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Richard Holbrooke, Architect
Richard Holbrooke is an architect. While he is frequently called the ‘architect’ of the Dayton Peace Agreement, the title is not simply a metaphor. To negotiate an end to the Bosnian War, Holbrooke acted as an architect, drawing on an understanding of spatial organization, largescale planning, and architectural techniques to design a nation. He employed urbanistic strategies, drafting the future political boundaries to incorporate multiple, often conflicting demands concerning access to transportation routes, the distribution of infrastructures, the locations of resources and populations, and the physical management of urban centers. Just as importantly, Holbrooke orchestrated the space of the talks, using his spatial knowledge to design the relations of power of the negotiation. He led the warring parties from the site analysis of the existing Balkan territories, to the schematic design of the preconditions for negotiation, to the design development at the site of the talks in Dayton, to the construction drawings that mapped the future boundaries, and through the construction administration carried out by NATO to ensure that his design was executed. He worked through multiple scales of intervention, from the master plan of the geopolitical divisions in Bosnia, to the composition of the buildings at Dayton, to interior details like the table at which the treaty was signed, asserting his position through spatial relationships and symbolic power. Holbrooke’s activities in the field of architecture demonstrate potentials that other architects might choose to explore. Peacemakers must become architects in the process of negotiation, but architects already possess the knowledge necessary to approach the most complex and intractable conflicts. The world needs architects more than ever. |
25 March 2008 C-Lab's Jeffrey Inaba and Jesse Seegers recently interviewed robotics engineer, artist, and Berkeley professor Ken Goldberg for an upcoming issue of Volume on the theme of "Content Management." C-Lab is currently researching philanthropy, so we were very interested to hear about Goldberg's "Donation Dashboard" project, a online filtering program that recommends philanthropic causes suited to your preferences. [Donation Dashboard] 21 February 2008 21 February 2008 15 February 2008 8 February 2008 6 February 2008 1 December 2007 20 November 2007
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