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Madison Macheske
Honors Thesis
LINKING THE UNDERLYING THEORETICAL QUESTIONS TO PRACTICAL DESIGN
SOLUTIONS:
A SYNTHESIS OF THEORY 2 AND DESIGN STUDIO 7 WITH EXPERIENCES ABROAD
2
CONTENTS
3 DISCOVER THE INVISIBLE CITY – VISIBLE, INVISIBLE, TEMPORAL
7 DISGUISE AS A FLANEUR
10 DISCOVER MONTAGE
13 DEVISE A MANIFESTO – HABITAT IN ARCHITECTURE
15 DESIGN AN INTENTION
17 DRAW ONE’S OWN IMAGE
19 DIFFER THE APPROACH
21 DWELL IN THOUGHT
23 RETROSPECT
3
DISCOVER THE INVISIBLE CITY – VISIBLE, INVISIBLE, TEMPORAL
An invisible city, the true meaning of which I discovered abroad during
the Vicenza Studio, can have vast definitions. Simply, an invisible city can be an
unknown, new city that one is able to experience for the first time. On the other
extreme, it may even be a city in which one has lived their entire life with regular
routines; however, if they take the road less travelled, they themselves can
discover new follies within their own surroundings. Architects have the advantage
of being able to link these two by studying the layouts of major cities and their
respective public areas of access. One is able to make the invisible become visible
by drawing connections from the large scale organizational networks of cities and
the resulting penetrations necessitated by a systematic urban layout enabling
access of traffic and people. For example, the Termini Station, a major train hub,
makes its way into the city of Rome; the architecture of the train station manifests
the act of receiving and filtering people. It was an idea of telescoping the past,
utilizing historical design elements and ways of working, and pushing those to the
present. This train station elicits a visible effect on people, an impression, over
time the same way that cities do. While visiting Rome and entering through the
Rome Termini, the phrase “all roads lead to Rome” makes a big impression
beginning with the name selection of the train station itself – indicating travel
terminates there.
The image (taken from
Rowe’s Collage City) to the left shows
a public square – a meeting place;
these public areas have the ability to
bring together people from all over
the world. 1 In an excerpt from
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, he
writes “when some people happen to
find themselves together, taking shelter… or crowding beneath an awning… or
stopping… in the square, meetings [happen]… among them.”2 Architecture has
this ability to bring people together, even in the most subtle ways; it fosters
friendships and conversations between people that may otherwise never have
met.
1 Colin Rowe. Collage City. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press) 129. 2 Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities trans. William Weaver (Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1972), 51.
4
From semester seven, where the focus was designing an urban idea in
the heart of New York, these theoretical ideas surfaced in every aspect of the
design and within the design process itself. Broadway Bend, An Iconic Gateway
and Destination, welcomes people arriving from the new Penn Station. The site
both receives and filters people to and from the major access point into the city.
It acts as an area where people can congregate and enjoy both nature and
themselves as a community. It uses the idea of a termination end point, similar to
the Rome Termini Station, where the central theme is that after one arrives, the
complex itself becomes the destination. It grows into more of a community rather
than a filtration system that defined the original Penn Station. Both the Termini
Station in Rome and Broadway Bend in New York raise an interconnected web of
journeys; similarly, in the same book, Invisible Cities, Calvino suggests that a
“network of routes…follows … an up‐and down course of steps, landings…[and]
bridges. Combining segments of the various routes…[allows] each inhabitant [to]
enjoy every day the pleasure of a new itinerary.”3 He adds that “the most fixed
and calm lives…are spent without any repetition” and I can see why architecture
as well as urban design needs to follow the same rules; it needs to be fresh and
exciting, innovative and original, to keep the best life for those of the community.4
3 Calvino, 88. 4 Ibid.
3D Plan Diagram of Systematic Parts. Broadway Bend in collaboration with Barrett Weaver. Design Studio 7. 2017.
5
Broadway Bend does just that by introducing an interactive experience. The
ability to eat, play, work, live, and learn are all within the open‐concept space.
