Dissertation | Context Report | Lawrence Richards | 2012

BA Design Lawrence Richards Contex t Repor t 15t h J a n u a r y 2 012

Th i ng s l l Apart: a i F n e y d f t h u a l i o s es i g Tq o n a ch

Lawrence Richards

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“good a rc hi tec ture e rec ted a nd burned a rc hi tec ture of all i t pe r fec tly show consumption

– Be rna rd Event Cities,

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mus t be conceived, in vain. the grea tes t is the f ire worke r’s ws the g ra tui tous of pleasure.�

d Tsc humi MIT Press, 1995

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Co n te n t s _ Beginnings Chapter 1: Neo-entropolist manifesto

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Raised on chaos

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Defining Entropy

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Entropy reigns

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describing forms

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Fire workers in action

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The tipping point

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Quandry of the roof

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Transparency of the crane

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Dealing with decay

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destruction improving safety

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Morality in architecture

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The humble instruction

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Chapter 2: Curators of disaster

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The ‘hairdryer’

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the survivalists endeavour

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Experiencing disaster

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Back to basics

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Play it safe / play it cool

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Escape tools

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Sitting it out

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The memorial

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memorial experiments

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Black box syndrome

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The brick box

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The myth of disaster

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Chapter 3: Architects of myth Introducing myth

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A life in myth

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Mythical situations

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Can you drink yourself to safety?

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Believing in the myth

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Chapter 4: Conclusions + bibliography

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Life and death and design

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Conclusion

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Bibliography / books

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Video

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Visits

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Internet / chats

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Images

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en·tr o·py n. pl. en·tr o·pies “Inev it able and s teady deter ior ation of a sys tem or society” 1

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http://w w w.thefreedictionar y.com/

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“If th e re wa s a nice pla ce to live, may b e th e re wou ld n’t b e this mo rbid i n d u s tr y i n te re s t w i th blow i ng thi ng s u p” Bob Hoskins speculating that so much money is wasted on weaponar y (then 1980) and blowing things up rather than fixing what already existed. He was right.

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– Bob Hoskins 2

Omnibus, 1980:BFI

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The neoentropolist manifesto

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It is quite accurate to say that in our current acclimatised state of living we are truly etherised to the real feeling of life. Our nannied existence has led to an apathy towards the world we perceive.

We are proposing a new way of thinking of living and furnishing ones life. This is the rise of the neoentropologist.

How should one act as a neo-entropologist? You have a duty to explore and interpret the entropy of the world. It is common for the thought of the mild mannered person to simply build and encourage a comfortable state of affairs, devoid of the awareness of the collapsing state of the world around us. But surely this is as detrimental to society as is being overly cautious? When we negate to explore what the worst case scenario is, we simply take things for being. Look around, is not everything you see crumbling back to the very materials it came from!

In the media destruction is heightened and hyperbolised. Did you ever stop to think how much great publicity is garnered by simply knocking a structure to the ground? And now, when you see something similar, even bearing a slight resemblance to the form or action of collapse do you not think of the incident it first brought to your attention?

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The neo entropolists manifesto

What If we were to take destruction, the razing of the world to an extreme? Not for sadistic pleasure, but merely to see what it looked like, to understand it better, how it fell, how things break, how things don’t work!

More importantly how would it feel? Would it be akin to a limit experience bespoke by Bataille or Foucault.

Would it be “emphasising the qualities of intense ineffable experience?”3 I am talking the very extremes of construction, dissection and demolition, and not necessary in that order.

There are beautiful forms at work when we choose to deconstruct our world that we have created. Is that not why men spend hours dismantling engines only to put them back together? If we were keen enough to act upon our instincts to keep the status quo, we might simply never know how to fix things!

What a pitiful state the human race would be in.

We are not gods; but we are creators, and by that very action we are the destroyers too. We have to choose when to destroy and when to keep. I never said this was a simple thing to remember! There is without a doubt a massive superabundance of responsibility on the mechanic to protect his users from the inevitable pitfalls that can befall a project. However, did you not ever think, what if the greatest perils are not known?

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Michel Foucault, Jeremy R. Carrette, Religion and culture, p 23

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“you t a l k a bou t bu i ldi ngs a s i f t he re wa s a sor t of t h ri l l e le me nt ” – Richards Rogers 4

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Imagine Richard Rogers: BBC, 1997

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http://w w w.patternpeople.com/interiors-the-festival-of-britain-revival/

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The neo entropolists manifesto

[Sp eaking ab out the 1 9 5 1 fes tiv al of Br it ain ‘skylon’ ins t allation] “It did ex ac tly what it w as meant to do; simply hang up in the air and as tonish” – J acques Br unix, Maur ice Har vey 5

What good could all this new thinking do? It was said about the festival of britain 1951 – “It may have taught the men that are building our city something. It may have given impetus to new forms of thinking here in Britain.”

The Neo-entropolist is concerned with Transient instances, not lasting memories. They are interested in the present, and should not concern themselves with what becomes of a struc ture. However that is not to say they would be morally absolved. Morality is integral.

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Jacques Brunix, Maurice Har vey, Brief City: 1952, BFI

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Fro m a n ea rly ag e a n i n te re s t in co n s tru c tio n a n d colla pse wa s ga rn e re d – Everyone will have a memory of playing with a toy up until the very limits of its preordained usage, that which the instruction manual dictates is true.

After these limits we are lead to either discard the toy or invent new and more purposeful narratives based on it. I myself can vividly remember at an early age creating a bridge over the bath – much before any exposure to a real life tragedy or man made engineering disaster – and being in rapture as the scene unfolded.

Paul Chaney’s slug ‘o’ metrics, distance the user from the ac tion, but build tension.

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Iconic bridge scene from ‘The general’

It is important at this stage to delineate where the responsibility of the user and the inevitable forces [of nature] come in. It was important for me to set the parametres of the ‘disaster’ and not to be complicit in the outcome, because - for some reason – that was more desirable. To know what the outcome would roughly be, and yet to let it come down to randomised outcome was more interesting. Like in the case of Paul Chaney’s ‘Slug o’metric device’6 where the outcome is is intended, yet the responsibility comes down to an automated or gravitational law. Chaney develops the devices to distance himself from the action of killing the slugs, however in effect he puts more tension into the act and the resultant outcome has more satisfaction (not because he enjoys their demise but as the result was desired).

http://w w w.fieldclub.co.uk /pages/slug%27o%27metrics

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This theatrical set up is akin to an explosive bringing down of a construction, the excitement of the build up, the attraction of razing a building.

