Transparent

Image © Milton Gan

How do I see the awkward things?

The transparent building which was to permit unlimited vision out, in fact , exposed itself to observation from without. "The curtain wall has created an overexposed world which leaves only a few shadow zones of privacy. Today, glass is neither the euphoric arterial that promises to seamlessly connect private and public space, nor the menacing surface defining controller and controlled. The pathologies have inverted: the dear of being watched has transformed into the fear that no one may be watching.The glass has assumed the role of a representational surface, a performance screen."(diller scofidio+renfro)

Overexposed is a 24-minute performance: http://66.135.59.206/projects/overexposed/Overexposed.mov

A contact or non-contact species

The Hidden Dimension, Edward Hall

Intimate distance for embracing, touching or whispering

Close phase – less than 6 inches (15 cm)

Far phase – 6 to 18 inches (15 to 46 cm)

Personal distance for interactions among good friends or family members

Close phase – 1.5 to 2.5 feet (46 to 76 cm)

Far phase – 2.5 to 4 feet (76 to 120 cm)

Social distance for interactions among acquaintances

Close phase – 4 to 7 feet (1.2 to 2.1 m)

Far phase – 7 to 12 feet (2.1 to 3.7 m)

Public distance used for public speaking

Close phase – 12 to 25 feet (3.7 to 7.6 m)

Far phase – 25 feet (7.6 m) or more

Flight Distance and Critical Distance. Hediger's term for the inter-species spacing mechanism which measures the distance an observer approaches before the animals start to flee. As a general rule, the larger the animal the greater distance it must keep between itself and the "other". A "critical distance" occurs when a boundary is crossed and the animal turns around to retaliate. Aggression is regulated by developing a hierarchy and establishing spacing. These invisible boundaries are valued very differently from one culture to another. I was born in India, moved to Oman as a teenager, and am now living in Canada as an adult;three very different worlds each with their own ideas of personal space. I hope to explore the ways to expose each culture's response to "appropriate" proximity by experimenting with manipulations of architectural space.

The following is a story.

"There are 1.1 Billion people in India and they are all used to not having personal space. This is a country where families suffering from economic hardship (the government uses the terms: Economically Weak Sections) live in apartments with one room and often have 6-9 people living in it: the parents, the children, the parents of the father and if the eldest child is recently married--his wife would be there, too. If you come to India you will have no personal space. I have regularly used the urinal with someone standing close enough behind me that he could help me aim if he reached around. If he's chatty he might even start up a conversation. This is just how things are; too much space and someone might cut in front of you. Next, try riding the subway or the bus. The subway in Delhi is a study in contradictions. They are immaculately clean while everything street level is that of a developing country: gritty, haphazard and trampled upon by humanity's heaviest footprint. Subways in most cities are intended to be part of a rapid transit system. In Delhi, you have to go through a metal detector. First form a line to buy your token (they have smart cards, too, which save time and money) then form a line 100 people deep (if it's a popular train station) and wait 10 minutes to get through the line during rush hour. The line is the very image of diversity with young and old, the prosperous rotund, and the famished skinny. Women bedecked in the latest western trends standing behind women in traditional garb that could have been plucked from the 50s. While you are in line you have plenty of time to be observant ... unless of course you're distracted by the corpulent short guy behind you who persists on aligning his bellybutton with the apex of your butt-crack. Every time you move forward he moves forward the same distance and then adds a margin of 2cm just in case he gauged your distance from his orifice incorrectly. Okay, so maybe the pot belly was the exceptional character, right? That was the bag check line. Before that was the metal detector line where some waifish teenager was so close he seemed to be testing to see if my sneakers were properly inflated by kicking my heel as if I were equipped with tires. To ensure that no one cut between us and interrupted his courtship, he absentmindedly placed the back of his hand on my lower back as he casually jabbered to his younger family members behind him. Suddenly the tire inspection turned into a rodeo with him practically riding my back AND holding on. If I moved up he would move up and add the same 2 cm margin as Shri Potbelly-ji I don't scowl; I don't suck my teeth or sniff angrily at people. I just cope and will take my revenge by dry humping the guy in front the next time I have to queue up."- Jason Tapia, Miami-ite, friend and brave soul.

Investigating Cross-Cultural Receptors:

Visual and Auditory Space through materials in Japanese and German architecture

Olfactory Space of streets in Paris and Suburbia

Skin/Muscle memory in Japanese gardens and Wright's Old Imperial Hotel in Tokyo

Thermal Space through intimate perceptual contact

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.

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Reference:

Levein de Cauter, The Capsular Civilization

Balcões in Margao,Goa

Photo Credit: Mobissimo Travel

Photo Credit: Irene Fernandez

Photo Credit: Author

The relationship between the street and the house in Goa plays a crucial role in orchestrating social dynamics. Just after a fish-curry-and-rice dinner, the men in the family fill their small glasses with fenny and a dash of lemon soda before they walk out onto the balcõa. It is the perfect time at dusk just after the swarms of mosquitoes have subsided for the night and before the village sinks into black darkness. A good time to enjoy the cool breeze after a long day. People walk by the gate of the house, most of them family. Each waves; and then stops to gossip.

