UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
______, 20 _____
I,______, hereby submit this as part of the requirements for the degree of:
______in: ______It is entitled: ______
Approved by: ______A Study of the Lap-Joint in Architecture
An Investigation submitted to the
University of Cincinnati Division of Research and Advanced Studies
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
School of Architecture
of the
College of Design Architecture Art and Planning
2003
by
Matthew C. Winter
B.S. Arch., University of Cincinnati, 2001 B.S. Agricultural Business, Illinois State University, 1995
Committee Chairs: David L. Niland Aarati Kanekar Abstract
The threshold between the identities of different neighborhoods can be seen as a lap joint in which information about “the other” is exchanged creating a dynamically charged environment. Groups tend to respond to the tension of this space from two extreme positions. The groups tend to respond to the tension from two extreme positions. The first that the groups are incompatible and should remain separate, an impossible position most like Foucault’s Utopian Space. The second that fundamentally we are all the same, a position that undermines the power of BOTH positions. The architecture of this zone should be a lap joint which brings together differing conditions, creating a connection, while maintaining the power and identity of the two individual elements. Architecture in this position can also be seen as a doorway or gate which mediates between two places and also creates an area of crossing between the two.
Acknowledgements
I need to thank many different people for their input into this investigation. There are several ways in which those listed have helped. Some have been in direct support of the discovery and development of the topic. Others have helped with its realization through the written as well as design components. Still others have been important emotional supports during the process of working which has been only the most nebulous of paths. The relationship between the designing, reading, writing, and questioning has laid a foundation upon which further work will proceed. The end result of idea development is not a discrete work, but a snapshot which brackets a certain period of work. Several investigations are included in those brackets including the relationship between an idea and its realization in the built form. What has been realized is a set of critical faculties that will continue to be developed in and through various forms of the practice of Architecture.
I would like to thank the following people for the part they played in the identification and development of the opening moves toward my future trajectory as well as emotional and spiritual support along the way:
All of my Family
My friends and loved ones here and elsewhere including all of the 2003 graduates in Architecture
Special thanks to, Melissa, Bill, Aaron, Abby, Bodart, Nick, and Brooke.
The Hagestad Family.
Terry Boling and Jose Garcia for their mentorship as working, thinking, and playing Architects.
My thesis chairs- David Niland and Aarati Kanekar.
1
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations………………………………………………………………………...... 2-3
Introduction and Definitions…………………………………………………………………4-9
Part One – The Lap Joint in Art, Architecture, and Popular Culture…………..10-27
Part Two - The design…………………………………………………………………….28-33
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………34-35
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………36
2
List of Illustrations
Figure
1. Mies Van Der Rohe 1950-1956 - Curtis, William J. R. Modern Architecture Since 1900. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996, 402.
2. Mies Van Der Rohe Crown Hall 1950-1956 - Curtis, William J. R. Modern Architecture Since 1900. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996, 402.
3. Versailles Media Cartes Accessed 14/05/03 Available at http://www.media- cartes.fr/Plan_ville_Versailles.htm
4. Chateau de Versailles The Chateau, The Museum Accessed 14/05/03 Available at http://www.chateauversailles.fr/EN/100.asp
5. Lap Joint – Author’s Diagram.
6. Butt Joint – Author’s Diagram.
7. Jesus von Nazareth Blinde Kuh Berühmte Kinder / Jesus Accessed 18/4/03 Available at http://www.blinde-kuh.de/ kinder/jesus.html.
8. Alvar Aalto Finlandia Hall – Author’s Sketch Plan.
9. Alvar Aalto Paimio Sanitorium 1929-1933 – Author’s Photograph.
10. Alvar Aalto Paimio Sanitorium 1929-1933 – Author’s Photograph.
11. Alvar Aalto Paimio Sanitorium 1929-1933 – Author’s Photograph.
12. Alvar Aalto Finlandia Hall 1967-1971 – Porphyrios, Demetri. Sources of Modern Eclecticism-Studies on Alvar Aalto. London: Academy Editions, 1982, 15.
13. Alvar Aalto Villa Mairea 1938-1941 – Curtis, William J. R. Modern Architecture Since 1900. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996, 346.
14. Author’s drawing of initial site plan.
15. Author’s drawing of initial building elevation.
16. Author’s drawing of later site plan.
17. Author’s drawing of Hydrotherapy House elevation.
18. Author’s partial drawing of Hydrotherapy House elevation.
19. Alvar Aalto Synatsalo Town Hall 1949-1952 “Laura’s Photos” The Architectural Forum. Accessed 4/25/03 available at http://www.wellesley.edu/Activities/homepage/architecturalforum/photos/laur a.html
3
20. Author’s drawing of later building Hydrotherapy House plan at date of publication.
21. Author’s partial drawing of later building Hydrotherapy House Box plan.
22. Mies Van Der Rohe Barcelona Pavilion 1928-1929 “Deutschlandfunk” DeutschlandRadio. Accessed 4/25/03. Available at http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/langenacht/021026.html
4
Introduction
The concepts of separation and connection or similarity and difference originate at a basic level in the human consciousness.1 Categories among groups
with differing identities are well documented. Each group is well versed and
represented by theories, policies, behavior, and even legislature that outline and
reinforce its particular identity. Virtually every city has Hate-crime laws designed to
protect homosexuals, transvestites, or trans-gendered individuals. Corporations
such as Disney or Delta extend benefits to same sex partners under common-law
marriage. These activities are based on the differentiation of these groups from
others and simply reinforce the creation of a binary relationship among them.
