A Collection of Essays on Architectural History
Jingpan Zhang Instructor: Igor Marjanovic Faculty Assistant: John Knuteson
Architectural History III Advanced Theory Jingpan Zhang Spring 2021
“Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity toward matanarratives.” by Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge
Cover Image: Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, American, 1928. 1986. Marina Green, Pier 32, and Golden Gate Park. architectural drawing. Place: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee Fund purchase.
Jingpan Zhang
Washington University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts Architectural History III: Advanced Theory Instructor: Igor Marjanovic
Preface 1. The Myth of Modernism | Manfredo Tafuri 2. Postmodernity | David Harvey 3. Discussions: Conservation | Mabel O. Wilson 4. Drawing Ambience | Robin Evans 5. Research Methods | Arjun Appadurai 7. Discussions: Globalization | Saskia Sassen 8. Deconstruction | Jacques Derrida 9. Feminism: Desiring Practices | Akis Didaskalou 10. Social Space | Bernard Tschumi 11. Socialism | Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels 12. Extra Credit | Public Highways Postscript Bibliography
Preface
All these topics that we discussed are developed around the concept of postmodernism. From my point of view, the topics in the contents can be roughly divided into the following categories: basic theories and philosophies of postmodernism, the performance of postmodernism in some specific fields (history, architecture, urban planning, aesthetics, literature, anthropology, sociology, political science, etc), and some social practices about postmodernism (democracy in research, feminism). After reading all the topics, the spirit of postmodernism is extremely complicated. However, in the field of architecture or the concept of space, postmodern architecture can indeed obtain a clear definition. Starting from the publishment of Venturi's book “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture” in 1966, postmodernism had gradually developed as an architectural style. This trend includes high-tech architecture, neo-futurism, and deconstructivism, etc1. The architectural style of postmodernism is also very diverse and complex. It has different characteristics like complexity and contradiction, fragmentation, asymmetric and oblique forms, colour, and humour and “camp”2. Even if it is an overthrow of modernism, it still develops in parallel with modernism. However, the spirit of postmodernism is difficult to define. On the one hand, postmodernism is a subversion of modernism. It can be said that postmodernism is a critique of modern social issues under the influence of globalization after the arrival of post-industrial society3; it can also be said that postmodernism is a reconstruction of various truths and principles built on the supremacy of rationalism after the Enlightenment4. On the other hand, postmodernism is also in dialogue with modernism and develops in parallel with modernism. Postmodernism has not replaced modernism, but many conceptual tools and discourse elements have been integrated into our social and discourse practice5. Therefore, postmodernism is a concept that has complicated and diverse meanings, but it is also vague. We cannot use the timeline to define postmodernism, because this method of using the timeline itself violates the principles of postmodern historical vision6. Therefore, the spirit of postmodernism is more like a thinking tool or an attitude to life.
1. Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1966). 2. Owen Hopkins, Les Styles en Architecture - Guide Visuel (Dunod, 2014). 3. Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting (New York: Basic Books, 1973). 4. Wilson Mabel O, "Carceral Architecture." e-flux architecture, superhumanity, https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/superhumanity/68676/carceral-architectures/ (accessed March 1, 2021). 5. Zhongli Xie and Xinbang Ruan, The Theory of Modernism and Postmodernism, (Beijing: Peking University, 2004). 6. Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History, (Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 1995).
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Image Caption: Exterior Perspective Photo of Le Corbusier's La Tourette
Image Source: Mary Gaudin, published on Divisare homepage, September 09, 2019. https://divisare.com/projects/380530-le-corbusiermary-gaudin-la-tourette.
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1. Myth of Modernism | Manfredo Tafuri | L'Architecture dans le Boudoir : The Language of Criticism and the Criticism of Language | 1987 As Tafuri expresses in his book "The Sphere and the Labyrinth", architecture cannot entertain itself in a small area but must intervene in society. Take on the architectural task deprived of capitalism. Architecture should return to purity, return to the non-utopian forms, and return to sublime uselessness.1 In the latter part of this article, Tafuri also mentioned in detail how to specifically change the production system of the architecture field. He came up several methods that includes the renewing of the architecture’s form, submitting to professional organizations and bringing together a highly differentiated public. The text “social utopianism can only be discussed as a literary document”2 is to say: the social utopian is only used as a form of architectural language. However, such social utopian thoughts should have more development utility in the field of architecture and should be used for more functions. Just like Tafuri's theory, he thinks that it is a sad thing for architecture and architects to become tools for the development of capitalist society. Just like “the ship reference”2 example mentioned in the previous paragraph: “The ship, like the phalanstery, symbolizes an unattainable community will."2 The ship, as a form, is a concrete manifestation of social utopian. The same is true for the monastery and phalanstery. They are the symbolic communist vision, the desire to achieve communal integration. Tafuri took Andrew Melville Hall and la Tourette as an example. Both of the two buildings follow the consistent architectural style of the two architects. James Stirling’s Andrew Melville Hall in St. Andrews clearly represents his extreme and internal consistency of the formalistic policy: “the rotation of the axes.”2 And the Sainte Marie de la Tourette shows many features of Le Corbusier’s consistent adherence to the "five points of a new architecture" of the modernist architecture. Also, these two projects have a lot of visual similarities. First, there are a large number of repetitive small windows on the facade trying to provide enough and equal amount of sunlight for all isolated cells.3 Second, the two buildings all have open interior space and broad exterior patio for students' and teachers’ use.3 Third, both of the buildings are built by concrete, and the Andrew Melville Hall used prefabricated concrete modules. All these similarities try to show us that both of the architects are trying to build a building that adapts the requirements in a future socialist society, from the production method to people’s lifestyle.
