#0 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5
no one belongs here more than you
new hierarchies
reorientations
vulnerability
flexibility
points of departure
SLICES THROUGH SPACE www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
spring workshop March 5 to April 20, 2012 Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism, Carleton University Using complexity as investigation tool: the plan as dynamic process In a hereditary modernistic search for clarity and simplification, today’s planning is often too incomprehensive, hierarchic and linear, and therefore produces plans that are not always expedient for the real needs and challenges. Handling complexity and otherness preparing for an incalculable reality in fast and constant change, is a challenge for planning - and finally a matter of survival. Within our own practice, we have been experimenting with investigation and collaboration as a strategy for an open and adaptive planning seeing society as an interconnected and living organism – launching ideas and strategies for surveying, discovering and evaluation, with the intent to make the plan continuously receptive for changes. Not only are we accepting complexity as crucial for the contextual understanding, but also as a tool for a comprehensive and elastic process. A new language for expressing planning is developed, and openness and invitation are used as underlying methods to graft the plan with meaning and competence. Confronting traditional ideas about the appearance of a plan comprehends the possibility for a plan to be open and still operative in its full lifetime. The approach is to open for deep investigations in parts and details of natural and cultural phenomenon, and at the same time analyzes the impact from global forces, and economies in local and regional contexts. The method is highly visual, and is intentionally showing analyzes, ideas, and consequences of interventions as graphics and illustrations - for further communication and debate with the citizens, and with experts in different fields relevant to the plan. As a part of an extended strategy we have developed the concept of Points of departure (POD), which defines what can initiate a plan to make it relevant, resilient and viable. In our discussion of PODs lays an analysis of the last decade’s opposition between good intentions for urban development, and what often is the factual result. PODs come into being as elements of inherent information or added knowledge of a different type than the 1
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‘developer carpets’ that are usually rolled out in new urban developments. These PODs become incidents of opposition that the new (or old) town must relate to. These may be natural elements, social structures, cultural heritage, actual structures or other elements of nearly any type one may allow to disturb the image of an ‘ideal’ urban development, and become meaning in itself – no matter what direction the further development takes. A profound acknowledgement of the ideological fundament of the PODs is that the city needs dynamism and disturbance in order to be experienced as interesting. The possible tension and dynamism exist in the meeting, or in the folds, between different structures and cultures; - too homogenous structures and societies, become uninteresting and rarely sustainable – just as natural structures and circuits are manifold. Making the plan an open process and a work in progress, it will never give a sheer answer, but add pieces to a complex understanding of the context and the possibilities. By combining small-scale knowledge with global tendencies and by trying to understand the underlying natural, political and economical conditions and forces behind city developments – we intend to make the plan more durable, complex and comprehensive to be relevant for an unknown future. The 7 weeks studio introduced alternative methods for planning and architecture that open for discussions about planning language, hierarchies, participation and relevance. Through textual studies and comparative examples we sought new knowledge to enable us to approach a concrete situation in the city for a profound understanding of the context. We used a blog to communicate the learning and collect the findings from the process, and also for the students to present their work as a continuous process. The studio did not demand fixed scenarios or fancy images, but expected curiosity and an open-minded effort from the students to learn, and to experience knowledge that is not obvious - and that has to be carefully investigated to be operative for the planning process. MH/GL Magdalena Haggärde and Gisle Løkken are architects at 70°N arkitektur, Tromsø, Norway - www.70n.no / www.70n.blogspot.com - and guest professors at Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism, Carleton University, March 5 to April 20, 2012
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#0 no one belongs here more than you
Maysan
Narae
Ken
Hailey
Shirley
Angella
Steph
Martine
Krista
Robin
Kanchan
Elena
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#1 – New Hierarchies; rhizome / lines of flight Literature: Rhizome, by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (in A Thousand Plateaus / Mille Plateaux, 1980) The ascendance of information industries and growth of a global economy are inextricably linked, and have contributed to what Saskia Sassen calls: a new geography of centres and margins (The global city: Strategic site/new frontier, 2000). This means that former structures of economic or political hegemony have radically changed (and are still changing rapidly), resulting in a displacement (in an economic sense) in both geographical significance of cities and places and the valuation of different kinds of labour: Financial services produce super profits while industrial services barely survive. (Sassen, 2000) Besides the obvious impact of globalisation, there is an equally obvious inconsistency between everyday life, the performance of individual spatial practices and the way formal society is organised and governed. Politics, laws and planning – even to a certain extent global economic systems appear essentially hierarchical, exercising a linear style of authority which in many instances results in limitation, stagnation and regression. Moreover, in addition to governing systems of order, bureaucracy and linearity, there are infinite parallel systems of other formal and informal networks, knowledge and ‘weak’ voices not easily observed and recognised. The complexity of this everyday reality presupposes new and experimental ideas and strategies for observing, participating in and mapping of whatever is relevant for the plans we are making, and the societies for which we are planning. It is a question of concern such as the title of Bruno Latour’s essay suggests, in other words a transition From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern (Latour, 2004). Indeed, the previous year’s tumultuous events and revolutionary rebellions in the Middle East provide examples of how weak connections and loosely organised voices can interconnect into powerful movements able to turn inherited hierarchical structures of power upside down, implementing new organisational systems. While not all changes have the character of a violent revolution with respect to their duration and drama, any shift in a hierarchical system has the ultimate consequence of changing basic living SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#1 Through the concept of rhizome lies the ultimate metamorphosis of a hierarchical system, as termed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari a treelike structure: unlike the trees or their roots, the rhizome connects any point to any other point, and its traits are not necessarily linked to traits of the same nature; it brings into play very different regimes of signs, and even non sign states. (…) Unlike the graphic arts, drawing, or photography, unlike tracings, the rhizome pertains to a map that must be produced, constructed, a map that is always detachable, connectable, reversible, modifiable, and has multiple entryways and exits and its own lines of flight. (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980).
new hierarchies
conditions – whether these are shifts in either natural systems or social structures.
Through rhizome thinking, hierarchical systems are challenged – new ideas, experimentation and new attitudes are revealed, and priorities and encounters of alternative values become relevant. /MH+GL Assignment: Find a rhizome, interpret a rhizome, invent a rhizome, draw a rhizome, write a rhizome or create a rhizome…
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krista
In the sky at night, their patterns become alight, forming a country The image above is the result of layering various types of trajectories in the air. This includes flight patterns, the jet stream, bird migratory patterns, satellite images at night, and an image of brain neurons. Combined they reveal new levels of information regarding North America. Krista Smith
John Hejduk
he looks back through the particles of sand and vaguely sees her contour unfolding he hears her voice diminishing in sounds like the movement of the palms during a soft wind
John Hejduk
he looks back through the particles of sand and vaguely sees her contour unfolding he hears her voice diminishing in sounds like the movement of the palms during a soft wind
The Grid’s two-dimensional discipline also creates undreamt-of freedom for threedimensional anarchy. The Grid defines a new balance between control and de-control in which the city can be at the same time ordered and fluid, a metropolis of rigid chaos.
The Grid’s two-dimensional discipline also creates undreamt-of freedom for threedimensional anarchy. >Rem Koolhaus “Delirious New York” p.20
The Grid defines a new balance between control and de-control in which the city can be at the same time ordered and fluid, a metropolis of rigid chaos. >Rem Koolhaus “Delirious New York” p.20
ken
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
martine
#1 new hierarchies
M.GALLANT-WINTER2012
NEW HIERARCHIES Connections between two elements initiate transformation, where two different elements can configure new moleculsar bonds or simply electrostatic attractions for a moment in time. The progression and layering of these connections compose new mapping properties and void all hierarchical arrangement.
kanchan
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#2 – Reorientations; mapping Literature: Reorientations: Slices through space, by Doreen Massey (in For Space, 2005) Writing has nothing to do with signifying. It has to do with surveying, mapping, even realms that are yet to come (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980). The acknowledgement that we ourselves - and everything around us - are in continuous and inevitable transformation enforces our awareness of the transforming energies – energies unfolding along different trajectories in time and space - shaping complex spatial patterns that are intricately connected with changes in the landscape. Our intention is to see architecture and planning as ongoing processes that never reach completion, as life itself is never finished or concluded. If you really were to take a slice through time, Doreen Massey writes, it would be full of holes, of disconnections, of tentative half-formed first encounters. (…) Loose ends and ongoing stories. (Massey, 2005). In order to develop a profound understanding of the landscape, we need to map and perform research along lines and trajectories that have not necessarily been investigated before – making connections and juxtapositions that are not obvious and finding spatial connections and openness that are not prejudiced or closed. Make a map, not a tracing, say Deleuze and Guattari in their text about the rhizome: What distinguishes a map from a tracing is that the former is entirely oriented towards an experimentation in contact with the real (…) A map has multiple entryways, as opposed to a tracing, which always comes back to the same. A map has to do with performance, whereas a tracing always involves an alleged ‘competence’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980) Mapping is not to be complete or conclusive, but rather it should follow tracks or lines of flight. According to Manuel De Landa, Deleuze and Guattari use the term lines of flight as meaning something to follow that is expected to redeem new responses – as an operator which transcends the real and ascends to the virtual (De Landa, 2002). In her essay Losing control, keeping desire, Doina Petrescu elaborates on the meaning of the concept as being: an abstract and complex enough metaphor to map the entire social field, to trace its shapes, its borders, its becomings. (Petrescu, 2001). SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#2 reorientations
Global warming, environmental disturbances and political pressures have combined to create a completely new physical ‘ground’, which in turn places great demands on the response of architects and landscape architects. The need to develop a critical awareness and alternative forms of knowledge in connection with this development transcends traditional design focus. An open and progressive reading of landscape as both an objective and subjective experience gives validity to the multiplicity of practices connected to it – including natural processes and history. Landscape may thus be seen as an assemblage of spatiality and interconnecting trajectories – a time/space derivation. What if [space] presents us with a heterogeneity of practices and processes?, asks Doreen Massey. Then it will be not an already interconnected whole but an ongoing product of interconnections and not. Then it will be always unfinished and open. (Massey, 2005) What we are mapping is not only the extraordinary and peculiar but also the everyday normal – layers of everyday experience and everyday practices – as well as the hyper normal, which eventually forms landscape’s spatial performance. A hyper-mapping might be more subjective and focus on values related to the plan’s context rather than being strictly neutral and objective - investigations into layers of information that often extend beyond an immediate perception of landscape. MH/GL Assignment: Make a map – not a tracing...
