Resideas- Residential Ideas Bank by Egle Tuleikyte

RESIdeas Residential Ideas Bank

Eglė Tuleikytė Fabrication of Atmosphere Graduation Thesis Report Master of Interior Architecture and Retail Design 2012 - 2014 Piet Zwart Institute for Postgraduate Studies and Research Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam University Assessor: Max Bruinsma Committee Members: Alex Suarez, Aynav Ziv, Füsun Türetken, Mauro Parravicini

Acknowledgements The project RESIdeas would not have been possible without the valuable contribution and guidance of the assessors: Alex Suarez, Aynav Ziv, F端sun T端retken and Mauro Parravicini. I owe particular thanks to my friends Egle Jacinaviciute, Oana Tudose, Milda Liubinskaite, Dominyka Dymek, Giulia Cosenza and Maddalena Gioglio. I am grateful to Cesare Dagostino for his extended help and involvement throughout this period. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for their help and good advice.

Content Abstract.....................................................................9

PART I - Research Phases Introduction.......................................................................12 Motivation..........................................................................14 Research Questions.........................................................16 Framework.........................................................................18 Methodology.....................................................................24 Literature review / Case studies....................................26 Stage 1: Engaging / Envisioning...........................28 Stage 2: Testing / Experimenting.........................30 Stage 3: Building / Proposing...............................32

PART II - Design Phases Design Research...............................................................36 Visualizing the imaginary...........................................38 Imagining the location...............................................48 Creating imaginary structures..................................50 Project description...........................................................66 Outlook...............................................................................84 Appendix - Bibliography..................................................88

Abstract

RESIdeas is a method of communication for residential areas. It encourages individuals to comment on what they want to see and do in their community in order to bring back their responsiveness to their surroundings. RESIdeas aims to collect dreams and wishes about their surroundings from the inhabitants of the residential area. It invites them to picture new platforms to expand domestic activities into the urban landscape. This project is aimed to envision and visualise subjective experiences to relate spaces to people. It becomes a collection of possibilities for the initial stages of reconsidering the domestic environment in the city. It investigates the potential of existing structures in the urban fabric in order to benefit the residential sector and activate a ground for communication between the residents. RESIdeas is a project for imagining potential rather than designing solutions. RESIdeas aims to create an interface for communication in order to find better informed solutions for residential area development.

PART I - Research Phases

Introduction

RESIdeas is an invitation to start a dialogue for anyone inhabiting the residential area. It explores the potential dynamism of urban spaces with radical proposals. What is more, it makes visible the possibilities of neglected urban areas while reflecting inhabitants’ experiences. It can be seen as a condensation of thoughts through drawings becoming a material manifestation of a need to rethink the residential areas. The drawings contain the designs of experimental spaces that give the opportunity to envision and experience a new way of treating the residential surroundings. Overall, RESIdeas encourages citizens to envision new dimensions in the built environment. RESIdeas is a method of communication for residential areas. The project is based on the research of a specific residential area in Rotterdam, Delfshaven. On the other hand, it has the potential to be applicable to other neighbourhoods. Residential Ideas Bank is a research strategy that aims to collect dreams and wishes of inhabitants about their neighbourhood. RESIdeas shows the potential 12

PART I - Research Phases

of visionary transformation of existing structures in the urban fabric. It invites residents to picture new platforms which expand domestic activities into the urban landscape. In this project, a residential neighbourhood is considered as a structure where the line between urban and domestic activities is blurred. RESIdeas encourages individuals to comment on what they want to see and do in their community, focusing on these in-between areas. It is a collection of situations where ideas are given the power to project structures. The designer in this project is seen as a mediator, who translates unique ideas and wishes of individual residents into a united strategy. In this way the project creates an overview of possibilities to consider during preliminary stages of residential area renovation processes. The design becomes a method of communication that starts from the smallest unit in the area - the resident. RESIde¬as is an experience design strategy focused on the urban landscape through an interior architecture perspective. The main focus is the investigation of how

