Homeless Shelter Exemplar // Michael Rakowitz paraSITE

I found this mobile example of parasitic architecture to be an interesting response to the increasing need to provide shelter for the homeless in urban environments. The pneumatic double membrane structure, which is completely portable, is attached to the external HVAC vents of a building, and is then inflated and heated by the warm air leaving the building. The collapsable structure can then be packed up during the day.

I like the parasitic relationship that this example has with it's surrounding urban fabric, exploiting and feeding off something such as a building's "waste" in order to benefit the underprivileged groups of society.

Emergency Housing Exemplar // Shigeru Ban Paper Tube Houses

This example of mobile emergency housing by Shigeru Ban uses readily available materials including paper tubes for walls, tent material for the roof, and sand filled beer cases for its foundation. All of these materials would allow for easily assembly, disassembly and transportation, but to me it seems more appropriate for use in rural situations, as it appears to be more "permanent" than other examples that can be packed away on a daily basis, which might be more suited to urban environments where available space is more scarce.

Week 5 Studio //

Quotation // Ignasi de Solà Morales

terrain vague [quotation]

Empty, abandoned space in which a series of occurrences have taken place seems to subjugate the eye of the urban photographer. Such urban space, which I will denote by the French expression terrain vague, assumes the status of fascination, the most solvent sign with which to indicate what cities are and what our experience of them is. As does any other aesthetic product, photography communicates not only the perceptions that we may accumulate of these kinds of spaces but also the affects, experiences that pass from the physical to the psychic, converting the vehicle of the photographic image into the medium through which we form value judgments about these seen or imagined places. It is impossible to capture in a single English word or phrase the meaning of terrain vague. The French term terrain connotes a more urban quality than the English land; thus terrain is an extension of the precisely limited ground fit for construction, for the city. In English the word terrain has acquired more agricultural or geological meanings. The French word also refers to greater and perhaps less precisely defined territories, connected with the physical idea of a portion of land in its potentially exploitable state but already possessing some definition to which we are external. The French vague has Latin and Germanic origins. The German Woge refers to a sea swell, significantly alluding to movement, oscillation, instability, and fluctuation. Two Latin roots come together in the French vague. Vague descends from vacuus, giving us 'vacant' and'vacuum' in English, which is to say The relationship between the absence of use, of activity, and the sense of freedom, of expectancy, is fundamental to understanding the evocative potential of the city's terrains vagues. 'empty, unoccupied', yet also 'free, available, unengaged'. The relationship between the absence of use, of activity, and the sense of freedom, of expectancy, is fundamental to understanding the evocative potential of the city's terrains vagues. Void, absence, yet also promise, the space of the possible, of expectation.A second meaning superimposed on the French vague derives from the Latin vagus, giving 'vague' in English, too, in the sense of 'indeterminate, imprecise, blurred, uncertain'. Once again the paradox of the message we receive from these indefinite and uncertain spaces is not purely negative. While the analogous terms that we have noted are generally preceded by negative particles (in-determinate, im-precise, un-certain), this absence of limit precisely contains the expectations of mobility, vagrant roving, free time, liberty. The triple signification of the French vague as 'wave' , 'vacant' , and 'vague' appears in a multitude of photographic images.

_Ignasi de Solà Morales

http://parole.aporee.org/work/hier.php3?spec_id=5337&words_id=405

Reading // The Right to Terroir_

Place and Identity in Times of Immigration and Globalisation

In his article, philosopher Marc Schuilenburg discusses the relationship between place and identity within the context of migration and globalisation. The mobilisation of the world has caused a tension between the global and the local. He poses the question: "how can the urge for community be actualised without world citizenship on the one hand and a conservative debate about national values and norms on the other?"

He introduces and compares two contemporary examples of this struggle for place and identity: the "gated community", and its counterpart, in which I was particularly interested: the "terrain vague". The french term, coined by Spanish architect Ignasi de Solà-Morales, refers to a zone with no fixed identity, the semi-abandoned interstitial or "in-between" spaces that exist in the urban realm.

