Furthering of diagrams
PowerPoint presentation for Thursday
-Hopefully a rough draft tomorrow afternoon/evening
-Theory/thesis statement finalized
-Graphical analysis 'complete'
-Slide show in order
Analysis of connections
-2 sides meeting
(Berlin Wall/Transcontinental RR)
-3rd voice and interaction/intervention
User groups
-Further justification
-More concise uses and benefits of local population
-Tourism justification
-Case studies:
Loop; My Studio
Serra
Jansen
Tacha
MoMA
Mass MoCA
GFS
Beacon
Turrell (Roden)
Monday, November 26, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Richard Serra
Richard Serra sculptures being installed at MoMa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1sBpsyRNfM
Monday, November 19, 2007
Today's Plot/Site Images
Not sure why it looks like a negative, but you get the general idea... Ill post more to the Snapfish site tomorrow and label the ones above.
11.19 Meeting Reactions
Site Investigation 'conclusions'
This week/next meeting agenda:
Complete/near complete diagrams of the following
Edge conditions
Interesting areas
'Nolli' map
Where I almost got hit
Where photos were taken
Why sites/details are interesting
Cultural pockets
All with muted palette/grayscale for clarity
Site images as they pertain to 'Making Strange'
Reading offering the total freedom of such a wide variety of sustained, continually changing artwork and infrastructure, as well as a tourist/community/cultural base to allow it to continue its redevelopment towards the center of the yard.
Note: Norflk Southern corporation actually had a similar site in Lancaster, PA that the director of PR was telling us about. The site divided the city into differing sides forming a large, detrimental void in what turned into a rough city. The heads/ higher-ups of NS Corp got together with some city and redevelopment committees and formulated a plan to solve this. The solution actually involved NSC moving their site approximately 2 miles to one side, allowing the city to 'heal the wound' the train yard had formed. A possibility to be pitched for the Reading Yard. The tracks can remain to allow for cargo/material/artwork transport, and, if successful enough down the road, the implementation of passenger lines to and from the city (and to other major cities) as a revamping of tourism and sustainable aspects of public transport. This can also help with the endlessly rising costs of fuel, etc.
Other things that may help/come into play:
"The walls between art and engineering [architecture] exist only in our minds."
-Theo Jansen
The 'scruffy' neighborhood of immigrants and artists is where the most diverse/'beautiful' specimens of urban art/spraypaint graffiti were lining the walls (Kreuzberg)
-Sounds a lot like the Reading situation, tons of graffiti, large immigrant population base, great possibility of artistic expression and cultural identity. Opens the door for artwork that can continually change with the changes in population base/incomes/economic influences, et.
These are pretty rough thoughts so far, but I will work out the kinks more tonight and this week/weekend.
This week/next meeting agenda:
Complete/near complete diagrams of the following
Edge conditions
Interesting areas
'Nolli' map
Where I almost got hit
Where photos were taken
Why sites/details are interesting
Cultural pockets
All with muted palette/grayscale for clarity
Site images as they pertain to 'Making Strange'
Reading offering the total freedom of such a wide variety of sustained, continually changing artwork and infrastructure, as well as a tourist/community/cultural base to allow it to continue its redevelopment towards the center of the yard.
Note: Norflk Southern corporation actually had a similar site in Lancaster, PA that the director of PR was telling us about. The site divided the city into differing sides forming a large, detrimental void in what turned into a rough city. The heads/ higher-ups of NS Corp got together with some city and redevelopment committees and formulated a plan to solve this. The solution actually involved NSC moving their site approximately 2 miles to one side, allowing the city to 'heal the wound' the train yard had formed. A possibility to be pitched for the Reading Yard. The tracks can remain to allow for cargo/material/artwork transport, and, if successful enough down the road, the implementation of passenger lines to and from the city (and to other major cities) as a revamping of tourism and sustainable aspects of public transport. This can also help with the endlessly rising costs of fuel, etc.
Other things that may help/come into play:
"The walls between art and engineering [architecture] exist only in our minds."
-Theo Jansen
The 'scruffy' neighborhood of immigrants and artists is where the most diverse/'beautiful' specimens of urban art/spraypaint graffiti were lining the walls (Kreuzberg)
-Sounds a lot like the Reading situation, tons of graffiti, large immigrant population base, great possibility of artistic expression and cultural identity. Opens the door for artwork that can continually change with the changes in population base/incomes/economic influences, et.
These are pretty rough thoughts so far, but I will work out the kinks more tonight and this week/weekend.
Friday, November 16, 2007
This Weekend
Further site analyses;
Edges
Comfort zones
Discomfort
Nodes
Restaurants/cultural pockets
Layers
Built forms
Voids
More on exterior/surrounding city near the yard
Site visit Monday 9 am
I have also been in contact with the owners of the locomotive repair shops at the Reading Yard (the large building forming the northwest edge of the site) in an attempt to enter/analyze the facility.
More case studies:
More on Berlin Wall, Athena Tacha, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, use of space and schedule of installations at Grounds For Sculpture
Dia Beacon
Approximate site size is 200 acres, give or take...
I will print my writings to this point for whoever is interested as well.
Edges
Comfort zones
Discomfort
Nodes
Restaurants/cultural pockets
Layers
Built forms
Voids
More on exterior/surrounding city near the yard
Site visit Monday 9 am
I have also been in contact with the owners of the locomotive repair shops at the Reading Yard (the large building forming the northwest edge of the site) in an attempt to enter/analyze the facility.
More case studies:
More on Berlin Wall, Athena Tacha, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, use of space and schedule of installations at Grounds For Sculpture
Dia Beacon
Approximate site size is 200 acres, give or take...
I will print my writings to this point for whoever is interested as well.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
New/Detailed Analysis of 'Making Strange'
I stood between them,
the one with his traveled intelligence
and tawny containment,
his speech like the twang of a bowstring,
and another, unshorn and bewildered
in the tubs of his Wellingtons,
smiling at me for help,
faced with this stranger I’d brought him.
Then a cunning middle voice
came out of the field across the road
saying, ‘Be adept and be dialect,
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,
call me sweetbriar after the rain
or snowberries cooled in the fog.
But love the cut of this traveled one
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.
Go beyond what’s reliable
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,
these eyes and puddles and stones,
and recollect how bold you were
when I visited you first
with departures you cannot go back on.’
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing
I found myself driving the stranger
through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride
in all that I knew, that began to make strange
at the same recitation.
–Seamus Heaney, “Making Strange”
Stanza 1:
I stood between them,
the one with his traveled intelligence - [history]
and tawny containment,
his speech like the twang of a bowstring, - [intellect]
Speaks of the Reading yard; Rich in history, experienced with the surrounding city, old, wise, etc. Image revealed of 'well-dressed intellectual,' articulate, yet unable to communicate with the city in a continual/adaptive manner
Stanza 2:
and another, unshorn and bewildered
in the tubs of his Wellingtons,
smiling at me for help,
faced with this stranger I’d brought him.
City of Reading, unsure, inexperienced with current state of the site and interactions with it, bewildered, in search of help and unable to decide its next move.
Line 8:
faced with this stranger I'd brought him.} Extensive void of Reading Yard, barrier between east and west
Stanza 3:
Then a cunning middle voice
came out of the field across the road
saying, ‘Be adept and be dialect,
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,
Intervention, connection between the two men (city and site) directions for where to go/what to do to address interactions and program.
Line 11:
saying, ‘Be adept and be dialect,} Details, vernacular, ease of speaking about site and program
Line 12:
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,} Winds show a change in program and layout, evolution and change, variety and spotlighting. Zinc: deterioration, reflection, staining, oxidation, etc.
Stanza 4:
call me sweetbriar after the rain
or snowberries cooled in the fog.
But love the cut of this traveled one
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.
Speaks f the site and its age, as well as finding beauty and purpose within that age; a sweetbriar has a prickly stem, but beautiful blooms spotted by raindrops; the site as a gemstone.
Line 15:
But love the cut of this traveled one} - embracing of the void this site has created, and avoiding forced redevelopment, typical solutions.
Line 16:
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.} - provision of sustenance for many people over many years. The railroad as the former heartbeat of Reading and a very important piece of industrial America / the world (international link to Philadelphia). Much has survived and grown out of this corporation though it no longer exists.
Stanza 5:
Go beyond what’s reliable
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,
these eyes and puddles and stones,
and recollect how bold you were
Line 17:
Go beyond what’s reliable} Surpass comfort zone and what is typical/expected to be placed on the site for economic renewal (hotel, casino, parks, golf courses, etc.)
Line 18:
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,} Pleading - conditions overlapping between city and site; a plea for help (specifically from the site, despite its intelligence and wisdom)
Line 19:
these eyes and puddles and stones,} Those on/near/connected to the site in some manner, and its built forms [stones] and voids [puddles] - Puddles filled with water for lack of program and misuse of site.
