CAAD Forum: A Prairie Archipelago

Initially introduced by German architect O.M. Ungers, the metaphor of the urban archipelago has proven remarkably enduring over time. A distinct alternative to the modernist paradigm of comprehensive planning control, the archipelago has since taken many shapes: Ungers’ “cities within the city” became containers for programmatic exhilaration in Rem Koolhaas’ Manhattan; the concept informed “de-growth” strategies in post-industrial East Germany after 1989 as much as urban expansion in Asian cities during the 2000s, and has been identified in contemporary discourse as a formal-political counter-model to the infinity of urbanization.

The enduring appeal of the archipelago model lies in its core paradox: by relinquishing control over much of the physical fabric, agency over the larger narrative is asserted. The dialectic between defined morphology and formlessness gave architects a tool to reinforce urbanity while acknowledging urbanization.

But how can the essential dialectic of the archipelago be sustained—or more precisely, initiated—under radically different conditions of rapid urban expansion? What happens to the morphological island model when the point of departure is an urban landscape that in its entirety resembles the “sea”?

The CAAD Forum series is hosted by the Center for American Architecture and Design to bring faculty, students, and staff together for informal and inquisitive discussions about ideas relating to architecture and its history, theory, practice, and future. Presentations introduce and off insight into new and ongoing research, and are followed by time for Q&A. Lunch provided; first-come first-served. View past CAAD Forums on the Texas Architecture YouTube channel.