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The Life and Creativity of A Great Bethesda Artist

This article has been copied to this blog for backup purpose.

Date of Access: 04-May-2019

Author: Jonah Lobe

Orijinal Link: https://kotaku.com/the-life-and-creativity-of-a-great-bethesda-artist-1740993491

I couldn’t stop smiling one day in late 2005 as I was led through the darkened basement of Bethesda Softworks toward the little corner unit that was to be my cube. My geek barometer was pinging off the charts. I could scarcely believe that I was there.

The place looked like a laser-tag facility; the ceilings were high and black, the walls gray with accents of Zenimax Red. We strode past the programmers, the fishbowl meeting rooms, the designers and world artists, until we reached the final row: Character Art. There, in the far reaches of the office, was a cubicle bearing the name “Jonah Lobe.” I sat down, giddy and a bit stunned, and began day one of what would become a seven-year career at Bethesda.

But this story isn’t about that career. It’s about the man in the cube behind me, a man named Adam Adamowicz.

Although he worked in the farthest, darkest corner of Bethesda Softworks, Adam’s influence stretched across the length and breadth of the studio. What Adam taught me and so many others at Bethesda - about creativity and work ethic - has stayed with us ever since.

I’ve wanted to share my memories of Adam with you, the developers and players in the gaming world alike, for many years. With Fallout 4 around the corner, I think now is the time.

Adam Adamowicz was a concept artist. When I first started, he was the only concept artist at Bethesda, a company that builds landscapes and nations alike. His cube was small, and it felt even smaller because of the relatively large man who worked within it. The walls were tacked with ever-growing layers of sketches and illustrations.

In this temple to computer art, I couldn’t believe that Adam worked in traditional media. He used pencils, pens, markers, colored pencils and paint. What impressed me more than anything was the abundance of creativity on those walls.

Adam’s ideas, wrought fast and bold, practically burst off the paper. He was a living treasure trove of inspiration. He conjured people, beasts, landscapes, outfits and weapons. His creations were often complemented by fascinating and funny margin notes, like “apocalypse sandals,” or “vomits entrails for external digestion” or “’It’s just a space helmet, Jimmy!’”

Adam Adamowicz was a strange and colorful man. Physically, he was unexceptional—tall and strong-looking, handsome, with broad shoulders, pale blue eyes and a receding blond hairline. He stuck to faded T-shirts and jeans, eschewing branding or fashion statements of any kind. And yet, despite this mild appearance, he was crazy. Not really crazy, of course, but his eyes sparkled with demented humor, and the things that came out of his mouth were an unpredictable, mad-lib mix-up of the colorful and morbid. “That Mole-Rat wants to hollow out your body and use it for a toboggan,” he’d say, or “He’s like a voodoo mix of Boris Karloff and disco crabmonculus.” How do you respond to that?

In 2006, while the rest of us were finishing up with the 2007 Oblivion expansion Shivering Isles, Adam began work on Fallout 3, and what followed was one of the most expansive and incredible brain-dumps of concept art I’ve ever seen. I was a character artist. My job was to extrapolate 2D drawings into 3D video game characters. I specialized in monsters. For any given monster, Adam supplied me with between three and 30 drawings, ranging from gestural pen work to detailed, full-color illustrations. From this wealth of material, I created monsters like the Deathclaws, Feral Ghouls, Radscorpions, and Mirelurks that were more novel and inspired than I could have possibly conceived on my own.

As I worked to translate Adam’s concepts into three-dimensional models, I showed him my works-in-progress. I wanted his artistic feedback, of course, but mostly, I wanted his approval. His responses surprised me. He was always positive and brimming with nice things to say, and yet I wasn’t always certain he loved what I had done. That bothered me at first, but as the years went by, I came to understand that it was not so much the faithful reproduction of his work that moved Adam, but my riffing on his idea. If he could see that his work inspired me, Adam was happy.

To Adam, concept art was not so much about aesthetics, but ideas. He treated his art like a series of drills. He put as much source material into his brain as he could, and then output as many concepts as possible. His goal was never to create a body of polished art. His products were always rough-hewn and raw. He mixed-and-matched ideas at an astonishing rate and never concerned himself with what might be considered acceptable. Who else would think to strap a model Enola Gay airplane to the top of a mini-nuke, or slap a cheese-grater to a Supermutant’s helmet? Adam didn’t care. Adam was fearless. Over the years, he created 10 times the number of concepts that we could ever use. He worked and he worked and he worked. And for what?

Oh, nothing much. Just that little thing called Fallout 3.

And then, a few years later, Skyrim.

Because my job at Bethesda was my first in the industry, it took me a while to understand that Adam was one of the best. His work provided us with the visual backbone for these unstoppable blockbusters. But if their critical and commercial success affected him at all, he never let it show. Adam was grateful for his job at the “monster factory.” He doodled through team meetings and yelled out “beer tickets!” on paycheck days. He was humble and he was gracious. He never complained, he never acted entitled, and he never took rejection personally.

And the most important lesson? Adam considered himself a student, through and through; always learning, always improving. His cube was filled with books: huge tomes of anatomy, ‘50s technology, architecture, and style. His appetite was voracious. He absorbed everything, and what he absorbed filtered through the quirky labyrinth of his mind to spill out—garbled and rearranged—onto the page.