There is a distinct set of cinematic props used that must always be used [even if not the same vocabulary]; a plunger (starting button), fuse, exclusion zone, last minute technicality or failure. 7 There is a sense of the aleatoric, like the avant garde music of John Cage or Brian Eno transposed to an event.

Capturing that theatrical moment of random chaos

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Demolition squad : Liverpool by Adrian Podmore. 2004

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The neo entropolists manifesto

“Ku ro kawa o n ce p re se n te d a n id ea to pu t d y na mi te i n a bu ild i ng.

It wa s a m u nic i pa l bu ild i ng. I thi n k i n saga e.

He c a lc u la te d tha t th e bu ild i ng could su r v ive soc ia lly, i f not p hysic a lly o n ly fo r 3 0 yea r s.T h e n i t would b e o bse l e te. So h e d e sig n e d th e roo ms to co n ta i n d y na mi te.. i t wa s o n ly a n id ea, bu t we e njoye d his p re se n ta tio n.�

Kisho Kurokawa 4

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OMA progress exhibition: London Barbican 2011.

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The neo entropolists manifesto

D e f ini ng En tro py entropy can be difficult to explain or define due to its mixed use. As a scientific statement it has a definite meaning, but as a metaphor for other things (where it is commonly and well used) it has a less strict meaning.

Overall Tom Stoppard puts it poetically well in the play arcadia –

“ W h e n you s ti r you r rice pu d d i ng, S e p ti m u s, th e s poo n ful of ja m s p rea d s i t se l f rou n d ma ki ng re d tra il s li ke th e pic tu re of a m e te o r i n my a s tro no mic a l a tla s. B u t i f you s ti r ba c k wa rd s, th e ja m w ill no t co m e tog e th e r a ga i n. In d e e d, th e pu d d i ng d o e s no t notice a n d co n ti n u e s to tu rn pi n k ju s t a s b e fo re. Do you thin k this is od d? ” – Tom Stoppard 9

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Tom Stoppard, Arcadia: Faber & Faber, 1993.

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Fred Dibnah in Leighton Buzzard: Destruction is a family af fair.

Stoppard dramatically demonstrates the notion by using a visual metaphor. He suggests that the definition of ‘inevitable and steady deterioration’ can be extended to simply something being made irreversible, and that irreversibility being the deterioration itself. He speculates that the individual materials are more valuable and fragile as individual elements. Many metaphors can be extrapolated from this, but ultimately the question needs to be, why can it be so mournful to think of events that cannot be reversed, and what is our obsession with speculating on this format?

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The neo entropolists manifesto

Impending disaster, and creating a series of actions that lead to an increasing level of precariousness is a visceral and satisfying experience.

These scenes of a tipping point are echoed in cinema, particularly in a modern context. Narratives revolve around elements of a prop failing, and this resulting in the tension that drives the film. Like a macguffin (link to explanation) the prop and it’s weakness do not explicitly have to be shown or even exist at all – early dinosaur movies implied a world ending monster existed just off the visible screen. But the question of genuineness of the article is really not the interesting point (for anyone can convincingly fake something and anyone can badly portray reality) it is the instance of tension itself, and that tending towards failure/the inevitable.

Heid e g g e r a rg u e s tha t p hiloso p hy ’s o rig i na l bu t i n c rea si ngly fo rg ot te n o bje c t, ‘b ei ng’ is a l so a ki n d of co n s tru c tio n, a p re se n ce of b eing th rou g h s ta n d i ng, li ke Rod i n’s l ea ni ng sc ulp tu re s, th ey we re co n trove r sia l fo r mimic ki ng hu ma n tra i t s of fa lli ng to th e g rou n d. n. an object or event in a book or a film that ser ves as the impetus for the plot. http://w w w.thefreedictionar y.com/MacGuf fin 11 Mark Wigley, The architecure of deconstruction: Derridas haunt., 1993, p2 10

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Structures were created to imply a tense state.

The exploration of materials that have properties appropriate and inappropriate helped define what an entropologist would need to know. These images show explorations into manifesting 3d forms using materials not designed to build up.

Indeed this equation of ‘x being used as y’ has become a useful way of quantifying whether something was applicable to the usage.

By building forms and being physically involved in the process, quantification can start to begin. It can be measured how much a specific material can bend, or be pushed, and how much it can be relied on to carry it’s weight. Even though it seems trivial, working at a small (and safe) level, extrapolation of what a larger construct would be can at least be conceived.

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The neo entropolists manifesto

En tro py reig n s In a metaphysical sense, I am trying to imply what is there when a entity erodes, fails and is destroyed. The qualia is of a notion of tending towards failure (entropy) so an awareness of this occurring.

Derrida writes about deconstruction (in philospophy) “architecture can never simply be an addition inasmuch as the idea of addition is itself architectural. And deconstruction is no more than a subversion of the architectural logic of addition..�12 therefore addition is simply a piece in the whole architectural concept, and deconstruction exists as an opposing force to the theme of addition.

One that is a subtraction, but part of a wider understanding of deconstruction. Therefore there are more than mere subtractions in deconstruction, there are laws at work, there are egos at work.

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Mark Wigley, The architecure of deconstruction: Derridas haunt. 1993, p2

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Architects seem to be interested in simply the completion of a project, that is, the moment the building is finished. After that it is merely an edifice that holds no value. Until it is demolished that is.

This is when the building is once again interesting to the architect. Architecture is a myth that is built to a facade, and is never completed until it is knocked down. Perhaps that is why people flock to controlled demolitions, as if it something worth celebrating.

Fred Dibnah was an architect of destruction, and a popular one.

Architecture is merely the idea of construction, of finishing. Once it is ‘finished” it is over, the idea is done. This is summed up as “If the tower had been completed there would be no architecture. Only the incompletion of the tower makes it possible for architecure as well as the multitude of languages to have a history.”13 It could be said to be the true motivator for construction the idea of finishing.

Can we harness this desire, this tension of the built device to a design potential?

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Mark Wigley, The architecure of deconstruction: Derridas haunt. 1993, p23

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The neo entropolists manifesto

w hy don’t you ma ke a co nc rete s a ndc a s t le for once?

