TRACING THE CAUSTIC EDGE
A design thesis. Ryan Horton. Spring 2013
i
Along my right, a stately church stares down the Avenue, its brazen pair of steeples, lighting the path down toward the water, stretched out into the open, peering down, relating through its steadfast buttresses, “Go on now, it’ll be fine.” From its bosom, I squint into the leering sun, its rays stern enough to shield the way down the street, yet directly across the way, a red faced building turns toward me its side, revealing a patched wall of grey mortar hiding a very hideous set of scars. It takes a bit of maneuvering to get up closer, dodging three or four more lanes of traffic across some widened and drab corridor. The buildings edge hides in the shadow of the northern light, unwilling to reveal the cleaved nature of its wall, but it appears looking East to West as though some grand axe has dropped from heaven to evict its neighbor and expose its sad wall, only sheltered by an array of plastered ads which have been nailed and pinned into the grieving brick. Moving south, its street front face sits bravely with its remaining neighbors. They appear sadder and squattier than this thin and long building, and it seems it is being brave for the both of them, salvaging and sheltering them from the fate, which accompanied their northern brace. There are similar stories further down the street, odd hacked away faces, and similarly missing buildings, and loose ends, but if I turn back to the North, I can still see the steeple, and its still as straight as it was before, and I feel just as compelled to walk amongst this seam, with hope, with knowledge the water will be there soon. Across a small alley two oppositions stare awkwardly at each other; the first the northern statue, riddled with strange iron contraptions dancing and darting along its face, wires and signs piercing through rotting holes, patched with some silicone paste which has taken on the complexion of dust. The second, the southern neighbor, is pierced as well, yet it is a considered piercing, and along a set of tiered railings, a few residents dot their heads over the balconies to smirk at me as I maneuver my way past. Its bricks are rectilinear, and smooth. Its windows are not ridden with iron gates and plywood boards, but in a few moving up its face, little sold signs seem to gleam like picked puppies at the pet store. The newcomer seems to have instigated a kind of game. Across the street, a wide broad building is hushed behind a series of scaffolds, muzzled and drowned for a moment as its skin is pulled away. Like some kind of burn victim, Tyvek plasters itself up the exposed muscle, and slowly a new-yellowed brick quiets the disheartened structure. The remaining buildings seem to have themselves done up just as well, perhaps already enraptured by the demonizing replacements, or simply pampered a bit so as not to appear too sad and out of place. They dot themselves down the line, denser and denser, happier and happier, and I begin to sense the rhythm. That all fine, but well, wait, there’s another of these wide avenues; this one cloaked in more garb and finery, like its neighbors, but the thinned trees make no rest shackled amongst smogging Buicks. I look East, and West too, but there they are again, cars. I turn back around; looking North. Another cleaved wall, this time stained red, hosts a winking man, he tipping his hat too me. I thought I was headed to the water? I turn back to the elaborate portrait, only another wink more.
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TRACING THE CAUSTIC EDGE _ILLUMINATING THE LATENT UNDERPINNINGS IN THE ABANDONED URBAN CORE
The composition of the urban cores were drastically altered through the middle decades of the twentieth century. A combined set of properties including, a post war housing boom and a globalizing economy offered a migratory exodus from the center city of both economics and population, a combination which alienated aging neighborhoods within the city as well as the post industrialized working class which continue to occupy those zones. The loss of capital and interest has caused a continual contrition within those urban neighborhoods, and the aging building stock has begun to erode under the pressures of time and neglect. The remaining populations as well suffer from the same traumas caused by indifference. What results and emanates from these zones is a fearful energy, which questions our economic and governmental systems but more it fails to consider the humanity of its citizens, which are constricted amidst a kind of urbanism of alienation. Along these edges, we create subconscious boundaries; we approach them and move away from them.
This thesis is specifically interested in the de-urbanization of inner city neighborhoods, ones whose past and building stock hold a vast series of rich industrial narratives, demarcated through cultural and historical threads which continue to persist through time. Utilizing those characteristics as an initial framework, the project looks to deepen it’s knowledge of the placeless moments in the city, actively cataloguing the abandoned remnants within these zones, and questioning what role these remnants continue to play within the makeup of the city. After establishing that as a discourse, the resulting attitude will begin to make projections at how architectural insertions can restitch the latent readings of place, and develop strategies which are capable of traversing and crossing these physical and psychological boundaries, which exist to continually deteriorate and separate portions of the urban core. The architectural insertions will look to introduce a sympathetic tectonic language able to reestablish the role of the historical fabric, and furthermore, able to occupy the residual spaces in a manner capable of repositioning and repairing the demoralized street scape.