Stanza 6:
when I visited you first
with departures you cannot go back on.’
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing
I found myself driving the stranger
Line 23:
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing} Symbolizes his departure, percussive retreat from comfort and natural settings towards the unsure or strange.
Line 24:
I found myself driving the stranger} Departure
Stanza 7:
through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride
in all that I knew, that began to make strange
at the same recitation.
Advice taken from middle voice
Lines 25 & 26:
through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride} Telling of memories and conditions, preserving / surviving through them - "Fuses, rather than conjoins an intimate vernacular with cultural sophistication." (Cadwell, xviii)
Does not give 'adept at dialect a description [voice], this is what the program will become and ultimately address for the site and city.
**"New voice will not make a world intelligible by returning it to the familiar or by linking it to an existing order. New voice will render a new imaginative territory compelling by conserving [preserving] its strangeness" (Cadwell, xviii-xix).**
the one with his traveled intelligence
and tawny containment,
his speech like the twang of a bowstring,
and another, unshorn and bewildered
in the tubs of his Wellingtons,
smiling at me for help,
faced with this stranger I’d brought him.
Then a cunning middle voice
came out of the field across the road
saying, ‘Be adept and be dialect,
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,
call me sweetbriar after the rain
or snowberries cooled in the fog.
But love the cut of this traveled one
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.
Go beyond what’s reliable
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,
these eyes and puddles and stones,
and recollect how bold you were
when I visited you first
with departures you cannot go back on.’
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing
I found myself driving the stranger
through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride
in all that I knew, that began to make strange
at the same recitation.
–Seamus Heaney, “Making Strange”
Stanza 1:
I stood between them,
the one with his traveled intelligence - [history]
and tawny containment,
his speech like the twang of a bowstring, - [intellect]
Speaks of the Reading yard; Rich in history, experienced with the surrounding city, old, wise, etc. Image revealed of 'well-dressed intellectual,' articulate, yet unable to communicate with the city in a continual/adaptive manner
Stanza 2:
and another, unshorn and bewildered
in the tubs of his Wellingtons,
smiling at me for help,
faced with this stranger I’d brought him.
City of Reading, unsure, inexperienced with current state of the site and interactions with it, bewildered, in search of help and unable to decide its next move.
Line 8:
faced with this stranger I'd brought him.} Extensive void of Reading Yard, barrier between east and west
Stanza 3:
Then a cunning middle voice
came out of the field across the road
saying, ‘Be adept and be dialect,
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,
Intervention, connection between the two men (city and site) directions for where to go/what to do to address interactions and program.
Line 11:
saying, ‘Be adept and be dialect,} Details, vernacular, ease of speaking about site and program
Line 12:
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,} Winds show a change in program and layout, evolution and change, variety and spotlighting. Zinc: deterioration, reflection, staining, oxidation, etc.
Stanza 4:
call me sweetbriar after the rain
or snowberries cooled in the fog.
But love the cut of this traveled one
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.
Speaks f the site and its age, as well as finding beauty and purpose within that age; a sweetbriar has a prickly stem, but beautiful blooms spotted by raindrops; the site as a gemstone.
Line 15:
But love the cut of this traveled one} - embracing of the void this site has created, and avoiding forced redevelopment, typical solutions.
Line 16:
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.} - provision of sustenance for many people over many years. The railroad as the former heartbeat of Reading and a very important piece of industrial America / the world (international link to Philadelphia). Much has survived and grown out of this corporation though it no longer exists.
Stanza 5:
Go beyond what’s reliable
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,
these eyes and puddles and stones,
and recollect how bold you were
Line 17:
Go beyond what’s reliable} Surpass comfort zone and what is typical/expected to be placed on the site for economic renewal (hotel, casino, parks, golf courses, etc.)
Line 18:
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,} Pleading - conditions overlapping between city and site; a plea for help (specifically from the site, despite its intelligence and wisdom)
Line 19:
these eyes and puddles and stones,} Those on/near/connected to the site in some manner, and its built forms [stones] and voids [puddles] - Puddles filled with water for lack of program and misuse of site.
Stanza 6:
when I visited you first
with departures you cannot go back on.’
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing
I found myself driving the stranger
Line 23:
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing} Symbolizes his departure, percussive retreat from comfort and natural settings towards the unsure or strange.
Line 24:
I found myself driving the stranger} Departure
Stanza 7:
through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride
in all that I knew, that began to make strange
at the same recitation.
