AAD_SU21_023

L ife TOGETHERNESS in the midst

oF

Fragmentation

Gabriela Junqueira Franco Ms.AAD Columbia, Gsapp 2021

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Togetherness in the midst of Fragmentation A visual and thoughful compendium of fragmentation (sociology)

-The absence or the underdevelopment of connections between the society and the groupings of some members of that society on the lines of a common culture, nationality, race, language, occupation, religion, income level, or other common interests.-

How to help fragmented environments become environments of experience and social interactions?

Throught my lens of interest in the architectural practice, these works intend to question how architecture can perform as a core mediator between sterile environments and zones of reliability. care and exchange?

How can design affect modes of

How can landscapes perform as active systems to change human and non-human relations?

In these works, I try to develop forms in which architecture can support new modes of interchange and environmental production. How reparations can restructure toxic realms -abstract and material- within cityscapes.

Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone by stone.

“But which is the stone that supports the bridge?”

Kublai Khan asks.

“The bridge is not supported by one stone or another,” Marco Polo answers, “But by the line of the arch that they form.”

Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting.

Then he adds: “Why do you speak to me of the stones?

It is only the arch that matters to me.”

Marco Polo answers: “Without stones there is no arch.”

Invisible Cities - Novel by Ítalo Calvino

table of contents

Transscalar Connectivity Reconnecting Beirut fall

2020

Brasilia: The City beyond an urban planning

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Recasting The Collective Wagner Houses

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fall

2020

spring

2021

Is the Salamander Capital of the World Threatened by Exurbanization?

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Unlocking Wildness In The Traces of Edisoniana’s Tale

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spring

2021

summer

togetherness in the midst of fragmentation Porfolio Of Selected Works Author: Gabriela Junqueira Franco Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

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2021

Reconnecting Beirut

Transscalar Connectivity Reconnecting Beirut

20,000+

2,500+

HOUSEHOLDS IMPACTED

BUILDINGS IMPACTED

300,000+

6+

people displaced

HOSPITALS IMPACTED

172,000+ INDIVIDUALS IN NEED FOR SHELTER

HAVING BEEN A FRAGMENTED CITY, BEIRUT HAS BEEN HOME TO A DIVERSE POPULATION THROUGHOUT ITS 5,000-YEAR HISTORY. DUE TO CHANGING POLITICAL POWERS, BEIRUT HAS ENDURED CONFLICTS THAT HAVE PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN ESTABLISHING THESE VARIOUS SEGMENTED NEIGHBORHOODS. AFTER THE BLAST, THE SENSE OF DISPLACEMENT HAS BEEN HEIGHTENED AND THE SEPARATION AMONGST THE PEOPLE IN GEMMAYZE MAGNIFIED. RECONNECTING BEIRUT DEMONSTRATES THE NECESSITY OF TRANSSCALAR CONNECTIVITY BY BEGINNING WITH THE SITE AT STREET SCALE IN ORDER TO ADDRESS THE ROLE OF GEMMAYZE AT LARGE IN A NEW BEIRUT. WHILE THE PORT CURRENTLY SITS IDLY, THE WATERFRONT REMAINS AN UNCONTESTED PRIME REAL ESTATE FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT, WHICH MAY JEOPARDIZE THE CULTURAL DIVERSITY OF GEMMAYZE AND NEIGHBORING COMMUNITIES. TO PREVENT GENTRIFICATION AND RESIDENCE DISPLACEMENT, GEMMAYZE’S EXISTENCE RELIES ON ENFORCING SPATIAL CODEPENDENCY WITH UNDERUTILIZED VACANT LOTS, REDEFINING A PRESENT PHYSICAL BARRIER INTO A SUPPORTING ACTOR FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE COMMUNITY. IT IS IMPORTANT TO STRESS THE VALUE OF INVESTING IN GEMMAYZE AND ENVISION DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE STREETS TO RECLAIM PUBLIC SPACE BY PROHIBITING VEHICULAR TRAFFIC ALONG GEMMAYZE STREET. THIS NEW PEDESTRIAN ZONE ENCOMPASSES A SERIES OF VACANT, UNUSED LOTS AND MEETS THE BOTTOM ENTRY OF ST. NICOLAS STAIR, PROMOTING THE ACTIVATION OF HUMAN INTERACTION, COMMUNITY BELONGING, AND VARIOUS ACTIVITIES. THROUGH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS, THESE SITES WILL INCORPORATE THE INSTALLATION OF CLEAN RESOURCE GENERATION FOR WATER AND ENERGY THROUGH DESIGNED PODS IN GEMMAYZE IN ORDER TO SELF-SUSTAIN THE COMMUNITY. THIS TECHNOLOGICAL ENDEAVOR WILL PROMPT TO REDEFINE GEMMAYZE AS AN INCOME GENERATOR WITHIN BEIRUT.