each resident would improve his or her surroundings in order to create a better experience of the urban interior according to their own needs. The comparison of these experiences gives an overview - new outlines shaping and adjusting existing residential areas. It is a practice of designing a process. An environmental strategy is created, based on the users’ experience. The main goal is to create a platform that provides an insight for relevant integration of upcoming renovation processes. RESIdeas aims to persuade, stimulate, inform, envision and forecast. More particularly, RESIdeas is searching for experimental ways to appropriate spaces that feel anonymous and disconnected from residents’ lives and to imagine new platforms for domestic activities in residential areas. “When various elements that normally could not exist together at the same time are enabled to exist simultaneously and without contradiction. Should architecture not always explore new spaces and new ways of living?” (Junya Ishigami)

Motivation

The main motivation for my project is Rotterdam, where I am currently living, studying and working. I see this project as a possibility to make a positive impact to the city that needs it. Living here, I noticed a disruption in cultural activities in the city. A disconnection between the changing lifestyle of the citizens and the urban development of the city can be seen. One aspect of this is a lack of communal spaces in the residential areas. I believe that in order to allow the city to pulse and grow naturally, design needs to become a tool that helps us to react to the changes in society. Privatization and the overall impact of global corporations are eroding the public domain and a sense of community. The struggle to span a bridge between industrial and public sectors of the city is clearly visible from the lack and scatteredness of communal spots in the city. Moreover, most of the remaining public action is defined by retail. This is exacerbated by the lack of long-term vision in urban planning. The growth of hard-to-rent locations in contrast to the significant amount of abandoned 14

PART I - Research Phases

industrial zones provides a necessity for a change in the public sector that would help to create an adaptive market. In times of recession it is crucial to find a way to activate the spaces that do not fit in the current mainstream economic cycles. I see a public space as an open structure that everyone can use, while at the same time everyone needs to take care of it in order for it to function. This leads to my interest in creating a new reading of existing structures that would have a potential to change the texture of the city. I aim to interpret public spaces as a physical embodiment of the dynamic communities in the city, as well as try to adjust the urban environment to the changing life of the inhabitants. My intention is to search for new prospects in the recreation of social relations in neighbourhoods by redesigning responsiveness to the collective rights of the city. I believe that evoking inhabitantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; imagination can engage a change in the perception of their

surroundings. In order to create a site-specific project it is crucial to work with the existing locations in the city as well as with the inhabitants. Analysing the community helps to build a network of mediated communication. Starting through images and then through direct communication. My research is grounded in strategies of small scale urban initiatives and interventions. In my opinion it can give a dynamic pulse to the community that could lead to a permanent structure or organisation. What is more, reviewing the possibilities of reusing or improving the existing structures allows me to understand what changes are needed in order to serve the community in an efficient way. A strategy aimed to develop new guidelines for the improvement of neglected or abandoned existing structures should help to shape a reflective urban development. Hence creating an interface for visual communication can become a strong instrument in the development of urban improvement. A starting point that is reflective of the users.

Research Questions

I aim to activate a basis for non-direct communication between residents. The project becomes a mediator between residents as well as a facilitator of visual conclusions. It is a platform for envisioning changes; not intended to become an immediate solution itself, neither a direct participant, constraining the process of residential areas renovation plans. RESIdeas is aimed to become an informer for the city development with the residents as participants. I am interested in investigating the imaginary possibilities of elaborating existing structures in the city to benefit the urban-domestic sector. I intend to show the potential of existing structures and test the possibilities of imagining new platforms for domestic activities in residential areas. Can a domestic setting in the city help us in appropriating a space that at the moment feels anonymous and disconnected to our lives? Which kind of domestic activities can be implemented 16

in the urban context? My aspiration is to concentrate on the area between public and private sectors â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the point where the private domestic environment gradually fades into the public and open environment. This in-between zone can become a potential field for changes improving inhabitantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience of the urban interior. Housing, buildings facades, pavement, borders and similarly not directly functional areas and objects for the inhabitants aim to be seen as the facilitator for new ideas of improvement. My goal is to collect dreams and wishes from the inhabitants of Delfshavenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residential area about their surroundings via online questionnaires. I will then illustrate the gathered information in order to visualise the possibilities of expanding semi-domestic activities into the urban landscape. How to develop a user-driven approach, which could start from the residents and get back to the city?

