Living for The City

LIVING FOR THE CITY designing for the mental and physical stress of efficiency Andres Larios Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Thesis Advisor: Dale Clifford 2018

“I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow ...

Living just enough, stop giving just enough for the city.”

Stevie Wonder, “Living for the City”

Thank you to: My family and friends: My coping mechanisms

and my professors: My stressors

Copyright © 2018 by Andres Larios California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo 1 Grand Ave. San Luis Obispo, CA 93410 All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2018

introduction

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01

environmental stress

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02

coping with urbanity

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module_01: reaching out

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module_02: close to you

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module_03: under pressure

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the future of urban conditions

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module_04: insight

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module_05: talk to the wind

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bibliography

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“There isn’t much I feel I need: a solid soul and the blood I bleed.

But, with a little girl and by my spouse, I only want a proper house.”

Noah Lennox & Avery Tare, “My Girls”

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introduction

abstract In the rush to match the growing demand for areas to live postindustrialization, many designers and builders have overlooked the impact our living environments have on psychological and physiological health. of mentally and physically healthy living conditions is especially evident in the city. The city’s focus on efficiency and frugality has generated a stressful environment that has largely ignored design and experience at the human scale. Using the suggested methodology of speculative lateModernist architects and artists, transforming and improving existing conditions through designed responses to these stressors can influence a more stable level of health in urban environments. Ultimately, through the act of giving people better understanding and a sense of agency in their environment, design can achieve a higher quality of life amongst the evergrowing population of urbanites.

image Conical Intersect, Gordon Matta-Clark, 1975

While evident in all of society’s different living environments, the lack

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Environmental Input Diagram

For clarification, the research and design work in this book are not intended to be anti-urbanism. Rather, this thesis project seeks to understand what why cities have developed into a detrimental environment for human health, and discover some of the root causes. In acknowledging and understanding urban environments as they are and predicting how they will change over time, design can ultimately make the city a better place. With such a diverse culture and social structure generally, the city deserves to be a place all people can live. Moreover, with global population growth, this may or may

living for the city

not become the standard of living regardless of preference.

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This project consists of an academic year’s worth of design research dedicated to understanding the issues facing the city now and into the future, and working on solutions to generating a higher quality of life.

Starting by looking at the field of environmental psychology to understand

the effect urbanity has on the psyche, this project started with numerous design responses to the theory of environmental stress. Ultimately deciding to focus on a relatively smaller scale, much of the design studies are based on generating new understanding of a person’s surroundings and moments of assisted interaction with the environment in a culture that favors efficient use of time over occasional contemplation. The closing part of the project focuses on what the future may hold for cities and proposes a change in the perception of the city as a transformative environment. The city should be designed to respond to the constant change it faces regularly. Ultimately the goal of these studies are to let people understand the city more, and

Simply put, in the city: we’re all stressed. But by making a more empathetic and involved environment, life in the city can be made much better.

introduction

understand each other in the process.

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“The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it. Its only job is to eat or consume everything around it in order to protect itself from this mad city.”

Kendrick Lamar, “Mortal Man”

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environmental stress

There is no avoiding the idea that, to some extent, humans are shaped by their environment. While “environment” and “environmental” often hold the connotation of relating to nature and the Earth, especially in the context of architecture, there is much more to the word than just flora and fauna. “Environment” is commonly defined as something much more abstract and broad: as one’s surroundings. For clarification, when used in the context of this book, the word takes on the much broader meaning and flora, fauna, etc.

Brief clarifications aside, the introductory sentence is a statement that also serves as a brief introduction to the field of Environmental Psychology.

While the field of psychology has always had a level of interest in the influence of environmental factors on human behavior and thought, Environmental Psychology didn’t become an accepted sub-discipline until the mid-20th century.1 Through the development of this sub-field,

image End of Evangelion, Hideaki Anno, 1997

is meant to include everything: buildings, people, nature (or lack thereof),

numerous theories that serve as explanation for observed behavior in 9

different environmental situations also developed. Through looking at different aspects of environmental conditions changing over time and how they relate to physiological changes in the body, such as stimulation and stress, the field of environmental psychology has delivered several ways Figure_01: Environmental-Behavior Model

of explaining the way the environment changes and shapes behavior and thinking patterns.

A wide variety of these theories are outlined in the environmental behavior model (Figure_01). A combination of the Yerkes-Dodson law, the adaptation level theory, and the environmental stress model, this model is meant to explain how environmental conditions can either lead to either coping or homeostasis.2 Heavily dependent on personal preference, cultural expectation, and situation, people receive environmental inputs through sensory stimulation. The way they mentally perceive this input decides whether they are at a comfortable level of stimulation. For example, while

living for the city

some people can stand hearing the continuous sounds of cars outside, some

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perceive it as noise and are ultimately distracted and overstimulated. As a result of being understimulated or overstimulated, the body becomes stressed and is forced to find ways to cope with the excess arousal. Done through several methodologies, coping mechanisms to environmental factors vary greatly depending on situation. Either through physical changes, such as

changing the level of clothing or closing a door, or mental changes, the body will attempt to either build a tolerance to the excess stimulation, or people will change their behavior patterns to deal with the situation.

Unfortunately, there are times where the resulting changes are not enough to bring a person to homeostasis, and stress continues to build. A large enough level of stress will eventually lead to various disorders, both mental and physiological. Excess levels of stress are often associated with heart and lung disease, in addition to several stressful environmental factors that can contribute to physical disorders in their presence.3 There are several mental conditions and disorders that are related with failure to cope productively with stressful situations, with both depressive and anxiety disorders sharing diagnostic features relating to continued stress: agitation, withdrawal, decreased energy, and impaired ability to think.4 In addition to undesirable physiological and psychological change, excess arousal can the stress. While the stress caused by unwanted levels of stimulation is by no means the only cause of the previously mentioned ailments, it is important to clarify that, while usually menial in a short-term sense, stress building over longer amounts of time is not healthy for the human body.

environmental stress

lead to dangerous behavior, such as substance abuse as a way to cope with

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Because continued stress in situations is ultimately bad for mental and physical health, studying the environments that people interact with the most is the best way to understand the source of environmental stress. By looking at the areas where people commonly work and live, defining and responding to common stressors is possible. For the sake of covering as much situations as possible, living and working situations can be defined by three different environmental typologies: rural, suburban, and urban. As it would seem, rural areas would be the only environment that could come near understimulation; however, given the occurrence of natural life, that claim seems to be somewhat of a stretch. Because housing and working situations are so isolated from each other, there are likely less amounts of regular occurring stressors. Suburban areas, while more densely populated, range about the same in terms of stressors such as noise and climate. Due to its proximity to the most densely populated areas, stress can be understandably high in some suburban areas, especially amongst people who regularly commute and face the stress of traffic. Ultimately, the suburbs do not reach the tipping point of overstimulation very often, and have enough consistent activity to eliminate the possibility of understimulation. On the other hand, urban areas are usually in a state of flux between overstimulation and optimal stimulation. Depending on the time of day, and time of year, urban areas theoretically hold the most stressful conditions of the three environmental typologies, with so much constantly going on during the day, and the constant movement amongst all things.5 While this line of thinking is logical enough, it is still relatively abstract and speculative. While most can conclude that of the three typologies, cities commonly produce the most stressors, the issue becomes identifying these

living for the city

stressors, and understanding how they change based on context and time.

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endnotes 1. Allesch, Christian G. “Person and Environment: Reflections on the

Roots of Environmental Psychology.� 22nd Conference of the European Society for the History of Human Sciences, August 2003.

2. Bell, Paul A., et al. Environmental Psychology. 5th ed. Hartcourt Col-

End of Evangelion Hideaki Anno, 1997

lege Publishers, 2001.

3. Bell, Paul A., et al.

4. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association, 2013.

5. Krupat, Edward. People in Cities: The Urban Environment and Its

environmental stress

Effects. Cambridge University Press, 1985.

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[de]stress / [di]stress How much do the sounds of our environment affect levels of stress?

STUDY 01

With noise being a primary complaint amongst people living in each environment, this study created a collage of sounds to test the effect ambient sound from each of the established living environments (rural, suburban, and urban) has on a person’s level of stress. For the sake of quantitative measurement, this study used a heartrate monitor to show a change in stress once the listener was able to properly adjust themselves to the sounds.

Each sound collage consisted of depictions of average conditions in each environment, sound effects for each collage included:

_rural: various animals and climate related sounds

_suburban: low volume, but consistent

appearance of cars, people, and pets

_urban: high volume of cars and people with

construction and building ventilation

noises happening consistently in the background In addition to the collages, for the sake of interest, people were also given various songs to listen to as well. While less about the noise of each environment, it allowed people to understand the effect that sound and perception potentially have on human health.

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The results from the initial test showed varied results from person to person. This pointed to cultural differences amongst the sample size, as some people were more receptive to different sounds, and had very different reactions to the music and collages. While there were subtle changes in the heartrates of several people tested, the results showed that noise likely is not the only thing causing environmental stress.

With this established, the study continued into looking for other sources of stress caused by the city, and many studies showed similar results for a number of different environmental inputs. From these external studies, the determined collection of stressors in any environment were: _noise

_density of people

_composition of space _aesthetics

_light or amount of glare _climate

_air quality From this, the shown diagram was developed to show the relation between levels of stimulation, environmental stressors, and how a person perceives their environment. The dashed line is meant to depict how a person might perceive winter in an urban environment, and what changes they could make to cope with the environmental conditions.

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STUDY 02

Mapping Stress in the United States

Using the establishment of the stressors in the previous study, this study’s aim was to give them context. Using the United States as a subject, this case study aimed to find places of overlap in stressors to discover the most environmentally stressed places in the country. This study decided to focus on the more quantifiable stressors: climate, air quality, noise, and population density. By combining information gathered nationwide, and putting it on individual maps, two maps were developed: one showing the combination of air pollutant danger across the country, and one showing the overlap between noise, population density, and the difference between the average yearly extremes in each area.

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population density via Census

noise levels via National Parks Services

air pollution via EPA

temperature averages via NOAA

Composite map of air pollutants (CO, NO2 , Ozone, PM, SO2 )

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One of the main findings from the previous two studies are the points in which the majority of stressors overlap. Based on the map itself, the most amount of environmental stress appears in places like Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, New York, and Chicago, to name a few. While earlier speculation determined similar results, the map serves to confirm all suspicions that the city is, by nature, the most stressful environment to live in. With the additional establishment of what qualifies as environmental stimulators, it is a little clearer why this is the case. From the sheer amount of people that warrant the need for urban living and working situations, the city cannot avoid generating stressors to the point of overstimulation in many people.

With the constant amount of people in these areas due to dense population conditions, stressors such as noise, air quality, and composition are going to reflect the inability to please the individual, and treat people as a massive singular entity.

Herein lies the issue with the city. Urban conditions are typically not designed to the scale of individual; rather, they typically opt to simplify humans into objects that require certain amenities to function. This idea is especially reflected in the evolution of the apartment in New York. Starting from tenements to accommodate housing for workers after industrialization, the New York apartment typology has been shaped by several Acts and laws requiring necessities such as light and clean air. Parallel to these laws, housing designers were also working on creating living spaces that minimized per-capita area in buildings to house as many people as efficiently as possible. From the strive to create compact and affordable conditions, the “apartment in the park� typology developed, which includes minimizing the building’s footprint and using a high-rises to accommodate for the lost area

living for the city

on the ground.1 While this idea works in favor of efficiency, designers did

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not take account for several things, the first being the lack of appeal to the human scale in being surrounded by these buildings, which often turned into monolithic extrusions for the sake of faster and easier construction. Another reflection of the focus on efficiency over experience is the lack of space to connect with the people living on the same floor, let alone in the same

top: tenement concept plan _ middle: Red Hook Houses, Brooklyn, NY bottom: Sedgwick Houses, Bronx, NY

environmental stress

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building. While the smaller footprints allow for areas to play sports and meet outside, the lack of scalar consideration doesn’t create many opportunities for people to interact. Because there is no personal connection to the built environment outside of the personal space of the apartment, many people living in these types of apartments lack any connection with their neighbors; Figure_02: Living in the city

consequently, this makes even living at home a less accepting and more stressful environment. With no areas for people to connect and understand each other’s circumstances, feelings of anger and fear can be projected onto people that are likely more similar and more human than the built environment gives them credit for.

This is not meant to vilify or blame the designers of the hyper-efficient urban built environment, as there are a limited amount of ways that cities

living for the city

can actually support the amount of people they do. With the populations of these cultural centers steadily rising, there may also seem to be no end in sight to high-rises being designed to fulfill basic needs and minimizing amenities. In any case, the unfortunate truth is that not all buildings will be designed to minimize or mitigate environmental stressors, be it due to constraints on time, budget, or lack of design knowledge. This means that in 24

combating stressors in urban environments, design must start at the scale of the human, rather than at the scale of the building to reach a larger amount of the population. Through doing this, the aim is to use design to fight the simplification of the subjects of the built environment, humanity, and thus give more direct ways of mitigating the constructed stress of the city.

1. Plunz, Richard. A History of Housing in New York City. Columbia

environmental stress

endnotes University Press, 1990.

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“Well it’s like cranes in the sky, sometimes I don’t wanna feel those metal clouds.”

Solange Knowles, “Cranes in the Sky”

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coping with urbanity

Fighting environmental stress in the city is best approached from looking at the experiential level, which ultimately requires design to think and perform at the scale of the individual. By looking at how people perceive their environment and the stressors around them, design can specifically respond to certain situations. Delving a bit deeper into Environmental determines the threshold of optimal stimulation and overstimulation is the perceiver’s amount of control in the situation.1 In situations where the sound levels are the same, often the difference between perceiving sound as noise is the perception of control on the situation. Another aspect of perceiving stimulators as stressors is the amount of understanding a person has of their environment. With the constant stimulation of the city, being unable to focus in on different aspects of the environment is difficult for a lot of people; as a result, people tend to feel stressed about being unable to focus or understand their surroundings.2 Thus, it is up to design to create situations where people feel a level of agency and understanding of their environment.

image Environment Transformers, Haus-Rucker-Co, 1968

Psychology studies, a common theme amongst how the human body

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There are many examples of designed responses to environmental stress that people use to cope with excess stimulation currently. In any given urban scenario as it exists presently, multiple people are usually found using products such as headphones, sunglasses, facemasks, and respirators. By using these, although usually done without direct knowledge of environmental stress, individuals are able have a level of control over their environment and mitigate stressors. Even fashion choices can fall under the same category, by responding to climate conditions, and bringing an aesthetic the wearer is comfortable with everywhere. By serving as a controllable and wearable filter, these products ultimately serve as external coping mechanisms for the amount of stress generated by the environment.

Outside of the commercial and mass-produced realm, there are also several examples to be found in the art world. Pieces that change the perception of the environments on the personal scale have been regularly produced over time. One of the main examples being Haus-Rucker-Co’s Environmental Transformer series, these series of helmets were designed as ways to alter the wearer’s perception of the environment.3 Through this methodology, and interacting directly with the individual, Haus-Rucker-Co was trying to give people new understandings of their surroundings, while also showing that urban conditions are capable of change. Another example can be found in Diller and Scofidio’s conceptual accompaniment to their Blur Building: the Braincoat. Designed in response to the way the building obscures the viewer’s vision, the Braincoat was meant to develop a social understanding of the other people occupying the space. Using recorded data from a survey, the Braincoat was meant to change color based on how similar people answered the questions, showing that there are people with common interests

living for the city

giving a clear visual of similarities between strangers.4 Both examples show

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interesting studies of design changing perception on a personal scale and serve to bring new understandings of the environment.

Whether mass-produced, or a single art piece, design is very capable of providing people with reliable ways to cope with the stress of urbanity.

Through giving opportunities to understand the environment in new ways,

endnotes

1. Bell, Paul A., et al. Environmental Psychology. 5th ed. Hartcourt

image Braincoat, Diller+Scofidio, 2002

or by giving people a feeling of agency or control in their surroundings.

College Publishers, 2001.

2. Krupat, Edward. People in Cities: The Urban Environment and Its

Effects. Cambridge University Press, 1985.

3. Blauvelt, Andrew. Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia. Walker

Art Center, 2015.

4. Schwartzman, Madeline. See Yourself Sensing: Redifining Human

coping with urbanity

Perception. Black Dog, 2011.

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SoundScrape (in collaboration with Chris McCoy and Amy Lim)

STUDY 03

This study started as developing a way for people to experience their environment in a non-visual way. To do this, an apparatus was developed that uses a short piece of wire to create sensations relating to touch and sound to understand the environment. What resulted was a stethoscopeinspired mechanism that reads the texture and density of the material the wire is dragged across. By using this to gain a different perspective and understanding of the environment, it can also serve as a coping mechanism for environmental stress.

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process iterations

model: Chris McCoy 31

Extended Touch

STUDY 04

Influenced by the ideas explored with touch in the previous study, this model gives the wearer the ability to expand their range of touch, while also giving a different sensation and understanding of texture. The model uses the mechanics of umbrella arms to extend the range of touch while also allowing for retraction of the mechanism. With an extended range of touch, this model allows people to interact with parts of the environment that they may not have been comfortable touching with their hands, or could not physically reach under normal circumstances.

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Need A Breather

STUDY 05

This model was generated from an analysis of coping techniques often used by excess stress or anxiety. One common way of coping with stress people use is covering their face with their hands, or closing their eyes. Using parts from an umbrella, this model explores the similar act of partially removing oneself from the stressful situation by covering the face of the operator. In obstructing the user’s view, this model also allows the secondary senses to take over, thus giving a new way to understand one’s surroundings.

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Pressured

STUDY 06

This model was inspired by Tiffany Field’s studies on touch’s relation to stress relief. According to her research, touch reduces the amount of stress hormones produced by the body, and warm touch is related to the body’s production of oxytocin, also known as the pleasure hormone.

Having some inspiration from blood pressure cuffs, this model uses the idea of variable pressure to relieve stress, including studies on the feel of weight and density of the material used within the sleeve. In addition to touch’s effect on hormone production, Tiffany Field’s research goes on to describe that American society especially is moving away from using touch in normal situations. As a result this model also provides as situation where a second party is not necessary for feeling the sensation, with one model iteration generating heat from the center instead of wrapping around the arm.

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Filling 1: Sand

Filling 2: Wool Insulation

Filling 3: Styrofoam

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Multiple Movements Inspired by the previous models using umbrella arms, this is studying the movement of the umbrella mechanism by focusing the movement on different points in each system. By observing different movement patterns that ensue, this study showcases the complex movement that a relatively simple system of parts can produce, and provides more specific information on the movement path of the umbrella arm in particular for future usage.

02

03

04

05

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STUDY 07

01

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07

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Analysis: How “personal� should scale be?

While there is a wealth of potential in the wearable or held scale of design in terms of coping with the stress of urbanity, there lies a slight issue in that these types of devices mostly serve only as brief moments of coping. While having a sense of control and new understandings of the environment is a great way of managing stress, it serves as more of a band-aid for a larger issue of the illnesses related to excess amounts of stress. Additionally, a longerterm solution must require an understanding of the social sphere. Creating a sense of belonging and familiarity with an environment and the people that occupy it is an effective way of designing to mitigate environmental stress.

Design that can promote social interaction can also help develop a support network for people that allows for more reliable ways of coping with stress, either environmental or from other sources.

Ultimately, designing for agency, understanding, social interaction, and human-scale are things that can work in tandem. However, at the wearable scale, accounting for all of these can be difficult to manage and maintain portability. Instead, through working at a module size that is sensitive to human proportion, design can more effectively meet these goals. By working on modular systems that promote social interaction and offer new understandings of the social environment, design can more effectively mitigate the stress generated from living in the city, while simultaneously reach a wider amount of people than a single wearable piece could by itself.

coping with urbanity 41

REACHING OUT

An expansion of the ideas explored in Study 04, this module creates a wall system that extends a person’s range of touch, while simultaneously limiting their range of vision. By limiting visualization, this module is creating a moment for people to learn about the environment when interacting on one side through touch and sound primarily. As a result of this experience on one side of the module, the other side can see the presence of another person visually, or experience the touch of the umbrella arm. Additionally, the module is shaped to focus the sound on the side facing out to allow for either direct interaction with people speaking or making noise on the other side, or as a way to focus the noise coming from the extending and retracting umbrella arm.

“When you feel lost and about to give up, ‘cause your best just ain’t good enough ... Reach out for me.”

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Levi Stubbs, “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”

module assembly

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umbrella arm latex/fabric PLA

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back elevation

section

aggregation strategy

additional sound module: based on study 03

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CLOSE TO YOU

This module uses knowledge from the movement studies to generate linear movement to push a system of panels. Likely using microcrontrollers and ultrasonic sensors, this wall system reads movement and presence of steady entities on both sides of the wall. Using the information gathered from the sensors, both sides express the existence of either a person or object on the other side of the wall by retracting the panels. As two people get closer to each other, the wall reaches full retraction on both sides of the wall, letting their presence and proximity be known to each other. Depending on the type of sensor, the wall system could also respond to other environmental conditions, such as changing weather patterns and sound levels. In any iteration, the module allows the perciever to gain a new understanding of the outside world, while still maintaining the visual buffer that a wall normally establishes.

“Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you.”

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Karen Carpenter, “Close to You”

movement focus

module assembly 47

01_Close to You

PLA Umbrella Arm Acrylic 48

02_Ambient Movement

plan view

section 49

UNDER PRESSURE

Expanding on the ideas explored in Study 05, this module continues to explore the ideas of pressure and pneumatics in relation to the body. Influenced by techniques used in acupressure and psychological studies showing pressure as an effective way of reducing stress hormones, this module uses pressurized contact with the body to relieve stress and anxiety generated by the city. Taking advantage of the pneumatic system, the module is sized to allow for varying levels of pressure to numerous body types, with the module being shaped to fit the body. The level of pressure can be determined by multiple factors including heart rate, environmental factors, or the presence of other people.

“And love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves” David Bowie, “Under Pressure” 50

acupressure points

module assembly 51

PLA Latex/Rubber Silicone Tubing Section

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Adjusted Layout: Sized based on proximity to pressure points on the front of the body 53

“Life in the hive puckered up my night. A kiss of death: the embrace of life. Over there standing ‘neath the Marquee Moon, I ain’t waitin.”

Tom Verlaine, “Marquee Moon”

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future of urban conditions

With the development of responses to mitigating stress and creating opportunities for social interaction, it may be worth stepping back for a moment to contemplate the future of urban conditions. At the current trajectory of worldwide population growth, it seems that cities will time goes on, stressors will likely continue to increase in quantity, making the need for human-scaled design an absolute necessity. Additionally, as cities continue to grow, the opportunity for new buildings in urban areas will gradually decrease due to declining availability of building sites. With the addition of demolition costs, buildings that continue to favor efficient use of money and space will likely continue to take priority over those that favor public spaces and take occupant experience into consideration.

While this trajectory is disappointing in some sense, it only strengthens the argument for modular design that can either be added on after construction, or be used as material specification in parts of new construction.

image New Babylon, Constant Nieuwenhuys, 1971

continue to be important centers of population density. This means that as

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As it would seem, the infrastructure for building a less stressful city already exists. While it would require a slight change in cultural expectations in a lot of areas, the general perception of the city should be of a transformative and responsive environment to match the constant change that occurs there.

A transformative view of the city would allow architecture to change over time and is an approach that can bring a level of humanity into buildings that were constructed with an objectified view of humans.

From Situationism to Anarchitecture to Deconstructionism, there is no lack of precedent of proposals for architecture that focuses on transforming the built environment to create new perspectives and understandings of urban environments. Amongst the more relevant examples, is Constant Nieuwenhuys’ project New Babylon. Often considered an example of a Situationist International view of the city, New Babylon proposed a transformation of the city based around people building on space formerly reserved for cars and transportation, and instead rebuilding things to match the new wave of technology at the scale of the person.1 The project proposes the transformation of several Central European cities into a post-capitalism utopia that allows people to construct and de-construct as they see fit. This falls deeply in line with the Situationist views on culture in acknowledging the static nature of art and architecture, and proposing a revolution through the spectacle: a series of temporary situations that inspire agency into the viewer.2 Ultimately, the Situationist design drivers consisted of transforming existing environments and giving people ultimate control over the built environment, giving them a significant amount of control.

While many of the situationist proposals are much more radical than much of the general city populace would accept in current society, there are a living for the city

lot of valuable things to gain from the movement’s study of the spectacle.

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By constructing situations, Constant and artists like Guy Deboard were focusing on bringing the human scale and experiential factors to places of the built environment that lack a compelling atmosphere, such as corridors or the street.3 This idea can be especially compelling in the context of environmental stress. Not only would focusing on these situations act as a

top: Conical Intersect, Gordon Matta-Clark, 1975 bottom: New Babylon|Den Haag, Constant Nieuwenhuys, 1964

future of urban conditions

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Figure_03: Transforming the city

response to the portion of the built environment that often ignores the human scale, but it could serve as a place to connect people with the environment and each other. By bringing designed responses to moments like this, it is possible to influence a sense of agency in people, while also serving as a way to transform the built environment to be more responsive to the changing conditions around it. Through creating a city that is based on responding to understanding and adjusting to the environment around it, the culture

living for the city

surround urbanity would have the opportunity to change as well. As a city

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becomes more sensitive to environmentally stressful situations, people can also seek to understand others, and create a support system that serves to help make the urban environment a less stressful, and more understanding place.

endnotes Uitgeverij, 1999.

2. Plant, Sadie. The Most Radical Gesture: The Situationist International in a Postmodern Age. Routledge, 2006.

3. Deboard, Guy. “Towards A Situationist International.” Participation.

Whitechapel, 2006.

future of urban conditions

1.Wigley, Mark. Constant’s New Babylon: The Hyper-Architecture of Desire. 010

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Pneumatic Apartment

STUDY 08

The goal of this study was to develop a way for people to control their living space. Based on a typical sized New York City apartment, this study included the development of a pneumatic floor and wall panel that could inflate to allow people to customize their personal space, or possibly a way to act as a way of coping with excess levels of stress from the environment. This system would ultimately work towards making personal spatial conditions fully customizable.

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module study

Retractable Space

module study

STUDY 09

Another study in personal control over living space, this scenario uses floor jacks and umbrella-arm based modules to control the spatial conditions. By attaching to the floor and ceiling, this system allows for people to customize how compressed they want their space to be at any given point of time. Depending on personal preference of compressed intimate space, or wide open space, these modules could serve as ways to also create a comfortable environment for relieving stress.

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Touching Moment

STUDY 10

Moving away from the personal interior, towards more of a public moment, this alternate version of the Reaching Out module takes advantage of infill spaces generated by New York City housing regulations. By attaching itself to the mandatory airgap between apartment blocks, this module study replaces windows facing other windows in favor of these modules focusing on touch. This way, the module allows people to understand their environments using different ways of sensing, while maintaining the necessary airflow, and removing potentially intruding views of other apartments.

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Telescoping Module

STUDY 11

Combining the movements of two umbrella pieces by forming new connections, this module creates linear movement. Extending from approximately 9� to 20�, the module is capable of movement on two sides when focused near the center. Using inexpensive, yet deceivingly complex mechanics, these modules seek to either take advantage of natural forces, or give people a level of control in their environment.

Additionally, this module is meant to be developed for multiple uses, ranging from a ceiling module that broadens the airgap between floors to serve as isolation from sound, to a number of different wall module scenarios that promote interaction between people and new understandings of the environment.

