Diploma Unit 2

_FROM OBEDIENCE TO INADEQUACY

[ AGENDA ]Misfit

n.1. Something of the wrong size or shape for its purpose.2. One who is unable to adjust to one’s environment or circumstances or is considered to be disturbingly different from others.

n.1. A person not suited in behaviour or attitude to a particular social environment.2. Something that does not fit or fits badly.

v. -fit•ted, -fit•ting, n. v.t., v.i.

1. To fit badly.n.

2. Something, as a garment, that fits badly.3. A person who is not suited or is unable to adjust to a situation: a misfit in one’s job.[1815–25]

Diploma 2 will continue to investigate the idea of physical and incorporeal autonomy in architecture

through the use of fiction as an analytical framework. The basis for our preoccupation for the year comes

through observing already existing conditions or phenomena where self-containment is ‘creeping’ into

social and organizational structures. Googleplex in California consists of a five acre park, open spaces

with water features, shallow pools, fountains, pathways and plazas, a gym, free laundry rooms, two small

swimming pools, multiple sand volleyball courts and eighteen cafeterias with diverse menus among the

office spaces, for use by the company’s employees.

Instances like these effectively suggest that in our increasingly globalized times where communications,

transportation, trading and technology are characterized by an ever expanding global outreach, there

is a parallel tendency of the physical settings of corporations and cultural and educational institutions

among others to become increasingly and physically self-contained and insular. Mis-fitted within their

wider physical context corporations like Google are at the same time highly fitted and connected to a

much wider global context on a disembodied level. The Square Mile, England’s “smallest ceremonial

county”, although physically located at the centre of London has its own boundaries, governance,

territorial police force, tax system and even a dedicated airport, characterized hence as a state within a

state. It is through this partial disconnection that the City of London can become operational as an entity,

highlighting even further the thematic that will be our research subject for the year.

Term 1 will start with defining what constitutes independence and autonomy through extensive analysis

and research into case studies selected by the students individually. Isolated desert communities,

high rise mixed-use developments, corporate campuses, ancient city-states, virtually connected social

groups and any other forms of social or political structures that deliberately or not manage to elude

formal control. Through a range of examples such as Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen, Chandigarh

in India, Kowloon in Hong Kong or as was the case last year the Demilitarized Zone in Korea, the Jesuit

Missions in the US, the Red Army Faction and Sinopec Corporation in China among others, the aim will

be to rigorously and systematically analyse the hidden processes and potential loopholes that allow for

autonomy to develop and become established. In parallel, there will be a selection of a relating fiction

or writing that will link to the precedent study and which will also be examined in terms of its structure,

addressing of key issues, and development of subject matter. The synthesis of the two will allow for the

design of an artefact piece based on the previous analysis that utilizes some of the extracted themes

in a creative manner. The main objective through the initial two projects will be to identify a problematic

and define a specific theme that will be the preoccupation for the rest of the year.

[ UNIT TRIP ]04-11.12.13

We will be travelling to Hong Kong, one of the few remaining cases of an urban condition that although

geographically and spatially connected to its neighbouring territories, is at the same time politically,

judicially and financially distinct. Having been affected by colonial rule and falling under various

occupations by different countries over the years, Hong Kong is still under special administrative status

in relation to mainland China and has its own taxation laws, currency, educational system and cultural

heritage.

Through this unique status it has become one of the leading financial centres, with one of the highest

per capita incomes, longest life expectancy and population density per square kilometre in the world.

It is within this framework of partial autonomy and heightened urban and social conditions that we will

seek to address ideas of autonomy and architectural ‘misfitting’. The aim will be to uncover hidden

tendencies or areas of opportunity and nest our partially or fully self-governed proposals within their

already autonomous context.

What will be questioned is the nature of autonomy in the contemporary city, its role, characteristics and

function as a catalyst for development or as a hermetically isolated condition. Will the logical course of

things drive our proposals towards a process of an augmented internalization of context and people- a

new Kowloon Walled City, or will they become insular fortresses of a capitalist service economy? What

does this unique architectural and philosophical condition of self-governance mean in a contemporary

setting?

During our week-long trip we will be visiting the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB), the

office of Foster and Partners (TBC), the Department of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong, as

well as the cities of Shenzhen, Macau and Guangzhou.

[ FICTION ]Fiction

n.1. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) literary works invented by the imagination, such as novels or short stories.2. an invented story or explanation; lie.3. the act of inventing a story or explanation.4. (Law) Law something assumed to be true for the sake of convenience, though probably false.[from Latin fictiō a fashioning, hence something imaginary, from fingere to shape]

fictional adjfictionally adv

fictioneer, fictionist n

Having been an attractive subject matter, autonomy has historically been used in fiction and writing

as a means of speculating on ideal states, private utopias, political and social systems that eschew

formal control, or even dystopic environments where human instincts and psychological aspects are

stretched to their limitations. JG Ballard’s ‘High Rise’ where programme and typology latently promote

an extreme insularity of the tower and its inhabitants, progressively ends up in a dystopia of mayhem,

where people unconsciously revert to an extreme primal behaviourism that is complimented by its

containing degenerated high-tech architecture. Neal Stephenson’s ‘Snow Crash’ is another example of

the sovereign state model gone wrong, where the ensuing city states are turned into franchises, selling

lifestyles as a commodity. Hakim Bey in his book ‘T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological

Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism’ uses historical and philosophical examples in order to analyse and “describe

the socio-political tactic of creating temporary spaces that elude formal structures of control”.

Drawing from the Diploma 2 work of previous years, the use of fiction will be targeted at a specific

point in the year when our building proposals are already underway. Forming a sort of singularity in the

development of the individual projects, fiction at that instance will be a tipping point where the formulated

designs acquire a speculative and subversive dimension becoming therefore animated and moving

away from mere representation. How will our designs change over time, will they cause confrontations,

temporary internal chaos, attract unnecessary attention or unwanted inhabitation?

In time, the potential subversive unravelling of our proposals will result in fictional scenarios that form the

basis of an architecture that goes beyond mere representation and that ultimately makes dynamic what

is otherwise conventionally static.

[ UNIT SCHEDULE ]TERM 01- Key Dates

Weeks 1-6 (30th September- 5th November)

Research and analysis of the concepts of mis-fitting and mis-use through existing, historical or fictional case studies.

• Friday 4th October- Undergraduate Complementary Studies Introduction & Presentation of Selected Case Studies from Last Year & Presentation of Past Dip 2 Portfolios (TBC)

• Tuesday 8th October- Group Tutorial of Individual Case Studies (Research & Initial Drawings)

• Friday 11th October- Individual Tutorials

• Tuesday 15th October- Pin-up/Review

• Friday 18th October- Individual Tutorials

• Tuesday 5th November- Final Case Study Presentation/Artefact Brief Launch

Weeks 6-9 (5th November- 26th November)

Design of an artefact piece used to critically explore the ideas observed and analysed in the case study.

• Friday 8th November- Individual Tutorials

• Tuesday 12th November- Midterm Review

• Wednesday 14th November- 5th Year TS meeting (TBC)

• Friday 15th November- Individual Tutorials

• Tuesday 19th November- Individual Tutorials

• Friday 22nd November- Individual Tutorials

• Tuesday 26th November- Final Artefact Presentation/Building Brief Launch

Weeks 9-12 (26th November- 20th December)

Building projects commence

• Wednesday 4th December- Wednesday 11th December- Unit Trip to Hong Kong

• Friday 13th December- Term 1 Undergraduate Submission Hand-In & 5th Year TS meeting (TBC)

• Tuesday 17th December- End of Term Jury (Individual Building Briefs, Building Sites, Concept Designs)

TERM 02- Key Dates

Weeks 1-11 (6th January- 28th March)

Building projects continue

Individual Tutorials to be held on Tuesdays and Fridays

• Monday 13th January- Friday 17th January- Complementary Studies commence

• Tuesday 14th January- Pin-up

• Tuesday 28th January- Pin-up

• Friday 31st January- Precedent Technical Studies Projects Presentation (TBC)

• Tuesday 11th February- Midterm Review

• Tuesday 18th February- Technical Studies Pin-up (printed work-in-progress TS reports)

• Tuesday 25th February- Pin-up

• Friday 7th March- 5th Year TS Interim Jury (TBC)

• Monday 17th March- Tuesday 18th March- 4th Year Previews

• Wednesday 19th March- 5th Year TS Meeting

• Monday 24th March- Term 2 Undergraduate Submission Hand-In: 4th Year

• Wednesday 26th March- Thursday 27th March- 5th Year Diploma Previews

EASTER BREAK- Weekly individual tutorials

TERM 03- Key Dates

Weeks 1-9 (28th April- 27th June)

Building projects completion

• Monday 28th April- TS5 Final Submission

• Tuesday 6th May- Review (Building Projects Completed- Final Drawings, Physical Models, Fiction/Narrative of Building Evolution Scenarios)

• Wednesday 7th May- TS5 High Pass Panel

• Tuesday 14th May- Diploma 2 End of Year Review

• Tuesday 10th June- Wednesday 11th June- 4th Year End of Year Reviews

• Wednesday 18th June- Thursday 19th June- Diploma Committee

• Friday 20th June- Diploma Honours Presentations

• Wednesday 25th June- External Examiners (ARB/RIBA Part 2)

• Friday 27th June- End of Year Exhibition

[ INDICATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY ]

Ballard, J.G., 1994. Concrete Island. London: Vintage.

Ballard, J.G., 2008. Crash. London: Harper Collins.

Ballard, J.G., 2011. High Rise. London: Fourth Estate.

Bey, H., 2011. The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism: Anarchy And

Conspiracy. [S.l.]: Forgotten Books.

Black Mirror, 2011. [TV programme] Channel 4.

Bresson, R., 1997. Notes on the Cinematographer. København: Green Integer; Los Angeles, Calif.: Distributed in the U.S. by Sun and Moon Press.

Clear, N., 2009. Architectures of the Near Future. Chichester: John WIley.

Cooper, D., 2005. God Jr. New York: Black Cat.

Danielewski, M. Z., 2000. Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves: by Zampano: with Introduction and Notes by Johnny Truant. London: Anchor.

Dick, P. K., 1999. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Filmed As Blade Runner. London: Millennium.

Hiroya, O., 2008. Gantz. Milwaukee, Or.: Dark Horse Comics.

Holt, N. ed., 1979. Writings of Robert Smithson. New York: New York University Press.

Koolhaas, R., 1994. Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. Rotterdam: OIO Publishers.

Koolhaas, R. and Mau, B., 1997. S, M, L, XL: Small, Medium, Large, Extra-Large. Koln: Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH.

Lambot, I., 1993. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. Hong Kong: Watermark Publications.

Leach, N. ed., 2009. Digital Cities AD: Architectural Design. Chichester: John Wiley.

Maas, W., van Rijs, J. and Koek, R. eds., 2006. Farmax: Excursions On Density. Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010.

Palahniuk, C., 2006. Fight Club. London: Vintage.

Selby, H., 2011. Last Exit To Brooklyn. London: Penguin.

Stephenson, N., 2011. Snowcrash. London: Penguin.

The Invinsible Committee, 2009. The Coming Insurrection. Los Angeles: Semiotexte.

Wilson, P. L., 2003. Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs and European Renegadoes. Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia.