by stejido4 | May 3, 2023
In this imagine you can see the surveillance camera in the upper left hand corner. Cameras such as this one, are located throughout the store.
Summery:
The reading, Building With The Gaze, talks about the age of surveillance. The idea of surveillance was introduced when Foucault designed a prison. He designed the prison where the prisoners were under constant supervision. He believes that the power dynamic lies in the dominant force having constant surveillance. Knowing that you are being watched keeps you under the power of your suppressor. Visualization became the mode of modernity in the sense that the mental gaze was implemented in structures other than the prison system. Homes and stores began having visual vantage points that would supply optimal surveillance. The modern movement could be described as the knowledge of presence. That there is always someone watching. This presence is supposed to bring certainty to individuals in the sense of an authoritative figure watching out for you.
Architecture was seen as a visual being in the sense that what you see is what you get. Therefore, decoration was seen as a facade that was lying and tricking the beholder. Architects wanted a clean and truthful space that would make one feel at ease. In making an untainted design, architects utilized the transparency of glass. Dark walls and corners prohibited the eye while glass allowed the beholder to penetrate the space and therefore feel comfortable in said space. Overall, the new wave of a surveillant society created open and transparent spaces that allowed for the maximum visual experience, and therefore comfort.
Interpretation:
The theme of a surveillance society is prevalent in today’s society of glass curtains and video surveillance. The importance of natural light and open spaces is emphasized in modern architecture. Homes utilize natural light from big glass windows to make a space feel more open and airy. Dark spaces deter potential clients, as many feel trapped in a dark and closed space. A new type of surveillance is also prevalent in today’s society. Cameras offer a mode of surveillance that can be used as evidence and allow individuals to watch their space from anywhere. Surveillance cameras can be found in grocery stores, doorbells, and school hallways. The use of surveillance is to ensure safety and accountability of the inhabitants of said buildings. Modern cameras are able to watch multiple angles and record surveillance tape for future inspection or use. Some cameras, like the Ring Doorbell, have a feature where the owner of the doorbells can record audio and speak through the doorbell. Other establishments use cameras to ensure the safety of the products being sold or held in their establishment. For instance, In the Market of Choice, surveillance cameras are placed throughout the store to observe customers and ensure the safety of the store as well as preventing stealing.
by cmoten | May 3, 2023
Through The Eyes of Modern Design
Tailored Coffee Roasters Interior Cafe
Reading Summary
Vision is one of our human senses that I feel is taken most for granted. As a designer, my work would become increasingly complex if this singular sense were to diminish, and even more so if it were stripped completely. Peter Jones’ interpretation of Michel Foucault’s regard of modern surveillance cultivated a deeper understanding as to why and how societal gaze is interpreted through design. Aesthetic spaces are usually agreed upon by a consensus with a heavy majority. This idea can be proven with most individuals finding historic monuments beautiful; like the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon, or the Taj Mahal all being highly valued for their beauty and construction, universally across society. However, I believe certain visuals may broaden each individual’s personal perspective. What makes each of these monuments worth praising for their beauty is not only the thoughtfulness of construction, but how individuals interact and respect these spaces. A modern observer doesn’t necessarily have to resonate with every style of design, but the job of the designer is to create the best possible lens for its users to experience something new. Visualization is a key element in achieving aesthetic, functional, and valuable spaces.
Building Interpretation
Tailored Coffee Rosters, Eugene, Oregon
686 E 13th Ave
Tailored Coffee is a 21st-century modern cafe located right off an American university campus. Most individuals would make this same observation based on the selection of color and material, interior decoration, and the music selection played throughout the space. I choose this building because of its unique modern features. This space is comfortable and allows its users to embrace both its interior and exterior. There are floor-to-ceiling garden windows with seating that faces their outdoor courtyard seating, which accompanies its traditional dining room space. I feel these distinct characteristics are positive representations of how visual surveillance is a significant feature to consider in modern design. By incorporating multiple opportunities to view, observe, or interact with a variety of visually stimulating designs within the space, users are more inclined to enjoy their individual experiences. An individual’s perspective or experience at Tailored Coffee Rosters is what they make it, it can be customized by user gaze or surveillance based on where its visitor may choose to sit.
by wkrois | May 3, 2023
Summary
In “Building the Empire of The Gaze: The Modern Movement and the Surveillance Society,” by Peter Jones, it goes in depth to how there was a relation between modern architecture and the use of surveillance in society. He argues that the way modernist architects designed, there was consistent use of visual order that asserted a type of control of the public, especially in urban settings. There were large plain public spaces and minimal ornamental use on architecture. This created easy visibility throughout. This minimalistic approach to architecture and the built environment has led to a feeling of control. There was technology development that also introduced video cameras and surveillance systems. The public have increasingly become more “watched” since.
Peter Jones explains that because corporations and the government are getting more surveillant in their use of technology, that architects and designers and planners should not use architecture as a tool to control. The experience of the individual through contemporary society is already witnessing cameras recording them on every block and every stop light. This can create a very anxious and unsettling environment. He argues that as designers and architects we might as well design to create a more comfortable atmosphere, one which promotes freedom and creates distance from the modernist surveillant designs.
Built in Surveillance System @ Farmers Market Pavilion
I focused on the Farmers Market Pavilion, and observed its surveillance throughout the day. There are garage doors that are on every wall of the pavilion that open to the outside. And you can very easily see most of the inside when you are outside and most of outside when you are inside. I was curious because this area, especially on farmers market days, is busy with people buying farm goods, but there are also a lot of homeless people hanging around. I wondered if the lack of control and surveillance in this architecture would affect the actions and feelings of the people experiencing this space. But I noticed because of the open floor plan and connection to the outside, there was maximum visibility. And it is a public space that is only open on certain days, and on those days there’s always a crowd of people. This space almost creates its own kind of surveillance, and that only of your fellow farmers market goers. There doesn’t need to be cameras on every inside and outside of the building because there is always going to be someone else who will be able to see you in this space. I thought this was a clever way to design a space that doesn’t have built-in surveillance but also is open enough to allow the user to feel safe, because they will never be alone.
by Alison Hicks | May 3, 2023
by tinao | May 3, 2023
The article “Building the Empire of The Gaze: The Modern Movement and the Surveillance Society” explains the connection between modern architecture and the idea of surveillance in society. As technology advanced, new building techniques and styles emerges. Glass was one of the most famous key elements of the time. It supports transparency. Transparency became one of the pursuant of building because it helps to connect indoor and outdoor. However, the downside of this benefit is privacy invasion.
Listed as examples, the designs of the famous architects, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, both have modern key elements, such as glass, concrete, and steel. Both architects use many pilotis and giant glass panels for a clean look of the building. Most of their building look as if they are open for display instead of other uses. The utilization of glass was originally for sunlight penetration and access to outdoor views while offering part of the indoor preview. But with the excessive use of glass panels, exposing all the interior parts takes away users’ privacy.
The article also mentions darkness has always been fearful to people. With the invention of light and glass, everything become spotlighted. No more darkness equals no more fear. The incorporation of new technology, lights, and a new element of glass, anywhere can be revealed at any moment. Without darkness, people won’t have to fear the unknown, but being too noticeable became their next worry. The amount of exposure, and the feeling of being observed, are uncomfortable. But that’s the so call modernism.
The view access provided by the storefront glass panels are key elements of modernism.
Building observation
Day and Night is a product of modernism. But the amount of visual access offered by the store was understandable. Since it’s a store, and it only opens from 12 pm to 8 pm, there’s no objection to the amount of exposure through the glass panels because it’s a public space that doesn’t have privacy concerns. Thus, the store maximized the indoor-outdoor connection by installing huge glass panels along the two sides that are directly connected to the sidewalk. Pedestrians can have the opportunity to visually explore the space while making their trip elsewhere. They could be attracted by the opportunity they view in the space.
Many of the finishes and furniture of the store are simple. It’s modern. The steel frame with glass panels for the storefront. The concrete columns and floor finish, its supportive, durable, and easy to clean. Most of the furniture is ‘fast furniture’ looking. Other surfaces such as the ceiling are simple in one color. A drop-down ceiling is being installed above the workstation where drinks are being prepped to absorb some noises. Light fixtures are simple, but also has a few variety.
Reference
Jones, Peter. 1999. “Building the Empire of The Gaze: The Modern Movement and the Surveillance Society. Download Building the Empire of The Gaze: The Modern Movement and the Surveillance Society.” Architectural Theory Review 4 (2): 1–14.
by mlovette | May 3, 2023
Foucault describes the Panopticon in his infamous book Discipline and Punish (1975). The Panopticon is a design approached for modern prisons that was modeled by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham. However, Foucault expresses how modernist designers embraced this approach towards built environments as a tactic of recreating a new way of seeing and thinking when it comes to everyday dwellings. The Panopticon is an architectural figure—a specific metaphor — for modern power relations in general. As Foucault describes it, in the modern world, power circulates around us through systems of surveillance and self-discipline. We are constantly being watched, measured, and evaluated, and even when we are not, we feel as if we are, and so we conduct ourselves and discipline ourselves into behaving in particular ways. For instance, through modern design approaches and elements it ensured a sense of liberation by breaking the barriers that eliminate obstructions between the interior and exterior contexts of a built environment. Overall, Bentham’s philosophy became the pathway for modern design to establish their own way of design thinking towards buildings. While also introducing our current world to a conflicted discrepancy between one’s public and private of daily living conditions to the use technological platforms. Panopticon set how modern power dynamics were created and its effect towards the rise of the surveillance state.
Our current world is suffering from this idea of “seeing without being seen” which has resulted to individuals subconsciously accepting the notion of public life that becomes expressed in our daily choices. As mentioned before, the simple design approach of panopticon has led to our daily lives of being affected in negative way. There is an established discrepancy towards establishing a balance life that allows one to sustain both a public and private lifestyle. Although, the modernist movement of design set groundbreaking motives towards a new way of thinking and living; it has carried over into allowing the public world into our private lives too much. There is a specific tactics that are very beneficial towards a dweller and their experience, but we’ve been manipulated by new forms of technology to accept that privacy is becoming overlooked by everyone being able to show and share their private well-beings into the public realm. Unfortunately, the designing of built environments become a part of one’s life inevitably, but panopticon should only be applied towards specific building typologies while tactical approaches of the theory are dissected into elements that compliment a well-balanced environment that ensures both public and private spaces. The act of transparency obtains a conflicted interest that can be very beneficial towards a sense of liberation but also non-beneficial that can control one’s life that is controlled by the “unseen.”
A Public Institution of Private Aesthetic:
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is an art museum located on the University of Oregon’s campus. JSMA is intended to be a built environment that is of, by, and for the public realm particularly the students and staff members of UO. However, the building itself is very uninviting due to its exterior façade—the vernacular of the material and design aesthetic imposes a private building with limited access. Especially, with being one of the largest buildings on campus made of brick cladding with no windows and very secluded entryway into the building. The building is a historical site with historical design elements attached to the building, which unveils its monotonous appearance. Due to it also being an art museum you want to have limited access of exterior daylighting factors for the sake of protecting the artwork while also being natural barrier for security purposes. But the as an educational art museum there should be intricate nuances applied to the building to ensure its mission and purpose as built environment is allowing the public realm to have accessibility, visibility, and a sense of ownership of the museum itself. Especially, as a museum that is anchored a public institution that is intended to enhance creativity, community, and collaboration within and for the surrounding context of the site.
(University of Oregon Campus – Jordan Schnitzer Musem of Art West Entrance & Facade)