Thesis Positioning

FUTURE SHOCK How has the industrial revolution changed the way architects think?

Llewelyn Griffiths ABSTRACT Architecture has currently created a type of elitism within society. Their interactions within society through buildings and processes are conducted with an architectural language that the general public cannot always comprehend or translate. This is causing alienation within the community and a negative stigma around architecture and architects.

The industrial revolution has changed the way architects think. I am looking for an explanation which could help to better understand this thinking, as I believe there is a turning point in this era. The Industrial Revolution sparked an increase in buildings of productivity thereby excluding the needs or desires of people. By exploring this I am isolating alienation as an experience and exploring this concept within a modern setting.

I expect I will find that universities and teaching methods have added to the distribution of ideas surrounding alienating architecture. The cultivation of this attitude from the university process and

architecture practice may have brought about the feeling that people are no longer contemplated in architectural design. In doing so architecture has become a competition between architects, disregarding the needs of the inhabitants.

I wish to utilise virtual reality to explore the notion of alienation. This will differ from other projects, I will be testing the physical reactions of people when confronted with buildings that are perceived as alienating. This technology will allow me to fully explore alienation, its traits, and how best to combat it.

I would expect that the results will show there is a degree of hostility and/or discomfort in buildings that do not cater to the subjects meant to inhabit them.

These feelings are what underlie the notion of alienation that will hopefully be expressed within these experiments. Thus enabling alienation to be accurately defined within the architectural language.

Wellington examples will be used as the basis for this research.

Icon Monster of Wellington Abstractions which don’t represent Te Papa. 55 Cable St, Wellington.

23 Aug 2016

NZ PUBLIC IMAGE

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Public buildings in Wellington should reflect and be inviting to the general public, in order to sustain New Zealand’s architectural values. Te Papa is New Zealand’s national museum. However this building poorly represents New Zealand as an

architectural whole. Although people identify with this building as a facet of Wellington’s destinations, the building itself is almost too abstract and disengaged with what is attributed as the architecture of New Zealand.

Failure of an abstracted story Left unmaintained and lifeless Michael Fowler Centre. 111 Wakefield St, Wellington. 23 Aug 2016

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Adorno, Theodor. Minima Moralia (London: Verso, 2005).

Michael Fowler Centre. 111 Wakefield St, Wellington.

23 Aug 2016

“The human mind understands the world by means of emotional associations and so, when the world is reduced in our minds to a network of abstractions the result is one of dehumanisation�

(Adorno, 140)

MIND, DESIGN, DISUNITY

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Architecture has become abstracted to the point of complete disassociation. In this paper Adorno explores the notion that conceptual thinking which is completely abstracted removes the dignity and intent

of the desired piece. What is left after this process is pure reflection and transparency which leaves architecture dehumanising and alienating.

Purpose

Societal Containment Alienation through segregation The Arlington apartments. 50 Hopper Street, Wellington. 1976 21 Aug 2016

Unmatched Scale

TSB Bank Arena. 4 Queens Wharf, Wellington.

23 Aug 2016

WHO HOW WHY

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The purpose of a building should always be a major consideration throughout a project. Otherwise public housing is left feeling like a prison and public event

centres become uninviting. Alienation can be best seen in architecture which has ignored the buildings desired purpose and the needs for the people using it.

Paul Rudolph, Orange County Government Center, 1971. http://images.adsttc.com/media/images/511b/3991/b3fc/4b10/d700/007d/medium_jpg/1.jpg?1361398677

Continuous Layers Locked Boundaries

Skewed Repetition

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Mental Constraints - movement

Drawing by Rudolf of the Orange County Government Center, 1971

Architecture in the age of alienation: paul rudolph’s postwar academic buildings

http://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5037/8f0/28ba/ 0d59/9b00/03f2/medium_jpg/stringio.jpg?1414218994

Rohan, Timothy. “Architecture in the age of alienation”.

23/08/2016. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/ER/detail/hkul/2679730

Beautiful Drawings Brutal Architecture

FIGHTING “To combat alienation, Rudolph used richly FIRE WITH textured surfaces, bright colors, cantileFIRE vered forms and complex processional routes to connect the viewer with his build8 ings” (Rohan, 83). However this approach

only caused further alienation and resulted in his architecture being labelled as Brutalist. Rudolfs buildings often engendered the very alienation that they were designed to combat.

Transition The surrounding context

Karaka Cafe. 1 Cable St, Wellington.

21 Aug 2016

Emmons, Paul, John Shannon. Hendrix, and Jane Lomholt. The Cultural Role of Architecture: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives.

Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2012. Print.

Ministry of Education. 33 Bowen Street, Wellington.

Internal staircase in main lobby.

“Philosophy and psychoanalysis can be applied to architecture for the purpose of designing strategies for composition and expression of the human condition in the twenty-first century�

(Emmons, Hendrix, Lomholt, 215)

REASON OVER EXPRESSION

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This book explores the importance of cultural integration in architecture. Architecture has become a struggle between

artistic expression and reason. Selfalienation in the design process leads to alienating architecture.

Interactions with architecture The surrounding environment Meridian Building. 33 Customhouse Quay, Wellington. 28 Aug 2016

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Majestic Centre. 100 Willis St, Wellington. 28 Aug 2016

IN THE MOMENT

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The Majestic building uses glass to form an inviting entrance which feels and looks elegant. The lobby is designed to transition smoothly between the exterior and

the interior of the building. A small detail makes all the difference. Architecture is more than an image, it is an interaction with moments like these.

Collaboration

Wellington Supreme Court. 85 Lambton Quay, Wellington. 28 August, 2016. http://eyeofthefish.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/gg_plan.jpg

Architectural Thresholds which define spaces

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 195 Lambton Quay, Wellington. 26th August, 2016.

Young, Joe. “Politics of the tectonic�,Wordpress. 2011. https://tomgraddon.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/politics-of-thetectonic.pdf

Politics of the Tectonic:

The problem of alienation in modern architecture, and thoughts on how to solve it REALITY VERSE CONCEPT

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Young, in this text discusses the relatively new phenomenon of alienating architecture. It is explained that to truly remove alienation one must change their design

process to harmonise with the building process. A design cannot fall too closely to the conceptual and neglect the reality of building.

Wellington Town Hall. 109 Wakefield St, Wellington. 26th August, 2016.

The language of architecture and the process taken

Architecture should take into account the context of which it is in to become integrated into the environment. Contemporary architectural practices are missing these important steps.

Collaboration Former Ballinger Building, 1900.

60 Victoria Street, Wellignton.

THE DESIGN PRINCIPLES

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Instantly the success of this design can be seen from the street. The design principles have been translated elegantly from the old to the new. The overall design has not been diminished by the presence of

the other but instead work together. This is how we must combat alienation by being aware of transition, collaboration and purpose. These elements currently don’t hold enough weight in architectural practise.