Archive for September 13th, 2006
Applying Critiques & Responses to Published Completed Works As a Research Methodology
Traditional architecture criticism tends to draw connections to each individual building practice. In addition, each criticism will reflect on each individual’s practice and his or her investigation techniques. These criticisms will always invite either generic praise or even renewed attention towards their own practices. Each of this research will never fail to address social, political and cultural issues and responsibilities. Moreover, it is from all these investigation pronouncements would sum up its contents, accumulation of essays, manifestoes, diaries, fairy tales and travelogues[1].
These researches resulted in a significant impact in the local and global context: philosophy, sociology, economics, and literature aspect. From these aspects, we are able to analyse their mutual cohesion and their relation to social and economic developments. These days, as a practitioner in the building construction industry, it matters how much he or she position himself or herself, as it does what he makes. This is not because it is arduous to build or because architecture has failed to divert away from the clutches of fashion succession.
Many times, we ask ourselves how we understand the role of aesthetics in the works of the practitioners. For instance, in the work of Rem Koolhaas, majority of his works subscribes to the highly visual logic, where painterly writings are inserted within a seamless landscape of illustration ad manuscripts. Koolhaas is often painted as a contemporary “painter of modern life[2]”. His emphasis on visual could not be seen only as the strength but also expose his potential weakness in his methodology approaches.
His methodologies approaches may on one hand allow him to articulate on his graphic visual approach, which in terms clarify the complex structure of the social community. On the contrary, this slant traps him in exactitude within the dominion of visual styles and as a result, representation leads him to the charges of aestheticisation[1]. The outcomes from these research tactics are on the other hand seductive products with visual enhancements. However, in the contradictory, take for instance on Rem’s AMO’s consistent methodological approach on the Lagos. Lagos has been seemed as the “hell on earth[2]”. Lagos is a dysfunctional, chaotic city but once it is subjected the “penetrating” gaze of the AMO’s think tank. Their interception of understanding Lagos, hoping to transform it into a city with play. However, their approach fails, as Lagos still remained a troubled city.
The question here is not trying to squabble with AMO’s view point on Lagos, rather on whether there is something in the presentation that undermines the entire Lagos project. From the position of critics such as Jean Baudrillard, such studies amount to a form of aestheticisation. They turn the word into an escapist, rose-tinted version of itself[3]. And it is from here that we could see that Koolhaas is using the theme ‘camouflage’ in all his visual related works. And we could portray this as a retroactive proposal. Why retroactive proposal in this case? This discourse is discussed for the visual logic for Koolhaa’s use of visual sense which make public on his social viewpoint of his work and dissertation. Most of us would agree that Koolhaa’s elegance of his buildings makes a few references o aesthetic considerations. And it is despite the fact that ‘aesthetic’ has become a dirty word in the fashionable design ethnicity panorama.
Most of koolhaa’s broadcasted act is taken into account, has a relation with either AMO or the Graduate School of Design at Harvard. There is evidence to show that they make an attempt to understand the workings of fashionable design ethnicity[4].
These evidences are shown by using graphs, sketches, diagrams and other forms of statistical analysis. And from here, they often explore the issue that concentrate and inform on the social development that would affect the society culture[1]. It is from here that they emphasis on the concentration of understanding how social issues would affect architecture for instance.
However, these approaches are often presented in an elegantly method and carefully designed. Even though, the primary concern here is to appreciate the process which AMO and OMA had attempt to try to understand the unacknowledged discourse of representation that they had created. These are just not solely based on diagrams and graphs. They are exquisitely purpose diagrams and graphs. Koolhaa’s collaborations with designers such as Bruce Mau reveal that design is crucial concern for him[1].
To Rem, visual strategies have always existed in one form or another in human operations, but they have become authoritarian within our contemporary image based urbanity. These often amount to the overcoming influx of conditions in this post modernity epoch. This is for the reason that we human beings are to be distinguished here as malformed organisms, who are constantly evolving and forever devising new strategies for dealing with their ever-changing material conditions.
These new approaches come to embody a valuable reply to the current fashionable incident. On the other hand, we have to be responsive to our modern contemporaneous era we are in now. Raison d’être being with the purpose of that we are facing many annoyance from the monotonous bona fide commercial globe. It is imperative that we become conscious of the situation that we are in now. It is from here that the ocular sphere of influence has become so dominating that we have to aware of its reality. It is so demarcate that our perspective of contemporaneous scene has been a new distinctiveness temperament to the human tribe. This is the rationale why we have to constantly interrogate ourselves on why are we falling into the abyss of uncertainty of our illustration cognizant civilization, in which would lead us to no-where or even the worst.
To Rem, as human beings, we need to appreciate that we are no longer overwhelmed by the onslaught of images within a highly visible scene. And it is from these aspects that the theme ‘camouflage’, should be read from a dominion of non-negative tenure as a loss or to even conceal the fact of having the most innovative scheme. This is for the reason that ‘camouflage’ is a form of subterfuge, a mode of representation. Camouflage is been seen here by not inhibiting itself to what we entitle as ‘self-representation’. Self-representation of camouflage here means that it does not encompass itself however it correlate itself with the ever-changing milieu of ocular sophistication through the medium of illustration. And ‘self-representation’ has its connection with ‘aesthetic’ manifestations. Aesthetic manifestations here are represented by all kinds of forms ranging from high art, pop music, advertisements, and jewellery designs and to urban planning. It operates itself as a kind of mediation between the ‘self’ and the environment we are in now.
