Thesis Book

EVENTFUL GATHERINGS IN TEMPORARY STRUCTURES ARCHITECTURE DEGREE PROJECT

RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN 2013 ADRIAN WAI HONG AU

THESIS STATEMENT

Events can be a powerful trigger of communal gathering within an urban city. A common interest can create a gravitational pull of people towards one specific space in time. The phenomenon of groups of gatherings induces a dynamic community. The different scales of interaction between people create a temporary experience that becomes a node of interest. Architecture can offer a particular opportunity for public and private events in thresholds that consider the participation between vehicles and pedestrians, such as parking lots. “Come the revolution, where are you going to go?�

America has an epidemic of monolithically placing parking onto the urban surface; this underutilized land can hold the programs that reprioritize the pedestrian experience. By providing efficient modules designed for the specific infrastructural function of an event such as walls, seating and shade, establishing a relationship between inside and outside can host the intrigue of people. The modules would be able to collapse into a form that is easily transportable and stackable, giving the freedom of creating different spaces within a parking lot. The idea is to have this system co-exist within the program of parking both collapsed and expanded in order to compromise the movement of cars and people within one space. The modules can be arranged and oriented to provide spaces for performance, circulation, and viewing during a gathering.

Visual access defines the interior and exterior of an event from the street to the parking lot, which can be formed through the configurations of the structure. By redirecting circulation and egress to where people have to walk through a progression of spaces to reach the actual event can innately establish an inclusive and exclusive relationship. The architectural imposition onto the parking lot is to generate an attitude towards the act of walking versus driving that can be universally applied to underutilized open spaces, creating flexibility of the programmatic arrange of a space that accommodates all scales of gatherings.

3

4

TECHTONIC CRITRIA

CONTENT

TECHTONIC 6 TEMPORARY DEPLOYMENT 8 TRANSFORMABLE STRUCTURES 12 SHADING MODULE 14 SEATING MODULE

EVENT OF GATHERING 16 GATHERING 22 SPACE AND PLACE 24 PRECEDENTS

SITE: WHY PARKING LOTS? 26 URBAN VOIDS 28 PROVIDENCE 30 SITE

MODULAR INTERVENTION 36 TEMPORARY EVENT PROPOSAL 38 SEQUENCES OF SPACE

INITIAL EXPERIMENTS 44 TRANSFORMABLE STRUCTURES SEQUENCES OF SPACE

5

TEMPORARY DEPLOYMENT

6

TECHTONIC CRITRIA

7

TRANSFORMABLE STRUCTURE

8

TECHTONIC CRITRIA

9

ACCORDIAN EXPANSION The mentality of permanent archtiecture is a flaw in the approach of architectural design. There is a disconnect in the

10 TECHTONIC CRITRIA

OMPONENTS

Different modes of operations are designed for the transformation between a collapsed structure to an activated form.The physical performance of the panel modules can vary from providing shade, photovotalic panels, sunlight diffusion and increase noise reduction or amplification.

11

Wall Transform Section

EXPANDABLE SHADING SHADE

SHADE

Wall Transform Section Wall Transform Section

Collapsed state

SHADE /PV

Wall structure

Shade structure

ACCOUSTIC

SEAT

Light Diagram

SEAT Transform Section

SHADE /PV

SHADE /PV SEAT

SHADE / PV COLLECTORS

SEAT

12 TECHTONIC CRITRIA

SEAT Transform Section SEAT Transform Section

ACCOUSTIC ACCOUSTICS

ACCOUSTIC

Light Diagram

Light Diagr

VIDE DIFFERENT PROGRAMMATIC FUNCTION

CREATING A SPACE THROUGH TRANSFORMABLE OBJECTS

EXPANDABLE DECKING

Expandable Decking structure

m

13

SHADING + SEATING MODULE

14 TECHTONIC CRITRIA

15

g a

t

h

16 EVENTS OF GATHERING

e r

gath路er路ing (gr-ng)

n.

1.a. The action of one that gathers. b. That which is gathered or amassed; a collection or accumulation.

2. An assembly of persons; a meeting.

g

i n

17

EVENTS OF GATHERING

Events can instigate the dwelling of people and gatherings of people from different community in the urban city.

