history

arq (2018), 22.2, 127–138. ©Cambridge University Press 2018

history   arq . vol 22 . no 2 . 2018 127
doi: 10.1017/S1359135518000337

Focusing on RUR’s project for Kaohsiung Port Terminal, this

article considers how the ‘stickiness of affect’ operates through
architectural image-making practices as part of the design process.

The stickiness of affect in architectural

practice: the image-making practice of
Reiser + Umemoto, RUR Architecture DPC
Akari Nakai Kidd

This article builds on and contributes to work on to provide other ways of conceptualising
theories of affect that have arisen within diverse architectural practices without being governed
fields, including geography, cultural studies, and by the generation of actual objects and clear
feminist writings, which challenge the nature of processes of production.
textual and representationally-based research. Most This article draws attention to the work of
commonly, following the philosophies of Baruch cultural theorist Sara Ahmed who provides a
Spinoza and Gilles Deleuze, affect is defined as the critical engagement with affect. Of interest here
capacity of bodies to act and be acted upon; affect is Ahmed’s formulation of affect as a circulating
1 4
refers to ‘intensities’ between bodies. Affect, for process that involves two aspects: the first
Spinoza, is located not in the individual but ‘in the involves a production of stickiness and the
passage from one state to another’ that is ‘purely second involves a process of (re)surfacing. The
transitive, and not indicative or representative, article begins with a brief exploration of how
2
since it is experienced in a lived duration’. such notions of sticky affects extend beyond the
This primary thread of research on affect draws boundaries of a particular body (human/non-
a distinction between affect and emotion. As human), such as an image, and rather emerge
Brian Massumi puts it, affect is understood as as part of what Gregory J. Seigworth and Melissa
autonomous, as that which ‘escapes confinement Gregg describe as ‘force or force of encounter […
5
in the particular body’ because it occurs before where] [a]ffect is born in in-between-ness […]’ –
we are able to name and qualify it; while emotion particularly where the stickiness emerges and
is the ‘most intense (most contracted) expression surfaces through the process of affective image-
of [the] capture’ of affect and is something that making. It then focuses on two visualisations that
can be enunciated – for instance, statements like RUR constructs for their Kaohsiung Port Terminal
‘I feel happy’. In short, affect precedes emotion project; one interior view capturing what Jesse
6
and therefore maintains a degree of autonomy Reiser describes as the ‘sweet spot’ of the project,
from the subject. While this article acknowledges and an exterior view portraying the port terminal
the utility of affect’s autonomy, for instance, as it within the local context.
allows for the analysis of preconscious experiences Through this set of images, the study engages
of the body, it questions an overemphasis on this with two processes of affective intensification
autonomy, particularly where affect is presumed that in part draw on techniques of visual
3
to be immaterial and unlocalisable. Instead, this representation. The first evaluates RUR’s play on
article proposes to think about affect through the panorama effect to investigate the interior
current architectural practices. image. The second looks at RUR’s use of an iconic
Architecture, and particularly architectural figure in their image. As the argument developed
practice as active, temporal, and embodied indicates, RUR’s image-making is invested in
processes, provides fertile ground for developing heightening images’ intensity – that is, to borrow
theories of affect. In corollary, this article explores Massumi’s words, ‘the strength or duration of the
the usefulness of affect theory in architectural image’s effect [which] is not logically connected
7
discourse, focusing in particular on the image- to the content in any straightforward way’ –
making design process undertaken by the thereby creating sticky images that both inform,
architectural practice of Reiser+Umemoto, RUR and are informed by, the design process and
Architecture DPC (hereafter RUR). Considering RUR’s design ambitions. Particularly, RUR’s image-
image-making practice through the lens of affect making practice is as much about a process of
enables us to explore the spatial-temporality intensifying the image as it is about generating
and experiential conditions of design practices. new strategies to design from, or design to, for
Importantly, the article uses affect theory the production of architecture. As Alan Latham

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and Derek McCormack put it, the endeavour is body and the observing body can experience the
8 14
‘to make more of images’, where through affect, same parallel intensities. Reinforcing this view,
images have the capacity to attach to, and detach Anna Gibbs describes affect’s contagious process
from, other objects/bodies that come into contact as ‘leap[ing] from one body to another, invoking
with them. The article concludes by considering the tenderness, inciting shame, igniting rage, [and]
15
various theoretical and empirical aspects in order to exciting fear’. Parallel to Tomkins’s and Gibbs’s
critically consider the implications for the theory of formulations is Teresa Brennan’s notion of ‘affective
16
affect when applied to practice. transmission’, which addresses affect as a ‘process
that is social in origin but biological and physical in
17
Towards an understanding of sticky affects effect’. She stresses affects as having an ‘energetic
Many disciplines have taken an ‘affectual’ turn dimension [… which is] why they can enhance or
18
[1]: from the philosophical lineage of Spinoza, deplete’ when they are transmitted. Brennan
Nietzsche and Deleuze & Guattari where affects identifies two types of transmissions of affect: ‘there
constitute bodies according to capacities is transmission by which people become alike
9
and processes of becoming, to the complex and transmission in which they take up opposing
interrelations/interactions between moving positions in relation to a common affective
19
imagery, affect, animals, and their environments thread’. These views illustrate affect as a relational
10
addressed by human geographers; from and transferable viral force, sometimes disparate
phenomenological approaches where affect is energies that drive us, take us in, to become
grounded in perception and with it, subjective, attached, or opposing forces that drive us away
11
sensory experience, to more recent engagements from certain objects. Notably, however, Brennan
with ‘new materiality’ that have redirected also diverges from Tomkins and Gibbs to present a
attention to the expressive properties of materials view of affect as ‘not so much contagious, elemental
20
– matter’s relational, interactive, and affective entities but less pure “sticky” transmissions’. More
12
capacities. recently, Sara Ahmed posits how affects are more
Affect and its indeterminacy as a concept than about flows of energy; they are also ‘about
encourage different interpretations, specifically in attachments or about what connects us to this or
21
terms of its character or movement. We see this in that’. Whereas Tomkins and Gibbs foreground
interpretations by Sylvan Tomkins, for instance, affect as constituted through bodily processes of
who affirms affect as activated through variations chemical transfer, Ahmed, and to some extent
.13
of ‘density of neural firing’ Here, affect is a process Brennan, are more focused on the ‘stickiness’
involving increase (amplification/augmentation)
or decrease/diminution of stimulus intensity,
1 Diagram of affect
communicated outwardly by the affected body.
geneology
According to Tomkins, this outward projection illustrating the
makes affect contagious, whereby the affected development of
affect theory and its
application through
diverse disciplines