Fantastic freeform geometries guide the public along their individual pathways
and creates moments of discovery along each, unique itinerary undertaken.
On the image to
the right (taken from Rossi
Aldo’s book, The
Architecture of the City),
the layout of this city has
apparent interconnected
routes and options for one
to make his or her
commute.5 Tying this back
to the Invisible Cities, one
can discover new parts
and areas of the city by
venturing on a new path, thus making what was invisible to them visible. The city
is illuminated in a new light by merely taking an alternative route and stumbling
across new things.
I experienced this phenomenon first‐hand while in Vicenza, where the
narrow interwoven streets allow the inhabitants to discover new cafes around
every corner, or perhaps a courtyard encapsulated within. In Aldo’s book, the idea
of interpretation of architecture presents itself; the “overlapping of the individual
and the collective memory, together with… architectural design whose elements
are preexisting and formally defined, [it’s] true meaning is unforeseen at the
5 Rossi Aldo, The Architecture of the City (Unknown), 14.
Axonometric Diagram of Broadway Bend in collaboration with Barrett Weaver. Design Studio 7. 2017.
6
beginning and unfolds [later on]… with the meaning of the city.”6 This linking
between time and place, city and context, with architecture and meaning is the
paragon of what we, as designers, wish to create. Before the process of design,
the process of research comes into play –
sketching in particular. While studying in
Vicenza, I was able to examine streetscapes and
environments and how people move through it.
Architecture has the ability to make an
impression on people, and with the context of
the city, one is able to develop their own ideas
to explain why a building is a certain way and
thus enjoy it further with a redefined meaning.
Aldo’s words say it perfectly; “this is the meaning
of architecture of the city… the figure is clear but
everyone reads it in a different way…[opening it
up to] a complex evolution.”7 A great example
of this is in Rome, from Renzo Piano’s Ara Pacis
museum. With the entire facility being built
around an artifact in a simple but beautiful way,
the vessel that architecture creates becomes
less interpretation and more facilitation of each
individual’s experiences with the Ara Pacis.
6 Aldo, 18 7 Aldo, 19.
Sketches from Vicenza Studio. 2018.
7
DISGUISE AS A FLANEUR
Meandering, letting the ambience and world guide oneself on no
particular path, one can experience the world in a different light – as flaneurs. It
brought into question the idea of the ‘psycho‐geographical’ city. When one walks
and explores a city, whether they are entirely new to it or are rediscovering it
along a different route, they invent space. They invent a new way of looking at
space and understanding how it is made. When an urban planner, or voyeur
(cartographer), is planning a city, he or she has an aerial perspective – the big
picture. Two cities emerge from this urban plan: a context city and a lived city.
Everyday practitioners or residents read the city unconventionally while the
original voyeur has an in depth reading, containing nearby context and intellectual
meaning.
While designing Broadway Bend,
my partner and I were able to plan from
above after analyzing the site and its
surrounding context. Traffic congestion,
pedestrian safety, and open space were
key drivers that allowed the urban layout
to take shape. The introduction of
roundabouts, open plazas, raised gardens,
and dense forested parks are transitional
elements in the design that increase safety
and enable flow of the public and required
transportation. Follies in the park create
moments of pause and relaxation with the
ability to play sports, people‐watch, have
a picnic, or even barbeque outdoors.
On a meandering path, one has
the ability to stop and notice the subtle
details and exciting wildlife and nature
that one would normally pass by. These
normal days where one can miss out on
the simple beauties of urban planning and
nature are the “the everyday [which] has a certain strangeness that does not
surface, or whose surface is only its upper limit, outlining against the visible.”8
People are so in tune with their daily routes and rituals that they do not enjoy the
finer things the city around them has to offer. I had the opportunity to disguise
myself as a flaneur and meander through the streets of Barcelona – a city that
welcomes the idea of being outside with its wide walkable streets and strict city
8 Michel de Certeau. “Walking in the City.” The Practice of Everyday Life. Translated by Steven Rendall. Berkley: University of California Press, 2002. 93.
