DAISY AMES

The part is absolute; it stands in solitude, yet it takes a position with regard to the whole from which it has been separated. The architecture of the archipelago must be an absolute architecture, an architecture that is defined by and makes clear the presence of limits which define the city. An absolute architecture is one that recognizes whether these limits are a product (and a camouflage) of economic exploitation (such as the enclaves determined by uneven economic redistribution) or whether they are the pattern of an ideological will to separation within the common space of the city…

Instead of being an icon of diversity per se, and absolute architecture must refuse any impetus to novelty and accept the possibility of being an instrument of separation, and thus of political action. 

- The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture by Pier Vittorio Aureli p.45-46

In our analysis of Stamford we focused on the fact that the downtown area is predominately populated with commuters.  The city is purely functional, serving a daytime population of business people without any of the character that comes from or draws in full time residents.  Essentially Stamford is a sort of no place place that is only populated when necessary.  We want to capitalize on the young professional commuter, give them a reason to stay in Stamford and play up the potential allure of these people and this world instead of seeing the city as a sort of cheap suit.  In between the downtown area and the low income residents are a couple of under-utilized parks and some areas that are in some sense left over space.  We hope to use these spaces to create a sense of place and give people a reason to stay in Stamford past 5 pm. In order to create this waterfront area, we looked at a series of precedents that combined urban areas and parks in leftover spaces such as Houston’s Buffalo Bayou and create lively waterfront activity, such as Vancouver.  We are proposing a first phase of construction that provides Stamford with more park, high-end residential buildings, and a commercial center out on the water.  

This is the first phase in what we envision as a scheme that eventually joins up to the Mill River Park.  In the way that RBS worked with the city in order to create a park for the area in exchange for being able to construct a larger building which required closing a city street, we hope to engage in a series of swaps (of FAR), where in each phase there is public space created “in exchange” for something that the city needs such as parking for the train. All of these moves are made in an effort to create a sense of place, an iconic area for Stamford that could be both recognized from the highway as you’re driving by and draw in pedestrians to shop, live, and hang out instead of getting right back onto the train into Manhattan

For our design studio this year we are doing an urban design project in groups of two in Stamford, Connecticut. We are analyzing the current social, economic, and physical parameters of the area and making design strategies based on the direction we think the area would benefit most.  Stamford is currently a corporate financial satellite for New York City and hosts a bustling transportation corridor along the Northeastern coastline. It is a town that “works,” economically-speaking, and provides the city with what it needs to accommodate the commuting workers and other operational aspects of the city in a timely and spacious manner.  We have been given two sites to focus our attention on for the first few weeks. One site is in the downtown financial district, and one site on the water, and they are separated by a large low-income multi-family housing district and a cemetery. My partner and I have recognized that the educated workers that commute to Stamford return to New York City immediately after work and have no need stay.  An idea of ours is to establish one or both sites as a place for these workers to spend their time, and potentially view Stamford as a place that offers as good a night life or experience as New York City. Since the commuting population is generally stereotyped as the white, educated, cookie-cutter, corporate, young singles, we have made the obvious reference to Mad Men. So what we want our urban design initiatives to do is encourage these professionals to invest in Stamford, and find a way to keep them there so that Stamford becomes its own enclave of New York City. We are considering Brooklyn, “an enclave of Manhattan,” as an example in which people initially moved their for economical reasons but now have chosen to be separate and embrace the particular “inherent” style that comes along with it, given the fact that places like Williamsburg have rent prices comparable to Manhattan. Yet, Stamford, we are arguing already has its own style – a la Mad Men… and it is our challenge to create spaces and architecture that support this way of life.

Last week we had to build 1/2” scale models of an interior “room” (dare I call it such a conventional thing!) in our studio design proposal - a contemporary art museum on a pier. These were light study models showing how daylight entered the space, reflected off of walls, penetrated through the space and/or dissipated from above. We calculated the angles of reflection and the type of reflections based off of the color and surface material. We provided photographs of the daylighting effects during winter and summer solstice, and the spring/fall equinox. These images were achieved by using a cut-out “nomen” triangle on sun dial of 40 degrees positioned on the model itself.

Studio critic, Joel Sanders made an interesting point that none of the models that he was seeing re-defined contemporary art or made a statement about an artist’s curatorial motives. While we all focused on the prompt of the assignment, Joel was passionate about depicting a space that could house a variety of media. He was annoyed that the students chose Lichtenstein’s and random yarn as examples of contemporary art -things he’s already seen. He proceeded to say that artists today fight being defined by one medium, and that they are constantly mixing media either in one piece of work, or they already have a body of work that reaches across a range of media. He concluded that our spaces should reflect this shift - to make spaces that are not harmonious, but eclectic, like that of the new artist. He said these spaces should challenge the conventional way of viewing different mediums ie. video art does not always have to be in a black box, or sculpture does not have to be in an atrium… and, perhaps make a new space for some sort of medium that we aren’t even aware of yet. Oh la la.

Last year there were PhD bag-lunches in which everyone in the MED and Architecture programs were invited to a short presentation and discussion about the work of a Yale PhD student. They were great! However, sometimes the faculty (Kurt Forster, Mario Carpo and Daniel Sherer) out-numbered the student attendance, but nevertheless created a very lively discourse. This year, with the threat of these meetings being discontinued, YSOA has decided to name these discussions and cater them - huge improvement and huge incentive for others! Joseph Clark kick-started the first of the series of “DIALOGUES” in the 3rd floor conference room. The attendance spiked from last year’s 10 people to nearly 30. 

Joseph spoke about the role of proportion and the human body in Le Corbusier’s oeuvre that eventually led to the development of the Modular and the integration of the golden section as a device for design. Architecture often calls on music to help explain some phenomenological occurances, so when rhythm (metre) was introduced into the discussion, it quickly became theory-based. While Wittkower maintained that the comparisons between the Renaissance modulation and the Modular Man were completely abstract, Heidegger similarly worried that we were moving away from the traditional ways of living if we base physical manifestations on “forced” modulation from the “spoon to the city,” as Massimo Vignelli says. Emmanuel Petit commented on the systematization of the modular in relation to tempo, the spaces in between music notes on the page, as it begins to have acoustical and aural connotations. Furthermore, the ear is the governing engine behind human balance and stability, so the conversation moved from modulation in physical form to an investigation about posture and the way we carry ourselves within that physical realm. Since posture accentuates human proportions, it would seem that Corbusier’s Modular is just the same representation of accentuated naturalistic proportions. It was an amazing discussion and a glimpse into all the things architects consider when designing.