#0no one belongs here m
ore than you
#1new
hierarchies
#2reorientations
#3vulnerability
#4flexibility
#5points of departure
slices through spacem
agdalena haggärde & gisle løkken
1
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
SLICES THROUGH SPACE www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.comspring workshop March 5 to April 20, 2012Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism, Carleton University
Using complexity as investigation tool: the plan as dynamic process
In a hereditary modernistic search for clarity and simplification, today’s planning is often too incomprehensive, hierarchic and linear, and therefore produces plans that are not always expedient for the real needs and challenges. Handling complexity and otherness preparing for an incalculable reality in fast and constant change, is a challenge for planning - and finally a matter of survival.
Within our own practice, we have been experimenting with investigation and collaboration as a strategy for an open and adaptive planning seeing society as an interconnected and living organism – launching ideas and strategies for surveying, discovering and evaluation, with the intent to make the plan continuously receptive for changes. Not only are we accepting complexity as crucial for the contextual understanding, but also as a tool for a comprehensive and elastic process. A new language for expressing planning is developed, and openness and invitation are used as underlying methods to graft the plan with meaning and competence.
Confronting traditional ideas about the appearance of a plan comprehends the possibility for a plan to be open and still operative in its full lifetime. The approach is to open for deep investigations in parts and details of natural and cultural phenomenon, and at the same time analyzes the impact from global forces, and economies in local and regional contexts. The method is highly visual, and is intentionally showing analyzes, ideas, and consequences of interventions as graphics and illustrations - for further communication and debate with the citizens, and with experts in different fields relevant to the plan.
As a part of an extended strategy we have developed the concept of Points of departure (POD), which defines what can initiate a plan to make it relevant, resilient and viable. In our discussion of PODs lays an analysis of the last decade’s opposition between good intentions for urban development, and what often is the factual result. PODs come into being as elements of inherent information or added knowledge of a different type than the
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
‘developer carpets’ that are usually rolled out in new urban developments. These PODs become incidents of opposition that the new (or old) town must relate to. These may be natural elements, social structures, cultural heritage, actual structures or other elements of nearly any type one may allow to disturb the image of an ‘ideal’ urban development, and become meaning in itself – no matter what direction the further development takes.
A profound acknowledgement of the ideological fundament of the PODs is that the city needs dynamism and disturbance in order to be experienced as interesting. The possible tension and dynamism exist in the meeting, or in the folds, between different structures and cultures; - too homogenous structures and societies, become uninteresting and rarely sustainable – just as natural structures and circuits are manifold.
Making the plan an open process and a work in progress, it will never give a sheer answer, but add pieces to a complex understanding of the context and the possibilities. By combining small-scale knowledge with global tendencies and by trying to understand the underlying natural, political and economical conditions and forces behind city developments – we intend to make the plan more durable, complex and comprehensive to be relevant for an unknown future.
The 7 weeks studio introduced alternative methods for planning and architecture that open for discussions about planning language, hierarchies, participation and relevance. Through textual studies and comparative examples we sought new knowledge to enable us to approach a concrete situation in the city for a profound understanding of the context. We used a blog to communicate the learning and collect the findings from the process, and also for the students to present their work as a continuous process. The studio did not demand fixed scenarios or fancy images, but expected curiosity and an open-minded effort from the students to learn, and to experience knowledge that is not obvious - and that has to be carefully investigated to be operative for the planning process.
MH/GL
Magdalena Haggärde and Gisle Løkken are architects at 70°N arkitektur, Tromsø, Norway - www.70n.no / www.70n.blogspot.com - and guest professors at Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism, Carleton University, March 5 to April 20, 2012
3
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
#0no one belongs here m
ore than you
Maysan
Hailey
Steph
Robin
Narae
Shirley
Martine
Kanchan
Ken
Angella
Krista
Elena
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#1 – New Hierarchies; rhizome / lines of flight
Literature:Rhizome, by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (in A Thousand Plateaus / Mille Plateaux, 1980)
The ascendance of information industries and growth of a global economy are inextricably linked, and have contributed to what Saskia Sassen calls: a new geography of centres and margins (The global city: Strategic site/new frontier, 2000). This means that former structures of economic or political hegemony have radically changed (and are still changing rapidly), resulting in a displacement (in an economic sense) in both geographical significance of cities and places and the valuation of different kinds of labour: Financial services produce super profits while industrial services barely survive. (Sassen, 2000)
Besides the obvious impact of globalisation, there is an equally obvious inconsistency between everyday life, the performance of individual spatial practices and the way formal society is organised and governed. Politics, laws and planning – even to a certain extent global economic systems appear essentially hierarchical, exercising a linear style of authority which in many instances results in limitation, stagnation and regression. Moreover, in addition to governing systems of order, bureaucracy and linearity, there are infinite parallel systems of other formal and informal networks, knowledge and ‘weak’ voices not easily observed and recognised.
The complexity of this everyday reality presupposes new and experimental ideas and strategies for observing, participating in and mapping of whatever is relevant for the plans we are making, and the societies for which we are planning. It is a question of concern such as the title of Bruno Latour’s essay suggests, in other words a transition From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern (Latour, 2004).
Indeed, the previous year’s tumultuous events and revolutionary rebellions in the Middle East provide examples of how weak connections and loosely organised voices can interconnect into powerful movements able to turn inherited hierarchical structures of power upside down, implementing new organisational systems. While not all changes have the character of a violent revolution with respect to their duration and drama, any shift in a hierarchical system has the ultimate consequence of changing basic living
5
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
#1new
hierarchies
conditions – whether these are shifts in either natural systems or social structures.
Through the concept of rhizome lies the ultimate metamorphosis of a hierarchical system, as termed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari a treelike structure: unlike the trees or their roots, the rhizome connects any point to any other point, and its traits are not necessarily linked to traits of the same nature; it brings into play very different regimes of signs, and even non sign states. (…) Unlike the graphic arts, drawing, or photography, unlike tracings, the rhizome pertains to a map that must be produced, constructed, a map that is always detachable, connectable, reversible, modifiable, and has multiple entryways and exits and its own lines of flight. (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980).
Through rhizome thinking, hierarchical systems are challenged – new ideas, experimentation and new attitudes are revealed, and priorities and encounters of alternative values become relevant.
/MH+GL
Assignment: Find a rhizome, interpret a rhizome, invent a rhizome, draw a rhizome, write a rhizome or create a rhizome…
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
krista
ken
In the sky at night,their patterns become alight,
forming a country
The image above is the result of layering various types of trajectories in the air. This includes flight patterns, the jet stream, bird migratory patterns, satellite images at night, and an image of brain neurons. Combined they reveal new levels of information regarding North America.
Krista Smith
The Grid’s two-dimensional discipline also creates undreamt-of freedom for three-dimensional anarchy.