Binary relationships inevitably setup a power struggle where one group is favored
and the “other” exists to serve the one. Humans use these processes to carve up
the space on this planet. The political divisions exist at every level imaginable
including the creation of boundaries defined by government, economics, sociology,
religion, and every endeavor. The topic that will be addressed here is not the
groups themselves, but the interpretation, character, and use of the space that
exists between them.
Two major interpretations of in-between space have been used by
architectural critics to categorize spatial relationships. The origin of these terms
and ideas is generally attributed to the work of Michel Foucault in his work, The
Order of Things.
The first of these terms is homotopia, which makes use of a pervasive unity;
the Modernist Grid of Mies van der Rohe (Figures 1 and 2) or the Chateau of Louis
XIV at Versailles (Figure 3) are two examples.
1 Simone De Beauvoir, The Second Sex H.M. Parshley, Translator and Editor (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1957) xvi-xvii.
5
Figure 1 Figure 2
The plan of Crown Hall by Mies Van der Rohe has been described as…
…an imaginary grid whose universality guaranteed an immaculate homogeneity. It was as if, by gridding space, one safeguarded against all accidents or intrusions, and established instead an idealized field of likeness. Were it not for the sudden intervention of a curtain wall, that magic screen of the grid could, in fact, extend for ever, enveloping the whole world and cleansing it of all its regularity.2
Figure 3 Figure 4
The plan of Versailles is similar, Louis XIV wanted his power to intimidate those who would visit, his power extending visually to the horizon, and metaphorically to the end Earth. The grids of both projects project power outward in an effort to exhibit and maintain control. These designs provide an ordering or referential system that generates a stability through the display of power over anyone or
2 Demetri Porphyrios, Sources of Modern Eclecticism-Studies on Alvar Aalto (London: Academy Editions, 1982) 1.
6
anything within its reach. Any element that is within the scope of the grid is
reformatted in relation to the ordering system and the power it emanates. The systems are intended to extend to infinity, metaphorically eradicating any individuality within its reach. Homotopia has been defined as, “…the state of mind
where differences are put aside and expansive unities are established.”3
Homotopia sets up the condition of a continual power struggle; the dominant
position always seeking to capture or control the “Other” within its own frame. The
political tension of the relationship is maintained, but this tension comes from that
struggle for power, and not from the discovery and exchange of different
information about the “Other” which may lead to connection, inter-relationship, or
development of a common identity.
The second term is Foucault’s heterotopia, the foundation of which are the
concepts of “discriminatio and convenientia”.4 Discriminatio is the primitive
investigation or identification of difference between the self and the other.
Convenientia is the simple adjacency of these differences, which allows them to
take on similarity through juxtaposition.5 Discriminatio has been defined as “a
‘heterogeneous site’ capable of juxtaposing in a ‘single real space’ several spaces that are in themselves incompatible”6, and also , “that sense of order in which fragments of a number of possible coherences glitter separately without a unifying common law.”7 Heterotopia seeks to, “…diffuse strife by eliciting an enjoyment of and wonder at the other.”8
Heterotopia is a response to Homotopia. The exploration being made here is one that overlaps or combines the concepts of heterotopic and homotopic space. Heterotopia accepts difference and may even celebrate it. Heterotopia
3 Ibid 2. 4 Ibid 3. 5 ibid 6 Benjamin Genocchio, Discourse, Discontinuity, Difference from Postmodern Cities & Spaces, Watson, Sophie, and Gibson, Katherine, Editors (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1995) 37. 7 Porphyrios 2. 8 Charles Jencks, Heteropolis-Los Angeles, The Riots and the Strange Beauty of Hetero-Architecture (London: Academy Editions, 1993) 9.
7
allows the different conditions to sit beside each other in absence of any syntax or
order. This relationship in Architecture can be seen in Hitchcock and Johnson’s
The International Style. Hitchcock writes, “Good modern architecture expresses in its design this characteristic orderliness of structure and this similarity of parts by an aesthetic ordering which emphasizes the underlying regularity. Bad modern design contradicts this regularity.”9 A more poignant reflection of the relationship is
provided by Benjamin Genocchio who writes, “[Heterotopia is] variably constituted
and formed, over and against a homogenous and shared spatiality.”10
The position of this investigation is that neither interpretation has provided a
means of working with enough conviction (Homotopia), or sensitivity (Heterotopia).
A better interpretation of in-between space would make use of certain parts from both heterotopia and homotopia. The first part would come from homotopia and would be the indentification of difference, the second from heterotopia which is the maintenance of the tension produced by its proximity.
Homotopia reduces these differences to a struggle for power and leads to the retreat and entrenchment of both parties into their separate identities. Henry
Urbach provides a critical reading of how Foucault’s work has been undermined through its use in architectural theory. He writes, ”Its many iterations, however varied, share in common a remarkable degree of de-politicization, far from the charged and dynamic concept of spatial relations Foucault had in mind.”11
The second part, heterotopia, enjoys difference even allowing the
fragments to intermingle or to be effected by their specific site. The extension of
heterotopia (such as urban-sprawl) through the accretion of different conditions
without any syntax , however, forces those conditions as a whole to fade from
9 Henry Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style (N.Y.: W.W.Norton Co, 1966) 253. 10 Genocchio 38. 11 Henry Urbach Writing Architectural Heterotopia from the Jazz Architectural Workshop reader.
8
figure to ground, creating a maelstrom of difference or chaos. The combination of
these two forces can be celebrated in the unity of the lap joint.12
Figure 5
Conversely, a butt joint13 is one that simply places the differences beside each other, relying on the joint to maintain separation.
Figure 6
Wood joinery uses the lap joint to create more surface area for making a stronger connection between the parts being connected. The advantage of using a lap joint instead of a butt joint is the creation of a smooth, graduated transition of material. Creating a smooth unified joint allows the pieces to read in a more contiguous or holistic fashion.