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OTR’s DEVELOPMENT AND DECAY
Over-the-Rhine has persevered through a tumultuous half century. It’s historic populations were highest toward the beginning of it’s histories. It contracted slowly to a more optimum population by 1950, and was an ideal urban neighborhood for a mixture of cultures. By the late 1960’s much of that population had left. The construction of 1-71 and 1-75 allowed for quick travel from suburban neighborhoods to downtown. The mass exodus was expedited by racial riots which left massive physical and psychological scarring on the neighborhood. In the span of twenty years a neighborhood whose population was at a healthy 30,000 residents was emaciated, under 10,000. The lack of residents and interest led toward a loss of capital and investment in the neighborhood, and OTR spent much of the latter half of the 20th century as a wasteland. Despite the difficulties in the neighborhood, certain elements and thread continued to persist through time. Findlay Market, the oldest outdoor market in Ohio has been continually open since 1855. It still remains the center of capital in the neighborhood, and acts as positive ambassador to continuing fears surrounding OTR.
In an effort to draw on Findlay Markets example, Cincinnati and residents are beginning to re-establish other historic elements consistent with OTR’s golden age. In November of 2012, the city broke ground on a new light rail system that will run through key corridors in the neighborhood, harkening back to Cincinnati’s history as a trolley car city. Also, OTR’s early German immigrants establish large breweries which were responsible for much of the neighborhoods capital investment in the 19th century. Prohibition was responsible for the industries demise, but the culture is returning in a series of trendy microbeweries keen on rekindling the ancient recipes brought over from Germany 200 years ago. These key elements begin to draw potentials for OTR’s rich building stock, as it attempts to reinvigorate nearly 500 vacant or abandoned structures.
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06
FLEDGLING INFLUENCE
MORELEIN BREWERY
TWO RECENT CIVIC ADDITIONS HAVE BEEN THE BALLET WHICH RECENTLY MOVED INTO A DEFUNCT WAREHOUSE ALONG CENTRAL PARKWAY, AS WELL AS THE BREWERY DISTRICT, WHOSE KINGPIN IS THE MORELEIN BREWERY. THE BALLET IS A MORE PERMANENT BEACON OF THE STRONG AND EVER CHANGING THEATRE SCENE IN OTR. MORELEIN BREWERY’S REOPENING SIGNALS THE REBIRTH OF A TRADITION THAT BEGAN WITH THE FIRST GERMAN IMMIGRANTS IN THE 19TH CENTURTY
CINCINNATI BALLET
ENTRENCHED INFLUENCE FINDLAY MARKET
KEY FACTORS WHICH HAVE SERVED THE NEIGHBHORHOOD FROM ITS INFANCY HAVE BEEN WASHINGTON PARK AND FINDLAY MARKET. WASHINGTON PARK WAS SET ASIDE IN THE ORIGINAL EXPANSION OF CINCINNATI, AND FINDLAY MARKET IS THE LONGEST CONTINUALLY OPEN PUBLIC BUILDING IN OHIO, AS WELL AS OTR’S COMMERCIAL DRIVER.
EST. 1855
WASHINGTON PARK EST. 1802
ATTEMPTING THE SOLUTION
FUTURE STREET CAR LINE
RECENT ATTEMPTS TO RE-ESTABLISH OTR AS A VIABLE RESIDENTIAL SECTION OF THE CITY LED TO THE REINSTALATION OF THE STREET CAR SYSTEM, WHICH BROKE GROUND IN THE FALL OF 2012. PREVIOUS CIVIC INSERTIONS INCLUDED THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW SCHOOL FOR THE CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS, WHICH AT ITS ERECTION IN 2003 WAS THE FIRST MODERN BUILDING IN OVER A DECADE. COUPLED WITH A REFURBISHMENT TO CINCINNATI MUSIC HALL, THE GROUNDWORK BEGAN TO BE LAID FOR A RENEWAL OF OVER THE RHINE.
