Charles Weinberg and Shai Ben-Ami standing in front of their 1:1 scale model. Image © Michael Shvadron via Charles Weinberg and Shai Ben-Ami

Thesis Review is a collection of conversations, statements, and inquiries into the current state of thesis in academia. Thesis projects provide a better understanding of the academic arena while painting a picture for the future of practice. Each feature will present a contemporary thesis project through the voice of those that constructed it. 

This week, we chat with Charles Weinberg and Shai Ben-Ami from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem and their thesis titled, "Portable Us—Journey Anywhere, Nowhere, Everywhere." The work won the Meisler Prize for outstanding graduation project at Bezalel. 

What is the thesis?

When regarding our “thesis” as the statement put forward, the following could be said: The global Internet network has led to a society in constant travel between a tangible physical world to a digital virtual world. Consequently, a frequent movement is occurring from one type of space to the other, defining new implications concerning belonging, place and identity. Now, regardless of whether physical space contains present date digital space, or the opposite, it has become an architecture nested within architecture. We asked ourselves if perhaps, time has come to face the integration of the digital with the physical to seek an evenly dynamic equilibrium between both, as today, they mutually occupy the same time and space in people’s lives. 

"Portable Us—Journey Anywhere, Nowhere, Everywhere" sought to understand how people stay in a state of motion in our more than ever mobile world through three different experiments called "Contemporary Jet Journeys." During the first journey, we lived for eight days in airport spaces. During our stay, we observed nine different and repetitive transit rituals which we portrayed in isometric drawings. 

The second journey took place only in digital spaces. We allowed ourselves to travel during five days by the help of 300 architectural renderings that we created and broadcasted through our Instagram profiles, creating an illusion of movement. 

The third journey was materialized by the building of a large scale physical model of an airplane section. The model was handmade with the help of files we digitally downloaded. The model represents an architecture downloaded and again uploaded within an existing space. Our project thesis sought to ask if whether it isn’t time for architecture to acknowledge the existence of two types of spaces in our modern era, the physical and digital? 

What was your inspiration for the thesis? 

After observing the number of people passing annually through airports, the number of packages being sent throughout the world, the amount of e-mails sent and selfies posted each day, etc., we understood that our world has become one giant global network. It was important for us to depart from this data to the thesis’ process. Clare Lyster’s book, ‘Learning from Logistics’ (2016), very much intrigued us as it discusses the very current topic of ‘Big Data’ and how logistics affect architecture and urbanism. 

We live in an era of extreme mobility, where the network has become context. Social media platforms, international student exchanges, transnational long-distance relationships, low-cost airlines, the Schengen Zone, etc. are just examples of the amplifying importance of networks in our ever more connected world where humans have become indifferent to one particular location over another. 

We live in an era of extreme mobility, where the network has become context [...]
As geographic features of urban environments make place for new geographies based on networks and connectivity, our society has surely become more fluid than ever. 

We started to ask questions of "where someone belongs?" and "what belongings someone owns?" This implied a crisis of belonging. As geographic features of urban environments make place for new geographies based on networks and connectivity, our society has surely become more fluid than ever. 

Secondly, as partners in life and work for the last (almost) four years, we’ve had the chance to be very mobile and travel often. Charles, originally from Belgium, moved to Israel in 2013 for his studies at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Afterwards, we both participated in our third year of studies in a summer course organized by our Academy at Waseda University in Tokyo, where we lived one month. The project we created there consisted of an entirely drawn travel journey expressing our adventures and the sites visited throughout the journey. During those journeys, we experienced a dynamic lifestyle, “living in and out our suitcases” with a limited amount of belongings. 

Can you talk a little more about the model you built for your project?

It was clear to us from the start that we wished to engage in the designing and building of a 1:1 scaled physical model. We were inspired by many artists and architects in the past who opted for physical large scaled models (such as Absalon’s cells) as we believe it to be the ultimate medium for expressing an idea. 

How did your thesis change over the course of the process? 

In the beginning, we decided to start with a case study of analyzing three people we knew personally, their belongings, their travel habits, etc. After having weighted and measured all of their possessions, we understood that in order to really understand movement and how it affects people today, we are the ones who need to be in movement and truly 'live' the project. That is how we decided to depart on the first “Contemporary Jet Journey,” where we lived in Europe’s airports for one week. When departing, we had no clue where the project would take us. Naturally, we starting documenting the adventures, sharing them on social media with people who weren’t experiencing this state of movement. We even allowed them to change the course of our journey through Instagram stories with poll options and more. 

...in order to really understand movement and how it affects people today, we are the ones who need to be in movement and truly 'live' the project. [...]

Movement was not only the topic but the method as well. 

When returning from the first journey, we created visual materials concerning the 9 different travel rituals discovered. The next step, in order to further develop the project, was adopting new theoretical terms and ideas, researching historical references, and leading to the decision of departing again to a second jet journey with other aspects and rules. Same for the third journey. 

Overall, as the project concerned movement, it was important for us to be in movement while researching contemporary movement. Also traveling and moving between different types of realities, and moving from types of visual media and materials such as 2D drawings, to rendered animation, to physical models, leading to a total state of movement. Movement was not only the topic but the method as well. 

How do you see this thesis progressing into your career? 

We learned the importance of staying dynamic when exploring new places and meeting people who see things differently in order to continue developing skills and networks. Secondly, we understood through "Portable Us," that in order for us to really 'succeed' with the project and contribute to architectural discourse, we had to fully 'live the project,' in a state of totality. This enabled us to stay passionate about our own project throughout the process. 

