Design for Environmental Diplomacy: Jordan 2015 by Kadambari Baxi

FA L L 2015 JOR D A N

Arc h it ec t ural Design III:

Design f or E N V IR O N M E N TAL DIP L O M ACY

B+C|A Design III

NOTE FROM THE EDITORS Jean Kim, Spenser Krut This publication compiles projects from our Architectural Design III studio that address the question “what role can design play in promoting environmental diplomacy?” We started our class by defining the concept of “environmental diplomacy.” Through design approaches that sought to interpret this theme, our projects introduced multiple scales, audiences, and degrees of influence. To begin our editing process, we chose three key terms—agency, advocacy, embassy—that would provide an underlying scalar framework through which to demonstrate the growing complexity of our work. The content is presented in chronological order within this structure. Agency concerns itself with the individual, while advocacy, introduces the concept of communities, and with it the notion of

systematic oppression or elevation of certain groups. An embassy deals with the compounded complexity of relations between nations. Environmental diplomacy must be able to negotiate these various scales and audiences in order to be effective. The following projects demonstrate how design can be a consequential tool in climate change reform. We would like to extend special thank yous to the persons who made our research trip a success: Kadambari Baxi, Maite Borjabad, Rachel Garcia-Grossman, Yixia Xu, and Jawad Dukhgan. Thank you as well to the Barnard + Columbia Architecture Department for offering this senior studio and for granting us creative liberty in the design of this publication.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Jawad Dukhgan Nora Akawi Studio-X (GSAPP), Amman Columbia Global Centers, Amman Provost Linda Bell Barnard College Lisa Hollibaugh Dean for International and Global Strategy Barnard College Hazel May Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Columbia College Rachel Garcia-Grossman Department Assistant Barnard + Columbia Architecture

Barbara Porter, Director American Center of Oriental Research Rana Beiruti, Curator Darat Al Funun Hazem Malhas Former Minister of the Environment Bashar Zeitoon, Program Director Arab Forum for Environmental Development Elizabeth Hattingh Yara Abu Laban US Embassy in Jordan Myriam Ababsa, Bashar Humeid, Bilal Hammad, Farouk Yaghmour, Thaer Quba

FAL L 2015 JOR D A N

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Table of Contents Int roduc t ion

0 1

Agency

0 2

Advocacy

2 0

Travelogue

4 6

Embassy

6 0

Forward from Professor, Kadambari Baxi

Project 1: Rapid Response Campaign

Project 2A: New York City

Research Trip to Amman, Jordan

Project 2B: Amman

S t udio E x h ib it

Documentation of New Year Show

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INTRODUCTION Kadambari Baxi Design for Environmental Diplomacy, an architectural design studio course for undergraduate senior students, conducted research and urban explorations in two cities: Amman and New York, and focused on design ideas for media campaigns, public installations, and embassy buildings. The class travelled to Amman for a ten-day trip. We worked closely with the Studio-X Amman: a regional platform for experimental design and research run by Columbia GSAPP/Columbia Global Center. Jawad Dukhgan, cocurator, Studio-X, joined the group in Amman, organized students’ activities, and acted as an academic advisor for the course. We met with regional experts, presented studio work to academics and architects, and visited significant architectural, urban, and archeological sites in and around Amman. The semester began with a graphic assignment and design of posters, flyers, flip-books, and other printed objects reinterpreting climate change data visualizations to issue a call to action. Building on this exercise, the next assignment developed sitespecific architectural propositions in New York for: public plazas and street corners; United Nations Complex; Roosevelt Island; Coney Island; and waterfront sites around the city. The projects took the form of public installations, buildings, interiors, mobile ships, etc., as new types of embassies that address issues of borders, medical aid, diplomat collaborations, artist-advocate residencies, international waters, etc. After the mid-term, we travelled to Amman. Our explorations there began with an extensive walking tour of downtown Amman and meetings with Hazem Malhas, Former Minister of the Environment, and Bashar Zeitoon, Program Director at the Arab Forum for Environment and Development. Malhas’ and Zeitoon’s reflections introduced students to the critical environmental issues in local and regional contexts. During the week, we met with other experts: Myriam Ababsa gave a lecture on refugee housing and on her landmark book: Atlas of Jordan: History, Territories, and Society. We visited with Bashar Humeid to see his innovative rooftop renewable solar energy production and urban farming project. We held a review of student projects at the Columbia Global Center with a panel of architects and professors including Bilal Hammad, Farouk Yaghmour, and Thaer Quba. A wonderful evening was spent at the office of architect Bilal Hammad where he gave an overview of his office and design of large urban and architectural projects in Amman. This presentation was followed by a rooftop reception where students could converse informally with other local architects and designers.

For more research on embassies, we organized an in-depth briefing by the US Embassy staff: Elizabeth Hattingh and Yara Abu Laban. They discussed the role, function and activities of the US embassy in the Middle East. Additionally, we visited the Spanish Embassy in Amman, designed by architect José Ramón Gámez Guardiola, and well known for its distinctive architectural design with a mesh façade and floating stone veneers. The group met with the Spanish ambassador to Jordan and reviewed how embassy architecture reflects national representation, security, diplomacy, etc. Our other visits included a wonderful session at ACOR (American Center of Oriental Research) where we met with the director, Barbara Porter. We toured Darat al Funun, the city’s prime art foundation and museum, where curator Rana Beiruti led a walking tour of the beautiful premises and art works. Our last two days were spent travelling outside Amman to the magnificent world historical archeological site, Petra, followed by a stunning night and day at the campsites at Wadi Rum. This amazing experience of the unique desert-scape, and our conversations with the members of the Bedouin community, were perhaps the most memorable ways to end our journey to this distinct part of the world. During our entire stay in Amman, students in smaller groups explored the city to select sites for their final projects. After returning to New York, we worked on design propositions for New Embassies for Environmental Diplomacy. The projects imagined design interventions at multiple scales on a range of sites: from public plaza to abandoned cinema house, parking garage and construction site to small museum to institutional campus to large park with buildings to super large border refugee camp. This folio documents studio projects in New York and Amman, an overview of our trip to Jordan as a photo travelogue. The overall pedagogical impetus of the studio was to expose students to a different culture and to engage design issues that are both local and global in scope, especially in geopolitical terms. It was therefore important that aspects of the research were comparative, reflecting on both New York and Amman. Exploring environmental issues and diplomacy provided a unique lens through which students could study an international place, and at the same time, reflect on their own nationality, country, and identities. And in doing so, the studio was dedicated to agency and advocacy, and to reimagining the roles design can play in engaging cultural diplomacy.

B+C|A Design III

Agency noun. An individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to make an informed choice that has the potential to impact or change their society, system, etc.

4th Floor Diana Center, McCagg Gallery

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Global Air Pollution Survey Kamay Jin

Transportation Pocket Books Mariana Hinojosa, Rosie Greenberg

<extrudecrv> Borders Jean Kim

CO2 War Yixia Xu

Trading Emissions Jordan Walters

Sea-Level Rise Aris Minaretzis

Woven Carly Ichniowski

Ocean Acidification Planisphere Spenser Krut

Clean Air Nicole Staake 1 2

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RAPID RESPONSE CAMPAIGN Rapid response campaigns aim to quickly disseminate vital information and issue a call to action. For the first project, students were asked to design a campaign that reinterpreted NASA climate animations. These visualizations included how Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe; how tropospheric Ozone impacts global warming; how Nitrogen Dioxide emissions remain concentrated in the atmospheres over industrial areas; and how polluted aerosols in Asia change weather patterns in the Western Hemisphere. These

stunning animations are hypnotic, but also somewhat enigmatic. The visual data models attempt to present clear pictures and universal data, but these seamless globes perhaps tell only part of the story. Using these climate issues and representations as a starting point, the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; task was to devise visual techniques that analyze, de/re-construct, invert, and amplify the animations, in order to emphasize the issue at hand. Through individual interactions with these campaigns, the collective agency of a group can be harnessed to take steps towards climate change reform.

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GLOBAL AIR POLLUTION SURVEY

Kamay Jin This project is a questionnaire and quiz that is mailed to citizens of global cities. The quiz aspect of the brochure is meant to ensure people’s understanding of the material at hand. Instead of quickly scanning through the brochure and promptly forgetting the important facts, the recipient must spend some time processing

the information. At the end of the questionnaire, the recipient is asked to re-evaluate their opinions on climate change with this new information fresh in their minds.

(Y)

“ASIAN AIR POLLUTION IS A GLOBAL PROBLEM”

DID YOU KNOW THAT AIR POLLUTION IN ASIA IS AFFECTING WEATHER PATTERNS AROUND THE WORLD?

(N) PLACE (X) ON THE COUNTRIES YOU BELIEVE HAVE THE HIGHEST AIR POLLUTION

#1 COMPUTERS #2 BROADCASTING EQUIPMENT #5 INTEGRATED CIRCUITS #6 BROADCASTING ACCESSORIES

#3 TELEPHONES #7 SEMICONDUCTORS

#9 FURNITURE #10 KNIT SWEATERS #11 TRUNKS&CASES #12 VIDEO DISPLAYS #13 VEHICLE PARTS #14 SEATS

#15 WOMEN’S SUITS #16 INSULATED WIRE #17 VID EQUIPMENT

#4 OFFICE MACHINE PARTS #8 ELECTRICAL TRANSFORMERS

EXPORTS: CIRCLE THE PRODUCTS YOU HAVE PURCHASED IN THE PAST #18 ELEC HEATERS #19 LIGHT FIXTURES #20 FOOTWEAR

$3.97 BILLION

CONNECT THE LINES POPULATION

NET ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION AVERAGE POWER PER CAPITA GDP PER CAPITA

WATTS PER PERSON: 458

WATTS PER PERSON: 1683

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WORLD’S AIR POLLUTION?

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TOP TEN COUNTRIES BY FOSSIL FUEL CO2 EMISSIONS GDP PER CAPITA | AIR QUALITY SCORE

$6,617 | 94.4 $53,041 | 96.41 TRY TO MATCH GDP PER CAPITA & AIR QUALITY SCORE TO THEIR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES: $51,958 | 97.85 $46,269 | 78.50

$6,807 | 18.81 $4,763 | 88.81

$38,634 | 84.79 $1,499 | 23.24

$25,977 | 62,24 $14,612 | 94.36

EXPORTS OF COUNTRIES WITH AIR QUALITY SCORE < 40

(Y)

Is GLOBAL air pollution is a GLOBAL problem?

(N)

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<EXTRUDECRV> BORDERS

Jean Kim Black Carbon is a particle that is formed by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, bio fuels and bio mass. It is released into the atmosphere, where it persists between 4-7 days. Black carbon absorbs a million times more energy than carbon dioxide and releases it as heat into the atmosphere. black carbon is teh second largest contributor to global climate change after CO2. Black carbon warms the planet in two ways. First it absorbs energy from the sun rays and releases it as heat. Once it sinks back to the surface of the atmosphere, it settles on the surface of snow and ice accelerating the melting rate and therefore causing sea levels to rise. Black carbon is responsible for more than 35% of all emissions. However, there are clear technological solutions. In order to stop the effects of black carbon, we must

act now and act together. International borders are irrelevant when discussing climate change. Often, the biggest obstacle when fighting climate change is the belief that pollution that happens in other nations is not our problem. This poster visualizes the flow of black carbon emissions (taken from a NASA animation) that clearly crosses political borders. The map on the right speculates on what might happen if political boundaries were extruded upwards to contain pollution at their source. The poster can then be cut out and assembled into a dimaxion map. The hands on approach of this poster allows the recipient to spend an extended period of time looking at and processing this information.

BLACK CARBON IS A PARTICLE THAT IS FORMED BY THE INCOMPLETE COMBU STION OF FOSSIL FUELS, BIO FUELS AND BIO MASS. IT IS RE-

LEASED IN TO THE ATMOSPHERE, WHERE IT WILL PERSI ST BETWEEN 4-7 DAYS. BLA CK CARBON ABSORBS A MILLION TIMES MORE ENERGY THAN CARBON DIOXIDE AND REL EA SES IT AS HEAT INTO THE ATMOS PHERE. BLACK CA RBON IS THE SECO ND LARGEST CONTR IBUTOR TO GLOBAL CLIM ATE CHANGE AF TER CO2. BLACK CARBON WARMS THE PLA NET IN TWO WAYS. FIRST IT ABSORBS E NERGY FROM TH E SUNS RAYS AND REL EASES IT AS HEAT INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. THEN, ONCE IT SINKS BACK DOWN TO THE SURFACE OF T HE EARTH, IT S ETTLES ON ICE AND SNOW IN THE ARCTIC, ACC ELERATING THE MELTING RATE AND THEREFORE CAUSING SEA LEVELS TO RISE. BLACK CARBON IS RESPO NSIBLE FOR MORE THAN 30% OF THE RECE NT WARMING IN THE ARCTIC. WE M UST ACT NOW BE FORE THE ICE CAPS MELT FURTHER AND THE DAMAGE IS IRREVERSIBLE. THE MAJORIMAJORI TY OF BLACK CA RBON EMISSIONS COME FROM THE DEVELOPING WORLD. CHINA AND INDIA ACCOUNT FOR 2535% OF ALL EMISSI ONS. HOWEVER, THERE A RE CLEAR TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS - DISEL EN GINE FILTERS, ALTERNA TIVE FUEL SOLUTIONS. IN ORDER TO STOP THE EFFECTS OF BLA CK CARBON, WE MUST ACT NOW AND ACT TOGETHER. IN TERNATIONAL BORDERS ARE IRRELEVANT WHEN DISCUSSING CLIMATE CHANGE.

front of poster

back of poster

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The poster is mailed to legislators, voters, educators. It can be hung as a poster, or cut out and assembled.

The assembled nesting dymaxion maps can also be displayed or used as an educational tool.

