exquisite corpses: an architectural mystery

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E X Q U I S I T E C O R P S E S :A N A R C H I T E C T U R A L M Y S T E RY

Bachelors of Environmental DesignUniversity of Colorado, 2010

Submitted to the Department of Architecture in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyFebruary 2014

2014 Galo Canizares. All rights reserved.The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created.

by Galo Canizares

Signature of Author: ...........................................................................................................Department of Architecture

January 15, 2014

Certified by..........................................................................................................................Arindam Dutta

Associate Professor of Architectural HistoryThesis Supervisor

Accepted by..........................................................................................................................Takehiko Nagakura

Chair of the Department Committee on Graduate Students

2Thesis Committee

Arindam DuttaAssociate Professor of Architectural HistoryMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Sheila Kennedy, AIAProfessor of the Practice of ArchitectureMassachusetts Institute of Technology

William OBrien Jr.Assistant Professor of ArchitectureMassachusetts Institute of Technology

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Abstract

by Galo Canizares

Thesis Supervisor

Arindam DuttaAssociate Professor of Architectural HistoryMassachusetts Institute of Technology


In 1937, writing about the parallels between mystery fiction and urban dwelling, Walter Benjamin wrote, in times of terror, when everyone is something of a conspirator, everybody will be in the position of having to play detective. That is to say that anxieties present within the built environment often lead to a series of actions closely related to those undertaken by detectives. Using this as a departure point, this project seeks to reconstitute a discussion of meaning within architecture through the use of narrative, anachronous formal languages, and literary devices. If we are to take the dismissal of postmodern architectural discussions as a given, we can place meaning as an archaic subject matter limited to autonomous formal readings (i.e. dialogues of surface, geometric complexity, etc) and non-existent in the context of large architectural production (i.e. real estate development, efficiency in construction methods, etc). However, revisiting linguistic analogies and a nostalgia for lost artifacts and pairing them alongside contemporary concerns of urban dwelling and architectural agency, we can re-establish culture-centric modes of architectural production (ones not limited to parametric or positivistic attitudes). By embracing the fictional dimension of an architectural project, and exploring the limits of that fiction, Exquisite Corpses determines a more specific understanding of narrative architecture, one that does not dismiss or marginalize the subject matter but augments it. A fictional narrative suggests that contemporary discussions of meaning in architecture must be taken to certain limits in order to promote agitations, explore morals, and even mediate anxietiesmuch in the same way detective mysteries operate. While previous attempts at promoting these themes rely largely on architecture ad extremum (read: paper architecture, utopia) this project operates at the scale of the detective mystery or the parable. It sets up an allegorical framework that situates Exquisite Corpses within the lineage of real projects with heavy theoretical underpinnings (Tschumis La Villette, Rossis urban plazas), but also accepts the dismissive value of fiction. Ultimately, the goal is to revisit a spectral dialogue excluded from most contemporary architectural production, and suggest a probable methodology around which to have discussions of collective memory, meaning, signification, and public identity.

Submitted to the Department of Architecture on January 15, 2014 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Architecture

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6Acknowledgments

I would like to offer my deepest thanks to Arindam Dutta for being my co-conspirator on this journey, for inventing Mr. White, and for enthusiastically pushing me to ask the important questions of architecture. To Sheila Kennedy and Liam OBrien, my team of investigators without whom the case of Mr. White would not have been as interesting.

To my friends and faculty in the architecture department, for being so supportive of such an absurd endeavor. To Eric and Kyle for all the fun times. To Michael, for all the encouragement, feedback, and witty comments along the way.

And to my family, for blindly and lovingly supporting me in all my bizarre experiments as I make my way through the world.

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C O N T E N T S

Introduction: Detectives and The Curious Case of Mr. Whites Exquisite Corpses

1. Reading Architecture

2. Real and Unreal

3. Paranoia

4. Representation

Appendix i:Urban Monuments, an Unsolicited Proposal

Appendix ii:An Exquisite Corpses Cheat Sheet

Appendix iii:Notes and Bibliography

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15

37

59

71

79

151

155

8A Note on the Format

This book is a story about architecture. It is also a story about a fictitious character who succumbs to madness in his quest to find meaning in the built environment and his struggle to constitute what was once labeled avant-garde. As a thesis, this project begins and ends with questions about architectural knowledge, identity, and multi-disciplinary potentials, but what sets this endeavor apart is that it first and foremost questions the reality of an architectural project. In order to productively visit the key themes of this thesis, its contents have been organized as follows: an introduction to the story followed by writings on reading architecture, the real and the unreal, paranoia, and representation. Throughout the writings, graphic representations of the work produced in the course of this project will serve as illustrations that will reinforce certain themes. The story itself is not presented in prose because it is not complete, but will eventually be published as a novella. The appendices at the end can also be used as references and corollary documents to the text.

9I N T R O D U C T I O N

I N T R O D U C T I O ND E T E C T I V E S A N D T H E C U R I O U S C A S E O F M R . W H I T E S E X Q U I S I T E C O R P S E S

Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.

- George Orwell, Why I Write

Detectives

In times of terror, when everyone is something of a conspirator, everybody will be in the position of having to play detective

- Walter Benjamin

Why write a detective story about architecture? Because the detective mystery is a curious architectural burlesque. In other words, we can say that to read a detective novel is analogous to performing certain architectural acts. Within this genre, we encounter characters with great attention to detail and deductive power, phantasmagoric urban settings, speculative futures, and suspicious fragments which constitute a whole. Formally, the genre is itself a game of quasi-architectural objects in which structure, characters, and settings play out different roles. I argue that these roles result in creating content that is unmistakably architectonic in character. However, beyond an architectural reading at the base level of the detective mystery, we can also extract a deeper understanding of recurring themes and figures in the literary history of the genre that parallel architectural notions of the uncanny, the sublime, and the mythological. The detective mystery therefore can emerge as an allegorical tool for the representation of a fictional architecture. The narrative structure of the detective mystery is essentially an architectural project executed in reverse, whereas the conceptualization of said mystery is a parallel analog. The motive and act of catching the culprit can be likened to the concept or initial strategythe end of the book and the beginning of the project, respectively. On the one side, the story begins with clues or fragments that eventually lead one to the motive and culprit, and on the other, the architectural project becomes more and more detailed (or fragmented) as it develops. This inverse relationship then swiftly changes into a parallel one when we delve into the authorial process. The actual development and planning of the detective story by the author mimics the development of the architectural project since both authors conceive of the ending first then proceed to the details.1 The scalar funneling that happens in both cases results in a coherent artifact that must be understood at all scales. We must also note that the crafting of the fictional narrative is an act largely based on gut feelings not unlike a designers mysterious intuition.2 The fact that they are

10

both creative acts allows both endeavors to function intuitively, but always with a set of structural constraints stemming from the discipline. The comparisons drawn here are rooted within larger questions of architectures permeability, flexibility, and critical connections to other disciplines (read: connections of criticality). Architectures balance of structure and intuition, though shared with other arts, establishes the potential for a double agency within the field. That is to say to manifest a detective story about architecture can be equally read as an architectural story about detectives. In modern literature, there are few characters as predisposed to architectural thought as the detective. He shares with the architect his method, technique, sharp eye, deductive power, acute intuition, and diligence.3 As a character living in a world of mystery where everyone is a suspect and every detail is a clue, the detective must piece together the strange details in order to form a cohesive argument for a motive. He deconstructs crime scenes and with his cunning ability to look at all the (figurative) angles in a space or situation recreates them threesometimes even fourdimensionally. He is a master of his craft and will always persevere through his task. There are no incomplete mysteries in literature, only those incomplete in real life. Carlo Salzani writes Detection is the method of the flneur, the archaeologist, and the historian, in a comparison between the historian and the detective to which the architect should be rightfully added. He continues, the fact that the historian has to work as a detective [is] because what he or she has to uncover in the past is a series of crimes.4

By crimes he does not mean wrongdoings rather events carried out with certain political agendas. The reconstituting of these events, not unlike Bernard Tschumis Manhattan Transcripts, present both a program for the architectural event and the key objects in play. However, Tschumi in following the tradition of borrowing piecemeal from other disciplines, was reluctant to use the noir drama as a whole. He writes sometimes to really appreciate architecture, you may even have to commit a murder, but the murder for him is an instance, not a process.5 The murder mystery is the sum of all its parts, yet the Transcripts only focus on one. As an expanded version of the Transcripts, the detective mystery carries out a completed architectonic object with a motive/thesis, constructed details/clues, characters/architects, and programs/victims. The architect-detective, however, is a curious character when faced with the question of authorship. A three-way bind presents us with whether the real architect is the author, the detective, or the criminal. The author, charged with instrumentalizing the story, is the omnipresent architect insofar as he is the creator of the master narrative. The criminal, craftsman of the crime, exists as an endgame doomed to fail, but often in charge of his own fate; whether he chooses to leave clues or not, his traces form a map or diagram which must


be decipheredTschumis strategy. The detective then is the precarious figure who follows the traces, pieces them together and crafts the motive. The three characters thereforeand I count the author as a character as he is primarily responsible for the architectonic quality of the storyresult in architectural concepts themselves. They operate together with a system of checks and balances in a constant part-to-whole relationship.

