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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