19 2015-2016
DPA - DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN ETSAM - ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL OF MADRID UPM - TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MADRID
Atlas of emulations of the Informal V: Residue Island
ud
Atlas of emulations of the Informal V: Residue Island
Paolo Soleri. “Mesa city” General Plan. 1966.
www.etsamadrid.upm.es www.dpa-etsam.com
ud
19
2015-2016
7 th International Design Seminar
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This proposal developed by the educational innovation group “Dispositivos Aglutinadores de Proyectos” of the School of Architecture E.T.S.A.M. from the Technical University of Madrid has compiled ‘teaching information’ to deal with cultural particularities, texts, images, data… which are presented as tools that will conform a future atlas. Through this book a unique methodology is offered as a guideline; it has already travelled and has been tested in different schools all over the world, exploring areas able to combine future opportunities within the already existing background. With this play board, which is a gift for us, we hope to formalize a game between strangers who, at the end, will not be so anymore.
7th International Design Seminar:
ATLAS OF EMULATIONS OF THE INFORMAL V: RESIDUE ISLAND --Architectural Design. Course 2015-2016. Autumn term. Unit 19 Soriano. --Technical University of Madrid (Spain). --Seminar director: Federico Soriano. Seminar coordinators: Pedro Urzáiz, Eva Gil. Scientific Committee: Federico Soriano, Pedro Urzáiz. --Grupo de Innovación Educativa: Dispositivos Aglutinadores de Proyecto (DIP). --Participant teachers: Federico Soriano, Pedro Urzáiz, Eva Gil, Arantzazu Luzarraga, Borja Lomas, Carlos Chacón, Natalia Matesanz.
de la cultura contemporánea
Editorial Libro de bolsillo sobre arquitectura. Título: “Atlas of Emulations of the Informal V: Residue Island. Reseach about the teaching Ud 19 Assignment 2015-2016.” Julio 2015. Número fuera de colección. Publicación non-profit de investigación universitaria. 10 euros, 7 pounds, 14$ USA.
Esta publicación forma parte de los trabajos realizados dentro del grupo de investigación PRoLAB_ Laboratorio de Investigación del Proyecto Contemporáneo, línea de investigación “Atlas”.
Esta publicación posee el sello “I”. Director Fisuras. Fisuras Director.
Federico Soriano.
Comité editorial. Editorial committee.
Federico Soriano. Pedro Urzáiz. Eva Gil.
Redactores. Editorial advisers.
Dolores Palacios. Borja Lomas. Carlos L. Canella.
Diseño gráfico. Graphic Design.
Borja Lomas. Carlos L. Canella
Imprenta. Printer: Deca Quattro Servicios Gráficos S.L.L. Avenida de los Pirineos 7, Oficina B 5 28703 San Sebastián de los Reyes Tel: 917 04 59 38 Distribución, suscripciones. Distribution, subscriptions: Revista Fisuras Avenida de Levante, 41 28016 Madrid Tel/Fax: 0034 91 519 21 56 fisuras@fisuras.es Depósito legal M-26688-2015 ISBN 978-84-942926-5-1
Atlas of emulations of the Informal V: Residue Island
Index Course Schedule Contract sample Site Lots Programmes Objects (reference to “Inventory”) Fluid References Solid References Texts Previous Works Bibliography /// María Jerez “Inventory” Unusual Atlas of construction details
* Title of a previous book with additional information needed to join this course.
3 5 23 27 31 43 89 95 101 121 135 159 171 * *
Course
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Atlas de las emulaciones de lo Informal: Isla de Residuo Trabajaremos sobre la identificación de elementos que caracterizan paisajes, paisajes cambiantes tanto en su apariencia como en su presencia. Paisajes flotantes en el paisaje, paisajes mutantes, paisajes únicos formados por partículas diferentes. ¿Un aula, un teatro o un estar acaso no cambian cuando el mobiliario se activa?, sabemos lo que es una silla y los espacios que cualifica y los programas que protagoniza, podemos reconstruir un programa y su espacio deudor a partir de la identificación de una pieza de mobiliario, podríamos definir y visualizar hasta sus inquilinos, ¿podremos reinventar edificios a partir de elementos-residuos que flotan abrazados derivando en el océano de lo a-construido? Vamos a situar, inventariar y luego cartografiar estas islas de residuos, vamos a representar lugares artificiales que se mueven armónicos al son de los agentes atmosféricos, terrestres y acuáticos, sobre todo humanos: olas, corrientes, mareas, vientos, costas,... Para esto primero recurriremos a noticias e imágenes arquitectónicas, al libro de María Jerez –será el registro de nuestro imaginario– luego construiremos un gran atlas de oportunidad en donde encontrar nuestro lugar, una vez encontrado lo representaremos de la misma forma que dibujamos un plano de mobiliario asociado a un lugar y referido a un programa individualmente elegido, detectaremos o identificaremos neveras, butacas, camas, estanterías, calderas o televisores, pero también topografías y trazas arquitectónicas (programáticas o constructivas), sabremos también que corrientes han situado esa isla en aquel lugar, sabremos pues cuál es su origen. A partir de ahí imaginaremos un tamaño y una posición, también un programa original al que pertenecía y nombraremos. Primero construiremos un lugar, luego decidiremos un programa, determinaremos su tamaño y finalmente lo caracterizaremos espacialmente, desde una mesa proyectaremos una biblioteca. 1- 10% de la NOTA. Con los proyectos de todos los alumnos construiremos el lugar de los
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programas, un mismo programa general y el atlas de su energía, la imagen de una ciudad compleja deudora de las identificaciones que cada uno de nosotros detecte en aquella isla de residuos original (1er ejercicio), un territorio urbano que construiremos en una acción conjunta en clase. 2- Una vez que cada uno tiene asignado un territorio con topografía, superficie y normativa concreta –la edificación y ocupación le vendrá dada en función de su primera entrega-, decide un programa propio –deudor de la lectura observada de objetos elegidos– a insertar sobre el general, deberá establecer una negociación –en planta y sección– con sus alumnos-vecinos para establecer los puntos de circulación y encuentro en su programa general. El edificio una vez acabado deberá conectarse a lo largo de todo su programa en el solar, para esto los alumnos empezarán trabajando con maquetas conceptuales que definirán escalas, tamaños, volumetrías, relaciones espaciales y paisajísticas. Los primeros 9 metros de altura en la planta suelo deberán de quedar vacios de construcción formando un paisaje publico agrícola, de accesos, de circulación rodada de carácter privado, de disfrute, de… Mobiliario: La definición de mobiliarios precisos determinara, cualificara y delimitara tanto espacial como físicamente programas y espacios arquitectónicos, apareciendo de una forma casi intuitiva y automática en la proposición de lo que luego serán compartimentaciones, distribuciones y circulaciones. 3- 25 % de la NOTA. La entrega será: Una planta, una sección, un fotomontaje y una maqueta a escala 1/50 en formato papel 60X60 4- 25% de la NOTA. Se incorporan elementos arquitectónicos y se definen y concretan condiciones: materialidad, construcción, estructura, carpinterías, escaleras, ascensores, pavimentos, etc…. Incorporación de materialidad, tanto en maqueta como en plantas y secciones. La escala de las maquetas como de las plantas será lo suficientemente grande para explicitar su valor textural y constructivo. Presentación de Fotomontajes de gran tamaño en el que el alumno refleja tanto la atmosfera espacial –transparencias, opacidades…– como las relaciones de escala entre personas, construcción y espacios. El gran
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formato ayuda a conocer e implementar técnicas y herramientas para la representación de las ideas arquitectónicas (fotos). La Planta y Sección adquieren realismo arquitectónico mediante la concreción constructiva, la Maqueta resuelve condiciones volumétricas y de escala en la relación general del conjunto. La definición es ya casi definitiva. 5- 60 % de la NOTA. Presentación Final: Presentación de una planta y una Sección a gran escala constructiva -1/50- para reflexionar como la idea arquitectónica se materializa en lo constructivo mediante la identificación de los tamaños de cada de las realidades de las que se construye el espacio arquitectónico. También una gran maqueta conjunta a escala 1/50 que definirá volumétrica y materialmente nuestra “Isla de Residuos”, incorporando espacialidad al material encontramos la arquitectura.
Daniel Canogar. “Vortices”. 2012
Los fotomontajes nos hablaran de anhelos, las plantas de realidad, la arquitectura y su enseñanza se forma con los sueños y su definición, aprenderemos a contarlos y luego sabremos construirlos. Una acción conjunta en la que todas las maquetas se presentan como
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una sola pieza compleja arquitectónica con un “Jury” definirá el alcance del curso. Realidades a respetar: Parcelas: 900 m2 con una edificabilidad max. de 1.500 m2. El porcentaje máximo de ocupación de la parcela vendrá determinado por el porcentaje % de ocupación de las presentaciones primeras a partir de los objetos de María Jerez, en el atlas original. La planta baja tiene que quedar libre, solo estructura y accesos. Esto significa que todas las parcelas no necesitan acceso vertical. La altura a la que se sitúa esta planta puede ser negociada, a partir de los 9 metros. En la planta baja, que es espacio público, habrá que reservar suelo para un paisaje agrícola de 1.000 m2 cada cuatro lotes. Habrá por tanto que hacer una reserva de cubierta para permitir el soleamiento de estas áreas. Cada uno tendrá que cumplir con ese 100% de parcela (1.000 m2 sumando tres de sus vecinos).
