2020

TABLE OFCONTENTS

TABLE OFCONTENTS

ECONOMYRESOURCE

METHODOLOGY

PROJECTED CONDITIONREPRESENTATION

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 108

3

...THERE IS ONLY ONE WHOLISTIC

ONE VAST AND IMMANE, INTERWOVEN, INTERACTING, MULTIVARIED, MULTINATIONAL DOMINION OF DOLLARS... IT IS THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF CURRENCY THAT DETERMINES LIFE ON THIS PLANET. THAT IS THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS TODAY. THAT IS THE ATOMIC AND SUB-ATOMIC AND GALACTIC STRUCTURE OF THINGS TODAY.

SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS

Network (1976)

4

ECONOMY RESOURCE

6PA

RT I

As a rising world power, China has sustained immense domestic and international growth. With any system that has excessive output, there exists need for an equal input that can allow for such growth. In a capitalist economy this void can be filled by the input of natural resources that must maintain the output of manufactured commodities. Without this aspect, there would be no ability to manufacture commodities that contribute to the growth of an economy. Thus, as China’s domestic economy grows, it is necessary to expand its ability to provide resources to match this expansion. This thesis explores the unique problems and possibilities that such a global resource-exchange system can impose upon the practice of architecture in a future dominated by China as world superpower.

The following will propose testing the boundaries of a future resource-exchange system through the creation of an extraterritorial architectural commodity in the form of a hospital that can be implimented in the resource rich area of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS

ECONOMY

China has undergone unparalleled economic growth at home, a fact which has been established on the world demand for cheap production methods (and labor). Such growth will project China as THE leading superpower by the year 2020, overtaking the US, the leading world economy. While the US has supported free market capitalism as a means of survival, China has turned to an “Asian Capitalism” dominated by the state. As such, the government plays a large role both domestic and global investments to secure its dominance as a leading world power.

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ECONOMY

1972

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1990

0%

CHINA

WORLD

UNITED STATES

fig 2

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fig 3

$8.8 TRILLIONCHINA

$14.2 TRILLIONUSA

~ $25 TRILLIONCHINA

~ $23 TRILLIONUSA

2009 2025

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

12EC

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2010

Since 1980, China’s GDP has grown by an average of 10.02% annu-ally. Based on its projected growth rate of 7.5% as predicted by Pre-

mier Wen Jiabao in March, China is on pace to surpass US GDP growth, which has averaged just 2.67% since over the same period, by 2019. Even

if China’s GDP growth slowed to just 5% - which would be very rare from a historical perspective - it would surpass US total GDP by 2021. That type of

consistent outperformance simply can’t be ignored.1

2015

2020

2025

2030

2035

2040

$5 TRILLION

$10 TRILLION

$15 TRILLION

$20 TRILLION

$25 TRILLION

Even by conservative estimates, china will sur-pass US growth estimates by the year 2024.

RESOURCE

In a world of limited resources, China has gone to great lengths to secure its supply of resources to meet a rapidly growing demand. Such expansion has created a need to expand beyond its traditional sphere of influence into new and under-developed markets. This has brought on a new means of acquiring such resources as the imperialist model of yesteryear is no longer effective in regions where such methodology was previously used to disasterous effects.

14

RESOURCE fig 4

IN AN UNYIELDING QUEST TO SURVIVE, THE VIRUS MUTATES, EVOLVES, AND ALTERS ITS COMPLEXION, DISCOVERING THAT IT MUST ADAPT TO CHANGING CONDITIONS AND COEXIST WITH ITS HOST.Dambisa MoyoWinner Take All

fig 5

16

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O

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3fig 6

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O

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Oil and natural gas

Rail / Road

Other mining

Hydroelectric dam

Iron ore

Copper

Civil construction

Manufacturing

Uranium

Airports

Aid

Port construction

Gold

Water

Other

19.00%

18.55%

10.00%

9.20%

7.40%

6.90%

5.90%

3.70%

2.30%

2.00%

1.80%

1.60%

0.07%

0.50%

11.00%

PERCENT OF CHINESE INVESTMENT BY SECTOR

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less than $500 million

$500 million to $1 billion

$1 billion to $5 billion $5 billion to $10 billion

more than $10 billion

ESTIMATED OFFERS

fig 7

Ethiopia, although not fully open to foreign investment in mines has changed its policies greatly over the past decade. The introduction of less strict laws regarding mining have allowed foreign companies and governments to pursue investments in the region. China has stepped in within this time frame to present itself as a valid partner in supplying a freindly relationship with the Ethiopian people as a means (to potentially) achieve access to such mining capabilities that are so strategic in the country.

CASE STUDY : ETHIOPIA

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HQ for the African Union located in Addis Abbaba

Designed by Chinese architects removed from the true culture and aesthetic of local building typology. The architecture reflects an international style although has been billed by its designers as being a result of intense study to determine a building that has upheld the principles of the Ethiopian people.

fig 8 fig 9 fig 10

Construction workers and materials were all supplied by Chinese firms intent upon delivering the project to the African Union, rather than presenting the project as an opportunity to learn and grow from one another. In a sense the project stands as a gift, presented to the whole of the African continent.

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fig 11 fig 12 fig 13 fig 14

One could say that the whole project, although conceived to establish a relationship of good will with Africa could be read as a power play, demonstrating the great lengths to which China will ascend to provide a particular level of interest in all aspects of African life and culture, not just financially. This however could be questioned through the methodology of design for the project on the whole.

E X T R A T E R R I T O R I A L I T Y

The example of the new African Union Headquarters in Ethiopia highlights a condition of extraterritoriality in which China is actively engaged. While the primary method of engagement may be intended to exhibit a level of appeasement of native populations in a resource rich nation, the technique by which appeasement is achieved is as similarly intriguing. Here, a prominant architectural desire is met by a building designed by a Chinese architecture firm, built by Chinese workers with imported Chinese materials. Thus, the project (while not the primary formal intent) achieves a representation of economic dominance by means of an architectural agency. While the explicit actions of the Chinese government may be geared towards the preservation of culture and politics in the host nation of Ethiopia, the deceit becomes clear in the methodology by which architectural extraterritorial constructs are utilized.

No matter the extent to which a project, in this case a political artifact is intended to be inherently of the host nation to which it is applied, the artifact will retain the intent of its maker. Chinese practices in design and construction can be deciphered from the design no matter the effort that has been taken to conceal them (although the act of concealment here is not meant to imply an intentionally negative deceitful or subversive act). Thus, the agency of extraterritoriality is as Keller Easterling defines it, regulated by a negotiation of worlds that seek to coerce compliance from one another. This is the means by which China seeks to apply architecture, not as a means of representative dominance (although this may be another reading) but as a methodology of coersion that is favored by a means of constructing extraterritorial conditions.

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CASE STUDY : ZAMBIA Unlike Ethiopia, Zambia has been exposed to Chinese investment in the form of extraterritorial appeasement for decades. So long in fact, that Mao initially ordered the first of many projects to be constructed in the country when China was still undergoing its own strenuous economic development. This is primarily due to the abundance of valuable resources that are available within Zambia’s borders, specifically Copper. The case here helps to broaden the idea of what defines a successful programmatic response to their appeasement methodology. Rather than political symbols, Zambia desire-fulfillment has occurred through more actively public programs that are widely accepted as necessary by various social and economic classes.

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Dar Es Salaam as existing port city on the Indian Ocean

The TaZaRa Rail System was completed in 1975 by direct investment from Mao as a gift to the Zambian people. The system allowed the country to become self-sufficient from Zimbabwe and South Africa while encouraging better relations with Tanzania.

to China

Fe

Cu

O

CuFe

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Rail / Road

Other mining

Hydroelectric dam

Iron ore

Copper

Civil construction

Aid

Other

Soccer

Investment in soccer stadiums is unique to Zambia

Copper is a major export of Zambia

fig 15

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mileskm

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The TAZARA (Tanzania-Zambia Railroad) System was a product of China’s desired profitable relations with Zambia, a heavily copper rich country. Mao requested the project be introduced in 1970 with a final price tag of $500 million dollars spent on the entire network. This is one of the earliest instances of

China flexing its muscle towards the idea of infrastructure projects as mechanisms of resource warfare.China could rely on desire-fulfillment methodology for conquering national public opinion with projects like the rail network. For with this favorable public opinion came an influx of cheap resource mining contracts. More importantly however, is the fact that China is using public opinion as its weapon, rather than brute force or authoritarian corruption. The latter are the mechanisms of the west, but the Chinese government was quick to learn that these tactics are not beneficial for either party in the long run.

INSTEAD, SYMBIOSIS IS THE EFFECTIVE METHOD FOR MUTUAL BENEFIT.

fig 16

Levy Mwanawasa Stadium is a $65 million investment by the Chinese government to answer the Zambian cries for a decent sports facility. There are plans for a $94 million investment in a second sports facility, bringing their total sports investment to $159 million...*

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...meanwhile Chinese copper mines, (as well as coal mines, farms, etc) backed by billions in investments are in violation of labor and environmental practices. In addition, these industrial investments give little return the the localities in which they are located. *

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mileskm

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Levy Mwanawasa Stadium

New Lusaka Stadium

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While China brings great investment in the form of desirable programs that otherwise would not be funded, there is a disconnect between where these programs are located. While larger infrastructure projects are located in areas that are necessary for supplying their services, programs that are less need driven are typically given over to larger urban areas.

China favors large, public projects that elevate the scope and status of urban performance rather than smaller programs that would be less eye catching. Its seems that there is a tendancy toward these programs because of their recognizable value. Grant schemes and large projects are more visable and demonstrate their impact imme-diately. On the other hand, smaller insertions within an urban scheme can seem less value for their image quality.

