{"id":6155,"date":"2017-09-27T10:01:58","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T09:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/architecture\/?page_id=6155"},"modified":"2017-09-27T10:01:58","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T09:01:58","slug":"march-unit-17-taprobana-harry-bucknall-melissa-clinch-yannis-halkiopoulos","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/architecture\/march-unit-17-taprobana-harry-bucknall-melissa-clinch-yannis-halkiopoulos\/","title":{"rendered":"MArch Unit 17 :: TAPROBANA :: HARRY BUCKNALL MELISSA \/ CLINCH YANNIS \/ HALKIOPOULOS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nArthur C Clarke\u2019s 1979 novel, The Fountains of Paradise, describes the construction of a colossal orbital
\ntower situated at the summit of a remote, sacred mountain on the semifictional, equatorial island of
\nTaprobane [1] . The tower, a sort of \u2018space elevator\u2019 is capable of transporting payloads of both passengers
\nand cargo to and from its geostationary anchor at 36,000km above sea level, using a relatively small
\namount of energy. Providing a platform for both rocketless\u00a0access to space and asteroid mineral
\nharvesting, the tether is presented a viable solution to a prediction of a crisis in world resources.<\/p>\n

The tectonics of Clarke\u2019s vision, will not be the focus of the unit\u2019s interests but will however, be present\u037e
\nfacilitating projects dedicated to the rapid urbanisation that might result from it. In this sense the tower will
\nplay t he role of what Robin Evans might describe as an agent of \u2018 synthetic interference[2]\u2019\u037e limiting some of
\nthe current available activities but offering a range of new ones entirely different in character. We will be
\nexploring the implications of intertwining a radical new infrastructure within a remote landscape rich in
\nmythical heritage and cultural significance and enjoying t he curious hybridities and \u2018 free spaces[3]\u2019 t hat are
\nlikely to result.<\/p>\n

\u2018A deeper level of construction fuses the new and the old, reconciling, coalescing them, without compromising either one in the name of contextual or other form of unity. The scar is a mark of pride, both for what has been lost and what\u00a0has been gained. It cannot be erased, except by the most cosmetic means. It cannot be elevated beyond what it is, a\u00a0mutant tissue, the precursor of unpredictable regenerations.\u2019 Lebbeus Woods, War and Architecture, 1993<\/em><\/p>\n

The site for the year will be the area surrounding Sigiriya, near Dambulla in the Matale District (central
\nprovince) of Sri Lanka. Incoming students will elect to work in groups or individually to design urban
\nproposals for a new city centered at\u00a0least economically on\u00a0Clarke\u2019s elevator. Historical evaluation of the
\nimpact of colonial infrastructure to the islands industries along with equivalent rapid urbanisation events
\nsuch as the goldrush expansion of San Francisco will serve to structure the decision making. Students
\nwill develop and evaluate urban proposals against key examples of visionary cities and individual building
\nprojects will emerge through the identification of critical typologies. A field trip to Sri Lanka taking place in
\nJanuary will provide an opportunity to gather research and carry out surveys using a range of digital
\ntechniques.<\/p>\n

Through the course of discussions U17 will be continuing its focus on digital semiotics. We are interested
\nin digital working methods and their capacity for processing and communicating the \u2018unseen\u2019 in architecture. Students will engage in digital design and making techniques to develop means of representation relevant to the discourse.<\/p>\n

Y2 Students will develop the themes set out in Y1 to establish suitable individual briefs for their thesis
\nprojects. Throughout the year the unit will be supported by architects\/ designers at Wilkinson Eyre and
\nPiercy & Company and engineers from Robert Bird and Price & Myers. Students will be encouraged to
\ntake advantage of the advanced fabrication facilities at Grymsdyke Farm and intensive working trips will
\nbe available to U17 students over the course of the year.<\/p>\n

__<\/p>\n

1 The name of an island depicted in Ptolemy\u2019s map 0f 1535. It is unclear whether the map describes Sri Lank a or Sumatra
\n2 Para Robin Evans Towards Anarchitecture, AA 1997
\n3 Para Lebbeus Woods, War and Architecture, Pamphlet Architecture 15, 1993<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arthur C Clarke\u2019s 1979 novel, The Fountains of Paradise, describes the construction of a colossal orbital tower situated at the summit of a remote, sacred mountain on the semifictional, equatorial island of Taprobane [1] . The tower, a sort of \u2018space elevator\u2019 is capable of transporting payloads of both passengers and cargo to and from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6155","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}