T H E
M E M O R Y
V A U L T
The augmented landscape of segregation
STEV ENJ OHNM O O R E
i am Steven John Moore, I have always been fascinated by technology. The integration between the analogy and the digital space is where my exploration for this year started. i found myself making 3D montages by using different parts of electronic devises, taking them apart and reassembling them into new creatures. Through the year I have explored the relationship of South African segregation laws on race, class and memories. Today all segregation laws have been abolished and some have been implemented to rectify the wrongdoing of those laws. However, Johannesburg remains a segregated city, long past the rectifications. My project allegorically reconstructs the implications of the buffer zones in relationship to landscape and spatial memories. These effects of the South African segregation laws are shown in the form of a SciFi film. An augmented Johannesburg is used as the location for the project and is represented in a series of drawings, personified creatures, augmented future landscapes and film. Using this augmented landscape as an allegory for these laws the project criticizes and shows the effect on people's relationship to architecture and the landscape. This portfolio is structured with the works contributing to the conceptualization of the MDP (The Memory Vault) in the beginning of the document. The MDP takes form as a SciFi film located in a futuristic Johannesburg context. In the MDP section the film will be explained as a set of characters and their role within the film. These role-player characteristics will be allocated on page at the introduction of the MDP.
"Fiction is not a denial of reality but its multiplier, where memories are lost and stories forgotten, architectural fiction reveals the hidden layers of cities and communities" AA School of Architecture
Within the project CO2 capsules have been used as a Metaphor for privilege. They are always places within the project in direct comparison to the two aspects that will either benefit from it or be disadvantaged. These manifestations become clear in project : 76 uprising when it was used to in the gas pistol, The Ponopticator to create a new conformable atmosphere to live in and within the memory Vault as a device where memories can be stored in and used as a tradable commodity.
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
DECLARATION
I, Steven John Moore, hereby declare that the work in this Masters design portfolio submitted, apart from the help recognized, is my own work and has not previously been submitted to another university or institution of higher education for a degree.
Signed : Date : October, 2017
C O N T E N T S
001
|
Beyond the impulse
005
|
The plaque
015
|
76 Uprising
019
|
The Broken landscape
025
|
MDP / Abstract
027 |
The Ponopticator
041
|
Gatekeepers Frontier
049
|
The Pass
059
|
The Segregated Landscape
067
|
The Memory Vault [storage]
081
|
The Memory Vault [landscape]
101
|
The Memory Vault [Film]
APPENDIX 105 |
Appendix [A] Behind the scenes
113 | Appendix [B] Character creation 121 | Appendix [C] Th. History & Theory
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CHAPTER - 001
B E Y O N D
T H E
I M P U L S E
The impulse is an augmented reality experience that strips away the tangibility of the obsession of interacting with one's cellphone, to a point where only the ritual of seeking connections are visualized
- ELIXIR -
THE ROUTINE A routine that everyone shares the common cellphone that makes up one of the most important rituals of our everyday lives.
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CHAPTER - 001
BEHIND THE DEVICE Behind the device: what makes this thing so desirable? Is it the colourful animated screen? Or is it a combination of the audio-visual stimulation? Or is it the constant pursue of a connection to other people? Here the device itself becomes a secondary within the ritual. Behind the device visualizes the connection around us striping away the glamorous filtered interaction with the device. The device acts merely as a gateway to create a connection that opens a new world made of relationship and the misinterpreted connections.
- ELIXIR -
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CHAPTER - 002
T H E
- ARTEFACT AND ANTIFACT -
P L A G U E
The time capsule creates the narrative of a post-colonial speculation that forms a landscape with a forgotten history. This speculative landscape forms around a hyperbole of current events such as the re-mining of mine dumps, re naming of towns and streets and the removal of iconic historical landmarks.
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
PLAGUE GRAPHIC NOVEL The plague was explored through a graphic narrative where a lone character has no history, and he goes on a journey to find the last remnants of his forgotten history.
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- ARTEFACT AND ANTIFACT -
1 9 7 3 - S T A RT O F NAR R ATI VE TIM E-LIN E Landmarks with their full historical value intact being Remembered as they were.
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- ARTEFACT AND ANTIFACT -
2 0 1 7 - T HE Y EAR OF THE ATTACK During the attack certain elements of each of the sites were exposed for their historical value. These areas became the most vulnerable to deconstruction.
