The Chronicles - An Architectural Vision

THE CHRONICLES AN ARCHITECTURAL VISION ELI KELLER

“Standing in a turning point, as it happens in the quality of human experience, is a desire to know ourselves not only as followers of our ancestors but also as descendents of an era.�

- Eran Kimchi -

Imagine a world with no boundaries. A world where everything is reachable with a push of a button. A world where all things are everywhere and nowhere.

An endless world, ever expanding, stretched into infinity. A huge world, a prisoner in a computer screen and cable.

Imagine a world with no roads. A fast and incoherent world. A world where you can be everywhere at the same time. A world where roads have been forgotten.

A world where everything reaches us, with no effort or hardship. A world with no rules or limitations. With no gravity or morals.

Imagine a world with no walls. A world where everything is given with a simple click and in the speed of light. A world, trapped in a room. A world, where continents, countries, civilizations and memories are mashed into cables. A world, glittering between one screen and another, in a speeding flash. A huge world, shrinking every moment, into a flat screen and nothing more.

Imagine a world with no encounter. A lonely and desperate world. A world where every man has his boundaries, and with them he carelessly builds a fortress around his home, body and mind. An autonomic world, one of many, floating in mid air, without the knowledge of a million other worlds surrounding it. A wreck of a world, that in its destruction, has taken man along.

Imagine a world with no language, where indeed there is only one, and one number that goes along. A world with no relation, no opening or ground. A floating world, transparent and wired. A world, glaring with a fake glow, a glittering illusion of space. A liquid world, without mass, without matter, without the world itself.

Imagine a world, and look outside, and see. A world. Gone.

THE WORLD IS CHANGING. As a matter of fact, it always has, but the changes taking place today are so rapid and intense that it seems we hardly have the time to even examine them. Speed, both physical and virtual has been taken a more integral part of our daily lives. We no longer experience, expect or linger. Instead, we pass through without notice. In a stream of data and constant acceleration, what has become of the human experience? Is it minimized to the flat screen that rests soundly in each of our pock-

Prologue

ets? What will happen to physical space as this speed grows every day, and the days it seems, are getting shorter and shorter.

History has apparently taught us well, but this present era, where writing, words and legacy have become nothing more than changing pixels on a computer screen, available to anyone, anywhere and at anytime, it seems that the lessons of history are rapidly being forgotten.

It was not long ago that humanity experienced one of its greatest disasters. A catastrophe embedded

with technological progress. A di-

planning of our industrial cities and

saster enabled by the very creations

spaces, bringing a functional and

of man itself. It seems that our own

mechanical aspect to the urban ex-

creations are bringing forth the

perience. And today, high ways, air-

very thing they are intended to undo

ports, power plants, pollution and

- our end. The words of Julius Op-

many others take their dominance.

penheimmer, after witnessing the

In a way, our progress made the an-

first nuclear explosion make this

cient cities irrelevant. It were the

paradox even more clear - “Now, I

tanks, the mortar shells and super-

am become Death, the destroyer of

sonic bombers that have made the

worlds.�

city walls obsolete, and with that

Is this true? Is our progress also our demise? This question is in a way irrelevant, for as long as we invent more, we create more that can go wrong. This is the world’s way. The issue standing here is the struggle with this reality.

Technology has been present since man has been able to grab a rock and utilize it, Through time, it has brought many advancements but many perils that we seem to neglect or forget. Not only that, but it has been gradually changing the way we perceive and create space.

Weapons and military technologies have been responsible for the way ancient cities have developed. Then, it were factories, trade routes and access roads that have dictated the

changed forever the experience of entering one. And what is next? The highways of tomorrow are virtual in nature, faster than the human eye and mind can perceive or think about. The private user is slowly becoming a city, a state and a nation of his own. Connected to everywhere, and anywhere. And what of the city? What of physical space?

Is its presence slowly disappearing from our lives? Do we slide today through physical space the same way we slide through the web? In a cold, white gaze, being swept from one website to another, from one street to its parallel, without notice?

How will the cities of the future develop? What will be the new urban scheme? Will it be planned according to satellite positioning and cellular reception? Will the new ter-

minals become massive servers?

in order to belooking at a techno-

What of the squares and streets?

logical future, but of a human one,

Where do they fit in a world that be-

that utilizes technology to its needs,

comes visually global but inherently

and is not surrendered and mutated

individual in a radical form?

by it.

This work, its text, its narrative and

It is our duty as architects to deal

its physical creations are aimed not

with this question, for modern cul-

to answer this question but rather to

ture challenges the very matter of

expose it, and let it rise. This ques-

our discipline. A matter, which is

tion of technological progress has

the very essence of our existence.

been relevant since the discovery

Physical space. It is not a matter of

of fire, but today, as human culture

it disappearing. It is not a question

seems to enter a phase of extreme

of us not going outside anymore. It

decadence it seems more relevant

is a thought, about what is gained

than ever; to culture in general and

and what is lost, what is brought

to architecture specifically.

forth, and what disappears in the

This catalogue, and the work shown in it are a part of year long project, aiming to deal with this question.

It offers a look into the future, but also into the past. A study, of what was, what is and what might be. Not in order to predict the future, or to be prepared for it. Rather, to bring

background, what is created and what is ruined. With that notion, and with that thought in mind, we might be able to create a different form of architecture, in a world where “what counts is what is seen and not what actually is�, as Architect Peter Eisenman describes it.

forth a thought about culture, archi-

The text aims to create a wide span

tecture, time and space. It is our ob-

of critical and theoretical work that

ligation, as citizens of the present,

has dealt with these questions

not to indulge on the past, or to fear

since the late 19th century and up to

the future, but to create this differ-

contemporary times. The narrative

ent look. To look back and learn, so

then, offers a fictional tale of an in-

we can look forward with hope. Not

dividual in an undetermined future.

A future of perfect ruins, urban decay and decadent individuality. Finally, the models and paintings try to visualize this narrative and the imagined future described in it in an expressive, sometimes abstract manner, in order to create a broad visual and physical field, through which architects, designers, students and whoever else is willing, can imagine, ponder and question the discipline of space creation in this time of mass media, social networks and virtual reality.

If we would like to trace the beginning of the effects that technological progress has had on mankind we would have to look, in a matter of speaking, all the way back to the first man who had ever picked up a rock in order to break a shell. In a way, this was the first time that man had used something for a purpose of his own, and not for what this specific item was created for, if

Episode I - Past tense

indeed, in this case it had any pur-

“Progress and catastrophe are two

seem trivial and in some way banal,

sides of the same coin”

the minute man cracked open a nut,

- Hannah Arendt-

pose at all. Still, as much as it might

he had done much more. He had invented a weapon. The first weapon.

He had used his “god given” abilities, his opposable thumbs and arm muscles, picked up a rock and smashed an object with it. In one case it might have been a nut, in another, the head of an adversary.

In his book, “A Brief History of Mankind”, Dr. Yuval Noah Harary, brings to light and in simple words the technological progress of the prehistoric man. Through the first rock and onto the discovery of fire, one of Harary basic claims is in a way controversial. Harary claims, quite simply, something that we all

might already know but never took

different humans otherwise discon-

to the time to think about, and that

nected. Language has created the

is the meaning of the discovery of

possibility of society, and with that

fire. According to him, the moment

the possibility of great strength.

in which Man harnessed fire to his

One human, as Harary describes is

own will was not just another mo-

weaker than the average chimpan-

ment in history. In fact, it was an ar-

zee but a group of men will devise a

rogant leap through the evolution-

way to defeat the very same chim-

ary process, in which it was not a

panzee through language and coor-

“pack of wolves” that had learned

dination, and in that lies the entire

through evolution how to tame fire

difference.

but rather a “flock of sheep” that an evolutionary accident has dropped fire into its hands. With that, he claims “They have taken a large and rude step towards the atom bomb”.

Harary’s analysis does not stop there. As his title implies, he goes on and strolls through all of mankind’s history, through the agricultural revolution, the scientific

Harary goes on and elaborates

one and so forth. One of the key

on the inventions that have made

points however that has drastically

mankind differ itself from evolu-

changed the world as it was known

tion and from the food chain spe-

before and into the world we know

cifically. In a way, and according to

today is the historical period known

him, this whole process is traced to

as the Industrial Revolution. Let

one defining point and that is the in-

us then take a large leap through

vention of language. Language has

history into the middle of the 18th

given men greater possibilities than

century, when the words standard-

those that nature has. It has given

ization and manufacturing were in-

him the power to communicate in a

troduced into our lives and forever

greater way than any other animal.

changed them.

