DELTA
PROJECT 4: THE JOURNAL AND THE EXPANDED FIELD
STUDIO JONATHAN STATHY 914203
Studio Leader: Han Li
Contents 004
01. Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Museum
006
02. Species of Spaces and Other Pieces: The Street
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03. The Third Typology and Other Essays
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04. The Everyday and Everydayness
012
05. Critical Architecture: Between Culture and Form
014
06. Figures, Doors and Passages
016
07. Space Syntax: A Different Urban Perspective
018
08. Photography, Or the writing of life.
020
09. Reflection on Week 8 Lecture
022
10. Between cities: Japan and Melbourne
025 Bibliography
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01. Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Museum My favourite building is the Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Museum by Tadao Ando. Its prominent feature is a vast atrium of books which are on display to the public and its purpose is to commemorate the works of Japanese writer, Shiba Ryotaro. From the outside, it appears to bear similarity to many of Ando’s other works which incorporate a sense of “godliness�, or spirituality, and are monumental. The vastness of the atrium communicates this effect and one wonders how on earth someone is supposed to find a book? Nevertheless, Ando achieves a sense of comfort and softness which makes the gallery more approachable through a careful use of wooden tones and vegetation. My comic collage highlights this effect by suggesting that the image of an astronaut falling into chasm of books is not intimidating, it invited adventure because the appropriate choice of colours and materials encourages the observer to reach out and pull a book from the shelves. I have created an abstract picture of the impact that the library might have on an observer. Specifically, when you walk into a library you are not immediately focusing on the items on the shelves, you are observing the rows and the way they are formed because you need cues as to how to approach and search the shelves. So this picture is more like a map for progress, than an image of the library itself.
Fig. 1 Image description
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02. Species of Spaces and Other Pieces: The Street This axonometric image is a response to Georges Perec’s Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. My response focuses on The Street scale within any greater space and how spaces at this scale are occupied by different programmes. I am responding to the text in this way in order to suggest that the space which is currently occupied is improperly concentrated and focuses on the circulation of vehicles (which have been symbolised using a pointed rectangle). On the other hand, the circulation of people is overlooked, and they are pushed to the side of the street. I have broken down the way the cars move at a street level, as opposed to how people move in the common current at street level, in the lower projection. I have also broken down how people could potentially occupy more street level space, or space at the top of programmes, to provide more open street space to pedestrians, who should be given more latitude to walk.
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VE RN AC UL AR
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03. The Third Typology and Other Essays Anthony Vidler’s The Third Typology discusses the three typologies of architecture. I have responded to this by creating a timeline image of how the typologies are related to each other and how they are evolving. I have responded by suggesting that the existence of typologies has always revolved around the collective interest in architecture, which is constantly being recreated in different typologies within time and space. The First Typology, which is described as the primitive and vernacular architecture of the community, evolves into the Second Typology, which revolves around the values of form and function, such as Le Corbusier’s five points of architecture. These principles are then recreated and reimagined into the Third Typology, which involves the creation of architecture. And this does not necessarily seek to reflect cultural values but the culture and functions of the city as a whole. Nevertheless, this Third Typology is something which speaks entirely of its own programmatic condition. I have responded by establishing a general connection between each typology which further speculates that the future, or Fourth Typology, or “super” typology, would be one which reflects the constant re-imagination of architecture. This is generated in balance with the evolutionary forces of technology, such as Artificial Intelligence. I speculate that the typology of architecture which reflects the work of the community could eventually be reimagined by machines to create a form of “super architecture”.
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04. The Everyday and Everydayness The Everyday and Everydayness is an article by Henri Lefebvre which criticises everyday life as a “common denominator” of the products which occupy our lives. Lefebvre suggests that the everyday creates an omnipresent environment in which people in power leverage products to control the individual. Within society, Lefebvre emphasises that the sub-categories of the everyday, including ‘housing, fashion and food’, are ultimately connected to consumerism and the consumption of products by workers. These sub-categories of the everyday are agued to be part of an overarching bureaucratic umbrella of control which is manipulative. I have responded to Lefebvre’s concept by creating a collage which takes into account one of these sub-categories – food. I have represented buildings in a city as being made from these supermarket products to pose the question, why do we have hundreds of brands of food products, especially as some (butter and milk) are easily interchangeable? In answering this question, I have considered two points of view. First, it would be open for me to consider that Lefebvre’s philosophy has merit, that producers wish to create distinctions between products in subcategories to exercise control over people through consumerism. In this scenario, individuals would only be supplied with one type of product (such as butter or milk), a generic product, with no special features. Individuals take what they are given, rather than seeking and choosing what they prefer. Alternatively, I could respond by proposing that choice is freedom. In choosing products, individuals may be argued to be exercising their free-will and that these choices are an expression of their personality. In this scenario, individuals could choose products based on their packaging or features. In my opinion, this scenario reflects current reality and explains the impossible amount of supermarket brands. Each brand stands for a need or a personality objective. This may seem wasteful and unnecessary, but it is also arguably liberating because it is an exercise of free-will.
