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SOUPED-UPNN-PLUGGED
T o soup-up, or "augment in power," or conversely, to un-
plug, or "disconnect," begs the question, ... from what? T o
consider the architectural qualities of this dualism requires
that we examine these terms spatially. So, how does one soup-
up or uti-plug, space?
In the simplest of metaphors, electrical power can be
understood as a spatial network. The complex grid of power
lines, generators, and consuming appliances can be either
souped-up by the contributions of local power producers at
different locations in space, or we can literally un-plug
ourselves from the power network. The sociologist/philoso-
pher Bruno Latour has argued that developments in science
and technology can best be understood in terms of such
" n e t w o r k ~ . " ~ Ware
e accustomed to using the term "network"
to describe the sets of interrelated human interests that domi-
nate business and institutional practices. Latour, however,
Fig. 3. Section, Commerzbank by Sir Norman Foster and Assoc.; uses the term to describe not only the hierarchy of power
Frankfurt, Germany. relations, but the spatial relation between humans and those
86TH ACSA ANNUAL MEETING AND TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE 25
Pbn
world exposition pavilions is, of course, to demonstrate the understood not as an "antinomy," or an unresolvable conflict,
technological prowess of the exhibiting country. The man- but as a "dialectic," or an ideological opposition that is
date for technological transparency is thus programmatic. In resolvable at a higher plane of truth. Contemporary Critical
this case, however, Grimshaw has exuberantly and artfully Theorists, however, would argue that while dialectic relations
demonstrated the technological means by which Brits would are not really resolvable in the Hegelian sense of "synthesis,"
keep themselves cool in a climate as demanding as Sevilla. they do furnish the creative energy that informs the changing
Each of the five exposed surfaces of the building employ a material conditions of history. In conclusion I will suggest
different technique to mediate ambient conditions on behalf that the three dualisms considered here are best understood as
of the building's inhabitants. The east "water wall" mediates dialectics rather than as static oppositions. Implicit in this
direct insolation at the entry by evaporative cooling. The west recommendation is the argument that these three dialects
wall mediates nocturnal temperature swings by employing have no particular claim to truth. Rather, they are convenient
water-filled shipping containers as thermal mass. The south heuristic devices that are helpful in theorizing how language
wall prevents direct solar gain by shadowing the building constructs contribute to the social construction of sustainable
envelope with horizontally mounted fabric "flies." The north technologies. Other relevant dialectics not considered here
wall operates similarly, but stretches the fabric vertically to include the opposition that Kenneth Frampton observes be-
intercept the low angled insolation that strikes the north wall tween the "tectonic" and the "stere~tomic,"'~or the tension
early and late in the day. The roof provides both shade and between "critical" and "sustainable places" noted above.
electrical energy by mounting photovoltaic arrays on aramada- There are many more. However, on the basis of the three
like canopy. dualisms examined here, we can at least hypothesize that,
Although the variety of environmental techniques em- physical and biological processes are a foundation for sus-
ployed by Grimshaw may verge on the carnivalesque, each tainable design. Design, however, is not limited to the ma-
technique is detailed in such a way as to render its visual nipulation of material systems, because all technologies are
appearance to be congruent with its ecological operation. In spatial networks that relate social conditions to natural condi-
this case, technology is transparent, and thus instructive of tions. And finally, one's ability to understand and critique
local ecological conditions. The building instructs users about social/environmental networks is directly related to their
where they are. I would also argue that the techniques of transparency.
prefabrication and transport which allowed this pavilion to be
fabricated in Britain and subsequently erected in Spain are NOTES
instructive of the global economic conditions that stimulated ' Colin Davies, High Tech Architecture (New York: Rizzoli,
its construction. Unlike the Lucky Star Tower by SOM, the 1988), p. 6.
Seville Pavilion permits an interpretation that relates natural * Ibid., p. 6.
and social conditions. Ibid., p.14.
Ibid., p. 12.
Ibid., p. 9.
