Science, Culture and Integral Yoga

A Critical History of Architecture in a Post-Colonial World: A View from Indian History By Swati Chattopadhyay

Debashish — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:24:59 -0700

One of the things that Edward Said's book Orientalism (1978), based on a Foucaultian critique of the discourses of colonialism achieved, was to demonstrate the essentialized portrayals of colonized cultures, whether through the lens of western positivism (modernity) or through Orientalism. Nationalism as an indigenous colonial discourse, had to create an independent place for itself within the interpellation of the west by identifying its own essentlalized and ahistorical features for the nation.

Postcolonial sociality in erstwhile colonized nations is still largely driven by the unfortunate identity politics of these discourses. Nationalism, as created by its founders, was largely thought of in its own time as a strategic essentialism, an invention of the soul-expression of a nation, to enable its identification and survival. But if such ahistorical descriptions become identity markers fossilized by institutional fiat, the resultant identity politics in an age of pluralism can only lead to violence and misfortune. Ongoing creative hybrid engagements are the way out of the postcolonial predicament. In this article, Swati Chattopadhyay, professor of Architectural History at UC Santa Barbara, shows how colonized nations create their own blind-spots based on the inability to classify the hybrid. At the same time, a situated social history of culture (here architecture) shows us that hybridity is the norm of human culture and its recognition leads us to the necessary evolution out of a phase of strategic essentialism into one of dialog and human co-existence.

The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme Stephen Jay Gould and Richard C. Lewontin

Rich — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:52:50 -0700

Reference: 100 Years of Sri Aurobindo on Evolution

Since Darwin has attained sainthood (if not divinity) among evolutionary biologists, and since all sides invoke God's allegiance, Darwin has often been depicted as a radical selectionist at heart who invoked other mechanisms only in retreat, and only as a result of his age's own lamented ignorance about the mechanisms of heredity. This view is false. Although Darwin regarded selection as the most important of evolutionary mechanisms (as do we), no argument from opponents angered him more than the common attempt to caricature and trivialize his theory by stating that it relied exclusively upon natural selection. In the last edition of the Origin, he wrote (1872, p. 395):

# As my conclusions have lately been much misrepresented, and it has been stated that I attribute the modification of species exclusively to natural selection, I may be permitted to remark that in the first edition of this work, and subsequently, I placed in a most conspicuous position-namely at the close of the introduction-the following words: "I am convinced that natural selection has been the main, but not the exclusive means of modification." This has been of no avail. Great is the power of steady misinterpretation.

The Soul of a City: The Crystal Cathedral as Organizing Metaphor for (post)Modern Architecture at the Bauhaus

Debashish — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:38:12 -0700

The Bauhaus, founded in 1919 at Weimar, Germany by Walter Gropius, was arguably the most influential school of design in modern times, set up in the form of a residential creative community of designers, craftsmen, architects and artists. As part of its central ideal, Water Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus, envisaged a world made up of creative communities united spiritually in and around a materialized soul, which he likened to "a crystal cathedral." Today, Bauhaus influenced architecture is ubiquitous as the symbol of world modernity, but Gropius' dream is far from fulfilled. This article explores the historical dimensions of this ideal, the causes for its failure and the possible conditions for its postmodern manifestation.

"Al-Kemi: A Memoir"

Kim — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 20:59:43 -0800

Al-Kemi recounts the story of the eighteen months that Andrew VandenBroeck, a painter and writer, spent in daily contact with the remarkable French philosopher, hermetist, and Egyptologist, R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz (1887-1961). Structured like a mystery, and distilled in the crucible of memory for fifteen years, Al-Kemi provides a passionately felt, personal, and dramatic introduction to the startling world of this contemporary alchemist (from back cover).

... Before reaching these particulars, it must be known that de Lubicz held the traditional conception of an esoteric science and its transmission: true knowledge is inaccessible to the rational mind. This epistemological tenet caused his writings to be spiked with metaphor, innuendo, and at times, obscurity. He mistrusted the written word, disliked writing because truth was inevitably degraded when committed to paper through a profane language. This attitude most clearly ordinates the lineage along which he inscribes himself by his premises and his results. His low regard for “demotic” writing as a means of truth-communication made personal contact with him invaluable, for he had no such reservations concerning the spoken word, the word of gesture. Thus he actively believed in oral transmission of a kind of knowledge best called “gnosis,” [3] and in private, I always found him accessible to leisurely conversation on the most exalted topics. As our relationship soon proved more than casual, his information became increasingly direct, in contrast to his written expression which often presents problems of meaning and referent.

