Architecture

ARCHITECTURE

“Architecture is both the process and product of designing environments for people which reflect a range of practical and aesthetic considerations.

Urban geography has a long history of examining architecture, initially considering buildings as cultural artifacts and more recently as objects of value, as sighs and in terms of the use and consumption of architectural spaces by people.

In an era of competitive globalization, iconic architecture is increasingly being used as a tool for economic development within cities. Increasingly, forms of “Fortress architecture” are evident in cities, where people reside in secured access environments exacerbating feelings of fragmentation and exclusion.” (Hall and Barrett 2012)

The following photo, is an example of “Fortress Architecture” - The San Fernando Police Station.

San Fernando Police Station Presently - 2014.

It is not a modernist design, but was built during colonialism. Colonial expansion by European nations led to the styles of classical Gothic which filtered back to the design of European buildings.

Not much information is given about the San Fernando Police station, but the foundation stone was laid around the 1870's and bears a similarity to the Former Police Headquarters located at the corner of St Vincent and Sackville Streets in Port-of-Spain built in 1876.

“The use of lancet windows and pointed arches framed in brick enclosing an arcade, used as the main circulation corridor, reflect Italian Gothic Revival. The grey stone would be limestone from the Piccadilly Quarries in Laventille, the yellow bricks lining the arches are yellow stock brick, probably used as ballast on ships or imported.

The building is one of the most imposing on Harris Promenade with its large tower, used initially as a lookout, and subsequently for radio communication.
On 17 February 2009, the station was gutted by fire. Restoration of the buildings is being considered.” (MacLean 2010)

Personally, I can distinctly remember the day the “Old police station” was burnt. Being a student of St. Joseph's Convent, San Fernando, and in close proximity to the fire, we were evacuated and asked to gather on the Harris Promenade. The following amateur video, captures this event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7YltuaecEE

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE:

Architecture, first evolved out of the dynamics between human needs and means. Until the technological era of development, there had been two major ways of building. These include employing a frame covered with a skin, or by putting one block on top of another.

Like the development of the Police station, there were variations in early building styles which resulted in the use of different materials. These materials included, stone, clay, wood, skins, grass, leaves,sand, and water. They have a profound effect on early architectural forms, producing a wide variety of building traditions around the world which played a major role in the development of place identities. (Hall and Barrett 2012)

ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN GEOGRAPHY

Geography can be linked to architecture through rural landscape tradition of cultural geography. Here natural landscapes were considered to be transformed into cultural landscapes through human practices and traditions indigenous to an area. (Hubbard 2006)

Jon Goss (1988) in his paper explored four theoretical categories of buildings: as cultural artifacts, as objects of value, as signs and as a partial system. More recent work on architecture within urban geography challenges those views of Goss by viewing the city as a 'text.' Thinking of the city in this fashion, urban geographers have examined architecture and urban design as elements in the political economy of urbanization, linked into the dynamics of urban change. (Hall and Barrett 2012)

ARCHITECTURE OF FEAR

According to Hall and Barrett (2012), if iconic buildings and spectacular developments represent the playful and carnivalsque side to post modern urbanism, then fortress architecture represents its dystopian side. The picture of San Fernando Police Station, incorporates this type of architecture, in terms of the proliferation of security and surveillance.

References

Hall, Tim, and Heather Barrett. 2012. “The informal economy in Cities – alternative economic spaces.” Urban geography. London: Routledge.

MacLean, Geoffrey. 2010. “Built Heritage – Colonial.” Citizens for Conservation Trinidad & Tobago. Accessed April 10, 2014. http://citizensforconservationtt.org/main/index.php/builtherit/builtcolonial/110-san-fernando-police-station