Design as Research 01 Chapter 03

Broader Questions Architectural Bracketing Proposal

Figure 11: Sticky Note Sketch by Carol Burns, 2021. Accessed December 2, 2021. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey)

CHAPTER 03 Design as Research 01

Urban planning precedent analysis Analysis of the role of information in architecture

Introduction

Following the previous chapter, the alternative representation is explored through a series of design tests and repositioned to focus on the position and exchange of digital information. This chapter serves as a index of explorations through framing, making, and drawing. Precedents that engaged the ground and collected were studied. The grid was then explored as not only a representation of the Yeoman but as an infrastructural system. Next came browsing through ArcGIS data dissemination throughout the United States of America and Europe. These public file systems are structures of public dissemination of data representing the land and built. Casting plaster took on perspectives of formal reproduction creating surface, volume, and material in one action. The casts became a physical method of representation. The casted blocks became diagrams for an abstracted list of possible collective concerns. This suggested a list of socioeconomic expectations of domestic space today. Following these diagrams were a short list of case studies. Places such as Garden City Kansas, Helsinki Finland, and the Lower East Side of Manhattan as seen through arcGIS. What all of these explorations revealed was the importance of land or ground and an age, place, and value.

As the making, drawing, and framing continued a thread of inquiry and similarity emerged: how do domestic collectives live today? how can we engage with their modernist legacies, especially

in the information age and into the future? what characterizes collective spaces today and what could they look like and how could they perform? what are their modernist legacies and how do they impact us today?

The methods used to visualize these explorations were, site maps, collages, historic images, renderings, plaster, and media. These methods allowed a multi-scalar and multi-material series of explorations to be generative. The general framing of the chapter came from a sketch by Carol Burns allowing the search to accommodate multiple lines of inquire at the same time (see figure 11).

Mind/Mirror

September 24th 2021, Manhattan, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art. Mind/Mirror a surprise oeuvre of Jasper Johns work. The collection was curated to occupy itself just as Johns work was concerned with doubling1. Visiting the collection came as a surprise. On a global travel studio trip to Manhattan to investigate small scale social spaces we visited the Whitney Museum of American Art on the second to last day. The Whitney, overcrowded with Manhattan’s art community and Whitney Members was displaying a large retrospective of John’s work. That particular visit was during their pre-opening member’s only admission. This was now known until after carefully spending time being completely removed from reality by the collection. The inclusion of this exhibition, and precarious visit, are necessary to set the backdrop to the initial explorations of the thesis and parallel studio.

As described in the wall description, John’s obsessively duplicated banal objects, or

“... things the mind already knows” 2 12) is Two Maps made in 1965. Two Maps is two similar maps vertically stacked. The maps were created using the same method - encaustic and collage - forcing a reflection on what representation, art, symbol, and geographic information is. John’s contemplation of doubling and abstracting was done so with a high degree of philosophical concern. While most of these works depicted maps of the United States, targets, and flags the surfacing question is

how can an object occupy itself?

Robert Rauschenberg’s (Johns and Rauschenberg history together is another layer of coincidence) combines explored similar questions. Yoicks was the only work from Rauschenberg on display at the Whitney, an unknown footnote to Mind/ Mirror. The piece (classified as a painting on whitney. org/collection/works/8) makes use of paper, paint, polyester, enamel, and canvas. The piece despite it’s multi-medium creation is not apart of Rauschenberg’s combines. The combines were vivid explorations into multi-media mainly occupying the surface off the canvas. The two suggest the canvas and the message as a ground to be explored literally

The double panel painting on the right (see figure

1 Description provided by the Whitney Museum of American Art. (https://whitney.org/exhibitions/jasper-johns) 2 Description provided by the Whitney Museum of American Art. (https://whitney.org/exhibitions/jasper-johns)

Figure 12 (top and left): Jasper Johns, Two Maps, 1965. Encaustic and collage on canvas (two panels), 90 1/8 × 70 1/4 in. (228.9 × 178.4 cm)

Running parallel to this thesis and the reason I had the chance to visit the Whitney when I did was because of a travel studio about landscape, specifically small urban spaces such as pocket parks. For the studio I engaged questions around the preservation of a physical archive, the New York Public Library Photo Collection. The collection, earlier last year, was going to be permanently archived and removed from public access until Tyrn Simon and the library goers protested. The proposal for the studio was a permanent location for the growing collection and a public park that extends the collections use. The proposal thought of the wall as a responsible and irresponsible steward of the ground. The proposal served as an exploration for some of the topics and ideas surrounding my thesis exploration. The top down oblique (right) of Manhattan shows the location of the site relative to the Schwartzmann branch and an exploded axon (right) of the proposal showing the multi-layered new ground for the site.

Conclusion

The following explorations served as the base for the final thesis proposal building off the context set in the introduction and motivation to follow my interests and engage an issue through architecture.

