Cathedral’s Speciation

2008-06-13T14:52:00.002-04:00

2008-06-11T22:26:00.003-04:00

2008-04-22T21:56:00.002-04:00

2008-04-21T21:43:00.000-04:00

Architecture and war are not incompatible. Architecture is war. War is architecture. I am at war with my time, with history, with all authority that resides in fixed and frightened forms. I am one of millions who do not fit in, who have no home, no family, no doctrine, no firm place to call my own, no known beginning or end, no "sacred and primordial site." I declare war on all icons and finalities, on all histories that would chain me with my own falseness, my own pitiful fears. I know only moments, and lifetimes that are as moments, and forms that appear with infinite strength, then "melt into air." I am an architect, a constructor of worlds, a sensualist who worships the flesh, the melody, a silhouette against the darkening sky. I cannot know your name. Nor you can know mine. Tomorrow, we begin together the construction of a city.
-Lebbeus Woods

Rose Sunset

2008-04-20T19:57:00.005-04:00

2008-04-20T09:38:00.005-04:00

2008-04-19T01:33:00.005-04:00

2008-04-18T21:48:00.001-04:00

massing

bridge

main entry

interior -ground level

stairs in the tower

2008-04-18T16:03:00.005-04:00

cloister arcade

2008-04-17T20:25:00.002-04:00

2008-04-16T03:29:00.001-04:00

Cell Study

2008-04-10T21:05:00.000-04:00

Massing

2008-04-10T21:03:00.003-04:00

Massing

2008-04-10T17:57:00.008-04:00

Massing and Skin studies

2008-04-10T17:26:00.004-04:00

Vaulting Speciation

2008-04-10T16:26:00.002-04:00

(work in progress)

overall building

2008-04-10T13:18:00.003-04:00

screen capture

2008-04-10T03:00:00.001-04:00

2008-04-01T00:02:00.006-04:00

Cavities of Sainte-Genevieve

2008-03-26T01:30:00.013-04:00

The continuity of space and monumentality of scale internal to a cathedral inspires in us a sense of awe. This sensation is achieved by a parts to whole relationship where the continuity and grandeur of space takes primacy over the disparate elements of the interior. The exterior of a cathedral swells up to declare monolithic permanence and iconic presence at the urban scale. Central Park is an iconic center within Manhattan. The economic and cultural networks within the city are secondary to the park. A cathedral in the park would establish a shift in power structure within the city and as such needs to have an exterior expression equivalent to such a stature.

Soufflot’s Sainte-Genevieve is a leviathan in the Latin quarters of Paris. The neighborhood fabric is surgically cut, opening up avenues like arteries with the cathedral inserted at its center. Sections through the cathedral reveal a series of nesting volumes within the monolithic mass pressing up against one another and sharing space. Space is experienced as a whole but configured by multiple cavities extracted from poche. The volumes collect like bubbles under the ice, wrapped in an envelope and allowing for structure to occur between. Soufflot's desires for a visually unobstructed space, a space of lightness, is emphasized by the freestanding columns thinned out to the point where their structural integrity became concerns for political debate amongst his contemporaries.

By embedding one pocket within another and using different scalar values Soufflot is able to differentiate between program. The portico, nave, aisle, crypt, and dome are contrasted by a scalar change. The multiple volumes of the aisle shrink in scale in relation to the naïve and subtract from the mass in a way that gives form to the buttress. The three volumes of the dome go through a phase transition from a scale appropriate to interior to the iconic scale of the exterior.

I want to investigate how a cellular system that aggregates through nesting behaviors can achieve a similar type of primacy of space exemplified at Sainte-Genevieve while also negotiating program. The volumes within Sainte-Genevieve act like cavities in a solid block, in this way too the cells need to address thickness and poche as well as envelope, to define interior and exterior. Natural Light in Sainte-Genevieve is always experienced through successive layers of volumes acting as a plenum creating an effect that attenuates the thickness of the poche and diffuses the boundary of volume/program, again qualifying the continuity of space and the sensation of awe.

outline

2008-03-25T17:55:00.000-04:00

There are two issues about cathedral as an icon.

First one is what aspects make the cathedral an icon. In other words, it is why people perceive a certain building different from other buildings. In the case of Gothic Cathedral, its vertical mass and plan support this iconic character. These are basically derived from the religious meaning and that is the original meaning of icon. As a result, this different appearance helped Gothic Cathedral become a cultural icon. To strengthen this aspect, the main mass of new building is emphasized in vertical way and overall size needs to be huge. As all the cells are scaled up, the primary structure cell can be as large as it can be occupiable volume.

