THE

AGONISTIC

CITY

Benjamin Wells

Thesis Programme
2017
The Agonistic City Contents

B e n j a m i n We l l s

2 An Overview
4 An Introduction

6 Compendium
8 1. Agonistic Urbanism
10 2. Material Context
12 3. Organisational Composition
14 4. Architectural Intent

16 Chapter 1. Towards an Agonistic Urbanism (the political)

18 i. Antagonism to agonism
20 ii. Epochs of urbanism
22 iii. Protagonists and antagonists
24 iv. An agonistic arena

26 Chapter 2. Material Context (the physical)
28 i. The (real and imagined) city
30 ii. Typological parts
32 The Monument
34 The Informal intervention
36 The Courtyard
38 The Ruin
iii. Site
40 Urban centrality
44 The monument as void
46 Site fragments

50 Chapter 3. Organisational Composition (the programmatic)

52 i. Programmatic composition
54 ii. An agonistic organisation
56 iii. Programmatic actualisation

58 Chapter 4. Architectural Intent (political - formal - programmatic)

60 i. Towards an agonistic architecture?
62 ii. An aesthetics of a(nta)gonism
64 iii. A sustainable development

65 Submission
Thesis Programme 2017 65 CV

The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts 66 Appendices

School of Architecture 67-68 A - Precedent studies
69-72 B - Urban actor catalogue
73-78 C - Masterplan
Political Architecture : Critical Sustainability
79-84 D - Towards an Agonistic Urbanism - theoretical exploration
Student number: 150152
Thesis Supervisor: Associate Professor Niels Grnbk 85 References
A city is composed of different kinds of men; similar people cannot bring AN OVERVIEW
a city into existence.
Aristotle, Politics 1

Opposition is true friendship ... Without contraries is no progression.

William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 2

Most of the political life of subordinate groups is to be found neither

in overt collective defiance of powerholders nor in complete hegemonic
compliance, but in the vast territory between these two polar opposites.
James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance 3

Tbilisis urban condition has been shaped by many rulers, many conflicting
ideologies and many economic struggles - its continuity lies in its citizens.
Nino Tchatchkhiani. Tbilisi citizen and activist. (Interviewed Oct 2016.)

Instead of dreaming of a perfectly integrated society that can only be

achieved as the supreme realisation of urbanisation and its avatar,
capitalism, an absolute architecture must recognise the political
separateness that can potentially ... be manifest through the borders that This program constructs a basic foundation for the forthcoming
define the possibility of the city. thesis project, through four distinct but intertwined chapters:
Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture 4
1. Agonistic Urbanism
2. Material Context
3. Organisational Composition
4. Architectural Intent

The following compendium briefly outline these thematics to give

an overview of the scope of the project, followed by a more in
depth exploration of each. Each chapter moves inwards from the
general to the particular, and an appendix provides additional
Russia content for the interested reader.

Direction for those that are short on time:

Chapter one works through the theoretical thematics of the
project, and is necessary reading for a definition of agonistic
Georgia political theory and its implications for architecture.
Chapter two details the material context of Tbilisi, Georgia. The
introduction describes Tbilisis current urban condition as well as a
future offered by a proposed masterplan, and the second half of
Armenia Azerbaijan the chapter introduces the site itself.
Chapter three describes the programmatic composition of the
Turkey proposed organisation.
Chapter four explores how the thematics introduced in the
previous three chapters can coalesce through architecture, and
Iran therefore begins to program the forthcoming thesis project and
its architectural intent.

2
AN INTRODUCTION

Much of the democratic world has entered a post-political era,

where politics proper has been negated by representational
democracy and suppressed by the generalising tendencies of
neoliberalism.

Georgia is an extreme example of this paradigmatic condition

- its fledgling democracy has been consistently undermined by
a multitude of economic, political and territorial pressures.

This post-political situation is reflected in its systems of urban

governance, which emphasise consensus through bureaucracy,
suppressing meaningful citizen or NGO participation. The potential
for political spatial form actualised through a political urbanism is
therefore in perpetual conflict with the homogenising tendencies
of capitalist urbanisation and the hegemony of liberalism.

The urban condition of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, reflects the

triumph of the latter, with over densification, severe air pollution,
endless traffic and the ruins of failed ideologies defining its urban
condition. A passive civil society coupled with fledgling state
institutions has left the city exposed to unrestricted development,
at the expense of urban quality and social cohesion.

Tbilisis turbulent history has prevented the growth of a democratic

urban governance, and the result is a polarity of responses;
the (homogenising) masterplanning of the state which aims to
develop the city through emblematic projects, in opposition to
the particularity of activist and research groups reacting to specific
and isolated urban issues.

This thesis will address these polarities on three fundamental

levels; the political, the material and the programmatic,
with the intention of composing an agonistic urbanism with
conflictual, political discourse as its central foundation. This
composition will be developed through a highly specific work
of architecture which creates a reciprocal relationship between
political architectural form and a political urbanism.

4
THE AGONISTIC CITY

COMPENDIUM
1 AGONISTIC URBANISM
Outline of Chapter One

Antagonism (n.) From antagonism to agonism

Hostility that results
in active resistance,
The crisis of the contemporary city is perpetuated by its post-
opposition, or political condition. The hegemony of liberalism and an ambition
contentiousness. for consensus in the processes of city making has suppressed
antagonism, and thus the political.
Agonism (n.) The (re)politicising of urbanism is dependent on the provision of
(from Greek agon, an arena where differences can be confronted and negotiated,
struggle)
a political theory
and only then might it have the power to resist the complete social
that emphasises the mobilisation of late capitalism and its urban ramifications.
potentially positive Here lies the project of architecture.
aspects of certain This arena must allow conflicting agendas to be negotiated and
forms of political
antagonism. channelled into productive outcomes, between a diversified
network of actors and across a spectrum of social spaces. Only
with the acceptance of antagonism as intrinsic to the multiplicity of
democracy can it be directed into a generative agonistic politics.

Epochs of urbanism - protagonists and antagonists

Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, epitomises this post-political
condition. Whilst its recent democratisation may suggest an
increased potential for a wider participation in political urbanism,
the citys turbulent history has created complex political, social,
economic and spatial problematics that have prevented the
evolution of an agonistic urban governance. The program outlines
this history, along with a detailed study of the current field of actors
operating in Tbilisi and why it has resulted in an urban impasse.

An agonistic arena
The practice of agonistic urbanism is contingent on a responsive
network connecting an assemblage of actors, and a dissensual
space for their conflictual confrontation and negotiation. The
projects core ambition is the design of this arena, exploring
architectures agency in composing and facilitating the emergence
of a polyvocal, agonistic urbanism.

8
2 M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T
O u t l i n e o f C h a p t e r Tw o

The (real and imagined) city

Tbilisis urban fabric reflects the opposition inherent in the
citys governance, defined by constant juxtapositions between
historical artefacts, ideological monuments and ruins, ad-hoc
building extensions and uncontrolled urbanisation. This context is
perpetuated by severe traffic congestion, air pollution and a lack
of public space or ecology. Nevertheless, the recent emergence of
various activists and NGOs has provoked the City Hall to propose
a new masterplan for the city, which will set a clear direction for the
city for the first time since the Soviet Union (expected April 2017).
Through manifesting some of the ambitions of this masterplan, the
project affords a critical debate surrounding their limitations and
The City Within potential, as well as challenging the very notion of urban planning.

Typological parts
In an ambition to compose a meaningful and appropriate
architectural intervention, this program will explore four typological
parts that exist in Tbilisi; the monument, the informal intervention,
the courtyard and the ruin. An abstracted taxonomy of these
typologies reveals socio-political, historical and formal thematics
with which the project engages.

Site centrality
The boundary of the chosen site is somewhat ambiguous, allowing
for both an architectural and urban scale intervention. The primary
spatial object of focus is the ruin of a disused power station, lying
in a prominent location in the centre of the city. The urban strategy
explores a reconnection to the citys river and the duality between
the power station and one of the most significant public squares in
Tbilisi. The program will detail the various fragments of the power
The Great Hall station and offers a visual exploration.

10
 3 O R G A N I S AT I O N A L C O M P O S I T I O N
Outline of Chapter Three

Knowledge An agonistic organisation

Archive
Library
The programmatic proposition has evolved from extensive research
Organisational arrangement Research into both the political context and the urban condition of Tbilisi.
Processional flow
Studio spaces The project embraces the city as a heterogeneous ensemble of
Workshops Hotel formalEconomy
parts and urban actors, which informs an evolving urban
Discussion
Lecture halls strategy rather than imposing generalising rules. The project
Debate advocates urbanism as a collective and politics practice, with
Forum agonistic decision making as its core principle.
Council
Committee
Research
Presentation The Knowledge
specific programmatic organisation responds to various
Exhibition tangible problematics in Tbilisi, and has been developed through
Introspective

Event continued discussion

Office space
with local actors. Supporting the spectrum
Gallery Archive
Studio
of discursive social spaces at the centre of the project are studios
Workshops Study spaces
Urban
Spaces and workshops for various NGO groups, a library and archive,
Bridge various
Library exhibition and event spaces as well as other civic functions.
Meeting
Park
Knowledge, research,
spaces discussion, debate and presentation are the
Conflict negotiation primary foundations of the organisation, and constantly challenge
one another programmatically and architecturally.

