Désignation (Vol 2): un journal annuel de art, design et architecture by Steffen Fischer

dé signation un journal annuel de art, design et architecture

M ÉT RO

Vol

M ÉT RO: Le ministè re de l'Inté rieur Ré unionnais Exploring ‘slippages’ in language and architecture through the translation in four different acts of an iconic French building into its créole ‘Other.’

Steffen Fischer

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AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

UNIT TWELVE

AN AF RICAN ALMANAC St ef fen F i s ch er MAST ERS PORT FOLIO

M ÉT RO: Le ministè re de l'Inté rieur ré unionnais Exploring ‘slippages’ in language and architecture through the translation in four different acts of an iconic French building into its créole ‘Other.’

UNIT STAT EMENT An African Almanac

‘The void contains in itself all the potential of the space, all the relations not written or experienced. Void is the place of tension of something that will be, a space in power, but also the only place where the recollection of reality, the composition of the parts, the fragments of life, can happen.’ — Simone Pizzagalli From the Greek διασπορά (‘scattering’, ‘dispersion’) the term ‘diaspora’ refers to a scattered population whose origins lie within a smaller, usually fixed, geographic locale. Diaspora has come to refer in particular to the historic dispersions of an involuntary nature, such as the Jewish Diaspora; the fleeing of Greeks after the fall of Constantinople; the African trans-Atlantic slave trade; the Irish after the Great Famine and, more recently, the dispersion of Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds in the aftermath of the Gulf Wars. Scholars have historically distinguished between different types of diaspora, based on different causes: imperialism, trade, labour or wars, for example. Social cohesion within diasporic communities and the strength of ties to their original or ancestral lands also varies, with some communities maintaining strong political ties with their homelands and others dreaming endlessly of return. Within architecture, however, scant attention has been paid to the spatial, urban and architectural implications of migration. Refugee camps, deportation centres and prisons appear to be the only spaces or architectural programmes that deal in any way with this most contemporary of issues, yet the epistemological potential locked into the history and experience of diasporic communities around the world has far-reaching consequences for all built environment disciplines, at multiple scales and levels, and from multiple perspectives. Unit 12 visited the island of Réunion, a region of France separated from the ‘mainland’ by 6,000km and the outermost region of the EU, in order to uncover new potential spatial languages of movement, migration and diaspora to augment the architectural vocabulary of our times. The Major Design Project of the year will be the Ministry of Home Affairs. Projects may look at landscapes, seascapes, edge conditions, boundaries between land and sea, between past and present and between ‘home’ and ‘away’. The aim is to challenge each student to find their own appropriate architectural tools of representation, form, structure, materiality, programme, with which to propose a new architecture that, in Derrida’s words, ‘bears some resemblance to that which might be found in it.’

Unit 12 follows the ‘design research’ model of architectural investigation. Broadly speaking, this approach questions the precise relationship between conventional text-driven and project-oriented approaches to architectural research education, and argues that the formation of new knowledge through actual projects (speculative or ‘real’) is crucial to the development of this emerging research category. While there have been numerous architect-scholars since the Renaissance who have relied upon the interplay of drawings/models/textual analyses/intellectual ideas and cultural insights to scrutinise the discipline (of architecture), until recently, there has been a reluctance within architectural culture to acknowledge and accept the role of design as a legitimate part of discourse. This Unit’s work sits within the context of this growing body of knowledge. Within the Unit’s timetable and framework, the year is broken into four distinct parts: Q1: Q2: Q3: Q4:

Project Exploration Project Synthesis Project Development Project Resolution

The Unit Field Trip which forms a major component of the design-research driven process is crucial in synthesizing students’ interests and agendas before settling on a possible site and programme. In Unit 12, where the design interest and proposition drives the choice of site and programme, rather than the other way around, the proposal is submitted after the Field Trip has taken place.

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AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

Process & Methodology

This project uses a series of different tactics and tools to make and map the process of translating an object (a building) from one context (France) to an Other (Réunion). To inform the process, I employed a number of different methods of making: drawing, stitching, sewing, weaving, moulding and collecting. My intention has been to highlight the fraught and complex history of both France and Réunion, officially designated as ‘same’ but, in reality, quite ‘other.’ Réunion’s current position as a bona fide part of mainland France obscures a long and complex history of slavery, conquest, appropriation and escapism. Drawing in a variety of mixed media has allowed me to explore ideas around belonging, identity, citizenship and nationhood that, when read together, present alternative ways to read and achieve an architectural and spatial proposition.

outil de sculpture carving tool

tactics

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print misprint miscopy mispaste smudge bruise transpose stitch fold pleat remove eranse transport burn crumble cast weave shrink

couteau à palette palette knife

couteau de coupe craft knife

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machine à coudre

sewing machine

iPad

charcoal

aiguille et fil

crayon

needle and th read

pencil

roller

ruler

masking tape`

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l'huile de lin linseed oil

tooling (n) 1.to form, work, or decorate with a tool, 2. work or ornamentation done with tools, especially stamped or gilded designs.

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WORDS Steffen Fischer PHOTO Words & Things, (Almanac I) Steffen Fischer

AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

PHOTO Terra Firma (Almanac II) Steffen Fischer

fold

erase

stitch transpose PHOTO Terra Firma (Almanac II) Steffen Fischer

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

PHOTO Tools, Steffen Fischer

UNIT TWELVE

"But just as humans are, par excellence, makers and users of threads, so have they also come into their own as makers of traces with the hands. It is revealing that we use the same verb, to draw, to refer to the activity of the hand both in the manipulation of threads and in the inscription of traces... the two are more intimately linked than we might have supposed." Tim Ingold, 2007

pleat remove & shrink

PHOTO Terra Firma (Almanac II) Steffen Fischer

AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

mould

crumble / brittle / strong

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

UNIT TWELVE

OVERVIEW

Project Work

The closet is a spatial metaphor for both storage and secrecy that allows us to talk about power and space. The closet is less than a room, more than a piece of furniture, it is a mid-way zone between the body and space. It also refers to a state of secrecy or concealment, a place where things are hidden or private, concealed or surreptitious. As such, it functions both as a place where things are kept and as a place to hide. My Major Design Project is entitled The Réunionese Ministry of Home Affairs, which is both a building and a process. I am interested in the ‘slippages’ which occur in both the concept and acquisition of citizenship, a notion that is undergoing considerable changes as we transition from the 21st to 22nd century.

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

PHOTO Loom (Almanac IV) Steffen Fischer

UNIT TWELVE

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

PHOTO The Closet (Almanac IV), Steffen Fischer

UNIT TWELVE

mould

crumble / brittle / strong

archive

preserve / extinguish

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

OVERVIEW Reflective Statement

To architecture is to hand, like pen is to paper. I am a maker. It is through making that I find both my design freedom and understandings of architectural thought. The act of making opens up a multiplicity of explorative avenues that aid my process of work. In 2017, Unit 10 (Politics in Architecture) gave me the explorative freedom to using linograph prints and models made by hand. The conceptual and often ‘organic’ aesthetic assisted myself in areas where I would get designers block. Now in 2018, Unit 12 has pushed me to further my understanding of what the pen to paper means. At the beginning of the year, my work was probably more aesthetic. However, the constant critical assistance of my unit leaders has honed my thinking skills into truly understanding the 'why' through the act of making. Before making, my research, act of inventory aids this process. I sometimes cannot make without first understanding the what’s, who’s and why’s. At the begging of the year, my project was to unpack four almanacs: archaeology, language, syntax and architecture. The Réunionese Ministry of Home Affairs was to explore each of the almanacs and was about the transpositioning of the Élysée Palace from Paris to Saint-Denis. Through my series of drawings in Terra Firma, the act of making opened up a new discourse of understanding what my project was about. The notion of identity and citizenship was explored as a tool of memory and (personal) meaning to give a context of what the major design project is unpacking. The act of making has allowed me to transform my project throughout the course of the year, assisting and making my project stronger weaving my toolbox and tactics together. The honing in understanding the tools and tactics have been a critical key part for me personally, moving my work from purely aesthetic work to that of having context, understanding and meaning. For that, I am truly grateful to my unit leaders for having pushed me to understand the differences in work being aesthetic. My current body of work unpacks the epistemology of the closet. This further’s the debate on the ambiguities of acquiring citizenship, how and for whom it is relevant for.

WORDS Steffen Fischer IMAGE Steffen Fischer

UNIT TWELVE

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56oE 21oS

22oS

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ta xonomy of

citizenship acquisition A xo n om é t r i q u e i n d i q ua n t l a t a xo n o m i e d e l a c i t o y e n n e t é sur le d e l’a n c i e n H ô t e l d e V i l l e en s a i n t - d e n i s , La Réunion.

site

Axonometric indicating the Taxonomy of Citizenship on the site of the ancient City Hall in Saint-Denis, Reunion Island.

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This axonometric drawing of the site, H ôtel de Ville in Saint-Denis is a tool used to indicate 'the closet' positions of the five Taxonomies of Citizenship Acquisition. The Terra Firma (AAA/004 i/ii.x) drawing of the Élysée Palace was used as a stencil which was copied over the site to show the new spatial transpositioning of the building.

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DESIGNATION www.designation.city

Published by Steffen Fischer Printed series _ of 5

Copyright Steffen Fischer Editor Steffen Fischer Copy editor Prof. Lesley Lokko & Sumayya Valley Proofreader Charles King Printed by FourColourPrint Cover Plike card, Japanese hand stitch All rights reserved ÂŠ All images by Steffen FischerÂŠ unless otherwise stated Steffen Fischer PO Box 652872 Benmore 2010 South Africa stefelino@gmail.com

Printed on Cyclus Offset paper, produced from 100% recycled fibres, with a manufacturing process that requires one-tenth of the energy used to produce virgin fibre papers making it virtually carbon neutral - considered to be the most environmentally friendly paper the world.

ST EF F E N F IS C H ER MAST ERS PORT FOLIO

AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

Acknowledgments With gratitude to my supervisors Prof. Lesley Lokko & Sumayya Vally and visiting research fellow Patti Anahory. Thank you for your constant critical assistance, honing my thinking skills into truly understanding the 'why' through the act of making. To co-supervisor Craig McClenaghan for our lengthy deep and meaningful conversations. Your inspiration opened an alternative exciting glance into my project. To my parents, Patricia & Ulrik. Your support and love over the past two years will never be forgotten. Thank you. Denver Hendricks, thank you for always being there for me. It has been a privilege to see our relationship grow over the years, from employee, mentor, confidant to my best friend that always believes in me. Thank you for your gentleness and eagerness to assist me wherever possible. I always leave feeling inspired to do more! Marina Meyer-Hendricks for your support and guidance in helping me always to see the bigger picture. Leigh Maurtin for your love, support and motivation. You are my rock, despite being in different cities.

AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

...[O]n closer inspection, threads and traces appeared to be not so much categorically different as transforms of one another. Threads have a way of turning into traces, and vice versa. Moreover, whenever threads turn into traces, surfaces are formed, and whenever traces turn into threads, they are dissolved... [W]hether encountered as a woven thread or as a written trace, the line is still perceived as one of movement and growth... Once more, threads have been turned into traces in the constitution of surfaces: the surfaces of rule, upon which all things can be connected up. Tim Ingold, 2003

â&#x20AC;?

AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

prolegomenon UNIT 12 This year, students in Unit 12 were tasked with producing An African Almanac of Architectural Speculation. We were given a nominal brief a Ministry of Home Affairs to encourage us to think about the spatial and material conditions associated with migration and immigration. We were given the opportunity to site our projects in the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;realâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, digital or speculative world, and were challenged to find our own tools of representation to propose a new architecture experience.

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ALMANAC I

ALMANAC` II

AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

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T RANSPOSIT ION excavate cavate carve

LANGUAGE curio curiosité syntax patois

DIG 001 words & things

PATOIS 005 material palette 01

DIG 002 shock of the new

51 PATOIS 006 abstract

74 PATOIS 007 (a,b,c) modè le des salon doré et è lysè e palais

DIG 003 story board

11 PATOIS 008 lexicon

DIG 004 terra firma

19 PATOIS 009 programme

ALMANAC IV

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EPIST EMOLOGY meta method translations technique

ARCHIT ECT URE` arxo the act of making tekhne

META 010 pe Ã¯, what constitutes citizenship

ARXO 020 closet 121

99 META 011 narrator

ARXO 021 site 107

META 012 z'oreille

132 ARXO 022 taxonomies of citizenship acquisition

114 META 013 loom

142 ARXO 023 passport(s)

115

166 appendix A

history & theory

178

appendix B

professional practice

181

appendix C

unit 10 (2017) politics in architecture 195

AN AFRICAN ALMANAC

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machine Ã coudre

sewing machine

iPad

masking tape`

encre in k

l'huile de lin linseed oil

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tooling (n) 1.to form, work, or decorate with a tool, 2. work or ornamentation done with tools, especially stamped or gilded designs.

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outil de sculpt ure carving tool

coutea u Ă palett e palette knife

coutea u de coupe craft knife

craie chal k

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charcoal

crayon pencil

roller

aiguille et fil needle and th read

ruler

pl Ă˘ tre de Paris plaster of paris

les outils the tools

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DIG (v) 1. break up and move earth with a tool or machine, or with hands, paws, snout, etc. 2. push or poke sharply. 3. a site being studied. 4. a connected series of sites, and may be conducted over as little as several weeks to over a number of years. EXCAVAT E (v) 1. make (a hole or channel) by digging. 2. dig out material from (the ground). 3. extract (material) from the ground by digging. 4. reveal or extract (buried remains) while excavating an area. CAVAT E (adj) 1. hollowed out, as a space excavated from rock 2. cavÄ tus made hollow, produced by excavation. CARVE (v) 1. cut (a material) in order to produce an object, design, or inscription. 2. cut into thin slices

ALMANAC I T RANSPOSIT ION excavate cavate carve

dig dig dig dig

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001 002 003 004

ALMANAC I

dig 001 WORDS & T HINGS "We have an interest in landscape when we feel the need to stretch our eyes. Along with this common understanding— and probably because of it—the term landscape enjoys a comprehensive career as a metaphor.… Every chaotic totality is assembled into a unity as soon as it is labeled a landscape. The term “urban landscape” sheds a redeeming glow upon even the most dejected neighbourhood; “industrial landscape” transforms any romping ground for the ravages of industry into an object of aesthetic sensibility." Jørgen Dehs, 2000

emboss alter stitch

derive punch holes insert [senses] layout grid stitch together type [text] insert [information]

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WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

Using the dé rive with a basic set of rules, a psycho-geography of 'Maboneng' was mapped. Follow a white person, find a security guard, map the sound and scentscapes. Using white paper as a blank canvas, a grid was punched into the paper using a sewing machine forming a rigid landscape, literally stitching the urban fabric together. The loose thread contradicts the tight urban structure of the grid.