Students are taught forcefully at the school of entropy

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The neo entropolists manifesto

Words are weak

Desc ribi ng form s The sense of structure is actually produced by the supplementary layers of representation that appear least structural. The sense of control sought by traditional discourse actually derives from that which the discourse identifies as being the greatest need for that control.14

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Mark Wigley, The architecure of deconstruction: Derridas haunt. 1993, p27

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On a scale of weakness and strength in structures the former is more readily recreated. The sandcastle is not only weak but quick to produce, and the gratification from construction should not be ignored. It is the same satisfaction bricklayers get from working small materials into larger forms. There is a sense of ownership, and one can exclaim ‘I built that!’15 somewhat erroneously. Mid point between the themes of weakness and strength are mute points, there is no ‘average’ strength, only quite contrasting terms. But, it is more easy to simply ‘layer’ the structure with more and more extreme lexicographical notions, until one side takes an advantage (whether in perception or physically).

Without doubt certain structures have become imbued with extra meaning in recent events. These vertical structures that eventually buckle are in reality nothing

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like the twin towers but merely their toppling action elicited a reaction from one viewer of the video. Is this a bad thing that such a controversial event has transcended not only its context but the materials, the place, everything and been imbuing into a simple form?

Surely a lot of things could be construed to be involved if this was the case to see twin towers.16 The recent pepsi advert caused controversy just by having a world trade centre looking pixelated image on it.17 However when it was explained it actually had nothing to do with it, just the public consciousness was so great to command the mutation of something innocent to something flammable. Does that mean from now on, such forms, shapes and movements are taboo? Are these new events creating new architectural taboos? Is not the arrangement of this very text box alluding to the event on the Pepsi can?

Stewar t Brand, how buildings learn, episode 3 http://w w w.snopes.com/rumors/20bill.asp http://w w w.snopes.com/rumors/photos/pepsican.asp

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The neo entropolists manifesto

Fire wo rke r s i n a c tio n The elements create short term instant architectures, but we would never class them as such. Do not try this at home.

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Words are merely representational of the perception of the object.

Here what seems strong is weak is safe, and ultimately is weak.

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The neo entropolists manifesto

The potential new symbol for the neo-entropologist

The mo me nt of te ns ion: The t ippi ng poi nt

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The neo entropolists manifesto

“How p ro n e poo r Hu ma ni t y is to da m u p th e mi nu te s t re m na n t s of i t s fre e d o m, a n d bu ild a n a r ti f ic ia l roof to p reve n t i t loo ki ng u p to th e c l ea r blu e s k y.”

Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann18

“T h e roof l ea k s; tha t ’s how you c a n te ll i t ’s a roof ” –Frank Lloyd wright19

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Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hof fmann, The Serapion Brethren: vol. I, sect. 1, p. 9 Stewar t Brand, How buildings learn. episode 5

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At some point I began to become obsessed with roofs. They appear as strong purposeful structures but in actuality are superficial facades, one against the materials holding them up.

The roof presents itself as a difficult entity to comprehend. It is a place of tension, for there is often no reason for it to end; indeed often it can be said that financial need and demand can influence the overall size of the structure, in a modern context they could conceivably go on into the sky forever, or at least a few stories higher. Words and phrases such as ‘green roofs’ ‘urban gardens’ ‘eco-spaces’ have become common in architecture babble. It is almost as if the roof can never be content with being a roof, and must also be something else, hold value or extra usage, that is, other than providing the most important and basic of need; that of protecting us from the outside.

L o n do n h a s s o m e f a n t a s t ic r oo f s , i f yo u ’d o n l y l oo k u p! http://archinec t.com/features/article/99880/student-works-a-roof-is-a-roofis-a-roof 21 Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hof fmann, The Serapion Brethren: vol. I, sect. 1, p. 9 20

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Some projects even subvert the roof’s existence itself, working with the idea that the roof is free of building restrictions, yet appears to be a wasted area, the city can be inverted to feature a roof down layout, completely rejecting the traditional appearance. 20 The amount of projects in existence that focus on the re-appropriation, reappointment or redevelopment of the roof are astounding. Maybe roofs are meant to just be stopping off point, where a temporary chassis can be placed there for a mere moment whilst a more grander, well thought out conclusion can be conjured up. Maybe we are indeed just waiting for a time when we can do away with the roof altogether, removing the ‘dam’ against freedom. 21

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Some roofs all hanging out in London.

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Roof s a re u l t i ma te ly def ia nt c a l l s of f i na l it y, w he reby a bu i ldi ng m u s t e nd, a nd t he s k y m u s t cont i nue w he re t hey leave of f. but as soon as they do, this awkwardness becomes apparent, by which I mean the architect must ask “now what do we do with it?”. They have the feeling, the qualia 22 of tenseness described by entropic structures.

As a perspective also, the roof presents an problematic facade, as what to show and what to cover up. In essence, the roof could be left alone, as at normal street level angle prevents the average person from viewing the top directly. The upper floor and decoration provide a distraction from being any higher, protecting the sensitive panelling and patchwork of the summit. If they are not part of the style i.e. roofing tiles, mansard roofs, etc then they become ugly blemishes that must be harboured from sight, only allowed access to by roofers or tradesmen capable of baring witness to the condition with enough professionalism as to not disclose to neighbours what it is protecting them from the outside world.

n. pl. qua·li·a – proper ty, such as whiteness, considered independently from things having the proper ty 22

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Lo n d o n ha s so m e fa n ta s tic roofs...

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...i f you’d o n ly loo k u p!

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The neo entropolists manifesto

we ar e sur ely as f ar fr om the notion of builder s of our own houses than we ar e har ves ter s of our own food.

Maybe we as contemporary residents don’t want to know what prevents the elements from breaking into our houses. After all, we are surely as far from the notion of builders of our own houses than we are harvesters of our own food. Is is possible that it is our fault for not reclaiming our culture, but letting become blurred, in the hands of other esoteric groups that cloud the reality “Architects have convinced users [people] that they don’t know anything about architecture or buildings...”. 23 Maybe if we had constructed the roof itself, it might have more personal appeal, and, like catching and cooking your own food, might hold more satisfaction. In fact as one of the tenants interviewed by Stewart brand said “building a house is one of the biggest projects you can do.” 24

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Stewar t Brand, How buildings learn, 1997, episode 1 (Christopher Alexander) Stewar t Brand, How buildings learn, 1997, episode 3 (homeowner speaking)

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The Tr anspar ency O f The Cr ane.

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The antithesis of the roof seems to be the crane. Towering above the very buildings they are creating they seem at home on our skyline that they will never be a permanent part of. Unlike the roof they are graceful, in that they are ever moving, cease-lessly working and changing position. Unlike the roof that awkward-ness of committing to a position is not needed, the crane is a fluid entity in the duration of its life. It is a pragmatic entity, yet often they are more endearing than the edifices they create. Underwhelming, common, but all variable, like an everyday object that one becomes accustomed to.