The other important issue is relationship with landscape and urban context. Because an iconic building can be inharmonious with surroundings, it is important to react to each other. Two introduced movie in presentation show how heterogeneous qualities meet and interact. In regard of locating in Manhattan, the new cathedral needs to be connected to the geometry of central park and high rise buildings around site. Cells or clusters close to surroundings are influenced and mutated by them. This transformation also is connected to programs.

Therefore, main idea of cathedral as an icon is how it can be related to context as well as how it can be an icon.

2008-03-24T16:04:00.000-04:00

Obscura

2008-03-24T15:03:00.002-04:00

The traditional spatial logic of the mosque is designed to effect a processual shedding of the outside world. As the patron enters the structure, he or she is confronted by a carefully regimented series of spaces that enforce very specific processes of separation and exfoliation: muslims from non-muslims, men from women, formal attire from casual, dirt from body. Intended to purify the faithful before gaining admission to the sacred inner sanctum, this spatial passage reifies the core conceptual binarisms that constitute Islamic religious doctrine. The mosque's architectural logic therefore privileges the crystalline over the organic, repetition over variation, the insular over the open, certainty over ambiguity, difference over affirmation, division over multiplicity.

My proposal Obscura seeks to construct an alternate experience of religious devotion by reconfiguring experientially the entry procession of a traditional mosque. As its name implies, Obscura emphasizes the concealment of what lies therein: the mosque is shrouded in an aura of mystique. Certainty and rationality of the gridded streets of Manhattan, planned design of Central Park, and the Museum of Natural Science give way to uncertainty and faith as patrons permeate the enclosure. Initially encountering spatial disorientation, those unwilling to trust blindly are sifted out, while those who continue undergo a reorientation of spatial sensibilities, thus preparing themselves for a renewed engagement with religion. Tantalizing yet disorienting, each subsequent step empowers the patron contrary to the imposed ritual of a traditional mosque.

Obscura seeks to contaminate sky/earth, interior/exterior, open/enclosed, and floor/ceiling. With expansion and contraction behaviors, perforations in Cell A offer an array of scales ranging from screen to window to portal. In aggregate, its sinuous form creates passageways, walls, and chambers of varying depth and thickness. The horizontality of Cell B lends itself to function on a variety of scales as floor/shelf/ramp/stair/ceiling/platform(dikka)/podium(minbar). Dual levels allow for a flexible yet hierarchical configuration. Through contamination of Cell A + Cell B, the dichotomy breaks down and a multiplicity of conditions arise: multiple circulation paths, ambiguous floor levels, excavation and earthworks.

2008-03-24T10:10:00.000-04:00

a varying range of juxtapositions will be capitalized to create diverse spatial, emotional and tactile effects which will produce specific affects

affect will be created through the contrasting of moments:
light – dark
ornate – austere
visible – concealed
comfortable – uncomfortable
moments of intimacy will be polarized by collective shared space as a means to promote feelings of isolation within a monumental space
individual perception will be distorted as the architecture will blur what is real and illusory , like the use of false perspective in santa maria presso san satrio
this will be done through a manipulation of surface, space, light, sound, and air to produce a contrast of intense emotional and physical reaction through spatial interaction
while creating harsh juxtapositions between space, the line dividing is sometimes blurred, allowing for an unconscious transition
to generate this variation I pulled from the past:
Sedlec Ossuary’s deep seeded connection to place through ornament. while excessive and opulent ornament is embedded with intense imagery of the past
Santa Maria Presso San Satiro uses false perspective to shift perceptions of spatial reality
the small labyrinth like conditions of st. basil in moscow is in contrast to the monolithic western cathedral , allowing for a more intimate connection to place.
the architectural language of the basilica of the vierzehnheiligen weaves architecture, sculpture, and painting - blurring the transition from one art form to another.

separate, singular moments joined together through the layering of many skins which is traditional of the iconic church. however, in this situation this is no main space designed, but the main space is rather an accumulation of the left over dead space which is then reidentified as a main spaces. the main space of worship becomes the accumulation of forgotten space.

ultimately the architecture will be an open space with moments of intense intimacy. the intimate labyrinth like quality found within St Basils will be utilized to intensify the movement of the individual though a collection of spaces.

