Home, Nostalgia, Dwelling

Lecture Notes:

House - dwelling - retreat - shelter - stability - comfort - family - personal meanings - sentimentality - social order

The Poetics of Space - daydreaming - creating memories - house is our corner of the world 

Dwelling - protection from harm - safeguarding - preservation

Space and identity - a haven for a dweller - protective - comforting with memories of protection - a safety net - allows synchronisation of past, present and future 

A house and it's elements: windows, doors, roof, walls

Without a roof, the dweller is 'homeless', 'without a roof above their head' - religious connectivity 'the man upstairs'

Without walls, there is no defence from the outside world. Outside: Political - Inside: Secretive

Bare walls should be covered - cave paintings - we hide behind four walls, covering our nakedness - is this taken for granted?

Without windows and doors, we could not look outside or go out. - Seeing - a perception of danger? - exploration of the world outside, with a home to return to for safety and comfort.

Modern architecture - implies protection but also doesn't hide you from the outside world. Homes are becoming more centres of activity, with the outside world being allowed in, but at our own levels of comfort. 

For example:

TV - garages/cars - aerials - double glazed windows, to keep people from coming in but being able to see out.

Social hierarchy - social positioning - detached, semi detached etc - social classes being defined by their homes and possessions.

Houses are seen as islands.

Levels of social interactivity in the interior. Gender roles differentiation - female: kitchen - man: garage - separation - context of space within the interior

Michael Landy - Breakdown 2011

Everything owned to be broken down, shredded, dismantled, demolished

Categorised destruction of life and his 'identity' - how do items define us?

Psychobuilding - buildings to define a culture, to define a social hierarchy before it is even explained - MTV Cribs! 

Subprime - creation of life and shelter - how we've expanded and progressed - is this creating more identity for ourself? Are we spending too much time defining ourself with belongings and the buildings we call home?

The City

Lecture Notes:

"Art is born of observation and investigation…" Cicero

Flaneur - a person who walks the city in order to experience it

City - a labyrinth - reality - landscape - a dream

Psychogeography - evidencing journeys - loitering - walking - escaping - driving - travelling - experiencing - wandering 

Psychogeography of an Everyday Drive - taking in details that are so often overlooked - understanding your environment - embracing

Mythogeography - fictional - fanciful - fragile - personal - factual history - becoming a part of the place - holding significance

London 10 Quirky Places - history behind everyday items, objects, buildings, sculptures etc. - Understanding their relevance and significance

Tim Knowles - photography

JR - urban interaction with different places - exploring places in a different way - seeing buildings as canvasses etc

"The streets are owned by everyone. Streets are the gift of freedom, so enjoy your possession." - Brad Erlandson

"Life's not a job, its an adventure" - Chip Morton

Skateboarding - seeing the world around you in a different way - in a way to to use for your own gain - to embrace architecture and familiar surroundings and re-inventing them

Parkour - similar to skateboarding - using the environment almost literally as a playground - embracing the world and architecture around to gain experience - embracing the surroundings that so many may disregard

Power; Control; Authority; Anarchy

Lecture Notes:

Space - emptiness/extension? - mobile elements - time - practiced place

Place has stability - configured position

Maps - places.  Tours - spaces.

Can authority and control make a space into a place? Exerting power to create a definition for a space? To establish rules?

"Appropriate is mostly in favour of the individual"

World Trade Center - exerted power and control over New York - intimidation? - height? - dominance in politics, financial and economics - attacked for it's cultural meaning and representation as a symbol of power.

The Penitentiary Panopticon or Inspection House - design where prisoners could/would be watched at all times from a central tower, with no idea of whether or not they were being watched - interesting metaphor for government?

Palacio de La Cumberri - efficient architecture - aggressive - powerful - stripping you of your rights, individuality, freedom and life - a carbon copy of everyone else - 'you are not a beautiful, unique snowflake' (Fight Club)

Architecture of Authority - main focus on fear - clinical - no personality - no compassion - even within aspects of hospitals, where you are supposed to feel safe and protected, there's an authority that keeps you fearful (disease)

French Film - Martyrs

Prisons and police stations - intimidation and control - dominance through architecture

Mosque - segregation - weighted and valued women - basic, clear, simple - all about the prayer and worship - a religious dominance

Twelve Monkeys - dystopian - chambers of control and dominance

Hak Nam - City of Darkness - no architects or regard for basic services - thriving environment - authority was in the power of the unknown - the city had it's own rules - somehow living in utter harmony with no need for intervention

Gaming - includes metaphors, puzzles, interactivity - environmental, user community related, modelling and constructive aspects

Place/Non Place - Utopia/Dystopia

Lecture Notes:

Defining a place from a non place - a place implies an indication of stability, a place has been defined by someone at some point to have rules, it has it's own history and a sense of identity.

