INDUS
CONTENTS
PAGE
SECTION
2
1-
ABSTRACT
4
2-
PROJECT GOALS
10
3-
TYPOLOGIES
18
4-
PROCESS
38
5-
PRECEDENTS
60
6-
LOCATIONS
66
7-
SUMMARY
70
8-
WORKS CITED
1
WHERE WE DISCUSS WHAT THIS PROJECT IS TRYING TO ACHIEVE 2
- THE INDUS EXPERIMENT Indus is an endemic approach to re-inhabiting abandoned industrial architecture. Set within the vernacular of industrial warehouse and factory design as seen by Albert Kahn, Indus creates a method of chaotic growth within a stagnant grid by accounting for dwelling, food production, and the fostering of new urban cultures. One of the products of modern civilization is the creation of abscesses within our cities. Of these, the industrial districts of the US are immediately prominent. Once known for their ability to fabricate both products and innovative thought, they now stand empty shells, victims of a system they helped create, foster, and propagate. However, these buildings were created with utility, and durability in mind. It is the purpose of Indus to explore possibilities that this architectural vernacular may play in the development of our built future. Indus will approach the remedy to this situation by exploring past attempts at integrated living situations, and analyzing modern methods that may lend assistance towards possible implementation of such a system. In order to address the issues at large there is INDUS, an organization operated on the premise of accumulation of communal knowledge and free access to knowledge in an open source manner.
3
2
WHERE WE STATE EXACTLY WHAT WE INTEND TO EXPLORE
1. INDUS - An organization compiled of an open source web catalogue, guides, manifestos, lectures, and tools to urban pioneers. 2. URBAN PIONEERS - The people invested in the organization or are users of an ARCO 3 ARCO - The urban organism that is the combination of an abandoned shell and POD 4. POD - The modular tactic in which INDUS operates 5
NASA’s Landsat captures the progression of vegetative growth in Pipyret, Ukraine after the catastrophic meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear facility. The impact of agriculture on the region is still visible 30 years later despite being uninhabited and in an exclusion zone.
THE NAME INDUS, AND THE THOUGHTS IT PROVOKES INDUStrial revolution - 1760-1840
A period of rapid technological advancement in the western world brought about by the perfection of iron casting, steam engine design, and mechanization in product fabrication.
INDUSvalley - 3300-1300 BCE
An area in present-day North West India that contained the largest known ancient civilizations. As of yet, the cities of the valley are the remains of human kinds’ first experiments with urban living.
- WHY INDUS NEEDS TO EXIST Humans are a communal species. We thrive in an environment where we specialize our skills in order to add to the benefit of a particular society. From the point in which man developed beyond the hunter-gatherer way of life, and developed a specific site of land, our species tied a knot with the idea of ‘home’ and the practice of agriculture. As a result of external urban expansion, areas typically zoned for agriculture are becoming overcome with concrete. With a growing population, the necessity for land to cultivate food is at a premium as well. So our society grows in scope and scale. This is the way that man has developed in the past, and the future
is no exception. That is, until we run out of space. The physical effect of a society on the landscape is always nearly permanent. While locals witness their nature becoming engulfed by the need for cropland, entire acres lay open and wasted within the city. INDUS creates a home to the urban centers food production. The spaces defined by the INDUS model imbue an old structure with the phenomenon of home, while coupling the resident with the task of provision. Through this manner, the expansion of a city’s necessary holdings may be put off towards a further date.
7
- WE NEED FOOD
INDUS is a method of production for food generators implemented within a city. The most effective location is in an area coined as a “food desert” or where any population has no access to unprocessed foods for a certain distance. While many super markets make up for many of the food desert locations within the limits of most American Cities, the product offered is not necessarily one that provides nutrients crucial to human development. Therefore, with inclusion of the Indus in a food desert location, the community will have access to the produce that is grown year round. There is also a benefit in the method in which the facility will work. By utilizing both neighborhood and facility organic waste, city tap water, soiled ground water, and occupying industrial ruin, the Indus will work to purify the immediate locale. With the procession of input material as processed by fish, soil,
plant matter, marsh, and anaerobic digestion, waste and unclean material is exported as clean water and food. With the addition of cheap PV and wind capturing systems the Indus will be able to provide energy in which to assist these processes. Although INDUS is targeted initially at the Detroit metro area, the influence and success of the project may be extrapolated to many other locations and climates. Food scarcity is a global issue and one that cannot be addressed by the current heads of industry. Where a private enterprise may seek profit, INDUS will be a mainly academic venture operated within an open source manner. Communication of ideas and connections made within the community of participants within INDUS is key to the development, implementation and success of INDUS.
NASA’s Landsat program also captures a time-lapse of the Aral Sea. As a result of Soviet Agriculture programs in the area, much of the waters flowing into the sea were diverted to irrigate croplands. As a result, the waterlines receded exposing toxic chemicals to the local environment and creating a barren wasteland.
