An Absurdist Take on “Continuous Enclaves”
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
For his final student project at Rice University, Viktor Ramos presented structural forms of gigantic scale to depict how architecture could be used or grafted along the Oslo Accords to unite Israeli and Palestinian territory into one “continuous” entity within the West Bank.
The scope and implausible nature of the massive, snaking bridges darting in and out of the landscape denote the absurdity of attempting to create a rational, applicable solution to the partitioning of the region. You can access all of the project’s visual works here.
What is innovative about Ramos’s presentation, entitled The Continuous Enclave: Strategies in Bypass Urbanism, isn’t simply the political and social statement, but also the proposition that partitioning can move beyond a “2-D” solution and project itself into the air, as if the West Bank barrier had been designed by some abstract artist to slice into the airspace above the two respective regions.
All else aside, Ramos presents a visually stunning study. Moreover, what makes his idea all the more meaningful, perhaps, is the fact that similar projects have been proposed seriously by others, such as the RAND Corporation: Behold, the RAND Corporation’s futuristic”Arc” solution to the West Bank partition:
The research team develop a detailed vision for a modern, high-speed transportation infrastructure, referred to as the Arc. This transportation backbone accommodates substantial population growth in Palestine by linking current urban centers to new neighborhoods via new linear transportation arteries that support both commercial and residential development.
The concept here is to create an infrastructure “corridor” that links urban population centers, serving as an artery of sorts for commercial activity, as well as basic necessities such as food, water, and energy. It’s not so much the technology involved that makes the project unusual, but rather the literal interpretation of creating two parallel, walled-off societies inhabiting the same region, and abiding by the physical requirements of Israeli and Palestinian territorial claims.
(Via BLDGBLOG)
