The Range of Fear - Marten Kuilman (June 2017) (as finished)
Quadralectic Architecture - Marten Kuilman (2011).
quadralectics.wordpress.com/4-representation/4-2-function...
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Nan ELLIN (1997) wrote a book and several articles on the relation of fear and city building. She stated that fear has never been absent from the human experience and that protection from invaders might be the principal incentive for building cities. Ellin noted that the city-as-a-save-place has recently become associated with danger and a lack of safety. This trend started, in her opinion, in the year of the French Revolution (1789) and the conception of the panopticum by Jeremy Bentham.
The nature of fear changed in the early twentieth century when a modern type of industrial city developed, with an emphasis on time management. The city became a machine itself, reflecting a mechanical efficiency in its division of functions (zone regulations). Mass produced houses were the backbone of the new city development. Ellin pointed out that the acceleration in the rate of change and the decline of the public space were the main reason for an increased sense of insecurity.
Three different type of response were pinpointed: retribalization (a search for ‘roots’), nostalgia and escapism. The retirement communities are a form of separatism, just like the ‘gated communities’ (of which there are some twenty thousand in the United States alone). Security is a big issue here, materialized in high fences and sophisticated security equipment, with the ‘safe room’ as the ultimate place of security. The nostalgic response is reflected in renovation of old houses and the revitalization of warehouses and factories as living quarters. Another option of escapism is the building of fantasy worlds, like theme parks (Disney Land) and huge recreational buildings, like stadiums, convention centers and mega-stores.
Fear as a psychological entity is something for the young, inexperienced adults facing the complexities of life and for the elderly and retired. In the latter case fear is often related to the end of their visible visibility period, known as death. Fear, as an instinctual emotion, is the most persistent and all-embracing of the four basic human emotions: fear, aggression, nurture and desire. The Greek word for fear is phobos, which points in a psychiatric context (phobia) to an intense and irrational situation, activity, things or persons. Emotional intensity is an important constituency of fear, which can be translated as a heightened visibility. The psychological entity of fear, as seen in a quadralectic context, is the emotion, which breaks loose shortly after a maximum approach (intensio) to one-self is experienced.
The theme of anxiety and fear is closely related to the existentialism of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855). He placed in his book ‘The Concept of Anxiety’ (1844) the psychological entity of unfocused fear in an environment of sin, with a reference to Adam, who was forbidden to eat the apple (of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil). The prohibition implied a form of freedom, either to eat or not to eat. Kierkegaard drew the conclusion that Adam’s state of initial bliss was the result of ignorance, which ended with the predicament of losing his freedom when consuming the ‘knowledge of good and evil’. The result is a state of anxiety, and a lost innocence.
The events unfolding around the ‘first sin’ can be compared to the philosophical-quadralectical implications of the ‘first division’ – and touches in many aspects the same psychological bedrock. The First Quadrant (I) was visualized as the place in a communication without any boundaries or divisions. The First Quadrant embodied – on a psychological level – an unknown situation before division (choice). The very moment of division – seen in Kierkegaard’s terminology as a ‘leap’, when ‘sin’ suddenly comes into the world – creates the freedom to choose (i.e. the type of division thinking). The position of this event is in a quadralectic communication situated at the border of the First and Second Quadrant. The Second Quadrant (II) is characterized by freedom and experimentation in a ‘state of innocence’ (of division thinking). Kierkegaard’s anxiety is produced by a state of ‘nothing’, which holds ‘a possibility of the repetition of the originary forced choice prior to its actualization’ (CAMERON, 2007; p. 99).
The group of young adults and the elderly, who are the most vulnerable to the effects of fear, could be seen in a wider, quadralectic perspective. These hypothetical clusters – with their lost innocence – can be placed on a universal communication graph (CF-graph) of an average human life with a duration of eighty years (fig. 755). The increased awareness takes place in the fourth part of the Second (II, 4) for the young adults and in the second part of the Fourth Quadrant (IV, 2) for the elderly. The marker points of fear are approximately between the CF-values 8 and 9 in an upward movement with increasing CF-values. The Observational Presence (OP) – which is the position in time of the observer (writer) – is in 2009 (when this graph was created).
Fig. 755 – The position of the prominence of fear as a psychological entity on the universal communication graph compared to an average human life of a duration of eighty years (upper figures) and to a projection of the European cultural history (lower figures).
