Border conditions - Madrid 2012 by yaron Israel

2 LA CAÑADA REAL : COLLECTIVE GROUP WORK

MADRID, SPAIN LA CAÑADA REAL GALIANA TU DELFT BORDER CONDITIONS FALL 2011

PROFESSORS: HENRIETTE BIER OSCAR ROMMENS STUDENTS: ISABEL DRIESSEN: NETHERLANDS YARON ISRAEL: ISRAEL RUTGER KRAAL: NETHERLANDS CAN LIU: CHINA ROBBIE NEIJZEN: NETHERLANDS ERIK STANGE: UNITED STATES SABA ZAHEDI ASL: IRAN YILIN ZHOU: CHINA BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

TABLE OF CONTENTS: LA CAÑADA REAL GALIANA GROUP WORK: INTRODUCTION_8 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT_17 ACCESSIBILITY_29 SEQUENCE OF FRAGMENTS_41 FRAGMENT ONE_43 FRAGMENT SIX_65

STUDENT WORK: ISABEL DRIESSEN:_92 YARON ISRAEL:_112 CAN LIU:_130 ROBBIE NEIJZEN:_146 ERIK STANGE:_162 SABA ZAHEDI ASL:_180 YILIN ZHOU:_200

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INTRODUCTION: La Cañada Real Galiana In the history of Spain there has been a long tradition of wool trade. In the 16th century, the trade of wool was one of the most important elements in the Spanish economy next to the gold and silver they mined in South America. In order to support this, a large network of cattle trails was built. Known as cañadas, they connected the north of Spain with the south, allowing farmers to transport their herds to the respectively warmer region during the changing of seasons. Due to the importance of the wool trade, this extensive network that at one moment covered up to 2% of the Spanish land, was declared public domain by royal decree. This meant that no municipality or individual had the right to build on the 75m wide strip that defined these cañadas. As time progressed the trade in wool became less important and the cañadas as they were once built lost their greater impact. In present day, the cañadas are no longer used as cattle trails and lie in nature, untouched, used as hiking paths or for other outdoor recreational activities. Fifteen kilometers to the southeast of Madrid lays one cañada in particular that has developed differently. A sixteen kilometer strip called the Cañada Real Galiana. Beginning in the seventies, the strip began to be inhabited. with a continuously growing population it has become a unique phenomenon in Spain as it houses approximately 40.000 people, all of them living in illegality. Though the original function of the cañadas is obsolete, the law that was installed to protect its function is not. Still to this day no one is allowed to build on this land. What this means is that municipalities, when wanting to build crossing infrastructures, have to tunnel under or bridge over it. And in the case of individuals building a dwelling, they take the risk of having their homes destroyed; torn down by local governments. 8

Image Caption

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Ca単adas of Spain

INTR

Province of Madrid

Ca単adas of Spain Ca単adas of Spain BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

INTRODUCTION Cattel trail: Spain - Madrid - Ca単ada Real Galiana

Ca単adas of Madrid

RODUCTION Cattel trail: Spain - Madrid - Ca単ada Real Galiana

City of Madrid

Ca単ada Real Galiana

Ca単adas of Madrid BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

Video Experience BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT The following is an overview of the development of the Cañada Real Galiana. The maps present the route of the Cañada and its placement in the surroundings, in relation to their change through time. The red borders used in the maps shows the limits of the space the route relates to. The changes through time are at some places, and in different periods, quite drastic. In addition we can see that these changes are not linear as in demolition takes an important role in the southern parts of the Cañada in recent years. Certain areas which at some point in time are quite heavily built become, at a more recent time, more open to the landscape. As the Cañada’s population is made up of different social groups, starting from native Spanish and ranging through Romanian and Portuguese gypsies as well as immigrants from Morocco, specific historical facts are mentioned which may give some reasoning to the evolution of the Cañada.

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1956 Spain is under the dictatorship of the Franco regime Percentage of immigrants In relation to the overall population of Spain – 0.1% Status of the Cañada – Path in the open landscape. Accessible boundaries of the space relating to the Cañada are only defined by topography.

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1975 Spain is towards the end of the Franco regime Percentage of immigrants In relation to the overall population of Spain – 0.1% Status of the Cañada – Northern part starts populating. Accessible boundaries start narrowing down.

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1991 Spain is a young democracy. Percentage of immigrants In relation to the overall population of Spain – 0.9% Status of the Cañada – Becomes highly populated in most parts, new legal neighborhoods constructed nearby.

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1996 Spain is a democracy. Percentage of immigrants In relation to the overall population of Spain – 9.3% Status of the Cañada – Highly populated in most parts, southern parts densified. Accessible boundaries remain very narrow in the north as well as narrowing down in the south.

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2010 Spain is a democracy. Percentage of immigrants In relation to the overall population of Spain – 12.2% Status of the Cañada – Highly populated in most parts, southern parts densified. Accessible boundaries remain very narrow in the north, open landscape in the south.

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ACCESSIBILITY Theme of Research

While exploring the Ca単ada Real there was always an acute awareness of where we could and where we could not go. We were constantly trying to understand the social, physical, and visual boundaries around us to make sure we were not causing too much interference with our visit. People who spoke to us told us that their area was safe, but if we continued south, we would face confrontation. When we continued south, the story was repeated by those same residents we were previously warned against meeting. In some areas we were allowed to take pictures and people wanted to tell us their story, while in others the inhabitants were protecting their homes from being photographed and asked us to leave and look away. There were areas where the houses were hidden behind fences and walls and areas where the houses were exposed to the street to show off their wealth. This constant awareness of limitations led us to the theme of accessibility. In the following maps different aspects of the theme of accessibility are analyzed and graphically represented.

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Sol

M M

Madrid

Historical Center

M M

M B Legazpi B M Sol

M M

No. 312

No. 415

---- Line 3, 5 stops, 9 min

M M M

M M

M Legazpi

M M

M M M

Valdecarros M M Sol

---- Line 1, 18 stops, 35 min

M Valdecarros

Canada Real

B No. 415

M San Fernando

M M

M Sol

---- Line 2, 5 stops, 10 min ---- Line 9, 10 stops, 20 min

M San Fernando

The Canada Real is broken by the Madrid urban transportation systems into six sectors. Although it is 15 kilometers long, it is indeed a highly closed-off strip with only nine external access points. What is noteworthy is that the public transportation spots gather in the adjacent urbanized areas. For example, there are three metro stations in the nearby urbanized residential communities. Two bus stops are at the areas of intersection of the Canada Real and the Madrid highways. The rest of the access points are connected to the informal roads which are formed by local transporting activities.

Canada Real

M Rivas Urbanizaciones

No. 312

From the historical center of Madrid, we have experienced three ways to access the Canada Real: metro, bus, and car. Each of them gave us a different feeling of accessing the Canada Real. M Sol

---- Line 2, 9 stops, 17 min ---- Line 5, 3 stops, 6 min ---- Line 7, 9 stops, 18 min

M Ricas Urbanizaciones

Experience

1. Sector 1- Sector 5 Metro-Walking-Bus 2. Sector 6 Bus- Walking-Bus 3. Sector 1- Sector 6 Metro-Biking-Metro 4. Sector 4- Sector 6 Car

Metro Route Bike Route Car Route Bus Route Artificial Landscape Unbanized Area

Entrance Point

Metro Station

Bus Stop

External Acess Map

External Access Points BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

External Accessibility

At the stage of pre-excursion we examined through Canada Real through media. Looking into various media resources such as TV program, Google Earth, Youtube video we discovered that the material found only focused on the problematic areas or the areas where crimes have happened, such as robbery. So, the strip becomes really fragmented and we are not able to have a general overview of it. It also gives us a bad impression of Canada Real, a place full of trash, ruins, drug-dealing, and problematic people.

Visual accessibility Highway with view on ca単ada Accessibility from media Hills blocking the view

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External Accessibility

During the excursion, we found out that the Canada Real is a visually closed-off strip as well. It is surrounded by wide grassland and blocked by landfilled mountains. While on public transportation, we can rarely see the Canada Real even though we know we are just next to it. However, at several specific points, the area becomes visible; at several spots of the highway which runs parallel to the strip for example. This was possible because we were standing at a higher place and the in-between grassland becomes widely opened. At these points the drug-dealing area and houses can be seen.

Visual accessibility Highway with view on ca単ada Accessibility from media Hills blocking the view

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External Accessibility

Our experience of walking through the Ca単ada Real was defined by many different aspects. In some cases our path of where we physically went was very different from the mental experience we had while walking through. This could be caused by barking dogs, people asking us to leave, but also wide spatial views or narrow views affected the experience. In this map we separated our experience in three different subjects. The physical accessibility is shown in the red line and marks our path as we walked through the Ca単ada. The gray surfaces are the areas visible to us while walking this path. The visible area is bound by the buildings, fences and natural borders. The mental experience of accessibility is drawn in the blue line and shows the spatial feeling affected by the physical and visual experience and the feeling of (in) security. As we zoom in on specific areas it is clear that the experience of accessibility from the internal path is very diverse throughout the Ca単ada. The first fragment on the north end of the Ca単ada shows a very closed off experience with barely any visual relation to the area outside the strip. The physical, visual and metal experiences are practically the same.

Visual accessibility Physical accessibility Mental accessibility

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Internal Accessibility

When we go further south we see that the physical, visual and mental experience are becoming more and more unlike one another. The built strip is opening up to the landscape and this has in some areas a wider mental, visual and physical experience as a result. In some cases the feeling of security is very low and the mental experience becomes very closed off while the view is wide. All three aspects of the experience of accessibility have a direct influence on each other and will not exist in this figuration without one another.

Visual accessibility Physical accessibility Mental accessibility

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SEQUENCE OF FRAGMENTS The best description of our experience of the Ca単ada Real is a sequence of fragments. We call the Ca単ada a sequence of fragments because our experience was very diverse throughout the 15 kilometre strip. While studying the area before the visit, the area was defined as a linear city. After visiting it becomes clear that this is not a correct description because every part of the Ca単ada has very different characteristics. There are 13 different fragments defined based on the experience while visiting the area. The cuts between the fragments are in most cases very rigid without any transition. Since every fragment was experienced in a various way they also ask for varied notations. Some fragments are shown in a perspective diagram, others in plan or section, some are very literal, others more abstract, some are about the mental feeling of security others about visual borders or infrastructural cuts. All the fragments are representing the most dominant aspect of our experience and drawn in a notation which fits the defined fragment.