And it’s thanks to the fleeting life and the transparency of the structure that this occurs.

They are accepted, perhaps because they connote other ideals, such as construction and development, like a placeholder structure that cannot be criticised as it is tending towards something better. Like a heroin addict taking methadone, although still addicted, a placeholder ‘construct’ indicates progress is being made. It is in this way we can justify, with an amount of explanation, the profusion of cranes and construction in a cityscape, even though with it comes massive disruption and visual altercations.

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The neo entropolists manifesto

For sure, entropy can occur on the small scale, and the humble homeowner is on the frontline of the defence from it. The weather, vandals, wear and tear, and moreover the outside world, all conspire to prevent comfortable existence. ..the abuse suffered by simple structures from storm. gales, hurricanes and downpours haunt the poetics of space. 25

In d e e d a s Stewa r t B ra n d says “i n tre pid h e ro’s ba t tl e e n tro py” 26 th e wo rld is a ba t tl e g rou n d. T h e m u n da n e a c t of ma i n te na n ce is ta n ta m ou n t to h e rois m.

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Gaston Bachelard, poetics of space, 1994, VII Stewar t Brand, How buildings learn, 1997, episode 5

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The Heygate estate has been ‘fixed’ with some interesting antisocial maintenance.

Maybe as the user becomes more aware of the slow crumble and wear of objects, possessions and structures, they can become more desensitized to the process, less precious of their failing tools. Being overly sentimental is a trait in design that whether or not wrong, hampers productivity, and embues a design with overthought ‘manufactured’ element.

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t it t h e p o in ly e r e m s e for r m, the c au lo n g t e d n a , s s is te prog re c o m p le A is M O t t e t as is e. A in g t h a g s have it s d e m a b u il d f e x is t , o , B u il d in o n t t a n e p u o es t o f t im the acc y e a r li f r e b u il t 0 a 3 e y a amoun h e t h e t ha hav n o w n . T d o w n . We posal t w o u ld o r p a t h is is k h ll it a t in g ll y, t o f f it t e d w re ad vo c a u ld b e y c u lt u e s s e n t ia r o a the h r s n o e g p il d in em nte m er wh u h o g t b c ig p r a e t s e a to k e s to e n t in g li g u e d e x p lo s iv e, p r e v as m g o n feel o b c lo ld s ou ju s t g for a 2 8 It w a s t im e w e of te n r a . n e r s t a n d in io e t th it a n rove d le. B u t a ny h e s es whe b u t it p p o s s ib c n l, r is o n a a t s s o compa in g n d in pro p w in a o n d n K a . t im e s a , ed a t iv e is t ot need provo c e lt e r it o n ly la s l il t h is is n w rar y sh e r o u d p t e c m e u e r d t e t In im to t hat a s u lo u s . unt of t ic o id r m good a n ly is t o c hard in g s r e ly d ly il p u a s u c c in b im s in g c annot h in k d e s t roy t o o. d not t mean s n a ed, , in m e n t e r a r t e a r h e t w t e push t r n g s a e in o s e P it . b n m it it io t h e li k ly s cond o n ly U n le s s il t q u ic u b a b o u t it s n is n o t a w ig s e but e f r d o u t c the and s ag nate s t s u o a r c h it e y h ll t a t ic a g e. house aes the a l in u s it h la c k w m t is il s o a s to d u b be g or r ia ls . s s, bu t li ke ly t o e s ig n in d mate h o m e le n d a f o ls k il b je c t s ur sk T h e r is o n ly r io u s o a ld o f la b o c u e o r w p herent , a n t it c a u s in g s t h e in 5 year s d -1 n 0 T h is m e a 1 p t x s nd te a b ly la t o e x is ang er a w it h d l a is e p r e d ic t e d r e ut th o u g h t o n o t lo n g in g it , b is s u e s , o d o t t im e e n t y u r s it h and ent e le s s b a per ve ove r nm 27 r n t is r ic the hom a g are le e h e t t lu t ha il d in g s e va ent u h h c b t g la u e p f o a n m e e co t in g . S d, and becom in t e r e s e g le c t e r u m b le n c y e w o u ld r ll a a t t a ke e. o n e s t h a p h y s ic e r io r a t fe c t s to t f e e d w .B u il t t o ly e n w nce o t h a n s lo a in t e n a c ause n to d o M e . v a m rather h e ld n th a nt s to ne wou p la c e o rather o one w , Someo n it ve , s h u it o they ha rd u an in g w a g o h t is T in e . h t n m e o s u la t io in s o m ance st spec m a in t a t he rom in g , n o “ it c f, x t h a n ju o e t s is it h a s h e n o in t e r e c t t h is re t hat a about t e s c lk n a r c h it e a a t t te n r c h it e c o f m a in g reat a

http://w w w.telegraph.co.uk /proper ty/newhomes/3318114/ The-centur y-makers-1945.html 28 OMA progress exhibition: London Barbican 2011.

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none , disre i t a q uie t gard e d b j o y �. 2 9 W on th as ho h e as mon ir hom e ic im pro t h. In v e m n’ t mere e l n deve o y in the l t s l o p m ne of Le a inte r st Cou ent r bus work io ier s on t since r has be he en h i ap new t was bu il t. F pening te na nt s t ir s tly layo ran , th ut inc re , mak ing s for med e a it mo the bed r sing the r amo e prac ti oom c a l, un s, s pac e. T h u t i l i s i n g t o f e all a as th hous va e buil t y li ve d in e ha s c h ila ble a to b i ng ed t. It e pe buil t r fec t w as nev to C er , in f o w hic ac t, h we r buiser s i t re t h was s u s e. 3 0 e o p t andard s posi hig h T h e n ew te of er so e th c io - e s t te na n tran t s, f r eir s for m cono o m ma i agai ng t he in ic g rou n, t h p i t s tim er ior g ove a e wi rn once re th th the o ment g e he rant r ig ni lp o s, t a w ay t h o u l d e sig n o re c rea f . Alo sand te been ng t so e he inte r x p e nd e f e uro s ha d io o c c u r, a n d i t t o m o d i v e f y th wou r red e ld if the one of re over not have v a and oluti m o na r ll d e sig n y co s o c a te r ia l s nstru on –h ct i m p r t r ave r t ia a d n ot been ion ac tic l and al build a ing w fo r i t s u l to g e t h e s e. A to r n r ould dow l n an have sim e s s er d red ply b evel oped een .

T h e cou n te rin tu i tive m e tho d olog y of d e s tru c tio n im p rovi ng k now l e d g e o n sa fe t y.