EXPLOSION SITE

IMPACT RADIUS

Fall 2020 - Studio: Reconnecting Beirut Work by Gabriela Junqueira Franco Critics: Victor Body-Lawson, Richard Plunz Location: Gemmayze, Beirut

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INTERVENTION SITE: GEMMAYZE NEIGHBORHOOD

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advanced studio v

Reconnecting Beirut

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Reconnecting Beirut

Gemmayze Street after the blast

Vacant Lot A, Gemmayze Street

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Vacant Lot B, Gemmayze Street

intervention site along gemmayze street

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Sidewalk condition, Gemmayze Street

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Reconnecting Beirut

advanced studio v

The intervention oversees the closure of Gemmayze Street as a potential pedestrian zone that connects with St. Nicholas Stairs - one of the only public spaces in the neighborhood.

intervention along gemmayze street

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Extension of existing sidewalks, incorporation of bicycle lanes, and vacant lots into G. Street (existing sidewalks shown in grey, extension shown in orange).

intervention along gemmayze street

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Reconnecting Beirut

advanced studio v

Adaptability through different prototypes attends to the variety of users and interests. The vacant lots help encourage safe streets, straighten neighborhood interaction, activate streets, and foster ecological health. Basic urban furniture such as garbage, cleaning station, seating, and lightning are also incorporated.

vacant lot functions

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vacant lot functions

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advanced studio v

Reconnecting Beirut

pedestrian gemmayze street

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Reconnecting Beirut

pedestrian gemmayze street and integration with vacant lot a

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Reconnecting Beirut

prefabricated pods

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washing station, energy generation, rainwater harvesting

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Reconnecting Beirut

socially distanced seating and clusters

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vacant lot b prototypes and covid-adaptability

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Reconnecting Beirut

vacant lot b

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Reconnecting Beirut

socially distanced public seating

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Reconnecting Beirut

Major locations for urgent sidewalk recovery. The new and extended sidewalks take advantage of rubble materials generated by the explosion.

advanced studio v

Sidewalk condition, Abou Rouss Street

sidewalk extension

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Sidewalk condition, Sursock Street

sidewalks existing conditions and its relation to the streets

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Reconnecting Beirut

advanced studio v

Beirut’s can-centric mindset exclude its pedestrian and cyclists, promoting cars as its main users. Reclaiming curbside parking and portion of the streets for sidewalks, seating, bicycle lane, and ADA ramps is crucial to re-introduce accessibility, connectivity, green infrastructure, and biodiversity.

sidewalk extension

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gemmayze street

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Reconnecting Beirut

ada ramps, and bioretention facilities

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improving pedestrian experience

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Reconnecting Beirut

promotion of safe streets and greater social cohesion

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- final review Reconnecting Beirut

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The history of architectural theory

Brasilia: The City beyond an urban planning The profound purpose behind the transition of Brazil’s federal capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia was merely diplomatic. When Juscelino Kubitschek assumed as president in 1956, his priority agenda was to transform the country into a progressive and technological Estate. For Kubitschek, the new federal capital would represent, through architecture, the concrete values of a global and industrialized nation. However, for the architect responsible for its conception, Lucio Costa, Brasilia’s Pilot Plan was conceived instinctively and effortlessly for the achievement of a great social change.

To Lucio Costa, no different from other modernists, urban planning was seen as a means to achieve a rational domain and a solution to the chaos of capitalist societies. In accordance with modernist ideals, Brasilia’s urban planning was based on a strict division of functions and zoning that follows the tradition of rationalized circulation and activities. The residential areas -called superblocks (Super Quadras) were planned as autonomous organisms characterized by six floors apartment buildings. These oversized blocks were intentionally designed to house its own school, playgrounds, library, movie theaters, and health facilities.

