Portfolio Jan 2012

ISLANDS Oliver Leech Unit 16 Berglund + Mias Bartlett School of Architecture

PATTERN RECOGNITION An analytical dissection and re-understanding of London to uncover a ‘second London’ - a new layer of the city existing within/above/below/around the existing city. The physical and non-physical collide to form a new way of understanding London.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

LONDON ARCHIPELAGO An average of 28 million individual passengers travel on the Underground network in London each year. Considering that the population of Greater London is only 14 million it is not only the residents of London but also tourists who use the tube as their main way of accessing the city.

Islands London as archipelago In the same way that Venice is a series of small islands surrounded by water, London becomes a series of small islands surounded by the void of ‘missing information’.

Due to the sub-terranean nature of the network people have a diconnected relationship with the city, and as a result London becomes a series of detached islands centered around tube stations.

The destination has no physical and visible connection with the departure point. Underground travel means that it becomes a challenge to orientate one’s self within the city.

The location of the tube stations alters the mental geography of the city with memories and experiences clustering around these transport nodes. In the same way that Venice is an archipelago of small islands, London becomes a series of detached urban islands - floating on a sea of unknown spaces, spaces that have not yet been experienced and so do not exist in the personal memory of the city.

B l o o m s b u r y

B a r b i c a n

I s l e o f S o h o

Venice A city of islands.

F u l h a m

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MAPPING LONDON The experience of London is always personal. London exists both as an object in space but also as a memory within the mind of each person who has experienced a part of London. And as memories are forged, lost, or halfforgotten, the city changes. As a result the London that exists in reality is very different from the London that we think exists.

Islands Mapping London Mapping my journeys through London over the course of a month. The areas I have experienced have been overlaid over a geographically accurate map. But this is not how the city exists in my memory. The underground lines connect these islands of London but offer no way of orientating the islands within the greater London archipelago.

I have mapped my personal experience of my London over the duration of a month, so that my second London - the one that exists in my memory - can be formed.

The Situationists were a revolutionary group based in Europe during the 50s and 60s. They developed ways of mapping spatial surroundings based on Pschyogeography which Guy Debord defined as, “the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.”

In much the same way as my project, they were fascinated with how the pedestrian and the flaneur experience of the city, creating maps which revealed a new way of understanding their cities.

Situationist International clockwise from below: ‘Spectacle of the Society’ by Guy Debord the seminal Situationist book; Constant Nieuwenhuys ‘New Babylon Paris’; Guy Debord ‘The Naked City’.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

THE MENTAL CITY

Islands

The same journeys can be mapped, but from the memory of the city rather than from the accurate data of the city provided by existing maps. The result is that the islands become distorted and there is no way of understanding the dimensional qualities of the voids the unknown spaces between the islands.

The islands cluster together to form a strange archipelago of distant islands.

These physical journeys around the city are contrasted with the virtual connections made everyday with other objects, and other islands. Phone calls and messages can provide particular or vague data of their geographic location and these become part of the memory of the city - stretching and distorting it.

Tall buildings and towers become lighthouses in the sea of unknown, directing and orientating oneself within the known city.

Mental London A new London begins to form. Dark lines represent physical connections within the city and light lines represent the virtual connections within and beyond the city. The BT Tower, St. Paul’s and The Shard are lighthouses - directing the pedestrian.

Describing New cities (left) Peter Gould and Rodney White, ‘Mental Maps’; (right) Italo Calvino, ‘Invisible Cities’.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

DISTORTED CITY

Islands

The tube network creates a distortion of the city, and this is increased by the visual representation of the network. The real London is lost in the manipulation of the city.

Every time the London underground network is represented - certain rules apply. The original tube map distorts the centre of London to make is more legible and connections more clear. Time-based rules can also be applies to the map.

It becomes even more unrecognisable when the true geography of the city is applied.

When 3 these rules have gone, one can 4 5 6 only rely on the personal London that 8 7 6 5 exists in the memory for reference. This creates a new distorted representation of the city, but perhaps 4 more familiar and personal.

