Raffaele Pe Agogic Maps From Musical Phrasing to Enhancement of Urban Spaces 123 Raffaele Pe Politecnico di Milano Milan Italy ISSN 2191-530X ISSN 2191-5318 (electronic) SpringerBriefs inApplied SciencesandTechnology ISSN 2282-2577 ISSN 2282-2585 (electronic) PoliMI SpringerBriefs ISBN978-3-319-48304-7 ISBN978-3-319-48306-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-48306-1 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016962041 ©TheAuthor(s)2017 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. 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Printedonacid-freepaper ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Foreword: Tune-In City Thecityistheproblem;thatmuch,weknow.SinceTafuri’sdemystificationofthe logicofmetropolitanarchitectureinthelate1960s,inwhichthecollusionbetween economic and cultural forces was denounced, architects have increasingly found difficulties in asserting their role to find social and political traction for their ideas. Tobesure,Tafuriwasnotresponsibleforopeninganunbridgeablechasmbetween cityandarchitecture;ratherheshouldbecreditedforlucidlydetectingandmapping it. The shockwaves ofthis realization arestill legibletoday, asit sufficestohavea quicklookattheshelvesofarchitecturesectionsinbookstorestoregistertheflurry of trends, full-fledged theories, or quick provocations still agitating the debate in architecture and urbanism. Likewise, disciplinary insecurity has led architects to wander into both adjacent and distant fields: landscape, computation, science fic- tion, political theory—to name a few—have been utilized to provide new blood to heal the Tafurian fraction. The research carried out on agogic maps by Raffaele Pe, which is well recon- structed in this book, returns to this difficult and yet crucial problem providing a new opening to understand and successively intervene in the city. He does so by establishingtwokeythemeswewilldwelloninthisshorttext.Firstofall,thereis thechoiceofthecityinwhichtointervene:DaresSalaam—Tanzania’capitalanda testing site for an ‘agogic’ mapping exercises—poses problems that are far from those traditionally encountered in Western cities, but by no means tangential. Whereas much of avant-garde design theory has been focusing on injecting dynamism, if not altogether chaos, into carefully planned Western cities, Dar es Salaam,onthecontrary,isinneedoforder,ofasyntaxtoencodeitscomplexand unregulated growth. Rapid urbanization, deprived conditions, and yet a rich local culture andtraditionhavenotorganicallyblended,notsettled,norhavetheygiven rise to a pacifying image. The question of order thus becomes a complex one in which traditional, imported, if not colonizing, models cannot be proposed. This latter consideration appears to be the starting point for the second element ofnoveltyprovidedbythispieceofresearch.Agogicmappingdrawsfromavariety of incredibly interesting and yet new sources of inspirations and reflections for v vi Foreword:Tune-InCity architects. Not only music—from which it directly comes—but also scenography andsemanticsareallemployedtoconjureupaseriesofnewandknowntechniques tomapurbanenvironments.ItisimportanttopointoutPe’sbackgroundhereashe splitshistimebetweenhismusicalandarchitecturalcareers;hisknowledgeofboth disciplinesisdirect,basedonactualpractice.Assuggestedearlier,thisbiographical note distances him from other architects whose forays into other disciplines have beencharacterizedbysuperficialknowledgeand,consequently,less-than-fortunate results. This is not the case here as the range of specific and original musical referencesclearlyconfirms.ItisapleasuretobetakenthroughtheworksofAppia or Donatoni in what we found the most interesting part of the book. Agogicthinkingisvirtuallyabsentfromarchitecturaltheory,aswellasfromthe repertoireofrepresentationaltechniquesavailabletoarchitects.Assuchitdeserves some further contextualization in order to fully appreciate its original contribution andpotentialtoalterourreadingofcities.Thesecondhalfofthetwentiethcentury sawanumberofattemptsinarchitecturetoconceiveofuncertaintynotasalack,a weakness, but rather as a fertile condition for design innovation. The gap between event and space was perceived by Bernard Tschumi and Nigel Coates in the early 1970sintheirworkattheArchitecturalAssociation(Tschumi1983)asasourceof inspirationfornarrativearchitecture.NotlongafterStanAllenbeganhisinspection of art practices to produce not only his Field Condition (1985), but also, more relevant in this context, his Barcelona Manual (1996), a completion entry for the