Prosthetic Architecture

Week 1

Thesis Precedents

Jenette Danes

Reconnection of Memory

Fanzheng Dong

UC Berkeley 2014

Fanzheng Dong asks the questions, “Where is the memory about traditional daily life in modern cities?” and “How can we use architectural ways to reconnect the memory between now and the past?” His thesis is based on the study of how the strategies used in Chinese landscape painting evokes atmosphere and memories of traditional Chinese daily life and then use those strategies to develop a methodology which can be applied to contemporary Chinese cities. The rapid urbanization occurring in China has required the construction of modern residences, replacing traditional ones, to satisfy people’s functional needs but do not provide the traditional experiences and atmosphere needed to evoke memory.

“Four basic elements, building, mountain, water, and tree, express a state where people can not only live, but also wander in the nature, It is also people’s wish of peaceful life. “ Fanzheng deconstructed a traditional Chinese landscape painting to discover the perspective methods (vertical space in the canvas), the placement and density of elements, and the combination of voids and solids used to create the story setting in a peaceful atmosphere. The use of vertical space and changing perspective points creates movement, leading one to wander through and ‘experience’ a series of views/activities (density), and at different speeds – ‘slow’, ‘fast’, ‘stop’ and ‘pass’. Traditional Chinese gardens and houses were also high density settings where courtyards, corridors, and other elements were used to create a series of views and experiences. Each experience forms a scene, or story of the space, in people’s memory of life. Creating a series of experiences – spatial movement – is the key to creating memory.

High density and vertical space are the similar characteristics between contemporary cities and landscape paintings. But there is conflict between the traditional and the contemporary architecture. For example, the new high rise residence compounds have no relationship with traditional culture and there is no place for ‘wandering in nature’. Fanzheng Dong’s design strategy was to develop a new architectural language to define a new way of experiencing the traditional forms and peaceful living through spatial movement adapted to the verticality of modern city development. He created a vertical version of traditional houses by replacing the repetition of spaces with a variety of space sequences on the floor plates between parallel walls and between floor plates. Living space can be a combination of indoor and outdoor space, each residence can have different space, and the density between walls can be low or high. Stairs replace the form of the traditional house pitched roofs and can be space for outdoor activities, as can small courtyards and large public spaces. The movement and variation in spaces between neighbors can be ‘slow’, ‘fast’, ‘stop’, and ‘pass’ and provide the opportunity for ‘wandering’ and finding traditional, memory evoking scenes and experiences.

Between two uncertain lines

Ellie Ratcliff

UC Berkeley 2014

People collect and produce objects – mementos – as a record of the past to trigger the memory of events and places no longer available to us and attempt to gain some control over the uncontrollable passage of time. Ellie Ratcliff compares this desire to collect and produce physical memories to the drive behind the act of architecture to create a form of permanence, to leave something behind. She states, “…the practice of architecture is ultimately about reaffirming our existence by shaping the environment around us and occupying these spaces.” These concepts are explored in Ellie’s thesis by looking at the relationship of time and impermanence to landscape and travel.

Landscape and landform are constantly changing, being subject to natural forces and human activity. California Highway 1 is a human infrastructure at landform scale. It passes through constantly changing scenery, hundreds of people travel along its route pausing at various places to rest and view the scenery, and is constantly being reworked and rerouted. The coastline is jagged and, being subject to erosion, is constantly changing/retreating. Both lines, the highway and the edge of the land, are in a state of impermanence – uncertain. Between these lines is an area of unclear boundaries, a grayscape, the threshold between land and water, instable and impermanent. Ratcliff proposes to build in this grayscape, using architecture as a “trace”, or memento, and a “barometer of change” to measure the boundaries of this zone. She asks the questions, “How can architecture engage with forces of erosion and find opportunity within the resulting voids? How can architecture register change without necessarily seeking to prevent it? How can architecture make visible the process of transformation?”

Various earth-based artworks were studied as precedents and influenced the design method of the project. Richard Long’s A Line Made By Walking is a temporary trace that will be erased over time. Christo and Jeanne Claude’s Running Fence changes the way we view the land. These two works emphasize the experience over the object. Two other works, Michael Heizer’s Double Negative and Rachel Whiteread’s Untitled (House), are also experiential but question our understanding of what is missing. Also studied were two experiential architectural installations, the Jantar Mantar (an astronomical observatory) and the Skydeck of the Willis Tower, and how they affect the human relationship to the surrounding context.

Three separate and geologically diverse locations were chosen, each experiencing rapid rates of instability and change, to design rest stop structures to act as a path of observation and experience. The design proposal intentions are to make the processes of change visible and to engage the visitor with the natural force at work at the location. The architectural strategy for each structure is driven by the interaction of these forces in the landscape and how they can be experienced by visitors.