- REACHING THE NEXT GENERATION All of the great thinkers involved in the current food culture agree that education is paramount in our approach to creating a better food system. Children are currently bombarded with misinformation propagated by the fast food and industrial food system in the United States. The only real way to combat the material digested by the youth is through progressive education reform in the schools. Detroit and other local school districts will have a great opportunity to visit the INDUS and even participate in the workings of the facility. The education center will be a space that is allotted to receiving the groups of children, and quickly getting them familiar with the food they eat and practices on growing food themselves. Provided lunch and the incentive of ownership with a plant of
their own will imbue a child with the knowledge of eating right and also spark curiosity into ways that they may be able to become an advocate for good food around the dinner table. Alice Waters and her Edible School Yard project is one of the major ideas that addresses the issue of providing food knowledge to school children. What started in a Berkley schoolyard has now spread across state lines to have a national presence. In Detroit, the Martin Luther King Jr. Sr. High School is in the first years of creating a garden. Rather than creating gardens at every school location, the INDUS could be used as a hub and then provide a resource to the local schools about small ways they can help, like bucket gardens. 9
3
WHERE WE IDENTIFY THE KEY PROPERTIES CENTRAL TO INDUS
- DEFINING THE ARCO TYPOLOGY
Indus is an effort to create an incubator of growth within dying cities. Food, culture, knowledge, and of dwelling space are all necessary in the development within a city and within the scope of an INDUS project. The extended goal of a facility is to provide space for each one of these needs by following a modular growth pattern outlined by INDUS. Since INDUS is a collaborative growing effort, the beginning sites must share a common general form and mechanism in order to influence each proceeding development. The initial location, known as the ARCO in Detroit Michigan operates off of 20’ x 20’ column bay that is an industrial standard.
11
... Pioneers! O pioneers! For we cannot tarry here, We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger, We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend, Pioneers! O pioneers! O you youths, Western youths, So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship, Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost, Pioneers! O pioneers! Have the elder races halted? Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond the seas? We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson, Pioneers! O pioneers! All the past we leave behind, We debouch upon a newer mightier world, varied world, Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march, Pioneers! O pioneers! We detachments steady throwing, Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep, Conquering, holding, daring, venturing as we go the unknown ways, Pioneers! O pioneers! ... O resistless restless race! O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tender love for all! O I mourn and yet exult, I am rapt with love for all, Pioneers! O pioneers! Raise the mighty mother mistress, Waving high the delicate mistress, over all the starry mistress, (bend your heads all,) Raise the fang’d and warlike mistress, stern, impassive, weapon’d mistress, Pioneers! O pioneers! See my children, resolute children, By those swarms upon our rear we must never yield or falter, Ages back in ghostly millions frowning there behind us urging, Pioneers! O pioneers! On and on the compact ranks, With accessions ever waiting, with the places of the dead quickly fill’d, Through the battle, through defeat, moving yet and never stopping, Pioneers! O pioneers! ... All the pulses of the world, Falling in they beat for us, with the Western movement beat, Holding single or together, steady moving to the front, all for us, Pioneers! O pioneers! ... Till with sound of trumpet, Far, far off the daybreak call—hark! how loud and clear I hear it wind, Swift! to the head of the army!--swift! spring to your places, Pioneers! O pioneers! -O Pioneer, 1865 - Walt Whitman
- THE NEW AGE OF PIONEERING
The frontiers of the old America have been closed for decades. The romantic qualities of a westward motivation have disappeared as our nation’s infrastructure improved. But as the influence of our civilization expands, vacancies appear within the cores of urban areas. INDUS proposes the creation of a new idealist. The urban pioneers of the 21st century are dedicated to exploring the dark districts. The re-inhabitating of abandoned districts requires the same quality of adventure, dedication, and idealism that motivates a persona into a new frontier. We see individuals who reflect these qualities already from established professionals to educated youth escaping from suburbia.
13
- HERE WE MEET JOHN
John was a designer, a cook, and a mechanical engineer. He previously taught industrial design and was involved in the creation of simple machines through his work. Although John had traveled, experimented, and even come into a fair deal of money through his exploits; he was not yet satisfied with his impact on the world. Now John is a bioconcious entrepreneur. Having experienced a jet of inspiration, he launched head first into the idea of reinhabiting urban abandon. He left the security of a career path that guaranteed income, expression, and benefits for an experiment in rebirth. John Edel is a real person. John lives in Chicago where he manages the Plant among other experiments within the city. Through the LLC that he licensed, he owns multiple plots of industrial abandonment and is currently injecting the first signs of life into his holdings. John is a pioneer. He rejected the comforts and securities of his old existence in order to embrace a radical idea that a person can create something on a massive scale to benefit our species. John is the spark in the powder keg that INDUS believes in. The PLANT in Chicago is a vertically integrated unit of indoor agriculture. People travel across state lines in order to partake in the creation and execution of John’s idea. It is this exact force that INDUS strives to capitalize on. So why would we stop at utilizing an old facility in order to create food. Rather than creating a different box of purpose within the building’s envelope we could change the entire building to be a reactive organism. A system that is responsible for creation of food, culture, and community, while also fostering an atmosphere of experimentation.
