Migration Borders Reaction_Architectural Master Thesis at KU Leuven, 2018-2019 by Costanza Botti

Borders

Migration

Reaction

Multicultural and integrative streetscapes among the architectural and institutional delirium

Costanza Botti United Streetscapes | Streetscape Territories Master Thesis 2018/2019

© All rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-copying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system, without permission in written form of the publisher or specific copyright owners. Work and publication are made during the course of a personal master dissertation project, within the project of “Migration, Borders, Reaction”.

Written and designed by: Costanza Botti Academic promotors: Prof. Dr. Kris Scheerlinck Prof. Arch. Martine De Maeseneer Drs. Arch. Gitte Schreurs International Master of Science in Architecture KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture, Campus Sint-Lucas Ghent Academic year: 2018/2019

Abstract

The main triggering factor that leaded to this design was the seeking of an alternative solution for one of the most urgent issue that the society is facing nowadays: among the migration movements that have always been describing and generating the evolutionary process of our society, today we are facing a strong closure acting from the most common hosting parties, the western capitals of the world. And this process is happening on a multitude of levels: territorially, institutionally, politically, and socially. As designers, urban planners, we might easily see how our profession plays a relevant role on these factors; so on, this project has been a testing strategy based on one of the endless possible case studies. The specific location of this work, the United Nations Headquarters, is a universally unique reality: aiming to represent the integrity of the union of every nationalities, its action on a supranational level struggles to provide an actual territorial impact on the environment on which it is physically placed, instead it is suggesting a complete detachment from it; while the SDGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s number 10, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Reduced Inequalitiesâ&#x20AC;?, is declaring the urgency to treat the flows of migration with a more programmed and humanitarian approach, on a practical and territorial level this institution is not seeking this result in any possible way. Counter wise, the reality of New York City and its borough, as the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, it is in urgent need of a shifted approach; the territorial enclaves on which the city has been organized are representing the exact consequence of a misconduct, operated through the last century, and that was oriented against a cultural integrative attitude. The results led, and are still leading, to the generation of segregated area, where a singular and detached reality is shaping the physical spaces. The research based on these environments and based on their most lively streetscapes and collective spaces, conducted to the consideration on how these particular territories are expressing their cultural value through spon

taneous, unorganized actions or behaviors, each one of them happening on wider physical context capable of hosting them all. As an answer to the all of the topics listed since now,â&#x20AC;&#x153;Migrants, borders, reactionâ&#x20AC;? has been directed towards the generation of a space capable of respond the necessity of a multicultural embracement, allowing the newcomers to be welcomed in an existing context, and the receiving society to have an open dialogue with the previous ones. In order to do so, this project relied on an interdisciplinary approach that have combined programmatic, landscape and architectural reflections. In the land of the United Nations Headquarters, part of its supranational territory has been exploited to give space to an actual landscape of diversities, which are, instead of strictly defined through an activities plan, welcomed to happen; As a land of encounters, and spatially as a wider, borderless and coherent frame that is taking advantage of its particular position on the riverfront, the landscape is then evolving into an architectural shape, granting a continuity between the two of them, and a full dialogue with the surroundings. The program, listed as a first answer to the needs of the incomers and based on the study of the current migrantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; situation worldwide and in the USA, is meanwhile taking place inside of the architectural shape, but prioritizing the freedom of the circulation and the actualization of a continuous, vertical streetscape. This verticality, realized thanks to the usage of a series of inclined platform and based on the actual sloping of the landscape, has been experimented within the aim of creating an area capable of enduring the freedom of spontaneous behaviors that are commonly only happening on a ground level, while the extreme context of Manhattan might suggest to seek for an alternative solution. This design approach tried to provide an alternative perspective towards the ongoing migration reality, but at the same time not to deny the physical context of New York City.

Every image, representation or photograph is the work of the author, unless otherwise specified []

Contents:

0. The Alienation of Integrity

0.1 The UN Headquarters at a 1st glance

0.2 A Photostory

1. Streetscapes of multiculturality

1.1 Research Frame

1.2 Research Question

2. Reflections on Contemporaneity

2.1 The nowadays issue of borders: philosophical and social reality

2.2 National borders and political attitude

2.3 Enclaves as entities of cultural and/or territorial domain

3. A worldwide, controversial Urgency

3.1 Migrantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world data

3.2 Localizing the issue: migrants in the U.S.

3.3 The UN and its policies towards migration and refugees

3.4 The U.S and New York Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s policies on incomers

4. Analysis of the Intangible

4.1 Impressions from New York City

4.2 The architecture of the flows: how to tackle a Complex (un?)Adaptive System

4.3 Ethnic and cultural appropriation of a territory, or how the collectivity grasped its space in â&#x20AC;&#x153;post-migrationâ&#x20AC;? environment: five case studies

. Mott Haven in Bronx . Bedford in Brooklyn . Sunset Park in Brooklyn . Chinatown in Manhattan . Turtle Bay in Manhattan [as an exceptional reference]

5. Analysis of the Tangible 5.1 Turtle Bay and the UN Headquarters: analysing and deepening in the site

6. The Stand Up

100 114 128 142 156

169 170

191

6.1 The 5W[+H]

192

6.2 Architectural, landscape or programmatic intervention?

193

6.3 Addressing multiculturality into a design strategy

195

Every image, representation or photograph is the work of the author, unless otherwise specified [ ].

7. The Design

198

7.1 Historical and architectural relations as generators

204

7.2 Masterplan

210

7.3 The landscape

228

7.4 The building

244

7.5 Catalogue of elements

A. Bibliography B. Articles C. Sitography

197

8. An unconventional manual

255

9. Appendixes

259

0. The Alienation of Integrity

Integrity has currently two different meanings, they might multiply, or one of them might disappear over the time, as many abstract things are doing and as some glimpses towards our society might suggest. Nowadays, Integrity might express the characteristic of having coherent and high values, which are leading to good behaviours and a stable sense of ethic and costumes; it is normally referred to a person, it is not common anymore to use it in the description of something more abstract; in Europe, back in the 60â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, it might have been an adjective to describe the political movement and social currents, or at least it would have been one of the characteristics they would have been looking for. On the counterpart, Integrity might also mean â&#x20AC;&#x153;the state of being whole and undividedâ&#x20AC;?; this definition is probably more used, commonly, to describe an abstract concept, as a territorial domain or an union of person, whilst, sometimes, it might be used also to reflect its opposite; in the case of describing a collectivity, this word might indicate that this union is still standing, alive and powerful, on the contrary of the most. But what might happen if we try to apply this noun to an abstract but also physical entity as the United Nations? The UN are representing, on their primary nature, a collectivity of populations, expressed then by representatives who should respect and reflect the common meanings and needs. The singulars of this conglomerate of entities do not have a material reality on their own, but it becomes expressed once that we introduce the concept of State: we define a territory which is expressing and containing an ensemble of individuals, cultures, politics. As from here, we might even get inside the point of the definition of territory, and debate on the nature, etymology and identification of it, indeed this is not the point. But, as a population requires its physical space, the UN does the same: so on, this union that should represent the most powerful entity, as it is obtained directly from the sum of all of the singulars, needs a territory to express its functions and develop its process. These particular reigns of sovereignty are obtained as cut out from defined others, as guests in an existing grid, one of the many they should be containing. And how should the UN express the Integrity? For sure, the second definition is the first one we might think about, perfectly fitting the process of creation and the development of the organization; but even the first definition, which is the seeking of moral and ethical values and behaviours, it is perfectly expressing the aim they should persecute.

Probably, the UN might be one of the really few things in the world able, since its definition, to express in once these two diversified concepts, where one is completely related to the sphere of the abstract and the other is constantly oscillating between the previous one and the spatial reality. The spatial reality of the UN is therefore defined on two different scales: one is the world itself, since its unique characteristic of representing almost every State, the other one is the physical cut out we discussed. These stretch marks in the existing structure of someone/something else might be imagined as bubbles, popping up and then stabilize on the territory. One of them, the main one, has been positioned, since the earliest time of the organization, in New York. From now on, the attempt of this reflection would be to retrace the first discover of this physical space and its surroundings according to the thematic probed before, sometimes enlarging the scale towards the territory in which is settled -indispensable part of its reality- and sometimes pondering the social impact it is having inside and outside its envelope. In order to do so, the temporal succession of my personal pathway would be used as a tool to organize and conglomerate the different situations and impacts that have been experienced.

The 1st journey and its 1st impressions: inside the boundaries

Arriving from the Big Apple to the UN Headquarters the perception of having left a chaotic dimension behind is present, but not as strong as it might be expected: the city is still there, the first layer of the space, even if the illusion of the contrary might occur. The boundaries of the Headquarters are visible from every corner, sometimes more declared with dispositive of strong impact, as high fences and security check points, and sometimes camouflaged with natural elements as trees and bushes; but one of its landmarks, the series of flags standing on high poles facing 1st Av., are immediately suggesting an imposition to the outside, generating a perception of distance that has to be respected. Together with them, there is its impelling physical aspect: a worldwide landmark, immediately suggesting the presence of a high institutions that requires to be threated according to its nature.

And here a first reflection might occur: what should be, naturally, the behaviours to adopt in front of an institutional territory? For a far abroad outsider, this element is suggesting a cordial distance, and a fear towards the eventual consequences that might be generated by a wrong or mistaken behaviour, while for the citizens it seems to represent a distant element on which they walk aside, not touching it or perceiving it; this behaviour could be shared with any other buildings of the surroundings, but there is a different way of walking, or either avoiding, the sidewalk of 1st Av. Moving towards the next degree of depth, the entrance is standing on the top of a staircase, suggesting already or once again a position of detachment. Crossing this first layer, which is provided also with a security scan, a second entrance is appearing: the monumental platform of mineral surface is opening towards the East River, delimitated on a side by the compact, mineral faรงade which doors are suggesting an industrial or over production model, and on the other the opening of the main landscape. In this exact position a first complexity, or maybe confusion, is suggested by the environment: several height changes, sometimes well-defined through basement walls and sometimes smoother as the sloping soil, are starting to fragment the space; together with them, there is the actual landscaping of the gardens: getting closer, the perception is to be inside of a matryoshka, where several gardens are contained inside a main one. A doubt is occurring: this mixture of styles, obviously representing different cultures of landscaping, has been planned probably to host the environment of everyone, instead it is reflecting an absence of integrity in the shape of the place, which is contributing to feel it once again as incomprehensible and distant. As the many artworks present on the mineral platform, the gardens are suggesting something to be observed, but untouched. A last sight of this first moment is the reverse one: the inside-out. The interiors of the UN Headquarters are organized as well in a multitude of spaces, sometimes clearly articulated and sometime not. But the most interesting part is the constitution of the openings towards the outside: each one of them is particularly directional, and never showing the life of Turtle Bay. Several architectural elements, as ramps or structural members, are fragmenting the sight, creating a layer of confusion which needs to be added to the fences, poles and bushes presents on the back.

The closure is happening, not just from the outside towards the inside, but from both directions.

The spaces of the surroundings: Turtle Bay

Coming back to the site, on a different day, instinctively the willing is to understand and explore the outside dimension of the Headquarters, the place hosting the place. Wondering around Turtle Bay, a certain level of closure might be firstly perceived: the buildings are directly touching the sidewalks, leading to the roads, as if the main sub-categories of semi-public and semi-private were absent in this time-space dimension. But giving more freedom to the observing movement something happened, and this itinerary got transformed into a discovery: hidden in the residential blocks or under the roads, a multitude of gardens is existing, and it is expressing the collective level of the neighbourhood life. Those spaces, each one of them characterized by different shapes, materiality, noises and activities, are representing the distincted phenomenology of Turtle Bay, as if a unique place capable of containing the all of them would not exist. And that is the reality. The preciousness and richness of this other kind of bubbles is undefinable, but it might be disputed: if the public spaces need to be or stay hidden, demarcating their individual existence, what is the level of sharing that might occur from the casualty of the openness?

The outside of the Headquarters: the silent and unheard protest

Coming back to the outsides of the Headquarters one event is simplifying the previous impressions and thoughts: a silent, fasting protest is happening, since eleven days, under the stairs of Tudorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s City, directly facing the UN. The feelings of this act are suddenly sad, but mute at the same time. The place that should represent all of the voices, is it capable to hear them?

That is not the impression is giving. And how many voices are left? There are farer ones, from other cultures and places, and the ones from Turtle Bay, in which environment the UN Headquarters is not blending, it is mutually observing it and enduring it, but a feeling of nearness is not occurring.

The Waterscapes and the South: a new environment, a new social class

A last remarkable observation is the one that arise while leaving the city behind and moving towards the East River. The riverbanks of this side of Manhattan have constantly been on discussion and planning for the last ten years, but the process gets always interrupted at the same step: the actualization. Then, another interruption is immediately evident: the Headquarters. The linearity of the coast is cut by the presence of the giant, once again imposing its presence not just on the existing but also as a breach of the future. The spaces of the water became more and more relevant in the contemporary cities, as they are expressing a multitude and diversity of natural environment, present on its own but sometimes unnoticed. But their role of being on the edge is leaving a degree of wider opening on their possibilities, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mirrored not just by the activities that might be hosted in there, but also by the kind of users we might encounter. The space of the nature, the space of the water, are the one welcoming even the lower social class, the one who doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have an actual and defined space in the cities. And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what is happening also in Turtle Bay: the secret gardens previously narrated are univocal, not just for being so well defined and characterized, but also thanks to the users they are hosting, international employees and local residents, all apparently part of the same social class, or at least with similar life styles; the waterscapes are now representing the almost unique possibility for the others to be hosted. And even in this case, as much as it could happen in almost every other worldwide city, the integrity generated by welcoming everything and everyone, is a unicity in its value.

Conclusions

.The Alien Summing up all the observations conducted, the part of this work related only to the Headquarters itself is simplified by this term. Its terminology, position, morphology are determining a complex detachment, better expressed as the alienation of the role and the environment of this organization. An aspect that might be seen in this moment with a negative implication but that might also become the key point to translate the UN into the positive sole that it should have been since its foundation. . The bubble and the distance It was clearly expressed and visible by each employee that the disconnection between Turtle Bay and the UN is something heavily settled; but how could this organization of representatives allow itself to be so detached from what is standing out of its windows, while it is trying to reach more faraway places? In this case, the integration instead of the integrity, it is the most alarming factor. . The untapped bigness The bigness of the landscape of the UN, completely unused both from the citizens and even more from the employees, is nowadays just a representation of potency; this potency might be used to express the meaning of this organization, the integrity of every cultures and every voice, leaving the space to an open expression of the diversities that might be encountered not just inside Turtle Bay, but all over the city of New York, so precious in its role of hosting such different social status. . The security In the attempt of reaching a wider Integration and reconstitute the Integrity of this space, the security issue is playing an important role: the presence of the related devices is almost robotically accepted by the most, unreflecting on the effects and the meaning that it is bringing with them. It is still true that a certain level of protection will be needed in front of controversial issues and personalities. But would it be possible to design new tools and strategies to connect and detach at the same time?

. The phenomenology The richness and the phenomenology discovered inside Turtle Bay is another factor on which a different observation regarding the fragmentation of the Headquarterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s landscape might take place: being such a settled characteristic of the current environment, the positive aspects of it should be preserved, but the usability of a space should not be interrupted or either forced inside a rigid frame; instead a wider connection could open the space and host the differences already discovered and the ones which are yet to come.

0.2 Photostory

The Alien #1

The Alien #2

Complexity of layers

Mechanisms

The Industry

In-out #1

In-out #2

Directions

The Nightstand

The Protagonist

The Contrast

Silent Protest

Secret Place #1

Secret Place #2

Secret Place #3

Secret Place #4

Entrances

Waterscapes

Indications

The Beauty of the Open

1. Streetscapes of multicuturality

“Streetscape Territories is an international practice (founded in Barcelona in 2009, currently operating from Brussels, Ghent, London and New York) of research, educational activities and planning/design consultancy. The practice focuses on the transformation of the urban landscape, studied at the intermediate scale, considering the making of diverse and tolerant streetscapes the main objective to achieve socially, economically and environmentally sustainable environments for its inhabitants. The practice deals with the way architectural interventions, open spaces, the property structure and its inherent accessibility and permeability, configure streetscapes as manifestations of social and productive encounter and how their inhabitants can give meaning to them by appropriation. The research and design projects focus on models of proximity within a street, neighborhood or region and starts from the assumption that urban space, from the domestic scale till the scale of the city, can be understood as a discontinuous collective space (de Solà-Morales, 1992), containing different levels of shared use that are defined by multiple physical, cultural or territorial boundaries (Scheerlinck, 2013): how do people, open space and buildings relate to each other and how does this contribute to the local identity of the built and social environment? Overall continuity, or strict public consensus in the way urban space is used or claimed, is of less importance: urban space is the result of constant negotiation and systems of appropriation or mis-appropriation. Instead of having a programmatic or formal approach, the research and design approaches focus rather on the spatial qualities or potentials of architecture in the urban landscape, taking into account the socio-cultural impact of an intervention. The level of programmatic specification is questioned, going against the growing tendency to secure urban projects through programme, leaving no space for multiple interpretation or use. The intermediate scale, that is the scale between the architectural intervention and the urbanistic plan, defines the research and intervention domain. Within this approach, collective spaces that operate at this intermediate scale, are characterized by an “between/among” space condition are read, mapped or designed: systems of streets, squares, gardens, parks, but also patios, porches, enclaves, covered or portico spaces, courtyards and all other interstitial areas are subject of research and design.”

Kris Scheerlinck, About Streetscape Territories, 2019

The streetscapes framework directed this research, and then on this design project, in the attempt of understanding how migration and multiculturalism are nowadays demanding a redefinition of the territories of collectivity. More precisely, in the context of the biggest capitals of the western world where the new urgent migration are directed, it is impossible to avoid facing how different cultures, ethnic groups and so on their habits, are playing an important role in shaping the behaviors of the space, and how the existing spaces are sometimes not willing to answer to this phenomenon. Moving from a sidewalk, until a big square, we live in a world that is shaped and made alive by the contributions of many of us, who bring our own ways to live the space and create different levels or kinds of collectivity. An interior space is often telling us the most of the people who live it, as their origins, familiar components, hobbies and desires; but if we do we pay attention, the facades of the buildings, with their ornaments and objects, and the different ways of approppriation of a street are also increasing this knowledge. What this research is likely to highlight, is the richness of this twisting of cultures, how the clothes, the habits, the signs, together with the different behaviors that people are adopting on the public scene, are making alive the streets in which their daily life takes place, enriching them with no possible harm. Even more and switching perspective, it wants to analyze and understand how some pockets of ethnic-shaped-territories, inside of an external and wider context, are giving back a feeling of belonging to the ones living them, something that is often not experienced on the city-scale. On the base of it, lies the conviction that is precisely the feeling of belongings and the possibility of a space available with negotiation and without renunciation, that is leading communities together, that is avoiding the contrasts and the violence that are shaping nowadays the streets of the western world. New York City and the United Nations Headquarters have been an interesting environment to dig into in order to research these elements, merging also with the element of the political scenery, often responsible for deresponsibility, disregard or, worst case scenario, instigation. The cultural super position that has been revealed in this city was often connected to an eradicated phenomenon of segregation: by its history, New York City has been recalled as a city made of migrants; what it hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been always clarified, is that the way in which the territory has been shaped over the

time has mainly been connected to the desire of keeping these cultural differences and their declarants apart from each other. This reality is still evident nowadays and it is the living proof or the alarming possibility of a non-evolutionary cityscape, hypothesizing the spatial and cultural responses to the phenomena of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s migration. Neighborhood as Flushing in Brooklyn, or Corona in Queens, are a living, and precious, testimonio of this past and future; on the streets, behaviors completely different from Manhattan appear immediately: the first language spoken entering a commercial facility is Spanish instead of English; street vendors on every corner are selling, thanks to their wooden tables or carts, fruits, electronics, books, slushies, even in Winter time. A more informal, disorganized but sometimes happier situation is taking place in there. Another example might be the one of Molenbeek, in Brussels, where the community, traditionally Moroccan but nowadays more complex in defining its cultural provenance, is declaring its traditions openly: on the contrary of the rest of Brussels, every shop in here is exposing its merchandise on the street, reclaiming more commerce and also more life on the pathways, while the labels, sounds and smells are recalling an African or middle eastern provenience. All of these aspects are part of the way in which the capitals of the world are made of nowadays; and they are embedded of the opportunity to enhance the richness of multiculturalism, instead of rejecting it. With this work, more than one attempt has been researched: one was to highlight the ways in which a streetscape is declaring its cultural provenance, to sum up all the positives that they are bringing to the cities and to contrast the negatives on which they have been made up. Secondly, starting from these negatives, there was an interest in understanding how, in this open sourceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s realities of the mega cities, the phenomenon of ethnic segregation is so firmly happening, often enforced by territorial definitions, and made evident on the streetscapes. The both of them wanted to be finally redirected towards a design strategy for free collective spaces, interpreted as agents hosting diversity, seeing them as a possibility of varieties and evolution, and simply capable to generate a feeling of welcoming for everyone, both the newcomers and the locals. The physical framework of this research has been shifted over the process, according to the themes that were being analyzed. From the neighborhood on which these cultural repressions are happening, the design approach has been planted in a particular scenery: the UN

Headquarters, with the aim of resonating the role that the political institutions are playing towards this urgency. How the streetscapes are being reshaped, thanks to a programmatic and institutional level, towards a closure, enhancing even more the barriers and the walls that the society is carrying with it, it is an element that has been driving the all process, and it is representing its final stage.

[Courtesy of Jeffrey Gibson, “The Anthropophagic Effect”, New Museum exhibitions, NYC 2019]

In the scenery of the hyper densified capitals of the western world, which are now resenting their role as the main sceneries of a permanent and massive income of migrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flows, how Architecture can provide new territorial strategies that would support and embrace the ethnic, social and economic diversities while reshaping the tangible and intangible borders of the political landmarks towards an integrative attitude?

2. Reflections on Contemporaneity

2.1 The nowadays issue of borders:

philosophical and social reality

How can we, firstly as individual, and then as designers, always part of a worldwide community, face and play a role in the issue of borders and confinements that are acting all along? The decisional framework is something that we all see as far away from ourselves, created and implemented by political and economic decisions that might overrule our status -but is this not also how the most of us are seeing ourselves towards every political framework nowadays? In the reality, politics and economies are playing their role based on the commitment of our (un)participation, as a society; there is a behavior of allowance that is letting these phenomena to increase, when it is not an enhancing approach. If we try to face the topic of migration and borders on a large, theoretical scale, it is possible to affirm that on the basis of the contemporary liberal movement, everything begins from the capitalistic assumption of the three core freedoms: - Freedom of movements - Freedom of movement of capitals, that requires freedom of movement of goods - Freedom of movements of those who can provide services What it is lacking in here, or all over, it is the fourth degree of freedom, the one that is individually and socially fundamental: Freedom of movement of persons. The implications of this simple assumption are countless, and from an economical framework they reflect their consequences on a personal scale that shapes a large amount of the problem individuals face nowadays. So, keeping the reflection on the concept of movements for a moment, and dragging it into an historical perspective, a secondary assumption might be determined: the operations that have led to the generation of the fixed human environments -camps, villages, cities- to take place into a defined physical environment: how were they traced in the territory? It was not thanks to a lined

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The Four Freedoms in classicalThe liberal Fourthoughts Freedoms in classical liberal thoughts

map, but to the sum of a multitude of movements that were keeping on cross and overlap, defining the most appealing habitat; and in almost every case, these places were situated on the limits of what would have allowed future movements: the sea, the rivers. From here, if we move a bit forward until the moment of a 2D definition linked to the usage of the cartography, we can abstractly reinterpret the concept of “point, line, surface” and apply them on this case: if the world itself is represented as a whole surface, then, to plant a point into it, our hand needs to draw a movement in the air in order to express it. Finally, the lines can just follow, creating a more detailed environment, a successive connection, or the fortresses. Historically speaking, another assumption might be made: borders always existed, as a definition of our personal dimension. We can think of a tent and how its geometry was defining a sheltering space, or later on, we can apply this concept to the empire’s realms; but in any case, these delimitations were made for and of trespassing, from the inside to the outside and vice versa, and almost always to overrule this definition and increase the potency. But was this potency just spatial or also a mindset, to expand our inner part? Anyway, all the movements that resolved from them, were guided by a tendency towards “something”. The extreme scenery of the borders is a prison; and a prison is nothing more than the privation of movements, physically and so on mentally. And, if we think in these terms, borders are something that are blocking a flow, or a progression. The tendency towards. So on, borders are nothing more than a response, a consequentiality of something that has been originated before. They are by definition representing the trespassing, either if it is happening or if it is denied. And in these terms, they are actually generating the responsive flows, that would not exist otherwise, or perhaps that would exist in other terms. In a way, it is the same as saying that “there is no conceivable border outside of the principle of the law of permeability”. In a utopian framework, we might say that the idea of a borderless world is, by its nature, linked to the concepts of movements and places -as products of the previous. And in between of this triangle, a tension is taking place, the one that might represent all the current social and political issues we are facing. When we overlook to all the elements listed since now, the issue of borders is described as something that is either politically settled up, or a social response, an economic status, an historical layover, a natural device; but there is another dimension that has to be taken into account, the one that might be

Potentiality and Actuality on movements and venues Potentiality and Actuality on movements and venues

as well the generator or the resolver: the individual scale. Let’s think of a mirror, in which we can look at ourselves, and in which we can sincerely ask at the present day how are we, with our daily life, with our behaviors, religions, cultures, works, education, desires and ambitions, contributing to this, either in a positive or a negative way. We all play a part in this society, that means that willingly or not, we all share responsibilities, either tangibles or not. Each one of us in that mirror can, or more exactly will, find a part of him/herself that is responsible for this sense of closure, and it might be as reasonable as our deeper nature. But our deeper nature is also the explorative, the evolutionary one. As designers and planners, it might be complex to find a way to play a role directly on this movements and on their degree of freedom and allowance, but we could assume that our abilities and possibilities on shaping or reshaping a physical space or territory could affect in the future, and could have affected in the past, the cultural and social urgency that the western world is facing today. The image of a city reflects the contribution of a plurality, and the role of the planner might be the one to create spaces capable of hosting the all of them. And the streetscapes are in a way the most contemporary declaration of the city’s components, showing switching attitudes and tendecies. This is the reason why this work relies on the conviction that a deep, careful sight towards the existent, revealed or hidden, it is necessary. And that a comprehension of this phenomenon is a necessary mindset for the framework. Even more, it relies on the conviction that the matter of collectivity it is married to this “new” urgency, and that it is on the streetscapes, territory permanently subjected to mechanisms and negotiations for appropriation, that we might retrace the most accurate actualization of it.

Borders: counter reaction Borders: counter reaction

2.2 National borders and political attitude

The borders by excellence are represented by the national boundaries, something that has been defined towards the usage of the cartography and according to a 2D perception of the world. In a way, doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t this sound anachronistic? But still, it is the best tool, commonly accepted and recognized, to rule the economic and political dimension; even if borders of this kind have been redefined by realities as the European Union, for example. As far as it is necessary, it has also to be taken for granted that every human being still needs to recognize him/herself into a familiar group, to maintain a sense of belonging and strengthen him/herself. And the national identities, at least on their nominal value, are still playing a fundamental role into that. But if we add to the equation the topic of globalization, it starts to become hardly understandable how these borders are still defining a national identity, or at least it might be necessary to discuss how their role and value changed if compared to the one they were cladding just one century ago. On this national borders, and sometimes even inside of them, walls have been constructed over the time; as an example, one of them has been established between North Korea and South Korea since 1953, and it expands 255 km, according to the historical attempt to keep these countries separated in their never ending conflict; as the previous, a smaller one, and with a different implication, has been built up in 1978 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to keep Alphaville -a poor neighborhood- clearly separated by the rest of the city. Historically, this attitude has been mainly leaded by political forces, and they are still playing the major role into it. The issue of the Wall between Mexico and the U.S.A. it is an urgent topic that is recalling the attention from everywhere around the world, though, regardless of the critics that it is collecting, its realization continues to perpetuate. And it is an urgency that needs to be faced, according to all of the social and personal implications it is dragging on its side. It is undeniable that the economic, social and wealth systems are always getting affected by an unbreakable flow of incomers, requiring big efforts and a complex response, but the closure cannot be the chosen one. Because it

simply wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work, as the paradox of the law of permeability is recalling. On the political level this phenomenon is happening under different configurations: in Italy, first aid and recover has been denied almost fully since the start of 2019 to the migrants that are crossing the Mediterranean sea, as well as the majority of the European countries are not respecting their shared responsibilities in providing first aid and redistributing in their territories the incomers; between Greece and Turkey another wall has been built up to stop the fluxes of people. All of these strategies affect the individuals, but they are leaded inside a political dimension. There is a shift of scale on the process, that is responsible of the inhumane, even considering and accepting the needs of maintaining a national wealth. The political attitude is also reflecting a more complex dynamic, one of reverse psychology, that is spreading in the contemporary society: a feeling of fear towards the outsiders is keep increasing, but it is hard to define, as the paradox of the chicken and the egg, if its origins has to be traced on a social or on a political level; what can be also taken for granted is that they are enhancing each other on a dangerous and powerful way that is not taking in full consideration the causes and the implications of these negations and closures.

Walls of the 21st century

2.3 Enclaves as entities of cultural and/or

territorial domain

An exception to the clarity of the national borders is represented by the enclaves. As recalled by the title, we might list two kinds: the territorial and the cultural one. The first one is happening when a territorial domain, normally smaller, is finding itself inside of a broader State, but it is still keeping its autonomy; an example might be the Vatican City or the Republic of San Marino, inside the territory of Italy, or the smaller reality of Melilla, the Spanish city located on the Moroccan coast, which has moved even further bordering itself with an armed fence, and that it is, as some say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;a symbol of the failure of Europe, and of the human race in general ... a fence that separates two worldsâ&#x20AC;?2. The other typology is represented by the cultural or ethnic one; their scale is normally smaller compared to the territorial one, and they are often taking the shape of a neighborhood, or of a cluster of them. Normally, the cultural enclaves are associated with a phenomenon of segregation. What it is normally defining an enclave, is its border: without a spatial definition it would be impossible to define their existence, going back to a 2D concept of the physical space. And it is often the presence of a boundary, natural or human made, that is letting these entities to strengthen their value, either a natural or a human-made one. The site chosen for this project, the United Nations Headquarters, is an active part of this speech: in itself it is representing a territorial enclave, even if it is an exception to this genre as well, since its power doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t reside in a defined political framework, but in a system of political representation. At the same time, the HQ is located in the city of New York, which is, as previously said, defined by a multitude of cultures, but unfortunately it is also representing a clear example of the spreading of ethnic enclaves. In front of the presence of both of these two typologies, there is an obvious question popping up: is it appropriate to enhance mechanisms of territorial detachment or, in the historical and social phase that we are facing, it would be appropriate to harvest new ways of reclaiming the streetscapes of these scenarios in order to direct a wider degree of opening and integration? The cultural realities might be in need as well to detach their selves by the rest of the territory, in order to preserve their singular richness of culture; but

Lorenzo Silva, The Guardian, 2013

moving deeper, this same need might be seen as the result of lack of integrative policies on a territorial and political level.

The UN HQ and its attitude

territorial enclave

cultural enclave

NYC and the enclaves

3. A worldwide, controversial urgency

3.1 Migrant’s world data

Leaving aside the humanitarian and political implications of the migrant’s flows currently happening and that are already recalling an increased attitude towards closure or stereotypes which needs to be shifted towards a more inclusive policies, the scientific data’s available nowadays are, at the same time, showing an increasing tendency towards movements. It is not just a human matter, the one to provide a higher quality of life to the ones who are asking for it and don’t have it for granted, or often even simply denied, in their home country, but it is also fundamental to contrast the racist attitude that is reshaping the western world, after years of fights to abolish these moral walls. If we look to the numbers collected in the last 10-20 years, generally speaking we can record on every case -except for the International migration flows- an incremental factor, testifying that the issue has to be faced as one of the main worldwide urgent matter. Data’s on migration are sensible and sensitive, consequentially they express different typologies of flows -a precise distinction that is needed, but that it might also turn into a complication on the attempt to put all factors together-. Generally speaking, it is possible to list three main kinds of migration:

_International migrant stocks_ _International migration flows_ _Forced migration_

International migrant stocks are estimates of â&#x20AC;&#x153;the total number of international migrants present in a given country at a particular point in timeâ&#x20AC;?. [UN SD, 2017: 9]

United Nations (UN) data on these stocks are based mostly on the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population that is born abroad, and -where this information is not available-on holding a foreign citizenship. [UN DESA, 2016: 4; UN SD, 2017]

Data on migrant stocks are often reported together with data on migrant flows. Although both terms account for the number of migrants, what they measure is different. Migrant flows data account for the number of migrants entering or leaving during a specified time period -usually one calendar year. [UN SD, 2017]

2017: 257.714.633 immigrants 18.28% of the world population

2015: 248.000.000 2010: 220.000.000 2005: 191.000.000 2000: 173.000.000 Source: IOM - UN Migration

The data collected in 2017 are showing an increase of 85 million, or 49%, compared to 2000.

International migrant stocks flows > 1.000.000 Source: IOM - UN Migration

International migration flows data capture the number of migrants entering and leaving -inflow and outflow- a country over the course of a specific period, such as one year. [UN SD, 2017]

However, in contrast to migration stocks data, estimates on migration inflows and outflows by country of origin and destination are not available at the global level. Currently, only 45 countries report migration flow data to the United Nations. [UN DESA, 2015]

2016: 8.100.000 2015: 10.600.000 2010: 7.500.000 2005: 6.700.000 2000: / Source: IOM - UN Migration

Annual, comparable migration flows are largely limited to countries in the OECD. In 2016, the total number of entries in OECD countries was apÂŹproaching 5 million. After a strong increase at the turn of the century and a peak in 2007, permanent inflows in OECD countries fell sharply in 2008-2009, in response to the global financial crisis. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was established in 1961 as a forum for governments to share experiences and seek solutions to common economic and social problems. Today, approximately 50 industrialised and emerging-economy countries have joined the OECD as members or adherents.

The OECD acts on behalf and in collaboration with its member governments â&#x20AC;&#x153;to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the worldâ&#x20AC;?. In practice, the OECD promotes free market policies and trade. [OECD Watch, 2019]

Permanent flows to OECD countries:

2016: 5.000.000 2015: 4.750.000 2014: 4.400.000 2013: 4.200.000 2012: 4.150.000 2011: 4.100.000 2010: 4.100.000 2009: 4.150.000 2008: 4.400.000 2007: 4.750.000 Source: Migration Data Portal OECD 2016

0.5

2.4

0.6

1.8

International migration flows Source: IOM - UN Migration

Forced migration is a migratory movement which, although the drivers can be diverse, involves force, compulsion, or coercion. While not an international legal concept, this term has been used to describe the movements of refugees, displaced persons -including those displaced by disasters or development projects-, and, in some instances, victims of trafficking. At the international level the use of this term is debated because of the widespread recognition that a continuum of agency exists rather than a voluntary/forced dichotomy. Some have instead expressed concerns about the risk that it undermines the existing legal machinery for international protection. [IOM Glossary on Migration, 3rd Edition, 2018]

Refugees:

2017: 19.900.000 2015: 16.100.000 2010: 10.500.000 2005: 8.700.000 2000: 12.100.000

Source: Migration Data Portal

3.2 Localizing the issue:

migrants in the U.S.A.

Starting from the consideration, as previously shown, that the largest migration corridor of the last 30 years is the one moving from Mexico to the U.S.A., with a total amount of 12.683.066 person and with a difference of more than 9 million person to the second largest corridor -India to UAE-, it is necessary to take into account the stress to which the receiving country is subjected. But, as it will be shown later, the causes of this movement -that is the collector of all the directories from the Central Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s countries- which have been between the strongest and of more impact, have often been originated by the policies started or directly supported by the U.S.A. since 1904.

Migrants sum from 1990 to 2017: Emigrants: 16.436.595 female: 8.163.188 | male: 8.273.407 Immigrants: 267.913.915 female: 136.282.395 | male: 131.631.520 Migrant stock 2017: 49.800.000 15,34% of the total population

Net migration -immigrants minus emigrant- from 2012 to 2017: 4.500.000 Forced migration2017 by country of destination: 287.100 Source: IOM - UN Migration

U.S.A. migration inflows flows > 1.000.000 Source: IOM - UN Migration

3.3 The UN and its actions towards

migration and refugees

While the international community has long recognized the important relationship between international migration and development, the integration of migrants and migration into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development represents an important step forward. Specifically, target 10.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls on countries to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well managed migration policies. Target 10.c calls by 2030 to reduce to less than 3% the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5%. Other migration-related targets in the 2030 Agenda include retaining health workers in developing countries; providing scholarships for study abroad; ending human trafficking; respecting the labor rights of migrant workers, in particular women migrants; providing legal identity for all. The disaggregation of data by various characteristics, including migratory status, is a cross-cutting target that can help identify the particular vulnerabilities of migrants and ensure inclusive development. A report about International migration policies dated 2015 and realized by the UN is showing the followings: At the global level, the majority of Governments -61 per cent- have a policy to maintain current levels of immigration. Among the remaining Governments with available data, 13 per cent have policies to lower the level of documented immigration into their country, 12 per cent have policies to raise it, and 14 per cent have either no official policy or do not seek to influence levels of immigration. Among all regions, Europe has the highest proportion of countries seeking to raise immigration levels -32 per cent-, followed by Asia -10 per cent-. Asia has also the highest share of countries seeking to reduce current levels

of immigration -23 per cent-, followed by Africa -13 per cent-. Northern America on the contrary showed a 100 per cent tendency to maintain the current level. [UN Economic & Social Affairs, International Migration Policies, Data Booklet, 2018]

[Courtesy of Michael Nicholson/Corbis via Getty, 2016] -original author unknown-

3.4 The U.S and New York City’s

policies on incomers

“I am an immigrant … and like many, many of you. And in the last 25 years I’ve been living in a country all of our own, part of it is here, part of it is Europe, part of it is everywhere. Because I think that the greatest thing our art does and our industry does is to erase the lines in the sand. We should continue doing that even when the world tells us to make them deeper” Guillermo del Toro, Oscar 2018

“There are no borders or walls that can restrain brilliance and talent. In any region, in any country, in any continent of our world, there are stories that move us. And this night we celebrate the excellence and the importance of the languages and the cultures of different countries” Javier Bardem, Oscar 2019

It has been evident since the presidential campaign in 2016, that a government run by Donald Trump would have deeply affected the issue of migration towards the USA. But it would be irresponsible to trace all the related difficulties as if starting from this year, as Mark Tseng-Putterman is arguing in an article entitled “A century of U.S. intervention created the immigration crisis”, published on Medium in 2018, and where are clearly explained the relations and responsibilities that led to the generation of the migration corridor between the USA and Central America, proving that this part of the history, as so many others, has always been relying on a history of commercial, military, and power deals that started at least with the “International Police Power” of Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. The “Zero-Tolerance policy” of Trump’s administration is the conclusive and more bitter effect since now. Based on the existing legislation on the immigration policies of the USA, that is describing several distinct categories and each of them with a defined amount of places available every year – the description of the different categories can be read on the website: http:// americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/how-united-states-immigration-system-works , while the 2019 proposed ceiling and subdivision can be

found here: https://www.state.gov/j/prm/releases/docsforcongress/286157. htm – what can be firstly assumed is that, starting with the “Travel Ban” issued on January 2017 and that is directly pointing towards an Anti-Muslim policy -comprehending a permanent ban of Syrian refugees’ ad also lowering the number of refugees to be admitted in the USA in 2017 to 50.000- a series of enclosing decision has been reshaping the image of the USA inclusive attitude. A clear example might be the decision of settle at 30.000, for the year 2019, the lowest ceiling for asylum seekers since the start of the “Refugee Resettlement Program“ in 1980, while in 2016 was settled, as reference, at 85.000. Following these decisions, a mediatic and relevant issue has also proven, or mainly guided, this political attitude, the Wall between Mexico and USA; while the conflict on the funding is a never ending one, receiving a strong opposition from the left wing of the government and the media, “smaller” policies have been adopted in the meantime, some of them have been clearly listed by Doris Meissner and Sarah Pierce at the Migration Policy Institute in January 2019: • “Remain in Mexico”. On December 20, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced that asylum applicants arriving at the border illegally or without proper documentation would be returned to Mexico for the duration of their immigration proceedings. The policy has severely strained relations and critical cooperation with Mexico’s new government and has not taken effect because Mexico refuses to agree to it. • “The asylum ban”. On November 8 and 9, the administration published an interim final regulation and a presidential proclamation that had the effect of banning illegal border crossers from ever receiving asylum. The regulation was enjoined by a federal judge on November 20. • “Family detention”. On September 7, the administration published a proposed regulation that would allow for the indefinite detention of families. The final rule will be subject to review by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, who oversees a government settlement, known as the Flores decision, on the immigration detention of children. • “Detaining asylum seekers”. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions referred a case to himself, Matter of M-G-G-, and ruled that the Attorney General may

determine that immigration judges can no longer hold bond hearings for detained asylum seekers. A final decision is to be made by his successor. • “Family separation”. Trump has expressed doubts about his June 20 executive order ending family separation and could reinstate it in some fashion. The administration appears to be weighing a “binary choice” policy, under which parents would have to decide whether to be detained with or without their children.” 3 In the meantime, it has been stated down that there is no border security crisis, since it stands more robust than ever and the number of illegal border crossers have still dropped of a fourth compared to their peak in 2000. Another consideration has also to be made regarding the composition of the arrivals: it has been recorder an increasing number of families, women with children, -around the 40% of all arrivals in the year 2018, compared to the 10% of 2012-. Moreover, it is relevant to state how the recent immigrants are more likely to be from Asia than from Mexico, and having a college degree; and while the overall immigrant population continues to grow, it is at a slower rate than the period of 2007-2009, while on the contrary the deportations are rising.