CONCLUSION See Tom Peters, "AThe Repercussions of Estrangement: Archi-
Each of the dualisms investigated in this paper share a central tecture and Engineering in the 19th Century," in Design Book
~ e v i e w28(spr& 1993): 25-29. Peters effectively argues that in
assumption yet are opposed on other grounds. These assump- the historic separationof architecture andengineering, architects
tions and oppositions are summarized in Table 1: became the makers of aesthetic objects and engineers became the
makers of processes. The contribution of high tech architects is
Table 1: Shared assumptions and oppositions contained in compet- to recoup the concept of the building as a process rather an as
Dualism Shared oppositions Shared assumptlonr
object.
Hal Foster, "Neo-Futurism: Architecture and Technology," in
High Tech1 N a v e optrmism: techno~lenca1s
neutral and value-free
AA Files,No. 14(Spring 1987),p. 27. Seealso; RobThayer, Gray
Physical and bolwlcsl Procener World, Green Heart(New York: Wiley, 1994). Thayer develops
are the foundation of design
Low Tech Romantic pssimism' tschnosaencs I$ a postmodern dialectic that opposes "technophilia" (our love of
the source of vnmtended conrquences
technology), with "technophobia" (our learned distrust of tech-
Souped-up1 Aerthehc aulonomy'
The ae-,thebFiza60n of the archltedural
nology).
o b p d max~mizasconcaaled economic
Technoiwies ara spatlal networks
For example, see Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning
interests by minimlz~ngthe oouai and
acalmical contsnt of woduchon, that relate human m t c r e h and Technology, translated and with an introduction by William
nonhuman resource8
Un.plupged Pol~ticalautonomy:
Lovitt (New York: Harper & Row, 1977),and Albert Borgmann,
The localizabonof srch~tedural
proc-s maxlmlzer sonal and
Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life (Chicago:
e ~ o l w i c awsll-bslng
l The University of Chicago Press, 1984).
Opaquel Undetecdbllty: Bruno Latour, Science in Action (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
Technolqlcai opaclty is the
mamodem Ze~toest.
? - ~
Ones ablity to undsmtand and University Press, 1987), pp. 180, 201.
cnbque ecoIw1cal and power l o RobertL.Thayer,"The Bioregional Hypothesis: New Directions
relahons IS directly relatd to the
Tr*n=Par=nt
Detedhlity: vlwblllty of tho- relations. for Landscape Planning, Education, and Stewardship," in Land-
Technolwlai transparency IS the test
of a dernicratlc iandscape scape Journal (forthcoming),p. 51 of manuscript, private collec-
tion, Steven A. Moore.
" Deyan Sudjic, The Architecture of Richard Rogers (New York:
ing dualisms.
Abrams, 1994), p. 146.
Within the Hegelian philosophical tradition, a dualism is
861" ACSA ANNUAL MEETING AND TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE
l2 I have developed the distinction between "critical" and "sustain- Politics of Sustainability at Blueprint Demonstration Farm," in
able" places elsewhere. Although "critical places" are always The Journal ofArchitectura1 Education, Vol. 5 1, No. 1 (Septem-
historically helpful in that they instruct us as to how things might ber 1997), p. 2331.
be, they absent themselves from the fraught political processes Thayer, Gray World Green Heart, pp. 140, 159,321.
that form sustaining cultural institutions. See my doctoral disser- l 7 Raul A. Barreneche, "Wiring Buildings for the Future," in
tation, Critical and Sustainable Regions in Architecture: the Architecture, Vol. 84, No. 4 (April 1995), pp. 123-129.
Case of Blueprint Den~onstration Farm (Ph.D. dissertation, '"ee, Rowan Moore, edit., Structure, Space and Skin: The Work
Texas A&M University, 1996), p. 213. of Nicholas G r i m h a w and Partners (London: Phaidon, 1993).
'I William J. Mitchell, Cify of Bits: Space, Place, and the lnfobahn " Kenneth Frampton, "Rappel a I'Ordre: The Case for the Tec-
(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996), pp. 46, 103. tonic," in Constancy and Change, Malcolm Quantrill, ed. (Col-
I4 Ibid., p. 105. lege Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 199 I), pp. 3-22.
l5 I discuss this issue at greater length in, "Technology and the