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Special fares apply

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8

Bushey

r

North Harrow

West Harrow

Northwick Park

Queensbury

Preston Road

Kingsbury

Brent Cross Golders Green

North Wembley

Neasden

Wembley Park

Wembley Central

Finchley Road & Frognal

Willesden Green

Harlesden

Queen’s Park

Kilburn High Road

Swiss Cottage

South Hampstead

Kilburn Park Maida Vale Warwick Avenue

St. John’s Wood

Edgware Marylebone Road

Paddington

Ladbroke Grove

North Acton

Acton Central

Shepherd’s Bush

Shepherd’s Bush Market

Edgware

South Acton

Goldhawk Road

Acton Town

Queensway

Holland Park

2

Wood Lane

High Street Kensington

1

Turnham Stamford Ravenscourt Brook Park Green Canons Park

Gunnersbury

West Kensington

West Finchley

Victoria

3

Kew Gardens Harrow &

Wealdstone Richmond

4

Westminster

Putney Bridge

Golders Green

Neasden

Wimbledon Park

Hampstead

Willesden Green

Clapham Junction

Wimbledon

Turnpike Lane

Finchley Road

Willesden Junction

Kilburn Park

Queen’s Park

Holloway Road

Royal Oak

Westbourne Park

South Wimbledon

Edgware Road

Paddington

Morden

Latimer Road

2

Ladbroke Grove

3

Park Royal

Queensway

North Acton

Holland Park

Shepherd’s Bush

Edgware Road

Notting Hill Gate

Lancaster Gate

West Acton Hammersmith

Regent’s Park

High Street Kensington

Hyde Park Corner

Knightsbridge

Chiswick Park

Temple

Sloan Square

Earls Court South Kensington

Bank Monument

Cannon Street Mansion House

Westminister

5

Waterloo & City DLR London Overground

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Emirates Air·Line Under construction

High Street Kensington Goodge Street

Transport for London Plaistow

Earls Court

Russell Square

Upton Park

Whitechapel

London Bridge

Tower Hill

Shadwell

Canning Town

Wapping Borough Bermondsey

Pimlico

Elephant & Castle

West Brompton Gunnersbury

Rotherhithe Canary Wharf Canada Water

Fulham Broadway

North Greenwich

Kennington Fulham Broadway

Finsbury Park

Stratford

Bow Road

West Ham

Lambeth North

St. James’s Park

F

This diagram is an evolution Upney of the original design conceived in 1931 by Harry Beck Correct at time of going to print, December 2011

