Sneha Aiyer ’20 MSAAD Columbia GSAPP

WATER

E P H E M E R A L M S A A D @ G S A P P

FOOD

JUNE 2019 - MAY 2020

,

SNEHA AIYER

MEDIA

&

Commodification and Spectacle in Art, Architecture, and Design: The medium of critique in the works of Amie Siegel, Formafantasma and, Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen

02

RE-INVENTING BUELL HALL THE CLASHES

03

page # 43

INFRASTRUCTURE: THE FOOD COLLECTIVE & FIRE STATION

page # 53

Sneha Aiyer

01

UNDERSTANDING STRATA OF TIME THROUGH LAND WATER RELATIONSHIPS

04

page # 7

An Essay written for Arguments Critic: Andres Jaque Jana Berankova

page # 36

Televisual Architecture Sneha Aiyer

An Essay written for Extreme Design Critic: Mark Wigley

page # 82

Roland Rainer: Housing Settlement and Space of Appearance

MEDIATIC DEVICES OF MEASURING VIETNAM WAR page # 91

Sneha Aiyer and Niki Kourti Paper for Tectonic Form and The Space of Public Appearance Critic: Kenneth Frampton

page # 122

Visual Studies: GAP III_ Graphic Narratives Critic: Whitney Dow, Michael Rock Student: Sneha Aiyer

page # 132

7

SUMMER 2019

01

S I

O

A K

A 100-year flood plain map indicating the territories water will take over the island of Manhattan has been a cause of concern for a while now. Often met with schemes of resilience. Through the immediate and distant history of the Island, one concludes that this relationship has always been viewed as a binary - either water or land. However, it is a territory of a gradient where instead of a singular normal, several normals can be defined such that this ephemeral relationship is justly represented.

T U

!

Studio:

On Strata Ecology, and Metaphorical Perceptions of the

Critics: Jorge Ambrosi & Gabriela Etchegaray Student: Sneha Aiyer

UNDERSTANDING STRATA OF TIME THROUGH LAND & WATER RELATIONSHIPS

City

P

So, how do we embrace the fact that the definitions are ever changing? Instead of thinking of how to hold it what if one is to pivot this idea and think from water.

How to let it flow? How do we design for time rather than space?

The manifestations of influences over time are clearly seen in the land water relationships and they will continue to shape the ever-changing territory that it shares. The project is a speculation over time and looks for an ephemeral and temporal architecture that can assimilate and evolve rather than resist.

Bathymetry of the river bed and Topography of the island: speculated flooding over coming 100 years

Topography of the island and its relationship with the speculated flooding over coming 100 years

The looming skyscrapers that form the image of the metropolis are anchored in the rocky bottom of its geological past. The solidity of Gneiss, Granite and Manhattan Schist has allowed construction of such engineering feats.

New York is primarily composed of sediments that were metamorphosed during the Taconian and Acadian orogeny about 400- 500 million years ago and during the ice age about 1.8 million years back large sheets while melting displaced and scraped those rocks creating sediments and striations resulting in formation of smaller islands.

In this way the island had a relationship with water that is not static but rather constantly changing either by human intervention or by forces of nature.

Central Park hosts evidences of this geological past are present in the city and interacting with the urban space with the people of the city.

It became essential to understand the fear inducing planar lines of the 100- year flood in relationship with the topography of the island to critically examine the future speculation.

The georaphical strata of the island would determine the anthropogenic strata of the city.

Topography and location of the island amongst a moraine carrying river – Hudson and a tidal East river were ideal for the Dutch settlers and the Lenape before that.

Owing to the Sailboats, there is a natural ground and water edge relationship. No hard edge between water and land… but rather a shared territory As trade was well established—retaining edges in wood framing were made to dock the sailboats. Hence trade influenced the shaping of the waterfront.

Land use map shows the presence of industries, mills and shipping yards.. Producing and shipping – iron, ceramic soap sugar etc.

Industrialisation influenced the relationship of land and water.

Robert Moses and the surge of infrastructure development after WWII shapes the relationship of the island to its waters Politics shaped the relationship of island to its waters Public urban spaces on the waterfront…

More infrastructure and development of business districts on the waterfront Land reclamation meant making piers on the sedimentary silty edges of the river. Pile foundation … silt dredging… filled at the Hudson River bed Through the immediate and distant history we can conclude that this relationship has always been viewed as a binary either water or land. However, it is but a territory of gradient where instead of a singular normal, several normal can be defined such that this ephemeral relationship is justly represented.

1609 1800

1916

1965

1980 2019

Broadway looking south from St. Paul’s

Strata as manifestation of time-scales

23

2075

22

23

20

NOW 1940

ISLAND AND WATER

1840

18

SUMMER

1700

16

WINTER

2125 2100

FALL

NOW

SPRING

1700

SUMMER

1600

ARCHIPELAGO

ARCHIPELAGO ICE SHELF

SHAPING

SHAPING

WATER

PUBLIC

WATER

09

08

07

06

05

04

03

29.

02

SPACES

01

ICE SHELF

00

SKYLINE

29.7 DAYS

SKYLINE

29.7 DAYS

ISLAND AND WATER

1922 AD

450 million years ago

1679 AD

450 Million years ago

Pearl street and the wooden retaining edge of the rive bank

SYMBIOTIC

FOR THE PEOPLE

INDUSTRIALIZATION

TRADE

Broadway looking south from St. Paul’s

TOPOGRAPHY

DEMOCRATIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL EDGE

INDUSTRIALIZATION

10

CHANGING WATER EDGE WITH THE LUNAR CYCLE

1.8 million years ago

TRADE

11

1840

2125 1600

TOPOGRAPHY

13

12

SPRING

ARCHIPELAGO

14

2050

1940

8 Million years ago

15

2075

2025

1600

17

1600

The

changing landscape of waterfront

19

1880 AD

SKYLINE

1848 AD

Steamboats replace sailboats on the harbor of East River

SKYLINE

1613 AD

Sailboats at the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam

FALL

2025

NOW 1960 1840 1700 1600

2125

2100

2050

ARCHIPELAGO 2100 2075 2050 2025

00

1835 AD

How the land was shaped over the years and what have been the influences?

2125

How do we embrace the fact that the definitions are ever changing?

Instead of thinking of how to hold it what if one is to pivot this idea and think from water ‌ how to let it flow?

How do we design for time rather than space?

Can our optically orientation in design be nudged towards temporality?

What would be an architectural gesture that allows for that?

Now, through a viewfinder I look at the Museum of the city of New York as the unit that in a way becomes an object to manipulate over time in future and in the past as well. The manifestations of influences over time are clearly seen in the land water relationships and they will continue to shape the ever-changing territory that it shares. The project is a speculation over time and looks for an ephemeral and temporal architecture that can assimilate and evolve rather than resist.

Thinking...

...Drawing

Now the museum exhibits the social and cultural history and future of the city.

This will be the year of awarness and critique. So, the interiors of the public buildung are revealed while preserving the memory of a landmark. Excavating the ground

As the proximity to water increases, a closer relationship is established between land and water. Resources have now become scarce and thus valuable.

The museum now becomes a place of action and activism. The spatially movable volumes that respond to changing functions and sea level rise move up an down as the degree of wetness of the environment increases.

Natural resources now equate power and economy.

The museum now becomes a natural resource reserve and grows as the requirement changes or increses.

Part of the built form is a green house that hosts an edible landscape of the near extinct plant species. It is also an aviary and the water saturated ground hosts various aquatic species.

As we move towards 2100, the degree of wetness increases and the built form grows.

The project is a speculation over time and looks for an ephemeral and temporal architecture that can assimilate and evolve rather than resist.

An environment that is designed for time and assimilates the water that will invade the territory of land

2025 AD will be the year of awarness and critique. So, the interiors of the public buildung are revealed while preserving the memory of a landmark. Excavating the ground allows for the building to soak up the water and harvest it.

Part of the built form is a green house that hosts an edible landscape of the near extinct plant species.

It is also an aviary and the water saturated ground hosts various aquatic species.

Rainwater collecting umberalla roof modules

Water Tanks

Expandable Grid for future growth

Museum Facade Preserved

36

Commodification and Spectacle in Art, Architecture, and Design: The medium of critique in the works of Amie Siegel, Formafantasma and, Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen

Sneha Aiyer An Essay written for Arguments Critic: Andres Jaque Jana Berankova “But for the present age, which prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, representation to reality, appearance to essence…truth is considered profane, and only illusion is sacred. Sacredness is in fact, held to be enhanced in proportion as truth decreases and illusion increases, so that the highest degree of illusion comes to be the highest degree of sacredness.”

S p e c t a c l e -Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach

1 “In a world that is really upside down the true is a moment of the false.”- Guy Debord

It is no news that our society at present is enamoured by the illusions of social media and that is the ground, which all agencies that intended to create any impact be it social, political or economical wish to conquer.

The field of architecture and design has for long relied on the medium of creating illusions and signifiers that communicate with the viewer/user. The Parthenon incorporates the concept of forced perspective. By matching columns that are farther away with the ones in front so that the coveted image of the temple is achieved. The concept of entasis- recognized by Vitruvius- i.e the application of a convex curve in the classical Roman columns in order to create an illusion of strength through formal manipulation is another such example. Everything is a representation and truth is not coveted. It is the tectonic image that one relates to rather than the realism of construction. In the same vain, illusions can be attributed to the way we consume the works of art, architecture and design. The relations these works establish in the socio-economic sphere can be viewed as the exchange of materials with associated values. The materials gain agency when it is transformed into an artefact and establishes social and economical relationships amongst people. Karl Marx calls this “the enigmatic character of the product of labour” as it assumes the form of a commodity.

Through various manipulations in the form, spatiality, haptic and tactile quality a work of art, architecture

“But for the present age, which prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, representation to reality, appearance to essence…truth is considered profane, and only illusion is sacred. Sacredness is in fact, held to be enhanced in proportion as truth decreases and illusion increases, so that the highest degree of illusion comes to be the highest degree of sacredness.”

Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach

or design will attain a spectacular character that entices as an image while it conceals the truth. This camouflage of truth in turn exaggerates the reality in order to communicate something more than itself. 1 It is these two themes of commodification and spectacle that I wish to discuss further in this paper through the works presented in the arguments lecture series. While art serves to provocation, architecture and design straddles between provocation, critique and, solution. Despite the distinction, the term work should suffice to express all the art (installations and film), design and architecture that were discussed in these sessions.

The film Quarry by Amie Siegel was a critique of the materialism that is present amongst the elitists through the transformation of natural materials into commodities. Using parallel tracking shots she shows the process involved in the transformation of the stones and boulders into artefacts of use and exhibition. A cult value is attached to the stone and its source. A stone sink from Carrara, Italy would mean for the buyer that they own something that is almost as good as Michelangelo’s David. The stone quarrying, cutting, shaping and, polishing by the machines and people operating them become insignificant in the value attached to this article. In comparison, if the buyer were to purchase an artefact from a craftsman, the artefact would assume a different value, perhaps that of the process of production by skilled humans from a particular cultural milieu. The illusion of an identical value is created through reproduction of fakes or copies that when possessed by the owner could carry the same narrative whilst being less valuable. Walter Benjamin describes this as- “…in permitting the reproduction to meet the beholder or listener in their own particular situation, it reactivates the object reproduced.”

Thus a pseudomorph impresses upon the buyer a certain value though different from the original yet in relation to it.

Image: Quarry by Amy Siegel (Top) Ore Streams by Formafantasma (Bottom) Sourced images

Provenance is a document that acts as the palimpsest of possessions of social exchanges the art works have facilitated. It is debatable that perhaps the auction of the video art by Amie Siegel in an impressively packaged USB was a part of the work itself or pretence. When the work becomes a commodity in itself that not only is reproducible (and hence not singular) but a value different from the constituent material is attached to it leading to shaping another social relationships with the artist, the audience and the buyer. The artist transforms the values associated to these materials and makes it something more than itself. The market, organizations commissioning the art and the prospective buyer often influence the work. So, the question arises- is the art independent of this influence and exercises an agency of its own? Can art act independent of these value associations and be seen for its own sake and therefore enjoy the autonomy of expression, critique and provocation? For this, there might be some indications toward an answer in the work of Forensic architects at Whitney Biennale’19 wherein a critique of one of the art commissioner’s involvement in ammunition production lead to their dismissal from the board of trustees.

Using a similar medium of film, a critique was made by the duo at Formafantasma on the waste generated by electronics and its recycling processes. The video narrative employs various apple products in making the statement about the waste generated and in turn creates a spectacle instead of delving into the realities of processes involved in this. In a way a, the medium of aesthetics employed makes one gravitate towards the criticality though in turn they become a participant in not only the generation of electronic waste but also silent promoters of these electronic products through creation of a fantastic spectacle. If one were to step outside of this imagery and see a reality where countries colonised for the same mineral ore extraction that make these electronics have become the places that consume the waste.

In part, the suggestion of colour coding in order to make recycling efficient is a brilliant proposal but it seems unlikely that capitalist agendas of profit making will conflate with the ideas of recycling until it becomes an image or a spectacle in itself. That is to say, if the idea of recycling is made into an image that is easily and popularly consumed the company could foresee profit making through such marketing. It is interesting to note here that the solution (art work gains agency and has an influence) often lies in the territory of becoming a participant in the very field that one is critiquing. Another evidence of this was seen evidently in the works of Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen when they critique the creation of spectacle through manipulation of spatial, tactile, olfactory and haptic senses in the gambling seen at various scales from horserace betting to casinos to the whole urbanity (Las Vegas) oriented toward the spectacle. The exhibition and film both employ the medium of creating an image through these sensory and aesthetic operations in order to entice the viewer or audience. The medium (exhibition or film) adopts the instrument of the topic under critique. The sense of smell in the exhibition and the thoughtfully framed visuals of the burlesque girls in the film mirror the betting and gambling environs. This mirroring is extrapolated, interestingly also to the sale of this art.

In the lecture, as a response to my questions – Is the film also a spectacle in the same way the world of gambling is? Will the film eventually be auctioned and become a participant in the realm of gambling? Tuur Van Balen elaborated on their process of working on the film and pointed towards the art market and its limitations. The commodification isn’t limited to the work only but is associated to the artists, architects and designers. Ironically, Rem Koolhaas opines, “Shopping is arguably the last remaining form of public activity. And we shop for Picassos and Kandinskys, for Harleys and Yamahas, for Prada shoes and Bulgari brooches, all under the aura of covetable pots of gold at the end of a fleeting rainbow glistening about the roulette tables and the highstakes slots.” In this way artists and signature architects have become brands in themselves. The art or architecture is not seen for its constituent content but for the image it will create and the spectacle it will project.

Image: The Odds by Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen

Sourced images

Through these works and others as well we understand the role of a medium (film) in the metamorphosis of the content and the relations the work establishes with and amongst the audience. The work is not independent of the influences. Art for art sake may be an unrealistic dream. Art, architecture and, design, if were to become instrumental in socio-political provocation and engagement will have to pierce these boundaries and engage on a spectrum of scales, adopt illusions and characters in order to entice and impress upon the audience a reality that could perhaps be more persuasive if it were to become more than truth itself. Perhaps, conclusions are futile as it too projects only one reality while the works attempts to engage in different realms.

References: Marx, Karl, 1818-1883. Das Kapital, a Critique of Political Economy. Chicago :H. Regnery, 1959.

Debord, Guy. 1994. The society of the spectacle. New York: Zone Books.

Kenneth Frampton, The Work of Architecture in the Age of Commodification, Harvard Design Magazine, 2005 Benjamin, Walter (1969 [1936]). “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Illuminations. Ed. H. Arendt. New York, Schocken.

Foster, Hal, 1985. Recodings : art, spectacle, cultural politics, Bay Press, Port Townsend, Washington.

43

FALL 2019

02

RE-INVENTING BUELL HALL

A N E

W TY PE

O F . . .

Studio:

Concept and

THE CLASHES

This “handshake” was introduced to explore- how site and program provide the constraints to investigate the notion of hybrid program out of alternate typology (or vice versa).

Various iterations of themes and programs were tested to rethink the building on the site of Buell Hall. The types explore the notion of clash as seen in these dualities of program and formal themes. Each concept has two opposing ideas that are articulated through formal moves. The concepts challenge the normative relationships expected and therefore generate new architectural type. An emphasis on collective and individual relationships is placed in conceieving the new concept of a public space.

“The New Type of”: New Programs For The 21st Century

Critic: Bernard Tschumi Students: Sneha Aiyer, Jolene Jussif

02

Inspired by the representation of spaces in the miniature painting, the attempt here is to investigate ---How one can read this as architecture?

The two characters evoke a sense of performance within the spaces.

This is an immersive theatre space where the oppositions of audience and the performer is blurred.

The clash between the bubble and orthogonal forms here defines the type. The structural grid allows for the freedom of such organization. The awkward clashes between the organic form and the orthogonal form are aimed at creating a sense of awareness of the duality that we live in.

The Truth Nucleus is a place for fact checking and of information to befrom usedresearch by This is movement a place to learn about the earth at the Earth Institute. Visitors learn about things administration as well as Politicaal Science majors researching political news.

The form is section is we can see, and things that we cannot. Individual learning sessions occur along the cores and in the similar to its diagram in that there is an input,upper output, andCollective processing officeshappens for information.

The of where Buell Hall once was, as a projection level. learning in the absence public is invited to the open space however, on thethe building secure and only ceilingislearning about theallows thingsfew weapproved cannot see. The form of the building is a product of the persons. subtraction of Buell Hall from a cube.

True and False Absence and Presence A Truth Nucleus

A Place for Learning and Demonstration

True and False A Truth Nucleus

COLLECTIVE & INDIVIDUAL

DIGITAL & ANALOG

PERFORMERS & AUDIENCE

Day Care | Planned Parenthood | Sexual Violence Response Center

Presentation & Seminar Spaces

Immersive Theatre Pavillion

TANGIBLE & INTANGIBLE A Center for Sharing Ideas

TRUE & FALSE The Truth Nucleus is a place for fact checking and movement of information to be used by administration as well as Politicaal Science majors researching political news. The form is section is similar to its diagram in that there is an input, output, and processing offices for information. The public is invited to the open space however, the building is secure and only allows few approved persons.

A Truth Nucleus

Absence and Presence A Place for Learning and Demonstration

ABSENCE & PRESCENCE This is a place to learn about the earth from research at the Earth Institute. Visitors learn about things we can see, and things that we cannot. Individual learning sessions occur along the cores and in the upper level. Collective learning happens in the absence of where Buell Hall once was, as a projection on the ceiling learning about the things we cannot see. The form of the building is a product of the subtraction of Buell Hall from a cube.

A Place for Learning and Demonstration

We were interested in the Triple Chaser video from Forensic Architecture at the Whitney. The video flashes between different images of tear gas on top of different backgrounds that were used to teach the computer how to recognize them. Our interpretation of this was to use this idea of clash, camouflage and legibility against an opposing background. The buildings clash and at times camouflage with elements of Columbia campus.

Digital and analog exist together. The bubble form represents isolation and disconnect from the immediate context while the semi-open sense of the analog spaces allows for connections with the surroundings.

The oppositions of mass and void is seen through the chase in the miniature painting (The seduction of Prophet Yusuf) and re-interpreted as chase (to engrave) in the making of the pavilion. The movement within these spaces represent the audience that interacts and physically clashes with the performers in the spaces within the pavilion.

The form is a subtraction of Buell Halls form extruded from a cube. The absence and presence are reversed here where the solid form now occupies the space of Buell Hall’s void.

53

FALL 2019

03

A N E

W TY PE

O F . . .

Studio:

Concept and

“The New Type of”: New Programs For The 21st Century

Critic: Bernard Tschumi Students: Sneha Aiyer, Xutian Liu

INFRASTRUCTURE: THE FOOD COLLECTIVE & FIRE STATION

We are proposing a new type of infrastructure that is embedded in today’s context. This project is one of the six categories (Educational, Recreational, Environmental, Political, Social, Infrastructural) enlisted by Prof. Bernard Tschumi for his studio investigating type and program within the typical Manhattan Short Block.

Infrastructure is defined as the basic physical or organizational structure required for the operation of society.

To define what is infrastructure for a society it is important to establish the shared ethics of the society. Although, our lives have become easier with the advent of online platforms that deliver all the products of consumption to us, the journey is responsible for a majority of fossil fuel consumption.

Lately, the frequency of natural disasters has increased in the past years. It has become important not only to have a resilient built environment but also to be prepared to combat such situations at the organizational level.

How can architecture gain agency over such organizational infrastructure?

As we began the search for answers, we realized that collaboration and reciprocity has been missing from most infrastructural projects. Our attempt was to create a prototype that can be replicated and serves as a network of infrastructure to the city.

03

THE MANHATTAN BLOCK

realtionship to the city

Freeing the ground

bringing public to the core

How can architecture gain agency over organizational infrastructure? As we began the search for answers, we realized that collaboration and reciprocity has been missing from most infrastructural projects.

Instead of a centralized program that is isolated from the city, our attempt was to create a prototype that can be replicated and serves as a network of infrastructure to the city.

service bay & movement

circulation of material through structure

storage of material & formal type

Two programs are proposed next to one another in a typical and hypothetical Manhattan block. The food collective is a place where food is grown (farm), and stored (warehouse), processed (factory) and sold (market). While the fire station is a place that becomes a safe space in case of a natural disaster but on a regular day, it benefits in terms of public participation drawn in by the food collective.

THE FOOD COLLECTIVE

ROOF: FARMLANDS

STAIRS: MARKET

ENCLOSURE:FACTORY

STRUCTURE: WAREHOUSE

FIRESTATION

Our food usually takes a long road trip before it is set on our plates!

From farm to processing in a factory to a storage warehouse and then to the supermarket. This journey from production to use has been responsible for a major consumption of fossil fuel. This will now be cut short.

In an attempt to bridge the gaps between the means of production, storage and sales, a new type of infrastructure emerges. The new type is a result of the overlap of farm, factory- the production space, warehouse- the storage space and the market.

The stepped roof and the facade dedicated to farming while the enclosed spaces are production and packaging areas.

The structure is hollowed out and it enlarges at places to create space for storage (warehouse) The movement intersects with the production areas and opens on to the public space creating an internal market street. The large staircase is interrupted with these small shops that break the monotony of the movement to create a sense of a street.

GROW

PROCESS

PROCESS

PACKAGE

SELL

ROOF AND COULUMN

GROW

GRAIN THRESHING

FLOUR MILL

FOOD PROCESSING

PROCESSING & PACKAGING

The movement intersects with the production areas and opens on to the public space creating an internal market street. The large staircase is interrupted with these small shops that break the monotony of the movement to create a sense of a street.

MARKET

The porosity at ground level encorages better relaionship between the street and the firestation in case of a disaster

FIRE STATION

As it often occurs within the Manhattan Block that two completely autonomous buildings become neighbors. Here the attempt is to collaborate and bring peoples’ participation in the infrastructural activities such as agriculture and disaster management. Instead of these activities being isolated from the people of the city the people become active participants.

B’

A’

A

Ground Plan

B

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Roof Plan

Section AA’

Section BB’

82

Televisual Architecture Sneha Aiyer

An Essay written for Extreme Design Critic: Mark Wigley

Let’s consider this: Television is not a window. If the role of a wall is to obstruct a continuous space, then the window is a puncture in the obstruction attempting to connect. On the other hand, television often speeds up the perception of time, dissociates location, and notion of space. It stymies the experience of the present and concocts a different world in itself. A window, on the contrary, does have televisual qualities. A window is an architectural element, tied into domesticity in the same way as television.

T e l e v i s u a l

1 Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter offer each individual with access the agency to broadcast their views and participate in public conversations. There are other consequences of such agency which have been overlooked for this argument.

This begs the question- What is television? In my experience television isn’t limited to any particular definition. It travels across media. Now, television is no more a mere screen in space but a medium that moves with us. It is not a broadcast governed by a particular entity and consumed equally by all. We choose what we consume and customize television for ourselves.

We do not see television as merely a viewer but also as producers of content- as broadcasters. 1 Social Media allows us all to participate in the broadcast of visual information. It is possible to think of social media as another form of television. In the same way, perhaps other forms of media offer such possibilities of perceiving reflections of one medium in another.

So, does the newspaper have televisual qualities?

Can a painting have televisual qualities? Does architecture have televisual qualities? Here, I attempt to understand various media through television and in turn understand television a little better.

How do we understand the future? By looking back at the past and speculating in a very rational manner. If this (the cause), then that (the result). Some exercises in spatial and visual extensions can be extrapolated across time as a result of advancing an idea with a greater degree of precision than its precedents. Paul Virilio (Improbable architecture: The lost dimension) in the same way understood the television as a third window that offers an anamorphic visual extension of

“The third window is a recent invention: the television screen, removable and portable window that opens onto the false day of the speed of light emissions. The television screen is an inverted window, one which no longer opens onto an adjoining space but instead faces beyond the perceptible horizon.”

Paul Virilio (Improbable architecture: The lost dimension)

spatiality. He explains “The third window is a recent invention: the television screen, removable and portable window that opens onto the false day of the speed of light emissions. The television screen is an inverted window, one which no longer opens onto an adjoining space but instead faces beyond the perceptible horizon.” Virilio observes that television has a more precise operation on the qualities a window 2 attempts to achieve. It can create a false day, show visions far beyond the horizon, and connect not just spatially but temporally. It is interesting to note that Virilio emphasizes the horizon because the notion of painting as a window often appears in the theoretical texts of Alberti. The metaphor of painting as a window implies a perspectival continuity from the realm of the onlooker to that of the painting. One becomes an extension or complementary to the other.

Greek and Roman theatres literally extend the space using perspectival amplifications in the backdrop scenarios while some paintings involve us so much so, that we are transported and lose ourselves in their distinct spatiality. The sense of our present physical space is lost and we are transported into Escher’s staircases or Piranesi’s imaginary prisons. The act of looking out and such metaphorical teleportation is a televisual quality. Nonetheless, all paintings may not have such televisual quality.

Picasso’s Guernica conveys suffering but doesn’t invite us in spatially. So, it is perhaps not too far-reaching to say that televisual quality lies not merely in communication but in communicating through spatial engagement.

Consequently, can we say that we think of television as a spatial prosthetic?

Image: Haus Rucker Co’s Mind Expander (right) sourced image

2 Paul Virilio, initially trained as stained glass artist views window as a precedent to the television, in particular the stained-glass windows of the gothic churches which often illustrated biblical tales.

All tools are prosthetics as they extend the capacity of the human body to accomplish a task. Television does allow us to see beyond our physical limitations. But is television a sensorial prosthetic or merely visual? McLuhan argues that the television engages all our senses. He believes television demands more engagement from its viewer than any other media. He elaborates “TV fosters the interplay of senses that painters since Cézanne had stressed as needful.” Of all, tactility was a unique sense that TV could successfully communicate. It offered the medium that was much sought by impressionist painters to express through materiality. When someone on the screen feels a surface, the composite amalgam of their reaction, the sound, and the visuals elicit the viewer’s memory of similar experiences in order to discern this taction. In this way, the televisual medium is also a sensorial extension of the human capacity. Does the window perform in the same way? Perhaps, it does, although with the limitations of reality and geometric perception of the viewer.

A video, on the other hand, exercises the freedom of offering multiple perspectives and dimensions. It is a way of creating distance from reality by creating another time-space. Nonetheless, with the advent of virtual reality (VR) this experience has been altered. One can walk through the projected space and experience it in the present reality without the distance that is created between a screen and the viewer. It is a technological attempt at the realism of the renaissance. So, if television is a visual and sensorial prosthetic with the ability to entice spatially while creating a world distinct from the viewers’ reality; does architecture have this televisual quality or the same agency?

Architects are often baffled by new technologies and slowest to catch up to them. While Kiesler in his endless house demonstrated a capacity to think of digital architecture by analogous means, architects were also creating futuristic scenarios without the use of the digital medium. They were building prosthetics. Skeptical of a labor-free, polluted, and individualistic world; they build bubbles both physical and imaginary3. Takis Zenetos’ postlabor urbanism wrapping the world along the equator saw humans as mere consumers of television. Haus Rucker co. ‘s Mind Expander metaphorically isolated the individuals from their environment (or reality). Liberated from reality the individuals took a journey inward to have a sensorial experience.

Owing to its purely visual and communicative qualities, Zenetos’ and Haus Rucker co. ‘s architecture was televisual. The walking city of Archigram makes the idea expressive through a visual medium that narrates a story outside our present physical realm and creates an atmosphere of its own much like television. In fact, it has inspired a few post-apocalyptic videos.

Walter Pichler’s TV Helmet (portable living room) rejected the idea of architecture as shelter and created an advanced version of the human; that is in themselves capable and in control of the content they view. This dissociation from the present, engagement of the senses in a virtual world, and prosthesis assign a televisual quality to the architecture.

Image: Walter Pichler’s TV Helmet or Portable Living Roomr (right) sourced image

3 imaginary i.e., an architecture that existed on paper rather than on the ground. The projects that were to advance ideas in the field of architecture rather than reach fruition through built work.

Over 50 years later, we still design rooms, assign program, and serve the agenda. Architecture as a medium is still indifferent. Television is not an architectural element- the third window (Virilio). Television connected the world to the remotest location. It gave the people in farthest corners of the world the most current information in their living rooms. Instead of dissociating time, it dissociated geography and connected all to the present. In this way, television increasingly became a means of participation in urbanity. The TV did become a public square as Venturi once proclaimed.

We can now extrapolate the argument to social media as well. It is a platform that offers possibilities of self-broadcasting and collective actions much alike public plazas. Nevertheless, we can definitely see various relationships between architecture and television. They do share some vocabulary such as - access, screen, projection, program, etc. but with different meanings attached. It is debatable if one is a consequence of the other or are mere parallels attempting to offer similar agency to the user/ broadcaster/ viewer.

In conclusion, television is not a window. A window perhaps attempts to be television notwithstanding its limitations. Clearly, an architectural element doesn’t stand-in as the metaphor for television. Despite this, if one has to draw such connections then, it is perhaps more like a public forum than a window. In fact, it is architecture that attempts to gain the same qualities and by that the same agency as television. Other media do have some of the qualities of the television. The anesthetic quality that holds us hostage, unable to step out of the constructed reality is something architects and architecture always aspired to.

References Marshall McLuhan, “Inside the Five Sense Sensorium” in Empire of the Senses, ed. D. Howes (Oxford: Berg, 2004), 43 (originally published in The Canadian Architect, 1961).

Virilio, Paul (1984) The Lost Dimension, trans. Daniel Moshenberg. New York

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Critic: Mark Wasiuta Student: Sneha Aiyer

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MEDIATIC DEVICES OF MEASURING VIETNAM WAR

The documentation of war seems to be as important as annihilating the enemy’s environment. How do you visualize the war? How do you visualize winning a war? cartographic practices have been effective in translating the destruction and consecutive occupation of the enemy’s territory into visual data.

During the Vietnam war, the camera became an asset to these practices. It was quick visual evidence of the military activities that could feign precision of action.

The research looks into the analogous means of survey and documentation and the creation of visual and spatial data.

The project commemorates the mediatic devices of the military and marks the histories of bombing as mediated by -scopic and informatics systems explicating ongoing decontamination processes. The juxtaposition of the two ends on the spectrum of the history of data visualization creates a symbiotic system- i.e. the exhibition loop and decontamination plug-in mobile modules.

The pilot has controls of the armament as well as the camera.

This is a KB-18 still photography camera. It is a panoramic strike camera - documents high resolution images- 180 degrees vertically and 40 degrees laterally. This camera would run for a preset length of time between 2 to 32 seconds.

The aircraft becomes a mediatic device itself and the pilot has an additional role of documentation. As he deploys a bomb, the camera captures the image.

The aperture of the prismatic lens was controlled by an internal light meter and one or two still pictures can be taken each second.

With 250 feet of film 300 exposures could be made.

These are the photo squadron detachments where the films were processed and accurate or approximate notation was made and this format of the data passed on through appropriate channels. From Tan Sohn Nhut to Pentagon.

So these multi-scalar mediatic devices involved in measuring the war are reminiscent of the beginnings of the techniques that we are so used to these days of visualizing territorial/geospatial data.

The historical aerial photographs are geo-referenced and used to assist the machine learning process of detecting bomb craters in post-conflict territories. The photographic evidence is also used to unearth the history of bombing in areas where the affected landscape has been infilled.

Thus, the visual data produced then, which facilitated the violence on the enemy’s environment also becomes an important archive that is now used to decontaminate or reverse the violence caused by the war.

The project commemorates the mediatic devices of the military and marks the histories of bombing as mediated by -scopic and informatics systems explicating ongoing removal or decontamination processes.

The juxtaposition of these two ends on the spectrum of the history of data visualization creates a symbiotic system expressed via distinct schemes that work in consonance.

Represented here as the loop and the plug in modules.

The loop stems from the idea of a film loop that can also run in reverse projecting the notion of reversal of the violence.

The aircraft that became a documentation device viewed the landscape from a distance of 2000 feet and took vertical panoramic images spanning 1500 feet. Flipped and scaled-down this gives the viewer an insight into the imaging technique and therefore the resultant visual data.

It also contains the physical imprints of the destroyed post-conflict environment it encircles.

The 2-degree tilt of the loop emulates the flight path and its encounters with the images of the war. This takes the viewer along the same trajectory as the aircraft that perceived the environment.

As one looks down the projection is interrupted to give a glimpse of the imprint of bombing left on the ground. Perceiving the way the images were captured ingrains a better comprehension of the process and dimensions, across which these techniques were employed. It removes the documentation device and replaces it with the human body to experience the profusion of violence in first person.

The journey continues as the flight ascends and the camera fitted at the base captures the cluster bombing strikes, shown here by a curved LED screen hanging at the base of the loop while the ascending transparent ramp allows one to see through as they walk over.

The control room is the quintessential operational unit of the decontamination network headquarters wherein the maps are generated, constantly updated, archived, and also exhibited.

The LED screen runs a loop of film and images captured from a height of 2000’ scaled down to a viewing distance of 500’

The viewing gallery to see the exterior of the loop

The flexibility of the deployable module dimensions makes it adaptable to various functions.

It is transportable and can go on to another post-conflict environment to perform decontamination and UXO removal.

Various facilities of surveying, documenting, mapping, and eventually detonating the remains of the unexploded ordnances are housed in the units. Some units connect with the loop and engage in the exchange and exhibition of the visual data.

The plug-in modules offer multiple possibilities of configuration and function, oriented towards the aim of decontaminating the environment.

Roland Rainer: Housing Settlement and Space of Appearance Sneha Aiyer and Niki Kourti Paper for Tectonic Form and The Space of Public Appearance Critic: Kenneth Frampton

Public spaces in a housing community are not often discussed in relationship with tectonics and environmental design.

Roland Rainer’s research and practice were ahead of his time in bringing such issues to the fore. This paper examines his work in relationship with the concerns he raises in his book Livable Environments. They are not limited to his immediate context, but focusing on international examples and precedents.

We look at the following housing projects of Roland RainerVorfabrikation: Fertighaus, Sommerhaus, Puchenau I & II, Lignosthal House, Bratislava 1967, Linz- Leonfeldnerstrasse, Tamariskengasse, Linz Auwiesen, and Oko Siedlung Essling in the context of his theoretical research.

T e c t o n i c s Environment Roland Rainer explores the effects of population inflation of various countries on housing. He challenges the vertical stacking of floors as a solution to congestion and proposes a rather unclear argument in favor of horizontality. On the other hand, he suggests that the horizontality should not be accomplished through single freestanding family houses in large plots, but by creating multi-family units, that share private open space. This strategy can accommodate larger populations, without resulting in an extensive city expansion.

Further, he illustrates his concerns about the automobile and its effect on the urban footprint through the cloverleaf intersection overlaid on the plan of Salzburg. Motor traffic affects the urban environment by way of not only air-pollution, nerve-racking noise and accidents in a catastrophic way, but just as much owing to its demands for more and more space.

Such concerns for automobile and its influence on the public spaces subsequently became pivotal in his architecture, especially housing. It reflected in the organization of the schemes as well as the materiality of these public spaces.

“where I appear to others as others appear to me, where men exist not merely like other living or inanimate things, but to make their appearance explicit.” Such public space of appearance can always be recreated anew wherever individuals gather politically, that is, “Wherever men are together in the manner of speech and action”

Hanna Arendt (The Human Condition)

Streets For Hanna Arendt, the polis stands for the space of appearance, for that space “where I appear to others as others appear to me, where men exist not merely like other living or inanimate things, but to make their appearance explicit.”

Such public space of appearance can always be recreated anew wherever individuals gather politically, that is, “Wherever men are together in the manner of speech and action”

some patio units are equipped with garages, leaving the garden open and continuous.

All of the house types share some common features. For instance, the main entrance is not situated in a yard, and the first functions that one encounters are the dining and kitchen spaces. In this way, the living spaces open onto the garden courtyard and become part of the private realm.

Courtyard houses

Since we are going to discuss his housing projects and space of appearance, it is important to reflect on Rainer’s concerns and references with regard to the street. In a housing project, the street becomes the first interaction space outside the realm of privacy. He looks at two examples, a residence in London that displays the house on the front yard and a house from Chinese vernacular settlement that encloses a semi-private court by a spirit wall to create a threshold between the private and the public. In this way, he questions and learns about transitions and negotiations between private and public space.

He compares the organization of the housing units in relationship to open space. In a single-family house situated in an open yard i.e. “the house in its garden”, there is an unimpeded view of the neighboring houses across the street. All outside rooms are exposed to noise and fumes from motor traffic. In his alternate suggestion - the “Adjoining courtyard house type” i.e. the garden in its house, it is impossible to look from one private sphere into another, each garden is seen only from its own house; houses, courts and gardens are not exposed to traffic influences, noise and fumes.

For instance in Puchenau, the walls enclose not only the private courtyards, but also the streets that run between them, making them sheltered, quiet, and secure for the pedestrians. He mentions, “...creating streets that are not allowing the entrance of cars can appear in a scale that resembles the picturesque cities that we see on our holidays”.

The garden city of Puchenau (1963 -78), west of Linz, is regarded as one of the famous examples of garden cities. It consists mainly of single row houses in the form of a long band parallel to the Danube, but also of four and five-story multi-family houses, which form a sound barrier against the passing railway and streets. The apartments are located on narrow, partially paved footpaths.

The construction of Puchenau II began in 1978, and provided an expansion of 750 apartments. In 1976, a children’s dormitory, an eight-grade elementary school and a pastoral center were completed.

Within the settlement, each street is designed to fulfill different functions, such as “federal street”, “garden street with parking”, “partially covered footpaths”, “playgrounds on Danube”, “traffic road”, “parking places”, “underground garage”, “middle promenade”, “secondary street”, “partially shaded”, “footpaths”. The materiality of the street allows for only pedestrian movements on the “partially shaded” paths covered by lightweight steel structure. He uses pebble stone paving or plantation on the edges of housing units in order to create the possibility of water percolation. He learns from the case studies of Islamic settlements and creates a density interwoven with pedestrian movement, which in fact becomes the space of appearance. In Puchenau, everyone has to walk a short distance to their dwelling from a common public space or car parking situated along the edge of the settlement or beneath an elevated garden while in Jorn Utzon’s scheme at Fredensburg Housing

Roland Rainer learned not only from the Chinese vernacular courtyards but also from modernist architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe’s courtyard houses. In his projects, he attempts to connect each enclosed space with a private open space. His student’s project and Chermayev’s studies illustrates the same idea where the mass and void alternate to create an interconnected relationship between the outside and inside.

The Linz- Leonfeldnerstrasse project was designed between 1972 and 1985 and could be described as a smaller- scale, and more economical version of Puchenau. The buildings in the edge are higher, protecting the inner ones from the traffic noise and the cold winds. As seen in the plan, the courtyard or the “Living Yard” is directly connected with the living room and the two bedrooms, while it remains free from the house’s main entrance and the interruption that this would create.

Courtyards- Squares- Streets Learning from Medieval examples of public spaces that are created because of the diktats of social hierarchy, Rainer employs such progression of scales of public spaces in his housing scheme. For instance, in Linz Auwiesen (1990), the courtyard typology is evident in the housing units and the settlement is punctuated by larger squares that act as public open space. The two-story row houses in the center of the estate open on to a central inner courtyard with a playground that connects with an existing large square that lies between blocks of flats towards the North.

In addition, he explores the pioneering idea of creating self- sufficient neighborhood units in a competition project. The aim of Bratislava 1967 was to create a new decentralized district with a possibly optimally organized hierarchy of centers: each of the five neighborhoods, which is equipped with a kindergarten, recreation areas and daily necessities, forms three districts. The centers are connected by public and commercial facilities with a main center on the Danube, which allows for public functions of the city of Bratislava, such as university, stadium, and exhibition areas as well as administrative buildings.

Prefabricated Houses

Rohrverteilung der Luftheizung im Bau. Disposition des tubulures de chauffage à air chaud pendant la construction.

Distribution of hot air heating pipes during construction.

