Lianyang

I haven't been here for a while, have I. Well, this image shows where the thesis is at the moment. Things are starting to come together. The modelling is getting there, and that means I should be able to start putting together final diagrams and illustrations soon. This is just a shanpshot from the process, but I do like the graphics, so it might be that I will stick with the style. So: any comments are very welcome. They are always better at an early stage. :)

secrecy is dying

Wired (or more accurately, Clive Thompson) today posted a story about transparency. Though it is mainly focused on CEO's, it is a tremendously interesting read. With google and the web exposing our darkest secrets whether we want or not, our only possible response is total openness. When denied the possibility to hide our misdeeds, we are forced to instead reveal everything, drown the bad image in a massive flow of truth. Or, as Clive puts it:

Either way, there's no use trying to resist. You're already naked.

Now, the list of examples of this in society can be made long. The article brings up the Sunlight Foundation, and to that I could add the heavily debated blog of the Swedish foreign minister, Daily Kos and its relatives in the (mainly American) political blogosphere, the people-powered search through the attorney firings...

But I will not tire you more with that, rather I'll let Wired finish:

One can imagine how the twin engines of reputation and transparency will warp every corner of life in years to come, for good and ill. The political culture in Washington might be affected - especially when the first MySpace candidate gains the trust of the electorate by openly posting about every closed-door meeting, importunate lobbyist, and campaign strategy session.

The Machine is Us/ing Us

photoseries - elevated intersection

In Shanghai, three main elevated highways dominate the road network: the inner ring road circles the centre (there is an outer one as well), Yan'an Road is the east-west artery, and Chengdu Road runs north-south. In the very middle of the city, Yan'an and Chengdu intersect in a spectacular ballet of infrastructure; this is the site of the Dragon Column, which supports the giant concrete structure.

photoseries - tokyo portrait

This is probably one of my absolute favourite photographs, it is taken in Harajuku, Tokyo. It was a momentary snap shot, and the involuntary portaitee arrived more by chance than by design. The layering, the ambivalence of the intended motive (is it one or three portraits?), the accentuation of her face...

Harajuku is one of the places in Tokyo that is an absolute must-see. It is where the famous teens meet in their outfits to be beheld and photographed, but also, and more importantly, it is a fantastic place to watch the Japanese youth culture in their own environment. Also, not to be forgotten, a great piece of urbanism and architecture!

network urbanism - globalization

Recently, I have read two books that I would seriously recommend: Splintering Urbanism (Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin) and The Writing On the Wall (Will Hutton). Both deal in a way with globalization, the former particularly in relationship with network society, the second focusing on China's relationship with the west, and what actually is the foundation of the west's success (hint: not only capitalism).

The thing that really binds the two books together is the analysis of the balance between state, market, and civil society (or public domain). Liberalism has indeed proven its superiority over authoritarian systems, but liberalism is not only defended by the free market and capitalism, but equally by the public institutions that form the mediating ground between the three. Hutton refers to these institutions as enlightenment institutions, which I am not entirely sure is a great description, but nevertheless their importance is paramount. Equality, if not of being then certainly of possibility, is a prerequisite for our society, and for the postmodern society that I predict and hope we are heading into. In my eyes, globalization holds an infinitely larger positive potential than negative, but it is true that the better world will not come without the efforts and struggles of individuals (whom we always depend on, in the end).

Splintering Urbanism is a book that tries to bring a vast field of subjects dealing with the same thing (network society) together: sociology, engineering, urbanism, architecture, political sciences, economics... To my knowledge it is probably the first comprehensive book dealing with these issues, and to my great pleasure Rem Koolhaas is a frequent reference. The Metropolis has eaten the City...

It is an eye-opener when you are exposed to the enormousnesses of our dependency on different networks, for the distribution of water, electricity, information, goods, food, people... And fascinating how little relevance they are given in contemporary analysis, all these networks always seem to be analysed separately, or as secondary to our great humanist interaction.

In the end, it all comes down to the following paradox: The postmodern society with its layering, plurality, individuality and endless possibilities, also poses a threat to equality. How will we deal with the effects of disenfranchisement that follow? In the wake of deregulation and liberalisation, what guarantees the minimum level for those that cannot pay?

The greatest possibility of our times is also its greatest challenge.

photoseries - shanghai from above

Shanghai seen from the California Grill at the Marriott Hotel near Renmin GongYuan, people's park. It shows most of the typical characteristics of the city; the sculptural, random highrises, the blocks of lilong housing, the elevated highways intersecting by the dragon column, the mix of old an new, and the neverending topography of skyscrapers...