15
- MANY HANDS MAKE FOR LIGHT WORK -
The success of INDUS relies on more than just the founders and visionaries hungry enough to partake in the creation of an ARCO. While they are needed, it is the alluring purpose and meaning of the experiment that will draw a population to the facility. From college educated American youth, through more ephemeral personalities, workers will come to the ARCO. As we see with the success of WWOOFING, (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) people are not always driven by monetary compensation. The promise of good meals coupled with the opportunity of learning something significant has an undeniable draw.
17
4
WHERE WE VISUALIZE THE PROCESS BEHIND CREATING AN ARCO
-THE DETROIT ARCO The ARCO is the performative and physical aspect of INDUS. The creation of a successful ARCO is central to the viability of INDUS. The ARCO in Detroit will stand as the chief marketing aspect that will hopefully lead to emulation on a wider scale.
- INCLUDED SPACES IN ORDER OF SPACE OCCUPIED Greenhouse Indoor Hydro-garden Domestic Spaces Mycology Center Aquaculture Areas Manufacturing Areas Cultural Areas Brewery Restaurant Education space
19
THE ‘BOBLO’ WAREHOUSE The Detroit Harbor Terminals building is also known as ‘the Boblo Warehouse’ thanks to a large advertisement for Detroit’s Boblo Island on the side. The ad is large, unkept, and sad in a very similar manner to much of Detroit. The building however, was a warehouse and office space until becoming vacant and being purchased by the Port Authority. Despite the fact that the building is still abandoned, the owners have maintained the site enough to keep heavy scrappers away from the steel within the
structure of the building. Despite not much being on record, it is clear that it is one of the many local structures penned by Albert Kahn in the first half of the 1900’s. Each floor contains roughly 2 acres of interior space, and the structural language of the building is the same as much of Kahn’s other industrial creations. With over-structured 20’ square bays, the location is an easy, accessible location to contain the initial experiment within INDUS.
INDUS Detroit would eventually be visualized as the above form. The top floor would be demolished and then converted into an indoor green house, The top floor would be able to run year round with it’s access to sunlight. Due to the uniform structure spacing, exterior walls would be able to be removed as needed to provide light to the floors below. The Ninth floor would hold more garden space but also open up to a restaurant on the Northern Corner of the building. As the floors progress downwards, we find spaces for education and culture. Modules would be developed and published so theaters, work rooms, libraries, and
labs would all be replicable. On the second floor we find the origin of the facilities population. The second floor would play host to the founders of the ARCO being both accessible, but separated from the ground level.
21
LOCAL CHARACTERISTICS The warehouse is located south of the city center. From the top of the facility one would have views of the Ambassador Bridge, the historic and abandoned central station and the city skyline itself. The site also shares a direct connection to the Detroit River which could be utilized for thermal regulation and irrigation supply. Like many facilities that exist, the ARCO’s food-gardens would be able to filter out the water and return cleaner water into the
system.. The surrounding lots that share an immediate connection to the site are various industrial buildings and sites. Several are abandoned and could be easily acquired in order to start outside growth areas and spur future development. A rail line runs within a quarter mile of the site making it easy to deliver large goods and specialty equipment (anaerobic digester) to the ARCO.
23
THE INTERIOR CHARACTER Although the majority of the warehouse is empty, there is still much that would need to be done in order to complete the transformation to a productive urban development. Most windows are broken, allowing the elements to come in contact with the interior spaces. Also, whimsical and ambiguous machine parts are still present in the space. While they are large and arduous to remove, they could be used either as scrap or sculpture. However, a point
that INDUS capitalizes on is the fact that the column bays are a constant 20’ square throughout the space with 3 column types. Interior, transverse exterior, and corner exterior. This allows for a modular approach for creating divisions of space within the warehouse.
25
THE PREVIOUS SOLUTION The original intervention proposed a restaurant as a method to attract both publicity and wealth to the facility. The restaurant would be located on the 9th floor among interior gardens. The user experience would start with an aging abandoned building and then evolve to one of fine dining in a post-industrial setting. However, the focus of the project has since shifted to cover the organization and mission of INDUS. Where the restaurant is still slated for inclusion within the program, the modular approach towards the creation of a new vernacular has taken priority. Additionally, the previous solution was separated from the very industrial root of the site that shared its context. Detroit is a manufacturing city, and INDUS is a celebration of industry. So where we could celebrate the manufacturing of food, we can also express other forms of manufacturing.
27
A MODULAR APPROACH TOWARDS NEW URBAN BEINGS A more ambitious yet sensible solution is to first populate the building, then grow significance out of the products of civilization. Along with population comes the demand for food, water, culture, and community. By providing interested people with the means of creating living space and modules, they will fill the utility as needed. In the beginning, the organization will provide three simple living units, and one multi-purpose utility enclosure. As the idea grows, and real-world limits are discovered, new hacks and modules will be developed and published into the community for replication elsewhere. The initial modules will make efficient use of building materials.
