urbansettlementreflections

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Rhizome+Assemblage+Territory | Part 3 - Rohan Cloete

Urban rhizome

The urban rhizome is used as an analogy of plant rhizomes, also known as horizontal plant root systems. This analogy attempts at describing and solving urban situations where a fragmented approach questions the conventions of city planning and layouts. 

The rhizome disregards hierarchy and creates lines of flight which result in greater diversity. An example of a structure following the rhizome analogy, is The Watershed by Wolff Architects in Cape Town.

This building incorporates a large indoor market space with big openings and limited enclosed spaces, allowing for lines of flight and and a fragmented design approach. The structure also spills out onto large public spaces at the Cape Town Harbour allowing for further diversity in the urban space. 

A rhizome design approach encourages diversity and the creation of democratic urban spaces. This further sustains urban eroticism and can lead to an embodiment of space.

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Rhizome+Assemblage+Territory | Part 2 - Rohan Cloete

Urban Eroticism

An attraction to the unexplored led me to visit Braamfontein. It started as a pure quest to visit the Neigbourgoods Market in Braamfontein, which is housed in an existing building. Therefore making use of adaptive reuse.

At first, I was unsure of what I will encounter, especially in this suburb of Johannesburg due to it being known in the past as a relatively unsafe area. But my uncertainty spiked an even greater interest to visit the place. Arriving there, I was pleasantly surprised by the character of the place. All the buildings surrounding the streets carried significant identities and a multiplicity of styles and influence became apparent. We parked in some apartment building's parking lot, which I found to be strange, but interesting. From there we headed straight for the Market

Upon entering the alley which leads to the entrance of the market building, I was already enchanted. A celebrated entrance bustling with interactions greeted us. Upon entering the building, an incredible atmosphere lingered. Several stalls were selling food, mostly cultural cuisine. I was surprised by the diversity of people within the market. Groups of people from all around the country and the world were present in this one building - all being celebrated for their uniqueness.

From there we ascended a staircase to the floors above, where we were once again greeted by a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural group of people. But this time they were selling goods, which ranged from artworks to clothes and many more.

Needless to say, I was pleasantly by the place, even though it is just a small capsule of Braamfontein. The great urban democracy in the neigbourhood was remarkable and the place stood with a character that will every so often dwell in my thoughts.

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Rhizome+Assemblage+Territory | Part 1 - Rohan Cloete

Democratic Urban Spaces

A sustainable and truly embodied space should be democratic in nature. This includes spaces where people can express themselves and have an identity. Therefore, people are the emphasis, not machines. Our cities should reconfigure itself to cater to humans and not cars. Cars are an essential part of the quotidian activity/ daily life, but it is gained too much authority in the way cities are planned.

Structured/grid-like city planning and development should become fractured and fragmented to create spaces which contain public and recreational spaces. More pedestrian routes are also a necessity. This will also lead to greater diversity in the urban framework which contributes to the character of the city.

Ultimately, a city is not characterized by its buildings, structures and machines, but rather its people.

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Istanbul reflection Part 3: Rohan Cloete

Stellenbosch, Western Cape as urban example of iconic Augmentation

Iconic augmentation takes an existing story, memory and place that is prefigured and reinterprets it to suit the new story and place.  It, therefore, configures and rearranges the narrative to suit the new narrative it is used for. Each individual, however, will interpret it differently.

Stellenbosch is an example of iconic augmentation in an urban environment. The prefigured narrative of Stellenbosch is constructed with a rich history, which is evident in the architecture, infrastructure and even trees and landscaping. The old buildings and structures, however, are continuously refigured by new functions and layers of new narratives. Old houses in large open streets are converted into restaurants and cafes. A small house with a loft is converted into a studio for tattoo artists. The old is respected by retaining most of it and new layers are added which is in conversation with the old. Culture, arts etc. are also employed in the streets and on side walks which constantly reconfigures the existing narrative.

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narrative + iconic + augmentation | Part 1 and 2 reflection | Rohan Cloete

A book - Town of the site of memory: Breytenbach Museum, Wellington, Western Cape

After travelling through various small towns in the Western Cape, a friend and I stopped in Wellington to visit the Breytenbach Museum. It is here where I got lost in the second-hand book store of the museum. I spent 2 hours in the store, surrounded by the smell and wisdom of all the old books, without even noticing it. Even though I was inspired and transported to a different world, I decided to leave empty-handed. Upon my exit, a book caught my eye. The book turned out to be a book I have been looking for quite some time, but could never find in South Africa, which meant I would have had to import it. The book was in great condition with some added character from its age. I was pleasantly surprised, which meant I didn't leave empty-handed after all.  

