A Tale of Two-Cities

There are these beautiful places: beautiful because they are exotic and exotic because they are mysterious. They are famous places and rustic secrets; Paris, Vienna, Rome, Siena, and each brings its own charms to the table, creating a persona either real or imagined, that is portrayed to the world via film, literature, art, music, and spoken tales.

It's possible to visit these places we hear and read about, although our experiences will differ from those of Shakespeare, Moliere, Thoreau, or Charlie Chaplin. But where their stories end our own can begin. When we travel to visit these places we develop our own narratives, create our own characters and plots and are anxious for the day we return to normalcy and relive our own narrations, while adding to the fantasies of others who have not been, and rekindling the fond fires of those who have.

Unfortunately for my kind, these fantasies are but one side of the story. It's in the fiber of my body, like lungs or eyelids, that when I find one of these magical places I want to know why it works, how it's made, why it feels so special, and how I can bring this experience to everyone. This brings a course of analysis and critique. I do what I can to find the source of this enchantment and unfortunately for myself in the very process of understanding its beauty I destroy that which I sought to understand. Paris for me is no longer the city of love and lights; it is a city of sewers and bloody revolution, of immigrant populations in dire social housing. It's graffiti. Venice is no longer the romantic city by the sea where canals run like streets and fresh vegetables are sold by boat side. For me now it is a city fallen from grace, forced to pander to foreign tourists or die. Each city is a tale of two cities, one which is the reality of a living, working city and one that is the facade of what the city would like to be, projected onto other cities so that they might be able to compare their favorable assets. If we wanted to we could stop the charade and present our cities as they actually are. But that wouldn't really change anything, and would leave us all a little depressed.

Charlottesville, Va.

41 Days in Paradise: Considerations of the culture of context in Paris, France.

Thesis abstract:

Contextual attributes exemplified by syntactic, social, political, infrastructural and technological considerations are examined in their physical manifestations in relation to contemporary Parisian architecture. Explored examples reflect the reality of the constructed pre-conditions of any site in the dense urbanism of Paris.

Research Description:

Paris is well known for its grandiose urban schemes and historic architecture, but still fosters intelligent and relevant contemporary architecture rarely seen against its more distinguished forbearers. At the same time, this new architecture is relying heavily on its context to inform and deform its design process. In such dense and architecturally homogenous surroundings, “context” can quickly become limited to urban issues and historic narratives of the neighborhood. Though these aspects are important to the development of the built environment, other issues contribute to the unique definition of place. These issues range from socio-economic conditions to public and urban infrastructure, to the technologies available to solve complex syntactic problems. This definition of context has yet to be defined or categorized, or even analyzed for its relevance and potential, yet it has already been manifested in the physical environment, in some cases, for over a century.

Goals and Aims

The goal of this research is to identify attributes and qualities which, along with historic and built context, contribute to the context of a specific place. Of these attributes, several will be chosen as case studies and explored in greater depth.

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This is where we are right now. I'm falling dangerously behind on my writing because of a design competition I'm working on which finishes later this week. I'm hoping that next week I'll be able to get a solid start on these essays. On that note, I'm having to rewrite or refocus just about all of them because of the subtly shifting sands of my theses. Considering they're each running between 3,000 and 4,000 words this is quite the undertaking, but as I go I may be paring a few of them down to the 1,000 word range, to make them shorter and more concise, and so that it's not page after page of my rambling. Also, it allows me to give priority to the ones that uphold what is now the main thrust of my paper, and letting some of the peripheral essays (those that don't really have anything to do with context or architecture, but are still interesting) fall back a bit. I should have one or two near completion by next week, so be on the lookout.