Plan Diagram of Broadway Bend in collaboration with
Barrett Weaver. Design Studio 7. 2017.
8
grid. For an afternoon, I
wandered through the city,
seeing universities just in time
for the students to get out,
parks where children were
playing, and the Arc Di Triumf
with its commanding presence
and processional approach. For
the perfect flaneur, explained
by Baudelaire, it is a dream “to
be away from home and yet to
feel oneself everywhere at
home; to see the world, to be
at the centre of the world, and
yet to remain hidden from the
world.”9 The idea of being content, searching, discovering, and enjoying the city
around us is what the lived city represents. No matter what city, each
circumstance revolves around realizing there is more to the makeup of the city
than one’s regular routine.
Similarly, in the CENE
Institute, the idea is that the
people walking along the highline
stop and meander off the path to
discover what the CENE Institute
has in store. In the design, we
aimed to seamlessly merge the
high line with the demonstration
garden of the CENE Institute. We
achieved this by constructing the
exterior of the institute around
the same level as the high line
and using native plant species. By
enticing the passing walkers, the
CENE Institute successfully
invites visitors and thus educates
them on the environment.
9 Charles Baudelaire. The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays. Translated and edited by Jonathon Mayne, New York: Phaidon, 1986. 9.
Erin Chantry. "The Grid…200 Years On." At the Helm of the Public Realm:
An Urban Design Blog. January 4, 2017. Accessed September 8, 2017.
https://helmofthepublicrealm.com/tag/urban‐grid‐design/.
View from the High Line, The CENE Institute in collaboration with Barrett
Weaver. Design Studio 7. 2017.
9
Additionally, on the topic of a meandering path – on a recent hiking trip
to Arizona, I experienced the practice of flaneurs first hand. Upon arriving at our
planned destination to enjoy rare rock formations and interesting hikes, we
noticed that there was so much more than we had imagined possible.
Spontaneously taking the road untraveled, we stumbled upon Sedona
and a quaint town; it was one of the best days of the trip, all thanks to the
meandering path we took – rather than taking the direct route back. The ever‐
changing city also helps the flaneur rediscover space easier; Mulder writes that
“cities are growing increasingly complex, increasingly rich in internal and external
linkages, increasingly comprehensive and concentrated, increasingly transparent
yet incomprehensible.”10 The internal and external linkages describes perfectly
the specific exits one can take on the interstate to discover the unknown beyond
the hill.
10 Arjen Mulder. “TransUrbanism.” TransUrbanism. Rotterdam: NAI Publishers, 2002. 7.
10
DISCOVER MONTAGE
Moving urbanism encompasses the dynamic nature of culture, people, and architecture. Meaning is constantly being refined and urbanism is always being redefined. For example, I created a montage film with my theory group. During the process of film‐making, we sought to define a metaphor and relate both space and time to the significance of an object. Through the eyes of a pair of sunglasses, one can see their own interpretation of the world. By passing the sunglasses to the next person, the perspective and meaning changed. Throughout this process we accumulated the assumption that nothing is static – meaning is constantly being altered with every passing second.
Similarly, from the Beaubourg Effect, one can discover that buildings, too, can hold dynamic meaning. From a program involving arts and culture, “emptiness would signify the complete disappearance of a culture of meaning and of aesthetic sensibility.”11 I find this very powerful because it shows that with every passing visitor to the establishment, they all want to select and take a piece of the culture, a piece of the meaning. Additionally, “the one mass effect is that of touching, or manipulating…The day after the opening Beaubourg could or should have disappeared… as the only possible response to the absurd challenge of the transparency and the democracy of culture: each person would have carried away [a piece of this culture].“12 This act of taking and replacing really emphasizes the condition of shifting and ephemeral moments in time. The building’s meaning constantly shifted with each new cultural exhibit and each visitor would leave with a new understanding of meaning from the shows.
