Globalization and technological change are transforming the ways in which buildings are being designed and built. An overlooked aspect of this development is its impact on construction labor, and the significance of l...Globalization and technological change are transforming the ways in which buildings are being designed and built. An overlooked aspect of this development is its impact on construction labor, and the significance of labor for assessing the work of architecture. The paper draws upon the sociological concept of the “glocal” to analyse the construction site as the product of the tension between global and local conditions of architectural production and consumption. The construction of Preston Scott Cohen’s 2010 Tel Aviv Museum Addition serves as its case study for theorizing the “glocal” dynamics of digital architecture, building technology and construction labor. This methodological approach highlights the role of migrant guest workers and technological transfer in contemporary construction culture. To realize with precision the complex design under local constraints, the contractor developed a hybrid work process that interspersed labor saving automated manufacturing techniques with artisanal, skilled construction work. In addition, workers and contractors exercised a high level of control over the pace and method of construction, and devised building solutions which improved upon the architect’s design. In conclusion, the paper argues that construction activity differs from broader trends in manufacturing due to the self-reflexivity of architectural design to its condition of production, but that at the same time, this critical capacity is enabled by the globalization of construction labor.展开更多
This study explores freeway interchange design as an example of traffic architecture.It reconstructs the design history of one bifurcating interchange along the Ayalon Crosstown Expressway in Tel Aviv,a project that i...This study explores freeway interchange design as an example of traffic architecture.It reconstructs the design history of one bifurcating interchange along the Ayalon Crosstown Expressway in Tel Aviv,a project that initiated the transfer of American and European freeway technology to Israel.The different geometric configurations developed for the interchange were generated by the unstable,evolving relation among the expressway,city,and national economy and by a fundamental ambiguity within traffic engineering rationality.The realized interchange reveals the disparity among the semiotic,hierarchical concept of route continuity,the optimizing process of cost-benefit analysis,and memory-based spatial orientation.This interchange advances the interpretation of highway technology as a cultural technique that organizes driving activity into a series of switching operations within an informational grid,one that is at odds with the humanist construction of concentric,directional spatiality.展开更多
文摘Globalization and technological change are transforming the ways in which buildings are being designed and built. An overlooked aspect of this development is its impact on construction labor, and the significance of labor for assessing the work of architecture. The paper draws upon the sociological concept of the “glocal” to analyse the construction site as the product of the tension between global and local conditions of architectural production and consumption. The construction of Preston Scott Cohen’s 2010 Tel Aviv Museum Addition serves as its case study for theorizing the “glocal” dynamics of digital architecture, building technology and construction labor. This methodological approach highlights the role of migrant guest workers and technological transfer in contemporary construction culture. To realize with precision the complex design under local constraints, the contractor developed a hybrid work process that interspersed labor saving automated manufacturing techniques with artisanal, skilled construction work. In addition, workers and contractors exercised a high level of control over the pace and method of construction, and devised building solutions which improved upon the architect’s design. In conclusion, the paper argues that construction activity differs from broader trends in manufacturing due to the self-reflexivity of architectural design to its condition of production, but that at the same time, this critical capacity is enabled by the globalization of construction labor.
基金the Israel Science Foundation(Grant no.08814131).
文摘This study explores freeway interchange design as an example of traffic architecture.It reconstructs the design history of one bifurcating interchange along the Ayalon Crosstown Expressway in Tel Aviv,a project that initiated the transfer of American and European freeway technology to Israel.The different geometric configurations developed for the interchange were generated by the unstable,evolving relation among the expressway,city,and national economy and by a fundamental ambiguity within traffic engineering rationality.The realized interchange reveals the disparity among the semiotic,hierarchical concept of route continuity,the optimizing process of cost-benefit analysis,and memory-based spatial orientation.This interchange advances the interpretation of highway technology as a cultural technique that organizes driving activity into a series of switching operations within an informational grid,one that is at odds with the humanist construction of concentric,directional spatiality.