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TRADING EMISSIONS

Jordan Walters This flipbook animation shows the relationship between air pollution and the flows of global capital. Over the course of the 20th century, after the industrial revolution, the Western world progressively transferred its manufacturing processes to developing countries abroad. We can see that per capita GDP is inversely correlated to airborne pollutants. In the second half of the animation, the flipbook explores the directionality of development.

In the same way that the flipbook could be used in reverse, it is possible to imagine an alternative economic reality. In some far past or distant future, Asia and Africa dominate economic production and the West is captive to their productive fallout. This project asks the reader to consider the process of domination that occurs in material politics.

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Strategic Locations

WOVEN

CarlyPoints Ichniowskiof Assumption Strips, cut from screenshots of the NASA animations tracking Points oftheDecision various pollutants across globe, are interwoven into a colorful textile-like poster. Visually compelling and inscrutable from a Points of Consumption distance, the poster is meant to draw people near. The viewer can Points Distruction re-arrange the strips toof recreate the original images. An initially vibrantPoints and lighthearted image transforms itself into oflooking Production something more sinister and foreboding - the slow demise of our environment.

Demonstrations March Picketing/Rallying Bird-dogging officials sharing photos Banner Drop Flashmob

Boycott Sit-ins Peace C Hunger Unautho

= +

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hemeral Embassy for the People Enabling Activism in Manhattan

Carly

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CLEAN AIR

Nicole Staake These campaigns disguise themselves as day-to-day announcements and printed objects that catch the attention of a passerby. Signs or newspapers that seem to be indicating alerts or updates are in reality calls to action, or cries for help.

CLIMATE EDITION

Today, we we have the ability to change the future. Tomorrow, you can start to make a difference.

“All the News That’s Fit to Print”

VOL. CLXV . . . No. 56996

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

Assessing the Globe By LORI PERKINS

Seen from Space, It Is Everywhere By ADAM VOILAND

When astronauts talk about viewing Earth from space, the conversation often turns to the planet’s mesmerizing beauty. They describe views of aquamarine coral reefs glimmering amidst the deep blue ocean; of armies of sand dunes marching across deserts; of clouds and lightning flashes dancing through the atmosphere. For many, the view is deeply humbling. “For the first time in my life, I saw the horizon as a curved line. It was accentuated by a thin seam of dark blue light: the atmosphere,” said Ulf Merbold, a German astronaut who flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1983. “This was not the ‘ocean’ of air I had been told it was…I was terrified by its fragile appearance.” For some astronauts, that thin blue line has appeared quite vulnerable. Many have noticed palls of haze lingering over parts of the world, the result of millions of tiny particles drifting in the atmosphere. Aerosol particles, which can be either liquid or solid, obstruct sunlight and cause distinct and vibrant features to blend into a hazy, featureless mélange of gray. The particles that affect visibility have many sources, some of them natural. For instance, winds blow bits of dust and dried soil aloft; volcanoes occasionally belch thick plumes of ash; forest fires produce smoke; even vegetation and plankton can emit substances that contribute to haze. But many of the particles are the result of human activity. Coal-burning power plants, smelters, and other industrial sources can produce sulfur dioxide gas, which reacts in the atmosphere to produce light-scattering sulfate particles. Scan this Article to see More

Los Angeles smog, photographed by an astronaut aboard Skylab in 1973

Pollution Changes Clouds, and Essentially Everything Else in Environment By CAROL RASSMUSEN

The residents of Beijing and Delhi are not the only ones feeling the effects of Asian air pollution — an unwanted byproduct of coal-fired economic development. The continent's tainted air is known to cross the Pacific Ocean, adding to homegrown air-quality problems on the U.S. West Coast. But unfortunately, pollution doesn't just pollute. Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology, both in Pasadena, California, are looking at how Asian pollution is changing weather and climate around the

Scientists call airborne particles of any sort — human-produced or natural — aerosols. The simplest effect of increasing aerosols is to increase clouds. To form clouds, airborne water vapor needs particles on which to condense. With more aerosols, there can be more or thicker clouds. In a warming world, that's good. Sunlight bounces off cloud tops into space without ever reaching Earth's surface, so we stay cooler under cloud cover. But that simplest effect doesn't always happen. Scan this Article to see More

Ozone Minimum Concentrations By MATTHEW R RADCLIFF

Visualizations of ozone concentrations over the southern hemisphere. Minimum concentratoin of ozone in the sotuerhn hemisphere for each year from 1979-2013. Each image is the day of the year with the lowest concentration of ozone. A graph of the lowest ozone amount for each year is shown.

Scan the images to learn more. What is ozone? Ozone is a colorless gas. Chemically, ozone is very active; it reacts readily with a great many other substances. Near the Earth’s surface, those reactions cause rubber to crack, hurt plant life, and damage people’s lung tissues. But ozone also absorbs harmful components of sunlight, known as “ultraviolet B”, or “UV-B”. High above the surface, above even the weather systems, a tenuous layer of ozone gas absorbs UV-B, protecting living things below.

$2.50

Tropospheric Ozone Impacts Global Climate Warming

Pollution in the Atmosphere, Still a Problem, Still Fixable.

The Dobson Unit (DU) is the unit of measure for total ozone. If you were to take all the ozone in a column of air stretching from the surface of the earth to space, and bring all that ozone to standard temperature (0 °Celsius) and pressure (1013.25 millibars, or one atmosphere, or “atm”), the column would be about 0.3 centimeters thick. Thus, the total ozone would be 0.3 atm-cm. To make the units easier to work with, the “Dobson Unit” is defined to be 0.001 atm-cm. Our 0.3 atm-cm would be 300 DU. Each year for the past few decades during the Southern Hemisphere spring, chemical reactions involving chlorine and bromine cause ozone in the southern polar region to be destroyed rapidly and severely. This depleted region is known as the “ozone hole”. The area of the ozone hole is determined from a map of total column ozone. It is calculated from the area on the Earth that is enclosed by a line with a constant value of 220 Dobson Units. The value of 220 Dobson Units is chosen since total ozone values of less than 220 Dobson Units were not found in the historic observations over Antarctica prior to 1979. Also, from direct measurements over Antarctica, a column ozone level of less than 220 Dobson Units is a result of the ozone loss from chlorine and bromine compounds.

The Sky Is Falling By KATHRYN HANSEN

At high altitudes, ozone—a chemical made up of three oxygen atoms—naturally forms a protective layer around the planet that helps shield Earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. But near the surface, the same chemical is a man-made pollutant that can cause respiratory distress. Sometimes air from the upper atmosphere descends to lower altitudes, transporting ozone with it. Such events, known as stratospheric ozone intrusions, may lead to unexpected spikes in ozone levels within populated areas.

populated areas. The mysterious events often take place over elevated terrain in mountainous states like Colorado, Nevada and California. In April 2012, curtains of ozone plunged from the upper atmosphere and covered parts of the western United States. Using a high-resolution model, NASA scientists simulated the event, showing where high concentrations of ozone made contact with the ground. Watch the video to see the event unfold.

