P1.2 08/02/13_15/02/13

P1.2 Who? What? Why? / constructing_fiction

Metaphorical nomadism and post-urban society

„The permanent discrepancy that exists between our society, which is in perpetual movement, and the professional – indeed, institutional – architecture, that is to be found everywhere.

(...)The subsequent generation has been viewed since the Eighties in terms of the concept of the urban nomad who, according to work requirements, quickly moves his domicile to the vicinity of the place of work.

 

(...)Without going into details, let us note that Japanese consumer society goes much further than Europeans imagine: cities and urban life have undergone extraordinary upheavals in Japan. Although everyone has the impression of sharing the same sort of happiness, there is growing inequality within the different social categories. (...)Japanese society goes beyond the consumer society; it has become the first post-consumer society.

 

(...)'Nomad' is nothing other than a metaphor to describe the way of life of the inhabitants of a metropolis.

(...)Toyo Ito has radically changed the tradtional idea of architecture as something static and lasting. If he were asked to define the difference between architecture and fashion, he would reply that the difference is minimal.

(...)A pao can be easily folded and transported; it is therefore highly suitable for the life of the nomad. I intend to invest the word 'pao' with the connotations of a primitive house which can wrap around the inhabitant like an oversized coat; it is a sort of transportable residence.

(...) Architecture becomes mobile like fashion design. (...)If we take Toyo ito's metaphor to the extreme, architecture is reduced to something that covers the human body as comfortably as clothes.(...) He is also interested in fashion and the 'pop' world. 'Pop' is, moreover, the word he uses to describe urban life and life itself.“

(...)The metaphor of the 'nomad', which is the fruit of his observation of city life, is the result of his own imagination.

(...)The city is split up, is fluid, dynamic, and within such a context the house has lost its symbolical meaning. (...)In Tokyo, the inhabitants do not want to stay put; they are forever on the move.

(...)The residents of Tokyo can, I believe, be compared to nomads wandering in artificial forests.(...) No one stays at home during the day.

(...)If you life alone, your house is just the space where you sleep. (...)Even if it is only a place for sleeping, there should be a bed, a table, a chair, a minimum of comfort, as it is a place of rest.

(..)Of the three pieces of furniture installed one is for gathering information. The nomad woman must know what is going on, and where. (…) The second is a dressing-table, where she can make up and get ready to go out. (…) The last piece is a table, where she can sit down and sip a cup of coffee when she comes home for a short break.

(...)A city is the result of a concentration of populations; but today the city centre is almost deserted by its inhabitants. This centre now functions like an economical-political-cultural machine, producing information. The city has become a sea of signs, without any shape or limits.

(...)In the ephemeral urban space, (…) meaningless symbols are accummulated in expectation of pleasure; but can we not do anything other than reproduce these symbols as attempts at architecture, and play like a nomad with these meaningless symbols?“

                            
 source: Toyo Ito - Architecture of the ephemeral, Sophie Roulet and Sophie Soulet

„The nomad girl does not act or pressure the environment, but rather is prepared to be the object herself of the actions and offers proposed by consumerism.“ Inaki Abalos and Juan Herreros