12 Lap joint – A joint, as between two boards or metal parts, in which the ends or edges are overlapped and fastened together, usually so as to produce a flush or continuous surface. 13 Butt joint – A joint formed by two abutting surfaces placed squarely together.
9
The first section of the investigation will review some examples of how the lap joint creates a series of larger wholes from discrete parts. This section will indicate possible readings of the lap joint and the various locations in which it can be found. The lap joint will be shown in a work of art, an architectural space, and architectural theory. In addition, discussion of some of the social implications of these sites will be included. These examples will show the ability of the lap joint position to encourage pause and reflection, and therefore understanding of the two positions it connects.
The second section will build on the strategy and tactics of the examples provided to explore how these connections can be made through the design of a built work. The site under consideration is a facility that combines both public and private functions serving users from both local and distant neighborhoods. The design will investigate the use of the lap joint to make connections between the users, the spaces of the building, and the materials employed within.
10
Part One
The lap joint can be used at almost any location where a joint condition
exists. The lap joint in terms of architecture can have many forms and exists at all
levels of building consideration from country, state, city, or neighborhood (site), to
material, program, plan, section (building). Eero Saarinen implicates the lap joint
as more than the way two materials or conditions are brought together. Saarinen
suggests that the connection between any two or more pieces is a relationship that
has the opportunity to use its power to join different parts to create a greater whole.
This whole in turn can be see as a part which in turn connects to another part so on
and so forth. Saarinen is quoted as saying, “Always think of the next larger thing.”14
The connection or lap joint between two spaces or other conditions can
benefit from the same increase in surface area as the wood joint; creating a
stronger connection. This type of joint not only creates a stabile connection of the
two conditions, but can make use of them to celebrate their coming together,
creating something larger that draws the eye and encourages it to see the
relationship between the conditions. The transition creates continuity allowing the
differing conditions to be read as a whole rather than simply two or more discrete
parts sitting next to each other.
The first example of this transition space is the painting L’Annunziazione by
Fra Angelico (Figure 3) which tells a story and connects various components and concepts. The figures of the Holy Virgin and the Angel Gabrielle, the garden, and the architectonic elements form the trinity which provide spatial continuum that
Alvar Aalto describes as, “ an ideal example of ‘entering a room’”.15 The language
the painting creates forms a series of lap joints between different parts or concepts
of the story being depicted.
14 Allan Temko, Eero Saarinen (NY, NY: George Braziller) 13. 15 Goran Schildt, Alvar Aalto – In His Own Word (NY,NY: Rizzoli International Publications,1997) 50.
11
Figure 7
The spatial definition of the painting is in thirds; the right side which could represent human kind is reserved for the Virgin, the middle or in between reserved for the angel, and the left is the garden or nature which represents Heaven. The painting shows a space that is between the interior of the building and the garden that surrounds it. Located in this place are two figures, the Virgin Mary, and the
Angel Gabrielle. The Virgin is between the interior and the exterior of the building, but is also figuratively between earth and Heaven. The angel is also between in that Gabrielle has taken a human form but having wings alluding to heavenly space.
The columns which form the anteroom for the building are carried through the interior as pilasters on the actual walls of the building while the ceiling of this space is painted to look like the night sky outside. This place is an overlap which belongs to both heaven and Earth. The halos around each of the figures heads,
12 the curve of the arched openings, and even the angels wings form part of the language of the curvaceous natural forms located out in the garden.
Aalto provides this description of the painting, “Two things stand out plainly: the unity of the room, the external wall, and the garden, and the formation of these elements to give prominence and express her state of mind.16 Aalto’s discussion of the painting describes the way in which the different spaces of the painting are connected. These descriptions allude to the overlapping of space, program, and experience through the disposition of architectonic elements that create a flow or continuum between them rather than a discrete joint.
Aalto’s reference to entering a room suggests that in fact the process of entering a room is more than walking through a doorway. Referring back to
Saarinen, the doorway is only one part of the greater whole of movement between spaces. Aalto criticizes the way in which Nordic homes have badly “screened” the interior from the exterior. He writes, “The right spot for our doorstep is where we step out of the street or road into the garden. The garden wall is the real external wall of the home. Within it, there should be open access not just between house and garden, but also between the disposition of rooms and the garden.”17
Demetri Porphyrios provides a second example of the lap joint or in-
between space. Porphyrios’ book, Sources of Modern Eclecticism, analyzes
Aalto’s ordering principles providing several examples of “interstitial” space.
Unfortunately, Porphyrios glosses over these spaces suggesting that they are merely resultant spaces that, “become the empty buffers that neutralize the tension between dissimilar geometries or shifted grids.”18
Porphyrios’ analysis describes Aalto’s Finlandia Hall project (Figure 4) as a
set of loose fragments (the blacked out pieces) which have been corralled into a
pen (the heavier outer line). Porphyrios uses Foucault’s’ concepts to suggest that
16 ibid 51. 17 Ibid. 18 Porphyrios 2-3.
13 the mere proximity and juxtaposition of the different spaces provides all the necessary context (heterotopia). It is within these spaces, however, that Aalto makes use of some of his most subtle and powerful tactics.
Figure 8
Aalto uses these tactics to create a continuity of language between the various spaces and functions. The components of this language may take many forms, including the use of visually and physically tactile materials and their application on structural elements (beams, columns, walls, ceiling), details (door handles, handrails) and the definition of spatial zones like those at the handrails and columns of Paimio Sanatorium (Figures 9, 10, 11).
Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11
14
Figure 12 Figure 13
Aalto’s negotiation of the connection between human beings and the building is one of the reasons he has been described as a humanist. His columns are well known for their Doric-like textured fluting (Figure 12) or their bundled nature
(Figure 13) which recalls the forests of Finland. Porphyrios notes that the foyer spaces in Finlandia Hall “are dotted with seemingly random columns giving the
appearance of a forested region one is to stroll through casually.”19
The words visibility and appearance suggest only one way in which these
architectonic features can be experienced. The round column may permit the eye
to slip past it easily, but when fluted, both the eye and the hand are encouraged to
slow down and caress the column. The visual and tactile interaction that the
human body can have with the column and wall produces another type of lap joint
where the two are brought together. A visual and physical continuum of
experience is created out of the interaction of the body and the building. The lap
joint reading can be extended from the relationship of building-building
components to the building-human relationship and also the human-human
relationship. This extension reveals that the role of the lap joint can evolve from a
way of visually connecting disparate forms or spaces to one which connects
different people or identities.
19 ibid p 2
15
Henry Urbach describes this evolution as well as it’s social implications in his article titled Closets, Clothes, Disclosure. Urbach describes the development of the
closet from a piece of furniture which existed within the room to its current place
outside the room, camouflaging its very existence. The closet’s function is
revealed to be developed from a full fledged, occupied ante-room which, “allowed
for gathering and interaction with others.”20
The implication of this spatial arrangement is the association the room develops with privacy. In the case of the medieval room, it was, “…a place for retreat, prayer, study or speculation, …but also as a special repository for the storage and display of books, paintings, and other treasured objects.” The closet is a storage place for those objects or meetings its owner wishes to keep private or secret, but simultaneously allows for their display. The relationship between what is revealed and what remains secret develops from a point where the secrets are concealed out in the open (in the furniture) to one which denies the existence of the secrets within a closet which is itself concealed from view.
This function has been used by groups that wish to mediate the expression and disclosure of their identity because of their acceptance or rejection by society.
Mid-nineteenth century merchants sought to conceal their ambivalence about frugality and material accumulation while homosexuals use the closet as a term which describes the expression and concealment of their sexual identity. The door swing of the closet acts as a flexible lap joint that mediates between the power and control the homosexual or merchant must have in concealing their secret while allowing them the release to their socially abject sides. Urbach describes this function as, “an interstitial space that appears, disappears and reappears again and again.”21
20 Urbach 349. 21 ibid
16
The space may be small, and even fleeting, but the overlap of the spaces provides an extended space of flexibility and unity to the connection, once again allowing the extremes to be read as a continuum while maintaining their individual power. Urbach writes, “Private and social realms interpenetrate as the line between what I hide and what I show breaks down”.22 Urbach shows how
architectural space has the opportunity and ability to act as a location for social
mediation. Architecture in this role creates a social space that can also be a lap
joint connecting different societies or identities.
One person who has used space to mediate and connect different identities
in this way is the Rap performer Eminem.23 Marshall Mathers a.k.a. Eminem or
Slim Shady is a rapper who takes on different egos based on his relative power
position in the relationship being addressed. Rap performers are more often
associated with anger, violence, and rejection than connection. They make prolific
use of slang and swearing to elicit a shock response from listeners. Eminem does
this, but he uses his music as a means of rectifying the different parts of his identity,
an identity that developed as a means of survival. Eminem was raised on 8-mile
road in Detroit Michigan, a line which forms a border between predominantly
Caucasian and predominantly African-American neighborhoods. He was raised in
an abusive home forcing him to develop a way to survive physically, mentally, and
most importantly spiritually. His music is a release of the intellectual, creative, and
spiritual emotions he has developed. The life he has created for himself is a lap
joint which straddles the different egos he developed which allow him to cope with
the different environments he moves between.
Eminem is his main ego, while Marshall Mathers represents the id and Slim
Shady the super-ego portions of his identity. He uses tactics that loosen up the
relationship between the ego components of his real identity making into a lap joint.
22 ibid 23 Eminem creates a space –in this case his lifestyle which is comprised of his various identities.
17
Violence, humor, and the strong expression of his emotions open up and expand the creation of the overlap between the groups he addresses in his music.
The lyrics may elicit a strong defense mechanism, but to survive in the gap, he must maintain a fluid identity which allows him to shift from being the dominant person in one relationship to being the submissive in another. The lyrics Eminem uses are full of violence, toward women, homosexuals, and other rappers, but other groups as well. The following lyrics illustrate some of his other targets but more importantly that those that might denounce him for the attacks need to spiritually lighten up.
You want me to fix up lyrics while the President gets his dick sucked? {*ewwww*} Fuck that, take drugs, rape sluts Make fun of gay clubs, men who wear make-up Get aware, wake up, get a sense of humor Quit tryin to censor music, this is for your kid's amusement24
He is not simply a shock dealer trying to make money from the Middle
American youth market. According to Frank Rich, a writer for the New York Times,
“…the roaring throng of16,000 at the Palace of Auburn Hills is not angry. There is barely a whiff of pot in the air, let alone violence. It’s a happy crowd, mixed in race and sex…”25
The violence is not only an expression of his real life, but is also a criticism of
it. He not only accepts it, mining it for inspiration as many artists have, but he
makes fun of it as well. The self-effacement can be read as a means to spiritually
lighten the emotional baggage of this part of his life. The ability to grow up and
deal with situations which are in and out of his control; learning these skills is ones
possible reading for the process of going through adolescence (who make up
24 Eminem “Who knew”, from the album The Marshall Mathers LP Interscope Records 2000. 25 Frank Rich, ”Mr. Ambassador,” The New York Times Magazine November 3, 2002 pages 52-57.
18 much of his demographic group).26 He may simply be trying to lighten the spiritual baggage that can accumulate by taking oneself too seriously.