In the first global assessment of the impact of ozone on climate warming, scientists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York, evaluated how ozone in the lowest part of the atmosphere (the troposphere) changed temperatures over the past 100 years. Using the best available estimates of global emissions of gases that create ozone, the GISS computer model study reveals how much this single air pollutant and greenhouse gas has contributed to warming in specific regions of the world. Ozone was responsible for one-third to half of the observed warming trend in the Arctic during winter and spring, according to the new research. Ozone is transported from the industrialized countries in the Northern Hemisphere to the Arctic quite efficiently during these seasons. The findings will be published soon in the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. The impact of ozone air pollution on climate warming is difficult to pinpoint because, unlike other greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, ozone does not last long enough in the lower atmosphere to spread uniformly around the globe. Its warming impact is much more closely tied to the region it originated from. To capture this complex picture, the GISS scientists used a suite of three-dimensional computer models that starts with data on ozone sources and then tracks how ozone chemically evolved and moved around the world over the past century.

Scan here to See More

Nitrogen Dioxide, Produced by Humans, Reduced by Humans Major sources of tropospheric NO2 include industrial emissions, automobile traffic, forest and brush fires, microbiological soil emissions, lightning, and aircraft. More than half of the total NO2 emissions are estimated to be anthropogenic, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels for energy production, transportation, and industrial activities. NO2 has a relatively short lifetime (about a day) and is therefore concentrated near its sources. Nitrogen dioxide is a large scale pollutant, with rural background ground level concentrations in some areas around 30 µg/m3, not far below unhealthy levels. Nitrogen dioxide plays a role in atmospheric chemistry, including the formation of tropospheric ozone.

We Are Doing Something In 2015, France will be hosting and presiding the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21/CMP11), otherwise known as “Paris 2015” from November 30th to December 11th. COP21 will be a crucial conference, as it needs to achieve a new international agreement on the climate, applicable to all countries, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C. France will therefore be playing a leading international role to ensure points of view converge and to facilitate the search for consensus by the United Nations, as well as within the European Union, which has a major role in climate negotiations. Scan Here For More Info

1900 - This image shows a decadal winter and spring seasonal average between 1900 and 1909. Notice both polar regions are at or below average temperatures. 1920 - This decadal winter and spring seasonal average shows higher than normal temperatures in Europe, but the poles are both normal. 1940 - This decadal winter and spring seasonal average shows warmer then normal temperatures over Europe, but both polar areas record normal temperatures. 1950 - This decadal winter and spring seasonal average exposes slightly higher then normal temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere. 1960 - This decadal winter and spring seasonal average illustrates the warmer then normal average temperatures in the northern latitudes. 1970 - This decadal winter and spring seasonal average illustrates warmer then normal average temperatures in the northern latitudes. 1980 - This decadal winter and spring seasonal average illustrates slightly warmer then normal average temperatures in the northern latitudes.

1990 - This decadal winter and spring seasonal average illustrates warmer then normal average temperatures in the northern latitudes. Scan Here For More Information and Images

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B+C|A Design III

CO2 WAR

Yixia Xu Using the NASA animations on atmospheric and earth data, the rapid response campaign depicts how climate change contributed by environmental issues can indirectly lead to national insecurity and political issues due to mass displacement and overpopulation in cities.

The series of poster designs, featuring a plastic water bottle integrated with a rifle, vary slightly depending on the key issue addressed (ex. the second poster overlays one of NASAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visualizations).

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OCEAN ACIDIFICATION PLANISPHERE Spenser Krut Intending to help visualize the dangers of ocean acidification, I produced a downloadable template of an ocean and carbon planisphere. This tool can be assembled with two sheets of 11â&#x20AC;? x 17â&#x20AC;? paper and a brass fastener. The user turns the dial to view the growing carbon and pH levels starting in the year 1950 and projected into 2100. After 2015, the tool shows two possible

outcomes: (1) if we continue to emit carbon at the same rate, and (2) if we cut back on carbon emissions. Whereas the carbon levels are depicted on the outer perimeter and the pH levels are colored in the middle, the center spiral expands to mirror the sea-level rise experienced over time.

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sea-level rise pH level of deep sea carbon in atmosphere

B+C|A Design III

Advocacy noun. An effort to empower groups lacking the resources to exercise their agency.

4th Floor Diana Center, Design III studio

B+C|A Design III

The Ephemeral Embassy: Enabling Activism in Manhattan Carly Ichniowski

Artists in Residence Nicole Staake, Jordan Walters

Universal Medical Aid Mariana Hinojosa, Rosie Greenberg

International Waters Embassy Spenser Krut

Where are your borders? pt.1 Jean Kim

(U.N.)-tervention Aris Minaretzis, Yixia Xu

Where are your borders? pt. 2 Kamay Jin

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ENVIRONMENTAL DIPLOMACY The US Department of State recently launched a new diplomatic mission for the US embassies overseas to conduct air monitoring of host countries and to provide open-access air quality data all over the world. This diplomatic mission in partnership with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) demonstrates the way in which environmental issues

and their collective threat on our planet have the potential to spur diplomacy and intergovernmental cooperation. Building upon the political and environmental implications of the rapid response campaigns, the second project asked students to evaluate the role an embassy could play in its host city.

B+C|A Design III

THE EPHEMERAL EMBASSY: ENABLING ACTIVISM IN MANHATTAN

Carly Ichniowski Combining NYC regulated equipment, my rapid response Based on my research and interviews with activists, The campaign, and units to construct various structures for Ephemeral Embassy is a comprehensive toolkit for enabling presentation, an activist has all the necessary objects to protest activism in New York City. Action: The Generic Toolkit while also appealing to social media sharing of the cause. The toolkit can be adapted to the various motives and goals of protests: shifting beliefs, targeting policy makers, influencing theTypes of Demonstration Boycotts March behavior of consumers, etc. Picketing/Rallying Bird-dogging officials Banner Drop Flashmob

Points of Consumption

ts of Decision attempt to target consumers make them reconsider their habits and aviors. The demonstrations at these locations mpt to educate the public about the wasteful rican lifestyle that has become to prevalent.

Sit-ins Peace Camps Hunger Strikes Unauthorized Signage

Areas zoned for commercial use

miliar Object: Shoping Cart

vidual Site:

Points of Deci

Time Square

Points of Decision attempt to target mun buildings to engage the policy makers in dialogue about current policies. These d tions at these locations attempt to educ public about current policy and influenc within the government.

Familiar Object: Barricade

Individual Site:

Ralph Bunche Park

The AVERAGE amount of food wasted per week per household. Leave any comments on the strips and tie them to the shopping cart.

