[-empyre-] architecture, place and 'urbanised' space

[linda carroli <lcarroli@pacific.net.au>]

hello.

I have been giving some thought to architecture, place(making) and 
'urbanised' space or design - my caveat is that it's only thought, 
not research. my current studies are in urban design and planning - 
when i try to introduce discussions about second life into my 
tutorials, there is a dismissive 'it's not real - it doesn't matter' 
reaction. that's a very interesting reaction because it denies any 
awareness or potential of mixed or augmented realities ... that these 
multiple worlds do inform each other. I've had a few skipping 
thoughts and here are some fragments.

"What will it feel like to live in a city, where houses court each 
other in springtime?"
(I don't know who said this but it's beautiful)

Urbanism & Design

It's apparent, when I look at Second Life (my next caveat is that I 
have never visited SL, just looked at documentation on youtube and 
heard stories), that the space is being urbanised in similar ways to 
first life eg elite developments on waterfronts, the same patterns of 
roadways and grids reappear, perhaps even the emergence of cbds (or 
concentrations of business/residential activity) and there is an 
apparent conflict of property use in some instances.

why do 'structures' or 'constructions' in SL have steps when everyone 
can fly? do the steps provide choice or are they are a design element 
or something else? perhaps some of john rajchman's ideas are useful 
to revisit - folding, lightness, ground, abstraction and future cities.

Suburbia/Walls

Flusser wrote a marvellous essay about walls and he writes about 
'living between walls' as part of the human condition - "walls are 
the borders of a stage on which the tragedy of the human striving for 
beauty is enacted".

Vera Buhlmann says "Virtual houses are houses that are becoming, 
transforming, and through that: individualising ...
Virtual houses, if they will ever come to be, will be some sort of 
house-beings."

Some architects have expressed concern about the quality of housing 
design in SL. Here's some thoughts about this from the Second Life 
School of Architecture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2MOzpc6L-Y&mode=related&search= (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts7fXh5cPo4 (part 2)

In first life, about 85% of housing is not designed by architects.

Another short video about architects in Second Life (showing houses 
that seem to be designed for first life)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KruzH82Z2qQ&mode=related&search=

"For all the grand dreams of what life could be in Second Life (SL), 
this metaverse, as it's called, is decidedly more geared towards the 
exploration of post-silicon body modifications than the possibilities 
of spatial experience free of gravity, budget, and all those 
persnickety details. When it comes down to it, from an architectural 
perspective, Second Life just sort of replicates suburbia. In a 
universe built from free and easily manipulated virtual building 
units, there is a surprising lack of interesting work going on. 
Evidence, perhaps, that spatial banality is not just a symptom of 
something larger, but an affliction in and of itself ... With the 
combination of jump-cut transportation and avatars which are 
overwhelmingly more interesting than the architecture, Second Life 
presents the ultimate indictment of public space: why shape places 
when it's all about the people, anyway?"
From: http://www.archinect.com/features/article.php?id=47037_0_23_0_M

Motion/Space

As with first life, moving through spaces (in various speeds) should 
produce a particular awareness of space/s. For some time now, a trend 
in Western cities has been about speeding up some parts eg 
transport/commuting/roads while slowing down others ie 
pedestrianisation. I've never seen a vehicle in any Second Life 
documentation so I presume they don't exist.

I am thinking that when it comes to an idea of the city or an 
urbanised environment, virtual as it is, Second Life is producing an 
awareness and experience of the Teleport City.

Dreamscapes/Virtuality

It reminds me of The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili by Francesco Colonna, 
produced in the 15th century. The title translates as The Strife of 
Love in a Dream. For those who don't know, it is one of the first 
printed books (by Aldus) to experiment with design and include images.

The story takes place in a dream state and, while ostensibly a 
romance, is also regarded as a treatise on architecture with several 
descriptions of various kinds of structures including a temple, a 
pyramid, a triumphal arch, a hippodrome, a propylaeum, a palaestra, 
two colossi, a gigantic building in the form of an elephant with an 
obelisk on its back, a bathhouse, a palace, a two circular-plan 
temples, some ruins, and an amphitheater ...

The buildings are described in excruciating detail and scholars have 
tried to reconstruct some of them but they have proven to be 
impossible. Perhaps these impossible architectures can now be 
constructed in Second Life.