Beyond Green. Mainstream media and environmentalists would have you think that there's only one way to be green. It seems to go without without saying that we should should switch the light bulbs and drive hybrid cars. cars. And yet, while hippies, humanitarians, multinational corporations, and Geo-engineers may use the same rhetoric to discuss global warming, they offer strikingly varied interpretations of political power structures and land use practices: What roles should government and corporations corporations play in reshaping infrastructure? How can we reimagine the domestic ideals of the American Dream? Should we produce more or consume less? What shared spaces could be collectively activated by the cl imate crisis? What does environmental health look like?
differences between these approaches highlight the significance of ecological The Public Interior . The differences practices practice s for public life and offer an opportunity opportunit y to think bigger. For architecture, this political ecology of climate calls into question familiar figures of the city – building, infrastructure, landscape, laws, and events. Architecture constructs ties between organisms and systems, activates land use practices, and creates images of 'green' living; and in this way speculates on the nature of collective life in a new conditioned interior. Debate is the new Manifesto. If ecology is met with constant controversy, why are architects still offering manifestos, acting as though though the crisis and its solution were certain and fixed? This is where debate comes in. At their best, debates can instigate the formation formation of new positions or advance advance ideas in unexpected ways. Debates create a structure for argument, exploration, and invention, airing differences with rules of play and a focused set of criteria. For architecture, architecture, debate as a strategy allows us to boldly take take a stance while recognizing recognizing its inherent contradictions, uncertainties, and opposing perspectives. perspectives. Studio. The charge of this studio is to engage in a process of research, debating, and making to design a 100,000 square foot, conditioned (22°C) leisure space open to the public 24 hours/day and 365 days/year along the Salt River in Phoenix, Arizona.
[email protected] org Advanced Studio IV Spring 2012 . Janette Kim , janette@e-alloftheabove.
PROCESS This is a studio that looks at environmentalism and ecology in architecture as a discourse among diverse and competing schools of thought, each with its own political, cultural, and economic interests at stake. Our approach is to recognize the differences differences among these voices as the site for invention. This studio adopts techniques of debate as a design strategy to question and advance the criteria of ecological design and expand its socio-political socio-political reach. deserts inhabitable. We will study existing projects projects and sites, both in Arizona Part One: Research. Examine strategies for making deserts and globally, in order to explore a range of political, technologi cal, and ecological contexts. From this research, the studio will derive a conceptual map of positions, or ideological stances, towards towards the question ‘What does green mean’ modeled after the Underdome project (www.theunderdome.net). Students are asked to make a visual presentation from the perspective of one of these positions that (1) provides provides in-depth understanding of the position's implications implications for public life, and (2) explores architectural strategies that the position can use to fulfill its mission. 2.5 weeks rapid-fire sequence following the framework of mock debate. This Part Two: Debate. Students will produce two quick designs in rapid-fire will begin with a design representing their chosen position from Part One, and then follow with a design representing representing an opposing perspective with in a debate cluster. Each project will be presented and argued in opposition to contending projects in the cluster. For each project, students will present research and a 60 second, impressionistic, stop-motion stop-motion video clip narrating an experience of leisure at our Phoenix site. 2 weeks Part Three: Third Position. Based on the outcomes of the debate and dialogue in Parts One and Two, each student is to develop a new, third position that moves beyond beyond the given stance. This may be a exaggeration of an existing position, an innovative combination or hybrid of several, or a wholly new approach to the issues of each debate cluster. cluster. In this phase, we will revisit the research research and presentation methods from from Phase One to form the third position; and we will develop architectural strategies with a rigorous investigation investigation of methods of fabrication and representation. representation. 8 weeks
DESIGN CRITERIA Designs are to propose innovative design approaches to ecological and environmental issues from a broad range of perspectives, concerning technology, politics, ethics, public policy, and concepts of nature in a way that generates and contributes to the ongoing debate about ecology in architecture. Please also note that each student is required to contribute work and text descriptions of their work to a course blog throughout the semester.
COLLABORATION We will look at collaboration as a process that engages both complementary and antagonistic relationships relationships among individuals. While students will work independently in Parts One and Two, Two, and have an option to work in pairs in Part Three, the entire working process is collaborative as students will develop their work i n direct dialogue with other projects in the studio.
