Welcome to the Heterarchy by Molly Chen

WELCOME WELCOME TO TO THE THE HETERARCHY HETERARCHY presented presented by by Molly Molly FF Chen Chen

Visualize entropy. Visualize the degradation of architectural structures. Visualize the decline of social and cultural rigidity.

None of these are bad things.

WELCOME TO THE

E HETERARCHY. / ’ hɛtəraːkɪ /

a fluid-dynamic [social] structure -Lebbeus Woods a utopian antithesis of hierarchy

-Jennifer Fletcher

"The heterarchy" was a concept that Lebbeus

generally has two reactions to war-torn

Woods brought into the architectural discourse,

environments: rebuilding or restoring. Given

and he defined it as a fluid-dynamic social

that war destroys the superficial layers of

structure. It allows for multiple relationships

architecture to reveal the actual reality of

between multiple objects in an unranked

the human life inside, Woods proposed that

system (think: hierarchy is ranked and orderly;

there is a third method, which is to apply

heterarchy is unranked, anarchy is disorderly).

"scabs" that simply acknowledge the fact that war happened--they neither romanticize nor

It is important to note that Woods began

demonize war. Rebuilding and restoring are

talking about the concept of heterarchy after

both acknowledgements of aesthetics, which

he visited Sarajevo and saw the devastation

is a hierarchical notion that has resulted in a

that WWII caused. He wrote that the world

penchant for superficiality.

everyone has to start somewhere

research

(MORE OF) THE DISCOURSE.

A heterarchy can accept and incorporate the fixed social structure of hierarchy, but a hierarchy is incapable of incorporating a heterarchy. Woods argues that old cities are heterarchies—complex places that supported but ultimately outlasted hierarchical governments. In Jennifer Fletcher’s essay on Woods’ work, she calls a heterarchy “a utopian antithesis of hierarchy.” A hierarchical structure successively groups things into smaller and smaller categories of shared properties, while in a heterarchical structure, things are interrelated in two or more ways and the structure can be seen as a constantly shifting arrangement. For example, in a heterarchy, there is no program that is more important than another. Bernard Tschumi has discussed at length spatial appropriation: “In no way can architecture today claim permanence of meaning. Churches are turned into movie houses, banks into yuppie restaurants, hat factories into artists’ studios…” He

continues,

“The

supposed

cause-and-effect

relationship between function and form (“form follows function”) is forever condemned the day function becomes almost as transient as those magazines and mass media images in which architecture now appears as such a fashionable object.” Placing value solely on architecture’s aesthetic or formal qualities limits its ability to endure cultural shifts, be they social or aesthetic. Besides, aesthetic and formal values, like obsolescence, are hierarchical constructs as well.

These hierarchical concepts of aesthetics and of superficiality are rampant in American metropolitan culture. This is just ironic; if Georg Simmel is to be believed, people migrate to urban areas to find diversity and forge deeper relationships. However, reading deeper into Simmel's texts, I've found that these metropolitan people instead lose themselves in superficiality. This has been vastly exacerbated by American consumerism culture, where people buy new things to replace old things for purely aesthetic, not functional, reasons.

CULTURE, AND THE HUMAN

human superficiality

We have constructed a culture in which we value the newness of things over scuffs that show the wear of time and of history. This culture understands architectures based on their aesthetic value, not on their social value—and aesthetics, as we all know, are periodic. The superficiality of this culture is always demanding more, but of what, the culture is unsure. The best is only good enough until something better comes along. The rapid turnaround of products and the great availability of options for specific products is both an invention and inventor of the capitalistic tendencies of our culture, especially of urban society. This was no accident—consumerism was literally engineered as a way to combat the low standard of living following World War I and the Great Depression. Following World War II, stylistic and aesthetic obsolescence were then built into our industry, exacerbating our consumption habits. For the first time, things were being replaced not because they were broken or didn’t function any more, but because they were no longer of the latest style. Excluding broader economic value, is there any true value in the “fashionability” or trendiness of the superficial aspects of a thing? Certainly, there cannot be larger cultural implications of something that is only skin-deep. The same applies to human behavior. The irony of the metropolitan human is that they have been

drawn to the city because of diversity, cultural interchange, fresh societal constructions, and liberation, but this multi-layered complexity of urban life creates a disillusioned sketch of individualityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to put it simply, we become shallow people. Superficialâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;these are the changes that we make to ourselves in order to differentiate I from him or She from you. The consequence of this is that we judge others based on appearance more so than ever. Where is the humanity?

