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Temporary club night and thesis exhibition on club culture.
Club culture through an architectural lens.
Tāmaki Makaurau
By: @maxrodhouse

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Given the nature of the Sampled objects used in the final spaces – the ‘ingredients’ – the idea of a taxonomy for this was suggested. Sampling, however, describes where taxonomy breaks down. Through the use of distinctive and anomalous objects – unable to be completely premeditated or specified to certain uses – these are unable to be neatly contained within a taxonomy. In response, a taxonomic table has been set up to document the use of these repeating features within the case studies while the anomalous Sampled objects remain unsystematic.

The first case study is in the former community space, Grow Room, upstairs in St. Kevin’s Arcade. The space is small and simple box type layout without quirks or circulation, only having a single entrance. With the limited floor area and simplistic nature of the space, the use of Sampled objects is strategic to maximise the spatial arrangement. The wall and ceiling planes therefore become the target of embellishment, to enhancement the space whilst keeping it functional. Modular platforms accompany in a bespoke setup, acting as soft partitions and terrain, to be seated or climbed. taken in Karangahape Road by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago

Given the nature of the Sampled objects used in the final spaces – the ‘ingredients’ – the idea of a taxonomy for this was suggested. Sampling, however, describes where taxonomy breaks down. Through the use of distinctive and anomalous objects – unable to be completely premeditated or specified to certain uses – these are unable to be neatly contained within a taxonomy. In response, a taxonomic table has been set up to document the use of these repeating features within the case studies while the anomalous Sampled objects remain unsystematic.

The second site Sampled is an Iconic example of Aotearoa Deconstructivism, the National Bank building. The quirks of the erratic design provide many points of inspiration and constraint for the architect-curator to inform a response with Sampling. Riffing off the building's theatrical double-height entrance a scaffold frame is erected to suspend Sampled ornaments, compressing, and directing revellers onto the dancefloor. Framed modular platforms terrace the edge of the dancefloor breaking up the cavernous main space. Sampled objects are distorted and reappropriated into seating to furnish the glazed rear of the space, providing somewhere to rest. Another area of respite occupies the mezzanine room, secluded from the intensity of the main dancefloor, gazing back across Karangahape through the framed openings of the building. taken in Karangahape Road by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago

Given the nature of the Sampled objects used in the final spaces – the ‘ingredients’ – the idea of a taxonomy for this was suggested. Sampling, however, describes where taxonomy breaks down. Through the use of distinctive and anomalous objects – unable to be completely premeditated or specified to certain uses – these are unable to be neatly contained within a taxonomy. In response, a taxonomic table has been set up to document the use of these repeating features within the case studies while the anomalous Sampled objects remain unsystematic.

The final site to be Sampled as a case study is a quasi-subterranean space falling off Cross St. Wedged between adjacent buildings, the space is long and narrow with the Cross St side carved into the ground and the other elevated looking out to the motorway. A more restrained response is informed by the spatial constraints of the narrow space, punctuated by large columns, where the spatial arrangement becomes important. Levels of intensities are managed with the program down the narrow space, from the concrete bunker below the Cross St end, to moments of respite towards the glazed end by the smoking balcony. taken in Karangahape Road by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago

To show the application of Sampling, three case studies have been carried out. A 1:1 case study posed a large dependency on the materials, objects and spaces that could be sourced – particularly during the lockdowns. With these limitations, a 1:50 scale was selected instead to bypass some of these factors and also show the applicability of Sampling as a methodology across scales – Sampling spaces which were recently for lease, creating them as physical models to be intervened with by the architect-curator with Sampled objects.

The first case study is in the former community space, Grow Room, upstairs in St. Kevin’s Arcade. The space is small and simple box type layout without quirks or circulation, only having a single entrance. With the limited floor area and simplistic nature of the space, the use of Sampled objects is strategic to maximise the spatial arrangement. The wall and ceiling planes therefore become the target of embellishment, to enhancement the space whilst keeping it functional. Modular platforms accompany in a bespoke setup, acting as soft partitions and terrain, to be seated or climbed. taken in Karangahape Road by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago

To show the application of Sampling, three case studies have been carried out. A 1:1 case study posed a large dependency on the materials, objects and spaces that could be sourced – particularly during the lockdowns. With these limitations, a 1:50 scale was selected instead to bypass some of these factors and also show the applicability of Sampling as a methodology across scales – Sampling spaces which were recently for lease, creating them as physical models to be intervened with by the architect-curator with Sampled objects.

The second site Sampled is an Iconic example of Aotearoa Deconstructivism, the National Bank building. The quirks of the erratic design provide many points of inspiration and constraint for the architect-curator to inform a response with Sampling. Riffing off the building's theatrical double-height entrance a scaffold frame is erected to suspend Sampled ornaments, compressing, and directing revellers onto the dancefloor. Framed modular platforms terrace the edge of the dancefloor breaking up the cavernous main space. Sampled objects are distorted and reappropriated into seating to furnish the glazed rear of the space, providing somewhere to rest. Another area of respite occupies the mezzanine room, secluded from the intensity of the main dancefloor, gazing back across Karangahape through the framed openings of the building. taken in Karangahape Road by @stagefright_nz

19

1

4 years ago

To show the application of Sampling, three case studies have been carried out. A 1:1 case study posed a large dependency on the materials, objects and spaces that could be sourced – particularly during the lockdowns. With these limitations, a 1:50 scale was selected instead to bypass some of these factors and also show the applicability of Sampling as a methodology across scales – Sampling spaces which were recently for lease, creating them as physical models to be intervened with by the architect-curator with Sampled objects.

The final site to be Sampled as a case study is a quasi-subterranean space falling off Cross St. Wedged between adjacent buildings, the space is long and narrow with the Cross St side carved into the ground and the other elevated looking out to the motorway. A more restrained response is informed by the spatial constraints of the narrow space, punctuated by large columns, where the spatial arrangement becomes important. Levels of intensities are managed with the program down the narrow space, from the concrete bunker below the Cross St end, to moments of respite towards the glazed end by the smoking balcony. taken in Karangahape Road by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago

Leading on from the Speaker Stack’s investigation on where the club culture can be consumed outside of the club, Radio Catalogue investigates the different media’s role on the discourse; through the likes of records, mixes, radio shows and podcasts.

The abstract model takes the shape of a vinyl record sleeve, with some vertical height given representing a stack or catalogue of records – linking to an archive and lineage of music. Radio station shows allow artists to push the culture through unreleased and new music, while also being able to dredge up old classics alongside. These shows are also a platform for artists to discuss relationships around the songs, record labels, releases and upcoming or recent club nights. Encapsulating some of club culture’s transience, these show recordings become rich resources and archives, now fully accessible online.

The model Samples materials accumulated across university projects and found objects, using laser cutting for fabrication details. The transmitting aspect of radio is given form in the speaker cone embedded within the model. Record label content is applied to the speaker, becoming an abstraction of a centred record label, dimensionally the same. Across the bottom are the four-channel mixers, seen on DJ mixers. 3D printed radio booths clad with mirrored glass replace the faders, now almost context-less spaces for the global listener. The vertical axis they operate on is indicative of the time period they are able to access, able to go back to the origins of most dance music subgenres. The crossfader represents the listener, able to select the content which they listen to – new or old, specific or various genres. by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago

Club culture exists outside of the club, typically through music and mixes. Speaker Stack is a model which investigates the ways in which people experience club culture, now able to easily access and experience it with technology like online streaming and personal headphones - which can also provide a form of escapism, being able to partially remove themselves from their environment.

Speaker Stack explores some of the places and ways in which club culture can be consumed outside of the club, following a user through a hypothetical day leading up to a gig. The three portions of a typical sound system are broken down into three diorama segments. Beginning with a commute, shown in the top stack; followed by the workplace, in the middle; culminating in pre-gig drinks, at the bottom, where it broadens to multiple users experiencing music together. by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago

Sampling is commonly known as a method of music production where you reappropriate existing elements in the generation of something new. It is a process shaped by emergent technologies, bypassing the needs for traditional instrumentation and thus removing the capital thresholds needed to access it. This thesis reconceptualises Sampling as a productive architectural and modelling methodology – where materials, objects and spatial devices are manipulated and reappropriated in the creation of space, also utilising emergent technologies.

The architectural framework folds in the themes identified in earlier research to be applied in the creation of new club spaces and the modelling methodology extends off this with an approach to fabrication and materials applicable across scales.

With clubs being transient – between temporary and permanent – they are environments that can be changed, added or subtracted to as needed in an ad-hoc fashion. Sampling and Adhocism both subvert mass production and standardisation, creating their own hybrids amongst an anodyne globalism. Similarly, these reject Modernism’s purist doctrines of global standardisation like Gruppo 9999 with Space Electronic, the best-realised manifestation this methodology – Sampling: space, objects, materials, and pop culture in the creation of a captivating club space able to mutate and adapt over time. Sampling begins to localise within its practice of bricolage through the nuances of each piece, curated and designed in space by the architect.

