Albert Pope: Ladders - Architecture at Rice 34 (1996)

Reviewed by Rebecca King

The Primacy of Space In this text, the contemporary city, the city of today, is viewed as under construction and invisible to the naked eye. Pope does not mean this literally of course, but refers to the notion that one cannot see the urban conceptions that the city operates under. The city has dropped in status to something that is simply passed through as people go about their own individual lives. Not forgotten or neglected, just unseen. He also introduces the contemporary city as a parasite; an urban/sub-urban failing in which new developments are not outgrowing the urban host, but becoming a new urban organism. Pope suggests that to better understand the city, we must separate the new parasitic city from its original urban host. It is not the built form which impacts the city most, but the spaces in between such as spaces of urban decay, public parks, high speed roads or car parks. These areas have slipped past designers and we must focus back on these to fix the state of the contemporary urban environment, recreating a dialogue between built form and urban space. Pope proposes that the urban grid is undergoing an autonomous process of transformation, that it is ultimately a grid based on internal logic. This transformation of urban organisation will, henceforth, be referred to as the “ladder”. The Open City There is a powerful link between the urban grid and the urban identity of a city. The grid can be read as an icon of order, a bureaucratic matrix. But beyond this, it is a tool for infinite complexities. It can not only be definitive, but ambiguous at the same time, a problem which caused 20th Century urban reformers to promote its disappearance. Rosalind Krauss’s reading of the centrifugal and centripetal grid is useful in this instance. She sets up the centrifugal reading of the grid as an open system, a fragment of an unlimited field which will never be known in its entirety. The centripetal grid is then the conflicting feature. It is closed and limited system, symbolic of form and order. Due to industrial and demographic explosion in the 19th Century, an autonomous, limitless urban grid was born, such as was seen in Manhattan. It became itself, a process, not an urban plan but an urban metabolism. This would be a centrifugal grid. Cities were rarely created as pure centripetal form. Although they would have a degree of closure, they would still be considered as open systems. The open city allows for a free society, it is society’s urban imagination where anything can happen. Yet it would appear that this view is out of step with the city of contemporary construction. The transition between the two, the emergence of an unknown form from the centripetal grid is the ladder, the skeleton of a unique type of contemporary urban space.

Urban Implosion An alternative theory is that the city is not opening up, but closing down. The erosion of the grid, in turn, causes the erosion of the city. This point, where the city ceases to be, is the point of implosion. It is here that the grid transforms into a ladder. Urban form survives in the ladder, but spatially, it opposes an open, centrifugal urban form. It generates a closed system of operation. If ten points were to be visited in an open grid, the sequence of visitation could be endless. The grid generates multiple routes and interconnections. The ladder, however, eliminates options and allows for only one itinerary, thus suppressing the cross purpose of an urban grid. The ladder could be said to have evolved from the concept of a ‘Linear City’. Many variations of the linear city were proposed, falling into two categories. The first is the “band type” developed by Russian theorist N.A. Milutin. The plan was a series of six parallel zones layered astride a frame for transportation. Each band had its own function and would be capable of infinite extension. The second is organised around a central, hierarchical spine where everything is placed in relation to the path of transportation. A single dominant route dictates the urban circulation and allows for secondary development and a break from the monotony that the bands present. The ladder, therefore, is the linear association in contemporary urban development. Ludwig Hilberseimer can be named as the prime theorist of the ladder. His ‘Settlement Unit’ was proposed as an alternative to the ever-present urban grid. It sustained the flexibility of the grid whilst offering increased adaptability, a coherent form, large urban open spaces and a degree of autonomy. Inundation of Space The ladder is understood as the agent of grid reorganisation and dramatic spatial inversion. It is the agent of imploded urban space, the overlay and underlay of forms such as bridges, freeways and tunnels which Pope explains then creates an ellipsis. These ellipses cannot be part of the hierarchical urban development but are separate entities which can be quantified in the production as a new centripetal labyrinth. The two remain interrelated even though the ellipsis is, by definition, outside of the system that produced it. Here the theories of Fredrick Jameson’s postmodern hyperspace are used to identify this phenomenon.