Logistical Activities Zone of the Catalan city was delivered in the form of a suc- cinctmanual.Here,too,wefindaproductivegapbetweenscriptandperformance,a gapforthedesignerandusersaliketoinhabit.Agogicmappingtechniquespromise to expand this space, opening it up to more ephemeral, perceptual dimensions, enriching it further to reveal a virtual, but by no means, less tangible image of the city. Finally,wewouldliketoconcludewithabriefreferencetodigitaltechnologies and their role in mapping. Raffaele Pe elegantly integrates elements of local mor- phology and “agogic theory” in his computational models to generate multiple maps of Dar es Salaam. The role of digital technologies in this endeavor is both essentialandlimiting.Obviously,thecomplexityoffactorsconsidered,thedynamic nature of agogic maps, and the morphology of informal settlements all lend themselves well to the possibilities to manage large data sets enabled by CAD software. In this sense, the research mostly shows the potential of this way of operating, calling for more advance experimentation in this area. However, by combining quantifiable elements with more elusive ones, this research challenges thelimitsofwhatcanbecomputedandhowitrelatestourbandynamics.Thispart oftheresearchtoohitsona‘sweetspot’ofcomputationaldiscourseinarchitecture andwoulddeservemorescholarly attentionandexperimentation.What isatstake, however,isalreadyclearinRaffaele Pe’sresearch:thepossibilitytounearthasort ofunconsciousdimensionofthecity,avirtual—definedhereinDeleuziantermsas theoppositeofactual—throughwhichtoattempt,onceagain,torelatethecitytoits architecture. Foreword:Tune-InCity vii How will the city be described by the conflation of digital affordance and musical understanding? What pedagogical lessons can be transferred from Dar es Salaam? And where to apply them? These are some of the questions elicited by reading Pe’s work. These issues are central to contemporary architecture and urbanism;theycallonstudents,designers,andtheoreticianstotakethemseriously andengagethemasdesignopportunitiestomaptheurban,social,cultural,political, and ecological implications. Roberto Bottazzi London, UK Foreword: Unconventional Media for Metropolitan Orientation 2019 Los Angeles. The consequences of dystopias are visible all over the planets. An oppressive and hostile environment justifies the migration of many humans to the otherworldly colonies using cars, which fly all over the sky following random paths. This is the future as described by Ridley Scott represented in the movie Blade Runner in 1982. Today (2016), our cities which have become metropolises that are not able anymoretoreconstructalinkbetweenthebodyoftheirinhabitantsandthebodyof space, as Raffaele Pe argues in this book, neither the innermost expressivity that manifests a performative exchange between houses and routes. The problemof how the old parts of thecity or the new and neglectedones are integrated in the whole is emerging. Many other questions arise. For example, how is it possible todesign buildings or urban areas to sensitively respond both to the physical content and, at the same time, so that they can distinguish themselves from it in the form of a global/local landmark? It is necessary to think about a new language of composition that refuses direct references to a pseudo-picturesque historicism. Thus, the public realm requires the constructionofanarrativethroughourarchitecturesthattellsstoriesaboutwhowe are and what a city wants to be. It introduces above all a symbolic dimension into the architectural project using formal archetypes that are able to evoke a new meaning in the global culture. Now, an intentional and naïve removal of the anthropological time of the physical space, such as the fundamental basis of common sense and citizen par- ticipation, is a matter of fact. We should question ourselves wondering if it is necessarytoenjoinscientific,technical,andpoliticalrationalityinordertotakepart in modern civilization. This is something that very often requires the pure and simpleabandonofawholeculturalpast.Itisafactthateveryculturecannotsustain and absorb the shock of modern civilization. So here is the paradox: how do we become modern while returning to sources, how could we revive an old, dormant civilization while being part of a universal civilization? (Ricoeur 1961). ix x Foreword:UnconventionalMediaforMetropolitanOrientation Amappingprojectisabletorepresentthenewmetropolitancomplexityofacity with the aim to reconnect the dimension of the metropolis with a real and mem- orableexperience.Maps