29 Stewar t Brand, How buildings learn, 1997, episode 5 30 Stewar t Brand, How buildings learn, 1997, episode 1

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The neo entropolists manifesto

You a re re s po n si bl e fo r eve r y thi ng you p ro d u ce i n you r li fe w h e th e r pa s sive ly o r d i re c tly. T his s hould b e p e roga tive e nou g h to ta ke this se riou s ly It can be said, any two materials brought together can be described under the ownership of a person. Because, without that intervention, they would remain singular, pure. Whether they themselves hand wrought, enacted a series of constructions or from afar oversaw the operation of form fabrication, someone has a degree of responsibility, no matter how we distance ourselves from this process. It would be therefore, morally obliging to understand the exact ramifications of these processes, no? Of course every action of manufacture is steeped in testing (blow a brick house down), but only do we truly know what can happen when we test ourselves the devices we make. In an ideal world, we would all hand build everything we needed, each acutely aware of the integrity of our fabrications.

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Do i t you r se l f / Ma ke i t you r se l f Te s t i f you r se l f

/ B e i t yo u r se l f

I am responsible for all of this.

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The antidote of chaos?

T h e h u m bl e i n s tru c tio n the instruction has a powerful ability to give us a purpose, to generate meaning from something, to delineate from right and wrong, to instruct and to do so without recourse. It is in some ways the antidote to chaos, in that chaos is defined as the unpredictable; the entropic state of affairs.

However instructions strive to uncomplicate matters, whether for good or bad. They can be abused, or merely poorly confused, but their intentions are perceived as good. But could they be subverted?

Haines manuals have become iconic, rendering them almost godlike. They empower people, but could that be a dangerous thing?

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Instructions from hell, but how far can we be pushed?

If we believe we are under the watchful eye of the instruction, we are likely to be more confident and receptive to what we are doing. In this way, can people become coaxed into stepping out of their comfort zone, whilst being guided by instructions? Indeed can enforced creativity string from the relative austerity of the humble instruction?

Instructions get abused and used as tools to confuse as much as they are beneficial. Canon’s ‘Voiceover’ April fools day prank (right) played on the recent voice activated technology and the fact few people actually read instructions for printers.

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Cu ra to r s of d isa s te r

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A disaster is an instant in time, a place. It is more than a local, national or worldwide news event.

It is something for everyone, using the same scales; a tragedy, a national disaster, a worldwide catastrophe. So then, it is subjective. A disaster is what you experience of it, and what you believe about it, and what you see pertaining to it.

In cinema, a disaster is captured in a certain way, and ultimately, what we see is all a representation.

The news, local accounts, videos, news stories and friend’s recounts.

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Curators of disaster

A mytholoical design for a piece of geo-architecture.

Could we ever control disasters fully? And can we design them? here I took the form of a hairdryer and extrapolated it to be a life saving device. It would use piston effect to garner air speed to suck the smoke away, allowing easy access for fire workers. Imagine grand edifices such as this in the future guarding your life, you’d want them to be pretty, right?

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Curators of disaster

Pla ni ng a n d p re pa ra tio n th e su r viva lis t s e n d eavou r.

In this experiment, an idea of what the experience of preparing for a disaster was the intention. All disasters have different outcomes and dangers, however share a great deal of preparations.

There are a great deal of steps you can take, and a number of places you can learn the actions you allegedly should take to protect yourself from a disaster. Websites like 72 hours 31 and answer sites can offer advice as what to do in the case of a disaster. Here an aggregate of information from various sites mentioned was used to prepare for a fictitious disaster occurring in the heart of New Cross. And why wouldn’t a disaster occur there?

Stranger things have happened.

The UK receives an average of 150-200 earthquakes a year32 regular hurricanes and numerous tornados have occurred 33 but no one would claim the UK was affected by any natural disaster (except maybe greed).

http://72hours.org/ http://news.bbc.co.uk /1/hi/uk /1363551.stm 33 http://news.bbc.co.uk /1/hi/uk /7010172.stm 31

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72hours.org Used to plan and research the ‘escape’

Conversation with a friend in Thailand at the time involved in the floods proved experiencially useful. 34

Escape 34

New ss! o

from

Cr

Skype.com

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Curators of disaster

So this is the end?

E x p e rie n c i ng d isa s te r The main idea of the experiment was not to completely reenact the disaster, nothing would resonate akin to the real thing. But moreover to get a feeling for what the context was, and whether from acting out the experience new areas could be gained.

Therefore (and because of monetary conditions) it was not a absolutely possible to fabricate the scenario accurately, but as close as possible, and to make sure all considerations were taken into account.

Each stage was broken down where necessary; through physicality, the moving of objects and preparing of architecture, to the stockpiling of needed goods and fabrication of some creatively made survival goods. But why do we plan?

Preparation has become synonymous withw survival, but does anyone plan for the worst? Government agencies and insurers would want us to do that, (perhaps to alleviate their responsibility), but why don’t we care so much about the rare chance something might happen?

The foetal position is not naturally comfor table.

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Curators of disaster

Ba c k to ba sic s The most overwhelming outcome of this experiment was the counter-intuitive discovery that whilst preparing for disaster and being overly aware of your situation a feeling of comfort arises that is actually quite desirable. Bunkering down for the worst can actually be a way of involving yourself more in your own environment. The act of adding layers of protection – boarding up doors, taping up windows – whilst simultaneously removing certain privileges – power, communication, light, contemporary forms of entertainment – leads to a wholesome experience of what you have, living by your means and the limitation adds to the feeling. Perhaps it is apposite to a society embedded in technology and fast paced lives that something like this would be somehow desirable, it could even be marketed as a ‘break from modernity’ to a more simplistic retreat. If fact is that not what an eco-resort adds up to?

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This is the good life: rever ting to simple pleasures on a self imposed technology ban.

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Play it safe / Play it cool

“In th e na m e of Hi p poc ra te s, d oc to r s have i nve n te d th e m os t exq u isi te fo rm of to r tu re eve r k now n to ma n: su r v iva l.�

Luis Bunuel 35

Cast concrete homemade survival devices.

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Luis Bunuel - My Last Sigh, ch. 21 (1983).

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There seems to be a great divide in attitudes towards disaster crisis and the inevitable planning.

On the one hand, we as a collective conscious are moving away from the traditional awareness of our environments, and misplacing our priorities. Cities neglect to plan en mass 36 , resulting in chaos, rather only rioting when social issues are raised(london riots).

