CONTEXTUAL ISOLATION:
FRAMING RELATIONS BETWEEN BUILDTING AND LANDSCAPE
"All other cities are doomed, but I imagine that as long as people exist, Constantinople will exist." Petrus Gyllius
Contextual Isolation:
Framing Relations between Building and Landscape Recomposing Istanbul’s urban fabric
BROOKE CAMPBELL-JOHNSTON
Tutor: Jacob Knudsen Thesis Portfolio Summer 2014 KADK Department II
synthesis The project, as a whole, aims to investigate a critical and dynamic relationshi p between building, landscape and the city. Under this heading investigation:
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1. HOW do we begin to recompose the cities urban fabric with constructed landscape? 2. HOW architecture can be used to establish this new relationshi p between constructed landscape and the city 3. explore HOW the city might react. The project seeks to develop a strategy to introduce radical new forms of constructed landscape and green space within cities whilst remaining respectful to the existing urban condition. Set in the district of Fatih, Istanbul, the project deals with a densely packed and largely derelict urban condition with the development of new green areas high on the political agenda. As Istanbul rapidly expands outwards this inner district is seemingly in urgent need of a new urban direction if the district and its historical monuments are to survive.
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FATIH Population 428,857 Current Green Space 6m² per Person Approx 2,573,142m²
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Additional Amount Required for 10m² per Person Approx 3,873,570m²
Brooke Campbell-Johnston
Additional Amount Required for 20m² per Person Approx 8,162,140m²
horizontal monumentality The district of Fatih contains most of the cities historical monuments. Unlike the typical European condition where these are attributed excess space within the horizontal plane in order to allow for appreciation, Istanbul’s monuments are tightly packed into the urban fabric. The space for appreciation is generally left in the vertical plane with planning laws restriction new buildings from interfering with the horizon. On the following page a few examples which can be said to retain monumental characteristics, developed in the horizontal plane. Because of their shear size and planar nature we are unable to experience them in their totality when standing beside them or walking through them. Their monumental characteristics are experienced when the viewer passes overhead and understands the full scale and layout. Representation consequently plays a key role in the understanding of these phenomena. The spiral jetty for example is a structure whose image is governed by its representation. The totality of the spiral may not become apparent when visiting the site and walking its path but we understanding the work through the iconic image of it’s layout: it’s plan. Can a similar method be employed within Istanbul? A green intervention which cuts through the city linking various parts to each other. One whose shear scale and monumental character can never be truly experienced from the viewer at ground level. Would this scale of intervention provide the city with a zone of landscape which may become more permanent? Because of their connection to a larger system of organisation are the smaller green parks less likely to be swept aside in the face of new development? Framing Relations Between Building and Landscape
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the commercialised line A series of theoretical lines are proposed as a government intervention which are strategically placed within the district. The lines are given a commercial value, offering tax breaks and benefits for private stakeholders to develop green areas, landscape and pedestrian friendly spaces within the peri phery of the line. The project then speculates on the gradual reaction which the city has to this commercialised line and the potentials for a more radical green vein developing. An understanding of this large scale temporal dimension is key to the projects success and discusses ways in which radical transformations can be made to a city without being destructive to the urban character.
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the CIty as a representatIonal medIum It has become common place in parts of the world to use the temporary status of the construction site to portray a representation of a future ideal. Reminiscent of large scale American billboards, printed sheets are hung in place of the facade of the planned building to show a representation of it at a full scale within it’s context. This method transcends the typical architectural drawing or model as a representation tool, allowing for easier presentation and subsequent understanding of the essence of the building in place. The project explores alternative means of representation in the mediation of an architectural idea: the city as a representational tool.
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tower The two towers populate each end of the hypothetical line, demarcating a territory between. Each contains a red maple tree, suspended in the air as a marker for a future constructed landscape. The towers represent the idea of an unfinished structure where external landscape and building exist in two differing stages to each other and consequently promote the idea of unrest and future change.
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the folly - guest house The folly establishes itself above the notional horizon line, placed within the temporary and evolving condition between roofscape and skyline. It populates the hypothetical line struck through the cities fabric, acting as a marker for a city change. The guest house traverses the roofscapes of the city in order to attain the most profitable view. It explores ideas of the commercialised view and constructed landscape retaining value within the tourist industry. Its function prompts it to continually re-place itself within the ever changing city in order to establish a desirable view of the city.
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the folly - guest house
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the object The object is as a mediator between the body and the city, between the actual and an imagined topography; an abstraction of space which acts as a navigator between the existing city and a future constructed ideal. The intertwined relationshi p between object and city embraces elements of the surreal. The embodied tactility locates the user within contemporary Istanbul and mediates an understanding of a potential future landscape, relative the existing topography and urban landmarks. Viewed in plan from one direction the user sees the hypothetical line drawn through the city. The user can relate to individual parts of the city through the marking of the guest house locations and first propositions. When turned 90 degrees the user reads a plan of the potential constructed landscape and again can make reference to existing city conditions with various key buildings and colonised roads.
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the city as left by the architect
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p.s. [speculations] present day plus 5 years
plus 25 years plus 200 years
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p.s. [speCulatIons] Between Building and Landscape - a temporal model.
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p.s. [speCulatIons] Constructed Landscape
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p.s. [speculations] Border Conditions
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an equilibrium An equilibrium between constructed landscape and the city [+80 years].
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temporal observations: a city in flux
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Brooke Campbell-Johnston
BROOKE CAMPBELL-JOHNSTON ARKITEKT MAA +45 53 53 66 17 BFCJ.WORKS@GMAIL.COM