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FRAGMENT ONE

Fragment 1 is the place where the illegal occupation started. It has fully developed into a Spanish-style residential community in suburb area and well integrated into the adjacent urbanized community. In the public domain, the road is paved, while the sidewalk and street-parking are well-organized. The private housing is also in good condition. In the beginning of fragment 1, houses are directly facing the sidewalk, in other words, there is no courtyard of each house. Therefore, for safety and privacy, windows and doors are fenced by multi-layers, from steel trails, semi-transparent voile, glass to curtains. Towards the end of fragment 1, local residents have more of a will to claim their privacy. They start to use steps and courtyard to keep a distance from their windows to the sidewalk.

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images o

of frag 1

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SITE MAP

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PHYSICAL ACCESSIBILITY Physical accessibility is the most tangible way of feeling and expressing accessibility. It physically defines where we can access, where we cannot and accessible levels, such as how far fast it could be accessed. In Canada, physical accessibility is mostly represented by vertical elements and horizontal surfaces. Both vertical elements and horizontal surfaces are diverse in the whole strip. In fragment one, vertical elements are represented mostly by walls of houses, and horizontal ones are continuous paved roads. However, in fragment six, walls with different materials, streams, bushes and piles of mud, muddy and grassy horizontal surfaces constitute various physical accessibilities in diverse levels.

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accessibility of borders accessible unaccessible

accessible level of the surface

++++ +++ ++ +

Fragment One Physical accessibility represents conditions of physical borders. In fragment 1, physical bordersunified walls-enclose a narrow, linear, continuous space with only a few cuts connecting to the external area. And condition of road surface that we walked through was mostly well-paved, and thus easy to move around.

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VISUAL ACCESSIBILITY

Visual accessibility is simply defined as whatever it is that our sight can reach. The boundaries of this accessibility may or may not vary from the borders of physical accessibility, depending on the specific condition. This means that distance can become a disadvantage in the sense of the lowered quality of view from a far, but it can also be an advantage as it allows views which are blocked when standing close. The overall visible areas form another layer in our field of exploration, which was constantly being monitored by the local inhabitants. Afraid of their houses being demolished by the authorities the locals were constantly asking what are the pictures, and at times demanding we stop taking pictures and delete pictures we had. This makes the visual accessibility subject an important part in defining the experience of the Cañada, and in forming the places we could actually get to know. (For the detailed maps see attached file under the folder “visual accessibility”)

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9 7

6 5

3 2

19 18 17 16 14

13 12 11

Fragment One

In this area the visual accessibility varies very little from the physical accessibility this internal “corridor” shaped part of the Cañada allows very little exits to open spaces, and therefore few external views as well as very narrow internal perspectives.

20 BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

Sections of Visually Accessible Space

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DOMAIN

As we experienced the transitions of the Ca単ada Real Galiana, one of the findings we had was that the level of insecurity they live in goes hand in hand with the level of social control they set up for themselves. Looking public domain in relation to the semi-private domain, an understanding can be gained about how the inhabitants set up their social control.

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Fragment One As fragment one is integrated in the surrounding urban area, the people there live comfortably secure with the knowledge that they do not have the risk of having their homes torn down. Because of this, the public domain is not used to exert control and there is no need to overview who comes in and out of their neighborhood.

Public domain (intense use) Public domain (medium use) Public domain (low use) Semi Private, earth Semi Private, hardened ground trash storage

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FRAGMENT SIX

Fragment 6 impressed us by its large quantities of connections to the external area and diverse spatial experiments, which is completely opposite to the continuous, relatively singular spatial feelings of other fragments.

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IMAGES FRAGMENT 6

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SITE MAP

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GIIKYYOHOROZ_ UL HUXJKXY GIIKYYOHRK [TGIIKYYOHRK

GIIKYYOHRK RK\KR UL ZNK Y[XLGIK

++++ +++ ++ +

Fragment Six In fragment 6, physical borders are constituted by various different spatial elements, walls of different materials, dried streams, garbage piles, and mounds. T h ese borders together form a diverse, non-linear, relatively open space with a considerable number of large-scale connections to the surroundings. Conditions of road surface in this fragment are as diverse as vertical borders, muddy, grassy, puddles, almost no paved surface here, thus our movement here was much more winding and slow.

Physical Accessibility BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

This area which has an enclosed built area surrounded by the street and open landscape allows a much wider view as well as sights into the enclosed built area. This means a wider field of exploration as well as different levels of visibility resulting from the distance of the view, the sections a view crosses and the materiality through which a view passes (visual permeability of fences, windows, walls etc.)

Visual Accessibility BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

Concrete wall brick wall Vegetation Reused materials Fence

Visual Accessibility BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

Sections of Visually Accessible Space

Visual Accessibility BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

Fragment Six The people of fragment six do not share the convenience of a knowledge that there houses will be spared. As a result of this, it is very important for them to know what is going on in their neighborhood. In this map it is shown how private function is added to the public realm. You can see that people have claimed the public domain for their own benefit in the form of vegetable gardens, storage space, car workshops etc. Through the implementation of private function into the public domain, the level of social activity is heightened there, effectively raising the level of social control. As we were walking there it was in the places marked with the red dots where we weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re confronted with the locals, asking us what our intentions were and whom we were affiliated to. Only when they established that we weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not from any government, media or municipality they lessened their focus on us. Through the addition of function in the public realm, they effectively set up social checkpoints.

river bed Public domain (intense use) Public domain (medium use) river bed Public domain (low use) Public domain (intense use) Semi Private, earth Public domain (medium use) Semi Private, hardened ground Public domain (low use) Private, parking Semi Private, earth corporate, earth Semi Private, hardened ground vegetable garden Private, parking trash storage corporate, earth debree ruins vegetable garden dryingstorage clothes trash wall painting debree ruins social control drying clothes social checkpoint wall painting

Fragment 6 Domain Experiencing Ca単ada Real Galiana Fragment 6 social control

social checkpoint

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P r P P P P S P S S P S c P v c t v d t d d w d s w ss

Prologue The analysis shown here was a focused view on the subject of accessibility. The Cañada, being a extremely diverse and dynamic built environment can off course be analyzed in endless perspectives, but as we found the subject of accessibility to be the most dominant aspect of our stay there, it had become our choice in order to present our subjective experience of it as a group. This analysis allowed us to define the complexity of the Cañada to some extent, and characterize it’s different fragments which make it a unique condition which we did not expect to find in the outskirts of a western European capital. Further research of the different aspects of the Cañada can be seen to some extents in the individual works that follow, some deal directly with the subject of accessibility, but to all of us the subject is a constructive frame work that leads our personal experiences of it.

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INDIVIDUAL STUDENT WORK

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< 19th century Navigation by recognizable points or routes

20th century Navigation by signs

21th century Navigation by GPS

Low speed pedestrian movement Centralized city along main street Monumental architecture

High speed automobile movement Decentralized city along main routes Sign is more important than architecture

GPS based high and low speed movement Physical location is irrelevant Architecture is irrelevant for navigation

NAVIGATION AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE: ISABEL DRIESSEN

NAVIGATION AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE Isabel Driessen The way people move through space determines the way they experience space. Motion, speed, point of view and navigation tool all influence our movement and therefore our experience. Throughout time a lot of changes took place in the mobility of people. The medieval cities are built for pedestrian movement, which is considered as low speed movement. The city is centralized along a main street or square and the city is dense to keep buildings within walking distance from each other. The architecture is monumental and recognizable as landmarks throughout the city. With the development of the automobile in the 20th century the speed which people move with increases and the focus of the driver is now on the road instead of the buildings around him. Signs appear along the streets to direct people to their destination and architecture loses importance for navigation. The city decentralized along the main routes and longer distances can be travelled. In the 21th century the interactive map is introduces. A device has developed which tracks the position of the person with GPS and direct each individual to their destination. The physical location of the destination becomes irrelevant because the destination will always be found by the GPS tool. The architecture and even the sign are not being used to locate and navigate. The GPS navigation tool is projected on an abstract map or on the photorealistic Google map. The influence of recently developed navigation tools and the intense use of Google maps on our spatial experience is the focus points of this research.

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Google maps In February 2005 Google announced the Google maps application for the first time on their website.1 Google started to make the ‘satellite’ view of our globe accessible to everyone. From this moment on the Google application started to expand to an extensive database projected on either a map or a satellite view, making it possible for every person with a computer available to browse around the globe from a top down view, zooming in and out wherever desirable in an abstract infrastructural map or a photorealistic top down view. “Google offers high resolution imagery for thousands of cities, and more are on the way. Most of this imagery is approximately one to three years old and provides an aerial view about 800-1500 feet from the ground.”2 In 2007 Google Street View was introduced, several cities are being mapped by cars equipped with a 360° camera which captures all streets accessible by car during daytime. These images give you the option to look around from series of points within the streets. As Google describes; “Street View in Google Maps lets you explore places through 360-degree street-level imagery, whether you’re looking at locations in your town or across the globe. With Street View, you can check out a restaurant before going there, find beautiful places around the world to visit on your next vacation, or check out neighborhoods when you’re looking to move.”3 In October 2011 Google announced to start mapping the interior of buildings, businesses like restaurants, offices, hotels or stores can request a Google photographer to come to their building to capture the interior.4 If these interior panoramas become as popular as the rest of the Google mappings, it will not only be possible to check out your vacation destination and the exterior of the restaurant you want to eat in, but also to see the interior of the restaurant and make a reservation for the table you like the most. With all these developments it becomes now possible to see a building in an interactive roof -, street- and interior perspective before, after or even without seeing the physical building itself. Because of the Google mappings we see the city and its architecture from new perspectives, which are often not yet taken in concern by the architects. In which way does the Google perspective changes or manipulates our image of the architecture? Do we perceive the built environment different because of this tool? Is this any different from what happens when you see renderings or models of architecture? And do architects need to take the “Google perspective” in consideration while designing? Maybe architects need present next to their plans, sections and eye-level perspective, also a Google car perspective and a satellite perspective to represent and sell the design. And does this affect the way things are being designed? 1

2011a. Google maps [Online]. Wikipedia. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps.

Google Earth; Blurry or outdated imagery [Online]. Available: http://earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=21417.

Google maps; using street view [Online]. Google. Available: http://maps.google.com.au/intl/en/help/maps/streetview/learn/using-street-view. html. 4

2011b. Google streetview kijkt nu ook binnen [Online]. NOS. Available: http://nos.nl/artikel/308824-google-streetview-kijkt-nu-ook-binnen. html.

