Thesis book Lukasz Schlachcic

RETERRITORIALIZATION SOCIALIST HOUSING/MARKET FORCES

RETERRITORIALIZATION: SOCIALIST HOUSING / MARKET FORCES Lukasz Szlachcic Advisors: Andre Bideau / Julian Varas Ithaca, New York Spring 2008 A thesis presented to the Department of Architecture at Cornell University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a degree of Bachelor of Architecture.

Special thanks to: My advisors, Andre Bideau and Julian Varas, who fought my stubbornness while displaying a lasting commitment to the betterment of the project at all stages.

My pre-thesis advisors, Mohsen Mostafavi and Ben Gilmartin, who guided and organized my early thoughts helping me distill a project direction.

Those who thoroughly discussed my work and ambitions with me over the course of the project, including Krzysztof Wodiczko, Dana Cupkova, Jeremy Foster, Chris Perry and Werner Goerhner.

The Robert James Eidlitz Travel Fellowship committee, whose generous contribution and support of the project allowed me to gain a better perspective of the ramifications of my work through travel and further research.

The Kozanow District Administration office SMLW Kozanow IV in Wroclaw, Poland for access to and reproduction rights of various archived material.

My grandparents, Zygmunt and Zuzanna, for their constant support of everything I choose to do.

My mom, who helped make my dreams come true and has never allowed financial concerns to hinder my progress and aspirations.

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This book is conceived of as a series of plateaus. It is stricken of hierarchy.

Each part serves its own logistic and intrinsic value. Each is its own, both in construction and interpretation. It is not chronological, at least not if chronology refers to time. It does not have a beginning and an end; nor should it. It solves no problems and never attempts to reach a conclusion. Perhaps it is best to treat it like a sea, the ultimate nomadic device. It is meant to be in motion, jumping between ideas. That is the sum of its parts. Separated, it is a hill; it should not move much; obsess over an idea, dwell with repetition and use it to drive a point. It flows, at various speeds. It struggles with content, as a strategy and as a presentation.

One point or island connects to another, connects to another. The main enemy, the strategic adversary is arbitrariness and ideology, especially when they are combined. A common enemy binds all the parts, but it falls short of holism. It functions like a machine, albeit a slightly malfunctioning one. Each part plays a role, a chapter in the story, often separated from all surrounding it, sometimes not.

Above all, this is a project of lines and scales. Most importantly, none of these terms should be aligned to their standard architectural definitions. That is perhaps the greatest ambition of this experiment; a leap of faith from an architectural discourse towards a broader interaction with generational and cultural issues. There is an attempt to engage societal elements, which on the surface are completely disengaged from architecture, into a discourse of architecture which depends on them not only for evolvement and advancement, but also for survival.

Lines and scales offer the greatest tool of engagement and understanding.

They are used not only as a method of representation, but primarily and more importantly as a strategic method. Suspension of disbelief or a complete shedding of the status quo might be necessary. Scales do not just encompass size, its relationships and connections, absolute and relative, but also degrees and variants, juxtapositions and intensities. Scales subsume cross-disciplinary investigations. They represent boundaries and possibilities. Lines are not just geometrical tools and symbols linking a set of points, although they are valued for that as well. This study relies on lines as thoughts; connections and fragments. Those lines are not based on reason, or for that matter reaction, but rather an episodic intensification.

Together, lines and scales display a profoundly honest representation of communicative action. One speaks of volumes and relationships while the other of direction and movement. They can analyze and summarize. They can multiply and disappear. Finding relationship and establishing links is what drives this strategy. It finds a point, plots a line and diverges. It is never arborescent however. The link is never exclusive and ultimate. It is merely an opening, a crack in the door, a connection between an idea and its consequences, between a source and the possibilities of its transformative outcome. It is fueled, completely reliant, on foreign forces and the strength of will.

The social challenge of the project is one of affirmation; instigating a physical product out of a non-physical force. The method is found within instigation, connecting values and perceptions, and crossing disciplines. There is a push towards a revolutionary movement, or more correctly, a revolutionary becoming. A force strengthens and attracts other forces, makes a connection, gains power and influence. It is affirmed

when it effects a force or entity outside of its own direct realm of influence. Affirmation is the process of realization, of becoming, an acquisition of strength and the birth of comprehension.

Theoretically, this is an investigation of consequence, influence and effect.

On an architectural level, it is an experiment into transformation, always based on a response. How can an entity rid itself of symbolism, transform itself, its meaning and its aesthetic? It is a challenge to an ideology, the discourse of ideologies, and the image they convey, at the same time as it is an assault on arbitrariness. How can a call to action, a will to power transform a physical entity, especially when that call, that will, is not physical.

A meaningful architecture is one that engages disciplines which are not naturally architectural. A useful architecture is one which responds to contemporary trends and movements and uses their spirit to re-evaluate established conceptions and challenge the status quo. When architecture goes beyond its programmed duty it functions on a level which can have a profound effect on society. For its part, while architecture is strong as a responsive system, it has the power and the potential to generate a new social reading. This project approaches architecture from exactly this standpoint. On the one hand, architecture is seen as a mere physical realization of a social revolution, while on the other, it becomes a link into a new reading and interpretation of social interaction and communication. Common architectural nomenclature, such as program and circulation, takes on a productive and transformative meaning. There is a clear and distinct separation from form and aesthetic, which compared to contemporary architectural standards are not primal.

At the gates of this world is an ideology. It is never used as a tool, but rather as an operative symbolism. It stands in sharp contrast to the forces which ought to transform it. That quality makes the transformations logical, perhaps simple, but also extremely sensitive and vulnerable. Ideology is a representation of political trends and cultural disjunction, becoming in this case a generational quality. Politics is closely knit with architecture, while culture is separated as far away from it as possible.

The objects of the project, the architectural symbolic entity to be operated on, are socialist housing estates of Central Europe, stemming out of communist governments. More specifically, the estates under scrutiny are those in places which have encountered a swift, painless (or excruciatingly painful) transition to a market economy in recent decades. The housing is considered a typology, both for its architectural elements, and for its urbanistic qualities and significance. Housing has, and always will, remain the most intricate, delicate and important architectural expression. That is why, this is not a project about housing, or the housing unit, but rather the site, the place where this housing occurs, and how it affects daily life and routine.

The subject is social rejuvenation; a generational becoming. It is an instigator; it provokes, it mutilates and it transforms. It is a powerful parasite. The strategy is to operate on the object with the subject. How can social and cultural forces influence architecture? How can they modify it to represent a refreshed set of demands, expectations and ideas? Market forces, conversion to capitalism, is taken as an instigator in itself, not for its economic qualities, or it’s polar opposition to the socialist 4

model, but the effect it can have on social development. Under totalitarian rule, capitalism is seen as a beacon of freedom, and that’s when it is most successful.

It never needs to be, and practically never truly is, but that is not the case as part of the discourse of this experiment. Conversion to capitalism is taken not as an acquisition of freedom, but as social liberation. In matured capitalist societies desire is trained to equal lack, and the only way to satisfy the desire is to consume, further feeding the endless cycle of production and consumption. In young, developing market economies, the acquisition of social liberation has the potential of becoming a productive force, dipped and fused with productive desire, separating itself from the fantasy world of oppressive and foreign psychoanalysis. Architecture is therefore an affirmation of social rejuvenation.

It is easy to pinpoint the roots of human alienation within modernity as the result of industrialization and advanced capitalism. Kracauer suggests that the root of an alienation of nature from human consciousness is in modes of artistic reproduction and presentation. The alienation is produced by a structural manifestation of life and humanity, conceived by science and technology. Adorno describes the modern urban landscape as an environment which traps individuals and does not allow for any human interactions. Kracauer described this urban alienation and intellectual abstraction as fatally undermined by development of science, leaving humanity stranded in a world it cannot understand without spiritual guidance. Debord on the other hands writes about the growth of the commodity fetish. He argues that commodity, an affirmation of the capitalist system, has colonized the entire realm of social life. Commodity has provided the proletariat with a false sense of leisure and security, which was taken away during primitive stages of capitalism. Commodification of culture rips content and meaning from the culture; it becomes a spectacle. Alienation is the result of the spectacle; it dislodges the individual from real issues at hand and places him in a world dislocated from reality and everyday issues. This however works only as a mask which subverts his desire to revolt – spectacle is therefore the tool of alienation. Spectacle is the fuel of ideology; it represents the enslavement and negation of real life. The production of a false reality is a violent attack on freedom, which has also been transformed into a mere representation of itself.

Capitalist infiltration is masking the vulnerability and weakness of unity and stability of a society. It reduces social interaction to signs, fetishes and desires. It eliminates the productive and constructive forces in society. Social strength is born out of oppression, no matter whether it is one of political totalitarianism or economic abstractness. The former is a visible and gross violation of liberty, while the ladder consumes and reproduces that violation to its liking. Therefore the former instigates action while the ladder drives social malaise and acceptance. Societies in flux, between the stages are the purest, freest and most expressive.

Without doubt there is a polar distinction between the societies which evolved according to the philosophy of an open market flow and eventually fell victim to the common stereotypes of modern life, and those which have used the transition to capitalism as a social liberator. In Dialectic of Enlightenment Adorno argues how the rational and scientific discourse of the Enlightenment not only destroyed the mysteries of the renaissance and scholasticism but also reduced contemporary life to 5

measurements and calculations. On the contrary, a Marxist society has been able to retain a certain amount of spiritual purity. This assumes a position that Marxism and more specifically communism, as a system loosely based on Marxist thought, has done the exact opposite in trying to devalue religious consciousness. Subsequently, a liberation from Marxism is also a liberation of the all social and spiritual wealth suppressed away from the political oppression. The commodity fetish on the other hand, drains that wealth and does not allow it to store up or expose itself.

The modern discourse of religion is vaguely similar. The content of religion has been somewhat subsumed by its representation, and the spiritual strength of various faiths has been institutionalized through the growing influence of capitalism.

This transformation, a result of the conscious secularization of the Western world beginning with Nietzsche, has been countered with a de-secularization movement within states cut off from the global capitalist market. These states often utilize religion as a revolutionary becoming only to achieve a system which sponsors a nostalgic treatment of faith. Strategic de-secularization and questioning of the imposed and abstract high moral values of the Enlightenment opens the possibility for social evolution and social becoming consequent to political and economic trends in a society. This transformation and the realization of a sociopolitical shift is a victory against the status quo. The pre-imposed dialect results in a foreign and unnatural evolution of culture and society. The transformation is in itself a form of revolution, and a realization of the strength of the will.

Noticing the overwhelming strength of social equalization of the Enlightenment, Nietzsche described a need for a complete re-evaluation of the principles of the established basis of morality. Adorno, on the other hand, vaguely followed the Kantian discourse of accepting the moral right as being philosophically justified. Conversely, in Minima Moralia he accepts that the deeply troubled world can only be engaged by the Judeo-Christian fundamentals of the Enlightenment. Contemporary critical theory has as a result shown little interest in faith, instead championing a rational discourse inspired by neo-Kantianism. Physical and emotional expressions in the name of social wellbeing and social progress have not only been rejected by this rational discourse but also subsumed and eliminated by an overly accepting society.

The idea of acceptance, fetishizing power which dominates one, eliminates any strength and possibility of a social call to order. In this realm, architecture is drained of sociopolitical influence and reduced to form-making and aesthetic articulation. The content of architecture has been subsumed by its representation. An architectural revolution is closely tied to a social liberation, to an attack on the status quo, an attack on acceptance. Social rejuvenation is a break from the malaise of modern life.

Architecture is a means of articulating and confirming a rejection of the status quo and an alteration to basic spatial principles, connectivity and communication.

Although instigated by political change, social rejuvenation is a form of revolution. It cannot be a betrayed revolution. That’s because the history of betrayed revolutions, ones betraying the masses, is simply the history of worker revolutions.

Could it simply be the fault of individuals? Maybe Marx was not read sufficiently enough.

The social revolution has always been within reach, and has not been invalidated by transformations to the industrial societies. Masses always represent a collective will,

which as a desire clears all obstacles in its way. Can desire sustain a systematic force of liberation? Desire is a dangerous tool, never stopping inventing history. The German masses came to desire Nazism. The new revolution is not just a desired social movement. It is more than just attaching a Freudian engine to a Marxist train.

It has to undo a stereotypical opaque economic infrastructure and socio-ideological superstructures as far away from production as possible. The desire found in the historical aspect of revolutions is the same as that found in the exploitation and power of the State. Both rely on the unconsciousness participation of the oppressed. The social revolution has never been separated from desire, and that will not change anytime soon. Capitalism offers no difference, unfortunately. Change is undermining the State’s manipulation of desire. The unconscious is not a theatre, but a factory.

Psychoanalysis has always been a tool of capitalism, operating in the pores of its society and not in the places of confinement. It does not make social liberation any easier. It has ruined the entire enterprise of research and knowledge by instigating an imperialism of methodology. Society, and whatever organizes it, cannot be the supreme authority. The supreme authority is creation and reaction.

The current battle is not only one of liberation, but primarily one of affirmation.

The nemesis is no longer communism, but rather the spirit of communism which has infiltrated all aspects of society. A rejection of communism is always followed by anti-communism, always followed by post-communism; the pendulum of communal instability. Anti-communism and post-communism is only an affirmation of the strength of communism itself. It is never a clear and clean rejection. While the struggle to bring down a totalitarian system exposes the fragility, beauty and unity of the social and cultural structure, the immediate transition out of totalitarianism displays the destructive power of an individual in a society not yet secured from corruption and greed. This transition is often an attack on social unity and cohesion, and cultural strength.

As an example, it would be very difficult not to be critical of the hastily executed conversion to capitalism in Poland. The enormous injection of foreign investment and capital quickly undermined the social cohesion of the force which brought down communism in the first place. The social transformation in Poland is similar to the religious dialectic. The story of religious struggles in Poland is a plateau, and should be considered as such. World War II essentially transformed Poland from one of the most religiously tolerant European countries into a state dominated by a single religion. A 1991 government survey found that Roman Catholicism was professed by 96 percent of the population. The twentieth century therefore marked a historical transformation of Polish identity and nationalism, and returned Poland after exactly a millennium since its conception as a Christian nation to its fundamental religious roots. Consequently, the advent of communism had much less effect on individual’s rights to practice organized religion in Poland compared to other Warsaw Pact members. During this era, the Catholic Church enjoyed varying levels of autonomy, establishing itself as the sole bearer of moral values while challenging for a greater political influence. The church also remained the only defender of identity and freedom, and was heavily strengthened by the ascend of Pope John Paul II, who saw communism less as a misunderstanding and more as a misguided turn towards a new formation of the world and humanity in the name of Marxism. Religion was therefore able to transcend

political oppression before 1989 while helping the population overcome legacies and atrocities of both fascism and communism after the acquisition of freedom.

Subsequently, political and economic liberation, greatly fuelled by spiritual manifestations, began to reshape social structures; liberties, nationalism and the definition of morality. The social and cultural flux can be examined through a simple example. After the fall of communism, the functionality of religious values expressed by an installment of crosses at Auschwitz sparked a general national debate. The controversy was an intra-national argument between sectors of Polish society which tried to define Polish identity as ethno-religious and those which emphasized a need for secular nationalism. On the international scene this debate was however wrongly perceived as a Polish-Jewish conflict, further fuelled by Poland’s uncomfortable relationship with places such as Auschwitz. Any outside interference or attack of Polish religious sentiment towards Auschwitz was viewed as either a violation of the memory of Polish victimization throughout history (especially under Nazism), a perceived global interpretation of Auschwitz as the largest Jewish cemetery or as an excuse to tarnish Poland’s image on the international stage. At the time, the controversy served as a way to solidify the symbolism of the cross as a crucial divider between ‘authentic Poles’ and ‘unauthentic Poles’. Looking back at Poland’s history though, one notices that the cross as a symbol undergoes considerable transformations whose meaning is adjusted to fit popular demand and political structures. It proves that the relationship between religion and nationalism is a dynamic one and not merely linear or purely functionalistic.

While less Poles view Catholicism as an inherent part of their national identity, radical religious outlets are utilizing old-fashioned populism on the old, the poor, and the uneducated. This trend signifies a full transition of the Polish political specter, one which has not only survived communism, but also post-communism and anti-communism, the remaining political systems which publicly sponsored religion as a bearer of moral values in order to gain popularity and prolong their existence. The representation of the religious right as a radical voice, therefore, further integrates Poland with the Western world. It also speaks loudly of the changes to the social fabric. The shift closely follows the generational divide, namely between the generations which inherited the ideological leftovers of totalitarianism, those which used the ideologies as a tool of social liberation and those which have always been completely disconnected from the previous era.

This general divide transcends borders and is reflected thoroughly in remaining Central European nations.

The youthful awakening of political consciousness cannot pass without precedents contemporary precedents. There of course were those five wonderful, spirited years starting in 1965; a youthful struggle which spanned both sides of the big water. Student manifestations have always had a way of representing opposition to repressive politics and a libido of cultural struggles. More specifically, the events in Paris were much more than just the setting fire and reliving the years of the dreamy Europe of surrealists. The struggle never materialized, because the status quo was too strong.

The peaceful generational transition in post-communist Europe could be so much more effective, while tracking along so quietly. This year is the first in which 6

the graduating university class commenced school, the early school, after the fall of communism, thereby being completely disengaged from its institutionalized ideologies.

It is a significant transition beyond its obvious symbolism, because suddenly the new workforce, new political influence, new homeowners are fully disengaged from communism, anti-communism and post-communism. Resentment, nostalgia and revenge are disappearing from the political and economic landscape. The new influence is one of complete and open opportunity, respecting the past, but not relying on it for guidance and direction. The shift within the sphere of influence tied to generational mentalities allows for and stipulates a complete rethinking and reevaluation of the physical marks left by previous generations. It is more than just a case of an ideological shift and readjustment. The adjustment is one from an ideologically driven society to a responsive one. Architecture must follow this paradigm change.

Socialist housing estates are the most culturally significant and physically visible leftovers of communist regimes. They symbolize flawed urban planning, war reconstruction efforts, propaganda tools and misguided approaches to establishing living standards and spheres of social interaction. Through it all, they have become aesthetically, and more specifically symbolically unattractive residential domains for the new generation. The significant social change has guided young people to move out and live on their own much sooner in their lives. An apartment, no longer, typically, houses three generations of a single family. That explains constant housing construction and continuing demand for more. The average age within the residential estates from the communist era is continually rising. The trend is obvious, and architecture, as a profession concerned first and foremost, with solving problems must react to this trend. The solution is not and never can be to build new and demolish old.

The challenge is to colonize a physical environment, erasing the symbolism and stigma it possesses and replace it with a refreshed mentality, which will inherently alter the physical landscape. Deleuze and Guattari phrased this process reterritorialization.

The process is the formulation of a new power, one which reflects new standards of living and new social domains of communication and interaction. Designing a new power is supposed to have the ability to take over a physical environment. This existing has already been deterritorialized. The fall of communism has been that process. The buildings and estates lack the political manifestation, ideology and propaganda they used to possess. They feed on historical symbolism and nostalgia, since at present, to those conceiving them as purely physical entities; they have lost the original symbolism.

Reterritorialization is the strategy and method of using architecture to materialize social rejuvenation. It feeds of contextualism, not the nostalgic postmodern kind, and reappropriation. It is a responsive tool, one which transcends the boundaries between architecture and culture and social structures. Conversely, it binds them all together.

Reterritorialization is as much a process as it is an effect. The process feeds into the effect and draws physical and spatial qualities from the properties which define the process. The desired effect is a space which responds to societal and cultural shifts, and therefore the spatial qualities which define and symbolize those shifts drive the definition of the process. Market forces are a mere catalyst. They, as a symbol of transition and acquisition of a result desired by the masses, represent a shift in spatial configuration and overall approach in conceiving public spaces. Reterritorialization 7

is best understood as a form of architectural colonization, using market forces as a driving force and fresh economic system, one completely foreign and polar to the previous system. As a fresh system, its flaws and downfalls are temporarily negated and hidden. It is utilized for its ability to unify social strength against totalitarianism.

Architecture and spatial definition is a means of capitalizing on this strength.

Market forces and socialist housing, the results of opposite political systems, should not be conceived of as opposing entities. More importantly, the two are not forming a dialectic. Not all reactions between the one and the other are always dialectic.

All forces rely on other forces for affirmation or negation. The key is the negative in the equation. One force is inherently negative to the other, commonly the source. Negative is entirely a relative term, and never a description of an essence. The negative element always affirms its own difference. It is a result of activity, a conception of affirmation.

Difference is the essence of negation and a construction of existence. Market forces at once negate the presence of socialist housing, while at the same time affirming their effect and symbolism. It is a relationship fused with hierarchy, working on different levels and infiltrating various pores of society. A dialectic, on the contrary, is a force not strong enough to affirm its difference, and not authentic enough to register on the level of existence. The relationship between socialist housing and market forces is not dialectical but one consumed with negation, affirmation and infiltration. The difference and evolution from one to the other is also never linear, but constructive, at times destructive and responsive.

The new power, the colonizing force has specific attributes. It is, as a strategy, prototypical, while as a result aggressively parasitic. The parasite is inherently always smaller at the start, but grows, benefits from the association with the host, reproduces and spreads. Eventually it has the potential to spread beyond the host itself, garner strength and expand beyond the physical boundaries which defined its original existence. That is primarily a physical growth of the system, the architectural and urban mode of development. The infiltration of market forces onto socialist housing is an initial step, a natural selection. As it grows, the force, the parasite, looks for a new host to nest, the parasitic transmission. It is a form of urban reappropriation and colonization. The act of transmission is an urban bind. The parasite, market forces, attaches itself to the host, socialist housing, and intensifies in hot-spots, but makes links and connections between the hot-spots. It is a reactive system, constructing gradients and zones of intensification.

It reacts to various trends, economic and architectural. Economic trends include demand, need, presence of consumers, and specific socio-geographical qualities including average age or demographic make-up. Architectural trends include the various physical attributes of a given area and their potential for expansion or modification. Designing a new power therefore draws upon the two primal architectural determinants; function and aesthetic. One is inherently always in flux, while the other has to be subjective. Together, they are an internal force, somewhat disconnected from the overall colonizing force, which is primarily a strategic approach. Function and aesthetic are the qualities and attributes of the resulting colonization. They are an internal force which obeys the system and affirms its power. They exercise their force through mechanical means and ends. They are reactive and dependent forces.

Nietzsche saw death as the greatest affirmation of life. He described tragedy as a transcendental form in an otherwise meaningless world. Liberation is therefore the finest affirmation of oppression. Consequently, oppression is the finest affirmation of liberty. The transition, the process of liberation, is inherently a transcendental quality.