Programmatic actualisation
Exhibition / Event Forum Beyond
Council
theCommittee
architectural proposition, confined to the boundaries
of its academic framework, is an ambition to actualise certain
aspects of the project. The program outlines these strategies,
Presentation Debate
including the creation of a website and the potential hosting of a
Discussion

workshop in Tbilisi.
Conference
Cafe / Bar Event space Gallery Lecture Hall
Space
12
4 ARCHITECTURAL INTENT
Outline of Chapter Four

Towards an agonistic architecture?

The architectural proposition intends to negotiate and coalesce
the political, formal and programmatic thematics introduced. As
the organisation embraces the antagonism central to urbanism,
the architectural proposition will facilitate and celebrate this
intrinsic quality, both spatially and formally. Spatially, the project
will manifest and organise conflict, offering it a self awareness and
potentiality, through a complex spectrum of discursive arenas.
Formally, it will embed itself contextually through the abstraction
and consolidation of the outlined typological fragments,
reinterpreting and composing them into an ensemble of parts,
which becomes a basis for the formation of the city at large.

An aesthetics of a(nta)gonism
The presence of a disused power station on the site provokes
many questions that are central to Tbilisis urban discourse.
Namely, what to do with the problem of the citys existing urban
fabric. From accurate reconstruction to unreserved demolition,
the city manifests a whole spectrum of strategies and identities of
transformation. The project intends to resolve a number of these
strategies against the programmatic and formal organisation,
subverting their norms and questioning their validity, resulting in a
meaningful constellation of abstract qualities and characteristics.

A sustainable development
Organising a sustainable form of urban governance is central to the
subsequent formation of a sustainable city. Architectures agency
lies in facilitating, encouraging and protecting the sustainability of
that governance, through an evolving form of urbanism that does
not prescribe generalising rules but mediates individual issues
through negotiation.

14
 CHAPTER ONE
The POLITICAL
AGONISTIC URBANISM
i F R O M A N TA G O N I S M T O A G O N I S M
AGONISTIC URBANISM

An agonistic democratic politics

Georgias expeditious adoption of both democracy and

Hegemony capitalism has constructed a complex ideological contradiction;
(Greek hgemonia, the antagonism intrinsic to multiplicity on the one hand, and
from hgemn leader)
individualism, consensus and the apolitical on the other.
The social, cultural,
ideological, or The triumph of the latter has led to a condition that several
economic influence prominent theorists (Rancire, iek, Mouffe) describe as the
exerted by a post-political.
dominant group over
another
The processes of Tbilisis urban development have not resisted
the rationalistic and individualistic tendencies of the liberalist
hegemony, rejecting the pluralistic nature of society and its
inherent conflict. Politics has been reduced to the regulatory
practice of Foucauldian governmentality, facilitated through a
representational consensus which negates the need for citizen
participation.

Several architectural theorists (Mouffe, Swyngedouw, Aureli)

Instead of dreaming
discuss the potential of conflictual urban politics in allowing
of a perfectly opposing hegemonies to confront one another, accepting
integrated society antagonisms perpetual existence and directing it into an agonistic
that can only be politics (refer to appendix D-1).
achieved as the
supreme realisation of
urbanisation and its
avatar, capitalism, an An agonistic arena
absolute architecture
must recognise the
political separateness This agonistic urbanism is contingent on the provision of an
that can potentially ... arena where differences can be confronted and channelled into
be manifest through productive outcomes. Swyngedouw advocates for symbolic
the borders that
define the possibility spaces for dissensual public encounter and exchange6, both
of the city. 5 metaphorical and material, and across a diverse range of scales.
Pier Vittorio Aureli
The Possibility of an
Absolute Architecture This political field must engage with a spectrum of social spaces
and a diversified network of actors, including a more meaningful
inclusion of citizens and their right to reshape the processes of
Left urbanisation7, thus giving a voice to all those who are silenced
A discursive arena that
within the framework of the existing hegemony.8
facilitates dissensus
through a diverse field The initial design of this agonistic arena, both formally and
of formal interventions programmatically, is the central aim of this project.

18
ii EPOCHS OF URBANISM
1985
Permits to build
additions
1980
Soviet
Urbanism
Above
A timeline of Tbilisis
epochs of urbanism
Left
Tbilisis current
urban condition is an
accumulation of the
material ramifications
of these conflicting
governance epochs.
Here buildings are
obscured from their
contexts, reflecting
their perceived
rejection by the city.
Citizen participation
is widely considered
as voting for
politicians who will
be assisted by civil
servants. Scientific
experts are useful
to define minimum
regulation that
optimises markets,
while minimising
social problems
Citizens participate
by behaving in a
disciplined manner,
obeying the laws. 9
AGONISTIC URBANISM
1991 2003 2012
Fall of Soviet Union Rose Revolution Georgian Dream
party elected
1992 2007
Beginning of mass Anti-Saakashvili
privatisation protests
2016
1990 2000 2010 2020
Citizen Developer Politicised Current Agonistic
Urbanism Urbanism Urbanism Condition Urbanism?
Shevardnadze Saakashvili Ivanishvili / Garibashvili
Whilst Georgias recent democratisation may suggest increased
opportunity for wider participation in urban politics, Tbilisis
history has created a complex urban condition with various
political, social, economic, and spatial conditions preventing
the evolution of an agonistic urban governance.
Tbilisis processes of urban governance have been subject to
marked shifts in power between various actors, suggesting several
definitive and paradigmatic epochs of urbanism. An understanding
of the successes and failures of these epochs, and the historic
and potential shifts of power between state, citizen and market
entities, has helped to form the programmatic composition.
With the fall of the Soviet Union went the centralised planning
systems, and the city went into a decade of ad-hoc survival
urbanism. It wasnt until the formation of the 2003 democratic
government that the state really began to engage in the citys
development, but an adoption of radical neoliberal market policies
allowed for developer-led urbanisation to define the citys growth.
The latter half of the 2000s was characterised by an increasingly
politically motivated urbanism, with a host of emblematic projects
built to project European and progressive ideals.
Tracing this urbanism history leads us to its current position
in the domain of administrative representational governance,
which negates the inherent antagonism of citizen participation
and disregards the contradictory nature of heterogeneous
socio-spatial practices.
Whilst the city planning department is increasingly proactive in
restricting urbanisation, it does so through regulation rather than
political engagement, often resulting in reactionary opposition.
The potential for democratic spatial form actualised through
a political urbanism is therefore in perpetual conflict with the
homogenising tendencies of capitalist urbanisation and the
consensus of liberalism.
20
 iii P R O TA G O N I S T S A N D A N TA G O N I S T S
Private Sector AGONISTIC URBANISM

Axis Development Georgian Development

Group Group

Georgian Metra Development

Reconstruction &
Development Company Georgia Co-Investment
Fund
A network of actors
Hualing Group
Provoked by a range of adverse consequences of unrestricted
Silk Road Group
What challenges urbanisation (severe air pollution, excessive traffic, lack of public
Domus Development Real Estate
does your
organisation face?
space or greenery...), a number of non-governmental organisations
Poor to very and activist groups have formed in recent years.
State Tbilisi Development bad legislation,
Mayors Office Fund bad governance, Whilst incipient, the emergence of this set of actors marks a
incompetence
of official bodies significant development of Tbilisis civil society. In a fledgling
City Hall
like City Hall, democracy, this citizen engagement holds critical potential
nonexistent concept in balancing the power of governmental representation with
for the future
development of
that of participation - a balance considered central to a vibrant
Government the city, nihilistic democracy.
citizens and
City Assembly poorly developed
Ministry of The research and fieldwork preceding this program has focused
Economy civil society and
City Council democracy. on researching and cataloguing these actors, their influence on the
Nino Tchatchkhiani city and their connections (both realised and potential) with other
Tbilisi Forum for actors. From these connections the adjacent actor network map
Architecture.
Ministry of Culture &
Survey response.
has emerged.
Monument Protection
Forum for Architecture
City Institute Georgia
Within the appendix the reader will find a selection of this
NGO research networks

Online networks

TbilisiArchitecture.net cataloguing, with a detailed analysis of five organisations;

Caucasus Environmental
NGO Network Urban Reactor Georgian Reconstruction Development Company (developer),
Tbilisi Urban Laboratory
Left Tiflis Hamkari (heritage NGO), Tbilisi Development Fund (state
Goethe-Institut Georgia
ICOMOS Tbilisi InSights A mapping of funded developer), Tbilisi City Hall (planning department), and
the existing City Institute Georgia (urban planning NGO). This cross section
Heinrich Bll Stiftung actor network in
Foundation
Tiflis Hamkari Tbilisi Moare aims to provide a representative account of urban actors in Tbilisi,
Heritage NGOs

Tbilisi, revealing
a centralised introducing the future protagonists and antagonists of the project.
Tbilisi Heritage Group system around
Green Alternative
Iare Pekhit state organisations, Negotiated conflict
Soviet Past Research with developers
CAMPUS Tbilisi Laboratory and NGOs/
Extensive research, interviewing and mapping revealed the high
Guerilla Gardening
Activists

level of antagonism in this system. However, it soon became

NGOs

activists acting
MitOst Do.co.mo.mo Green Fist
independently. apparent that this conflict has very little space in which it can
emerge to be negotiated, utilised or resolved.
Creative Development
Center Association of Georgian
Critical Mass Cycling This suppressed conflict has led to an urban impasse, with a
Architects struggling city hall, disillusioned citizens and exhausted activists
I would rather talk allowing the powers of investor development to continue
Centre for about dissensus than business as usual. NGOs react to specific urban issues in isolation;
resistance.
Contemporary Art this absence of political engagement limits their reaction to
Jacques Rancire
Artforum resistance and prevents a coalescing of these fragmented urban
Non Governmental
International movements into a dissensual urbanism.

