Circulations Through Pratt

What would Pratt look like if it were one of Calvino’s Invisible Cities?

1. What would it be called?  How would you describe it?
2. Take a 20 minute tour of campus or an area on or around campus.
3. Take at least 10 photos that capture the tour of your Invisible City.
4. Consider other ways of documenting the “invisible” and use those where applicable.
5. Take notes about the features of that “city” and give your tour of Pratt a title that is based on Calvino's cities.
6. Return to the Classroom and discuss.
7. Rewrite in Calvino-style language and incorporate your photos (and any other spatial documentation you’ve captured)
8. Create at least two "versions" of Pratt as Invisible City using two different categories from Calvino. Collect and integrate necessary documentation.

1. Klovivk. The city with stations that many stop to look at. Each place stays the same. It does not move, but the paths are created by the individuals.

4. Documentation through photography.

5. City of Memory

7. Stations sporadically placed throughout a mapped area. Everyone walks through these spaces to reach a certain station, but no one walks to the same station after each day. From one point to another. Each place has a written memory. An essence of the body. As the person crosses from one station to another, a pathway is created. A web of lines. From point A to point B to point C. They walk and walk. They do not stop and they themselves forget the intersections they created the last day, week, or month.

8. City of Trade. They cross paths until their paths become foreign. They pass off their past to each other like a football at a game. 

Focault's Docile Bodies and Architectural Related Studies at Pratt

The space I chose is one of the freshmen dormitories on Pratt’s Campus. The Cannoneer court is designed in the most efficient way possible. In that there are two sides to the dorm, one mainly for the girl population and the other for the male. Both sides have access to the other side through the main lounge, workroom, and the lobby. Upon entering the Cann (as we call it) one will turn left, turn right, or walk up the stairs to the next level. In this journal entry, we will be focusing on the second floor of the Cann, particularly the girl’s side of the hall and the spaces that intersect the hall. With 22 rooms down one hall, there are approximately 44 girls living on one side of the second floor. These girls all share one bathroom at the end of the hall and a workroom along with a main lounge with the whole building.

Through the spatial organization, one can infer that there are only two directions to go to. One is to the communal restroom and the workroom, while the other is to the lounge and exit. Through this organization, there is no other space for the residents to wander off too. The narrow path down the hall suggests that it is not a place for communication. The horizontal pathway only allows two directional movements. If one must communicate in a comfortable manner, it can be done through the workroom or the lounge, which are on either ends of the hall. In this hall, there are many rooms. Each room is spaced approximately five to ten feet away from each other and is accessible only through the doors in the hallway. The placement of each door not only allows for each person to have equal amounts of space within the vicinity of the room, but it also exacts control over the residence. This idea is similar to Focault’s theory on how repetition and partitioning will break down collective dispositions and create useful space, as well as create equal standing among all. No one person has power over another. The shared lounge space and workspace are to encourage communication between those that live in the same building. Although communal restrooms are an inconvenience, it promotes communication because of the forced interaction with your neighbors. This enables freshmen students to create strong bonds with those who live in the same floor. With so many students living in the same hall, security is definitely a concern. Each door is equipped with its own lock system. Similar to Focault’s discussion about Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, the lock system, even if it is not actually in use, act as a barrier between the shared space and personal space. It provides legible boundaries, in the sense that not one person will enter another’s room, even if they know that no one is occupying the room at the moment.  There is a blind trust between those who live in the same place and share the same space. Residential advisors live on either end of the halls. This employs the idea of ranks to keep the population in control when needed.