Yangon Pipeline
Gyo Byu pipeline photography documentary Matias Bercovich
Around 80 years ago, the British built an above-ground pipeline that distributes water processed by a reservoir located north of Yangon. On each side of the Gyo Byu, 8 meters are owned by the government and is considered unexploitable land, reserved specifically for the maintenance of the existing infrastructure. The informal settements that have developed along the pipeline over the past 25 years have been experiencing an unfair level of prejudice both by the government and legal residents, stigmatizing the people living there as uneducated migrants from the countryside. Through this project I would like to reflect on the community’s ingenuity to adapt to an uncanny urban environment, expanding the functionality of the industrial structure for their daily life activities such as circulation, gathering, house work, farming and dating, among many others. Simultaneously, the architecture and urban planning group Blue Temple has been working for the last two years on an architectural intervention that proposes a linear car-free pathway on the site. Along the promenade, special punctuations are being designed to upgrade the community space including: enlargement of a school’s playground, extension of the adjacent local restaurant, shading and resting area for the existing sport field, decent sheltering for the homeless families living there, facilitating the current urban farming and creating gathering space for the residents.
Matias Bercovich - Photographer
Matias Bercovich - Photographer
Blue Temple Architecture and Urban Planning Design Group Yangon, Myanmar
Gyo Byu Initiative: Alternative forms of public space in urban landscapes
raphael.monnier@gmail.com
Local Community
The Workshop
Yangon Technological University
STI Myanmar University
Mandalay Technological University
West Yangon Technological University
We organised a 2-week workshop with students from different architecture university. They was divided on five groups for each module. The students were very excited about the project and have brought to the discussion fresh new concept and ideas. During this workshop, professionals (urbanist, landscaper, architects, sociologue, designers, policy ThinkTanks) came to give lecture and feedbacks to the students projects. Moreover, Daw Khaing Moe Nyunt from YCDC, came to give feedbacks.
Potential for growth
Project Pilot Project Site
Module
size: 8.5m long
Local food
Nature Preservation
The pipeline project has the potential to work as a platform to launch and develop a range of ideas in different areas such as culture & art, sports, education, agriculture, Gastronomy, environmental preservation, etc,. It will bring alternative development in different parts of Yangon city and not only in the downtown which currently attracts most of the interest of international and local organisations.
honey bee-hive
Urban
Tourist observatory 1
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Water Preservation
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On-site Survey
The survey has been conducted in three different
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We selected the three critical hours of the day to represent the general overall usage. It is therefore fair to say that the accuracy of this suvey is enough to assume the usage of the site.
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What kind of space would you like to have or improve?
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2 -1 p m The survey can be considered 6-7p 3 m accurate because men, women and children were part of the sample of people interviewed.
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Yes No 8 - 9 am 12 -1
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76.19% 23.81%
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How many time do you use the pipeline ? 12 -1
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-7p Several 6times a day m Once a day Once a week Less 4
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25.00% 25.00% 20.00% 30.00%
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House work Circulation Play Sport Music Drinking Boyfriend / Girlfriend Other
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3.57% 35.71% 7.14% 0.00% 17.86% 7.14% 14.29% 14.29%
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14.29% 22.45% 8.16% 2.04% 16.33% 14.29% 20.41% 2.04%1 8 - 9 am 12 -1
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Drainage More schools Water quality Construction Trash Security
17.02% 6.38% 23.40% 12.77% 21.28% 19.15%
Do you feel that downtown has developed better and quicker than your neighborhood? Yes No
How do you think that the other people use the pipeline ? House work Circulation Play Sport Music Drinking Boyfriend / Girlfriend Other
4.17% 50.00% 4.17% 12.50% 16.67% 12.50%
What kind of improvement have you seen happen in your neighborhood in the last 10 years?
How ? 5 do you use the pipeline 5 55
28 - 9 a m148 - 9 a m
Playground Public benches Food market FnB Sport area Other
Do you live in Yankin Township ?
m
63.16% 36.84%
What kind of problems do you have during the rainy season? Flooding mosquitoes Destroying urban plantations Affecting your house
31.03% 48.28% 13.79% 6.90%
Do you feel that the pipeline is a separation or a connection? 2
Seperation Connection
38.89% 61.11%
At the intersection of the above-ground water pipeline and the different programms occuring in area around the infrastructure, connections are created.