Shoreditch

Aldgate

Vauxhall Surrey Quays Oval

West Brompton

Gloucester Road

Parsons Green Kew Gardens

Brixton

New Cross Gate

Oxford Circus Green Park

Parsons Green

Stockwell Putney Bridge

Clapham North

Manor House

Aldgate East

Southwark Waterloo

Victoria

Northern

Becontree

8

Bromley-by-bow

Caledonian Road

Warren Street

East Ham

Mile End

Stepney Green

Liverpool Street

Blackfriars

Embankment

Turnham Green

Wanstead

7

Bethnal Green

Moorgate

Chancery Lane

St. Paul’s

Stamford Brook

West Kensington

Farringdon Barbican

Holborn

Charing Cross

Gloucester Road

Edgware Road

Old Street

Covent Garden

King’s Cross

Regent’s Park

Hammersmith & City Metropolitan

Barking

Tottenham Court Road

Green Park

District District open weekends, public holidays and some Olympia events

Victoria Dagenham Heathway

Newbury Park

Leytonstone

6

Circle

Jubilee Elm Park

Barkingside Gants Gill

Snaresbrook

Russel Square

Picadilly Circus

Ravenscourt Park

Fairlop

South Woodford

Norwood Junction

Camden Town

Notting Hill Gate

Piccadilly

West Croydon

Angel

5

Warren Street

Hainault

Dagenham East

Redbridge

Crystal Palace

Finsbury Park

4

Grange Hill

Walthamstow Central

Leyton

Leicester Square

Barons Court

Blackhorse

RoadWest Penge

Kings Cross

Goodge Street

Oxford Circus

Ealing Acton Town

Euston

Great Portland Street

Bond Street

Marble Arch

Upminister Bridge

Woodford

Tottenham Hale

Higbury & Islington

4

Baker Street Euston Square

4

Bayswater Shepherd’s Bush

White City

East Acton

Marleybone

Chigwell

Lewisham

Arsenal

Caledonian Road

Mornington Crescent St. John’s Wood

Warwick

Colliers Avenue Wood

E

Hornchurch

Elverson Road

Anerley

3

Tooting Broadway

Key to lines

Upminister

Woolwich Arsenal

Deptford Bridge

Sydenham Seven Sisters

Manor House

Camden Town

Maida Vale

Beckton

3

Roding Valley

Brixton

Balham

Tooting Bec Swiss Cottage

Kensal Green

Gallions Reach

Bakerloo

Greenwich

Honor Oak Park

Kentish Town

Chalk Farm Clapham South

Harlesden

New Cross

Forest Hill

West Hampstead

Stonebridge Park

Pontoon Dock

Distorted London A London based on personal experiecnes and not confined by conventional ‘rules’ of map-making. It becomes naturally instinctive and personal.

Central

Brockley

Kennington

Clapham Common

udbury Hill

Beckton Park

Waterloo & City line open 0621-2148 Mondays to Fridays and 0802-1837 Saturdays. Closed Sundays and Public Holidays -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Blackfriars For reopening date see Planned Closures posters at stations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Camden Town Sunday 1300-1730 open for interchange and exit only -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Canary Wharf Step-free interchange between Underground, Canary Wharf DLR and Heron Quays DLR stations at street level -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cannon Street Open until 2100 Mondays to Fridays.

Closed Saturdays and Sundays -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Emirates Fare zone to be confirmed Greenwich Peninsula -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Emirates Fare zone to be confirmed Royal Docks -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Heron Quays Step-free interchange between Heron Quays and Canary Wharf Underground station at street level -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hounslow West Step-free access for wheelchair users only -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Shadwell DLR due to become step-free in January 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Turnham Green Served by Piccadilly line trains early mornings and late evenings only -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Waterloo Waterloo & City line open 0615-2141 Mondays to Fridays and 0800-1831 Saturdays. Closed Sundays and Public Holidays -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------West India Quay Not served by DLR trains from Bank towards Lewisham before 1900 on Mondays to Fridays

