Re OrOney ee core SEE Wes ee} ce pee e Roatan aE) Boeaa} or PueR Unease eae tao tooa ata race ee reas eS ete Cece (quotation from an ex-convict)Certs Once, a city was divided in two parts. Cee Ln Le ‘The inhabitants of the Bad Half began to flock to the good part of the divided city, rapidly swelling into an peur If this situation had been allowed to continue forever, the population of the Good Half would have doubled, hile the Bad Half would have turned Into a ghost town. ee er ey desperate and savage use of architecture: they built a wall around the good part of the city, making it com- peer Sete tsac Se ened Originally no more than some pathetic strings of barbed wire abruptly dropped on the imaginary line of the border, its psychological and symbolic effects were infinitely more powerful than its physical appearanct ‘The Good Half, now glimpsed only over the forbidding obstacte from an agonizing distance, became even Se ere ene een ee a eee reer Ter ena ‘escape. Hopelessness reigned supreme on the wrong side of the Wal. eee ee ee ae cdARCHITECTURE loo imagine a minor image ofthis tertying of designing col 9, a force as intense and devastating but ia date individual the service of positive inte Division, isolation, in sion and destruc: in our case against immadest Architecture not Committe to timid improvernents but tothe provision of totally desirable alteratives, The inhabitants ofthis Architecture, thos to love it, would become its Volunt: inthe freedom of thor Arcnitectur ng enoughSuddenly a stip of intense Metropolitan desi: ably runs through the centre of London. This strip i ke a runway, a landing strip for the new Archtecture of collective monuments ‘wo walls enclose and protect this zone to rotain its integrity, and to prevent any eon: tamination ofits surface by the cancerous liganism which besieges it ‘Soon, the frst inmates will beg for admission. The number rapidly swells into an unstopp- able flow. We witness the Exodus of London, The existing physical structure of the ald town will not be abe to stand the continuing com pelition ofthis new architectural prosence, London as we know it will become a pack ofTHE STRIP. The following pictures represent a close-up ofa particular moment in the development ofthe strip. Elovan squares ara designed In various degroes of deta together, they o not show all the aspects ofthe central strip, other equally essertial activities and pleasures can, ae being, imagined, ‘The central stip is only the most intense part of the much larger complex ofthe Architectural enclave; at the stage shown here it only contains Some activities of high social intensity an communal relevance. Those activities which are not shared by all are located inthe narrow secondary stipe, which each have thelr particular attachments to and ‘relationship with the central zone. The secondary srs cut through the ‘most depressed slum areas of the old London. They lead tothe enclave and previe al the private accommodation the settlers have dreamt for ‘themselves. Their magnificent presence forces these sums to turn into ‘ghost towns and picturesque ruin. \Witnin the central strip the map and aerial viow show, trom West to East, (each contained in their own square): 4. The Tip Condition. The point of maximum fiction with the old London, Here the Architectural pragtess ofthe zone visibly takes place. 2. The Allotments, Individual plots of land to balanes the emphasis ‘n the Calloctve facilites 8. The Park ofthe four Elements: Air, Fre, Water and Earth, 44. The Ceremonial square, paved in marble; it isa place for open-air ‘celebration 5. The reception area: here future inhabitants are introduced tothe mysteries of citzonship ofthe strip ts root is a viewing platform sufficiently elevated to give a view over the complete architectural complex. 6. An escalator descends into the area of London which |s preserved (ash a predecessor of the ruthless plan) as a reminder ofthe past and as useful housing for migrant visitors and naw arrivals (an environ ‘mental sluice) 7. The Baths. Institute forthe cretion and implementation of fantasies, 8. The square ofthe Arts. 8. The square ofthe Captive Globe. 10, The institute of Biological Transactions. 11 Invisible is the Park of Aggression. oatSa aepolitical inventiveness, to ! tures the echo chamber: volume of overwhelming sensuousnes 1ow thatthe sole concer of the panicipants is the present an future course of special rooms built for thi ‘others are continuously enga modifications to the model. The mv senses. The traning i THE CENTRAL AREA The roof of the reception area, accessible from the inside, is a high altitude plateau, the decay of the old town al splendour of the strip can be experienced, From hero, a gigantic. that part of Londo prisoners: the areas an environmental ice 1 side of the oot s the core pletely empty, except the jamming station, which habitants ofthe On the other black square is not yet known it (of physical and mental exe Olympies. 