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scenario_01

scenario_02

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INSIGHT

This module alleviates the stress of the city by providing new perceptions of the surrounding environment. Designed to create a two-way interaction between people on each side of module, this module uses lenticular film to distort vision to serve as a filter for interactions between strangers. As the panel moves closer to anything on the pulling side, the image becomes clearer, allowing the person pulling the module to gain a better understanding of their surroundings as the start to pull and explore more. The module, additionally, is forcing people to use their hearing to understand what is happening on the other side due to their obstructed vision. This is ultimately mean to give participants multiple understandings of their environment.

This module could serve as a point of interaction between people on the interior and the exterior of buildings, but could also serve as a visual buffer between public and semi-private interior spaces, such as a living room and a common area in a housing complex.

“For all the people [out] there, I’m not afraid anymore.�

Ian Curtis, Insight 66

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Side A: Pull and see

Side B: Push and be seen 68

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TALK TO THE WIND

This module is designed as a visual experience on both sides, but also serves as a way for the built environment to interact with nature. At its idle position, the module consists of fully extended colored panels on one side, and white fabric with small perforations on the other. Light is allowed through the perforations, but the majority of the system remains hidden while looking from the inside. However, upon receiving a gust of wind, the true nature of the module reveals itself. The white fabric panels on the inside are pulled in, revealing a piece of iridescent film that creates different colored effects as the sun reflects off of it, while also allowing the viewer to see the telescoping module that creates this effect. On the other side of the module, the wind’s presence is also apparent by forming new compositions using the light shining on the colored panels and the variations of depth created by the blowing wind. This creates a system that is shaped visually by the wind on one side that is reflected on the other side.

This module can serve as something freestanding in an area that receives enough wind, and is also designed to function as a portion of a building’s skin. Because of the moving elements, this module does not create a closed system when used as a facade, giving an opportunity to allow wind inside of the commonly hermetically sealed buildings in the city. As a result, this module should likely be used for special moments connecting the building interior with the external environment, rather than fully enveloping a building.

“I’m on the outside, looking inside. What do I see?”

Ian McDonald, “I Talk to the Wind” 74

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bibliography

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Bhabha, Homi K. “DissemiNation: time, narrative, and the margins of the modern nation.”

The Location of Culture, Routledge, 1994, pp. 139–170.

A look into the social implications of migration and how it effects the identity of a nation. Discusses the dynamic relationship between identifying as an individual and its reliance on defining the interests of the collective surrounding the individual. Argues that the recording of history as a truthful retelling of the past, rather than focusing on culture and customs is creates a basis for inequality in present society. Emphasizes the importance of spreading ideas from different cultures, languages, and traditions will build a new national culture that does not promote the destruction of individual identity.

Bishop, Claire. Participation. Whitechapel, 2006.

A collection of writings from various theorists, critics, and artists on the topic of the social implications of participation in pieces of art. Rather than analyzing the art itself, these writings discuss the social interactions and focus on time and context of interactive art pieces. Many of the authors argue that through requiring active involvement in the pieces of art, the pieces are encouraging critical thinking amongst the spectating public. Through covering the many aspects of art and design, the book focuses on pushing the fields toward influencing a cultural revolution that promotes free thought and critical thinking. Through these ways of using design to influence agency amongst the viewing populace, the designs are promoting people to take agency in their life.

Blauvelt, Andrew. Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia. Walker Art Center, 2015.

Writings on the Walker Art Center exhibition Hippie Modernism, that covers the art, architecture, and design of the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Hippie modernism reflects the merging of modernist ideals with the values of the counterculture movement of the 60’s before the shift to post-modernism, thus covering architects such as Superstudio, Archigram, and Haus-Rucker-Co. With many of the projects seeking to develop a utopic society, the counterculture goals of the era outlined by the exhibition were often to promote interaction with the individual and

living for the city

connect people to the environment. Additionally, the modernist focus sought a

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future that took full advantage of technology to create the conditions for a utopic society that is free to form and prosper.

Braham, William. “Biotechniques: Remarks on the Intensity of Conditioning.”

Performative Architecture, Spon Press, 2004, pp. 56–70.

Clarifying and showing the merits of Frederick Kiesler’s idea of biotechniques in architecture, in which a link is drawn between biology and technology. Braham emphasizes that buildings are a part of a much larger system, which draws the metaphor of the building as a living being in an ecosystem. Because of this, buildings should respond and utilize more organic systems in organization and construction, as living systems can typically adjust to the environment and provide ways for people to interact with the built environment more intuitively.

Using the example of an organically laid out plan and the counter example of sick building syndrome, Braham argues that the best guideline for design is the living standard that it creates.

Eliasson, Olafur. Take Your Time: Writings 2001-2012, vol. 4. Studio Olafur Eliasson, 2013.

A collection of writings regarding the uses of color, time, context, and material in Olafur Eliasson’s installation artwork. Primarily written by the artist himself, he reveals his approach to how his art is often designed around bringing a level of context and social understanding to hermetic white box museums. While mostly consisting of experiential exhibitions and various smaller pieces, Eliasson’s work focuses on influencing people to express themselves, often by including a level of interactivity in his art. With his focus on transforming existing architecture to respond to the constantly changing societal and environmental conditions.

Fox, Michael, and Miles Kemp. Interactive Architecture. Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.

A collection of architectural projects related to creating different levels of interaction between the built environment. Ranging from projects that change space based on the location of people in it, to furniture and facade systems that change qualities as people interact with them, the projects covered serve as a discussion of the relationship between technology and architecture. While the large majority of projects covered include uses of censors and microcontrollers to adapt to changing phenomena, they are noticeably different in the degree of response. Whether adjusting lights, changing colors, or informing space in other ways, each project is an idea of how the built environment can start to react and

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change based on how people or the environment is changing around it.

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Field, Tiffany. Touch. 2nd ed., MIT Press, 2014.

Showing the significance that touch has on developing children, and studying the impact that the stigma against touch in the United States has on people of all ages. Field points out that, in the U.S., we typically have reserved touch to family and sexual partners, to avoid any possibility of misunderstanding of sexual interest in another. Because professionals such as teachers, doctors, and psychologists are trained to limit touch to an only as-necessary basis, many people are deprived of touch, which leads to adverse effects to mental and physical health, especially in developing children. This shows the importance touch has on the human body, especially in its ability to relieve stress and physical pain, through several types of therapy.

Guattari, Felix. “The three ecologies.” New Formations, Translated by Chris Turner, vol. 8, 1989, pp. 131–147.

Arguing the merits of subjectivity in fields of research, especially psychology, and that objectivity tends to look for universal values that lack flexibility to handle complex social factors of human interaction. Guattari argues that capitalism works to simplify subjectivity as much as possible to reach a larger amount of people in the name of making profits. Through a reconstruction of capitalist societies that puts greater emphasis on subjectivity and less on mass media, people can begin to individualize and form smaller, familial-like social organizations. Argues that the current forms of subjective expression – art, writing, architecture – are the best way currently to start the shift toward a collectivist and more subjective society.

Jacobs, Jane. “The Kind of Problem a City Is.” The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Vintage Books, 1992, pp. 428–448.

Describing the city as a problem of organized complexity that has been treated as a problem of simplicity or unorganized complexity in the past. The previous ways of thinking have allowed planners to treat the inhabitants of cities objectively, allowing them to simplify the extremely complex issues of living in an urban

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environment. Jacobs makes the argument that cities are a part of nature and

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that, just like nature itself, efforts to standardize the disorderly environment are disrespecting the established systems. Argues that lively cities have the capability to regenerate themselves, but trying to create the standardized dream city often creates a dull city that is destined to fail.

Kennedy, Sheila, and Christoph Grunenberg. KVA: Material Misuse. Architectural Association, 2001.

A study in the evolution of the wall as an architectural element, and how it has changed from something that purely embodies mass, to something that had become hollow, and holds the majority of the building’s technology. Mainly trying to understand how common building materials can be altered to expand their possibilities, and what implications these possibilities hold on space. This project and the following analysis proposes a process of experimentation that is applied to several wall conditions and materials. Using this process, a moment of experimental space is created to test the ideas explored in the analysis of the commonly existing condition.

Krupat, Edward. People in Cities: The Urban Environment and Its Effects. Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Describing the nature of living in urban environments and ways people cope and adapt, and why some can thrive. Krupat proposes that the city is a place of multiple and contrasting realities, and that it is often depicted as a black and white issue – either good or bad. This book focuses on the individual as they exist in the city, and understanding the environmental and social issues that affect their behavior. Looking at different experiences and views of urban living and understanding how people in the city deal with their environment.

Oosterhuis, Kas. Hyperbody: First Decade of Interactive Architecture. JAP SAM Books, 2012.

Outlines a number of experiments to come from Delft University of Technology in trying to make architecture that works with building technology to create systems that react to constantly changing conditions. Showing interest in ways of, in a sense, mass-producing technology that allows for mass-customization of architectural conditions, the Hyperbody project consists of several experiments in dynamic building elements. Consisting of several speculative designs and full-scale models, much of the experiments utilize analytical and simulation technology to generate different spatial conditions depending on external inputs. Ranging from form generation, to façade manipulation, to moving floor, ceiling, and wall systems, the work of the Hyperbody project is heavily based on

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providing a level of input to the people occupying the architecture.

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Pelkonen, Eeva-Liisa. Achtung Architektur!: Image and Phantasm in Contemporary Austrian Architecture. The MIT Press, 1996.

A description of the experimental architecture and art coming out of Austria postWorld War II. Looking at people and firms such as Coop Himmelblau, Frederick Kiesler, and Volker Giencke, Pelkonen discusses the critiques of modernity and the desire to find the ethos in architecture that was developed by these visionaries. Mainly focusing on the architecture of Gratz, the author describes the city as trying to develop a separate identity from Vienna at the time these architects began practicing. While the architecture of Gratz and post-war Austria still seeks to function, many of the projects seek to test the limits of modern tradition to create engagement between people and the built environment.

Plant, Sadie. The Most Radical Gesture: The Situationist International in a Postmodern Age. Routledge, 2006.

A description of the Situationists International, a group of philosophers and artists that focused on bringing spectacle to everyday life. Tracing the movement back to Marxism, the movement is based on transforming the existing environment to introduce a social revolution. The post-capitalist society the situationists tried to develop was based around eliminating alienation amongst people caused by consumerism and provide a future where technology has met society’s labor needs. With society no longer based around consumerism, and no need for labor, all people are able to express their creativity through transforming the environment.

Plunz, Richard. A History of Housing in New York City. Columbia University Press, 1990.

A rundown of the initial methodologies and legislation that has shaped the housing typologies of New York as it stands today. Providing insights from initial tenement housing, row houses, and more current housing realized housing projects in the city, the book covers housing types of all economic standings.

Especially valuable for its insight on the strategies used to get New York as densely populated as it is today, this study of housing in New York lays out the

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conceptual basis of many New York housing projects – fit as many people as

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possible in as little area deemed comfortable.

Prix, Wolf D., and Helmut Swiczinsky. Coop Himmelblau: die Faszination der Stadt.