the situation. v

Surely humanity cannot be found in something so impersonal as modernism. How is it possible that as a discipline we have made no radical move away from modernism? It is still highly prevalent in today’s architectural education. For a long time, modernism considered only how human society, as a whole, ought to behave (that is, not necessarily how people actually behave, much less how individuals behave). Reactions against modernism were limited and have not endured the way modernism has. Brutalism was one of them, but it was dismantled by Archigram. Archigram, in turn, was dismantled by its own body of student supporters.

way of life following the industrial revolution,

detour: the discourse.

proposing living machines. Metabolism, a

Le Corbusier’s 1923 publication Vers une

localized style, responds to the rattling reality

Architecture called for an architectural return

of severe impermanence, proposing growing

to simple geometry and “machines for living.”

cities. These styles are movements, searching

The modernist era understood everything as

for resolutions for an undesirable status quo.

machines for the purposes of efficiency —

Let us postulate that contemporary “style” is more than a reflection of its societal climate—it is additionally a response to a social condition. Modernism responds to the then newly obsolete

humans too, were machines, and their dwellings So much social unrest exists in the cities

were as well. Le Corbusier’s interpretation of a

of the United States, yet there has been

machine for living in was simply a place that

no architectural call to action. This culture

provided a prescribed amount of access to

has bred a set of architects who are more

sunlight and hot water (i.e., hygiene).

concerned with their personal formal (read: superficial) goals than with the behavior of

In the 1960s, Archigram challenged the

society as a whole. Attempts at relieving

discipline to “really [fabricate] the “machine

stresses on society, such as gentrification,

for living in” promised by early modernism,

have

assembled

only

generated

unrest.

Few

from

postwar

technologies….”

individuals fight against the capitalistic fabric

However, they also demanded that architecture

of the city—skateboarders, urban explorers,

must be capable of change. Modernism was

parkour practitioners—but unlike at the time

viewed as programmatic and non-liberal, and

of modernism, there is no greater movement.

the architects who became the brutalists “forced [modernists] to consider…how human communities might actually function, rather than how they should function.”

archigram

brutalism

modernism

For all intents and purposes, we should probably just dissolve into anarchy. The current social structure obviously does not satisfy the needs of many of its constituents. Rebellion and protests, even historic ones, have not been able to change fundamental cultural beliefs and practices. Even in the most diverse American cities, people are still faced with prejudice.

kowloon walled city. pg 33

Overall, authoritative bodies do little to alleviate these nonconstructive conditions, whether through inability or indifference, and it is left to individuals to inform those around them, one by one, of the value of all members of society. This highly personal reeducation operates without input from regulatory bodies—it is an organic and non-controlled (anarchistic) force.