22
 iv AN AGONISTIC ARENA
Mayors
Office AGONISTIC URBANISM

City Hall

City
Institute
Georgia

Association of
Georgian
Architects

Creative
Do.co.
Development
mo.mo
Center The practice of an agonistic urbanism in Tbilisi is contingent on
Tiflis
Tbilisi two things. Firstly, the establishment of a responsive network
Hamkari
Heritage between an assemblage of urban actors and their particular
Group CAMPUS
Green
Alternative Tbilisi concerns, and secondly, the provision of spaces for conflictual
public encounter and exchange.
Guerilla MitOst
Gardening
The former is vital in releasing urban conflicts (and actors) from
their isolated singularity and connecting them conceptually, and
the latter is required to allow these antagonisms to confront one
Goethe-
Institut Green Fist another in a symbolic and spatial political arena. This network would
Georgia
Ministry of visualise the diversity and complexity of conflict in Tbilisi, and then
Economy facilitate it through a specific spatial condition that grounds it in the
physicality of the city (refer to appendix D-2).
Iare Pekhit
Critical
This is an actor
This arena must allow antagonisms to be manifested and conflicting
Mass
network in the agendas to be negotiated between a diverse constellation of actors.
Parliament Latourian sense, To transcend the potential paralysis of hostility, this antagonism
Urban
as it recognises must be mediated through frameworks and spaces that aim to
Reactor the impact of
particular urban reach productive resolutions, moving beyond antagonism to an
objects on social agonistic urbanism.
networks, through
both material and
semiotic relations.
If Georgia is committed to the democracy project, then it seems
an apt moment to consider widening and diversifying this field of
Left actors to allow a polyvocal, conflictual urban politics to emerge.
Tbilisis urban This plethora of formalised and scalar conflicts, connected by a
actors, located
Soviet Past geographically.
responsive network and hosted by designed dissensual spaces,
Research Lab The size of circle could constitute a truly democratic, agonistic urbanism.
relates to perceived
influence, and
City Council The project intends to respond to this appeal, exploring
the map reveals
contentious architectures agency in composing an arena for negotiated conflict,
City Assembly buildings/areas. and through doing so expand and empower Tbilisis field of actors.
Caucasus
Environmental
ICOMOS NGO 24
 CHAPTER TWO
The PHYSICAL
M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T
i THE (REAL AND IMAGINED) CITY
M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T

Core aims of
From Stability
to Sustainability,
Real
the proposed Tbilisis urban condition has reached a point of crisis, with vehicular
masterplan: (de)connectivity, anarchic urban sprawl, severe air pollution and
Polycentrism a significant lack of public space or greenery. Vast numbers of
Urban ecology
Connectivity buildings are deemed structurally unstable, and the few state-
Sustainable initiated reconstruction projects have been denounced as superficial
development pastiche with a disregard for internal use. Many districts are marked
Public space
City identity
by the effects of dirty urbanism - speculative housing built without
regard to urban quality or social cohesion - juxtaposed against
emblematic, politically-charged (and often unused) monuments.

Imagined - a (master) plan

The power of the Empirical research offered a recurring comment; many actors are
city is not in any hopeful that a proposed masterplan, set to be implemented in
individual building. April 2017, will provide an antidote to Tbilisis current condition.
Prof. Dr. Merab
Bolkvadze This masterplan, initiated by City Hall and crafted by a conglomerate
City Institute of local and intentional NGOs, aims to set a clear direction for the
Georgia. citys development for the first time since the Soviet masterplans.
Interviewed Oct
2017
Refer to appendix C for a detailed description and analysis of the
proposed masterplan.

Potential and limitations

Oswald Mathias
Ungers 1977
Whilst a degree of planning is essential for tackling certain urban
Berlin as a Green problems, the notion of masterplanning remains problematic. Its
Archipelago inclination toward norms rather than exceptions, to regularity over
rejected the
complexity, seems at odds with Tbilisis urbanity. A holistic and
impossibility of
urban planning and thus homogenising planning strategy is potentially inadequate
instead proposed a to respond to the informality and intricacy of the city, unless it is
composition of city facilitated by a political, agonistic urbanism which mediates between
parts, finite in form
but evocative of the
the urban with the particular. Masterplanning, by prescribing rules,
city as a hole. risks negating the political potential of urban development.

Left
The project will critique some of the masterplans key aims
A mapping of by testing their validity through a condensed, highly specific
the proposed architectural intervention, thus connecting the city with the
masterplan, based
particular, or urbanism with architecture. Through manifesting
on an interview with
the author. some of the ambitions of an urban vision, the project allows
Refer to appendix C. for a critical debate surrounding their limitations and potential.

28
ii T Y P O L O G I C A L PA R T S
M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T

The Monument

The Informal
Intervention

The Courtyard

The Ruin

The Square The centre of Tbilisi, in which the chosen site lies, is rich in
The Dwelling
architectural complexity and opposition - the marks of its turbulent
The Street
The Market history inscribed into its urban fabric. The following taxonomy
The River introduces several primary spatial components, as each reveals
The Mountain socio-political, material and programmatic thematics with which
the project engages.

The Monument - the representation of (imposed) collective ideals

The Informal Intervention - the dissent of the individual

The Courtyard - the introverted spatiality of a public

The Ruin - the remnant / foundation of collective memory

The confrontation
of parts can be
Whilst these typologies have the most significance for the
achieved only based architectural proposition, and will therefore be explored in more
on common and detail, the following parts are also core to Tbilisis urban condition:
existing aspects
of the city, not ex
nihilo creation of The Square - the besieged territory of the collective
the new. Through The Dwelling - the neglected space of the individual
the exemplary and The Street - the road
exceptional clarity
of the compositional
The Market - the last representation of the collective?
gesture, a true part The River - the rejected artery
of the city recognizes The Mountain - the last obstacle to urbanisation
and represents its
typical aspects. The
part is absolute; it The latent thematics introduced in this taxonomy reveal the
stands in solitude, subversions that these formal fragments have experienced in
yet it takes a Tbilisi; a distortion that is central to the citys urban crisis.
position with regard
to the whole from
which it has been The project intends to reinstate aspects of these typological
separated.10 parts, but rather than applying a nostalgic, mimetic contextualism
Pier Vittorio Aureli
it will develop a critical assemblage of abstracted formal, social,
The Possibility
of an Absolute historical and political fragments, composed as a highly particular
Architecture architectural ensemble.

30
 THE MONUMENT
M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T

Left
The repetition of the
Soviet microrayon
Gldani. The centre of the city is scattered with monuments representing
Right the ideals of various conflicting ideologies. This proliferation
Vision of Batumi
Exhibited at
reveals Tbilisis long held belief in the power of individual
Saakashvilis projects as tools of urbanisation. Whether developer-led
Presidential Library projects or politically motivated emblematic icons, these
buildings strive to be liberated from their context, disregarding
the city as the incidental product of their amalgamation. This
negation of responsibility limits urban politics.

The singular focus of these monuments is coupled with the

domination of a singular actor (politician, developer, architect),
whose autonomy allows them to define the parameters for the
project. This, coupled with the markets desire for the new, results
in the disparate formal articulations characteristic of Tbilisi, as
typified by the neo-classical Presidential Palace overlooking the
parametric Music and Exhibition Hall (disused). The response to
this is reconstruction projects such as Agmashenebeli Avenue, but
The Biltmore Hotel their false morphology reduces the urban identity of the city to
Central Tbilisi a mimetic image. The attribute shared between these diverging
monuments is the apolitical conditions that formed them - does this
help explain why they are failures in the eyes of so many citizens?

Pier Vittorio Aureli promotes an absolute architecture; the

formalised assembly of parts into a finite artefact that becomes
Nothing is ever evocative of the idea of the city. But whilst Tbilisis monuments
new. Everything is
copied. are clearly finite forms, they have been widely rejected by the city,
Adam Caruso exposed as representations of imposed ideologies. They inflict
Masterclass in on the city a state of confusion, a distraction from the generic
Copenhagen
Feb 2017
monotony of surrounding urbanisation. Part of the problem lies in
their lack of performativity; a focus on form at the expense of use
has rendered them untimely ruins.
Left
An archipelago of
If Tbilisis urban condition reveals an opposition between the
monuments: (L-R) generic of urbanisation and the particular of symbolic form,
Public Service Hall, does this suggest there is an ambiguous middle ground which
Peace Bridge, Rike could offer an alternative to these intentional yet diverging
Park Concert Hall
and the Presidential urbanisms? The project will explore the notion of monumentality
Palace as the representation of multiplicity as the core idea of the city.