Thus, rural areas become impregnated with resource consuming infrastructure such as mines and farms while the cities are able to enjoy the manufactured programs that China invests great money, labor and time into producing.

fig 20

The China First Coal Project, sponsored by China First and local Australian coal

company, Waratah Coal is a joint venture to secure coal reserves for export. The project seeks to take advantage of under-utilized coal resources in Queensland, Australia that are extremely valuable

in the Chinese market with a market value of $A 68 billion. Approximately half of China’s energy is supplied by coal making

this a very valuable import for the Chinese government. All in all, Chinese and Australian firms will invest over $A 8 billion into

infrastructure that will allow for the coal to be efficiently harvested and exported.

This is an interesting example of China’s reach into developed nations. For the most part, mining and resource harvesting directly undertaken by the Chinese

government has been limited to less developed nations. The laxe environmental, labor and tax laws in these nations is enticing as it allows for a hefty return on investments. In

addition, the lack of existing infrastructure allows Chinese officials to manufacture and fulfill desires that are cheap in comparison to the value of the natural resources that they are harvesting.

Thus, such a venture is an acknowledgement of the quasi-extraterritorial nature of resource harvesting in developed nations that China must embrace to secure its position as a world power.

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to China

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Extraterritorial port that services cargo ships bound for Chinese port cities.

Proposed rail yard as an end to the 500km rail system from mine to port.

fig 22

METHODOLOGY

Chin >> paraSITE is a project by Michael Rakowitz that seeks to create parasitic space that feeds off of the excess heat resources of buildings. The inital investment to produce a space is small (the cost of trash bags) but the pay-off is huge. The relationship that is established allows for homeless to have a warm place to stay at no expense to anyone.

38

fig 23

The Chinese government has developed a Resource - Exchange System for maintaining a good public relationship with the population of host nation.

The system, unlike imperial powers of the past relies on the accumulation of manufactured desirable resources within the host nation. Chinese interests do not seek political dominance, merely a co-existance. [cite; winner take all] Thus, there is a drive to protect the public opinion of the local population. If the system can only survive on the continued acceptance of its growth and the increased investment of Chinese entities within the host nation, then the priority must be to maintain an appropriate level of investment.

This process will be the key feature that is designed to maintain a level of ambiguity in order to be applied to any locality while at the same time specific enough to uphold the beliefs and ideology by which China will apply a resource-exchane system. The intent, to extract natural resources and deploy architectural features will be outlined here as a means of potential implimentation.

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Owner Client

Architect Construction Desire

Mine

trade engaged

desirable programs recognized

materials and labor delivered

Fabrication

materials and parts manufactured

architect designs tomeet the needs of the locality

construction performed on site by Chinese, local workers

original desire is produced along with industrial tools

desirable program returned to the original locality

resources extracted from host

HOST NATION

As a means of producing an architectural response, it is essential to identify the necessary to conceptualize the idea of site and program as a variability produced by a system within a system. The input can be reduced to the Chinese need to identify potential areas of resource extraction and the output becomes a city and programmatic desire to be fulfilled. Thus, every exchange can viewed in a succinct manner that involves a step-by-step process resulting in a finalized “problem” by which a Chinese solution can be derived. Thus, every exchange can viewed in a succinct manner that involves a step-by-step process resulting in a finalized “problem” by which a Chinese solution can be derived. This process ensures that the most relevant architectural product can be produced to meet local needs and ensure the greatest success from a public relations standpoint.

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Identi�cation of potential extraterritorial architectural

investment

ArchitectData is returned to Chinese

�rm to undergo design phase

Owner Determine the appropriate resource in which to engage trade. 1

Investigate regions that have the most successful investment potential.2

Locate population center within potential region. 4

Determine desirable program to be ful�lled.5

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How does architecture begin to insert itself into a global system that has many hinge-points and is seemingly impossible to understand and control? Jesse LeCavalier’s project, a distribution center for Wal-Mart incorporates very intriguing ideas about the inter-relation of infrastructure, architecture, system, and technology to produce a reaction to global concerns. The end result is a project that takes on larger systematic issues by becoming complicit in the system it is trying to critique. The architecture cannot be removed from the larger system and the new system that is addressed by the architecture cannot function without that architectural intervention.

DC ON THE HIGH SEAS

fig 24

LeCavalier takes on the idea of Wal-Mart as a global trade deficit inducing system that must respond to challenges of consumption, resources and international trade. The project attempts

take on the efficiency of Wal-Mart (considered to be THE most efficient system of capitalist distribution ever to exist) by producing an architectural response that is presented in a

non-critcal fashion. Rather, the project seeks to establish a more efficient system as an architectural solution. The answer becomes an architecture that is able to situate

itself within a methodology of “big box” architecture. The implied conclusion that such a project draws is that architecture must submit to a larger

global ideology one that is dominated by the world of Wal-Mart and not the local boutique. Architecture

is not the one-off design rather...

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...architecture must become the system in which it operates.