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05. Critical Architecture: Between Culture and Form Critical Architecture by Michael Hays discusses the architecture which exists between architecture generated out of cultural influence and functionality. Hays aligns these two types of architecture as being “architecture as an instrument of culture” or “architecture as autonomous form”. The critical architecture lies between these two typologies as a meaningful type of architecture which represents neither of these concepts, but rather, sits between them. I have responded to Hays’ idea by suggesting that critical architecture is something greater than a mere reflection of cultural influence of autonomous and rigid functionality. In contrast, this tyhpe of architecture is truly critical and is self-aware of these preexisting factors and develops the cultural and functional landscape through its critique. Critical architecture may be concerned with an architecture which is not merely based on one single built form but a larger interconnected system which generates programmatic interventions which self-organise to also be architecture that not only resists influence, but recirculates its interventions to generate influence.
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DO OR WA YS & PO RT AL S
THE CORRIDOR
T WH HE TH IC CO E H RR IN PE ID TE RM OR RI EA OR TE SP S AC E
SOCIAL INTERVENTION
TH E SO A CI L R CO R O ID R
06. Figures, Doors and Passages This diagram is a response to Robin Evans’ Figures, Doors And Passages. It specifically addresses the passage way and corridor and how they serve multiple functions in different spaces. Evans establishes that the layout of a building impacts the relationships between the people functioning inside it. This diagram depicts the organised relationship between doorways and illustrates how they create corridors between the different spaces across from and adjacent to them. A corridor then travels though the centre of the interior space, in a large volume, to connect each room environment. Evans discusses corridors as a type of “curiosity” and traditional feature used in Europe, connecting points between larger spaces. In this diagram, I suggest that the corridor may act as something more than a means of getting from “A to B”. I propose that it may intervene and function as a space in itself; providing an opportunity and a forum for social interaction between individual spaces to become a ‘social corridor’. I therefore speculate that the corridor may develop beyond its traditional function to add another dimension to modern architecture, allowing it to be repurposed within a building.
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Barcelona CBD
SPACE SYNTAX Melbourne CBD
07. Space Syntax: A Different Urban Perspective I have created a graphic illustration which compares the layout of the city of Barcelona and Melbourne and responds to the Bartlett’s Space Syntax. I aim to provide a type of urban comparison between the two cities as they both facilitate different aspects of life for their inhabitants and visitors, although both are quite similar in the way they are laid out (which in the form of a grid). In Melbourne, what is evident is that if we account for the space allocated to motor vehicles, then there is not much space left for human traffic. People are therefore pushed into slim transit lines at the sides of each street. In contrast, Barcelona has taken a different approach and the city planners make use of greater “superblocks” to maximise human traffic and interaction. Specifically, the use of such blocks minimises the presence of cars. This type of organisation pushes the passage of motor vehicles to the outside perimeter of each block, whereas the inside is restricted to local traffic – providing space for markets and public environments. The Barcelona transit experience for foot traffic is therefore much more enjoyable and safer for pedestrians. Melbourne’s urban composition is less humane for pedestrians and it does not create a positive and enjoyable experience, nor does it encourage activity and interaction.