18 EVENTS OF GATHERING

19

EVENTS IN A CITY This 2’x 6’ installation is an abstract representation of the programmatic relationships of architecture. The different colored lines represents separate communities of people, the size of each node represents the capacity of each building, and the lines indicate the interaction of people between each building.

Nodes that have both colored lines represents the coexistence of multiple communities in one space.

20 EVENTS OF GATHERING

The projection is of a knolly map of Providence. Each color represents the programmatic category of each building.

RISD Residential Downtown - Commercial Jewerly District - Commerical

21

SPACE AND PLACE

space

noun 1. the unlimited or incalculably great three-dimensional realm or expanse in which all material objects are located and all events occur.

Place and space is often misunderstood as the same idea, however, their respective definition clearly sets them as mutually inclusive ideas. A space is the physical volume at a specific location, it serves as an empty container for activity to happen within. A space has physical constraints such as area and capcity. A place is consists of the particular purpose, with a (usually) specific activity that is intended for the space. The relationship of place and space can be presented as following: a place can only exists through a space, but a space does not necessarily have a place.

22 EVENTS OF GATHERING

place

noun 1. a. An area with definite or indefinite boundaries; a portion of space. b. Room or space, especially adequate space: There is place for everyone at the back of the room.

2. a. The particular portion of space occupied by or allocated to a person or thing. b. A building or an area set aside for a specified purpose: a place of worship.

3. a. A dwelling; a house: bought a place on the lake. b. A business establishment or office. c. A locality, such as a town or city: visited many places.

FUNCTION OF A PLACE The function of a place can be categorized into two types: manifest and latent (Gutman 1966). The manifest function is the apparent function of a place, ususally some sort of economic, social or recreational activity, within which has a heirachy of program be primary, secondary, tertiary. The latent function is the byproduct of the activities and may be psychological and serves as a catalyst for human interaction, this function serves to enhance a sense of community.

23

EVENTS PRECEDENTS BLOCK PARTY Ammenities Art sale RISD club sign up Recreational activity Social activity Activities Recreational Social location: Benefit Street (Waterman and College Streets.), Providence, RI time: saturday afternoon duration: ~ 3 hours (4pm to 7pm) frequency: yearly attendance average: 500 -1,000 sponsor: risd

Infrastructure Pedestrian walkway Seating area Tables

“We’ve shut down the street, so let’s have a party!

The Block Party is a chance to meet with all the student clubs and organizations on campus, as well as RISD offices and non-profits and businesses around town. There will be live music, food, a photobooth, and a lot of great opportunities to get involved in your new community. Come join us!”

12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 am pm attendees (per 10) event event staff (per 10)

24 EVENTS OF GATHERING

PARK(ING) DAY location: Street side parking, San Fransisco time: day time duration: 2 hours (meter limit) frequency: park(ing) day attendance average: 100 per day sponsor: community access: free Ammenities Bench Tree Sod Activities Recreational Social Infrastructure Seating area Soft landscape Rebar’s original PARK(ing) project in 2005 transformed a single metered parking space into a temporary public park in an area of San Francisco that the city had designated as lacking public open space. The great majority of San Francisco’s downtown outdoor space is dedicated to movement and storage of private vehicles, while only a fraction of that space is allocated to serve a broader range of public needs. Paying the meter of a parking space enables one to lease precious urban real estate on a short-term basis. The PARK(ing) project was created to explore the the range of possible activities for this short-term lease, and to provoke a critical examination of the values that generate the form of urban public space.

And this is the true power of the open-source model: organizers identify specific community needs and values and use the event to draw attention to issues that are important to their local public—everything from experimentation and play to acts of generosity and kindness, to political issues such as water rights, labor equity, health care and marriage equality. All of these interventions, irrespective of where they fall on the political spectrum, support the original vision of PARK(ing) Day: to challenge existing notions of public urban space and empower people to help redefine space to suit specific community needs. am 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 pm event

attendees (per 10) event staff (per 10)

25

PARKING LOT AS URBAN VOIDS

“The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is the right to destroy the city.’

-Lewis Mumford

26 WHY PARKING LOT?

IN BETWEEN DESITNATIONS

event

people

UNIVERSAL APPLICATION

parking lot buildings

27

PROVIDENCE URBAN PARKING MAP

28 WHY PARKING LOT?

2011

The current urban planning attitude towards empty lots in downtown Providence is a problem that is consistent in many urban city. The monolithical application of parking lots to provide access to every building creates a singleuse spaces that serve solely as the place for the storage of vehicles. I believe the epidemic of parking lots can be amended through temporary structures that can be deployed and reprioritize the pedestrian experience.

