The Familiar Typology by Denise Nugent

The Familiar Typology

The Familiar Typology By Denise Nugent

Acknowledgements To the Cavin Family, for creating a great opportunity for students and graduates to pursue their creative endeavors and to foster a desire for innovative and conscientious design with endless generosity. To Professor Alexander, for organizing the event and its subsequent procedure. And for his forthright encouragement with his students, me inclusive, to take advantage of their full potential. To the professors who have pushed me to be thoughtful and inquisitive of my own process. And who have taught me to value and pursue ideas without inhibition. To my family, for never having doubts about my abilities, despite my doubts of their certainty. To my good friends, who have gracefully dealt with all of my antics. To Manny, for being a wonderful companion and manager, and for being continuously positive through the entire journey.

Contents Introduction London

........................................................................... ........................................................................... Boundaries ........................................................................... Adaptations ........................................................................... Embellishment ........................................................................... Ingrid’s and Diane’s ........................................................................... Sketches ........................................................................... Tokyo ........................................................................... Ritual ........................................................................... Utility ........................................................................... Singularity ........................................................................... Lily’s and Jacky’s ........................................................................... Sketches ........................................................................... ........................................................................... Buenos Aires Vestige ........................................................................... Duality ........................................................................... Vibrancy ........................................................................... Geraldine’s and Paula’s ........................................................................... Sketches ........................................................................... Works Cited ...........................................................................

1 4 8 36 64 96 100 104 108 138 180 214 218 222 226 260 294 330 334 338

Introduction An image is quickly conjured up: of a tree-lined street, leading to a white picket fence, to a manicured lawn that leads to a small front porch, through a threshold surface that can feature a number of iterations of shingles, paneling, stucco, shutters, paned windows, and into an entry space that you know is just like the neighbor’s, only theirs is mirrored. And then you remember another image, similar but saturated with nostalgia, with memories that you couldn’t reimagine happening anywhere else. Memories of how you grew up in this image, how it tried to conform you to, or convince you of, something you slowly started to stray from. This is hardly an uncommon origins story for many of us. Growing up in California, first in the suburbs of Torrance, then going to school to study architecture at Cal Poly Pomona, and moving to Los Angeles whilst working in Pasadena, I have always been accompanied by the strange companion that is the suburbs. It has never failed to keep my attention, the only reason why I know for sure, is that suburbia never seemed to be as monotonous or as perfect as I was made to believe it to be. Suburbia has had a difficult relationship with architecture, only having been tangentially influenced by the architectural discourse: as a consequence or byproduct of architectural innovation. It is a familiar timeline we can all recite: of the filthy towns that grew into filthy cities with the coming of the Industrial Era, which in turn solved its problems by moving them, in masses, to the outskirts of town, with everything anyone could ever want or need. But what is suburbia’s timeline and current state in other regions? How does suburbia, a representation of a standardized ideal of how people are expected to live, establish itself in regions that have cultures and standards of their own? Suburbia: a largely or completely residential zone that is located on the outskirts or otherwise separated from the urban core. It is commonly developed or zoned in mass, and is created as a response to the change in a region’s social, industrial or economical contexts.

This project, as part of the Cavin Family Traveling Scholarship, is a research of the suburban condition as they exist in three distinct cities: London, England; Tokyo, Japan; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Each location serves as a sampling of the contextual variances that have distinctly generated their own suburban forms. The prolificacy of suburbia, internationally, serves as a physical archive and as the manifestation of the intricacies of domestic norms, political ambitions and topographical responses. How are different parts of a culture promoted, prohibited or compromised in a suburban home? How do possessions pay a role in formalizing the standardized home, or in how it comes to be occupied? Although the familiar context of the suburban home becomes a generalized and diluted form of culture, this condition makes any form of occupation or alterations made, more characterized and more figural. It can be described, just as prominent works in architectural discourse may be described, as a means of generating a framework. Suburbia is critiqued on almost all fronts, and largely with good reason. But it still exists, in masses. Its horizontal monumentality holds vast urban implications and it is a testament to the social, political and geographical forces in a region. It is also where many people live, either by virtue of a means to do so, or by no means to do otherwise. Unknowingly, this became a huge part of the research. Documenting the suburban form, even with good intentions, is difficult. Regardless of whether the neighborhoods were safe or not, they were inherently not iconic enough to be something its residents could understand being documented. A tourist would have little reason for being there. I felt these neighborhoods were worth my time fawning over, my time in finding formal value in something that is generally overlooked and met with anticipated boredom. However, documenting these spaces felt too intimate. The cultural and personal contexts at times were too diluted or fine-grained to see. And it did not matter if I could or could not see them, because these places werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t made for me. They are where people live, retreat to, and engage in ritual, routine and habit. They are not places of spectacle.

London “Behind novel claims that dwelling left an ‘impress’ on the life of the people, and that improvements to popular housing were instrumental to social progress, lay a conviction that virtue could be wrought from architecture as surely as corruption was wrought from the slums.” Robin Evans, Translations from Drawing to Building and Other Essays Having generated some of the earliest iterations of suburban ideals, Henry Robins’ model dwellings for the poor were initiated by a desire to cleanse the incivility that festered within the poorest communities of London. Prior, these typologies were regarded as insignificant, unconsidered as worthwhile endeavors. With a newfound interest in using domestic architecture as a means of procuring dignity in the lower and middle classes, mass-produced housing projects began their mark on the city’s image. They promoted separation and privacy, discouraging the openness commonly found in the dilapidated mansions and lodging houses that were occupied by dozens of family units. Rooms upon rooms would be the new vision, to separate family members, preventing them from influencing or tainting each other with their respective flaws. Suburbia proliferated, in many districts, carrying the weight of their respective time

periods in which they were established. Each new style was named after the monarch they fell under, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian being the most prominent styles applied to suburban homes. Room hierarchy would keep those pesky servants out of sight; room divisions would save poor families from themselves; a slow decline in ornament would cure individuals of their frivolous preoccupations and so on. However, its inhabitants proved once again to be the downfall and savior of London’s identity. Played out in small or large choices, people reclaimed the way they wanted to live. If Robins wanted to generate a more civilized society, he would have to settle for the consolation prize of generating a spatial framework that brought the character and tenacity of the London spirit into architectural concern and question. Can the domestic space fix societal plights? Was there really anything to fix? The city of London currently is classified as the region of Greater London, and matching its name, it is quite large. At just over 600 square miles and a population of 8.8 million people, Greater London is made up of 32 boroughs, almost all of which contain suburban neighborhoods. London’s suburbs are spread throughout the city, between smaller centers that have developed alongside the city’s core. The founding of London was originally as Londinium, in 43AD, under Roman rule. Though their development was small, they built out to Greater London’s current expanse through a thin road network meeting, from all directions, at its center. Once the Roman Empire fell and the city was abandoned, small farmsteads and hamlets were developed throughout the area of Greater London, establishing points of development that would mark the areas the city would build upon. As each reigning era emerged, new castles and palaces were built, each demanding space of their own. Their scattered nature produced more centers of development. As the gaps of open space filled up or became owned property, the city, in many ways, was facing its era of privatization and suburbia expanded on what that could mean in terms of housing. What used to be communally shared grazing land was subdivided into privatized plots of farmland. And what used to be plots of farmland became subdivided into suburban homes. Soon after, home-ownership became the norm. It was a strong sense of owning a home that prevented urban-scaled redevelopment in older, established neighborhoods and encouraged the ideals of suburbia to expand into more open land outside the city. To make the suburban home an investment anyone of any financial status could be a part of, houses were simply made smaller. If a larger or reoriented home was needed, additions were built. Third-floor loft extensions, rear-yard extensions and knocking out walls are common solutions that are cheaper and easier than buying a larger house. London’s suburbs

