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TECHNE - ARCHITECTURE: The Pursuit of Computational Utopia. _____________________________________
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Julia Mavros
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329133 Design Studio AIR Loren & Paul Progress Journal
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An Opening Thought
Architecture as a CULTURAL practise. A part from the buildings physical presence, architecture contributes to the CULTURE of a society. Primary functions- engagement within contemporary society. Discourse NOT construction of the building itself.
The History of TACHELES
The Art-Centre Tacheles is situated in a ruin in Berlin Mitte. Located in former East Berlin, the area was a Jewish quarter in the past and has now become a meeting point for people interested in arts and culture and for those who think they are.
x 0.1 The building itself was the entrance of the Friedrichstadt-Passage, a huge shopping mall built in 1907.
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Within a relatively short time, the department store went bankrupt, and in 1928 the house was taken over by AEG, that founded the Haus der Technik, a display and marketing space for their products.
x 0.3 In Word War II parts of the building were used by the Nazi Party for administration and organization departments, and in the 5th floor French prisoners of war were detained.
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Between 1943 and 1945 during the allied air raids the building was hit by bombs several times and got partly damaged, but not completely destroyed.
x 0.5 After 1948, one side of the building was still used for many different purposes, but the other side was slowly torn down, step-by-step, as the East Berlin government had no funds to restore it properly and for the distant future they had other plans for this area. So meanwhile, the house became just a storage for building material. The very last structure still standing was planned to be demolished in April 1990.
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In Febuary 1990 the building was discovered and taken over by a group of young artists from all over the world and in the meantime it has been declared a historical architectural monument, regarding its special steel construction.
x 0.7 After the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, a subculture which had its main focus on autonomy, spontaneity and improvisation arose in the former East Berlin areas Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain. Artists and individualists from all over the world used the plurality of available free spaces to put alternative lifestyles to the test.
Discourse & Innovation
Timeline
Reference: kunsthaus tacheles website: http://super.tacheles.de/cms/
This project advances architectural discourse, for it uses its adaptive cultural past to revolutionise the spatial parameters of a space in encouraging collaboration, diversity, and notion of 'open-ness'. The purpose of architecture, and any form of discourse, is to ask something that has not been asked before. Designers are not asking you to like/not like their building: the prerogative is to instinctively feel, to trigger a response, to evoke. This building, once used to house secret meetings for the SS, is now literally open- open to the public for education, open for creative contamination of art and urban design, for living, for exhibiting- it is simply a mass of creative activity. Tacheles has a colourful past, yet the current use does not reject it. Rather, it demands recognition that its function, and engagement with society from the 1900s, to present day has changed, has evolved, and that's okay, thats contributing to discourse. We've been asked to think about architecture in terms of ideas and innovations, not in terms of objects. Tacheles can be understood as a central hub for the development and realisation of individual ways of thinking, rather than its function as an international art centre.
Diagram1: “Tacheles” is an old Jewish word meaning to disclose, to reveal or to speak clearly. The slang meaning of the word was bringing to an end. The name itself immediately introduces us to the reflective functionality of the building. Diagram 2: Tacheles in its function stages as an international art house, which has had a significant influence both positively and negatively: (positive)creative freedom, expression, a response to cultural repression- from history, to history in the making (negative)"trend quarter", yuppies, hipsters, loss of meaning. Diagram 3: Challenges: adaptation. With the many changes since the coming down of the wall, difficult for the building to remain "true to its roots", to its national identity- without becoming too sentimental about the past. Diagram 4: Benefit of technology: ability to spread awareness and discussion of the place. Internet, WATCH LIVE: livestream.com/arthousetacheles. Interactive media- global scale, building as ongoing performance, more adaptive. Diagram 5: THE FUTURE CONCEPT FOR THE BUILDING REMAINS UNDECIDED. This affects all- not just the artist, nor the master builder, the engineer, all of us.
Project (2): Vault 'Yellow Peril' Building constructed: 1980, City of Melbourne Architect: Ron Robertson-Swann At a glance, this modest design, yellow metal steel plated sculpture, seems abstract in form, but harmless. However, this sculpture is subject to the most controversy Melbourne has seen over a public art work. Why? Because of its original location- City Square. Robertson-Swann's design won the competition organised by the Square's architects. It's appeal in design was its boldness, simplicity and strong focal point. However, these objectives seemed only too abstract for the public circumventing this time. This precedent differs from Tacheles in the sense that public outcry forced the sculpture to be removed and re-placed. It was not given time to be experienced throughout time, and potentially perceived and treated differently by society. Here we see that the institution, or Council 'voice', was more prominent, and concerned with delivering something 'safe' to the public, maintaining an overall positive image of Melbourne City. In my opinion, this is an outrage.