PART I - Research Phases

Can imagination be an instrument to think out of the box and develop new proposals? How can these go beyond the limitations of the established order in the city? Finally, I believe that an up-to-date method to develop cities should be based on first gathering a collective vision, then testing and experimenting and only then designing and building permanent structures. My goal is to research how this strategy can be imagined and benefit the local situation, responding to immediate needs, without forgetting long term advantages. I see my project as an experimental, informal, temporal and dynamic dialogue.

Public

Private

Framework Delfshaven is a municipality of Rotterdam on the right ridge of the river Nieuwe Maas. The town of Delfshaven grew around the port of Delft and it belonged to the city and municipality of Delft until 1811. It was an independent municipality until 1886 when it was annexed to Rotterdam at its own request. Now Delfshaven has around 73,000 inhabitants and was one of the few areas of Rotterdam that escaped the bombing by the German Luftwaffe on May 14, 1940. Visiting Delfshaven – rich by architectural heritage and a culturally diverse residential area – I discovered vacant public spaces and a lack of cultural activities, art interventions or sense of community. Therefore, I decided to focus my research on this residential neighbourhood, where an initiative to benefit the community is clearly needed. My first introduction to Delfshaven, in the west part of Rotterdam, was through an underground art exhibition in a former factory building squatted by artists in the industrial part of the area. Through conversations with the artists I discovered that there is a plan to demolish the building abandoning the future possibilities of having a stable art community in the area. This event brought Delfshaven to my attention as an area to continue my research. I decided that a field research was necessary in order to go further with my strategy. During my first trip around Delfshaven I noticed that almost none of the public structures such as benches are being used. The fact that most of the public furniture is not explored to the full potential led me to my further interest and analysis of the public spots in the area. My goal was to understand how I could ameliorate the existing structures in order to stimulate them being used again. 18

PART I - Research Phases

To deepen my knowledge about the neighbourhood I arranged a meeting with Willem Beekhuizen. Formerly an employee in a community centre – Pier 80 in Delfshaven – he is now a self-employed community specialist with a focus on Delfshaven. After his improvised short excursion through the area I was able to understand better the main needs of urban development. Willem planned the trip along the areas where community engagement is seen the most, as well as informing me about the most problematic spots. Firstly, he notified that most actively used public benches are situated in the areas next to the community centres, subway stations or shopping streets. However, most of the users are elderly people. This as well informs why these public structures are being used only around midday, leaving the benches unused for a big part of the day. Secondly, the most successful initiative by the residents became a public stage for performances and various other events built and maintained by the community. It started with an idea from a small group of active residents. After some meetings, the need for a structure within the community arose. The unified need led to government funding. The stage has been built in a park next to the market square where it is clearly visible and well accessible. The stage is now used and maintained by residents themselves. Moreover, Willem showed me several playgrounds clarifying that the neighbourhood is rich with areas for kids. These are the most active spots as well. The main problem in here is the lack of greenery. There are already a few attempts to bring more nature in the public squares but the issue still is present. The high amount of playgrounds in the area shows that the development excludes certain age groups.

In addition, we arrived at the left river bank where a new housing development project takes part. It incorporates working spaces on the ground level that attract creative and active people. A responsive and active community has recently arisen and they are trying to activate the usually empty water side next to the new housing block. Furthermore, as a response to the fact that a lot of community centres, libraries and other structures have been closed due to the funding cuts in Delfshaven, an informal community centre has been created in one of the working spaces of the housing block. The rising openness of the inhabitants eludes the fact that some private gardens or front yards are accessible for visitors during the day in order to activate the area and be transparent. In addition, there is a common initiative in several points in the area to create informal book exchange points filling the void left by the closing of several libraries in Delfshaven. Even though a lot of public participation appears in the attempt to create a more open, active and rich community, there are still a lot of problematic spots in the area. The main market square is not used during non-market days due to the bad smell caused by lack of order and cleanness. Other public squares are not used due to the high amount of coffee-shops around, which attract problematic crowds. Some streets became particularly dangerous due to different teenage-groups competing and fighting. All in all, Willem stated that besides all the positive initiatives the neighbourhood became less active in the past few years because of the rising crime rate, lack of funding and closed communal spots.