The young adults are in the process of leaving their family homes to enter a vast moving world of uncertainty. The elderly people face the other side of the coin, with diminishing movement and a need to face the accomplishments of their life. A temporary review of life can cause disappointment and fear. Failure might be caused by bad luck, lost chances or other reasons, but there is no way to recover the past. The lack of perspective in the future can aggravate the situation, leading to the elementary emotion of fear.
The period of a real, material setback in a communication is situated at the Second Visibility Crisis (SVC). This position in the Third Quadrant (III) is different from the fear experienced in the Second and Fourth Quadrant. The former deals with life threatening experiences, while the latter two positions of fear have a more imaginary nature. The position of the SVC is indicated in the European cultural history around 1650 and in a common human life around the age of forty-eight years.
Further observations into the historical consequences of this observation could lead to interesting conclusions with regards to the behavior of modern cultural units. For instance, it would place the present geopolitical situation of a young, adolescent American cultural entity and an elderly European cultural presence in a similar position with respect to their relation to a heightening of fear.
Two different cultural settings recognize each other in a most basic human emotion: the former pursuant to a major blow of their self-confidence after the events of the 11th of September 2001 and the latter as a realization of the approach of (cultural) retirement. Many of the political decisions taken today might have, for these very reasons, the innate characteristics of fear.
Nan ELLIN (2006) proposed a new sense of diversity in her book ‘Integral Urbanism’ as a remedy against the fear-measures of fortifying the city, but also against the wrongly attempted dismantling of boundaries and distinctions. Master planning is rejected, integral urbanism aims at connection, communication and celebration. The city should be given back to the people as a playground for the interaction, regardless of their background.
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Architecture of Fear - Nan Ellin
Princeton Architectural Press, 1997 - Architecture - 320 pages
"Architecture of Fear" examines the ways in which the contemporary landscape is shaped by our society's preoccupation with fear, as apparent in home design, security systems, gated communities, semi-public spaces (shopping malls, theme parks, casinos, office atriums), zoning regulations, and cyberspace. This fixation also manifests itself in efforts to provide public parks but control the problem of homelessness. The essayists in "Architecture of Fear" explain that such disjointed efforts exacerbate rather than eradicate the sources and perception of fear and insecurity. Thus, in contrast to alarmist, apocalyptic treatments, the contributors offer concrete, level-headed suggestions for proaction, not reaction, to counter both real (actual crime) and perceived (media-magnified) problems in contemporary society.
The Range of Fear - Marten Kuilman (June 2017) (as finished)
Quadralectic Architecture - Marten Kuilman (2011).
quadralectics.wordpress.com/4-representation/4-2-function...
---
Nan ELLIN (1997) wrote a book and several articles on the relation of fear and city building. She stated that fear has never been absent from the human experience and that protection from invaders might be the principal incentive for building cities. Ellin noted that the city-as-a-save-place has recently become associated with danger and a lack of safety. This trend started, in her opinion, in the year of the French Revolution (1789) and the conception of the panopticum by Jeremy Bentham.
The nature of fear changed in the early twentieth century when a modern type of industrial city developed, with an emphasis on time management. The city became a machine itself, reflecting a mechanical efficiency in its division of functions (zone regulations). Mass produced houses were the backbone of the new city development. Ellin pointed out that the acceleration in the rate of change and the decline of the public space were the main reason for an increased sense of insecurity.
Three different type of response were pinpointed: retribalization (a search for ‘roots’), nostalgia and escapism. The retirement communities are a form of separatism, just like the ‘gated communities’ (of which there are some twenty thousand in the United States alone). Security is a big issue here, materialized in high fences and sophisticated security equipment, with the ‘safe room’ as the ultimate place of security. The nostalgic response is reflected in renovation of old houses and the revitalization of warehouses and factories as living quarters. Another option of escapism is the building of fantasy worlds, like theme parks (Disney Land) and huge recreational buildings, like stadiums, convention centers and mega-stores.
Fear as a psychological entity is something for the young, inexperienced adults facing the complexities of life and for the elderly and retired. In the latter case fear is often related to the end of their visible visibility period, known as death. Fear, as an instinctual emotion, is the most persistent and all-embracing of the four basic human emotions: fear, aggression, nurture and desire. The Greek word for fear is phobos, which points in a psychiatric context (phobia) to an intense and irrational situation, activity, things or persons. Emotional intensity is an important constituency of fear, which can be translated as a heightened visibility. The psychological entity of fear, as seen in a quadralectic context, is the emotion, which breaks loose shortly after a maximum approach (intensio) to one-self is experienced.
The theme of anxiety and fear is closely related to the existentialism of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855). He placed in his book ‘The Concept of Anxiety’ (1844) the psychological entity of unfocused fear in an environment of sin, with a reference to Adam, who was forbidden to eat the apple (of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil). The prohibition implied a form of freedom, either to eat or not to eat. Kierkegaard drew the conclusion that Adam’s state of initial bliss was the result of ignorance, which ended with the predicament of losing his freedom when consuming the ‘knowledge of good and evil’. The result is a state of anxiety, and a lost innocence.
The events unfolding around the ‘first sin’ can be compared to the philosophical-quadralectical implications of the ‘first division’ – and touches in many aspects the same psychological bedrock. The First Quadrant (I) was visualized as the place in a communication without any boundaries or divisions. The First Quadrant embodied – on a psychological level – an unknown situation before division (choice). The very moment of division – seen in Kierkegaard’s terminology as a ‘leap’, when ‘sin’ suddenly comes into the world – creates the freedom to choose (i.e. the type of division thinking). The position of this event is in a quadralectic communication situated at the border of the First and Second Quadrant. The Second Quadrant (II) is characterized by freedom and experimentation in a ‘state of innocence’ (of division thinking). Kierkegaard’s anxiety is produced by a state of ‘nothing’, which holds ‘a possibility of the repetition of the originary forced choice prior to its actualization’ (CAMERON, 2007; p. 99).
The group of young adults and the elderly, who are the most vulnerable to the effects of fear, could be seen in a wider, quadralectic perspective. These hypothetical clusters – with their lost innocence – can be placed on a universal communication graph (CF-graph) of an average human life with a duration of eighty years (fig. 755). The increased awareness takes place in the fourth part of the Second (II, 4) for the young adults and in the second part of the Fourth Quadrant (IV, 2) for the elderly. The marker points of fear are approximately between the CF-values 8 and 9 in an upward movement with increasing CF-values. The Observational Presence (OP) – which is the position in time of the observer (writer) – is in 2009 (when this graph was created).
Fig. 755 – The position of the prominence of fear as a psychological entity on the universal communication graph compared to an average human life of a duration of eighty years (upper figures) and to a projection of the European cultural history (lower figures).
The young adults are in the process of leaving their family homes to enter a vast moving world of uncertainty. The elderly people face the other side of the coin, with diminishing movement and a need to face the accomplishments of their life. A temporary review of life can cause disappointment and fear. Failure might be caused by bad luck, lost chances or other reasons, but there is no way to recover the past. The lack of perspective in the future can aggravate the situation, leading to the elementary emotion of fear.
The period of a real, material setback in a communication is situated at the Second Visibility Crisis (SVC). This position in the Third Quadrant (III) is different from the fear experienced in the Second and Fourth Quadrant. The former deals with life threatening experiences, while the latter two positions of fear have a more imaginary nature. The position of the SVC is indicated in the European cultural history around 1650 and in a common human life around the age of forty-eight years.
Further observations into the historical consequences of this observation could lead to interesting conclusions with regards to the behavior of modern cultural units. For instance, it would place the present geopolitical situation of a young, adolescent American cultural entity and an elderly European cultural presence in a similar position with respect to their relation to a heightening of fear.
Two different cultural settings recognize each other in a most basic human emotion: the former pursuant to a major blow of their self-confidence after the events of the 11th of September 2001 and the latter as a realization of the approach of (cultural) retirement. Many of the political decisions taken today might have, for these very reasons, the innate characteristics of fear.
Nan ELLIN (2006) proposed a new sense of diversity in her book ‘Integral Urbanism’ as a remedy against the fear-measures of fortifying the city, but also against the wrongly attempted dismantling of boundaries and distinctions. Master planning is rejected, integral urbanism aims at connection, communication and celebration. The city should be given back to the people as a playground for the interaction, regardless of their background.
--------
Architecture of Fear - Nan Ellin
Princeton Architectural Press, 1997 - Architecture - 320 pages
"Architecture of Fear" examines the ways in which the contemporary landscape is shaped by our society's preoccupation with fear, as apparent in home design, security systems, gated communities, semi-public spaces (shopping malls, theme parks, casinos, office atriums), zoning regulations, and cyberspace. This fixation also manifests itself in efforts to provide public parks but control the problem of homelessness. The essayists in "Architecture of Fear" explain that such disjointed efforts exacerbate rather than eradicate the sources and perception of fear and insecurity. Thus, in contrast to alarmist, apocalyptic treatments, the contributors offer concrete, level-headed suggestions for proaction, not reaction, to counter both real (actual crime) and perceived (media-magnified) problems in contemporary society.