Design Thesis Report of Yue Jin - The Cyborg City by Yue Jin

Yue JIN The Cyborg City Coupling Bodies with Machines, Interactive Buildings with Interfaces, and Polyvalence Space for Cyborgs

Design Thesis Report MArch Urban Design, Bartlett, UCL

This Design Thesis Report is the outcome of the program: BPro M.Arch Urban Design Research Cluster 17 The Bartlett School of Architecture University College London 22 Gordon Street London WC1H 0QB United Kingdom Student: Yue JIN Theory Tutor: Daniel Koehler Submitted: 18 July 2018

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Contents: 07

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Chaper 1 : What is Cyborg?

Chaper 2 : What is Cyborg Architecture?

Chaper 3 : What is a Cyborg City Like?

Chaper 4 : Why do We Need a Cyborg City?

Chaper 5 : How to Construct a Cyborg City

Chaper 6 : The Sustainable Development of the Cyborg City

Conclusion

Outlook

References

List of Figures

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The Cyborg City / Yue JIN

The Cyborg City Coupling Bodies with Machines, Interactive Buildings with Interfaces, and Polyvalence Space for Cyborgs

Abstract

The report describes the prospective of the cyborg city in the future from the existing relative materials, and gives an actual explanation for previous arguments combined with the design project. The main contents involve in coupling body with machines, interactive buildings with interfaces, and polyvalence space for cyborgs. The cyborg city can be a human-administrated and technology-integrated city, in forms of universality of blurred boundaries and prosthesis. When it comes to the significance of developing the cyborg city, here start from two perspectives to find answers: First, spatial forms in the cyborg city are more diverse and dynamic, which means polyvalence space can be created for humans to use; second, compared to potential threats to humans brought by the developing robotic technologies, the cyborg city is bound to be more human-friendly and promising as well. In the process of constructing the cyborg city, the design project provides a possible solution for depicting the blueprint of the future cyborg city, and also gives profound and further demonstration on previous arguments.

BPro M.Arch Urban Design Research Cluster 17

The Cyborg City Coupling Bodies with Machines, Interactive Buildings with Interfaces, and Polyvalence Space for Cyborgs

Keywords

Cyborg, Machine, Ephemerality, Networks, Interface, Interaction, Blurring, Prosthesis, Polyvalence, Enclosure, Framing, Interior, Exterior, Movement, Density, Genetic Algorithms

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Introduction

Robotic swarm technology is now deployed in the current urban research development. For example, some projects have been really well developed now such as Centibots operated by AtiveMedia and Micro-robotic which is open source. Robotic swarm can improve fault redundancy. A single large robot may fail to execute tasks due to faults and bugs, while swarm robots have a team consisted of hundreds and thousands of members which means they can constantly work without losing efficacy even if few of them have faults. This feature is particularly attractive for implementing space exploration tasks because single node failures by high costs often result in more costly losses. Therefore, in order to save costs, people are highly inclined to choose swarm robots instead of a single large robot to work for them. However, at the same time, powerful swarm effects can also trigger unexpected disasters. The Black Mirror displays a picture: Thousands of electronic bees are hacked and assembled to attack target humans. Even though several bees are disturbed or failed, remaining countless electronic bees are still able to execute the task. Moreover, the attack will only be stopped when target humans are confirmed to be dead as an accomplishment of the new mission, and then bees swarm will return to the greenhouse cultivation areas to execute original procedures and go on with nectar collections. Nowadays, when robotic technology is widely used and actively promoted, people should really think about whether humans are over-reliant and believe in robotic technologies, and how to deal with problems that would be caused by the development of artificial intelligence in the future.

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Chaper 1 : What is Cyborg?

If an object is not personified enough, its humanoid characteristics will be evident and very easy to identify so that humans’ empathy will be arisen. However, if the object is extremely anthropomorphic, its non-human characteristics will become a prominent part of humans’ eyes resulting in some terrifying and negative impressions shown as falling into the “uncanny valley”. However, when similarities between robots and humans continue to rise which is equivalent to similarities between ordinary people, humans will return to the positive emotions again, resulting in empathy with robots just as other humans. The “uncanny valley” theory conveys a message that robots have great potential to be highly anthropomorphic, and dress like humans to melt in the crowed, affecting humans’ emotions and behaviors. In other words, in the foreseeable and predictable future, anthropomorphic robots can be infinitely close to real humans in appearances and hardly be distinguished

Fig. 01 Masahiro Mori’s diagram of the uncanny valley

from real humans through naked eyes. As artificial intelligence strongly focused and progressively developed, robots will be taught and trained to improve their intelligence. They will be highly possible to act like humans, and ultimately think like humans as performed in scientific movies. Essentially, this process of making robots can be viewed as replicating humans. If robots are designed and created in this way, conflicts between humans and robots will still hardly be avoided in the future world. Dona Haraway (1985), the pioneer of the theory of cyborg, has put forward the opinion that human, animals and machines can be coupled and will be coupled to result in the breakdown of the body boundary between females and males, humans and animals. When the borderline becomes vague, through the recombination of different parts, new and advanced bodies have been produced. They can always optimize the whole body by adjusting and optimizing parts of machines. That means, bodies can be re-created and re-programmed to subvert the limitation of original ones. Although human’s bodies have been transformed and updated, the consciousness of human’s self-identity still exists. The mechanization of humans can be regarded as a strategy of human’s “evolution” in order to struggle against wars between humans and highly anthropomorphic robots in the future. To step forward, as “mankind” have been redefined, the matrix of traditional politics has been destroyed, and the regeneration of cyberspace has been changed due to the overall subversion of enhancing humans’ abilities. Nowadays, some people intend to insert microelectronic devices into their bodies, which can been seen as the primitive attempt to combine machines and human bodies.

