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Agents of Transformation and the "Death" of Urbanism Preeminence of the Decorated Shed Staging Uncertainty |
preface
This project is concerned with urbanism – not in the sense of what we already know and take for granted – but in the formulation of new conceptions of urbanity, which has become increasingly important in the wake of inestimable change. As our cities dissolve into the megalopolitan field, we are faced with fundamental questions about the role of architecture in the second machine age. Many have turned their faces from this inevitable future, seeking solace in past urban traditions: the piazza, the street, ‘downtown.’ Meanwhile, we are thrown headlong into a world where geopolitical boundaries are eroding, capitalism is pervasive, and deregulation is the norm – a world inhabited by five billion tourists, fed by a global digital nervous system and propelled by the automobile – in which the very idea of ‘place’ is now questioned. The terrain we inhabit – called sprawl – has essentially become a single, generic, atomized city on the scale of the globe; although we can now live and work anywhere, everywhere is strangely the same. Faced with this disturbing condition, how can we maintain the genius loci while "all that is solid melts into air?" Furthermore, how can architecture prevail, when the discipline is being marginalized by the forces of capitalism and ignored by a visually illiterate society? For architecture to have a place in this brave new world, we must face these ineluctable challenges. While it is important to understand past theoretical and formal traditions, we will not find answers within the accepted architectural canon. We must instead turn to face the horror vacui, and struggle to fill it with meaning. Innovation is, after all, much more difficult than emulation. However, innovation is essential. Thus, I have decided to direct my attention toward the contemporary city and the economic, social, and technological forces that shape it. After isolating major areas of conflict and drawing from their potential, I have tried to grapple with this void in order to secure a place for architecture in the post-industrial megalopolis. Whatever limitations exist in the design proposal should be balanced by the open-ended nature of the ideas. This thesis is a strange hybrid between analysis and synthesis, caught somewhere between a history lesson and a manifesto (yet inadequate as either). Its structure is similarly unconventional; I have taken the idea of a three-dimensional frame by which to organize the text, such that multiple narratives may be read along three major axes – process, scale, and specificity – within a single narrative. This multi-dimensional framework speaks to the digital paradigm of the ‘web,’ and allows for freedom in interpretation of scope. It also gives a spatial dimension to an otherwise flat medium. Like the cinematic jump-cut, the splicing of the text into multiple narratives conveys the sense of a smorgasbord of ideas, in which each idea is only partially developed before a sudden ‘shift’ in scope delivers a new idea. As a whole, the text is a complex interweaving of ideas, scales, and sequences, much like the post-industrial city which is its subject. Finally, this project is about Japan. Faced with incredible urban challenges as they enter the next millennium – including high levels of congestion, skyrocketing land values, increased dependency on outside resources, impending natural disaster, and economic instability – the Japanese maintain an indomitable spirit and optimistic sense of enterprise. From my days as a young boy living in Hiroshima to the study of Japanese language and culture in college, I have always carried a special interest for our Sister Nation in the East. Moreover, despite the comparatively extreme cost of construction, the Japanese promote highly experimental and innovative architecture, a fact which should make the design-impoverished U.S. ashamed. Explanation of the multi-dimensional text structure: Like architecture, the organization of the text is intended to reflect and enhance its content. I have established a nine-square grid which corresponds to the first two dimensions, process and scale. "Process" is broken down into: 1) analysis, 2) isolation of problems/conflicts, and 3) resolution or synthesis. "Scale," in the OMA tradition, is simply 1) large, 2) medium, and 3) small. The z axis, then, consists of varying stages of specificity, in whatever number is appropriate for the topic. This text-structuring device is intended to provide an alternative to the singular narrative convention, allowing the reader to move freely within multiple narratives along the three-dimensional matrix. This framework is similar to Mark Wamble’s theory of the circuit and the cell, which I will present later in the text.
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A Master's Thesis in Architecture at Rice University by Blaine Brownell. Copyright © 1998 by Blaine Brownell. All rights reserved. |