canreproducea representationofthemetropolitanhybrid spacecomposedthroughrelevantpoints,sincetheyfosteradeepknowledgeofthe metropolitan structure and the relationships that tie together its nodes in time intervals. This connection is possible only through an intense experience of the time-space. Therefore a map should show how every metropolitan phenomenon is constitutedbyaseriesoffeelingsrelatedtotheintenseexperienceoftheplace.Art is the key to create memorable places. In this respect, Raffaele Pe suggests that a map does not only describe the organizationofobjectsinspace,butitisalsoatooltorevealandexperienceabuilt environment.Outliningamapisnotonlyamatterofdrawing,itisalsoamatterof physical perception, and it represents an issue of orientation, a permanent bond between thebodyoftheterritoryand thebodyofits inhabitants.We acknowledge mapping as a practice of spatialization: not only does it implicate the geometric measurement of things, but it also refers to the reported, tangible effect that such measures have on the body of those who experience them. A Technological Issue Newdevicesdefineacityasameta-space(Bunschoten2003).Acityisafluidform of public spaces that evolves over time, generating different definitions of public realms and different ways of participating in it. Meta-spaces enable bringing dynamicscenariosintotheflowsofa“secondskin”.Aspresentedbyurbantheorist GrahameShane,ameta-spaceinthesecondskinisapublicspace,apublicmatrix, that we name Meta-city (Shane 2005). A research on new metropolitan territories must critically reflect on the exploitation of digital technologies and media as specific tools for the collection, organization, and interpretation of data for city analysis and architectural compo- sition. Aesthetics ishere proposed asalanguage across different disciplines,a tool that is able to support creative and innovative ways of designing and ruling future stagesofdevelopmentofthecity.Architectureamongtheotherartscanbeawayto configure a different vision on contemporary metropolises and our diverse society: itisadesigninstrumentforreactivatingsomepartsofthecity.Withtheuseofnew technologies applied to the context, Pe wants to determine some sensory inputs causing specific memories of a particular situation, hitting the senses of the observer: this book conceptualizes and spatializes feelings to turn them into a conscious perception, into a knowledge form that transforms a traditional spatial experience through the movement of the body. With the idea of agogic maps, the author of this book wants to produce an evocative image, the perfect place from a symbolic point of view on the city. This is, for the MSLab research unit of the Department of Architecture and Urban StudiesatPolitecnicodiMilano, awaytoreactivateurbanculturesproducingnew Foreword:UnconventionalMediaforMetropolitanOrientation xi synergies.The symbolicisdeeply rootedwithinaparticularculture domain,andit indicatesthepresenceofatopographicidentity.This,inparticular,isourItalianand Milanese approach to the dialogue among cities. An Issue of Interpretation With this book, Raffaele Pe offers a brilliant contribution to the research on the generativeprocessofurbanforms.Thistextlinksurbanstudiestoadifferentwayof understandingtheharmonyofthecity.Pefindsmusicalityeveninthedissonances of the city: he understands the dissonance as a form of complex harmony after the enlighteningintroductionofArnoldSchönberg’sintroductiontothetopic.Thefinal goalistheconceptionofanewnotationalsystemcalledagogic,inordertoestablish a meaningful relationship between settlement pattern and the continuous variation of the anthropological image. These new tools of analysis, interpretation, and designbecomeindispensableinunstablecontextsorwithinthosethatareprovided with a weak identity. This contribution to this field of research is not only related to musical-performance parameters from a technical point of view. The study con- siders also the orientation process in sensitive areas, which is not only a technical and material method but also an intellectual one. Raffaele Pe’s mapping process integratesconstituent processes ofspatial configuration andarchitectural structures (ecologies); his application of the method to the context of Dar es Salaam is quite clear. This fact is especially important for compositional studies of urban devel- opment in areas relevant from an environmental point of view: cultural landscapes in developing countries. Pe focused his study mainly on the Theory of Form discussed through a study which runs through post-structuralist