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Chaper 2 : What is Cyborg Architecture?

2.1 From Machines to Cyborgs

Fig. 02 The Tower of the Winds (Athens)

Bernard Cache (2009) mentions in the article De Architecture - On the Table of Contents of the Ten Books On Architecture that Vitruvius’s second definition of architecture is made by three aspects - the art of building, the making of sundials and the construction of machinery. The Tower of the winds in Athens is a good example that embodies the former three areas of knowledge. Besides, the whole building can be regarded as “an information machine” according to Vitruvius’s treatise. Toyo Ito designs the building in Tokyo which shares the same name with the tower mentioned before, and could also be conceived as the information machine with advanced modern technology (Cache, 2009). The tower in Athens is an octagonal structure with eight sundials as well as sculptures of eight wind gods on outer walls, which reminds people of changes on weather and directions of winds. Tokyo’s tower of winds is a cylindrical structure which is defined as not only a city building but also an installation of the symbolic relationship with nature. In the daytime, the aluminum material of the building surface can reflect lots of light to make the building become opaque. While at night, the inner space of the tower can be visible by its small lamps which are produced and changed by the outside wind and noise, constantly transforming colors of light to display the relationship between nature and architecture. It can be found that Toyo Ito wants to lessen the existence of the tower in the city and utilize natural elements to blur the firmness of this cylindrical structure in order to make it more lightsome and flexible, and the tower in Athens is regarded as the typical clock tower to convey valuable information related to people’s daily life, which is solemn and practical. In Logistic Takes Command Architecture, Francesco Marullo (2015) illustrates that Vitruvius saw the architect as a true “machinator”, which means the architect is a strategist more than a technician because he/she constructs the conditions and appropriate means to serve his/her imagination. Besides, “Machines were schemes more than they were built models” (Marullo, 2015). This illustrates that the truly vital aspects are dynamic principles, the modularity and proportions of inner parts rather than the effective shapes. Thus, in the architectural language, machines can be outlined as the form of diagrams, which refers to the transformation of complex structures, showing sets of planes, lines and points. Similarly, “Even the human body could be anatomically dissected into separated parts, rotated and deformed by simple alterations of coordinates” (Marullo, 2015). Human’s bodies, the same as machines, can be deconstructed in different ways in the architectural context.

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2.2 Find Cyborg Architecture

2.2.1 What is Architecture in the Future Supposed to Be Like? Tokyo’s tower of winds, can be described as “hyper-architecture” by exploring symbols of technology as immateriality shown as transparency, sensoriality through environmental stimulations and multimediality through buildings as communicators (Puglisi 1998, 7-10). To be accurate, the variable state of the tower from opaque in the daytime to transparent at night reflects the immateriality of architecture. The wind sensor installed on the top of the tower and the sound sensor at the bottom of the tower can directly express the characteristic of sensoriality which is effected by wind and noises. The entire building is designed to integrate into surroundings, which really highlights its multimediality as communicators in the city. The building’s three characteristics of immateriality, sensoriality and multimediality are relevant to the blurring of volumes, which also coincides with Toyo Ito’s ideas

Fig. 03 The Tower of the Winds (Tokyo), by Toyo Ito.

expressed through his work: the form of buildings should be incomplete and changeable, existing both in nature and urban space. As commented in the issue of El Croquis, “Ito is more fond of eliminating the architecture as the focal point, eliminating things such as interest and ultimate aesthetic model”(Cecilia, 1995), which means he asserts the elimination of architectural forms, dissolution of specific events and the uniformity are of great importance in his contemporary space research. His theory is based on the current situation of urban development in Japan and people’s attitude towards the life of buildings. Ito once pointed out that architecture does not exist for too long time in Japan, and in general people have no strong negative senses of buildings living for a few decades. Every two decades, all the architecture in Tokyo will be completely demolished and re-constructed, and as a result, the function of buildings will soon become outdated and the form will become obsolete. Moreover, electronic networks blurs the boundary between the virtual and reality, altering the way of communication between individuals and family and society, and simultaneously changing the way of existence of urban space. This leads to a convergent path of concept: the idea of ephemeral (Ferguson, 2001). Ferguson (2001) explained in the article, “ Ephemerality on architecture is the opposite of permanence, the opposite of static, the opposite of traditional and modern architecture” (Ferguson, 2001).Therefore, architecture should be temporary, changeable and dynamic embedded with characteristics of movement all the time, which can be used for recording moments, memory and time.

