Reading One: Response

Archigram Seven: Beyond Architecture (Indeterminacy, Systems and the Dissolution of Buildings)

I have seen the term 'indeterminacy' used with regard to the design of built environments and had only a vague inclination as to what it meant and no idea as to who first coined the term. Indeterminacy - 'not a fixed extent or character, vague, left doubtful...open-endedness.' Is this what our project this semester are supposed to encompass? If so, I've found it challenging in the past to design in this way, with no limitations and a vague brief, as I believe constraints are your friends when it comes to design, and I struggle to see the point in designing impractical things with no purpose at the time of conception.

The ideas of 'Nomadic Architetcure' exemplified by the explorartory houses inspired by the lunar module in the 1960s come as no surprise to me as they were a result of the current events that were shaping their contemporary society. Archigram's experimentation with these ideas ie. Living Pod Project (left) by david Green and Underwater Hardware by Warren Chalk are merely a response to the advances in technology and space travel which were prominent issues at the time. A modern-day equivalent can be found in the climatic responsive design (Right) and disaster responsive design that we see today.



It must also be noted that when this text was set, it was also the era of the 'pre-fab', which allowed this type of design. And these notions of 'Kit Architecture' or kit design in general was permeating other areas of design as well, and can be exemplified by the works of industrial designers, Charles and Ray Eames.

The Dymaxion Bathroom by Buckminster Fuller was of particular interest to me, as it is not dissimilar to my 'Interactive House' idea in a previous post.

Archigram's designs and aesthetic remind me of the chaos and strange concepts depicted in Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' (one of my favourite movies and directors). Even the vocabulary used by Archigram and their outlandish (as it was seen as at the time) language is not dissimilar to the language/or the idea of language used in the original novel by Anthony Burgess.

Archigram continually comment on the consumerist society in which they were living, which reminds me of the protesting and passionate political movements inherent to university students. This also comes as no surprise as the 1960s were once again a time of protest, political upheaval and anti-government beliefs. Although I find their ideologies and designs interesting and even pertinent to some of today's issues, it is my opinion that due to the over-zealous consumerism of the 1960s, 70s, 80s and even 90s, the resources required to bring these ideas to life aren't as readily available as they may have been at the designs' conception. So perhaps we need an Archigram 2.0, with the same principles and ideologies to come up with awesome, outlandish ideas for our futures, but with reference and respect to our current and future climatic, environmental an economic conditions? Is that what is being asked of us in DAB810 perhaps? Are we the next Archigram?

Images references in order of appearance:

Pod-http://www.archigram.net/projects_pages/living_pod.html

Green-http://buildexpoonline.com.au/features/

Eames-http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/inspiration-eames-by-gloria-ko-54738

Orange-http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/07/20/a-clockwork-orange-the-musical/