The Phenomenology of Memory:
THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER Applying Pschycological Friction to a Body in Space For the Reverse Engineering of Memory SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE at
The Savannah College of Art and Design Š June 2012 | Mark Randall Miller The author hereby grants SCAD permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic thesis copies of document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created.
MARK RANDALL MILLER
Date
Author
JUDITH RENO
Date
Committee Chair
LARAINE PAPA MONTGOMERY
Date
Committee Member I
JOEL VARLAND Committee Member II
Date
The Phenomenology of Memory:
THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER Applying Pschycological Friction to a Body in Space For the Reverse Engineering of Memory
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Architecture Department in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Architecture The Savannah College of Art and Design by Mark Randall Miller Savannah, Georgia June, 2012
The Phenomenology of Memory:
THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER Applying Pschycological Friction to a Body in Space For the Reverse Engineering of Memory
Mark Randall Miller Savannah, Georgia June, 2012
Architecture thesis design and neuroscience are married through intense focus of a specific facet of human psychology; the
phenomenology of memory. Because memory is considered phenomenal, this approach lends itself greatly to the further consideration that memory is a psychological device, subconsciously constructed and utilized by the mind to describe and rationalize everyday phenomenon in order to structure the mental landscape, giving meaning to the physical landscape.
Application of this theory serves as impetus for the informed design of the reconstitution of the World Trade Center site
in Lower Manhattan. As a user is subjected to an environment or a phenomenon within that environment, he experiences ‘mental friction.’ The reaction, both physical and mental, produces a pattern of thought or image. Because every phenomenon is experienced in juxtaposition to our existing memory structures, any new phenomenon that is experienced is perceived based on continuity, resulting in an image of reality created by our psyches. Despite our psyche’s struggle to keep our perception of phenomenon in a relative state of continuity, new encounters with this ‘mental friction’ will ultimately alter previous memories, engendering an altered state of reality. It is the purpose of architecture to imply friction on the psyche. The architecture at the WTC must provide a framework, which is studded with cues and references that subject the user to the process of ‘experiencing affect.’ Understanding and applying this ‘friction’ to a body in space suggests that the user will be subtly informed and channeled by the architecture and landscape, thus transcending the psyche’s previous interpretation of phenomenon. Familiar aspects, such as the urban environment and social interaction coupled with an inward understanding of one’s own reality, users are pressed through the mold architecture, resulting in a reverse engineering of memory.
To my Mom and Dad, for your immense support and love.
For Logan Eugene Felps.
For the 2,977 lives lost on September 11, 2001. We will not forget.
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION
10 16 30 46 86 96 124 134 168 172 176
I II III IV V VI VII VIII
MEMORY: A THEORY INTANGIBLE LANDSCAPE GROUND ZERO THE NEW THORY MUSE IN SITU FRICTION OF PROCESS THE NEW WORLD TRADE CENTER CONCLUSION
IX WORKS CITED X APPENDIX
List of Figures Introduction 1.1 - http://image.hnol.net/c/2010-10/28/21/201010282104076961-984563.jpg 1.2 - http://www.latimes.com/includes/projects/before-after/911/images/pedestrians_before.jpg
I
1.1 - Original Image 1.2 - Ibid 1.3 - Ibid 1.4 - http://pics.nattstad.se/3/800000/720000/713371/713371_2011323211155132x677_970.jpg 1.5 - http://www.marcofusinato.com/projects/mass_black_implosion/03.html
II 2.1 - http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2010/09/11/news/photos_stories/cropped/ground_zero2--300x300.jpg 2.2 - http://photoblog.hk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ap911-tannenbaum-cloud-625.jpg 2.3 - http://www.911conspiracy.tv/images/2nd-hit/2nd-hit_Clark_Robert_2_2000x1340.jpg
III
3.1 - http://fullframe.mycentraljersey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/WTC_JT_0831_153912.jpg 3.2 - http://www.11-septiembre-2001.biz/wtc12_new.jpg 3.3 - http://i77.servimg.com/u/f77/14/57/78/89/39131412.jpg 3.4 - http://cf2.foodista.com/sites/default/files/styles/featured/public/field/image/5046049216_9ccb01675a_z.jpg 3.5 - http://put.edidomus.it/domus/binaries/imagedata/big_358041_7443_wtc_mino_34.jpg 3.6 - http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=84327251 3.7 - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/1993_World_Trade_Center_Bombing_by_Eric_Ascalon_WTC5.jpg 3.8 - http://s.spynet.ru/images/2008/10/29/wtc/wtc_25.jpg 3.9 - http://skyscrapercenter.com/images/albums/userpics/10005/WTCT1_Ext-site_%28c%29dboxStudio.jpg 3.10 - http://www.city-data.com/forum/oklahoma-city/1300911-devon-tower-construction-news-pics-4.html 3.11 - Original Image 3.12 - Ibid 3.13 - Ibid 3.14 - Ibid 3.15 - Ibid 3.16 - Ibid 3.17 - Ibid 3.18 - Ibid M.Miller
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3.19 - Original Image 3.20 - Ibid 3.21 - Ibid 3.22 - Ibid 3.23 - Ibid 3.24 - Ibid 3.25 - Ibid 3.26 - Ibid 3.27 - Ibid
List of Figures
IV 4.1 - http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QjdYSo-mmwo/TI0DyENhJ6I/AAAAAAAAAw8/WYSVCAjb0fc/s1600/wt1.jpg 4.2 - Original Image 4.3 - Ibid
V 5.1 - http://s11.images.www.tvn.hu/2011/03/16/17/05/www.tvn.hu_7588fec0edb78925791ddd437b87360e.jpg 5.2 - Original Image 5.3 - Ibid 5.4 - Ibid 5.5 - Ibid 5.6 - http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5126/5338778690_be1615e2e1_z.jpg 5.7 - Original Image 5.8 - Ibid 5.9 - http://www.ascot-elite.ch/libraries.files/TheMistRN03676.jpg 5.10 - Original Image 5.11 - Ibid 5.12 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/second_story/3402434834/ 5.13 - Original Image 5.14 - Ibid 5.15 - http://www.nerdylorrin.net/jerry/politics/911/TallBldgs/PeopleAghast-StPatricksCathlookdown5thAve--MartyLederhandlerAP.jpg 5.16 - Original Image 5.17 - Ibid 5.18 - Ibid 5.19 - Ibid 5.20 - Ibid M.Miller
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VI
List of Figures
6.1 - Original Image 6.2 - Ibid 6.3 - Ibid 6.4 - Ibid 6.5 - Ibid 6.6 - Ibid 6.7 - Ibid 5.8 - Ibid
VII
7.1 - Original Image 7.2 - Ibid 7.3 - Ibid 7.4 - Ibid 7.5 - Ibid 7.6 - Ibid 7.7 - Ibid 7.8 - Ibid 7.9 - Ibid 7.10 - Ibid 7.11 - Ibid 7.12 - Ibid 7.13 - Ibid 7.14 - Ibid 7.15 - Ibid
VIII
8.1 Original Image
X
10.1 Original Image
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Phenomenology Of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 1.1
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“. . . Not only are our memories, but the things we have forgotten are “housed.” Our soul is an abode. And by remembering “houses” and “rooms,” we learn to abide within ourselves. Now everything becomes clear, the house images move in both directions: they are in us as much as we are in them.” -Gaston Bachelard THE POETICS OF SPACE
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Introduction
By challenging the preconceived notion of the human psyche and how it functions, the fields of architecture and psychology are married through intense focus of a specific facet of human psychology; the phenomenology of memory. According to Kantian theory, the word phenomenon lends itself to this consideration of what memory is. By definition:
phe·nom·e·non noun a : a thing as it appears to and is constructed by the mind, as distinguished from a noumenon, or thing-in-itself.’ [1]
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Because memory is considered phenomenal, this approach lends itself greatly to the further consideration that memory is a psychological device, subconsciously constructed and utilized by the mind to describe and rationalize everyday phenomenon in order to structuralize the mental landscape, giving meaning to the physical landscape[2]
As phenomenology, psychological landscape and built environment start to inform each other, the architectonics of memory becomes more apparent. To avoid identifying this architecture with a certain typology, one can consider the design solution a convergence of the three elements, simply referred to as a place.
Application of this non-traditional theory serves as impetus for the informed design of an architectural place within the predetermined urban constraints of the chosen context, the reconstitution of the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. When theory, site, and design challenge are compiled and applied, the solution becomes an architectural idea, experience and environment. FIG 1.2
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END NOTES [I]. Bastéa, Elani, ed. Memory and Architecture. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003. [1] Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, s.v. “phenomenon,” http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/memory (accessed October 18, 2011). [2] Parker, Rodney Douglas. “The Architectonics of Memory: On Built Form and Built Thought,” The MIT Press 30, no. 2 (1997): 147-152
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I
“Memory itself is an internal rumor.” -George Santayana
The ability for humans to process, store and recall data is an amazing feat when one takes a detailed look at the vast intricacy of the human brain. The task in and of itself is quite complex: drawing tangible data from reality, converting it into a compressed mental file or construct, only to be archived within the brain, readily available for recollection at a later date.[1] While medical science can apply annotated meaning and description to the mechanical function of the brain, many lay people turn to the field of psychology in order to transcend scientific understanding in an attempt to interpret and understand why the mind, or psyche behaves the way it does. The very definition
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of memory begins to describe this behavior in terms of processing, storing and recalling:
mem·o·ry noun [2] a : the power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained especially through associative mechanisms. b : the store of things learned and retained from an organism’s activity or experience as evidenced by modification of structure or behavior or by recall and recognition.
Although the dictionary is able to supply numerous finite definitions that are used to describe what memory is, these simply fall short of conveying a true sense of why the human psyche creates memory and the purpose memory serves. In terms of the infinite psychological landscape, it is fair to argue that the phenomenology of memory, or the occurrence of the creation of a specific psychological device, suggests a more in depth meaning that can begin to help explicate more of said landscape. Therefore, for the sake of this thesis exploration, the following definition has been derived in order to guide theory and architectural expression.