Meeting with Willem Beekhuizen in Pier 80, Delfshaven

Framework

Informal community center created by the residents of the new housing block

Public stage for performances and various other events built and maintained by the community of Delfshaven

PART I - Research Phases

The neighborhood is rich with playgrounds for kids. These are the most active spots in the area. However, in residentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; opinion all of these spots lack greenery. There are already few attempts to bring more nature in the public squares but the issue still is present.

Most active public benches in the area are next to one of the community centers, subway and the shopping street

Framework Taking into consideration that governmental area development plans are still active in terms of new housing blocks incorporation, there is still a hope that it will benefit the community. He showed me one empty spot next to the informal community centre area where the housing block has not been built due to budget cuts. Now since the residents around are active and responsible it is considered to start a discussion for an additional public spot there. In my opinion this is a positive situation where self-initiatives inform government decision making, which reflects back to the residents. Nevertheless, my personal experience with the community has not been completely positive. The fact that I am not speaking Dutch has caused communication problems and made the process of arranging meetings quite difficult. Overall, I felt that people in the neighbourhood are quite closed and it takes time to gain their trust and engage them into an open discussion. Willem Beekhuizen also pointed out that it has not been easy to try and create an open neighbourhood engagement with events for discussions about the development of the area. Now he is trying to be dynamic and change the locations of these meetings as much as possible so that more people would feel comfortable to come. He is now trying to follow the logic “If you are not coming, I will come to you myself”. One of the possibilities he was given from the government, was to invite people to the decision making process about redeveloping public squares and install sculptures in one of them. He realised that even though people complained about public squares, when they were asked to give their opinion on how they could be arranged, they didn’t participate in the conversations. The lack of successful public engagement in the neighbourhood became one of the reasons why I decided to create a visual interface for 22

PART I - Research Phases

communication. In this way the language barrier or any nationality related impediment would at least become less of a problem at the beginning of a solution. Furthermore, I continued my research about the community-engagement initiatives in the neighbourhood and discovered that there have been few governmental attempts to involve residents in the city-making processes as well. It has been remarked that Delfshaven has been successful in facilitating more localised delivery of a range of social, community, safety, and housing services. Delfshaven as one of the four City-Districts in Rotterdam covers a number of sub-neighbourhoods. Here „public space behaviour rules” have been developed. More particularly, local employment and youth services have been commissioned to develop an action plan. It involved renovating derelict homes and ensuring regeneration programs channelling towards neighbourhood priorities. In my view, this is an example of a positive start towards coherent communication between the government and the inhabitants trying to improve problematic areas. Despite the attempts to involve local force into neighbourhoods’ regeneration plans, residents have no formal role in big scale decision making in Delfshaven. However, the situation has started to improve - they had an opportunity to vote and consult on specific developments and issues in area. A public participation program “Delfshaven Duiten” has been developed, where every resident has been encouraged to commission projects and activities from additional funds. I believe that the attempt to engage people to meet and discuss about which initiatives in the area should be supported and have the possibility to become

successful is definitely positive. Even though, meeting a stranger can be intimidating and has proven difficult during informal community meetings. Therefore, I am convinced that creating an indirect-communication system could improve this process. A system where people could participate without being forced to attend long meetings and hear long speeches. A profile of a game could also make the initiative more attractive and accessible. An informative case study in terms of systematizing the idea of an informal, indirect-communication platform has been the Play the City initiative. Play the City aims to support and inform design projects, planning processes and urban development. It tries to help build communities and develop tools for coherent strategies creation through gaming. The main target points here are urban regeneration, urban growth, urban densification, urban shrinkage, temporary use and vacancy. The city game is targeted to create win-win situations between players with conflicting interests and unlock stagnating urban situations. The main benefit of this initiative in my opinion is their clear statement for transparent city-making. After the analysis of my area of interest and related case studies I realised that transparency in these processes is crucial in order to achieve positive results in residential areas regeneration. However, my goal is to look at urban regeneration processes from a perspective of an individual before analysing the possibilities on the bigger scale. I am convinced that, since there is the highest condensation of domesticity in the residential area, it would be beneficial to inform overall urban development in these areas from the perspective of a single individual. Being able to compare these perspectives would give us a better informed overview of initiatives needed to improve a city-district.