It represents a society in flux, in its most primal and sensitive stage. It is also fused with the dreamiest aspects of existence; a disconnection from the soberness and rationality of reality. It is a manifestation of naturalism and the value of suffering. Out of the process, before it settles and stagnates in the discourse of the new system, a social rebirth occurs, one which has the strength to influence the physical environment it occupies, without the need to resort to ideology.

Schopenhauer wrote about a will to live, a primordial affection to living, trying to avoid death at all costs. For Schopenhauer a will to live is a fundamental trait of existence, more important than life itself. It is a natural struggle to retain consciousness and avoid finality. It is primarily a struggle for survival, and not advancement or evolution. It springs from fear and a complete lack of cognition of life beyond life. A generation later, Nietzsche expanded on the will to live, by reversing the primal need as one based in survival, with one based in advancement and power. A will to power, to gain and possess power is stronger than the will to survive. From the psychological perspective, the goal of existence is to inflict one’s will onto another; be it with material or emotional influence. The will to power is in that sense a quality of an individual and not the collective, and is a reflection of the growth of the individual within the developing society.

The elementary difference between Schopenhauer’s and Nietzsche’s will is the preoccupation with power. Schopenhauer’s will is never satisfied; it is part of the natural process of being, and is unintelligent. The will is driven by desire, lust and aspirations; it makes a burden of one’s existence. It is not a material desire, but one which needs to transcend existence itself. Since the will is never satisfied, it never affirms anything, and only causes suffering. The will to power, on the other hand, affirms life, creates instincts and instances in order to satisfy a desire to power. The will is therefore achievable; and encapsulates all suffering as a process which must be embraced in order to fully satisfy the will. Although the will is an individual quality, exerted by a being onto another or onto the collective, the will as a binding element of society must also be achievable.

Aim should never be removed from the will. The will must be driven by a psychological or emotional desire to change or acquire something. When the will is a product of a social liberation, the will is in itself a social, collective quality. One will always follows another, until it is satisfied. When liberation is achieved, and a collective will is satisfied, a new will is born out of the satisfaction. The will to power as a collective force exerts itself on the society. The material realization of new social and living standards or a betterment of the old is the underlying will of the social rejuvenation which drives the architectural intervention of this project. This will distinguishes people from machines. The will exerts a force which as a matter of rules needs to counter with another force. This will exerts market forces, for its symbolism of course, upon an environment which has to react with a counter force.

The counter force does not need to be one of negation. It can be a supporting

force; a responsive tool. A will to power is possessed by the eternal recurrence of the same; the idea that the binding social action is bound to repeat itself. It is the most un-paralyzing thought, and one which affirms the strength of the force. Although the will itself is bound for repetition, the force which follows it is not. As a matter of rules, the counter force is bound, in terms of strength, to the original force. Architectural intervention and reappropriation is ultimately bound to the strength of the will, the influence of the will on social rejuvenation, and its relationship with market forces as catalyst. Architectural intervention is the solicitor and mediator between the force and the counter force. The intervention discerns the relationship between the repetition of the force and its strength.

Design becomes the mode of expressing a will, while architecture is the physical manifestation of the will. Spatial qualities are the affirmation of the will. The definition of space confirms the desire of social rejuvenation. On the architectural level it is a transformation of space defined by ideology versus space defined by a will.

Space is meant to be both a reflection of the will, and an enhancer and affirmation of a social force. The new space therefore corresponds to new demands and social standards while offering opportunities for further development and modification. Unlike the previous approach, it is not to be stuck in time, but transform itself and adjust to new influences. It is in a state of constant flux.

The new space is not only an affirmation of the process which developed it and the forces which brought down the old space, but it is also, and maybe primarily, an experiment of multiplicity. Spatial definition sheds its ideological skin and becomes closely knit with movement and time. That is the natural definition of space. Totalitarian architecture froze the development of space and negated the value of space with the greater society; thereby fully disconnecting it from the variable it most depends on: time. This project takes on the task of defining the space not through the catalyst, market forces, but through a system which can change over time. For that purpose the process of reterritorialization is divided into components, some architectural and some not, which define their own criteria but also depend on each other and shape each other’s development. Spatial definition is a matrix of these components.

Social rejuvenation which defines the spatial configuration is in itself a kit of parts. The characteristics of the system are primarily based on multiplicity, communication and individualization. The characteristics register spatial qualities on two primary architectural determinants. These determinants, program and circulation, or content and connection, not only define space but also respond to social standards and demands in an evolving and transforming society. The challenge however is to develop a system which transcends contemporary trends, while respecting and responding to them.

In botany, a rhizome is a horizontal, underground connection between plants. It creates a node system out of the roots of plants and develops a web which cannot be broken by simply cutting of a single connection. Rhizomes instigate further growth, vegetative reproduction and sharing of vital resources. They become organic machines. Deleuze and Guattari use the metaphor of the botanical rhizome to define research and knowledge theory which uses non-hierarchical representation and interpretation modes. The rhizome as a system inherently based on multiplicity, 8

cognitively and physically, represents an image of thought. Rhizomes become series of nodes, multiplying, enlarging, and disappearing. They are in constant flux and never completely dependent on another. A rhizome includes the best and the worst, it fluctuates randomly, without pre-conditioned rules. A rhizome varies in concentration and density. A rhizomatic connection varies in strength, length and relevance.

Information stored and transmitted content in architectural terms depends on the node and connection characteristics.

A rhizome can take any shape. It can respond to the current demand and transform along with time. The multiplicity cannot change without changes in the system, the nature of things. The image of a rhizome is a schematic model of urban expressions relating to the project, while the construction, logic and qualities of the system relate to the characteristics of the new power. A rhizome has the potential to represent the collective will, while it also possesses the ability to adjust over the course of time. It therefore satisfies the necessary relationship between space and time. A rhizome is not a masterplan, but a method leading to a masterplan. This method should not be confused with the process of reterritorialization, which is not a design method, but a theoretical approach to colonizing a physical environment with a new and foreign psychological sphere. A rhizome, on the other hand, is physical and gestural.

The rhizome operates on two architectural levels, as the system is composed of two distinct attributes; nodes and links. Nodes correspond to content, while links to circulation. Nodes are the concentrations of people and activity. Links are the transitory spaces, between the concentrations. Nodes are scaled proportioned to the content, the amount of people; whether it is a residential building, another program or a space which has potential for congregation. Links are always relative in size and direction to the nodes. Nodes can change in size and location. Nodes can be added or taken away. Links always respond to the node changes. Nodes and links function together and depend on each other, without any obvious political intervention of ideology or propaganda. Most importantly, the system relates to social calls and not a foreign and abstract influence. A rhizome provides a means to escape from the rigid economic and political model which has come to dominate totalitarian design.

The rhizomatic model should not be seen as a substitute for the old system. It is not an invention of one generation replacing an invention of another. It is not a style; it is completely free of form and aesthetics. Articulation and stylistic development is free to evolve according to cultural specificities and change with time. The rhizome is a direct physical translation of social rejuvenation and represents a means of colonization and reappropriation. The rhizome is lines and scales at work. Lines and scales compose the rhizomatic model and define it as well.

It is impossible to understand the effect of totalitarianist urbanism and architecture without finding a force which affirms it and exploits it. All forces affirm, dominate or exploit. These are all forces of multiplicity. Without understanding the object which the forces are directed against, it is difficult to understand the nature of the force itself. The strength of market forces can only be truly affirmed when applied to an object which will affirm them. When developing without a context, or an enemy, a force can never affirm its own importance. Market forces are taken as a symbolic 9

representation of a new political structure, but of course they are more than that. It is easy to villanize them, because they have often villanized themselves. The aim is to affirm their strength on social cognition. Market forces are not in opposition to socialist housing estates, but a multiplicity of understanding social phenomena. Socialism eliminates the multiplicity within that phenomenon.

There is a unique duality at play in this project. Socialist housing estates litter across vast geographical areas and encounter numerous cultural differentiations. The physical environment represents a constant repetition of the same resulting in subtle and important differences. They are in their own way a functional multiplicity. The social will which driving the forces of change is also acting in various contextual multiplicities.

The design of the new power, reterritorialization, is a single strategy, separated from contextualism. It utilizes a model, a metaphor, which although champions the idea of multiplicity, is as a model a singular entity. The challenge is to program the model, synchronize its reactions with the changes it can encounter along its application process. It must, in all cases, root out the traces of specificity and respond to them accordingly. Should it fail to do that, it will become just another ideology.

Reterritorialization is not a medicinal treatment; it is not fighting, curing or disposing anything. While it approaches all estates the same way, like a military strike, it strategizes and adjusts. It conquers psychologically, respects the physical, at least the existing and instills a new system synchronized with cultural and contextual specificities. It attempts to bind an abstract foreign environment with the standards of a society evolved beyond the abstract ideology. Reterritorialization is always a form of relativism, it respects an approach that cognitive and aesthetic values are dependent on cultures and locations, and that those values can change over time, are never absolute or objective.

Designing a system which yields a multiplicity of results is a unique architectural approach. The architectural problem is not physical, nor is it primarily concerned with the relationship between form and function. The process must account for numerous variables and respond adequately to them all, or at least acknowledge their existence.

The design is however full of architectural challenges. Questions of program, structure, and articulation are all essential qualitative entities of the system. The architectural problem is most profoundly tied to satisfying a need, finding a solution and establishing a physical environment suitable in an ever-changing world. The architectural problem is also tied to the idea of housing; the evolution of housing in the twentieth century and its transformation in the twenty-first century.

Architecture is used much less for its ability to manufacture form or define and articulate function, but more as a mediator between a social will and a physical environment representing the anti-will. The socialist estates counter the will, not with residual force, but an injection of symbolism. They have always separated themselves from the surroundings and are hesitant to join them now. The bind, the parasitic reaction is potentially a dangerous process steeped in hesitation and discomfort.

Cities, however, are the greatest registers of history, and have a near perfect memory.

All too often, city districts are chapters in history, the divisions between them eliminating valuable spills, overflows and overlays. Reterritorialization instigates an overlay and thrives in physical discomfort, at least for a little while.

To act on the leftovers of a totalitarian manifestation in the name of a liberated economy and rejuvenated social structure is to affirm not the totalitarian system, but the struggle which brought down the system. The operation assures comfort with history and relationship with the products of the past generation. It breaks down the strategy of ignorance, fear and political stigma. It is an approach of acceptance, affirmation and exploitation. Rather than build new, the old is exploited for what it is and for what it can handle. Space is modified, symbolism is abandoned and architecture is utilized in the name of improvement.

Fredric Jameson developed an understanding of a space, in the conceptual sphere, established by postmodernism, and called it hyperspace. Hyperspace refers to a space which does not allow an individual to locate himself even though the physical properties of the space are mappable. Hyperspace eliminates the capacity of a being to develop cognitive understanding of his or her surroundings. It is a product of general malaise of the modern and eventually postmodern society. Hyperspace is not only a physical phenomenon, as the concept applies to the psychological and fantasy realm; constantly disorienting. Hyperspace is stripped of content and meaning. It becomes a relatively negative aspect of the postmodern society, or as Jameson calls it, its cultural logic.

This project, fascinated with inversions and conversions, treats hyperspace as a positive feature of a society, and attempts to exploit its benefits. Jameson considers hyperspace to be the result and cause of a depthless culture, a theory he shares with Baudrillard. Content and authenticity has been replaced by its reference, its image and its sign. It is a form of cultural and social simulacra. The inversion of hyperspace, one which retains the openness, vagueness and commodity of the space, and injects it with a social cause, a deeper meaning and cultural cognition, is in itself a constructive revolution. Hyperspace is always conceived of as a result of a greater narrative, but when treated as a design strategy and a desired outcome, fused with meaning it suddenly becomes an expression of the will. This project attempts to create a meaningful, productive and responsive hyperspace, although that is quite frankly a bit of a paradox.

The aim, the strategic goal, is to affirm hyperspace, not as a physical entity with various qualities and characteristics, but as a postmodern spatial logic. Affirmation is confirmation and exploitation, and this project is an experiment in affirming. Socialist housing estates are affirmed as a viable counter force in the development of the project. Market forces are affirmed as a psychological determinant and drive. Political and economical transitions are affirmed, when all that is done is no longer done it their name. History is affirmed and can be respected and not forgotten or erased.

A generational will to power is affirmed by conducting the process and developing a strategy which draws on the will. The rhizome is affirmed as symbol of spatial, communicational and organizational multiplicity.

The project should not be taken as a dialectic between one generation, one chapter in history, one mentality against another. This project is not a dialectical opposition, if anything it is an opposition to dialectical opposition. Dialects are not affirmative forces, but abstract separations and constructions of the opposite. Social will is an evolutionary quality, the revolution already took place. The will cannot be in

direct opposition to something, to the past, because it is not born of the past, but of the present. This project is about a narrative. The narrative relates to the greater history, but also to the process and strategy which consumes it. All points lead to other points and relate to each other. The system is driven by forces; physical, psychological and imaginary. The result is not a result, but a variable of the multiplicity or possible results.

10

2

The blessing of the market economy has changed the architect’s role from one of influence to one of mere importance. Market economy and scaling back of institutional power has eroded the sway an architect used to have over fundamental issues, such as; how a city is to look or how public transportation is to function.

Within the western civilization, architecture has turned from ideology to symbolism.

It is no mystery that as the public sphere has shrunken so has the impact and influence of architecture. This should not be looked at as a bad thing however. When architects were influential they simply made many mistakes and dangerous choices.

Institutional authority mobilized architecture within the massive playground of an exposed and vulnerable public sphere. Design was seen as an ideological tool; one which disregarded sensitivity and scale. This ideology is an expression of political views, economic reforms and social restructuring. More often than not it is a form of propaganda. Architecture can have two roles within this ideology; either as a puppet of the system, or as a free-spirited amendment to the status quo.

The influence of the architect also has much correlation with the history of the metropolis. From the dawn of industrialization, the city has come to define social standards. The growth of the metropolis has offered the architect countless chances at conceptual rethinking of the meaning and formulation of density. The narrative of the city, especially within the past two centuries, is subsequently and often unfortunately, closely synchronized with architectural expression and certain will to power. This complex relationship is heavily influenced by global and local events. The process is formed by a chain of action and reaction sequences.

Post World War II European reconstruction and restructuring is a particularly important period of history, as it not only divided Europe politically, but also created a high contrast of physical environments. The particularly acute east-west division was one completely abstract for the European landscape, which historically has been accustomed to a north-south division. Cultural, religious and social structuring of Europe much more closely follows a north-south delineation. Access to various natural resources, climatic differences and the evolution of Europe has much to do with this historical partitioning. Nonetheless, the new political division of Europe had a tremendous impact on cities.

The contemporary European landscape owns tremendously to the series of 1945 conferences, most importantly in Yalta and Postdam, between the glorious three. This abstract, culturally careless and completely politically motivated redrawing of European borders and spheres of influence has had a massive physical impact on how destructed cities have rebuilt. Subsequently, treatment of older architectural relics and styles which did not fit within the incoming ideology would get severely affected. Industry and the focus of economic restructuring would have important consequences regarding growth of cities and population shifts. All this primarily concerns the development and reconceptualization of housing; it’s place in the city and it’s formal expression.

Nations which fell within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union went through two distinct phases in architectural styles; strikingly different from each other. Immediately following the War, a period of socialist realism, a continuation of pre-War expression ensued. A number of housing districts, often in the centers of

cities were quickly developed following the elements of this style. Stylistically it was a total rejection of modernist principles, often seen as socially adherent to the bourgeoisie culture. Socialist realism drew on classical architectural motifs while becoming a form of artistic propaganda. This side of Europe wanted to become a symbolic beacon of production, social welfare and wellbeing. Rebuilt cities were supposed to represent a modern metropolis, but obviously a classically motivated style did the exact opposite.

The second phase of architectural expression developed out of the deStalinization era while embracing the fact that socialist realism hardly created a modern and productive aura. Consequently, communist ideology referred, not explicitly, to an architectural style it most revered at first - modernism. That relationship is definitely not as straight forward as it seems. Modernism is only embraced as a formal, unornamented language. Attention to detail, construction methods and spatial ideology are all ignored. As a result, the style should more accurately be referred to as pseudo-modernism. Nonetheless, on a purely ideological level, the basis for building articulation and site planning referenced back to the Athens Charter and the International Style.

The second stylistic phase also responded to two crucial demands of later building developments: budget restraints and quickness of construction. Developing socialist economies undertook a campaign of using architecture and urbanism as a show of prosperity and strength. A progressive and oppressive development within the communist structure eroded the constant need for this ideology. Within that shift, a growing demand for urban housing and speedy reconstruction emerged. Simple, unarticulated housing blocks, made of prefabricated panels began to dominate housing districts and the overall urban landscape. This construction method and stylistic expression peaked during the 1970’s. Socialist Europe had come to embrace the formal language of high modernism just as Charles Jencks declared its official death after the Pruitt Igoe spectacle. The difference of circumstances between the North American example and Europe east of the wall should not be underestimated.

Within the racially and economically diverse North American landscape, projects such as Pruitt Igoe had come to symbolize segregation and greatly contribute to crime rates, social injustice and urban dysfunction. These factors have never been attached to high rise housing districts east of the wall in Europe.

The reason for shedding this stereotypical social division within Europe is rather simple. Firstly, the racial segregation and class divisions were never an important issue in socialist Europe, and if any ever existed, they corresponed to tensions between rural and urban populations. Secondly and more importantly, socialist housing estates in Europe were not the atypical urban development, but rather the norm. This point undercuts the depth of the contemporary issue. Central European cities suffered tremendous population losses during the War and the immediate rise in urban populations that followed created heavy demands for speedy construction.

The demand played into the hands of communist governments which used housing construction as a propaganda tool and ideological symbol. As an extreme example, the population of Warsaw increased by over half a million in the decade following the War and continued to climb steadily into the twenty-first century.

12

Warsaw, Poland

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

1920

1900

0 2000

0 1990

0

1980

250000

1970

250000

1960

250000

1950

500000

1940

500000

1930

500000

1920

750000

1910

750000

1900

750000

2000

1000000

1990

1000000

1980

1000000

1970

1250000

1960

1250000

1950

1250000

1940

1500000

1930

1500000

1920

1500000

1910

1750000

1900

1750000

1910

Budapest, Hungary

1750000

Prague, Czech Republic 13

1900

2000

Brno, Czech Republic

Bratislava, Slovakia

1930

0

1930

0

1920

0

2000

250000

1990

250000

1980

250000

1970

500000

1960

500000

1950

500000

1940

750000

1930

750000

1920

750000

1910

1000000

1900

1000000

1990

1000000

1980

1250000

1970

1250000

1960

1250000

1950

1500000

1940

1500000

1930

1500000

1920

1750000

1910

1750000

1900

1750000

1910

CITIES

Wroclaw, Poland

1950

Most, Czech Republic

20000

20000

0

0

0

Tatabanya, Hungary

Tiszaujvaros, Hungary

1950

20000

2000

40000

1990

40000

1980

40000

1970

60000

1960

60000

1950

60000

2000

80000

1990

80000

1980

80000

1970

100000

1960

100000

1950

100000

1970

1950

Havirov, Czech Republic

1960

Eisenhuttenstadt, Germany

2000

0

2000

0

1990

0

1990

20000

1980

20000

1980

20000

1970

40000

2000

40000

1990

40000

1980

60000

1970

60000

1960

60000

2000

80000

1990

80000

1980

80000

1970

100000

1960

100000

1950

100000

1960

TOWNS

Tychy, Poland 14

The second phenomenon is the rapid development of so-called new towns.

The vast majority of new socialist towns were build adjacent to a new factory, industrial plant or a mine. The growth of this typology responds to the emphasis on industrial production and national economic sustainability. The town was therefore meant to house the workers, while becoming a showpiece of communist efficiency. Due to industrial transformations and developments driven by technological improvements, the dependence and importance of many of these new towns has dwindled resulting in high unemployment, poor living standards and constant population changes. Many of these towns have seen their population peak in the 1980’s only to begin and continue dropping since the fall of communism.

The sheer scale of housing construction, especially abiding by the pseudomodernist principles, was conducted at a scale unimaginable in the capitalist world.

The complete control of the housing sector by the government has contributed to a homogenous stylistic expression and overall approach to site planning. The acuteness of the problem with these structures and housing districts is their prototypical approach and a rejection of any level of contextualism.

The relevance of totalitarian housing solutions has only strengthened as the European political landscape has undergone significant changes over the past twenty years. This relevance works on a number of levels. Firstly, the architectural significance is that a vast majority of the prefabricated housing blocks are nearing their lifespan, and are visibly beginning to deteriorate. A number of short term solutions have been applied. The extent of these has been to patch up the structural flaws and repaint the buildings. Secondly, the design and detailing of the buildings reflects the expired attitudes towards standards of living, internal comfort and a total neglect of the values of a capitalist society. Central heating systems, a lack of cooling systems or the infrastructure to support it and no spatial variability are evidence of this. Poor construction and material choices has often resulted in the uppermost apartments receiving extreme amounts of heat while units near the ground are left significantly cooler. Thirdly, failure to evolve has made them less appealing for younger generations to live in. As a result, new housing construction has enjoyed a significant increase in the past ten years, and a vast majority of new housing projects are build in mind for the generation which is psychologically detached from the communist era.

As the political atmosphere around the housing blocks evolves and transforms along with demands for living standards and general urban conditions, the actual housing estates must inherently evolve as well. Stagnation risks inevitable mass population losses and eventual destruction. This path would not only be more costly, but would also follow the discourse of the creation of these projects. On that level, reterritorialization is a generational struggle. It should be taken as much more than a readjustment of spatial composition based on a fresh political ideology or formal investigation.

Within the dangerous and careless prototypical approach, some basic elements of style should be considered. These elements operate on two separate levels; their individual qualities and performance, and the resulting variations of composition. The composition variable is one independent of site specifics. One of the primary factors, which ultimately shape the spatial qualities of a site as well as 15

relative functional success of a neighborhood, is the height of the residential buildings.

The two common extremes in building height are four and twelve story structures, with a broad range in between. These extremes are a result of two factors. The upper limit broadly corresponds to the structural capabilities of prefabricated housing available at the time and given the low budget. The lower limit is even more so a budget concern, as in most places in communist Europe, residential structures less than five storeys in height did not legally require an elevator. Eliminating the need for elevators had a significant impact on construction costs.

Building height has a direct relationship with occupancy, especially given that the actual floor plan layout underwent minimal changes and variations. Site masterplans also exhibited a consciousness of the vertical qualities of the structures, as building spacing and composition is heavily affected by height variations. Shorter buildings are typically and logically much closer together is such layouts, while taller buildings provide generous space in between. Nonetheless, the height variable is dependent on two factors; housing demand needed to satisfy and location within the city.

On a spatial and organizational level, one can conclude that estates mainly composed of shorter buildings function more efficiently and intimately than ones dominated by taller buildings. Shorter residential structures inherently provide an abundance of benefits absent from taller ones, primarily in analyzing and deconstructing the ground plane. Firstly, shorter buildings do not disturb the proportion between ground and facade in relation to the human scale. Secondly, they provide some sense of comfort, safety, security, community integration and surveillance. Thirdly, vertically the buildings can be integrated more intimately and successfully with trees and other forms of greenery changing the visual perception of the entire district both from inside apartments and the ground. Facade treatments become more feasible and successful.

Taller buildings, on the other hand, are less integrated into the ground conditions.

Within the building typology, height is only one variable, albeit one which has a direct correlation with other formal expressions. There is essentially two different types of building systems, each having a significant sub-category. The two typologies are: tower structures and long staircase buildings. Towers are commonly divided between single structures and groupings of either two or three towers connected on the ground level. The staircase typology is much more complex. This typology marks a significant difference between the referenced housing solutions in North America. Socialist housing estates employed a strategy of having a separate staircase, or vertical circulation core, spaced according to layout demands which allowed a compete avoidance of long hallways on each floor. In this system, a group of three or four apartments are organized around the stair landing on each floor. Each particular staircase is therefore accessible by the few, three or four per floor, rather than the occupancy of the entire building, preserving a slightly more localized atmosphere.

The staircases are commonly divided into two separate typologies, which in turn develop the entire building form. These two are either; a straight rectangle or a bent condition making a forty-five degree angle. Two extreme building forms develop out of these two variables, with a wide range of variations in between. First is a long rectangular building and second is a courtyard typology, a building composed of similar bending staircase elements which ultimately closes on itself. Site masterplans

also vary significantly in terms of utilizing either one of the two options exclusively, or mixing the two typologies in various relations. Smaller courtyard structures are more commonly also shorter, while the larger ones are taller; therefore proportions remain relative.

Aside from the residential buildings, vast majority of socialist housing estates contained other prototypical architectural elements. The most common of these are elementary and secondary schools. The size or number of these directly related to the population of the estate. The construction method and stylistic language of the schools closely follows the principles of the residential structures. As a general rule, schools varied between two and three stories in height. The minimalist form is much better suited to institutional structures, especially shorter ones, therefore the schools remain as an interesting and somewhat compelling leftover of the architectural period in communist Europe. Also, while the housing market transforms and evolves, educational buildings endured political transformations without much criticism or attempts at modification.

Other common structures found at the estates are the bare attempts at satisfying the need for support programs. These programs include pharmacies, clinics, a grocery store and a post office. Two common formal solutions include grouping all the functions into one larger building located somewhere on the site or dispersing the programs within close proximity creating a pseudo central area.

Stylistically, both solutions follow the language of the school. Programmatically, the support programs never symbolized a significant central commercial or infrastructural zone, nor corresponded to the demand of the site.

On a purely functional level, perhaps the greatest design flaw of the housing districts is the approach to and solution to pedestrian and vehicular circulation. This issue is completely separate from the architectural language of the residential buildings, yet intricately connected to the geometric composition of the structures.

For the most part, pedestrian circulation corresponds only to the location of entry points into buildings. Other than that, there simply is no trace of logic of the layout of the paths, nor an intricate relationship to other points on the site. The volume of the paths is too great given the actual traffic and the size of the paths in no way corresponds to the specifics of the particular area of the site. Given the geometry of the individual components of the structures, all buildings are arranged according to multiples of a forty-five degree angle rotation. Although each building is naturally restricted to this geometric composition, all surrounding buildings follow the angle lines, thereby creating numerous conditions of parallel or perpendicular arrangements. The circulation paths strictly follow the building geometry and angles. Therefore all paths intersect at forty five, ninety or one hundred and thirty five degree angles. While this strategy is logical given the structural properties of the buildings, it is completely illogical within the context of circulation efficiency. The quickest method of moving from one point to another is using a straight line, which as a system is completely independent of the building layout. The pedestrian circulation strategy is thereby not one of functionality, which would be approached through a system of vectors, but rather a purely graphic one. The strategy reinforces the notion that districts were designed exclusively in plan and within the development area, disconnecting them from the basic human scale

and contextual relationships. A top view approach is also one most connected with a a prototypical strategy.

Given the inefficiency of the system, currently, the most interesting paths on the sites are the ones not built or designed, but rather the ones carved out of the grass through frequent usage. This phenomenon occurs everywhere and is a strong signal of what the most used connections and circulation patterns are. This refers to both direction and volume. The most responsive, and not prescriptive, way of developing a circulation map of the site would be to treat it as a true tabula rasa. Erase all existing paths and allow circulation to flow according to efficiency and comfort (as a response to shadow or heat patterns at various times of the day). The map would carve itself out over time, and would look completely different than the existing circulation patterns.

Vehicular circulation is an issue at times very separate from pedestrian circulation and at times closely connected. More than anything, this issue symbolizes the influence and resulting impact of the market economy. In general, vehicular circulation follows the same illogical and purely graphic top view layout as pedestrian circulation, often competing with each other. Secondly, most sites have an overabundance of roads. A common reason behind that aspect is the fact that parking garages or lots were never originally designed as part of the masterplan, and therefore street parking accounted for the demand of the residents. As the capitalist economy shifted the balance and standard of car ownership, subsequently the amount of cars increased. The common rate of one vehicle to one family, and therefore apartment no longer applies. Not only have families gotten smaller as younger people started to move out much earlier, thereby creating a constant demand for housing despite stagnating population figures, the average number of vehicles per apartment has nearly doubled.

Initially internal traffic roads became exclusively used for parking, followed by a development of using sidewalks as parking spots. More and more often various districts have begun using residual areas of the site as parking lots, creating further chaos and disorganization on the site. The districts which have not attempted to cope with the chronic parking problem are often only satisfying half the demand. That demand is only a measure of the parking necessary for residents and does not account for any outside vehicles. In that respect all commercial and supporting programs may only profit from the demand on the site and cannot count on any substantial business from other sources.

The infiltration of parking on residual areas of various sites brings another design and planning issue to the front. A purely geometrical approach to organizing residential districts inevitably leaves zones which are either unaccounted for, or on the contrary, are spots assigned an outdoor program which has never materialized.

This duality is a common theme for all socialist town planning; an over-prescriptive spatial system which never quite functions according to plan. Within the abstract housing estate geometry, where the subdivision of land can never fully correspond to actual programming necessities, unused residual space is an obvious result. Too often, however, this residual space divides possible relationships between buildings and social cohesion that can potentially exist. As a result, the estates develop sharp contrasts in densities throughout the site. Theoretically, this result is not necessarily 16

negative, but consequently it breaks down the unity of the site and its potential for large scale interaction.

The size of the open, unused spaces is also often completely beyond a human scale. Any areas of social interaction or recreation would never successfully occur in open fields. These spaces, along with a strict geometrical composition are excellent repellents to any attempt at modification or transformation of the housing site as a whole. As a broad strategy, the estates have sheltered themselves from the forces of capitalism and social rejuvenation. The design of longevity and compositional survival is an interesting phenomenon. It should therefore be no surprise that as a general policy and strategy socialist housing estates have not garnered much attention. In principle, an addition or transformation of a single structure would hardly make a change to the overall atmosphere. Substantial and meaningful change could only be accomplished through a holistic approach and re-evaluation of the entire urban and architectural condition.

A holistic approach does not necessarily refer to a total redesign of the site, but rather a careful analysis of the existing composition of the site and how it functions.

Subsequently any meaningful change to the masterplan, as both a functioning entity and an aesthetic statement, can only be accomplished through an urbanistic approach.

Capitalist agglomeration is dangerously disconnected and thoroughly uninterested in urbanism, especially in growing markets, while local authorities have for the most part shied away from urbanism and large scale design. A shift of urban theory from an educational approach to an authoritarian one has also created a gap in the way the profession is often taught on the local level. Small scale, reactive infiltration is commonly accepted as a more intimate strategy.

In growing market economies, commercial growth has primarily occurred on two extreme scales. Firstly, local small scale developments are an expression of economic freedom and have become a staple of redevelopment efforts of older urban districts. Secondly, large scale commercial growth has occurred in areas previously unoccupied. This growth refers to either large shopping malls or single big box stores, which are often a symbol market economy in the west. Unfortunately, neither scale by itself is a suitable method of colonizing socialist housing estates. Neither achieves the correct balance between transformation and respect. Furthermore, both types of capitalist growth are extremely symbolic. One speaks of opportunity, while the other of openness. Both retain a quality of representation, or image, rather than contextaulism and sensitive modification of a physical landscape severely damaged over the course of totalitarian rule.

Bearing this chronology and trends in mind, the portrait of a Central European city is quite a divided one. Socialist urbanism ignored the rich history of the metropolis, while capitalism has for the most part steered clear of redefining socialist urbanism within the context of a new political landscape. Both urban strategies are rooted in presenting an image and are a vulgar disconnection from context. The political shift has therefore isolated socialist housing estates from their context more so than the original planning intention. Currently, these estates function as typical bedroom communities, islands in the urban landscape which on a recreational, social and commercial level fail to cater to their own resident base. Ironically, these islands commonly fall in the very 17

center of the city. The urban division is therefore one between those areas which are meant to be exhibited to the developed world of capitalism, while hiding those which are unfortunate leftovers of the previous regime. In this scheme, housing estates of the communist era are eliminated, as much as possible, from interpreting the city as contemporary. It is a strategy geared towards image and tourism.

The elementary flaw in conceiving the post-communist city in this manner, is the ignorance of the fact that the prefabricated structures are nearing their lifespan.

Physical deterioration has become clearly visible and masking the problem with paint has only made this problem more obvious. Weak facade treatments also mask the structural deterioration, which is an infinitely more important problem. Typically, the prefabricated panels have begun cracking while the joints between the panels started chipping off, causing the structural integrity of the buildings to weaken. While paintings the buildings is a somewhat valuable modification, since no longer are all the buildings completely gray, and the eyesore of the cracks has been eliminated, the solution only delays the process of actually addressing the real problem.

The second typical treatment of the buildings since the fall of communism, and one which follows the painting operation, is insulating the buildings. A lack of proper insulation during construction and absolutely no temperature control within each individual apartment was a standard. As housing and living standards evolved, the need for an improvement to the insulation system quickly developed. It is currently not uncommon to witness the buildings in the process of being clad with foam insulation, which hides the cracks of the prefabricated panels and eventually is painted in various colors and patterns.

None of these solutions addresses the major drawbacks of these districts in the context of an evolving market economy. If anything, they are temporary solutions delaying the need for an actual resolution which as matter of consequence might be demolition. Although it would definitely be the most regrettable act on socialist era housing, it would be a necessary result of severe occupancy drops. The survival of the housing estates is more than anything a generational matter. For many, the buildings symbolized a first interaction with the city, with a high-rise structure and with a foreign density. Occupancy in estates which surround the city center often comprised of those imported from small towns and villages as a practice of responding to industrial and manufacturing demands. Population shifts and swings mark the economic and social instability of communist regimes in Central Europe. This trend has however caused a certain amount of nostalgia and attachment to socialist housing estates which were not only a war reconstruction tool but also one accommodating population flux into cities.

The nostalgia and attachment are traits only familiar to the original occupants of the buildings, while the following generations have grown to develop a complete detachment from the spaces and aesthetics these buildings symbolize. This emotional swing has sharply intensified during the political transformation. As a result, while the older generation is staying put in the districts, an influx of younger generations is virtually non existent, especially with the constant and continuous construction of new housing. The proper solution to these estates would therefore not simply address the aesthetic problems on the facades but rather the greater social and commercial

malfunction of the spaces. Facade treatments would then be a result of the greater, generational transformations. The real challenge is to transform the symbolism and political affiliation of a space, while adjusting it to suit the demands of a generation which is either emotionally detached from totalitarian politics or wants to fully detach itself from it. This can be a beautiful and unifying process. While the contemporary society is engaged in practicing common fear and isolation, in buying and selling pain, or the approximation of it, a social call to order is a rare phenomena.

Guy Debord first described the post-War society as one engaged in representing content as a valid substitute for content itself, the production of a spectacle where representation has been materialized. Referring to societies which have not endured totalitarian rule or have never understood the blessings of a market economy, Debord wrote about spectacles which keep people in the state of unconsciousness as they pass through practical changes in the condition of existence. This condition developed into an urban exploration theory, one of the derive, which is a practice in the awareness of psychogeographical effects. The theory should in no way be dismissed as merely a surrealist experiment. Sharp physical contrasts in the post-socialist city ignite an automatic psychogeographical awareness. The contrast attaches a stigma to the socialist housing estates.

A productive role in architecture is to create spaces which ignite emotions and reactions. That can be approached through a functional or aesthetic or psychological analysis of space. Most successful is a combination of the three. Meanwhile, contemporary architectural practice aided by technological advancements has been continually exploring new formal strategies and innovations. It has to a certain degree followed the modernist discourse of striving for ahistorical aesthetic principles, while ignoring any attempts at reappropriation or constructive and inclusive urban strategies.

The role of technology has only strengthened the liberal approach an architect takes to create sculptural pieces completely independent of their context.

How often is architecture presented with a valid urbanistic and infrastructural problem which not only has consequences on the social and cultural structure but is also spread throughout different cultural zones? Contemporary architecture has for the most part sheltered itself from tackling formal problems, which have social implications, at the pleasure of developing an abstract formal language. It is a sort of liberal totalitarian expression, but certainly not a style, formally or strategically.

Contemporary architecture has simply not developed a language strong enough to approach sites with so much force imbedded inside of them.

The growth of a Central European city is a complicated story, but one which reflects the complex urban environment which makes cities so interesting. Layering of styles, influences, ideologies, cultural movements and expressions has created a dense atmosphere. While the post-War urban accumulation is a divided affair, it is also a responsive process. Both styles have run the course of self-proclamation ignoring previous mistakes and expressions. Both have also acknowledged the existence of one another, either sheltering and defending from infiltration or staying clear of appropriation. The strategy of engaging architecture has been quite limited, probably because it is too courageous and dangerous.

The direction of architectural expression and stylistic development has also

been much more closely controlled and directed by market trends and demand.

Capitalism has tied architecture to an economic flux, on which it depends for survival and progression. This development has rid design of substantial influence it can have on spatial definition and psychological effects. Revolutionary situations are however born of capitalism itself. Architecture will ultimately break its dependence on economic opportunities. The role of design is one of problem solving and should remain so, regardless of circumstances.

18

2.1

CATALOGUE The range and scale of the examined housing typology is rather unique and unprecedented. Diverse cultural settings were unified through an economic and political system. Urban planning strategies transcend nationalistic differences and through a totalitarian mentality instill a common strategy and inevitably, a common result. Obvious differences are a result of site specific qualities and an eventual transformation according to the cultural differences. Any attempt at modification or change to the system has thus far been neutralized by the inhuman scale of the socialist housing estates and their ability to repel capitalist infiltration.

The ability to overshadow small scale development and individual transformative efforts has changed as a result of massive political changes. Although a window of opportunity has been opened, radical transformations have yet to take shape due to an emphasis of developing abstract large scale commercial centers, as opposed to redeveloping existing infrastructure. That is both an issue of image, ease and flexibility.

On the other hand, there has not been enough incentive and demand to transform housing projects which as a matter of aesthetics and spatial qualities seem not only difficult to transform, but are also engraved within a national consciousness which relates them to a symbol of totalitarian rule and a darker period in recent history.

The following pages are a brief introduction into the scope of the housing estates in Central Europe built between the 1960’s and 1980’s, with most being constructed during the 1970’s. The catalogue is a mere scratch on the surface, because to profile all socialist housing estates in Central Europe would take numerous volumes of books, which in itself may not be a comprehensive list. The catalogue is quite selective; it only looks at a few different countries, and even within those countries, only a couple of cities are profiled. Even within those cities, not all estates are catalogued, but rather a selection of either the larger, more iconic or historically significant ones. It is a completely subjective list, and one which leaves numerous gaps on all geographical scales of investigation.

Nonetheless, some logic has been applied to the catalogue selection. Firstly, only nations formerly within the Warsaw Pact, but not incorporated into the Soviet Union, which have recently joined the European Union are within the selection. These include Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and half of Germany. The reason for this selection is that these nations were able to more visibly preserve their individual cultures and traditions while establishing a totalitarian approach to urban planning.

Secondly, funding from the European Union has allowed regeneration efforts and more commercial development to occur. Thirdly, the additional funding has spurred building of other housing projects, which in turn has caused population drops in many of these estates. Within the five mentioned countries, two or three cities are examined plus at times an additional new town, which is profiled as a whole and not an estate.

The study is intentionally an experiment in finding differences within repetition.

At a surface, many of these estates seem similar, which they are, but subtle differences either relating to building construction or site organization are visible. In order to maintain an order which obscures these differences, the estates are not organized according to geographical location, but rather alphabetically.

Czech Republic: Brno: Bohunice, Bystrc, Kohoutovice, Lesna, Lisen Most Prague: Cerny Most, Chodov, Kamyk, Luziny, Opatov, Prosek, Repy Germany: Dresden: Gorbitz, Prohlis, Zschernitz Eisenhuttenstadt Halle: Neustadt Leipzig: Grunua, Schonefeld-Ost Hungary: Budapest: Miskolc: Tiszaujvaros

Bekasmegyer, Csillagtelep, Attila Lakotelep, Romaifurdo, Ujpest Avas-Varosresz, Diosgyor

Poland: Krakow: Warsaw: Wroclaw:

Bienczyce, Nowa Huta Goclaw, Rakowiec, Targowek, Ursynow Gadow, Gaj, Kozanow, Nowy Dwor, Rozanka

Slovakia: Bratislava: Kosice:

Petrzalka Dargovskych Hrdinov, Sidlisko Tahanovce

20

AVAS-VAROSRESZ Miskolc, Hungary

21

22

BEKASMEGYER Budapest, Hungary

23

24

BIENCZYCE Krakow, Poland

25

26

BOHUNICE Brno, Czech Republic

27

28

BYSTRC Brno, Czech Republic

29

30

CERNY MOST Prague, Czech Republic

31

32

CHODOV Prague, Czech Republic

33

34

CSILLAGTELEP Budapest, Hungary

35

36

DARGOVSKYCH HRDINOV Kosice, Slovakia

37

38

DIOSGYOR Miskolc, Hungary

39

40

EISENHUTTENSTADT Germany

41

42

GADOW Wroclaw, Poland

43

44

GAJ Wroclaw, Poland

45

46

GOCLAW Warsaw, Poland

47

48

GORBITZ Dresden, Germany

49

50

GRUNAU Leipzig, Germany

51

52

JOZSEF ATTILA LAKOTELEP Budapest, Hungary

53

54

KAMYK Prague, Czech Republic

55

56

KOHOUTOVICE Brno, Czech Republic

57

58

KOZANOW Wroclaw, Poland

59

60

LESNA Brno, Czech Republic

61

62

LISEN Brno, Czech Republic

63

64

LUZINY Prague, Czech Republic

65

66

MOST Czech Republic

67

68

NEUSTADT Halle, Germany

69

70

NOWA HUTA Krakow, Poland

71

72

NOWY DWOR Wroclaw, Poland

73

74

OPATOV Prague, Czech Republic

75

76

PETRZALKA Bratislava, Slovakia

77

78

PROHLIS Dresden, Germany

79

80

PROSEK Prague, Czech Republic

81

82

RAKOWIEC Warsaw, Poland

83

84

REPY Prague, Czech Republic

85

86

ROMAIFURDO Budapest, Hungary

87

88

ROZANEK Wroclaw, Poland

89

90

SCHONEFELD-OST Leipzig, Germany

91

92

SIDLISKO TAHANOVCE Kosice, Slovakia

93

94

TARGOWEK Warsaw, Poland

95

96

TISZAUJVAROS Hungary

97

98

UJPEST Budapest, Hungary

99

100

URSYNOW Warsaw, Poland

101

102

ZSCHERNITZ Dresden, Germany

103

104

2.2

CATALOGUE The scale of individual housing sites, the identification of numerous flaws and opportunities, and the number of programmatic deficiencies leave an abundance of strategic and conceptual ways that redesigning or modifying a socialist housing estate be can be undertaken. The most obvious starting point is an analysis of existing conditions, a comparison to successful residential districts both aesthetically, functionally or as a genetic composition. Such an analysis generates a relationship between an existing programmatic makeup and its distribution and a desired programmatic make-up and distribution. Program in this case is not simply a typology but rather an instigator, an actual defined space as well as an ambiguous moment within the site which spurns social activity. Program as a physical entity is of course also considered, and is often an extension of the social phenomena.

Practically, there are two paths towards a redevelopment strategy. Both of these must function together for greater success. Firstly, there is a philosophical approach which identifies the general atmosphere and conceptual methodology and desired spatial result. The philosophical approach is less concerned with form and articulation, and more with connections, relationships and a psychological effect the design might have on the residents of the housing estate. This approach is also a broad conceptual front, which should not be confused with totalitarian methodologies.

Secondly, there is a formal approach which can either be an extension, supplement or reaction to the philosophical approach. Neither can function properly without the other. The most productive strategy is one which simultaneously involves both approaches. A healthy amount of interaction and cross-development has a positive result on the design process as a whole. The formal approach is much stronger when it feeds of the philosophical ideology, while plausibility and aesthetic and functional realities of formal interventions have a formative effect on philosophical directions.

The following catalogue represents initial interpretations of the concept of reterritorialization on prefabricated housing blocks and the space between those blocks. They have been characterized according to the orthographic view and direction they are trying to depict. This characterization should not be on any level taken seriously. Any form of cross characterization is welcome and encouraged, as that process by itself is an exercise in instigation.

The catalogue collects various methods towards reterritorializing a socialist housing estate. These include, but should not be limited to; formal concepts, structural implications, circulation development and a number of geometric and volumetric operations. The binding theme is about modifying the building, a set of buildings or the space between the buildings. The building is represented in its most generic, but ironically rather accurate form. It is always conceived as a volume, which is capable of numerous formal transformations. This aspect is also rather accurate, at least conceptually, given the prefabricated construction of the buildings. The formal operations are grounded within the idea that new programs are not only important, but also necessary; therefore generation of new volumes and spaces based on these operations is justified by additional occupancy. Programmatic additions and

modifications, and the spatial consequences they carry are seen as valuable efforts to maintain a high residency level on the sites, and to generate housing districts capable of attracting new residents, and especially those who view the buildings as a symbol of political oppression.

The overall formal idea is therefore mostly connected to transforming the building image, while erasing its symbolism. At the same time, formal operations on existing structures have the potential at creating a brand new architectural typology.

The idea within this exercise is to develop a typology out of an existing one. In that process, the given building volumes are taken as a starting point, where formally there is a transformation based on a set of operations, while the consequences of these operations allow for programmatic mixing and redistribution. This result is directly tied to the idea of reterritiorializing a site.

Within the exercise, form, similarly to space is seen as a flexible entity. That is a literal translation of form into real circumstances, against a notion that form should be conceived of as a divider or as a way of creating boundaries. On the contrary, formal operations on existing structures are seen as a way of breaking down their rigidity. The volumes are taken as extremely malleable objects. A free spirited lack of restrictions and a certain suspension of disbelief within the method translate to a much greater impact on the building geometry which in turn erases a symbolism the structure can signify. Although there is grave danger within such an approach, it should never be taken literally, but, as mentioned before, as an instigator.

Another binding aspect of these operations is the scale at which they function. Scale, in particular, is a common theme throughout this investigation, not just formal, but also philosophical and programmatic. Scale is not simply a factor of a single operation, but also its repetition, its multiplicity, its extension and modification.

A formal operation on a single building could be translated to formal operations onto other buildings through a variety of ways. In that sense scale takes on a multiplicity of meanings. It can come to mean a measuring of entities according to quantitative traits, like the volume of the building, its proportions or relationship to surroundings. These quantitative traits have a formative impact of the scale of the formal operation. Within a particular site, scale can relate to relative conditions, both formal and functional.

Scale then is not only a measure of quantitative traits but also a spatial quality. Most importantly, scale refers to the capability of a system of operations to multiply and differentiate. That is exclusively a site characteristic.

The following catalogue is a study of not only singular operations and volumetric and spatial transformations, but also the scalar implications of those operations. The over-riding theme however is the varying level of conceptual infiltration onto the formal process. It is a test of reterritorialization and its specific, literal and sometimes radical implications.

106

SKETCH STUDIES

107

108

SECTION

109

110

PLAN

111

112

PLAN Given that scales, their definition and implementation, are the primary architectural and conceptual guide within this study, a certain amount of ambiguity is necessary to establish a thorough site approach. Previous formal operations functioned on a generic volumetric level, which fully disconnected them from any obligations to consider impacts on the site as well as the consequences form might have on the overall layout. This level of freedom works well within a certain range, yet when transferred to a different scale, a new range of freedom must be applied. This particular range does not concern itself with particular building transformations, nor with the generic operation, but rather with a broad conceptual approach which has an overwhelming impact on the entire site.

The studies which this page has immersed itself in are literal translations and interpretations of what reterritorialization, as an urban strategy and as a design principle, might mean. They are attempts at graphically conveying ideas of densification, recontextualization, striation and floating space. All of these would be a massive departure from the current interpretation of the socialist housing site, which as a basis is the primary goal. These are, as are the previous studies, instigators. They are readings of a site through the eyes of a drunk or a dreamer.

113

114

2.3

CASE STUDY: PETRZALKA Over the past century, but most intensely within the last thirty, Petrzalka has transformed from a gardening village full of apricot trees suitable for a recreational weekend escape or a quiet suburban life into a district housing more than a quarter of Bratislava. Although it was first mentioned in the thirteenth century, it is the newest part of Bratislava, as well as the largest one. In 1973 a decision was made to liquidate old Petrzalka, the one which in the first half of the twentieth century became the largest and most prominent village of the former Czechoslovakia. The current appearance and atmosphere was created. A huge increase in housing, apartments and residents completely transformed Petrzalka.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. Between 1977, when the first high-rise panelak structures became occupied, and the fall of communism in Central Europe, Petrzalka has grown into the most densely populated residential district in all of Europe.

According to the political boundaries of Petrzalka, the district has an area of 28.7km2.

The population has grown from just under 3000 in 1910 and slightly over 10000 in the early 1970’s to a reported census population of 126565 in 2008, thereby having a current density of 4410 residents/km2.

The borough has no defined centre, relationship between the building phases which composed it or a clear connection to the city centre. It is conveniently separated from the rest of the city by the Dunabe River, creating both a physical and social disconnection from the rest of Bratislava. Communication lines, five bridges, exist in strategically located points, and limit proper and thorough transportation routes. In that sense, Petrzalka is not only a dysfunctional urban borough, but also a district disconnected from the remainder of the city, left to organize itself according to social and economic standards. These standards have no doubt transformed in the past fifteen years.

The study of Petrzalka acknowledges and tries to capitalize on its unique position within Bratislava. The study is prototypical, but exclusively subjective, and limits itself to a small portion of the borough (outlined on the image to the right), a mere collection of a number of buildings. The direction of the study is an attempt to find a formal response to programmatic transformation and new demands, while developing a system which can grow and expand, or connect to other similar systems elsewhere in the borough. This connection can be assumed to be physical, implied or visual. The study is a relatively mild formal attempt at a re-organization of the genetic composition of the site. It begins with an analysis of existing walking times from each apartment to chosen programs on the site, and finishes with an analysis of walking times to the proposed system which accommodates the programs.

Although the study is a formal exercise, it is the process which is most important, as it develops a systematic approach to dealing with a housing environment in shortage of vital supporting programs. It is also a study of geometries. The existing condition offers an abstract geometric composition which generates a completely foreign geometry, but one which responds to circulation patterns and programmatic necessities.

116

DISTANCE ANALYSIS The bar graphs are a representation of the amount of time in minutes it takes to walk from a specified building entrance to one of the five most commonly used destinations: a bus stop, clinic/pharmacy, grocery store, nearest park/playground and a post office. The walking speed is assumed to the average of an adult male (4.7km/h = 1/3m/s = 78.3 min/m). It is also assumed that it takes approximately up to 3 minutes to get from the apartment to the building entrance and presuming that 10 minutes an excessive length of a walk to a common destination, a 7 minute maximum walking time is enforced. Any longer time period is shown with a red annotation. The time standard has been set as a catalyst for a rethinking of the site layout and program distribution and frequency. It is a way of over-stimulating the site with programs in order to generate a formal response; a sort of action versus reaction duality at play in urban terms.

117

118

119

120

AXIS DELINEATION An axis responds to the movement of people from their apartments to the parking lot or bus stop, yet at the same time is a collection of critical programs which are lacking on the site. It therefore becomes a transitional as well as a habitual zone; collecting and dispersing people along its path. Through its multifunctionality, the axis becomes a communal space physically engaging the site. The other formal determinant of the axis is the environmental conditions along its length. Due to its nature of dividing buildings and crossing through open spaces, the axis is subjected to numerous microclimates which effectively shape the formal qualities of the axis, especially in terms of vertical dimensions.

The analysis of existing conditions yields a reprogramming of the site and a new program definition. This definition is generic at the same time it is specific.

The specificity is a method of identifying various social and demographic groups benefitting and utilizing various programs most. The program definition is also a way of establishing an early idea of the axis division and articulation. The description of programs is an establishment of differentiation, not in terms of program typology but rather when and how a specific program might be used.

Mini Convenience Store This store format, usually 80 to 120 square metres in size is extremely popular.

Grocery selection is usually very thin and foodservice beyond prepared sandwiches.

Open hours usually range from 18 to 24 hours. Customers are usually people buying gasoline.

Expanded Convenience Store Growth is occurring in the number of stores in the 300 to 400 square metres range.

Such stores can accommodate more shelving for additional grocery products or room for significant fast food operations and seating. Stores using the space for more grocery items are taking advantage of the niche which has developed as supermarkets increasingly move above the 4000 square metre range. A few large chains are using this “superette� approach. A greater percentage are using the space to take advantage of the high profit margins in fast foods. As the number of smaller operations proliferates (largely as a result of the oil companies), many convenience store chains apparently view the move towards increased fast foods as essential. In terms of other products and services, such stores usually carry the traditional convenience store items. Parking is important with most having about 10 to 20 marked spaces. Hours are extended.

Such operations not only attract the typical convenience store customer but also more families and senior citizens.

121

Post Office Typical size for a post office would be approximately 150 to 200 square metre and at least 5 additional parking spaces. The post office does not only attract people wanting to send mail, but also those wanting to pay bills and take care of numerous financial obligations. The post office essentially becomes a state business center for the community. Hours follow the schedule of most government buildings.

Pharmacy This critical site component which would not necessarily need to be extremely well equipped, would serve only as a local distributor with a greater amount of products at a more centralized location. The onsite pharmacy would serve more so an emergency purpose with a typical size of 120 to180 square metres. No additional parking spaces would be necessary as the products bought here would not be heavy nor would people from adjoining communities need to use this pharmacy.

Parking Spaces needed to satisfy apartment shortage 33 entries x 18 apts/entry x 1.5 cars/apt = 891 spaces 2 entries x 12 apts/entry x 1.5 cars/apt = 36 spaces subtotal: 927 spaces Spaces needed for added programs Mini-convenience = 5 Convenience = 15 Post office = 5 Subtotal: 25 spaces Total: 952 spaces Additional Programs Gym (w/ Swimming Pool): 1000m2 (on major opening) Public Transportation Ticket Shop: 70m2 (along with bus stop waiting area) Bicycle Storage: 250m2 (juxtaposed to major entry and parking) Magazine Kiosk: 30m2 - 50m2 Coffee Shop: 50m2 - 100m2

PARKING

CLINIC

GROCERY STORE

POST OFFICE 122

CENTRAL AXIS 123

PARKING

CLINIC

GROCERY STORE

POST OFFICE 124

AXIS DEVELOPMENT TRANSPORTATIONAL AXIS Parking (4 lots split on two levels) 5500m2, 3500m2, 2300m2, 1500m2 (size corresponds to previous studies which determined number of units served) Bicycle Storage Bus Stop (existing)/Ticket Shop 30m2/70m2

250m2

QUICK ESSENTIALS AXIS Mini Convenience Store (location previously delineated) Small Magazine Kiosk 30m2 Small Coffee Shop (possibly linked to another program)

95m2 50m2

ESSENTIALS AXIS Grocery Store (location previously delineated) 320m2 Post Office (location previously delineated) 160m2 Pharmacy (location previously delineated) 140m2

RECREATIONAL AXIS Restaurant (bar/large coffee shop) 100m2 Gym (w/ swimming pool) 1000m2 Magazine Shop (opposite of the small magazine kiosk)

50m2

Parking Axis: transportational Size: 13700m2 + driveways Location: scattered; lower level and ground level Entrance: 4 off street, numerous links to inner circulation Hours: 24h

Mini Convenience Store Axis: Quick Essentials Size: 95m2 Location: ground level, as delineated through shortage study Entrance: from inner area Hours: 24h

Bus Stop Axis: Transportational Size: 30m2 Location: ground level, adjacent to Ticket Shop Entrance: from street and inner area Hours: 24h

Small Magazine Kiosk Axis: Quick Essentials Size: 30m2 Location: ground level Entrance: from inner area Hours: 18h

Ticket Shop Axis: Transportational Size: 70m2 Location: ground level, adjacent to Bus Stop Entrance: from bus stop and inner area Hours: 12h Bicycle Storage Axis: Transportational Size: 250m2 Location: ground level, adjacent to major entry point and parking Entrance: from the outside bike path and inner area Hours: 24h

125

Small Coffee Shop Axis: Quick Essentials Size: 50m2 Location: ground level Entrance: from inner area Hours: 18h Grocery Store Axis: Essentials Size: 320m2 Location: ground level Entrance: 2, from inner area and outside Hours: 12h

Post Office Axis: Essentials Size: 160m2 Location: upper level Entrance: from inner area Hours: 8h Pharmacy Axis: Essentials Size: 140m2 Location: upper level Entrance: from inner area Hours: 12h Large Coffee Shop (Restaurant) Axis: Recreational Size: 100m2 Location: upper level Entrance: from inner area Hours: 12h Gym (w/ swimming pool) Axis: Recreational Size: 1000m2 Location: upper level Entrance: 2, from inner area and outside Hours: 16h Magazine Shop Axis: Recreational Size: 50m2 Location: upper level Entrance: from inner area Hours: 12h

QUICK ESSENTIALS

ESSENTIALS

RECREATIONAL

TRANSPORTATIONAL 126

DISTANCE TESTS These graphs represent the travel time in seconds from each apartment entrance to the nearest point on each program axis. The walking speed is assumed to be 78 m/s. The walking distance is measured along the existing paths on the site. The maximum walking time to the furthest program axis does not exceed 180 seconds (3 minutes), which is well below the 7 minutes threshold defined in the study of the existing conditions. These graphs do not reflect the walking time to the central axis or the walking time to a specific program. The lowest time for each apartment entrance can be assumed to be the distance from the apartment to the entire system.

This is a test of the system and a comparison to the original distance analysis.

The measurement criteria, measuring to a specific program versus measuring to an axis or network which houses what program and all relevant programs also changed.

The reasoning behind this shift is to instigate traffic and interaction on the site, in turn creating a more exciting series of public spaces.

Transportational Axis

127

Quick Essentials Axis

Essentials Axis

Recreational Axis

128

SECTION STUDY

CIRCULATION 129

STRUCTURAL NODES 130

CUT AND FILL 131

COMPOSITE 132

3

Situated in southwestern Poland, Wroclaw is a city with a history which is anything but simple. Military conquests, nomadic invasions and mixed settlements have greatly shaped this Silesian town. Norman Davies has referred to Wroclaw as the microcosm of Central Europe. It has been the scene of a great mixing of cultures, German settlements, a displacement of Slavs, a significant Jewish presence, a turbulent succession of imperial rulers and a shattering exposure to Nazism and Stalinism. Starting as a trading centre in Piast Poland, it became a major town of the Kingdom of Bohemia, then a municipality of Habsburg lands, and an industrial hub of the Kingdom of Prussia. As the German Breslau, it became the third largest city of the Third Reich before a bitter siege by the Soviet army brought near total destruction. As a result of the Postdam Conference, Wroclaw returned to territorial Poland.

During World War II, Wroclaw lost nearly three quarters of its population, with the remaining German population being expelled as the border shifted, and suffered damage to almost 90% of its buildings. The fact that Polish nationalists did not consider it a truly Polish city after the war, mainly due to the strong influence and presence of Austrian and German architecture, severely delayed it’s reconstruction process, with many remaining building materials shipped to Warsaw for a quicker rebuilding of the capital. As a result of mass populations shifts into the city from newly seized lands by the Soviet Union east of the Curzon Line, the city developed and maintained a steady need of housing. The communist government seized on the opportunity to sprinkle the city with socialist housing estates and prefabricated apartment blocks due to the lack of housing after the war. This process completely ignored the unique topographical condition of Wroclaw and it’s tumultuous relationship with the Odra River.

Many of these residential districts have literally been conceived of as nodes within the urban landscape. As a result they have grown completely isolated from the heart of the city, and internally failed to provide adequate services due to a complete disregard for designing central zones within the districts. In the course of time the city has developed a lively centre with a network of bedroom communities surrounding it.

This generalization has been blurred after the fall of communism, with a spur in growth of commercial zones.

The philosophy and strategy attached to reterritorialization will be attached to an iconic Wroclaw residential district - Kozanow. Kozanow represents and symbolizes particular flaws of socialist housing estates; primarily site selection. That aspect more than any other makes Kozanow a valuable case study. It is a unique neighborhood on many levels; it’s discrete isolation, it’s thick buffer zone, it’s topographical condition and relationship to the river, and it’s completely abstract geometry. Kozanow perfectly fits the profile of a prototypical socialist housing district. It was designed and built at once, quickly, not in stages, and during the darkest days of communist rule in Poland: mid 1970’s. Site designation completely disregarded the history of the area, the existing infrastructure and former city planning guidelines. The district was never incorporated or included into greater urban planning strategies. Lastly and most importantly, Kozanow symbolizes utter ignorance and arrogance of totalitarian urban planning, which on the local level as a matter of politics destroyed the entire profession.

The reterritorialization of Kozanow has been divided into four distinct phases.

Each phase is conceived as a project in itself, although there is obvious continuity

between phases and a natural progression of the project. That plays into the metanarrative of the entire book, which as a series of plateaus abandons the traditional idea of chronology and order. Nonetheless, overlaps and transitions between phases exist, and these could be assumed as either links between successive stages of development or intra-stage hints at the scope and extension of each phase.

An important aspect of the project is to not allow it to follow the same massdesign discourse, over-planning and prescriptive attitude which created the existing condition. There is a fine balance between developing a prototypical approach which as a strategy can be applied to similar sites elsewhere, while at the same time remaining site specific and relevant. The issue of scale and transition from urbanism to architecture to detail while maintaining a consistent philosophy is therefore essential.

The phases of the project therefore follows a successive zooming in on scale and detail within the conceptual development. a) site rezoning based on patterns on site and immediate surroundings b) development of a programmatic and circulatory infrastructure c) a catalog of architectural interventions and spatial definition d) localized detail development and spatial articulation These steps do not necessarily follow the breakdown of the phases of the project as there is a slight overlap and disjunction between ideology and phase assignment.

The goal of reterritorializing the site and designing a new system to colonize it is supplemented with a breakdown of the functional approach. In a none-chronological list these include: a) Site problem identification: shortage of parking, shortage of commercial space or infrastructure to support it, no integration with surrounding spaces, mundane topographical condition, shortage of usable green space on site b) Patterns: based on site problems and a strong public communication system the neighborhood has developed into a bedroom community, the daily pattern therefore corresponds to the relationship between the nearest bus stop and the individual apartment c) Opportunities: the presence of people (consumers), vast space on site, green space surrounding the site allowing for expansion and integration, need for specific programs d) Program deficiencies: parking, retail (both large and small scale), support programs, green space, bus terminal e) Preserved components: all housing units, schools, all bus routes and stops, primary roads The coup de grâce treatment of Pruitt Igoe, which completely follows the discourse of the creation of these projects, can only be viewed as symbolic, and never strategic.

The approach must therefore acknowledge that problems cannot be solved at once, but rather become part of the creative process.

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WROCLAW

AREA: 293km2 RESIDENTIAL AREA: 29km 2

RESIDENTS (2007): 635200

LIVING SPACE: 18.5m2 per inhabitant PARKS: 11.5% of total area WATER: 3.4% of total area AIR TRAFFIC (1995): 93801 AIR TRAFFIC (2005): 463459

WROTIZLA 1 2 6 1

BRESSLAU 1 8 0 8

BRESLAU 1 9 2 8

WROCLAW 1 9 7 3

BRESLAU 1 9 1 1

GROWTH: 4 9 4 . 1 % STORES: 5492

135

629,000

2005

1999

1990

1967 1970 1975 1980

1956 1960

1946

1939

1925

1910

1900

1880

1850

171,000

WROCLAW POPULATION (1800-2005)

1831

POST OFFICES: 71 TRAVEL AGENCIES: 76 HOSPITALS: 14 PHARMACIES: 115 RESTAURANTS: 91 BARS: 197 LIBRARIES: 98

700,000 650,000 600,000 550,000 500,000 450,000 400,000 350,000 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0

1800

BUS LINES: 61 LENGTH OF BUS LINES: 374km TRAM LINES: 25 LENGTH OF TRAM LINES: 88km

635,200

FOOD: 28.2% CLOTHING: 7.9% LIQUOR: 0.3% OTHER: 52.3%

136

KOZANOW The story of the Kozanow which is the subject of this intervention begins in 1977, when the area was the delineated for residential construction, quickly designed and built. The whole process occurred at a speed inconceivable in contemporary times, especially within a democratic, free-speech society. It is however the function of pre-1977 Kozanow which is more important in understanding the radical nature of the housing development and the consequences of its realization. During Wroclaw’s, or then Breslau’s, time of industrialization and greatest growth, mainly the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, from the beginning of the Zollverein and intensifying after the German unification, the city had undergone substantial zoning and planning initiatives. One of these dealt with developing a system against the periodic water height changes of the Odra River and her four main arteries, which has in the past caused massive floods in the city. Kozanow, as an area which primarily lies beneath the average water level of Odra (with exception of the old Kozanow area seen at the bottom of the image to the right) was rationally designed as a flood plain for excess water.

Even though in 1945 Breslau became Wroclaw, the German developed city zoning scheme did not encounter any changes, but rather infringements on it’s integrity.

When Kozanow was turned into a major housing district, the fact that it was completely unprotected from the river did not change. The area became populated mostly with families which previously lived in small villages on the eastern end of Poland, and were in a strange way happy just to have a place to live in the city. Twenty years after its completion, Wroclaw encountered what many have described as the flood of the century in the city. It should therefore be of no surprise that the water level in Kozanow reached beyond the second story in some places, the area lost power for more than month and was completely disconnected from the rest of the city. It took nearly twice as long for Kozanow to return to normality as other flooded neighborhoods.

The flood is nothing but a symbol of the complete contextual disregard of the communist government of various urban planning rules and basic common sense. The flood also exposed the helpless isolation of Kozanow within Wroclaw. This particular quality is exposed, intensified and used as a catalyst throughout the development of the project. For that matter, all aspects of Kozanow which could be taken as disadvantages and drawbacks of the area are used as a springboard within the overall strategy of reterritorialization. This method could have one of two results, both of which are taken as positive outcomes. Firstly, overemphasis of a problem radicalizes its effect thereby instigating an automatic and natural solution. Secondly, scaling problems has the potential at negating them completely, as some of the drawbacks are only negative due to their scale. For example, Kozanow could be perceived as a bedroom community only by relative comparison to the rest of the city. The problem, at the point is simply it’s isolation. The moment, the district develops its own functional commercial and institutional zone; it capitalizes on that isolation, which no longer is seen as a negative quality. The development also has the potential of acting as a parasite, engaging with the rest of the city.

137

138

1977 139

1977 140

141

142

FLOOD OF 1997 143

SITE SURROUNDINGS 144

The layout and size of the residential units follows the strict grid of the prefabricated concrete panels. These panels have obvious structural limitations in terms on their maximum span given the relative thinness. Aside from the panel walls, which act as the load bearing system, a series of non structural interior partitions is introduced but kept to a minimum. As a result, the structural composition of the buildings becomes the spatial one as well. The long winding buildings are in actuality composed of smaller unit buildings organized around a vertical circulation shaft. These units have two varieties, either straight or with a 45 degree rotation. A composition of these units has the potential for making long straight buildings, courtyard typologies or a mix of the two. Secondly, the tower buildings, which are perfect squares in plan, are organized around a central vertical circulation core. This core sometimes includes a staircase, in which case a central connection between the twin towers is not necessary.

The overall layout of the buildings is rather simple and always completely orthogonal. An important feature for all apartments is an access to a private balcony, usually from the largest room of the apartment. The units themselves range from one to three bedrooms.

The apartment and unit layout automatically creates 3 building typologies, which are all obvious in the site plan. All tower buildings are grouped into two parts of the site and arranged geometrically in a circular fashion. The longer but rather straight buildings are predominantly around the major periphery roads. These buildings range from eight to twelve stories in height, mainly in the taller range. Lastly, the courtyard typology buildings are primarily oriented towards the inside, away from the roads.

