A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture in the Department of Architecture of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island. Dane Clark 2015
Approved by Master’s Examination Committee:
Enrique Martinez, Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Thesis Coordinator
Jason Wood, Critic, Department of Architecture, Primary Advisor
Andrew Towers, Critic, Department of Architecture, Secondary Advisor
rise to(o) run
Dane Clark
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for my wife Shannon my family my miss. ellie mae
without them i would not be able to breathe
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for the most beautiful, dysfunctional, committed and chaotic colleagues one could hope to share in fear with Aaron Tobey Lucy Liu Rami Hammour Amy Kim Julian Uribe Linyi Dai Malcolm Rio
without them i would not be able to see
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2015 Dane Clark All rights reserved under international copyright conventions Printed and bound in the United States
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table of contents 8
epigraph
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abstract
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why do we abandon
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how do we fear
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what is our refuge
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rise to(o) run
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referenced work
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In reality, the bourgeoisie has only one method of solving the housing question - that is to say, of solving it in such a way that the solution perpetually renews the question anew. This method is called “Haussman.� The result is always the same; the scandalous alleys disappear to the accompaniment of lavish self-praise by the bourgeoisie on account of a tremendous success, but they reappear immediately somewhere else... the breeding places of disease, infamous holes and cellars... are not abolished; they are merely shifted elsewhere.
-Friedrich Engels (1872)
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society has begun to let go to leave us behind
left to run
it has taken away the spaces of refuge where we see those left behind the curb the stoop the viaduct society works to unsee it privatizes it penalizes
it has taken us away
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fear of losing control causes us to lose control to occlude the periphery to shorten the horizon to abandon architecture for those left behind is the space to reclaim control to elongate the horizon to breathe to rise over run is to find refuge in panic flight sky rise
to(o) to(o) to(o)
fight ground run
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photograph of abandoned McClouth Steel Plant Trenton, Mi
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why is it so easy to let go?
why is so much left behind?
why do we abandon?
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to ask of abandonment is to ask of ownership
abandonment is defined by the act of owning, and in response, abandonment redefines what it means to own
box of identities to lose plywood, plaster, steel, objects
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owning is the moment of having control abandonment the is moment of losing control
as long as something can be owned, it can be abandoned
3 mechanisms to abandon: choice, action, render plywood, plaster, concrete
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translation from ownership to abandonment
translating language
translating bodies in space translating loss digital drawing
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frames of loss wood, acrylic, print
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what is the mechanism of abandonment?
what causes the loss of control?
how do we fear?
20 15 minutes
liminal
15 minutes
fear is the mechanism of abandonment fear alters our bodies out of our control, it changes the way we perceive and engage with our environment it dilates our eyes tunnel vision it raises heart rates hyperventilation it collapses space claustrophobia “Taking a Ride� Mapping of Vision and Dislocation Across Detroit digital drawing
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to know how we abandon, is to know how we fear to know how we fear, is to know how our bodies manipulate perception when panicking
the scale of panic stretches from the size of a pixel to the expanse of the city, to the oppression of social difference
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Dilation of the Eye the Translation of Space digital drawings
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mapping the structure of the eye
locating the periphery, the focus and how to use a lens to offset their relationship Mapping the Eye and Vision/Periphery graphite on paper
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mapping the structure of ownership and abandonment
the liminal space between owned and unowned Mapping Ownership Spiral and Panic graphite and ink on paper
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“Finding Horizon� Body and Ground graphite, transfer on paper
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how do we escape fear?
what is egress?
what is the space to breathe?
where is our refuge?
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panic causes tunnel vision, hyperventilation and claustrophobia.
