S3163970
Project A: Appropriate Durable Record Masters of Landscape Architecture RMIT University 2011
Contents
Executive Summary
_01
Preface
_03
Glossary
_05
Part One: Conceptual Introduction
_07
Chapter One: Introduction :into Concept :into Garments as Research :into Follies as Garments as Research
_09 _11 _13
Precedent Dictionary 01
_15
Part Two: Research Through Follies and Subsequent Explorations _19 Chapter Two: Garment as Follie: Machine for Distorting Perception Chapter Three: Emergence of a Multi-Dimentional Research System Chapter Four: Recording and Mapping Public Engagement
_ 21 _25 _27
Precedent Dictionary 02
_29
Chapter Five: Garment as Follie: Body as Machine Chapter Six: Investigations into Individual Form and Psychology
_33 _35
Precedent Dictionary 03
_37
Chapter Seven: Garment as Follie: Body.Space.Garment Chapter Eight: The importance of Site
_41 _45
Chapter Nine: Garment as Follie: Wearing Landscapes
_47
Part Three: Current Projections
_53
Chapter Ten: Progression
_55
Part Four: Bibliography Chapter Eleven: References and Bibliography
_57 _59
Executive Summary
Pg 01_02 (Un)Classified Landscapes Executive Summary
(Un)Classified Landscapes
and the (re)discovery of urban form Alice Lewis s3163970 Can we (re)invigorate the spatial dialogue between ourselves and the contemporary metropolis through tailored mediating garments?
This project seeks to (re) realization of the conversation
1. This concept was revealed through close reading of Juhani Pallasmaa’s essay ‘The Eyes of The Skin: architecture and the senses’ (Published 1996).
invigorate the spatial relationship that exists between ourselves (our body and psychology) and those forms which compose the existing urban landscape. This concept is explored through garments that are equally tailored to the human form as well as a particular site within the Melbourne’s densely populated Central Business District (CBD). As inhabitants of this social geography, our habitual retinalbased psychology often blinds our haptic perception and renders us as separate from the diversely fabricated urban landscape. Our subconscious mind flattens the city into a single surface on which we carry out our daily tasks1 forgetting our own position as manipulators of space. As Landscape Architects, we are constantly (re)arranging the existing urban landscape, building onto it our projections of what it should be and discounting the fantastic spatiality of the contemporary metropolis. This project aims to prompt (re)
that is in constant relay between our bodies and the existing urban landscape. Through (re)revealing this forgotten dialogue and (re) positioning our bodies as spatial mediums within the existing metropolis, this project acts as a gateway into the possibilities of understanding and designing within the conversational space. This hypothesis is investigated throughout the work using the physical, temporal medium of garments to generate spatial knowledge at a scale of 1:1. These garments, tailored to the human body (and increasingly throughout the work, to a particular site) distort the boundaries that exist between body and space, allowing the body to graft to the space, to ‘wear’ the spatial qualities. Through the mediation of the body and space, the garments aim to create an intimate interface which allow the body to (re)engage with the space. They allow the body to become the space.
Preface
Pg 03_04 (Un)Classified Landscapes Preface
“In wonderment of this taxonomy, the thing we apprehend in one great leap, the thing that, by means of the fable, is demonstrated as the exotic charm of another system of thought, is the limitation of our own, the stark impossibility of thinking that.” Michael Foucault1
This research project was born and yet the contentedness with
Pg _04 1. Michael Foucault// 1889// The Order of Things: An archeology of the Hunam Sciences// New York: Routledge Classics
from my initial acquaintance with Michael Foucault’s ‘The Order of Things’. This acquaintance was no more than myself listening in awe to the words of his preface verbalized by another and yet, amid the chaotic and extreme notions put forward through the establishment and ruin of both Utopias and Heterotopias, one is left with an overwhelming awareness of where our world does not fit. Until the introductions between my ear and Foucault’s words occurred I could believe that our world just was. It was that thing that had no other, that could be no other. And yet, when faced with the literary Utopias (spaces in which the lyricism of language clearly defines ‘things’ with names and orders) and the antipodal Heterotopias (the destroyer of all words and their ability to be formulated into any meaningful union) it becomes apparent that our world rests in neither. Our communal strive for Utopia has halted our progression forward. We have achieved classification
this framework where we reside has ridded our ability to ever think within another system. We are stuck; impregnated with the preestablished knowledge of our own social geography. Dividing and classifying the world (the compilation of all ‘things’) without question or indeed even the ability to redefine the magnitude of components within any other frame other than that through which we inherently operate. My acquaintance with the literature of Foucault has remained brief but influential none-the-less. Similarly to the words of Borges resounding through the mind of Foucault upon which ‘The Order of Things’ was based, in turn His own words embedded themselves in mine. This intrusion of my thought syntax, this rude disruption of my unconscious mind was the foundation on which this subsequent document came into being.
Glossary
A Dictionary of Terms
Pg 05_06 (Un)Classified Landscapes Glossary
Pg_06 These definitions are based on their use throughout the following document. While some meanings have been extruded from their original context they are loosely based upon those found within the Oxford Dictionary.
