Technologies for Seduction: The “Espacio Doméstico” VideoArt Center in Blanca [EDOM]

Sustainability, understood in its beginnings as a common horizon for multiple practices and fields of study, has gradually given way to the development of increasingly sophisticated tools, with distinct dominant meanings established for each discipline. Within the field of material technologies for architectural production, sustainability seems to have found its most fertile ground in topics such as recycling, the use of "bio" materials, or energetic efficiency. However, to improve the understanding of the impact of technology on our ways of living, it appears increasingly necessary to move from the deterministic logic of sustainability into the relational domain of ecology, where the use and deployment of technologies can be observed through the multiplicity of its effects and the diversity of actors involved. In this paper we will address the case of the rehabilitation of several traditional houses located in the Murcian town of Blanca to host the “Espacio Doméstico” VideoArt Center (EDOM). In this action the selection and implementation of technologies have been aimed at impacting on diverse aspects including local communities, digital manufacturing, recycling, and policies regarding the rehabilitation of heritage buildings. While the initial approach was to address housing recovery as a heterogeneous accumulation of stories, technologies or material deployments of the domestic, our intervention strategies ascribed to the different technologies the role of mediating with existing elements through the incorporation of the very different visions of sustainability. Thus, we displayed artifacts produced by digitally manufactured methacrylate assembled on IKEA structures, fluorescent power lines supported by insulators on the wall, fluorescent tattoos on walls and ceilings that guide and extend the configuration of existing flooring, esparto furniture and fabrics produced by the esparto women workers’ and village women’s associations, re-appropriations of old furniture through the implementation of new media technologies, etc. If we can see seduction as the process of converting affinities and disagreements into affirmative communication, then the EDOM proposal can be seen as an active seduction process between technologies and users who approach this kind of cultural artifacts. Through these permanently active processes, art technologies will refer the viewer to complex sensory experiences, where a combination of parody, memory and sound pushes the user to the limit of mere comprehension of works of art. This more relational approach to the issue of heritage rehabilitation, technology or art institutions is offered as an area of controversy and debate on the scope of political ecology and its potential impact on the architect’s professional practice.

Deed of gift to Sarah Croswell, 1783 August 9

Handwritten list of furniture and an accompanying deed of gift between Andrew Croswell and Sarah Croswell.

Subseries J. Bill to the Town of Cambridge, 1789

This folder contains a bill from Samuel Shapleigh to the Town of Cambridge for keeping school from July 20 through October 20, 1789; it was submitted on November 2, 1789. Shapleigh requested reimbursement for his room, board, and furniture, in addition to his teaching.

Journal of College Disorders, 1788-1797

This journal contains entries about various student "disorders" which occurred during Eliphalet Pearson’s tenure at Harvard. Daily entries describe a wide range of students’ rebellious conduct, which included: hissing at speakers in chapel, throwing snowballs and stones at College buildings and people (including tutors and then-President Joseph Willard), disrupting lectures by scraping chairs and feet, breaking windows, intoxication, moving and breaking furniture, stealing firewood, firing pistols, building bonfires, stealing supplies (food, cider and candles), throwing food and utensils during meals, stealing Bibles, wearing hats indoors, filling door locks with stones, drawing on lecture room walls with gravel, and silencing the morning chapel bell by filling it with molten pewter plates (stolen from the kitchen). There are also entries pertaining to more malicious offenses, including the drowning of a dog in a well. Several entries describe meetings of the College government to determine the appropriate punishments for each offense. Students were often fined, expelled, or suspended ("rusticated") for their unruly behavior.

Subseries J. Bill to the Town of Cambridge, 1789

This folder contains a bill from Samuel Shapleigh to the Town of Cambridge for keeping school from July 20 through October 20, 1789; it was submitted on November 2, 1789. Shapleigh requested reimbursement for his room, board, and furniture, in addition to his teaching.

Letter from Samuel Willard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Catherine Willard, Petersham, Massachusetts, September 6, 1799

Willard complains about not having received requested items sooner, explains that his aunt gave him some furniture, discusses friends in Lancaster, mentions a blue coat that he would like to have made, and describes the house that he lives in, which was called “the Den or College House.”

Deed of sale, 1736 May 8

Handwritten deed for furniture sold by Boston merchant Joseph Gilbert to Andrew Bordman.

Account book of Andrew Croswell, 1794-1802

Andrew Croswell kept this account book while an undergraduate at Harvard College. It contains entries from 1794, the year he entered, until his graduation in 1798. There is also one entry on the back cover apparently made in 1802. The entries, divided by school term, are very detailed. Croswell indicates the cost of the following, among many other expenses and purchases: transportation, most often to Hingham and Plymouth; payment for "passing the bridge"; candles; hiring a horse; wood and having it cut; laundry; quills and pencils; paper and ink; razors, haircuts, hair ribbons; a trunk; clothing and cloth for trousers; furniture; tickets to the theater; door locks; a bowl and spoon; "batts and balls" and "other necessaries"; tobacco; toothbrushes; shoe and boot repair; fruit; wine, brandy and rum; cheese; coffee and tea; butter; lemons; sugar; and wafers. There are also entries for college-related costs, including the payment of quarter bills, buttery bills, Hasty Pudding Club dues, and a fee to the President of Harvard College related to Croswell's graduation. There are also entries pertaining to the cost of celebrating various special occasions, including Election Day, Christmas Eve, "Independent Day," and George Washington's birthday.

New Orleans, Louisiana, 1884 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Map of the city of New Orleans showing location of exposition grounds and all approaches thereto by land & water, [by] the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, La., U.S.A., Department of Installation. It was published by The Exposition ca. 1884. Scale [ca. 1:2,000]. Covers also adjacent portions of Jefferson and St. Bernard Parishes. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Louisiana State Plane Coordinate System, South NAD83 (in Feet) (Fipszone 1702). All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as exposition grounds, railroads, roads, canals, levees, drainage, block numbers, land ownership in outlying areas, selected public and industrial buildings, cemeteries, Parish boundaries, ferry routes, and more. Depths shown by soundings. Includes inset views, plans, and engravings: Perspective view of the buildings and grounds from the Northeast -- Mexican national headquarters -- Grand Rapids (Mich.) furniture pavilion -- [South pass] -- View of New Orleans in 1719 -- Railroad map of Louisiana and Texas -- Plan of New Orleans in 1770 by Capt.n Pittman of the British Army -- Ground plan -- United States and state exhibits -- Art gallery -- Main building -- Factories and Mills -- Horticultural hall. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from The Harvard Map Collection as part of the Imaging the Urban Environment project. Maps selected for this project represent major urban areas and cities of the world, at various time periods. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features at a large scale. The selection represents a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates, scales, and purposes.

Equipamento para quartos séniores de residências de serviços acompanhados ou domiciliários : projecto de desenvolvimento com a colaboração da empresa Mundinter S.A.

The presente study, entitled “Equipamento para quartos séniores de residências de serviços acompanhados ou domiciliários”, consists on a development of a new furniture line for Mundinter SA. This project aims to improve the quality of life of individuals with special needs. This social duty is to integrate, temporarily or permanently, elderly or disabled people, contributing to their balance and well-being. Focused in the social economy (nursing homes, assisted and private residences) and aware the care to be provided to the elderly and dependent it is intended, together with Mundinter S.A., create more versatile and appealing furniture equipment for rooms. The interest in this topic is based on the analysis of the space and equipment functions / purpose, as well as the user’s needs. Through contextualization we try to find solutions allied to the design, though in enormous expansion with society influence, is still unexplored in furniture equipment for elderly or disabled people

Modeling and validation of the thermal behavior of buildings for the development of demand response methods

The representation of the thermal behaviour of the building is achieved through a relatively simple dynamic model that takes into account the effects due to the thermal mass of the building components. The model of a intra-floor apartment has been built in the Matlab-Simulink environment and considers the heat transmission through the external envelope, wall and windows, the internal thermal masses, (i.e. furniture, internal wall and floor slabs) and the sun gain due to opaque and see-through surfaces of the external envelope. The simulations results for the entire year have been compared and the model validated, with the one obtained with the dynamic building simulation software Energyplus.

Bay window of our room at Mrs. Schryrus on Washington. Minnie Nemby and Fanny Read. January 19 - '89

On verso: Bay window of our room at Mrs. Schryus on Washington - Minnie Nemby & Fanny Read. Jan. 19 '89

Rackham Building interior

Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, architects. W.B. Wood Co., construction

Rackham Building conference room

Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, architects. W.B. Wood Co., construction