Buckhurst Hill

Tufnell Park

North Wembley

D

Royal Albert

King George V

Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich

New Cross Gate

Prince Regent

London City Airport

Loughton

Bounds Green

Elephant & CastleWood Green

Emirates Royal Docks

2

Mudchute

Archway

4 Custom House for ExCeL

West Silvertown

Emirates Greenwich Peninsula

Island Gardens

Stockwell

Belsize Park

for The O2

Debden Crossharbour

Borough

Lambeth North

Oval

Clapham North

North Greenwich

Heron Quays

Southwark

2

Vauxhall Dollis Hill

Kilburn

bury Town

Canada Water

Arnos Grove

Highgate

Southfields Wembley Park

South Kenton

Wembley Central

Bermondsey

3

Cyprus

South Quay

1

East Putney

Preston Road

London Bridge

East Finchley

Kenton

Harrow-on-the-hill

Embankment

Southgate

East India

Royal Victoria

Canary Wharf Theydon Bois

Waterloo

Pimlico

Imperial WharfBent Cross

West India Quay

River Thames

Rotherhithe

Star Lane Canning Town

Blackwall

Epping

Wapping

West Ham

All Saints

Poplar

C

Upton Park

Langdon Park

Limehouse Tower Gateway

Fenchurch Street

Blackfriars

Barking

Plaistow

Bromleyby-Bow

2

Becontree Upney

East Ham

Abbey Road

Devons Road

Westferry

Shadwell

Tower Hill

Monument

Mansion House

Whitechapel

Aldgate

Elm Park

Dagenham Heathway

Woodgrange Park

Pudding Mill Lane

Stepney Green

Aldgate East

Dagenham East

Wanstead Park

Mile End

B

Hornchurch

Stratford

Shoreditch High Street

Surrey Quays

Parsons Green

Northwick Park

Oakwood

Temple

Hendon Central

Fulham Broadway Kingsbury

Mill Hill East

Sloane Square

South Kensington

Cannon Street

Charing Cross

St. James’s Park

Finchley Central

2

Queensbury

North Harrow

st Harrow

Earl’s Court

Colindale

West Brompton

Pinner

Bank

Upminster Upminster Bridge

Leyton

Stratford International

Bow Church

1

St. Paul’s

Holborn

3

Gants Hill

Leytonstone High Road

Bow Road

Moorgate

Leicester Square

Piccadilly Circus

Knightsbridge

Stanmore

Chiswick Park

Cockfosters

Green Park

Gloucester Road

Barons Court Burnt Oak

Barbican Chancery Lane

Wanstead Leytonstone

Stratford High Street

Bethnal Green Liverpool Street

Covent Garden

Hyde Park Corner Woodside Park

Hoxton

Farringdon

Russell Square

Tottenham Court Road

Marble Arch

2

Fairlop Barkingside Newbury Park

Leyton Midland Road

Hackney Wick

Homerton

Haggerston

Old Street

Goodge Street

Oxford Circus

Hackney Central

Canonbury Dalston Junction

Angel

Totteridge & Whetstone

Kensington (Olympia)

Hammersmith

Bond Street

Walthamstow Central

Dalston Kingsland

King’s Cross St. Pancras

Euston Square

High Barnet

Lancaster Gate

Notting Hill Gate

Caledonian Road & Barnsbury

Euston

Regent’s Park

Bayswater

Latimer Road

Mornington Crescent

Warren Street

Edgware Road

Camden Road

A

Redbridge

Walthamstow Queen’s Road

Highbury & Islington

Caledonian Road

Camden Town

Great Portland Street

Baker Street

Royal Oak Westbourne Park

White City

2

Finchley Road

Tottenham Hale

Finsbury Park

Arsenal

Snaresbrook

Blackhorse Road

Holloway Road

Chalk Farm

West Hampstead

Brondesbury

Kensal Green

Seven Sisters

Upper Holloway

Kentish Town

4

South Woodford South Tottenham

Manor House

Tufnell Park

Kentish Town West

Belsize Park

Kilburn

Brondesbury Park

Kensal Rise

Willesden Junction

Hampstead Heath

Harringay Green Lanes

Crouch Hill

Archway Gospel Oak

6

5

Grange Hill

Bank

Chigwell Hainault

Woodford

Wood Green

Turnpike Lane

Highgate

Hampstead

Dollis Hill

Stonebridge Park

West Acton

3

Hendon Central

South Kenton

East Acton

Arnos Grove

East Finchley

Colindale

Roding Valley

Bounds Green

Finchley Central

Burnt Oak

Canons Park

Kenton

Harrowon-the-Hill

West Finchley

Stanmore

Harrow & Wealdstone

Loughton Buckhurst Hill

Southgate

Edgware

Headstone Lane

Pinner

e

Mill Hill East

Debden

Oakwood

Woodside Park

Hatch End

rthwood Northwood Hills

Cockfosters

Totteridge & Whetstone

Carpenders Park

rk

Check before you travel

Theydon Bois

High Barnet

co U ns n tr de uc r tio

Watford High Street

9

Epping

Watford Junction

n

2

New Cross

Clapham Common

East Putney

Holborn

Richmond

Clapham South

Southfields

Balham

Victoria

Tooting Bec Wimbledon Park

Tooting Broadway

Colliers Wood

Moorgate

Sloane Square

Wimbledon

South Wimbledon

Morden

Bond Street

Bank

Imperial Wharf

Leicester Square

Copyright © 2004 by Oskar Karlin

Piccadilly Circus

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

SPACE-TIME MAPS

Islands

A new London based on memories is a London based on time. Memories are time based as they can relate to events not just spaces. So London now becomes a series of events. And the more these events take place, the more they grow within the memory which can affect the understanding of the spatial geometries of the city.

