Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City by justin jennings

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City risd m.arch 2012 | thesis book phase 1| argument Phase 2| implementation

Title: Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Architecture in the Architecture Department, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island by: Justin Kelly Jennings 2012

Approved by Masters' Examination Committee

Almin Pršic, Thesis Chair, Adjunct Professor of Architecture

Andy Tower, Thesis Critic, Adjunct Professor of Architecture

Jonathan Knowles, Thesis Coordinator, Associate Professor of Architecture

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings

Contents abstract

Phase 1 | Argument introduction

'I am in here'

'The Entertainment'

‘A sort of sloppy intersection of fears and desires’

‘A chance to play’

Spaces of Cultural Isolation and interaction in Infinite Jest

A summary of the progression towards a virtual and disconnected society

The creation and current state of America’s Dispersed City

A case for an architecture of indeterminism and discomfort

Phase 2 | Implementation introduction

'Infinite Jest'

Final Presentation

Bibliography

Artifactual Investigations 1-8

To my wife Allison who inspires and challenges me on a daily basis. I could not have made it through these three years without your support. Thank you.

Abstract The dispersed city, (the decentralized, non-hierarchical, sprawling urban landscape characteris c of American ci es which experienced high growth in the second half of the 20th century) builds a culture of isola on and disconnec on. Its design and construc on express a cultural preference for economy and eďŹ&#x192;ciency over human interac on and urban iden ty. Zoning regula ons, commodity homes and lack of public space sever the es between the individual and the city by limi ng func on and interac on to predetermined modes. Interac ons between an individual and a larger corporate en ty are privileged. The lack of infrastructure to support individual to individual, or neighbor-to-neighbor interac ons destroys the city. Embrace of a corporate, consumer model comforts anxie es and stresses of modern life, and has driven the growth of the dispersed city. Mortgage and debt models for home ownership drive a need for job security and cultural stability. The top-down organiza on of the dispersed city oďŹ&#x20AC;ers assurance that tomorrow will be the same as today, and with that, me and space implode. The result is a cultural space of wai ng, a blurry, eternal present with no past or future. Existence has been compressed both spa ally and temporally into a formless goo with no me or space. This thesis seeks to confront the landscape of solipsism and isola on in the dispersed city. As the genera ng rules for the city stem from the provision of comfort and security in the face of fears and anxie es, it proposes an architecture of risk, indeterminism and discomfort. It is an a empt to create spaces of discreet moments, asser ons of the present, within the suburban fabric. In these fragmented, dis nct moments, one-to-one, unmediated experiences with others and the environments may become possible. These are spaces of life, moments that are external and communal, where memories and rela onships form. Here, architecture is used as an instrument, crea ng the infrastructure for dis nc on and connec on.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig. 0.1 - I-195 through Fox Point, Providence, RI. Infrastructural constructs serve as the organiza onal framework for the city and individual.

Phase 1 | Argument Architecture is built on fic on, an imagined manner of interac ons and rela onships that form in and about a project. Architecture is the medium of these interac ons. Through this imagined collec on of rela onships, a culture’s standards of independence, family, collabora on, and many other values are expressed spa ally. In turn these physical organiza ons inform a society by shaping the values of future genera ons. The architect’s fic on serves to both ar culate and impart the ways in which an individual perceives of their own rela onship to that of the collec ve society. The organiza on of contemporary American ci es imparts a culture of solipsism and isola on. David Foster Wallace explores these themes in his literary fic on, notably in his 1996 tome, Infinite Jest. This novel is an exhaus ve account of a near-future dystopian America tearing itself apart through willful disconnec on and escapist addic ons. This thesis begins with architectural extrapola ons of Wallace’s prose that inves gate the spa al ramifica ons of this egocentric universe. Wallace’s most cri cal examina on of American culture lies in its dependence on forms of digital entertainment, which flood the subconscious with inauthen city and irony, clouding people’s abili es to relate to one another directly. This process began in the 19th century with the inven on of photography. In 1936 Walter Benjamin claimed that mechanical reproduc on divorced the artwork from its history of worship and ritual, leaving an empty exhibi onist re-presenta on of true artwork.1 In the 1960s, situa onist Guy De Bord wrote “All that once was lived has become mere representa on,”2 in reference to a life now lived through the accumula on of spectacles. In the Society of the Spectacle, modern culture’s separa on from authen c experiences is complete. In the forty plus years since De Bord published this work, the separa on can only be perceived to have grown more distant, enhanced by the growth of the internet and mobile technologies. The dispersed city, (the decentralized, non-hierarchical, sprawling urban landscape characteris c of American ci es which experienced high growth in the second half of the 20th century3) physically expresses through its organiza on a cultural embrace of the spectacle. Born from the planning work of Ludwig Hilberseimer and the construc on of the interstate highway system, the dispersed city forms a blanket of priva zed space connected by hierarchical circula on networks. The priva za on of space is so complete as to leave scarcely li le public space beyond that required for circula on, which is o en inhospitable to human inhabita on. The urban experience within the dispersed city is compressed to a web of linear i neraries, mostly experienced by car. 1

Benjamin. The Artwork in the Age of Mechanical ReproducƟon. 2 De Bord. Society of the Spectacle. Thesis 1 3 Segal,Verkabel. AD: CiƟes of Dispersal. Vol 78. No. 1 Jan/Feb 2008

Phase 2 | Implementation

Phase 1 | Argument Introduction

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig. 0.2 - Oil and natural gas infrastructure oﬀ of Allens Ave. in Providence.