Sampling at a modelling scale incorporates the same Sampling of found objects and materials, assisted by digital fabrication technologies, such as 3D printing and laser cutting. the incorporation of Sampled materials becomes a more generative method of production as opposed to a solely premediated fabrication. Placing importance on what is existing – reusing contexts and materials – the Sampled entities provide a starting point for the ideation process, bringing a layering of histories and semiotic relationships. by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago

Arata Isozaki’s Palladium is an architectural intervention within the found space of an old theatre. The intervention sets up a dialogue between itself and the found space. The hi-tec addition has strong clean geometries, juxtaposed against the ornate details and classical forms of the decaying theatre it is situated within. Making minimal alterations to the container, Isozaki plays with the existing conditions of the found space in his intervention, giving it new life through framing and lighting.

The architecture seems to dissolve in an orgy of technology, with stairs and walls embedded with lighting, and mammoth TV arrays displaying hallucinatory visuals above the dancefloor, constantly shifting elevation and rotation fuelling an altered-space experience. The gridded structure of the intervention acts as a framing device. It frames the crowd in ancillary spaces of the dance floor or the above mezzanine, and the crumbling container in the distance as it is animated by lights. Architecturally rich and impressive, there are many lessons in this large post-modern club.

However, although architecturally successful, in the context of this thesis it does not demonstrate a sought-after outcome – guided by fad and money rather than the egalitarian ethos of club culture. The owners strategically capitalised on the emerging status of Isozaki as a known architect for his debut in America, in the unlikely form of a nightclub. Journalist Paul Goldenberg had the poignant remark on this at the time “It could almost be dismissed as a cynical exploitation of architecture’s current trendiness – if the results were not so truly excellent.” by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago

While tracking the CBD’s development, a correlation presents itself between the density of development and fabric to the placement of clubs. As developments in the CBD started to consume multiple sites – up to the size of whole blocks – the erasure of clubs and suitable spaces were consequence
As these large scale developments dominated the downtown area, clubs were displaced, and the fine grain sites which they tended to inhabit became increasingly sparse. The last area in the CBD with this type of fabric suitable for club spaces, Karangahape has become the main territory for club culture like many others in the margin. Encircled by the motorways and populated residential areas, Karangahape is now the last bastion for club culture in the CBD.

The CRL project is near completion, introducing two stations into the area flanking the ridge, which will ripen the area for more development (and future nimbyism) As of 2015, only 12 of the 300 heritage buildings in the Karangahape area are protected. With sites like the iconic St. Kevin’s Arcade zoned for 35 vertical metres, the potential of development is alarming in the short to medium term

The ‘Agent of Change’ principle (seen overseas) places the authority on existing conditions of areas, protecting them from issues of new neighbours - the agents of change. While this principle is a welcome step in recognising these general issues of displacement and gentrification, it lacks foresight, particularly for clubs. Knowing clubs’ transience and short lifespans, this provision does not account for new clubs to arise, not allowed to make noise as they would then be the agent of change

Therefore, Karangahape as a music precinct is proposed. With this precinct wide approach, long-term outcomes are prioritised where intensification can still happen whilst placing importance on culture. Provisions for these types of spaces in new developments or tenancies, noise designations, heritage protection and operational changes will be important measures in the sustainability of the area and culture. With consideration to these issues, Karangahape’s future would contribute to the Tāmaki Makaurau’s culture, liveability, and economy by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago

Fun Palace and Instant City are radical temporary architectures, reacting to the post-war emphasis on societal leisure.

Fun Palaces’ large frame above demarcating its territory, the architectural form and program could ultimately shift and change through gantry cranes based on the occupant’s desires. Despite the Fun Palaces' flexibility, Price had concerns over its rigidity. Unlike traditional architecture's novel pursuit of being programmatically sound for multiple generations, the design was instead based for a conceivable period of social predictability, accepting the unknown of future technologies and social conditions.

Similarly to Fun Palace, Instant City is project of fantasy born from pragmatism, attending to real need with their locality. This radical vision adopted recent airship technology as a vessel to carry urban infrastructure, silently arriving at rural townships overnight to deploy.

Overshadowing the towns which it serviced, the vessel's infrastructure would transform the existing town conditions in a carnivalesque event, bringing theatres and discos, among other things. This playful proposal harmoniously brings forms of urban leisure to the provincial in a temporal and mobile architecture, to be packed up, transported and reconfigured in the next place.

Instant City’s radically mobile vessel reimagines the temporal, exemplary in the way people might take over space for an event. In a seamless combination of technology, performance and infrastructure, no trace but a memory is left in its wake. Instant City’s temporal aspect is considered in the ways in which clubs might operate or deploy, able to come and go ad hoc. by @stagefright_nz

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4 years ago