The Wal-Mart model can easily be considered a derivation of many visionary architectural models of the 1960s and 70s. These pioneers imagined a future of consumption that could easily be translated into a corporate sales world. Below is a depiction of the network established by Instant City one of Archigram’s most recognizable projects. The project, which layers new programmatic desires over existing urban infrastructure seeks to establish connections that were once non-existant. The density of urban modules becomes representative of population centers and geolological features. The pattern of the newtork is thus a manifestation of the data input into the system to acheive particular locations for the greatest success for programmatic response. The system takes into account many factors to determine a possible response and the nomadic architecture of Instant City continues its journey.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart’s model of desire distribution could be seen as a built version of the Archigram model. Incorporating aspects of the Plug-In City and Instant City system along with the programmatic variability of ArchiZOOM, this system of connections is driven by a need for consumable goods. The desire-fulfillment distribution methodology has led to great success because it is efficient and takes into account larger scales of global production and consumption. Rather than a retail scenario that limits itself to the last step of the process, sales, Wal-Mart has positioned itself to be a larger ideology that has permeated all steps of the process.

CAN ARCHITECTURE BE THE NEXT WAL - MART?fig 26

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WAL-MART/INSTANT CITY

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In 2012, a Chinese company, Broad Group introduced a 200 story tower to be fully deployed and built in 10 months. The most intriguing part of the project, however, lies in the fact that the entire design is a translation of the Burj Kahlif in Dubai. The Dubai project, conceived from the architecture firm, SOM is a monument to the power of oil and the United Arab Emirates as a whole. Broad Group, in order to develop their project brought in designers associated with the original Burj Kahlif to engineer a taller, more efficient tower that maintains similar aesthetic choices to that of the original monument. In fact, the entire project can be seen as an attempt to corrupt what was once conceived of as an architectural monument into an architectural commodity. The new tower, called Sky City, is not intended to maintain the same principles of monument establish in Dubai and re-defines itself as a building that can be implimented anywhere at anytime under any conditions. It is designed to sustain maximum tolerances with regard to sustainability, natural forces (earthquakes, wind, etc.) and all in a constrained time frame for building using mass production techniques along with pre-fabricated panels. In the end, such a project typifies the extreme attitude Chinese interests have in developing more efficient methods of distribution when it comes to urbanization and building environments. Will the is be the future of architecture in a world dominated by a Chinese economy?

SKY CITY

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This is equivalent to the total population of South Korea

Architectural Monument Architectural Commodity

fig 29fig 28

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com - mod - i - tynoun /ke’madite/commodities, plural1. articles of commerce, a good or service that is ex-changed for monetary gain.

fig 31

mass pro duc tion (n)the production or manufacture of goods in large quantities, especially by machinery.

mass cu stom iz at ion (n)The ability to cater to a “market of one,” printing tailored to an audience of one specific individual.

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MASSED PRODUCED “ARCHITECTURE”

In 2010, Broad Sustainable Group, a private Chinese company sought to build a 30 story building in just 15 days. The result is a mass pro-duced hotel, composed of pre-fabricated floor and wall sections, that is stable and environmentally concious. The entire process was in-spired by a devastating 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China. The process here was designed to impliment rapidly produced buildings that could withstand great forces, thus allowing for growth while at the same time respecting the safety of the occupants.

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MASSED PRODUCED “ARCHITECTURE”

At the factory, pieces are manufactured to strict specifications. Floor and wall panels contain all the necessary services including ventilation and electrical wir-ing.

On site, the pieces are easily put togeth-er by the construction team. Because all services are included, there is little technical skill required at the site of as-sembly.

OFF_SITE FACTORY ON_SITE

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Due to the nature of the system, the pieces can be assembled in an number of possible ways. In theory, the physical arrangement of the parts can reflect the nature of the program for which they are arranged. The inherently A-spatial objects take on a new spatial identity based on pre-described programmatic intentions.

OFFICE BUILDING? COMMUNITY CENTER?

WITH THIS, ONE IS LED ALMOST AUTOMATICALLY TO THE DISCOVERY OF WHAT MAY WELL BE THE “DRAMA” OF ARCHITECTURE TODAY: THAT IS, TO SEE ARCHITECTURE OBLIGED TO RETURN TO PURE ARCHITECTURE, TO FORM WITHOUT UTOPIA; IN THE BEST CASE, TO SUBLIME USELESSNESS.

Manfredo TarfuriArchitecture and Utopia

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Contemporary architecture is undergoing a corruption of production efficiency but this is by no means the first instance of such corruption of architectural ideology. While today we see the corruption of a Chinese mentality in architectural production, history reveals a much more elaborate staging of architectural production becoming a system of what Tarfuri calls“sublime uselessness.” Such sublimity is achieved through the capitalist mentality of efficency in which profitability and public image (two factors which influence contemporary models in a different manner) are maximized and controlled not by governments but by private institutions of business. Mies van der Rohe is the foremost example of such high architecture becoming a meaningless symbol for the social, political and economic conditions surrounding the conception of his architecture.