Figure 13 (far right): Elements, Exploded axon of global studio proposal. Image accessed, April 21st, 22. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey) 1 Description provided by the Whitney Museum of American Art. (https://whitney.org/exhibitions/jasper-johns) 2 Description provided by the Whitney Museum of American Art. (https://whitney.org/exhibitions/jasper-johns)

Figure 14: Site relation, Top down axon of Manhattan. Image accessed, April 21st, 22. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey)

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Precedents

The precedents chosen to study and guide the thesis engaged questions around the ground, program, architecture, and information.

The precedents were sketched through analyzing their architectural drawings, renders, and built photographs. The sketches produced culiminated in parti diagrams that suggested a relationship to the ground, program, and collective.

Land Subdivision

Status: In effect in 1918 Year: 1918 Location: Ohio, United States of America Cartographer: Peter E. William Size: n/a

The land division maps and land surveys produced following the geo-political creation of the Yeoman served as the initial production of geographic information for mass dissemination associated with a value. The array of maps here were deconstructed revealing a layering system attempting to constrain the existing conditions such as rivers, mountains, and existing town buildings.

Peter E. William, a cartographer, created maps subdividing the land in Ohio to be sold. The maps serve as an early precedent of defining a physical entity through a non-physical practice.

Figure 15: Ohio land subdivision maps documenting various locations and their division, Ohio by William Edwards Peters.

Between Miami Rivers

Delaware Salt Reservation

Aa / Bb: Plan and elevation of verticle facade and wood construction North Pump East Pump South Pump

4

Middle: Image of North Pump Bottom left: Section through North Pump Top: Parti Bottom: Tactic

Skjern River Pump

Status: Built Year: 2015 Location: Ringkobing-Skjern, Denmark Architect(s): Johansen Skovsted Arkitekter Size: n/a

The Skjern River Pumps are three river pumps left over from the river’s drainage in the 1960’s. Proposed were exhibition spaces and view points highlighting Europes largest natural restoration project to date. What these pump houses represent is architectures interaction with the ground and restoration or change over time. The pumps reach down through the houses into the ground to control the water flow. The architecture of the houes supported this until Johansen Skovsted Arkitekter (JSA) repositioned them to highlight their effects.

Figure 16 (top): Building Anatomy. Elevation, plan, and section alligned. Elevation photo by JSA in Ringkobing-Skjern, Denmark, 2015. Image accessed, April, 23rd, 2022

Figure 17 (top): Aerail Restoration. An aerial view of the Skjern River in 1960 and in 2020. Image accessed, April, 23th, 2022 Figure 18 (above): Ground and Architecture. Image accessed, April, 23rd, 2022

Park de la Villette

Status: Unbuilt Year: 1982 Location: Paris, France Architect(s): OMA Size: 5,700,000 Sq m.

The proposal for the infamous Park de la Villette competition by OMA became a precedent for how to think about horizontal surface and program. The strategy, strips, was drawn through revealing the axial privilege given to program while rendering the ground as a flat surface. Permeability, as suggested by OMA, became a word to describe threshold associated with program. How can program permeate and infiltrate other programs? where are the lines drawn between them? and what is between them?

Figure 19 (top): Strips. Rendered view of a Parc de la Villette by OMA, 1982. Image accessed, January, 20th, 2022 Figure 20 (right): Strip sketch. Image accessed, April 21st, 2022

520 Logoments

Status: Built Year: 2017 Location: Bordeaux, France Architect(s): Lacaton and Vassal Size: Buildings G,H, I Grand Parc District

Lacaton and Vassal attempt to have all of the same program within a villa in a typical domestic space through the use of more architecture, specifically green house tectonic. However, Lacaton and Vassal omit an important influence today: information in the domestic space. Lacaton and Vassal’s diagrams were broken down, rearranged, and materialized to explore different possibilities through their approach. The resulting collages suggested that architectonic be associated with program. This opened up questions about how architecture articulates a programmed space. do specific programs require specific architectectonic if so should they?

Figure 21 (top): Doubled Architecture. A ground perspective view facing the front of the FRAC by Lacaton and Vassal in Dunkerque, France, 2015 Figure 22 (right): More Architecture. Image accessed, April 21st, 2022

Collaged 01 Collaged 02

Collaged 01 RCP Collaged 02 RCP

Bole Rwanda

Status: Unbuilt Year: 2019 Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Architect(s): AD-WO Size: 4,000 Sq m.

Bole Rwanda explores the wall and corridor as a space for interaction and building performance. The living space is divided into private and corridor, a space for individuality and a space for collectivity. The exterior wall is used as a scrim and shading device to mediate sun exposure deep into the building. The corridor wraps the living space sliding inbetween the facade and private spaces. This provides more space for the residents to collect. The final diagram of the building is a permeable box encasing verticle and horizontal movement.

Figure 23 (top): Bole Rwanda. A ground perspective view facing the front of the aparment building by AD-WO in Addis, Ababa, Ethiopia, 2019. Figure 24 (right): Four Elements Sketch. Image accessed, April 20th, 2022.

