Patty & Jan
Construction is largely evaluated through two practical criteria—time and budget. Patty & Jan reconsider construction by prioritizing words such as curiosity, joy, wonder, and whimsy. This impractical entrance is not intended to negate practical considerations, but to elevate the field of construction above problem solving. It looks to previous architectures that emerged because construction was considered a social generator. Whether it be the Amish’s use of community for barn raisings, or the Inka’s use of ritual to engender eternal construction, or the Rapanui’s use of ceremony to transport massive stones. Each of these civilizations entered the act of construction by magnifying experience, instead of lessoning labor. What kinds of architectures could emerge by revisiting the act of construction through alternative criteria? Patty & Jan employ material science and physical computation to embed intelligence of a theatrical assembly into the objects themselves, thus liberating the human to play with these beings. A collaboration between Matter Design and CEMEX Global R&D, Patty & Jan is a live performance of megalithic assembly.