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A Study of Modern City Structure
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We must create the mass-production houses.
The spirit of constructing mass-production houses The spirit of living in mass-production houses
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The spirit of conceiving mass-production houses
Le Corbusier
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CONTENT
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THE ENDLESS GRID
A Study of Modern City Structure
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THE GROWING CUBES
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THE RESTLESS CITY
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A Study of Modern City Structure
THE ENDLESS GRID Wherever you are, you will see grid, and it never ends
The whole process of producing is based on a certain standard, which is defined restrictively with unchangeable rules. Grid is one of the most typical examples of this kind of standard. No system stands in such a neutral status like grid does. While every single unit is necessary to the system, they are easy to replace and relocate due to the characteristic of homogeneity. Mass-production, a process that requires a highly accurate and well-organized system, gives a wide use of grid system as a result. With the blooming development of urbanization, the architecture, especially those in the central area of the city, are becoming more and more giant, and the amount is also increasing exponentially. However, the proportion of available ground is limited, which results in a high concentration residential environment.
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Structurally, logically, axiomatically, the grid can only be repeated
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A Study of Modern City Structure
The grid system is the result of the Industrial Revolution, a fundamental system following certain standards without any bias. It is a symbol of massproduction, representing an unprecedented status of human beings – a true utopia of both efficiency and equality. The discard of ornamentation results in the reduction of discrimination, and then reaches to a state of homogenization, which enables the whole system to remain in an unbreakable balance. Thus, the growth of the grid will never reach an end.
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We’re designing for an infinite canvas. And for that, we need an infinite grid system
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When we see grids, we can easily find out that all the elements are repeting in a rhythm. Under this circumstance, the characteristics of a single element will be zoomed to a large extant. If the repetition no longer exists, instead, each unit has a unique characteristc, the efficiency and consistency of the system will be totally distroyed, because the most important quality that enables the whole system to operate is the uniformity.
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According to Rosalind Krauss, grid is an open system that welcomes different objects using the space equally without any bias: The absolute stasis of the grid, its lack of hierarchy, of center, of inflection, emphasizes not only its character, but more importantly - its hostility to narrative. Furthermore, the structure of the grid also has a strong capacity of resisting disturbance.
Because this structure, also interpreted by Rosalind Krauss, is impervious both to time and to incident. It will not permit the projection of language into the domain of the visual, and the result is silence.
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A Study of Modern City Structure
The basic principle of graphic design is also suitable for city planing and constructing, because the space in the city is just like an empty page of a magazine, but in 3D. To make the most use of our limited space, the grid system is playing a key role in the developing process of our city.
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We are living in an era of fastexpansion. We were just looking at the bright blue sky, and one second later, it is filled with huge glass walls with structure of steel, marble and concrete. The speed of construction today is beyond our imagination. Only for a moment our world has changed into an empire of grid. The three simple vectors x, y and z become the dictators of the city. It seems that they will never stop expanding and their invasion will last forever. Rapid urbanisation occured during the period of industrialization that took place in Europe and North America in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which was in the same period of the modernism. Many people moved from rural to urban areas to get jobs in the rapidly developing industries. That is the reason why the city expanded so fast.
The buildings are spreading. Suddenly the sky is replaced by glass
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It is widely agreed that the scale of modern architecture has been growing extensively during the recent few decades because of the demand from government and society. With population increasing, there is a huge need of residential and office areas. It seems that this need will never be fulfilled even though we have already built such an immense number of buildings. London is concluded as ‘a veritable tsunami of towers,’ by a report produced by the group New London Architecture. However, there is no secret why developers want to build towers as tall as possible. The higher an apartment block is, the more money it makes. Therefore, the consequence of the expansion of the building blocks is completely understandable.
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A Study of Modern City Structure
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It's entirely possible to have a system which is finite in one dimension, and this will not limit growth within that system in another, entirely different, direction.
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THE RESTLESS CITY We will never get rid of the captivity of the city, because it is expanding too fast to be caught up with
The outstanding fact of modern society is the growth of great cities. Nowhere else have the enormous changes which the machine industry has made in out social lives, registered themselves with such great obviousness as in the cities. In most of the developing countries, the transition from a rural to an urban civilization, though beginning later than some of the developed areas, has taken place, if not more rapidly and completely, at any rate more logically in its most characteristic forms. All the manifestations of modern life which are peculiarly urban, such as the daily newspaper, the skyscraper, the underground, the department store, and social network, are characteristically representing where we are living in cities. All sorts of information has to be continuously dealt with, which is similar to the experience of walking on the street — buildings passing by one after another, and the grid is never running out.
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To sustain the growth of the city, the pace of our life has to get faster and faster
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WHERE ARE YOU GOING Urbanisation is a major change taking place globally, estimated that a further 500 million people will be urbanised in the next few years and projections indicate that sixty percent of the world’s population will be urbanised by 2030. This rush to the cities, caused in part by the attraction of opportunities for wealth generation and economic development, has led to the phenomenon of ‘megacities’: urban areas with a population of 10 million or more. The incredibly rapid growth of megacities causes severe ecological, economical and social problems. It is increasingly difficult to manage this growth with a sustainable way.
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OPENING SOON
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COLOPHON
REFERENCE
Design, photography, text and handcrafted by Shen Wang in London, LCC, 2016
BOOKS
Typefaces include PT Sans regular for main body and introduction and Avand Garde BT for titles and quotes
Branzi, A. (2006). Weak and diffuse modernity. Milan, Italy: Skira. Heynen, H. (1999). Architecture and modernity. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Le Corbusier, and Etchells, F. (1946). Towards a new architecture. London: Architectural Press. Wallis, B. (1984). Art after modernism. New York: New Museum of Contemporary Art.
Paper includes Munken Polar Smooth Crisp White 100gsm and Zen Natural White for inner pages
WEBSITES
Perfect binding with black montboards as front and back cover
Geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk, (2016). Urbanisation. [online] Available at: http://www. geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/topics/urbanisation.html [Accessed 28 Jan. 2016].
Crain, M. (2016). Can a city become too big?. [online] Bbc.com. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/ future/story/20150402-can-cities-become-too-big [Accessed 28 Jan. 2016].
Middleton, C. (2014). Skyscraper London: why the capital is on the rise. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/cities/11245227/Skyscraper-Londonwhy-the-capital-is-on-the-rise.html [Accessed 28 Jan. 2016]. Ourworld.unu.edu, (2016). Rapid Urbanization Threatens Sustainable Development - Our World. [online] Available at: http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/urbanization-threatens-sustainabledevelopment [Accessed 28 Jan. 2016]. Worstall, T. (2012). Infinite growth on a finite planet? Easy-peasy! – Telegraph Blogs. [online] Finance - Telegraph Blogs. Available at: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/timworstall/100017248/ infinite-growth-on-a-finite-planet-easy-peasy/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2016].
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