The Curious Case of Mr. Whites Exquisite Corpses

The story that unfolds within this project revolves around a detective and his struggle to crack the case of the serial killer, Mr. White. Set in contemporary New York City, the narrative follows the mysterious murders of four unrelated strangers during the summer of 2013 amongst anxieties of terrorist attacks and the pervasiveness of virtual media. The instances happened all in different subway stations along Broadway in midtown Manhattan, but what was curious about these deaths was the way in which the victim died. Witnesses at the scenes described fast, jerky movements, terminating in a rigor-mortis-like pose. The detectives assigned to the case have an extremely difficult time deciphering the meaning of these deaths until several discoveries are made. The first discovery is a series of compounds in the victims bloodstream that suggest that the cause of death was a chemical reaction. That is to say that each victim was forcefully injected with several compounds that resulted in the bizarre body movements and involuntary poses. The medical examiner explains that not only were these deaths premeditated, but they may have also been choreographed. The second discovery is a small white object with a fingerprint on it. The fingerprint belonged to a Charles White, an architect living in NYC. Upon searching Mr. Whites apartment, the detectives come across hundreds of drawings of a plan for the NYC subway stations, small models labeled monuments, and hundreds of journals in which Mr. White wrote about architecture, philosophy, the city, and most notably chemistry. One of the journals contained drawings of body parts being manipulated through chemical reactions. The primary suspect then becomes the mysterious Mr. White. While at his apartment, the police noticed that he had not been present in a long time. Though the police make advances in the case, their inability to fully construe the logic and motives of Mr. White frustrate them. As the story draws to a close, Mr. White remains at large.

Thesis

This thesis addresses two broad questions about the discipline of architecture:

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1. How do we (as architects, detectives, and the public) read architecture? 2. What is real and unreal in architecture?

These two questions are then fragmented into smaller topics including signification in architecture: a revisitation of meaning, contemporary state of urban dwelling, and whether it is possible to be avant-garde today. The following chapters seek to unpack these themes in more detail, and outline the methodology undertaken throughout the course of the project. The chapter on reading architecture tackles the issue of legibility in the built environment. Taking the dismissal of postmodernism as a given, I posit that there is a need to revive dialogues of signification in architectural discourse. If we incorporate the digital into the discussion, we can frame the discussion around a formal agenda for designing monuments, infrastructural elements, and public spaces (see Mr. Whites proposal in the Appendix). In other words we can ask, because architects, detectives, and the public read the built environment differently, how do we introduce legible and meaningful forms back into the city? The chapter entitled Real and Unreal takes on the second question on the agenda: the reality of the architectural project. If it is possible for architecture (as a project) to exist only on paper or in the imagination, we can state that the realness of architecture lies in its existence as a fictional tool. Fiction here is put forth as synonymous with speculative, hypothetical, and alternative. Shifting the paradigm of the thesis as a real solution, I explore a different understanding of a speculative project; one rooted in a completely fictional (almost dismissive) framework that reaches out to the literary discipline in an attempt to be critical. The last two chapters continue the analysis of fiction and pursue the affective potentials of the mystery genre and architectural representation. In the section on paranoia, I examine the traits of the detective novel from a perceptual perspective drawing examples from Walter Benjamin and Rem Koolhaas. The concluding section on representation sums up the project with an emphasis on the necessity for appropriate architectural representation. I argue that testing the limits of representation allows for a multiplicity of readings and facilitates the discussion of particular themes, such as the roles of spectacle and performance. By using this thesis defense as an example that sought to question the limits of representation, the goal is to set up a precedent for an alternative way of representing an architectural project.


Bernard Tschumi, Advertisements for Architecture, Architectural Design 47. 1977

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TOKENS

a. 2a. 2a. 2a. 2a-5d. (2a-5d)-d. (2a-5d)-d. vlt((2a-5d)-d). Obeliskora.

a. 4a. 4a x f. 4a x f. (4a x f)-2d. (4a x f)-2d. (4a x f)-2d. vlt((4a x f)-2d). Obeliska.

b. b/2. b/2. (b/2) + 10. (b/2) + 10 - 5e. vlt((b/2) + 10 - 5e). (vlt((b/2) + 10 - 5e)) - 5d. Pentunda.

c. c - 16d. c - 16d. ttr(c - 16d). ttr(c - 16d). (ttr(c - 16d)) - (d x c). (ttr(c - 16d)) - (d x c). Theatora.

d. d. d. d - (d/2). d - (d/2). (d - (d/2)) - 4e. vlt((d - (d/2)) - 4e). Tricade.

e. ~e.

~e.

3e. 3e - (1/3 - z). 3e - (1/3 - z) + vtr. 3e - (1/3 - z) + vtr. avg(3e - (1/3 - z) + vtr). Archeatre.

e.

11e. 11e - 1/4. (11e - 1/4) - 10d. (11e - 1/4) - 10d. (11e - 1/4) - 10d. vlt(11e - 1/4) - 10d) - 20d. Archora

f. f - (f/10). vtr(f - (f/10)). vtr(f - (f/10))/2. vtr(f - (f/10))/2. vtr(f - (f/10))/2. vtr(f - (f/10))/2 - 2d. vlt(vtr(f - (f/10))/2 - 2d). Cylindra

Mr. Whites morphological variants on primitive forms.

15R E A D I N G A R C H I T E C T U R E

C H A P T E R O N ER E A D I N G A R C H I T E C T U R E

This moment was that in which language invaded the universal problematic; that in which, in the absence of a center or origin, everything became discourseprovided we can agree on this wordthat is to say, when everything became a system where the central signified, the original or transcendental signified, is never absolutely present outside a system of differences.

- Jacques Derrida, Writing and Difference

How do we read architecture? They key to this question lies in what constitutes the we. Architectures long bout with legibility and signification put the architect at the front of the debate.1 However, if we take the we to mean the public, issues of reading architecture become increasingly more complex. Holistic legibility would have to rely on studies of human perception, psychology, and even democracy to an extent. Moreover, if the we refers to detectives, then the field changes completely. That is to say that the way detectives experience space or architectural forms is influenced by the case on which they are working. What these examples illustrate is the complexity of architectural signification. How does an architecture convey meaning or symbolic value to a larger audience than architects? This question is posed by me as both the author of this thesis, and also as Charles White. Taking the dismissal of postmodernism as a given, the goal here is to revisit discussions of meaning and signification in architecture. For White, the key to this is a reducible language of forms. By establishing a minimalist grammar, the project becomes hyper-democratic. He designs a typological Richter Set of repeatable forms that can be combined in infinite ways; that way the potential for legibility remains in the hands of the public. Later in the story, however, Mr. Whites initial thesis evolves into an anthropomorphic study of form and figuration. He keeps the idea of combinatory forms, but the combinatory logic evolves to a more figural one. In other words, he uses the human figure as a way of deriving formal compositions. The physical and digital representations of the research conducted by Mr. White lead to a new methodology for formal inquiry that picks up where the avant-garde of the 1970s and 80s left off. Putting aside theory-laden discourses on semiotics and linguistics and focusing on psychology and perception, a new discussion of signification can emerge; one based on typology. By situating himself in the public domain (designing public monuments), Mr. White can ignore economic pressures and focus solely on the legibility of the monument. His project, Urban Monuments (see Appendix i), is first and foremost a form of formal analysis that seeks to embed meaning back into the fabric of the city. The goal of reviving these dialogues stems out of a perceived need of the public for legible forms in the built environment. As the novelty of complex surfaces and modernist

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aesthetics wanes, new forms must be introduced into the city: meaningful ones. Therefore, the design research (undertaken by me as Charles White and as myself ) in this phase is based on the physical and morphological qualities of types and forms.

Mr. Whites initial Urban Monuments studies on typology and form.


Mr. Whites combinatory grammars.

These gramars stem from an obsession with the monolith and perfect square proportions. Using the monolith as a primary signifier, new typologies are achieved through combinatory strategies.

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Mr. Whites infinite combinations.