produced much opportunity, for improvement as well as for chaos, because unlike what Robins believed, it was not made up of a demographic, it was made up of individuals and families. Some would be eccentric, or messy or cheap or subdued, all of which are self-motivated and flexible enough to formulate themselves within however rigid the suburban construct may be. This is not to say that Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural motivators are made up entirely of individual informal occupation. The city, in all its abilities to grow into its diversity and adaptability, has also managed to accept and develop an affection of some of high societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s domestic influences. You can engage in soft niceties, such as an afternoon tea, that are traditionally associated with prestige and class even if you are not royalty. The maintenance of the monarchy for moral and humanitarian purposes shows that there is a consciousness to knowing what you want preserved and how you want it preserved. Throughout Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history, its suburban form has changed to represent new ideals that were thought to improve daily life and strengthen the family unit. What becomes most telling of its culture is which parts of these traditions, which were built into the suburban home, still remain despite the variation of identity its residents have adorned it with. Accepting or denying parts of the suburban home served as a checkpoint, affirming a city that was conscious of the identity it wanted to claim for itself.

Boundaries in a city of duplexes

A concept deriving from territorial instinct and ancient farming technique, English boundaries have traditionally served multiple agricultural functions. They were applied practically, abiding by the landâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s geographical demands and the tracks created by cattle and sheep over generations. Boundaries were commonly formalized with hedges that varied in height, width and plant variety, depending on the location, soil types and the livestock or crop that was contained within them. The formalizing of these boundaries as varying hedge types provided protection from predators, a refuge for birds, a preventative measure for pests and bugs (potentially controlled by hungry birds) and strong enough to withstand the weight of large livestock. When these boundaries became a means of distinguishing privatized farming territory, the hedge became a means of marking and protecting the distinction between owners. Organizing the navigation to and from properties created the need for a mutually used medium, allowing some borders to thicken and become roads. The irregularities in their outlines carried through the ages to when blocks of suburban development would take their place and become subdivided into separate house properties. The subdivisions themselves followed how the land would have been plowed in long strips, influencing the traditional suburban lot shapes of long skinny rectangles with the property front being the most varying edge. Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concept of ownership and zoning of land developed as a web that slowly densified through the ages, the center remained the most fine-grained while still allowing the surrounding areas to develop connections within themselves. The urban conditions of Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suburbs are highly dependent on how that land 8

was historically used. Previous farming uses were tried and tested, they worked and developed with the land. Little was gained from urban planning that reoriented what already existed. The idea of permanency seems to be of considerable value in Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suburbs. This should not be misinterpreted as a denial of change, but that there is no undoing what has already been done. That things that are new should communicate and generate a dialog with what already exists.

Sitting on a neighboring street just down the hill, a neighborhood temple peaks through a leftover gap between a couple duplexes, as if the two had been collaged together. Wembley, London

An anomalous cement island filling the space between two adjacent blocks is retrofitted into an informal parking lot. Wembley, London 14

Real or fake, the hedge is an effective means of establishing boundaries, tastefully. Hampton Court, London Wood Green, London 16

Left: Small offset pedestrian alleys help to bypass long, otherwise, continuous blocks. Most commonly used by quiet residents on their practiced commute home. Right: Such alleys may lead into unexpected shared communal space before returning back to the street. East Molesey, London 20

While suburban blocks are broken down into equal strips, end conditions are anomolies that must either be separated into odd pedestrian corners or consumed by the last unit whose use of the extra space may be just as odd. Hadley Wood, London South Ealing, London 22

Extraneous spaces that are questionably public. Edmonton Green, London 24

Right: Either by the determination of each property to produce their own perimeter or a rigorous fire code, a small gap of unclaimed space is produced. Hadley, London 28

Anything you can do I can do better. Hadley Wood, London South Ealing, London 32

Left: Comparably small houses are found mixed in intermittently with the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more fitting large estates. Hampton Court, London

Adaptations

a game of give and take The ingrained faith in London’s ideals of home ownership has formalized itself in how the city’s suburbs choose to grow. As a family grows or changes its needs, it is a much more financially feasible option to build additions as opposed to moving into a new house. The assurance in being able to stay in the same neighborhood in which you and your children have grown accustomed to is a security not easily forfeit. This became a common enough desire amongst home-owners that a simple yet strict law was set in place that, in your prospective addition, you may add up to 15% of your total square footage. This meant that you could either build into your backyard or build a third floor, but not both. What would benefit your household more: a larger communal space or more bedrooms to retreat into? These choices could yield a number of insights into the people who make up London’s suburbs, from anything as broad as growing families that need more bedrooms to a more personal pleasure of being bathed in as much light as London’s climate will allow during your afternoon tea. For a city as diverse and patchwork as London, it still seeks comfort and identity; both of which require time to form routines and to make conscious choices. London’s sense of comfort is achieved in a variation of ways, for different people. Its sense of identity, is not singular. This is apparent in its people and in the homes they live in. A dozen houses in a row may have all chosen to build loft extensions, but their materiality, orientation and distinction or affirmation to their whole are what distinguishes them. Internally, many of London’s suburban homes were built adhering to the generous number of separate rooms Henry Robins was so fond of. Over time however, this created the perfect set of datum lines, which in their physicality, would create more opportunity for a dialog with home-owners. Many areas that boasted large Victorian 36

duplexes were later divided between floors, creating two flats. The original entry way, traditionally small and adjacent to the stairs becomes the one shared space between the two new units. The ground floor flat takes ownership of the backyard, while the first floor flat receives more light and views. It was design choices like demolishing a single wall that could reorient a home and allow its occupants to have more ownership over the house they lived in. The variations in the changes of Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suburbs are, much in the ways of a catalog, infinite. They depend on subtlety and refinement to communicate differences while accepting a shared framework.

