Tactics of Disappearance, Hiding in Plain Sight

Abstract

“Pitching” is a complete, localized act that turns an idea into reality. When applied to space , it describes the quick and temporary transformation of a ground for sleeping. “A pitch” is also the meaningful distance between various points, such as the high and low notes on a musical scale, and in architecture, the slope of a roof. When applied to space, “a pitch” is the active boundary of a sports arena or a field of play. In all its tenses, “pitch” overlays boundaries and points of reference onto existing space that would otherwise not relate to the body. For this thesis, “pitch” is a design tool that turns fiction into reality, providing an origin, or at the very least, a convenient point of reference. Transforming an existing space without rebuilding or demolishing it is a form of spatial resistance often used by nondominant groups to momentarily exist/survive/express joy/freedom within an adversarial landscape. Therefore, pitching is also a way to describe spatial resistance—exemplified by quilombos, and capoeira rodas—in which impermanence is not only a quality, but a strategy of subversion. Within Los Angeles (a city that exists at the edge of reality in both cinema and urban sprawl), the LA River exists as a loose index of its natural form. What remains is a body of water cast in concrete—an environmental disaster. This thesis uses “pitch” as both a dimensioning tool and a geometric strategy to create spaces of freedom for water and people in the concrete container of the Los Angeles River. As a design tool, “pitch” suggests both an orientation and a temporal point of reference, recategorizing the river from an engineering project to an architecture project.