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A case study of one specific configuration for Times Square plaza. The monument is a subway entrance, a theatre, a public restroom, and a ventilation shaft.

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26'-0"4'-0"26'-0"4'-0"26'-0"4'-0"26'-0"

1'-1

1/4

"37

'-6 3

/4"

14'-0 1/4"

239'

-7"

30'-5

"

75'-0

"

2'-0

"8'

-5 1

/4"

2'-0

"8'

-5 1

/4"

2'-0

"8'

-5 1

/4"

2'-0

"8'

-5 1

/4"

2'-0

"8'

-5 1

/4"

2'-0

"8'

-5 1

/4"

2'-0

"8'

-5 1

/4"

2'-0

"10

'-0"

20'-0"20'-0"20'-0"20'-0"

69'-9

1/4

"

38'-8"


Changing the mode of representation ultimately changes the reading of the project.

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1'-1" 16'-6 3/4"

33'-6

"

9'-9

"2'

-0"

8'-5

1/4

"2'

-0"

8'-5

1/4

"2'

-0"

8'-5

1/4

"2'

-0"

8'-5

1/4

"2'

-0"

8'-5

1/4

"2'

-0"

8'-5

1/4

"2'

-0"

8'-5

1/4

"2'

-0"

14'-11 1/4" 14'-11 1/4"

29'-10 3/4"

20'-0"

116'-0"

1'-1 3/4"

120'-0"

2'-0" 116'-0" 2'-0"

99'-7

"20

'-3 1

/4"

135'

-7 3

/4"

28

6'-2 1/4"

13'-0

"

3'-6

"

15'-0"

15'-0"

120'-0"

2'-0" 58'-2 1/4" 19'-0" 38'-9 3/4" 2'-0"

220'

-0"

10'-0

"

54'-0

"

19'-0"

10'-0

"19

'-0"

15'-0"

20'-0"

15'-0"

20'-0" 20'-0"

2'-0

"8'

-5 1

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2'-0

"8'

-5 1

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2'-0

"8'

-5 1

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2'-0

"8'

-5 1

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2'-0

"8'

-5 1

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2'-0

"8'

-5 1

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2'-0

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-5 1

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2'-0

"4'

-0"

26'-0" 26'-0"

30

10'-0

"10

'-0"

2'-0

"

120'-0"

10'-0

"

2'-0" 116'-0"

10'-0

"

8'-5

1/4

"2'

-0"

2'-0"

26'-0"

10'-0

"

2'-0" 26'-0"

10'-0

"

2'-0

"

1'-0"4'-3"

10'-0

"

200'

-0"

18'-6

"

10'-0

"

8'-5

1/4

"8'

-5 1

/4"

2'-0

"

37'-0

"

10'-0

"

116'-0"

16'-0"

10'-0

"

2'-0

"

20'-0"

2'-0

"

20'-0"

10'-0

"

8'-5

1/4

"2'

-0"

16'-0"

7'-0"

10'-0

"

8'-5

1/4

"

10'-0

"10

'-0"

7'-0"

10'-0

"10

'-0"

15'-0

"

2'-0

"

10'-0

"10

'-0"

1'-2 3/4"

10'-0

"10

'-0"

17'-2 3/4"

8'-5

1/4

"8'

-5 1

/4"

32

15'-0"

15'-0"

15'-0"

23'-43/4"

20'-7"

6'-11 3/4"

2'-6"

85'-0"

105'-8"

30'-0"

28'-0"

4'-0"

26'-0"

4'-0"

26'-0"

4'-0"

28'-0"

120'-0"

1'-0"

119.

90

50'-0" 30'-0" 20'-0"

100'-0"

30'-0"

1'-0"

15'-0"

164'-10

1/4"

7'-0"1'-0"7'-0"

25'-6 3/4"

1'-0"

15'-0"

15'-0"

28'-0"

6'-2 1/4"

28'-0"

120'-0"

15'-0" 15'-0"

30'-0"

15'-0"

15'-0"

15'-0"

23'-43/4"

20'-7"

6'-11 3/4"

2'-6"

85'-0"

105'-8"

30'-0"

28'-0"

4'-0"

26'-0"

4'-0"

26'-0"

4'-0"

28'-0"

120'-0"

1'-0"

119.

90

50'-0" 30'-0" 20'-0"

100'-0"

30'-0"

1'-0"

15'-0"

164'-10

1/4"

7'-0"1'-0"7'-0"

25'-6 3/4"

1'-0"

15'-0"

15'-0"

28'-0"

6'-2 1/4"

28'-0"

120'-0"

15'-0" 15'-0"

30'-0"

Emphasis can be placed on the infrastructure, material, scale, or figure-ground to achieve multiple readings.


9'-4 1/4"

44'-5"

156.43

90'-0

"

59.87

30.13

6'-1 1/2"

15'-0" 15'-0"

30'-0"

1'-0"

15'-0"

17'-0"

60'-0"

60'-0"

120'-0"

4'-0"

125.

60

8'-0"

8'-0"

8'-0"

8'-0"

1'-0"7'-6"

80'-4

1/2"

16'-0"

15'-0"

7'-3"

7'-3"

15'-0"

68'-1 1/4"

2'-0"

28'-0"

26'-0"

120'-0"

15'-0" 15'-0"

30'-0"

10'-0"

9'-4 1/4"

44'-5"

156.43

90'-0

"

59.87

30.13

6'-1 1/2"

15'-0" 15'-0"

30'-0"

1'-0"

15'-0"

17'-0"

60'-0"

60'-0"

120'-0"

4'-0"

125.

60

8'-0"

8'-0"

8'-0"

8'-0"

1'-0"7'-6"

80'-4

1/2"

16'-0"

15'-0"

7'-3"

7'-3"

15'-0"

68'-1 1/4"

2'-0"

28'-0"

26'-0"

120'-0"

15'-0" 15'-0"

30'-0"

10'-0"

Legibility relies on what is hidden and what is revealed. For more drawings of Mr. Whites Urban Monunments see Appendix i.

34

Mr. Whites shift in scale is accompanied also by a shift in formal inquiry. Here the emphasis on form is figural. Like hand puppets, White uses the constraints of the human form to achieve new combinatory compositions, ones not restrained by typology or monumentality.

37R E A L & U N R E A L

The architectural process is not an abstract. It has its basis in life as much as in myth. - Peter Cook, The Drawing as Wish

If we take fiction to be synonymous with speculative or hypothetical, what are the roles of the real and unreal in the architectural project? They key lies in the term alternate. To state that a thesis project posits the alternate is a given. That is to say that a students responsibility after years of studying should be to give alternative solutions to particular problems within his or her field. Yet, these so-called solutions in architecture present a dichotomy of understanding rooted in two very distinct historical traditions within the discipline. On one side of the coin we have the imaginary alternative and on the other, the real alternative. These two modes of operating in architecture have yielded most of the historical canon of architectural models: archetypical projects in the development of architectures history. Recently, versions of these alternatives have begun to re-emerge as instantiated hypotheses of our not-so-uncertain future.1

The real alternative can be understood as a predominantly scientific process. The positivism inherent in such practices relies on a priori notions of the world as is or rather as politicians and sociologists explain the current circumstances to be. Though architects are highly gifted at infiltrating neighboring disciplines, the effect of the outreach often leaves a negative stereotype on our profession (read: those architects are such know-it-alls!). This is evident in numerous current projects which seek to undermine the questionable autonomy of architecture of the postmodern period in an attempt to assert agency in the unstable worldone need only look at any recent M.Arch. theses at universities like MIT to get a glimpse of this in action.2 Whether architecture can solve the the worlds crises is not the question here, but rather how does an architectural education prepare one to do so? Or even, how do we begin contribute to issues more suited to engineering or economics? These questions are not at all new, but are key to the understanding of a projects real alternative. They present the counter argument to Manfredo Tafuris notion that instead of worrying, the mass of architects should just do architecture.3 One can say that if there are anxieties currently present in the discipline, it is from here that they stem. Can we, should we, must we intervene? On the other side and at the heart of this thesis, the heroic notion of the architect is much more readily seen in the all-too-familiar imaginary alternatives put forth in the sixties to early eighties. Those socially symbolic projects rooted in words like utopia and radical were dismissed as part of a theoretical period that yielded more confused faces than project commissions. Nevertheless, history accepted these projects as part of that set of imaginary alternatives already seen the previous century with architects like C.N. Ledoux and E. L.