ENTROPY, OR TIME. But anarchy means nothing without the opposing force of societal rigidity. Freedom cannot be understood without confinement, chaos without order. Law, one implementation of authority, is a framework within which society ought to be operating, but these operations need not be conservative. Similarly, architectural anarchy must function within a regulated system, or else there will be no recognition of its lawlessness. Before establishing said architectural anarchy, we must first address current conditions. Our governments and corporations are quick to raze history to the ground to make way for new constructions that hold nothing but fragments/machine parts of this culture, masquerading as humans. That history that is destroyed may not have overarching cultural implications, but it has personal ones. Think of a house, the trope of the childhood home. The architectural history aspect of the house doesn’t matter; it is the material of memory and time that gives it value. That is the layman’s understanding of architecture, rather than whatever social ideal the architect wished to uphold it to. Razing buildings is usually controversial, so alienating people is an unavoidable consequence when regulatory bodies do demolish structures. But occasionally, the government or strong public opinion will allow for certain old/historic buildings to remain. Old architecture is compelling. And occasionally, broken bits of architecture remain, abandoned by society, obsolete but only in the functional/programmatic sense of the word. They get overtaken by the passage of time or by the buildup of entropy. There has long been a fascination with ruins, ruined architecture, old architecture, and the like. Squatters take advantage of empty buildings, finding shelter in places everyone else has forsaken. Urban explorers delve into abandoned and graffiti’d hospitals, tracing the footsteps of people long gone. People gush over images of ivy overtaking abandoned buildings. And while the image of “ruin value” is truly beautiful, it is dangerous as well.

cathedral of light, albert speer

ryoan-ji temple

detour: fascism, because context is important Albert Speer, a German architect, and the head of his government Adolf Hitler agreed that ruins only served to prove the longlasting power of previous civilizations, evidence of their existence. Hitler wanted The Third Reich to ‘ruin’ similarly.

(We

cannot discount Hitler’s views on the account of him being Hitler—that wouldn’t be very heterarchical. Besides, it’s true— would the ancient Greeks or Egyptians or

END DETOUR: BACK TO HAPPY ENTROPY.

Romans really be on our (“our” referring to the very, very universal “we”) radar if

The visualization of time is so immensely valuable

not for their ruins?) What we must do is to

to the human experience because it is one of few

be careful that the aged architecture does

hyperobjects

not generate fascist society. (In any case,

of and accept. The actual passage of time is the

just because someone believes in ruin

only way we understand it, so that is specifically

value doesn’t make them a fascist. I’m not

what architecture should strive to embody. So far,

fascist, and likely neither are the majority

we have generally only considered cyclical time—

of ruin porn addicts.) The point here is that

years subdivided into seasons, days into hours—a

an amalgamation of different architectural

byproduct of production and assembly lines. How

strategies and values (fascism included)

will this building respond to sun paths in the winter

in the same space will highlight the

versus the summer? How can we activate this

interrelatedness of all these disparate

plaza after the 9-5 workers leave? Seldom do we

things: The Heterarchy.

ask: What will happen here in thirty years, when the

that we are all collectively aware

fashions have changed and our living habits have evolved? However, asking this question should not lead to design that attempts to anticipate stylistic evolution; that’s for the fashion industry. Instead, consider this: There is no value to be found in purely formal architecture. The current hierarchical structure dictates that certain aesthetics are better than others. In other words, obsolescence is a hierarchical construct. A thing’s obsolescence is related to its time, its datedness, its relevance…our interpretation of time, too, is a hierarchical construct. The relationship between architecture and time is a given, but we must change the nature of this relationship. The way it is now, time begins to destroy architecture, devaluing it. This perception must change. We

must remember that old architecture is relevant. Jun’ichiro Tanizaki waxes poetic about this, Japanese concepts of wabi-

sabi and mono no aware, the value of impermanence and aging, in his book In Praise of Shadows. He talks about the patina on silver, the intensity of wood grain over time, the luster of grime on pottery—all things that accumulate over time. He talks about losing sense of time when he encounters certain qualities of light and even the lack thereof. “[B]y cutting off the light from this empty space [our ancestors] imparted to the world of shadows that formed there a quality of mystery and depth superior to that of any wall painting or ornament…for me, the most exquisite touch is the pale white glow of the shoji in the study bay; I need only pause before it and I forget the passage of time.” Throughout the book, Tanizaki criticizes the (non) qualities of glaring lighting and polished silverware as superficial; they reflect (quite literally) Western (non)sensibilities towards the delicacy of time. As a writer, Tanizaki calls for this type of sensibility to resurface in the literature world, but it is clear in his text that there are architectural applications. In a culture where we equate time to capital and we never truly pause to consider beauty, only architectural space can bring about a change in these habits. Arata Isozaki, an architect who started working in the 1960s, works extensively with the concept of ma, another Japanese concept that equates time and space. Architectural space is synonymous with the events that happen within it. Of course, the flaw in these ancient Japanese concepts is that clearly, they did not serve to create a heterarchy—the culture

