A p p r o p r i at i n g I n f r a s t r u c t u r e recontextualizing public space and innovation in a contemporary urban park
Chris M a s s e y molly d a l s i n a n n a mahnke
A p p r o p r i at i n g I n f r a s t r u c t u r e
r e c o n t e x t u a l i z i n g p u b l i c s pa c e a n d i n n o v a t i o n i n a c o n t e m p o r a r y u r b a n pa r k
The Delmar Mill complex is a site of historical and contemporary consequence. In its years of operation from 1910-1960, its performance was one that prominently fueled the economic growth of the Twin Cities. Now dormant in the service of grain, the colossal structures loom silently over the forgotten landscape, neither remote nor interwoven with the fabric of the city. This dissonance enables a new mode of architectural intervention and a shift in traditional programming. Thus, the proposal for a contemporary urban park reinterprets the historic SEMI mills complex as both provocative public space and dynamic innovation district. By appropriating the historical infrastructure, the urban park enables exploration, activism, and interaction between people, structures, and nature. Fundamental to the complex is the public space, including procession, appropriation spaces, and spectacle as tools to recreate the mill’s cultural stakes. The complexity and precarious nature instilled in the existing structures translates experiences, understandings, and meanings of history, culture, and contemporary attitudes to the urban park. The layering of meaning, interpretation, and subsequent mental state makes the architecture difficult to resolve, but it is exactly this multiplicity that make the building and the program relevant today. In complement to the public park, an innovation infrastructure is proposed, focused around elasticity, evolution, and a density of disciplines and cultures. The goal is to synthesize the city, the community, and the innovation district to form a contemporary urban park that no form of digital technology, corporate office space, existing public plaza or classroom can match.
Chris Massey m o l ly da l s i n anna mahnke
1870 Minneapolis | 13,000 people
1890 Minneapolis | 165,000 people
1913
1925 - 1931
2000’s
A D M “ D e l m a r ” e l e vat o rs b u i lt a n d b e c o m e pa rt o f t h e l a r g e s t g r a i n e l e vat o r fa c i l i t y
UMN expands east with TCF Bank Stadium and biotech buildings
Prospect Park Water Tower built
1860 - 1920 mass railroad growth (by 1920 - 29 railways) Early industry supported lumber and flour milling Stored ex-
1952
1920 - 1950
Glendale Housing Project – city’s first postwar public housing project
2001
2014
City of Minneapolis SEMI master plan | Cunningham group
Surly Brewery completed
1960's
2012
2013
Mills and railroad transport declined
Solomon Atta: The Other Life of Silos Thesis
UMN MDC proposal for SEMI
GDIII Graduate Urban Design Studio Proposals
Height of the industry Began to diversify products to account for further growth in MN
Population moved to suburbs, many businesses left the area Train tracks and structures begin being demolished Empty spaces used as parking lots
HGA : Surly Brewing
Solomon Atta: The Other Life of Silos Thesis
U of M
DT Minneapolis
6
8
1 92
3 57 4
St. Paul
MDC : SEMI PROPOSAL
4
Public Park | Appropriation |
Experiential | Exploratory | Implicit
Negotiated | Appropriation | Temporal | Workspace |
Functional
Resources | Functional
| Efficient |
Spontaneous | Implicit
Multidisciplinary | Exploratory
| Efficient | Explicit
How much do you design to promote appropriation and innovation? What is the needed infrastructure?
D esi g n ed A ppro pr iati o n Spaces
N at u r e + I n fr as t ru ct u r e Existing structures are seen as a system or complex of infrastructure rather than as buildings within a landscape.
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2
3
6
7
8
9
Perceptua l M o m ents
Human scale interventions of potent experimental moments-- most of which are remnants of a no longer relevant function: shear cylindrical silo walls rising with a spot of light at the top, the ninth level of the workhouse with two massive holes in the floor and no place of security, and the scalelessness silos themselves framing a view of the equally scaleless city.
Path
Path: connecting all the previous interventions, most significantly sequencing perceptual moments but as well as appropriation spaces and nature and infrastructure. This is a system and intervention scaled to that of an entire complex. The intervention creates topography and evokes exploration for a more provocative public space.
Cha r r ette M o d els The final two weeks of this 7-week project were largely devoted to design charrette
and
physical
modeling.
The immense scale and structural opportunities that come with the site were difficult to explore physically in a short amount of time. These explorations were primarily focused on the issues of path and topography.
M D M Team m em bers Chris Massey : GD2 MArch candidate 2016. St. Olaf College 2013 graduate majoring in Studio Art.
Molly Dalsin : GD2 MArch candidate 2016. University of Wisconsin Madison 2010 graduate majoring in Chemistry and Biochemistry
Anna Mahnke : GD2 MArch candidate 2016. t. Olaf College 2012 graduate majoring
B i b li o g ra phy “AD Classics: Parc De La Villette / Bernard Tschumi.” ArchDaily. N.p., 09 Jan. 2011 Adams, Greene, Raznick; Bright Lights No City. University of Minnesota Masters Final Project 2014. Https://architecturearmature.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/adamsgreeneraznick_brightlightsnocity.pdf Atta, Solomon. “Solomon Atta : The Other Life of Silos.” Buffalo Rising. Hyper Local Media, 22 Apr. 2012. Barlow Jordan, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL. University of Minnesota Masters Final Project 2014. https://architecturearmature.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/barlow_authorized.pdf “Bernard Tschumi Architects.” Bernard Tschumi Architects. N.p., n.d. “Cedric Price.” Cedric Price / - Design/Designer Information. Design Museum, n.d. Zumthor, Peter “De Meelfabriek.” “Latz+Partner.” Latz + Partner, Landscape Architects Urban Planners. N.p. Montgomery, Charles. Happy City: Transforming Our Lives through Urban Design. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Oswalt, Philipp, Klaus Overmeyer, and Philipp Misselwitz. Urban Catalyst: The Power of Temporary Use. Berlin: Dom Pub, 2013. Print. “Volksplatz Borna.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation,
in Studio Art.