5 sites
Entrance
At the entrance of the site is located a local restaurant. The installation could serve as an extension to mark the beggining of the pipeline project. The design should bear in mind accessibility, funcionality and creativity. The purely esthetic feature of the module is equally important on this site, it will serve as a magnet to attract people on the pipeline.
Garden playground
Students love using this pipeline surrounded by nature to go to school in the morning and go home at night. The school playground is rather small compared to the number of the students attending class. This module will try to find a flexible design to could accomodate different educative activities and gardening to this bond between child and nature
Public space for Resident
In the surrounding of this site, there are many houses. Because of the lack of public space, the adults go play at the neighboring pool table and the kids like to rest and play music on the pipeline. The design of this module should think about ways to bring locals together by connecting both sides of the pipeline into on plazza. The pipeline shouldn’t be seperating but bringing together.
Interconexion & safety
This part of the project is a great opportunity to make an upgrade in the road safety. Many students cross the street here, it is important to add speed bumps and crossways to slow down the cars. The bamboo installation will try to to connect the crossroad, sidewalk and pipeline together, making transit easier and allow the street vendors to have better space.
Sport Area
The Sepak takraw field is very often used by the residents of the neighborhood. This module should try to think about a way to offer the players a place to rest, bleachers to watch the game and possibly some shadow for the hot sunny days.
MONSOON [+ OTHER] GROUNDS SYMPOSIUM University of Westminster - London
The third MONASS symposium and exhibition, Monsoon [+other] Grounds took place at the University of Westminster on the 21 and 22 March, 2019. It following Monsoon [+other] Airs and Monsoon [+other] Waters, which had been held in 2017 and 2018. The symposium brought the monsoon down to earth so to speak, as a seasonal designer of soils and grounds. Each year monsoon waters scour river banks and fertilise flood plains as they carry vast quantities of sediment from mountains to the sea. In monsoonal regions, the pulse of life is linked to the annual cycle of its hot dry summers, inundating rains and retreating winds. Cropping patterns and management strategies respond to its variability, connecting farmers and agriculture with meteorology and atmospheric science. Human rituals celebrate these cycles – the parched earth, the bursting rains, bountiful harvests and the monsoon’s retreat. Considerations of monsoon grounds draws attention to the microbial origins of bio-politics, territory and nationhood. Since the 1970’s, the chemistry of grounds has been altered by fertilisers and pesticides, triggering political and economic disputes and giving rise to fortunes and failures. Territory has been converted into real estate, undoing intricate relations between grounds and their waters and unravelling human relations with them, and the metallurgical alchemies of the construction industry have transformed clay, silt, sand and sediment into the building blocks of everyday life.
University Design Workshop YTU (Yangon Technological University)
We organized a 2 week workshop with students from different departments of architecture such as YTU (Yangon Technological University), STI Myanmar University, MTU (Mandalay Technological University), WYTU (West Yangon Technological University). The students were a mix of undergraduates, graduates, from Yangon and from Mandalay. They were divided into five groups, each group designing a separate intervention in a different context along the pipeline. During this workshop, professionals (urbanist, landscaper, architects, sociologist, designers, policy Think Tanks) came to give lectures and feedback during the daily group sessions. This was an opportunity to help bridge the gap between the academic world and the professional world in architecture in Myanmar. The point was also to get the backup from these well-known public establishments when presenting the project to YCDC (Yangon City Development Committee) and to include students in an innovative project concerning public space design in low-income neighborhoods; a kind of project they usually don’t have the opportunity to work on during their studio classes at University that mainly focuses on more common topics such as condo design.
New York Highline
The High Line New York City The High Line is a 2.33 km elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. The abandoned spur has been redesigned as a “living system” drawing from multiple disciplines which include landscape architecture, urban design, and ecology. Since opening in 2009, the High Line has become an icon of contemporary landscape architecture. The High Line’s success has inspired cities throughout the United States to redevelop obsolete infrastructure as public space. The project has spurred real estate development in adjacent neighborhoods. As of September 2014, the park had nearly five million visitors annually.
9.8 kilometers
Pilot Project Project Section
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Program: Status: Sponsor: Designer:
Playground Completed Design Trust Seed Grant Blue Temple
Program: Status: Sponsor: Designer:
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Farmer’s Market In development Private donor L.E.A.D (Hong Kong)
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Program: Status: Sponsor: Designer:
Zayat (resting area) In development Private donor MLKK (Hong Kong)
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Program: Status: Sponsor: Designer:
18/10/2019 meeting with U Thein Zaw, Senator, NLD (National League for Democracy) representative of Yankin Township.
