Edges of Multiplicity: A Discussion of the Contemporary Urban Edge

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, we inhabit a world in which relationships between time and space have been turned upside down and we can no longer rely on traditional concepts of place to establish our identities. Buying a watch on ebay that is made in Denmark, sold in India, paid for with funds from a bank in New York, and then shipped to Chicago exemplifies the common contemporary condition in which we simultaneously inhabit several locations separated by thousands of miles. Time and space have been compressed and, as architects, we can choose to either react by nostalgically reasserting traditional ideas of boundary and place or by attempting to create new types that embrace and embody the qualities of our contemporary condition.1 This paper will present two examples of urban buildings that follow the latter route and explain how their strategies reveal a new definition of urban place