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martine
Abs
tract
Rhiz
ome
This is a study of imposing new random pattern on downtown of Montreal, discovering and mapping out new perspectives of the city.
Public
maysan
Semi Public
Semi Private
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
Private
#2
kanchan
VIEWER or VIEWED
reorientations
steph
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a study of left-over urban spaces, investigating how people utilise them.
#3 - Vulnerability Literature: I would prefer not to by Iñaki Ábalos (in Natural Metaphor Architectural Papers III, 2007) Supplemental reading: Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville (1853) The notion of vulnerability is invariably related to the concept of life – whether human life or life in nature as such. Human beings’ consciousness of mortality is disturbing and exposes life as a fragile entity. While life does not exist in closed systems, it always relates to other life forms or systems of varying extent and size. Further, in these relations dependency occurs, not least of which is a continuous struggle for survival. It is a slow-moving drama that has been playing since the creation of earth, enco§mpassing all natural systems, from the smallest biotope to global circuits. In order to be relevant, the planning process must consider a wide range of subjects and disciplines beyond what is normally regarded as associated to architecture. There is currently increasing pressure on natural resources, and with an even stronger growth in the global population the potential crisis due to this fact seems obvious. Global climate-crisis, financial crisis, uneven distribution of food and welfare, poverty and injustice – in combination with the rapidly increasing exploitation of landscapes for industrial use and urban expansion at the expense of ecosystems, natural habitats and biodiversity, draws a seemingly dystopian picture of the future. An architect has the unique possibility of being a mediator between the abovementioned forces. In our project entitled mosaïc::region we used the concept of vulnerability: Vulnerability mapping is a piece in our anti-generic mindset where plurality and diversity are crucial, and where the unique strength of the mosaic can be cultivated and magnified. This notion applies of course of course to preserve and strengthen natural diversity but it applies just as fully to the ‘sociotopes’ that for different reasons are exposed to economic and political pressure and transformation – in both cases we are talking about strengthening by linking together, and opening up for new opportunities rather than to preserve. (70°N, D&U, 2008a) Mapping vulnerability means gaining a genuine understanding of a wide range of contextual aspects. Further, it may be seen SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#3 vulnerability
as a hyper mapping of the super normal - a survey that provides a flexible and evolving strategy where the vulnerable is first and foremost protected by intervention and not primarily through making new boundaries. Reading, mapping and understanding the layers of vulnerability has the potential of making changes. Knowledge calls for awareness about the consequences of human activity. Planning must be precautionary and attentive to even the smallest elements, and susceptible to and observant of any currents of vulnerability that may have the power to change the plan. In future planning we need to find and analyse both the obvious and invisible, in the end making an operative and expedient plan that allows hidden knowledge. Moreover, through experimentation it is possible to make a flexible plan that works with the complexity at hand and can use contextual vulnerability as a potential for a new dynamism. It is all about making the future more sustainable and open to the unknown. A credible map of sustainability has yet to be drawn, but there can be no doubt that other aspects already trailed and trialled have run out of whatever credibility they had. (Ă balos, 2007). MH/GL Assignment: Add vulnerability as a new layer of focus...
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shirley
V vertical
horizontal
H
vulnerable is : the Vertical derived from the Horizontal, the Horizontal described by the Vertical. V {[ ]placement|[RE] placement}the constructed, the occupied H {[DIS]placement|[MIS]placement}the demolished, the exploited
Air quality is a vulnerable issue in City of Montreal. According to McGill Daily, Montreal rated second worst city in Canada for air pollution. Montreal recent studies link the high rate of breast cancer to air pollution. This study examines air quality vulnerability through mapping causes and sources in relation to population and health status.
... To BREATH maysan
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
June 2012 - Still has not receivd permanent resident card thus has no proof of status
Feb. 2012 – Canadian Embassy in Guatemala contacted Principal Applicant regarding renewing Dependent’s medical exams and supplying additional information, including passport. - Also requested a pre-paid airway bill o contacted immigration call center to determine what a pre-paid airway bill was they didn’t know but thought that our guess of a pre-paid airline ticket was likely correct o contacted Guatemala Embassy by e-mail knowing that they usually do not reply. o Guatemala did reply- not airline ticket but actually a prepaid envelope - Given 90 days to comply - Contacted Dependant’s mother in Honduras, arranged medical exam, and money transfer to cover exam, pre-paid envelopes, notary fees - Arranged with family friend who works in law rm to complete notary paperwork - Arranged with Dependant’s grandfather to arrange purchase of pre-paid envelope and sending of all documentation March 2012 – Received letter saying that Vegreville has nished processing case and we will be contacted for an interview in Ottawa within three months. April 2012 - Went to interview and received Permanent Residency Status - cost 490$
Jan 2012 – Dependant medical exams expired for second time.