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- ARTEFACT AND ANTIFACT -
2 0 9 5 - R E B UI LD O F HI STOR I CA L VULN ERABILITY The rebuilding of historical spaces formed on the once most vulnerable areas of the landscape.
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7 6
- EXQUISITE CORPSES -
U P R I S I N G
The 76 Soweto uprising was split into 3 sectors of events. First was The initialization of the march against Changing of the educational language in schools. The second sector was the violent confrontation between the students and the police. The erratic, explosive reaction towards the students where 600 students were killed by the police. The final sector was the continuous devastating aftermath of this event. The trauma of this memory that still to date haunt the nation.
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CHAPTER - 005
T H E B R O K E N L A N D S C A P E Four events that changed the Socio-economic landscape of Johannesburg are also the events that form a time line to construct a forgotten broken landscape.
- TERRA -
Year 1886 - The 14 mines started the gold rush of Johannesburg.
Year 1913 - 104 government segregation acts / laws.
Year 1976 - 200 deaths of people involved with student protests.
Year 1994 - 2 divides of a nation stitched together.
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TH E COLLIERY The introduction of an economical skeletal system that will structure the Johannesburg landscape.
TH E FISSURE A segregated landscape that stripped the landscape from developing to its full potential.
TH E ARCH IN G An event that lead to the changing of Johannesburg's past. The 76 uprising was the first awakening for socioeconomic change
TH E ISOPACH The attempt to right the wrong, a sliced-up landscape rejoined to form the complex forgotten history.
- TERRA -
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CHAPTER - 005
- TERRA -
"After destruction, it is not possible to immediately resume the old, disrupted ways of living. Indeed, this can only be done by regressing to them, led by the resurgence of social, political and professional institutions under whose authority they once existed. But too much has been suffered and lost, too much learned at too great a price to be quickly forgotten. The spirit of invention that makes survival possible under the extreme conditions created by destruction makes possible the new ways of living in a city that will, in a sense, always remain in a paradoxical state of destruction and construction."
Radical Reconstruction by Lebbeus Woods
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
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A B S T R A C T
/
M D P
"After destruction, it is not possible to immediately resume the old, disrupted ways of living. Indeed, this can only be done by regressing to them, led by the resurgence of social, political and professional institutions under whose authority they once existed." Lebbeus Woods
THE MEMOR Y VAULT
Santaram mini land: a time capsule that has been left in the past to rot away in its context. A rare glimpse into the past forms the question of what if this becomes the future? This extreme event creates a catalyst for a speculative landscape in the year 2095. Today many political parties have implement laws and regulation to change several aspects of our history, these changes brought forward a movement for extremist to ridicules and question all our historical events, landmarks and memories. The speculation will augment the post-colonial movement to an extreme scenario placed in 2095 where the landscapes are ??dissolute of history. These new speculative landscapes are a result of post-colonial movement to disallow the historical relevance of South Africa. Due to the destructive nature of the radical movement many people have left the city. As the landscape becomes plastered with ruins of remembrance, the country now faces the decision whether the history will be remembered of forgotten. This new abstract landscape creates many questions to understand the complexities of the speculative world. What will a society be without a history? What is history in the future? What was history in the past? Can there be a society with no history? Can history change? Can history be shifted? Is that truly history? How to protect history? Understanding the effects on different constructs, formation of new landscapes and creation of a new sociopolitical environments. An architecture will respond to this new context and develop a stance to either REPAIR, REPEAT, LEARN, FORGET or CREATE.
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T H E P O N O P T I C A T O R Through the implementation of segregation laws the Apartheid city model developed thus bringing a socio political divide within the landscape.
- TERRA FORMA -
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P O NO P T I C ATO R LAND SCAPE The segregated landscape was constructed as an initial understanding of how the hierarchy of social class, demographics and race could work in the new augmented landscape.
CHAPTER - 006
- TERRA FORMA -
Landscape detail 003
Landscape detail 002
Landscape detail 001
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LA ND S C A P E D ETAI L - 001 Detail 001 explores the effect that the segregation tactics had on privileged northern suburbs within Johannesburg. Many times, these implementations had positive constructive impact on the landscape. -New healthy atmosphere -Small segregations such as golf courses and parks
- TERRA FORMA -
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LA ND S C A P E D ETAI L - 002 Landscape Detail 002 reveals the towering surveillance and limited accessibility methods implemented within southern suburbs. And how the industrial belt was used to segregate.