The Grid defines a new balance between control and de-control in which the city can be at the same time ordered and fluid, a metropolis of rigid chaos.
>Rem Koolhaus “Delirious New York” p.20
he looks backthrough the particles of sandand vaguely seesher contour unfoldinghe hears her voicediminishingin sounds like the movementof the palmsduring a soft wind
John Hejduk
The Grid’s two-dimensional discipline also creates undreamt-of freedom for three-dimensional anarchy.
The Grid defines a new balance between control and de-control in which the city can be at the same time ordered and fluid, a metropolis of rigid chaos.
>Rem Koolhaus “Delirious New York” p.20
he looks backthrough the particles of sandand vaguely seesher contour unfoldinghe hears her voicediminishingin sounds like the movementof the palmsduring a soft wind
John Hejduk
7
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
#1new
hierarchies
martine
kanchan
NEW HIERARCHIES
Connections between two elements initiate transformation, where two different elements can configure new moleculsar bonds
or simply electrostatic attractions for a moment in time. The progression and layering of these connections compose
new mapping properties and void all hierarchical arrangement.
M.GALLANT-WINTER2012
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#2 – Reorientations; mapping
Literature:Reorientations: Slices through space, by Doreen Massey (in For Space, 2005)
Writing has nothing to do with signifying. It has to do with surveying, mapping, even realms that are yet to come (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980).
The acknowledgement that we ourselves - and everything around us - are in continuous and inevitable transformation enforces our awareness of the transforming energies – energies unfolding along different trajectories in time and space - shaping complex spatial patterns that are intricately connected with changes in the landscape. Our intention is to see architecture and planning as ongoing processes that never reach completion, as life itself is never finished or concluded. If you really were to take a slice through time, Doreen Massey writes, it would be full of holes, of disconnections, of tentative half-formed first encounters. (…) Loose ends and ongoing stories. (Massey, 2005).
In order to develop a profound understanding of the landscape, we need to map and perform research along lines and trajectories that have not necessarily been investigated before – making connections and juxtapositions that are not obvious and finding spatial connections and openness that are not prejudiced or closed. Make a map, not a tracing, say Deleuze and Guattari in their text about the rhizome: What distinguishes a map from a tracing is that the former is entirely oriented towards an experimentation in contact with the real (…) A map has multiple entryways, as opposed to a tracing, which always comes back to the same. A map has to do with performance, whereas a tracing always involves an alleged ‘competence’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980)
Mapping is not to be complete or conclusive, but rather it should follow tracks or lines of flight. According to Manuel De Landa, Deleuze and Guattari use the term lines of flight as meaning something to follow that is expected to redeem new responses – as an operator which transcends the real and ascends to the virtual (De Landa, 2002). In her essay Losing control, keeping desire, Doina Petrescu elaborates on the meaning of the concept as being: an abstract and complex enough metaphor to map the entire social field, to trace its shapes, its borders, its becomings. (Petrescu, 2001).
9
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
#2reorientations
Global warming, environmental disturbances and political pressures have combined to create a completely new physical ‘ground’, which in turn places great demands on the response of architects and landscape architects. The need to develop a critical awareness and alternative forms of knowledge in connection with this development transcends traditional design focus.
An open and progressive reading of landscape as both an objective and subjective experience gives validity to the multiplicity of practices connected to it – including natural processes and history. Landscape may thus be seen as an assemblage of spatiality and interconnecting trajectories – a time/space derivation. What if [space] presents us with a heterogeneity of practices and processes?, asks Doreen Massey. Then it will be not an already interconnected whole but an ongoing product of interconnections and not. Then it will be always unfinished and open. (Massey, 2005)
What we are mapping is not only the extraordinary and peculiar but also the everyday normal – layers of everyday experience and everyday practices – as well as the hyper normal, which eventually forms landscape’s spatial performance. A hyper-mapping might be more subjective and focus on values related to the plan’s context rather than being strictly neutral and objective - investigations into layers of information that often extend beyond an immediate perception of landscape.
MH/GL
Assignment: Make a map – not a tracing...
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
martine
maysan
This is a study of imposing new random pattern on downtown of Montreal, discovering and mapping out new perspectives of the city.
Public
Abstract Rhizome
Semi PublicSemi Private Private
11
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
kanchan
steph
#2reorientations
VIEW
ER o
r VIE
WED
a study of left-over urban spaces, investigating how people utilise them.
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#3 - Vulnerability
Literature:I would prefer not to by Iñaki Ábalos (in Natural Metaphor Architectural Papers III, 2007) Supplemental reading: Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville (1853)
The notion of vulnerability is invariably related to the concept of life – whether human life or life in nature as such. Human beings’ consciousness of mortality is disturbing and exposes life as a fragile entity. While life does not exist in closed systems, it always relates to other life forms or systems of varying extent and size. Further, in these relations dependency occurs, not least of which is a continuous struggle for survival. It is a slow-moving drama that has been playing since the creation of earth, enco§mpassing all natural systems, from the smallest biotope to global circuits.
In order to be relevant, the planning process must consider a wide range of subjects and disciplines beyond what is normally regarded as associated to architecture. There is currently increasing pressure on natural resources, and with an even stronger growth in the global population the potential crisis due to this fact seems obvious. Global climate-crisis, financial crisis, uneven distribution of food and welfare, poverty and injustice – in combination with the rapidly increasing exploitation of landscapes for industrial use and urban expansion at the expense of ecosystems, natural habitats and biodiversity, draws a seemingly dystopian picture of the future.
An architect has the unique possibility of being a mediator between the abovementioned forces. In our project entitled mosaïc::region we used the concept of vulnerability: Vulnerability mapping is a piece in our anti-generic mindset where plurality and diversity are crucial, and where the unique strength of the mosaic can be cultivated and magnified. This notion applies of course of course to preserve and strengthen natural diversity but it applies just as fully to the ‘sociotopes’ that for different reasons are exposed to economic and political pressure and transformation – in both cases we are talking about strengthening by linking together, and opening up for new opportunities rather than to preserve. (70°N, D&U, 2008a)
Mapping vulnerability means gaining a genuine understanding of a wide range of contextual aspects. Further, it may be seen
13
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
#3vulnerability
as a hyper mapping of the super normal - a survey that provides a flexible and evolving strategy where the vulnerable is first and foremost protected by intervention and not primarily through making new boundaries. Reading, mapping and understanding the layers of vulnerability has the potential of making changes. Knowledge calls for awareness about the consequences of human activity. Planning must be precautionary and attentive to even the smallest elements, and susceptible to and observant of any currents of vulnerability that may have the power to change the plan.
In future planning we need to find and analyse both the obvious and invisible, in the end making an operative and expedient plan that allows hidden knowledge. Moreover, through experimentation it is possible to make a flexible plan that works with the complexity at hand and can use contextual vulnerability as a potential for a new dynamism. It is all about making the future more sustainable and open to the unknown.
