The Great Wall of Balaclava: Linescapes

THE GREAT WALL OF BALACLAVA

1

4

5

CONTENTS Position

09 - 11

Site Analysis

13 - 19

Precedents

20 - 35

Exploration

37 - 77

Communication + Resolution

79 - 135

Appendix

137 - 155 7

Through using the action of the ‘cut’ how can we restore connection

to

both

sides

of

the

Balaclava

train

line?

9

Sight is one of the first steps to building a connection to a place before physically being within - take away that line of sight and we are cast into uncertainty, not knowing

what

lies

beyond

that

realm

and

limited

to

how we interact, inform decisions and what we expect.

The

Great

Wall

disconnection

of

Balaclava

that

the

project

Balaclava

recognises

train

line

the

creates

through its topographical divide. The train line creates both

a

visual

and

physical

disconnection

offering

only 3 avenues to which re-connection can be made.

The project proposes a series of design tools in the form

of

various

topography the

two

create

of

intervention

the

apposing

more

train sides.

circulation

line,

that

These and

through

cuts

aim

the

to

raised

reconnect

implementations

connection

in

the

will form

of both visual and a physical transversal connection.

It

is

such

through as

Georges that

looking

Matta Eugene

we’re

able

Clark,

at

artists Richard

and

designers

Serra,

Nancy

Haussmann

and

the

layout

interrogate

the

role

of

the

of cut

work Holt, Rome and

start to explore form through topographic modelling.

11

S I T E A N A LY S I S

13

14

15

16

17

B B

C

A

A

A

C

B

A C D

B D

E F

C D

E

F

E

D G

G

E

F

F

H H

100

200

300

400

500

600

14m

12m

10m

A

A B

B C

C 8m

D 6m

4m

2m

E F G H

18

D E F G H

A

A

19

20

P R E C E D E N TS

21

2

22

23

24

Nancy Holt SIGHTLINES 5

2011

29

Nancy Holt is an astrist that positioned her installations through the medium of sight as her main iterrigator.

The installations set views to which the vastness of the desert was brought back to human scale, allowing visitors to view their surrounding through the more contained perspective offered by the tunnels. The tunnels also acted as a frame; framing the rising and setting of the sun at the summer and winter solstices.

Although

they

landscape,

it

form

the

that

are is

this porject

not

cuts

idea

of

through framing

endevours

to

the

through iterrogate.

6 30

31

City of Rome under Pope Sixtus V and Domenico Fontana

In 1585 when Sixtus V became pope, only Michelangelo’s design at the Piazza Campidoglio demonstrated an attempt to organize more than one building spatially.

His vision sought to use circulation routes as the base of the cities organizational structure,

which

connected

the

monumental structures of classical Rome to his proposed mapping. This has been employed in The Great Wall of Balaclava project which endeavors to use the concept of spatial connect through sight that both can, and cannot be accessed to propose new ephemeral sensations, whilst connecting spaces that were previously inaccessible.

32

7 33

8

34

Georges Euegene-Haussmann Paris Haussmann

was

one

of

the

key

renovationers of the city of Paris, France.

The streets were non-traversable, with grid like structure creating a awkward layout; making people weave through alleys to get to their destination - with no other avenues on offer.

Hausssmann and

looked

proposed

at

the

alternative

existing avenues

grid (cuts)

that would split its grid like structure and connect

parts of the city together. Offering

new axes of movement. This Improved the liveability of the city as well as creating long visual connections that would otherwise be non-existent from its original short streets.

It was looking at Haussmann’s work that we were able to rethink the structure of the street, posing questions of what connections can be made if avenues were extended.

35

36

EXPLORATION

37

TRANSVERSAL

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

PHYSICAL CUT

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

VISUAL CUT

59

60

61

62

63

THE LOOKOUT

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

RESOLUTION

79

80

PHYSICAL CUT

81

82

83

The case study looked at the idea of the physical cut as not only an implementation that enables physical transversal from one

space

to

another,

but

to

also

create moments where the inhabitant is entrusted spatially within cut - where the cut forms is directly framing a ‘scene’ on the other side, but also manipulated the

inhabitant

Some by

the

forced space the

moments

moment

feeling

enclosed together or

feel

and

overwhelmed

space; due

open

confinements

feeling.

inhabitant

to

the

tight

and

free

from

of

the

form.

