Once upon a time there were individuals with desires. These were individuals seeking self-identity, self-worth, and above all, smooth objects. Then there was the baby boom. Soon these desires evolved from the individual to the collective. These collective desires then gave rise to the global mass production of objects. Individuals became aggregated, causing institutions to systematize the way we think, learn, and build. Smooth iconic architecture began to populate in cities everywhere. In consequence, these individual desires led us to create an architectural wasteland of scrappy material. We consumed the limits of nature and in the process, generated our own nature of scrappy architecture. Scrappy architecture aims to produce a new architectural aesthetic through an investigation of material roughness. This is a critique of the pristine smooth architecture that has become a staple of innovation and future progress. It also interrogates notions of standardization and institutional architecture through field conditions. Field conditions, as described by Stan Allen in “From Object to Field”, are loosely bounded aggregates characterized by porosity and local interconnectivity. They are conceived as a spatial matrix unifying disparate parts. A process driven architecture conceptualized from notions of material weathering will inspire new ways of thinking regarding educational institutions. A scrappy model of education goes against the rigid, formal and pristine organization of the school. There are no formal corridors or hierarchy of spaces. Tectonic and stereotomic spaces are constructed out of additive and subtractive processes, mimicking material weathering. This space making formula conceptualizes an informal organization of spontaneous spaces reminiscent of the walking city typology. Learning in a scrappy environment may encourage the next generation to be more perceptive to materials and their effects.