As a founder concepts and lays out the expansion of an ARCO, they will utilize different modules in order to capitalize on spacial and population requirements. Smaller modules can provide living space for more temporary residents, and larger modules will provide space for families, entertainers, and establish layers of privacy. Each module is intended to be built with a utility wall providing electricity, plumbing, and other essentials to the unit. By mirroring the plans of these units, two units may be serviced off of one wall. 29
A MODULAR APPROACH TOWARDS NEW URBAN BEINGS PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT
A more ambitious yet sensible solution is to first populate the building, then grow significance out of the products of civilization. Along with population comes the demand for food, water, culture, and community. By providing interested people with the means of creating living space and modules, they will fill the utility as needed. In the beginning, the organization will provide three simple living units, and one multi-purpose utility enclosure. As the idea grows, and real-world limits are discovered, new hacks and modules will be developed and published into the community for replication elsewhere. The initial modules will make efficient use of building materials.
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT
31
33
CONNECTING THE COMMUNITY
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT
The interstitial corridors between the pods will be gathering spaces for the community present in an ARCO. In order to provide an adequate amount of light for this program, utility modules will have a translucent facade. The hallways that navigate past modules of the same size may tend to become long and sparse. However, by staggering modules of different size within the location, little areas of expansion and contraction are created providing ways to activate the communal corridor. Most circulatory corridors are 20’ wide in order to allow for easy movement of both people and materials in the living construction site.
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT
35
THE FINAL MOSAIC An ARCO is never completed. Once the vacant shell is once again populated, the overall look might be something like a colorful mosaic. However, since an ARCO is designed to exist as an adaptive and receptive organism, the mosaic is subject to change. The module is an expression to increase the liquidity of the spatial parcels. The spaces would change, and morph in response to different environmental, compositional, and anthropological inputs. Once fabrication can be mechanized, old shop modules could be outfitted with growing gear or domestic units. The Detroit ARCO would not even have to achieve a state of completion in order to inspire the creation of similar edifices in surrounding cities. The new approach of initiating change within abandonment is a much more lofty goal, yet a more
realistic answer for the question at play. A question that beckons for many answers, each with its own lofty goal. What comes next? INDUS has a unique take on the question, proposing that the modern human condition is flawed in more ways than just our food chain. INDUS proposes a new urban form, and a new conversation about self-sustaining locations within cities that will yield a net benefit to the area. The ARCO is not thought to be a selfish entity, one that exists separate from the city. Rather, the ARCO is an incubator of life, culture, and value that benefits the city. An ARCO, when done right, should be able to provide both for the inhabitants and the neighbors.
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT
37 PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT
DAAP WORKS PRESENCE INDUS at the DAAP WORKS presentation was mainly about displaying the narrative and imbuing the concept with the same romance that it is founded upon. I defined three levels of materiality within the model representative of the three phases of completion that an ARCO would go through. Major criticisms were found in the lack of definition of other spaces. Moving further, I would eliminate the 400 Sqft Module and replace it with the Idea of a youth hostel held within an ARCO. This would provide both draw and housing for transient workers which would make up a significant portion of INDUS’s user base. Another major point of the presentation was leaving a vague amount of definition surrounding the individual pieces. I wanted to convey a sense that an ARCO can fit into many existing skeletons.
39
5
WHERE WE EXPLORE OTHER’S EXPERIMENTS RELATING TO OUR TOPIC
- LEARNING FROM OTHERS
Across the nation, a move to re-envisioning the built environment is taking place. Firms are producing white papers, and wealthy nations are commissioning completions to envision future cities. As feature documentaries come out, the public is demanding better access to better food and becoming increasingly more demanding of conscious design and development. Due to this rising trend it is common to see roof top gardens, DIY products, and open-sourced ideas. It is critical to understand pioneers of these methods before further defining the requirements of INDUS. These experimental programs are operating on unsolidified grounds and thus are highly subjected to the chance of failure. However, out of failure comes a move closer to the correct way to go about things. With an investment as heavy as the INDUS, it is wise to first focus on ideas already explored, and then apply them to the organization.
41
Soleri’s experiment at Arcosanti is an expression of community and form.
PAOLO SOLERI The heart of the INDUS ideology lies within the construction of ARCOs. ARCO stems from the idea of Archology as coined by Paolo Soleri as a portmanteau between Architecture and ecology. The goal of an ARCO is to establish a self-sustaining and organically reactive built environment. The INDUS ARCO’s goal is to provide the necessities of life within the envelope of the building. Although initially the building would be highly dependent on outside contributions of power, fuel, food, and money; as an ARCO progresses, it will establish methods of providing sustenance, income, and power in order to survive. Just as Soleri provided the term, he provided initial studies toward an archological method of living. The town of Arcosanti, Arizona was a first attempt at embodying the principles behind an archological system. However, the community has not added to it’s size since the late 80’s. Where a principle income in the town is the creation of iron bells, the city lacks a diversified economy in order to supplement growth.
