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Agents of Transformation and the "Death" of Urbanism Preeminence of the Decorated Shed Staging Uncertainty |
[3S1] COMPLEX PROGRAM. The ganglia
mentioned above inherited their formal characteristics from a process which Mark Wamble
calls complex programming: "Complex Program is hyper-urbanism; a combined
ethos and technique which enables one to navigate the space that exists outside of and
beyond a given structure."130 Complex programming is actually a kind of
pre-programming, which is rarely carried out in the profession of architecture, yet is
essential to design in this era of uncertainty. Complex programming is not based on
spatial assumptions of functional occupancy, but instead suggests new spatial
configurations based on projected social, economic, political, and technological milieu.
Wamble posits that "Space in this sense does not exist outside of that which is
already accessible to each of us through this idea of Complex Program; a ‘vacant
ecology,’ a civil realm poised, receptive and available to be experimented with, and
eventually occupied."131 This realm is conceived through the process of
Scenario Planning, developed by Lawrence Wilkinson, which allows us to predict multiple
futures based on existing circumstances.
Scenario planning derives from the observation that, given the
impossibility of knowing precisely how the future will play out, a good decision or
strategy to adopt is one that plays out well across several possible futures. To find that
‘robust’ strategy, scenarios are created in plural, such that each scenario
diverges markedly from the others. These sets of scenarios are, essentially, specially
constructed stories about the future, each one modeling a distinct, plausible world in
which we might someday have to live and work.
Yet, the purpose of scenario planning is not to pinpoint future events but to highlight large-scale forces that push the future in different directions. It’s about making these forces visible, so that if they do happen, the planner will at least recognize them.132
The assistant to the executive vice president of Enron has scheduled a meeting with several representatives of the Chubu Power Company in Nagoya to discuss the joint development of alternative fuels at a test site in Nagoya port. She will arrive at the Nagoya International Airport at 15:00, and take the subway directly to the terminal at Kinjo Pier. Before the 17:00 meeting, she will need a place to shower and change clothes, as well as a place to store her luggage. She will require an isolated area to add some finishing touches to the report which she completed on her laptop during the flight, as well as a place to print out several hardcopies for her meeting. During the meeting, she will need an interpreter as well as a multi-media projector to display graphics. Since she anticipates that the meeting will run late, those present at the meeting will want to order several plates of sashimi and beer. After the meeting is over at 20:00, exhausted from jet-lag and work pressures, she will want to go immediately to sleep.
The personnel division of Daido Industries Inc. plans to hold a job fair at the Kinjo Pier International Exhibition Center, which has a large auditorium, and wants to conduct interviews at the terminal across the street, where there are more adequate small-scale meeting facilities. Four teams of engineers will require secluded interviewing spaces with the ability to conduct computer examinations to screen potential employees. Since many of these prospects are international students who have never been to Japan, several guides have been appointed to show off the area, and will benefit from having a travel office as well as visa office to discuss the details of their stay in the country. The interviewers will want a place to get a quick bowl of udon during their break. They will also want to be connected throughout the day to the main office, making phone calls, sending faxes of resumes, and wiring computer test results.
A retired chemistry professor from Singapore has been invited by an old colleague to participate in a three-day think tank session being held in Nagoya to discuss the development of a new material for use in the space industry. The professor and his wife decided to take a cruise, with their final destination being the terminal on Kinjo Pier. Being close to a particular research and development plant, the colleague has scheduled the think tank meetings (in which twelve people will participate) at the terminal itself. Before meeting his old friend, the professor will want to buy a present. Because these meetings will run throughout the entire three day period, the participants will want several places to eat nearby. During the day, the professor’s wife will want to run errands and visit some local sites, and thus will want to be close to the subway and bus stop. After the long, tiring sessions, the professor will want a place to take a hot bath, and would like a garden in which to meditate, both close to the place he and his wife will spend the night.