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ALMANAC I

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dig 002 SHOCK OF T HE NEW

alter burn

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block out important text cut out important text type important text burn important text sew over important text overlay all text >reset< cut lino print write text >reset< research write sew words on page >reset< type reformat subvert print

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

Under apartheid, censorship took on an increasingly more sinister and desperate role as a tool of control. In this project, through a process of redacting, work was woven, stitched and un-stitched to reveal the original. Two ‘ base’ documents were used: the White Paper on International Migration in South Africa, released in 2017 and the Alien's Control Act of 1991. The work is a comment on how language has not changed drastically since South Africa's democracy. The terminology remains the same: migrants, refugees, stateless persons, persons of no fixed abode, etc. The final product, an Altered White Paper, plays on the fact that little has changed: migrants are still ‘aliens’, still the Other.

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ALMANAC I

"...text is an artefact - a thing fabricated or made - that is built where before there was nothing (or, if anything was there beforehand, it is eradicated in the process)." Tim Ingold, 2003

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paste paste alter stitch

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dig 003 STORY BOARD “architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light” Le Corbusier 1986

REPUBLIC OF JOHANNESBURG Surname: ODOFIN Names: IRINAJO ACHIKE Sex: cis-M Nationality: LOS Identity Number: 1904295653080 Date of Birth: 29 APR 2019 Country of Birth: NGR Status: CITIZEN

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WRITER Steffen Fischer GRAPHICS Steffen Fischer

copy paste paste alter A storyboard for a migrant traveller across the African diaspora.

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ALMANAC I

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ALMANAC I

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ALMANAC I

dig 004 T ERRA FIRMA "But just as humans are, par excellence, makers and users of threads, so have they also come into their own as makers of traces with the hands. It is revealing that we use the same verb, to draw, to refer to the activity of the hand both in the manipulation of threads and in the inscription of traces... the two are more intimately linked than we might have supposed." Tim Ingold, 2013

The Élysé e Palace is the official residence of the President of France. It was completed in 1722, designed by architect Armand-Claude Molet in a French Classical 'rococo' style. It is located in the 8th Arrondisment, on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The word 'rococo' is believed to be a combination of the French words for grotto rock (rocaille) and shell (coquille) are key ornamentations on the building.

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WRITER Steffen Fischer PLANS Steffen Fischer

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51.3 toises

carte nolli de Paris, France A plan de base B premier étage C GSPublisherVersion 0.18.100.100

DÉSIGNATION II

ALMANAC I

maté riel linoleum embosser to emboss A1

alter emboss copy paste

le pochoir the stencils

A1 Front Élysée Palace B1 Back Élysée Palace

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adjustments in power structure:

The stencil has the structure of the Élysé e Palace carved into the linoleum flooring. This stencil is used to make copies and is also embossed onto the newsprint paper, resulting in a dual function. Each has a relationship with the paper in its own right: while the inked plate stamps copy on the page, the carving bruises the paper.

maté riel linoleum

"The drawing is a work; with etching the work is a class of impressions compliant with the original plate. But unlike both the script and the score, neither drawing nor etching employs any kind of notation." Nelson Goodman, 1969

tactics print misprint miscopy mispaste smudge bruise tear

TACT IC (n) 1. an action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end. 2. taktos ‘ordered, arranged’, from the base of tassein ‘arrange’. 3. plans, moves, manoeuvres, logistics; strategy, policy, administration, masterminding, Front Hotel de Ville A2 Back Hotel de Ville B2

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ALMANAC I

les outils the tools

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ALMANAC I

L'Originale AAA/004 i.x 25

The archaeological investigation explores the transpositioning of a major French artefact, the Élysé e Palace, into the historical Town Hall in Saint-Denis. Using tools and techniques of copy, paste, emboss, fold, pleat and stitch, I translate the unsolicited copy of the original on the island. This process investigates the slippages of power and identity that occur on site. The building stencil is copied, printed and examined like an archaeologist might grid and layer a dig. The drawings fold, pleat, remove, subvert and invert elements of the original Palace. Fold on axis, increase by 5%, reduce, stitch new space, create new axis and so forth. My site is the historical Town Hall, a space where immigration, identity, birth and deaths were recorded on the island. As seen in this historical document dating back to 1860, it meticulously recorded every detail of who was on the island and where they came from.

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le motif DÉSIGNATION II

ALMANAC I

Excavation AAA/004 i/i.x 27

"The point is that the two groups often represent different intellectual traditions. Encounters between them encourage via arguments and even misunderstandings a form of intellectual “trade” and hence a hybridization of knowledges, leading in turn to new ideas and new discoveries." Peter Burke, 2016

copy paste emboss alter

} misprint miscopy erase tear alter shrink 5% y-axis circulation removed

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La Forme AAA/004 i/ii.x 29

paste alter stitch

La Forme ii AAA/004 ii/ii.x DÃ&#x2030;SIGNATION II

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Transient AAA/004 i/iii.x 31

paste alter emboss alter stitch copy

} miscopy erase alter increase pressure 25% / bruise remove important entrance identify salons document

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ALMANAC I

Transform AAA/004 i/ii.x 33

document light emboss 5% rotate 45 o on datum point palimpsest alter / transpositioning measure building footprint altered

copy paste alter emboss alter stitch

} le motif

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ALMANAC I

Plesseur AAA/004 i/ii.x 35

"Writing, at least in the sense in which I have been talking about it here, is a handicraft, the art of scribes. The lines inscribed on the page, whether in the form of letters, neumes, punctuation marks or figures, were the visible traces of dextrous movements of the hand. And the eye of the reader, roaming over the page like a hunter on the trail, would follow these traces as it would have followed the trajectories of the hand that made them. Tim Ingold, 2013

copy paste copy p l e at alter stitch

} miscopy overprint photocopy misprint / miscopy alter shrink building on x-axis 40% double footprint 50%

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ALMANAC I

Transcript AAA/004 i/ii.x 37

copy paste establish new site document courtyards remove transfer hand stitch site boundary

copy paste alter stitch

} le motif

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ALMANAC I

Transposition AAA/004 i/ii.x 39

Points joined together continuously in a row constitute a line. So for us a line will be a sign whose length can be divided into parts, but it will be so slender that it cannot be split . . . If many lines are joined closely together like threads in a cloth, they will create a surface. Leon Battista Alberti, De Pictura, 1435

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ATTENTION!!! ce dessin a acquis la citoyenneté française après avoir été transposé dans un placard spatial au sein de l'Ambassade de France à Pretoria, Afrique du Sud this drawing has gained French citizenship after being transposed into a spatial closet within the Embassy of France in Pretoria, South Africa

copy paste structure transfer hierarchy transmit power document site & miscopy identify y-axis circulation fold transient circulation remove trans-transient circulation shrink building 18% stitch and make permanent incur slippages

le motif DÉSIGNATION II

ALMANAC I

Quarter one review, 12 April 2018 at Fox Street Studio

PHOTOGRAPHER Terrence Mkhwanazi

“Very powerful decision for choice of material for your investigation. Marvelous choice of paper which shows the fragility of what you are accomplishing. The epheramerility is a complete contradiction to the poetry and performance of the architecture you are making, through linograph, stencil, stamping, embossing and use of thread. You have a richness of different line making techniques - the whole project is there! ” Sean Griffiths, external critic for quarter one review, March 2018 (professor of architecture at the University of Westminster & author at Dezeen).

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Plier AAA/004 i/ii.x 43

copy emboss copy fo paste stitch

} copy increase pressure play 15% reduce original 10% fold on central x & y axis of building shrink building by 17% stitch new axis of building

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}

copy paste emboss alter fo p l e at stitch

Le Pli AAA/004 i/ii.x 45

HUISSER (n) 1. archaic term for a door. 2. designates two professions that originally 3. had to do with opening and closing doors. 4. translated as usher. 5. original function was to lock and unlock doors.

transcopy trans-emboss-structure fold on main circulation (huisser) transfer new hierarchy shrink building 48% through pleat remove important circulation stitch new order of building

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Plier ii AAA/004 i/ii.x 47

"...the ways in which they [the lines] were understood depended critically on whether the plain surface was compared to a landscape to be travelled or a space to be colonized, or to the skin of the body or the mirror of the mind." Tim Ingold, 2013

fo copy paste emboss alter p l e at paste stitch

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fold on axis transprint remove & transfer salons miscopy alter enlarge building 18% shrik president office / vestibule 3% transtitch new spatial order cover up slippages

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SYNTAX (n) 1. the arrangement of words and phrases to create well2. formed sentences in a language. from Greek arrange together PATOIS (n) 1. the dialect of a particular region, especially one with low status in relation to the standard language of the country. 2. the jargon or informal speech used by a particular social group. CURIO (n) 1. a rare, unusual, or intriguing object. CURIOSIT Ă&#x2030; (nf) 1. Curiosity is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, by observation in humans. 2. a curiosity as unusual object. 3. dĂŠsir indiscret de savoir. 4. besoin de savoir quelque chose.

D000

ALMANAC II LANGUAGE curio curiosité syntax patois

dig 001 dig 002 dig 003 dig 004 patois 005 patois 006 patois 007 patois 008 patois 009

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patois 005 MAT ERIAL PALETT E Analysis is the process of exploration and discovery with which an architect develops a familiarity with the assumptions, expectations, and conditions that are given and then establishes the conceptual lens through which all design decisions are subsequently made. Andrea Simitch and Val Warke, 2014

paste

This lexicon is a scientific investigation for a material palette. Fauna and flora specimens were collected during the course of the year from RĂŠ union Island, Paris and Johannesburg. The specimens provided me with clues and hints for a material palette: pressed flowers, a shard of volcanic rock, a desiccated butterfly and spider are among the elements that are framed and named, becoming artefact's in my cataloguing process. plan layout insert [images] sketch insert [notes] rehydrate insects move ligaments of specimens desiccate for final transpositioning pin into final position

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

tactics artefact document archive translate

D005

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ALMANAC II

D005

pierre de lave Ponce Officinale.

roche trè s poreuse, trè s lé gè re qui flotte sur l’eau very porous, very light rock that floats on the water

Lava rock from Piton de la Fournaise on the south-east of Ré union Island. This volcano is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The most recent eruption from its surface was 7 October 2018. This volcano is a World Heritage Site and has a height of 2,632m above sea level creating a unique temporal environment within its tropical habitat.

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ALMANAC II

KEY a. flora b.fauna c. geology d. culture

The salt shaker. Psiadia retusa (Lam.) Officinale. Brocus grass.

This shrub is endemic to Ré union Island. This species is protected by the Ministerial Decree of 6 February 1987. The Salt Shaker grows mostly near the coast in rocky conditions because it needs the salt deposited by the spray of the sea as its fleshy leaves are the mouths which soak up the salty juice. Its vernacular name is Ré union of Saliette or Salt Shaker. DÉSIGNATION II

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Where are you from?

D'où venez-vous?

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“the word ‘archive’ has the Ancient Greek etymology of ‘arche’, meaning ‘rule, order, law and government.’ Again, it is linked with a sense of authority.” Architecture as a Language, Derrida (2014)

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Wild Lastron. Hypochaeris radicata L. Officinale. False dandelion, ear cat or catsear.

This species is native to Europe and has been introduced in many regions across the globe and has often been naturalized in its final location. This species is polymorphic and is sometimes divided into two subspecies of uncertain taxonomic value. This species was accidentally introduced to the island in the nineteenth century, in mixtures of seeds for livestock forage. The species observed for the first time in 1967 is now one of the most widespread exotic island. All parts of the plant are edible, leaves are eaten raw in salads and can also be steamed or used in stir-fries in crĂŠole cuisine 61

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The Pasture Butterfly. Papilio oribazus Boisduva Officinale. Lepidoptera.

Endemic to RĂŠ union Island, first discovered in East Africa, 1758. The butterfly is becoming increasingly rare and is endangered. The Pasture butterfly is present throughout the island, mainly in levels above 1000 m altitude situated in forests. The male is most often seen because of its bright blue colour and commonly frequents CrĂŠole gardens.

Pinning down of Papilio oribazus Boisduva after rehydrating the specimen

Desiccated Papilio oribazus Boisduva done by Steffen Fischer

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Hibiscus Mandrinette. Hibiscus Genevii Officinale. Hibisceae.

This a shrub that can reach 2 to 4 meters tall. This species is a very rare endemic plant of Mauritius. It seemed extinct and was rediscovered in 1960 in a private reserve called Mondrain but is now present in RĂŠ union, which is only used for cultivation. DĂ&#x2030;SIGNATION II

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Bibe noire Nephila inaurata Officinale.

roche trè s poreuse, trè s lé gè re qui flotte sur l’eau

Despite their menacing, they are harmless. They are very common and occupy almost all spatial habitats on the island, except for some dry areas in the west. Conflicts between the sexes are strong, with interest of diverging males rather than females.

