DESIGNING DEMOLITION DEMOCRACY
The Berlage Center for advanced studies in Architecture and Urban Design
AMO
THEORY MASTERCLASS 12 ACTS OF DEMOLITION
march 19-27, 2015
Nafsika Efklidou Anna Livia Friel
INTRODUCTION This catalogue documents a series of artifacts and different representational mediums through which demolition as a process has been communicated to the public. The survey starts with examples from the 1950s and the controversial demolition of Les Halles in Paris, pinpoints the shift from top-down to bottom-up initiatives and ends with a series of speculative posters about the future of demolition representations. Among the documentation there is graphic material from historic events as well as fictional. ‘’Politics exists as a sort of an aesthetic operation,… as what can be seen or sensed and our ability to speak and discuss it. (…) In forensic terms, there is always an aestheticisation of politics in its presentation or representation. You present a particular issue, you represent a building, a landscape, a ruin, a geological cross section, etc, you seek decisions to be taken on the basis of it, and you have an aesthetic/political intervention.’’ The catalogue is articulated according to chosen medium (open platforms, multimedia archives, films, posters) offering a non-linear sequence of events. Through these representations, the public opinion about demolition is always -implicitly or explicitly- present. If we consider demolition as a liberating act in the hands of planners and society, then what is noticed through the survey is that this attitude is rarely the case. On the contrary, hesitation and protest appear as usual reactions to demolition projects. Therefore, counter-protest propaganda makes a main theme. If we read our collection in a chronological order, and we go
back to Les Halles project and more specifically to the video that the parisian municipality made to present the project to the citizens, we can clearly read an unaware acceptance on the faces of the public. In that case the, the inevitable process of modernization was preceded by a huge demolition which was changing the city shape in its inner core. Towards our times two trends are noticed; on the one hand, more and more varied mediums are employed in the demolition discourse; on the other hand, the demolition as a process increasingly follows the contemporary trend of democratization in decision making. This is mainly manifested with examples that graphically attempt to control protest against demolition through comic series or open platforms that request citizen participation. The changing of the communication mediums from the one-directional ones to the networking ones, where individual position is shared and opened to a collective judgement, is deeply affecting the reactions on demolition.
OPEN (WEB) PLATFORMS
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Paris dans 20 ans, 1967, model presentation for Les Halles in the magazine Paris Match, 951 & 952. (accessed: http://ndlr.eu/paris-dans-20-ans/)
Twitter discussions about the demolitions of Red Road Flats in Glasgow, 2015. (accessed: March 24, 2015, https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&q=red%20road%20 flats&lang=it)
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Le Figaro, Dans votre Paris idéal, quel monument souhaiteriez-vous voir disparaître?, 2009, survey on the occasion of the exhibition Le Grand Pari(s) de l’agglomération parisienne, Cité de l’Architecture. (accessed March 24, 2015, http://www.lefigaro.fr/scope/ articles-enquete/2009/04/09/08002-20090409QCMWWW00538-dans-votre-paris-ideal-quel-site-ou-monument-souhaiteriez-vous-voir-disparaitre-.php)
Kevin McCloud, Demolition, 2005, TV series on Channel 4. (accessed March 23, 2015, http://www.channel4.com/ programmes/demolition)
Scott Ramsay, Glasgow Demolition Works, open platform monitoring demolition in Glasgow (accessed March 25, 2015, https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zd_ paqcYSn4Y.keCMq5y7EnAU&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&z=11)
Data Driven Detroit, Motor City Mapping App, 2014, open source application by the Detroit Land Bank Authority, photograph by Carlos Osorio (accessed March 24, 2015, in Anna Clark, Will “Blexting� Help With Detroit Blight?, http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/detroit-blight-blexting-houses-motor-city-mapping)
Data Driven Detroit, Motor City Mapping App, 2014, open source application by the Detroit Land Bank Authority, photograph by Carlos Osorio (accessed March 24, 2015, in Anna Clark, Will “Blexting� Help With Detroit Blight?, http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/detroit-blight-blexting-houses-motor-city-mapping)
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Save Detroit Project, 2014, logo of the crowdfunding campaign on indiegogo.com with the goal to demolish as many abandoned buildings in Detroit as possible. h(accessed: https://twitter.com/savedetroit1)
Gustavo Artigas, Vote for Demoliton, 2009, poster campaign as part of an exhibition at LA><ART, Los Angeles. (accessed: 23 March, 2015, http://laxart.org/exhibitions/ view/gustavo-artigas-vote-for-demoliton/)
MULTIMEDIA ARCHIVES
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The Divis Demolition Committee protest dilapidated public housing, photograph by Cary Wolinsky (accessed March 24, 2015, http://http://www.natgeocreative.com/ photography/270887)
Shawn Pogatchnik, Wrecking ball brings hope to slum: Northern Ireland: Gunmen and criminals have given way to trees and driveways in Belfastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s infamous Divis Flats., 1993, extract from article on Associated Press (accessed March 23, 2015, http://articles.latimes.com/1993-10-31/ news/mn-51598_1_northern-ireland)
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Chris Leslie, The Glasgow Renaissance, 2015, multimedia Documentary project. Since 2007 Glaswegian photographer and filmmaker, Chris Leslie, has been documenting the condemned and disappearing housing schemes of the city. (accessed March 24, 2015, http:// www.glasgow-renaissance.co.uk/)
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Red Road Flats Demolition, 2014, Image of the screen at Celtic Park. The demolition was shown live on a 100-ft wide screen at the Celtic Park opening ceremony (accessed March 24, 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/ukscotland-glasgow-west-26980882)
Last call. Laurel Mall, 2011, flyer, part of an online multimedia archive about the demolished mall. (accessed March 25, 2015, https://lostlaurel.wordpress.com/)vv
FILMS
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Mario Monicelli, Pietro Germi, Amici Miei, 1975, movie.