OWNERSHIP, PROGRAM AND SITE Students are to design a 100,000 square foot conditioned (22°C) leisure space open to the public 24 hours/day and 365 Today’s ‘creative class’ hubs days/year . Each student is challeng ed to define leisure in a way that best explores their position. Today’s boast sports recreation, recreation, dining and shopping amenities. Within and beyond this dominant image of leisure lie questions about economic productivity, productivit y, class, social engineering, enginee ring, pleasure and free will. Worker’s canteens canteen s provide the rest a worker needs to be productive. Walking trails host Michelle Obama’s “Let’s “Let’s Move Youth” campaign. All-inclusive All-in clusive golf resorts boost the local economy with sun-belt tourism. Darkened internet cafes host teenage avatars, while high school neighborhoods neighborhoods experience a spike in crime after school lets out. The home office, household chores chores and the 2-hour exurban commute erode the boundaries between work and play. play. For this studio, the notion of free time will allow us to engage questions of governance and lifestyle in relationship to the conditioned interior. The site for the studio is located at the intersection of a civic center, recreational zone and industrial park at the Salt River ‘world’s least sustainable city,” cit y,” Phoenix presents a challenge common to all in Phoenix, Arizona . As what Andrew Ross calls the ‘world’s desert sites: how to keep cool in an environment inhospitable inhospitable to human habitation? Privatization has confined so-called public space to air conditioned interiors and irrigated golf course greens. greens. Phoenix is a laboratory for libertarian urbanism: minimal regulation and cheap labor have attracted mining industries and aerospace defense contracts, contracts, turning the ‘sunbelt’ into a ‘gunbelt.’ Class and race divides are exacerbated by the burdens of environmental pollution. pollution. While the city as a whole has suffered the harsh blow of the foreclosure crisis, neighborhoods to the south of the Salt River also contend with plumes from the asphalt plant that light up the night sky and dwindling Latino populations threatened by bold anti-immigration laws and a weak job market. Meanwhile, at the Salt River, developers developers build cultural centers and ‘walkable’ mall towns along a lake held in place by an inflatable dam. Downstream, closely packed residential units and industrial businesses overlook vast stretches of exposed sediment and trickles of water. Here, gravel companies restore riparian corridors in exchange for rights to mine the exposed riverbed.
[email protected] org Advanced Studio IV Spring 2012 . Janette Kim , janette@e-alloftheabove.
SCHEDULE
(* roving engineers available this week)
Part 1: Research
week 1
Fri Jan 20
meeting Avery 505
Introduction + Portfolio Reviews
week 2
Mon Jan 23 Wed Jan 25 Fri Jan 27
desk crits informal pinup desk crits
Desert/site research + discuss reading
Week 3
Mon Jan 30 Wed Feb 1 Fri Feb 3
pinup desk crits desk crits
Position + Mapping Debate + discuss reading
week 4*
Mon Feb 6
REVIEW
All research
Wed Feb 8 Fri Feb 10
video tutorial desk crits informal pinup
1 st Position multiple strategy collages 1st Position design + storyboard
week 5
Mon Feb 13 Wed Feb 15 Fri Feb 17
desk crits pinup desk crits
1st Position design + storyboard 1st Position debate 2nd Position multiple strategy collages
week 6
Mon Feb 20 Wed Feb 22
desk crits ¼ REVIEW
2nd Position design + storyboard 1st + 2nd Position Debate
Fri Feb 24
desk crits
Massing and Program
week 7
Mon Feb 27 Wed Feb 29 Fri Mar 2
desk crits pinup desk crits
Massing and Program Massing and Program Massing and Program
week 8
Mon Mar 5 Wed Mar 7 Fri Mar 9
desk crits desk crits MID-REVIEW
Massing and Program Massing and Program Massing and Program
Part 2: Debate
Part 3: Final Position
March 12-16 Spring Break week 9
Mon Mar 19 Wed Mar 21 Fri Mar 23
desk crits informal pinup desk crits
Technology/material echnology/m aterial strategy tests Technology/material strategy tests Technology/material echnology/ma terial strategy tests
week 10
Mon Mar 26 Wed Mar 28 Fri Mar 30
desk crits desk crits desk crits
Design Development Design Development Design Development Development
Week 11
Mon Apr 2 Wed Apr 4 Fri Apr 6
¾ REVIEW desk crits desk crits
Design Development Design: structure, envelope Design: structure, envelope
Week 12*
Mon Apr 8 Wed Apr 10 Fri Apr 12
desk crits desk crits desk crits
Design: representation representatio n focus Design: representation representati on focus Design: representation representation focus
Week 13
Mon Apr 15 Wed Apr 17 Fri Apr 19
pin-up desk crits desk crits
FINAL DESIGN DAY+ Presentation Presentati on Mock-up final presentation production final presentation presentation production production
Week 14
Mon Apr 24 Wed Apr 25
other studios’ reviews FINAL REVIEW
[email protected] org Advanced Studio IV Spring 2012 . Janette Kim , janette@e-alloftheabove.