Advice taken from middle voice
Lines 25 & 26:
through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride} Telling of memories and conditions, preserving / surviving through them - "Fuses, rather than conjoins an intimate vernacular with cultural sophistication." (Cadwell, xviii)
Does not give 'adept at dialect a description [voice], this is what the program will become and ultimately address for the site and city.
**"New voice will not make a world intelligible by returning it to the familiar or by linking it to an existing order. New voice will render a new imaginative territory compelling by conserving [preserving] its strangeness" (Cadwell, xviii-xix).**
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Response to Comments
Earlier this week (late Sunday night) John posted one of numerous quotes addressing the site pictures I had posted. In the comment, he mentioned the diversity of the site, the gentle scenes created in the residential area, the trees, the grass, the homes, but also the street being 'sucked' below the site, exposing many layers. He asked the question of how will this diversity be addressed within the program. I guess, as I mentioned last pin-up, the aim is to provide a continually changing appearance/layout/possibly program, to provide for a constant movement throughout the site. This calls into question the issues of temporality and flexibility. Installation art provides both of these conditions within its adjacent context. True, some installations are, or seem to be permanent (Smithson, etc.) but most remain on constant tours of many museums and other facilities world wide. Edge intervention that parallels that of, or even becomes a type of installation art, is a way of dealing with the diversity of the site. Change, continuous movement, spatial flow and other elements and temporary forms convey the notion of diversity.
Just a quick thought while stuck on my narrative...
Just a quick thought while stuck on my narrative...
Monday, November 12, 2007
Pin-Up # 3 Reactions
New case studies: Upside-down trees, Mass MoCA
Large-scale artists: Michael Heizer
Robert Smithson
Richard Serra
Andy Goldsworthy
Theo Jansen
Sci-Arch - adaptive reuse
Berlin Wall
Continuation of Grounds For Sculpture
Visit to facility
Site visit for next week (possibly, since visit is monday am first thing)
Visits of site in Philadelphia area for railroad images in the absence of an actual site visit thus far
Site visit acquisitions:
Plotting of areas of interest in and around the Reading Yard
Restaurants
Cultural areas
Neighborhoods
Groups of users
Comfort zones
Interesting nodes/nichés
Site does not need an actual 'monument' per se... ie Berlin Wall. The wall is no longer there, and there is no physical element from it standing in its place, yet it is still immortalized or preserved in books, films and photographs. The memory of it is powerful enough, and once it begins to outgrow the times, it will evolve and obtain a new meaning and definition for itself.
More to follow tomorrow.
Large-scale artists: Michael Heizer
Robert Smithson
Richard Serra
Andy Goldsworthy
Theo Jansen
Sci-Arch - adaptive reuse
Berlin Wall
Continuation of Grounds For Sculpture
Visit to facility
Site visit for next week (possibly, since visit is monday am first thing)
Visits of site in Philadelphia area for railroad images in the absence of an actual site visit thus far
Site visit acquisitions:
Plotting of areas of interest in and around the Reading Yard
Restaurants
Cultural areas
Neighborhoods
Groups of users
Comfort zones
Interesting nodes/nichés
Site does not need an actual 'monument' per se... ie Berlin Wall. The wall is no longer there, and there is no physical element from it standing in its place, yet it is still immortalized or preserved in books, films and photographs. The memory of it is powerful enough, and once it begins to outgrow the times, it will evolve and obtain a new meaning and definition for itself.
More to follow tomorrow.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Thesis Prep. Summary - 11/8/07
Beginning as a way to preserve the memories of the Reading Railroad as a way to reestablish the heartbeat of Reading, the focus has begun to switch towards a form of survival through, instead of preservation of, memories. The site, formerly one of the busiest areas of the city, has emptied out along with the closing of the Reading Railroad, forming a void in the central part of Reading and dividing the area in two. The populations on either side of this void are heavily disconnected, having only 3 points of physical connection and little visual access across the vast rail yard. The working class has moved on and given way to large, poverty stricken immigrant influx. As a way to preserve, if not improve the current status of the city, program will address the edge conditions of the yard to serve as a catalyst for improvement to push its way in towards the center. Case studies are focusing on large-scale art installations as well as the concealing of familiarities through different methods / artificial skins, as well as the reuse of brownfield sites for introducing new investment and employment opportunities to improve local economy.
Though I am not sure I am prepared for programmatic closure just yet, I have been working towards a large-scale art installation facility as a push towards program.
I. Analysis of edge conditions
1. Community conditions bordering the site
A. Isolation of east from west along site
- Lack of visual and physical connections
2. Edge conditions of the site itself
A. Activities on premises
B. Structures of site
- Built and natural forms
II. Needs of the local community / benefits of intervention
1. Public/open space
2. Identity (cultural and historical)
3. Reestablishment of heartbeat for Reading
4. Employment opportunities
5. Reclaiming of historic / brownfield sites
6. Maintenance of history / site bridging
III. Groups of people / users
1. Local population
A. Large, poverty – level immigrant population
2. Tourists
A. Families
B. Art enthusiasts
C. Students
IV. Design potentials
1. Catalyst / prototype for improvement of site / city / economy
A. Covering / concealing of the site
B. Bridging of the yard
- Visual
- Physical
C. Temporary forms
- Spotlighting elements
1. Continual change in design / appearance
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
A Few More Site Images/Thoughts/Definitions
A few more images from the bridges on / near the Reading Yard... The first and second images show a bridge on the south side of Reading, where trains moved to and from Philadelphia, among other locations. Only one side of the bridge contains a keystone arch, while the underside is ribbed following the slant of the street and angled tracks.The third and fourth images show the skew bridge, considered the best example in the United States. Constructed in 1857, the arches contain no keystone, and each block of stone was custom cut to fit the particular specifications of the ellipsoidal curve required to carry the immense weight above with minimal vibration and sway. The innovation displayed throughout the entire Reading Yard and its structures, especially the bridges, suggest an important location for intervention due to the need for a visual or physical connection between the divided sides of the city.
More to follow later today/tonight on this matter...
A few more case studies include: the works of Christo and Jeanne - Claude;
The Central Park Gates, The Surrounded Islands, Wrapped Trees XVI, Wrapped Pont Neuf, etc.
Grounds For Sculpture; Central New Jersey modern art museum / outdoor sculptural / installation displays set in a well-balanced landscape of human intervention and natural forms.
Mass MoCA; Installation art
More resources: Strange Details (examples from 11/7/07 post)
Definitions:
Skin- 1. The membranous tissue forming the external covering or integument of an animal and consisting in vertebrates of the epidermis and dermis.
2. An animal pelt, especially the comparatively pliable pelt of a small or young animal.
3. A usually thin, closely adhering outer layer.
4. A container for liquids that is made of animal skin.
5. V. To cover with or as if with skin.
Synonyms: clad, cover, face, sheathe, side
Antonyms: body, core, interior, middle
Artificial- 1.Made by humans; produced rather than natural.
2. Brought about or caused by sociopolitical or other human-generated forces or influences.
3. Made in imitation of something natural.
Synonyms: synthetic, ersatz, simulated, manufactured, plastic, facticious
Antonyms: genuine, natural, unaffected, unpretentious, real.
Conceal- 1. To keep from being seen, found observed or discovered; hide.
2. To cut off from site: block (out).
3. To prevent from being known: cloak.
4. To put of keep out of site.
Synonyms: hide, obscure, obstruct, screes, shroud, mask, vei, bury, cache, ensconce, occult, secrete.
Antonyms: disclose, divulge, expose, lay bare, let out, open, reveal, show, tell, uncover.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Site Images and Details - 11/07/07
Just a few images from traversing the edges of my site today... there is a great amount of very interesting information regarding current site conditions and the conditions of the surrounding areas. The first image shows the Reading 'Subway' where the city's traffic moves underneath one of the central portions of the site. On either side, Spring street climbs steeply up the east and west sides of Reading, while the level of the railyard is continued out to meet the slope of Spring Street. This could serve some potential for where the current state of the city meets the former state of the city.The second image shows the massive locomotive repair shops from the Reading Yard. The complex of buildings forms (or used to form) one large building stretching the better part of four city blocks and was connected between with a large crane and boom. It is indeed the largest structure left on the site from the former railroad, and is a fantastic expression of architecture from industrial America.
The third and fourth images are more like metaphors, rather testaments to the current state of the site. The third is the column of a bridge carrying the tracks over part of the city, where the concrete has worn away exposing the hundred or so year-old re-bar. The fourth image is an old mill adjacent to the site that was turned into part of the Reading Outlet Center, which has since been shut down and is now being slowly pulled apart. Most of the windows are pulled out and the doors are nailed and boarded shut in their vacant state.
