The Material Field - Thesis Report

NATIONAL MASTERS AR5806

UNIVERSITY OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

OF

SINGAPORE ARCHITECTURE RESEARCH REPORT

THE MATERIAL FIELD: RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR INDETERMINATE & EMERGENT MATERIAL PRACTICES

SUPERVISOR: YAP TZE

ASSOCIATE LING,

PROFESSOR VALARIE

TSUTO |

SAKAMOTO A0160750M

ACKNOWLE DGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to give thanks to God for seeing me through this thesis journey. Praise be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I would also like to thank my thesis supervisor, Associate Professor Tsuto Sakamoto, for his patient and extremely insightful guidance throughout the many weeks of valuable consults.

To Dr Harry Tan for his help and recommendations of relevant literature.

To my church, volunteers, informal recyclers and rough sleepers in Toa Payoh who inspired this thesis topic.

Lastly to my mother, fiancé and friends who have been my loving encouragers since Day 1.

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ABSTRACT

Object-oriented realism has been criticised for enabling a dissolution of human reflexivity, by decentralizing the role of Man within objectrelational paradigms. As a thesis originating from the investigation of assemblages in informal cardboard collecting - and culminating in the study of how such material assemblages gradually reconstituted themselves across different and larger scales - this study seeks to provide new emancipatory findings and possibilities for

man, architecture and work precisely through objectoriented perspectives.

Specifically, studying how these objects exist, aggregate and affect the body across different scales yields new understandings and approaches to architecture as a mediator between body and object. It suggests a direction to look at architecture from the material itself first, rather than asking first how it serves us.

How we manouevre the space quickly becomes a question of

how the material conditions the body, and how the body responds to preserve itself.

And, beyond architecture, a new form of work is reimagined - one that is as undefined and recombinant as the material assemblages studied. Through an appropriate mode of field conditions that embraces its indeterminacy and flexibility, a liberating, bottom-up reconstitution of work and space can be produced, culminating in a productive and emergent landscape of opportunity for recyclers.

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SELF-DISCLOSURE OF RESEARCH The author has no competing interests to declare.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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ABSTRACT

3

SELF-DISCLOSURE OF RESEARCH

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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RESEARCH CONTEXT AND COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE > Introduction > Literature Review

> The case of San Francisco’s recyclers

> Object-focused realism and assemblage theory

7 8 11

RESEARCH APPROACH > Material culture studies: Isometric assemblage sketches

13 14

RESEARCH OUTPUTS > Part I: Decoding the grammar of the assemblages > Part II: Experimental drawings for M and L-scale assemblages

> M-scale: Rehydrating dried sponges

> L-scale: Phases and limits of material aggregation

57 58 77 78 84

CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE > The Material Field: Recycling infrastructure for indeterminate and emergent material practices

> Transformation of architecture

> Transformation of work

> Architectural drawings

92 93 96 98

CONCLUSION

118

BIBLIOGRAPHY

120

APPENDIX

123 5

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CONTEXT

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FIGURE 1

“It innocuously began as a modest inquiry into the odd carts parked around my neighbourhood”

Note. Author’s own.

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INTRODUCTION

This project began from a micro-scale focus on a form of informal work - cardboard collecting - in the small area of Central Toa Payoh, Singapore.

It innocuously began as a modest inquiry into the odd carts parked around my neighbourhood, right below my house. Some were hidden in dark and unreachable corners in back alleys and carparks, while others were placed in plain sight in the middle of shopping streets, coffeeshops, wet markets invisible and ignored, despite their occasionally towering stature and conspicuous contrivances composed of odd objects.

The investigations gradually developed around this central starting point, into an everexpanding universe of new characters - both human and non-human. The carts were owned by low-income elderly who primarily collected cardboard to sell to recycling companies, stacking them in the most remarkable ways with an instinctive and efficient ingenuity. Yet zooming out

further, these carts and them were merely part of an even larger mechanism of waste recycling that continued to expand and accumulate along a logistical chain of ever-increasing proportions.

Right at the centre of these unfolding scales, were the recyclables - tracking the flows and movement of these materials, I watched them mutate and shift in physical states along this lengthy journey, colliding with an evergreater plurality and complexity of material combinations: chairs, umbrellas, pots and pans, bicycle parts, clocks, calendars… one quickly grasps the lack of finitude in the list.

Eventually, it became apparent that the materials had vastly different ways of existing, aggregating and affecting the body across different scales. Each scale had their own different affect where the same materials could behave very differently, as they morphed from intimate cart to vast, sprawling landscape.

* * * This is an investigation that seeks to yield new architectural approaches and conceptions, where architecture can learn from the unfolding material studies and emergent patterns and be reinvented in materiality, form and program, among other possibilities.

This is an investigation that - as an initial inquiry into a type of informal work that inexorably ends up as a formalized, mechanized and institutionalized process seeks to drastically reimagine our assumptions of work.

This is an investigation that, despite intersecting with pressing social concerns such as elderly hardship in cardboard collecting, has ultimately tried to liberate itself from an anthropocentric viewpoint. Rather, an attempt is made to approach this from a study of material operations to yield fresh perspectives and emancipatory possibilities for them, beyond those produced by past human-centric avenues.

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LITERATURE REVIEW THE CASE OF SAN FRANCISCO’S RECYCLERS

FIGURE 2 “Bike-wagon”

Note. From “New Hobos or Neo-Romantic Fantasy? Urban Ethnography beyond the Neoliberal Disconnect.” by Teresa Gowan, 2009, Qualitative Sociology, 32, 231-257.

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THE Amid an absence of existing academic literature on informal cardboard collecting in Singapore, one may turn to sociologist Teresa Gowan’s indepth ethnographic account of San Francisco’s own informal recyclers. The nuances of this line of work, vividly captured

by Gowan, bear a striking resemblance with what is observable in Singapore. Albeit its naturally anthropocentric perspective that runs counter to this investigation’s intended lens, it is uniquely helpful (and therefore uniquely referenced as a sociological account) in its thick description of the relationships and interactions between human and non-human materials.

In both her 1997 and 2009 ethnographies, Gowan depicts the validating nature of dealing with this flow of materials as an informal way to retain participation in the economy and a form of dignity, bereft of the ignominy of other subsistence strategies (such as panhandling) for the low-income who have been precluded from the formal economy and labour market (Gowan, 1997, p.160; Gowan, 2009, p.238). The work and transactions surrounding their recycling thus becomes a means for a “rationalised economic transaction… free from the usual compulsory humiliation rituals” and a way of figuring themselves back within vital capital flows (Gowan, 1997, pp.183-184).