If Eminem is out to simply aggravate every possible demographic group, then why are so many different types of fans present at his shows willing to pay $40 to $50 per ticket? His music and lyrics must be doing something more provocative than simply trying to get a rise out of the adolescent emotions of a niche market.
Eminem is creating a lap joint that is synergistic, it moves to be inclusive of those he attacks and adapts to issues of their self consciousness rather than truly excluding or rejecting them. He is himself between multiple groups, borrowing from their cultures and mixing up their self-stereotypes as well as those they hold for others. He borrows the music format of Rap/Hip-Hop, a genre that rose out of the poor, inner city, Black populations. Eminem has been accused of stealing this material since no whites were present at Rap’s inception. He redirects the angry emotions some Blacks have aimed at him, taking the opportunity to simultaneously make light of some of their stereotypes for Whites as well as Whites and their stereotypes for themselves.
Y'all act like you never seen a white person before Jaws all on the floor like Pam, like Tommy just burst in the door27
Eminem is White and he uses the responses to his race as a further source of
inspiration. His strategy is to present the subjects of his music in such a way that
multiple readings are possible. He can be understood from a serious expression
of the song’s spirit as well as one which is self-effacing. In the following lyrics he is
addressing the subject of the assassination of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur.
26 ibid 54. 27 Eminem “The Real Slim Shady”, from the album The Marshall Mathers LP Interscope Records 2000.
19
Pissed off, cause Biggie and 'Pac just missed all this
Watchin all these cheap imitations get rich off 'em
and get dollars that shoulda been there's like they switched wallets28
But someone who is familiar with the pop-culture subject would also recognize his address of the white stereotype of blacks as hoodlums. In addition they would also consider their deaths from within a cultural world that cherishes the originator of a piece of culture while condemning those who merely copy or appropriate someone else’s material or property. Artists have to justify their use of someone else’s idea and show respect to its creator. Another reading of these lyrics might even suggest that Eminem himself is a fraud who steals ideas while simultaneously suggesting that he has gotten away with the maneuver which might command equal respect.
Eminem is trying to separate the meaning of the words or stereotypes from the stereotypes themselves. For instance, when he calls someone a “faggot”, he may or may not be making specific reference to homosexuals; he is just as likely to be using the word to indicate which part of his ego is being manifested and therefore which direction the flow of power is moving. This maneuver is still a form of violence, however, because it eliminates any aspect of identity from the word the groups themselves may use for identity. The point of this movement is to overlap
(float in) the area between two groups. This space is new, it is fresh, but it is also old for it has deep roots in the identities from which it draws tremendous power.
This type of space has been described as “in-between”, “ante-closet”, and “lap- joint”. It allows him to float from identity to identity to take advantage of the flow of power.
28 Eminem “Marshall Mathers”, from the album The Marshall Mathers LP Interscope Records 2000..
20
The movement of his role as oppressor to oppressed is mirrored by his movement from his true identity to his stereotypes; Marshall Mathers to his ante- personas Slim-Shady and Eminem.
Feminist women love Eminem {*vocal turntable: chigga chigga chigga*} "Slim Shady, I'm sick of him Look at him, walkin around grabbin his you-know-what Flippin the you-know-who," "Yeah, but he's so cute though!"29
These lyrics are from the song “The Real Slim Shady” which is an autobiography of this character asking the real Slim Shady to stand up and out from those around him. Slim Shady is Eminem’s Super-ego and uses violence to express his power.
The song illustrates his dismissal of those who reject, idolize, and copy him. He describes at length how forthright he is with his thoughts and opinion:
I'm like a head trip to listen to, cause I'm only givin you things you joke about with your friends inside your living room The only difference is I got the balls to say it in front of y'all and I don't gotta be false or sugarcoated at all I just get on the mic and spit it30
He finishes the song by shifting back to Marshall Matthers:
Ha ha Guess there's a Slim Shady in all of us Fuck it, let's all stand up31
Marshall Matthers is a rather scrawny white kid in a black neighborhood
with a lack of confidence about his abilities, it is also the id portion of his identity
responsible for any of his more emotional expressions
29 Eminem “The Real Slim Shady”, from the album The Marshall Mathers LP Interscope Records 2000. 30 Eminem, The Real Slim Shady, excerpt read by the author, Interscope Records 2000, CD 31 ibid
21
Sometimes I just feel like, quitting, I still might Why do I put up this fight, why do I still write? Sometimes it's hard enough just dealing with real life Sometimes I wanna jump on stage and just kill mic's And show these people what my level of skill's like32 But I'm still white, sometimes I just hate life33 Something ain't right, hit the brake lights Case of this stage fright, drawing a blank like: 'Uh, di-di-di-da, it ain't my fault' Breaking eyeballs, my insides crawl And I clam up, I just slam shut I just can't do it, my whole manhood's Just been stripped, I've just been ripped So I must then get, on the bus then split Man fuck this shit, yo, I'm going the fuck home World on my shoulders as I run back to this 8 mile road34
Eminem’s identity moves back and forth between these characters. He straddles the different identities which come from the neighborhood he was raised in surrounding 8-Mile road in Detroit. Anzaldua writes, “…the future depends on the breaking down of paradigms, it depends on the straddling of two or more cultures…to break down the subject-object duality…”35 Eminem will portray himself
as the deliverer of wisdom or knowledge in one place while in another he is simply
the objectified asset of the record company.
Eminem: So what's up? How's orders looking for the first week? Steve: It would be better if you gave me nothing at all. Eminem: Wh- Steve: This album is less than nothing. I can't sell this fucking record. Eminem: Wha- Steve: Do you know what's happening to me out there?
32 Eminem, Marshall Mathers, excerpt read by the author, Interscope Records 2000, CD 33 Ibid. 34 Eminem, 8 mile, excerpt read by the author, Interscope Records 2002, CD 35 Gloria Anzaldua, “La Conzienza de la Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness, “from Borderlands (San Francisco, Ca: Aunt Lute Press, 1987). 80.
22
Eminem: Wh-wha-what's the problem? Steve: Violent Ground told me to go fuck myself! Eminem: Who's Violent...? Steve: Tower Records told me to shove this record up my ass! Do you know what it feels like to be told to have a record shoved up your ass? Eminem: But, I- Steve: I'm gonna lose my fuckin' job over this. You know why Dre's record was so successful? He's rappin' about big-screen tv's, blunts, 40's and bitches. You're rappin' about homosexuals and Vicadin36
The fact that his music can be read from different viewpoints makes it not
only widely accepted, but hated; middle American youth, rap/hip-hop fans, whites,
blacks, women, homosexuals, all make up the demographic group that attend and
boycott his shows. Eminem’s producer is Dr.Dre, a very well established and
respected rapper who grew up as a gang member while Elton John recently
“came out” as a “closet” fan; both been highly criticized by their respective groups
for supporting his music.
The articles that debate the genius or bigotry of Eminem’s music seem to
only be able to reinforce the differences between groups. They tend to understand
the surface of his work only as it applies to their particular group. Their focus is on
his lyrics directly not the alternate or other meanings he is providing through
alternate readings. Eminem is loosening up the boundaries that both separate and
identify the individuals as part of a particular group so that they begin to overlap
forming a continuum. The borders in this case take the form of the words that
historically have been used to identify the groups such as “fag” or “bitch”. These
words are more than simple pejorative terms for another, but are capable of
portraying the subtle differences in their power struggles. These words can be
used between men and women as well as between friends and enemies. This
36 Eminem, Steve Berman, excerpt read by the author, Interscope Records 2000, CD.
23 technique illustrates one way in which he shifts his identity from one side of the power struggle to another.
The identities that Eminem takes on developed as a means to cope with the different relationships that he had to navigate as he moved from home life to school, the street, and eventually to an even more public life as a rap star. The violence is an expression of the stress of this movement and is a creative way for
Eminem to survive on the edge between these various identities. His life and work is a series of shifting identities which is a common tactic used by those who live near borders or any space between cultures. The border may be culturally defined such as Eminem’s life surrounding 8-Mile road in Detroit, or it may be more formal as in the case of the one between the US and Mexico.
Gloria Anzaldua describes this type of social space in her article, Toward a
New Consciousness. She describes the problem of the “Mestiza”- a mixed culture
individual standing at the crossroads of their identity. Her approach is that, “… it is
not enough to stand on the opposite river bank, shouting questions, challenging
patriarchal, white conventions. A counter stance locks one into a duel of oppressor
and oppressed…both are reduced to a common denominator of violence. At
some point, on our way to a new consciousness, we will have to leave the opposite
bank, the split between the two mortal combatants somehow healed so that we
are on both shores at once. Or, perhaps we will decide to disengage from the
dominant culture…and cross the border into a wholly new and separate territory.”37
The new territory is a space in which the conflicting identities of the female Native
American and white societies are joined to form the identity of the Mestiza.
The Mestiza is a third example of how the lap joint can join different parts; in this case the conflicting identities of those living along the border between the US and Mexico. The environment of the US/Mexico border is one of cultural,
37 Anzaldua 293.
24 economic, and political conflict.38 The interaction of different cultures in this region
has been a part of life for some time but the most contemporary aspects surround
the signing of the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase of
1853 which established the border or line of the US and Mexico territories.39 The adoption of NAFTA in 1994 is the most recent change and encouraged international companies to flock to this region resulting in the creation of nearly
4,000 maquiladoras or factories by the end of the 1990’s.40 The border projects
ideal conditions of social, political and economic freedom which provide
opportunity for a better life. Opportunity seduces citizens from both Mexico’s
interior seeking higher pay and international corporations seeking cheaper labor.
The lives of those who live and work around the border are often split,
located on both sides forcing them to cross the line repeatedly even during the
same day. Their home may be on one side while their place of work, a friend, or
relative may be across that line.41 Their lives and culture are therefore spread
across the border creating a zone stretching from some point on one side of the
actual line to another point somewhere on the other side of it.
The border itself can influence the perception a Mexican of their own culture
or sense of homeland based on their relationship to the line. Mexicans that were
brought up and live near the border inside Mexico are considered to be, “en su
sierra” or in Texas. Those Mexicans born and raised on the US side of the line
often refer to Mexico as, “our land”; this reference leads to several folk stories of
Mexicans fleeing US law into Mexico only to be returned under extradition
38 “The Problem of Identity in a Changing Culture” The Smithsonian Institution Borders and Identity accessed 14/05/03 available at http://educate.si.edu/migrations/bord/cultid2.html. 39 “The Arizona-Senora Border: Line, Region, Magnet, and Filter” The Smithsonian Institution Borders and Identity accessed 14/05/03 available at http://educate.si.edu/migrations/bord/azsb.html. 40 Miriam Davidson, Lives on the Line-Dispatches from the U.S.-Mexico Border (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2000) 5. 41 “The problem of Identity in a Changing Culture": Popular Expression o Culture Conflict Along the Lower Rio Grande River “ Borders/Fronteras accessed 14/05/03 available at http://www.folklife.si.edu/vfest/frontera/paredes.htm.
