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" The Temple of Sacred and Profane : A Stock Exchange of Neo-Global Contemporary Architecture "
Singh, Saikumar
Wright, Eric
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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1056461
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TL55578
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| Main Entry
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Singh, Saikumar
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The Temple of Sacred and Profane : A Stock Exchange of Neo-Global Contemporary Architecture\ Singh, SaikumarWright, Eric
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| College
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University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
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| Date
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2019
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| Degree
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M.Tech.
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2019
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| Note
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164 p.
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| Abstract
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Architectural history and the evolution of buildings tracks alongside the progression of human life and the development of societal structures. Buildings of particular times can be read as representations of rituals, belief systems and ideologies of the prevailing power at the time. This ‘language of meaning’ is clearly seen in classical and medieval societies where the architectural languages employed were explicit in conveying narratives of religion and/or monarchy. On Jackie Craven’s blog, Architecture Timeline - Western Influences on Building Design, he references Vitruvius’ famous treatise De Architectura where he states that ‘’For without symmetry and proportion no temple can have a regular plan’’. (Craven, 2018). With emphasis on ‘’The temple’’, the presence of symmetry and proportion played a crucial role in defining how a space of worship was articulated through classical Architectural ideology. This practice of aesthetics of meaning can be observed through the influence of pagan beliefs on the Greek civilization, the Holy Roman Empire with Christianity, the Ottoman and Mughal empires with Islam and the Vijayanagar and Maratha empires with Hinduism. The role of the architect corresponds to this evolution of semiotic architectures: In Hinduism the architect is personified into Vishwakarma, the presiding deity commonly referred to as The Divine Architect, due to a belief that he is responsible for the design and construction of a number of mythical, classical and medieval structures, by certain Indus valley civilizations. (Gopal, 2010). Similar perceptions and personifications of the architect are evident across many early cultures, the Greeks worshipped Hestia as the goddess of the hearth, architecture and the home, the roman equivalent to Hestia is the goddess Vesta. (Graves, 2009) In this proposal, I draw from Colin Renfrew’s book, The Ancient Mind where he states his view of religion as being ‘’a social and cultural phenomenon associated with built form and prevailing powers in the past centuries’’ (Renfrew, 1994). This is used as a lens to look at the relationship of contemporary architectural language and current ruling forces of power. The proposed project seeks out forces that can be seen to ‘govern the masses’ through semiotic techniques which commonly manifest together with architectural application. Through the study of historical narratives of sacred architecture, and the powers served by the particular narratives at play, this proposal explores how the definition of the architect is broadened when put into dialogue with global contemporary architectures – characterized by international investment, commercial development and economic speculation. The proposed project is located in Maputo, Mozambique. The colonial city of Lorenzo Marques and the contemporary city of Maputo are viewed as two concurrent urban environments which overlap in a shared physical territory. This simultaneous city is defined as a playing field where narratives of historical power and global contemporary architectures of economic exploit exist in immediate proximity. Currently the research links the contemporary city of Maputo to foreign territories such as Business Bay in the UAE through the global contemporary architecture of the Radisson Blu and the Torres Rani buildings, of which both the doppelgangars and headquarters of these global conglomerate companies are located. The major design project aims to derive a new architectural language by constructing a site where multiple ‘languages of meaning’ are collected. This designed site takes the form of an architectural island where languages (in built form) of cultural history, trade history and current international economic thrusts are collected together: A mash-up city where all versions of Maputo are present. This approach to ‘producing site’ draws from Rem Koolhaas’ description of ‘big’ architecture where he states that ‘’the size of a building alone embodies an ideological program, independent of the will of its architects’’. (Koolhaas, 1995 ). The proposal looks at the work of Walter Benjamin as precedent, where the interpretation of art/architecture produced through mechanical mass production is different to locally crafted artifacts of meaning which are unique and not replicable through mass production. (Benjamin, 1969). While the architectural language of the new Katembe bridge is clearly a mass-produced, near ubiquitous, language of international infrastructure – a language outside of architecture – it carries a clear messaging of imported and imposed policies and principles by foreign global powers. The Temple of the Sacred and Profane is designed as a new stock exchange complex in Maputo. It is imagined as a place where disciples of capital power can gather to share, collude, speculate, trade and exchange interest. Immerging from the contemporary architecture of Maputo and that of the doppelgangers and headquarters in Business Bay The project aims to produce architectures that are representations of what they house, an architecture that wears its purpose on the outside, a built environment that unveils the agendas of controlling forces that are shaping cities in our current late-capital era. Drawing from walter benjamin’s work The project will result in a collection of ‘sacred texts’, visual essays that record a historical evolution of ‘language of meaning’, and, a proposal for a ‘’Neo-Contemporary’’ architectural language/ architectures which immerge from the present/prevailing architectures in Maputo where the new foreign investments are situated.
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Architecture
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Cultural anthropology
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Political science
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Wright, Eric
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University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
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