New Interfaces in the Automated Landscapes of Logistics

Authors

  • Jesse LeCavalier NJIT

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7480/footprint.12.2.2217

Abstract

Metaphors of flows are often used to describe aspects of logistics, thereby suggesting smooth and inevitable operations while also obscuring the frictions and contingencies that characterize the industry. This article explores the consequences and possibilities of these modes by first elaborating some aspects of logistical operations in order to connect them to the contemporary built environment. It looks at the architectural components of the company Walmart in order to present hypothetical scenarios related to the future of the logistical landscape. By connecting these visual experiments to questions of representation, automation, and systems thinking, the article explores the ways we might challenge and extend the possibilities of logistics.

Author Biography

Jesse LeCavalier, NJIT

Jesse LeCavalier’s work explores the architectural and urban implications of contemporary logistics. He is the author of The Rule of Logistics: Walmart and the Architecture of Fulfillment (University of Minnesota Press, 2016) and an associate professor of architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is currently the Daniel Rose Visiting Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Architecture. LeCavalier was the recipient of the 2015 New Faculty Teaching Award from the Association of the Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the 2010–11 Sanders Fellow at the University of Michigan. His work has appeared in Cabinet, Public Culture, Places, Art Papers, and Harvard Design Magazine. His installation ‘Architectures of Fulfillment’ was part of the 2017 Seoul Biennale for Architecture and Urbanism as his project ‘Shelf Life’ was one of five finalists for the 2018 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program.

References

Ballantyne, Andrew, and Chris L. Smith, eds., Architecture in the Space of Flows. London: Routledge, 2012.

Bauman, Zygmunt. Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000.

Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.

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Winner, Langdon. Autonomous Technology: Technics-out-of-Control as a Theme in Political Thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1977.

Weick, Karl. ‘Educational Organizations as Loosely Coupled Systems.’ Administrative Science Quarterly 21, no. 1 (March 1976): 1-19

Zook, Matthew. and Mark Graham. ‘Wal-Mart Nation: Mapping the Reach of a Retail Colossus,’ in Wal-Mart World: The World’s Biggest Corporation in the Global Economy, ed. Stanley D. Brunn, 15-27. London: Routledge, 2006.

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Published

2018-11-08

Issue

Issue # 23 | Autumn / Winter 2018 | The Architecture of Logistics

Section

Review article

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