The site of memory is iconic augmentation because it resulted in an unexpected visit to a museum which ended up in a visit to a second-hand book store. The memory of the place is further supplemented by the object found there. It contains a narrative which used to be contained in a building for narratives (a book store).

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REFLECTION.03 | urban FLESH deterritorializing URBANITY | Rohan Cloete

How does liminal space in an urban development accommodate the flesh of the city and bodies to allow for an embodied imagination?

“Inevitably, life between buildings isricher, more stimulating, and morerewarding than any combination ofarchitectural ideas”(Gehl, 2011:43)

The interpretation of liminality has various contexts, ranging from the social and cultural to the spatial (Zimmerman, 2008:5). The root word limen “is derived from the Latin word for ‘threshold,’ which literally means ‘being on a threshold” (Alexander, 1991:31). In all contexts, liminal refers to an intermediate state or condition; an in-between condition in which the liminal entity has characteristics of what it is between, but at the same time is separate and distinct from them. American architect, Fred Koetter, defines the liminal as “the realm of conscious and unconscious speculation and questioning – the ‘zone’ where things concrete and ideas are intermingled, taken apart and reassembled – where memory, values, and intentions collide” (Koetter, 1980:69). Very often Modernist, as well as contemporary architecture tend to be accused of emotional coldness and exclusivity.

Why is it that architecture and architects, unlike film andfilmmakers, are so little interested in people during thedesign process? Why are they so theoretical, so distantfrom life in general?(Vrijman, 1994:1)

It is for this reason that liminal, or in-between, spaces are so important. These spaces allow for both physical embodiment and an embodied imagination. Finnish architect and theorist, Juhani Pallasmaa, argues that there are two imaginations. “In my view, there are two qualitative levels of imagination; one projects formal and geometric images while another one simulates the actual sensory, emotive and mental encounter with the projected entity” (Pallasmaa, 2015:7). The first type of imagination projects the material object in isolation, while the second projects it as a lived and experienced reality in the life world (ibid).

“In the first case, the imaginatively projected object remains as an external image outside of the experiencing and sensing self. In the latter case, it becomes part of our existential experience, as in the encounter with material reality” (ibid). Therefore, the formal imagination is largely engaged with topological or geometric facts, while the emphatic imagination conjures embodied and emotive experiences, qualities, and moods. This relates to the notion of the French philosopher, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, which denotes the lived reality as “the flesh of the world”. To Pallasmaa, the empathic imagination conjures multi-sensory, integrated and lived experiences of this very flesh (Pallasmaa, 2015:8). It is for this reason that an urban corridor and architectural object will be investigated and anlayzed in terms of its success to create embodied imagination through liminal space. The chosen corridor is an exclusive pedestrian walkway, which runs diagonally along Bishops Avenue in Kimberley, South Africa. The corridor is part of an urban development in the city which forms a city campus for the Sol Plaatje University. The corridor was chosen due to its dedication to both the human flesh as well as the city flesh. Serveral principles and a spatial development framework guides the design of the urban environment in which the corridor finds itself. These will all be analyzed and expanded upon. The chosen architectural object also finds itself along this corridor. The architecture will also be analyzed and its qualities will be measured in terms of the research question and the applicability to the urban approach.

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Embodied Narrative - Rohan Cloete

For a person to envision its embodiment in a space, the space should first allow for such envisioning. Various methods can be used to allow for an embodied narrative.

Movement is a method to allow for embodiment in space. This method was frequently applied in modernist architecture. The notion of movement became apparent in the form of a promenade, especially in more institutionalized buildings, such as museums. Ramps and staircases were employed to strengthen and articulate this notion of movement. Critique can however also be given to the absolute success of movement in these modernist buildings. Many of these buildings appeared to be impenetrable and non-permeable due to its very rigid and exclusive box-like nature.

There seems to be a lack in liminal spaces, the in-between spaces which guides movement and pause, orientation and the allowance to lose oneself. It is within these liminal spaces where interpretation of the greater narrative can take place.

Further, a lack of embodiment in terms of hapticity or touch, is also apparent in some of the modernist idioms. The architecture tends to be removed from its context, both in physical form and intangible form. Spaces tend to be elevated from its surroundings, torn from the very flesh it hovers over.