Verlag Jürgen Häusser, 1988.

Coop Himmelblau’s study and narrative on the development of urban areas and the effect cities have on our psyche. Prix and Swiczinsky explore the implications of the spread of cities and suburbs and argue that architecture of the city should embrace the reality of the “desolate” urban environment to begin to reshape it and develop one that fundamentally cares more about the people living in it. They argue that “home” entails more than the inside of a house or apartment, and that context plays a much larger role than any interior can in the process of building home; therefore, to make better living conditions in urban areas, the urban environment itself must become more socially adept Salter, Chris. Entangled: Technology and the Transformation of Performance. MIT Press, 2010.

A description of the history of responsive systems and how they relate to several different disciplines, including the arts and architecture. Looking into the architecture of the stage and event, Salter suggests that much of the contemporary ideas of responsive architecture stem from the Futurist and Constructivist manifestos of creating combining architecture with the machinic movement.

Due to the instability of Europe pre- and post-WWII, these ideas would not resurface until the 1960’s with Archigram, the Metabolists, Superstudio, and critical architects of the like, who showed interest in creating fluid and responsive architecture. Soon thereafter, architecture began adopting responsive strategies and eventually adopt new material and modelling technologies to better implement these stragegies.

Schwartzman, Madeline. See Yourself Sensing: Redifining Human Perception. Black Dog, 2011.

A collection of perception altering devices and art pieces from exhibitions all over the world. Ranging from things designed to be products, to various performance art pieces, this catalog offers new ways of thinking about sensory experiences. This series of studies shows a variety of ways that art and design can be used to either extend sensory inputs, or the effects limiting one or multiple senses has on a person. Ultimately, these experiences offer another way of

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understanding the world and the human body, often through firsthand experience.

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Tamaki, Saito. Hikikomori: Adolescence Without End. Translated by Jeffrey Angles, University of Minnesota Press, 2013.

The translation of the 1998 book that brought attention to the growing population of Japanese youth that have withdrawn themselves from social interaction.

Hikikomori, or social withdrawal, is a mental condition that causes young adults to shut themselves in their rooms for over six months. Despite some cases lasting years, social withdrawal is widely considered an accompaniment of several other psychological disorders, and not a psychological disorder itself. In Japan, much of the condition is caused by social rejection and bullying amongst peers in school, and is supported by Japan’s generally prosperous economy. It is worth noting that similar cases have been recorded outside of Japan after the popularization of the condition, and has proven to be a more widespread issue than the book covers.

Tobier, Nicholas. “From Learned Pigs to the Burning Man: Itinerant Amusement in America.� Transportable Environment: Theory, Context, Design, and Technology.

E & FN Spon, 1999, pp.47-56

A discussion on carnivals and festivals, and the implications of the temporary building typologies developed by these events. Because the events and structures are temporary, they are seen as acceptable in the eyes of society, despite bordering acceptability in the eyes of many if done in a more permanent fashion.

Because carnivals and circuses are typically confined to a specific area for a limited amount of time, they can do radical things like house exotic animals, or strange acts in the confines of a significantly more regular city. Through using temporary spectacle, these events are able to unite people and create an opening in the social fabric for discussion and possibility of change.

Venturi, Robert, et al. Learning from Las Vegas. The MIT Press, 2001.

A study of difference of planning and architectural strategies used on the Las Vegas strip and downtown areas. While the downtown area has developed into a pedestrian friendly area with casinos embracing the narrow streets and building

living for the city

to the curb, the strip has been shaped by the emphasis of motor transportation.

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Being located on a wide street, casinos on the strip have built themselves to build monuments and signs by the street to draw cars in, while the casinos and hotels remain simple, modern boxes that serve their basic purposes. This disconnect has created an emphasis on signage and monument rather than the buildings for the architecture on the Las Vegas strip.

Vidler, Anthony. The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely. MIT Press, 1999.

A look into the Romantic idea of the uncanny, or the anxiety caused by the unfamiliar and unknown, and how it relates to architecture. Explores the idea of the unhomely and compares architecture to the human body and the implications of Post-Modern architecture as it begins to disassemble architecture. Vidler discusses the relevance of the analogy of architecture as the body and postmodern architecture that uses formal operations such as contortion, cutting, impaling, and dissecting. The text begins to criticize the formalist agenda of many modern and post-modern architects that have ignored feelings that the form of their buildings have generated, and argues in favor of a more socially aware and humanistic architecture.

Woods, Lebbeus. Radical Reconstruction. Princeton Architectural Press, 1997.

Showing the speculative work that Lebbeus Woods put into rebuilding areas that have been destroyed by war, revolution, and nature, this work questions the social implications of physical boundaries and what it means to break and rebuild them.

Emphasizes the architect’s responsibility in understanding the social climate of where they are building, and what it means to rebuild in the wake of “natural” destruction of the built environment. Uses external factors in the destruction of buildings specifically to argue for the value of deconstructing all types of architecture, regardless of current state.

Wigley, Mark. Constant’s New Babylon: The Hyper-Architecture of Desire. 010 Uitgeverij, 1999.

A compilation of Constant Nieuwenhuy’s artwork and texts from 1956 to 1974 where his focus was creating a speculative New Babylon. A critique on urbanism and the way cities had been shaped around consumerism, New Babylon proposes his view of the next level of evolution for society. Constant’s argues for a cultural revolution that provides everyone with a level of freedom, and once everybody is seen as an individual, we can begin transforming and humanizing our existing environments. In his creation of a Situationist city, Constant proposes that creativity runs free and that cities start to reinvent themselves to allow for the maximization of social space and freedom to explore as automation of production

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extends itself.

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