This project was formulated within ‘the Good Life’ theme at the Berlage. Initially, I was interested in the infrastructure that facilitates our aspirations. My own desire for differentiation from those in my class who also approached the challenge from that perspective pushed me to explore facilities that help us to artificially represent ourselves as having reached our aspirations. I became interested in the spaces that allow humans to appear as if they are living the good life...because ‘I love acting, it is so much more real than life’.

The facility that is easily accessible to many people and, for me, most clearly captured our desire to transform ourselves into fantastic figurines was the hairdresser. (The cosmetic surgery is not easily accessible and the gym’s too time consuming, even with the use of stimulants). The institution that most clearly celebrates aspiration and our ability to transform our environment into the fantastic, for me, in architecture was heritage. The narrow method that heritage is enforced (its obsession, almost fetishisation, with the appearance of a past and stifling development) made it the ideal architectural canon.

Why does beauty have to mean pain? I explored this fallacy in this thesis. Like the French artist Orlan and musician Michael Jackson, I do not feel that we should be limited by what we were born. Similarly, in architecture, I do not think a society should be limited for having a former architect’s work in their city...

I do not think we should be limited by our inheritance or heritage. We should change what we are not happy with and proactively and deliberately work with it.

a space for cheatingpatients enter the Tower for Cosmetic Transfiguration to bypass their natural limits and social norms

This position means I challenge society’s norms on beauty. It also means I challenge the organisations who slavishly preserve leftover structures. This position is similar to David Lowenthal in his ‘Heritage Crusade and the spoils of History’.
 
In this project I made provisions for the burgeoning cosmetic surgery industry in the heritage building that once housed the (in)famous Charlie Parker African hair accessories store on its ground floor.

 
The grotesque, the vane, the maimed, the lazy and the envious would be welcomed into the central atrium to be operated on in the centralised anatomical theatre. The procedures would be broadcast for consumption by onlookers. The anatomical theatre is the focal point of the interior. It is the tower’s alter. The upper floors house ancilliary programmes like counselling facilities, look-book libraries, a gym, recovery rooms, a pool, preparation beds, minor surgery beds and office space. (see the ‘gengmei’ app).

   
The existing building’s floor plan was maintained. The neighbouring building (also owned by Charlie Parker’s) was removed as it looked like a growth. The existing building’s footprint was mirrored for beautiful symmetry and warped where necessary for the programme.