CHAPTER - 006
- TERRA FORMA -
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LA ND S C A P E D ETAI L - 003 The third (003) landscape examines the quality of space dividing the north and south of Johannesburg. This wasteland of industrial matter fuels the main segregation within the landscape.
- TERRA FORMA -
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CHAPTER - 007
G A T E K E E P E R S F R O N T I E R The gatekeeper series is the manifestation of the different buffer zone implementations within the segregated landscape.
- GATEKEEPERS FRONTIER -
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
26˚11'52.60"S 28˚ 1'43.70"E
26˚12'48.92"S 28˚ 1'23.22"E 26˚14'24.29"S 27˚58'12.18"E
26˚ 9'55.24"S 28˚ 4'10.57"E
26˚ 9'8.78"S 28˚ 3'21.41"E
26˚12'40.26"S 28˚ 5'26.44"E 26˚13'21.16"S 28˚ 3'33.38"E
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M I NE C R A WLER - 001 This south facing gatekeeper roams the industrial belt that stretches from east to west, creating a dynamic source of patrolled segregation.
- GATEKEEPERS FRONTIER -
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R O A D B L O CK - 002 The second gatekeeper sits within the extended road link that was used to cut off developments that pass into segregated areas.
- GATEKEEPERS FRONTIER -
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G A T E K E E P ER - 003
In the northern suburbs gatekeeper three will be found, paving roads over buffer zones to people in the privileged demographic.
- GATEKEEPERS FRONTIER -
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CHAPTER - 008
T H E
P A S S
The Pass is an investigations of the crippling effect that the segregation pass book had on the nature of space and the people within the landscape, and how this augmentation of movement could manifest as device of control.
- THE PASS -
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- THE PASS -
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CHAPTER - 008
T H E P A S S EF F ECTS
The pass is a devise that integrates with the human body. The device augments the user's ability to move freely within the landscape and acts as a beacon to confine the user to a single designated area. The device is controlled by the Memory Vault and can track and manipulate movement and memories.
- THE PASS -
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
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CHAPTER - 008
E V O L U T I O N OF THE PASS
The device physically integrates with the user, thus the pass can evolve and adapt to the user's surroundings.
See appendix B
- THE PASS -
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T H E P A S S [MOD EL]
The pass model is a 1:1 scale model. This model developed the understanding of how a device can physically restrict.
CHAPTER - 008
- THE PASS -
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CHAPTER - 009
- SEGREGATED LANDSCAPE -
T H E S E G R E G A T E D L A N D S C A P E Cultural and historical landmarks are placed in opposition where in the northern suburbs they become centers for public interaction, whereas in the south they become augmented segregation tools inaccessible to people.
"All utopia's are depressing because they leave no room for chance, in contrast, the "other". Everything has been put in order and order reigns. Behind every utopia, there is always a great purpose taxonomy: a place for everything and everything in its place. " Georges Perec
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
- SEGREGATED LANDSCAPE -
Landscape 001
CHAPTER - 009
Landscape 003
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Landscape 002
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P L E A S E F L I P O PEN
C U L TU R A L A N D H I STO R I C A L L A N D MA R KS
Cultural and historical landmarks are placed in opposition where in the northern suburbs they become centers for public interaction, whereas in the south they become augmented segregation tools inaccessible to people.
- SEGREGATED LANDSCAPE -
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CHAPTER - 009
IN F R A S T R UCTUR E
The southern suburbs are cut up with infrastructural networks capping the allowed movement of developments and creating a host for many of the Gatekeepers to segregate and control. Where as in the north, infrastructure frames the suburbs and allows for greater movement and accessibility.
- SEGREGATED LANDSCAPE -
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
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CHAPTER - 010
T H E
M E M O R Y V A U L T S t o r a g e
The memory vault manifests in a variety of scale. The storage looks at the physical storage of memories within the landscape which is used to control the user in their every day life. This process is based of the method the brain follows to create and store new memories: encoding, storage and retrieval
- [ MV ] STORAGE -
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CHAPTER - 010
E NC O D I NG - 001
When information enters our memory system (sensory input), it has to be converted to comprehendible material in order to be stored. Information can be encoded (changed)through the following: 1.
Visual (picture)
2.
Acoustic (sound)
3.
Semantic (meaning)
- [ MV ] STORAGE -
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CHAPTER - 010
- [ MV ] STORAGE -
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CHAPTER - 010
S T O R A G E - 002
This concerns the nature of memory storage, i.e. where the information is stored, how long the memory lasts for (duration), how much can be stored at any time (capacity) and what kind of information is held. The way information is stored affects the way it is retrieved.
