While the purpose of most
architects is the construction of their designed work, for Woods, the essence of
architecture transcended these limits by seeking something other than an idea expressed as a built form. Interested in what would happen if the architect was freed from conventional restrictions, he did not intend to generate and construct a
design proposal of a specific geometrical form in order to approach an existing architectural problem. To the contrary, his work consists of intricately complex drawings and designs, envisioning and exploring new types of
space. Yet, he considered his architecture neither utopian nor visionary but an attempt to approach
reality under a radical set of ideas and conditions. In his visionary world, architecture instrumentalizes the continuous transformation of the human being as its user who becomes its creator, giving it meaning and content through their way of acting in space. All individuals, whether they have an architectural background or not, should become creators of this new world. A person devoid of
architectural education is called upon to act as an architect and in parallel, the architect needs to act upon as a person with no architectural background. To this end, Woods saw a parallelism between the
designer of a
building and the creator of a
pyramid who follows forms imposed by those who represent, express, dominate, and exploit others’ obedience to regulatory rules. On one hand, at the lowest level of the structure Wood places the inhabitant of the pyramid as the bearer of its full load. On the other hand, the architect who designs building non types, or else the freespace of unknown purpose and meaning, inverts the pyramid and creates new building types. Every resident of this inverted structure becomes a top. In the undefined
darkness of the void where this structure is located, many pyramids interpenetrate and dissolve, one in the other. They generate a flow; a form of indeterminacy; a contradictory
plan; a
city of unknown origin and destination; a state of continuous transformation. This can as also be seen in Woods's project Horizon Houses about which he states: The majority of his explorations deal with the design of systems in crisis: the order of the existing being confronted by the order of the new. His designs are politically charged and provocative visions of a possible reality; provisional, local, and charged with the investment of their creators. He is best known for his proposals for San Francisco, Havana, and Sarajevo that were included in the publication of Radical Reconstruction in 1997 (Sarajevo after the war, Havana in the grips of the ongoing trade embargo, and San Francisco after the Loma Prieta earthquake). Architecture and war are not incompatible. Architecture is war. War is architecture. I am at war with my time, with history, with all authority that resides in fixed and frightened forms. I am one of millions who do not fit in, who have no home, no family, no doctrine, no firm place to call my own, no known beginning or end, no "sacred and primordial site." I declare war on all icons and finalities, on all histories that would chain me with my own falseness, my own pitiful fears. I know only moments, and lifetimes that are as moments, and forms that appear with infinite strength, then "melt into air." I am an architect, a constructor of worlds, a sensualist who worships the flesh, the melody, a silhouette against the darkening sky. I cannot know your name. Nor you can know mine. Tomorrow, we begin together the construction of a city. Realizing the need to redefine the meaning of human existence by means of architecture, Woods envisioned the creation of spaces sheltering the diverse material and immaterial needs of each of their inhabitants. In his works, terms of a conventional architectural vocabulary, such as the void, wall, volume, and surface, give their place to combinations of heterogeneous and radical interpretations of their content including the "freespace", "multiplicity", and "
heterarchy". In a similar way,
Michel Foucault identified transitional spaces that accommodate diversity or else the
other pertaining to each inhabitant as opposed to the entire
community. For him, these heterotopias are real and institutionalized spaces lost within the grid of the urban fabric. However, they constitute "a kind of
dislocation or a realized utopia, in which all the real spatial arrangements, all other spatial arrangements encountered within society, are simultaneously represented, challenged and overturned".
Freespace Woods introduced the term
freespace to propose an architectural approach freed from its conventional, predetermined and
deterministic character, or else an architecture that instrumentalizes the ever-changing
landscape of the modern era which is exposed to natural and man-made changes. In contrast to the model of organization and development of the modern city, the
freespace was for Woods a field of unpredictable forces and continuous transformations of both its user and society which is characterized by morphological fluidity and ideological liberation. The
concept of
freespace was addressed to the remaining empty space whose meaning differs from that of the indefinite void whether it is perceptual, natural, political,
social or cultural. A building
mass is not a necessary condition for the existence of space. The act of
abstraction is an entirely creative
logic that leads to covering the remaining empty space with human energy and movement. The subtracted mass cannot be replaced with anything else as the energy lost in the act of subtraction can only be offered to the
system through human energy, thus ensuring the system's balance. In Woods'
freespace, the user of the building plays the role of the creator, and the space exists only when it is inhabited. It is not intended for a particular
social group, but for those who wish to transform their everyday life from static to fluid and from deterministic to existential. It does not have a predefined plan of use and is not part of a particular building type. The purpose of establishing such a space is the transformation of the user through their existence into an unprecedented and totally indefinable spatial reality. Woods' society can only be founded on the intelligence, resourcefulness and awareness-raising initiative of the individual who is called to identify and harmonize with the complexity of their self-sufficiency in space and time. To do this, they must devise new and more experimental ways of using
freespace.
Wall Woods developed a comprehensive
theory about the
wall as a structural element, giving it a multi-dimensional and totally different value from that of the boundary. For him, walls form as a result of the ephemeral
culture that develops in the midst of a
crisis which manifests itself not in its core, where the most damaging effects are expressed, but in zones on its periphery. The zones of crisis are shaped by the collision of dissimilar situations, things, and ideologies and constitute the only places where new and vital ideas for the development of a new culture can emerge. In this context, the
wall is an element which defines rather than divides spaces that lie between different spatial conditions and its user is one who purposely went there not fitting in any of the conventionally designed spaces. The wall's role is to neither build a completely new logic, nor abandon existing systems and ideas but to trigger a new way of thinking about space.
Multiplicity In Woods’ philosophy, space and structure constitute a form of
noise or
chaos known as
multiplicity. In his work,
multiplicity is defined as a source of change consisting of undefined compositions of elements with indistinguishable trajectories. The elements form an aggregate but not a totality. Thus,
multiplicity can be described but not clearly defined. It contains a sense of indeterminate motion which can influence and create sets of elements rather than a transition from one point to another.
Multiplicity, for Woods, is directly linked to creation but it involves the possibility of chaos and
violence. The
multiplicity of chaos triggers an endless series of changes, some of which are violent. Under such circumstances, Woods envisioned a world that is reborn and continuously transforming, thus responding to the ever-changing environment but also to each individual's needs.
Heterarchy In a society where heterogeneity is established as a form of homogeneity, Woods envisioned the foundation of
heterarchy, a societal structure based on dialogue and collaboration. In this context, the individual stands as a unique entity called
heteros pertaining to the
other; the one that differs from the group. In this society, Woods believes that the architect needs to first respect and meet the needs of each
heteros member to satisfy eventually the ones of the larger group. == Works ==