CAPITALISM + MIES

fig 36

IBM BuildingChicago, 1973

Toronto-Dominion CentreToronto, 1969

Seagram’s BuildingNew York, 1958

The true nature to which Mies’ work was commodified by capitalism is evident in the corporate architecture he produced, beginning in 1958 with the Seagram’s Building in New York. This building, in some fashion would be reproduced in several other cities by his own hand, expressing an extreme indifference toward the spatial contextual nature of architecture in favor of a capitalist context that was beyond any one site or locality. Thus, commodity architecture was born of extreme flexibiliy and a desire to submit to the global system of capitalism.

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IBM

Toronto-Dominion Bank

Joseph E. Seagram's & Sons

#1 CHOOSING A RESOURCEIn order to establish a system that is based on a resource-exchange trade, it is first necessary to identify the appropriate resource in which to invest. As a nation with room to grow, China still relies on vast resources that have been passed over by other developed nations, such are the remnance of their developing past. At the same time however, the advanced economic growth that China has experienced has been pioneered by advancing technology that requires only the lastest and most expensive natural resources. Technology produced through these resources has caused certain mineral prices and gold to skyrocket in price meaning Athat their extraction is extremely valuable to all parties involved. In addition, consideration shoud also be given to where resource investment is occuring to determine what raw material to extract. For example, a country that relies heavily on coal should not be considered as a potential investment opportunity for coal mines. Thus, great consideration must be implimented here to determine profitability and the greatest success for investment.

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Once a resource is selected, the primary focus must turn to establishing a site that is most adventagious for its proximity to natural resources as well as centers of population density. Currently, the Chinese exchange system favors a location that is within an urban context, removed from the point of resource extraction. Taking on this method of programmatic separation (desire fulfillment separated from Chinese mining), the task then becomes locating a site within an urban context that can be adequately utilized for its proximities to urban densities that are present in a more localized urban condition. Items to consider include the role of vacancy and sprawl in identifying a potential siting condition that is most likely to test the visibility and public-ness of the potential program. There is no need to take an architectural commodity intended to produce a public response and locate it far from the city center or out of reach of transportation infrastructure that can allow it to be easily accessed by locals.

#1 CHOOSING A SITE

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THIS IS A HOSPITAL

THIS IS PUBLIC HOUSING

THIS IS A PUBLIC SCHOOL

THIS IS A TRAIN STATION

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#3 CHOOSING A PROGRAMThe choice of programmatic response, is the most critical part of the project from a Chinese perspective. This is the point at which actual people will become complicit in the larger system of resource exchange. It is essential to identify a programmatic response that is designed solely around the actual desires of the region and city in which a project is built. In Africa, Chinese interests defined this step as a building that the people cannot give themselves, something that is large in scale and something that is HIGHLY public. This has been a successful model because it recognizes the importance of the program to situate itself as a gift to the locality that is for each and every individual. One might add that it is necessary to be classless and unmarked by the social stigmas that define a particular region. There should be no question that the programmatic response is for the good of those it serves.

Ashley Schafer Praxis 8: Re-ProgrammingIntroduction

...INCREASINGLY THE SPECIFIC AND TECHNICAL DEFINITION OF PROGRAM AS A SET OF CODED INSTRUCTIONS IS PERTINENT TO ARCHITECTS BOTH LITERALLY AND AS AN OPERATION ALIGNED WITH ITS DEPLOYMENT AS AN ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY.

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REPRESENTATION

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REPRESENTATION fig 39

In order to establish a full spectrum of believability when establishing a projected future very unlike our own world, it is necessary to establish a grand scale of white noise to give reference to much larger at issues at play without explicitly addressing them within a visual narrative. Sci-Fi films depicting future narratives often include aspects of conditions that are tangential to the character’s narrative. These controlled depictions of life beyond the main sequence are designed to hint at a larger tale of events without revealing completely what is going on so as to confuse the audience. In Children of Men, this is achieved by through the glimpses of the outside world that are revealed during a drive through the English countryside. Burning piles of cows and angry mobs of people demonstrate a world that is torn and broken even if the action occurring within the characters’ homes is quiet and tranquil. Blade Runner and Minority Report have a more mysterious visual representation that allows for longer tracking shots simultaneously reveal and conceal the city around the characters. Minority Report has a white glow to the film, reportedly achieved by bleaching the original film to give the shots a milky white haze.

THE AUDIENCE FOR THE MOST PART, HAS A GENERAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE GREATER SOCIETAL ISSUES AT PLAY BUT IS REMOVED FROM THESE LARGER PROBLEMS THROUGH REPRESENTATIONAL TRICKERY. Similarly, Blade Runner utilizes the exact same techniques except through a lens of darkness. The city fades into the dark of night, exposing the audience to glimmers of light and shadowy figures that require an imaginative nature to fill in the blanks.. If the project involves a larger, global system that is in play beyond the typical building scale, representation techniques such as those described must be implemented in order to hint at, but not completely reveal the world beyond the defined program.

THERE MUST BE SUFFICIENT WHITE NOISE TO CAPTURE THE AUDIENCE BUT NOT DISTRACT FROM THE OVERALL MESSAGE OF THE ARCHITECTURE.