Body Haptic Form of a human being, our process or outcome relating to personal perceptive tool. the senses, particularly that of touch. Classification The act of arranging or organizing Making into classes The act of physically constructing form in order to develop Context knowledge or ideas. A set of ideas or circumstances that surround a particular space. Mediate Intervene in a situation in which Conversation Space to reconcile or engage one or The space that exists between more parties. two forms. i.e. building and body. Model Dialogue A constructed representation of The spatial and sensory a moment or idea for the mind correspondence between forms. to build upon. Models exist as single entities completely subject Environment to human intervention. The world that surrounds us, both constructed and Perception unreconstructed. The act of apprehending by means of the senses or the mind; Existing cognition; Understanding. Preestablished. Perceive Follie To become aware of, know or Tactile, Transient medium identify by means of the senses. constructed at a scale of 1:1 that is respondent to the environment Precedent that surrounds it. Previously developed works carried out by persons influencing Gestalt the path or methodology of One form that cannot be divided design. into smaller forms. A true form.
Projection The act of applying knowledge to an idea or form. Process A series of actions taken in order to create a physical form or an idea. Reachability The area one body can work with devoid of external aid i.e. ladders. Research The act of acquiring knowledge about relevant facts or theories through investigation in order to draw informed conclusions. Scale Size in relation to actual dimensions. In this document it is often referred to in comparison to the body. Social Geography A context inclusive of all things attributing to its existence. Urban Landscape The combination of the formal and spatial aspects of a built metropolis.
Pg 07_08 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part 01
Part One
Conceptual Introduction
Chapter One Introduction: Into Concept
Pg 09_10 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part 01
This research project seeks to (re) invigorate the spatial relationship that operates between our own human form (our body and our psychology) and those elements that compose the existing urban landscape. Through the physical research medium of realized garments it begins to generate an understanding of the dialogue between body and space, (re) establishing the body as a notion of space manipulation. These garments, tailored to the human body and increasingly to a specific site within Melbourne’s Central Business District operate as mediating devices between the two forms, (re)revealing forgotten dialogue and (re) positioning the body within the urban landscape. Through this research, there emerges a particular mode of landscape architecture that focuses on the body-space, (re)positioning the body within the landscape, celebrating the existing and forging a corroboration between body and space. Pg _10 1. Pallsmaa, J//1996//The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses//John Wiley & Son Ltd//15 2. Loidl, H and Bernard, S //2003//Opening Spaces: Design as Landscape Architecture// Boston, MA: Birkhause 3. Pallsmaa, J// The Eyes of the Skin//42
There exists, in western culture a tendency to experience the world from a dominantly retinal perspective1. As inhabitants of this social geography, our habitual retinal-based psychology often obscures our haptic perception, rendering us as mere spectators within the diversely fabricated urban landscape in which
we operate. We rely on the projection of previously gained knowledge onto the surface of ‘recognized’ form in order to position ourselves within a certain context. This notion is pointed out in Opening Spaces by Loidl & Bernard: “The search for connections is an essential part of the world around us. It happens every second with every glance. We work on a number of individual pieces of information and sensory impressions, constantly and automatically searching for units that we recognize because of prior experience.”2 While this retinal hierarchy is a vital part of our current mode of operation (and is arguably essential if one has any hope of achieving anything) it denominates the vast array of sensory experiences that create ‘space’ and position us as observers rather than producers of the landscape. “Vision reveals what touch already knows…our eyes stroke distant surfaces, contours and edges and the unconscious tactile sensation determines the agreeableness or unpleasantness of the experience. The distant and the near are experienced with the same intensity and they merge into one
coherent surface.”3 As Landscape Architects we are constantly [re]arranging the existing urban landscape, building onto it our projections of what it should be and often discounting the fantastic spatiality of the existing contemporary metropolis. This research, conducted through follies as garments that mediate between body and space, (re) invigorates our engagement with this existing urban landscape. Through the use of increasingly site-specific garments it aims to make one FEEL the space with all the senses and generate knowledge on a scale of one:one regarding the relationship that exists between the two forms. It is the aim of this research to determine the possibility of (re)introducing the body into the landscape, establishing an intimate engagement in order to (re)establish the body as a sensory receptor. Subsequently, this research then generates knowledge through which we may begin (re)thinking the current urban realm and how this may generate new approaches within the discipline of Landscape Architecture.