In their skillful negotiation of these material capital flows -

MATERIAL gathering, sorting, processing and transporting recyclables - there is a significant amount of finesse and effort invested into the labour, allowing them to “[remake] themselves in the image of a skilled blue-collar worker” and therefore gain self-respect (Gowan, 2009, p.235). As it deals primarily with waste materials, there is a necessity to overcome the initial indignities of dirt, besides the poor wages involved. Yet, the activity and hard work poured into it eventually becomes a necessary subsistence strategy and “identity resource”, useful for both financial and psychological survival (Gowan, 2009, p.240).

Gowan’s vivid description of the accumulation and transportation of material on their carts are especially resemblant of the situation in Singapore:

FIELD through personal observations.

Also, Figure 1 shows a singular glimpse provided by Gowan’s 2009 ethnography into an example of the San Francisco recyclers’ carts - a bicycle and shopping cart hybrid composition - hinting at an improvisational ingenuity involved in the assembly of their carts, and highly reminiscent of the complexity of such carts among Singaporean recyclers.

This will be further explored in a later section that studies these cart-assemblages and their material cultures. Gowan’s ethnographic accounts are therefore a vital reference in the lack of existing literature on Singapore’s own informal recyclers, with its strong resemblance to the local relationships between the people and materials involved.

[The] cart swelled into a wide, unstable monster of a burden… they would now swing their carts onto the street, claiming the uncluttered space they needed to maneuver their loads... to plan the route to the recycling center ahead, avoiding high curbs, uneven ground, hills, and streets with excessive camber.

(Gowan, 2009, p.241).

This phenomenon is similarly observable locally, as substantiated by the Facebook posts of a local volunteer group Happy People Helping People (see Figure 2) and 9

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FIGURE 3 Avoiding high curbs and uneven ground

Note. From Happy People Helping People Community (2020, February 16). KOTAK. [Embedded video]. Facebook.

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THE

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LITERATURE REVIEW OBJECT-FOCUSED REALISM AND ASSEMBLAGE THEORY

Following one of the key investigative intentions of departing from human-centric perspectives, it is essential to move on from this singular anthropological source to the main body of more material-oriented literature.

In this respect it is vital to situate the investigative lens within the broader tenets of New Materialism (NM) and object-oriented ontology (OOO), object-focused realist movements which emerged at the turn of the 21st century that stand in contradistinction to anthropocentrism, in decentralizing the role of Man among object-relational paradigms (Leach, 2016, p.344). The advent of these movements mark a growing cognizance of the futility of foregrounding ourselves as human actors - especially in an era of rapidly-unfolding ecological phenomena that are destabilizing our way of life and are increasingly beyond our control (Morton, 2013, p.158).

Hence, this investigation seeks to reposition the materials involved - the recyclables - as central actors: shining new light on their nonhuman perspectives, and

understanding the materials’ own life and processes as their own independent, potentially self-organizing forces.

Established in these broader ideas of an object-focused realism, lies a substantial imperative to observe these objects acting within an assemblage (or assemblages).

Literary scholar Benjamin Boysen’s critique of OOO and NM is manifold, among which he identifies the escape of human culpability in this adopted lens of material assemblages: “Personal and political responsibility becomes difficult to sustain, when agency is situated in bodies and material assemblages rather than in conscious, spontaneous, and reflexive human subjects” (Boysen, 2018, p.226). Boysen thus asserts there is a shift of ethical responsibility to non-human matter with the adoption of this lens, which to him is a renunciation of agency and reflexivity. The investigation in this thesis would like to argue for the opposite: to explore the possibility that shifting to a more object-oriented lens one that also views all matter

as acting within assemblages - could be utilized as a liberating design research perspective - even for issues that may intersect with social concerns - to engender fresh emancipatory possibilities for human agency and reflexivity.

A critical text to engage this with is continental philosopher Manuel DeLanda’s Assemblage Theory (2016), wherein DeLanda posits the objective autonomy of problems, existing independently from how they are presented in our human minds and from their solutions: “what is problematic is not just what strikes our minds as being in need of explanation” (p.178). Hence this strain of realism is not one that seeks to dissolve human agency and culpability as Boysen suggests, but one that helps to liberate agentic discoveries from being contingent upon the limiting human gaze.

The next question then would be how DeLanda’s explication of the assemblage theory can serve as a liberating theoretical framework and tool, i.e. for looking at material assemblages such as the carts 11

RESEARCH

CONTEXT

and landscapes formed by the recyclables, which form the research focus. Firstly, this necessitates an understanding of the nature of assemblages.

A concept originating from philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus in 1987, DeLanda (2016) consolidated the numerous definitions they provided for the theory and illustrated the terms necessary to comprehend them (p.1): Translated from the French word agencement, DeLanda points to its original meaning as an “action of matching or fitting together a set of components… an ensemble of parts that mesh together well” (p.1). However, the beauty of this framework is the endless potential in its flexibility and fleeting, emergent filiations: their contingent relations do not define the identity of their constituents (p.3), yet when properly matched they possess new properties not possessed by individual parts (p.5). The strength of the framework thus lies in the mutability of assemblages to be dissolved and reconstituted to form other, new assemblages (p.10), forming a “virtual structure of possibility spaces” that can open up new and novel combinations (p.151). This leads to the enduring question for our perennial consideration: “What capacities to affect and be affected would be exercised when interacting with other assemblages that it has never interacted with?” (pp.185-186).

In the succeeding sections, 12

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this theoretical lens will prove to be especially useful in analyzing the respective material biographies and genealogies of interest where parts will be seen to be constantly constituted and reconstituted: detached from one assemblage into another, and involving assemblages of different characteristics - some are ad hoc and fleeting, while others far more territorialized and formalized. Its degree of territorialization will also be a useful indicator of reflexivity and structuring new possibilities, as it quickly becomes a measure of the extent of homogenization and impermeability of the assemblages (p.3).

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MATERIAL CULTURE STUDIES ISOMETRIC ASSEMBLAGE SKETCHES

In this section, the research approach adopted is a close observation and drawing study of material assemblages found in the low-income landscape of Toa Payoh (where I live and where I have found the recyclers’ carts scattered around). Albeit its focus on the recyclers’ various assemblages, this material landscape is deeply entangled with the assemblages of other human actors as well - such as the street homeless, rental flat occupants, and hoarders. The vulnerable nature of these subjects ultimately benefit from the privacy and obscuration of personal details afforded by the object-oriented approach.

