IMAGE & IDENTITY

There is a long tradition that relates identity to “sameness”.  Repetition proposes an alternative idea that favors difference.  This conception defines repetition in and of itself versus being in opposition to identity.  For us to transgress and except repetition as a concept in itself the tools of humor and irony are utilized.  According to Gilles Deluze “repetition is similar but never exactly the same.”  Similar to art, there can only be one original-precursor and the rest becomes duplication, a copy-cursor.  Deluze implies that repetition is inherent in four instances.  These instances of repetition occur within the boundaries and the limits of nature, the artificial or construct, the infinite, and the general.  In nature, repetition is stoic, it is in existence.  Repetition of nature then is “pleasure, past, and passion.”  In nature, memories tend to take the form of nature.  However, in nature there is the duality of good and evil-a contrast.  In the artificial or construct, memories are nothing but a stage.  They play their roles in the artificial.  Where artificial becomes more of a film where there is false theatre, false drama, and false movement.  In infinity repetition transforms and morphs.  It is a resemblance-metamorphosis.  A concept may be in principle the concept of a particular existing thing, thus having an infinite comprehension.  ‘Infinite comprehension is the correlate of an extension = 1.’  Where repetition occurs in infinity there is a reciprocal principle of the identity or difference.  The last instance is the general.  Repetition is opposed to all forms of generality.  There is always one concept per particular thing. 

In selecting a site, this location is the ideal crossroads for rail, river, automotive and, air transit.  It gives an opportunity to re-link back to the City.  The area deals with multiple spaces of traffic; airplanes that fly above, highways that stretch across, trains that run along the flood planes, to barges on the river.  The site is located on the northwest corner of the downtown business loop.  It consists of the areas of the 4th st. Viaduct to the Broadway Bridge to the Main Street Promenade.  The reason for this site selection is that it offers the most appealing opportunities for dwelling and businesses.  Also, he infrastructure of the crossroads is already apparent and the ideology of adding the digital connection to the city makes another layer onto the city.  Consisting of some of the oldest light industrial buildings in Kansas City, the City and State have given tax incentives and budgets to encourage the redevelopment of the area through the growth of housing and businesses.  The areas adjacent to the sites are the Central Business District, the Garment District, the River Market, and The West Bottoms.  This site also consists of many views and vantage points to the River and to the City.  The goal of this project is to increase the property value of the area and revitalize the city through housing and providing jobs.

The planning and zoning of the site consists primarily of four zones; the natural, the Artificial, the infinite and, the General.  The natural zone consists of outdoor spaces such as outdoor theater, outdoor dining area, and green spaces.  The Artificial is the industrial portion of the program.  It consists of the digital production studios and offices that make up today’s production of image.  It should be lifted above the ground to achieve isolation from sound, public, and to be out of the flood plane.  These spaces consist of sound and graphics rooms to classrooms and Archives.  The Infinite which consist of the housing units where each dwelling has sameness in space but, each space has its own character.  The Generality of the program consists of public spaces of circulation, galleries, theaters, ticket booth, and Café. It becomes the glue of the program provides cohesion to all of the spaces.