Day to day trivialities are accentuated, indeed in a South Park episode the entire world is brought to an end as the internet goes down provoking newsreaders to exclaim with excitement at the prospect of a fax and the normally ridiculous statement “theres no internet to check why there’s no internet!”37 becoming, through context, actually necessary.

Whilst the other culture is overly prepared, a survivalist, anal collective preoccupy themselves with the end, enhancing themselves and their environments. The planning becomes obsessive, and the same ‘bunkering down’ fantasies play out, with visions of self protection, beating the crowds and outwitting the Apocalypse being the intention. 38 The wikipedia blackout is another example of our overreliance on technology, and led to some typical overreactions mimicking the mockery of south park. 39

http://w w w.bbc.co.uk /news/uk-politics-16336396 Randy Marsh. South Park: ep. 6 ‘Over logging’ 38 http://surefireliving.com/prepared 39 http://w ww.guardian.co.uk /technology/blog/2012/jan/18/guardipedia-weanswer-your-questions-during-wikipedia-blackout-live?fb=native 36 37

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Home made inflatable arm bands. Able to flat pack for ease of use by the discerning contemporary user.

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Curators of disaster

In bunkering down, conceding to the higher power (the disaster/crisis) we forgo ourselves to a classic narrative, almost like the underdog mentality.

In film it is romanticised as the hard bullet you bite, in movies like the great escape it becomes routine. In history it is made sentimental, with time it loses the memory of the negative, as is seen in remnant’s of W WII memorabilia, scenes of users in bomb shelters, hiding in the underground; digging in, coming together.

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“a ny hou se is a fa r too co m plic a te d, c lu msy, fu s s y, m e c ha nic a l, cou n te r fei t of th e hu ma n bo d y.. th e w hol e i n te rio r is a ki n d of s to ma c h tha t a t te m p t s to d ig e s t o bje c t s.. th e w hol e li fe of th e ave ra g e hou se, i t se e ms, is a so r t of i n d ig e s tio n.

A bo d y i n ill re pa i r, su f fe ri ng in d is posi tio n – co n s ta n t ti n ke ri ng a n d d o c to ri ng to ke e p i t a live. It is a ma r ve l, we i t s i n fe s te r s, d o no t g o in sa n e i n i t a n d w i th i t. Pe rha ps i t is a fo rm of in sa ni t y we have pu t i n i t.

L u c k y we a re a bl e to g e t so m e thi ng e l se ou t of i t, thou g h t we d o se ld o m g e t ou t of i t a live ou r se lve s.

–

Frank Lloyd Wright 40

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Frank Lloyd Wright, the cardboard house 1931

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In the aftermath of disaster:

T h e m e mo ria l Memorials to disasters become last remembrance to tragic events, They need to be fit for purpose of course, but a special something, thought of an entire nation or retrospective apology are often somehow cleverly evoked by their existence.

The design for the world trade centre plaza is fiercely contested. 41 This is one of the greatest contemporary man made disasters, so this is expected. The site is interesting as the mere absence of the world trade centre is used as a memorial, the two memorial pools act as reminders of what was once there. Bits of the world trade centres have also been used as memorials elsewhere. 42 It is either the building itself used as a memorial or the absence that has the strongest effect. In London there are hidden war memorials everywhere you see a new house in a row of period terraces. In greenwich park a particularly interesting statue (far right) has been renovated by a german fighter pilot who took pot shots at the edifice. Could it now be seen as a memorial to a newer war?

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Daniel Libeskind: the making of an architect, 2007 http://w ww.flickr.com/photos/42pix /573410003/

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(lef t) The ‘memoriall’ to the Hanshin Ear thquak, simply an amount of the city lef t undeveloped, a really sombre but evocative site.

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May b e a m e mo ria l could b e mo re tha n a s tru c tu re bu il t i n hi n d sig h t. Pe rha ps ma te ria l s could b e u se d w i th in s ta n ta n eou s e f fe c t s, a llow i ng th e a c t of th e d isa s te r to b e th e i n s tiga to r of th e m e m o ria l s ex is te n ce.

Experiments with materials that are affected by water proved a degree of aleatoric interpretation can be afforded by some materials. For example leather in a flood would be soaked to a certain level designated by the flood itself. As a material like leather is transformed by exposure to water – it bloats and subsequently hardens to the last form it had – it would show exactly how high the flood was, and even the severity of the water flow by the patterns exerted by the flow.

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Curators of disaster

Why not make the memorial the starting blocks to disaster management itself? Imagine a building collapsing to reveal a sturdy shelter and medical centre at the base. Sounds implausible, why not build the entire building out of impregnable material? (the whole black box metaphor).

Why are memorials merely defunct buildings of mourning? If you have to have post flood shelters, make them exist literally post flood. The instant the disaster hits the concrete is exposed to water and becomes a structure. As the flood recedes, the ‘memorial’ is left as a physical entity, allowing protection at first and mourning second. 43

Rachel whiteheads house could be seen as an ar t piece towards memorials.

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http://w w w.concretecanvas.co.uk /

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Memorials act as defiant retaliations, structures built in light of the events they celebrate; they’re spiteful, intent on spending time in the public conscious.

Almost praying on the sentimentality of public opinion, they are invasive and often merely the absence of the original edifice, for example the mirror pools of the Twin Towers.

The monument against fascism 4 4 was an innovative memorial that slowly and symbolically sunk into the ground for around 7 years, the length of the second world war. During this time, people could visit, mourn, decorate or desecrate the towering piece, depending on their opinion. It helped in justifying these actions by lasting briefly, and sinking without adornment to its final resting position of the exposed top forming a lasting plague to the event. ) This begs the question..

C a n m e mo ria l s b e co mi ng eve n t s th e mse lve s?

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http://memor yandjustice.org/site/monument-against-fascism/

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B la c k B ox Sy n d ro m e Do we as a culture have black box syndrome? The devices are a kind of voyeurism, an audio-visual penetration into an event that you have no right to be a part of (morality aside, physically speaking). They implicate those rubberneckers into the instant of instability, that precarious moment, where they can live out that narrative over and over and over again. It is akin to the ship sunk in the bath.

One of the first moving images was an exact incarnation of this notion. The Louis Lumière film ‘destruction d’un mur’ (1895)exploited the ability to enter a fictitious landscape and replay that instant of a toppling wall over and over and over again. 45 And with miraculous verisimilitude each time recovered the wall from pieces and denying the men felling it a chance to wait. This being one of the earliest pieces of moving image suggest this has long been simmering in the minds of those doing the collapsing.

