Lethal Theory

This entry is mainly on the reading Lethal Theory by Eyal Weizman. Since this class is all about “Theory”, we have to know its meaning first. Theory is something that answers phenomenal. It is something that we (human) create up to fulfill what we don’t know about this universe. The Lethal Theory is about the relationship between military strategy and architecture.

Everything in the world has changed. People no longer live in the village in jungle, which has weak protection. But now, we live in the city, which is a membrane of a country. It has better protection. The globalization and the satellite technology actually make us know what is going on with the world. With that we can prepare to handle with the troops better. So learning technology and architecture theory (especially architecture) can actually helps the military to create strategy in warfare.  

This space that you look at, this room that you look at, is nothing but your interpretation of it. Now, you can stretch the boundaries of your interpretation, but not in an unlimited fashion, after all, it must be bound by physics, as it contains buildings and alleys. The question is, how do you interpret the alley? Do you interpret the alley as a place, like every architect and every town planner does, to walk through, or do you interpret the alley as a place forbidden to walk through? This depends only on interpretation.

-       Kokhavi

This is actually one of my favorite quotes. That it can actually be used in a lot of things. First is in architecture and another thing is Military which is the example in the essay. Since cities and buildings are bounded with physical boundaries. If there are door or an arch on the wall, it suggests us that we have to walk passes that door or that arch. Or maybe we weren’t suggested but we interpret it. Or the way stair is, it links from one floor to another floor. It meant for us to walk up from one floor to another floor.  Or an elevator that is simple a box that transport us from one floor to another floor, all we have to do is to walk in there and press the button and we will be on another floor. We interpret these elements according to what we were taught. Not like they teach us to do this in school but as we grow up we see our parents and everyone do it. So we just absorb and learn how to interact with these elements. On another hand, if we were born as Tarzan growing up in the jungle with monkeys and elephants and one day we have to come to the city, how would we interpret and interact with those elements. For sure, we would see it with our fresh mind with no knowledge that frames our thoughts on it. We might climb up the wall like we climb up the hill. We climb up the stairs with our feet and hands. And we might just have no idea what the elevator is for. The IDF actually look at the architecture like Tarzan. They do not walk through the threshold but they walk through the boundary. Especially when they have technology like infrared scan that they can see where human are.

Writing about interpretation reminds me of the lecture by Alexander Brodsky I went on last Sunday. There is a building called Rotunda II. It is a building with circular plan that has no walls but doors surround it. The space in the building actually changes according to which door are open or close. As the space changes, we reinterpret it. At least, the interpretation on circulation is changed.

Rotunda by Alexander Brodsky
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