Doris Meissner, Sarah Pierce, “A Wall Cannot Fix Problems at Border; Smart Solutions for Asylum Crisis Can”, MPI, 2019 89

4. Analysis of the Intangible

[Courtesy of FOR FREEDOMS, “Where do we go from here?”, ICP Museum, NYC 2019]

“Words on the Street”, Times Square Arts Spring edition, NYC 2019

Suggestions, MTA, 2019

4.2 The architecture of the flows: how to tackle

a Complex (un?)Adaptive System

The phenomenon of migration is a permanent factor that has been contributing to the societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evolution since ever, and nowadays continues to reshape the territories. This phenomenon is not just a cultural or social event, but it is also pervaded by numerous consequences for the shape of the spaces. Cities are changing according to the ethnic groups they are hosting, demonstrating the presence of diversities. The collectivities that are visible in the squares are reflecting their singularities: a gathering of South Americans is evidently proclaiming its effect while coloring a square and fulfilling with music; the streets are telling stories of vendors, of walkers, showing different ways of staying, occupying a physical position. While there is always a common way to behave in a social environment, diversities are talking. Complex Adaptive System is a terminology used to describe systems which complexity derives from a multitude of factors that are not just the recorded effects, but directly the agents that are driving them. The word adaptive stands for the fact that their evolution or process is always on the mote, changing. The clearest figure might be a flock of birds -flying according to the winds, the currents and so many other factors- in which the movement of the flow is the product of a multitude of birds responding one to another, and creating a symbiotic scene. The usage of this particular terminology might be unsuitable and presumptuous for the matter discussed in here, then it seemed important to declare that it is only an assumption of similarities, and it was not a deep study that led to its usage. Conclusively, it seems possible to assume that the flows of migrants might show certain similarities to this case: every single person is in fact an agent, moving towards a certain direction, but always with the assumption that this path might have and will be adjusted to the elements encountered over the time. The system becomes represented not just by the first agents -the migrants- but even from all of the other entities that are reacting and contributing to this process: the society receiving them, the institutions managing the process. And Adaptive or (un)adaptive: the word of fluxes

describes in a way this difficulty; the agents of this process are constantly changing over the time, a certain population might be the main moving actor in a certain momentum, while another is going to be the receiving one; and this has been and would keep changing over the time, with no possibilities of programming or prevision. So on, how and which is the role of designers while confronting this phenomenon? There isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a singular strategy that can be assumed as the correct one, but, as in front of a great amount of diversities, the observation and the desire of understanding what it is composed of, even if distant and different in a certain way, might lead to the ability of visualize the collected factors towards an integrative attitude. The shape of the city will keep adjusting itself, according to another multitude of unpredictable factors. The role of designers might be the one to include, at least in the matters that are related to their professional responsibilities, the space of diversities, of welcoming and of possible integration. Since now, not in every case of course, but still in a great amount of them, it is evident how ethnic minorities -and in this case they can be assimilated to the lower classes of society- have been looking for their space on the edges of the existing, generating what can also be described as a segregated situation. This physical appearance nourishes the difficulties of integration, and instigate to look for a different strategy.

4.3 Ethnic and cultural appropriation of a territory,

or how the collectivity grasped its space in â&#x20AC;&#x153;post-migrationâ&#x20AC;? environment: 5 case studies

There are cities in the world where the newest fluxes of migrants are clearly detectable on the streets, as Rome in Italy or Barcelona in Spain. New York City has been observed in a different way: not just looking for the newcomers, instead the strength of this research has been built up analyzing the environment in which a phenomenon of migration has already firmly reshaped the territory, having fifty or sixty years already passed. It has been chosen to dig into the observation of neighborhoods like Mott Haven in Bronx, or Bedford in Brooklyn, where there was and it is still occurring a phenomenon of segregation, direct consequence of the absence of an integrative attitude towards different ethnic group that came to the USA in the past. Conducting this analysis, three spaces have been particularly observed as samplers: schools, parks and commercial streets. Schools have been analyzed in order to understand how the physical dimension of this environment is feeding the segregation phenomenon of different groups, even if simply closing more or less the facades and blending or not in the neighborhood. Parks and commercial streets have been looked at in order to directly discover the different behaviors that an ethnicity, always grouped in a city as New York, is offering on the space for collectivity; the parks demonstrated not just their value as an element into the neighborhood â&#x20AC;&#x201C;as a result of the position, degrees of closure and permeability- but also as the space of possible activities that invite and open towards the usage of plurals. The streets were in a certain way demonstrating the opposite approach: not how a space, according to its shape, can expect the reaction of its occupants, but how the agents their selves appropriate the existing.

Mott Haven

100

101

@: Bronx

population: 55,080

Hispanic/Latino 71.8% Black or African American 25.2% White alone 1.5% Asian 0.6%

0-19: 34.4% language

other than English 66.4% English less than“very well” 34.8%

Foreign born ppl: 15,099

naturalized U. S. citizen 37.8% entered 2000 or later 44.8%

¶ educational, leisure & commercial spatial linear connection

users locals interconnected

102

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103

Heketi Community Charter School

% black & latino Zone: 96% School: 98% 497 students K-5 [shared space with other institutions] Spanish-English dual language program sporting area on the front spatial direct connection to St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Park | disconnection to 149th St.

sequential layers of barriers: perimeter defined by low fences acting as visual barrier fenced gates fenced windows on ground floor absence of open spaces [exception of a small internal courtyard]

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St. Mary’s Park

115.000 sqm

sporting facilities kindergarden more “private” areas spatial direct connection to 149th St | connection to Heketi Community Charter Sc. including on N-E corner the social housing project “Patterson Houses” which incremented the Afro-American community since 1958

direct and open access on every front fenced borders allowing visual permeability height differences determining spatial subdivision pebble paths as soft edges between different zones grass or rubber floors as soft pavements scattered dense vegetation allows visual permeability presence of original nature environment thanks to the emerging rocks community based

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149th St.

commercial & residential road spatial direct connection with St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Park | disconnection with H. C. School community based [Afro-American]

spatial appropriation of walkways [with chairs, chess games, music..] street vendors street art as a community expression usage of spatial delimitation devices as sitting/gathering areas

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Visual barriers @school

Gates @school 110

Activities @park

Delimitations @park 111

Street culture @e.w.

Seating @road 112

Sunday chess games @road

Spatial appropriation @road 113

Bedford

114

115

@: Brooklyn

population: 75,318

Black or African American 40.6% White 35.1% Hispanic/Latino 19.5% Asian 3.0%

0-19: 31.9% language

other than English 81.8% English less than “very well” 54.4%

Foreign born ppl: 14,463

naturalized U. S. citizen 52.8% entered 2000 or later 39.2%

¶ educational, leisure & commercial spatial linear DISconnection

users locals interconnected

116

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117

Success Academy Bed Stuy 1 Charter School

% black & latino Zone: 37% School: 96% 565 students K-8 spatially disconnected from the other 2 sites connected with social housing complex on eastern side [Afro-American and Mesoamerican community] equipped with sporting areas and playground connected and integrated within the neighborhood different spatial devices to determine privacy & security: open areas perimeter defined by enclosing fences open gates fenced windows on ground floor restricted amount of openings on the facade

118

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Sternberg Park

16.380 sqm

sporting facilities kindergarden spatially disconnected from S. A. School | partially connected with Broadway St. surrounded by social housing complex

community based on the weekdays sport tournaments on the weekend invite external participation & street vendors limited and defined access points external borders devices: low fences allowing visual permeability + high fences rectricting sporting area internal spatial subdivision determined by fences pebble paths as additional soft edge between different zones rubber floors as soft pavements scattered vegetation on the southern area allows visual permeability dense vegetation as border between sporting and playing zone

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Broadway St.

commercial road spatially disconnected from S. A. School | partially connected with Sternberg Park community based [2nd biggest Afro-American community since 1930’s + Mesoamerican community since 1970’s]

signboards and “on-street” spoken language: equally Spanish and English street vendors disposing typical products of origin countries [typically Puerto Rico or adjacents]

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Edges @school

Protection differential @school 124

Permeability @school

Culture @e.w. 125

Layers @park

Activities&Collectivity @park 126

Street vendors @road

Language @road 127

Sunset Park or, Chinatown IIÂ°

128

129

@: Brooklyn

population: 129,227

Hispanic/Latino 46% Asian 35.9% White 14.6% Black or African American 2.2%

0-19: 26.9% language

other than English 81.8% English less than “very well” 54.4%

Foreign born ppl: 67,350

naturalized U. S. citizen 34.5% entered 2000 or later 51.9%

¶ educational, leisure & commercial spatial linear DISconnection

users locals interconnected

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P.S. 24

% black & latino Zone: 71% School: 91% 497 students pre-K to 5 spatial partial connection to Sunset Park | disconnection to 8th St. dual languages classes [Engl.-Span.] sporting area and playground on the back

murales showing immigrantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trials and triumphs distinct layers of barriers: perimeter defined by fences as visual barrier open gates fenced windows on ground floor highest fence on the open area