Pinning down of Nephila inaurata after rehydrating the specimen

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TIGER MOTH. homme

above

femme

below

Arctiidae Argina Astrea (Drury, 1773). Pod borer. - MIT E. -

07 July 2016 - 1212m alt. -

Îlet à Malheur, Le Ouaki, La Riviere, Île de Ré union

SUNSET MOTH 14 January 2012 - 704m alt. -

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Uraniidae Chrysiridia Rhipheus (Drury 1773). Lolo (Spirit). Noble Spirit. King Spirit. - MIT E. -

homme

above

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patois 006 ABST RACT adjective existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence. verb consider something theoretically or separately from (something else). noun a summary of the contents of a book, article, or speech.

"The idea behind deconstruction is to deconstruct the workings of strong nation-states with powerful immigration policies, to deconstruct the rhetoric of nationalism, the politics of place, the metaphysics of native land and native tongue... The idea is to disarm the bombs... of identity that nation-states build to defend themselves against the stranger, against... immigrants... against all the others, all the other others... Jacques Derrida (1997)

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WORDS Oxford English Dictionary

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WRITER Steffen Fischer

In linguistics, diaglossia is the instance where two or more dialects or languages are used by a language community. The etymology of the Greek word stems from dia, meaning two (or possibly more than one) and glossa, meaning ‘tongue’ or ‘ language’. On the other hand, glossolalia is a phenomenon in which someone appears to speak a language unknown to them, similar to ‘speaking in tongues’ from glossa, and laleo, to ‘speak or make a sound’. These two terms examine and explore the difference between speech that makes sense and unintelligible speech. I am interested in the truths, slippages and translations of these terms into architecture. Language can be seen as a prominent architectural concern, as many theorists, including Derrida, have noted. Architects approach certain forms, shapes and configurations as the design elements of architecture, in the same way they approach word choice or grammar in sentence structure. My Major Design Project tells the story of the transplanting of a major French artefact, the Élysé e Palace into the existing site of the City Hall in Saint-Denis, Ré union. This insertion investigates the mis-translations that occurs through context, site and landscape, using both conventional and unconventional architectural tropes. These slippages or errors in the translation can be found throughout the project, in its vocabulary of facades, floors plans, scale, shape, structure, etc. France métropolitaine is a term which dates back the country’s colonial era, when the country was referred to as, la Métropole, the metropolis. The etymology of these two words came from the Greek, metropolis, meter, meaning ‘mother’ and pólis meaning ‘city’ or ‘town’. In the wake of the Second World War, when many countries on the African continent underwent processes of decolonisation, Ré union chose to remain tied to the motherland (or tongue). The island, though geographically far away is still culturally, spiritually and linguistically tied to the motherland, France métropolitaine. My project focuses on hybridity, migration, cré olisation and language and examines the ways in which the colonial power maintains its position in what is seen as an ‘outlier’ of mainland France. In ‘overseas’ France, a person from France métropolitaine is often called a ‘métro.’ Métro: The Ré unionese Ministry Of Home Affairs explores slippages in language and architecture through translation in four acts: the pragmatic removal & transplantation of an artefact (and site); language studies of rhythm, métissage & patois; architecture as a language, culminating in the final act of using architectural tropes to form a new hybridised building on the island.

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En linguistique, la diglossie est l'instance où deux ou plusieurs dialectes ou langues sont utilisés par une communauté linguistique. L'étymologie du mot grec vient de di, signifiant deux (ou peut-être plus d'un) et glossa, signifiant langue ou langage. D'un autre côté, la glossolalie est un phé nomè ne dans lequel quelqu'un semble parler une langue qui lui est inconnue, semblable au «parler en langues du glossa et du laleo, pour parler ou faire du bruit. Ces deux termes examinent et explorent la diffé rence entre un discours qui a du sens et un discours inintelligible. Je suis inté ressé par les vé rités, les dé rapages et les traductions de ces termes dans l'architecture. La langue peut être considé ré e comme une pré occupation architecturale importante, comme l'a noté Derrida. Les architectes abordent certaines formes, formes et configurations comme é lé ments de conception de l'architecture, de la même maniè re qu'ils abordent le choix des mots ou la grammaire dans la structure des phrases. My Major Design Project raconte l'histoire de la transplantation d'un important artefact francais, l'Élysé e Palace, sur le site existant de l'Hotel de Ville de Saint-Denis, à la Ré union. Cette insertion étudie la mauvaise traduction qui se produit à travers le contexte, le site et le paysage, en utilisant des tropes architecturaux conventionnels et non conventionnels. Ces dé rapages ou erreurs dans la traduction peuvent être trouvés tout au long du projet, dans son vocabulaire de facades, plans d'étages, é chelle, forme, structure, etc. France métropolitaine est un terme qui remonte à l'é poque coloniale du pays, lorsque le pays a été dé nommé, la Métropole. L'étymologie de ces deux mots vient du grec, métropole, meter, qui signifie «mè re» et pólis signifiant ville ou ville. Dans la foulé e de la seconde guerre mondiale, alors que de nombreux pays du continent africain ont connu des processus de dé colonisation, la Ré union a choisi de rester attaché e à la patrie (ou langue maternelle). L'ile, bien que gé ographiquement é loigné e, est encore culturellement, spirituellement et linguistiquement lié e à la mè re patrie, la France métropolitaine. Mon projet s'inté resse à l'hybridité, à la migration, à la cré olisation et à la langue et examine comment le pouvoir colonial maintient sa position dans ce qui est perçu comme une aberration de la France métropolitaine. Dans la France outre-mer, une personne de France métropolitaine est souvent appelé e métro. Métro: Le ministè re de l'Inté rieur Ré unionnais explore les dé rapages dans le langage et l'architecture à travers la traduction en quatre actes: l'enlèvement pragmatique et la transplantation d'un objet (et d'un site); études de langues de rythme, métissage et patois; l'architecture en tant que langue, culminant dans l'acte final d'utiliser des tropes architecturaux pour former un nouveau batiment hybridé sur l'ile. DÉSIGNATION II

ÉCRIVAIN traduction automatique

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patois 007a MOD ÈLE DE SALON DORÉ "Architects don’t invent anything; they transform reality. They work continuously with models that they transform in response to the problems that they encounter.” Alvaro Siza Vieira

copy internal wall emboss mix plaster 40% add water 60% short curing time 5 hours brittle mould ruin artefact threshold crumble

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copy emboss mould

Modè le is a series of work that investigates the 'syntax of thresholds' using language studies of rhythm, métissage & patois - architecture as a language. The first model, the elevation of the interior wall of the president's office within the palace, Salon Doré or the Golden Room. Located on the first floor of the building, this rooms sits in the main axis of the palace overlooking the enormous back garden in Paris. The internal walls, gilded with gold bare witness to past generations of presidents within the palace. The model constructed from linoleum floor tiles, brittle in their own right, were used to form the positive imprint or copy for the cast of the mould. Demoulding the cast, the imprint broke and crumbled, creating a ruin and removing the precious gilded quality of the internal wall.

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Prof Lesley Lokko (A) & Steffen Fischer (B)

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patois 007b MOD Ă&#x2C6;LE DE SALON DORĂ&#x2030;

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copy paste emboss stitch mould

copy internal wall emboss mix plaster 70% add water 30% long curing time 24 hours strong mould artefact crack at weakest point threshold maintained by thread

The south elevation of the president's office overlooks the back garden of the palace. The internal wall was moulded to showcase the elaborate timber panel details. The centre threshold opens to a small balcony in which the president steps out onto, to address gatherings below. The mould was layered with stitching to reinforce the wall. The threshold cracked at the weakest point transposing the power from the threshold. This threshold has been altered and is no longer the focal point of attention, but that of disguise.

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

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patois 007c MOD ÈLE DE ÉLYSÉE PALAIS

The third model is a positive and negative moulding of the Élysé e Palace. The white pure model was cast and bicarbonate of soda added to the mixture. Imitating a texture similar to that of lava found on Ré union island. The black negative models are various rooms within the palace. Highlighting the various thresholds in-between spaces and their importance, or lack thereof. The number of admixture changes throughout, making certain rooms more brittle, crumbling their power. Whilst other, only crumbling a little, maintaining their form and function. Black ink added within the mixture displays various political hierarchies within the palace.

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;While cuts can be accidental, as in the obvious case of a wounded finger, cracks are usually so. They result from the fracture of brittle surfaces caused by stress, collision or wear and tear. Because the forces that create cracks are generally both irregular and transverse to lines of breakage...â&#x20AC;? Tim Ingold, 2013

copy palace structure mix plaster 50% bicarbonate of soda 20% (black ink 10%) add water 20% short curing time 15 hours brittle ruin rooms crumble lava imposter

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patois 008 LEXICON noun the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge. a dictionary.

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transgress (v) go beyond the limits of (what is morally, socially, or legally acceptable). transport (v) cause (someone) to feel that they are in another place or time. transfer (v) copy (a drawing or design) from one surface to another. transposition (n) to change the relative position, order, or sequence of; cause to change places; interchange. translate (v) convert something or be converted into (another form or medium). transit (n) the action of passing through or across a place. transpire (v) (of a secret or something unknown) come to be known; be revealed. transitional (adj) the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another. transcript (n) a written or printed version of material originally presented in another medium. transaction (n) an exchange or interaction between people. transmit (v) communicate or be a medium for (an idea or emotion). transparent (adj) easy to perceive or detect. transnational (adj) extending or operating across national boundaries. translucent (adj) allowing light, but not detailed shapes, to pass through; semi-transparent. transient (adj) lasting only for a short time; impermanent.

a vague and often exaggerated first appearance of an object seen in darkness or fog, especially at sea. a mixing and a rapprochement of differences: race, culture, class, gender, geography, and language. an official document issued by a government, certifying the holder’s identity and citizenship and entitling them to travel under its protection to and from foreign countries. anything that is local. from latin, locus, ‘place’.

loom (n) métissage (n) passport (n)

peï (n)

a person from mainland france, typically a white person. z'oreille (n) In ‘overseas’ France, a person from France métropolitaine is métro (n) often called a ‘métro.’ understood or implied without being stated. tacit (adj) among other things. inter alia (adv) think deeply about something. ruminate (v) practice, as distinguished from theory. praxis (n) enabling a person to discover or learn something for heuristic (adj) themselves. Having leaves of different types upon the same plant. heterophyllous (adj)

un document de mesure des bé bé s, Bré sil (1987) DÉSIGNATION II

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Architectural Lexicon, machine stitched and typed with Olivetti Lettera 31

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patois 009 PROGRAMME "Programs begin with measurements and expectations but mature with thoughtfulness and understanding, anticipation, and empathy. An architectural program is, in its most basic form, the list of requirements that initiates a project.” Andrea Simitch and Val Warke (2014)

Exploring the transpositioning of the Élysé e Palace to the historical Town Hall, H ô tel de Ville in Saint-Denis. I investigated various regional home affairs, ministries and embassies between France, Ré union and South Africa. Three unrelated spaces were chosen, Salon Doré (the presidential office), the Courtyard from the Presidential Palace and the closet from Home Affairs in Johannesburg.

WRITER Steffen Fischer

IMAGE Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Cartes et plans, Quartier St. Denis à Bourbon

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REGION

COUNT RY

MET ROPOLITAN CIT Y

DIST RICT

BUILDING

ADDRESS

Europe

French Republic

National

N/A

https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F2213 Naturalisatio

Europe

French Republic

Paris

08 Arrondisment Élysé e Palais

Europe

French Republic

Île-de-France

Paris

11 Arrondisment

Commissariat Central Du XI(e) 14 Passage Charles Dallery, 75011

Police Headq

Indian Ocean

French Republic

Île-de-France

Saint Denis

Centre

L'ancien Hôtel De Ville

2 Rue de Paris, 97400

L'ancien Hôte

Indian Ocean

French Republic

Île-de-France

Saint Denis

Centre

Hôtel De Ville

2 Rue de Paris, 97400

Town Hall

Africa

Republic of South Africa Gauteng

Pretoria

Hillcrest

Embassy of Brazil

177 Dyer Road, Hillcrest Office Park, 0083

Ministry of F

Africa

Republic of South Africa Gauteng

Johannesbourg

City & Suburban

New Government Building

75 Harrison St, 2000

Department

Africa

Republic of South Africa Gauteng

Johannesbourg

Randburg

Department of Home Affairs

198 Malibongwe Dr, 2194

Department

55 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008

DEPART MEN

Presidential H

Dimension (m) DEPART MENT

droits/F2213 Naturalisation Presidential House

TOTAL M2 5,184,000 (Pixels) 9,939

ROOM / SPACE PURPOSE N/A N/A Salon Doré President's office Vestibule Entrance hall Salle du Conseil General council meeting room Salon de Cleopâtre Pause room Grande Salle de Fêtes Event hall Salon du Capharanaum Press room

Police Headquarters of the 11th Arrondissement

5,100

250

40 10 7

Entrance Information desk / submissions / registrations

N/A

Control room Incident reported and mapped

Interview room Conduct interviews with citizens

10 4

Entrance Covered Patio

Entrance Hall Welcome entrant Reception / Submissions Accept and hand out application forms, check & pay Entrance Waiting area Office Consulate / admin (12mm toughened glass) Entrance Secutrity Control & Metal Detector Enquiries Information Veritcal Circulation Access floors 1 - 9

N/A

18 18

N/A

1 - 300

N/A

1-10

N/A

Horizontal Circulation Passage floor 4 (Citizenship)

N/A

Citizenship Desk (5th Floor) Enquiries, application, information

3,5

N/A

2,5

Tea room Relaxing, lunch room, escape from general public Application Line Waiting area, benches Admin Biometrics and finger printing counter Payment Payment of applicaiton Closet Small kitchenette with microwave and cleaning materials Circulation Passage (Ground floor) Collection desk Collect documents from filing room 900

Courtyard Calming water feature

Department of Home Affairs

Mayoral office Decision and general conversation room

19,000

N/A

Events Halls Galla Dinner, parties, city announcements

Department of Home Affairs, Local Office Large

Gallerie des Huissiers Circulation

Entrance Hall Formal entrance threshold & reception desk

2,920

Vertical Circulation Stairs to access second floor

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Office Administration / recording of applications / other duly work

7,360

N/A

Document office Filing / Storage / Evidence

Town Hall

LENGT H

N/A

Meeting room Conduct meetings and have training

2,800

WIDT H

N/A

Escalier d' Honnneur Circulation

Bathroom Sanitation and removal of body fluids

L'ancien Hôtel de Ville

PAX

5,5

N/A

Teller Payment

Tea Room To hide away

Collections To collect new identity / passport documents

Circulation Covered walkway Waiting area Chair filled hall for queuing Application ' booth' Collect forms for submissions

DATA Programming of space through various regions

un billet de bus ré unionnais (2018)

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META (combining n) 1. (of a creative work) referring to itself or to the conventions of its genre. 2. expressing development. MET HOD (n) 1. a particular procedure for accomplishing or approaching something, especially a systematic or established one. 2. the quality of being well organized and systematic in thought or action. 3. from greek methodos â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;pursuit of knowledgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. T RANSLAT ION (n) 1. the conversion of something from one form or medium into another. 2. carried across.` T ECHNIQUE (n) 1. a way of carrying out a particular task, especially the execution or performance of an artistic work or a scientific procedure. 2. skill or ability in a particular field. 3. a skillful or efficient way of doing or achieving something.

