ODYSSEY ACT II - ABRIDGED
UPENN
NICHOLAS GRANT HOUSER MArch University of Pennsylvania
ODYSSEY ACT II
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I OFF-CYCLE II AMALGAMATE
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III NYX
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IV MATRYOSHKA KIT
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V PROFILED VI VESTIGE EDIFICE VII IKEA ANARCHY
UPENN
I
OFF-CYCLE
Urban Food Production + Public Park SP 2021 CORE: 602
E
mphasizing the embedment of a space for inner city food production to supply local food kitchens, a closed system utilizing hydroponics and aeroponics, a microcosm of growth, decay, and regeneration avoids consuming outside resources. Through the incorporation of growth beds, aquariums, compost, and small animal pens, the natural cycle that occurs in nature becomes downscaled into a concentrated urban scale, becoming hyper-synthetic, operating on a 24 hour growth cycle. In consequence this project is also open to the public 24/7. The versatility and engagement created through the ability to view a space of production facilitates public engagement as the system completes its primary purpose of food production. Public engagement is achieved through the promenade and exhibitionism of the various components at hand, from the farming and harvesting, to distribution, as well as atmospheric bi-products that influence the affect of the public park, as it circumnavigates all systems involved in production. Through these methods, recreation and function have become meshed together to create a space in between spaces, open and welcome to all.
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OFF-CYCLE
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ODYSSEY ACT II
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OFF-CYCLE
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ODYSSEY ACT II
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OFF-CYCLE
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CHAPTER 1
ODYSSEY ACT II
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OFF-CYCLE
//Production & Distribution
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ODYSSEY ACT II
//Grow_Volume
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//Interstitial_Park 015
UPENN
II
AMALGAMATE Canonical Drawing Hybridizations FA 2020 Visual Studies III
R
eferencing Palladio’s Villa Rotonda and Zaha’s MAXXI, this drawing merges the function of a villa and the function of a museum to establish a new system of production, creating a secular factory that contains residency, leisure, production and distribution. Not to be confused as a vehicle for the dystopic, but rather the type of space required during the secondary phases of off world travel, the first being the initial settlement. The reason for such a plan to be conceived is the lack of infrastructure and supplies that might be available, and comparatively to the way our societies have progressed over long spans of time to eventually incorporate each function packed into this plan as separate. A conclusion can be drawn that mass hybrids of plans such as these might exist, once off world structures move away from modularity and begin producing resources outside of the basic needs.
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ODYSSEY ACT II
//Plan_Hybrid 017
UPENN
III
NYX
Social Housing & Hyperloop FA 2020 CORE: 601
F
ocusing on conditions of Hyper-density and infrastructure, The New York X, or NYX, is the result of synergy between the desire to create a high rise while defeating the possibility of gentrification as an outcome. Situated on NYCHA housing, between the Navy yard and BQE, this project dances with the BQE while remaining respectful of current residents in the social housing of 45 N. Elliott place. The outcome creates a central node of transportation to relieve pressure from the constant use of the BQE as well as create a one stop shop before Brooklyn grows and commuting becomes exceedingly more difficult. By routing multiple forms of transportation through this hub, stacking infrastructure on pre-existing infrastructure, commerce will commence, globally, locally and internally. The revenue produced will go directly to the current and new residents by paying for utilities as well as property taxes, creating fixed rent for decades. Since the fear of gentrification is incredibly relevant to the addition of high rises and luxury housing, this economic module can slow down the rates of displacement of socioeconomic classes, so as tax rates inevitably increase as Brooklyn grows, this can be avoided. If this economic model is viable, then a series of these can begin being constructed over current NYCHA housing, ultimately slowing the process of gentrification.