25 agreements.42 These characters are stunned to find out that “their” country would
betray them. There are other iconic folk heroes such as the tequilero (Tequila
Smuggler) or the Texas Ranger. These two identities are viewed as both heroes
and enemies in that they represent resistance to the culture on the other side while
also representing undesirable characteristics of the indigenous culture.43
The Tequilero is seen as a force resisting the laws of the US while also being
a greedy, violent criminal engaged in shoot-outs over territory while the Ranger is
seen as the law man upholding peace and keeping out the undesirables while
simultaneously representing a rogue element who answers to no one. These
characters illustrate how the life and culture surrounding the border tends to
disregard much of the customs and immigration restrictions.44
The lives of those around the border can be seen as lap joints which combine different aspects from both sides of the border. The border is thus a zone that acts as a buffer or filter for the wages, products, and culture of those moving across it. The US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Border
Patrols of both countries form a part of the filter the zone provides creating a certain
purity or distillation of the components into a sub-region.45
The creation of this sub-region begins to establish its own sense of power.
The power of the in-between space is different from that of Homotopia, however, because it relies on the continual influence of its component identities. These identities approach the line from both sides providing a continuous stream of “new” cultural perspectives. Part of what these identities provide is the continuous identification of difference. The reliance on “new” identities to be assembled necessitates a certain respect for or maintenance of these resources.
42 ibid. 43 ibid. 44 “The Problem of Identity in a Changing Culture” http://educate.si.edu/migrations/bord/cultid2.html. 45 "Cultural Identities on the Mexico-United States Border” The Smithsonian Institution Borders and Identity accessed 14/05/03 available at http://educate.si.edu/migrations/bord/cultid.html.
26
The actual depth to which those crossing the border penetrate varies from places immediately adjacent to one other (the cities of Nogales Mexico and
Nogales Arizona for example) to cities further north. The variable depth of the physical and cultural movement across the border causes it to fluctuate requiring its character to remain flexible. The fluctuation of the border zone is similar to
Eminem’s fluid character. The result of this fluidity is that both the character moving across a border as well as the border itself begin to exert pressure on each other.
The pressure or stress of this situation is what often makes connection between different cultures difficult. Not everyone or everything is able to be fluid enough to be an overlap. The border identity navigates between being a force which creates change in border and one which itself is changed by it.
The second portion of this investigation will open the question of how a building can be located in this stressful place. The building program will serve as the draw for different groups, but will also act as an armature and example of the interaction of adjacent cultures. The program or use of the building must create this draw, but must also maintain the resiliency or flexibility of the spaces it creates allowing their identities to shift as the users impart their own culture on it. The building will begin to add its own identity to that of the adjacent component identities to form a new sub-identity of its own.
The investigation will create a building that will draw users from different cultural backgrounds. The design will make use of the overlap and some of the tactics above to create a building which overlaps different aspects of its design, allowing the user to see the interaction between the differing conditions. The form these joints will take are on some of the same levels that the projects above describe: the site, the room, the movement into and out of the building, and the material joinery.
27
Part Two
The genesis and site of the design portion of this project is Inwood Park in
Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati is a city that has a long history of racial divide and has had several race riots in the past few years. The park itself has periodically been home to violent crimes. 46 The park is located on a hill along the Vine Street thoroughfare that connects two differing populations. The park is situated between the campus of the University of Cincinnati (at the top of the hill) with its White majority population, and the predominantly Black populations in the Over-the-Rhine
(at the bottom of the hill).47
The park generally has few patrons, except for the pool users in the
summer months and those who stop to eat lunch. A few pass through on foot
making use of the park for its basketball courts and as a shortcut. The emptiness
of the park is composed of a strange sensation of being not far from the campus,
but the lack of visual control violent history of the park stirs up discomfort. The
investigation was sparked as a response to the feeling of not belonging or
“otherness” that can be felt in the park.
The majority of passers-by do so in an automobile at roughly 35mph and an
informal pole of architecture students revealed that few ever noticed the actual size
or depth of the park. The most notable aspect some could remember was the
existence of a public pool which is located immediately adjacent to Vine Street in
front of the large trees that form a backdrop to this view. The park’s neighborhood
also has several facilities that provide social and medical services, which draw
patrons from both immediate and suburban neighborhoods.
46 Barry M. Horstman “Mayor tilt becomes a 4-letter word: Race” Cincinnati Post accessed 18/04/03 available at http://www.cincypost.com/2001/nov/02/race110201.html 47 “Community Development and Planning” City of Cincinnati accessed 18/04/03 available at http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/pages/-1451-/
28
The program is for a Hydrotherapy Station which will combine the elements from the existing pool and Comfort Station (bathrooms) with social and medical services associated with water and the neighborhood. The recuperative and healing properties of hydrotherapy are based on its mechanical and/or thermal effects. It exploits the body's reaction to hot and cold stimuli, the protracted application of heat, and the sensation the water pressure exerts. The nervous system carries impulses felt at the skin deeper into the body, where they are instrumental in stimulating the immune system, influencing the production of stress hormones, invigorating circulation and digestion, encouraging blood flow, and lessening pain sensitivity.
Generally, heat quiets and soothes the body, slowing down the activity of internal organs. Cold, in contrast, stimulates and invigorates, increasing internal activity. Fatigue, anxiety from stress, and tense muscles can be remedied by a hot shower or bath. Taking a warm shower or bath followed by a short, invigorating cold shower helps to stimulate the body and mind. Submersion in a bath, a pool, or a whirlpool, gives the sensation of weightlessness, the body is relieved from the constant pull of gravity. Water also has a hydrostatic effect or massage-like feeling as the water gently kneads the body. Water in motion stimulates touch receptors on the skin, boosting blood circulation and releasing tight muscles.
The program elements will create a draw for multiple groups and the building will function as the site of their overlap. The building services will be formal for those needing specific medical treatments, but also informal services for those using the park for everyday picnics and recreation. Most patrons will still arrive at the park using some sort of automobile, either their own, a shuttle, or city bus.
