Today I want to talk about an architect called Constant Neiuwenhuys, he creatied his “New Babylon” series of models. According to Wigley, the models of Constant’s New Babylon was a progression of linked transformable structures, and some of them were themselves the size of a small city. So with New Babylon, Constant’s main concept that he used in his models is the application of girds (Wigley 1998).
According to the recording of Wigley ( cited 1998), Constant’s ‘models appeared to sow confusion instead of fostering understanding of efforts to visualize a world in which living or the worlds we know from history.’ In addition, this kind of models are a new style transmitting and acceptable audiovisual network that could be overland on the over-shifting space network. Furthermore, New Babylon can be understood in the field of discourse about the relationship of electronic and architecture. And it has a lot of producing space, for example, floors, ladders and ramps. For the materials, the main material is steel beams, and glass which means the construction of modern architecture. And for the structures of space, people who living can modified anywhere.
The first model of mine, I just try to paraphrase Constant’s structure , and made a small model, the it made by lightwood, it is clear to show this tiny room was comprised by girds. The space of this model looks tiny, because I combined the conception of a living place with tiny space. And I used semi-transparent paper represented glass windows.
For my second model, I created different stairs and levels by foam core, that was connected with New Babylon’s structures. For the first model to the second one, I changed the main material to foam core and added the key term element of New Babylon, Stairs.
The third model and the fotth model are similar, they both has an intensive structure of floors. And the different height of floors ellustrate the dynamic space what Constant’s shew in his models.
The fifth model is completely different from other models, because I made this model as a public square, I want to show more empty space that people can use and do whatever they want.
My final model shows many floors in a small space. It was the final of the development of models made before. I rebuild the waste apartment for refugee which near by the Harbour Bridge. I only shew one room of the apartment, the main idea is the combination of Constant’s New Babylon structure and the new living conception which is a small space of fully using. This idea of mine comes from a news about some modern cites with the problem of crowded housing. Due to Wigley (cited in 1998) claims that ‘a growing discrepancy can be observed between the standards applied in allocating urban space and the real needs of the community’. Therefore, a series of my models are based on structures of apartments, using a small spcae to design the using space as it can.
Reference:
Constant Nieuwenhuyst, New Babylon (1959–74)
Wigley, M. and Constant (1998). Constant’s New Babylon. Rotterdam: Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art.