Matthew Smith
Academic Portfolio 2018/ 2019 ARC8050 Stage 5 Matthew Davies Smith 130207573 Newcastle University
Contents Vienna Preparation Week
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Introduction
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Symposium
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Manifesto
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Beacons
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Underground
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Michel de Certeau
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Reflection
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RIBA/ ARB Document
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Old work
New work
Vienna Preparation Week In preperation for the trip to Vienna the task was given to analyse Newcastle in respect to readings which were given to us .
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Through my invovlement and interest in the preporation for, Vienna I looked at recording, Newcastle through photography. By recording the city through this media it allowed me, in reflection, to understand that even through ‘drifting’ through the city, we were still guided through the route by, Serial Vision. Therefore through the images taken on the ‘drift’ it seemed appropriate to combine the Serial Vision images with the idea of showing the types of noise which can be experienced through different areas of the central area of the city. The images show the audible expereience of the people in the area in response to the volume and type of noise produced around them. The images produced therefore show the regular volume noise (yellow), higher volume noise (orange), music (purple), uncomfortable noise (red) and silence (grey).
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Introduction
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From the introduction of Vienna, we were given before going on the trip, I was looking for aspects of the city that showed Vienna’s alienation from it’s history and it’s rejection of it’s participation in WWII with the Nazi regime. Therefore once arriving in Vienna the immediate impression I got was from the amount of commercial advertising they had everywhere, including a huge advertisment of clothing brands, which hung from the scaffolding attached to, St Stephan’s Cathedral. Due to being in the Performing Vienna studio my attention was constantly drawn to music and music performances. There seemed to be contrasting elements of the touristic/ commercial aspect of music in Vienna; such as people dressed up as Mozart handing out tickets to see performances of Mozart’s music; with the more refined and professional performances within the theatre. Referring back to the brief given for the Performing Vienna studio, our task given for the first semester was to create a series of pavilions along a festival route, which would be placed along the tourists walks. Through doingthis it made us engage with the city in a different way to the other studio groups as we engaged with the city through a pre-prescribed
tourist activities provided through a website. However as we were walking along these tourist walks, we would also look into more meaning, such as; how was the place them compared to now? How has it changed? How does modern and past Vienna compare? Along the routes we would also consider how the environments affect the society socially and whether or not the public are included with the music scene in Vienna today and if not how could interaction between the public and the city be encouraged? From personal interests I went to Vienna with a basic idea of finding a way to navigate myself through the city. Previously I used serial vision, howveer once in Vienna, due to most of the buildings along general streets having a similar facade, i felt thst this would not be enough to achieve the wayfinding and navigating method I wanted to find. Therefore I realised that there are a few buildings, which peer over the tops of the similar looking buildings which provided me with a wayfinding and navigating method. My project proposes a new way for buskers to be able to play exactly where they want and not be restricted by the government imposed license,
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which is allocated once a month. Therefore this changes the infrastructuire of the busking scene as more buskers will be able to play in more commercial areasand will therefore be able to earn more money due to the location and frequency of music played. This is also a politically fueled solution to the busking problem as it defies the control of the government and causes a ‘resistance’, which takes inspiration from, Michel de Certeau and his book, The Practice of Everyday Life. In relation to other ideas of the city, my project is more political and could focus more on the current culture of the music scene and play off of what is already there as opposed to proposing an underground path and place for the buskers to play.
Symposium
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For the Symposium the studio worked together as a group to present our work of what we felt represented Vienna. As a group we focused on the idea of alienation and disalienation within Vienna. We looked mainly at the commercial vs traditional aspects of music culture within Vienna. From our experience we found there to be a greater enphasis on the commercial aspect; where string quatets or other musicla performances, would be performed within a church or other small venue. Compared to this we found very few buskers within the city centre, which was stange to us, as in a city with the given name of ‘the capital of classical music’ there would be more emphasis on allowing everyone to express themselves.