C H A P T E R T W OR E A L & U N R E A L

38

Boulle, among others.4 Perhaps it has something to do with the speed at which our culture is moving, but it seems that weve come full circle as these kaleidoscopic speculations re-emerge and as we continue to re-theorize the permanence of modernity itself. Reinhold Martin most recently took up the task of re-theorizing those vague and exhausted words, postmodernism and utopia, presenting a 21st Century look at themes that act as specters within architecture. What Martin does with his re-territorialization is not resurrect a dead or taboo subject, but outline a method which allows us to live with these ghosts long after their supposed deaththe specter of Utopia will always haunt architects.5

In a world driven by nonsensical statements, the most absurd of positions then becomes the clearest path.

- WAI Think Tank, Narrative Architecture: A Manifesto

The most recent understanding of the imaginary alternate has come to mean fictional. But this cynical synonymy only serves to dismiss the issue at hand, which is the moralhere to mean the right versus the wrong way of actingintention behind the alternate. The alternate is a specific kind of fiction which constitutes themes and motifs apparent in the cultural imaginary. To a certain end, the fictional seeks to narrate an interpolation between both realms, mimicking the real but positing the imaginary. The most evident projects operating this way range from well known projects such as Rem Koolhaas Exodus to John Hejduks Berlin Masques. Most recently, this speculative practice can be seen with figures like Jimenez Lai and WAI (What About It) Think Tank whose work is clearly haunted by the ghosts of utopia, futurism and narrative architecture and events like the Once Upon a Place conference in 2010 and the upcoming Writing Place conference which bring together scholars to discuss the relevance of fiction and literary methods in architecture.6

Dancing between the line of narrative and representation, cartooning is a medium that facilitates experimentations in proportion, composition, scale, sensibility, character plasticity, and the part-to-whole relationship as the page becomes an object.

- Jimenez Lai, Citizens of No Place

Though the fictional alternative works primarily in narrative form, it should be counted separate from that dismissively idiosyncratic red herring paper architecture. Paper architecture possesses a different set of ambitions and preoccupations than the narrative tools


of fiction. The former is a product of economic and esthetic forces that placed architectural production in a position of object-making through excesses already present in the discipline, while the latter is a predominantly representative tool that can generate a wide variety of scenarios as means of disseminating architectural thought. Thus, a fictional project can end up being paper architecture, but that is not to say that all fictional projects must be. Faced with this existential dilemma, the fictional project runs the risk of being marginalized due to its inability to be understood as more than just a theoretical project, that is to say an imaginary alternative. But as weve stated before, the fictional lies at the crossroads of the real and the imaginarynot necessarily in the Lacanian psychoanalytic sense, though some have argued this as well.7 So how are we to understand this particular mode of practice within the discipline if we can neither say that it is paper architecture (an object) nor that it is simply a theoretical solution (imaginary alternative)? The key to this understanding is representation and process. There is no architecture without representation...At the root of the architects creation, we find the need to represent, writes Douglas Darden whose primary concern within his own projects was the idea of exploring what could equate in architecture to writings figurative language.8 The idea of representation as a tool for design is sometimes difficult to see in drawing because they are masked with the denseness of the object. However, if we look at narrative, we find that with the added dimension of time, that object becomes an experience within which the processthe movement within the storyillustrates for the reader morals, critiques, speculations, and alternatives. Representation, whether its a poem, novella, film, or comic book, is the means for the architectural knowledge, not the ends. These means for disseminating architectural knowledge have unfortunately been grouped into the category of narrative architecture. Somewhat synonymous with its paper counterpart, this term is also deceptively marginalizing. The problem lies when comparing, for example, the poems of John Hejduk to the parables of Douglas Darden. While both are clear examples of narrative and highly architectural pieces of work, they could not be more different. Hejduk uses the poem to illustrate a phenomenological dimension to memories of particular places. The poem thus becomes a tool for sharing a memory exclusively his. Darden on the other hand, seeks to achieve a certain morality with his project. By likening them to parables, he explores an architectural figurative language powerful and vague enough to produce a cathartic reaction in the reader/onlooker; not to mention the highly melancholic representations in which they are embedded.9 Narrative is a highly indexical term. Alternatively, WAI Think Tanks recent manifesto for Narrative Architecture seeks to provide a response to the current seriousness of architectural discourse. Though they accept the ambitions of architecture (read: buildings and master plans), the stated goal of their

40

manifesto is to talk to architecture about architecture.10 This revisitation of autonomous thought, however, remains still too vague and dismissive in the complex spectrum of our pluralistic contemporaneity. One need only be reminded of the questions posed by the real alternatives discussed earlier. A better definition of autonomy may come from Reinhold Martin again. We can say that architectures real autonomy comes from the fact that its participation in heterogeneous networks of power...actually increases with its withdrawal into private games played in an esoteric language.11 That is to say that the more architects talk to to other architects about architecture, the longer architects become unaware of their participation in the world, for better or worse. WAIs manifestos shortcoming is that, while establishing a productive revisitation of previous project methodologies, namely Archigram, Superstudio, etc., it does not differentiate between architecture ad extremumthe projects of those previously mentioned groupsand architectural, lets say, parablesstories with a moral or thematic underpinnings which posit the aforementioned alternate realities. The danger with manifestos is that it becomes too easy to be either pro-narrative architecture or against it. Yet, these alternate realities whether real or imagined, fictional or plausible, remain the primary concern of the architectural project. Though some schools of thought are at odds with each other as to which is more relevant to the education of an architect, we can agree that at the root of the architectural knowledge is an understanding of representation. Richness in the methods of representation allows the author a higher disseminative value to the project, and to use representation as process becomes another means for articulating a specific subject position. One need not prefer one over the otherdiversity is valued above all else in our current discoursesbut it is important to understand when specificity is required and that to eschew a methodology to the peripheries of the discipline requires a lot more force than simple categorization. Faced with the challenge of relevance, fictional narratives with architectural content will continue to emerge because stories consist of an intricate balance of technique and critique and are some of the most powerful ways to activate our brains.12


A short video wherein I play three distinct witnesses of Mr. Whites actions and a medical examiner. Theres a specific character to the video. It was meant to look as real as possible, but also a little anachronistic, highlighting the fictional dimension of the story.

42

Footage of the incidents show mass hysteria and police mediation in the subways of New York City.


The county medical examiner explains the autopsy results and the curious compounds that were found in the victims. A special police unit raids Mr. Whites apartment.

44

Throughout the clips of Mr. Whites apartment, the detectives voice narrates the state of the investigation and the discovery of the architectural project.


Near the end of the footage, a tape that was found in Mr. Whites apartment plays. It is Mr. White rehearsing the presentation of his project for New York City.

46

Mr. Whites Apartment (top) and the police investigation (bottom).

48

Mr. Whites journals on medicine and the human body.

50

Mr. Whites journals on composition.

52

Mr. Whites journals on his project, Urban Monuments

54

Mr. Whites journals on architecture.

56

Report of investigation complete with autopsy reports, witness accounts and evidence pictures.


A fake autopsy report.

59PA R A N O I A

C H A P T E R T H R E EPA R A N O I A

The anesthesia of a fear through another one is the travelers salvation. Between the fresh cut pages of the crime novel he looks for the idle, as it were, virginal apprehensions, which could help him to get over the archaic fear of the journey.

- Walter Benjamin

Beyond character and structure as quasi-architectural objects, we find that the detective mystery can also be placed within a lineage of esthetic and and qualitative architectural concerns, namely phenomenology and critique. Through figures like Walter Benjamin and Anthony Vidler, we can extract an underlying theoretical potential in the double agency of the kriminalroman and the story of Mr. White itself. Unpacking theories of metropolitan life, the uncanny, and the sublime can situate the detective mystery within a larger architectural context from which to establish an allegorical critique. The detective mystery can be understood as a way of reading an architectural project and engaging the inherent paranoia and anxiety present in the reader. Originally a tool for anesthetizing the anxieties of modern life, the crime or detective novel has always been an urban construct.1 One rarely found a mystery that did not deal with urban realities or environments. This was partially due to the demographic for which it was intended, but also due to the uncanny nature of metropolitan life. Anthony Vidler writes,

A contemporary philosopher of urban architecture is faced then, at the end of the twentieth century, not so much with the absolute dialectic of ancient and modern posed by the avant- and rear-gardes of the last eighty years, as with the more subtle and difficult task of calculating the limits of intervention according to the resistance of the city to change.2

Vidlers point here is that the modern idea of acting in the city is subverted by human anxieties of what it means to dwell in the modern city in the first place. Therefore, the task of the architectural agent is to put aside anxieties and provide solutions to the problem of urban dwelling. This is evident in the case of Mr. White, where his anxieties about building monuments in the city manifest themselves as homicidal visions and limit conditions. His inability to mediate this results in his alternative project of murder. However, what must be noted here is the layering of paranoia within this project (Exquisite Corpses). It is simultaneously set up where one is not sure if the anxiety felt is that of Mr. White, the Detective, the authors, or their own. Other anxieties to be mediated by the detective mystery could be those stemming

