"The real world is complex and contradictory. At the core of architectural creation is the transformation of the concreteness of the real through transparent logic into spatial order. This is not an eliminative abstraction but, rather, an attempt at the organization of the real around an intrinsic viewpoint to give it order through abstract power." (Tadao Ando, Towards New Horizons in Architecture, 1991).
In the simplest sense, architectural design conveys ideals or as Ando says, a viewpoint. Ancient Rome, Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and China are all famous examples in which architecture and design was used to convey a viewpoint. Examples include the Roman Coliseum, The German Autobahn, The Moscow Metro, and The Great Wall. Each are filled with semiotic meaning.
On a more regional level and much less grand, Provo Utah contains many buildings that portray culture and convey meaning. Church buildings and temples come first to mind, but in an effort to not be cliché, I am not going to discuss this here. Instead I chose three pictures from the newly constructed Alpine Village apartment complex to do a brief semiotic analysis. Why? BYU helped in the design process, so lets see if the BYU community has any influence?
Chastity Bedroom-
The above photograph shows the average bedroom in the Alpine Village. A twin bed, a small desk, and a built in closet is about all this space can handle. It takes two to tango, but in this space it is almost impossible to have any more then one person, at a time, occupy this space.Your Parents Kitchen-
Each apartments kitchen comes standard with granite countertops and new appliances. Space is limited for food preparation. Ivy not included. Modesty Please-
Alpine Village contains a year-round heated pool, two barbecue grills in the courtyard, basketball court, and one of the “best” workout rooms in Provo. Working out and socializing, the core of the Provo experience?Question?
Do you think a place like Alpine Village conveys a viewpoint? (If you have never visited or lived in Alpine, pick another location and discuss).
27 comments:
I definitely believe that Alpine Village is semiotic of the ideal BYU living space. From what I understand, it originally only allowed BYU students to live there. It almost looks to cookie cutter for my liking. My curiosity is the type of people that live there.. are they also cookie cutter?
I think Alpine village wasn't so concerned with the deeper meaning of their spacial contruction. I think they said "lets build the trendiest new place and charge way too much for it."
Small small little rooms, lame floorplan, dank walkways, failing business space on lower level. Nice try, whoever built it, I wish it was as cool as they wanted it to be.
I agree with Jake - I think their considerations were more for attracting new residents from the outside, but they missed the point completely on the inside.
I've never thought of Alpine Village as the ideal BYU living experience. In fact, recently, Church leaders have talked about not expecting to have as nice a home as your parents currently have when you live on your own. The important thing is to live within your means and to not go into debt. If you can do that and live in Alpine Village, great!
I don't think the designers of Alpine Village were concerned too much with semiotics. They were concerned with attracting tenants. I hear they aren't doing so well in this area, especially in their business spaces. It is evident, however, that many efforts were made to "keep kids out of trouble." Many apartments near BYU seem very similar in layout. I think this is done in an effort to preserve the "chastity line."
Interesting post! I currently reside at Alpine Village and love it. Yes, the rooms are small, and it is over priced, however I am happy there and love the people I have met through living there. i had no idea that BYU helped in the design process, but that makes sense because they only allowed BYU students to live there. The management has recently changed their policy, because they are no where near being full, and will allow anyone to live there starting this August.
I agree with Jake. I think they said " what can we do to make the most money possible from this area. hm...small areas, which are way nice so that wealthy kids will stay here and intermingle with other wealthy kids."
My opinion is that Alpine wanted to duplicate Parkway Crossing, in that they wanted to be the first BYU approved only, housing construct. I lived there last year, which was also its first year, and they didn't really follow that to a T, which was great. I knew several people who just took a class at Salt Lake center or online. From my understanding they are much more strict this year, and I think that led to the loss of their BYU charter. So now they are no longer BYU's single BYU only housing with poor retail space.
I also agree with Jake in that Alpine Village just wanted to create a new, trendy, and expensive place for students to live. I think they were definitely trying to make an atmosphere that appealed more to student who were well off.
