Propaganda[prop-uh-gan-duh], nounOfficial government communications to the public that are designed to influence opinion. The information may be true or false, but it is always carefully selected for its political effect.

American Psychological Association (APA):propaganda. (n.d.). The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition.

Introduction

Excavation and Transformation01

02 Contextualisation

03 Formulation of a Program

04 Volumetric Diagramming

Fragmentation and Appropriation05

Occupation and Circulation06

Frame: Articulating a Structure07

Enclosure: Dressing the Frame08

Revision and Consolidation09

Preliminary Presentation10

Final Presentation

Final Design - The President Centre

12

Τhe President CentreTunis, Tunisia

Andrew Kim309257441

Collage

Massing Model

Excavation and Transformation01

One of the things which struck out to me was the Tunisian doors which are typically blue.The collage is a reminiscent of the personal experiences of Tunisia. A city full of history, culture and tradition, one only needs to open the door to experience them.I decided to just make a one massing model. Having read the studio out-line, making the massing model perfectly seemed unnecessary because we had to make them in the end again anyway.

Tunis, Tunisia

Jasmine FlowerCouscousColonisationCarthage - city of Roman ruinsTajine bowls

Plan

Elevation

For this task, there was a major problem for all of us in the group. Unlike the New York group or the Paris group, the Google satellite images were very poor and were impossible to make out the details.I believe the point of the exercise wasn’t to exactly draw how it looks like, but to show the context of the city. I used Google images of the Tunisian facade for references.

02 Contextualisation

2D Montage

Private Primary Circulation

Public Secondary

In the beginning, I had the intention to design a building which was to be located in a public square where both the locals and the visitors could hear the president’s speeches. It will be located next to a garden.The bottom floor would have been for merchandise shops. There is an interesting circulation within the space where the entrance and the exits are in different places to address the issue of crowding.The top floor would be strictly private for the president and personnel. The small bridge which connects two towers would be the place for the president to give speeches.

03 Formulation of a Program

3 Potential Functions

Driving Education CentreTunisians are known to be notoriously bad drivers and have experienced it first hand.

Jasmine NurseryJasmine is the Tunisian national flower and is sold all around Tunisia during the day/night. Perhaps it could be a walkway and a garden of just jasmines.

The President CentreIn Turkmenistan, the president built numerous of monuments all dedicat-ed to himself. Similar to Turkmenistan, the personality cult of the president is just as strong and perhaps I could de-sign a monument to satire the political situation.

Charlton Driving Education Centre Charlton, Victoria, Australia.

L’Umbracle (walkway and garden)Valencia, Spain Architect: Santiago Calatrava

Monument for President for Life Saparmurat NiyazovAshgabad, Turkmenistan

3 Different Volumetric Configurations

A B C

As suggested by Joseph, I decided to change the whole design of the building to Volumetric arrangement B. This meant the purpose of the building would need to change. It was a feasible approach because it seems more of a building.

04 Volumetric Diagramming

+ Interesting shape of the public space+ Circulation works+ Slightly displaced block is effective as a

digital screen space. + The two buildings are facing each other

directly -> lack of privacy?+ Nice neutral space between the tower.

Maybe it could be used as a public space as well.

+ The height of the tower symbolises the power of the government.

+ Elevators on the corner look very nice+ The public space on the ground works very

well+ The digital screen at the top can be viewed

from far away

+ All the blocks fit very nicely into the gap+ The gathering place is great.as well.

- The two buildings do not complement each other.

- The displaced block is blocking the view of the tower A.

- The building looks squashed in the back corner.

- People can’t gather here to hear the president speak because the digital screen would not be able to be viewed.

- The building will need to have a different function: Something like a museum. But it can’t be a place where the people listen to the president.

- If taken literally, the aesthetics are not visu-ally pleasing.

Advantages Disadvantages

A

B

C

CENTRE DU PRESIDENT

Ground Floor

First Floor

Second toThirteenth Floor

Digital Screen Boxes

President Museum

Offices

Information Desk

Merchandise Shop

There are no windows on the outside shell of the building. This means no one from outside can spy inside which results in a high level of security.

Natural light can still enter from the top of the building and from the ground level, through the hollow space and through the glass walls.

There will be several digital screen boxes and they will be located high enough for the whole city of Tunis to see constantly.

This is accessible via the elevator.

This area is a Museum of the documenta-tions of the president’s great works and effort towards to building this country a better place to live.

They will have to exit through the Merchandise Shop.

The information desk located on the open corner of the building will help people who have questions, wants to make a booking, or people who just want more information about the building.

The Merchandise Shop will give both the Tunisians and the tourist the opportunity to purchase memorabilia to take home with them - whether it be of Tunis, of The Presi-dent Centre or most importantly, of the President.

SectionPlan

Plan and Section

This was an exercise which forced us to be open minded and to experi-ment with the aesthetics and functions for the building.Through this exercise, I decided on the functionThe President Centre: A place where people can learn about the President such as museums, libraries, merchandise shops, information desks. And in the middle would be offices and at the top there would be a digital screen.

Note: The plan and section has been revised and is at the back.

