VERTICALITY[manifesto] GSAPP: Independent Study SUPERVISOR: Danil Nagy YEAR: 2016 Spring HUMAN PROGRESS EXISTS BECAUSE OF VERTICALITY AND OUR PRIMAL NEED FOR HEIGHT.
Our bi-pedal bodies stand vertical, and point upwards. As a species, we exist perpendicular to the surface we inhabit; we point up to the sky through our bodies. Thus, our lives are, and have since been, defined by ascension. Each of us, throughout our lives, must evolve from crawling to standing, and each of us grows upwards as we gain wisdom through our experiences. Our individual lives are microcosms of our species’ evolution.
OUR BUILT ENVIRONMENT IS THE PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION OF THIS. The following manifesto outlines human progress through the lens of verticality and our primal need for height. The research is the fruits of an on-going fascination of mine with the subjects of evolutionary psychology and anthropology. The narrative is an attempt to connect these subjects with our built world, all under the lens of the human species, dealing with how we interact with and shape the world around us. It begins with our ancestors who lived in the trees, and ends with current technology and a projection into the future.
INCEPTION Our ancestors, who lived in the trees, were quite familiar with heights. They had ascended into the trees to escape grounddwelling predators; height equaled safety and survival. Falling equaled death (the fear of heights common among our species stems from this). As we evolved, we descended from the trees and out onto the grasslands. The flat surface meant less protection from predators, so we again needed height to facilitate our survival. We became bi-pedal, which symbolizes our first act in overcoming gravity. We began a timeless struggle with height that still continues today. Our course as a species had been fundamentally altered, and we would now look at the world in terms of verticality. As a result, the trajectory of our progress through verticality was inevitable.
Rudolph F. Zallinger, March of Progress, 1965
BEGINNINGS The first bi-pedal humans struggled to make sense of their newly-evolved vertical relationship with the earth. We lived on the savannah as hunter/gatherers, and our vertical bodies allowed us to survey the landscape for predators. Taller individuals had a better view, and therefore had a better chance at surviving. Height still equated to safety and survival. We were still confined to the surface of the earth, however. This led to an abstraction of the space above us. we looked to the sky for light, yet we were constantly pushed away from it by gravity. Height led to the unknown. As we gained more control over our surroundings, we were able to produce our own light (fire), and our own shelters (architecture). PRIMITIVE HUT Unknown date and height Our primitive shelters represented our first constructions, and they were based on the presence of material above us to protect us from the elements. These structures were our first attempt at externalizing our drive for verticality, and represented our nascent need to alter our surroundings in order to improve the human condition. Our species had an inner drive towards verticality since becoming bi-pedal, and thus had a curiosity towards the unknown above us. Through time, our attitude towards verticality would shift and evolve, but would remain the fundamental force through which the human species has progressed.