Akari Nakai Kidd   The stickiness of affect in architectural practice

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 history   arq . vol 22 . no 2 . 2018 129

between bodies highlighted through acts of We must remember, however, that the transference
22
orientation towards or away from certain objects. and surfacing of affect as sticky is ‘about what
Ahmed’s formulation of affect as a ‘circulating’ objects do to other objects […] it is a relation of
23 35
process involves two key aspects: first, a “doing”’. Affects are not properties of objects/
production of stickiness, and second, a process of bodies, rather they are emergent through histories
24
surfacing. This position on affect as a process of of contact and of impression, where objects/
36
sticking and surfacing is particularly useful for bodies can get bound together, or blocked. This
exploring practices of image-making, providing would imply that affect orientates bodies to seek
ways to address image-making as involving attachments, but also to refuse attachments.
processes of affective intensification. To further Focusing on the interactions between affect’s
expand on these processes, the sticky association of sticking, surfacing, and impressing processes, the
affect has been consistently emphasised by Ahmed. following study evaluates the affective dynamics
She suggests that affect is: ‘[…] what sticks, or what within images. Ahmed’s approach to affect offers
sustains or preserves the connection between a useful framework for the discipline and practice
25
ideas, values, and objects’. Accordingly, the idea/ of architecture as it allows for an affirmative use
object is already associated with a certain affective of affect in design. Rather than seeing affect as
orientation. This influences what the ‘other’ idea or an after-effect of given spaces, the article argues
object entering the space (for instance, of a design for affect as a found (and always refounding)
process) will ‘receive by way of an “impression” as force, one that stands out as a little-utilised yet
26
it will “pick up whatever comes near”’. Within always pervasive and generative agent. Where the
such a context, things, including design processes, approach of this research departs from Ahmed’s
can become sticky through contact with other is in its proposition to extend notions of sticky
‘processes’ in their proximity. Taking the affect of affects to incorporate such things as sticky images.
happiness as an example, Ahmed considers ‘happy Specifically, the study explores how stickiness
objects’ that draw our body towards them because surfaces through the process of affective image-
we are aiming towards a feeling of happiness that making. Importantly, Ahmed is not writing about
27
we presume will follow. Happiness here is the a design situation. This article suggests that her
affective condition characterised through the concepts may be expanded and evaluated within
retaining or maintaining of bodies’ orientation the architectural design process where we focus on
28
towards the happiness-attributed object. This the intensity or effect of the image on the viewer’s
suggests how objects, and equally ideas and values, orientation, towards or away from the image-site.
can become ‘means’ or ‘pointers’ of affect and
why there are things like ‘happy-objects’ and ‘joy- Affective intensity of sticky images
29
objects’. It is, however, critical to point out how How does affective image-making operate as
‘sticky’ as a concept is not a property of an object, a critical process of design? This question is
but an orientation or propensity (inclination) examined through two visualisations that RUR
of bodies, a relationality beyond the terms in constructs for the Kaohsiung Port Terminal
relation. This understanding allows for a discussion project prior to construction. In these images, we
on the potential relation and encounter between find processes of affective intensification that in
bodies (human/non-human) as sticky. part draw on techniques of visual representation:
For Ahmed the space of affect is a contact zone specifically, first, a play on the panorama effect;
of impressions and orientations. It is a zone that, and, second, a deliberate use of an iconic figure.
while not completely localising, can nevertheless The images could be categorised as ‘final’, in that
generate attachments between things. This ‘contact they are printed out and used in design meetings
zone’ is where we can most clearly get a sense of the and presentations to discuss the developing
affective resonance of different bodies and objects, design among involved bodies. However, these
including design processes. This leads us to Ahmed’s images are also involved in the design process, as
second insight, which extends the first (sticking they are used as image-sites to discuss ideas, and
process): the circulation of affects is explained as as communicative tools to project RUR’s design
‘an effect of surfacing, as an effect of the histories ambitions. In this sense, the images analysed here
30
of contact between bodies’. Ahmed refers to Judith are, as Rebecca Coleman puts it, ‘involved in the
’37
Butler, where affect is expressed as involving a production of feelings and experiences – and
31
process of ‘materialisation’. Affects such as disgust therefore are analysed as active agents pulling
are ‘mediated by ideas that are already implicated bodies towards the design, but also as sites of
in the very impressions we make of others and the investigation and experimentation.
32
ways those impressions surface as bodies’. In this Specifically, in order to assess the ‘image’s
38
sense, as a force that demarcates boundaries, affect possible effects on the spectator’, the method of
participates in making impressions, shaping the analysing the images was conducted through a
33
‘surfaces of individual and collective bodies’. These modified form of, following Gillian Rose’s position,
surfaces may indeed ‘shiver’ or ‘recolour’ (as Ahmed ‘composition interpretation’. Here, existing visual
34
notes, specific to the affect of fear). The focus is, methodologies were developed to relate to the
then, on the surface of impact or contact and on topic of affect, and the following dimensions of the
the mark of the impression. This article refers to images were critically examined: the composition
this affective impression as the intensity of affect. and interrelations of objects; materials and

The stickiness of affect in architectural practice    Akari Nakai Kidd

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135518000337 Published online by Cambridge University Press
 130 arq . vol 22 . no 2 . 2018    history

