The “Glocal” Dynamics of Construction Labor and Digital Architecture: Preston Scott Cohen’s Addition to the Tel Aviv Museum as Case Study

Roy Kozlovsky

Azrieli School of Architecture, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

DOI: 10.4236/jbcpr.2015.32009                

Abstract

Globalization and technological change are transforming the ways in which buildings are being designed and built. An overlooked aspect of this development is its impact on construction labor, and the significance of labor for assessing the work of architecture. The paper draws upon the sociological concept of the “glocal” to analyse the construction site as the product of the tension between global and local conditions of architectural production and consumption. The construction of Preston Scott Cohen’s 2010 Tel Aviv Museum Addition serves as its case study for theorizing the “glocal” dynamics of digital architecture, building technology and construction labor. This methodological approach highlights the role of migrant guest workers and technological transfer in contemporary construction culture. To realize with precision the complex design under local constraints, the contractor developed a hybrid work process that interspersed labor saving automated manufacturing techniques with artisanal, skilled construction work. In addition, workers and contractors exercised a high level of control over the pace and method of construction, and devised building solutions which improved upon the architect’s design. In conclusion, the paper argues that construction activity differs from broader trends in manufacturing due to the self-reflexivity of architectural design to its condition of production, but that at the same time, this critical capacity is enabled by the globalization of construction labor.

Keywords

History of Construction Technology, Digital Architecture, Labor Policy, Globalization

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Sennett, R. (2008) The Craftsman. Yale University Press, New Haven.
[2]	Mitchell, W.J. (2001) Roll over Euclid: How Frank Gehry Designs and Builds. In: Gehry, F.O., Ed., Frank Gehry, Architect, Guggenheim Museum Publications, New York, 352-363.
[3]	Picon, A. (2004) Architecture and the Virtual: Towards a New Materiality. PRAXIS, 6, 114-121.
[4]	Ouroussoff, N. (2011) Chinese Gem That Elevates Its Setting. New York Times, July 5.
[5]	Filler, M. (2014) The Insolence of Architecture. New York Review of Books, 61, 10.
[6]	Robertson, R. (1995) Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity. In: Featherstone, M., Lash, S. and Robertson, R., Eds., Global Modernities, Sage Publications, London, 25-44.
[7]	Castells, M. (2000) The Rise of the Network Society. Blackwell, Cambridge.
[8]	Appadurai, A. (1996) Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
[9]	Klingmann, A. (2007) Brandscapes; Architecture in the Experience Economy. MIT Press, Cambridge.
[10]	Braverman, H. (1998) Labour and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century. Monthly Review Press, New York.
[11]	Bartram, D. (2004) Labor Migration Policy and the Governance of the Construction Industry in Israel and Japan. Politics & Society, 32, 131-170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0032329204263068
[12]	Finkel, G. (1997) The Economics of the Construction Industry. M.E. Sharpe, New York.
[13]	Ruskin, J. (1989) The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Dover Publications, New York.
[14]	Reichlin, B. (1999) Controlling the Design Process: A Modernist Obsession? Daidalos, 71, 6-21.
[15]	Roberts, J. (2007) The Intangibilities of Form: Skill and Deskilling in Art after the Readymade. Verso, London.
[16]	Venturi, R., Brown, D.S. and Izenour, S. (1977) Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form. MIT Press, Cambridge.
[17]	Frampton, K. (2001) Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture. MIT Press, Cambridge.
[18]	Ford, E. (2003) The Details of Modern Architecture (Book 1). The MIT Press, Cambridge.
[19]	Cohen, P.S. (2001) Contested Symmetries: The Architecture and Writings of Preston Scott Cohen. Princeton Architectural Press, New York.
[20]	Cohen, P.S. (2011) The Route to a Building. In: Grobman, Y. and Blonder, A., Eds., Five Moments: Trajectories in the Architecture of the Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, 17-21.
[21]	Pearson, C. (2011) A New Spin to the White City. Architectural Record, 72-83.
[22]	Curtis, W. (1996) Modern Architecture since 1900. 3rd Edition, Phaidon Press, New York.
[23]	Ching, F., Jarzombek, M. and Prakash, V. (2011) A Global History of Architecture. 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Hoboken.
[24]	Herzl, T. (1997) The Jews’ State. Jason Aharonson Inc., Northvale.
[25]	Drabkin, H.D. (1959) Economic and Social Aspects of Israeli Housing. In: Drabkin, H.D., Ed., Public Housing in Israel, Gadish Books, Tel Aviv, 15-91.
[26]	Shiftan, A.N. and Segalovitz, S.S. (2011) The Monumentality of the Everyday. In: Grobman, Y. and Blonder, A., Eds., Five Moments: Trajectories in the Architecture of the Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, 55-67.
[27]	Eckstein, Z. (2010) Employment of Foreign Workers. Caesarea Economic Policy Planning Forum, 18, 5-36.
[28]	Nemlich, A. (2013) Interview with Author, Tel Aviv, November 19, 2013.
[29]	Chaskelevitch, I. (2013) Phone Interview with Author, Tel Aviv, December 20, 2013.
[30]	Cohen, P.S. (2006) Elegance, Attenuation, Geometry. In: Rahim, A., Ed., Elegance, Architectural Design, London, 54- 61.