The possibility to elaborate on different topics, to address specific problems and to invent myths, gods and legends that connect between

“As machines get to be more and more like men, men will come to be

more like machines.�. With these

every aspect of production. In fact

frightening words, 20th century

it has changed the very meaning of

American writer and naturalist, Jo-

the word production, giving it the

seph Wood Krutch, tried to describe

notion and meaning we know today,

the effects of the modern world

relating it to standards and quan-

on our lives. In a matter of speak-

tity, and it has taken it away from

ing, this process which he refers to

the realm of creation and unique-

started two century before his birth.

ness. Through textile and chemical

The Industrial revolution, beginning

manufacturing, and onto metallur-

in the 1760’s has changed in a spec-

gy and glass making, the revolution

tacular manner the way western

not only changed the way things

life is characterized. In a matter of

are produced but it made unordi-

speaking it was the ultimate appli-

nary things obtainable and afford-

cation of the printing revolution of

able. It has created mass produc-

the mid 15th century, carried out by

tion and invented reproduction. It

Johannes Gutenberg. If his revolu-

has brought a great decrease in the

tion had made the written or print-

price of things unachievable a mo-

ed word public domain, then the

ment before. In a way, and in retro-

Industrial Revolution has brought

spective, it was the first step in the

almost everything else into the ter-

creation of western capitalism.

ritory of the common. The transition from manmade labor to machine made, which today seems so trivial to us is not something to look at in a glimpse of an eye. The very core of the comforts and standards of our lives is rooted in that period.

From the fact that man has shifted roles in the way production process works, to the economic transitions that have followed, the Industrial Revolution has brought new notions to the world. It has changed almost

But what of space? How can space be produced mechanically or reproduced indefinitely? This question received its answer in the beginning of the 20th century but what has this revolution of production and reproduction changed in the architectural and urban disciplines at the time it happened? For starters, the very immediate and somewhat graphic

change has to do with architectural

factory areas, that were not habit-

appearance. The use of metal and

able had to be incorporated into

glass had become more affordable

cities. Train tracks and commerce

and more common and through

routes had become more and more

that the possibilities of architec-

common, and air pollution rising

tural design grow larger. The more

from factory chimneys has changed

inherent and less obvious change

the scent of the air and the color of

has been in the appearance and

the sky. Not only that, but the pos-

planning of cities. Throughout his-

sibilities of creating similar and af-

tory, technological progress has af-

fordable housing started to raise its

fected the way cities were planned

head, peaking in the early 20th cen-

and conceived, and usually it had to

tury, with the modernistic move-

do with the development of weap-

ment.

ons. Fortifications and walls were planned according to the weaponry means of a given period, and cities were encapsulated inside these walls and spaces. From the early middle aged fortifications were designed to oppose soldiers and arrows and through the first centuries of the second millennia they were planned to withhold gunpowder and canon fire. City planning, if we could even call it that, was very much influenced by the weapons of that time. The invention of the perspective during the Renaissance has changed the way architecture and urban space is looked at and gave the planner a different point of view.

The industrial revolution however brought a bit of a difference. Large

This shift in the way space is produced does not start and finish with the straight forward technological options that industry has brought.

As a matter of fact they are more inherent and less obvious in the way space is perceived and conceived. If we look at history from the moment of the Industrial Revolution and on, and relate almost every invention to a long trail that began in 1760, we can start and think on the nature of other inventions that have changed completely the way we think and perceive our spatial experiences and the way space is represented to us.

The issue of representation in gen-

eral and specifically architectural

raphy have brought to the world

and spatial representation is of

disciplines that have challenged

the utmost importance, for it has

what was before quiet obvious,

changed drastically in our time, with

meaning a form of artistic or nar-

the appearance of social networks,

rative representation. It has also

mass media and the domination of

brought up the issue of artistic re-

the motored vehicles of our cities.

production. According to Benjamin,

However, in order to understand the

the appearance of the camera, and

transformation of spatial represen-

of many other photographic tech-

tation in our times, we first have to

nologies, such as the stereoscope,

understand an earlier shift, traced

served as technological expression

back to the 19th century, rooted of

to a cultural shift of that time with

course in the industrial revolution

the appearance of the subject. That

as well. A change that appeared

is, technological advancement was

with the different photographic and

in a way a result of cultural and so-

cinematic technologies.

cial progress and not the reason for

In many of his writings, Walter Benjamin addressed the effects that technology has on society and vise versa. Among many other technologies he discusses, two of the main ones are photography and cinematography. These two developments in realistic documentation that have developed mid 19th century and on, seem to have very little to do with architecture in a literal manner.

However, if we look at his analysis and examine these two disciplines we may find an inherent connection.

Both cinematography and photog-

it as we might think. The use of the camera in its various modes was related very much to the study of optics in that time and at first was indeed a research - scientific discipline. Nevertheless, it still, in a historiographic observation, challenged the paradigm of realistic documentation, representation and reproduction. Photography itself has brought a possibility to detach singular events from the sequence of life and examine them in a manner that was not possible before, as Israeli philosopher Eran Kimchi describes it. Indeed, as Benjamin elaborates, photography started as

a scientific discipline and turned

sibilities in the perception of reality

slowly into a tool of society to pre-

itself. Cinema has become much

serve social states and boundar-

more than just a stream of images

ies. Portraits have become a status

running chronologically one after

symbol during the end of the 19th

another. Rather, it became a me-

century and with that photography

dium in which reality as we see it

had left the realm of research and

daily is challenged. The physical

experimentation. It has become a

world itself is perceived not only as

mass technology, stuck in its own

such but as a part of bigger span

boundaries, resistent to change and

of representations, some realistic

development, and trying to preserve

and some imaginary. The focus al-

existing social orders. Not only that

lows the creator to adjust the view-

but with the challenge that photog-

er gaze upon things he would not

raphy has brought to realistic rep-

notice, slow motion allows him to

resentation and reproduction it has

stretch movement itself indefinetly.

set the first stepping stone in the

Kimchi, through studying Benjamin

creation and perception of alternate

relates cinema and photography as

realities.

a social changing discipline, used

Cinematography has brought an additional change to this shift which was the possibility of continuous footage and changing narrative. Cinema, in a way, as Benjamin claims, opened up a new dimension to human experience. The options that were brought by cinematog-

by different forces to construct and represent reality as it wills. In photography it was the contents that used this potential of construction realities, and in film it was the actual media, which created new ways of looking at the physical, imaginary and finally drawn world.

raphers were almost infinite. The

These two disciplines that for us

film brought an option to perceive

as citizens of the 21st centuries

time in a different visual manner,

have become almost ancient have

to expand and contract it according

changed the way our world is per-

to the narrative of a given creator,

ceived to us. They were both direct

and with that it opened up new pos-

descendants of the Industrial Revo-

lution in that they brought aspect of reproduction and speed into daily life. More importantly however, they were the first step towards the creation of different social connections.

They have challenged the very way we see and interact with our surroundings. They were and still are the cover screen for the social network and mass media, that would challenge the very foundations of our way at looking and interacting in the world only a century later.

The effects of the Industrial revolution described before do not start and end in the period of time that defines this event historically.

Like many revolutions and historic events, its effects are felt and carried through time into the next centuries. When it comes to architecture and urban planning, it seems that the most significant effects of

Episode II

this revolution were actually dem-

Present Progressive

onstrated during the late 19th cen-

“Between contemporary virtual

century. A period that in a way has

space and modernist space lies an

shaped more than any other the

aporia formed by the auto genera-

physical surroundings that we are

tive nature of the computer screen,

living in today.

tury and first decades of the 20th

and its real blindness to viewer’s presence. In this sense, the screen is not a picture, and certainly not a surrogate window, but rather an ambiguous and unfixed location for a subject.”

The late 19th century, which had brought to the world visions of perfect cities, geometrical, mathematical and analytical in nature. The

most famous of these ones would be the “Garden City” developed by Ebenezer Howard in the last decade - Anthony Vidler -

of the 19th century. This vision, presented in perfect geometric form was influenced by different utopian visions and writings but in a way was inspired by the industrial revolution itself. It had tried to har-

ness its power and benefits, utiliz-

stituted by artificial means, its cycle

ing means like railroads, factories

of life and in the end its inhabitants.

and so on, and solve the problems

The garden cities offered a func-

of industrial cities via correct plan-

tional and methodical solution to a

ning. The essence of the plan lies

problem which seemed at the time

in the creation of a chain of cities,

to be of the same kind - a quantitive

each one encapsulated and self

one. It addressed it with the tools of

sufficient, and in the middle of the

industry. With a mechanical, ana-

chain of individual links, a center

lytical and cold approach it gave an

city would be planned, providing the

existential problem, a solution that

outer cities with additional means

was numerical. As a matter of fact,

and connecting to them with rail

the problem was completely differ-

and road. The plan had described

ent, and it was about to get worse.

exactly the maximum amount of residents in each one of these outer cities, and in the central one, and regarded these numbers as those that would keep each city appropriate for living.

The two world wars that opened the 20th century with a fire and destruction that the world had never seen before left an unforgettable imprint on human surroundings.

The images of bombed cities were

In a matter of speaking, Howard’s

not only burned into the minds of

garden cities were the first line in

the survivors of the wars but also

the planning and creation of the

presented western Europe with a

satellite cities and neighborhoods

significant problem. The problem of

of today, and the field of suburbs

housing. The modernist movement,

covering landscapes and territo-

with its thriving ideas of the time,

ries. The vision behind them, how-

regarding the abolishment of orna-

ever ambitious and full of good will,

ments, the functionally of architec-

was in the end pretentious, and ar-

ture as a generative process and

rogant. It has completely ignored

the thought of a house as a machine

the notion of natural growth of a

for dwelling, had the perfect ground

city, its historic background that is

to implement its radical at the time

built over time and cannot be sub-

ideas, on a scorched new ground.

The ideas of Le Corbusier and his

a city of identical high risers, and in-

followers, though today seem ob-

finite parks. It introduced highways

solete or ordinary were more than

and roads into the city as arteries

radical at the time they were con-

of movement and speed, feeding

ceived. The style that characterized

the city. A day dream, yearning for

the modernistic architecture was

realization. Now, that we are look-

new and avant-garde, the concepts

ing back into the vision purposed by

behind the plans were unheard of,

him in the beginning of the previous

the methods of construction were

century, can we say that it is so dif-

the peak of the technology of that

ferent from the great cities of our

time. Stone facades and decorated

times? Ruled by high ways and sky-

windows gave up their place in favor

scrapers, our cities have changed

of reinforced concrete, steel frames

as johan Hazuinga describes them

and glass screens. Behind this visu-

in his American Journal: “The great

al and technological change there

city is no longer a place to live in.

was a great idea of a brave new

It has become a mechanism, a ma-

world. A world in which everyone is

chine of transportation and com-

equal but not as an ideology but in

munication. It has become mobile.”

a way as a consumer and as a pro-

It seems that Le Corbusier utopian

ducer and this equality is reflected

vision has almost fulfilled itself, and

in their housing, in their environ-

with that brought the beginning of

ment, in their cities, in their world.

the decline in the great urban cul-

The vision presented by Le Corbusi-

ture.

er, as seen in his built projects such as the Unite Habitacion, and in his

Space itself, and the need of its us-

theoretical work, prominently, the

ers has become standardized. Mod-

“Ville Radieuse” (The Radiant City)

ernistic architecture has brought

show an inherent change in thought

the sense that the answer to the

of architecture, urban planning and

problem which architecture is deal-

space in general. His urban propos-

ing with is within a formula. It has

al changed the image of the city and

nothing to do with the place it deals

the way it is used completely. It was

with, with its history, its “genius”.

That is exactly why Le Corbusier’s

that block is situated are complete-

“Unite” was built in Marseilles, Mu-

ly different.

nich, Moscow and several other lo-

As we have seen with the changes

cations in the same manner. It was

that photography and cinema had

a machine he designed which had

brought, the shift to standardized

one purpose - housing. And this

environment is not only physical.

machine, according to modernistic

The social aspects are inherent

approach could work anywhere. It

but the cognitive and behavioral

was this basic standardization of

ones are even more embedded in

our living spaces that has changed

our modern life. These changes in

architecture since. It took some-

perception are not only relating to

thing so individual and so unique

architecture itself but very much to

to us and has put in a factory, from

the way it is perceived and experi-

which we would all come out with

enced.

the same product. Was it architecture? That is debatable, but it was necessary to say the least. As we look upon these changes, it is important that we understand them to their full capacity, since most of us were born into this reality of standard and “optimal” space. But as we know, the word standard is usually associated with the lowest quality bearable. The cheapest, most efficent and in a way ordinary creation. We have been living our lives in cities and apartments that differ from one another only by size and name, and not by meaning or essence. A housing block in Brooklyn, London or Paris is virtually the same, although the places in which

As we know, industry and technology has brought more than just improved building techniques. It has introduced a new concept of speed in to our life, as philosopher and urbanist Paul Virillio claims.

Modern technology through its vehicles and highways, its faxes and emails and its weapons and wars changed drastically our perception and understanding of urban space.

In one of his early writings, Virillio describes his experiences as a child during the German bombings of France:”That which educated me, it wasn’t the horror of those buried alive in the basements, asphyxiated by ruptured gas pipes, drowned by

the burst water mains, but rather

pletely change and as a matter of

that

this

fact vanished from our modern life.

change in the view of urban space,

Today, in fact, it is minimized to a

this motility of the inanimate, of the

scan of our passport and our eyes

built.” This traumatic experience for

and handprints. One moment you

Virillio was not only manifested in

are on the outside. A second later,

the direct traumatic aspect of it but

you are in. And nothing has really

in the way that it has changed his

changed or happened.

sudden

transparency,

view of his physical surroundings.

The fact that the stable has become mobile, the still - kinetic. What is there to say of the atom bomb then, that has challenged and accelerated not only traditional warfare, but the basic elements from which our world is constructed. A bomb consisting of infinite speed, if you will.

This notion and outlook is very characteristic to Virillio’s work. He is a self appointed student of the science of speed, dromolgy, as he calls it. Speed that is created, intensified and today exacerbated by technological progress. As an urbanist he mainly deals with the way this speed affects the human urban and spatial experience. In his book, “The Critical Space” he elaborates on this subject while describing the changes in the urban perception through high ways and airports.

One of his claims is that the experience of entering a city has com-

If the early 20th century architecture has introduced standardized living environments and ungraspable urban surroundings, as Mark Wigley describes the enormous public spaces of modern cities, then the second half of it has made them transparent according to Virillio. In Wigley’s “forest of generic tower that only pretend to be different from each other” it does not matter to Virillio how small or big they are. industry and technology has put us all in a car, a motorcycle or an airplane and in them, we move from one situation to another without comprehension of the changes and shifts that occur around us. The speed in which we move and absorb data has grown so intensely that our surroundings have become in a way irrelevant. It is as if they were not there. Today, at the brink of the 21st century, with the appearance

of mass media technologies that bring events from across the world in milliseconds to the screens in our homes and in our pockets, and with social networks that make our physical and social connections intangible and untraceable, our speed is becoming immeasurable and perhaps, intolerable.

The great turn in the way we interact today could be addressed to the introduction of the internet to our lives in the early 90’s of the 20th century, and in many cases it would be correct. However, and as

Episode III

we have seen before, great changes

Future Past

change that we experience today

“We are living under the administration of fear: fear has become an environment, an everyday landscape. There was a time when wars, femines and epidemics were localized and limited by a certain timeframe. Today, it is the world itself that is limited, saturated, and manipulated, the world itself

do not appear out of thin air. Every is rooted in many that happened before it. Photography and cinema, as claimed before were the foundations set more than a century ago for this revolution in space perception but one the main shifts in understanding lies again in the change in reproduction, and in this case textual reproduction.

that seizes us and confines us with

Architect Peter Eisenman has dealt

a stressful claustrophobia, Stock

with the shifts that architecture

market crises, undifferentiated

has undertaken in his writings.

terrorism, lighting pandemics,

His work, written, theoretical, and

“professional” suicides... Fear has

practical is very textual in essence.

become the world we live in.

He addressed architecture as a text,

- Paul Virillio -

and today as a code, and with this notion in mind he analyzes past and present processes. In one of his earlier articles, Eisenman addresses the changes of the electronic age: “In photographic reproduction, the subject still maintains a controlled interaction with the

subject... with the fax, the object is

that architecture had forgotten to

no longer called upon to interpret.”

react to the electronic revolution,

In these words Eisenman points out

his architecture tried to challenge

what seems to be a minor change

to traditional visual aspect of build-

in the way we receive and interpret

ings. It was titled as de-construc-

information, but one that signifies a

tive, and sometimes arrogant, but

tendency which is reaching its peak

today, his groundbreaking thoughts

today. Interpretation itself, a tool

have become, in a physical man-

so inherent and basic to us, is dis-

ner more and more common. The

appearing, according to him. This

curved wall or the diagonal window

disappearance is not only relevant

are no longer rare, and when they

to the sheet of fax paper appearing

appear, they do not seem to excite

magically in an office, but also to

us as they did before.

the way we interpret, or in fact do not interpret the world around us.

For Eisenman, the electronic age, and the digital one following it has brought a sense of extreme visualization. That is, that the “seen” is favored over the “meaningful”. This, of course has not started with the fax. In fact, we can connect it to the surface architecture characteristic to the early 20th century. Architecture of envelopes, glass screen and super thin structures, trying to abolish the boundaries between inside and out.

