Tag: Digital Presence

More than architecture

--Originally published at Identidad digital

Through the history of knowledge the definition of space has changed, several philosophers such as Wilhelm Leibniz, René Descartes, Aristotle, and Immanuel Kant have proposed different meanings for such concept. Mathematicians have also contributed to define space, they speak of space in a mathematical language, and they have achieved to classify it quite precisely, the problem is that mathematicians have define it in a theoretical and mathematical way that does not relate much to the space experienced and lived by society, is with this problematic that philosophers enter again to the existence space issue. Philosophers have drawn upon other branches of knowledge, as an aid to solve the problem epistemology emerged, “[…] Epistemology has inherited and adopted the notion that the status of space is that of a “mental thing” or a “mental place” (Lefebvre 1974).

Shigeru Ban, a Japanese architect, educated in America and influenced by the five architects, is worldwide known for his work with paper. One of his most important works with this material are the emergency shelters for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this project was made in 1994 for the Rwandan refugees that lost their homes due to the genocide and civil war. This project is especially relevant in various ways:  the techniques and materials used the place as a representation of hope for the people that had lost everything and the query if the places created should be considered homes or fake places. The construction of these places went further than just creating mass asylums; shelters were made with a humanitarian focus. The shelters should be considered a real space and must be classified as heterotopias.

Rwanda’s 1994 civil war left more than 2 million people homeless; refugees required a shelter and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees supplied aluminum poles and plastic sheets as resources to create temporary dwelling. The refugees used the aluminum poles and branches as structural support; this leaded to contribute with the grave deforestation suffered in the region, the situation was critical. Ban suggested using paper tubes to remediate the circumstances, and the use of these materials instead of branches did not affect the deforestation problem, were easily found and handled and served as structural support for the construction of simple shelters consisting of paper tubes and blue tarps.  The UNHCR accepted the proposal and after some tests approved the prototype.

Leibniz stated that space “itself” is neither nothing nor something; to know if space is something we have to introduce an origin and axes, these two elements give direction and orientation. This direction and orientation are given to the space by bodies that occupy it. The shelters posses’ direction and orientation, the asylums have certain boundaries (floor, wall, and ceiling) that denote that they work as spaces. The ancient greeks stated that boundary is that from which something begins its presence, having a presence denotes that something exists; hence, it can be conclude that the shelters work as spaces.

Assuming that shelters are spaces, now it can be discussed if these places can be called “homes”. In the other hand there is a concept called heterotopias, according to Teyssot (1997) Foucault establishes some characteristics of heterotopias:

(1) Though they assume a wide variety of forms, heterotopias are a constant feature of all cultures. (2) Over the course of its history, a society may take an existing heterotopia and make it function in a different way. (3) The heterotopia has the power of juxtaposing in a single real place different spaces and locations that are incompatible with each other. (4) Heterotopias are linked to time, entering fully into function when traditional time is breached (as in, for example, the cemetery, where the loss of life and the perception of eternity coincide). (5) One does not usually enter a heterotopia by one’s own will (think of the prison), and, as a visitor by force or permission, one must perform certain gestures only to be still excluded from its true heart. (6) Heterotopias perform the contradictory functions of revealing the illusory quality of all space and compensating for that illusion with a perfect,      meticulous, and well-arranged real space.

The materials used to build these places are not typical materials used for creating houses; the particularity of the materials used is that they are seen as ephemeral matter because paper is not known for its resistance and durability, usually homes are created with “stronger” materials because houses are thought to last for a long time. The shelters’ main purpose is to work as a place to protect people from the environment but the refugees have given the shelter another meaning; the shelter works as a home for them, as a place where they can find peace and faith.

These places will not exist forever; they are temporary places that serve as dwelling for the refugees. They did not decide to live in that shelter; they were forced to inhabit such place because they had lost their real homes. If they rearrange the place and introduce certain details the semiotics behind them will transport the users to the idea that they are at home. In fact, semiotics play quite an important role in this situation because society has embraced an ideology, “Ideology has the social function of maintaining the overall structure of society by introducing men to accept in their consciousness the place and role assigned to them […] (Agres and Gandelsosonas)”  they acquire this ideology by different means and through their whole lives. Architecture is a whole system of signs and by reproducing certain signs an idea will be transferred to the society. In this case semiotics will contribute to create an idea and opinion about the place inhabited, which will derive in the signification that is pretend to give to the asylums.

