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Architectural arcadia

Devon Tl
Devon Tl

The document provides a series of reflections on walls and architecture. It discusses how walls have historically been used to separate and define spaces, but argues they create an illusion of containment and separation. The reflections suggest walls limit how people experience and move through spaces. The document advocates for an architecture without walls that allows people to experience space with their whole bodies and in a more fluid, interconnected way.

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D E V O N T E L B E R G 12044946 Oxford Brookes University Masters of Architecture Advanced Architectural Design Andrew Holmes Re-submitted July 12th, 2013
All our spirits reside in New Arcadia, Every individual is their own royalty and servant. The walls our egos built shall crumble. What is left is a sea of photo by Noraishah Mokhtar
VTEXT CONTEXT 4 FILM 10 STORY 12 DISCOVERY 22 DESIGN 36 PROCESS 49 INSPIRATION 54 contents
V The elite have resigned them- selves for ages in stone castles high on hills. Who was it that built these walls, walls whom assumed violence had to hap- pen, what is there to protect against. These walls were built by people whom announced they were elite. They rein- forced the walls with etiquette, a reciprocal expectation that anyone who passed these doorways were permitted access to a circle of confi- dantes. The few laid back in their wealth of resources and police of invocation, courts of application, and agencies of appraisals. A social structure that maintains the expectation of violence with other castles outside their walls, a social contract peaceful accep- tance of internal decisions by the many. The best defense lies in the precaution against surprise. So high they built, the better to surveil. So fortified they reinforced, except when counter attacks must perforate the defense. So invisible they hid, the better to camoflouge. Anyone who had a reason to search for them would travel far into unknown territory, set- ting off triggers in nature that only locals knew in their hearts. The elite withdrew horizontally, from one parlour to the next manor, then only allow others through by invitation. Walls of buildings didnt just erect, so did the walls of the streets, are they not the same wall? Soon enough, cities were planned to vistas, so that everyone was reminded of who made the decisions, boulevards were for parades. It instilled a happy sense of community among the many, that what they lived without was at least lived to- gether. Separate but equal they told the many. How soon did their walls crumble into con- crete and glass. It scrapes the sky, they said. Quite violent to the sky, dont you think? Roy- als passed the responsibility of patronage to courtiers, and courtiers to contractors, artists, masons. There are those of us that know a different way. contents
When the crumbled cas- tles started to fall, they called it democracy. Old monarchs looked on as the castles turned into mansions. But the man- sions were no match with what the history of hu- manity had in store. The mansions of democracy crumbled too as they imitated the elite. Those who thought it was worth something tried to keep it together. The many slowly descended into poverty, at the same time, they en- veloped themselves into tiny screens that nulled the flow. Sitting around. Their words, dreams, ideas infinitely falling into deep space of the many tiny screens. Looking away from their own kind. Ignor- ing us. Pretending. Like we dont matter. But were here. Were always here.
We see you building your walls. You build and build. Only egos defend themselves. Egos crumble. When a tornado comes, or earthwuake hits; take shelter. But mountains dont fall. Trees strengthen, and bloom again next year. Your walls crumble. They kill. How many die from an earthquake? Not much. You die when the walls your egos built fall. Keep building if it makes you feel better. What is architecture without walls?
Walls that define us. Tell us what we are supposed to do in the face of them. Dine here. Work there. Re- lax here. Cook there. Walls that design to separate us. Places are not defined as enclosures like egos need them to be. Walls create a false sense of place. Walls do not exist because nothing can actually be blocked out or contained in. Nothing creates a more vivid illusion of space than the constant repetition of dimension seen in different depths of the perspective. A row of columns is only impressive as a means to juxtapose the natural with its rigidly, unnaturally straight lines of perspec- tive. A reduction of relying solely on the human eye. Why do you rely on the illusory strength of a straight line when everyone knows that eyes can play tricks on you?
After so long, the walls are still around us. They imitate the past, but its been so long since they were deemed such a novel idea. Time has frozen in the dining room, the maid is about to bring dinner from the kitchen. Walls built recently still dictate to us. Portals permit by invitation by a knower of a lesser. Drag your feet, and youll think youre a lesser too. But you can choose.
The walls that contain us reduced to symbols. Ar- chitecture is indivisible. Plans, sections, elevations slice it up but it is not produced by these elements. Conventional symbols do not breathe in the space. The swirls of our essence follow us, they haunt us. Cavities are created by removing materials, solids are created by adding. A wall is not solid, no mat- ter how much humans try to make it appear to be. The walls they erect do not dictate the paths they take in space, only limit them. When spaces return to open up, they traverse in ways comfortable. Placed in the bedroom, they can decide to want food. But the path is the longest possible because they decided these functions have to be separate based on rigid social structures.
Architectural arcadia
Directors Commentary The walls we build are not our own anymore. The glossy rooms are not meant for people to inhabit if we have to keep wiping off all the fingerprints after we leave. Our glossy rooms carry essences of our jounreys but they are not meant to carry our life stories. They are built to be as objective as possible, without any refer- ence to personality except for the architects and laborers who put it together with their own hands. The spaces we actually use are so busy with fragmented purpose we dont see out spir- its encapsulating the space either. The hall- ways we run through, the stairs we climb, the walls our egos built have no deference for the handiwork craft that exudes our personalities. People try to ignore it, but we carry our essen- tial spirits everywhere we go. We build walls without them, the delusion to contain them. However the feelings multiply, the spirit returns stronger as we deny it. The spirit goes to its natural habitat of drifting, directionless except for where it wants to go. Physical manifestations of our hearts desires crawl to an architecture without walls. They tra- verse to lead their own paths, they make their own structures individually but collectively they form an interwoven playground of experienc- ing inhabitable space with their entire bodily forms. Without discriminating all else except the eyes. A comfortable space that supports. A shelter that doesnt need to barricade against anything. An open space that provides pri- vacy within its enclaves. Humans can only relate to a space like this as if its underwater, diving in to an environment as close to weight- lessness as we can know on Earth. As close to the submerged one-ness of all creatures, the percieved intuitive communications, a world without air with which enables manifestations of ideas. In water, we use our whole bodies to travel, communicate, inhabit the space of underwater. Over the eras of history, people have deciphered the kinds of walls we build, and until recently we have begun to tear them down. To swim like aimless fishes that leave a ribbon of the traveled path that we continue to live on, play on, work on. The elegant multi- tude of coves we created upon looking back that we use to rest on. Going forward, I explore what it means to rely on a space that you dont just stand and look at, but something to experience with the entire body of experience. contents
An entrance of woven light twists into the enclaves of the horizon.
As I wander into its allurement, the land- scape coils into intself, pulling the corners of the earth into the tenseful curvature as our eyes gaze upon it.
Life after life, we turn from delicacies to sen- sibilities, from royalties to practicalities, bur- ied in the synonymous lives that surround us.
An intimate light shines from inside that cat- apults us through the weaves of eras. As an individual, I observe it as an exterior light.
But from the collective, we identify it as the interiors of one spirit. Us that manifests the tension of between. Between delicacy and durability, between royalty and practicality. Both fragility and sensibility, both divided and unanimous.
The love and light weaves, the elegance lofts through its essences - glued into place by the mundane.
The indulations waver at the center of the moments with increasing intensity... how it embodies both simultaneously.
Through the gaps, peaks the light to remind me there is a galaxy beyond my world, its isolated but intrusive.
Sequence after sequence, step after step, day after day. I dont see the journey, only the trail behind me.
How high the hill has become, indeed its taller. I have become where all I know is moving and stillness, forward in time.
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Using Rhino, I recreated a network of ribbons and a separate section of twisted ribbons below. I created surfaces between the differ- ent curves.
I applied the section of ribbons to flow along those surfaces. I removed the network of ribbons to explore the enclaves and intersec- tions.