Origin and des na on are fundamentally separated from the journey. Individualized private space that has been cut from the field of public space endorses a similarly private, isolated way of life. 4 The dispersed city’s ability to comfort the anxie es and stresses of modern life has driven its growth. The commodi zed model of inhabita on that is driven by mortgage and debt produces a need for job security and cultural stability. The dispersed city oﬀers assurance that tomorrow will be the same as today. The result is a cultural space of wai ng, a blurry, eternal present with no past or future. Experience, essen ally, has been compressed both spa ally and temporally into a formless goo with li le me or space. This thesis seeks to confront the landscape of internaliza on and isola on in the dispersed city. As the prevailing quali es are comfort and certainty, it proposes an architecture of risk, indeterminism and discomfort. In a moment of risk, a person is removed from the con nual march of comfort and placed in a discreet moment of the present. In this moment, one-to-one, unmediated experience with the environment becomes possible and space and me may be re-expanded. This is a space of life, a moment that is external and communal, where memories and rela onships form. Indeterminism possesses a quality of an -commodi za on. In improvisa onal music, performance becomes an ac on, subject to a variety of factors that lay outside the control of a composer. Order and structure may dissolve and reform, exposing the underlying fragility of the crea ve act. An unscripted, collabora ve event is a unique crea on that defies the required determinant nature of commodi za on. Architecturally, this oﬀers a model both for the crea ve process and the spa al experience of the completed work. Architecture that s rs a discomfort – mental, physical, emo onal, - can force a presence 4 Pope, Ladders.

Phase 1 | Argument Phase 2 | Implementation

fig. 0.3 - Space beneath the I-195 overpass.

of mind and body within the current moment. Where architecture has been relegated to providing comfortable, eﬃcient solu ons and flexible space planning, this thesis proposes an architecture that imposes itself. The space of consumerism is built on the premise that it won’t be challenged or ques oned. The design of discomfort challenges what is taken for granted, and brings underlying structures into awareness. By drawing a en on to architectural and infrastructural systems of subjuga on, the rela onships of individual to collec ve may be challenged. One’s rela onship to public space informs their rela onship to the collec ve society5. In the priva zed America, this means that the rela onship to the circulatory infrastructure informs the forma on of the collec ve culture6. The site of this thesis is in this rela onship, where people develop the understanding of themselves and their culture. Altering the boundaries that clearly delineate individual from collec ve, public from private, or program space from travel space, can aﬀect the combinatory awareness of society. This project’s fic on blurs these lines and creates presence in between origin and des na on. As architecture is a fully cultural endeavor, this project will a empt to address the complexity and layers of the American city, including its history, economy, cultural iden ty, poli cs, formal and spa al organiza on and ecology. But as an architectural thesis, its outcome will reside in the realm of architecture - a spa al and tectonic proposal that acknowledges and resides in a world of complexity and layered meaning, but does not a empt to simplify or limit that world.

Foucault, Discipline and Punish Pope, Terminal DistribuƟon in AD: CiƟes of Dispersal

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Cardioid campus boundaries. WHYHTL[YPJS` KLÄULK HZ! x= a(2cos t - 2 cos 2t) y= a(2sin t - 2 sin 2t)

Subdormitory Bldgs A, B, C, D

Tennis Courts - west, central, east

“Abundantly, embranchingly tunneled”

Community-Administration Building

Headmaster’s House

Student and Faculty Parking

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

Commonwealth Avenue

fig. 1.1a - Enfield Tennis Academy. Plan.

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Phase 1 | Argument

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fig. 1.1b - Enfield Tennis Academy. Sec on. Hal retreats to the isola on deep in the cetner of the heartshaped campus. Instead of striking outwards for personal space, he delves inward in his search for private space.

‘I am in Here.’7 In the opening scene of Infinite Jest, Hal Incandenza is locked within his own head. He is interviewing for a posi on on the University of Arizona tennis team that would be the culmina on to a stellar academic and athle c career, but his a empts to speak emerge as a mixture of grunts and howls, accompanied by a manic flailing of his limbs. Although he believes that he is speaking in fluent English the coaching staﬀ recoils in horror, believing he is suﬀering from a seizure. Hal has become a vic m to a culture of self-conscious isola on, having lost the ability to communicate with those outside his own mind despite his fran c a empts. Wallace explores the possibility of total isola on from other humans despite close proximity in several se ngs in the novel. Characters display varying levels of neuro cism, depression, uncertainty and addic on that prevent fluid, direct communica on and asser ve inner monologue. Unable to communicate, many of the characters are marked by an oppressive loneliness and disconnec on. In this set of experiments, spaces from the novel are reconstructed as architectural inves ga ons into the culture of loneliness and isola on. As architecture func ons to both express society’s values and in turn inform them, these constructs are the spa al manifesta ons of Wallace’s characters. Hal’s descent into mental isola on plays out in the Enfield Tennis Academy. (fig. 1.1) A campus of buildings “laid out as a cardioid, with the four main inward-facing bldgs. convexly rounded at the back and sides to yield a cardioid’s curve, with the tennis courts and pavilions at the center.” The buildings place a focus on the center of the adolescents’ lives, the tennis courts. The buildings are connected by a network of underground tunnels that provide access to and from each building, as well as space for u li es and equipment. The central pump room, accessible by tunnel, houses ven la on equipment to inflate the winter-weather covering for the outdoor tennis courts know as “the lung.” It also provides a secre ve space where Hal smokes marijuana. Hal engages in a daily ritual deep underground, the secrets of which he finds more rewarding than the smoking itself.8 The pump room is a precursor to the mental space in which he is later constrained, and a representa on 7

Wallace. 3. Hal Incandenza asserts his presence. Although this could be read as Hal simply aﬃrming his presence within the Coach’s oﬃce, it indicates his personal struggle to confirm his existence when confronted with an unbridgeable gap between himself and other humans. 8 Wallace. 983.

Phase 2 | Implementation

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Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Double-height space with mounting track maintains ideal distance and orientation to TP screen through reclining motion.

Distance calibrated to provide ideal image w/ minimal head or eye movement.

Food tray avoids obstruction and maintains level.

Automatic recline set to heart and breath measurements according to complex algorithm meant to encourage a steady progression towards relaxation and sleep.

