Abubakr Ali Columbia GSAPP Portfolio

ABUBAKR H. ALI ARCHITECTURAL PORTFOLIO

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PROJECTS 01

Patrons of A Ritual Learn from Food | GSAPP, Columbia University

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Work/Live Paradox Paradoxical Efficiencies | GSAPP, Columbia University

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Type(ological) Corrections Typological Corrections | GSAPP, Columbia University

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Contradictions at 51 Astor Place Metropolis Essay | Prof. Enrique Walker

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01 PATRONS OF A RITUAL DATE: JUNE 2016 STUDIO: LEARNING FROM FOOD 3.0 LOCATION: GSAPP, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CRITIC: JOAQUIM MORENO

“Learning from Food is the encounter of the learning from what surround us attitude that transformed our relation with modernity, with a particular subject that breaches the division between inside and outside: Food; that portion of what surrounds us that we put in our mouths in order to construct ourselves. This outside that is consumed through the mouth is both nature and culture, which makes food a very problematic descriptor of both our objectivity and our subjectivity.” JOAQUIM MORENO With this in mind I addressed my studio research towards the exploration of the role of ritual in our daily routines and its resonance within our spatial considerations.

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Hierarchy of the Iftar Meal

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Operatingacrossanumberofscales,MOUTH,TABLE,KITCHEN and CITY, I undertook a comprehensive research on the ritualistic manifestations of food. Our adherence to strict ritual during consumption of food, focusing specifically on spatial consequences of this adherence to ritual.

Food Variety Key

Mining the intrinsic hierarchies embedded and on display in the act of“IFTAR”(breaking fast) during Ramadan I designed an architecture that would accentuate this ritualistic fervor and perhaps re-think the relationship between architecture and ritual spaces. Envisioned as a series of episodic spaces operating across a set time line, before sunset, the project heightens the spiritual process of preparing food as a personal indulgence in spirituality and then celebrates it by designating shared spaces for the consumption of the food, at times disrupting hierarchy at other times, highlighting it.

Operatingacrossanumberofscales,MOUTH,TABLE,KITCHEN and CITY, I undertook a comprehensive research on the ritualistic manifestations of food. Our adherence to strict ritual during consumption of food, focusing specifically on spatial consequences of this adherence to ritual.

Projected Boundries of the carpet

Analysis of Private & Public Areas of the table

Mining the intrinsic hierarchies embedded and on display in the act of“IFTAR”(breaking fast) during Ramadan I designed an architecture that would accentuate this ritualistic fervor and perhaps re-think the relationship between architecture and ritual spaces. Envisioned as a series of episodic spaces operating across a set time line, before sunset, the project heightens the spiritual process of preparing food as a personal indulgence in spirituality and then celebrates it by designating shared spaces for the consumption of the food, at times disrupting hierarchy at other times, highlighting it.

Hierarchy of t

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SALAD DESSERT DENSE SALAD

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The Food Entertainment Industry

The dominant “work spaces” within the building are designed to specification, each block designed to accomodate and perform activities related to small business.

Activities such as food prep, fabrication and office work. The act as supplementary workspaces to an work/live condition

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The Food Entertainment Industry

The dominant “work spaces� within the building are designed to specification, each block designed to accomodate and perform activities related to small business.

Activities such as food prep, fabrication and office work. The act as supplementary workspaces to an work/live condition

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GENEOLOGY OF THE COOKING SHOW

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“Les Immatériaux,” Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1985 12

“........This de-materialization drove home the crisis in the role of architecture as the “bridge” between the physical and the metaphysical. The Postmodern condition accentuated a lack of identity in architecture.

Robbed of the assuredness that stemmed from its involvement in the project of Modernity and the demise of its universal narratives architecture lost sight of the “ideas” it was meant to embody. Rajchman’s point on the loss of locality resonated deeply within an architectural community that yearned to broadcast a certain notion of stability, an architecture that yearned to reformulate objects as cultural antennas capable of broadcasting a tangible phenomenological identity.”

Material and Immaterial: The Transition of Architecture from Object to Radio

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FOOD PREP 16:30-18:00

THE OVENS 18:00-20:00

SERVING 20:00-20:30

PANTRY 16:00-16:30

UNFOLDED FLOOR PLAN

Rooms representing the key stages of meal preparation are isolated. As user will prepare the food in the order of Choosing, Re-shaping, Cooking and Containing. Each choice, within each room directly affects the choices made within the next rooms. The isolation is not complete as the natural light within the rooms is calibrated using small openenings that are designed to loose all light and hence operational capacity at a certain time from sunset. The isolation coupled with the each rooms’ design being tailored to a singular function effectivley ritualizes these banal steps in food preparation. The awarness of the limitied capability of the room the consequention nature of the choices made within the room will levy the importance of the task in the patron’s mind.

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HIERARCHICAL IFTAR

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PUBLIC SPACE IFTAR

Embedded with the “unseen” space of the building are feed back system. These are involved in every process of the food preparation. Within the room where the food is to be reshaped, large screens loop film of cooking shows. Informing the patron of their infinite choices with whatever ingredients they have. Thousands of forms of cooking implements, cutting, gouging scraping tools further monumentalize the task of reshaping, accentuating the overwhelming importance of the meal to be prepared.

HVAC ducts suck air form the ovens, enticing the patrons with the possibilities ahead. A test to the spirituality and adherence of the patrons. The fumes bring expectation and consequently, happiness or disappointment with the upcoming meal.

As the meal is rolled out into the “public space” the patrons emerge onto the shared meal consuming area. The stair leading into the space operated within different speed, ramps, changing angles of elevations ensures the patrons arrive at different times, destabilizing all possible forms of hierarchy.

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OPERATING FOOD PREP-ROOMS

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THE PUBLIC SPACE

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AA:

12 Actions to make Peter Eisenman Transparent was a seminal project for your firm, Office for Political Innovation.

However the nature of the project raised interesting questions, especially regarding the strategies to employ in the representation of the research and proposals of the project, involving governments, capital and industries. I was fascinated by something you mentioned in an article about the project and I quote “The ways unofficial researchers use descriptions, data collection, archiving, evaluation, comparison and narration to orient their actions in ordinary life or to produce knowledge tend to be ignored.

