V. (1996). In/different spaces. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Chapter Brecciated Time We use the word in speaking of such different notions as "simultaneity", succession" "duration, "past" "present" and future. We say that time "passes slowly" if we do not. We habitually distinguish between time as it is "in reality" and time as it appears to us - few would dispute that "clock time" and objective time are different things. Two philosophical traditions correspond to these different aspects of prevailing common sense notions of time. In the former, serving mainly from Newton, time is an objective fact. Uninfluenced by objects and events, time- together wutg sauce - forms the "container" in which objects and events take place. Characterised by uniform and unidirectional flow, time is an absolute and irreducible condition of the physical universe. It is quite simply part of the way things are. It is characteristic of our memory, Freud observes, that the reproduction of our lives as a "connected chain of events" begins "only from the sixth or seventh year onwards - in many cases only after the tenth year" * On the one hand, memories of occurrences before these years tend to be fragmentary and unrelated to each other. Moreover, they rarely seem to concern events of any real importance. On the other hand, the earliest memories we have often posses a vivid sensory intensity that more recent memories usually lack
[*look at freud screen memories]
Memories can contain senses from films which may niurn be films of memory. As the documentary filmamker David MacDougal remarsds "If memory itself is selective and ideological, films of memory redouble this and add further codes of cultural convention" * In his essay of 1992 about "films of memory" macdougal is critical of that familiar "in-ematic subgenera whose ritual ingredients are waging faces . . . fetish-objects from the past, old photographs, achival footage and music. . . a subgenera which purports to tell us our true, unwritten history through the testmony of both ordinary people and famous eye witnesses 180
*David MacDougal, "Films of memory" in Taylor, Visualising Theory 261
Where does Chilean design live?
Architeture
Alejandro Aravena’s inspiring presentation of social housing projects by his practice Elemental was all about solutions. Put on by Urban Age, the event was a spin-off from this programme’s dizzyingly cosmopolitan run round global cities in search of answers to the issues thrown up by our growing addiction to living in mega-cities.
While the Chilean practice’s work was specific to issues of South American middle income homebuyers, its wider relevance wouldn’t have been lost on anyone in the audience. As Ricky Burdett summed up in the discussion afterwards, the talk reminded us that the core quandaries of housing (or wider city making) are “achieving resilience, density and not being over-deterministic” — in other words, making buildings that deal with real life (ie economics), efficiently employ resources, and seriously address how on earth we can have a snowball’s chance in hell of adapting to change.
Of course, talk of sustainability can be heard the world over, and too often veers into empty mantra. What makes you sit up and listen here is that not only is the argument cogent and the examples real, but Aravena places architects central to change. He communicates in a way that would win over even those most cynical about what architects can contribute beyond aesthetic arbitration.
Aravena’s presentation centred on the Quinta Monroy housing development in Iquique, northern Chile. Starting from the economic realities of government subsidies for low to middle income housing, the architect’s task was described as a simple one: achieving as much as you could for the meagre amount available. Showing the norm (a grim 25sq m house in the middle of a moderately sized plot), the architect identified the main problem as the fact that the box is soon mobbed by a chaos of extensions, irrevocably giving the area the appearance (and reputation) of a shanty town.
Aravena’s solution is to build “half a house” of more adequate dimensions for the same money, leaving the precisely described gaps within which the remainder could be completed through self-build. The resultant terraces of densely packed concrete framed buildings are then feasible on more centrally located (and therefore costly) land. This allows low-cost housing to remain within denser cities, rather than enforcing permanent exile and the tyranny of the long commute that is the reality in many South American cities. It is not completely new as an idea, but compellingly described: the architectural resolution of a financial problem.
Aravena manages to combine an understanding of economic realities with an impressive understanding of what really matters. The observation that “the damage caused to family life when a couple can’t have intimacy is enormous” drives an interest in room dimensions to ensure that you can just — but only just — fit a double bed in a room. Being so upfront about the allocation of scarce resources appears to have brought clarity to resident consultation, treating them as adults needing to chose between conflicting priorities, rather than the “where would you like to live” approach so often adopted here.
Architects’ lateral thinking on problem-solving is clearly a unique selling point for an increasingly marginalised profession. With these schemes on the other side of the world, Alejandro Aravena shockingly reminded us quite how distracted architecture can be, spending inordinate effort solving either wrong or irrelevant problems, or problems we dream up ourselves.
http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/05/elemental-innovation-center-uc-anacleto-angelini-university-concrete-santiago-chile/
Elemental designed the 8,176-square-metre Innovation Center UC – Anacleto Angelini on the campus of the Universidad Católica de Chile, in Santiago. The 14-storey building, which includes three floors underground, was created as a space where companies and businesses could converge with researchers.
The client requested a building with a "contemporary look" but the studio felt a "professional responsibility" to avoid the environmental and design pitfalls of the glass-fronted buildings typically associated with innovation in the Chilean capital.
"This building had to respond to the client's expectation of having an innovation centre with a 'contemporary look'," said studio director Alejandro Aravena, "but the uncritical search for the contemporary has populated Santiago with glass towers that due to the desert climatic local condition have serious greenhouse effect in the interiors."
"From a stylistic point of view, we thought of using a rather strict geometry and strong monolithic materiality as a way to replace trendiness by timelessness," said the design team, whose previous projects also include a cantilevering concrete pavilion on a Mexican pilgrimage route.
A team of Chilean architects has completed a new business faculty for Diego Portales University comprising a pair of concrete boxes with balconies and terraces slotted over, under and through them
"With the location of the new campus, the faculty seeks to build a strong link between its academic development and the professional reality, as it is at one of the most important business centres in the city," said the architects.
With an ambition to create structures "with weight that speaks of permanence and stability", the team designed a complex made up of three main blocks that are arranged around staggered terraces to follow the natural slope of the landscape.
"The project seeks to build a connection beyond its neighbours, with its geographic environment," said the architects. "It takes advantage of the slope to render the courtyards dominant over the territory, and builds terraces at different heights, as well as a roof garden, that connects the everyday life of the project with the distant geography."
Most of my family that live in the centre, have add ons to their house that they constructed themselves. These DIY processes is something that is something I do. I like to get hands on within my work and do all the processes myself
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Looking at my work as a whole
are there any influences in my practice?
Visually I know my main influences have been English and European design, it's easy to see that. But I'm starting to realise that it's the processes, and my need to push myself that is really coming from my latin background.
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