Fragmentation and Appropriation05

Lovell Beach HouseRudolf SchindlerNewport Beach; 1926

Experimental HouseAlvar AaltoMuuratsalo; 1954

Jacobs HouseFrank Lloyd WrightMadison; 1936

Collage using Fragments of the Plan

CENTRE DUPRESIDENT

x 8

Axonometric

Shows the overlapping circulation, shows where it would be busier.

Note: The axonometric and the circulation has been revised and is at the back.

Occupation and Circulation06

Structural Model

Made from plywood, balsa wood and perspex.

Frame: Articulating a Structure07

Enclosure

Grained white cardboard, colour printed paper, brown cardboard and paint.

Enclosure: Dressing the Frame08

Elevation

Few things were added:1. Helicopter pad.2. Stairs, to enhance the journey to the building

Revision and Consolidation09

Tutor: Sam

Preliminary Presentation10

A

_A

Aerial Plan

ElevationAxonometric Section A_A

E16, Tunis

Final Presentation12

Public

Public

Government

Government

The CountryThe Country

The President Centre

Andrew Kim309257441

E15

Wall Section Building Plans

Level 0.5

Ground Level

Level 1-10

PostcardsCirculation

The president centre, dedicated to the President Ben Ali, aims to “educate” the people of the great president. This is to be taken as a satire of the situation in Tunisia, where personality cult of the president is much encouraged.The president centre is for everyone - the public, the govern-ment and the country.The visitor’s information centre, the museum and archives of the president, government office spaces and large digital bill-boards are all incorporated into this one the building.

Not sure whether you’ve picked the president?The President Centre will reassure you yes, you’ve picked the right president - Ben Ali.

The President Centre

To the world, Tunisia is republic.However, it’s run by an authoritarian regime.

In the Economist’s 2008 Democracy Index Tunisia is 141 out of 167 countries studied.Worse than Pakistan, China, worse than Afghanistan.It is led Ben Ali, who has governed as President since 1987. Last year it was his fifth time being elected.

There is a much encouraged and apparently organised personality cult. Daily newspapers run articles praising the President.Large pictures of the President and banners praising him are found on all public buildings and major streets.The country’s most recently built airport was also named after President Ben Ali.

Now it’s time to build a monument to praise him.

The President CentreCentre du President

Similar to the Pravda building, or Kim Il Sung Square in North Korea, the aim of The President Centre or Centre du President is to “educate” the people for political purposes. In this case, of the president Ben Ali. This is a satire of the situation in Tunisia – It’s an exaggeration of the personality cult of the president.

The President Centre is dedicated to the President Ben Ali and is for everyone: The public, the government and the country

Aerial Plan

Elevation

The President Centre

A

_A

Axonometric

The president centre is for everyone -the public, the government and the country.

For the Public

For the Government

For the Country

Elevation Section A_A

The President Centre

Visitor’s Information DeskLearn about the building, the architect (Andrew Kim) and about the area.

Museum of the President and ArchivesThere are archives of the wondrous works the President has done for the country and also glass display boxes of significant historical items such as photos and diary entries of the president.

Reading placeA place for people to read the books from the archives. It offers fantastic views.

For the Public

Axonometric

Section Plan

Circulation

The President Centre

Why two entities instead of just one?

Well if we look into the politics of Tunisia, Since the inde-pendence of Tunisia, there has ever been 2 presidents and probably ever will for a long time. This notion has been sym-bolically embedded into the architecture.

The facade The facade would be made out of white concrete without any windows and would be bland and non-decorative. This is done for Privacy and security reasons. People won’t be able to observe into the tower from outside, nor would it interest them because the skin itself is very boring – It doesn’t at-tract attention. It would be perfect to carry out government jobs such as censoring the media and the internet which Tunisian government is famous for doing. These offices act like a filter.

Glass walls

There are two reasons for placing the glasses between the two entities.

1. As a result of being no windows outside the building, this solves the skylight and ventilation issues

2. For efficiency.As you can see in the layout of the office, people in each block are positioned so that they are facing each other con-stantly. Also, the bosses of each office would sit at the back in the corner of a room watching over everyone. Since peo-ple are being observed by each other, they would probably do work and hence they will maintain being efficient.

For the Government

Axonometric

Section Plan

Close up Wall Section

Circulation

The President Centre

For the Country

Digital Billboards/Screens

These digital billboards/screens are the focus of the build-ing. They will constantly display news of the president, pho-tos of the president and quotes of the president and also it will display the name of the building. They are definitely an upgrade from gigantic posters of Ben Ali, these will be animated and constantly changing.

As the government offices filters out the raw truth, the dig-ital billboards are where the filtered information is shown.

Similar to “Brave New World” and “Brazil”, Tunis will be sur-rounded by advertisement and propaganda of the Presi-dent.

Emergency exit to the Helicopter PadThe Helicopter Pad is located at the top of the billboard box-es. However, the rotating cube is high enough so that the helicopter won’t crash right into it.

Rotating CubeThis will be the logo of the President Building and symbolis-es Modern Tunisia and the progression since the independ-ence. They are painted in red and white, which are Tunisian colours.

HHHHHHH

Axonometric

Through this it will inform how great the president is no matter where you are in Tunis, no matter when – day or night, 24/7 everyday of the year. When you are in doubt of the politics of Tunisia, just turn your head and look at the digital billboards – it will reassure you yes you’ve chosen the right president.

Circulation

The President Centre

Excavation and Transformation01