CINCINNATI MUSIC HALL
SCHOOL FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
THE PROBLEM OTR IS A FRACTURED COLLECTION OF HISTORIC STRUCTURES WITH A TUMULTUOUS PAST. FACTORS INCLUDING FREEWAY EXPANSION, RACIAL TENSIONS, AND CIVIC NEGLECT HAVE LED TO A LOSS OF NEARLY 70% OF HISTORICAL FABRIC. EVIDENCED MOST STARKLY BY LIBERTY STREET, MAJOR AVENUES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD LACK A PEDESTRIAN PRESCENCE AND ACT AS SILENT REMINDERS TO THE DERELICT NATURE OF THE LAST HALF CENTURY.
INTERSTATE -71
OVER THE RHINE CINCINNATI
LIBERTY STREET LIBERTY STREET SERVES AS TO SEVER THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ENDS OF THE OVER THE RHINE NEIGHBORHOOD. IT’S PRESCENCE HAS DEBILITATED THE SURROUNDING GRID, AND FORCED A LACK OF GROWTH AND REVITALIZATION ACROSS ONE OF OTR’S MAJOR BOULEVARDS.
DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI
INTERSTATE -75
OTR’s RESTORATIVE ELEMENTS
THE ISSUE A half century of neglect has left over 500 buildings vacant, razed, or derelict. Much of the remainder reveals a broken fabric of disparate parts, under performing to a collective narrative.
THE INSTIGATOR In 2003, the city constructed a new School for the Performing arts for ages K-12. It was the first modern public structures in the Over-The Rhine Neighborhood in over 50 years.
FINDLAY MARKET
THE (old) INFRASTRUCTURE Findlay Market opened in 1855, and has been the longest running public market in Ohio, and has always been the economic heart of Over-the-Rhine. Directly South, Washington Park was laid out in the original plans of the city, and has always acted as a haven for OTR residents, in times of strife and prosperity. Receiving a multi million dollar face lift in 2010 and 2011, the park was reopened last year, and has been a big reason for renewed interest in Over the Rhine
WASHINGTON PARK
THE (new) INFRASTRUCTURE The Cincinnati Ballet moved from its location downtown to a warehouse building along the edge of OTR in the past years, and after a restoration and addition, has become a fixture of the neighborhood. Another fledgling presence, the Morelein Brewery recently resurrected in OTR, returning from a several decade long absence after its failure in the wake of prohibition. While not housed in the original brewery building, the return of the business to the neighborhood has sparked a rebirth of Cincinnati Craft Brewing, which was the impetus for the neighborhood’s past economic wealth.
CINCINNATI BALLET
MORELEIN BREWERY
FINDLAY MARKET
CINCINNATI BALLET
WASHINGTON PARK
MORELEIN BREWERY
LIBERTY STREET
CATALOGUING LIBERTY STREET
DETERMINING THE EDGE In drawing the space between the built form along Liberty Street, a jagged cut is revealed; produced by years of neglect, razed buildings in response to a widening transit corridor. The resulting attitude is a pedestrian wasteland, where distances between building faces balloon to well over 300 feet, and in many instances, buildings along Liberty street are vacant, or extending blank walls toward Liberty.
128’
128’
FARM 1/4 MILE 128’
128’
128’
390’
390’
FARM
PARK
_A _B
PARK
PARK _A _B
PARK PARK
_D
_C
_E _F
_G _H
PARK
PARK
_I
SYCAMORE ST
BLVD MCKMICKEN
WALNUT ST
VINE ST
RACE ST
135’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
205’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
135’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
VINE ST
RACE ST
ELM ST
PARKWAY CENTRAL
185’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
_C
145’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
_A
268’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
1/4 MILE
_B
128’
390’
390’
245’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
_C
125’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
_D
115’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
PARK _D
_E _F
_G _E
_H
PARK
PARK
126’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
_I
_F
98’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
_G
354’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
_H
174’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
_I
SYCAMORE ST
BLVD MCKMICKEN
WALNUT ST
205’ BETWEEN BUILDING FACE
to: Fi _Ohindlay Ma o’s ol r dest ket Farm
Future Street Car Line: Growth corridor connecting to Downtown. er’s m
arket
Residual spaces: left over from dissipating fabric
Y RT E LIB
Cincinnati Ballet
T EE R ST
Morelein Brewery building.