On a side note, if you visit Shanghai one thing not to miss is the champange brunches. Our favorite is at the mentioned California Grill, and one can indulge oneself in an unlimited feast of lobster, kingcrab, appetizers, sashimi, roast, salads, desserts (including a choclate fountain!) martinis, wine and champange every sunday, for a quite modest amount of money. A relaxed atmosphere and amazing view gives a taste of routine luxury.

academics vs. reality

When faced with the challenge of a design thesis, it becomes obvious how academics can clash with reality. It is a dualism I am often struggling with, but perhaps more because of how it interests me, and how I enjoy (and find crucial) the challenge of being relevant in terms of both than anything else.

The project is a Chinese one. Or, the site is. The ambition is to deal with issues of global relevance, where China is perhaps a testing ground, perhaps a place where things are put to the knifes edge, and perhaps a place in desperate need of help. I know China in a way that I suspect is the core of FOA's choice of name; to know and understand, but without being trapped in the critical stance of an insider. Perhaps, I hope, my thesis can give something to China, but certainly China will contribute to my thesis.

Anyway, back to the duality of academics and reality. The project has grown in my mind over the last two years, so by now I am set on investigating a whole series of issues in the course of this architectural design. (Primarily, I am passionately interested in the search for a new public domain [book tip: In Search for New Public Domain, Hajer & Reijndorp] and its spatial consequences, especially in relation to de Sola Morales' urban tribes, and the concept of parochialization of places and network urbanism.) But to bring these issues and interests (of which public domain is one) together in a design project poses a problem. A project need a coherence, a strong idea that positions it in the architectural discourse, that can communicate it's complexity to a critic or reader. And herein comes the conflict, reality is utterly complex and never as simple as a single concept; academic projects on the other hand, need limitations and definitions that limit the scope and brings it together, in order to communicate. So clearly I need to define a theoretical vessel that can incorporate all aspects of the thesis.

In my search for this, I was wandering into the AA DRL (Architectural Association Design Research Laboratory) website. Their theme this year is parametric urbanism, a subject which interests me immensely even though I am not in an environment to get into it too closely. It has many links to my thoughts about the project, so I spent some time reading the briefs and looking into what the studio produced.

(As a side note, and I am sure I'll get to the subject quite often in my posts, it is fascinating to compare my own, highly individual journey to an architecture degree to that of schools such as the AA. In many ways, they reach higher than me, but yet, I probably would not switch... But who knows, maybe I'll be there in a couple of years. That would require some financial blessings though.)

One of four briefs in the studio, that of Theodore Spyropoulos, is on Adaptive Ecologies. Some excerpts (of a total of two paragraphs):

Urban development through an adaptive model of ecology is the focus of the studio.
...
The pursuit of reflexive systems in urban design is developed through generative computational processes as time-based phasing logics. Homeostatic and ecological relational systems of fitness and balance are conditioned through the parametric. Ecosystems are not isolated from each other, but are interrelated. The first principle of ecology is that every living organism has an ongoing and continual relationship with every other element that makes up its environment. The ecosystem is composed of two entities, the entirety of life, the biocoenosis, and the medium in which life exists, the biotope.

Now from there they took off in a direction in which I don't which to follow, but the connection is already quite obvious: ecology is the vessel, the transcription, for my thoughts on public domain. Biocoenosis (is that a real word, or did he make it up? It is.) is the urbanites, the people, the urban tribes. And the biotope is the spatiality. So banal it is almost embarrassing to write, and yet I believe it has all it needs to solve my current dilemma.

And, to prove that it does make sense (a rough sketch):

a beginning...

So. Welcome to foreign noise, whatever that might become. Me, I am an architect, or more precisely an architecture student, settling down in London after a rather prolonged period of moving about. I will spend the coming months working on my master's thesis / diploma project so chances are I will focus on that in quite a few posts. But generally, I will spend my time here reflecting on architecture, on the city, and on the world. In what proportion remains to be decided.

Chances are there will be a collection of photographs as well. Perhaps as separate posts, perhaps integrated. They will likely reflect a wider selection of my past than London, even though posts will center on where I am now.

If this blog would have a philosophy, a commitment, it would be to to post-modernism, to transparency, to networks, and to multiplicity. But probably it doesn't.

Welcome back.