refuge, then, would find the horizon, give the space to breathe and provide a passage out of panic
“Finding Horizon� Body and Ground graphite, transfer on paper
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find horizon ground to sky limit of things known body to body the space to breathe separating body and panic
elongate space fold and frame space add space to slow time
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folding space
using breathing rates to strech space
panic and heart rate are directly tied to the experience and duration of space “Space to Breathe� Mapping Body and Breathing graphite, transfer on paper
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remapping distances based on new lengths
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cutting the horizon
elongate space through rising up
the space to breathe “Elongating Space� Mapping Body and Horizon digital drawing
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two scales of growth
standing 6 feet tall
rising up 300 feet
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The imaginative geographies of Eurocentric orientalism, the cultural construction of the colonized “other� as subordinate and inferior beings, are expressed poetically and politically in regulated and defined spaces. The colonizing spaces of social control include the classroom, the courthouse, prison, railway stations, marketplace, boulevard, hospital, place of worship, even the private household, practically every place used in daily life. -Edward Soja
Seeking Spatial Justice
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Final Presentation photograph by Matt Bohne multiple media
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fight or flight fight and flight flight to fight flight of stair
rise over run run over rise run to rise rise to(o) run
climb to(o) horizon
ground and sky ground to sky sky over ground horizon
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the police are coming back around if i keep sitting on this manhole cover to stay warm, i know they will take me for a ride i need a place to go detroit has shut down another shelter i need a place to go burger kind won’t let me in anymore i need a place to go Greektown Casino Axon graphite, ink and transfer on paper
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the work is an offering to those left behind a refuge at the scale of the city, it is a safe passage through volatile ground at the scale of the room, it is a collection of episodes that use horizon and breathing to create refuge at the scale of the body, the work is a haven for pause; the space to breathe
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what is the panic?
police on the street taking you away because you don’t belong Police Surveillance Pods graphite, ink and transfer on paper
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view-shed cut at the horizon of those taken away
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Plan Axon and Sections graphite and transfer on paper
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preparation of the body going down to come up focus the light reduce the noise create space between find the horizon
provide the spaces that has been taken away Framing the Horizon Section Drawing/Details graphite and transfer on paper
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invert the power dynamic a structure of lifting becomes a structure of holding
the path as it carves through the casino offers amenities for the shelter bathroom shower space to sit space to sleep space to pause Inverting the Horizon Section Drawing/Details graphite and transfer on paper
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space to pause
police pod bench under the street
mirror equation surveying Episode 1 Top-Down to Bottom-Up graphite and transfer on paper
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space to cleanse
slot machine bathrooms
escape tunnel-vision rising above Episode 2 Top-Down to Bottom-Up graphite and transfer on paper
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space to rest
high rollers loft bed bunks
watching dreaming runnin Episode 3 Top-Down to Bottom-Up graphite and transfer on paper
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Episode 3 - Axon Top-Down to Bottom-Up graphite and transfer on paper
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Related Readings/Works The White Ribbon ----------------------- Michael Haneke - Director X-Filme Creative Pool, 2009. Film The Return ------------------------------------ Andrey Zvyagintsev - Director Ren Film, 2003. Film There Will be Blood ------------------------- Paul Thomas Anderson - Director Paramount Vantage, 2007. Film Darwin’s Nightmare ------------------------ Hubert Sauper - Director Mille et Une Productions, 2004. Film The Take ------------------------------------------- Avi Lewis - Director Barra Alpa Productions, 2004. Film The Sound of Insects ------------------------ Peter Lietchi - Director Lietchi FilmProduktion, 2009. Film Stalker ---------------------------------------------- Andrey Tarkoviskiy - Director Kinostudiya “Mosfilm”, 1979. Film Rebel Cities ------------------------------------- David Harvey, Verso Publishing, 2013 Print Social Justice and the City ---------------- David Harvey, University of Georgia Press, Revised 2009 Print
Guerrilla Style Defensive ----------------------- Kimberly Kinder, International Architecture In Detroit Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 38 , 2014 Print The Annihilation of Space by Law ----------- Post-phenomenology -------------------------- The Work of Art in the Age of --------------- Mechanical Reproduction A Phenomenology of Technics -------------- The Origin of the Work of Art ---------------
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Don Mitchell, Antipode, 20 , 2002 Print Don Ihde, State University of New York Press, 2009 Print Walter Benjamin, CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2010 Print Don Idhe, State University of New York Press, 2009 Print Martin Heidegger, State University of New York Press, 2009 Print
Being and Time -------------------------------------- Martin Heidegger, State University of New York Press, 2009 Print
Seeking Spatial Justice --------------------------- Edward Soja, University of Minnesota Press, 2010 Print The Uses of Disorder ------------------------------ Richard Sennet, W.W. Norton & Co. 1992 Print