To such an epistemology, personal contact is the kingpin of communication, and I found out later to what extent his frame of reference was tailored to his correspondent. ...

Can a skyscraper be ecological? - The Singapore Editt Tower

Ron — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:30:46 -0700

...it is evident that this site is an urban “zero culture” site and is essentially a devastated ecosystem with little of its original top soil, flora and fauna remaining. The design approach is to re-habilitate this with organic mass to enable ecological succession to take place and to balance the existent inorganicness of this urban site. -- The unique design feature of this scheme is in the well-planted facades and vegetated-terraces which have green areas that approximate the gross useable-areas of the rest of the building. -- The vegetation areas are designed to be continous and to ramp upwards from the ground plane to the uppermost floor in a linked landscaped ramp...

A crucial urban design issue in skyscraper design is poor spatial continuity between street-level activities with those spaces at the upper-floors of the city’s high-rise towers. This is due to the physical compartmentation of floors (inherent in the skyscraper typology)... In creating ‘vertical places’, our design brings ‘street-life’ to the building’s upper-parts through wide landscaped-ramps upwards from street-level. Ramps are lined with street-activities: (stalls, shops, cafes, performance spaces, viewing-decks etc.), up to the first 6 floors.

Ramps create a continuous spatial flow from public to less public, as a “vertical extension of the street” thereby eliminating the problematic stratification of floors inherent in all tall buildings typology. High-level bridge-linkages are added to connect to neighbouring buildings for greater urban-connectivity. ...

William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle

Ron — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:33:04 -0700

Here's another provocative TED video. McDonough shares some of his most inspiring work, including the world's largest green roof (at the Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan), and the sustainable cities he's designing in China. -- This blip is 20 minutes.

Stewart Brand TED Video: Why squatter cities are a good thing

Ron — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:48:52 -0700

I highly recommend watching this 3-minute video blip of Stewart Brand's TED talk. (See also SB's 1-hr. "City Planet" talk at Google.) ~ ronjon

Off to Burning Man for the next 10 days

Ron — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:11:56 -0700

Burning Man 2006 satellite view. (~ 40,000 participants)

Well, I'm off to Burning Man 2007 tomorrow (Saturday) and will be pretty much out of touch with SCIY (no phones or Internet access out there on the remote playa). Rumors are that this year's festival will be the biggest in its 18 years, even more than the record 40,000 last year. This is truly a remarkable experience when you realize that all the infrastructure for a self-contained international city is literally created by volunteers out of nothing in a few days on a barren, hot, lifeless desert site. It's fully populated for a week, and then completely dismantled, in accordance with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management regulations for use of the site, with no evidence of it having been there, not even a flake of glitter! ...

Burning Man 2007: What is Burning Man?

Ron — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 09:31:24 -0700

Every year, tens of thousands of participants gather to create Black Rock City in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, dedicated to self-expression, self-reliance, and art as the center of community. They leave one week later, having left no trace. Read Burning Man's mission statement, 10 Principles, and learn more about this incredible experience. ...

Entheon Village at Burning Man

Ron — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:59:26 -0700

Entheon, meaning “a place to discover the spirit within,” is an effort to promote sustainable cultural re-evolution that heals relationships between the people of the earth and our planet. The mission of Entheon is to demonstrate a future in which sustainability, ecological responsibility, environmental stewardship, and meditative and mystical consciousness are a welcomed and integrated part of society, and where art, spirituality and creativity is central to that vision.

[The] Entheon [camp at Burning Man 2007] will be a grounded gathering place offering an intellectual, therapeutic, artistic and creative cornucopia of interactive opportunities. Lectures, workshops, renewable energy demonstrations, visionary art, zen meditation in a zendo, holotropic breathwork sessions, and performance come together in the spirit of celebration to co-create our shared vision of global healing and a broader awareness of ecological responsibility. ...

It's easier being green: Toronto's St. Gabriel's Passionist Church

Ron — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:33:36 -0700

Designed by Roberto Chiotti of Larkin Architects, this $10.5-million facility – which received prestigious Gold certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system – proves once and for all that green building need not be expensive, or unpleasant to look at or inhabit. If anything, it makes a case for sustainable architecture that's so compelling, it's sad to think it remains the exception.

Surrounded on every side by some of the most dreary and depressing architecture, St. Gabriel's (670 Sheppard Ave. E.) stands as a beacon. Using poured-in-place concrete, recycled pews, specially treated glass and lots of (coloured) natural light, Chiotti has pulled off something miraculous. Essentially, he has reinvented that most ancient of architectural forms, the church. ...