1. Manfredo Tafuri, The Sphere and the Ladyrinth. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987). p280. 2. Manfredo Tafuri, The Language of Criticism and the Ctiticism of Language. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987). p5-2. 3. Brian Hatton, “Situating Stirling.” The Architectural Review, https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/situating-stirling-brian-hatton (accessed March 30, 2011).
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Image Caption: The Film Poster of Nomadland
Image Source: Joshua James Richards. IMDI tv. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9770150/
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2. Postmodernity | David Harvey | The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change | 1989 Behind the concept of that architecture as a form of communication, it is our reunderstanding of the meaning of our existence as human beings. No matter how the language, the form, or the meaning of the architecture changes, it cannot exist alone without people. As for postmodern architecture, the buildings are no longer dominated by form and function. What we see is the change in people's pursuit of social values which is hiding behind the preposterous social phenomenon. People are trying to find a betrayal and escape from capitalist society. The term of the architecture, as a kind of discourse, may become broader as a result. As mentioned in the article, architecture becomes a form of communication.1 It may also become a kind of contract, a kind of help to reclaim people's identity. The society in which this kind of architecture exists should not still follow the old social structure or social constitution model but should have a brand new social model. People can redefine their identity in this new model, no longer be alienated by capital. People rediscover the meaning of being themselves. Whether this society can offer people the opportunity to redefine their identity becomes important. It reminds me of the movie Nomadland2. The movie describes the wandering life around the American west of a middle-aged woman who lost her husband, home, and job. Countless people have been abandoned by capitalism in society, and they disappear into the corners of contemporary cities. As the actress in the film said, “I am not homeless, I am just houseless.”2 What I see is not only the separation from the people and the contemporary society but also the separation from people and the architecture. Architecture cannot be separated from society, but it can easily be separated from human beings. When postmodern architects abandon function and form as the theory that determines architecture, when postmodern architects try to paint a fantasy, fictional, and imaginary vision1, is the vision still planned under the capitalist way of thinking? Should we give up looking for a way out in commercialism and pop art, but treat the world as a piece of white paper and use the architecture as a tool to rebuild it? Does this vision consider the group of people who have truly been abandoned by capitalist society and abandoned by architecture? Does postmodern architecture tolerate them and offer the opportunity to redefine themselves? 1. David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Published, 1989). 2. Eric Kohn, “Nomadland.” How Chloé Zhao Made a Secret Road Movie While Becoming a Marvel Director, https://www.newsbreak. com/news/2056408358403/nomadland-how-chlo-zhao-made-a-secret-road-movie-while-becoming-a-marvel-director(accessed September 27, 2020).
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Image Caption: A cartoon portraying the Thomas Jefferson as "A Philosophic Cock", attacking his relationship with Sally Hemings and satirizing his fake political proposal towards slavery.
Image Source: Akin, James., and Gardner, Jared. Presidential Comics: Part 1. Public Books. (May 2017) https://www.publicbooks.org/ presidential-comics-part-1/
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3. Architectural History and Conservation | Mabel O. Wilson | Carceral Architectures | 2020 In the first chapter of Trouillot's book, he mainly tells his criticism of the constructivism of history.1 The first chapter provides us with a warning about how to view architectural history1, that is, we cannot use a single constructivist point of view to examine architectural history. Trouillot mentioned many pitfalls that we need to be aware of when browsing the historical process and narrative.2 Among them, I think that the most closely related to another article “Carceral Architecture” is his interpretation of the inequalities of power3. It is caused by the differential exercises of power, from my view, which is a hegemonic perspective. The article of Carceral Architecture uses prison design as an example, exposing the slavery history behind it, as well as the unfair power caused by the dominance of Western perspectives.3 “Design became a vehicle of self-realization.”3 The article on Carceral Architecture mentioned that self-realization is a sign of entering modern society after the weakening of Christianity. Self-realization should be a manifestation of social fairness, but self-actualization itself has become a trap that exacerbates racism and injustice. The prison and judicial functions of modern society are born out of the contradiction between democracy and slavery. Some people get relatively fair under modern democracy, while some people gazed from a Western perspective are still being squeezed. The hegemonic perspective is ubiquitous in human history3. Each type of hegemonic perspective is related to a certain social contradiction: such as the contradictions between men and women under the dominance of the male perspective; the racial contradictions under the dominance of the Western social perspective...... Each of us may have a hegemonic perspective at the same time while being gazed at from the perspective of others. Therefore, when we analyze any type of architecture or examine its history, we should abandon any of our roles as much as possible, get rid of the constructivism, and criticize it carefully and rationally.
1. Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1995). 2. Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Global Transformations: Anthropology and the Modern World. (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). 3. Wilson Mabel O, “Carceral Architecture.” e-flux architecture, superhumanity, https://www.e-flux.com/architecturesuperhumanity/68676/ carceral-architectures/ (accessed March 1, 2021). 4. Chi Zhen, “The Freeroad of History.” China Economic History, http://economy.guoxue.com/?p=9312 (accessed April 20, 2013).
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Image Caption: The detail of the Chinese landscape drawing: Along the River During the Qingming Festival1
Image Source: Zhang, Zeduan. Northern Song Dynasty. Drawing finished 1085-1145. Resource: https://www.theepochtimes.com/ancientchinese-city-life-along-the-river-during-the-qingming-festival_2486817.html
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4. Drawing Ambience | Robin Evans | Translations from Drawing to Building | 1986 The article mainly talks about the transition process from drawing to building. Different artists will adopt different methods and different degrees of control for the transition process. The Robin uses James Turrell's work as an example to illustrate a point that "the drawing has intrinsic limitations of reference"1. Take his work the "Artificially Lit Room" as an example. Although from the architectural convention, his work is just shaping a simple space, but as an art installation, it brings more strong visual experience and effect about mystification. "Turrell’s installation are local and not transportable"1. That is to say: Turrell’s works can only be viewed by observers in person, and they cannot be fully conveyed to people by any other mediums. Neither the sketches before completion of the construction, nor the recording of photos or videos after completion of the construction can replace what people see and feel with their own eyes. As an art form, drawing itself also has different forms and various stages of expression with different levels of completion, such as sketch done quickly with pencil or charcoal, and painting done with gouache, watercolor, or oil color. When drawing is used as the production medium of architecture, it has more flexibility, because the level of completion does not need to be that high. In the process of building production, drawing is not the only medium. Physical model and any other digital works are also the various kinds of mediums before the completion of the building. Even the communication and negotiation are all these efforts that make up the gap between the drawing and building. Like the “Artificially Lit Room”, Turrell may have done countless lighting experiments, and these experiments themselves as the medium may be as important as the role of drawing. I really like Robin’s research about the transition process from drawing to any object it depicts. The process of transition is separated and studied “how things travel within it”1 and “what will happen to them on the way”1. And I also like I'Orme's explanation towards the relationship between the pattern in pavement and the pattern in the dome of the Royal Chapel. As the author said, we should "extend the journey"1, "maintain sufficient control”1 in transition, and finally reach more remote destinations. This reminds me of some research on the relationship between Chinese classical painting and space. Take the drawing “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” as an example. It mainly uses the scatter perspective which is different from the scientific view of the west painting.2 It uses an idealistic and suprarealistic way to display multiple spaces overlapping with the same volume to achieve the effect of parallel narration. Many architects also try to use this narrative perspective to show the space they have designed.3
1. Robin Evans, Translations from Drawing to Building. (Architectural Association School of Architecture, 1986). 2. Da Wei, Chinese Brushwork in Calligraphy and Painting. (New York, NY: Dover Publication, 1990). 3. Sullivan. The Birth of Landscape Painting in China. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1962).
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Image Caption: Children play by the shanties in Mumbai, with the new Bandra-Kurla Complex shining in the background, showing the contrast of localization and globalisation.
Image Source: Jonas Bendiksen. 2006. INDIA. Dharavi slum. INDIA. Mumbai. 2006. https://library-artstor-org.libproxy.wustl.edu/asset/ AMAGNUMIG_10311534538.