elements (including light, texture, and colour 2 Interior rendering

of Kaohsiung Port
intensity as a visual property that has potential to Terminal showing
39
‘stress certain elements of an image’); the rhythm the ‘sweet spot’ of
the project (RUR
and direction of these elements; the proportion Architecture DPC,
of the image; and, importantly, the expressive 2013)
content, which has capacity to ‘evoke affective
40
characteristics’. This article thus pays attention
to the way affects are produced and circulate body) and distance (through, in the case of RUR,
within images, and how the image-making process the potentially distance-creating factor of excessive
feeds back into the design. The images analysed whiteness) that describe the panorama effect.
in this article provide sites to explore what visual What follows considers this specific interior
techniques have been used to heighten and amplify image that plays on the panorama effect as a
affect. Interplaying between visual representation vehicle through which RUR’s design ambitions are
techniques, and RUR’s design ambitions and desires potentially realised. Importantly, the analysis of
for the Kaohsiung Port Terminal, image-making the playful oscillation of immersion and distance
works as an ongoing but not always linear process makes evident the connection between RUR’s
to generate sticky relationships through the site of design process and image-making process, and
the image. is divided into two aspects. The first looks at the
design process of architectural pushing and pulling,
Playing on the panorama effect whereby the architect’s intensions are translated
RUR’s investment in the affective intensification of in RUR’s image-making, creating an immersive and
their images can be seen through one particular intensive affective surface. The second examines the
interior panorama image, depicting what RUR call potentially distance-producing technique of RUR’s
41
the ‘sweet spot’ of the project [2]. The analysis deliberate overload of whiteness. This image-making
put forward offers an account of RUR’s play on process generates an image-surface of surplus
the art practice of panorama, where panoramic affect. The oscillating process between immersion
strategies contribute to the production of an image (through affective pull/push) and distance (through
intensified with affect. While this article cannot an overload of whiteness) speaks directly to RUR’s
provide a comprehensive review of discourse on practice, which invests in designing and shaping
the panorama, it focuses on two particular, and ambience. Specifically, in the Kaohsiung project,
to some degree, paradoxical ways in which the they design for a faux/false-immersive ambience
panorama effect is understood within visualisation (through the panorama effect) – that is indeed
practices. The first is the effect of total immersion. ‘sticky’.
Precisely, as in Oliver Grau’s account, the panorama First, what is important is the direct link made
here embodies a ‘suggestive power’ whereby by Reiser himself between the interior visualisation
its role is to create an illusion of presence and and the effects of the panorama. He notes: ‘This
participation in reality as ‘being there’ through [image] is a kind of panoramic effect. I mean, this
42
immersive totality. The second is the effect of is flat, but you’d be rotating more […]. Everything
’45
an uneasy disorientation, created by the lack of converges in this sweet spot. Such comment
vanishing point and confusing sense of depth of suggests the panorama’s status beyond the still
the panorama. As Baudrillard puts it, the result is image. In other words, the scene, although not
43
an ‘aesthetic hallucination of reality’. And as Grau literally in motion, gives the viewer the possibility
further expands, ‘the spectator is subjected to a or suggestion of movement (through rotation)
44
deception that is complete’. Particular to RUR’s where the spectator is encompassed by the image –
image-making practice, the analysis that follows as if the action was happening along an immediate
also examines the notion of distance through an temporal and spatial continuity where, according to
46
overload of whiteness – which in turn generates Reiser, ‘from that one spot […] you see everything’.
an overload of affect. Here, the image partakes The convergence and compression of all ‘things’
in a process of affective mediation, a drawing in, at this particular spot accounts for RUR’s play on
and distancing of, bodies through the effect of the the panoramic effect of immersion. However, this
image. It is precisely this paradoxical combination is further accentuated through the architectural
of both immersion (as an experiential imaginative pull and push occurring as part of the design
immersion through the effect of the image that process. Specifically, the design process involved
forces a ‘withness’ between image-site and viewing in making this interior visualisation is crucial in

Akari Nakai Kidd   The stickiness of affect in architectural practice

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135518000337 Published online by Cambridge University Press
 history   arq . vol 22 . no 2 . 2018 131

understanding how image-making acts as a vehicle physical movement of walls in relation to the
or mediator and site to explore an affectively visual panorama effect, the space inside structural
intensified process. Reiser recounts the ongoing elements, mechanical spaces, and other hidden
tension between their practice and the ‘logistics realms of buildings, are now accentuated (although
people’ in developing the interior (depicted in the still visually hidden in the image-site) giving the
panorama image) of the port terminal: viewer a hint of the bulging depth of these poché
While we had very decided formal and organizational spaces. This impression initiates and absorbs the
interests, there was always a really interesting friction viewer fully into the panoramic dimension. Here,
[with the logistics team], a push back, well, you the image-making site seemingly acts as a device
know, ‘you can’t get the conveyors to fit in this space’ for RUR’s practice to explore the compressing-
or ‘how will queuing work in this non-regular space?’ amplifying process of the poché spaces, as well
So that actually puts very good pressure on the project. as how these architectural moves will alter,
You know, we are not, on the one hand just, systems enhance, or disturb the interior space. As such,
managers, and making the most efficient terminal, the intensified tension or ‘pressure’ in the design
let’s say, from the point of view of baggage handling process generates an affective image that in turn is
and queuing. But on the other hand, it puts a really fed back into the design development. At a second
good pressure on the project, its formal state. Because level, the architectural push and pull precipitates
47
that does interest us. certain affects which intervene in the general
What is important is how such ‘pressure’, as affectivity of the project: image-making through the
described by Reiser, influences the spatial design panorama effect is a tool for the practice to explore
and is subsequently accentuated through the possible experiences of their ‘sweet spot’.
image-making process. The affective process of Importantly, the process involved in designing
architectural pulling and pushing is crucial this interior has been enhanced through RUR’s
here. RUR’s underestimation of the fire code image making process, whereby the panorama
requirements directly begins to modify the interior effect of immersion allows for a continuous
space, or more specifically, the ‘poché space’, which surface that appears to protrude forward, recede
the project substantially deals with: ‘all the vertical backward, and project forward again, offering a
movement, escalators, stairs and elevators, happen new perception of spatial depth. As Reiser further
in these walls, in a thickened wall. So people will reflects:
see the structure when they go inside the wall. It Everything is sheathed on both faces. We tried to keep
48
has a kind of Statue of Liberty impact.’ It is this the space really clean. So we took advantage of the
thickened wall that is pulled and pushed through idea of having a different internal form and surface
an affective move that occurs in the design process. than the external. It isn’t just an offset, but it gets
51
As Reiser reflects: really thick.
What we weren’t aware of were the fire codes. And The illusion of the walls becoming thick is evident
there had to be a lot more space of refuge, more space through this image. The undulating curvature of
around elevators and lobbies. Luckily, the poché idea the walls provides a wider field of view, distancing
was somewhat flexible. But those […] parameters, all the body from the image while immersing it, giving
the requirements, to make the elevators and stairs the interior space an impression of movement.
work with the Taiwanese fire codes, which were much In this sense, RUR’s play on the panorama effect
more stringent than here (US), meant that those provides the practice with a wider visualisation
49
spaces ruled. – allowing a collective, more engaging, ‘sticky’
As things turn out, the most immediate effect experience within the ‘expanded image space’ for
52
is the expansion of the spaces in-between the the constituent parties involved in the project.
architectural walls, that is, the poché spaces. In the case of such visualisation, RUR’s immersive
According to Reiser, image-making strategies render the image space
[Architecturally] these spaces got wider. Overall, an artificial construct that is nevertheless ‘sticky’;
it didn’t hurt anything. In a way, there was enough pulling the body into (and out of) the ‘sweet spot’
53
flexibility. But, you know, these were parameters where, indeed, ‘everything converges’. As such,
that mean – this wall started coming in – then there immersion is marked as the first instance.
were issues of widths – to make sure all the flows Yet, in the second instance, the immersion
would work properly, to get people to the gates and can be suspended or even destroyed by an effect
to the waiting areas. So there was a lot of pushing of disorientation caused by the disappearance
50
and pulling. of a singular vanishing point in the panorama.
This architectural push and pull, as a result of the Furthermore, the effect of immersion is also
‘good pressure’ placed by the logistics people on the refracted by the potentially distance-creating
design process, is made apparent in RUR’s image- factor of the excessive whiteness in the image-site.
making of the interior panorama at two levels. The interior visualisation is, indeed, flooded with
The first, explored above, refers to the physical whiteness, but deliberately so. As Reiser points out:
movement within the image-site of architectural [There was] the idea of keeping the spaces internally
elements – specifically the walls. These are pulled relatively clean, so that there would be very directed
apart, moved, and readjusted, modified primarily views. I mean that was one of the things that were
by the fire codes (hence, towards the fulfilment really important [and] I had it in the presentation.
of spatial requirements). Considering this literal That when you enter the space, there is sort of a sweet