Route to Residency Abbreviated version
vulnerability
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March 2011 – Submitted application for new work permit along with 150$ June 2011 - New work permit issued for one year Dec. 2011 – Added dependent child to case in process. Cost 150$ - Required lling out 7 different forms including the payment form at a bank, total pages 21 - Plus copies of identiication documents in original and translated formats - Shipping cost 16.66, to Vegreville, Alberta - Some questions unclear - “Will [Dependant] accompany principal applicant to Canada?” o Principal Applicant is already in Canada, Dependent is not, unsure what the answer should be we called the immigration call center to ask o Received answer reply “NO” because they are in separate countries o Did as told and sent application, called call center about a week later to ensure that the letter had arrived, mentioned the same question, and received answer “You should have replied “YES” because you want the dependant to be included in the application.” So sent new forms with corrected info and letter explaining confusing to Vegreville. - Vegreville then processed payment and sent notiication to Guatemala Embassy about the change, and contacted us by letter to say that they had received the add on application
Jan 2011 – Medical exam for Dependant has expired and must be redone cost 150$
May 2010 – Immigration Canada sent us a letter saying that they need an updated address for our family in Honduras as they are having a difficult time contacting them. This is strange because they have lived at the same residence almost 30 years and Immigration Canada was previously able to contact them there. - We reply with the requested address June 2010 – Become aware that Medical examination Documentation of Dependant have been lost and never reached Canadian Embassy in Guatemala. - contact call center to nd out what to do - call certiied doctor who completed the exam in Honduras to determine when and where he sent the information after multiple calls were able to ascertain tracking numbers of the le when it was sent to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, write letter and send to Vegreville so that they can nd the information -eventually they do nd documentation, but by this time it has expired July 2010- Applicant goes for Medical exam at certiied doctor in Ottawa, cost 93$ August 2010 – Requested by Immigration to undergo ngerprinting to be checked against cases by the RCMP -Went to undergo ngerprinting, cost 45$, found out the delay is several months
Jan 2010 – Paid 150$ to Immigration Canada for new work permit
November 2009 – Dependant undergoes medical examination at certiied doctor in Honduras - Receive notiication that most recent application for IFHP coverage denied because of Spousal Sponsorship Applicant is now eligible for Ontario Health Card, lose money spent on application - Go to Ottawa Town Hall to request OHIP card at no charge
July 2009 – Submit an application to extend IFHP Coverage - Accidentally destroyed the rst immigration document that was received upon entrance to Canada - Submitted an application requesting a certiied true copy of this document “veriication of Entry” after asking at the Ottawa Immigration Office that we were submitting the correct paperwork- given estimated timeline of 8-9 months to process application – cost 30$ - never did recieve a replacement paper October 2009 – Guatemala Embassy sends request to family in Honduras requesting that Dependant undergo a medical examination - Message sent is only in English, and family speaks only Spanish, they contact us in Canada, takes a few phone calls and online searching to nd out exactly what has been requested.
March 2009 – Work permit issued for one year - PRRA application le closed because the application for permanent residency was approved in principle, could be opened again if permanent residency status is not granted
February 2009 – Spouse approved as sponsor, Applicant told that he will require further medical and security checks for him and his dependant - Letter includes request to obtain both Canadian and Honduran police background checks - Got Honduran police record check saying that he has not committed any offense in that country - Got a certiied English translation of Honduran criminal record check cost 79$
November 2008 – Applicant asks Dependant’s mother to obtain a passport for the dependant as each member of the Applicant’s family is required to hold a valid passport at all times for the immigration case to be processed - In order for Dependant child to be eligible to receive a passport, Applicant must go to Honduran embassy in Ottawa, Canada and get a notarized form saying that he gives the mother permission to get a passport for the dependant December 2008 – Submitted application for extension of work permit cost 150$ - Employer not wanting to allow Applicant to continue working past end of work permit even though new application has been sent and there is a delay in processing work permits - Find out from Immigration Call center that while the work permit is being processed you can continue working under Implied Status
October 2008- Application for extension to IFHP (Interim Federal Health Program) approved and extended to Nov. 2009
August 2008 – Citizenship and Immigration Canada started processing sponsorship case - Applicant undergoes further medical examination – 3 small granulonas found in chest- no reason for concern September 2008- IFHP application requires current photos before it can continue processing
July 2008 – received notice to appear at Canada Border Services Agency in Ottawa - Received notiication of PRRA (Pre removal risk assessment) - Passport seized by Canada Border Services Agency - Sought out help from a immigration lawyer to nd out options - lawyer fees 352.80$ - Sent PRRA application to Toronto, Ontario to stall the deportation process long enough to submit a Spousal Sponsorship Application - Application for IN-Canada Spousal Sponsorship submitted to Case Processing Center, Vegreville, Alberta - Cost 550.00$ - Medical exam including x-rays
February 2008 – work permit issued – expires Feb 2009
January 2008- Applicant travels to Montreal to the Honduran Embassy to get a new passport
December 2007 – Applicant pays 150$ for Application for new work permit
October 2007 – Applicant marries a Canadian citizen - They opt not to apply for spousal sponsorship because it is nearing the end of the estimated processing times for the Humanitarian and Compassion case that is already in process. - IFHP health certiicate issued, expires oct 2008
August 2007 – Applicant’s wedding is delayed due to difficulty nding the right combination of documentation in English with the right birth date because CIC previously recorded the date wrong
April 2007 - Applicant moves from Leamington to Ottawa
Feb 2007 – Work permit issued – expires Feb 2008
Mapping the route taken by one immigration application helps to demonstrate the vulnerability in the Canadian immigration system. The evaluation process involves shipping information around between multiple countries. Over the course of time, the information is at risk of being lost or expiring, and further delaying the processing period. This case took nearly four years to be processed.