Human beings had always questioned their existence and their surroundings, people have tried to look for a definition of abstract and complicated concepts such as space, from those concepts many others may derive. The human being is not only concerned in that type of studies, society has other kind of issues, such as dwelling and humanitarian sense. When a society is needy people have done certain activities to help them such as the case of the Rwandan refugees of 1994. Shelters were provided to help them. The shelters for the refugees may not be precisely what is called a home but the people that inhabit them have given the space a different meaning, for these people the place represented that not everything is lost, that they can still believe in hope and in the human race.

With the word “home” many ideas, memories, scents, images come to our heads, each one has experienced their homes in a different way. What all those definitions have in common is that home is more than a place, is a certain friendly atmosphere that contains elements that make you feel comfortable and alludes the feeling of belonging somewhere.

We can only have one home; actually the world can be divided in two:  the home and all the places that are not our home. People can feel homelike in other places that are not theirs, for example the emergency shelters, in such place users can feel cozy there but these will never be what it pretends to be. They are not precisely the user’s homes’ but they work as one, they are what is called an “heterotopia” because these asylums will eventually stop existing, they emerged as an alternative to create dwelling for people that had lost everything, but they will not last long. They serve as something they are not. Even though the asylums are not homes they posses something special  due to the interaction between the inhabitants, the space, the semiotics and the architects’ purpose the shelter has conceived a certain meaning that goes beyond a place to protect people from the environment, Ban has re-signified the consign, he aimed to create a certain atmosphere; Ban’s humanitarian purpose change the place since its conception, as he mentions: “to work for each and every human being is the mission of the living architect (Ban, 2009)”.  He has the strong desire to improve people’s life by creating architecture that comes from the heart.

 

Bibliography

         Nesbitt, Kate. Theorizing a new agenda for architecture: an anthology of architectural theory: 1965-1995. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996.

         Lefebvre, Henri. The production of space. Oxford, OX, UK: Blackwell, 1991. Print.Heterotopias and the History of Spaces- Georges Teyssot

         The ethical Function of architecture- karsten Harries

         http://www.designboom.com/architecture/shigeru-ban-architects-emergency-shelter-partitions-for-japan/

         “Spotlight on Design – Shigeru Ban interview – YouTube.” YouTube. N.p., n.d. 13. Nov. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZZw_v6EQqI&gt;.

         “The emergency architecture of Shigeru Ban – YouTube.” YouTube. 13. Nov. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VykVaOFwok&gt;.

http://sitios.ruv.itesm.mx/portales/crea/identificar/como/formatosAPA.htm

http://www.unap.cl/p4_biblio/docs/Normas_APA.pdf

http://www.spaceandtimeareone.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Lefebvre#The_.28social.29_production_of_space

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spacetime-theories/

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:52t3OLRW5IEJ:https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/1811/4849/1/V62N02_101.pdf+&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiXoZRyEuFmgHlOvCc2668RLcAuGuYvuMw-w3jmnPrZo1PObRQ0K77RvOvcBHyaaljA7zFKXfZIE9iHuZOLyLnjIO-MZhVeul3Bi3hujp7fo9M4Xe3ug4qOKduAj0v1m5LStHCU&sig=AHIEtbQHLDe2JvSRl1Yk1CTogB4TpC9bhQ

Coherencia, forma nueva y vida nueva ¿Cómo deben ser los interiores de una espacio para que exista una correspondencia coherente entre forma y vida?

--Originally published at Identidad digital

A partir de cambios sustanciales en la sociedad, la industria y en general la manera de vivir, durante el modernismo se plantean nuevas teorías y formas de diseñar y percibir la arquitectura. Debido a dicho cambio surge la necesidad de generar diseños, específicamente de interiores y mobiliario de tal manera que respondan y se adapten a la nueva forma de vida.

El arraigado gusto por el academicismo impidió se generaran soluciones adecuadas, que mantuvieran un vínculo entre el diseño interior de la arquitectura y su exterior. Como resultado de esta falta de sensibilidad los diseñadores y la industria no llegan a tener contacto alguno. Esto genera productos carentes de soluciones adecuadas y artistas dedicados al arte por el arte, a una vida ficticia y una estética estéril.

El artesano es sustituido por la máquina. Surge una oportunidad para que arquitectos y diseñadores realicen diseños teniendo en mente el potencial de las máquinas sin menospreciar la relación de éste con la economía y la estética, lo cual, de acuerdo con Lina Bo, exige simplicidad de formas y acabados coherentes. Dicha oportunidad da pauta para generar expresiones artísticas de cierta autenticidad y sin regresiones sentimientales.

