Luisa Rodríguez

Inside out: Ten Park Drive

Construction scrap, polished steel
68 x 33 x 23 cm

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The piece is a continuation from the CWND Residency that took place at the Wood wharf construction site the past summer. As a result of visiting the ongoing development and the rest of the estate which is about 20 years old, it deals with contemporary planned cities, their conception, materiality and form.

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In trying to identify ignored elements left around the entire built areas, it was clear that public accesseded areas were well kept, without any unwanted elements left to be found (applying for objects and people). The construction site, however, provided vast amount of discarded construction material, mainly cut-off pieces of plasterboard, aluminiun studs, timber, and even clay. Through these materials and their form there was a possibility to examine the development and understanding how these contemporary districts are the products of modern technology from their glass and metal shells to their shapes and the massiveness they take. It almost feels unhumanly created.

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Taking from the exposed constructive elements on Reinhard Mucha's work and the use of different quality materials for different purposes, the piece draws attention to the distinction among construction materials and their value. Foucalt's concept of heterotopias, often discussed in urban design, also resonated as these buildings and the district in its entirety are privately owned although one is left to believe they are public and people are welcome.

 

 

A new polished steel sheet follows the profiles, some even broken, of the different cut-offs into reproducing the shiny, pristine facades which the public usually get to see. In contrast, the construction side refers to all the labor, connected to their makers and their social conditions. Through an unfolding gesture it pretends to question the diminishing of craftsmanship in architecture referring to industrialized forms and the irony of their makers ultimately not being able to use them.  Exposing its interior and contrasting qualities, it suggests a reconciliation between that labor and recent developments in technology whilst exposing the honesty of the architecture's core.

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