One:Twelve in ARCHIZINES
In the fall of 2010, KSA students Greg Evans and Josh Kuhr published Volume 1, Issue 001 of One:Twelve “a written record of the dialogues that occur between students at the Knowlton School of Architecture.” Issue 001 contained 24 pages, 12 articles, and had 12 student contributors. The introduction to that first issue provides the following statement about One:Twelve’s purpose:
“Much like the built environment of the KSA, One:Twelve is a permanent catalyst for student and faculty interaction. It offers a common platform that weaves between classroom and culture, always looking for new relationships between those that are seemingly separate. The ramps of Knowlton Hall create a multi-level system of balconies, terraces, and platforms that stitch together these varied environments of the School, and give way to the title of our new student journal.”
Student participation in One:Twelve grew steadily, as did the size of the publication itself. It retained the same general format for Issues 002 and 003 published, respectively, in the Winter 2011 and Spring 2011 academic quarters. By the time Volume 2, Issue 004 was published in Spring 2012, One:Twelve had expanded to 78 pages and included nearly twice as many articles as the previous three issues combined. Volume 3, Issue 005, which was published in February of this year, boasts over 100 pages and features work by both KSA students and guest writers. The publication is managed by a seven person student editorial board which also operates the One:Twelve website. Issue 006 will be published in April 2013.
ARCHIZINES
In the summer of 2011, KSA student contributors to One:Twelve traveled abroad, distributing copies of the magazine in various cities throughout Europe. Somehow, one of those copies landed on the desk of Elias Redstone. Based in Paris and London, Redstone is an independent curator, writer and editor, editor-in-chief and co-founder of the London Architecture Diary and an online columnist for the New York Times’ T Magazine. When he received a copy of One:Twelve, Redstone happened to be in the process of creating ARCHIZINES, “a showcase of new architecture fanzines, journals and magazines from around the world that provide an alternative to the established architectural press.”
Redstone chose to include One:Twelve in the ARCHIZINES exhibit, which opened at the Architectural Association, London, in November 2011. ARCHIZINES highlights 80 publications from more than 20 countries and, following its run at the AA, the exhibit commenced a world tour to major cities in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Knowlton Hall’s Banvard Gallery was an obvious location in which to try and land the exhibit. And after several months of discussions with Redstone, Banvard Gallery curator Assistant Professor Kristy Balliet and One:Twelve student staff succeeded in getting the KSA on the ARCHIZINES world tour list.
ARCHIZINES opened in the KSA’s Banvard Gallery on February 1, 2013. That evening, the KSA also hosted ARCHIZINES LIVE, a panel discussion that focused on the topic Little Architectures: Publishing, Prose, and Practice. ARCHIZINES LIVE featured special guests Redstone; Brandon Clifford, Principal at Matter Design, MIT Belluschi Lecturer and former KSA LeFevre Fellow; and the editors of Fresh Meat Journal, the official student publication of the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago and another publication included in the ARCHIZINES exhibit.
ARCHIZINES will continue to tour internationally throughout 2013.
BANVARD GALLERY EXHIBIT
ARCHIZINES at the KSA was the exhibit’s academic debut in the United States. Traveling materials were limited to the 80 magazines, fanzines and journals themselves, which required Balliet and KSA students Paul Adair and Tyler Kvochick to design a unique exhibit to house ARCHIZINES in the Banvard Gallery. What they developed was:
“A twist on the traditional reading room table, the oscillating system of intersecting and tilted display units highlights both the singular qualities of individual publications while also presenting the entire collection as a cohesive body of work. Assembled together, the magazines, each with a unique color, sheen, paper type and format, create a subtly kaleidoscopic, floating field of contemporary discourse.”
The units were manufactured in the KSA’s M/I Homes Foundation Materials/Fabrication Laboratory. The exhibit installation was supported by Gallery Coordinator Phil Arnold and KSA student Sean Zielinski.
