Author, Reader and a Search for the New

‘Author, Reader and a Search for the New’ is a large scale, fictional proposal for the Hudson Yards in New York as it was before its recent development. The project is a study in alternative authorship in architectural design and investigation of how the effect of the new in architecture is created.

What kind of knowledge lies within architectural projects? Does the only correct source of this knowledge lie within concrete programmes, contexts and intentions of the authors? Or could we find new knowledge by looking at objects and associations that arise from subjective readings? My thesis project is a study in alternative authorship in architectural design and investigation of how the effect of the new in architecture is created. Project takes as its point of departure Wall House II designed by John Hejduk. Alongside investigation of the possible design process of the author, it tests the hypothesis, that introducing readers as equal players can generate unexpected results. I explored the way Wall House II has been described and interpreted. Metaphors and associations found in various texts by Hejduk, his critics and commentators allowed to assemble a collection of forms and objects: historical references, objects of everyday life, primitives etc. Can something new emerge from these readings?\nThe methodology of my study can be described as copy the author’s stated process and replacement of elements of the script by their respective readings. The chosen framework was Hudson Yards project in New York. By playfully juggling elements and forms from the collection of readings of the Wall House II, the new hybrid objects came about. In this manner, repository of architectural forms sprang from the literary archive of Wall House II. Two platforms became a game board on which the high-rise buildings can be placed at choice. The game recalls how Hejduk once stated that his highly controlled geometric architecture came from playing with lead soldiers as a child. The aim of the project was to divest architecture of the illusion of a single authorship and rather celebrate a more complex, multiple one. Various readings add to the complexity of the project thereby revealing unexpected and non-trivial qualities. There seems to exist a vast universe outside the scope of established architectural value system, that might serve as material for experimentation and which therefore should not be ignored.