60

from within the discipline itself. Whether anxieties due to architectures identity crises of relevance and agency are real or imagined, they nevertheless pop up from time to time and there are few alternatives deal with it productively. Rem Koolhaas work in Delirious New York illustrates one such alternative which reconciles the paranoia inherent in the city as well as in the minds of architects/architecture academics. Borrowing from the surrealists, Koolhaas employs the paranoid critical method of analysis, and executes several paranoid projects of his own within the metropolis.3 The result of this productive paranoia is a slight delirium where one simultaneously attempts to grasp the lineage of these architectural constructsneo constructivist formsand a logic of living in a city in which everything happens behind the curtainits desire. However, these phantom architectures exist only in the mind of the architect/academic, and thus provide an alternate reading of the metropolis exclusively reserved for the discipline (read: autonomy). Koolhaass delirium brings about the notion of using multidisciplinary tropes or devices in architectural discussions. His mode of operating in Delirious New York constitutes a tone similar to a work of literature; it is almost as if he is the biographer of the city. The result of this tone is an affect most likened to those of journalists, and the information is presented as moments of drama in the text. The strategy here being that if one engages the readers anxiety in a similarly anxious way, one can distract him and present him with alternate truths (Benjamins hypothesis). In short, to fight paranoia one must induce paranoia. To Koolhaass credit, his background in journalism and film allowed him to productively utilize these literary devices to his gain. Exquisite Corpses seeks to do the same. A corollary literary trope to paranoia apparent in detective fiction is the red herring. Traditionally a tool for throwing others off the scent, this device is often tied to a paranoid reading of particular plot lines and can be another productive tool for engaging anxieties. Looking at this from a larger disciplinary context, we can say that in the seventies and eighties, paper architecture acted as a red herring in the field. That is to say that to some, the celebrated drawing served as a diversionary tactic, ultimately irrelevant, but existing with the guise of plausibility.4 While the dismissal of paper architecture altogether is a recurring theme within our profession, we can examine such self-reflexive perturbations through literary devices, and determine their qualitative value within the discipline. Throughout the drawings and texts in the story of Mr. White, small elements are inserted to induce this specific paranoia both at the scale of the project and of the discipline. The productive paranoia is much like Dalis paranoid critical method, where certain fragments operate as a kind of deja vu in the annals of architectural history. The reader chooses to believe he is seeing some meaningful fragment that he has seen before. Whats more is that the critic himself is then able to project his own neuroses into the

61PA R A N O I A

project and become a character: a detective. The drawings and images themselves bring out a specific mood as well. In the case of the story of Mr. White, they are schizophrenic drawings produced by a mad architect, but they are not overly fantastical, they represent a very real architectural issue: the intersection of public space, infrastructure, and monumentality in the city. The other side of the coin is the detectives paranoia which is embodied in his inability to read the clues. Therefore, the constant back and forth between the hidden and revealed, familiar and unfamiliar in Vidlers terms, uncovers potential readings of the same project, and destabilizes the legible dimension of Mr. Whites clues. The detectives paranoia then is the ultimate tool for reading architecture and architectural history.

Le Corbusier with his Palace of the Soviets proposal. 1930. A picture ingrained in history.

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Le Corbusiers studio in Paris (top). 1961. Mr. Whites studio in Brooklyn (bottom). 2013

63PA R A N O I A

TOKENS

a. 2a. 2a. 2a. 2a-5d. (2a-5d)-d. (2a-5d)-d. vlt((2a-5d)-d). Obeliskora.

a. 4a. 4a x f. 4a x f. (4a x f)-2d. (4a x f)-2d. (4a x f)-2d. vlt((4a x f)-2d). Obeliska.

b. b/2. b/2. (b/2) + 10. (b/2) + 10 - 5e. vlt((b/2) + 10 - 5e). (vlt((b/2) + 10 - 5e)) - 5d. Pentunda.

c. c - 16d. c - 16d. ttr(c - 16d). ttr(c - 16d). (ttr(c - 16d)) - (d x c). (ttr(c - 16d)) - (d x c). Theatora.

d. d. d. d - (d/2). d - (d/2). (d - (d/2)) - 4e. vlt((d - (d/2)) - 4e). Tricade.

e. ~e.

~e.

3e. 3e - (1/3 - z). 3e - (1/3 - z) + vtr. 3e - (1/3 - z) + vtr. avg(3e - (1/3 - z) + vtr). Archeatre.

e.

11e. 11e - 1/4. (11e - 1/4) - 10d. (11e - 1/4) - 10d. (11e - 1/4) - 10d. vlt(11e - 1/4) - 10d) - 20d. Archora

f. f - (f/10). vtr(f - (f/10)). vtr(f - (f/10))/2. vtr(f - (f/10))/2. vtr(f - (f/10))/2. vtr(f - (f/10))/2 - 2d. vlt(vtr(f - (f/10))/2 - 2d). Cylindra

Peter Eisenmans house IV diagrams (top). Mr. Whites morphological diagrams (bottom).

64

Bernard Tschumis Manhattan Transcripts (top). Mr. Whites murder diagrams (bottom).

65PA R A N O I A

Drawings for Mr. Whites proposal for New York City (see Appendix i).

Whats reflected in these drawings is the melancholy state of Mr. White. His drawings are dark and brooding. They represent his view of the world as well as of himself. There is a Piranesian sublime, a Ledoux-esque sectional technique, and even a Rossi-like treatment of forms.

66

Section through 72nd and Broadway monument (see Appendix i).

67PA R A N O I A

Section through 66th and Broadway monument (see Appendix i).

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Section through Columbus Circle monument (see Appendix i).

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Section through Times Square monument (see Appendix i).

71R E P R E S E N TAT I O N

C H A P T E R F O U RR E P R E S E N TAT I O N

There is no architecture without representation...At the root of the architects creation, we find the need to represent

- Douglas Darden

The culmination of any design research project requires a precise representation appropriate for the transmission of the key concepts. The architects role throughout the entire process is not only to formulate the concepts or critiques, but represent them accurately. Thus, it is evident that representation lies at the heart of any architectural project and is ultimately the unifying thread. Appropriate representation, in short, means that if a project revolves around a fictional architect, then the fiction must be pervasive. This search for alternative representations is by no means a novel point in the discipline. Most notably in recent history, architects have experimented with the comic book (Jimenez Lai, Wes Jones), the science-fiction short (Jack Self ), the poem (John Hejduk, Roger Connah), and even the film (MOS, Bernard Tschumi) as ways of conceiving and representing a project.1 For these authors, architecture functions as a character or primary agent, rather than the backdrop, and representation can take on a new dimension; one based on narrative perceptions culturally established a priori, that is a primal phenomenon of human life. They ask not whether stories themselves are relevant to the discipline, but rather what kind of stories and narrative tropes are more architectural than others, how does this technique impact form, and what can we learn from the added dimension? In the case of Exquisite Corpses, representation is the overarching continuum linking the themes of the real versus unreal, detective mystery, and architectural signification. From the very beginning of this project, the question of how to represent a project in a cohesive, yet clear and critical way drove much of the design research. This representation research manifested itself in all the layers of the project: the characterization of Mr. White, his meta-thesis, and the final thesis defense. The development of Mr. White as a character allowed the fictional dimension to embody a set of personal neuroses about contemporary architecture. The metaphysical removal of oneself from the project and embedding of specific anxieties and critical concerns into Mr. White allowed for an exploration of the limits of architectural representation. As discussed in the chapter on real versus unreal, the use of fiction gives the reader (and the author) an instant cop-out. This dismissal, however, leads to a heightened experience of particular parts of the project. In the case of Mr. White, we are able to push past the feasibility of an architect-serial-killer and ask questions of why his architecture leads to murder, and how would an architect commit such a crime? As I stated in the chapter on anxiety and paranoia, the characters form of representing architecture is an anxious, brooding one, filled

72

with melancholy. From this we can gather much about Mr. Whites personality and what sets him apart. Mr. Whites proposal for New York is represented as a traditional thesis proposal with research, subject positions, and original design work. A different kind of realism is represented here. The project for New York can be taken literally, but can also be subjected to a more critical interpretation. Mr. Whites inherent positivism comes across in the proposal, and we can begin to see traces of both the architects struggle to be an active agent of change and his delusions of grandeur. The written portion of his proposal is written in a tone that seeks to characterize Mr. White as the madman that he will eventually become. The final thesis defense for this project was the culmination of the research on representation. It was presented as a piece of theatre, where I played multiple roles, while simultaneously discussing the project as a whole. In an attempt to bring Mr. White to life, I produced a video of the ongoing investigation on his murders. The success of the methodology remains questionable, but what was evident was the emphasis on legibility and fiction. Unpacking the layers of the project leaves it banal and homeostatic. However, presenting it as an interactive drama did allow for a multiplicity of interpretations and a critical discussion about the role of drama in the fictional project.