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Manifesto Through observing Vienna, it seemed apparent there are two typologies present; - Beacons - Underground Thes ‘Beacons’ appear through observing the roof-scapes of Vienna. As the group progressed through tourist musicians’ walks, these pronounced elements of tall builings were emerging over the lower leveled buildings. Thes use of these elements was used, by myself, as a wayfinding and navigating method, from that point on when navigating around the city. The second typology of the ‘Underground’ relates to the several types of spaces beneath or partially submerged within Vienna. These include the U-Bahn (underground railway system), the partially sunken roman ruins at, Michealerplatz and the catacombs beneath St Stephan’s cathedral. The U-Bahn s station were also used as a wayfinding method. Finally
the
last
element,
which struck me, was the lack of buskers appearingalong routes, which would have great acoustics and a large amount of tourists. The buskers played classical instruments and seemed separated by large distances, where other buskers surely could have played inbetween. Through further research there is a strict busking license, which had to be applied for every month and lasted one month, and only had 32 allocated spaces available, which were assigned by music style/ instrument type by the government. This revealed how in the city of Vienna how limiting the givernment is on allowing buskers to showcase their musical talent and earn a living from this. From research there are 3 areas, which buskers would prefer to play but can’t unless they are given the license and allocated taht specific space. These 3 are in and along commercial and/ or tourist areas, which would obviously be desirable for buskers as there would be a higher volume of people here and therefore a higher chance of
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someone giving them money for their talents. The thesis of my projects is to provide a rebellion of the rules prescribed by the government upon buskers within the city centre. As said by, Michel De Certeau; “The actual order of things is precisely what “popular” tatcis turn to their own ends, without any illusion that it will change any time soon. Though elsewhere it is exploited by a dominant power or simply denied by an ideological descourse, here order is tricked by an art. Into the institution to be served are this insinuated styles or social exchange, technical invention, and moral resistance, that is, an economy of the “gift” (generosities for which one expects a return), an esthetics of “tricks” (artists operations) and an ethics of tenacity (countless ways of refusing the established order the status of a law, a meaning, or a fatality).”1
Therefore to rebel and resist against the prescribed order of the license, a space must be created to allow for the buskers to play where they want but not to put the buskers in a threatening position, so they get moved on by the polics.
on streets. This suggests a route could be separated or carved out to symbolise the importance of te route and the resstance and rebellion the buskers enforce to allow them to play wherever they want without (technically) breaking the rules.
Michel De Certeau can once again help us with the direction to take this; “The ordinary practitioners of the city live “down below”, below the thresholds at which visibility begins. They walk - an elementary form of this experience of the city; they are walkers, Wardersmanner, which bodies follow the thicks and thins of an urban “text” they write without being able to read it.”2 Although the text above by, Michel De certeau does not directly mean “down below” to be “underground” a clear separation is sugested as the, Wardersmanner write their own story, much like the musicians, whose loves we vicariously follow through listening to the buskers
1. Certeau, Michel de. The Practice Of Everday Life. Univ. Of California Press, 1984, p26 2. ibid, p93
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Beacons As a way of navigating and wayfinding through Vienna, especially along the musicians’ walks, I noticed tall buildings pointing out from over the roof scapes. These Beacons became a navigating and wayfinding aspect along every route in Vienna.
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Serial Vision From the work produced during the Vienna preparation week, it appeared Serial vision played a huge role in wayfinding and navigating around a city.
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Therefore when walking through the given musicians walks it was apparant the same logic of wayfinding and navigating through Serial Vision could be applied in Vienna.
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Beacons over Buildings Above and over the next few pages are examples of the Beacons I used to help navigate and locate myself within the city and along the allocated tourist route.
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Beacon Location map The map above shows the beacons, which I used to navigate myself along the Mozart tourist walk. The radius of the circle indicates how far away the beacon was visible.
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Beacons on Selected Route When the project had progressed the beacons were still used as points to navigate along the chosen festival route. Above is a map which shows the final festival route and how the beacons book-end the route so people can use them to navigate along the way. 28
Pavilion 1
Pavilion 2
Pavilions Located with Beacon The above diagram shows how the pavilions were used using the Beacon so it could be positioned at a point where both the Beacon and Underground elements could be connected.