that developed alongside ma and wabi-sabi had a rigid hierarchical structure. How can we possibly theorize that introducing these principles of transience, impermanence, and obsolescence into American society will bring about a heterarchical overthrow? As it stands now, hierarchical structure is a societal system brought on by cultural behaviors. Richard Sennet, in a series of essays compiled into the text Practicing Culture, argues that “Culture is a set of practices rather than static representations; culture is made and remade in countless small ways and occasional bursts of innovation. Culture is something people do.” Culture behaves in open and closed systems [of society] the same way entropy does; to use Sennet’s words in his essay “The Open City,” in closed systems, entropy reaches “equilibrium and integration,” and in an open systems entropy dissonantly allows for evolutionary growth “rather than erasure.” The closed system is like a hierarchy: “every part of the system has a place in an overall design; the consequence of that ideal is to reject, to vomit out, experiences

[S]ometimes architects understand that

which stick out because they are contestatory or

permanence can only be experienced

disorienting; things that “don’t fit” are diminished

through change, whereas stopping time

in value.” For contestatory things to diminish in

merely results in an endlessly drawn-out

value, they must first exist…architecture does not

moment.

need to bring forth contradictory behavior, because it is already present. We shall task architecture to

ilka & andreas ruby

prevent their value from deteriorating, to be the open system, to be heterarchical, and to draw out new cultural behaviors.

THE NEW ESTAB

BLISHMENT.

Like obsolescence, building tolerance (one manifestation of lateral thinking) is a process. Architecture’s role in this process is of paramount importance: architecture is the most easily visible and most widely accessible part of the design industry. It should highlight both problems and solutions, bearing the marks of its social, historical, physical, and technological context, even if that context is no longer contemporary (architecture does not exist in a vacuum, so it should not act/look that way). In this way, architecture can then profoundly affect cultural behaviors (and elicit new ones) in pursuit of liberation. What follows is a proposal for how exactly architecture will do that: First, entropic interventions will take place. These, acting like Lebbeus Woods’ scabs, will highlight instances of entropy and allow people to recognize the presence of time. Ma, wabi-

sabi, and mono no aware are new concepts that can be introduced into an open system, and their ‘differenceness’ will help the cultural shift into heterarchy. These will be localized and contextual. Second, as the interventions too become obsolete, appreciation of depreciation will be established. Third, a new architecture shall be introduced. It will provide an alternative experience that humbles humanity while activating anarchistic predispositions of human behavior. Lastly, the hierarchy will be dismantled and replaced by heterarchy. 25 25

ONTOLOGY

A method of rethinking the hierarchy in favor of heterarchy can be found in objectoriented ontology (OOO). A concept borrowed from philosophy, OOO essentially deals in the relationships between objects. Prior to the discussion on OOO, philosophy was generally anthropocentric due to the work of philosophers such as Emmanuel Kant and Martin Heidegger. Graham Harman, who coined OOO in 1999, argues that nonhuman existence is just as important as human existence, and offered the argument that humans cannot ever have true knowledge of an object. Humans cannot know cotton, for example, the way that fire knows cotton. Fire’s understanding of cotton consumes it, but fire also will never understand cotton the way a squirrel might. The concept of the “withdrawn object” is introduced—there is a difference between actual reality and perceived reality. For the architect to consider humans ourselves as withdrawn objects is a step towards heterarchical design. For the layperson to be able to consider the relationship between non-human/non-animal things is a step towards heterarchical thinking and behavior. Understanding and accepting a nonanthropocentric order of things ought to open humanity’s tolerance for each other. There will be no hierarchy in human society, and there will be no hierarchy between different species.

because nothing is ever original

PRECEDENTs

Designing something to look weird is not the answer, because it inevitably looks weird in a way we would expect the weird to lookâ&#x20AC;ŚThe weirdest moments occur when familiar objects have their relationships to other objects severed and rewired.

fun palace, cedric price

david ruy

In a discussion between three architects and Harman on OOO, David Ruy (one of the architects) discusses how to design object-oriented architecture.

In one application, we might consider the relationship between historical buildings and humans. There is an underlying respect—or nostalgia—in the consideration of these buildings, so to establish a new relationship between a human and the architecture that disrespects the original status of the architecture is this “weirdest moment” Ruy speaks of. Beyond Tschumi’s hypothetical example of a nightclub-turned-church, here is one real example: Villa Savoye’s temporary re-use as a barn. Here we see a reprogramming as a result of aesthetic-, use-, and spatial-obsolescence. Quite obviously though, the jarring thing about the situation is a classic piece of architecture being used for something as ordinary as storage. Severed and rewired.

ville savoye, le corbusier

Heterarchical behavior is something that is difficult but necessary to foster. Cedric Price’s hypothetical proposal of 1961, the Fun Palace, was, essentially, a number of stages open to interpretation. Wanderers and passers-by would be drawn in to the sparse space and come up with their own uses of the various parts within the Fun Palace’s structural grid. Though the project was never realized, Price was able to build a lesser version, the InterAction Centre. However, it only served to prove that most people are not in the habit of trying to create new activities in non-pre-programmed spaces—only once was the Centre ever used the way Price anticipated.

kowloon walled city

People rarely even attempt to reimagine spatial usage. To do so would mean conflict—conflict with others, with authority, or with the hierarchy. This conflict is not necessarily violent (though it could be—additional reason why people avoid reimagining spatial use). Perhaps a traditionally stationary program spills into a corridor, which is traditionally animated. Heterarchy is not impossible, though more difficult than anarchy; anarchy, at least, exists. We can find examples in slums around the world, where architecture, in its most basic form of shelter, flourishes despite the lack of housing authorities, building codes, and real estate management. Perhaps due to human penchant for order, these things emerge of their own accord, but with no official backing. There is no law. The best illustration of this is the Kowloon Walled City, with a population of 33,000 within 6.9 acres—a population density of 3.2 million people per square mile. From a ‘spatial entropy’ standpoint, perhaps its most interesting feature was the widespread usage of the rooftops. (Incidentally, these were the only places in the Walled City with access to sunlight and fresh air.) As there were no more than three feet between any of the buildings, it wasn’t too far a stretch of imagination for the residents of the Walled City to connect the rooftops with ladders. But it wasn’t just the rooftops that were interconnected; the disparate buildings too were linked via stairs and passageways. From a heterarchical standpoint, it is important to note that residents of the Kowloon Walled City, though poor, fondly remembered the close-knit community that was built within the walls. Because there was little capital to be had, its importance lessened while that of interpersonal relationships grew. Here stood proof that density does not create superficial people. Moreover, here stood proof of an organic city like the ones that the metabolists in Japan proposed. Metabolists referred to themselves as such because they believed the human existence to be a process, and “design and technology should be a denotation of human society.” Design is a development that occurs actively and in tandem with human society, thus they chose the biological term “metabolism.” Kiyonori Kikutake, a member of the metabolists, proposed a number of “cities” to serve as potential solutions to this problem of using architecture to redefine social life. His proposals of course deal with the organic growth that a city (in his opinion) ought to have, and one of them goes beyond just growth and proposes the dissolution of the city upon its obsolescence. “Marine City” would drive itself to the middle of the ocean and sink itself, theoretically repurposing itself as a fish bed at the bottom of the ocean. Here, obsolescence does not equate uselessness or waste. The structure changed its function, moving laterally from an anthropomorphic usage to one that isn’t. The implications are that nonhuman uses of manmade structures are also valid (to tie back into OOO) as is nonhierarchical spatial repurposing.

various pinterest DIYs

Lateral reevaluation of obsolete things is not new to the American peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;we have a strong culture of DIY and upcycling projects. The challenge is that this method of thinking is limited to the sphere of home goods and home improvement; there is little consideration of applying this attitude towards built structures as well as unbuilt or implied architecture. Perhaps one task of the heterarchical architect is programmatic and spatial anticipation.

first investigations

studies

design study 1 AN ODD STORY OF RECONFIGURATION

An early investigation in entropic obsolescence, DESIGN STUDY 1 assembles non-related parts together, redefining functions and forcing new connections. Despite this, the original function of the parts is still obvious. This is an illustration that partial obsolescence does not create a ‘waste’ or ‘trash’ object, and new value can be found through repurposing and assemblage.

PERFORM [SCREAMING]

CREMATE

GO VOTE!

HELLO?

ATTEND YAASSSS

FEEL

YAASSSS

[SCREAMING]

HIDE

WOOF

WTF?

HARDCORE PARKOUR!

SLEEP

FEEL

ATTEND

FOCUS

PERFORM

TRANSPORT

[CROSSING OVER]

I JUST WANNA TWIRL~

INGEST

HELLO?

CREMATE

GO VOTE!

abstract

CONTINUING AN ODD STORY OF RECONFIGURATION

A two-dimensional exploration based on the same ideas found in DESIGN STUDY 1.

SLEEP

[CROSSING OVER]

HARDCORE PARKOUR!

WTF?

WOOF

TRANSPORT I JUST WANNA TWIRL~

design study 2 A STUDY OF SPATIAL REALIZATIONS OF SUBCATEGORIES OF OBSOLESCENCE.

THE TAKEAWAY: There are two ways to become conscious of obsolescence: either 1) architecture is allowed to become obsolete, then something is supplanted to fulfill/replace/highlight this obsolescence, or 2) planned obsolescence should be applied to architectureâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;designing for an awareness of this concept of obsolescence (i.e., visualizing capitalism).

design study 3 A STUDY OF INTERLOCKING SYSTEMS

This exploration of heterarchical space superimposes three heterarchical systems over a hypothetical existing hierarchical system (i.e. a city block). Inspired by Bernard Tschumiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Le Fresnoy Art Center, DESIGN STUDY 3 also seeks to decompose human expectations of exterior, interior, and circulation.

design study 4 A BRIEF FORAY INTO UNIQUELY URBAN CONDITIONS

Though they not criteria for sites of entropic interventions, these categories of spaces offer insight into particular urban heterarchical conditions.

THE CIRCULATION category fulfills the basic function of vertical circulation. However, it pushes the definition of circulation by shoving a new space between two disparate buildings that generates areas for both confrontation and solitude. Interventions that are part of THE CIRCULATION category will fall onto some intersection between two spectrums: one ranges from same to different programs, while the other will range from same to different external appearances.

THE INFILL category will seek to induce spatial exploration of empty lots. Empty city lots are particularly interesting compared to other empty lots because they are surrounded on all sides by existing building walls. THE INFILL will change the way people see blank walls and empty space that has been “put on hold,” so to speak, by the city. Yawning gaps will be subdivided into human-sized spaces. They’ll disregard city fences, seizing control of this free space, giving it to the city's inhabitants.

THE FIFTH FAÇADE is just fancy architectural jargon for the rooftop, but in redefining the rooftop as such, we combat the way the hierarchy has induced us into thinking about rooftops. While THE CIRCULATION category intrudes between buildings and THE INFILL category fills empty space, THE FIFTH FAÇADE category will float above its building(s)—its prey—but will be so much more than a façade. It refutes property lines, air rights, and the prevailing attitude regarding rooftop space, depositing a veritable landscape upon this unexplored façade.

THE STREET is an extension of a current trend in urban design thinking: streets ought to belong to the people, not to automobiles. No matter that streets are scaled to cars. Humans are highly adaptable; it's one of our greatest strengths. THE STREET category aims to flatten the hierarchy of who (what) inhabits the street landscape.