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Atlas of emulations of the Informal: Residue Island We will be working on the identification of elements that characterize landscapes, changing landscapes both in appearance and presence. Landscapes floating in the landscape, mutant landscapes, unique landscapes formed by different particles. Does not a classroom, a theater or a living room change when the furniture is activated? We know what a chair is and the spaces that qualifies and the programs that features, we can rebuild a program and its own space from identifying a piece of furniture, we can even define and display their users. Would we be able to reinvent buildings from embraced waste-elements floating in the ocean of the “non-built”? We will locate, inventory, and then make a cartography of these residue islands, we will represent artificial places that move harmonics to the rhythm of atmospheric, terrestrial and aquatic elements, and especially, human agents: waves, currents, tides, wind, coasts,... In order to achieve this we will first appeal to news and architectural images, to the book of Maria Jerez (it will be the register of our imagination). Then we will build a large atlas of opportunity in which we will find our place, then we will represent our position the same way we draw a furniture plan associated with a place and referred to a program individually chosen, we will detect and identify refrigerators, chairs, beds, bookcases, boilers or televisions, but also topographies and architectural traces (programmatic or constructive), we will also know which currents have pushed the island at that place, and what is its origin. From there we will imagine a size and a position, and also an original program which it belonged that we will name. We will first build a place, then we will decide a program, we will determine its size and eventually we will characterize it spatially, from a table we will project a library.
1- 10% total GRADE. With all the student’s projects we will build the “place of the programmes”, the same general programme and its energy atlas, the image of a
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complex city based on the identifications in this original waste-island (1st assignment), an urban territory that we will build on a group event in class. 2- Once a territory with topography, area and specific legislation has been assigned to each one –the built area and the occupation will be given depending on their first assignment– the student will decide his own programme –based on the thoughtful observation of the selected objects– a programme to insert in the common general programme. Then a negotiation in plan and section should be developed with their neighbors to establish the movement and meeting points in the overall program. The resulting building must be connected along its entire program on the site, so that students can begin working with conceptual models that define scales, sizes, volumes, spatial relationships and landscape. The first 9 meters in section from the ground floor must be empty forming a public agricultural landscape, access, private road circulation, enjoyment... Furniture: The precise definition of the pieces of furniture will determine, qualify and demarcate both spatially and physically programs and architectural spaces, appearing in an almost intuitive and automatic way in the proposal of what would later become partitioning, distributions and circulations. 3- 25% total GRADE. Submission: One plant, one section, a visual (photomontage) and 1/50 scale model on 60X60cm paper. 4- 25% total GRADE. Architectural elements are incorporated and conditions are defined and polished: materiality, construction, structure, woodwork, stairs, elevators, pavements, etc. Incorporation of materiality, both in model and in plans and sections. The scale of the models and plans will be large enough to explain the textural and constructive value. Realization of large photomontages in which the student reflects both the spatial atmosphere –transparencies, opacities...– and the relations
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of scale between people, building and spaces. The large format helps to discover and implement representation techniques and tools for the architectural ideas (photos). Plan and Section acquire architectural realism through constructive definition; the Model settle volumetric and scale conditions in the general relationship of the whole. The definition is almost total. 5- 60% total GRADE. Final Submission: Presentation of a large constructive scale -1/ 50- plan and a section to reflect about how the architectural idea is embodied in the construction by identifying the sizes of each of the realities of what the architectural space is constructed. Also a 1/50 scale model that will define volumetrically and materially our “Island of Waste”, incorporating spatiality to material we found architecture. The visuals (photomontages) will speak of desires, plans about reality, architecture
Daniel Canogar. “Vortices”. 2012
and its learning is formed by dreams and their definition, we will learn how to express them and then we will be able to build them. A group event action in which all models are presented as a single
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architectural complex piece with a “critical session� will define the course success. Parameters to respect: Lots: 900 m2 with a building area of 1,500 m2 max. The maximum occupation ratio of the land is determined by the occupied percentage in the first presentations from Maria Jerez objects, in the original atlas. The ground floor has to be empty, just structure and access. This means that all the lots do not require vertical access. The height at which the plant is located can be negotiated, from 9 meters. On the ground floor, which is public space, we will have to reserve land for an agricultural landscape of 1,000 m2 every 4 lots. It will be necessary to make a reservation of rooftop to allow sunlight reach these underneath areas. Each one will have to meet that 100% of plot (1,000 m2 adding three of his neighbors).
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Protocolo Durante el curso se elaborará un único proyecto entre todos los alumnos de clase, un palacio, un palacio de las negociaciones, de los acuerdos, creado entre los proyectos de todos, en un lugar construido a través del primer ejercicio de curso, fijando unas condiciones de partida contenidas en este libro. Este palacio, programa común a todos los alumnos, contendrá una serie de subprogramas específicos asociados a los lotes de 900 m2 (30x30m). Estos subprogramas específicos derivan de algunos listados de programas presentes en proyectos utópicos propuestos durante los años 70 del siglo XX, como Exodus (Rem Koolhaas, 1973) o Arcosanti (Paolo Soleri, 1970), basado en sus ideas en torno al concepto de arcología. Cada equipo deberá negociar en torno a plazas (como en Exodus) descritas en este libro, en torno a accesos, a niveles en sección, a puntos de contacto entre lotes y con el terreno, a alturas máximas y mínimas, a cubiertas, a ocupación en planta, a volumetrías, a flujos de movimientos, etc… El proyecto se desarrollará según cada momento del curso, de forma individual o en equipos, formando grupos con estudiantes de otras universidades que compartirán el curso con nosotros. En momentos fijados en el calendario, el desarrollo del proyecto se hará de forma colaborativa, fruto de las negociaciones que se establecerán entre los diversos equipos de alumnos ya formados. El conjunto de la Unidad Docente producirá mediante un sistema protocolarizado durante una acción conjunta en clase, fijada en el calendario del curso, una emulación de una isla cuyo borde, límite, topología y topografía servirá de base para la implantación de los diversos proyectos de los alumnos/equipos. Al construir el lugar de trabajo de forma conjunta y colaborativa, los entornos de los proyectos y los proyectos en sí se verán modificados en tiempo real y deberán reaccionar e incorporar el resultado de todas las negociaciones que se produzcan a todos los niveles. El curso pretende también investigar sobre diversos modelos de presentación y re-presentación física y digital de un proyecto de arquitectura. Por ello se fomentarán las correcciones en clase sobre múltiples formatos en diversos momentos del curso: el formato papel y la producción de maquetas de gran tamaño, más comunes y conocidas
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por los alumnos hasta ahora, y también las proyecciones a través de proyectores sobre pantallas a escala arquitectónica (real), los micro videos que eliminarán las explicaciones directas de los alumnos, los gifs animados o cualquier otro medio que el alumnos considere oportuno para presentar/re-presentar su proyecto. El curso pretende también adecuar la comunicación del proyecto arquitectónico a estos otros formatos, incorporando la cita de Marshall Mcluhan: “El medio es el mensaje” como un punto importante del proyecto. El curso hará uso de las diversas TICs como puede ser la web de la Unidad Docente (http://unidadfedericosoriano.dpa-etsam.com/) como contenedor de las entregas semanales, la red social Facebook para la comunicación y vertido de contenido paralelo al desarrollado en las horas presenciales de clase que informará de forma transversal al curso y los canales de YouTube o Issuu donde se irán registrando determinados hitos del curso. El curso conformará un MOOC - Massive Open Online Course y un OCW – Open Course Ware.
Cronograma Durante el curso se harán dos ejercicios que estarán relacionados entre sí y que desembocarán en un proyecto arquitectónico. El primer ejercicio se hará durante las tres primeras semanas del curso. Primera semana 7/8/9 Sep 2015: Presentación del curso/libro. Cada alumno escogerá 10 objetos de los contenidos en el libro de María Jerez. Segunda semana 14/15/16 Sep 2015: Lunes. Entrega en papel y digital (web Unidad) de mapa tamaño 60x60 cm (escala 1/50) con los movimientos migratorios y la aglutinación final de los 10 objetos seleccionados a través de los flujos de cada imagen asignada (flujos), su estado inicial, sus diferentes etapas o estados intermedios y su estado final tras su movimiento a través de las corrientes sugeridas. Miércoles: Conferencia Exodus. Tercera semana 21/22/23 Sep 2015: Lunes. Entrega en papel y digital
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(web Unidad) de plano del lugar, topografía, topología, territorio en movimiento, arquitecturas reveladas tamaño 60x60 cm (escala 1/50). Acción topográfica colaborativa: construcción del lugar de forma conjunta. Reasignación de área de trabajo y residuos existentes. 10% calificación del curso. Cuarta semana 28/29/30 Sep 2015: Lunes. Entrega de maqueta topográfica del área de trabajo tamaño 60x60 cm (e 1/50). Entrega digital (web Unidad) Ortofoto de maqueta. Miércoles: 1ª Sesión de Negociación conjunta: Negociación de volumetrías, envolventes, niveles, puntos de contacto, plazas, etc… Quinta semana 5/6/7 Oct 2015: Lunes. Entrega de maqueta del área de trabajo con volumetría negociada incluida, tamaño 60x60 cm (e 1/50). Entrega digital (web Unidad) Ortofoto de maqueta. Primeras plantas con la inclusión de los programas, niveles, etc. Miércoles: Conferencia. Sexta semana 13/14 Oct 2015: Martes. Entrega en papel y digital (web Unidad) de planta sin negociar con el mobiliario incluido tamaño 60x60 cm (e 1/150). Miércoles: 2ª Sesión de Negociación conjunta: Negociación de plantas, niveles, cubiertas, accesos, plazas, etc… Séptima semana 19/20/21 Oct 2015: Lunes. Entrega en papel y digital (web Unidad) de planta negociada tamaño 60x60 cm (e 1/50). Miércoles: Conferencia. Octava semana 26/27/28 Oct 2015: Lunes. Entrega en papel y digital (web Unidad) de sección negociada incluidos niveles, accesos, cubiertas tamaño 60x60 cm (e 1/50). Miércoles: Conferencia. Novena semana 2/3/4 Nov 2015: Entrega en papel y digital (web Unidad) de anteproyecto: planta + sección tamaño 60x60 cm (e 1/50), fotomontaje tamaño 60x60 cm, maqueta tamaño 60x60 cm (e 1/50). 25% calificación del curso. Décima semana 10/11 Nov 2015: Entrega en papel y digital (web Unidad) de planta + estructura A1 (ampliación de 12 cm por cada extremo del tamaño 60x60 cm en sus extremos verticales hasta alcanzar los 84,0
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cm del A1) (e 1/50), 1ª entrega de Maqueta a mayor tamaño (100x100 cm) (e 1/30). Decimoprimera semana 16/17/18 Nov 2015: Entrega en papel y digital (web Unidad) de planta + sección + construcción (introducción de Detalle) A1 (ampliación de 12 cm por cada extremo del tamaño 60x60 cm en sus extremos verticales hasta alcanzar los 84,0 cm del A1) (e 1/50). 2ª entrega de Maqueta 100x100 cm. Miércoles: Conferencia. Decimosegunda semana 23/24/25 Nov 2015: Entrega en papel y digital (web Unidad) de fotomontaje A1 + materialidad + 3ª entrega de Maqueta 100x100 cm. Miércoles: Conferencia. Decimotercera semana 30/1/2 Dic 2015: Pre- Entrega en papel y digital (web Unidad) de planta + sección + fotomontaje A1 (e 1/50) + 4ª entrega de Maqueta a mayor tamaño (100x100 cm) (e 1/30). Miércoles: Super corrección conjunta. 25% calificación del curso. Decimocuarta semana 7/9 Dic 2015: Semana de correcciones de toda la documentación previa a la entrega. Decimoquinta semana 14/15/16 Dic 2015: Semana de postproducción de toda la documentación y material que conformará el proyecto. Decimosexta semana 21 Dic 2015: Entrega final. Calificaciones. Revisiones. Consistirá en una planta A1 de su proyecto, una sección A1, un fotomontaje A1, una maqueta 100x100 cm (e 1/30) y un dossier A6 del curso. Esta entrega tendrá un desarrollo constructivo muy alto. La entrega se hará tanto en papel como en formato digital, adjuntado a la misma un CD/DVD rotulado correctamente con los datos del alumno que contenga toda la documentación digital elaborada durante el cuatrimestre. 60% calificación del curso (40% documentación gráfica en A1 y A6 / 20% maqueta).
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Protocol A unique project will be produced by all the students together during the course, a palace, a palace of negotiations, agreements, created with everybody’s projects in a place built through the course first assignment, based on the starting conditions contained in this book. This palace, a collaborative programme to all students, contains a number of specific sub-programs associated with lots of 900 m2 (30x30m). These derive from some specific sub-program listings present in utopian projects proposed during the 70s of XX century, as Exodus (Rem Koolhaas, 1973) or Arcosanti (Paolo Soleri, 1970), based on his ideas about the concept of arcology. Each team must negotiate the Squares (like in Exodus) described in this book: negotiate about access, about levels in section, about contact points between lots and the ground-level, maximum and minimum heights, rooftops, occupancy in plan, volumes, pedestrian paths, etc ... The project will be developed according with the different parts of the course, individually or in teams, forming groups with students from other universities who will share the course with us. In certain moments in the schedule, the project will be done in a collaborative way, as the result of the negotiations established between the various teams of students. The whole Design Studio Unit will produce through a protocolised system during a group event in class, set in the course calendar, an emulation of an island whose edge, limit, topology and topography will work as a basis for the implementation of various students / teams projects. By constructing the workplace collaboratively the project’s environments and the projects themselves will be modified in real time and must react and incorporate the outcome of all the negotiations taking place at different levels. The course also aims to investigate various physical and digital presentation and re-presentation methods of an architectural project. Therefore, class reviews on multiple formats at different times of the course will be promoted: paper documents and large physical models production (most common and well-known supports by the students so far), projections on architectural scale (real) screens, micro-videos that will eliminate direct explanations of students, animated gifs or any other
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support that the student understand suitable to present/re-present his project. The course also aims to adapt the communication of architectural design into these other formats, paying attention to the quote of Marshall McLuhan: “The medium is the message� as an important project idea. The course will make use of various TICs such as the web of the Design Studio Unit (http://unidadfedericosoriano.dpa-etsam.com/) as a container for the weekly submissions, the social network Facebook for communication and disposal of parallel content to the developed in face to face class hours and Issuu or YouTube channels where certain records of the course will be established. The course will form a MOOC - Massive Open Online Course and OCW - Open Course Ware.
Schedule During the course year two interrelated assignments will be proposed, leading to the construction of an architectural project at the end. The first assignment will be done during the first three weeks of the course. First week Sep 7/8/9: Presentation of the course / book. Each student will choose 10 objects contained in the book of Maria Jerez. Second week Sep 14/15/16: Monday. Paper and digital (unit webpage) submission of a map 60x60 cm (1/50 scale) size with migratory movements and the final agglutination of the 10 objects selected based on the assigned image (flows in their lot), its initial state, different stages or intermediate stages and a final state after moving through the suggested currents. Wednesday: Lecture about Exodus. Third week Sep 21/22/23: Monday. Paper and digital (unit webpage) submission of site plan, topography, topology, territory in motion, revealed architectures 60x60 cm size (1/50 scale). Group event for the topographic construction of the site together. New assignation of work area and existing residue. 10% total course Grade. Fourth week Sep 28/29/30: Monday. Submission of a topographical model of the workspace 60x60 cm (and scale 1/50). Digital submission
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(unit webpage). Wednesday: 1st Session of Negotiation: Negotiation of volumes, perimenters, levels, contact points, squares, etc ... Fifth week October 5/6/7: Monday. Submission of a physicall model of the work area including negotiated volumes, size 60x60 cm (and 1/50). Digital submission (unit webpage orthophoto of the physical model. First plans including programs, levels, etc. Wednesday: Lecture. Sixth week October 13/14: Tuesday. Paper and digital (unit webpage) submission of a plan without negotiating with furniture included, size 60x60 cm (scale 1/150). Wednesday: 2nd Session of Negotiation: Negotiation of plans, levels, roofs, entrances, squares, etc... Seventh week October 19/20/21: Monday. Paper and digital (unit webpage) submission of the negotiated plan, size 60x60 cm (and 1/50). Wednesday: Lecture. Eighth week October 26/27/28: Monday. Paper and digital (unit webpage) submission of a section including negotiated levels, access, rooftops, size 60x60 cm (and 1/50). Wednesday: Lecture. Ninth week November 2/3/4: Paper and digital (unit webpage) submission of preliminary draft: plant + section size 60x60 cm (and 1/50), photomontage size 60x60 cm, 60x60 cm size model (and 1/50). 25% total course Grade. Tenth week November 10/11: Paper and digital (unit webpage) submission of A1size plan and structure (extension of 12 cm at each edge of the size 60x60 cm in the vertical border to reach 84.0 cm of A1) (e 1/50), 1st submission of larger Physical Model 100x100 cm (100x100 cm) (scale 1/30). Eleventh week November 16/17/18: Paper and digital (unit webpage) submission of plan + section + construction (introduction of Detail) A1 (extension of 12 cm at each edge of the size 60x60 cm in the vertical border to reach 84.0 cm of A1) (scale 1/50). 2nd submission of Physical Model 100x100 cm. Wednesday: Lecture.
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Twelfth week November 23/24/25: Paper and digital (unit webpage) submission of a A1 visual (photomontage) + materiality + 3rd submission of Physical Model 100x100 cm. Wednesday: Lecture. Thirteenth week December 30/1/2: Pre-final paper and digital (unit webpage) submission of plan + section + A1 photomontage (scale 1/50) + 4th submission of larger Physical Model (100x100 cm) (scale 1 / 30). Wednesday: Critic Review session. 25% total course Grade. Fourteenth week December 7/9 : Review Week of all the documentation prior to submission. Fifteenth week December 14/15/16: Post-production Week of all documents and materials of the project. Sixteenth week December 21: Final Submission. Grades. Reviews. It will consist of A1 size plan of the project, A1 section, A1 visual (photomontage), a 100x100 cm physical model (and scale 1/30) and A6 brochure with all the course. This final submission will require very high constructive development. Submission will be made both on paper and in digital form, attaching a CD / DVD properly labeled with the student data containing all the digital documentation produced during the course. 60% course Grade (40% graphic documentation in A1 and A6 / 20% physical model).
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Schedule
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presentation + objects picking from Maria Jerez objects movement cartography + lecture on Exodus week 1 (7-11 sep) weekfinal 2 (14-18 sep) site plan final cartography + group event + new area assignation (10% grade) week 3 (21-25 sep)
site model topography + 1st negotiation event week 4 (28-02 sep) site model negotiated volumes + first plans+ lecture week 5 (5-9 oct) unnegotiated plan with furniture + 2nd negotiation event week 6 (13-17 oct)
negotiated plan + lecture negotiated section + lecture
week 7 (19-23 oct)
60X60 cm preliminary plan and section + visual + model (25%week final 8grade) (26-30 oct) week 9 (2-6 nov)
A1 plan with structure + larger physical model week 10 (10-14 nov) A1 plan and section with constructive detail + physical model week 11 (16-20 nov) A1 visual and materiality + physical model + lecture week 12 (23-27 nov) pre-final submission A1 + larger physical model + critic session (25% final grade) week 13 (30-04 dic)
development and review post-production
week 14 (7-11 dic)
final submission (60% final grade)
week 15 (14-18 dic) week 16 (21 dic)
ETSAM/UPM MADRID presentation + objects picking from Maria Jerez objects movement cartography + lecture on Exodus site plan final cartography + group event + new area assignation (10% final grade)
site model topography + 1st negotiation event site model negotiated volumes + first plans+ lecture unnegotiated plan with furniture + 2nd negotiation event negotiated plan + lecture negotiated section + lecture 60X60 cm preliminary plan and section + visual + model (25% final grade)
A1 plan with structure + larger physical model A1 plan and section with constructive detail + physical model A1 visual and materiality + physical model + lecture pre-final submission A1 + larger physical model + critic session (25% final grade)
development and review post-production final submission (60% final grade)
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Contract sample
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Contract sample by Elena Juarros, made during the course 2013-2014 ďŹ rst term
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Site
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Bill Edimitja. “El Ensueño de la comida del desierto”. 1988.