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2.2.2 The Emergence of Cyborg Architecture Architecture can be ephemeral. Lorenzo Apicella, a famous ephemeralist, pointed out thoughts on ephemerality are determined by people’s experiences and memories throughout their life. Ephemeral architecture remains the characteristic of re-memory and remembering, strengthening the power of backtracking once disappearing. Ephemeral architecture is also full of changes and different possibilities. Buildings are usually recognized as interactive venues consisting of dynamic scenes that trigger events and connections among users and arouse their emotions. In other words, it can be a continuously communicating and reciprocal reacting system rather than a linear one with explicit and same developing direction which can refer to the idea of buildings affecting users or users changing buildings. Thus, “the very process of creating architecture could become an iterative chain” (Ratti, 2016). Interlinking users to every stage of the process including design, construction and operation can really build up an interdependent feedback system with adequate communication and interaction. When the original architectural production chain gradually transit into digital systems, every step of development will be united and recorded on the Internet, and entangling mind, body and environment. That means every option that has made by users could indeed influence the physical and actual environment. Fundamentally, as humans completely dominate the process of shaping the living environment, architecture is more likely to be the extension of humans’ bodies. Bodies coupling with Internet and Internet coupling with architecture, cyborgs will eventually alter the concept of building living environment into the idea of developing social relations. Cyborg architecture, which is created in digital networks and constantly shaped by cyborgs, can really function as mediators between cyborg individuals’ demands and huge cyborg groups operating networks. Cyborgs and cyborg architecture is always connected to the Internet, and their interfaces can be embedded with each other.

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2.2.3 The Characteristic of Cyborg Architecture

Matthew Gandy (2005) holds the view that the modern house can be regarded as an exoskeleton with the complicated structure to provide water, light and other basic living demands for human. He thinks distinctions between organic and the inorganic have become blurred, and connections among buildings stretch through urban space to visibly form a complicated and practical structure. On the basis of this, each building could be seen as variable forms to meet multiple demands of different cyborgs. When it comes to the form of cyborg architecture, what is it supposed to be like? Carlo Ratti (2016) once mentioned that the key point to transform elaborate structures into dynamic buildings is to “perform as living organisms” rather than “appear to be” (Ratti, 2016). It conveys the idea that cyborg architecture is complicated not just in forms but more in interaction between cyborgs and structures. Cyborgs interlinks and interacts with buildings through

prosthesis. Thus, “ideas of the blur, mirroring, transparency and movement over time can be combined as constituent parts for a main idea” (Ferguson, 2001). All of cyborgs will get involved in the blurred space, touch reflected walls, and watch transparent billboards as well as walking on the street with multiple reflections light. As Neil spiller (1998) describes, “the architecture of the future will be homogeneous, networked, highly sensitized, telepathic, moist, dry, digital, and biological” (Spiller 1998, 157). Fig. 04 The cyborg architecture illustration 05 The cyborg architecture illustration

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Chaper 3 : What is a Cyborg City Like?

3.1 The Frame of a Cyborg City

Fig. 06 Intelligent house

Matthew Gandy (2005) illustrates that the cyborg city should be “the hybridized socio-ecological relations that underpin the production of space rather than the experience of the technologically-enhanced urban citizen” (Gandy, 2005). Technology is a means of building the cyborg city rather than a core purpose. The intervention and influence of modern technology on living space has begun to show up, such as use of voice-activated appliances and various sensors. These applications can be seen as combination of modern homes and self-organizing robots, which exerts potential disciplining effects on humans’ behavior. However, no matter in domestic space or other public space, the embodiment of their own power is always significant. After all, humans will not only encounter physical infrastructures in the living space, but will also be affected by digital and social networks connected to these structures. Therefore, the cyborg city in the future will be profoundly impacted by technology permeating in all aspects, but how to control the technology and having the right for decisions-making should be seriously taken into consideration for humans.

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3.2 Blurred Edges, Blurred Boundaries From the perspective of the city image, Kevin Lynch (1960) proposed five basic elements of the city: paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks. In fact, the relationship between these elements is also very close and tied with mutually affected to improve influences together or conflicted with each other to get negative results. All elements in the urban fabric work together, and thus have great impact on the entire city. Edges are a kind of linear element that distinguishes between other elements, and can be associated with other city elements depending on how observers look upon it. In the cyborg city, the form of edges will become more and more blurred, and will lose their original meanings of references. What boundaries differ from edges is boundaries emphasize the distinction among objects of different attributes as well as having practical spatial significances. Levi Bryant (2011) mentioned in The Democracy of Objects that Luhmann’s significant development is to “mark both the boundary of structures and the conditions under which structures can change or evolve” (Bryant, 2011). Luhmann needs boundaries to differentiate diversified structures from distinctive systems, and to mark for identification when embedded and entangled with each other. In the aspect of space, William Mitchell (2003) expresses his opinion,” To create and maintain differences between the interiors and exteriors of enclosures and there is no point to boundaries and enclosures if there are no differences - I seek to control these networked flows” (Mitchell, 2003). He believes that the main point for maintaining the characteristic of enclosures is to make boundaries definite so as to strictly tell from interiors to exteriors. However, in the urban spatial scale, differences between interiors and exteriors could be weakened and blurred, and the outer part of some certain space can be the inner part of another space, so there is no obvious difference between interiors and exteriors. In general, when relationship between exteriors and interiors is broken, and boundaries become blurred, enclosures may not need to exist.