Write to your Strips collecte delivered to th UN

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cotts ns ace Camps nger Strikes authorized Signage

The Point of Intervention

oint of Point Inteverntion of Assumption

f Assumption - Locations that affect the societal ideaology Objective: beliefs systems by exposing assumptions contrary ocations that affect theShift societal idealology to lived experience and attempts to open up new political spaces. Objective: Shift beliefs systems by exposing assumptions of Decision contrary toPoint lived experiance and attempts to - Locations that target where decisions are made open up new political spaces. Objective: Influence policy by putting pressure on policy makers. f Decision Point ofwhere Consumption ocations that target decisions are made - Location of interaction with a product or service Objective: Objective: thepressure behavior of on the consumer Influence policy byInfluence putting policy and makers. the respective commercial entity.

f ConsumptionPoint of Destruction ocation of interaction product or service - Locationswith whereaharm of injustice occurs Objective: Objective: Expose the harmful practices of coporations and Influence the otherbehavoir entities. of the consumer and the respective commercial entity

Point of Production f Destruction - Locations of the foundation of the labor economy ocations whereObjective: harm ofTargets injustice occurs the economic system where it is Objective: most vulnerable. Expose the harmful practices of coporations and other entitiies

f Production ocations of the foundation of the labor economy Objective: Targets the economic system where it is most vulnerable

B+C|A Design III

UNIVERSAL MEDICAL AID

Mariana Hinojosa, Rosie Greenberg Accessible medical attention and procedures for citizens are dependent upon individual nations’ beliefs and policies. Because of these varying limitations, some citizens are forced to travel internationally for medical assistance. Our proposal, universal medical aid, takes advantage of the territories outside of nations’ jurisdiction: international waters.

Official stamp of insurance

Medical procedures performed on ships or established “safe zones” relieves the time, energy, and money people spend on travelling to receive treatment. The ship can pick up patients on shore, and sail to a safe zone to administer medical assistance. These arrangements can be made via small and large kiosks within exisiting nations.

Jordan Travelogue

“SAFE ZONE” : TOP VIEW (PLAN) 27

B+C|A Design III

SMALL KIOSK: SECTIONS & PLAN

Small Kiosk

SMALL KIOSK: PERSPECTIVES SMALL KIOSK:

Jordan Travelogue

Large Kiosk

LA SECT

LARGE KIOSK: PERSPECTIVE

B+C|A Design III

pt. 1 WHERE ARE YOUR BORDERS?

Jean Kim New York City is divided by invisible borders. These borders mark the begining/end of contesting ethnic, racial, cultural, or socioeconomic groups. While these borders constantly shift, the groups who dictate the changes do not. Through a self perpetuating, vicious cycle, certain disenfranchised groups are cut off from vital resources that allow them to have a voice in the political process that shapes the way in which their neighborhood grows or changes. However, environmental issues are particularly transnational, transcontinental and trans-border. Not only do pollutants and gases drift and accumulate with no regard for

political boundaries, in the end, effective environmental change must come from a united effort. To address this inquality, my intervention generates a structure that inhabits the border between communities. These tangible borders can serve as townhall venues that aim to resolve conflicts between the neighborhoods or polling places that collect vital information in order to push legislation that is supported by both communities. Additionally, by providing a physical structure that straddles a divisive line, the intervention reclaims a potentially charged or disputed space and transforms it into an unexpected whimsical public space.

WHERE ARE YOUR BORDERS

WHERE ARE YOUR BORDERS WHERE ARE YOUR BORDERS

3 SHOULD WE REDUCE OUR CARBON EMISSIONS BY 2050? SHOULD CARS BE ALLOWED IN DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN?

DO WE NEED MORE BIKE LANES IN THE CITY?

WHERE ARE YOUR BORDERS

4 WHERE ARE YOUR BORDERS

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pt. 2 WHERE ARE YOUR BORDERS?

Kamay Jin How can inhabitants of different areas of the world engage with one another on global issues? This project envisions a collapsing of the distance between geographic locations facilitated through virtual connections anchored at specific local sites. A triangular module, easily assembled and accumulated, creates

sites of digital diplomacy. These sites glow different colors based on their engagement with different scales of discourse: local and global. By using an app at these sites, one can “see” into another city in which one of these sites has been built, and interact with the users of the other site through the app.

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS NEW YORK CHINATOWN BEIJING ALPHABET CITY NEW YORK

MOVEMENT THROUGH WORLD MOVEMENT THROUGH CITY SUNSET PARK NEW YORK

BOROUGH PARK TEL AVIV

MANHATTANVILLE AMMAN

PHYSICAL MOVEMENT VIRTUAL MOVEMENT

Process of setting up modules and interaction with app—once built on a site, modules allow one to “see” into another location 32

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ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Nicole Staake, Jordan Walters This project reinterprets the role embassies play in geopolitical negotiations. This embassy coincides with an institutional framework that allows individuals to assume the office of ambassador for the environment on a rotating basis. These artists, activists, or intellectuals, take up the role of advocates in residency. Located on Roosevelt Island between the UN and Ravenswood Generating Station, the underground structure serves as an alternative space for diplomacy. The design strives to be non-monumental and emphasizes interaction over symbolism. Ambassadors use the space for personal discussions and

[Artist Residency] We are bridging a gap between art and activism by inviting artists to be ambassadors and tackle a particular environmental concern or efforts to curb impact. We aim to promote contemporary artistic practices that engage the public and expose aesthetically the environmental issues at hand. The program has a duration of 6 weeks in which the artists arrive 2 weeks into the current exhibit to work on the proceeding one. All scheduled topics are interconnected in some way as they all work together to address the environment and earth as a whole. In this way the artists are expected to respond to their topic, however allowing themselves to be inspired by the current exhibition as well. They will stay during the installation and one week into the exhibition for discussions with the public and events.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

exhibitions, bringing the public into the orbit of international political power. The embassy maintains a low profile that juxtaposes with Manhattan skyscrapers like the nearby UN. Spaces of conversation are centrally located. Information and experience spaces form the periphery. Tunnels burrow into the ground and accentuate the experience of the light they lead to. All of the rooms radiate from a central chamber via the series of tunnels. The chamber brings all of the building inhabitants, from artists to ambassadors, into a space of conversation and interpersonal diplomacy.

Map Main Entrance Underground Gallery West Gallery Studio Space Secondary Entrance Residence East Gallery Gathering Space

North

Center

[New York City Council Members] 4a

Margaret Chin District 1 Legislative Office Phone 212-788-7256 Inez E. Dickens District 9 Legislative Office Phone 212-788-7397 Daniel R. Garodnick District 4 Legislative Office Phone 212-788-7393 Corey Johnson District 3 Legislative Office Phone 212 788-6979 Ben Kallos District 5 Legislative Office Phone 212 980-1828 Mark Levine District 7 Legislative Office Phone 212 788-7007 Melissa Mark Viverito District 8 Legislative Office Phone 212 788-7210 Rosie Mendez District 2 Legislative Office Phone 212 788-7366 Ydanis Rodriguez District 10 Legislative Office Phone 212 788-7053 Helen Rosenthal District 6 Legislative Office Phone 212 788-6975 Andy King District 12 - Roosevelt Island Legislative Office Phone 212-788-6873

for

Art and

East River Manhattan

Advocacy Queens

Louis Kahn Roosevelt Memorial Roosevelt Island

The Center for Environmental Art and Advocacy is an institution dedicated to providing a platform for alternative forms of environmental discourse. We aim to engage the community in thinking about environmental issues on both a local and global scale and provoking dialogue between the interaction of site specific politics and the global crisis of climate change. We host a rotating roster of artists and advocates committed to the advancement of education and public involvement while seeking to explore new solutions across geographic, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries. The flexible space provides agency for the environment and a forum for voices affected by climate change that often go unheard.