Translating this into Broadway Bend, the incorporation of a newspaper museum created the ability for the public to learn about history and potentially take a piece home with them. Appropriately, the museum itself writes history as
11 Jean Baudrillard. “The Beauborg‐Effect; Implosion and Deterrence.” Translated by Rosalind Krauss and Annette Michelson. October, Vol.20 (Spring,1982), 5. 12 Baudrillard, 10
Interior View of the Herald Newspaper Museum, Broadway Bend in collaboration with Barrett Weaver. Design Studio 7. 2017.
11
well as reports it. The dynamic stories that the Herald Newspaper published in turn generate an interesting public activity and program.
Even the CENE Institute uses this dynamism. With each turn of the
exhibits, or sky sCENE, ground sCENE, and water sCENE respectively, the public becomes both aware and educated on the wildlife around them. It is an interesting paradox of educating the youth and general public on nature within an urban jungle.
Learning similarly from the Eiffel Tower, the public sees it as a total monument. It’s “pure – virtually empty – sign – is ineluctable… [it] acquires a new power: an object when we look at it, it becomes a lookout in its turn when we visit it, and now constitutes as an object, simultaneously extended and collected beneath it.”13 This is a particularly interesting point – the structure itself holds shifting meaning, from an object at a distance, to an interior mechanism (elevator, stairs, etc.) from within, to a place for viewing at the top. One building holds an infinite number of ways of understanding and interpreting. I had the opportunity to visit the Eiffel Tour while in Paris and the feeling that one gets upon seeing it for the first time… and every time thereafter, is irreplaceable. It takes your breath away from the pure monumental size of the built form, yet signifies an historic and renowned icon for the city.
In parallel from the video my team and I created, one object (pair of sunglasses) holds an infinite number of ways to look at the world with each new pair of eyes that look out from them. Interpretation of these meanings come from experiencing the building, urban environment, and objects at various perspectives. Like Charles Robinson, godfather of the City Beautiful movement, he believed “Cities are not made to be looked at, but to be lived in.”14 We must experience these things for ourselves and develop new meanings.
13 Roland Barthes. “The Eiffel Tower.” The Eiffel Tower and Other Mythologies. New York: Noonday Press, 1979. 4. 14 Witold Rybczynski. Makeshift Metropolis: Ideas about Cities. New York: Scribner, 2010. 16‐17.
McKracken, Peter. “Eiffel Tower – Elevator Cars” Image 11. 2010. Accessed March
18, 2018. http://www.elevatorbobs‐elevator‐pics.com/eiffel_cars.html
12
My partner and I strove to create that sense of wonder and awe, similarly
to the Eiffel Tour’s monumental scale, in the Broadway Bend. With the heavy‐appearing, yet lightly floating structures within these glass boxes, one cannot help but appreciate the engineering feat and pure sense of excitement upon viewing a deliberate, architectural contradiction.
Interior View of Floating Work, Broadway Bend in collaboration with Barrett Weaver. Design Studio 7. 2017.
13
DEVISE A MANIFESTO – HABITAT IN ARCHITECTURE
Manifestos are a polemical way to outline an argument; they declare an intention, motive, and viewpoints of the issuer. Manifestos are highly variable – changing from actively seeking public attention, to merely describing one’s thoughts on a situation, to becoming an adjective where it is readily perceived by the senses: sight, smell, taste, touch and sound. The senses would not engage without the presence of nature, warmth, sunlight, and the world around us to appreciate. We must surround ourselves with knowledge and passion to make this world a better place through architecture – not by destroying it through mass production of context‐less forms. Woods writes, “the classical distinction between art and life [should disappear]... Architecture concerns itself with dynamic structure: tissues, networks, matrices, hierarchies.”15 These complex moments derive from nature itself. Architects are inspired by the world in which we were born and have imagined the greatness it could one day be. Why set out to destroy it with our gross carbon footprint? Lefebvre speaks about acknowledging the notion of habitat and insuring its realization on the ground. Architecture gives us a unique opportunity: “the right to inhabit…mortals inhabit while they save the earth… while they conduct their lives in preservation and use.”16 Being cognizant of what habitat already exists before any size development takes over is vital – we must protect and preserve what was purposely put on this earth. Why then does man mass produce these cut and paste communities, urban sprawl focused on obtaining the most profit and quickest construction? Koolhaas points out that “a city is composed principally of the habitations of men, and that strait sided, and right angled houses are the most cheap to build, and most convenient to live in.”17 Perhaps in the future, we will one day realize that architecture with purpose, with relation to context, and with careful decisions of design will be the answer to the built environment. We will be able to see the natural environment work its way into our projects, smell the trees and flowers that presented themselves before concrete was poured over its ground, taste the fresh water of the non‐polluted rivers, touch the walls that were inspired by nature’s textures, and hear the laughter of the joyful community that now occupies the space. We must fill architectural ideas with the surrounding context, pull in the habitat that was there before man, and reach far beyond simple mass producible projects.