RACE
ELM ST
REET
STRE E
T
Pleasant Street: potential organizing spine for recreaction uses to: W a _Cinshingto cy’s n olde Park st p ark
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CATALOGUING THE RESIDUAL MAKE UP OF OTR
ESTABLISHING THE SITE ANCHORS: FINDLAY MARKET WASHINGTON PARK CINCINNATI BALLET MORELEIN BREWERY
ORGANIZING THE SITE FOR PROGRAMMATIC INSERTION
DEVELOPING THE PARTI WAS DEPENDENT ON UTILIZING CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL THREADS AS A WAY OF ESTABLISHING AN ORGANIZATIONAL DATUM ABLE TO INFORM PROGRAMMATIC INSERTIONS INTO THE HISTORICAL FABRIC. THE DIRECT CORRELATION OF FINDLAY MARKET AND WASHINGTON PARK GENERATED A RECREATIONAL IDENTITY WITHIN THE HEART OF OTR, AND ESTABLISHED THE NEED FOR PUBLIC SPACES WHICH COULD FOSTER PEDESTRIAN LIFE. THE CENTER BLOCK CONDITION OF PLEASANT STREET BECAME THE RECREATIONAL SPINE. TRANSVERSELY, THE LESSER ESTABLISHED CULTURAL PIECES OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD, THE BALLET AND THE MORELEIN BREWERY RESTORED A CIVIC PRESENCE IN OTR, AND THEIR PLACEMENT ALONG EITHER END OF LIBERTY STREET ACTS A CIVIC SPINE, ALLOWING LIBERTY STREET TO RECLAIM IS AVENUE LIKE PRESENCE. FLANKING THE STREET WITH A SERIES OF PUBLIC SQUARES DRAWS THE PUBLIC OUT, AND GENERATES LIFE ALONG LIBERTY STREET. IN KNITTING THESE PERPENDICULAR ORGANIZATIONAL DATUMS, A SERIES OF GREEN SPURS AND PATHWAYS MEANDERS THROUGH THE NARROW MEDIEVAL LIKE STREETS OF OTR, AND CREATES A COHESIVE PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE.
FINDLAY MARKET
MORELEIN BREWERY
CIVIC SPINE
CINCINNATI BALLET
REET
REE RACE ST
T
REET ELM ST
LIBERTY ST
RECREATIONAL SPINE
WASHINGTON PARK
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MASTERPLANNING LIBERTY STREET THE ATTITUDE TOWARDS LIBERTY STREET WAS TO STRENGTHEN THE ABSENT NATURE OF THE STREET, ADDING IN STRUCTURES ABLE TO BETTER HOLD THE STREET, YET ALSO HOLDING OUT PUBLIC SPACE, ALLOWING DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE BUILDINGS, AND GENERATING PLACES WHERE USERS COULD INTERACT WITH ONE ANOTHER. THE AGE AND PROPORTIONS OF THE OTR HISTORICAL DISTRICT MAINTAINS AN HAUNTING MEDIEVAL PRESENCE, AND THERE WAS A DESIRE TO CELEBRATE THAT, ALLOWING PUBLIC SPACES TO ATTRACT DAILY LIFE AMONGST THE STREET SCAPE. PULLING FROM THE ANCHORS OF THE IDEA WAS TO OFFER AN ABUNDANCE OF PUBLIC SPACE, PROGRAMMED TO SATISFY THE SHIFTING NATURE OF OVER THE RHINE. THE INSTALLATION OF THE CIVIC SPINE AND THE RECREATIONAL SPINE ACT AS ORGANIZATIONAL DEVICES, WHICH LEND SCALE AND CONTEXT TO THE CREATED PUBLIC SPACES, BUT ALSO ALLOW A FLUID INTERACTION, OFFERING AN INTERIOR LIFE TO OTR WHICH TEEMS WITH POSSIBILITY AND POTENTIAL.