What is it that we call research when we talk of architecture?”

How would you say you have been able to bring all this research to the forefront, in a way that is more visible and influential?

Andres Jaque

“......”

Fictional Interview with Andres Jaque Agonism & Architectural Communication Interview Series

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02 work/live paradox DATE: SEPTEMBER 2016 STUDIO: PARADOXICAL EFFICIENIES LOCATION: GSAPP, COLUMBIA UNIVERSIYTY CRITTIC: MARc TSURUMAKI

“The building sustains the euphoria of the startup.

Cheap flexible work/live units are occupied by hungry entrepreneurs, keen on fresh disruptive ideas.

Open and exposed to the critical eyes of business colleagues and immersed in an environment rich with diverse influence;professionals from diverse working backgrounds mingle, share services and professional expertise. A sustained production level is necessary to develop and harvest new and unconventional ideas.

The extreme reciprocity hybridizes businesses into mutant operations, exploiting niche markets and providing new revenue streams for the residents.

However, the building is an ecosystem. Always in balance. The residents operate within a strict contract of reciprocity.EVERYONE IS USEFUL.There is an impetus to share skills, knowledge and services.The system is always in balance. There is no surplus and no shortage, every resident does their part, fulfilling an exact production rate in the ecosystem.

Deficit of production hinders reciprocity, leading to eviction. Surplus of production disturbs the balance, leading to eviction. Productivity is capped. Hard work is unnecessary.Leisure calibrates production.Leisure is necessary, rather it is crucial to mitigate excessive production. THE RESULT IS A MANIA TO HAVE FUN.

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F.A.R

Kitchen + Fabrication

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F.A.R + Public Space

Kitchen + Fabrication + Office

Through block Corridor

Cumalative Block

WORKING KITCHEN FABRICATION OFFICE

The dominant “work spaces� within the building are designed to specification, each block designed to accomodate and perform activities related to small business. Activities such as food prep, fabrication and office work. The act as supplementary workspaces to an work/live condition

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“........The contradictions manifest themselves in the performative aspects of the building as well.

If we were to explode the elements that constitute the building mass, (the black monolith, the hyper-reflective formally complex facades and the plaza), they can be reconstituted as IBM HQ, a concoction of office and exhibition spaces (St. John University offices and Christies) and an outdoor seating space respectively.

The containers for these functions are designed almost separately with no attempt made to unify their forms, airbrush their discrepancies or make allegorical allusions to their functions.

When brought together these elements are in a natural state of contradiction. Indeed, the crux of these contradictions takes its literal and physical form at the 45 degree line that strikes the solid black monolith, launches us into the formally complex facades and is the tipping point where sidewalk merges with the plaza.�

ARCHITECTURE AS CRITICISM: CONTRADICTIONS AT 51 ASTOR PLACE

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The Dual condition of work/live is most exacerbated within the office block. The duality of an apartment and open floor office plan blur the lines between shared business environment, personal business space and living space. It muddies the separation between life an work mirroring a condition now prominent in our lives

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MANUFACTURING-FLOOR

PLAY-FLOOR

STOREFRONT

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Arguments Research, Everything Architecture, Geers

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Everything Architecture, Kersten Geers, Arguments Video Essay

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01 type(ological) corrections DATE: JAN 2017 STUDIO: TYPOLOGICAL CORRECTIONS LOCATION: GSAPP, COLUMBIA UNIVERSIYTY CRITTIC: JUAN HERREROS

Tasked with investigating the industrial zone of Alcorcon we looked for areas of interest where perhaps our interventions could yield the most interesting typologies. Instead we, gravitated to the areas of most disinterest. Empty, abandoned unoccupied lots, that represented not just gaps within the urban fabric but were somehow representative of lack of action, ability or imagination. We set ourselves the task of working within the largest and most problematic of these gaps.

We carried out a set of typological adjustments testing the malleability of the existing residential typologies and their capability to transform into complex typologies that could host programs such as housing or commerce.

Repetition is a perhaps the binding essence of typology, it reinforces the structure of a family of types.

We set about repeating what we have learnt from our test on existing typologies, putting to the test the reproducibility of the types we had created anew.

The question of type? Our operations of adjusting, repetition and subversion were a way for us to qualify how we create types.

Can type transcend program and form?

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We carried out a set of typological adjustments testing the malleability of the existing residential typologies and their capability to transform into complex typologies that could host programs such as housing or commerce.

These investigations yielded possible transformations, their nature embedded within the elements at hand, and through a number of steps we set out to test these new typologies, creating a new addition to the non-linear tradition of the residential/industrial typology. The empty lot provided an immediate testing ground for our new types.

We set about introducing these types onto the lot.

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INFILL

EXTENSION

ADDITION

PENETRATION

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SOUTH-WEST BUILDING (INFILL)

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SOUTH-EAST BUILDING (PENETRATION)

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AA:

Jimenez Lai

“As you cut across disciplines and inflect their multiple registrars back onto architecture, Who do you understand to be the audience of your work?”

“I used to think my audience was fellow faculty members across schools of architecture across the world. Alongside faculty members also students but mostly just schools. In other words the audience is academic. I don’t really think that right now. It is kind of tough to run a practice if your audience is academic. ...........Maybe as well as being an academic i am also molding the language towards some other audience. I also think i have an allergic reaction to the idea of a broad audience. I was mostly focused on an academic audience because i thought it’s fun and interesting to be a part of a niche culture, maybe i still think so, it is still interesting to be a part of subculture. ........... I don’t skateboard myself but i wonder if this kind of architecture that we do for these school that we work in, schools that work on similar ideas, including columbia University, perhaps belong to a very small sub-culture.