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Sunset Park

90.000 sqm

sporting facilities kindergarden more â&#x20AC;&#x153;privateâ&#x20AC;? areas spatial partial connection to 8th St | disconnection to P.S. 24

community based [different age users] space of transition and integration between 2 strong ethnic community: Mesoamerican [eastern] and Asian [western] since 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s direct and open access on every front low wall delimitation allows visual and conceptual permeability height differences determining spatial subdivision and influencing perception of openness paved paths/roads as edges between different areas grass or rubber floors as soft pavements scattered vegetation allows visual permeability

134

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8th St.

commercial & residential road

asian community based + resonance on other neighborhoods street vendors spatial appropriation of walkways with stalls and commercial activities signboards and â&#x20AC;&#x153;on-streetâ&#x20AC;? spoken language: asian languages doors, framing and flags revealing asian influence street vendors disposing typical products of origin countries asian growing community established since 30 years ago

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Immigrants&Inclusion @school

[from the official website of P.S. 24]

Doors&cultural influence @e.w. 138

Street’scapes @road

Flags ‘n yards @e.w. 139

Fenced areas @park

Transictions @park 140

Street vendors @road

Labels, commerce, society @road 141

Chinatown

142

143

@: Manhattan

population: 44,898

Asian 58.7% White alone 17.7% Hispanic/Latino 14.7% Black or African American 5.5%

0-19: 13.9% language

other than English 67.4% English less thanâ&#x20AC;&#x153;very wellâ&#x20AC;? 43.8%

Foreign born ppl: 22,920

naturalized U. S. citizen 55.3% entered 2000 or later 29.7%

Âś educational, leisure & commercial spatial linear connection

users locals, orther neighbors, tourist interconnected

144

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145

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School

% black & latino Zone: 10% School: 4% 442 students 6 to 8 spatially included into Hester St. Playground | partial connection to Grand St. Mandarin language classes offered + technological components on both languages Chinese and English relevant influence on chinese community as responsible for English language improvement sporting area and playground on the back + sporting field on the front [Hester Pl.]

Chinese and English inscriptions on facade fences used as spatial delimitation more than barrierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s devices open gates pedestrian area on the N-E corner and South facade direct connection to Hester St. Playground -used in the afterschool and in the weekend as gathering areadense vegetation and height difference bounding Hester Pl.

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Linear Park from Hester St. Playground to Houston Street Playground

900m linear development

linear sequence of distincted park and playgrounds, creating a unified space kindergarden sporting facilities seating areas spatial connection to Grand St | inclusive of Dr. S. Y. S. Mid. School inclusive space for distinct neighborhood of the area | touristic passage [different age and ethnic groups users] space of transition and integration between the asian ethnic community and the white community [asian community established since 1965] fenced access on every front low wall delimitation + height difference allow visual permeability while restraining the area pedestrian area between the sequential situation allows continuous spatial distribution raised walkways on both parallel sides grant visual integration grass or rubber floors as soft pavements different density of vegetation allows or denies visual connection

148

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149

Grand St.

commercial & residential road

asian community based + resonance on other boroughs + touristic venue street vendors spatial appropriation of walkways with stalls and commercial activities signboards and merchants spoken language: asian languages icons, inscriptions, doors and framing revealing asian belonging street vendors disposing typical products of origin countries

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Gate @school

Direct connection @school 152

Aftershool activities @park

Inscriptions @e.w. 153

Activities @park

Linear walkways @park 154

Labels, commerce, society @road

Typical products @road 155

Turtle Bay

156

157

@: Manhattan

population: 49,628

White alone 74.4% Asian 15.2% Hispanic/Latino 6.5% Black or African American 1.8%

0-19: 9.4% language

other than English 25.8% English less than“very well” 4.3%

Foreign born ppl: 11,830

naturalized U. S. citizen 54.4% entered 2000 or later 39.6%

¶ educational, leisure & commercial spatial linear connection & DISconnection

users locals, other neighbors, international employees, tourist disconnected

158

Masterplan - 1.5000

159

The River School P. S. 281

% black & latino Zone: 18% School: 20% 336 students pre-K to 5 including English language learners since diplomatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proximity spatially disconnected from the other 2 sites

fenced gate opaque windows on ground floor surrounded by high-rise buildings absence of open spaces -gym included inside the buildingfacing Rivergate residential plaza [including sitting area and playground]

160

Zoom 1 - 1.1000

161

Dag Hammerskjold Plz. & 2nd Av.

200m linear space open plaza sitting area inclusive of Katharine Hepburn Garden on S-W side facing Montessori Family School

openness on every direction - leading to the UN HQ. height differences & dense vegetation determining separation from K. Hepburn Garden paved flooring punctual vegetation based on residential users and workers

commercial, residential and officeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s road

absence of spatial appropriation on walkways -only exceptions with florist shop and restaurantunclaimed space

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Zoom 2&3 - 1.1000

163

High-rise playgrounds @school

[courtesy of Mitchell Giurgiola]

Park @school 164

Linear connection @park

The other side @park&e.w. 165

Seating @park

Street “appropriation” @road 166

Street “appropriation” @road

Street “appropriation” #2 @road 167

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5. Analysis of the Tangible

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5.1 Turtle Bay and the UN Headquarters:

analysing and deepening in the site

. “Borders” source: ZoLa . “Flooding plan FIRM map” source: ZoLa . “Flooding: future foresights” source: ZoLa . “NYC Zoning Plan” source: ZoLa . “Functions” source: ZoLa . “Inwards/Outwards relation” . “Pedestrian flows” . “Vehicle’s traffic” . “Schools and religious” . “School’s ID: characteristics and physical appearance . “Collective spaces: existing” . “Collective spaces: ID and relation” . ”UN Headquarters: existing situation” . ”Borders & Access: Zoom”

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parks Turtle Bay

Borders - 1.10000 Source: ZoLA

171

172

Flooding plan: FIRM map - 1.10000

Source: ZoLA

Turtle Bay

parks

Moderate Wave Action

FIRM 2015 zone V

FIRM 2015 zone A

FIRM 2015 zone X

Flooding: future foresight - 1.10000

Source: ZoLA

173

Turtle Bay

parks

future Floodplain 2050’s

future Floodplain 2100’s

R10 R8 C1 C6 C5

174

NYC Zoning Plan - 1.10000 Source: ZoLA

Turtle Bay

parks planning

government of the UN

public facilities & institutions

Functions - 1.10000

Source: ZoLA

175

commercial & offices

residential & commercial

residential

transportation & utility

Turtle Bay

monodirectional relation

exceptions

35 th bidirectional or collective relation

FDR

1st

2nd 55 th

Inwards/Outwards relation - 1.10000

Pedestrian flows - 1.10000

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Turtle Bay

parks

pedestrian flow

grouping

178

Vehicleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s traffic - 1.10000

Turtle Bay

parks

ground road

tunnel

causeway

dead-end

Turtle Bay

schools

schools+religious

Schools & Religious - 1.10000 muslim

hebrew

christan

religious

7 6

4 5

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1. River School P.S. 281 public school | pre-K, K-5

front: semi-permeable

31.00

monodirectional

2. Aaron School private school | K-12

20.00

park

front: semi-unpermeable

mixed

3. Montessori Family Sc. private school | pre-K, K-8

front: unpermeable 21.30

mixed

4. The Beekman Sc. private school | 8-12 12.30 front: semi-permeable

mixed

180

looh5. cSSt. snAlbans ablA .tSSchool .5 21-private K ,K-erschool p | looh|cpre-K, s etavirK-12 p

35.20

elfront: baemunpermeable repnu :tnorf

02.53

lanoimonodirectional tceridonom

fo .cS 6.irMontessori ossetnoM .6 Sc. of lanoitanretnInternational I 8-K | loohcsprivate etavirpschool | K-8

elbaemrepfront: nu-imsemi-unpermeable es :tnorf 19.30

03.91

lanoitceridonom

monodirectional

.cS7.hgCathedral iH lardehtHigh aC .7Sc. 21private -9 | slrschool, ig-lla ,loall-girls ohcs eta|v9-12 irp

25.00

elbaemrepfront: nu-imsemi-unpermeable es :tnorf

lanoitceridonom

00.52

monodirectional

& trA 8. + 9P.S. 5# .#59 S.P .+8 Art & loohcDesign S hgiHHigh ngiseSchool D public 21-9 ;5school -K ,K-e| rpre-K, p | loohK-5; cs c9-12 ilbup

55.00

elbaemrepnfront: u-imesemi-unpermeable s :tnorf

lanoitceridonom

00.55

monodirectional

Schools ID: characteristics and physical appearance

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52 51

nd st

Collective spaces: existing - 1.10000

1st

2nd

Turtle Bay

parks

Gr e Pa ena cre rk

Riv er C Ga ourt rde n

rsk

Ho Ch ly Fa urc mil hP y ark

1^ Pla Dan za Ham

jol

ek m Pla an ce

rsk jo Pla ld za

Tu d Ga or’s rde Ci ty n

Ra Pa lph B rk u

Ma Pla ry O’ ygr Con ou nd nor

Fo u

rF re e

Be Pa lmon rk t

do m Pa s rk

K. Ga Hepb rde ur n n

P. D Pa etm rk o

Ea Es st R pla ive na r de

R. Pla Mose ygr s ou nd

St. Pa Vart an rk

Collective spaces: ID and relation - 1.5000

183

184

UN Headquarters: existing situation - 1.1000

Borders & Access: Zoom 1,2,3&4 -1.1000

security camera trees low wall+fence height difference fence traffic distorsion

185

security camera low wall+fence water height difference

186

security camera bushes low wall+fence pole+flags stairs//ramps traffic distorsion height difference fence

187

security camera trees bushes low wall+fence pole+flags security checkpoint traffic distorsion

188

189

190

6. The Stand Up

191

6.1 The 5W +[H]

W H O

The migrant population

W W H H E E R N E

21st century capitals of the western world

W H A T

192

The generation of a space capable of hosting the multicultural collectivities while answering the needs of the incomers and the residents

W H Y

To answer the necessity of enhancing human/ethnic and social integration amongst the contemporary society

H O W

[Rethinking the space of the UN Headquarters as the representational territory of every nationalities: hypothesis of a new institutional role]