Pamphlet for visitors explaining the mission, attractions, and programming of the center.

Environmental

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Exploded axon of underground building 36

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Passageways for circulation between spaces 37

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INTERNATIONAL WATERS EMBASSY

Spenser Krut International waters, also referred to as the high seas, constitute the largest unregulated portion of the planet we inhabit. Its borders begin 12 nautical miles from every coast (continents and islands) and also include the centers of designated internal waters (ex. the Mediterranean Sea). My proposal seeks to construct a reality where the rights of international waters are equivalent to that of a nation—deserving of an embassy within another nation’s borders. Currently, this “no-man’s land” is suffering greatly at the hands of other nations without the means to voice its concerns and pleas for aid. The mission of a global ocean nation’s embassy would be to grant a space for discussion and deliberation by diplomats, policy makers, and other parties on ocean-centric issues like acidification, pollution, and piracy. To convey this proposal, I generated a series of color-coded collages that depict various scenarios in which I juxtapose expected embassy infrastructure and programs with marine life and oceanographic research facilities. Parts of the images that are red signify diplomatic elements; yellow highlights scientists at work; green comprises the public’s involvement; and blue shows all ocean-related components. Underwater bike paths in the amphitheater, sushi bars and sand castles in the boardroom, hammerheads greeting President Obama at the entrance: these auditorium

collages are imaginative fictions designed to represent the unrepresentable. The collages serve to figuratively represent an imagined future because the problem they address cannot begin to be solved if those necessary to implement a solution cannot envision it. The Embassy for International Waters representation strategy performs two functions: (1) to visualize the jarring juxtapositions of oceanic elements and diplomatic programs and (2) to highlight the question of who ought serve as ambassador for a global ocean nation. The proposal seeks to bridge the gap among diplomats, researchers, and the public visually as one possible solution to the latter point. Because terrestrial beings have wreaked havoc on marine ecosystems, it is now our responsibility to rehabilitate those. Changes at this scale, that require supranational investment, have realistically only been able to be implemented through diplomatic action. It is one thing to entertain the notion of an octopus creeping into a meeting room, another to comprehend that the collage depicts a solution to an environmental and political crisis. The former is a figurative representation of a theory for the latter. The high seas will remain pure abstraction until the Embassy of International Waters is realized.

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meeting room

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(U.N)-TERVENTION

Aris Minaretzis, Yixia Xu The embassy is a bounded territory created for world actors to coexist and collaborate with one another on a larger scale than day to day conflict. Our project concept intends to augment this artificiality by incorporating the idea of an urban game and spatial laboratory to provoke cultural imagination and decisionmaking through the creation of particular experiences + theatrical simulations. This results in an environmental change theme park

where politicians enjoy risk attractions that simulate the effects of climate change. This competitive game is meant to increase player engagement and facilitate complex problem solving and decision making through offensive and defensive strategic thinking and collective cooperation. The politicians are sent through an air pollution chamber to a landfill chamber to an acid rain chamber to an ocean level rise ramp that lets them back out onto the street.

START | Designation

FINISH | Recognition 42

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Longitudinal Section 43

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Pollution

Wasteland 44

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Ocean Level Rise 45

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Travelogue Amman, Jordan October - November, 2015 Friday 10.30 - Art Hotel, Books @ Cafe Saturday 10.31 - ACOR, Darat al Funun Sunday 11.1 - Downtown tour, Roman Amphitheater, Shams Albalad Cafe, Wild Jordan Cafe Monday 11.2 - Spanish Embassy, Columbia Global Center Tuesday 11.3 - US Embassy Staff meeting at CGC Wednesday 11.4 - Mid-Review with guest crits at CGC, guest presentations Thursday 11.5 - Petra, Wadi Rum Friday 11.6 - Individual site research

Amman, Jordan, Roman Amphitheater

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View from Art Hotel

Breakfast spread at Art Hotel

Jordan Travelogue

Group photo at ACOR (American Center for Oriental Research)

Meeting with Barbara Porter, Director at ACOR

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Tour of Darat Al Funun with Rana Beiruti, curator at Darat Al Funun

Darat Al Funun

Jordan Travelogue

Spenser and Yixia at Roman Amphitheater

Jordan, Carly, Yixia and Jean, Profesor Baxi at Roman Amphitheater

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Meeting with Hazem Malhas, former Minister of the Environment

Meeting at Wild Jordan Cafe with Bashar Zeitoon, program director at Arab Forum for Environmental Development

Jordan Travelogue

Duke Diwanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s post office; Outside Darat Al Funun

Carly, Nicole, Jordan in The Hashemite Plaza, Amman

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King Hussein Mosque near the Columbia Global Center

Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chambers and gardens at mosque

Jordan Travelogue

Inside the Columbia Global Center; meeting with US Embassy representatives

Final group dinner

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Hike to the Monastery

Jordan Travelogue

Jordan, Yixia, group photo at Petra

View of Monastery at Petra, 850 steps above the rest of the site

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Pick-up truck ride in Wadi Rum on the way to sand-boarding

Maite at Bedouin campsite at Wadi Rum

Jordan Travelogue

Hike and sand-boarding; (top right) Jawad atop the mountain

View from hike near Bedouin camp

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Embassy noun. A political entity that exists outside of the borders of its “nation” to advocate on behalf of its “citizens” and manage diplomatic relations.

Petra, Jordan

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Implementing the Slow Food Initiative Rosie Greenberg

Colonized Wall: An Embassy for Bounded Conflict Aris Minaretzis

Community Building for Psychological Treatment Mariana Hinojosa

Citizen Film Nicole Staake

Spaces for Local & Global Community Engagement Kamay Jin

Amman Agropark Jordan Walters

Reclaiming Space in Amman: Creating Public Space through Participation Jean Kim

The City-Camp Yixia Xu

International Airspace Embassy Spenser Krut

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NEW EMBASSIES The US and other national Embassies once stood as cultural centers representing their nations in foreign lands and promoting bilateral collaborations and exchange. Located in city centers, these buildings included consulates, libraries, exhibition spaces, theaters, and other public and official spaces. In the 1950s and 60s many US embassies were designed by prominent architects and some are now known as landmark buildings. More recently, US embassies built after the 1990s are often seen as militarized zones and “fortresses” or as “Little America” compounds with limited interactions with host countries. Conflicting priorities of openness and security, nation branding and cultural contextualism, war and peace, education and commerce, etc., have perhaps muddled the architecture as well as

the original mission of embassies. However, with the crisis of global climate change demanding international collaborations and agreement, we are presented with new opportunities to conceptually rethink the design and architecture of an “embassy.” What new models can promote environmental diplomacy? How might jurisdictions beyond nationstates be imagined for embassies? For example, can there be global embassies representing the entire world? Do embassies need a physical buildings? Can they be mobile pavilions or virtual environments? And finally, how might embassies function as ambassadors of transboundary environmental stewardship? NEW EMBASSIES for ENVIRONMENTAL DIPLOMACY (NEED) challenged students to propose answers to these questions.