Which is so cool on the one hand but on the Interview with Jimenez Lai Agonism & Architectural Communication Interview Series

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RESE 76

EARCH 77

AGONISM AND ARCHITECTURAL COMMUNICATION A BOOK OF INTERVIEWS Directed by Cristina Goberna Pesudo Edited by Abubakr Ali, Giovanni Cozzani, Ali Fouladi, Stephanie Hamilton, Jarrett Ley, Andrew Luy, and Gabriel Ruis-Larrea Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Spring 2017

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09

AGONISM & ARCHITECTURAL COMMMUNICATION | DATE:

| STATUS: | LOCATION: | TYPE:

April 2017

Research/Book New York City Interviews/Exhibition

This research explores how various types of non-traditional media construct up-to-date architectural discourse and how Agonism or critical thinking is introduced in their conceptualization, design and content. Due to the availability, multiplication and speed of current communication channels, architects today not only need to be skilful in a wide range of broadcasting technologies but also be aware of the latest international conversations on architectural representation.

Taking in consideration that architecture is currently produced and consumed not only by drawings, models and descriptive or academic writing, this research will focus in the historical and current use of non-traditional media as theatre, film, sound, creative writing, alternative publishing, exhibitions, education, documentary etc. and in their use as tools for constructing critical positions on current disciplinary affairs.

Selecting afrom a number of nominated offices, my collegues and I conducted research on the communication techniques employed by these offices to unpack their impulses and goals.

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ARCHITECT AS A CULTURAL PRODUCER

KERSTEN GEERS In conversation with Abubakr Hayder Ali, Ali Fouladi and Giovanni Cozzani

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INTRODUCTION Employing a myriad of nontraditional communication strategies architect Kersten Geers has forged a singular identity in the architectural discourse. His utilization of text, exhibitions and drawings have successfully pushed the boundaries that defined the role of architecture in cultural production. Indeed, identifying himself as a “cultural producer” Geers’ professed fascination with the art world and its influence on him is clearly visible in all his architectural and editorial endeavors, be it exhibitions such as Everything Architecture or magazines such as San Rocco.

Through these unconventional methods of communication Geers has managed to introduce new paradigms into the architectural discourse.

The architectural magazine of which he is editor, San Rocco, has successfully provided

a platform for broadcasting the immense volume of polemical investigation that he and his collaborators have undertaken throughout their formative years.

Additionally his collaboration with artists such as Bas Princen and his incorporation of their work as part of his communication has both critically and visually enhanced his message, imbuing it with critical depth often absent from architectural production.

Conducting architectural studios in numerous well known architectural institutions he has consistently subverted the traditional methods of communication, production and representation in the pursuit of architectures of a personal fascination to himself and of a critical importance to the discipline.

Kersten Geers is the founding partner of OFFICE KGDVS in Brussels, Belgium. He is also an editor of the architectural magazine San Rocco and a visiting professor 81

at a number of architectural schools including Columbia GSAPP. Abubakr Ali. Interviewer: The first question is about art,, in the recent interview in 2014 you mentioned in a quote i have a big interest in music and art to be honest i’m more interested in art than architecture i always looking at art and study artist work and it really fascinates me, the first question is why art and how art affect your decision in term of representation?

Kersten Geers: You know the word art is a such complicated word i think,I think is very difficult to do architecture and only find inspiration in architecture, we had a conversation few days ago where we opened the exhibition the book of the architecture of the city by rossi and bucar telli who apparently know rossi quite well he said for rossi was never that interested in other architecture up to a point and remember we were with couple of

people at the table fansua shabone amnuel cress thomas putnabanan and i had impression that all of them where agree to it of course he was interested in architecture,i mean we are here in new york next to the Flat Iron and it is a interesting piece of architecture you look at this but i’m not sure if ultimately part from the fact that you study these things and it is part of your background. If you try to understand what kind of project you need to do and how you position yourself if these building apart from providing you with blueprint of how architecture is made if they bring many ideas in terms of strategy, so i guess culture in general maybe art in specific is one way or one source of possible strategies and you can look at let’s say works of conceptual artist minimal artist or more recently very contemporary artist close to us people who work in Brussels very often they come with ideas strategies form sometimes you don’t quite understand which are maybe little bit unresolved

which maybe are about something else for themselves, i think for you as an architect is more inspiring simply because they put certain things in question you i mean of course if as an architect you refer to art i think you have a tendency to refer to art of the one or two generation before you, if you talk to artist they find it rather funny that architects art is always the art which is somehow commodified in the art world. Robert Smithson art is interesting because you look and see he deals with non size somehow, i think that is very attractive to look at that but at the same time i think is very interesting to look at the work of very young and contemporary artist and i’m very good friend with couple of them Arol Tess Yosti tratol who make particular sculptures video set of paintings, sometimes I go and see their work and discuss with them i’m very interested in the work of guntrad dobelle who is an artist with whom we sometimes almost work, and we try to incorporate Michal Velet who is an

artist 10 years older than us but who we do very often work together and i have the impression that in the way they look at composition space the power of form the ambiguity of form and meaning form and function that they bring ideas strategies witch we can use a lot when we were making this exhibition. About our work last year in the bozar in brussels it was very important not so much to show other architecture which i think we show in other occasions, for example the architecture without content series we specifically look for other architecture. How i look at many things they give me energy but that is not of course has nothing to do so much with the functionality of architecture the important of simple plan or the social position of the architecture that has purely to do with where you are as a cultural producer and what you look at to kind of fill your thoughts.

How much art and ancestors affects your design strategies?

I think they do that a lot, but it’s not something you can quantify, i’m personally interested in the ambiguity with which you appropriate certain things. For example something you get through a book some other things you get through life, black and white photograph, sometimes you get to experience or see me cause you happen to be at an exhibition i think the serendipity of things is very important for me to get certain ideas at the same time all these elements fit in a kind of a realm which is the work you already did the work you are busy with for example david and i have a very specific perspective though things,for example you are at this table and have certain ideas about perforation of the metal mesh and maybe that metal mesh say something to you, i think you have to be aware of these things, i think there is nor formula or recipe of things.