Every four blocks would become “neighborhood units”. However, in reality, most super-blocks failed to provide these services and did not fulfill Costa’s ambition. As an outcome of replacing successful heterogeneous urban fabric and mixed-used streets, the pedestrian disappeared. The inhabitants are abandoned in long extended blocks where they rarely encounter other human eyes to connect and feel safe. These blocks are rarely enjoyable and are socially helpless.

Another characteristic Lucio Costa envisioned for the residential sector, and the superblocks were to portray an egalitarian society by disregarding the conventional economic division of mixed-

Fall 2020 - Elective: The History of Architectural Theory Work by Gabriela Junqueira Franco Critic: Mark Wigley

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“Building a new capital is a colonialist solution...telling a city like Rio de Janeiro that it is no longer the capital seems to me a very strong mistake from a political point of view. It is a vision of historical stumbling. If could,

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I would have avoided building Brasilia”.

-Paulo mendes da Rocha

CONFLICTED URBANISM “This is how, being monumental, it is also comfortable, efficient, welcoming and intimate.

And at the same time, spilled and concise, bucolic and urban,

lyrical and functional.

Car traffic proceeds without intersections, and the

ground is restored, in just measure, to pedestrians.”

-Lucio Costa

Eixo Monumental

Super Quadras

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the history of architectural theory

Brasilia: The City Beyond an Urban Planning use neighborhoods. The Super Quadras apartments —owned by the government— were meant to be distributed to different families without considering their diverse social levels, promoting an example of an organizational society with no distinguished social classes. Yet, there was an unfortunate cultural shock among the residents and a growing subversion criterion for property distribution that favored high-ranking officials. Not long after the city was established, the market displaced vulnerable residents.

Finally, population forecast errors along displaced residents lead to the creation of informal settlements and favelas in the peripheries. Beyond the thought that architecture, in this case, did not fulfill its profound purpose, this failure also exacerbates the true intentions underlying the government of Juscelino Kubitsheck.

The characteristics mentioned above culminate to this essay’s central argument: was Brasilia’s conception a utopia of a city that would, through its urban planning, transform society? The schemes behind Brasilia’s masterplan took for granted that a shift in architecture would prompt Brasilia’s inhabitants to change their cultural roots and behaviors, leading to social reform. Still, it ignores politics, economics, and the core of the corrupt political class.

Nowadays, Brasilia promotes the interaction between the privileged elite within yacht clubs and segregates lowerincome class communities in the transportation hub and the city’s outskirts.

What was once a theory and model of an egalitarian,

Brasilia Plano Piloto

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democratic city turned out to be a sad irony with stunning architectural monuments experienced by the political class. The urban system failed to achieve its best collective stability and function as a bounding one, as Lucio Costa had envisioned with excitement and vigor.

Was the theory behind Brasilia too naive for the premise that the most refined aesthetic brand would renovate the Brazilian social reality, or was it, instead, introduced within a realm where society and government were not ready for this revolution?

Brasilia, the imposed city, represents complexities that disregard other actors beyond connectivity in architecture.

References Azzolini, Fernanda, “Brasilia Foi um Tropeço Histórico” Deutsche Welle, June, 2016 El-Dahdah, Farè. CASE : Lucio Costa, Brasilia’s superquadra

Munich ; New York : Prestel ; [Cambridge] : Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, [2005], Xavier, Alberto. Lúcio Costa: sôbre arquitetura

Porto Alegre: Editora UniRitter, 2007

Ministries Esplanade, and National Congress

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Recasting The Collective, Wagner Houses

