the surface to the Sonic Archivist who collects energy dissipat-
“other”.
ed through the air, examine Guam as a stratified landscape.
form; it contains a negligible amount of form which is but a
Each layer of the island constitutes a professional domain.
medium for the process of island-making.
Under this definition, architecture largely lacks
Each professional considers his respective profession’s normative perception of the island against the island’s creative/ destructive processes.
Together, the six professionals and
their separate narratives constitute a grand narrative by the invisible, lurking architect. The search is ongoing for the architect. I need not sift and re-sift the clues left in these pages, lest they crumble into dust. There would be no point, or else that is the only point— all things to dust. Regardless of how things end up, the search is perpetually ongoing, since to turn myself in would be to miss a critical opportunity, which is to define the theater of architectural operation. The object of architectural practice is to fill up that theater (and put on a good show); the object of architectural theory is to constantly open up new theaters. What’s the point, then? Why continually obfuscate material which is obscure to begin with? First, the fact that the island is Guam, that there is a real political struggle over how the island will be continually built up by the US military, is only one facet to the story, a story about islands everywhere. The work does not ask for solutions to Guam’s real issues. I would not presume architecture is a part of those solutions. Rather, I suggest the opposite: in the interstices produced by the effects of creating islands, architecture flourishes - in service to its users both formally and informally. Architecture is about making islands; more precisely, architecture mediates the exchange between “island” and
NS | Oakland, CA | December 2012