Urban - sinister, yet familiar - disconnected, but catering for all, a city of strangers, socially interactive, yet darker and violent

Non-place - a motorway, a hotel room, an airport or a supermarket. A place with a definition but holding no meaning, no identity other than to provide.

Utopia - perfection - a rational effort to create perfection - a better society - a total environment - Stepford Wives - regimented

Problem with utopia - 'someone' has to control it, 'someone' names it a utopia, THEIR utopia

Reminds me of the film Disturbia - utopian environment - is it the perfect cover up for something more sinister? Relevant for Stepford Wives, also.

Utopian architecture - designing for concentrating on following the pattern that has been set out

Historical referencing of dictatorship?

Dystopia - 'images of worlds worse than our own' - how the future may become, in fear - propaganda.

Hotel rooms - supermarkets - creature comforts, with none of the personality or identity. Hotel rooms also link back to tourism, consumerism and globalisation.

Airports will become cities of the 21st century - everything that you need under one roof but with none of the commitment - airports being the first experience on arrival

Conceptual ideas - dystopia is a warning, utopia is an ideal - both comment on society.

Fight Club quotes?

Globalisation, Tourism and Holidays

Lecture Notes:

Sense of place - relationship with the Earth, changing to a relationship with technology?

Absolute - Abstract  - Differential

What do theme parks represent? An ideal? A way in which to embrace the fantasy, the surreal, the myth and danger without worry/risk? Fake paradise - an escape?

Theme parks - WHY? What is their importance? Necessity? 

"Landscapes of Leisure" - for the social elite - man conquering nature - allowing man to control every aspect, all the way down to the details of 'conquering' reality.

Grotto - mythical nature - idyllic - decorated - water works - beautiful

Castle - mythical nature - fantasy - royalty - social elite 

Landscape design - 'controlling' nature - visually appealing - sometimes not ethically correct (dead trees being planted to get desired effect)

THEME PARKS:

representation of local and global culture - various different themes - mass consumption, marketing, tourism - self contained - rides that have themes that people wouldn't necessarily ever experience (for example: space)

Modern day - more rides, more adrenalin, areas sponsored (consumerism), higher risks under health and safety regulations, experimenting with technology (3D aspects for example)

Less nature, more rides - aggressive development - different culture - mass awareness - media attention

HYPER REALITY - inauthenticity? or are tourists searching for authentic experiences?

'Real Middle Earth' - combining modern and consumerist culture with money making and media. Various cultures/influences in the entirety of the Lord of the Rings experience.

Las Vegas - a microcosm of global culture

Drive

Lecture Notes:

Exploring un-informed ideals of experiencing something - essence - about-ness

How does our domestic environment define us? 

Exploration of the motor car - a domestic space, with an exterior, object but has a dimension of an interior.

Energy - speed - consumerism - technology - allowing for further exploration - faster paced experience - youth culture - love affair with machine.

Interesting definition of visual and aesthetics - definition of ourselves (muscle car - think mid life crisis?!) - extension of ourselves? - dreaming of a automated world etc.

CRASH - trailer

Connection between sex and cars - fast paced - raunchy - risky - adventurous - spontaneous - dangerous - exciting

"Travel is a necessity, speed is a pleasure"

History with horses - motor car makes movement effortless - almost unrealistic qualities of being able to travel - fusion of animal strength and human intelligence

Male object - sexualised for women? object of fantasy? majestic speed? 

Modern consumption - materialistic connection? 

Definition of today and modern culture - THEY ARE EVERYWHERE - aesthetics are important - visual dominance.

BULLITT - trailer

Anti-hero status - raw - primal - 'manly' - strong and silent type - 'hunter'

THELMA & LOUISE - trailer

Carefree - motor car allows for opportunities - 'wild' 

Space and Identity

Lecture Notes

What defines who we are/where we are?

Where we are: defined by landmarks, eccentricities, economy, money, symbols, flags, accents, people, collections.

Territorial - re imagining money - Peter Simensky - national symbols that aren't necessarily defining of the country, but are used to define.

Territories - groups - violence/battle

Influence from different cultures, still relevant today in the building blocks of our society, country and culture. Different industries and revolutions defining various aspects of today and how we react/cope etc.

Different interpretation from different people creating certain areas. Architecture.

Media changing our experience of different culture - America: brash, bold, big macs and in your face. England: cobbled roads, small pubs and posh accents.

Katrin Sigurdardottir: High Plane - Allowing the viewer/user to become part of the landscape from different perspectives.

Green Grass of Home: Nature reserve representations - miniature - how does that change the nature of the piece? Does it warp it from reality?

Do Ho Suh: Fallen Star - interesting exploration of place, scale and site. How do we inhabit space? Personal boundaries and cultural experiences. 

Scale of pieces, how does the smaller scale aspect of the piece relate to real life.

Territorial - graffiti, street art, gangs