THE VACANCY category subdivides empty, unused space. A fascinating (though ultimately unrelated) fun fact about New York City is that the amount of vacant space littered across the urban fabric can house the city's entire homeless population, with room leftover. While THE VACANCY is not a proposal for a solution to this conundrum, it does address this vast amount of unused space.

design study 5 AN INVESTIGATION OF COMFORTABLE BODILY ARRANGEMENTS

How better to create new relationships between people and architecture, than to make them intimately interact with it? Shown here are a collection of the most comfortable positions people place their bodies in.

These positions lend themselves to particular configurations of architectural elements.

However, without their figural counterparts, they become ambiguous pieces of architecture that obviously have some uses, but take investigation to find their precise usages.

how to take over the world

proposal

DEPLOYMENT:

HE ENTROPICS. THE To reconsider empty buildings for new uses is only one manifestation of visualizing entropy (it is programmatic obsolescence). Entropy is latent energy found upon a redistribution of spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;energy that people can use to break expectations of themselves and of the architecture they inhabit. The Entropics are a massive deployment of individual and unrelated things in a metropolitan area. They are entropy.

65 65

The Entropics push Woodsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; theory of heterarchy beyond the drawing plane. The interventions are meant to maximize the number of different potential interactions between people and the architecture, as well as between each other. This is active architecture that aims to radically eliminate structure and conformity, and forces people to reconsider the way they act around architectural elements and around each other. The Entropics must all be designed to a specifically human scale. Overscaled architecture has long represented

the

hierarchy:

imposing

facades

oppress the people and remind them of authority. The Entropics will combat this with nuance and detail.

BUT BUT MANHATTAN?? MANHATTAN?? Naturally, Manhattan. Manhattan has always battled against the expectations of what it was supposed to be. From being a city built upon land that is largely supposed to be underwater, to the subway system below (and above) ground that knits the city together, to houses in the sky, there is nothing that is “expected” about Manhattan. In the same manner that dandelions poke out of cracks in the sidewalk, tiny parks poke through the city fabric, taking hold wherever there is unfilled space. The parks break the monotony of the city, creating clean, refreshing areas to combat the dirt of the metropolis. Coney Island was also originally developed as a place of relaxation away from Manhattan, but it in and of itself was its own wild world of surprises. Rem Koolhaas writes in Delirious New York: “Bright lights are placed at regular intervals along the surf line, so that now the sea can be enjoyed on a truly metropolitan shift-system, giving those unable to reach the water in the daytime a man-made, 12-hour extension.” Coney Island was the precursor to Manhattan, housing two experiences: daytime, and a nighttime day. Though these qualities are not unique to Manhattan today, Manhattan is the original American city. This is where the heterarchy begins.

coney island

jackson park

the underground

THE ENTROPICS

- 1/3 BRYANT PARK

216 E 14th ST

232 - 40 BOWERY

267 3/8 CANAL ST

reimagines circulation as both static and dynamic

axon

atrium walls and stairs catwalks

window to exterior railings and other thin things

267 3/8 CANAL ST

ALTERNATIVE VERTICAL TRANSPORT THING (WHERE DOES IT GO???)

LOTS OF THIN BENDY THINGS (DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T FALL, HAVE A SEAT)

STRUCTURAL THINGS (MOSTLY AESTHETIC)

MANY STRAIGHT THINGS (COME HANG OUT)

267 3/8 CANAL ST

VERTICAL TRANSPORT THING (GET OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARIES)

VERTICAL THING (FOR MAKING PRIVATE SPACE, BUT WITH A VIEW HOLE CUTOUT)

232 - 40 BOWERY

combats air rights, property lines, and “roof”

232 - 40 BOWERY

- 1/3 BRYANT PARK

forcing play into commute

- 1/3 BRYANT PARK

216 E 14th ST

challenges “private property” and “ground plane”

216 E 14th ST

100

216 E 14th ST

101

102

103

physical visualization attempts

models

104

267 3/8 CANAL ST

105

106

267 3/8 CANAL ST

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108

267 3/8 CANAL ST

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110

267 3/8 CANAL ST

111

112

267 3/8 CANAL ST

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114

216 E 14th ST

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116

216 E 14th ST

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118

119

an exhibition of work

SHOW show

how do we display 19 unique but subtly interrelated projects?

interspace is a show that consolidates projected

imagery, models, augmented reality, and extra content commentary into one space, laid out on 70+ boxes regulated in a grid formation.