243THE TIP OF THE STRIP “The ontine of the Architectural warfare waged (on the old London Here, the merciless progress of the stip per= forms a daily miracle, Hore, the corrective rage ofthe Architecture at is most intense. It fs continuous confrontation with the old city, from the destruction of existing struc- tures by the new Architecture to the more trivial tights between the inmates of the ola London and the Voluntary Prisoners of the stp. ‘Some monuments fom the old civilization ave Incorporated inthe zone only ator a rehabil- tation of their questionable purposes and programmes. Strategies, plans and instruc- tions are conveyed by another model ofthe str, continuously modified by information arriving from the reception area, Life in the buliding barracks atthe tip of the stip can be hard, but the permanent creation of this fobjact leaves its builders exhausted tram satisfaction, 28 THE PARK OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS ‘The park is divided Into four square areas, which disappear into the ground like four gi antic stops. The fst square, “ait, consists ofa umber of sunken pavilions, overgrown with elaborate networks of responsive ducts, which emit ‘various mixtures of gasses to create aromatic ‘and hallucinogenic experiences. ‘By subte variations in dosage, density and pthaps even colouration, these volatile cloud ‘of scents can be maxkfied or sustained almost like 2 musical instrument, Moods of exhilaration, depression, serenity and receptivity can be evoked invisibly, in programmed or improvised sequences and rhythms. Vertical ai-jets provide enviran- ‘mental protection over the pavilions Identical in size to the fst square, but sunken bbolow the love of the surtace, is “the desert ‘an artificial econstruction of an Egyptian and- scape, simulating its dizzying conditions: a pyramid, a small oasis, and the fre organ: @ stool ame with innumerable outets for fames of different intensity, colour and heat. tis Played at night to provide a pyrotechnic spec- tacle, sible from all pats of the strip: a nac- tumal sun At the end of four linear caves, Mirage-ma- chines project images of desirable ideals. ‘Those in the desert who enter the tubes, run toreach these beatfic images atthe end, but as they run on a belt which moves inthe opp0- site direction at speed which inoreasesas the distance betwaen Mirage and runner shrinks, ‘actual contact ean never be established. The frustrated energies and desires wil have to be channelled into sublimated activities, (The ‘secret that the pyramid does not contain a treasure chamber, wil be kept forever) Deeper into the earth sti isthe water squ 1 pool whose surface is permanently agitated through the regular but variable movement of one ofits walls. which produces waves of sometimes gigantic proportions. This lake i the domain of some pleasure seekers, whohave become totaly addicted to the challenge ‘of tase waves, Day and night the sounds of this interior soa ‘willbe the acoustic background ofthe actv- ties inthe stip ‘The fourth square at the bottom of the pit is ‘dovoted to “earth: tis occupied by a vaguely ‘amilar mountain, its top exactly level with ‘the surface of the stip. At the top of this ‘mountain, a group of sculptors is involved in a debate, tying to decide whose bust they wil ‘carve in the rock, but inthe accelerated atmo- ‘sphere of ths prison, no one is important long ‘enough for them to ever reach a conctusion Tha Walls ofthe cavity veal the past history of this location lke a sear, part of a now deserted Underground ine is suspended in this void Deep in the other walls cave dwelings and ‘cavernous meeting places are carved out 10 accommodate certain primordial mysteries. Aor the epiral movement through the four ‘squares an escalator returns the wander tothe surface, ‘THE BATHS “The function ofthe bathe isthe creation and acycting of private and publc fantasies, the transactions between them and the invention, testing and possible introdue- tion of new forms of behaviour The building is @ social condenser which brings hieden motivations, desites and impulses to the surface, to retine them for recognition, provocation and devel- ‘opment. ‘Around the two square poo's (warm and cold) and the circular main collector, the ground flor Is an area of Public action and display. a continuous parade of per- sonatas and bodies, a stage where a cyclical dia- lectic between exhibitionism and spectatorship takes place. It isan area for the observation and possible seduction ‘of partners who will be invited to actively participate in private fantasies and the pursuit of desires. “The two long walls ofthe bulding consist ofan infinite number of cals of various sizes, to which individuals, couples or grou can retire, These cells re equipped to encourage indulgence, and to facitate the realz~ ation of fantasies, and social inventions; they init al {forms of human interactions and exchange. The public area private calls sequence can generate 8 creative chain