Electric motor drives recline and screen movement from single source to maintain sync.

:LSM KLWSV`PUN ILKKPUN PU ÄUHS Z[HNLZ VM YLJSPUL

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig. 1.2 - Medical A ache’s viewing chair. The a ache’s apartment here is interpreted as an extension of his desires, spa ally conforming to his needs for ul mate, disembodied relaxa on.

of a person’s desire for individual, secre ve space where they may indulge themselves in privacy. The Saudi medical a aché returns to his apartment a er an exhaus ng work day in need of “unwinding in the very worst way.”9 Wallace provides for him a piece of furniture that coddles him through a meal and into a comfortable sleep without requiring him to remove his eyes from his InterLace Teleputer viewing system. (Basically an internet connected TV that plays either mail order entertainment cartridges or downloadable content). The electronic recliner features a shoulder mounted food tray, technology that automa cally reclines based on the detected state of the a aché, sleep-wise, and luxuriant bedding that dispatches for the night’s slumber. (fig 1.2) This setup reflects the human-scale space of interac on with the spectacle. It expresses a completely passive engagement, and embraces solipsis c sa sfac on. The Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House10 supports the lives of a number of recovering drug addicts. These characters are engaged in an eﬀort to escape the grasp of substance abuse through personal commitment. Their space is one of collec ve work, a communal home where rooms are shared and residents are allowed very few personal possessions. This is a space where the ego is destroyed.11 (fig. 1.3) Through the destruc on of the self, pa ents are able to grow and change. The theme of drug addic on draws parallels throughout the novel to the insa able appe te for entertainment, both stemming from a desire to escape reality. Through the struggles of the Ennet house residents within this space, Wallace shows that an escape from the solipsism of contemporary culture is possible, but not without a deliberate and concentrated eﬀort. The first two spaces portray an image of American culture slipping into a masturbatory self-pleasure – personalized and isolated space that conforms to all desires, centered around the self. The Ennet house is the space of contri on, where devoted characters a empt to invent a new life, despite seemingly hopeless odds. This is the space of this thesis – the American city where unfe ered consumerism has essen ally silenced the idea of a true architectural discourse, but against all odds, we a empt to make relevant and authen c space. 9

Wallace. 34 Wallace 995, note 45. “Redundancy sic” 11 Wallace.

Phase 1 | Argument Phase 2 | Implementation fig. 1.3 - Allenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ave, Providence, RI. Inves gatory site proposal for Ennet House in Providence. Crea on of communal through connec ons to infrastructural elements.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig. 2.1 - Branching, hierarchical circulatory network and media consump on spaces within a suburban American townhouse.

Infinite Jest’s parallels between addic on and entertainment portray a populace drowning itself in its own pleasures. Over the course of the last century, the individual’s rela onship to the world has become increasingly mediated through informa on technologies. A growing percentage of experience happens through a television, computer or mobile device. Although seemingly less harmful than a substance addic on, the reliance on these technologies is fundamentally altering social orders and interac ons. In The Work of Art in the age of Mechanical ReproducƟon, Walter Benjamin pointed to the change in the role of art in the age of the photograph, and the impending change in experience. In his view, the new role of art existed merely as something exhibitory, no longer connected to its previous roles of worship and crea on. Works preceding this age had what Benjamin called, “presence in me and space,” which is to say that every object one encountered also carried with it a history and a record of its crea on and existence.13 At the me, it would have been impossible for Benjamin to foresee the way in which the age of the photograph would become the age of the internet and lead to a much more complete disrup on of the concept of authen city. The prevalence of modern informa on culture has facilitated an en rely mediated consciousness that is no longer even able to comprehend the nature of authen city. “All that once was lived has become mere representa on.”14 Guy De Bord theorizes in the beginning of his book, The Society of the Spectacle. The world in which we now operate is no longer that of reality, but the world of the spectacle, a place of mediated reality. Subjects of the spectacle are merely united in their one-way rela onship to the spectacle. 15 The spectacle is a fully commodi zed life that has con nued to expound itself over and within society. The current state of American consumer culture is an expression of the spectacle. Its focus on the spectacle has operated as distrac on, allowing formerly important modes of human interac on to dissolve. The spectacle’s development has facilitated the cultural shi to the suburb and then further to the decentralized, dispersed city. Robert Smithson wrote about the suburbs as a place with no history in “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, NJ.” The banality of the “unimagina ve suburb” through lack of its ability to define the present implies infinity. He states, “the Suburbs exist without a ra onal past and without the ‘big events’ of history.”16 The destruc on of history is an important element in the construc on of the spectacle. The crea on of the suburban home model and dispersed city provide the isola on (spa al and social) and commodi za on necessary for the spectacle to thrive. In the dispersed city, the sense of physical urban community has been destroyed by the complete priva za on of public space and supplanted by the representa on of community available through television, internet and mobile technologies. 12

Wallace. 90. Remy Marathe, an undercover Canadian separa st discusses dissemina on of ‘The Entertainment,’ an avant-garde film so enrapturing it renders any viewer unable to control themselves, frozen in a catatonic state of witnessing. 13 Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical ReproducƟon, 3 14 De Bord, Society of the Spectacle, Thesis 1. 15 De Bord, Thesis 29 16 Smithson, Collected WriƟngs of Robert Smithson. “A tour of the Monuments of Passaic, NJ” 72.