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EPIST EMOLOGY meta method translations technique

dig 001 dig 002 dig 003 dig 004 patois 005 patois 006 patois 007 patois 008 patois 009 meta 010 meta 011 meta 012 meta 013 DÃ&#x2030;SIGNATION GSPublisherVersion II 0.75.100.100

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meta 010 PEÏ “Digging into the past we discover the present.” Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (2017)

The PEÏ pamphlet introduces myself as a character within the project. This is important because of my personal narrative which I outline. The documenting of what it means to be a citizen is a process to get clarification and to pose my first argument into the project, "what constitutes citizenship?" The questioning of my own citizenship employed myself to take a stance to question both sides of having and losing citizenship.

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

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PEÏ What Constitutes Citizenship? En quoi consiste la citoyenneté ?

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T HE CATALOGING OF CIT IZENSHIP

01 T EMPS

I have posed a series of questions in which I attempt to answer for each series of work. Do they validate or further inquire the relevance of citizenship?

Time is linear.

A. B. C. D.

Who is citizenship for? What is its relevance? What have I learnt? What did it make me question?

The narrator’s history shows a complex timeline of citizenship. It should be noted that Brazil and the Republic of South Africa are rated 11 and 42 by the Passport Index in the world respectively. The Kingdom of Denmark comes third on the list. Travelling freely around the world should be a basic human right. “Most of the lines in question were inscribed on parchment or paper. Yet the ways in which they were understood depended critically on whether the plain surface was compared to a landscape to be travelled or a space to be colonised, or to the skin of the body or the mirror of the mind…” Tim Ingold, Lines: A Brief History. (2007:39)

un passeport, avec des timbres (2018)

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02 SOCIO- ÉCONOMIQUE ET POLIT IQUE

03 CULT URE ET H ÉRITAGE

Privilege (noun) is defined as a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group. The narrator was born into privilege and through his multiple citizenships has access to a greater network of possibilities. This citizenship functions purely for his advantage in gaining access to money and status. However, this is short lived. His Danish citizenship is being stripped away from him because of a technicality. The hierarchy of power shifts. The superpower is the Kingdom of Denmark, that very privileged maroon waiver document, the passport. Status is stripped. Colour means everything. Positioning yourself in the ‘right’ queue shows importance. “Archaeology has played a role in the birth of a political consciousness in a modern nation, and therefore is the subject of a continued contestation.” Katia Arfara, Onassis Fast Forward Festival (2018).

“Now, what is the point in using the word ‘palimpsest’? It is a metaphor to suggest the processes of transformation through time.” Robbert Verheij, Palimpsest In Architecture (2015:12)

Since the 2015 European Migration Crisis, European countries have begun closing their borders, restricting the movement of people. South Africa has also experienced an upsurge in immigration with migrants coming in from across the continent. How does a government document people without any identification? Class and colour become key in their survival. Freedom and security are fundamental human rights, as written in the constitution of South Africa. But not for migrants. The coloniser lives on.

Birthplace alone does not define a person’s citizenship or nationality. In the narrator’s case, however, it is the place where he grows up that defines him. He is an African, irrespective of the fact that he was not born here or the fact that he is white.

‘ Flexibility as a political strategy [spatially].’ Jonathan Hill, Actions of Architecture (2003:39).

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Culture and heritage are intertwined, one speaking to production, the other to value. The narrator’s evolution through time and place is perhaps not unique, but later in his life becomes more complex. Traditions, geography and family heritage begin to form his cultural assimilation. His identity is shaped by the fact he is Brazilian but only by the geography of his birthplace. This occurs through a document, a legality; jus soli, does this construct prevail? “The world around us, so much of it our own creation, shifts continually and often bewilders us.” Kevin Lynch, What Time is This Place? (1972).

Global, not local, is the new language. It is here where I use the word ‘trans-’ as the basis for my lexicon because it gives meaning to the movement of people/culture / heritage/ time/demographics; across, beyond, through, changing thoroughly - transverse. What happens to someone when they cross to the other side, fully trans[polinate] / trans[create] your past historic culture and identity into your new inserted regional place?

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04 IDENT IT É France abolished slavery on Ré union Island on the 20th December 1848. Over the next two centuries, a new society was born, a blend of former slaves and slave owners newly arrived indentured labour, migrants and immigrants. Since 1978, the term ‘race’ has been excluded from official French census documents, making it impossible to accurately map the racial or cultural identities of the majority of Ré union Island inhabitants. “Some arrivals are described as expats; others as immigrants; and some simply as migrants. It depends on social class, country of origin and economic status." Christopher DeWolf, Just Who Is an Expat, Anyway? (2014) The narrator was born into white privilege. This would only benefit him later on in life when applying for his South African citizenship, obtained ‘ by default’ (due to ‘other’ circumstances). The narrator’s family are expats, but at what point did they become South Africans, or just ‘residents of South Africa’? 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, or...? Born in the Republic of Brazil, to (now) Danish parents, living in South Africa. The narrator is a Brazilian by birth, has Danish citizenship and has three passports!

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CONCLUSION The investigation through my own narrative of place, space and time have resulted in a questioning of the relevance and importance of citizenship. I look at Marina Abramovi č ’s performance, The Artist is Present, where objects of familiarity have been removed from the space. All the remains are two people, embodied in a place. I ask the question: what constitutes citizenship? Is it the number of years one spends in a country? Who you marry? How much superhuman, superhero powers you have? Is it good enough to just be ‘good’ enough? These are contradictions that feed into power dynamics from local and international governments. My argument is that there needs to be a more fluid approach to citizenship, especially in a world moving towards a métissage of race, créole, gender, people, culture, politics and economics.

é tiquette de bagage (2018)

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meta 011 NARRAT EUR "Every architectural work exists in the presence of a chorus of contexts that can impart meanings to and, in turn, derive meanings from their associations with the work.â&#x20AC;? The Language of Architecture (2014)

A narrator's complex relationship and experience with different nationalities become the backbone to questioning if citizenship is relevant.

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;A different, nonlinear approach to history is made possible: history as incident and action, a palimpsest of ages and cultures.â&#x20AC;? Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (2017)

Brazilian Passport

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Danish Passport

French Passport

South African Passport

History of the Narrator and Family

Surname: FISCHER Name: Steffan (Wrong spelling of name given at birth on certificate. Unable to change. Correct spelling of name: Steffen) Nationality at Birth: Brazilian* Birthplace: Belé m, Federative Republic of Brazil Birth Date: 22 October 1987 Birth Time: 20h00 Sex: Male Height: 187cm Eyes: Green Hair: Brown Race: Caucasian / European Steffen Fischer - referred to as the narrator

DOCUMENTAT ION: Brazilian - Decree of law permits persons to travel internally and externally only on a Brazilian passport* - renewed July 2018 Danish Passport - In question & currently expired South African Passport - Valid Feb 2020 *jus soli, latin: meaning “right of the soil”, commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. Unconditional for persons born in the Federative Republic of Brazil.

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FAT HER Surname: FISCHER Name: Niels Ulrik Nationality at Birth: Danish Birthplace: Randers, Kingdom of Denmark Birth Date: 23 March 1950 Birth Time: 14h50 Sex: Male Height: 184cm Eyes: Green Hair: Brown Race: Caucasian / European MOT HER Surname: FISCHER, nee FROST Name: Patricia Anne Nationality at Birth: South African Birthplace: Pietermarizburg, Republic of South Africa Birth Date: 19 August 1955 Birth Time: unknown Sex: Female Height: 165cm Eyes: Green Hair: Brown Race: Caucasian / European 1981: Adopts Danish citizenship to the Kingdom of Denmark because of sanctions imposed to the Republic of South Africa during apartheid and difficulties traveling on a South African Passport 2009: Naturalised as a South African citizen 2010: Dual Citizenship to Kingdom of Denmark & Republic of South Africa

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Depart Luanda, Republic of Angola Johannesburg, South Africa. Evacuated by South African Air Force to Waterkloof Airbase, Pretoria due to peak of civil war. Depart Vancouver, Canada Luanda, Republic of Angola

Becomes permanent resident within Republic of South Africa, under parents permit.

2006

Becomes illegal within the borders of the Republic of South Africa at age 18. Must apply for own permanent residency. First application to the Department of Home Affairs, Johannesburg. Application lost after seven months.

H.A Jack Primary School (Grade 1)

2005

2000

1995

1994

1990

1989

1988

1987

Narrator born in Belé m, Federative Republic of Brazil

Depart Belé m, Brazil - Vancouver, Canada

B. C HRONO LOGICAL P LAC ES OF RESIDENC E

Montrose Primary School (Grade 2 - 7)

Departs Belé m, Federative Republic of Brazil - to Copenhagen, Kingdom of Denmark (Return) and adopts Danish citizenship automatically at birth if born outside the Kingdom of Denmark and either the mother or father has Danish citizenship. Obtains Kingdom of Denmark Passport

111

University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), Department of Architecture (First year)

Second application to the Department of Home Affairs, Johannesburg. Application lost after three months. Attends first year architecture course at the University of the Witwatersrand using parents permanent residence number. Asked formally to leave at the end of the year due to not having required documentation to study.

Crawford College Sandton (Grade 8 - 12)

Third application to the Department of Home Affairs, Johannesburg. Application lost after five months. Bank account closed due to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA).

Renewal of Danish passport at the Kingdom of Denmark embassy, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. Application red flagged because birthplace is in the Federative Republic of Brazil. Application denied, due to the narrator not having lived in the Kingdom of Denmark.

2018

2015 European Refugee Crisis

Citizenship granted to Steffen Fischer. Identity number issued (871022****85). Passport and identity documents issued. Attends first year architecture course at the University of Johannesburg with new identity number. Identifies himself as ‘ South African’.

**Not his real name.

DÉSIGNATION II

University of Johannesburg (UJ), Department of Architecture (First year, with exemptions - Btech)

2017

2008

2007

2009

Fourth application to the Department of Home Affairs, Johannesburg. Application logged within system. No documentation can be found. Contact citizenship lawyer, Shahindran Moodi**. Fifth application to the Department of Home Affairs, Pretoria.

Confirmation of citizenship and application sent to the Kingdom of Denmark. Citizenship looming.

University of Johannesburg (UJ), Graduate School of Architecture (GSA) Master 01.

DNA ANCEST RY: Appointment 04 August 2018, 10h00. Testing lineage through X & Y chromosomes.

112

ALMANAC III

113

meta 012 Z'OREILLE adjective the metropolitan land on the island, their ears turn red because of the tropical heat. verb when they came from France, it was to spy on the local population by trailing their ears and report to Paris. noun a person from mainland france, typically a white person.

This is a 'Workbench of Curiosities' which forms part of my working method this year. Collected here are a number of artefacts of identity, identifacts, as I call them: a migrant’s passport, some grains of sand, a birth certificate. Mixed in among these identifacts are tools of mobility; a baggage tag, a Paris train card, a Réunionese bus stamp, a map and a key. A credit card and a woven purse, allowing currency to move from one place to another. I’m a toolmaker, a tool collector, a toolsmith. These identifacts facilitate in highlighting the absurdities, hardships and histories of migration/immigration experienced between France and Réunion, and to make work that speaks to the disparities of identity, power, politics and citizenship not just in France, but across the globe.

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

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DÉSIGNATION II

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ALMANAC III

meta 013 LOOM tool (noun) 1. an apparatus for making fabric by weaving yarn or thread. 2. a vague and often exaggerated first appearance of an object seen in darkness or fog, especially at sea. 3. ‘move slowly’.

A loom is a tool for the conceptual programming and documentation of the site. Similarly to establishing a real site, the loom becomes the tool and tactic to layout a datum and grid to work from. The position of the historical Town Hall, H ô tel de Ville sits on the corner and is cast with plaster of Paris. The tactics previously used are implemented to establish the beginnings of the programme. Copying, pasting and cutting a previous drawing inserted employ the transposition of the Élysé e Palace which symbolises the disparities of identity, power, politics into the island. The new tool uses weaving to bring together pieces of past identifacts and curiosities weaving together a multi-dimensional arrangement of information that informs the programme of the site.

