Indeterminacy to Architecture (Film)

{ Patrick Hwang }

Indeterminacy to Architecture Film, Wan Chai, In-Between to Proposition

The Chinese University of Hong Kong Arch 5110 . Fall 2010

MAGNITUDE OF DEVIATION

PROGRAM VESSEL

DESIGN SPECIFICITY

CHANGE OF USE THRU TIME

The aim of this studio is to explore the subject of Indeterminacy by asking the questions of, and seeking the answers to, what happens to Architecture when the ephemeral program changes through time, leaving the building behind? The approach for interrogation is to oscillate between theoretical and practical exercises devised to test the theorem against the proposed construct. The constraint involves three loosely framed criteria, the film (Hollywood Hong Kong, 1999), the site (Wan Chai) and the strategy (In-Between). Within these three criteria, students construct their argument on what Indeterminacy means to them, and develop their architectural propositions to respond to the framed arguments. Three principle questions serve as the basis for their project inquiry. What is the architectural proposal you are making? Why are you proposing it? and How do you intend to achieve the set goal(s) of your proposal?

Top: } Horst Rittel’s diagram comparing the pedagogical difference between “Linear Sequence” versus “Testing or Scanning” which encourages and produces architectural propositions that are more pliant to anticipate future changes in use.

Right (from top down): } Diagram of Vessel to Program relationship } Graphic depiction of R. Stern’s comment with respect to the design of architecture, whereby gloves are too tightly shaped to the fingers of a single hand, mittens gives the wiggle room for future. } Urban spectacle and Rainbow public estate

PROGRAM VESSEL

REDUCE MAGNITUDE OF DEVIATION

Framework

INCREASE ADAPTABILITY TO PERMIT ELONGATED SPECIFICITY

Film In Fruit Chan’s 2001 film “Hollywood Hong Kong”, interpretive analysis were made on its plot and characters to loosely hypothesize a series of narrative programs within and beyond the time sequence of the film. Working with this established hypothesis, comparisons were also made between the spatial qualities as portrayed in the film versus actual spatial configuration typically found in Hong Kong.

Right (from top down): } Main characters from Hollywood Hong Kong } Screen captures of the physical juxtapositions between rhizomatic growth of shanty town and the formula driven developer residential complex

Site The site is located in Wan Chai (ç Łäť”) in the island of Hong Kong. It is situated within the urban fabric of an array of scales and textures. The site measures about 1500 sq. meters at (14 x 110) sandwiched between two mid-rise commercial buildings . Collectively the studio visited the site multiple times to get a range of its characteristics.

Prior to defining a specific site, students worked in teams on different topics to obtain a comprehensive body of knowledge on Wan Chai, with particular focus to its history, planning, topography, typology, circulation networks and census analysis. The goal is for the studio to collaborate on a database of drawings and information for use to generate their design. Symbiosis of information and resources are strongly encouraged.

Right (from top down): } Built environment and building typology of Wan Chai District } Tramway mapping of the walking distance between stops } Composite mapping of the transportation network serving the Wan Chai district, including MTR, bus, tramway, ferry, roadway and foot bridge

Right (from top down): } Part of the site research involves uncovering the history of Wan Chai in relation to geo-political and economic-social context of time. Time line mapping out the development of Wan Chai from 1840 to its current condition.

In Between A two day research and documentation of an “In-Between” phenomenon from the everyday life in three categories: Space (environment + container), Object (function + thing) and Identity (state of becoming + displacement). In Between as concept and observation to pluralistic interpretation.

Right (from top down): } Duster originally conceived as a cleaning tool, becoming a punishment object, becoming a “symbol” for parental authority } Feather which facilitates the act of flying becoming the content of support for pillow } The daily boundary shift between “market stall” and “street” occurring in the street markets of Mongkok

Project 1 Ruth Poon

The Urban Archive in Wan Chai

Project 2 Anna Kulin

Sustainable Community Center

Project 3 Clancy Cheng Living Museum

Project 4 Jefferey Hon An Urban Compus

Process >

in-between infancy of an idea to fruition of a construct

Acknowledgement The process implemented for this studio has been greatly influenced by the ideas of William Lim (Spaces of Indeterminacy), Elizabeth Grosz (Architecture from the Outside), Bernard Tschumi (Spaces and Events), Jesse Reiser (Atlas of Novel Tectonics), Gilles Delueze (The Smooth and the Striated), Alex Wall (Programming the Urban Surface) and Georg Simmel (The Metropolis and the Mental Life).

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2010 Matrix Studio Hong Kong, SAR