What is 'Space'? : Dialogue: Comtemporary Theory in Architecture

Parametricism and Virtuality

Parametricism is claimed by Patrik Schumacher, in "A New Global Style for Architecture and Urbanism" that "Parametricism is the great new style after modernism". In fact, when looking at some of the newest designs in the society, it's seemed to be that way. One of the reason that made parametricism the style of today is perhaps also due to the new technologies we've developed in the past decade which really enable the possibility of creating such complex and elaborate forms. The idea behind the concept of Parametricism is that on every site there's  a field, a field is equivalent to the forces existing in the space, such forces are such as the environmental forces, the social, the economics and more. These forces or this fields are then taken into a consideration when it comes to the designing phrase. Hence, there's this idea of creating an architecture which is specifically "tailored" to a specific site.

 This trend of subjectivity is also, a trend that our world is moving towards. The Fordism and the mass market  world is over. It is replaced by a world of subjectivity, where the consumers are supplied with products that are specifically "designed" for the individualistic need of each person, this proved to also be successful as subjectivity is related to our human nature, which is unique and specific to each of us. This can also be seen from the micro-specific advertisement that had been built into our devices such as during our google searches on our iphones  - where the results shown in each phones would be different according to what we've been searching on the phones previously, thus, in a way, even the search results had been tailored to be more specific to us as a user.

However, back to architecture, even though parametricism is all about the "maximal emphasis on conspicuous differntiation and the visual amplification of differentiating logics" as quoted by Patrik Schumacher, there's a truth that is in a way that's quite contrary, it's that in reality; parametricism itself is very controlled. In the order to construct buildings that possessed this "fluid" dynamic forces, that also "flow" together as supposed as a single form, "sharing a language with its neighbor" . There's the need for very precise calculation and precise pieces for the construction. since these fluid forms are actually very "articulated" in nature and thus to achieve such articulation and  complexity - the pieces o the building are also needed to be built very precisely, which, in many cases, there're often some errors when these elaborate forms are put into reality. Thus, the concept of "Virtuality" is also related to Parametricism in my view.

Since it's a matter of fact that many of Zaha's works are not built in real life despite the advanced technology that we've developed and some of her works that were built into real buildings, in many cases don't work just as well as planned, such as the Guangzhou Opera House which has a leakage problem.  This is due to the very complicated construction process and the need for a high level of preciseness. When looking at the actual parametric architecture in real life, many tend to does not live up to the models and the rendering pictures that the architect promised.  These renderings are a type of "virtual reality" in which it has the quality of being "real but not actual, ideal but not abstract" as quoted by Marcel Proust, Definition of The Virtual. Real but not actual refers to something "real" but doesn't have to be physical such as reflection and in this case the renderings.

Another example of Virtuality is the well known computer game, Sims; where the player is able to create and live in his / her virtual world, where there're costumes and even "music" that have references to our real world thus in a sense, the sims  is a "real" but not actual world, it possesses virtual reflection of ideal and values. In addition, even the idea of a utopia could also be linked to the theory of virtuality since it is also real in a way, but not actual. Hence, in some of the parametric architectures, there're still some essence of virtuality, where the models and renderings (which are the virtual reality) represent the architecture better  than the real buildings themselves. At the end, my understanding of Parametric forms is that it required "perfection" / "perfect order", which in a way, is very difficult to create in reality, since people are not perfect. This sense of "perfect order" is also presented in the ideology of the Utopia --- which links to the theory of Virtuality, where it's "real but not actual". Thus, the fact that Parametricism also represent the concept of controlled aesthetics in the order to create this "perfect order" in the real world, is link to the concept of Virtuality as in many cases, the models and renderings, which are a type of "virtual reality" ended up representing the architecture better than the actual buildings.

To Talk of Many Things...

When we think about ourselves as the human race, what really differentiate us from the other species are the "things" that had made up our society. Looking back beyond the prehistoric time, the "threshold" that defined us as "human" is when the apes discovered the use of a tool - that tool is a "Thing" in which we have used to build civilization, creating cultures and eventually it's the "things" that is responsible for our arrival as a species today. why are things so important? as mentioned, "things" although unanimated, played an important role in shaping our behavior and our society. The simplest thing like the hinge on a door actually made a lot of difference in terms of how we interact with a space. In this case if there's no such thing as a door hinge, it would take a lot of effort, energy and time to firstly, destroy a wall in the order to get inside, then rebuilt it to closed it - all of these "humans" use to perform the same task of getting into a room and closed the opening is replaced by this non-human "thing", a door hinge. In a way, a hinge contains the essence of those humans needed to do this "operation". Thus, in another way, these "thing" in our life is actually part of who we are, we are so accustomed to these "thing" that many times it has been embedded into our nature, this relationship between human beings and non-human "things" played such a large part in our life that when this relationship is broken, as in the case of the Israeli troops "walking through wall", the relationship between the wall and human has been broken - the wall is unable to perform its "function" as a "thing" that would protect us from the danger outside no longer, thus, humans loose the trust in the "thing" and its why this theory was so successful in creating trauma.

Besides from responsible for our humanistic progression, the "things" in many cases also define who we are and how we are seen by others, in a way, it's almost as if these "things" are heterotopias where it would allows us to have a better understanding. The things can also define  how we perceive others as well from their interaction with the things and how that interaction, relates to us. Vice versa, our interaction with the things also indicate how others will perceive us as well. Moreover, in some cases, it's the non human "things" that can determine our human action / interaction, such as uniform, students wearing uniforms and lecturers do not - this uniform - a "thing" automatically suggests a hierarchy in which we, humans tend to follow.

The interesting role of the "things" in our life is highlighted in the film "objectified" where it took us through some of the "behind the scene" production, seeing how  each "thing"/product were designed and manufactured. One of the main thing I saw is that there're a vast amount of time / thoughts being put into the production of these "things" that sometimes, it may seem so small and unnoticeable but actually responsible for making our life much easier such as a handle of a scissors for instance. One of the most successful "things" right now is the Apple products and the main thing I got from seeing Apple's design process is that they tried to make their product as related to the users and users friendly as much as possible. In fact I feel that the reason behind the success of Apple product might even come from the fact that they understand the relationship that these non-human things have with us and that these "things" actually shaped the way we behave and shaped the society in which we're living in.

System & Deep planning architecture...

The word "system" is introduced to us a while ago, often to increase the awareness of its importance and hopefully influenced us to how we adapted the idea to increase our performance in different aspects. We viewed system as being well-organized, well-established, anything with a certain form of system insisted "order" and  act as a structure that usually help the place to survive and outshine the others that don't. Nevertheless, many things around us have their own systems which is unique to the region, this system is the structure of the place, it creates the place and it's what made the place unique in itself. As architects, we looked at "places" differently than others, to view the place for its physicality is common but to understand a specific place requires the understanding of the "system" of that place.

 System of the place could be linked to many aspects such as social and environmental. In a way, understanding the "system" of the place is a crucial point in "deep planning" architecture, where not only the holistic quality of the site is taken under consideration prior to the designing stage but the architects would look at the ecological aspect of the site and uses that as an influences or concept of the building. Thus from my point of view, deep planning will helps create a more of an "empty form" architecture as the form of the building would come from its context in terms of its surroundings etc. , hence, its ability to survive over time as it has a better understanding of not just the physical aspects of the place but also a more ecological way of understanding which means that it is much deeper in context. To my surprise I actually think that many of the successful buildings today are somewhat relate to this concept of "system" and "deep planning" and similarly the trend of new architecture projects today also shifted to be more site-related and somewhat with an influenced from the ecological aspect of the site.

One example that I could think of is the project called "Geotube; Vertical salt deposit" by Faulders studio in the text "On Farming" as a text about how to use new architecture to improve our farming industry. I'm interested in this concept of farming because in itself, lies a many systems - the system of operation and production as well as the need to understand the environments and the ecology of the area of the farm as well. Thus when combined with architecture, many of this aspects will influenced the design which is a lot more interesting personally. Geotube is a project proposing a new way to create salt farm that would take up less space and allows multiple programs to be held in the area. The interesting aspect of this project is that it is very site-related and that it required the deep planning and an understanding of the ecological aspect of the site to come up with this architecture. located in Dubai, where the salinity level in the sea is higher than many other places, salt are traditionally collected horizontally and the space has no other uses. The proposal is to build a tower with an external mesh facade, being nearby to the shore, the sea water would then be pumped to the tower and releases down the mesh facade. With the unique extreme dry climate of the area, the water would evaporate fairly quickly, leaving the salt which can be collected on the mesh, by doing this, it is a quicker method to produce salt and required a lot lesser space. The way that the salt can be collected is also a lot easier and the tower could be used for other program as well. Thus, to me, this seems to be a very creative yet possible project which displays how the "system" and "deep planning" could be combined to the project to create a unique architecture that goes beyond the normal aesthetics and functions of but also reached out to being a part of the already established "system" of the place and being a part of its ecology.

The site took advantage of its placement by being nearby to the shore.

The combing functions of a salt farm with a tower.

Diagram explaning the system of puming the sea water then sprayed the water onto the mesh facade.

The salt deposit on the mesh overtime.

The Hungergames

The concept of Utopia, Heterotopias and Dystopia has been introduced to us from the very beginning as seen in the bible, the ideal Utopia is the Eden Garden - where there's no pain and suffering and every species live together in co-existence. However, the word Utopia poses two underlining meaning - first is the obvious meaning of "good place" while the second meaning "no place" - or a place that does not actually exists, nevertheless, it allows us to understand ourselves better. A contemporary example of this concept can be seen in the Hungergames, a famous novel which has been put into films, The two main settings the capital and the districts are vastly different in terms of the way they operate yet, there are subtly related and we can see this more importantly in the annual Hungergames, where participants from different districts dual to the death for the entertainment of the rich in the capital. To the workers in the districts, where life is about making money to live by each day and working for the capital - the idea of the capital is almost like Utopia, it is grand with people who don't need to worry about anything walking around in glamorous clothes and riding in fancy rides - the luxurious lifestyle seems alluring yet untouchable by the workers in the districts except for that this seemingly Utopia is in fact, real and the way to actually experience it is to become a participants in the brutal Hungergames and that is what Katniss Everdeen, a girl from district 12, got to experience.

For Katniss, she got to experience the capital in the form of a Heterotopias, where it is touchable and real, yet it is representing and reflecting the vast difference that the capital has in relation to her hometown, district 12.Infact, through the Hungergames, where the game is broadcasted to the workers in the districts - it becomes a heterotopias for them - as in their world - it exists and with this existence it emphasis the harsh reality of living in the district. In a simpler word - the capital is the heterotopias of the districts where the image of people living in luxury , not having to work hard or worry about anything reflects the harsh reality and the struggles of lives in the districts. Katniss got to experienced this heterotopias first handed, but more importantly she also realizes that underneath of the glitters and luxury of the capital lies a world which is so twisted and cruel, as if the capital is not real, such place could be describe as being almost like a Dystopia.

 A dystopia is a "bad place" of non existence which is sort of what the capital in the Hungergames is to us, in reality. The capital is a bad imagination of our world in the future where people will be separated by classes and that the rich would be powerful to the point of death of the poor or the insignificants are viewed as a source of entertainment. In fact, there is similarity between the culture of the capital in the film with our society that made it even more so a good example of a dystopia that display the bad vision of the future of our world, In the past we have the gladiators in the Roman time, where death would be viewed as a source of entertainment for the rich and the display of violence is counted as a heroic act, and thus, today we would like to think that we've moved beyond that act, which is viewed as cruel and inhumane, however, the film reminded us that humankinds are still filled with this dark desire and this influenced a dystopian view of the capital in our mind since it made us realize that there's actually a possibility that the "capital" could become our future.

To sun up the concept of utopia, heterotopias and dystopia can be seen in the "capital" in the "Hungergames" where, from the character's point of view, the capital is real and hence, it is a heterotopias which helps the witness able to reflect on themselves and understand themselves better, meanwhile to us in the real world, the capital is sort of like a dystopia which is waiting to come true as we see some possibilities as it depicts what would the world be if justice and kindness is overtaken by greed and selfishness. the capital being something unreal yet, it warns us about our future and made us more aware of who we are, making it, an example of a dystopia. 

The capital (Capitol) in the Hungergames seems grand and luxurious at a glance it appears to be like a Utopia for us the viewers but for the character, its a Heterotopias that helps emphasizes the vast difference between it and the districts. Also, as it turns out - we later realize that the capital is more like a Dystopia - a bad imagination of our society in the future....



The district seems almost like its from another film - in fact, the character Katniss Everdeen will get to experience this vast difference when she visitted the capital which in return - made her more aware of the condition in her district



The ideology of "Place" in Architecture...

The meaning of "place" in the architectural concept is far beyond the generic meaning of "location". Place, in this case, is also link to the atmosphere of the area and thus has a more constructed social quality. Place has a memory that is tied to it and hence there is also an essence of the particular  place in the space as well.  Thus, from this, "Place" is more complicated in a way how they responded to humans. Moreover, "spatial practices" can helped defined the "place" from the space that "The earth, the sky, the people and the divine (transcendent), All are brought together in dwelling. Dwelling takes a place by sparing and preserving - letting things be and become" , a street is a street when there's an action of walking filling in the space, hence, the character of a space could became recognized as a "place" from the action/activities that is going on inside. Furthermore, the ideal concept of place is that there is an essence of surrendering to the surrounding context of the space - which will in a way, helped it to survive for longer, as it surrendered to the environment, in other word, it blends in, allowing it to morph with the context of the landscape.