reaction in the two Arenas at both fends of the baths, where successful performers or ‘those confident about the validity and originality of their actions and progosals fiter into from the cells. Finally in the Arena, they perform. The freshness anc suggestiveness of these performances activate dor- mani parts of the brain, and trigger off a continuous explosion of ideas in the audience. Overcharged by this spectacle, the Voluntary Prsoners descend to the ‘ground floor looking for thase wiling ard able to work ‘out new elaborations. HUH yet‘THE SQUARE OF THE ARTS This square is devoted to the accelerated cre- ation, evolution, and exhibition of objects. It is the Industrial zone of the strip, an Urban ‘open space, paved in a synthetic material ‘Which offers a high degree of comfort to its users. Dispersed on this surface are the buildings to which people goto satsty their love for abject. “Thera are three major buldings on the square. ‘One is ol thas always been a museum. ‘The other two have been built by the vol untary prisoners. OF these two the frst one bulges out of the surface: it was bul with the materials of the second, which is carved out ‘of tne square, and isin fact the interior of the frst. At fist sight itis impossible to under- stand that these twin buildings are one, and that this is not a secret. Together they form an instrument for the indoctrination of the ‘existing culture, They achieve this simply by displaying the past in tne only possible way: they expose memory by allowing its prov- - ‘cative vacuums to be filed withthe explo- ‘sive emotions of onlookers. The mixture pro duces the most relevant and scientific infor- ‘mation. They are a school ‘The density and impenetrablty of the first building intensifies the expectations of arriv- ing students who wat ouside its gates, while ‘the apparent emptiness ofthe interior of the second building provokes an anxious eus Dense. Descending into its enigmatic gal- levies, the complete history of creation un- folds ina spectral form. An iresistible power driv the visitors on a journey down the es- calatore that lnk the galleries, nto a complete exploration ofthe most mysterious corners of Pistory. When they ave atthe lowest gallery, they discover thatthe interior Is bottomiess, and that new galleres are under construction. ‘The most recent galloros are filing with a con- tinuous procession of completely unfamiliar ‘works, emerging from a tunnel that seems to lead tothe old museum. Returning tothe sur- face, the traces of his course ara etained on the retina and transferrad to certain parts of the brain ‘The older building contains in a sense the negative pictures of the complete past. The first impression to the uninformed visitor is tha ofa collection ofan almost intrte number ‘of empty frames, blank canvasses and vacant Pedestals. Only those who have the know fedge from the previous course can decipher the spectacte by projecting their memories on these empty provocations: a continuous fim of Images, improvements, accelerated versions of the history of art automatically produce new works, fil the space wit recollections, modi fieations and inventions ‘These new creations immediately disappear through the tunnel tothe pt, where they take thelr place inthe last moments of the indoc- trination programme. ‘Apart from these three main buildings, the only tangible exhibits inthe square are small buildings that look like pawns on the grid fof an ancient game, They are dropped tke meteorites of unknown metaphysical mean- ing, waiting to be moved to the next inter- section of the game, each time they are fur ther deciphered. 207THE SQUARE OF THE CAPTIVE GLOBE ‘This squares devoted tothe artical tion and accelerated birth of theories, interpre tations, mental constrictions and proposals and their infction on the World, It's the capital of Ego, where science, art poetry and certain forms of manias wil be allowed to compete under ideal and identical Consétions, to invent the answers to metaphys ical questions, to propose changes in social ‘organization, to destroy and restore the Werle of phenomenal reality It be an incubator of ideologies, which will not be permitted to consume the world, to recognize only certain phenomena and sup. 38 others. Each of these sciences and manias has its own plot. On each plot stands ‘an identical base, Bui from heavy polished stone. These bases, ideological laboratories, are equipped to temporafly suspend unwel come laws, undeniable truths, t create non ‘existent physical and mental conditions, to faciltate and provoke speculative activities, From these solid blocks of grante, each phi losophy expands indefinitely towards heaven: This growth from the blocks fr direct propor tion to the populer appeal. excitement and 248 ee ‘moral volume of the intellectual activities in side) will house additional accommodation, dala storage, fabricated evidence, ot, {At the same time, these towers willbe the Visualizations, and symbols ofthese