Traditional map

Abstaction Google map Abstraction or Photorealistic Static Dynamic Fixed scale Multiple scales (zoom in/zoom out) One perspective Multiple perspectives Top down view Top down view 450 birds eye perspective Streetview 3600

NAVIGATION AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE: ISABEL DRIESSEN

Multiple perspective views available

When you want to go to a place which you don’t know well yet, a lot of people nowadays will firstly go to their internet browser, type in the address in the Google search bar and look at the Google map for an image of the place and directions to get there. The first image you will see is a top down view of the roof of the building. If you want to see more you might go to the street view as well and look around the street the building is in. Google places you in the point as close as possible to your location which has a 360-degree image available and by moving your mouse around you are able to look up and down, right or left and zoom in and out. What you see in any of the Google perspectives is a representation of the experience as if you were there. But in fact the experience is very different from being there physically. First of all the roof view becomes the ‘entrance’ of the building. The satellite view is in this case your first impression of the built environment, which people would in most cases never have seen if this mapping application didn’t made this imagery available for us. Second we can question if the Google imagery shows a realistic image of our cities, roads, buildings and landscape. Some parts of the images are blurred, less detailed or totally censured both in satellite and street view. Because the 3-dimensional image from the street view is projected on a 2-dimensional screen the perspective gets distorted. Also the perspective of the Google street view is from a higher viewpoint than human eye-level because it is shot from a camera on a pole on top of a car. While we think we are seeing the environment from eye level as we would have seen it if we were there, this is in fact not the case. We can say that the Google perspectives are semi-realistic. The appearance is realistic, but it is not showing reality.

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Virtual windows The fact that the Google perspective is always viewed on a screen (computer or smartphone) has an influence on the perception of the image. In the book ‘The Virtual Window’ written by Anne Friedberg the relation between the frame, the framed image, and the viewer is described. When you look at a painting, the image is framed and frozen, as viewer you can change your position towards the image, but the image will stay the same. The relation between the image and the viewer is static. This situation is different from an image framed by an architectural window. The architectural window is static. The viewer is dynamic and can change its position which will also change the image seen through the window. The relationship between the viewer and the architectural window is therefore dynamic. In the case of the virtual window, for example the computer screen, the relation between the viewer and the screen is static, the image won´t change if the position of the viewer changes, but the image is dynamic an can be changed by the viewer.4 The relation between the viewer and the object is therefore very different from a physical encounter, but also from seeing a static image or picture of the building. The framed window of the smartphone or computer cannot be seen as a replacement for the field of vision of a person because of this different relation, but also because the screen always exists within the field of vision of the person. The virtual window on which the Google perspective is viewed is a dynamic image within the field of vision of a person. “The computer “window” shifts its metaphoric hold from the singular frame of perspective to the multiplicity of windows within windows, frames within frames, screens within screens.“5 It becomes even more interesting when the Google perspective is being used on a smartphone. The virtual window of the phone is moveable and can be carried on along a trip. The smartphone can be seen as the framed window, where the field of vision of a person was the metaphysical frame of experience before. But because the experience of the smartphone will always take place within the field of vision of a person, the two perspectives will be experienced parallel and influence each other. In the example of the Walt Disney Concert Hall we can state that the experience of the building would have been very different from the one described above if I was navigating with a smartphone with a Google satellite view at that moment. In that case I would have seen the top view together with the eye level perspective and I would not have misunderstood the building as much as I did. We constantly connect what we see on eye level with the top down view from Google maps if we use the smartphone to navigate. This influences our perception on the city and architecture. In this case of the smartphone there are multiple views within one field of vision which influences our image of the building. It can be questioned if this is any different from seeing a plan next to an elevation and a render when studying on a building, or even bringing these documents when visiting a building on an architectural trip. I think the effect of this is similar, but the intentions are not. When using the smartphone to find your way and ‘accidentally’ seeing the satellite view of the building the understanding of the building can change, but most likely not conscious. While in the other case when you study an architectural documentation of a building, you are very conscious of the fact that your image of the building will be different by the addition of all this information to what you experience in your field of vision. 45

FRIEDBERG, A. 2006. The Virtual Window; from Alberti to Microsoft, The MIT press.

NAVIGATION AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE: ISABEL DRIESSEN

Navigating the Cañada Real

Intersections with Cañada real

While visiting the Cañada Real I tried to understand what navigating means in the context of this area. The first thing to notice is that the Cañada Real exist of a single street of 15 kilometres long. There are no turns or crossings or other moments of determining the route. There is no need for navigation. The route we were taking was always clear. The only thing what was uncertain, was where on the line we where. While walking it was hard to understand how many distance was covered because of the absence of variation. The element which we used to determine our position on the line were the infrastuctural intersections with the Cañada Real. We knew the position of these intersections because of studying the Google map on beforehand. These and all the other intersections and interventions with the Cañada are the points of interest for this research. Not only are these intersections points to determine your position, also these points are the only moments where interaction between people from the Cañada and so called strangers interact. These are the only moments where the recent developed navigation tools are relevant.

Points of recognition from Google map

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A multiple perspective view on three intersections Three intersections of external infrastructure with the Ca単ada Real have been studied. In this study the experience of these intersections is mapped after being studied and seen from the multiple perspectives available. The perspectives which are taken in consideration are; the Google sattelite view, teh Google 45-degree view, the Google street view and the personal experience while passing through the area. There are several different methods used to represent the personal experience, because this perspective is not as absolute as the other perspectives. The personal experience is represented with a photo, a sketch made my memory and a sequence of photos abstracted to a drawing. All the different perspectives are collaged together in several images to describe the multiple perspective view on the space, caused by the intense use of the available interactive Google mappings on top of the personal experience.

Intersection 3

NAVIGATION AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE: ISABEL DRIESSEN

Intersection 1

Intersection 2

Intersection 1

Intersection 2

Intersection 3

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Intersection 1

Personal experience sketch by memory

Satellite view

Personal experience abstraction from picture sequence

Personal experience picture sequence

Street view

100

NAVIGATION AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE: ISABEL DRIESSEN

Satellite view

45-degree view

Multiple perspective collage

Multiple perspective collage BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

101

Intersection 2

Personal experience sketch by memory

Satellite view

Personal experience abstraction from picture sequence

Satellite view

Personal experience picture sequence

Street view

102

45-degree view

NAVIGATION AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE: ISABEL DRIESSEN

Multiple perspective collage

Multiple perspective collage BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

103

Intersection 3

Personal experience sketch by memory

Satellite view

Personal experience abstraction from picture sequence

Personal experience picture sequence

Street view

104

Satellite view

45-degree view

NAVIGATION AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE: ISABEL DRIESSEN

Multiple perspective collage

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Design Methodology A design methodology following from this research will be based on the multiple perspective views. A building or space is no longer viewed from the singular personal eye level perspective. Another aspect is the determination of the route. new routes will be taken because of the new developed technology. The red line in the map represents the route which is taken without seeing a map or using a GPS navigation tool. The blue line represents the route Google or any other digital navigation device tells us to take when we want to cross the intersection. The green lines are representing all the paths not acknowledged by formal maps or Google maps. These paths become formal paths with the use of Google maps, because they now become visible to everyone. While before they could only be used by people from the area who know these unmapped paths. Not only do the Google mappings influence our view towards a space or object, they also influence the routes we take. 106

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Google topview map

Google 45-degree birds eye

Traditional map

Personal eye level view

Formal routes when you don’t know the area

Google 360-degree streetview

Formal routes when you know the area

Formal routes when you don’t know the area and use Google satellite view

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Multiple perspective model studies In these model the multiple perspective view is studied. Shapes, volumes and surfaces can have a very different appearance from different perspectives.

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The virtual image we get by the use of Google views on architecture is just another layer upon our perception, which has a different meaning and usage for everyone. The virtual perception will not often exist without the physical experience. Extreme distortions will only appear in cases where someone does not visit the location in person. In that case the viewer will have a semi realistic view on the area or building instead of no idea what it looks like. In this case I think the Google view is a welcome supplement to the information available. The image on architecture can in some cases be influenced by the virtual Google perspective seen on a screen. Although we can question the fact how realistic the Google images are and if this distorts our perception I think the Google views are still a very valuable source of information. As long as the viewer is aware of the filters applied by Google, like censuring blurring and the levels of detail, the images can be an addition to the perspective through the personal field of vision. For architects it could be interesting to take the Google perspectives in consideration while designing because the tool is being used so extensively. The top down satellite view is for architects the most interesting because this view is a fixed perspective and therefore it is the easiest to control the outcome. Venturi describes in his book â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Learning from Las Vegasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the appearance of the signs as a result of the development of the automobile.6 With the development of the Google satellite perspectives the roof of the building can be considered as the new sign for the building. The Street View is a dynamic image and the perspective can be changed with a single mouse movement. The street views will most likely change and with this the position of the camera will change too. Because of this the perspectives experienced through the 360-degree panoramas are very hard to define because they will be very different in every encounter. The availability of all this imagery made the environment more visible. It is important for architects to be aware of this fact and take this in consideration while designing. The virtual imagery can be an enrichment to the special experience. But to my opinion the physical representation will always stay the most determining factor for the architecture, because in the end most buildings are designed to be physically used by people. 6

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Literature Google Earth; Blurry or outdated imagery [Online]. Available: http:// earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=21417. Google maps; using street view [Online]. Google. Available: http:// maps.google.com.au/intl/en/help/maps/streetview/learn/using-streetview.html. 2011a. Google maps [Online]. Wikipedia. Available: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Google_Maps. 2011b. Google streetview kijkt nu ook binnen [Online]. NOS. Available: http://nos.nl/artikel/308824-google-streetview-kijkt-nu-ook-binnen. html. FRIEDBERG, A. 2006. The Virtual Window; from Alberti to Microsoft, The MIT press. HAWTHORNE, C. 2006. Architects change their view of the lowly roof. Los Angeles Times. HEALY, P. 2008. The Model and its Architecture, 010 Publishers. VENTURI, R. 1977. Learning from Las Vegas, MIT Press. BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

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Memories of Ca単ada Real Galiana

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DESIGN AS A MNEMONIC DEVICE Yaron Israel The Cañada Real Galiana is a location filled with memories, they burst out of every corner - through the use of scraps in the construction of new houses, through all kinds of waste laying around, through the remains of demolished houses and off course through the people of the Cañada and their stories. All these memories, whether they are told to us or experienced by us, even in the smallest encounters, affect our perception and change our experience of space. “Whenever one encounters a new situation …he selects from memory a structure called a frame, a remembered framework to be adopted to fit reality by changing details as necessary.” (Boyer C. 1996)

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About memory

Collective memory is a term coined by Maurice Halbwachs (La Mémoire collective, 1950) as the joined memory of a group, different then personal or individual memory; it is a constructive part of the identity of a group. In terms of the relation between the collective memory and a place Halbwachs writes: “When a group is introduced into a part of space, it transforms it to its image, but at the same time, it yields and adapts itself to certain material things which resist it.” (Halbwachs in: Rossi, 1982) While this explains a relation between the collective memory and a place, collective memory can be gained by different ways and as a result, give a different image to a place. Further research and theory in the subject of collective memory has introduced two sub-terms of it, cultural memory, defined as a memory which is obtained through a long term and is a result of events distant from everyday life, and has fairly rare influences. And communicative memory which is defined as structured through shorter periods of time, basically no longer then a person life, and constructed out of the accumulative memories of everyday events communicated and spread to the collective. These definitions become interesting in their affect on architecture and their influence on our perception of the public space. And so this influence of our personal memories, derived from personal experience relates also to an architectural experience. The architectural space is perceived differently through the development of memory, it is explored in a different way. Though memory is extremely subjective, it’s affect on the perception and experience of space is based on the idea of learning, that is to say, having a previous memory that relates to a space brings us to a resulting action or thought about the space. This means that a spatial experience of a particular kind is constructed every time our memory evolves. In Christopher Nolan’s film ‘Memento’ dealing with a man whose specific medical condition leads him to a complete loss of short term memory every few minutes, a constant change of perception occurs within those few minutes, in which he accumulates new memories. for example an environment that at a first impression seems friendly and calm is experienced completely different once it’s realized to be aggressive, this off course is brought to an extreme within the film but it does still give a good notion of how memory is dynamic subjective and completely open to interpretation.