Recasting The Collective Wagner Houses

NYCHA’S HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS FEATURE THE MASS-PRODUCTION MINDSET OF THE POST-WAR. THEIR SHAPE AND FAÇADE REPRESENT REPETITIVE PATTERNS EMERGED IN GIANT BLOCKS THAT PROMOTE A DISRUPTION WITH THE SURROUNDINGS’ URBAN FABRIC. THE EXISTING BUILDINGS AND UNITS DO NOT REPRESENT THE DIVERSE USERS, AND PROPAGATE A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT. THE PROJECT CONSISTS OF THE CREATION OF DIFFERENT SCENARIOS THAT TRANSFORM THE DOMESTIC AND URBAN REALM, SUPPORTING WAGNER HOUSE’S RESIDENTS THROUGH THE EXPLORATION OF NATURAL LIGHT AND VENTILATION, VERTICAL AGRICULTURE, AND A NEW CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM THAT RE-ESTABLISHES THE METABOLISM OF HARLEM’S URBAN LIFE. THE NEW WINDOWS CHARACTERIZED BY VOLUMES THAT EXCEED THE PERIMETER OF THE BUILDINGS IS A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE OF THE MOST POWERFUL STIGMATIZATION OF NYCHA’S BUILDINGS. THEY PROMOTE LIBERATING SPACES THAT PERFORM FOR DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES AND ALLOW THE RESIDENTS TO INHABIT THE CITY INSTEAD OF LIVING BEHIND DENSE BRICK WALLS. THE BUILDING’S CENTRAL CORE WILL BE TRANSFORMED INTO SOCIAL SPACES ENCOURAGED BY HYDROPONIC FARMING, WHICH ALSO HELP RESIDENTS STRIVE FOOD INSECURITY. THE APARTMENTS ARE TRANSFORMED INTO SHARED SPACES AND FLEXIBLE UNITS THAT BEFALL AS NEIGHBORHOOD CLUSTERS ENCOURAGING GREATER SOCIAL COHESION. THE NEW CLT STRUCTURE RESTORES AND ACTIVATES THE HAZARDOUS GROUND FLOOR, ALLOWING THE BUILDINGS TO GROW AND EXPAND SERVING AS A NEW URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE THAT PROVIDES RETAIL, TRAINING FACILITIES AND HOUSING UNITS -CURRENTLY, THERE ARE 220,000+ FAMILIES ON THE WAITING LIST FOR NYCHA’S APARTMENTS. WEAVING TENETS OF ECOLOGY, SOCIAL INTERACTION, AND ECONOMIC STRIVE, THE PROJECT UNVEILS HOW ARCHITECTURE CAN HELP HEAL AND REPAIR WAGNER HOUSES AND ITS SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES.

Spring 2021 - Studio: Typological Corrections Work by Gabriela Junqueira franco Critic: Juan Herreros Location: Harlem, NY

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nycha’s developments locations

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advanced studio vi

Recasting The Collective, Wagner Houses

New York City Housing Authority 46

timeline

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Recasting The Collective, Wagner Houses

Existing

Circulation

Circulation

advanced studio vi

The intervention in Wagner Houses is nothing alike nycha’s history of demolishment and displacement. Instead, it modifies the existing building as minimum as necessary to provide a better living condition to the residents. The structural system, brick facade and shape are maintained.

The enclosed vertical circulation and windows are replaced, and balconies and extra floors are added in cross-laminated timber, allowing the creation of new units and increasing the floor to ceiling height.

Windows replacement

Typological corrections 48

New balconies Proposal

building typology a

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building typology a

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- existing condition

building typology a

- circulation as social spaces 51

Recasting The Collective, Wagner Houses

Existing

Circulation

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New windows

Windows replacement

Typological corrections 52

Existing

New balconies Proposal

building typology b

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building typology b

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- existing condition

building typology b

- circulation as social spaces 55

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Recasting The Collective, Wagner Houses

The new apartments configuration starts from the premise that contemporary social housing cannot provide just a single, homogenous housing option.

These neighborhood units are composed by flexible, multifunctional rooms, where kitchen, and living room are shared.

Respondig to wagner’s demographics, which is composed by 43% of single seniors and single parents with a child, the dwellings are redistributed as small neighborhoods.

This new configuration of space disregard the traditional family structure and uphold the individuality of Wagner Houses’ residents.

building typology a

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- units configuration

building typology b

- units configuraion 57

Recasting The Collective, Wagner Houses Why Hydroponic Farming?

advanced studio vi

Ah In hydroponic farming, the soil is replaced by a high nutrient-based water. THydroponic systems save up to 90% of water. Since crops grow in a alternative environment, there is no risk of topsoil erosion. Less land is needed comparing tro traditional farming methods. Less carbon emissions, and cost with transportation-you are growing in-site.

