Hybrid Morphologies

In Marc Angelil and Anna Klingmann’s article Hybrid Morphologies Infrastructure, Architecture, Landscape the idea of site and non-site is discussed. They describe a site as the “material reality of a pre-existing situation” they use the example of a city like New Jersey because its landscape is familiar to many people. For us a site that is most familiar would be the city of Winnipeg. On the other hand they describe a non-site as an “abstract representation or reinterpretation” of the site, this could come in the form of a sculpture or a map for example.  They describe the city as a phenomenon, and the non-site and site represent the different sides to this phenomenon.  We felt that the idea of a non-site is the most significant side to the phenomena. A non-site allows for each individual person to openly come up with their own thoughts and opinions of a site. A non-site gives the viewer a chance to enter in between the physical qualities of a site. We feel that this is important because it enables us to share our own interpretations with others which is similar to our studio discussion groups which are very beneficial to hear each individuals thoughts.

Another idea discussed in the article is a “Scape” which is described as an edgeless city where there is no distinction between boundaries, and example used in the text is inside and out. Within this topic the writers talk about the differentiation between infrastructure, architecture and landscape and how rather than different fields they are combined into one. Just like the different fields becoming one, the landscape and the city are described as one, the “scape.”  We feel that there is a slight distinction between city and landscape, but that distinction is slowly becoming less distinct. For example as urban farming enters the city it begins to merge the city life with the life of agriculture. We feel that over time the boundaries will become more and more arbitrary as we expand city life into landscape and as landscape enters the city.