Lina Bo abogaba por un cambio en diseño de mobiliario e interiores que vayan de acuerdo con los planteamientos del modernismo, escribiendo en la revista Domus el artículo ‘Disposición de los espacios interiores’ hace notar la incoherencia de introducir detalles con diseños marcados por el academicismo a espacios que poco tienen que ver con planteamientos del viejo mundo cuya filosofía de diseño es completamente distinta a lo que el ser humano de esa nueva época necesita.

A pesar que dicho artículo fue escrito el siglo pasado en la actualidad dicha problemática sigue viva y latente. Muchos insisten en traer al presente reminiscencias que poco responden al clima, la sociedad, el entorno y las necesidades de los seres que vivimos en 2018. Se insite en crear sin ser crítico ni sensible a la realidad.

Los habitantes y diseñadores siguen indiferentes a la realidad de la situación.

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Diseño en México y miedo a equivocarse

--Originally published at Identidad digital

Durante mis cinco años de carrera y desde hace tiempo atrás me sudan las manos y el corazón late más fuerte cuando se trata de expresar una de mis ideas.

El enfrentarme a la crítica me da pavor. Siento como el espacio se llena de juicios. Quisiera no estar presente en el momento de la crítica.

La crítica, la que corta más que una navaja afilada, la que lastima el ego.

Considero que la crítica como tal no es mala pero hay que ser lo suficientemente sensibles para saber cómo y en qué momento expresarla

Con la crítica viene el saber del error. En mi educación mexicana el error es castigado. Las miradas agresivas con un poco de lástima y pena ajena te juzgan generando un sentimiento de culpa por haber cometido el error.

A veces se aprende del error a veces hay que recurrir varias veces a él para entender.

Está bonita la idea de dejar que los jóvenes y los no tan jóvenes puedan equivocarse cuantas veces quieran sin que nada pase ¿pero hasta dónde está bien equivocarse?

Como seres sociales vivimos en comunidades, nuestras acciones repercuten de alguna  otra manera, en un nivel u otro en la vida de la gente que nos rodea.

Como diseñadxres y arquitectxs tenemos responsabilidades con la sociedad, con el mundo. Un error puede afectar el desarrollo de otro humano, su experiencia, sus rituales.

¿Hasta dónde es permisible equivocarse? ¿Cuándo y bajo qué condiciones? ¿bajo qué contexto?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cuando el gel de ducha en crema se termina

--Originally published at Identidad digital

Cuando el gel de ducha en crema está por terminar se escuchan sus gritos de agonía antes de dar el último esfuerzo. Aquel equipo de envase y líquido da todo lo que le queda soltando un grito ahogado que más que grito parece una flatulencia sonora que despide un agradable olor.

Cuando el gel de ducha se termina las lágrimas inundan mis ojos, aquel grito desesperado me transmite la agonía del envase, está a punto de convertirse en un envase de pet vacío, sin propósito en la vida, todo lo que tenía dentro, todo su valor, paulatinamente va disminuyendo hasta que no queda nada, su dolor empieza cuando lo voltean de cabeza para que así sea más sencillo exprimir la vida que le queda dentro. Después de mantener aquella posición durante cierto tiempo lo estrujan por su parte media, le hunden los dedos y lo aprietan para que vomite todo lo que queda de aquel preciado gel, el gel sin ánimos de nada se deja llevar, permite que lo unten en un cuerpo ajeno, el gel al estar en contacto con el agua se va transformando en una sustancia más ligera, se empiezan a crear burbujas, su metamorfosis comienza, aquel bello estado culmina resbalándose por el cuerpo, el cual vierte agua para dejar que la espuma fluya y siga su camino, que baje por el vientre, que pase por las piernas, por los pies hasta terminar en el piso de la regadera donde después, por medio de la gravedad, es llevado hasta la coladera.

Todo esto lo presencia el envase, el cual está de cabeza, lo cual hace que sea una escena aún más grotesca,  el gel de baño que aún queda en su interior se acumula y se precipita para poder salir de él, el envase se da por vencido y deja que el hombre haga lo que quiera con lo que queda de su alma.


El impulso

--Originally published at Identidad digital

He escuchado que, en ocasiones, odiamos comportamientos que tenemos y que vemos en otras personas. No se hasta que punto esto sea cierto. Pero lo que si se es que hay varias cosas que logran molestarme demasiado, es un enfado que no puede describirse fácilmente con palabras.

