ORDER AND CHAOS

The grid in relation to city planning is usually seen as a guideline. However, two cities aim to push the grid to its boundaries as a guide. Brasilia is a city that takes its surroundings and enforces its own status of Order onto it, through the use of its grid and guiding lines. On the other side of the spectrum, the city of Manhattan instead breaks the order of the grid and instils its own sense of Chaos into it.

Brasilia aims to use its grid to enforce its own idea of Order onto its surroundings. This can be seen in the objects that inhabit its grid; the iconic Superquadras. The Superquadras situated in the grid act as a repeated unit that only have very slight variations to give them some semblance of character. This reflects the Order that Brasilia imposes, forcing those that inhabit its grid to conform. Conversely, Manhattan has a grid that uses as a guideline for those that inhabit it. In an opposite manner to the Superquadras, the buildings found in Manhattan each have their own characteristics; from height, to form, to type.

The final piece is an attempt to put this theory into form. On one side sits a grid that where inhabitants are simply repeated units - each unit being of a uniform height and size. On the other side is a grid that imbued with chaos. Each plinth differs in height, and on top of each plinth sits an object; taking inspiration from Koolhaas’ City of the Captive Globe.