7 January 1999
It’s so refreshing to be back to Holland.
Even though buildings are buildings, people are people, and sky is sky, the differences cannot hide themselves. Take scale, for instance- I mean the size of people. I’m sure it influences my perception of cities. In Holland I feel small and insignificant in the crowds. In South Africa I am medium-sized. In Taiwan, I’m massive; it’s never easy to buy trousers, shoes, or shirts. But I feel more in control, more secure on the street. It’s nice to be able to look over other people’s heads. Sometimes I get the feeling I can do anything I want in Taiwan.
12 January
I thought Taipei was an ugly city when I lived there. Ugly and humid. It wasn’t until later- in architecture school in South Africa- that I realized for the first time how UNUGLY Taiwan is. It’s dusty, dirty, polluted, smelly, and crowded with vendors and pedestrians; but not ugly. It’s collaged with sign boards in all possible relationships with the structures they are attached to: resting on, elevated above, hung under, cantilevered, suspended. Older buildings are “host structures” to newer, added structures that are latched on like parasites, throwing them visually off-balance, but functioning like prostheses that reinforce their functions. Most have no style.
The cityscape looks like a mess, but if you read carefully, you can trace the geology of this lump of structures. Happily, honestly, though not neatly, the buildings complement one another; layers of activities fill 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I loved all that, and kicked myself for thinking Taipei was ugly. Then I took loads of photos and showed my classmates in Johannesburg proudly.
14 January
Calvino’s city has multiple entries and the same number of exits. Haruki Murakami’s city has one entry and the same gate out. My city has controlled, numbered, known entries- led in by lines along which movements are channeled: solid lines, fluid lines, air lines…There are not gates.
5 February 1999
I have a theory about tofu.
Maybe it’s not very “deep” or architectural, but I’d like to use it as a tool to compare Japanese and Chinese cultures.
After our field trip to Tokyo, I traveled down to other parts of Japan (Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Yokohama). In Kyoto I discovered this very expensive meal (20,000 yen, or 330 guilders) made completely of tofu:
Tofu in ice water
Tofu in noodles
Tofu standing on its own
Tofu in soup
No matter what the dish was, all the tofu blocks were cut into perfect cubes, and all kept completely white, as if it had not been cooked or processed at all.
For a Chinese/Taiwanese person, this is striking. We never, well rarely, eat tofu in little white cubes. We fry it, break it, stir it, deep-fry it, and mix it with all kinds of other foods. In China, it’s cheap food- easy to make, easy to consume, NO BIG DEAL.
If a food is wonderful, why not use it in as many different ways, combine it with as many different materials, as possible? I guess Japanese think that Chinese cooking destroys the purity and virginity of tofu. Chinese are loose-ended. Japanese are after purity and perfection.
7 February
We, architects, one way or another, impose our values on others. Good or bad, these values- carried by our buildings- can lead to consequences bigger than we expect. We commit crimes sometimes.
8 February
I kept swinging from one side to the other, but I never left either of them.
9 February
I believe architecture is not a good taste activity.
Nor is it an intellectual elite club.
For me, architecture is to innovate, create, and break new grounds. I believe in Utopia, the Ideal, the Perfect, God and Devil. I believe in what people do. I believe architecture is a service and
I believe architecture should acknowledge the power of lifestyle, desire and paradise.
10 February
Concentration:
I am incapable of concentration.
23 February
In Nagasaki, I visited a place called Holland Village.
It’s a Dutch theme park. All the buildings and scenery there fit together VERY NICELY.
When I entered, everyone was taking pictures. The windmills are much smaller and lower than the real ones so that tourists don’t have to walk too far to take a shot. They are arranged so that you can usually get two or three into one photo. And finally I experienced what it feels like to be surrounded by tulips, something that still hasn’t happened in the Holland I know.
I recognized some of the buildings immediately. They were all familiar, but somehow WEIRD. Amsterdam Central Station is scaled two or three times larger than the original. And actually, it’s a hotel. The interior is grand, bright, westernized (though not Western, really), and expensive.
The copy of the Utrecht Dom Church tower takes advantage of its height- it’s used as an observatory and restaurants since Holland Village doesn’t need a real church.
Of course what tourists go to see in the real Holland is often a Holland that no longer exists- a memory of Holland. How much of Amsterdam is a living city and how much is habitable museum?
In Holland Village, people can rent traditional Dutch costumes and have their pictures taken in them by professional photographers.
We only saw two western people in Holland Village: the “cheese people”- also in traditional dress- demonstrating the production of cheese. We spoke to them after their day’s work. Both were Dutch. They said these buildings were “a bit” like those in Holland.
June 29
After Jon Jerde, Jeff Kipnis is probably the best and the worst thing that has happened this year.
He TOTALLY DESTABLISED the Berlage- rearranged the power structure in five minutes.
It was agony. I’ve never learned so much.
5 November
What I worry about is that this generation I belong to is bombarded with MTV, lifestyle magazines, colored contact lenses, plastic surgeries… Speed is more important than depth; variety exceeds details.
I get bored so easily
but too often find myself in innocent confusion.
The gel that grows out of time
the flavor that brews over time
is nowhere in me.
I’m not old enough to have accumulated enough assets.
I’m not young enough to enjoy my cuteness and naivety.
I don’t want to look back one day and see life as a compilation of boring postcards.
Swore once to be like
a glass of orange juice made of 5 oranges
rather than one orange
Tuesday, November 9, 1999
Sunday, October 10, 1999
Berlage Institute Amsterdam: studio NL, Utrecht Infill
UTRECHT INFILLS CORE DESIGN PROJECT, SECOND YEAR, AUTUMN TERM, 1999 TUTORS: NATHALIE DE VRIES, JACOB VAN RIJS AND STEFAN WITTEMAN
TEAM: SHIUAN-WEN CHU AND ANA DZOKIC
Brief
Utrecht is probably, besides Amsterdam, the most difficult city to find a place to live and prices are amongst the highest in the Netherlands. The demand is high, very high. It is very remarkable that the large scheme for the new development of the Central Station Area, the Utrecht Centrum Plan UCP, provides Utrecht mainly with office and shopping area, and only 1400 houses.
Also the mix of functions in UCP is limited.
The Berlage Studio will try to provide this town with an endless catalogue of new sites and possibilities for living in the city center.
Add 35 houses per ha (the average of the Vinex programme) within the area that is marked on the map.
Design method: develop a prototype.
Design a living environment for city dwellers, in addition to the living conditions in new developments like Leidsche Rijn, the new suburban area of Utrecht.
Be aware of the fact that we work in an environment that is for large part classified as monumental.
Take into consideration the Dutch laws as much as possible, or give arguments why they should be changed.
The clients are allowed to formulate additional demands.
All schemes that are produced by the studio will in the end be projected on one map and explained in one booklet.
TEAM: SHIUAN-WEN CHU AND ANA DZOKIC
Brief
Utrecht is probably, besides Amsterdam, the most difficult city to find a place to live and prices are amongst the highest in the Netherlands. The demand is high, very high. It is very remarkable that the large scheme for the new development of the Central Station Area, the Utrecht Centrum Plan UCP, provides Utrecht mainly with office and shopping area, and only 1400 houses.
Also the mix of functions in UCP is limited.
The Berlage Studio will try to provide this town with an endless catalogue of new sites and possibilities for living in the city center.
Add 35 houses per ha (the average of the Vinex programme) within the area that is marked on the map.
Design method: develop a prototype.
Design a living environment for city dwellers, in addition to the living conditions in new developments like Leidsche Rijn, the new suburban area of Utrecht.
Be aware of the fact that we work in an environment that is for large part classified as monumental.
Take into consideration the Dutch laws as much as possible, or give arguments why they should be changed.
The clients are allowed to formulate additional demands.
All schemes that are produced by the studio will in the end be projected on one map and explained in one booklet.
Concept
In order to turn the existing block inside-out, the historic façade has to break at some point. These facades are the only reminisce of previous time, while the interior of blocks is in evolution process. The preservation of these historic facades hinders the transformation of the pattern of the city. And these facades are the products of cultural, religious and political decisions inherited from previous era.
To break out of existing block pattern, another authority will have to ride over existing ones. Instead of constructing new institutions we want to enhance and reinforce the vital and exuberant educational institutions which are at present hidden behind the facades and rapidly draining into the periphery of Utrecht City.
The “high art” vs. “low culture” and incapability to address both lead to the mediocre result for evolution process. Therefore we position ourselves to challenge the false stability in the perception of existing situation. The vision needs appropriate users who can create a critical mass to enhance liveliness and to start up transformation of the city. We envisage that the insertion of new living structures will provoke evolution. By exposing more temporary structures, the transitional period from static to evolutionary will be prolonged. Once the city is familiar with changes and temporality the evolution can take its natural course.
To accommodate the amount of houses from the brief, the intervention is inevitably big and scale is therefore inescapable issue. We propose the project to be built in several phases to respond to the demand. Once the project is complete, it will be a symbol for the success of Utrecht’s evolution. However, it should not become monument and be treated as museum items. When the project no longer serves its purpose to accommodate life, it should be replaced by appropriate interventions.
To break out of existing block pattern, another authority will have to ride over existing ones. Instead of constructing new institutions we want to enhance and reinforce the vital and exuberant educational institutions which are at present hidden behind the facades and rapidly draining into the periphery of Utrecht City.
The “high art” vs. “low culture” and incapability to address both lead to the mediocre result for evolution process. Therefore we position ourselves to challenge the false stability in the perception of existing situation. The vision needs appropriate users who can create a critical mass to enhance liveliness and to start up transformation of the city. We envisage that the insertion of new living structures will provoke evolution. By exposing more temporary structures, the transitional period from static to evolutionary will be prolonged. Once the city is familiar with changes and temporality the evolution can take its natural course.
To accommodate the amount of houses from the brief, the intervention is inevitably big and scale is therefore inescapable issue. We propose the project to be built in several phases to respond to the demand. Once the project is complete, it will be a symbol for the success of Utrecht’s evolution. However, it should not become monument and be treated as museum items. When the project no longer serves its purpose to accommodate life, it should be replaced by appropriate interventions.
Wednesday, July 7, 1999
Friday, February 5, 1999
Tuesday, February 2, 1999
Berlage Institute Amsterdam: studio Tokyo < > NL, Tokyo Houseless
CORE DESIGN PROJECT, FIRST YEAR, WINTER TERM, 1999
TUTORS: STEFANO BOERI AND FRANCESCO JODICE
TEAM: SHIUAN-WEN CHU AND ANA DZOKIC
TUTORS: STEFANO BOERI AND FRANCESCO JODICE
TEAM: SHIUAN-WEN CHU AND ANA DZOKIC
Brief
The title, Tokyo Void, of this project is an oxymoron.
To observe voids in the Hyperdencity is just a process to bring our gaze back to zero degree.
Empty space and the ground zero gaze can be considered as tools to remove a prejudiced vision usually seduced by exoticisms rather than nippologies.
We focuses on what is often observed only within the corner of our eyes, using lateral gaze and producing an eclectic atlas as a way to reveal the hidden structure of the city.
Detecting the clues and traces absorbed by void-soil is a way to catch the erratic, temporal and marginal social behaviours which are extremely emblematic of contemporary Tokyo lifestyles.
Measuring the rhythms of the mutating environment in Tokyo voids allow us the intercept the multiple dynamics of the city: accelerations, entropy states, slow-downs, in the ongoing process of city selfreproduction.
Exploring the interims of Tokyo inhabitants’ everyday life highlighting the movements of intimacy which interrupt the frenetic fluxes of signs.
Sampling the hidden structures of Edo in the backwaters of Tokyo is a way to intercept the city’s unconscious and unseen phenomena which are invisible but still working in the contemporary urban condition.
To design Tokyo Voids doesn’t mean to fill in the blanks. It is rather a chance to test the reactivity of the city. It is an opportunity to recognise a possible new role for architecture in the metropolis which has definitively killed Architecture.
The title, Tokyo Void, of this project is an oxymoron.
To observe voids in the Hyperdencity is just a process to bring our gaze back to zero degree.
Empty space and the ground zero gaze can be considered as tools to remove a prejudiced vision usually seduced by exoticisms rather than nippologies.
We focuses on what is often observed only within the corner of our eyes, using lateral gaze and producing an eclectic atlas as a way to reveal the hidden structure of the city.
Detecting the clues and traces absorbed by void-soil is a way to catch the erratic, temporal and marginal social behaviours which are extremely emblematic of contemporary Tokyo lifestyles.
Measuring the rhythms of the mutating environment in Tokyo voids allow us the intercept the multiple dynamics of the city: accelerations, entropy states, slow-downs, in the ongoing process of city selfreproduction.
Exploring the interims of Tokyo inhabitants’ everyday life highlighting the movements of intimacy which interrupt the frenetic fluxes of signs.
Sampling the hidden structures of Edo in the backwaters of Tokyo is a way to intercept the city’s unconscious and unseen phenomena which are invisible but still working in the contemporary urban condition.
To design Tokyo Voids doesn’t mean to fill in the blanks. It is rather a chance to test the reactivity of the city. It is an opportunity to recognise a possible new role for architecture in the metropolis which has definitively killed Architecture.
Concept: Void
Voids, left over, ignored or intended, are sometimes recognised by individuals with needs, aspirations and desires. For certain groups of the society, these voids are spaces of opportunity. We set out to observe the behaviour of houseless people in the city of Tokyo, in order to discover voids occupied and appropriated to fulfil their needs. It is urgent to re-examine these emerging lifestyles as result of personal choice or as consequence of the bigger system. Should these lifestyles be promoted and integrated as a way of living, or should they be prevented?
Gaze: From Behaviour to Space
We shift the focus of gaze from space to behaviour in order to understand specific qualities of space that attract certain human behaviour. The observation starts with code and behaviour, leading to space. Through this, places with very different atmospheres and functions start to reveal the same potential. The nature of certain behaviours and spaces do not leave evidences to register happenings. These behaviours have to be observed right there and then.
Discovered public spaces occupied by emerging practices are: station corridor, parks, riverbank, leftover pedestrian route at square. Here we single out two examples from our work to demonstrate this observation.
Concept: New Public Privacy
“Private is winning over public”, T. Riley. The square is the territory to be occupied. Whoever turns common public spaces into their own is therefore gaining power over these supposingly civil spaces. The extremely public spaces are used for extremely private programs. The uses of these surfaces are in total opposition to what they are intended for: greenery space in the park for looking at, now occupied by blue tents; station squares for circulation, now occupied by people sleeping. The public space is the STAGE where everyday life is erased and reappearing. The stage acts like a palimpsest for writing on and wiping out again. Public spaces await to be occupied for private needs.
These spaces are often taken for granted since they are inevitable spaces in urban life. In order to understand how the whole space operates, we need to investigate the behaviour of other users. Houseless, kids, informal traders, or commuters, shop owners are essentially very different users, and they practice very different rituals. Municipality possesses the authority to regulate the use of the space. Their interests do not always intersect. When they all merge into the same space, their relationship is manifested in the spatial pattern. Complexity and dynamism occurs by collision of respective desires and demands.
Mechanics of Public Space Transformation defined by users behaviour
Negative of Flow: normal routes, cutting through space, leave corners or leftover spaces. These corners or left-overs are read as the negative of flow. The negative signifies opportunities recognisable by houseless.
Time: activities switch on and off according to ?ormal’ life-style - general pattern of city routines. While normal activities die down opportunity voids expand.
Fluctuation of Boarders and Perimeters: how are the physical boundaries of the dynamic voids demarcated? Although public spaces are clearly outlined, the boundary of activities within are blurred through the negotiation. Instead of having a clear-cut border there is a territory of possible borders. In some sites the border is vague or elastic, while in the other sites it is more defined and less flexible.
Intervention proposal
There is enough housless population to be recognised as a community, whereas the actions of other informal groups (like kids and vendors) have not accumulated to a critical mass. We have chosen to intervene with the large community of houseless whose influence on its surroundings and society is much greater.
In reality, architects’ knowledge is most likely to be used in serving power and wealth. We create a scenario where architects take initiative to propose possible choices to Tokyo Metropolitan Government, hence, both architects and authority have to take position towards houseless.
The proposal comprises a catalogue of space-behaviour concepts and strategies to facilitate, enhance or deter their actions. The strategies base on obvious solutions and concepts of negative of flow, surface treatment, time, overlapping of two worlds - desire to be absent, and minimal items of transformation.
Attitude of Intervention
Through observing how certain behaviours occupy seemingly void spaces at the same time, we noticed how authorities used their powers to suppress action for survival. The behaviours essentially do not leave any traces. The suppression tools used by authority are the only traces left in these void spaces. According to our intervention proposal there are three major positions the authority can take: they can choose to be ignorant of existing situation like they do at present, to be tolerant to facilitate and acknowledge existing situation, or to be totally intolerant to prevent actions of privatising space by houseless people.
Gaze: From Behaviour to Space
We shift the focus of gaze from space to behaviour in order to understand specific qualities of space that attract certain human behaviour. The observation starts with code and behaviour, leading to space. Through this, places with very different atmospheres and functions start to reveal the same potential. The nature of certain behaviours and spaces do not leave evidences to register happenings. These behaviours have to be observed right there and then.
Discovered public spaces occupied by emerging practices are: station corridor, parks, riverbank, leftover pedestrian route at square. Here we single out two examples from our work to demonstrate this observation.
Concept: New Public Privacy
“Private is winning over public”, T. Riley. The square is the territory to be occupied. Whoever turns common public spaces into their own is therefore gaining power over these supposingly civil spaces. The extremely public spaces are used for extremely private programs. The uses of these surfaces are in total opposition to what they are intended for: greenery space in the park for looking at, now occupied by blue tents; station squares for circulation, now occupied by people sleeping. The public space is the STAGE where everyday life is erased and reappearing. The stage acts like a palimpsest for writing on and wiping out again. Public spaces await to be occupied for private needs.
These spaces are often taken for granted since they are inevitable spaces in urban life. In order to understand how the whole space operates, we need to investigate the behaviour of other users. Houseless, kids, informal traders, or commuters, shop owners are essentially very different users, and they practice very different rituals. Municipality possesses the authority to regulate the use of the space. Their interests do not always intersect. When they all merge into the same space, their relationship is manifested in the spatial pattern. Complexity and dynamism occurs by collision of respective desires and demands.
Mechanics of Public Space Transformation defined by users behaviour
Negative of Flow: normal routes, cutting through space, leave corners or leftover spaces. These corners or left-overs are read as the negative of flow. The negative signifies opportunities recognisable by houseless.
Time: activities switch on and off according to ?ormal’ life-style - general pattern of city routines. While normal activities die down opportunity voids expand.
Fluctuation of Boarders and Perimeters: how are the physical boundaries of the dynamic voids demarcated? Although public spaces are clearly outlined, the boundary of activities within are blurred through the negotiation. Instead of having a clear-cut border there is a territory of possible borders. In some sites the border is vague or elastic, while in the other sites it is more defined and less flexible.
Intervention proposal
There is enough housless population to be recognised as a community, whereas the actions of other informal groups (like kids and vendors) have not accumulated to a critical mass. We have chosen to intervene with the large community of houseless whose influence on its surroundings and society is much greater.
In reality, architects’ knowledge is most likely to be used in serving power and wealth. We create a scenario where architects take initiative to propose possible choices to Tokyo Metropolitan Government, hence, both architects and authority have to take position towards houseless.
The proposal comprises a catalogue of space-behaviour concepts and strategies to facilitate, enhance or deter their actions. The strategies base on obvious solutions and concepts of negative of flow, surface treatment, time, overlapping of two worlds - desire to be absent, and minimal items of transformation.
Attitude of Intervention
Through observing how certain behaviours occupy seemingly void spaces at the same time, we noticed how authorities used their powers to suppress action for survival. The behaviours essentially do not leave any traces. The suppression tools used by authority are the only traces left in these void spaces. According to our intervention proposal there are three major positions the authority can take: they can choose to be ignorant of existing situation like they do at present, to be tolerant to facilitate and acknowledge existing situation, or to be totally intolerant to prevent actions of privatising space by houseless people.
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