‘Camouflage’ is often also related or comprehends as a mechanism for inscribing an individual within our given culture setting. This doesn’t have to be understood as a factual condition of visual equivalence in our present society we are in now at the moment. And however, ‘camouflage’ again is not trying to restrict itself towards the lost of its own stand in the visual background as compare to other mediums. Nevertheless, camouflage does have it own usefulness as it emphasis itself on the domain of the visual and its strategic neighbouring nature of existence
Concealment again does not confine itself to its visual sphere of influence. It has its alliance with the 5 senses, especially towards smell and hearing. As we all know that women love having perfume on them. Perfume is precisely what we mention earlier on mode of ‘self-representation’ which skilfully defines camouflage. This applies to hearing; music helps to provide an ambience setting to tense and cold surroundings, in which it helps to mask the unpleasant atmosphere. This is at least evident to our realm of human. And comparison between human and animals, the latter has a much more superior capabilities towards the sense of hearing and smell, thus they are able to camouflage themselves, protecting themselves against all odds.
On the other hand, camouflage in AMO’s research, seems to be offering a mechanism of locating itself within the realm of visual contentment. This visual contentment hereby promotes a sense of attachment and connection to place. This thus provides us with a sense of belonging to the society. This application applies well to the architecture elements in which we are often been bonded with. For example: “As mentioned: by Rem Koolhaa that Singapore is an artificial city in which its people often bond themselves with iconic and visual representation of that particular era.”
And we should view it in a rather optimistic mode to self-express ourselves in a psychoanalytic situation. It is from these stages of understandings that should we then understand and recognised the significant responsibility of representation in the ever-changing Koolhaa’s constitution of individuality.
From these new visual paradigm found by Rem Koolhaa, we should start to expose these essential onslaughts of visual scene. It is maintained that our identity would be lost as everything will be mediated through images and commodities[1]. Cited by Baudrillard, as he maintained, that in reality by itself has been so obscured by the ‘ecstasy of communication’ of our culture of hyper-reality, that it has to be effectively been ‘stolen[2]’.
However from now on we need to understand and recognised the fact that we human beings are no longer overwhelmed by the onslaughts of the visual scene, as we should see images as a domain of self-empowerment. Nevertheless, we could still see the totalising treatment of images within much post-modern discourse is an impoverished one.
The theme ‘camouflage’ used by AMO begins to highlight the significance of design in this fashionable society. Design works should never be interpreted as an aesthetic publications used to paint the global architecture scene. Thus, we should or AMO should rather paint a picture of glossification rather than camouflage, as architects and designers should be able to represent them while operating in a scene of fashionable space of social, culture, media, technology, a space that is view as a highly visual panorama.
Koolhaa’s practice and his approach towards research methodology on his published works are just similar to what I’m doing at the moment. Koolhaa’s approach towards his published works is much done through visuals representations of graphical mapping towards a certain scheme. In which AMO tries to understand the culture, social, technology and media aspect of that particular topography. And it is through this graphical and visual approach, that colours are often been used to identify that precise camouflage line of reasoning that they sort after. Each piece of my creations or my firm’s creations is always facing ever-ending criticisms from the local architecture community or even from our own.
However, I find all these approach addressed to the issue of social, economic and culture especially when we are dealing in countries like Malaysia, China and even Uganda. Each of these states has a different approach towards their own culture and visual distinctiveness. For instance, while we embarked on a hospitality development in Uganda, we are constantly bombarded by the strong visual ‘camouflage’ there. We are constantly on the essential onslaughts of visual scene there. Yes it is their social culture and it has been with them for a long time since under colonial rule. And through these methods, it’s naturally a way that they can be identified from the different tribes or villages.
Understanding their culture and their beliefs are a form of research that could largely determine on the function and the practically of the design. Taking conditions of the local weather climate does matter here.
[1] Quoted from Guy Debord, La societe du spectacle, Paris (1971[1967]). Trans: The Society of the Spectacle, Detroit (1977), Trans by Donald Nicholson Smith, New York 1944.
[2] Jean Baudrillard, The Prefect Crime, Trans: Chris Turner, London 1996
[1] As Neil Leach observes ” Koolhaa’s collaborations with designers such as Bruce Mau reveal that design is crucial concern for him” Considering Rem Koolhaas and The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (2005 :92
[1] As Neil Leach observes “These studies therefore fit broadly within a methodological approach common in the fashionable prospect in architecture culture, which is inspired by the thinking of Gilles Deleuze, which strategically process is privileged over representations.” (2005 : 91)
[1] As Neil Leach observes “charges of aestheticisation” (Considering Rem Koolhaas and The Office for Metropolitan Architecture 2005 :89)
[2] As Neil Leach observes “hell on earth” (Considering Rem Koolhaas and The Office for Metropolitan Architecture 2005 :89)
[3] Quoted from Neil Leach, The Anesthetics of Architecture, Cambridge, Mass (1999, p.45.)
[4] Considering Rem Koolhaas and The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (2005 :91)
[1] Considering Rem Koolhaas and The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (2005) NAi Publishers, Rotterdam
[2] As Neil Leach observes “painter of modern life” (Considering Rem Koolhaas and The Office for Metropolitan Architecture 2005 :89)
801号房. . .内心深处的心声 