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2019-2020
PLAY HOUSE
Nicole Marte + Adriana Hinojosa
Playhouse Degree Project Fall 2019 Adriana Hinojosa Nicole Marte Abigail Coover Hume Ashley Simone Mike Szivos
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PLAYHOUSE 07_Concept Statement
09_Project Description
ACT l
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Concepts/Topics 15 _Leisure
23_Performance 31_Immersive Theater 41_Times Square 53_Heterotopia
ACT ll
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Method 67 _Anamorphic
Projections 119_Dissonance 144_Previous Work
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References 154_Glossary 156_Annotated
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Bibliography 158_Works Cited
CONTENTS
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“An architecture that is compelled to
distort, and that highlights and questions norms, requires the invention of surrogate problems� (Preston Scott Cohen)
Identifying the increasingly prevalent phenomenon
of leisure being commodified in work environments, with recreational activities being transformed into office amenities, this project accepts and departs from the conflation of work and leisure. Architecture can react
PLAYHOUSE
to this conflation by exacerbating the condition such that work and leisure programs are further merged and distorted. Spatial distortions provide for different interpretations of the existing relationship between the two programs. We propose the use of anamorphic projections as a design criteria to create spatial distortions. By investigating anamorphic projections, we are able to interpret and transpose their volumetric and visual outcomes so as to generate a condition of spatial dissonance, which we define as the sense of disorientation that merges from the manipulation of spaces that produces misalignments. Through spatial dissonance, Playhouse will merge and distort work and leisure activities in the workspace in order to take the condition to the extreme as a form of critique.
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Leisure is defined as the time spent on activities of
How can architecture merge these boundaries to actively
individual interest that are carried on outside of work. With the
participate in the commodification of leisure? We propose the use
addition of recreational activities into offices, we identify an
of anamorphic projections to create spatial distortions. A projective
increasing phenomenon of leisure being commodified in work
system is the mechanism that “flattens objects by transferring
environments. Leisure, typically meant to be a break to improve the
three-dimensional properties onto a two dimensional plane; the
well being of employees, is now used by corporations as a way to
drawing surface”2. Anamorphic projections reinterpret the drawing
extend the hours spent at work. Office spaces now provide a variety
surface to distort its volumetric outcome. The results provide a
of settings such as sleeping pods, coffee bars, living rooms and
spectrum of viewpoints that range from ideal to distorted. Spatial
libraries, all of which further blend leisure into the workplace.
dissonance, the sense of disorientation caused by misalignments, is introduced as a result from that spectrum. Playhouse, located in
By taking the commodification of leisure to extremes
One Times Square, will be an office space that implements spatial
as a form of critique, new relationships are developed between
dissonance to further augment the merger of work and leisure.
the two programs. To exaggerate these relationships inside a
PLAYHOUSE/HINOJOSA-MARTE/DEGREEPROJECT
workplace, we are applying a dramaturgical analysis, defined as the conception that everyday actions resemble performances on a theater stage. A performance is defined as the act of staging as a form of entertainment. Sociologist Erving Goffman compared social interactions to performances that had the ability to control the impression we give to others1. Spectators are defined as those who watch an event taking place without any active engagement. In Goffman’s terms, spectators observe performances without the pressures of controlling their impression. By establishing an analogy that work equals to a performance and leisure to spectating, we compare the workplace to a stage, where performers and spectators are in constant interaction. The stronger the interaction, the more blurred the boundaries between work and leisure are.
1. We could use as an example Black Mirror’s Nosedive, where Lacie, the main character, is driven to insanity by the pressures of performing to keep her socio-economic status.
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2. Preston Scott Cohen, Contested Symmetries and Other Predicaments in Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press, 2001), 15
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THE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE, GUY DEBORD
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LEISURE 15
HETEROTOPIA 53
TIMES SQUARE
IMMERSIVE THEATER 31
PERFORMANCE
ACT l
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41
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LEISURE
How can architecture become an active participant in the commodification of leisure?