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Drift diagram
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900 m2
30 m
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30 m
Ground
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Squares
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Negotiation Areas
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Access
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Lots
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L 01
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L 02
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L 03
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L 04
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L 05
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L 06
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L 08
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L 09
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L 10
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L 11
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L 12
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L 13
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L 14
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L 15
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L 16
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L 17
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L 18
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L 19
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L 20
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L 21
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L 22
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L 23
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L 26
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L 27
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L 29
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L 30
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L 31
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L 34
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L 35
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L 38
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42 Programmes
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42 Programas
Esta lista de programas está basada en el proyecto final de Rem Koolhaas para la Architectural Association en 1972 (realizado junto con Madelon Vreisendorp, Elia Zenghelis and Zoe Zenghelis). “Exodus, or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture”. I_Punta de la franja: 1. Programa extensivo. (3p) 2. Programa usos implementados. (5p) 3. Cuarteles residenciales anti-sistema. (3p) 4. Torre de vigilancia. (13p) 5. Programas disuasorios. (1p) II_Los Lotes: 6. Programa de nula cobertura mediática. (21p) 7. Huertos individuales. (13p) 8. Residencias individuales de materiales exuberantes y caros. (22p) 9. Panóptico. (3p) III_Parque de los cuatro elementos: 10. La plaza aire: pabellones hundidos, gases alucinógenos, nubes de colores eufóricas. Gimnasio erótico. (3p) 11. La plaza fuego: paisaje egipcio, condiciones mareantes, máquina de ilusiones (cuevas lineales con tapis roulants), fuente de llamaradas. Solarium. (13p) 12. Plaza del agua: Océano artificial, piscina de continuo movimiento. Vestuario promiscuo. (1p)
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13. Plaza de la Tierra; montaña familiar, línea de metro, busto escultórico inacabado del habitante de la Franja, escalera mecánica hacia la primera plaza. Mirador aeroestático. (23p) IV_Plaza de ceremonias: 14. Programa de Juegos Olímpicos físicos y conceptuales. (1p) 15. Torre de transmisiones. (13p) 16. Plaza de ceremonias. Capillas para bodas rápidas. Clínica abortiva. (3p) 17. Torre-inhibidor a todo tipo de emisiones exteriores. Plató de televisión,circuito de televisión cerrado. (1p) 18. Franjas laterales de actividades no compartidas por todos. Club social. (1p) V_Área de recepción: 19. Cárcel para corruptos. (3p) 20. Guardería para niños superdotados. (5p) 21. Terapias hipnóticas, taller de maquetas. (3p) 22. Anfiteatro para nuevas teorías o inventivas políticas. (1p) 23. Sala de negociaciones pragmáticas. (13p) 24. Área exclusiva de presidentes de gobierno. (5p) 25. Archivo de objetos imposibles. (1p) VI_Área Central: 26. Terraza observatorio de la isla decadente. Salón de baile. (1p) 27. Alojamiento temporal como esclusa ambiental. (17p) 28. Viviendas colectivas de lujo Terraces. Programa desconocido bajo la cubierta. (1p) VII_Plaza de las Musas o Artes: 31. Museo antiguo. (1p) 32. Museo macizo impenetrable. (13p) 33. Museo vacío. (17p) VIII_Instituto de transacciones biológicas: 34. Prostibulo. (2p) 35. Hospital de emergencias biológicas y crisis físicas y mentales. (3p) 36. Hospital optimista. Palacios del nacimiento. (5p) 37. Psiquiátrico. Laboratorio de meta-anfetamina. (1p) 29. Espacio de acción pública, exhibición y narcisismo. Spa. (3p) 30. Área narcoléptica. (5p) IX_Parque de la agresión: 38. Universidad. (1p) 39. Torres de canchas de agresión pura. Casino. (3p) 40. Barracones para la construcción de la torre. (1p) 41. Espacios artificial urbanos acelerado para concebir de teorías, interpretaciones, construcciones mentales y propuestas. (1p) 42. Sala de danza. (3p)
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42 Programmes
This list of programmes is based on Rem Koolhaas‘ 1972 Architectural Association final thesis (together with Madelon Vreisendorp, Elia Zenghelis and Zoe Zenghelis). “Exodus, or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture”.
I_ Tip of the Strip: 1. Extensive program. (3p) 2. Implemented uses programme. (5p) 3. Anti-establishment residential barracks. (3p) 4. Watchtower. (13p) 5. Dissuasive programs. (1p) II_ The Allotments: 6. Program of zero media coverage. (21p) 7. Individual gardens. (13p) 8. Individual residences lush and expensive materials. (22p) 9. Panopticon. (3p) III_ The Park of the Four Elements: 10. The square of air: sunken halls, hallucinogenic gases, clouds of euphoric colors. Erotic fitness. (3p) 11. The square of fire: Egyptian landscape, dizzying conditions illusions machine
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(linear caves roulants tapis), source of flares. Solarium. (13p) 12. Square of water: artificial ocean, swimming continuous motion. Promiscuous changing room. (1p) 13. Square of Earth; family mountain, metro line, unfinished sculpture bust of the inhabitants of the strip, escalator to the top spot. Hot air balloon watch post. (23p) IV_ Ceremonial Square: 14. Programme of physical and conceptual Olympics. (1p) 15. Tower of transmissions. (13p) 16. Ceremonial square. Fast-wedding chapels. Abortion clinic. (3p) 17. Isolation tower for all outdoor emissions. TV studio, CCTV. (1p) 18. Lateral stripes not shared by all activities. Social Club. (1p) V_ Reception Area: 19. Prison for corrupt. (3p) 20. Day care for gifted children. (5p) 21. Hypnotic therapies, model workshop. (3p) 22. Amphitheatre for new theories or policies inventive. (1p) 23. Pragmatic negotiations room. (13p) 24. Heads of government exclusive area. (5p) 25. Archive of impossible objects. (1p) VI_ Central Area: 26. Terrace observatory of the decadent island. Discotheque. (1p) 27. Temporary accommodation as environmental lock. (17p) 28. Terraces collective luxury dwellings. Unknown program under the rooftop. (1p) VII_ Square of the Arts: 31. Old museum. (1p) 32. Impenetrable mass museum. (13p) 33. Empty museum. (17p) VIII_ Institute of Biological Transactions: 34. Brothel. (2p) 35. Biological, physical and mental crisis emergency hospital. (3p) 36. Optimistic hospital. Birth palace. (5p) 37. Psychiatric. Methamphetamine lab. (1p) 29. Space for public action, exhibition and narcissism. Spa. (3p) 30. Narcoleptic area. (5p) IX_ Park of Aggression: 38. University. (1p) 39. Pure aggression courts towers. Casino. (3p) 40. Barracks to build the tower. (1p) 41. Artificial urban accelerated areas to conceive of theories, interpretations, mental constructions and proposals. (1p) 42. Dance hall. (3p)
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Objects (reference to Inventory)
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— transcription of “objects as questions” from María Jerez “Ba Deedly”— What do you see when you hear? How can the sound become multiple images? How does the architecture of the theater sound? Where are those voices coming from? Are we possessed by what? Can the body work in multiple directions? How do all these directions relate to each other? Dissociation? Unison? Matching? Contradiction? Embodiment? Appropriation? How can we propose an image that has the same mobility as the element “mercury” has? What is the minimum change you can do in order to become something else? Is a choir a body made by other bodies? How can we treat each spectator as a unique system of perception? Can we be in a theater as we are at home? What kind of emotion does a soundtrack bring to an every day life action? How can we propose a different piece for each spectator at the same time? How “near” can you bring the performance to the spectator? How does “fuchsia” sound? Are you talking to me? Can the end of the piece become the opportunity to enter an unexpected situation? — transcription of “objects as questions” from “El caso del espectador”— How can I subvert the point of view of the spectator? How can I propose two realities at the same time? How can we experience a double reality? Can I propose on space-time on stage and one cinematic space-time on the TV? How can I fragment reality in order to propose multiple readings of the same action? How can the mind of the spectator be active while moving between the gap of these two realities? How can the gaze of the spectator become choreographic? Can I use dissociation in order to become multiple things? Can I be visible and invisible at the same time? Can I be invisible and outside in the same space? Am I victim and the killer of the same murder? Are my screens killing me? What is the role of the body in this piece? How can I be all the characters of one movie? What is the border between fiction and reality? What is the power of representation? Can the fact of watching two things simultaneously create an event? If you propose two realities that are contained in one single object; one through a camera; one through the point of view of the spectator; where do you place the truth? And... what about suspense?
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QUESTIONS Programme Flow Users Perimeter permeability Perimeter transparency Roof occupation Energy needs Decibel level Artificial illumination Indoor / outdoor temperature gap Indoor / outdoor humidity gap Transit time
= = = = = = = = = = = =
????? ?????? people/day ?? people ?? % ?? % ?? % ???????? KW ??? dB ?? % ???? ยบC ??? mm ?? minutes
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Fluid References
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McGraw-Hill Education. Continental Drift.
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Carlo Ratti. “TrackTrash” Seattle. 2012.
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London Geographical Institute. “The world commercially developed regions and routes�. 1920.
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Wendy Hilton. “Dance of Court and Theater: The French Noble Style”. 1690-1725 (Princeton, 1981). Down: Redrawn from Giambatista Dufort, “Trattatodel Ballo Nobile” (Napoli, 1728), pp. 44, 55, 66, 68, 75, 77, 83, and 86.
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NASA JPL: Ocean Surface Topography from Space. 1992-1993.
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Harold B. Clemens. “The Migration, Age, And Growth of Pacific Albacore (Thunnus germo), 1951– 1958”. State of California.
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Track map of the “friendly floatees” 28.800 duck bath toys lost in the ocean in 1992.
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Field locations where count density was measured (pieces km−2; see colorbar), “Plastic Pollution in the World’s Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea” Research article, University of Connecticut, 2014.
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Graphic Timetable for a Java railroad line Soerabaja-Djokjakarta. November 1937.
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Christopher Scheiner. “Rosa Ursina sive Sol” (Bracciani, 1626-1630), pp. 317, 325, 333.
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Harold B. Clemens. “The Migration, Age, And Growth of Pacific Albacore (Thunnus germo), 1951– 1958”. State of California.
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Archizoom. “No-Stop City”. 1969.
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Iannis Xenakis. “Erikhton, pour piano et orchestre�. 1974.
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The Ocean Cleanup Project. “MEGA Expedition” concept image. 2015.
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The Ocean Cleanup Project. “MEGA Expedition” Google Earth cartography. 2015.
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NASA Animation Shows Asian Air Pollution Moving Across the Globe .
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Walter Marchetti. Obervation of the movements of a y on a window pane from 7 in the morning to 8 at night on a lovely day in May, 1967.
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Solid References
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Man Ray. Unnamed.
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Rem Koolhaas. Agadir Convention Center. 1990.
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Fernando Scianna. Magnum Agency. Hungary. 1999.
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Paolo Soleri. Arcology “Babel IID”. 1970.
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Pieter Bruegel the Elder. “The Procession to Calvary”. 1564.
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David Hockney. “Pearlblossom Highway”. April 1986.
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Paolo Soleri. “Mesa City” General Plan. 1966.
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Image from “Life of Pi”. Ang Lee. 2012.
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Eiler Rasmussen and Cristian Erhard. “The Five Finger Plan”. 1947.
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Joan Fontcuberta. “Hemograma.” 2009.
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Texts
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USA Today, Stephanie Howsband, a bordo del barco Sea Dragón, costa de California, 12-112012 Agustín FERNÁNDEZ-MALLO Extract from “Limbo” (Ed. Alfaguara, 2014), pp. 119-121.
Desde la proa del Sea Dragón han avistado un trozo de barco, en el casco se distinguen letras japonesas. Se trata de un fragmento, 68 kilos de peso, de un resto del tsunami del año pasado. La expedición del Sea Dragón no la componen científicos, sino voluntarios provenientes de varios países que recogen los restos del desastre con el único fin de documentarlos e inventariarlos. Se sabe que el tsunami arrojó al mar 4,5 millones de toneladas de materia. Gran parte se hundió, pero alrededor de 1,4 millones de toneladas continúan flotando. Las corrientes conducen todo eso hacia la costa californiana. Ben Doniak, capitán del barco, lo resume así: «Digamos que en el año 2011 la costa este de Japón fue barrida por una gran ola. Un año después, otra gran ola, pero mucho más lenta, llega a las costas de California. Son los restos de aquélla, el rebote». La tarea de recogida empezó como un juego y ahora su labor es imprescindible para entender de qué manera se mueven los objetos que van a la deriva. «Nunca antes se había dispuesto de un campo de pruebas natural como éste —dice Sandra Torino, voluntaria llegada de Cerdeña—, esto podría ayudar a estudiar muchas otras cosas, por ejemplo el comportamiento de un cuerpo humano inerte en el mar, lo que sería muy valioso a la hora de rescatar cadáveres producto de naufragios, prever sus trayectorias». Ken Campbell, piragüista profesional que ha recorrido las islas de la costa del estado de Washington en busca de objetos, añade: «Los restos del tsunami son como una máquina del tiempo. Somos arqueólogos en tiempo real, manejamos mucha información perdida». Hoy mismo ha aparecido una marquesina de cemento y madera con una Harley-Davidson encadenada a un poste, hace un mes, cuatro automóviles Toyota, idénticos en modelo y color, procedentes de una fábrica que se vio arrasada, y hace dos meses, un contenedor repleto de osos de peluche entre los que ya vivían
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peces. Patty Wallace, directora del programa de recogida de escombros marinos de la National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, dice: «Esta situación es bastante insólita, nunca habíamos estudiado objetos que vagan a esta escala». Le pregunto si eso es otra manera de decir «estábamos acostumbrados a la chatarra espacial, pero no a la chatarra marina», y responde que sí, exactamente eso. Supervivientes del tsunami dijeron que el ruido creado por la ola fue tan demoledor como la propia masa de objetos arrastrados. Ahora ese sonido regresa con cuentagotas, roto pero audible, a las playas de Los Ángeles. «Es el sonido final, el último sonido del desastre —dice Sandra Torino—. Yo antes era modelo, modelo de manos en anuncios publicitarios, me ganaba bien la vida — Sandra nos enseña las manos; deterioradas por el trabajo de recogida, conservan perfectamente un estilismo de anuncio—, poca gente sabe que después de los rostros, las imágenes de manos son lo que más se ve en los spots de televisión. Es lógico, las manos son reflejo de la cara, las manos son las “segundas caras”, como se dice en mi profesión. La ventaja de ser modelo de manos es que no quemas tu imagen, puedes salir en la tele cuantas veces quieras, y es como entrar en la casa de alguien, estar allí, en la sala, con ellos, la gente no tiene miedo a las manos, hacen compañía, Ias caras sí que no, nadie quiere a un extraño en casa —alguien llama a Sandra desde la popa del barco, pero aún tiene unos minutos más para nosotros—, el anuncio que me dio más dinero fue el de un líquido aditivo para carburantes de coche, aparecía una compañera con el bote del producto, y después unas manos, que eran las mías, las metía en el líquido aditivo para carburantes y las sacaba brillantes, protegidas, como si fuera crema de manos, y decía: “Así en tus manos como en tu motor”. Nunca suelo ver los anuncios en los que aparezco, no es que me dé vergüenza, pero es como si un médico viera en su casa la grabación de todos los pacientes que al cabo de un día pasan por su consulta, ya me entiendes, pero el año pasado, era verano, estaba en un hotel de Roma, me habían llamado para filmar otro spot, y en un canal norteamericano, no recuerdo cuál, me vi, vi mi anuncio de aditivo para carburantes de motor de coche, recuerdo que la emisión se cortó durante un segundo, un instante de nada, pero
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comprendí que ese trabajo ya no era para mí, bien es verdad que venía arrastrando un periodo de bajón, insatisfacción general, un vaciamiento aquí dentro, en el pecho, ya sabes, pero aquello ya no era para mí, tumbada en la cama de aquel hotel de Roma tuve una visión: una pareja de jóvenes, hombre y mujer, en una cafetería de un país que no reconocí, veía el mismo spot que yo, y entonces sentí mis manos separadas de mí, muy lejos, como si me las hubieran cortado, y pocos días después una amiga me habló de esto, de la recogida de restos del tsunami, y no lo dudé. Y no lo hago por los demás, ni por limpiar, no me malentiendas, lo hago por mí, ahora puedo decir que mis manos valen para algo, para algo real, quiero decir». Sandra continúa con la tarea que hoy tiene asignada, el análisis y clasificación de uno de los mayores hallazgos hasta la fecha: una pila de maderas desordenadamente ensambladas, en cuyo interior hay un retrete, una cesta con la colada de un bebé, un frasco de jarabe para la tos y fragmentos de una lavadora con letras en japonés. «Cuando empezamos a buscar en este montón —añade mientras no cesa de revolver maderas—, caí en la cuenta: ahora mismo sí que estoy en la casa de alguien».
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El extraño caso de la isla fantasma del Pacífico Jacinto ANTÓN Published: November 24, 2012, El Pais.