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Une importante opération de réhabilitation urbaine : le quartier des Halles, 1968, Actualités filmées, screenshots from videoh. (accessed: March 24, 2015, http://fresques.ina.fr/jalons/ fiche-media/InaEdu01077/une-importante-operation-derehabilitation-urbaine--le-quartier-des-halles?video=InaE du01077?video=InaEdu01077)
Ecotricity, Collapsing Cooling Towers is a Sight of Devastating Demolition, 2012, advertisment animation, this advertisement is an effort by Ecotricity to get people to move away from power-plant-made energy and onto greener energy. (accessed: March 24, 2015, http://www.trendhunter.com/ trends/collapsing-cooling-towers)
POSTERS/LEAFLETS
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La mort des Halles ou la destruction des pavillons Baltard, 1971, protest against the demolition of Les Halles in Paris (accessed March 24, 2015, http://www.archyves.net/html/ Blog/?paged=22)
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STV Glasgow, ScottPulse, Should the demolition of the Red Road flats be part of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony?, 2014, poll commissioned by STV Glasgow (accessed March 24, 2014, http://glasgow.stv.tv/ articles/271209-red-road-flats-demolition-during-glasgowgames-ceremony-poll-results/)
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Detroit Future City, 2014 Blight Bootcamp, 2014, flyer for the event (accessed March 25, 2015, http://detroitfuturecity. com/2014/06/detroit-future-city-to-host-inaugural-blightbootcamp-saturday/)
Detroit Blight Authority, Blight Fight, 2014, photographs by Bill Pute (accessed March 24, 2015, Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new challenge: Tear down 50 blighted homes with 60-day crowdfunding campaign dollars, http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/ index.ssf/2014/03/detroits_new_challenge_tear_do.html)
Gustavo Artigas, Vote for Demoliton, 2009, poster campaign as part of an exhibition at LA><ART, Los Angeles. (accessed: 23 March, 2015, http://laxart.org/exhibitions/ view/gustavo-artigas-vote-for-demoliton/)
Laurel Mall Directory of stores, advertisment for the demolition of the mall (accessed March 24, 2015, https://www.pinterest.com/ richard_friend/lost-laurel-the-malls/)
Nieuwbouw Kleinrijk, 2014, Redevelopment Masterplan after the demolitions of the modernist neighborhood of Kleinrijk, Overschie, Rotterdam, (accessed 25 March, 2015, https://www. woonstadrotterdam.nl/Home/_/overschie)
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Ulli Lust, Comic, 2010, Extract from the Booklet Dessau-RoĂ&#x;lau with a comic strip about the demolition project, Ministry for Regional Development and Transport Saxony-Anhalt (accessed: March 24, 2015, http://www.iba-stadtumbau. de/index.php?dessau-rosslau-en)
Don MacDougall, Chandler Demolition Co., poster campaign (accessed March 23, 2015, http://dkmacdougall.com/ chandlerdemolition/chandlerindex.html)
STRIK Creative Concept Control, Precision, 2014, advertisment, photograph by Joost Schrover (accessed: March 23, 2015, http://www.gutewerbung. net/a-van-liempd-precision-deconstruction-poster/)
Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, Tell NOLA Council: Vote NO to Demolition at Canal & Tchoupitoulas Streets, campaign (accessed 23 March, 2015, http://blog.prcno. org/2014/05/19/tell-nola-council-vote-no-to-demolition-atcanal-tchoupitoulas-streets/)
National Demolition Association, Demolition, 2015, magazine cover of the National Demolition Association. (accessed: March 25, 2015, http://www.demolitionassociation.com/)
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Nafsika Efklidou, Anna Livia Friel 12 Acts of demolition, Try out the wrecking ball â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Vote for demolition Amo/ The Berlage Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture and Urban Design, Theory Masterclass, March 2015
Nafsika Efklidou, Anna Livia Friel 12 Acts of demolition, What shall we do with all this wood? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Demolish together luchtsinvgel bridge Amo/ The Berlage Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture and Urban Design, Theory Masterclass, March 2015
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Nafsika Efklidou, Anna Livia Friel 12 Acts of demolition, Your vote, our command. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Right to demolition. Permanence is banal. Amo/ The Berlage Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture and Urban Design, Theory Masterclass, March 2015
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Nafsika efklidou, anna livia friel 12 Acts of demolition, House freezing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Friday night demolition events Amo/ the berlage center for advanced studies in architecture and urban design, theory masterclass, March 2015
*We do not own the copyrights of the material used in this research project. All the material is done for academic research purposes.