Vidler: Warped Space - Death Cube "K"

In warped space, Anthony Vidler discusses the warping in space that is becoming a part of the world of present day architecture. He prescribes that there are two forms of spatial warping. There is the spatial warping brought on by the psychological ideals from modernism. There is the spatial warping brought on by the interweaving of the various forms of media. The connection between these versions of warped space is represented in architecture via the various symbolism permeating the urban realm.

One of the examples Vidler discusses is called Death Cube "K." Described by William Gibson, this death cube is based off of the ideas of Franz Kafka. It is a postapocalyptic bar, a nightmare made of corroded and etched steel, with elements very much resembling part of insects, from translucent walls evoking insect wings, to the brown "roach-light." Off of the main room, there is a stair leading to a disco room called "The Penal Colony." This room is lit with pulses of red light, coming from a ceiling decorated with sharp objects reminiscent of old dental equipment. Another stair leads to a space called the "Trial" room. This room features low ceilings and walls the color of anthracite. This bar is metamorphosis of Kafka into an insect and then into a space. Death Cube "K" could be considered to be an extreme version of warped space, where the fears of a devastated future world form the psychological basis of this nightmarish bar, representing a piece of a world that is beyond hope of restoration.

Viewed from the air, the world of Death Cube "K" is formed by a landscape of twisted, fragmented ruin and desolate, scorched plains, telling the narrative of past cultures. This is a world with endless corridors where one's perceptions for an endless loop of decay. This warped space is formed through the forces of the population via changes in perception from stability to a type of controlled chaos. This world has its basis in modern architectural prototypes. These prototypes are metamorphosized through the mentalities of the late 20th century. This landscape and its associated landscapes attempt to describe the differences between the ideals of modernity and modernism.

A version of this world is populated by people as plain and faceless as the virtual representations of the human form. These people are also a product of the metamorphosis that has altered the landscape of this world. The spaces these people inhabit share their appearance; they are faceless, repeating double loaded corridors carved into the steel-built urban landscape. This space is formed by an ultimate, pure version of rationalism, where everything is bound by a strict rule set based in function rather than form. This world has its basis in Kafka's nightmare of a world that is "merely schematic." This world is a product of the neuroses plaguing the minds of the fearful individual of the 20th century.

This world is not the only vision of the future. In contrast, there are those who hypothesize there will be a utopian world of perfection. These two worlds form the basis of an ellipse described by Walter Benjamin. Each world is a foci in this ellipse, the one based in tradition and its revival, the other based in the experience of the modern urban dweller. Benjamin considered himself trapped between these two foci. It could be said the tension between these two foci warp space in a way characterizing the struggle between opposing perceptions of the modern world the paths it could take. Physical space is not warped, but a person's perceptions make it appear to be warped. One could see how the modern world is rooted in its traditions, while one could also see the world being corrupted into the realm of Death Cube "K."

It is these morphoses which form the base of "neoformations." Neoformations created a world of deterritorialization. This is a world free from the nostalgia associated with tradition, but likewise free from the false promises that lead to world of the death cube. These promises allow a kind of primitive freedom allowing a set of universal rules which don't force a landscape of repeated adaptations.

It would seem Vidler attempts to explain warped space as being the result of perceptions, based in one's own mindset. This part is based on a negative mindset. These perceptions, in turn, are the basis for change in architecture through the beliefs one has of architecture's path. Those with the utopian view envision, and in turn follow, an architectural mindset based in tradition, while those with the "death cube view" see a corrupted world, and follow an architecture that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.