A veces el mundo recupera su calidad de lugar asombroso. Ha ocurrido esta semana. Entre la avalancha de noticias políticas, generalmente deplorables, la actualidad nos ha regalado un suceso extraordinario, turbador y desconcertante, digno de la más disparatada novela fantástica o de aventuras: la isla fantasma. No, no se trata del título de una peripecia de Simbad ni de un relato de Julio Verne, sino de un hecho bien real. Una expedición que llega al punto geográfico donde se localiza en los mapas una remota isla para encontrarse con que… no está. Pasmosa experiencia que invierte, incluso subvierte, el normal acontecer de las exploraciones: en vez de descubrir territorio nuevo, lo han perdido. El extrañísimo caso de Sandy Island, la isla que nunca existió o que dejó de existir o que vaya usted a saber qué ha pasado con ella, se convirtió en un tema apasionante para millones de personas, seguramente seducidas por el eco legendario del asunto y la manera en que apela a nuestro apetito más ancestral de ensueños y quimeras. Los titulares son para volver a creer en la prensa: “¿Dónde ha ido a parar? Los científicos ‘desdescubren’ una isla del Pacífico”, “La isla Sandy del Pacífico del Sur prueba que no existe”, “La isla del Pacífico que nunca existió” (ciertamente grahamgreeniano) o mi favorito, de Pravda, “La desaparición de una isla del Pacífico intriga a los científicos”. Estos son los hechos: un barco científico, el RV Southern Surveyor, del servicio hidrográfico australiano, aprovechando que está en el Mar del Coral en una singladura de 25 días estudiando la tectónica de placas, decide, quizá con ánimo de recrearse con playas y cocoteros, echar un vistazo a Sandy Island, una isla del Pacífico Sur que diferentes cartas y mapas, entre ellos Google Earth y Google Maps, muestran entre
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Australia y Nueva Caledonia. Llegados al punto marcado, la isla no está y el océano se extiende, imperturbable. ¿Dónde diablos ha ido a parar la isla?, se preguntan perplejos los científicos. Sus mapas la muestran, aunque no así las cartas náuticas, que señalan una profundidad de 1.400 metros y ni asomo de isla. Se han propuesto diversas explicaciones, como el error humano o la broma colosal. Una que parece plausible es que ciertos autores de mapas acostumbran a introducir algún dato falso que les sirva para detectar copias que infrinjan su copyright: si otro mapa muestra lo mismo es que ha pirateado y valga el término hablando de islas, aunque no se trate de Tortuga, Sulú o el Arrecife del Hombre Muerto. Rastreada la isla perdida, resulta que aparece en mapas y publicaciones científicas al menos desde 2000. En algunas ediciones del Times atlas of the world está bautizada como Île de Sable (de existir pertenecería a Francia). Hay quien la identifica con una de las islas que menciona en 1792 el caballero D’Entrecasteaux navegando en busca de la pertinentemente desaparecida expedición de La Pérouse. No está claro cómo se ha propagado la inexistente existencia de Sandy. Quizá se ha ido repitiendo el error inicialmente premeditado. Los responsables de Google Maps para Australia y Nueva Zelanda, han señalado que ellos utilizan una variedad de fuentes autorizadas para crear sus mapas. La entidad anima a los usuarios de sus mapas a avisarle cuando se encuentren ante una situación semejante, así que ya lo saben: si les desaparece una montaña, un lago o un golfo, por favor, háganlo saber. El presidente de la Sociedad Británica de Cartógrafos ha recalcado, de manera perturbadora, con ecos borgianos, que no le sorprende el caso. “No puedes crear un mapa perfecto. Nunca puedes”. El caso es que la isla, que mide la friolera de 15u3 millas, se niega obstinadamente a estar donde le toca; diríamos que ha desaparecido del mapa, si no fuera
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porque el mapa (algunos mapas) es el único lugar en el que realmente (es un decir) está. El tema tiene, ciertamente, algo de argumento ontológico. Lo ha expresado muy bien uno de los científicos que viajaban en el barco (des) descubridor: “Hay una isla en el medio de la nada que en realidad no existe”. Es inquietante que haya quien piense que la “no isla”, como la ha bautizado Wikipedia en su entrada, no ha dicho su última palabra. ¿Y si existe pero está en otro lado? Al respecto hay que mencionar la legendaria isla del primer viaje de Simbad, que era en realidad una ballena, y se desplazaba. Se ha apuntado también, con notable humor, que Sandy podría ser alguna especie de cubil navegable de un villano archienemigo de James Bond. Por otro lado, hay que recordar que no es inusual, sino más bien ley de vida, que las islas aparezcan y desaparezcan en realidad: recordemos los efectos del Krakatoa o de la erupción de Thera. Bouvet, una isla noruega habitada por pingüinos, tenía una segunda isla cerca cuando la descubrieron que no ha sido vuelta a ver jamás (véase el notable Atlas of remote islands, de Judith Schalansky, 2010). En todo caso Sandy, añorada Sandy, ha entrado ya de pleno derecho en el archipiélago de las leyendas. Ahí comparte mapa con la isla del doctor Moreau, con la de Robinson, con isla Lincoln (la de La isla misteriosa donde Nemo ancla su Nautilus), con isla Nublar, con la del tesoro, con la de King Kong (Skull Island), con la de San Borondón (esa legendaria que, quién sabe si producto de un volcán, aparecía y desaparecía frente a la isla canaria de El Hierro) y con todas las que alguna vez han emergido de las profundidades de la ficción para satisfacer nuestras ansias de aventura, de exotismo y de misterio.
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Tagging trash: what cities can learn for better waste management Nick MICHELL Published: September 19, 2012, CitiesToday.
“Trash is one of today’s most pressing issues, both directly and as a reflection of our attitudes and behaviour,” says Carlo Ratti, Director of the SENSEable City Lab. “Our project aimed to reveal the disposal process of our everyday objects, as well as to highlight potential inefficiencies in today’s recycling and sanitation systems. The project could be considered the urban equivalent of nuclear medicine, where a tracer is injected and followed through the human body to reveal how a system functions.” MIT partnered with the Seattle Public Utilities Office to map out the region’s solid waste collection and processing system prior to the Trash Track implementation and to recruit volunteers to participate in tagging their trash. Households were given a wish list of items MIT wanted to track, including mobile phones, fluorescent light bulbs, and other household hazardous waste that is difficult to regulate, with the electronic sensors shielded by an insulating foam to protect them from being crushed. “Compared to many other US cities, Seattle’s solid waste system is somewhat complex,” says Brett Stav, Senior Planning & Development Specialist for the Seattle Public Utilities Office. “We separately collect garbage, recycling and organics. We offer drop-off collection services for various household hazardous wastes (HHW). Our challenge is to make the system as efficient and cost-effective as possible, while also making it accessible and convenient to our customers. I found the project’s aim and premise to be intriguing; we provide solid waste services to 600,000 people and, if properly implemented, Trash Track could provide an ‘audit’ on the efficiency and effectiveness of our collection and delivery systems.”
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Garbage collection contractors in Seattle make 150,000 collections of single-family garbage every week alone and this material is processed and shipped six days a week to a landfill in Oregon, 480 kilometres away. Recyclables are processed in a facility in town and shipped all over the world, with some of these materials recycled into new products and back on store shelves within 60 days. Organic waste is processed at a facility 32 kilometres north of Seattle and then delivered to local store shelves as garden compost within 90 days. However, household hazardous waste, as Trash Track discovered, has a more complex deconstruction chain model. Results After the implementation of Trash Track in 2009, the electronic tags’ trajectories were monitored in real-time on a central server at MIT, over the following two years. Of the 3,000 individual pieces of garbage followed by the team 95 percent of the trash stream stayed within city limits when it was disposed of at its final destination. For instance, an aluminium can in Seattle would travel for around two days and 4 kilometres before reaching its end destination. However, the results also showed how far some of the waste travelled, effectively spreading across the entire country. Electronic and household hazardous waste, for example, which was sent to specialised recycling and reuse facilities in other states, travelled on average more than 1,500 kilometres. One printer cartridge reportedly travelled an astonishing 6,152 kilometres to be recycled, highlighting that, in some cases, the carbon emissions produced in transporting waste to a recycling facility negates the expected environmental benefit of recycling. “We learned that we underestimate the role of transport, especially for electronic waste,” says Dietmar Offenhuber, researcher at the SENSEable City Lab. “The benefit of recycling, which is always taken for granted, is in fact a function of many different factors, some of them positive and some negative. We found that transport distances are generally treated
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too optimistically, both in terms of distance and emissions. If we want a better view on recycling, we have to look closer at transport, not just the miles, but also handling, mode changes etc.” It is clear from the results that it is not only the residents of cities that need to understand and learn about the ‘removal chain’ of waste, but also the local authorities that deal with collection and delivery. Behavioural change Residential recycling and composting programmes are reliant upon their citizens to make them a success and therefore educating the public is essential. People need to have a reason for the amount of time they spend sorting, rinsing and storing their trash, and would consequently find it comforting to know that their waste will actually end up where they wanted it to go. “People tend to not want to think about what happens to stuff they throw away, and this study is a graphic reminder that trash just doesn’t disappear once it leaves the curb,” says Stav. “The Seattle Public Utilities Office (SPU) commits a lot of resources educating its customers that recycling/composting is cost-effective, good for the environment, and energy-efficient. Since Trash Track, SPU has developed an online database where customers can look up exact items, for example, a metal coat hanger, to find out how to properly dispose of it.” The MIT team conducted surveys with participants who viewed the results of the Trash Track project, and found that it had a significant impact on their understanding of trash systems, but not necessarily on their behaviour though Lynn Brown, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Waste Management Inc., believes that informing citizens of the ‘removal chain’ process, at least gives them the choice of what they buy and throw away. “Say I am holding a plastic bottle, although I hope I wouldn’t be drinking from a plastic bottle, I have the choice of how I dispose of it,” says Brown. “I think if we are provided with the information of the disposal paths of our
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waste, in terms of where it goes, how far and the energy consumed, then we are at least in a more informed position to decide what we buy and throw away. We at Waste Management want to teach people about how we recover the resource that is in waste and extract the value.� The future Following on from the initiative, the SENSEable City Lab team has turned its attention to waste management in the developing world with a project called Forage Tracking, working with a cooperative of informal recyclers in São Paulo. In this city, the goal was not to use tracking as a way of passively observing trash but rather as an active tool for management. The Forage Tracking project is mapping the tacit knowledge and spatial organisation of informal recyclers. It is using location-detecting hardware and software to investigate how catadores, informal recyclers in Brazilian cities, find and collect material in the city, while also developing participatory platforms that will help them to organise their activities and connect the cooperative to citizens.
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The Ocean Cleanup Launches Mega Expedition, Largest Research Expedition In History The Ocean Cleanup Published: Los Angeles, April 20, 2015, PRNewswire.
