The critics who were on the review were interested in architecture primarily as an esoteric singularity rather than as a backdrop for human interaction, and I believe that because of this much of the criticism was focused not on what was presented, but on architectural issues which had not been conceived of or manifest physically at the time of the critique.
A common question received during the review was "so what is your project about?" The critics saw that there was a program and an idea, but wanted to know how this was to manifest itself architecturally. What makes this an architectural problem and not a social engineering problem?
The critics insisted that none of the six projects presented by myself or my peers were in line with what they expected to see as a thesis. They stated that the point of a thesis was to explore issues of architecture which will act a set-up for a methodology of how we are to approach problems in the future (our careers).
I admit that this line of criticism got to me and has wrecked havoc on my confidence in this project. I have a deep personal suspicion of any sort of attempt by architects to "socially engineer" space, to cause it to conform to any specific singular vision or dogma, and to impose onto the inhabitants of the space a rigid and fixed solution to a problem which is ever evolving.
I have been unable to answer why I believe that this is an important project for me personally, why I think it has meaning architecturally. I have been unable to devise a methodology of exploration which has any fruitful meaning or which provides any substantive understanding or process.
In short I'm stuck, and have very few options to go forward.
SO, with that in mind, what can I look at?
As an architectural issue, this project is very much about transience and impermanence: While the organization is fixed, the focus of the attention is ever changing as new waves of refugees from very different cultures successively build onto an area.
Architecturally it becomes an issue of "How do you create a space which is flexible, and adaptable, yet serves a range of needs, and societal views?
The first part of the project needs to take on a role of a center where
There is a need to provide at the same time some stability. The intent is permanent refugee resettlement to the united states, not transients. So architecturally it becomes about neighborhood creation, and establishing sub-cultural boundaries in a built environment. Part of the project should be neighborhood design.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Criticism recieved at intensive wrap up
At the intensive conclusion we presented our preliminary proposals for exploration both to Heinrich Hermann our instructor, as well as to three additional visiting critics:
As I sat down and listened to the three classmates of mine who preceded me, I started to think deeply about my project. Periods of reflection often follow periods of frantic production, and I find that some of the best idea development comes when you turn off your mind to conscious thought and realize your intent, even at the expense of the work already produced.
What I had thought was about an intertwining of shelter-engage-outreach going into the presentation quickly morphed into another set of ideas.
The critics were very interested in how the project was to manifest itself architecturally, and were less concerned with the stated objectives of how I wanted the building to interact as a piece of social space.
So I thought about the ideas and decided that my project, the center for refugee acculturation, was to act as a semipermeable membrane which would allow different compounds varying degrees of access across its varied barriers. This is a decent idea, but in no way had any bearing on what I was showing on the projection screen.
As a result the criticism was fairly harsh, and because my ideas were scattered, so was the criticism:
Below is a summary of the criticism: Much thanks to Tim Riffle for taking notes for me during the intensive:
Below is a printed transcript of the image above, not all the comments make sense now, just as they were occasionally non-sequitur during the review. Others astound me with their profound simplicity.
Preliminary Thesis:
As I sat down and listened to the three classmates of mine who preceded me, I started to think deeply about my project. Periods of reflection often follow periods of frantic production, and I find that some of the best idea development comes when you turn off your mind to conscious thought and realize your intent, even at the expense of the work already produced.
What I had thought was about an intertwining of shelter-engage-outreach going into the presentation quickly morphed into another set of ideas.
The critics were very interested in how the project was to manifest itself architecturally, and were less concerned with the stated objectives of how I wanted the building to interact as a piece of social space.
So I thought about the ideas and decided that my project, the center for refugee acculturation, was to act as a semipermeable membrane which would allow different compounds varying degrees of access across its varied barriers. This is a decent idea, but in no way had any bearing on what I was showing on the projection screen.
As a result the criticism was fairly harsh, and because my ideas were scattered, so was the criticism:
Below is a summary of the criticism: Much thanks to Tim Riffle for taking notes for me during the intensive:
Below is a printed transcript of the image above, not all the comments make sense now, just as they were occasionally non-sequitur during the review. Others astound me with their profound simplicity.