Light foggy structures are common sights in any London suburb; an ephemeral figure anticipating the construction of a loft floor. South Ealing, London 40

Adaptations may be as subtle as 5 foot extension off a houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sideyard, or as boisterous as a suburban street turned commercial promenade lined with Indian grocery and textile stores. Wimbley, London Edmonton Green, London

They can be tiny and odd, or almost indiscernible until compared against its faternal twin. Hampton Court, London Wimbley, London

Whatever floats your boat. Richmond, London East Molesey, London 48

While fireplaces are no longer the easiest way to warm a home, many are kept for their aesthetics and antiquity. As the chimneys can no longer be used after building a third floor addition, their accompanying nooks are renovated in varying ways to accommodate added storage space. South Ealing, London

Original features can be subtly adapted to cleaner muted styles that hints at its past presence without a complete removal. Wood Green, London

Right: If a complete removal of a fireplace is desired, evidence of its change will be inherently visible. Wood Green, London

Old Victorian homes, in all their desire for separation and privacy are commonly found with glass panel doors, some which have been fitted with fabrics and frosted glass. South Ealing, London Wood Green, London

Other areas within the home that have over time become more public activities such as traditionally service-exslusive rooms. Opening the barrier between the living room and kitchen has been a part of an increasingly informal use of domestic spaces. Wood Green, London 60

Left: Many neighborhoods originally developed with large homes have since been subdivided into flats, creating compromised conditions. Right: The belly of a staircase belonging to the flat above pokes through the hallway in the flat below. Wood Green, London

Embellishment if it exists and who itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for

Regimentation is important. It is reliable, tested and organized. It is the very base of suburbia in which the layers that follow will have to respond to and shift around accordingly. Where does the pattern begin and when does it start to repeat or mirror itself? The most commonly found pattern in London suburbs are the duplexes that were built at around four pairs at a time. The next duplex design may change window types, roof types or ornamentation types. The units on either end of the street may be slightly larger with nicer fixtures and materials used. These cases were simply a result of developers providing an incentive for their builders. If they were willing to build these neighborhoods, they got to keep the end units. In their phase of new construction, this may have been the only means of distinction. The break from this rigidity is provided, over time, by the inhabitants who seek out identity and distinction from their neighbors. It is made up of small choices, bold moves, intensive maintenance or very little at all. This may be as small as choosing to make your brick driveway a more delicate herringbone pattern while your neighbor boorishly chose a double basket weave. Naturally the attributes of a duplex mean a shared wall, and a shared facade. This does not, however, limit duplex neighbors from having to agree upon a material type (you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t both wear the same dress to the party). What does become apparent is that this line of division is of varying position, dependent on how meticulous or picky its occupants are. Electrical wires or pipes that run down the middle of the division are helpful. Though pipes possess a thickness of their own that could as well be halved, they usually become neutral ground. In a city where brick is king and queen, facades are found in a plethora of brick types, colors, as well as patterns. London itself has its own brick type, more yellow in color, but marbled with spots of red and grey. Popular during the Georgian period, the 64

brick was made from the very soil and soot of the city in the height of the industrial era. If you so wish to stray from brick’s sphere of influence, pebbledash and plasters are other common materials used. Rooted in an attraction to its textural qualities, pebbledash was seen as a material that valued the hand-craft. Its use later again in the 19th century was due to it being cost-effective and protective against water damage. Then there is an endless choice of colors if you choose to paint your brick or plaster duplex façade. Choosing the line that delineates the end of your duplex and the beginning of your neighbors’ is a negotiable edge. Embellishment is not always done with intent of it being aesthetic. Often it is simply how people choose to use space, sometimes cleverly, sometimes subconsciously out of habit. Yet it is these choices that seem to have more sense of composition than we may think. Possessions are given their dedicated place in accordance to how they are used and how they occupy space when they are not. Even a seemingly haphazard position is one gained through routine use. Without intention, objects become figural, in some cases, sculptural purely through a means of repetitive activity and a mutable suburban setting.

The unintended vs intended window display. South Ealing, London Hadley Wood, London

Lawnscape design, on either end of the spectrum. Wood Green, London Hadley Green, London

Two instances of muted style choices: one a touch of contemporary texture, the other a small figural statuette providing just the right amount of royalty. Edmonton Green, London Wembley, London

Identity can be found through endless combinations of catalog textures. South Ealing, London

It can also be more figural, growing and routinely practiced over time. East Molesey, London

Though, your ambitions may not be mutually shared. Webley, London Harringay, London 84

Your choice of collectible decor may be sets of themed barbies, each stumbled upon as if abruptly interrupting an intimate conversation. Feat. A sleepover of gossip and supportive reassurance. South Ealing, London They may be more subdued collections, gathered from gift shops of a variety of museums and cathedrals. Wood Green, London

A newfound appreciation for small mirrors and their ability to both expand and convolute space. They seem to be a fairly common interior condition. Wood Green, London South Ealing, London 94

Ingridâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Dianeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

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TOKYO “They always tend to be playful, sensual, and even erotic, tinged with a bit of melancholy, just like the ambience of everyday life in Japan. You are immersed in a mixture incorporating extremities of beauty: absolutely innovative and stubbornly ancient, radically speedy and profoundly serene...” Hou Hanru, Our Home is the Entire City - Notes on Japanese ‘House Design’ The content of Tokyo’s history can be characterized through its colored timeline of major events, most notably the Great Fire of Meireki (Edo Period), the Meiji Restoration, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the bombings of WWII/Pacific War and less than a decade ago, the Great East Japan Earthquake. These forces, many outside of their control, were seen as periods of redefining, as signs or prophecies for needed change. Such a tireless perspective to pursue progress over reprisal was the only option if the city ever hoped to resurrect itself. After each event, the city was reconstructed, both physically and socially. Each forced the nation and city to see these occurrences as opportunities to reevaluate its cultural methods: to reaffirm what was still valued and reinvent what lost value. The country’s culture was not dependent on its physical fruition, but through its performance of action.

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The 7th century wooden Shinto shrine, Ise Grand Shrine, is demolished and rebuilt every twenty years. This ritual has taken place for the past 1,300 years, passing down the techniques and craftsmanship of past ancestors through generations of teachings. The preparation for the event is just as ritualized as its construction: from where the wood is collected to how it is strengthened and acclimated over years before it can be sawn into shape. The value in this ceremony of destruction and reconstruction is not so on-the-nose as to say that the authenticity of Tokyo is only found in its temples or its traditional houses. Although these conditions exist, it is not strictly the building that is coveted, but the rhythm of event and activity that is supported by the building. Practice and process are not prohibited from evolving and responsively generating new building forms. This priority of process over product puts little parameters on the final physical outcome of what is constructed and does not shun the naturality of an inhabitant’s post-production. Given the destructive forces of Tokyo’s past, many of its suburbs are relatively young, yet carry a similar means of urban growth as a traditional small town or village. The homes themselves may only be a decade old and the roads are meticulously cleaned and newly paved. However, they are convoluted, and are endlessly connected to each other. Off of the main streets and within the residential zones, there are no sidewalks; allowing for cars, bikes and pedestrians to have equal rights to the road. The streetscape is a stage, passing through independent scenes of dialog and action all simultaneously playing out, in nothing louder than a mutter. Without any space for strict back-of-house alleyways, all objects of maintenance and utility purposes fill what few gaps remain. Navigating Tokyo’s suburbs, for a visitor, is a slow discovery; for a local resident it is a developed routine. This ability to be simultaneously informal and focused is unique for a suburb, but given the city’s combatting forces, it is not unexpected that its suburban housing solutions are personal endeavors, made by individuals who see their neighborhood as their responsibility. The destruction of the firebombing during WWII brought Tokyo to ruin. After 40 square kilometers were left bare and raw there was a desperate need to provide new housing. The government responded by creating new departments that would offer low-interest loans, incentivizing families to build their own single-family, detached homes on the in-betweens and outskirts of the city. It was a quick way to get the masses to fill the housing demand themselves, in areas with little urban planning. The resulting suburban homes, of any size, are tightly packed, configuring themselves as cleverly and neatly as possible inside blocks that possess limitless dimension and shape. Although each neighborhood block may seem like a box full of stashed toys