6.2 Architectural, landscape or programmatic intervention?

The thematic overall proposed as the main goal of this design project has been made questioning the actual shape it would have required. It is a strong conviction the one that an integral approach should be researched on every scale of intervention; more over in this case, an interdisciplinary attitude has been sought. Starting with the consideration that the main aim of this research and of its outcomes has been to test a methodology to apply in more than one case scenarios, answering to different contexts and necessities, generating different results based to the analysis of the physical, social and political context, but always reflecting the integrity not just of a method, but of a professional and social cohesion. So on, in order to create a space capable of enhancing multiculturality, addressing the issues of migrants and receiving society, a triple approach has been followed: architecture, landscape and programming are blending together, supporting and strengthening each other. In the context of the United Nations Headquarters this approach has been revealed on the following contextual form: The programming task has been based on the studies of the current activities based in New York City which are working towards a social cohesion and first aid, in order to understand what is the offer already given and what should be enhanced; the studies conducted on collective spaces of multiculturality, as schools, parks and religious buildings, have been supporting it towards the difficult task of understanding the physical conformation it would have required, and defining which attitudes and activities are positively affecting the environment. The landscape has been treated as the tool to create the connection with the existing physical environment, and to create a new space capable of hosting the new attitude; in order to achieve this result, the analysis of the existing parks and open spaces, together with the outcomes of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Analysis of the Intangibleâ&#x20AC;?, where territories under the suffer from segregation has been

193

studied and analyzed to understand their qualities and disadvantages, have blended in a single strategy. The architectural intervention is dancing between different scales: starting as the main area to collocate the programmatic activity, it evolves as a connection between it and the landscape, creating an unicum capable of a continuous dialogue. Deepening in the scale of the project, the architectural intervention has been expressing an experimental approach within the research framework of “Streetscapes Territories”; it is commonly used to refer the term “streetscapes” to a horizontal evolution of the space; in this context, taking into consideration that the actual site is one of the main and more ancient vertical cities, an attempt has been made to reverse this attitude, hypothesizing the verticality of the streetscape. This approach leaded to the generation of a continuum space, where landscape and architecture are a single element, expressing itself in different shapes, and the program is moving between them.

194

6.3 Addressing multiculturality into a design strategy

Define the intangible, and create a new physical form for it. Based on the analysis conducted in New York City, but also in Brussels, Antwerp and Rome, multiculturality is currently finding its way in the cities either more massively on the edges of it, or gently in between. It is either a top-up approach who is directing its placement, as seen in the case studies of the neighborhood mostly segregated in New York City -which position and existence has to be renowned to the strategy of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Red Liningâ&#x20AC;? or a spontaneous behavior that the individual and the collective are adopting. Focusing on the second case, the question that has been made is which are the elements that define a space as attractive, from the eyes of whose most commonly coming from a different environment and it is not used to the western urban approach. The answer that has been found is based on a landscape scale, and it is all related to the cultural analysis previously stated. Spaces that are hosting the most of the cultural mixture are the ones which are presenting an open program, while inside of it a phenomenology is taking place, presenting the possibility to live within the space in different forms; a set containing subsets. Smooth, continuous connections, with soft borders defining the transition from an area to the tangent one, elements of the private and of the public. Activities suggested, but not defining the space. More over, thanks to the physical environment of this particular case, one element has played a fundamental role: the water. Water is an element present all over the world, where each one of us can recognize himself, freely and in different ways, while been given the idea of freedom that just a containing bigness can generate. For this reason, water has been introduced as a main element in the landscape of the intervention, with the aim of creating the feeling of a space for everyone, respecting each diversity.

195

196

7. The Design

197

7.1 Historical and architectural relations as generators

The design approach that has been generated is based on the influence of different elements, one of them is the relation with the surroundings and with the historical evolution of Turtle Bay, together with the monumental intervention of the United Nations Design Board. Starting with the consideration of the grid that is determining the urban texture of Manhattan, it is relevant to identify how Turtle Bay and the lot of the United Nations were previously following the same scheme, with the area characterized as industrial. It is in 1945 that William Zeckendorf acquired the 17 acres now divided between the New York City administration and the supranational control of the United Nations. In 1946, having a vision of a massive platform interrupting the descendant slope towards the East River -inspired by the one realized for Grand Central Station few blocks away- Zeckendorf hired Wallace Harrison to design the urban plan; this meeting originated the plan for “City X”. While the United Nations directory was contracting with New York administration to find the perfect location for its Headquarters, the Rockfeller family decided to buy “City X” and donate it to the directory. It is at this point that the Design Board, directed by W. Harrison and hosting the main architects of every continent, started an impressive rush to create an environment capable of representing the monumentality it was requiring. Several attempts and options has been realized upon the final one, which has been mainly generated by the minds of Wallace Harrison, Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. Between these several attempts, two of the discarded ones have been taken in consideration for this project: the first one was showing the hypothesis of moving the Secretariat building on the ax of 48th St., the second one was hypothesizing to implement the UN complex creating a secondary unit on the North-East edge in order to host the missions of the countries who could have not afforded a rented space in Manhattan.

198

The first of these two hypothesis had been taken in serious consideration by the City Council, who started an urban intervention to widen 48th Street in order to obtain a clear access to the main building; when the Design Board moved the Secretariat back to its original position it was too late and the urban renovation already ongoing, leaving nowadays a wider ax that is not exploited. The conceptual part of this intervention is based on the two factors previously exposed, and on the recreation of the natural land situation: exploiting part of the surface of the UN gardens, currently secured and unused, the horizontal platform of the complex is interrupted on the edge of the main access on 1st Av, recreating the descendant terrain which allows a continuous transition with the neighborhood on the North-East side. The ax of 48th St. is used as the main access and as the main directory of the intervention, creating an immediate connection with the waterfront; the building is then placed on the edge of this ax, recreating the hypothetical situation of the secondary complex, and reflecting with its footprint and height the dimension of the Secretariat building: placed on the longitudinal ax of it, it is using a fourth of its footprint and a fourth of its height.

199

New York City Grid

Blocks & Industrial area since 1945

200

â&#x20AC;&#x153;City Xâ&#x20AC;?, 1946

-William Zeckendorf and W. Harrison-

United Nations HQ, 1947

-W. Harrison & the design board-

alternative position for the Secretariat hypothesis for a second building

201

Urban planning, 1947

-R. Moses and the City Council-

48th Street

Design concept

202

203

7.2 Masterplan

The masterplan of the intervention it is clarifying how the new design is settling in the existing space, and it is based on 5 main elements:

. Platform descending to the water . Continuous open borders . Ax of 48th Street . Traffic redirection . East River Esplanade

Aiming to recreate the natural condition of the site and to connect Turtle Bay with the water it is facing but never touching, the descendant platform has been placed between 1st Av. And the East River, enhancing the value of this space placed on the edge of the peninsula. At the same time, the sloping is allowing to create a continuity with 49th St., eliminating the height difference that was previously detaching the neighborhood from the lot. The concept of the open borders and continuous connection has been sought on every edge, with the exception of the South-West one, where a security issue is still requiring a certain detachment between the Headquarters and the site; nonetheless, this detachment is provided by the height difference and the placement of a water canal on its bottom, elements that still provide a free visual connection between the two spaces. On the North-West edge, on the meeting point with 48th St., an open border has been provided as well: the ax of the pedestrian access of 48th St is winning over 1st Av, creating a continuity between the city and the water. In order to achieve these results, an alternate traffic plan has been realized: the descendant platform is creating an interruption of the FDR, so on

204

an alternate route has been place, with the required exits, on 1st Av, taking advantage of the tunnel already existing and based between 41st St and 49th St. Adopting this solution, the FDR is transformed for that extension in a pedestrian lane, creating a connection between the East River Esplanade on the southern edge and the scattered esplanades that can nowadays be encountered on the northern part of the coast, connection currently sought from the City Administration. Meanwhile, the exploitation of the tunnel is creating the possibility to redefine the road section of 1st Av, between 42nd St and 49th St, as slow traffic, allowing the pedestrian ax of 48th St to directly encounter the site.

205

206

Existing situation | 1.4500 207

208

Masterplan | 1.4500 209

7.3 The landscape

The landscape intervention, as previously stated, has been based on the several elements studied during this research process, and it is reflecting the main outcomes of it basing its shape and distribution on several key points: The openness of the borders has been sought in order to create a continuous connection with the surroundings, despite the aggressive environment that it is placed into, instead enhancing on a ground level how the transition between the pathway of 1st Av and 48th St can evolve towards the water. The main platform it is based on is reflecting the unity of the space, while inside of it a series of different spaces has been created, playing with the height differences generated by the sloping surface. The several areas that have been placed, always on the sides of the descendant ax, are suggesting different activities: The water stripe on the South-West edge, while it is also acting as a security disconnection, it is mainly creating a playful area thanks to the sequence of the pond, the pool and the water slide. Contingent to it, three flat surfaces are acting as mineral beaches and as open areas to host activities. On the other side of the 48th ax, the entrance of the building is offering two different situations: accessing it from the North-West edge, the platform of the landscape is continuing inside of the glass box, starting to create the vertical circulation that would describe the all building. A secondary access is then placed on the North-East edge, generating a transverse ax passing on the bottom of the same building. On the continuity of this section, a stepped mineral sequence is hosting a seating and interactive area, while on its side the stepped sequence of low dense vegetation is creating a soft transition from 49th St to the site, and the possibilities of more private areas. The last part of the platform is varied in slope -from a previous 4% to an 8%entering fully into the river: the aim was to create a complete connection with the water, allowing it also to reshape the space over the time and according to the future climate evolution.

210

In order to host permanently the water, and to create a unified identity of the space, also together with the building, the materiality is based on the usage of three main elements: concrete, for every mineral surface, vegetation, and the water as connecting, playful and embracing device.

211

B’ A’

212

B Plan | 1.1300 213

122.00

0.00 -2.70

Section A-A’ | 1.1300

+2.10 0.00 -7.00 -9.00

Section B-B’ | 1.1300

214

122.00

0.00 -2.70

Section A-A’ | 1.1300

+2.10 0.00 -7.00 -9.00

Section B-B’ | 1.1300

215

+2.10

Zoom 1 - borders and phenomenology | 1.800

216

Phenomenology and security

35.600 sqm spatial direct connection between 48th St. and the East River direct and open access on every front, with exception of the South-West edge, shared with the UN Hq Un Hq hard border realized through the usage of the water height differences and change of materiality determining spatial subdivision poured concrete as main building material: granting continuity of the environment and the possibility of hosting different activities the water is generating more playful area -while acting as a security device on the highest cornerthe scattered vegetation is granting more private areas while allowing visual permeability recalling the original natural environment through the slope descending until the water inviting new future and natural change through the invitation of the water on the north-East edge the absence of a defined programmed space is inviting spontaneous behaviour based on the usage of everyone

217

Zoom 2 - the building | 1.800

218

The building and its access

direct relation with the landscape thanks to the sloping platform meeting on the Western side dual access: on the Western side following the changing slope, and on the Northern side on an horizontal, transversal pathway complete visual permeability granted by the usage of the curtain wall absence of physical barriers or delimitations, granting a continuous circulation perimeter defined by the height change prosecution of the accessing ax from the western side that allows a transveral directionality of the site spatial relation with the Secretariat building and with the Trump Tower open spaces reproposed on the verticality materiality reflecting the landscape

219

Zoom 3 - the Esplanade | 1.800

220

The Esplanade

pedestrian and cycle lane connection between East River Esplanade and the northern evolution continuity of materiality: from the landcape until the water usability altered by the rising level of the water change of slope acts as spatial delimitation

221

222

Section C-C’ | 1.300

Section C-C’ | 1.300 223

Section C-Câ&#x20AC;&#x2122; | 1.250

224

Section D-Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; | 1.250

225

226

227

7.4 The building

The main building’s generator was the concept of creating a never-ending continuity with the landscape and inside the building itself. In order to achieve this result, the concept has been based on the appropriation of the landscape’s slope, then overturning it to create an alternate route on an opposite slope. The diagonal has always been referred as the geometry of the movement, and in this case it wants to act in the same manner, creating this experimental approach of a vertical streetscape, always in motion. Once that this concept has been settled down, the programmatic intervention found its place in the overall ensemble of it: the first opposed platform has been mirrored and repeated on a vertical evolution, each one of them altering their footprint in order to allow a continuous walk-able connection. Meanwhile, on the single slab surface, the priority is left to the movement, while the activities are placed in organic shapes that are acting as boxes contained in the overall “landscape”. A curtain wall has been used as envelope, in order to allow a visual connection with the surroundings, the water and the landscape, and instead to grant a visual permeability of the building from the surroundings. The vertical streetscapes is aiming to reflect itself on the surfaces it is enveloped by. The vertical placement of the activities has been following a criterion of degree of “privacy” sought by its users, with the purpose of vertically combine them within each other in order to avoid a fragmentation of the building between more and less accessible areas. As previously said, the evolving series of slabs is changing between different size and configuration, and while they all follow the diagonal inclination -certain exceptions have been made while encountering the most organized and privacy requiring activities, as the school and the shelters- the interior partition that have been used allowed to generate a playful and interchangeable space, where transparency is always sought through the choice of materials -glass, curtains, stretch textile panels.

228

While it would normally continuously flowing inside the buildings, at the crossing points with the two most private activities -school and shelterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unit- the circulation has been doubled, leaving the free flow to the particular users of these spaces, and reserving the landing area as public stairsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; connection; the barrier is realized with glass surface, to keep a visual connection and integrative attitude.

229

230

Data’s

231

library & conference center

shelter’s units

open ground exhibition’s spaces workshop area

school’s open ground

school

open ground walk-in service career center “elderly&afternoon” classroom reception entrance

232

circulation circulation||degree degreeof of“invitation” “invitation” low low medium medium high high vertical vertical

233

Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; A 234

Career center | 1.200

Workshopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spaces | 1.200 235

Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; B C

236

Shelter’s typological plan | 1.200

C’

School’s typological plan | 1.200 237

Section A-Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; | 1.200

238

Section B-Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; | 1.200

239

240

Section C-Câ&#x20AC;&#x2122; | 1.200

241

242

243

7.5 Catalogue of elements

244

245

Hollow core slab

246

Central concrete core

247

Vertical I beams

248

Horizontal I beam

249

Curtain wall

250

Organic shaped glass partition + wooden base for height variation

251

Aluminum frame + stretch tents

252

253

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8. An unconventional manual

255

The aim of this research has been to generate a space capable of hosting a multicultural embracement between territories and societies that are turning towards a more fencing attitude. Developing this framework, the reflections and the outcomes previously seen have been based on the specific context of the United Nations Headquarters, a landscape of extreme particularity due both to its supranational reality and the institutional role it is covering, and then also characterized by the physical dimension in which it is placed, Manhattan, New York City. Instead, regardless for a moment of the particular conclusions drawn and planned on this scenario, this researchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; framework has been aiming to create an alternative strategy to a â&#x20AC;&#x153;worldwide issueâ&#x20AC;? that is shaping almost every western city. It is for this reason that a general Manifesto is listed below, explaining the steps this process have been following, and aiming to have the opportunity to be continued, evolved, implemented, criticized, rejected, or welcomed.

256

01. Understand the local framework: territorial, institutional, political, human attitude and directions. Define the position to be taken

02. Identify and analyze local case studies of multicultural environment. Harvest the relation between their social role and the actual physical space. Take then the necessary conclusion on the positive and negative elements that are generating or affecting the previous

03. Define the programmatic attitude according both to the needs foreseen during the following of point 1, and both to the conclusion stated at the end of point 2

04. Define, if not previously given, the placement of the intervention. Understand the surroundings, its physical and cultural behaviour. Search for the physical tools that might help to reach the ambitious goal

05. Use the generating landscape as a tool to introduce the existing into the new, leading to the programmatic area, but also creating a territory that allows and stimulate cultural meeting and contrasts

06. Blend the programmatic attitude inside of the architectural shape that is reflecting its aim, while relating it to the surrounding landscape

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9. Appendixes

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Bibliography:

Huxley, A. (1932) “Brave New World”, London: Doubleday Doran and Co. Koolhaas, R. (1978) “Delirious New York”, United States of America: The Monacelli Press. Auster, P. (1987) “City of glass”, London: Faber & Faber. Scheerlinck, K. (2014) “Coney Island Streetscape Territories Notebook”, Gent: KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture. Newhouse V. (1989) “Wallace K. Harrison”, Architect, Rizzoli. Mackic A. (1999) Mortal Cities & Forgotten Monuments, Park Books. Crompton et al. (2018) Archigram - The Book, London, United Kingdom: Circa Press Lynch K. (1960) “The Image of the City”, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England. Migayrou F. (2014) “Bernard Tschumi: Architecture: Concept & Notation”, Paris: Centre Pompidou Eds Du. Angelidakis A. (2016) Super Superstudio, Silvana Editorale. Habraken N. (1998) “The Structure of the Ordinary”, Cambridge and London: MIT Press. Ockman J. (1993) “Architecture Culture 1943-1968”, New York: Rizzoli International Pubhcatlons, Inc. Frei H., Böh M. (2009) “Micro Public Places” New York: The Architectural League of New York. Devenport N., (2016) “Renovation”, Cabinet Books.

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Articles:

Zong J., Batalova J., Burrows M., (2019) “Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States”, Washington, DC, The online journal. Meissner D., Pierce S., (2019) ”A Wall Cannot Fix Problems at Border; Smart Solutions for Asylum Crisis Can” Washington, DC, Migration Policy Institute. American Immigration Council, (2016) “How the United States Immigration System Works” Washington, DC. Slavin K., (2016) “Design as Participation”, JoDS. Tseng-Putterman M., (2018) “A Century of U.S. Intervention Created the Immigration Crisis”, Medium. Mbembe A., (2018) “The idea of a borderless world”, Chimurenga Chronic. Tadepalli A., (2019)“Colonial Cartography”, Real Life. Abrahamian A., (2019)“The Real Wall Isn’t at the Border”, The New York Times. Zaki J., (2019) “How segregation continues to exist and threaten New York City’s future generation”, Nycropolis. Hertz D., (2014) “How segregated is New York City?”, Word Press. Thomas S., (2019) “Origins of New York City’s Immigrants”, NYC, Liberty Cruise. Rice-Oxley M., (2013) “Why are we building new walls to divide us?”, The Guardian. Moritz, O., (1999) “Shelter proposal: convert convent”, NYC, Daily News. Scheerlinck K., (2014) “Implicit Distances”, Hogeschool voor Wetenschap & Kunst, Departement Architectuur. Amin A. (2006) “Collective culture and urban public space”, Barcelona: Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona. Avermaete T., Hooimeijer F., Schrijver L. (2007) “Oase 71: Urban Formation and Collective Spaces”, OASE. Sert J. L., Léger F., Giedion S. (1943) “Nine Points on Monumentality”, Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Field J. (2012) “The Cultural-Political Economy of Space and Iconicity, United Nations Headquarters”, New York: Journal of History and Cultures.

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Sitography:

. http://www.un.org . https://population.un.org . https://migrationdataportal.org . https://migration.iom.int . https://migrationdataportal.org . https://www.unmultimedia.org . https://www.ddp-ny.com . https://www.brooklyngrangefarm.com . http://www.atlasofurbanexpansion.org . https://urbanmobilityindex.here.com . https://www.arcgis.com . https://chimurengachronic.co.za/ . https://study.com . https://nimader.carto.com . http://www.rifnyc.org . http://nyf.org/immigrants-and-refugees/ . https://door.org . https://www.legalaidnyc.org . http://www.marklevine.nyc . https://www.rescue.org . https://www.cbp.gov . http://dcp.maps.arcgis.com

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Conducting this work has been not just an academic experience, but rather a personal one, reflected into a topic and a process that would never end, never satisfied enough, and never be seen as accomplished. In spite of this consideration, or exactly because of it, it has been one of the most pleasant thing I had the luck to confront myself with. Its realization is strongly relying on and connected with the “others”, so on it is necessary for me to recognize the value they had. Every encounter I had since now, has been shaping the form of my personality, so on of my academic/almost professional side; therefore, I would like to thank each one of them. A particular thanks has to be given to: My academic promotors, who supported my in the best way possible My personal “design team”, KB(C)’S, Baraa, Rayan, Agathe, Matthew, Ryan; without their support, opinion and help the outcomes would have been deeply different My parents, who always supported me in any possible way, allowing myself to discover, fall in love and persecute my passion