Today I began my approach to the
brief 'Structural Attachment'
I began brainstorming the concepts
with peers with the aim to write down all our thoughts in a mind-map. The brief
immediately spanned a wide range of areas from the obvious (architecture) to the
less expected (Irish poetry).
 |
| Group mind-map |
As a group, when analysing the word 'structure' we first focused on hierarchy, the role of structure between gender and between classes in the class system. I see society as a concrete example of how a structure works in a non-physical respect. The difference in behaviour and treatment of man vs. woman, namely that woman are treated as inferiors, becomes the upholding of a structure or expectation society has set us. Only by breaking this structural expectancy do we achieve a more fluid and, in my opinion, positive civilisation. I then discussed the glass ceiling in business and industry for woman and how the male-set structure of the workplace restricts the prospects of ambitious females. A peer introduced that these societal structures are not exclusively broad, general concepts and that they touch the individual- such as within interpersonal relationships like matrimony, where the man often assumes the superior role, fulfilling the familial structure created by western patrimony.
Is structure positive or negative?
We moved to look at the idea of structure as a positive vs. a negative concept. We inevitably discussed the recent referendum and what structure means to different generations; the youth of today perhaps being more inclined towards a break of structure, liquidity and freedom, perhaps even anarchy. Discussing the older generation and their inclination towards tradition and sensibility was interesting. I began to realise that my personal response to the idea of ‘structure’ is a negative one. My initial idea is that I dislike structure and am all for freedom of movement, lack of restriction and the elimination of boundaries.
'Attachments’ initial response
Having heavily dissected the word ‘structure’ we moved to the word ‘attachment’. Initial responses included physical attachments such as paper clips and elastic bands as well as human attachments like children, emotional connection and dependency. I had not thought of people as attachments until a peer introduced the notion- the idea that a parent or guardian has a responsibility to their dependants/their attachments.
Attaching oneself to a group of
people
I thought too of attachment to a group, belief or school of thought, namely religion. We discussed, though under the umbrella of ‘attachment’, that the structure of religion can often distract from the reasons people have attached themselves to a specific religion. The structure of establishmentarian religion is, in my view, a negative thing. When exploring Catholicism I disputed the legitimacy of placing a man on a throne (the pope) to essentially dictate rules on behaviour and acceptability to those wishing to do good in this world. When religion becomes structured, it too becomes masculine, exclusive and encouraging of judgment, constraint and limitation. A peer said, “in order to be faithful and good you do not need the structure of establishmentarian religion”.
Union and camaraderie
A person does not only attach themselves to a religion but also groups, clubs and other gatherings of like-minded people. We humans attach ourselves to a political party, a football club or a community. I suggested that the things we attach ourselves too are often structures themselves and that the brief has already encouraged a holistic approach, where ‘structural’ and ‘attachment’ can no longer be seen as mutually exclusive and should indeed cross over. Later in the library (see further down) I found the quotation ‘our actions, habits, rules, rituals, daily routines, taboos, codes of honour, sports and traditions declare patterns’ and I believe these patterns or structures are attractive to humans, as they give stability and security.
Personal response- reaction to the
words
Having worked as a group, sharing our thoughts, I then created my own mind-map. I focussed firstly on the question ‘How does structure make someone feel?’ My answers included; secure, safe, traditional, routine, sensible, anarchic, angry, restricted and imprisoned.
 |
| Personal mind-map |
Tradition vs. anarchy
I explored generational divides- that the older generation is more inclined towards structure, be it militaristic rankings and modesty of consumption (no doubt a result of the war effort and rationing) or smart attire, class systems and conservatism. Liberation equates, to me, to the breaking away from a structure; for women it is from the structure of patriarchal society, for homosexuals from established expectations concerning masculinity, for adherers to the left wing from archaic systems that counter social-mobility etc. It seems that for those at the top of any system or ranking, the structure is positive, yet for those lower down, the case is the opposite.
A world with no structure
I asked myself then, having maintained my largely negative approach towards the concept of ‘structure’, ‘what would the world look like without structure?’ I thought of anarchy, hell, pandemonium and fear. I saw that sometimes structure really does keep us safe. The structure of the judicial system asserts authority and ensures punishment and consequence for crime- a structured scale even determines the severity of punishment according to the seriousness of the offence. I thought of research I conducted for a previous dystopian themed project that was the book and film ‘A Clockwork Orange’. In Anthony Burgess’ bleak and violent society, a society where the structures and systems we in British society are familiar with have disappeared, chaos ensues with gang violence and abusive youth. Increasingly it became apparent to me that a society without some form of structure is a negative one.
Buildings vs. nature
To move on from human-made structures I drew another umbrella for architecture, a response to this brief I feel initially to be too obvious. I thought of construction and deconstruction, form and line, hard and soft, natural and man- made. These opposites create contrasts, contrasts many the architect wishes to explore and exploit within their work. I then wrote, “A building is structured. A building is not natural. Is the structure a restriction? A distraction?” Here I was concluding that nature had no structure and that by constructing, we humans deter interest from more fluid and open forms such a nature and the animal kingdom. We humans separate ourselves from all other species through our structures (societies, houses, systems).
The structure of nature
I then subverted my whole mentality realising Mother Nature is one of the most succinct structures of all. The complex interaction between food chains, which form a web, that form an eco-system, is a type of structure. Referring back to the question ‘are structures positive or negative?’ I concluded that when discussing nature, they certainly are. When one single species is removed from its food chain the rest of the ecosystem suffers profoundly. It becomes obvious that nature is a well-oiled clockwork system, working in regimented and balanced patterns, which if disrupted, ensues chaos. We humans are this disruption- without us a high percentage of endangered species would remain in abundance.
