CONTENT
1-Architecture of Sensation
Surface of sensation whose manifestation is affect, the affectionate feeling of cool earth- a mood, a shadow across a cracked wall, a realm beyond the realm of pure signs, beyond syntax, beyond the indexical; this is the territory that the architecture of Djenne resides in. An island city with earthen architecture the buildings of Djenne are constructed of memory and sensation that eschew the possibility of an architecture alive. The building breaths, it resists those forces which attempt to freeze it, attempts of reading and assignation. If we are to speak of the architecture of Djenne, one cannot speak in terms of modern architecture. The closest built facsimiles are the distant masses of the Baroque. Buildings in Djenne demonstrate the characteristics of massiveness, movement, and painterly style that make Baroque architecture so unique. Yet, the adobe or banco structures are more than the sum of their parts, they move more, breath more, have a life greater than the cathedrals, palaces, and villas of the Baroque style. They are within a realm of becoming which the Baroque only strives for. One must look at buildings of Djenne as a possibility, a possible model of construction and design that might aid modern architecture in showing the potential of architecture to free itself of the stultifying characteristics of form, meaning, and surface. Text Excerpt from Film: 'The Future of Mud: A Tale of Lives and Houses in Djenne' 2007
2-Swirls
If you stare long enough at any body in motion, regardless of its composition or affiliation; material; political; social, an arc scratches at the retina.Recognition asserts itself in the visual cortex and what you see is not an afterimage of movement at all, but choice rendered.Past, present and future rolled into one long bundle, stretches the arc as it modulates between all possible motions, it is the intersection and crossroads that forms the cusp of lived reality.And when all the possible variations of all possible movements organize what you have is the unique experience of the swirl, as a diagram of organization that works across timelines and scales.If, an arc is at once the trace and the delineation of all possible variations, the dimple, and the crease in the field: The swirl is something more, its the seeming spontaneous arisal of order out of the arc, it is that movement of arrival and recognition which creates the depth of realized observation.
Text excerpt from ZAPP # 7 2006
3-Relations
Querini Stampalia Library, Carlo Scarpa, Venice, 1961
I am in love with Venice. I spent my past year thinking about my ode to this iconic city. How could I design something befitting such a grande old dame, with grace, mystique… My proposition was a contextual project one where the architecture forges a deep connection with its context, a relationship with the city.
This project has got me thinking about how relationships in life and architecture are so similar. I approached my relationship in the following way. I attempted to land Lady Gaga onto the site, where I hoped to woo the fickle residents of Venice with my salacious forms and sexy images. I would overcome their backwardness by making them accept my futuristic design. I was rejected by the city. Looking ridiculous was not a way to assimilate into a city with such strong character. Simple diagrams justifying a physical connection to the city could not suffice either because Venice deserved more than using the same superficial stonework as San Marco. Forcing the acceptance of the city would not sustain a happy relationship between project and city that would last.
My inclination towards a very passionate, if not somewhat obsessive love affair with the textures of the city, was not a deep enough connection to be accepted. It is akin to wrapping Gisele in core-ten steel whilst trying to evoke the iconic Ayer’s Rock. Caring about Venice is not enough to overcome a lack of speaking Italian, as a lover must respect the cities heritage and complexity.
Throughout this testing year, I came to realize that bombarding my love with a passionate barrage of materials was not going to sustain a real relationship. In despair, I began to realize what works in life, works in architecture and vice versa. I decided to look to Venice’s old lover… more
Damita Yu Excerpt: