“For a long time, my chief interest had to do with cities
in general, and the extent to which an entire city could be transformed by an
act of creative misuse…I was interested in how people with a particular intent
could take over certain parts of the city with an action that could transform
the way the city was used.” Motivated individuals or groups, he observed, could
use “the complexity of the city against itself,” uncovering the possible behaviours
that a building or space unintentionally allows, then adapting them to stage a
protest, overthrow a government, demand political representation, or, yes,
simply to commit a crime.”  – Bernard Tschumi

Each and every one of us looks at the world surrounding
us differently. What if we could borrow each other’s vision? What if ‘walking a
mile in someone else’s shoes’ was as simple as exchanging glasses and seeing
what the other sees? What are the ‘alternate’ ways of seeing the environments
we inhabit? How do we move through space when we stop using it for the
purpose it was designed for?

The environments
we inhabit are bound by rules and frameworks that dictate how we use them. We
go through doors that an architect puts in place. We use the streets in the way
we are meant to as decided by the urban planners or the police. Notable
architectural theorist Bernard Tschumi challenged this notion by pointing out
that if the design of a space or a building tends to influence what occurs
within it, then the role of the avant-garde designer is to push past this and
to find new ways of challenging or disrupting architecture’s behavioural
expectations.

And there are
already these other groups of people out there who are engaging with the exact
same things that everyone else is seeing, but they are using them in these
incredibly different and albeit illegal but very creative ways; think Parkour enthusiasts,
construction crane workers or burglars.

For me, looking at the environments we inhabit, in
different ways that the everyday users don’t, taps into the imaginative allure
of my love for fictional alternate realities; where the real environment of our
world is governed by a different set of rules. It’s about exploring the
idea that under our current metropolis is a darker alternate one embedded
within, that we don’t see. And these ‘alternate professionals’ misuse or use
unconventionally, the very elements of our spaces that we take for granted. In
this process, they inadvertently reveal different aspects and possibilities
within the city that we probably wouldn’t notice otherwise.

REFERENCES

– Tschumi B. (1996), Architecture and Disjunction, MIT Press, Cambridge
– Tschumi B. (1977), Advertisements for Architecture [Online], Available at http://www.tschumi.com/projects/19/# (date accessed 24 May 2020)

Author:
Ankita Trivedi, Assistant Professor, School of Interior Design, Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID)

Disclaimer: The opinions / views expressed in this article are solely of the author in his / her individual capacity. They do not purport to reflect the opinions and/or views of the College and/or University or its members.