媒體報導:天下雜誌--當實踐遇上MIT(2009年1月號)

The order of dream in urban design-Environmental art projects in Dazhi community

1. The order of dream in urban design
-Environmental art projects in Dazhi community

Three orders of architecture
Charles Moore, a Californian architect once pointed out that there are three orders in the design of architecture. The three orders are: the order of space, the order of machine and the order of dream. The order of space is about the spatial arrangement of architecture. The order of machine is about the mechanical systems that make a building works.

When Charles Moore talked about the order of dream in architecture design, he was referring to the aspect that fascinated most of architecture designers when they engaged in design activities. It was about the aesthetics, the symbolism, the drama, the world of experience that a design is able to conjure up in one’s consciousness when all aspects of a design are placed in good order. The universe that a good design is able to open up in our consciousness is no difference from the experience of a good movie, a good poem or a good dream. Charles Moore aptly put this order of architecture as the order of dream because in good dreams, our souls or consciousness are free from the functionality of the physical world or the practicality of our daily life and is into a universe of symbolism and pleasant experiences that are meaningful to us.

There are endless ways to talk about art. The order of dream is referring to the state of mind that is being lifted from our mundane concern and into a holistic experience that has aesthetic and symbolic contents. The activity of the organization or orchestration of senses to create symbolism or meaning or aesthetic experiences in our consciousness is one good way to relate our design activity with “art”. In this line of thinking, we can also say that art is “in the order of dream”.

The order of dream in urban design
The three orders of architecture can also be applied to the practice of urban design. The order of space in urban design is what we as urban designer are most familiar with. This order involves arranging spaces large and small, in different shapes and forms to accommodate functions and activities within an urban site. It involves arranging spaces in certain order or sequence to orchestrate experiences.

The order of machine in urban design is also easy to understand. It is what we call infrastructure. It includes all the supportive technological systems that make the urban site in question functions. Some of the systems are not seen on urban surface, such as underground sewage system. Some are huge in scale, such as highways or transit systems that present themselves as part of the cityscape. Generally civil engineers deal with them. As we grow mature in professional practice, we will inevitably recognize the decisive nature of this order in the quality of urban design. But our concern here is about the order of dream.

The order of dream in urban design is about the dimension of the urban experience that constitute the way we perceive the city, the symbolic aspect of the city, the aesthetic aspect of the city. We learn about aesthetics in urban design, we learn about city beautification movement in urban history, we talk about amenity in urban design. But the order of dream is about the charm, the charisma, the ambiance of a city that is the essence of the identity, the soul of a city. The third order, the order of dream in urban design is what we will explore in the MIT-SCA Joint Studio this year. We will engage ourselves in this studio to create a new dimension which does not clearly exist, if not totally void in most of the city quarters in Taipei. The new dimension is,”the order of dream” in urban design.

Path to the order of dream- the three orders of Chinese landscape painting
What is the nature of the order of dream in urban design? How do we open up this order of dream, this world of symbolism or aesthetically meaningful experiences? In the history of Chinese landscape painting art, there is also a three order theory of organizing space in a landscape painting. A Chinese painter in Ming Dynasty pointed out that a good landscape painting should open up a world, a spatiality that includes also, three orders. The first order is where the body dwells. The second order is where the eyes gaze. And the third order is where the consciousness wanders.

The first order: Where the body dwells
Our body dwells in a concrete world with which we interact with our senses. It is the immediate surrounding within our physical reach; our immediate habitat or home range. Imagine yourself in a room or a bench in a park. The immediate surrounding where your hands can touch, where you can walk around and interact with your senses is “the first order”. When we draw a plan, we are inevitably dealing with the first order; where the body dwells. When you are in a car, the interior space of that car is the first order, where the body dwells.

The second order: Where the eyes gaze
The artist pointed out that beyond the immediate reach there is a world which is visually accessible to us. There is a world that exists in our consciousness which is constituted by the things we see. It is a world patched up by our visual experiences. The word ‘gaze’ is used for a special reason. We gaze with an intention. We visually browse through and beyond the world we dwell and find something meaningful, beautiful, ugly, appealing or threatening, etc. In such gazes, a visual world in our consciousness is constituted. Imagine yourself as a prisoner in a cell and there is a window with a view. The view, the “there” that can only be accessed visually is a world yonder, the meaning of which is constituted by the things we can see. Therefore, by arranging the things that we can see, we can organize a meaningful world in our consciousness.

The third order: Where the mind wanders
To create a universe in our consciousness within which the mind can wander is the ultimate concern of a Chinese landscape painter. Based upon the dwelled experiences and the gazed experience Chinese landscape painters can produce a two dimensional landscape that opens up a world of meaning and symbolism with profound aesthetic experience. It can be said that any art work, object design, architecture design or urban design with a good quality must be able to conjure up a world, a universe, or a spatial consciousness where our minds can wander in. In another word, we can open up a world, or conjure up a universe which is aesthetically meaningful through a good art object.

The order of dream, where the mind wanders and art
It is by now obvious that the endeavor of art is about entering into the order of dream, into a universe where the mind can wander. It is about creating a world of meaning, an aesthetic experience, an experiential field through the orchestrating and integrating the experience of the first order- where the body dwells and the second order- where the eyes gaze.