Since the new London is based on a series of events, the new city will be affected by the conditions at the time of these events. One memory island may only every exist at night, while some have only ever existed once, and others many times, always at day but only ever briefly encountered.

These conditions not only affect the memories of the place, but they distort the spatial, and dimensional qualites.

We understand our surrounding geography through time and memories, not through distances - using minutes rather than kilometres to describe distance.

Testing the idea Each place is connected to an experience of that place. Still based on the accurate geography of London, this map draws from the conditions of each events with colours representing the personal experience of the time, space, weather, architecture, noise, smell and mood. This was a test image that was later developed to draw on my experiences for the whole of London.

FULHAM BROADWAY

WEST BROMPTON

EARLS COURT

GLOUCESTER ROAD

SOUTH KENSINGTON

Time map by Vincent Meertens Mapping the Netherlands with time rather than distance.

PARSONS GREEN

London twitter map Mapping twitter activity (or events) in London to reveal the hidden city

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

CONNECTED LONDON

Islands

REGENT’S PARK

WARREN STREET

NOTTING HILL GATE

CALEDONIAN ROAD

RUSSELL SQUARE

HIGH STREET KENSINGTON

FULHAM BROADWAY

PARSONS GREEN

BOND STREET

MOORGATE

LEICESTER SQUARE

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MENTAL LONDON - MODEL #1

Islands

Sir Niklaus Pevnsner once wrote: “The city is a device that choreographs the movement of a subject.�

This new London attempts to reverse that opinion. Instead it is the movement of a person that choreographs the city, or the person which choreographs the movement of the city.

The models explore the concept of time within a city and how this can alter the memory and geography of the city. The more time spent in a place the taller the model. This distorts the sense of hierarchy within the city, giving more significance to the places where more time is spent rather than the type of place.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MENTAL LONDON - MODEL #1

Islands

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

RATIONALISING THE CITY

Islands

Places and geographies do not exist in our mind in the same way that they exist in real life. Our brains are not capable of containing all the information like a map does. Instead we rank objects and events into a perceived order of importance. And we rationalise the city, to make it more accessible more legible and more understandable. For instance, the Thames bends north at Fulham yet, due to the nature of the road networks and the alignment of the houses, we rationalise the city, and in our pschyo-geographical map the Thames becomes straightened, running west to east.

A Rational London Using the ‘island of Fulham’ as a prototype, the city is manipulated and rationalised the make it more legible, to recreate the London that exists in the personalised memory.

Geographically accurate map

Oliver Leech

Define moves

Shift|Align|Rotate|Shrink|Enlarge

Psycho-geographical map

Unit 16

SECOND LONDON

Islands

Camden Town

Notting Hill Gate King’s Cross Regent’s Park Caledonian Road Edgware Road

Warren Street

Manor House

Finsbury Park High Street Kensington

Goodge Street

Earls Court

Russell Square

West Brompton

Gloucester Road

Fulham Broadway Parsons Green

Oxford Circus

Green Park

Holborn

Victoria

Sloane Square

Moorgate

Bond Street

Leicester Square

Imperial Wharf

Bank

Piccadilly Circus

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MENTAL LONDON

Islands

Once the two-dimensional London has been re-rationalised and created, the other key variable can create a threedimensional new London - time.

The time spent on each island and in each building was measured more accurately.