- [ MV ] STORAGE -
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- [ MV ] STORAGE -
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R E T R I E V A L - 003
This refers to recovering information from storage. The retrieval process where memories can become distorted and augmented within the memory vault to be able to control the end users experience within the landscape.
- [ MV ] STORAGE -
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
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- [ MV ] STORAGE -
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CHAPTER - 011
T H E
- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
M E M O R Y V A U L T l a n d s c a p e
The memory vault landscape is the empirical 3D, diagrammatic implementation of the segregated landscape. The form based on strategies of urban scale segregation laws of 1913 Johannesburg.
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- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
THE GRID
SCAR
100m buffer + Extended road links
The grid + Industrial belt buffer
T H E DI VI D ED
H ILLS
Scar + Unacceptability to infrastructure
The divided + Usage of natural features
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- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
S O C I A L S E G R EGATI O N
·· The Segregation of Residential Areas: [Selected ·· Extended City Planning: [Some
residential suburbs were invariably removed from the CBD]
·· Extended Road Links: [Apartheid ·· Military Control: [Many ·· Housing: [Residential
residential suburbs were set aside for the exclusive use of specific communities.]
City is the wide spread of its residential suburbs linked by a relatively long travel links]
residential suburbs established during and after the 1950s are also marked by their proximity to military bases and airfields]
stands were kept deliberately small, usually at less than 300m2, whilst the higher social class equivalent was kept at 500-800m2.]
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- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
IN F R A S T R UCTUR AL SEGR EG ATION
·· Use of Buffer Zones: [Group areas were separated by means of buffer zones, which were 100m minimum width, but in some cases, could be as much as 250m.] ·· Industrial Belts as Buffer Zones: [buffer ·· Use of Natural Features: [Planners ·· Social Infrastructure: [The
zones were used to create and reinforce racial segregation]
could incorporate natural features, or areas where construction was difficult, into their buffer zones]
development of separate residential areas also shows a strong link between race and social class of the landscape]
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- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
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CHAPTER - 011
- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
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- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
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- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
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CHAPTER - 011
- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
"The Transcripts differ from most architectural drawings insofar as they are neither real projects nor mere fantasies." Bernard Tschumi
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
0103+ 01
CHAPTER - 011
T H E
M E M O R Y V A U L T
F i l m
/
S y n o p s i s
Johannesburg has degenerated into a divided city. The city controlled by the memory vault has forcefully adopted methods of extreme segregation. The people of Johannesburg, are forced to undergo an augmentation process that will allow the vault to track and monitor them. This adding to the ever-growing panopticated skyline. The film follows conflicts of a young city goer as he become opposed to the extensive segregations within the city, he decides to challenge the systems in place, and free the city form the memory vault.
- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
T H E “ W H A T
M E M O R Y V A U L T
Y O U
- P R I M I E R
R E M E M B E R
1 S T
S A V E S
O C T O B E R
Y O U . �
2 0 1 7 -
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- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
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- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
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- [ MV ] LANDSCAPE -
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A P P E N D I X
105 |
Appendix [A] Behind the scenes
113 | Appendix [B] Character creation 121 | Appendix [C] Th. History & Theory
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CHAPTER - 012
B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S A P P E N D I X
A
An overview of the production of the memory vault SciFi film.
- APPENDIX A -
IN ITIAL STORY BOARDIN G
The first story board was the set up for the production of the film. This was used to communicate to the different parties involved with the film production
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
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CHAPTER - 012
O N S I T E FI LMI NG
The on-site filming process is the most important part of the film making process, this footage was used to create the lighting and mood for the animations and create the context of what the film would play out in.
- APPENDIX A -
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
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CHAPTER - 012
G R E E N S C R EEN F I LMI NG
The green screen filming was used to fast track the filming process. The landscape footage could thus be done independently from assembling the costumes and on scene acting.
- APPENDIX A -
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CHAPTER - 012
A NI M A T I O N PR OCESS
The animation process was a combination between digital motions and the onsite filming. The onsite filming was used to track the animation movement and recreating the same perspective and movement as in the real footage.
- APPENDIX A -
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- APPENDIX A -
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C H A R A C T E R C R E A T I O N A P P E N D I X
B
The understand of the development of the character and how THE PASS can manifest in different social classes
- APPENDIX B -
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- APPENDIX B -
C HA R A C T E R - 001
This character is a rebellious. he is opposed to the system of control and has evolved to become less traceable.