#3
angella
Download the App: Food score
Learn to incorporate leftovers into others
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hailey
#4 - Flexibility Literature: Ecology and Flexibility in Urban Civilization by Gregory Bateson (in Steps to an Ecology of Mind, 1972/2000) A ‘high’ civilization shall contain whatever is necessary (…) to maintain the necessary wisdom in the human population and to give physical, aesthetic, and creative satisfaction to people. There shall be a matching between the flexibility of people and that of the civilization. There shall be diversity in the civilization, not only to accommodate the genetic and experimental diversity of persons, but also to provide the flexibility and ‘preadaptation’ necessary for unpredictable change. (Bateson, 1972/2000) Even though Bateson wrote this paper in 1970, it contains a strong prediction of the coming climate changes and a vision of the challenges that planners and architects have to deal with concerning profound ecological matters. Bateson describes the survival of our civilization as being closely linked with our understanding of natural processes: We are not outside the ecology for which we plan – we are inevitably a part of it. (…) The new invention gives elbow room or flexibility, but the using up for that flexibility is death. (IBID) When global forces and global economic fluctuations influence even the most remote places, it seems more necessary than ever to create flexibility outside the global consumer economy – to be resilient to economic alterations – to be prepared for devastating environmental impact or to foresee future effects from expected climate changes. The closer a society relates to nature, the more awareness and understanding there is regarding changing environmental conditions – such as predicting alteration, planning for an uncertain future, adapting to inevitable changes and improvising for the unforeseen. Modern man’s turning away from nature (the lost contact or acceptance of the inevitable in nature) has a long legacy, and from the Age of Enlightenment there has developed an absolute belief in man’s superiority to nature. Any system of nature and culture is in reality based on interaction and dynamic, and it is therefore easy to argue that a planning method created to handle such dynamic systems has to be elastic and dynamic, too. This is in opposition to a linear and hierarchical planning regime, which is to a great extent based on simplification and limitation. SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#4 flexibility
Bateson talks about survival not in resisting change, but in terms of accommodating change. It means that your thinking has to be every bit as fluent and adaptive as the kind of systems you are talking about. In other words you can not apply rigid or dogmatic principals to systems that are themselves fluent, adaptable, changing and always incorporating feedback. (…) It is a way of thinking that mirrors the dynamism of ecological systems themselves. (Allen, 2007) In our concept mosaïc::region (70°N/D&U, 2008), we worked with challenging a future understanding of the Øresund region, Copenhagen/Malmö: The mosaic metaphor is used as a picture of complexity and ‘of everything that happens’ on both a physical and metaphysical level. Mosaic-inspired planning must contain a strategy for seeing, finding, and adapting everything taking place. If one piece of the mosaic is repainted in a new colour, the picture changes a tiny bit; the sum of changing many tiny pieces eventually produces a totally new picture. The colours of the pieces depend on political visions, local initiatives (spatial practices) and the collective will in the region. Global society will soon lose its most essential elbowroom for existence of modern civilization as we know it, namely oil and gas. Future planning must therefore take into account the consequences of this development. On the background of the contemporary global crisis and ecological disorders, planning must become a continuous, interdisciplinary and integrated process in the search for new answers and flexible systems. MH/GL Assignment: Define a level of flexibility in your research...
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steph
challenging people to re-think the left-over spaces they pass by every day, re-appropriating them as areas of ART and culture.
THE HISTORICAL BUILDINGS ENABLE
POSSIBILITY AND FLEXIBILITY
OF A MIXED USE INHABITATION. THROUGH THE YEARS, THESE BUILDING ARE INHABITED BY VARIOUS PURPOSES, LAYERING TRACES OF THEIR PRESENCE FOR THE NEXT TO DISCOVER. NO ONE BELONGS MORE THAN ANOTHER. ALL CREATE THEIR PERSONAL IDENTITY, AND TOGETHER, FORM A HETEROGENEOUS FABRIC OF INHABITATION.
martine
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
ADAPTABILITY, FACILITY, RESILIENCE, THE ACT OF REPEATED TRANSFORMATION WITHOUT NEGATIVE EFFECT
THE AREA REPRESENTS A CROSS-CULTURAL HYBRID THAT HAS BEEN LAYERD OVER TIME BY VARIOUS HIGH PROFILE COMMERCIAL RETAILS, TO PRIVATELY OWNED SHOPS, RESTAURANTS AND RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS.
M.GALLANT-WINTER2012
THE BYWARD MARKET MAY BE RESTRICTED TO A VERY LIMITED AREA OF THE CITY, YET ENCOMPASSES THE HEART OF ALL SUB-SOCIETIES AND CULTURES.
FLEXIBILITY
AS A CONTINUATION OF THE PREVIOUS EXPLORATIONS, BASED IN THE BYWARD MARKET, I SET OUT TO DEFINE THE MEANING OF FLEXIBILITY WITHIN THESE SET BOUNDARIES.