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

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ALMANAC III

paste alter stitch mould weave

Detail reverse side of loom 117

}

"This ‘multilayered weave of human temporality’ tells ourselves and others who we are, who we want to be and where we sit within our chosen collective." Jens Brockmeier, 2000 "The weaver is an integral part of the completed tapestry and the process of making the tapestry binds the individual to the collective whole (culture, religion) and ultimately all of these collectives are gathered and woven together to form the overall tapestry or greater collective (national, political or historical identities)." Molly Andrews, 2007

dissect terra firma A A A /004 ii/iii.x transpose power cast site weave warp, shrink x-axis 8% transport ruin and artefact weave excavation, shrink visual power 37% transfer impostors miscopy hand stitch new hierarchy incur slippages

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ARXO (n) 1. ancient greek ‘I begin, lead, rule, govern’. 2. creating a sense of authority. 3. functions to delineate a first, primary, foundational, archetypal condition of the stem word. MAKE (v) 1. form (something) by putting parts together or combining substances; create. 2. cause (something) to exist or come about; bring about. 3. arrange. T EKHNE (nf) 1. The word ‘architect’ derives from the Greek word arkhitektonikos. tekton is a ‘ builder’ or ‘carpenter’, whose work is considered to be tekhne, ‘as art’. ‘technical’, ‘tectonic’, ‘texture’ and even ‘text’. 2. concepts that have a close relationship with the field of 3. architecture. 4. craftsmanship, craft or art.

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ALMANAC IV ARCHIT ECT URE arxo the act of making tekhne

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arxo 020 T HE EPIST EMOLOGY OF T HE CLOSET "[The closet]... allows us to speak our anger and pain about lying, hiding, being silenced, and going unseen. The closetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ontological demands are exacting and exhaustive: that we cannot be in the world unless we are something we are not." Michael Brown, Closet Space (2000)

} plaster of paris 60% bicarbonate of soda 5% water 45% cast in loom trans-lavascape weave walls together transfer power weave door threshold crack / crumble stitch floor and ceiling create new spatial order cover up slippages

copy alter

mould weave

The closet is a spatial metaphor for both storage and secrecy that allows us to talk about power and space. The closet is a cupboard or wardrobe, generally one tall enough to walk into, yet too small to occupy. Less than a room, more than a piece of furniture, it is a mid-way zone between the body and space. It also refers to a state of secrecy or concealment, a place where things are hidden or private, concealed or surreptitious. As such, it functions both as a place where things are kept and as a place to hide. Michael Brown, Closet Space (2000) WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

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ALMANAC IV

T HE CLOSET (n)* 1. the confining state of being secretive about one’s homosexuality. 2. creating a sense of authority. 3. the place where gay men or lesbians hide, figuratively speaking, if they do not want their homosexuality to be known. 4. it is the ultimate interior, the place where interiority starts. It is a dark space at the heart of the home. 5. it is not a place where you live, but where you store the clothes in which you appear. 6. the closet is a term used to describe the denial, concealment, erasure, or ignorance of lesbians and gay men. 7. powers in time–space, and moreover that this materiality mediates a power/ knowledge of oppression. 8. the closet is a shape-shifting phenomenon; the ‘out’ spheres broaden over time, the closet shrinks.

conceptual drawing of the closet space

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threshold of the closet DÃ&#x2030;SIGNATION II

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ALMANAC IV

The use of the closet space as a spatial metaphor has informed the investigation into five absurd instances someone can acquire their (French) citizenship: Baby Tourism, One Night in Saint-Denis, Trial and Tribulation, Zé ro to Hé ro, The Incubator. Each closet space is accompanied by a passport to gain access and a maquette. The passport uses myths, people and spaces to reveal specific details between mainland France and the island, whilst the maquette is an experiential exploration of material through geology, space and time. Each of these spaces is explored further on in the project in a new series of work, Taxonomy of Citizenship Acquisition. Each of these closet spaces used a taxonomy of tactics and tools to explore realities and ambiguities through application processes. Architectural elements such as threshold, walls, floor and roof are employed within the process of investigation. Each element pertaining to an important issue within the process of application. One of the most important elements of the closet space is the threshold. The threshold or liminal space is the very point at which something is revealed, concealed or transferred in the closet space. A transitory 'third space'. "A signifier for something else" that is yet to come.

Moreover, [we are reminded] it is a space within the private sphere that has a limiting property: ‘a space that is not open to just anybody’.So by definition a closet has a certain kind of spatial interaction with its room. It is separate and distinct too. It segregates, it hides and it confines. Closets are spatial strategies that help one arrange and manage an increasingly complicated life. Michael Brown, Closet Space (2000)

125

.100.100 30.100.100

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the frame looms around the closet to hold the structure of power in place

1 toises

the doorway is 0,4 toises wide, allowing only one person to enter at a given moment in time

walls of cast plaster of paris, imitating the porosity of lava are ¼ toises thick. this is to dampen the whispers of interaction.

2 toises

¼ toises

the gap in the wall subverts the hierarchy of power and performance. this closes when not in use

1toises

thread holds the space together and stops power from falling apart

ALMANAC IV

"...where its spatiality only connotes power; rather than seeing the spatiality as already part and parcel of power/knowledge. Space does not just represent power; it materialises it. Its metaphoric power reflects and reinforces certain aspects of space, which to date remain inchoately and disparately considered. I want to ruminate on the simple, yet often forgotten, fact that certain spaces and spatial relations do conceal, erase and deny â&#x20AC;&#x201C; though in ways more multiple and complex than the closing of a closet door implies.

Michael Brown, Closet Space (2000)

127

D004

the closet DÃ&#x2030;SIGNATION II

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copy PEĂ? -

IN T-D EN IS SA

129

18 RI -07 -23 -PA

un timbre d'immigration a immigration stamp

Seuil

threshold

enfermé e closeted liminale liminal extraterritorialité elsewhereness

Étymologie

The confining state of being secretive about ones...

Espace transitionnel transitional space

DÉSIGNATION II

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"Unconformities is in fact a geological term. It refers to a surface that interrupts the chronological order of several strata, creating a missing interval, a discontinuity in time, or a hiatus." Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (2017)

copy paste

mould burn

} miscopy structure melt away openings plaster of paris 40% cement 30% polystyrene add mix 5% water 25% transpose lavascape burn away polystyrene excavate ruin brittle structure sturdy foundation

The act of making allows me to unpack and explore uncertainties and blockages that I may struggle with within my design. This site has literally been built and moulded. It has undergone a process similar to that of lava - or perhaps in reverse. Polystyrene has been melted, plaster of Paris mixed and poured, similar to that on an actual construction site. The demoulding process was to burn the remainder of the polystyrene. The site has now been established. GSPublisherVersion 0.60.100.100

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WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer

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This project uses a series of different tactics and tools to make and map the process of translating an object (a building) from one context (France) to an Other (Réunion). The transpositioning of the Élysée Palace into the site of the historical Town Hall, H ôtel de Ville in Saint-Denis. To inform the process, I employed a number of different methods of making: drawing, stitching, sewing, weaving and moulding. I approach the site using my techniques employed through the process of this project. I recreate the site of the historical Town Hall, burning the model to subvert and alter the original structure for which the transposition will sit on. The crumbling of the structure is a metaphor for altering power for the new illegitimate copy and pasting of the Élysée Palace.

Map of Saint-Denis, Réunion Island

133

51.3 toises

ak ac

ab ah

Hôtel de Ville

Élysée Palace

First Floor Plan a. One Night in Saint-Denis b. Cour d’Honneur c. Cour de l’Ouest d. Cour des Cuisines e. Coue de l’Est f. Jardin du Sud g. Jardin d’Hiver h. Grande Salle des Fetes i. Verrerie j. Echansonner k. Cocher l. Salon m. Salon n. Salon o. Vestibule p. Grand Salle a Manger q. Salon Murat r. Salon du Conseil s. Salon Cléopâtre t. Chapelle u. Salon de Cartographie v. Huissiers w. Cabinet x. Incubator y. Entrée à One Night in Saint-Denis z. Entrée à ancien Hôtel de Ville aa. Bureaux des Collaborateurs ab. Vestibule ac. Bureaux des Collaborateurs ad. Salon Vert ae. Salon des Huissiers af. Zéro to Héro ag. Salon Doré ah. Baby Tourism ai. Secrétariet Particulier aj. Trial and Tribulation ak. Appartements Privés

DÉSIGNATION II

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ALMANAC IV

z w

c l

n t

p y

q r

Hôtel de Ville

Élysée Palace

Ground Floor Plan a. One Night in Saint-Denis b. Cour d’Honneur c. Cour de l’Ouest d. Cour des Cuisines e. Coue de l’Est f. Jardin du Sud g. Jardin d’Hiver h. Grande Salle des Fetes i. Verrerie j. Echansonner k. Cocher l. Salon m. Salon n. Salon o. Vestibule p. Grand Salle a Manger q. Salon Murat r. Salon du Conseil s. Salon Cléopâtre t. Chapelle u. Salon de Cartographie v. Huissiers w. Cabinet x. Incubator y. Entrée à One Night in Saint-Denis z. Entrée à ancien Hôtel de Ville aa. Bureaux des Collaborateurs ab. Vestibule ac. Bureaux des Collaborateurs ad. Salon Vert ae. Salon des Huissiers af. Zéro to Héro ag. Salon Doré ah. Baby Tourism ai. Secrétariet Particulier aj. Trial and Tribulation ak. Appartements Privés

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Hôtel de Ville

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Basement Plan a. One Night in Saint-Denis b. Cour d’Honneur c. Cour de l’Ouest d. Cour des Cuisines e. Coue de l’Est f. Jardin du Sud g. Jardin d’Hiver h. Grande Salle des Fetes i. Verrerie j. Echansonner k. Cocher l. Salon m. Salon n. Salon o. Vestibule p. Grand Salle a Manger q. Salon Murat r. Salon du Conseil s. Salon Cléopâtre t. Chapelle u. Salon de Cartographie v. Huissiers w. Cabinet x. Incubator y. Entrée à One Night in Saint-Denis z. Entrée à ancien Hôtel de Ville aa. Bureaux des Collaborateurs ab. Vestibule ac. Bureaux des Collaborateurs ad. Salon Vert ae. Salon des Huissiers af. Zéro to Héro ag. Salon Doré ah. Baby Tourism ai. Secrétariet Particulier aj. Trial and Tribulation ak. Appartements Privés

DÉSIGNATION II

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ALMANAC IV 51oE

52oE

53oE

51oE

52oE

53oE

21oS

22oS

23oS

½ toises

24oS

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54oE

55oE

56oE 21oS

22oS

23oS

24oS

ta xonomy of

site

Axonometric indicating the Taxonomy of Citizenship on the site of the ancient City Hall in Saint-Denis, Reunion Island.

54oE

DÉSIGNATION II

55oE

56oE

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ALMANAC IV

139

"‘Anarchy’ differs slightly in that the word makes use of ‘arche-’ as a root word. The importance is therefore placed on the prefix, ‘an-’ which denotes an opposition to the stem word, in the form of ‘not’, or ‘without’. We can therefore understand the term ‘anarchy’ as being ‘not governed’ or ‘without law’, which is why the word is used to describe a doctrine against rule. Anarchy is opposed to the authority of an institution. Anarchists seek self-regulation instead of law, and common purpose in place of government. The famous anarchist, Peter Kropotkin stated that freedom is to emerge from the ‘ruins and rubbish of old institutions and old superstitions.

Kropotkin & Shatz (1995)

emboss paste alter stitch

C(1sl)

} print emboss palimsest stamp memory cut openings stitch bell tower stitch on one side roof covering transient palace transparent threshold transpire envelope

DÉSIGNATION II

140

ALMANAC IV

Le fil

thread

A(ss+) lasting

C(1sl)

to bind

G(ss+)

collate, collect & combine

D(ss+)

mĂŠtissage

A(5sl)

to mark

THREAD (n) 1. a long, thin strand of cotton, nylon, or other fibres used in sewing or weaving. 2. a theme or characteristic running throughout a situation or piece of writing. THREAD (v) 1. move carefully or skilfully in and out of obstacles. 2. interweave or intersperse as if with threads.

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TAXONOMY OF CIT IZENSHIP ACQUISIT ION

tactics

This is a deliberately meandering piece of work, similar in many ways to the way identity ‘works’ through time, history, space and place. In this project, I have multiple identities: weaver, botanist, forger, hacker. These drawings investigate five absurd ways someone can acquire citizenship. These spaces were constructed through the acts of weaving, stitching, slicing, layering and cutting. My intention this year has been to highlight the absurdities, hardships and histories of the migration/immigration experience between France and Reunion, and to make work that speaks to the disparities of identity, power, politics and citizenship not just in France, but across the globe. An architecture of the Diaspora. Diasporic form.

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a. lava camouflage sliding wall b. internal application space c. Âź thick porous wall to push d. hidden push plate lock to access space e. steel rail ways for screeching sound f. innocuous chair placement g. outline of original closet space h. porous holes in lava for applications i. light peep hole to illuminate door once inside j. line of overflow k. 0.513084t2 floor area for one human l. porous lava walls to keep moisture + 34oc

ALMANAC IV

143

Material maquette using black ink, charcoal and plaster of paris. A new lava identity.

The incubator refers to the application process someone must undertake themselves. There are many layers and documents that are required. Similarly, the drawing focusses its attention on this idea. A closet space that accommodates only one person. The threshold and door are heavy, solid and hard to open and close, there is a trick in doing so. The embossing of the page recreates a palimpsest of the lava.

WRITER Steffen Fischer DRAWING Steffen Fischer

é t a ge 0 x -20.878776 O S y 55.4 48406E z 25

1,5

g l

d c

e j a 2

PLAN 1:50

incubator a ‘civilisational choice’

civilised DÉSIGNATION II

barbaric

re b e l

t e r ro r i s t

impostor

ex t ra o rd i n a i re 144

ALMANAC IV

} copy paste lava paste perspective weave lava brittle structure recreate multiple layers

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHS Steffen Fischer

145

copy paste emboss alter stitch paste weave mould

PEÏ -

IN T-D EN IS SA

18 RI -07 -23 -PA

A(5sl) DÉSIGNATION II

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a. chapel steps for the perfect selfie b. disguise gap c. dossier tray d. entrance wide enough for one person e. dossier hand over f. lava territory

ALMANAC IV

147

One Night in Saint-Denis is the moment two individuals decide on marrying one another. A non-biased chapel which focusses the moment of marriage to a single hole in the wall. The exchanging of rings and documents occur at this point. Identities, looks, religion and any other circumstances are left behind at the entrance of the altar. The ceremony and procession highlight the many arbitrary documents that are needed to get married. The drawing is read in the same manner, exploring, unpacking and finding these legal notes. Marriage in Saint-Denis has been simplified and has been made easier for two people to marry and gain their citizenship.