Methodology

I started my research by analysing the strategies employed in small scale urban initiatives and interventions. First of all, I classified the case studies analysed according to which stage of the city development they belong to. Therefore, I categorised the collection of the relevant case studies into three stages reflecting city development steps. Every project mentioned in the chart analysed has informed me more about a different aspect of the stages: - - -

Engaging / Envisioning; Testing / Experimenting; Building / Proposing;

Mainly, the analysis of different projects by categorising them in the above mentioned stages allowed me to compare them, and to understand the purpose and the importance of the envisioning stage in every project. A significant body of work that helped me to formulate the content of my project has been Junya Ishigami’s. I looked at the 2013 exhibition at de Singel in Antwerp that revealed the architect’s works over the last ten years. In my opinion, the most relevant aspect of 24

PART I - Research Phases

Ishigami’s work is the fact that he presents possibilities of architecture beyond rules, regulations or boundaries in order to investigate the prospects for future development. His attempt to overcome the restrictions primarily in how we understand the architecture inspired me to clarify the need of envisioning in the project. Following the steps of city development, by concentrating on the primal stage of envisioning, can give a dynamic pulse to the community that could lead to a successful permanent structure or organisation. Projects, categorised under Engaging/Envisioning are mostly aimed to rethink our perception of todays’ architecture. These projects are aimed to bring back peoples’ responsiveness to the built environment. Projects in the Testing/Experimenting division are aimed to test ideas in practice. Real scale objects without commitment to stay permanently allow people to express their opinion freely. Gathered viewers perspectives can inform the design development.

The Building/Proposing group shows projects, which suggest building structures informed by the users or aimed to benefit them. I see a possibility for all these sections to inform each other. In my view, Engaging/Envisioning projects as temporary interventions have a big power of experimenting with changing user’s perception without real risk of errors in the trial period. This analysis allowed me to focus on the communal parts of the city - residential areas. In addition, I reviewed the possibilities of reusing or improving the existing structures in the residential areas. I concluded that there is a need for experimentation in order to discover what changes are required to serve the community in an efficient way. I realised that proposing new guidelines for rethinking the improvement of neglected existing structures should help to shape a residents-reflective urban development.

Literature review / Case studies

The focus of my theoretical research was analysing existing initiatives starting from Rotterdam that focus on the community and the improvement of the urban landscape. Besides documentary movies about successful community engagement all over the world, theoretical articles or texts analysing site-specific proposals, I mostly analysed concrete case studies related to the process I aim to achieve. Existing projects have been useful for me while shaping the process of my project and understanding better how to predict a realistic result. 26

PART I - Research Phases

Engaging / Envisioning

Testing / Experimenting

Building / Proposing

Portuguese studio LIKEarchitects lighting installation Conste.llation

NYC Plaza Program

Maakbaarheid (makeable society) by Crimson Architectural Historians

SVESMI has presented Field Library: 8 installations

Park and Slide by Bristol based artist Luke Jerram

The Superkilen Park renovation project in Copenhagen by Danish architecture firm BIG

The Periscope designed by collective ika

Hygge House by Plain Projects + Pike Projects + Urbanink stands

The High Line, New York

SMS platform - communication between people and inanimate objects,

Oh.No.Sumo installation Stairway Cinema

Simone Sheridan - 21 Balançoires (21 Swings)

Junya Ishigami: How small? How vast? How architecture grows

Kultflux

Gap Filler creates an activations of vacant lots with Dance-O-Mat

Tape Frankfurt 10 by For Use/Numen

Sustainable Glasgow: The Smarter Cities Challenge

Viewpoint designed by AOR

YAPYASA - part of the PLAY the CITY, a think-do program in democratic city making, initiated by TReC

Post---Office

the Woodlawn installation

Willkommen by Inés Aubert, Rubén Jódar

Eddy Kaiser launched a new project the Urban Living Room

Filling Station, Cineroleum popup

The Hidden Orchestra by Alice Labourel

Spacemakers enlisted design firms Studio Hato and Studio Kieren Jones to create a mobile town square for Cricklewood in north London

Pink Ghost Installation

Looking for Love Again

The pavilion SpaceBuster by Berlin based architects

The Hofbogen

Luchtsingel, ZUS

The Schieblock, ZUS

PAN

Exhibition at deSingel Antwerp

Share memories and hopes

Candy Chang Luchtsingel, ZUS

Raumlabor

Literature review / Case studies:

PART I - Research Phases Stage 1: Engaging / Envisioning

Junya Ishigami

A playful SMS platform

Park and Slide

Strategy: Vision

Strategy: Vision, Installation

Strategy: Experiments; Vision

Junya Ishigami: How small? How vast? How architecture grows

In Bristol (UK) lamp posts, post boxes and other members of the city’s street furniture are talkative.

Park and Slide is a project dreamt up by Bristol based artist Luke Jerram.

This first exhibition with an overview of Junya Ishigami’s works is an installation of 58 built and unbuilt projects.

It’s an idea by PAN, with the help of Gyorgyi Galik and Tom Armitage, and consists of a playful SMS platform using the text message function of mobile phones to allow communication between people and inanimate objects.

Enabling the people of Bristol, United Kingdom, to navigate the streets of their city in a new way, this temporary 90m water slide is a simple architectural intervention and a playful response to the urban landscape.

They evoke the themes, challenges and research of the Japanese architect over the last 10 years. It was created for Shiseido Gallery in 2010 and was shown for the first time in Europe in 2013. Architect Junya Ishigami’s work present us with possibilities of architecture beyond what we unconsciously accept as prerequisite. Seeing Ishigami’s work, our concept for table, chair, building, or space is re-composed. His designs stem from poetic thought and the motivation to make a new kind of space. The exhibition at deSingel Antwerp was curated by Katrien Vandermarliere. 28

Conste.llation

Willkommen

The Periscope

Strategy: Vision, Temporary structure, Hacking existing location, Installation

Strategy: Vision, Installation

Portuguese studio LIKE architects designed an ephemeral lighting installation for the gardens of the Portuguese Republic Presidential Residence.

“This space under the bridge was already like a room, with a roof, a different pavement, an entrance door and the right size. Feeling its domestic atmosphere, we thought it just needed to be furnished.” (Inés Aubert, Rubén Jódar)

‘Conste.llation‘ is materialised by a network of contiguous arches in red corrugated tube, illuminated by a LED lighting system, that delicately dances in the gardens, connecting spaces and crafting unexpected routes.

Before acting, public space’s players need tools to investigate the urban reality. The Periscope suits them. Designed by collective ika during the Biennale di Venezia in 2010, it was also used by curious passers-by for a shift in perspective.

The arch – a primordial element in architecture – has the inherent power to create space (under, inside, etc.), and, at the same time, to build a physical relation between two places being related also to the idea of connection and unification.

Literature review / Case studies:

PART I - Research Phases Stage 2: Testing / Experimenting

New York

Stairway Cinema

Viewpoint

Strategy: Temporary structures; Experiments; Proposals for permanent structures

Strategy: Experiments; Temporary structures; Hacking existing structures

Strategy: Vision, Temporary structure, Hacking existing location

Janette Sadik-Khan demonstrates how paint, lawn chairs and a bit of imagination can quickly transform city streets, creating immediate public and commercial vitality.

The experimental design collective Oh.No.Sumo installation Stairway Cinema is located at a corner in Auckland where there is not much community interaction.

Commissioned by The Architecture Foundation, Viewpoint designed by AOR is located in Camley Street Natural Park in London (UK) and offers an aesthetic perspective of urban wildlife.

New York can be a good example of how street transformations can be possible just by using temporary materials.

By creating a mini movie theatre in the stairway of a building, Oh.No.Sumo has created a communal and social environment that engages passers-by.

This initiative is proof that it can result in public vitality and even permanent structures.

SpaceBuster

Post-Office

Luchtsingel

Strategy: Experiments; Temporary structures; Testing

Strategy: Community engagement

Strategy: Crowd-funding; Community engagement

Berlin based architects Raumlabor have been temporarily transforming locations. The pavilion SpaceBuster is comprised of an inflatable bubble-like dome that emerges from its self-contained compressor housing. The dome expands and organically adjusts to its surroundings.

Post-Office is a public platform in the North of Rotterdam. A group of architects occupied a vacant plot in the Hofbogen in order to create a collaboration and communication centre. The organisation is oriented towards multidisciplinary interaction in the field of creativity. By noticing a hole in todaysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; socio-economic climate they discovered a necessity for an experiment. It is their attempt to start a dialogue with an emerging generation of citizens that has the potential to transform their surroundings and critically react to the current situation of the cities. Their aim is to provide a refreshing and collaborative public spot in the area of need. This way they generate fast and flexible response to the current social problems in that area.

In the projects of ZUS architects, I noticed an even wider exploration of possibilities that can be provided within a city. They concentrate on contemporary urban landscaping and political research. Their project, called Luchtsingel, initiates crowd funded city making. Luchtsingel is a small scale, low budget project that becomes an alternative model for large urban development. Luchtsingel is a 350m pedestrian bridge that aims to re-connect Rotterdam Central District with the Hofbogen neighbourhood. Another project of ZUS concentrates on a search of alternative activation models applicable to the Schieblock building. They claim the need to adapt existing structures to new uses. Therefore a new platform for urban farming has been created as a social condenser as well as a new typology of public space reusing existing structures. 31

Facts on the Ground in Rotterdam

Literature review / Case studies: Maakbaarheid

Carnisse

Hilleplein

Klooster

Hofbogen

Central District

Spangen Traindike

Waalhavenstrip

PART I - Research Phases Stage 3: Building / Proposing

carnisse

Kleinpolder

Park Knot Hoboken

Maakbaarheid (makeable society)

Superkilen Park

Strategy: Proposals for permanent structures

Strategy: Permanent structure

Maakbaarheid (makeable society) is a project about the post-war urban landscape in Rotterdam by Crimson Architectural Historians that has been presented during the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam in the fall of 2009.

A park renovation project in Copenhagen by Danish architecture firm BIG has been created to mirror the cultural diversity in the city by gathering local intelligence and global experience in order to create a display of global urban furniture.

The project reflects on the main theme of the event: the Open City – the city as an ‘integration machine’ encouraging distinct communities and groups to settle, interact and establish dynamic relationships. The project was named by a Dutch term that refers to the period of the 1960s and 1970s when there was a shift towards a bottom-up approach concerning the development of cities in the Netherlands.

The design of the Superkilen Park, which stretches 750 meters through the Nørrebro neighbourhood in the north of the city, incorporates street furniture from 60 different nations, of the people inhabiting the area surrounding it, across a brightly coloured carpet of grass and rubber.

Maakbaarheid consists of an historical and political analysis of Rotterdam that leads to ten design proposals based on progressive public interventionism located in different areas of Rotterdam. All areas reflect the current paralysis in urban planning that the city is facing, leading to the urban fragmentation. Crimson claims that it is crucial not to lose a coherent body of knowledge about the development and history of the city in order for it to develop and reanimate itself. Each proposal is claimed to be a safe and dependable option to re-establish a decentralised and privatised city. 32

The park is divided into three different colour-coded zones: green, black and red. The first zone hosts a local market and children’s playground containing a slide from Chernobyl and climbing frame from India. The second zone, “urban living room”, is meant for board games under the Japanese cherry and Lebanese cedar trees. The third zone contains areas for sports, sunbathing and picnics and includes Belgian benches, Brazilian bar chairs, a Norwegian bike rack and a Moroccan fountain.

Engaging / Envisioning

Testing / Experimenting

Building / Proposing

Portuguese studio LIKEarchitects lighting installation Conste.llation

NYC Plaza Program

Maakbaarheid (makeable society) by Crimson Architectural Historians

SVESMI has presented Field Library: 8 installations

Park and Slide by Bristol based artist Luke Jerram

The Superkilen Park renovation project in Copenhagen by Danish architecture firm BIG

Hygge House by Plain Projects + Pike Projects + Urbanink stands

The High Line, New York

Oh.No.Sumo installation Stairway Cinema

Simone Sheridan - 21 Balançoires (21 Swings)

Kultflux

Gap Filler creates an activations of vacant lots with Dance-O-Mat

Sustainable Glasgow: The Smarter Cities Challenge

Viewpoint designed by AOR

Post---Office

the Woodlawn installation

Eddy Kaiser launched a new project the Urban Living Room

Filling Station, Cineroleum popup

Spacemakers enlisted design firms Studio Hato and Studio Kieren Jones to create a mobile town square for Cricklewood in north London

Pink Ghost Installation

The pavilion SpaceBuster by Berlin based architects

The Hofbogen

Luchtsingel, ZUS

The Schieblock, ZUS

The current paralysis in urban planning leads to urban fragmentation and bringsThe a need for designed reanimation. Periscope by collective ika There is a need today to reinvent communal and social environments that would engage the citizens. platform In order to avoid the stagnationSMS in this field- communication we need to between people and inanimate objects, reconsider todays’ architecture and the way we lookPAN at it. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the urban reality. Building physical relations betweenJunya people Ishigami: How small? How vast? How architecture grows and places can bring back urban unification. Noticing Exhibition at deSingel Antwerp the domestic atmosphere of unused urban spots can help us reimagine a new use for them. Moreover, it Tape Frankfurt 10 by For Use/Numen emerges that a playful approach and a development of temporary physical body of ideas can help to bring back people’s responsiveness. YAPYASA - part of the PLAY the CITY, a think-do program in democratic city making, Imagination and good communication with the users initiated by TReC

can quickly transform the dead spots in the cities even with temporary materials. In addition, Willkommen by Inés Aubert, Rubén Jódar collaborative public spots can generate a fast and flexible response to the current social problems in the urban landscape. Low budget projects and adaptation The Hidden Orchestra by Alice Labourel of existing structures can become an alternative model for city activation and large scale urban development. Gathering local intelligence and global experience can Looking for Love Again finally create an engaging atmosphere. Share memories and hopes

Candy Chang Luchtsingel, ZUS

Raumlabor

PART II - Design Phases

Design Research

After the analysis of the community engagement initiatives in the neighbourhood, and reviewing the literature and case studies I selected, I decided to create exercises for myself to try and imagine what could be done differently in the area and show my perception of the urban landscape in the residential area. In addition, these exercises were useful in terms of visual engagement with the surroundings as well as for evoking esthetical playfulness. In other words, these exercises were aimed to build up my methodology more than informing my design decision. I applied different visualisation techniques to create 3d collages as a way to exercise my own imagination and start discovering the potential of the existing structures. I started collecting pictures of the area that represent the lack of people in the public spots and show the overall feeling of a vast area. I manipulated some of these images in order to strengthen the impact. After that I started building physical objects on top of the images to evoke the idea of new objects appearing to benefit the area. I took pictures of the results creating an inverted representation of these areas with the imagined improvements. While creating these â&#x20AC;&#x153;pictures of the pictures and objectsâ&#x20AC;? I started asking myself what I would personally like to see in my neighbourhood and what 36

PART II - Design Phases

would make me feel more welcome or engaged in the area I live. This exercise helped me to overcome the mental boundaries of re-imagining the architecture or rethinking how we could change it. After this exercise I realised that I needed to find a way to communicate my process of re-imagining without creating any illusions of realistic proposals.