Preliminary Thesis:
- What is project about? Filtration of what?
- What is the architectural vehicle?
- Representation of where people come from -- how they filter in
- Means to study vehicle - translation to arch terms
- spacial gray scale
- Need to accommodate difference
- Find own place due to comfort and tradition
- Is filtration the right word?
- opposite of filtration?
- Not truly open system
- broken with patterns of past immigration issues
- creation of zone / buffer - has identity
- crossing the border is substitute for something else
- receiver
- Point where dissident Russians flow thru - something like your project
- Exposure to American life
- Mini melting pot
- learn from each other
- Place where American public can meet immigrants
- best architectural metaphor
- engagement of individual / community / systems
- vast program
- places of engagement
- Other immigration areas
- Public / Private
- Idea of Shared amenities
- Test in other ways to see if vehicle works
- Relationships to other communities
- Sociological / physiological levels
- perceiving space loss leading to uprooting
- adjustment of value system
- what is best site for building?
- Is city best spot?
- Develop understanding and implement
- Maybe dense urban isn't right
- concept of reciprocity - balance of needs
- what are necessity / needs
- (van likes work of Hirshburg)
Center for Refugee Aculturation and Outreach
Its a wordy title, I would love to work on that, but in the meantime, here is where I intend to go with this, please note this is an evolving post, and I intend to amend, append, and edit this as it becomes relevant in the course of the project:
Precedent Studies
01: North Market - Columbus, Ohio
02: Milwaukee Montessori School - Milwaukee, WI
03: Universidad Ténica Federico Santa Maria Architecture School
04: German Village - Columbus, Ohio
05: CRIS - Community Refugee and Immigration Services - Columbus, Ohio
Research Topics:
01: Legal status and definitions of Refugees
02: Refugee resettlement in the United States and Columbus, Ohio
03: Bazaars, Souks, Markets and Fairs - The commerce of daily life
04: New Urbanism - The projection of Cultural value in the built envirionment
05: Courtyard Housing
06: Subculture boundaries - Where does a neighborhood start and end?
Site Selection and Analysis:
01: Neighborhood selection - Evaluation of qualitative and quantitative aspects of desired site
01.1: Parsons Avenue Corridor
01.2: Old Town East
01.3: Downtown
01.4: Franklinton
02: Refinement of site selection: Franklinton
02.1: Zoning and land use study
02.2: Opportunities for growth
02.3: Analysis of isolation
02.4: Historic Context
Program Analysis and proposal:
01: Programatic Objectives
01.1: Immediate shelter
01.2: Engage Community
01.3: Provide for acculturation services
01.4: Provide Immediate economic opportunity for self sufficiency.
02: Programmatic Adjacencies
03: Program document
Building Organization and Design:
01: Proposed parti orginazation
02: Proposed massing, plan and section
02.1: refined massing plan and section
03: Architectural character
03.1: building massing
03.2: roof form
03.3: materials
03.4: fenestration strategies
03.5: Structural expression
03.6: tectonic development
Precedent Studies
01: North Market - Columbus, Ohio
02: Milwaukee Montessori School - Milwaukee, WI
03: Universidad Ténica Federico Santa Maria Architecture School
04: German Village - Columbus, Ohio
05: CRIS - Community Refugee and Immigration Services - Columbus, Ohio
Research Topics:
01: Legal status and definitions of Refugees
02: Refugee resettlement in the United States and Columbus, Ohio
03: Bazaars, Souks, Markets and Fairs - The commerce of daily life
04: New Urbanism - The projection of Cultural value in the built envirionment
05: Courtyard Housing
06: Subculture boundaries - Where does a neighborhood start and end?
Site Selection and Analysis:
01: Neighborhood selection - Evaluation of qualitative and quantitative aspects of desired site
01.1: Parsons Avenue Corridor
01.2: Old Town East
01.3: Downtown
01.4: Franklinton
02: Refinement of site selection: Franklinton
02.1: Zoning and land use study
02.2: Opportunities for growth
02.3: Analysis of isolation
02.4: Historic Context
Program Analysis and proposal:
01: Programatic Objectives
01.1: Immediate shelter
01.2: Engage Community
01.3: Provide for acculturation services
01.4: Provide Immediate economic opportunity for self sufficiency.
