TiffTse’s Weblog

Just another WordPress.com weblog

Archive for November, 2007

Berlin and New York Urbanization

berlinnylogo_new.jpg

Berlin and New York Urbanization Berlin has developed into a Capital of the world. Over the 40 years, the city has develop into a trendy eccentric city was amazing architecture. They city is a proliferation of new architecture, it has become a Mecca place fro the world’s renowned architects, the city allow them to take up the challenge of creating abstract modern architectures that has never been done before. In East Berlin it houses many of the city’s trendiest neighborhoods, but since the Wall was up it created 2 distinct cities, it divided the 2 side by style of their urban development. Berlin new additions architecture includes Normad Foster’s Reichstag parliament building; the glass enclosed spiral staircase addition to the National Museum. You can see the old and new versions sit side by side, commenting each other aesthetically in different stand point. Just like New York City, you see new abstract forms of building put together with post war buildings.  In the Center for Architecture’s new exhibition, Berlin-New York Dialogues: Building in Context. I was greeted with a pair of silver parenthesis hanging from the ceiling. I thought it was very thoughtful in terms of planning that it offers a welcoming invitation that prompts me to think of what is follow by between the silver white curves. Yet, as I scroll along, I found it suffocating because the exhibition space was clustered, it tried hard on filling the full potential of the space to include enormous amount of information. Hence, I thought that might be an idea of the exhibition to demonstrate future projects of both cities: the design and organization of spaces in clustered cities. The exhibition is divided into themes of gentrification, community activism and culture. The amount of wall text wrapped around each forthcoming interior wall was rich and plentiful. In the exhibition displays about the two cities with subjective photography, beautiful renderings, huge maps and statistical information including the population in Berlin: 3.4 million; population in New York, 8.2 million. Percentage foreign-born in Berlin: 13.8%, New York: 36%. I personally like the idea of using large fonts that suggestion meaning on aspect of urban design and how it would have an impact of how these cities would transform in the future. The use of architecture photography present insightful ideas of the representation of architecture in its planning and outcomes, also I thought the photography has not portraits the architecture entirely but it showed personal situations that show historical view of Berlin and the Spree that takes political, social and historic point of views. This was an exhibition that defines the urban planning in both Capital cities: New York and Berlin. Looking at research base in the two cities how they develop new ideas in similar ways in relation to space and organization, projects that were illustrate include public space, waterfront, housing and neighborhoods. As New York and Berlin are undergoing the new architectural booms, it juxtaposes how arts, immigration and community activism affect the urban planning. Similar questions are whether both cities can sustain that amount of building that’s constructing and how Berlin is reestablishing its city role in European cultural and intellectual life as well as how New York is trying to maintain its reputation as the land of creativity.A large part of Berlin has been destroyed after World War II, and the creation of Berlin Wall has separated the east and West Berlin. The exhibition highlighted 3 significant neighborhoods in the East: Spandquer Vorstadi, Spree River area and the Chaussee and Invalidenstrasse. Each of them included progress of restorations, waterfront architecture in industrial area and new urban developments of central station and German Federal Intelligence Service. As well as features on Alexanderplatz, the Television Tower and the Berolinahaus by Peter Behrens. In terms of New York, the exhibition includes project that stretch across uptown and down town from Brooklyn to the Bronx but no including specific area in Manhattan beside Chelsea because it is impossible for more mega urban development in Manhattan with the limited amount of space. As Chelsea has been undergoing big transformation from an industrial area to a young and modern area with designer shops and galleries. The exhibition cites the example of the Bronx Charter School for the Arts, a public elementary school designed by Weisz & Yoes Architects in a converted factory with a colorful tiled façade as an example of “culture as catalyst”: the institution’s arts-based curriculum has had a broad impact on the neighborhood. Also, it shows important ideas of communities belonging when developing the Red Hook in Brooklyn and Hunt Point and Mott Haven.I guess the very notion of the “dialogue” should suggest simulation of exchanging ideas and looking at both cities development. Since both cities have rediscovered the projects of waterfronts with commercial building and neighborhoods growing near the Spree River in Berlin and East river in Manhattan. The question now this to answer is the synchronic and diachronic planning integrates into urbanization development. Also the thread of government planning in places like Time Square and Potsdamer Platz where no one would want to live. To conclude, I think the exhibition has successfully convey and highlight the architectural urbanization in Berlin and New York, but without stretching the comparisons, because the 2 cities is after all very uniquely different from each other from history to political, social and cultural background. The new urbanization planning could leap up the cities by intensify the growth of architecture, which would also improve and support community development, cultural identities, education and social welfare.  

Achitecture Photography

Viewing the architecture allows the audience to get involve with their thinking; it acknowledges them of what the space looks like. In Cervin Robinson’s article, he mention “it is the effort to remove all doubt on the part of the viewer that pictures, though made by a machine, are wholly intended and therefore an individual’s creation. A photographer accomplishes this by the pointed way he places objects in his pictures, by the significant relationships he establishes between these objects, and by his evident craftsmanship”.
A photo or an image that represented building becomes an ideal image of that particular building; it sometimes or most of the time replace the authenticity of it. Photography can make powerful signifier or tell a story. It blends in to the architecture itself and becomes an iconic image of how the world sees it because of its media effect. Architecture photography does not only make representation of the building from political, social and historical point of views. It locks a moment on peoples mind and on the paper, so nevertheless if the building is tear down it will always exist on record telling historical stories. The moment could be created with a particular scene taken in a nice angle when it is newly build and without the intrusion of people. How the picture is then altered and composed in the frame, color is a key element of a good shot.

the television window

In the article of Lynn Spigel, she discuss about the idea that “inventions will become cheap enough to be, like the country telephone, in every home so hat one can go to the theater without leaving the sitting room.” I think the connection of this notion with stereotyping explain the modern world, it is the idea of making things easier and to avoid movement. Because conveniences is the best. I see a lot of my friends, especially in the U.S; they could glue to the television the whole day watching series of American next top model or CSI. I wonder if this is a new social and cultural standards that had develop compare to when the television was first introduced in the 1950s. Television had created a cultural allowing family to gather and social. It transport information to the private homes allow and mediate relationship between the outside world and the people who are viewing the information. It welcomes the audience to get involve as Lynn mentions, “Television is a form of going places without even the expenditure of movement.” People can now stay at home enjoy broadcast that need not to leave their living room. As domestic architecture had also recreate the living space, the main living space had incorporated different architecture enhancement creating new style of space. In 1946, the sunset homes suggested in western culture suggested new types of designing interiors. Architects start bringing the outdoors to the indoor. As the world is more focus on what was happening outside, and outside activities bring healthy lifestyle, people demand a sophisticated living space. Walls are break down to allow communication and make comfort; this new easy living style has been a remarkable evolution. Therefore television was not only “the window on the world”, but also bring the real world to the imaginary world with creative architectural design bring information from the outside without stepping beyond the door of one’s home.