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Urban Intervention Created Through Connecting Beacons For the creation of the Urban Intervention, which runs from one pavilion to the other, the angles at which the undulating path changes were created by drawing one line between two Beacons (indicated in red) making sure they cross the proposed route (indicated in black). 30
Developmental Models Once the first pavilion had been placed close to the cathedral development through the use of models was used as a way to experiment.
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The main considerations for the pavilion was that the form was created by the connection between the Beacon (so it can be seen and used to navigate) and the Underground element (to ensure the public interact with the moveable elements fo the pavilion) close by. 32
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Final Pavilion Development Above is the final development of the first pavilion. The musician sits between two walls, which can be moved as the public walk through that manipulates the direction of the music as the direction of the walls change. The openings in the walls are to represent the resistance (see section; Michel de Certeau), where the musician can only be seen from certain angles but can always be heard. 39
Pavilion Perspective The image above is the internal perspective of the pavilion to the left. In the image the musician can be seen between the two walls with a Beacon (the cathedral) being seen through the roof which is directed through the angling of the walls. 40
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Underground Another way which I used to navigate through Vienna, was through using the underground or partially-submerged areas, due to their unusual and noticeable typology. These Underground elements became a point of navigation and intrigue of the subtle indication of an entrance above ground and realing something intricate underground. 42
Underground Elements These images present the different Underground elements I focused on while I was in Vienna. The main Underground element is the U-Bahn entrances, as the pavilions are placed infront of these to encourage interaction from the public. 43
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Pavilion 1
Pavilion 2
Pavilion Placement through Underground The above diagrams show how the pavilions were used using the Underground (U-Bahn entrance) so it could be positioned at a point where both the Beacon and Underground elements could be connected.
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Map Marking Underground Entances on Reduced Route The project had progressed and the Underground elements were still used as points to place the pavilions outside of. Above is a map which shows the final route and how theunderground elements indicates places where pavilions could be placed. 46
Underground Concept Models Over the next couple of pages are the concept models, which were produced to show how there could be a subtle connection, through the use of the panels, between the upper and possible underground intervention.
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The idea is the panels can be moved to, by the padestrians, to alter the level and tone of the music. This was later developed into the moving walls in the pavilion which are described further in the next section.
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Michel de Certeau Through researching buskers and the restrictions that face them, it seemed apparent they needed the ability to play wherever they wanted. Due to the strict busking license Vienna has, taking inspiration from, Michel de Certeau’s idea of ‘resistance’, can be used to allow the buskers to play where they want, to be able to make the most amount of money.
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Shostakovich When looking for a theme of resistance or rebellion within music, Shostacovich is a relevant example to use. His piece, ‘String Quartet no. 8’, was commissioned by the communists of Russia, however as, Shostacovich did not agree with them politically he rebeleld within the piece that the communists would not understand but would be very clear to others within the classical music scene. The above image is an experiment connecting notes of the quartet, which involve the resistance. 51
Shostacovich Grids From the experimental image produced on the previous page grids were produced as a way of beginning to think about form and perhaps how this could inform the Urban Intervention.
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Models of Grids Formed To add a third dimension to the musical piece I extruded the vertical lines from the grids and produce the above models. This was to experiment further with form and how this might be integrated either into Pavilion and Urban Intervention. 54
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Grids Imposed Over Map Above is the grids produced from the Shostacovich piece, deconstructed and placed over the figureground of the music tourist walk I followed. This was to try and develop the Urban Intervention.
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Grid Model Map This map was to take the grids imposed over the map and combine it with a 3D element to give it possible dimension.
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Initial Proposed Underground Route From imposing the grids over the musicians walk and involving the idea of resistance, I proposed an underground route which could be used to allow musicians to play wherever they want within the city. The lines form the grids, which can be seen in the image indicate where horizontal walls can be placed to then be interacted with by the pedestrians to change the volume and tone of the music played, as a way of giving the music back to the people of Vienna. 60
Beacon and Grid Map The above map conbines all elements which have been discussed so far including; the beacons, underground elements and imposed grid; each represented in a different colour.