Living Space

The living space is allocated in the center with a corridor running through. The elevators are just below the geometric center of the building.

Material

There are three different types of walls: exterior, interior, and service. The exterior wall is punctured with the interior walls offset making room for a corridor that wraps the entire living space. The service walls are the elevators or core of the building.

Corridor

The corridor works with the exterior wall to filter people, light, community, and service. The corridor takes on more responsibility acting as a place of congregation rather than movement.

Diagram

The diagram of the building is 3 vertical axis witih less defined horizontal axis bounded by a dashed skin.

yeoman

laborer

machine

derive

traveler

program

dwelling

element

surface

material

form

circulation

labor

leisure

fenestration

solid wall

tectonic

stereotomic

intensive

extensive

expectation

lines

vertical

horizontal Following precedent analysis a set of characters were established and explored spatially through a casted block of plaster and 2 drawings each. The characters were defined by a culmination of characteristics of each precedent. Each casted block represented a general concern of space: material, ownership, economic, mental. These were arranged according to the orders from the previous explorations. This method was used in order to determine what was of most concern in the production of space with each character.

Figure 25 (right): Characters. Image accessed, April 21, 2022. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey) Figure 26 (above): Characters 2. Image accessed, December 8, 2021. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey)

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Information and Architecture

Following the analysis of precedents, the role of information and architecture were taken as broad topics of exploration.

Examined was how and where is digital information used in architecture? how is the ground rendered by information? what formats does this information come in? A catalog of information was created to identify where information plays a role in domestic spaces. ArcGIS was used to explore visualizing the ground and built. A manifesto, analytique, and artifact were created as summations of the many explorations done during the initial work of this thesis.

A catalog of technology and the flow of information in architecture and space helped identify and organize how information engages bodies, architecture, and space. Tieing all of these together is the flow of information through signals. Information travels through physical material wirelessly attenuating (attenuation is the strength of material through a material). This catalog and understanding of the movement of information served as a lens to look at the domestic collective.

A typical domestic space, the suburban home, was exploded to expose all of it’s systems and reveal the most used types of information and devices. This exercise helped define how and where information moves in relation to daily life.

Figure 27: Catalog of Information. Image accessed, April 21th, 2022. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey)

Technology Embedded in the Domestic Space

Material Characteristics

Sources:

- Wifi Router - Cable Box - Physical Broadband Cable

Tied in/Direct:

- Wahser - Dryer - Door (Lock) - Thermostat - Lights - Window (Lock) - Air Quality (HVAC)

Augment:

- Television - Computer (laptop/desktop) - Bookshelf* - Camera (Surveillence) - Hub

Unsure:

- Fire Place - Lawn

* = Analog

Amplify Redirect Cancel Dampen Distort Rearrange Receive Send Structure Thermal Mass Light Shadow Texture Color Microclimate Ornament

Figure 28: Exploded Domestic Space and Catalog. Image accessed, April 21th, 2022. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey)

An emerging practice in architecture is the use of ArcGIS or digital mapping tools. The tool is fast becoming a common practice in architecture firms. Here, it was used to understand how geographic information is used in architecture and planning to characterize a physical location. Relating back to the catalog of information, the maps to the left (from left: Helsinki Finland, Garden City Ohio, Paris France) revealed the inner workings of information and how architectural practices, such as the characterization of space, plays into socio-political boundaries. The relevance of understanding how socio-political boundaries were defined helped characterize domestic collectives later in the thesis exploration. Without this crucial step a broader understanding of community and state boundaries would not have been grasped.

Figure 29: Helsinki, Garden City, Paris. Image accessed, April 21, 2022. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey)

Scenario 01 is the title of the initial thesis explorations analytique. The image displays a domestic collective whose interior surface, volume, and program are highlighted. The spaces themselves are articulated through two types of tectonic: typical studs and space frames. The image helped visualize the big take aways from initial explorations such as exchanges between collectivity and program.

Figure 30: Scenario 01. Image accessed, April 21, 2022. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey)

Continuing down the line of making with a cast and plaster, Cast, bound, object is a cast block of plaster and an acrylic cast unbound. The artifact represents one collective action resulting in many different outputs such as: volume, surface, material, form, and cast.

Figure 31: Cast, bond, object (surface, volume, material). Image accessed, December 8, 2021. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey)

The Domestic Interior is a manifesto about domestic space today written with the purpose of creating a strict set of rules for architecture. The manifesto featured itself as a cover wrapped in plastic and a bar code as if it were marketed and sold or disseminated as media. This was a reference to the manifesto as media or something consumable in a capitalist/late capitalist economy. The manifesto features explorations into signal attenuation through material, modernist and postmodernist housing collectives, and the architectural promenade. This was a large turning point for the thesis as it provided a specific age, place, and value to explore and design.

Figure 32: The Domestic Interior. Image accessed, April 21, 2022. (CCBY Jack H. Foisey)