How did he do it?

I asked Adam once about his routine, and he described to me a surprisingly regular and disciplined way of life. In the mornings, on the bus to work, he sketched his fellow passengers, sights he passed, and any number of crazy ideas that came into his head. Once at work, he’d refill his coffee mug (his relationship to coffee bordered on religious), sit at his desk and get straight into it. Despite being one of the most popular guys at Bethesda, he ate lunch at his desk on most days, eager to get back to work. He worked all day, powered by banter and coffee, and then, on the bus ride home, he’d draw some more. Afterwards, he’d visit the gym (exercise was important to him), make himself dinner, pop open a bottle of wine and absorb himself in more personal art projects, painting and sculpting.

“Have no fear of perfection,” said Dali, “You’ll never reach it.” Adam took that lesson to heart. He had no fear of the blank page; he did not fear failure. He wanted to learn. He wanted to grow. Unbelievably, over the course of his time at Bethesda, he got better and better.

And then, one day in the fall of 2011, a few years after the development team had moved up to the sun-drenched upper levels of the building, I passed Adam in the hall outside of the art pit. We stopped to chat, as we often did, and when I asked how things were going, he complained that his shoulder hurt. Negativity was unusual for him, but as I watched him grimace and rotate his arm, it never occurred to me that I should be worried. Adam was a big guy, after all, forty-three years old and active. What was a sore shoulder to a guy like that?

A few weeks later, however, Adam left work for health reasons. Weeks went by, then months. I kept popping in to the art pit, anxious to see him again, to welcome him back. But the lights around his desk stayed off, his chair remained empty, and the little rubber-toy nun on his wall—”Squeeze nun for service”—stared back at me, silent and unsqueezed. The word I kept hearing around the office was “cancer.”

A few months later, he was dead.

We didn’t touch his desk. I’m not sure if there was even a discussion about it (though I suspect our head of game development, Todd Howard, had something to do with it). We just left it alone, like a holy place, somewhere to worship at the feet of creativity.

Time stretched by, and his room remained wallpapered with his art; incredible as always, bursting with color and inspiration—except now, nothing was changed or added. The lights stayed off. The only difference was that his fish tank of plant-growth had become a choked mess, one which no one bothered to clean up, since it was agreed that this was probably what he would have wanted anyway.

I left Bethesda in the fall of 2012

By then, Skyrim had shot to the top of the charts, and Fallout 4 was on its way. Professionally, I felt like the boy at the fair who’d just won the giant stuffed panda, and I wanted to leave on a high note. My soon-to-be-wife was in her third year of law school in New York City. I wanted to be with her, and I had dreams of becoming an author. I wanted to grow in ways I’d never known before, to immerse myself in the act of creation, and to build a world, by myself, from scratch.

So what does that mean, exactly, to be creative?

It’s been three years now since I left Bethesda, and I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on that question. Creativity is such an elusive trait, one difficult to foster. How does one reach into one’s mind – limited, as it is, by finite experience and memory—and bring forth anything original? Adam did that all the time. What was it that made him different?

Steve Jobs once said that “Creativity is just connecting things.” While I doubt Adam was a fan of Apple—I’m not even certain he owned a cell-phone— I can’t help but think that this is an apt description of what Adam did. Flipping through his work, I was always struck by the bubbling confluence of subjects, a fearless fusion of influences. He developed his artwork using a range of tools: pens, markers, colored pastels. His creations were a collection of distinct and disparate ideas. When designing an original gun, for instance, Adam didn’t focus his research on the study of other guns, but on tesla coils, industrial power tools, or lab equipment. When designing outfits, Adam employed chew toys and oven mitts, radios and asbestos padding. The results were messy, ridiculous, and utterly original.

Adam’s creative process went beyond mere design. It was Adam who taught me that characters were more affecting with unexpected nuance: the horrifying is more horrible when infused with comedy; the disgusting all the more stomach-churning when mixed with beauty. The Draugr were not simple mummies, but noble warriors rendered in beef jerky. The feral ghouls were both repellant and pitiful. The Deathclaws were cheetahs, long and lean and starving. And Fallout 4’s Supermutants are not lantern-jawed hulks, but long-bodied infant-men with muscles that sag like taffy. Understanding this confluence of appearance and emotion helped me realize designs more original than anything I could have otherwise produced on my own. I have learned that it’s because of these unexpected details that we remember these creatures.

Fallout 4 is around the corner.

The last Bethesda game I played on which I hadn’t already worked long months was Morrowind. I’ve got monsters in this game—the Supermutants, for instance, and, of course, the Deathclaw—but the product will in every other way be new to me. My former teammates who have been working themselves to the bone for years on this game are very, very excited. Fallout 4 is a labor of love. And even after death, Adam’s fingerprints are all over it. He authored hundreds of original concepts for this newest game. He labored, as relentlessly as ever—for the game, for the team, and for you. He worked on it from his hospital bed. He worked until the end.