2013

29

TEMPORARY EVENT PROPOSAL SITE PLAN

30 EVENTS OF GATHERING

31

INTRIGUE

WESTMINISTER ENTRANCE

32 EVENTS OF GATHERING

SEQUENCES OF SPACE PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY

33

REALIZATION OF GATHERING

34 EVENTS OF GATHERING

SEATING AND STAGE CROSS-SECTION

35

EVENT OF GATHERING

36 EVENTS OF GATHERING

37

EXPERIMENTAL TRANSFORMABLE MODELS

38 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

39

EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES PLASTIC BAGS

The parameters of a cheap, recyclable, lightweight, waterproof, modular led to the experimentation of plastic bags. The experimentation of plastic bags was to create a physical divider of spaces.

This iteration of a plastic bags creates a divider that is expandable, lightweight, and is hung along a spine that is attached to a frame. There is a modular connection between the plastic bags, allowing for multiple and unlimited expansion in the y-axis. The inflatable balloons in each plastic bag creates volume from the flat plastic surface. The plastic bags become the organizing system for these balloons.

The next challenge is to aggregate this to a self-standing structure and to expandable in the x, y and z-axis.

40 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

WOVEN SURFACES

The experimentation of the weaving surfaces was derived from the expandability of the plastic bags divider.

This accordion structural system of a surface material (in this case butter-board) that has the ability to flex in one direction to create flexibility and the counter direction is coincidentally strengthened. The adjustability in the connection between surfaces allows increase in coverage in x-y axis, and can bend at a curve. The next challenge for this experiment will be to provide a structural form work, and to adjust the opacity within the cells of the structure.

The two dowels become the structural frame of the accordion, which allows the surface to expand in one direction. Using stoppers at the dowels, it was able to deflect the natural tendency to collapse. This is a bigger scale than the old model, the material parameters of a bendable surface still applies. The path of expansion can be adjusted through the form of the dowel, but still limited to a two-way direction.

41

HEXAGONAL PAPER WEAVING

This experimentation is conducted through my interest in collapsible structures. By cutting out specific slits and folding the paper module to create a hexagonal-like structural system. This exploration modifies the bendable surface to a more geometric system. Unfortunately this iteration was only 100% structural at the spine connection between each surfaces.

42 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

HEXAGONAL PAPER WEAVING (MODULES

Continuing from the surface weaving aggregation, this iteration treats each strip as an individual entity. The flexibility in the system is once again the element to highlight. The joints between each surfaces allow for the maximum angle of rotation thus allowing the form the change from a collapsed form, to a honeycomb like structure, and to almost any form on one dimension.

This iteration has a limited flex at the second axis, and although is almost limitless in form, requires addition supporting framework to create the desired form.

43

STICKS AND ROTATING JOINERY

This experiment is to use sticks and joints to create a system of connection that allows for transformation in the overall form. This system has no limitations at the angles of rotation which allows for maximum flexibility at the joint. The generated form is a variety of geometric shapes. This system is strictly a 2 dimensional system, there is a specific order of operation in the detail of the joinery.

44 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

STICKS AND ROTATING JOINERY (3D)

This experiment goes one step further than the previous iteration, the challenge to allow for transformation in the 3rd direction. Using the corrugated nature of the cardboard, the sticks of the structure creates a flexible structure that can transform in the x, y and z direction. The flexibility of the rotational joint can generate a free form that is adjustable and self standing.

The next challenge is to reinforce this frame to allow for the structure to be load bearing, yet maintaining the flexibility of the form.

45

HEXAGONAL ACCORDIAN (CARDBOARD)

The accordian cardboard modular system is a result of the attempt to transofmr the hexagonal weaving pattern into a small piece of sittable furniture. The idea of a chair that can be manipulated by the person.

46 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

DIGITAL EXPERIMENTS WITH EXPANDABLE CONNECTIONS

By creating a system of geometry that can be hinged and rotated at 3 axes can generate a very effiient space frame system that can be errected into a geometric form and be transformed for different modes of operations.

47