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ERUSIEL
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Out of Office, Studio KNOL
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LEISURE
LEISURE
TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITIES OF INDIVIDUAL INTEREST THAT ARE CARRIED OUTSIDE OF WORK. LEISURE, TYPICALLY MEANT TO BE A BREAK FROM WORK TO IMPROVE THE WELL BEING OF EMPLOYEES, IS NOW BEING COMMODIFIED BY CORPORATIONS, EXTENDING THE TIME SPENT AT THE OFFICE.
TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITIES OF INDIVIDUAL INTEREST THAT ARE CARRIED OUTSIDE OF WORK. LEISURE, TYPICALLY MEANT TO BE A BREAK FROM WORK TO IMPROVE THE WELL BEING OF EMPLOYEES, IS NOW BEING COMMODIFIED BY CORPORATIONS, EXTENDING THE TIME SPENT AT THE OFFICE.
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into office amenities. The boundaries between work and leisure are merging to the point where we are always working.
“Out of Office” by Studio KNOL was an experimental office
setting that carried all the essentials of a modern flexible work space. After its opening, it quickly became a popular work spot in the city of Eindhoven. The office provided a variety of work settings such as an interior garden, a work-bed, a coffee bar, a living room and a library. Office Space, 1999
1 Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class (New York: Penguin books, 1994), 55
OUT OF OFFICE
Within a few weeks, the experiment transformed into
just “Office”, a more rationalized and strict work environment with a typical cubicle layout. The project provided the two extremes of work
Leisure is defined as the time spent outside of work, or any
other necessary occupation. It is the “non-productive consumption of time” . For many decades, this has been its generic conception. 1
But recently, we observe a change in the use of leisure time that has
LEISURE/HINOJOSA-MARTE/DEGREEPROJECT
Activities designed to be a break from work are now transforming
environments. “Out of Office” had many positive reactions from the workers. The transition to “Office”, on the other hand, was not well received. However, workers reported that they felt an increase in their productivity.
materialized in offices. Contemporary trends of living and working have resulted in the design of ‘fun’ workspaces.
Studio KNOL sets an example of how to explore the
blurring of work and leisure in a critical context. It was an experiment Historically, the use of cubicles has divided the boundaries
between work and leisure. Office spaces were rationally designed to increase productivity and decrease social interactions. In recent times, corporations have understood this design strategy to be problematic, but instead on improving work conditions for their employees, they have focused on ways to capitalize on the desire to
that served the two ends of the spectrum; the complete merging and the strict separation. The goal was to investigate the impacts that architecture and design can have in the way we work. With the increasing conflation of work and leisure in office settings, architects need to actively participate in the design of spaces that merge the two.
have more fun at the office. We identify an increasing phenomenon of leisure being commodified in work environments with recreational 20
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PERFORMANCE
Can work be considered a performance?
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ECNAMROFREP
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Nosedive, Black Mirror, 2016
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PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
THE ACT OF STAGING AS A FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT. SOCIAL INTERACTIONS CAN BE CONSIDERED PERFORMANCES THAT CONTROL THE IMPRESSION WE GIVE TO OTHERS. SPECTATORS OBSERVE PERFORMANCES WITHOUT ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT; WITHOUT THE PRESSURES OF CONTROLLING THEIR IMPRESSION.
THE ACT OF STAGING AS A FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT. SOCIAL INTERACTIONS CAN BE CONSIDERED PERFORMANCES THAT CONTROL THE IMPRESSION WE GIVE TO OTHERS. SPECTATORS OBSERVE PERFORMANCES WITHOUT ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT; WITHOUT THE PRESSURES OF CONTROLLING THEIR IMPRESSION.
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1 Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Overlook Press, 1973), 13
Sociologist Erving Goffman compared all social
interactions to performances. In his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life he provides a dramaturgical analysis of society; the conception that everyday actions resemble performances on a theater stage. “A ‘performance’ may be defined as all the activity of a given participant on a given occasion which serves to influence the other participants”1. Performances are carried with the intention of managing the impression we give to others. Spectators are defined as those who watch an event taking place without participation. In Goffman’s terms, spectators observe performances, free from the pressures of controlling their image. By comparing work to a
Nosedive, Black Mirror, 2016
PERFORMANCE/HINOJOSA-MARTE/DEGREEPROJECT
WORK AS PERFORMANCE
performance, new understandings of how to merge work and leisure are developed.
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Black Mirror’s “Nosedive” exemplifies how everyday
performances can be considered work. This episode displays a world where social ratings dictate socioeconomic status. Every interaction is ranked with a five star rating system. Your score determines the ability to get a job, a house and your social circle. Having a high score can provide major improvements to your life. Lacie, the main character, becomes overly obsessed with boosting her ratings to purchase her dream house. This obsession leads to the rapid decrease of her score, ultimately becoming a social outcast. Black Mirror characterizes in creating satirical stories that hyperbolize social conditions to make a critique. In this case, it illustrates the pressures of maintaining a 28
performance that drive Lacie to insanity.
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IMMERSIVE THEATER
Can the workplace function like an immersive theater?
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EVISREMMI RETAEHT
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The Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord
Mile Long Opera, Diller Scofidio + Renfro and David Lang 2018
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IMMERSIVE THEATER
IMMERSIVE THEATER
PERFORMANCE THAT DISTINGUISHES FROM TRADITIONAL THEATER BY BREAKING “THE FOURTH WALL”, THE IMATERIAL DIVISION BETWEEN PERFORMERS AND SPECTATORS, INVITING THE AUDIENCE TO DIRECTLY ENGAGE WITH THE ACTORS.
PERFORMANCE THAT DISTINGUISHES FROM TRADITIONAL THEATER BY BREAKING “THE FOURTH WALL”, THE IMATERIAL DIVISION BETWEEN PERFORMERS AND SPECTATORS, INVITING THE AUDIENCE TO DIRECTLY ENGAGE WITH THE ACTORS.
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1 An interactive film-noir Macbeth experience by a UK production company in a 5-story 1930s hotel.
In a traditional theater setting, performances don’t require
active participation from its spectators. The audience is separated from the actors. However, contemporary trends seek to disrupt these relationships. Immersive theaters break the fourth wall, the immaterial division between the performers and the spectators. In these productions, the audience is invited to play a role in the performance. Theatrical productions such as Sleep No More1 remove the fixed position of a single stage, placing multiple settings across different rooms. Upon entry, each audience member is given a mask and the freedom to wander amongst a variety of scenarios. As scenes happen simultaneously, the spectator is welcomed to join
Sleep No More, Punchdrunk 2011
the performer in certain moments of the play at their own pace and
IMMERSIVE THEATER/HINOJOSA-MARTE/DEGREEPROJECT
THE FOURTH WALL
judgement.
By changing the dynamics of the theater, the performer-
spectator relationship ceases to be static, and new ways of interaction are developed.
Immersive theater blends the boundaries between
performer and spectator in a way that should be carried to work and leisure. By establishing an analogy that work equals to a performance and leisure to spectating, we compare the workplace to a stage, where performers and spectators are in constant interaction. The stronger the interaction, the more blurred the boundaries between work and leisure are. Playhouse will be an office that augments the merging of work and leisure by distorting the two programs. 36
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FLEXIBILITY
FIXITY
PROSCENIUM
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THEATER TYPOLOGY
THRUST
TRAVERSE
BLACK BOX
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TIMES SQUARE
How can Playhouse deceive spectators to engage in work while conceiving it as leisure?
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ERAUQS SEMIT
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One Times Square Building
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TIMES SQUARE
TIMES SQUARE
COMMERCIAL AND TOURIST DESTINATION LOCATED IN MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, ONE OF NEW YORK’S MAJOR ATTRACTIONS AND THE WORLD'S CENTER OF THE ENTERTAINMENT AND ADVERTISEMENT INDUSTRY.