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5. Research Methods in Architectural History | Arjun Appadurai | The right to research | 2006 When the article mentioned “their world of city”1, there are two meanings behind this sentence. The first meaning is that the author suggests a distinction of citizens. The citizens are distinguished by the language they used, so they are divided into non-English speakers and English speakers. The second meaning behind this is that the author believes that these two groups of citizens have different perceptions and understandings of the cities in which they live. Under the wave of globalization, some people who have not participated in the process of globalization, perhaps language is one of the reasons, “feel uncertain”1 about the city in which they live after huge changes have taken place in their city. At the same time, they feel that they have been abandoned by globalization. Such a group of people actually represent the situation of localization, which is the opposite of globalization. They probably have gradually become a disadvantaged group from the mainstream of the city. To some extent, they have become victims of asymmetric information under globalization. I like the concept of PUKAR1, and I appreciate the unique documentation technology invented by Rahul to involve different groups of people living in the city and to integrate and share the information they gathered. I think “the right to research”1 that is discussed in this article is a very broad concept and complex topic. By explaining many social phenomena, the author exposes the importance and problems of research by ordinary people. There exist completely different problems in the right of research in different countries and regions. I think that when discussing the right of research, there are two other points that need to be paid special attention to, that is, the boundaries of the information2 and intellectual property rights3. The right of research should be equal, but the access of reaching the knowledge and the context of the knowledge may never be truly equal. Information is always bounded2. For example, if we equip everyone in the world with computers and the same internet speed, and we assume that everyone holds the ability to retrieve information, but different people will still get different levels of information because of different abilities. Furthermore, not all knowledge could be shared. It refers to intellectual property rights3. Some kind of knowledge belongs to the re-creation of some people, such as personal entrepreneurial experience, intellectual creation experience, literary and artistic creation experience, etc. This type of knowledge itself is highly valuable. Even if people have the same right in research, they still cannot reach all knowledge or they need to pay more to obtain the knowledge. The right of research is facing to full citizens, thus the accessibility of knowledge should be considered: what type of knowledge is open to access, and what type of knowledge is limited to access? The management of knowledge itself should also be stricter. 1. Arjun Appadural, Globalisation, Societies and Education: The Right to Research. (New York, NY: Duke University Press, 2001). 2. Warren B Brown, “Systems, Boundaries, and Information Flow.” The Academy of Management Journal 9, http://www.jstor.orgstable/2549 50 (accessed March 3, 2021). 3. Peter K Yu, Copyright and Related Rights: Intellectual Property and Information Wealth. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007).
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Image Caption: Some of Hong Kong's best-known buildings. From right to left is the Head Office of the Hongkong Bank, the Citibank building, the former Hong Kong branch of Bank of China, and the new 74-story Bank of China designed by I. M. PEI.
Image Source: Hiroji Kubota. HONG KONG. 1996. https://library-artstor-org.libproxy.wustl.edu/asset/AWSS35953_35953_37893706.
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7. Architectural History and Globalization | Saskia Sassen | The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo | 1991 The article mainly talks about the changes in economic activities under the background of globalization, the emergence of global cities, and the formation of a new worldwide network of transactions.1 Sassen believes that the subject of the "spatial dispersal and global integration"1 refers to the economic activity that occurs in the global cities. According to Sassen’s observations, the current economic activity like manufacturing has presented a trend of spatial decentralization and internationalization.2 However, at the same time, the top-level control and management have become more centralized. And then, the decentralization of manufacturing has led to an increase in global demand for specialized services and central management. Sassen has taken New York, London, and Tokyo as examples: the producer services and finance have increasingly concentrated in these major cities, while traditional manufacturing centers like Detroit have gradually declined. However, the city like Chicago has completed the transition from the industrial center into the financial center.1 The article was written in 1991. With the development of recent years, the status of global cities has also undergone subtle changes.3 The Globalization and World Research Network, abbreviated to GaWC, has begun to define and classify world cities in the context of globalization since 1999. The evaluation of standards includes the terms of economic, political, cultural, and infrastructure aspects.3 They mainly focus on judging the contribution of cities to globalization. Also, the ranking of the GaWC city is sorted into categories of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and additional cities. In the latest data released in 2020, only London and New York maintain the highest ranking, which is named Alpha++. Tokyo and six other cities are ranked as Alpha+.4 We can observe that more Asian cities are more open to the world. They have created drastic changes in the Asian economy. Globalization is a powerful force that reshapes the network of global cities.1 In the 30 years after Sassen's research, the world structure has never stopped changing. How the dispersion of manufacturing and the concentration of management have changed the spatial structure of cities? The most direct manifestation is the reorganization of the urban spatial pattern caused by the transformation of the industrial structure.2 A large number of high-rise office buildings and large-scale public projects have emerged. Take the architect Robert Moses as an example: he designed the expressways to connect the five scattered districts of New York City.5 His programming finally contributed to form New York City as a global city. The reorganization of the urban spatial pattern has been criticized in recent years. To some extent, it has promoted the emergence of a postmodern city.
1.Saskia Sassen, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1991). 2.Melpomene, “Review of The Global City”, Douban Reading, accessed December 2, 2014, https://book.douban.com/subject/26201198/. 3.Peter Taylor, World City Network: A Global Urban Analysis (United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2003). 4.“The World According to GaWC 2020”, GaWC, accessed August 21, 2020, https://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2020t.html. 5.Paul Goldberger, “Robert Moses, Master Builder, is Dead at 92,” The New York Times, November 11, 2009.
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Image Caption: View looking outside of complex in the Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, photo shot in 1998.
Image Source: Meier, Richard, Image Date, 1998. https://library-artstor-org.libproxy.wustl.edu/asset/SS7732236_7732236_12905205.