:Into Garments as Research Chapter One Concept of (Un)Classified Landscapes
Pg 11_12 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part 01
Pg _12 1. koda, H//2001//Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed. 5th ed//New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art//8
The base motive surrounding this research is to (re)invigorate the dialogue between the human body (and individual psychology) and the existing city scape. The part of this project covered throughout this document details the testing of this concept through the making and testing of mediating garments. These garments are physical, spatial machines for generating knowledge at a scale of one:one. They are body-scaled for researching the body-scale, realized and constructed so as to react and mediate between the two forms of body and landscape in question. While these garments have been designed, made and tested within the landscape architectural discourse the fundamental properties of apparel still support and surround their being. Generated through a pattern derived from spatial qualities within particular landscape scenarios
they form malleable, transient, transportable research tools. Based around the notion that “through the artifice of apparel the less than perfect can camouflage perceived deficiencies and in some instances project an appeal for beyond those gifted with characteristics accepted as ideal in their culture and time.�1 the garments act as costumes of the landscape, allowing the body and the landscape to simultaneously project views of their own form, blurring the boundaries between them and forcing them into intimate conversation. While each human is subject to an individual interpretation of this conversation, it is the intention of the garment to mediate the dialogue between the two, generating an appreciation of the existing urban form. For this purpose also, these garments are temporal in their ability to
be shifted; carried through space and time, corroborated in part by the human body and in part by the existing landscape (with a varying level of site specificity) yet leaving no physical trance on either party. These transient garments, existing as realized research mediums, form the basis of research throughout this work. The constructing and testing of each resulting in subsequent investigations in order to better inform the project in regard to the notions of body and site as well as its position within the discourse of Landscape Architecture.
:Into Garments as Follies as Research Chapter One Concept of (un)classified landscapes
Pg 13_14 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part 01
Pg _13 Far Left: Images of the initial follie that became the catalyst for working at a scale of 1:1. Right: Garment as Follie changing altering to fit the body and the environment in which it is existing. Pg _14 1. Pallsmaa, J//1996//The Eyes of the Skin//15 2. Calvino, I//1974//Invisible Cities//Great Britain: CPI Cox and Wyman//28
The garments constructed throughout the current extent of this work are classed under the model genre of ‘Follie’. While follies do rest, in part within the medium of ‘model’ during the course of the project a separation of the two concepts has arisen. This is mainly due to the dominant view of the garments constructed as ‘follies’ as opposed to ‘models’ and as a result a short definition of how each is situated through this body of work is given here: In the context of this document, models are defined as forms brought into existence as projected representations of thoughts that are built. They exist as an entity unto themselves, however remain subject to the force of human intervention. They operate as abstracted machines or scaled depictions surrounding ideal thoughts forming a platform for the mind to build upon. They are both a valued and necessary component of design. “Model making puts the designer into haptic contact with the object or space. In our imagination, the object
is simultaneously held in the hand and inside the head, and the imagined and projected image is modelled by our bodies. We are inside and outside the object at the same time.” 1 The fundamental flaw of models as models within this particular body of work comes into fruition with the notion that they exist as a singular object. While they are malleable through human force and decision, they remain stationary amidst the fluctuating space in which they exist. This notion is perhaps best conveyed by Italo Calvino’s depiction of Fedora: “In every age, someone looking at Fedora as it was imagined a way of making it the ideal city. But while he constructed his miniature model, Fedora was no longer the same as it was before and what had, until yesterday been a possible future for the city became only a toy in a glass globe.”2 Follies, on the other hand, are situated somewhere in the void between the ‘real’ and the ‘(re) presented’. They are neither
and both at the same time: transient, dynamic, spatial tools existing in constant conversation with the environment in which they are positioned. Like their parent, the Model, they come into being through a human projection of an idea. However, unlike models, follies rely on the surrounding context in order to operate. Similarly to the taste of the apple being in the contact of the fruit with the palate rather than in the fruit itself, or poetry existing through the contact of words with reader (Borges cited by Pallsmaa//1996//14) follies derive their meanings and form from the interaction with the surrounding landscape, built upon it as realized representations. Through this frame the garments constructed throughout this research project operate as follies. They are one:one scale forms coexisting with a body and a space, able to be moved to and through any landscape, to adapt to changing conditions. This project is conducted through follies, as garments, as research.
Precedent Dictionary Part 01
Pg 15_16 (Un)Classified Landscapes Precedent Dictionary
Precedent Dictionary Part 01
Precedent Dictionary Part 01
Vivienne Westwood
Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll 1871
“The only reason I’m in fashion is to destroy the word ‘conformity’. Nothing is interesting to me unless it has that element.”1 The British fashion designer takes the familiar elements of garments and warps them to create extremities in both a formalist and cultural sense. The (re)creation of the familiar is a strong underlying notion within this research project derived, for the most part, from the work of Vivienne Westwood.
Pg 17_18 (Un)Classified Landscapes Precedent Dictionary
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be as it is because everything would be as it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be and what it wouldn’t be it would. You see?”2 This text operates in part as a story and part as an illustration of the ability to rearrange the literary world. This project was born form the question: how can this notion be paralleled within the context of realized form?
Landschaftspark Nord
Duisburg
Latz & Partner 1991
A park created between the formwork of an abandoned steal smelting plant. At first glance, the most predominant aspect is the juxtaposition between scales. Then comes the realization that this colossal industrial space is beautiful, almost sublime. Both are fascinating in the sense that bodies, the same as the one you are in, constructed the giant towers that ascend into the sky above you. It is unreal and real at the same time. To achieve this notion within the city grid is something this project strives to achieve.