READINGS, REFERENCES, AND RESOURCES * .pdf of article or selected book chapters available on courseworks. ** required readings Note: the hold shelf for this studio (and the seminar Known Unknowns) is #349 Environmentalism and Ecology: History/Theory of Environmentalism Dowie, Mark, Losing Ground *Djalali, Amir, and Piet Vollard, The Complex History of Sustainability: A Timeline. Timeline. Volume #18, After #18, After Zero; and .pdf [courseworks] [courseworks] Kim, Janette and Carver, Erik, http://www.theunderdome.net *Giddens, Anthony. Anthony. The Politics of Climate Change Taking Sides, Clashing Views on Environmental Issues, ed. Thomas Easton. History/Theory of Nature and Wilderness Carr, Ethan, Wilderness by Design: Landscape Architecture and the National Park Service *Cronon, William. “The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature,” in Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature Nash, Roderick. Wilderness and the American Mind Oelschlaegr, Max, The Idea of Wilderness History/Theory of Ecology ** Worster, Donald. Donald. Nature's Economy (339-420) Political Ecology *Latour, Bruno. “'It’s development, stupid!' or: How to Modernize Modernization” in Postenvironmentalism, ed. ed. Jim Proctor *Latour, Bruno. 'A Cautious Prometheus? A Few Steps Toward a Philosophy of Design (with Special Attention to Peter Sloterdijk)' *Latour, Bruno. The Politics of Nature Latour, Bruno, lecture “Globalization: Which Globe? Which Politics?” http://www http://www.columbia.ed .columbia.edu/cu/alliance u/cu/alliance Luke, Timothy, Capitalism, Democracy, and Ecology: Departing from Marx *Ross, Andrew. Chicago Gangster Theory of Life (London ; New York : Verso, 1994) (99-158) *Sloterdijk, Peter, ““Foam City,” Log 9 (Winter–Spring 2007): 63–76. [courseworks] *Sloterdijk, Peter, “Cell Block, Egospheres, Self-Container,” Log 10 (Summer–Fall 2007): 89–108. *Sloterdijk, Peter “Foams.” Harvard Design Magazine 29 (Fall–Winter 2008–9): 38–52. Zizek, Slavoj. lecture: “Ecology: A New Opium of the Masses,” lecture 2007, http://www.lacan.com/zizekecologyvideo.html Labor and Economies *Shellenberger, Michael and Nordhaus, Ted, "The Death of Environmentalism" Shellenberger, Michael and Nordhaus, Ted, Break Through. From the Death of Environmentalism to thePolitics of Possibility Science of Ecology Botkin, Daniel. Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet *Botkin, Daniel, Discordant Harmonies : A New Ecology for the Twenty-First Century Climate Change projections *Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability , ed. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Architectural Movements and strategies: Landscape Urbanism *Landscape Urbanism Reade,r Ed. Reade,r Ed. Charles Waldheim *Corner, James. “Landscape Urbanism”, from Landscape Urbanism Reader May, John, “Bringing Back a Fresh Kill;Notes on a Dream of Territorial Resuscitation,” Verb: Crisis. McHarg, Ian, Design with Nature *McKee, Yates, “Haunted Housing: Eco-Vanguardism and Eviction in New Orleans,”The Question of New Orleans. Environmental Technologies: Hayes , Brian, Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape Margolis, Liat. Living Systems: Innovative Materials and Technologies for Landscape Architecture Well-Tempered Well-Tempered Environments Environment s *Architectural Design (A.D.) “Energy” Issue *Architectural Design (A.D.) “Interior Atmospheres” Atmospheres” Issue May/June 2008 *Banham, Reyner, The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment Environ(ne)ment, Environ(ne)ment, Gilles Clement and Philippe Rahm, Rahm, Ed. Giovanna Borasi
[email protected] org Advanced Studio IV Spring 2012 . Janette Kim , janette@e-alloftheabove.