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Washed out Grey-ed out Blacked out

fig 40 fig 41 fig 42

What is a rapidly assembled, prototyped drawing commodity? How can these words begin to describe drawing techniques that might come into play with regard to representing the building that it produces?

Within the context and conditions defined here, the project is proposing a system of architecture rather than an architectural monument, as is the traditional value of architecture. This means that the representation of such a building must reflect this larger concept as a system. The building is essentially a kit of parts to be rapidly assembled and prototyped, a commodity of building.

This idea of representation seems to be best described by axonometric drawings that zoom in and out of different components of the building. One could re-imagine drawings by Scarpa that collaged to bring a new life to the components that compose the building as a whole.

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fig 43

fig 44

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The individual parts take shape slowly, each pursuing its specific role, initially schematic in concept, gaining in complexity as it contrives to evolve into a new form. At this stage, the processes of articulating, connecting and interlocking must combine harmonically to produce a precisely machined, perfectly efficient and near organic whole.Bianca AlbertiniCarlo-Scarpa: Architecture in DetailsThe Course of Invention

PROJECTEDCONDITION

China, as a world power will seek to establish a resource-exchange mechanism in the United States, an up-and-coming market for resources that are currently underdeveloped there. Chinese interests will have to negotiate the standardized process for engaging in such a systematic approach to establishing the best possible location and scope of such a project in a developed nation.

Huntington Beach, CA circa 1950. From 1920 to approx. 1960, the area around Los Angeles was a hotbed of oil extraction. While this apocalyptic depiction of Los Angeles may be frightening, the fact re-mains that such development helped to shape the city into what it is today.

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fig 45

WHERE IS THE BEST POSSIBLE INTERVENTION FOR CHINESE INTERESTS IN THE UNITED STATES?

fig 46

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Chattanooga

Eagle Ford

Western Gulf

TX-LA-MSSalt Basin

Uinta Basin

Devonian (Ohio)Marcellus

Utica

Bakken***

Avalon-Bone Spring

San JoaquinBasin

MontereySanta Maria,Ventura, Los

AngelesBasins

Monterey-Temblor

Pearsall

Tuscaloosa

Big HornBasin

DenverBasin

Powder RiverBasin

ParkBasin

Niobrara*

Mowry

Niobrara*

Heath**

ManningCanyon

AppalachianBasin

Antrim

Barnett

Bend

New Albany

Woodford

Barnett-Woodford

Lewis

Hilliard-Baxter-Mancos

Excello-Mulky

Fayetteville

Floyd-Neal

Gammon

Cody

Haynesville-Bossier

HermosaMancos

Pierre

Conasauga

MichiganBasin

Ft. Worth Basin

Palo DuroBasin

PermianBasin

IllinoisBasin

AnadarkoBasin

Greater Green River Basin

Cherokee Platform

San JuanBasin

WillistonBasin

Black WarriorBasin

Ardmore Basin

Paradox Basin

RatonBasin

Montana Thrust

Belt

Marfa Basin

Valley & Ridge Province

Arkoma Basin

Forest City Basin

PiceanceBasin

Lower 48 states shale plays

0 200 400100 300

Miles

±

Source: Energy Information Administration based on data from various published studies. Updated: May 9, 2011

BasinsShale plays

Stacked plays

BasinsCurrent playsProspective plays

* Mixed shale & chalk play

** Mixed shale & limestone play

***Mixed shale &tight dolostone-

siltstone-sandstoneIntermediate depth/ ageShallowest/ youngest

Deepest/ oldest

WHERE IS THE BEST POSSIBLE INTERVENTION FOR CHINESE INTERESTS IN THE UNITED STATES?

fig 47

Shallow natural gas

Deep natural gas

Rare earth elements

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The conditions highlighted here necessitate a site that becomes part of a system of resource extraction and consumption. While many varied resources exist on the global scale for extraction and manipulation, these can be broken down into two categories. There are resources that can be applied directly to energy consumption and those that are indirectly tied to energy consumption. What will be the imagined future of natural resource consumption? What resources will be necessary to harvest in order to stay competitive on a world market?

Two emerging natural resources that remained untapped in many markets include natural gas shale and rare earth minerals. The former are directly tied to energy consumption and has been proven to have vast reserves worldwide that are just only now being opened to market trading. Similarly, rare earth minerals are only now beginning to become heavily valued for their use in electronics and renewable energy tactics but a vast majority of global reserves are not being utilized to their potential.

Albuquerque is the most prominant city in which such a Chinese exchange system could take place. Its isolation as a city center only truly known by its own locality can be an advantage to allow for investment in a resource-exchange system in this region. The city can serve as a testing bed for Chinese investment and resource extraction primarily because of general obscurity. In addition, a programmatic need to appeal to the whole of the populous can easily be identified as Albuquerque is a city that lacks extreme urbanA complexity.