43
Basermatter’s home-made CNC machine is capabe of working on a 4x8 piece of material
COOPERATIVE FABRICATION
Basermatter is one of Cincinnati’s local fabrication workshops. As a side project, several friends built a CNC router by using open sourced plans and acquiring the machining software. Many of the parts of the integral machine were acquired after-market from various resellers. The capacities that Basermatter has are not limited by just the one machine, rather it played as an initiator for a fabrication business. Over time, as they processed more projects, they have been able to invest in a multitude of machines, further expanding their capabilities. Such a rapid, and piecemeal approach is representative of a similar process that INDUS would capitalize on. With less money, ingenuity, and flexibility, the creation of necessities is possible. Where Basermatter does not yet have the ability to 3d print, such a capacity is surely on the horizon. When we concept what such a facility could do in a startup ARCO community, the limitations of craft and human error recede to an epic scale. Custom hardware, materials, and forms can be designed and replicated in order to provide material as needed to a POD or the contents within. Whats more is the capability to create a source of income for the facility when not in use for intrinsic infrastructure creation. The applications of a fabrication facility in close collaboration with the ARCO greatly expands the possible built environment, and opens up an entire new conduit for revenue.
45
The Aesthetic of decay: Space, time, and perception Zach Fein
Renovation
100% 1880
1890
- AESTHETIC OF DECAY 1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
Construction
0%
1970
1980
1
1970
1980
1
1970
1980
1
1970
1980
1
Indiana Army Ammunition Plant Building Defunct
2030
100% 1880
Demolition
1890
1900
1910
1920
1890
1900
1910
1920
1890
1900
1910
1920
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1930
1940
1950
1930
1940
1950
“Standby Status”
2025
Vietnam War
2020
0%
Korean War
2015
The Aesthetic of Decay played a massive role in the early stages of INDUS. Zach Fein submitted the paper for his Masters of Architecture thesis two years ago. The project was initially a foray into photographing the forms of America’s abandonment. However, as his passion and interest in the project grew, Zach started to explore Cincinnati conditions withinSubway the skeleton that would encourage growth. The thesis then came to focus on the phases of development a building might take. By establishing four hierarchies of development, and diagramming the resulting effects of each stage, Fein was able to advocate for the gradual re-purposing of industrial sites. Albeit, each reclamation entailed a fair degree of illegal occupation, theGlencoe ideas put Place forward were consistently strong in both conception and representation. Towards the end of the project, Fein begins the discussion of what programmatic functions would possibly fit within such a location, eventually landing on a design collaborative. Although his concept of developments spans a time line greater than that of INDUS, Fein approaches many of the larger concerns within the project such as Crosley Building implementation. The idea of guerrilla phasing is a direct relative between the two developments, as it is the most likely to truly initiate a populous to inhabit the abandoned structure. World War II
Renovation Completed
Renovation Proposed
100%
1950
1960
100%
100% 1880
2015
2020
2025
2030
No Action
Failed Reuse Proposal
Bomb Shelters
Water Main Installed
Construction Ends
Construction Begins
Funding Begins
0%
1960
100%
100% 1880
2015
2020
2025
2030
Historic Preservation Act
Housing Act of 1954
Great Depression
Mt. Auburn Incline
0%
1960
100% 1880
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
Building Sold
Building Sold
Crosley Brand Ceases
Crosley Sold to AVCO
WWII Manufacturing
WLW Broadcasts Begin
0%
Construction Begins
Replacement
Crosley = Largest Radio Manufacturer in the World
100%
1980
Legend
2015
2020
2025
Functionality/Use:
Design Aesthetic:
Alternative Use:
Cost:
Decay Aesthetic:
Important Events
2030
Figure 3.2 - Traditional reuse strategies Zach Fein - The Aesthetic of Decay
LEFT: Cover of Fein’s Paper ABOVE: Cost analysis of options for abandoned buildings
28
47
1
or:
Floor: Floor:
Floor:
Floor:
88
8
8
77
7
7
66
6
6
55
5
5
44
4
4
3.3 Spaces, Relationships, and Organization 3.3.2 Phase 2: Ambiguous Occupation 3.3.3 Phase 3: Sponsored Occupat 3.3
Floor: Floor:
Floor:
Floor:
Floor: Floor:
Floor:
Floor:
Floor
88
8
8
88
8
8
8
77
7
7
77
7
7
7
66
6
6
66
6
6
6
55
5
5
55
5
5
5
44
4
4
44
4
4
4
3
3
3