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We are interested in the artists you collaborate with, specially bas princen. Do you collaborate with them for the production of material in the office or it’s something very differen?

I’m happy you mentioned Bas princen, he should be the first person i mention if i talk about artist, for some reason i mentioned a couple of other names of very good friend as well but yes if you have to single out one person outside our practice who has been perhaps the most important in terms of our own production is bas princen, because he has been with us since 15 years ago in rotterdam when we were trying to figure out what was that take, of course there were other people around us but we were very close, and then each of these different stages there was always somehow Bas. We were looking at things together for example sometimes he would say have you seen the photograph of lewis baltz and how he makes a sequence or how he

takes a photograph seemingly trashy photograph but somehow statistics that and it becomes beautiful but it remains the critical documentation of that. So i can not recall i figure out something myself or something which came from a hole amount of conversations with Bas. i don’t know but what i know that way of looking on how you frame your relationship with reality or what is the static of the project for the photographer, at the same time Bas has been taking photographs of our work, so in a way he has been defining and looking at our work, maybe back then it was not a strategy he was simply a photographer, and you gradually realize there is a conversation going on, maybe after the third and fourth building you understand that in a way it is invisible, the way he looking at our work and our influence of the way he looks at our work by simply the conversations we have and the way we communicate to through our finish work.

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In your way of representing architecture, working on this duality of black and white line drawings and the perspectives or pictures, you approach it in a very serious way. You don’t try to distort the reality through diagrams in order to emphasize a concept. This makes me think about a question asked to Christian Kerez during a recent lecture at Columbia GSAPP, when he was asked if the ideas reside in the drawings and then the buildings are a finalization of them, or if viceversa the ideas are in the buildings, and the drawings are a mere representation of how the buildings should look like. His position was more in favor of this last condition, but I’m curious to know how would you answer to the same question? i think that is how I see the ambiguity of oeuvre, if I have to use that heavy word. In some cases the drawing is there because you understand that

is the only thing that matters, and in some cases the drawing indeed is not much more than a tool to build the building because in some sense you are aware of the fact that the building will be there. In some cases both the drawing, and the prospective, and the Bas photograph, and the building itself somehow contribute to the reality of the building. And the building itself exists outside of the photograph of Bas, but maybe you need both the photograph and the building and the drawing.

Personally I believe that architecture is exactly that cloud that touches all these things. I certainly don’t think that you have a set of ideas that you draw and that sometimes you execute, and that in a way is a vector of propaganda where the idea is first, the drawing of the idea is second and the building as a kind of realization of the idea is third.

I’ve been always fascinated by the Sendai Mediatheque of Ito presented as a project when I was roughly a student. I remember when the project was presented at the beginning it was a set of rather ephemeral drawings.

Then the building was finally built, and I remember many people being very disappointed that the building was so much materic. But was very fascinating that the actual building was so different from the drawings. It did not make the drawings irrelevant.

There were two realities: in the reality of that building many things happened, but I did not see that as compromising.

That was just the negotiation between a set of ideas not yet resolved and a particular aspect of the reality. I tend to think that good architecture can very much succeed in that, even after realization both aspects exist, not in conflict.

San Rocco has been very important for all of us involved, because indeed it’s like an island where you can develop a couple of train of thoughts. In the end I hope that it’s clear to people that San Rocco as a project is very coherent, which has very few topics. And that’s not so strange because it’s run but a very small group of people and I think it’s a place where we discuss and exchange this interest we share. And of course practice itself it’s ultimately a very different place, it’s in a way a commercial place, whether you want it or not. You build a building with a budget, with the clients and so forth.

So for that reason it’s extremely important that you have space outside of that. But also without pretentions. I think that good news for me about San Rocco is that it doesn’t have a lot of pretentions. You can write silly texts.

About the studios, how do you see the new iterations of the studio changing? You started with more architecture without content, how do you imagine that changing moving on?

I don’t know that. I cannot say.

Ultimately it is really trying to understand where architecture

Another question about San Rocco.

How is it important to have this kind of independent platform to write, compared particularly to those practises that mainly use academia as a platform for developing knowledge or use academic publications to write?

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plays a role, where you can still do architecture. Economy of means always comes back, but it’s even that a little of a common place. It’s a lot about trying to free architecture from wanting to be too spectacular perhaps.

But it’s also trying to reconnect with the culture of architecture, with history of architecture. It’s trying to understand if there is really difference between Europe and America. It is all these things.

But again, as I said, this project is not finished. There is a tendency from our side to look more at renaissance architecture, for the moment. But in the moment we realize that, like what we do here at GSAPP, it was very important also to embrace soft tech or light high tech or Japanese architecture from the 80’s. And I think also helps you to not walk in the trap to say that now all architecture should look like five hundred years ago, you have to stay open minded.

Where do you think your work stands in the history of architecture? Is you work responding to something or is it totally new?

Architecture can never be totally new. I feel that as an architect if you take your position seriously, you

are a cultural producer. That means that you are in the realm of culture, you have to understand it. Maybe you find inspiration in other cultural expressions, but ultimately the new can be a confusing word. You cannot make architecture as 1000 years ago, but even the architects of 16th century were making something entirely new but at the same time entirely old. There was a lot of misunderstanding, but you shouldn’t be ashamed of it. I’m a little bit skeptical towards people who seem to claim that they have the truth in their hands. You work in this realm of architecture, trying to understand what was done before, interpreting and appropriating ideas, but maybe what you understood is based on misinterpretation. In this sense architects like Loos on one hand, and all his ambiguous interpretations and claims, and on the other Bramante, with his negotiations with Lombard and Roman traditions, are extremely contemporary. They were without fear in simplifying, in showing the conflict.

Rossi in his seminal text Architecture for Museums writes exactly about that.

I would like to ask about the ancestors. I’m interested about the reason that push to you the select certain kind of architects rather than other. Is there a specific reason for the selection of them, or is it more an informal process?

I think is a rather informal process, and it has to do with what you discover o rediscover. Some projects get into your radar, and in the end one influences the other. The only thing that I see right now as a selection criteria is more about intentionality or consciousness. I am fascinated the most by architects that at least appear conscious about what they do.

San Rocco is coming into an end, this is the last edition. Where do you see that discourse going?

I don’t know if everyone would agree in San Rocco, but personally I think that is time for other people to develop other thoughts, you have to be very realistic about that. We have been discussing architecture in the past, the 85

long life of ideas, but I think there is a limit to all of that. I think is a healthy thing that other ideas now emerge.

THE ARCHITECT AS STORYTELLER JIMENEZ LAI In conversation with Andrew Luy, Abubakr Ali, and Jarrett Ley

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INTRODUCTION Jimenez Lai, founder of Los Angeles-based Bureau Spectacular, generates his architecture through imaginative, character-driven storytelling. In his graphic novel / manifesto, Citizens of No Place, Lai sets the stage for an architecture with a distinctly cartoonish sensibility.

His interest in storyboarding narratives and his extensive knowledge of architectural histories has allowed Bureau Spectacular to utilize graphic novels, animations, installations, and publications to seamlessly combine narrative arcs and relationships with allusions to theory, criticism, and history.

In his architectural production, Lai is interested not in what he describes as “hard-core architecture,” but in the absurd misuse of space, which subsequently generates a soft interior. It is within such a framework of soft space, that Lai observes architecture becoming a stageset for the energy and cultural

production of the city. Therefore, it seems appropriate that much of his work has manifested at the stage-scale, from oversized ‘superfurnitures,’ outdoor installations, biennial exhibitions, and retail interiors.

Jimenez Lai uses these informal communicative modes to frame his ideas for academic audiences and to drive narrative-based discourse amongst architects.

Through studio and seminar-based teachings at University of Illinois at Chicago, UCLA, and Columbia Univeristy GSAPP, Lai continues to use academia as a platform for experimenting representationally.

Interviewer: What foundational questions is Bureau Spectacular attempting to answer?

Jimenez Lai: Foundationally we want to do architecture, I guess that’s an obvious kind of stupid answer.

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I guess we also see architecture performs the roles of documenting culture and also performs the role of generating culture. I think architecture plays the role of communication of culture. When i say that i’m always thinking about archeology and what we find in architecture. What architecture teaches us a thousand years from now and what it can teach us about a thousand years ago. A diagram of a way of life. Foundationally thats a lot of things i think about.

Lets maybe going back to the idea of diagramatically what we think of where architectural plans really kind of choreograph a way of life or how culture is being played out in a day to day level. Transporting that to today. I think it’s interesting to think of architecture as a stage set for people. How comics come into mind, is i emphasized the word choreography, in other words a stage or king of story. Storyboards have always been interesting.

Rather than thinking of the comics as representations, lets see them as

storyboards for films maybe. This is where i find a lot of affinity with the work of fake industries. I see them as somehow film writers, more so as film writers, also architects, also cultural critics and film writers.

So how has the comic for you been transformed into architecture, What’s that link for you?

The simple answer is graphic.

At one point i was doing comics about architecture and later on it evolved to. At the beginning I was doing cartoons about architecture.

And it evolved into cartoonish architecture. In other words, the sensibilities of the cartoon graphic being translated to the selection process of the types of curve that we might use we use or what type of bubble do we use; how we distribute or compose pages, Can the frame to frame relationship actually be a room to room relationship? Taking the composition of the comic book literally has been pretty helpful. It started as something more formal and then it started to acquire the narrative aspects of comic books.

It goes both ways. It also starts as

narrative and then becomes more formal.

What would you consider as references of your work. You worked on a treatise for the Graham Foundation, about architects or practices that you find affinities with, whom have qualities that you like or admire.

I was wondering if they work as references for you.?

In this treatise i talked about a lot of practice, Point Supreme, Fake Industrie, Andrew kovacs. I also really admire So-ILl , i admire Leong Leong. I think it’s nice to be practicing at a time when they are kindred spirits and fellow travellers.. The lecture that i was reference to people in the treatise publication series. I was focusing on people in the treatise publication series. I think alongside the treatise the other really important event that really happened in the last five years was Possible Mediums.

I think they also had something similar in mind, they wanted to identify their fellow travellers and set up a number of workshops.

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What about comic artists? Are there particular polemical works from the comic realm that you pull from?

I have to say i am a casual reader of comics. I am a closer reader of architecture than of comics.

Windsor Mckay has always be important. I can never draw or compose as well as Winsor Mccay but I would say that is the mother ship.

As you cut across disciplines and inflect their multiple registrars back onto architecture, Who do you understand to be the audience of your work?

I used to think my audience was fellow faculty members across schools of architecture across the world. Alongside faculty members also students but mostly just schools. In other words the audience is academic. I don’t really think that right now. It is kind of tough to run a practice if your audience is academic. I’m working with Swarovski right now and if my intended audience

was academic i wouldn’t be able to work with Swarovski. Maybe as well as being an academic i am also molding the language towards some other audience. I also think i have an allergic reaction to the idea of a broad audience. I was mostly focused on an academic audience because i thought it’s fun and interesting to niche culture, to be a part of a niche culture, maybe i still think so, it is still interesting to be a part of subculture. When i say subculture zings comes to mind and skateboarders come to mind.

I don’t skateboard myself but i wonder if this kind of architecture that we do for these school that we work in, schools that work on similar ideas, including Columbia University, perhaps belong to a very small sub-culture. Which is so cool on the one hand but on the other exhausts itself so quickly. I just want to maintain the idea that broad audience is kind of boring.

So you grabbing onto comics as a mode of representation wasn’t in order to broaden the audience outside architecture?

It’s interesting that you talked about academia, because we believe it is also a platform of communication. How do you use the academic or studio environment to test your ideas?

I taught at Columbia last year, in 2016, there I wanted to test out the idea, broadly speaking, “in the manner of.” Musicians would play the a piece in the manner of someone, I thought it would be interesting to have the students be in the driver’s seat of another master, to draw like this person, to model like this person. But here in UCL II taught at I generally test ideas in the context of the seminar.