The public art
The concept of public art and the introduction of public art in the urban spaces have been part of the city of Taipei for more than 20 years. In the early stage, public art is understood as the placement of art objects, primarily sculptures in urban spaces. Since the law regulated that 1% of the public construction budget should go to public art, there have been cluttering of sculptures in certain city quarters. Intensive discussions about the significance of public art occur and two issues are raised, namely, the publicness or the community aspect of the art form, and the art form beyond sculpture.

The issue of publicness means that public art is more than placing an art object in public space. It means shared meanings, shared dreams, interactions and exchanges in deciding what to do about introducing a dimension of art into a community. It is about art in the community, that is, elevating the community into the order of shared dream through certain form of participatory process, or through a deep understanding of the collective nature of a community that can serve as the starting point of an art form that can inspire the members of the community.

The publicness of art is not difficult to understand. What happened in a traditional temple square and its surrounding, such as; the sculpture and decorative paintings on the temple architecture, the landscape design of the square, the religious ritual and drama performances happening in the square etc. are art forms that are public, shared and commonly understood. In the past, when people leave there mundane daily work and go to a temple, they enter into a world that is totally different from the practicality and functionality of subsistence. It is escape and elevation at the same time. The temple square and all the art forms in it produce a sense of festivity and Joy, spiritual and inspirational, with a dream like quality. This example of a temple square is the best example to illustrate the nature of public art and the nature of dream in art.

The Exercise
The third order, the order of dream in urban design is what we will explore in the joint studio of this year. What we will engage ourselves in this studio is to create a new dimension which does not clearly exist, if not totally void in most of Taipei’s city quarter, that is, “the order of dream” in urban design. The exercise is to give the community of Dazhi an order of dream. We will discuss the dimension of the urban experience that constitute the way we perceive this city quarter, the symbolic aspect and the aesthetic aspect of the city quarter that need to be discovered, enhanced or produced. We need to discuss about the charm, the charisma, the pleasant quality of the ambiance of this city quarter that is the essence of the identity, the soul of a city. We need to examine the order of where we dwell, the order of what we gaze and through certain engagements, we can create an order of dream, where our consciousness can wander.

The Crust of the Matter
There are three key issues that need to be emphasized to differentiate this exercise from the prevailing public art project in Taipei. They are the issue of contextual and publicness, the issue of the art form beyond sculpture and the issue of change inducing.

1. Contextual and publicness
We need to look into the context. The actions taken need to be public, it should be providing, inducing, evoking awareness and creating symbolism that are meaningful in a positive sense to the community.

We are to first examine the Dazhi community, this base where we dwell in. We need to know the people who live in this community and the activities that are carried on daily in this district. We need to understand the functionality of this district. The area and land use include a major river of the city, a large swath of commercial area with a shopping mall, residential quarters with small parks and primary schools, an major avenue with street side commercial activities, an about to finish metro line using the same corridor, and Shichien University with its Design School, a very significant fabric of this part of the city. And finally a hill serves as the perfect back drop of this urban quarter.

2. Creative and dynamic art forms
Other than the conventional static object art, we should explore all the possible media and forms of art on hands of the Design School and the MIT visitors. We should explore all kinds of possibilities and combinations. We should experiment with different senses, different scales, different orders, spatially or eventfully. What can be done is wide open. It can be a wide range of strategies except using drugs to produce hallucinations. Possible approaches are
1. Spatial strategies that intensify the dialogue between the School and the community
2. Events and spatial planning that transform the district into a platform or theater of arts
3. Visual strategies that arouse the awareness of the community of the potential of change into a theater of art.
4. landscape or environmental art approaches to give the community a strong sense of identity as an art center of Taipei

3. Yeast of change
The actions taken need to be dynamic or inducing change in the community now or in the future. The designs or events planned should have certain long term effect that will eventually bring about certain transformation as if we are introducing a yeast of change to the city. Maybe the Design School of Shi-Chien University should serve as the yeast of change to this community.
The Design School of Shi-Chien University is located in Da-zhi District. The school has four departments; architecture, industrial design, media and costume design. It has an extremely active and excellent design faculty and students that is rated as the top best 50 design schools in the world. The Design School of Shi-Chien should become the yeast that causes the change of the district into a theater spatially, in events, in daily activities. The activities of the Design School should spill out into the community and the community should also become sources of inspiration for creativity in school. The School of Design can be the agent of change through its leadership and participation in public arts.

Instead of the general practice of introducing public art in the area, we should view the Dazhi District as a platform, a theater for all kinds of artistic activities and artists and the residents. By introducing the order of dream into Dazhi we might hopefully transform this community into a much charming, charismatic, joyful, inspiring place than just a functional and not so special residential quarter.

Proposal for 2009 Taipei International Workshop

Organizers：
The School of Architecture and Planning, MIT
College of Design, Shih Chien University

Participants：
Massachusetts Institute of Technology：
Architecture Department
Media Laboratory
Shih Chien University：
Department of Architecture Design
Department of Industrial Design
Department of Communications Design
Institute of Fashion and Communications Design

Proposed Exercise Topic：
【 The order of dream in urban design - Environmental art projects in Da-zhi community 】

Proposed Workshop Date and Duration：
01/05/2009-01/18/2009, for 14 days

Location：
Shih Chien University, Taipei,Taiwan

Workshop Planners at Shih Chien-Praxis University：
Ann, Yu-chien Dean,College of Design, Shih Chien University
Associate Professor, Department of Architecture Design, Shih Chien University
M.Arch.,University of Pennsylvania

Lin, Sheng-fong Associate Professor, Department of Architecture Design , Shih Chien University
Former Minister of State, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley