Architectural discussion by Kostas Ipeirotis

architectural discussion

Title:

â&#x20AC;&#x153;ANAMNESIS: heritage activation through the reformative landscape.â&#x20AC;?

Definitions: Anamnesis noun, recollection (of previous history). the remembering of things from a supposed previous existence (often used with reference to Platonic philosophy). Synonyms, recollection/remembrance Weave

to compose a connected whole by combining various elements or details. to be or become formed or composed from the interlacing of materials or the combining of various elements. to move or proceed in a winding course or from side to side.

Reformative

a change for the better; an improvement. To improve by alteration, correction of error, or removal of defects; put into a better form or condition. action to improve social or economic conditions without radical or revolutionary change.

Heritage noun, property that is or may be inherited; an inheritance. valued objects and qualities such as cultural traditions, unspoiled countryside, and historic buildings that have been passed down from... synonyms, inheritance/legacy.

CONTENTS

A. Development of main theoretical problem

B. Definitions of theoretical/ideological agenda C. Ideological position: 1. -Philosophy, sociology, cultural studies/main thinkers 2. -Art: Main artists 3. -Architecture: Main Buildings/precedents/architects

31 41 53

Note: All references are embeded within the text

‘‘One cannot participate in a conversation without first listening to what has been said before, listening to what others have to say, and speaking only to get the discourse going.’’

Corner J., (1999), ‘Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Theory’, p.46, Princeton Architectural Press, USA

INTRODUCTION

The project explores mechanisms of soil remediation treatments as a means to re-activate, expose and as a result preserve and builduppon the existing heritage of Ursus, inter-twined with socioecological and economical changes. The mechanisms required to perform the ground works demand a laborious process that engages with the local community. The formation of the landscape integrates treatments in a phased development, bridging between land-form and built form. The notion of connectivity acquires an important role in merging the new ground into a continuous network of programmes, activities and spaces. The project development comes as a response to two main conditions generated by the rapid urbanisation and economic instability: The first is of an environmental span, generated by the removal of industries that leave behind vast land of contaminated post-industrial soil; while the other one is of a social span, triggered by deterioration of the factoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former activity and economic prosperity. The integration of soil remediation urgency to a phased introduction of layered activities on site, taking into account the social implications triggered by these developments is sought throughout the project.

Ursus Factory area indicated within dashed red area on 1944 map above.

CONTEXT

The remnants of the post-industrial site have left many vast spaces and structures, former factories and processing plants, empty, creating on the map a patchwork of voids and infills. Currently the political situation spans between two sides: 1) Re-industrialisation, supported by the Association for the Development of Ursus, currently operating within prosperous business standards and 2) Utopia, meaning creation of the ‘typical’ capital city’s masterplanning model for a sub-urban district such as Ursus, supported by Celtic Developments. The developers (Celtic) are aligning themselves according to the governmental agenda for the post-industrial city in order to exploit the strategic goals of house building for a new ‘bedroom city’ where everyone commutes to the centre for work within a service economy. The association for the development of Ursus (Energetyka) are seeking to grow and retain the amount of industrial activity on site. Key arguments to keep industry within an urban context are that it counters sprawl, it reduces air pollution, traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. By supporting a resilient and diverse urban economy, industry makes cities more appealing places to live and to work.

Ursus Factory as of today. Although the area marked within the red line is significantly larger than 1944, within the factoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s landscape there are a lot of vast, vacant brownfield sites.

CONTEXT Ursus factory, historically has played a significant role affecting environmental and social logics related to geographical aspects of the location of the site being peripheral and peri-urban (In fact, it is almost a peninsula surrounded on three sides by farmland with a distinctive blurring of boundaries between rural and urban) as well as economic impacts on a city/regional scale. In regards to the environmental logic, post-industrial sites are left empty and contaminated by past productive activity of Ursus tractor factory. Due to almost nonexistent environmental considerations during its ‘Golden Era’ (pre WWII) Ursus factory achieved economic vitality while at the same time impacted heavily on the land by contaminating it. During pre-Ursus factory era the existing villages’ economy was mainly based around agricultural production. The productive land was a ‘perfomative’ land based in agriculture related to people’s activity with it. In contrast during the capitalisation and growth of the industry (Ursus factory), mechanization took place and industrial production boomed. Therefore it could be argued that the productive land remained ‘perfomative’ though based on industrial operations and people’s activity on it.