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- APPENDIX B -
C HA R A C T E R - 002
This character is based on an isolated illegal miner. He is not accepted by any social class thus the system cannot place him within a segregated area, thus he has evolved to become stronger too harsh condition and self-protection.
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- APPENDIX B -
C HA R A C T E R - 003
This character embodies one of the highest social classes. Her pass has evolved to be a status symbol, and thus allows her access to all areas without any surveillance.
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CHAPTER - 014
T H E M I N D S E T O F S P A C E [ t h . ] Will it blend? - Lebbeus Woods's Radical Reconstruction and PolyFauna App - Radiohead and Universal Everything
- APPENDIX C -
This essay investigates the generative nature of the Radiohead and Universal Everything's PolyFauna App and Lebbeus Woods's Radical Reconstruction. The two works will act as critiques for one another when looking at the creation, occupation and interaction of space.
In order to see an object, we must be separated from it. A space must exist between us and the object. Therefore, we imagine a space around the object, and also around ourselves, because, at some stage in our mental development, we realize that we, too, are objects. Space is the medium of our relationships with the world and everything in it, but, for all of that, we do not experience it in a palpable, physical sense. We must think space into existence (Woods 2012: 5).
The PolyFauna App creates a primitive audio-visual world that transcends the user beyond the normal bounds of the perception of space. The boundlessness combined with the individuality of each experience could feel like an impromptu, naturally formed space. However, this utopian view of the creation of space is challenged by Woods's destructive method of creation. He states that as the context of space, too much has been suffered and too much has been lost to quickly forget and move on (Woods 2012: 5). The erasure of space must be respected as this effect embodies the critical history of space. Without the acknowledgement of its historical relevance, inhabited space will never evolve to become rich and meaningful. Understanding the nature of where opportunities of a new space lies, Woods described these evolutions of spaces as ‘Freespace’ (Woods).
‘Freespace’ constructs a framework for new possibilities without bridging to individuality of the new and old. Freespace is difficult to occupy and requires inventiveness to be able to inhabit it (Woods 2012: 5). The conceptual nature of Freespace constructs a flexible and open structure to house. However, these spaces become useless until it is occupied.
This same theory applies to the occupation of space in the Polyfauna app. The experience of this new, multi-sensory environment is completely disregarded up to the point where the user decides to immerse them into the sensory world by opening the app. The ever-evolving environment within the app can be its own ‘Freespace’ where there are limitless possibilities for inventiveness, described by the creators as the “imagined creatures of our subconscious (McGovern 2014).
“Freespace” in both the app and Woods' theories become the boundless possibility to expand beyond the normal limits of imagination. Both new possibilities create a blank canvas for the interpretation of what space could be to the intended user's perceptions. The distinctive nature comes in when the interaction of the user and the space comes under scrutiny.
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg
0133+ 01 This process leaves reward in the making, the interaction of user and the outcome, where the user benefits a unique experience through doing or experiencing, much like the PolyFauna, where there are unique experiences and the user encounters keep changing with each use. The app interacts with the user and becomes a product of action, as the user is involved in a constant process and movement as they need to walk and move through the space; tilting, turning and drawing to interact (Polyfauna 2014). As per Woods, space that has been abandoned reverts to the common domain where it emphasises the reality of an ever-renewable beginning, thus the Polyfauna app complies with the same ideals of an ever-renewable beginning and as each time it is opened or viewed, the landscape changes (PolyFauna 2014). Woods believes that ‘the use of salvage provokes a new ingenuity; the idiosyncratic shaping of new materials’ (Woods 2012:5). By reusing a product, one can get a new desired outcome. This is also evident in the PolyFauna app (2014) where a collaborative process between artists of atmospheric landscapes (JW Turner & Peter Doig and graphic software developer Karl Sims), created the desired outcome with Radiohead’s sketchbook (Polyfauna 2014).
Conclusion: Woods’s theory of radical reconstruction forms a perception that the only way for the creation of space, is when the user acknowledges the past traumas (history, users, experiences and time) to form a basis of the complex nature of a context, contradictory to the PolyFauna app that creates a complex environment from nothing but unique to the user. Blending these two theories will form an understanding that contradicts the fundamentals of the creation of space of each individual concept. Thus, mixing these two elements will form an inclusive insight of the integral understanding, whereby the PolyFauna app can form one of the complex environments in Woods’ theory of ‘Freespace’.
CHAPTER - 014
- APPENDIX C -
Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg