02A Drawing and Notation — A Cataglogue of Monsters: Victims — John Hejduk
John Quentin Hejduk created work that was regarded as unconventional and essentially modified the very disciplines of the architectural view on the world transforming previous notions of architecture and opening a chapter to welcome a new concept of understanding from his work. This is signified through his way of transforming ordinary architecture into characters of meaning that help shape the understanding of its social setting. One of his main elements that he communicates through his work is how the language of architecture can project a functional and expressive capacity. His use of representational meaning throughout his drawings help connect the human mind to structures and through this he was able to give each of them human relationships to interconnect with the past and present.
“Too radical to implement yet too relevant to ignore”
Through this concept of time, Hejduk made it possible to recreate the reality of physical and emotional connection to historical sites and generate work that signified this. This is seen through his ‘Victims’ project, which is a 32 year period of 67 structures that were being built over a Nazi torture chamber. This essentially illustrates that Victims are always building and that they exsist at a continuous presence. Through his ‘Victims’ work, he labeled each structure which signified their role in the social setting. Through this nature, each structure was given a character to be assigned with that functioned throughout a social storyline and furthermore approached the forefront of design with a pschological perspective.
Through my work process, I attempted to convey certain points around UTS that eccentuates the concept of victims. As Hejduk uses this idea to generate characters through structures, I was inspired to evoke certain characters from structures around UTS that connects the emotional aspect of the structure to the concept of time, of victims that are continuously building. One example from a structure in my work to use for clarity is structure #1. This is labelled as a ‘caretaker’, its name significant to its role of its social setting, the “Goods Line” bridge historically served as a connector of a now inactive and disused railway line that ran from Central Station to Darling Harbour carrying ‘goods’ as the name of the walkway suggests. In present day the line now serves as a connecting open walkway of UTS, serving ‘the future of the country’ representing the students of UTS that utilise the walkway daily. This structure exemplifies the continous passage of time, as roles change the structures meanings change also.
“If theres no life, there won’t be death”
References
Architectural Associations Collection — 30 March 2012 http://collectionsblog.aaschool.ac.uk/aa-archives-john-hejduk-victims-drawings-2/
John Hejduk: ArchDaily — 19 July 2017 https://www.archdaily.com/770148/spotlight-john-hejduk
Hejduk, J. 1985 Mask of Medusa: works, 1947–1983, Rizolli, New York
Hejduk, J. 1980 7 Houses: January 20 to February 16, Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, New York,
John Hejduk From Three Projects — n.d. www.drawingmatter.org