COMMERCIAL AND TOURIST DESTINATION LOCATED IN MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, ONE OF NEW YORK’S MAJOR ATTRACTIONS AND THE WORLD'S CENTER OF THE ENTERTAINMENT AND ADVERTISEMENT INDUSTRY.
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Broadway, known as the center of the theater industry,
is a street that crosses the entirety of Manhattan, diagonally disrupting the orthogonal grid in Midtown. Times Square starts at the intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street. With approximately 50 million visitors annually, it is one of the most transited tourist destinations in the world. Its recent renovation allows for even more mobility, as it transformed Broadway into a pedestrian street. One Times Square is the first building that emerges from the intersection between Broadway and 42nd street. The 25-story tower was originally constructed to house the New York Times headquarters. Since its inauguration in 1904, it has hosted multiple New Year's
TIMES SQUARE/HINOJOSA-MARTE/DEGREEPROJECT
ONE TIMES SQUARE
celebrations, and to this day it serves as the location of the iconic ball Times Square before and after renovation by Snohetta
drop.
After the owners filed for bankruptcy, the building
was purchased by the Lehnam Brothers in 1995. Knowing that remodeling the building to be occupiable would not be cost effective, they repurposed the facade to serve for billboard advertisements, capitalizing from its prime location. Today, although it remains vacant, it is one of the most valuable signage spots in New York. We selected One Times Square as the site for Playhouse for the following reasons: First, its location is a constantly transited area that provides opportunities to lure spectators to engage in work. Second, the building’s empty interior and simple facade allows us to further manipulate the interior space and use the advertisements to our advantage. And third, it’s location on Broadway represents the intersection of the theater district with office towers, two themes the 46
project explores.
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DWAY BROA
7TH AVE
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42ND ST
43ND ST
44ND ST
45ND ST
46ND ST
SITE PLAN
47ND ST
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FRONT VIEW
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HETEROTOPIA
How can two realities, work and leisure, simultaneously coexist?
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AIPOTORETEH
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Dome of Jesuit Church, Andrea Pozzo
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HETEROTOPIA
HETEROTOPIA
PLACES THAT BREAK “THE APPARENT CONTINUITY AND NORMALITY OF ORDINARY EVERYDAY SPACE”. THEY ARE APORETIC SPACES “CAPABLE OF JUXTAPOSING IN A SINGLE REAL PLACE SEVERAL SPACES, SEVERAL SITES THAT ARE IN THEMSELVES INCOMPATIBLE.”
PLACES THAT BREAK “THE APPARENT CONTINUITY AND NORMALITY OF ORDINARY EVERYDAY SPACE”. THEY ARE APORETIC SPACES “CAPABLE OF JUXTAPOSING IN A SINGLE REAL PLACE SEVERAL SPACES, SEVERAL SITES THAT ARE IN THEMSELVES INCOMPATIBLE.”
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Heterotopias are created through dissonance. Defined as
the lack of musical harmony, dissonance is the moment when a note goes from sound to noise, from being pleasant to creating discomfort. Although it is generally an undesired effect, heterotopias seek for this kind of disharmony; a discrepancy between what’s experienced and what’s expected. Andrea Pozzo's Dome Construction Drawing
1 Lieven De Cauter and Michiel Dehaene, Heterotopia and the City (New York: Routledge, 2008), 4
Where have they been intentionally created? Foucalt describes them
DISSONANCE
as mere accidents, created from unplanned juxtapositions. But architecture has tried to untap simultaneity of realities long before Foucalt conceived the idea of heterotopias.
Michel Foucault identifies our time as “the epoch of space”.
In his essay Of Other Spaces, he argues that even though we have exhausted ways to appropriate space, we have yet to learn how societies occupy it. He then describes a type of space that, although seems unrealistic, exists as a reflection of society. He defines them as heterotopias. The term is etymologically defined as “different space”1. Whereas utopia is an unreal ideal place and dystopia is an unreal disturbing place mirroring society, the heterotopia is an “enacted utopia” with a real location that reveals characteristics of society that emerge from its unresolved contradictions.
Heterotopias are subversive places meant to break “the
apparent continuity and normality of ordinary everyday space”. To create this disruption, they need irregular spatial conditions. 58
When have heterotopias existed in architecture before?
During the Renaissance, artists and architects
HETEROTOPIA/HINOJOSA-MARTE/DEGREEPROJECT
accomplished to overlap multiple realities at once. However, dissonance was their opposite goal. An interest in perspectival views guided the development of techniques that would master the illusion of depth. Trompe l’oeil and forced perspective, the first through imagery, the second through distorted volumes, perfected methods of deception that fooled the spectators to believe the illusions were real. They provided ideal viewpoints that would hide all the distortions occurring. Constructions like Andrea Pozzo’s dome, Borromini’s Palazzo Spada and Andrea Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico, all presented this viewpoint, concealing the complexity of the techniques. Although it could be argued that they have heterotopic characteristics, as multiple realities are coexisting in one place, the intention was not to show these distortions. These works were not designed to engage with its spectators. 59
ESFERA THEOSPACIO, JESUS RAFAEL SOTO
In the mid-20th century, South American artists developed
an interest in perceptual experience. Unlike the Renaissance, their artwork invited the spectators to break from their normative position, allowing for mobility. This change stemmed from the need to further understand the distortions shown, as they are a crucial part of the experience.
Jesus Rafel Soto’s Esfera Theospacio appears to be a
hanging sphere. However, it becomes clear upon further examination that the sphere is not solid. The form is dematerialized into thin colored aluminum pieces that create the illusion that it’s floating. The artwork is no longer a representation of reality but acknowledged as a physical object meant to interact with the spectator. In this case, dissonance is designed to create engagement.
Taking the previous artworks as references, we have
defined spatial dissonance to be the sense of disorientation that emerges from the manipulation of spaces that produce misalignments. Playhouse investigates the creation of spatial dissonance in the merging of two realities, work and leisure.
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ONE TIMES SQUARE BUILDING
REFERENCES
PREVIOUS WORK 144
DISSONANCE
ANAMORPHIC PROJECTIONS 67
ACT l l
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ANAMORPHIC PROJECTIONS
How can anamorphic projections create spatial dissonance?
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CIHPROMANA SNOITCEJORP
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Over View, FreelandBuck
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ANAMORPHIC PROJECTIONS
ANAMORPHIC PROJECTIONS
SYSTEM THAT “PRODUCES DISTORTED IMAGES THAT CAN ONLY BE SEEN UNDISTORTED FROM A PECULIAR POSITION OR BY USING A SPECIAL INSTRUMENT”.
SYSTEM THAT “PRODUCES DISTORTED IMAGES THAT CAN ONLY BE SEEN UNDISTORTED FROM A PECULIAR POSITION OR BY USING A SPECIAL INSTRUMENT”.
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ANAMORPHIC PROJECTIONS/HINOJOSA-MARTE/DEGREEPROJECT
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PP
y Alberti's Visual Pyramid
A projective system is the process from which a three
dimensional object gets transposed onto a two dimensional surface. Architects use these systems to construct. Projections use three elements: the viewpoint, the picture plane and the three dimensional object being projected. These components are illustrated in Alberti’s visual pyramid. 72
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WU HOUSE, PRESTON SCOTT COHEN + CAMERON WU
Anamorphic projections explore the use
of the picture plane to reinterpret its volumetric outcome. The distortions provide a spectrum of viewpoints that range from ideal to distorted. That spectrum generates spatial dissonance, the sense of disorientation caused by spatial and visual misalignments. Through anamorphic experiments, we explore the effects spatial dissonance create.