I have a painting of Adam’s in my office, one his mother sent me after he passed. A woman’s face; her skin like ivory, her hair raven-black. She carries a staff of gold, one that bears an eerie resemblance to the Dragon Priest staffs, and she is draped in a cloak of crimson flowers. Adam painted her on a sheet of cardboard, which a friend and I transported to the loading dock and sprayed with so much sealant that it’s become some sort of toxic polymer alloy. I look at it often.

When someone dies, they leave pieces of themselves behind. What we choose to do with those pieces becomes, in part, their legacy. I intend to honor Adam’s legacy.

So I exercise. I write for four hours every day. Afterwards, I draw, or paint, or model, or maybe I write some more. We eat dinner late in our house. I sleep, and tomorrow, I’ll do it again. I try not to fear the blank page. I try to endure the failures. I will learn, and I will grow, because I am a student, and I will always be a student.

My book is almost done. I’ll be searching for publishers soon, and I’m steeling myself for the inevitable rejections. It’s a grind, by turns demoralizing and exhilarating. When I’m tired, I take a break. I stand, and I stretch, and I stare at the painting of the ivory-faced woman. Her hair hangs in loose black tendrils, and her pale blue eyes are focused just above me and to the right, at some point I cannot see. If I turn and follow her gaze, I would see a digital print of my own work tacked to the wall just behind. I look for a moment, then scan the others beside it. They look drab. And yet, I can see that they’re better than I could have done a few years ago.

So I eat lunch at my desk, and then I get back to work.

Jonah Lobe is a writer and illustrator living in Brooklyn, NY. You can find him on Twitter at@jonahlobe, or down at your local coffee shop, furiously editing his novel, or on TwitchTV, where he hosts an illustration/gamedev stream weekdays at 4PM EST.

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cloudscope · 6 years ago

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The Void of Fictionalized Perception: Affections of Media and Cinema with regard to Delusional Demand on the Formation of Built Environment in Turkey

Abstract

The scope of this article is to reveal unobtrusive negative affections of media and film industry on the formation of non-functioning built environment, especially if those used as tools of propaganda. Additionally, to point out deliberate abuse of given behavioral statement called fictionalized perception by the advertising sector in contemporary social contexts. Ultimately, to articulate what could be done in order to ease or even reverse stated affections to be able to provide a healthy built environment.

Keywords

altermodernity, architecture, and politics, cinematic affection, educational discourse, social context

INTRODUCTION

The built environment is not merely the creation of architects, city planners, and urban designers but a product of social context (Harvey, 1997). Therefore, it is vital to point out there are many parameters included in shaping the built environment. Arguably the cinema and media could be given as relatively interesting variables in stated formation with regard to their capability of creating a demand for the notion of place. The affection of cinema and media resulting in the phenomena which described as fictionalized perception or statement which could be considered as the human behavioral condition. This article argues articulated condition deliberately used and abused by advertisement sector and art of cinema itself shifting as a tool for social engineering which serving the economy lead by the capital authority. As a result, a culture based on consumerism seeds delusive societies which demanding built environment that fits in illusional dimension; but applied fictional built environment turns out as non-functioning spaces in the reality.

The article is structured respectively, to articulate the potency of cinema as total work of art from the framework of Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk notion, followed by within the perspective of cause-effect relationship; describe the notion of fictionalized perception, how media misused as a tool for social engineering by given examples from the world and how does it affect the formation of built environment by the specific examples from Turkey. Lastly, by denoting the educational discourse and discussions about how the society could cope with the ill-defined situation in order to be able to create both healthy built environment and develop an advanced civilization.

THE CINEMA AS GESAMTKUNSTWERK

According to David Bordwell, Italian film theoretician Ricciotto Canudo considers cinema should be defined as the seventh art (Canudo, 1923) in which combinatory art; with the ease of technology, it unites all arts in the singularity. Another consideration is articulated by Yrjö Sepänmaa as he stated about the work of Wagner:

By the time he finished Parsifal, his final opera, Wagner no longer considered his work to be opera. He did not want it called opera or music or theater or even “art,” and certainly not entertainment. By the time he finished his last work, Wagner realized he was trying to create another reality, one that would, in turn, transform ordinary reality. The term he came to use was “a total work of art,” by which he meant a seamless union of vision, sound, movement, and drama that would sweep the viewer to another world, not to escape but to be changed building in Bayreuth, Germany, well off the beaten track, where the audience would have to assemble after a long journey because he forbade the performance of Parsifal in any other building. The mythmaker would create a counter reality, one reminiscent of the solemn mass of the Catholic church, which appeals to all the senses with its sights, sounds, touch, drama, even appealing to smell with incense and candles. The audiences at Bayreuth were to become pilgrims on a quest, immersed in an artificial reality. (Sepänmaa, 2006)

The coined term Gesamtkunstwerk or total work of art could be explained by Wagner’s remarkably successful work which is capable to create artificial reality or by other words shifting the audience to another dimension besides of being evidence on how the artist could progress the society. On the other hand, in my opinion, it would not be wrong to say that, the cinema is also making us able to have a multi-sensory experience of artificial dimension. Therefore, the cinema also could be considered in the context of Gesamtkunstwerk.