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8. Deconstruction | Jacques Derrida | Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences | 1967 “There is therefore a critique of language in the form of bricolage, and it has been even been said that bricolage is critical language itself.”1 This sentence means that there is a characteristic of bricolage in language criticism, or it can be said that bricolage itself is a kind of language criticism and can be used in literary criticism. Bricolage itself has the most primitive definition in lexicography.2 It is a French word meaning "DIY" or "do-it-yourself projects".3 Its definition is "the construction of creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work constructed using mixed media."3 In simple terms, it represents a kind of action of tinkering, sewing, or repairing. Associated with bricolage is the concept of instrument.2 Derrida believes that bricolage is a condition that people are trying to use the existing instruments around them in hand. These instruments might not be specifically discovered and continuously improved. Also, these instruments could be used immediately when necessary or be used more than once. Those who use the instrument to implement bricolage are called bricoleur.1 The opposite of the meaning expressed by bricoleur and bricolage is the concept of engineer. Derrida explains by way of example that engineer is myth and bricolage is mythopoetic.1 The engineer tries to “construct the totality of language, syntax, and lexicon.”1 And bricolage is the essence of mythological poetics, which abandons all central, subject, or privileged references in the new discourse.2 The engineer is constructed, while bricolage is relatively free. The constructed concept would have loopholes, while the bricoleur would stitch the loopholes, making the concept relatively full and complete. Engineer and bricoleur are both opposite and interdependent. Without a bricoleur, the meaning of engineer will disintegrate.1 In architecture, bricolage is defined as "the jumbled effect produced by the proximity of buildings from different periods and in different architectural style."4 But I think bricolage can be understood in another way. For example, in my studio this semester, we mainly study the issue of common ground in urban design. How to re-edit the common ground in the city as a kind of common-pool resources. The biggest difference between this studio and the previous one is that we are not trying to create something totally new like what the engineer does to construct a system, but are stitching the existing issues like what bricoleur would do. Being a bricoleur is a way of thinking, which means abandoning the exploration of form, but using the existing tools, that is, the existing urban content, to re-arrange and repair the urban space.
1.Jacques Derrida, The Writing and Difference: Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1967). 2.Bo Liu, “The Interpretation of Derrida,” Journal of Jilin Radio and TV University No.5, 2010. 3.Chris Baidick, The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2015). 4.“Bricolage,” The Free Dictionary by Farlex, last modified December 13, 2013, https://www-google-com.libproxy.wustl.edu/policies/ privacy/.
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Image Caption: Flagrant Delit, published in Delirious New York, a retroactive manifesto for Manhattan.
Image Source: Vriesendorp, Madelon. 1975. Flagrant Delit. https://library-artstor-org.libproxy.wustl.edu/asset/AWSS35953_35953_3464 6079.
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9. Feminism: Desiring Practices | Akis Didaskalou | Making Love/Making Architecture | 1996 In the sentence "metaphor is expected to become both a matter of thought and action"1, Akis is trying to convey the meaning that sexual or architectural metaphorical operation should not just be a linguistic concept, it should become a kind of thought and be applied in architectural education and architectural practice. Although as Akis mentioned later, this kind of architectural practice may be unknown and hard to imagine. In the article, Akis repeatedly emphasizes that the sexual or architectural metaphor is used to question the patriarchal thinking in architectural field. There is a premise that all aspects in the field of architecture, from architectural education to practice, exist predominant and masculine repression. Akis proposes that we need to question this predominant repression, rethink the stereotypes and then stimulate the critical discussion. She also hopes to escape and get rid of this patriarchal control, so as to accept more differences and produce more creative works. Also, the gender-sensitive she discussed is the part of the difference-sensitive. It reminds me that, in some Rem Koolhaas's works, there exist sexual metaphors in his architecture practices, and the practices are often very direct and explicit.2 For example, the painting “Flagrant Delit”3 created by Koolhaas’ wife Madelon Vriesendorp depicts a scenario that the post-coital Empire State and Chrysler Buildings caught in bed by the Rockefeller Building, showing one of the attempts to represent the “unconscious double-life of modern architecture”3. In the painting, the building is anthropomorphized, and the sexual intercourse is directly mentioned as a kind of storyline. Sexual practice appears here as a critical method, representing a kind of humor and irony. In addition to this explicit sexual practice in architecture, Akis is more concerned about the sexual metaphor hidden in architectural education. For example, she proposes that in the results of architectural review, the emphasis given to a final best work is a symbol of male-like orgasm, and this kind of expectation should be questioned1. Another example is that the author believes that preliminary investigation existing is to lead students and professors to the prescribed final climax1. Akis believes that all these conventional professional architectural modes cannot bring subversive theoretical ideas and concepts. But on the contrary, without these traditional thinking habits, doubts and subversions probably will not exist.