é t a ge -1.5 x -20.878727 O S y 55.4 48141E z 13

nef

nave

confessionnal confessional

f d

c e

crypte crypt

altar

autel

nef

nave

la chapelle chapel

PLAN 1:100

one night in saint-denis a rt i c l e 7 9 o f l aw 2 0 0 6 - 9 1 1

‘ N S A’ DÉSIGNATION II

o p e n re l a t i o n s h i p

p a r t n e re d

committed

widowed

engaged

married 148

ALMANAC IV

pleat wedding dress hide dossiers notes reduce nave length 10% stitch new walkway cast ceremonial exchange excavate ruin crumbling exchange

fo copy paste alter p l e at stitch weave mould

} WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHS Steffen Fischer

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974 PEÏ

A(5sl), A(ss+), C(5sl) DÉSIGNATION II

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a. entrance b. innocuous chair c. baby booth d. spiders silk woven wall to withhold moisture +18oc to maintain womb like interior for newborns e. salon dorĂŠ f. bulging into bureau g. thick spider silk gold cladding h. 1.2384t2 floor area for daily delivery of unsolicited babies

ALMANAC IV

151

Material maquette using laters of glass, plaster of paris & dried pressed flowers.

Map of Saint-Denis, RĂŠunion Island

Baby Tourism is a space inside the new Town Tall of SaintDenis. This is a closet that allows a woman to give birth. Conveniently situated next to the Presidents office, this drawing alludes to how a woman's body undergoes an intense transformation, in order for both mother and baby to gain citizenship based on place. The drawing highlights the physical pain woman often go through, which the space is doing through plan, section and perspective. How do the colonial powers in the neighbouring room adhere to this alteration spatially?

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHS Steffen Fischer

é t a ge 1 x -20.878721 O S y 55.4 48201E z 34

l'uté rus

canal

womb

threshold

salle d'attente waiting area

protubé rance g

bulging

thorax thorax

inté rieur de Salon Doré inside the golden room

PLAN 1:50

baby tourism children born in France remain foreigners

s u r ro ga t e DÉSIGNATION II

fe r t i l e business intentional d e s p e ra t e f u t u re c i t i ze n s h i p

maternal 152

ALMANAC IV

copy paste mould fold pleat and hide wall reduce power stitch mould and transform panels stitch womb like material bulge new panels space altering

fo copy paste alter p l e at stitch weave mould

} WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHS Steffen Fischer

153

974 PEÏ - 20180325 A(5sl), D(ss+), C(5sl)

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a. level two external entrance b. overflow elastic landing c. innocuous backrest of chair d. malleable elastic membrane when pulled from below e. turn-to-the-side entry door f. masonry rigid stone from paris g. elastic extended ladder h. dry and air-conditioned room -1oc to allow for shrinking i. air-pocket gap j. 1.562t2 floor area for two super hé ros k. level 1 foot power footrest

ALMANAC IV

155

Material maquette using marble.

The Zéro to Héro drawing describes the recent event of a Malian ‘spiderman’ climbing the facade of a building to save a child (incidentally from Réunion) and receiving French citizenship in return. This poses a series of questions. Is it good enough, to be good enough? The drawing examines the complicated yet easy feat citizenship can be acquired which is based purely on circumstance, being in the right place at the right time. In some instances, there might be a metaphorical mountain to climb, such as this space which has forced itself out of a window opening on the second floor of the Town Hall. This opening is now an alternative, 'easier' door to gain access to this closet space.

é t a ge 1 x -20.878633 O S y 55.4 48305E z 33

g b

thorax

threshold

1,5

ventre

abdomen

k i

AXO 1:200

PLAN 1:50

zéro to héro A n e xc e p t i o n a l ac t

invisible woman evita bezuidenhout trump asterix mbappe superman mary poppins DÉSIGNATION II

156

ALMANAC IV

copy paste mould melt stitch transform threshold subvert interior space alter room

}

copy paste emboss alter paste stitch mould burn

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHS Steffen Fischer

157

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a. 98mm dry walling system, inexpensive, easy concealment b. insulation only on the side walls for privacy c. do not get caught with the door open d. extra storage space e. stacked bundles of money in the secret compartment f. translucent pleasure petals boards for comfort g. solid orientated strand petal board h. subdued, ambient calm environment with air conditioning (moisture is bad for money storage) i. Self-closing soft hatch

ALMANAC IV

159

Trial & Tribulation is a method by someone can bribe and buy their citizenship illegally or legally. The growing need of having a nationality and an identity upon arriving in a country after migrating is needed in order to find a job, open a bank account and rent a room. This is a quick fix solution, however, is costly and only benefits those who have the financial freedom. Often, families will save for a long time to allow one member of the family to migrate and establish themselves. Knowing the right person in authority is also key to the process. The drawing explores how someone has to climb through small absurd spaces to find the right place. The wall has been woven, so that money can be safely hidden or stored for later.

é t a ge 1 x -20.878899 O S y 55.4 48219E z 35

e lag t f u o en

camncealm co

b e

é ta

f loo ge r h

c a

é chelle d'accè s

é ta

access ladder

f loo ge r i

AXO 1:100

trial & tribulation forged passport bought

donation DÉSIGNATION II

fa vo r

c ro i s s a n t

bribe

‘friend’

handshake

exchange 160

ALMANAC IV

copy paste mould melt stitch transform threshold subvert interior concealment of money

}

copy paste emboss alter

paste stitch weave mould burn

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHS Steffen Fischer

161

PEÏ 974

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re v

oir

PEÏ -

IN T-D EN IS SA

WRITER Steffen Fischer PHOTOGRAPHER Steffen Fischer (A) Denver Hendricks (B)

163

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correspondance électronique avec l’ambassade de France

copy paste

} B

une photo de la remise avec M. Jean Paul Toutin

copy paste into French Embassy transpose into new spatial closet undermine authority subvert power translate hierarchy

Tr ansposition Imposteur

t ra n s p o s e DÉSIGNATION II

s e c ret

illegal

legal

handshake

exchange 164

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The new PEÏ passports are a means to tie myths, fiction and real stories on Réunion island and France together. The passports are characters in the each of the taxonomies.

copy paste

alter stitch

} copy paste extract myths role play new passport blue in colour naturalised subvert power assume new identity

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Page réservée aux autorités compétentes pour délivrer le passeport Página reservada às autoridades competentes para emitir o passaporte / Seite reserviert für die zuständigen Behörden den Pass ausstellen / Σελίδα που προορίζεται για τις αρμόδιες αρχές να εκδώσει το διαβατήριο / Page reserved for the competent authorities to issue the passport / Lehekülg on reserveeritud pädevatele asutustele passi väljastama / Pagina

974 PEÏ - 20180325

gereserveerd voor de bevoegde autoriteiten om het paspoort af te geven / Página reservada a las autoridades competentes. emitir el pasaporte / Side forbeholdt de kompetente myndigheder at udstede passet.

Ce passeport contient un composant électronique. Il convient d’en prendre soin, et en particulier de ne pas le plier, le perforer, l’exposer à des températures extrêmes ou à une humidité excessive.

Signature du titulaire/Holder’s signature

This passport contains an electronic component. It is important to take care of it, and in particular not to bend, puncture, expose it to extreme temperatures or excessive humidity.

PASSEPORT PASSEPORT

RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE Type/type

Code du pays/Country code

FRA

Passeport N o/Passport N o

10FR771221

Nom/Surname (1)

MACRON Prénoms/Given name (2)

Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Nationalité/Nationality (3)

FRANÇAISE Date de naissance/Date of birth (4)

21 12 1977

Sexe/Sex (5)Taille/Height (12) Couleur des yeux/Colour of eyes (13)

1,71 M

BLEUE

Lieu de naissance/Place of birth (6)

AMIENS, FRA

Date de déliverance/Date of issue (7)

Domicile/Residence (11)

10 10 2018

ÉLYSÉE PALAIS 75008 PARIS

Autorité/Authority (9)

Préfacture de la Paris FR Date d’expiration/Date of expiry (8)

11 10 2028

P<FRAMACRON<<EMMANUELJM<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 10FR771221FRA771221M2211215<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<02

accès Baby Tourism

167

Page réservée aux autorités compétentes pour délivrer le passeport Página reservada às autoridades competentes para emitir o passaporte / Seite reserviert für die

974 PEÏ

zuständigen Behörden den Pass ausstellen / Σελίδα που προορίζεται για τις αρμόδιες αρχές να εκδώσει το διαβατήριο / Page reserved for the competent authorities to issue the passport / Lehekülg on reserveeritud pädevatele asutustele passi väljastama / Pagina gereserveerd voor de bevoegde autoriteiten om het paspoort af te geven / Página reservada a las autoridades competentes. emitir el pasaporte / Side forbeholdt de kompetente myndigheder at udstede passet.

Signature du titulaire/Holder’s signature

This passport contains an electronic component. It is important to take care of it, and in particular not to bend, puncture, expose it to extreme temperatures or excessive humidity.

PASSEPORT PASSEPORT

RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE Type/type

Code du pays/Country code

Passeport N o/Passport N o

17RE550307

Nom/Surname (1)

DESBASSYNS Prénoms/Given name (2)

Marie Anne Thérèse Nationalité/Nationality (3)

RÉUNIONESE Date de naissance/Date of birth (4)

03 07 1755

Sexe/Sex (5)Taille/Height (12) Couleur des yeux/Colour of eyes (13)

1,56 M

NOIR

Lieu de naissance/Place of birth (6)

SAINT PAUL, LA RÉUNION

Date de déliverance/Date of issue (7)

Domicile/Residence (11)

10 10 1830

PITON DE LA FOURNAISE 974

Autorité/Authority (9)

Préfacture de la Saint Denis, RE Date d’expiration/Date of expiry (8)

n’expire pas

P<REDESBASSYNS<<MADAMMEMAT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 10FR770307RE771221F974<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<02

accès One Night in Saint-Denis

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to issue the passport / Lehekülg on reserveeritud pädevatele asutustele passi väljastama / Pagina gereserveerd voor de bevoegde autoriteiten om het paspoort af te geven / Página reservada a las autoridades competentes. emitir el pasaporte / Side forbeholdt de kompetente myndigheder at udstede passet.

Signature du titulaire/Holder’s signature

This passport contains an electronic component. It is important to take care of it, and in particular not to bend, puncture, expose it to extreme temperatures or excessive humidity.

PASSEPORT PASSEPORT

RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE Type/type

Code du pays/Country code

Passeport N o/Passport N o

18RE001850

Nom/Surname (1)

KALLE Prénoms/Given name (2)

Gran’Mère Nationalité/Nationality (3)

RÉUNIONESE Date de naissance/Date of birth (4)

-- -- 1850

Sexe/Sex (5)Taille/Height (12) Couleur des yeux/Colour of eyes (13)

Sorcière 1,62 M

NOIR

Lieu de naissance/Place of birth (6)

SAINT GILLES LES BAINS, LA RÉUNION

Date de déliverance/Date of issue (7)

Domicile/Residence (11)

-- -- ----

Ravine des Kaffirs , SAINT PIERRE 974

Autorité/Authority (9)

Préfacture de la Saint Denis, RE Date d’expiration/Date of expiry (8)

n’expire pas

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accès Trial & Tribulation

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Signature du titulaire/Holder’s signature

This passport contains an electronic component. It is important to take care of it, and in particular not to bend, puncture, expose it to extreme temperatures or excessive humidity.

PASSEPORT PASSEPORT

RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE Type/type

Code du pays/Country code

Passeport N o/Passport N o

13RE190483

Nom/Surname (1)

RIVIERE Prénoms/Given name (2)

Stéphane Boyer Jennifer Nationalité/Nationality (3)

Sexe/Sex (5)Taille/Height (12) Couleur des yeux/Colour of eyes (13)

RÉUNIONESE

Date de naissance/Date of birth (4)

Lieu de naissance/Place of birth (6)

1,65 M

BRUNIR

19 04 1983

RIVIERE, RE

Date de déliverance/Date of issue (7)

Domicile/Residence (11)

10 10 2018

2 rue de Paris Cedex 97747 SAINT DENIS

Autorité/Authority (9)

Préfacture de la Saint Denis, RE Date d’expiration/Date of expiry (8)

11 10 2028

P<RERIVIERE<<STEPHANEBJ<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 13RE190483RE830419M281011<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<02

accès Zéro to Héro

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pädevatele asutustele passi väljastama / APagina IN T-D EN IS

PEÏ -

gereserveerd voor de bevoegde autoriteiten

om het paspoort af te geven / Página reservada a las autoridades competentes. emitir el pasaporte / Side forbeholdt de kompetente myndigheder at udstede passet.

18 RI -07 -23 -PA

Signature du titulaire/Holder’s signature

This passport contains an electronic component. It is important to take care of it, and in particular not to bend, puncture, expose it to extreme temperatures or excessive humidity.