Another detail of the site are the keystone-less archways of the bridges surrounding the site. The 'newer' structures (without keystones) have replaced the older ones constructed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, due to their inability to prevent sway from the immense weight of the engines and cars above. In order to support the wright, the stones on the inside face of the arch not only curved to form the arch, but were angled to the weights from above to the ground.
More images and posts to follow soon.
Quick Excerpt from 'Strange Details'
I stood between them,
the one with his travelled intelligence
and tawny containment,
his speech like the twang of a bowstring,
and another, unshorn and bewildered
in the tubs of his wellingtons,
smiling at me for help,
faced with this stranger I'd brought him.
Then a cunning middle voice
came out of the field across the road
saying, 'Be adept and be dialect,
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,
call me sweetbriar after the rain
or snowberries cooled in the fog.
But love the cut of this traveled one
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.
Go beyond what's reliable
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,
these eyes and puddles and stones,
and recollect how bold you were
when I visited you first
with departures you cannot go back on.'
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing
I found myself driving the stranger
through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride
in all that I knew, that began to make strange
at that same recitation.
–Seamus Heaney, "Making Strange"
Not to get all deep and 'emo' or whatever you want to call it, but as broken down by author Michael Caldwell, this somewhat parallels what I am going for thesis wise in a metaphorical way.
"Heaney writes "Making Strange" in the first person and recalls a visit to a familiar village, perhaps the village of his youth. As the poem opens, we find Heaney standing between an intellectual colleague "with his traveled intelligence and tawny containment" and an old acquaintance, "unshorn and bewildered in the tubs of his wellingtons." Although the former is more articulate – "his speech like the twang of a bowstring" in contrast to the latter's mute "smiling at me for help" –it is a third voice that calls to Heaney. This "cunning middle voice" has an indeterminate origin, from "out of the field across the road." We know that it comes from neither the acquaintance's village nor the colleague's milieu, and we sense that it might negotiate between the two. The ensuing lines support our intimation. The voice conjures a pastoral of zinc hut, sweetbriar, and snowberries and links the scene with the Old Testament story of Boaz and Ruth. With this linkage, the voice conjoins Ireland with a biblical terrain where a salubrious landscape also masked generations of conflict. Heaney not only stands between personifications of native intelligence and cultural sophistication, but also must provide them with a unifying poetic vision."
(Cadwell, xv-xviii)
Anyway, as I see it, the site seems to be alot like the acquaintance, in that it is sitting idle, waiting patiently for some sort of help, with a half hearted smile, and the intelligent (used loosely, in this sense) colleague is a metaphor for the area surrounding the site. It may even be suited to reverse this, and envision the site as the intelligent colleague (due to its long history, etc) and the surrounding city the acquaintance, smiling weakly waiting for some sort of direction or assistance. Anyway, the third voice can be seen as the intervention between the two. I will post more later concerning the site visit and documentation i did today, but thats all I have for now.
the one with his travelled intelligence
and tawny containment,
his speech like the twang of a bowstring,
and another, unshorn and bewildered
in the tubs of his wellingtons,
smiling at me for help,
faced with this stranger I'd brought him.
Then a cunning middle voice
came out of the field across the road
saying, 'Be adept and be dialect,
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,
call me sweetbriar after the rain
or snowberries cooled in the fog.
But love the cut of this traveled one
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.
Go beyond what's reliable
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,
these eyes and puddles and stones,
and recollect how bold you were
when I visited you first
with departures you cannot go back on.'
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing
I found myself driving the stranger
through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride
in all that I knew, that began to make strange
at that same recitation.
–Seamus Heaney, "Making Strange"
Not to get all deep and 'emo' or whatever you want to call it, but as broken down by author Michael Caldwell, this somewhat parallels what I am going for thesis wise in a metaphorical way.
"Heaney writes "Making Strange" in the first person and recalls a visit to a familiar village, perhaps the village of his youth. As the poem opens, we find Heaney standing between an intellectual colleague "with his traveled intelligence and tawny containment" and an old acquaintance, "unshorn and bewildered in the tubs of his wellingtons." Although the former is more articulate – "his speech like the twang of a bowstring" in contrast to the latter's mute "smiling at me for help" –it is a third voice that calls to Heaney. This "cunning middle voice" has an indeterminate origin, from "out of the field across the road." We know that it comes from neither the acquaintance's village nor the colleague's milieu, and we sense that it might negotiate between the two. The ensuing lines support our intimation. The voice conjures a pastoral of zinc hut, sweetbriar, and snowberries and links the scene with the Old Testament story of Boaz and Ruth. With this linkage, the voice conjoins Ireland with a biblical terrain where a salubrious landscape also masked generations of conflict. Heaney not only stands between personifications of native intelligence and cultural sophistication, but also must provide them with a unifying poetic vision."