120

121

typical box construction 3/4” MDF frame, 1/8” hardboard sheathing

friction-fit joint

box# JS-1

122

CP-IC-1

GD-1_CP-1

CV-2

GD-1 CP-IC-1 CP-1

sample 4’ x 8’ MDF cut sheet, 3-axis router

123

124

the berg gallery

125

projection surfaces

reflective surfaces

student models

126

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128

129

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131

132

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the context of everything

citations

images

pg 4 Lebbeus Woods

26 Stock image of fire

The Scar 30 Cedric Price 11 Mario Testino

Fun Palace

Extremes 31 Le Corbusier 15.1 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

S. R. Crown Hall 15.2 Paul Rudolph

Yale Art & Architecture Building 15.3 Archigram

Walking City 16-17 Zoohaus

Section of Kowloon Walled City 18 Pixar

Up 20 Albert Speer

Cathedral of Light 20-21 Ryoan-ji temple

134

Ville Savoye (in disrepair) 32-33 Zoohaus

Section of Kowloon Walled City 34 Pinterest

DIY tutorials 69.1 Graham Garfield Collection

Jackson Boulevard Subway 69.2 Wikipedia Commons

Jackson Park 69.3 Wikipedia Commons

Coney Island

works Becker, Joseph and Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher. Lebbeus Woods: Architect. New York: The Drawing Center, 2014. Print. De Silva, Shayari. “Beyond Ruin Porn: What’s Behind Our Obsession with Decay?”

ArchDaily.com. ArchDaily, 15 Aug. 2014. Web. 05 Dec. 2016. Gannon, Todd, Graham Harman, David Ruy, and Tom Wiscombe. “The Object Turn: A Conversation.” Log 33 (2015): 73-94. Print. Harman, Graham. “Greenberg, Heidegger, McLuhan, and the Arts.” Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon. 26 Nov. 2016. Lecture. Ito, Toyo. “What Was Metabolism? Reflections on the Life of Kiyonori Kikutake.” Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge. 16 Oct. 2012. ArchDaily. Web. 27 Sept. 2016. Lecture. Lin, Zhongjie. Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern

Japan. New York: Routledge, 2010. Print. Nelson, George. “Obsolescence.” Perspecta 11 (1967): 170-76. Print. Pham, Diane. “Ruin Porn: An Internet Trend That Is Older than You Think.” ArchDaily.

com. ArchDaily, 27 Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2016. Rackard, Nicky. “Infographic: Life Inside The Kowloon Walled City,” ArchDaily.com. ArchDaily, 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 28 Nov. 2016. Sadler, Simon. Archigram: Architecture Without Architecture. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2005. Print. Tanizaki, Jun’ichiro. In Praise of Shadows. London: Vintage, 2001. Print. Tschumi, Bernard. “De-, Dis-, Ex-.” Architecture and Disjunction. Cambridge: MIT, 1994. 215-25. Print.

The Architecture of Transgression. London, England: Wiley, 2014. Woods, Lebbeus. War and Architecture. Rat I Arhitektura. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural, 1993. Print. Van Der Kolk, Nick. “Kowloon Walled City.” Audio blog post. 99percentinvisible.org. Radiotopia, 19 Nov. 12. Web. 26 Nov. 16.

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thank you to my instructor Doug Jackson, my parents, my mentees, and every one of my friends who acted as my entourage. without them, there would be no heterarchy.