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Beacon and Underground Elements The above sketch illustrates how the main beacons I have chosen (St Stephan’s Cathedral and Karlsbirche); I have chosen these two as my main beacons as I found I used them the most when navigating around Vienna; and the U-Bahn extrances nearby each beacons as the underground element. 62
Developmental models Here are images of models I used to further develop the idea of the underground passage where buskers can play, where panels can be moved both horizontally and vertically. These panels can be moved by the pedestrians to change how the music is exerpienced. 63
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Pavilion Development and Experimentation To develop how the underground areas might be designed, I took different spaced streets from the musicians walk to then projects lines to see how the underground might be in section and how the panels might be placed in relation to the abive and below ground areas. 65
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Pavilion 1 Placement In placing Pavilion 1, lines were drawn from the point of view that both the beacon and the underground route could be seen the most clearly. Where the lines met is where the pavilion was placed. By placing it outside of the U-Bahn it means the pavilion must be interacted with for the public to be able to go into the direction they wan to go in. 67
Pavilion 2 Placement Similarly to pavilion 1, placing Pavilion 2, lines were drawn from the point of view that both the beacon and the underground route could be seen the most clearly. Where the lines met is where the pavilion was placed, however as two points were made this was taken as a start an end point for one pavilion as opposed to two separate pavilions. 68
Pavilion Panel Movement In terms of movement of panels, they do not move horizontally or vertically within the pavilion but move pivoting on a point, as needed by the public when coming from or going into the U-Bahn. Above you can see how as people move the walls can be moved to accomodate their actions. 69
Music Projection The diagrams above show how the music projection changes as people have moved through the spaces.
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Pavilion 1 Plan Pavilion 1 plan at scle 1:100
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Ground Floor
First Floor
Pavilion 2 Plans
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Buskers The map obove shows the areas that buskers like to perform in. However I will not be taking into account, Stadtpark as you don’t need a license to play within the park and is further out from the commercial areas, which therefore does not need resistance. Therefore the proposed route can be seen along the dotted line. This route is along the most commercial area in Vienna and needs a license to play along. 73
Urban Intervention Perspective The above sectional perspective shows how the musicians will be able to play beneath, Karntner Strasse (indicated by dotted line on previous page). As the pedestrians move through the space they will be able to move the panels along the route, which will create a subtle interaction between the above and below ground areas. 74
A
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Urban Intervention First Floor
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Urban Intervention Ground Floor
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Urban Intervention Model
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Urban Intervention Section A
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Panels Diagram The above diagram shows how the panels will be able to move. It also shows how the underground and above ground elements relate in the context of the street. 80
Diagrammatic Long Section
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Critical Conclusion On reflection I feel the strongest aspects of my project are how it engaged with the issue of the buskers lack of control over their performance spaces within the city and the restrictions of the license in place. What ended up becoming a literal ‘underground movement’ of music for buskers to play negates the importance and possible oppression from the government’s imposed license. The pavilions also ended up becoming points, which can be used as wayfinding elements for people coming out of the U-Bahn, as well as pedestrians, which will help them prientate themselves within the city.
From the way I have laid out portfolio I would say that it is wasy to read and I have tried to separate my work into none chronological sections to ensure it is understood how each element from my manifesto (beacons, underground elements and Michel de Certeau) relates to each area of development within the work. However I do feel my portfolio is lacking in the technical aspects of the design, therefore this is an area that I will make sure to focus on when looking forwards to the next project
I feel the area that can be improved is the projects relation to the Mozart musician walk that I followed while walking aroun Vienna. Linking this to the buskers, Shostacovich’s music and Michel de Certeau would have completely tied everything together, however this was something I was unable to rationalise, therefore it was something I did not mention as it was no longer directly important to the final project or thesis.
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RIBA/ ARB Document To the best of my ability I have attempted to map my work to the ARB criteria. GC1
Pages 79, 80, 81, 82
GC2
Pages 15, 16, 50
GC3
Pages 19, 20, 51
GC4
Pages 30, 73, 75, 76, 79, 80
GC5
Pages 27, 28, 29, 45, 46, 47, 48, 58, 59, 60, 61, 67, 68, 69, 70
GC6
Pages 15, 16, 73
GC7
Pages 15, 16
GA2
Pages 15, 16
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