanese Architectural Committee. The project will be exhibited in København and Tokyo in late 2017.

Two years with London based architects Carmody Groarke gave me the opportunity to take a central role on several significant projects including a restaurant in Soho, a museum in Dorset, a tower in Canary Wharf and a Maggie’s Centre on the Wirral in Liverpool. I managed several projects from conception to completion, with the Maggie’s Centre receiving the Architects Journal Small Projects Award, two RIBA Awards and a Civic Trust Award.

I graduated with a First Class BA in Architecture from Sheffield University, and was awarded the Stephen Welsh Prize for my thesis project - York Cycle Station. The project achieved the highest mark in over 10 years.

Alongside my architectural endeavours I am a regular photographer working on a variety of commissions, as well as a frequent contributor to various architectural publications including arcspace.com. I am currently working on a range of commissions including a new build house in Surrey, UK, and have recently been in Seoul with the Danish delegation securing Copenhagen’s bid to host the UIA in 2023.

For inquiries, collaborations and commissions please contact me through the following:

benjaminwellsstudio@gmail.com

+45 50116528