ideas, a spectacle of sublme communeation. ‘Some ofthe base blocks wil want to present limbs of complete certainty and serenity, others will choose a soft environment of tentative conjectures and hypnotie, but questionable suggestions. These extremities, these limbs wil form an ideological exhibition, visible from afar anc Serutinzed from nearby; the visitors to this exhibition wil be spontaneous students, ‘lose inspection and ertical comparison othe Docks ane towers wil ereate the irresistible Lrge to choose, jin and partcipate, to share and elaborate a science, a poom, a made This equare isthe university ofthe Strip, The changes ofthis ideological syne willbe rapid and continuous, arich spectacle of moral fever, ethcal oy, oF Intellectual masturbation The collapse of one of these towering struc tures can mean two things: fare ging up, a vacating of the premises, of, the exclamation ofa visual Eureka A Theory that works Armania that sticks {An idea thats Ale that has become tath | dream from which there sno waking up (On these moments the purpose ofthe Captive Globe, suspended in mid-ait inthe centre of the square, becomes apparent: all these in stitutes together form an enormous incubator for the World itsolf. They ure breeding on the lobe, changing it, adding something to its “These buildings and their passionate invest: sors have consumed facta, objects, and phe Romena, in order to give move and better in “The globe gains weight. ts temperature rises slowiy. Invisbiy it grows, In spite of the most humiliating setbacks, its ageless pregnancy survives. \We allhave our ear onthe stethoscope of the ideologies, The question is (and we are not Pessimistic about the answer: who wil erack frst? The skin of this impossible egg, o haps‘THEINSTITUTE OF BIOLOGICAL ‘TRANSACTIONS ‘This institute sustains the Voluntary Prisoners ‘through biological emergencies, physical and mental crises: also demonstrates the harm- less nature of mortality IN is divided in four parts by a eruitorm build- ing, The fret part contains the hospi it con- tains the complete arsenal of modern baling, but is dovoted to a radical de-escalation of the medical process, to the abolition of the ‘compulsive rage to heal. No forced heartbeats here, no chemical in- vasione, no sadistic extensions of ie. This now strategy will ereate a lowering ofthe average ite expectancy, a corresponding decrease in senilty, physical decay, nausea and exhaus: tion: infact, patients here will be healthy. ‘The hospital consists of a sequence of pavi- lons, each devoted to a particular disease. From the entrance a medical boulevard con- nects these buidings. The sick pass through them in a continuous procession on a slowly ‘moving bet an almost festive atmosphere of operatic melodies: a group of dancing nurses in transparent uniforms; medical equipment sendad gee ane aes 585% pas ae ve as ao sans sagas ef a Ries L t disguised as totem poles and rch perfumes \Which suppress the familar stench of healing [Doctors sect thir patients rom this bet, nvte them to thelingivdual pavilons, test ther via ity and almost piaytuly administer their (med- ica) knowledge. f they fall, the patient is re- turned tothe conveyor: perhaps another doc- tor ries him, butt ow bacomes apparent that the belt leads beyond the pavions, through the cruciform building straight to the cemetery. ‘Thor fsa continuity of festive mood here, the same smal, the same ethereal dances, made ‘mote moving, more human silly the contrast (of the rthess formal layoutof the plots and the Lunnaturalness ofthe dark green shrubbery In the third part of the square, in the threo ‘palaces of bith there will be a statistical ba lance between bith and deaths, The physical ‘broximsty ofthese events through the architec- {ural arrangement suggests the consolation of ‘a causal relationship between the two, agertle ‘relay, The lowering ofthe average life axpectan fy creates an ambitious urgency: it does not alow the kris of underexploted brains, the ‘artificial protongation of chicstness or wasted adolescence, Therefore the three palaces of birth wil aso take care of the babies during ‘thee fist infancy, schoo! them, turn them into sae 9 a ga age pane # a a # 6 a waage saaae small acuits atthe earliest possible date (oe- ‘hveen aight and eleven), capable of actively taking parti te in the stp. Inthe fourth square, mental patients willbe on clsplay as informer days; not as themselves however, but in an extremely well produced ‘exhibition of their detusions, sustained by the latest technical equipment: an infinite number (of Napoleons, Florence Nightingales, Enstins, ‘Jesus Crisis and Joans of Ar, each in the ‘custom-made uniforms. These inmates will ‘also stage performances for the accelerated ‘education instead of history classes, In the cruciform building finally, wich sep- arates the four compartments, reside the [Archives that contain all ial facts, develop- ‘ments fe incidents of past and prosent pris- ‘ners. Bureaucracy, s