Aside from showing sizes and amounts of The spaces formed during the The second firstphase sponsored are reoccupation Th program spaces, the diagrams on the previous pages dependent upon the decisionscreates of many a riftmade in the previous ma ac also so spatial relationships and organizations. During during the first phase. As guerrilla certain action floorsopens are chosen for renov Se the early phases, a juxtaposition of illicit and semiup the space, more active uses, such programs as a market are applied of within the bec illicit activities helps to create a diverse but functional sorts, are formed within and around ambiguously the building. functioning space. pro space. As the building evolves over time, the latter As this occurs, the illicit activity spaces are permitted move away to coexist, whilea vo phases of the design scheme begin to show planned from the quasi-public community completely, space formed and some move toaevn out spatial relationships and arrangements. These on the lower, open floors. Floor locations level, proximity, within the building. of relationships are a product of the phased reoccupation lighting conditions, and transparency all begin to the process. The intent is that the resulting final phase effect the locations of certain activities within the will be a compilation of heterotopic inputs during the building. early phases, and economically viable programmatic spaces of the more traditional, later interventions. The following descriptions detail this development, per phase:
3.3.1 Phase 1: Guerrilla Occupation
The early spatial adjacencies are a product of guerrilla action. Trespassing, graffiti artists, and squatters are
33
3
3
33
3
3
33
the primary occupants of the space. The most suitable spaces for squatting and trespassing activities are the most secure, hidden, and derelict locations, that are separated from one another by distance and floor
22
L
2
L
2
L
11
1
Zach Fein - The Aesthetic of Decay
L
L
22
2
2
22
L
L
graffiti are the most visible, as the occupants rarely use L
1
L L level. Alternatively, the most Lattractive locations for L
L
the space, Lbut leave a lasting element upon it. L L L
11
1
L
L
L
1
L
2
L
11
L
1
L
L
L
L
L
2
L
2
L
1
L
1
Figure 3.11 - Phase 1 axonometric program Figure 3.12 - Phase 2 axonometric program Figure 3.13 - Phase 3 axonometric program Figure 3.
Zach Fein - The Aesthetic of Decay
Zach Fein - The Aesthetic of Decay
Zach41 Fein - The Aesthetic of Decay
42
ce USage: Space USage: Space spaceUSage: usage: space usage: space usage: space spaceusage: USage: space USage: space USage: space spaceUSage: usage: space usage: space
ti
Squatting
Squatting
Squatting Squatting
Squatting
Squatting
Squatting
Trespassing
Trespassing
Trespassing Trespassing
Trespassing
Trespassing
Trespassing Trespassing
ArtArt & Graffiti & Graffiti
Art & Graffiti Art & Graffiti
ArtArt & Graffiti & Graffiti
Trespassing TheTrespassing four phases of re-occupation RIGHT: retrofitted areas Art & Graffiti Art & Graffiti Art & GraffitiVisualizations Art & Graffitiof Art & Graffiti
Storage
Storage Storage
Storage
Art & Graffiti Art & Graffiti
Storage
Storage
Trespassing ABOVE:
Storage
Storage Storage
Storage
Figure 5.12 - Third phase reoccupation photo rendering
Figure 5.13 - Third phase reoccupation section/plan diagram Zach Fein - The Aesthetic of Decay
69
49
- CHEZ PANISSE Alice Waters, a thinker on food and how it effects the human condition, founded Chez Panisse in Berkley California. Chez Panisse was founded in the early 70’s in order to provide good, honest food to the movers and shakers of the time. Unlike the time line chosen for PUBLIC, Chez Panisse was founded with a wary eye on the government. Distraught over agricultural corporations roles in the Vietnam war, Agricultural bills in congress, and the use of agricultural goods to sway foreign policy was among the concerns fielded by the counter culture. Alice Waters coined the “slow food movement” where fast food, TV dinners, and Industrially manufactured foods were rejected, and concentration turned to the farmers who grew the foods. With the addition of Jeremiah Towers, an out of work architect, the café experienced success and then became one of the most famous spots for good food advocacy in America. Inclusion of an activist chef and ties to activist organizations pack the physical building with much more meaning. What could just be another hip restaurant suddenly becomes the hotbed for progress within urbanity. The current aim of Waters is at the children of America.
Entry condition of Chez Panisse
“Every child in this world needs to have a relationship with the land… to know how to nourish themselves… and to know how to connect with the community around them.” -Alice Waters Chez Panisse also takes over the typical dining experience in a myriad of ways. When approaching the question of what restaurant is going to provide a fine dining experience and a memorable time the restaurant is an obvious choice. However, Chez Panisse brings the experience to a wider audience by including a café that has the same principles, but offers a menu catered to a less affluent demographic. It is this method that makes the café and restaurant truly exceptional. There is so much importance, idealism, and reason behind every item offered on that menu, that even by splitting a meal with a friend, the user leaves with fulfillment of both hunger and soul.
Kitchen and dining room
Kitchen and prep areas.