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CIVIC SPINE
CIVIC USE MIXED USE COMMERCIAL/ RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL LIVE-MAKE STUDIO
WASHINGTON PARK
USE TYPES
INSERTED FABRIC
PUBLIC SPACE MAJOR
MINOR
PUBLIC SPACE AND PATHWAY
GREEN SPACE AND GREEN TRANSIT 20
ASSESSING THE URBAN FABRIC IN ATTEMPTING TO ADD A ORGANIZATIONAL AND RESTORATIVE TISSUE AMONGST THE URBAN FABRIC, IT WAS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THE TECTONIC LANGUAGE OF THE PLACE, BUT ALSO TO COMPREHEND THE NEGLECT OTR HAS SUFFERED. IN VISITING THE PLACE, IT EVOKED AN EERIE SENSE OF LOSS, BUT ALSO OFFERED AN UNPARALLELED RICHNESS THAT COULD ACT AS A CANVAS FOR INVENTIVE INTERACTION.
ABANDONED AUSTERE
CLAUSTROPHOBIC
OBSTINATE DEGRADED MUZZLED
UNKEPT SCARRED OMINOUS
BARREN PLACELESS EXPOSED
THE NATURE OF LIBERTY STREET IS A COLLECTION OF SILENT STRUCTURES, REVEALING EXPOSED FADED SKINS HARBORED BY DERELICT WRAUGT IRON FENCES BENT AND WAVING UNDER SIMILAR NEGLECT.
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DEVELOPING URBAN TACTICS Establishing a set of goals for the reintegration of OTR’s abandoned and dilapidated strucutes meant analysing and finding ways of enlivening the blankness of OTR as a canvas. The resulting attitude was to instill an additive layer which would gradually adapt to the patchwork nature of the historic neighborhood.
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BLOCK INFILL PATTERNS THE NEGLECT THAT OVER THE RHINE HAS SUFFERED IN THE LAST HALF CENTURY HAVE LED TO A COMPLICATED AND VAIRIED SERIES OF BLOCK OCCUPATION TYPES. EACH PROPOSES IT OWN UNIQUE CHALLENGES, AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS.
ISOLATED
CLUSTERED
CLUSTERED UND
VARIED PALLETE OVER THE RHINE’S EXTENSIVE HISTORY HAS LAQUERED ITS STRUCTURES IN A PALYMPSEST OF COLORS WHICH ADD A LAYER OF RICHNESS AND DEPTH TO THE DISTINCT CHARACTER OF ITS MASONRY IDENTITY
INTERACTION STATEGIES
OVER THE RHINE’S BUILT LANDSCAPE IS COMPRISED OF SIMILAR PARTS, YET EACH HAS ALTERATIONS AND ATTRIBUTES WHICH GENERATE VISUAL INTEREST, AND COMPLEX STREET WALLS. RESPONDING TO THESE UNIQUENESSES, THE TECTONIC FRAMEWORK WANTS TO GENERATE A PROFILE THAT IS EASILY MALIABLE TO SPECIFIC NEEDS, AND ONE THAT AMPLIFIES THE READING OF THE EXISTING STRUCTURE, WHILE ACKNOWLEDING AND DEFINING THE DISSOLUTIONED AND JAGGED GROUND PLANE.
CLAIM AND PRESS INADVERTANT SPACE
EXTEND INTERIOR SPACE
LIFT AND OCCUPY UNDERBUILT SPACE
DERBUILT
FULL INFILL UNDERBUILT
FULL INFILL
LAYER STRATEGIES
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LIBERTY STREET REDEVELOPMENT SCHEME The notion was to add in a series of mixed use live/work buildings which could frame a series of public spaces able to generate a pedestrian prescence within the OTR fabric, and create a dialogue across Liberty Street able to reposition Liberty as a major commercial artery for OTR.
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THE RECREATIONAL SPINE Pleasant Street is meant to act as a pedestrian corridor which connects Findlay Market to Washington Park, two Urban Anchors in the community. Their direct connection through the Recreational Spine fosters a pedestrian presence within the neighborhood, offering a malleable public zone. Spaces are able to mold to different uses and boundaries based on need. Links connected through alley ways, and converted empty lots as well as roofscapes, offer a diversity in use and interest.
Everyday Use: Restaurants, Parks, etc.