Phase 1 | Argument

The Entertainment12

Phase 2 | Implementation

fig. 2.2 - Neighborhood street with homes subordinate to infrastructural circula on path.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

X X

Open Cartesian Spatial Grid Direct Proximities

Open Urban Spatial Grid Indirect Proximities

fig. 3.1 - Progression of spa al implosion from open cartesian space to linear path space.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

‘A sort of sloppy intersecƟon of fears and desires’17 Beginning in the 1950s, the dispersed city began its progression toward the dominant mode of se lement. Rooted in suburban fringe that formed around centralized urban downtowns, the dispersed city has grown to envelope large swaths of homogenous, decentralized development. Ludwig Hilberseimer plans for fundamental reorganiza on of the city published in 1955’s The Nature of CiƟes seem oddly fortuitous when compared with today’s sprawling networks. His proposal for hierarchical communi es branched off of expressways and spread out per the dri of air pollu on18 seem orderly but in fact have an enormous amount of flexibility and indeterminism within them. This method of organiza on could be characterized as top-down planning, overlooking localized rela onships that develop an urban condi on. The separa on by zoning of commerce, industry and residen al is a model followed through very many ci es that sprout off of highways today. Although flexible in architectural form, the rela onship of structures within this system is subordinate to the infrastructural armature. Most houses face their street with a garage door and driveway, and commercial structures reside in a sea of asphalt for customer, supplier and employee access. Unlike within a dense urban grid, where architectural form is more closely ed to the nature of the space, the dependent element in this system is a free and unobstructed passage, accompanied by the front-facing image of a house or store. The looseness inherent in the system is a formal detachment from the space and culture at-large. Although this architecture cannot be blamed for the desola on in the Wallace-ian society, it is, at the very least, a formal endorsement of the culture and way of life that leads to this isola on. In his book Ladders, Albert Pope outlines the “implosion of the urban grid” into a decentralized network of hierarchical circulatory channels. The excessive size of larger scale roadways in the age of the automobile have served to not only increase efficiency along their path, but also 17 Wallace. 83. German emigre tennis coach Gerhardt Sch on the composi on of the “U.S. of modern A. where the state is not a team or a code...where the only public consensus a boy must surrender to is the acknowledged primacy of straight-line pursuing this flat and shortsighted idea of personal happiness.” 18 Hilberseimer. The Nature of CiƟes

Phase 1 | Argument

Subdivided Urban Spatial Grid Indirect Proximities

completely deny cross-grain access. As freeways cut through urban downtowns in the second half of the 20th century, neighborhoods were severed, isolated and compartmentalized. Further diﬀeren a on between commercial streets and residen al cul-de-sacs fundamentally altered the spa al experience of the urban fabric, conver ng an open Cartesian grid of space into a linear pathway between origin and des na on.19 In a later essay, Terminal DistribuƟon, he expounds upon this theory with a Foucaul an take on subjuga on added on. Here he posits that social order is informed at the most fundamental levels by street infrastructural organiza on. Our rela on to the street is our rela on to the rest of society. In the shi from an urban grid to a cul-de-sac/freeway system, the rela onship to infrastructure has changed from a system based on an understanding of the collec ve to one that is based around the individual. Every house at the end of the drive way on a cul-de-sac street is a personalized termina on to an individual journey, a castle on a mountain for man’s ego.20 The infrastructural system to fall out of Hilberseimer’s planning, in essence, is primed for the presence of the Medical A ache’s chair and teleputer viewing system. The full adop on of this spa al organiza on came through the confluence of diverse factors. The desire for eﬃciency and military preparedness drove the development of the circula on system. People moved to suburban communi es with a desire for more personal space, home ownership, and good schools, etc, but the move towards decentralized communi es was also endorsed on a governmental policy level. Through market controls and defense spending, the federal government encouraged the dispersal from the urban center.21 The priva za on of public space was also encouraged through tax benefits and jurisprudence that favored corporate development,22 leading to the adop on of the mall typology as a central figure in a consumerist life.23 Through a complex mixture of architectural inten ons, market forces and policy interven ons, the dispersed city has been formed to support an individualized and isolated culture. 19

Pope, Ladders Pope, Terminal DistribuƟon, in AD, Vol 28 #1. 21 Kruse, Sugure. The New Suburban History. Freund. “Marke ng the Free Market” and Pugh O’Mara “Uncovering the City in the Suburb” 22 Kohn. Brave New Neighborhoods. 23 Gladwell. “Terrazzo Jungle” New Yorker 20

Phase 2 | Implementation

Subdivided Urban Spatial Grid Limited Access Proximities

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

X X

Subdivided Suburban Spatial Grid Linear Fixed-Route Proximities

Subdivided Suburban Spatial Grid Linear Fixed-Route Transverse Proximities

fig. 3.1 cont.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

c(t) Unfolded Linear Path Space Travel Space and Transverse Proximities

fig. 3.2 - Linear pathway unfolded with transversal distor ons

Phase 1 | Argument ‘The Chance to Play’24 In this thesis I propose an architecture that is able to confront the landscape of individua on and isola on and allow for a new sense of the communal – one that exists outside of the spectacle. Where the form of the dispersed city allows and even encourages disengagement and isola on through the comfort, familiarity and certainty of spa al rela ons, the role of the architect is to induce a level of discomfort and indeterminism. In many ways, our culture could be considered addicts to the spectacle. We demand entertainment in almost constant streams, spending exponen ally more bandwidth on the internet on a yearly basis. The architectural discomfort and indeterminism has to confront this societal addic on to informa on, not by flat out denying it, but by working with it, exposing it and making it visible, while at the same me opening possibili es for an exterior reality. Architecturally denying access to the spectacle, if this is even possible, is not a solu on, but merely a band-aid aﬃxed to a severed limb. The architecture that will unse le the comfort induced by the dispersed city relies on three elements – indeterminism, discomfort and sense of place. These three quali es are lacking in the contemporary dispersed city. By placing people into situa ons where they’re forced to think, challenged to make decisions concerning the architecture surrounding them, they’re awoken from the numbing march through capital gain if only for a moment. In this moment, the subconscious interac on with architecture can be rethought and reevaluated. Stan Allen writes about indeterminate systems in his book Points and Lines. In his essay, “Infrastructural Urbanism,” he emphasizes the role of infrastructure as a shaping force of society that is at once both specific and flexible. By interpre ng infrastructure as an architectural element that guides the growth of the city, a bo om-up approach where the tectonic, repe ve elements of Architecture inform the urban structure emerges.25 In “Field Condi ons,” he proposes a theory of organiza on based on localized interac ons, forming non-hierarchical systems of indeterminate form.26 The field condi on emphasizes the space in between forms, not the forms themselves. 24

Wallace. 85. Sch

again on what diﬀeren ates life an death if, in fact, the goal of a perfect tennis game is the oblitera on of self. 25 Allen. “Infrastructural Urbanism.” Points and Lines 26 Allen. “Field Condi ons.” Points and Lines

Phase 2 | Implementation

fig. 4.1 - Localized parametric expansions within the linearized grid.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig. 4.2 - Further parametric expansions of an unfolded linear space.