The stickiness of affect in architectural practice    Akari Nakai Kidd

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 132 arq . vol 22 . no 2 . 2018    history

spot when you enter that you can actually look down Furthermore, as RUR emphasise, ‘[w]e tried
every single vista, and that it branches into the three to keep the space really clean’, the function of
spaces. So you’d be able to clearly see the programmes whiteness (or absence of colour) in their image-
54
above as well as below, sort of panoramic idea. making is another device for the practice to explore,
Here, we find that RUR’s design intention (to and subsequently control, the ‘ambience’ of the
immerse the viewer in the ‘sweet spot’ through ‘sweet spot’. As they assert:
‘relatively clean’ directed views facilitated by the The ambience of the space […] we felt, was something
panorama) and the effect of the image’s whiteness that an architect could control. I mean there is nothing
is not logically connected in a straightforward way. new about that. But it was something that wasn’t going
Reiser’s intention was to ‘keep the spaces relatively to be affected by programme – it would be about what
clean’. This speaks of visual clarity; the sweet spot is you do to the architecture to produce the ambience – the
‘sweet’ because one can experience the three vistas ambience was totally something an architect should
at once, a ‘total immersion’. However, the image’s be handling. That’s where they could actually affect
intensity – that is, as Massumi puts it, the ‘strength something […] . It’s actually what you do to the space
55
or duration of the image’s effect’ on the viewer – and – so that’s something that, in a way, has been, I
– is also affected through the sensory overload don’t know if it has been ignored. But it’s something that
registered in the viewer’s body through the overtly I think has always been part of what an architect can do
60
uniform whiteness of the image. The artificiality – to change, to do something.
of neutralising the architectural elements of the Between the oscillating process of immersion
image potentially distances the reality of the image- through architectural pull and push and distance
site outside our own. This is further emphasised through the overload/excess of whiteness and
through RUR’s deliberate image-making process of cleanliness, RUR create an ‘affective resonant’
61
concealing luminosity (lighting). Traditionally, in ambience, resulting in a sticky relationality
panorama works, lighting was natural, emanating between image-site and viewing body. The
from the top, but its source was concealed by a roof evaluation of the panorama image – where a
or veil that makes it impossible to see beyond the connection is drawn between the oscillation of
edge of the canvas. In RUR’s panorama image, there immersion, disorientation, and distance, and
is a similar form of affective move through the the image becoming affectively intensified –
use of intense lighting, much more than we see in evidently raises the question whether ‘stickiness’
reality, which is also concealed. As Reiser explains: demands or depends upon such oscillation. The
There are also […] articulations on the walls; there article’s position is that the oscillation intensifies
are cuts and stripes that bring light from the poché the image – that is, the constant pull and push
space. [The light] appears to be from the outside, but emerges as, returning to Seigworth and Gregg,
56 62
actually, it’s from within the space in-between. the ‘force of encounter’. In this sense, RUR’s
Through this lighting, the white appears too bright, process of drawing on the technique of the
blurry, and visually intensifies the effect of the panorama effect – particularly of this ‘sweet spot’
image on the audience, distancing the image-site – illustrates, challenges, as well as partakes in the
experience by excess. The interior visualisation is, design process of the Port Terminal; the affective
therefore, overly white. This cleanliness (sterility) of oscillating panoramic effects of immersion and
the architectural surface through the overload of distance strengthen the connection between
whiteness is able to affect the body. As Mark Wigley, RUR’s design process and image-making process.
in conversation with Olafur Eliasson and Daniel What follows seeks to highlight further RUR’s
Birnbaum on ‘A Discussion on the Colour White’, investment in intensifying their images with
remarks referring to Le Corbusier’s position: for affect, where the images act as participants in the
him, ‘the white wall exposes everything, not just a design process, particularly through the playful
painting, but also your clothing, your body, your use of an iconic figure.
lifestyle […]. So the white wall is a mechanism of
surveillance, which purifies everything in front Playing upon iconic figures
57
of it.’ But equally, and more importantly, when This section examines a particular exterior
all surfaces of an interior space are white, Wigley visualisation of Kaohsiung Port Terminal, where
claims ‘[the] supposedly innocent, modest, recessive the image employs an iconic figure within a highly
white wall turns into a radical destabilizing hyperreal scene [3]. In effect, the use of iconic figures
58
act’. In this manner, the whiteness generates an as a technique of visual representation, when used
experience of affect where a sense of distance from by RUR in their image-making process, may be
the image accrues (which the viewer/body seeks taken not merely as a method of analysis but as a
to escape from), but simultaneously, through the generative mode that produces new sensibilities,
sheer effect, whiteness also envelopes and entraps approaches, and affective processes within design.
bodies (by force of encounter). The image holds Iconography, proposed through works by Aby
power to simultaneously push the viewer out of its Warburg, was later developed most notably by Erwin
image-site as well as pull the viewer into, borrowing Panofsky through his formulation of iconology
59
Hélène Lipstadt words, the ‘space of possibles’. This as a strategy for saying more about works of art
then provokes a continuous oscillation between (including images) beyond their formal analysis.
immersion and distance reinforcing the sticky-value According to Daniels and Cosgrove, such deep
63
of the image-site/surface. analysis involves ‘a kind of detective synthesis’.