Hydroponic Farming 58

Operational System 59

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Hydroponic Farming 60

Assemblage 61

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Building Typology A 62

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Building Typology B 64

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Sensorial condition of heat, light and humidity 66

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Highways and Railways

The existing site configuration represents an orderly repetition of buildings within superblocks. This condition promotes a disruption within the city’s urban fabric. 60% of the ground floor surface is characterized by underutilized spaces surrounded by fences that prevent any activity from happening. The introduction of a light construction system through CLT will activate the ground floor allowing the buildings to expand elevated from the ground to avoid the risk of future flooding. Retail units will help strive unemployment in East Harlem while reconnecting Wagner Houses to the neighborhood.

Street Hierarchy

Pedestrian Paths

advanced studio vi

Building Footprint

Satellite Imagery

Urban Fabric Analysis and Buildings Organization 68

Flooding Map - 2100 Predictions 69

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Recasting The Collective, Wagner Houses

Existing Condition 70

Introduction of a new construction system in the ground floor 71

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The CLT structure will blurry the boundaries of outdoor and indoor spaces serving as a transition between public and private programs. The new system of buildings will generate a unique ritual of accessing the towers through semipublic spaces.

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GSEducationalVersion GSPublisherVersion 43.96.96.100

Ground Floor Activation 74

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Points Unknown

Is the Salamander Capital of the World Threatened by Exurbanization?

In the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the water quality of the natural streams is being continuously affected by demographic changes, therefore the conservation of aquatic habitat is one of the greatest challenges of the area. The change in water quality occurs when the land is disturbed, and the eroded sediments run into the water streams, muddying the water, and affecting the habitat of aquatic organisms.

The Eastern Hellbender. Photo: Pete Oxford

Mapping Census Data South Appalachian Region Geographical Mobility in 2019

Population 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0

Summer 2021 Work by Gabriela Junqueira Franco, and Ali Elsinbawy Critics: Michael Krisch, Juan Saldarriaga Location: Appalachian Mountain, NC

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GaMR = alt.Chart(ga_acs2019_tracts).mark_ geoshape().encode(color=alt.Color(‘totalPopulation:Q’, legend=alt.Legend(title=’Population’), scale=tooltip=alt.

Tooltip(‘totalPopulation’,title=’Population’) ).properties( width=700, height=700, ).project( type=’transverseMercator’, rotate=[82 + 10 / 60, -30] ) NcMR = alt.Chart(nc_acs2019_tracts).mark_ geoshape().encode( color=alt.Color(‘totalPopulation:Q’, legend=alt.

Legend(title=’Population’), scale=tooltip=alt.

Tooltip(‘totalPopulation’,title=’Population’) ).properties( width=700, height=700, ).project( type=’transverseMercator’, rotate=[82 + 10 / 60, -30] ) ScMR = alt.Chart(sc_acs2019_tracts).mark_geoshape(). encode( color=alt.Color(‘totalPopulation:Q’, legend=alt.

Legend(title=’Population’), scale=tooltip=alt.

Tooltip(‘totalPopulation’,title=’Population’) ).properties( width=700, height=700, ).project( type=’transverseMercator’, rotate=[82 + 10 / 60, -30] ) TnMR = alt.Chart(tn_acs2019_tracts).mark_geoshape(). encode( color=alt.Color(‘totalPopulation:Q’, legend=alt.

Legend(title=’Population’), scale=tooltip=alt.

Tooltip(‘totalPopulation’,title=’Population’) ).properties( width=700, height=700, ).project( type=’transverseMercator’, GaMR = alt.Chart(ga_acs2019_tracts).mark_ geoshape().encode( rotate=[82 + 10 / 60, -30] ) VaMR = alt.Chart(va_acs2019_tracts).mark_geoshape(). encode( color=alt.Color(‘totalPopulation:Q’, legend=alt.

Legend(title=’Population’), scale=tooltip=alt.