Even so, certain observation entries have had further details withheld (such as date, time and location found) where deemed necessary.

low-income demographic are intrinsically intertwined, and the blurred boundaries are manifest in the material culture of their objects. They tell of a set of personal belongings for living and working that are all found in the public sphere, forming a “diaspora” of objects in the low-income landscape that are constantly deterritorialized and re-territorialized, never truly belonging anywhere. For example, Assemblage 35 was parked outside a recycler’s home, but resulted in a $300 fine, a substantial amount compared to a day’s wages of just a few dollars. Even for rental flat dwellers, their assemblages are pushed out, due to lack of space or hoarding behaviours (see Assemblage 24-26; 36; 40). Therefore, such public space contestations are vividly revealed.

These studies firstly reveal that the different facets of the

By conforming the chaos of objects in the environment to

the operational method of the isometric grid, these seemingly random and disordered assemblages begin to reveal a hidden logic and intelligence - with a very methodical processing of various materials found in urban space, and telling of various inner workings of their psyche. These include fundamental instincts to protect or defend their things, or new perspectives on the use or value of certain materials not conventionally held by others.

Ultimately, the objective realities observed paint a bigger picture of the more intangible social realities, such as prevalent theft, conflicts and competition, especially among informal cardboard collectors.

This “psychoanalysis” of the assemblages will occur in the subsequent section, where its grammar will be decoded and distilled into a summary of 10 dominant themes (see Research Outputs - Part I).

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 01 15/8/20 7.19PM

Found: In the open

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

“SELL”

Drawing sheet #: 1

“SALVAGE”

PROTOTYPICAL CART 1

Component types: 5

14

Salvaged bags and ropes (behind) for securing large cardboard stacks (in front)

THE

MATERIAL

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ASSEMBLAGE 02 15/8/20 7.31PM

Found: Hidden among bikes

Drawing sheet #: 1

“PROTECT” “FLIP” “REPURPOSE”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

BICYCLE LOT OFFICE

Component types: 7

A makeshift workstation formed from flipping a plastic crate on two bollards

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 03 15/8/20 7.56PM

Found: In the open

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

Drawing sheet #: 1

“SELL”

“SALVAGE”

PROTOTYPICAL CART 2

Component types: 5

16

Highly similar in composition and parts to prototypical cart 1 (generic typology)

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 04 15/8/20 8.02PM

Found: Hidden in back alley corner

“???”

Drawing sheet #: 2

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

DURIAN SHELL-MOBILE

Component types: 3

Odd collection of empty durian shells, plasticprotected, wheeled by a gas tank trolley

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 05 15/8/20 8.03PM

Found: Hidden below carpark

Drawing sheet #: 2

“FLIP” “PROTECT” “SALVAGE” “DEFEND” MOVABLE STRUCTURE FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

CARPARK CART 1

Component types: 6

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Highly fortified: locked, hidden in deepest corner, protected with various “cover” objects

THE

MATERIAL

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ASSEMBLAGE 06 15/8/20 8.03PM

Found: Hidden below carpark

“PROTECT”

Drawing sheet #: 2

“SALVAGE” FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

MOVABLE STRUCTURE “DEFEND” “EAT”

CARPARK CART 2

Component types: 4

Similarly fortified, but with a mango tied to it.

Maybe emergency food?

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 07 15/8/20 8.09PM

Found: Hidden in back alley corner

Drawing sheet #: 3

“SELL”

“PROTECT”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

“SALVAGE”

YELLOW JACKET CART

Component types: 5

20

First instance of extending carts with boards for larger stacking surface area

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 08 15/8/20 8.08PM

Found: Hidden below carpark

Drawing sheet #: 3

“DEFEND” “SALVAGE”

“SALVAGE”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

BACK-TO-BACK CART

Component types: 6

In the absence of fixed structures for fortification, two carts defend each other

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 09 15/8/20 8.08PM

Found: Hidden below carpark

Drawing sheet #: 4

“SALVAGE”

“PROTECT” “PROTECT”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

PLASTIC TREASURE

Component types: 2

22

Extremely hidden as if it were valuable treasure, protected by what it protects

THE

MATERIAL

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ASSEMBLAGE 10 15/8/20 10.22PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 4

DUSTBIN 1

Component types: 3

Devoid of intentionality, as a raw resource pool assembled by multiple unwitting authors

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 11 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 5

“SALVAGE”

“REPURPOSE + DEFEND”

“REPURPOSE” FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

URBAN HOME 1

Component types: 3

24

Cardboard salvaged as a bed, and bag defended while being a pillow

THE

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ASSEMBLAGE 12 15/8/20 10.12PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 5

DUSTBIN 2

Component types: 3

Similarly devoid of intentionality, yet already it seems to undergo superficial waste sorting

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 13 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 6

“PROTECT” “SALVAGE”

“REPURPOSE”

“DEFEND”

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

Component types: 5

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URBAN HOME 2 Cardboard salvaged as a bed, bags defended with body, umbrella blocking streetlights

THE

MATERIAL

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ASSEMBLAGE 14 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 6

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT) “REPURPOSE” + MOVABLE STRUCTURE

“SALVAGE”

URBAN HOME 3

Component types: 4

Another makeshift workstation, this time with a plastic trolley and public bench

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 15 21/8/20 10.08PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 7

“FLIP”

“PROTECT”

“TIE”

“SALVAGE” “SELL”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

“DEFEND”

CHAIRFLIP CART

Component types: 7

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Balanced with great finesse, the chair is both a protective cover and hanger

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 16 19/8/20 11.50PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 7

“PROTECT”

“FLIP”

“TIE”

“EXTEND” MOVABLE STRUCTURE

TARPAULIN CART 1

Component types: 9

A series of tarpaulincovered carts found mysteriously lying by traffic lights unattended

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 17 19/8/20 11.51PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 7

“???”

“TIE”

“SALVAGE”

“PROTECT” MOVABLE STRUCTURE

TARPAULIN CART 2

Component types: 6

30

An odd urban camouflage is formed with falling branches, pots and tarpaulin

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 18 19/8/20 11.48PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 8

“PROTECT” “SELL”

“TIE”

“SALVAGE”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

Component types: 9

TARPAULIN CART 3 Precariously balanced and packed onto the small cart surface area, requiring finesse

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 19 19/8/20 11.48PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 8

“SALVAGE”

“PROTECT”

TARPAULIN CART 4

Component types: ?

