the work of a heathen, infidel, skeptic, misanthrope
Kaitlin Miciunas Thesis 2011
Introduction Architecture is the manifestation of an ongoing conversation - one of social commentary, radical exploration, dynamic technologies, political discourse, and artistic expression. The potential of the practice goes beyond utility, beyond service. More than providing space, solution, identity, buildings and skepticisms allow for dialogue to occur. A dialogue that references history, questions the present, and provokes the future. As a student, the past five years have been dedicated to understanding how one occupies, perceives, and comprehends space in terms of its relative organization, formal definition, utility, and with respect to time. This inherently results in a formal exploration. The intention of the work is largely a study of experience. There is a translation that exists between concept and design medium, which gives meaning to each chosen mode of representation. The design intentions overall act to question meaning of that which is normally understood, provide for social occurance and provocation, and expand realized potentials of repetition and simplicity to create dynamic affect. Architecture is more than resolving the complexities involved in the essential function of a building, but acts also as discourse - as a communicative device, a provocative experience, a compelling question. In a society obsessed with the living in the moment, we are without universal identity. The architecture practice is struggling to make.... architecture. Buildings constructed today are evaluated in terms of economic restraint, timely schedules, and provided services. “Architecture is not only what is built; it is also a conceptual trajectory, the comparison of concepts stemming from heterogeneous disciplinary fields, which exempt it from all formal unification and open it up to its future development... as a ceaseless exploration� Marie Ange Brayer Architecture is an opportunistic practice, one that offers potentials and visions of their realizations. Architecture is a spatial, visual conversation, exploring the potential of what might, should, and imaginably could be.
Context
While less than 7% of constructed projects are designed by architects, how many of the rare occurrence that can claim title Architecture, are indispensable to the public? There is a lack of desire; desire by general public, desire for an elite sensibility, and desire beyond what is necessary or profitable. Architecture is not essential, threatened to the point of extinction, to be buried in self-indulgence and artistic expression. In the consumer driven society we call culture, the market values prioritize money and sex as commodity. Where does that leave architecture?
“True architecture is not an arid combination of practicality and utility, but remains art, that is, synthesis and expression” Sant’Elia; preface Messagio in La Citta Nuova The intention of the architecture is not to idealize architecture, the intent becomes that of a glorified billboard, as a feeble attempt of promoting the interests of the intellectual discourse that is, Architecture. The utility becomes an argument for experience rather than a utopian attempt for the ideal.
“The way most of us experience architecture is through photographs in books, in other words, through our imagination of what the space would look like in real life. [Tschumi] then makes a comparison of the way advertisements show the same image over and over to create a desire for something that exists beyond the twodimensional page, repudiating the singularity of architecture…. Confronting the dissociation between the immediacy of a partial experience and analyzed definition of theoretical concepts, the function of [Tschumi’s] Advertisements- reproduced again and again as opposed to the single architectural piece – was to trigger desire for something beyond the page itself.” - Rosalind Krauss
Proposal
Threats of obsolescence have been documented throughout the history of Architecture. Every swift schange in societal values, means of production, and every day life brings a new relationship to its encompassing built fabric.
The end of the Classical, caused by its lack of relevance to a period of industry and mass production, gave birth to the Modern. Modernism suffered due to loss of meaning in its dependence on utility. Contemporary architecture is without unified identity, becoming obsolete without desire for a built environment as critical reflection of what our world might be. Today’s architecture is without attempt for unification of an unobtainable ideal, without desire, accepting a dystopian future of obsolescence where buildings are made provisional rather than provocative.
Commenting on The Nine Points of Monumentality, by Giedion, Sert, and Leger; Joan Ockman states; “While modern architecture had earlier been obliged to concentrate on the more immediate and mundane problems of housing and urbanism, the authors argued, its new task in the postwar period would be the reorganization of community life through the planning and design of cive centers, monumental ensembles, and public spectacles.� Today, architecture is obliged to concentrate on the immediate problems presented by global threats on the state of the environment, economical solutions, providing efficient functional space, not beyond what is determined as a necessity, by a society which no longer perceives spatial awe of the sublime, without appreciation of spatial experience. It is not a formal problem, nor a problem of utility, nor is it a problem due to the economy, but rather a problem of translation; Translation between the discipline and the public sphere, from conception to representation to construction, and a translation that provides a rhetoric, a desire. Is the future of architecture left to produce minimal solution, simply building rather than Architecture? Has the idea of progress left the discipline for good?
