The centre; the path; the field of action

1

KRISTINEHAMN 2020

The Centre. The Path. The Field of action.

2

GESTALT

THE CENTRE. THE PATH. THE FIELD OF ACTION.

According to Christian Norberg-Schulz, Gestalt phenomenology is “the discipline of the configuration of the figure. It is founded first and foremost on the structure proper of the environment, which is to say the relation of earth and sky, on the principles (equality, vicinity, closure, continuity) proper to Gestalt and, lastly, on the structures of use. The relation of earth and sky has to do with the given environment, the principles hearken back in a generic sense to precognition, and the structures of use refer to the experience of living. The conjoined function of these three factors determines that presence which is characterized by the expresion “to take place”. It is generally concretised in three basic Gestalten: THE CENTRE (in which one assembles), THE PATH (in which one lives), and THE FIELD OF ACTION (in which one manifests within one’s limits). These Gestalten serve as stimuli for figural typologies and are the foundation upon which one can trace its way back to the original Gestalten and thus endow architecture wih a general foundation.”

“The concept of “world of life” is based on the eventuality that man may have established his resting place there, where what was SITUS may become LOCUS (TOMT) since life HAS, FINDS and TAKES place. In this way, nature and life are mutually reinforcing elements of a whole that, ever since ancient times, has been recognized as the GENIUS LOCI. The place, then is the concrete manifestation of the world of life.” - Christian Norberg-Schulz Life is not a flow without structure. It is made up of events; it is both separated and linked by interludes of lesser importance. Man is always on the road, and the road leads to a destination, where a presence is waiting. That which happens is both dynamic and static and the significance of the event consists in its openness and closingness.

Place is that obvious presence that transmits identity to its inhabitants. A place must have an identity of demarcation and of character.

The proposal is not the result of a complete set of actions with a delimited range of time and space, but rather sugests a boundary, leaving room for “raumlichkeit” to be continuously created in and out of time.

RAUMLICHKEIT (Heidegger) indicates the space of everyday life/living in which each thing has its own place, and all of those places collaborate in the creation of that environmental whole that allows life to take place. One can be in place through MEMORY, ORIENTATION and IDENTIFICATION. Unity creates atmosphere – the finest places have a distinct personality of their own.

A distinctive atmosphere also corresponds to a spatial coherency and a unified form, so that the individual elements of the place are defined by the whole. Gestalt is the essence or shape of an entity’s complete form.

3

THE CENTER.

IN WHICH ONE ASSEMBLES Kristinehamn is at the center - on the road from Stockholm to Oslo; on the iron path.

This would ensure access to the city by allowing its complete use.

Kristinehamns origin was the harbor and marketplace that arose around the bridge where the road between Sweden and Norway passed the river Varnan. Here lived tradesmen and travelers on and along Lake Vänern. It was a good place for a good life. And they called it BROO.

Using the landscape as a unified background we propose a demarcation that attributes a beginning and an end to the place. Orientation and morphology refer to the existing landscapes, space, structures and networks.

Aware of what is already there, we densify existing textures and accentuate through new soft proposals the limits and character of the site. We propose a dispositif of activation, with minimal built interventions, and a series of operative voids, places for action, where we left space for natural growth and development. Composed by points and counterpoints that make the urban space a definitively open body.

Since then the city has built many other bridges. A bridge is a platform used to connect two separate territories. It is a connection, but also a contract, a relationship. In Kristinehamn, most of the public spaces of the city develop alongside the river. The main square is composed of five elements: two squares, two bridges and the water in-between.

Situated between ships and bridges, the project site has always escaped from being sewn down to the other side.

Through it’s peninsular morphology, it has acted as a boundary between the Old Town and the Inner city harbour.

On the image below (Jan Soucek – The bridge) we have on one side the old town of an imaginary city, with its clear hierarchy and structure of spaces and uses. On the other side lies a no man’s land, undefined and devoid of environmental characteristics - representing the industrial world. Between them, to accentuate de distance - a parallel bridge.

For the past 50 years Svinvallen acted as a parallel bridge between the Old Town and the industrial, and later on commercial area. It has suffered a loss of place! It has lost its identity both in demarcation and in character.

The site is in need of a dispositif of perpetual recognition of the Old Town in relation to the water and the new town.

A LOOP perfectly mediates delimitation and character. Thus, we begin by sewing down the two river banks with a soft loop.

THE LOOP/RING/CIRCLE always holds a promise within. It becomes a form of understanding context; it is a dynamic structure that explains the centre and evolution of Kristinehamn.

To be in the loop is a complex process which includes both the path/journey and the regions/events that it crosses.

By connecting different strategic points in the city it assures a continuous flow of people and events.

But being on the loop does not necessarily entail having a final destination – a closed loop is an infinite tribute to time.

The loop is a soft barrier that draws a soft barrier around a landscape that automatically becomes a place of encounter. A street it the perfect place for encounter, as it leads forward and allows one to discover possibilities – the discovery of a unified whole.

4

THE PATH

IN WHICH ONE LIVES The proposal is subordinated to the existing heritage on site, and continuously explores the memory of the place.

The circle/loop is a projected city gate, as it provides the experience of arrival, a ROAD, a demarcation, soft identity, a dispositif of recognition. It ranges out an array of possibilities allowing one the option of choosing between qualities: different approaches to water, the existing buildings, the stage, the squares, the viewfinder, the urban forest, the harbour bath, the bridges, landscapes and activities.