We’ve also learned to embrace the state of being "experimentally active" by not always knowing beforehand what will come from the process. We believe this allows architects and their projects to really surpass themselves and their potential as they are not closing up to predetermined ideas. 

Our thesis also enabled us to experiment with different types of mediums and methods. From designing and constructing our 1:1 scaled section model of the airplane to designing the printed version of our thesis, made to resemble an "In Flight" magazine, we developed skills that will help us in the future.

What were key moments within your thesis? 

A key moment for us was when we understood that we need to engage ourselves in a journey, and be active partners in the research process. During the first journey, a key moment was when we got stuck in the middle of the massive Gatwick Airport drone incident when hundreds of flights were canceled, following reports of drone sightings close to the runway. The reports caused major disruption, affecting approximately 140,000 passengers and 1,000 flights including ours. We had never thought of seeing so many people suddenly stuck inside the airport terminal sitting and lying everywhere. This was in strong contrast to another night that same week where we spent the night on an airport bench. We were completely alone in hundreds of square meters of total emptiness, which was a captivating spatial experience. 

Another key moment for us was when we encountered Hugo d’Alesi’s Maréorama, exhibited at the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris described in the 1900 edition of ‘Scientific American.’ The panorama was painted on long strips of fabric that ran to hundreds or even thousands of meters. The illusion had to provoke the sense of landscape scenery when perceived while on board of a moving boat inside a building. Comparing this painting to how today's movement is shared and represented, especially on social media platforms like Instagram, it was wonderful to see how movement was represented and shared a century before while the audience actually stayed in a state of immobility. This experience gave us confidence and a strong reference to hold on to for the project.

Change influences the built environment with its requirements for everyday life. We see the combination of time and space as an arbitrary mean of measurement for movement. 

How does your thesis fit within the discipline of architecture? 

Movement can be considered as the main topic of our thesis. Time and space are perpetual architectural themes, which are closely related to change and movement. Change influences the built environment with its requirements for everyday life. We see the combination of time and space as an arbitrary mean of measurement for movement. Accordingly, we asked ourselves throughout the thesis if the only constant in life is change, is movement all we actually own and experience? We decided to opt for a thesis with no specific site. We believed the thesis fit within an experimental area of the architecture discipline. 

When bringing up virtual spaces, we see how many physical spaces where people would meet have been replaced by online-virtual spaces like Instagram, Tinder, Facebook, Online Banking Apps, etc. It was important for us to include these very contemporary aspects within our thesis, in order to stay faithful to the large net of space in the 21st century. We perceive architecture as a multi-disciplinary field. Architecture can study all types of phenomena and perhaps issues occurring in space in our society and find the way to opening up the discourse on these specific topics. 

What discourse do you think comes out of your thesis project?

The project showcases a peculiar form of architectural representation. As our thesis was part of the final student graduate show, we tried to reverse the standard format of architectural exhibitions. Thinking critically about our field, activity within our discipline is merely representational, not physically perceivable. 

We are trained to pass ideas through drawings, schemes, models and more. So instead of representing a building (or using representation in order to build), we built representation (the aircraft model). The construction of the installation adheres more to the principles of the image of an aircraft than those of an actual aircraft. The image’s inability to convey spatial adjacency, depth, dimensions or scale was presented to the viewer in built form. We see these phenomena analogues of our representational society, where people are representing themselves on social media and feeling the need to portray who they are to others, rather than just being themselves. 

As our thesis was part of the final student graduate show, we tried to reverse the standard format of architectural exhibitions [...] We are trained to pass ideas through drawings, schemes, models and more.
So instead of representing a building (or using representation in order to build), we built representation (the aircraft model). 

With the airplane model we tried to see what it would mean to download a 3D model online, adapting it, and then instead of rendering it, this time, actually building this real-size model. Today, the physical model is no longer exhibited at our academy, but the image is what remains and is being broadcasted to anyone encountering our project. 

What do you think the current state of "Thesis" is within architecture, and how can it be improved? 

Seen from our own perspective after having graduated from our academy, we think the state of thesis is dependent on the student itself and of course on the guidance of the professors. We were very lucky to have Ifat Finkelman, Deborah Pinto-Fdeda, and Liran Messer as guiding professors throughout the thesis. They gave us a lot of freedom to push [our thesis] to areas that interested us within the frame of our chosen topic. They saw it as a very personal process. Thesis is an opportunity to research topics and methods that we will later benefit from. It helps shape young architects before starting their professional careers. 

We also believe academic institutions have a lot of say in the current state of "thesis," depending on how much they decide to expose these projects. Furthermore, if more architectural residencies would be put into place, allowing graduated students to continue developing their thesis, great discoveries would come out of them, and could contribute to the architecture discipline.

Any tips for students working through their thesis? 

Don't be scared of "the new." When surpassing the fear of the unknown, whether it's new methods employed, new technologies, new software, or your way of working — the best outcomes occur when you step out of your comfort zone. Additionally, try to see the thesis as an opportunity for yourself, to truly develop something you like, something that interests you and will keep you passionate until the end.

When you start working on something that actually interests you and be involved in, it will seem as an opportunity rather than a task. Overall, thesis in the end is a very personal process, a time that is granted to you to listen to your own voice before graduating. 

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To learn more about Portable Us—Journey Anywhere, Nowhere, Everywhere click here.