thanasis
thanasis is a designer of objects & places.
villages and tribes
2020
Research proposal,
written as part of a competition entry for harvard's graduate school of design
references
the global imaginary
Introduction
Villages and tribes is an analogy and a contradiction. An analogy which talks about collaboration and competitiveness, empathy vs apathy, personal identity vs the collective. It is also a contradiction. In the transformation of the Imaginaries into the Global, the world promised us peace, unity and equality but instead have been greeted by conflict, alienation, and territoriality. With public spaces being the classical device for connecting people, can these architectural devices live up to the reputation of the past? Or have they fallen out of vogue in favour of metaphysical devices? This is a study of public spaces, but not one that considers spaces in isolation, rather one which cross references spaces across the world to identify patterns in how we use public spaces in the 21st century and their potentials for the future
Observations
The world is restructuring but are our public spaces keeping up?
The imaginaries evolved out of sociologists’ desires to express the creative and symbolic aspects of humanity. It imagined wonderful ways for people to live together, create societies, gather, learn and create. It imagined metaphoric villages where collaboration and inclusion was promoted. Such ambitions gave rise to the National Imaginary, the promotion of unity amongst people based on intra national relations, a scope with limited outreach to other communities based on geopolitical boundaries. Eventually the strength of the National became its weakness and its political abuse led to the search for a new imaginary - the Global. Coined by Manfred Steger in 2008, the “Global Imaginary” emerged with the help of advances in technology in the early 20th century and represents a post-modern phenomena which breaks down the imagined walls of nationhood, bringing a “shared sense of thickening world community”. It imagines a world no longer defined by Nationality and Geography but rather creates a platform for identities to reform independently from nations and continents. With the shift, people no longer required their neighbours, but can now frame their life in relation to others across the world.
We are now placeless and no longer is the life of an expatriate considered a rare phenomena, in many cases it’s a necessity. But are we really placeless? and is the National Identity really willing to step aside for the Global? We clearly live in a time where tension between National and Global Imaginaries exists and this transitionary moment presents an interesting condition worth studying. Not just in the transitions between paradigm shifts, but between moments of work, life, and home. As the world is shifting both physically and metaphysically, are the traditional devices of spatial communication such as nodes and public space still relevant? Or perhaps these spaces are now more necessary than ever to ground us in the constant act of people’s geographical relocation?
The term tribes has emerged in recent years and praised by authors such as Seth Godin and Douglas Atkins for its ability to fuse people into strong and powerful groups. They are the communities and cultures of the contemporary world and although neo-tribalism is based on the traditional tribes, it distorts the classical definition. These neo-communities promise the end of alienation by offering people a common manifesto and aim at building social cohesion through competitive spirit and brand loyalty. Although an effective system for intra-tribal relations, the system risks jeopardizing individuality for the common good of the tribe and promotes hostility between tribes. What were once defined by National flags and symbols of religious faiths, tribes have now swelled to include brands like Nike, corporations such as Amazon and festivals like burning man. Like any organism, they grow, divide and multiply. They are also ones that vary in scale and one is not limited to membership of just one - adding tremendous complexity and confusion to contemporary social interactions. To complicate matters further, tribes are no longer immobile, they overlap and can shift between geography at any moment. Breeding further tension as tribes attempt territoriality in a non-territorial world. The term village on the other hand is untainted. It symbolizes unity by expressing the collage of identities rather than focusing on a single purpose - an inspirational model for building empathy. Which beg the question, can public spaces play a peacekeeping role to help guide the world towards a collage of collaborative villages?
Question
How can public spaces evolve to connect diverging people within today’s modernized world?
Hypothesis
Public spaces are not being designed for effective inter tribal linkages due to a misreading of their respective
Global Imaginary canon.
Talking about cultures in isolation is getting us in trouble, and designing public spaces which fail to create cultural awareness risks conflict in humanity’s paradigmatic shift towards the Global Imaginary. The importance of today’s spaces at the intersection of program could not be more relevant and the claim that physical gathering spaces are dying is a myth. As we increasingly spend more and more of our time indoors, the encounters from destination to destination becomes all the more important in maintaining awareness of others. These spaces are nothing new, they have taken the form of intersections at streets, markets, town squares, transportation hubs etc for generations, but their mere presence is not enough. It is rather their spatial specificity that is more important than their existence. To design more appropriate public spaces, understanding its traditional components such as the cultures it impacts, climate, spatial tools available and craft are elemental but so is the typological understanding of space. Given humans are still human, our physical environment is still a critical component to be nurtured for our mental and physical well being. However as our interests and desires have diversified with time, the way we use spaces has changed and evolved. As we sit back and contemplate the centenary of the Bauhaus, it’s time we think about spaces for the next 100 years. In this study, I hypothesize five canons for public space and ask how public spaces of the Global Imaginary have changed in the context of these canons:
collective effervescence (spectacle)
This is perhaps the most well known function of public space as it represents the power of gathering. Markets at public squares, outdoor concerts and rallies all create an intensity which builds bonds between people with lasting impressions. Its effects have been studied since the 19th century and coined “Collective Effervescence” by the French Sociologist Emile Durkheim in 1912. Although originally used to describe religious rituals, secular events can have the same influence in exciting individuals towards the unification of a group. Attempts to recreate such an atmosphere in the digital world have been greeted with only moderate success - a sign that power in numbers is still best represented in real life. In the pursuit of promoting relationships akin to villages, the promotion of collective effervescence between members of different tribes presents an important role for public spaces. In a time where knowing your neighbour becomes less and less common, how can public spaces build empathy between neighbours of different mindsets?
Nested tribes (territoriality)
This canon of the global is one of potential conflict and a curious case as its formation can come about multiple avenues. Inspired by a recent visit to Plateia Eleftheria in Athens, a tribe of Syrian refugees have sought to transform this public square into a cultural node for themselves. Shops transitioned to ones catered for the new people, the language diversified, the signage changed, smells evolved and music shifted. Yet once this happened, the Greek tribe to which this space belonged to, receded. In this example, the tribe of Syrian refugees found themselves in a foreign context requiring a home within another tribe. In other cases, a tribe could encroach into the territory of an existing tribe, triggering the formation of a strong nucleus as a territorial response to the new neighbour. In all cases, it’s about community building and in many cases, about territoriality. It wonders what is spatially required to define a tribe’s nucleus and asks, is this nested territoriality a necessary component of coexistence?
Symbols (identity)
Symbols are the most elemental forms of communication. They predate language and have been used for thousands of years as orientation devices and material representations of culture. They can take on many forms based on the political or social agenda of the place. Large monuments can be used to represent the power of collectives, or misused to symbolize the power of an individual. They can also be misleading, not all symbols are what they appear - a common game of trickery which is being deployed across public spaces in the world. The Amazon Spheres in Seattle are an example of such a device, which after many ill attempts to relinquish their conditioned space to the public, they stand to remain a symbol of Amazon’s power rather than a symbol of the city’s success.
This canon identifies symbolism in public spaces and asks about the 21st century role of symbols in placemaking. Traditionally, such spaces have been of monumental proportions and include the Red Square in Moscow and Tiananmen Square in Beijing, but as our life shifts into the metaphysical, are such monuments relevant anymore? Perhaps symbols are finding themselves in other forms?
Improvisation (creativity)
Flexible and malleable spaces have been essential components to our urban infrastructure. They are loose, unprecious and adaptable spaces that allow people to experiment, personalize and taylor an experience to their individual needs. A form of self expression necessary for our psychological well being. A clinical trial by Neuroscientist Charles Limb found that people’s brain patterns differed when in a situation of improvisation - helping them activate their brains and in turn aiding cognition. This encouragement of creativity is what promotes a community of free thinkers (villagers), dampening the development of a lotus eater society. But how has improvisation changed in public space? Originally associated with Markets, big flexible plazas and shops open to the streets, these spaces have become much more private in recent years. In Northern California, suburban garages became the genesis for improvisation and the scale of urban infrastructure leaves little room for self expression in many North American cities. Is this trend true for other places across the world? Has improvisation shifted to other spaces? and if so, is this shift driven by a desire from the people or investors?
Escapism (refuge)
Although escapism can be interpreted as an anti-interaction, moments of contemplation away from your own context is an important role of public space. In many cases, it establishes necessary mental breaks for generating clearer thoughts and therefore building a capacity for more meaningful encounters. Parks are what comes to most people’s minds, but what happens in places of intense density? As spirituality is becoming less and less a focus in contemporary society, the ritual of contemplation is fading with it. However, we can not avoid being human and our minds require this mental pause. With the emergence in popularity of noise canceling headphones, the desire for personal space still clearly exists, which makes me curious as to whether public spaces can help. Can small urban gardens or introspective pods be public space’s answer to the human need for contemplation? What are our other options - do any other forms of contemplative public space exist in the world?
Prediction
The art of interesting people is both physical and metaphysical. The spaces we occupy are nothing more than anthropomorphized forms of ourselves and thus best manifested as a celebration of life. As such, the most compelling spaces still spawn out of an understanding of sociology and psychology. By documenting public spaces across the world in relation to the five canons of the global identity, I aim to explore the elemental properties of public space and understand how this has changed in the 21st century.
Methods/Experimentation
The research is divided into two parts and seeks inspiration from both the arts and science to examine public spaces across the world. The first is field research, taking me to 5 cities across the world for examining their cultures and identifying patterns in how people use public spaces. The second is lab research, which collects and dissects data and observations from the field research to create a comparative study for the proving or disproving of the hypothesis. The five selected cities are a sampling of cultures I have never visited and not fully understand. They have been selected based on a curiosity of the place, an interest in their public spaces and their ability to add a further understanding of how public spaces are used across contexts:
1 Dhaka, Bangladesh (manufacturing)
Coined as the rickshaw capital of the world, Dhaka is Bangladesh’s Capital and a city full of intrigue and mystery. Home to contemporary masterpieces in public space by both Louis Kahn and Doxiadis, the two architects’ distinctively different approaches to design speaks to the contradictions of the city. With Louis Kahn’s top-down master architect approach, his spaces display a geometric rigour of sublime atmosphere whereas Doxiadis’ preaching on the importance of bottom up design through his theories of ekistics, caters to the everyday needs of the city’s citizens. It’s social division is of contention, most apparent in its manufacturing industry. Bangladesh holds the title for the world’s second largest readymade garment industry (second only to China), accounting for 45% of industrial employment but only 5% of Bangladesh’s total national income. Curiously out to explore public spaces of both economic demographics, one wonders - how are the public spaces of the affluent fundamentally different than the poor? And do these demographics ever mix?
2 Bangalore, India (technology)
It’s hard to imagine a city that lives in the digital world more than Bangalore. As the hub for India’s tech center and home to one of the largest talent pools, it’s no wonder Bangalore is the world’s fastest growing megacity. Curiously driven by a comparison to my previous hometown of Seattle, Bangalore is said to be the city which will overthrow Amazon. According to the Economic Times, “India has everything to go beyond what Amazon did, digital native talent, thriving retail and e-commerce market that is open to experimentation. Also the cost of failure is lower here too.” Theoretically, such a scene should be more open to experimentation, but how about their public spaces? With Seattle’s urban encounters amongst people lagging behind other cities across the world, one wonders if such a phenomena is a product of the technology industry, climate or superimposed cultures?
3 Beijing, China (symbolism)
For centuries, Eastern Civilization developed in parallel to the western world. Its culture was one of great myths to Westerners; spiritual, mythical, poetic and gentle yet paradoxically also bold, monumental and direct. But to the Chinese, these are not paradoxes but harmonious dualities; a series of necessary yings and yangs to organize the world’s chaos. At its heart is Beijing, a city that has retained its political relevance for eight centuries - an accomplishment few Capitals of the world have managed to sustain.
At 21.5 million, Beijing is also China’s second largest city and with growth continuing, it will soon become the center of a 150 million supercity. Its public spaces are both of cultural heritage (such as Tiananmen Square) and contemporary (such as the plazas of CCTV). In both cases, one wonders how these spaces are being used. Are public spaces in Beijing used in a different way than similar spaces in the west? Also what happens in a big Global event when cultures mix? Do the use of its public spaces diversify? or do people fall into patterns of the place? Slated to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Beijing will become the first city in the world to host both Summer and Winter Olympic Games and presents an interesting learning opportunity for public space design.
4 Moscow, Russia (power)
Throned as “Third Rome” after the collapse of Constantinople in the 16th century, Moscow’s monumental proportions presents itself as nothing shy of modest. As the Northernmost and coldest Megalopolis in the world, it takes on a very different approach to public space. Known for its lavish and impressive network of 222 metro stations, its underground infrastructure is curiously considered while its streets above afford very little space to its pedestrians. A study by Jan Gehl in 2013 described the overwhelming presence of the automobile and vastness of its public spaces as insufficient in providing comfortable spaces for people. But is this vastness sometimes necessary? The Red Square and Gorky Park are both of monumental proportions yet highly praised. Which makes one wonder about the presence of both scales.
5 São Paulo, Brazil (identity)
With 200 different nations and home to the largest Arab, Italian, Japanese and Portuguese diasporas in the world, São Paulo is a melting pot of nationalities. Although its identity crisis is of a different generation, the relics of Nationalism left behind are considered to be some of the most important public spaces in modern times. Oscar Niemeyer’s symbols of the new age and Lina Bo Bardi’s buildings out of love through her collaborative spirit has left a lasting legacy. Her community center, Pompeia, was one of the most celebrated public spaces of all time. Today, Brazil is the largest producer of coffee in the world and São Paulo (the country’s economic center) has the largest economy by GDP in the Southern Hemisphere. With São Paulo being a true “working” city under constant evolution, how are the masterpieces of modernism being used today? and have any new public spaces, (both formal and informal) come to overtake the public interventions of the past?
Field Research
Field research will require a mixed media approach of documentation which will include film, drawing, writing, and photography. Collectively, these mediums will cover the breadth of experiences these places have to offer while a consistent mode of documentation from place to place will allow for a clear compare & contrast study. While onsite, the process of derive is to promote organic explorations during the first few days of arrival in a destination. Derive, was theorized by Guy Debord and the Situationists in the 1960s as a method for promoting a process in which “a person drops their motives for movement and action, relations, work, leisure and lets themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and encounters they find there”. It takes inspiration from method acting and places me in unconventional living situations, interacting with people of the place and professionals of the region in order to explore how public spaces are used in these selected cultures. After one week of exploring, two sites are to be selected and another week is invested in documenting these two spaces for each of the five cities. Handwritten logs will transpose conversations acquired along the way. A digital camera and drone (where permitted) will record a series of short moving images and stills of events and activities within its public spaces. And a sketchbook will be used to document how people move through space. While on site, it is important I continually ask, what canon does this space belong to? How? And are there any spaces that do not fit within these 5 outlined canons? If so, do more canons exist? As a process for understanding the spatial qualities of each space, it is imperative that their characteristics are thoroughly considered and the following prompts are ones to help aid the examination of public space:
1. Ownership of Space: how is it delineated, and who owns what?
2. Circulation: what are the patterns, porosity, accessibility, modes of transportation?
3. To what degree are spaces personalized by its users?
4. What are the sounds of the place?
5. What are the smells of the place?
6. Is there any locally produced art? If so, what does it focus on?
7. What is the “speed of the city”?
8. How is the media (locally and internationally) portraying the place? Are these campaigns accurate?
9. Is it a spiritual place?
10. Thermal Delight: how does the space address the local climate?
11. Time: how does the space change over the course of a day? Season?
12. What is the role of landscape?
13. What is the presence of the digital world in these physical spaces?
14. How are people interacting with the space? Are there benches, games etc?
15. Authenticity: is the place borrowing characteristics of another place? If so, what are those?
16. To what degree is privacy important and/or being dealt with?
Lab Research
In the studio, the study transitions from an artistic/experiential venture to a scientific process. It takes content gathered from the 10 public spaces and organizes it based on the medium used. A comparative study is then created by comparing and contrasting the spaces across common media. Using interpretive drawings and diagrams, a conclusion extracts lessons learned, talks about relationships formed, and revisits the hypothesis to discuss what changed in my understanding of public spaces.
Why it Matters
This proposed study is intended to examine the world for what it is - it is not a study on nostalgia nor preservation but a genuine pursuit for understanding trajectories of contemporary space. Having been culturally divided amongst Canada, Greece, the Netherlands and the United States, interests in public space has been an organic trajectory as I mediate the in-between moments of my own existence. It is intended to help stimulate conversation beyond today’s postmodern thinking - a paradigm we’ve held onto for the last 100 years. As we sit back and contemplate the centenary of the Bauhaus, I would like to use the resources of the wheelwright prize to explore public spaces of the world in their current state - a study that aims to expand my knowledge of public space’s potential in encouraging self awareness and communication with others. It is a topic I am deeply passionate about and hope the research will build upon contemporary conversations on city design - one which architects have been gradually drifting apart from for the last 100 years.