The Centripetal City Pope now addresses the way that closed urban systems have been allowed to develop in the absence of a strong metropolitan centre, thus causing exclusion and division. As the metropolitan order declines into chaos and disorganisation, these closed urban systems grow and become more extreme, consequentially contributing further to the demise of the metropolis. What emerges from this is a radically dispersed polynuclear order. It never interlocks with metropolitan space, but creates some unity of urban form. Polynuclear expansion has a hierarchical urban core, around which autonomous nuclei gather. Pope states that this is what sustains the present state of metropolitan form. An urban sprawl for which it would appear, society cannot find an alternative. This urban sprawl is kept at a standstill due to old models of the city ineffectively persisting, and new, sustainable models failing to emerge. Therefore, the functions of the urban form must be eliminated before they can be created, to avoid the entropy which has emerged from the closed systems. However, the counter sites of contemporary urban space will continue to evolve regardless. The space in between, the void, is already full of economical, political and cultural meaning. Mass Absence Using the well-known photograph of a mass demonstration in front of Giuseppe Terragni’s Casa del Fascio, Pope addresses the paradox of architectural spaces and forms having the ability to reference both autonomous form and reference a powerful historical moment in the same instance. The connections persist at every turn, such as they do between built form and urban landscape in the case of the ellipsis. They have not disappeared, but are simply obscured in their form and meaning. It may be neglected by its users, but contemporary urban space persists, and continues to effect the quality and characteristics of its own internal environment. “It is better to suffer the void of abstraction than gratuitous representation, better to be lost than to languish in the ‘objective world’ of closed urban development.”

Today's archidose #637

Here are some photos of the Repsol Headquarters in Madrid, Spain, by Rafael de La-Hoz Arquitectos (2010). Photographs are by Ximo Michavila.













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VMFA collections

The collections of the VMFA are broad, they have definitely benefited from some generous and high profile patrons. To be honest, I was astonished at the quality of the collections given the moderate size of the city.

These diverse collections included a lot of my favorite genres such as decorative arts and a room of beautiful 18th century paintings like the Guardi above.

I loved this mantel clock designed by Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1917.

 These enormous andirons were sculpted by Edgar Brandt in 1926 -they speak to the time period.

 I also loved this sculptural chaise longue by noted designer Eileen Gray.

One of the large collections is based on the collection of Sydney and Frances Lewis from 1971 of Art Nouveau objects and furnishings. The Gruber desk and chair above date from 1898.

I loved the fluid lines of these lamps of Loie Fuller from the same time period by Raoul Francois Larche.

 Bulbs are cleverly hidden in the flowing tresses of the statue.

 This magnificent bedroom suite must have been designed for an extremely large bedroom.

 They were designed by Louis Majorelle.

And of course the art deco master, EJ Ruhlmann, was well represented.

I loved this Ruhlmann desk from 1926 and the framed grouping of Barbier prints.

This set of 4 silver gilt salts by Paul Storr date to 1813 but would be right at home on my dining room table!

And as I mentioned in my previous posting, the Roman mosaic of the 4 seasons is one of the highlights in the museum.

 So many little pieces of stone and glass and all done by hand over 1700 years ago!

This magnolia and apple blossom stained glass window was made by Tiffany Glass for the Dimock residence study in Elizabeth, NJ in 1900. Sadly, I think it's not shown to its' best effect as what you see as white is actually clear glass. They need a mural or scene painted behind.

Following the fashion, a large exhibit has been mounted on Dale Chihuly through Feb 10th and this dramatic chandelier was hung in the modern entrance lobby.  I will bring you some stunning pictures from that exhibit in my next post.

Foodprint L.A.

For anyone in or near Los Angeles next weekend, consider stopping by Foodprint L.A., hosted at LACMA.

[Image: A robot strawberry harvester, courtesy of Robotic Harvesting LLC].

There are two things to attend. The first is a ticketed walking tour, which kicks off on Saturday, December 8th, at 1pm; it will be led by indefatigable design writer Alissa Walker: "En route, we’ll check out the roasting equipment at LA’s celebrated Handsome Coffee, explore the inside of West Central Produce’s state-of-the-art banana-ripening facilities, preview a future Ferry Building-style food market, and more."

Those banana-ripening rooms alone deserve an exclamation point, as Edible Geography's write-up of an earlier such trip—albeit to a facility here in New York—makes clear. In Nicola's highly-recommended exploration of what she calls the "vast, distributed artificial winter that has reshaped our entire food system" and that "remains," she says, "for the most part, unmapped," we read that banana-ripening rooms are "a specialized architecture of pressurized, temperature- and atmosphere-controlled rooms that, contrary to logical expectation, require heavy-duty refrigeration." As such, they are a kind of spatio-thermal fantasy straight out of the work of architect Philippe Rahm.