Tooltip(‘totalPopulation’,title=’Population’) ).properties( width=700, height=700, title=’South Appalachian Region Geographical Mobility by residence in 2019’ ).project( type=’transverseMercator’, rotate=[82 + 10 / 60, -30] ) GaMR + NcMR + ScMR + TnMR + VaMR

Population Change in the Southern Appalachian Region Next to Streams pTSAM = alt.Chart(allTowns).mark_geoshape(). encode(color = alt.Color(‘popDiff:Q’, scale=alt.Scale(scheme=’blueorange’, domain=[-1, 1], domainMid=0), legend=alt.Legend(title=’Change in Population between 2010-2019’, format=’.0%’ tooltip=[‘NAME_x:N’] ).properties( height=750, width=750 ) regionMap = alt.Chart(appalachiaRegion).mark_ geoshape(fill=’darkslategrey’) regionStreams = alt.Chart(riversStreams).mark_ geoshape( filled=False, strokeWidth=.4 ).encode( color=alt.value(‘aliceblue’), tooltip=[‘Name:N’] ) alt.layer(regionMap, regionStreams, pTSAM).configure_ view(strokeWidth=0) pTSAM = alt.Chart(allTowns).mark_geoshape(). encode(color = alt.Color(‘popDiff:Q’, scale=alt.Scale(scheme=’goldorange’, domain=[-1, 1], domainMid=0), legend=alt.Legend(title=’Change in Population between 2010-2019’, format=’.0%’ tooltip=[‘NAME_x:N’] ).properties( height=750, width=750 ) regionMap = alt.Chart(appalachiaRegion).mark_ geoshape(fill=’darkslategrey’) regionStreams = alt.Chart(riversStreams).mark_ geoshape( filled=False, strokeWidth=.9 ).encode( color=alt.value(‘aliceblue’), tooltip=[‘Name:N’] ) alt.layer(regionMap, regionStreams, pTSAM).configure_ view(strokeWidth=0).project( type=’mercator’, center=[-83.442925,36.033131], scale=15000 )

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Is the Sallamander Capital of the world in threatened by exurbanizaion?

points unknown

The Eastern Hellbender is a funny looking creature with an ominous sounding name. Ranging from about one to two feet in size, the creature has earned some unsavory nicknames. In its home region of Southern Appalachian Mountains, for example, it is sometimes known as the “snot otter”.

But this little under-appreciated amphibian plays a vital role in helping humans understand the quality of the water in their environment.

T h a t ’ s because t h e s e creatures can only survive in the clean freshwater

environments. While this creature is decidedly less cute than its metaphorical cousin, the canary in the coalmine -- its demise can be the harbinger of bad news for other organisms in its ecosystem, and the humans who live nearby. The water quality of the natural streams in this region is being continuously affected by demographic changes. The change in water quality occurs when the land is disturbed, and the eroded sediments run into the water streams, muddying the water, and affecting the habitat of aquatic organisms. And perhaps it comes as no surprise that it is humans who are to blame for the changing environment.

Exurbanization in the area is one of the main actors behind polluting the natural waterways and disturbing the land. The exurban residents tend to live in the mountains rather than the valley, which is occupied by the native farmers. In the past 25 years, the growing population of exurban dwellers are increasingly modifying the region by new land developments that have escalated the runoff of eroded sediments that contain 82

fertilizers, pesticides, and other pollutants. The Southern Appalachian Mountains region is often hailed as the salamander capital of the world, where it is home to more salamander species than the rest of the world combined. The emerging exurbanization patterns followed by the land developments is altering the natural habitat of the Appalachian salamanders, and thus endangering their existence. People who seek a countryside lifestyle with a natural environment for retirement often move to the exurbs. In fact, the size of exurbia doubled between 1990 and 2000, according to Berube et. Al (2006) who used census data to locate the exurban settlements. The study of exurbanization sheds light on the importance of land use planning strategies and land management with respect to protecting the natural habitat of its nonhuman residents.

This exurbanization is not just an indicator of environmental pollution, but it is threatening the very existence of Hellbenders—one of the last survivors of the ancient vertebrates

Mapping The Change in Population

100% 50% 0% -50% -100%

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Is the Sallamander Capital of the world in threatened by exurbanizaion?

group of salamanders, achieve many ecological functions within their habitat. In addition to being important for controlling the crayfish population, Hellbenders can actually help to save the environments they live in. That’s because Hellbenders breathe through an efficient process using pores in their skin; this requires less energy and makes it possible for them to store large amounts of carbon.

According to a new study (Hartwell H. Welsh Jr., and Michael L. Best, 2014), salamanders play a significant role in the global carbon cycle. The study, published in the journal Ecosphere, found that salamanders help to retain carbon in the soil by eating up insects and other invertebrates that convert leafs on the forest’s goor into greenhouse Gasses. This low-key lifestyle makes them the hidden masters of the forest — “the vacuum cleaners of the forest floor” said John C. Maerz, a salamander specialist at the University of Georgia.

Salamanders can also have major implications for human medicine. They present egenerative properties, as they are able to regrow lost parts of their bodies including internal organs and eyes. Apart from that, the peptides in their mucus have the potential to be used in place of antibiotics.

Mapping The Change in Population

100%

50%

0%

-50%

-100%

points unknown

Mapping the exurban migration in the Southern Appalachian Mountains is important to to identify sources of habitat disruption that require water conservation strategies to keep the water at its cleanest for the famous Appalachian Salamanders to survive.

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The Eastern Hellbender. Photo: Pete Oxford

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Unlocking Wildness

Unlocking Wildness In The Traces of Edisoniana’s Tale

UNLOCKING WILDNESS AIMS NOT JUST TO PROVIDE A HYBRID HABITAT THAT IS FACILITATED

BY A SYSTEM OF TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICES, BUT TO RETHINK WHAT IT MEANS TO RECLAIM NATURE AND ECOSYSTEMS THAT WERE TAKEN AWAY FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. THE PROJECT DELVES INTO THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONTRADICTIONS OF HOW PEOPLE IN POWER OF LEADING THE CAR INDUSTRY, AND URBAN DEVELOPMENTS WERE ONCE RELATED WITH DESIRES OF EXPERIENCING WILDNESS. INITIALLY, IN THE 1920’S HENRY FORD ALONG WITH HENRY FIRESTONE AND THOMAS EDISON, CLAIMED THAT CARS WERE FACILITATORS TO GET PEOPLE OUT IN NATURE. AT THE TIME, THEY WERE ON A QUEST TO FIND A DOMESTIC SOURCE OF RUBBER TO PRODUCE TIRES FOR THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY. THIS SEARCH LED EDISON TO STUDY MORE THAN 17 THOUSAND PLANT SPECIES, AND CEASED WITH THE HYBRIDIZATION OF A NATIONAL SPECIES, GOLDENROD, THAT TODAY IS CONSIDERED AN INVASIVE SPECIES.

Edisoniana’s late bloom is one of the last sources of pollen before Winter.

IN LIGHT OF THIS, THE PROJECT TACKLES 2 MAIN QUESTIONS: WHAT WOULD IT MEAN, TODAY, TO COHABITATE WITH NATURE WHEN OUR CITIES ARE ECOLOGICALLY COLLAPSING? AND WHEN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH IT WOULDN’T BE FOR HUMAN’ PROFIT? WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HYBRIDIZE A SPECIES FOR HUMAN BENEFIT?

BY LIBERATING THE HYBRIDIZED EDISONIANA, A GOLDENROD PLANT NAMED AFTER THOMAS EDISON, UNLOCKING WILDNESS AIMS TO UNDO THE EFFECTS OF THE CAR INDUSTRY BY CREATING A SCENARIO THAT PROVIDES CONDITIONS TO INCREASE NONHUMAN HABITAT IN THE CITY. IN ADDITION, IT ACCLIMATIZES IMPORTANT POLLINATORS IN THREAT OF EXTINCTION -SUCH AS BEES, TO INCREASE BIODIVERSITY IN MANHATTAN AND BEYOND, REDUCE THE HEATING EFFECT AND SUGGEST OTHER FORMS OF COHABITATION WITH AND IN (INVASIVE) NATURES.

Summer 2021 - Studio: Ac(c)limatizing Nature Work by Gabriela Junqueira franco, and Pabla Amigo Critic: Nerea Calvillo Location: New York

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Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Edisoniana’s cycle and ecosystem 87

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timeline

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rubber industry

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Unlocking Wildness

In 1927, Goldenrods were explored by Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone due to its potential as a source of native latex production to provide the u.s with a domestic source of rubber.