It is not rare incident to see someone crying in front of the movie screen, which could be evidence of that the cinema as a total work of art could communicate with its audience not only by physical senses but intrinsic level. In movie screen, even in the most pessimistic atmospheres, every frame consists the composition of artists(e.g. storyboard artists, colorists, directors, directors of photography, costume designers); as a result, even the most chaotic frames (e.g. compositions of dystopia) provides a value of aesthetics.

An extreme example could be Stanley Kubrick’s Shining, as a perfectionist, he filmed the single strip 127 times just to be able to shot how exactly he wants to make it (“Lets try that again”, 2017). In fact, it is even capable of to stimuli unfamiliar sensations for the one who never perceived before. If the one perceives intangible value or intrinsic aesthetic first time from the designed composition of a total work of art, as if seeing a new color; the one will feel the lackness of the value in his or her life in the form of a cruel void. As a result, people will interrogate and analyze the reasons behind it. However due to the complexity of social context; most of the time, it is not easy to decipher the reasons or change the conditions. Thus, as a naive reaction, sometimes unconsciously, people tend seek those values by adapting their lives to movie screen and simulate a role within reality as similar to Ali Madanipour’s mask analogy as he states:

The masks we wear to face others are usually made of normal routines. When moving from the private sphere to the public space, these routines change, from changing clothes to shaving or putting make up, to changing the vocabulary, accent and forms of expression, and adopting a more polite, careful manner. The change of mask is done with care and often with the assistance of the mirror, so as to see with the eyes of the others how we might appear to them. This is not preparation for a special occasion. It is just a routine social habit of human beings in their daily social life.

(Madanipour, 2003)

Due to its behavioral condition, in this article, the articulated situation is called as fictionalized perception. For instance, when a person desire to live in a high-rise building probably he or she fictionize the elegant atmosphere of a familiar scene from a movie which actually the part of an aesthetic composition. Therefore, it could be a perceptible example for a stated behavioral condition. The content of the paper does not include the critique of high rises but These reminiscences used to create both demand and false promises by the capital economy. Awareness of fictionalized perception by vicious economy even producing its own movies just to seed stated demand. Thus the cinema itself turning out tool for propaganda.

ABUSE OF FICTIONALIZED PERCEPTION ON SOCIAL ENGINEERING

By nature, to protect its perpetuity, the capital economy endeavors to create a consumer-based culture. Thereby, as briefly mentioned before both cinema and media used as tools to abuse fictionalized perception. In order to support this notion, the meaning set on diamonds could be an example; before gigantic diamond mines found in Africa in the 19th century, diamond was extremely rare objects which capable to represent wealth and considered as royal jewelry. However, after the discovery of mines they were no longer remarkable because their value only measured by the feature of the rarity. The owners respectively monopolized the mines, limited the distribution in the market and most interestingly they designed a set of operations in order to sell them without losing significant value. Nonetheless, ironically, corresponding times (the 1930s) were times of great depression in America; people were scarcely able to provide their fundamental needs, especially middle class had no interest to invest items of opulence. They needed people to stop thinking diamonds were pointless but instead, a necessity. In order to be able to create the false social perception to show diamonds attainable but still high value, they partnered a marketing company which resulted in one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history. Diamonds became manifestation for affection and the arbitrary abstraction became an analogy from being most stable carbon formation, they infused diamonds the meaning of eternity. The campaign used advertisement, cinema, celebrity influencers, and fashion. (Cruz, 2016)

The sentiment is essential to your advertising, as it is to your product,” it counseled De Beers in a memo, “for the emotional connotation of the diamond is the one competitive advantage which no other product can claim or dispute. (Sullivan, 2013)

In the 21st century it would not be wrong to say that diamonds became forever in deliberately set social perception by the sector. As a result, by using the power of media diamond industry designated it is own demand and value with social engineering.

Similar actions could be observed for different products (e.g. promotion of cigarettes) but the objective of this section is to concretize the effect of social engineering as well as emphasizing the abuse of fictionalized perception. At that point, it is possible to ask questions such as why should it be considered as unethical action, or what could be the outcomes of such operations? Undoubtedly, negative outcomes of social engineering lead by corporal capitalism could be analyzed by different aspects or disciplines. Nevertheless, this article interrogates the phenomena only from the perspective of a designer of a built environment.

NEGATIVE REFLECTIONS OF CAPITAL BASED SOCIAL ENGINEERING ON URBAN SPACES

Aforementioned, a total work of art could make people feel intrinsic or qualitative absence which, in my point of view, should not be considered as negative aspect; in fact, those are beacons of artists for the society or guidelines of progression. However, one of the vital aspects of the capitalist economy is the notion of consumerism which bound to sense of lackness; therefore, the capital economy deliberately promises but never actually aims to satisfy those qualities. On the contrary, it tries to disrupt and mutate the reasons of lackness and endeavors sustainably bound to a pecuniary value. An example could be given the 21st-century urban societies of Turkey. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the self-esteem could be considered an intellectual need for an individual in front of the public (Lang, 1987). Ideally, the self-esteem should be dependent on being a functional, harmonious, virtuous and respectable individual in the society. However distorted in capital affected social context, almost all of those attributes arbitrarily perceived equivalent to the level of income. As a result, in terms of behavioral action, people consider the wealth and being a member of exclusive or privileged society will satisfy their intellectual needs regardless of having the actual necessities of self-esteem; thus, stated need cannot be fulfilled. Nevertheless, delusional perception demands its own built environment, as a projection to stated condition non-functioning spaces appear in urban texture. High-rise buildings in suburbs, gated communities, shopping malls as imitative public spaces could be given examples as erroneous zones in urban spaces. To be more specific as an extreme the Burj Al Babas Villa Project in Bolu can be examined; the project is not completed due to bankrupt. Nonetheless, its catastrophic condition provides tangible evidence for stated phenomena. Why does it consider as non-functioning built environment could be reasoned in different aspects. Initially, by the perspective of urbanist, Kevin Lynch states:

