A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Digitizing freeways:
At the beginning of his study on Los Angeles Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies Reyner Banham writes “ . like earlier generations of English intellectuals who taught themselves Italian in order to read Dante in the original, I learned to drive in order to read Los Angeles in the original (Banham 1971:23).” Banham implies, that Los Angeles can only be experienced while driving. The metropolis, the ‘urban sprawl’, cannot be experienced walking but only through the car. ‘Autopia’ became one of the ‘Four Ecologies’ of Los Angeles and he states that the ‘automotive experience’ “prints itself deeply on the conscious mind and unthinking reflexes (ibid.:214).” Cees Nooteboom draws upon this image of the city in his essay “ ‘Autopia’(1973) and Passages from ‘The Language of Images’(1987)” and writes about the character of Los Angeles: “It is, if one can say this, a ‘moving’ city, not only a city that moves itself – breaks itself down, builds itself up again, displaces and regroups itself – but also a city in which movement, freedom of movement, is a strong premise of life (Nooteboom 2001:15).” Nooteboom continues how the everyday live depends upon the system of the road. The constant Movement of the city repeats itself: “The other cars are mirror images of you in your car. You are driving behind yourself and in front of yourself, next to yourself and opposite yourself, you are the taillights of the one in front of you. Everything is on the move (ibid.:21).” The above description can be seen as a typical everyday experience expressing mobility and connectivity typical of our times. The highway stands for constant movement in the ‘real’ reality and also constitutes an image for the digital exchange of information in a ‘virtual’ reality. Further the highway is a cultural space, a phenomenon depicted in the fictional world of films. In the context of the Shinkenchiku Housing competition 2007 we were investigating possible urban resources that provided for habitation as well as addressing contemporary issues of urban sprawl. Based on our interest in the cinematic experience of contemporary urban space we started to look at Los Angeles and freeway systems where smoothness and the mobile view are the main features. At the same time the discussions about mega-cities in particular on Lagos, Nigeria offered a different perspective on freeway systems, where the idea of constant movement turns into the opposite. Both systems adapted to the local situation and offer a valid public space. (FIG 1)
Digitizing freeways:
At the beginning of his study on Los Angeles Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies Reyner Banham writes “ . like earlier generations of English intellectuals who taught themselves Italian in order to read Dante in the original, I learned to drive in order to read Los Angeles in the original (Banham 1971:23).” Banham implies, that Los Angeles can only be experienced while driving. The metropolis, the ‘urban sprawl’, cannot be experienced walking but only through the car. ‘Autopia’ became one of the ‘Four Ecologies’ of Los Angeles and he states that the ‘automotive experience’ “prints itself deeply on the conscious mind and unthinking reflexes (ibid.:214).” Cees Nooteboom draws upon this image of the city in his essay “ ‘Autopia’(1973) and Passages from ‘The Language of Images’(1987)” and writes about the character of Los Angeles: “It is, if one can say this, a ‘moving’ city, not only a city that moves itself – breaks itself down, builds itself up again, displaces and regroups itself – but also a city in which movement, freedom of movement, is a strong premise of life (Nooteboom 2001:15).” Nooteboom continues how the everyday live depends upon the system of the road. The constant Movement of the city repeats itself: “The other cars are mirror images of you in your car. You are driving behind yourself and in front of yourself, next to yourself and opposite yourself, you are the taillights of the one in front of you. Everything is on the move (ibid.:21).” The above description can be seen as a typical everyday experience expressing mobility and connectivity typical of our times. The highway stands for constant movement in the ‘real’ reality and also constitutes an image for the digital exchange of information in a ‘virtual’ reality. Further the highway is a cultural space, a phenomenon depicted in the fictional world of films. In the context of the Shinkenchiku Housing competition 2007 we were investigating possible urban resources that provided for habitation as well as addressing contemporary issues of urban sprawl. Based on our interest in the cinematic experience of contemporary urban space we started to look at Los Angeles and freeway systems where smoothness and the mobile view are the main features. At the same time the discussions about mega-cities in particular on Lagos, Nigeria offered a different perspective on freeway systems, where the idea of constant movement turns into the opposite. Both systems adapted to the local situation and offer a valid public space. (FIG 1)
Digitizing freeways:
Bredella, Nathalie (author) / Lahusen, Katrin (author)
2019-06-19
ARCC Conference Repository; 2008: Changes of Paradigms | The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
720
| TIBKAT | 1966
| Engineering Index Backfile | 1954
| Engineering Index Backfile | 1955
| Engineering Index Backfile | 1957