Scale
In 1914, Sant’Elia writes what is still relevant in the discipline today;
“We have lost the sense of the monumental, the massive, the static, and we have enriched our sensibilities with a taste for the light and practical. We no longer feel ourselves to be the men of the cathedral and the ancient moot halls, but men of the Grand Hotels, railway stations, giant roads, colossal harbors, covered markets, glittering arcades, reconstruction areas and salutary slum clearances.... [W]e must abolish the monumental and the decorative, we must resolve the problem of modern architecture without cribbing photographs of China, Persia and Japan nor imbecilizing ourselves with Vitruvian rules... We must depreciate the importance of facades, transfer questions of task out of hte field of petty moldings, fiddling captials and insignificant proticos.... It is time to have done with funeral commemorative architec; architecture must be something more vital than that, and we can best begin to attain that something by blowing sky-high all those monuments....” Sant’Elia; preface Messagio in La Citta Nuova The project investigates modes of perception of form, function and representation via scale. The shifts in scale present issue of defining experiential meanings of use, volume, quantity, but even more so of impact. The intent is to work within a series of scales and sites in order to produce proposition for provoking potential, questioning the meaning of each typology’s perception of use and spatial comprehension.
“The revitalization of the building art can only come from construction” Mies Van Der Rohe, With Infinite Slowness Arises the Great Form Realizationis inherent in demand. The economy cannot be blamed for people spend money on what they desire. Popular demand is not only interested in what is cost efficient, at least this is true in other fields. However buildings today are evaluated almost exclusively in terms of economic restraint, effective scheduling and provided sustainable services. What about critique, experience, aesthetics?
Function
Narrative of Use
Function serves as a dislocated signifier, an embodiment of an idea, as a device which is absolutely inert and without use. The use is to stimulate desire, as a communicative experience of space. If ornamentation is communicative in its utility, than the proposal becomes purely ornamental in order to succeed functionally, as a provocation of the skeptical as well as the potentials of opportunity.
“Projects are almost invariably defined for the designer based on occupancy type. A client almost always comes to a designer with a defined need for a facility. The use of that facility determines the occupancy classification”
Jesse Reiser writes critically of programmed space; “People have a tendancy to confuse material constructs for the practices that take place in them... There is a certain agreement we have that when we walk into an office, we will work. On an ultimate level there is no material compulsion to conform in that way - on a pratical level, one could do anything in a restaurant in the office even though 99% behave otherwise”
Typology: A celebration of the generic
The provocations are divided by type according to occupancy:
Trifle: The trifle functions at the scale of an object, one which can be held in the palm of one’s hand. It is understood as a closed whole, rather than a series of parts. It is temporal - able to fold up and put in one’s pocket, as a trinket, a souvenir, a memory.
Prosopoopeia; The fabrication services an occupancy load of one, allowing a singular spatial experience. It is understood as a whole, while it functions as a volumetric surface. The intimate scale allows for simultaneous comprehension and wonder. Concatenation: At the scale of a 20 storey building, the concatenation acts as a series of spaces, filling a definable edge - a closed system. The building functions as an assembly space, for the purpose of internal observation, of the building itself. It is temporal in that there exist multiple concatenations which travel from site to site, leaving a residue of foundation behind for an unknown future use. The occupant is able to inhabit, yet there are unattainable voids provoking imagination and desire.
Ubiquitous Void:The unfathomable extents of the systemmic defines the ubiquitous void. The whole is undefined, appreciated as a limitless series of parts. The purpose of the system is to create continuous variance within a restrained grid structure. The occupiable space is limitless, as is possible use. The ubiquitous void is architecture, a container, an organizational system, a provocation.
The utility becomes an argument for experience rather than some utopian attempt for the ideal, intending promotion for the dialogue that is architecture, or at the very least, its last words. The program, then is not rigorous in terms of function, however in terms of experience required to fulfill the purpose as a glorified series of voids. It becomes prescriptive in the way that advertisement is articulate and thoughtfully composed to generate a reaction. The objective becomes a problem of translation as well as interpretation, within a series of scales.
IBC Chapter 2 Definitions: Section 202 Occupiable space: “A room or enclosed space designed for human occupancy in which individuals congregate for amusment, education or similar purposes or in which occupants are engaged at labor, and which is equipped with means of egress and light and ventilation facilities meeting the requirements of this code”
Each Provocation type serves occupation in a rather distinct manner; despite recreating a repeating form at a different scale. The point is not for the miniaturization, or for versions of a generic sameness, but rather a realization in the extremities of difference in comprehension and experience each scale involves. This in inclusive to the perceived used and the architectural expression at each scale, through a codification of materiality and techtonics of each scale inherent for constructed realization. Trifle: as object Group 0, type III construction
Prosopopeia: as sculpture/surface Group U, type V construction Concatenation: as building Group A-3, type I construction
Ubiquitous Void: as scaleless dimensionless, as idea Group F-2, type II construction
Site
The thesis is to exist in sequence, regardless parameters of scope, in series within the realm of imagination, physical and virtual reality, as conversation, referencing utopian pasts, dystopian futures, and as a parasite to the iconic and equally the mundane,
Sequential sites are necessary in terms of the objects travelling to continuously promote desire within a constrained period of time in each context, for the moment, in pursuit of capturing an audience so keen on instant gratification.
Parameters: The contextual relationships are based on the density of the site, however, the Provocation always exists in relative isolation. As a prosopopeia, it exists on the street, within an open field, under a bridge, in an interior, etc. as a three dimensional propaganda effort in the public realm. As concatenation, it exists at least 30 feet from another building footprint. As ubiquitous void, it envelops whole cities, digesting in pure image form.
Before Construction
Residue After
Trifle Group 0, type V [non-rated] construction
This group is for unoccupiable, non-structural, building-like objects. FDA approved 0.02 sf [.005 ft cubed] Occupant Capacity: 0
Occupiable via imagination
Site: the palm of your hand, your pocket Materiality: paper, plastic, chocolate
Use: souvenir, delicacy, business card, birthday card, stress ball, child’s play thing...
The trifle is able to be understood comprehensively as an object, unlike any other provocation type. The ability to understand the difference between a view from above and below and aside, and the ability to collapse the form, all makes it possible for an experience of comprehension of parts that make a whole. The carved void interior becomes obvious in study of the trifle, and yet it’s form is rarely understood as a cohesive space within.
Triile
Group 0, type V [non-rated] construction
This group is for unoccupiable, non-structural, building-like objects. FDA approved
0.02 sf [.005 ft cubed] Occupant Capacity: 0 Occupiable via imagination
Site: the palm of your hand, your pocket
Materiality: paper, plastic, chocolate
The triile functions at the scale of an object, objec one which can be held in the palm of one’s hand. It is understood as a closed whole, rather than a series of parts. It is temporal - able to fold up and put in one’s pocket, as a trinket, a souvenir, a memory.
Prosopopeia Group U, type III construction
“This group is for incidential buildings of an accessory nature. These structures are typically unoccupied except for short times... and are typically separate from and subservient to other uses� 9 sf [81ft cubed]
Occupant Capacity: 1
Site: as many as there are prosopopeias produced, spread over pedestrian areas on every continent. Quantity: The minimum number of prosopopeias are equal to that of the summation of the volumes of the existing quantity of concatenations, at a given moment. Production for each are inherent in supply and demand, after the first five concatenations are successfullly deployed Materiality: Plastic
Use: The scale of the individual type is used as a sculpture, street lamp, phone booth, 3-d advertisment, a sign, a shelving unit...
The prosopopeia works at the level of the individual in the way that it is understood as an object and yet only from the exterior. Because of the allowed point of view is limited at the scale of a person, the perception is limited in the comprehension of the series of spatial volumes enclosed within. As a sculpture, it is suggestive of unknown quantity and quality of interior spaces.
precast concrete slab foundation steel precut plates placed in tracks and welded
Prosopopeia Assembly Sequence
the rest of the steel plates placed with necessary bolts.
The prosopopeia remains for one month in a given location and is then removed to be reassembled elsewhere,
Concatenation Group A-3, type I construction
Assembly Occupancy type is chosen due to the public accessibility and spectacle provided by the structure. The program is similar to that of a cathedral, a circus tent, a observatory, a research lab, a viewing tower, a great hall, a convention center, an icon. Occupancy: 1 person per every 15 sq ft 2880 sf [345600 ft cubed] Occupant Capacity: 219
Site: sequential, multiple
Quantity: There are at least 5 Concatenations at any given moment in time, sited at 5 separate locations on Earth. Materiality: Steel, Glass
Enclosure Systems: 1HR fire rated envelope
Use: The building scale type can be used as a meeting place, museum, giftshop, circus, tourist attraction, bar, running track, marketplace, lecture hall, park folly, cathedral, rave club, dance hall, wedding chapel, for projected films, art work displays, advertisements, car exhibits...
The concatenation is explicit in its relationship to occupancy, not only through code qualifications and requirements, but through the way in which use and occupancy is understood at the scale of a building without specific function. Rather, the occupancy is inherent in the way the spaces are perceived, as either occupiable or visible voids, as difference between what is considered external and internal space, as experiencing what is otherwise the structural poche, as unrestricted possibility of use, as imaginative, as unobtainable, as space.
glass panel enclosure system attached with spider clips to steel plate structure
steel plate structure
glass tiled �looring
Although perceived as a wholistic entity, the Concatenation is made up a series of parts, of which form components to then construct the object. The poche of the structure would normally be uninhabitable, but in this case, the poche creates the spatial experiences within, forming imagined places within the structure that are not physically inhabited, yet viewed, drawing desire for the unobtainable void.
Concatenation Assembly Sequence
Type I Construction
8275 sf 551
Ubiquitous Void: Group F-2 type II construction
“Factory occupancies are defined in part by what they are not. The classification of Group F assumes that these are not public areas. The users are presumed to be familiar with their surroundings and not occasional visitors” 8497336320+/- sf [1566587767621+/- ft cubed] Occupant Capacity: increasing evermore
Site: the mind’s eye, Piranesi’s Campo Marzio, future cities, drawings
Materiality: poured concrete, pencil graphic, postcards, photographs, pre-fabricated assemblies Use: limitless, scaless, unable to be predetermined
The ubiquitous void is exactly as it is titled. It remains an idea, uncomprehensive, and indeterminate, a way of potential and impromptu opertunistic approach that is beyond the act of construction but moreso inherent to a lifestyle, a way of organization, a dimension.