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The
Rise of the Network Society, by Manuel Castells
Multi-National
City: Architectural Itineraries, by Reinhold
Martin and Kadambari Baxi.
The term network expresses an interconnectedness
created and furthered by the proliferation of technologies
like telecommunications and computers. This complex idea
seems to hover on the surface of the physical world, as
bytes move across wireless, cable, and phone lines, culminating
in what is popularly known as the Information Age. But networks
-- be they financial, computer, or the flow of goods and
services -- are physical. They not only inhabit
physical space, they shape it and the social relationships
that occur within it.
The now landmark, three-volume study
by sociologist Manuel
Castells analyzes these social changes that came about
from the incorporation of computer and other technologies
by governments, universities, and corporations. The last
have the greatest impact, with the first structuring the
ability of corporations to move and work freely across international
borders, and the second as training ground for those studying
to redefine the global economy. Castells' thesis revolves
around an observed transformation of capitalism towards
a not only global, but informational focus. One need only
turn on the TV and watch the numerous advertisements proclaiming
a global transformation in the way we do business or the
closing of physical gaps via communication devices to see
the now widespread effect of the network society on business
practice and many people's lives.
For those readers willing to trek
through this first of Castells' three volumes of The
Information Age and its myriad statistics, the most
rewarding section will most likely be "The Space of
Flows," a term Castells coined to describe a space
of technical, topological, and social layers. As the author
states, "the global city is not a place, but a process,"
it is clear that traditional physical notions like center,
periphery, hierarchy, or density are not as important as
more abstract considerations like resilience, flexibility,
and connection. Perhaps connection is actually the word,
shared by these two extremes, that encompasses the direction
of the network society's future course: the still important
physical connection of the body alongside the propinquity
of sustainable urbanism and the real-time, global connection
of the internet and other information technologies.
Arriving over ten years after Castells'
thorough analysis is Reinhold Martin and Kadambari Baxi's
take on the space of flows, a mix of historical research,
analysis, and architectural design. The duo (who practice
as Martin
/ Baxi Architects) look at three cities (Silicon Valley,
New York, and New Delhi) as "monuments of corporate
globalism" towards a "science of the imaginary"
that could influence the design of future working environments.
Their focus is on corporate office buildings or complexes,
as today these places resemble less the traditional, single-function
workplace than a cross-section of the city. Amenities like
gyms, cafes, playrooms, and landscaped plazas are some of
the examples of how corporations have molded the workplace
into a city in miniature. While Martin and Baxi focus on
the physical make-up of the Multi-National City (MNC), they
ultimately aim to make the book about the networked connections
of these and other places, where each city is just a node
on an infinite loop of the world in process.
From an architectural standpoint
it must be said that the majority of structures that Martin
and Baxi research and present are just plain ugly. They
are the suburban office parks, the less-than-stellar Midtown
skyscrapers, and the contextually insensitive brutes of
the periphery. Perhaps this historical lack of imagination
sparked the duo to take on unsolicited projects for sites
in the three locations: the "dense sprawl" and
folded facades of Coyote Valley, the inverted offices and
park of Ground Zero, and the pixelated cubes of Delhi Land
& Finance. Their projects tend to be strong on implementing
their research via siting, programming, and massing, while
the architectural beauty is only a notch above the existing
context. This is less a critique of their abilities as designers,
than an acknowledgement of their focus on those things that
really affect change.
Speaking of design, it must be noted
that the book is wonderfully designed. Not only does the
graphic design of the text reinforce the connected loops
of the global network, but the book itself "opens"
into two, so the reader can take in the text with or without
the photographs of the ugly structures mentioned above.
What could be seen at first as a gimmick and a bit excessive
(it is one book with four covers, after all) is integrated
into a cohesive whole, a closed loop in essence.
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