Akari Nakai Kidd   The stickiness of affect in architectural practice

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 history   arq . vol 22 . no 2 . 2018 133

Panofsky importantly claims that the practice of intensity of the image, and makes it stickier than
iconology might ‘emphatically differ from what images based on a singular focus. The image
64
[the artist] consciously intended to express’. This works with and through specific design ambitions
section extends this claim to the architect – as well that RUR hold for Kaohsiung Port Terminal. The
as extending the interpretation of symbolical values following analysis seeks to establish, first, the sticky
towards discovering affective values of the image. In character/iconic figure of Christina and, second,
this sense, the analysis is positioned within recent how this particular image construction can be seen
affective discourse, where there is a reaction toward to inform and enhance RUR’s design process. It
the ‘textual turn’ (Panofsky), moving from the thereby highlights RUR’s working method and the
semantic and the linguistic to the embodied, the important exchange across their design ambitions
affective and the material. and image creation.
Specifically, this research and analysis is First, the most obvious play on the visual
positioned as part of this turn – and with reference technique of using iconic figures is RUR’s inclusion
to (but not replicating) recently developed notions of Christina Olson from Andrew Wyeth’s 1948
towards ‘contemporary iconography’. Charles painting of Christina’s World. As art scholar Rendall C.
Jencks describes this ‘new iconography’ as involving Griffins has convincingly argued, Wyeth’s painting
cross-coding or double-coding, that is, ‘the mixture is an ‘iconic image’, overexposed and too familiar,
68
of an iconography based on cosmogenic themes making it a cliché, and according to curator Laura
69
set against another set of codes based on our J. Hoptman, extensively parodied. The iconic
65
contingent desires’. Such cross-codings are affective painting’s diagonal composition and abrupt shift
in that there is a push-pull between, for instance, from foreground to background draws the viewer
as Jencks puts it, ‘biomimesis, or morphology’ and into the image space. In the foreground is the figure
symbolism. These two set of codes act as strange and of Christina who was ‘in her mid-fifties, paraplegic,
yet ‘richer and metaphysically more convincing’ and weathered-looking, but Wyeth transformed
66 70
attractors. Applying this concept to architectural her into a much younger, more winsome figure’.
practices, Ben Pell describes Alejandro Zaera-Polo’s To Wyeth, she is seen as a symbol of strength and
practice as investing in ‘the convergence of material perseverance; as he asserts, ‘Christina was not
71
and performative logics with culturally-specific crippled at all.’ From the back, in a large field,
72
iconography [… which is] a strategy towards a ‘her silhouette is tense, almost frozen’, but more
67
kind of ulterior practice’. Indeed, in this sense, importantly, this position of crawling toward her
it could be said that ‘contemporary iconography’
provides for an affective image-making strategy.
As will become evident, the analysis of RUR’s 3 Exterior rendering (1948) in the
of Kaohsiung Port foreground lying on
exterior visualisation leads to a play between an Terminal showing the grass, some
iconographic strategy and the use of hyperreal the iconic figure of distance from the
Christina from port terminal (RUR
expressions. The juxtaposition between an iconic Andrew Wyeth’s Architecture DPC,
figure and hyperrealism heightens the affective Christina’s World 2013)

The stickiness of affect in architectural practice    Akari Nakai Kidd

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135518000337 Published online by Cambridge University Press
 134 arq . vol 22 . no 2 . 2018    history

home ‘allows scope for a viewer’s imagination structures or more continuous – because there is a
73
and reinforces the timeless quality of the image’. whole seismic problem of Taiwan and how these things
While this article cannot provide a full account would behave structurally – with lateral forces and
of the complex interrelation between Wyeth and all that. And that’s something that we were really
Christina, certainly the subject of Christina has happy about – that it could be […] it should be all tied
been historically employed with affective intent. together. It should be one continuous structure, rather
That RUR employs the figure of Christina in than a discrete tower and lobes. But it matched the
76
their own image-making practice – and certainly form perfectly.
not in an accidental manner – is both attracting Such an account attends to, first, form-generation
and disturbing. Rather than conforming to the in RUR’s practice as always investigation orientated
cliché associated with Christina’s World, Christina’s (that is, with structural specifications coming
figure is interpreted and transported into a into the design at a later stage), whereby form is
different artistic space and medium. Reminiscent manipulated to conform to a particular design
of Wyeth’s comment when drawing Christina, ‘my ambition – in this case, a desire for one continuous
74
cold eye took in the deformity and it shook me’, building, connected as one form structurally,
the viewer is equally disturbed to see Christina rather than three distinct forms. Hence, in
75
decontextualised. Christina’s figure pushes and RUR’s images, it is the continuous and multiple
pulls the scene with a kind of seductive force. RUR’s undulating contours of the terminal that capture
image-making process of using this iconic figure our attention. In this regard, and second, it is
focuses equally on details where they tinker with, significant to acknowledge RUR’s image-making as a
manipulate, and retouch surface properties. In site to examine how this all-connected ‘continuous
this sense, driven by the logic of Ahmed’s ‘sticky’ structure’ may be enhanced. While RUR did not
(through familiarity) affects, RUR’s image-making speak directly regarding the iconic image of
is both intentional and un-anticipatory, being Christina, the figure nevertheless participates in
something we deliberately turn ourselves towards the accentuation of the terminal’s form. Indeed,
– but equally repel. Having established the sticky it could be suggested that RUR play on the figure
character of Christina, this part evaluates how of Christina as a way to accentuate their design
RUR’s play upon Christina (as iconic figure) acts ambition, creating a visual flow from Christina’s
as a vehicle (affective mediator) to both attract curved figure in the foreground to the ‘one
the viewer into the image-site and make us more continuous structure’ of the port terminal.
attuned to the potential of the Kaohsiung Port Ironically, while the structure is ‘tied together’,
Terminal project. the surface, or more accurately, surfaces, are
RUR’s use of an iconic figure is not only about composed of multiple panels all of varying
reinterpreting and transposing Christina’s body; degrees of curvature. Some of these panels of
it is also about its association within the larger sheetrock, according to Reiser, ‘would be totally
context, the visualised setting. Clearly, there is flat, [others] could be torqued into space without
no attempt to mask the constructed nature of being custom made [… others] would be compound
77
mixing the symbolic reference of Christina and and complicated and expensive’. In the design
the high modern scene where RUR’s Port Terminal process, RUR develops smooth and rough zones on
building is visualised. Here, the analysis takes the the panelling through manipulating the ‘speed
eye diagonally from foreground to background, of curves’, so that the surfaces ‘look like they are
78
examining the tension as well as attraction curved but they are actually flat’. This is where
between the two bodies. Importantly, Christina’s RUR’s concept of ‘a-perception’ comes in, that
calculated posturing – now reversed from Wyeth’s is, in Reiser’s words, ‘what you unconsciously
original position – accentuates precisely the intuit from the development of the tectonic. So
synthetic character of her reclining body as, almost that you can’t figure out why exactly, as a viewer,
intentionally, the rounded forms of her body are but then, nevertheless, there is quite a vivid
79
echoed in the curved outline of the building. This sense.’ This experiential ‘a-perceptive’ illusion is
smooth surface is further enhanced, albeit subtly, directly tied to how RUR control their ‘ambience’,
through a blurring hyperreal effect. The outline as they put it: ‘It’s a whole set of coordinated
of the port terminal is fuzzy and lines fade with moves that creates certain [ambience] effects. For
atmospheric effects, purposefully rounding off the example, in Kaohsiung […] we are playing with the
edges and intensifying the surface curvature of the modulations [of panel curvature] to change the
80
building shape. The ironic parallelism between perception.’ Here, the image surface is intensified
the port terminal and the figure highlights an with an affective current that blurs both reality
important exchange across RUR’s image-making and imagination; stilling present and future
81
through iconic imagery and a particular design temporalities.
ambition. Whereas Christina’s symbolic figure is Referring again to Jencks’s proposition on
82
clothed with a single continuous surface, the Port ‘new iconography’ as involving cross-coding, the
Terminal desires this singular surface continuity. analysis of this exterior visualisation leads to a
As Reiser recalls on being presented with a positive play (of cross-coding) between iconography and
structural solution by the engineers: forces of experiential illusion and hyperreality.
[T]he things that we couldn’t know, or we didn’t As in Wyeth’s Christina’s World, in RUR’s affectively
know, was whether these [forms] would be separated intensified image, there is a surreal combination