32

So thoroughly covered that its components are a mystery (beyond scrap metal)

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 20 19/8/20 11.47PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 8

“FLIP” “PROTECT” “SALVAGE”

“EXTEND” “REPURPOSE” MOVABLE STRUCTURE

MAKESHIFT HANDLE 1

Component types: 6

The first of a series of carts with makeshift handles, usually seatbelts

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 21 21/8/20 4.30PM

Found: In a corner

Drawing sheet #: 9

“PROTECT”

“SALVAGE”

“SELL”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

TROPHY CART

Component types: 5

34

A collection of shiny silver objects like a trophy, fan, oil can, wires

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 22 21/8/20 4.36PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 9

“SELL”

“SALVAGE” “EXTEND”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

DEJA VU CART

Component types: 6

The torn plastic bag behind is for storage, as seen again later

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 23 21/8/20 4.41PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 9

“SELL”

“DEFEND x 2”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

Component types: 4

36

OFF-DUTY CART Parked at rental flats’ clothesdrying pole, though its owner may not live there

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 24 21/8/20 4.48PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 10

“PROTECT” FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

“SALVAGE”

AMBIGUOUS MASS

Component types: 5

Limited space in rental flats forces personal belongings to live on the streets

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 25 21/8/20 4.48PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 10

“REPURPOSE” “GROW” “SALVAGE”

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

STYROFOAM PLANTER

Component types: 3

38

Demonstrates the versatility of salvaged carton boxes beyond its use in shipping goods

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 26 21/8/20 4.46PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 10

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT) “SALVAGE”

AL FRESCO DINING

Component types: 3

Space originally intended for clothes-drying is quickly subverted due to space constraints

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 27 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

“DEPLOY”

Drawing sheet #: 11

“PROTECT” “SELL”

“BEAUTIFY”

“DEFEND”

“DEFEND”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

MEGASTRUCTURE 1

Component types: ?

40

Beautified to accumulate cardboard from friends/ strangers before picking it up with motorcycle

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 28 Date and time undisclosed

“BEAUTIFY” Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 12

“SALVAGE” “TIE” “BEAUTIFY”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

PATRIOTIC CART

Component types: 3

Proudly bearing a large Singapore flag behind and a smaller one in front

41

RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 29 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 12

“SELL”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

“DEPLOY”

“REPURPOSE”

MAKESHIFT HANDLE 2

Component types: 5

42

A deployable cart with makeshift string/rope handles... and a jovial demeanor

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 30 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 13

“DEFEND” FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

“SLEEP”

URBAN HOME 4

Component types: 3

Sunbed locked to a sheltered pavilion someone probably sleeps here at night

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 31 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 13

“DEFEND x 3”

“TIE” FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

“DEFEND”

PRECIOUS THRONE 1

Component types: 4

44

Chairs ridiculously secured to fixed ramp structure - one tied thrice, another locked

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 32 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

“PROTECT”

Drawing sheet #: 13

“FLIP”

“DEFEND”

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

Component types: 4

PRECIOUS THRONE 2 This widespread locking prompts a reconsideration of what we assume is “valuable”

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 33 Date and time undisclosed

“REPURPOSE” Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 14

“FLIP”

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

HIGH FIVE BIN

Component types: 4

46

A dishwasher’s break time spot for drying gloves take on anthropomorphic qualities

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 34 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

Drawing sheet #: 14

“SELL”

“DEFEND”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

PILLAR PARKING

Component types: 5

Closer inspection reveals this defense is ironically lacking in protecting most objects here

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 35 Date and time undisclosed

“REPURPOSE”

Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 14

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT) “SALVAGE”

“DEFEND”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

MAXIMUM UTILITY

Component types: 4

48

Every feature and space for storage is utilized in this rental flat corridor

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 36 27/8/20 5.05PM

“FLIP” Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 15

“HOARD” “FLIP” “DEFEND”

“SALVAGE”

“TIE”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

HOARDER’S CART

Component types: ?

Similar to the back-toback cart in affixing two carts together for defensive immobilization

49

RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 37 27/8/20 4.48PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 16

“PROTECT”

“TIE”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

TARPAULIN CART 5

Component types: 5

50

Could have been previously encountered tarpaulin cart, but too well-covered to identify

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 38 27/8/20 4.52PM

Found: In the open

Drawing sheet #: 16

“SELL” “FLIP”

“EAT”

“DEFEND” “TIE”

“FLIP”

“SALVAGE”

“EXTEND” MOVABLE STRUCTURE

Component types: ?

DEJA VU CART The plastic bag epiphany led to realizing the cart was previously encountered

51

RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 39 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 16

“REPURPOSE” “SELL”

“DEPLOY”

“PROTECT” “TIE”

“EXTEND” “SALVAGE”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

Component types: 6

52

MAKESHIFT HANDLE 3 Noteworthy: deployable cart made from a seatbelt and carton + table legs extension

THE

MATERIAL

FIELD

ASSEMBLAGE 40 27/8/20 5.10PM

Found: In the open

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

Drawing sheet #: 17

“SELL” “HOARD” “PROTECT”

FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)

“SALVAGE” “PEST CONTROL” “DEFEND” MOVABLE STRUCTURE

Component types: ?

MEGASTRUCTURE 2 The biggest question: how the IKEA trolley travelled from Alexandra to Toa Payoh

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RESEARCH

APPROACH

ASSEMBLAGE 41 Date and time undisclosed

Location undisclosed

“EXTEND”

Drawing sheet #: 18

“TIE” “SALVAGE”

“DRINK”

“SALVAGE”

MOVABLE STRUCTURE

VERTICAL EXTENSION

Component types: 4

54

Prior instances of extending surfaces were lateral, which makes this vertical instance unique

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ASSEMBLAGE 42 Date and time undisclosed

“PROTECT” Location undisclosed

Drawing sheet #: 18

“BEAUTIFY”

SHOPFRONT

MOVABLE STRUCTURE Component types: ?