The science of natural structures
Further exploring ‘the structure of nature’, I thought of something I read years ago about ‘Mandelbrot sequences’ and ‘Fractals’. From my memory I understood that nature has highly complex and exact sequential structures, which are the same at any scale, to which various forms follow- such as the idea that a beach shell, river network or algae has the same fractal information as frost crystals, the rings of the planet Saturn and human proteins. I made a note to further research this complex mathematical sub-topic.
The structure of literature
Before moving exclusively on to the word ‘attachment’ I concluded with focus upon structure within literature. As a student of English literature I appreciate how important structure can be within an essay, text, novel and especially a poem. Without structure a text might be seen as messy, unorganised or difficult to follow. Structure is here viewed as a positive thing with organisational merit. Structure in poetry can be used to convey the mood or emotion of the subject. For example in W. B Yeats’ poem ‘Second Coming’ the lack of structure and rhythm portrays the confusion, perplexity and incomprehension of the moment Jesus has supposed to have returned to earth. Here structure is used in detailed and intellectual manner to approach a moment in time. ‘Ottava Rima’ is a stanza of eight lines with three rhymes, the first six lines rhyming alternately and the last two forming a couplet. This strict structure is synonymous with heroic verse. The structure alone equates, for scholars, to profound importance, regiment, something regal and weighty. Again it seems structure can tell us something about the significance or status of an idea or philosophy. I thought too of Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Scaffolding’ that’s structure has multiple meaning. Initially it resembles scaffolding (long thing lines of text) but also details marriage and partnership- how each member of a relationship supports one another like scaffolding.
The structure of language-
communication
Analysis of poetry led to me to realise language itself is a structure. The structure of a sentence enables us to understand one another. Without this instantly distinguishable language we could not communicate or empathise with one another. We would become more bestial as a species/ more animalistic.
Removable attachments
Now ensuring I did not neglect the second, equally important word in our brief ‘attachment’, I developed upon the ides of family introduced by a peer. The idea of as child as an ‘attachment’ seems sad to me? Yet I understand that a child can be a restrictive part of an individual’s life. I thought too of emotional attachment, love and how this can be both positive, when requited and negative, when not. I asked ‘can the attachment be removed?’ It seemed to me that if this was the case then the concept was more positive yet that if the attachment were permanent, for many, it would become negative, intrusive and unwanted (a scar, a carbuncle, a wart). I concluded this was because an irremovable attachment becomes a nuisance- something restrictive. This notion of permanence and removability is something I may want to explore further.
Objects
Having explored concepts grounded largely around abstract notions I wanted to add to my mind-map the names of actual physical objects that relate to the word attach. I listed ‘paper clips, eyelets, elastic bands, glue, press studs, staples, keys, ties, Velcro, hooks, emails’. This conjured visual imagery of everyday pieces I can use as materials and may have potential beyond the ordinary.
The modern age- connection
‘Attachment’ to me is also synonymous to the word ‘connection’. We in the modern age constantly and relentlessly ‘attach’ ourselves to everyone else we know and indeed everyone we don’t know too. Social media has created a platform where most people can connect to one another with the click of button. Those not on this platform are seen as luddites, old fashioned and unconnected- essentially detached from the rest of society. Yet I believe this detachment could be viewed as refuge. The bombardment of connectivity and interactivity we face each day can desensitise from reality. Because we immediately witness world tragedies on video, we begin to view such events impersonally and thus in a less empathetic manner. In this sense our ‘attachment’ is negative because we no longer connect truly with real issues for they have become faceless banality.
Final words
To finish my mind-map exploration of the title ‘Structural Attachment’ I wrote a list of verbs; join, layer, knot, bond, stick, clasp, hook. These are some of the things I may be doing throughout my exploratory and research process.
Library- reading and sketching from
books
Having completed a mind map I visited the library to focus on the ‘nature’ subsection of my mind map. The structure of nature interested me because it was something I initially dismissed as having no structure, when comparing it to the more obvious rigid structures of man-made buildings. I sketched natural forms, with immense structural merit, from images in various nature related books. This included agave papyri, wild grape vine, lichen, salt flats, dried mud and bubbles. The pattern and structure formed by nature is so visually inspiring to me.
 |
| Nature- library sketches |
Beyond the human eye
Thinking too of the research I intend to do on ‘fractals’ and ‘Mandelbrots’ I found a book concerning nature beyond the human eye. I find the structures formed by nature, only visible by microscope, absolutely fascinating. Some blood vessels look like caverns, some elements look like mountains. I sketched an image of both graphite and the human eye under microscope and found the form and structure inspiring- perhaps for silhouettes later in the design process.
I admired the quotation “nature, in
its elegance and economy repeats certain forms” Pat Murphy
Building tour sketch session
To further explore the brief I toured the Ravensbourne building to sketch and photograph anything I deemed informative for the brief. This included a curving pipe (a cylindrical structure attached to the ceiling and wall), the exterior panels of one of the circular windows and the mesh-style chrome fencing on the mezzanine level balcony.
I later sketched the inside joining
of one of the collapsible tables as well as the wires and towers of the 02
arena.
 |
| Photograph Author's own |
In the evening I discussed the brief
with my father. His response, as a lawyer, was to think of crime scenes where
information is left in form of the structure of DNA. The spiralling helixes
have profound visual excellence but also are attached to an identity. The idea
of the correlation between a specific structure and an individual interests me
and is something I may explore.
Evaluation of day one
I believe my initial thoughts on the
brief are extensive, but do wish to further analyse the word ‘attachment’
ensuring I do not neglect it for ‘structure’ related pathways. I intend to
research ‘fractals’ in my local library and also to sketch more forms and
objects that I believe inform the brief.
No comments:
Post a Comment