EXISTING MASONRY STRUCTURE
COPPER / BRONZE ELEMENTS
WOOD DECKING
WA
VERTICAL PLANE
+25’ -
Festival Use
Market Use
PED E
STR IAN
INV VEH ITED/ S ER ICLE LAN VICE E
LAN E
CYC RES LING LA TIVE N PED LAN E PED EST E EST RIAN RIAN LAN LAN INV E E VEH ITED/ S PA ER ICLE CE LAN VICE E
CYC RES LING LA TIVE N LAN E E STR IAN LAN E
PED E PAC E
MATERIAL SENSIBIL
MATERIAL SENSIBILITIES
EXISTING MASONRY STRUCTURE
EXISTING MASONRY STRUCTURE
VERTICAL PLANE
COPPER / BRONZE ELEMENTS
COPPER / BRONZE ELEMENTS
WOOD DECKING
WOOD DECKING
WATER
WATER
CONCRETE
CONCRETE
STEEL ELEMENTS
VERTICAL PLANE
STEEL ELEMENTS
GRASS PLOTS
GRASS PLOTS
SAND
SUNFLOWERS
SAND
HORIZONTAL PL
SUNFLOWERS
HORIZONTAL PLANE
30 +25’ - 35’
STREET SECTION ALONG LIBERTY BETWEEN RACE AND ELM LOOKING SOUTH
STREET SECTION THROUGH PLEASANT ST. (RECREATIONAL SPINE) LOOKING WEST
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34
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INSERTING URBAN ELEMENTS WITHIN THE STREET LIBERTY STREET’S PRESENCE AS A MAJOR CONNECTIVE AVENUE HAS A WIDE FOOTPRINT, MORE THAN 60 FEET COMPOSED OF A PARKING LANE IN EITHER DIRECTION, 2 DRIVING LANES, AND A TURNING LANE. I N AN EFFORT TO GENERATE GREATER CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ENDS OF THE STREET SCAPE, INSERTING A KIND OF URBAN MEDIAN HELPS TO DRAW PEDESTRIANS ACROSS THE STREET, AND EXANDS ON THE OLMSTEADIAN HERITAGE OF CINCINNATI’S PARKWAYS. MORE IMPORTANTLY, ADDING PROGRAMMING WITHIN THE MEDIAN STRUCTUR ALLOWS FOR POTENTIAL EXPANSION OF THE RAPID TRANSIT NETWORK.
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ABANDONED
DEMARCATING RUIN AS THRESHOLD
CLAUSTROPHOBIC
OCCUPYING AND RELIEVING THE THIN INADVERTENT SPACE
EXPOSED
READDRESSING THE STREET / DEFINING THE PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE
TRANSFERRING TO A BROADER SCALE ATTEMPTING TO OFFER A URBAN CATALYST ABLE TO REDEFINE THE DILAPIDATED URBAN CORE IS NOT A PROBLEM SPECIFIC TO CINCINNATI AND THE OVER THE RHINE NEIGHBORHOOD. OTR IS ONE CASE STUDY AMONGST A LIST OF SYMPATHETIC MIDWESTERN CITIES WITH SIMILAR CONCERNS FOR HOW TO REINVIGORATE PORTIONS OF THE CITIES MIRED IN A SHIFTING URBAN NARRATIVE. THE PROMOTION OF INFILL AND OCCUPANCY OF RESIDUAL SPACES THROUGH THE USE OF CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL THREADS OFFERS A MEANS OF REINSTILLING A NEW LAYER OF CIVIC PRESENCE INTO THESE CITIES,
SCARRED
EXTENDING THE PLANE / LIFTING THE PUBLIC REALM
UNKEPT
CLAIMING RESIDUAL SPACE / GENERATING THE PUBLIC REALM
PLACELESS
UTILIZE TEMPORARY INSERTIONS TO GENERATE CIVIC INTEREST AND SPECIFICITY
AND ADDING TO THE COMPLEX SYSTEMS OF IDENTITIES THAT AGING URBAN FABRIC WILL INEVITABLY GO THROUGH. THE SPECIFIC IDENTITIES AND LATENT CHARACTERISTICS WILL VARY BETWEEN SITES, BUT CERTAIN STRATEGIES ARE TRANSFERABLE AS LENSES FOR WHICH TO BEGIN TO READ CERTAIN STRATEGIES ARE TRANSFERABLE AS LENSES FOR WHICH TO BEGIN TO READ AND ANALYZE, AND RE-INSTILL AN URBAN VITALITY.
Presented to the Faculty of the School of Architecture and Planning. The Catholic University of America. Washington D.C.