whose orientations are left up only to the rules of gravity, a few zoning patterns are commonly found. Older homes that survived through the last fifty years are larger and are accompanied by more land. The properties of similar neighboring homes, that no are no longer standing, were subdivided into three lots. Two of the three have street frontage, and the third becoming a key lot with a compromised path leading into the property. This shifted the pedestrian entrances of the two front lots to the path, effectively creating a narrow, shared courtyard. Within the last couple decades, small townhouses are developed together on these lots, in a similar orientation, but with up to five units. Tokyoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suburbs have, through generations, innovated a landscape that is as responsive and fantastic as its people have decidedly grown into. What results is not a culture that has been lost to the trials and tribulations of its history. The intangibility of their tradition shows a culture that is willing to change and adapt constantly. There are layers of Tokyoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s context I will never understand, or rather inherently misunderstand. I come from a Western influence. As much as I can claim that, in my context of living in Los Angeles, this stronghold is fragmented and broken in with some much needed diversity and perspective, these observations do not come from a blank slate. What I may perceive as very normal may not be so, what I may see as exceptional for Tokyoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suburbs may be very common.

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Ritual

where tradition is intangible Identity is not always physical, although it may be easier at times to equate something we are searching for with something we can physically possess. Cultural or individual identity is difficult to conceptualize, the western perspective has responded to this frustration by imbuing its possessions with the value and burden to manifest its respective culture. Tokyo, either by the nature of its people or as a response to the forces of nature it has endured, has seemingly developed its cultural identity through its ritualistic effects. Its homes are pieces that are acted upon, constantly subjected to its inhabitants’ rhythms, shufflings and additive patchwork renovations. Tokyo’s suburbanites own their home, financially and mentally. So long as it is comprised of the rooms and parts customarily needed or wanted, regardless of how this may look to others, a homeowner may build or collage together whatever it is they want to interact with. With as much ritual grace or routine efficiency as desired. In older homes built late as the 1970’s, this is very apparent. The tatami mat flooring is a formal depiction of use, gaining architectural form once it became an inherent part of daily use. In the Heian Period (794 – 1185) a single 2:1 ratio mat is what would have been used as a sleeping futon for nobility. A room’s function would be determined by the number and orientation of its tatami mats. Deep built-in storage operated by sliding doors are used to hold clothing and futons that are folded and put away when not in use. Sliding doors (2 or more panels) may line the full length of the division between two rooms. The ability of a room to expand and separate is at the will of the inhabitant, its sense of order and cleanliness is a practice. Its movement is almost theatrical, opening like curtains to fall into an act partway through. In homes older still, the perimeter of the house, is buffered by an engawa which shares the same depth as the width of a tatami mat. Between the interior and engawa were light-weight sliding 108

doors, while heavier exterior sliding doors lined the division to the exterior. A more elegant porch, this space was used as an extension to the interior, opening up during the warmer seasons to allow one to sit and enjoy the home’s gardens. Up until the 1970’s many homes did not have their own showers or baths. Every neighborhood had a sento, or public bath house, where local residents would go to bathe, shower and socialize. This experience surpassed the mundanity of an individual’s hygienic routine where, in nude, everyone was the same. Its etiquette and procedure is as well part of the value, emphasizing that cleanliness is as much a health benefit as it is a mental one. As more homes began being built with water heating systems, more people preferred the convenience of showering at home. With the increase of new technologies, methods of mass-production and western influence, ritual forms were minimized or translated into new components. The bathroom, now within the home, supports the same regiment as a sento would. Separate from the toilet room, the entirety of the sink and shower room can be occupied during a shower. The sento’s materiality of stones, tiles and mirrors respond to the room’s subjection to water and steam. What is more common now is a surplus of plastics resembling a single molded form, stream-lined to a singular contained product. Tokyo’s suburbs are the slowest to develop of the city, due to its expanse and ability to divert the interest of development to the more outgoing prefectures. Inadvertently, this has allowed much of the value of domestic procession to have been maintained in its publicly available services: of tea rooms, neighborhood shrines or the few remaining neighborhood sentos. Ritual is generally a quiet endeavor, a retreat best reserved for an intimate setting that Tokyo’s suburbs are the last stronghold able to provide.

While kitchens may be small, a practiced individual may develop the perfect rhythm to accompany such spaces. Koenji, Tokyo 112

Ritual is not exclusive to religious practice but regardless is just as influencing. ShĹ?ji are sliding doors traditionally found throughout a Japanese home, both between interiors and along the exterior. At the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will, adjacent rooms can be joined together, layering upon each other to reveal a display of function. Their use , however, is decreasing with newer housing developments though are still sometimes sought after features. Koenji, Tokyo Kosuge, Tokyo 114

Sleeping on futons, if used appropriately, are layed out and put away each day. A westernerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take is much messier. Koenji, Tokyo

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Many newer suburban homes may only reserve a single room dedicated to the using tatami mats. While older homes, large and small, maintain their tatami mats, they have somewhat reverted to a more privileged state, being used for more special occasions. Naka-Meguro, Tokyo Kosuge, Tokyo

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A modernized and traditional engawa since renovated with more durable sliding glass doors. Kosuge, Tokyo Naka-Meguro, Tokyo 120

The decrease of visitors to public baths was caused by a rise in homes being built with private showers, though semblances of a similar layout are carried through. With the toilet room left completely separate, this large bathroom is entered first through the sink area where you undress before entering the shower and bathtub space. This room is accordingly layed out with a shower, mirror and counter for cleaning before entering a soaking bath. Kosuge, Tokyo

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Mass-production has allowed the continued yet compromised aesthetic of natural woods and stones to continue to be used in suburban homes at cheaper costs with the added benefit of being durable and fireproof. Koenji, Tokyo

A traditional engawa would be raised off of the ground by multiple feet and reached by means of a large stone as a single step where shoes would be slipped off first before setting foot on wood. While maintaining the separation in grade for a dedicated place for shoes, the materiality of this process is modified and the grade change only needing to be as thick as the change in material. Koenji, Tokyo 126

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Small Shinto shrines can be found throughout any neighborhood, and are largely documented on Google maps. Temples and shrines are traditionally cared for by appointed jisha-bugyĹ?, one of a three part group of administrators called san-bugyĹ?. Kichijoji, Tokyo Qinza, Tokyo

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Pruned plants can be enjoyed both within private property and within the crevice of a corner compromised for a telephone pole. Gotanno, Tokyo Nakano, Tokyo