a distinctive and legible environment not only offers security but also heightens the potential depth and intensity of human experience. Although life is far from impossible in the visual chaos of the modern city, the same daily action could take on new meaning if carried out in a more vivid setting. (Lynch, 1960)

Apparently, repetitive mass production prevents sensible, vital, well-fit conditions of built environment and recklessly destructs the nature. Human lives conditionally bound to environment they live in; thereby even by the perspective of egocentric point of view, the built environment that humans produce must also provide sustainable and respectful habitat for other living; as well as being capable to provide physical and chemical balance of habitable conditions of space in which necessary to maintain their fragile existence. Additionally distances and being a gated area limits its accessibility Kevin Lynch also mentions about feature of control; at first glance, the project could be considered as controlled area due to being a gated community but it does not fit in the condition of congruence. As Lynch States “A good settlement, is one which place control is certain, responsible and congruent both to its users (present, potential, and future) and also its structure of problems of the place.” (Lynch, 1985) By another perspective, Jon Lang argues in terms of safety well-functioning built environment should provide; appropriate levels of privacy for activities, people with the ability to locate themselves in space and time and the world as a stable predictable and usable place which could be constructed upon cognitive images. (Lang, 1994) Similarly, equality in distribution and function preventing for the one to locate themselves, privacy is not staggered arguably it is not even provided. At that point, it is assumed convincing evidence is provided from urbanist point of view.

On another aspect, does such a built environment capable to provide expectations of their clients? Previously mentioned, this paper argues those expectations never be able to fulfill. Exurbs as a result of non-functioning suburbs could be considered the evidential answer for the question; presently the demand for gated communities of suburbs based on being an exclusive member of privileged society as well as the issue of safety due to deteriorated false roots of self-esteem and fictionalized perception. However, the private sector keeps seeding its false promises with the reminiscent of elegance that belongs to an aesthetic composition of an artist by the cinema and media. As a result, suburbs that generated in the stated process considered as non-functioning built environment. Societies living in such space neither be able to meet their intellectual needs nor determinate the main reason behind it. Therefore, as a second stage class distinction, demand for exurbia (Harvey, 1997) in which going to have the same problems, raises among the society. Furthermore, creating a built environment as a result of such a process has even greater devastating outcomes rather than unfulfilled expectancies. As a result of social segregation, alienation and fear of the other, the obsession of safety, solitary in cities, decrease on socializing while the increase in mental disorders, crime rates, (as a result of alienation) and reduce in life satisfaction could be possible outcomes of stated non-functioning built environment.

CONCLUSION

As described, users also play an important role in the formation of the built environment by creating demand. However, unfortunately, media and the cinema used as tools for social engineering by the private sector. Accordingly, it is vital to clarify better built environment could only be achieved only if people demand it. Thus, people need to be able to separate fiction and reality, should have the ability to compare and demand in order to be able to provide a base for participatory production of the built environment that Jon Lang argued. This problematic has a possibility to switch efficient state with education and spread awareness. To illustrate stated non-functioning built environment could often be observed in non-developed countries but rarely in intellectually developed societies; not because of that to living in better built environment cost more but because of they demand it. Therefore, as David Harvey mentioned, “the place is social construct” (Harvey, 1997) should be the important statement to emphasize. At this point, it is also important to remind being a productive and functioning member of society (being a citizen) is something more to be proud of than being an exclusive member of a privileged group. Friedrich Nietzsche reminded us to read history in order to be able to aware of our future mistakes (Nietzsche, 1874). Privileged groups always existed in the timeline of history but society, science, art, and technology progressed when humanity demanded equal rights and opportunity for all. To point out the importance of those achievements, as evidence, today an ordinary person has a higher level of welfare and opportunities than the ancient kings. Thus, justice is a virtue that we have to represent on our built environment if we want to form a progressive society and advance our civilization The notion of the Open City by Richard Sennett could be given an example of this concern as he states “The closed city can be designed and operated top-down; it is a city which belongs to the masters. The open city is a bottomup place; it belongs to the people”. (Sennett, 2018) Otherwise, we are under threat of strangling ourselves similar to a bacterial colony that goes extinct under its own mass.

REFERENCES

Berleant, Arnold & Carlson, Allen (Eds.) (2006). “Multi-Sensoriness and the City” by Yrjö Sepänmaa. The Aesthetics of Human Environment. Broadview Press, Ontario, Plymouth.

Harvey, David (1997). “From Space to Place and Back Again”. Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. pp. 291-326 Lang, Jon (1994). Urban Design the American Experience. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.

Lynch, Kevin (1985). Theory of Good City Form. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Madanipour, Ali (2003). Public and Private Spaces of the City. Wiley, Chichester, New York. p. 104

Sennett, Richard (2018). Building and Dwelling. Ethics for the City. Penguin Books, London

Bordwell, David (1997). On the History of Film Style. Harvard University Press. p. 29.

Cruz, Sabrina (2 Sep 2016). Why Do We Think Diamonds Are Worth So Much [Video File]. Retrieved from (20 Jan 2019) https://youtu.be/NlrvpuoIrt

Let's try that again … the most difficult scenes to film in cinema history (31 Mar 2017). The Guardian. Retrieved from (19 Jan 2019) https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/mar/31/most-difficult-scenes-ever-filmed-cinema-history

Lynch, Kevin (1960). The Image of the City. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Nietzsche, Friedrich (1874). “On the Use and Abuse of History for Life”. Untimely Meditations. Retrieved Oct 21, 2018, from

http://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/330T/350kPEENietzscheAbuseTableAll.pdf

Pelevin, Viktor (1999). Generation P. Eksmo, Moscow.

Sullivan, Courtney J. (3 May 2013). How Diamonds Became Forever. The New York Times. Retrieved from (19 Jan 2019)

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/fashion/weddings/how-americans-learned-to-love-diamonds.html

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cloudscope · 6 years ago

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Alteration on Roles of the Architect in Contemporary Social Contexts

Abstract

The scope of this article is to interrogate ill-defined social paradox that resulting non-functioning built environment within the framework of cause-effect relationship, highlight the possible negative outcomes of given situation, pointing out discussions on the role of architects and performance or control mechanisms in order to be able to create better built environment.

Keywords

autonomy of architecture, altermodernity, architecture and politics, political dystopia, deprogression

INTRODUCTION

The anthropocentric point of view gradually became prevailing paradigm in the world by chain reaction initialized after period of Renaissance as a projection to this, especially since 19th Century role of architect gradually reshaped as rather than being servant to elite or authority they gained autonomy and identical significance at some extend as discourse of modernism promised to offer solutions for problems of contemporary world (e.g. overpopulation, technological improvements, wars, enormously grown cities, migration et cetera) and steer the new world society. Moreover as Kate Nesbitt points out paradigms in which postmodern discourse built upon, focused even more on fixation and rectification of social paradoxes and complications.

However in 21th Century it would not be wrong to say that is unable to follow traces of humanitarian aspects in contemporary cities. The touch of architect is concrete on buildings of prestige such as museums, airports, opera houses and skyscrapers; but rarely visible on residential areas, stations, schools and community zones. In other words, places of everyday life in which people spend most of their times are not receiving the necessary attention during the design process of built environment. As a result mass production occurring as copying which could be considered as failure in different aspects. On phenomenological perspective, Christian Norberg-Schulz pointed out “Genius Loci” as he states:

Man dwells when he can orientate himself within and identify himself within environment, or, in short, when he experiences the environment as a meaningful. Dwelling therefore implies something more than ‘shelter”. It implies that the spaces where life occurs are places, in the true sense of the word. A place is space which has a distinct character. Since ancient times the genius loci, or “spirit of place”, has been recognized as the concrete reality man has to face and come to terms with in his daily life. Architecture means to visualize the genius loci, and the task of the architect is to create meaningful places, whereby he helps man to dwell. (Norberg-Schulz, 1979)

In this scrutiny, by pointing out Genius Loci, Norberg-Schulz criticizes the what discourse of modernism stripped off from built environments mostly caused by inappropriate application of mass production even if the intentions were opposite. Another aspect of failure unfolded by Kevin Lynch by this terms “imageability” and “wayfinding” as he states:

A distinctive and legible environment not only offers security but also heightens the potential depth and intensity of human experience. Although life is far from impossible in the visual chaos of the modern city, the same daily action could take on new meaning if carried out in a more vivid setting. (Lynch, 1960)

Being not able to provide necessary attention to design would also result to generation of non-distinctive places which will prevent people from orienting themselves in the city. As a result experiencing the city is not a valid notion anymore especially for Generation Z as it turned out something to afraid of, a subject of obscurity itself.

However shaping built environment that way is not the choice of architect. Whereas architecture is directly related with politics, production of built environment is affected by complex social paradox in which especially in non-developed countries the scope of production prioritize income rather than life that place has to provide. Additionally significance of urban design and autonomy of architecture is underestimated. Therefore, they are excluded from the production of built environment which they has to be autonomous at some extend. In fact even previously mentioned “prestige buildings” are not an exception for the situation. The main reason behind being point of interest is marginal advertising potential (i.e. Profit opportunities) which intended and designated by authoritative power of the capital. Therefore another intention of modernism turns out as failure as relation with authority does not changed but shifted it is figurative form to abstract phenomenon.

In this paper main scope is to interrogate ill-defined social paradox that resulting non-functioning built environment, identify negative qualitative outcomes of situation and pointing out discussions on role of architects and simulating performance or control mechanisms in order to be able to create better built environment.

CHANGING MEANING OF ARCHITECT

Meaning is an evolving phenomenon by time, culture and society. Additionally, the multidisciplinary nature of architecture makes the context of its meaning fragile. In different intervals of history, architecture partially overlapped by context of engineering, artistry and craftsmanship. However changes the zones of overlapping, architecture kept its genuine intersection zone and defined itself as autonomous discipline. Nonetheless, for further discussions it is beneficial to point out differing point between artist and architect as Le Corbusier states:

The engineer and the architect have to work with other people’s money. They must consider their clients and, like politicians,they cannot be too far ahead of their moment. The artist, on the other hand particularly the painter, may generally find it nearly impossible to live; but if he is able to establish one of those curious compromises by means of which he can carry on a lean existence, he is at least free (at times) to project himself on paper or canvas without necessary reference to anything or anybody; and to make experiment and research for its own sake. (Le Corbusier, 1927)

As Le Corbusier pointed the difference; the architect distinguish from the artist at point that former has only bounded freedom so content of architect’s work is cannot be discussed independent from social context.

Confusion of Meaning of Architect In the Society

The chain reaction of events started by enlightenment and followed by industrial revolution resulted the emergence new transitionary social class. Social structure changed by revolutions, demanded a built environment to serve life rather than given public space. In 19th century by the redefinition of modernity architects started to be in service of stated demand in general. On the other hand, by the scale and improvement of building technologies; professions once they were one under architecture are separated as individual disciplines. Civil engineering and city planning i.e. urban design could be given examples of this segregation. A common misunderstanding maybe because of these historical references, people has confusion about what should they expect from architect or what should be the responsibilities and competencies of the architect.

In another aspect, it is assumed that people has adequate perception when participating surveys. However surveys that their methodology bounded to declarations about life satisfaction or qualities of built environment are not always providing reliable results. For instance, the one could consider the non-functioning built environment as successful that he or she living in, by comparing with the worse only because of that being not capable to imagine qualitative superior which architect could provide. Therefore, it is important to educate people about the context of discipline of architecture in order to be able to foundate participatory production of built environment. By healthy feedbacks qualities of built environment could be improved ,by teaching the capabilities of design; demand and cultivation for urban aesthetics may be provided, welfare, life quality, hygiene, adaptability (in terms of flora and fauna) and flexibility standards could be expanded.

Role of Architect in the Contemporary World

It is not possible to fit perpetually evolving phenomenon in rigidly defined boundaries. However it is necessity to make a description in order to be able to comprehend the notion and articulate within the scope of objectivity, fit in the context of social integrity and jurisprudence. Therefore, to concretize by raw description in contemporary world, ideally, role of architecture could be summarized to serve society by creating creative, functioning, adaptive, flexible and pleasing built environment in the scale of autonomous structure complexes which also can speak multidimensional level and has a harmonious role within environment it belongs. Thereby it is important to incarnate the line between other roles involving the production of built environment. In order to point out contextual meaning of discipline of architecture Canan Seyhun states: “When regarded as a discipline, it is necessary to evaluate architecture with regard to its various interrelationships. The discipline of architecture has a multidimensional character, which assimilates with many theoretical and practical realities. It is possible to consider architecture as an art, a profession, a science, or as a discourse; and therefore, it is possible to evaluate an architectural work by means of its many levels; such as its conceptual, artistic, intellectual, and utilitarian levels. An architectural work could be evaluated as an art object; having its own aesthetic characteristics, or as a cultural product; reflecting the conditions of the society, or as a utilitarian apparatus; satisfying the necessities of intended functions. Not only the tectonic properties but also the theoretical origins of it could be assessed.” (Seyhun, 2004)

Thus, with accurate precision Seyhun identifies boundaries of discipline within the scope of completeness and correctness. In 21. Century on intellectual level architects actions evolving into being curators, activists and critics rather than being in active role of shaping built environment. Reasons of stated situation will be articulated in next chapter.

CRITIQUE OF SOCIAL PARADOXES OF PRESENT-DAY

In present-day production of built environment is outcome of complex social structure which previously mentioned as ill-defined paradox. According to Pava: “Social paradox is a pervasive, continuing dilemma between incompatible yet interdependent activities (i.e. between regulators and the regulated).” (Pava, 1981)

Present-day examples and outcomes will be discussed upon two exaggerated limit points by opposite perspectives. The former will articulate the absolute autonomy of architect, while the latter will mention bypassing the autonomy of architecture i.e. excluding the architect from its product.

Absolute Autonomy of Architect

As previously mentioned, since 19th century the architect gained its own autonomy; in fact with its expanded jurisdiction, arguably the architect itself turned into a figure of authority which could be explained by lack of control mechanism. Thus, practices of modernus began to behave in compulsive attitude rather than given promises of offering a new life, which also could be supported by bearing of the discourse of postmodernism. However, following interval did not progressed but shifted the situation. The birth of notion, the Starchitect could be an example. Maybe unconsciously but architecture turned out, or at least prioritized being an object of self-representation instead of the representation of authoritative power.

Individuals may choose not to interact with art objects, but this is not a valid case for architecture. Thus, unlike the artist who has absolute freedom, the architect cannot prioritize self-representation in its work. Architecture itself could become an art object; however, since it has to serve people or bear a social responsibility it has some constraints in which distinguishes it from an individual art object. In another fold, such attitude also disrupts perception of role about architect perceived by the society, as well as the image of architect for architects of future and blur the participatory production of built environment which discussed in previous chapter.

Excluding Architecture from Production of Built Environment

As opposed to former second extremum point could be given example as bypassing the autonomy of architecture. This condition is more tangible in non-developed countries, but also occurring developed countries as well. Hence at some extent especially in less-developed societies on intellectual level the role of architect or designer started to be seen as insignificant or easily be replaced, and some professionals claim for being that replacement. Changing state of autonomy stated by Michael Hays and Lauren Kogod:

When the issue of autonomy re-emerged in the 70s, architecture was in the peculiar situation of being eroded from within by having become a service industry completely determined by the building technology and programmatic demands of the time. On the other hand, it had been challenged from outside the discipline by behaviorism, sociology, pseudo-positivist history and pseudo-scientific discourses that tried to explain architecture away in terms of how people behaved, or what response they checked off on a questionnaire. Formal issues had given way to these statistical and operational analyses. Architecture found itself without cultural or disciplinary specificity… In contemporary vocabulary, we could say that architecture found itself deterritorialized. It lost its domain; it lost the cultural realm that it had controlled. It had to, therefore, re-territorialize itself by rediscovering, reasserting or reinventing its codes. (Hays, 2002)

It is possible to observe in everyday life spaces applications of insufficient or non-functioning built environment which lack the aspects of quality; especially in terms of intrinsic and intellectual values. Practically all of the cases has a common point of that excluding or not giving significant attention to role of architect and urban designer in production of built environment or even the built environment which has to be designed in order to satisfy its users needs actually prioritize the income for those who build it. Thereby, it turns out to a capital market rather than place to live. Besides if society does not have necessary perception to demand the architecture which described in previous chapter; our built environments cannot be developed, even deprogression could possibly observed as well as in the civilization itself. It could be summarized as “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us”. (Churchill, 1941)

The Capital as Authoritative Power

The Capital mentioned as decisive power in the production of built environment. However if, as a fact, the income is fundamental parameter of welfare; why is it should not be the authority to shape the built environment? Briefly, because of the difference of objectives and focus of short-term goals. Competency for the Olympics and resulted urban transformations could be an example for the case.

Even though the primary purpose of being a host city is to serve as the location for sporting events, there must be much more at stake than merely providing a venue for sport competitions. Much attention has been given to the economic impact and tourism impact of hosting the Olympics which stresses the role of the Games themselves. 'What has been neglected is how the Olympics are related to the long-term goals of the city. (Hiller, 1998)

Even if the Olympics provides reliable income and fulfill the expectations of the capital, if not planned adaptively; providing a venue for sport competitions will result derelict gaps within the urban texture. Therefore egocentric nature of capital economy does not prioritize life which idealistically, the built environment should provide.

Possible Negative Outcomes

In 21. Century by given reasons, it would be not wrong to say especially in less-developed countries everyday built environment is lacking intrinsic, intellectual, aesthetic and even fundamental functional requirements of place It could be said that there is a serious political and social problem exists in this situation and its negative outcomes could also be seen by quantitative measurements. Rigidity of built environment enforces society to fit in the boundaries of what defined as normal; suburbs as bleak strangling points of city, birth of exurbs, preference to live and socialize in virtual dimensions, solitary of people living in cities, obsession of safety, perception of city as a subject of fear, augmented perception issues, crime and rise on mental disorders could be given as examples. By all means non-functioning built environment may not be the only reason of those problems but should be pointed out as one of the major reasons.

AUTONOMY, PARTICIPATION AND CONTROL MECHANISMS

When Kaufmann family asked for a house from Frank Lloyd Wright; even if they had some expectancy in their mind, they probably did not expected that Wright will give them the opportunity of being able live with the waterfall. Designers of built environment should have their autonomy since they could decipher the multidimensional requirements of space and create a work that capable to embody the interdisciplinary values of architecture in singularity. However, when a system became too autonomous it may be blinded to see the whole or be tend to exclude features easily which are valuable to others. Thus, it is important to have control mechanisms to align and improve architectural work in order to be able to serve society and civilization. In that point participatory design process that Jon Lang argued could foundate the healthy built environment; but conditions could only provided by understanding the meaning of architecture and convey it through society.

CONCLUSION

Michel Foucault stunningly showed us even the most vicious practices of humanity was arguably better than today in terms of providing leaks for progression. Although we are rationalized, technologically advanced and consider ourselves as civilized; it would not be true to say that we are progressed in every aspect. Dystopia differs from the dark times by its completeness in which there is no more opportunity to change. On the assumption, we do not see and solve our problems in reality then even if we do not call it, we will start to live in the modern dystopia.

On the subject of the architecture of the 21. Century, it is crucial to point out, problems of built environment caused by social paradoxes rather interdisciplinary or other aspects in our reality. Since the built environment is shaped directly by politics social infrastructure has to be revealed for being able to diagnose this ill-shaped situation. Additionally, even if it is not the actual part of design process, since they have to bear social responsibility, architects should contribute as curators, educators, activists and critics in order to be able to shape our built environment in more idealistic way and advance our civilization.

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