The following experiments explore how
multiple realities coexist in a single object with the use of anamorphic projections. We explored different artist's work as references to guide the effects we wanted to achieve. Each experiment is developed with a cube as a constant variable to compare and contrast each affect.
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“Colorhythms, a group of works by Venezuelan artist Alejandro Otero made in the 1940s and 1950s, are vertical or horizontal rectangular paintings that unfold in countless serial compositional variations. Otero strove for rhythmic-chromatic resonances in these radical works. Colorhythms represent the very first repetitive, serial typology within geometric abstract art in Latin America.”1
1 Luis Pérez-Oramas, Alejandro Otero’s Colorhythms. Accessed December 9, 2019. https://post.at.moma. org/content_items/969alejandro-otero-scolorhythms.
CUBE SLICE
ALEJANDRO OTERO
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“American artist Sol LeWitt created a seminal piece on the themes of seriality and variation entitled “Variations of Incomplete Open Cubes”. The work is a collection of 122 frame structures presented together with the corresponding diagrams arranged on a matrix. Each sculpture is the projection of a three-dimensional cube with some of the edges removed in a way that the structure stays three-dimensional and the edges stay all connected. The viewer is able to mentally reconstruct the complete form of the cube from the remaining parts.”1
1 Mariabruna Fabrizi, “Irrational Thoughts Should be Followed Absolutely and Logically”: Sol LeWitt’s “Variations of Incomplete Open Cubes” December 2, 2018. http:// socks-studio. com/2016/06/15/ irrational-thoughtsshould-be-followedabsolutely-andlogically-sol-lewittsvariations-ofincomplete-opencubes-1974/.
LINE DISPLACEMENT
SOL LEWITT
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“Jesús Rafael Soto was a Venezuelan artist known for his kinetic sculptures and largescale installations. Soto’s delicate and responsive constructions react to external stimuli and changes in the atmosphere. In his work Nylon Cube, color and form are being dissolved into space giving the illusion of a dematerialized volume. He was interested in how taking a simple geometric form and repeating it several times led to a point where the grids overlap and the form starts to dissolve. His work involves physical movement and the displacement of the spectator to understand how these forms interact.”1
1“Radical Geometry: Exhibition: Royal Academy of Arts.” Exhibition | Royal Academy of Arts. Accessed December 9, 2019. https://www. royalacademy.org. uk/exhibition/radicalgeometry
VOID DISTORTION
JESÚS RAFAEL SOTO
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“Carlos Cruz-Diez was a Venezuelan artist whose work focuses on the kinetic energy of color. Diez's work is based on the moiré effect, in which lines of contrasting color gives the impression of movements. He pursued his explorations of color and light with his works Physichromie, Chromosaturations, Chromo-interference Environments, and large-scale public projects, all of which were developed as investigations of the physical effects of color.” The artist describes his Chromosaturation series as the exploration of an often-unnoticed reality: “That reality (which I consider visible) leads us along other paths, both perceptual and sensory, to 108 parallel ideas of beauty and sublimation.”1
1“Carlos Cruz-Diez.” Sicardi Ayers Bacino. Accessed December 9, 2019. http://www. sicardi.com/artists/ carlos-cruz-diez.
COLOR MOVEMENT
CARLOS CRUZ DIEZ
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How can distortions blur the boundaries between work and leisure?
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Palazzo Spada, Francesco Borromini
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SPATIAL DISSONANCE
SPATIAL DISSONANCE
SENSE OF DISORIENTATION THAT EMERGES FROM THE MANIPULATION OF SPACES THAT PRODUCE MISALIGNMENTS.
SENSE OF DISORIENTATION THAT EMERGES FROM THE MANIPULATION OF SPACES THAT PRODUCE MISALIGNMENTS.
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Playhouse will be an office space that implements spatial dissonance to further augment the merger of work and leisure. In Playhouse, workers are performers, and external visitors are spectators. Through anamorphic distortions, we explore how can the workplace be distorted when placed in a theatrical setting. By setting the workplace on a stage, we compare the “fourth wall� to the separation of work and leisure. The following diagrams start to break this wall.
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In the following experiments, we applied our previous anamorphic studies to blur boundaries through distortion.
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BUFFALO BAYOU PARK CISTERN, CARLOS CRUZ DIEZ
GLOSSARY ALEJANDRO OTERO: Venezuelan artist that analyzes rhythm through geometrical abstractions in his series “Colorhythms”.
ANAMORPHOSIS: system that “produces distorted images that can only be seen undistorted from a peculiar position or by using a special instrument”.
BLACK MIRROR: television series that satirizes the dangers of the use of technology in modern society.
BROADWAY: treet that crosses the entirety of Manhattan, diagonally disrupting
the orthogonal grid in Midtown, known as the center of the theater industry. It represents the intersection of the theater district with office towers, two themes the project explores.
CARLOS CRUZ DIEZ: Venezuelan artist whose work focused on “exploring the physical effects of color.”
DISSONANCE: the combination of elements that create tension and discomfort. DISTORTION: the alteration or manipulation of an object to create a sense of disorientation or displacement.
PERFORMANCE: the act of staging as a form of entertainment. Social
interactions can be considered performances that control the impression we give to others. Spectators observe performances without active engagement; without the pressures of controlling their impression.
PROJECTION: system that “flattens objects by transferring three-dimensional properties onto a two dimensional plane; the drawing surface”.
SIMULTANEITY: the relationship between two or more elements that appear to be occurring at the same time.
SLEEP NO MORE: immersive performance based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth where audience members are free to interact with the performers.
SOL LEWITT: conceptual American artist who did a serial work called “Variations of Incomplete Open Cubes”
SPATIAL DISSONANCE: the sense of disorientation that emerges from the manipulation of spaces that produce misalignments.
SPECTATOR/PERFORMER: performers are those who stage for the
HETEROTOPIA: aporetic spaces “capable of juxtaposing in a single real place several spaces, several sites that are in themselves incompatible.”
entertainment of others. Spectators are defined as those who watch an event taking place without any active engagement. In Playhouse, workers are performers, and external visitors are spectators.
IMMERSIVE THEATER: performance that distinguishes from traditional
THEATER: place where a dramaturgical performance takes place.
theater by breaking “the fourth wall”, the imaterial division between performers and spectators, inviting the audience to directly engage with the actors.
JESUS RAFEL SOTO: Venezuelan artist known for his large scale kinetic
sculptures. His work is characterized by “the physical movement and the displacement of the spectator to be able to see to understand how different forms interact”.
TIMES SQUARE: commercial and tourist destination located in Midtown Manhattan, one of New York’s major attractions and the world's center of the entertainment and advertisement industry.
KINETIC: depending on motion for effects. LEISURE: time spent on activities of individual interest that are carried outside of work. Leisure, typically meant to be a break from work to improve the well being of employees, is now being commodified by corporations, extending the time spent at the office.
OPTICAL ILLUSIONS: systems of deception that trick the mind into seeing
something that doesn’t exist. Techniques like trompe l’oeil and forced perspective, where volumes appear to have characteristics they don’t possess, are examples of these systems that are designed to fake depth.
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOUCAULT, MICHEL, AND JAY MISKOWIEC. "OF OTHER SPACES." DIACRITICS 16 , NO. 1 (1986): 22-27.