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3.3 The Prosthesis

Fig. 07 Prosthesis applied in landscape design

Kevin Lynch (1960) also pointed out “the fundamental relationship between human cognition and urban form – the importance of the learned mental maps that knowledgeable locals carry about inside their skulls” (Mitchell, 1996). Mental maps as well as landmarks and edges used to locate in the urban fabric really enable humans to become familiar with and understand the city. According to William J. Mitchell, “modern cyborgs” does not actually have any mental maps, and instead they rely on electronic extension devices such as smart vehicles, handheld devices and landmarks information provided by GPS positioning systems. Orienting “modern cyborgs” to the urban fabric can help humans understand the city and get to anywhere they want to go. It is clear that the prosthesis possessed by “modern cyborgs” is smart devices. Therefore, what else can prosthesis refer to in the city? What is the developing direction of prosthesis in the future? “Urban infrastructures are not only material manifestations of political power but they are also systems of representation that lend urban space its cultural meaning” (Gandy, 2005). To step forward, urban infrastructures can been seen as cognitive models and the process that supports urban spatial restructuring. Nonetheless, the single functionality of infrastructures does not really meet demands of the future cyborg city. Its next stage of development is to become more complicated and intelligent. In fact, prosthesis is the interface between technology and the cyborg city, and it is also the current developed state of infrastructures. The characteristics of the prosthesis has been single and static all the time, only meeting certain parts of requirements rather than considering how to deal with more complex and multidimensional problems. Therefore, replacements of prosthesis and connecting prosthesis with other parts of the cyborg city can truly put it in effect. To be specific, prosthesis in the cyborg city refers to infrastructures of the city. The idea of ephemeral architecture is basically consistent with replacements of prosthesis: opposition to stability and immutability. On one hand, replacements can transfer infrastructures that was originally a static interface between technology and the cyborg city into a dynamic interface. On the other hand, connectivity is at the heart of relationship between prosthesis and the cyborg city. How to connect infrastructures with the cyborg city and how to deal with complexities of connections will be discussed and put into practice later.

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Chaper 4 : Why do We Need a Cyborg City?

4.1 Space in the Cyborg City Matthew Gandy (2005) once said, “The figure of the cyborg is at root a spatial metaphor” (Gandy, 2005). The forms of space in the cyborg city should be variable, diverse and dynamic. Herman Hertzberger (2015) has put forward the concept of polyvalence space, which is also a critique of functionalism that overemphasizes on unified values and lack of individuality. Hertzberger (2015) believes that architecture and cities should maintain their own characteristics along with being capable of adapting to changes autonomously. He once approached the view that “Powered by knowledge about general human behavior, polyvalence can anticipate the form of objects and spaces, thereby foreseeing the unforeseen” (Hertzberger, 2015). To step forward, there are multiple possibilities of spatial intervention in virtue of human’s unpredictable behavior. He hopes that polyvalence space can encourage people to transform the surrounding environment into familiar scenes, giving a sense of “feeling at home in” (Hertzberger, 2015) rather than interfering with how people use the space. Furthermore, he asserts that polyvalence space is in principle contributing maximum space in each and designated situation instead of being reduced and diminished as much as possible, and will not obstruct freedom of people’s behavior as well as actively encouraging them to make use of space more intensively. Thus in general, polyvalence space is an potentially inclusive structure with various interpretations. To some extent, space in the cyborg city can be polyvalence. The main users of the cyborg city are cyborgs living in the city. The behavior of cyborgs is not limited by space, but it will interact well with buildings and their space. Neil Leach (2012) also pointed out that the concept of the city as pure forms should be get rid of, “and understand it as an amalgam of human interaction and form” (Leach, 2012). Cyborgs and the urban fabric formed by Cyborg operations have constructed the city system. As time goes by, the urban fabric will also be changed and developed through the interaction with cyborgs.

Fig. 08 Centraal Beheer, by Herman Herzberger, sited in Netherlands, 1972. 09 Apollo school, by Herman Herzberger, sited in Netherlands, 1980-1983.

In addition, it should be noted that polyvalence space and multipurpose space is essentially different. Hertzberger believes that Louis Kahn’s and Mies Van der Rohe’s architectural space can be defined as a kind of versatile space, which deals with all possible situations in a passive attitude for the reason that various functional uses have been intentionally pre-set to adapt. However, polyvalence space is “unexpected” and is designed to be capable of handling unexpected emergency situation. Moreover, multipurpose space expresses a neutral attitude while polyvalence space contains active hints that can be seen as a type of inviting forms as well as characteristics of human’s activities. Hertzberger has always been seeking for a “rhythm” or prototype that can build

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Fig. 10 Philips Academy Library, by Louis Kahn, sited in USA, 1985.

up the basic model of humanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s habitation. The form of prototype is supposed to have multiple possibilities in order to react with the multiplicity of human and their social behavior, which is conceived as stimulation and adaptability of different demands. Therefore, in other words, Hertzbergerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s architectural space is also embedded with multimediality. With regard to the tower of winds, Yoto Ito uses natural elements like wind and noises as mediators to create and affect architectural space. While in diverse, Hertzberger always uses human and their derived behavior as mediators, which undoubtedly hits the point that space ought to foresee the unforeseen and control the uncontrolled.