The scale is logarithmic scale as this represents the way that memories are stored more accurately. The more time spent in one place creates a more significant memory but new places and new experiences also create significant memories and so are given more weight on the scale.

The underground connections are visible underneath the second London and reveal the hidden city beneath the architecture.

200+ hours

150 hours

100 hours

50 hours

30 hours

15 hours

10 hours

5 hours

2 hours

1 hour

30 mins

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MENTAL LONDON

Islands

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MENTAL LONDON

Islands

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MENTAL LONDON

Islands

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MENTAL LONDON

Islands

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MENTAL LONDON - FILM

Islands

The limitation that the model as a standalone object posed was the aspect of time - and the changing aspect of time. It only reveals a static city from only one point in time.

The film reveals the changing city as a process. As events happen, memories are created and the islands of London grow. But as history disappears from memory, the islands start to disappear back into the unknown.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

SECOND LONDON - FILM

onian

pleasance theatre

the finsbury

12b endymion road

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the churchill arms

camden town

warren street

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Islands

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russell square

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goodge street

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chelsea and westminster hospital

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the nellie dean of soho

barbican arts centre

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wanchai. chinatown

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art london. chelsea

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rose and crown

the lamb and flag

bond s treet

the sands end

sloane square

112 townmead road

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

TERRA INCOGNITA “In the archipelago, the islands don’t define the milieu but the space in between: the routes, the streams, the currents and counter currents, whirpools and calms.

This is the space of countless lines of lights intersecting, converging, creating temporary assemblages. This is the multitude.

“We are not islands, but the surrounding ocean. Islands are homogenic, stratified and sedimented, the sea heterogenic, smooth and in constant change. The islands are chartered, but the ocean is only modelled or approached according to the law of averages or pattern recognition.”

Foucault’s Sleep, Models for a Proposal.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

LOCATING DOWNTOWN

Islands Locating Downtown The commerical centre of the city, seperated from Bayfront Park by an eight-lane highway

Locating Miami Miami is located on the tip of the Florida peninsular, a short distance from the Bahamas.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

THE BISCAYNE BLUNDER

Islands

The proposal aims to inhabit the space between the towering structures of Miami’s Downtown financial buildings and the sprawling but underused Bayfront Park and waterfront. Biscayne Boulevard has eight lanes of traffic - four in each direction - with public car parks in the space left over between them. This becomes a huge obstacle for pedestrians who would want to use the park and waterfront facilities. The avenue of vehicles effectively splits Downtown into two at ground level and the Biscayne Wall creates a visual barrier to the city. The proposal attempts to solve this problem to create a single Downtown that can be enjoyed by people at every level of the city by reconnecting the horizontal strata that exists within the city - connecting the skyscrapers, the mid-levels and ground level.

Opportunity Area The car parks along Biscayne Boulevard disconnect the tall skyscrapers from Bayfront Park creating an auto-centric town centre.

Miami’s ‘two cities’ The Biscayne Wall provides the backdrop to the Miami that is seen on postcards but the glittering financial district only masks the reality of Downtown.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

HORIZONTAL LAYERS OF THE CITY

Islands

Miami is a city made up of three distinct layers. The skyscrapers dominate the skyline and becoming islands separated from the rest of the city. The groundlevel is dominated by cars with limited opportunity for pedestrians. The layer between these two - the mid-levels - is a city of roofscapes and the metromover.

There is little vertical interaction between these three layers. The city becomes stratified and the proposal will reverse that to integrate all the levels to create a better experience for the pedestrian.

Three layers of the city Skyscrapers, mid-levels & ground level

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

DOWNTOWN - A SHORT FILM

Islands

A short film exploring the relationship between the different layers of the city and the relationship between the pedestrian and the car throughtout the day in Downtown Miami.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

BAYFRONT PARK

Islands

The site straddles the gap between the enormous skyscrapers of Biscayne Boulevard and the sprawling and underused Bayfront Park.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

BAYFRONT HISTORY

Islands

The Bayfront Area to the east of Biscayne Boulevard has a short but interesting history. In the 1960s the mayor of Miami led the redevelopment of the area, expanding the park outwards and increasing the traffic flow along Biscayne Boulevard. The Doxiadis Plan for the Bayfront was never realised but attempted to link the buildings and the park with a series of pedestrian walkways.