51
- GROWING POWER -
Agriculture is the human intervention on nature in order to cultivate plant life for consumption. Agriculture is also the most powerful force that human life has yet been able to release upon the planet. The effects and energy released from the human agricultural society far eclipses that of vehicle use and nuclear explosions. In this way however, agriculture is not bad. It is an abused framework that is necessary to provide for the billions of human beings placed upon this particular planet. Agriculture is a system that has not met its design potential and the Indus will play a role in recognizing this same potential. Will Allen’s Growing Power work shop opened in Milwaukee first as a hobby then as an insatiable itch that he had inherited from his blood. Born to share croppers who themselves were born to slaves, Allen had soil coursing through his veins. First an athlete performing in the NBA, then a manager for several KFC fast-food locations, and later a representative for Proctor and Gamble; Allen was a player in the American mainstream system and was successful to say the least. He is a towering character nearly seven feet tall with a stocky build. Driving around all day long in a company car just did not give him the amount of fulfillment that he desired. After buying a 3-acre green house in Milwaukee, Allen left his old life behind and tried something new. Now an expanding organization, Growing Power is spreading to cities in the Midwest and becoming a center for experimental agriculture and fostering urban renewal and growth. Will talks about the disconnect between urban black populations to their history. As slaves, and then share croppers, the black community was at one time most fit to feed the nation. Now, due to selective marketing, financial woes, and a societal impetus; the black community is plagued by both malnutrition and obesity. Through Growing power, Will Allen is again connecting urban dwellers to fresh produce, local food, and the idea Growing Power Milwaukee that food matters.
Indoor growing area
Also important is the education that Allen provides to youth in the area. Ex-gangsters and innocent children all frequent the farms in multiple cities in order to find a connection to the essence of life. By indoctrinating the youth in a food-conscious lifestyle, Will hopes to prepare them for the troubles of an inner city development.
Aquaponics Systems
53
- THE PLANT, CHICAGO When finding a model of which to work off of, we find The Plant in Chicago. A project that is still in the formative years of existence, the plant plays a small scale of what the Indus wants to be. An old pig slaughter-house that has been given a chance at growing edible food and creating life rather than taking and processing it exclusively. By use of an anaerobic digester the Plant is able to process fish waste, plant waste, animal waste, and any organic matter in order to provide energy. Used in combination with PV panels and wind turbines, the Plant will be able to provide the necessary systems in order to form a closed loop
method of food production. Compost, dirty water, and agriculture excess arrives on site and only food, beer, kombucha, and clean water leaves. All other waste and released energy is recaptured and reintroduced into the production line. The project is currently in the workings of planning a spot where the Plant can showcase the facility to interested parties and school children. Indus will aim to make a larger splash in the collective awareness of the community by adopting all of these methods and increasing the sizing in order to provide a greater volume of all the included benefits.
Diagram detailing the system in which the ‘PLANT’ operates.
55
“The concept of the design sprang from the quality of the food itself, an international medley of familiar ingredients… Because the team regards making good food accessible as a public service, they landed on a municipal motif. ‘We looked back to the last time that public services were revered in American Society, which was the 30’s and 40’s and the WPA projects of that time,’ Farmerie said. ‘You could count on the government, you could count on municipal services”
-AvroKO
LUXURY AND BRUTALITY The mixture of brutal, unforgiving, industrial grit and the necessity for comfort are not easily concepted together in harmony. However, New York based AVROKO has found a form of mastery within these narrow definitions. The popular NoHo restaurant breathes both an air of elegance, while also reeking of industrial filth. The food is gourmet and the drinks pricy, and all the meanwhile the eye travels the raw fixtures, jagged lines, and disrupted hues. There is a warmth that comes with brick, glass, and old woods. A major criticism of what is being attempted by INDUS is the fear of sterility or the opposite thereof. However, with a rising trend of industrial lofts and a return to urban cores, there is a certain degree of faith restored in the experiment.
57
- NEWARK VERTICAL FARMS Weber Thompson worked to create a modern, newly constructed source of Building Integrated Agriculture in Newark Vertical Farms. Although INDUS hopes to utilize existing frameworks of industrial society, many of the lessons can be transferred. The building contains both active technological features and passive benefits due to absolute control of structure and form. The System is devised in order to capitalize on both indoor capacity for the cold months, and outdoor capacity which provides a more natural setting to control the production of food when the weather allows. Looking into the passive qualities and recognizing where they may be adapted to fit on to an existing frame work is key in definition of an ARCO.
59
- Sweet Water Organics Sweet water organics is a co-evolved project near Milwaukee, owned by the town it is located in. Several entrepreneurs pooled money together in order to create a valuable, safe, and local source of produce. The unique ownership status is indicative of a larger trend where we see people bonding over food in a new way.
61
7
WHERE WE IDENTIFY OTHER LOCATIONS THAT MAY HOST ARCO’S
Fischer Body 21
BOBLO WAREHOUSE
63
- FISCHER BODY #21 -
Old Auto Body Factory Abandoned 20’ Column Bays Structural Steel Albert Kahn.
