Power/Desire (Place as Assemblage) from Kim Dovey’s Becoming Places, 2009

Occupiability from Himanshu Burte’s Space for Engagement, 2008

PLACE AS AN ASSEMBLAGE - POWER/ DESIRE
l1-1.png (1200×675) (thedailyguardian.com)
FORCE
miami-fl.jpg (1200×675) (wfhjobs.us)
DOMINANCE
d58c19a0eb49cbbab87629e388e45af4--history-of-india-soft-
power.jpg (473×315) (pinimg.com)
COERCION
6430750911_cdbe4cb3c9_b.jpg (1024×680) (staticflickr.com)
AUTHORITY
Like 'place', power used in an everyday manner that PLACE AS AN ASSEMBLAGE - POWER/ DESIRE Power over' and 'power to' are not mutually
presupposes a shared understanding. The concepts exclusive, as their desired outcome may be control
. of 'power over' ie having a control over others over someone's actions in order achieve desired
actions and 'power to' ie having a capacity achieve results.
desired ends have been discussed in this chapter of
'Place as an Assemblage'. The Deleuzian thinking incorporates an
understanding of power which is based on 'desire'.
The author has tried to categorize the idea of 'power The major theory of power as dispersed micro
over' into 5 major types practises is developed by Foucault through the
concepts of panopticon and disciplinary technology.
1. Force removes all agencies of the subject, for
example, using the threat of prison over It was an attempt to rethink power as a productive
someone. practice rather than someone's personal resource. It
2. Coercion uses a threat of force, for example, showcases how disciplinary power constructs
the panopticon vision obtained by the cctvs subjects and harnesses the capacities instead of
placed in workplaces. Deleuzian ideology which concentrates on subjects
3. Manipulation involves concealment of intent, own oppression. The Deleuzian notion of the
for example, buildings like shopping mall __ primacy if desire is linked with a sense or sensation
4. Domination involves the intimidation of which is seen as a raw experience of perception
scale, for example, a tall high rise buildings, even before cognition, language or meaning. For
intimidating a passer-by.\ him, sensation sensation is strongly linked with
5. Authority used institutional framings, for nick-fewings-br9D5K3UTRQ-unsplash.jpg (1000×667) (buzzorange.com) desire, it is an initial impact of a work of art,
example, structures like school, which spectacle or building, it is linked to the encounter
exercises authoritative control. that connects the material to experiential.
6. Seduction, which involves transformation of
subjects desires. From all such views, the places we inhabit, can be
seen as a product of desire.
a-busy-mall-with-stairs-and-escalator.jpg (1000×640) (iiiff.com)
iStock-1018703724-1280x1920.jpg (1280×1920) (thedrinksbusiness.com)
MANIPULATION FLOW OF DESIRE
d7a339_0f0a9cb7e7824ebab4b84a3c3d338db8~mv2.jpeg (1000×668)
3d-school-wall-painting-for-play-school-in-hyderabad-hyderabad-201911111226300
chesterfield-completed-final-image-2web-sm-600x404.jpg (600×404) (wixstatic.com)
667190000.jpg (800×600) (clasf.in) nick-fewings-br9D5K3UTRQ-unsplash.jpg (1000×667) (buzzorange.com)
(thinking-space.com)
SEDUCTION RAW EXPERIENCE/ SENSATION PANOPTICON ASSEMBLAGE
OCCUPIABILITY : HIMANSHU BURTE Occupiability, as an attribute of an environment
OCCUPIABILITY : HIMANSHU BURTE Physical comfort:
describes the affordances it offers to provide pause
. and sustained occupation. In order to develop a . A space providing comfort for a tired body through a
sense of engagement with a place, occupation and variety of features, such as seating and supporting
pause are crucial rather than movement. structures.It is the extent to which a space is suitable
Occupiability is influenced more by the environment for physical rest that influences the suitability of an
than by protocol or practice, though both of these environment in terms of microclimate.
are necessary.
Perceptual comfort:
The following factors appear central to occupiability: The case with which an environment may be
perceived and grasped (or, its legibility).Several
Safety perception: factors influence the perceived occupability and
It is the sense that a given space is safe to remain for welcomeness of environments, including the
a while.Occupying a space requires it to appear to morphology and configuration of the spaces.
be safe to occupy, as well as actually being so.
Meaningful activity
Environmental comfort: It will be possible to engage in meaningful activities
Mainly climatic comfort but extending to like reading noticeboards, checking out artwork, or
environmental hygiene.To make us pause in an even conversing with those in attendance.
environment that has a non-comfortable climate, Nevertheless, it may be argued that the existence of
there has to be some striking compensations meaningful activities within a space is a condition for
available. sustaining the time of pause.