Bayfront Park Historic Photos

Doxiadis Plan 1966 Doxiadis Plan for the Bayfront area with extensive pedestrianisation.

Bayfront Park 1983

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

SITE DIAGRAMS

Islands

Miami’s Tall Buildings 1. The Loft Downtown | 2006 | 23/F | 84m 2. Everglade on the Bay North Tower | 2008 | 49/F | 164m 3. Everglade on the Bay South Tower | 2008 | 49/F | 164m 4. The Loft 2 | 2007 | 35/F | 132m 5. Congress Building | 1922 | 19/F | 68.6m 6. New World Tower | 1965 | 30/F | 109m 7. 50 Biscayne | 2007 | 55/F | 168.9m 8. Sun Trust International | 1973 | 31/F | 114.0m 9. One Biscayne Tower | 1972 | 40/F | 150m 10. Wachovia Financial Centre | 1984 | 55/F | 232.8m 11. Miami Centre | 1983 | 34/F | 147.5m 12. Hotel Intercontinental Miami | 1982 | 34/F | 102.4m 13. One Miami East Tower | 2005 | 44/F | 140.2m 14. One Miami West Tower | 2005 | 45/F | 136.9m 15. Met 1 | 2007 | 40/F | 134.1m 16. Met 2 | 2010 | 31/F | 111.9m 17. Met 2 Office | 2010 | 46/F | 197.2m 18. Epic Residences & Hotel | 2009 | 54/F | 152.4m

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1 3 4

6

5

7

8

9

10

17

16

12

11 14

13

15

18

Potential Masterplan Site

Oliver Leech

Metromover and stations

Primary and Secondary Vehicular Routes

Biscayne Boulevard Pedestrian Crossings

Public Car Parking

Tall Buildings

Unit 16

THE CITY WITHOUT MEMORY Taken from ideas developed London, memory is an important of experiencing, rationalising understanding the city.

Islands

in way and

Over half the skyscrapers in Downtown were built after 2000 resulting in a city which is very modern and has very little history. There is very little industry in the city - people came not to make their fortunes but to spend their fortunes and a large proportion of the population are immigrants who have settled in Florida during the last 30 years. The result is a city without a memory.

Massing Studies The series of buildings will connect the three horizontal layers of the city and so it is important the the proposal creates a vertical relationship with all three layers but must also be sympathetic to the existing heights of Downtown

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

LIFEGUARD OUTPOSTS

Islands

The lifeguard outposts of Miami stretch eight miles from South Beach to Bal Harbour and represents a Miamian ‘style’the antithesis of Downtown which is a generic international financial centre.

This very particlar Miami vernacular can be transported from the beaches to Downtown to create a new Miamian identity.

The outposts also represent a temporal architecture. Every year during the hurricane season, the huts destroyed, damaged, rebuilt and repainted. And during the day they change and adapt to the conditions - opening and closing their skins for the wind, rain, and sun.

They contrast to the permanence of Downtown Miami.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

SOUVENIR

Islands

“A souvenir... is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. The term souvenir brings to mind the mass-produced kitsch that is the main commodity of souvenir and gift shops in many tourist traps around the world. But a souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveller. The object itself has no real significance other than the psychological connection the possessor has with the object as a symbol of past experience. Without the owner’s input, the object’s meaning is invisible and cannot be articulated.” Wikipedia The souvenir is a found object from Downtown - a piece of metal from a car which had been discarded on the pedestrian sidewalk representing the complete dominance of the vehicle in Downtown.