Inauguration of the Acoustic Walk through former ZPC Ursus site (21 April 2013), Traktorzystów street (PKP Ursus station) This project aims to address Ursus residents - everybody is welcome to this sentimental journey. I is an acoustic ‘return’ to the past glory days, but also the possibility to get acquainted with the place of such a unique history. Anyone who is interested will be able to get familiarized with resumes of their neighbors, as well as learn many interesting facts about this factory area, which probably soon will change for good. Former employees of ZPC ‘Ursus’ will share memories about their non existing (anymore) workplace, nostalgically returning to the period of great prosperity of the factory. Web link: http://www.ursus.warszawa.pl/index.php?dzial=aktualnosci&id=1531&powrot=0

Urban Strategy Appraisal

DEVELOPMENT theoretical agenda

In walking around the tractory site, an immediate observation of symptoms relating to the political situation, the perception of non-use, was more than likely grounded in the apparent lack of inhabitation of some buildings, plots and inbetween spaces. This perception, in some cases, was appropriate, however in other cases was very much an assumption and did not relate to either the activity within or the value of that activity. In the context of the legal arguement which contests this designation of non-functional - the error [assumption] appears to be based on a cursory glance at the external situation, rather than an indepth investigation of use, inhabitation and value. The investigations from the Urban Strategy led us to diagnose two roots in this problem: The first is the blank faรงade > the mega-monolithic and homogenous surface of the inhumane scale that belied what was actually happening inside. On the surface, there is little that manifests the richness of productivity inside, not to mention the immaterial stories - hertiage, socio-cultural and economic impact, networks and synergies that contribute to the sense of a place. The second root is the appearance of abandonment resulting in dereliction and decay [= devaluing]. The spaces between buildings are those that people most engage with on a level that is perhaps less aware than the sort of engagement within. Thus, any sort of future for the tractory must be based on an engagement, which is likely to be based on a positive valuation which may be social, economic or cultural. This process of valuation could be a manipulation which leads to a sense of responsibility or ownership - a mechanism to provoke an indignation [and potentially a fiercely protection] and/or evoke memory [and again protection?].

Main enquires How can future urban development integrate with contaminated soil treatments and reindustrialisation? Can soil remediation be regarded as a repeatable module that puts forward new ground morphologies, where connectivity allows the development of a built fabric specific to site conditions? Can productive and recreational value be added to the environmental remediation of the brownfields, creating new connections and ecological networks? Could a main driving force co-exist along an underlying future vision?

DEVELOPMENT theoretical agenda Ursus has always been in association with productivity - both in a material way [tractors, tanks etc] and an immaterial way [solidarity] and it is proposed that productivity needs to continue to be at the heart of Ursusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; identity. This exploration of a series of processes and logics weaved together acting as catalysts, might ultimately lead to a more coherant, unified and synergetic Ursus. Where places of production and consumption are integral in everyday life, and where the people of the district can appreciate the rich heritage of the place and begin to form a vision of what the future might be. Perhaps a future where Ursus reverses its bedroom city/commuter town trajectory and focuses more on becoming its own destination place. A place that breeds diversity and activity - a test ground. Production is perfomative and it links with identity as place can be defined by its operations and when these operations are tied with the landscpae, the landscape itself becomes an extention of this identity, it becomes a productive landscape. The analysis begins on how preservation of the nature of activity(-ies) can be achieved focusing on social and economic vitality. As a result the underlying theme that forms the basis of the theoretical agenda is how the ground is treated and how the restoration of the productive capacity of the landscape is achieved. That is explored through a series of processes, via remediation, re-industrialisation, production etc. all weaved together to reformate the factoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heritage, currently in stasis.

Investing in the ground ‘‘David Harvey’s notion of the ‘spatial fix’ in which material processes in the built environment and the ground itself are repeatedly used up for the purposes of capital investment. This can be to the detriment of the quality of the land itself, which is often abandoned after a period of time as polluted and unusable brownfield sites; while available resources are bled dry. It is a situation that has been worsened over the last few decades with the emphasis on entrepreneurial and intensive modes of urbanisation.’’

Remediation ‘‘it is more than a problem solving exercise but a type of ‘groundwork’ that provides opportunities to generate artificial topographies with the formal capacity to structure relations between environmental, social, cultural and economic factors.’’

(Spencer D., Architectural Design magazine, Volume 82, Issue 4, p. 32, July/August 2012, ‘Investing in the Ground: Reflections on Scarcity, Remediation and Obdurate Form’) Article first published online: 17 JUL 2012

Heritage

DEVELOPMENT theoretical agenda

There are two basic clear positions about preservation regarding architecture, which can be characterized by Ruskin and Viollet-le-Duc understandings of this concept. For Viollet-le-Duc, “to restore a building is not to preserve it, to repair, or rebuild it; it is to reinstate it in a condition of completeness that could never have existed at any given time”: depicting somehow that the object never will become what it was at the time of its original completion. On the other hand, Ruskin postulates about ancient buildings that “we have no right whatever to touch them. They are not ours. They belong partly to those who built them, and partly to all the generation of mankind who are to follow us.” A position that in clearly opposition to Viollet-le-duc does not allow any change on the heritage but on the contrary calls for not even interacting with it beyond mere observation. In 1983, the National Heritage Conference in United Kingdom defined heritage as ‘that which a past generation has preserved and handed on to the present and which a significant group of population wishes to hand on to the future.’ Again dealing with the heritage as an object that must be almost isolated and treated as an untouchable art piece along time. The next decade, David Herbert in his book Heritage, Tourism and Society proposed a much more complex idea, affirming that “heritage places include historic buildings or monuments which bear the distinctive imprint of human history. Their interest may derive from architecture or design, from historical significance, or from a combination of these attributes. Heritage places are linked with people, events, activities and, in a wider sense, with cultures, societies and economies.” Adding in this way to the definition, all the interactions of the object of study with society, considering these as part of the preservation.

Part III, Culture, Conflict and Inheritance: the Tangible and the Intangible, web link: http://dspace.bucks.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/handle/10239/128/Part%20III.pdf?sequence=5

RESULTS OF SABOTAGE ACTIONS Sabotage actions of groups I II III of battalion ‘Miotła’ and group commanded by engineer Marian Okrasa on P.Z.INŻ ‘URSUS’ (1315.01.1945) prevented from firing the explosives which Nazis installed on main pillars of buildings No.: 4, 10, 30, 37, 41, 57, 59, 67

PZInż - National Institute of Engineering - on the map from 1945 routs of groups disarming bombs (mines) in the factory.

DEVELOPMENT theoretical agenda Several institutions and organizations are involved in the process of recognizing, or ‘declaring’ heritage. However, there are riot universally established mechanisms of dealing with the heritage preservations. And more relevant to the urban realm, there is not a clear answer of how to allow the interaction of what needs to remain and what needs to change. Regarding this, Koolhaas says that “as the scale and importance of preservation escalates each year, the absence of a theory and the lack of interest invested in this seemingly remote domain become dangerous. The current moment has almost no idea how to negotiate the coexistence of radical change and radical stasis that is our future.’’ [please refer to section C for further details, p.49] Unlike traditional paradigms, considering heritage as an untouchable element, this approach allows a deeper interaction of society with its heritage. If not is fair to say that focuses exactly in what is necessary to preserve that is this interaction and not the object itself. At the same time, working together with programmatic issues, it forces to deal with a multi-layer scheme in which landscape plays a unifier role. Landscape gets loaded of program and becomes the platform for development. It is able to perform as a strategic element, flexible enough to ensure protection while buffering specific areas, and generating the groundwork for infrastructure and development. Through the process, this “landscape infrastructure’’ will also set the base platform for urban development.

Rem Koolhaas / OMA : CRONOCAOS preservation, web link: http://www.designboom.com/architecture/rem-koolhaas-oma-cronocaos-preservation-tour/

1924

Figure ground maps of Ursus Factory development. Many of the buildings of the Factory managed to survive WWI & WWII demolitions, although nowadays the same buildings are endangered of demolition by Celtic Developments that has already started removal of some of the building fabric on site.

1938

2010

DEVELOPMENT theoretical agenda Forgetting about the object of preservation as an element, and understanding that what needs to be preserved is the interactions and relations with society, permits urban development to happen. This kind of development is not anymore a simple urban growth but one of the elements of the active preservation since workers, commercial areas, and accommodations are required in order to enhancing the productive activities related with the site. In this sense, the existing economic activities will define the character and the logics of urban interaction within these new spaces. The strategic management of landscape is evident. As a buffer element, as infrastructure generator for facilities, but beyond any specific tactics, as an integrator medium. Reaffirming this idea of the relationship between buildings and landscape, Heneghan Peng adds: â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no longer a building and landscape but building becomes landscape and the landscape itself remains spectacular and iconic.â&#x20AC;? [please refer to Art section, p.42, Debbie Lyddon]

DEFINITIONS ideology

“Capitalisation of Experience”: The main outcomes of this workshop helped to define the main framework of the ideological agenda in which the project is developed. Engaging people in a story and developing the site along with people are the main driving forces reinforcing the theoretical development, previously mentioned, of ownership, social and economic justice [Further development in following chapters]. (Michael Westley Workshop, 08/02/2013) Tying-in schools’ ethos on People, Place and Tectonics main principles of approaching architecture the formation and development of the project is practised based on the main ideological agenda. [see diagram on the left] ‘‘...We believe in real people, real places and real projects; inherent in this is an engagement with the complexity and vitality that is intrinsic to the reality of everyday life, giving rise to a broadened sense of sustainable architecture responsive to cultural, ecological, economic, political and social concerns and aims. Concurrent with these values is a willingness to question, to take risks; this intent includes being open to questioning received paradigms, while at the same time valuing an understanding of and working with the past.’’

Plymouth University, Master of Architecture course overview, Web link: http://www1.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/3420/Pages/CourseOverview.aspx

The Landscape Urbanism Reader Charles Wladheim

DEFINITIONS theory

The concept of scale as a representation of spatial difference can be used to engage relationships between architecture, landscape, and city across a range of formal, ecological, social and other criteria. Scale is an issue inherent in all urban landscapes that is barely addressed in design theory or practice. As a conceptual design tool, which can refer to spatial or temporal dimensions of an object or process, it supports a relational approach to built environmentsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a way of articulating differences that can cross between practices without being subsumed by or allowing any one to dominate. While there is no inherent assignable scale to architecture, landscape, or city, there is a range of scales associated with each set of practices. Architectural scales traverse a field from the interior to the exterior of a building, from its smallest detail to its overall presence, rarely exceeding the distance from which a project is actually visible. Urban scales extend beyond what is visible from a particular site to scales at which planning has occurred that may have implicated and/or produced that site. Landscape scales also pertain to areas much larger than any specific site, encompassing multiple ecological systems.

‘‘However repressed by a development process that saw landscaping as an optional ingredient, the discipline of landscape design became more and more focused on the primary victim in this situation: the site itself. Landscape architects began to look more deeply and more creatively at the unique specificity of sites, especially at the borders and edges, the areas in between that were neglected by architects and planners. In doing so, landscape architects soon learned to take instant advantage of any opportunity to repair the damage done and to restore something of memory and a sense of place to these otherwise razed sites.’’

Corner J., (1999), ‘Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Theory’, p.50, Princeton Architectural Press, USA

Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Theory James Corner

DEFINITIONS theory

Reclaiming the site There are four steps in the study and projection of site-based landscapes: Anamnesis, or recollection of previous history; preparation for and the staging of new conditions; three-dimensional sequencing; and relational structuring. ‘Anamnesis views the land and public space as an expression of ancient culture, or as a palimpsest that evidences all of the activities that contibuted to the shapping of that particular landscape and no other. Upon the tracks overlaid by the march of time, site interpretation detects potentialities to be nurtured and passed on.’ [further related discussion on following chapter] Preparation is a correlate of the anamnesis principle. This concept constructs landscape as a process rather than a product. Consequently, any project must assume the role of an open ended strategy, which inanvertendly is what the Urban Strategy concluded as in staging or setting up future conditions. Carrying this notion forward the project, being itself in a process of becoming, driven by the landscape processes and programmes, is fully bound into the effects of nature and time: the cycle of seasons and the passage of time; prosesses of remediation, weathering, hydrology and succession... Thus, in reading the site as a living and dynamic organism, the project is able to revitalise and incorporate once abandoded site into present and larger fields of effect.

Corner J., (1999), ‘Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Theory’, p.45, Princeton Architectural Press, USA

Nested Scales (reference to Urban Strategy) At one point in his analysis of space, Lefevre presents a diagram of nested scales, which he developed through the examination of a Japanese spatial order. This diagram supports a formulation of the city as a space of differences through two complementary strategies, which together produce dynamic relationships. Its first innovation is to introduce a transitional scale (T), which functions as a mediator between private (P) and global (G). Its second innovation is that each of these scales is integrated within the other two.

Henry Lefevreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diagram of Nested Scales. (Image link: http://urbanchoreography.files. wordpress.com/2011/03/lefebvre.jpg)

The production of Space Henri Lefebvre

DEFINITIONS theory

Nested Scales & Relatedness These scales are: L = Local [private / short term] Situations, places and spaces that are private, intimate and most connected with the individual. The Urban Strategy considered interventions at both spatial and temporal scale. I = Intermediate [semi-public / medium term] Intermediate interventions were situated in the medium term of the strategy and are potential prognoses from the local/ meanwhile interventions. Intermediate proposals might require considerable more investment from either an internal or an external actor however the impact could be on local/intermediate/global actors/space/society. G = Global [public / long term] Concluding for Ursus, a local proposal might have a long term impact on the global through a chain of events, or a sequence of outcomes. Equally, decisions made at the global level can have a lasting impact on the local. In the Urban Strategy, we considered the global issues of climate change [energy, waste, water] and how that the local scale, Ursus, can contribute to this.

...a cyclical understanding of temporality and history. This is the place where past and future collide in the present moment. Lefebvre goes through these in some detail. A moment ‘defines a form and is defined by a form’, it has ‘a certain constancy over time, an element common to a number of instants, events, situations and dialectical movements (as in “historical moment”, “negative moment” or “moment of reflection”)’.

Elden S., (2004), ‘Understanding Henri Lefebvre, Theory and the Possible’, Continuum, London, UK Accessed electronically at: http://selforganizedseminar.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/elden-stuartunderstanding-henri-lefebvre-theory-and-possible.pdf

Understanding Henry Lefevre Stuart Elden

EXPLORATION

Philoshophy/Sociology

Form becomes the vehicle through which different possible urban scenarios are faced and challenged. The objective, on the one hand, is to avoid the pitfalls of a traditional masterplan as deterministic, controlled and inflexible, and on the other the looseness of an open framework catering to an infinite number of scenarios, able to host any brief or given future. Spatial fragmentation in today’s cities has been raised as “one of the main problems involving serious consequences for urban cohesion.” Fragmentation has been apparent in the traditional way of urban masterplanning, where zoning and programmes are governed by economic and political forces, and architecture is designed compulsively under a series of decisions. Location, form, density, and function of architecture are no longer thought as a media of communicating with the ground, but as an object attached to it. It becomes restricted by zoning and is over determined by economic benefits, following the masterplan guidelines and limitations ¡in a top-down manner. Architecture under this condition is detached from the surrounding and becomes merely another piece of the puzzle, unrelated most of the time to ground conditions. Questions of form and content are important; moments raise questions about the relation of social life and nature; and disrupt a simplistic boundary between nature on the one hand and society or culture on the other. If the event is historical, ‘it will leave traces. And we are going to become attached to this henceforth privileged phenomenon: the trace. And we shall try to understand the socalled historical event in terms of a series of things, revealed by traces.’