https://www.archinomy.com/case-studies/vernacular-arc
hitecture-of-gondia-maharashtra-india/?hcb=1
https://www.renderhub.com/adriankulawik/hospital-corridor blob (512×383) (bing.com) R.167e0c6462a54a635222b2088217d442 (2000×1333) (bing.com)

HOSPITAL CORRIDOR SAFETY PERCEPTION ENVIRONMENTAL COMFORT PHYSICAL COMFORT

.9.

AGk0z-OPk00G2BVx1AY7KMM_hI1EenWYfNPqeTbbRYNmalKDy4vmxcuIbWoEv 118874585_3101255033334174_393https://www.renderhub.com/adriankulawik/hos https://images.app.goo.gl/ZBPuwkdR8i5f4gtn6 OIP.C0lrdN48_-iU6ygB7zZHfgHaFj (960×720) (bing.com) https://m.lovethispic.com/uploaded_images/110192-Retro-Basketball-Court.jpg

OIP.SETpjpIZj0I9FhIQbGmiCwHaE8 (255×170) (bing.com) As1HyxwlmiGe4NbZDWm6RDBZt0Oy7GjVdD-iYisQdB49AQ=s512 (512×338) pital-corridor4548497709659378_n.jpg (900×599) (fbcdn.net)

SHADED OPEN SPACES SAFETY PERCEPTION ENVIRONMENTAL COMFORT PERCEPTUAL COMFORT PERCEPTUAL COMFORT MEANINGFUL ACTIVITY
OVERVIEW :

The author introduces the theories of power categorizing it into power over
and power to on the basis of Deleuze and Foucault theory which eventually
concludes in power being desire and the idea of disciplinary power. Hence,
power is portrayed as a productive practice and not treated subjectively.
Disciplinary power when linked with desire, further form individual organized
identities called assemblage. Hence, now power is practiced on a
micropolitical level and there is stability in flow of desire. From this
perspective, all the places we inhabit are a product of our desires.

Coming towards occupiability, we introduced the terms of transitional and

pausing like occupiability along with elements of sufficiency and necessity
that can translate spaces to places. These are guided by the characteristics of
occupiability namely safety, environmental, physical, perceptual and
functional occupiability.
The setting created is of New York airport where the protagonist, Viktor
Navorski, steps out of his desire to complete his father’s promise. The
screening depicts pulsating power and desire throughout, eventually
influencing occupiability prioritized corresponding to occupiability
characteristics.

Source:
https://www.archdaily.com/9031
69/airports-examples-in-plan-an
d-section/5bb4c37bf197ccab3c
00032f-airports-examples-in-pl
an-and-section-image?next_pro
ject=no
AN AIRPORT :
An Airport is a defined transitional threshold for
passengers moving in and out driven by desire. It’s
organization is sequenced in correspondence to a
functional hierarchy (from transit points, to luggage and
passport check) of occupiabilities that marks its power
and formality in the user movements.
This power induces the adaptability decorum of the
space making it a place supplemented with other
amenities and commercial activities.
Visually holding points (the flight schedule), Waiting
points (the benches), Pausing points (the railing) etc are
induced in place making where desires tend to alter the
behaviour of place customizing experiences to each
user in a frame of time.
 Clear division is marked , and Power over :
Authority