The individual’s rela on to the collec ve is subliminal and fundamental at the intersec on of the personal inhabita on and urban infrastructure. The social structure of the contemporary dispersed city may be rethought not through a top down approach, as it was ini ally designed, but through a careful recalibra on of the local rela onships to the infrastructure. As in Allen’s wri ngs, the form of the collec ve can be determined through highly-specific, highly localized rules. Weiss-Manfredi’s Olympic Sculpture Park in Sea le, WA reinterprets this localized rela onship to infrastructure. Bridging from a steep embankment, over a highway and several railroad tracks, to a previously unreachable sec on of coast line, the project blurs lines between architecture, landscape, urbanism and infrastructure. The blurring of these roles creates a project that is outside of the expecta ons of each, and rooted in a spa al experience more than an image or spectacle. The bridging of infrastructural elements crosses the barrier of circula on, and creates a spa al overlap27 – a place where the lineariza on of experience is momentarily expanded. An architecture of discomfort presents people with the opportunity to make decisions and feel a physical presence within space that they normally would glaze over. The idea of discomfort, or unse ling can take a variety of forms. It can mean a physical discomfort, such as standing on an inclined plane, exposure to a precipitous ledge or proximity to moving automobiles. It can also mean an exposure to an idea that doesn’t feel right, like leading people to places where they feel they shouldn’t be, exposure to undesirable elements of society, or exposure to wasteful or flawed underlying systems. These confronta onal situa ons should be used in way that can elicit a consciousness of the situa on that was not there prior, not in way that would be destruc ve, cri cal, or de-construc vist to the discipline of architecture. Like in a piece of music where atonal or dissonant elements may build a tension or conflict that later may resolve in a refined melody, spaces of conflict or tension can build a richer and more conscious experience when combined with an architecturally resolved or comfortable space. Le Corbusier referred to the promenade architectural as the sequence of volumes which made up the architectural experience. His buildings exhibited a highly cra ed progression of spaces that connected the exterior to the interior. The true spaces of these buildings extend beyond the exterior walls to encompass the approach and surrounding urban fabric. He described this as 27

Weiss/Manfredi. Surface/Subsurface.

Phase 1 | Argument fig. 4.4 - Carpenter Center - sec on through ramp

“radiant architecture.” The use of elements such as the ramp, and li ing the building from the ground plane develop a tension in the site that heightens the presence or awareness of the project28. The ramp through the carpenter center both pulls a con nuity of urban fabric through the building, but creates a unique and discon nuous moment as one passes through the building.29 The promenade develops a connec on between me and space that creates, for the visitor, dis nct moments of experience. Some spaces within this sequence are “compelling spaces,” beckoning a person to move through, and some are deliberately less pleasant as they are inherently transitory.30 These elements come together to form a sense of place. A spa al awareness or consciousness of one’s current loca on. A heightened sense of place creates an awareness of the physical body in rela on to others. This physical awareness of spa al rela on can override the non specificity that is characteris c of much of the urban experience. A sense of place that, for instance, emphasizes a self-awareness within a natural ecosystem as opposed to their posi on within a suburban subdivision fundamentally changes the power structures and rela onships within the community. Architecture has the capability to close people oﬀ from the physical world and encourage the consump on of the spectacle piped through the internet and cable, or conversely, it has the power to present a living situa on that encourages their consciousness of the space and environment around them.

Samuel. Le Corbusier and the Architectural Promenade. 29 Brown. Noise Orders 30 Samuel.

Phase 2 | Implementation

fig. 4.3 - Olympic Sculpture Park - site sec ons

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig. 0.1 - Project proposal of cubic architectural analogs from first week.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Phase 1 | Argument This project proposes a method of working that is addi ve and non-linear. Instead of developing a project from the general to the specific and producing documenta on at the end of this process, the project will exist as a non-linear explora on of elements through the semester that will add up to a project at the end. The top to bo om development and ar cula on of an architectural project is less important than finding a way of working that can speak to an architectural argument that is scale-less and process oriented. In the same way the argument is rooted in proposing a presence in opposi on to the escapism and detachment of the modern city and consumer culture, the process and methods must reflect this value by producing work of presence throughout. The process must be the product. Comple ng early elements before the en re project is conceived will require flexibility in the ar fact, but rigor and precision in the concept. Each segment will be built within a 15â&#x20AC;? cubic space. These elements will be arranged in a line that demonstrates the progression of the thesis concept, while maneuvering through diďŹ&#x20AC;erent scales. These elements should work together to form a project that may be understood in a non-linear format, as in the detail is not a product of the urban plan, nor vice versa, but they are elements that work together to communicate the argument. The final element will be a full scale construc on of some par cular piece of the architecture that is able to express the values of the project in a real, one-to-one space. The site of the project will be the interface between the individual and infrastructures. This is a site that bridges scale, from the regional to the detail. The purpose of inves ga ng this rela onship is to propose a more coopera ve rela onship between the individual and the society, where the structures of mass culture are not taken for granted. Specifically, the project will take place in the city of San Jose, CA, an example of a dispersed city a er the mold of Los Angeles organized on the principles of the automobile. San Jose is the tenth largest city in the US, and third largest in California. It is home to nearly one million people, and covers 180 square miles at the southern end of the San Francisco bay. It has a gridded downtown centered around the ini al Spanish se lement, but func ons largely in the lower density, semi-suburban surroundings. Much of the city is built on the framework of disconnected commercial corridors fed by limited access freeways in a sea of residen al subdivisions. This thesis seeks an alterna ve to this type of city and life.