PASSEPORT PASSEPORT

RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE Type/type

Code du pays/Country code

PEÏ

Passeport N o/Passport N o

10CV2844

Nom/Surname (1)

FISCHER Prénoms/Given name (2)

Steffen Nationalité/Nationality (3)

SUD AFRICAIN Date de naissance/Date of birth (4)

22 10 1987

Sexe/Sex (5)Taille/Height (12) Couleur des yeux/Colour of eyes (13)

1,87 M

VERT

Lieu de naissance/Place of birth (6)

BELÉM, BRÉSIL

Date de déliverance/Date of issue (7)

Domicile/Residence (11)

10 10 2018

105 RUE DE 13 DALECROSS 2196 AFRIQUE DU SUD

Autorité/Authority (9)

Préfacture de la Pretoria RSA Date d’expiration/Date of expiry (8)

11 10 2028

P<RSSAFISCHER<<STEFFEN<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 10CV21141443RSA871007M2211215<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<02

accès Incubator

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L' IMMIGRAT ION S

SAIN T-D EN ÏI

Incubator 8201

07 -23 -PA RIS

974

Zéro to Héro

974 PEÏ

974 PEÏ - 20180325

one night in saint-denis

Baby tourism

Trial & tribulation PEÏ 974

DÉSIGNATION II

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DÉCLARAT ION

Je soussigné, Steffen Fischer, dé clare par la présente que les travaux de ce Master Design Portfolio soumis, à l'exception de l'aide organisé e, sont mes propres travaux et n'ont pas été soumis auparavant à une autre université ou institution d'enseignement supé rieur pour un diplôme. I, Steffen Fischer, hereby declare that the work in this Masters design portfolio submitted, apart from the help organised, is my own work and has not previously been submitted to another university or institution of higher education for a degree.

SIGNAT URE` LA DAT E

DÉSIGNATION II

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appendix A T H. T HEORY & HISTORY

Will it blend? Marina Abramovi č’s The Artist is Present and Bruno Latour’s Spheres and Networks: Two Ways to Reinterpret Globalisation (2017)

GSPublisherVersion 0.60.100.100

WORDS Steffen Fischer

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Artificial Space: How ideas are spread through objects. To be a performance artist, you have to hate theatre, theatre is fake...The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real - O’Hagan 2010:1. Marina Abramovi č is recognised as one of the most influential performance artists of the past halfcentury. She continues to bemuse and engage audiences at the age of 64, maintaining a strong role in performance, which is enhanced because of the discourse she has woven through the history of her work leading up to her retrospective, The Artist is Present. Abramovi č is able to lead and transform her audience, in this process testing the limits of her own body through the use of objects. The presence of the audience becomes transformed; from a spatial perspective, objects are manipulated through the context of the exhibition. The objects are spatially placed in the performance which have intention and direct purpose within her performance. The manipulation of the space is deeply connected with an intentional script and role players from the audience. Abramovi č presents us with a project, The Artist is Present. Abramovi č presents us with an object of familiarity - the performance presented as tabula rasa - white space, with simple lights and devoid of unnecessary objects. This sets the stage for a manufactured environment, where space becomes pure, void, reinstating the intimacy of performance through a transfer of emotion and sentiment; the emptying of the space is a constructed emptiness. Latour says, the whole enterprise around spheres and networks — which superficially looks like a reduction, a limitation, to tiny local scenes — is in effect a search for space, for a vastly more comfortably inhabitable space (Latour 2009:140). Abramovi č’s retrospective performance amplifies the idea of an inner calling that perhaps each of us should be conscious of connecting on a greater level, ordinary life scenarios are played through the function of the object. Suddenly we realise that it is the “profound question” of Being that has been too superficially considered: Dasein has no clothes, no habitat, no biology, no hormones, no atmosphere around it, no medication, no viable transportation system even to reach his H ü tte in the Black Forest. Dasein is thrown into the world but is so naked that it doesn’t stand much chance of survival - Latour 2009:140. Latour informs us the only way this world can be real, objective and material, without being ‘natural’ is first to have redistributed and localised science. He says, even the material physical objects making up the world do not stand in the world according to what would be expected of them, as extended things (Latour 2009:140). Abramovi č provides us with readings of her performance through the way in which her retrospective, The Artist is Present is set up. Through this process, the bodies of both the performer and ‘the visitor’ become a metaphor for the object. The performance becomes a manipulative provocation through space aimed at the audience, showing things that are not really there. The spatial quality of this work attempts to control time, that of the audience and her own. The simplicity of the space in which predetermined objects are placed, is intentional. The two simple timber chairs and table divides artist from the visitor, and the crowd of people around the centre stage becomes important and are a powerful aspect of the performance. In this manner Abramovi č seems to slow time, creating an intimate sphere of proceedings within her immediate environment. Abramovi č’s performance becomes a true evocation of Latour’s theory, the placement of familiar objects in the performance return back to primitiveness and sense of togetherness uncluttered by artificial space and ornamental objects “...if you empty the space of all entities there is something left: space” (Latour 2009:142).

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Latour argues that the opposite strategies of naturalisation and socialisation are able to stupefy the mind only because they are always thought of separately. However, as soon as the two moves are combined, one must realise that nature and society are two perfectly “happy bedfellows whose opposition is a parody” (Latour 2009:141). The metaphor of an immune system enclosing architectural environments suggests a world model where social constructs adhere to on an artificial level. Christian Borch comments on “[o]bserving organisations as foam therefore means taking into account at once their a-centric nature, their immunity strategies, their imitations and their spatiality” (Borch 2009:10). During the course of Abramovi č’s performance, the table is removed from the stage. This removal suggests that the visitor’s intuition is transformed because the performance, similar to that of our lives is scripted. This artificial sense of intuition is the same as what spaces begin to achieve. The act of removing this object has further connected the artist and visitor by this simple gesture altering the entire environment, making it more vulnerable and intimate. In Borch’s essay, he relates the anecdote of the bathroom in the workplace, and how it becomes the environment of what is expected, through the eyes of Peter Sloterdijk’s Foam Theory. This simple space is a place in which the bathroom is known and familiar — the space of the bathroom becomes incredibly reassuring to identify with on a psychological level. To have something so basic and ‘scripted’, in this instance the placement of the table as an object, becomes a point of familiarity in the scripted performance acting as the safety-net of the immediate environment. The incredible detail scripted by the artist for the performance makes the visitor at ease, highlighting their sense of place through the placement of familiar objects. Since foam bubbles are fragile and protected by frail membranes, immunity maintenance is a crucial concern. This has a clear spatial and architectural dimension, as architecture is one way of producing immunity vis-à-vis the outside world — (Borch 2009:10).

References: O’Hagan, Sean. 2010. Interview: Marina Abramovič. [O]. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/ oct/03/interview-marina-abramovic-performance-artist Accessed 19 September 2017. Latour, Bruno. 2009. Spheres And Networks: Two Ways To Reinterpret Globalization. Harvard Design Magazine 30 (Spring / Summer): 138-144. Borch, Christian. 2009. Organizational Atmospheres: Foam, Affect and Architecture. Organization OnlineFirst: 1-19.

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appendix B PROFESSIONAL PRACT ICE

Entrepreneurship Assignment Business Plan (2017)

WRITER Steffen Fischer

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Table of Contents A. Executive summary (statement of the business purpose) 1. Vision & Mission statements 2. Goals & Objectives B. Body of Document / Business 1. Executive Summary (including the business opportunity identification) 2. Style of Practice 3. Business Model 4. Marketing 5. Competition 6. Operating Procedures 7. Accommodation Requirements (including location) 8. Personnel 9. Business Insurance 10. Capital Equipment Required 11. Financing and Repayment C. References

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A. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Vision & Mission statements Vision Vision and mission statements play an important role in strategy development by providing vehicles to generate and screen strategic options. They also provide organisational identity and understanding of business directions (ABAS 2012:[sa]). A vision statement should attempt to answer the following: Where do we want to be going? When do we want to reach that stage? How do we want to do it? My Vision statement: Is to Redefine principals of how we can begin to live and work together forming new social and cultural constructs within out cities urban centres whilst using design as a representational means in pushing the boundaries of inventive space making while adding value for users and inhabitants for the built environment. Mission The purpose of a mission statement is to focus on how you will get where you want to be, how the broad goals and values to get to your vision. It is a short concise statement of why the business exists at its core (Kaplan et al, 2013). A mission statement should answer the following: What do we do? (Purpose) How do we do it? (Processes) For whom do we do it? (Stakeholders) (Jasuja et. al. 2015) We look at the client’s role, not just a singular person but how meaningful collaborations can be generated — why and how can they buy or be a role-player in the product or service? How are these roles between architect and client re-defined? My mission statement: To be able to holistically design every experience to stretch the imagination of all parties involved, creating a unique responsive space and place that responds to the immediate context and environment. The difference between the purpose of a vision and mission statement is that the vision is a loftier more bigger picture of why the business exists and how it is set in the future of the business. The mission statement guides the values of the day-to-day issues of the helps give a better idea of the nearto medium term goals. (Jasuja et. al. 2015). It can be said that the vision statement doesn’t always come first as with established businesses, the mission statement is established and the vision statement makes up the strategic plan for the future. (Jasuja et. al. 2015). 2. Goals & Objectives Goals The purpose of a goal is to help you set in motion the things you would want to accomplish in the long term for your business. These are statements you make about your business and go a long way to keep focused on the direction of your firm (Smith 2008). A goal should include the purpose and direction 183

of an endeavour and generic actions or outcomes of an intention over a longer term focus (Sehgal P et. al. 2015). My Goals: To provide a unique, custom and bespoke service that focuses on holistic projects that require integrated design in order to fully create the experience To develop a multidisciplinary platform of solutions To meet all requirements on green, sustainable design, pushing for solutions on materiality and technology To increase client/market share, locally, nationally and internationally Recent and upcoming work to be published in a local/international design magazine/website Build, train and expand a team of professionals (servicing our multidisciplinary design approach), as demand grows Become an award-winning design practice that ranges widely in discipline, methodology and media. Objectives Objectives become the purpose in setting up actions of how to plan to achieve your goals. These are the pragmatic steps that need to be followed to achieve the goals and are usually quantifiable and have an associated short term time line. This makes the goals even more realistic in reaching its target. Many new practices use the SMART guidelines that require the objectives to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time defined. (Smith 2008). My Objectives: Within a period of 2 years, set up an integrated team of partners offering specialised solution to projects Within a period of 3 years, collaborating with other professionals in the field and using integrated solutions for projects with a quicker turnaround time Set up a client base that involves unique people with extraordinary ideas on development Build up a portfolio of integrated “paper projects” and competitions in order to communicate the multidimensional aspects to the business Join architectural associations like GIFA, SAIA and SACAP within the first 3 months Attend key functions for networking opportunities whilst maintaining positive relationships with existing contacts, with the view to create future clients Design and create a website and establish an online presence on various social media platforms within the first 3 months To collaborate with top brands and designers/artists, where there is a high publicity opportunities, in order to build the name and brand Objectives and goals differ in that a goal is looser in terms of its outcome and an objective is a specific action quantifiable and measurable (Sehgal P, 2015). Goals talk about an end result that is long term and an objective talks about a series of mid to short term steps that define the route that will be taken to reach the goals (Sehgal P, 2015). B. BODY OF DOCUMENT / BUSINESS 1. Executive Summary (including the business opportunity identification) Studio Axiom is an architectural firm that specialises in small to medium size projects; from small dwellings to rural schools and cultural centres, consisting of specialists of ‘low-tech’ use of material, surface, space, light and art as a medium to inform the design. Studio Axiom has evolved from the ongoing research of Steffen Fischer, from his master’s thesis in which his design response proposes an alternative integration of refugees through a medium of architectural representation at a grassroots level. Design acts as a tool for understanding current relationship dynamics and unpacks organisational DÉSIGNATION II

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and social structures. This provides a framework for human interaction, which investigates better integration in the city for refugees through programmes as an alternative solution, whilst defining the principles of social and political identities. The design is a conceptual space for research that generates and proposes new structures for the functioning of society. The studio also incorporates research within the realm of migration and refugees as a laboratory in seeking better cultural, social and political studies to inform better approaches to holistic design methodology. The studio will be an private company that operates as a legal entity with perceptual succession. The target market would appeal to low - medium end residential and commercial clients as well as government works that are looking for a unique and inventive use of material innovation which re-looks at the notion on how we redefine live, play and work scenarios. The studio will offer a formal role as well as consulting and specialist knowledge using a group of professionals with expertise regarding architecture and engineering solutions. The studio plans to push the envelope on the formal role of an architect by designing smaller non-formal projects, which begin to facilitate a pedagogical approach in education the immediate population by the means of exhibitions and temporary structures which will allow for short term projects to gain knowledge insight. As the city of Johannesburg regains focus and development, and is an arrival city, the studio plans to harness some of this potential by reusing integrated solutions on material and technology to redefine these forgotten spaces and help the city reshape itself through a knowledge based outcome approach. Studio Axiom will operate as a collaborative team of motivated professionals and innovative leaders in technology helping the emerging commercials of Africa and specifically South Africa find a voice that is environmentally sensitive but bold. Studio Axiom will remain competitive, and be a active role model in knowledge through valuing researched based processes and continuing to push expertise through workshops and further pedagogical boundaries based on race and decolonising curricula. Relationships with the arts and education sector will also give back to the profession as well as have a meaningful understand on the pulse of art and research on a cultural and political front. Studio Axiom welcomes you on this new holistic journey of discovery within the City of Johannesburg. 2. Style of Practice The Business Business name: Studio Axiom Business structure: Private Company Business location: Open â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hot-deskingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Braamfontein, Johannesburg Business owners: Steffen Fischer (Director: Architect, researcher and artist), Tebogo Ramatlo (Director: Architect, Researcher and Migration Activist) and Justin Elgie (Associate: Urbanist, Art Director & Designer) Studio Axiom is an architectural firm in Johannesburg that focuses on a thoughtful experiential based architecture that allows the way we live, work and play to be seamlessly integrated with thought provoking use and optimisation of space. It is a practice dedicated to value of place making and the value of architecture in the built and urban environment. Studio Axiom offers commercial and residential clients tailor-made solutions that considers an integrated approach to space as a consultant of material, light, surface and technology. As a core strategy the practice will be devoted to these principals of providing clients with access to a multidisciplinary of services. This allows the firm to diversify beyond the traditional role of formal. The idea would be able to have a small practice with 3 directors and one architectural technologist, each with a differentiated specialty. The directors would take the lead in securing projects for the practice as well as complete some design work dependent on the type of project. The role of the architectural technologist, would be run the office should the directors not be present. This would 185