#4
ken
flexibility
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Alien Baby - 12.02.18 spice jet Kavya Cherala like someone drew 2nd attempt “I was hoping to go out in a flash of blazes, but I’ll probably just go home” Motion structures: deployable structural Ejection seat GEB [26]. Essential abilities for indigo Deccan Chargers a lazily listing line much better assemblies of mechanisms intelligence are certainly: kingfisher across the sky _Steve Zissou _to respond to situations very flexibly; jetsairways 10.03.09 india.pune Prince George - Sandblast _to take advantage of fortuitous circumstances; 4:45 5:25 Apr-10 _to make sense out of ambiguous or contradictory messages; indigo 5:55am-7:40am “Godel, Esher, Bach” kingfisher 9:30-11 [251] Perhaps the most concise summary _to recognize the relative importance of different elements of a situati of enlightenment would be: thunder rolls back and forth [transcending dualism] _to find similarities between situations despite differences which may separate them; across the sky and -Dualism is just as much a ‘per’ceptual the air is wet with sound. division of the world into categories _to draw distinctions between situations despite similarities which ma an orange red sun as it is a ‘con’ceptual glows through the division. Human perception is _to synthesize new concepts by taking old concepts and putting them together in new palm trees as by nature a dualistic phenomenon the first drop of the storm _to come up with ideas which are novel; splashes against the back of my neck corythosaurus India 2010 on the roof of my apartment
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 eremotherium laurillardi Fairy Prion [ Richard Serra: to see is to think ] _The space of secrets: Sarah Anne Johnson’s ‘House on fire’ [ SHOP architects ] - design/build New only be heard internally” pteranodon sternbergi south atlantic and indian oceans _fragility and force - story of life “_””architecture and disjunction”” -Tschumi” [ Seven memos on the geometry of p tyrannosaurus rex mortuary pole from village _modernity: materials and production _New York Times - CIA sponsored “_””Delirious NY”” -Koolhaus” Wim Van Den by the touch of plates and awaits further violations” Ank’idaa “_””japanese gardens - void/space = structure” brainwashing in Montreal From Hejduk - Soundings “shocks public opinion, but of inventin 12.02.23 Nass River BC between things felt through time _excessive doses of electro shock NA 2000H45 discourse. ] Invention and not provocation the lips that have touched its inhabitants” _redefine definition of site in terms of sculpture “therapy, untested drugs, LSD” “is a revolutionary act, and it” _[content] and [structure] is unfolding “speed, medically induced prolonged periods of sleep” _They are the kind of books that can be accomplished only by sea’s fluidity” of process = identical _startling scenes in a doll house you constantly - out of necessity setting up a new language. _becomes subject matter > staircase tilted on its side or pleasure - return to that So Hejduk’s greatness lies “the sea coaxes the house into its undertow” _contingent reality dead-ending in a wall give you the specific feeling “not in provocation or radicalism,” internal of owning a personal universe but in the invention of a vast discourse founded in its Hejduk dared to expand the boundary _greater degree of unforsee-ability “of knowledge, like possessing” “own repetitions, showing us” of the discipline of architecture intensify because you have to [ pay attention ] to the world a pocket-sized infinity. It is the vanishing points of or by claiming territory w _anti zombie these volumes - like dictionaries discipline. our imagination. _space in between you register somatically DRAN “or manuals, notebooks or catalogues” “this is the time for drawing angels” _non-thinking is the enemy of art _amazing collections Pewter wings _Hejduk and architecture “embodied in the spaces, the dense” Golden Horns _trivial = enemy spaces of those books - to which Stone veils [ FABBRICA ] is Italian for factory I am referring here. Head space: mind place and memory “[21] >Paradoxically, a preface can” [ Sentences on the house >space can be both physical and psychological only be written afterwards; and other sentences ] “there is an inner realm where emotions,” it reverses the order of memories and fantasies occupy the infinite corners of our minds. “beginning and end, developing” “the stairs of a house are mysterious because they move up and down at the same time” Artists often consider the relationship between physical locations and memory. from back to front. It AGO - 12.02.24 literally de-velops; it unfolds “frosted windows are the drawing boards of a house” or un-rolls the plan of the “text. It implies, like Ariadne’s “ “night stars are an indication that it is snowing in the universe” “thread, the labyrinthine” complexity of the text “books are female; a mysterious ritual lies within them” _Tao
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19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 [ Soundings ] 19. So the moment you start [20] All those forms generated by reading “has a director, to inspire, but not” As Barthes sees in the work of Sade objectivity of thinking about the poetic ambiguity “extra-dimensions in the circle, the” “to regiment, whether a title or an” “Foirier, and Loyola the victorious deployment” would be dealing wit “of its title, you are part of this” “square, the triangle, are not forms in “ “imagined program, an institution or” “of the significant text, the” kind of pre-face that in its reflection wicke “involvement, part of a kind of” “the sense of shapes, but forms in” an invented subject. The logothesis “terrorist text, so we can see in” not only conforms but performs the involving space. In the same way the sense of ideas does not satisfy itself with the “Hejduk’s work. Because, as Barthes” “book, the sort that aims for” “texere, to weave, fa that the concept of the labyrinth constitution of a kind of ritual “would say, the intervention of a text” persistency and not just consistency “tela, web, net warp of fabric; teks-” is evoked by the complex involvement “Hejduk is a text-operator, a formulator,” “or style, because the language” in the discipline-not necessarily “on, weaver, maker of wattle “of matter and space, the involvement” “and like Sade, Fourier, and “ founder would be nothing more achieved at the time the text appears- [ Evolve ] from latin evolvere to roll “hou of this book and title with each “Loyola, the inventor of a way of “ than the author of a system is measured not by the popularity “out, unfold: e-, out from, exe, “ “>Greek tekt “other evokes ideas of space, the” “writing, thus generating an extra” “to embed a new language, a” of its audience or by the fidelity “volvere, to roll.” “archi-tekton, artifice “space of a book, of a volume