A Guidebook reveiling the a hidden city

A GUIDEBOOK unveiling an invisible city

CONTENT SYNOPSIS

INTRO

A Critical guidebook

A statement of intent

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THE CONTEXT

Notorious Tensta

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METHOD

Collecting stories

Svenska Bost채ders J채rva dialouge

Re-writing stories

J채rvalyften a vison for this area

Building stories

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Making contact

Storytelling Two questions; Could this p lace b e a host f or culture?

How can t he subject achive t he ability and power t o create and sustain, t raverse, appropriate and control space t he space i n this place?

APPENDIX

Guide map Tensta

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SYNOPSIS In my thesis I will create a critical guidebook - using the research p roject i n producing a guide m ap f or Tensta a s a reference p roject. I h ave chosen Tensta because its one o f the most m ythic places i n Stockholm. I w ill e mploy methods o f story-telling, a s a means of research, and re-writing stories as a means of discussing what can been seen as assets. In providing a guide map in my pre-study I wish to explore the format to re-write a place. Mapping, map making and the creation o f social m eeting places i n form o f dinner events are c onstitutive p arts o f my architectural project.

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COMMUNICATING ARCHITECTURE A STATEMENT OF INTENT OCTOBER 5th 2009 Studio 10 Marie-Louise Richards

INTRO A statement of intent Storytelling Two questions; Could this place be a host for culture?

How can the subject achive the ability and power t o create and sustain, appropriate and control space the space in this place?

My intentions this academic year is to create a set of tools and a method to transcribe urban life and built environment to create a guidebook to read cities a nd t he l ife of cities. M y preference i s when architecture i nteracts with s ocial structures a nd i s a mirror of how our s ociety m anifests i n a buildt environment. I believe that cities tell us a lot about what our hopes, dreams and fears as a society. In this studio of critical studies in architecture my goal is to be able to look at cities in a way that I can produce a method of c omparing cities and creating an architectural ( or u rban) guidebook presenting p resenting "critically" norms, nationality, politic i mprints relating to these structures and make them readable and accessible.

ARCHITECTURE AND COMMUNICATION AS A TOOL

In which way does architecture communicate? How does one communicate our built environment? What argument do we use in order to produce architecture? Are we aware of what our hopes, dreams, and fears are made of?

And do we know how to communicate them? Using the format of a guidebook I wish to present a way of looking at architecture. I want it to be accessible and I want it to be synaptic. I want it to be a means of research involving questions of society, able to visualize our desires. � A guidebook i n a traditional sense i s a way we p resent sites o f cities and cultural artefacts in a selling manner, presented for the tourist that want to be served an tourist experience of consuming a place in a generic way. I b elieve that in the same way we can p ackage a city t o its t ourist consumer – I can package a city with the same communication tool to look at it in a different way.

A FRAMEWORK

In my thesis work I wish to present the framework and how it is used to understand cities and how the framework is filled to be used as a tool to compare a nd c ities a nd how d ifferent mechanisms are m anifested i s our built environment. The goal is to find and understand solutions to how to continue to build cities but most and foremost it’s a goal in how one can communicate what I feel architecture is made of.

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Could this place be a host for culture?

How can the subject achive the ability and power to create, sustain, appropriate and control the space in this place?

STORYTELLING Storytelling can - get the local authority to see the space assets - getting the locals to see the assets - getting the general public to se the assets

THIS PLACE CAN BE A HOST FOR CULTURE Trough collecting stories in tensta I discoverd many assets.

Tensta has a huge young population 42% is under the age of 24. In the same time many fail in to leave school with final grades not making them able to attend higher learning. Jobs are hard to find and there are slim chances for the youth of Tensta to move from their parents home and formulate a future for themselves. � Tensta Achitecture schools is a preparation program for attending The School of architecture at KTH - Ross Tensta gymnasium has an interesting pedagogic approach that focus on culture the Ross Tensta gymnasium also recently opened a new community centre in order to give the students a place for after school activities. The facilities of Tensta Gymnasium is an interesting space. The schools shares the space whit Tensta Träff that acts as a host for all the non governmental culture associations in Tensta with rent able assembly rooms and a great hall, the local library and the local sport center all is assembled in one large facility.

� Since the beginning of the 90’s Tensta Marknad has taken place during a weekend annually. The market venue stretches all through tenstagången. The market is loved by the local residens and has thousands of visitors. The market existence is treathend when its funding from the municipality is withdrawn. And the organisation of the market is hard to maintain from year to year. The market is one of the greatest assets in tensta and it should be a permanent street market, like the STREET street market in hornstull. A permanent market would strengthen the identity, be a cultural platform in the area. Making more people feeling more connected to the local area. � � The most well know asset in Tensta is Tensta Konsthall its ambition to be a host of contemporary art and offer the local youth cultural education in forms of workshops etc has been very successful over the years During its first years it became an art space on an international level offering the best scene for video art in the world. I argue that there is so much going on in Tensta that there is room for more than one culture institutions as Tensta konsthall. Tensta Gymnasium, the architecture school, the community center, The Tensta träff and the culture associations and the Konsthalls pedagogic work needs to be articulated differently and and spaces need to be transformed to make room for these activities to grow.

Tensta Marknad is a great venue for participation and playground. Every weekend alongside street vending, exhibitions, school work and the culture associations can act in the space of Tensta Marknad creating a public arena displaying the culture in Tensta. The architecture school in Tensta should work with public spaces in tensta articulated on the site of Tensta Marknad, working with 1:1 scale architecture proposals that can engage the local residents creating a dialogue on how the space can be used. � � Recognizing these values is important to strengthen the idea that the subject can achieve the ability and power to create sustain, appropriate and control the space in this place.

A GUIDE MAP Producing a guide map over Tensta framing the commercial and cultural assets I hope to further the investigation on how to frame assets and creating values in order to propose changes. I want to research different formats in how I can communicate this and make it accessible for different actors to participate.

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TENSTA GYMNASIUM KULTURHUSET TENSTA TRÄFF

LIVSTYCKET VÄSTERORTS VUXENSKOLA

SPORT CENTER

POSSIBLE BUILDNING SITE BLÅ HUSET

TENSTA KONSTHALL

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THE CONTEXT Choosing Tensta as an area for a pre-estudy. R eflections o n issues o f place, context, use and place-making Notorious Tensta Svenska Bostäders Järva dialouge Järvalyftet a vison for this area

NOTORIOUS TENSTA

I have chosen Tensta as the site for a pre-study. The choice was practical, since that's where the studio is located. But I also found the place interesting since the mythtic aspect of the place was extremely dominant. There is no way avoiding it, Tensta has a bad reputation. Everything about it is apparently bad. The architecture is horrific, many say, the schools are bad, only immigrants live there, gangs roams the streets terrorising the locals, throwing stones on busses and setting cars on fire. A high percentage is unemployed and the schools has the lowest grade average in the region. � � Tensta got o f with a b ad start. The w hole area w ith 6200 apartments was built from 1966 til 1972 as a part of the millionprograme to build one million apartments within 10 years as an answer to the huge apartment shortage in Stockholm at that time. Tensta alongside Rinkeby was one of the first neighborhoods to be built in the area, soon to be followed by Akalla, Husby and Kista around the area of Järvafältet. The first new residents in Tensta moved in to a building site. The project was not complete and the area h ad n o infrastructure a nd n o local services, and it was immediately labeled as a bad place in media.

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SVENSKA BOSTÄDER JÄRVA DIALOUGE Almost 40 years has past since Tensta was built and the time has come to renovate the buildings . It’s a massive project since all of Tensta was planned and built as a whole. Now it has to been taken care of all at once a heavy burden for the main actors Svenska bostäder and Familje Bostäder that keeps most of the apartments in the Järva area. � Fall of 2008 a huge scandal hit Svenska Bostäder when they presented a proposal of a total makeover of Husby were houses where being torn down and new housing was going to result in higher rents for the residents. The question about who Svenska Bostäder was building for was raised and this resulted in riots and a march to city hall to protest this new proposal. � The proposal was dropped and a year later Svenska Bostäder presented a dialogue process - five days in 5 neighbourhoods. Starting in Akalla and ending in Tensta a mass dialogue where the local residents could answer a questionnaire with two questions; what do you like in your neighbourhood and what is not so god? In relation to the questionnaire the resident is also asked to mark on a map over the neighbourhood, where they live, what place they like most, and what place the think is a problem. When participating in this dialouge the rescident also is part of a lottery where one can win a months rent from Svenska bostäder one winner is selected once a day during the 5 days the dialogue is going on in the neighbourhood.

Many rescidents feel that the dialouge is good initiative, but I stand critical to the fact that this is a result of the scandal year and and it is hard to ignore that this is a big pr campaign for Svenska Bostäder to redeem themselves. Im also criticall to the fact that in order to make more residents participate a lottery with free rents are announced and I wonder the residents that are not living in Svenska Bostäders (or familjebostäders) apartments are they excluded from this dialouge? Does the actors involved in this dialouge process hide behind this process, but in reality don't have any real responsibility to make changes that are i the interests of the residents.

JÄRVALYFTET A VISION FOR THIS AREA Autumn 2007 it was agreed all political parties at City Hall on one single target image for this effort named Järvalyftet: Järvalyftet is a long term investment to improve living conditions in neighborhoods around Järvafältet: Akalla, Hjulsta, Husby, Kista, Rinkeby and Tensta. The goal is that by involving residents and collaboration with other partners to create a positive social and economic development that makes Järva to an area where many want to move - and stay. Järvafältet will also be an engine for growth in the city. To achieve this requires conscious efforts in four key areas: - Good accommodation and more diverse urban environment - Safety in daily life - Strengthening education and good teaching - More jobs and increased business

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COLLECTING STORIES

METHOD Collecting stories Two stories urban inventory

Trough interviewing some of the local actors in tensta I started gathering stories about the area. I based my further research about tensta on two stories wich have lead to the base of the research of my theisis:

STORY 1 THERE IS NOT SPACE FOR 2 CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS

Re-writing stories creating values and recognizing assets Building stories Place-making a setting for the gathering of stories

STORY II TENSTA IS A LOCKED STRUCTURE ADDING IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE

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COLLECTING STORIES URBAN INVENTORY

An inventory of the commersial spaces in tensta. What is there? How do they use signs and communicate.

RE-WRITING STORIES

A combination o f a fictional + the real v enue f or T ensta marknad proposing this as a site for 1:1 intreventions carried out by the Tensta Architectual prep. school together with other cultural institutions in Tensta

Mapping the cultural and educational institutions that can act on the public strip tensta책ngen and the venue of Tensta Marknad

STORY I

RE-WRITING STORIES

THERE IS NOT SPACE FOR 2 CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS 12.

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With maps re-writing stories recognizing assets in already exciting activitys and actors in Tensta creating new values in Tensta

STORY II

TENSTA IS A LOCKED STUCTUERE ADDING IS ALMOST IMOSSIBLE

RE-WRITING STORIES

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Mapping the shopping oppertunites in Tensta looking at how spaces have been transformed in order to meet the need for more commersial space in Tensta

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BUILDNING STORIES Trough a set of dinner events I would like to build new stories with the participants discussing the guide map - memories of place and other elements in order to gather material for a guidebook.

With this method I wish to explore how I can reveal hidden assets o f a place. And a nd d iscussing how t o communicate architecture in a more accessible way.

I call these gatherings Catalogue ( Katalog) The Catalogue events a structured around a theme - the participants are all connected to the theme in one way or another. I have chose the dinner event as a format for its informal setting.

The dinner is recorded. During the dinner all the participants will produce graphic mental notes. The recorded material will be transcribed and the graphic material collated as material for the guidebook. The material will be used in order to re-write the place in question.

INVITATION THEME The theme asks the quiestion

LOCATION GUESTS

KATALOG SETTING

MENU

a setting for the of buildning of stories

Are selected in order to help answer the quiestion posted by the theme

TRANSCRIPT The dinner event is recorded - a transcrip is written out of the recording.

THE ASSIGNMENT Diffrent assignments are connected to the theme. Guests are also asked to produce mental notes in form of notes, drawings and collages.

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APPENDIX TENSTA A GUIDE MAP

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