Ksenia TROFIMOVA
Marat TOTROV
ON OUR WAY
I’ve been contemplaiting a lot about construction sites in the city recently...
...construction sites today can be considered as temporary lost spaces while they are being in work...
...life is staggered in and around them, usual legibility and permeability is violated...
...regular routes are blocked and people have to perceive this part of the city again as if they haven’t been there before. That’s just what i’m going to show you now This problems can be solved with proper design and planning solutions, unique
Preparatory stage presumes deconstruction works (when needed), cleaning works and initial restriction of the public access to the area
Last truck of waste has left, I guess it’s our move now
Yeah, here we go. Time to fence the area
This process brings the deepest impact for the city fabric - part of it is being deconstructed to re-emerge in a completely new shape and meaning The fence could be made of transparent materials and lit with daylight tubes, set inside. This would make a construction site more safe and pleasant space to walk by as well as more integrated into the city
We suggest that this major change must be vivid and properly marked - it should be a statement, a promise.
Cool shining fence straight from the bat-cave labs Developers should deliver information on the project, introduce its perks and features through installations, showcases, information stands. And the site could be granted to the public, involved into some temporary uses.
For that as we believe the best way is to set an open-air market/festival or a series of events where community could represent their start-ups, local businesses.
Such event could attract people to the site, raise awareness about local startups and small businesses, or it could even serve as a platform for some charity projects
We’ve got another construction-sites market to visit this week - that one will be on fashion
Earthworks is another quite impactful part of the construction work - noisy and dirty, it requires tons and tons of earth being extracted and removed from the site.
For that we have devised a special layout of reinforced ebonite pads that allows to keep trucks’ wheels clean. Also, we believe that this process must be carried out at night, so that both the traffic and pedestrian movement are affected as little as possible. Groundworks are contrary to the previous stage of works - lots of materials are being brought on the site.
I’d put my money in for this idea
Another way to use groundworks stage is to call DJ Klaw and throw a mega-rave party!
We beleive that construction workers could benefit from living on the site in specially designed and equiped containers.
Containers can be put into blocks to optimize energy use... ...and even used as a platform for a pedestrian sky-walk to introduce more complicated temporary uses: temporary food-tents, street-fashion shops, street exhibitions can emerge.
Mentioned skywalks could not only accomodate such temporary uses but also they can turn the construction site into a kind of an open-air museum/installation, so everyone could watch the building process which is actually quite magnificient and interesting, though unjustfully ignored.
I LOVE THIS S**T
Street food is always so delicious...
...and could come in handy for workers!
Sky-walks can be not so easy for every one to climb, but it is safe this way and they are really multifunctional: sight-viewing public space in the middle of a temporary lost space!
After the ground floor is built and electrified, some cafes, shops, venues for creativity and art...
...young artist would be happy to introduce their works at temporary exhibitions!
Also, developer could place sale-office in the very building being constructed - this move could attract more clients and the actual construction site is the best showcase one could imagine. Another option is to use half-finished spaces for atmospheric night-clubs...
Actually, this space can be used in any way required - it is enormously flexible since it is not finished yet!
...dance, dance, dance...
There is much else to xplore...
...road re-construction...
...underground works...
...there is always something to improve in our cities - something, to make its residents’ everyday life better...
...and it’s just something we are going to do right now. The city awaits its planning heroes!
The issue n.1, single copy Printed and published just for You To be continued...