A credible map of sustainability has yet to be drawn, but there can be no doubt that other aspects already trailed and trialled have run out of whatever credibility they had. (Ábalos, 2007).
MH/GL
Assignment: Add vulnerability as a new layer of focus...
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
shirley
maysan
V
Hvertical
horizontal
V {[ ]placement|[RE] placement}the constructed, the occupied H {[DIS]placement|[MIS]placement}the demolished, the exploited
vulnerable is :
the Vertical derived from the Horizontal,the Horizontal described by the Vertical.
Air quality is a vulnerable issue in City of Montreal. According to McGill Daily, Montreal rated second worst city in Canada for air pollution. Montreal recent studies link the high rate of breast cancer to air pollution.
This study examines air quality vulnerability through mapping causes and sources in relation to population and health status.
... To BREATH
15
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
angella
hailey
#3vulnerability
Download the App: Food scoreLearn to incorporate leftovers into others
April 2007 - App
licant m
oves from
Leamington
to Ottaw
a
Route to Residency Abbreviated version
March 2012 – Received
letter saying that Veg
reville has nished
processing case and
we will be contacted for an interview in Ottaw
a with
in th
ree mon
ths.
April 2012 - Wen
t to interview and
received
Permanen
t Residen
cy Status - cost 4
90$
June
2012 - Still has not receivd pe
rmanen
t residen
t card thus has no proo
f of status
June
2011 - N
ew work pe
rmit issued
for o
ne year
Dec. 2011 – Ad
ded de
pend
ent child to
case in process. Cost 1
50$
- Requ
ired lling ou
t 7 differen
t forms includ
ing the paym
ent form at a bank, to
tal pages 21
- Plus cop
ies of iden
ti catio
n do
cumen
ts in orig
inal and
translated
form
ats
- Sh
ipping
cost 1
6.66, to Vegreville, Alberta
- So
me qu
estio
ns unclear - “W
ill [D
epen
dant] accom
pany prin
cipa
l app
licant to Ca
nada?”
o Principa
l App
licant is already in Canada, Dep
ende
nt is not, unsure what the
answer sho
uld be
we called the im
migratio
n call center to
ask
oo Received
answer reply “NO” b
ecause th
ey are in sep
arate coun
tries
o Did as told and
sen
t app
lication, called call center abo
ut a week later to en
sure th
at th
e letter had arrived
, men
tione
d the same qu
estio
n, and
received
answer “You
sho
uld have replied “YES” b
ecause
you want the
dep
endant to
be includ
ed in th
e ap
plication.” So sent new
form
s with
corrected
info and
letter explaining confusing to Veg
reville.
- Vegreville then
processed
paymen
t and
sen
t noti catio
n to Guatemala Em
bassy ab
out the
chang
e, and
con
tacted
us by letter to
say th
at th
ey had received
the add on
app
lication
March 2011 – Subm
itted
app
lication for n
ew work pe
rmit alon
g with
150$
Jan 2011 – Med
ical exam for D
epen
dant has expire
d and must b
e redo
ne cost 1
50$
July 2010- App
licant g
oes for M
edical exam at certi
ed doctor in Ottaw
a, cost 9
3$
June
2010 – Be
come aw
are that Med
ical examination Docum
entatio
n of Dep
endant have be
en lost and
never reache
d Ca
nadian Emba
ssy in Guatemala.
- con
tact call cen
ter to n
d ou
t what to do
- call certi
ed doctor w
ho com
pleted
the exam
in Hon
duras to determine whe
n and whe
re he sent th
e inform
ation after m
ultip
le calls were ab
le to
ascertain tracking
num
bers of the
le whe
n it was
sent to
Port o
f Spa
in, Trin
idad and
Toba
go, w
rite letter and
sen
d to Veg
reville so that th
ey can nd
the inform
ation
-eventually th
ey do n
d do
cumen
tatio
n, but by this time it has expired
Augu
st 2010 – Requ
ested by Im
migratio
n to und
ergo
ng
erprintin
g to be checked against cases by the RC
MP
-Wen
t to un
dergo n
gerprin
ting, cost 4
5$, fou
nd out th
e de
lay is several mon
ths
May 2010 – Im
migratio
n Ca
nada sen
t us a letter saying that th
ey need an upd
ated
add
ress for o
ur family in Hon
duras as th
ey are having a difficult tim
e contactin
g them
. This is strange
because th
ey have lived
at the
sam
e reside
nce almost 3
0 years and Im
migratio
n Ca
nada was previou
sly ab
le to
contact the
m th
ere.
- We reply with
the requ
ested address
Jan 2010 – Paid 150$ to
Immigratio
n Ca
nada for n
ew work pe
rmit
Novem
ber 2
009 – Dep
endant und
ergo
es med
ical examination at certi
ed doctor in Hon
duras
- Receive no
ti catio
n that most recen
t app
lication for IFH
P coverage
den
ied be
cause of Spo
usal Spo
nsorship App
licant is no
w eligible for O
ntario Health
Card, lose mon
ey spe
nt on ap
plication
- Go to Ottaw
a Town Hall to requ
est O
HIP card at no charge
Octob
er 2009 – Guatemala Em
bassy send
s requ
est to family in Hon
duras requ
estin
g that Dep
endant und
ergo
a med
ical examination
- Message
sen
t is on
ly in Eng
lish, and
family spe
aks on
ly Spa
nish, the
y contact u
s in Canada, takes a few pho
ne calls and
online searching to nd
out exactly what h
as been requ
ested.
July 2009 – Subm
it an app
lication to exten
d IFHP Co
verage
- Accide
ntally destroyed
the rst im
migratio
n do
cumen
t that w
as received
upo
n en
trance to
Canada
- Subm
itted
an ap
plication requ
estin
g a certi ed
true
cop
y of th
is docum
ent “veri
catio
n of Entry” after asking at th
e Ottaw
a Im
migratio
n Office th
at we were subm
itting the correct p
aperwork- given
estim
ated
timeline of 8-9 mon
ths to process app
lication – cost 30$ - ne
ver d
id recieve a replacem
ent p
aper
March 2009 – Work pe
rmit issued
for o
ne year
- PR
RA app
lication le closed
because th
e ap
plication for p
ermanen
t residen
cy was app
roved in prin
ciple, cou
ld be op
ened
again if permanen
t residen
cy status is not granted
Feb. 2012 – Ca
nadian Emba
ssy in Guatemala contacted Principa
l App
licant reg
arding
rene
wing Dep
ende
nt’s med
ical exams and supp
lying additio
nal
inform
ation, includ
ing pa
sspo
rt.