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Utility

composing the unbecoming The city of Tokyo is a craze of sound and technicolor. Its showmanship is especially apparent in areas like Shinjuku, Harajuku and Ginza prefectures. These are common places for visitors as they boast a city image similar to the effect of an amusement park. Everything aims to grab your attention at once, yet step one street off the main road and you’re in a residential pocket where there is no noise, no flashing billboards and no intention of convincing you of any of the glamour the neighboring streets may possess. However, there still is a calm but constant flow of people. Directly or not, this clockwork of movement is what maintains the city’s ability to dedicate and run areas of their city based purely on public image. Neither one is more accurately depicting Tokyo than the other, as neither can exist without the other. The reason why any of this is important, is to understand suburbia in terms of its mechanics. Tokyo’s suburban context is largely where the components that hold it together are more visible. HVAC units, vents and ducts, structural fixes and patch-work water-proofing collage the suburban landscape. Regardless of the shape of the house, they determine the composition of its façade, emphasizing its inter-workings and hinting at what its interior spaces may be. They share the same figural capacity as other objects more equipped with aesthetic intent, nestling in amongst potted plants and shrines. Scaling up slightly from the utility of a single home, the suburban neighborhood can be similarly comprehended. Homes beyond the point of patchwork fixes are demolished to the ground. Against a densely-packed street, the now empty lot resembles a tooth that has been pulled out. The adjacent teeth left intact, their newly exposed sides raw with impressions of its former companion. While many instances of this lot condition remain empty and barren, many of them are rebuilt, if not as a new house, then as a pocket park or parking lot. The suburbs are pure arithmetic: 138

subtractive when needed and additive when needed. So long as a project is being undertaken with hopes of improving the community, it is worth the effort no matter how small. Scaling up exponentially, is the infrastructure which allows the city to filter into these suburban neighborhoods. Two-storied highways and metro bridges are not division lines but merely a weaving that leaves ground development uninhibited. They may fulfill large or small needs, becoming parking space for bikes or cars, small local grocery stores or, in the case of metro bridges, become promenades of small shops and restaurants. Homes are built right up to their edge, visually fragmenting such monoliths, at which point, claim just as much attention as any other house may have right to. Every structure within the suburbs has its purpose, in the role it plays as well as in the opportunity to support such of another component. It is in this inquisition of multi-functionality that has allowed Tokyoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suburbs to develop its fluidity and validity.

Off-white on off-white fixtures and modulated cladding in perfect accordance. Koenji, Tokyo

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A collection of pastel volumes. Koenji, Tokyo

The graphics of a telephone poleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shadow makes its daily trek across the facade of its companion house. Nakano, Tokyo

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Advertisements mix with the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s endless composition of mass-produced textures. Koenji, Tokyo 146

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Items of pure fuction like AC units can always strive to be better than just an AC unit. Setagaya, Tokyo

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no such think as back-of-house. Naka-Meguro, Tokyo

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A demolished house reveals a new elevation of its neighbor. Unaccustomed to such exposure, as if having its guts spilled out, the inner-workings of a house that has let its human run rampant with a patchwork of ideas are now displayed. Horikiri, Tokyo

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There is a place for everything. Car storage is no more grand than bike storage where neither is restricted to a certain ceiling height. Within the home, this creates opportunites for half floors. Kichijoji, Tokyo Nakano, Tokyo 158

Quenching your thirst has never been more efficient with vending machines pleasantly found along any street. Tokyoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suburbs seem to cater endlessly to pedestrians, creating place and fleeting activity wherever it can. Shin-Koenji, Tokyo

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Due to such close proximity, a single house removed exposes its three neighbors to a new context: new views and points of entry. Koenji, Tokyo Kichijoji, Tokyo

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Some of these cases are reconstructed as local pocket parks. Kosuge, Tokyo Setagaya, Tokyo 166

Parking lots are small yet frequent. They will fill whatever gaps there are in the suburban infrastructure. Horikiri, Tokyo Koenji, Tokyo 168

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Left: A quintessential supermarket located under a metro overpass. Kosuge, Tokyo Right: A freeway merging with an on-ramp merging with a Shengoku Era-inspired fortress wall. Horikiri, Tokyo

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A landscape of massive elements, sitting between the river and the highway. A space which is lined sparingly with parks, sports fields and wide stairs commonly used as places to gather. Such large expanses are cherished by the few who take advantage of what they have to offer. Horikiri, Tokyo Kosuge, Tokyo 176

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Singularity in a free-for-all city

Giri, extremely simplified, is known as the cultural trait of being driven by duty and obligation. It has been a part of Japanese history for centuries, influencing social conduct in ways that can be more powerful than written law. It is a cautiously admirable trait to see in people: that there is a strong sense of self, but a self that bears heavy responsibility. No matter the role you fall into, that role must be carried out well and with acceptance. Unsurprisingly it is a concept derived from the merchant and artisan classes during the Edo period, as a means of developing a professional way of running a business and has since evolving into a cultural practice. It is a vast misunderstanding to assume that, from the ideals of giri, its suburbs would be strict, regimented and unremarkable. The identity of giri, more currently, is as a single thread that everyone can stake claim in, while being woven in with a growing sense of individuality. These two seemingly conflicting motivators, (not at all a newfound dynamic motivated by the prolific theme of giri-ninjo in Japanese cinema and theater) have allowed its suburban neighborhoods to seek out identity and character without the project-halting scrutiny of neighbors who may disapprove of your tarp-blue painted house. Personal creative pursuits are becoming more common, while old tradition prevents mannerisms of meddling that would directly prohibit such pursuits. Your home is your responsibility, if you are whole-heartedly committing to your architectural vision; disapproval from others is an unspoken affair. Tokyoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suburbs have become a refreshing streetscape collage of traditional homes, concrete monoliths and almost whimsical misinterpretations of western-influenced dwellings. In our obsession of the home as commodity, our Western ideals have given us a form of suburbia that is, unit by unit, the same. However, Tokyoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s response to massproduction has not been any less fervorous. Within the suburbs, the response to 180

industry and mass-production has been undertaken at a much smaller scale. As a large part of the post-war housing boom was families building their own homes, massproduction meant cheaper materials with endless possibilities. Where you begin to see repetition in Tokyoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suburbs are in its material choices. Tiles and panels of endless textures are used on almost every home built after the war. If you wanted wood, brick or stone slabs, it merely need be cast or molded onto a panel. If you are at liberty to spend more, you can afford the real material. As cladding of course, for their structural cousins are not so structural in a densely-packed land of earthquakes and history of fire. Building components are of standard dimensions, with many houses utilizing bulky metal window framing and noise-conscious, anti-slamming doors. Each house with its additive pieces contain a swatch of mass-produced materials. What is left to be designed is the shape of the house, its volumetric character. The materialsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; capacity on an array of shapes, along with the more planar elements of fencing, awning, balconies and stairs, create a collage of color and texture that shifts; dimensions breathing as you walk in close proximity along narrow roads. The homes themselves can be fantastic, or composition and modest. It may take a walk-around to understand the whole of the house and its containment. And just as that house and its identity is fully comprehended, its neighbor pulls you in with as much interest, into the same process of discovery once again.