Akari Nakai Kidd   The stickiness of affect in architectural practice

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135518000337 Published online by Cambridge University Press
 history   arq . vol 22 . no 2 . 2018 135

of beauty, illusion and, borrowing Baudrillard’s brings about certain affects. Such affects modulate
83
words, ‘nondeliberate parody’. RUR’s image- determinate ways of design acting and thinking,
making process is hence not to render or construct which are then put into action to intervene in
reality (and is thus opposed to the current trend the affectivity of the life of the project. When
in visualisations towards the ‘photoreal’); rather, affect is seen as a reactive force that plays a role in
the analysis above argues that RUR employs the manipulating image-sites and design processes, it is
iconic figure of Christina in pursuit of constructing at the expense of affect’s active force. The challenge
compositions that are slightly out of kilter, and as a here is to enact affect’s resistant potentials, without
consequence, crafting highly sticky-images. reducing affect to a kind of economy of exchange
that fails to consider its more subtle workings left
From content to affect out by the constraints of practice. Further research
A detailed discussion of the contemporary discourse is needed to explore how we maintain affect’s
of affect and its engagement with architecture is potentiality in architectural practice, that is always
beyond the scope of this article. In concluding, already within an economy of exchange.
however, what follows seeks to note some recent Second, RUR’s case study also demonstrates
approaches. For instance, in phenomenological affect’s excess, that does not subscribe to the
approaches, affect is grounded in perception, and economy of exchange. Here, the identification of
84
with it, subjective, sensory experience. As such, affectual operations shows affect as something
affect can be shaped by, and in turn, shapes what that defies definition of productiveness governed
consciousness sees, but also what bodies can do. by functional needs, and is not directly framed
Ethical arguments presuppose an understanding by human concerns; that is, these are conditions
of affect too, affects that are context-specific, where affect potentialises the world beyond an
influenced by cultural and social formations, anthropocentrism. This is evidenced in RUR’s use
85
and are thereby moulded responses. However, as of Wyeth’s iconographic figure of Christina to
Massumi notes, both these understandings may specularise any straightforward reading of their
conflate emotion and affect, imparting to the latter architectural images. Here, the image-site and the
a ‘content that is shaped through specific cultural, image-making process act as an active interface of
86
social, and political contexts’. Critically, Massumi’s affects. This example demonstrates what Latham
position, together with works by affect theorists and McCormack mean by ‘blocks of sensation
87 88
such as Nigel Thrift and Derek McCormack, tend to with an affective intensity’. Affect appears as an
over-generalise the body/ies and, in the acceptance intensive force that is in excess of definition by
of autonomy and multiplicity of relations, human processes and practices.
something is missed; affect’s abstract nature seems Drawing on the different threads of this article,
only too eager to bypass the particulars, such as the study presented also illustrates how the
gender/sexual orientations, and social and cultural meaning of architectural practice and its design
determinants. Ahmed’s work on stickiness that process is changing. Clearly, RUR’s images celebrate
this article has engaged with suggests scepticism of a shift from content to affect, and from meaning
claims for the autonomy of affect and offers more to mattering. Rather than trying to delineate the
concrete ways to make a case for a more localised, difference between critical and recent discussions
situated, emotional affect. While in architecture on projective (or post-critical) practices, what is
affect is largely associated with place and context, key is the shifting relations between and through
this article has sought to utilise affect to extend these different approaches to – and evaluations
and sharpen the analysis of architectural practice of – design. This article follows in the lineage of
89 90
through Ahmed’s ‘stickiness’. To reiterate, this Sylvia Lavin, Robert Somol, and Sarah Whiting,
91
concept refers to an orientation or propensity of and others such as Michael Speaks, in bringing a
bodies, a relationality beyond the terms in relation. new awareness of contemporary architecture and
In this setting, the article is interested in design its practice in their consideration of mainstream
processes, rather than final outcomes. pop/popular culture and the ‘creativity of the
92
In returning to the larger aim of this article, what marketplace’. Indeed, the image making capacities
follows considers conclusions that can be drawn on of practices such as RUR, as well as Reiser’s own
the effectiveness of the study for researching affect use of the term ‘sweet spot’, offer an observation
in architectural practice and image-making design on how images can play a role in producing
processes. Importantly, while RUR is a well-known certain affective economies arousing desire and
practice and usual suspect of the digital turn, expectation when consumed. Following Stan Allen,
the work discussed in this article offers a unique RUR’s practice is indeed ‘open to innovation and
perspective on the potential of affect’s circulation, play, capable of confronting the complexities of
93
specifically in two ways. realisation without facile compromise’. Their
First, the economics of architectural practice Kaohsiung Port Terminal is a composite of many
being generally driven by the necessity to produce opposing and theoretical influences, innovative
functional buildings contextualises the manner in plays addressing architectural experience, economic
which affect can appear and be identified. In this efficiency, and urban and local regulations, and
sense, affect is always a reaction to, and therefore it is this complexity – architecture’s inextricable
qualified by, appearance, as reflected through this entanglements with affectivities of life – that we
article. In RUR’s work it is the panoramic image that must find a way to celebrate today.