As we progress with time and technology and reach our times, we see the text itself, or hypertext, has taken an additional shift. Roland Barthes’ author has become even more “dead” we might say, since today any text being transported into cyberspace is just a ground for change. Text is no longer interpreted over the internet, in chat rooms and on blog walls. It is changed, copied and altered infinitely, until its source is completely gone. Not only that, but the terms of representation in the internet has changed so drastically that the interface and

Eisenman’s

reaction was

quite

unique at the time. As he claimed

structure of it invites the user to do with the text as he will, as Eran Kimchi describes it. The user cop-

ies and pastes, then another follows

limitations and allows us to create

until a collage of texts is created

a form of a digital representation of

unconsciously.

these

ourselves, a virtual persona that we

changes have the ability to occur so

can carry with us in our cell phones

fast that the question of originality,

and computers. Though this is true,

brought up by Benjamin, in regards

at present moment, the virtual

to reproduction, appears again

world cannot offer us the physical

in greater magnitude and mean-

experiences of the “real” world but

ing. In Kimchi’s mind, it is not only

nevertheless it affects it constantly.

originality that is questioned, but

From the way our spaces look and

whole concept of something new.

to the way we move through them.

In a world where something new

The physical surroundings are be-

appears at every second, and be-

coming apparently more rich but

fore one product reaches the shelf,

that, as claimed before, is only in a

its better version is already being

visual and superficial aspect. The

shipped, what is new indeed?

interiors of our spaces are some-

Moreover,

Another change that Kimchi mentions is the physical aspect of communication. Not only that the text itself changed, but the way we produce it has changed as well. We use our fingers, and pre-made icons to express what it on our minds.

Facials expression are substituted with clicking fingers, and the faster we type, the more interactions we can have simultaneously. Again, the question of space arises. What is between textual change, expression and representation and architecture or space? One might claim that virtual space offers us no physical

times less than ordinary. Kimchi even claims that the way we address them is different thanks to social networks. If we used to decorate our offices with pictures of our loved ones, today our office walls are blank, but are screen are full of our “friends” and relatives, that are sitting at the office, virtually with us. But again, this is an illusion, as American critique William Deresiewicz

claims,

“Facebook

has made our social circles visible.

There they are, all my friends, at the same place, only they are not at the same place, and they are not all my friends, they are simulacra of my

friends... They are not my friends

ing over the physical - whether it

more than of pack of basketball

is our physical movement that be-

player cards.” This change in the

come “virtual” in nature, or the fact

way we interact and comprehend

that we manage our lives and expe-

our social relations is inherent to

rience more and more of it through

architecture, since architecture is

virtual means.

in a way a social discipline, at its core. Created for the public domain, in a way. Kimchi, however goes a bit further and sets the ground for another analogy. By analyzing the meaning of the word “slide” in its internet relation, he connects the physical essence of the word and the virtual way of travelling through the internet - being swept from one point to another without control.

That is to say that our movement through cyber and internet spaces is an uncontrolled one. If we take this analysis and combine it with the fact that we spend more and more time in front of our computers and phones, who is to say that we do not “slide” our way through the physical world as well? As Virillio stated, our movement in the world has become more accelerated, and in this aspect our movement through cyberspace is reaching its peak. And in this speed, nothing is comprehensible. In both aspects, the virtual is slowly but surely tak-

As the internet grabs a larger part of our day to day life, bringing forth new notion and possibilities, our life is becoming obviously more and more global in nature, and as an immediate result, less local. When we are able to sit on a chair in one place, have a chat with a person on the other side of our the world, order something from thousands of kilometers away and watch live news from the most godforsaken corner of the planet, where are we actually? Space itself is minimized to the size of a flat screen, and as speed grows larger, distances shrink relatively and disproportionally. As our virtual life and world grow larger, our physical world grows infinitely smaller. The basic notions of scale and place change. What is considerd large in a world of that sort?

Is it measured in bytes or centimeters? What it far? Is it dependent on the speed of our broadband? What is here? Is it where we physically

are or is it where we virtually are?

Can we be at multiple places at the same time in that case? And how do we define a place in a reality in which everything is everywhere and nowhere at the same time?

What can we expect next? How will our cities be planned? Are wireless network the highways of the future?

And if so, then how will we move within them, and towards what? Is a future where every man is his own state and country so far from us.

Although our world and technology is becoming more and more global with every passing day, it seems that society is actually crumbling and every man becomes an island.

Connected to everything and everywhere, but disconnected in any meaningful or physical sense. And

Epilogue

what of architecture and space? Are they to be abandoned as well? Will they be left behind as ruins of an forgotten physical world? Whether we will it or not, every progress that we make will forever incorporate within it a new form of destruction.

But what of architectures reaction? What of the challenge it will undertake as a discipline, a culture and a movement? What sort of architecture do we need to create for the world of tomorrow? What sort of ruins do we foresee the future bringing? What sort of responsibility do we take upon ourselves? It is clear the architecture and architects must challenge themselves

and their discipline, but the ques-

of the future, it must take a new

tion still remains. How? What sort

role, as scaffoldings for a world,

of architecture does this new, rapid,

waiting to be built.

silent and still world needs?

In a world so deterministically organized, there is an essential need for disorder. For if everything is in place than there nothing left to be done. Nothing to be fixed. No question to be asked. In this world architecture must raise its head and become something different, something far from what it used it. The time for harmony and answers is over. The age of chaotic questions has arrived. Architecture must become a mutation of its past remains. A monster that rampages between street lines and building codes, leaving behind all past notion of proportion, scale and use.

In a world so horizontally vertical, architecture must tear up the space between the towers, walls and infrastructure, and in their flesh find the ruins of their future. The images of their past, seen now, in new light, through shatters, shells and ruins of their own. It must become a force, a violent force seeking the destruction of that which deserves to be destroyed. And in these ruins

The work presented here is a culmination of the 5th year bachelor of architecture graduation project.

It is a vision of dystopia presented in graphic collages and conceptual models of a future world gone. Both consistent and inconsistent with the narrative that accompanies it, the work is partly not contextual and therefore it is more representational in nature, and somewhat abstract. However, the greater part of the creation was dedicated to the city of Tel Aviv.

The Work

Tel Aviv is the peak of Israeli urban culture and city planning, but it also symbolizes its decadence. It is vibrant, it is planned to perfection, its alive 24/7 and its slowly but surely, getting lost. Its streets are dominated by vehicles and parking lots.

Its inhabitants are blinded by the fake glittering light reflecting of the shiny towers popping anywhere and everywhere. Its people are gazing at the black screen in their homes, offices and pockets and are not aware of their own surroundings.

The work deals with iconic places in Tel Aviv, symbolizing all architectural, financial and cultural achieve-

ments of the past, and sins of the present. From huge city square defined by roads, through high riser shopping malls and transportation terminals, and through a boulevard which stretches from west to north, holding some of the city highest and lowest historical landmarks.

The main site for this dystopia is Rothschild Boulevard. Through its theater at one edge, the trees and luxurious apartment at its core and the office and residential towers climbing over or destroying historic buildings, the Boulevard is representational to everything that is good and bad in our modern urban culture. Through the re-imagination of it, in its ruins and re-ruins, there is a chance of a new outlook on architecture and our role as architects, in a world growing slowly but surely inhabitable.

A bright red flickering light shined the dark room. It came with a piercing sound attached to it, repeating every other second in an endless tone, matching the light’s rhythm.

His eyes slowly opened, and with two quick winks the light had stopped its monotonous beat and the sound disappeared. The room quickly filled with a bright light, giving it a shade of a bright July morning. Slowly rising from his bed, the man looked around with an empty gaze at the walls glaring with a fake hue, and sighed, preparing for an-

Appendix

other lonesome morning. At the

The wink - A short story

face of the bed, a small part of the

exact moment his feet left the surglittering wall changed from bright yellow to a white screen, and the words “good morning.” appeared on it. Another good morning, he thought to himself. Just like the last one... and the one before it, and so on. In his mind he suddenly thought of a lesson he had at school when he was a child. Twenty, thirty, forty years ago. Who can say anymore?

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Sun, He muffled to himself, trying to remember when was the

last time a ray of light penetrated

on the straw the moved closely to

his tiny room. He slowly rose from

his mouth. He recognized the taste.

his bed and turned around the wall

The same chemical taste that was

facing the one with the cheerful

supposed to resemble something

morning greeting. A small glass

that he had already forgotten. All he

slid out with a toothbrush and wa-

knew was that he tasted something

ter. He grabbed the brush and

better than this before, he didn’t re-

shoved it weakly into his mouth,

member what, or how it was called,

wondering the purpose of his ac-

but the sensation on his tongue re-

tions. Tradition, he thought. After

minded him of something vague.

finishing this routine, he turned back to the greeting, and winked his eyes twice again. The greeting quickly disappeared and instead of it appeared a menu filled with different faces, titles and something that appeared to be a grocery list.