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A scene from the movie ‘Memento’ accumulation of memory and the change in spatial perception

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Vertov’s ‘Man with a Movie Camera’

Media, Space & Memory “public image has today replaced the former public spaces in which social communication took place. Avenues and public venues are from now on eclipsed by the screen, by electronic displays, in a preview of the ‘vision machines’ just around the corner. […] Really, once public space yields to public image, surveillance and street lighting can be expected to shift too, from the street to the domestic display terminal.” (Virilio, The Vision Machine, 1994) The public space is no longer limited to the physical spaces in the city, this is also relevant for us to understand that the image of the public space, as an active part of our cities is formed even without our interaction. According to Virilio, the city is becoming virtualized, Virilio says the actual physical space is becoming less and less important. In the modern city, space becomes an obstacle, an obstacle that is surpassed by virtually flattening out the interface. The spatial experience and interface of the city is reduced to the flat surface of the screen. Space is being replaced by image. “The screen abruptly became the city square. The crossroads of all mass media… so more than Venturis’ Las Vegas, it is Hollywood that merits urbanist scholarship.” (Krause & Petro, 2003) Today media is a main interface for society to experience the space or, some would claim, it has become the space itself. Gilles Deleuze which dealt with the meaning of time and memory in film, , but it is first and foremost his belief that cinema has forever changed our perception of time and space: “This is the first aspect of the new cinema: the break in the sensory-motor link (actionimage), and more profoundly in the link between man and the world.” (Deleuze, 1989) As a form of media different ways of representation of narrative and through that memory have been introduced along the years, Lev Manovich in his book ‘The Language of new Media’ gives explicit examples of this, and uses Dziga Vertov’s ‘Man with a Movie Camera’ in which a range of cinematic techniques Vertov invents, deploys or develops are shown.

Vertov’s ‘Man with a Movie Camera’

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Andrei Tarkovsky ‘Nostalghia’

The Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky deals in his films with the subject of memory through while using spatial characteristics as well as the motion through space. Long shots from different angles are put together to create spaces that exist only within the peoples memories, a series of spaces that through the editing of clips seems to be a continuous one, but in fact does not exist in reality, and is at times physically impossible. This presents another aspect of not only a change in perception as a result of memory but a creation of a completely new space within memory itself.

Andrei Tarkovsky ‘Ivan’s childhood’

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Memory in the Cañada real Galiana In the first day visiting the Cañada after walking for several kilometers within the narrow path surrounded by houses an open space is revealed, where apparently once stood a house or two now stands pile of rubble, a red house shaped tent in front and what seems to be a factory on the side, on top of the factory some seems to have placed a small prefabricated house. in the following days I’ve gone back to that place and every time I found it to be different, I’ve learned more about it and I saw it in a different way. Originating from the experience described in the specific location in the Cañada I formed a representation of the memory of the space and it’s development through the passage of time and accumulation of memories. The process of creating a series of maps that presents the space that is constructed from these memories involves a process of documentation, interpretation and notation which results in the creation of a spatial vocabulary that will consist in a future design.

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Documentation z The documentation took place while visiting the location and in the choice of articles of documentation after hand, these are different forms of media which include digital photos, video and audio clips. This documentation is categorized into levels of experience, the first experience â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the documentation taken from a place without memories of it. And then the second and third visit to the location, each time with a more enriched notion of the placeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s subjective identity to me. From within this categorization, the specific documents relevant for the specific individuality of the experience are chosen. Images Taken the first day

Images Taken the second day

Images Taken the third day

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Interpretation z The interpretation was done by the editing of the different documentation of the location as well as adding others into a short clip. the clip shows three sequences representing each of the visits to the location, they are shown one after the other, all starting and ending with the walk through the corridor-like street. The difference from one day to the next is shown both in the duration of the stay in it as well as in a change in the spatial order of the experience and the space itself. For example in the second day the sight is explored by a general overview which is shown by a set of panning images, while in the third day the sequence is much more fragmented with interconnections between different parts of the location directed by the narrative formed through memory. Images presenting the sequence of the clip

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Notation z The notation formulates a map that defines the space constructed through the movie clip. This displays the spatial order of the location as dictated within the narrative formulated by the relations of different elements of the location in my memory. To present this notation the first step is to organize images and shots from the clip in the way they appear in it, these images appear one after the other in relation to the internal logic of the movie creating a story board of the clip in itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s different segments. This logic is at times not linear, for example passing from one shot to the next might be done by a black screen and so even though there is no visible connection between the places shown it is understood from the narrative of the clip that they are sequential. The next step is to clean up the frames of the images mentioned. this shows the continuity of the space and creates a three dimensional path of motion map, and describes the space formulated by memory and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development through the three days in the location

Story board of day one

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Story board of day two

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Story board of day three

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Spatial conditions derived from these maps create spaces existing within the narrative of the memory, these sometimes include spatial intersections and contradictions. These occurrences, as in Tschumiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Manhattan transcripts, are actually part of what creates the interest in formulating the vocabulary of the design. these spatial conditions are a result, again as in the Manhattan transcripts of the objects which are the buildings boundaries and surfaces forming the space we see, the movement which ties these objects together through itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s continuity, and the event, which is the formation of memory and the narrative constructed by that memory.

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EXPOSURE SPREADING OUT PANORAMIC FRAGMANTED

INTERSECTION FRAGMENTED OVERLAYED

3 Day memory overlayed - spatial order + the models of spatial condions

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ZOOM IN INCLOSED SPACE POINT OF VIEW FOCUSING

OVERLAY ASCENT/DESCENT FRAGMENTATION

CORRIDOR FRAGMENTED

OVERLAY INTERSECTING REPETITION FRAGMENTATION TRANSITION - PASSAGE

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The reconstruction of space according to the narrative Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

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Bibliography Boyer, C. (1996). CyberCities; visual perception in the age of electronic communication. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. Boyer, C. (1994). The city of collective memory. Massachusetts: MIT Press. Tschumi, B. (1994). The Manhattan Transcripts. London: Academy Editions. Virilio, P. (1994). The Vision Machine. London: British Film Institute. Deleuze, G. (1989). Cinema 2: the time-image. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. Krause, L., & Petro, P. (2003). Global cities. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

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artificial Landscape of Canada real

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ARTIFICIAL LANDARTIFICIAL LANDSCAPE SCAPE EMERGE EMERGING FROMFROM NETWORKS NETWROK Can Liu Liu Powerlines, garbage piles, earth hills, freeways, these man-made spatial elements consititute the scene of canada real in the periphery of Madrid. such a bizarre combination is a accumulation of decades of human activities. They are antennas of central Madrid, part of the vast network starting from central Madrid. Powerlines are link to the powergrid, freeways are connected to the infrastructural network, Canada real is a fragment of the historical cattle trials, garbage piles are left-overs of rising garbage bussiness based on garbage network of the whole Madrid. a specific artificial landscape scene is created by the superimposition of different networks in Canada real. My aim is to explore the spatial result of the cooperation of different networks.

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The Network Space network as a social morphology of information age in the twentieth century, the utopian programs of early modern architecture sought to render the institutions of liberal democracy as transparent bodies. Light weight steel skeletons and glass curtain walls signaled literal transparency, while a functional and compositional dynamic made visible the separate elements of these increasingly complex programs . typology of gathering space doesn’t fit the need of globalized society any more, it is crucial that one are able to access needed information wherever he or she is instead of the place where the information is stored and how it is stored. Therefore, the rational production of modernism, which directly leads to “box” space, postmodernism of abstract sign and surfaces, which results in graphic decoration of space, and semiotic architecture, working over the territory of meaning and representation within the discourse of space, are not the issue any more. in network society, form, boundary, surface and deep structure of space itself are not taking into serious consideration as the role that space is a container to accommodate people is withered, more attention has been paid to organization or structure among different space. space is decomposed into neutral small unites governed by certain organizations. Decentralization & Distribution The phenomenon of decentralization has been mentioned in Koolhaas’ article “Generic City”. He proposes to move away our interests in urban centers to the vast peripheries as the centers not only fail to afford contemporary development, but also limit the development of the peripheries. in his theory, periphery is the perfect place to accommodate contemporary civilization based on infrastructural and information networks. The absence of identity, history, center and plan in the peripheries provide a blank space which could be developed completely according to the need of contemporary civilization. on the contrary, urban

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centers, regarded as â&#x20AC;&#x153;the most important placeâ&#x20AC;?, are forced to act several contradictory roles-the most ancient and the most fashionable, the most fixed and the most energetic-at the same time, which is completely unaffordable for these spaces. Generic City is a system that is decentralized, it is composed by countless nodes without planned center and static hierarchy. The infrastructural elements of the modern city, by their nature linked together in open-ended networks . in the 30s of twentieth century, symbolized by the construction of large number of intercontinental freeways in america, the network of transportation has changed the topography of american cities and the pattern of daily life. daily life was released from the limit of original city and expanded to the vast periphery area. Large number of commuters driving from their living place-satellite cities, through the plain area, to city center in the morning and repeat the process in the evening. Living space was detached from the original city and distributed into the periphery. others, such as the vending machines and atM, are the distributed units of a previously compact space of mega stores and banks. The mega space for a whole day shopping of countless consumers, and divine space symbolizing wealth, were dismantled to windows producing goods and cashes on the wall. The Dynamic network work with time and open to change. There is no static form or relationship, everything is in a temporal situation and ready to change at every moment. it is a system in a dynamic balance. no predetermined states are set to direct its performance. network gradually evolve within a loose frame and change

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might happen. Based on information technology, the potential for rapid and asynchronous communication changes the relationship of events to time. With a 50X100X10 mm information terminal in hand, you can play with the whole world. information determines the power. speed, flexibility become the key factors of network society today, stability, duration are denied. architecture working with space characterized by stability and duration are thus questioned. The library, the museum, and the concert hall, as much as the bank, the city hall, or the capital all appeal to the stability of classical order to signify their status as durable institutions, in network society, lose their special capacity to order and represent the space of these institutions . in the case of bibliometro, library is not an traditional stable and passive collective space for categorized knowledge, instead, it is constituted by pavilion-like small mobile stations all around urban space. These small scaled furnitures can be added to any of the new established stations or removed from a station which is decided to tear down according to the requirement of flows running through the metro lines. The process is as easy as moving your desk in your room. another kind of moving libraries are the moving book boxes, these moving boxes wanders in the area where a large number of people walking through, providing services of receiving returned books. Libraries, what was once a place of certainty, an orderly deposit of knowledge arranged in familiar and agreed-upon categories, has been transferred into flows of knowledge shaped by flows of people moving around urban space. it is an asynchronous communication between two related bodies, this ability of real-time interaction with environment and events become the new character of architecture in network society.