Of course this was exemplified later in the slapstick comedies of Buster Keaton, Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy. These mythological magic tricks involving weighty and death defying acts were held back only by technicalities, but pushed forward by the bravery and passion of the actors.

By implementing an on board camera, the first technicians of this invented the cinema of the precarious (that being, an actual reality rather than the falsified) and by putting themselves vicariously into the positions of the fated vessel, did they think could they live forever?

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Early cinema : primitives and pioneers. 1990

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Home made ‘black box’ that lets the user explore vicariously the view of the abseilling camera.

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Curators of disaster

T h e b ric k box The brick box is a British recording device that mimics the use of the clay brick commonly found in the UK whilst harbouring data tracking devices. This can measure the force of the disaster such as the wall being hit or falling, and allow the user to become voyeur into the small scale collapses in humdrum situations.

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T h e my th of d isa s te r I always thought there were unbelievable coincidences in history pertaining to disasters and their relative lack of hindsight. From ancient history with Pompeii, these almost filmic situations (for example dantes peak) play at our naivety. Are we expected to believe they are merely by chance? Cities are build under volcanoes, and on top of fault lines. More than that nuclear reactors are build on them, fukashima providing a prolonged news narrative of tension after the recent tsunami.

In between there are subtle instances, San Francisco and Naiigata are built on reclaimed land, whilst also being on major fault lines, but why? The city of New Orleans and the entire Netherlands are technically underwater, how could this happen?

The answers are of course, academic. They exist through human integrity. They exist because they have done and continue to fight for it. They are half way to being mythical institutions.

New Orleans shouldn’t exist.

This shouldn’t have been allowed to have happened.

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We are all architec ts of My th Lawrence Richards

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Architects of my th

The architecture we construct is the fabrication. We carve out a logic to complete the missing link, how something was made. This is where myth comes in, and affects our own lives, ideas and projects.

My th

Within any fixed closed system, there will always be anomalies and tangents that cannot be easily explained.

They will occur abruptly, spasmodically, and may or may not be rectified (where here, rectification is to transform the anomaly to fit a certain part of the system).

It is both interesting as a method of idea conception, and as an outcome in itself, almost acting a physiological mystery, or a philosophic non entity, ie, where it cannot be easily manifested physically, or reasoned with words.

Thus, the idea of a system of working, and understanding is to minimalise, and simultaneously marginalise any wayward thought, for prevention of harbouring myth.

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T h e m os t rou si ng a s p e c t of my th, is i t ’s a bili t y to co nju re a se t of thou g h t s o r id ea s tha t a re p e rp e n d ic ula r to those co m mo nly h e ld.

A starting point/Inspiration for this investigation may come from this image of the production of the iconic visual id of metro goldwyn mayer. Without the image, a viewer will have to fabricate a resolution of how it was made based on the outcome. This blip in visual communication is the initiation of most myth

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Architects of my th

A life in myth How we portray others, and how we portray ourselves is a field bristling with subjectiveness. There are extremes, as in how Derrida can subtract Aristoles life to just “he was born, he fought and he died. all the rest is pure anecdote.”46 To the self published autobiography of Frank Llyord Wright “Wright invented himself, he turned himself into the person he wanted to be and if it meant lying that was alright, he believed his own lies”. 47

My th is th e hid d e n pa r t of eve r y s to r y, th e bu rie d pa r t, th e re g io n tha t is s till u n ex plo re d b e c a u se th e re a re a s ye t no wo rd s to e na bl e u s to g e t th e re.... My th is nou ris h e d by sil e n ce a s we ll a s by wo rd s.

Italo Calvino 48

Derrida: directed by Kirby Dick & Amy Ziering Kofman 2002 Frank Lloyd Wright : murder, my th and modernism, 2005 48 Italo Calvino – Cybernetics and Ghosts,” The Literature Machine 46 47

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Mythical situations.

At some point an idea about the potential ability to drink underwater occurred and sparked debate. It came from a desire to manifest a disaster into the qualities of cinema, and invented a preposterous scenario. In cinema there is always a set of conditions that have to be satisfied. It is rather these that occur than a realistic set of conditions satisfied. So can you drink underwater, no can you drink yourself to safety?

T h e re is a n e e d fo r my th i n th e na rra tive of th e p re c a riou s

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Possibly fueled by countless disaster movies, or a perverse interest in tense situations, I felt the idea needed a script.

Protagonist is on the run.

Pursued by suited men.

Caught in an industrial district.

Tourtured and tied up.

Chain and bricks attached to ankles.

Crucially not long enough.

Protagonist realises, pretends to drown.

Men walk away, thinking protagonist is dead.

Protagonist realises he is only millimetres from the surface.

Starts drinking the water.

Is this an example of a precarious script?

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Construction plans

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Architects of my th

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An anaylsis of the section of water that must be drunk to allow the protagonist (user) to escape.

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Idea that the length of chain used is an arbitrar y amount that will always (in conjunction with the depth of water) leave the protagonist with just enough water that is feasible to drink.

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B e lievi ng i n th e my th If David Blaine held his breath for 17 minutes, can’t we all potentially achieve that?48

Can you drink a large amount of water quickly? Although repor ts of this mans death indicate no, apparently he drank 10 litres on a regular basis. 49

http://w w w.time.com/time/health/ar ticle/0,8599,1736834,00.html http://w w w.telegraph.co.uk /news/uknews/2262683/Man-dies-af terdrinking-10 -litres-of-water-in-eight-hours.html 49

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Ma milia n re f l ex ex p e rim e n t

The mammalian reflex is a bodily reaction to cold emersion. When exposed one can hold their breathe for up to double the normal length of time. Here I used a stethoscope to measure my heat rate decrease (the action that allows longer breaths). 50

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http://divingindepth.com/mammalian-diving-reflex /

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Conclusions

L i fe a n d d ea th a n d d e sig n The interesting aspect of the idea was how far are we willing to take our designs in the process?

To risk death or serious injury? There was a program featuring Johnathan Miller where he starved himself of oxygen on tv. This led to him passing out, feeling what it was to suffocate and unceremoniosly coming to under the gaze of cameras. This kind of scientific magic show purports to be safe but it harks back to the original limit expereience that we all crave. Myth will always be entwined with the creative limits of the human imagination.

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Johnathan Miller, The body in question BBC, 1979

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Co n c lu sio n Ultimately the outcome is that for a feeling or qualia of tension that is exhibited through precariousness, a certain amount of self deception must occur, for which to allow the myth to exist. This delusion is often desired, it’s what we enjoy about disaster movies, or the slapstick comedies full of verisimilitude.