Harvard Design Guide to Shopping, Shopping , “Air Conditioning”. Conditioning”. *Osman, Michael, “Banham’s Historical Ecology,” Neo-Avant-Garde Neo-Avant-Garde and Postmodern: Postwar Architecture in Britain and Beyond, Beyond, ed. Mark Crinson and Claire Zimmerman Space as Ecological Frontier *Anker, Peder, “The closed world of ecological architecture” *Anker, Peder, “The Ecological Colonization of Space.” NASA Space Settlements; http://settlement. http://settlement.arc.nasa.g arc.nasa.gov/index.htm ov/index.htmll Sustainable Urbanism *The Sustainable Urban Development Reader Solar Architecture Sorry, Sorry, Out of Gas: Architecture's Response to the 1973 Oil Crisis, Edited by Giovanna Borasi and Mirko Zardini. Biosphere 2: *Ackerman, Frank and Heinzerling, Lisa, Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing Allen, John and Blake, Anthony , Anthony , Biosphere 2: The Human Experiment *Biosphere Past and Present *Carver, Erik and Kim, Janette, Crisis in Crisis: Biosphere 2’s Contested Ecologies Revesz, Richard and Livermore, Michael, Retaking Rationality: How Cost-Benefit Analysis Can Better Protect the Environment and Our Health Poynter, Jane , The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Years Inside Biosphere 2 Architectural Theorists/Historians on Environment *Jarzombek, *Jarzombek, Mark. “Molecules, Money and Design: The Question of Sustainability’s Sustainability’s Role in Architectural Academe”, Thresholds Thresholds n. 18, 1999 *Jarzombek, Mark. “Sustainability: “Sustainability: Fuzzy Systems and Wicked Problems.” Log 8, Summer 2006 Scott, Felicity, Architecture Felicity, Architecture or Techno-Utopia Scott, Felicity, Living Archive 7; Ant Farm Wigley, Mark. “Recycling Recycling.” Eco-Tec, ed. Amerigo Marras Humanitarian Action Design Like You Give a Damn Despite Good Intentions Environmental Movements and Positions: Hippies: Curl, John , Memories of Drop City: The first hippie commune of the 1960's and the Summer of Love Commune, Commune, (documentary) director Jonathan Berman Easy Rider, (feature film) director Dennis Hopper Sternfeld, Joel, Sweet Earth: Experimental Utopias in America Anti-Consumerism Rogers, Heather. Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy is Undermining the Environmental Revolution Libertarianism *Massey, Jonathan, “The Sumptuary Ecology of Buckminster Fuller’s Designs,” A Designs,” A Keener Perception : Ecocritical studies in American Art History *Lovins, Amory, “The Road Not Taken,” Foreign Affairs (October 1976). (6-15) Free Market Environmentalism Friedman, Tom. Hot, Flat, and Crowded *Hawken, Paul, “Natural Capitalism,” The Sustainable Urban Development Reader *Florida, Richard, “Cities and the Creative Class,” City & Community Hunters Preservationism Antlers, (Documentary) director Andre-Line Beauparlant Other Topics in Political Ecology: Food: Michael Pollan, Botany of Desire Risk *Beck, Ulrich, Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity
[email protected] org Advanced Studio IV Spring 2012 . Janette Kim , janette@e-alloftheabove.
*Davis, Mike, Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster (New York : Vintage Books, 1999) (95-147) *Greeley, *Greeley, Brendan, “The God Clause and the Reinsurance Industry” Bloomberg Businessweek, Businessweek, (Sep 21, 2011) (1-9) *Levy, Jonathan, “The Ways of Providence: Capitalism, Risk and Freedom in America” (ProQuest, 2008) Human/Animal Ethics Ingraham, Catherine. Catherine. Architecture, Architecture, Animal, Human: The Asymmetrical Condition Becoming Animal, ed. Nato Thompson Quantitative analysis of macro energy issues: * Dantzig, George. Compact City Lomborg, Bjorn, The Skeptical Environmentalist, Environmentalist, and Cool-It Levitt, Steven, Superfrakonomics Publics and Public Spaces Deutsche, Rosalynd, Evictions Robbins, Bruce. The Phantom Public Sphere Deserts General Banham , Reyner, Scenes in America Deserta Desert America: Territory of Paradox, Paradox , Ed. Ramon Prat, Michael Kubo and Irene Hwang Phoenix Center for Land Use Interpretation, “City Insight: Phoenix” http://www.clui.org http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winte /newsletter/winter-2007/city r-2007/city-insight-phoe -insight-phoenix nix ** Ross, Andrew, Bird on Fire Leisure Russell, Bertrand , In praise of Idleness, and Other Essays *Veblen, Thorstein, The Theory of the Leisure Class Reference Material Technical Drawing references McLeod, Virginia, Detail in Contemporary Landscape Architecture
[email protected] org Advanced Studio IV Spring 2012 . Janette Kim , janette@e-alloftheabove.