Below you will find some of the writings from my master's thesis work at Harvard University. My blog, where I was publishing these articles, was called "Architecting the new" - in trying to figure out what to focus on and take on as a topic, you will see I started by trying to figure out how innovation had come about in architecture before, and thus how one could potentially achieve it again in a meaningful way. At the end you will see the direction it led me in to, which has shaped my career up to this point.
1_Architecting the New
Shape, Figure, Pattern, Form: creating a contemporary architecture...
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Shape, Figure, Pattern, Form: creating a contemporary architecture...
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2_Survival and Replication in Architecture.
Architecture is a discipline/entity that wishes to not become extinct. In evolutionary biology there are a couple of different ways that scientists believe genes have worked to allow for the plethora of different beings that exist today, and that allow for new types to still emerge. The goal is to abstract those processes and see if they are ‘translatable’ to architecture, not only retroactively – by looking at how it maps to its past developments, but hopefully ‘projectively,’ that is, by looking at how architecture can find new ways of innovating itself...
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Architecture is a discipline/entity that wishes to not become extinct. In evolutionary biology there are a couple of different ways that scientists believe genes have worked to allow for the plethora of different beings that exist today, and that allow for new types to still emerge. The goal is to abstract those processes and see if they are ‘translatable’ to architecture, not only retroactively – by looking at how it maps to its past developments, but hopefully ‘projectively,’ that is, by looking at how architecture can find new ways of innovating itself...
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3_Meaningful New Architecture
One mustn’t confuse the means with the ends. The goal is not to achieve new architecture. New by itself doesn’t mean anything. The goal is that through the new we achieve better conditions that advance the field of architecture, and improve its performance. According to the analogy made to genes in Survival and Replication in Architecture, changes that make architecture’s chances of survival and replication greater. From the previous analysis one can acknowledge that the best ways to achieve this meaningful change is through the application of the first, and fourth points laid out in Architecting the new: 1st to create completely newshapes, and 4th to change the form of the shape (i.e. reconstruct the shape). This of course begs the first series of questions: how can one create a new shape? How can one invent a new function or purpose in architecture? As suggested before, a good analogy one could use, to ease in the task, is that of Allopatric speciation...
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One mustn’t confuse the means with the ends. The goal is not to achieve new architecture. New by itself doesn’t mean anything. The goal is that through the new we achieve better conditions that advance the field of architecture, and improve its performance. According to the analogy made to genes in Survival and Replication in Architecture, changes that make architecture’s chances of survival and replication greater. From the previous analysis one can acknowledge that the best ways to achieve this meaningful change is through the application of the first, and fourth points laid out in Architecting the new: 1st to create completely newshapes, and 4th to change the form of the shape (i.e. reconstruct the shape). This of course begs the first series of questions: how can one create a new shape? How can one invent a new function or purpose in architecture? As suggested before, a good analogy one could use, to ease in the task, is that of Allopatric speciation...
... READ MORE
4_Social Technology
Today globalization has become probably one of the most undisputable conditions of our societies. Perhaps its greatest power comes from technological advancements in the field of communication, and exchange of information across the globe. And what is socialization and social contact if not communication between individuals!
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Today globalization has become probably one of the most undisputable conditions of our societies. Perhaps its greatest power comes from technological advancements in the field of communication, and exchange of information across the globe. And what is socialization and social contact if not communication between individuals!
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5_A case study :: Tokyo post-Urban
The process of Tokyo’s Modernization, which started with the Meiji Period in 1868, has made its public spaces lose their effectiveness as meaningful places where individuals interact, and has brought a destruction of its traditional family structure that gave identity and a sense of purpose and security to its people – a people who have thus begun facing an existential crisis of sorts as they find themselves alone in the mega metropolis. Tokyo’s inhabitants have become unable to connect with other individuals in the city’s public spaces, where, because of Tokyo’s size and population, everybody is a stranger. These developments have led to the growth of the Tokyo underground Manga/Anime culture. An online based community that has reinstituted among its members a sense of identity and connectedness to a larger sphere; a community where real social interactions have bloomed again. Tokyo Post-Urban argues the death of the city’s physical social spaces and its rebirth in virtual space...
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The process of Tokyo’s Modernization, which started with the Meiji Period in 1868, has made its public spaces lose their effectiveness as meaningful places where individuals interact, and has brought a destruction of its traditional family structure that gave identity and a sense of purpose and security to its people – a people who have thus begun facing an existential crisis of sorts as they find themselves alone in the mega metropolis. Tokyo’s inhabitants have become unable to connect with other individuals in the city’s public spaces, where, because of Tokyo’s size and population, everybody is a stranger. These developments have led to the growth of the Tokyo underground Manga/Anime culture. An online based community that has reinstituted among its members a sense of identity and connectedness to a larger sphere; a community where real social interactions have bloomed again. Tokyo Post-Urban argues the death of the city’s physical social spaces and its rebirth in virtual space...
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6_Social Space Taxonomy and Analysis
In trying to classify and numerate the different types of social spaces/programs that exist (places where human beings engage in seeing, meeting, talking, and sharing of other experiences) one comes across 3 general categories under which they can all be placed. The first is composed of spaces or programs where social interactions happen completely by accident – one is using the space for practical reasons or out of basic need and for some reason or another one comes into contact with other human beings. The second category is composed of spaces that one goes to and uses for some reason other than basic need. The function of the space attracts so many people that even if one is not looking for social contact if it were to happen one would not be at all caught by surprise. In fact, some people use these spaces with the main goal of socializing, and the real reason the space attracts people being only partially utilized if not completely disregarded. The third and final category are of spaces that are purely social – spaces that people go to and use with the main purpose of socially interacting with other human beings...
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In trying to classify and numerate the different types of social spaces/programs that exist (places where human beings engage in seeing, meeting, talking, and sharing of other experiences) one comes across 3 general categories under which they can all be placed. The first is composed of spaces or programs where social interactions happen completely by accident – one is using the space for practical reasons or out of basic need and for some reason or another one comes into contact with other human beings. The second category is composed of spaces that one goes to and uses for some reason other than basic need. The function of the space attracts so many people that even if one is not looking for social contact if it were to happen one would not be at all caught by surprise. In fact, some people use these spaces with the main goal of socializing, and the real reason the space attracts people being only partially utilized if not completely disregarded. The third and final category are of spaces that are purely social – spaces that people go to and use with the main purpose of socially interacting with other human beings...
... READ MORE