Iterations 84

85

86

87

88

TRANSVERSAL ENCOUNTER

89

A

B

C

90

A

B

C

A

A

B

B

C

C

C

91

The

transversal

looked

encounter

at

the building of topography to visually build a cut that framed views to other encounters and scenes. The cut enables the

viewer

to

only

see

the

scene

at

specific location along the transversal, where

the

uncertainty

inhabitant but

then

is

cast

brought

into back

through the enabling of sight once again.

Iterations 92

93

94

95

96

VISUAL CUT

97

98

99

The

visual

cut

looks

at

the

idea

of

creating a snippet of what the other side it like (a scene). The form creates some what of an anamorphic projectionwith not

the

view

becoming

of

the

apparent

opposite until

side

directly

standing in front.

The

elongated

topographic from

the

form,

height

ground

as

well

frames

a

diagonally

as

it

section -

giving

views of different forms as the height increases.

Iterations 100

101

102

THE LOOKOUT

103

104

105

The lookout breaks the boundary between the two sides. It enables the physical traversal of the train line where a view of the other side is open to the viewer - the lookout (as well as the red colour) suggesting direction of sight by over coming the building height

The study explores the bending of sight through the physical cut using

mirrors,

that

shape

and

frame scenes on the adjacent side.

Iterations

106

107

108

Exploration mirrors shape

as and

into well angle

how

as

their

may

be

used to inform new ways of

manipulating

sight.

109

110

Exploration into how tree heights and configeration may

inform

shapes

and

the direction of lookouts.

111

112

113

114

115

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

The of

Great

Wall

of

sight

through

cut.

The

project

the

visual

the

territorial

The

project

Balaclava the

manipulation

Explores

and

project

the

the

physical

divide

that

looks

at

ways

act

explores of of

the

of

notion

topographic

‘cutting’

transversal the

the

train

extending

through

to

diminish

line

creates.

sight,

while

choreographing the viewers vision through the multiple use of tools that were generated by the exploration of case studies.

In these case studies, as designers, we were able to interrogate the act of cutting more precisely, exploring various outcomes of the transversal cut, the visual cut and the physical cut. These actions enable us to both limit someones vision, but still enable it; where by through the manipulation of form we were able to choreograph the viewers sight and movement, giving them a specific glimpse to what lies on the other side and extending ones perception of space. It is these tools that can then be implemented further on site, as well as be used on other similar train

lines

where

these

topographic

disconnection

occur.

135

136

APPENDIX

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

REFERENCES 1. Barbican Art Gallery,. Splitting. 1974. Web. 1 June 2016. Web. Accessed, 25/5/16. Available at: www.criticismism.com/2011/03/06/ gordon-matta-clark-splitting-1974 2. Clark, Matta. Untitled. 1975. Web. Accessed 26/5/16.Accessed, 25/5/16. Available at : https://calpolyla201.wordpress. com/2012/09/30/conical-intersect-paris -france/ 3. Gideon Fink Shapiro,.Richard Serra 2014. Web.Accessed 26/5/16.

Available at: www.svbscription.com/blog /richard-serra 4. Serra, Richard. Richard Serra’s Massive Steel Sculptures At Gagosian Galleries. 2013. Accessed 28/5/16. Availiable at:www.glenwoodnyc.com/manhattan-living /richard-serra-nyc-2013/ 5. Holt, Nancy. Sightlines. 1997. Web. 1/6/16. Available at:www.grahamfoundation.org /public_events/4041 6 . H o l t , N a n c y . S u n Tu n n e l s . 1 9 7 6 , P h o to : Ret i s ( v i a F l i c k r ) . A cce s s e d 1/6/16. Available at: www.apollo-magazine.com/nancy-holt/ 7. Roma di Giovanni Battista Nolli, 1748, published by Istituto di Studi Romani, Rome, 1962. Accessed 1/6/16 Available at: www.mdhistory. net /doing_good/7001/HTML/FIG00004.HTM 8. Georges Euegene-Haussmann, Paris,published: jeudi 3 janvier 2013.

Accessed 1/6/16. Available at : www.fog-webpaper.blogspot .com.au 9. Sean Hogan . 2008. The Inter vie w: Richard Serra. The Obser ver.

[ONLINE] Available at : www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/ oct/05/serra.art. [Accessed 30 May 2016].

1 0 . J a m e s A t t l e e , ‘ To w a r d s A n a r c h i t e c t u r e : G o r d o n M a t ta - C l a r k a n d L e C o r b u s i e r ’, T a t e P a p e r s , n o . 7 , S p r i n g 2 0 0 7 , w w w . t a t e . o r g . u k / research/publications/tate-papers/07/towards-anarchitecture-gordon-matta-clark-and-le-corbusier, accessed 5 June 2016.

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