2008-03-24T09:48:00.001-04:00

Contamination and conflict serve as productive forces in the generation of the multiplicity of experience, sensation and affect in a monumental and iconic space devoted the spiritual. The cathedral embodies the separation from the urban context and park landscape, mediating between these two dialectical conditions within their interface as a space of communication – communication with the mystery of the spiritual, communication with the intimacy of the self, communication generated through chance interaction within the multitude. The cathedral here does not represent Heaven on earth; it is rather a repository of the human condition, of collective memory, of a democratic plurality of beliefs – a symbol of shared experience and a foil for both secular and spiritual reflection. The multitude yearns for a space where communication with the spiritual and reflection are possible, space that cannot so readily be found in the binary condition of city/park. A multiplicity of spatial conditions is achieved through carefully mediated systems, spaces, forms, structure, enclosure, interaction, spectacle, excess and absence.
A matrix of historical precedent maps variable evolutionary trajectories that operate through space and time, across time, backwards in time or within a singular moment. The acceleration and exaggeration of these trajectories produces conflict and contamination. Within the matrix several basic and general behavioral traits reveal themselves: competitive or supportive interaction between systems in the tempio malatestiano; layering and hybridization of space and connection in the work of guarini; shifting relational hierarchies and material transformations in san stefano al ponte; surface effects and spatial consequences in the religious work of mario botta. What these create is a network of cellular systems [structure, enclosure, ornament] that operate within themselves, through other systems, with other systems, across other systems and against other systems.
The different cells accumulate in various ways – working independently and together, occupying the edge and reclaiming that thickness as not only occupiable but also layered space. The varying connections, overlays, interfaces and transitions create the multiplicity of hybrid conditions that house the multiplicity of reflections. Systems and networks are layered in such a way that they perform through varying strengths of influence, from the dominant to the submissive. Relational hierarchies are challenged and identities [of cathedral, material, cell, and body] are shifted. Simultaneously generated through these operations are mediations of the dialectics of light/dark, heavy/light, fast/slow, large/small, soft/hard, clear/confused, life/death.
The multiplicity of experiences, sensations, reflections and affects is the product of a contamination generated through robust cellular systems based on evolutionary religious material trajectories as vehicles in the production of shifting realities.

a violent lightness

2008-03-22T14:59:00.000-04:00

Park Cathedral : A Vaulting Speciation

2008-03-22T00:37:00.000-04:00

Structural mutation arises from the networking of the load distribution. Traditionally this evolved into the evenly balanced and symmetrical forms found in cathedral architecture. The arches sustain vaulting heights with the device of the pointed arch, so as to accommodate differing spans of the geometries of the church plan. From the roman barrel vault, mass is replaced as a load-bearing agent in ribbed domes that allow for a floating tent-like affect, performing as a system of frame and infill. This was done with great panache in the high gothic cathedrals, displaying a full array the intricacies of the networking shown in stellar vaulting.

The epitome of load efficiency was achieved in Gaudi's Sagrada Familia where a catenary system of weights informed the eventual form. It is however in Michelangelo's St Peter's dome that we see the play in destabilizing tension and compression forces, where by the ribbed arches are so tightly constricted at the base with the double column-pilasters that the oculus threatened to burst apart. He had to introduce the heavy lantern at the crown to cap off and weigh down the explosive force that was generated.

I seek to fabricate a system whereby different gravities in space act upon the structure to test the mutations of the cell, also in doing so, that the affect of extreme build up and tension be produced.

ICON _midterm presentation

2008-03-17T00:36:00.000-04:00

Abra Cadaver II: The Midterm

2008-03-16T21:42:00.001-04:00

"I became acquainted with the science of anatomy: but this was not sufficient; I must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body. In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition, or to have feared the apparition of a spirit.Darkness had no effect upon my fancy; and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm."

-Mary Shelley

skinless. skinned.

2008-03-16T17:56:00.000-04:00

The metaphore of skin to describe surface has been a dominant part of the dialog surrounding cathedral design. Beginning with the greek temples that had no need for skin to the gothic creation of a skin like surface that no longer refrenced it's construction. Skin became a unifying element, as seen in the vertical lines of the columns thrusting up from the earth towards the light. it is my goal to use the metaphore to drive a new relationship of surface to mass through a literal perspective of skinning. the connotation is primarily in relation to the removal of skin, and seldom the addition of skin; as in to skin a deer etc. The result is a clear relation of the internal workings of the body. At this point of the project i have not developed the actual skin, but constructed the internal workings necessary to be revealed by the cutting, or removal of the skin. the disconnect of the continuous surface, broken by the cut. This video show the architectural equivelant to a knee joint without skin. The evolution of a cathedral in this case is not a rebirth, but a damaged or torn structure. The scar that is not easily hidden and defining of the city's charecter.

