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hannah durham
Diploma 9

Resetting the Rules of Context: Rewriting the Perceptions of Space in the City

In this project context is defined as a frame of reference through which we chose to experience the world around us. This proposal challenged this frame of reference, through a series of designed architectural glitches within the square of the Michaelplatz in Vienna. The glitches intention is to liberate us from the existing architectural spatial rules of a city and reveal the architectural conflicts which have occured within the square. Adolf Loos' Looshaus building within this square is the protagonist of the glitches which sparks the architectural conflicts. An example of one of these designed glitches is the Looshaus building catapults itself at its enemy the Emperor's Hofburg palace opposite to rip of the palace's ornament. After the series of glitches have occured, it is found two murders have taken place. The first a dead human body and the second an architectural murder caused by removal of all the ornament of the palace's facades. It is concluded that the Looshaus building is the murderer.

Key cultural buildings/actors around the ‘round table’.Turning the city into a theatre set with a fly system from the theatrical stage means the facades of buildings can swap and change.Twisting the city's fixed building footprints.View down Herrengasse Street, with the elevations of the street being shortened and lengthened while new elevations are being inserted (the palace and Looshaus building are introduced into the street's vista).  A drawing of Herrengasse Street, with the Looshaus building's elevation being duplicated along the street. This results in the Looshaus building perception of being the 'odd one out' or glitch of the square to become the norm.The Looshaus building enraged catapults itself towards its enemy the Emperor's Hofburg Palace.The Looshaus building enraged catapults itself towards its enemy the Emperor's Hofburg Palace.Murder of a man outside the Looshaus building caused by the architectural conflicts of the square.Due to the murder the square's context is dissected out and labelled. A game was created to find out more about what might have happened.Evidence from one of the suspects of the crime, the planning councillor of the Looshaus building, Herr Schneider with his view of what the Looshaus main elevation should look like.