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Collective Performance networks exist within and between businesses, resources – including employees, consultants, and other businesses – are brought together to work on a particular project, then dispersed and reallocated when the task is complete . as the working typology shifts from within each sphere to corporation among various ones, the shelter for these events doesn’t service for a particular single or two performance of events vertically, instead, it works for assemblage and distribution among various spheres. This shelter in one hand, guarantees the unity of the whole, in other hand, accommodates the diversity of each nodes. The diversity of each bottom units are the reaction of the whole to each specific environment, it allowes the existence of difference, thus each antenna could grasp their specific field, meanwhile, by applying a hierarchical structure, the whole would not be influenced by the transformation of bottom nodes. in the design of freeway network, bridges, canals, or aqueducts, for example, an extensive catalog of strategies exist to accommodate irregularities in the terrain(doglegs, viaducts, cloverleaves, switchbacks,etc.), which are creatively employed to accommodate existing conditions while maintaining functional continuity. Globalization is one of the result of this collective performance of different networks. a products displayed in a supermarket in america, a component might produced in a place, B component might produced in B place, and all those components produced in various places might be assembled in F country. all these process are governed by a production network directed by the cost of production.

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Annihilation of Space Communications technologies allow for the annihilation of space. Bank and shop are not anymore the space for accommodating people but countless furniture-like function units scattered in urban space. in andrea Branzi’s proposal “no-stop city”(fig.3), traditional streets, parks, squares disappear, factories, representing producing places and supermarkets, representing consuming places are regarded as the basic spatial models replacing those traditional urban spaces. an infinite, homogeneous network acts as a background or container for these special models. Flows of information and products run in the most efficient way. in a sense, the city has become “ hundred meters-located toilets” . City is not a cultural unit anymore, it is instead a functional unit. specific space doesn’t exist here, the spatial quality such as open and closure, bright and dark, different spatial typologies are all disappearing in a homogeneous generic urban space. The perception of urban space from landmark, paths ( image of city) to a text message you received indicating some features of the city when you arrive the city or just passing by on train. The perception of urban space is no more about the physical experience of it but more about the information-text, image, or some local products, brands. a new kind of city emerge from this information network, it is called global city. Cities such as Paris, London, new York, could be described by anyone detail even he or she has never been to there. it is a sign or imagination constituted by the name of local brands, the famous avenues, the images of certain buildings. The physical spatial experience is not anymore the issue for a stranger to understand a city.

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Nodes + Links From the a compact city to satellite cities, from mega stores to vending machines, from traditional libraries to moving book boxes, from physical travelling tours to digital images, space has been distributed into smaller and smaller scaled nodes, these nodes are from different networks and cooperate together to manage and direct the flow and meanwhile, adjust themselves to fit the situation. space is not only stable and symbolic anymore, instead, it concerns with behavior and performance organized by aggregates of labor, materials, energy and resources. space is no more dominated by images and meaning, it is organized and shaped by a complex series of unpredictable events. instead of certain type of space for specific functions or institutions, it works like a neutral structure and a flexible shelter to accommodate the complexity and unpredictability.

Reference stan allen, Points + Lines, new York: Princeton architectural Press, 1999 Manuel Castells, The rise of the network society, Wiley-Blackwell, 2000 Kevin Lynch, The image of the City, Mit press, 1992 rem Koolhaas, Generic City, sikkens Foundation, 1995

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investigatng area

cattle trial

1975

1991

2006

2007

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2010

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garbage

Historical research a series of typical spatial elements of landscape in Canada real are selected as my investigating objects, cattle trial, piles of garbage, informal paths, freeways and bottom ash hills. These maps show how each of these networks developed and shaped the built environment.

informal paths

freeway

bottom ash

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1975

1991

2006

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Collective Performance These maps show the collective performance of the superimposition of different networks through years. nature has been reshaped gradually by man-made constructions. powerlines and freeway change the skyline , cattle trial and metro form a sequence of open and closure space, piles of garbage give a diverse texture of the surface.

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piles of bottom ash from incinerater powerlines cattle trial piles of garbage freeway

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Layering powerlines, cattle trial, piles of garbage, these typical urban spatial elements in Canada frame the perception of the space by layers.

Location A route was selected to explore the space. Layers of different urban spatial elements frame the open and closure of the landscape in canada

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framed area elevation a

framed area plan

framed area elevation B

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framed area elevation a

framed area plan

framed area elevation B

section lines of framed area elevation a

section lines of framed area plan

section lines of framed area elevation B

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Canada Real: high diversity fragment

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THE INFORMAL INFORMAL MADRID: CITY ROBBIE : ROBBIENEIJZEN NEIJZEN

INFORMAL MADRID Robbie Neijzen Madrid is an imperialist, authoritarian and monumental city. In contradiction to its formal architecture, the use of the city is very informal. Spanish people are open-minded, liberal and they use the public spaces as they like to with all sorts of personal initiatives. The Ca単ada Real is a manifestation of this informal behaviour; it is based on the participation and personal initiatives of its inhabitants. There is a high amount of diversity due to the different social groups that are present, these groups tend to distinguish themselves and group up. As a result there are several series of objects that are bounded together by the simple formal rules of the strip: a 75 m wide zone with a road passing through. My research is based on how these simple facts form the basis for the series of unplanned settlements that are intersected on some moments by highways and come together on some moments to form interesting relations.

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Madrid Formal and Informal At the beginning of my research I noted that Madrid has two faces. In the first place Madrid is an imperialist monumental city. It has a history as the authoritarian center of a huge Spanish empire. Madrid is the made capital at the exact center of Spain. For Spanish people, Madrid has the name of being a city of government and financial power, a city rather to work than to live in. As an ideological city, it symbolizes the power of the superior leader of Spain; the king and later on the dictator. In the second place the city has a very informal face. Madrid has an informal public life and the people manifest themselves in a very liberal and open way. Madrilenian people live on the streets, where they have informal talks and informal habits as eating tapas and stroll through the streets. There are lots of initiatives by people that create some sort of public function as a neighbourhood center or a library/cinema. People got liberated after the death of Franco, and the atmosphere of the city changed. With the launch of all sorts of public initiatives, Madrilenian show their participation with the city of Madrid. Altogether, I would define the life in Madrid as very informal, in contradiction with its architecture.

Royal Palace

Gran via

Neighbourhood center in an old tobacco factory

Street life with haloween

Movie night at a neighbourhood center

Public life in Madrid

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Informal = without a predefined form, unofficial, disordered, without a described set of rules

Informal architecture has a history with proposals that formed a critique or contra movement against the functionalist city. Amongst others; Superstudio, the situationist internationale, Archigram and Archizoom came with proposals as a way to oppose against the pragmatic truth brought by modernity.

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Constant: New Babylon Constant started his project of New Babylon in 1960 as response on the modernist city related to the ideas created within the movement of the situationist internationale. In Constants vision of the future, all non-creative production has been taken over by automated machines. All people can take advantage of this production so that they can discover and develop a creative purpose for their life. For Constant, the future society is about playing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It should not be forgotten that, once the functions are established, play will succeed on them.â&#x20AC;? The project of New Babylon is anticipating on this future, it consists out of a series of models and drawings that propose a continuous, lifted structure with different fragments. These different fragments have a different character and atmosphere so they can be used for different purposes.

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Superstudio: inventive design and evasive design

Superstudio: the continuous monument

Superstudio: Misura furniture series

Superstudio has a similar position as Constant, but they put emphasis on the participation of users. They took a critical position against the concrete box, brought by mass production and consumer society. To take a creative stance, in order to avoid the monopolies of truth brought by modernity. Every product has a practical function and a contemplative. In evasive design the emphasis is on the contemplative one to escape from ratio. “most people are living in concrete boxes without memory or character. While it is poetry that makes people alive and that live is not only lived in rigidly closed boxes for small parallel life, but also in the city and cars, supermarkets, cinema, highways... And that an object can be an adventure or subject of desire and honour, and finally a center of relations...” Superstudio created two proposals intending to stimulate participation and creativity. - To deliver products with a poetic functionality, ambiguous products with multiple usability - To creating some rules of the game, and leave openings for interpretation and initiatives

The informal cities of Latin America The informal cities grow fast and occupy large areas in Latin American cities as Rio de Janeiro, Buenas Aires and Caracas. These informal areas share some basic characteristics - There is a large amount of improvisation. Inhabitants live by passion for their built environment and adapt all the time. - They live with a freedom to build, this is a vital character for their way of living. - These areas have a permanent state of impermanence and incompleteness. - There is little distinction on morphology or style; apparently the inhabitants of these areas don’t feel a need to distinguish themselves. - There is neither formal bureaucracy nor government assistance in these areas. These areas function out of regulation.

