Current ideas about visual literacy. (see comments)
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Inhabiting an Industrial Ruin
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- No title
- Cultural influence on a building (see comments)
- Current ideas about visual literacy. (see comments)
- visual literacy for castellammare di stabia:-it se...
- Eric Owen Moss understands the Ise Shrine in Japan...
- Some primliminary shots of the site:
- the start of reusing the site
- This discussion with Katie Wallace lead to a re-un...
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2 comments:
Visual Literacy. The objective of an architect is to be able to convey an idea, his or her idea to a client. The intent of this action is to explain and persuade the client of a end result or goal being “the end result or goal.” Therefore much of the architect’s time is spent on clarifying the main intentions for both the architect and the client to understand and grasp. This thesis much like the intentions of an architect in the field strides to understand the main questions and tasks at hand in order to be able to achieve and surpass them in the end. The main issues with the case study of Castellammare di Stabiae are the waters connection to the downtown city and a global issue of visual literacy.
First is the citywide issue of the connection of the coastline that the city is unable to reach due to the ignorance and neglect of the locals. The beach is unusable due to the amount of trash present or the sewage that exists in the stagnate water along the rest of the waterfront. The original intent for the water to come up to the city and engage in the everyday has vastly diminished.
The visual literacy of the region in and around Castellammare can be improved by allowing choices for the locals. Currently the most abundant occupations entail hard labor and industrial requirements for any individual growing up. The area of the grain silo complex is one such example where the original intent was to import grain from around the coast and redistribute it to other locations. The area of Castellammare has changed over time and now the silos stand as a relic, a ruin waiting to be reunited with the city and regain its reason for being. The locals leave on their vespas to go about their daily activities: running stores or working at the shipyard. All of the occupations seem to support the continual removal of the city from the world around.
One of the main ideas for this thesis is to use the pinnacle place of the grain silo complex and reconnect the ruin residing on the waterfront to the ever present city milling around throughout the day and night. Perception will play a big role in the use of the components on the site. The previous use of the grain on the site that has now being imported via motor vehicle allows for the reinterpretation of people being imported or information to people for that matter. Individuals will be able to understand and explore various modes of learning in and on the site. The silo may be one such example with workstations for someone to understand the local trade of shipbuilding or the architecture of the region. In the event that greater population will have a similar interest, seminars can help facilitate the engaging and understand of a particular topic.
This task of information receiving, digesting, and re-presenting is both a goal for this thesis and architects all around. How society, one that is vastly inapt to visual literacy, can gain a greater understand that therefore a much bigger appreciation, is something to consider.
I was at an elementary school recently for a community charette where I found to my amazement the first and second graders understanding visual cues and spatial organizations in their art and math classes. What has happened in those years has not carried on in the following ones. Rather it is has become required to relearn drawing and design in college where individuals are taught how to correctly hold a pencil. How can one understand that the basic concepts are already taught early on and help individuals who have an interest sustain them and excel through the years to come? It is unfortunate that some much of the life of an architect is spent understanding architecture and then perhaps finally getting a grasp on it just as one retires.
By connecting the two ends of the physical city and promoting the exploration of perception with visual understanding, the city of Castellammare may improve its own perception as the city on and of the water it resides along.
Eric Owen Moss understands the Ise Shrine in Japan similar to the way the silo complex is: "The temple 'is fixed, constant, unmoving and eternal; at the same time it is in flux, ephemeral, changing and limited.'" Here the task of using a ruin which is currently in a state of stagnancy, and transforming the connection of the interstitial space the while keeping the concepts and movements intact experientially. Although the grain is not moving through the pier on the conveyor belts any longer the experience will still be maintained as the essence of the extension and connection to the city from the waterfront.
Because the people of the city of Castellammare are such a vital component to the success of this thesis it is imperative to understand the use of people and how one can interact, perceive, and understand space enhancing ones visual literacy. The complex used as a case study allow for the ample use of passageways and experiences that can unify both the individual, the whole, and the individual to the greater whole. Since visual understanding and comprehension is vastly a individual evaluation, the ability to promote the notion of simultaneity and not linearity is necessary to be ever present. Both as a system of choices and decisions to be made to as the means to some conclusion but not an end; promoting the method of evaluation and understanding rather then the end resultant.
This idea of visual literacy is incredibly provocative. The summer I spent in Castellammare was one of my best, mostly because of my immediate locale and the people I was with (Padre and Pino included). I see now that I was a typical American washed with the excitement of spending a month in Campania. Realistically, the cultural principles you outline are certainly in need of being addressed. How can this city reestablish its reason for being? A look at the historical story is one thing, but as global influences change, so do cities. What roll will Castellammare play in the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd centuries?
A comparison between the "Europe-ization" of America and the "American-ization" of Europe is something that also comes to mind. As Americans, it’s hard to argue any kind of consistent visual literacy throughout our culture. If we find such examples, they’re usually celebrated. The norm is the disjointed, disconnected and visually incoherent. The European city is something that’s highly regarded and often admired. Across the pond, however, it’s remarkably juxtaposed. A city of Castellammare has the fairy-tale history of being an important relic in the crutch of the bay of Naples. A fabric of housing and independent stores fused with life on the sea defines very much the inhabitant culture. The eye is immediately drawn to critical discontinuity such as the silo complex; an “American” disjunction in the historic continuity of Castellammare. There seems to be a unique inversion between the visual continuity of incoherency (“America”) and the visual continuity of literacy (“Europe”). While America is inherently illiterate, Castellammare (aside from recent times) has been historically articulate. Anything out of the ordinary, whether good or bad, becomes ripe for attention.
It will be great to see what comes of this. It should be awesome.
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