allow the technologist to be up-skilled in the functioning of how a practice is run with specific roles and responsibilities. At first there would be one technologist and no administrator / receptionist, and as the practice grows, these roles will be filled by hiring additional staff. This is to keep the initial start up costs of the new practice to a minimum. The placement of the practice situated within a ‘hotdesking’ environment, means that we would already have a receptionist that fulfils the basic needs of the practice. The out sourcing of the accountant also means, that less money would be spent on extra space, until the time where the practice has enough capital to grow and pursue larger office space. 3. Business Model The business model defines how, what and where Studio Axiom operates. This is an instrumental factor as to how the firm functions and is able to set goals and targets the market. In both the consulting and drawing side of the firm, Studio Axiom seeks out to provide unique and quality service’s operating with an integrated look at how we design. Studio Axiom also seeks to align the practice with governmental organisations and key local and international businesses in order to continue and collaborate on research within the migration realm in the region. The location of the office, in Braamfontein, makes this readily possible, because there are many NGO’s, private and governmental organisations that are situated within the area, that would allow for good long standing relationship’s to be built. In a recent article, Establishing Viable Architectural Firms, architectural business models can be categorised into three types: Efficiencybased; experience-based firm; and expertise based firm (Vosloo 2015:61) Studio Axiom is a new and young practice, though the experience between all three directors amounts to over 16 years within the built environment, we are wanting to grow the company efficiently thus keeping the expenses to a minimum until such a point that the practice can acquire its own property as a on-going investment. Administrative roles would be shared between all the directors, but also will be the responsibility of the technologist. This role would be to up-skill and train the employee, ‘paying it forward’ allowing the technologist to gain critical key insight into the functioning of a business, with hopes of a long standing relationship and employment of the employee. 4. Marketing Architects have been known to believe that their reputation and quality of service alone is good enough to spread word and make a name for themselves (Hill 2014:7). With the increasing role of an architect in South Arica is also a small niche market, especially where only 9% of architects are employed for services. Therefore the target market would be middle to highend clients and developers that will be using architecture as a part of their marketing. Whether it is urban development for the public sector, or a commercial build from a private client, Studio Axiom hopes to use every opportunity to market not only our clients but our firm as well. Studio Axiom’s marketing strategy has the following strategy: A Blog & Website: The proposal of a blog in addition to a website would be to allow the narrative and research of projects to be displayed. This allows potential clients to see the on-going commitment of the practice and the relationship it holds within the industry. Social media plays an important role with this, as to best communicate to our audience who we are, and how we practice. The blog will allow Studio Axiom to appear current and moving, always exploring, always having new ideas and would operate as a news feed. Portfolio: The portfolio of any firm is an important reference to work done and is sometime the only thing a client has to reference. The portfolio will include a list of key projects which the directors have already completed. These projects will attract the attention of potential clients, so that they can see what the

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company is capable of doing. As projects come into the practice, these will be added to the list, and must be updated regularly together with the blog and website. Industry Involvement: Studio Axiom’s marketing strategy include aligning with local galleries and regional institutions to allow for the practice to be involved and associated with the art, research and the design world. This would involve remaining connected with the University of Johannesburg, hosting workshops for students, tutoring and guest lecturing. The involvement shows an interest and a continuation in dialogue within the industry and is a good way of marketing the firm’s name. 5. Competition Currently in South Africa there are a number of multidisciplinary firms that deal with architecture, urban and interiors or engineering, project management/development which include; Werkhof Architects, Local Studio, Counterspace Studio, Daffonchio & Associate Architects to name a few. There are even fewer firms that deal with topics around migration and refugee’s thus giving Studio Axiom a lead in this regard. This firm will be differentiated in the fact that the practice offers and alternative, concise and holistic design of the project at hand, looking at the immediate context for inspiration in creating a unique and bespoke design. The practice looks at a SWOT Analysis: Strengths: Highly motivated and skilled team of ‘creatives’ (each specialised) who feed off each other to develop innovative design solutions. Interdisciplinary design services, which are inter-related, causing ‘add-on jobs’, that support the initial service. Research and academic focused aspect of the firm ensures solutions are relevant, and innovative. Unique typology of firm that differentiates speciality. Focus on procedure and professionalism. Integrated solution as a product/service that is tailor made/designed. Weaknesses: Lack of client base Lack of experience Lack of finances Name and reputation has not been built yet Opportunities: Breakthrough business model Range of platforms that consumers can be reached increases our scope of work To be new is an opportunity in which people might be interested in trying Threats: Larger, established firms given preference BEE appointments / tenders The market is small and niche South Africa’s unstable economic environment which has an uncertain future in terms of the built environment Working with government can have it’s issues

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Therefore Studio Axiom aims at being honest from the beginning of each project outlaying the dreams and possibilities for each holistic project, and also understanding the limits and capabilities of the practice in achieving and realising the end project for the client. 6. Operating Procedures Operating procedures would ideally become an inherent part of the firm culture and defines what it means to run a successful practice that is able to grow intelligently and financially. Production process In order to communicate these values and ideals of professionalism, a procedure manual is well used tool which lays out the flow of works and includes examples and outlines of the standard of work. This manual is defines the structure of the production process and procurement of information. This provides an opportunity for Studio Axiom to agree with particular standards. Hand overs and communication are essential aspect that we plan to handle smoothly. Hierarchy and responsibility Studio Axiom plans to move from individually functioning partners each with specific focus on core business (each as a project architect or on a team) as well as extracurricular responsibilities such as the blog an managing housekeeping such as archiving and filing. Initially the firm will asses strengths and weaknesses of the partners and address any gaps such as outsourcing accounting etcetera. Suppliers Suppliers for us would be integral to selling this specialised service of and would include those we outsource information to as well as form part of our team. A list of trusted construction companies, geo-technicians, IT specialists, land surveyors and quantity surveyors who we work well together. Communication Communication plays a critical role within Studio Axiom’s function. Without a strong understanding and communication between all directors / employees, jobs within the firm can easily break down and collapse. The firm would be constantly learning from each other’s technical strengths and the cross-pollination of skills requires workshops and intense communication. It is imperative that each individual is up to date with each other’s project and can offer assistance at any level if needs be. Technology: Hardware & Software The firm will run on integrated software such as the latest Graphisoft: Archicad products allowing all specialists to have a universal understanding. Archicad is a leading 2D & 3D drawing programme which also works with the free graphical algorithm editor tightly integrated with Rhino's 3-D modeling tool. This would allow any design to be achieved with precision to international standards, something which the local market currently lacks. It would be a standard procedure for an employee to know Archicad as well as Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator basics. Technology is a key aspect in stream lining internal processes as well as creating documents and packaging projects in a smart and efficient manner, in order to convey the design of the project thoughtfully allowing a true engagement of the client irrespective of their understandings for design and architecture.

DÉSIGNATION II

188

7. Operating Procedures ALMANAC

Studio Axiom would need to be located close to the buzz of Johannesburg’s regeneration sector, 7. OperatingThis Procedures Braamfontein. locates the practice in a critical vantage point, next to local and private organisations, close toStudio the Gautrain station, wellto asbe other public transport routes, Metrobus, ReaVaya and local mini-bus Axiom wouldas need located close to thefeeder buzz of Johannesburg’s regeneration sector, taxis, affording anyThis typelocates of client easy accessinto the practice. The point, office spaces to beprivate large enough to Braamfontein. the practice a critical vantage next toneeds local and host the 3 directors at any given point asstation, well as aasspace to other hold meetings. Which isfeeder why the practice has organisations, close to the Gautrain well as public transport routes, Metrobus, ReaVaya and local mini-bus taxis, affording any type of client easy access to the practice. The office opted for co-working office space, as the facilities are existing, and rental is minimal - The practice would only spaces needs to be large enough to host the 3 directors at any given point as well as a space to hold have to pay for the services it requires. meetings. Which is why the practice has opted for co-working office space, as the facilities are existing, and rental isexplains minimalthat - The only have towith paylikeminded for the services it requires. The Business Exchange wepractice would bewould able to “connect entrepreneurs and start off lean by taking a co-working package with us which gives you 24/7 access to our open plan work The Business Exchange explains that we would be able to “connect with likeminded entrepreneurs and areas. Included owna landline number and reception answering and you getto 5 free hoursplan of start off lean is byyour taking co-working package with us which givesservice you 24/7 access our open meeting rooms per month.isWifi is own uncapped andnumber fibre optic parkinganswering is included.service On topand of this 4 work areas. Included your landline andand reception youyou getget 5 free hours of meeting rooms per month. Wifi is uncapped and fibre optic and parking is included. On top of days of private office usage per month. Co-working Office Space from R2000.” this you get 4 days of private office usage per month. Co-working Office Space from R2000.” I enquired at the Business exchange how much it would cost for 3 people to have office space in a semiI enquired at -the exchange how much it would cost for 3per people to This haveincludes office space in a private location thisBusiness would cost the company a service fee of R5000 month. a telephone, semi-private location - this would cost the company a service fee of R5000 per month. This includes internet, and use of meeting rooms when needed. Other services also include water & electricity, tea & coffee. a telephone, internet, and use of meeting rooms when needed. Other services also include water & electricity, tea & coffee.

8. Personnel Partner 1: Steffen Fischer 8.Position: PersonnelDirector, shareholder and Project Architect, Artist and Researcher Qualification: Masters in Architecture (GSA), Prof (Candidate architect with SACAP) Salary: of R20,000 Partner 1:goal Steffen Fischer  initially Position: Director, shareholder and Project Architect, Artist and Researcher  Partner 2: Tebogo Ramatlo Qualiﬁcation: Masters in Architecture (GSA), ProfArchitect, (CandidateResearcher architect with SACAP)  Position: Director, shareholder and Project with a side role in marketing and Salary: goalspecialist of R20 000 initially material Qualification: Masters in Architecture (GSA), Prof (Candidate architect with SACAP) Partner 2:goal Tebogo Ramatlo  initially Salary: of R20,000 Position: Director, shareholder and Project Architect, Researcher with a side role in marketing and material Partner   3: Alex Denis specialist Position: Director, shareholder, and(Candidate visual Artarchitect Directorwith SACAP)  Qualiﬁcation: Masters in ArchitectureUrbanist (GSA), Prof Qualification: Masters in Urban Studies Salary: goal of R20 000 initially Salary: goal of R20, 000 initially

! of 17 11 ! 189

Employee 1: Tshiwanelo Kubayi Position: Architectural Technologist, Project Manager, Administrator Qualification: Bachelor Architectural Technology Salary: R 14,000 (Based on work experience) Employee 2: Ian Warduagh (Outsourced) Position: Administrator, financial book keeper and Payroll Qualification: Bachelor in Accounting Salary: R 10, 000 (Based on work completed monthly) 9. Business Insurance In the architectural profession insurance against the loss and damage of assets as well as professional indemnity claims against partners are equality important. Asset insurance would be handled by a well-known and trusted insurer of business such as Outsurance. Professional indemnity is insurance needed against claims of negligence and professional duty and will cover the legal defence costs as well as damages (if the case is lost). Blenheim offers an affordable insurance of R850 per month. 10. Capital Equipment Required 10. Capital Equipment Required Estimated Amount (R) Equipment Computer software: 4 x Apple MacBook Pro’s @ R18 000

72 000

Adobe CS6 master collection

36 000

Archicad License

55 000

Subtotal

163 000

Stationary, printing & misc: Paper, files and basic set of stationary

5 000

Binder

2 000

Website Business cards

6 000 500

Registration of Business

3 100

GiFA Membership Fee

3 500

SACAP Fee

4 000

Subtotal Grand total

DÉSIGNATION IICapital requirements: Working

7 000 187 100

190

ALMANAC

Working Capital requirements: Operational items paid monthly

Estimated Amount (R)

Property: Rent in Johannesburg

5 000

Parking bays (3)

1 500

Insurance (estimation)

2 000

Salaries: Salaries Directors

70 000

Employees

24 000

Other: Working Capital Monthly Budget Advertising Forecast:

1 000

Entertainment budget

2 000

Telephones

2 500

Within this budget, the total expenses were used to set how Subtotal much money is needed for the Overall Total monthly functioning of the business, to see the forecast and projection costs Working of the business. How many Capital Start Up:

108 000 295 100

Income/Expenses

R114 380 R237 500 R123 120

Income minus expenses Total expenses Total income

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MONEY IN Project 1: Design of Urban Intervention

R12 500

Project 2: Consulting

R15 000

Project 3: House Renovation

R35 000

Research Funding

R25 000

Capital Equity from directors

R150 000

TOTAL INCOME

R237 500

MONEY OUT MONEY OUT Rent Rent

R5 000 R5 000

Parking bays Parking bays

R1 500 R1 500 R2 000 R2 000 R70 000 R70 000 R24 000 R24 000 R1 000 R1 000 R2 000 R2 000 R2 500

Insurance Insurance Salaries: Directos Salaries: Directos Salaries: Employees Salaries: Employees Advertising Advertising Entertainment Entertainment Telephones Telephones Tax 14%

R2 500 R15 120

Tax 14%EXPENSES TOTAL

R 15 120 R123 120

TOTAL EXPENSES

R123 120

MONEY LEFT MONEY LEFT OVER OVER

from getting paid

projectsIncome are needed minus for each month, in order for the businessR114 380 to break even, and to always be able expenses R114 380 Income minus expenses for production to pay salaries.

and deliverables,

B U D G E T V S . AC T UA L

AC T UA L S U M M A RY R140 000,00

14%

! of 18 14 17 !

R105 000,00

22%

R70 000,00

26%

12%

Jan June

Feb

R35 000,00 R0,00

18%

March

April

Jan

May

Feb March April May

Budget