Atmosphere for Infiltration:
A city's negotiation for freedom in contested territories
Atmosphere and Agency
Supervisor - Ms Wu Yen Yen
Fear has always accompanied cities throughout the history of mankind. However, never before has fear influenced in such a complex manner and with such intensity that skewed the ways how cities are (re)built and (de)formed. The city has become associated more with danger than with safety today; cities accentuate dangers: dangers of unrest, crime, and contaminated water and air intensified by the density of cities. More recent examples highlight these emerging dangers that are urban in nature. One emergent danger that threatens our national security is radical terrorism targeting everyday routines has resulted in the militarization of cities as we see in many cities today.
This Thesis proposes bringing back the democratic nature of public spaces and the joy of freedom to urban environments. Through tracing and cataloging the genealogy of defenses from pre-WWI to the current “war on terrorism”, the project explores a new taxonomy to design for counter-terrorism. An urbanized vocabulary that veers away from the current devices of bollards, heavy duty fences, x-ray and metal detectors. The architecture will attempt to reinstate civility in our cities while intercepting, repelling and filtering perpetrators. Concurrently, it rallies our civilian, fortifying their minds in revolt against intruders whom contests the liberties of our cities and everyday lives.
While we are not trying to build a fortress, it is important to understand the dynamics of offense and defense. We distilled the main strategies in each phase and put it in the context of an anti-terrorist environment. The exploration is done together with the use of the concept of Activating Citizenry in counter-terrorists efforts and also together new found technology of using plants as TNT detectors.
On a Normal day the assemblage performs a defense and deterrence function, people are shopping and you can see the reflection of people in the area and behind you on the ceiling surface and down the atrium we observe the people approaching and entering the compound (this is active citizen surveillance).
During an attack, the assemblage performs the function of detection and creating a spectacle. The siren rings, vehicles are kept at bay by vehicular trapping, citizen notify each other about the intrusion and escapes through the sliding poles.
After the attack happens, this becomes a place for mourning and rehabilitation, we can see here that there is visual porosity where needed and spaces for citizens to congregate and provide support. And the flower garden turns into the space where the people mourn for the dead.
Links & Contact:
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linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zi-han-lim
Tags: #activecitizenry #antiterrorism #architecturallanguage #assemblage #defense #defensible #detection #escape #genealogical #genealogyofdefense #infiltration #nonlinear #panopticism #publicspaces #radicalization #security #semiotics #singapore #spectacle #surveillance #synopticism #syntatic #syntax #taxonomy #terrorist #thresholds #urbanism #vocabulary