ICE-CREAM BIKE With a DIY-looking roof messily built from steel sections and decorated with tape

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RESEARCH

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OUTPUTS

THE

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FIELD

PAR T I: DECODING THE GRAMMAR OF THE ASSEMBLAGES 10 DOMINANT THEMES

The following section presents Part I of the research output, comprising a distillation of 10 dominant operations found in the 42 assemblages studied.

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OUTPUTS

BAGS ROPE SALVAG ON OUR OF

CARDBOARD FOR A CLEAN SURFACE TO SLEEP ON

STYROFOAM BOXES CAN'T BE SOLD BUT ARE VERY USEFUL

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THE

S, STRINGS AND ES ARE ALWAYS GED AND HUNG R BACKS... TOOLS F THE TRADE

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PLASTIC BAGS ARE ALWAYS USEFUL TO HAVE AROUND

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P R O 1:SALVAGE T E C T JACKETS & TOWELS CONCEAL AND WEATHERPROOF PERSONAL BELONGINGS IN OPEN SPACE

OUR OWNERS HAVE HOARDED US... WE CAN ONLY SIT OUTSIDE THE HOUSE NOW

Occupying the top ranking is I PROTECT salvaging.

The prototypical GRANNY FROM LIGHTS cart HARSH maximizes its handle as a storage space for hanging salvaged bags and strings, used in informal recycling to store personal belongings and TARPAULIN IS USEFUL FOR OUR secure cardboard stacks.

Plastic LARGER FRIENDS bags are also salvaged for weather and dust protection.

For the homeless, cardboard provides clean surfaces in public areas for sleeping. And although styrofoam boxes cannot be sold as recyclables, they are commonly salvaged for storage, protective covers, or even to be reused as a planter. Lastly, a variety of miscellaneous materials may also be salvaged albeit having no immediate use, due to hoarding behaviours.

I'M A CHAIR AND I'M TRYING MY BEST

I BLOCK THE SUN FOR GRANNY

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P R O T E C T

OUTPUTS

JACKETS & TOWELS CONCEAL AND WEATHERPROOF PERSONAL BELONGINGS IN OPEN SPACE

I'M A CHAIR AND I'M TRYING MY BEST I PROTECT GRANNY FROM HARSH LIGHTS

TARPAULIN IS USEFUL FOR OUR LARGER FRIENDS

N E

I BLOCK THE SUN FOR GRANNY

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THE

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PLASTICS PROTECT AGAINST THE ELEMENTS AND PRYING EYES

D E F 2:P E ROTECT N D Protection is the second most prevalent theme. Distinguished from defense, it is concerned with weather and privacy protection. Jackets and towels perform this dual function, placed over bikes and the handle area of carts, as personal belongings cannot get wet but cardboard can (since it is sold by weight, wet cardboard is lucrative). They also conceal these valuables from prying eyes to prevent temptation for theft. Other materials like tarpaulin, plastics, boxes, and even chairs may also perform these dual functions. More conventional protective objects like the umbrella or hat also exist, i.e. to block streetlights when sleeping outside.

MY METAL ROOF PROTECTS THE ICE CREAM AND THE UNCLE

FIELD

WE'VE GOT EACH OTHER'S BACKS

I'M NOT LOCKED TO ANYTHING YET

WE HUDDLE AS A GROUP SO THIEVES CAN'T MOVE US

NOBODY TAKES MY POT

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D E F E N D

OUTPUTS

WE CLING PUBLIC STRUC PROTEC

WE'VE GOT EACH OTHER'S BACKS

W O

I'M NOT LOCKED TO ANYTHING YET

WE HUDDLE AS A GROUP SO THIEVES CAN'T MOVE US

E

NOBODY TAKES MY POT

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TO FIXED CTURES FOR CTION

3:DEFEND

WE FIND SAFETY BESIDE OUR OWNER'S HEAD

The third most dominant operation, defense, speaks volumes on the culture of competition and prevalent theft. It also prompts us to reconsider preconceived notions of what is valuable and worth protecting, as even plastic chairs are defended.

Most commonly, movable objects like carts and chairs are locked or tied to fixed structures such as railings, pillars, or laundry poles. Yet in the absence of a fixed structure, ingenious solutions arise to secure assemblages: two carts can be immobilized by affixing them back-toback, and giant carts can be immobilized by affixing them to other carts and trolleys with different wheel orientations.

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S E L L

OUTPUTS

CARDBOARD DOMINATES THE RECYCLING SCENE

OUR OWNERS CUT US UP AND STOMP US WITH THEIR FEET :(

SORRY FOR MAKING THEIR HANDS GREASY... WE HOLD COOKING OIL

EGG CARTONS ARE ALSO SOLD FOR MONEY

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JUST SOME METAL SCRAPS AND WIRES

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4:SELL

Only a portion of the assemblages studied were carts with scavenged materials for actual sale and recycling.

Cardboard is the most prevalent and abundant material, and the assemblages are put together with great effort and finesse, i.e. cutting and stomping to flatten the cardboard for compact stacking.

Other sellable but less prevalent materials include aluminium drink cans, vegetable oil cans, newspaper, egg cartons, scrap metal and wires, among a longer list of miscellaneous recyclables. Yet cardboard is of the greatest abundance, sufficient to make a daily living on. Hence, the informal YOU CAN'T STEAL US NOW recyclers are more commonly known as cardboard collectors.

WE

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T I E

WE

KEEP

WE MAKE EM STAND UP (FOR SINGAPORE?)

YOU CAN'T STEAL US NOW

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THIN

NGS

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SECURE :)

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THIS PUBLIC BICYCLE LOT IS NOW MY OWNER'S PRIVATE STUDY

R E P U 5:TIE R P O S as an operation plays a Tying critical role to the fleeting and E recombinant nature of material GOOD NIGHT

filiations in the assemblages: it provides a reliable method of securing that facilitates the ad hoc nature of day-to-day assembly and disassembly forming other, newer assemblages the next day, or even hour (as one stack of cardboard is sold off after another). Besides securing assemblages together, tying I'M MEANT FOR AND serves as a meansSHIPPING... of defense, PLANTING?! intersecting with the third operation. The compulsion to tie runs strong, as it is even found in objects with holes of merely a few millimeters, like strainer pots and plastic chairs.

NO HANDLE? NO PROBLEM FOR US

MY OWNER IS TAKING A BREAK FROM WASHING DISHES

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R E P U R P O S E

OUTPUTS

THIS PUBLIC BICYCLE LOT IS NOW MY OWNER'S PRIVATE STUDY

I'M A AND

GOOD NIGHT

NO HANDLE? NO PROBLEM FOR US

I'M MEANT FOR SHIPPING... AND PLANTING?!

