Fasso Town A place where immigrants can reinvent themselves
By: Bintou Coulibaly
ABSTRACT
Racial injustice in America throughout history has created culturally rich thriving neighborhoods like Chinatowns, where people can feel safe and protected during their transitional immigration process. Chinatown, Little Italy, and Little Poland, what do these culturally rich communities all have in common? A new place where locals and tourists are transported through historic cultural sites, architecture, open-air markets, and some of the most sensational food. Fasso means the father of my sisters and brothers or father’s land in Bambara. Bambara is an ancient language spoken in Mali, West Africa. Merging the African American and African Immigrant cultures will create a Fasso Town, a re-envisioned modern-day Little Africa that will bring the thriving African communities out of the “Ghetto.” Many African Americans cannot connect back to their African roots due to America’s history of slavery. For many decades the world has tried to desegregate schools, cities, and neighborhoods. However, what does owning something that you can never afford mean? A lack of educational and economic growth. All these factors have only created a larger cycle of self-segregation. In some areas, so much so that it has led to gentrification. Instead of fixing a system that has been broken since African American history was born, this project will create a place that embraces this cultural history that has been hidden from society long ago. Imagine a place where people of African descent would be welcomed and encouraged to grow as a community together. This place will require the manipulation of an abandoned lot in the Washington, D.C. area, in a pre-existing historic African American town. I will revitalize these spaces by creating a new typology for the mixed culture of Blacks, African Americans, and African immigrants to share and build businesses representative of this new culture. Thus, redesigning a new dialogue of what it means to have a thriving African American and African immigrant community that will enrich these cultures that already exist. Fasso Town will be a neighborhood that locals, visitors, and its new citizens can embrace as one, a place where race is not one’s identity.
ABSTRACT
C U LT U R A L LY
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RICH TOWNS
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C U LT U R A L LY
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RICH TOWNS
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C U LT U R A L LY
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RICH TOWNS
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
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Adinkra Cloth adin·kra | \ ä-’diŋ-krä
(n.) 1 | a writing system incorporating symbols representing various concepts that are used by the Akan peoples of Ghana to mark fabrics, walls, pottery, and other surfaces.
1 | means “saying goodbye” (farewell) to the dead. 2 2 | Adinkra is an Akan word. Akan is the language of the Akan people, who comprise about half of the Ghana population. Adinkra implies a philosophical message that one conveys when mourning during a funeral or the post-burial memorial.
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
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Freedom Quilts 1 | Since the 1980s, claims have arisen that quilt designs were used to signal
and direct slaves to escape routes and the assistance of their allies. In this quilt theory, it has been said that twelve quilt patterns were used to direct slaves. These quilts would be placed one at a time along a fence; they suggested nonverbal communication that alerted escaping slaves. The codes of the quilt patterns had dual meanings; the first pattern signal told the slaves to prepare for escape. The second signal was to give fugitive slaves a clue that indicated directions on the journey.
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
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Black · ness /’blakn s/ e
(n.) 1 | the property or quality of being black in color. 2 | the fact or state of belonging to any human group having dark-colored skin. 3 | a state characterized by despair or depression.
1 | “It’s about spirituality. The essence of who we are. As black people, there’s so many different things; variations of so many different colors. It’s the sum total of all of these colors that present blackness in its purest form. In all its brilliance, all of its splendor.”
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
FIGURE 24
Offici coreped moloribus ducium eum,
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McMillan Sand Filtration 1 | McMillan Reservoir Sand Filtration Plant was completed in 1905. At the time, slow sand filtration was considered an innovative system for water purification. However, D.C.’s water needs soon outgrew the plants’ capabilities. Many residents fondly remember this site as a park were, they created many family memories. This also happened to be one of the first desegregated parks in the area.
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
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An illustration of the existing site highlighting a typical filter bed that is one acre in size and located below grade.
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Each typical filter bed is 21 vaults deep and 11vaults wide. With a total of 23114’ by 14’ groin vaults.
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An illustration of a topography map from 1850-1921 illustrating old topography lines and a waterway.
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A vignette illustrating a craved out water path through the site that allows for Timber creek to follow past the site. This space is terraced back with a series of sit steps that gradually brings moves one from grade level to the top of the site.
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An illustration of the current topography surrounding the site along with three hidden creeks that overlap the existing filter beds, thus highlighting a centralized point of connection for water collection during intense periods of flooding.
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A vignette illustrating the community center of the site. Here an amphitheater will be used for performances, demonstrations, and community events, while also becoming a main point for water collection on the site during periods of heavy flooding in the Bloomingdale area.
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Illustration of the areas pre-existing tree line from 1850 -1921.
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The pre-existing tree line is then replaced with umbrella canopies for water collection and sun protection. While creating a loss structure for the African flea market.
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A vignette illustrating the adaption of the pre-existing sand silos into an African Spice Shop.
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An illustration depicting the height of the minaret on site in relationship to the Washington monument. The minaret is 180 feet tall to symbolize the total height of the site from true grade level in this area.
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A vignette illustrating the adaption of the pre-existing regulator houses into an African Tailor Shop.
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A vignette illustrating the adaption of the pre-existing regulator houses into an African Fabric Shop.
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
Sand Storage Silo adaptation into an African Spice Shop
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
Regulation House adaptation into an African Tailor Shop
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
Regulation House Adaptation into an African Fabric Shop
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
Underground Vault Adaptation into a Jazz Club
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Fasso Town A place where Africans can reinvent themselves
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DAAPWorks 2020 University of Cincinnati Master of Architecture Class of 2020 Faculty Advisor: Elizabeth Riorden Email: Bintou.carly@gmail.com Phone: 412-708 -1248 Thesis Book: https://issuu.com/bintou_coulibaly/docs/ bintou_coulibaly_thesis_book_2020?utm_ source=conversion_success&utm_ campaign=Transactional&utm_medium=email Resume: https://issuu.com/bintou_coulibaly/docs/resume_ bintouccoulibaly_2019 Portfolio: https://issuu.com/bintou_coulibaly/docs/bintou_ couliably_portfolio_2019 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bintou-carlycoulibaly-4a066850/
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