The auxiliary paths work as a lighter, softer interface for the loop. They gently go around it, making a connection with the water, the squares, the parks, the wider context. They approach the loop and set distance from it, thus delimiting areas of tamed wilderness or action. It negotiates the relationship INSIDE/OUTSIDE, which is fundamental for the identity of the place.

Through these means of action we generate a complex site vocabulary – a collection of individual fragments without apparent cohesion, whose principle of continuity is based upon the networks that articulate them and the background that surrounds them.

An existing premise from the old grid, Fisketorvet and the river bank, the museum house on the peninsula, the small

hill, the forest, the other side and the site’s centre are the elements that connect to the loop and that will from this point expand this path and start to define atmospheres and places.

The other side becomes a vegetal delimitation between the road and the centre, thus negotiating access and appearance for both the road and the site.

The first action is to complete the old city grid, as it is an important element that gives a specific character to the centre of Kristinehamn.

The proposal works with the memory of the place as it prefers to set back and make room for a better perception of what is already there. Individual elements of the place are defined by the whole.

There are four buildings in the northern part of the grid, that are arranged in a chessboard pattern. The first one covers the blind wall from the neighbouring building and delimits an access square to the north and a dialogue-square with the existing brick house. The next one in line - the biggest one - continues the action of the previous one by delimiting the access square and the big, southern square towards the water. The small one in between is an open structure that morphs together four adjoining squares and the existing programme of the site. The fourth building contributes to the delimitation of the access square from the north.

The coffee shop building has a special place in the chessboard: it lifts up from the ground to allow the access square from the north to connect with the squares in the south, it defines a visual street of access and also activates the public space around it through its function.

The shopping centre and the stage are next in the line of action. Together with the coffee house and the community centre they delimit a covered square that feeds of their presence and stories. It is a market place, an agora, an outdoor exhibition room. The stage turns its back to the square only to open up on three sides towards the square in front of the coffee shop, the loop and its centre, and the forest.

The community centre that delimits the covered square on the western side is a multifunctional box-like system, within a wooden laced enclosure. It is a layered structure that creates atmospheres by using the space next to it: the urban forest and the agora.

The shopping centre is a key block in the chessboard. It announces the site as one comes from the north and negotiates the cut towards the street between the new and the old town. It is the building that represents best the morphing of the two grids. As it holds a parking pocket on the western side, this building opens up mainly towards the street and towards the square. It also delimits the access square.

This is not a proposal that draws its strength from its built presence, but rather from its absence, from what enacts from its inside and outside. It is a dispositif of participative architecture, not a game of representation. Each void has a multifunctional boundary - making out of each building a constant place of negotiation.

We proposed different types of squares for different types of events, with different atmospheres. They are not meant for specific uses. We expect users to conquer them, in time, not as a cause of appartenance to a specific age group of function, but by desire to sit in a specific kind of atmosphere. This is why we left a lot of space for later actions – these squares need to be brought to completion in time, together with the community. We proposed delimitation and character through a strategy of walls, vegetation, paths and openings.

All spaces are a frame – like a room, they require partnership in order for them to be filled and created.

This is not a discourse about design, but about dialogue: dialogue between spatiality and between communities.

This is where the strategy of display of the buildings comes from: each of them has to open towards at least 4 directions, making them versatile in time and a perpetual object of negotiation.

The same happens at the micro scale of the site...installations and functions (like a half pipe) are mixed and scattered, encouraging vast exploration and interplay.

This is a system that shifts micro singularities to the macroscopic scale of the city, an adaptable void that continuously changes shape according to its human temporal context - a continuously ephemeral place, celebrating time and the “world of life”

5

6

THE FIELD OF ACTION IN WHICH ONE MANIFESTS ONE’S LIMITS

Central Park NY

Faelledparkens CPH

Kronenwiese Zurich

The loop is A CIRCUIT OF DYNAMIC MOVEMENTS AND EVENTS; unforeseeable; not series but sequences. A dispositif in which the anonymous quality of a possible rhythm – or break – falling between threads and movements, combines with its own capacity to welcome unexpected presences, demonstrating its elastic capacity of adaptation. We propose a FIELD OF ACTION, in which one manifests within it’s limits - without limits. One possible setting for this place would be a generic football competition...Where football fields appear into the centre..only to disappear and leave room for something else as soon as they lose meaning.

A space that is the instantaneous trail of use. An creative thought instantaneously materialized. A structure solidified in a moment, almost at the point of disappearing.

Its soft border can adapt to any content. Its display of constant activities (on the loop) support it. Its position makes it accessible and free. Its connection to the water and the city makes it unique.

It is a perfect place for celebration inside the community.

Time can change its mass, weight, light, and language as it adapts to our individual worlds of life. Time contracts or expands accordingly to how much we enjoy or stress on what we are doing, but it is nevertheless a boundary. A soft, yet sharp as a knife type of boundary that encourages us to enjoy life at its fullest by always reminding us about how ephemeral things are. Time, is by no means subject to an objective pattern, but is revealed as something elastic and subjective. Plants, actions, passage ways, light, and all which is ephemeral supports the constant passage of time. In time, things do not have physical representations.

The solution assembles and illustrates multiplicity in terms of space, form and figure.

As vectors on a line, people define form and content. Identity means living in a world that comprehends both the place and the community in which one lives.

The loop is a dispositif that runs through the “world of life”, revealing its qualities, making use of place. It sets and evaluates the rhythm of the city.

Weather a festival, an ice-skating park, a summer fest, a sports competition or simple recreation, the field of action will always ephemerally represent Kristinehamn’s people.

Hammarby Stockholm

Ralambshovsparken Stockholm

Kristinehamn

Fredrik Åkum

7