'GaiaEducation' Educators and Designers Gather in Thailand

Ron — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:51:45 -0700

Gaia Education Educators for a Sustainable Earth (the GEESE) flew from the 4 corners of the world into Thailand to meet in a beautiful, curvaceous mud building surrounded by lotus ponds and bamboo groves. Inspired by Ghandian ashrams where social change meets spiritual practice and working with the land, Wongsanit Ashram is a hub of sustainability and grassroots leadership training in South East Asia. Wongsanit is also an idyllic eco-settlement complete with organic gardens and traditional thatched and cob houses. This was a wonderful base to come together to discuss the Ecovillage Design Education (EDE). In keeping with the diversity of the group the Southerners revelled in the sultry, humid tropical days whilst Northerners were challenged by the heat! ...

Auroville: An experiment in urban planning

Ron — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:46:08 -0800

...Urban utopias took a new avatar in Paolo Soleri's Arcosanti where architecture and environmentalism hit a new [level of] collaboration. Auroville near Puducherry is one such utopian vision conceived partly as an ashram retreat and partly like a rationally organised urban precinct. This book is a documentation of the urban development and architecture witnessed within Auroville since 1964.

Mirra Alfassa, popularly known as the Mother visualised Auroville as an urban experiment to "undertake the work of evolution of consciousness." She commissioned the French architect Roger Anger to give form to her vision. Anger came with a spiral plan that resembled a galaxy with the Matri-mandir at its centre. The entire city was divided into industrial, cultural, residential and international zones with a green belt encircling it. The town was designed for a population of 50,000. The book discusses the features of urban planning and architectural accomplishments in three sections. The first section briefly documents the important stages of Auroville's urban development. It reproduces some of the archival images, sketches and notes that illuminate the ideas leading to its conception. In the second part, the details of the plan, the various zones and important buildings within them are listed and described. The last section profiles the various architects who are part of Auroville and gives brief description of their important works and views. ...

Hanging Homes: Free Spirit Spheres, Habitat for the Un-Tamed Spirit

Ron — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 17:33:42 -0800

Imagine a cluster of these hanging at Auroville! ...

Uses for these durable Spheres are limited only by ones imagination. Healing, meditation, photography, canopy research, leisure and game watching are just some of the things you could do.

Spheres can be hung from the trees as shown or from any other solid objects like buildings or rock faces. A web of rope is connected to any strong points available. This replaces the foundation of a conventional building. A suspended tree house uses the forest for its foundation. The occupants have a vested interest in the health of the grove. The supporting web also mirrors our connectedness to our surroundings. Each sphere has four attachments on top and another four anchor points on the bottom. Each attachment is strong enough to carry the entire sphere and contents. ...

'Waterworld China' wins top prize in international design competition

Ron — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:27:26 -0800

Atkin's Architecture Group recently won the first prize award for an international design competition with this stunning entry. Set in a spectacular water filled quarry in Songjiang, China, the 400 bed resort hotel is uniquely constructed within the natural elements of the quarry. Underwater public areas and guest rooms add to the uniqueness, but the resort also boasts cafes, restaurants and sporting facilities.

The lowest level runs with the aquatic theme by housing a luxurious swimming pool and an extreme sports center for activities such as rock climbing and bungee jumping which will be cantilevered over the quarry and accessed by special lifts from the water. With a stunning visual presentation as shown here, it's no wonder this project took home the first prize. This is a fine example of an ultra modern facility co-existing amongst its natural environment. ...

Adaptive Environments: What is Universal Design?

Ron — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:01:54 -0800

Universal Design is a framework for the design of places, things, information, communication and policy to be usable by the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations without special or separate design. Most simply, Universal Design is human-centered design of everything with everyone in mind.

Universal Design is also called Inclusive Design, Design-for-All and Lifespan Design. It is not a design style but an orientation to any design process that starts with a responsibility to the experience of the user. It has a parallel in the green design movement that also offers a framework for design problem solving based on the core value of environmental responsibility. Universal Design and green design are comfortably two sides of the same coin but at different evolutionary stages. Green design focuses on environmental sustainability, Universal Design on social sustainability. ...

Siem Riep, Cambodia #s 2-5

Ron — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 12:53:18 -0800

Here are a few more of the email updates I've been receiving from a friend who's now traveling in SouthEast Asia. His writing is so vividly "on the spot" that I thought to share it here on SCIY.

Nearby (4 km. north) is the larger walled city of Angkor Thom. Within its 10 sq. km. area lies Bayon, a three tiered temple best know for its collection of 54 gothic towers decorated with 216 coldly smiling enormous faces of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. Below on the first level are 16 intricate bas-relief panels relaying among other things naval battles, linga (phallic symbol) worship, every-day life and more. Amazing. ...

Siem Riep, Cambodia #1

Ron — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 14:27:25 -0800

I received this email a couple of days ago, from a friend who's now traveling in SouthEast Asia. His writing is so vividly "on the spot" that I thought to share it here on SCIY. ~ ron

Here in Siem Riep (Angkor Wat) Cambodia, there is no shortage of entrepreneurial capitalism….just like in Thailand. Because of all the foreign dollars, euros and yen flowing into here because of Angkor´s famous temples, there´s a plethora of people catering to the foreigner´s needs. ...

"Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century" ('Business Week' review)

Ron — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:48:52 -0700

Ok, this review convinced me. I'm going to order my own copy of this new book, created by Alex Steffen, the executive editor of the amazingly informative website "Worldchanging.com," which Rich alerted us to in a recent post to SCIY. ~ ron

...Part encyclopedia of socially conscious companies and movements, part picture-book (it includes gorgeous color photographs by leading photographers such as Edward Burtynsky), and part how-to instructions on becoming a greener consumer or business, the nearly 600-page volume is an invaluable resource you can use without booting up your computer... And to justify the dead trees required to produce the tome—and set a compelling example for readers—publisher Harry N. Abrams printed each copy on 100% recycled, chlorine-free paper. Abrams also purchased wind credits (from www.renewablechoice.com) equal to the amount of electricity needed to manufacture the book.

"The Good Life: New Public Spaces of Recreation": Van Alen Institute exhibition, NYC

Ron — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:15:47 -0700

I wonder if Auroville's planners are keeping up with the immensely creative work on urban design now underway around the world?

New York’s Van Alen Institute['s] The Good Life: New Public Spaces of Recreation, an exhibition at Hudson River Park’s Pier 40 showcasing dozens of projects either planned, under construction, or already realized that insert the rare combination of scenic refuge and pure pleasure into the hurly-burly of cities. “People are just desperate for these sites,” senior curator Zoë Ryan says. “Not everyone can escape the city during the summer, so this sort of destination has become increasingly important.” ...

Extreme Architectural Engineering: Construction Automation by Dr. Dante N. Bini

Ron — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 10:31:34 -0700

Check out these remarkable automated construction systems. The Binishell System has already been used to construct over 1,500 buildings in 23 countries, at significantly less cost & time than conventional methods.

This web site deals with research and development in the use of automation in constructing building structures for a variety of purposes. The applications range from affordable housing, schools and shopping centers, etc., built in different countries of the world, to conceptual cities' infrastructures to be built from the sea floor or in deserts. Extra terrestrial projects where construction automation using applied physics and robotics are also envisioned and described herein. ...

The Long Now Foundation: Fostering Long-term Responsibility

Ron — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 17:52:47 -0700

Civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short attention span. The trend might be coming from the acceleration of technology, the short-horizon perspective of market-driven economics, the next-election perspective of democracies, or the distractions of personal multi-tasking. All are on the increase. Some sort of balancing corrective to the short-sightedness is needed -- some mechanism or myth which encourages the long view and the taking of long-term responsibility, where 'long-term' is measured at least in centuries. Long Now proposes both a mechanism and a myth. ... - Stewart Brand

The Long Zoom: Simulating the cosmos (NYT Magazine)

Ron — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:54:19 -0700

...a decade or two from now, when we look back at this period, it is more likely that the work that will fix the long zoom in the popular imagination will be neither a movie nor a book nor anything associated with the cultural products that dominated the 20th century. It will be a computer game. ...

The new 'Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics,' in Waterloo, Canada

Ron — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 15:08:02 -0700

Perimeter Institute is a community of theoretical physicists dedicated to extending theories of space, time and matter. It's home is an innovative building in Waterloo, Canada, whose archetectonics are designed to foster interaction and creative community across normally disparate disciplines.
In just five years, Perimeter researchers have contributed over 500 meaningful, peer-reviewed, scientific findings and transferred this knowledge to all manner of partners in the entire research chain. Their current areas of cross-disciplinary research include: * Foundations of Quantum Theory * Quantum Information Theory * Quantum Gravity * Superstring Theory * Particle Physics * Cosmology ...