18/10/2019 meeting with Daw Zin Mar Aung, Parliament Member representative of Yankin Township.
Public space Design Phase Grant Collaboration
Included within the much larger scale of development of the “Yangon Pipeline� linear park project, this 1,372 sqm located in Yankin Township is a milestone in showing the benefits of close collaboration between local communities and authorities, local and international design studios, local and international university programs and Hong Kong based charity DesignTrust. The Design Trust Feature Grant will be funding the full construction of the site intended exclusively for public space using ecologically sustainable constuction techniques that involves bamboo. U Thein Zaw, the NLD (National League for Democracy) representative of the area and Daw Zin Mar Aung, Parliament Member have both confirmed the building permission for the site.
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Plot C Area: 305 sqm
Plot B Area: 742 sqm
Plot A Area: 325 sqm
Program: Zayat / Playground
Program: Sport field
Program: Community garden
Resting area for senior citizens and playing area for kids. The proximity between the two with create synergy, teaching the kids and rejuvinating the senior.
Bending active bamboo shell structure to shelter the field against sun exposure and rain during wet season. Creating a landmark within the community.
Encouraging and promoting urban farming, this site would bring the neighborhood closer to the land and sensitize on waste collection and management.
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Drainage 6 Plot B 4 5
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Plot C
Plot C
Plot B
Plot A
Plot A Area: 325 sqm Program: Community garden Conceptual Design: The structure serves as a pedestrian pathway connecting the floating deck, Plot A and B. The structure includes 2 ramps, a floating deck, and a bridge. The part of the structure on Plot A is facing the community farming and is intended for storage and community space for engagement and dialogue between the farmers and the rest of the community who wishes to learn more about growing vegetables. Antonio Duarte: Artist’s vision for Plot A
Plot B Area: 742 sqm Program: Sport field Conceptual Design: The bending active bamboo shell structure shelters a sports area that includes an interior soccer field and traditional Burmese Chin Lone playing area. This structure is located at the center of the site and serves as a landmark in the neighborhood. It is multifunctional and can be used as a hall for public gatherings and events. The opening ceremony will be held underneath it. Layered on top the bamboo will be pulled a custom manufactured tensile fiberglass fabric that will protect the bamboo against UV light exposure and rain during the wet season.
Antonio Duarte: Artist’s vision for Plot B
Plot C Area: 305 sqm Program: Zayat / Playground Conceptual Design: Used as a traditional Burmese “Zayat” (Senior resting area) and a playground for the kids of the neighborhood to play, the building has a special duality. This mix of the program creates synergy between the two generations, teaching the kids and rejuvenating the senior. The structure, itself, is inspired by the bamboo scaffoldings used to renovate Buddhist pagodas in Myanmar. By removing the pagoda, originally inside the bamboo structure, the space inside becomes a shaded atrium in which kids can play. Within the double layer skin of the envelope, benches and resting areas are installed, in a circular fashion, to maximize the dialogue between the two different spaces.
Antonio Duarte: Artist’s vision for Plot C
Overall Area: 1,372 sqm Program: Public Space Conceptual Design: This space was intentionally left vacant to develop public space in the neighborhood of Yankin Township where community members have very little space to go today. The area is mostly residential and is primarily made out of social housing units. The connection to the pipeline is a 10-meter wide drainage system where we plan to build a floating deck that will not only connect two different pedestrian networks together (pipeline and city pathways) but also provides a place to collect waste. Using simple fishing nets, the waste collection points along the deck will be used to carry out the plastic bottles and other wastes people are used to throw in drainage, these wastes are very harmful to the city as they end up clogging the drainage and therefore disrupt the flow of the water out of the city. During rainy season, this ends up creating more flooding and therefore deteriorating the quality of life of the surrounding neighborhoods. Antonio Duarte: Artist’s vision
Letters requesting building permits to the local authorities: Approved
Letter to: District General of the Housing Department Date: Aug 14 2019
Letter to: YCDC (Yangon City Development Committee) Head of Department Date: Aug 16 2019
Letter to: Ministry of Health, Sport and Recreational - Nay Pyi Taw (Capital) Date: Oct 09 2019
Letter to: Daw Zin Mar Aung - Yankin Township Parliament Member Date: Oct 14 2019
Blue Temple