1.Akis Didaskalou, “Making Love/Making Architecture,” in Desiring Practices: Architecture, Gender and the Interdisciplinary,ed. Rüedi, Katerina, Sarah Wigglesworth and Duncan McCorquodale (London: Black Dog Publishing, 1996), 116–131. 2.Vanessa Quirk, "Rem Koolhaas: A Reluctant Architect," ArchDaily, accessed November 17, 2012, https://www.archdaily.com/294970/ rem-koolhaas-a-reluctant-architect. 3.Fosco Lucarelli, “Madelon Vriesendorp’s Manhattan Project,” SOCKS, accessed February 2, 2015, http://socks-studio.com/2015/02/02/ madelon-vriesendorps-manhattan-project/.
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Image Caption: Syringe dispensing machine, Europe, 1990-1992.
Image Source: Syringe dispensing machine, Europe, 1990-1992, developed by Lifeline Project Limited. https://collection.sciencemuseum. org.uk
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10. Social Space | Bernard Tschumi | The Environmental Trigger | 1975 In the entire article “The Environmental Trigger”,1 Tschumi was trying to talk about his critique of equating architecture with socio-economic structure. He believed that the architecture itself may carry out some subversive cultural practices, but its final product may not be subversive.1 He thought that the spatial organization may modify the behavior of individuals or groups, but he was pessimistic about the fact that architecture itself can directly resolve urban conflicts. In general, architecture cannot directly change the socioeconomic structure of a society. And the sentence "the only possible architectural action of a revolutionary nature is rhetorical"1 also expressed Tschumi's negative attitude towards the event that architecture is trying to change the socio-economic structure. He believed that architecture had little to do with the socio-economic structure. The architectural space itself was neutral, but the architects gave the space a political attitude by giving the space an attitude name, which made a connection between the space and the socio-economic structure.1 Tschumi did not approve of this approach. From my point of view, it is true that architecture itself cannot directly change the socioeconomic structure, but it is not meaningless to discuss the involvement of architecture in the socio-economic structure. The way that architecture intervenes in the social structure may not be directly creating a large, solid, or complex public space, but may start from a small intervention. The small intervention will trigger new public behaviors, stimulate new events, and achieve the purpose of affecting urban social life. Although the article discussed the urban housing crisis, other conflicts in the city were also worthy of attention. For example, for the problem of homeless people, compared to building a large and complete homeless shelter, a small intervention was to adding handles in the middle of the benches on the street to prevent homelessness laying on the benches.2 This small intervention achieved the purpose of stopping homelessness from occupying the benches. Another example was about the problem of drug addicts.3 Countless drug users would share needles, leading to the spread of infections such as AIDS (HIV). To deal with this dangerous social phenomenon, the government in the United Kingdom tried to introduce a vending syringe dispensing kiosk.3 Each user was given a special token to work the kiosk. The kiosk distributed packets containing three syringes, one condom, and a new token. There was also a special section for the drug user to deposit used needles. The reference of this machine reduced the spread of HIV to some extent. These examples of small intervention may not directly change the social structure of the city, but to some extent alleviate the various urban conflicts.
1.Bernard Tschumi, “The Environmental Trigger,” in A Continuing Experiment: Learning and Teaching at the Architectural Association,ed. James Gowan (London: Architectural Press, 1975), 89–99. 2.Kaitlin Jock, "You Are Not Welcome Here: Anti-Homeless Architecture Crops Up Nationwide," Street Roots, accessed June 07, 2019, https://www.streetroots.org/news/2019/06/07/you-are-not-welcome-here-anti-homeless-architecture-crops-nationwide. 3.GV Stimson, “AIDS and Injecting Drug Use in the United Kingdom, 1987-1993: the policy response and the prevention of the epidemic,” Social science & medicine (1982), 41(5), 699–716, https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(94)00435-v.
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Image Caption: Pharmacies often use dispencing robots to assit in the cataloging and dispencing of drugs. This automated system allows for increased reliability and makes the system more efficient, saving time and money.
Image Source: Adrian Wressell. Dispensing robot in pharmacy. https://library-artstor-org.libproxy.wustl.edu/asset/24808439.
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11. Socialism | Karl Marx | The Principles of Communism | 1969 “The Principles of Communism”1 exposed the nature of society under the dominance of the bourgeoisie. In the sentence "labor is a commodity"1, Marx was trying to express his thinking about the labor value from the perspective of economics. He believed that labor had the same use-value and value as commodities.2 There were two conditions for the interpretation of labor. First, the owner of labor was a free man who can freely control his own labor. Second, the owner of labor had nothing but his own labor and had to rely on selling labor on the market.2 It revealed the nature that the working people at the bottom were destined to be exploited under the society where capital decided everything. Just as what Marx observed in the 19th century: "capital is the decisive power"1. This fact had basically not changed in today's society. What Marx did not expect was that before the capitalist social system was completely subverted, the world was experiencing the Fourth Industrial Revolution3. Due to the application of technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics, the labor itself was the first to undergo subversive changes4. The first thing that was changed about labor was the liberalization of the location of work. Employees could access their mobile applications through their mobile devices. It allowed them to get rid of the shackles of the workplace and carry out work anytime, anywhere.4 The second is the change in the role of labor. As artificial intelligence was increasingly applied to work, some of the more traditional roles would be subverted, but at the same time, the demand for knowledge-based and cognition-based job roles in enterprises was increasing.4 Third, the demand for the skills of the labor itself was also changed. The demand for laborintensive work would be reduced, but the demand for knowledge-intensive work would be increased under the new digital working models. The skills to solve complex problems, innovative thinking, and proficiency in the use of computers and software would also become necessary for the labor in the near future.4 Because of the transformation of labor, some of the social factors that Marx believed to promote social change might be absent.1 For example, the decrease in physical labor and the increase in remote employees might lead to a reduction in the concentration of the proletariat. With the society changed, if the necessary conditions for abolishing private property would no longer exist? This question might only be answered by time.