The Ocean Cleanup, founded by the Dutchman Boyan Slat (1994) who invented a method aimed at cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, today announced its next major project: the Mega Expedition, in which up to 50 vessels will collect more plastic measurements in three weeks than have been collected in the past 40 years combined. The Mega Expedition will take place in August 2015, in which up to 50 vessels will cover a 3,500,000 km² area between Hawaii and California in parallel, creating the first high-resolution map of plastic in the Pacific Ocean. The expedition, an initiative of The Ocean Cleanup, is supported by the world-famous Transpac sailing race, which is assisting in the recruitment of vessels. The City of Los Angeles will welcome the expedition to its port by the end of August. Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles: “Increasing our scientific understanding of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is essential to developing effective solutions. It’s this type of creative and large-scale thinking that we need to tackle problems like this. We’re proud to be welcoming the Mega Expedition to the Port of Los Angeles this year.” Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup: “When you want to clean the oceans, it is important to know how much plastic is out there. Right now, estimates vary orders of magnitude, due to the small amount of measurements, which furthermore have been taken over very long period. The Mega Expedition will allow us to produce the first-ever high-resolution estimate of the amount of plastic inside the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and we are grateful for the Mayor’s and Transpac’s
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support. This enables us to continue preparing the passive cleanup technology for our first ocean pilot, taking place in the first half of 2016.” Skippers and vessel owners can still sign up to participate. About The Ocean Cleanup Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat (1994), The Ocean Cleanup is a Dutchregistered non profit foundation aimed at developing technologies to extract, prevent and intercept plastic pollution. The Ocean Cleanup’s goal is to accelerate the world’s fight against oceanic plastic pollution, by initiating the largest cleanup in history. The organization published the results of its year-long study into the feasibility of large-scale, passive and efficient removal of plastic pollution from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It then raised over $2 million from 38,000 people in 160 countries, in a successful non-profit crowd funding campaign . In November 2014 Boyan received the United Nations’ highest environmental award by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Also, he has been recognised as one of the 20 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs Worldwide (Intel EYE50). How it works Instead of going after the plastic - which would take many thousands of years and billions of dollars to complete - The Ocean Cleanup will use a 100 km-long floating barrier to let the ocean currents concentrate the plastic themselves. Computer modelling indicates that a single system deployed for ten years will remove almost half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
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Arcology
Paolo SOLERI Extract from “Arcology : the city in the image of man”. (The Mit Press, 1970.) pp 30. Architecture is in the process of becoming the physical definition of a multilevel, human ecology. It will be arc-ology. Arcology, instrumented by science and technology, will be an aesthetocompassionate phenomenon. Its advent will be the implosion of the flat megalopolis of today into an urban solid of superdense and human vitality. 1. Arcology, or Ecological Architecture This is the definition of urban structures so “dense” as to host life, work, education, culture, leisure, and health for hundreds of thousands of people per square mile. The weak veneer of life ridden with blight and stillness, which megalopolis and suburbia are, is thus transformed and miniaturized into a metropolitan solid, saturated with flux and liveliness. 2. Arcology and Man Man, a creature of culture, is given such instrumentality as to have his reach greatly incremented. Education, culture, production, service, health, play, and an untouched countryside are at his fingertips. He can walk to them from his home, the place where he is master and the place he can define and construct by himself if he so pleases. 3. Arcology and Change As for the cities we have, we will live with them. We cannot live for them. Thus, while effort will go into improving what we have, great and persistent effort must go into the development, parallel to the condemned patterns, of new systems coherent with man’s needs. Arcology is, in short, an efficient plumbing system for contemporary society. 4. Arcology and Dimension The squandering in land, time, energy, and the wealth of megalopolis and suburbia, now well entangled in their increasing contradictions, is rejected as obsolete. With arcology there are two conditions: (1) immense nature: ex-tensive, kind, and brutal, the reservoir of life: and (2) the man-made: dense, organized, powerful, and serving man well. With the third dimension, the vertical, no longer a limitless sea of housing in a
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choked system of dim vitality, man is reinstated as the measure of things and primarily as the compassionate measure of himself and nature. 5. Arcology and Scale Scale is that characterization that makes the performance effort congruous with the aim. The configuration that makes it impossible for the hungry man to sit at the bountiful table is a configuration that is not human. Dimension, proportions, and visual grasp are subordinate categories made human or unhuman by the amount of real reaching power they offer to the individual. A building or a city are out of scale with the people they serve when the function they promise is put out of the realm of the possible. Arcology is both dimensionally (1 cubic kilometer as against 400 square miles) and functionally on the human scale without loss of its awesome force, indeed almost because of it. 6. Arcology and Distance Distance is a tax on reaching power. By the aberration of the car, such a tax is starving our culture. The car is dividing things more and more by scattering them all over. Then one finds that it becomes more and more difficult to reach them one by one, impossible to reach them all in one. Acceleration-deceleration, natural sluggishness, and the antiswiftness inherent to scatterization make high speed urban transportation a perpetual illusion. In arcology, distances are measured again by walks and in minutes. Within it the car is nonsensical. It has nowhere to go. 7. Arcology and Land Conservation The compactness of arcology gives back to farming and to land conservation 90 per cent or more of the land that megalopolis and suburbia are engulfing in their sprawl. To be a city dweller and a country man at one and the same time, to be able to partake fully of both city and country life, will make the arcology a place in which man will want to live. The creation of truly lovable cities is the only lasting solution for land conservation. 8. Arcology and Natural Resources The reserves of ores and fuels are not infinite. The squandering of such
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collective capital wealth, while proclaiming the sacredness of exclusive and personal possession, is irrational, to say the least. Chemistry and biochemistry might find a magnificent future for such resources. By then most of these will be reduced to the second-rate pockets that will have escaped man’s greed. The frugal character of arcology moves consumption toward the use of the earth’s income rather than the exhaustion of its capital. 9. Arcology and Industry The destructive bite of the car on the U.S. economy and life will not last another fifteen years, nor will the Pentagon’s ravenous hunger for war hardware. The car will follow the horse to the pastures of sport and eccentricity. War hardware will destroy us or will be destroyed by us. There is the colossal and challenging task of punctuating the earth’s landscape with a humane, beautiful “culture-scape.” Each arcology will be an industry in itself with its original standardizations, its automated systems, a cybernetic organism growing of its own volition. It will be an industry turned forward instead of backward. 10. Arcology and Pollution We are concerned with the immediate menaces of pollution, but the longterm consequences escape us. These may well reach into our genetic structure as well as into the total geophysical and biochemical balance of the planet. In arcology the ratio of efficiency to energy becomes many times greater, thus pollution will be manyfold smaller. Pollution is a direct function of wastefulness. The elimination of wastefulness is the elimination of pollution. 11. Arcology and Climate For both extremes of heat and cold, as for any intermediate condition, the compactness of arcology makes it a most workable system. Instead of sealing the outside out, conditioning will extend to the ground, space, and the air enveloping the structure. The climate of the arcology, not a sealed cell but an open city, will be a tamed facsimile of the regional climate. 12. Arcology and Waste
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As a sprawled-out man 2,000 square feet in area and 3 inches tall can work only on paper, if at all, so possibly can our megalopoly and suburbias work only on paper. They will never truly and substantially work for real. They are not real. They are Utopian. Arcology can be a congruous system and, as such, an optimum system for the full and complex logistics of individual and social life. 13. Arcology and Cost The initial cost of research and experimentation is by necessity high. A radical turn is never inexpensive. The actual planning and production cost of an arcology would be a fraction of the cost of our gigantic dwarfs for equal population, but not equal fullness, of life. 14. Arcology and Obsolescence Flexibility and dynamism cannot be found where there is built-in obsolescence (a downgraded system is by nature inflexible). These are to be found where the full flow of life runs throughout a structure. If the tempo of obsolescence has the same beat as individual growth — childhood, youth, maturity, age— the individual himself is obsolete. The precariousness of his significance will destroy him. Arcology is a mirror of man’s identity and a support to his doings. 15. Arcology and Underdeveloped Countries With arcology comes the possibility of leaping beyond the mechanical age into the cybernetic culture and thus the chance of avoiding the robotization of men. the blight of the environment, the slavery of the car, the starvation of culture, all scourges of our Western success story. 16. Arcology and Leisure A
cybernetic
system
of
immediate
feedback
with
information,
communication, transportation, and transfer quickened by shrunken distances, is an organism for true leisure. For many, if not most, of the citizens such leisure will be voluntary work at the enrichment of the city, starting from one’s own home and reaching throughout the infrastructure of the whole city. This will be a totally new challenge for artists, performers, craftsmen, and the engaged citizenry. 17. Arcology and Segregation Segregation concerns not only ethnics and religions. It concerns activities
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and all age levels as well as it concerns, and stills, life itself. A social pattern is influenced, if not directed, by the physical pattern that shelters it. In a one-container system are the best premises for a non-segregated culture. The care for oneself will tend to be care for the whole. 18. Arcology, Aggression, and Guilt Aggression and guilt are in good proportion a bridge of a sort connecting meaninglessness to meaningfulness. Therefore a better bridge must be found. If man is really in need of risk and violence, if frustration and guilt are really tearing society asunder, then the awesomeness of arcology and the complexity of its construction are positive alternatives to war, social strife, and squalor. 19. Arcology and Medical Care In arcology there is interchangeability and diffusion of functions because the obstacles of time and space are minimized, miniaturized. As all of arcology can be called a marketplace, all of it a learning organism, all of it a productive mechanism and a playground, so in a true sense arcology can be considered a total medical-care system. Home nursing becomes as feasible and as professional as hospital care, but far less costly and far more personal. Nurses and doctors move from home to home, as from ward to ward, making the family doctor real again. Infirmaries, clinics, and hospitals are always at walking distance, leaving no pockets of indifference (if not those maliciously wanted) that might be maliciously ignored. 20. Arcology and Survival To pinpoint an orbital warhead on a square mile or so is a feat for the nottoo-distant future. Evacuation in arcology can be almost instantaneous; its vast underground structure for foundations, anchorages, and automated indus-tries will be good emergency systems. Arcology is the coherent expression of a faith in man, and as such it is beyond the survival platform. 21. Arcology and the Underground Man must refute underground living. He is a biological animal of sun, air, light, and seasons. He is an aesthetic animal, and his senses are more and more oriented toward a usefulness of purely aesthetic worth.