02: Programmatic Adjacencies
03: Program document
Building Organization and Design:
01: Proposed parti orginazation
02: Proposed massing, plan and section
02.1: refined massing plan and section
03: Architectural character
03.1: building massing
03.2: roof form
03.3: materials
03.4: fenestration strategies
03.5: Structural expression
03.6: tectonic development
Why this project matters & what it intends to be
So what possible interest can I have in the subject of refugees other than the purely esoteric? I have never been expelled from my homeland, never felt any systematic persecution for either my political or religious beliefs at the hands of a government, and as for my "homeland" it's Ann Arbor, Michigan and I can return whenever I want. As for ethnicity, I am the majority, I am white, male, christian, protestant and middle class.
But still, I feel a degree of kinship with these individuals, and I believe that many Americans of my age and background can relate to the notion of placelesness and impermanence which has become deeply embedded in our culture.
In the past decade I can claim to have lived in fourteen different addresses, in twelve different edifices, in six cities in three regions in two states:
01: 1912 Frieze, Ann Arbor Michigan 48104 [Childhood home]
02: 138 W. 11th, Room 309, Columbus OH 43210 [College]
03: 4224 Cherrywood Dr., Troy MI, 48098 [Parents moved]
04: 138 W 11th. Room 426, Columbus, OH 43210 [College]
05: 191 W. 12th, Columbus, OH 43201 [College]
06: 2188 North High Street, Apt 24, Columbus OH 43201 [College]
07: 50 W. Northwood Avenue, Apt B, Columbus OH 43201 [College]
08: 133 W. Oakland Ave, Apt C, Columbus, OH 43201 [Recent Graduate]
09: 1410 Haines Avenue, Grandview Heights, OH 43212 [Post Collegate]
10: 158 E. Third Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201 [temporary stay with friend between moves]
11: 4229 Village Ln, Toledo Ohio 43614 [move to get married]
12: 2553 Portsmouth Avenue - Upper, Toledo, OH 43613 [first married residence]
13: 7769 Stoneford Drive, Columbus, OH 43235 [Wife's new job]
14: 181 N. Vine Street, Westerville, OH 43081 [bought a home]
I spent the past decade trying to keep from developing any real ties to place, keeping mobile, refusing to plant anything but potted plants which I could move with me, trying hard to not gain possessions which were not easily moved in an afternoon. I also never bothered to join any civic organizations or do any sort of organizational work in my community, because "why bother?" after all I know that I am just going to move in a year or so.
This semi-nomadic life is remarkably common amongst my peers, and in part we as Americans have made this lifestyle not just an easy one, but a lifestyle which is a tool that copes with the necessities of the contemporary American built environment.
Fast food, off ramps, strip malls, "lifestyle communities" commuter suburbs, McMansions, corporate office parks. All these are built expressions of this "semi-nomadic" lifestyle. None of these environments challenge individuals intellectually, culturally, or in any way fosters the notion of community or place.
For me, the case for refugee resettlement is a personal catharsis, a cultural lens by which I see my own lifestyle reflected.
While I have a rather dim view of the present state of the contemporary suburban-city, I do believe in the promise of the United States as a land of opportunity. I believe in the United States as a society which allows multiculturalism to flourish. Much like the language of English, America borrows from other cultures, and brings the best traditions from the world together in one place. Our flaw is that we rarely ask each other to meet (culturally speaking) in a meaningful dialogue.
I believe that some of the most memorable places in our built environment are products of our diverse ethnic and cultural past, and reflect the spirit of the American promise.
In this project I plan to examine these areas, the notion of placemaking, and offer this as a contrast to the uniformity of the sprawlscape whcih comprises the contemporary city.