32
 THE INFORMAL INTERVENTION
M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T

Left
Balconies, extensions
and interventions
are typical of Tbilisis
architecture

We have put If a monument is an intentional composition of finite form, then

planning restrictions
in place to prevent
its antithesis is the informal intervention; arbitrary, evolving, and
these extensions fragmentary. In Tbilisi this is typified by the balcony, the existence
from ruining the of which can be traced through centuries and has become a
citys image. typological fragment in its own right. Whilst perhaps revealing the
City Hall
representative. inadequate provision of space or adaptability, this could also be
Interviewed Oct read as an individuals claim of their right to shape the city, thus
2017. empowering them.

Where there is power, there is resistance, and the resistance force

against the power of finite monumental form is that of the informal
intervention. Tbilisis urban condition is dense with these additions,
extensions and palimpsests, revealing something of the ingenuity
of its citizens whilst disrupting the idealised image of the city of
monuments. The informal intervention has both enveloped the
genericity of urbanisation and resisted the finiteness of imposed
monuments. The state and city hall take objection to this and are
consistently questioning its legality; the informal intervention is
thus an inherently antagonistic typology.

The intricacy and originality of Tbilisi balconies is central to their

character, but a formal abstraction would focus on their mediation
Informal art is open
in that it proposes between public and private, creating a commonality around the
a wider range dwelling and a threshold between it and the city. Italian theorist
of interpretative Umberto Eco discusses the value of informality whose substantial
possibilities ... a
constellation of
indeterminacy allows for a number of possible readings.11
elements that lend This power in the ordinary, the evolutionary, is reflected in
themselves to all the intentions of the programmatic arrangement. A range of
sorts of reciprocal
discursive spaces aims to dissolve the hierarchical structures of
relationships.11
Umberto Eco official-expert-citizen, and embrace the potential in the random
The Open Work encounter, the unforeseen conflict.

34
c

T H E C O U R T YA R D
M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T

Left
Old Tbilisi
courtyards

Whilst huge areas of public space have been systematically sold

and developed since Georgias independence, the introverted
spatiality of the courtyard perhaps resembles the last bastion of
undefined and thus negotiable collectivity in Tbilisi. Its scale and
introversion has largely saved it from development, and remains
central to the citys architectural character.

The courtyards containment has a similar architectural quality to

that of the plinth - the definition of finiteness and separateness,
and thus a manifestation of the political. Aureli suggests that this
Salk Institute recuperates in subtle ways the difference that the modern city
Louis Kahn has subsumed within its generic space: the symbolic possibility
The raised central of confrontation.12
courtyard marks the
threshold between
land and sea, man The three-sided courtyard typical of Tbilisi questions the finiteness
and nature. of the plinth, mediating the flows of the city with the architectural
space which frames it. It is protected from constant claims of
ownership by its containment, yet in dialogue with the city beyond,
thus ensuring and encouraging conflict. This formal composition is
reminiscent of Mies van der Rohes Landhaus Lemke, which adopts
the characteristics of the courtyard house without hermetically
enclosing the internal space, allowing its political potential to
Left
extend beyond its enclosure (refer to appendix A-3).
A typical Tbilisi
three-sided The project will take cues from the political potential afforded
courtyard,
by the courtyard typology, as well as its programmatic
mediating the
threshold between ambiguity which mediates between the exteriority of the city
street and dwelling. and interiority of finite architectural form.

36
 THE RUIN
M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T

Left In between Tbilisis field of opposing monuments and interventions

Dunepark
Cyprien Gaillard
is a myriad of ruins. From ancient ruins of historical importance to
The act of recovery contemporary untimely ruins, much urban conflict surrounds the
catalysed collectivity transformation of Tbilisis existing urban fabric. In fact, the most
Right
common object of concern for urban activists is issues of urban
A church ruin in decay, from which political questions of maintenance, preservation
Tbilisi or demolition arise.
used as a temporary
exhibition space.
Whilst the typology of the ruin gives much insight into thematics
of collective memory, historical continuity and material temporality,
Walter Benjamin saw this projects primary focus is the ability of the ruin to provoke a
in ruins allegories strong reaction, to coalesce a public, and to initiate a confrontation
of thinking itself,
a meditation on concerning their transformation.
ambivalence.
The French artist Cyprien Gaillard explored this potential in his
work Dunepark, in which the excavation of a hidden bunker was
opened to the public (the embodiment of the Bunker Archaeology
carried out by Paul Virilio) and reminiscent of Gordon Matta-Clarks
concept of a non-ument; a critical dtournement of the historical
Left
Gudiashvili Square stability of the monument. This act of recovery became a catalyst
Tbilisi for collectivity, revealing the political potential of ruins in their
The proposed ambiguity, negotiability and scope for reimagination.
demolition of
buildings bordering
The entropic qualities of architecture are explicit in Tbilisi, yet
the square in Tbilisis often responded to with either pastiche facadism or wilful
Old Town provoked demolition; a disinheritance of the citys formal integrity. It is
extensive protests - their ambiguity of meaning and fragmentary nature which holds
one of the first times
a public coalesced potential for catalysing agonistic urbanism.
around an urban issue
in the city. The project engages with these problematics on several levels. The
chosen site hosts the ruins of a power station; a monumental yet
forgotten structure that manifests a catalogue of states of decay.
This ruin creates a void in the very centre of the city, enriched
Below with a tension of meaning and potential for interpretation which
Ruin as void invites political engagement and critical imagination.

38
 iii URBAN CENTRALITY
M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T

7
The project site has been strategically selected for its centrality
within both the urban field and the networks of power affecting
it. The site boundary is intentionally ambiguous, absorbing both
an architectural and urban area, whilst bridging a gentle turn
in the Kura (Mtkvari) river around which the city has grown.
The primary architectural enquiry focuses on the existence of a
disused power station, striking in its centrality and abandoned
monumentality. The surrounding urbanity hosts the fragmented
1
diversity of dwellings, the linear divisions of rivers and roads, the
imposed standardisation of reconstruction, contentious monuments
8 and failed public space.

8 Despite its qualities, the river has been disconnected from the
7
city by major roads on both its banks, rendering it inaccessible
2 and unusable, and this dominance of the car confines pedestrian
4 movement to particular routes. The power station exemplifies
this; an island surrounded by major circulation routes but itself
an introverted and static space. Two of these major axis routes,
Agmashenebeli and Rustaveli Avenues, run parallel to the river
Left / above along the periphery of the site. These streets have been the focus of
Site and context extensive reconstruction projects in recent years, and subsequently
the object of much social, political and material conflict.
1. Disused power
1 7 station (main site)
2. Rose Revolution Opposite the power station lies Rose Revolution square, one
Sq. (ancillary site) of the most important and contentious spaces in Tbilisi. Its
3. Rustaveli Metro St
morphology has been in perpetual flux, and is now occupied by
4. Rustaveli Av.
5. Mtatsminda Mt. a major roundabout above a sprawling underground network of
6. The Dry Bridge brothels and nightclubs. The square and the power station have
3 2 7. Agmashenebeli Av. a duality which is central to the project; the concentration of
8. Kura River
antagonism manifested in the square sits in direct opposition to
the forgotten void of the power station.
8

Right
The view towards Rose
Revolution Square
from the site. The
Radisson Blue Hotel
can be seen on the
5 left, with Mtatsminda
Mt in the background.

40
42
iii THE MONUMENT AS VOID
M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T

Whilst surrounded by the conflicts and contentions of Tbilisis

urban condition, the site has maintained a sense of calm amongst
this disarray due to the presence of a monumental ruin. Built in
1911, just before the Russian Revolution of 1917 and Georgias
(short lived) independence, this disused power station maintains
an imposing formal character whilst exhibiting various states of
disrepair and decay. Built in a strategic site to project industrial
innovation, the map to the left (drawn in the year the power station
was built) shows how central the site was even in 1911.

The building demonstrates a subversion of the monumentality it

once embodied; whilst maintaining its formal expression it has
gradually lost its cultural significance. Its explicit manifestation
of the passing of time is the very attribute that its surrounding
Left monuments desperately try to conceal, and this quality offers it
Map of Tbilisi a certain acceptance into the urban fabric that renders it far less
1911 contentious. The ruin is a void in a number of ways; it is spatially
dislocated from the dynamics of the city, a forgotten relic
Left
The power station and amongst many highly contentious sites and open to negotiation
ancillary buildings and reinterpretation.