Apline Village has a very unique layout to it. I think its not well put together and the rooms are tiny. No matter how small the twin bed two people can lay on it either next to each other very close or on top of each other. I guess I can see BYU's motives behind it but truly, Alpine Village turned out to be a waste of space.
I pictured Alpine Village being the place for the chic people to live so they wouldn't have to "settle" anywhere else.
I think the main reason for developing Alpine Village was to attract tenants. I do think, however, that underneath that there may be a semiotic message. When Alpine was first built, everyone wanted to know what it was like to live there. It was the new place at BYU and people wanted to know about it.
Barely any counter space in the kitchen, LOTS of counter space in front of the mirrors in the bathroom. Message: Making yourself look good is more important than eating.
Alpine Village is soooo the new Belmont. What I think is interesting is the outside halls versus inside the apartments. The halls between apartments are twice as wide as those within the apartments. They are also gray concrete and make you feel like you're in a concentration camp. I think it is trying to be the ideal place for kewl kidz at byu. Kind of like an honor code version of Parkway Crossing. I love that you called it the 'chastity bedroom.' So true.
true story. Alpine Village is very overpriced for such a small space - I think they are trying to be trendy and to just have nice things even if they are insee winsee. Seriously though - not going to work.
I'll second (or third or fourth) that. Way too pricey and not comfortable. Yes, it is very telling about the "ideal" provo living, but how sad it that? I propose that it also says something semiotically about provo landlords.
I have a good friend who lives in Apline Village so I have been quite a few times and I've never once thought to myself "wow, this is an ideal BYU living space." The builders were thinking of how to attract the most occupants as oppossed to building a complex that symbolized the honor code.
yes, but to me its more of a trendy hotel. these kind of living spaces make me feel like I am holiday. its no problem either, so I dont know why people are saying 'they missed the point', whatever, if you dont like nice things, live somewhere else.
also, i worked on the building with Rimrock construction and knew that it would not be as popular as predicted.
I think this opinion has already been voiced but I have to agree with the idea that it is about getting as many people as possible to live there. That is the idea behind the small living quarters and the rooms being over priced. As far as the pool and rec room are concerned I think it is just kind of a classic mentality that those are incorporated simply because they busiest times that Alpine Village is occupied (Fall/Winter) and really not ideal times to have and outdoor pool or a basketball court and barbecue. Students could really only use those for a couple of weeks before it gets too cold.
I agree with most of what's been said...Alpine Village was supposed to be super trendy...but failed miserably, just like Parkway Crossing. Most apartments I've seen that are centrally located around BYU are built like A.V. though, in that they are just small overall...small bedrooms, small kitchens, small living rooms, etc.
I like the "chastity bedroom" thing, but then it also makes me think of all the housing at BYU. It is kind of like we live in egg cartons where they try to fit as many students into as small of a space as possible. This may have a lot to do with the 2 mile radius for BYU approved housing.
I totally agree with Jake too. Alpine Village is a lame excuse for "student luxury living." I feel like it tries to revert attention away from it's closet sized rooms by adding granite counter tops and a big screen TV. The symbiotic value of alpine village is definitely there.
I think Alpine village is ideal to what BYU housing is expected to be. However I wouldn't pay the price to live at a nice place like that.
Alpine Village does indeed convey a viewpoint. It is a perfect semiotic of the BYU lifestyle.
i think the small bedrooms reflects the BYU style of being thrifty, but then again it's expensive to live there so maybe not..
I think Alpine Village tried to be the "cool" "new" apartment complex that finally broke away from all the lame, run-down, cheap apartment complexes. I think they were trying to be urban in their approach, but definitely way too expensive for full-time starving students unless the parent's stepped in.
I think that most of the housing in Provo is not like Alpine Village. Alpine Village is nice. Most of Provo housing has very limited space and was built 100 years ago and therefore are not very clean or nice.
Post a Comment