Caracas

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Periphery of Madrid: Canada Real Galiana The Cañada Real Galiana is a high dense informal strip in the periphery of Madrid. As explained in the groupwork, this strip used to have the function of a cattle trail and the land is national heritage owned by the king. 40 Years ago the king gave some farmers the right to occupy the Cañada and allowed them to create some temporal settlement. As a result it has been occupied during the last 40 years by several social groups and it has evolved into its current state. It has certain similarities with the Latin American examples and its lifestyle and that were proposed by Constant and Superstudio. Characteristics of the Canada Real Galiana The Cañada Real follows a path of 75 meters wide, this 75 meter zone is defined as cattle trail and this is exactly the ground that is owned by the king. Land beside this zone is owned by municipalities, meaning that it is controlled. For this reason the inhabitants follow this 75 meter zone quite strictly. The zone of 75 meter is crossed by a road, generally about 12 meters wide. All inhabitants are dependent of this road, so it remains untouched. Settlements are a marking of ground. Settlements define the borders of an owned terrain or the terrain is bordered by fences. Since people live in illegality they feel a strong need to defence themselves. As a result of the right to create temporal settlements the people of the Cañada Real live in a constant state of temporality, on some moments the government destroys some buildings that they mark as dangerous or criminal. Besides, the population is still growing. There is a large differentiation of forms. People tend to distinguish and express themselves in different ways for different reasons such as cultural background, lifestyle, financial capability’s and personal style/ preferences. This has lead them to different morphological forms and different expressions in materiality and colors relating to their personal way of living. Similarities with Latin American examples The Cañada Real is similar to other informal areas. They share a freedom to build, a large amount of improvisation and a constant state of impermanence. The biggest difference is the large amount of variety and distinguishment that people show in the Canada. The atmosphere of the Cañada Real is in a way a better representation of the Madrilenian public life. If you ignore the state of illegality, poverty and in some areas misery, it is a very interesting model to inform the architecture of the city of Madrid. There is a sense of liberty and personal representation in the Cañada. People take responsibility and initiatives for their own home and built environment. The simple structural basic and the rich variety of forms leads to interesting spatial conditions, I have investigated these conditions in drawings. By interpreting specific conditions of the Cañada Real and notate this into drawings and after that in models I investigate the conditions and unveil certain potentials and qualities that are present in this informal linear structure.

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Mapping: Linear collection of different elements, related by the street This drawing puts emphasis on the linearity of the Ca単ada, all settlements are related to the road, and to the sequence of elements that it forms. The Ca単ada Real is like a necklace of different elements and series of elements that are bounded together by the road. All of these settlements are related to each other and share the same basic conditions. The street is a social public space where all life comes together. I interpreted the drawing and translated it into a 3D wire model. The model shows this basic linear condition but also the differentiation as such along this linear character. The conceptual model that came after this put emphasis on the different formal atmospheres, that are bounded together by a string.

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Clash of linear elements and series of elements This drawing is about the clash of different elements and series of elements. It is a drawing of a location where the metro passes the Ca単ada underneath and where a connection is present with a formal area besides the Ca単ada. It is the center of a network. The space has a special quality, as a place where different social groups get confronted with each other and the world around it. Different zones of the city are crossing and show an insight into their atmosphere. The drawing is a notation of the space as a layering of spatial experiences. With layers of the space itself and layers of the views into other segments with other atmospheres. After an interpretation this lead me to a model that represents this spatial experience. (to be seen on the next pages.) The model has a weird but clear character. In the next step this lead to some interesting conceptual models. These models have the spatial qualities of this layered character and is a combination of a space in itself and openness to the surroundings.

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14 THE INFORMAL CITY : ROBBIE NEIJZEN INFORMAL MADRID: ROBBIE NEIJZEN

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Extension of the Ca単ada On some parts of the Ca単ada, there are some settlements built outside of the 75 meter zone. Immediately the relation with the road is lost and this part starts to show a different sort of organization. As it is built out of the 75 meter zone, it will probably be demolished on short term. So the situation is even more temporal which leads to a slum like sort of sprawl of settlements. The combination of the logic of the Ca単ada and the structures out of this zones results in interesting relations of two zones.

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From mapping to design These mappings are to inform a design project. As the informal city is a self regulating system, we are unable to control its structure. The Cañada Real is based on personal initiatives that form the life in the Cañada. So what is than my role as an architect? We cannot control the Cañada Real but we can have a positive influence on the conditions inside of the Cañada. That’s why I propose to create some pilot project to have a positive influence on the conditions. Projects with an ambiguous functionality, built on specific spots that can give extra purpose to the Cañada Real. One of the proposals is to create a market in the area that’s adjacent to the neighbourhood of Rivas. All these pilot projects together will form a series of elements that can be recognized as such. These elements are an addition to the Canada and can be an inspiration for other settlements of the Cañada. 16 THE INFORMAL CITY : ROBBIE NEIJZEN

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Process Diagram Study of Fragmented Content

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FRAGMENTED PERIPHERIES Erik Stange Due to the complexity of relationships of the Ca単ada that seemingly conflict, yet are still bound together, it becomes complicated to describe accurately what the place is in its nature. Conventional maps do not describe these complexities and therefore it is necessary to represent it in a different means of exploration. The approach in the design methodology has looked into the expression of spatial experience as a result of fragmented visual information.

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Changes in Visual Experience Through Fragmentation A single photograph does not capture the entirety of a scene. It depicts a single moment determined by the person taking the picture that is held within one frame and focus. A photograph is an individual interpretation of a place at a specific time under specific conditions; it is personal, and therefore unique. Upon analysis of the photographic experience of the Ca単ada, it can be determined that there is an inherent sequencing of framing within the linear corridor. By looking at the content and context captured within the photographic frame it is evident that this boundary defines the only visual content presented, either blocking, screening, or allowing fragmented information to pass through. The experience of the Ca単ada Real changed while walking through the corridor even though the visual information remained limited or nonexistent with the interior. Because the extra sensory information was not connected to any linkable visual information, the experience was defined only what could be understood through the fragments revealed through the series of barriers that defined the central corridor. Similar to the way people understand the same body of text in a story differently, only fragments of information from the entirety of the context are pulled through to piece together the impression of the place. The visual fragments are created by typologies of barriers that are constructed along the main corridor. The interest lies in the spatial implications created by the sequence of these different types of barriers and how, through a catalogue of conditions, creates a drastically different spatial experience along the length of the Ca単ada.

Content and Context Broken down into categories of how the visual information is fragmented the framing of the barriers can be broken into three groups: 1. Clear/open connection 2. Screen connection 3. Closed/ no connection BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

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Sequence of Typologies Visual Barriers

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Open connection

Screen connection

Closed connection

Categories of Borders

Mapping of Conditions

Through categorization it makes it possible to look at the vast individual examples of the barriers in a more focused view. By selecting a sample from each category one is able to see the qualities that exemplify the framing condition.

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Fragmentation as a Result of Framing

Clear Connection Category

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Through photography the device of shadow it is discovered in the model the idea of the representation of an system while only physically seeing a part of it.

The idea from the mapping model taken to study how the shadow implies the completion of a system while only a small fragment of the model is shown.

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Hidden and Visible Cavities as a Result of Layered Density

Screened Connection Category

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Despite an extremely limited direct visual permeation, the understanding of separate layers and structures remains. The density of the model is apparent and creates the spatial conclusion of a network of cavities. The spaces in between the layers interweave and connect with one another.

Through an interweaving of parts, the assembly reveals an idea of peeling as a means of allowing visual permeation. BORDER CONDITIONS | MADRID

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Containment of Space without Enclosure

Closed Category

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Compilation of Conditions After mapping the set of conditions to create a catalogue of the fragmented borders, an initial compilation model was made by piecing fragments of each condition into one model. The result created a cavity in which the different qualities overlap, interweave, and layer themselves to create a junction of spatial qualities.

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Compilation of Conditions This model focus on the creation of cavities with the inclusion of framing systems

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Proposed site The choice of site is situated in the area of the midpoint of the linear form of the Ca単ada. The site lies atop the highway overpass of the M-50 and exists as the largest disconnect and disruption within the Ca単ada of the sequencing of researched conditions. It is the only place where the conditions disappear and a spatial anomaly is created. This creates a potential for a reinterpretation and reapplication of the conditions of the site. Continued with the ideas studied from the site of a compilation of fragmented visual conditions, it suggests the need for a program that is possible of achieving multiple conditions based on the use of the program. The inclusion of the contrast between the highway, the Ca単ada, and the local path will also be important in the selection of the program.

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image taken from the study area in canada real

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READING THE SPACE ReadingTHROUGH the space through ORNAMENTATION ornamentation Saba Zahedi AslAsl Saba Zahedi Canada real is a specific linear site outside of Madrid, occupied by low-income inhabitants. The site is fragmented into 5 sectors; however, in terms of building typology, atmosphere, and culture, it is much more diverse in each of the sections. With the filter of ornamentation as my individual topic, i investigated this strip. ornamentation has a rich historical background in architecture, and the impulse of ornamentation not only leads to enhancing the formal and structural qualities, but also fills the need of visual and sensual pleasure, which helps the viewer to communicate with the space. The diversity of the strip in terms of typology, use of materials and ornamentation was highly important in relation to my individual research topic. The goal was to find my own position toward the theme of ornamentation according to observations during the excursion.

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Theoritical Research By an overview towards history of art and ornamentation, one can notice that decoration, pattern and ornament were usually present in domestic interiors and exteriors, from the most ordinary to the most luxury and it was not separable from the building. however there is a controversial and blurry border between functionality and beauty of ornamentation. This question has been tickling my mind that what the role of visual aspects is and which characteristics and elements lead to better perceive the built environment. This finally solidified my interest to focus on ornamentation as one of the visual features of architecture. intention of my msc3 research is to highlight the fact that what ornamentation means in design and how it affects our perception in architectural spaces. it is fundamental to explore the concept that in what way ornament has been used through history and how it modified through times. architecture as an attached subject to people and the society is seeking a mechanism to link its context to the culture. What can be interpreted, as the architectural space is partly the result of combination of the forces of the society. This strong link generally is translated to the visible layers in the space and manifests itself through aesthetics and affects. ornamentation is linked to the identity both individually and socially. it is a principle aspect of visual culture; however, the visual composition has been investigated in different ways through the time; it can be considered as a universal language and it desires to express and interact. Theoretical efforts have been carried out to clarify the ambiguous origin of ornamentation according to the relation between man made objects and the nature. ornamentation defines the relation between parts and the whole; it can cover and unite at the same time. semper believed in sewing as the origin of ornamentation, where the fragments of the materials become one, held together and linked to each other, and the skill to hide the joints or leave them visible by the art of knotting. ornamentation emerges through these concealing and structuring as it transforms from a motif, pattern or a texture to another. The obligation to attach the components provides the opportunity to do it artfully as a whole.

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Victor horta as a key character in the european art nouveau was focusing in curvature; his style was influenced by the natural forms and it was a way to harmonize the built environment with the nature, yet he believed that his forms and ornamentations are highly practical and not just an artistic affection. an intention to create illusionistic ornament which imitates the natural forms was more common in 19th century; however, ornamentation was gradually separated itself from representational principles and shifted to more functional characteristics. sullivan saw a direct link between ornament and structure where they can benefit from each other in an organic system due to the sympathy between both. in his designs, sullivan has mentioned that, certain kind of ornament fits certain kind of structure, ”Like certain leaf on certain tree”1 . Fig 1.hotel taseel by Victor horta

Contemporary concept of ornamentation Though ornamentation faded temporarily due to orthodoxies of Modernism, representation, impression and the necessity of ornamentation is becoming more and more attached to architecture’s basic principles. Focusing on the issue of integrating the ornament and the outer layer was more developed later where architects were considering ornament and structure as one. The boundaries between architecture, structure, and ornament started to become blurry and vague. nowadays, it seems that a new generation of artists and architects, less weighed down by the dogmas of the past, may look into materialization and aesthetics of the building through another angel; it is becoming more and more influential in the process of the design. There are many possibilities for each component and their relation to the whole.