His eyes quickly strolled through the menu, taking a different action with every wink. In several second he managed to greet his mother on her birthday (he didn’t know which one), send his father a virtual getwell card, ask his girlfriend to talk to him later and send the grocery list to the supermarket. He looked at sky, blue and glittering above him, and for a moment he noticed a few pixels flickering on his ceiling. A quick wink made that flicker disappear but this time, he did not mean for it to happen. He turned his head to the right, and sucked

The cables had tangled around his legs and he tried quickly to untie them, without disconnecting any.

For a moment there, he looked like a fly caught in a spider’s web. Each movement of his legs made him sigh harder. He could not remember when was the last time he had moved so much in such a short period of time. He winked his eyes a few more times and immediately his bed advanced to the middle of the room, and a backrest rose and straightened his weak back.

He looked at the menu again, and winked. The Menu quickly disappeared and instead of it appeared a wardrobe. He decided that since the calendar on the top right side stated it was Friday, he would dress casually, as if implying that the weekend is coming. Jeans and t-

shirt it is. A small figuring resembling him appeared on the top left, dressed in the clothes he picked with the movement of his eyes. The image changed again, and a small sunny street appeared in front of him, brightly shining the room. The street started moving and changing in an endless perspective, giving him the illusion of movement. After a few moments of staring pointlessly at this moving image he moved his head sharply to the right. The street stretched quickly, disturbing the perspective for a few short seconds, and instantly he found himself inside the lobby of the office building where he was working. He greeted the image of the guard at the lobby, wondering why the hell a guard would be needed in a place of this sort. This thought quickly led him to think about his own role in that specific building, but it disappeared at the same speed. He entered the elevator, and back in his room quickly moved his head up, while whispering the words one hundred and twenty seven. A second later the same number appeared in great red digits all over the screen. The doors of the elevator opened, and the image appearing on his wall turned

into a large bright space, filled with movement and people. As the camera moved through the room he could see some of his co-workers staring at him. The jeans and t-shirt did not make the right effect, he thought. but then again, who really cares. He smiled almost at everyone as he moved through the image of the room and onto the image of his desk. He knew he could wink at them all away, but still felt some sort of obligation to maintain a social appearance.

He slowly sat at his desk. This action seemed especially ridicules to him, since he was sitting back at his apartment this whole time, but once more, this thought, just like many others, concerning the nature of his mundane actions, left as his mind as quickly as it appeared. The screen on his desk grew proportionally and filled up the wall of his room. On the right, appeared a list of daily missions, on the top left, a list of friends, co-workers and acquaintances, and in the middle, the interface of the software he was working with. Back in his room, a small keyboard stretched out of the wall towards his hands. He crossed

his fingers tethers, crackling his

ing. From time to time he looked

finger joints, and stretching the

over his shoulder, and stare into

strongest muscles of his body. He

the endless famous 5th avenue. His

fluttered his fingers in the air for a

right wall was the most Important

few seconds, as if playing on an in-

one, or at least he thought of it as

visible piano, and quickly sank into

such. As a right-handed person he

his work. As he was working, his

would look to this side the most, but

mind slowly started to slide away

the sight there was of nothing great

from his work, as it usually does,

or famous. Rather a silhouette of a

but he was already familiar with

small street he could not exactly re-

this situation. He was able to make

member, but somehow this image

descent progress on his work while

stuck with him, and whether he was

adjusting the scenery around him,

in Paris, London or Shanghai from

and talking to his friends. The three

the left, and New York, Los Angeles

remaining walls of his room started

or Mexico City on the rear, this im-

shifting quickly and in them started

age of this small abandoned street

to appear various scenes. The left

was always on his right. He could

window had a deep perspective of

change it instantly, and sometime

the Eiffel tower from the Palais de

he wished he had, but something in

Tokyo, over the Seine. Every time

the back of his back would not let

he looked to left he could see the

him do it. As if he was connected to

rays of light flickering through the

this place somehow.

ancient metal construction. He remembered his online studies, specifically an architectural history class, where the history of the tower was explained to him and the millions of students participating in the class. The light in the windows was perfect and a light glimmer appeared the cool river water. On his back he could almost sense the shadow of the Empire state build-

The day went on. The sun on his windows stayed exactly where he wanted it. The glimmering waters of the Seine, and the shadow of the skyscraper did not budge. In fact, if someone would walk into this room, in some miraculous way, he might think he was looking at a photomontage. A frozen image of man, tangled in wires, surrounded

by the world, with his fingers mov-

screen, and the keyboard moved to-

ing in the speed of light. After some

wards him again. He started typing

times, hours or minutes, he could

his answers without talking to her,

not really tell, a bag of groceries

knowing that she would not the dif-

appeared as if from nowhere in his

ference. She might have been typ-

room, and made its way on a rail

ing this whole time, he thought, as

into his refrigerator. He knew ex-

he typed a smiley face on the key-

actly what was in it, and did not even

board in reaction to her complaints

bother to check whether the right

about her boss.

order was delivered. Full Proof, the bag stated, and he, of course, trusted the printed text.

After a quick conversation he got back to his work, in order to finish it as quickly as possible and head

As the day progressed, his eyes

back from the office. He wrapped

were getting weary, and his fingers

up his duties for the day, moved his

started feeling a bit numb. This feel-

right quickly to the left, and as he

ing was familiar and he knew all he

did that, all the images of the dif-

needed was a few eye drops to keep

ferent cities slowly faded into the

going. He took a break, turned his

wall, and were replaced with a light

head around and winked at the back

blue and red gradient color. A quiet

wall. A tray with eye drops appeared

sound of wind and waves started to

and he quickly grabbed it. As he

take over the room. His bed, from

was using the drops, a strong ring

which he hasn’t budged from the

sounded in the room and an image

time the walls were painted with

of a beautiful young woman took

bright yellow, started moving back

over his screen. He winked again

to the side of the room. The back-

and started talking. His girlfriend

rest slowly shifted to a smaller an-

talked to him about her day at work,

gle. He closed his eyes, and as he

and how her fingers have been feel-

stretched his fingers he fell asleep.

ing more and more numb every day.

At a certain point he got tired of talking, and winked at her image. A small speaker icon appeared on the

The alarm sounded again. As he opened his eyes, the whole room was glimmering with red, on and

off. He opened his eyes faster this time, as if knowing that he rushing somewhere, when in fact he was rushing, but nowhere. He knew his friends were waiting for him at some sort of place, if you could call it that, but the numbness of time that he felt, was surely affecting them as well. He quickly went through the same monotonous process of the morning, with the only difference being the color of the wall – this time, a dark navy blue, sprinkled with stars. He had no idea when he had gone to sleep, how many hours he was at work or for long he has been sleeping, but he knew that the alarm clock was set to the time when he was meant to wake up – whether it was his setting or someone else’s. A wink there, a strong movement of the head there, and in a matter of moments he was image was dressed and ready to go. He did not even bother to take a stroll through the streets appearing on his wall and quickly turned his head in order to get to the meeting point.

His friends were sitting at their favorite bar. The image looked perfect. As he was sitting around the

table, surrounded by the walls of his room, he could hear all the rest of the people talking, smoking and drinking. His room was suddenly filled with the aroma of beer, perfume, and cigarettes.

The noise

around him made him feel comfortable, and the images in front him, who were obviously familiar were engaged in a vibrant conversations about women and politics. The evening progressed, and as he was ordering more and more drinks that magically appeared in front of him, he felt quite ridicules as he poured each one to the trash can by his feet, while typing drink on his keyboard.

Laughter and noise were surrounding him, and while he was trying to decide whether he feels like it was time to leave, switch to his keyboard or keep talking using his head set, something strange had begun to take place.

Out of nowhere, he suddenly saw a great shadow on the bar table. This shadow did not look unfamiliar. In fact, he had seen it earlier that day.