15 Lebbeus Woods, Radical Reconstruction (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2001), 13. 16 Henri Lefebvre. “Right to the City.” Writings on Cities (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers), 76. 17 Rem Koolhaas. Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto (New York: Monacelli, 1994), 142.
Woods, Lebbeus. A‐City: Sector 1576N (Aerial). 1986,.
Accessed March 18, 2018.
http://drawingparallels.blogspot.it/2012/11/the‐desert‐
14
The CENE Institute is a wonderful example of environmentally cautious architecture and program. The idea of rescuing and showcasing nature of New York enables the public to be educated on each of the three sCENEs. The sky sCENE is an aviary where native birds can flourish, multiply, and fly free without the obstruction of glass buildings and an unsuitable habitat. The ground sCENE showcases all of the native flora and fauna of New York in one place and an interactive garden at the same level as the high line allows children to see the process of planting and nourishing plants. The water sCENE, held underground, allows for the native New York fish and marine life to be in exhibitions in healthy habitats.
Sky sCENE, water sCENE, and ground sCENE within the CENE Institute. In collaboration with Barrett Weaver. Design Studio 7. 2017.
15
DESIGN AN INTENTION
Architects seek to establish program – an anticipation of how one will
occupy space; this negotiable architectural brief has a temporal aspect. With the
limitations of time and scope, they must intelligently surmise that the program
they set in place will benefit the inhabitants for the present and for years to come.
Looking back to the Downtown Athletic Club, a cultural landmark within New York
that was built with the “approach to [create] a contemporary idiom for buildings”
of its time, the design proposed cross‐programming.18 An interconnection of
different uses, sometimes juxtaposed with one another, creates an immersive
experience throughout the building. This immersive experience is what drove the
idea of the CENE Institute. Different aspects of the environment all located in the
same place – to allow for awareness and education of the public and youth.
Koolhaas, the architect, set out to create an internalized community; with surreal
scenarios, he filtered actual space programming to find different ways to manage
program and density. From this, Koolhaas describes his building as a
“Constructivist Social Condenser: a machine to generate and intensify desirable
[spaces… a] hyper‐refined civilization [with] a full spectrum of facilities.”19 Density
can also be looked at without architecture. Delirious New York presents a mosaic
of episodes – Koolhaas accepts the edge at one moment, accepting context but
at another moment, he seeks to intensify the existing space by introducing open
space. By adding open space within a city, this consequently densifies other areas
and alleviates others. For example on the New York trip, I was inspired by Central
Park; the vast feel of it seemed to erase all awareness of being in a dense city.
Broadway Bend is a paragon of this densification and alleviation of space and program. By shifting and curving the road through the super block, the building program was forced into a spatially interconnected, yet vertical arrangement while the other side of the street was able to be left open with room for a forested park, café, shops, and glass pavilion. Doing so, the follies in the park engage the community to interact and enjoy nature – something that the harsh, impervious environment of New York can certainly benefit from.
18 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Downtown Athletic Club Designation Report (New York: New York City, 2000), 3. 19 Rem Koolhaas. Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto (New York: Monacelli, 1994), 152.