- Also requ
ested a pre-pa
id airw
ay bill
o contacted im
migratio
n call center to
determine what a pre-paid airw
ay bill was th
ey didn’t kno
w but th
ough
t that o
ur gue
ss of a pre-paid airline
ticket
was likely correct
o contacted Guatemala Em
bassy by e-m
ail kno
wing that th
ey usually do no
t rep
ly.
oo Guatemala did reply- not airline ticket b
ut actually a prepa
id envelop
e - Given
90 days to
com
ply
- Co
ntacted Dep
endant’s mothe
r in Hon
duras, arrang
ed med
ical exam, and
mon
ey transfer to
cover exam, pre-paid envelope
s, no
tary fees
- Arrange
d with
family friend
who
works in law rm
to com
plete no
tary pap
erwork
- Arrange
d with
Dep
endant’s grandfathe
r to arrang
e pu
rchase of p
re-paid envelope
and
sen
ding
of all do
cumen
tatio
n
Jan 2012 – Dep
endant med
ical exams expired for secon
d tim
e.
February 2009 – Sp
ouse app
roved as spo
nsor, App
licant told that he will requ
ire fu
rthe
r med
ical and
security che
cks for h
im and
his dep
endant
- Letter includ
es requ
est to ob
tain both Ca
nadian and
Hon
duran po
lice ba
ckgrou
nd che
cks
- Got Hon
duran po
lice record che
ck saying that he has no
t com
mitted
any offe
nse in th
at cou
ntry
- Got a certi
ed Eng
lish translation of Hon
duran crim
inal record che
ck cost 7
9$
Decem
ber 2
008 – Subm
itted
app
lication for exten
sion
of w
ork pe
rmit cost 150$
- Em
ployer not wantin
g to allow App
licant to continue
working
past end
of w
ork pe
rmit even
thou
gh new
app
lication has be
en sen
t and
there is a delay in processing work permits
- Find
out from
Immigratio
n Ca
ll center th
at w
hile th
e work pe
rmit is being
processed
you
can con
tinue
working
und
er Im
plied Status
Novem
ber 2
008 – App
licant asks Dep
endant’s mothe
r to ob
tain a passport for th
e de
pend
ant as each mem
ber o
f the
App
licant’s family is requ
ired to hold a valid
passpo
rt at all tim
es for the
immigratio
n case to
be processed
- In order for D
epen
dant child to
be eligible to
receive a pa
sspo
rt, App
licant m
ust g
o to Hon
duran em
bassy in Ottaw
a, Canada and ge
t a notarized
form
saying that he gives the mothe
r permission
to
get a passport for th
e de
pend
ant
Octob
er 2008- App
lication for exten
sion
to IFHP (In
terim
Fed
eral Health
Program
) app
roved and extend
ed to
Nov. 2009
Septem
ber 2
008- IFHP ap
plication requ
ires curren
t pho
tos be
fore it can con
tinue
processing
Augu
st 2008 – Citizen
ship and
Immigratio
n Ca
nada started
processing spon
sorship case
- App
licant u
ndergo
es fu
rthe
r med
ical examination – 3 small granu
lonas foun
d in che
st- n
o reason
for con
cern
Mapping the route taken by one immigration application helps to demonstrate the vulnerability in the Canadian immigration system. The evaluation process involves shipping information around between multiple countries. Over the course of time, the information is at risk of being lost or expiring, and further delaying the processing period. This case took nearly four years to be processed.
July 2008 – received
notice to app
ear at C
anada Borde
r Services Ag
ency in Ottaw
a - Received
noti catio
n of PRR
A (Pre removal risk assessm
ent)
- Passpo
rt seized by Canada Bo
rder Services Ag
ency
- So
ught out help from
a im
migratio
n lawyer to n
d ou
t options - lawyer fees 352.80$
- Sent PRR
A app
lication to To
ronto, Ontario to
stall the de
portation process long
eno
ugh to sub
mit a Sp
ousal Spo
nsorship App
lication
- App
lication for IN-Canada Sp
ousal Spo
nsorship sub
mitted
to Case Processing
Cen
ter, Vegreville, Alberta - Co
st 550.00$
- Med
ical exam includ
ing x-rays
Feb 2007 – Work pe
rmit issued
– expire
s Feb 2008
Janu
ary 2008- A
pplicant travels to
Mon
treal to the Hon
duran Em
bassy to get a new
passport
February 2008 – work pe
rmit issued
– expire
s Feb 2009
Octob
er 2007 – App
licant m
arrie
s a Ca
nadian citizen
- They opt not to
app
ly for spo
usal spo
nsorship because it is nearin
g the en
d of th
e estim
ated
processing tim
es for the
Hum
anita
rian and Co
mpa
ssion case th
at is alre
ady in process.
- IFH
P he
alth certi
cate issued
, expire
s oct 2
008
Decem
ber 2
007 – App
licant p
ays 150$ for A
pplication for n
ew work pe
rmit
Augu
st 2007 – App
licant’s wed
ding
is delayed
due
to diffi
culty
nd
ing the rig
ht com
binatio
n of docum
entatio
n in Eng
lish with
the rig
ht birth date because CIC previou
sly recorded
the date wrong
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#4 - Flexibility
Literature:Ecology and Flexibility in Urban Civilization by Gregory Bateson (in Steps to an Ecology of Mind, 1972/2000)
A ‘high’ civilization shall contain whatever is necessary (…) to maintain the necessary wisdom in the human population and to give physical, aesthetic, and creative satisfaction to people. There shall be a matching between the flexibility of people and that of the civilization. There shall be diversity in the civilization, not only to accommodate the genetic and experimental diversity of persons, but also to provide the flexibility and ‘preadaptation’ necessary for unpredictable change. (Bateson, 1972/2000)
Even though Bateson wrote this paper in 1970, it contains a strong prediction of the coming climate changes and a vision of the challenges that planners and architects have to deal with concerning profound ecological matters. Bateson describes the survival of our civilization as being closely linked with our understanding of natural processes: We are not outside the ecology for which we plan – we are inevitably a part of it. (…) The new invention gives elbow room or flexibility, but the using up for that flexibility is death. (IBID)
When global forces and global economic fluctuations influence even the most remote places, it seems more necessary than ever to create flexibility outside the global consumer economy – to be resilient to economic alterations – to be prepared for devastating environmental impact or to foresee future effects from expected climate changes. The closer a society relates to nature, the more awareness and understanding there is regarding changing environmental conditions – such as predicting alteration, planning for an uncertain future, adapting to inevitable changes and improvising for the unforeseen. Modern man’s turning away from nature (the lost contact or acceptance of the inevitable in nature) has a long legacy, and from the Age of Enlightenment there has developed an absolute belief in man’s superiority to nature.
Any system of nature and culture is in reality based on interaction and dynamic, and it is therefore easy to argue that a planning method created to handle such dynamic systems has to be elastic and dynamic, too. This is in opposition to a linear and hierarchical planning regime, which is to a great extent based on simplification and limitation.