at first,” “spatio-temporal dimension, a dimension” fourth operation is required: of the so-called reality it contains “teksna, craft (of wea “then the space of sounding, of “ that has always existed in architecture “or projects, but rather by the” “[ uni-cursal ] running in one direction, is” “fabricating); Greek t depth and of density but that has to be discovered over >Theatricalization violence that enables it to exceed the term used to distinguish the “craft, skill.” He threw his and over again to stay alive. This means “the laws that a discipline, an ideology” structures of the labyrinth and the into the diminishing But after going into the book “that he creates, he writes signs” not the decoration a philosophy establishes in order to maze. The modern understanding “[22] Gadda itself you realize that the whole by reading signs. Within the space “of the depiction, the design of a” agree among themselves in a fine of the word ‘labyrinth’ indicates his s volume is somehow about this kind “of architecture, Hejduk discovers” “setting, for representation, but” surge of historical intelligibility a diagram in which an unbranched
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#5 – Points of Departure Literature: Losing control, keeping desire by Doina Petrescu, (in Architecture and Participation, 2005) You can’t go back (…) That you can trace backwards on a page/ map does not mean you can in space-time. (Massey, 2005) As planners and architects we are actors in space and time, being continuously confronted with the fact that even though we can retrace our footsteps, retell a story or recreate an encounter, the place of origin will always be changed. While the ideal work of architects and planners often resembles what we might consider a utopian notion – it is in our future multicultural and multilayered cities more interesting and of larger importance to investigate spaces of otherness, spaces that are neither here or there and are thus simultaneously physical and cognitive – spaces defined by Michel Foucault as heterotopias, a term used to describe spaces that have more layers of meaning or relations to other places than what immediately meets the eye. (Foucault, 1967) In this investigation of otherness, a specific awareness of where the plan begins is required – for example, what is taken into consideration, and ‘what we let inform our process’. In our competition entry for the large city-expansion in Nordhavnen in Copenhagen (70°N, D&U, 2008b), we developed and used a term and strategy for entering the field called Points of Departure (PoD). The PoD strategy reflects an awareness of changes in time and space that allow otherness and heterotopias, which in turn opens for unexpected spaces and chance to become part of the planning process. From the competition entry: Activating the Field is to create a ‘hyper responsive milieu’ where it is possible to leave an imprint – something that one can return to, charge with energy and follow in time. In our strategy for Nordhavnen we insert small enclaves (sociotopes) of free, imaginative and provocative structures to be established now, and continuously, - independent of the plan’s timelines. These Points of Departure can be seen as embedded resistance and meaning in the future urban fabric. The coming urban structure has to embrace and meet these SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#5 Complex, dynamic fields of life forms and accumulated knowledge exist on several levels in Copenhagen and its region. Through such action this may evolve into a sustainable voice in the urban development process, and at the same time disturb a unilateral and defined developer-run process and imprint it with new meaning. This evidently is true for those people who through time will settle in the area, but also for those landscape structures and events, which will be initiated. In planning terms it represents the importance of weaker economies and voices that, allowed to work on all timescales in Nordhavnen, represent an archipelago of formative opportunities in a constructive resistance to all linear development. This gives us the possibility to create what the voices of the citizens express as: “No-regulation Zones”, “Use temporary functions and features”, “A bit rough, messy and unpolished, it would be great to be able to plan the unpolished”, “The unexpected is attractive”.
points of departure
programs in the same way as the Barcelona Cerda-plan is dispersed in the meeting with the old village of Gracia and Paris’ Haussmann axes deviate when encountering ‘les buttes’ (aux Cailles/Montmartre). Strategically this is a new way to establish constructive resistance in large urban projects, learning from historical urban renewal processes.
In this workshop we have been employing various approaches and terms in order to discover and understand the complexity and multiple strata of information we continuously encounter as architects. And finally: The way we make and present our findings and maps is highly political and has great significance for what we can do to the places and spaces for which we are planning. MH/GL Assignment: Consider your learning from the previous assignments and transfer your new knowledge into a Point of Departure strategy: generating meaning through resilience / interaction / social and biological awareness or simply by creating otherness... 21
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angella
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kanchan
#5 points of departure 23
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ken
#5 points of departure 25
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hailey
#5 points of departure 27
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martine
Can the process of deterioration be a continuation of a building’s life? While weathering is the result of unpredictable environmental factors, its residing elements convey a constant connection to their surroundings. The presence of past elements gives meaning to the present form. Its bridging from past to present connects individuals with the testimony of time that it conveys. does the consideration of weathering as a scar create a stronger connection between the subjective and objective meanings of time? The temporality of nature and memory come hand in hand in understanding time. What is memory if the imagination has no connection to form and matter?
M.GALLANT-WINTER2012
WEATHERING OF TIME.research
POINTS OF DEPARTURE
SEE.SEEN.
“Finishing ends construction, weathering constructs finishes.”
ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
EXISTING FABRIC restaurant.art gallery.performing arts.hotel... .
EXISTING PROGRAMS
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time .
sub-societies .
creativity .
public expression .
no limitation .
visual record .
green space .
vulnerability .
weathering . . .
