STUDIO YANGON This core studio of the MLA program explores the fundamental strategies of designing and planning in urban environments and takes on the unique challenges of cities undergoing rapid urban and ecological transformations within Southeast Asia. Studio Yangon 2014 is the first studio in a multi-year commitment by the division of Landscape Architecture to explore environmental design in Myanmar’s primate city. Our focus this year is on the Yangon River waterfront. This landscape, also known as the Strand, is a working port and logistics zone with heritage value and development potential—it is a contested site and one that deserves immediate attention. Ultimately the work done by the studio at the scale of the waterfront functions as a lens to understand the environmental, social, and infrastructural challenges impacting the city and region. The field trip to Yangon, from the 10th to the 17th of March, will engage students in an intense exercise to gain first-hand experience in arriving and gaining orientation within unfamiliar urban and cultural contexts. Skills in fieldwork will edify theoretical and disciplinary concepts related to landscape systems, environmental planning, and urban design introduced throughout the course. During the trip, students will be introduced to individuals who are actively engaged in planning and advocating for the future city. They will meet local professionals and students to exchange experiences and knowledge. The trip follows a concentrated period of preliminary site research across a range of subjects and will be followed by an 8-week site-design exercise in which the students will synthesize their observations and analysis into visions for a new waterfront and a new Yangon.
TRIP 10/3 (Mon)
Independent travel from Hong Kong to Yangon.
11/3 (Tue)
09:30 Meet in lobby, Asia Plaza Hotel. Walking tour Lunch 16:45 Sunset boat tour.
12/3 (Wed)
09:00 Meet in lobby of Asia Plaza Hotel. Train ride on Yangon Circle Line. Lunch. 15:00 Sharing session hosted by UN Habitat.
13/3 (Thu)
09:30 Meet in lobby of Asia Plaza Hotel. Exercise 3: Independent transect and site visits (all day).
14/3 (Fri)
09:30 Meet in lobby of Asia Plaza Hotel. Bus tour of northern townships. Midday gathering with students at Yangon Technological Uni.
15/3 (Sat)
10:00 Meet in lobby of Asia Plaza Hotel. Transect workshop and presentations (all day). Group dinner.
16/3 (Sun)
Independent travel from Yangon to Hong Kong.
CONTENTS 01 03
WHY THE RIVER? MLA [1] 2014
05 15 23 35 45 55 65 77 87
POLITICS AND ECONOMY CULTURES AND PEOPLE URBAN MORPHOLOGY CIRCULATION AND TRANSPORTATION CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT FOOD NETWORK WATER SERVICES HYDROLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY WASTE AND SEWAGE
100 102 104 110
SITE VISIT STRAND EX.3A URBAN TRANSECT EX.3B SITE OBSERVATION
1
WHY THE RIVER? The Strand: The colonial city of Yangon was laid-out in the marshy flats next to the Yangon River, in the ruins of an earlier rough settlement behind heavy fortress and some distance from the Burman settlements at the base of a low ridgeline. Yangon was, for the British, an important trading port with a vast and productive hinterland of strategic importance within its eastern empire. The Strand, that broad, muddy foreshore along the riverside, was planned since the city’s inception as public land devoted to commercial processing, industry, and port functions. It was, along with many other port cities of the era, a working landscape. But as Myanmar’s economy stagnated throughout the second-half of the 20th century, the Strand remained a working landscape and today we find it walled-off, disconnected, secured, and undervalued as a public resource. In recent years, Yangon has experienced an ever-accelerating growth as the country undergoes steady economic and political reform. International investment is rising and the city is experiencing a building boom. The value and desirability of the Strand is growing but no coordinated plans exist to guide its development. In this year the conversation about the value and role of the waterfront in the city is being discussed; we find a narrow window of opportunity to add our voices to the conversation to develop a framework for how this place might be planned and designed as an equitable and sustainable urban landscape. Studio Yangon 2014 takes up this challenge.