View of the Tower in the Park, Broadway Bend in collaboration with
Barrett Weaver. Design Studio 7. 2017.
16
Parallel to this, the CENE Institute also used a similar approach – the base
of the tower stretches to occupy most of the site while the tower resides on a smaller portion. This allows for breathable space and the feeling of openness.
The importance of introducing open space within a crowded city is not to be taken lightly; it allows the city to breathe, for people to enjoy nature, and for the overall well‐being of people along with an elevated state of happiness. Montgomery realizes that “we need to walk, just as birds fly. We need to be around other people. We need beauty. We need contact with nature. And most of all, we need not to be excluded. We need to feel some sort of equality.”20 When architects develop programs for specific sites, they, as humans, can infer what societies need. They create programs and designs for universal use and for the enjoyment of all realms of people. They seek to understand a larger meaning beyond themselves because they are imagining the future. With urban design, all of these things amalgamate to become buildings, cities, and homes
20 Charles Montgomery. Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design. (New York: FSG, 2013), 6.
Veronica. “NYC Sky Line” One Drawing a Day. June 3, 2014 ‐ http://www.onedrawingaday.com/nyc‐skyline/
17
DRAW ONE’S OWN IMAGE
Anthropology can be defined as the process of making – relating to masks, rituals, and symbolism, and leading to myth, history, and culture. Masks can be utilized to filter our vision and perceptions. Merleau‐Ponty points out that “perception becomes an ‘interpretation’ of the signs that our senses provide…[and that] the mind evolves to ‘explain its impressions to itself.”21 What we see soon becomes what we believe; thus, seeing is believing. Consequently, some of us consequently become susceptible to false impressions from the wrong reading of a situation. Edgar Allan Poe, usually known for depression of thought
brings an important viewpoint to the idea (and downside) of perception. When one looks “upon [a bleak and vacant] scene….an utter depression” overwhelms them, so much that they are forced to “fall back upon the unsatisfactory conclusion that…there are combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us.”22 This ends with the assumption that architecture and the environment directly affects its inhabitants and their happiness. Architects are then accountable for ensuring a positive environment where the community may benefit.
From the Vicenza Studio project where we designed a culture and context‐specific café and live/work intervention, the creation of a positive environment and masque were an important factors in creating the concept and façade of the design. Vicenza is known for its narrow streets, mostly closed facades with small windows and garden‐potted balconies. From my experience living in this small community, I selected key elements from the town to showcase within the design and had the task of choosing what parts of the program to masque behind opaque surfaces and others to be revealed. Doing so, my
21 Maurice Merleau‐Ponty. Phenomenology of Perception. Translated by Colin Smith (London: Routledge, 2002), 33. 22 Edgar Allan Poe. The Fall of the House of Usher: The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. (New York: Norton, 2004), 6.
Edgar Allan Poe. The Fall of the House of Usher: The Selected
Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. (New York: Norton, 2004).
View of Façade and Context. Vicenza Studio. 2018.
18
unique image and understanding of Vicenza – in a modern interpretation, benefits the city.
Modern day society has become more complex, with the community filtered by the individual masques that people put on every day. Loos suggests that “We have grown finer, more subtle;” before, one had to “distinguish [oneself] by various colours, modern man [now] uses his clothes as a mask…[since] his individuality… can no longer by expressed in articles of clothing. Freedom from ornament is a sign of spiritual strength.”23 The ability to strip away the excess – the ornament – and eliminate the filter of the mask poses an important step to understanding the phenomenology, or intention of the subject. Perhaps the architect’s role is to then encourage the public to feel comfortable within a space, and to express their true selves; thus, making the once invisible individuals within the newly created space to become visible.
