10.18.11 blam thesis article 02

8/3/2019 10.18.11 BLam Thesis Article 02

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Becky Lam | Thesis 2011-2012 | Advisor: Neal Schwartz

FABRICATION




photo courtesy of Liao Yusheng source: herzogdemeuron.com

drawing: “The de Young Museum Vitrine”source: The de Young in the 21st Century

LEVELS OF FABRICATION: Herzog & de Meuron’s de Young Museumreading narratives through architecture




CONCEPT OF PLACE: socio-spatial constructionsthe fabricaion of “place” in modern thought

On the social dynamics of place:

“Instead, then, of thinking of places as areas with boundaries around, they can be imagined as articulated moments in networks of social relations and understandings,but where a large proport ion of those relations, experiences and understandings are constructed on a far larger scale than what we happen to dene at the moment asthe place itself.”

- Doreen Massey, from Space, Place, and Gender

On the hegemony of space over place:

“And yet “place,” despite these auspicious directions in contemporary thought, is rarely named as such - and even more rarely discussed seriously. Place is still concealed,“still veiled,” as Heidegger says specically of space. To ponder the fate of place at this moment assumes a new urgency and points to a new promise. The question is, canwe bring place out of hiding and expose it to new scrutiny?”

- Edward S. Casey, from The Fate of Place: A Philosophical History

On the experience of time-space compression and the representations of space:

“Consider, as a starting point , de Certeau’s contemporary critique of the map as a ‘totalizing device.’ The application of mathematical principles produces ‘a formalensemble of abstract places’ and ‘collates on the same plane heterogenous places, some received from tradit ion and others produced by observation.’ The map is, ineffect, a homogenization and reication of the rich diversity of spatial itineraries and spatial stories.”

“Since any system of representation is itself a xed spatial construct, it automatically converts the uid, confused, but nonetheless objective spaces and time of work andsocial reproduction into a xed schema.”

- David Harvey, from The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change

On the power of the image:

“However they may be fused of confused, there is of course always a distinction between the represented image of a city and its reality... For those who travel along this

imaginary architectural promenade, centers of spectacle efface the distinctions between the real cityscape and the show.”

- M. Christine Boyer, from “Cities for Sale: Merchandising History at South Street Seaport”




“Here’s Hawaii, the 50th State.”postcard. printed by Movie Supply of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI), 1950 - early 1970s.

“Hawaii, the Aloha State”postcard. printed by Thomas Dexter Press, Inc. (West Nyak, NY), 1934-1980.

THE ISLANDS OF HAWAI’I: postcards of paradiseimages used to market Hawai’i as a tourist destination




O’AHU: historic cartographyHawaii Territory Survey Map: Oahu (Alexander, 1902)



Na Ala Hele Trails(Hawai’i Trail and Access System)

O’ahu Forest Reserves

Median household income (1999)(U.S. Census Bureau)$2500 - $111,500+


O’AHU: public trails and private barriersmap of public hiking trails in relation to concentrations of wealth



Street centerlines

District of Waikiki

Hotels

source: Honolulu Publishing Company

HONOLULU: waikiki hotelstourist maps showing points of interest




HONOLULU: property crime trends in waikikitourist map showing risk of theft




From ‘First Interview’ with Jean Nouvel in The Singular Objects of Architecture, translated by Robert Bononno:

“I’ve never been interested in architecture. I have no specic feelings about it one way or the other. I’m interested in space, yes, and in anything in so-called ‘constructed’objects that enables me to experience the instability of space.”

- Jean Baudrillard

ARCHITECTURE AS FABRICATION: to what end?

Synecdoche, New York , written and directed by Charlie Kaufman

10.18.11 blam thesis article 02

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