2
Bond FFion
MOTHER
LEAN
CURVY
Grace
Gap
Vicky S
MUSICIAN Linjia
Holly
YOUNG
VINTAGE Meiyee
WIFE
45 Cary
Christie
Bingo
Anna
o
3
COLORFUL
HAMSTER
MONKEY
LEG
BUZZ Querida
Hedda
Olenka
Twiggy
TEACHER
APRON
CURIOUS
MASCARA
YY
SHARP
Phillp
HUH
CHEMIST Vicky
Kenif
Esther
TOUGH
TWIN A Jason Lee
Sunshine
YOGA
Pat
Snow
Steven
Phoebe Jason Ng
OWL
MLA [1] 2013-14
4
FOREHEAD GRANDPA Cecilia
Sunny
SUNNY TWIN B
WINDBAG
ODD
POLITICS AND ECONOMY JIANG QING (QUARIDA) LI HOI LING (CHRISTIE) NGO TSZ KEI (TWIGGY)
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
CULTURES AND PEOPLE CHONG SAI BOND (BOND) XU XIAOXUE (SNOW) XIAO HAN (PAT)
17
18
19
20
21
22
URBAN MORPHOLOGY CHUNG WAI KIN (GAP) LAM WING KI (VICKY) LIN DEJUN (STEVEN) NG TSZ HO (JASON)
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
TRANSPORTATION HE QIN (OLENKA) LI JINSHENG (JASON) ZENG HAOLING (HOLLY)
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT LOU BINGJIE (BINGO) XU JIAYUE (YY) ZHANG YAN (GRACE) ZHANG ZIHUI (FFION)
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
FOOD NETWORK FAN YUXIN (HEDDA) FUNG YICK NGA (ESTHER) ZHOU LINGJIA (LINGJIA)
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
WATER SERVICES CHAN MEI YEE (MEIYEE) MAK NGA SZE (CECILIA) SUN FEIMIN (PHOEBE)
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
HYDROLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY KWOW CHIN TOH (PHILIP) SIU WING YEE (VICKY) YANG GUANG (SUNSHINE) WONG YIN KIU (ANNA)
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
WASTE AND SEWAGE CHAN HO YIN (SUNNY) NG MAN HEI (KENIF) WANG TIANKUI (CARY)
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
SITE VISIT Students will each be given a different stretch of the Strand to observe, document, and design. The sites fall into one of three broad zones of the Strand: the wide flats directly west of Shwedagon Pagoda, the central waterfront adjacent to the colonial core, and the waterfronts around Pazundaung Creek in outlying areas. Each student will be responsible, during their site visit, to document the accessible portions of their site and to conduct a measured transect linking their site to the city. These exercises are described below. Students will each be given a different stretch of the Strand to observe, document, and design. The sites fall into one of three broad zones of the Strand: the wide flats directly west of Shwedagon Pagoda, the central waterfront adjacent to the colonial core, and the waterfronts around Pazundaung Creek in outlying areas. Each student will be responsible, during their site visit, to document the accessible portions of their site and to conduct a measured transect linking their site to the city. These exercises are described below.
100
GR
OU P1
101
1KM
THE STRAND
OU P3 GR
GR
OU P2
102
103
EX.3A: URBAN TRANSECT This field exercise will ask students to observe and document the physical and experiential aspects of specific routes walked from the city to the waterfront. This analytical technique, known as a transect, will be used to help orient the students to the primary organization of an urban fabric as it connects (or doesn’t connect) to the waterfront and strand. The transect is also useful in relating the varied scales, textures and rhythms that accompany these transitions and juxtapositions. The transect is a technique developed originally by geographers and later ecologists to gauge distributions of species in relation to their environment across a large region. Patrick Geddes (and later, McHarg) appropriated the concept of the transect in his “Valley Section� diagrams to describe sequential relationships between a landscape and its inhabitants and their occupations. Guy Debord and the Situationists developed the concept of phychogeography in which the city can only be understood as it is experienced; their derives (or wanderings) were aimless but hyper-aware transects. This exercise draws on the transect in all of its forms, from descriptive to analytical, from conceptual to generative. Students will work in pairs on assigned paths for this exercise. The assignment will consist two phases: a field-work observation/documentation phase and a studio-based synthesis phase. The components of the final composited transect described Components of the Transect: The following shall be contained in a single drawing/collage at 1:200 scale. The dimensions of the final drawing are landscape format and cannot exceed 42 cm high, and can be as long as needed (Most transects will be about 2 meters long) Drafted Section: This is a scaled section/elevation drawing through the centerline of the street identified in the transect. Measurements can be estimated, though precise notes will enable students to develop accurate sectional drawings. The drawing will be finally compiled at 1:200 scale upon returning to studio. Careful annotation and the use of labels is encouraged. Photomontage Elevation: Photographs shall be taken for use in photo-montaging the sectional elevations of the drafted section. A rigorous and thorough photo-documentation strategy will ensure adequate photographic material upon returning to studio. Note, this is not intended to be a long panoramic stitched photograph. Instead think of using collage to explore the layering, texture and scale in collage form. (For example, street trees or people will likely be collaged as distinct layers) Materials Notation: This free collage/drawing serves as a visual or experiential inventory along the transect in a sequential manner, focusing on patterns, material, vegetation, color, texture, or light. This collage will occupy the lowest 1/3 of the sheet and shall be keyed into the section/elevation above. Moments Notation: Select and document no less than 6 important details, characters, or happenings along your transect. These moments should capture the identity and occupation of your transect. Each moment shall be carefully sketched and photographed and reassembled as an isolated vignette in free drawing/collage form. These elements shall also be keyed into the transect.
104
01
A
02
B
105
03
C 04
D 05 E
06
07
106
F
08 09 10
11
G 12
13
14
107
H
15
16
17
I
18
J
19
20
108
M
N K
29
23
30 22
21 J
27
109
L
26
25
24
28
EX.3B: SITE OBSERVATION This field exercise will ask students to observe and document the physical and experiential aspects of the larger urban fabric and the context of the broad region of the strand where their studio groups’ transects are located, as well as their own individual sites. The intent is to gather enough information about the surrounding context to be able to formulate a strategic landscape master plan for the Yangon Waterfront and adjacent areas. This strategic plan will be drafted at the Saturday workshop. Students should begin by expressing their experiential understanding of the hydrology, access, and spatial structure of the waterfront. From this foundation, students will then explore the potential for this multifunctional landscape system to generate patterns of cultivation, development, and preservati on. Many of the sites will not be physically accessible, therefore it will be necessary to document what is accessible, where access exists, is possible and where it should be proposed. Students should also document and map the various adjacent land uses and urban conditions of both the larger urban context of the region of the strand and of their specific site. This documentation should take the form of an annotated plan, sections and elevations, sketches and photographs, noting types of land use, social and cultural activities, sanitation conditions, water and food supply and other economic activities such as vending, building typologies/heights, street and sidewalk widths and uses, types of access/circulation for cars and pedestrians, edge conditions, types and density of vegetation, repetitive patterns and details, and any other conditions which can aid in developing a context plan and site analysis with which to inform both the strategic master plan and a site design. Components of Site Observation: Initial observation techniques will likely be a combination of hand drawings, sketches and photographs, to be processed, discussed and combined with other classmates work for final presentation as a digital or mixed media output. The intent of this exercise is to gather as much information as possible while on site in Yangon to that the class can compose a framework plan and so each student can begin to form a concept for the design of their waterfront site.
Schedule: 13/3 15/3 17/3 20/3
Yangon fieldwork: Site and Transect Documentation Yangon Workshop Hong Kong Desk Crits, 3 Final Pinup, Exercise 3
110
Emergency numbers and addresses: Yangon Asia Plaza Hotel No.277 Bogyoke Aung San Road Kyauktada Township Yangon, Myanmar. t: (+95-1) 391 071 www.asiaplazahotel.com Traders Hotel Yangon 223 Sule Pagoda Road G.P.O. Box 888, Myanmar t: (+95-1) 242 828 http://www.shangri-la.com/yangon/traders/ Fire emergency t: 191
Police, medical emergency t: 199
Hong Kong Division of landscape Architecture, HKU 6/F, Knowles Building, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong t: (+852) 3917 7699 e: landscape@arch.hku.hk