A long, thick and dark black shade crawled on the wooden surface, and became apparent. He looked back, and where he expected to see the

rest of the bar, he saw a bustling

strongly closing his eyes. Suddenly,

fifth avenue, and at its edge, the

there was silence. He opened his

peak of the empire state building,

eyes slowly, taking his hands care-

flickering and disturbed. He turned

fully off his ears. The room was

his head back to his friends. Their

dark, and a small emergency light,

faces were distorted and pixelazied,

that has never been lit, was shining

and he could not recognize any of

above. He looked at it for a short

them or their voices. As their ap-

instance and then moved his gaze

pearance turned quickly to a digi-

forward towards the dark screen.

tal mash, the alarm sound started

In front of him, staring directly at

again, growing louder and louder,

his face was an aged man, wrinkled

and an array of messages, faces,

and pale, looking right back at him.

and articles started appearing on

He moved to the right, and the man

and off on his front wall. He looked

followed. He tried to wink in order

at his image at the top corner, and

to make the old man disappear, but

could see that it was shifting outfits

the man winked back and nothing

rapidly. Commercials he had seen

happened. It only took a few seconds

of different merchandise started to

before he realized the truth. The

switch frantically, mixed with mil-

dark, disabled screen was in fact a

lions of different colors and sounds

mirror. The wrinkles, white hair and

on all the screens surrounding him.

empty gaze were actually his. He

The sound was unbearable, and the

released another great scream into

amount of different pictures shown

the air, and started looking around

on each screen has reached his

frantically. The room was still

limit, but kept on going. He lifted up

dark, and he could manage to find

his hands and covered his ears in

himself in this tiny 10 square me-

an instinctive movement. For a sec-

ter space. He moved closely to the

ond he thought about the fact that

screen, examining his unrecognized

he has not touched his ears in ages,

self, how he had aged, how his face

but before he could trouble his mind

looked. All of this was forgotten to

with this thought, he automatically

him. He tried to remember what

released a hideous scream into the

was the last image of him that he

small space surrounding him, while

had had but could not gather any-

thing visual. His whole life, he had

slowly from the bundles of wires he

been staring at images of people,

fell into. He looked around for a mo-

streets and places, and now at this

ment, at his small kingdom of ru-

moment of collapse he faces him-

ins, and moved slowly towards one

self, as a mute. A disabled, limp

of the walls. As he reached out his

and weak reflection of the man he

weak arms, he kept winking instinc-

used to be. A small glitter appeared

tively, expecting something to hap-

on the screen, and at that moment,

pen, but somehow knowing it never

he had gathered the great power

will. He moved his hand slowly on

of his typing fingers, and the little

the black screen, not being terror-

power he had left in the rest of his

ized by the reflection anymore. A

ageing body, and with a swift motion

few knocks on each screen, trying

grabbed all the cables surrounding

to realize whether he has neigh-

him and ripped them out of the wall.

bors, and perhaps, they have expe-

In an instant the room was filled

rienced the same meltdown. As he

with electric flashes, the screens

wondered what to do next, he moved

themselves started to flicker ner-

his hand on the wall and found sev-

vously and explode. It seemed as if

eral slits in it. He tried to utilize the

a bomb had exploded in each and

force of his fingers and was able

every one of them. As he fell help-

to detach some of the panels from

lessly to the ground, the room went

the walls. Behind them he found a

dark, with only the emergency light,

maze of wires, rails, and systems

shining on the remains of his ruined

that were in charge of his daily rou-

world, and wrinkled body.

tine. The glass, and the toothbrush.

A few hours later he had woken up. This time, there was no alarm sound, nor a morning greeting. It was the most quite wakeup call he had ever gotten. He looked around.

The emergency light was still shining. He slowly picked himself up from ground, untangling himself

The groceries waiting to be picked up. The glass of beer just used. He started to pick those systems apart, grabbing the large rails of metal and wire, and detaching them from the walls. In front of him, slowly a large shaft was discovered. As he removed the ruins, he understood that he could quite easily fit into it.

He stared into the shaft, and as he crawled in, he noticed that his restless winking had stopped.

The shaft appeared to be endless, winding up and down, left and right.

It took him several hours to reach a point where he could see something different from the black that was surrounding him. After one of the turns he took, he suddenly saw a bright white spot, and as he crawled towards it he started feeling a warm, chemical scented breeze in his nose. He reached the end of the shaft. He could feel it, but he had no idea what was waiting for him on the other side.

The strong odor penetrated his nose. His sniffed it a few times as he crawled out of the small exit, and rolled unto a cracked pavement.

The light that was shining through the ending of the shaft was not the sunlight he had hoped for. As he finished his long crawl, he looked around and froze in place. His eyes kept moving all around trying to grasp the new vision that he was facing. In front him was a field of huge buildings, with their tops hidden behind clouds of grey and thick

smoke. The huge structured had a weird pattern covering him, and as he looked back for a moment to the shaft he had came out of, he realized that this pattern was an endless array of shafts, just like the one he experienced from within. The buildings rose, in a sharp perspective towards what he imagined to be the sky, growing closely to each other with every floor. As they reached the thick and dark smoke, it seemed to him as though they were becoming one gigantic, connected mass.

These huge structures were actually connected between them at every possible height. At every wall, he could see hundreds and thousands of cables and networks, penetrating the building skin, in various angles and sizes. These tubes, it seemed, were delivering something into the building. Rapid flashes appeared on each of them at every second, creating an amazing spectacle of shining lights hidden behind the Smokey clouds. After a few moments of gazing at this sight, he turned his down, an action he could recall when he last performed. The view was mirrored in a way. The endlessness of the buildings was not just towards the sky. The depth

of the world beneath him was even

clouds a weird feeling took over

greater. He looked down, as he was

him. It was fear. A feeling that he

grabbing the wall, and the same

has not felt in years, perhaps ever.

instant light flashes, flickering ev-

He kept on going downward, slowly

ery second underneath a rug of

losing the vision of building growing

smoke. He could see in some of the

up, and simultaneously discover-

tubes some sort of movement, as

ing how deep they actually are. As

he thought of that, he realized that

he penetrated the smoke he could

he was completely alone. He looked

now see the same array of network

around again. The sky and the earth

connecting the buildings, shin-

looked exactly the same. He felt

ing through a thick mist, lighting

as if he was standing in the border

nothing and everything at the same

between two worlds. Twin faces of

time. More than once he thought

the same unimaginable reality. He

to himself that this descend had

decided he would find a way down,

no end, and that he would keep on

as if it looked more appealing, when

crawling until he will collapse into

in fact it was exactly the same, but

the abyss, but after a few hours,

something was pulling him down.

the mist had started to clear, and

He did not know whether it was

the lights became fewer and fewer.

the weakness of his legs or gravity,

A large field of ruins began to dis-

but he did not bother himself with

cover itself; he was getting closer

this thought. He started moving to-

to the ground. The ground itself

wards what seemed to be a place to

was grey and cracked, and he could

descend, carefully walking on the

notice large bright roads between

buildings’ edge. Slowly but surely

the ruins. He reached the build-

he was able to crawl down using the

ings’ bottom, and quickly looked

buildings’ levels, coming closely to

up to see the way that he had gone

the surface of smoke and darkness.

through. Ironically, it looked almost

The odor was growing stronger by

identical to the view he had several

the second, and he could realize by

hours before, when came out of the

this point that it were those clouds

shaft, but this time, he was standing

beneath and above that smelled

on solid ground. He looked around

so strongly. As he approached the

again. The only lights he could see

were the echoes of the flashes high

metal handrails, craved in the shape

above that gave these strange sur-

of leaves and flowers; different tex-

roundings a grey, monochromatic

tures of plaster, brick and stone

feel. He started walking towards

slowly appeared behind the trans-

the road he had seen, which was the

lucent covering of the buildings’

brightest thing around him. It was

shell. He could notice signs and text

as if the brightness of the road was

appearing on some of them, stating

grabbing him, calling him to walk

what these buildings used to be - a

on it, even though there was noth-

bank; a restaurant; a clothing store;

ing on it that could recognize. It was

a supermarket. A sharp penetrating

a bright shadow, in a world with no

question entered his head, followed

light, and somehow, it reminded

by another one, and another. What,

him in a twisted way, of the time

how, where, who, he kept repeating

he had spent with his friends on a

without finishing a coherent phrase.

beach, while sitting in his room. He started walking slowly on the road, looking around to find a place with some light, penetrating through the endless field of metal, concrete and speed above him. As he walked through the clear road, he noticed a wide range of abandoned buildings.

Some were two stories high, some were six, some a few more. As he looked closer, he saw a strange sight. Some of these ruins were capsulated in the huge high rises that were growing into the sky. It seemed as if they insects, trapped in amber, frozen in time for eternity. The more he stared at them, the more fascinating they seemed to him. Stone heads and balconies;

His mumbling kept going, as well as his feet. He wandered through the streets of his forgotten city, looking everywhere and nowhere at the same time. The boulevard kept going, twisting and turning wildly. The cracked asphalt seemed as if several different earthquakes have struck it. The pavement was lifted and twisted into itself, shattering its enormous weight onto itself. Several streets were stacked on top of each other, as if dropped from above. As he looked at them, his gaze moved up towards the sky, excepting to see this downfall of concrete, stone and machine.

Above, he saw the remains of those

streets that have crushed, hanging in mid air, stopping in the middle of nothing, Wires of metal and communication hanging from its tips.

He remembered reading about these roads - the roads that have been left behind, the lost highways of the past. An endless network of highways, transporting people, when they were still out, from one place to another. Layers and layers that were piled on top of each other as the need for them grew. Some were wider than others, some more steep. Some had huge concrete columns holding them, and some, it seemed, were standing on needles.

But all of them were abandoned a long time ago. Like an old man’s face, the wrinkles and fatigue of the roads was clear.