In my pursuit to truly know what it is like to experience space with my entire body, I took an aerial silk class. I observed a classmates inability to learn a specific trick because it meant she had to trust her body on a point of balance on her hip, instead of from her feet. It seemed like she was afraid to be upside down, and restricted herself from embracing the position. I also observed how incredibly weak my arms are, and realised how heavily I rely on my legs to climb up the silk. This observation reflects the reliance on interpretting the world from an upright, standing/sitting perspective, and intrigued how my body has adapted accordingly. I also got to know what it feels like to be emerged in an environment with- out walls; the sea. I went scuba diving for the first time. Due to the different treatment of gravity, below the surface its difficult to know which way is up or down. There was only forward or backward due to the kind of mobil- isation under water. I discovered everything under the sea is truly fluid with each other, and my experience inspired my re-interpretation of my project to be under the sea- but only as a means to humanly interpret the kind of experience I wanted to create in my concept. contents
Lost In Motion directed by Ben Shirinian, cho- reographed and danced by Guillame Cote, song by Album Leaf Click here for full video on Youtube.com
Inspired by artwork from clockwise: Richard Sweeney Toni Davey Paul Jackson Bridget Riley
Books: Abram, D. 1997. The spell of the sensuous : perception and language in a more-than-human world. New York: Vintage Books. Jackson, P. 2011. Folding techniques for designers. London: Laurence King Pub.. Juniper, A. 2010. Wabi sabi : the Japanese art of impermanence. Tokyo [etc.]: Tuttle Publishing. Lasswell, H. and Fox, M. 1979. The signature of power: buildings, communication, & policy. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, inc.. Pallasmaa, J. 2010. The thinking hand. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley. Pallasmaa, J. 2007. The eyes of the skin. London: Academy. Rasmussen, S. 1993. Experiencing architecture. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Shiqiao, L. 2007. Power and virtue : architecture and intellectual change in England 1660-1730. London: Routledge. Spuybroek, L. 2009. The architecture of variation. London: Thames & Hudson. Tanizaki, J. 2008. In praise of shadows. Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle Publ.. Thompson, N. 2012. Living as form: socially engaged art from 1991-2011. New York, N.Y.: Cre- ative Time. contents

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Architectural arcadia

  • 1. D E V O N T E L B E R G 12044946 Oxford Brookes University Masters of Architecture Advanced Architectural Design Andrew Holmes Re-submitted July 12th, 2013
  • 2. All our spirits reside in New Arcadia, Every individual is their own royalty and servant. The walls our egos built shall crumble. What is left is a sea of photo by Noraishah Mokhtar
  • 4. V The elite have resigned them- selves for ages in stone castles high on hills. Who was it that built these walls, walls whom assumed violence had to hap- pen, what is there to protect against. These walls were built by people whom announced they were elite. They rein- forced the walls with etiquette, a reciprocal expectation that anyone who passed these doorways were permitted access to a circle of confi- dantes. The few laid back in their wealth of resources and police of invocation, courts of application, and agencies of appraisals. A social structure that maintains the expectation of violence with other castles outside their walls, a social contract peaceful accep- tance of internal decisions by the many. The best defense lies in the precaution against surprise. So high they built, the better to surveil. So fortified they reinforced, except when counter attacks must perforate the defense. So invisible they hid, the better to camoflouge. Anyone who had a reason to search for them would travel far into unknown territory, set- ting off triggers in nature that only locals knew in their hearts. The elite withdrew horizontally, from one parlour to the next manor, then only allow others through by invitation. Walls of buildings didnt just erect, so did the walls of the streets, are they not the same wall? Soon enough, cities were planned to vistas, so that everyone was reminded of who made the decisions, boulevards were for parades. It instilled a happy sense of community among the many, that what they lived without was at least lived to- gether. Separate but equal they told the many. How soon did their walls crumble into con- crete and glass. It scrapes the sky, they said. Quite violent to the sky, dont you think? Roy- als passed the responsibility of patronage to courtiers, and courtiers to contractors, artists, masons. There are those of us that know a different way. contents
  • 5. When the crumbled cas- tles started to fall, they called it democracy. Old monarchs looked on as the castles turned into mansions. But the man- sions were no match with what the history of hu- manity had in store. The mansions of democracy crumbled too as they imitated the elite. Those who thought it was worth something tried to keep it together. The many slowly descended into poverty, at the same time, they en- veloped themselves into tiny screens that nulled the flow. Sitting around. Their words, dreams, ideas infinitely falling into deep space of the many tiny screens. Looking away from their own kind. Ignor- ing us. Pretending. Like we dont matter. But were here. Were always here.
