The Global Bottega

From Networks to Fluids, between Practice and Academia

Abstract

Global architecture practices have developed since the 1950s, ever since air travel made it possible for practitioners to coordinate projects in different locations simultaneously. In turn, prominent schools of architecture have developed global programs allowing for a continuous geographical exchange of students, teachers, knowledge. Stemming from the premise that contemporary globalized practice must move across practice, education and management, between academia and profession (Jenson, 2014) in order to be effective on a wider scale, this article explores the possibility of shifting from a representation of globalized practices of architecture that focuses on geographical nodes (network model) to a representation that focuses on mobility (fluids model).