However, exception can be made to residential modernist idioms. These structures tend to be more in touch with its context. Grounding itself in environment in which it stands. For the most part, these buildings also tend to allow for the interpretation of movement along balconies, staircases and liminal, in-between spaces.

Similarly, post-modern architecture also tends to include both the embodied narrative of movement as well as touch. But further, the notion extends to specifics and non-specifics. Post-modern architecture, for the most part, not only refers to its immediate context but also the greater city context. Becoming a part of the city in a specified fragment and contributing to the greater flesh of the city, as it grows.

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Embodiment + Body as Flesh + Threshold (Weekly Assignment 1) – Rohan Cloete

Isaac Newton’s fourth law states, in its simplest form, that each object has an attractive force to one another. The force is a result of the masses and distance between the objects. Therefore, relating the place of the objects, as well as the identity of the objects (mass) to one another. While this might be a far stretch, in this, to me, lies an inevitable intuitive interpretation of our surroundings, due to natural forces. Our intuitive interpretation is the most natural, and therefore the most reliable.

Once we start to overanalyze the things (Lineamenta), we concern ourselves with, we lose our sensitivity and start to impose what we think is necessary, even though it might not be the case. But in both instances of interpretation (carnal hermeneutics and lineamenta), to me, the mind is actively involved. It is rather a difference between the type of mindset which is involved. The indefinite subconscious and the definite conscious…

Our subconscious (flesh of the urban dweller) collect our memories of the spaces we embody (urban flesh). We don’t have absolute power over the memories our minds tend to collect. However, for our minds to collect these memories, it can’t be separated from our bodies (flesh of the urban dweller). It needs the haptic input from our environment (urban flesh). Therefore, the subconscious mind is connected to the conscious body.

On the other hand, our conscious minds do the opposite. It intentionally collects memories and immediately tries to make sense of it. It tends to overanalyze and as result thereof, imposes rather than allowing for the letting-be. This type of reasoning also has its value in terms of critical thinking but might lose the power of embodied space in translation.

I therefore propose that both Lineamenta and Carnal Hermeneutics are products of the mind, but that they originate as a result of different inputs and manifests in different aspects of the mind. View: Figure 1 The Embodied Flesh/Image (author, 2020)

Figure 1 The Embodied Flesh/Image (author, 2020)

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narrative + iconic + augmentation | Part 1 and 2 reflection (Annerica Venter)

Umbrella – Site of Memory: City of Edinburgh Scotland

The site of memory I identified is an Umbrella I had to buy while walking back to the hotel, from a site-seeing experience of Edinburgh Castle.  Ten minutes into the walk back, rain started chucking down with me knowing my umbrella that I brought on the trip is in my room at the hotel.  Luckily only 20 metres further down the street was a 5£ store and I quickly ran in there to get a new umbrella.  It was the cheapest one I could find and showing it ass well with the wind turning it inside out the whole way, it was quite the experience getting to the hotel semi-dry.

This is iconic augmentation as the object(umbrella) takes you back to the site of memory(streets of Edinburgh) every time it is used in current times.  This instantly creates a feeling of sentimental value and yearning as one wishes to go back to this extraordinary place.      

Attached is an image of the walk back from the castle to the hotel just before the rain.    

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Rhizome+Assemblage+Territory | Part 3 | Lodewyk Meyer

Urban rhizome

An urban rhizome is a system that seeks to include the public, catering for them and including them in the design process. It creates lines of flight rather than obstructing it. A rhizome stands opposite hierarchy, an example of an urban rhizome is the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

The Constitutional Court of South Africa includes public space as a highly prioritized part of the design. It caters for the pedestrians, creating as little barriers as possible with the interior of the building reflected on the outside. The Johannesburg Art Gallery on the other hand stands in contrast to it, creating a territory excluding the public.

An urban rhizome is the correct design approach for a democratic urban space. It creates lines of flight, triggering communication and relationships for an embodied, erotic urban settlement.  

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Rhizome+Assemblage+Territory | Part 2 | Lodewyk Meyer

Urban Eroticism

A city is a mirrored image of the people who inhabits it.

All cities develop in its own way, one does not notice it over night, but it is constantly changing. The reason for the direction of change differs from one city to another and can be as result of a list of different things. Johannesburg, or more specific, Hillbrow changed drastically during the early 80s during the border war. It transformed into a more contemporary city, including a more diverse group of people, creating more diverse places.

This links to the democratic urban spaces, where a more diverse group of people results in a more diverse urban network. It ensures that anyone will find a place suiting their preference, allowing one to discover oneself and connecting with new exiting people. These relationships reaching over a diverse group of people results in a unified, caring, embodied city.

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Rhizome+Assemblage+Territory | Part 1 | Lodewyk Meyer

Democratic Urban Space

To create a sustainable urban environment democratic spaces needs to be developed within the city where people can be themselves and feel safe within these/their spaces. To develop democratic spaces, the city needs to be reconfigured to start planning for the dwellers and not the vehicles. When it is more convenient to use footpaths in daily life, there will be more people in these spaces, thus activating it.

Design tools seeking to accomplish this can be the fragmentation of gridular urban fabric, creating more footpaths and lines of flight for the daily dweller. Also, the creation of public spaces, preferably with nature and infrastructure that can serve as a gathering space with embodied relationships.

The city and the people must create character with a diversity of buildings and people within the urban setting. This character will create vibrant streets and corridors that feel welcoming and safe, making a truly embodied city.

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Narrative+Iconic+Augmentation | Part 3 | Lodewyk Meyer

Cologne, Germany

Iconic augmentation is the process of creatively interpreting a story composed of a site of memory. The site is constantly in the process of story making, therefore creating a memory of the past. While the story is being made, the site is constantly being observed by dwellers creating their own story while interpreting the site.

Cologne, Germany went through multiple periods that had a major impact on the city. The city has been in the hands of the Romans and the Franks and formed part of the Third Reich. All these configurations had an influence on the prefigured site, having an influence on the creative interpretation of the people in the part and the present.

An example of this is, When Cologne was bombed during World War II, a story was composed that changed the lives of the people then, but also has an influence on the creative interpretation of the people today through history and Museums like the Kolumba art Museum. This proves that the configured world has an influence on the lives of people daily as well as in the future.

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Narrative+Iconic+Augmentation | Part 1 & 2 | Lodewyk Meyer

Site of memory: Post card from Kolumba Museum, Cologne, Germany.

This object is a gift from my parents upon visiting the Kolumba Museum, as per my recommendation, on their trip to Europe in 2018. Working on a project at the time, I had to investigate the Museum and it was a pure coincidence that my parents was in the vicinity thereof. I asked them to go there and take a few pictures for me and as it was only 10 minutes from their accommodation, they were able to visit a building designed by my favourite architect, Peter Zumthor, on my behalf.

The postcard is a memoriam gifted to me as part of a grater gift, from a site of memory. The specific place is a site of memory as the museum is built on the remnants of an old church, bombed during World War 2 creating a vast memory for the building. Whereas the post card and images together with the story creates a memory for me and my parents.

This site is iconic augmentation as it is a creative interpretation (refigure) of a story (configure) made on a site of memory (prefigure) that will always be remembered with or without the presence of the post card. On the other hand, the architect also created a creative interpretation and story on a site of memory, using the remnants of the old church together with the history, to design a modern building that tells a story about the prefigured world.

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REFLECTION.03 | Lodewyk Meyer

Urban FLESH deterritorializing URBANITY

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Embodiment + body as flesh + threshold Reflection part 2 (Annerica)

An Embodied narrative is written by means of a human connecting to the urban flesh by moving through it, the same happens when a human moves through a building, this is called the architectural promenade.  For humans to write an embodied narrative, connecting with the urban flesh successfully when moving through a building the architecture should be curated to allow it.

As we look at modernist institutional buildings it is a great example of architecture that is ubiquitous and non-site specific.  Le Corbusier’s national museum of Western art in Tokyo lacks the experience of flesh connecting with the urban flesh, as the architecture is very sterile and not in dialogue with its context.  Elements inside the museum such as volumetric forms protruding into or retracting from central voids and the architectural promenade allows for interaction between humans or human and display.  This results in the flesh only experiencing an embodied narrative inside the architecture with no connection to the urban flesh.

The architectural promenade was a key idea behind the development of space and movement in much of Le Corbusier's work.  The modernist house is a clear improvement of the promenade with the connection between human and urban flesh as the architecture became a bit more site-specific.  What is meant when saying it became more site-specific is that it is not yet entirely integrated with the site but some elements on the façade designs allows for a connection between the flesh and urban flesh.

The Museum of Scotland is a great example of curated architecture that allows the human body to connect with the urban flesh of Edinburgh.  This building is designed to imitate the promenade through the city on the interior of the building.  This is achieved elements in the design that allows the habitant to know exactly where they are inside the building or when they are on the outside they know exactly what happened on the inside at a specific element of the building.  It acts as an orientation mechanism for the habitant and allows the connection between the human flesh and the city.