17
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
#4flexibility
Bateson talks about survival not in resisting change, but in terms of accommodating change. It means that your thinking has to be every bit as fluent and adaptive as the kind of systems you are talking about. In other words you can not apply rigid or dogmatic principals to systems that are themselves fluent, adaptable, changing and always incorporating feedback. (…) It is a way of thinking that mirrors the dynamism of ecological systems themselves. (Allen, 2007)
In our concept mosaïc::region (70°N/D&U, 2008), we worked with challenging a future understanding of the Øresund region, Copenhagen/Malmö: The mosaic metaphor is used as a picture of complexity and ‘of everything that happens’ on both a physical and metaphysical level. Mosaic-inspired planning must contain a strategy for seeing, finding, and adapting everything taking place. If one piece of the mosaic is repainted in a new colour, the picture changes a tiny bit; the sum of changing many tiny pieces eventually produces a totally new picture. The colours of the pieces depend on political visions, local initiatives (spatial practices) and the collective will in the region.
Global society will soon lose its most essential elbowroom for existence of modern civilization as we know it, namely oil and gas. Future planning must therefore take into account the consequences of this development. On the background of the contemporary global crisis and ecological disorders, planning must become a continuous, interdisciplinary and integrated process in the search for new answers and flexible systems.
MH/GL
Assignment: Define a level of flexibility in your research...
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
steph
martine
challenging people to re-think the left-over spac-es they pass by every day, re-appropriating them as areas of ART and culture.
FLEXIBILITYM.GALLANT-WINTER2012
ADAPTABILITY, FACILITY, RESILIENCE, THE ACT OF REPEATED TRANSFORMATION WITHOUT NEGATIVE EFFECT
THE BYWARD MARKET MAY BE RESTRICTED TO A VERY LIMITED AREA
OF THE CITY, YET ENCOMPASSES THE HEART
OF ALL SUB-SOCIETIES AND CULTURES.
THE AREA REPRESENTS A CROSS-CULTURAL
HYBRID THAT HAS BEEN LAYERD OVER TIME BY VARIOUS HIGH PROFILE COMMERCIAL RETAILS, TO PRIVATELY OWNED
SHOPS, RESTAURANTS AND RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS.
THE HISTORICAL BUILDINGS ENABLEPOSSIBILITY AND
FLEXIBILITY OF A MIXED USE
INHABITATION. THROUGH THE YEARS, THESE
BUILDING ARE INHABITED BY VARIOUS PURPOSES, LAYERING TRACES OF
THEIR PRESENCE FOR THE NEXT TO DISCOVER.
AS A CONTINUATION OF THE PREVIOUS EXPLORATIONS, BASED IN THE BYWARD MARKET, I SET OUT TO DEFINE THE MEANING OF FLEXIBILITY WITHIN THESE SET BOUNDARIES.
NO ONE BELONGS MORE THAN ANOTHER. ALL CREATE THEIR PERSONAL IDENTITY, AND TOGETHER, FORM A HETEROGENEOUS FABRIC OF INHABITATION.
19
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
ken #4flexibility
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Alien Baby - 12.02.18 spice jet Kavya Cherala like someone drew 2nd attempt “I was hoping to go out in a flashof blazes, but I’ll probablyjust go home” Motion structures: deployable structural Ejection seat GEB [26]. Essential abilities for indigo Deccan Chargers a lazily listing line much better assemblies of mechanisms intelligence are certainly: kingfisher across the sky _Steve Zissou _to respond to situations very flexibly; jetsairways 10.03.09 india.pune Prince George - Sandblast _to take advantage of fortuitous circumstances; 4:45 5:25 Apr-10 _to make sense out of ambiguous or contradictory messages; indigo 5:55am-7:40am “Godel, Esher, Bach” kingfisher 9:30-11 [251] Perhaps the most concise summary _to recognize the relative importance of different elements of a situation; of enlightenment would be: thunder rolls back and forth [transcending dualism] _to find similarities between situations despite differences which may separate them; across the sky and -Dualism is just as much a ‘per’ceptual the air is wet with sound. division of the world into categories _to draw distinctions between situations despite similarities which may link them; an orange red sun as it is a ‘con’ceptual glows through the division. Human perception is _to synthesize new concepts by taking old concepts and putting them together in new ways; palm trees as by nature a dualistic phenomenon the first drop of the storm _to come up with ideas which are novel; splashes against the back of my neck corythosaurus India 2010 on the roof of my apartment 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18eremotherium laurillardi Fairy Prion [ Richard Serra: to see is to think ] _The space of secrets: Sarah Anne Johnson’s ‘House on fire’ [ SHOP architects ] - design/build New York David Brooks - Political writer “As Barthes would say, the ultimate” “the sound of books canonly be heard internally”pteranodon sternbergi south atlantic and indian oceans _fragility and force - story of life “_””architecture and disjunction”” -Tschumi” [ Seven memos on the geometry of pain ] subversion does not necessarily tyrannosaurus rex mortuary pole from village _modernity: materials and production _New York Times - CIA sponsored “_””Delirious NY”” -Koolhaus” Wim Van Den Bergh consist of saying that which “the tablecloth is thrilledby the touch of plates andawaits further violations” Ank’idaa “_””japanese gardens - void/space = structure” brainwashing in Montreal From Hejduk - Soundings “shocks public opinion, but of inventing a [ paradoxical “ 12.02.23 Nass River BC between things felt through time _excessive doses of electro shock NA 2000H45 discourse. ] Invention and not provocation “the china closet senses allthe lips that have touchedits inhabitants” _redefine definition of site in terms of sculpture “therapy, untested drugs, LSD” “is a revolutionary act, and it” _[content] and [structure] is unfolding “speed, medically induced prolonged periods of sleep” _They are the kind of books that can be accomplished only by “the house objects to thesea’s fluidity” of process = identical _startling scenes in a doll house you constantly - out of necessity setting up a new language. _becomes subject matter > staircase tilted on its side or pleasure - return to that So Hejduk’s greatness lies “the sea coaxes the houseinto its undertow” _contingent reality dead-ending in a wall give you the specific feeling “not in provocation or radicalism,” internal of owning a personal universe but in the invention of a vast discourse founded in its Hejduk dared to expand the boundary _greater degree of unforsee-ability “of knowledge, like possessing” “own repetitions, showing us” of the discipline of architecture intensify because you have to [ pay attention ] to the world a pocket-sized infinity. It is the vanishing points of or by claiming territory within _anti zombie these volumes - like dictionaries discipline. our imagination. _space in between you register somatically DRAN “or manuals, notebooks or catalogues” “this is the time fordrawing angels” _non-thinking is the enemy of art _amazing collections Pewter wings _Hejduk and architecture “embodied in the spaces, the dense” Golden Horns _trivial = enemy spaces of those books - to which Stone veils [ FABBRICA ] is Italian for factory I am referring here. Head space: mind place and memory “[21] >Paradoxically, a preface can” [ Sentences on the house >space can be both physical and psychological only be written afterwards; and other sentences ] “there is an inner realm where emotions,” it reverses the order of memories and fantasies occupy the infinite corners of our minds. “beginning and end, developing” “the stairs of a house aremysterious because theymove up and down at thesame time” Artists often consider the relationship between physical locations and memory. from back to front. It AGO - 12.02.24 literally de-velops; it unfolds “frosted windows are thedrawing boards of a house” or un-rolls the plan of the “text. It implies, like Ariadne’s “ “night stars are an indicationthat it is snowing in the universe” “thread, the labyrinthine” complexity of the text “books are female; amysterious ritual