Rainbow Church
Public Receptors
Tokujin Yoshioka 2010
Gabi Schillig 2009
This installation at MUSEUM. BeyondMuseum in Seoul, Korea lets the body feel light with all the senses. The form itself is a single stain glass constructed of 500 glass prisms. These prisms refract light causing a rainbow of colour while also slitting and distorting any view through the window itself. This disconnects the body from the external world. The experience becomes inward, focused on just the body and psychology of the individual in combination with the light that surrounds it.
While the work of German Architect Gabi Schillig has influenced the research of this project to a large degree, there are some intrinsic differences. These lie mainly within the classification of the devised used. Where the structures of Schillig take on an almost architectural property allowing habitation of space, those in this research project are focused more toward challenging perception and (re)positioning rather than habitation of space.
The Philosophy Warhol
of
Andy
Andy Warhol 1972
Pg _17 1. Westwood cited in Wilcox, C// 2004//Vivienne Westwood: 34 Years in Fashion//London: V&A Publications//7 2. Carroll, L//1871//Through The Looking Glass//London: Hamlyn Classics Dragon Press Ltd//114 Fig. (1): MiniCrini, 1985 availible in Wilcox//2004//73 Fig. (2): Personal (re)presentation of Alice Through the Looking Glass. Fig. (3): Latz + Partner//2002// available at: www.latzundpartner.de Pg _18 1. Warhol, A//1975//The philosophy of Andy warhol: From A to B and Back Again//Harcourt Brace Jovanovich//115 Fig. (1): Yoshioka//2010//available at: www.tokujin.com/en Fig. (2): Public Receptors//Schillig//2009//70 Fig. (3): Lo Slavoco//2007// available at: www.rusynacademy.sk/eng/andy
“Space is all one space, and thought is all one thought, but my mind divides spaces into spaces into spaces and thoughts into thoughts into thoughts. Like a large condominium. Occasionally I think about the one space and the one thought, but usually I don’t. Usually I think about my condominium.” 1 While this text by painter, print maker, filmmaker and writer Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is highly personal in regard to his views it remains a catalyst within the frame of this project for alternative thinking.
Pg 19_20 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part 02
Part Two
Research Through Follies and Subsequent Expansions
Chapter Two
Garment as Follie: Machine for Distorting Perception
This follie marked the first realized iteration of (Un) Classified Landscapes. It is the pilot of the physical research mediums. The original intent surrounding the construction of this initial modular design was the altering of our current perception through enhancing and/or reducing sensory engagement with the existing landscape. It was proposed that the wearer would (re)arrange the garment in relation to certain environmental conditions they wished to enhance or subdue and as a result distort the familiar into the unfamiliar in order to trigger new trains of thought. Due to this, the garment was constructed as a modular and non-site-specific system. The
Pg 21_22 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part
wearer could detach and (re) attach the combination of thirtythree equilateral triangles of equal size through a varying arrangement of heavy-duty press-studs. This design provided the opportunity to manipulate the sensory receptors of the individuals’ body. The garment was tested throughout various locations within the Melbourne CBD. The process was recorded through a photographic and observatory that later revealed many unforeseen results. This process of testing, while still revealing notions regarding the overall project also revealed a series of fundamental flaws in the testing mechanisms to date.
SITE 01 RMIT BOOKSHOP Time: 10.00 am Weather: Cloudy. 16 Degrees Mood: slightly uneasy. attracting attention SITE 02 MELBOURNE CENTRAL SHOPPING CENTRE Time: 10.30 am Weather: Cloudy. 17 Degrees Mood: timid, exposed SITE 03 MYER OVERHEAD WALKWAY Time: 10.40 am Weather: Cloudy. 15 Degrees Mood: relaxed, secluded
Pg _22 Top: The modular garment that created the interface between this particular body and the existing urban metropolis. Bottom: Part of the photographic exploration of the interface between this garment and the external environment.
SITE 04 COLLINS ST SIDEWALK Time: 11.30 am Weather: Partly Cloudy 16 Degrees Mood: quite uneasy/people avoid SITE 05 BOURKE ST PEDESTRIAN MALL Time: 11.00 am Weather: Partly Cloudy. 16 Degrees Mood: attracting much attention.
Chapter Three Follie: Distortion Machine
Pg 23_24 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part 02
While the overall garment itself proved quite ill-informed, the process of testing this follie revealed a series of fundamental aspects regarding the research of the project as a whole. The modular structure, while providing the means of altering our perceptive senses, revealed it was not a voluntary action to do so. More often than not, the follie was worn as an item of apparel. The fabric pieces were arranged to resemble something similar to a conventional item of clothing. While it was perhaps a downfall on the side of sensory research, it provoked a closer investigation both the individual psychology and public inhibitions. The second main outcome of this making and testing process was the revelation regarding the
multiple layers that this follie traversed. Originally viewed as a machine for generating knowledge of the dialogue between the body, garment and formal space, it soon became evident these parts did not exist as three solid forms. Rather, each part consisted of a number of parts, some overlapping into the realm of others. Through this follie the complexity of the urban landscape and the relationships that form within and because of it is revealed.
Pg _24 Sketck exploration into bodycontours formed within the garment and the garments corroboration with the body.
Chapter Three Emergence of a Multi-Dimentional Research System Prior to the exploration of the preceding garment, the research of this project was focused around three main aspects of body, garment and physical built environment. The previous follie demonstrated this was not the case. While these three aspects remain the main focus throughout the duration of this project they exist within a multi- layered, inter-connected situation. The body is not just a ‘body’ but rather a precise culmination of physical form and individual psychology. It operates in direct relation to the mind, which was in turn subject to public inhabitation. The landscape, similarly, while forged from the dense architecture of the city scape was equally forged by the people that occupy it. The public occupants, parallel to the garment-wearer (only divided from the general populous due to his/her positioning as the locus of this investigation) are in turn subjected to their own inhabitations and as such are involved with varying levels of engagement with
Pg 25_26 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part 02
the surrounding landscape (the combination of form and people). The garments stand as a mediation device between these two parties. Both forms attract and repel interactions and perceptions of landscape, which is in turn produced through the combination of inhabitants and form. “(Our bodies are) surely the locus of (our) world. Not in the sense of a viewing point of the central perspective but as the very locus of reference, memory, imagination and integration.” 1 The inter-connectedness of all forms becomes apparent and the follie mediates between these forms. The follie makes us (re)remember the dialogue that creates the ‘between space’ and repositions us as creators of space.
Public Inhibitions
Body Space Physical Form
Garment Performance
Body Interface
Garment Space
Mediation Public Interface
Physical Space
Landscape Space
Temporal Space
Body Space Public Receptor
Pg _25 1. Pallsmaa, J//1996//The Eyes of the Skin//11 Pg _26 Emergence of the links between the different components of this project and the revelation that the combination of these ‘made’ the landscape.
Levels of Public Engagement
Chapter Four
Recording and Mapping Public Engagement
Leading on from the previous chapter, recording public engagement became a vital component in the investigation and evaluation of each garment. For the purposes of a grounded investigation, the level of engagement between the wearer of the garment (inclusive of those persons documenting the process) and members of the public was divided into four main categories. These were: (1) not noticing (2) viewing without halting movement (3) viewing and pausing movement (4) viewing, pausing and verbally interacting. These categories were derived from the initial investigative garment. Data collected through this categorization system will be of a quantitative nature and only cover a sample population (those that come within the testing ground). It will, however provide insight into the dialogue of the garment upon those people not directly involved with the follie.
Pg 27_28 (Un)Classified Landscapes Precedent Dictionary
Pg _28 The Four levels of public engagement divided into four different types depending on nodes of interaction. The fundamental flaw of this diagram is that it assumes the levels of engagement build onto each other in and does not allow for a cross-combination resulting in sub-levels
Level Four
Retinal _visual observation
Level Three
Verbal _spoken engagement
Level Two
Movement _pausing
Movement _walking
Level One
Precedent Dictionary Part 02
Pg 29_30 (Un)Classified Landscapes Precedent Dictionary
Precedent Dictionary Part 02
Precedent Dictionary Part 02
Pg 31_32 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part
Metapolis Ballet
Four Bodies - Weight
Nexus Architecture
Zaha Hadid Architects 1999-2007
Franz Erhald Walter 1968
Lucy Orta 1993-1998
“Weaving a topography of different layers in different materials, metapolis evokes rhythms of the city - creating a fluid, hybrid ‘breathing space’ that coincides with the movements of dancers through...choreography.” 1 Through the combination of architecture and dance the human body has been transformed into a visibly spatial medium. Similar to the approach taken thought this research project, the body becomes the simultaneous maker and occupier of space.
“I am the sculpture” 2 Parallel to the views of this project, the textile sculptures produced by the German artist perceive the viewier as part of the work. The viewers become generators of space.
“Art can react in many forms. It can challenge our feelings about ourselves and our bodies, and challenge our beliefs in the social structures and values around us. My work breaks down barriers between clothing and architecture to remove many of the limitations they represent and with the intention of eventually leading to some sort of transformation.”3 While the base motives of Orta’s work intertwine with those of this research project the dominance of shelter within Orta’s structures renders them separate.
Pg _31 1. Zaha Hadid Architects// Metapolis Ballet// www.zahahadid.com/design/metapolisballet//accessed: 20.08.2011 2. Walther. F cited in Schillig G.//2009//Mediating Space: Soft Geometries, Textile Structures, Body Architecture// Stttgart: Akademie Schloss Solitude//12 3. Orta cited in Quinn. B//2003// The Fashion of Architecture// Oxford: Berg Fig.(1): Metapolis//1999// available at: www.zaha-hadid. com/design/metapolis-ballet Fig.(2): Franz Erhard Walther, Four Bodies (Weight), number 31 from 1.Werksatz, 1967, cotton Fig.(3): Nexus Architecture// 1996//available in: Quinn. B// The Fashion of Archicture Pg _32 1. Pearl cited by Stern, A//1993// Verbal Abuse: A Corset Moment With Pearl//Issue 3: New Religions Fig.(1): The Talented Mr. Pearl//1980//available at: http://lebeaubrummell. blogspot.com Fig.(2): Plug-In City//1964// available at: http:// edwardlifson.blogspot. com/2009 Fig.(3): Divisor/Divider//1968// Available in Schillig.G// Mediating Space//2009
Mr. Pearl
Walking City
Divisor/Divider
1997
Archigram 1964
Lygia Pape 1968
“Of course the waist-size magic-number is eighteen. Any number below eighteen becomes extremely potent - yes I would say magical. The smallest I have known is thirteen, so the numbers between 13 and 18 are very potent, each denoting some ultimate point.” 1 Apparel can manipulate the body, changing the physical shape temporarily to achieve a desired image of the self. This notion has remained evident throughout this research project through the use of apparel as the main research medium.
As a project of the avant-garde architectural group of the 1960’s Archigram, Walking City introduces the idea of creating new realities built within the familiar. This project was purely speculative, formed from a desire to quell the mundane view of the march of modernity. Yet in its construction as a fantastical machine there appeared a blatant disregard for social infrastructure. People became nothing more than objects processed through this giant, trans-formative machine.
As part of the neo-concrete movement of the 1950’s the work of Lygia Pape introduces ideas surrounding the creation of constantly evolving forms. This particular project (pictured above) is formed out of a simple piece of cloth and challenges notions surrounding human engagement and sensory experiences.
Chapter Five
Garment as Follie: Body as Machine
This follie never reached physical completion and as a result, was never tested within the urban landscape. The structure was derived with the intent of better understanding the interface of a human body in corroboration with the selected garment material of felt. This material was selected for its physical durability, lack of bias tendency and poor drape resulting in the maintenance of its own structural form and has been used as the dominant material in all garments within this experiment. This particular garment was forged from the scraps of that which preceded it using a sewas-you-go method of creation. This arbitrary and highly unsystematic formulation of the garment let to the realization of
Pg 33_34 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part
a garment closely resembling a conventional spray-suit. The process was halted when it was revealed this structure was very much tailored to the human form. This led to a very bias investigation surrounding the ability to felt to be moulded into the human form rather than analysing the two-way interface.
Pg _34 Top: Explorations into the notion of ‘body as machine: mechanism for transformation.’ Middle: Arbitrary building method used throughout the construction of this garment Bottom: Exploration into the body-contours formed by the garment in conjunction with the body. Note the similarity to body shape.
Chapter Six
Investigations into individual form and psychology The combination of the last follie, still existing in semicompletion, as well as the preceding studies led to this short intervention regarding individual body form and psychology. It focuses on the individuals interpretation of public decency and personal necessity. Each participant was provided with the same set of six fabric pieces and the instructions to dress themselves for the public realm. Observing the completion of each garment, while there remained variation within the aesthetic embellishments there was also a marked consistency. There was a seemingly automated consistency in the obscuring of those areas deemed as ‘private.’ This short intervention produced the conclusions that the garments constructed for the purposes of researching the interface between the body and
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the landscape should be versatile in their ability to be ‘worn’ as with each of our physiologies there comes a set of individual necessities that we require in order to operate. There is also a level of considered ‘social decency’ that needs to be maintained in order for the body to feel comfortable enough to focus on the relationship between body and space instead of solely the image it is projecting of self.
Pg _36 Photographic and Sketch study of intervention outcomes on all three subjects.
Precedent Dictionary Part 03
Pg 37_38 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part
Precedent Dictionary Part 03
Precedent Dictionary Part 03
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City Slivers
New Look
Holocaust Memorial
Gordon Matta-Clark 1976
Christian Dior 1947
P. Eisenman & B. Happold 2005
The american-born artist/ architect commented on social views through the deconstruction of built form. The carved building above represents comments on both the decay of the American city as well as the growing idea that ‘The American Dream’ was evaporating. Through the lens of (Un)Classified Landscapes the interpretation of this work rests in the new outlooks that are produced - the disruption to the everyday outlook as a result of this physical destruction of familiar built form.
The garments of the New Look collection operated as representations of society – a reflection of the notions of freedom and embellishment after the demise of the German Occupation of WWII. The power of clothing to promote societal change is a concept evident throughout this research project.
Through the combination of engineered topography and two thousand, seven hundred and eleven concrete ‘steale’ this solid landscape, upon human interaction becomes a space of intense and extreme sensorial chaos. The body becomes immersed in the site, disorientated in its encounter with the unexpected within the expected. It is this sensorial aspect of space that forms part of the underlying motives of this research project.
Timber Seat
Martin Magiela
Hussein Chalayan 2001
West 8 1994
1990
“I think of modular systems where clothes are like small parts of an interior, the interiors are part of architecture which is then part of an urban environment. I think of fluid space where they are all a part of each other, just in different scales and proportions” 1 Chalayan’s garments evolve from ideas and are constructed around the body in accordance to architectural geometries. They establish a dialogue between the body, the garment and the urban environment, each of equal importance and all operating at their own individual scale.
The timber bench designs developed by West 8 in the 1990’s and (re)appropriated since, introduce the concept of a bench as a meeting place. It is a scaled space inviting the body to take ownership of the space. The garments created throughout this project operate on the same basis - producing a versatile intimate meeting point between the body and the external landscape.