Stage set of the final thesis defense. It was set up as a detective investigation board complete with evidence boxes, photocopies of Mr. Whites journals and evidence tags.


The exercise in set design was to make the stage look as realistic as possible. This way, the jurors would be more compelled to interact both in and out of character.

74

Photocopies of Mr. Whites journals identified his neuroses and anxieties.


Red string tied the clues together.

76

Layering the drawings on the wall allowed for richer interaction with the content itself. During the defense, the jury was invited to examine the evidence.

79A P P E N D I X i

A P P E N D I X iU R B A N M O N U M E N T S :A N U N S O L I C I T E D P R O P O S A L B YC H A R L E S W H I T EC H A P T E R S

8 1

9 5

1 0 1

1 0 9

1 1 7

1 2 1

1 4 8

I N T R O D U C T I O N

M O N U M E N T

F O R M

M E A N I N G

F O L LY

4 P R O J E C T S

U R B A N M O N U M E N T S B I B L I O G R A P H Y

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Study models for Urban Monuments

81A P P E N D I X i

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Th is thesis addresses the issues of monumentality, memory, and architectural agency within

the context of New York Citys public spaces. Taking the current context as a giventhe lack

of a discussion of these themes in the production of space in the cityI posit that revisiting

and expanding specifi c notions of monumentality and memory results in the production of

meaningful public spaces that introduce a new reading of the city; one that has been lost due

to social class shifts, the privatization of public space, and ambivalent attitudes towards the

infrastructure of the city. Th is loss, along with the taking over of architectural production by

real estate developers and a focus on effi cient construction systems has marginalized the role

of architecture within the public sphere. In the context of Manhattan, public space remains

a commodity traded by urban planning bodies and corporations for economic incentives

and political power. Th is attitude blurs the distinction between public and private space and

throws off the balance. With the notion of privately-owned-public-space in Manhattan, the

corporate, private world has developed a trojan horse that invades the public sphere and

excludes a major percentage of the public. Th is attitude, along with the idea of infi nitely tall

skyscrapers (read: economic development) and projected mass urbanization poses a threat

to the public realm of the metropolis.

Th e post-Vietnam era saw a complete change in the economic and social structure

of Manhattan. Th e emergence of gentrifi cation and redevelopment as a direct result of excess

capital and post-industrial economic production began a series of shifts in the class structure

of various New York City neighbourhoods and public spaces. Taking Union Square as a case

study, Rosalyn Deutsche writes that during the decade of the 1980s, the economic function

82

of the neighbourhood...superseded the broader social function.1 Th at is to say that the built

environment became the primary contested capital among economic players in the city.

Coupled with this game of capital accumulation, Deutsche argues that the shifts in the labor

forcefrom blue collar to white collaralso played a key role in the realization of market-

incentivized urban planning.2 Th e demographics of certain neighbourhoods shifted from

light-manufacturing employees to service-based professionals resulting in an era of intense

class polarization. An emphasis on the potentials for profi t of these neighbourhoods resulted

in a mass exodus of the lower-income population illustrating a kind of waterfall eff ect in

development and spatial politics. New Yorks rising status as an international economic

epicenter brought with it a signifi cantly less proletariat class which then increased potential

for capital for property owners by catering to this class (read: gentrifi cation), and ultimately

leading to the privatization of public space.

A reconstitution of public space emerged out of this economic discrepancy and

political shift. Terms like revitalization and redevelopment were used to legitimate the

opportunistic attitudes undertaken by the bourgeois, upper-income demographic and

the profi t-hungry urban planning bodies.3 At the same time, the new hegemonic class

proceeded to constitute what Jrgen Habermas describes as a pseudo-public sphere: a

bourgeois demographic partnered with the city that has yielded to a public sphere that is

privately owned, determined by profi t motives, and characterized by the transformation of

1. Deutsche, Rosalyn. Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics. (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1996) 15.

2. Ibid., 17.

3. Ibid., 19.

83A P P E N D I X i

Fig. 1. Location of privately owned public spaces in high-value areas of Manhattan. Source: Suarez, Richard Anthony. A new life for plazas: Reimagining privately owned public spaces in New York City. Th esis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2012.

84

the conditions of everyday life into objects of production.4 Th e tensions of this consumerist

turn resulted in two types of outcomes. Th e fi rst is illustrated through the materialization

of Privately Owned Public Space or POPS initiative, while the counter attitude can be seen

through cultural collaborations in the development of Battery Park City in the early 1980s.

With the introduction of POPS in 1961, zoning restrictions were modifi ed to

allow the public to enter plazas and other zones in the city previously inaccessible. Th e

POPS initiative engaged the private sector by providing tax incentives, and F.A.R. (fl oor area

ratio) bonuses in exchange for secession of private land, usually at street level.5 However, the

politics surrounding these spaces brought up issues of control, surveillance, and inevitably

exclusion. Th e focus on these issues divided understandings of the city into one: the shaping

of the city as a social process, and two: the shaping of the city as a functional process. An

example of this can be seen with Mayor Ed Kochs initiative to remove the homeless from

Grand Central Station.6 In 1988, he called for the station to have one objective function

transportation, thereby explicitly denying its use as a public space and permitting control

mechanisms that ensure this sole functionlargely by evicting the homeless from the

station. Today, the 500+ POPS in the borough of Manhattan (which add up to around

85 acres of public land) are controlled and designed through regulatory policies rather

than social or democratic processes. Th e quality and usage of these space, therefore, refl ects

4. Ibid., 59.

5. Schmidt, Stephan, Jeremy Nemeth, and Erik Botsford. Th e Evolution of Privately Owned Public Spaces in New York City. URBAN DESIGN International 216 (2011): 271.

6. Deutsche, 51.

85A P P E N D I X i

these managerial strategies, for better or worse.7 However, these mechanismsestablished

in the 1970s and 80shave become outdated sociological structures. Policies regarding

surveillance, design, and maintenance can no longer exclude the public realm in the midst

of social activism, public art, and pluralistic cultural visions. Th ere is a clear need for a

reconstitution of public space in the city; perhaps the era of POPS is over.

If the POPS initiative brought up certain Foucauldian critiques of spatial politics

and control mechanisms, the development of Battery Park City can be posited as the corollary

attitude of urban planning in New York City. Began around the same time as the POPS,

Battery Park City is usually seen as a successful project with multiple victoriesof public

policy, public space, urban design, and city planning.8 Th ough it has a rocky historythe

plan was in the works for over ten years, and debates about low-income housing, and public

policy slowed the processBattery Park City is signifi cant as it symbolizes a real convergence

of cultural and economic balance within the planning process and creation of space in

the city. Th e collaborative ventures between artists, architects, and landscape architects

refl ected not only human needs for culture and art, but also for design and diversity.9 Th ese

collaborations included the design of parks, plazas, and gardens designed to stimulate and

diversify the environment, while at the same time integrating the microcosm within the

larger context of New York. Th e acceptance and integration of these ideas marks Battery

Park City as victorious in one sense, but falls short in actual practice. In the 1990s, Battery

7. Schmidt et al., 271.

8. Deutsche, 81.

9. Ibid., 90.

86

Park City remained ghettoized and exclusionary as a result of the realities of gentrifi ed

development.10 It became evident that no matter how much planning bodies collaborate

with public artists and designers, the economic repercussions of new development sooner or

later result in hierarchies and social class shifts.

Most recently, New York City has also put forth a number of initiatives to reclaim

certain avenues for public use. Th e biggest example of this is Times Square, where 7th ave.

between 47th and 42nd is permanently closed off to vehicular traffi c.11 Th e plans for these

public plazas, however, illustrate a two-dimensional, planar approach to space making that

relies on seating, planters, and graphics to designate the area. Th ough these squares provide

a pedestrian-friendly space, the area itself is banal, and acts more as a corridor than a plaza,

particularly during peak hours. Th is single dimension of public space continues to be tightly

sandwiched between two giantsthe corporation and the cityand though it is not an

offi cial privately-owned public space, it can be read as a private-public-private sandwich

where the ground datum is an infi nitely thin line between the corporate space above and the

infrastructural space below.

Th e point of departure for this proposal is an opposition to the modes of public

space design that began in the 1970s and have continued well into the 21st century. Th is

thesis takes the context of Manhattan as a functionalist, profi t-driven apparatus, that regards

the publicand public spaceas a commodity. Th e failure of various attempts at engaging

cultural and public space demands in real estate (i.e. Battery Park City) presents a need

10. Ibid., 93

11. Public Plazas. NYC DOT. Th e City of New York. 25 Nov. 2013 .

87A P P E N D I X i

to reconstitute what it means to design public space. Traditional modes of development

ultimately result in gentrifi cation and an increase in surrounding property values, thereby

creating exclusionary public space. Th ese spaces refl ect the functionalist outlook. However, if

we break the link between real estate development and public space design, turning over the

responsibilities of the latter to the city, a new paradigm of infrastructural-public space can

be achieved. Th is model reverses the eff ect of gentrifi cation by accepting that infrastructural

construction does not increase surrounding property valuesoften times it lowers them

and off ers opportunities for implementation of truly public space. Yet, there must be a

balance in order to create successful public interventions in the city; the infrastructural

elements must be able to integrate into the public elements, and the public elements must

shape the urban landscape in order to convey meaning.

Th e defi nition of urban meaning will be a process of confl ict, domination,

and resistance to domination, directly linked to the dynamics of social struggle and

not to the reproductive spatial expression of a unifi ed culture. Furthermore, cities

and space being fundamental to the organization of social life, the confl ict over the

assignment of certain goals to certain spatial forms will be one of the fundamental

mechanisms of domination and counter-domination in the social structure.12

What Manuel Castells posits here is the potential for meaningful public space by

removing its functionalist values and allowing it to be shaped by the social structure itself.

Taking Castells point as a design strategy, this project focuses on the redesign of the New

York City Subway entrances. Existing as an inadvertent repository of the public, they off er

12. Deutsche, 53.

88

the potential for architectural interventions, infrastructural reorganization, and a resurgence

of the collective memory of the city. Because they are not tied to specifi c real estate interests,

these sites present a socially symbolic moment in the city where the accumulation is one of

people and not capital.

Th e subway entrance has primarily been the interface between the public and the

city infrastructure. Th e transportation network which these instances served was the publics

way of experiencing the bowels of the citythe belly of the beast. Th e mystery and wonder

initially associated with these spaces initially led to a specifi c identity for the metropolis.

New York City was branded, like Guimards Paris, and the entrances became gates into a

fantastic new world. Today the subway entrance has been reduced to a hole in the ground

providing minimal access to the various networks that live underneath. Th e identity has

been reduced to a typographic brand and though some remnants of the phantasmagoric

spaces are still visible, some of the most intriguing ones have long been decommissioned

see the Rafael Guastavino designed City Hall subway entrance. Th is project seeks to fl esh

out these collective memories and give new signifi cance to the New York Subway entrance.

Th e architectural explorations this project calls for are (1) an expansion of the ground

datum on which the subway entrances are locateda shift of the public plane from two-

dimensional space into three-dimensional space, (2) the use of a minimal formal language

to emphasize the monumentality and plasticity, (3) the embedding of subway infrastructure

within the architecture, and (4) the identifi cation of a series of public programs and activities

that take place in these sites. Th ese explorations are undertaken as an attempt to introduce

a new reading of the city. Inserting these interventions as key moments of drama in the city,

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1

2

3

4

5 6

7

Broadway Boulevard Master Concession AgreementLicensed Area (shaded in blue)Total area = 15,982 sq. ft. (0.367 acres)

Fig. 2 (Above). Times Square and Herald Square public plaza plans. Source: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/public-plazas.shtml

Fig. 3 (Right). Broadway Boulevard Master Concession Agreement plans. Source: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/public-plazas.shtml

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Fig. 4. A Brief History of the NYC Subway

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Fig. 5. City Hall Station (Decommissioned)

addresses the public in neither an economic nor political way. Th e goal is for the public

to become removed from the limitations of the late-capitalist game for a brief moment in

time and constitute a new collective, moving three-dimensionally through the city, and

experiencing monuments, infrastructure, and each other.

Th is architectural process becomes the way to both mediate and celebrate

the intersection between the three players in the citythe private, the public, and the

infrastructure. But this game, instead of being about which is the good, the bad, and the

ugly, is a balancing act where public space can become as important a generator of the

identity of the metropolis as modern infrastructure and real estate development. Th e way

this game is executed is by identifying sites in Manhattan already deeply rooted between the

two spheresthe subway entrancesmarking them, and unfolding the ground on which

they sit, exposing a public space directly between the above-ground and the underground.

Th is project is the physical architectural transformation of the subway entrance from a banal

92

set of stairs and turnstiles to a fantastical public space. Each station is drastically opened up,

thickened, and marked by a mysterious monument, an autonomous architectural object

so large in scale that it completely transforms the urban landscape. As such, the subway

entrance can then be seen as a confi guration of intertwining spaces, unfolding landscapes,

and symbolic fragments embodying the new reading of Manhattan. Using formal languages

taken from architects Aldo Rossi, John Hejduk, and Bernard Tschumiwho themselves

reconstituted various understandings of symbolism in public space and the interactions

between architecture and the public13this project can explore not only a reaffi rmation of

the public realm, but also an architectural quest into the limits of meaningful compositions

and scale. Th erefore, at the outset of this project, is an undeniable attempt to create not only

public space, but complete urban monuments.

13. Hays, K. Michael. Architectures Desire: Reading the Late Avant-garde. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010).

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Fig. 2. NYC Subway, Current Stations: A series of potential sites for Urban Monuments.

MANHATTAN: AXONOMETRIC VIEW

TOP - STREET LEVEL

BOTTOM - SUBWAY SYSTEM

95A P P E N D I X i

M O N U M E N T

Th e monument is necessary. Th e monument presents a symbolic break in the fabric of the

city. Like the monolith in Kubriks 2001: A Space Odyssey, it represents a precise formal

agenda which hides as much as it reveals, and is also the only way to compete with the high-

rise in the metropolis. It is simultaneously a familiar and unfamiliar object; the monument

sets itself apart from the city by being a monolithic, architectural object. Th e power struggle

between the monument and its context then becomes the symbolic gesture between the

public and private realms. To use Kasmir Malevichs terms, the monument will liberate the

fl at surface through an enhancement of consciousness.1

Scale is the key to monumentality. Th e phenomenal qualities of specifi c forms

are tied unquestionably to its scale. Th at a monument can exist without imposing a sense

of grandeur or sublimity is a rare thing, and theres a particular nostalgia for these lost

traditions in contemporary society. However, whether it is due to economic issues or

exhausted resources the younger architectural generation is largely trapped within a culture

of pavilion-making and small-scale installation design. Th ese products, though not lacking in

architectural merit, fail to probe into larger issues of public identity and urban architecture.

Th e rappel-a-lordre I insist on is a return to monumentality and a meaningful architecture.

To paraphrase Jose Luis Serts and Siegfried Giedions points on monumentality, this project

seeks to build monuments that transcend generations and express the cultural needs of our

society.2

1. Malevich, K, Suprematist Manifesto Unovis in Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-century Architecture. Ed. Ulrich Conrads. Cambridge, MA: MIT P, 1970.

2. Sert, J.L., and S. Giedion. Nine Points on Monumentality. Architecture Culture, 1943-1968: Documentary anthology. Ed. Joan Ockman. [New York]: Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, 1993.

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Monolith, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968

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4

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PROPORTION SYSTEM --

CITYINFRASTRUCTURE

2/3

2/3

1/2

1/21/3

1/3

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Fig. 1. Sectional Diagram: Monument

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Fig. 2. Perspective: Monument

Th e monument itself is an autonomous slab. Its insertion into the city is controlled by the context (i.e. how much it penetrates the ground and how tall it stands).

101A P P E N D I X i

F O R M

Th ere are two forms active in each site, a positive and a negative. Th e positive is the

infrastructural monument, and the negative is the unfolded public space. Th e monument is

an archetypal form or architectural trope. Th is form exists as part of the cultural unconscious.

From the building blocks, we play with as kids, we can extract a set of primitive forms that

exist. Th e sphere, the cube, the pyramid, the cylinder, the arch. Th ese primordial forms are

links to a particular past, not only in individual life but as part of our collective cultural

memories. Th us, the monument must be part of this tradition if it is to carry with it a

specifi c meaning.

Th e articulation of this form, however, is not perfect. It is distorted, and has an

air of mystery. Surface conditions and topological shifts transform the primitive into a less

recognizable object while maintaining the primitive gestalt. Like a hand shadow puppet, the

familiar object is simultaneously read as the original form and a less familiar foreign object.

Paired with the positive, the negative space unfolds and dives into the belly of the

beastthe city. Surgically stripping away the ground plane, the negative juxtaposes the

contextual forms and the archetypal primitives in plan. Taking formal cues from suprematist

compositions, the public plazas excavated from the ground plane are transformed

three-dimensionally into theatres, access ramps, bicycle parking, public restrooms, and

observatories.

102

Th e public programs embedded within the ground plane of the city expand

the sectional dimension of the private-public-infrastructure sandwich. Solidifying the

formal fi gure of the public space allows not only a physically deeper connection with the

underground networks, but also a conceptual interpolation where the transitions between

public, private, and infrastructure are slower, topographical ones, rather than ones based on

rudimentary stairs and shafts.

Tschumis follies in La Villette, Rossis piazzas and squares, and Hejduks masques

are the primary design drivers for this project. Formally, they deal with the composition of

primitive, irreducible elements in the built environment. Th us, the design grammars are

usually composed of primary forms, or rectilinear, geometric compositions. Th e main driving

force behind using these platforms as inherited objects is that the projects themselves seek to

extract a deeper understanding of form and public space. Tschumis constructivist grammars

Fig. 1. Ren Magritte, Mental Arithmetic, 1931


+ + + +

Formal Parameters

Volumetric Compositions

104

allow for a possibly infi nite reconfi guration of follies for public events and activities (Fig.

2).1 Rossis city hall plaza at Segrate, Italy functions as a monument and a symbolic bridge

between the political power and the public realm (Fig. 3).2 Hejduks fantastical masques

present a series of caricatures of objects and subjects that refl ect the inhabitants of the city

through choreographed analogies (Fig. 4).3

It should be noted that this project does not seek to re-theorize abstract concepts

of the limits of architectural theory (Jeff Kipnis has already done this in his 3 Masterpieces

1. Tschumi, Bernard. Event-Cities 2. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000.

2. Rossi, Aldo, Peter Arnell, and Ted Bickford. Aldo Rossi: Buildings and Projects. New York: Rizzoli, 1985.

3. Hejduk, John, and Kim Shkapich. Riga, Vladivostok, Lake Baikal: A Work. New York: Rizzoli, 1989.

Fig. 2. Bernard Tschumi, Normative Follies

Fig. 3. John Hejduk, Border Guards, Riga Masque


of 20th Century Architecture, Fig. 5).4 Rather, my position regarding these precedents is

that they serve as a specifi c lineage in which to follow, both conceptually and formally.

Architecture is a fundamentally symbolic tool, thus, the use of specifi c archetypes, be they

archaic or not, creates a specifi c aff ect. It is this aff ect that this project seeks to extract.

4. Hays, K. Michael. Architectures Desire: Reading the Late Avant-garde. Cambridge, MA: MIT P, 2010.

Fig. 4. Aldo Rossi, City Hall Plaza, Segrate, Italy

Fig. 5. 3 Masterpieces of 20th Century Architecture


Fig. 6. 100 Plans (Preliminary study showing 1-52)

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Fig. 1. Section through monolith (Preliminary study)


M E A N I N G

Th is project is based on several binary oppositions. Th e structure of the object and the

subject, the public and the private, and the spectator and the spectacle. As a whole, this

project seeks to produce several meanings through specifi c unfolding of public programs

and infrastructures. Th ey manifest themselves as the monument, the ramp, the void, the

theatre, and the wall.

Th e fi rst is the monument. As stated before, the program for this object is simply

mystery, yet it serves a highly functional role in the system. It contains within it a set of

ventilation towers that circulate and fi lter the air underneath the city. Th e monument frees

up building lots that are currently being used for subway ventilation and becomes the lung

of the city, a symbol of the breathing metropolis. Th is symbolism spawns out of an iconic

notion of ventilation in the city. Taking ventilation as a simple infrastructure, we can see

several attitudes toward the deployment, and even character of it. From Marilyn Monroes

image of her fl uttering skirt (Fig. 3), to the massive ornamental ventilation towers on

Governors Island (Fig. 2), one cannot deal with subway exhaust in New York City without

a specifi c symbolic attitude.

Also embedded within the monument are several antennae that amplify wireless

signals for public access. Th e citizens, along with their screen obsessions end up reaching a

new level of connectivity as they join an interactive community cluster, a social network of

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sorts.

Th e ramp mediates the circulation system between the two worlds. It is a

programmed negative space, that formally shears the ground plane and serves to control

the fl ow of traffi c. Expanding the notion of architectural promenades, the series of ramps

distributed throughout the public ground are programmed topographies inserting a

landscape element into an otherwise two-dimensional urban condition.

Th e void is the primary celebration of the breaking of the ground plane. It is an

unprogrammed element, a canyon in the heart of the metropolis that balances the positive

space of the city with the negative. In contrast to the historical tradition of the void as

signifying the mouth of the subway, this new void, massive in scale serves only to add depth

and sublimity to the public experience. It suggests the expansion of the city downward.

Th e theatre is a topologically transformed greek theatre. Here, the spectacle

becomes public activity. Markets, shakespeare, skateboarders, preachers, protesters, all are

welcome. Th e theatre is an open platform for communication and counter-consumerism

that seeks to invert the traditional understanding of a transportation hub and exacerbate

elements already in place, performance, public markets, etc.

Th e wall is primarily an infrastructural element that divides, retains, and supports

the public program. Scattered throughout the public ground, the wall itself at times


Fig. 2. Holland Tunnel Land Ventilation Building Fig. 3. Marilyn Monroes iconic depiction.

Fig. 4. Tunnel vent, Governors Island. Fig. 5. Standard NYC subway vents. Street level.

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Two attitudes for subway ventilation in NYC.: 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn, a subway vent disguised as a house.

constitutes part of a particular object: the theatre, the monument, the ramp, and at other

times is a free standing autonomous fragment providing balance to the formal composition,

but always housing within it support elements: bathrooms, mechanical, storage. Th e wall,

like a fragment of the monument signifi es both absence and presence of urban identities.


Holland Tunnel exhaust tower.

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TYPE ONE: INNIE

TYPE TWO: OUTIE

Fig. 1. Ventilation shafts (Preliminary study). Air handling units with concrete shaft.

Fig. 2. Final ventilation shaft design. Tapered shaft with sound-proofi ng foam insulation. Steel beam structure.

Fig. 3. Two types of ventilation shafts. Type one has sound-proof shell facing the inside. Type two faces outside.

Fig. 4. Ramp and theatre isolated.

Fig. 5. Monolith as observatory.

Fig. 6. Topological variants on ramps and theatres.

2.

3.

1.


4.

THE RAMP THE THEATRE

5.

6.

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Originally, the idea for the follies was for them to be typologically specifi c for each site and therefore heterogeneous. Th e project later evolved into a more systemic distribution of ONE singular strategy (the one rooted in a specifi c symbolic understanding: the monolith and the penetrations).

TYPOLOGIES

Church. Rotunda. Arcade. Theatre.


F O L LY

Th ough this project is made up of a series of potentially infi nite interventions in the city, it

should not be construed as a folly or pavilion strategy. Th e failure of these types lies not in

their capacity to be architectonic objects, but rather in their association with a particularly

hegemonic cultural structure. Th at is to say, that instead of being productive typological

interventions, the contemporary meaning behind the pavilion or folly is that of a fragment of

a real architecture in service of the upper class. Th erefore, these elements often perpetuate

the fundamental lack of truly public interaction.

Combining the ideas of public monuments with public infrastructures can begin

to close the gap between the upper and lower realms, not only physically (developer space

and underground transportation) but also socially (political and socio-economic status).

Th e folly should act as a contemporary forum for exchange, much in the classical sense, and

be in opposition to the consumerist landscape. Th e programmatic function of this project

expands the public realm, grounding the otherwise powerless public within the city largely

controlled by the corporation. Th is is what I mean by thickening the sandwich layer.

Th ese instantiated moments of drama throughout the city act very much like

Tschumis early proposals for the Parc de la Villette.1 Th ey are coherent compositions, part of

a larger game, with a cohesive thread that runs throughout. Th ey do not attempt to rethink

1. Tschumi, Event-Cities 2, p. 64.

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infrastructure or re-theorize it, nor do they propose a new agenda for an urban architecture;

what they do is formalize public space and mark the city, establishing a point of departure

for new urban memories. It is a game of metropolitan signifi cation, where the inhabitants of

New York can refl ect, act, and react in regards to the question what does it mean to dwell

in the contemporary city?


MONOLITH

ELEVATORTO SUBWAY

ENTRANCEGLAZING

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PUBLICRESTROOMS

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