Meno: Platoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s character (an old teacher) and Socrates is challenged by Meno with what has become known as the sophistic paradox, or the paradox of knowledge

EXPLORATION

Philoshophy/Sociology

In philosophy, anamnesis (Ancient Greek: ἀνάμνησις) is a concept in Plato’s epistemological and psychological theory that he develops in his dialogues Meno and Phaedo, and alludes to in his Phaedrus. In Meno [image left], Plato’s character (an old teacher) is challenging Socrates with what has become known as the sophistic paradox, or the paradox of knowledge: Meno: And how are you going to search for [the nature of virtue] when you don’t know at all what it is, Socrates? Which of all the things you don’t know will you set up as target for your search? And even if you actually come across it, how will you know that it is that thing which you don’t know? Socrates’ response is to develop his theory of anamnesis. He suggests that the soul is immortal, and repeatedly incarnated; knowledge is actually in the soul from eternity, but each time the soul is incarnated its knowledge is forgotten in the shock of a crime. What one perceives to be learning, then, is actually the recovery of what one has forgotten. (Once it has been brought back it is true belief, to be turned into genuine knowledge by understanding.) And thus Socrates (and Plato) sees himself, not as a teacher, but as a midwife, aiding with the birth of knowledge that was already there in the student. The theory is illustrated by Socrates asking a slave boy questions about geometry. At first the boy gives the wrong answer; when this is pointed out to him, he is puzzled, but by asking questions Socrates is able to help him to reach the true answer. This is intended to show that, as the boy wasn’t told the answer, he could only have reached the truth by recollecting what he had already known but forgotten.

‘Anamnesis views the land and public space as an expression of ancient culture, or as a palimpsest that evidences all of the activities that contibuted to the shapping of that particular landscape and no other. Upon the tracks overlaid by the march of time, site interpretation detects potentialities to be nurtured and passed on.’

Corner J., (1999), ‘Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Theory’, p.45, Princeton Architectural Press, USA

EXPLORATION

Philoshophy/Sociology

Heidegger also expanded on Plato’s writtings related to the concept of anamneis and the related theories. Heidegger gives the following positive characterization of the relation between λήθη, pronounced lithi (forgetting) and αλήθεια, alithia (truth): “λήθη, forgetting as withdrawing concealment, is that withdrawal through which the essence of αλήθεια can alone and always directly be preserved and so remain unforgotten and unforgettable”. Αccording to Heidegger in another important aspect of his interpretation, it is because our relation to the being of beings must be a constant saving and preserving of unconcealment against concealment that Plato characterized this relation as ανάμνησις (anamnesis). “The ιδέα (idea) is the face with which at any time the seif-unconcealing being looks at human beings. The ιδέα (idea) is the presence of what comes to presence: the being of beings. But because αλήθεια is the overcoming of λήθη, the unconcealed must be saved in unconcealment and sheltered in it”. This saving of what is unconcealed from λήθη and in unconcealment is precisely what ανάμνησις (anamnesis) is. Heidegger therefore resists a “psychological” interpretation of ανάμνησις as the psychical act of “remembering” something that has been forgotten. Here it should be recalled that on Plato’s account all learning, all coming-to-know the ιδέα of something, is ανάμνησις. Not only things that we happen to have forgotten, but the being of anything whatsoever, can be known only in and through ανάμνησις. This means that every ιδέα is concealed in λήθη as soon as we are born and therefore can be known only through being retrieved and saved from this λήθη. What is at issue in ανάμνησις is not the play of psychological states but the strife and belonging-together of αλήθεια and λήθη.

ANAMNESIS: Visual interpretation of Platoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theory that humans possess knowledge from past incarnations and that learning consists of rediscovering that knowledge within us. Top sketch: MArch final year visual ideas, Bottom sketch: BA final year visual ideas. Note: Time period difference of 3 years, no previous recolection of the sketch done twice.

EXPLORATION

Philoshophy/Sociology

Through this enquiry into philoshopy, there are a couple of layers added to the depth of understanding into which this exploration has led to. The first is related to a personal understaning of how I personally perceive things and how the project developments aids to my architectural education. Based on Socrates and Plato (the teacher/student) concept , of the student asking questions to seek the answer (thereby ‘truth’), the final academic year concludes to that exact same point of asking questions. Through this enquiry a recollection of previous elements of my education have come into light that made me realise more where do I stand as a future architect. Knowledge may exist within us and by remembrance we can access it is what Plato’s anamnesis concept support and the image on the left becomes the proof in which the answers are sought within our learning. Altough the aim here is not to expand uppon philosophical theories it is a given chance that needs to be exploited in order to conclude my academic education with the best potential outcomes. The projects becomes an extention of my learning and personal realisations related to my architectural education. As a metaphor therefore the project develops on the same basis. By looking into the past (history) informed decisions are made for future development (knowledge) through remembrance. In essence by re-introducing industrialsiation back to Ursus through different means of production, the activity that takes place remembers the former vitality of the past (as a factory) in all political, social and economic principles, thus being true (αλήθεια) while gaining the insight knowledge on how to pursue in the future via anamnesis.

‘‘The difficulty to define clearly and precisely the complex and varied peripheral space of the city has led many to describe it through metaphors. Indicating them by negation , the periphery is not the city but it is no longer the country. To speak of it as a place of absence of meaning, rules, quality, identity, history, to designate it as a place of loss : here, the city loses the historical relationship between model building and urban form, the consistency of the tissues, the articulation of open spaces and soil.’’

Szczelina M., (April-May 2013) ‘Outskirts and suburbs’, The Review of Ischia n. 2 Accessed electronically at: http://www.ischiainsula.eu/difesa-belli/rassegna/rass-2013/rass02-13/ periferie.html

CONCLUSIONS

Philoshophy/Sociology

As a conclusion this architectural discussion touched uppon issues explored from a personal interest, extending to the architecural education Plymouth University is being built uppon. It is a response at current social conditions that shape the architectural professional on a global level as well as a projection on how Plymouth University’s architectural agenda corresponds to such conditions. We are not told the answers but by asking the right questions we reach the truth by recollecting what he had already known but forgotten.

‘‘Radical rejection of architecture’s autonomy is a rebellious gesture, and an expression of rage against mainstream architectural education visible in British universities. Interestingly, in Plymouth, architecture is contextualised not only in the field of social sciences, but also from a highly practical engineering perspective. There are always two questions: How is the building built?, and How does it affect society?

Szczelina M., (17 August 2011) ‘Revolution from the periphery’, Domus magazine, Accessed electronically at: http://www.domusweb.it/en/op-ed/2011/08/17/revolutionfrom-the-periphery.html

The formal language of these projects is rebellious and unpolished, rejecting the glossy uninhabited world portrayed in architectural magazines. The strength and ideological intransigence of this architecture lies in its content, and it will find a way to seduce us.’’ 41

A detail from Jannis Kounellisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s installation at Ambika p3

Jannis Kounellis at Tramway Gallery, Glasgow

All image copyrights belong to Tramway Gallery, Web link: http:// www.contemporaryartdaily.com/2012/09/jannis-kounellis-at-tramway/tjk-0712-0137/

EXPLORATION

Arte Povera

Art

‘the term properly centred on a group of Italian artists who attacked the corporate mentality with an art of unconventional materials and style.’ As an ideology and abstracted notion a parallel concept is pursued for the project, based around an unconventional material (industrial hemp), and (architectural) style in order to ‘attack’ the corporate mentality opposed to the development of Ursus Factory.

Jannis Kounellis (March 23, 1936, Piraeus, Greece) Contemporary artist based in Rome. Studied in art college in Athens until 1956 and at the Academia di Belle Arti in Rome. In 1963, Kounellis introduced found objects in his paintings, among them live animals but also fire, earth, burlap sacks, gold. He replaced the canvas with bed frames, doorways, windows or simply the gallery itself. In 1967, Kounellis was one of the artists that joined the Arte Povera movement theorised by Germano Celant. Gradually, Kounellis introduced new materials in his installations (propane torches, smoke, coal, meat, ground coffee, lead, found wooden objects, etc.). The gallery environment was replaced with historical (mostly industrial) sites.

Industrial Space

In Praise of Space: Georges Rousse

Disseminated in the photographic form, Rousseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is produced very much with the primary concept and material of space. The artist talks of how these spaces delve into the relationship between architecture and its resonating cultural and historical connotations and much strength of the work lies in a conversation about space and memory.

Image link: http://www.natashakayewhiffin. com/In-Praise-of-Space-Georges-Rousse

Large Marshscape – Black Loops and Diagonal line, Cloth, Stitch, Wax, approx. 28x20cms Image link: http://debbielyddon.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/large-3.jpg

Large Marshscape – Frayed Edge, Cloth, Stitch, Wax, approx. 28x20cms Image link: http://debbielyddon.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/large-5.jpg

‘‘I take a broad look at the notion of time and my investigations fall into two categories: 1. Duration – the measurement of time by counting; its sound, order and succession. 2. Change – the way materials or phenomena respond to a process or force and change.’’

All image copyrights belong to Debbie Lyddon, Web link: http://debbielyddon.wordpress.com/

Landscape

Debbie Lyddon, Contemporary Textiles

‘‘Our world is constantly changing and the natural order of things is for them to break down, erode and decay over time: cloth is able to record the traces and interactions of this degenerative process.’’ The collages (see opposite) have been inspired by the sights and sounds of the North Norfolk coast, specifically the area of saltmarsh between Wells-next-the-Sea and Cley-next-theSea. The work explores the idea of holding phenomena that happen over time in one space and considers how they can be expressed as static, silent works.