MY OWNER IS TAKING A BREAK FROM WASHING DISHES

I'M A WALKING AID FOR AUNTIE

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THE

A BAG, I'M A PILLOW, D I'M UNSNATCHABLE

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6:REPURPOSE

Recalling DeLanda (2016), membership to assemblages do not define the identity of its constituents (p.3), yet when properly matched they possess new properties not possessed by individual parts (p.5). Hence a plastic crate retains its identity as a plastic crate but gains a new property as a study table, when flipped upon two bicycle parking bollards and paired with a computer chair. Other instances of ad hoc repurposing include cardboard beds, bag pillows, seatbelt trolley handles, styrofoam planters, balcony railing laundrypoles, a chair leg drying rack, and even the prototypical cart as a walking aid for elderly recyclers.

I KEEP YOU SAFE AND KEEP AUNTIE'S CLOTHES DRY

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OUTPUTS

F L I P

BOX FLIP!

CHAIR FLIP!

I'M PROTECTIVE

I'M PROTECTIVE TOO

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HI-FIVE ME

CART FLIP

P!

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7:FLIP

The least comprehensible operation, yet undeniably ubiquitous, is the act of flipping objects upside down.

This is consistently observed with chairs, boxes and carts. At best, there are two guesses for its purpose. The more evident of the two is repurposing, such as the flipping of boxes to serve as a table or protective cover, or flipping of a chair to use its legs for drying gloves. The second, more tenuous speculation would be that things simply stack better upside down. Both the carts and wheeled chair are arguably more stable as stacking components when their wheels are facing upwards.

WE'RE ALL EXTENDED

BY BOARDS! TO COLLECT MORE RECYCLABLES AND MINIMIZE TRIPS

I'M EXTENDED BY RUSTY TABLE LEGS, BUT DON'T GET CUT

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OUTPUTS

E X T E N D

WE'RE ALL EXTENDED

BY BOARDS! TO COLLECT MORE RECYCLABLES AND MINIMIZE TRIPS

I'M EXTENDED BY RUSTY TABLE LEGS, BUT DON'T GET CUT

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B E A 8:EXTEND U T I F Y there is an abundance When

of cardboard and materials to gather, but only a small cart at hand, attempts would naturally be made to increase its limited surface area. These extensions mostly occur laterally, usually with a wooden board or table legs, to produce a wider and stabler base for stacking.

They are often weighed down with heavy objects in the middle of the cart, so that the extended portions cantilever outwards. An instance of vertical extension is also recorded, where extensions could also function as a tool rack to hang tools of the trade, such as ropes for tying.

D E P L O Y

I'M EXTENDED BY METAL GRIDS, WHICH CAN BE USED TO HANG THE ROPES...

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

I ATTRACT PEOPLE TO DUMP THEIR CARDBOARD HERE, WHICH MOTORCYCLE UNCLE WILL PICK UP

GRANNY DOESN'T HAVE TO TAKE ME ALONG ALL THE TIME

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OUTPUTS

B E A U T I F Y

D E P L O Y

I ATTRACT PEOPLE TO DUMP THEIR CARDBOARD HERE, WHICH MOTORCYCLE UNCLE WILL PICK UP

GRANNY DOESN'T HAVE TO TAKE ME ALONG ALL THE TIME

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MY OWNER TAKES PRIDE IN ME, AND THE COUNTRY TOO! IS DECORATING ALSO A WAY TO MAINTAIN DIGNITY?

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9:BEAUTIFY 10:DEPLOY

To beautify is to catch the attention of people and attract them to the assemblage for a specific purpose, such as to make them dump cardboard or buy ice cream there. Yet it may also be an indicator of taking pride in the assemblage, through its maintenance and decoration; a way to maintain one’s dignity with old and salvaged belongings.

Meanwhile, deploying encapsulates a spirit of efficient, ad hoc problem-solving. A lighter and impromptu cart can be fashioned from an old seatbelt and carton, or strings and plastic crates, to save the effort of pushing a heavier main cart everywhere.

COOLER THAN TRANSFORMERS

MY PARTY BANNERS CATCH YOUR EYE! BUY MY ICE CREAM

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PAR T II: EXPERIMENTAL DRAWINGS STUDYING THE AGGREGATION AND AFFECT OF M AND L-SCALE ASSEMBLAGES

Part II consists of drawing experiments based on the notion that the research drawings in Part I deal with small-scale assemblages, and that its manifestations across increasingly larger scales are worthy of further study - in order to understand how the materials exist, aggregate and affect the body across different scales (the research focus).

The medium-scale assemblage drawing experiment revolves around the notion that the Part I sketches are “dried sponges” that can be “rehydrated” - analyzed for architectural opportunities and expanded.

The L-scale experimental drawings explore the phases and limits of material aggregation and its affect on the viewer, imagined upon further research conducted when the genealogy of recycleables were traced to larger material landscapes (see Appendix).

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M-SCALE EXPERIMENTAL DRAWINGS REHYDRATING DRIED SPONGES

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L-SCALE EXPERIMENTAL DRAWINGS PHASES AND LIMITS OF MATERIAL AGGREGATION

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THE MATERIAL FIELD: RECYCLING IN FRASTRUCTURE FOR INDETERMINATE AND EMERGEN T MATERIAL PRACTICES TRANSFORMATION OF ARCHITECTURE

As stated in the introduction, this thesis investigation seeks to learn from its study of unfolding and emergent patterns of material culture and flows, to inform new architectural approaches and conceptions (i.e. of materiality, form and program). Recalling DeLanda (2016), the definition of the assemblage itself revolves around respecting the heterogenous identities of its constituents, despite their membership to the assemblage (p.2). Referred to as relations of exteriority (p.73) or extrinsic relations, DeLanda situates these relations as constituting majority of the relations in our world (p.2). And evocative of the extrinsic relationship of things is architect Stan Allen’s articulation of field conditions (Allen, 2010, p.21) and infrastructural urbanism (Allen, 1999, p.52), largely developed at the turn of the century. Like New Materialism, it similarly rejects past, intrinsic representational models to focus on concrete matter and their own, extrinsic ways of

working in our world (Allen, 2010, p.23). These field conditions were concerned with the design of assemblages, creating zones of “directed indeterminacy” that pointed to the agentic capacities of infrastructure (Allen, 2010, p.25).

This is the context in which I wish to culminate my research into an architectural design approach: conceiving of recycling infrastructure as a big “field “ where all kinds of recycling activities and assemblages could be generated - in their own heterogeneous, pluralistic, and potentially self-organizing ways; living assemblages nested in a larger assemblage of the “field”. The recycling activities and assemblages are left indeterminate to be directed by and emerging from the rich material culture of recyclers and recycling, as shown in the research. Empty workshop plots would be allocated to craftsmen working with different materials at different scales. Hence, each

workshop space would be uniquely formed out of their needs and the material flows supplied to them through a large cylinder holding area, where they can pick their desired materials. It would be brought up to them through UFO claws and a conveyor belt circulating the entire building (see overall building diagram on pp. 92 and 94). The “field” , primarily understood as material practices, becomes the site of extrinsic relations, where the problem and end is not defined from the beginning: these activities and spaces develop over time and construct themselves - when human actors like informal recyclers enter, enjoy the space and engage with the non-human, material actors circulating the cylinder and conveyor system. The improvisational spirit of the earlier assemblages studied is thus captured in the recombinant flexibility this proposed infrastructure provides.

In

summary,

spaces

of 93

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THE “directed indeterminacy” are provided for the development of new materials, assemblages and activities, but not in a fixed manner. It is concerned, instead, with coming up with the conditions for it (see Transformation of work), without telling what any one particular workshop would be for.

These cylinder and workshop landscapes can thus change from day to day depending on the type of production and materials available, just like the conditions faced by the informal recyclers’ cart-assemblages.

This open program is similar to how informal recycling was not a preexisting work designation but something developed from existing conditions (lack of a formalized institution of work) and harnessed from available material flows.

Beyond that, the angle from which it seeks to position itself as a contribution to the architectural discipline is this: by countering the anthropocentric gaze in design to embrace the rich, independent (and codependent) workings of extrinsic material relationships found in our surroundings, one is suggested to first look at architecture from the perspective of the material itself, rather than asking first how it could serve us. How we manouevre the space quickly becomes a question of how the material conditions the body, and how the body responds to preserve itself.

MATERIAL

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This is evidenced in the dance that has to be taught and learnt in order to navigate the workshop bay areas, as the body is forced to negotiate itself with the changing landscape of materials running along the conveyor and the workshops. In that sense, the transformation of architecture could occur as such: “ [ A r c h i t e c t u r e ’s ] instrumentality can be reconceived... as the site of architecture’s contact with the complexity of the real.

By immersing architecture in the world of things, it becomes possible to produce... a ‘volatile, unordered, unpoliceable communication that will always outwit the judicial domination of language.’”

(Evans, 1995, discussed in Allen, 1999, p.52) This dangerous waltz between man and object forms the ultimate violent confrontation of the human being and the extrinsic world of objects, of which this architecture seeks to pioneer a stage for.

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THE MATERIAL FIELD: RECYCLING IN FRASTRUCTURE FOR INDETERMINATE AND EMERGEN T MATERIAL PRACTICES TRANSFORMATION OF WORK

Beyond rethinking architecture as a critical site of our confrontation with the extrinsic relationships of this material world, the investigation also seeks to reimagine the very institution of work we know of today. Starting from an initial inquiry into the informal labour of the cardboard collectors, the study traced cardboard to its inexorable destiny within formalized and institutionalized processes of large recycling machinery (see Appendix). An impetus is formed in resisting the homogenizing processes of erasure in transforming these materially rich cartassemblages, and the various transmutations of cardboard, back into the tabula rasa of brand-new cardboard paper.

There is also a desire to help the informal recyclers escape from this larger institution of recycling that they are entrenched within - with its top-down price-fixing, determined by large recycling companies, that trickle and dwindle down the chain of hands that cardboard passes through to the low wages 96

of

the

informal

recyclers.

As stated in the beginning, emancipatory possibilities are approached from a position that resists a limiting humancentric gaze, but rather, draws fresh perspectives from a study of material operations. And as mentioned earlier, it was precisely the lack of access to formalized institutions of work, coupled with existing rich material flows, that generated the conditions necessary for the emergence of informal cardboard collecting. Commenting on the informal economy in East Asian development, Cheng and Gereffi (1994) argue for its essential nature, where there is potential for it to be productive and connected to the wider global economy, rather than stagnate and be relegated to the margins (p.216). Learning from the earlier section, we can pursue a critical reexamination of work in the architecture as well - instead of reducing it to being linked to existing fixed programs, the nature of work can similarly be reinvented

through

indeterminacy.

Learning from Constant Nieuwenhuys’ New Babylon, a project that envisions a hypothetical city of drifters, it is composed of a series of spaces and structures with no clear designated function. These structures were conceived as such not as a formal preference, but to produce a variation of spaces for people to freely develop new activities, selves and ways of living of their own making (Wigley & Nieuwenhuys, 1998, p.5-6).

Like the field, a specific use is not designated, and programs can change from day to day, contributing to new ideas of work. As Allen (2010) has rightfully pointed out, material practices are able to “organize and transform aggregates of labor, materials, energy and resources” (p.53), and infrastructures that understand themselves as material practices are able to direct the future of work in cities, managing these resource flows in a site, and responding to flux

THE and change in the availability of resources (p.57). This critically occurs not by a topdown articulation of rules, but simply in a bottom-up process of emergence arising from the conditions provided (p.57).

Nieuwenhuys’ New Babylon also rationalizes a reshaping of current models of work and productivity with the liberating capacities of automation to dominate modes of production, leaving mankind with the time and space to find the work of their own desire and making, and “recover the pleasure of living” (Wigley & Nieuwenhuys, 1998, p.9).

This freedom afforded by automation is therefore something that lends itself to the infrastructure of this recycling facility, where the automated aggregation, sorting and distribution of material in the cylinder and conveyor system has a twofold advantage: firstly, it respects and works with the heterogenous and pluralistic material culture of incoming waste - using a scanning technology, there is no need to sort and separate them by material, and they are allowed to freely aggregate by simple size categories. Secondly, the difficult labour of material accumulation and organization is relieved from the informal recyclers, leaving them free to find the more fulfilling work they wish to engage in in their

MATERIAL

FIELD

own workshops. The recycling infrastructure has thus become their very own New Babylon.