  • 6. We see you building your walls. You build and build. Only egos defend themselves. Egos crumble. When a tornado comes, or earthwuake hits; take shelter. But mountains dont fall. Trees strengthen, and bloom again next year. Your walls crumble. They kill. How many die from an earthquake? Not much. You die when the walls your egos built fall. Keep building if it makes you feel better. What is architecture without walls?
  • 7. Walls that define us. Tell us what we are supposed to do in the face of them. Dine here. Work there. Re- lax here. Cook there. Walls that design to separate us. Places are not defined as enclosures like egos need them to be. Walls create a false sense of place. Walls do not exist because nothing can actually be blocked out or contained in. Nothing creates a more vivid illusion of space than the constant repetition of dimension seen in different depths of the perspective. A row of columns is only impressive as a means to juxtapose the natural with its rigidly, unnaturally straight lines of perspec- tive. A reduction of relying solely on the human eye. Why do you rely on the illusory strength of a straight line when everyone knows that eyes can play tricks on you?
  • 8. After so long, the walls are still around us. They imitate the past, but its been so long since they were deemed such a novel idea. Time has frozen in the dining room, the maid is about to bring dinner from the kitchen. Walls built recently still dictate to us. Portals permit by invitation by a knower of a lesser. Drag your feet, and youll think youre a lesser too. But you can choose.
  • 9. The walls that contain us reduced to symbols. Ar- chitecture is indivisible. Plans, sections, elevations slice it up but it is not produced by these elements. Conventional symbols do not breathe in the space. The swirls of our essence follow us, they haunt us. Cavities are created by removing materials, solids are created by adding. A wall is not solid, no mat- ter how much humans try to make it appear to be. The walls they erect do not dictate the paths they take in space, only limit them. When spaces return to open up, they traverse in ways comfortable. Placed in the bedroom, they can decide to want food. But the path is the longest possible because they decided these functions have to be separate based on rigid social structures.
  • 11. Directors Commentary The walls we build are not our own anymore. The glossy rooms are not meant for people to inhabit if we have to keep wiping off all the fingerprints after we leave. Our glossy rooms carry essences of our jounreys but they are not meant to carry our life stories. They are built to be as objective as possible, without any refer- ence to personality except for the architects and laborers who put it together with their own hands. The spaces we actually use are so busy with fragmented purpose we dont see out spir- its encapsulating the space either. The hall- ways we run through, the stairs we climb, the walls our egos built have no deference for the handiwork craft that exudes our personalities. People try to ignore it, but we carry our essen- tial spirits everywhere we go. We build walls without them, the delusion to contain them. However the feelings multiply, the spirit returns stronger as we deny it. The spirit goes to its natural habitat of drifting, directionless except for where it wants to go. Physical manifestations of our hearts desires crawl to an architecture without walls. They tra- verse to lead their own paths, they make their own structures individually but collectively they form an interwoven playground of experienc- ing inhabitable space with their entire bodily forms. Without discriminating all else except the eyes. A comfortable space that supports. A shelter that doesnt need to barricade against anything. An open space that provides pri- vacy within its enclaves. Humans can only relate to a space like this as if its underwater, diving in to an environment as close to weight- lessness as we can know on Earth. As close to the submerged one-ness of all creatures, the percieved intuitive communications, a world without air with which enables manifestations of ideas. In water, we use our whole bodies to travel, communicate, inhabit the space of underwater. Over the eras of history, people have deciphered the kinds of walls we build, and until recently we have begun to tear them down. To swim like aimless fishes that leave a ribbon of the traveled path that we continue to live on, play on, work on. The elegant multi- tude of coves we created upon looking back that we use to rest on. Going forward, I explore what it means to rely on a space that you dont just stand and look at, but something to experience with the entire body of experience. contents
  • 12. An entrance of woven light twists into the enclaves of the horizon.