Small-scale cladding knows no bounds, in type, color or volume. Nippori, Tokyo Naka-Meguro, Tokyo

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Left: They may be collaged with a variety of time periods. Shin-Koenji, Tokyo 186

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Two curved structures: one calculated to the specificity of its property, the other calculated for its versatility. Naka-Meguro, Tokyo Koenji, Tokyo

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Left: A new structure makes way for an old one but is not afraid to challenge it for attention. Chuo, Tokyo Right: There is no short supply of a Western influence, although it is always filtered through a different perspective, either in the backdrop it sits in or in how it is hybridized. Kichijoji, Tokyo 192

Left: Arguably the most familiar suburban style in the American southwest. A slight reinterpretation scales it down by two, and gains a wider collection of window types. Koenji, Tokyo 194

The notorious. Yet modestly located. Yoyogi, Tokyo Koenji, Tokyo

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Oddly-shaped lots are commonplace in any Japanese suburb. They are not, however, shied away from or regarded as lost-causes. Horikiri, Tokyo 202

Some house hats, both as character and as necessity. Nakano, Tokyo Horikiri, Tokyo

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A single modular cladding material, when applied to a house and all its volumes and components, become slightly distorted or glitched. They inform the viewer of a change in dimension, depth or shape. Koenji, Tokyo

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Alternately, some houses may be conceptualized by their outlined profiles that change drastically according to depth. Naka-Meguro, Tokyo Chuo, Tokyo

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BUENOS AIRES “ Buenos Aires is a city of political theatre. Party politics is played out in the streets by means of weekly demonstrations and rallies by one group or another...demonstrations that take on a carnival atmosphere.” Justin McGuirk, Radical Cities Following first contact and settlement of European expedition in the 1500’s, Argentina was colonized under Spanish rule until its declaration of independence in 1816. Unlike its fellow colonized regions, Buenos Aires held no natural ore worth mining for. Located at the Rio de la Plata estuary, Buenos Aires would be conditioned into a port city, shipping goods like leather produced from cattle originally brought over from Spain. Buenos Aires’ population would continue to grow after 1816, both internally and through European immigration. Its European influence is still very visible today, aged and weathered, exposing itself in fragments that have since been built upon or around. Suburban zones are dotted with homes built by Spanish and Italian immigrants, carrying with them the domestic tendencies they are familiar with. Their neighbors, 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants, may be more inclined to build more subdued versions of their heritage, remembering or valuing only traces

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of the Spanish rule they now distinguish from. Within those three hundred years, Spanish development and immigration from various European origins would make independence hardly a reversion of control to the land’s original inhabitants. The city’s international status was a permanence that could only be built upon further and would make true independence a complex goal. Between its declaration of independence to its present state, Buenos Aires would face the insurmountable tasks of maintaining its status while encouraging growth and resolving its internal conflicts of how exactly to deal with and care for their new identity. Following years of territory disputes and civil wars, the 1800’s booming economy generated an assurance that the country was emerging from these conflicts moving in the right direction. The 1900’s industrial modernization would seem to fuel the city’s momentum further yet inadvertently divided the country’s growing population further, making greater distinctions between different classes that had access to the city’s efforts to modernize. It became harder for any political party to maintain power before another forced it down. Traditional conservatives clashed with the radicals who clashed with the growing anarchist movements. Tensions continued to rise between the parties-in-power and aggressions grew in the streets regarding how and how quickly to address its economic and social issues. Protests ending in fatalities, fraudulent elections, the military coups and corruption of the junta government would all contribute to a general populous that relentlessly demanded change and representation. These events and the public’s subsequent responses would not leave the suburban realm unaffected without reworking its formal and visual components to embody the temperament and frustrations of its residents. The streetscape is the acknowledged space of public activity making for a very thin threshold between public and private space. Its residents are knowing and accepting of this extension of domestic affairs, of hearing your neighbors arguing or the late night crowds barbequing on the corner of the sidewalk. Collaged with exceptional use of paint and color, the suburbs have fostered a great means for the declaration of identity. Color can become a way of announcing resistance against an oppressive government, or to reclaim control over a hostile environment. The ability to consciously interact with and personally develop upon your barrio’s context is an important part of any community’s strength. With relatively little material, suburban residents are able to creatively use their streets as a canvas to develop a character they are proud of. The older suburbs of Buenos Aires are largely unplanned. Once the central city had been founded in 1580, initially with only a rectangle of land subdivided with a

square grid of roads, the 1800s brought more irregular roads and highways that were extended to connect at parks and monuments located in more distant settlements. The space between them was filled in similarly with a rougher square grid of low to mid-rise housing. As property ownership was encouraged by the Spanish crown during the Bourbon Reforms, these houses were built by its residents. These ideals would integrate themselves into the coming years of single-family residence development, especially from incoming European residents, largely from Spain and Italy, who would bring with them the recollection of their respective housing norms. In hopes to alleviate the growing housing demand after years of the junta government in the second half of the 20th century, many attempts of social housing were erected. However, these housing projects began serving the more intangible purpose of acting as a framework for the residual tension and current issues of the country. One example being Villa Soldati meant to house 3,000 people, served as a frame and backdrop to the violence between its residents and the immigrant squatters hoping to make their home in the adjacent park. The scene, as described by McGuirk “has the stark drama of Caravaggio’s Beheading of Saint John the Baptist – the price of a moment’s violence revealed in the gloom.” The occurrences within the standardized form became saturated, the form was immediately given heavy connotations and was understood in a new light. The imagery of the impersonal suburban development can instantly be recomposed to carry the weight of our memories: reinterpreted with a new sense of poetry and symbolism. The culture and condition of Buenos Aires has been largely influenced by the changing political and social forces that have occupied Argentina through the course of its history. It is a past ridden with the struggles of colonization, dictatorship and the present efforts to both acknowledge and move forward from these struggles, all while knowing none of which can ever completely vanish when the next comes into play.

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Vestige

the effects of past causes In 1808, the Spanish Crown was invaded by the Napoleonic Empire. Argentina, learning of this news and having just successfully defended themselves against the attempted invasion from the British without the help from Spain, had undoubtedly confirmed its growing sense of independence. Planning their next steps towards their revolution, Buenos Aires had established a set of individuals for their own junta government to replace the junta that was put in place by Spain, and claim for themselves, the control over the country. The events leading to up to the nation’s confirmed independence were chronicled as May Week, of the May Revolution. Revolutionaries would meet secretly at the house of Nicolas Rodriguez Peña to develop a strategy for overthrowing the viceroy while crowds of citizens gathered at Plaza de Mayo. Famous cafes like Café de Catalanes and Fonda de las Naciones were filled with uneasy, opinionated discussions of politics and the future of the country. Remnants of Spanish rule are found throughout Buenos Aires’ suburbs. The base of its urban infrastructure on which everything else has been built upon is classically Spanish, featuring the square grid of streets. With such wide dimensions, lot sizes are deep. As compensation, the courtyard typology is used to alleviate an otherwise poorly lit home. Upon their inception, these homes were reserved for the higher class. However, many of them have since been converted into duplexes that are divided along their courtyard space. Their residual conditions have managed to remain, though its ornament slowly fading and chipping away in an almost romantic demise. The homes themselves are sandwiched together by means of exposed load-bearing walls that while commonly retained white, isolate each house from the next. In cases where the house is pulled back from the street, the expanse of the wall defaults to match the length of the street-confronting neighboring houses. Its isolation becomes more 226