Phase 2 | Implementation

Phase 2 | Implementation Introduction

The dispersed American city reflects the American dream - the chance to become wildly successful and live as a king in one's own independent castle. The system is a reflection of the fears and desires of the citizens, both offering the image of individual success while providing a stability in banality and uniformity against collapse. The first investigative architectural analog begins with a statement against the city as a collection of consumer elements. Glass bottles, metal cans and wood scraps are deconstructed into fragments, then reassembled to produce a spatial field. The object nature of these items is lost, and their material nature comes to the forefront. As an architectural analog, this points towards the deconstruction of the suburban single family home as a consumer object, suggesting the reassembly of the materials (or spaces or amenities) to create a volumetric spatial condition that runs both inside and outside.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Artifact 1

Phase 1 | Argument Phase 2 | Implementation Artifact 1: The city's building is not an object, but a continuous spatial field.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig. 1.1 - An examination of the large-scale forces shaping communities, or lack thereof, in San Jose.

Limited Access Freeway Waterway Median household income - per 2010 census Developed Subdivision

The governing forces that give form to the city of San Jose work mostly at this scale. The interactions of zoning regulations, highways, waterways and topography determine the boundaries of different sectors, but allows great amounts of freedom within.

Industrial/Office Zoning

Commercial Corridor

San Jose - Dispersed City 28

Phase 2 | Implementation

1.02: The new city requires the dissolution of separate objects into a field of spatial relationships that allow for inhabitation and interaction.

Phase 1 | Argument

1.01: San Jose is not a city. It is a collection of consumer objects with little or no spatial relation to each other. These objects are the starting point for this architecture.

fig.1.2: The dissolution and reassembly of the consumer object into something unique, handmade, and spatial.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Artifact 2 The existing city is a line. The experience of life within the suburban expanse occurs along the direct lines from points A to B. This analog folds and tangles those itineraries over and on top of themselves to reform a spatial organization. The totality of the grid provides a legible and organizing system, but the shifting of openings from one space to the next and the negotiation of the topography bring a uniqueness to each compartment. In some spaces, the system relaxes to allow for a larger openness, a surrender to the need for public space within the privatized city.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

The wooden grid in this object operates as an armature for the secondary interaction of the strings woven throughout. The orientation of the strings are determined by the openings through which they pass and the patterns by which they are directed to flow in two dimensions. The third dimension allows for a degree of freedom however, creating an interplay with crossing strings and an extra level of depth within the artifact.

Phase 2 | Implementation

Ph ha as se 1 | Ar Argu g me gu m n ntt

Artifact 2: The most totalizing system allows for the greatest freedoms and localized differentiation.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig 2.1: San Jose as a labyrinth of private space during the foreclosure crisis.

Homes as Barriers of Private Spaces

Localized Foreclosure Rates

At a closer scale, the analysis of San Jose reveals the independence of elements. Residential nieghborhoods form labyrinthian networks of private space, forming perfectly to the boundaries of the higher-order elements. Localized clusters of foreclosures identify critical subdivisions in need of intervention.

Labyrinth in Crisis 32

Homes Currently in Foreclosure

Commercial Mat Buildings

Leftover Spaces

Phase 2 | Implementation

2.02: The structure of the grid may operate as an armature for a secondary, customizable element or experience.

Phase 1 | Argument

2.01: A grid or other rigid geometry may be employed as a unifying organizational system, allowing for hyper-localities and differentiations.

fig 2.1: The changing emphasis between the bounding grid and the localized non-orthogonal relationships.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Artifact 3 The third artifact begins to merge the experience of the labyrinthian subdivision existent within San Jose, and the totality of the grid's organization. A grid navigates a topography that descends in two directions from a central high ground. As the ground falls away from the datum, the gridded spaces become deeper, eventually crossing an inhabitants sight line. At this point, the understanding of space shifts from an expansive view to a hyper-localized experience, but remains underscored by the abstract logic of the cartesian grid. Spaces deep within this labyrinth may be predicted as being rectangular in nature, but must be explored to be understood. This emphasizes the inhabitation as a process, as one cannot get to a point with going there. These experiences are both interior and exterior at once.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

Periodic orientation towers rise above the labyrinth, allowing for an occasional opportunity to see above the walls and determine one's location. These towers also build a secondary, nonorthogonal set of relationships with one another over the rigid grid nature of the system.

Phase 2 | Implementation

Ph P has a e 1 | Ar Argu gu ume m nt n

Artifact 3: The Labyrinth contains spaces that cannot be found unless explored, emphasizing inhabitation as a process and experience.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

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fig. 3.1: The city assembled through fears and desires lacks logical geometric organization.

A top-down system of economic logic develops a city of convenience and comfort with an extreme level of localized peculiarities where the system encounters boundaries and outside constraints.

Commodity City 36

fig 3.2: Interiors and exteriors embrace each other, blurring the boundaries of objects.

Example Amenities Offered By Developers - Exceptional Exteriors - Richly detailed French Country, Italian and Spanish Mission architecture, some with stone accents and Old World finish - Stately 8’ entry doors with Baldwin Reserve satin nickel exterior hardware - Rain Gutters - Upgraded 5 1/4” baseboards - Convenient outdoor hose bibs - Multi-purpose bonus room in each home - Convenient “Drop Zone” areas, per residence - Two tone paint - Versatile second master suite on first floor - Euro Style cabinets in a variety of stains - Alarm prewire - Life saving firesprinklers - Enhanced 8’ 2 panel interior doors with Schlage lever handle in satin nickel finish - Advanced wiring with RG6 and CAT5e cables for high speed computer connections, TV and telephone - Two-Car attached garages with sectional overhead doors - Laminate flooring in Entryway - Decorative raised panel doors - Rounded drywall corners - Bosch stainless steel appliances - Gorgeous granite countertops with full backsplash at the cooktop - Designer selected tile flooring in entry, kitchen, baths and laundry

fig. 3.3: An example of a marketed developer home, full of amenities spaces but devoid of spatial logic.