Last year I ran a seminar on the idea of super groups...such as Archigram and Ant Farm. The idea at the time was to ask the students to study and embody some of their patterns of practice, and come up with a studio name themselves, and behave like a super group for a few weeks. I do tend to test ideas more in seminars than studios.

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In terms of your approach to architectural communication, where do you see yourself? Do you see yourself as a product or the time now where architecture is losing its potency to some extent ? Or is this driven by a personal interest in engaging architecture differently?

I think it’s a bit of both. When I started, in 2007, it was right away that 2008 hit and there was no money, there was no money anywhere. So the notion of starting a practice you just wouldn’t here, there were no clients. So i think that context was a contributor as to why I drew a lot of comics at the time, I just had an excess amount of time on my hand, and I drew comics.

And i think these kind of economic fallouts usually coincide with times of “apper architecture.”

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CONFLICT URBANISM: LANGUAGE JUSTICE IN NEW YORK CITY | DATE:

| STATUS: | LOCATION: | TYPE:

April 2017

Research/Website New York City Interviews/Exhibition

Working with the Center for Spatial Research in Columbia University I joined the research team working on the project Conflict Urbanism: Language Justice in NYC. The research focused on the role of language as a structuring principle of cities, highlighting the ways that urban spaces and the world are physically shaped by linguistic diversity, and examining the results of languages coming into contact and conflict.

The New York City metropolitan area is the most linguistically dense city in the world, hosting an estimated 700 different languages.

To better understand this diversity, we looked closely at micro-neighborhoods such as Little Senegal (Manhattan), Little Korea (Queens), and Little Ramallah (Paterson, New Jersey). In thinking about the transnational and translingual nature of the city, we considered structures from digital technology to remittances (small amounts of money sent “home�) and their role in language preservation and language extinction.

Finally, through visualizing and mapping how language is situated in these microneighborhoods, we will begin to explore the cultures, languages, informal structures and architectures that migrants bring to the city. The research will be published this fall on the Center for Spatial Research website.

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Introduction Halal food carts have become a staple of the New York streetscape.

Their presence on the streets of New York is no longer a novelty: they have become so inconspicuous in the urban context that it seems they have been there forever. It was therefore surprising for us to find out that unlike the quintessential hotdog cart, halal food carts have only been around since 1999.

Their prevalence and popularity is even more puzzling given the small niche halal cuisine occupies in the American palate. Operated mostly

by Arab speaking vendors and preparing food of Arab origin Halal food carts presented a rich field of investigation into Conflict Urbanism and Language Justice in New York: as Arabic language speakers ourselves, our initial interest stemmed from the conflicts and difficulties vendors would run into operating within a predominantly English speaking public.

Foodcarts in the New York Streetscape On the streetscape of New York, halal food carts perhaps stand out the most to Arab speakers. Within the context of signage, advertising a cultural icon such as the word halal “‫ ”حالل‬is an anomaly. Our research was interested in the inevitable conflicts that would arise from the interaction between vendors translating the content and nature of the halal cuisine to an English speaking population. Another of our interests is how language differences, whether it be English speaking proficiency or different Arabic dialects played out within the operation of a food cart.

With obvious clashes within an operation run by predominantly Arabic speaking employees communicating with an English speaking clientele, our investigations led us into an attempt at understanding the role language plays in determining the standing of employees, the business opportunities available for vendors and the difficulties they face negotiating regulatory landscapes. Additionally, while Arabic is perceived as a monolithic language, in reality there are a variety of dialects in the Arabic-speaking world, some even barely intelligible to speakers of others.

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Our research hence focused on interviewing a number of halal food cart vendors, asking questions about their daily exchanges with customers, their English speaking abilities and how that affects their performance within the food carts.

Halal in Midtown Manhattan The interviewed food cart vendors were all of Egyptian origin with the exception of one vendor from Algeria. The questions were aimed at establishing a number of facts that would help us gain a clear understanding of the daily experience and located mainly in midtown Manhattan.

The questions for our interviewees, which were mostly asked by Marwah in her native Egyptian dialect, were: • Do you speak arabic?

•

‫بتحكي عربي؟‬

• Where are you from? ‫إنت من وين؟‬ • When did you come to America? To NY? ‫متى جئت إلى أمريكا؟ إلى نيو يورك؟‬ • How did you get this job? ‫كيف حصلت على هذا الشغل؟‬ • Where is the food prepared? ‫وين بتصنعوا األكل؟‬ • What is your typical day? ‫ممكن توصفلي يوم عادي في الشغل؟‬ • How did you learn english? ‫كيف تعلمت إنجليزي؟‬ • What is your (arabic) dialect? ‫من وين لهجتك؟‬ • Do you like this spot? Have you worked in any others? ‫تحب هذه الموقع؟ شتغلت في موقع آخر؟‬ • Is this cart connected to a restaurant? ‫هل هذه العربة متابعة لمطعم؟‬ • Who owns the halal food truck? ‫من صاحب هذه العربة؟‬ • Who are your customers? ‫من هم زبائنكم؟‬ • What makes a strong market? ‫ما يجعل السوق قوي؟‬

We interviewed a total of 7 food cart operators, their responsibilities ranging from manning the grill, to stocking the food cart, to managing the entire operation. It became obvious to us that a number of language interactions were taking place within the food cart and between food cart and customers.

The most prominent of these language operations was the hierarchy that organizes the work within the food cart. This was directly linked to the workers’ English speaking proficiency. Workers would either work the grill and stock the food or deal directly with customers. It became obvious that these tasks rarely overlap. Employees with better English-speaking ability dealt directly with customers and translated the orders requested for the grill worker. They were the de facto managers of the food cart, in charge of most managerial tasks.

These workers tended to be more educated than their counterparts even though they shared the same backgrounds.

