lrush-thesis

Long time coming!

2009-10-06T05:38:00.000-07:00

Hey, wow, so it's been awhile. They've been pummeling us here in thesis-land with a bunch of front-loaded reviews. There's hardly been time to breathe, much less update the blog! MUCH has happened with regards to the project; It's starting to come into focus. I will try to do a series of periodic updates to get this up-to-date. To start with, a revised abstract and some eye-candy!

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Architecture's Grand Tourism:
The Emergence of Prishtina within a Global Discipline

Abstract

This project proposes a 2015 World’s Fair in Prishtina, Kosovo to redefine the relationship between tourists and local places within the global landscape. Globalization has created an explosion of world tourism; however, it has homogenized the global landscape and therefore the tourist experience. To counteract this erosion of the identity and sense-of-place, leadership in new nation-states feel that they must consciously exert a new individual identity. This scenario is flawed as well; groups in power seek to instrumentalize a false uniform and idealist identity to serve their own interests.

If the global is overrun by the tourist, and the local is hijacked by the idealist, where does this leave the global-local debate in the discourse of architecture? Creating an ambiguous, complex condition that confronts and reinvents the most polarizing tendencies of the tourist and the idealist will meet the needs of the largest number of parties that have a stake in the architecture. As the world’s newest nation, Kosovo has declared Independence and is partially recognized by the global community. From is decade under international jurisdiction, Kosovo has a complex relationship to the global; in this sense, Kosovo has many similarities to a post-colonial state.

In recognizing that this global connection is economically essential to Kosovo, the new country needs to use this international presence to satisfy its own pressing need to establish the legitimacy of its new government. The international presence currently operating in Kosovo will provide a network of structures for an International Fair introducing Kosovo to the world. This global tourist program is inherently subverted; The parameters for the Fair ensure that the architecture will be seamlessly repurposed into Kosovo’s new National Capital complex. This coupling of programs not only funds the new Capital Complex, but meshes together two forms of national identity: the idealistic/heroic (the position of the nationalist) and the pragmatic/ economic (the position of the tourist). The uneasy alliance between the two programs necessitates a redefinition of both.

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The Cast:
Tourist and Idealist

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The Problem:
Different and Competing demands of a place

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Project Proposal:
Two Programs within same Architecture respond to different demands on place

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Project Proposal:
Dual-programming creates a new mediating hybrid condition to the benefit of all

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Thesis Travel

2009-07-27T02:20:00.000-07:00

Currently, I am traveling in the Balkans for 2 months, with two weeks in Prishtina for specific meetings and site work. Photos of the travel can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2603698&id=12401542&l=e6cd511c84
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2617541&id=12401542&l=627666bd41

Travel

2009-04-26T17:32:00.000-07:00

The travel component of my research is starting to take shape. The largest development in this occured last week when I was awarded the Schlossman Research Grant to help fund my trip. I am very excited and appreciate it very much; it has allowed me to really extend my travel and get to places I may not otherwise have. The trip will be July 1-August 9; during this time I'll be in Kosovo, as well as Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Albania. Can't wait!

*The public exhibition of our Thesis proposals will be this Friday, May 1, 10-noon. More info to follow!

Thesis Committee

2009-04-16T06:10:00.000-07:00

It's official! I have a Thesis committee!

Advisor: Mark Jarzombek (SA+P Associate Dean; HTC Professor)

Reader: Adèle Naudé Santos (SA+P Dean; Design Professor)
Reader: Alexander D'Hooghe (Design Professor)

Design Assignment

2009-04-16T06:02:00.001-07:00

To clarify and condense our Theses into something concrete, the Thesis prep group was given a funny assignment. Andrew (Scott, Thesis prep coordinator) asked us to write our Thesis as if it were a studio brief. It, like everything else, is just a draft and subject to MANY future revisions, but I thought I'd share it here.

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Design Assignment

Conceptual Context:

In recent years, societies have been homogenized from trends toward Globalization and consolidation. These trends have been advancing both economically and structurally. Today, there is a reaction against the notion of globalization is a positive and inevitable trend going forward. Fallout from the current global financial meltdown is an example of this. A new model of operation, both economically and socially, will be needed for the discipline of architecture.

The discipline of architecture is inextricably linked to these trends. In the global condition, architects operate as metaphorical tourists, traveling to new countries with each project. Often, architects often have little knowledge of the locality in which they operate. When top architects operate in this manner, as ‘archi-tourists’, they produce literal tourist destinations. This tourism produces a false identity for their localities.

Addressing new possibilities for the relationship of global and local through the lens of tourism can become a model for the future of practice. The project takes a context which has a direct confrontational relationship between global and local and addresses this relationship through architecture. Specifically, this project seeks to empower the local in this relationship. How can localities, which have in recent architectural history been subordinated or ‘exoticized’, re-assert agency in the architectural process? Beyond how this relationship is defined, what architecture would be produced in this redefined relationship?