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ODYSSEY ACT II
//Chønk 019
NYX
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ODYSSEY ACT II
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NYX
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//Unit-B
//Unit-C
//Unit-X
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ODYSSEY ACT II
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NYX
//Fidelity_Zoom
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UPENN
IV
MATRYOSHKA KIT Epidemic Testing and Housing SU 2020 PENN Surface Design
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rains of thought have emerged that assumes population density is the greatest driver of where a virus is most likely to spread. Correlation with high rates of COVID are more apparent in neighborhoods that are overcrowded, measured at number of persons per bedroom. Furthermore, studies within New York City have proven that overcrowded neighborhoods are also communities of color –a metric that directly reflects the history of segregation and inequity in urban planning. In short, it is not population density that is responsible for the impact of a virus –it is a segregated and inequitable city that bears the blame. Although the design is non-site specific, this proposal engages one of the most vulnerable places in America, the Bronx of New York City, to resolve issues of social inequity and affordable housing. By introducing the Matryoshka Kit directly into a backyard setting, it is possible to provide more accessible testing and housing to overcrowded neighborhoods. When a Matryoshka Kit is no longer needed as a Care Center, it may be re-purposed into an affordable housing unit and placed onto an open lot, therefore decreasing rates of overcrowding within households, and now providing relief in its secondary use just as it did in its first.
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ODYSSEY ACT II
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MATRYOSHKA KIT
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ODYSSEY ACT II
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032
//Adaptive_Reuse 033
UPENN
V
//Extracted_Urban-Fabric_Profiles
PROFILED
Urban-Fabric Profile Misreading FA 2020 Visual Studies III
E
xtracting profiles from Piranesi’s Campo Marzio as the point of origin, an optimization script was utilized in order to arrange and intersection these profiles with one another, creating instances of form, and allowing for the expedited generation of configurations. A secondary script was included to demarcate figural intersections in order to merge the pieces together, creating a difficult whole.
//Profile_Orbit
//Assemblage 034
ODYSSEY ACT II
//Difficult_Wholes 035
UPENN
VI
VESTIGE EDIFICE PENN Museum Extension FA 2019 CORE: 501
W
hen considering the Penn Museum extension, a task was derived from the necessity to house artifacts that seldom see display time. The concept for the extension of the museum’s archives circled around the central idea of “Who does it belong to?”. In this solution, to further combat the ideas of oppressive colonialism, the artifacts are placed in a hermetically sealed environment, or a “new territory”, for only themselves to occupy. This was done as a means to honor the origins of which they came, but also to understand that a true owner of such artifacts cannot be determined in present day, only leading to debates ending in little to no proper outcome. Museums have never been seen as attempting to desecrate the artifacts, rather quite the opposite, by receiving intensive restoration and care, however the original owners of these artifacts were very much so violated. An epistemological question of whether these artifacts are extensions of the cultures today or are they themselves their own thing leads to the creation of this extension which favors the latter, by laying them to rest in a respectful geode of their own.
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ODYSSEY ACT II
//Choisy 037
VESTIGE EDIFICE
//Material_Zoom
//Interior
//Physical_Model
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ODYSSEY ACT II
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//En_Route 041
UPENN
VII
IKEA ANARCHY Flexible Communal Living SP 2020 CORE: 502
T
hrough the speculation of future politics within the U.S.A., with Philadelphia being the epicenter of such change, the implementation of an Eco-Feminist New Deal, focusing on design for the people and the environment, is taken into consideration. IKEA Anarchy addresses the first stage of implementation, “Initiate through Acupuncture” where the primary goal is to provide a foundation of communal living in pockets of unused space, typically found in sites of contention, across Philadelphia. Here, a series of basic assemblies can be constructed to fit the needs of the surrounding spaces through the use of basic rule sets that yield growth and spatial qualities that can take on programs of: Assembly, Habitats, Gardens, Entertainment, Health care, or anything best suited for the needs of the people. Since this is only the first stage, it is also utilized as a testing site for various energy generating methods, water collection and purification systems, basic town hall methodologies, and farming with hydroponics so that as the following stages are implemented, the creation of a self sustaining commune of the people is viable, attempting to leave nothing to chance from the testing conducted in the first stage. The proposal intends to generate the strategic mechanisms as a starting point for the self-reparation of the urban tissue.
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//Initiate_Deliverance 043
IKEA ANARCHY
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IKEA ANARCHY
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ODYSSEY ACT II
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