The airport is planned in an hierarchical manner to suggest authority. - Power Over Power To is observed in the disciplinary behaviour of the passengers. The
is inherent in this entire networking/ functioning of an airport. actions of people are regulated by conscience itself. They enter in a crowd but
then arrange themselves and form a queue as soon as they observe the poles
placed in a specific order. Passenger Security Baggage handling
arrival court check and area
passport
control

The director has captured the scene in the bird eye view, so viewers can get the Power over due to coercion and 24x7 surveillance by the Airport authority
idea of the spatial planning and also to suggest the immediate transition taking
place on the airport
 The Panopticon was a metaphor that allowed Foucault to explore
the relationship between
1.) systems of social control and people in a disciplinary situation
and,
2.) the power-knowledge concept.
In his view, power and knowledge comes from observing others.
It marked the transition to a disciplinary power, with every
movement supervised and all events recorded. The result of this
surveillance is acceptance of regulations and docility - a
normalization of sorts, stemming from the threat of discipline.

Desire leads to Power to Victor’s desire to trim his beard, leads to public space
like airport becoming / functioning as a personal place for him. This is not the kind
of behaviour that we generally observe in a public place.

Victor seems to be defying the general regulations set by the society on how to
behave in a public place, Here the Director thoughtfully captures the awkward,
astonished reactions on people’s faces to supplement this fact and also sets the
base for the movie and justifies the actions of Victor in later part of the movie, as it
showcases How the Character victor thinks very practically and can adapt to any
situation in order to fulfil his desires
Panopticon.jpg (350×360) (moyak.com)
Social panopticon effect - The post panoptic society that we live in today is not
limited to central surveillance resulting in oppressed disciplinary behaviour, But
today’s globalized world of social media we are constantly watching others and
being watched by others. We as a society thus act more consciously and are in
control of each other, we follow a specific set of rules on how to behave in a public
space, leading to a disciplinary behavior _ social panopticon
Power over is evident through the officer exercising control over the actions of Shopping court which usually manipulates the customers is perceived as
Victor by forcing him to come along with them. domination by Victor, and this feeling is captured through low camera angle to
enforce the intimidating scale of the atrium.

The scene where Victor wants to call home but no one is helping him suggests Camera pans out, again indicating how Victor is feeling intimidated and
how he has lost control over the simple activity, completely helpless in a place like airport entirely flooded with people and not
having control over the situation. Since his initial path to visit New York is now
deviated, He is struggling to find a meaningful activity .
Within the airport’s chaos, Viktor has lost himself in a state of isolation as he is
unsure of the fate that lies ahead of him. His personal space is a construct of
his mind. This can be associated with the terror of time.
Gupta does not allow Viktor to have a look at the trash and dominates as he
doesn’t want anyone to interrupt his work.
As Viktor struggles to comprehend the state of affairs in his country, a fear
of impending doom takes over him.
Gupta showing his authority by asking victor to get an appointment to look
at the trash, further increases restlessness and simply occupying the space
for physical rest becomes difficult.
To say it with the philosopher of architecture and art Karsten Harries: A
place of residence is not only the delimitation of space as a bulwark of
security to the outside (my home as a shelter). It is a means of
protection against the "terror of time", our existential vulnerability,
ultimately related to our own death. Our home makes us forget our
existential fragility.