(Cadwell, xv-xviii)
Anyway, as I see it, the site seems to be alot like the acquaintance, in that it is sitting idle, waiting patiently for some sort of help, with a half hearted smile, and the intelligent (used loosely, in this sense) colleague is a metaphor for the area surrounding the site. It may even be suited to reverse this, and envision the site as the intelligent colleague (due to its long history, etc) and the surrounding city the acquaintance, smiling weakly waiting for some sort of direction or assistance. Anyway, the third voice can be seen as the intervention between the two. I will post more later concerning the site visit and documentation i did today, but thats all I have for now.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
A Few Definitions
Edge Effect: The effect of the juxtaposition of contrasting environments on an ecosystem
Edge: 1: The line of intersection of two surfaces
2: A rim or brink
3: The point at which something is likely to begin
4: A dividing line; a border
Synonyms: border, borderline, brim, brink, edging, fringe, margin periphery, rim, verge, threshold
Connection: 1: One that connects; a link
2: An association or relationship
3: Reference or relation to something else; context
4: A means or channel of communication
Synonyms: coupling joint, junction, juncture, seam, union, connect
Threshold: 1: An entrance or doorway
2: The place or point of beginning; the outset
3: The point that must be exceeded to begin producing a given effect or result or to elicit a response
Synonyms: borderline, brink, edge, point, verge
Edge: 1: The line of intersection of two surfaces
2: A rim or brink
3: The point at which something is likely to begin
4: A dividing line; a border
Synonyms: border, borderline, brim, brink, edging, fringe, margin periphery, rim, verge, threshold
Connection: 1: One that connects; a link
2: An association or relationship
3: Reference or relation to something else; context
4: A means or channel of communication
Synonyms: coupling joint, junction, juncture, seam, union, connect
Threshold: 1: An entrance or doorway
2: The place or point of beginning; the outset
3: The point that must be exceeded to begin producing a given effect or result or to elicit a response
Synonyms: borderline, brink, edge, point, verge
Case Study
The Sands Bethworks:
Sands Bethworks:
Sited on the Bethlehem Steel site (126 acres, largest brownfield site in the US)
'Smartgrowth' reevelopment - redevelopment of the brownfield site to stimulate reinvestment and create new investment and economic opportunities for the city and its residents and business owners.
-Reestablish the site as a city center and 'heartbeat' intended to ease itself back into the urban fabric of Bethlehem
-Respecting the history and richness of the site through the maintenance of the industrial setting
-Blending the old with the new through the adaptive reuse of structures and machinery and use of original materials and styles to recreate the familiar glow of the site
-Transforming the abandoned site into a city center with many job opportunities for its citizens while creating much needed state income to boost the local economy - rebirth of the site and creation of a new 'heartbeat' with a familiar design
-Features: Casino, Hotels, Residences / Lofts, Restaurants, Retail space, Community Centers, Broadcasting Stations, National Museum of Industrial History, Performing Arts Center, etc.
Sands Bethworks:
Sited on the Bethlehem Steel site (126 acres, largest brownfield site in the US)
'Smartgrowth' reevelopment - redevelopment of the brownfield site to stimulate reinvestment and create new investment and economic opportunities for the city and its residents and business owners.