The Belgian fashion designer established a dialogue between clothing and disused space during the social unrest of the 1990’s. Drawing on the notions of the disregarded and derelict his collections brought to light issues of recycling and reinvigorating those spaces that had been subject to decay. This was a concept not only evident in the garments themselves but in the staging of numerous fashion shows in the abandoned parking lots, plots and warehouses of Paris’ forgotten suburbs. This dialogue is something that has influenced the course of this research greatly.
Remote Control Dress
Pg _39 Fig.(1): City Slivers//1976// available at: http:// maisdjenniferc.blogspot. com/2010/06/gordon-mattaclark Fig.(2): Miss Dior//Richard Aveon//1957//available at: http://misscherie.tumblr.com Fig.(3): Personal Photograph Pg _32 1. Hussein Chalayan cited by Quinn //2003// The Fashion of Architecture//Oxford: Berg//122 Fig.(1): Remote Control Dress//2001//available at: Quinn. B//2003// The Fashion of Architecture// Oxford: Berg Fig.(2): Timber Seat//1994// available at: http://www.west8. nl/projects/ Fig.(3): Dress by Maison Martin Margiela//1990//available at: http://pheasantsvultures. blogspot.com/2010
Chapter Seven
Garment as Follie: Body.Space.Garment
This garment was an expansion on the previous realized garment; constructed through the analytical frame of revealing the correspondence between body, garment and space in relation to their tendencies of inter-connectivity. As a follie of garment and testing process however, it operates almost in parallel to its preceding in that it reveals more about the bodyspace relationship than the dialogue between all three. Designed and made as a single module with no apparent mode of wearing, the body upon which the garment is supported has complete control over its placement and operation. The physical structure of the garment itself also included a number of notions (i.e zippers, eyelets
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and press-studs) in order to test their influence on the garment itself as well as methods though which to augment the garment with the landscape. This testing of physical properties and the interface between body and structure involuntarily became the recorded testing. As a result, the initial motive of testing the conversation that played out between all three components was somewhat overshadowed.
a
a
b
Pg _42 Top: Process of Making. Photographic documentation of the process of ‘making’ the garment in combination with plan. Bottom: Location plan showing the four sites in which this follie was tested
b
Chapter Seven Follie: Body.Space.Garment
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The fundamental flaw of this follie, and all its preceding iterations, was its complete structural detachment from the landscape. Designed to generate knowledge of the interface between body and garment, it disregarded the discipline through which it was framed. Existing as a non-site-specific module it became almost an architectural shelter similar to those produced by such personalities as Gabi Shillig and Lucy Orta. The garment became a unit unto itself. This process, among the many structural findings regarding the reliance of the garment on body, the repetition of movement and the obscuring of sight to release public inhibition which still proved an issue (illustrated right) this follie demonstrated the necessity of ‘site’ in grounding the project. This is relevant both in the generation of the formal garment as well as recording the outcome.
Transformation to the Third Dimension
Explorations into Weight and Notions
Observations of Repetitive Movement
Pg _43 Exploration of the body-contours formed by the garments interface with the body. Pg _44 Visual representations of the follie outcomes. The flaw that exists within this evaluation is that is focused solely on the interface between garment and body and does not adhere to the wider landscape. While this revealed a lot of notions regarding the construction of future garments, it also revealed the limitations in the mode of documentation used.
Ideas surrounding Public Inhibitions
Chapter Eight
The Importance of ‘Site’
Until this point the notion of ‘site’ had not featured in the research. Melbourne’s Central Business District had lent itself as a testing ground yet no specific location had been adhered to with any sort of rigour. In light of the previous iteration of follie and the operation of garment as architectural infrastructure, however, ‘site’ was a necessary constant for undertaking a grounded investigation and formulation of garment as follie. Through the establishment of one site, one space, a pattern could be derived from the spatial aspects of site. Instead of being an abstracted idea built into realized form, the garment would instead be the combined product of a kit of spatial qualities. Through the frame
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of Harold Koda1, the garments would become costumes of the chosen location. The body would be clothed in a physical depiction of the spatial qualities of site with the ability to anchor into a particular selected surface. This method of generating the form of the garment from the space will ultimately allow for a (re)invigorated mergence between the boundaries of body and space. In turn, this will ultimately (re)position the body as a special receptor within the contemporary metropolis.
Pg _45 1. See Chapter One: Introduction to Garments as Research. Pg _46 Sketch Idea of Site Specificity
Chapter Nine
Garment as Follie: Wearing Landscapes (in process)
This garment to date remains a work in progress. The pattern for this anticipated garment is derived from a close investigation of the spatial qualities of the chosen site, Drewery Lane located in the centre Melbourne’s densely populated CBD (144*57’51.05’’ E // 37*48’40.94’’ S). Equally tailored to fit the human body as well as physically ‘plugging’ in to the chosen site it allows the body to graft to the space, relying on the corroboration of both to reach it’s full potential. This ‘potential’ is defined throughout the course of the work as the ability of the garment to blur (and ultimately remove) the
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boundaries that exist between the human body and the existing landscape so as to re-invigorate the spatial relationship between the two. Through the process of informed making and testing this garment will ultimately act as a tool for understanding the interface that exists between human form and the existing metropolis (re)locating us as simultaneous generators and occupiers of space.