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This hierarchy is pronounced on the food carts between 52nd and 53rd street on 6th Ave and on the North West corner of 47th and Broadway. In this first case the food cart, run by cousins from the same town in the north of Egypt (Banhaa, ‫)بنها‬, was registered under the company name “The Original Guys.” . Bahaa, the younger of the two operators, had spent a longer time in the US (8 years), was a college graduate from Egypt and had spent a considerable time on food carts at this spot. His cousin (who did not disclose his name) was older and had spent considerably less time in the US (2 years). Bahaa was in charge of receiving orders from customers and relaying them to his cousin who worked the grill. During this transaction Bahaa would perform a number of linguistic operations, translanguaging and code-switching. This allowed him to communicate to his cousin certain specifics of the food order while also being able to complete the financial transaction with the paying customer.

The second example was the halal food cart on the North West corner of 47th and Broadway. The operators of this cart were also Egyptians and had developed an operational hierarchy similar to that of “The Original Guys”. The younger of the two operators , college educated and trained as an accountant, ran the main food operations of the cart. He would receive orders from clients, process payments and give orders to his colleague regarding stock changes or grill tasks. His cart assistant, an elderly gentleman who had been in the United States for two years and had low English proficiency, was lower level employee.

Translanguaging and Code-Switching

While interviewing the food cart vendors we were able to make note of how vendors negotiate the linguistic conflicts during the selling of halal food. An interesting example was the vendor Salman who worked the food cart at the intersection of 53rd street and Broadway. Originally from Algeria, Salman had learnt to speak Arabic, and French and Spanish in his home country and learned English when he came to America a few years ago.. Although his Arabic dialect is Algerian, Salman could, through code switching, translanguaging and borrowing, convey the contents of a client’s order to the grill worker:.

Borrowing involves using a second language for “technical” terms “Wa7ad chicken over rice law sama7t”. “Chicken over rice” is a halal food cart invention, hence its

English name. Code Switching involves clearly switching between languages in one sentence, such as “A3mello wa7ad combo, please” Translanguaging involves transforming the language, for example: “Sauce 3alalside” meaning “Sauce on the side”.

He flawlessly integrated English, Arabic, and the Egyptian Dialect together. This ability positioned Salman as the vendor in charge of his own cart and the point person for communicating with clients.

Hierarchies in the Kitchen Our findings relating to how language abilities affect the employee hierarchies within the food cart necessitated research into how these conflicts manifest within a different working environment, one that is bound to include a larger number of workers and a potentially more diverse workforce. The investigation moved to the main halal food cart kitchen in Astoria on the west side of Queens. The kitchen was the main operation area for the Halal Guys food carts and supplies food for all 6 carts owned by the operation. Inside the kitchen we conducted interviews with the general manager to find out how language conflicts manifest themselves in that environment.

The Halal Guys kitchen originally employed a large number of workers from diverse backgrounds, most of whom were from Latin America, but also Egyptians, Algerians, and Tunisians. Egyptians we met usually call Latin Americans “the Spanish”, referring to the language they speak. Workers in the 94

main kitchen are not required to be fluent in English/ They are required instead to have just enough fluency English knowledge to communicate with workers who speak different languages with the bilingual Egyptian boss. However workers at the food carts have to be fluent in English so as to communicate effectively with clients. This effectively places food cart vendors on a higher standing than that of kitchen workers. Thus, another tier is added to the operation with food carts managers on top, grill workers below and kitchen workers at the bottom.

Egyptian Dialect as Lingua Franca Most recently, Halal Guys moved to employ a majority of Egyptians in their kitchen. This has been largely due to the recent crackdown by US authorities on undocumented migrants, many of which are Latin American; employees can no longer be payed in cash, and each needs to have a legal ID and social security number. The

Is this the delivery, where do I sign?

,yreviled eht siht sI ?ngis I od erehw

One chicken over rice, please.

Halal Guy owners have started to employ Egyptians with legal status in the US, as part of a nation-wide crackdown on illegal immigration.

This has created a clear majority of workers who speak Arabic with an Egyptian dialect in the kitchen and understand each other perfectly.

Arabic speakers from different countries have had to adapt to Egyptian dialect as a “Lingua Franca” as it has dominated the kitchen operation. This difficulty often means that workers unable to speak with that dialect are employed in jobs where communication is not a priority, as truck drivers or cleaners for example. More skilled workers like Salman, who are capable of speaking multiple languages and are fluent in the Egyptian dialect are promoted to working at the food carts.

The video in this link (https://youtu.be/a1EcDuyZsng) demonstrates recordings of Translanguaging and code-switching by food cart vendors during the daily

transaction with clients ordering “Chicken over rice”. This was chosen as a baseline for comparison between vendors’ dialects.

Conclusions The halal food cart sits at the intersection of a number of networks, theirits mobile nature a good indicator of how these networks are manifested in the urban context.

However its unique cultural identity, the promise of halal food, brings a number of linguistic conflicts to the fore. The success of selling halal food is not only predicated on the taste of the food or the economics of its operation, mostly it is predicated on how well ts vendors can adapt to the predominant use of english in its immediate surrounding context. whether it be the regulatory landscape of street food in Manhattan, or employment legislation that affects workers in the kitchen. Its cultural identity, it’s the main selling point, is required to undergo a linguistic translation to enter medium where it is fully 95

comprehensible to its consumer.

The effects of the linguistic conflicts do not stop there, rather their effects are felt in the entire hierarchy of employment in the halal food operation as in job positions ands, promotions. The ability to navigate customer service and administrative tasks is predicated on ability to speak English. That said, Halal Food Carts still act as an linguistic signifier, making their own distinctly Arabic contribution to New York City’s streetscape. and even the independence to navigate the regulatory system are predicated on the capability of vendors to speak english proficiently. Traversing all these conflicts the identity of halal food is distorted, what is essentially a cultural cornerstone for Arabs in general is commodified and abstracted through linguistic transformations, all to enable it to become a saleable commodity on the streets of New York.