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The underground is ideal for automated production in need of technologically sophisticated environment: pressure, vacuum, radiation, heat, cold, rare atmospheres, and so forth. (It is also ideal for sense-less and senseless man.) 22. Arcology and Spaces Man has been experiencing what one might call flat spaces. It is congruous with the space age itself that man acquaints himself and lives with the deep spaces an arcology creates. As man lives intensely on the horizontal, the density of his societies can only be achieved vertically. 23. Arcology and Space If we are destined to a “space” life of some sort, this life will be miniaturized by necessity. In arcology are the elements of interiorization, living inside instead of on top, and of compactness. In this sense arcology is a space architecture as much as it is a land and sea architecture. 24. Arcology and the Sacred Limitless energies in limitless spaces for limitless time are the scattered ingredients by which nature works. For man to succeed, he must make tight bundles of that minimal portion of them allowed to him so that his own infinity —the infinite complexity of his compassionate and aesthetic universe— can blossom. Life is literally in the thick of things. Its sacramentality is in the awesome power concealed in its “densified” fragility. 25. Arcology and Geriatrics One of the ravages of “mobility,” or at least directly accountable to it. is the institutionalized ghetto for the elderly. Following the generalized scattering of things and thoughts, the family has broken down into four main fragments: the young, the parents, the grandparents, and the anonymous relative. Aging being common to all (the lucky ones), all will have a taste of the tragic segregation of the aged; the insurance company and social security will not do, lest man become or remain marketable goods. The implications of “arcological life” are the most favorable for reintegration of the different age groups and thus for the knitting of family
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strands. 26. Arcology and Play The playground is the act of condescending to playfulness in a habitat where grimness, ugliness, and danger are endemic and offer the last measure of unconcern in an adult world gone sour. The playground is segregative. The absence of children in the so-called respectable public places is disheartening. The child has reason to become irresponsible and destructive, caged, as he is, away from the “other world.” Arcology is an “environmental toy.” As a miniaturized universe it offers unending elements for surprise and stimulation. There will not be fencedin playgrounds. The whole city is the place where the child is acting out the learning process, one aspect of which is play. 27. Arcology and Youth The rift between youth and the holders of power, from the home up to the nation’s policy makers, parallels the schism that exists between the preaching and the doing of the elders. The flow of hypocrisy is constant and perhaps irresistible. The revolt is at times blind, at times cynical, but it is a matter of survival within the limits of self-respect. If mere survival is to be dislodged by hopefulness, a form of things to come has to be suggested that will not drift away in the sea of the faceless, the irrelevant, and the expedient. As the god of the past “ill-serves” imperfect man and technology may yet cancel his humaneness, a step toward realism at the expense of powerful but conservative, if not reactionary, “practicality” is what the young may need most. Arcology is a container where ideas and vision can meet man in his quest for a structure for living and not just an amorphous container for depersonalized survival. 28. Arcology, the Practical and the Real The function of the practical is to instrumentalize the real. The function of the real is to dictate why, what, where, and when the practical is to operate. This antimaterialistic tenet is lost in the feverish idolatry of the feasible and the license of “free” enterprise. Most of what is feasible is irrelevant or unreal. It is not real because it does not converge with the aims of free man. The practical is no longer the specially tempered tip
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of a willfully driven utensil but is instead a vain, aimless, and squalid facade imposed upon the well burdened train of the real. The real is to be sought by the skill of the practical. The practical is a subskill whenever it is enthroned on the idol’s chair. Arcology rejects as totally unreal the practicality of such a bigoted position. 29. Arcology and Identification The capacity of suburbia and megalopolis for unending sprawl, the amorphism caused by the lack of structuralization, the blurring of everything into the countless makes the identification of the individual as difficult as the identification of the environment. What one reflects in, one is or one tends to become. Arcology is physical identification. The whole of it is at grasp and unmistakable, while the detail in its secretiveness can be unlimited and ever changing. 30. Arcology and Culture To be exposed early in life to the complex workings of the individual and of society, to have a substantial reach for all those things and institutions that make metropolitan life rewarding, to be able at the same time to seek and be in the midst of nature, to enjoy the limitless and meaningful variety the life of society may produce for itself and the individual are all built-in characteristics of ar-cology. Arcology is the largest cultural whole physically available to men day in and day out. 31. Arcology and Aesthetics The beauty of nature is achieved in the awesome reservoirs of space and time where things are hammered out in the order that probability dictates, justly, rationally, impassionately. The genesis of man-made beauty, the aesthetic, is of a different nature. It is not incidental to man’s action but is the very essence of man himself. By necessity it has to be frugal. It does away with probability and predictability. It is synthetic and transfigurative. It is never irrational because it is always superrational. It cannot simply be just, because it must also be compassionate. With the aesthetogenesis of nature, man reaches into the structure of reality and forms a new universe in his own image. Arcology can be one of these forms. Arcology is essentially an aesthetocompassionate phenomenon.
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32. Arcology and Politics The long involvements of the generations that have produced today’s cities constitute such tightly interwoven interests that the hopes are very dim for a really purposeful renewal. What has been the living cause has become very much that which takes life away. Too many things in our cities are spent cartridges, too little is of a non-brittle nature. Even doodling around any of the city’s many problems tends to weaken this or that interest or this or that group. And doodling seems to be what at best we do with them. An urban culture is per se the nth power of complexity. The burden of a not-too-glorious past may be just the amount of ballast that will not allow the take-off. 33. Arcology and Miniaturization In its evolution from matter to mind, the real has been submitted to numerous phases of miniaturization so as to fit more things into smaller spaces in shorter times. This process, from haphazardness and dislocation to co-ordination and fitness, has been mandatory because each successive form of reality carried in itself a greater degree of complexity. Any higher organism contains more performances than a chunk of the unlimited universe light years thick, and it ticks on a time clock immensely swifter. This miniaturization process may well be one of the fundamental rules of evolution. Now that the inquietude of man is turned to the construction of the super-organism, which society is, a new phase of miniaturization is imperative. Arcology is a step toward it. Arcological miniaturization will cause the scale of the earth to “expand” and will also make feasible the migration of man to the seas and orbital lands. The orbital lands will also function as transformers on the earth’s climate. The population explosion will then have different meanings. Both terrestrial and extraterrestrial towns and cities will be arcological. 34. Arcology and Symmetry There are, among others, the following three kinds of symmetry: structural
symmetry,
functional
symmetry,
and
formal
symmetry.
Structural symmetry is probably observed throughout the universe. It is the necessary balancing of stresses that finds its patterns around points, lines, planes, and spaces of symmetry.
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Functional symmetry is observed very clearly in any organism, be it monocellular or highly composite. Functional symmetry is the direct solution to the constant wavering of the energy balances composing the living organism and its non-symmetrical behavior. Without such symmetry the organism would be constantly lopsided, that is to say, unfit for life. Formal symmetry might well be the imprint of all other kinds of symmetry into the mind and the sensitivity of man. Even if the impositions of structure and function were lifted, impositions that result in formal symmetry, there would still linger in man the need for a visual and in general sensorial symmetry. The greater the symmetry, the greater the vitality of the performance. Arcology is not an exception, especially when one considers the enormous structural and functional complexity involved. It is to be noted that arcology is never symmetrical for the individual user. In other words, the individual user is always eccentric to the whole: symmetry in the whole, singularity in the parts. 35. Arcology and Mobility Structure defines a certain configuration suited to a particular set of performances. Urban planning supposedly defines that structure which channels, contains, and swiftens the performances of society. Mobility in society does not reside in migratory waves but in the minute and perpetual shifting of bodies, functions, relationships, and mental processes of the body-social. To suppose that lack of structure favors mobility is tantamount to saying that a disintegrating corpse can function as a living body. To suppose furthermore that tenuity can favor mobility is like saying that nature was foolish in inventing almost exclusively threedimensional organisms. The explicit structurality of arcology and its three-dimensional congruence are, at least potentially, the basis for full and pragmatic mobility. In arcology coercive mobility is unnecessary—the kind of mobility, commuting for instance, that orders and pushes people and things around. (The penalty for noncooperation is the loss of man’s source of livelihood.) Unburdened of coercive mobility, free and functional mobility obtains the necessary elbow room for the full display of its dynamics.
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36. Arcology and the Biological An animal is an organism of one mind. The city is an organism of one thousand minds. This is the most significant difference between a biological organism and the city. Furthermore, those one thousand minds do not stay put. They are eminently peripatetic, but in clusters of three or four or so (the family) they tend to define a territoriality that is more static (the home). What confronts the planner is the organization of the body to the satisfaction of the thousand minds. One may say that while an inner center, the brain, is the center to which the body renders service biologically, urbanistically the epidermis made up of a thousand brains is the “center� to which the body is dedicated. The mental processes of the biological entity are centralized and interiorized; the mental processes of the city are diffuse and epidermal. While the skin is prevalently a defensive and containing device for the animal body, for the city it is eminently a casual, ontological structure. The miniaturizing implosion of the social body is thus accompanied by a micro-explosion of the thousand brains toward the periphery of the miniaturized organism. The mental, installed within its biological receptacle (the individual), places itself in the skin where its senses can capture both the natural vastness of the outer and the man-made miniaturization of the inner. This is a description of arcology. 37. Arcology and Cybernation The urban organism has a new tool on hand. It can delegate to a nonbiological brain some of its labors. This non-biological brain can be collectivized and can be interiorized because it does not belong to a body, to any body. Then the parallel between the biological and the urban is modified. In the biological, the brain and the body are single and almost certainly spatially coincidental. In the urban organism, the brain may be imagined as split: one part is the group of the single brains, each belonging to individuals; the other part is the collectivized non-biological brain ideally centered in the organism. In the urban organism, the mind remains in independent but correlated parcels divided spatially and coincidental with the parceled brains, the whole forming the mental or thinking skin of the city. In the function of
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the urban organism the implosion of the whole performance is paralleled by the parceling of the mind-brain toward the skin, leaving in the “cranial box� a shadow brain which is mechanically and chemically composed and not biologically developed. Such a centralized brain cares for the collective and instrumental functions while individual minds govern the pluralism inherent in the whole organism. Arcology is such an organism.
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Previous works
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Manuel Bouzas Barcala. Level 7. 2014-2015 2nd Term. Plan.
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Francisco Alfaro. Level 8. 2014-2015 2nd Term. Section.
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Javier Estebala Alรกndez. Level 7. 2014-2015 2nd Term. Plan.
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Francisco Alfaro. Level 8. 2014-2015 2nd Term. Plan.
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Julio Gotor Valcรกrcel. Level 7. 2014-2015 2nd Term. Model.
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Clara Alvari単o Galicia. Level 8. 2014-2015 2nd Term. Section.
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Manuel Bouzas Barcala. Level 7. 2014-2015 2nd Term. Model.
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Javier Estebala Alรกndez. Level 7. 2014-2015 2nd Term. Final image.
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Manuel Montoro. Level 7. 2014-2015 2nd Term. Plan.
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19 2015-2016
DPA - DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN ETSAM - ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL OF MADRID UPM - TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MADRID
Atlas of emulations of the Informal V: Residue Island
ud
Atlas of emulations of the Informal V: Residue Island
Paolo Soleri. “Mesa city” General Plan. 1966.
www.etsamadrid.upm.es www.dpa-etsam.com
ud
19
2014-2015
08
7 th International Design Seminar