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mem路o路ry noun a: a psychological device, subconsciously created and utilized by the human psyche to describe and rationalize everyday phenomenon in order to structuralize the mental landscape, giving meaning to the physical landscape. [3]
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This definition, when applied to the previous definitions above, gives a thorough understanding of what memory is and how it functions as a device within the human mind. However, to fully understand what memory is, one must understand that it exists both within the infinite dimensions of the human mind, and also manifests itself in the finite world of reality. By the very definition of the word this concept can be understood. It’s origin, the human psyche, denotes its psychological existence. Its task, to structuralize and rationalize the everyday phenomenon of reality, lends memory its foot in the palpable world in which we exist. Memory requires this dual
existence, because our psyche does not comprehend physical. Through comprehension of the physical reality based on the events that experience but environment, the human psyche uses cues to shape rather through associations and localities.[4] and organize memory within the psychological landscape. These ‘depositories’ or drop points are essentially vessels where a memory is housed, Thus the psyche must create a psychological device to explain the fabricating a mental place or loci. It is among [5] occurrence: a memory. these mental places and depositories that humans exist. One must note however, that the depository Because a memory is essentially a construct of the itself assumes the tangible quality, not the memory human psyche, it has no actual qualities by which it is construct itself. Because the human psyche often defined. To remedy this, a memory is usually linked engages all five sense when selecting a depository, to an element that exists in our tangible reality at the time of the phenomenon. This association is how the psyche bridges the gap from the psychological to the M.Miller
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the memory itself might be mistaken as physical when again, in reality, the depository is the tangible element housing the psychological device (memory). Because a memory is essentially a construct
place or loci. It is among these mental places and depositories that humans exist. One must note however, that the depository itself assumes the tangible quality, not the memory construct itself. of the human psyche, it has no actual qualities by Because the human psyche often engages all five which it is defined. To remedy this, a memory sense when selecting a depository, the memory is usually linked to an element that exists in our itself might be mistaken as physical when again, tangible reality at the time of the phenomenon. in reality, the depository is the tangible element This association is how the psyche bridges the gap housing the psychological device (memory). For from the psychological to the physical. Through example, a certain string of musical notes can comprehension of the physical environment, the become a depository for which a memory is created human psyche uses cues to shape and organize to describe the phenomenon that is occurring while memory within the psychological landscape. These the music is being played. Similarly, the same thought ‘depositories’ or drop points are essentially vessels process goes for touch, sight, smell and taste. Our where a memory is housed, fabricating a mental psyche utilizes no hierarchy when determining 22 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
a depository, thus our entire reality is laced with innumerable memory depositories, and structured with countless mental places that describe the phenomenon we encounter on a daily basis.[5]
STORAGE Now that memory’s coexistence in the psychological realm as well as reality is phenomenology of memory that a parallel understood, a basic theory of how it pertains to space and geometry can be procured. It is at this juncture in the exploration of the can be made to
the built environment, towards the translation that One theory states the
working series of mundane or symmetrical phenomenon; is sought. they are considered to be ‘less memorable.’ following: While there is credence to this theory, there is also room for critique. It is fair to argue that more Memory is stored in asymmetry.[6] common (symmetrical) phenomena occur at more Memory is erased in symmetry. frequent intervals than asymmetrical phenomena. Using Leyton’s terminology, the frequency of symmetrical phenomena creates ‘erasures.’ More specifically, Leyton argues that memory Although the word erasure might denote a negative is more likely to be created, structuralized and connotation it is actually quite the opposite. archived following a series of asymmetrical events or phenomena. These phenomena are considered ‘asymmetrical’ because of their magnitude of divergence from typical daily phenomena. Consequently, memory is less likely to be created, structured and archived following a FIG 1.1
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This series of erasures, while independently lacking the significance to create a memory construct, can be looked at as a scarring of the psyche. The constant ‘wearing’ creates a scar of sorts, resulting in a memory store. Therefore, memory is subject to equal memory storage through a series of symmetrical phenomena.
of the attack. A different parallel can be drawn in terms of symmetricality in daily phenomenon. Take for instance a daily morning routine. While each event that make up that routine is mundane or typical in nature, it is the frequency with which they occur that creates significance, not the magnitude of variance as seen in the previous model, thus A parallel can be drawn in order to better a different type of memory store is created. understand this theory. For example,an asymmetrical phenomenon such as the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001 had such an extreme variance from the typical daily phenomena that the psyche automatically created a memory structure that drew from its surroundings, and is stored in local depositories at the moment 24 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 1.2
between the built landscape (depository) and the memory created for it. Mental places or loci are essentially the framework the psyche works within Thus far memory can be understood as a to archive and catalogue the constructs it creates. psychological, physical and geometric theory, but in order to further translate the phenomenology of memory into an architectural language, memory should also be considered in an architectonic manner. During the formation of a memory, the human psyche must, to some degree, comprehend the physical landscape that it exists within. That basic understanding allows it to identify and select depositories that the derived memory proceeds to latch on to. This psychological structuralization is spatial in nature and is considered a mental place or loci because of the association drawn
LANDSCAPE
FIG 1.3
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Just as memory is our psyche’s interpretation of physical reality, the built environment is shaped by our psyche. The way we perceive space, time, etc is based on the way our minds’ create, store and recall memories. This is how memory is the most tangible connection to what has become intangible. Recollection of memory, then, is essentially reviewing our psyche’s interpretation of reality, a glimpse into the fusion of psychological landscape and built landscape due to the localities that exist between the two. FIG 1.4 26 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
TIME & MEMORY The duration of time is a phenomenon that transcends all barriers, existing in both the psychological realm as well as reality. As humans dwelling in the realm of reality, time is merely a conventional device that is used to regulate life. In the world of psychology however, time, paired with the power of the human psyche amount to a much richer landscape of ever evolving memory constructs using localities and memory exchange to sculpt the psychological experience which bypass the simple laws of time in reality.
The general concept of time is often categorized as a past, present and future condition. In terms of psychology however, the past is most often associated with memory. The recollection of memory is in essence a psychological throwback to the moments when the memory construct was formed and placed into a depository. Other than this moment of creation, the present is actually the most interesting period to apply to memory. The present is the most difficult, yet important moment to target because of its fleeting and transient nature. If a closer look is taken at how the present moment interacts with the creation of memory one can understand that the present is essentially what augments the past and stimulates
the future. Basically, the phenomena of the present are what memory constructs are made of and as they begin to compile, they gain substance, creating the past. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the present day thought is what stimulates the future of memory construction. Combining past, present and future create a sense of duration. While the past, present and future define time in a general sense; duration informs a new level of psychological construct with regards to memory as a mental device. Duration, or the continuation of time takes preconceived memory structures (loci) and sculpts, deforms and reforms them in a never-ending state of evolution as the matrix of memory constructs becomes denser. M.Miller
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Although each memory is unique, the storage proximity can lead to deformation, as previous memory tends to influence any future memory creation.[7] When recollection occurs the psyche pinpoints and removes it from the structure it was housed in. This process not only brings to light the initial memory, but also many of the memories that had surrounded it. This happens because of localities and organization that exist in the human psyche.
FIG 1.5 28 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
END NOTES [1] Treib, Marc, Spatial Recall: Memory in Architecture and Landscape (New York: Routledge, 2009), 27. [2] Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, s.v. “memory,” http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/memory (accessed October 18, 2011). [3] Parker, Rodney Douglas. “The Architectonics of Memory: On Built Form and Built Thought,” The MIT Press 30, no. 2 (1997): 147-152 [4] Treib, Marc, Spatial Recall: Memory in Architecture and Landscape (New York: Routledge, 2009), 63. [5] Guiliana, Bruno, Atlas of Emotion: Journeys in Art, Architecture and Film (New York: Verso,2002), 220. [6] Leyton, Michael. Shape as Memory: A Geometric Theory of Architecture. Basel: Birkhauser – for Architecture, 2006. [7] Andreas Demetriou, Anastasia Efklides, Maria Platsidou, Robert L. Campbel, “The Architecture and Dynamics of Developing Mind – Experiential Structuralism as a Frame for Unifying Cognitive Developmental Theories,” Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 58, no. 5/6 (1993): 18
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II
“How does one set out to create meaningful space, when the only plan for that space is intangible and illegible?”
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?
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WHAT IS BEING CREATED? Setting out to design architecture based on a phenomenology or theory is a difficult task, more so when that theory deals with the complete immateriality of the field of psychology. Successfully applying this theory to the shaping of an architectural response to a design challenge requires careful consideration of several questions. First and foremost, one must ask, “What is being created?� 34 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
: PLACE is a term that refers to a space that can be remembered, spark imagination, and can be held in the mind and considered. The task at hand is to design a place that represents an understanding of how the psychological landscape and structure of memory is manifested in a built form within a contextual environment. Because these are two entirely separate worlds, the typology of this place must become a point of convergence;
a transition or pivot between the two, facilitating the user’s experience of both worlds while remaining in reality. The ability of the user to recall, experience and emote on both a psychological and physical level is the goal of this architectural response. Memory is merely an interpretation of the phenomenon of reality, created by our psyche. Humans experience unadulterated reality only for a brief moment before it is interpreted by our psyche and stored as a memory interpretations of reality are very different and cannot be recreated at a public scale. M.Miller
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By designing a place targeting more widely known phenomena, through the use of localities and associations, a more universal experience can be understood. Thus the opportunity arises for the identification of mental places (loci) that trigger emotion, epiphany or additional, more personal recollections at an individual level. In this sense, one sees how the psychological environment and memory influence the shape and experience of place. Because of our psyche’s ability to shape the way space is interpreted, an architectural response that transcends this interpretation would allow users to understand and perhaps experience the phenomena that their memories are based on.
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USER
projecting memories, which has a complex layering and density of memory structures that address history, culture, and past memory. Finally, Architecture or the built place serves three main architecture or the built place serves to stimulate purposes in relation to the user and his memory. and inspire the user to reminisce and imagine, free Not only does it serve as place for recollection, of his psyche’s parameters. This is an experience but it is also an impetus for the materialization that spawns the future of memory creation and and preservation of time by establishing a physical the ability to begin to define how our psyche landscape of time and place juxtaposed to the determines the conception of memory, which psychological landscape where the creation of in turn defines the way we experience reality. memory occurs. As the user is engaged in this landscape, he is able to transcend his existence in reality and exist in a temporal reality, created by his psyche. Architecture also serves to solidify remembrance by containing (depository) and
we are what we remember
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While architecture and place are able to stimulate these series of psychological and physical phenomena, it appears that it cannot create feeling or experience. Just as energy is neither created nor destroyed, feeling and experience are neither created nor destroyed. Rather, place can be considered a device which houses memory, experience and feeling. When the user perceives a place, his experience is simply an amplification or projection of preconceived memories from within the place. These align with his own preconceived memories, defined by his psyche, that the he brings to the place. This addresses the original theory that our psyche determines how we perceive place, through the memory constructs it chooses to create. 38 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
Architecture without the user is simply space. While it may be well designed and beautiful, the way architecture responds to the user and vice versa, the way the user responds to and connects with not only the architecture but also the other users is what makes it place. When the user is applied to a space, it becomes alive and essentially phenomenal, so starting with the phenomenology of memory and everything it entails adds a new dimension to the perception of place. In many ways the missing link that divides the psychological landscape and the built environment could be identified as the human. With access to both the psychological and the physical, the translation hinges on the human experience of place. In order for this
perception to occur in a place that is formed around the theories of psychology and phenomenology, the user must surpass their psyche and be able to identify the mental places that have been created.