The notion of indeterminacy and temporary openness evident in these fallow spaces promotes the possibility for their unrestricted and informal use. The lack of a permanent prescribed function allows temporary spontaneity and freedom of use, making them the ideal place for potential alternative or experimental ways of experiencing the city. In fact, these zones are commonly exploited as an opportunity to provide space for shelter and collective activities for the marginal groups of society (examples include Christiania in Copenhagen, Denmark, and parts of East Berlin).

I feel that the notion of terrain vague could be very interesting to research further as a possibility for the application of a mobile scenario such as our project. For example a mobile structure to house refugees (housing or community structure) could occupy such a space for a given time, and move onto the next fallow site when the land becomes inhabited once again.

Border Security: Virtual Fence

Regenerative and Responsive Architecture//

Regenerative and Responsive Architecture

Link to a video on Hylozoic Ground Project by Philip Beesley, an interactive, responsive landscape composed of tens of thousands of components fitted with microprocessors and sensors that react to human presence. The responsive technologies used in the experimental project are being translated into actual building envelopes that include manufactured shading systems.

Week 4 Studio // Mobile_Responsive_Politics_

Mobile Architecture

Mobile // nomadic // portable // flexible // alternatives to traditional static architecture.

What is mobility? Freedom of movement. Fluidity. Travel. Physical relocation from A to B. Impermanence. Temporality. Responsiveness. Transformation. Ability to change form/function/location/meaning.

OPPORTUNITIES

_accessibility_global // local // remote

_sense of connectedness_people feel more included

_more public input_better decisions being made

_sustainability_ie Canberra @ moment unsustainable - politicians flying in from different cities

_distribution_immigrants/asylum seekers

_underground networks_magnetic fields

_option for mobility_selective flexibility

CHALLENGES

_mobility an 'add on' feature/gimmick

_energy efficiency_unnecessarily mobile?

_case of system failure_must have mechanical 'backup'/alternative fuels

_presence in landscape when no fixed site

Responsive Architecture

Political Issues

After considering Australia's identity as a multicultural society, and keeping in mind our brief to create a mobile solution to a political issue, we came to the conclusion that something relating to Immigration would be a relevant issue to further explore. The issue of immigration relates both to the mobility of modern society in general, and particularly to Australia, whose population consists of many people of different origins (about 50% of population being born overseas or having parent born overseas). We further investigated the issue of asylum seekers, which we considered to be a pertinent topic with quite a bit of news coverage at the moment.

Kengo Kuma // CCC Wall

Week 3 Studio //

Australian national identity?

When reflecting on our national identity, I found it hard to define exactly what it is to be Australian. I feel that "nationalistic pride" is largely non-existent in Australia, compared to a lot of other countries. Most of the stereotypical descriptions of Australian values, including mateship, giving someone a "fair go", laid-back attitudes, a love of the outdoors, sports and beach culture are true to some extent (but not in all cases), but I believe that the fact is, Australia is a multi-cultural society, and therefore our "national identity" is probably more of a collection of different cultures and identities.

Perhaps our insecure national identity is also due to the fact that Australia is such a young nation, that has never really had a "collective struggle" or had to fight for anything, and therefore its people have never had to prove something to anyone. This is also evidenced by the general public's apparent disinterest in becoming a republic, as if the majority of Australians don't really feel the need to separate themselves from their colonial roots.

Another issue that may have problematised or weakened the Australian national identity is globalisation. Characterised by a high degree of mobility of people and capital, globalisation is perceived by some as a fragmenting of national culture and society. National boundaries are becoming less and less important, in some cases more and more ambiguous, and often, more easily crossed.

Week 2 Studio // Flexible_Mobile_Distributed_Virtual_

Flexible

Mobile

Distributed

Virtual

Video // 3D Mapping Projection