dismantling insularity smoke, eat, rot; repeat
map of the territory
map reading
Whilst in Havana we captured fleeting spatial experiences in the harvesting of textures, materials and stories. The parched surfaces speak not only of the climatic conditions, but also of the years of trade embargo that have restricted local access to resources that make the restoration of buildings possible. The web of social and natural processes begins to reveal itself to us through its surface expression in urban space. Having demarcated and indexed these visible material conditions, we extracted and re-scaled them, producing deterritorialized figures that became productive transects, crossing the bay.
In the production of the map of the territory we superimposed independent layers of information, aiming towards the construction of a milieu that allows for a multiplicity of heterogeneous readings. The map thus does not attempt to be constitutive of Havana; it is not a map that tells but a map that incites thought. In making this map we question how cartographic techniques facilitate certain discourses around urban spaces, and how one might re-imagine space representation to convey the lived experience of spaces and the often conflicting values of the people inhabiting those spaces; ultimately aiming to generate urban transformations that are sensitive to place and rich with possibility.
F I E L D E X P L O R AT I O N S Havana M.Arch [2016-2017] in collaboration with Emma Bennett and Shona Sivamohan
inhabiting the f ield Habana Vieja
Regla
conceptual f ield drawing: choreography
The city described in the model is an interpretation familiar from our collective understanding of the economic and material poverty of a country under embargo, but distinctive in its outworking as a recalibration of the formal and informal infrastructures of the city. The transects reside above the city, part Camera Obscura, part reservoir/storehouse, with the promise of drawing out the accumulated detritus of our investigations: the fluids, textures and characters.
Thinking through this map, the mined information drifts from its original anchoring point, traveling out towards the industry that supports it, catching on moments. The resultant shift in the position of the Leviathans brings the fragments of Habana Vieja into a dialogue with the bay and Regla, offering them a glimpse of the city’s historic fabric. The massing of the interior world of the transect is at once familiar and alien to the city, developing its form from the folding and knotting of the streets of Habana Vieja.
F I E L D E X P L O R AT I O N S Havana M.Arch [2016-2017] in collaboration with Emma Bennett and Shona Sivamohan
species of atmospheres
ascent through the husk exchange
the workshop Regla industrial horizons
Taking inspiration from the network of craftspeople in Havana and providing a resource with which to reconstruct the city, the gate is a brickworks studio situated within the developing field of transects. As trade and tourism begin to open up in Havana the shallow harbour base is gradually dredged to deepen the channel between Habana Vieja and Regla. In the brickworks, the burning of rice husks heats the kiln; the ash of these husks contains silica that, when combined with the silt gathered from dredging, produces a clay that may be used to make bricks.
The ascent to the brickworks through the husk exchange sees the conditioning of environments from the expanse of the bay to the internal sensorial order of the workshop and the transect. As a moment where the transect touches the water through the kiln’s flue, the brickworks offers a gateway to the network of transects that are beginning to form a new dwelling place for those displaced by the reconstruction of Habana Vieja.
THE BRICKWORKS Havana M.Arch [2017]
AGRICULTURE allotments | city farm
reduced need to travel
farms produces food
LOCAL AMENITIES
fertilizer
SHARED COLLECTION SYSTEM (food) waste
COMMUNITY products + skills feed back to waste materials
employment
MANUFACTURING +CONSTRUCTION
g r een r oo f deta i l
FE COLLEGE
RECYCLING HUB recycled materials
community allotments
1/5 se r ies of f i c t i o n al n e w spape rs i llust rat i n g u r ba n d e vel o p m e n t
FE college
2016
2025
Autumn 2045
Spring 2075
Summer 2095
“building out of the rubble”
“community allotments”
“a productive urban landscape begins”
“collective urban farming”
“the rise of the vertical urban farm”
This project looked at the feasibility of a community developing around a system of urban farming.. It playfully speculates on urban developments over the next 100 years in Dalmarnock, Glasgow; aiming to bring the consumer back to the origin of their food and to promote regional traditions, social inclusivity and community cohesion in a neighbourhood left divided after the 2014 Commonwealth games. These urban forecasts and designs are illustrated through an interactive model and a series of five newspapers that may be viewed here: http://cargocollective.com/emmahenderson/Glasgow-2.
With food production and agrarian studies incorporated into its design, an FE College is proposed to act as a terminus to a new channel of allotments and gardens. It echoes a wider urban strategy that attempts to increase sustainability in the neighbourhood - not only reducing waste and the dependency on external sources but also , in the process, creating a positive identity that is shared by many. The college is designed to grow, anticipating a rising national interest, and investment in, urban agriculture.
FRAMING GROWTH Dalmarnock, Glasgow MA (Hons) [2016]
wikihouse
Awarded an undergraduate dissertation prize for social responsibility and sustainability
image credit: Civic Soup
teen-building ta ct ic a l u r ba nis m in te r ra in va gu e: a cr itiq u e of top -do w n u r ba n r egene ra tion a nd the r is e of pla celessne ss in the East End o f Gl asgo w
Outside university I volunteer at Baltic Street Adventure Playground in Dalmarnock, Glasgow. There I have organised a ‘teen-building’ project, aimed at 13-17 year olds, in which groups of children designed and constructed a network of tree-houses over the course of a few months. This participation in the community sparked an ongoing interest in the effects of urban regeneration and tactical urbanism that I subsequently explored in my dissertation. Dalmarnock was once an area defined by its prosperous industry, but now it suffers from some of the highest levels of unemployment and deprivation in Scotland. The dissertation considers how the spaces left between buildings from ‘topdown’ planning can be used to catalyse greater social inclusion in urban transformations, looking at the case of the Baltic Street Adventure Playground.
As well as the prize for my dissertation, the University of Edinburgh have also awarded me a professional studies prize for my work in placement, and the Principal’s Go Abroad Fund (to travel to Hungary to take part in the Hello Wood summer school). Judges’ comments: “This dissertation focuses on a very important topic regarding urban land use, identity and community with regards to regeneration of wasted spaces in a deprived area of Glasgow. It clearly contributes to understanding of social responsibility and social inclusion. An original case study contributes to existing knowledge on community engagement in urban renewal. The dissertation is well-written, well-argued and beautifully presented.”
RESEARCH AND VOLUNTEERING Dalmarnock, Glasgow 2015-2017