connections
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SPEED | Autobahn with Memorial: "The apparent incongruity of a memorial inscribed in the lines of a speedway points to the inherent paradox of static names which the viewer can only decipher when standing still. Memorials, and the inscriptions they bear, are intrinsically linked to the notion of time, past and present, of the time we take to read out the end of someone else's time. When offered to the look of a moving subject in time and space, they bridge the points of departure and arrival of the beholder's journey and the stranger's past existence. As they slow down, drivers experience themselves as travellers through their own lives. " (galerie, 2000)

[ The notion of speed and architecture has been a fascination of architects since the invention of the automobile. The different speeds at which we experience architecture reveals different layers of meaning and intention. The irony demonstrated by Framis in putting the memorialized names on the highway dividing lines where they will never be read perhaps alludes to a very real problem in our cities. The integration of transportation infrastructure and public circulation systems within the urban fabric must become a priority. Architecture, infrastructure and landscape must reconnect. CP defines speed and space as:

  
Alicia Framis
Autobahn with Memorial, 1999
Berlin
 
 
MOVEMENT implies a measurable interval, always in TIME and frequently in distance (hands on a clock)
MOBILITY describes the capacity for movement (the mechanics of that hand)
TRANSPORTATION describes a form of physical movement (carrying the watch on the wrist)    
TRANSFER: Transference and exchange, implies re-location of energy or information (reading the time on the clock.)
lauren_abrahams@hotmail.com | McGill University | DRM | School of Architecture