WEEK 5 | READING

Isozaki, A. (1999) Erasing architecture into the system

Cedric Price - his chief aim was to provoke and challenge the norm by injecting systemised ideas that break clean away from existing notions.  Price was very closely linked with Archigram who were well known for their images which conveyed both ideology and technical solution with particular emphasis on figurative breakdowns and diagrammatic drawings. Yet Price preferred focusing on raising issues and what the solutions would be to such issues over visual communication.  A lot of Price's work was composed of lightweight re-combinations of disposable components.  
If you look at Fun Palace (1960-65), it is a continuous but changing dialogue which varies dependent on time and the users etc..the mechanical system configuration is forever changing in response to circumstances in that it almost makes the architecture a living thing.
Price has in effect, designed a big park. He has given (if not misled) people with a sense of freedom. It has no entry, it is open...but the users are always on show as much as the audience is always watching. Theater as architecture. I don't think this was Price's intent.  The notion of being on show at all times at first is a terrifying idea for me, but it made me think that maybe being in the Fun Palace would be like something never experienced before, perhaps you would be able to learn from watching other people...perhaps you would socialize 
Whenever I revisit Price's work, it gives me a cold feeling.  There is this totalitarian quality to it...not only with his visual representation but with the underlying ideology present in his work - there seems to be a "big brother" like controlling entity (there was mention of George Orwell 1984 in this reading in regards to Price's ATOM project), and I feel like we have kind of touched on the same issue with some of our ideas involving the all-knowing computers.
So it begs me to ask the question, how much control are we willing to give up to computers?

Kazi, O. (2009) Architecture as a Dissident Practice: An Interview with Diller Scofidio + Renfro

theory is good? theory is bad? theory is food? ah i don't get it...but this is one of their projects that I had stumbled upon some time ago and I thought it rather fitting for this project. It is focused around collaborative consumption..the emphasis on service rather than ownership.

I feel like its rather appropriate to our project to since we have taken such a 'community' stance with our coming proposal.