Sea Dyed Cloth

Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam, Hand Knitted Fiber Columns

BallNogues Studio, Spoc’s Blocks

Akiko Ikeuchi, The Silk Vortices

Chiharu Shiota, In Silence

Working with fiber and thread since the 70’s, influenced by Antonio Gaudi’s work, based on studies of ‘naturally’ curved forms (catenaries) as determined by gravity, turned upside down.

‘The complex system of overlapping catenary curves were cut and printed by a computercontrolled machine—Instal_lator with Variable Information Atomizing Module— that we designed and fabricated to yield “printed” visual and spatial effects.’

The installations are constructed from extremely delicate threads, and despite the chaotic appearance of the knotted webs Akiko plans each work as an architect would plan a building with precision blueprints that involve a complex internal framework.

In performances and installations she is preoccupied with remembrance and oblivion. Earth and water recall the lasting and the fleeting. “Memories can´t be rinsed away”, she claims.

Essential to each project is the “design” of the production process itself, with the aim of creating environments that enhance sensation, generate spectacle and invite physical engagement.

Fabrics, Textiles, Thread Visual Ingenuety

Recyclable chair, hand woven hemp thread pattern

‘hemp house’ by werner aisslinge Compressed hemp pulp technology

Concrete Colony is a site specific installation for the keystone festival bar during the sydney festival 2012. using an innovative concrete fabric material, concrete canvas, the installation is comprised of gracefully formed chairs, benches and ottomans, which offer both infrastructure and art to the festival bar.

Above: http://www.designboom.com/readers/archrival-concrete-colony/ Above right: http://www.buffalorising.com/2012/05/allison-adderley-marinea.html

Allison Adderley, (Marine A) â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The ambition for this thesis was to interrogate the relationship between the act of making and the design process. The final installation explores this through a reinterpretation of the casting process, creating a more integrated relationship between form and formwork. Here, the formwork used (a fusible fabric) is suspended, utilizing the existing site openings as anchoring points.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Materiality Concrete Fabric Formwork

Lancelot Coar is a researcher at the Center for Architectural Structures and Technology (CAST) at the University of Manitoba. His work at CAST focuses on innovative uses of conventional building materials in order to develop new architectural and structural potentials. His research explored the development of building systems using fabric formed concrete, fabric reinforced concrete, fabric reinforced ice structures, and flexible wood, steel, and fibreglass structures.

All images courtesy of Lancelot Coar, Web link: http://www.lancelotcoar.com/

Mark West Founding Director of C.A.S.T, the Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology, at the University of Manitoba. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology is an architectural research laboratory that embraces both the poetic and technical dimensions of architectural design. The work of C.A.S.T. seeks new boundaries for creative thought, design, and building technology. We do this work through physical explorations of materials, tools and building methods, the study of natural law, and the free play of imaginationâ&#x20AC;?

All images courtesy of Mark West Web link: http://unit03-metamorphosis.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/mark-west-cast.html

Rem Koolhas Cronocaos: Heritage and heresy

Between Art & Architecture

“Through our respect for the past, heritage is becoming more and more the dominant metaphor for our lives today – a situation we call cronocaos . We are trying to find what the future of our memory will look like”. ‘Preservation’ is a manifesto in space, understood as of simultaneous political, economic and social relevance. The OMA curated the exhibition where visitors are exposed to phenomena and to stories, which take preservation as an instrument of architectural thinking and invention.

All images courtesy of AJ magazine, Web link: http://www.architectsjournal. co.uk/culture/cronocaos-heritage-and-heresy/8613616.article

‘‘If the starting point of the atelier’s vision of the world is the relationship that ties people to their environment, as parts to the whole, then it is senseless to divide working scales: a building is worth a city.’’ Atellier Kroll, Web link: http://homeusers.brutele. be/kroll/auai-whoswho.htm

All images courtesy of Domus magazine, Web link: http://www.domusweb.it/en/ architecture/2010/06/30/lucien-krollutopia-interrupted.html

Lucien Kroll Participatory architecture

EXPLORATION Architecture

“An open process becomes the motivation for its form and complexity. This can’t be reduced simply to the production of an architectural object or even to an aesthetic, but is if anything the prototype of a radical overturning of architecture.” This brief remark of the architect Lucien Kroll sums up his architectural approach, the visual aspect of his work initially looks totally anarchic but beneath it is a serious attempt to create buildings that do not impose on their users but reflect an ecologically sensitive and contextually unique design process. Out of the “architecture of relationships” (intended not to be a formal architecture but as it could in a general sense be a “software architecture”) the atelier deducts a genuine unconcern for the formal aspect of his buildings-cities. The atelier’s natural instinct drives it to respect people (who really are future inhabitants of his buildings, not anyone walking in the street) at a level that it refuses to impose its way of life by means of a closed architecture.

Four views of the “attics”. The top two floors were divided between students who had activities in common and who also personally designed their spaces and furniture. When Atelier Kroll subsequently built the interiors, they carefully followed the indications of the future inhabitants.

