Gift reflection and looking forward: A proposition and an insight

Veil, fluid, invisible, carved, banal

My gift project suggests both an insight about retaining walls, and a proposition on a site in Seoul. I was keen to engage with a specific area of the city. This has been useful but has resulted in a gift that has moved away from earlier observations I made. The gift proposition concentrated on circulation, moving between changes in level, which is only one small aspect of what the walls mean for the city. Therefore, in some ways the gift has not said (or given) what it had potential to. Instead it responded to one small part of my overall research. Therefore, I see the gift as two parts, an insight and a proposition. The insight considers the repercussions of the walls on the city as a whole. They:

- disregard the traditional Korean relationship to landscape, where views and connection to landscape are prioritised. They form a veil between landscape and city.

- run counter to more formal systems, and are allied to landscape because although they alter the topography, they follow the contours of the natural landscape. They create not just a physical condition but also a social condition for the city. They create a fluidity and anarchic quality, they are continuous. They guide and frame. Their material qualities and scale transform traditional small narrow winding streets into expansive repetitive spaces. They are not a new phenomenon but the city’s demands are changing the nature of the walls.

- are invisible (blind) yet present, important. The surfaces seem ignored, uncelebrated, but their physical scale is apparent. Older walls are more usually integrated into buildings resulting in much richer surfaces. Each wall has its own character form by their material, structure and context.

- alter topography (landscript), hiding the true strata of land. This is lasting. The pressure of the earth is carved, excavated and folded by the walls.

- are banal and essential, a piece of city infrastructure. They offer a level of permanence which is more akin to landscape than the fast-changing (built) city. City uses may change, but the pattern of the walls will remain imprinted on the urban fabric.

Discovering the 'undercity'

Exploring dis-used railways, sewers and bridges in New York.



UNDERCITY from Andrew Wonder on Vimeo.

"What was really different about being arrested in France was that they seemed to understand the value of the urban infrastructure".

Northern Heights Pathway

Once a train line for steam trains (1867), this track closed after a lack of passenger demand. Later, the route was intended to be converted into an extension of the Northern line but the Second World War disrupted construction and, due to post-war cuts, it never became reality. Today, it is still used by the public, but as a Parkland Walk. Predictable?

Figure ground and aerial view

From aerial views, it is clear to see how the railway line has impacted on the growth of the neighbourhoods around it. Some buildings seem to be shaped entirely around the track whilst others ignore its cut through the city. It will be interesting to see how much of the infrastructure of the train line remains today.

City may change but retaining walls (infrastructure) remain. The Apatu to culture is to knock down and start again after three or four decades. The needs of the city are changing. In London, the Northern Heights line fell into disrepair after a lack of passenger demand. In its abandoned state, its pattern on the city remains.

Returning to London

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toxophilite/sets/

As mentioned after the final crit in Seoul, the British railway system is an interesting comparison in terms of guiding through the city, and making a lasting pattern, as part of the city’s infrastructure. I have come across several disused railway tracks which are of interest. Their intended uses are no longer in practice but their impact on the city remains.

An association with transport systems

During discussions a few weeks ago, various comparisons were made with retaining walls in England and Seoul. Prior to my discoveries in Korea, I had always associated retaining walls with transport systems. When I tried to think of retaining walls back in England, I thought of motorways, railways and rivers. As Peter Ferretto mentioned there is a ‘blindness’ to retaining walls, as if we don’t realise that they’re there, and yet we feel their presence because of the way they can dictate and shape the city.

It would be ludicrous to suggest that retaining walls play a similar role in London as they do in Seoul – namely because the topography doesn’t require so many of them. However, when looking at railways in London, the presence of retaining walls reveal themselves once again.