The under-constructed terminal provides victory an enclosure in order to make to
feel safe.
Victor removed the lights to make the terminal comfortable to sleep.
Transit Lounge
Transit Lounge
Public Toilet
The desire to have a comfortable sleeping space drives Victor to transform the
usual chair arrangement of Transit Lounge “POWER TO” so as to make bed
satisfying the sufficient leg space. Thus, place becoming more occupiable.
Victor’s terminal journey begins. His flow of desire gets diverted
from the original path due to the unexpected political scenario and
thus in order to adapt to the situation, his primary desires gain
higher priority i.e. better food, better place for sleeping, to
overcome language barrier, and attain various points of stability i.e.
Food Court, The airport Transit lounge, The airport toilets,
Bookstore, Visa office,
Now the level of occupiability is getting higher which marks the
state of becoming of airport from a transition place to a habitable
place.
The director thus captures this transition through timeline of events
and camera positions, so initially the scenes are filmed in crowded
places, bird eye views, camera panning out, But later scenes
revolve around central character Victor and are filmed at these
Victor by keeping the functionality of space he transformed that washbasin into
relative points of stability with less chaotic backgrounds.
shower room
Though he was told that nobody is going to be at door, the constant fear of Trying to hide from the cctv so that nobody could see him Standard Panopticon
cctv was there. Source: https://dip9.aaschool.ac.uk/archive/panopticon-mandala/

POWER OVER the place and also over the entire airport The activity of assembling the trolleys and earning 25 cents helps victor to Modern CCTV Panopticon
fulfill the desire for good food.
Victor’s desire for better food - i.e. earning money So, Victor engages himself With consistent efforts, he gains some authority, This scene displayed
in a meaningful activity. Victor’s Power Over the children due to self taken authority. The children
displays physical occupiability in the scenario.

He takes over the task and consider it as if it is his new job for the fulfilment The field commissioner is against this shift of power, To gain his control
of his desires. back (power over), he creates a new position named Transportation liaison
for passenger assistance, to even take away very little authority that Victor
had earned.
To fulfil the desire to overcome language barrier , the places like Bookstore, Victor spends more time on airport, it becomes more occupiable as he gets
Transit lounge used for reading , now showcased as relatively stable points. more acquainted, and acquires more Power, He starts assuming airport as his
neighbourhood, he gives Terminal’s phone number as his own contact
information

Victor’s pager goes off , and he starts running towards the office, How actions can The interfering desires of Victor and Enrique are narrated through this scene,
be controlled using a small device. This implies Power over through command. The overlap of power to and power over helps is fulfilling each other’s desires
and thus helps them achieve their desired ends i.e. Better food (for Victor) and
Establishing a connection with officer Doloris (for Enrique)
Outside the bookstore, we observe the users pausing near the railing. This
conveys how the element of railing is sufficient in creating pause points
attributing a place its character.
In a broader scenario, we see multiple occupancies in the airport corridor.
The railing offers an entire view overlooking the airport creating, perceptual
occupancy. The benches next to them are examples of physical occupancy
whereas on the other hand the void space left open depicts a transitional
character catering to movement.
Here, movement can be categorized in reference to power where the
passengers show disciplinary power in an orderly occupancy, where as the
authorities are free to transit in the place depicting power over.
 The discourse of gupta with the staff is placed in a setting of the janitor
room. The occupiability factor of perceptual comfort is dominated by
the factor of safety perception and conscious assemblage, since they
need a private space to talk about the story, far away from the
authorities who could hear them and take charges against them.
Later Viktor visits Dixon’s cabin. The cabin;s position with a
commanding level emerges from the desire for status. The occupiability
in the space depicts a hierarchy which is observed in the way viktor
occupies the place versus the way dixon occupies the place in
authority, status and power over.

Power of dialect leads to turn the high authority down and takes power over A threshold is created that the officers are not able to cross because of the
to power to. The director skillfully highlights this power by capturing victor physical avenge by the man.
and the man in a frame of door within the frame.

The janitor room becomes a place of discourse as Gupta tells his colleagues How the place because of high rank holding becomes different for both of
about Victor. The spatial hierarchy depicts person in power. them, how the status and hierarchy allows to sit him however he want
In order to help Victor, Milroy misuses his power and authority to break in the The washroom area now functions as a more familiar space to the users, for
room to lay hand on confidential information. they are regular visitors now, generating pausing functions of occupiability.

