Mechudzu: The Architecture of Rhetorical Space

119 Pages·2011·20.942 MB·English

by  Bryan Cantley

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Form:uLA:
Bryan Cantley
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New Rhetorics for Architecture
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SpringerWienNewYork RIEAchBookSeries
Editor:GuyLafranchi
MECHUDZU
RIEAch[ResearchInstitutefor ExperimentalArchitecture!
Berne,Switzerland, Europe
Thisworkissubject tocopyright.
Allrightsarereserved,whetherthewhole orpart ofthematerialisconcerned,specifically
thoseoftranslation,reprinting,re-use ofillustrations,broadcasting, reproductionbyphoto
copyingmachines orsimilarmeans,andstorage indatabanks.
Product Liability:Thepublishercangivenoguarantee fortheinformationcontained inthis
book.Theuseofregistered names,trademarks,etc.inthis publicationdoesnotimply, even
intheabsenceofspecific statement,that suchnamesareexemptfrom therelevant protec
tivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
©2011 Springer-Verlag/Wien
Printed inAustria
SpringerWienNewYorkisapart of
SpringerScience-BusinessMedia
springer.at
LayoutandCoverDesign:H1reber, burodestruct, Berne,Switzerland, 2011
ProofReading:DankoSzabo,Grafelfing,Germany
Printingandbinding: Holzhausen Druck GmbH
Vienna,Austria
Printed onacid-freeandchlorine-freebleachedpaper
With numerousillustrations
SPIN:80024747
LibraryofCongressControl Number:2011932730
ISSN1437-7446
ISBN978-3-7091-0834-5SpringerWienNewYork
Author: BryanCantley
Co-author: Dr.DoraEpstein-Jones
THeoreti[caL]:TH03 4
Essay- Drawing Strength from Machinery, Neil Spiller 4
Projects:
• MobileGatherspace 12
• Placemaker/Seedplanter 18
• TheBatman Series 22
• i-P.O.D. 26
• EnantiomorphisticInversions - Through the Looking-GlassHousing [TheAlice Projects] 28
• Threshold/KnockKnock 32
• Wallmaker 34
GRaphi[caL]:GR02 40
Essay- InaGalaxyCloserthanWeThink: BryanCantley'sMarginalArchitecture,Aaron Betsky 40
Essay- Drawing a lTheDNAofTnA),Dr.DoraEpstein-Jones 46
Projects:
• 3AModels 50
• Hybridrawings© 54
• DigitalPaper® 64
• Greensheets/Topo:Typo 72
• NSFWSeries 76
EConomi[caL]:EC01 84
Essay- Machinogenesis, WesJones& DougJackson 84
Projects:
• Housing Prototype NH02 88
• X.Com 94
• TnA[Truth andAdvertising] 98
• SanClemente CON-doRE:surfFace 102
• SantaAnaMonumentSign 104
ALchemi[caL):AL00 106
Essay- TheTypointheTopo,BryanCantley 106
Biography 116
Project Credits 117
Acknowledgments 118
4
When cities in the Orange Curtain finally ban cigarettes and plastic bags,there will be no more wafting
ephemera inthewayofthelessphysicalephemera that pervadesthis landscape.
American dreams.
Illusionsofhappiness.
OrangeCurtains.
Itisimpossible to beherewithoutatheory, for there isnohere,here.Theoryisthe tether. It unites the
landscape- intodream anddespair,association andsignificance, buyandsell.
Mechudzuisatheory aspractice - nohierarchies, noobjects - aconstant permutation ofconstant per
mutations, ameanstoameans.
Thisisthe layerthat resists thedemandforwanting, butstillretains thedynamicstructureofdesire.
Everythingistheoretical. Intheend.
Ill-a\f\,iI1g Stl-el1gtl1
froIn IVIaC:11i11e1-1'
NeilSpiller
TwentyyearsagoPrinceton ArchitecturalPresspublished theverysuccessful"BuildingMachines" issueof
Pamphlet Architecture. Itfeatured the mechanisticvisions of Pfau/Jones, Neil Denari,andthe gorgeously
Dadaworks of Kaplan and Krueger. Realmachines for living in inspired byhydraulic lines, JCBs, forklift
trucks, aircraft, andallthe metallic paraphernalia oflatetwentieth-centuryexistencejust beforethe com
puterbecameubiquitous. Itbecameanimportantbenchmarkinthe "ArchitectureasMachine" idiom.
Thatwasthen and nowisnow- allthings return but differently. During the last fifteen years, LosAngeles
teacher andpractitionerBryanCantleyhasaddedtothis particulargeneologyofarchitectureandhaspro
ducedasubstantial bodyofwork, which should be much better known than it is. Cantley'swork with his
practice Form:uLA isforward-thinking whilst obviouslyreferencing the seminalwork donebefore,but it is
designedforadifferentworld. Aworldwherethecomputerreignssupreme andwhere machinesandvirtual
machines areforeverchangingguisesandfunctions.
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Contemporaryexistence involvesnavigating andoperatingagamutofdifferingtechnologiesandbeingcon
versant with awhole numberof operational protocols. Imagine sitting onan aeroplane, whilst watching a