The concrete plinth represents both literally the concrete jungle of Downtown and the horizontal strata of the city but also contrasts with the ephemeral nature of memories. The lightweight structure (or memory architecture) hurdles the car and represents the potential new hierarchy where pedestrians become more important.

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

SOUVENIR

Islands

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MATERIALITY

Islands

Model in progress exploring ideas of materiality. The foam sections will be cast in concrete and embedded with wire supporting a lightweight, transparent structure.

Model in-progress

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

SITE SECTION

Islands

Site section across Biscayne Boulevard looking east Exploring the height relationships with the existing buildings [dotted skyscraper under construction] NE 4th Street

NE 3rd Street

NE 2nd Street

NE 1st Street

Flagler Street

SE 1st Street

SE 2nd Street

SE 3rd Street

Biscayne Boulevard Way

Biscayne Boulevard

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

SITE PLAN

Islands

Pedestrian access to American Airlines Arena 1.

Shops Restaurants Bars Audio outposts Car parking 2.

Shops Restaurants Bars Outdoor public space Car parking Orientation towers 3.

Shops Projections Audio outposts Car parking

4.

Medium screening rooms (3-5 people) Large screening rooms (10 people) Orientation towers Audio booths Outdoor projections

6.

Auditorium (80 people) Public screening spaces Small screening booths (1&2 people) Orientation towers Short-term memory projections (twitter wall)

6.

Main entrance/reception for memory centre Office for memory centre Gallery spaces Archive rooms Connections to tall buildings Car parking

Miamarina

Bayside Marketplace shops and restaurants

Bayfront Park amphitheatre

Miami memory archive

Flagler Street (main pedestrian route)

Bayfront Park Station 7.

New Bayfront Park metro station Projection screens Connections to tall buildings Offices

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

PROPOSING AN ARCHITECTURE

Islands

Applying architecture to the film sequence Using the souvenir model to suggest a potential new architecture for the site

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MIAMI MEMORY ARCHIVE

Islands

Memory is a key driving force behind the programming of the site. The proposal aims to create a place where memory could be deposited, archived, viewed and discussed - a public building which allows people to understand the personal histories and memories of the Miamians. Memories of the same event could be viewed simultaneously to give new interpretations of history.

1

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

2

3 4

Restaurants Gallery Audio booths Large screening room (10 people) Public facilites Parking Small screening rooms (2-5 people)

5 6

Miami Memory Archive [DR]

7

8

10

8. Archive 9. Small screening rooms (1 person) 10. Bars 11. Outdoor projections 12. Auditorium (80 people)

9 11

12

13 14 15

19 16

17

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

Memory archive offices Archive Main entrance to memory archive Archive public facilities Gallery Spaces Parking Outdoor public film screening

18

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

TIME The three main themes: horizontal layers of the city, pedestrian vs. cars and memory all converge to a central theme: time.

Time is engrained is one’s experience of a city, it affects the way we percieve and understand it. Pevnsner’s quote,‘the city is a device that choreographs the movement of a subject.’ can be reversed to read ‘the subject is a device that choreographs the city’. And this can also be applied to architecture - time defines the way that the buildings will be experienced, by cars, pedestrians, over days and over years.

Islands

pedestrians 0500hr

vehicles 00mins

2050

opening hours

01mins

8hr-15hr

0800hr

2040 10hr-18hr

02mins

1200hr

11hr-16hr

2030

03mins

12h-10hr

1600hr

2020 10h-5h

19h-24h 2000hr

04mins

23h-05h

05h-24h

0400hr

05mins 2015

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

entrance

parking

MIAMI MEMORY ARCHIVE

Islands

seating

gallery

offices

bayfront station

auditorium audio booths

library

public facilites

bars

bayfront park

public space metromover

bayfront station

entrance parking

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

MIAMI MEMORY ARCHIVE

Islands

DR project mixed use towers 10 storeys

projection screen

nightclub

orientation towers

data servers data servers bayfront station

bars auditorium

parking

entrance

seating

Oliver Leech

Unit 16

offices

gallery