The closure design principle is where positive and negative space

Perceptual pauses at the store where the user pauses near the glass , Similarly the sole presence of mirror and to an extent privacy, allows victor to work together, so that your eye automatically completes shapes from
executing functions under the design principle of closure make that spot use the washroom as a rehearsal place. negative space. closure-design-principle-usa-network.jpg (700×392) (designcrawl.com)

intentionally occupiable.
 FRONT FRONT

Clustering of occupying users wrt to transit points in the space, where we see REAR REAR

the passengers occupying the frontmost seats under the influence of time, as
they wait for their flight. Where as victor and gupta occupy the fastest
benches corresponding to privacy and occupiability wrt safety.
The entire arrangement of physically occupiable elements forms a grid for
user movement, i.e. disciplinary power in the space.
 Dining
Table

Desire of to take Amelia on a date let them change the dynamics of an Now Victor along with his companions execute their desires to create an
airport, power over from the airport changes into power to, power to change. anonymous space into a restaurant palace by introducing elements of physical
occupiability. This is further made more adaptive when Gupta performs to entertain,
diluting the span of waiting and consciousness of time.

Serving Counter

Deck converted into a patio

Physical occupiability, elevated with food, candle lights, Gupta’s performance
creates scope for meaningful activity, durability and meaning of occupation is
increased. Close frame focusing on just Victor and Amelia depicts this
settlement and comfort in the setting.
 Victor now tries to correlate with time following the narrative of napoleon.
His flow of desire prokes him to create a perceptually occupiable space out
of the discarded toilets. This eventually creates a pausing occupiability in
the place with added benches with a backdrop as captured in the movie.
This is an example of seduction of space as we see how there is Fulfillment
of desire consequently led to control/power to, in this case an attempt to
transform Amelia’s desires.

Viktor’s desire stemmed from his readings on Napoleon. Flow of the desire, an event of becoming

Fulfillment of desire consequently leads to control/power to, in this case an Fulfillment of becoming, creates a scope for spectation, elevating the factor
attempt to transform Amelia’s desires. of occupiability.
Breaking of disciplinary power, that leads to manipulation. Power over is One desire to let victor free, leads to an assemblage of the staff from from
displayed by Gupta who attempts to delay the flight timings by breaking the airport, though there is movement, a certain stability is observed within
disciplinary power that anchors the spaces. the assemblage enabled by one common desire.

Victor crosses the threshold out of desire empowered by assemblage. Desire changes the meaning of occupiability for VIctor, even a place that is
a source of contemplation/entertainment, yet isn’t a comfortably
occupiable space for Victor but becomes a place of waiting depicting the
consciousness of experiencing time.
 POWER HOLDERS

DESIRE INFLUENCING OCCUPIABILITY

The entire screening portrays shift in powers amongst characters and spaces from power over to power to throughout, initiated from individual demands of desire that further influenced their occupiability within the space. The
graphic briefly summarizes the pulsate power amongst the different users. Victor, starting his journey as a regular passenger is made take a different path to experience space and unconventional pausing occupiability that project
out of his path in the entire sequencing of the plot (from Dixon confiscating Victor’s passport to crossing the airport threshold towards New York City) and eventually landing back in the crowd in transitional occupiability after the
fulfillment of his desire. Hence, we can see how places are formed symbiotically with spaces adapting a behaviour and the users functioning it, holistically defining a characteristic culture to the space. (X axis denotes the most
striking phases in the movies that can be compared amongst against the parameters of power and occupiability. Y axis scales the power held by the users corresponding to the sequence of definable scenarios throughout the
screening)
Analysis by Group 1
07_Rashi Bhansali
16_Viresh Desai
26_Karishma Kaur Hooda
30_Aditya Kanade
35_Nidhi Khot
36_Krishna Khurusane
40_Prajakta Pai
47_Gaurang Rajput
51_Laxaree Sawant
61_Pranali Thool
63_Shweta Utekar