Constructing heterotopia

Ceci n'est pas un lieu Constructing Heterotopia

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Walled Islands

Observed Punctures of Heterotopia

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Mapped Sin

Lust

Gluttony

Greed

Sloth

Wrath

Envy

Pride

Seven Sins observed in Charleroi

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Abstract Plan Analysis

Tryptich

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Original Concept

Original Siteplan

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Seven Interventions

The death of religion gave way for the belief in ourselves, our own human being. For all our decisions we are told to ‘listen to ourselves’. The ‘temple of the self’ is a physical place where individual visitors can sanctify this new ‘religion’.

By entering the temple, the physical appearance of the place adapts to the preferences of the visitor. The temple becomes the center of the world and the visitor becomes the center inside the temple, which makes him the center of the world.

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Technical Section Arena

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Siteplan 1:1000

Siteplan 1:1000

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Siteplan 1:1000

Siteplan 1:1000

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Envy ‘The grass is always greener on the other side’, is the inner feeling expressed by the homes of envy. By nature all human beings have the instinct to compare their living conditions withothers, which to a certain extent influences every aspect of our being. This intervention connects the railway with the wide open site by three concrete platforms on which a series of prefabricated wooden dwellings are placed.

The structres are rented to visitors of Charleroi, aiming to explore the urban landscape and the heterotopia, similar to an artist-residence.

Through a series of stairs that connect the platforms, the guests are directed towards the riverside. The platforms and the wooden modules are composed in order to highlight the feeling of envy by blocking and revealing the view of river and landscape between the individual dwellings. The interiors of the prefabricated dwellings are open for adoptation and appropriation of the inhabitants. These differences enhance the controversial conditions by triggering a comparison with the other dwellers, similar to the archetypical frontyards of european terraced houses. Illusionary the conditions of the others appear to be more desirable than their own. Instead of deriving pleasure from what (wo)man has, one derives pain from what others have.

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Experience

Movement

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Section

Plan

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Lust

The rigorous repression of sexuality is openly transgressed within the piazzas of lust. When passing by, the visitors is confronted with the seduction offered by sensual views towards the inside of the ‘mysterious’ platforms. At this moment the ‘voyeur’ is the looking subject and can oversee some of the interiors’ occupants, which become the primary objects.

Via a narrow staircase leading towards a dark corridor, the visitor intrudes the space. Precisely at the treshold between the “outside” and the “inside” , the visitor gets detected by the occupants of the space. Instead of seeing, the intruder is now being seen. It’s the of reverse one’s position. Through the different heights of the concrete platforms, this interactive play between seeing an being seen is a returning architectural feature throughout the intervention. They offer a meandering, adventurous and explorational experience that is facilitated by the closed, wooden and secret modules, that consists various interiors, providing mulitple activities related to the liberation of sexuality. Some rooms are conventional bedrooms, others for larger groups and some contain bathing facilities.

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Experience

Movement

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Section

Plan

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Gluttony Situated along the garden side of the railroad, an added S-shaped concrete slab is following the curved landscape in the particular situation, on which the visitor descends toward the garden of gluttony. The list of five ways to commit gluttony are: laute (eating too luxurious, exotic or costly), studiose (eating food that is too excessive in quality), nimis (eating food that is excessive in quantity), praepropere (eating hastily, too soon or at an inappropriate time) and ardenter (eating greedily). All five ways are represented in wooden objects placed on the concrete slab. The visitor must experience all five ways of commiting gluttony before entering the ‘garden’. The first experience is a large kitchen, which functionally serves all the building. Here the visitor can experience ‘studiose’ by visiting the kitchen. Afterward the typology of a bar serves for very quick bites, enabling the clients to consume their foods too quickly. This is followed by a grand buffet, representing nimis and its excessive amounts of food. Before reaching the last step, the visitor passes through a series of vending machines, which operate 24 hours a day and illuminate the contemporary form of ‘praepropere’. Finally, the visitor can rside at a high table to enjoy the most exotic and expensive food.

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Experience

Movement

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Section

Plan

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Greed

An inordinate desire for excess of wealth is experienced in the saloon of greed, which mainly consists of gambling facilities.

As a replacement of the former damaged train bridge, the salloon is situated inbetween both ends of the railway. Thereby it connects the two abondaned sites and reinforces the overall concept of connectivity. The curved form of the concrete bridge follows the the existing condition of the railway and provides a gesture of enchantment. A wooden temporary structure with a stepped roof is placed on top of the whole concrete area of the bridge. To cross to the opposite site, the visitor has no other option than meandering through the palatial layout of the interior of the saloon, where he is confronted by the seduction of greed. The wide entrance invites the visitor to enter the salloon, but when inside, the geometry is narrowing down and leading the visitor insurmountable to the rooms with the highest stakes. The value of the various gambling rooms is represented by the height of the space: the higher the stakes, the higher the space. The issues of resistance and indulgence of the sin of greed is thematised architecturally, where the direct confrontation and enchanting by the sin is experienced.

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Experience

Movement

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Section

Plan

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Pride In the tower of pride the individual visitors are led to a comprehension of their own true nature. The highest existing structure of the industrial site in Charleroi is re-activated for this intervention. The abandoned chimney becomes reachable by an added narrow concrete bridge in between the railroad and the chimney. When the visitor enters the treshold of the chimney, he is astonished by a spectacular circular view directed upwards to the sky. Wooden steps are injected into the existing concrete structure in the form of a spiral, this technology is also employed for the boxes in wrath. To reach the highest point of, the visitor has to climb the steps towards the top of the chimney. This journey aims for leaving behind all images, contents and objects of consciousness of the individual in order to produce a state of mind that is not object orientated. This ‘forgetting’ and letting go paradoxically leads to self consicousness and an understanding of one’s true nature, which is enhanced by reaching the physical top op the surrounding area. To experience the viewpoint of this tower one has to be driven by pride, overcoming fear and other hindrances through personal strength.

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Experience

Movement

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Section

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Wrath

The arena of wrath facilitates the repressed and inevitable inner source of aggression and self destructiveness. By entering the arena the visitor faces a seemingly infinite enfilade of carved out shapes in the existing concrete railway structure. A continuous concrete ramp guides the visitor downwards to the final fight. The shapes of the carved out enfilade starts smoothly and comfortable at the entrance, but towards the end, the edges become sharper and the treshold higher.

Due to this hindrances and blocked goals certain aggressive impulses are triggered within the visitors mind. Along the ramp that leads the visitor downwards, several prefabricated wooden modules are mounted inbetween the existing structure. These prefabricated structures provide facility spaces such as an office, changing rooms, first aid and a gym in order to prepare for the coming fight. Right before entering the stage, the fighter is offered a final escape, which evokes the so called fight-or-flight response. This response causes a psychological reaction which activates an increased strength and speed in anticipation on fighting or running. When deciding to fight, the visitor enters the concrete stage which is surrounded by a circular elevated wooden arena that serves the spectators to observe the event.

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Experience

Movement

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Section

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Sloth

The towers of sloth aim to facilitate an ultimate mind expanding and lethargic experience for the visitor. A series of five in wooden constructed towers are placed on top of the existing concrete structure of the old railroad. When entering a single tower the individual visitor can purchase mind expanding narcotics and consume those while laying in a simple hammock reachable by a wooden ladder. The sense of space and the sense of time are powerfully affected by both the consumed narcotics and the architecture of the interior.

The narcotics increase the activity of the mind and suddenly reveal a sense of divine enjoyment and pleasure, which is enhanced by the splendid view towards the skylight of the tower and the light that penetrates through the horizontal lammela’s of the facade. After the narcotics have worked out and the visitor is refreshed and recovered, the journey leads them with a series of small concrete stairs towards the opennes of the site. Sloth is marked by the singular experience of every individual ,which differentiates it from some of the other sings. The formal expression of shifting geometries relates to the infinite space and mental alteration that is experienced and thereby highlights the effects of the narcotics through architectural means.

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Experience

Movement

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Section

Plan

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Building Technology

The details are developed for the building of Wrath in a prototypical way for the other interventions. Conceptually this means, that the details can be adapted to the specific geometries and conditions of the other 6 interventions but their response to the exisitng structures and to one another is similar.

All details are marked by a simplicity in construction that highlights the temporary nature of the wooden buildings. At the same time the permanent construction is cast in situ, leaving a permanent footprint on the site.

The boxes containing the functional program of the arena are constructed in modules of site and are then placed in the preexisting coal bunkers. To place them railroad ties from the site can be bone-turned in order to fit in circular holes in the existing walls. Afterward the wood boxes can placed on top and adjusted for tolerances on site. The boxes themselves are simple wood frame elements, which can be used in different contexts.

The arena is constructed on the base of the existing grid. Two octagonal `rings’ form the primary structure along with double beams. The two existing walls in the centre are cut to 3m height, to allow for the arena to settle in, while the remaining part rests on columns. These columns are anchored to the concrete wall using steel clamps with 30mm steel plates.

This gesture supports the general concept of reacting and adapting to the context. At the same time it illustrates the temporality of the wooden structure, as they can easily be removed and lifted.

On the inside the arena is formed of larch seats and has a plywood parapet, that shows the depth of the ring and frames the event of wrath.

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Detail Image

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Technical Section Arena

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Technical Section Arena

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Detail 1:20

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Detail 1:10

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