Phase 2 | Implementation

3.02: The rigidity of the orthogonal grid reconnects the actual nature of the city to the abstract notion of cartesian space.

Phase 1 | Argument

3.01: The new city builds a sense of the whole through moments of descent and emergence into the labyrinthian grid of development.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Artifact 4 The fourth analog deploys the gridconstricted labyrinth in the negative space between a cluster of nonrelated objects. The extended walls and mass of the constructions pull the object through the landscape and create an interiority throughout. The walls thicken in areas to allow for occupation, shifting the balance of the figure-ground diagram to a more embracing experience.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

Within the tangled pathways of the grid, the ground becomes unsettled in the third dimension. The manipulation of the round plane ties the landscape to the construction and blurs the lines of where constructed environment begins and ends. Crossed pathways and privileged vantage points create opportunities for new encounters among neighbors.

Phase 2 | Implementation

P as Ph ase se 1 | Ar Argu gume gu ment me nt

Artifact 4: Construction of the landscape surrounding independent objects creates a connecting fabric.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig 4.1: Usage of plot areas within a cul-de-sac development.

The formation of sub-division plans provides the assumed preference of windy streets and dead ends throughout the city, presenting the image of a quaint, quiet suburban city. The consequences levied on the lot forms and the relationships of the house to the site are drastic.

Site Independent Homes 40

Phase 1 | Argument

4.01: The grid may be deployed to build infill connections through unrelated objects by structuring the spaces between.

4.02: Disruption of the ground plane within the armature of gridded space creates local distinctions that are inherently tied to their exact position.

Phase 2 | Implementation

fig 4.2: Deployment of the gridded labyrinth over nondescript in-between areas.

Footprint

Yardspace

Driveway Pool Unused / Buffer Space

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fig. 4.3: Area analysis in focus cul-de-sac.

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Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Artifact 5 This proposal create a type of infill housing in the unused yard space of the focus cul-de-sac. Ignoring individual property ownership conventions, this model presents a block transformed into a higher density conglomeration of collective housing. Deploying a new system that sticks to the rigidity of the grid as in the last model, the new constructions devour the existing commodity-houses to create a new fluidity of interior and exterior space throughout.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

The introduction of the red element within the model shows the use of linear elements to divide space. The elements pull exterior through the constructed barriers and into the interior. Spatial conditions become continuous through the construction, but highly localized in their specific relationships to one another. Public spaces such as newly communal pools and outdoor gathering spaces form an interior courtyard within the block.

Phase 2 | Implementation

P as Ph ase 1 | Arrgu gum me ent nt

Artifact 5: New development overtakes the cul-de-sac, creating a fill-in city in the formless suburban goo.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis fig. 5.1: New area uses within the reconstructed cul-de-sac.

Forming New Relationships

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

5.02: The city looks for new places to grow from within. Higher density housing and community building programs fill in the under used suburban subdivisions.

Phase 2 | Implementation

fig. 5.2: The disintegration of the interior/exterior boundaries.

Phase 1 | Argument

5.01: To disrupt the objectnature of the consumer home, boundaries are blurred to challenge the clear notions of interior/exterior and public/ private.

fig. 5.3: The search for a new grid in the leftover spaces.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Artifact 6 The sixth artifact in the series explores the cubic grid as an armature at the scale of a room. The object begins from a starting point of nine solid cubes and employs a system of shifting openings and alternating closures to develop an armature system similar to artifact number 2. The shifted openings around the perimeter of each cubic space set up a series of localized, non-cartesian relationships.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

The invading red element grows between the openings of the cubic system. Utilizing the freedom in the third dimension, it divides the spaces into upper and lower portions, as well as laterally. It creates an artificial ground that is pulled through the space, linking the already ambiguous interior space to the exterior at-large.

Phase 2 | Implementation

Phas Ph ase as e 1 | Ar Argu gume gu me entt

Artifact 6: A gridded structure supplies the armature for a secondary development that is neither interior nor exterior.

This artifact demonstrates the threephase intervention into a neighborhood of southern San Jose meant to open the linear street system and emphasize neighbor-to-neighbor interactions. The first phase, depicted in a light grey-blue, creates a new system of pedestrian pathways linking the local subdivisions to a train stop and commercial artery. Localized discontinuities are located at the junctions of the pathways and are designed as moments that disconnect and reconnect perception of the environment, as well as guideposts through the network. The second phase, depicted in the light sky blue, show the creation of new public spaces in auxiliary spaces of the city, along with observation towers to climb above the roof line and view the city. The third phase, shown in the darker blues, show the introduction of small scale micro-commerce within the residential zoning areas, and larger infill housing within the blocks.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Artifact 7

Phase 2 | Implementation

Phas Ph a e 1 | Ar as A gu g me m nt

Artifact 7: A three-phase, tactical approach to the re-spatialization of the linear city.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig. 6.1: Perspective view of the nodal discontinuity at a junction of new pedestrian pathways.

Intervention Tactic 1: Pedestrianize 50

6.02: Formal interventions propose a secondary, linear element that decomposes the boundaries of the suburban object city.

Phase 1 | Argument

6.01: Unused and under used spaces provide opportunities for interventions.

6.a: Underutilized side-yards sold to public trust for mortage relief

6.e: Fragmented Barriers Control Access and View

6.f: Existing non-articulated street space

6.b: Creation of nodal pedestrian networks based around transit connections

6.g: Nodal Connection Chamber provides space for discussion 6.c: Moments of Discontinuity

6.h: Nodal Connection Chamber offers controls views and connections to environment.