lieswithin them” _Tao 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27[ Soundings ] 19. So the moment you start [20] All those forms generated by reading “has a director, to inspire, but not” As Barthes sees in the work of Sade objectivity of the book. So what we “root teks, to weave, also to fabricate” “fold inward to con-form, but an” I am made [109]thinking about the poetic ambiguity “extra-dimensions in the circle, the” “to regiment, whether a title or an” “Foirier, and Loyola the victorious deployment” would be dealing with here is the “especially with an axe, also to make” in-volvement that simultaneously for birth [5]“of its title, you are part of this” “square, the triangle, are not forms in “ “imagined program, an institution or” “of the significant text, the” kind of pre-face that in its reflection wicker or wattle fabric for “e-volves, one that requires per-sistency” “and you?””” he looks back“involvement, part of a kind of” “the sense of shapes, but forms in” an invented subject. The logothesis “terrorist text, so we can see in” not only conforms but performs the (mud-covered) house walls; latin one that per-forms. through theinvolving space. In the same way the sense of ideas does not satisfy itself with the “Hejduk’s work. Because, as Barthes” “book, the sort that aims for” “texere, to weave, fabricate, latin” This is the persisting way to continually particles of sandthat the concept of the labyrinth constitution of a kind of ritual “would say, the intervention of a text” persistency and not just consistency “tela, web, net warp of fabric; teks-” show us the blind spots of the “Hejduk’s “”discovery””” and vaguely seesis evoked by the complex involvement “Hejduk is a text-operator, a formulator,” “or style, because the language” in the discipline-not necessarily “on, weaver, maker of wattle for” discipline of archtiecture. of the first wall her contour unfolding“of matter and space, the involvement” “and like Sade, Fourier, and “ founder would be nothing more achieved at the time the text appears- [ Evolve ] from latin evolvere to roll “house walls, builder;” house around 1969 he hears her voiceof this book and title with each “Loyola, the inventor of a way of “ than the author of a system is measured not by the popularity “out, unfold: e-, out from, exe, “ “>Greek tekton, carpenter, builder,” Deathmemory I (it seems as if it diminishing“other evokes ideas of space, the” “writing, thus generating an extra” “to embed a new language, a” of its audience or by the fidelity “volvere, to roll.” “archi-tekton, artificer, architect;” To begin at the end had always been in sounds like“space of a book, of a volume at first,” “spatio-temporal dimension, a dimension” fourth operation is required: of the so-called reality it contains “teksna, craft (of weaving or” there in the the movement“then the space of sounding, of “ that has always existed in architecture “or projects, but rather by the” “[ uni-cursal ] running in one direction, is” “fabricating); Greek tekhne, art,” -1 architecture of the palmsdepth and of density but that has to be discovered over >Theatricalization violence that enables it to exceed the term used to distinguish the “craft, skill.” He threw his voice unconscious) during a soft wind and over again to stay alive. This means “the laws that a discipline, an ideology” structures of the labyrinth and the into the diminishing But after going into the book “that he creates, he writes signs” not the decoration a philosophy establishes in order to maze. The modern understanding “[22] Gadda is, as Italo Calvino wrote in” perspective [12]itself you realize that the whole by reading signs. Within the space “of the depiction, the design of a” agree among themselves in a fine of the word ‘labyrinth’ indicates his six memos for the next as she receded [ Quartet ] Pilate dipped and washedvolume is somehow about this kind “of architecture, Hejduk discovers” “setting, for representation, but” surge of historical intelligibility a diagram in which an unbranched “millennium, one of the writers who” leaving him Studio for four printmakers his hands in a silver discof involving space and brings to life an extra “to make the language boundless,” and this excess for Barthes is called “circuitous route, a uni-cursal path,” deal with the conemporary novel an echo. four houses for four printmakers and demanded more waterthis involving space can be “dimension, a poetic dimension, in” to produce text. So every logo-thete writing. “leads inevitably, if at great “ “as an encyclopedia, as a method” four exhibition rooms for four printmakers from the pewter jugdescribed only by an apparent his work he liberates the spatio- is a kind of scenographer: length to the center and then back “of knowledge, as a network of “ -5 paradox: dense space. temporal language of architecture one who loses oneself in the “[22] Dictionaries, like other examples” out again. In contrast to the connections between the events Feel my body 1 > plan // footing // concrete // Gide [ 7. structure for earth ] from its solid referential powers devised framework and who arranges “of this category of books, do not “ “uni-cursal labyrinth, the word” “people, and objects in the world.” architect 2 > section // foundation // wood // Proust “[ Imply ] from middle english ‘multiplein,’” “by isolating it, by revealing it, and “ Ad Infinitum. “really have a beginning, end or a “ maze indicates a multi-cursal He views the world as a system so your plans 3 > elevation // floor // steel // Flaubert 28“from, old french, ‘multiplier’ from “ “most important, by taking pleasure” main line; they have many possible “structures, which contains many” “of systems, in which each system” will not be so rigid 4 > detail // wall // brick // Hawthorne MAN“Latin ‘multiplicare,’ from multiplex,” in it. “Reading texts and not books,” ones. Their textual space is not uni- points of choice between two or conditions the others and is listen to the sound 5 > perspective // window // stone // Hardy afternoon/evening…having many folds: “Barthes writes, “”turning” “cursal, but multi-cursal, “ “more paths, some of which “ conditioned by them: The world as dense of my voice 6 > isometric // door // glass // Robbe-Grillet hollowness of air/movement[ Multi - Many + The second rule Barthes lists is upon them a clairvoyance and a preface here can never be dead end. space. so you will know 7 > axonometric // flue // synthetic // Blanchot the internment of sun moon starsPlex - Fold ] articulation. There is no language not aimed at discovering more than a set of rules that one The fact that every system is part what volume is 8 > flat projection // roof // earth // Mann “without distinct signs, no language” “their secret, their ‘contents’,” is given the rules according to [ text ] is understood not only as a of every system means that the my soul is made “Intuition, however, tends to invent” unless these signs are reprised in “their philosophy, but merely” which the book is structured and “written text, but in general” world itself is simultaneously of no substance words - often paradoxical ones - “a combinative, and that is what” “their happiness of writing,” according to which it functions “text as a weaving, a weaving of” about and in. What Gadda is pointing your space might circum-scribe that which one “Hejduk does. He deducts, combines,” “I can hope to release Sade,” but rules that do not have any thoughts that can be expressed out here is the existence of an ‘other’ be the same is not able to de-scribe. The “arranges, he endlessly produces “ Fourier and Loyola from “meaning outside of themselves, as” in words as well as in images. “kind of in-volvement, one that ridicules” moment you start thinking about rules of assemblage. “their bonds (Sadism, Utopia,” they only simulate an objectivity “>from medieval latin textus,” the problem of objectivity. these intuitive words they begin “Religion).””” “to ensure communication, to enable” scriptural text. From latin It is an in-volvement that in its to create a fascinating logic of “The third operation is ordering,” reading the same book with “textus, literary composition” reflection does not look for “their own, they start weaving a text” not merely the arrangement of [ Scenographer ] one who designs and paints “others, this also means that the” “woven thing, from texere,” “consistency, that does not literally” “folding a mental space, involving” “elementary signs, but the subjection” theatrical scenery rules may be changed at will “to weave, from indo-germanic” you in your own fascination. of the larger sequence to a [ Word ] Greek > Logos without destroying the relative “higher order, in this case that of the” “idea, the form. This new discourse”