This political potentiality is demonstrated by a singular event that

occasionally unfolds on the site. A small arts organisation, ArtArea,
occupy one of the ancillary buildings on the site, and have used
the power station and surrounding areas for artistic events and
interventions. The photo below shows one such event. Georgian
letters, reading I am not well, appear to float within the void of
the central hall of the power station. Contained, concealed and yet
in the very centre of the city, the words personify both the ruin and
Below its surrounding urbanity, making explicit its political agency. The
Ara varkargad (I am
not well)
neglected ruin invites its reprogramming, framing a space rich with
Mariam Kalandarishvili potential for interpretation and critical collectivity.

44
 iii SITE FRAGMENTS
M AT E R I A L C O N T E X T

Central Hall - the power station, and the site, gravitate around an
impressive central hall, once hosting the main generators. This void
is contained within a solid perimeter wall with only two ground
5 level openings and several apertures at roof level. Its containment
affords it a concave spatiality that is reminiscent of the courtyard
typology discussed. The halls monumental character has the
potential to become an urban room, protected by its introversion
but negotiable as a defined public space.
4

Secondary Hall - a secondary north eastern hall, equal in floor

area but smaller in volume, is contingent on the central hall,
2/6 structurally, architecturally and once programmatically. Its exposed
5
lower ground level hosts a series of platforms and rooms that once
controlled the mechanics of the central generators.

2 1 3 7 Inhabited wall - a subsidiary form connecting to the west of the

central hall reads as an inhabited wall, with two floors looking
towards the river and offering glimpses into the central void. Two
large chimneys rise from the first floor; the most potent remnants of
the buildings industrial past.

Connected frame (ruin) - behind the solid mass of the central halls
southern wall is a supporting form which is marked by various states
2 of decay. By its perimeter edge it has become a ruinous frame with
6
only columns and floors remaining.
Left & Below
1. Central Hall Ancillary buildings
5 2. Secondary Hall
3. Inhabited wall
5
4. Connected frame
Urban landscape - these buildings are connected by an intermediate
5. Ancillary buildings territory, and an area that once had direct connection to the river.
6. Urban landscape
7. Kura River
8. Rose Revolution Sq

2 1 3 6 7 8 46
48
 CHAPTER THREE
T h e P R O G R A M M AT I C
ORGANISATIONAL COMPOSITION

Providing updated facilities for
Archive Central Historical Archive of
Knowledge
Georgia - Architectural Archive.
Containing volumes regarding
architecture and urban issues.
Library
Digital resources reflecting
organisations work. Public.
Flexible workspaces for various
Studio Spaces non-Governmental organisations
and activist groups.
Research
Workshops for research
Workshops production, modelmaking,
printing, etc.
Printing press. Digital services.
Conference and meeting spaces
Conference
Space
for NGOs, City Hall, visiting
experts etc.
Discussion
Lecture hall for presentations on
Lecture Hall proposed developments, arising
conflicts, Tbilisi history etc.
Flexible space for large scale
Forum discussions, debates, events,
presentations.
Debate / Negotiation
Elected and representative
council, made up of individuals
Council / Congress
from City Hall, NGOs, experts
and citizens.
Committee Citizen representative
committee.
Flexible exhibition space for
Main Exhibition architectural pavilions, art
installations, city models, 1:1
models
Sharing / Presentation
Exhibtion of Tbilisi urban and
Gallery
architectural development,
proposed developments,
archive material, visiting
exhibitions etc
Architectural / urban events
Event space organised by various NGOs.
Shares space with main
exhibition?
NGOs
i P R O G R A M M AT I C C O M P O S I T I O N
- Tbilisi Forum for Architecture
O R G A N I S AT I O N A L C O M P O S I T I O N
- Tbilisi Urban Lab
- Tbilisi Insights
- Urban Reactor
- Iare Pekhit
- Guerilla Gardening The proposed organisation accommodates the program for a
- Green Fist strategic, progressive and democratic urbanism, with its foundation
- City Institute Georgia
in research and agonistic politics. The specific programmatic
- Caucasus Environmental Network arrangement has developed through the theoretical exploration
- CAMPUS Tbilisi
- Creative Development Center
alongside continued communication with local actors in Tbilisi.
- Tiflis Hamkari The components of the program are detailed opposite, and
- Tbilisi Heritage Group
- Docomomo address seven primary thematics:
- ArtArea
Knowledge - the project has knowledge at its centre, with an
- Visiting / emerging NGOs archive providing facilities for the existing city archive (which is in a
state of disarray) as well as an evolving library to create a reliable
and research-based knowledge of the city.
Research - flexible studio spaces and workshops have a reciprocal
relationship with this knowledge base, and provide much-needed
Office space
physical space for small scale urban actors. This facilitates
collaboration, negotiation and conflict.
Study spaces Discussion - a series of conference spaces and lecture halls facilitate
a broadened discussion on urban issues.
Amenity (economy)
Cafe / Bar
Meeting spaces Debate - the central principle of the organisation, providing
a range of discursive spaces across various scales. An elected
Hotel Council makes decisions regarding a multitude of urban issues,
Storage as an extension of the City Hall program but consisting of NGO
and citizen representatives. A large scale forum provides space for
WCs larger public presentations, debates and events, connecting to a
wider public.
Canteen
Presentation - a series of exhibition and event spaces encourage
River Park
this outreach, providing an evolving tangible and visual presentation
of the work and proposition of the organisation and its users.
Economy - a cafe and a hotel provide amenities for visitors and
Pedestrian
users, as well as offering a financial viability which the organisation
Bridge
could not function without (the organisation would likely be funded
Urban
further by a membership fee, which gives all members an equal
Promenade / stake).
Street
Urban - a pioneering and symbolic reclamation of the river front,
along with a design strategy that encompass a new pedestrian
Public Space bridge and part of Rose Revolution square, will be key aspects of
the development of the project.
52
Organisational arrangement

Processional flow ii A N A G O N I S T I C O R G A N I S AT I O N
Hotel Economy
O R G A N I S AT I O N A L C O M P O S I T I O N

Research Knowledge

Introspective

Office space
Archive
Studio
Workshops Study spaces
Spaces

Library The proposed program embraces the city as a heterogeneous

Meeting
ensemble of both formal parts and urban actors, which informs a
spaces
perpetually evolving urban strategy. These Delueuzian assemblages
are a coalescing of multiple social groups at a range of scales, from
Conflict negotiation
city hall officials and developers to activists and engaged citizens.

The project defines urbanism as a collective, political endeavour,

Left with discursive, agonistic decision making as its core principle.
The arrows denote This collaboration, with its inherent conflicts, is central to a
the reciprocal
Exhibition / Event Forum Council Committee relationship more democratic form of city making.
between many of
the organisations The adjacent diagram begins to consolidate the socio-political
functions.
thematics with the programmatic concept, resolved against the
particularities of the urban site.
Presentation Debate Discussion

The main exhibition hall Introverted spatiality of the library and archive
Conference
Cafe / Bar Event space Gallery Lecture Hall
Space

Urban

Extrospection

City
Bridge

54
 Tbilisi iii P R O G R A M M AT I C A C T U A L I S AT I O N
City O R G A N I S AT I O N A L C O M P O S I T I O N
TCF Forum
HOME NEWS NETWORK ARCHIVE FORUM MAPPING

GUERILLA TBILISI Centre for TBILISI HERITAGE

GARDENING CITY HALL Contemporary art GROUP

The primary rooms of A virtual reality

this virtual organisation
would be:
As discussed, the potential in dissensual, discursive spaces relies
on their multiplicity across a range of scales and forms. The project
News - a compilation aims to facilitate this range architecturally, but also considers the
of facebook news virtual as a critical field of agonism in contemporary Tbilisi. Much
feeds from a spectrum
of (perhaps conflicting) debate surrounding urban issues has moved to virtual territories,
organisations. with Facebook now the primary platform for many organisations to
communicate and share information.
Network - a
cataloguing of existing
actors in Tbilisi, This shift has had a marked effect on urban politics, facilitating
allowing connection the emergence of publics around a multitude of urban issues, and
and collaboration. has therefore been an invaluable tool in democratising urbanism.
Archive - an open Nonetheless, there are shortcomings of this virtual field that reflect
source and evolving the shortcomings of the physical discursive space in Tbilisi; it tends
archiving of urban and towards vacuums of isolated rhetoric that remain disconnected
architectural info.
from a wider discursive field.
Forum - a multitude
of discussion forums The project thus proposes the creation of a virtual space that reflects
allowing negotiation of the role of the physical organisation; to facilitate antagonistic urban
a range of urban issues
HOME NEWS NETWORK ARCHIVE FORUM MAPPING negotiation between a field of actors. The aim of this website is not
Mapping - an open to produce extensive material, but rather provide the infrastructure
source mapping of and organisation of a range of actors to research, learn, propose,
future developments,
TRAFFIC GREENERY PLANNING PUBLIC SPACE POLLUTION FUTURE
buildings at risk,
present, discuss and debate.
conflictual sites etc
DEVELOPMENT BUILDING HERITAGE TOURISM PEDESTRIANS CYCLING
The creation of this website is not a central aim of the project, but
Tbilisi development fund
would be integral to the success of the proposed organisation, and
Reconstruction
Completed and Proposed
Search Forum
also has the potential to give the project some real agency within
Tbilisi; a virtual reality.
Most read

Proposed Reconstruction
Agmashenebeli Avenue Workshop
Old Tbilisi - Lost Heritage There is an ambition to return to Tbilisi to supervise a workshop
Pedestrianising Tbilisi
exploring some of the projects thematics. These discussions could
More...
vary in scales as the project does, ranging from larger urban issues
Most discussed
such as the impending masterplan, to negotiations regarding the
Old Tbilisi - Lost Heritage
site specific architectural interventions of the project. This would
Air Pollution at record high
actualise the political potential of the project - creating a temporal
Panorama Protests

More...
Left arena for a tangible and critical discussion between a diverse range
A mockup of the
of actors.
proposed website,
showing the news This aspect of the ongoing project is undeveloped but there is a
Links
page and forum. clear benefit and therefore aspiration in pursuing it.

56
 The POLITICAL CHAPTER FOUR
THE PHYSICAL
T h e P R O G R A M M AT I C ARCHITECTURAL INTENT
i TOWARDS AN AGONISTIC ARCHITECTURE?
ARCHITECTURAL INTENT

The primary The project intends to resolve the thematics introduced in this
procedure of
aesthetics as a form of
program - political, formal and programmatic - through architecture.
politics consists in the A critical response to Tbilisis current urban paradigm will be
creation of possible developed not through generalising rules for urbanism, but rather
encounters, which be expressing an ambiguous but intentional field of possibilities
lead in their turn to
a conflict between through a specific architectural composition. The programmatic
heterogeneous arrangement will be tested against the political thematics, and
elements. resolved against the specific formal context in an iterative design
Roemer van Toorn
Aesthetics as Form of
process.
Politics 13
The project aims to create an arena in which the conflicts of the city
can confront one another within the particularities of the site; an
agonistic urbanism developed through political form. This arena is
dependent on a range of discursive spaces - from the expanse of
the forum to the intimacy of a studio niche - to allow for a relational
polity that might intensify a dissensual practice.

There is an exchange between architectures autonomy, and the

everyday experiences of projective practice, which leads to an
aesthetics of dissensus. Rancire describes this as a politics of
aesthetics14; an antagonistic arena of coalitions and antithetical
terms. The political agency of architecture thus lies in its
facilitation of possible encounters and potential antagonism,
One should not creating a public rather than explicitly representing one.
create a world, but the
This framing of conflict offers its potentiality beyond mere
prospects of a world.
Jean Luc-Godard, resistance, towards the dissensus that Rancire argues for. The
whose work focused resulting tension is an agonistic architecture that can project
on creating a space a field of possibilities, the prospect of new cities. This design
in which connections
can be established in a methodology can not be easily defined, but practiced.
infinite ways.
Both the programmatic arrangement and corresponding
architectural intervention are a composition of parts, as Aureli
Left
A circulation strategy
advocates, which becomes a basis for the formation of the city
that is defined by its at large by allowing the manifestation of the antagonism central
facilitation of possible to both the city and its citizens. This constellation of elements
encounters and
facilitates the dissensus of its programmatic workings, framing it,
mediated conflicts
through a constellation directing it, and then extending this political potential beyond its
of contrasting spaces. physical enclosure.

60
i i A N A E S T H E T I C S O F A ( N TA ) G O N I S M
ARCHITECTURAL INTENT

Art tries to give us

a possible image
of this new world,
an image that our
sensibility has not
yet been able to
formulate
Umberto Eco
The Open Work 15

The city, and its The projects compositional logic will be an abstraction of the
architecture would
be...a coincidentia
disparate typological fragments aforementioned, creating an
oppositorum - that ensemble of architectural identities rather than a singular form.
is, the coincidence, This intends to express the diversity embedded in both the
or composition, of programmatic organisation and the urban fabric, through an
not just different
parts but opposing indeterminacy of form, or an openness as discussed by Umberto
ones, which leads to Eco. This indeterminacy is both architectural and programmatic,
a critical unity. offering a negotiability through its informality. Perhaps the existing
Pier Vittorio Aureli
The Possibility
ruin has an openness in its sensual materiality, and architectures
of an Absolute role is thus to frame it, to direct it toward alternate possibilities.
Architecture 16 Chipperfields Neues Museum restoration in Berlin provides a clear
example of this; its geometric framing gives direction to the layers
of history inscribed in the existing building, without imposing a
singular meaning.

The typological abstraction is an attempt to formulate an

architectural language that is contextually relevant, socially,
politically, formally and materially, whilst avoiding the extremes
of pastiche nostalgia or modernist alienation that typifies much of
Tbilisis architecture. The architecture thus gains an indeterminacy
Neues Museum and subsequent negotiability, not through formal referencing but
David Chipperfield
through layers of ambiguous but considered meaning.
The indeterminacy
of the existing The project will pendulate between the singularity and identity of
building is given monumentality to the ambiguity and informality of the intervention,
direction toward explored though the negotiable collectivity offered by the
field of possibilities
through the framing introverted spatiality of the courtyard.
of the intervention
The architecture will therefore absorb a constellation of
Left transformation and formal strategies; the articulation of a
Framing transforms
variety of responses to the particularities of the site. This aims
the crack into an
artefact, giving it to construct a complex and meaningful ensemble of abstract
direction. characteristics and qualities.

62
i i i A S U S TA I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T
ARCHITECTURAL INTENT

Solidarity of the Sustainable urban development is clearly central to this project.

forces that aspire
and work for positive
The crisis that Tbilisi is currently facing is a result of ongoing
change is ever more unsustainable development - rapid urbanisation, corrupt
important today, when governance, ecological degradation, exponential traffic increase,
a faith in stable and the list goes on. The project aims to reverse this process, through
prosperous nations as
the founding principle the orchestration of an evolving urbanism strategy that does not
... of the democratic prescribe generalising rules, but rather takes action on particular
world order seems to issues through agonistic, democratic discourse between a diverse
have been eroded.
network of actors.
Voluntary National The projects ambition is not to impose a model of sustainable
Review on development but rather to facilitate, through architectural
implementation of the means, the emergence of an organisation that is sustainable in
Sustainable
Development Goals its essence as the representation of a democratic public.
(SDGs). 2016
This endeavour correlates with Georgias adoption of the Sustainable
Development Goals; a set of seventeen global targets initiated
by the United Nations. Georgias 2016 First Voluntary National
Review on Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals
highlighted intra-governmental coordination in strategic policy as
one of the main challenges at all levels, from data collection to
setting measurable indicators, analysing impact to managing the
process. This is equally applicable to urban governance, which to
be sustainable must be focused on research, data collection and
analysis, so that it is able to prove its validity over the politically
motivated inconsistency of the citys current urbanism.

The review also highlights accountability as a major challenge.

A World Bank indicator measuring the extent to which citizens
Left
participate in public governance has improved from 44.7 (/100)
The projects continued in 2004 to 55.6 (/100) in 2014, yet civic and political participation
influence on the city remain uneven across different thematic issues and strata of the
is undefined and
population. The project addresses this issue directly, empowering
evolving.
It is the gravitational citizens through a spatial provision that encourages democratic
centre of a sustainable participation.
urbanism strategy
that influences
the city project by
Lastly, the review highlights the challenge of striking the balance
project, rather than by between the imperatives of growth and that of social justice.
imposing generalising This project argues that egalitarian society and economic vitality
rules. Each issue is
do not have to sit in opposition, and rather that a democratic,
considered, debated
and acted upon in a agonistic urbanism is integral to a sustainable, and therefore
progressive manner. economically viable, city.

64
 CV

Academic qualifications

MA (Cand.arch) Architecture September 2015 - present

The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, KADK,
Copenhagen, Denmark

BA (Hons) Architecture 2010 - 13

University of Sheffield School of Architecture
Sheffield, UK
First Class Honours

Professional experience

Arcspace (writer/critic) 2016-17

Copenagen, Denmark

3XN (modelmaker) 2016-17

APPENDICES
Copenhagen, Denmark

Carmody Groarke (full time architectural assistant) 2013 - 2015

London, UK

BDP (internship) 2012

Bristol, UK
A - 1 STOCKHOLM PUBLIC LIBRARY
PRECEDENT STUDIES
Archive interiority
Erik Gunnar Asplunds Stockholm public library creates an introverted public monument,
gravitating around its central library but also projecting to the city. The entrance,
monumental in form and perspective, juxtaposes the intimacy of the reading rooms
within. In many ways the library epitomises Aurelis absolute architecture, finite in form
and yet deeply connected to the city.
A - 2 NEUES MUSEUM
An informal work?
I would argue that David Chipperfields restoration of the Neues Museum in Berlin
presents the openness that Eco describes. In its simple but bold use of geometry and
form, it draws attention to the layers of history that the existing building manifests so
potently. By blurring the limits between old, new and older, the project maintains an
indeterminacy that allows its meaning to be discussed, experienced and negotiated.
A - 3 S Y N T S A L O T O W N H A L L
PRECEDENT STUDIES
An exercise in opposition
Syntsalo Town Hall by Alvar Aalto is an excellent example of a civic building, creating
a series of discursive spaces from public realm to council chamber. Each of these spaces,
whether it be a raised courtyard or an intimate corridor leading to a debating chamber,
is carefully designed for its intended use. Formally the building takes reference from a
multitude of sources, creating a distinct architectural form whilst remaining contextually
relevant.
A - 4 Fondazione Prada
Between restoration and intervention
OMA employed a whole spectrum of transformation strategies to convert a series
of industrial warehouses into the Fondazione Prada in Milan. From external-internal
contradictions, to gold paint, to completely new construction, the project is both
sensitive towards preservation and completely nonchalant. This makes for a project full
of surprises, complexity and delight, and an exemplar project for converting low-quality
industrial buildings into cultural districts.
68
B - 1 TIFLIS HAMKARI B - 2 TBILISI DEVELOPMENT FUND
U R B A N A C T O R C ATA L O G U E U R B A N A C T O R C ATA L O G U E

