brian carroll on Tue, 2 May 2000 20:36:34 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> electromagnetic architecture |
(this is an overview of my work that I am trying to get published. if anyone has any leads, please send them my way. thanks. bc) The Architecture of Electricity http://www.architexturez.com/ae/ _________________________________________________________________ *** The Medium is Electricity - The Message is Electric *** _________________________________________________________________ Electrification has been voted as the greatest achievement of the 20th Century. (1) In fact, it is the greatest achievement of all time: from its birth in the electromagnetic big bang, to the composition of the atom, the binding of electrons into molecules, the creation of galaxies, stars, and planets like our Earth, a giant electromagnet with protective charged particle fields and electrified atmosphere, where lightning storms thundered for millions of years above life in the seas, eventually evolving onto land with electrical nerves, nervous system, and brain, an electrical human, Homo Electrus, electrically sensing the environment, adapting to electrical reality as it unfolds, from the electrical *spark* in amber 2500 years ago to the present-day Internet computer network, designing the built environment in the human image, a subliminal cosmology of electrical nature alchemically transmuting electrical tools, such as a drill or CAD software, into new types of buildings, electric. It is this simple but profound fact that the historians of architecture have yet to address. Electrical power lines are edited out of photographs of buildings. Electricity is couched in vague terms such as `industrial revolution' or `machine age', all the while, acting as the electromagnetic heartbeat, the pulse transforming the everyday built environment. It is in the mundane that the extraordinary is found: in an electrical weld or elevator in a skyscraper made of electrically manufactured steel, in a house with electrical doorbell, light, and television receiving cultural messages from the other side of the nervous globe. There is a mystery afoot, and it starts with a *spark*, in matter and mind... It could well be said that this electrical design is too incredible to be credible, but based on our empirical scientific reasoning, and pragmatic technological practice, we have come to realize this mystery is indeed real, if not reality itself. Now, it is up to the architects to become cognizant of this revolutionary evolution of electricity in this world and epoch, so as to design a cultural consciousness of this `new' yet ever-present force of power in built form. The Electrical Infrastructure is Architecture. By researching electrification's impact upon the natural, human, and built environments, the architect can become acquainted with this epic story of transformation. Yet the discipline of architecture is still at a pre-lingual stage of consciousness regarding the new electrical order. Tradition reigns supreme, as the architectural mind exists in the 18th century, dreaming of forms. Just now, at the turn of the millennium, has research been conducted relating architecture with electricity. This existential work focuses on defining and cataloguing a whole new paradigm of architecture based on electrical power, media, and technology. The most notable buildings of this `new architecture', as Le Corbusier well knew, are the typological telephone buildings, radio and television stations, and computer networks, the temples of our new electrical Acropolis, architectural icons of the global village. How else can one relate the `cyberspace' of the networked computer to traditional architectural space? The fundamental answer lies within an aesthetic knowledge of the built environment... One must begin to "see" the electrical power plants, transmission towers, substations, distribution poles, transformers, switches, plugs, wires, and sockets as part of a continuous chain of related events, each helping to create the illusion of `virtual space' inside the computer. It is within the design of these points, lines, and planes that the magic *spark* of electricity becomes architectural. For example, the common wooden electrical distribution pole found on every continent that carries telephone and power lines are as charged an architectural form as are the classical Orders of Greece and Rome millennia ago. The only problem is that architectural students, professors, researchers, theorists, professional architects and, importantly, lay people including patrons, have yet to think electricity is in any way related to the discipline of architecture. This cavil attitude will need to change if we are to begin designing an architecture for the 21st century that will meet our economic, social, and political needs. Electromagnetic Architecture >From Vitruvius to Venturi and Virilio, the message is clear: we need to understand our natural and artificial environment in order to build within them. Today this means we need to finally consciously acknowledge the critical role electrification has had, and continues to have, in our daily lives. For architects this means relating electricity with the story of architecture in both the minutest detail and the grandest master plan. This new architecture is Electromagnetic: its spatial, temporal, aesthetic, and cultural orders are the foundation of a new formal language of architectural design. It is so fast and luminous that it is timeless, 186,000 miles/sec. It is a paradox of revolutionary evolution and an evolutionary revolution. Electromagnetic Architecture utilizes electrical power, media, and technology, integrating the electrical infrastructure within the architectural design of buildings, to create a more conscious and realistic world. This new architectural language spans advocating passive and active solar, to the use of electronic LED displays, to designing buildings on computers using CAD. Its potential lies in integrating `cyberspace' with the actual space of buildings, whereupon these places are designed as one place, an augmented reality enhanced by the use of digital technologies and computer networks (intranets and extranets) as part of the architectural plan of a building's functional programming, computer and architectural. Ultimately, the issues of `cyberspace' mirror the issues of actual space: property rights, breaches of privacy, and vast inequalities. This is the domain of architecture. And it is high time that the architectural establishment takes their share of responsibility for the outcome of this design challenge. Let us design a living democratic architecture within these, our electrical tools, buildings, and systems. Instead of a built environment 2/3rds energy inefficient, let us design and build an architecture that is 2/3rds energy efficient. Let us progressively develop and apply new electrical technologies, such as fuel cells and nanotechnologies, to address our present and future architectural needs. In summary, let us once again dream of building great public works of architecture, this time the result of our collective Electrical Civilization and our new electrical humanity. (1) National Academy of Engineering: http://www.greatachievements.org/ * # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net