DE CAUTER, LIEVEN, AND DEHAENE, MICHIEL. HETEROTOPIA AND THE CITY. NEW YORK: ROUTLEDGE, 2008
Michel Foucault identifies our time as “the epoch of space”. In this essay, he argues thateven though we have exhausted ways to appropriate space, we have yet to learn how societies actually occupy it. He then describes a type of space that, although seems unrealistic, exists as a reflection of society. These spaces are called heterotopias. “The heterotopia is capable of juxtaposing in a single real place several spaces, several sites that are in themselves incompatible.” Heterotopias allow for multiple realities to simultaneously coexist in one physical place. The term heterotopia is etymologically defined as a “different space”. Whereas utopia is an unreal ideal place and dystopia is an unreal disturbing place mirroring society, the heterotopia is an “enacted utopia” with a real location that reveals characteristics of its respective society. Our project seeks to create a heterotopia by distorting normative work conditions in the office, as a means of reflecting and critiquing current social structures.
This book compiles essays from multiple authors to provide an in depth exploration of the different interpretations of heterotopias, and how they exist in our contemporary world. In this text, theaters are described as heterotopias for their ability to juxtapose multiple realities, from different time frames, all in a single location. “As Foucault explains, the theatre consists of the combination of two different spaces: the real space of the audience and the virtual space of the scene. When the play begins, the virtual becomes real (and the real disappears); when the play is over, the reverse happens and we return to so-called reality”. Our project explores theaters as heterotopias that house simultaneous realities in the stage.
GOFFMAN, ERVING. THE PRESENTATION OF SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE. OVERLOOK PRESS, 1973. Goffman provides a dramaturgical analysis based on the premise that all social interactions are guided by the need to control the impression we create on others. He identifies all social interactions as performances. From this reference we are using the theatrical relationships created between performers and spectators and applying it to the workplace. 156
SUPERSTUDIO “TWELVE CAUTIONARY TALES FOR CHRISTMAS : PREMONITIONS OF THE MYSTICAL REBIRTH OF URBANISM.” ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN 42 (DECEMBER 1971) Supersutdio provides short stories describing ideal cities where all the problems of humanity have been solved. Upon further reading, it becomes clear that these are dystopian cities. They provide a critique of modernism and what occurs when utopian ideals are taken to extremes. These stories serves as a reference to understand how to provide a critique through means of exaggeration.
VEBLEN, THORSTEIN. THE THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS. WAIHEKE ISLAND: THE FLOATING PRESS, 2009 Throstein Veblen defined leisure as the “non-productive consumption of time”. Leisure in his context refers to any activity the upper class would indulge in that had no material or economic product. Although it is still commonly believed that leisure is not related to work, current economic structures demonstrate that leisure is profitable. Today, we see corporations inserting recreational activities in the workplace as a means to keep their employees to stay longer hours. Our project looks to provide a critique of this condition through means of distortion and exaggeration. 157
WORKS CITED Barret, Felix, and Doyle, Maxine. Sleep No More. Punchdrunk, 2011. Brooker, Charlie “Nosedive.” Black Mirror. Netflix, 2016. Cohen, Preston Scott. Contested Symmetries and Other Predicaments in Architecture. Princeton Architectural Press, 2001. Corner, James. “ The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique, and Invention,” in Mapping, ed. Denis Cosgrove. London: Reaktion Books, 1999. Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. New York: Zone Books, 1995. De Cauter, Lieven, and Dehaene, Michiel. Heterotopia and the City. New York: Routledge, 2008 Foucault, Michel, and Jay Miskowiec. "Of Other Spaces." Diacritics 16, no. 1 (1986): 22-27. Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Overlook Press, 1973. Haworth, John T., and A. J. Veal. “Work and Leisure” London: Routledge (2005) Koolhaas, Rem. Delirious New York. New York: The Monacelli Press, 1994. Mathews, Stanley. “The Fun Palace: Cedric Price’s Experiment in Architecture and Technology.” Technoetic Arts 3, no. 2 (2005): 73–92. Royal Academy of Arts “Radical geometries: Modern Art of South America from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection”. London, 2014 Superstudio “Twelve Cautionary Tales for Christmas : Premonitions of the Mystical Rebirth ofUrbanism.” Architectural Design 42 (December 1971) Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class. Waiheke Island: The Floating Press, 2009
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