#infrastructure – @nickkahler on Tumblr

Like all true infrastructures, the invisibility of global data systems in everyday life means that they are only really noticed (and then, only fleetingly) when they cease to function. At such moments, the constant calculative operations sustaining global digital capitalism momentarily materialize, until reinstatement occurs and the assemblage sinks into the background once again.

Stephen Graham, “Stealth Architectures and the Geographies of Backup” in Geographies of Information, 2016

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It’s easy to forget that, in an era of unprecedented access to information fueled by an accelerating Moore’s Law, everything weighs on the land. While unlikely to be visible from the backyard, the infrastructure of digital technologies will only become more pervasive, and should be respected with the same aesthetic and critical discourse that we bestow on the ballet of the sidewalk, the symphony of the city, and the poetry of infrastructure.

Amelia Taylor-Hochberg, “On Geographies of Information,” 2016

#amelia taylor-hochberg #geography #information #moore's law #quote #technology #backyard #infrastructure #digital #pervasive #landscape #city #urbanism #poetry #symphony #design

nickkahler

We never took propaganda to consist only of its factual or post-factual components, but explicitly wanted to address texture, surface, cracks in the surface, and cinematic aura. We also felt that it would be too limiting to identify propaganda only by the intent of its individual ‘architects’. It would make sense to look at the infrastructure of propaganda, which has dramatically changed since the separate media regimes of print, radio, cinema, and television converged onto the internet and the world wide web. Should we consider the media landscape purely on terms of its output being fake or real? Far before the advent of ‘post-fact’ and ‘fake news’, major news outlets already published fictionalized or ‘augmented’ accounts. Or they endorsed wars, based on untrue or outright false information, giving them an aura of legitimacy. There is nothing new about that. News items, fake or real, can be seen as coordinates that people use for further (in)actions and (in)decisions.

Daniel Van der Velden and Vinca Kruk of Metahaven, “On Transparency and Propaganda,” 2017

nickkahler

Before Assange’s continued confinement in the UK, or more precisely, in the one piece of UK territory that’s Ecuadorian, WikiLeaks surfed the grid of nation-states in a manner similar to OMA/Rem Koolhaas surfing the waves of globalization. In Koolhaas’ case, this was about public-private capital offering endless inroads into scripting cities, fashions, buildings, regions, polities, perceptions and behaviors. In WikiLeaks’ case, this was about using the infrastructure of a globalized internet to disrupt state control, an idea that wasn’t itself new at all, but was never before put to such directly political use.

Daniel Van der Velden and Vinca Kruk of Metahaven, “On Transparency and Propaganda,” 2017

nickkahler

Mounds are, in effect, fossilized labor. They are the remains that mean that some social mechanisms were in place in a hunter-gatherer society that made it possible to mobilize labor on a large scale.

Vincas Steponaitis, “On the Watson Brake Mounds,” c. 1997

#mound #fossil #labor #archeology #architecture #design #working class #struggle #time #meaning #hunter-gatherer #society #sociology #history #construction #earthwork #land art #art #infrastructure #scale

nickkahler

By tiny steps, these buildings propose new forms of making urban life better. When the state is not able to provide infrastructure and required services, architects must develop strategies to meet the needs of citizens.

Jose Castillo, “Guerrilla Architecture as Development,” 2005

#jose castillo #guerrilla #guerrilla architecture #development #proposition #form #urbanism #state #infrastructure #architect #strategy #develop #citizen #need #quote

nickkahler

Bold, opinionated, thoughtful words about the stuff that surrounds us might result in better buildings (and cities and suburbs, infrastructure and parks).

Alison Arieff, Why Don’t We Read About Architecture?, 2012

#alison arieff #read #opinion #word #stuff #surroundings #city #suburb #infrastructure #park #quote #criticism

nickkahler reblogged

subtilitas

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marte.marte, Schanerloch + Schaufelschlucht Bridges, Dornbirn, Austria, 2005 / 2012 (via marclins)

‘Two bridges of a trilogy of infrastructure projects (the third yet to be built) by the firm that enhance a small mountain road that winds through the hamlet of Ebnit. Each bridge is designed with extreme clarity; a pure physical expression of the structural forces needed to traverse the spans over the gorges along the route, articulated with a monolithic concrete.’

#marte.marte #bridge #dornbirn #austria #architecture #design #monolithic #concrete #material #infrastructure #mountain #road #passage #movement #clarity #structure #span #gorge

nickkahler

If people knew the real cost from the start, nothing would ever be approved. The idea is to get going. Start digging a hole and make it so big, there’s no alternative to coming up with the money to fill it in.

Willie Brown, “On Megaprojects,” 2013

#willie brown #megaproject #start #nothing #idea #dig #hole #money #cost #infrastructure #design #alternative #architecture #future #time #space #place

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Time is like a window through which black swans can fly.

Atif Ansar, “On Black Swan Theory and Megaprojects,” 2015

#atif ansar #black swan #black swan theory #theory #megaproject #time #window #fly #quote #obscure #sociology #construction #architecture #infrastructure #cost

nickkahler

RAAAF, Industrial Jurassic, c. 2013

#raaaf #industrial #jurassic #architecture #bridge #diagram #modification #iteration #form #military #tank #water #infrastructure #mobility #design

nickkahler

Excess infrastructural land is a highly visible, vacant stage.

Heather Alhadeff, "On Public Art," 2014

#infrastructure #excess #land #visible #art #public art #heather alhadeff #stage #performance

nickkahler

John Soane, Proposal for a Bridge over the Thames, London, England, c. 1800

#john soane #bridge #architecture #thames #london #england #elevation #drawing #art #infrastructure #design

nickkahler

The Atlanta region is home to half the state's population and accounts for 71 percent of its economy. But conservative rural and suburban lawmakers have long looked to starve Atlanta of funding for infrastructure and squash its liberal social policies. ... Of the 5.5 million people living in the 28-county Atlanta region, only 447,841 reside in the city itself, which is 54 percent black, according to U.S. Census data. Sixty percent of Georgia’s 10 million residents are white, and the majority vote Republican. White flight from the city decades ago helped fuel the sprawl in surrounding counties, whose residents have consistently opposed efforts to revive Atlanta’s urban core.

Margaret Newkirk, "Atlanta vs. Georgia," 2014

#margaret newkirk #atlanta #georgia #region #urbanism #suburbanism #population #economy #conservative #rural #starvation #infrastructure #county #residence #majority #white flight #sprawl