2008-03-15T12:02:00.000-04:00

2008-03-15T11:59:00.001-04:00

2008-03-15T11:49:00.000-04:00

Public and private program separated by interior skin within the same cluster.

2008-03-11T23:40:00.000-04:00

2008-03-10T19:03:00.000-04:00

cluster

2008-03-10T08:03:00.000-04:00

cell types

2008-03-10T02:14:00.001-04:00

2008-03-07T18:42:00.001-05:00

2008-03-06T05:36:00.000-05:00

2008-03-05T21:31:00.000-05:00

2008-03-05T20:48:00.001-05:00

2008-03-05T13:03:00.000-05:00

abra cadaver

2008-03-05T12:39:00.000-05:00

2008-03-05T12:11:00.000-05:00

2008-02-15T22:06:00.000-05:00

Collective Lightness

2008-02-15T17:54:00.000-05:00

Ornament as a collective system producing an effect of lightness--a resistance to gravitas and gravity, and a potential for a tragic failure.

2008-02-15T16:24:00.000-05:00

2008-02-15T16:22:00.000-05:00

2008-02-15T15:49:00.000-05:00

2008-02-15T12:30:00.000-05:00

Notes for development 02/13/08

2008-02-14T22:42:00.000-05:00

Some very nice work on Wednesday, let’s keep moving ahead, continue to evolve the cells , and work out strong strategies for interaction within each system. By next week everyone should have at least 3 different cells with a notion of scale and architectural character. Combine geometries for greater specialization and interaction. Allow the geometry to work for you, surfaces as nurbs, solids as subdivisions and polygons. Letting the geometries work together will help to develop the cells as biological robots, with tectonic connections and physical growth. Move beyond the notion of the module, cells communicate; the greater the possibilities for communication increase the chance for survival in more complex environments. There should be a balance between optimization and excess. Along with the development of taxonomies of behaviors you should also be providing your own parameters of success.

I am pleased that most of you incorporated animation into your presentations. Please keep this going, learn from movies that you like, look at how they use the camera, timing, characters, light, intensity. When does the camera move, when does the object move, how are the two communicating. This will help to develop the character of your animations and the overall presentation. Treat the research with the same eye. Be careful and intentional with your timing, you should not have to pause and play your presentation while you talk, it is there to talk for itself. Try recording your presentation and then doing the timing to what you have to say. Keep the presentations to 4-5 minutes max. Remove the need for PDF or Powerpoint style slide shows, these often lead to very linear and dry presentations. Evolution is not understood only in one direction, we must understand the now in parallel with the past. Understand the precedence in conjunction with the new.

Many of the drawings are very intriguing, study the way that the wireframes explain geometry and density. Consider whether the generic wireframe is the best method of representation, there are many other techniques of drawing that may serve your geometry and character better. Surface and constructed of curves not polygonal meshes, subdiv provide a different structural geometry than meshes and nurbs. How can the pure representation of the geometry enhance the affect of the cell, where does density change and what does this describe in the behavior of the cell.

Carefully test scale. Within the cell, within the homogeneous cell system, within the heterogeneous cell system. What are the parameters of scale, how much can something grow or shrink, expand or contract, stretch or relax… These qualities lead to rhythm, and when combined in complex systems, melody.

Through your research of cathedrals you should find architectural shortcomings, areas of architectural speculation that your cells and systems can evolve to negotiate.

dead weight

2008-02-14T16:30:00.000-05:00

In the Pazzi Chapel the porch acts a series of perforated screens/skins that announce and heighten the progression to the alter.
In the Medici Chapel there is a desire to explore space as a voluptuous volume. The dashed lines in plan indicate a presence of unseen bodies that are ultimately reduced to imprints on the surface of the walls and ceiling in the same way that Beyonce's paints shadows on her stomach to suggest the appearance of muscles.
Borromini plays out rule based operations in order to resolve multiple bodies (the trinity) into a singular oculus. The church appears to act as a skin containing a series of weightless bodies in an orgy of becoming.
In Sante-Genevieve space is accumulated as a series of interconnected pockets that operate within a single body. The diagonal cross section through the dome reveals cavities inside a structural casing.
In the Nortre Dame de Haut the church is dissected and reassembled without its center. The affect is one of dead weight, not only by the forces registered by the roof, and the absent center, but also in the way that the punctured wall reads as a vertical mortuary.

The Reverential Morphology

2008-02-07T01:40:00.000-05:00

The Reverential Morphology: from geometry to morphology

Morphological differentiation is driven by the simple geometry.

The differentiations of cell contain the simplicity as well as the complexity.

The intelligent aggregation of those cells generates exquisite morphological complexity which endows a cathedral with Holiness.

The cathedral became not only the place of communication with God, but also an aura of grandeur itself.

Cell 01_from Rose window: the decoration and Tessellation
Cell 02_from Vault web: the Surface and Perforation
Cell 03_from Buttress pier: the Structure and Growth

Angels and Diseases

2008-02-07T00:51:00.000-05:00

From angelic to demonic, ideal to grotesque, intimate to grandios cathedrals are able to achieve spaces that provoke a combination of awe inspiring kinesthetic, visual, and psychological effects. The dance of good and evil is aided by the battles of new versus old, life and death, light and shadow, releif and polished, height and weight. It is from these strange dichotomies that i have chosen to pair the angelic with the grotesque. This battle of form is played out through two types of cells both of the same origin. One heavy deformed and simple; the other light graceful, and ornate. Neither of which can over run the other, and when they do disease interveans. The final cell type is a type of infection that accompanies the unions of cells. The diseased cell type is the domain of people, a purgatory or place of constant change. These cells make up the interface between man an cathedral. Pieces such as benches, stairs etc. These are the necessary in space full of the elaborate.

2008-02-06T23:24:00.000-05:00

Tapping into the networks of the supernatural, places of worship enhance this experience. Innovation in the expression of light further intensifies every century, contemporary technological exaggerations have yet to reach its limits. In this example, kinetic apparatus impregnates itself with light producing modules that eventually spread and does the same.

Abra Cadaver

2008-02-06T22:26:00.000-05:00

From skin to body, body to cavity, and cavity to cadaver; the ideological form of the cathedral undergoes a continuous process of mutation. These reemerging and familiar qualities of flesh are an underlying trait in the cathedral's physiological evolution.

The initial cellular studies look at paring an architectural effect with an architectural element, skin with decoration, body with volume, and cavity with structure; while, embedding the cell with a logic of behavior. The first study looks at how volume can be organically grown; take on characteristics of mutual reaction like two bodies spooning (or more) and continuously dilate between convex and concave forms. The next cell takes on the role of structure, but the organs as structure instead of bones as structure. This forms a continuity of malleable spatial pockets that satisfy structural needs and allow for a fluid space. Its organization mimics rococo ornament as a series of centripetally arranged elements strung together by a sticky web. The last component is the skin as decoration. It looks at ornamentation as a form of scarring that continually shifts and reconfigures itself below the surface waiting to emerge. What is lacking is how this cell can behave porously, finding moments where it can produce tears and dimples.

Affect: grandeur of scale, spatial multiplicity, methodical repetition of parts, continuity of form, an encounter with a familiar, the cathedral.

body_soft body spooning

body_growth

cavity_section

cavity_structural cells

skin_decoration through scarring

2008-02-06T21:21:00.000-05:00

cells begin as abstractions of simple principles of cathedral/church design. through exaggerations and accelerations of certain evolutionary trajectories and material qualities, the cells aggregate and differentiate to form new relational hierarchies and affects. material and topological transformations occur at global and local scales to produce effects of hard/soft, fast/slow, thick/thin, light/heavy, light/dark, monumentality/masking, difference/repetition, life/death. contamination and conflict serve as productive forces in the morphological transformation of space that embodies both life and the afterlife.

variation of spiritual space.

2008-02-06T21:06:00.000-05:00

variation of spiritual space.
each cell will exploit its latent potential to create an architecture that allows a transformation of effect/affect. intense moments of difference will be achieved through the manipulation of cells. embedded within each cluster is its ability to distort aperture, allowing immense light to penetrate at one moment, while simultaneously allowing no penetration at another. similarly, the structure’s magnitude will undulate – creating instances of greatness contrasted by moments of intimacy.
difference will be achieved through repetition.