criticism, generative semiotics, and ethno-semioticstothefieldofspectralismandpsychoacoustics,whichisnewtoour approach to urban studies. Spectralism and psychoacoustics are conceived as fun- damental tools for the definition of a spatial narrative made of sounds. The sound eventisthereforeconsideredanessentialmediumofknowledgetoshapethespace due to the fact that it is an immediate meaning producer. Against a purely chronological/causal and type-morphological reading of the urban environment, this approach has favored an experimental study aimed at understanding the con- stitutiveprocessesofacontemplativeenvironment.Thisapproachhasanimportant effect on the analysis and the project of the contemporary city because new metropolitanterritoriesarenormallyanalyzedwiththeintentionofrevision.Agogic mapsalsodealwithissuesoftherelationshipbetweenarchitectureandsociety,such aslocalidentityandsocialandculturalsustainabilityofglobalization,howeveritis a symbolic and imaginative approach that transforms the configuration of the meta-city through performative actions. The proactive attitude of the author denotes intellectual vitality in the various topics discussed. He conveys an original insight that is central to the construction xii Foreword:UnconventionalMediaforMetropolitanOrientation ofthemethodofanalysis,especiallyinnon-Europeancontexts.Theresearchispart of the architectural culture study of the MSLab—Politecnico di Milano, and it analyzes the current urban design theory across both European and international literatures with a special emphasis on contemporary musical composition. We should not forget that Raffaele Pe is a musician himself, very active in the redis- covery of the ancient repertoire, employing past techniques with a modern sensibility. Finally, this study deepens design procedures that take into account new digital designtechnologies.Thisenablescreatingoriginalcriticalexperimentsonthebasis of interdisciplinary analogies revised in an through a satisfactory theory. The volume extrapolates concepts already discussed in Anglo-Saxon countries, but perhaps not yet analyzed inside the context of Italian schools of architecture. The book critically introduces new terms for discussion such as the contrast between catastrophic and morphological continuity of deformation (trans-morphosis), the redefinition of the idea of the structure that exceeds the archetype of object and subject,theelaborationofanabstractpatternthatfeelsmoreandmoretheneedfor an alternate configuration evaluating new geometrical systems of description. Thefinalresearchquestionishowamapcanintroduceageneticperspectiveand agenerativespacebasedonthetopographicvariationsofthesettlement?Couldthe exploitationofsoundsinthewaywe“write”thespaceaffectthecurvatureradiusof asettlementmodel?Theclimaxoftheresearchleadstoasyntaxofthespatialform for the development of a design methodology, integrating objects within their environment through digital technologies, an original practical and theoretical contribution even though still in embryo. This is an original work which perhaps will receive broader specifications in future projects for the definition of contem- poraryprocessesoflogicalsuccessioninsense-makingformetropolitanorientation. Antonella Contin Milan, IT Acknowledgements Completingthisbookrepresentsboththeendof5yearsofresearch,aswellasthe beginningofnewpossiblehorizonsinthisfieldofstudy.Thiswouldhavenotbeen possible without the esteemed lead of Ernesto D’Alfonso, Professor Emeritus in ArchitecturalCompositionatPolitecnicodiMilano,andAntonellaContin,director of MSLab, School of Architecture, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DASTU), Politecnico di Milano. I would like to thank also Massimo Della Rosa for his precious contribution concerning historical and morphological studies in Dar es Salaam, partly included in New Models in Planning Practice to Address Migrations in the Sub-Saharan Region(DellaRosa2013).TheprototypeofDaresSalaamAgogicMapisavailable online (Geoscore), and it was created with the support of Alessandro Musetta and Stefano Bovio with whom, in 2015, we launched Sound of Things, a permanent research lab on architecture and sound studies (www.soundofthings.org). Finally,IwouldliketomentionmusictheoristDiegoFratelli,professoratCivica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado, Milano, and composer Martino Traversa for their irreplaceable guidance in exploring the world of ancient and contemporary music for a meaningful and profitable exchange with architecture and spatial design. xiii