FIG 2.1
CONTEXT
Place itself is a phenomenon that exists within the confines of memory, (a psychological place) and in the confines of reality (a built place.) Applying the context of a site only solidifies the integrity of the concept and provides a rich layering of memory constructs and depositories to draw from. For the sake of this project, the contextual information identifies the location of place at ‘Ground Zero,’ within the current reconstitution of the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. The site is urban in scope, roughly sixteen acres of prime real estate in the Financial District of Manhattan. Already, the area itself is very much a place: the location of early Dutch settlement and the fur trade, the epicenter of world trade and iconic architecture for nearly
thirty years and the site of two terrorist attacks that changed the course of history. Because of the site’s extreme complexity, it is littered with preexisting mental places that a user can draw from. Two examples of mental place within the site are the footprints of where the Twin Towers once stood. The current importance placed on the footprints is incongruous considering the way users entered the towers as they stood for twenty-eight years.
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Most, entering from underground, rarely experienced the exterior footprints, or the plaza that existed between them. The current way the footprints are memorialized restricts the way they are experienced and the ability for some to make an association with them. Once experienced in a solid way, the footprints now serve as a hollow reminder of where the towers once stood.[1] A second mental place can be identified in the streets through which the dense dust and debris scattered as the towers fell. It is said that the experience in Manhattan on 9/11 can be gauged based on the proximity to the dust and debris cloud that enveloped the area.
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FIG 2.2
While most New Yorkers have a distinct perception of the streetscape, the added element of escaping the debris cloud creates a new layer of memory to that preconceived phenomenon. For those not in New York City on September 11, the portrayal of the debris cloud emotes a completely different experience. By identifying it as a mental place, and appropriately addressing it, a wide variety of perceptions will occur. Finally, the paths by which the planes traveled and eventually struck the buildings can be considered a mental place. While no one truly knows what that view could have been from the planes as they struck the towers, directing views in those paths might offer users a different point of view other than the way most
saw the planes strike the buildings. All three of the phenomena mentioned can essentially be considered depositories for memory; therefore to varying degrees they create a mental place. In terms of the architecture of place, the way these mental places or loci are portrayed might offer a nod to how the event was originally interpreted by our psyche. Secondarily, a portrayal of a different perception might offer a different glimpse at the phenomena, surpassing the way our psyche originally interpreted the event, resulting in new memory construction.
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FIG 2.3 42 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
The process of rendering the intangible world of memory, into the tangible world of perception is about translating the psychological landscape of the human psyche into the built environment. The link between the two is simple:
based on three elements, experience, perception and recollection. Memory being the basis of experience is made up of phenomena, interpreted and constructed by our psyche. This interpretation of reality gives direct definition to how phenomena are perceived. In order for our psyche to make palpable these memory constructs, it must “THE TASK OF ARCHITECTURE IS TO MAKE utilize elements found within reality, known as VISIBLE HOW THE WORLD TOUCHES US.� [2] depositories, to associate with and essentially store the memory in. This link to reality is crucial for the process of experience, perception and Applying the theory developed in this paper in recollection as it bridges psychological process correlation with the understanding that the task with the tangible environment within which we of architecture is to make visible how the world live. Because architecture is so much a part of the touches the human user means that everything is physical world around us, it must not only make
visible how the world touches us, but it must become the transition between the psychological landscape and reality. It does this, in cooperation with our psyche by facilitating a mental place, based on localities, associations and mnemonic devices. The design of the architectural response must identify these associations and localities, remove preconceived interpretations and reveal the reality of the phenomenon in order to be successful. Within the context of Ground Zero and of Lower Manhattan as a whole there are countless opportunities to create parallels and associations that can be utilized in the design solution.
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END NOTES [1] Sturken, Marita. “The Aesthetics of Absence: Rebuilding Ground Zero,” American Ethnologist 31, no. 3 (2004): 318 [2] Treib, Marc, Spatial Recall: Memory in Architecture and Landscape (New York: Routledge, 2009), 27.
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III
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9|11 FIG 3.1
The most devastating day in American history, September 11, 2001 changed the course of history forever. We all know where we were, what we saw, and what we felt that day, but in the hours, days and even years following the terrorist attacks that took thousands of lives, America began to consider what the future held for Lower Manhattan. The World Trade Center, a site known for its cultural, economic and iconic attributes instantly became a place of great loss and sensitivity. Rebuilding the
World Trade Center site today, carries many stigmas for the people of NewYork City as well as the world. Sparking international conflict,war and debt, the saga of 9/11 has yet to be completed. While remembering, rebuilding and revitalizing have occurred in the ten years that have passed since the terrorist attacks, we cannot lay idle by. Moving forward with these ideals in mind, Lower Manhattan and New York City, as well as the world, must look to the future and restore a site that is very scarred. Through urban healing, one day the WTC site and Lower Manhattan will one day be able to overcome a terrible trauma.
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In order to understand the complexity of the site chosen for this exploration, one must first recall a brief history of the World Trade Center and the Twin Towers themselves. Conceived and erected as a symbol of American capitalism and power in the mid 1970’s, the Twin Towers were the epitome of landmark architecture for New York City and for America as a whole. They also stood to symbolize America’s effort to encourage world trade and the international ties that existed at the time. The brainchild of David and Nelson Rockefeller, the World Trade Center was an attempt to revitalize Lower Manhattan and the Financial District. The tallest buildings in the world at their completion, the Twin Towers were considered ‘misfits’ because 50 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
of the complex’s disregard for the urban fabric of Lower Manhattan. The sixteen acre ‘super block’ on which they stood was a desolate, inhumane place, considered an ‘abstract composition’ rather than a ‘functioning part of the city.’ This blatant disregard for the existing urban fabric made the World Trade Center complex the epitome of 1960’s architecture and American culture with its ‘out with the old and in with the new’ mind set. With the Statue of Liberty poetically juxtaposed in the foreground, it is no wonder the Twin Towers would become a target for anti-American activists decades later.
FIG 3.2
FIG 3.3
FIG 3.4
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FIG 3.5
unveiled January 18, 1964 ground-breaking August 5, 1966 opened April 4, 1973 architect footprints sq. footage heights
Minoru Yamasaki 208’ x 208’ 10,000,000 sq.ft per tower North Tower - 1362’
cost $1 Billion
WORLD TRADE CENTER 52 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
Developed hand in hand with the Port Authority, the World Trade Center also included an extensive infrastructural plan to rebuild the Hudson and Manhattan Tubes, known as the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson.) Among the architects chosen to design the sixteen acre site were Philip Johnson, Walter Gropius and the final architect, Minoru Yamasaki. ‘Commanding the ocean entrance to New York City,’ the WTC’s main task would be to create a skyline and a silhouette visible from miles away,
1973
signifying the revitalization of the area the developers wanted to convey. After six years of rigorous conceptual, schematic and detailing, the final design of the Twin Towers was arrived at. Nestled directly on the west coast of Lower Manhattan on the Hudson River, the WTC site strongly held the edge of the island until the World Financial Center and Battery Park City were constructed in 1972 using excavated material from the WTC to infill along the coast line.
FIG 3.6
On August 7, 1974, French high-wire artist Philippe Petit accomplished his most amazing feat. After six years of planning, Petit strung a high-wire across the Twin Towers. Stepping onto the wire, he spent a total of 45 minutes, making eight crosses back and forth. In addition Petit sat and laid on the wire a quarter mile above the ground. Once Petit had stepped safely back onto the South Tower, he was immediately arrested and his feat made headlines around the world,
1974
“They called me. I didn’t choose them. Anything that is giant and man made strikes me in an awesome way and calls me. I could secretly put my wire between the highest towers in the world. It was something that had to be done, and I couldn’t explain it... it was a calling of the romantic type.”
Philippe Petit
WORLD TRADE CENTER M.Miller
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FIG 3.7
date February 26, 1993 terrorists Ramzi Yousef Eyad Ismoil location North Tower parking garage deaths 6 individuals 1 unborn child injuries 1,042 individuals 50,000 suffered from smoke inhalation cost in damages $300 million
WORLD TRADE CENTER 54 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
In the afternoon of February 26, 1993, terrorists Ramzi Yousef and Eyad Ismoil drove a delivery truck into the North Tower parking structure, several stories below the plaza of the World Trade Center. The Al-Qaeda had planned to use the truck bomb to severely damage the structural foundation of the North Tower, causing it to collapse and fall into the adjacent South Tower, causing it to collapse as well. Fortunately, the positioning of the truck bomb was not accurate
1993
FIG 3.8
enough to accomplish the intended destruction. What the two men did accomplish was to severely damage main infrastructure and knock out the power system of the North Tower. This essentially paralyzed the building, sending smoke to billow ninety-three floors up. Without proper ventilation, this smoke and ash affected over 50,000 people. Six individuals were lost, a small toll to pay when considering the intention was to kill thousands of WTC workers and visitors.
A day we all as American citizens know far too well September 11, 2001 was a clear Tuesday like any other in lower Manhattan. With a total of four hijacked planes, a strategically planned attack and a hatred for American capitalism and culture, AlQaeda was able to take 2,753 innocent lives and cause billions of dollars of damage to New York infrastructure, economics and culture. The North Tower, struck first
between the 93rd and 99th floors collapsed at 10:28am. The South Tower, struck second at 9:03am between the 77th and 85th floors collapsed first at 9:59am. After this blatant attack on New York, America launched an extensive war to bring the perpetrators to justice. Ten years and countless lives later, New York is rebuilding Lower Manhattan and looking to the future.
2001 WORLD TRADE CENTER M.Miller
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architects/designers Michael Arad Peter Walker Daniel Libeskind Santiago Calatrava David Childs Norman Foster Richard Rogers Fumihiko Maki completion date estimated 2020 site size 16 acres estimated cost of completion $20 billion site clean-up $11 billion new construction +$31 billion
WORLD TRADE CENTER
2012
56 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 3.9
1WTC
David Childs
1,776ft
2WTC
Norman Foster
1,350ft
3WTC
Richard Rogers
1,170ft
4WTC
FIG 3.10
Fumihiko Maki
975ft
PROPOSED TOWERS M.Miller
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With the reconstitution of Ground Zero well on its way, many might question the appropriateness of rebuilding on what has become very scarred, and what many consider sacred ground. While yes, the World Trade Center has become essentially a grave site, and the appropriate memorial will be duly provided, looking to heal this wound of Lower Manhattan is the correct way to move forward. That being said, moving forward with the plans for Ground Zero has been a very difficult process. Many thoughts, visions, and layers of intricate necessities has made the site a metaphorical design nightmare. A collaborative effort, the current plans that are being realized today fulfill most if not all of the wants and needs at the site. From 58 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
an economic stand point, the concept of world trade will be restored at Ground Zero. With the construction of four major towers, almost twelve million square feet of office space will return to the site, satisfying the needs for an economic center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. This necessity, however, is not the concern of this exploration. Rather it is the rehabilitation of a site so scarred and rich with history. How does one choose to recollect a site, creating opportunities for culture, remembrance and memorialization? The response is in fact, an urban healing, a reintroduction of Ground Zero to Lower Manhattan and to New Yorkers themselves who have embraced this mark on their island like a scar on the face of America.
While the need for memorialization is obvious, the Ground Zero rehabilitation process must take into account the future of NewYork. While many stigmas stain the urban fabric that exists, it is necessary that we memorialize those lost, enrich the community surrounding the site and restore a new sense of life and culture to the area. Approaching this site with the juxtaposition of memory, and the backdrop of its history, one might see an opportunity to accomplish these tasks through an abstraction of reality. We know, now, that memory itself serves as the framework for the abstraction of reality. Applying this concept at Ground Zero will allow users to transcend what they think they know and remember to become a part of an new urban healing.
HIGHLINE PARK
CENTRAL PARK WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE MANHATTAN BRIDGE BROOKLYN BRIDGE CITY HALL GROUND ZERO AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE ELLIS ISLAND LIBERTY ISLAND
MANHATTAN ISLAND FIG 3.11
GOVERNER’S ISLAND
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.9
)96(+>(@
*/<9*/ :;
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FIG 3.12
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60 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
MICRO SITE
The sixteen acre site that is considered Ground Zero consists of two parts. Between Vesey and Liberty streets to the north and south, and 12th AVE and Church Street to the east and west, Greenwich Street divides the site into two sectors. First, the roughly eight acres of Memorial Plaza, spanning the area where the towers once stood. The remaining eight acres have been filled with towers, a transportation hub and an intended Performing Arts Center. In order to successfully stitch the site together, the Memorial Plaza must work cohesively with the towers that have been planned for the site and the surrounding existing fabric. 1:350
1
2
T 3
4
FIG 3.13
PEDESTRIAN PATHS AND VOLUME M.Miller
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FIG 3.14
1
2
T 3
4
VEHICULAR TRAFFIC 62 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 3.15
M
2
1 M
T M
3
M
4
PUBLIC TRANSPORT M.Miller
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FIG 3.16
1
2
T 3
4
SITE ENTRY 64 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 3.17
1
2
T 3
4
5 MINUTE WALKING RADIUS M.Miller
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FIG 3.18
1
2
T 3
4
VIEW BLOCKERS AND CORRIDORS 66 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
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Despite the prominent location ofTheWorld Trade Center and surrounding fabric, it has become extraordinarily sterilized, physically and culturally. While thousands of people visit the eight acres daily, the World Trade Center is laying idle, waiting for a urban catalyst to revive it. It is, however, important to realize that in a constant state of construction, an urban site cannot be fully utilized and experienced by the multitude of users that circle it daily, waiting for it to become a public place once again. But, in an urban sense, the ten years that it has taken to clean-up and slowly rebuild, the site has essentially striped it of all traces of ‘urban memory’ despite the countless number of memories that have been deposited 68 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
there throughout its lengthy and turbulent history. With another chapter of the World Trade Center’s history slowly being written, the thought of ‘urban memory’ and ‘urban recollection’ surfaces. Rebuilding, conscious of a site’s history and the memory constructs which are housed there, would redefine the purpose of a site that is regenerating, but not forgetting. When rebuilding from a practical standpoint, the World Trade Center has an infinitely faceted program that must be fulfilled, but in terms of this theory and reintroducing the site to lower Manhattan, the World Trade Center must do several things to fully become a strong hold for the people of New York City.
RECONSTITUTE
HEAL
RECOLLECT
+
+
+
enrich
establish
memorialize
Revitalizing the area around Ground Zero is already underway with the rebuilding that is taking place. While business and commercial development is vital to the success of the World Trade Center, bringing about a richness to the site is also extremely important. At the time of September 11th, the Financial District in Lower Manhattan was a place strictly for business related users with little to no activation throughout the day. Now, ten years later, large numbers of people are returning to the area.
Now that a steady population of people are permanently returning to Lower Manhattan, healing and establishing a sense of life can begin at the new World Trade Center. An emphasis on life is necessary to cure the solemn atmosphere that has clouded the area for the past ten years. Using the WTC as a catalyst for this is key because it will, to some degree, wipe clean the social stigmas that are so present. Program to sustain the masses will draw people into the site, and leave them healed.
Of course the tragedy that occurred on September 11th cannot be ignored or forgotten. A scarring day for New York, and for the site itself, a memorial or tribute is absolutely necessary to not only pay tribute to those lost, but to serve as a way means by which to recall the history of the city, the site and its users. The new World Trade Center must not only commemorate the events of 9|11 but also the friction and urban fray of a site so vital to the city. The new WTC is a history.
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URBAN HEALING
memory serves as the framework for the abstraction
70 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
REALITY site user phenomenon
... ARRIVING AT
ability to transcend psyche
{mental}PLACE ability to define experience
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The program at the new Ground Zero must not only be physical, but also psychological. A place for the body, and a place for the mind, it is crucial that both the psychological and physical environment be addressed. Because every one of our psychological environments is vastly different, each programmatic element that is provided will be a catalyst for a different thought process and there different reaction in each user. Layering these structures is what brings the complexity to the site and then, in turn a psychological architecture begins to form. Rather than strictly defining what each person should see or feel, the new World Trade Center, as physical place will serve as a cue to prompt emotion, thought, and interaction. 72 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
While experiencing the site, users will create their own reality, as defined by the interaction between their psyche, memory structures, and the perceived reality around them.
QUALITATIVE Ranging from a tangible experience, real experience, to an ethereal, ephemeral experience within ones self, the qualitative program must cater to both the reality of the situation as well as the very real psychological movement that is occurring simultaneously. The ability for this to occur will bridge the unknown bridge between the psyche and reality. As user experiences the reality of the program, he will, obviously, also simultaneously experience the psychological aspect. Because they occur at once, the user is able to transcend his psyche and achieve said {mental} place or {mental} architecture by defining for himself his experience.
ephemeral abstraction
50% ephemeral experience {mental}PLACE 30% realm of realism 20% connection to physicality of city tangible experience M.Miller
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QUANTITATIVE In order for proper reactivation of the World Trade Center to occur, the physical program is an essential part of the equation. Bringing to the site program that sustains users for long periods of time will ensure an activated site. Varying types of program to ensure a wide variety of user interest is also essential. The quantitative program can also be divided into three different interactions. First, the most public, the plaza at street level. Second, the footprint connections. A space ‘in between,’ the conenctions will be semi private. Finally, the footprints themselves, serving as a framework for the program that will grow in and around them. 74 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
tower footprints public space user, city, footprint become exhibition
footprint connection pivot point between psychological landscape and reality exhibition space place for mourning (public and private) memory bank restaurant / cafe / performing arts center
public plaza public space
amphitheater / memorial
TOWER FOOTPRINTS CONNECTION public space Within and around the tower footprints themselves, the users will begin to comprehend and experience other users, the city and the footprints in a new way. The ability to make abstracted connections with other users, the site itself and even into the greater fabric of lower Manhattan and the Hudson River transform what is now a very one-dimensional site and allow for an ethereal comprehension in this unbuilt public forum. Ultimately, user, city, and footprint become an exhibition, making it an abstraction of what is usually considered in a space of this nature.
environment that draws cues from the distinct urban fabric and style of lower Manhattan, but also built landscape allows for the user to transcend that reality and The built environment at the Ground Zero redesign experience the architecture in an abstract way. As one understands the tragic events is intended to be the pivot point between the stimulation of the psychological landscape one of 911, it is obvious that a place for mourning is experiences within and around the tower footprints necessary. Within the architecture at Ground and the connection to reality on experiences among Zero, a series of spaces will be allowed for public the understood urban fabric of the surrounding site and private mourning. These spaces will range and of the plaza itself. Exhibition at the site include: from private, one-on-one rooms to large spaces for group gatherings. When determining program, a artifacts and elements from the WTC Twin Towers poll was taken and 85% of people said at Ground history of Lower Manhattan itself, archaeological finds traveling art exhibitions: modern art, installation art Zero they want a place to cry. While mourning is workshops for the public to create art when they visit generally a very private event, the architecture will These exhibitions will be housed in an built begin to expose this process and make it a public M.Miller
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phenomenon, in order to show that it is a universal experience, as people from around the world, in different cultures can share this experience and understand that it is a universal language. Corresponding to the space provided to for mourning and grieving, a ‘Memory Bank’ concept will be implemented. An interactive experience, the concept will start with family members from each of the roughly 3,000 lost supplying a momento or artifact by which they remember their lost. This artifact will be stored at the Memory Bank, with a corresponding facial image, or name. This experience will be partially public, as users might begin to connect artifact with face and truly understand how real the lives that were lost 76 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
were. As users come they too can contribute an artifact from their own memories. This installation, intended to change over time, will depict how memory can be stored in depositories and is an ever evolving phenomenon. A connection to the city is extremely important to the success of this redesign. While what is provided now simply harps on the tragedy that was 911, the redesign is intended to memorialize and to look to the future of lower Manhattan. Bringing a sense of levity and life to the site is important. Introducing a restaurant and a performing arts space is a response to this need. Specifically, performing arts and film have strong ties to memory and how it is experienced so this is
an opportunity for that as a concept to bridge other disciplines. The performing arts center will be small in scale with a 300 seat theater and a smaller 150 seat black box theater. Live performance, music, and film are intended to bring a sense of life back to Ground Zero.