23 Adolf Loos. Ornament and Crime: Selected Essays. (Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, 1998), 24.
19
DIFFER THE APPROACH
From analyzing the phenomenology of the house, everyone has a different story – a different circumstance. From the individual’s eidetic reduction, one’s recollection of images and memories create an interwoven fabric about their own home, or dwelling. From a theory exercise of constructing a hut through the most simplistic material of string, one could still see the many different approaches the individual groups undertook to create that space. Through the different circumstances one is brought up with, the methodology for thinking, imagining, and creating are unique and may lie in different worlds. Harrison brings up a lesson from Walden by Thoreau that “the new must repose on, or literally renew, the foundations of the old;” this is the biggest obstacle for rebuilding a house or nation.24 Even though the string huts were somewhat different in terms of approach, the underlying foundations of each of the respective ideas remained consistent.
Likening this to the urban design project in design seven, many people developed alternate approaches to designing a large infrastructural idea for New York City. Approaches included
green boulevards, raised bike highways similar to the high line, and even continuing the dense construction that the city is known for. The approach my partner and I embarked on was to create large‐scale open plazas, raised gardens, and parks while densifying a superblock and both filtering and activating the public level through freeform geometry. The finished product asks for a new wave of environmentally cautious design to be ushered in.
People cling to what they know and how things work – perhaps they can thank the cultures of the past for setting up a proficient way to do things. Culture “consists in the ‘imposition of an arbitrary framework of symbolic meaning upon reality’…[which aids the] starting point” for thought and development; architects are able to imagine a “separation between the perceiver and the world, such that the perceiver has to reconstruct the world, in the mind, prior to any meaningful engagement with it.”25 Architects claim an important aspect of life; they design the spaces that hold our memories – our lives. “The house we were born in is physically inscribed in us. It is a group
24 Robert Pogue Harrison. “What is a House?” Dominion of the Dead (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 43. 25 Tim Ingold. “Building Dwelling Thinking How Animals and People Make Themselves at Home in the World.” The Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. (New York: Routledge, 2000), 178.
Louis Kahn. “Adoration of the
Joint.” Light is the Theme
(Fort Worth, 1975) 24.
20
of organic habits.”26 Someone designed that home that shapes your life. These spaces within our homes have different capabilities as well. From Kahn’s words, “natural light is a light of mood…[and sometimes you must] see [architecture] in another mood – a different time.”27 Thus, our homes change just like us, with mood.
26 Gaston Bachelard. The Poetics of Space. Translated by Maria Jolas (Boston: Beacon, 1994), 14. 27 Louis Kahn. “Adoration of the Joint.” Light is the Theme (Fort Worth, 1975) 24.
21
DWELL IN THOUGHT
The intriguing nature of theory within architecture evokes a sense of wonder in the design process. Architects dwell in thought on a daily basis. It causes us to ask questions and constantly reimagine the limitations of space. The curiosity of architecture reveals both the ethos and pathos, two modes of persuasion. What is the author’s perspective, and what is the audience’s appeal?
Questions like these arise on community‐based projects. In the Vicenza Studio café project, the site was to be constructed over a current fountain. My first impression of the fountain was that it had been neglected (a bit like everything else in the town), but it had a glimmer of beauty to it with a nice sculpture. After researching, I found that the community actually despised the fountain and its design. From the audience’s disgust with the fountain, and my desire to transform the fountain into something worthy of its location, the basis of the project began to take shape to redesign the fountain and make it a respectable, beautiful marker for the piazza.
Section Perspective through Piazza di Duomo. Vicenza Studio. 2018.
22
When architects imagine, “what do [they] attain to a dwelling place?