video,atelephoneinthe armrest,anasthma inhalerinthe pocket,arazorinthe luggage,andavalentine's
card rubbing against your laptop in its snug little bag.Thesesimpleeverydayscenariosare the conceptual
sites forFORM:uLA'sarchitecture,which surfs,records, andposits inthese fluxing machinictopologiesand
typologies, Ifyouhaveasmartphone,andlet'sfaceityouprobablydo,youwillbefamiliarwithsmall"alerts"
interrupting your surfing or emailing. When it does this the virtual machine of the phone, which usually
pretendstobeaword processor,alaptop,acamera, agaming engineoraphotoalbum,andamillionthings
between, suddenly becomes avirtual geographyteacher opening your mind up to a machine-augmented
perceptionofachanging morphologyofspaceanditsfluctuating strata.Thisiscyborgian geography.Thisis
ourenvironmentalcontext asmuch asanyphysicalgeographyortransportinfrastructure.There isawhole
spectrum of morphologies basedonthe electromagneticspectrum andawhole raft ofcyborgiangeomor
phologicalarchaeologistsarmedwith manymachines- somevintage, somestateoftheart- whocanreveal
theirdepthsofspacestous,aswellastherefluctuating nature,
Architects havewitnessed the growing fecundity ofthese types ofspacesand havenoted their destabilizing
influenceonthemonopolyoftraditionalplannedanddesignedspace,However,fewhavespeculated onwhat
architecturemightbeormeanwhenpartiallyimmersedinthesenewdigitizedterrains.BryanCantleyisoneof
thesearchitects- whohassensedaneedtodevelopnewideas,tactics,andstrategiestosavethearchitectural
professionfrom navel-gazing itselfintoextinction. Whyhavearchitectslosttheirway?Architectsareobsessed
with form, theylike thewaytheirbuildingslookattheexpenseofeverything else.Whilstthis isnotacrimein
itself, itcanleavethem myopictothe greatboonofthevirtual-interconnectivity, expediency,andenabling of
delight. Also,theglobal construction industryisfixedintoseries ofsimple economic relationshipspredicated
onaverylimitedpaletteofmaterials,someofwhich havebeenaround formillennia,Thefast-evolving dynam
icsofsoftware,hardware,andtheflyingfreehold andleaseholdsofthevirtualworldhaveyettohaveanymean
ingfulimpact ontheubiquitouseconomics ofthebuilt environment,butit'scoming toanodenearyousoon,
6
ForCantley,realsitesareoftentheinterstitialspacesofthecontemporarycity,itsfacades,anditsdatums.
Inturn, FORM:uLA'sassemblies haveaspatialfecundity oftheirown- that cossetsandbreedsspacesin
tune with need, desire, and expediency.Theyare urban implants that mesh into roofscapes, sidewalks,
andwindow reveals- forcing spaceand regenerating it. AFORM:uLApieceisalaboratoryofform cast
ingfour-dimensional cartographies for possible newarchitectures. Formallythework hasakind ofalien
presencesimilartoasalon hairdryeroutofcontrol or behindthe dashboardofacaroramutantAirfixkit
[AnF111 meets Lawrence ofArabia's motorbikewhilst onatrip toJapan]. Similarto Neil Denari,whose
father worked in aerospace, Cantley grew up on an American farm playing on tractors and other large
farm machineryandexperiencing alandscapecalibrated bythese metallic leviathans. Indeed,the pieces
themselves still often retain the scale ofthe combine harvester.Yetalso resonate with the notion ofthe
"combine" in the art of Robert Rauschenberg - anarchitecture of ready-made, mass-produced objects,
transferred images,subverted iconography,andemphasis ontheviewer completing thework.
AsFORM:uLAexplains,theirarchitecturehasthe"potentialtoexistinmanyplaces,orratheranyplace,at
anygiventime. Itisboth site-less, andof manysites. Itlies somewhere between the ideaof mobilityand
multispatiality. Sincethe fabric of public openspaceoften defines the urban setting, we saw this as an
opportunityto allowcritical needto determine architectural experimentation. Thusthe ideaofadocking
stationorsite-specificsystemrequirementateachsitewasalsoconsideredinthedesignoftheproject.We
havebeenaskednumerous times' ...wherethelines gothat thrustofftheedgeofthe page...'This"dock
ingscenario:'orthe notion ofaplacedownload,isoneanswer."
FORM:uLAandBryanCantleyintrigueme;Ishould haveseenthisworkearlierandsoshouldyou- buythis
book,consumethis book,batheinitspixeljuice.Youhaven'tseenthelastofthis practice.
Neil SpillerisProfessorofArchitecture andDigitalTheoryandDean,SchoolofArchitecture andConstruc
tion,UniversityofGreenwich,London.
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