FIG 3.19
PUBLIC PLAZA connection to city
FIG 3.20
FIG 3.21
The purpose of the public plaza surrounding the footprints and other architecture on the site is to extract users from the chaos that is lower Manhattan and the NYC lifestyle. This is an opportunity for users to enter the site, slow down, contemplate, recollect and create new memories. The plaza itself will house the ‘memorial’ where a collection of the names of the vitcims will be displayed in remembrance. A simple gesture, the memorial will be a recollection of past events, but also a reverent look at moving forward and healing the site, as well as lower Manhattan. An outdoor amphitheater will also encourage people to come to the site and to stay there, erasing the transiency that Ground Zero emotes today. M.Miller
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FIG 3.22
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FIG 3.23
FIG 3.24
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FIG 3.25 80 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 3.26 M.Miller
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82 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 3.27 M.Miller
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END NOTES Goldberger, Paul, The WTC Remembered (New York: Abbeville Press, 2001) Robins, Anthony, The World Trade Center (Florida: Pineapple Press, 1987)
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IV
88 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
{a short critique of}
ground zero
FIG 4.1
The current state of perception at Ground Zero is one of an image. The footprints, highly regarded as the way we are to recall the absence of the original stimulus of the Twin Towers, the current exhibition presents a prompt by which we are asked to recall and reflect upon a singular, collectively inherited idea (9|11), despite the incredibly heterogeneous number of psyche that perceive it. The resulting prospect is one-dimensional. However, if users are presented with a series of experiences, they are the determinate of their own experience, able to build upon their own memories and experiences thus creating a richer, more mnemotechnic exploration. M.Miller
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During the process of experiencing affect, a body’s system is disrupted by a change or transformation that literally affects it, and in turn, these affects exert force or pressure which may engender reactions of both cognitive and behavioral levels, enabling new forms of performance, state and habits to be produced ‌ Humans beings are continually engaged in contestatory struggles to maintain the cohesion of their selfhood and territory. Although encountering friction may momentarily constrain the body and brain, these frustrations are a necessary condition for engendering new forms of resistance within all biological systems.
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When a body experiences a stimuli or affect, naturally it reacts, physically and mentally, producing an archetype of said stimuli or affect. Because every phenomenon is experienced in juxtaposition to our existing memory structures, any new phenomenon that is experienced is perceived based on a continuity, resulting in a image of reality created by our psyches. Despite our psyche’s struggle to keep our perception of phenomenon in a relative state of continuity, new prospects will ultimately alter previous memories, engendering an altered state of reality.
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In order to understand the evolution of the theory which drives this exploration, a new series of definitions are defined and utilized. With the image of the Twin Towers and social media of the era polluting the psychological landscape as one returns to the site, image becomes an important element to consider when attempting to evolve the perception the World Trade Center. Hand-in-hand with image, archetype addresses the masses of people who experience the World Trade Center on a daily basis. These people need to connect with their own psyche, not a collectively inherited idea. Finally, a clear prospect must be in focus, allowing for psyches of all natures to comprehend, perceive and evaluate. This collection of ideologies powers the design of site and space at the new World Trade Center. 92 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
image noun : a mental representation of something previously perceived, in the absence of the original stimulus.
archetype noun : collectively inherited unconscious idea, patterns of thought or image universally present in individual psyches.
prospect
noun
: mental view or survey, as of a subject or situation.
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Affect Friction Catalyst
FIG 4.2
94 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 4.3
ARCHITECTURE AS FRAMEWORK Architecture at Ground Zero must provide a framework which is studded with cues and references that subject the user to the process of ‘experiencing affect.’ Understanding and applying this ‘friction’ to a body in space suggests that the user will be subtly informed and channeled by the architecture and landscape, thus transcending the psyche’s previous interpretation of phenomenon. Familiar aspects, such as the urban environment and social interaction coupled with an inward understanding of one’s own reality, users are pressed through the mold that is the architecture, resulting in a reverse engineering of memory.
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96 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
V
98 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
MUSE {in situ} Architecture at Ground Zero must provide a framework which is studded with cues and references that subject the user to the process of ‘experiencing affect.’ Understanding and applying this ‘friction’ to a body in space suggests that the user will be subtly informed and channeled by the architecture and landscape, thus transcending the psyche’s previous interpretation of phenomenon. Familiar aspects, such as the urban environment and social interaction coupled with an inward understanding of one’s own reality, users are pressed through the mold that is the architecture, resulting in a reverse engineering of memory.
FIG 5.1
muse (from Archaic meaning ‘a state of abstraction’) in situ (from Latin meaning ‘in place’) M.Miller
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IDENTIFICATION In order to identify the places where a framework or catalyst could be derived, muses must be identified. By definition, as stated previously, a muse is a state of abstraction. In situ, or in site, is the idyllic place to start. By recognizing a series of native themes and variables that had a basis in phenomenon, memory or historical context a friction appeared. These stipulations contribute something perhaps wildly known or experienced, such as the 9|11 terrorist attacks. This friction, identified and defined is the momentum with which the exploration of ‘urban memory’ moved into urban design and an urban condition. A series of three muses were identified and expanded upon to create urban conditions.
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north | south axis
west broadway
urban fray | friction
FIG 5.2
FIG 5.3
FIG 5.4
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FIG 5.6
URBAN CANYON The Urban Canyon is a semipublic urban condition which references the friction of axes and the history of the site. A monolithic circulation system, the Urban Canyon removes users from typical experience of the city at street level and skews perception as it delivers users thirty feet below grade. At the base of the Urban Canyon, connection to the South Footprint occurs, allowing users to pass through the foundation wall and experience the vastness of the footprint, the mist of the waterfalls and the still water which connects all users. The Urban Canyon is anchored by the Memorial wall which bears the names of the victims.
FIG 5.5 M.Miller
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104 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 5.7
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3 2 1 4
106 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 5.9
TANGIBLE FRICTION A major factor in the experience of the new World Trade Center is the juxtaposition of urban environment, social interaction and body in space. In order to induce a psychological friction, a series of places is designed to engage all three of those elements. The Voice Court, Museum, Memorial Plaza and the South Footprint Experience are several architectural experiences where this friction is applied.
FIG 5.8
1 Voice Court 2 Welcome Center 3 Outdoor Exhibition 4 South Footprint Experience M.Miller
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FIG 5.10
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FIG 5.12
MEMORY BANK The Memory Bank perhaps is the most explicit experience at the new World Trade Center. A memory mausoleum of sorts, the Memory Bank is a depository for objects, momentos, etc which have some sort of memory structure attached to it. This ever changing exhibition is the backdrop for a versatile space. The southern exposure of the Memory Bank is shaded with a translucent application to glass of the 2,977 faces of the victims who perished. The Face Facade shades the space and casts skewed shadows and glows from the light passing through. The Memory Bank also houses space for public and private mourning. FIG 5.11 M.Miller
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FIG 5.13
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114 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 5.15
9|11 MUSEUM The Museum at the new World Trade Center serves to expose users to artifacts from 9|11, multimedia experience, a history of Lower Manhattan and serves to educate users old and young about the culture of 9|11.
Learning, understanding and teaching. FIG 5.14 M.Miller
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FIG 5.16
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view blockers and corridors FIG 5.18
extroversion FIG 5.19
FIG 5.17 M.Miller
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FIG 5.20
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124 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
VI
126 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 6.1
FIG 6.2
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FIG 6.3
FIG 6.4
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FIG 6.5
FIG 6.6
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FIG 6.7
FINAL SITE PLAN FIG 6.8
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134 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
VII
136 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 7.1
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THE WORLD TRADE CENTER Despite the prominent location ofTheWorld Trade Center and surrounding fabric, it has become extraordinarily sterilized, physically and culturally. While thousands of people visit the eight acres daily, the World Trade Center is laying idle, waiting for a urban catalyst to revive it. It is, however, important to realize that in a constant state of construction, an urban site cannot be fully utilized and experienced by the multitude of users that circle it daily, waiting for it to become a public place once again. But, in an urban sense, the ten years that it has taken to clean-up and slowly rebuild, the site has essentially striped it of 138 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
all traces of ‘urban memory’ despite the countless number of memories that have been deposited there throughout its lengthy and turbulent history. With another chapter of the World Trade Center’s history slowly being written, the thought of ‘urban memory’ and ‘urban recollection’ surfaces. Rebuilding, conscious of a site’s history and the memory constructs which are housed there, would redefine the purpose of a site that is regenerating, but not forgetting. When rebuilding from a practical standpoint, the World Trade Center has an infinitely faceted program that must be fulfilled,
but in terms of this theory and reintroducing the site to lower Manhattan, the World Trade Center must do several things to fully become a strong hold for the people of New York City.
phenomenon
memory
image
: a thing as it appears to and is constructed by the mind, as distinguished from a noumenon, or thingin-itself.
: a psychological device, subconsciously created and utilized by the human psyche to describe and rationalize everyday phenomenon in order to structuralize the mental landscape, giving meaning to the physical landscape.
: a mental representation of something previously perceived, in the absence of the original stimulus.
URBAN PROGRAM
}
}
}
Friction at the urban scale defines experience, producing an affect on the psyche, molding the perception of phenomena.
noun
By manipulating the psyche through all scales of experience, a psychological architecture begins to emerge, arriving at mental place. PSYCHOLOGICAL PROGRAM
}
noun
}
noun
At micro scale, an architectural prompt is introduced to encompass site, user and in situ phenomenon, defining another scale of perception.
}
ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAM AND CONTEXT
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“Not only are our memories, but the things we have forgotten are “housed.” Our soul is an abode. And by remembering “houses” and “rooms,” we learn to abide within ourselves. Now everything becomes clear, the house images move in both directions: they are in us as much as we are in them.”
Gaston Bachelard 140 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 7.2
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MEMORY BANK and VOICE COURT The World Trade Center began, very simply, with the thought of world trade and international relations. Like any other place, many memories and phenomena are attached and housed to this specific area. The Memory Bank, as a post 9|11 condition, is a place where people go to deposit, and interact. The weight of the building, apparently hovering above the landscape represents the momentousness of memory and the phenomena that define how the world is perceived. By passing gracefully below this ‘memory mausoleum’ the user is confronted with a space where individual memories and artifacts are housed. The soul of this building, ever evolving is a history and exhibition in and of itself. Faced with the vastness of this reality, users are exposed to memories of others and are asked to abide within themselves. Thus the process 142 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
of remembering becomes an integral part of the Center, a voice can return to the site, making it culturally, a vital part of Manhattan once again. experience on both a private and public level. Externally, as a vulnerable user is presented with a social interaction within the urban context, the Voice Court becomes a public forum, or stage where users are encouraged to interact, vocalize and share their story. An amphitheater in the heart of the World Trade Center, this space becomes the impetus for activation of a site that would idle with one simple program. Housing international festivals, film screenings and the like, the Voice Court substantiates monumentality from being heard, rather than seen. Vocalization, above all else, provides urban healing to a place that has so tragically been disparaged by a dark history. Finally, as Lower Manhattan rebuilds the World Trade
+
FIG 7.3
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FIG 7.4
WALL OF FACES The southern exposure of the Memory Bank is screened by the Wall of Faces. A double facade, made up of glass and a translucent application of the nearly 3,000 faces of the victims who lost their lives on 9|11 bathes the space with ‘obscured memories.’
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FIG 7.5
DEPOSITORY WALL
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POOL PARAPETS The parapets which circle both the North and South Pools are designed for translucency and separation. At this juncture, still pools of water fall to pools 30 feet below street level, at the base of the original footprints.
FIG 7.6
146 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
PINK OAK GROVE The Memorial Plaza is filled with a grove of Pin Oak trees which turn a vibrant red color around the fall months, especially around September.
By mid-
September, the Plaza will be bright red,
in
commemoration
of
9|11.
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“The task of architecture is to make visible how the world touches us.”
Maurice Merleau-Ponty 148 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 7.7
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MEMORIAL PLAZA and URBAN CANYON The most public of any space a city has to offer is the street, where the most interesting activation can occur as user, architecture and perception combine to form urban experience. The Memorial Plaza is an urban park that activates the site that has become extremely introverted. Through years of redevelopment and urban scarring, a site that once held the shore of the Hudson River is now entirely reticent to any active connection with the rich history that this place boasts. Returning to the beacon it once was is no objective left uncompleted as, today, monumental architecture rises above the skyline. At a more human scale however, mammoth skyscrapers are no way-finding devices within a single site. The introduction of a tower of light, or a beacon, becomes an opportunity to bring wayfinding and urban reconnection to the site. 150 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
In the post 9|11 era of today, surveillance has become an everyday occurrence. In an effort to extrovert the experience of the site, cameras are focused both towards the Hudson River as well as a more local, street level view. As footage is captured and archived, it is broadcasted on a series of screens, digitally reconnecting the city to the Hudson and digitally breaking the veil that keep eyes focused inward. The Urban Canyon, a path that demonstrates the friction of axes serves as a vehicle that delivers users thirty feet below grade, abstracting the experience of the city around them. Once removed from their familiar environment, the user encounters a vast wall of names, marking the end of a history and creating a new perception for the process of memorialization.
FIG 7.8
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FIG 7.9
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FIG 7.10
The names inscribed on the Memorial Wall are organized in a way that recognizes localities among those who died. The North and South Tower localities are recognized, but then further defined Within these groups, names are arranged by affiliation, so that the employees of a company or the crew of a flight are together. The next-of-kin of the victims and surviving colleagues made additional requests for specific names to be inscribed next to one another. Some requests were between relatives and friends; others were between people who had just met, but who responded together as events unfolded. This design allows the names of family, friends, and colleagues to be together, as they lived and died.
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FIG 7.11
154 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
DIGITAL RECONNECTION
DIGITAL RECONNECTION
Large screens mark entry to the site. As
Large screens mark entry to the site. As
footage is captured and archived, it is
footage is captured and archived, it is
broadcasted on a series of screens, digitally
broadcasted on a series of screens, digitally
reconnecting the city to the Hudson River and
reconnecting the city to the Hudson River and
digitally extroverting users within the site.
digitally extroverting users within the site.
PLAZA FILTER Large-scale sculpture used to define public versus private experience within the Memorial Plaza. is
used
to
compress
This sculpture and
orient,
aligning users with the south pool.
SOUTH POOL
Entering via the Urban Canyon, users are able to pass through the south footprint’s walls, grasping the massive scale of the Twin Towers. Using mist to obscure the perception of others and the city around them, users must create connection with the water in front of them, meditating with in the space.
MEMORIAL WALL Confronting users at the base of
the
Urban Canyon, the Memorial Wall bears the names of the 2,977 victims which
lost
their
lives
on
9|11.
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“Memory itself is an internal rumor; and when to this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others, we have but a shifting and unseizable basis to build upon. The picture we frame of the past changes continually and grows every day less similar to the original experience which it purports to describe.�
George Santayana 156 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
FIG 7.12 M.Miller
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NATIONAL 9|11 MUSEUM While most experiences at the new World Trade Center beg to provoke a more intellectual thought process, one cannot forget the tragedy which prompted the current revitalization. Here, at the foundations of the Twin Towers stands the National 9|11 Museum. Although the museum itself exhibits a very frontal history of the site, it also strives to alter human perception. A dark, cavernous space, the user is very aware of his movement, every sound an echo. This considerable self-awareness and vulnerability, paired with the echoing sounds of ‘survivors stories’ makes the museum a very emotionally provocative place. Singling out users and disconnecting them from a meaningful interaction with other users also strips the experience of the museum of any ‘psychological hearsay,’essentially leaving the user immersed in his 158 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
psyche. This reflection perhaps brings a sense of psychological clarity to a picture of an event that was very clearly painted and then perceived. The museum also serves to educate users and ensure that generations from now, visitors understand and comprehend the monumental shift in society that occurred on September 11, 2001.
FIG 7.13
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FIG 7.14 M.Miller
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FIG 7.15
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DIGITAL LIBRARY The digital library is resource for archiving the visitors of the new World Trade Center. Understanding user demographics and culture reveals the magnitude of 9|11 and
FOUNDATION WALL
connects visitors from all over the world.
Experience along the South Footprint foundation wall.
Users are
and then discover other the stair landings.
isolated users at
This allows for
conversation, discussion and an integral experience of the scale of the footprint. 164 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
ROOF DYNAMICS Roof slope creates architectural friction with the ground plane, condensing users and channeling them deeper into the earth.
FIG 7.16
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166 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
PROCESS CONCLUSION The process of rendering the intangible world of memory, into the tangible world of perception is about translating the psychological landscape of the human psyche into the built environment. Applying theory developed in correlation with the understanding that the task of architecture is to make visible how the world touches the human user means that everything is based on three elements, experience, perception and recollection. Memory being the basis of experience is made up of phenomena, interpreted and constructed by our psyche. This interpretation of reality gives direct definition to how phenomena are perceived. In order for our psyche to make palpable these memory constructs, it must utilize elements found within reality, known as depositories, to associate with and
FIG 7.17
essentially store the memory in. This link to reality opportunities to create parallels and associations is crucial for the process of experience, perception that can be utilized in the design solution. and recollection as it bridges psychological process with the tangible environment within which we live. Because architecture is so much a part of the physical world around us, it must not only make visible how the world touches us, but it must become the transition between the psychological landscape and reality. It does this, in cooperation with our psyche by facilitating a mental place, based on localities, associations and mnemonic devices. The design of the architectural response must identify these associations and localities, remove preconceived interpretations and reveal the reality of the phenomenon in order to be successful. Within the context of Ground Zero and of Lower Manhattan as a whole there are countless M.Miller
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VIII
Although the initial thought process of this exploration desired to architecturally render the intangible environment of the psychological landscape, it evolved into the investigation of how memory and the perception of reality can be manipulated by applying psychological friction to a body in space. Causing affect, this process renders a physical change in the brain, allowing the opportunity for previous memory structures to evolve based on the perception of environment and user interaction. The New World Trade Center is a framework. The landscape and architecture serve as a thought process for both user and urban condition in order to ‘re engineer’ memory and thoughts. When applied to user’s previously constructed memories structures, the design implications marry with the psyche. Together, they synthesize a new idea, a new memory. 170 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
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172 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
IX
174 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
WORKS CITED Andreas Demetriou, Anastasia Efklides, Maria Platsidou, Robert L. Campbel, “The Architecture and Dynamics of Developing Mind – Experiential Structuralism as a Frame for Unifying Cognitive Developmental Theories,” Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 58, no. 5/6 (1993): Bastéa, Elani, ed. Memory and Architecture. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003. Choi, Esther. Architecture at the Edge of Everything Else. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2010. Guiliana, Bruno, Atlas of Emotion: Journeys in Art, Architecture and Film (New York: Verso, 2002) Leyton, Michael. Shape as Memory: A Geometric Theory of Architecture. Basel: Birkhauser – for Architecture, 2006. Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, s.v. “phenomenon,” http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/memory (accessed October 18, 2011). Parker, Rodney Douglas. “The Architectonics of Memory: On Built Form and Built Thought,” The MIT Press 30, no. 2 (1997) Sturken, Marita. “The Aesthetics of Absence: Rebuilding Ground Zero,” American Ethnologist 31, no. 3 (2004) Treib, Marc, Spatial Recall: Memory in Architecture and Landscape (New York: Routledge, 2009)
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X
PRESENTATION MATERIAL THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
Overall MEMORY BANK | VOICE COURT
MEMORY BANK
and
VOICE COURT
“Not only are our memories, but the things we have forgotten are “housed.” Our soul is an abode. And by remembering “houses” and “rooms,” we learn to abide within ourselves. Now everything becomes clear, the house images move in both directions: they are in us as much as we are in them.”
Gaston Bachelard
the phenomenology of memory: applying psychological friction to a body in space for the reverse engineering of memory | a thesis exploration by mark randall miller | professor judith reno | professor laraine papa montgomery | professor joel varland I. MEMORY: A Theory mem•o•ry noun a : the power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained especially through associative mechanisms. b : the store of things learned and retained from an organism's activity or experience as evidenced by modification of structure or behavior or by recall and recognition. Although the dictionary is able to supply numerous finite or tangible definitions that can be used to describe what memory is, these simply fall short of conveying a true sense of why the human psyche creates memory and the purpose memory serves. In terms of the infinite psychological landscape, it is fair to argue that the phenomenology of memory, or the occurrence of the creation of a specific psychological device, suggests a more in depth meaning that can begin to help explicate more of said landscape. Therefore, for the sake of this thesis exploration, the following definition was derived in order to guide theory and architectural expression. This definition, when applied to the previous definitions above, gives a thorough understanding of what memory is and how it functions as a device within the human mind. However, to fully understand what memory is, one must understand that it exists both within the infinite dimensions of the human mind, and also manifests itself in the finite world of reality. By the very definition of the word this concept can be understood. It’s origin, the human psyche, denotes its psychological existence. Its task, to structuralize and rationalize
the everyday phenomenon of reality, lends memory its foot in the palpable world in which we exist. Memory requires this dual existence, because our psyche does not comprehend reality based on the events that experience but rather through associations and localities. Thus the psyche must create a psychological device to explain the occurrence: a memory. Because a memory is essentially a construct of the human psyche, it has no actual qualities about it. To remedy this, a memory is usually linked to an element that exists in our tangible reality at the time of the phenomenon. This association is how the psyche bridges the gap from the psychological to the physical. Through comprehension of the physical environment, the human psyche uses cues to shape and organize memory within the psychological landscape. These ‘depositories’ or drop points are essentially vessels where a memory is housed, fabricating a mental place or loci. It is among these mental places and depositories that humans exist. One must note however, that the depository itself assumes the tangible quality, not the memory construct itself. Because the human psyche often engages all five sense when selecting a depository, the memory itself might be mistaken as physical when again, in reality, the depository itself is the tangible element, which houses the psychological device (memory). For example, a certain string of musical notes can become a depository for which a memory is created to describe the phenomenon that is occurring while the music is being played. Similarly, the same thought process goes for touch, sight, smell and taste. Our psyche utilizes no hierarchy when determining a depository, thus our entire reality is laced with innumerable memory depositories, and structured with countless mental places that describe the phenomenon we encounter. B. Storage Now that memory’s coexistence in psychological and reality is understood, a basic theory of
how it pertains to space and geometry can be procured. It is at this juncture in the exploration of the phenomenology of memory that a parallel can be made to the built environment, working towards the translation that is sought. One theory states the following: Memory is stored in asymmetry. Memory is erased in symmetry. More specifically, Leyton argues that memory is more likely to be created, structuralized and archived following a series of asymmetrical events or phenomena. These phenomena are considered ‘asymmetrical’ because of their magnitude of divergence from typical daily phenomena. Consequently, memory is less likely to be created, structuralized and archived following a series of mundane phenomenon; they are considered to be ‘less memorable.’ While there is credence to this theory, there is also room for critique. It is fair to argue that more common (symmetrical) phenomena occur at more frequent intervals than asymmetrical phenomena. Using Leyton’s terminology, the frequency of symmetrical phenomena creates ‘erasures.’ Although the word erasure might denote a negative connotation it is actually quite the opposite. This series of erasures, while independently lacking the significance to create a memory construct, can be looked at as a scarring of the psyche. The constant ‘wearing’ creates a scar of sorts, resulting in a memory store. Therefore, memory is subject to equal memory storage through a series of symmetrical phenomena. A parallel can be drawn in order to better understand this theory. For example, an asymmetrical phenomenon such as the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001 had such an extreme variance from the typical daily phenomena that the psyche automatically creates a memory structure that draws from its surroundings, and is
stored in local depositories. A much different parallel can be drawn in terms of symmetricality in daily phenomenon. Take for instance a daily morning routine. While each separate event that makes up that routine is mundane in nature, it is the frequency with which they occur that creates significance, not the magnitude of variance as seen in the previous model, thus a different type of memory store is created. C. Landscape Thus far memory can be understood as a psychological, physical and geometric theory, but in order to further translate the phenomenology of memory into an architectural language, memory should also be considered in an architectonic manner. During the formation of a memory, the human psyche must, to some degree, comprehend the physical landscape that it exists within. That basic understanding allows it to identify and select depositories that the derived memory proceeds to latch on to. This psychological structuralization is spatial in manner and is considered a mental place or loci because of the association drawn between the built landscape (depository) and the memory created for it. Mental places or loci are essentially the framework the psyche works within to archive and catalogue the constructs it creates. (Fig. 1.3 and Fig. 1.4) Just as memory is our psyche’s interpretation of physical reality, the built environment is shaped by our psyche. The way we perceive space, time, etc is based on the way our psyches’ create, store and recall memories. This is how memory is the most tangible connection to what has become intangible. Recollection of memory, then, is essentially viewing our psyche’s interpretation of reality, a glimpse into the fusion of psychological landscape and built landscape due to the localities that exist between the two. D. Time
The duration of time is a phenomenon that transcends all barriers, existing in both the psychological realm as well as reality. As humans dwelling in the realm of reality, time is merely a conventional device that is used to regulate life. In the world of psychology however, time, paired with the power of the human psyche amount to a much richer landscape of ever evolving memory constructs using localities and memory exchange to sculpt the psychological experience which bypass the simple laws of time in reality. The general concept of time is often categorized as a past, present and future condition. In terms of psychology, the past is most often associated with memory. The recollection of memory is in essence a psychological throwback to the moments when the memory construct was formed and placed into a depository. Other than this moment of creation, the present is actually the most interesting period to apply to memory. The present is the most difficult, yet important moment to target because of its fleeting and transient nature. If a closer look is taken at how the present moment interacts with the creation of memory one can understand that the present is essentially what augments the past and stimulates the future. Basically, the phenomena of the present are what memory constructs are made of and as they begin to compile, they gain substance, creating the past. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the present day thought is what stimulates the future of memory construction. While the past, present and future define time in a general sense; duration informs a new level of psychological construct with regards to memory as a mental device. Duration, or the continuation of time takes preconceived memory structures (loci) and sculpts, deforms and reforms them in a never-ending state of evolution as the matrix of memory constructs becomes denser. Although each memory itself is unique, the proximity with which they are stored can lead to a deformation, as each previous memory tends to influence any future memory creation. (Fig. 1.5) When it comes time to recall a memory, the psyche pinpoints
it and removes it from the structure it was housed in. This process not only brings to light the initial memory, but also often times many of the memories that had surrounded it. This happens because of the localities and organization that exist in the human psyche. (Fig. 1.6) To utilize any theory that deals with psychology is an extremely extensive and intricate process. Memory itself is an infinitely faceted segment of the human psyche that will never be truly understood. However, by using a concise, tailored definition of what memory is and how it behaves, a translation of the psychological landscape into built landscape can be facilitated.
II. PLACE: The Architectonics of the Intangible A. Place Setting out to design architecture based on a phenomenology or theory is a difficult task, more so when that theory deals with the complete immateriality of the field of psychology. Successfully applying this theory to the shaping of an architectural response to a design challenge requires careful consideration of several questions.
and that can be held in the mind and considered. Taking that definition, the task at hand is to design a place that represents an understanding of how the psychological landscape and structure of memory is manifested in a built form within a contextual environment. Because these are two entirely separate worlds, the typology of this place must become a point of convergence, a transition or pivot between the two, facilitating the user’s experience of both worlds while remaining in reality. The ability of the user to recall, experience and emote on both a psychological and physical level is the goal of this architectural response. As previously stated, memory is merely an interpretation of the phenomenon of reality, created by our psyche. If that is the case, then humans experience unadulterated reality only for a brief moment before it is interpreted by our psyche and stored as a memory. In an architectonic sense, then, the way space is perceived and experienced is based entirely on the information our psyche chooses to include in the memory store. Given that everyone has unique psyches, the interpretations of reality are very different and cannot be recreated at a public scale. However, by designing a place targeting more widely known phenomena, through the use of localities and associations, a more universal experience can be understood. Thus the opportunity arises for the identification of mental places (loci) that can trigger emotion, epiphany or additional, more personal recollections at an individual level. In this sense, one begins to see how the psychological environment and memory influence the shape and experience of place. Because of our psyche’s ability to shape the way space is interpreted, an architectural response that transcends this interpretation would allow users to understand and perhaps experience the phenomena that their memories are based on.
PLACE: Place is a term that refers to a space that can be remembered, that can spark imagination,
B. User Architecture or the built place serves three main purposes in relation to the user and his
Like the design process, the development of the phenomenological theory of memory is an ongoing challenge, and understanding how to bridge the gap from the intangible psychological landscape to the architectonics of place is equally as tedious. The following section is an outline of sorts in order to help solidify the architectural expression that this thesis exploration wants to become and how it is a relevant area of study.
memory. Not only does it serve as place for recollection, but it is also an impetus for the materialization and preservation of time by establishing a physical landscape of time and place juxtaposed to the psychological landscape where the creation of memory occurs. As the user is engaged in this landscape, he is able to transcend his existence in reality and exist in a temporal reality, created by his psyche. Architecture also serves to solidify remembrance by containing (depository) and projecting memories, which has a complex layering and density of memory structures that address history, culture, and past memory. Finally, architecture or the built place serves to stimulate and inspire the user to reminisce and imagine, free of his psyche’s parameters. This is an experience that spawns the future of memory creation and the ability to begin to define how our psyche determines the conception of memory, which in turn defines the way we experience reality. While architecture and place are able to stimulate these series of psychological and physical phenomena, it appears that it cannot create feeling or experience. Just as energy is neither created nor destroyed, feeling and experience are neither created nor destroyed. Rather, place can be considered a device which houses memory, experience and feeling. When the user perceives a place, his experience is simply an amplification or projection of preconceived memories from within the place. These align with his own preconceived memories, defined by his psyche, that the he brings to the place. This addresses the original theory that our psyche determines how we perceive place, through the memory constructs it chooses to create. Architecture without the user is simply space. While it may be well designed and beautiful, the way architecture responds to the user and vice versa, the way the user responds to and connects with not only the architecture but also the other users is what makes it place. When the user is applied to a space, it becomes alive and essentially phenomenal, so starting with the phenomenology of memory and everything it entails adds a new dimension to the perception
The World Trade Center began, very simply, with the thought of world trade and international relations. Like any other place, many memories and phenomena are attached and housed to this specific area. The Memory Bank, as a post 9|11 condition, is a place where people go to deposit, and interact. The weight of the building, apparently hovering above the landscape represents the momentousness of memory and the phenomena that define how the world is perceived. By passing gracefully below this ‘memory mausoleum’ the user is confronted with a space where
Site Entry at DIGITAL RECONNECTION SCREENS
MEMORIAL PLAZA
+ individual memories and artifacts are housed. The soul of this building, ever evolving is a history and exhibition in and of itself. Faced with the vastness of this reality, users are exposed to memories of others and are asked to abide within themselves. Thus the process of remembering becomes an integral part of the experience on both a private and public level. Externally, as a vulnerable user is presented with a social interaction within the urban context, the Voice Court becomes a public forum, or stage where users are encouraged to interact, vocalize and share their story.
An amphitheater in the heart of the WorldTrade Center, this space becomes the impetus for activation of a site that would idle with one simple program. Housing international festivals, film screenings and the like, the Voice Court substantiates monumentality from being heard, rather than seen. Vocalization, above all else, provides urban healing to a place that has so tragically been disparaged by a dark history. Finally, as Lower Manhattan rebuilds the World Trade Center, a voice can return to the site, making it culturally, a vital part of Manhattan once again.
and
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
The most public of any space a city has to offer is the street, where the most interesting activation can occur as user, architecture and perception combine to form urban experience. The Memorial Plaza is an urban park that activates the site that has become extremely introverted. Through years of redevelopment and urban scarring, a site that once held the shore of the Hudson River is now entirely reticent to any active connection with the rich history that this place boasts. Returning to the beacon it once was is no objective left uncompleted as, today, monumental
Underground Exhibition Hall at the NATIONAL 9|11 MUSEUM
NATIONAL 9|11 MUSEUM
URBAN CANYON
“The task of architecture is to make visible how the world touches us.”
architecture rises above the skyline. At a more human scale however, mammoth skyscrapers are no wayfinding devices within a single site. The introduction of a tower of light, or a beacon, becomes an opportunity to bring way-finding and urban reconnection to the site. In the post 9|11 era of today, surveillance has become an everyday occurrence. In an effort to extrovert the experience of the site, cameras are focused both towards the Hudson River as well as a more local, street level view. As footage is captured and archived, it is broadcasted on a series
of screens, digitally reconnecting the city to the Hudson and digitally breaking the veil that keep eyes focused inward. The Urban Canyon, a path that demonstrates the friction of axes serves as a vehicle that delivers users thirty feet below grade, abstracting the experience of the city around them. Once removed from their familiar environment, the user encounters a vast wall of names, marking the end of a history and creating a new perception for the process of memorialization.
“Memory itself is an internal rumor; and when to this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others, we have but a shifting and unseizable basis to build upon. The picture we frame of the past changes continually and grows every day less similar to the original experience which it purports to describe.”
George Santayana
While most experiences at the new World Trade Center beg to provoke a more intellectual thought process, one cannot forget the tragedy which prompted the current revitalization. Here, at the foundations of the Twin Towers stands the National 9|11 Museum. Although the museum itself exhibits a very frontal history of the site, it also strives to alter human perception. A dark, cavernous space, the user is very aware of his movement, every sound an echo. This considerable selfawareness and vulnerability, paired with the echoing sounds of ‘survivors stories’ makes the museum a very emotionally provocative place. Singling out users and disconnecting them from a meaningful interaction with other users also strips the experience of the museum of any ‘psychological hearsay,’essentially leaving the user immersed in his psyche. This reflection perhaps brings a
sense of psychological clarity to a picture of an event that was very clearly painted and then perceived. The museum also serves to educate users and ensure that generations from now, visitors understand and comprehend the monumental shift in society that occurred on September 11, 2001.
Welcome Center
The names inscribed on the Memorial Wall are organized in a way that recognizes localities among those who died. The North and South Tower localities are recognized, but then further defined Within these groups, names are arranged by affiliation, so that the employees of a company or the crew of a flight are together. The next-
Private Family Memory Bank
1
B A
Family Depository Wall
2
of-kin of the victims and surviving colleagues made additional requests for specific names to be inscribed next to one another. Some requests were between relatives and friends; others were between people who had just met, but who responded together as events unfolded. This design allows the names of family, friends, and colleagues to be together, as they lived and died.
9|11 Museum
Memory Bank Observation Perch
DIGITAL SCREENS
Wall of Faces
NORTH POOL
South Pool MEDITATION ISLAND
3
+
VOICE COURT 1
World Trade Center
7
World Trade Center
2
World Trade Center
1
TH
World Trade Center World Trade Center
4
4
BEACON TOWER
7
Transportation Hub
3 4
3
Depository Wall
ROOF DYNAMICS
Memory Bank
DIGITAL LIBRARY
WELCOME CENTER Overall Interior of MEMORY BANK
POOL PARAPETS
GRAND STAIR
MEMORIAL WALL TH
MACRO SITE
9|11 Museum
Family Welcome Center
MEMORIAL PLAZA FILTER
SOUTH POOL MEDITATION ISLAND
2
The parapets which circle both the North and South Pools are designed for translucency and separation. At this juncture, still pools of water fall to pools 30 feet below street level, at the base of the original footprints.
Wall of Faces
Approach to South Pool on MEMORIAL PLAZA
memory
}
}
Friction at the urban scale defines experience, producing an affect on the psyche, molding the perception of phenomena. URBAN PROGRAM
By manipulating the psyche through all scales of experience, a psychological architecture begins to emerge, arriving at mental place. PSYCHOLOGICAL PROGRAM
}
URBAN CANYON
DIGITAL RECONNECTION
PLAZA FILTER
Sculpted from axes, new and old the Urban Canyon represents an urban scarring of the site, referencing urban development over the history of the World Trade Center.
Large screens mark entry to the site. As footage is captured and archived, it is broadcasted on a series of screens, digitally reconnecting the city to the Hudson River and digitally extroverting users within the site.
Large-scale sculpture used to define public versus private experience within the Memorial Plaza. This sculpture is used to compress and orient, aligning users with the south pool.
noun
}
north | south axis
west broadway axis
implied friction & fray
178 | Phenomenology of Memory: THE {NEW} WORLD TRADE CENTER
view corridors & blockers
site extroversion
A Site Section NORTH POOL | MEMORY BANK | VOICE COURT
Experience along the South Footprint foundation wall. Users are isolated and then discover other users at the stair landings. This allows for conversation, discussion and an integral experience of the scale of the footprint.
PIN OAK GROVE
: a mental representation of something previously perceived, in the absence of the original stimulus.
ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAM AND CONTEXT
FOUNDATION WALL
The Memorial Plaza is filled with a grove of Pin Oak trees which turn a vibrant red color around the fall months, especially around September. By mid-September, the Plaza will be bright red, in commemoration of 9|11.
SOUTH POOL
At micro scale, an architectural prompt is introduced to encompass site, user and in situ phenomenon, defining another scale of perception.
The digital library is resource for archiving the visitors of the new World Trade Center. Understanding user demographics and culture reveals the magnitude of 9|11 and connects visitors from all over the world.
The southern exposure of the Memory Bank is screened by the Wall of Faces. A double facade, made up of glass and a translucent application of the nearly 3,000 faces of the victims who lost their lives on 9|11 bathes the space with ‘obscured memories.’
image
noun
: a psychological device, subconsciously created and utilized by the human psyche to describe and rationalize everyday phenomenon in order to structuralize the mental landscape, giving meaning to the physical landscape.
}
noun
}
phenomenon
Roof slope creates architectural friction with the ground plane, condensing users and channeling them deeper into the earth.
WALL OF FACES
PROPOSED CONTEXT
: a thing as it appears to and is constructed by the mind, as distinguished from a noumenon, or thing-in-itself.
Grand Stair to the 9|11 Museum
Memorial Wall in the URBAN CANYON
Depository Wall at MEMORY BANK
MEMORY BANK
The World Trade Center is a global image of American consumerism, economy and power. The ideology behind the conception of one of the largest economic centers in the world was the very impetus for its tragic destruction. Now, ten years later, new towers are rising above the Manhattan skyline. The rebuilding of the World Trade Center is an extraordinarily complex task, combining memorialization, reconstitution and economic restoration of New York City. Perhaps, in this time of revolutionary rebuilding, a more dynamic theory and concept need be applied to the exploration of how to rebuild Ground Zero. Exploring the hand-inhand relationship between architecture and psychology, this thesis seeks to understand the three fundamental elements which shape our understanding of the world around us. Phenomenon, memory and image are all elements which create experience. Within the setting of Ground Zero however, phenomenon, memory and image play an even more crucial part of an ongoing evolution of psychological and physical rebuilding. The current state of perception at Ground Zero is one of an image. The footprints, while widely regarded as the way to recall the absence of the original stimulus of the Twin Towers, the current exhibition presents a prompt by which we are asked reflect upon a singular, collectively inherited idea (9|11), despite the incredibly heterogeneous number of psyche that perceive it. The resulting prospect is one-dimensional. However, when users are presented with a series of experiences, they are the determinate of their own perception, able to build upon their existing memories and experiences thus creating a richer, more mnemotechnic exploration. Experience at the new World Trade Center must be a framework which is studded with references that subject the user to the process of ‘experiencing affect.’ Understanding and applying this ‘friction’ to a body in space suggests that the user will be subtly channeled by the architecture and landscape, thus transcending the psyche’s previous interpretation of phenomenon. Familiar aspects, such as the urban environment and social interaction coupled with an inward understanding of one’s own reality, users are pressed through the mold that is the architecture, resulting in a reverse engineering of memory.
Mourning Cubes
FAMILY WELCOME CENTER MEMORIAL PLAZA
CAN YOU REMEMBER?
B Site Section URBAN CANYON
SOUTH POOL Entering via the Urban Canyon, users are able to pass through the south footprint’s walls, grasping the massive scale of the Twin Towers. Using mist to obscure the perception of others and the city around them, users must create connection with the water in front of them, meditating with in the space.
MEMORIAL WALL Confronting users at the base of the Urban Canyon, the Memorial Wall bears the names of the 2,977 victims which lost their lives on 9|11.
The process of rendering the intangible world of memory, into the tangible world of perception is about translating the psychological landscape of the human psyche into the built environment. Applying theory developed in correlation with the understanding that the task of architecture is to make visible how the world touches the human user means that everything is based on three elements, experience, perception and recollection. Memory being the basis of experience is made up of phenomena, interpreted and constructed by our psyche. This interpretation of reality gives direct definition to how phenomena are perceived. In order for our psyche to make palpable these memory constructs, it must utilize elements found within reality, known as depositories, to associate with and essentially store the memory in. This link to reality is crucial for the process of experience, perception and recollection as it bridges psychological process with the tangible environment within which we live. Because architecture is so much a part of the physical world around us, it must not only make visible how the world touches us, but it must become the transition between the psychological landscape and reality. It does this, in cooperation with our psyche by facilitating a mental place, based on localities, associations and mnemonic devices. The design of the architectural response must identify these associations and localities, remove preconceived interpretations and reveal the reality of the phenomenon in order to be successful. Within the context of Ground Zero and of Lower Manhattan as a whole there are countless opportunities to create parallels and associations that can be utilized in the design solution.
graduate thesis | spring 2012 savannah college of art and design school of building arts