Reference: Peril in the Square: The Sculpture that Challenged a City by Geoffrey Wallis. Indra Publishing This sculpture advances architectural discourse for it is something that denotes the city, it is a landmark, a symbol and reflective of the culture and controversy surrounding the city of Melbourne. In his book, 'Peril in the Square', Geoffrey J. Wallis discusses how there are many ironies in the saga of the sculpture's genesis, rejection and rehabilitation; "not least the fact that it has outlasted not only the council that condemned it, but also the city square for which it was conceived (p.)". A conversation was sparked, not just amongst architects, but amongst everyone, the public community- those who received the space. Herein lies the importance- this entity was designed with the intent to be enjoyed and experienced by you, I, all. It was purpose-built public art. And, perhaps, we should look at the controversy it caused as a case study in what happens when you let a committee, council or 'institution' control a creative endeavour (Wallis). This is something to deeply consider with the gateway project. Colour is definitive, a conscious design decision. Colour is significant to the discourse of this precedent, and had to do with much of the extreme reactions. Even the Queen brought this issue to attention, questioning as to whether the sculpture could have been "a more agreeable colour" (Wallis p.89). RoberstonSwann is believed to have chosen the colour for its vibrant qualities, particularly noticeable in the evening, and its suitability to the form of the sculpture. However, this (colour) was received by some as a severe social critique, as a colour metaphor for race that originated in the late nineteenth century with the Chinese immigration. The term refers to the skin colour of East Asians and the belief that the mass immigration of Asians threatened the white wages and standards of living (add citation). What we can take from this is that something, as simple as colour in a design, can have a strong and detrimental impact on the success of the structure, with consequent social and political implications. Colour works as a device within a design, here a sculpture- to motivate, to manipulate, to stimulate a response and contribute to the discourse, and cultural message. Colour is not one dimensional. Here we see it triggering model minority, racism, sinophobia, xenophobia and the like. Perhaps a little dramatic? Director of the National Gallery, Eric Rowlinson, adds "In contemporary art, it inevitably takes 20 years for public acceptance to catch up with the vision of artists". Whilst the sculpture has been pushed and prodded, both in the literal and metaphorical sense, stepping back and receiving the Vault now as it is, within its environment, we can conclude that really all this controversy, this 'fuss', and discourse, ultimately helped to elevate the status of this creation into a sign, a symbol, a spatial experience- a true Melbourne landmark: "Confronting, intriguing, and brilliantly, happily yellow". (Alan Atwood)
THE VAULT AND THE GATEWAY
Diagrams (Schematic to be completed)
Both projects are outdoor artworks to serve decorative as well as utilitarian functions, in the hope of generating large-scale public interest. The interest sparked through the sculpture, 'ornamentation', a response to a growing sense of cultural maturity and its resultant prosperity (Ridley, 1996, pp.24). The gateway project specifically wants the sculpture to enhance and contribute to the municipality of the Wyndham community, and the greater metropolitan area. The brief, similar to that of 'The Vault', asks for the design to be attractive, recognisable, more aesthetic and to increase understanding of the community. Using the precedent just discussed, we must be careful in how we interpret and approach 'boldness' with design, unless controversy is the imperative. However, it is not. Somehow, we must find a way to use the sculpture to enhance the existing noteworthy sites, such as Werribee Mansion, and ultimately promote the arts: enhance culture, cultural activities, and ultimately aspire, through boldness, not bashfulness, for building community social capital- building a sense of place, generating a culture. And make it enduring. Can we, also, find a way to both please and challenge the public's perception of taste and beauty through this architectural sculptural expression, the way in which 'The Yellow Peril' did? Reference: Ridley, Ronald T., Melbourne's monuments, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1996.
How all of this resonates with Williams' article: No matter what, by looking at a building overall, not only its facade, it represents, gives a meaningful sign to an era, or symbolises something more than its aesthetic value. The author, for example, refers to the Eiffel Tower- anything from reaching to the sky, breaking down the boundaries, achieving the impossible, phallic representation…all sorts of things, but it's there, you can't ignore it. This will be the same for our designs for the GATEWAY project. (DIAGRAM) The author discusses architecture as a spatial experience and its functionality. More than a symbol or a piece of art for its aesthetic value, the product of architecture extends beyond that; it's more than that. Architecture has a functional role. It is not something only to be admired and assessed and valued as a work of art and the message and symbolism it projects: whether a building, a museum, or a domestic/ commercial structure, architecture has utility and functionality. The author here refers to two concepts: architecture as production and consumption; production you can read as a work of art, so to speak, of the architect, or a collection of individuals including the architect- thats the product. but consumption is also, THE USE MADE OF THE PRODUCT, BY THE PEOPLE. whether its a museum, a bank, a domestic residence. He talks about things like the built environment, and architecture as such, having a spatial relationship to the rest of things in the built environment. in this case, he refers constantly to the product (production), in relation to things that exist around and relate to it: in our case, to a highway, a service station. In that respect, through the spatial parameter - its use and consumption by people - architecture takes a different importance, and the discourse is elevated to the social and political function of architecture! For, from this perspective, architecture is part of the total experience, the human experience.