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
#5 – Points of Departure
Literature:Losing control, keeping desire by Doina Petrescu, (in Architecture and Participation, 2005)
You can’t go back (…) That you can trace backwards on a page/map does not mean you can in space-time. (Massey, 2005)
As planners and architects we are actors in space and time, being continuously confronted with the fact that even though we can retrace our footsteps, retell a story or recreate an encounter, the place of origin will always be changed. While the ideal work of architects and planners often resembles what we might consider a utopian notion – it is in our future multicultural and multilayered cities more interesting and of larger importance to investigate spaces of otherness, spaces that are neither here or there and are thus simultaneously physical and cognitive – spaces defined by Michel Foucault as heterotopias, a term used to describe spaces that have more layers of meaning or relations to other places than what immediately meets the eye. (Foucault, 1967)
In this investigation of otherness, a specific awareness of where the plan begins is required – for example, what is taken into consideration, and ‘what we let inform our process’. In our competition entry for the large city-expansion in Nordhavnen in Copenhagen (70°N, D&U, 2008b), we developed and used a term and strategy for entering the field called Points of Departure (PoD). The PoD strategy reflects an awareness of changes in time and space that allow otherness and heterotopias, which in turn opens for unexpected spaces and chance to become part of the planning process.
From the competition entry: Activating the Field is to create a ‘hyper responsive milieu’ where it is possible to leave an imprint – something that one can return to, charge with energy and follow in time.
In our strategy for Nordhavnen we insert small enclaves (sociotopes) of free, imaginative and provocative structures to be established now, and continuously, - independent of the plan’s timelines. These Points of Departure can be seen as embedded resistance and meaning in the future urban fabric. The coming urban structure has to embrace and meet these
21
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
#5points of departure
programs in the same way as the Barcelona Cerda-plan is dispersed in the meeting with the old village of Gracia and Paris’ Haussmann axes deviate when encountering ‘les buttes’ (aux Cailles/Montmartre). Strategically this is a new way to establish constructive resistance in large urban projects, learning from historical urban renewal processes.
Complex, dynamic fields of life forms and accumulated knowledge exist on several levels in Copenhagen and its region. Through such action this may evolve into a sustainable voice in the urban development process, and at the same time disturb a unilateral and defined developer-run process and imprint it with new meaning. This evidently is true for those people who through time will settle in the area, but also for those landscape structures and events, which will be initiated. In planning terms it represents the importance of weaker economies and voices that, allowed to work on all timescales in Nordhavnen, represent an archipelago of formative opportunities in a constructive resistance to all linear development. This gives us the possibility to create what the voices of the citizens express as: “No-regulation Zones”, “Use temporary functions and features”, “A bit rough, messy and unpolished, it would be great to be able to plan the unpolished”, “The unexpected is attractive”.
In this workshop we have been employing various approaches and terms in order to discover and understand the complexity and multiple strata of information we continuously encounter as architects. And finally: The way we make and present our findings and maps is highly political and has great significance for what we can do to the places and spaces for which we are planning.
MH/GL
Assignment: Consider your learning from the previous assignments and transfer your new knowledge into a Point of Departure strategy: generating meaning through resilience / interaction / social and biological awareness or simply by creating otherness...
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
angella
23
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
kanchan #5points of departure
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
25
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
ken #5points of departure
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
27
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
hailey #5points of departure
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
“Finishing ends construction, weathering constructs finishes.”
SEE.SEEN.WEATHERING OF TIME.research
Can the process of deterioration be a continuation of a building’s life? While weathering is the result of unpredictable environmental factors, its residing elements convey a constant connection to their surroundings. The presence of past elements gives meaning to the present form. Its bridging from past to present connects individuals with the testimony of time that it conveys. does the consideration of weathering as a scar create a stronger connection between the subjective and objective meanings of time?The temporality of nature and memory come hand in hand in understanding time. What is memory if the imagination has no connection to form and matter?
POINTS OF DEPARTUREM.GALLANT-WINTER2012
To propose a pre-designed intervention would be aggreeing on predicting the future. this urban intervention is about creating space for possibilities. Without expectations, leaving the design to time and its users, as they may come and go.
As a response to the lack of public space where individuals and sub-societies alike can express their individualites and creativity, the suggested urban intervention help feed the future of unforseen possibilities. The interventions are a suggestion of green space to help better the quality and add to the visual presence of the neighbourhood. While these space can be used as an urban garden, it is up to the public to design, add, subtract to the context.
EXISTING FABRIC
ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
EXISTING PROGRAMSrestaurant.art gallery.performing arts.hotel...
.
layers .
time.
sub-societies.
creativity .
public expression.
no limitation .
visual record.
green space.
vulnerability.
weathering...
URBAN INTERVENTION
martine
29
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
The ARTery is an constantly evolving system of urban renewal organized by the people and for the people. These re-appropriations of left-over spaces act as places of community, essential to any city’sgrowth as an organically unified body of life and creativity.
steph #5points of departure
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
The project concept is based on the idea of Michel de Certeau’s Tactics. He defined them as actions which take place on an opponent territory. Usually tactics are used by citizens as public spaces power. They are short term ac-tions for long term process. Tactics are tools for actions which required par-ticipation and desire. Without a driven desire people won’t participate and won’t take any actions unless something pushes them towards. The aim from this project is to offer analytical tool to enable understanding of how a space is part of citizens’ participation power. According to Hannah Arendt 1906-1975 “public space, is a place for action”.
