occupancy requirement: draft 1

Why is Architecture Becoming Obsolete?

I.                    Narrative

            Introduction

“The current hyperbol-ization of mere image-form… has given place to an unbelievably powerful renewed intuition that is already sweeping the playboys into oblivion and undoubtedly will continue to do so in the years to come. That intuition, whose first version marked the dawn of this century has taken a century to grasp: that form and architecture as such is no longer interesting, indeed can no longer make the slightest historical claim on our attention”

            Sanford Kwinter

While less than 7% of constructed projects are designed by architects, how many of the rare occurrences that can claim title architecture, are indispensable? I suspect there is a lack of desire; desire by general public, desire for an elite sensibility, and desire beyond what is necessary or profitable.

What is architecture? Today’s building industry and architecture profession confuses public’s knowledge of what architects actually do. And it’s not about what architects do that matters, what can architecture do? What is the potential of the practice?

“Architecture is not only what is built; it is also a conceptual trajectory, the comparison of concepts stemming from heterogeneous disciplinary fields, which exempt it from all formal unification and open it up to its future development… as a ceaseless exploration”

Marie-Ange Brayer

            Proposal

Architecture is not essential, threatened to the point of extinction, to be buried in self-indulgence and artistic expression. In the consumer driven society we call culture, the market values prioritize money and sex as commodity, unfortunately I’m not sure where that leaves the discourse of architecture.

In response, I propose to, ironically design architecture. Ignoring the lack of desire and therefore motivation via the public, the idea is to promote architecture by means of visual seduction, entertainment, and commodity.

The outcome, then, is a work in series, architecture of potential, of possibility. Because the role of the architect is limited as draftsman/designer, the project becomes an issue of mitigation between idea and its communication. By working in series, iteration becomes an exercise of representation, embodied idea.

“The way most of us experience architecture is through photographs in books, in other words, through our imagination f what the space would look like in real life. [Tschumi] then makes a comparison of the way advertisements show the same image over and over to create a desire for something that exists beyond the two-dimensional page, repudiating the singularity of architecture…. Confronting the dissociation between the immediacy of a partial experience and analyzed definition of theoretical concepts, the function of [Tschumi’s] Advertisements- reproduced again and again as opposed to the single architectural piece – was to trigger desire for something beyond the page itself.” - Rosalind Krauss

While I am not interested in the idealization of architecture, the intent becomes that of a glorified billboard, as a feeble attempt of promoting the interests of the intellectual discourse that is, Architecture. The utility becomes an argument for experience rather than some utopian attempt for the ideal.

Program in fact, then is not rigorous in terms of utility of space, however; in terms of experience required to fulfill its purpose, it becomes prescriptive in the way that advertisement is articulate and thoughtfully composed. The objective becomes a problem of translation as well as interpretation.

II.                  Site:

Sequential

To exist in sequence, regardless parameters of scope: within: the realm of imagination, drawing, physical and virtual reality, the context of dense urban sites, vast fields, highway exchanges, the singular object, signage system, i-phone application, utopian pasts, dystopian futures, and as parasite to the iconic and equally the mundane.

Particular

[?] should this be a matrix of types – possibilities or I should choose singular one. I think it might be stronger to have a matrix, that way I would be using a similar way that the IBC actually conducts code, to show the site possibilities for the project.

While the site may shift in terms of reality and possibly satire, regardless; the design itself is to be taken quite literally, and is simultaneously entirely dependent on the specifics of contextual relationships.

            Typology of Contexts: [possibilities, to be further condensed and/or expanded]

                        Within a body of water

                        As parasite to existing host

                        Isolated in an open field

                        Sited dense urban fabric

                        Hidden amongst forested park

                        Attached to iconic landmark

                        Underground

                        Elevated over suburbia

                        Encircling highway interstate

                        Marking the end of a tunnel

                        Floating along a riverbed

                        Inside an atrium space

                        Under a bridge

                        Hung from a blimp

                        Connecting two adjacent buildings

                        ……

III.               Program

            Typology of Range

I find it relevant to reference utility as specific, vague, weighted, mundane, and historical, not in terms of use but in terms of narrative. The range of program is an inclusive/subtractive combination of the following programmed elements:

Museum:

not in terms of archive or depository of knowledge, but in terms of enclosure as a series of voids, and for the purpose of provocation of thought.

Monument:

not in terms of commemoration of past, rather as a dislocated signifier, or embodiment of an idea. Removed from historical reference, the monument upholds opportunistic relevance within the present.

Vending Machine:

as a device which is absolutely inert/useless, until passive user is rendered active via desiring its contents - an agent-dependent and fulfilling functionality

Billboard Advertisement:

in terms of systemic self-promotion, marketing through visual medium to stimulate desire

Laundromat:

not without connotation, the utilitarian space provided simply to wash and wait, relates in terms of its becoming obsolete, in terms of function, sure; but even more so in terms of necessity. And yet, necessity is what keeps its program relevant, as a ‘last resort’

Cathedral:

not in terms of awe-inspiring, but in terms of communicative space- another type of self-promoting medium

Book:

the object may be considered an entombment of words, yet its function is coherently active for its ‘occupant’

Transit Hub:

not in terms of function, use  or practicality, but in terms  of provision of space, as space of allowance, as connector,  as a small piece of a series of a greater system without totality or whole, but as sequential  parts with service and purpose nonetheless.

            Intention

The resultant building then, attempts to question the relationships between Architecture and building as well as associate architectural definitions of the practice, its discourse, and the elements inherent to the discipline both in terms of the physically manifested as well as it’s conceptual reality existing in the imagined space of representation.