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IMPLEMENTING THE SLOW FOOD INITIATIVE Rosie Greenberg After an eye-opening trip to Amman, Jordan, meeting with the Former Minister of the Environment, Hazem Malhas and Environmentalist, Bashar Humeid, I was overwhelmed to learn about the environmental issues linked to the consumer culture that had taken over Amman. The city, once rich in culture, has lost sight of its roots. As a result, I am implementing a living wall and rooftop intervention on a parking garage in Darat Al Fun, Amman. I have purposefully juxtaposed the new booming technology and consumerism culture of Amman with its traditional agricultural practices.

The rooftop intervention will facilitate a gathering space for a local farmers market and urban farming advocacy. On the roof there will be a greenhouse installation, which will serve as a temporal installation to host the public and allow them to interact with seasonal produce. I am implementing a vertical infrastructure on the facade of the building that will hold a vertical garden. This garden will be a form of education and living advertisement for the public on seasonal produce. Using different farming methods, this interactive installation promote local, seasonal eating, bringing Amman back to its traditions.

LOCAL FARMING ANALYSIS

SLOW FOOD CONCEPT ANALYSIS

LOCAL FARMING ANALYSIS: JORDAN

Slow food movement flow diagram; Local farming analysis 64

SLOW

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Solar analysis of site 65

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GRIDDED

COLUMNAR

GRIDDED

FISH FARMING IRRIGATION FISH FARMING IRRIGATION FISH FARMING IRRIGATION FISH FARMING IRRIGATION

GREENHOUSE OF HYDROPONICS GREENHOUSE OF HYDROPONICS GREENHOUSE OF HYDROPONICS GREENHOUSE OF HYDROPONICS

HOTHOUSE HOTHOUSE HOTHOUSE HOTHOUSE

COLUMNAR

G/E ATI NG A SEA TIN

COLD FRAME GARDENING

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FLOOR PLAN: ROOFTOP

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COMMUNITY BUILDING FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT AND COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT Mariana Hinojosa back 1 In the Zataari Refugee camp 3-30% of refugees suffer from clinical back 1 depression and 50-57% from post-traumatic stress. Through community building, refugees can construct an outdoor communal space. Spaces of shade, rest, and open outdoor spaces will give ZATAARI REFUGEE CAMP - JORDAN ZATAARI REFUGEE CAMP - JORDAN

access for the community to socialize and in a informal way cope with psychological disorders. Materials already found in the camp, as well as provided by aid organizations are used to construct, by the community the recreational spaces.

RESIDENTIAL SPACE

Zataari Refuge Camp, Jordan

RESIDENTIAL MIXED- CARAVANS AND TENTSSPACE MIXED- CARAVANSTENTS AND TENTS CAMP INFRASTRUCTURETENTS CAMP INFRASTRUCTURE SCHOOLS HEALTH SCHOOLS HEALTH MARKET MARKET

back 2 (bellow) back 2 (bellow)

INTERVENTION INTERVENTION

EXISTING CITE

STAGE 1 STAGE 1

STAGE 2 STAGE 2

STAGE 3 STAGE 3

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front 1

INTERVENTION

PRIVATE

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MATERIAL MATRIX INTERVENTION

PRIVATE

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WOOD PIPES

WOOD FENCE PIPES

GROUND ROCKS FENCE

GROUND ROCKS

front 2 (below)

CONSTRUCTION MANUAL

CONSTRUCTION MANUAL DIGGING

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BRICK

CONCRETE

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RESIDENTIAL SPACE MIXED- CARAVANS AND TENTS TENTS CAMP INFRASTRUCTURE SCHOOLS HEALTH MARKET

back 2 (bellow)

INTERVENTION STAGE 1

EXISTING CITE

STAGE 2

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CARAVAN

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CAMP INFRASTRUCTURE

STAGE 4

FOUR MATERIAL INTERVENTION

Intervention strategies 70

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CARAVAN

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CAMP INFRASTRUCTURE

STAGE 4

FOUR MATERIAL INTERVENTION

ONE MATERIAL INTERVENTION

THREE MATERIAL INTERVENTION

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SPACES FOR LOCAL & GLOBAL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Kamay Jin The embassy as a building typology represents a particular kind of diplomacy. Much as international political action is top-down and impenetrable to the public eye, so are embassy buildings as representatives of that diplomacy impenetrable with their thick walls, limited visibility, and controlled access. We need a more open diplomacy connecting to various levels of society in order to have more equitable decisions relating to the environmental issues we face today. A system of connected spaces reaching into different social and political scales could result in a more connected diplomatic system in which individuals and communities, not politicians, are free to exchange ideas and participate in local and global discussion.

This system would comprise of an individual information space, a community gathering space, and a global research center. The global research center serves as what one could call an â&#x20AC;&#x153;ironic embassyâ&#x20AC;? -- a building that in its physical presence provokes critique and contemplation of the problems of environmental diplomacy today. Where the traditional embassy is closed-off, both visually and physically impenetrable, the global research center is transparent and open, welcoming free movement and discussion. Depending on differences in site and program, the elements of the global research center can be combined in different ways in order to create a variety of alternate embassies.

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Perimeter

Points of Information Perimeter

Points of Information Perimeter Placement of Buildings Points of Information Perimeter Placement of Buildings Points of Information Entrance Perimeter Placement of Buildings Points of Information Entrance Placement of Buildings Visibility Points of Information Entrance Placement of Buildings Visibility Entrance Circulation Placement of Buildings Visibility Entrance Circulation Visibility Entrance Circulation Visibility

Circulation Visibility

Circulation

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Two options for global research center using different reinterpretations of traditional embassy forms

Local Events & Information Sharing

Community Programs & Neigborhood Input

Globally Collaborative & Institutionally Focused

Connections between different scales of spaces and environmental action, potentially facilitated through a smartphone-based information-sharing platform 74

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RECLAIMING SPACE IN AMMAN: CREATING PUBLIC SPACE THROUGH PARTICIPATION Jean Kim Amman is a city ripe with informal public spaces - from the market, to the stairs that circulate through the hilly urban fabric, to the sidewalk space in front of shops in the downtown area. These spaces are active, vibrant and well-utilized. However, they are also under-maintained and overcrowded. The Jordanian government, recognizing the need for additional public space in the city of Amman has intervened creating large monolithic spaces like the Hashemite Plaza. Unlike the informal spaces that come to life with the daily uses of the city, these plazas are dead spots in an

otherwise bustling city. My proposal addresses both the need to improve the conditions of the existing informal public spaces (i.e. by installing a lighting/rain cover canopy system to the stairs) and to “colonize” or take-over the inefficient and undesirable public plazas. These interventions happen simultaneously - as more lighting/shading fixtures are “plugged-in” to the informal spaces, more modules are placed in the public plaza, which helps to break down the unapproachable and monumental scale of the existing plaza.