6.d: Shifted Nodal Connections

Phase 2 | Implementation

fig 6.1 Secondary invasive space through the grid.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig 7.2: Perspective view of new public spaces with nodal observation towers.

Intervention Tactic 1: New Public Spaces 52

7.02: Foreclosed homes offer opportunities to reintroduce nodal networks of public space into the privatized fabric. The collapse of the housing market can be see as an opportunity to propose new modes of property ownership and land divisions.

7.d: Shared community programs

7.a: Surrounding property owners collectively sell adjoining property to collective trust to improve ammenities , relieve mortgage strain and build community.

7.b: Existing Blanket of Private Lots

7.e: Reorientation of house-to-site relationship

7.f: Suburban Orientation towers provide connections to other public nodes and build sense of location within city.

7.c: Homeowners sell underused portions of land to public trust for community spaces.

Phase 1 | Argument

7.01: The new city is built through a three-part, bottom up strategy meant to create citizento-citizen interactions.

Phase 2 | Implementation

fig. 7.2: Three phase tactical reconnection of the city.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

fig. 8.1: Perspective view of a new commercial space added to a single family home, and the through connection to pedestrian network.

Intervention Tactic 1: Home Invasion 54

8.01: Existing rules and regulations that prescribe the independent nature of the single family home are reworked to build a more dependent, integrated city.

Phase 1 | Argument

fig. 8.2: diagrammatic invasion of public space into private residential zoning.

8.d: Identify effective infill programs and develop tools for self-development by residents.

8.a: Sites for insertion of small scale, neighbor-to-neighbor functions identified.

8.e: New Constructions align to grid to build new, consistent orientations through the city.

8.b: Relaxation of zoning laws and business regulations to promote growth of micro commerce within residential neighborhoods.

8.c: Setback rules relaxed to encourage infill construction up to property lines and street edge.

8.e: Development and marketing of cost-effective, prefab contruction elements for D-I-Y interventions

Phase 2 | Implementation

8.02: The new San Jose is built by and for the residents, through the deployment of citizen-focused policy alterations and programs.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Artifact 8 The final artifact shows the deployment of the three phase system at localized scale of the house. The creation of a new, nodal network of public spaces through the private fabric of suburban San Jose occurs at the individual level. Economic incentives are offered to home owners to sell portions of their property to a public entity and to develop small scale commercial enterprises working amongst neighbors. The small scale nature of the proposal hopes to create a new, achievable relationship of the individual to the space of the city. By conceding some portion of private space to the communal, a community may form where now there is very little. The spaces created in and around the suburban home typologies aim to create interactions between neighbors, and de-emphasize the top-down nature by which San Jose has developed.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

The grid remains an underlying referent in this artifact, upon which the new spaces are built. The consistency of the grid through the new public spaces may begin to build a sense of communal identity throughout, while being subject to highly localized deformations and specifications.

Phase 2 | Implementation

Ph P has ase e 1 | Ar A gu gume ume ment n nt

Artifact 8: The re-spatialization of the city takes place through individual reactions to desires and fears, in the manner of the existing model.

Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City fig. 9.1: Final Presentation of thesis project.

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis

For final presentation of the project, cubic presentation pedestals were built of a poplar plywood. The drawings were mounted to a square mounting board with a small wooden reveal around the edges. The models and images were displayed in pairs, along with a small panel of diagrams and rules to the side. Display of the project in this manner showed the temporal progression of the project, but gives equal weight to each stage of the project. The resulting emphasis is placed on the body of work as a process, less so than on the implementation of a final architectural construct.

Phase 2 | Implementation

Phase 1 | Argument

Justin Jennings Rhode Island School of Design - M.Arch Thesis Architectural Fictions of the Dispersed City

Bibliography

Brown, David P. Noise Orders: Jazz, Improvisation and Architecture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006. Freund, David M. P. ”Marketing the Free Market: State Intervention and the Politics of Prosperity in Metropolitan America” in The New Suburban History edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Thomas J. Sugrue. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006. O’ Mara, Margaret Pugh. ”Uncovering the City in the Suburbs: Cold War Politics, Scientific Elites, and HighTech Spaces” in The New Suburban History edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Thomas J. Sugrue. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Phase 1 | Argument

Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest. New York: Back Bay Books, 1996.

Samuel, Flora. Le Corbusier and the Architectural Promenade. Basel: Birkhauser, 2010. Hilberseimer, Ludwig. The Nature of Cities. Chicago: Paul Theobald and Co., 1955. Foucault, Michel. The Foucault Reader. Edited by Paul Rabinow. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. De Bord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith. New York: Zone Books, 1994. Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in The work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility, and other writings on media. Edited by Michael W. Jennings, Brigid Doherty, and Thomas Y. Levin ; translated by Edmund Jephcott. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. Segal, Rafi and Verkabel, Els. “Urbanism Without Density” in AD: Cities of Dispersal. Vol. 78 No.1 Jan/Feb 2008. London: John Wiley and Sons Ltd., 2008. Pope, Albert. Ladders. Houston, Tex. : Rice School of Architecture ; New York : Princeton Architectural Press, c1996. Pope, Albert. “Terminal Distribution” in AD: Cities of Dispersal. Vol. 78 No.1 Jan/Feb 2008. London: John Wiley and Sons Ltd., 2008. Smithson, Robert. “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, NJ” in Robert Smithson:The Collected Writings edited by Jack Flam. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. Gladwell, Malcolm. “Terrazzo Jungle” in The New Yorker. Accessed online at http://www.newyorker.com/ archive/2004/03/15/040315fa_fact1 2004. Last accessed Feb. 8 2012. Manfredi, Michael A. and Weiss, Marion. Surface/Subsurface. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008.

Phase 2 | Implementation

Allen, Stan. Points and Lines. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999.