1.Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “The Principles of Communism,” in The Communist Manifesto, Marx/Engels Selected Works, Vol. I, (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1969,) 41—54. 2.Karl Marx, “The Transformation of the Value of Labour-Power into Wages,” in Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1959). 3.“The Future of Jobs Report,” World Economic Forum, accessed 2018, http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2018.pdf. 4.Morgan R Frank, “Toward Understanding the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Labor,” PNAS 116 (14) (April 2019), https://doi.org/1 0.1073/pnas.1900949116.
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Image Caption: I-40 public highway in the Nashville, TN, 1959.
Image Source: Lynette Dalton. TN 1950's. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3f/52/c9/3f52c9edac3b7a00186843e5d90f51e8.jpg.
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12. Extra Credit | Social Space | Public Highways | 1978 Just as Bernard Tschumi mentioned in his article “The Environmental Trigger”1, he believed that no spatial organization ever changes the socio-economic structure of a reactionary society1. However, in today’s American society, there is a type of space that cannot be ignored. The emergence of this kind of space has also had a great impact on the socioeconomic structure of the society. This space is the public highways. The construction of public highways destroys disadvantaged communities in order to achieve the revival of the middle-class communities, aggravating social inequities, and thus affecting the socioeconomic structure.2 In the 1950s, the popularity of automobiles and the development trend of suburbanization increased the demand for roads. The strong support of the federal government led to rapid development of highway construction, but the construction of highways through the city would inevitably bring about large-scale house demolition, community destruction and population relocation.3 The idea of using the opportunity of building public highways to demolish urban declining areas to rejuvenate the central city existed for a long time. Robert Moses once proposed to demolish slums to make room for highways.3 The construction of the highway destroyed the homes of many ethnic minorities. Among them, the case of Interstate 40 passing through the black community of Nashville was particularly prominent. The local government chose the black community in order to avoid damage to the white community when planning the route, and deliberately concealed the black community. This case profoundly reflected the racial inequality in the highway paving process.3 The North Nashville was once the main black residential area and commercial area, which contains 80% of the black businesses.3 The construction of Interstate 40 destroyed 80% of the black businesses in North Nashville and destroyed 1/3 of the park facilities. In addition, Interstate 40 directly cut into a university area composed of three black universities, cutting off one of them from the other two.3 The construction of roads also weakened the structure of the middle class, undermined the economic foundation of business communities, reduced employment opportunities, cut off the existing connections between residents and materials and services, and destroyed multiple small businesses. In short, it disrupted all the activities and connections vital to the community, and dealt a fatal blow to the North Nashville black community.3 The highway space itself is neutral, but due to the destructive site selection plan of the state and local governments, the space directly result in the social inequality. When a space has such a large impact on the social structure, those in power should bear the main responsibility. 1. Bernard Tschumi, “The Environmental Trigger,” in A Continuing Experiment: Learning and Teaching at the Architectural Association,ed. James Gowan (London: Architectural Press, 1975), 89–99. 2. Constance Vale, “The Autonomous Future of Mobility,” Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, https://sites.wustl.edu/autonomousfuture/ the-autonomous-future-of-mobility/vehicular-landscape/. 3. Dong Jun, “American Interstate Highway Paving and Racial Conflict,” E Xue Zhe, July 3, 2019, https://www.1xuezhe.exuezhe.com/Qk/ art/700274?dbcode=1&flag=2.