He kept walking and looking. Using his eyes as he had never before. Staring into things, and not at them. The muscles of his neck were hurting him, but he could not stop turning his gaze at everything. Everything that he had known existed, but never seen or imagined. His eyes were flickering, but now it was somehow natural. How strange, he thought, that in this wasteland, my

eyes are doing what they should.

As the street was sliding down, he saw the theatre. It was a huge structure, broken and shattered but still, to him it looked what he could imagine it used to be - a giant white hall, with long pillars supporting its falling roof. The leftovers of the staircases were facing the street where he came from. He wanted to walk inside, but suddenly fear took over him. He passed quickly by it, looking around at what seemed to be the theater’s square. As he kept moving forward, peeking through the different shards of the building, he kept on seeing more and more of the same huge buildings that have occupied the city. As if something, a disease of some sort had taken over them, and had let them run wild into what used to be the sky. He passed the theater, and another shattered hall next to it, and passed onto another twisted boulevard. This one was no different, except for the fact that this time, he could see in its middle, between the rubble and the piled roads, dry and dead roots of trees. It seemed, that these roots, that had no bark, trunk or branches grew into the cracks of

the streets, but have stopped long

the ground and grew in a network of

ago. He walked between the twists,

roads circling this weird place. The

hopping from one street to the one

pavement itself was almost an illu-

the used to be above, and rests on it,

sion. On one hand, it was cracked

like a beached whale. His legs were

and twisted, as the streets leading

slowly growing weak but he felt

to it, on the other it seemed un-

somehow more confident in their

touched and pure, as if no one had

strength. He moved quickly through

ever used it. A strong sensation

the shadows of the building above,

grabbed him from inside, an unset-

paying attention to every encapsu-

tling notion that he could not ex-

lated block. Its resemblance to the

plain. Perhaps it was seeing the ru-

ones he had seen before. Jars of

ins of something clear. The cracks

preservation, holding within them

and shatters of the road he could

the truth of an old life.

somehow grasp. It was as if they

Suddenly, he stopped. As he looked forward, his gaze focused, and for a long moment, his consistent winking had stopped. On his left a mass of the diseased architecture rose and on his right a mirrored image of the same illness. But in front of

had grown old and died, but this place was different. This place did not age. In fact, it was never even born. It was as if he saw the death of an unborn child; the end of a road before its origin; the crossing of the finish line, before the starting gun.

him there was nothing, or at least

As he looked at this paradox of a

a place that used to be empty. A

place, he started breathing heavily

huge and clear pavement was in

like never before. His legs and arms

front of him. Three streets and a

started to shiver and his back start-

single wreck surrounded this flat

ed to fold. He slowly collapsed to the

square. The buildings around these

ground, pulled his hands towards

streets were just as high and grey

his eyes, and as he slowly closed

as the ones he had seen before, but

them, without thinking of how long

an array of roads was coming in and

this wink will take, he started to cry.

out of them. It was as if the streets surrounding the pavement had left

A bright white and clear ray of light

his partners. As he scratched his

penetrated through the shattered

head, he slowly turned around and

ceiling. As it slowly crawled into the

walked to the adjacent wall. His

room, it broke time and time again

smile quickly straightened and his

on the steel bars breaching the ex-

gaze turned serious. He picked up a

posed concrete. One of the men lying

wrinkled plastic bottle, and looked

on the floor slowly opened his eyes

towards the boulevard going south

and took a deep breath. He raised

and curving to the west. He could

his back from the cracked floor and

not see the sea in the horizon, but

looked around. His group was still

he knew it was there. He saw it with

there, where they all fell asleep

his own eyes on one of their expedi-

the night before. 9 other men, and

tions. Soon. he thought to himself.

10 women, lying in couples on the

We’ll get there soon.

floor. He smiled to himself, thinking back to the time they had met and not quite remembering how much time passed since. How they found him, hiding underneath one the collapsed roads hides and convinced him to join them, when they were only a group of 3. His partner lying next to him started to wake up slowly as well. He quietly rose from the floor, as he did not want to rush her waking up, and paced towards the light. He looked through the crack in the wall and the curved steel frame, and smiled. The northern light was soft and warm, and as he looked towards it, and at the boulevard stretching from north to south, he took great pride in what he saw. The work of him and

He turned around and saw that his partner was still lying on the floor.

Her eyes were wide open, looking at him, with a quiet and profound admiration. Good morning, she sighed while stretching her hands.

He walked towards her. Good morning, he shortly replied. He leaned slowly towards her and kissed her, as he did every morning since the first time he woke up next to her.

He could not get over the touch of her lips, how warm they felt, how red they were, how real. What are you smiling about, she asked him.

As he listened to her question, his smile got even bigger. What a voice.

Vibrant. Delicate. Soft. Real. Nothing baby, he answered. Just feels

like it’s going to be a good one.

The whole group was slowly waking up as well. After having the morning ritual of basking in the little light they had coming into the ruin that they were staying in, and then looking north proudly and south towards the next ruin they may find, they gathered around in a small circle on the floor. Between them there were a few bottles of water, and canned food they picked up on their journeys through the city. As they had their modest breakfast, one of the men told the group of a dream he had had the night before. In his dream, he found himself walking in their city, with his partner, and all of them as well. As they were walking towards the sunset, more and more couples joined them from every corner. They were climbing off buildings, rising from the bottoms of the ground, breaking ceiling and walls, and joining them, in a slow and silent walk. By the time the sun has reached its lowest point before disappearing, a red and orange hue spread over the sky, taking over the grey and thick fog, dispersing it as if were dust on a wall. All the people gathered

around, and as the red hue turned blue and then night black, the stars appeared above them.

As he finished telling his dream, his company looked at each, and back at him, and suddenly all burst into uncontrolled laughter. “That will be the day!” One of them shouted.

“Red and orange sky!? What are you on, man?” The man started laughing himself, partly embarrassed.

Yet, he was proud of his dream and even more of the fact that he dreamt it. Oh, how vivid it was, he thought.

So vivid.

All right people, one of the women said all of a sudden, cutting down all laughter and jokes. We have a long way ahead of us, and who knows who we might meet on the way. They all packed up they few things each of them had in the made up back packs and nap sacks, and started climbing through the steel frame, which only a few moments ago framed their gaze.

They each crawled out the crack in the wall they carved only a few days before, and started mounting down the skyscraper which was their home in the past days. The struc-

ture they walked in was unimaginable. The steel frame of glass walls sprung out of the building, twisting and turning in steep diagonals, turning itself into walls at one point, a ceiling at another, and stairs towards its end. The frame itself was covered with layers upon layers of different materials. Wood, concrete, plastic. A collage of colors, textures and times. Every small ray of light that somehow penetrated through the wall of towers around them, broke a thousand different ways on every material and every angle, and then quickly disappeared. This sight, even though they have seen it dozens of times, and they were the ones to create it, never ceased to amaze any of them. Their descend was slow, and even though they were in a rush, no one dared to make haste. As they kept climbing down, they were all looking around themselves constantly. Occasionally their gazes crossed each other, and were always met with a smile, and a look of understanding.

As they reached some sort of a flat surface, they all grouped together underneath one of the surfaces hovering above them. In an almost

perfect line, they all stood there for a few moments and just gazed at the structure they crawled out of. Beneath them there were layers upon layers of roads and buildings. Above them, a mirrored image. And in the midst of the paradox, in the middle of this parallel projection of heaven and earth, a crack. An accident. A fracture of metal, glass and concrete, twisting in every direction and every angle. The sheets of materials were piled on it, creating an almost live shell, climbing on its skeleton, inside and out of the buildings’ flat and transparent skin. The light that was barely peeking through the thick layer of grey air, shattered on every angle and created and array of different, ever changing textures and images. It was as if that tower was erupted, and out of its eruption, a new life grew, violently and forcefully, claiming matter, and light to itself. Taking it and distributing it to anyone who wishes, and in a short moment, this ruined creature, this monster of scaffoldings, will pull itself out of the poor and forgotten building, which was its womb, and move on. Leach on to another dead creation, and with its ruin, give it life. A life given through shatters,

and light.

They stood there. Silent. After a few moments their looks turned from their creation to each other. They all smiled again. Silently. Their walk was the same as it always had been. They always knew how it starts, but never where it ends.

Every morning they packed everything and started walking north first, tracing back to where they have already been. Looking and seeing if their work has had any ef-

they had gotten there. One of them was found in an empty apartment. another one broke out by himself and wandered until they found them. No one however knew of the first pair. The founders of the group.

