LOND[ON/OFF] THE MAP

 

This BC project investigated the center of London, which is a phenomenon whose ‘definition’ and boundarie(s) are by default ambiguous, vague and in need of explication. The continuous growth of the city as well as the fluctuating though high pressures of the real-estate market, have introduced a multivalent city and a multiplicity of spatial configurations within the city, bringing into question what the center is and further what it is in London. Whether London’s city center is still conceivable, real and concrete, or just conceptual; whether it is there but hides itself behind an appearance of homogeneous modernity or whether there are more than one competing to be the center. All these investigations are ineffective without the understanding of the city itself as the accumulated field of ad-hoc decisions and initiatives where this hypothetical center could exist. Mapping the city is an experiment in technique and experience, establishing rules, creating new possibilities and refining the glance. The metropolis is an indefinite constellation of the ephemeral and the enduring. […] The indefinite metropolis, the paper map on the floor, the remote idea of London contained in a few sketches in a book, in models, videos and initial mappings is suddenly transformed into noise, chaos, intoxicating odors and British accents. Finally the mysterious place becomes a walk-able realm, spaces to discover and analyze using information and techniques previously experimented with. Walking is the primary and basic way of discovering this ‘new’ place - walking without direction, without any other purpose than walking, measuring spaces, feeling and experiencing them. Step by step the city becomes more concrete and real, it starts acquiring characteristics and connotations of specificity or reinforces the generality of cliché. […]

​

MSc studio BC, semester 09, 2006-09

Participants: Eun Zung Back, Anne Boonstra, Shu Yan Chan, Karolina Kania, Peng Li, Geun Poong Lim, Kasia Maksel, Giulia Melloni, Sandra Minden, Hee Chan Park, Ioannis Perisoratis, Simone Pizzagalli, Arianna Ricciotti, Hendrik Schikarski, Marcel Schreurs, Chao Sun, Milena Trajkovik, Luhayu Triratnamurti, Man Wa Tsui, Anne Marie Verheijden, William Walshe, Kwong Kiu Wong, Meng Xia, Kazuhiko Yazaki, Ren Horng Yee, Dong Won Yoon.

Mentors: Raviv Ganchrow, Oscar Rommens, Marc Schoonderbeek, Heidi Sohn, Jelke Fokkinga, Freerk Hoekstra.