Through building and constructed experiences, poetic creation, which lets us dwell, is a kind of building.”28 Architects enable all realms of poetic ideas with hand sketching, and thoughts of the mind. They imagine how spaces can change usage or meaning over time; they realize that “architecture awakens sentiments in man. It is therefore the task of the architect to define exactly the sentiment.”29 For example, if the space is a home, requested to be calming, “the room must evoke a warm feeling….[and if it is a bank, the architecture] must say: here is your money secured and well protected…”30 The role of the architect directly affects how people feel within the areas we imagine. To be consistently creating areas that have an ever‐evolving notion, they imagine non‐static ideas. Hedjuk, in the Mask of Medusa, tells of a scenario of a point in a space; “That membrane is an edge condition, a line condition, a threshold condition. It’s non‐physical; it’s
physical by memory...The minute you start the physicality of moving, which is architecture, you can look at the object …and you’re looking outside of it. As you approach the membrane, there is a point where you physically come inside. It’s a marvelous way, of seeing, of moving, of static and non‐static.”31 Thus, architecture is perceived from various perspectives or points in space. From a passerby, the façade leaves an impression; from an inhabitant, the entire itinerary of the building shapes the experience. People are constantly moving around, like a kite, always in a different location, leaving indications of where they once were. Therefore, “when the poetic appropriately comes to light” and an inhabitant decides to stay a while, “then man dwells humanly on this earth, and then…the life of man is a dwelling life”32 through his experience with architecture.
28 Martin Heidegger. Delirious “…Poetically Man Dwells…” Poetry, Language, Thought (New York: Harper & Row, 2001), 215. 29 Adolf Loos. “Architecture.” (1910), 55. 30 Adolf Loos. “Architecture.” (1910), 55. 31 John Hedjuk and Kim Shkapich. Mask of Medusa: Works, 1947‐1983 (New York: Rizzoli, 1985), 50. 32 Martin Heidegger. Delirious “…Poetically Man Dwells…” Poetry, Language, Thought (New York: Harper & Row, 2001), 229.
Piranesi, Giovanni Battista. A Collection of 1088
Etchings (HD). Accessed March 18, 2018.
http://www.snipview.com/q/Giovanni_Battista_Piran
esi?alt=Giovanni_battista_piranesi
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RETROSPECT
From the design studio seven semester, the experience of being immersed in the space that the projects were centered around allowed me to appreciate urban planning and inner workings of the city and its public space. This informed the entire design process and afforded theoretical questions that continually push ideas and concepts. Inhabiting the space where a project is proposed is an important step to grasp the community’s needs and invent beneficial solutions beyond their current state. From living abroad in Vicenza, Italy, I learned that culture plays a larger role within architecture than I knew possible. Foreign countries have alternative ways of living, working, and enjoying life. From designing a café and live/work program within the town of Vicenza, I understood how projects take shape according to the surrounding context and importance of culture. A café project in Vicenza, Italy looks vastly different from a project in Miami, Florida, for instance. Sure, both projects can be modern in design, but the influences come specifically from the region that informs it. Architecture is more than just a concept brought into construction; when it is successful, it is a direct response to the city, its societal purpose, and a reflection of the time in which it serves its inhabitants.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adolf Loos. Architecture. 1910. Aldo, Rossi. The Architecture of the City. Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space. Translated by Maria Jolas. Boston:
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New York: Noonday Press, 1979. Baudrillard, Jean. The Beauborg‐Effect: Implosion and Deterrence. Translated by
Rosalind Krauss and Annette Michelson. October, Vol.20, 1982. Calvino, Italo. Invisible Cities. Translated by William Weaver. Orlando, Florida:
Harcourt Brace & Company, 1972. Harrison, Robert Pogue. “What is a House?” Dominion of the Dead. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2005. Heidegger, Martin. “…Poetically Man Dwells…” Poetry, Language, Thought. New
York: Harper & Row, 2001. Hejduk, John and Kim Shkapich. Mask of Medusa: Works, 1947‐1983. New York:
Rizzoli, 1985. Ingold, Tim. “Building Dwelling Thinking How Animals and People Make
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Kahn, Louis. “Adoration of the Joint.” Light is the Theme. Fort Worth, 1975. Koolhaas, Rem. Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto. New York: Monacelli,
1994. Lefebvre, Henri. “Right to the City.” Writings on Cities. Oxford: Blackwell
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1998. Marleau‐Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception. Translation by Colin
Smith. London: Routledge, 2002. Montgomery, Charles. Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design.
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Designation Report. New York: New York City, 2000. Poe, Edgar Allan. The Fall of the House of Usher: The Selected Writings of Edgar
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