The women stay inside; planning the next day’s meal.

A simple road trip around Goa’s villages will familiarize you with 18th to 20th century Indo-Portugues houses where visitors are warmly greeted and welcomed into the homes while still adhering to privacy. Dean D’Cruz, a native Goan and architect, says: “The key aspect of traditional Goan architecture is its scale and relationship to the streetscape. The front of the building facing the road, being the most important, is treated with formality. But as one moves through the house, spaces and rear elevations start becoming much more informal.”

A clear separation between the front gate and the front door establish the public and the private realms respectively. The balcões play the role of the dynamic interstitial space between the front courtyard and main gate and the elevated veranda that allow for seamless movement from outside to the inside of the home. Designed to be a place to “see and be seen”, the built-in seating on the balcõa becomes a inviting place of gathering; a place to stay. The balcões of Goa bring to attention the transition between the dwelling place and the city which is often lost in the front yards of North America.

Photo Credit: Author

Pursuing Strangeness

All Photographs © Michael Wolf Photography

" The Front Door/ The Back Door"

What are the awkward things?

Public washrooms

Watching people sleep

The guts of a building

The mechanics of a watch

Condo windows

Why do I see the awkward things?

Shock value

Breaking patterns

Not daily life

Don't see often but becomes exposed

Excitement

Releasing energy and taking

Arousing curiosity

How do I record something I'm not supposed to see:

Vandalism

Phone numbers in bathrooms

Etching a table, add to the table

Wall for ideas : made out of carbon paper

Places of Transition:

No Man's Land

The Porch

Understanding Markers: measuring distance and value

Signage: cultural symbols.

Menhirs : Stonehenge, Inukshuk

StoryTelling: a tall story vs. mythology

Warrior Wounds: scars, connecting freckles on His arm

Human Trellis: constraints on the bonsai tree

Tattoos: Ongoing personal maps

Diaries

Deltas and Dams: what are the rules of formation?

Show and tell

Mobius House, UN Studio, Netherlands, 1998

I begin to explain my thesis by using the mobius strip. Lining the inside with images of the perceived private life and the outside layer with images from the obviously public life. Both are faces to one thin layer. The twist between inside and outside does not happen in one fixed position but rather in a width of space that is constantly moving. This is the spectrum of transition that I am most interested in. My work over the following weeks will investigate the characteristics of the various points and their recurring presence in public space.

A discussion about " warrior wounds" this weekend made me begin to think about the markers that identify those transition zones between private and public. It is a small scar over his left eye, but I ask him about it. The satisfaction is entirely mine. Methods of revealing and exposure will be explored.

HOUSE 1

experiential section, author

do·mes·tic·i·ty
1. redefining the traditional notion of family from man, wife and child to mother, daughter and granddaughter
2. addressing contemporary concerns of both privacy and exposure
3. challenging the idea of interiority, giving it a new role in social relationships

in·hab·it
1. a provocative experience
2. continually providing for interaction with the various realms of “reality”; a dialogue between public and private
3. an intertwining trajectory relating to a 24 hour cycle of live, work and play
4. the final result is unpredictable and leads to a unique journey

house
1. is the domain of its inhabitants: the home is the territory in which their, even more than the architect’s, desires and fantasies are centered
2. a subversion of traditional occupation of private space which has always been buried and hidden from public view, but is now exposed
3. “there are no rooms, just situations”
4. a vehicle for social experimentation; an energetic score

wall
1. to reveal and define; and to enclose and restrict
2. a negotiating medium between me and my neighbour
3. defined by the overlapping spaces and planes which extend to main materials of brick and concrete

sketchbook, author

plan

1. focused on patterns made by daily routine
2. seamless circulation between public and private
3. flexible spaces that can be sectioned off into individual housing units; allowing for spontaneous program.

preliminary plans, author

sec·tion

1. a palpable awareness between private and public by warping the party walls to create interlocked spaces.
2. understanding shared space
3. virtual and actual transparencies within the house itself

preliminary sections, author

INTERPRETING THE WORLD THROUGH THE HOME

Author, Home at Kabakwa Lake, 2008

The Ericksonian framework for understanding individual identity is broken down into three particular parts: Ego Identity, Personal Identity and lastly Social or Cultural Identity. Assuming a sense of self can be established in the realm of the individual's "home", the next step in the complete realisation is the individual interaction with the rest of the world. The farm house on the praires, the canoe in the lake, the retreat on the hillside-- all become instruments that help interpret the public sphere. We need these series of nanospaces as a medium of reference, to orient and guide our understanding of the vast landscape. Architecture becomes a mediater between the individual and his or her surroundings, establishing a means of complete identity.

"People in the city often wonder whether one gets lonely up in the mountains among the peasants for such long and monotonous periods of time. But it isn’t loneliness, it is solitude....Solitude has the peculiar and original power of not isolating us but projecting our whole existence out into the vast nearness of the presence of all things."- Heidegger

I don't enjoy being at the cottage with a big group of friends. The essence of being at the cottage is lost with endless chatter, numerous trips to pick up groceries and dump garbage, loud card games and jarring music. I prefer being there alone.