They consider the Tiflis Hamkari, the union of Tbilisi caretakers, is one of the most active Various NGOs have Tbilisi Development Fund was set up by Tbilisi City Hall, through
mains problems highlighted the lack
facing Tbilisi as:
NGOs in Tbilisi, working through a Culture Education Program and of transparency of
which they channel state funds for reconstruction and rehabilitation
a Public Monitoring and Advocacy Program to engage citizens and the development projects across Tbilisi. The development fund acts as a project
1. The non- hold officials accountable. There vision for the city: fund and its use of manager, employing a series of contractors to undertake construction
transparent and -- Tbilisi as a city where urban historic and cultural heritage is City Hall funding, as works.
inaccessible well as questioning
decision-making protected. the quality of
process. -- A city where development and modernisation are undertaken with reconstruction both The funds completed projects include part of Agmashenebeli
respect to historical and cultural values, in accordance with European tectonically and Avenue and much of the historic Old Tbilisi. Ongoing projects include
2. The passive and historical accuracy.
uninformed citizens;
standards and active legislation. a second part of Agmashenebeli, central areas connecting this with
indifference towards -- A city that is governed by accountable, local authorities. the Old Town, and Gudiashvili Square. The connections of these
a common living -- A city in which inhabitants are actively interested in and involved in areas aims to create a tourist route through the city, which is largely
space and cultural urban development, particularly in the protection and preservation of pedestrianised and reconstructed.
historical heritage.
Tbilisis unique, authentic urban environment and cultural heritage.

This map marks the This map marks

buildings and areas the buildings and
that Tiflis Hamkari areas that Tbilisi
have been most Development Fund
active in defending. have worked on.
The black is
completed projects
and the green
denotes proposed
projects.

Agmashenebeli Agmashenebeli
Avenue Avenue

Dry Bridge
Market

Endangered
Monuments
Aleksandr
Pushkin Street

Tbilisi Old
Town

70
B-3 GEORGIAN RECONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT B - 4 TBILISI CITY HALL
U R B A N A C T O R C ATA L O G U E U R B A N A C T O R C ATA L O G U E

ArtArea, the small GRDC is one of the major developers in Tbilisi, with an extensive land City Hall have Tbilisi City Hall is one of the major actors influencing Tbilisis urban
arts organisation a lot of hope
currently occupying
and building portfolio. They focus on commercial (office) and retail invested in the new
development. Their work includes: land use zoning, planning
one of the ancillary real estate development. Two of their major completed projects are masterplan, which applications, construction permits, sustainability, research.
buildings on the the regeneration of the Science Academy on Rustaveli Avenue (into they commissioned.
site, has previously ground floor retail and office space) and the central station. Whilst much of their A Council determines all of City Halls political decisions, which until
proposed a work has attempted
development of the to contain recently has been made up entirely of City Hall representatives.
power station into They have a number of key sites across Tbilisi, including the cinema uncontrolled This has now changed to include invited experts, NGOs and citizen
an arts centre. city area on Agmashenebeli, as well as the disused power station urbanisation, they representatives, marking a shift in City Halls agenda - an increased
GRDC were hope that the
very interested,
opposite Rose Revolution Square (for which the project proposes a masterplan will set a
interest in engaging citizens in urban development issues.
but unable to use). clear agenda for the
justify financially. city, allowing them However, it is still very rare that City Halls processes are made
The project will to become more transparent to the wider public, apart from in rare cases when there is
therefore propose prescriptive for the
an alternative. citys benefit. a strong public protest / reaction.

This map marks the The map shows one

buildings in GRDCs of the key struggles
ownership. for City Hall -
Red denotes protecting green
developed projects areas. These are
and yellow denotes some of the most
buildings in their contested areas in
land bank but yet to the city.
be developed.

Cinema City
(in process)

Power Station

National Sciences
Academy

72
 C F R O M S TA B I L I T Y T O S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
MASTERPLAN
City Assembly Implement policy

City Institute Georgia (commissioned by City Hall)

City Hall Commission research Prof. Dr. Merab Bolkvadze (Interviewed October 2016)
Urban Planner
Partners

Albert Speer & Partner City Institute Georgia Alfred Peter From Stability to Sustainability - key aims:
Architects and Planners Urban Planners Urbanists
Polycentrism
Dr Brenner Tbilisi State University Caucasus Environmental Urban Ecology
Engineers NGO Network Connectivity
Sustainable Development
Public Space
Consultants
City Identity
Steinbeis Tbilisi Group Fraunhofer
Academic Institute Surveyors Research Institute
Left The proposed masterplan, due to be released in April 2017, creates
Diagram revealing a pivotal moment in Tbilisis development. It is the first time since the
the organisations
involved in drafting
Soviet Union that Tbilisi will have a clear urban development plan, a
Citizens
Community workshops the masterplan. definitive direction for its evolution. As a result, there is much hope
invested in the success of this masterplan.

Top-down planning is conceptually problematic in many ways,

and has often failed in Tbilisis past. However, the creation of this
masterplan contrasts that of previous masterplans in that it has been
crafted by a conglomerate of non-governmental organisations,
who won the project through a competition initiated by City Hall.
It therefore absorbed standards from across Europe, resulting from
extensive deliberation and expert input, reducing the potential for
political distortion. However, there still remains questions regarding
implementation, and strong policy and regulation must be put in
place to ensure the masterplan is a lawful, rather than just guiding,
document. In a city so heavily influenced by market forces, this
implementation may prove difficult.

The project aims to test some of the key aims of the impending
masterplan, such as sustainable development and urban ecology,
to become a case study for future development. It also offers a
critique of the logic of masterplanning, reflecting on its past failures
and rather offering a site specific architectural intervention that
becomes representational of the city at large. Can an architectural
Left project manifest certain values, project certain ideals, that
A map presenting influence continued urbanism in a more direct and effective way
the key strategies that the totality of masterplanning?
of the masterplan,
based on empirical
research and The following four pages detail some of the key aims of the masterplan,
interviews and explore their relation to the project.

74
C-1 P O LY C E N T R I S M C - 2 URBAN ECOLOGY
MASTERPLAN MASTERPLAN

One of the key recommendations of the masterplan is to create
a series of new urban centres across the city - nine new nodes
of civic activity (marked in red). Each new centre will contain all
of the basic civic requirements for the local population, such as
green areas, schools, a cultural centre, administration functions
and medical facilities.
City Institute Georgia have carried out extensive research to identify
what programs each area currently contains, and what it needs to
The project is make it self-sufficient as an urban centre. The recommendations are
located within the therefore unique to each geographical area, but all with the intention
existing city centre, of decentralising the city and subsequently reducing social and
consolidating
its resources for wealth inequality.
connection to
all of the new The population size and demographic of each area defines what
centres through
its embodiment of
the proposed centre will contain, following widely used European
the masterplans standards. Investors will be invited to develop these areas under state
ambitions. guidance, and it is therefore vital that private interest is mediated with
the citys new agenda but forward by the masterplan.
Another of the masterplans key aims is to define a limiting urban
boundary, to restrict future urbanisation from encroaching on the
surrounding landscapes.
The area marked in grey on the map below shows this defined
boundary condition. All areas in white, such as along the river and in
the surrounding hills, are to be preserved as natural landscape. No
future development will be permitted in these areas, and will rather
focus on densifying existing urban areas, especially ex-industrial areas
(see overleaf).
The river should turn into the uniting element of the city instead
The project
proposes a river
of the separating barrier - Dr. Merab Bolkvadze
park alongside
the reopening of One of main problems facing the city is the lack of greenery, there
a green area on is currently just 3sqm of greenery per person, whilst international
the adjacent site,
creating an urban guidelines suggest 13sqm. To begin tackling this problem, the
ecology within the masterplan proposes a green artery running along the river edge
centre of the city. through the entire city.