Design Assignment:

The critical project to address this question is located in the new nation-state of The Republic of Kosovo. As it currently stands, Kosovo has declared Independence and is partially recognized as the newest Nation-State. The last several decades of Kosovo’s history has been at once tumultuous and defining for its identity. Kosovo has a complex relationship to the global; global powers have governed, policed, and financed the state for over a decade. In this sense, Kosovo has many similarities to a post-colonial state.

In recognizing that this global connection is essential to Kosovo, the new country needs to use this international presence to address the redefinition of global-local and satisfy its own pressing need to establish the legitimacy of its new government. The project will therefore be a capital complex for the government of Kosovo, opportunistically funded and provided by international presences within Kosovo.

The project will be designed for two separate programs removed from each other in time. The international presence, defined by UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) will provide a network of structures for an international expo introducing Kosovo to the world order through tourism. This global act is inherently subverted: a rule-set for design and construction of the expo will ensure that the architecture is intended for the local program of the capital complex.

The uneasy alliance between the two programs will necessitate a redefinition of both. The global expo, through the design rules, will have to address locality in an unprecedented way for world expos. The capital complex is forced to address its own contingency and reliance on the global presence within its boundaries. The capital complex also cannot be idealized as in historical precedent; in dovetailing with a highly public and touristic program, the architecture will have to redefine the government’s relationship to its constituent public in terms of integration and transparency with the urban context.

Physical Context:

Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo, is the location of the project. The specific site is to be determined by the student relative to their scheme, whether they operate in one location, disperse throughout the city, etc: the whole city is fair game.

The project will operate on 2 scales
o Urban: The student will first develop a scheme for the location and integration of the expo complex will be developed at an urban scale.
o Architectural: the student will then develop--to a high level of architectural development--a small number of specific buildings in the site. Ideally, this would consist of two buildings within the program. These components of the project serve as rule-set “tests”

Process of Inquiry:

1. Spring Semester
• Prior to the beginning of the studio, the students will organize to collect all necessary research and documentation relative to the program and site.
2. Summer Travel
• The Studio will travel over the summer for site investigation within Kosovo.
• Students will define their site strategy in order to collect all necessary site documentation
3. Fall Semester
• Assignment 1: Urban scale Scheme
• Assignment 2: Architectural Rule-set and project tests
o Testing and revision will be a repetitive process throughout the semester.
o A majority of the fall studio will focus on this component of the project.

Issues addressed during the design

• Urban scale issues
o Connectivity to the city fabric at large
o concerns of infrastructure
o relationships of disparate elements of the program
o issues of transparency and security in complex plan
• Architectural scale
o hybrid design and alterability between programs
o re-definition of building typology in terms of transparency and accessibility to the public.

Revisions, revisions, revisions...

2009-04-16T05:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a revised abstract. 'Revised' is used loosely, because it has already changed a bit since this was written. It is the most recent description, written for a Midterm Review we had last Friday:

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Architecture’s Grand Tourism:
The Redefinition of Locality in a Global Discourse

Thesis Abstract:

In recent years, societies have been homogenized from trends toward globalization. The discipline of architecture is inextricably linked to these trends. In the global condition, architects operate as metaphorical tourists, traveling to new countries with each project. Often, architects often have little knowledge of the locality in which they operate. When top architects operate in this manner, they produce a false identity for these localities. Today, there is a reaction against the assumption that globalization is a positive and inevitable trend. A new model of operation will be needed for the discipline of architecture.

This project takes a context which has a direct confrontational relationship between global and local and addresses this relationship through architecture. Specifically, this project seeks to empower the local in this relationship. How can localities, which have in recent architectural history been subordinated or ‘exoticized’, re-assert agency in the architectural process? Addressing new possibilities for the relationship of global and local through the lens of tourism can become a model for the future of practice.

The critical project is located in the new nation-state of The Republic of Kosovo. Kosovo has a complex relationship to the global. In recognizing that this global connection is essential to Kosovo, the new country needs to use this international presence to address the redefinition of global-local and satisfy its own pressing need to establish the legitimacy of its new government. The project will be designed for two separate programs removed from each other in time: a world expo and national capital complex. The international presence will provide a network of structures for an international expo introducing Kosovo to the world order through tourism. This global act is inherently subverted: a rule-set for design and construction of the expo will ensure that the architecture is intended for the local program of the capital complex. Although the global is exploited for the gain of the locality, the uneasy alliance between the two programs will necessitate a redefinition of both.

Booklet

2009-03-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

*note: scroll down for plain-text of the project statement

First Formal Proposal Transcript

2009-03-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

Architecture's Grand TOURISM:
the re-emergence of localities within a global discourse

Architecture is ever engaged in a type of colonization. Similar to historical empires exploitation of colonial economies, architects seek to exploit. The way in which architects operate onto foreign locations is opportunistic: many will build wherever a commission emerges with a large enough price tag. The locations of these aggressive insertions are by no means passive victims in this pattern: many cities solicit and compete to create large commissions by top designers in their own backyard. As architecture has a longstanding and complex relation to both power and identity, this practice of competition between localities through architecture is long established.

Due to increasing globalization, this practice has become more commonplace and accelerated in recent years. Today, cities from Denver to Bilbao to Dubai to Beijing are all in competition to create the next architectural tourist attraction. Many world-famous architects now build each project in a different country and are therefore by no means experts on the cultures for which they create. In their rush to erect the next literal tourist attraction, architects have become a version of tourists in themselves—and not as a conscientious eco-tourist. However much they may protest that they are giving back to the communities in which they build, practitioners use emerging economies as their experimental playgrounds and push their own agendas to extreme levels.

This phenomenon represents what can be termed Archi-Tourism. The question asked by this thesis is if it is possible for architecture to come into a culture as a responsible tourist, without profoundly mangling that identity which initially attracted it? And, if so, would this constitute a more desirable relationship of the locality to a globalized architectural practice? This thesis proposes that a healthy relationship between the culture of locality and the Archi-Toursit is not only possible, but urgently necessary in the growing trend of hyper-locality in today’s culture. This new locality manifests itself in trends from local food production systems to micro-finance economic models. It can be argued that the current world financial situation will accelerate this trend, making this search for a new model very timely.

The critical project to investigate this proposal has two requirements: 1) That the site be a neutral and defamiliarizing location, preventing the architect and critic from operating on preconceptions and cultural platitudes; and 2) That the program bring into direct confrontation both the international and globalized elements of architecture with its more specific, cultural and identifying role. The vehicle to address these issues will be a design project for a Worlds Fair or World Exposition which will be subsequently repurposed into the National Capital Complex for New Nation of Kosovo. Historically, the Worlds Fair represents the ultimate condition of architectural tourism, while a National Capital building represents a an important architectural component for identity and the coalescence of a culture. As the newest Nation-State, the population of Kosovo demonstrates a strong desire to forge a national identity. This unique circumstance of global cultural context, site and program is poised to re-imagine the role of the Archi-Tourist.

Things are starting to coming together...

2009-02-17T04:54:00.000-08:00

My first draft proposals of my thesis is due on Monday. I think I have found the angle I want to take within my (quite) broad initial thoughts. I wanted something that allows me to explore issues of identity and globalization without evoking in people's minds any of the regressive stereotypes of words such as 'regionalism' or 'vernacular'. I also want my thesis to be fun. Not a joke, but fun; after all I do have to stay interested in it for almost a whole year. That being said, here is what I'm thinking: Tourism. In an architectural sense. As in, the architect AS tourist.

Title:
Architecture's grand TOURISM:
the rememergence of localities within a global discourse

I like the title because it evokes several things: 1) the history of architects as tourists from the "Grand Tour" of old (the capstone of an architectural education); 2) current trends of tourism around the world as it relates to a global culture; and 3) What tourism means specifically to the discourse, as architects practice globally but an individual buildilng has to exists on a certian site in a certian locality.

This quote by Mark Wigly provides a nice opening book-end to the scope of my arguement:

“Architects are often asked to dream up schemes that completely change the face of a place that they barely know. Their models and drawings establish a dramatic contrast between the fabric of the existing city and a wide array of exotic implants. It’s a kind of invasion by architecture. A foreign takeover. The outsiders arrogantly project their fantasies onto someone else’s city. Do they really understand the local traditions, rhythms, pathology, and complications? What kind of feel do they have for the place? Can it be anything other than the superficial feel of the tourist, even if it is the earnest tourist who deliberately wanders away from the guided tour to take snaps of unadvertised local color? Tourists, like any other kind of invader, always leave their mark. Architects simply want to leave huge marks.”

-Mark Wigley

I am reading Hans Ibelings' Supermodernism: Architecture in the Age of Globalization, which talks about phenomenon of this idea such as the death of the 'jet-setter' and star-architects as rockstars on tour (along with other, more serious things). And I am excited about it; for the moment, the feeling of terror is gone.

Now, just to find a site and a program...

[1]Mark Wigley, “Local Knowledge” Cataloge of studio work from Stadelschule Frankfurt, 1999. Found in Phylogenesis: foa’s ark. Barcelona : Actar, 2004. p. 7.

First thoughts

2009-02-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

So my first assignment, due the first day of thesis prep, was to put forward my initial ideas. Three ideas, specifically. In one page, describe briefly 3 ideas for your thesis, and provide an illustration for each.

My submission is attached. Now, please don't judge me too harshly because I managed to leave mine until the last minute and was therefore writing this at 6:30 am in a flu-induced haze the day it was due. Mine is also not three seperate project ideas, but 3 issues I think will become relevant to my project. In this sense, they're more three components of one big idea.

Welcome!

2009-02-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Laura and I'm going to be sharing my thesis development through this blog. I'm currently in M.Arch thesis prep at MIT, which means I'll be completing preparations for my thesis this term (Spring 2009) and over the summer and doing a Thesis design project in the Spring. I'd love comments, questions, etc. as I post my ideas, thoughts, frustrations, and progress updates here over the next 10 months.

Thanks for reading!