apparent as if set in a white box museum, making the home into an artifact of its past. While its control of the country is technically over, its presence in the formative years of the creation of Buenos Aires can hardly be removed. While much younger, the social housing built in southern barrios of Buenos Aires in the 1970’s have faced a comparable amount of abrasion. As a way of responding to the growing informal villas, the government (primarily during the reign of the junta dictatorship) built massive building blocks, which in their segregation from the rest of the city, function more internally as villages. While they are left to crumble with little resources established for maintenance and repair, complexes like Villa Lugano, Villa Soldati and Conjunto Comandante Piedrabuena have strong communities, their residents commonly having lived there for the past two and three generations. These idyllic complexes were created by more privileged outsiders. However it is not in their misaligned visions of open parks (some now parking lots) or intended gathering spaces raised over full street intersections (now a clever means of young deviants to outrun police) that they have failed. In an equally romantic state, the megablocks’ crumbling bodies are occupied by murals and public activity, signs of a harsh yet prideful community. They are also relics of a government reserved about its past corruption and current neglect. The city’s focus now, for suburban housing development, has largely been in the northern area of Nordelta. Picturesque landscapes developed from the land’s natural state as wetlands, were constructed into raised islands and meandering lakes. They are entirely gated communities fit with security guards at their minimal access points, preventing any outsiders from entering. The only unfenced portions being along a few stretches of water that inherently provide their own barrier. These complexes, who in their perfection, and genuinely serene landscape show no hints of wear or age. But any image so tightly knit does not leave much room for the imagination to roam. In all of its comfort, you are left with the eerie intuition that something so grand must have an equally stark counterpart. Inhabiting such spaces becomes just as emblematic as the villas of the south, just as fragmented by the knowledge of contrasting narratives. The ability for built space to develop validity through public or personal recollection is not exclusive to architecturally exceptional buildings. It can generate itself in the most mundane or controversial forms.

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The Art Nouveau movement was a popular style of the early 1900â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s engaging with the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growing independence and prosperity to fuel architectural styles outside of their Spanish upbringings. Palermo, Buenos Aires

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Left: Now boarded up and reclaimed by the naturality of human activity, this past marvel stands as a folly in its own context. San Telmo, Buenos Aires Right: The Art Deco movement would soon follow in the mid 1920’s, a proper subsequent style that would earn Buenos Aires the nickname “The Paris of South America”. Vicente Lopez, Buenos Aires 234

Right: Neighboring homes can prove to be quite the supporting role, supplying a museum-quality backdrop to suburban homes built by immigrating residents, many of whom bring the recollections of their respective domestic styles. Vicente Lopez, Buenos Aires

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Exhibit of a Small Villa Saavedra, Buenos Aires

Exhibit of a Quaint Cottage Recoleta, Buenos Aires

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A sun-soaked mansion converted to duplexes each fit for a multi-generational household with multi-generational ornament to match. Saavedra, Buenos Aires 240

Left: Beyond the safety of an enclosing fence, you are free to build all the best bits of your cultural heritage, whether it be a medieval castle or rustic farmhouse. San Isidro, Buenos Aires Right: Heritage may be fulfilled by a more figural collection of elements uninhibited by the need to have a predetermined place. San Telmo, Buenos Aires

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Fragments of family history and the individuals who lived them are an inherent part of how we understand domestic spaces. Rerouting our perseption of what would have been disregarded, suburban homes gain validity through memory. Villa General Mitre, Buenos Aires Saavedra, Buenos Aires

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In a city full of antiquity, tall white plastered walls, dark wood herringbone floors and dark wooden furniture are still found in especially romantic neighborhoods. San Telmo, Buenos Aires

The old proud tradition of service in European fine dining fades as a more informal restaurant takes its place. San Telmo, Buenos Aires

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Weathered and worn in with human occupation, the unrelenting walls of the villa upon a closer perspective reveal an odd naturality of promenading the commercial floor. It is a proud village where everyone knows everyone. In generating a united community, residents are equally united in their demands to garner a larger voice with the government. Villa Lugano, Buenos Aires

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While the public spaces of villas are relatively successful, it is in their upkeep that the government never forsaw as part of the effort in providing housing. A house can be maintained by its resident family, while entities as large as Villa Lugano need a more formal means of servicing to keep everything running in order. Tigre, Buenos Aires 250

Left: A bare tree rivels the quiet grandeur of Villa Soldati. Villa Soldati, Buenos Aires

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Past occurances seem to linger in recluse corners. These places are defined by its people, fostering and framing the events that play out in and around its walls. Villa Soldati, Buenos Aires 254

Compositions of prestine lakes and ungulating land masses dotted with houses, private docks and an occasional boat produce a vastly different image of suburbia yet leave visitors to wonder how such a feat can be pulled off, and at what cost. Nordelta, Buenos Aires 256

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Duality

the city’s discordant partnership There are 35 recognized indigenous groups, a number established in 2004 by the Complementary Indigenous Survey as one of the first studies in over a 100 years to document the country’s ethnic make-up. These indigenous populations were largely hunter-gatherer villages that farmed and raised livestock and had varying religions and governmental hierarchies. Depending on location, they built stone settlements as well as lighter structures built out of thatch. While archeological sites of these civilizations date back as early as 11,000 BC, millenniums worth of development of these civilizations were curtailed to foster the expansion of Spanish rule. The Spanish Crown, at its peak until the 1800’s, would hold control over the majority of the Americas. World expedition and conquest were at the forefront of European powers, claiming territory to seize the land’s resources as well as its geographical benefits for trading routes. It was as much display of power as it was of seizing it. As making such expeditions required innovation, human perseverance and massive wealth, news of such worldly endeavors was sure to impress rivaling empires. While their colonialism was met with considerable resistance from native populations, it was not until the 1600’s when the Spanish economy back in Europe had fallen considerably enough that its hold over the developing country would begin to diminish. The Crown would have to sell its claimed territories to wealthy Spanish settlers that had immigrated within the past few generations, shifting the power just slightly. While European and native populations have spent almost the last 500 years together, there is still a severe divide between the two groups that has fueled not only the political battles of the rights of the indigenous but the rights of the working class and labor forces that were more traditionally fulfilled by the natives of the land. A dual implies the inherent need for conflict. It does not exist without opposition. 260

It is a formalization created by the effects of disagreement and destructive intention. While there is no desire for cooperation, the two sides represent a dynamic that is able to generate a curiously productive, performative whole. There is still a distinct divide between the European and local influences, making many of Buenos Aires’ suburbs favor one class and one demographic over the other. The potency of the typologies in these suburbs, though starkly representative of the social and economic class of people housed there, always hints at the existence of the other end of the spectrum. Nordelta’s insistence on security and exclusivity, and the worn edges of the southern villas monumentality seem to speak directly to each others’ presence while having thirty miles between them. It is the suburbs of the middle class that seem to foster a larger mix of the two origins to generate a suburban home that embodies this dialog. At an urban scale, Buenos Aires’ suburban neighborhoods are relatively rigid. Their maintained square blocks that are divided into long, deep properties maintain only one setback at the sidewalk. Along this threshold at the ground floor facing the street, the dauntless weekly dose of young rebels, workers and determined activism hold priority. Homes that reside against this activity retain a more minimal façade featuring not much more than a step up to the door and couple windows. While this prevents any built details from getting ruined by passing graffiti, it inadvertently becomes a blank canvas for such determined message-bearing individuals. If you so choose to place a fence at the sidewalk, you are free to manipulate the ground floor into different volumes and depths at the expense of having your house’s elevation similarly marked permanently, not by paint but by a fence, of your choosing of course. Beyond this threshold datum that thinly divides public and private, suburban homes each start to release their tension. The second and sometimes third floor can then be increasingly broken down into varying volumes, sometimes changing color or material type, often creating the effect of two different characters stacked upon each other. It is hard to imagine the interior of the home retaining a semblance of a singular identity. However, as the homes are often broken down laterally as well, due to their courtyard conditions, the combination of the two equally break down the interior as if dissolving its fortification to slowly expose areas it is willing to make vulnerable. These suburban homes have the incredible ability of building and breaking down tension, something that the city has molded into an admirable part of their identity.

Characters that play an active role in the dialog between house and street. Buenos Aires

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Evita Peron: beloved wife of the controversial president Juan Peron who was taken from office by a military coup and exiled to Spain. Highly favored for her work with labor unions and womensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rights, Even after her death in 1952, Evitaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s influence is still present today. Palermo, Buenos Aires 266

A thick hide fortifies the average home against youth wiles. Bulnes, Buenos Aires Palermo, Buenos Aires

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Stairs up to a homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s entrance are a great way to provide a threshold against graffiti, creating the small added effort that makes other neighboring surfaces more appealing. Recoleta, Buenos Aires Palermo, Buenos Aires 272

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A common suburban standard to allow more formal freedom, fenced properties can be more liberating than expected. Belgrano R., Buenos Aires

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Homes beyond the fenced threshold may still be accustomed to fortifying windows with exterior blinds. Its shape however can continue to shift and aggregate. Villa Urquiza, Buenos Aires

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First story masses are often more freeform and accompanied by rooftop terraces to make up for the lack of outdoor space on the ground floor. Saavedra, Buenos Aires

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Some especially particular first story conditions. Saavedra, Buenos Aires Palermo, Buenos Aires

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A facade of mass-produced components. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a house back there somewhere. Villa General Mitre, Buenos Aires

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A strong typology found in the suburbs is a courtyard scheme which allows for a strong frontage and a more intimate core that generates more points of connections to interior rooms. Villa General Mitre, Buenos Aires 288

Fragmenting effects of a courtyard house adorned with endless doors and windows. San Telmo, Buenos Aires

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Vibrancy

where none was expected Ridden with melancholy and romantic ideals, the tango is the storyteller of love, loss and tragedy. It lingers on every move, carrying more than the weight of its physical form. Believed to have been born in Buenos Aires, the dance is engrained in the identity of the city. The only doubt to its origins is in what little written record exists on where it was first danced: in the poorest barrios of Buenos Aires. It began as entertainment between residents in tenement buildings where neighbors would informally play tango music where a dance would soon develop to accompany it. It’s exposure to the rest of the city was through these barrios’ brothels where a clientele of mixed economic and social classes would gather. As brothels were some of the few establishments that could afford live music, during busy hours, men would dance together for practice, spreading the knowledge of the tango through a shared interaction. A cultural heritage made only from the struggles and passion of its people, the tango has become a globally known art form. The streets of Buenos Aires suburbs today are covered in instances of interactions with its people. Either by the intentions of its residents or passers-by, a house is a canvas. It brandishes these engagements like tattoos, as marks of a colored past and unwavering pride. Paint and murals have become a means of easily creating place and identity both internally and externally. While at times color is committed to more elemental pieces like doors and windows, it is more common to find an entire home painted, or the entire façade of a building to become a mural. In relatively flattened façades, color can restructure the composition of a house calling attention to the slightest details or instances of ornament. A similar attention is given to many infrastructural elements, by painting areas that would otherwise be overlooked or inhospitable. Pedestrian passages under bridges or the underbellies of freeways are an 294

opportunity for the community to change the expectations of spaces that seem to be beyond the human scale. The family unit is a large part of Latin American culture, with many generations having lived in the same neighborhood. The value of family and community in Buenos Aires is especially strong in neighborhoods outside of the city. It is at the suburban scale that the majority of its occupants live there versus working there. It is inherently a more intimate scale that allows for a suburb to generate an identity based on intimacy and genuine relationships. Such connections are played out, as exclamations of a shared self-worth, in community efforts like murals that vignette the history and development of an established place.

Some bold colors and marble textures with a minimal change in depth for added shadow geometries create a streetscape of collages. Saavedra, Buenos Aires

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Left: Your vigor for painting may not be completely satisfied once you finish your own house. A little extra paint can spruce up your neighborsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; columns as well. Villa General Mitre, Buenos Aires Right: Dark accent colors are great way to break up a solid facade, and are practical for its inevitable exposure to scuffs and dirt. Belgrano R., Buenos Aires 300

Paint, while not able to fix structural or infrastructural problems, are a relatively inexpensive material that can alter the social dynamic of a neighborhood. Villa Lugano, Buenos Aires 302

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A love for yellow. Vicente Lopez, Buenos Aires 306

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A surrealist mural, both unphased and informed by the characteristics of the facadeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s components. Recoleta, Buenos Aires

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Murals initiated by a buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residents are an affirmation of a barrioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pride and sense of community. Villa Lugano, Buenos Aires Villa Soldati, Buenos Aires

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Other barrios may use murals as more personal endevours, but equally express a community that values the inherent creative expression of its people. San Telmo, Buenos Aires 314

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Left: With highways and train tracks setting priority, pedestrian passes that occur beneath them are determined to not become a forgotten, inhospitable place for those making use of their routes. Belgrano R., Buenos Aires Right: Some cases become a haven for atmospheric light and weekend markets. San Telmo, Buenos Aires

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Choose a single bold color and it may have the ability to reflect onto its surrounding elements. Vicente Lopez, Buenos Aires

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Color is a public affair as much as it is a private one. Vantage points reveal fragments of colors, each contained within their respective rooms. San Telmo, Buenos Aires 324

Interior courtyards reveal unshared boundaries between neighbors; each one building and subjecting their own walls to their desired color. Distinction between opposing walls nests a room within a room, while also providing the minimal dimension for potted plants. Villa General Mitre, Buenos Aires 326

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