-RUSSEL INDUSTRIAL CENTEROld Warehouse Ambiguously Occupied 20’ Column Bays Massive floor plate First Floor Bazaar Artist Studios Marijuana Growing Areas
65
- BRACH’S CANDY FACTORY Old Candy Factory Abandoned 20’ Column Bays Structural Steel Albert Kahn Food Grade
- PACKARD MOTOR COMPANY Old Car Factory Condemned 20’ Column Bays Structural Steel Albert Kahn Massive Foot Print Too Big to Demolish
67
8
WHERE WE ATTEMPT TO APPROACH OUR FINAL THOUGHTS IN SUMMARY
- OVERVIEW The ideas of sustainable development are deeply rooted with in the INDUS Initiative. The very basis of the project is to provide an experimental approach to sustainable development within the concrete jungle. Although the exact mechanics of the form are still largely ambiguous, suggestions and rough forms can provide a way to visualize the beneficial impact of an ARCO within an industrial district. Also, the connection of the users towards their work within an ARCO ties a tighter bond between human and his or her industrious nature. The ARCO, is both a self-sustaining mechanism, and a filter of the cities refuse. Water pumped throughout the building would
end up cleaner on the other side. Compost and food waste brought in would yield freshly picked produce. Building materials, metals, woods, and scraps would be devoured and expelled as fabricated products with a second chance at life. The ARCO is not a selfish construct. The ARCO is a valuable asset to districts plagued by the legacy of our archaic idea of industry. INDUS aims to create new industry, one which is responsive to nature, demand, and reality.
69
71
9
WHERE WE RECOGNIZE THOSE PUBLICATIONS THAT GAVE US KNOWLEDGE
THANK YOU INDUS has been a work in progress for a little bit over two years. Ever since I first met John in Chicago, I have been trying to think through the problem of reclaiming industrial abandonment. Without the friends and dreamers I have met along the way, I would not have been able to continue the ramblings, and ponderings that accompany the work shown in this capstone. I would also like to thank those critics and advisors along they way for helping me realize the very true complications of such a system. The classmates that I have shared space with over the last 5 years too, have been extremely helpful in guiding me through such a lofty prompt. For what ever it is worth, thank you. William Alfred Clark
73
- Works of Referenced White Papers: Aesthetic of Decay – Zach Fein
Aesthetic of Decay is an exploration into the reuse of abandoned heavy industry and experimentation on the resultant aesthetic. Zach analyzes several sites of abandon that are located around the Midwest through photographs, dialogue, and text. The final out put takes the shape of a multi-phase re-use of the Crosley Radio Factory in Camp Washington that results in a design collective, office space, community space, and several schematic renderings of what it could possibly look like.
Urban Futures – Heinrich Boll
An article that stresses the importance of Building integrated agriculture to the distribution of food in urban areas.
The Greenhorn’s Guide to Farming
Books: 100% Renewable: Energy Autonomy in Action, Peter Droege.
An idyllic book that is mainly composed of different experts in sustainable alternatives that are encouraging humanity to set their aim high and work towards 100% carbon neutral, 100% sustainable, %100 Renewable. The discussion of Building integrated architecture is hit on by several influential contributors throughout the book.
Allen, Will. The Good Food Revolution. New York: Gotham Books, 2012.
Will Allen is the founder of ‘growing power;’ an organization started in Milwaukee to help give the urban poor of Milwaukee access to fresh food. He started from scratch and details much of the learning curve he was confronted by when transferring from a white collar job to urban farmer, humanitarian, and community organizer. He details how food production can benefit community growth and benefit local society.
AvroKO. Best Ugly: Restaurant Concepts and Architecture. New York: Harper Collins, 2008.
AvroKO makes up much of the aesthetic that I will base the restaurant portion of my project after. In Best Ugly they case study several of their projects that mix raw, exposed and industrial aesthetic with a fine dining atmosphere. The end result is a visually unique, exotic, and fulfilling encounter with urban luxury.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2006.
Movies: Food Fight. Dir. Chris Taylor. 2009.
A documentary exploring locovorism as a possible answer to industrial and corporate agriculture. That film then focuses on Alice Waters, the founder of Chez Panisse in Berkely Ca. Chez Panisse became the epicenter of a food revolution in the 70’s that shadowed the counter culture of the times and tried to capture the zeitgeist in how the restaurant approached food.
The Future of Food. Deborah Koons Garcia. 2004.
A film documenting the introduction of genetically modified foods into society. Koons then gathers farmers, grocers, scientists, and geneticists to weigh in on the issue and pose several alternatives.
Fresh. Ana Sofia Joanes. 2009.
A film that forays into the discussion of nuanced thinkers across America that are attempting to enact radical change on the food system in America. Talking on contamination, pollution, and depletion the film connects with Michael Pollan, Will Allen, and David Ball on the issue.
Food, Inc. Robert Kenner. 2008.
Possibly the most important and recognized film that approaches the topic of modern food production, Kenner makes a big splash into a huge question; where does our food come from, and how does it get on our table?
75
77
INDUS
Senior Capstone Book | WIlliam Clark BSIntd 2013