The program will be for a "Center for refugee acculturation and Outreach" which will seek to provide assistance for a small and ever-fluctuating population of refugees, providing them with immediate shelter, acculturation services (translation services, legal counseling, resettlement coordination) as well as economic opportunity. Additionally the center shall act as an "embassy" which provides cross cultural exchange and engages the newly arrived refugees with the larger community within the city. Finally the project is to provide an infusion of people, diversity, and vibrancy into a built environment which is without human scale, without individual spirit and in need of repair to the community.
By introducing a framework for development using the "C.F.R.A.O." as a catalyst, the goal is to create a new and exciting development plan for an aging neighborhood in the contemporary American city.
But still, I feel a degree of kinship with these individuals, and I believe that many Americans of my age and background can relate to the notion of placelesness and impermanence which has become deeply embedded in our culture.
In the past decade I can claim to have lived in fourteen different addresses, in twelve different edifices, in six cities in three regions in two states:
01: 1912 Frieze, Ann Arbor Michigan 48104 [Childhood home]
02: 138 W. 11th, Room 309, Columbus OH 43210 [College]
03: 4224 Cherrywood Dr., Troy MI, 48098 [Parents moved]
04: 138 W 11th. Room 426, Columbus, OH 43210 [College]
05: 191 W. 12th, Columbus, OH 43201 [College]
06: 2188 North High Street, Apt 24, Columbus OH 43201 [College]
07: 50 W. Northwood Avenue, Apt B, Columbus OH 43201 [College]
08: 133 W. Oakland Ave, Apt C, Columbus, OH 43201 [Recent Graduate]
09: 1410 Haines Avenue, Grandview Heights, OH 43212 [Post Collegate]
10: 158 E. Third Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201 [temporary stay with friend between moves]
11: 4229 Village Ln, Toledo Ohio 43614 [move to get married]
12: 2553 Portsmouth Avenue - Upper, Toledo, OH 43613 [first married residence]
13: 7769 Stoneford Drive, Columbus, OH 43235 [Wife's new job]
14: 181 N. Vine Street, Westerville, OH 43081 [bought a home]
I spent the past decade trying to keep from developing any real ties to place, keeping mobile, refusing to plant anything but potted plants which I could move with me, trying hard to not gain possessions which were not easily moved in an afternoon. I also never bothered to join any civic organizations or do any sort of organizational work in my community, because "why bother?" after all I know that I am just going to move in a year or so.
This semi-nomadic life is remarkably common amongst my peers, and in part we as Americans have made this lifestyle not just an easy one, but a lifestyle which is a tool that copes with the necessities of the contemporary American built environment.
Fast food, off ramps, strip malls, "lifestyle communities" commuter suburbs, McMansions, corporate office parks. All these are built expressions of this "semi-nomadic" lifestyle. None of these environments challenge individuals intellectually, culturally, or in any way fosters the notion of community or place.
For me, the case for refugee resettlement is a personal catharsis, a cultural lens by which I see my own lifestyle reflected.
While I have a rather dim view of the present state of the contemporary suburban-city, I do believe in the promise of the United States as a land of opportunity. I believe in the United States as a society which allows multiculturalism to flourish. Much like the language of English, America borrows from other cultures, and brings the best traditions from the world together in one place. Our flaw is that we rarely ask each other to meet (culturally speaking) in a meaningful dialogue.
I believe that some of the most memorable places in our built environment are products of our diverse ethnic and cultural past, and reflect the spirit of the American promise.
In this project I plan to examine these areas, the notion of placemaking, and offer this as a contrast to the uniformity of the sprawlscape whcih comprises the contemporary city.
The program will be for a "Center for refugee acculturation and Outreach" which will seek to provide assistance for a small and ever-fluctuating population of refugees, providing them with immediate shelter, acculturation services (translation services, legal counseling, resettlement coordination) as well as economic opportunity. Additionally the center shall act as an "embassy" which provides cross cultural exchange and engages the newly arrived refugees with the larger community within the city. Finally the project is to provide an infusion of people, diversity, and vibrancy into a built environment which is without human scale, without individual spirit and in need of repair to the community.
By introducing a framework for development using the "C.F.R.A.O." as a catalyst, the goal is to create a new and exciting development plan for an aging neighborhood in the contemporary American city.
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