2008-02-06T20:28:00.000-05:00

A natural, engrossing, systemic lightness is the proposed effect of these ornamental cells. They are developing structural behaviors whereby they might come to support each other, linking together end to end, but must still hang as they are still too light of a system. They seek to resist gravitas by their bootstraps.

lightness becoming structure as a systemic network

Cell behavior. a small self-propelling creature

beginning to fail under their own weight

Vaulting, Symbolism, Sacrificial Action

2008-02-06T20:06:00.000-05:00

Raina's 3 cells:

Using the actions of ball and socket found in the muscular and osteological formations, pinching, piercing, mating occurs upon incident. The vaulting structures in the typology of the cathedral express to me essence of Gothic architecture, just as the symbolic actions of salvation expresses the Christian faith.

three cells

2008-02-06T19:55:00.000-05:00

cell 1 _structure

cell 2 _skin

cell 3 _ornament

Excising Excess

2008-02-06T19:41:00.000-05:00

Whirling and pulsating behaviors initially generate cells with three components: thin, round, hard members (bones); flat, hard, elastic members (tendons); bulbous, soft, elastic parts (fats). As fats accumulate, excision reorients connection points among all types of members enabling new configurations.

The entry procession of a mosque similarly removes distraction through separation -- encouraging a shedding of material excess.

ICON _Yong Ju

2008-02-06T19:40:00.001-05:00

Cathedral has been an ICON. Before Renaissance, it had only reliegious meaning. Gothic Cathedral was a representation of some sacred personage as christ or a saint or angel. After Renaissance, this meaning changed to cultural way. It bacame the object of great attention and devotion; an idol -like a pop icon. The meaning of Cathedral in these days is still close to the latter. However, this iconic aspect is sometimes understood as ignorance of the context. New Cathedral could show how these two different qualities (icon-context) meet and react each others.

Noksan Church in Busan, Korea
Cronos by Guillermo Del Toro, 1993
Videodrome by David Cronenberg, 1983

Studio Description

2008-01-31T15:42:00.000-05:00

Cathedral’s Speciation

We are becoming monsters - a species aroused by non-perfect images coming from perfect methodologies. Here is where the true transformation is happening. We are subverting the logic of perfection: what used to be about mastering the result of a non-perfect process is now about the production of monstrosity and the grotesque through the mathematical perfection of an evolutive mechanism. So why not be optimistic? In the end such is life, such is love...
The studio proposes to re-examine the possibilities of form generation as an autonomous entity.In the context of these conditions, the studio will focus in the generation and production of mutant microbehaviors that will accumulate to create species from systems.

Cathedrals and Churches has been the blueprint for mutation and transformation of ARCHITECTURE with capital A.

The ultimate creepy / grotesque / horrific / Affective Space

The vehicle for innovation in design techniques, perspective, structure, ornament, scale, etc…

With all the transformations of the field in the last 15 years is time to revisit the ultimate Architecture specie.

In a mileu of genome mapping, terabyte-scale personal media management, nano-scale meicine, and private space tourism, the majority of Americans still believe in Creationism over Evolution. Is this a paradox or logical correlation?

America is not just a religious country, it is a country of religiosity. Everything --shoes, cars, soda pops, diet regmines, operating system preferences -- is not just marketed, they are evangelized. Herethe intertwining of personal redemption and self-realization is deep in the local character.

Like cheap software, America invents and exports religions with an enthusiasm and efficiency that is mesmerizing and frightening. To be sure, secular capitalism’s charisma was learned on the road, converting customers one at a time.

As has been noted since it’s very beginnings, capitalism is a double edged blessing. The market is a cruel and uncompassionate community. It also renders under that which it provides

In an American landscape of dying malls, overgrown offramps, zoloft for kids, 1000 cable channels, and no actual human friends and neighbors, a sense of spiritual malaise is inevitable. This malaise is both the the product of the religion of the market, and the raw source material for the market of religion.

One reason America is good at desiging new spiritual products is because it is so good at creating the demand for them.

In this studio we will design a new Cathedral for New York.

We will do so with an interest in the profound social and political purpose that these ecstatic temporary cities of faith and communal proclamation fulfill (or at least promise) for the millions of people to attend them every week.

We will carefully study Gothic religious architecture (among the most beautiful spaces ever created) to consider their success in marrying the social, spiritual, political and sensual into a single design.

The contemporary religious architecture is sometimes an opportunistic adaptive re- use, taking over basketball arenas, warehouses even parking lots as needed, and always inheriting some of the atmosphere of these. As forms, they have scale but often not sufficient sacrality; they don't achieve the same resolution of political and sensual grandeur of Cathedrals of the past. Part of our task is to give a more official, more contemporary, more fantastic form to these emergent political bodies.

Welcome

2008-01-31T14:05:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Studio Blog for Hernan Diaz Alonso's
Sp2008 2nd Year Studio at Columbia University GSAPP

critic: Hernan Diaz Alonso
at: Robert Brackett III