They appeared together, to the first member they found, but never revealed their own story to anyone. It was as if they had always wandered the streets, looking for “breakers�

- those who break free, and then break in.

fect, and by that they all hoped that

After a few hours of walking up and

it had released someone else to the

down through the ramps and lay-

outside. Someone that could join

ers, through the shatters of high

their group and be its twenty first

ways and exposed buildings, they

member. They walked through the

finally reached the point from which

passage they have created in the

they usually turn. It was in a way, a

weeks and months before. Layers

place that they could not or would

upon layers of shattered walls, dis-

not deal with. All the other build-

mantled and peeled from buildings

ings, towers, streets and squares

and towers. Around them, steel

were known to them. There was

skeletons were standing exposed,

always a first crack in the wall that

covered with the same shells the

made them start their work. A cut

climbed on a few moments before.

in the dead urban flesh. This place

Folding in and out of the frame, and

was different however. It was un-

slowly turning flat into the skin of

touched. Empty and clear. Perfect

the high risers they used to be. As

in the most unimaginable way. They

they progressed through this thin,

all knew it, and were ready to turn

re - ruined urban layer of their own

around from this disturbing place.

doing, they all wondered about how

They stopped again for a short

rest and sat down on the ground.

he last felt the touch of stranger’s

One of the women reached for her

hand on his own. The feeling was

pack, and as she turned around she

strange, but somehow exciting.

heard a weak sigh. Help me.... She

His consistent rubbing and lack of

jumped from the ground instantly

attention disturbed him. He was

and saw a hand reaching for the air

afraid he might look strange to his

and towards the very little light that

new company. In fact, the whole no-

was in this place. The voice spoke

tion of looking somehow to some-

again. Help.... I....broke... I broke

one felt strange to him. If he had

out of there.... help...

only known that they all, every sin-

After the group of strangers pulled him from beneath the road, he slowly leaned on one of the walls.

gle one of them, went through the same experiences, when they were found by their predecessors.

He looked towards them and for a

After a short while they helped him

few long moments all he saw were

get back on his feet. A touch of wa-

silhouettes. Black silhouettes, on

ter that reached his lips revived him,

a background a grey, bright light.

but his legs were still weak. Don’t

His eyes quickly adjusted to the

worry, said one of the men. They’ll

light and he was then able to dis-

get their strength back faster than

cern their faces. Ten women. Ten

you think.

men. All young, all dirty, all strong.

Welcome, one of them said. You’re a breaker now, He continued with a smile. And from the looks of it , you look like a natural.

They started walking back

from

whence they came. It was almost the same path he took before he reached the clear square which made him collapse, but this time

As he sat there he found it very

the road felt and looked different.

hard to pay attention to the flow of

Instead of walking through the

information thrown at him by this

straight path that he had taken,

new group of people. He kept rub-

they kept climbing and descend-

bing his hands against each other.

ing on different platforms. He kept

He could not even remember when

thinking to himself that this is not

the shortest way to where they are trying to go, wherever that may be.

He saw the shortest way beside him, beneath him, above him. All these roads that were built in order to get from one point to another at maximum efficiency were now deserted. He decided to let his company let him to wherever they want, and however they want, and as this thought crossed his mind, he could feel the muscles on his legs gaining strength.

They kept crawling up and down, through metal frames, wooden panels, concrete walls, and glass surfaces. Each lying in a different angle, defying his moves, challenging his way and shifting his gaze. He slowly started to gain speed in his walk, passing some of his companions. As he passed by them, they were all smiling and pushing him forward, delighted to see that his agility and stamina are coming back faster than all of them expected. After a few hours he was climbing by himself through the shatters of the buildings surrounding him, glancing at certain points into the insides of an abandoned apartment or a forgotten office.

The sky was slowly growing darker and as the evening progressed they found themselves in a different area from the one they started there day at. The group gathered in front of him in a circle and started talking. One of the women broke out of the circle and approached him.

She crouched and put her hand on his shoulder. He shivered for a moment but as she started speaking he quickly grew accustomed to her touch. We are going to show you, ok? We are going to show you how to break it. How to be a breaker.

Tomorrow, you are going to help us ruin this city, she said with a sincere look. Ruin it, he asked. Is it not already ruined, He continued completely puzzled. No dear, she said. It really isn’t. It’s perfect right now. There’s nothing left to do. We have to give them something to do.

To us, you understand? We have to have something to do. So we have to break it. All of it. And then they build it. They will built again. And next time it will be better, she finished, not before she whispered two words that shook him. I hope.

She rose and went back to the group. They pulled out tools and

picked up some of the panels and

piled up into a sort of small tower.

bars they had picked up on the way.

As the men were climbing on this

One of them approached the wall

pyramid they had built, the women

in front of him. He reached with his

were covering parts of it with other

hand and slowly moved it on the

sheets of concrete and wood. They

building’s facade. After a couple

quickly started dismantling the

of minutes he grabbed a bar and

ceiling and exposing its insides. The

pushed it into a crack he had found

sight amazed him. The quickness,

in the same wall. A great crack-

the randomness, the swiftness of

ling noise started, and the rest of

their bodies. He slowly fell to the

the group joined in the disman-

ground, sat and looked at them as

tling of the building’s skin. After a

they broke their way through to

few short moments, the shatters of

the upper floor. As his amazement

the wall were already lying on the

grew, so did his weariness and his

ground, still attached with steel

eyes quickly started shutting down.

veins to its ruined body. The picked

He fell asleep, leaning on a wall,

up the shatters and piled them in

which moments ago was not even

different angles on top of each to

there, and was leaning itself on an-

create some sort of an entrance to

other wall behind it. When he woke

this building they had just breached

up, a strange sensation took over.

into. They all went in, but he was

He could see the rest of the group

left outside, fearing to enter the

sleeping around him, and a bright

space from the likes of which he

ray of light penetrating through the

had crawled out just a few days ago.

wall he saw broken down and then

Come in, the women he had spo-

put up the day before. He walked

ken before with said. Don’t worry,

up to the wall and looked towards

it’s not the same. He stood up and

the north, smiling, and with a great

carefully walked towards the made

sense of conviction he turned south,

up entrance. As he glanced across

and looked through a new opening

the concrete sheets, he saw the

he had not seen the day before, to-

rest of the group in the center of

wards the boulevard that twisted to

the small space, gathered around

the west. He took a few steps be-

a stack of metal bars that were

hind, and found himself within the

pyramid of metal bars that was constructed during the night. He raised his head, he did not see the ceiling that was there a few hours ago. As he blinked both his eyes rapidly and with disbelief, nothing really happened. Between the steel poles and shards of stone and glass he could see the sky. It was red and orange.

“Architecture and war are not incompatible. Architecture is war. War is architecture.

I am at war with my time, with history, with all authority that resides in fixed and frightened forms.

I am one of millions who do not fit in, who have no home, no family, no doctrine, no firm place to call my own, no known beginning or end, “no sacred and primordial site�

I declare war on all icons and finalities, on all histories that would chain me with my own falseness, my own pitiful fears.

I know only moments, and lifetimes that are as moments, and forms that appear in infinite strength, then “melt into air”.

I am an architect, a constructor of worlds, a sensualist who worships the flesh, the melody, a silhouette against the darkening sky. I cannot know your name.

Nor can you know mine.

Tomorrow, we begin together the construction of a city.”

- Lebbeus Woods -

Bibliography •

Aristotle, “Metaphysics, Book X, part 10”, eBooks, University of Adelade, Translated by W. D. Ross

•

Benjamin, Walter, “A Short History of Photography”, Babel, 2004, translated by Hanan Elstein

•

Eisenman, Peter, “Visions unfolding - architecture in the age of Electronic Media” in: “Written into the Void - Selected Writings 1990 - 2004”, Yale University Press, 2007

•

Jameson, Frederic, “Postmodernism - The Cultural Logic of Late Postmodernism”, Resling, 2009

•

Kimchi, Eran, “The Internet - What is New in the Emergence of Novelty”, Resling, 2010

•

Neuman, Eran - “Preface to Virillio’s Le’espace Critique”, Resling, 2006

•

Levi, Dror K, “From Time to Space and vice versa - Six Essays in Cultural Criticism”, Resling, 2011

•

Vidler, Anthony, “Constructing the Void from Pascal to Freud” in: “Warped Space”, MIT press, 1992

•

Vidler, Anthony, “Agoraphobia - Psychopathologies of Urban Space” in: “Warped Space”, MIT press, 1992

•

Vidler, Anthony, “The Scenes of the Street and Other Essays”, Monacelli Press, 2011

•

Virillio, Paul, “Le’espace Critique - Essai”, Resling, 2006, translated by Orit Rosen (Originally published in 1984)

•

Virillio, Paul, “The Original Accident”, Polity, 2007

•

Virillio, Paul, “Unknown Quantities / Ce Qui Arrive”, Fondation Cartier, 2002

•

Virillio, Paul, “Urban, All Too Urban” in “L’insecurite de Territoire”, Bootleg translation, 1976

•

Woods, Lebbeus, “Radical Reconstruction, Princeton Architectural Press, 1997

•

Woods, Lebbeus, “Slow Manifesto”, www.lebbeuswoods.com