This creative and generative infrastructure therefore becomes a productive landscape for the human actors, freeing them also from their bonds to larger, exploitative recycling companies. The automation and technology thus contribute critically to the open landscape and undecided architecture, one that generates emancipatory possibilities for its users, such as the informal recyclers who are already well-versed in ad hoc ingenuity. To borrow the expression from a description of New Babylon, “Work gives way to endless collective play in which all fantasies are acted out… Everybody becomes an architect…

Nothing will be fixed” (Wigley & Nieuwenhuys, 1998, p.9).

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CONCLUSION

As set out from the beginning, the overarching aims of this thesis investigation on the assemblages of recyclables and recyclers are threefold: firstly, to engender new modes of architectural production, through a more objectoriented lens that understands and confronts us with the rich complexity of extrinsic material practices. Secondly, to adopt this lens and new architectural understanding into a reimagination of existing conceptions of work. Lastly, to draw from materialist perspectives of informal recycling for fresh emancipatory possibilities for the human

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actors involved, counter to Boysen’s claims of the dissolution of human reflexivity in adopting the framework of object-oriented realism.

Based on these materialist perspectives, the assemblages involved in informal cardboard collecting were closely studied and analyzed, revealing a rich material culture with its own inner workings and innovations.

In spite of this repositioned gaze, these nonhuman objects shined new light on human experiences of competition and ingenuity in spite of poor material conditions.

The research outputs therefore indicated an abundance of

opportunity for human agency and reflexivity within the existing material landscape. It also showed that architecture could harness this through an appropriate mode of field conditions that embraces its indeterminacy and flexibility.

This also allows for a liberating, bottom-up reconstitution of work and space that generates a productive and emergent landscape of opportunity.

The strength of assemblage thinking is ultimately encapsulated in its allowance for mutability and recombinant possibilities, to maximize the affective capacities of the space for those it serves.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, S. (1999). Points + lines: diagrams and projects for the city. Princeton Architectural Press.

Allen, S. (2010). Field Conditions Revisited. Stan Allen Architect.

Boysen, B. (2018). The embarrassment of being human: A critique of new materialism and objectoriented ontology. Orbis Litterarum, 73, 225-242.

Cheng, L., & Gereffi, G. (1994). The Informal Economy in East Asian Development. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 18, 194-219.

DeLanda, M. (2016). Assemblage Theory. Edinburgh University Press.

Evans, R. (1995). The Projective Cast. MIT Press. discussed in Allen, S. (1999). Points + lines: diagrams and projects for the city. Princeton Architectural Press.

Gowan, T. (1997). American Untouchables: Homeless Scavengers in San Francisco’s Underground Economy. The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 17(3), 159-190.

Gowan, T. (2009). New Hobos or Neo-Romantic Fantasy? Urban Ethnography beyond the Neoliberal Disconnect. Qualitative Sociology, 32, 231-257.

Leach, N. (2016). Digital Tool Thinking: Object-Oriented Ontology versus New Materialism. Acadia // 2016: Posthuman Frontiers: Data, Designers, and Cognitive Machines, 344-351.

Morton, T. (2013). Hyperobjects. University of Minnesota Press.

Wigley, M. and Nieuwenhuys, C. (1998). Constant’s New Babylon: The Hyper-architecture of Desire.

010 Publishers.

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APPENDIX: THE LIFE CYCLE OF CARDBOARD TRACING THE 3 GENEALOGIES OF PRODUCTION & RECYCLING

This appendix provides additional information on the operations of cardboard itself in the larger production and recycling processes that informal cardboard collecting is entangled and entrenched within.

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Scrutinizing cardboard across its life cycle reveals a fluctuating economic value. Initially, as a box, it fulfills a simple primary role: to protect what it carries.

Sometimes, its exterior also markets the company. The moment consumers remove and enjoy its contents, the value of the box plummets, as people assume that its role has already ended - every box is reduced to an equally low value.

A deformation of material also occurs the moment it is thrown.

Informal recyclers flatten it, with certain actions involved, and collect it in a certain form (see Informal Recycling Genealogy).

The measure of its value is no longer associated with its goods, but now by its weight. It is sold to a recycling company, which sells it to another, going through other transmutations and side actors in an everexpanding and homogenizing recycling process (see Formal Recycling Genealogy). Its value continues to see an uptick until it becomes brand new cardboard, returning to a cyclical beginning. Cardboard is especially important to talk about now due to COVID-19 and the rise of e-commerce, leading to its increasing demand, importance and proliferation in our material landscape. It is therefore noteworthy as an intriguing material with growing environmental impact.

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Cardboard is structural in its own way, with structural principles involved in its folding.

Studying how cardboard is produced and assembled, one can observe specific transformations between its original and final form. It is folded and composed in different ways depending on the final form intended, and the type of folding needed to make that specific form structurally supported and stronger.

Structural ideas can therefore come about in a study of its formal production genealogies.

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A significant categorical distinction is made between the homology of common cardboard boxes and fruit cartons. As they carry and display fruit in a manner that is horizontally laid out, the forms are top-open and tend to be very wide and shallow, compared to the closedtop and proportionallybalanced common boxes.

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This category of miscellaneous boxes are crafted for specific products and purposes, such as the quintessential shoebox. These boxes, albeit functioning as categorical outliers, are traceable in their homologies back to common or fruit cartons. Somehow, the recyclers always manage to think on their feet and flatten these unusual boxes.

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Post-disposal, the transmutational path of the cardboard box begins at the hands of the informal recyclers.

They deform and flatten the cardboard in the shortest and fastest way possible, using box cutters to cut open the taped seams or folded edges of the boxes. If deemed quicker, they would use their legs to stomp a box flat open, or stomp to flatten a pile of boxes they have deemed too tedious or small to individually flatten.

Thinking on their feet, they make these quick decisions and calculations minute-byminute, hour-by-hour, and day-by-day as they encounter their plural and heterogenous material landscape.

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As cardboard passes hands from the informal recycler to larger recycling companies, it takes on various unique forms, starting from ad hoc, heterogenous cart-assemblages and ending in formalized, large homogenizing machines. It transforms from a pile, to a mountain, to a compacted bale, to a wall of bales, to hydrated paper pulp, to a sand dune, to rehydrated fire-resistant pulp, to new cardboard, and finally to a spool. These plural states are rich with possibilities - as materials for building or products - in their individual forms. Hence there is great potential in resisting their common fixed destination as homogenized, brand-new cardboard.

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