place + mapping

Place

+

Mapping

Place:

De Certeau, M. (1984) Spatial Stories. From The Practice of everyday life. Berkely: University of California Press. 115-130.

This article emphasized to me the two ways of thinking about place. They labeled one 'place' and the other 'space'. The first as a static, placement of objects in one moment in time, while the other as operational and experiential, taking into account direction and time.

This laid a foundation in my thinking of place. It is formulated through a dual process of placement (composition) as well as the ephemeral and the active which takes place within it (diagrammatic).

Calvino, Italo. (1972) Invisible Cities. Harcourt, Orlando Florida. 10-11, 88-89

A city can not be summarized solely by the buildings, the infrastructure, the fields which it is constructed from. A city more importantly encompasses the activities, relationships and memories contained within these physical shells.

My interest in place and water in Auckland shifts away from locating its physical presence and towards the experiential.

Wortham-Galvin, B.D. (2008) Mythologies of placemaking. Places: forum of design for the public realm. Vol. 20, No. 1. 32-39

The making of places exists in both the realm of the tangible, physical environment and also in the realm of the ephemeral as expressed in fiction, stories, narratives and observational. The stories told regarding a place has the power of propaganda, revealing politics of context, perpetuate traditions, instill beliefs and values and rebel against these patterns. Myths and stories about place plays the role of justifying the present and thereby contribute to social stability as well as to create collective identities and communities.

There are therefore two ways of place making: through the architecture (physical manipulation) of a place, or through the stories told (which are more increasingly now happening through the media). " ' A sense of place' should embrace experiential and associational narratives as well as physical attributes. Place is always a remaking process, never a product."

In describing the ephemeral nature of water in Auckland, I would like to investigate the stories told. What they were historically as well as currently, how the place of Auckland, specifically water has been marketed, and also how it has been received and experienced. This making of place is dynamic, and I would like to record that in my mapping.

e.g. my first memories of place in Auckland: Albert park + Auckland Harbour 1997

Mapping:

Allen, S. (2000). Mapping the unmappable, on notation. From Practice, architecture, technique and representation. London and New York: Routledge. Pg 31- 45

As an allographic art, architectural drawings do not seek to imitate reality, yet its product is permanent (unlike other allographic art like dance and music where the product is temporary, ephemeral) "Architectural drawings are neither an end in themselves, nor are they simply transparent technical instruments.It is transitive in nature, uniquely capable of producing something new from something else." This unique method of architectural notations should factor in: anticipation + the invisible + time.

This reconfirms the direction of my possible project, mapping of the stories of water through time. Through the process of mapping (discovering patterns and themes), the future direction of water stories might be anticipated.

Questions for Corbellini, G. (2006). Diagrams, instructions for use. Lotus International (127), 88-95.

Diagrammaticians vs Compositionist - supplementary moments of the process of Design

Digrammaticians - (at the outset of design) operational, performative, virtual, process oriented, interdisciplinary, conceptual, program, ideas

Compositionist - (moment of conforming spaces) formal, representative, techtonic, object oriented, specific, tangible, paradigm, talent.

Drawings, diagrams and maps can be divided between these two focuses. It either describes the process and thinking or the physical form and tangible. It will be interesting to associate the drawings (yet to be produced) against these two values.