The stickiness of affect in architectural practice    Akari Nakai Kidd

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135518000337 Published online by Cambridge University Press
 136 arq . vol 22 . no 2 . 2018    history

Notes Human Geographies’, Cultural Massumi, Parables of the Virtual,

1. The term ‘intensities’ is used to Geographies, 17:2 (2010), 237–58. p. 35.
describe affect in Brian Massumi, 11. Paul L. Russell, ‘The 37. Rebecca Coleman, Transforming
Parables of the Virtual: Movement, Phenomenology of Affect’, Smith Images: Screens, Affect, Futures
Affect, Sensation (Durham and College Studies in Social Work, 76:1/2 (London: Routledge, 2012), p. 18.
London: Duke University Press, (2006), 67–70. 38. Gillian Rose, Visual Methodologies:
2002), p. 27. See also Gregory J. 12. Karen Barad, ‘Posthumanist An Introduction to the Interpretation
Seigworth and Melissa Gregg, ‘An Performativity: Toward an of Visual Materials (London: Sage,
Inventory of Shimmers’, in The Understanding of How Matter 2007), p. 57.
Affect Theory Reader, ed. by Melissa Come to Matter’, Signs: Journal 39. Ibid., p. 48.
Gregg and Gregory J. Seigworth of Women in Culture and Society, 40. Ibid., p. 49.
(Durham: Duke University Press, 28:3 (2003), 801–31. See also Alan 41. Reiser, interview.
2010), p. 2. Latham and Derek McCormack, 42. Oliver Grau, ‘Immersion and
2. Baruch Spinoza, The Ethics and ‘Moving Cities: Rethinking Interaction: From Circular
Selected Letters, trans. by S. Shirley the Materialities of Human Frescoes to Interactive Image
(Indianapolis: Hackett, 1982 [orig. Geography’, Progress in Human Spaces’, in Media Art Net 1/A Survey
pub. 1677]), p. 49. Geography, 28:6 (2004), 701–24. of Media Art, ed. by Rudolf Frieling
3. This notion is addressed in Ben 13. Silvan S. Tomkins, Affect, Imagery, and Dieter Daniels (Vienna:
Anderson, ‘Affective Atmospheres’, Consciousness, 4 vols (New York: Springer, 2004), pp. 292–313, also
Emotion, Space and Society, 2:2 Springer, 1992 [orig. pub. 1962]). available at: <http://www.
(2009), 77–81 (p. 77). See also Silvan S. Tomkins, medienkunstnetz.de/themes/
4. Sara Ahmed, ‘Affective Economies’, Exploring Affect: The Selected Writings overview_of_media_art/
Social Text, 22:2 (2004), 117–39 of Silvan S. Tomkins (Cambridge and immersion/>
(p. 120). New York: Cambridge University 43. Jean Baudrillard, ‘The Hyper-
5. Seigworth and Gregg, ‘An Press, 1995). realism of Simulation’, in Art in
Inventory of Shimmers’, p. 2, 14. Anna Gibbs, ‘Contagious Theory 1900–2000, ed. by Charles
emphasis in original. Feelings: Pauline Hanson and the Harrison and Paul Wood (Oxford:
6. Jesse Reiser, interview with Epidemiology of Affect’, Australian Blackwell Publishing, 1993),
author, New York, 1 October Humanities Review, 24 (2001). pp. 1018–20 (p. 1019).
2013. The author acknowledges 15. Ibid., para. 1. See also Anna Gibbs, 44. Grau, ‘Immersion and
that the term ‘sweet spot’ as ‘After Affect’, in The Affect Theory Interaction’.
used by RUR’s principal architect Reader, pp. 186–205. 45. Reiser, interview.
Reiser has diverse connotations. 16. Teressa Brennan, The Transmission 46. Ibid.
Within the context of the of Affect (Ithaca: Cornell University 47. Ibid.
interview, the term is used to Press, 2004). 48. Ibid.
refer to a location within the 17. Ibid., p. 3. 49. Ibid.
interior of the terminal where 18. Ibid., p. 6. 50. Ibid.
the viewer or potential occupier 19. Ibid., p. 9. 51. Ibid.
can see everything, including 20. Ibid., p. 5. 52. This term is taken from Marius
the different lobes that go out 21. Sara Ahmed, The Cultural Politics Nedelcu, ‘Expanded Image Space:
towards different programme- of Emotion (New York: Routledge, From Panorama Image to Virtual
specific locations. Hence, it is a 2004), p. 11. Reality, through Cinema’, Close
‘sweet spot’ in that it has the most 22. Ibid., p. 18. Up: Film and Media Studies, 1:1
powerful and effective view of 23. Ahmed, ‘Affective Economies’, (2013), 44–53.
RUR’s design proposition. 120. 53. Reiser, interview.
7. Massumi, Parables of the Virtual, 24. Ahmed, The Cultural Politics of 54. Reiser, ibid.
p. 24. Emotion. See also Sara Ahmed, 55. Massumi, Parables of the Virtual,
8. Alan Latham and Derek ‘Happy Objects’, in The Affect p. 24.
McCormack, ‘Thinking with Theory Reader, pp. 29–51. 56. Ibid.
Images in Non-Representational 25. Ahmed, ‘Happy Objects’, p. 29. 57. Mark Wigley, Olafur Eliasson,
Cities: Vignettes from Berlin’, 26. Ibid., p. 36. Daniel Birnbaum, ‘The Hegemony
Area, 41:3 (2009), 252–62 (p. 27. Ibid., p. 30. of TiO2: A Discussion on the
252). It should be noted that 28. This ‘happy object’ can be Colour White’, in Olafur Eliasson:
Latham and McCormack are an idea, concept or promise, Your Engagement has Consequences;
referring to cinema, but I for example the promise of a On the Relativity of Your Reality, ed.
extend such explorations in this ‘happy-family’, where our body by Studio Olafur Eliasson (Baden:
article to include other image- orientates towards the ‘happy- Lars Müller Publishers, 2006).
making processes, such as the family’ because we are aiming 58. Ibid.
architectural renders studied towards a feeling of happiness 59. Hélène Lipstadt, ‘Experimenting
here. that we presume will follow. See with the Experimental Tradition,
9. See Spinoza, The Ethics and Selected Ahmed, ‘Happy Objects’. 1989–2009: On Competitions and
Letters; Friedrich W. Nietzsche, 29. Ibid., pp. 30–4. Architecture Research’, Nordic
The Will to Power: A New Translation, 30. Ahmed, The Cultural Politics of Journal of Architectural Research,
trans. by W. Kaufmann and R. J. Emotion, p. 90. 21:2–3 (2009), 9–22.
Hollingdale (New York: Vintage, 31. Judith Butler, quoted in Ahmed, 60. Reiser, interview.
1968); Gilles Deleuze and Felix ‘Affective Economies’, 121. 61. The reference here is to Silvan
Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus: 32. Ahmed, The Cultural Politics of Tomkins’s phrase ‘affective
Capitalism and Schizophrenia, trans. Emotion, p. 83. resonance’. As developed by
by B. Massumi (Minneapolis: 33. Ibid., p. 1. Tomkins, affect is a contagion,
University of Minnesota Press, 34. Ibid., p. 63. meaning that we resonate with
1987). 35. Ahmed, The Cultural Politics of others as we see expressions/
10. Jamie Lorimer, ‘Moving Image Emotion, p. 91. emotions on the face. Silvan
Methodologies for More-than- 36. Ibid., pp. 89–95. See also Tomkins, ‘What Are Affects?’, in