Fig2.Predator installation by greg lynn

Greg Lynn describes the term “intricacy” as the interrelation of parts to the whole. Based on the filter one applies to view, ornament can varies different meanings from micro scale to macro scale in relation to the whole. 2 BORDER BorderCONDITIONS Conditions || MADRID Madrid

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Ornament is more about what it creates than what it builds... ...Ornament is realization of orders.

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nowadays what is considered as ornament normally is not an extra layer added to the surface; the traditional meaning of the ornament has gone beyond just beautification. More than a stuck on layer in architecture, ornament should be originally integrated to design and the process of construction. architecture beside all the functionality and rationality needs to express and reflects itself and its qualities through visual aspects. Form is the main essence of architecture and the ornament is connected to form, and form in return is connected to a larger whole, architecture itself, and in order to understand the ornament, it is fundamental to understand the form. This creates a series of internal connections between components of the architecture, which is similar to a story made of series of events; ornament is integral to design and taken from it. ornament is found in between presence and existence. in order to understand this, the difference between presence and existence should be described and clarified. Presence is not measurable, it only can be felt and it affects; it is like a void or spirit or personal expressions. in contrast, existence is visible; it is solid and can be measured. When two physical objects connect, a measurable detail emerges and based on the way they are linked, an immeasurable spirit also arises and ornament is created. ornamentation is perceived by realization of an order. Behind any ornamentation, an order is hidden and recognition of this order reflects the beauty and perception of the space. There is no absolute definition of ornament; it is a place where metamorphosis exists and elements become united. it delimits the building, reflects the ideas behind it and creates affection, promotes sensations and resonance for the viewer. ornament moves between realism and abstraction, artistic and functionality, reality and fantasy. ornament is in fact the only tool by which an architect can manifest invisible expressions and feelings that are not visible such as fear, love, hate and so on. Endnotes:

1. louis.h.sullivan, ornament in architecture, The engineering Magazine, 1892 2. greg lynn. intricacy. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania, 2003

Bibliography: -Mousavi, Farshid & Kubo, Michael, 2008, The function of ornament, actar

-Cornetet, James, 2004, The intricacy of ornament: a Theory of responsive ornamentation in architecture, a thesis submitted to the University of Cincinnati -sullivan, louis.h, 1918, Kindergarten chats and other writings, dover Publications -lynn, greg, 2003, intricacy. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania -loos, adolf, 1908, ornament und Verbrechen,(in 1913 the essay was translated into english) -Wigley,Mark, 2001, White Walls, designer dresses: The Fashioning of Modern architecture, The Mit Press - Venturi.r, izenour.s, scott Brown .d,1972, learning from las Vegas, Part iii, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ugly and ordinary architecture, or the decorated shed,â&#x20AC;? The Mit Press http://www.oasejournal.nl/en/issues/65 (accessed on 26,27nov2011) http://www.patrikschumacher.com/texts/Parametric%20Patterns.html#_ edn1(accessed on 08oct2011) http://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/re-sampling-ornament-basel/2417 (accessed on 19nov2011)

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Area of study The strip was a diverse collection of materials and ornamentation. reusing the materials and the order of juxtaposition of different elements creates an ornamental affect and communicates with the viewer. Colourful tailings and patterning, stuck-on statues as well as fences made of garbage and re-used materials is dominantly structuring the exterior envelope of the strip and modifies the atmosphere of the middle pathway for the flaneur time to time; one can confront a solid wall and a step further he or she can sees through the holes of the fences what is beyond. however, this exterior skin is a bridge that connects to interior and gives the message to the outsider about the spaces and inhabitants behind the walls and fences.

Fig3-8.images taken from the study area, canada real

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I. Photography Recording the strip

II. Fragment selection

Selecting 4 fragments of spaces to explore

III. Analysing selected fragments Fragment selection

Exploring the fragments to find the main themes about them by collage and detaching from the context

IV. Formal interpretation Translation of the image based on formal aspects

V. Physical model

Series of physical models based on formal interpretations

VI. Exploring physical model

Investigation of the qualities of each physical model

VII. Spatial qualities

Mapping as a viewer of the space one not only communicates with the space itself but also with its visual aspect. There are various vectors based on which space can be perceived differently. i didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any specific tool for mapping from the beginning, but i took a lot of photographs of anything i would consider ornamental through the strip. i was mostly interested in uncommon or accidental use of materials in walls, fences, power poles, and barriers. ornamentation is capable of creating uncommon feelings and impressions due to composing common elements. The combination of ordinary elements of a building such as walls and floor and blocks can be read as an ornament only because of an uncommon combination; ornament is neutral in its language but it is playful in its form. From many pictures i had, i selected four fragments to focus more on their ornamental qualities and the relation between their components.

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Mapping methodology, from photography to design proposal

Selected fragments of the site

Fig9-12, images taken from the study area , canada real

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Fragment I Fragment i is an exterior wall of a building .a combination of a plain vertical wall, which is intersected by horizontal blocks and an empty frame. The combination of these ordinary components creates an uncommon condition that i selected to focus on. The orders that are dominant in this fragment are: 1.multiple perspectives, 2.light and shadow, 3.Filled and empty spaces and4. in-between spaces. Based on these orders two different physical models were produced. as the next step i tried to detach the formal interpretation from its origin (the image) and exploring its spatial qualities. The context can fade away and the space can be read differently based on the layer we choose to focus on. Fig 13, Collage of the fragment i, made from images taken from different perspectives

1st Interpretation The model is made in three types with different materials and various method of jointing elements to study light and shadow and its affect on space.

Fig14, First formal translation of fragment i

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The model is made of small pieces dividing the surfaces, and creating small spaces beside each other. Therefore due to intensity and angles of light, shadow, colours and reflections, different atmospheres can be created, which is studied in this model.

Fig 15, light and shadow study

Shifting the two parts of the model creates different spaces in between.

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2nd Interpretation Based on the collage (fig13) another interpretation of fragment i is perceived due to different views and multiple perspectives .in this model different elements made of various materials and thickness are representatives of the elements in the original photograph. This multiple perspectives bolds the idea of intersection between different elements, surfaces, lines and materials and creates the affect dynamicity in the space. Fig 17, second formal interpretation of fragment i

Fig18, intersecting elements/ dynamicity

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Fragment II Behind the small fragment of a broken wall, many orders are hiding which affect the viewer. The main theme that drew my attention in this fragment was the juxtaposition of layered elements in vertical and horizontal directions. By separating the fragment from the background (the wall) it looses the scale and can be interpreted as a space itself, made of layers and small spaces in-between these layers that one can navigate and walk inside, go from one small room to another and experience different spaces and atmospheres.

Fig 19, Collage of fragment ii, separation from background

image Caption

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Interlocking the surfaces to each other, and as the result open and semi-open spaces linked to each other in different levels.

Fig 21,interlocking surfaces

Labyrinth, which is created by the layers of materials, is connecting the spaces to each other or separating the spaces between the layers by narrow or wide pathways.

Fig 22, layering/narrow wide paths

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Fragment III Fragment iii, an exterior wall which is separating the ruins behind it from pedestrian way in the middle, was a combination bricks and blocks. The main idea interpreted of this fragment is the order of juxtaposition of the materials randomly next to each other. The joints between the elements and combination of the colours and materials together with the filled and empty spaces in-between give the fragment a sculptural affect. The fragment is scaleless. it can be in scale of jewellery or a huge structure. due to the penetration of this wall the viewer could have an interpretation of the space behind it but with the filter of these blocks. Fig25-28, affect of materials on perception of the space behind

opaque

Fig 23, Collage of fragment iii, de-scaling

Fig 24,Formal translation of fragment iii, rusticated/scale less/diverse/ relief

latticed

Quilted

dematerialized

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Fragment IV

Fig29, Formal translation of fragment iV

Fragment iV, a fence made of different fences and different patterns drew my attention. The idea of super imposition is the main aspect of the fragment iV. The concept that was explored in this fragment was the affect that is created when the layers are superimposed in front of each other. so the superimposition itself is not important, but how one can perceive the space through this layering is the main point that was explored in the physical model. if we zoom in more into the fragment, in some parts this superimposition of lines and patterns turns to intertwining elements due to the confusion and sight error.

Fig 30, Vague/moirĂŠd

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Fig 31, intertwined/complex

Design proposal, Wall as space layered and in-between spaces, combination of different fragments, and the relation of different characteristics as the main ideas i took from the mapping led me to the idea of a wall as an architectural space. This wall can be the combination of different characteristics in one. a place that one can experience various atmospheres and affects by wandering from a place to another, from a dark room to a bright balcony, from a level to another level with a penetration to other spaces. The location is crucial due to the fact that a wall is an in-between element. Wall itself can be positioned in between two spaces; uniting or separating them. What is the role of this wall, and what is the relation of these two spaces to each other are influential on the design. The program inside the wall is not fixed and can change based on the needs. Because of the variety of the characteristics in architectural aspect, the program also can be diverse.

Fig32, First design proposal, wall as space

The model I made based on the result of the mapping is a scale less model. It can be a piece of the wall or it can be the wall itself.

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...and what is happening within the wall?

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Hide camera, Hide myself

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EXPLORATION INTO INTIMATE PUBLIC SPACE - MENTAL BORDER : YILIN ZHOU

EXPLORATION

INTO INTIMATE PUBLIC SPACE: MENTAL BORDER

Yilin ZHOU The first time we walked through the Canada Real, it was like an adventure into a intimate public space. The relation between the locals and us was in tension. They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be exposed in public, while we have to record everything we encounter. Therefore, this conflict led to our feeling of fear: we do not feel safe to walk closer to certain areas or group of people; we do not dare to take photos at certain positions and angles.