In Vorfabrication: Fertighaus (1952) Rainer proposed a system of prefabricated elements for the production of fully furnished houses. The aim was to use the least amount of material and energy, produce as many houses as possible, and provide comfort for the household. Therefore, purely single-story detached houses (unlike his other schemes) without cellar and attic were proposed, with 2-3 bedrooms. Each house has a fully equipped kitchen, a storage room usually located directly in it, a bathroom with built-in tub, porcelain sink, hot water and toilet.

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Grundriß in Schrankhöhe / Plan au niveau du placard / Plan at wardrobe level b Schnitt durch Badewanne und Schränke / Coupe de la baignoire et des placards / Section through bath tub and wardrobes c Ansicht der Küchenseite / Vue du côté cuisine / View of kitchen installation d Grundriß in Höhe der Lavabohahnen/ Plan au niveau des robinets du lavabo / Plan at level of lavatory taps e Seitenansicht des ganzen Blocks / Vue latérale du bloc / Lateral view of the entire sanitary block f Ansicht der Badezimmerseite / Vue du côté salle de bains / View of bath-room installation 1 Schrank Küche / Placard de cuisine / Kitchen cupboard 2 Schrank Bad / Placard de salle de bains / Bathroom cupboard 3 Spiegel / Miroir / Mirror 4 Dunstschlauch / Conduite d'évacuation / Exhaust duct 5 WC, Raumentlüftung / Aération des WC / Ventilator in WC 6 Elektrischer Heiß wasserspeicher / Chauffe-eau électrique / Electric water heater 7 Wassermesser / Indicateur du niveau d'eau / Water meter 8 Elektrische Badheizung / Chauffage électrique des bains / Electric heater for bath 9 Spülkasten / Chasse d'eau / Rinse 10 Türchen für Wassermesser / Portillon de l'indicateur du niveau d'eau / Lid of water meter a

In the early 1960s, Lignospan Holz(wood)industry, commissioned Rainer with the establishment of a new building system for housing. Lignosthal house was built in 1964 with walls and ceilings made of thermo-insulating elements supported by a light steel skeleton, so that the house stands on eight very slender steel columns above the ground. This not only saves on protection against moisture and the usual costly and time-consuming foundations, retaining walls and earth movements, but it also avoids the destruction of natural soil formation. It aims to achieve the same characteristics as Mies’s Farnsworth house in an economical manner, except for the transparency, as the windows are perforated metal sliding shutters that cut out solar radiation and glare.

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Gardens Rainer observed landscape, the design of gardens, as well as geometry the notion of symmetry that characterizes them. In Tamariskengasse, the geometry with which the volumes are structured is clear and results in the creation of hierarchical public spaces. A circular waterbody located at the culmination of the avenue, becomes a space of gathering, especially for children.

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Houses, patios, terraces and public spaces remain uninterrupted by the presence of cars, so that the settlement has a nuanced structure of narrow streets, large-sized plots and green spaces with a central water body. A landscaped mound covers the parking at the edges of the settlement. The three-story buildings on the western and southern edge protect the entire complex from wind, so that the interior forms a calm hollow.

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Decoration or experience of nature In his book Livable Environment , he raises the question of decoration versus experience of nature. In Summer House, the height and position of the natural elements in relation to the window makes them dominant in the experience of the house. He sees nature as something that becomes an integral part of the constructed space as opposed to nature as distinct from the built environment. Although the image of the constructed house and the section drawing do not correlate, the idea however is expressed. He further elaborates on integration of nature and architecture, “If a tree stands in the courtyard of an old house and is regularly painted like the walls of the house and yard, it seems to be a perfectly natural part of the habitat.”

In Conclusion From our research, it is clear that Roland Rainer not only takes into consideration the enclosed built environment, but also the open space. The open spaces- courtyards, streets, and squares are consciously designed and thus become distinctive features of his projects. It is evident that he designs the house not only as a unit but also as part of a whole. This illustrates his concern for building community spaces.

Through various iterations of housing projects, he is looking for alternative patterns of land settlement. He looks at several issues of population density and environment and offers his work in housing as a possible solution. Thus, we observe low-rise and high density built forms in his housing.

His designs resemble narratives of a way of living that he imagines to be the most appropriate for the people and their environment. However, in the present scenario we feel these issues need to be addressed with regards to the specific context and needs. His housing complexes are a kind of gated communities that do not connect with the urban environment. They are isolated and independent entities in themselves. Imaginably the projects are not universally accessible, and are a result of an imposed notion of efficiency achieved by alienating automobiles. Therefore, we question the relevance of his work in the present scenario.

Bibliography

Rainer, Roland, Arbeiten aus 65 Jahren, Akademie der Bildenden Kunste Wien, Salzburg: Residenz Verlag, 1990 Rainer, Roland, Livable Environments, Verlag fur architecture Artemis, Zurich, 1972 Rainer, Roland, Vitale Urbanitat, Bohlau Verlag, Wien, Koln, Weimar, 1995 Rainer, Roland, das Werk des Architekten 1927-2003, Wien: Springer, 2003 d’Entreves, Maurizio Passerin, Hanna Arendt, The Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Standford 2019, https://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/archinfo.cgi?entry=arendt Driendi, Georg, Lignostahl Haus Ein Ptototyp von Roland Rainer, 2010 www.proholz.at

Illustration Credits Rainer, Roland, Arbeiten aus 65 Jahren, Akademie der Bildenden Kunste Wien, Salzburg: Residenz Verlag, 1990: Figures 5, 6, 10, 15 Rainer, Roland, Livable Environments, Verlag fur architecture Artemis, Zurich, 1972: Figures 1, 2, 3, 16, 17 Rainer, Roland, Vitale Urbanitat, Bohlau Verlag, Wien, Koln, Weimar, 1995: Figures 8, 9, 11, 12 Rainer, Roland, das Werk des Architekten 1927-2003, Wien: Springer, 2003: Figure 4, 13, 14

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Timeline : showing pathway of permeation of dioxins from herbicide Agent Orange to the metabolic processes Visual Studies:

GAP III_ Graphic Narratives

Critic: Whitney Dow, Michael Rock Student: Sneha Aiyer

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Graphical Instructions for the process of a hair-cut

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