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4.2 The Cyborg City : Better than Robots One of key points for urban development in the future is to maintain diversity of different cyborg cities. Due to differences in scale, population, resources and etc., cities from different countries and regions can be certainly developed as varied future cyborg cities. They can develop with different characteristics while preserving original attributes at the same time. For example, in the future, cyborgs in large population-sized cyborg cities such as “new London” and “new Tokyo” are likely to be more fashionable than cyborgs in smaller population-sized cyborg cities. Matthew Gandy (2005) said, “the earlier incarnations of the cyborg as an isolated yet technologically enhanced body have proliferated into a vast assemblage of bodily and machinic entanglements” and “interconnect with the contemporary city in a multitude of different ways”. The diversity and richness of the cyborg concept enables humans to negotiate different kinds of space and practice all the time. The second key point for urban development in the future is to claim explicit mastery of the city to avoid conflicts. Humans have settled and rooted in cities from generations to generations, and have controlled over cities for a very long time. Nowadays, with the continuously development of robotic technology and the very in-depth research of artificial intelligence in various fields, humans’ concerns about losing control over the city will highly possible to become into reality in the future. The world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking (2016) warns that “somebody will create AI that will keep improving itself until it’s eventually superior to people”. Until then, humans do not have any choice and power to decide their own destiny with the ending of being replaced by AI. Humans can not be the peer with AI in intelligence, and learning speed is also far less than AI, so the real risk with AI is their competence rather than malice. Hawking continues to explain “A super intelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals, and if these goals aren’t aligned with ours, we’re in trouble.” If robots with self-consciousness do not agree with what humans do or are even against the existence of human beings, then the war between humans and robots will become inevitable. In the end, it is not impossible that humans are eliminated by creatures that created by humans. Overall, humans should seriously consider the possibility for becoming cyborgs when realizing the highly negative effects for developing robots or artificial intelligence. The cyborg is a redefined “new human” with characteristics of humans, animals and machines. To what extent can states and figures of mixing and coupling be achieved is determined by individuals. Even those people who are extremely conservative in the physical transformation need to understand that cyborgs are essentially seen as human beings with consciousness and thoughts of being humans even if their bodies are transformed into mixture which looks far away from natural human bodies. In contrast, even if the anthropomorphism of robots’ appearances

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can become as good as real human beingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; appearances with up to 99.99% similarity, they can not be conceived as humans without emotions and humanity that normal humans have before producing self-consciousness, and simultaneously they will be seen as replicate of humans even once having self-consciousness, which could trigger the crisis of identity cognition and eventually make them separate from the human society.

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Chaper 5 : How to Construct a Cyborg City

When discussing the space relationship between interiors and exteriors in the context of traditional architecture, boundaries between interiors and exteriors of space will be clarified with definition, and spatial function will be defined in the further step. From the perspective of building the cyborg city, the city itself “is founded on the blurring of boundaries rather than their repeated delineation” (Gandy, 2005). To step forward, blurring the condition of boundaries is also blurring spatial relationship between interiors and exteriors, thus giving space more possibilities to further blur its explicit functional expression. At the beginning of the construction, by doing research on the architectural case with strong conceptual expression of spatial relations, it can help people better understand changes after the traditional spatial form is weakened, and prospect the vision of the interaction between users and space after completion of the construction. Therefore, in the stage of the case study, architectural examples with distinctive spatial relationship of enclosure can be selected, such as Sou Fujimoto’s House N and House NA works. In the nested structure with repeated cladding of House N, interiors and exteriors are in a relative relationship all the time. That is to emphasize there is interiors within interiors and exteriors out of exteriors. Fujimoto wants to express the richness of architecture in or between streets and even in or between cities through the form-independent building.

Fig. 11 House N, by Sou Fujimoto, sited in Japan, 2011. 12 House NA, by Sou Fujimoto, sited in Japan, 2012

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5.1 The Strategy of Constructing a Cyborg City House N, as a volume to express the space relationship in a city, can be regarded as a prototype of buildings with multiple layers. Throughout the transformation in geometry of the volume, there are more variations of prototypes to articulate space and generate more figurations. In order to achieve more possibilities, what should be really noted that is to blur the boundary. Space ought not to be certain in any situation, which exactly means space is supposed to be constantly movable to ensure that the definition of space and connections among different space will produce more intriguing answers. 5.1.1 Element Extraction 1.0 : Movement

Fig. 13 The model of House N 14 The model of House NA

At first, volumes are abstracted and separated as corners with five layers. When corners move, the new figuration emerges and original boundaries between volumes and volumes become vague, which is a great start to present space can be formed and redefined in a different composing grammar. Different layers of volumes are dispersing as forms of corners, and then selected and connected with different volumes in the certain rule. The connection rule is restricted as corners from different layers can only be articulated with another on the same plane, which can also make sure there is no intersection between connections. When the new volume structure is created, it is embedded with architectural elements of full function, and eventually operates as a hybrid individual in the city. 5.1.2 Contextualize the Movement In order to produce a hybrid structure in the city, every figuration should be formed by a precise and certain strategy, and grouped or classified as various types of structures used by cyborgs. This cyborg structure is unique and does not follow the simple replication orders. The first step of forming cyborg structure is to add architectural elements on the existing geometrical elements. The space relationship has been partly altered from the enclosure to the framing.