Philadelphia Navy Yards, before and after. Web link: http://www.msrltd.com/projects/urbanoutfitterscorporatecampus

EXPLORATION Architecture

Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle Location: Philadelphia, USA Type: Adaptive reuse Size: 341,000 square feet

In the early 2000s, Urban Outfitters had 600 employees spread out over numerous buildings in downtown Philadelphia. This dispersion of the team was causing problems and the decision was made to consolidate in a campus at the abandoned Navy Yards. Urban Outfitters CEO, Richard Hayne, wanted a space that reflected his companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s designs and products as well as fit the needs of the employees for space and creativity. While the renovation cost $100 million, the buildings only cost $1 to buy and much of the materials were reused and reclaimed into the 330,000 sq ft newly renovated space.

EXPLORATION Architecture

Richard Haag Gas Works Park Location: Seatle, USA Type: Landscape

Gas Works Park was one of the earliest remediated sites in which materials of environmental concern were kept onsite and incorporated into the design of the project. A gasification plant occupied this space between 1906 and 1956 leaving hydrocarbons and tar. Were it not for the recycling of much of the plant building and surrounding soils, this project could not have been completed because of the great cost of removal. Moreover, the application of green remediation meant that these vast amounts of recycled material were not contributing to secondary environmental issues. Gas Works Park in Seattle. Photo courtesy of the Cultural Landscape Foundation Web link: http://archrecord.construction. com/news/2013/01/130128-National-Register-of-Historic-Places-Recognizes-TwoPost-War-Parks.asp

Parc de la Villette axonometric drawing Web link: http://www.archdaily.com/92321/adclassics-parc-de-la-villette-bernard-tschumi/

The objectives of the competition were both to mark the vision of an era and to act upon the future economic and cultural development of a key area in Paris. As described in the competition, La Villette was not intended as a simple landscape replica; on the contrary, the brief for this “urban park for the 21st century” developed a complex program of cultural and entertainment facilities. La Villette could be conceived of as one of the largest buildings ever constructed — a discontinuous building but a single structure nevertheless, overlapping the site’s existing features and articulating new activities. It opposes the landscape notion of Olmstead, widespread during the 19th century, that “in the park, the city is not supposed to exist.” Instead, it proposes a social and cultural park with activities that include workshops, gymnasium and bath facilities, playgrounds, exhibitions, concerts, science experiments, games and competitions, in addition to the Museum of Science and Technology and the City of Music on the site.

EXPLORATION Architecture

Bernard Tschumi Parc de la Villette Location: Paris Type: Landscape Time: 1982-1998

Bernard Tschumi designed the Parc de la Villette with the intention of creating a space that exists in a vacuum, something without historical precedent. The park strives to strip down the signage and conventional representations that have infiltrated architectural design and allow for the existence of a “non-place.” This non-place, envisioned by Tschumi, is the most appropriate example of space and provides a truly honest relationship between the subject and the object.

Competition drawings and images. Web link: http://www.fieldoperations.net/

Fresh Kills is one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest domestic landfills. Two of four mounds were capped in 1997, but the remaining two were left open for dumping until 2001. Plans to cap the remaining two mounds and turn the entire site into a park and monument for 9/11 are under way. The cap will consist of 5 layers and a landfill gas collection system will be used to generate domestic energy. In this case the use of green remediation will not only prevent the unnecessary expenditure of energy, but will in fact, produce new energy.

EXPLORATION Architecture

James Corner Fresh Kills Location: Staten Island Type: Landscape, remediation Time: 2001

Podgarić

Kosmaj

Tjentište

Kruševo

Kozara

Grmeč

Ilirska Bistrica

Jasenovac

Niš

Knin

Kolašin

Kadinjača

25 Abandoned Yugoslavia Monuments

EXPLORATION Architecture

These structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place (like Tjentište, Kozara and Kadinjača), or where concentration camps stood (like Jasenovac and Niš). They were designed by different sculptors (Dušan Džamonja, Vojin Bakić, Miodrag Živković, Jordan and Iskra Grabul, to name a few) and architects (Bogdan Bogdanović, Gradimir Medaković...), conveying powerful visual impact to show the confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic. In the 1980s, these monuments attracted millions of visitors per year, especially young pioneers for their “patriotic education.” After the Republic dissolved in early 1990s, they were completely abandoned, and their symbolic meanings were forever lost. From 2006 to 2009, Kempenaers toured around the ex-Yugoslavia region (now Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.) with the help of a 1975 map of memorials, bringing before our eyes a series of melancholy yet striking images. His photos raise a question: can these former monuments continue to exist as pure sculptures? On one hand, their physical dilapidated condition and institutional neglect reflect a more general social historical fracturing. And on the other hand, they are still of stunning beauty without any symbolic significances.

All monumentsare constructed mainly out of concrete where weathering has exposed the march of time. Images link: http://www.cracktwo. com/2011/04/25-abandoned-soviet-monuments-that-look.html