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Postscript As I have discussed before in the preface, the spirit of postmodernism is more like a thinking tool or an attitude towards life. If we go back to the origin of everything, this way of thinking can trace back to the critical spirit. According to the analysis of all the topics this semester, we will find that these topics are discussed and unfolded based on the point of criticism. For example, the topic of Tafuri’s postmodernism theory is mainly about the criticism of current social ideology1; the topic of David Harvey’s thought about the urban space is a rethinking of urban space under capitalism2; the topic of drawing ambiance revisits how the architecture itself and its drawing can translate and communicate with each other3; the topic of the postmodernism theory of history shows how it breaks the boundaries of time and space in the modernism theory of history4; and also the topic of feminism criticizes how the patriarchal thought controls the process of architectural design and education5, and many more. All these discussions try to help us escape the shackles of dogmatic thinking, and use a critical spirit to re-understand something that we may have become accustomed to. When we are proposing critiques and make critical comments, we are trying to use the sense of criticism. The sense of criticism actually roots in the sense of crisis. The architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable once was asked by a French journalist: "Just what polemical position do you write from?"6 Huxtable replied: "From crisis to crisis..."6 In Ronald Reagan’s era, there was a lot of exaggerated architectural fashion in the United States, and Huxtable criticized it mercilessly.7 When this trend passed, she chose to continue to criticize the next crisis.6 At the same time, the postmodernism we are discussing now is far from the end of an architectural theory discussion, but only a stage we are currently in. Perhaps the conclusion of criticism will become the object of the next criticism. We should always maintain the spirit of Huxtable: “From crisis to crisis.”6 So for the future architectural design, from which angles should we criticize? I think Tafuri’s critique of architectural ideology is still very pertinent to today’s society.8 Take the urban landscape design in today's society as an example, although there exists positive significance to insert the organic ecological system into the city, the urban landscape itself has become a centralized design language.8 This kind of design language is trying to include everything such as architectural space and urban streets into one organic design form, which will conceal the real contradictions and complexities.8 From Tafuri’s interpretation, this design approach is an ideological operation, turning the urban landscape into an illusion and concealing the contradictions inspired by land exploitation.7 The fundamental reason for this ideological operation comes from the lack of criticalness and rationality. As far as the actual architectural design work in China is concerned, the lack of criticalness in design works is very common. When you are at the forum or the seminar of a construction project, you will find that the first party or the government often lacks the clear positioning and the ability to sort out problems in the initial stage of the project. Also, the architects will be eager to judge and directly give a design method like a template, even they don’t investigate what the real problem is in this site. I think that critical thinking needs to go 30
beyond one's own thinking mindset. As an architect, we should first consider what the problem is before considering what the answer is. Especially, we cannot directly use tricks or fixed form to simply achieve our own architectural design work. I think that as basic architectural ethics, architects should at least know what kind of harm their design will bring to the city and the environment. It should not be that as long as there is first party, contract, and design fees, the architects can ignore the sociality of the architecture, directly enter the purely aesthetic formalism or commercialism operation in order to get benefits from it. So, what would the future of the architecture field look like? It is impossible to make any predictions, but I can use the thinking of architectural critic Kenneth Frampton as a reference.9 In his analytical article about Swiss and German production of architecture, he quoted Theodor Adorno's concept of "Minimal Moralia"11 in his article title.10 The concept of “Minimal Moralia”11 was talking about how to adhere to the minimum morality after the social norms were completely damaged.11 In Frampton’s article, he criticized a group of architects with "minimalism" tendencies such as Herzog & De Meuron and Zumthor.10 He thought that they designed the house as a pure art installation, which was too abstract, and showed little respect for people.10 From his point of view, this kind of aesthetics was actually the process of commercialization. It was trying to create a cool style that would be commercialized later. He believed that the so-called criticism was not to indulge in criticism for the sake of wanton denial but to arouse the sensibility, sharpen the disputes, so as to overcome the destructive dictatorship of form as much as possible.10 Most importantly, he thought that we must resist the ubiquitous threat. In an age of media, we can not slip into a kind of intellectual sleepwalking, in which everything seems to be pursuing maximum aesthetics, only to help the commoditized world maximize its benefits.10 In conclusion, for the future, we should always maintain a keen critical ability. In architectural design, we should not be bound by dogmatic thinking, but can constantly explore the potential of the design that has not been explored.
1. Manfredo Tafuri, The Language of Criticism and the Ctiticism of Language. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987). p5-2. 2. David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Published, 1989). 3. Robin Evans, Translations from Drawing to Building. (Architectural Association School of Architecture, 1986). 4. Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Global Transformations: Anthropology and the Modern World. (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). 5. Akis Didaskalou, “Making Love/Making Architecture,” in Desiring Practices: Architecture, Gender and the Interdisciplinary,ed. Rüedi, Katerina, Sarah Wigglesworth and Duncan McCorquodale (London: Black Dog Publishing, 1996), 116–131. 6. Ada Louise Huxtable, “Architectural Critic for the Ages,” Particular Passions. Retrieved February 26, 2020. 7. Mary McLeod, Architecture and Politics in the Reagan Era: From Postmodernism to Deconstructivism. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989). no. 8: p23-59. 8. Manfredo Tafuri, Architecture and Utopia: Design and Capitalist Development. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1973). 9. Zhu Tao, “In an Age of Poverty, What is Criticism,” Archiposition, accessed March 9, 2018, https://www.archiposition.com/ items/20180525115522. 10. Kenneth Frampton, Labour, Work and Architecture: collected essays on architecture and design. (New York: Phaidon Press, 2002). 11. Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life. (London: Verso, 1951).
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