Since the concept of "place" expressed this unavoidable link between the man-made structure with the existing natural landscape - the "memory" of the space , "places" are very connective in general. Thus it would be ideal to give some examples of an architect whom, many admired so much and how his creations expressed this theme of "place" through connectivity. Frank Lloyd Wright was the architect that always bear the thought about the relationship between his buildings and the existing landscapes. The Uzonian Home, started with the concept of building a home with less expense and building cost. Hence, as a result, he used this strategy that all of the materials and labor were to be from within the range of 5 miles - while this method obviously helps to reduce the building an labor cost - it also enables the building to capture the essence of the space around it, for instance, the materials are the same from the nearby trees. Another good example is the magnificent "Falling Water " where Wright brought the outside in, through the use of materials and textures, to the point that he mentioned that he wants "People to step inside and put on their hats". Eventually, it is fair to say that Falling water  captured the essence of the water fall, and thus , becoming a "place" of its own. Moreover, the ever -so famous Wright's style of the prairies is inspired by the horizontal nature, long span area of open glass.

Accordingly, it is the context, the people and the activities inside the space, which could be almost immediately identified as being specific to a "place" - it created the ideology of where things "take place" and thus, this technique is often used in films to illustrate or create a more vivid image of how the "place" would be like. One clear example is the film "Powaqqatsi" where it's more like a collection of series of sceneries being filmed with some details that are more specific to the "place", for example in many scene , we cannot determine  exactly where it is in the world when the film only portray the landscape, we needed clues such as the people and their activities in the order for the film to "take place" in that particular place. In other word, the activities of the people inside the film helped us determined the space, once determined and realized the hidden essence of the space, that space potentially developed into a place.

In summary, place is different from location and space is that "place", architecturally speaking contain the "essence" of the particular place and that could be done in several ways  through different processes. Also, a place or the essence of a place could also be defined from the spatial practices such as the activities of the people in the space as seen in the film "Powaqqatsi".

The Return of The Erotic

The ideology of erotic sounds quite familiar to us, since we've experienced and experimented on this concept for the entire term last term in design studio, but now, we're introduced to the erotic once again, in a different light, in the world of theory. "Erotic is not the excess of pleasure but the pleasure of excess" is a term used by Colletti to describe the nature of erotic in the book, "Ornamental Pornamentation" and surprisingly, many theories that we've learnt can also be linked to the idea of erotic in their own way. Firstly, to define exactly what is "erotic" is a difficult task, as erotic's aim to "stimulate" and "impact" us, however, we as individuals response differently to different things - however, as a general rule, most of us should be able to be "affected" by a "phenomena" that erotic created.  One of the most clear descriptions of the theory of the erotic is that erotic delivers the "sublime". The sublime expressed the idea of a "delightful horror", a sort of feeling that is similar to as if you came back from death - that moment of awe and delightfulness would create a vivid, perhaps exuberance experience. Notice the usage of the word, "experiences" - like how many other theories linked together, the erotic also linked to the idea of how we perceive the world around us, about our perception and the level of "erotic" depends on our personal choice and how some particular phenomena can create an array of different effects that speaks to us the most.

One of the newest example of the concept of erotic we were given is the film "Fight Club", underneath the outer layer of the fights and violence. the concept of the film can be linked to the theory of erotic with ease. The story is about a man who was bored with his boring mundane life, working his life as a "recall specialist" - to the point that it has became so predictable, that he felt that he is living in hypereality where he is longing to "feel" the emotions, to "taste" the essence of being "alive". Hence, he tried several ways, from faking to be a cancer victims and attended cancer meetings in the hope of tasting the raw emotions of people, experiencing the so-called "sublime" moment of the cancer patients - however he realized that all he could do was to be an "observer", he still couldn't reach the feeling of "being alive"  until he entered into the realm of "Fight Club" where the ideology of this secret club was basically a place for working-class people to fight - releasing their stress and in return, feeling alive. Nevertheless, the story escalated into the peak when even fighting in an enclosed club is too predictable and thus, starting a fight with total strangers  would be the only moment where the idea "sublime" is being recreated as with the concept that "if you haven't started a fight ,you haven't really live", hence you could see the linkage of the theory of erotic  and the essence of being "alive" - that delight fullness  and contentment  which were a key that tie the idea of the sublime with the theory of erotic and accordingly; the film. To explain more, it's like that Fight club is a place that could create those sublime moments - the moment where you fight with all your might and survived to live life - that is the moment of the sublime, which is where, according to the theory, when the readers experienced and unforgettable experience that stimulated their senses and challenge their understanding of erotic. Thus, the theory of erotic linked to many other theories that we've study earlier since "erotic" plays directly to our reactions and responses - which relates to our perceptions and how we interpret phenomena , how we take in these "effects" - how we are moved / provoke by a particular aesthetics such as textures etc. All of these can be considered as belonging in the realm of erotic. The erotic is ambiguous  yet inviting, it is mysterious yet it engages with the audience in the order to maximize the phenomena being created for the maximum effect on the observers. Nevertheless, one conclusive "label" that we could use to label such broad and ambiguous ideology of erotic is the "sublime".