76
C - 3 S U S TA I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T
MASTERPLAN
Another focus of the masterplan is the definition of ex-industrial
brownfield areas across the city that are to be prioritised for
future development. These areas (in grey) are focused along the
railway line (red), as well as many ex-industrial sites in the South
East of the city.
The railway running through the city is one of the most contentious
issues in discussions on Tbilisis development; it is used primarily
for cargo trains and very few passengers trains. As this is clearly not
efficient, there has long been an aspiration to move the cargo railway
to the East of Tbilisi Sea, freeing up valuable land in the city and
The project uniting currently disconnected districts.
focuses on the
redevelopment
of an ex-industrial
The foundation of the future General Plan and the largest scale of the East bank
building, and project of Tbilisis urban development will be the relocation of the highway, allowing
therefore aims to existing railway. - Dr. Merab Bolkvadze the river with a park,
become a case
study for future
development The masterplan works on the assumption that the railway will be
moved, and therefore proposes extensive development along its
former route.
C - 4 CONNECTIVITY
MASTERPLAN
Transport and connectivity is a critical issue facing Tbilisi, with
exponential car ownership leading to almost constant gridlock
traffic.
The masterplan proposes two main road arteries running through
the city, concentrating the current sprawl of major roads into
key axis. There will be two highways running North - South, one
to the West of the river (using existing roads but increasing the
concentration and flow of the traffic) and another along the East of
the railway line. This will reduce traffic in the city centre, and allow
access to the river along its East bank (from which the project takes
The project takes
advantage of
advantage).
the relocation
In addition, there are proposals for roads that are exclusively
for public transport, improving the use and efficiency of public
a reconnection to
transport, and a subsequent discouragement of private vehicle use.
pedestrian bridge
and promenade.
78
A Post-Political Paradigm D - 1 An Agonistic Democratic Politics
T H E O R E T I C A L E X P L O R AT I O N
Georgias expeditious adoption of both democracy and capitalism has constructed
a complex ideological contradiction; conflict and negotiation on the one hand, and
individualism, consensus and the apolitical on the other.
As explored by Rancire, iek and Mouffe, the contemporary city has entered a post-
political condition, where political space is retreating whilst social space is increasingly
colonised or sutured by consensual techno-managerial policies.17 This trend towards
consensus is built on the acceptance of the capitalist market and the liberal state as the
organisational foundations of society, thus negating the need for the political18. Mouffe
argues that the uncontested hegemony of liberalism prevents us from thinking politically,
as political questions are defined as technical questions to be solved by experts and
algorithms, not confrontation and negotiation. The dominant tendencies of liberalism
are rationalistic and individualistic, which are unable to comprehend the pluralistic
nature of society and its inherent contradictions. Liberalism may accept the existence of
conflicting views and values, but only when they coalesce into a harmonious ensemble An Agonistic Urbanism
through rational consensus, therefore diminishing all antagonism.
Considering the crisis of the contemporary city, Mouffe, Swyngedouw and Aureli discuss
Rancire, iek and Mouffe all agree that these conditions have led to an almost the potential of agonistic urban politics in resisting the post-political condition outlined
universal post-political era, and its reinstatement is dependent on an understanding above. This agonistic network of governance would allow conflicting hegemonies
of the unconditional primacy of the inherent antagonism as constitutive of the to confront one another, desiring an end to conflict but also with an acceptance of
political. 19 Mouffe expands on this understanding through her discussion of the its perpetual existence, therefore providing an arena where differences can be
hegemonic nature of every social order, which is therefore always challenged by confronted22 and channelled into productive outcomes. Mouffe argues that this arena
counter hegemonies. She argues that this struggle is central to a vibrant democracy, is vital in resisting the hegemony of liberalism and its rejection of the political.
and is the configuration of power relations around which society is structured.20 Swyngedouw advocates for symbolic spaces for dissensual public encounter and
exchange23; a multitude of social spaces, both material and metaphorical, that embody
However, this ideal contrasts the reality of the post-ideological consensus, where an agonistic model of democratic politics even if they do not yet sit within the context
politics is reduced to social administration and every contradiction is excluded through of a larger agonistic political structure. Artistic and architectural intervention only has
post-democratic governmental techniques. This follows the Foucauldian concept of power in resisting the total social mobilisation of capitalism24 if its field is expanded
governmentality as a technique of governance; a regulatory practice which replaces to engage with a broad spectrum of social spaces and a diversified network of actors,
conflict with technocratic approaches that promote unanimity and consensus21. If a including a more meaningful inclusion of citizens and their right to reshape the processes
vibrant democracy is defined by the balance of two lines of power - of representation of urbanisation. Particular intervention must be built on an understanding of the political
and of participation - then the processes of governmentality heavily emphasises the in its antagonistic dimension as well as the contingent nature of any type of social order,
power of representation; the institutionalised process of elected representatives that and therefore requires a close examination of the specific political and social contexts.
revokes the requirement for citizen participation, and thus antagonistic conflict.
The Context of Tbilisi

Tbilisis processes of urban governance have traversed several distinct phases in the past
three decades, revealing marked shifts of power between urban actors and therefore
providing interesting material for an analysis of (realised and potential) agonistic urban
politics. Tbilisis current condition is an accumulation of the material effects of these
conflicting governance epochs, dense with the ideological ruins of Socialism, parodied
democracy and a failing neoliberal order.
This essay explores various epochs of urban governance through an exploration of the
shifts of power between the state, citizens and market and their relevant actors. This
analysis of power negotiation and its inherent antagonism aims to explore whether the
field of actors could, or even should, expand to allow for citizens to have a greater
role in Tbilisis urban evolution, and whether this would constitute a more democratic
agnostic urbanism.

80
 D - 2 To w a r d s a n A g o n i s t i c U r b a n i s m ?
T H E O R E T I C A L E X P L O R AT I O N

Towards an Agonistic Urbanism?

Whilst democratisation may suggest increased opportunity for wider participation

in urban politics, Tbilisis recent history has created a complex urban condition with
various political, social, economic, and spatial conditions preventing the evolution of an
agonistic urban governance.

The history of urban conflict can be traced to its current position in the domain of
administrative representational governance, which negates the inherent antagonism of
citizen participation and disregards the contradictory nature of heterogenous socio-
spatial practices. This post-political condition, as outlined by the several contemporary
philosophers such as Chantal Mouffe and Jacques Rancire, has allowed the hegemony
of liberalist ideology to prevail, and its material ramifications now define Tbilisis urbanity.

The mapping of these failures has suggested that successful urban governance is
reliant on proactive state institutions that define and enforce relevant policy and
guidelines, coupled with an active civil society which responds to these impositions,
through a critical and formalised network that facilitates participation between the
state, the market and citizens.

The weighting of power between these entities should be in perpetual flux, but is
contingent on this connection to ensure the democratic challenging of hegemonies -
the confrontation central to a vibrant democracy and politics proper.
The field of urban actors is indeed expanding, with both governmental bodies and civil
society increasingly responding to urban issues, thus suggesting that the dilemma lies
not in the lack of antagonism but in the lack of facilitation of this antagonism. Many local
actors highlighted the absence of a platform between the state, private sector and civil
society through which to facilitate discussion and negotiate conflict regarding urban
issues. This is exemplified by the fact that citizens will react strongly to tangible socio-
spatial concerns but do not engage with the scale of urban design which creates them,
due to the lack of bridging of this scalar void.
It is it clear that this absence of connectivity, between both actors and issues, is central
to the crisis of contemporary Tbilisi. The resulting lack of communication presents itself
as the main obstacle to a more democratic, agonistic urban governance.
The conflict that makes itself heard is in unproductive forms, in isolated incidences,
and must be understood as within a system which strives to subdue its contradictions
into an idealised and abstracted consensus, reducing its political potential. To move
from reactionary to meaningful and transformative participation between urban actors,
the voids between them must be bridged, built on an acceptance of the antagonism
inherent to their plurality. Whilst this urban politics would be dense with contradiction
and conflict, it is essential in its ability to open up space in which a more egalitarian and
inclusive city could be imagined and created.
The practice of agonistic urbanism in Tbilisi is contingent on two things. Firstly, the
provision of spaces for conflictual public encounter and exchange and secondly, the
establishment of a bridging, responsive network between urban actors and their
particular concerns.
The latter is vital in releasing urban conflicts (and actors) from their isolated singularity
and connecting them conceptually, and the former is required to allow these
antagonisms to confront one another in a symbolic and spatial political arena. A network
of this kind would make apparent and visualise the diversity and complexity of conflict
in Tbilisis urban politics, which must then be facilitated by space (both material and
metaphorical) that grounds it in the physicality of the city and allows the negotiation of its
contradictions. These spaces are not centralised, but a multiplicity of discursive surfaces
across a spectrum of scales and platforms which are in constant flux. This arena must
allow representation and participation to meet, conflicting agendas to negotiate and
antagonism between a diverse network of actors to be manifested, creating a common
discourse. To transcend the potential paralysis of hostility, this antagonism must be
mediated through frameworks and spaces that aim to reach productive resolutions,
moving beyond antagonism to an agonistic urbanism.
If Georgia is committed to the democracy project, then it seems an apt moment
to consider widening and diversifying this field of actors to allow a polyvocal,
conflictual urban politics to emerge. This plethora of formalised and scalar conflicts,
connected by a responsive network and hosted by designed dissensual spaces,
could constitute a truly democratic, agonistic urbanism.

84
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