Despite its lack of traditional urban context, it is the largest city in its region of resource rich territory, the closest of which is Phoenix at over 300 miles southwest of the city. As V.B. Price outlines in his book, Albuquerque: A City at the End of The World, however, Albuquerque is a city maligned by general obscurity. It is isolated in a physical and psychological context. Even its separation from major metro-hubs, it does not match their scope or scale in attracting a large population to visit its corner of the United States.10 Thus, any Chinese intervention would receive local notariety while avoiding harsh criticism that may result from a more recognizable cityscape.

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In January, 2013 the United States Congress was unable to reach a deal to postpone the inevitable fical cliff. The proposal which was determined to solve the problem of a ballooning federal debt actually caused a dramatic recession as over $7 trillion in budget cuts and tax increases went into automatic effect. With no deal between Democrats and Republicans, there was no proper solution allowing the United States of America do avoid instantly loosing 3.4 million jobs and families paying over $2,000 more in annual taxes. Such economic devastation resulted in an unemployment jumping from 7.8% to well over 9%.

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$7,000,000,000,000Once again the bastion of democracy and freedom, the United States was vaulted into a great economic decline. Considerable cuts had to be made to large fiscally irresponsible programs in order to cushion the budget crunch. This presented an opportunity for economic investment for a Chinese Resource-Exchange system as they could step in to fill the gap created by such large budgetary constraints. While in previous architectural exchanges, underfunded programs included soccer stadiums and government headquarters, in the United States desirable programmatic needs would be derived from the irresponsibilty of government to provide for its people.10

MEDICARE/MEDICAID

$ 793B / 23%

SOCIAL SECURITY

$ 701B / 20%

DEFENSE

$ 768B / 20%

DISCRETIONARY

$ 660B / 19%

OTHER MANDATORY

$ 419B / 12%

NET INTEREST

$ 197B / 6%

TAX REVENUE

$ 2.2T / 63%

DEFICIT

$ 1.3T / 37%

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According to the 2010 US federal budget the primary fiscal expenditures were defense, healthcare, and social security. These sectors alone account for 63% of the total budget (equal to the total tax revenue from that year).10 As a result, these are likely programs that face scrutiny for their ballooning and complicated costs. In addition, these expenditures are closes associated with many overlapping architectural typologies meaning the effect of their de-funding would be widespread across many fields of built expression. Thus, there are many areas for investment within these federal sectors that would benefit localities within a resource-architecture exchange system. Defense and Medicare alone are tied to many typologies that range from education to hospitals to factories. With such a range, these are areas which require the most research for a possible intervention.

FEDERAL FUNDING + ALBUQUERQUE Albuquerque in many ways could be considered a collage of federally funded programs. With interstate transportation, military expenditures, a large college campus, healthcare facilities, and public parks, the sprawl of the city is littered with government programs. In fact, two of the top three employers of the city of Albuquerque rely at least partially on government intervention, the military and healthcare. As a result, Albuquerque has become a national leader in nuclear advancement for the military and the primary healthcare center for the state of New Mexico.10

If the city of Albuquerque is re-conceptualized as a city affected by cuts to the federal budget, then the impact could be devastating. Lack of funding could result in the inability of necessary services to be continued in their traditional fashion. Thus, Chinese investment in these sectors of programmatic decay could produce a successful exchange to the mutual benefit of the city and the Chinese government. Healthcare in particular presents the most interesting area in which China can establish itself as an investor. Healthcare is itself a reflection of technological dominance and the ability of China to provide a center that is better than current conditions could allow the city and the country to become more accepting of their ability to maintain a healthy relationship of architectural and resource trade.

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DEFENSE

EDUCATION

HEALTHCARE

TRANSPORTATION

PARKS + RECREATION

UNIVERSITY OF NM HOSPITAL

UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO_NORTH CAMPUS

UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO_SOUTH CAMPUSPRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL

RAYMOND G MURPHY VA MEDICAL CENTER

ALBUQUERQUE INTERNATIONAL SUNPORT

KIRKLAND AIRFORCE BASE

KINDRED HOSPITAL OF ALBUQUERQUE

ABQ BIOPARK BOTANICAL GARDEN

ABQ BIOPARK ZOO

PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL

ALBUQUERQUE ALVARADO TRANSPORTATION CENTER

1_25

EXPO NEW MEXICO

1_40

Taking into account programmatic necessity of a programmatic response to the decreased funding of healthcare as a federal expenditure, it is necessary to choose a site within the city that has the greatest implications for visibility and successful implimentation. The obvious choice for such a location is the healthcare center associated with the university of new mexico. The building is located in close proximity to a campus used by thousands of students, allowing the hospital to be highly visible in the public eye. In addition, such a location allows the project to be located on highly trafficed circulation points that deliver suburban-ites from the sprawling outer stretches of Albuquerque into the downtown center.

If we can assume that potential federal and state de-funding will lead to an impending health crisis, then there is the potential that hospitals that already exist will become relics of a past life where healthcare was a much less expensive and easier to obtain. Thus there become many options with regards to how to treat these existing buildings and locating a possible intervention.

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Vacant zone in close proximity to UNM health center and operates on major means of urban circulation.

PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITALfig 48

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UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO - EMERGENCY MEDICINEfig 49

PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITALOPERATES AS A STAND ALONE COLLECTION OF BUILDINGS

UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICOEMERGENCY MEDICINEPART OF THE UNM CAMPUS (EXTRA-URBAN)

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UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICOEMERGENCY MEDICINEPART OF THE UNM CAMPUS (EXTRA-URBAN)

On the previous pages are examples of the traditional hospital typology located within Albuquerque city limits. They fall in line with the normative ideology that is established by efficent healthcare processes. They are essentially closed boxes that limit access and control the presence of those who don’t belong. These hospitals have a large presence as a physical object but no acknowledgement of the urban condition in which they reside. While Albuquerque on the whole does not exhibit a prototypical pedestrian based urbanity, this does not excuse the tendency of hospital architecture to close in on itself and disregard an existance beyond its boundary. Instead, healthcare typologies must become innovative and respond to the conditions in which they exist to acheive a more successful public architecture.

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Cor WagenaarThe Architecture of HospitalsThe City and the Hospital

HOSPITALS SHOULD RESONATE WITH THE PROCESSSES OF CHANGE THAT ARE SO TYPICAL OF CITIES. THE DYNAMICS OF MEDICAL PROCESSES SHOULD NOT RESULT IN BUILDINGS THAT LOOK LIKE ISOLATED ISLANDS, AND THUS FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS SHOULD NOT BE THE SOLE GUIDING PRINCIPLE IN THEIR DESIGN.

THE HOSPITAL IS NOT PUBLIC

Traditionally, hospitals were conceptualized as a control mechanism for scientific pursuits. The idea of patient and family care presented within the contemporary healthcare typology was not a factor of formal design. In a sense, hospitals took on a model similar to the panopticon in its concerns for spatial control. There was a distinct physical separation between the doctor and the patient that was manifested in large, open wards filled with patients and little personal contact between the two.Since the early years of this formal response, the typology has adapted considerably (to technological advances and new care methodology) but it is still regarded as a pseudo-public program. While the expression of a hospital is primarily a place for the public to heal, it is still a controlled environment.10

In order to express itself as a high-profile public program, the hospital typology will have to be manipulated once again. The formal asperations of the hospital building are usually oriented around servicing an efficient medical system. While this is a noble undertaking, efficiency of a closed system is not a desirable condition for investment. In order to fulfill a Chinese resource-exchange system, it would be necessary to open up the healthcare system as a much more public entity. This will bring value to the investment as a symbol of power and stability through adapting a typology that is so heavily dominated by improvents in technology and means of care. A more public hospital system will showcase these two elements in co-existance with one another to acheive a common goal of appeasement.

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In a quest to produce a high-profile public hospital, traditional ideology surrounding healthcare typologies must be re-interpreted. Hospitals have always maintained a sense of isolation. In a studio taught by Markus Schaefer at the Berlage Institute, the idea of the evolving hospital typology was dissected through relationships made to other architectural typologies.

fig 50

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In the end, students combined public programs including airports, shopping malls and theme parks with the hospital typology to produce a more varied response to how the hospital could engage a more public life that it was missing. In the end, the studio found that such a response was indeed interesting from a public program perspective as well as maintained an ability to adapt to ever expanding technologies.10

Abramson, Daniel, “Obsolescence: Notes Towards A History,” Praxis 5: Architecture After Capitalism (2003): 106-112.

LeCavalier, Jesse, “DC on the High Seas,” 306090, Volume 13: Sustain and Develop (2009): 246-248.Shiqiao, Li, “The Economy of Desire,” 306090, Volume 13: Sustain and Develop (2009): 205-211.\

Easterling, Keller, Enduring Innocence: Global Architecture and its Political Masquerades (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005).

Easterling, Keller, “Active Forms,” in Fast Forward Urbanism: Rethinking architecture’s engagement with the city, edited by Dana Cuff and Roger Sherman (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011).

Moyo, Dambisa, Winner Take All: China’s race for resources and what it means for the world (New York: Perseus Books Group, 2012)

Price, V.B., Albuquerque: A City at the End of the World (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003).

Schaefer, Markus, “Building Hospitals – Hospital Buildings,” in The Architecture of Hospitals, edited by Cor Wagenaar (Rotter-dam: NAi Publishers, 2006)

Schafer, Ashley; Reeser, Amanda, “After-Thoughts,” Praxis 5: Architecture After Capitalism (2003): 4-5.

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Sloan, David Charles, “Scientific Paragon to Hospital Mall: The Evolving Design of the hospital, 1885-1994,” The Journal of Archi-tectural Education (1984- ), Vol. 48, No. 2 (Nov., 1994): 82-98.

Wagenaar, Cor, “The City and the Hospital,” in The Architecture of Hospitals, edited by Cor Wagenaar (Rotterdam: NAi Publish-ers, 2006)

Xiangming, Chen, “China’s New Revolution,” in The Endless City: The Urban Age Project by the LSE and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society, edited by Rickey Burdett and Deyan Sudjic (New York: Phaidon Press, 2010).