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Fig 15 The extraction of House N. 16 Corners move and define the position. 17 Generate connections from corners. 18 Generate plates.

19 Generate railings. 20 Generate grounds. 21 Generate pillars. 22 Generate grounds & pillars.

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Fig 23 Generate railings & stairs.

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24 Generate railings & pillars.

5.1.3 New Space Relationship : From Enclosure to “Enframing” “The emphasis on the city as a self-contained body or machine has been challenged by a hybridized conception of space as a system of technological devices that enhances human productive and imaginative capabilities.” (Gandy, 2005) To be accurate, the city is developed and reshaped by inner force including technological networks and human will. However, he emphasizes “The idea of the cyborg as a hybrid can be conceived as a problematic re-inscription of technical discourses derived from core locales or some overarching teleological template for urban change but it can also entail a reverse ﬂow of ideas and developments from the margin to the center” (Gandy, 2005). Every volume derives from the centered core, and moves all the time to generate new space, eliminating the original center. The new structure that created has added a new type of relationship between space: “Enframing”. If House N conveys the idea of enclosure in& out of enclosure, then new cyborg structures indeed proclaims that framing can be inside and outside of framing.

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5.1.4 Element Extraction 2.0 : Replacements with Connections Next, the designer decides to extract framing elements from cyborg structures that created before as new prototypes for movement, and get different space variation both with enclosure and framing characteristics. Changes of ÂŹbasic units are varied throughout transformation in connections with different layers. This is the initial stage of element extraction - the generation of one framing unit. In this first extraction stage, there have been large numbers of abstraction samples for us to select, and then to foresee the diversity of space structures. Moreover, it can lay a good foundation for further movement, collision and articulation among more units in the following space figuration. In the second stage of element extraction, different units move in pairs and different layers from different units meet and stop, and then generate different types of basic spatial forms. The fundamental rule is when layers with same colors meet they will stop the movement, and other layers that have not encountered layers with same colors can continue to move. It is necessary to state that these five types of figurations are formed by the fact that different layers have displacement limits during the movement and simultaneously explore limits in different directions. This brings an inspiration: if the basic unit is changed or replaced such as only thickness is changed, then after different units meet and stop, the spatial figuration relationship does not change, whereas all connected parts should be re-designed especially considering embodiment of space afterwards. Furthermore, in fact, the division of overall spatial forms can be controlled to remain unchanged in this step, but using attributes of these fragments of space must be changed and can not be controlled by formulating rules.

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Fig 25 The initial stage of element extraction 2.0 - variations of one framing unit.

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Fig 26 The initial stage of element extraction 2.0 - variations of one framing unit.

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Fig 27 The second stage of element extraction 2.0 - five basic prototype.

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BPro M.Arch Urban Design Research Cluster 17

In Scripting the Future, Neil Leach emphasizes thatâ&#x20AC;? before we can generate buildings themselves, we must model the decision-making processes that give rese to themâ&#x20AC;?. To let urban designers involve in every stage of the urban development, they need to learn how to use digital tools to help their work, and realize limitations of computation. Thus, what do really count is the process of urban formation rather than what the city looks like. After models are generated in large numbers, urban designers should always understand logics of the urban generation, and adjust or modify prerequisites before generating models so that better decisions can be made within optimized models. In the urban scale, the movement rule has changed, which means layers with different colors from different units can stop as long as they meet. This movement rule can be induced as the mathematical expression. The independent variable is amount of units (w) and distances among units before meeting (q). The dependent variable is density (T) of mass. Density is positively correlated with amount of units and negatively correlated with distances among units before meeting. This is a linear multivariate control function. Additionally, q is also affected by sums of distances between every two units. Distances between two elements in x, y, z axis can be expressed as qxn, qyn, qzn respectively.

After forming a large numbers of models, the urban designer should make certain choices. What is done in the selection process is a means of exclusion. The criteria for ignoring and excluding models is clear: the density is too high and the void space is little. As a result, it becomes more necessary to control and intervene the density before generating models. Under the circumstance of being controlled, massive generated models still need to be checked and tested. After getting frameworks of ideal urban scale models, what ought to be done next is to replace these basic units into architecture and urban space with practical values. However, it should be noted that the denser the mass is generated, the more connections will be formed by movement among different units. In particular, when units of urban scale conceptual models start to be replaced as real space, practical using values of new structures that have connected different space and how to replace units into space that cyborgs can have different events here should both be taken into considerations carefully.

