A "CATHEDRAL OF SOCIALISM"

or a pavilion on Bauhausplatz in Dessau, Germany,

inspired by the Gropius manifesto published in 1919

Cathedral ? Socialism ?
What do these words mean ?
Even more, what do they mean, together ?
We are told we live in “dark times”.
But maybe times were always “dark”.
In 1919 Walter Gropius wrote the Bauhaus Manifesto, which was published together with a woodcut by Lyonel Feininger that represented the “cathedral of socialism”.
At that time Gropius had an almost mystical vision about architecture, if we consider that in that short manifesto he used the word “heavens” twice and the last word was “faith.”
Heavens ?
Faith ?
Was he out of his mind ?
His idealism was short lived though.
And the new Bauhaus buildings, which opened in 1925, were far from bringing together painting, sculpture and architecture.They were certainly far from being, together, the cathedral of socialism.
Nothing medieval or mystical about the new buildings.
On the occasion of the centennial of the Dessau buildings we invite you to imagine and propose, across the street from the main building, a structure, a pavilion, or even a smaller cathedral, reminding us of the beginning of the Bauhaus.
That Bauhaus that advocated the conjunction of all the arts in the name of spirit.
Can we do this at this time, our dark time ?
Is it too idealistic ?
But what if, stubborn, we refuse to forget what Gropius wrote in 1919 ? What If we refuse to ignore the pictorial representation of Lyonel Feininger ? Would it be impossible ?
We invite you to imagine a quintessential building that would express, as well as possible, the desiderata of the 1919 manifesto.
Imagine a building that would announce perhaps, and hopefully, what Gropius hoped for.
Even if our times do not seem disposed to do so.

Please send us your proposals, digitally, on one poster size A1, oriented vertically, to info@icarch.us by December 1st. We will publish all of them on our website. We will also organize a travelling exhibition, with our newly acquired "artbulance," which will display all the projects received on the two sides of the van, exactly when the centennial celebrations will take place, and exactly in Dessau. A situationist approach to art & life, in an attempt to unite them, not just in space, but also in time... and to commemorate, creatively, what needs to be commemorated..

Thank you,

I C A R C H

www.icarch.us

A HOUSE FOR RUDOLF STEINER

This year there are 100 years since Rudolf Steiner died.
His relevance, for us, didn’t diminish.
He was a brilliant non-architect who built better than many architects.
How to explain it ?
His elan vital and creative force manifested itself in various fields, but maybe “the Queen of the Arts” (as once architecture used to be called) had a special meaning and attraction for him.
He was searching for unity, for wholeness.
And his architecture expresses this quest poignantly.
It has been said that many of the great buildings of the past were erected on the foundation of a “shared symbolic order” the kind religion provided.
But where is this “shared symbolic order” now ?
Very weakened, if at all…
So we invite you to imagine A HOUSE FOR RUDOLF STEINER.
A house that would transcend prosaic functions.
Would it be an anthroposophic house ?
But how close is Sophia to Anthropos, these days ?
Anthropos ravished and continues to ravish the Earth.
Maybe Anthropos should be sabotaged, or created a new understanding of what “Anthropos” should mean.
Respiritualizing architecture ?
Perhaps.
Thus, Anthropos would become Eupalinos.
Singing stones ?
Yes, singing stones.
How else could we talk of architecture ?
So we invite you to make the stones sing.
Design A HOUSE FOR RUDOLF STEINER that would have made him happy.
Study his writings and then build.
Build not only for Vita Activa, but also for Vita Contemplativa.
Aware that we are all in the gutter, but willing to look upwards, to the stars.
Elevate us, dear architect, through an inspired and inspiring HOUSE FOR RUDOLF STEINER.
Now that there are 100 years since he died.

Please send us your work on two boards format A1, oriented vertically or horizontally, to info@icarch.us by December 1st, 2025. We will publish all of them on our website. If you have any question please contact us.

Thank you,

I C A R C H

www.icarch.us

A HOUSE FOR ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG

This year there are 100 years since Robert Rauschenberg was born.
Should we celebrate the centennials of “avant-garde” artists ?
Even more so, of a Neo-Dadaist artist ?
Isn’t such a celebration a little too bourgeois ?
Maybe it is… but what if we pay homage to him in a Neo-Dada way, as unconventionally and as creatively as possible ?
If we contemplate the work entitled The Happy Apocalypse, commissioned by a church in Italy (but rejected afterwards), what do we see ?
We see a satellite dish governing the whole composition in lieu of God.
God as a satellite dish ? This is what the church asked too and was not willing to accept.
But this is what Rauschenberg did.
His parents were Fundamentalist Christians, but what about him ?
Dada was a way of saying (also in Romanian): NuNu.
Thus, instead if YesYes, NoNo.
So we ask you to design the NoNo House.
The house of a Neo-Dadaist artist who wanted to operate in the space between art and life.
In between.
So if Art is long, and Life short, as in the Latin saying “Ars Longa Vita Brevis”, how would the intermediate space between them be ?
Perhaps both eternal and ephemeral.
What Rauschenberg teaches is to be uninhibited.
And he was actually a very "sustainable” artist… he worked with found, discarded objects, we feel his relevance for architecture today could be significant.
What if we would build the way Rauschenberg did art ?
We feel we would have a very interesting architecture, certainly not constipated, as much of it is, today.
Pretentiously constipated.
We feel Rauschenberg would have loved Bruno Taut’s manifest “Down with Seriousism.”
So let’s bring down seriousism too. Together with Robert.
Design / or undesign a house for the friend of Jasper Johns, John Cage and Merce Cunningham.
Design an undesigned house. A Neo-Dada House, a vulnerable house, an Anti-House, a Collage House, a Non-House.
Or half way so, between art and life.

Please send us ANY work, ANY size and ANY format to info@icarch.us by December 1st, 2025. We will publish all the works received on our website.

Thank you,

I C A R C H

www.icarch.us