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Preface “What is it?” This is the question staying in my mind when our studio- ‘the Border Condition and Territory-decided to take Canada Real in Madrid as the investigation site for our design task. Canada Real is a 15km long strip at the outskirt of southeast Madrid, dwelled with poor people of multi-ethnicity. Before the excursion to the site, the whole group of nine people put in a lot of effort to find out the answer to this question, from Google Earth, from internet and Youtube video, from various local newspapers and television, etc. Nevertheless, we were impossible to even get a general overview of the whole site. Google Earth don’t even have a street view of almost the whole area, media only showing some specific spots which are in extremely bad condition, for instance, the area of drug dealing, area full of ruins and trash. Somehow, the information we got made us much more curious about Canada Real, as well as a strong unsafe feeling. During the excursion, basically what we wanted to do was to document Canada Real as much as possible. However, it was also extremely difficult, due to the locals’ strong willing to hide themselves. The ownership of the land belonging to Spanish royal family, whatever built on it is illegal and could be legally torn town anytime without any notification. Therefore, for local people, the consciousness of intimacy is significantly strong. They don’t want their houses to be seen in public. On the other hand, the government is trying to hide this strip from the planned modern community nearby in order to attract more residents. As a result, local houses are highly fenced from both sides, the front-door side facing to inner strip and the backyard side facing to modern community and landfilled area. Moreover, there is merely street life, people intent to stay in their courtyards and watch over the street condition. “When we ‘go away’ we look at the environment with interest and curiosity. It speaks to us in ways we appreciate, or at least we anticipate that it will do so. In other words, we gaze at what we encounter. And this gaze is as socially organized and systematized as is the gaze of the medic.” -John Urry, “the tourist gaze” Our behavior, gazing whatever we encountered was considered as intruding by the the locals. We were clearly informed by people and the dogs, “You can watch, but you cannot take photos. You can talk, but you cannot touch”. The usual collage of private and public space, urban and domestic space, brings in a discourse of intimate public space. Therefore, my research is focusing on mapping the mental border of walkable zones and photographable zones, more specifically, mapping various spatial combinations of physical elements and social elements through first-time tour to investigate their different effects on mental feeling. 202

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An Private C

An Unknown Intimate Canada Real Google street-view only shows 9 spots of the whole 15-kilometer strip.

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Terms Reflecting on my own experience, the ‘intimate public space’ becomes a strong notion that I would like to discuss in this essay. First of all, what ‘intimate’ and ‘public’ mean in contemporary context need to be clarified. Intimacy The ‘intimate space’ reinforces the concept of the private space, and on the sanctity of the individual’s inmost thoughts and feelings. Physically, ‘intimate’ is a term used in conjunction with objects that are sensually closed in on or touched. It commonly known as expression of close friendship, love, or sexual attraction which people have for one another, and being inside someone’s personal space, holding hands, hugging and sexual activity. It is also possible to be physically intimate with someone without actually touching. For instance, a sustained eye contact can be considered as intruding into someone else’s private space for the purpose of being intimate. 1 In social discipline, intimacy does not only refer to individual, but also refer to community. If a community share a specific belief or habit, there is intimacy lying on that specific aspect too. In architecture discipline, private space is the place the public cannot enter freely. ‘Intimacy’ is the key characteristic of private space. Public Public spaces have many purposes in social life- they allow people to make sense of the social norms that regulate society, they let people learn to express themselves and learn form the reactions of others, and they let people make certain acts or expressions ‘real’ by having witnesses acknowledge them. 2 -Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition The changing notion of public space has been long-time discussed. Public space can be a space where public gathers. It can be a place that is public or that is made public. For the characteristics of public space, it needs to be entered without paying and free for doing anything. Intimacy in public space Space can be made into public, therefore, private space can be transformed into public as well. In this case, if the individual do not want to expose their intimacy into public, there is a conflict emerged. Media Urban planners have never had more data to refer to when they consider the question about how the street is being used. The city is used to be a 2-D flat sheet seeing from bird-view for hundreds and thousands of years. But now, it has extended to 3-D space, augmented, manipulated, hacked, etc. The digitized city makes city itself scaleless and brings invisible to visible. Google Earth’s digitized globe presents both the aerial view and the zoom of almost the entire world to the public. It makes the planet and the atom, or the global and the local, all presented and immediately accessible with any computer from anywhere. With several simply typing and dragging the mouse, it engenders a visual experience that mimics the continuous flow of human vision, zooming in from the galaxy scale to human scale, jumping across one continent to another. In this case, the sense of speed and distance is distorted. Moreover, it creates an fancy intimate globe. Public space and private space are documented in the same logic and presented as a collage of huge amount of images on a computer screen. The aerial view brings large features and patterns into visibility, as well as make the invisible rooftop into visible. The website “Google Sightseeing” has a category called “Rudeness”, including collection of “Naked Couple”, “Top 10 Naked People”, etc. In the past, rooftop is consider as a intimate space which people can see nothing from the street. Due to the unbelievable clear satellite photos, rooftop is forced to be exposed to the public and no intimacy anymore. The same things happen for the zoom into street-view. The google car has once captured an image of a woman peeing in the street, although she taking her car as a barrier to create an temporary intimate public space. These two extreme examples indicate that the way we used to create intimate space should be changed. 204

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1. Naked Couple [http://googlesightseeing.com/2008/03/ naked-couple/]

3. Naked, by Eiko & Koma [http://eikoandkoma.org/index.php?p=ek&id=1136&lang=eng]

4. Installation in Reina Sofia [photo taken by author]

2. Peeing in the street, Madrid [http://googlesightseeing.com/2008/12/ peeing-in-the-street/]

Physically, it seems difficult to protect intimacy nowadays. However, virtually, it is even harder. Once we logging-in to Facebook or sending a message through twitter, our whereabouts can be reported and then searched by us or by other witnesses. If voice and image recognition technologies developed more mature, we would be even more searchable than ever. Finally, there is no intimacy. It makes a radical change in our private life. Art Since the technology development has radically exposed the intimate space to the public, a number of contemporary artists have started to discuss on this issue. Some of them are dealing with physical and spatial installation. “Naked” is a performance and installation working in intimate scale by the Japanese-American duo Eiko and Koma at Baryshnikov Arts Center in Chicago. The performance is a naked man and woman moving toward and away from each other in an extremely slowness on a messy floor of earth, feathers, sticks and vegetation. One side there is mirrors hanging on the stiff cream-colored canvas, on the other side the same canvas, punctured with eye-level holes, hanging from the ceiling in an L shape to close up the performance space. When audience arrived, they are suggested to take paper and pencils to draw Eiko and Koma by watching the performance from the holes. The essence of this performance is the slow revelation carrying out by the cooperation of various sensory aspects. There are lights gradually brightening and dimming, the irregular drips of water, the sound of the leaves caused by body movement, the breathe of performers, even the sound of people coming and going. In this performance, the intimate scale is the key functioning element. Because the audience can be proximate to the performers, their lives and deaths are perceived completely. Intimate space is much sensitive than other space. “Light Sentence” in Reina Sofia lays its discourse on the boundary of intimate space. It is playing with fence and light. The fences are laid in different orientations to form a puzzle-like path with unnecessary twists and turns. The artist also apply patterns with various sizes of openings to the fences to give a gradient of intimacy to the path. With the cooperation of light, the feeling of mystery and intimacy is reinforced.

Reference 1. Richard Sennett, the conscience of the eye, the design and social life of cities, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1990 2. Giuliana Bruno, Public Intimacy, architecture and the visual arts, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007 3. Edited by Vittoria Di Palma, Diana Periton and Marina Lathouri, Intimate Metropolis, Urban Subjects in the Modern City, New York: Taylor & Francis Group, 2009 4. Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: 1998

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Historical Center

Sol

An Private Canada A

First-time Exploration F Walking Two Days

W T

D1. Sector 1- Sector 5 Metro-Walking-Bus D2. Sector 6 Bus- Walking-Bus

Canada Real

Methodology 1. Photography taking photos of whatever attracting my attention

2. Data Process

2.1 collecting materials from first-time walking tour through the whole strip 2.2 cross-comparing each photo respect to its spatial condition and its position and angle when it had been taken.

3. Mapping mental border and feeling categorizing the feeling based on fear and joy and recording its emotional gradient.

4. Abstract the settings of fear

re-constructing spatial settings of three themes of fear

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Canada Real

Walking Route

Bus Route

Metro Route

Known Area

First-time exploration Map

Data Process

Data Pro

Step 1

Step 2

Analyze physical and social elements which influence the mental feeling

Analyze shootin

Safe

vehicle

trash bin/ clothes

house

Opened Door

outsider

local Elements

Distance

furniture

tree/grass/trash bin/dirts

Position

Angle

Unsafe

people (adult/kid) Safe

fence

mud/water

dog

Mobile

Stable

Physical Elements

Data Process Social Elements

Elements

Step 1

Step 2

Unsafe

Perspective of photo Step

Cross-comparision: Social elements- people

Distanc of takin

Sample Analysis The physical elements of these two photos are the same. There to take photo is noSafe courtyard so that the doors and windows of the houses directly facing the sidewalk. However, in the lower photo, social elements made my shooting position and angle changed immediately. The local setting is recorded as a highly distorted perspective Unsafe toview. take photo Step 3

1. Photography & 2. Data Process Step 1

analyze the physical elements and social elements in each photo

Step 2 analyze the position and angle of each photo

Step 3

cross-compare the results of step 1 and step 2 to reflect what is my mental feeling at the moment I pressed down the shutter of my camera

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1. Photography Hereby, from left to right vertically I list all the photos I took during the first tour through Canada Real. The photo sequences which has a black background are the intersection area between each two sectors. The width of the black rectangle indicates the different width of the cutting roads in different sector areas.

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2. Data Process Conclusion From the overall analysis in the previous page, I find out that as I go from the northern part to the southern part, the hatched color becomes more and more grey, while the red hatch which represents social elements appears more. Meanwhile, my shooting distance becomes further and further from the object, and the angle becoming sharper. That is to say, if the border between locals and us are very clear, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actually safer for us to take photo. If the border is blurred by trash, tree, etc, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s indeed more dangerous to take photo.

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Joy Joy Fear

Joy

Joy Fear

Fear Joy Fear Fear Fear

Fear

Walking through the whole strip Safe

Unsafe

3. Mapping Twelve photos are chosen for further mapping to investigate the spatial condition of my mental feeling.

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JOY of freely taking photo JOY of having a lunch break

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FEAR of barking dogs JOY of believing in groupmate

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JOY of open area JOY of cute kids

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FEAR of exposed in bright FEAR of unpredictable pond

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JOY of wildland FEAR of darkness

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FEAR of junky FEAR of beaten by drug-dealer

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Fear of visible threatening

Fear from imagination

Fear of endless repetition

4. Abstraction Since fear being the domestic feeling during the exploration, I abstract three levels of fear and reconstruct their corresponding spatial settings: 1. Fear of visible threatening 2. Fear from imagination 3. Fear of endless repetition

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Design Proposal

SITE Madrid_Plaza Mayo

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lasoporP ytilauq laitapS

ssensseldnE lanrefnI

Infernal Endlessness Infernal Endlessness

Infernal Endlessness

SPACE of FEAR and ESCAPE HOWEVER, Can anybody actually escape from anything? Once you have the desire to escape, you are immediately captured by another fear. It could be fear of not being able to escape, or, fear of choosing the wrong escaping route... Once you get into this game, no, WE, it is an Infernal Endlessness.

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