Opinión siempre tengo sin embargo intento ser cautelosa al momento de expresarme. Pero hoy he visto algo que me indignó bastante y me hace actuar de manera impulsiva: un video de una zarigüeya siendo golpeada, maltratada, masacrada por una muchedumbre en un partido de baseball. Fue tal mi dolor y furia que comencé a llorar. Detesto que haya gente que tenga tan poco respeto por la vida.

El pobre animal nada malo hacía, pero la gente que estaba ahí sí. No se si se dejaron llevar por el momento pero varias personas lanzaban objetos en contra del pobre ser. Al leer que fue  golpeado con un bate hasta su muerte no continué con el video, era demasiado morbo.

He escuchado y leído como el hombre está inclinado hacia el mal y como al pertenecer a una muchedumbre un ser humano es capaz de cometer actos atroces.  Ciertamente no puedo juzgarlos de manera severa, yo no sé que haría en su lugar.

Creo que odio ese tipo de comportamiento porque genuinamente quiero un mundo diferente, con más educación y amor. Sin violencia, intolerancia y demás comportamientos generados por la ignorancia.

Como consejo al mundo opino que deberíamos dejar en paz de una buena vez a los demás seres que habitan nuestro planeta. Preocuparnos y ocuparnos de dejar el planeta en las mejores condiciones para los que viven con nosotros y los seres del futuro. Considero que la educación es clave para que este tipo de cosas no sucedan más. Vivimos tan encerrados en nosotros mismos, en nuestro mundito consumista e indiferente que no nos detenemos a reflexionar sobre el prójimo y sobre lo que estamos haciendo.

Nuestro propósito de vida debería incluir amar a todo el que esté cerca (o lejos), hacer lo mejor para todos, dejar un mundo más feliz, más educado y con más amor.


Day V

--Originally published at Identidad digital

What’s up people,

Today was a bittersweet day for me: it was the last session of our semanai. I was satisfied, tired and sad. I have learned a lot this week. It felt really good to explore topics that have little to do with my everyday life and studies.  Besides I finally started blogging. I really like writing and blogging is an activity that since a few years ago has gotten my attention but I had never tried.

After this week I have decided not only to continue this blog but also creating another where I can write about the “philosophy” (I guess), history and ideas behind the pictures I take and post on Instagram.

A thing I liked about blogging and the “Digital Identity” course is that it has helped me to clear my mind and think about what I have learned during the day. I hope that if people read my blog they can get something from it, fun, a lesson, encouraging words, or whatever they are looking for. Anyways I’m sure I can get lots of good stuff from it. During the curse I have learned to be less scared about sharing a bit of my life on the internet. Besides if I post something that later on I will not like or agree with I can always erase it.

On the other hand the session of today was quite helpful because we learned about expressing one’s self through video. Diego Zavala showed us several websites were stories were told though videos. The one that I liked the most was about a boy and his father, it really touched my heart, I actually wanted to cry but I was too embarrassed to do it.

Ken, if you ever read this, thanks a lot for this week. It has been the best semana I for me so far. From my experience you are a great professor, having you as a full semester teacher must be super dope.

Cheers.


Conclusiones y new perspectives

--Originally published at Digital Identity

Idiomas: Español, English

Consideraría éste último día como dos partes:

  1. Introducción a la creación y edición de videos con Diego Zavala
  2. Conversación con Helen DeWaard y Rebecca Hogue.

La primera parte tenía como objetivo final que lográramos hacer un video de manera individual o en grupo, en mi caso trabajé con mi hermana en un video corto sobre la depresión desde nuestras experiencias, espero poder poner el link pronto, ya que el tiempo destinado a las clase, al intentar empezar de cero, nos tomó más tiempo del esperado. Diego nos mostró un video, de una de las plataformas que recomendó como recurso, que me pareció una excelente idea, muy creativa y que logró resonar conmigo particularmente por el tema y contexto del mundo y Estados Unidos.

Since I’ve posted two days in Spanish and two in English I thought it was adequate to write the last post in both languages.

The conversation we held with our guests consisted on what we share and why we share it. They had interesting perspectives on cyber bullying and complemented the ideas previous guests had stated. Fortunately for me they kept inspiring and pushing us to keep writing.

Before this course I had started a blog, hoping to be read but at the same time hoping not to. I’ve always been private and I tend not to share my feelings and thoughts on certain topics, so I was having a tough time fighting against myself and again, since I wouldn’t tell anyone about my blog there was no one encouraging me to continue blogging, and finally as a happy coincidence I ended up in this course.