often criticized forits ‘passion for control and contempt for privacy {and moral blindness), quarantees the prison- fers a new kind of immortality: ths statistical treasure coupled to the most imaginative ‘computers, procices instant biographies of the ‘ead in seconds, but also premature biogra- phies of the living, mixtures of facts and ruth= lese extrapolations which have become the ‘essential instruments for plotting a course ‘and planning the future, 249‘THE PARK OF AGGRESSION This is the second park in the city It was laid ‘out at the same me as the square of the Captive Globe, and is next toi. in this re reational area, rudimentary structures were ‘erected to correct and channel aggressive sites into creative confrontations ‘The ago-world dialectic which unfolds in the adjoining square, generates the continuous temergence of conflicting ideologies. The i posed coexistence invokes childish dreams land the dasir to play. Ths park isa reservor ff sustained tension waiting to be used: a gigantic playground of flexible cimensions to accommodate the only sport played in the ‘inp: Aggression, Here, the conflicts between corresponding antagonism are re-enacted and fought out the battles that are staged dissolve the cor rosve hysteria of good manners. In fact on an inlvidua level, this park's a sanatorium where patients recover trom remnants of infections they brought sith them from the old worl hypocrisy and genocide, The clagnoses pro voke richer forms of intercourse ‘The most prominent edifices are the wo towers. One of them is infinte: a continuous spiral stretched out ofan elastic place of rock. The other tower has a familar architectural style and consists of 42 platforms, Magnetic fields nelp create a tension between these towers which mirors the psychological mo: tWatione of ther users Entry to the park is tree, and performances continuous. Visitors arrive alone, in pars or small groups the electying uncertainty about ‘the safety of the square tower is compensated by the aggressive confidence of the player. Visitors withdraw into the shelves inside the: tower which contains cats forthe use of sup- pressed hatred, and winere cantestants freely Abuse each other But the shelves are also viewing galleries ‘overlooking the bigger platforms ofthe tower, and prvate antagonists become spectators [As such they are provoked inta joining larger ‘r5ups involved in unknown physical transac: tions below, which expose an amazing side of Violence. As remnants of shyness are over ‘come, they add their private energies to this Inereibly demancing and mutant form of so lable behaviour In an agitated sleep, they walk higher up in the tower. As they plerce each floor, they experience an infrite variety of exchanges, they get an increasingly good view of things below, and an exhilarating, new sensation of the unfoiding spectacle around thei architecture of great heights, ‘As their tower leans forward, they push thet antagonist into the abysmal fll inside the relentless spiral of introspection. is digestive ‘movement consumes excessive softness: tis the combustion chamber for the fat under the 250 skin. he human missles, helped by the cent fugal acceleration, escape through a chosen ‘opening in the wails of te spiral, objects of terniying energy inte a trajectory of reste temptations, Tho entire surface of the park, the ar space above and the cavities below it are now a full-scale battleield, As the opera: tions continue into the night they take the ap pearance of hallucinatory celebrations, against the backorop ofan abandoned world of calcu lated extermination, and pole immobility. ‘As they return from their noctumal aaven- ‘ures they celebrate thelr collective vietores ina gigantic arena that crosses the park di- agonal. ‘The small bulidings in the corner ef the park are old building barracks used for the con= struction ofthe towers now used as changing rooms. In the three large halls (he old site offices) pacts are signed and new relation ships consolidate.pe eeede the whole concept of “new led ve patient devotion with which the pots are bughad, the surfaces are scrubbe shed. uPPr othing ever happens here, yet the aris hea THE AVOWAL Cone Re ee ee et ee eee ee esc eo Seen ‘a modified location, perhaps with the segments dropped like stones, er er ae ees ‘caused by their impact on the urban pond, i. lke true social con- denser). It requires a fundamental belief in cities as the incubators of er a ee ‘were allowed to become acquainted with Architecture they would decide to re-appropriate the physical and ideological decay of our Pe ese ete Pereeoemeel ee Under the threat of doom, the common concer, that is the fuilment ofall private desires within a subliminally collective and deliriously permissive common effort, produces phantom proposals, in the ee re ee ce tea) pore ner rts Poe ead realists, hanging on the parachute of hope are dropping on the rescue ship: THE CITY which, atthe end of cannibalism, will appear erica ey