[Image: A banana-ripening room photographed by Nicola Twilley, via Cabinet Magazine].

Get your tickets here and hopefully we'll see you at 1pm on Saturday for what should be a fantastic afternoon.

The second half of Foodprint L.A. is also the main focus, a free day of panel discussions and public Q&As, centered around food and the landscape of greater Los Angeles, from water to waste, synthetic biology to robotically-harvested strawberries:

Until the 1950s, Los Angeles County was the top agricultural county in the United States; now, it has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the nation. With the Los Angeles Food Policy Council approaching its second birthday, the timing is perfect for a truly cross-disciplinary discussion that explores the past, present, and future of food and the city. Foodprint L.A. panelists will explore the forces that have shaped the Angeleno foodscape—from taco trucks to the world's largest Frito factory and the eviction of South Central Farm—and speculate on how to feed Los Angeles in the future.

As usual, this installment of Foodprint features four panels: Feast, Famine, and Other Scenarios (moderated by Alexis Madrigal); Edible Archaeology (moderated by Sarah Rich); Culinary Cartography (moderated by Nicola Twilley); and Zoning Diet (moderated by myself, of all people).

[Image: Courtesy of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council].

This daylong series of panels is free and open to the public, and it includes everything from paleofuturism and the future of cheese, to variant apples and global appetites. Hope to see you there—and feel free to browse the ever-expanding Foodprint event archive to find out more, or pick up a copy of the newly released Foodprint Papers, Volume 1.

Today's archidose #636

Here are some nighttime photos of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas, by Morphosis Architects. The building opened yesterday. Photographs are by Masako Fujinami (aka fake_plastic_earth).

















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Pricing the "Ring of Life"

Today I just learned about the "Ring of Life," a monument under construction in Fushun, China. Attention has been directed at its form, its function (or lack thereof), and its cost; I'm most intrigued by the last of these three. Before delving into that, I think that ArchDaily inadvertently hit on a potential inspiration for the form in mistakenly calling it the "Ring of Fire." A quick search for that term brings up numerous images of an annual solar eclipse that is visible in China; this photo at National Geographic shows a slight shift between inner and outer circles similar to the photo of the Ring of Life below.


[Ring of Life under construction in Fushun, China | image source]

The prevailing view of the object's (lack of) function is summed up at Gizmodo: "According to Fushun Municipal Government's officials, this titanic structure does absolutely nothing except serve as an elevated sighting position." [Italics in original.] It seems that people are using a fairly narrow definition for the term, ignoring that symbolic function can be just as important as practical function. And clearly the description quoted recalls a historic precedent that also serves to only present an elevated sighting position—the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Of course, close to 50 years after the completion of Saarinen's design, very little criticism is levied at the purposelessness of the "gateway to the west." (And didn't Aldo Rossi write about the importance of monuments—of which the Ring of Life clearly is one—not having a function?)

So what about the cost of the project, which is reportedly $16 million? Gizmodo, again, talks about that figure in these terms: "The Chinese media has been harsh about the building after a blogger posted [some] photos on Sina Weibo, which is the country's 'largest microblog platform.' Not surprising, since this thing costs $16 million." Is this to say that $16 million is a lot of money to spend on the monument? It seems to be worded that way to me, but I think that figure is very low for a construction of this scale (515 feet/157 meters high).

In comparison, Wikipedia quotes the cost of realizing the Gateway Arch at $13 million in 1960s U.S. dollars, approximately $96 million today. The arch in St. Louis is about 100 feet taller, but the variance is nevertheless clear. While some of the difference can be ascribed to China's relatively cheap labor, that doesn't really explain why people are making a big deal about the cost of the Ring of Life. Compare the $16 million Ring of Life with the $220 million China pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, which one could argue is just as purposeless, and was temporary, to boot. It seems like the Ring of Life is a pretty good deal after all.

AFH - What Do You See?

'Tis the season for, among other things, giving. One organization worthy of some year-end loosening of purse-strings is Architecture for Humanity, who are "building a more sustainable future using the power of design." What Do Yo See doesn't just ask for money, it asks people to describe a vision for their own community. Check it out...



...and then DONATE.