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INTERNATIONAL AIRSPACE EMBASSY Spenser Krut International airspace lays claim to the atmosphere directly above international waters over the entirety of the globe (borders begin 12 nautical miles from the coasts of all countries and above the center of a few designated internal waters). The mission of the prior proposal located in New York is to provide a physical space to acknowledge and address the issues plaguing international waters. This proposal set in Amman, Jordan shares the same intention as my previous projectâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;building an embassy distinctly for the collaboration of diplomats, researchers, and the public. On a large unoccupied lot in downtown Amman, my project

visualizes a new center for the collection of air quality data. Seven air monitoring sites located throughout the city acrue measurements including air quality, temperature, winds, aircraft locations, etc. The data is presented to the users and visitors (ambassadors, scientists, researchers, public, toursits) of the embassy through a variety of visualization methods. The combination of exponential, legible data sets and proximity of personnel from various disciplines seeks to promote the environmental and political affairs of international airspaceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; leading to informed action on behalf of every visitor.

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Section of spaces for data visualizations from different monitoring sites 82

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Rooftop of entire structure shares global data 83

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COLONIZED WALL: AN EMBASSY FOR BOUNDED CONFLICT Aris Minaretzis The ‘Living Wall’ is a partially built and promptly abandoned Foster + Partner’s project by the Jordan Hospital in Amman. As a nation, Jordan relies heavily on foreign aid, directed at various sectors ranging from military to development to archeology. This influx of foreign investment more often than not leads to a top-down development, like in Dubai, a city which Amman’s developers often try emulating. This development model almost always fails, as developing through architecture should never be a ‘cookie cutter’ process. Foster’s “Living Wall,” shown in its current state below, falls in this category of imposed gargantuan proposals.

In my project, I attempt to bring this site back to the dynamic population of Amman. There is already a grid overlaid on the site, with steel reinforcements and pillars. My design is based on a flexible, light interventions informed by textiles, which can be wrapped around elements of this grid. This way, diverse spaces can be easily created as needed, and can just as easily be taken down should construction continue. By colonizing this phantom building, I hope to motivate the city to breathe life on Norman Foster’s ‘Living Wall.’

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Site Analysis Using Existing Grids for Enclosure 86

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CITIZEN FILM

Nicole Staake Downtown Amman features a number of cinemas all built during the 1950s and 60s which have been left abandoned in recent years. Cinema and film in general is an international forum of exchange, it promotes knowledge of other cultures and can be seen as a form of diplomacy in this way.The project Citizen Film involves re-occupying one of these abandoned spaces and reinvigorating the old theatre by subverting the normal models of audience and viewership. Spatially, the theatre is turned inside out by placing the formal theatre on the roof and creating an active street presence

that involve a series of screens and windows which broadcast what is happening inside out to the public. The program’s aim is to give regular Amman citizens the tools to create their own films and be played upon a big screen. By the people making the content, it elevates ‘low culture’ of self made home videos to become worthy of a big screen and becomes a platform for recording and sharing daily life in a social setting and circulating different images publicly of Jordanian life than what is usually projected.

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screen formal screening area

projection room

Top floor

seminar room

Baseman Street

screen for testing

educaion space

equipment storage

computer work space

2nd floor Baseman Street

office space bathrooms

informal screening space / gallery exhibition lobby

ticketing

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Baseman Street

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AMMAN AGROPARK

Jordan Walters This project explores the land tradition of Amman, Jordan. During our travel seminar, we learned from local experts about the historical value of fertile soil in the desert. Modern Amman now faces difficulties with food production, urban greenspace, and sprawling development. The land used for the project exists in a post-martial future in which a missile defense base must be rehabilitated to serve the public. On the launch pads, towers replace missiles and turn the destructive to the productive.

The land on the site undergoes a process of subdivision according to appropriate methods: –Agriculture builds a living wall on the exterior –Communal plots line the primary walking path –Trees array into a regular maze and provide shade –Park space is terraced for seating –Hardscape shifts in height to form inhabitable space In developing outward from hard to soft, the agropark mimics Amman’s own relentless growth and land rationalization. It preserves red soil as a monument to Amman’s agrarian past.

Existing site; topographical analysis; military infrastructure; render of Agropark 92

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THE CITY-CAMP

Yixia Xu The project aim is to design an alternative embassy for members of the displaced communities, namely refugees, in the city of Amman, Jordan. As a mini-masterplan, the “city-camp” is a site analysis that determines community goals and aspirations in terms process of community development. The embassy intends to host multiple between princess basma st. + wadi abdouin

original site for ‘limitless towers’ {area 9233m2} + elevation

identities and multiple appratus of representation by providing civic/educational/economic resources for refugees to legitimize a legal voice and better assimiliate and integrate into the Amman community. Moreover, the “city-camp” will have the ability to expand contract depending on migration flow + needs.

co m

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green playground

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}

pâ&#x20AC;? typology y campâ&#x20AC;? typology

physical elements

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spatial typology spatial typology symbolic representationsymbolic representation method of expansion method of e symbolic representation

legal voice :: the townhall

legal legal voice voice legal voice :: :: the the townhall townhall :: the townhall

courthouse :: the courthouse

courthouse courthouse courthouse :: :: the the courthouse courthouse :: the courthouse

urban mediation lab :: the office

urban lab urban mediation mediationurban lab mediation lab :: :: the the office office :: the office

library + educational resuorces :: the library

library library + + educational educational library + educational resuorces resuorces resuorces :: :: the the library library :: the library

green playground :: the park

green green playground playground green playground :: :: the the park park :: the park

transactional marketplace transactional transactional marketplace marketplace transactional marketplace :: :: the market :: the the market market :: the market

B+C|A Design III

Library + educational resources

library + educational resources :: fluctuation

library + educational resources :: perspective

legal voice {townhall} :: axonometric

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Legal voice (townhall) L3

townhall c

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legal voice {townhall} :: perspective

main circulation path for mini-masterplan

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Studio Exhibit New Year Show February, 2016

Each member of our class designed the layout of their projects within the constraints of a free-standing rack. Spread out across the fourth floor of the McCagg Gallery, the racks presented drawings and models hung from fishing wire and Bulldog clips. A slideshow of photos from our research trip accompanied the projects.

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5th Floor Diana Center, view into 4th Floor Gallery

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ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN III: FALL 2015 Kadambari Baxi, Professor Maite Borjabad López-Pastor, Teaching Assistant Students: Alexandra “Rosie” Greenberg Mariana Hinojosa Carly Ichniowski Kamay Jin Jean Kim Spenser Krut Aris Minaretzis Nicole Staake Jordan Walters Yixia Xu

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS Kadambari Baxi Maite Borjabad López-Pastor Lai Jing Chu Jean Kim Spenser Krut Yixia Xu

EDITORS Jean Kim Spenser Krut

500 Diana Center Barnard College 3009 Broadway New York, NY 10027 USA 212.854.8430 architecture@barnard.edu