Architectural Fictions: Societal and Individual Infrastructures in the Dispersed American CIty
Justin Jennings Wintersession DP Book Draft RISD 2012 Critic: Almin Prsic
Architectural Fictions: Societal and Individual Infrastructures in the Dispersed American CIty
Justin Jennings Wintersession DP Book Draft RISD 2012 Critic: Almin Prsic
Architectural Fictions: Societal and Individual Infrastructures in the Dispersed American CIty
Contents abstract
5
introduction
7
I am in here
11
The Entertainment
15
‘A sort of sloppy intersection of fears and desires’
17
‘A chance to play’
19
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
3
4
Abtract This project creates an architectural fiction for a city of connection and engagement through the use of discomfort and indeterminism. Through adjusting the relationship of travel and program space (structure/infrastructure, room/hallway, etc.) it hopes to alter the relationship of the individual to the collective. This new relationship informs the framework for a new city.
5
Justin Jennings | M.Arch Thesis | RISD 2012
fig. 0.1 - I-195 through Fox Point, Providence, RI. Instrastructural constructs serve as the organiza onal framework for the city and individual.
6
Architecture is built on a 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 1
3
7
Benjamin. The Artwork in the Age of Mechanical ReproducƟon. 2 De Bord. Society of the Spectacle. Thesis 1 Segal,Verkabel. AD: CiƟes of Dispersal. Vol 78. No. 1 Jan/Feb 2008
Architectural Fictions:
Societal and Individual Infrastructure in the Dispersed American City
Introduction
Justin Jennings | M.Arch Thesis | RISD 2012
fig. 0.2 - Oil and natural gas infrastructure off of Allens Ave. in Providence.
to human inhabita on. The urban experience within the dispersed city is compressed to a web of linear i neraries, mostly experienced by car. 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.
8
4 Pope, Ladders.
Architecture that s rs a discomfort – mental, physical, emo onal, - can force a presence 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.
5
6
9
Foucault, Discipline and Punish Pope, Terminal DistribuƟon in AD: CiƟes of Dispersal
Architectural Fictions:
Societal and Individual Infrastructure in the Dispersed American City
fig. 0.3 - Space beneath the I-195 overpass.
Justin Jennings | M.Arch Thesis | RISD 2012
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, embranchinly tunneled”
Community-Administration Building
Headmaster’s House
Student and Faculty Parking
Commonwealth Avenue
fig. 1.1a - Enfield Tennis Academy. Plan.
10
Showers, Locker Rooms -PST 7YVJLZZPUN -HJPSP[` )L`VUK 3\UN :[VYHNL 7\TW YVVT =LU[PSH[PVU ZOHM[Z
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 unbridgable gap between himself and other humans. 8 Wallace. 983.
11
Architectural Fictions:
*VTT (K )SKN
Societal and Individual Infrastructure in the Dispersed American City
3\UN *V]LYHNL ^OLU PUÅH[LK
Justin Jennings | M.Arch Thesis | RISD 2012
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
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
10
12
Wallace. 34 Wallace 995, note 45. “Redundancy sic” 11 Wallace.
13
Architectural Fictions:
Societal and Individual Infrastructure in the Dispersed American City
fig. 1.3 - Allen’s ave, Providence, RI. Inves gatory site proposal for Ennet House in Providence. Crea on of communal through connec ons to infrastructural elements.
Justin Jennings | M.Arch Thesis | RISD 2012
fig. 2.1 - Branching, hierarchical circulatory network and media consump on spaces within a suburban American townhouse.
14
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 disusses disemina on of ‘The Entertainment,’ an avante-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.
15
Architectural Fictions:
The Entertainment12
Societal and Individual Infrastructure in the Dispersed American City
fig. 2.2 - Neighborhood street with homes subordinate to infrastructural circula on path.
Justin Jennings | M.Arch Thesis | RISD 2012
Y
Y
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.
‘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 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 short-sighted idea of personal happiness.” 18 Hilberseimer. The Nature of CiƟes
16
Subdivided Urban Spatial Grid Indirect Proximities
Subdivided Urban Spatial Grid Limited Access Proximities
automobile have served to not only increase efficiency along their path, but also 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 culde-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
17
Architectural Fictions:
X
X
Societal and Individual Infrastructure in the Dispersed American City
Y
Y
Justin Jennings | M.Arch Thesis | RISD 2012
Y
Y
X X
Subdivided Suburban Spatial Grid Linear Fixed-Route Proximities
Subdivided Suburban Spatial Grid Linear Fixed-Route Transverse Proximities
fig. 3.1 cont.
j
c(t) Unfolded Linear Path Space Travel Space and Transverse Proximities
fig. 3.3 - Linear pathway unfolded with transversal distor ons
18
‘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. 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 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
19
Architectural Fictions:
Societal and Individual Infrastructure in the Dispersed American City
fig. 4.1 - Localized parametric expansions within the linearized grid.
Justin Jennings | M.Arch Thesis | RISD 2012
fig. 4.2 - Further parametric expansions of an unfolded linear space.
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 “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 27
28
20
Weiss/Manfredi. Surface/Subsurface. Samuel. Le Corbusier and the Architectural Promenade.
fig. 4.4 - Carpenter Center - secion through ramp
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. Conclusion: This project proposes to write a fic on of an American city that is formed through a fundamentally different understanding of the rela on to infrastructure. A growing focus on the virtual leaves physical systems of organiza on unques oned and taken for granted. By altering this rela onship, the interac ons of parts to the whole (building to city, person to collec ve) can be changed and opportuni es for a new, more awake culture arise. Where the prevailing culture is epitomized by Wallace’s a ache’s viewing chair or Hal Incandenza’s secret tunnels, this thesis proposes the space of the Ennet Recovery house, a space of challenge and engagement.
29
Brown. Noise Orders 30 Samuel.
21
Architectural Fictions:
Societal and Individual Infrastructure in the Dispersed American City
fig. 4.3 - Olympic Sculpture Park - site sec ons