Rintala Eggertsson architects: They construct, because they must think

[text by  assoc. prof. dr. Petra ČEFERIN, u.d.i.a.]

​

Jacques Alain Miller, now famous French psychoanalyst, before some half a century ago, when he still studied with Jacques Lacan, came to his teacher to discuss an issue he intends to develop. He explained in lenght the problem in psycoanalysis in which he is interested in, why he decided for it, which aspects he intends to highlight in it, how he will approach it and... and what are his attempts in connection to it. Lacan on this long explanation responded briefly, in one sentence: “Do so/Then do it”.

The way I see it logic is summarised in this anecdote, that Dagur Eggertsson, Sami Rintala and Vibeke Jenssen follow.. They think about the complexity of questions, which constitute the practice of architecture in that manner, that they work - work architecture. Problem that they recognize as significant, they think in through so, that they do - do architecture. The philosopher Rado Riha defines this way of working as characteristic of creative practices and conceived as indistinguishability of thinking and doing. Rintala Eggertsson architects see architecture as a practice of developnig thoughts. Thinking architecture is a process that always occurs in some material form (in their work often in the form of built structures in 1:1 scale), which forms in different ways - not only as a design conceived in the office, but also as a development of a project in collaboration with students in workshops, through actual construction on site and as well as an attempt to answer the questions of architecture in writing. That their work is the practice of thinking, a development of the momentum of newness, is for them something so selfevident, that they replied in an interview they had at FA on the question, whether they see their work as experimental that they do not really know what is experimenting. They just work in that manner.

Their projects are a confirmation of the idea that the boundary between architecture and arts is very thin. And they projects are close to the people. Yet from a commercial and financial point of view architects are not very successful. Often it takes long before their projects are built. Investors and various bureaucrats have some problems with them when they stubbornly insist on a solution that has been identified as good. Probably out of this reason they do not have larger number of projects and they work mainly in small scale.

However, Rintala Eggertsson architects insist on their (financially unprofitable) way of working. One could say that they are at least as tenacious as capitalism itself in which they operate. Just as capitalism insists that there is only one of logic operation, which is the commercially instrumental logic - the logic that brings financial gain, so Rintala Eggertsson architects insist that there is only action logic - logic of thinking, logic of creativity that brings profit to all. For them there is no alternative, in accordance with this they also work. They insist on thinking. For them this is of existential importance: they must think in order to be - to be as architects - therefore they work, which means that they repeatedly do it.

​

​

​

​

​

​