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08. Photography, Or the Writing of Life Jean Baudrillard discusses the “miracle of photography” as being able to reveal a radically non-objective world. To demonstrate that ephemeral concept, I focused on his statement that “photography enables a technical perfection of the gaze”. Consequently, I photographed my subject using a 1959 35mm film camera to capture the essence of “the gaze”, and I sought to demonstrate how the gaze creates an emotional moment and causes a “disappearance from objects”. This photograph profiles this person and positions their eyes at the very centre of the photograph, which attracts the viewer to meet the subject’s gaze. The actual image itself is clouded with conflicting information, including her scarf, bright lights and facial characteristics, but the position of the eyes focus the attention of the viewer so that they make a connection with the subject. The neutral colours and soft tones are a product of the development process and further extrude the gaze of the subject from the image, creating a certain light balance which removes distractions and enhances “the gaze”. In this example of my photography, the subject is photographed from an intimate perspective and the viewer feels as though they are looking into her eyes. The techniques discussed above, underpin this kind of effect. However, to capture this image, the lens creates an ocular illusion that you are sharing a gaze with the subject.
Media: 35mm Film on Fujicarex II. 2019.
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THE INDIVIDUAL
B UR
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preliminary concept
The Man on Site
“Get down from there”
09. Reflection on Week 8 Lecture I have compiled these photographs and conceptual drawings to reflect on the Week 8 lecture and further develop my design process for the creation of a Library on Little Bourke street in Melbourne. I considered the interaction of the individual with the library at different levels within the building and I planned on introducing a diagonal axis in my building as a means of addressing it. I thought organising my space in this fashion could be an effective way of organising the gradient between the noisy collaborative spaces to the individual spaces, which entail a quiet and reflective atmosphere. I also viewed the arrangement of bookstacks which follow a vertical ramp as a means of separating the space, while maintaining a clear visual connection between the lower ground floors which are focused on urbanity and the upper floors which are focused on the individual. The arrangement would then be separated by a void for providing glimpses into the other spaces, giving what the architect described as “a taste from the outside inâ€?. However, in my concept, I could also facilitate this by altering the façade to facilitate interaction with the city.
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Media: 35mm Film on Fujicarex II. Taken in Tokyo Station.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-class_ Melbourne_tram#/media/File:D2_5001_(Melbourne_ tram)_in_Elizabeth_St_on_route_19_to_City_in_PTV_ livery,_December_2013.jpg
Media: 35mm Film on Fujicarex II. Taken in streets of Hida Takayama.
https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/things-todo/the-best-laneways-and-arcades-in-melbourne
Media: 35mm Film on Fujicarex II. Taken in Ginza, Tokyo.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-02/ flinders-st.jpg/6824108
Media: 35mm Film on Fujicarex II. Taken of Osaka CBD.
https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/things-to-do/ melbourne-cbd-area-guide
10. Between Cities: Japan and Melbourne In these photographs, I have compared the similarity between individual experiences in Japan and Melbourne’s CBD. I have taken photos of locations in Japan using a 35mm film camera and comment on the images in them. These observations are made from a firstperson perspective and they are presented in the contexts which follow.
The Buildings The overall construction form in cities in Japan vastly differs from those in Melbourne. Buildings in Melbourne tend to be quite broad, diverse structures, whereas commercial structures in Osaka communicate a lean and tapered construction form.
Transport Public transport is very ordered in Japan. People accessing transport wait in lines and are organised to stay back from trains by various structural mechanisms, such as electronic gates. Whereas the trams in Melbourne are easily accessible and there is nothing hindering access at a tram platform. Although they exist at street level, they generate a secondary, free-flowing form of movement within the city. The Laneway My photograph from Hida Takayama captures a laneway and shows how it has been preserved, in that it still evokes a sense of history and the local culture. Melbourne embraces laneway culture by offering spaces for the creation of street art, cafÊ’s and commerce. Nevertheless, the character of the buildings which were once there has dissolved into the fabric of the city. There is therefore less memorialisation of the past. The Street At the street level, individuals interact with their foot paths differently. Cities in Japan and Australia adopt the same modality, in that they utilise pathways for foot traffic. However, this methodology is adhered to strictly in Japan because social norms frown on jaywalking and other recalcitrant behaviour. In contrast, people in Melbourne often deviate from established paths, spilling onto the street.
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Bibliography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-class_Melbourne_tram#/media/File:D2_5001_(Melbourne_tram)_in_ Elizabeth_St_on_route_19_to_City_in_PTV_livery,_December_2013.jpg https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/things-to-do/the-best-laneways-and-arcades-in-melbourne https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-02/flinders-st.jpg/6824108 ttps://www.timeout.com/melbourne/things-to-do/melbourne-cbd-area-guide
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