  • 13. As I wander into its allurement, the land- scape coils into intself, pulling the corners of the earth into the tenseful curvature as our eyes gaze upon it.
  • 14. Life after life, we turn from delicacies to sen- sibilities, from royalties to practicalities, bur- ied in the synonymous lives that surround us.
  • 15. An intimate light shines from inside that cat- apults us through the weaves of eras. As an individual, I observe it as an exterior light.
  • 16. But from the collective, we identify it as the interiors of one spirit. Us that manifests the tension of between. Between delicacy and durability, between royalty and practicality. Both fragility and sensibility, both divided and unanimous.
  • 17. The love and light weaves, the elegance lofts through its essences - glued into place by the mundane.
  • 18. The indulations waver at the center of the moments with increasing intensity... how it embodies both simultaneously.
  • 19. Through the gaps, peaks the light to remind me there is a galaxy beyond my world, its isolated but intrusive.
  • 20. Sequence after sequence, step after step, day after day. I dont see the journey, only the trail behind me.
  • 21. How high the hill has become, indeed its taller. I have become where all I know is moving and stillness, forward in time.
  • 52. Using Rhino, I recreated a network of ribbons and a separate section of twisted ribbons below. I created surfaces between the differ- ent curves.
  • 53. I applied the section of ribbons to flow along those surfaces. I removed the network of ribbons to explore the enclaves and intersec- tions.
  • 54. In my pursuit to truly know what it is like to experience space with my entire body, I took an aerial silk class. I observed a classmates inability to learn a specific trick because it meant she had to trust her body on a point of balance on her hip, instead of from her feet. It seemed like she was afraid to be upside down, and restricted herself from embracing the position. I also observed how incredibly weak my arms are, and realised how heavily I rely on my legs to climb up the silk. This observation reflects the reliance on interpretting the world from an upright, standing/sitting perspective, and intrigued how my body has adapted accordingly. I also got to know what it feels like to be emerged in an environment with- out walls; the sea. I went scuba diving for the first time. Due to the different treatment of gravity, below the surface its difficult to know which way is up or down. There was only forward or backward due to the kind of mobil- isation under water. I discovered everything under the sea is truly fluid with each other, and my experience inspired my re-interpretation of my project to be under the sea- but only as a means to humanly interpret the kind of experience I wanted to create in my concept. contents
  • 55. Lost In Motion directed by Ben Shirinian, cho- reographed and danced by Guillame Cote, song by Album Leaf Click here for full video on Youtube.com
  • 56. Inspired by artwork from clockwise: Richard Sweeney Toni Davey Paul Jackson Bridget Riley
  • 57. Books: Abram, D. 1997. The spell of the sensuous : perception and language in a more-than-human world. New York: Vintage Books. Jackson, P. 2011. Folding techniques for designers. London: Laurence King Pub.. Juniper, A. 2010. Wabi sabi : the Japanese art of impermanence. Tokyo [etc.]: Tuttle Publishing. Lasswell, H. and Fox, M. 1979. The signature of power: buildings, communication, & policy. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, inc.. Pallasmaa, J. 2010. The thinking hand. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley. Pallasmaa, J. 2007. The eyes of the skin. London: Academy. Rasmussen, S. 1993. Experiencing architecture. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Shiqiao, L. 2007. Power and virtue : architecture and intellectual change in England 1660-1730. London: Routledge. Spuybroek, L. 2009. The architecture of variation. London: Thames & Hudson. Tanizaki, J. 2008. In praise of shadows. Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle Publ.. Thompson, N. 2012. Living as form: socially engaged art from 1991-2011. New York, N.Y.: Cre- ative Time. contents