“lmao and his salary is 700k a year, stay mad hippies”
Editors Note Kia ora koutou and welcome to the fourth edition of the SANNZ Journal! The SANNZ journal has been in hibernation for 2 years with the last edition appearing in 2015. In Auckland we have had our specialist Architecture library, along with the music and Elam libraries, threatened with closure. We have seen protests, streets closed off, sit ins organised, police called, our friends on the news and occasionally free lunch. So we thought this was a good time to bring back our journal and help document some of this strange Trumpian era. With contributions from around the country SANNZ has collaborated submissions into this journal to reflect past, present and potential library typologies that students concerned with spatial creation are attracted to. Will they be used in greater numbers than currently, or will they have to radically change form and function to foster engagement with the world of knowledge and understanding contained within their walls (or no walls).
SANNZ UoA
I was thinking in the case of our libraries being demolished (I know I don't like to think that, but bear with me). We should collectively as an entire year group steal 3-6 books each and build our own shelves and put them all in the Student services. Cons to this idea is: - We will all collectively (students + teachers) be in debt - Wont be allowed to graduate. - and some others I cant quite think of
BUTTTTTT... We will aggressively demonstrate how we are united front, because some lines should not be crossed.
“Man, after those protestors blocked the road and I was late for work, I really am considering supporting their cause�
“The branch supports the retention of the librory in the University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning in its current relotionship within the School.� moved: Gordon Moller seconded: Pip Cheshire Annual General Meeting of the NZIA Auckland Branch held on 10 April 2018.
“What good is awareness when everyone hates you and your cause now so won’t help in any way”
The library as metropolis Architectural theorists, including the University of Auckland’s own Dr Marian Macken, have recognised the architecture-ness of the book - for “its inherent possibilities for containing unfolding volumes and spatialities”.1 Accordingly, if we accept the book as a valid form of architectural representation, then we must also understand that a library is like a city. An urban analogy feels entirely appropriate for the University of Auckland’s Architecture and Planning Library although as the largest library of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, perhaps it is best recognised as a metropolis. For years, I worked as a shelving assistant in the metropolis. Equipped with my understanding of its district plan, the Universal Decimal Classification system, I became so familiar with how to best navigate the metropolis’ main arterials, its high-density neighbourhoods of shelves, and zones of ‘Large Books’, ‘New Zealand section’ and the most prime of real estate, the ‘Office collection’. The metropolis abounds with visual amenity and interest from the ground up. Bays of shelves are crowned with a range of student-made architectural models, in dialogue with one another across a shared plane they are their own zone within the metropolis - a utopia of familiar architectural landmarks. Meanwhile, even higher above the shelves, at the periphery of the metropolis another settlement is found, a city within a city. John Drawbridge’s site specific artwork, City, 1983 is the concentration of hundreds of white-painted oblongs, of varying heights and with different colours revealed on angled surfaces. I’ve long obsessed over this work, under which the shelving table previously resided. I once spoke to the artist’s sons about the artwork, they were young children at the time of its creation. They recall their father carefully arranging the component pieces in his Wellington home studio, only to later rearrange the pieces themselves without the artist’s permission. After all, cities are for everyone. I’m not sure if the any of the younger Drawbridges’ master-planning interventions made it into the final composition of City, but I think fondly of this story for its eloquent illustration of the multitude of perspectives that different generations have of the city, and the inevitability of change that this means for our urban spaces. All of these ideas absorbed in one beautiful, dynamic artwork that watches over the metropolis. In 2018, the term metropolis is most commonly associated with an impressive city of great size. The Architecture and Planning Library’s immense holdings, with their unlimited potential for education and inspiration, qualify its metropolitan interpretation. But there is more ancient meaning of metropolis, as a mother-city, where cultural traditions and values originate, ones that endure and spread beyond the metropolis. This definition provides powerful agent for appreciating the influence of our library. It makes me think of the generations of students, staff and researchers who have interacted with the library in ways that have informed their ideas. Many of their ideas return to the library, as drawings, theses, articles, monographs, or as items within the Auckland Architecture Archive. There is a reflexive relationship in the library that positions it as a deeply meaningful place for its community. This is a living community, that like the library’s collection, has developed over time - and continues to develop today. The Architecture and Planning Library is a metropolis in every sense of the word. It also faces an uncertain future. Its neighbourhoods of books and journals are proposed to be relocated to an even greater urban setting. One with a fundamentally different culture of usage. There is much at risk in this proposal but I especially fear for the unthinking loss of community. If change is inevitable, let this be change that recognises there is a nationwide community that cares about what happens to the Architecture and Planning Library. Long live our library. Long live our metropolis. Sebastian Clarke 1 Macken, “The Space of the Book,” 76. Macken, Marian. “The Space of the Book.” In PERCEPTION in Architecture : HERE and NOW, edited by Claudia Perren and Miriam Mlecek, 70-77. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
“I don’t get it, why don’t they just use pdf’s of their books instead of going to the library”
This project represents a brave move by the institute of technology to support the development of a community hub and library. Polished and assured, the building is an excellent conversion of what was once a windswept courtyard into an embracing gathering space. Delivery of a comfortable environment for occupants has been a motivating factor for the architects. The clearly defined roof structure caps an ethereal, light-filled and naturally ventilated space.
“It’s like the university is congratulating us on our centenary by removing the very foundations of how we got to said centenary.”
I saw on instagram you guys were looking for submissions relating to libraries - i go to ilam UC and not the other places but recently I scribbled this really fun and cool image of puaka-james hight in all its brutalist glory and wanted to share. its based off this podcast: https://youtu.be/NWMHtCWwWqQ (around 33:10 if you care) about making libraries extreme learning zones. Its all very lib-soc which may be exciting or very off-putting haha. but anyway I am a big fan of libraries and want more of them and want more spaces like them in the community.
Bahrain's analysis of Modernism in the Arabic nations is arguably contrary to the theme of 'Absorbing Modernity'.
YOU CAN’T PHOTOGRAPH
PEOPLE IN THE LIBRARY WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION
“What the fuck is going on, I didn’t realise UoA was so infested with dirty commies”
“They had vegan lunch though”
Isaacc Sweetapple Icao Tiseli Sebastian Clarke Issy Van Der Leden Fritha Powell Saera Chun Anita Vukovic Patrick Walmsley Ivana Middeldorp Jonah Tan Susie Howlett Cameron Spicer Seth Schanzer Barnaby Bennett
Thank you to the NZIA, SANNZ UoA, SANNZ VIC and SANNZ Unitec
SANNZ 2018 Edited by Seth Schanzer & Cameron Spicer
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SANNZ Journal #4 23 July 2018
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