Tent and Fortress

Image: Brazilian Favela© Word Press

Image: Istanbul Bazaar© Yann Arthus-Bertrand/CORBIS

Degrees of Occupancy, Responsibility and Governance:

"Space is shared in Europe, not protected."

John Grisham, The Broker

City as Camp

Examples: City of Bombay, Favelas, CanadianSurbubs, Kensignton Market

PRIVATE: Tent

INTERFACE: Immediate Shared Space

PUBLIC: Field

" more and more people are falling outside the ordinance of social life ( bios) and into the ordinance of mere existence (zoe)" - Giorgio Agamben

Agamben argues that the city becomes a zone of indistinction: "between outside and inside, exception and rule, licit and illicit, in which the very concepts of subjective rights and juridical protection no longer made any sense". The scale of the city begins to be understood clearly through the experience of specific blocks. We remember the sights and sounds of each neighbourhood, each district*. The evacuation of designated public domains in the city becomes inevitable. The place of the TownHall, Plaza, and Square have been replaced by the information kiosk, corner market and pocket park.

*This thesis will be explored at the scale of a single block; a scale which is manageable in terms of the individual and the community.

City as Battlefield

examples: Oman, Istanbul bazaars, Iranian houses

PRIVATE: Room

INTERFACE: Fortress

PUBLIC: Courtyard

In the case of "City as Battlefield" the private house joins a system of neighbouring dwellings that form a "wall" around a courtyard. The journey the stranger takes from the city to the interior courtyard becomes the interface where the public and private meet. The character of the entrance and the pathways through built form to open courtyards are celebrated through the careful attention given to light and theatrics.

.

Reference:

Levein de Cauter, The Capsular Civilization