-Reestablish the site as a city center and 'heartbeat' intended to ease itself back into the urban fabric of Bethlehem
-Respecting the history and richness of the site through the maintenance of the industrial setting
-Blending the old with the new through the adaptive reuse of structures and machinery and use of original materials and styles to recreate the familiar glow of the site
-Transforming the abandoned site into a city center with many job opportunities for its citizens while creating much needed state income to boost the local economy - rebirth of the site and creation of a new 'heartbeat' with a familiar design
-Features: Casino, Hotels, Residences / Lofts, Restaurants, Retail space, Community Centers, Broadcasting Stations, National Museum of Industrial History, Performing Arts Center, etc.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Program Narrative Outline
Program types currently under investigation:
Commemorative Railroad Muesum
Anthracite Museum
Museum of Industrialization
Community center
Secondary school
Community art center
Needs of the public/population
Public/open space
Cultural identity
Historical identity
Reclaiming of old sites
Maintenance of history
Bridging of site
Acknowledgment of site as the former heartbeat of the city
Groups of people
Large immigrant and minority population
High poverty levels
Generations of families
Reading residents
Tourists
Educational facilities/students
Influences
Anthracite region
History of railroad and uses
History of Reading and Northern PA
Center of transport hub
Legacy as industrial giant
Coal and passenger lines
Corruption
Greed
Abandonment
Wealth
Poverty
Industrialization
Decline
Working conditions
Investigations
Communication between buildings on the site
Built forms and voids
Surrounding areas of the city
User/laborer/pedestrian activities
Historical forms
Vernacular
Benefits to local area
Tourism increase
Boost in economy
Redevelopment of land
Investment opportunities
Other programmatic possibilities
Large scale art center/recreation system
Large site provides for large installations (i.e. Reichstag) that
will cover up various areas of the site for given periods of time, thus covering the stain and hardships resulting from the recession of the railroad boom
Uncovering/removal of installations and temporary architecture
can show continual rebirth of the site and its elements/features and buildings
Changing of the installations will provide continual variations in
the site and its overall forms as a metaphor to parallel the continual changing, and eventual removal of the Reading Railroad itself
Can also provide for a bridging of the site to connect the two
somewhat disparate sides and create a communication on an otherwise silent site
Case studies
Reichstag wrapping; Christo
Is something more present when it all of a sudden disappears?
Reminder of a failure (can be implemented on to
Reading Railroad)
Wallpaper used to cover the cracks of damaged government and
or society; removal of the wrapping symbolize the rebirth or re-emergence of of the structure and its society
Dramatic, sudden alterations of existing structures with their
own previously established identities draw new attention from users and provide a new vision on an old, possibly abused site
Red Trevi Fountain
Another case of a sudden/dramatic alteration gaining the
attention of the many local residents
The Sands Bethworks
Adaptive reuse of the Bethlehem Steel site including mixed use
facilites; commercial, casino, residential etc. using the
language and existing elements of the site infused with
the rich history and influence of Bethlehem Steel
Steamtown, Scranton PA
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
North Philadelphia
Commemorative Railroad Muesum
Anthracite Museum
Museum of Industrialization
Community center
Secondary school
Community art center
Needs of the public/population
Public/open space
Cultural identity
Historical identity
Reclaiming of old sites
Maintenance of history
Bridging of site
Acknowledgment of site as the former heartbeat of the city
Groups of people
Large immigrant and minority population
High poverty levels
Generations of families
Reading residents
Tourists
Educational facilities/students
Influences
Anthracite region
History of railroad and uses
History of Reading and Northern PA
Center of transport hub
Legacy as industrial giant
Coal and passenger lines
Corruption
Greed
Abandonment
Wealth
Poverty
Industrialization
Decline
Working conditions
Investigations
Communication between buildings on the site
Built forms and voids
Surrounding areas of the city
User/laborer/pedestrian activities
Historical forms
Vernacular
Benefits to local area
Tourism increase
Boost in economy
Redevelopment of land
Investment opportunities
Other programmatic possibilities
Large scale art center/recreation system
Large site provides for large installations (i.e. Reichstag) that
will cover up various areas of the site for given periods of time, thus covering the stain and hardships resulting from the recession of the railroad boom
Uncovering/removal of installations and temporary architecture
can show continual rebirth of the site and its elements/features and buildings
Changing of the installations will provide continual variations in
the site and its overall forms as a metaphor to parallel the continual changing, and eventual removal of the Reading Railroad itself
Can also provide for a bridging of the site to connect the two
somewhat disparate sides and create a communication on an otherwise silent site
Case studies
Reichstag wrapping; Christo
Is something more present when it all of a sudden disappears?
Reminder of a failure (can be implemented on to
Reading Railroad)
Wallpaper used to cover the cracks of damaged government and
or society; removal of the wrapping symbolize the rebirth or re-emergence of of the structure and its society
Dramatic, sudden alterations of existing structures with their
own previously established identities draw new attention from users and provide a new vision on an old, possibly abused site
Red Trevi Fountain
Another case of a sudden/dramatic alteration gaining the
attention of the many local residents
The Sands Bethworks
Adaptive reuse of the Bethlehem Steel site including mixed use
facilites; commercial, casino, residential etc. using the
language and existing elements of the site infused with
the rich history and influence of Bethlehem Steel
Steamtown, Scranton PA
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
North Philadelphia
Thursday, November 1, 2007
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