The Inversion of Scales
The Inversion Principal was really studied in depth by John Pickering (a nice small book is published by the AA on his work). The idea of using The Inverted City as a 5th ecology for Los Angeles, sited in the San Fernando Valley is bringing up so many intriguing questions I'm in a struggle to figure out what is useful and what is not.
I'm currently looking at three different scales to describe what the Inverted City is and what is it solving. I have to admit though, some guidance from anybody would be greatly appreciated!!!
The 'Four Ecologies' of Los Angeles as described by Rayner Banham, might be intriguing in the sense that they describe how a society functions of today through the architecture and city planning. There are no confines imposed on a society by an architecture that is no longer suitable. However, Los Angeles is now becoming a relic of its own past. It is imposing an architecture that will no longer be fit for a future society that we seek. This is where the 5th Ecology; the Inverted City comes to play.
City Inversion
The one square mile site at the head of the Los Angeles River is an inversion of the urban sprawl of the San Fernando Valley. Here, all programme and infrastructure is reverted inwards to a dense centre. The rural habitat in-gulfs the core of the city. Scale diminishes the further to the centre you go. City blocks become housing plots. Housing plots become dinner plates. The scale of these 'blocks' also dictates the programme. The importance here, is that growth is directed inwards. It's a self contained city with a clear boundary.
The line drawing below begins to illustrate this hopefully. I'm still thinking how to convert this into a 3Dimensional uber dense city, but one step at a time...
Block & Plot Inversion
At the smaller scale of a single Los Angeles Plot, another inversion will take place. The private interior of the house and plot will be inverted outwards, in essence revealing the contents to the public. Being outside this inversion, you'll see the private insides on display to the public outside. The outside will therefore become the inside. This shift will become fundamental in inverting the city at all scale. The image below was created by Daniel Piker and gives the idea of what I'm describing.
As a block, by moving these dense inverted plots together, the inners begin to face each other turning the city into something similar to Moroccan Souks. This inversion allows for the city itself to become a forum. The Inverted City.
I'm also quite keen to see how far through the scales and meaning I can take the inversion principal. For TS, I'd imagine it'll make a nice thesis, but beyond too. The principal is based on the use of imaginary numbers. Which I'm hoping to use to create an imaginary world (fictional world) where everything is inverted. The opposite of life as we know it. A parallel city running in opposite to the real city. This is why I'm getting stuck - mind boggling stuff. What I do want to do is to complete a set of three drawings for Friday, showing the three different scales I describe above?? Ahhh!
I'm currently looking at three different scales to describe what the Inverted City is and what is it solving. I have to admit though, some guidance from anybody would be greatly appreciated!!!
The 'Four Ecologies' of Los Angeles as described by Rayner Banham, might be intriguing in the sense that they describe how a society functions of today through the architecture and city planning. There are no confines imposed on a society by an architecture that is no longer suitable. However, Los Angeles is now becoming a relic of its own past. It is imposing an architecture that will no longer be fit for a future society that we seek. This is where the 5th Ecology; the Inverted City comes to play.
City Inversion
The one square mile site at the head of the Los Angeles River is an inversion of the urban sprawl of the San Fernando Valley. Here, all programme and infrastructure is reverted inwards to a dense centre. The rural habitat in-gulfs the core of the city. Scale diminishes the further to the centre you go. City blocks become housing plots. Housing plots become dinner plates. The scale of these 'blocks' also dictates the programme. The importance here, is that growth is directed inwards. It's a self contained city with a clear boundary.
The line drawing below begins to illustrate this hopefully. I'm still thinking how to convert this into a 3Dimensional uber dense city, but one step at a time...
Block & Plot Inversion
At the smaller scale of a single Los Angeles Plot, another inversion will take place. The private interior of the house and plot will be inverted outwards, in essence revealing the contents to the public. Being outside this inversion, you'll see the private insides on display to the public outside. The outside will therefore become the inside. This shift will become fundamental in inverting the city at all scale. The image below was created by Daniel Piker and gives the idea of what I'm describing.
As a block, by moving these dense inverted plots together, the inners begin to face each other turning the city into something similar to Moroccan Souks. This inversion allows for the city itself to become a forum. The Inverted City.
I'm also quite keen to see how far through the scales and meaning I can take the inversion principal. For TS, I'd imagine it'll make a nice thesis, but beyond too. The principal is based on the use of imaginary numbers. Which I'm hoping to use to create an imaginary world (fictional world) where everything is inverted. The opposite of life as we know it. A parallel city running in opposite to the real city. This is why I'm getting stuck - mind boggling stuff. What I do want to do is to complete a set of three drawings for Friday, showing the three different scales I describe above?? Ahhh!
cool stuff! I remember at the beginning of the re-brief I was thinking on the relationships int-ext and the idea of flipping buildings inside-out and somehow the bonaventure hotel seemed to fit as it brings a public space into the building and the inhabitable is in the borderline. isn't a glass facade showing everything that is inside? but is too boring...