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Living in Paranoia 3
Showing my amazing sense of ADD this post came to me from a combination of a anti-marijuana tv ad, a book on post WW II bunkers, and my thesis direction of paranoia.
A quote from the author of “Survival City” talking about September 11th...
“ The city has been shaken again, and architecture has provided an uncertain shelter, and those same impulses reborn - to leave the city, to construct buildings capable of withstanding attacks - are ultimately just as untenable now as they were 50 years ago, for what would life be without cities and without architecture that promoted the positive values of civic life? The riches - material, intellectual, cultural, and spiritual - of the city, as Lewis Mumford once observed, have always made it would be the object for “collective aggression”; to abandon it would be the first surrender of a civilization whose own survival depends on the city. If we cannot build against the worst acts of humankind, then we must continue to build in hopeful emulation of the best.”
Does architecture have to be a bunker to deal with our current security state?
Here are three admissions i have beginning to develop:
1. We cannot, in a post 911 culture, overlook the importance of security in buildings today.
2. We cannot design buildings that are prepared for any and all terrorist or criminal acts.
3. We cannot let what happened on 911 ever happen again.
But, we cannot let our paranoia and anxiety of another attack blind our decisions in terms of security.
The heart/beauty of space must still be seen in the compromise of space. The bunkers of the atomic bomb scare, and their revival in modern times especially during the y2k scare, are driven by paranoia and the media. After the suspicion of the bomb or y2k disaster dies down, the push for this type of super-secure building dies down.
Will the scare of 911 ever die down, because I truly believe myself and any one else will never forget.
Still on the hunt for how paranoia in our current society can be directly manifested in architecture, going beyond bunker but still confronting the idea and need for security.
6 Comments
maybe you can make a project that creates paranoia about... lets say a larger impending danger to us all... that global warming is going to kill us all if we dont do something about it...
Are you familiar with the firm Rock12? They've designed these things called "Tiger Traps" that can effectively stop an explosives-laden van from hitting a building, but are unobtrusive and essentially invisible to the everyday pedestrian. Their "NoGos" have also been lauded as an excellent design response to the need for security barriers in post 9/11 NYC. Check them out.
that site also links to moma's 'safe' show, which might provide some inspiration for ryan.
Have you noticed that Wal-Marts look like fortresses?
Thanks for the links.
I sketched out the Tiger Trap idea with out knowing someone already did it.
Has anyone seen the MoMa show?
i saw the moma show last spring...
more about safety gear than architecture...
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