These buildings are either four or five stories in height.

TYPICAL ON-SITE BUILDING FLOOR PLANS 145

CELTYCKA

A

TN

SE

A

CK

U

L PA

A

SK

W

NO

ZA KO

A

CK

LU

PA

LB

IN

A

DZIELNA

A PO

A

SK

N

LA

IW AN

IS

GE

N.

W

A

CK

ZY

LE

O

PI

OTR

A

IG

NU

TA

G

A

TR PIO

GOLEZYCKA

KOZANOWSKA

DZIELNA

TA

U

N

IG

TA LIS

KO

DO

KE

RS

KOZANO

RA

D

O

M

WSKA

GW AR

EC

KA

KA

SIE

LS

KA

PILCZYCKA

CKA

PILCZY

146

147

148

149

150

3.1

TERRITORIAL CULTIVATION Animals constantly engage in territorial games, which are a hierarchal as well as a survival exercise. The process of marking, delineating, expanding territory is a standard practice giving both personal and group comfort, a sense of accomplishment and value within both own species and the greater community. Territorial claims dictate movement, hunting and leisure patterns. They essentially effect and help organize all aspects of daily life. Furthermore, a territory is a space of creative expression, which can work on both the personal as well as communal level. Within the much greater open and unclaimed domain, a territorial expression is both an ad to a community and a method within the reproductive process.

Territoriality does not only apply to territorial animals, ones which use space for defense, deterrence and a socio-geographical area of food supply or mating space. Territoriality is instinctively an area of habitual comfort, or home range, which is a quality exhibited by most species. While these ranges can overlap, the core essence of possessing a space of personal meaning remains uninterrupted. The home range is a direct extension of the most private area into the more open sphere. The home range connects to the living range, connects to the hunting range; creating a diminishing gradient of comfort expanding outward from the center. It is a binary machine of survival. This subconscious sphere shapes the way daily life is conducted.

Similarly, any site, but in particular a residential one, stores genetic information which transcends it’s physical composition and qualities. While this information, the DNA of the site, gives an insight into the various circulatory and programmatic aspects of a place, it also exposes habitual patterns and the demographic makeup and distribution of a housing district. Since as functioning animals, a viable home range, or a system of home ranges along with a living range, is critical in establishing a functioning housing environment. The home range must obviously have the potential of expanding beyond the actual housing unit, the apartment, while the living range should be able to plug into areas beyond the housing district.

Architecturally, site DNA reveals the strengths and weaknesses of a place, while showcasing the needs of its residents. The initial analysis, directed at clarifying the genetics of a site, has the potential of zoning the site, establishing a usage hierarchy and creating a system of vectors which characterizes movement directions and volumes. This operation is both an architectural exercise, as well as a study of the psychology of a site.

Lines and scales are the tool of territorial analysis. Lines are a tool expressing direction, movement, multiplicity, connection and length. Scales display volume, hierarchy and concentration. Together lines and scales distill the very essence of the spatial composition and habitual patterns of a place. The process of expressing a site through lines and scales forms a network, a connective tissue. This method provides an organizational reading of a site, one which often bears no similarity to the actual, physical condition. An organizational and territorial reading of a place is not only an analytical tool, but also a constructive one, as it acts as a springboard to a physical reorganization. Through the process, lines and scales become transformative tools, from an analytical reading to a functional one, while retaining an abstract and

constructive quality. The precision and nature of the original analysis is therefore immensely important in establishing a reliable working base for further development.

Territorial cultivation, or an understanding of habits, patterns and movement, is the initial phase of the reterritorialization of Kozanow. The analysis of the existing conditions is based purely on circulation patterns to three important and most used destinations on the site. The purpose of walking to each, and the destinations as qualitative entities vary greatly. The differentiation is profoundly valuable in understanding the multiplicity of patterns, their distinctness and similarities. The subtlety of the study is achieved through constant differentiated repetition.

The analytic result, which contains obvious intrinsic value, is also a geometric formula, one which should at some level compete with the original condition. That is both a catalyst and a parasite. The resulting geometry stems from the usage of the original geometry. It is a direct product, but one which is completely physically disconnected, even disenchanted from the intentions of the design ideology of the past. The resulting geometry is a territorial animal, metaphorically speaking of course.

It establishes new zones and connections based on pragmatics, and marks them with programs, not with scents.

Most importantly, the geometry is a network, a circulatory animal. The original pedestrian paths are a symbol of wasted space and disorganization. They are a geometrical composition with no value or meaning attached to it. The analysis of how these work presently is therefore the ideal starting point for a circulatory overhaul and programmatic distribution based on need, demand and location. The analysis is therefore the core of the project, with the remaining steps trickling down from it. The entire organizational and infrastructural basis of the project must depend on how the users, the residents of the site interact with it.

Animals both adapt to an environment and evolve with it while growing immune to its dangers and adapt the environment around them in order to utilize its benefits to the fullest potential. The territorial study of the site is a binary system as well. It responds to existing layouts and locations, respecting the primary arrangement of the site, especially the building geometry, while imposing a new pattern foreign to the existing condition. The process of reterritorialization is a contextual method, relying on the vernacular or the present condition as a means of colonization with a new system.

Territorial claims and home and living ranges are established through a reappropriation of the current layout based on new programs, ones which are not only a symbol of a new political and economical ideology, but also a refreshed social consensus and expectations from urban, housing environments. That is both an evolution and a revolution.

152

EXISTING DELINEATION Prior to an investigation into circulatory patterns, the site is zoned into various areas according to primary usage types both on and off the site. This initial division expands the boundaries of the site beyond the strong division created by the ring road. In doing so the site is conceived as a space penetrating the assumed border created by the road and involving the green and residual areas surrounding it. As an initial study, this approach suggests a possibility of expansion, the termination of the idea of total enclosure and creation of a floating space free of physical divisions.

The residential areas of the site are arranged together according to building groupings. Each residential zone is analyzed individually based on residency and parking statistics. This compilation shows the concentrations on the site as well as the creation of residual zones, which at first glance can be treated as either expansions of off-site areas or its inverse. It is within these zones that the strong border of the site can begin to be broken down.

Residential zones organize the site into micro climates which are not only potential sub-sites able to function within themselves, particularly in terms of the most basic daily functions and retail and recreational needs, but also add another element into the organizational pattern of the circulation web.

The ability to perform a site zoning analysis is a result of the simple planning strategy, one which does not engage all parts of the site. It is a statement regarding the totalitarian nature of the planning of site, dividing it into zones with no apparent overlap, ambiguous space or rhizomatic connections. It is a case of over planning, prescriptive space, one which dominates and neutralizes any attempt at humanizing it.

The zones are completely out of human scale, and combined with the building height, become overwhelming in size as living quarters.

Zoning and existing delineation are the first layer of uncovering the genetic composition of the site. It is territorial deconstructivism, an activity with no formal implications. It is an enhanced site plan, one with information which goes beyond simple proportions, distances and scales. It is also a study of juxtapositions, uncovering isolations, the residential island effect, creating a classic case of a bedroom community.

The existing delineation is an experiment in affirmation.

SITE TOTALS STAIRCASES: 25 7 APARTMENTS: 5806

RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 17999 PARKING SPOTS: 1939 STREET PARKING: 1580 TOTAL EXISTING PARKING SPOTS: 3519

PARKING REQUIREMENT(at 1.2/apt): 6971 REQUIREMENT SATISFIED: 50.48%

ZONES residential residual central green other BUILDING HEIGHTS 0 - 5 stories 6 - 10 stories 11+ stories

ZONE 1 STAIRCASES: 38 APARTMENTS: 841 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 2607 PARKING SPOTS: 24 6 STREET PARKING: 28 0 TOTAL EXISTING PARKING SPOTS: 526 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 1009 ZONE 2 STAIRCASES: 64 APARTMENTS: 1103 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 3419 PARKING SPOTS: 19 0 STREET PARKING: 36 2 TOTAL EXISTING PARKING SPOTS: 552 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 1324 ZONE 3 STAIRCASES: 16 APARTMENTS: 528 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 1637 PARKING SPOTS: 28 8 STREET PARKING: 11 7 TOTAL EXISTING PARKING SPOTS: 405 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 637 ZONE 4 STAIRCASES: 33 APARTMENTS: 658 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 2040 PARKING SPOTS: 22 5 STREET PARKING: 21 2 TOTAL EXISTING PARKING SPOTS: 437 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 790 ZONE 5 STAIRCASES: 24 APARTMENTS: 476 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 1476 PARKING SPOTS: 10 6 STREET PARKING: 14 0 TOTAL EXISTING PARKING SPOTS: 246 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 571 ZONE 6 STAIRCASES: 45 APARTMENTS: 995 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 3085 PARKING SPOTS: 35 4 STREET PARKING: 22 1 TOTAL EXISTING PARKING SPOTS: 575 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 1194 ZONE 7 STAIRCASES: 23 APARTMENTS: 589 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 1826 PARKING SPOTS: 27 0 STREET PARKING: 11 8 TOTAL EXISTING PARKING SPOTS: 388 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 707 ZONE 8 STAIRCASES: 14 APARTMENTS: 616 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 1909 PARKING SPOTS: 26 0 STREET PARKING: 13 0 TOTAL EXISTING PARKING SPOTS: 390 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 739

153

P P

P

P P

P

ZONE 1

P

P P

P

P

P

P P P

P

P P

P

P

K

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

ZONE 2

P

P P

ZONE 8

S

P

P

P

P

P P

P

P

S

P

S

P

P

P

P

P

P

ZONE 3

ZONE 7

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P P

P

P

P

P P

P P

ZONE 6

P

P

ZONE 4

P

S

P

P P

P

P

P

P

P P

P

ZONE 5

P

P

P

P

P P

P

P

154

CENTRAL ZONE ANALYSIS

0 - 250m

Neither by choice or preference, it must be acknowledged that the existing site functions around a central zone. This area is in no respect the life of the site, or the space containing all the support functions in Kozanow, but it is conveniently located in the geographical center of the site. It houses the central bus station of the site, which automatically gathers people needing to leave the site by public transportation. It is therefore the major public communication hub; both for external transportation, but also the four main circulatory arteries lead and meet at the central zone.

There are two critically different approaches in re-planning the site. Firstly, the central zone can remain and operate as an actual, real commercial and transportational hub, one which does not only concentrate traffic on its way out of the site, but also brings in foreign traffic. In this version, the central location plays to its benefit of being within reasonable and equal distance to most buildings. Secondly, the central zone could be eliminated in place of dispersed concentrations of commercial and social activity throughout the site. These various concentrations could become primary nodes on the site network. The compromise option would be to allow both approaches to remain and become engaged within the programming of the site.

Unlike other circulation analysis, the central zone is the only one with a single terminating point, and therefore is able to collect all buildings and their staircases along the way. It creates a unique typography, as all the nodes along the path grow larger towards the center and smaller towards the boundaries of the site. That is an important contrast to the remaining analysis which does not have such an organized system of collecting building staircases and leading them to a common point.

The central geographical location of the site is not only a point of gather and dispersal, but also a node within the greater context of the city. It is the recognizable heart of the site, and a spot which can become an attractor for those not living on the site. It can open up the site to outside traffic, transforming Kozanow into a destination within the city. The concentration of program would help the site acquire a communal center, an interaction spot, and a source of self-sustainability for the site. That would deter the need to depend on the city center or other parts of the city for basic daily needs, entertainment purposes and social interaction.

The establishment of arteries towards the center automatically creates subsidiary support nodes which are capable of hosting programs of smaller scale and more immediate need. These arteries become the first pass at a living range, the direct extension of the home range. The primary arteries identify the most important routes of the site and concentrate activity on them.

250 - 500m

155

500 - 750m 750+m

1.1A 1.1B 1.1C 1.1D 1.2A 1.2B 1.2C 1.2D 1.2E 1.2F 1.2G 1.2H 1.3A 1.3B 1.3C 1.3D 1.3E 1.4A 1.4B 1.4C 1.4D 1.4E 1.4F 1.4G 1.4H 1.4I 1.4J 1.4K 1.4L 1.5A 1.5B 1.5C 1.5D 1.5E 1.5F 1.5G 1.5H 1.5I 2.1A 2.1B 2.1C 2.1D 2.1E 2.2A 2.2B 2.2C 2.3A 2.3B 2.3C 2.3D

847m 871m 913m 877m 839m 829m 813m 795m 754m 776m 707m 718m 683m 665m 672m 699m 686m 750m 740m 749m 776m 792m 823m 838m 862m 822m 817m 744m 728m 797m 755m 748m 740m 732m 714m 696m 682m 667m 591m 602m 632m 612m 595m 586m 563m 534m 505m 487m 498m 474m

2.3E 2.3F 2.3G 2.3H 2.3I 2.3J 2.3K 2.3L 2.4A 2.4B 2.4C 2.4D 2.4E 2.4F 2.5A 2.5B 2.5C 2.5D 2.5E 2.5F 2.5G 2.5H 2.5I 2.5J 2.5K 2.5L 2.6A 2.6B 2.6C 2.6D 2.6E 2.6F 2.6G 2.6H 2.6I 2.6J 2.6K 2.6L 2.6M 2.6N 2.7A 2.7B 2.7C 2.7D 2.7E 2.7F 2.7G 2.7H 2.7I 2.7J 2.7K 2.7L 3.1A 3.1B 3.2A 3.2B 3.3A 3.3B 3.4A 3.4B 3.5A 3.5B 3.6A 3.6B 3.7A 3.7B 3.8A 3.8B 4.1A

456m 428m 386m 371m 353m 335m 315m 284m 345m 333m 318m 300m 284m 266m 237m 234m 215m 306m 314m 298m 318m 322m 365m 302m 301m 280m 398m 381m 355m 337m 342m 358m 368m 393m 408m 432m 471m 489m 468m 451m 437m 474m 494m 531m 568m 581m 599m 539m 521m 521m 511m 504m 451m 451m 541m 541m 500m 500m 598m 598m 623m 623m 603m 603m 525m 525m 482m 482m 265m

4.1B 4.1C 4.1D 4.1E 4.1F 4.1G 4.2A 4.2B 4.2C 4.2D 4.2E 4.2F 4.2G 4.2H 4.2I 4.2J 4.3A 4.3B 4.3C 4.3D 4.3E 4.3F 4.3G 4.3H 4.4A 4.4B 4.4C 4.4D 4.4E 4.4F 4.4G 4.4H 5.1A 5.1B 5.1C 5.1D 5.1E 5.1F 5.1G 5.1H 5.1I 5.1J 5.1K 5.1L 5.1M 5.1N 5.2A 5.2B 5.2C 5.2D 5.2E 5.2F 5.2G 5.2H 5.2I 5.2J 6.1A 6.1B 6.1C 6.1D 6.1E 6.1F 6.1G 6.1H 6.1I 6.1J 6.1K 6.1L 6.1M

246m 236m 218m 211m 208m 133m 104m 86m 66m 48m 82m 103m 158m 170m 188m 196m 153m 182m 230m 265m 250m 248m 237m 228m 231m 250m 271m 295m 304m 299m 289m 276m 334m 352m 364m 379m 397m 424m 434m 449m 458m 477m 502m 533m 551m 569m 447m 459m 471m 488m 515m 530m 552m 572m 585m 587m 539m 552m 570m 586m 624m 647m 659m 675m 687m 705m 730m 747m 780m

6.2A 6.2B 6.2C 6.2D 6.2E 6.2F 6.2G 6.2H 6.2I 6.3A 6.3B 6.3C 6.3D 6.3E 6.3F 6.3G 6.3H 6.4A 6.4B 6.4C 6.4D 6.4E 6.4F 6.4G 6.4H 6.4I 6.4J 6.4K 6.4L 6.4M 6.4N 6.4O 7.1A 7.1B 7.1C 7.1D 7.1E 7.1F 7.1G 7.1H 7.1I 7.1J 7.1K 7.2A 7.2B 7.2C 7.2D 7.2E 7.2F 7.2G 7.2H 7.2I 7.2J 7.2K 7.2M 8.1A 8.1B 8.2A 8.2B 8.3A 8.3B 8.4A 8.4B 8.5A 8.5B 8.6A 8.6B 8.7A 8.7B

807m 825m 843m 868m 886m 892m 902m 884m 901m 898m 886m 867m 849m 889m 863m 851m 836m 814m 848m 846m 827m 810m 787m 776m 759m 746m 743m 750m 735m 731m 722m 701m 246m 266m 293m 311m 309m 271m 258m 233m 222m 210m 195m 177m 206m 217m 232m 241m 259m 290m 315m 329m 403m 395m 381m 605m 609m 655m 659m 677m 681m 730m 734m 765m 769m 719m 723m 650m 654m

754m

1.2D

1.2C

1.2B

795m

813m

829m

1.2E 1.2F

1.2A

1.2G

877m 1.1D

776m

718m 1.2H

1.4D

749m 1.4C

1.4E 792m

823m 1.4F

11

740m 1.4B

683m 1.3A

1.1C

913m

838m 1.1B 871m

1.4G 862m 1.4H

750m 1.4A

15

839m

4

776m 707m

1.1A 847m

665m 1.3B 1.4I 822m

1.3C 672m

1.4J

744m

1.3D 699m

817m

1.4K

728m 1.4L

1.3E 686m

20 797m 1.5A 498m

2.3B

2.3A

534m

487m

505m

2.2C

2.3C

474m 2.3D

2.2B

456m

2.2A

2.3E

586m

734m 730m

24

681m

8.4A

612m

2.1C

2.6J

2.3I

408m

335m

8.3A

2.3J

531m

471m

432m

353m

2.7D

2.6K 489m 2.6L

2.6I

393m 2.6H

769m

315m 2.3K

4

659m 765m

8.2B

8.5A

609m

655m

309m

8.1B

8.2A

7.1E

7.1F

56

293m 7.1C

358m

8.1A

7.1A

333m

650m

719m

8

8.7B 654m

266m

7.1I 222m 210m

8.7A

337m

2.4F

10 780m

807m 6.2B

825m

730m 6.1L

6.2A

6.1K

7.2B

705m 217m 6.1J

6.2C

687m 675m 659m 6.1I 6.1H

6.2D

290m

647m 6.1G

7.2G 624m

6.1E 886m 6.2F

6.2I 901m

586m 6.1D

259m

241m

7.2F

7.2E

232m

7.2C

26

570m

552m

6.1C

6.1B

7.2K

502m

4

73

7.2J

66m 4.2C

48m

8

6.4C 846m 6.4D 827m

6.3F 6.3G 851m

746m

6.4F 787m

759m 6.4G

6.4H

6.4I

743m 6.4J

569m

6.4O 701m

731m 6.4M

449m 5.1H

434m 5.1G

20

5.1N

515m

6.4N 722m

6.4E 810m

598m 3.4A 598m 3.4B

482m

43

541m

3.8B 3.2A

541m 3.2B

623m 3.5A

86m

623m

4.2B

104m

530m 587m 5.2J

572m 585m 5.2I 5.2H

552m

4.1E

133m 4.1G

208m

525m

218m

211m

3.7A

4.1D 236m

4.2A

5.2F

5.2E

29

424m 5.1F

397m 5.1E

488m 5.2D

447m 459m 471m 5.2C 5.2B

5.2A

24

379m 5.1D

334m

352m 364m 5.1C 5.1B

5.1A

58

525m

4.1C 246m 265m 4.1B

182m

4.2F

231m 4.4A

4.3D 265m 4.2H 4.3E

170m 4.2I 188m

250m 248m 4.3F

603m 3.6B

250m 230m

4.2G 158m

603m 3.6A

4.3A

4.3C

103m

3.7B

4.1A

153m 4.3B

458m 5.1I

5.1L

848m 6.4B

863m

5.1J

551m 5.1M

14

6.4A

6.3D 849m

5.1K

533m

814m

6.3E 889m

500m 3.3B

37 3.8A

52

58

4.2E 477m

867m

280m

237m

4.2D

884m

6.3C

3.3A

482m

37

7.2D

82m

6.3B

3.1B

3.5B

6.2H

6.3A

451m

2.5I

2.5A

234m

4.1F

329m 381m 7.2I 7.2M 403m 395m 539m

3

13

365m

2.5L 2.5B

6.1A

886m

398m

500m

215m

7.2H

606m

6.2G

898m

521m 2.7J 504m 511m 2.7K 2.7L

315m

6.1F

868m 6.2E

902m

11

521m 2.7I

2.7A

206m

843m

667m

437m

301m 2.5K

2.5C

7.2A 747m 6.1M

2.7G 539m 2.7H

2.7B 474m

302m 2.5J

2.5D 306m

177m

1.5I

591m

314m

7.1K

1.5D

732m

3.1A

2.5H 322m

2.5E 7.1J

1.5E

451m

2.5G

2.5F

2.1A

599m

318m

298m

2.4E

2.6B 381m

355m

195m

24

2.6C

2.4B

581m 2.7F

494m 2.7C

451m

318m 2.4C 300m 2.4D 284m

714m

2.6A

2.6D

7.1H 233m

8.6A

2.6F

2.7E

2.6E

258m 7.1G

1.5F

602m

568m

342m

345m 2.4A 246m

723m 8.6B

2.7N

266m

271m

2.6M 468m

368m 2.6G

2.3L

7.1B

605m

6

311m 7.1D

284m

1.5G

682m 696m

2.1B

2.3H 677m

8.5B

632m

2.1D

386m 2.3G

1.5H

9

2.1E

371m

8.3B

748m 1.5C 740m

595m 428m 2.3F 8.4B

755m 1.5B

4

563m

228m 237m 4.3G

4.3H

4.4B

271m 4.4C

4.4D 295m 304m 4.4E 299m

4.4F

276m 289m 4.4G 4.4H

196m 4.2J

5.2G

735m 750m 6.4L 6.4K

776m

836m 6.3H

156

BUS STOP ANALYSIS

0 - 100m

Analysis of bus stops is rooted in the strength and popularity of the public transportation, and the heavy usage of bus lines of the residents. Wroclaw has a wide ranging, extensive, reliable and relatively inexpensive public transportation system.

Combined with the cost and difficulty of finding parking, the cost of fuel, as well as the intensifying traffic and congestion problems, the public transportation system is an attractive and heavily utilized alternative to driving. The popularity of the public transportation system goes back to the communist era, when car ownership was lower, fuel supply was limited and the proportional cost was highly inefficient. As a way of habit, the older generations especially still heavily rely on public transportation, as not on the preferred method of urban communication, but also often as the exclusive one.

The location of the bus stops is fixed based on the existing condition on the site for the reason of convenience and acclamation. The process of reorganizing the bus stop system would not only be irrational given the relative equal distance of bus stops and the bus lines serving the site. Furthermore, the locations of the stops and bus times have been instilled in the memory of the rather older generation of the residents. The bus stop locations are therefore taken as a given, a starting point, and a variable which should not be messed with. They are small, concentrated nodes along a road, they channel and orient people, they collect and disperse, and ultimately serve a tremendously important role in infrastructural organization.

The bus stops are primarily treated as satellite nodes from the central zone since their spacing is based on actual bus travel distances. The majority of the bus stops are also located on the periphery of the site which makes them a good intermediate point in the process of expanding the arteries from the central zone beyond the site. They are the points in space, completely separated from the site logistics and responding to something as benign as a bus size or street traffic system. As points in space they take on an important meaning as a counter network to the central zone analysis which is rooted completely in the existing site layout. Another important difference is the hierarchy of the bus stop organization. While the central zone establishes a gradient of hot-spots increasing in size towards the center, the bus stop hot-spots are completely reliant on the proximity and number of residential units to each particular stop. This is, on the one hand completely location driven, while on the other, aggressively arbitrary and in no way reliant on a strategic intention.

The varied proportion of each bus stop usage establishes a hierarchy completely disconnected from the site layout. The bus stops therefore become nodes concentrating various programs and activities in them, on the way to them or around them proportionate to the volume of residents served. They are the de-centralizing nodes, taking attention away from the central zone, especially in terms of the smaller scaled programs and more localized activities.

100 - 200m

157

200 - 300m 300+m

1.1A 1.1B 1.1C 1.1D 1.2A 1.2B 1.2C 1.2D 1.2E 1.2F 1.2G 1.2H 1.3A 1.3B 1.3C 1.3D 1.3E 1.4A 1.4B 1.4C 1.4D 1.4E 1.4F 1.4G 1.4H 1.4I 1.4J 1.4K 1.4L 1.5A 1.5B 1.5C 1.5D 1.5E 1.5F 1.5G 1.5H 1.5I 2.1A 2.1B 2.1C 2.1D 2.1E 2.2A 2.2B 2.2C 2.3A 2.3B 2.3C 2.3D

107m 127m 109m 131m 166m 245m 229m 211m 143m 192m 97m 108m 135m 150m 176m 199m 219m 174m 164m 169m 193m 273m 179m 164m 151m 148m 143m 292m 276m 81m 182m 175m 168m 187m 205m 223m 205m 190m 298m 280m 287m 295m 307m 257m 234m 205m 168m 150m 127m 105m

2.3E 2.3F 2.3G 2.3H 2.3I 2.3J 2.3K 2.3L 2.4A 2.4B 2.4C 2.4D 2.4E 2.4F 2.5A 2.5B 2.5C 2.5D 2.5E 2.5F 2.5G 2.5H 2.5I 2.5J 2.5K 2.5L 2.6A 2.6B 2.6C 2.6D 2.6E 2.6F 2.6G 2.6H 2.6I 2.6J 2.6K 2.6L 2.6M 2.6N 2.7A 2.7B 2.7C 2.7D 2.7E 2.7F 2.7G 2.7H 2.7I 2.7J 2.7K 2.7L 3.1A 3.1B 3.2A 3.2B 3.3A 3.3B 3.4A 3.4B 3.5A 3.5B 3.6A 3.6B 3.7A 3.7B 3.8A 3.8B 4.1A

123m 151m 160m 178m 196m 214m 261m 284m 345m 333m 318m 300m 284m 266m 237m 234m 215m 306m 314m 298m 318m 322m 365m 302m 301m 280m 432m 459m 355m 337m 342m 368m 381m 321m 306m 288m 272m 296m 320m 430m 394m 325m 300m 310m 308m 321m 339m 435m 417m 417m 406m 400m 302m 302m 244m 244m 223m 223m 146m 146m 177m 177m 171m 171m 236m 236m 314m 314m 265m

4.1B 4.1C 4.1D 4.1E 4.1F 4.1G 4.2A 4.2B 4.2C 4.2D 4.2E 4.2F 4.2G 4.2H 4.2I 4.2J 4.3A 4.3B 4.3C 4.3D 4.3E 4.3F 4.3G 4.3H 4.4A 4.4B 4.4C 4.4D 4.4E 4.4F 4.4G 4.4H 5.1A 5.1B 5.1C 5.1D 5.1E 5.1F 5.1G 5.1H 5.1I 5.1J 5.1K 5.1L 5.1M 5.1N 5.2A 5.2B 5.2C 5.2D 5.2E 5.2F 5.2G 5.2H 5.2I 5.2J 6.1A 6.1B 6.1C 6.1D 6.1E 6.1F 6.1G 6.1H 6.1I 6.1J 6.1K 6.1L 6.1M

246m 236m 218m 211m 208m 133m 104m 86m 66m 48m 82m 103m 182m 156m 144m 132m 259m 273m 277m 286m 272m 268m 258m 249m 247m 242m 287m 261m 366m 262m 252m 239m 170m 188m 200m 215m 164m 153m 163m 176m 157m 135m 121m 151m 171m 189m 220m 232m 244m 261m 288m 304m 254m 257m 250m 243m 84m 73m 91m 119m 127m 145m 168m 180m 203m 208m 226m 251m 269m

6.2A 6.2B 6.2C 6.2D 6.2E 6.2F 6.2G 6.2H 6.2I 6.3A 6.3B 6.3C 6.3D 6.3E 6.3F 6.3G 6.3H 6.4A 6.4B 6.4C 6.4D 6.4E 6.4F 6.4G 6.4H 6.4I 6.4J 6.4K 6.4L 6.4M 6.4N 6.4O 7.1A 7.1B 7.1C 7.1D 7.1E 7.1F 7.1G 7.1H 7.1I 7.1J 7.1K 7.2A 7.2B 7.2C 7.2D 7.2E 7.2F 7.2G 7.2H 7.2I 7.2J 7.2K 7.2M 8.1A 8.1B 8.2A 8.2B 8.3A 8.3B 8.4A 8.4B 8.5A 8.5B 8.6A 8.6B 8.7A 8.7B

301m 328m 346m 364m 389m 337m 321m 308m 304m 145m 156m 159m 152m 130m 104m 92m 77m 225m 208m 225m 162m 148m 139m 128m 371m 357m 354m 361m 347m 342m 333m 312m 246m 266m 293m 311m 309m 271m 258m 233m 222m 210m 195m 177m 206m 217m 232m 241m 259m 223m 203m 200m 197m 190m 176m 262m 266m 325m 329m 351m 355m 387m 391m 346m 350m 282m 286m 214m 218m

143m

1.2D

1.2C

1.2B

211m

229m

245m

1.2E 1.2F

1.2A

166m

192m 97m

19

1.2G 131m 1.1D

193m

108m 1.2H

1.4D

169m 1.4C

1.4E 273m

179m 1.4F

164m 1.4B

135m 1.3A

1.1C

1.1B 127m 151m 1.4H

174m 1.4A

1.1A

21

107m

150m 1.3B

29

109m

164m

1.4G

1.4I 148m

1.3C 176m

1.4J

292m

1.3D 199m

143m

1.4K

276m 1.4L

1.3E 219m

81m 1.5A 127m 2.3C

105m

150m

168m

2.3B

2.3A

205m 2.2C

2.3D

182m 1.5B

234m 2.2B

123m

2.2A

2.3E

175m 1.5C

257m

168m 1.5H

307m 151m 2.3F 391m

2.1E 295m

387m 8.4A

2.1C

178m

355m 351m

2.6J

2.3I

306m

214m

8.3A

2.3J

310m

272m

288m

196m

2.7D

2.6K 296m 2.6L

2.6I

321m 2.6H

350m

261m 2.3K

8.5B 329m 346m

284m

8.2B

8.5A

266m

325m

309m

8.1B

8.2A

7.1E

311m 7.1D

7.1F

368m

333m

214m

282m

218m

210m

8.7A

2.4F

6.1M

301m 6.2B

6.1L

6.2A

6.1K

217m 6.1J

208m 203m 180m 6.1I 6.1H

40

168m 6.1G

20

223m 7.2G

145m

6.1E 337m 6.2F

2.6B

20

432m

365m 2.5I

302m 3.1B 223m 3.3A 223m

259m 7.2F

241m 7.2E

232m 7.2D

7.2C

146m

3.3B 3.4A

146m

2.5L 234m

3.4B

280m

2.5A

314m

237m

3.8A 314m 244m

3.8B 3.2A

51

244m 3.2B

177m 3.5A 177m 3.5B

7.2H

127m 119m 6.1D

91m

200m 176m 7.2I 7.2M 197m 190m

73m

6.1C

6.1B

7.2K

84m

66m

7.2J

4.2C

48m

86m 4.2B

133m 4.1G

104m

208m

211m

236m

218m

3.7A

4.1D 236m

4.2A

236m

4.1C 246m 265m

4.2D

6.1A

6.2G

4.1E

4.1F

4.1B

308m

3.7B

171m 3.6A

4.1A

82m

6.2H

171m

5

3.6B 4.2E

135m 121m 5.1K

151m

5.1J

4.3B

157m 5.1I

4.2F

163m 5.1G

171m 5.1M

6.4A 189m 6.3B 156m

215m

6.4C 225m

6.3C 159m

288m 6.4O 312m

6.4D 162m

152m 6.3D

104m

357m

6.4F 139m

6.3F

19

6.4N 333m

6.4E 148m

6.3E 130m

6.3G

371m 6.4G

6.4H

6.4I

354m 6.4J

342m 6.4M 347m 361m 6.4L 6.4K

304m 243m 5.2J

257m 250m 5.2I 5.2H

254m 5.2G

5.2F

5.2E

261m 5.2D

220m 232m 244m 5.2C 5.2B

5.2A

5.1D

188m 200m 5.1C 5.1B

4.3E

156m

170m

4.2I 144m

5.1A

247m 4.4A

4.3D 286m 4.2H

164m

287m

277m

4.2G 182m

153m 5.1F 5.1E

5.1N

208m 6.4B

4.3A

273m 259m

4.3C

103m

176m 5.1H

5.1L 225m

145m 6.3A

417m 2.7I 417m 2.7J

400m 406m 2.7K 2.7L

203m

6.1F

389m 6.2E

321m

2.7A 394m

459m

7.2B

226m

6.2D

304m

2.7G

206m

6.2C

6.2I

339m

298m

435m 2.7H

2.7B 325m

301m 2.5K

2.5B

7.2A

328m

2.7F

300m 2.7C

302m 2.5J

2.5D 306m

215m

364m

190m

2.1A

3.1A

2.5H 322m

2.5C

346m

321m

314m

177m

1.5D

187m

302m

2.5G

2.5F 2.5E

7.1K

251m

2.7E

318m

298m

2.4E

7.1J

195m

269m

2.6C 355m

300m 2.4D 284m

266m

7.1I 222m

8.7B

337m 2.4B

318m 2.4C

7.1H 233m

1.5E

280m

308m

2.6A

2.6D

246m

286m

8.6A

430m

342m

345m 2.4A 7.1A

2.6F

2.6E

266m

271m

258m 7.1G 8.6B

2.7N

2.3L

7.1B

262m 8.1A

2.6M 320m

381m 2.6G

293m 7.1C

205m

2.1B

2.3H

8.3B

1.5F

1.5I

287m

2.1D

160m 2.3G

8.4B

1.5G

205m 223m

272m 268m 4.3F

249m 258m 4.3G

4.3H

4.4B 242m

4.4C

4.4D 261m 266m 4.4E 262m

4.4F

239m 252m 4.4G 4.4H

132m 4.2J

10

3 20

128m

92m 77m 6.3H

158

GREEN SPACE ANALYSIS

0 - 300m

The study of walking patterns to the nearest green space (be that a park or an open space which has the potential of becoming one) provides a possible network of links between off site and on site elements meant to break down the strong physical barrier which is the road. The series of arteries of green space penetrating the site is also meant to counter the more urbanized arteries created by the central zone and bus station study. It is a matter of contrasts and differentiation. The green spaces are an exact inverse, in terms of location, walking pattern and distance from residential units, to the central zone.

These zones provide, visually and functionally, an offset of the site boundary, a meltdown of the containment that the site was always meant to be. The abundance of open, unused spaces around the site reinforces its status as a bedroom community, while providing ample opportunities for expansion and cohesion with surroundings, not just the immediate but also those beyond.

Off site zones are a little like islands, separated by a strong physical barrier, vastly different from the surrounding areas, and more than often being completely transitory spaces, ones without proper organization or aesthetic, worthy of long lasting usage. These spaces should not be or become residual zones of activity, but compete with the proper site activities. The physical qualities of the offsite zones are appealing and exploitable. There is an issue of water penetration, connectivity to other programs, areas with vastly different tree conditions and so forth.

These islands have the potential for spurring an entire program typology for the site program catalogue. The connective tissue which connects these zones with other parts of the site can also take on much different qualities and create interesting intersection points with the ring road.

300 - 500m

159

500 - 700m 700+m

1.1A 1.1B 1.1C 1.1D 1.2A 1.2B 1.2C 1.2D 1.2E 1.2F 1.2G 1.2H 1.3A 1.3B 1.3C 1.3D 1.3E 1.4A 1.4B 1.4C 1.4D 1.4E 1.4F 1.4G 1.4H 1.4I 1.4J 1.4K 1.4L 1.5A 1.5B 1.5C 1.5D 1.5E 1.5F 1.5G 1.5H 1.5I 2.1A 2.1B 2.1C 2.1D 2.1E 2.2A 2.2B 2.2C 2.3A 2.3B 2.3C 2.3D

458m 440m 449m 413m 376m 388m 372m 354m 290m 335m 239m 250m 277m 293m 319m 341m 362m 316m 306m 312m 336m 416m 382m 397m 421m 555m 550m 434m 418m 410m 396m 391m 409m 446m 428m 410m 395m 379m 487m 498m 489m 472m 459m 452m 430m 401m 364m 346m 323m 301m

2.3E 2.3F 2.3G 2.3H 2.3I 2.3J 2.3K 2.3L 2.4A 2.4B 2.4C 2.4D 2.4E 2.4F 2.5A 2.5B 2.5C 2.5D 2.5E 2.5F 2.5G 2.5H 2.5I 2.5J 2.5K 2.5L 2.6A 2.6B 2.6C 2.6D 2.6E 2.6F 2.6G 2.6H 2.6I 2.6J 2.6K 2.6L 2.6M 2.6N 2.7A 2.7B 2.7C 2.7D 2.7E 2.7F 2.7G 2.7H 2.7I 2.7J 2.7K 2.7L 3.1A 3.1B 3.2A 3.2B 3.3A 3.3B 3.4A 3.4B 3.5A 3.5B 3.6A 3.6B 3.7A 3.7B 3.8A 3.8B 4.1A

319m 346m 355m 373m 391m 409m 405m 378m 391m 405m 417m 435m 465m 479m 620m 587m 562m 535m 519m 481m 485m 513m 521m 692m 690m 613m 551m 522m 496m 481m 472m 450m 463m 517m 502m 483m 467m 491m 516m 539m 534m 524m 496m 506m 514m 527m 545m 606m 588m 588m 578m 571m 466m 466m 331m 331m 387m 387m 324m 324m 253m 253m 301m 301m 397m 397m 453m 453m 675m

4.1B 4.1C 4.1D 4.1E 4.1F 4.1G 4.2A 4.2B 4.2C 4.2D 4.2E 4.2F 4.2G 4.2H 4.2I 4.2J 4.3A 4.3B 4.3C 4.3D 4.3E 4.3F 4.3G 4.3H 4.4A 4.4B 4.4C 4.4D 4.4E 4.4F 4.4G 4.4H 5.1A 5.1B 5.1C 5.1D 5.1E 5.1F 5.1G 5.1H 5.1I 5.1J 5.1K 5.1L 5.1M 5.1N 5.2A 5.2B 5.2C 5.2D 5.2E 5.2F 5.2G 5.2H 5.2I 5.2J 6.1A 6.1B 6.1C 6.1D 6.1E 6.1F 6.1G 6.1H 6.1I 6.1J 6.1K 6.1L 6.1M

688m 704m 722m 711m 719m 782m 785m 803m 854m 832m 813m 784m 766m 740m 728m 717m 719m 733m 737m 746m 731m 727m 717m 708m 697m 674m 737m 690m 681m 677m 667m 643m 728m 746m 710m 696m 678m 683m 662m 648m 628m 605m 593m 605m 623m 641m 806m 794m 785m 768m 740m 720m 707m 709m 702m 696m 539m 519m 495m 479m 464m 446m 426m 403m 397m 396m 378m 476m 453m

6.2A 6.2B 6.2C 6.2D 6.2E 6.2F 6.2G 6.2H 6.2I 6.3A 6.3B 6.3C 6.3D 6.3E 6.3F 6.3G 6.3H 6.4A 6.4B 6.4C 6.4D 6.4E 6.4F 6.4G 6.4H 6.4I 6.4J 6.4K 6.4L 6.4M 6.4N 6.4O 7.1A 7.1B 7.1C 7.1D 7.1E 7.1F 7.1G 7.1H 7.1I 7.1J 7.1K 7.2A 7.2B 7.2C 7.2D 7.2E 7.2F 7.2G 7.2H 7.2I 7.2J 7.2K 7.2M 8.1A 8.1B 8.2A 8.2B 8.3A 8.3B 8.4A 8.4B 8.5A 8.5B 8.6A 8.6B 8.7A 8.7B

440m 427m 438m 492m 492m 508m 548m 535m 531m 578m 590m 593m 517m 496m 470m 458m 443m 658m 641m 658m 527m 513m 504m 493m 824m 814m 808m 814m 822m 827m 817m 799m 453m 473m 500m 518m 546m 510m 588m 523m 632m 641m 653m 566m 595m 606m 621m 630m 648m 677m 704m 715m 724m 730m 730m 571m 575m 508m 512m 609m 613m 484m 480m 389m 393m 340m 344m 529m 525m

60 290m

36

1.2D

1.2C

1.2B

354m

372m

388m

1.2E 1.2F

1.2A

376m

335m 239m

1.2G 413m 1.1D

336m

19

250m 1.2H

1.4D

312m 1.4C

1.4E 416m

382m 1.4F

306m 1.4B

277m 1.3A

1.1C

449m

397m 1.1B 440m

1.4G 421m 1.4H

316m 1.4A

5

293m 1.3B

1.1A 458m

1.4I 555m

1.3C 319m

1.4J

434m 1.3D

550m

1.4K

418m

341m

1.4L

1.3E 362m

24 410m 1.5A

47

323m 2.3C

301m

346m

364m

2.3B

2.3A

401m

11

2.3D 319m

2.2C

396m 1.5B

430m 2.2B 2.2A

2.3E

6

452m

1.5C 391m 1.5H

459m 346m 2.3F 480m 484m

609m

502m

2.3J

8.2B

8.5A

575m

512m

546m

8.1B

8.2A

7.1E

518m 7.1D

24

500m 7.1C

7.1F

473m

7.1A

525m

340m

7.1I 632m

8.7B

8.6A

529m

641m

8.7A

2.6E 472m

481m

479m

23

2.4F

6.1M

440m

6.1L 6.1K

606m 6.1J

396m 397m 403m 6.1I 6.1H

6.2D

6.1G

446m

6.1E

466m 3.1B 387m

692m 2.5J

3.3A 387m

690m 2.5K

562m

7.2G

648m 7.2F

630m 7.2E

479m 6.1D

495m

519m

3.4A 324m 3.4B

613m

2.5A

587m

453m

620m

3.8A

6.1C

5

6.1B 539m

331m 3.2B

253m 3.5B

7.2K

4.1E

4.1F 854m

7.2J

4.2C

832m

803m 4.2B

782m 4.1G

785m

719m

711m

397m

722m

3.7A

4.1D 704m

4.2A

397m

4.1C

3.7B

688m 675m

4.2D

593m 5.1K

605m

4.1B

5.1J

4.1A

301m

5.1I

10

578m 641m 6.4B

8 6.4D

527m

517m 6.3D

6.4N 817m

6.4E 513m

6.3E 496m 6.3F 470m

6.3G 458m

662m 5.1G

814m

6.4F 504m

824m 6.4G

6.4H

6.4I

808m 6.4J

5.1E

5.1N

696m

827m 6.4M 822m 814m 6.4L 6.4K

720m 696m 5.2J

709m 702m 5.2I 5.2H

707m

5.2F

5.2E

768m 5.2D

806m 794m 785m 5.2C 5.2B

5.2A

5.1D

728m

746m 710m 5.1C 5.1B

5.1A

11

4.3D 746m 4.2H

678m

4.3E

740m

731m 727m

4.2I 728m

4.3F

717m 4.2J

737m

719m

737m

4.2G 766m

683m 5.1F

733m

4.3C

784m

648m 5.1H

641m

740m 6.4O 799m

3.6B

4.2F

623m 5.1M

6.4A

24

301m 3.6A

4.3A

4.3B

628m

5.1L 658m

6.4C 658m

253m 3.5A

813m 4.2E 605m

6.3C 593m

331m 3.2A

7.2D

6.1A

6.2G

6.3B

35

453m 3.8B

7.2C

621m

715m 730m 7.2I 7.2M 724m 730m

531m 535m 6.2H

590m

324m

3.3B

2.5L 2.5B

7.2H

464m

6.2I

6.3A

466m

704m

6.1F

492m 6.2E

677m

5

426m

508m 6.2F

14

11

588m 2.7I 588m 2.7J

571m 578m 2.7K 2.7L

521m

7.2B

378m

6.2C

548m

2.7A 534m

522m

2.5I

2.5C

7.2A

6.2A

606m 2.7H

2.7B 524m

595m

492m

7 487m

3.1A

2.5H

535m 2.5D

566m

6.2B

545m

409m

2.7G

513m

2.5G

519m 2.5E

2.1A

7.1J

12

476m

485m

2.5F

2.7F

496m 2.7C

1.5D

551m

2.6B

496m

481m

2.4E

527m

446m

379m 498m

514m 2.7E

1.5E

2.6A 2.6C

8

435m 2.4D 465m

7.1K

33

539m

2.4B

417m 2.4C

653m

11

2.6F

2.6D 405m

7.1H 523m

48

450m

453m

344m 8.6B

8

391m 2.4A

510m

2.6M 516m

2.7N

14

588m 7.1G

427m

491m 2.6L

463m 2.6G

2.3L

378m

7.1B

571m 8.1A

438m

2.6K

2.6I

517m

405m 2.3K 508m 389m

453m

2.7D

2.6H 393m 8.5B

83

2.6J

2.3I 409m

506m

467m

483m

391m 8.3A

2.1C 2.1B

2.3H

8.3B

428m

1.5I

489m

2.1D

8

373m

613m

8.4A

1.5F

1.5G

395m 410m

472m

355m 2.3G

8.4B

12

2.1E

708m 717m 4.3G

4.3H

697m 4.4A

4.4B 674m

4.4C

6

4.4D 690m 681m 4.4E 677m

643m 667m 4.4G 4.4H

4.4F

25

5.2G

8

493m

443m 6.3H

23

33

160

ANALYTIC OVERLAY An overlay of all circulation studies is a presentation of a perceived balance between the varied termination points of all studies. The plan shows all circulatory hot spot locations based on proximity and walking patterns. This study allows for an early programmatic analysis and catalogue. Concentrations of nodes and their relative size are a guide to program typology and distribution, depending on size, proximity to other concentration, location within the overall site and connection to offsite zones.

Initially the programmatic catalogue is divided into three categories: support programs, green space (or park programs) and parking. Support programs are further subdivided into need based and demand based programs and allotted per residential zone or overall site, depending on their degree of need and reoccurrence. Green space programs are divided into residual and programmed (need based) types. The residual spaces are meant as a connective tissue. The parking category is based purely on the parking demand and shortage as calculated throughout the study. The program is allotted with each residential zone to fulfill the shortage and therefore has no connection with adjacent zones.

The circulatory network analysis along with the programmatic catalogue are two crucial components in driving an early site plan proposal, as they are organized according to each other’s criteria and information.

ANALYSIS central zone node, path bus stop node, path green space node, path ON SITE ZONE DEFINITIONS parking zones residential megazones

NON-RETAIL (NEED-BASED)

RESIDUAL

PER RESIDENTIAL MEGAZONE:

LINKING TISSUE WITH GREEN SPACE BEYOND THE RING ROADS AS WELL AS THE VARIOUS PROGRAMS ON THE SITE

-PHARMACY -DAYCARE -POST OFFICE -BANK

PER OVERALL SITE: -CINEMA -LIBRARY -BUS TERMINAL

PROGRAMMED (NEED-BASED)

OFF SITE ZONES green spaces

SMALL:

MEDIUM: -GROCERY STORE (1/4000residents) -SPECIALTY STORE (1/2000residents) -CLOTHING, HARDWARE, BOOKSHOP...

-RESTAURANT (1/3000residents)

LARGE: -SUPERMARKET (1/10000residents) -DEPARTMENT STORE (1/10000residents)

161

0 - 5 stories 6 - 10 stories

OTHER BUILDINGS

removed buildings

PARKING (AGGREGATION) AS CALCULATED PER PARKING ZONE PARKING ZONE 1: 1009 SPACES (1.89ha) PARKING ZONE 2: 1324 SPACES (2.48ha) PARKING ZONE 3: 637 SPACES (1.16ha) PARKING ZONE 4: 790 SPACES (1.23ha) PARKING ZONE 5: 571 SPACES (0.89ha) PARKING ZONE 6: 1194 SPACES (1.87ha) PARKING ZONE 7: 707 SPACES (1.10ha) PARKING ZONE 8: 739 SPACES (1.16ha)

APARTMENTS: 1103 PARKING REQUIREMENT: (at 1.2/apt): 1324 REQUIRED PARKING AREA: 24825m2 = 2.48ha PARKING ZONE 3

APARTMENTS: 528 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 637 REQUIRED PARKING AREA: 11625m2 = 1.16ha APARTMENTS: 658 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 790 REQUIRED PARKING AREA: 12337m2 = 1.23ha

RESIDENTIAL MEGAZONE 2 STAIRCASES: 69 APARTMENTS: 1471 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 4561 PARKING ZONE 5

APARTMENTS: 476 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 571 REQUIRED PARKING AREA: 8925m2 = 0.89ha PARKING ZONE 6

11+ stories

remaining on site buildings

RETAIL (DEMAND-BASED) -NEWSPAPER STAND (1/1000residents) -BAKERY (1/2000residents) -SPECIALTY STORE (1/1000residents) -JEWELRY, COSMETICS, REPAIR...

-BAR (1/2000residents)

BUILDING HEIGHTS

PER RESIDENTIAL MEGAZONE: -PLAYGROUND (1/2500residents) -SOCCER FIELD (1/2500residents)

APARTMENTS: 841 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 1009 REQUIRED PARKING AREA: 18918m2 = 1.89ha

PARKING ZONE 4

PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION CRITERIA GREEN SPACE

PARKING ZONE 1

PARKING ZONE 2

other zones

SUPPORT PROGRAMS

RESIDENTIAL MEGAZONE 1 STAIRCASES: 151 APARTMENTS: 3130 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 9703

APARTMENTS: 995 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 1194 REQUIRED PARKING AREA: 18656m2 = 1.87ha

RESIDENTIAL MEGAZONE 3 STAIRCASES: 37 APARTMENTS: 1205 RESIDENTS (at 3.1/apt): 3735 PARKING ZONE 7

other buildings

APARTMENTS: 589 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 707 REQUIRED PARKING AREA: 11043m2 = 1.10ha PARKING ZONE 8

APARTMENTS: 616 PARKING REQUIREMENT (at 1.2/apt): 739 REQUIRED PARKING AREA: 11550m2 = 1.16ha

1.2E

1.2D

1.2C

1.2B 1.2A

1.2F 1.2G

1.1D

1.2H

1.4D

1.4E

1.4C

1.1C 1.4F 1.1B

1.4G

1.4B

1.3A

1.1A

1.4H

1.4A 1.3B

1.4I 1.3C 1.4J 1.3D

1.4K 1.4L

1.3E

ZONE 1 1.5A

2.3C

2.3B

2.3A

1.5B 2.2C

2.3D

2.2B

1.5C 2.2A

2.3E

1.5H

1.5G

1.5F

1.5E

1.5D

2.1E

2.3F

1.5I 2.1D

8.4B

2.1C

2.3G 8.4A

2.1B

2.3H

8.3B

2.6J

2.3I 8.3A

2.7D

2.6K 2.6L

2.3J 2.6H

2.6M

2.3K

8.5B

2.1A

2.7E 2.7F

2.6I

K

2.7C

2.7G

2.7H

2.7B

2.6G

2.7I

2.7A

2.7N

2.3L

2.6F

8.2B

2.7J

8.5A 8.1B

8.2A

7.1E

7.1D

7.1C

2.6E 7.1B

8.6B

2.6C

2.4B

2.6B

ZONE 2

MEGAZONE 1

2.4C

7.1H

S

2.6A

2.6D 7.1A

7.1G

2.4D

ZONE 8

8.7B

8.6A

2.7L

2.4A

7.1F

MEGAZONE 3

8.1A

7.1I 2.4F

2.5F

2.4E

2.5G

3.1A

2.5H 2.5I

2.5E

3.1B

7.1J

8.7A

2.5J

2.5D

7.1K

S

3.3A 3.3B

2.5K

2.5C

3.4A

2.5L

S

2.5B

3.4B

2.5A

7.2A 6.1M 6.2B

6.1L

6.2A

3.8A

7.2B

3.8B

6.1K

3.2A

7.2C 6.1J

6.2C

6.1I

6.2D

6.1H

7.2G

6.1G

7.2E

7.2D

ZONE 7

3.2B 3.5A

7.2H 6.1E

6.2F

6.1D

6.1C

6.1B

4.1F

7.2K

4.2C

7.2J

4.2B

4.1C

MEGAZONE 2

4.2F

4.4B

5.1H

4.2G 5.1G

5.1M

6.4O

6.4D 6.3D

5.2E 6.4N

6.4E

6.3E

6.4M 6.4F

6.3F

6.4I 6.4G

6.4H

5.2F 5.2J

5.2G 5.2I

5.2C

4.4E 4.4F

4.3E

4.3H

4.2I

5.2A

5.2D

4.4D

4.2H

5.1A

5.1D

6.4C

6.3C

4.4C

4.4A

4.3D 5.1F 5.1E

5.1N

5.1C

5.1B

3.6B

4.3A

4.3C

5.1I

5.1L

6.4A

6.4B

6.3B

5.1J

3.6A

4.1A

S 4.3B

6.3A

3.7B 4.1B

ZONE 4

4.2E

5.1K

ZONE 3

3.7A

4.1D

4.2A

4.2D

6.1A

6.2H

4.1E

4.1G

7.2I

7.2M

ZONE 6

6.2G

7.2F

3.5B

6.1F 6.2E

6.2I

2.7K

4.3F

4.3G

4.4H

4.4G

4.2J

5.2B

ZONE 5

5.2H

6.4J 6.4K

6.4L

6.3G

6.3H

162

3.2

INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT Vitality is a product of mechanic reproduction. The site can function, expand, contract, live and breathe, only when it becomes a machine. It is a system, made up of parts and pieces, connecting to one another, plugging in, diverting, sticking out of the system. One part connects to another, connects to another, but somehow don’t make a chain. It is a network, and expensive machine. When a piece is taken out, a connection changes, the system adapts. When a new piece is added, the system expands, consumes the additive and reprograms the network. There is a base, the framework which accumulates the coordinates of various components. It is a plateau.

There is a hierarchy, but only a subjective one, a kind of perspectivism. Interpretive hierarchy is purely a matter of perception, or in urban terms; location.

This is the first step in the development of a landscape. It is not a development of the physical qualities which define and formalize it, but rather a system which has potential to live; to expand, contract, live and breathe. It is a development of an urban machine; a programmed animal. Like any species, the challenge is to develop a functional genetic composition, which has potential for all of the necessary vital processes to occur, one which has an ability to sustain itself, defend itself and recognize opportunities. The development process is based on three conceptual techniques and qualities: becoming, affirmation and multiplicity. All are a study in the politics of differentiation.

A formative development of a system out of primal and habitual patterns is the process of becoming. The qualitative development moves beyond the formal state, as becoming is a challenge to the status quo; a challenge to the pragmatics of modern urban planning. Becoming is a rebirth of urbanism, after the postmodern assault. It is a capitalization of capital; taking advantage of the variables of capitalism.

It is also a rebuke to prescriptive design, monumentality and fascism. Affirmation is the establishment of vitality within the framework. It is the scripting of the system, an evolution of rules which govern the transformation of the network. Affirmation is the power button, as well as the survival of the machine. Transformations within the system are an affirmation of its vitality. It is meant to be a schizophrenic animal, reacting and changing, multiplying. Multiplicity is the measure of success.

The birth of the animal is the composition of its infrastructure; programming it and identifying the rules which guide its growth. Infrastructure is both a physical quality as well as a scripting process which derives the physical quality over time. The initial approach has no idea what the product will look like. It is a process transcending aesthetics and experience, at least for now. Territorial divisions and identifications have been subsumed by the definition of the game. Infrastructural development is an architectural game, responding to planning problems and deficiencies.

At the gates of the system are program identification and program rules. An initial catalogue was identified at the conclusion of the previous section. Infrastructural development is an expansion and further definition of program, both in terms of size, type, location and placement rules, frequency and usage. Programmatic definitions are based not only on need and demand, but also on site qualities and circulation studies. They in turn redefine circulation networks and lead to a new reading of the

site. That makes them both a responsive and transformative tool.

The hot spots from the preceding phase are turned into programmed zones, a series of nodes, which are a composition of three program typologies; support, green and parking. Support programs are further divided into two categories: need based (non-retail) and demand based (retail). Within these two subcategories specific programs are identified and distributed according to a set criteria based on the frequency and size of the program. Need-based programs are divided between those serving residential mega-zones and those serving the entire site. This division is also influenced by the size of the program and its immediate relevance to the residents of the site (ie. a grocery store is both smaller and would be used more frequently than a cinema). Demand based programs (retail) are subdivided into small, medium and large categories relating purely to their size. These programs are also categorized as to their frequency (ie. a restaurant is identified to be needed per every 3000 residents).

This study allows for a summation as to the amount of each program on the site. The identified nodes are then given their genetic composition as to the type and amount of each program they must hold based on their location within the site and the amount of residents close to the node.

Park programs are divided into residual and programmed zones. Residual park spaces are meant as an infrastructural web connecting the site over the streets to the adjacent green spaces as well as methods of unifying the site based on a walking experience which is not interrupted by the main roads. Programmed park nodes contain a soccer field and playground and space for other potential outdoor activities and are identified based on a demand per number of residents (similarly to demand support programs). The nodes are also distributed per population concentrations.

Parking is demand based per residential zone and the areas are identified and placed based on the amount of parking needed as per previous studies. They are placed based on two conditions; proximity to the residential zone served, and proximity to the main road, in order to eliminate or reduce the amount of internal site roads.

Program distribution identifies and delineates the genetic composition of all major program nodes. The node network, which is formally completely separated from the residential buildings, becomes the driving force in establishing a circulation system, which contrary to the nodes is a formal exercise. The form is a result of the program studies for the existing condition and would vary depending on population shifts, demand changes and individual program success within the network. The nature of a market economy, and capitalist competition would allow and even force significant changes within the program definition over time.

The result of this phase of the project is a site plan which identifies program location and relative sizes as well as conceptual connections between programs and building entrances. The site plan is a pure responsive system, which should not be confused with any environmental term. The site plan is the birth of the machine.

164

PROGRAM NODES

PROGRAMMATIC DISTRIBUTION

supporting

Programmatic distribution is theoretically a completely predetermined process.

Program typologies have been identified in the previous phase. These typologies automatically assign specific program types and the various size ranges that those programs can be and usually are. According to the analytical overlay and residential zone definition and identification from the previous phase, programs are distributed within the hot-spots according to the proximity to residential buildings and similar programs, population served and frequency. The distribution determines the size of each node.

A graphical representation of the distribution depicts the overall density of the various parts of the site. The step of composing the program nodes is completely disconnected from the residential buildings, allowing intersections and juxtapositions to freely occur and not disturb the systematic approach to distributing programs according to predetermined rules. Program nodes are the first step in formalizing a site plan for the transformation of Kozanow.

park parking existing PROGRAMS bakery S

bank bar basketball arena bus shelter bus terminal cinema church

K

day care

D

department store grocery store

PROGRAM SIZES AND CODES SUPERMARKET (SM) DEPARTMENT STORE (DS) LIBRARY (LI) CINEMA (CI) BUS TERMINAL (BT) MARINA (MA) DAY CARE (DC) GROCERY STORE (GR) BANK (BK) POST OFFICE (PO) RESTAURANT (RE) MID SPECIALTY STORE (MS) PHARMACY (PH) BAR (BR) BAKERY (BA) SMALL SPECIALTY STORE (SS) NEWS STAND (NS) BUS SHELTER (BS) PICNIC AREA (PI) SOCCER FIELD (SC) PLAYGROUND (PL) 165

2000 - 4000m2 2000 - 4000m2 1500 - 2500m2 1500 - 2500m2 1000 - 1500m2 1000 - 1500m2 200 - 300m2 100 - 200m2 100 - 200m2 80 - 120m2 80 - 120m2 80 - 120m2 80 - 120m2 40 - 80m2 40 - 80m2 30 - 60m2 8 - 12m2 8 - 12m2 VARIES VARIES VARIES

library marina M

P

mid specialty store news stand parking pharmacy picnic area playground post office restaurant

S S

school small specialty store soccer field supermarket swimming area tennis center

PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION PER NODE C1: CI, LI, BT, SM, DS, 2xMS, 2xRE = 8320 - 14980m2: ave. 11650m2 M1a: PH. DC, PO, BK, GR, BR = 600 - 1020m2: ave. 810m2 M1b: PH. DC, PO, BK, GR, RE, MS = 720 - 1180m2: ave. 950m2 M2: PH. DC, PO, BK, GR, BR, MS = 680 - 1140m2: ave. 910m2 M3: PH. DC, PO, BK, GR, BR, RE, MS = 760 - 1260m2: ave. 1010m2 R1: NS, BA, 3xSS, BR, RE, MS = 338 - 592m2: ave. 465m2 R2: NS, 2xBA, 4xSS, 2xBR, RE, 2xMS, GR = 628 - 1132m2: ave. 880m2 R3: NS, BA, 2xSS, BR, MS = 228 - 412m2: ave. 320m2 R4: NS, BA, 2xSS, BR, MS = 228 - 412m2: ave. 320m2 R5: NS, BA, 2xSS, BR, MS = 228 - 412m2: ave. 320m2 R6: NS, 2xBA, 3xSS, BR, MS, RE = 378 - 672m2: ave. 525m2 R7: NS, BA, 2xSS, BR, MS = 228 - 412m2: ave. 320m2 R8: NS, BA, 2xSS, BR, MS = 228 - 412m2: ave. 320m2 all B: NS, BS = 16 - 24m2: ave. 20m2

PARKING AREAS P1: 18900m2 P2: 24800m2 P3: 11600m2 P4: 12300m2 P5: 8900m2 P6: 18700m2 P7: 11000m2 P8: 11600m2

PARK PROGRAMS G1: SOCCER FIELD, PLAYGROUND G2: SOCCER FIELD, PLAYGROUND G3: SOCCER FIELD, PLAYGROUND G4: SOCCER FIELD, PLAYGROUND, TENNIS CENTER G5: SOCCER FIELD, PLAYGROUND G6: SOCCER FIELD, PLAYGROUND G7: SOCCER FIELD, PLAYGROUND G8: SOCCER FIELD, PLAYGROUND Gx1: PICNIC AREA, PLAYGOUND, BASKETBALL ARENA Gx2: MARINA, SWIMMING AREA Gx3: SOCCER FIELD, PICNIC AREA Gx4: PICNIC AREA, SWIMMING AREA, PLAYGROUND

Gx2

P

P

B1a

P P

P1a

P

B1b

B1c G1

S

S

P

S S M

P P

P1b

P

M

P

G5

P8

P

S

P

P P

R2 P

P7b

S

R8

Gx4

P

G4

P

P

M1a

P2

P

R1

K

G2

S

Gx1

M S S

P

S

P

G6

M

S

R3

M

P

S M

P

C1

P7a

P3

S

B1e

M

P

S

B1d

G3 D

B2c

M2

G7 M

R4

M

S

S

S S

R6

M

R5

S

K

M1b M

P6a P

P5 P

P

S

S

S

P

M

S

S

B3a

B2b

R7

M

P

P6b

G8

M3

K

S

P

P

P4

B2a

P

P

K

P

M

S

P

P

B1f

P

B1g

Gx3

166

INITIAL PROGRAM ORGANIZATION

OFF SITE ZONES other zones

The pattern is generated based on the geometry of existing residential blocks. Since the blocks are essentially the only preserved form on the site, and their arrangement and composition is rather unique, and the parameters of the project are intended to deal with support infrastructure for housing, the organization of the landscape begins with the information stored in the residential components. The ground plane is essentially pumped with geometric information. The overall idea is to develop a system of totalizing unity while maintaining locality and uniqueness of individual moments. Difference is distilled from sameness.

Rather than erase or cover up the existing residential grid, it is pushed to the limits through extension and manipulation. The pattern extends to the defined limits of the site. Based on this method, the pattern is denser near the buildings and spreads out further away. This allows for smaller programs to be inserted near the buildings and larger ones near the peripheries.

Organization of the initial intervention is based on juxtaposition and differentiation. After programs from the initial study are distributed based on their size and location, the remaining areas allow for topographic manipulation, insertion of extra programs and further integration with water and nearby parks. This method becomes the definition of the plug-in landscape. It is a new tabula rasa, a transformation of the old wasteland into an empty space with coordinates and conditions which can dictate it’s transformation and manipulation.

The pattern allows the site to be treated as a surface which can be extruded both up and down. These extrusions can begin to alter the pattern, and turn pattern intersections into points on an overall surface. The geometry is only a beginning and never an end. It is a method, rather than a result. The ideal result is never static, but rather a constant fluctuating masterplan; motion and transformation. The pattern allows that to happen. It is a field full of opportunities. More so, the pattern is open to consistent redefinition and re manipulation. It is never a fixed geometry, but one adjusting to greater urban shifts as well as political, economical and social forces.

Plug-in landscape is the urban animal. The process of reterritorialization is to be applied through densification (both negative and positive) and landscape manipulation.

The generation of the geometry and programmatic distribution is only a transitory step, leading to a new circulation study, program re-organization and a strategy to dealing with residual areas. The pattern is an important step within the process of generating a working site plan which actually contains architectural information.

PROGRAM NODES supporting park parking residential building buffer parking buffer water existing other 1 other 2 PROGRAMS bakery S

bank bar bus shelter bus terminal cinema church

K D

day care department store grocery store library marina

M

P

mid specialty store news stand parking pharmacy picnic area playground post office restaurant

S S

school small specialty store soccer field supermarket swimming area

167

tennis center

P 1.2D

1.2E

P

1.2C

P

1.2B 1.2A

1.2F

S

1.2G

1.1D

1.2H

1.4D

1.4E

1.4C

1.1C 1.4F

1.1A

1.4H

1.4A

P

1.1B

1.4G

1.4B

1.3A

1.3B 1.4I 1.3C 1.4J 1.3D

S

1.4K 1.4L

1.3E

S

P

1.5A

K

P

2.3C

2.3B

2.3A

1.5B 2.2C

2.3D

P

8.4A

2.6J

2.3I

S

2.7D

2.6K

2.6F

8.2B 8.1B

8.2A

7.1E

7.1D

7.1C

S

2.6C

2.4B

P

7.1H

M

S

2.4D

7.1I 2.4F

3.1B

M

2.5J

3.3A 3.3B

2.5K

3.4A

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CIRCULATION STUDY

CONNECTION TYPES In 1869 Charles Joseph Minard published the above flow map representing Napoleon’s disastrous military campaign into Russia in 1812-13. Edward Tufte has since referred to it as the best graphic ever drawn. His criterion is a sort of signal to noise ratio; volume of information relative to a unit of ink.

The thick tan line represents Napoleon’s army as it entered Russia moving towards Moscow. The line expresses the geographic direction of the army’s movement, the size of the army in relation to specific location and time and various troop divergences. The black line represents Napoleon’s army retreat; direction and volume in relation to time and location. The bottom line represents temperature levels during the army’s retreat.

During his life, Minard composed and published a variety of flow maps containing various aspects of military, economic or political information. These flow maps are both cartographical and statistical tools; showing movement including location, direction and volume. They operate using two techniques: lines (vectors) and scales (relativism). Flow itself is an extremely loaded term within this project. Flow is secretly synonymous with differentiation, multiplicity and exchange. It is part of transitory nomenclature.

Minard’s map has a formative influence on the circulation diagram for Kozanow.

Program nodes, in relative scale to each other, representing actual programmatic volumes and usage frequency, become literal tools in the construction of the circulation network. Firstly, a set of secondary nodes is created. These nodes are midpoints, in terms of location and size, of two program nodes. The secondary nodes are the construction tools of the geometry of the network. They not only link all the programs, but also parking nodes, building entrance points, off site connection points and parks.

All of these points are scaled relative to the volume at that location.

The map is extended well outside the site to emphasize the contrast of the circulation network within the existing conditions compared to the proposed system.

The extension is a representation of the integration of Kozanow into the greater site.

175

support programs park programs parking inter site residential

176

DENSITY DIAGRAM

Giambattista Nolli’s engraving of Rome from 1748, which has famously become the Nolli plan and of which a mere portion is represented above, had been used as a reference by the planning authority in Rome for over 220 years. It is an iconographic depiction of the figure-ground technique in cartography. The information and presentation of the map is starkly different from Minard’s graphic. While Minard utilized vector, volume and linear relationships to tell a story, Nolli portrays density and relationships between public and private using the method of differentiation. In cartography, differentiation is an exercise in discrimination. Particular relationships and connections are achieved through emphasis and selective articulation.

Emphasis and articulation are closely knit to a hierarchy which guides representation. In the case of the Nolli plan, visual hierarchy emphasizes public spaces, streets, piazzas, churches and other public spaces, regardless whether they are interior or exterior. This form of representation goes beyond the simple division of build versus unbuilt space. The visual hierarchy helps one distinguish the relative importance of certain objects and spaces. It is a very simple, yet aesthetic and accurate cartographical representation of black on white.

177

Figure-ground is a visual method originating from psychology and not cartography. It is a type of perception as well as mental and visual organization. It involves shape recognition, edge detection and visual definitions; including contrast, harmony, background identification and relationship between positive and negative space. Within design, it has the potential to influence proportions, spatial compositions and general layout organization. It’s architectural and urban usage need not be an exercise in graphic design.

The density diagram of Kozanow which is derived from an overlay of the program distribution method and circulation study is an experiment in differentiation. It is meant to work on three levels; build up space, tree distribution and water intervention.

All three levels are completely independent from each other in that they are derived from separate processes, while being systematically dependent on each other. The build up space is a product, in terms of location and size, of demand, need and quantity.

Tree distribution is a study of the existing condition and its modification after program and circulation studies. Water intervention is born out of the geometrical extensions of existing residential buildings, a purely formal gesture. Together they show continuity of density throughout the site and beyond it. Density is of course presumed as ground plane activity and not simply building distribution.

The conceptual goal of the project is establishing a prototypical method of reterritorialization leading to a site specific result, which depending on the site would vary rather greatly. In Deleuzian terms, reterritorialization could be reduced to the design of a new power. It should be taken as more than just a form of cause and effect, more than just a disciplinary intersection of a socialist housing project and market economy. The new power is differentiation; but not through mere difference.

The ground plane must first be connected to the building system before it can be differentiated. The site must first become whole. The density diagram is and can be taken as both, a homogenous representation of new spatial qualities or an unorthodox geometric result.

The preceding step is deterritorialization. Historically, it is the fall of communism, a political transformation. This transformation has had a much greater social effect, recalibrating all aspects of institutional integrity. Consequently, people evolve and mature much differently given the environment they are in. Secondly, architecturally, deterritorialization is striping the site bare, or at least of all that is considered wasteful and unnecessary. The density diagram represents the birth of the shift from old to new. The residential buildings remain, since they are the life of the site. All else formally develops out of it, generates a life of its own or simply adapts to the lack of the old system. The duality of this diagram makes it another transitory step. It is a generative tool within the process of reterritorializing.

178

CONCEPTUAL SITE PLAN The conceptual plan is an overlay and re-editing of the program distribution process and the generated circulation paths taking into account the density diagram.

It is a working plan; including the relevant layers, but without taking into account their overall harmony and treatment of all residual spaces which have been omitted during the program and circulation development. The plan marks an exhaustion of the infrastructural stage. It is in desperate need of detailing and refinement, nonetheless it offers a reading of the direction of the development of the system, the formal qualities generated so far and potential for spatial qualities on the site.

The presentation is in some ways deliberately undermining spatial qualities and architectural solutions in order to instigate a thorough mutation of the plan. The ambiguity of numerous areas leaves much space for refinement and articulation using material treatment, surface selection, landscape manipulation, topographical changes and programmatic shifts. The contents of the plan reflect the analyzed components of the site and not the overall strategy for dealing with residual areas. The nature of the circulation network leaves an opportunity for a division of the site according to sizes of various plots, their location within the site, juxtaposition to programs, buildings and other plots. The plan is an infrastructural manual for further progression and development of remaining components.

GREEN ZONES park programs noise buffer zones remaining park PROGRAMS bakery S

bank bar basketball arena bus shelter bus terminal cinema church

K D

day care department store grocery store library marina

M

P

mid specialty store news stand parking pharmacy picnic area playground post office restaurant

S S

school small specialty store soccer field supermarket swimming area

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tennis center

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180

CONCEPTUAL SECTION CATALOGUE A Section catalogue is the link between the development of site infrastructure and an architectural mutation of the intervention. Sections are at this stage the most spatial studies of the various formal aspects of the developed system. The catalogue is similar to the analytical approach; the goal is to develop a system, a set of rules, transformative guides which when applied in specific instances on the site adapt and recalibrate themselves. The catalogue is definitely not exhaustive, but rather an entry into the possibilities made available through the numerous intersections and juxtapositions which the conceptual plan offers. The sections are also modifiers, filters of ideas and opportunities.

Planar strategies are deceitful in hiding the three dimensional qualities which the site offers. Although the core of the project is establishing a masterplan, a programmatic and circulatory strategy, establishing a successful strategy involves a thorough understanding of the various spatial qualities and moments which would be a result of operations on the plan.

1. Circulation path crossing existing residential building a) path crossing tall, elongated building 1) with new program 2) without new program b) path crossing short, elongated building 1) with new program 2) without new program c) path crossing tower building 1) with new program 2) without new program 2. Circulation path crossing new supporting program a) path terminating in one story program 1) program on ground 2) program embedded in ground b) path terminating in two story program 1) program on ground 2) program embedded in ground c) path crossing one story program 1) program on ground 2) program embedded in ground d) path crossing two story program 1) program on ground 2) program embedded in ground 3. Circulation path condition within proposed parking lots a) path crossing one story parking 1) with adjacent program 2) without adjacent program 161

b) path crossing two story parking 1) with adjacent program 2) without adjacent program c) parking adjacent to residential building 1) one story parking 2) two story parking 4. New programs adjacent to existing residential buildings a) one story support program 1) program on ground 2) program embedded in ground 3) path in between programs b) two story support program 1) program on ground 2) program embedded in ground 3) path in between programs c) with cut in residential building 1) one story program 2) two story program 5. Ground plane manipulation conditions a) elevated park program 1) isolated 2) adjacent to program b) lowered park program 1) isolated 2) adjacent to program c) between same height programs 1) with path 2) without path d) between different height programs 1) with path 2) without path 6. Existing ring road conditions a) adjacent to parking 1) one story 2) two story b) adjacent to bus stop 1) with direct entry 2) without direct entry c) path or park program crossing 1) road at ground level 2) road lowered d) remaining park crossing 1) with adjacent program 2) without adjacent program

a.1

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3.3

ARCHITECTURAL MUTATION Perhaps the most dreaded phase of the project, while at the same time most important. It might have the least to do with the manifesto, but at the same time, the concept would not exist without it. The project is running from demons, a graphic representation which has somewhat immobilized its progression and a conceptual methodology which has exhausted its course. Geometry has been the greatest tool within the range of development, but the fiercest enemy in communication. The soul of the reterritorialization has been established, now it must be draped with skin and bones.

The natural progression of the site plan is to articulate the parts of the plan which have thus far been analyzed and distributed, while concurrently developing a strategy for the remaining spaces and the overall harmony of the plan. Within this scope, the project takes a pivotal turn in this phase. While continuing to construct a prototypical strategy for dealing with this specific housing and site typology, parts of the result of the applied rule-set are reconsidered and articulated with a contextual mindset. It is a crucial strategic link between an infrastructural concept and a formulation of distinct and thorough spatial qualities which vary according to various general and specific factors. The method deals with finding the correct balance between two polar opposites: fusion and continuity. Fusion refers to a spatial equilibrium and homogenous qualities. It can be a form of graphic deception or simply a strategic refinement of landscape flow. Fusion is the ultimate floating space. Continuity is a determination in preserving qualitative integrity of an object, surface, material or space. Continuity needs not a construction of pseudo borders or divisions, but a hard edge; a complete edge-butting of qualitative differences. Ambitiously, the goal of the phase is to establish a sensation of both spatial mixing qualities, mainly depending on perception.

Mutation of the site plan into a more coherent masterplan marks a departure from the decisively predominant influence of economical factors as a catalyst for typology adjustment. Although prototypical in design terminology, the previous phases were a contextual analysis of a political system and a reaction to the system with a development of a new system. Spatial definition is a strategy which uses economics metaphorically and not for its content. Fusion and continuity are general qualities of a surface masterplan, but not definite evaluations of localized spatial moments. The strategy for specific spatial articulation is a phase in itself, but the general approach is to reach towards difference and individualization.

Gilles Deleuze described capitalism as a form which channels all desires through an abstract system of flows. Capitalism therefore becomes a regime; perhaps a regime of madness. It is no doubt though, that people confuse acquisition of freedom with conversion to capitalism without considering the capitalist system as a complete failure with all the inequalities that govern it. According to Deleuze, capitalism is a totalitarian regime of the mind and body, a fascist way of life. The system of opportunity, vagueness and competition is just a facade, because in reality the entire network funnels all methods of communication, exchange, transaction and interaction through a simple unorthodox body of consumption. Differentiation is a marketing ploy. For the purpose of the development of spatial definition this mask takes on a significant role

however, as it becomes the connection between programmatic development and the spatial articulation which integrates it into the site. It is also a symbolic gesture of affirmation and dedication towards a system, which although aggressively flawed, represents a cyclical progression towards a desired future.

The phase takes to heart an approach that an individual is the basis of social foundation. That mentality could be perceived as either fundamentally socialist of literally capitalist. Within that duality, a spatial network is developed. It responds to a tabula rasa condition by creating another tabula rasa condition. The new system is designed differs quite greatly, in that it not only stimulates localized differentiation, but also creates a system which allows for further modification in localized conditions. This of course ties to the notion that every idea has the potential for differentiation, either naturally or through individual perception. The system is based on repetition, which in itself contains qualities of difference. This difference springs from intensity. It might be general or specific, actual or virtual, essential or accidental, yet it is necessary for functional and performative purposes.

Representation of difference within this phase should not be considered as a negation of sameness. On the contrary, it is sameness which instigates difference.

Nietzsche’s concept of the eternal return, the recurrence of events, is an affirmation that reality is in the constant mode of becoming. The masterplan idea is an acknowledgement to this proposition. All variables are considered as separate entities, performing separately, all same as a genetic compound, yet different by mere nature of their repetition and distribution into particular spots on the site. Their localized function affirms their integration into the whole site. This difference has a diversifying, as well unifying influence on the understanding on the masterplan.

Most importantly, this is a development of the rest of the site. It is a study of the difference of repetition and the fusion and continuity of space, but it primarily generates a plan which is a base of reterritorialization. Flows and movements are not the generative component of this study. Differentiated panoramic perception based from one point, various points, is a desired effect. The effect is however directly tied to the process, which, being prototypical, yields both successful and unsuccessful results.

184

SURFACE QUALITIES AND PERFORMANCE The resulting conceptual site plan from the previous phase outlines substantial residual space which is taken up in this phase. The residual space is considered an opportunity to differentiate spatial qualities and establish a landscape of floating objects and instances. Surface mapping is derived from material definitions and a set of rules which determines placement and location within the site. In that sense, surface treatment is much more about a development of a system rather than a masterplan. The approach is prototypical, resulting in various distributions and layouts depending on the site, and the program and circulation studies from previous steps.

The circulation network in particular determines zoning and plot definition which the surface treatment strategy inherits.

The material pallet is based on the functionality and performative aspects of a given material. This refers to identification in terms of visual guides, visual and acoustic shields, ground plan programming, extension of residential building, defensible space, and various diversification treatments of residual spaces. All materials are distributed according to location criteria, which are tied directly to their function.

The distribution study is both an exercise in coordination between planar spatial qualities and sectional results. Surface in this procedure is taken as more than just a flat plane, but rather as a volumetric entity with performative qualities functioning is three dimensions.

BUILDINGS

WATER

PAVING

GARDENS

TALL TREES

SAND

SHORT TREES / SHRUBS

PRIVATE

GRASS

PUBLIC

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 185

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 186

THICK SURFACES

TALL TREES (public) function: vertical diversifier, long distance visual shield, orientation marker location criteria: never directly adjucent to residential building, between ring road and residential building, seprating parking, scattered in isolated areas of site, primary surface in off site parks density level primary colour primary program height water absorbent high green (seasonal) varied tall yes 187

23.6%* visual shield yes

visual guide yes

acostic sheild yes

THICK SURFACES

SHORT TREES, SHRUBS (semi-private) function: acoustic shield, short distance visual shield, dense fabric location criteria: between residential building and other program, extension of supporting program, extension of garden plots, scattered in dense parts of the site density level high

primary colour primary program green (seasonal) varied

height water absorbent medium yes

23.0%* visual shield yes

visual guide yes

acostic sheild yes 188

THICK SURFACES

GARDEN PLOTS (private) function: programmatic extension of residential building, defensible space, only accessible by residents of adjacent residential building location criteria: always attached to residential building, separating residential buildings and other programs density level primary colour primary program height water absorbent high varied private planting medium yes 189

20.1%* visual shield no

visual guide no

acostic sheild no

THIN SURFACES

GRASS (public) function: soccer fields, vertical diversifier location criteria: predetermined soccer field spaces, filler spaces, juxtaposed next to tall trees to contrast height density level low

primary colour primary program height green (seasonal) soccer field, varied short

water absorbent yes

22.6%* visual shield no

visual guide no

acostic sheild no 190

THIN SURFACES

SAND (public) function: playgrounds location criteria: predetermined playground areas, juxtaposed next to taller surfaces

density level n/a 191

primary colour yellow

primary program playground

height short

water absorbent yes

5.3%* visual shield no

visual guide yes (distinct)

acostic sheild no

THIN SURFACES

RUBBER PAVING (semi-private) function: extension of bicycle storage/entries to residential buildings location criteria: always adjacent ot bicycle storage program, if possible juxtaposed next to a street density level n/a

primary colour black

primary program bike path

height short

water absorbent no

5.4%* visual shield no

visual guide no

acostic sheild no 192

GROUND PLANE DENSITY

HGJGHJCCCCC

BEFORE 193

AFTER

194

VEHICULAR CIRCULATION

BEFORE 195

AFTER

196

PEDESTRIAN CIRCULATION

BEFORE 197

AFTER

198

CONCEPTUAL MASTERPLAN The conceptual site plan from the previous phase is pumped with further information: vehicular circulation patterns, empty plot subdivisions, surface treatment strategies and material assignments. The result is a much more thorough representation of the method of treating the site and a conceptual reterritorialization of the area.

All of the additional information, depicted through an overall site masterplan, leads to the result of the architectural mutation phase: a detailed plan of a portion of the site indicating structure, residential building ground floor treatment strategy and an articulation of circulation. The derivative of this result and in turn the link to the final project phase is a set of detailed sections showing spatial results of the all steps.

The overall masterplan is an overlay of the previous site plan, which dealt exclusively with program and circulation, and a strategy of dealing with residual space.

Surface treatment and material distribution maps, compiled on the masterplan, give an idea of spatial differentiation through juxtaposition and variation in size and shape. Since form has been to a large part predetermined in the previous stage, the new site plan is an articulation and spatial development of the infrastructural development. Nonetheless, some aspects of the previous plan layout have been adjusted through the process of articulation. These mainly include the treatment of the preserved residential buildings.

Firstly, new programs, which in the previous phase were detached from residential buildings in order to create a buffer space, have been attached and connected to existing structures. This operation greatly alters the density diagram, resulting in fewer but bigger build-up spaces. Secondly, the ground floors of all residential buildings have been programmed and given a privacy rating. This formal operation functions on a much smaller and intricate level than the program adjustment. The programs added to the ground floors, ranging in privacy, are bicycle storage, laundry room, recycling room, mail room and resident storage. The bicycle storage in particular is an extension of surface treatment from inside to outside, as the idea is to allow bicyclists to be able to ride directly into the building. In addition, the articulation of the circulation paths has made for a series of cuts through the residential buildings, allowing uninterrupted movement flows.

A series of before and after comparisons of density and circulation is essential in developing and understanding the masterplan. Aside from the density diagram, which has been modified from the previous section and the comparison of pedestrian circulation, a new vehicular circulation map is constructed and included in the masterplan. Vehicular traffic was considered a problem and opportunity during early phases of the project. The overall idea is to reduce traffic by placing all residential parking on the periphery of the site, while still attaching it to the existing structures.

The idea behind the new road layout is to find a minimum road system which still allows access to emergency, delivery and maintenance vehicles to all buildings on the site. This simple system frees up the site from heavy traffic allowing it to function more on the human scale, while maximizing efficiency of emergency vehicles within the site.

PROGRAMS

S

bakery

tall trees

bank

short trees

bar

grass

basketball arena

gardens

bicycle storage

sand

bus shelter

paving

bus terminal cinema church K D

day care department store general storage lockers grocery store laundry room library marina

M

P

mid specialty store news stand parking pharmacy picnic area playground post office recycling room restaurant

S S

school small specialty store soccer field supermarket swimming area tennis center

199

SURFACES

P P

P

S

P

S S

K

P

M

P M

P

P

P

P

S

S

S

P

P

S

P S

P

M S

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S

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S

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S M

M M

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200

201

202

3.4

SPATIAL ARTICULATION The initial phase of the Kozanow investigation invoked animal territoriality as a metaphor relating to the need for a home range within a housing neighborhood. This idea should not be confused or compared to Oscar Newman’s Defensible Space, as the subject of the study is significantly different. While Newman advocated for an environmental design, through community surveillance, physical image of the neighborhood and the overall milieu of the housing, as a form of crime prevention and deterrence, the Kozanow example is not facing the social and racial complexities which shaped the American urban landscape of late Modernism. The Kozanow example is far more about the contrast of the public and private domain and their juxtaposition, thAn it is about creating a tightly bound communal surveillance and deterrence system. The ultimate goal is a privacy gradient spanning the site.

Animal territoriality is exactly such a gradient, expanding from a space of extreme privacy to a totality open zone of interaction with various species. The transition space is potentially the most interesting, as it is zone which some species might be too afraid to enter, or be hesitant, while the habitant might also use caution when approaching. The physical characteristics of this transition space define the level of privacy to one side or another.

The spatial articulation of Kozanow is exactly about the definition of the transition space. Purely private or public areas make up a small percentage of the site, while the vast majority is exclusive to a particular building or staircase but is nonetheless an ambiguous space in terms of privacy level definition and a variety of these are also not protected visually or acoustically. A primary idea, explored in the previous section, subdivided the site according the surface qualities and the level of privacy they entail. This operation remains on a planning level, and not a spatial one. It does not define the experiential qualities of space, nor the interaction and connection between various spaces and its inhabitants.

The primary spatial qualities which the project was meant to achieve, while reterritorializing the site in terms of circulation and program composition, are those of variety, locality and individuality. The product of the process is to achieve a system which breaks down the site, which was always conceived and approached as a whole. Even the result treats the site as a whole, but the process automatically changes the entire genetic composition of the site, creating micro climates, pockets of intensity of programs, circulatory intersections, overlaps and awkward juxtapositions.

The site is therefore treated as a composition of moments rather than buildings. The overall strategy is to fully integrate the residential buildings (both programmatically and structurally) with the site landscape. The result being that the buildings are no longer conceived as objects on the site but rather an integral part of the landscape.

Returning to the original site delineation, which proved the site is a collection of oversized zones without an organizing principle, which does not need to be a physical manifestation, but has become a overall tissue connecting the site as a system, but not as a physical entity. The circulatory web as well as the holistic program distribution and the resulting landscape, are seen as the missing residential necessities and glue binding the site together, eliminating the zonal breakdown. The interesting paradox is

created when the site is conceived holistically as a landscape containing all of the vital aspects introduced through the intervention, while creating localized spatial experiences which vary depending on location, and are theoretically never duplicated.

This paradox is the challenge of the landscape and the process of localized detailing.

In defining the territorial composition of the site, it is important to identify various territorial typologies. These typologies similarly extend to the animal analogy.

Physical territoriality has to the greatest extend been considered with the classification of surface privacy qualities and the division of the site into various surface treatments.

Surface treatments, and allotting site segments to buildings and their residents are a form of social territoriality. Social territory relates to a space of close social association and engagement. A communal building space is a space which allows for such semiprivate interaction to occur, without exposure to the most public of spaces. The final territorial typology is physic territory, referring to a space which needs not to be a physical entity, but rather one where personal thoughts, opinions and feelings can shape freely and without repercussions. This environment is a by-product of a healthy physical and social territory, which also results in an overall wellbeing, and an appreciation of the living space. The territorial typologies are related.

Spatial articulation is the last phase of the Kozanow project. It turns the process full circle. Beginning with an analysis of the genetic composition of the site, the final phase completes the new DNA given the framework setup with the previous stages. This phase is a culmination of studies which transformed the site from a typical tabula rasa condition into a specific tabula rasa, a plug-in landscape and a three dimensional plateau. The site has been transformed into a stage, where various events and occurrences will shape particular areas and spaces according to the local conditions and requirements. The basic programmatic needs have been satisfied, nonetheless leaving room for additional programs or expansions if necessary. The circulation web responds to volumes and sizes in relevant buildings and programs also allowing space for expansion or modification. Spatial articulation is the treatment of residual spaces and their interaction with defined programs and existing buildings and each other.

This section is unlike the previous ones, in that it is more representational and less about the process involved in developing it. It is therefore far more subjective and esthetical. The assumption is not to strive for a Kantian interpretation of beauty, or the way we are meant to react to it, but rather towards a variety of spaces which might draw particular reactions. It is purely subjective and experiential. It is a transformation of a space in completely formal terms, without the use of color or pattern. The formal modification is itself an aesthetic turn, which does not need further artistic enhancements. The project is returned to its starting point of spatial experience between the point of departure and point of arrival, and at the stationary point of territorial fulfillment.

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IMAGES - p. 116: Geoimage Austria 2009. Satelite image of Petrzalka, Bratislava. via Google Earth - p. 139: http://wroclaw.pop.e-wro.pl/kozanow/index.htm - p. 140: http://wroclaw.pop.e-wro.pl/kozanow/index.htm - p. 143: http://okapi.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/powodz/ - p. 175: Minard, Charles Joseph. Carte figurative des pertes successives en hommes de l’Armée Française dans la campagne de Russie 1812-1813. Paris, 1869 - p. 177: Nolli, Giambattista. Pianta Grande di Roma. Rome, 1748 All other images are property of the author.

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