As a result, linking my Points of Departure to the tactics theories, I have developed a program for my project. Where citizens can participate and plant their own food in the wasted spaces of Montreal Downtown “Resi-dential and Restaurant zones” (fig.3). The idea is, each participant brings his/her recycled containers and plant vegetables/ fruits on the walls of their backyards. The program (fig.4) is introduced by a short lecture and workshop which will teach participants the importance of planting food, methods and plantation maintenance. Each participant will be given a tool methods and plantation maintenance. Each participant will be given a tool kit; which contains a robe, nails, vegetables/ fruit seeds, instructions book-let and a poster [I plant .... ]. The poster idea is to show participant’s soli-darity and commitment where He/She can post it on the wall or main door of the house. The program is suitable for all ages. The experience of growing food in the mid of downtown is interesting attraction to the city’s residences and visitors (fig.5). It will help to improve air quality, food independence, participation, exchange methods, and spread the eco-friendly concepts among kids and youths. Although, this action is temporary during spring and summer every year, however, it will certainly add a unique experience for the people themselves and contributing positively to the city.
“Green-ing Outside the Box” is inspired from theconcept of tactical urbanism, which is aspontaneous temporary action into somethingpermanent and part of permanent and part of daily life (people’s life) (fig.1). This concept is based on theories of Jugaad concept which encompasses all urban actions which, given the existing situations, lead to making use of, re-using and, at the end of the day, not wasting the received city. It proposes that citizen energy brings about urban growth through invention strategies (fig.2).* (No special skills, no sophisticated tools nor new recourses).
*"STRATEGY AND TACTICS IN PUBLIC SP ACE."" A+T Architecture Publishers 38 (2011): 20-25.
(fig.2)
(fig.1)
(fig.3)
(fig.4)
(fig.5)
GREEN-ING outsde the box!
31
www.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com
The project concept is based on the idea of Michel de Certeau’s Tactics. He defined them as actions which take place on an opponent territory. Usually tactics are used by citizens as public spaces power. They are short term ac-tions for long term process. Tactics are tools for actions which required par-ticipation and desire. Without a driven desire people won’t participate and won’t take any actions unless something pushes them towards. The aim from this project is to offer analytical tool to enable understanding of how a space is part of citizens’ participation power. According to Hannah Arendt 1906-1975 “public space, is a place for action”.
As a result, linking my Points of Departure to the tactics theories, I have developed a program for my project. Where citizens can participate and plant their own food in the wasted spaces of Montreal Downtown “Resi-dential and Restaurant zones” (fig.3). The idea is, each participant brings his/her recycled containers and plant vegetables/ fruits on the walls of their backyards. The program (fig.4) is introduced by a short lecture and workshop which will teach participants the importance of planting food, methods and plantation maintenance. Each participant will be given a tool methods and plantation maintenance. Each participant will be given a tool kit; which contains a robe, nails, vegetables/ fruit seeds, instructions book-let and a poster [I plant .... ]. The poster idea is to show participant’s soli-darity and commitment where He/She can post it on the wall or main door of the house. The program is suitable for all ages. The experience of growing food in the mid of downtown is interesting attraction to the city’s residences and visitors (fig.5). It will help to improve air quality, food independence, participation, exchange methods, and spread the eco-friendly concepts among kids and youths. Although, this action is temporary during spring and summer every year, however, it will certainly add a unique experience for the people themselves and contributing positively to the city.
“Green-ing Outside the Box” is inspired from theconcept of tactical urbanism, which is aspontaneous temporary action into somethingpermanent and part of permanent and part of daily life (people’s life) (fig.1). This concept is based on theories of Jugaad concept which encompasses all urban actions which, given the existing situations, lead to making use of, re-using and, at the end of the day, not wasting the received city. It proposes that citizen energy brings about urban growth through invention strategies (fig.2).* (No special skills, no sophisticated tools nor new recourses).
*"STRATEGY AND TACTICS IN PUBLIC SP ACE."" A+T Architecture Publishers 38 (2011): 20-25.
(fig.2)
(fig.1)
(fig.3)
(fig.4)
(fig.5)
GREEN-ING outsde the box!
maysan #5points of departure
SLICES THROUGH SPACE
liter
atur
e 70°N arkitektur & D&U arkitekter, mosaïc::region, winning entry in the competition Øresundsvisioner 2040, (Malmö/Copenhagen, 2008) www.mosaic-region.com
70°N arkitektur & D&U arkitekter, Excentral Park – Edge Dynamics, winning entry in the competition Nordhavnen (Copenhagen, 2008)
Iñaki Ábalos, I would prefer not to, in Natural Metaphor: Architectural Papers III (eds. Mateo, Sauter; Zürich, ETH, 2007)
Stan Allen, Theory, Practice and Landscape, in Natural Metaphor: Architectural Papers III (eds. Mateo, Sauter; Zürich, ETH, 2007)
Gregory Bateson: Ecology and Flexibility in Urban Civilization, in Steps to an Ecology of Mind (Chicago: The University of Chicage Press, 1972/2000)
Manuel De Landa, Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy (London: Continuum, 2002)
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Rhizome, in A Thousand Plateaus / Mille Plateaux (London: Continuum, 1980)
Michel Foucault: Of other Spaces; Heterotopias (1967)
Bruno Latour: Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern, in Critical Inquiry vol 30 no. 2 (2004)
Doreen Massey, Reorientations; Slices through space, in For Space (London: Sage, 2005)
Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by (1853)
Doina Petrescu: Losing control, keeping desire, in Architecture and Participation, (eds. Jones, Petrescu, Till; London: Routledge, 2005)
Saskia Sassen, The global city: Strategic site/new frontier, in Quaderns vol. 229 / Borders (2001)
a new geography of centres and margins
an ongoing product of interconnections and not
loose ends and ongoing storiesheterogeneity of practices and processes
moving spatial configurations within a multiplicity of sites and temporalities
challenge the norms of planning
transcends the real and ascends to the virtual provide the flexibility necessary for unpredictable change
a credible map of sustainability has yet to be drawn
embedded resistance and meaning
a way of thinking that mirrors the dynamism of ecological systems themselves
plurality and diversity are crucial
the rhizome pertains to a map that must be produced
as a sort of simultaneously mythic and real contestation of the space in which we live, this description could be called heterotopology
I would prefer not to
loose ends and ongoing stories
as a sort of simultaneously mythic and real contestation of the space in which we live, this description could be called heterotopology
slices through spacem
agdalena haggärde & gisle løkken
slices through spacespring studio 2012 by magdalena haggärde & gisle løkkenwith: angella, elena, hailey, kanchan, ken, krista, martine, maysan, narae, robin, shirley & steph azrieli school of architecture & urbanism, carleton universitywww.slicesthroughspace.blogspot.com