Pg _48 Plan of the selected test site, Drewery Lane (scale 1:1000@ A3) in relation to other test-sites of different spatial conditions. Note that these are not all Laneways but instead cover a variety of landforms including park and pedestrian mall.
Chapter Nine Wearing Landscapes
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The method of designing this research tool relies on a breakdown of the spatial qualities of site. For the purposes of producing an audible kit of parts in order to physically realize this garment, the six qualities deemed as the most predominant within the space were separated out. These six qualities, when separated from each-other, took on almost humanoid characteristics. They were defined into the categories of: Verticality, Topography, Material, Growths, Orifices and Reflection. Each quality was then translated into a virtual (digital) threedimensional form. This was then used to inform the physical realization of each component in the project material of felt. Each spatial quality received a number of iterations, building up a kit of parts with which to design and construct the realized garment.
Verticalities
Topography
Material
Growths
Orifices
Pg _50 The Six spatial conditions with subsequent virtual models and realized felt formations.
Reflection
Chapter Nine Wearing Landscapes
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The previous page showed the breakdown of spatial qualities into manageable components. Landscapes, however, exist as a combination of these components. Each one is made possible because of its relationship and adjacencies with the others surrounding it. Through the positioning of the spatial hierarchy of site and the insertion of each felt component into the garment in relation to the scale, positioning and hierarchy of its parent spatial quality within the laneway the precise pattern through which the garment is made and embellished comes into fruition. As a realized form, this will then be tested within the site for which it is tailored as well as in others to create a better understanding of the body to space dialogue as a whole.
Pg _52 Short exploration into the process of the garment design and construction in relation to the coexistence of all spatial properties
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Part Three
Current Projection
Chapter Ten Progression
(conclusion to date)
This project sits as yet incomplete. Wether or not it has a completion point is still unclear, certainly it will not be reached during this year. Rather, this project offers an introduction into the notions of designing landscape architectural space from the body. It is intended as a gateway into the understanding of the dialogue between human space and built form within the contemporary metropolis. Through the medium of garments equally tailored for a specific site as well as the human body it aims to (re)invigorate the conversation that exists in a ceaseless relay between body and landscape.
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Pg 57_58 (Un)Classified Landscapes Part
Part Four
References and Bibliography
Chapter Eleven References and Bibliography
This part is made up of selected references that have influenced me to varying extents but do not appear predominantly within this document and also a complete bibliography of all citing and images from within the document.
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References
Bibliography
Cook, P. 2008. Drawing: The Calvino, I. 1974. Invisible CitMotive Force of Architecture. ies. Great Britain: CPI Cox and John Wiley and Sons Ltd. London, Wyman England Carroll, L. 1871. Through The Gough, E. 1940. The Principles Looking Glass. London: Hamlyn Of Garment Cutting. Sydney: Classics Dragon Press Ltd Halstead Press Foucault, M.1889. The Order Grosz, E. 1992. ‘Sexuality and of Things: An archeology of the Space: Bodies-Cities.’ Beatriz Co- Hunam Sciences. New York: lomina: New York Prinston Archi- Routledge Classics tectural Press Franz Erhard Walther, Kirsh. 1995. ‘The Intelligent Use Connection (Head), number 31 of Space’. Artificial Intelligence, from 1.Werksatz, 1967, cotton vol. 73, Number 1-2, pp 31-68. koda, H. 2001. Extreme Beauty: Kyoto Costume Institute. 2004. The Body Transformed. 5th ed. Fashion: From the 18th to the New York: The Metropolitain Museum of Art 20th Century. Kyoto: Taschen Robert, D. ‘Haptic Perception’ Loidl, H and Bernard, S. 2003. ‘Opening Spaces: Design as Chapter 1, 12, 14 and 18 Landscape Architecture’. Boston, Steenbergen, C. 2008. Composing MA: Birkhauser Landscapes: Analysis, Typology and Experiments for Design. Pallsmaa, J. 1996. ‘The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Belgium: Birkhauser Senses’ John Wiley & Son Ltd Weller, R. 2005. Room 4.1.3. Innovations in Landscape Quinn, B. 2003. The Fashion of Architecture. Pennsylvania Architecture. Oxford: Berg University Press. Philadelphia, Schillig, G, 2009. Mediating USA Space: Soft Geometries, Textile Zumthor, P. 2006. ‘Atmospheres: Structures, Body Architecture. Akademie Schloss architectural environments; Stttgart: surrounding objects.’ Basel: Solitude Birkhauser
Stern, A. 1993. Verbal Abuse: A Corset Moment With Pearl. Issue 3: New Religions 1993. Warhol, A. 1975. ‘The philosophy of Andy warhol: From A to B and Back Again’. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Wilcox, C. 2004. Vivienne Westwood: 34 Years in Fashion. London: V&A Publications Zaha Hadid Architects. Metapolis Ballet. www.zaha-hadid.com/ design/metapolis-ballet. accessed: 20.08.2011