The design of the building began with the gesture of a line, parallel to Vine
Street, which would act as not only the axis of the building, but setting up the building to act as a gateway to the park as well.(Figure 11) The initial sketch of the
29 building was really a wall, which had the affect of isolating and strictly dividing the park from the street. (Figure 12) The wall constituted the main circulation space beginning at the parking lot, attenuating the entry experience. The “rooms” were essentially punctures in the wall, reading clearly as boxes floating within the wall.
Figure 14
Figure 15
The desire for connection through the building into the park led to the
suggestion of slicing the wall into equal segments, and rotating them so that the
visual experience of driving past the wall was maintained but allowing better visual
and physical access to the park. The act creates a series of piers that will retain
certain qualities of “the wall” while also providing the structure of the building and
signifying the zone of overlap between the park and Vine Street. (Figure 13)
30
Figure 16
Figure 17
The wall occludes the view from an oblique angle (for instance while driving) while providing a virtually unobstructed view from a perpendicular perspective. The new orientation of the segments allows those approaching the park on foot to visually and physically enter the park between the segments. The rooms still boxes, are now less contained within the wall (Figure 14) . The design combines the overall programmatic needs with the overlapping concept in terms of plan, section, and elevation to create a system of lap joint connections.
The building serves as the site of overlap regulating the visual access to the park for those persons passing in a car as well as the physical access necessary for those people physically entering the park. The building acts like a lap joint for the park, the neighborhood, and the street by expanding the process of movement back and forth across the borders. The extension of this movement increases the
31 time spent there and provides a pause place to consider where you have been and where you are going.48
The connection between the building, the ground, and sky in elevation is
achieved through the couplers which are taller than the boxes. This overlap is
similar to Alvar Aalto’s Synatsalo Town Hall. In both cases, a portion of the building
reaches up into the sky, while the sky comes own and begins to inhabit the space
of the building.
Figure 18 Figure 19
The lap joint the coupler forms in elevation with the sky may appear fleeting when it is read as a discrete component between the boxes, but the coupler also forms an experiential overlap between the program spaces it connects. Movement through the building is punctuated by the different lighting conditions between the program spaces and the couplers. The couplers provide a pause place or gathering spot for users that can be identified with the high light levels as well as forming a focus for the experience of passing from one pair of boxes to the next.
48 Janus was the god of all gates, doors, and entrances. He stood at the threshold of all new beginnings and ends including war, peace, and the new year. He was honored at the first of every month and was the eponymous god of January. He was worshipped at the beginning of the planting season and also at harvest. He was also honored at the most important beginnings in a person's life such as birth and marriage. He is commonly depicted with two faces just as every door and gate has two sides; one looks into the past, the other into the future.
32
The couplers are also the location of vertical movement into the building as well as between the different levels of the boxes as well. The experience of passing from one box to the next is not simply a discrete connection, but begins within each box.
The light in the spine between boxes will be fairly dim which will allow the light pouring into the couplers to spill out into the areas adjacent to them.
The plan of the building maintains the line of the original parti, making use of it as a circulation spine with the program spaces symmetrically dispersed along it.
The circulation spine connects the programmed spaces transversally across the line while the coupler forms the connection between them along the spine
(Figure 17).
Figure 20
Figure 21
33
The overlap is also present in the movement from the circulation spine into the boxes that flank it (Figure 18). A secondary circulation space is used between them that can be penetrated visually by the users as well as the light from the different rooms. As a patron enters the secondary circulation space, they can be briefly viewed between the piers which pass through the building forming its structure. The space also acts as a lap joint in the way in which you enter through a slight bulge in the main circulation element. The walls that make up this space are similar to those in Mies’ Barcelona pavilion, stopping short of the ceiling
(Figure 18).
Figure 22
This tactic allows the differing light conditions of the rooms it joins to be read on the
both the ceiling above and walls within the space.
The material connections that will be used will also pattern themselves off the lap joint. Wherever two materials come together a reveal will be used to show the location of their overlap. The use of a reveal will create a place where the eye
and hand can pause.
34
Conclusion
The position of this investigation is that the concepts of heterotopia and
homotopia do not provide a complete investigative direction in terms of interpreting
the in-between space of different cultures. The investigation has shown that a
better way of working would make use of certain parts from each of them. The
identification of difference and the maintenance of the tension produced by its
proximity is not viewed negatively. Instead, the political nature of this space and its
tension is valued for its potential for the critical exchange of information between
“others”.
The overlap of various components of Architectural production can be a
metaphor for the overlap and connection of different aspects of culture.
Architectural space must be capable of maintaining the charged and dynamic
social relations between users but must also maintain the individual strengths of
itself as well as the interacting groups. Both contrast and complementarities are
seen in this space and tension is maintained through the continual discovery of
similarity and difference. Users rely on the unity of difference found in this place to
examine the overlap of their cultures which shows them how they can come
together. The examinations and confrontations of difference and similarity are
attenuated and therefore the potential for the relationship between others to be
understood. The creation of a place that draws together different groups and
creates a desire to stay in that place is the foundation of success for this project.
The realized building design must not only strive to succeed in creating this
draw, but to also incorporate the ideas of the thesis. The resulting realization is the
tremendous difficulty of designing a fully functioning and comprehensive building
design as well as the extensive research and development of an abstract idea. I
am not the first to identify or struggle with this problem. The confrontation of this
35 problem is perhaps the very reason some designers use for their practice trajectory. Some do not appreciate the stress of the situation and pursue other means of working while others fall somewhere in the middle. The most important lesson that has been learned by this author is the identification of the stress of this sort of work and the desire to continue on its path rather than to pursue other trajectories.
36
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