Now, it is the end of another summer and my family returns to the city from Haliburton after closing down the cottage for the season. There is a certain sense of loss on the drive home. It is a small, cozy structure , inaccessible by the main road, hidden along a cliffside overlooking the lake. I will miss the silence and the space. I often wonder why one cannot reproduce the same positive sense of dwelling back in surburbia. I am reminded of a passage written by Adam Sharr on Martin Heidegger's 6m x 7m hut at the edge of the Black Forrest in Marbarg.

"I’m off to the cabin – and am looking forward a lot to the strong mountain air – this soft light stuff down here ruins one in the long run. Eight days lumbering – then again writing....It’s late night already – the storm is sweeping over the hill, the beams are creaking in the cabin, life lies pure, simple and great before the soul...Sometimes I no longer understand that down there one can play such strange roles." Heidegger

The hut becomes as a vessel for his thoughts within the landscape and an instrument for internalizing the logic of nature. But what are the "strange roles" that he speaks of and how can we define them in built form?

THE PLAN

Sebastiano Giannini: Floor plan of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, ca. 1730

Borromini's little church, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, in Rome is a 17th century masterpiece that demonstrates the idea of the interior as a form of conceptual carving. The plan is intricately constructed with complex geometric arrangements and layers, yet the overall effect of the plan with the resultant thick poché walls suggests the spaces are carved from a solid. The variety of spaces made in such a small corner site produces a highly ornamental interior that is bound by a fluid structure. The whole wall translates into an undulating movement and becomes a medium which is alive and ready to be inhabited.

Historically, buildings are organized by compiling geometries in architectural plans. Borromini's plan bears attributes to the experiential disjunction between the adjacent spaces of the building and the interior's response to the site's boundary conditions. It is almost like the plan begins to take on the attributes of a building's section: a clear set of relationships through a building visible through experience. The importance of a section as a key drawing tool in understanding how space is contained is crucial : especially to see what cannot be revealed once built.

Author, Building section studies, 2008

WHAT ABOUT THE INSIDE?

All Images ©Aneta Grzeszykowska and Jan Smaga, from the series "Plan" , 2003

"Plan" by Aneta Grzeszykowska and Jan Smaga consists of a series of detailed photographs of 10 Warsaw interiors produced by compiling numerous photographs taken from a digital camera rigged to a track system on the ceiling. Each was then fitted into the familiar geometric layout of an apartment plan; rendered in white space and disappearing into the edges of the page. The resulting stills are vertical plunges into the banalities of domestic life - unmade beds, dirty dishes and open books. It is simply a story of life, of every detail and a documentary of the precise moments we each encounter within the walls of our own home. It is not something that is ever meant to be seen. Each composition is a perfect documentation of how an individual organizes and occupies his or her immediate environment. When approached with patience and curiosity , each piece of work reveals the subtle relationships between objects and the environment that they inhabit. It also begs to raise broader questions like Heidegger:"What is it to dwell" (Building, Dwelling, Thinking.Martin Heidegger, 1971).

Grezesykowska and Smaga's show us how different people live; every gender, at every age, ordinary or bohemian. Each interprets the space between four walls surrounding themselves with objects and surfaces that create a meaning on their own. Take away the equisite perisan rugs, the fluffy white duvet, the still warm water in the tub, and you are left with generic squares on a designer's trace paper. Modest one- or two- bedroom apartments , none are too unusual or outlandish, however in their spatial congestion and scarcity they do convey a common culture specificty as to be found in Warsaw.

All Images ©Aneta Grzeszykowska and Jan Smaga, from the series "Plan" , 2003

Being an architecture student, I am used to composing space in terms of the plan. However there is always a distance maintained between my 2H pencil and the plan I am tracing. I organize space, I control and comand each line, each corner. This isn't a common view for everyone; it is one that is authorative and evokes surveillance. There is something unusual about this exhibition of photographs that compells me to look deeper, further. It is either the unusual angle of observation or the mere fact that I am looking at something which I shouldn't be. It belongs to you. It is your space. The sense of inherent intrusion in each view is conflicting and presents a perversity in both the viewer and the subject. A woman drapes herself over a soft armchair, naked, bending one knee, almost posing for the camera's eye - do the inhabitants desire self-exposure?This leads to a discussion about reality television and the abject fascination with the mundane details of other people's lives. Can this be a tool to building a connection between people? The omnipresent eye of digital technology in both private and public space intertwines the rush of excitement of spectacle with the conscious presence of surveillance. Gaston Bacelard in Poetics of Space declares that " Being does not see itself", however 'Plan' peels away the layers of infrustructure to reveal lives that are in full view, exposing the very notion of " being".

All Images ©Aneta Grzeszykowska and Jan Smaga, from the series "Plan" , 2003

The views challenges the idea of interiority, which is given a new role in social relationships. Perhaps it is envisioned as an all-exposed entity wrapped in permeable screen that reveals and defines, rather than enclosing and restricting. It is a subversion of traditional occupation of private space which has always been buried and hidden from public view.


Interiors at Risk Precarious Spaces in Contemporary Art. By Ewa Lajer-Burcharth