I’m deeply thankful to all the guests and the teacher for helping me overcome certain fears I had before the course and even some insecurities, although I’m still hoping no one I know in real life reads my personal blog. Thank you for your time, insights and encouraging words. Sorry for not participating as much as you deserved, would hope or I wanted to, I’m shy.

I’ll keep blogging somewhere else.


Context and struggles

--Originally published at Digital Identity

Warning: This post, like its predecessors, contains little to none information, it serves as a compilation of my opinions and understanding of topics discussed during the course.

Is context really necessary? How important is it?

Earlier this week we had started a conversation about the importance of context, today Ken showed us an image regarding misinterpretation, the image had a group of people looking at their cellphones implying that instead of hanging out with people next to them they rather ignore them, the next part shows the conversations they’re having through their cellphones; we also watched a video of a group of girls taking selfies during a baseball game, the narrators were making fun of them, since the video became viral the girls were invited to the Ellen Show and got the chance to explain their side of the story, admitting they were all part of a sorority that uses the baseball game to get to know each other and they actively help an association, and used the fame that came with that video to help even more. While I had watched the first (and viral) video before, I was angry (again) at the narrators because at the beginning the explicitly ask for people to send their photos and when this group of girls do they became the target of their jokes.

I personally think that our generation is criticized for said behaviors far more often than older generations and the criticism comes from them particularly. Reading about this some time ago, I agreed with the writer that stated that the generations that came before cellphones, internet and such useful resources, probably faced a similar battle with their predecessors in regards of phones, tv, electric light, and others, and they are repeating the same mistake: assuming the new generation is being handed everything without a struggle.

Now, it is true technology keeps making life easier than before, but as stated by Uncle Ben: with great power comes great responsibility. So most likely our parents didn’t have google to help them with their homework or investigations and we do, but we are confronted with the idea that since there is a lot of information easily accesible, we need to make an excellent use of it, so we need to dive into the immensity of the internet, read a bunch of information, discern valid from made up, find the most recent studies regarding the topic, recollect it from various sites and sources, to finally put it all together in a flawless summary of no more than a certain amount of pages. Again a nice group of skills to learn and put to good use, but when are these kids or young adults going to go out and socialize after the amount of time invested, so now we are all day staring at our screens doing nothing instead of living real life.

Finally and privately discussing more on Maha‘s views on censorship, I share her opinion that censoring a certain term that is obviously intended to insult another person in regards of their race, preference, or religion to cite a few, but not others is certainly a form of discrimination. With this I don’t mean that for example black people in the US have achieved their desired point of equality, rather they have been oppressed the longest and are beginning to receive part of the respect they evidently deserve (although the US is still far far away from erradicating racism towards black people). So reflecting on that particular situation and considering the time latinos and other minority groups have been migrating and establishing in the US, at this rate, I would have to wait more than my expected lifespan before seeing changes; and don’t get me started on censorship and gender equality because that rant may never end.

 

 


Day 10 (binaryzin’ since ’96 biatch)

--Originally published at Digital Identity

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Update: A little late on my post, I wrote it yesterday but didn’t publish it ’cause I wanted to polish it later, and I completely forgot. Sorry mom.

So today was day two. Yes, today I’m writing in english ’cause I want to and I can. First activity of the day was a photo safari. I’m not really that creative but I tried my best (sorry for the spanish on the cutouts, I wasn’t able to get my hands on an english magazine):

Click to view slideshow.

I was gonna explain every pic, but I gave it a thought and I prefer that you give each of them a meaning (you’re more than  invited to say what you think in the comments section).

Then, we had two guest speakers, Laura and Lee. I did like both of them, and that part when they talked about how all of us wear different hats everyday really caught on to me. I even change who I am online based on the social network I’m visiting. For instance, when I’m on Facebook I’m the guy who sends everyone the reminder that our project is due tomorrow, when I’m on Twitter I try to follow the news and post sarcastic comments about stuff that I find and my Tumblr is a window to my emotional state throughout the day.

Then we had some time to work on our blogs which I totally wasted by being on Facebook. Ups. I made a meme for Ken and he didn’t even see it:/. After that we connected with Alan and Amy. It was nice to have a pair of people who are good friends, ’cause they are more comfortable with each other. I made a question (yei!). So consistency is a good tip for blogging. Should have that in mind.

Words are not coming to my head anymore. Sorry guys, see ya tomorrow. Drive safe.