Ten partners from the software company Cadsoft plan a meeting off-site to discuss plans for a potential merger with Bentley Systems Inc. Worried about inside information leaking out and influencing the stock market, leaders of both companies know that it is critical to maintain utmost secrecy. Given their busy schedules, however, the company leaders need a meeting place that is fairly accessible. At least two partners from Microstation will fly in from Seattle for the meeting. The leaders plan to hold the meeting at the Kinjo Pier terminal in a secured conference room at 21:00. Participants arrive via different modes of transportation; some by taxi, some by subway, some by bus, and some by jet foil. They all require a secure, inconspicuous entrance to the meeting place. As they will be coming straight from their respective offices, they will also need a late dinner of sushi, tempura, and sake delivered to the room. If the deal goes well, they might want to enjoy a few rounds of karaoke in a small club room.
A famous U.S. physicist has just embarked on a lecture tour to promote her new book on magneto-optical storage media. She will be visiting Japan for the first time, and is scheduled to speak at universities in Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Tokyo over a six-day period. As coincidence would have it, she has also agreed to participate in a new research project being conducted at a physics laboratory in Nagoya port. The project will require her active participation for a four week period, beginning a week after her lecture circuit. The physicist will have a fair amount of luggage for the six-week trip, and her husband is planning on joining her for the first two weeks. They will need a room for their first night in Nagoya, and a place to drop off most of their bags before they leave for the other cities. As they plan to travel for the week after the lectures, they would benefit from visiting a travel office before their trip. After they return to Nagoya, the physicist will need a temporary apartment for the next four weeks, complete with a workspace and kitchenette for convenience. She will also need a place to do laundry and buy food and toiletries. If she has a problem with her computer or the network, she will require an on-duty computer consultant. She will need a small conference area for impromptu meetings on site as well.
A team of the far east liaisons division of Volkswagen is planning to visit Nagoya to discuss establishing an offshore factory in the Nagoya port area. They will be meeting executives from several Japanese car manufacturers as well as a few government officials. Twenty-two people will be expected at the meeting, which is scheduled at a conference area in the Kinjo Pier terminal. The Volkswagen executives are expected to fly into Nagoya International Airport around 9:00, but the meeting will not occur until 13:00. After a long flight, the team will want a place to rest, but they won’t be spending the night, so they will need more temporary accommodations. They will also want to shower and change their clothes before the meeting. During the meeting, some of the Japanese car company executives have ordered several new assembly robot prototypes to arrive for inspection and discussion. They will need a loading dock and automated lift to transport the robots to the meeting area. After the meeting, some of the Japanese executives may wish to practice their swing in the virtual driving range.
The Japanese Prime Minister is expected to visit Nagoya port to inspect preparations for the Aichi International Exposition, to be held in 2005. He will be escorted to several sites, including the new Nagoya International Airport and the new port island, and will require suitable accommodations at a central location, preferably at the Kinjo Pier terminal. The Prime Minister will be arriving in a limousine from Tokyo, accompanied by several attendants and security guards. He will require a secured entrance to his hotel room
and a place to leave his
luggage. After his tour, he will return to the hotel and make a televised announcement from a video conferencing room. Before his scheduled dinner with
other government officials at a small yakiniku restaurant, he will want to enjoy a small tea ceremony and take a bath.
The Prime Minister’s room should also be provided with an impressive view of the port. 130Wamble, Mark, "Complex Program: Drawing on Scenarios" (unpublished) 131Ibid. 132Wilkinson, Lawrence, "How to Build Scenarios" in Wired, p. 74
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Scenario planning predicts a
complex program by its all-encompassing nature. In the same way that infratecture
promulgates the idea that the architectural experience is not bound within a limited
spatial framework, scenario planning promotes an openness of ideas which inevitably leads
to new spatial possibilities. The complex program derived from scenario planning is based
on multiple projected actions and their particular spatial implications, rather than
object-related assumptions. The following scenarios, then, consider the subjects of the
new international corridor in Nagoya Port, and imply new work/live strategies based on
plausible hypotheses of itinerant occupation:
1
2
3
4
5
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A Master's Thesis in Architecture at Rice University by Blaine Brownell. Copyright © 1998 by Blaine Brownell. All rights reserved. |