Honoring Architect/Philosopher Paolo Soleri, on his 87th Birthday

Ron — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 12:00:00 -0700

Paolo Soleri celebrated his 87th. Birthday this week at Arcosanti. Staff, visitors, and members of Paolo's "School of Thought" gathered for the traditional "frugal soup," in which Paolo cooks and serves a healthy but small meal to remind us of the great inequities remaining in our world.

During his long and productive life, Paolo has been an inspiration for many people around the world, especially those of us who have had the good fortune to know him personally. (I spent several years in the mid-90's studying and working with him at Arcosanti.) ...

CALIFIA: San Francisco Bay Area Eco-City 2015

Ron — Mon, 22 May 2006 17:19:55 -0700

This is the outline of a "visioning workshop" my friend & colleague Michael Gosney held last weekend in San Francisco re CALIFIA, his Green Century Institute’s proposed 10,000-person Bay Area EcoCity. Lots of connections, formal & informal, with Auroville here. -- I wonder if their "Word Cafe" method could be useful at Auroville? ...

Shanghai, The City of Tomorrow: A history of what is to come.

Ron — Thu, 18 May 2006 17:22:58 -0700

Ask anyone here and they will tell you: Shanghai is the future. But that is not so. Shanghai is not the future; it is every future, a palimpsest of urban visions, a history of what is to come. Visiting Shanghai is a journey to the very near future by way of the very near past, a fact that contributes to a strange form of urban vertigo: I came here looking for the city of tomorrow and was immediately overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu. Shanghai is a fantasyland of architectural grandiosity where any drawing, no matter how insane or adolescent, may come to life almost instantly, without the citizens' committees, building restrictions, and expensive labor that hamper architectural geniuses elsewhere. ...

The China Syndrome: For architects, China is the land of dreams.

Ron — Wed, 17 May 2006 19:29:32 -0700

.. For architects, China is the land of dreams. The construction statistics tantalize. The Chinese consume 54.7 percent of the concrete and 36.1 percent of the steel produced in the world, .. But Herzog & de Meuron .. has more work than it can handle. What attracted the [Swiss] firm's leaders to China is an openness to audacious projects, which they attribute to the lack of timidity and inhibition in the people there.
"They are so fresh in their mind," Herzog says. "They have the most radical things in their tradition, the most amazing faience and perforated jades and scholar's rocks. Everyone is encouraged to do their most stupid and extravagant designs there. ...

Intro to Paolo Soleri book: What If? - Collected Writings 1986-2000

Ron — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 22:03:46 -0800

Paolo Soleri is best known for his concept of "arcology," which most people think of in terms of its surface meaning: “architecture plus ecology,” the design of car-less, ecologically sustainable cities. Many people have seen Soleri's beautiful renderings of arcologies - miniaturized three-dimensional structures that require less ground area than conventional cities and can therefore utilize the surrounding land for farming, habitat preservation, and enjoyment by the city's inhabitants..

Less well known is the fact that Soleri's architectural designs are only a small part of an overarching comprehensive philosophy he has developed.. For Soleri, true long-term well-being can only be realized in a cosmic end-state he calls the “Omega Seed,” and he sees arcologies as "instruments for the acceleration of the evolution of human culture" toward the achievement of this state. ...

Discovery Verifies Mayan Civilization 2,000 Years Ago

Ron — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:49:45 -0800

Archaeologists have uncovered an elegantly painted 30-foot-long mural in a ceremonial chamber beneath a Guatemalan jungle pyramid, providing new evidence that Mayan civilization was in full flower more than 2,000 years ago. Archaeologist William Saturno of the University of New Hampshire and Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology said yesterday that the San Bartolo site, in Guatemala's Peten wilderness, is "the find of a lifetime," depicting the Mayan creation myth and the crowning of a king in vivid color on a plaster wall as though "parts of it . . . were painted yesterday." ...

April 23 and 24, 2005 - Debashish Banerji at Arcosanti

Debashish — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 00:12:49 -0800

On April 23 and 24, 2005, Debashish Banerji of the Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles offered a presentation on "Visions of Future Societies" and engaged in a dialog on "An Improved Tomorrow" with Paolo Soleri at Arcosanti, the future-oriented community combining architecture and ecology started by architect-philosopher Paolo Soleri. The talk was a prelude to the dialog, where Paolo Soleri's atheistic conscious evolutionism was engaged counteractively with the interventionist evolutionism of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.