SHORT ESSAYS ON:

FUMIHIKO MAKI’S 51 ASTOR PLACE

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Contradictions at 51 Astor Place 51 Astor Place, sitting at the exact center of its namesake, the presumptive crown jewel of its neighborhood, is at first glance what we have come to expect from the typical mid-rise construction in Manhattan. Sporting a dark glass façade, encasing a solid monolith and the perfunctory public lobby it appears underwhelming, considering it fetches a king’s ransom of $120 per square foot. Yet these were not the only characteristics that defined 51 Astor place. Deeper observation of the building, its site and the dialogue it engendered with its surrounding environment induces a constant state of confusion. The more the building reveals of itself, the murkier the intention of its architect become, a strangely inverted relationship that makes 51 Astor place one of Manhattan’s most enigmatic buildings.

The North-West side of the building is a solid, black, non-reflective monolith, characteristic of office buildings, bland and simple. The monolith displays minimal interest in its surrounding context, a sign reading “51 ASTOR PLACE” announces, in a matter-of-fact manner, the location of the entrance. A thin uncompromising line, striking the monolith at a 45 degree angle announces the end to this nonchalant attitude to its context.

Thrusting us into a tectonic of formal interplay on the South-East side of the building; characterized by sharp angles, grey mullioned hyper-reflective facades and incremental vertical setbacks. Its façade stretches out like a canvas, reflecting the scene surround-

ing it. Light and engaging, it initiates a symmetrical relationship with the city, its reflective façade disappearing into a backdrop of mid-rise constructions and blue skies.

This puzzling change in track, style and form, coupled with the stark contrast present between the two halves of the building, is uncharacteristic of Maki & Associates. The transition, merciless and crude in execution raises questions about the architect’s intentions. Is the building the product of compromise between architect and client, both aiming to achieve the ideal combination of iconicity, functionality and square footage? Or was this perhaps a reflection of the architect’s attempt to engage in meaningful dialogue with the surrounding neighborhood? Attempting perhaps to justify its own presence? It is my opinion that the latter had a larger effect on the composition of the building, with Cooper Union and St. Marks 97

Place wooing the architect into a form of dialogue, the architect responding in kind. While this may explain the somewhat “Frankenstein” like amalgamation of styles and forms, it does not explain the crudeness or indeed the abruptness with which this change in style is executed.

This confusion, experienced from observing the building, was indeed compounded by the observations on the plaza located on the South-West portion of the site. On such a prime piece of real-estate, the existence of the plaza itself is somewhat contentious. As a large portion of the site is emphatically surrendered to the public, wasting valuable potential income.

This was yet another paradox to add to the growing list of contradictions on display.

Unassuming in nature and with the restraint of minimalist design, the plaza charts a route across the site with

an imperceptible slope and an array of wood benches, quietly absorbing the foot traffic passing through Astor place. Employing svelte lighting fixtures and peripheral vegetation, the plaza is successful in transmuting the vector nature of the sidewalk into a wide open space, removing obstructions at eye-level, effectively facilitating the transition of people into the site.

Progressing along the length of the plaza, moving South to North, the street furniture undergoes a peculiar transformation. The wood benches offering seating to the public grow progressively smaller in size. This might seem like a logical compromise given the triangular nature of the plaza. However careful examination of this progression provides insight to the extent of skill on display. By incrementally decreasing the seating spots available and facing the benches in opposite directions the architect is successful in responding to the myriad of relation-

ships that will occupy these benches.

Transforming benches that seat 6 individuals to benches that seat 2, the architect offers a multiplicity of atmospheres to the public, ranging from the casual to the intimate, the hurried to the relaxed and the formal to the informal. Fumihiko Maki did not just surrender square footage to the passerby; he also surrendered the identity of the plaza to them, imbuing the space with chameleon like qualities, allowing it to conform to the needs of all walks of life. Here the plaza seats all, the tired tourist in a state of dĂŠrive, the office colleagues congregating for lunch, lovers looking for an intimate setting and the drifting homeless man trying to organize his belongings.

The eloquence with which this relationship between the plaza and the street was forged and skill with which Maki orchestrates the atmospheres that would occupy the plaza at any given time, stand in stark contrast to his attitude towards the relationships

governing the building itself. This confusing approach to the integral elements that make up 51 Astor Place fuels the relentless paradox that Maki posits over and over again through his design of the building.

These contradictions manifest themselves in the performative aspects of the building as well. If we were to explode the elements that constitute the building mass, (the black monolith, the hyper-reflective formally complex facades and the plaza), they can be reconstituted as IBM HQ, a concoction of office and exhibition spaces (St. John University offices and Christies) and an outdoor seating space respectively. The containers for these functions are designed almost separately with no attempt made to unify their forms, airbrush their discrepancies or make allegorical allusions to their functions. When brought together these elements are in a natural state of contradiction. Indeed, the crux of these contradictions takes its literal and physical form at the 45 degree line that strikes the solid black monolith, launches us into the formally complex facades and is the tipping point where sidewalk merges with the plaza.

51 Astor place makes no attempts to cover up its contradictions, instead it brazenly displays them, stating its deliberate intent in creating this disparity. The defining features of 51 Astor place are its relentless flirtation with juxtaposition and the intriguing dialogue it engenders with the city.

This intentional display of contradiction, crystallized by the thin line that divides the elements composing the building alludes to a certain, principled, code of ethics that Maki subscribes to. Conforming to neither the rigid axioms sacred to modern-

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ists or the commercial tropes peddled by contemporary architecture; Maki forges a third path, one that stands in clear defiance of these two schools of thought. His stance however provokes a number of questions. architectural scene where our pluralist attitude has blurred all subjective boundaries and diluted the value of critique in the architectural discourse, is there any value in taking a stance against the contemporary sentiments influencing architectural design? Can Maki’s critique perhaps been seen as a push to reclaim the agency of the architect over architectural discourse?

51 Astor place embodies this stance, a building designed to question the pluralist state of architecture. A provocation, challenging the range of ideas influencing architectural design, from modernist disciplines to “anything goes� architecture. This is a rare instance and indeed an opportunity that Maki has taken to make his stance, a refreshingly bold and provocative critique on the current state of architectural design.

Abubakr Ali

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