They push our boundaries and convince us the instances are real, and we believe in them, moreover we end up romanticising about them.

Entropic structures or devices will most likely not be well tolerated in society, but can we become accustomed to living on the edge in reality, like how we do in our fantasies?

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Bibliography

B oo ks

The architecture of deconstruction : Derrida’s haunt / Mark Wigley. c1993 Morality and architecture : the development of a theme in architectural history and theory from the Gothic revival to the modern movement / by David Watkin. 1997 Tall buildings : preface by Terence Riley / [edited by] Guy Nordenson. 2003 Explorations in architecture : teaching, design, research / issued by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, Urs Staub ; edited by Reto Geiser. 2008 Eccentric structures in architecture: Joseph Lim. c2010 How Architecture Got Its Hump: Roger Connah, MIT, 2001 Mythologies: Roland Barthes, Vintage. 1993.

The poetics of space / Gaston Bachelard ; translated from the French by Maria Jolas ; with a new foreword by John R. Stilgoe. 1994 Myths to live by: Joseph Campbell, foreword by Johnson E. Fairchild 1973

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B oo ks co n t.

How things don’t work / Victor Papanek and James Hennessey ; photographs, illustrations, and designs by the authors, Sara Hennessey, Ira Velinsky and Mike Whalley. c1977 Emotional design : why we love (or hate) everyday things / Donald A. Norman. 2004 Beyond architecture : imaginative buildings and fictional cities / edited by Robert Klanten and Lukas Feireiss ; all texts written by Lukas Feireiss.

2009 Comments on the society of the spectacle / Guy Debord. c1998 Lost London: a century of demolition and decay / Hermione Hobhouse. 1971 Religion and culture: Michel Foucault, edited by Jeremy Carrette 1999

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Bibliography

V id eo

How buildings learn / written & presented by Stewart Brand; produced by James Runcie. 1997 Daniel Libeskind: the making of an architect / directed by Christopher Swann; produced by Rihcard S 2007 Frank Lloyd Wright : murder, myth and modernism / produced & directed by Paul Tilzey. 2005 The perfect home / written & presented by Alain de Botton, directed by Neil Crombie. 2006 Rachel Whiteread: House / directed by John Kelly & Helen Silverlock. 1995 9/11 : The miracle of stairway B / produced & directed by Steve Humphries. 2006 Derrida / directed by Kirby Dick & Amy Ziering Kofman ; produced by Amy Ziering Kofman. 2002 Joseph Campbell: and the power of myth : with Bill Moyers. 1988 Demolition squad : Liverpool / produced & directed by Adrian Podmore. 2004 Kochuu : Japanese architecture / influence & origin / directed by Jesper Wachtmeister. 2006

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V id eo

Imagine : Richard Rogers, inside out / written & presented by Alan Yentob; directed by James Nutt.

2008 Walking the Wall / produced by Janice Hadlow & Tim Kirby. 1994 Early cinema : primitives and pioneers. 1990 The body in question, Johnathan Miller, BBC, 1979 Blight: John Smith, 1994-96

V isi t s

Building the revolution: Soviet art and architecture.

The Royal Academy. 29 Oct - 22 Jan 2012.

John Martin: Apocalypse. Tate Britain. 21 Sept 2011 - 15 Jan 2012 OMA Progress, Barbican, London.

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Bibliography

In te rn e t

It Will Take More Than a Wolf to Blow One House Down - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/ science/03wind.html?pagewanted=all http://insidemovies.ew.com/2009/11/16/disastermovies-why-we-love-them/ http://www.survivalistboards.com/index.php?s=3292 fb2d6f5875c8b6f317fd11c8e593 http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/ modern/black-box5.htm http://www.time.com/time/health/ article/0,8599,1736834,00.html http://www.bbc.co.uk /news/uk-politics-16336396

Cha t s

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Katherine McNeil: Architect and UK representative for Architecture for Humanities. A worldwide non profit crisis charity.http://architectureforhumanity. org/

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Ima g e s

All images my own, unless stated otherwise; p6 Extract from the London Evening Standard, date unknown. p7 Bob Hoskins, http://www.poptower.com/bobhoskins-picture-47679.htm p12 The skylon, http://www.anthonyaddis.com/ skylon p14 Top; Ccene from ‘The General’ http:// twentytwowords.com/2012/01/18/the-mostexpensive-scene-ever-in-a-silent-film/ Bottom; Slug ‘o’ metrics http://www.fieldclub.co.uk / pages/slug%27o%27metrics p19 Fred Dibnah, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ trainsandstuff/2942309685 p44 Crane, p52 Apollo Haines manual, http://blog. howfastareyou.net/2009/06/24/r2-unit-ownersworkshop-manual/ p53 Top; Instructions from hell, http://www. adafruit.com/blog/2010/10/12/assemblyinstructions-from-hell/ Bottom; Canon April fools, http://www.techvide. com/pc/april-fools-canon-printer-prank

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Ima g e s co n t.

p55 Scan of accompanying booklet from the John Martin ‘apocalypse’ exhibition. p59 Top, 72 Hours, http://72hours.org/ Bottom; Skype screenshot. p70 Top; London underground during W WII, http:// ww2today.com/14th-october-1940-disaster-atbalham-tube-station Bottom; The great escape, film poster, http://www. mentalcrumble.com/blog/2011/12/13/the-greatescape-nigel-goes-into-bat-again.html p73 Top; Twin towers, http://restlus.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/08/groundzero_restlus2.jpg. jpeg Left; Hanshin earthquake memorial, http://www. flickr.com/photos/papigiulio/3873787123/ Right; Greenwich park statue, http://www. skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1452137 p76 Rachel Whiteread ‘house’, http://www.imageidentity.eu/artists_images_folder/england/rachelwhiteread p82 Top; New Orleans flooded, http://neworleans. metblogs.com/2011/08/29/hurricane-katrina-orenough-already-lady/new-orleans-flooding/ Bottom; Niigata earthquake, http://www. ce.washington.edu/~liquefaction/html/quakes/ niigata/niigata.html

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p85 MGM shooting the ident, http:// thesilverscreenaffair.blogspot.com/2011/04/mgmlion.html p94 Top; David Blaine record attempt,http://www. flickr.com/photos/nycarthur/142408784/in/set72057594123843912 Bottom; Screenshot of Telegraph online, http:// www.telegraph.co.uk /news/uknews/2262683/Mandies-after-drinking-10-litres-of-water-in-eighthours.html

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Lawrencerichards.info th1rdy34r.tumblr.com 108

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