31 October 2012. Lebbeus Woods, 72, died yesterday in New York City, survived by his wife Aleksandra Wagner and their daughter Victoria. His amazing visionary architecture.

21 May 2002

Lebbeus Woods, architect and theorist, will have an exhibit of his work, titled La Chute, opening 25 October 2002 at the Cartier Foundation in Paris, a show curated by Paul Virilio entitled Unknown Quantities, or Ce qui arrivé, or shit happens.

The first three photos below show Woods, architect Deborah Natsios (Cartome.org) and Alexis Rochas, a Woods associate for the Cartier exhibit, on May 18, 2002, at Woods' studio in downtown Manhattan, two blocks from notorious Ground Zero, once banally called World Trade Center.

Following those are photos of a Woods exhibit in March at Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York City where he is a professor.

Woods says the Cartier installation is to be constructed by guidance from a large model to be built in the exhibition space, without construction drawings, a process similar to that used in the Cooper Union exhibit in which Woods' rough sketches (sample below) were used by constructors.

Woods directs the Research Institute for Experimental Architecture (RIEA):

International Architecture Workshop "Gr(o)und"
Summer 2002 in New York, USA.

Conducted by Lebbeus Woods and Guy LaFranchi

August 5 through August 16, 2002
Fee: 600 US Dollars

Cambridge International Dictionary of English:

Ground (Land) - the surface of the Earth, the floor of a room, or piece of land especially used for a particular purpose.

Ground (Area of knowledge) - an area of knowledge or experience; a subject.
Ground (Cause) - a reason, cause or argument.

Duden, Deutsches Universalwortenbuch:

Grund - Erdboden als Untergrund, Erdoberfläche.
Grund - Boden eines Gewässers.
Grund - Ursache, Motiv.
Grund - Umstand, Tatbestand od. Beweggrund, durch den sichjeman bewogen fühlt, etwas bestimmes zu tun.

Infrastructure; tables; chairs and lamps will be provided. The participants are required to provide their own workshop equipment and material. Living accommodations are not included in the fee. However, a list of inexpensive lodgings will be provided. A certificate will be awarded to each student who completes the workshop. The number of participants is limited to twenty and the applications must be received by June 30, 2002. Along with the application each student must submit a brief statement or work sample and curriculum vitae to RIEA.ch, 80 Nassau Street, App 4A, New York City 10038, USA.

RIEA: Research Institute for Experimental Architecture.


Designing the Cartier Foundation installation

Woods describes the exhibit to Natsios and Alexis, utilizing construction drawings of the Cartier Foundation building.

Alexis, Natsios, Woods.

Woods' sketchbook.

Woods exhibit at Cooper Union in March 2002

Sample of Woods' sketch (about 11" x 8") from which the installation was constructed.

Other works in the Cooper Union show

A Woods design for The New Jerusalem: Sharing the Divided City, a book of designs, research and commentary edited by Michael Sorkin, due out in October 2002. Natsios/Young's contribution to the volume, Jerusalem Sky: http://cartome.org/jerusalem-sky/introduction.htm