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Agents of Transformation and the "Death" of Urbanism Preeminence of the Decorated Shed Staging Uncertainty |
[3S3] IN PLACE OF THE PUBLIC?
Does the BSP’s embrace of the corporate world
signify the death of public space? Like the mall or the office tower, does the BSP cater
to a controlled population? While the BSP contrasts significantly with historicist models
of the public square, it is not wholly private or limiting. The significant provisions for
public accessibility and the full-time presence of certain government offices provide a
layer of openness and accountability not found in typical corporate environments; as such,
the BSP is a public/commercial hybrid. More importantly, the BSP acknowledges that public
space has extended into the global, electronic framework which is fueled by the interests
of private organizations and institutions as well as public agencies. The physical
character of the BSP addresses programs and activities on an intentionally limited scale;
thus, spaces for mass collection have not been necessary. While the spatial qualities of
the traditional urban square are not present,
Now I will tell how Octavia, the spider-web city, is made. There is a precipice between two steep mountains: the city is over the void, bound to the two crests with ropes and chains and catwalks. You walk on the little wooden ties, careful not to set your foot in the open spaces, or you cling to hempen strands. Below there is nothing for hundreds and hundreds of feet: a few clouds glide past; farther down you can glimpse the chasm’s bed. This is the foundation of the city: a net which serves as passage and as support. All the rest, instead of rising up, is hung below: rope ladders, hammocks, houses made like sacks, clothes hangers, terraces like gondolas, skins of water, gas jets, spits, baskets on strings, dumb-waiters, showers, trapezes and rings for children’s games, cable cars, chandeliers, pots with trailing plants. Suspended over the abyss, the life of Octavia’s inhabitants is less uncertain than in other cities. They know the net will last only so long.137 137Calvino, Italo, Invisible Cities, Trans. William Weaver (Harvest/HBJ, 1972) p. 75 |
however, the operational devices
necessary to promote a new urbanism are manifest. This urbanism acknowledges that as the
mobile forces of capital, communications, and transportation erode the traditional city,
new static infrastructures and sociocultural destinations have become all the more
necessary. Thus, the BSP not only represents the insertion of an alternative work/live
model into the exurban field, but also the hopeful proposition of a new strategy for
architecture.
A Master's Thesis in Architecture at Rice University by Blaine Brownell. Copyright © 1998 by Blaine Brownell. All rights reserved. |
