Often we easily accept the sights that surround us as Auckland city, but what individual elements do we see within this all-encompassing title or unity?
The typology and topology of the built environment have a great effect on how the city is perceived, and hence how it affects our individual sense of place, or as Merleau-Ponty has put it, our internal (perceived) worlds that each of us inhabit.
(see Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception)
Seven crossings across the motorway were surveyed along their centre axes, capturing views both into and out of the CBD. To determine which parts of the city were actually perceived (and so contributing to our internal worlds) these views were then exploded into their individual built elements, then these elements were scaled and translated to their geographic positions.
The redrawn views develop a language that communicates the similarity or dichotomy of the built environment either side of a divisive element, as well as locating beacons or icons that are visible from more than one location, elevating their importance in the perceived world, as they are more prevalent.
Conversely, the views also identify areas that are null; without them being perceived, we can only assume what is there, but without any surety, triggering further investigation or development of those areas.
1 comment:
hi john,
its interesting for me that you reference phenomenology and perception, I just started looking into it in my own research..
one thing that is apparent to me in your writing is the use of "we", when I think about your ideas (especially in reference to phenomenology) wouldn't the use of "I" be more appropriate? The values you ascribe to parts of the city – motorway as divisive, importance of locating beacons etc, make this for me a personal mapping, rather than one that strives for objectivity. I think the idiosyncrasies of the very beautiful drawing language you have developed underscore this.
the study models of the motorway and the preparatory drawings are also very well crafted and quite strong as pieces in their own right.
& I'm reminded just how dominant the motorways are in auckland, a few of you have focussed on them in one way or another..
some of the drawn analysis becomes illegible to me (apart from detatched housing vs block) as building are reduced to outline fragments which arent always readily readable.
there is a strange shadowing that occurs in the drawings, through the projection techniques you have used and this stimulates me to think about how these more significant landmarks dominate the rest of the city and what these shadow spaces might mean. so perhaps this is how the mapping makes me rethink the city, although it is not quite in line with your intentions..
one challenge would have been to incorporate speed and movement into you analysis, as these motorway views are always shifting and changing, and might better reflect the dynamic nature of the spaces you are investigating.
anyway. generally very careful work, well done.
chris
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