At the time, the u.s was dependent on imported rubber for products such as automobile tires, and they were concerned that an international crisis such as a war could cut off that supply. they formed the edison botanic research corporation.

after evaluating more than 17,000 plant species, Edison aimed to have a hybrid goldenrod plant with tons of leaves that contained about 12% of rubber. its name was solidago edisoniada.

Edisionana was grown under controlled conditions in Edison’s residency in Florida and in his laboratories in New Jersey and NYC Botanical Garden, where recently 500 shelves of a massive Solidago collection were found.

edisoniana hybridization

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However, Edison, Ford and Firestone’s interest in nature started way before, in 1914, along with John Burroughs. The four of them went on a series of camping trips to Florida, Virginia, New England and the Catskills mountains that lasted nearly a decade.

They called themselves vagabonds, claiming they were primarily focused on experiencing the wild life, finding rest, relaxation and inspiration in the nation’s great outdoors.

Camping trips...

Vagabonds?

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Yet, they brought luxuries such as cookers, servants, and kitchen cars to their expeditions. Is this a vagabond’s life? Ford claimed that automobiles were facilitators to get people out in nature, however, the reality is that the automobile industry was the starting point of cities’ landscape change.

vagabonds and the emergence of car-centric cities

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The intervention started in the New York Botanical Garden, where two actions take place in reaction to what the institution, and the industry that manipulated Edisoniana signifies. First, containers attached to the city’s abundant scaffolding are filled with tires, addressing the byproducts of the car industry by managing waste through biodegradation methods. Secondly, devices attached to the scaffoldings facilitate the growth of wild nature, which spread from the NYBG.

intervention site

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Could Edisoniana, designed for the car industry, work against it?

Can we acclimatize an “invasive” plant to initiate a de-urbanization process, vagabonding through the streets of NYC? Can the wild create alternative forms of wildness to the one promoted by Edison, Ford, and Firestone?

starting point: nybg

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HENRY FORD

HARVEY FIRESTONE

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WORMS + ACTINOBACTERIA + MICROORGANISM + SOIL

scaffolding assemblage: nybg

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Car Industry

Tires Industry

Asphalt Car-centric landscapes

Pollution Tire Waste

UNLOCKING WILDNESS Eliminating Cars

Tire Disposal Biodegradation

edisoniana’s growth and tires biodegradation

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Sunlight catchers and water tanks are attached to the scaffolding to nurture, through artificial lightning and rainwater irrigation, Edisoniana, and other plant species.

Inflatable devices are also attached with the help of humans to help avoid wild bees’ extinction.

nybg scaffolding

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inflatable devices

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edisoniana’s mature growth and decay

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edisoniana breaking the concrete

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dissimination from the nybg into the city

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a network that adapts to street and parks

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Unlocking Wildness year

1 - winter

water, erosion, cracks.

year

1 - summer

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cracks, rhizomes, goldenrods, butterflies, bees, insects...

year

1 - spring

life?

year

1 - fall

edisoniana’s full bloom

scaffolding devices and edisoniana’ codependancy

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year 2 - winter edisoniana’s hibernation: soil uncovered and latex harvesting

latex harvesting from dry leaves

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year 2 - spring inflatable devices made from the harvested latex

inflatable devices

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year

2 - summer

year

2 - fall

year

2 - winter

inflatables lubrification

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The inflatables release viscous liquid like honey to attract bees, and nutritional supplement. The lubrication promoted by the healing devices helps remove parasites that were attached to the bee’s body in mono cultivation crops.

essential nutrients

healing devices

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probiotics

inflatable devices detail

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wet bodies in motion

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winter

spring

summer

fall

winter

seasonal street

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scenario for hybrid cohabitation

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rupture of streets hard boundaries

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- final review Unlocking Wildness

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LT ife

ogetherness in the midst Of Fragmentation GSAPP 2021’

I would like to thank all my professors and faculty for bringing the weight of their experience and knowledge to my work. to all my family for the trust and support. marcelo, thank you for your love and encouragment. i couldn’t have done without you. to all my habibis for the words of advice, joy, and companion during long nights.

darlan-canelo, thank you for the everyday excitment and hapiness.

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