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Fig 28 Models in the urban scale with different density

BPro M.Arch Urban Design Research Cluster 17

5.2 Colors and Density In order to record the movement of layers and reflect the density situation in a direct way, colors can be used to label each layer and to give visual feedback when space relationship among layers has changed. Initially, when five layers of the same basic element start to move, the inside and outside relationship among different layers have been changed. For example, the most inside layer can move out of other four layers and become the most outside one. Thus, as space relationship of five layers is different from the previous situation, colors are supposed to visualize changes of every moving element. To step forward, the most inside layer which is colored by white should be colored by the darkest blue when moving to the most outside. That indicates differences of shifting distances among layers. After the relatively position relationship of different layers which belong to the same element has changed, layers from varied elements meet with each other and are constantly recorded as colors. When layers meet most often with other layers and have the most connecting parts, they can be recorded as number 10; instead, they can be recorded as 1. Numbers can be visualized as colors from the darkest to the lightest in a digital way. Obviously, according to images, vitality of various layers can be differentiated intuitively. Moreover, after recording layers with multiple shades of colors, different density of space figuration has been classified and distinguished. These figurations continue to move in x, y, z axis and are formed as space variations. Among numbers of digital formation, the designer ought to select feasible prototypes. At this stage, the selection principle will be clearer than the previous stage. Connecting parts, where different layers encounter and relate with each other, can really be viewed as types of density situation with colors. When it comes to elements labelled by numbers, “Alberti’s ‘grid’ method— albeit prima facie analog and geometrical—implies the possibility of translating a full image on a screen into a frame of lines and dots, and of recording the position and value of each of these points as a set of numbers.”(Carpo, 2011) In The Alphabet and the Algorithm, Mario Carpo (2011) has introduced a strategy of transforming 2D images into data. In the previous stage, new figurations and structures are modelled in 3D, therefore theoretically the data from 3D models can be recorded and stored by sampling and quantization with the number-based matrix. Generally, the following step is to form cyborg space in order to establish specific connections among cyborg structures.

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Fig 29 Figuration created by movement is labelled by colors.

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Fig 30 Six types of densigy prototype

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Fig 31 Density Figurations

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5.3 Contextualization As previously demonstrated, space in the cyborg city should be polyvalence, which can motivate the city for a positive development. To contextualize basic figurations, the most important rule is to consider how to redesign all connecting parts, and produce values for cyborgs to use. Clearly, after modifying models and devising intelligent decision-making agents, urban designers should also realize how to get involved in the fundamental design process. What does the promising cyborg space look like? It should let cyborgs behave freely and have different events here, and simultaneously interact with each other. The point is looking “beyond the notion of a city as a question of pure forms” and seeing it “as an amalgam of human interaction and forms” (Leach, 2012). The city records actions of cyborgs, who “operate as a kind of living architecture” (Leach, 2012), and also has impact on cyborgs as well as being affected by cyborgs. As time goes by, the fabric of the cyborg city evolves through interaction with cyborgs. When designing cyborg architecture and cyborg urban space, the designer need to realize the importance of polyvalence, and keep it as a vital characteristic in the design process. The cyborg architecture does not have any single and certain function, and specific function should be obscured when creating cyborg buildings. For example, architecture with balconies, plazas and courtyards can not be defined as any specific type of buildings. Combined with stair and elevators, the practical use value of this cyborg building is truly improved a lot. Imagine a picture: cyborgs can take elevators to get to the rooftop and have a party together. “As nexuses of entities, events go beyond this space and this time” (Parisi, 2013), which indicates interaction and communication between occupants in the city can always be existing without being limited by space and time. What is the cyborg urban space supposed to be like? Similarly as cyborg buildings, urban space can have multiple qualities at the same time, as corridors, courtyards, plazas, gardens, playgrounds. The cyborg urban space is not bounded with one specific function, which means it can become plazas as well as gardens. Depending on how cyborgs use the space, it has potential values and can produce lots of possibilities. When designing different variations of cyborg urban space, to change distances between fragments and alter the quality of stairs can provide cyborgs with different space experiences. Some space can be private, and some space can be open. Moreover, some space can be both private and open at the same time. More significantly, when cyborg architecture and cyborg urban space is connected with each other, it will be quite dynamic and different for cyborgs to experience. Since the accessibility for cyborgs to get into the space has changed, thereby new space

The Cyborg City / Yue JIN

is created in terms of various kinds of space associating with each other. Moreover, behavior for cyborgs can be changed due to differences of space and visibility when observing and sensing the space.

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Fig 32-33 Polyvalence architecture

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Fig 34-35 Polyvalence architecture for residents to freely use in the cyborg city

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Fig 36-37 Different space experiences in changeable polyvalence architecture

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Fig 38 Polyvalence architecture continues to grow.

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Fig 39-44 Different space experiences in changeable polyvalence urban space

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Fig 45-53 Different space experiences in changeable polyvalence urban space

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Fig 54 Varied events & freely use the space

The Cyborg City / Yue JIN

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Fig 55 freely use the space & meet different demands both for cyborgs and humans with natural bodies

The Cyborg City / Yue JIN

BPro M.Arch Urban Design Research Cluster 17

The Cyborg City / Yue JIN

BPro M.Arch Urban Design Research Cluster 17

Chaper 6 : The Sustainable Development of the Cyborg City

The sustainable development of the cyborg city is based on the revision and evolution of primitive foundation. It can be improved” through techniques such as C that can be effectively deployed to breed possible solutions based on a fitness function” (Leach, 2012). Matthew Gandy also mentions that “some architectural practices have deployed so-called ‘genetic algorithms’ in order to generate a form of ‘in vitro’ architecture which derives its inspiration from nature yet remains autonomous from it as a purely digitized space of imaginative exploration.” (Gandy, 2005) Genetic algorithms are supposed to be one of the evolutionary algorithms, which are used to tackle optimization problems and developed from some phenomena of the evolutionary biology. The importance of genetic algorithms is the positive association between the adaptability and the selected probability, which means the higher the adaptability is, the higher selected probability are. That represents the new generation is different from the original one and evolves from one generation to the next in order to improve the whole adaptability, and the system always chooses the best individual to produce the next younger generation. Using genetic algorithms is the process of seeking advancements, and every successive generation “is selected according to prescribed fitness functions” (Leach, 2012). To construct buildings based on the principle of genetic algorithms means to continuously update the form of architecture and figure out the optimization of interlinks with different forms of architecture in the cyborg city. Genetic algorithms may not be regarded as absolute optimizations, since no one can really figure out what the optimum is and what the best solution for optimizing.

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Conclusion

There are many possibilities for urban developments in the future, and any of them could result in positive and negative effects. The identification and construction of the cyborg city is a hypothesis for the future trend in urban developments, and it is also a rebellion and containment of the robot city that may appear in the future. Throughout combining the theory of cyborgs with the pratical design project, we can really understand how the project will be going on according to strong instructions from research on theories. Moreover, digital technologies still have very obvious limitations, thus as architects and urban designers, knowing the significance of how to design rather than depending on digital solutions do really help to improve and make progress on the project.

BPro M.Arch Urban Design Research Cluster 17

The Cyborg City / Yue JIN

BPro M.Arch Urban Design Research Cluster 17

References

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Parisi, L. (2013). Contagious Architecture: Computation, Aesthetics, and Space. The M.I.T. Press. Ratti, C. & Claudel, M. (2016). The City of Tomorrow: Sensors, Networks, Hackers, and the Future of Urban Life. Yale University Press. Spiller, N. (1998). Digital Dreams: Architecture and the New Alchemic Technologies. London: Ellipsis. Sulleyman, A. (2017). Stephen Hawking Warns Artificial Intelligence â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;May Replace Humans Altogetherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The Independent. 2nd November. Available from: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/ stephen-hawking-artificial-intelligence-fears-ai-will-replace-humans-viruslife-a8034341.html. Vitruvius, M. (1575). The Ten Books on Architecture. Translated by Morris Hicky Morgan, PHD, LLD/ English version. Harvard University Press.

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List of Figures

- [Cover Page Figure]: Authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 01]: Masahiro, M. (1970). [Graph] Diagram of the uncanny valley. - [Figure 02]: Stuart & Revetts. (1762). [Image] The Antiquities of Athens (Vol.l). - [Figure 03]: Naja, R.(2013). [Photography] AD Classics: Tower of Winds/ Toyo Ito & Associates. Available from: https://www.archdaily.com/344664/ ad-classics-tower-of-winds-toyo-ito/514228f1b3fc4b43eb000045-adclassics-tower-of-winds-toyo-ito-photo - [Figure 04]: Anonymous. [Illustration]. Available from: http:// appleseedmachine.tumblr.com/post/165703270979/fragments-of-ahologram-dystopia-source - [Figure 05]: Anonymous. [Illustration]. Available from: Source from: https://vk.com/artcyberpunk?z=photo-106631887_456274209%2Falbum106631887_00%2Frev - [Figure 06]: Keskin, T. (2013). [Illustration]. Available from: https://www. behance.net/gallery/9207125/-Eden-Archives- [Figure 07]: Cantrell, B. & Carney, J. & Dykema, K. (2016). [Illustration] Cyborg: Prosthetic. Available from: http://reactscape.visual-logic.com/ research/cyborg-prosthetic/ - [Figure 08]: Herzberger, H. (2015). [Photography] Architecture and Structuralism: the Ordering of Space. - [Figure 09]: Herzberger, H. (2015). [Photography] Architecture and Structuralism: the Ordering of Space. - [Figure 10]: Anonymous. [Photography]. Available from: https://www.flickr. com/photos/h_ssan/23278932619 - [Figure 11]: Anonymous. [Photography] House N / Sou Fujimoto Architects. Available from: https://www.archdaily.com/7484/house-n-sou-fujimoto - [Figure 12]: Anonymous. [Photography] House NA / Sou Fujimoto Architects. Available from: https://www.archdaily.com/230533/house-na-

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sou-fujimoto-architects - [Figure 13]: Li, Q. (2018). [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project - [Figure 14]: Li, Q. (2018). [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project - [Figure 15]: Li, Q. (2018). [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project - [Figure 16]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 17]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 18]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 19]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 20]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 21]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 22]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 23]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 24]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 25]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 26]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 27]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 28]: Cao, K. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 29]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 30]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 31]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 32]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 33]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 34]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project.

BPro M.Arch Urban Design Research Cluster 17

- [Figure 35]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 36]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 37]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 38]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 39]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 40]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 41]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 42]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 43]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 44]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 45]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 46]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 47]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 48]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 49]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 50]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 51]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 52]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 53]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 54]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 55]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project. - [Figure 56]: Author’s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project.

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- [Outlook Page Figure]: Authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own. 2018. [Illustration] Drawings of Design Project.

BPro M.Arch Urban Design Research Cluster 17