Akari Nakai Kidd   The stickiness of affect in architectural practice

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135518000337 Published online by Cambridge University Press
 history   arq . vol 22 . no 2 . 2018 137

Shame and Its Sisters, ed. by Eve 73. Ibid., p. 21. 90. See Robert Somol and Sarah
Kosofsky Sedgwick and Adam 74. Wyeth quoted in Ibid., p. 22. Whiting, ‘Notes Around the
Frank (Durham: Duke University 75. Christina is decontextualised in Doppler Effect and Other Moods
Press, 1995), pp. 33–74. the way she is placed in RUR’s of Modernism’, Perspecta, 33
62. Gregg and Seigworth, The Affect image in twentieth-century (2002), 72–7.
Theory Reader, p. 2. Taiwan – or this place could be in 91. See Michael Speaks, ‘Design
63. Stephen Daniels and Denis what Marc Augé calls a ‘non-place’. Intelligence and the New
Cosgrove, ‘Introduction: Marc Augé, Non-Places: Introduction Economy’, Architectural Record,
Iconography and Landscape’, to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, 190:1 (2002), 72–9.
in The Iconography of Landscape, trans. by John Howe (London and 92. Stan Allen, cited in G. Baird,
ed. by D. Cosgrove and S. New York: Verso Books, 1995). ‘“Criticality” and its Discontents’,
Daniels (Cambridge: Cambridge 76. Reiser, interview. Harvard Design Magazine, 21,
University Press, 1988), pp. 1–10 77. Ibid. autumn 2004/winter 2005,
(p. 2). 78. Ibid. pp. 16–21.
64. Erwin Panofsky, Meaning in the 79. Ibid. 93. Stan Allen, cited in ‘Introduction’,
Visual Arts, 31. See also, <http:// 80. Ibid. in The New Architectural Pragmatism:
w3.gril.univ-tlse2.fr/Proimago/ 81. Ironically, the multiplicity of A Harvard Design Magazine Reader,
LogiCoursimage/panofsky.htm>. different panels of sheetrock ed. by William S. Saunders
65. Charles Jencks, ‘Toward an and, more significantly, the (Minneapolis and London:
Iconography of the Present’, Log, ‘curved’ look of the port terminal University of Minnesota Press,
3 (autumn 2004), 101–08 (p. 107). generates, as Reiser recalls, ‘a lot 2007), p. xv.
66. Ibid., p. 107. of tension and a lot of anxiety’ in
67. Ben Pell, ‘The Articulate Surface, the project’s tendering process. Acknowledgements
Introduction’, in The Articulate Here, ‘the contractors […] saw all The author is grateful to RUR
Surface: Ornament and Technology in those curves – and they weren’t Architecture DPC for their time
Contemporary Architecture, ed. by B. confident that they could come in and invaluable discussion of the
Pell (Basel: Birkhauser, 2010), pp. at the price that was required by Kaohsiung Port Terminal as well
7–17 (p. 15). the government’, Reiser, interview. as for granting her permission
68. Randall C. Griffins, ‘Andrew 82. Jencks, ‘Toward an Iconography of to use the images produced for
Wyeth’s Christina’s World: the Present’, 107. this project. The author wishes to
Normalizing the Abnormal Body’, 83. Baudrillard, ‘The Hyper-realism of acknowledge the useful suggestions
American Art, 24:2 (2010), 30–49. Simulation’, p. 1020. and comments of the anonymous
69. Laura J. Hoptman, Wyeth: 84. Russell, ‘The Phenomenology of reviewers and the editor, which she
Christina’s World (One on One) (New Affect’. trusts has strengthened and enriched
York: The Museum of Modern Art, 85. See Clare Hemmings, ‘Invoking this article.
2012). Hoptman notes in regards Affect: Cultural Theory and
to the reproductions of Christina’s the Ontological Turn’, Cultural Illustration credits
World which was ‘widely parodied Studies, 9 (2005), 548–67. See also arq gratefully acknowledges:
[…] the lone figure gazing Elspeth Probyn, Blush: Faces of Author, 1
longingly at a distant goal Shame (Minneapolis: University of RUR Architecture DPC, 2, 3
cheerfully co-opted to sell Minneapolis Press, 2005).
everything from pale ale to air 86. Cited in Jenny E. Rice, ‘The New Author’s biography
conditioner’. “New”: Making a Case for Critical Dr Akari Nakai Kidd is Lecturer in
70. Ibid., p. 21. Affect Studies’, Quarterly Journal of Architecture at Deakin University,
71. Andrew Wyeth, ‘Two Worlds of Speech, 94 (2008), 200–12 (p. 201). Australia, where she teaches in
Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and 87. See, for instance, Nigel Thrift, the fields of architectural design,
Olsons’, 134. Wyeth writes: ‘I know Non-Representational Theory (London history, and theory. She received
I was getting pretty close to and New York: Routledge, 2007); her architectural training from
putting Christina in the position I Derek McCormack, ‘For the Love the Cooper Union in New York and
wanted, the arms and everything, of Pipes and Cables: A Response worked under Kengo Kuma in Tokyo.
you know, where it showed the to Deborah Thien’, Area, 38:3 Her current research explores the in-
tragedy as well as the joyfulness of (2006), 330–2; Derek McCormack, betweens of architectural practice,
her life.’ Andrew Wyeth, quoted in ‘Molecular Affects in Human specifically the creative processes of
T. Hoving, A. Wyeth, and others, Geographies’, Environment and design, through the lens of affect
‘Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Planning A, 39:2 (2007), 359–77. theory with work published in
Kuerners and Olsons’, The 88. Latham and McCormack, major international journals.
Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, ‘Thinking with Images’, 252.
New Series, 34:2 (1976), 133. 89. Sylvia Lavin, Kissing Architecture Author’s address
72. Hoptman, Wyeth: Christina’s World, (Princeton: Princeton University Akari Nakai Kidd
p. 5. Press, 2011). akari.nakaikidd@deakin.edu.au

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