As a response to the lack of public space where individuals and subsocieties alike can express their individualites and creativity, the suggested urban intervention help feed the future of unforseen possibilities. The interventions are a suggestion of green space to help better the quality and add to the visual presence of the neighbourhood. While these space can be used as an urban garden, it is up to the public to design, add, subtract to the context.
URBAN INTERVENTION
layers
To propose a pre-designed intervention would be aggreeing on predicting the future. this urban intervention is about creating space for possibilities. Without expectations, leaving the design to time and its users, as they may come and go.
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steph
#5 points of departure The ARTery is an constantly evolving system of urban renewal organized by the people and for the people. These re-appropriations of left-over spaces act as places of community, essential to any city’s growth as an organically unified body of life and creativity.
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G
T d t t t w f s 1
(fig.1)
(fig.2)
(fig.3)
(fig.5) SLICES THROUGH SPACE
maysan
points of departure
The project concept is based on the idea of Michel de Certeau’s Tactics. He defined them as actions which take place on an opponent territory. Usually tactics are used by citizens as public spaces power. They are short term actions for long term process. Tactics are tools for actions which required participation and desire. Without a driven desire people won’t participate and won’t take any actions unless something pushes them towards. The aim from this project is to offer analytical tool to enable understanding of how a space is part of citizens’ participation power. According to Hannah Arendt 1906-1975 “public space, is a place for action”.
#5
GREEN-ING outsde the box!
“Green-ing Outside the Box” is inspired from the concept of tactical urbanism, which is a spontaneous temporary (fig.4) action into something permanent and part of daily life (people’s life) (fig.1). This concept is based on theories of Jugaad concept which encompasses all urban actions which, given the existing situations, lead to making use of, re-using and, at the end of the day, not wasting the received city. It proposes that citizen energy brings about urban growth through invention strategies (fig.2).* (No special skills, no sophisticated tools nor new recourses). As a result, linking my Points of Departure to the tactics theories, I have developed a program for my project. Where citizens can participate and plant their own food in the wasted spaces of Montreal Downtown “Residential and Restaurant zones” (fig.3). The idea is, each participant brings his/her recycled containers and plant vegetables/ fruits on the walls of their backyards. The program (fig.4) is introduced by a short lecture and workshop which will teach participants the importance of planting food, methods and plantation maintenance. Each participant will be given a tool kit; which contains a robe, nails, vegetables/ fruit seeds, instructions booklet and a poster [I plant .... ]. The poster idea is to show participant’s solidarity and commitment where He/She can post it on the wall or main door of the house. The program is suitable for all ages. The experience of growing food in the mid of downtown is interesting attraction to the city’s residences and visitors (fig.5). It will help to improve air quality, food inde pendence, participation, exchange methods, and spread the eco-friendly concepts among kids and youths. Although, this action is temporary during spring and summer every year, however, it will certainly add a unique experience for the people themselves and contributing positively to the city. *"STRATEGY AND TACTICS IN PUBLIC SP ACE."" A+T Architecture Publishers 38 (2011): 20-25.
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literature
70°N arkitektur & D&U arkitekter, mosaïc::region, winning entry in the competition Øresundsvisioner 2040, (Malmö/Copenhagen, 2008) www.mosaic-region.com plurality and diversity are crucial 70°N arkitektur & D&U arkitekter, Excentral Park – Edge Dynamics, winning entry in the competition Nordhavnen (Copenhagen, 2008)
embedded resistance and meaning
Iñaki Ábalos, I would prefer not to, in Natural Metaphor: Architectural Papers III (eds. Mateo, Sauter; Zürich, ETH, 2007) a credible map of sustainability has yet to be drawn
Stan Allen, Theory, Practice and Landscape, in Natural Metaphor: Architectural Papers III (eds. Mateo, Sauter; Zürich, ETH, 2007)
a way of thinking that mirrors the dynamism of ecological systems themselves
Gregory Bateson: Ecology and Flexibility in Urban Civilization, in Steps to an Ecology of Mind (Chicago: The University of Chicage Press, 1972/2000) provide the flexibility necessary for unpredictable change transcends the real and ascends to the virtual
Manuel De Landa, Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy (London: Continuum, 2002) the rhizome pertains to a map that must be produced
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Rhizome, in A Thousand Plateaus / Mille Plateaux (London: Continuum, 1980) Michel Foucault: Of other Spaces; Heterotopias (1967)
as a sort of simultaneously mythic and real contestation of the space in which we live, this description could be called heterotopology
Bruno Latour: Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern, in Critical Inquiry vol 30 no. 2 (2004) an ongoing product of interconnections and not
Doreen Massey, Reorientations; Slices through space, in For Space (London: Sage, 2005) loose ends and ongoing stories
heterogeneity of practices and processes
Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by I would prefer not to (1853) moving spatial configurations within a multiplicity of sites and temporalities
Doina Petrescu: Losing control, keeping desire, in Architecture and Participation, (eds. Jones, Petrescu, Till; London: Routledge, 2005)
challenge the norms of planning
Saskia Sassen, The global city: Strategic site/new frontier, in Quaderns vol. 229 / Borders (2001) a new geography of centres and margins
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
slices through space
magdalena haggärde & gisle løkken
slices through space spring studio 2012 by magdalena haggärde & gisle løkken with: angella, elena, hailey, kanchan, ken, krista, martine, maysan, narae, robin, shirley & steph azrieli school of architecture & urbanism, carleton university www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com