[Re]phemeral: Intelligent Social Urbanism

Master in Advanced Architecture 2012-2013

[RE]PHEMERAL INTELLIGENT SOCIAL URBANISM RS-I: EMERGENT TERRITORIES

Chirana Lemuel Sumendap Robert Douglas McKaye Sahil Sharma

Master in Advanced Architecture 2012-2013

[RE]PHEMERAL INTELLIGENT SOCIAL URBANISM RS-I: EMERGENT TERRITORIES

STUDENTS Chirana Lemuel Sumendap Robert Duglas McKaye Sahil Sharma

FACULTY Willy Muller Pablo Ros with Hernan Diaz Alonso

INDEX

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Introduction

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Bon Pastor Case Study

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Urban Identity [Re]phemeral 2

Urban Toolbox

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Social Architecture Platform Ephemeral Installations New Information Cycle 3

Material

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Hair of the City Hypothetical Component 4

Sample Interventions

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ProtoFarm Fish Tank Urban Play Street Roof Umbrella Conclusion

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Eventual References

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Introduction

Contemporary situational movements such as the makers revolution, do-it-yourself projects and social media integration have re-invented the paradigm of social production, bringing into question the added value of the top-down intelligence of architects. This project enforces that the role of the architect is not becoming obsolete, but that it is changing in coherence with the shift towards this model of distributed intelligence.

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1

Bon Pastor Case Study

Urban Identity The Bon Pastor neighborhood in Barcelona acts as a platform for discussing the future of socially, politically and geographically marginalized communities.

Successive rapid urban transformations have created a disparity between what they require of their city and what the city requires of them. Uniqueness leads to alienation, and strong identity to conflict with governing bodies.

What emerges are the decaying ruins of street life, and patterns of low education and skill level, poor environmental consciousness, recreation and health. This condition is an exemplary case of social exclusion, and will never be remedied through the strictly top-down approaches of gentrification.

When viewed holistically through the contrasting lenses of city officials and Bon Pastor residents, it is clear that this social exclusion is directly tied to the architectural and cultural history of the site, highlighting a fundamental question in contemporary architecture: how can future cities integrate the social consciousness and cultural identity of a place the into the processes which change and morph them?

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[Re]phemeral - Intelligent Social Urbanism

To explore the question of identity, the project follows five conceptual lines to derive a new urban typology for social inclusion in architecture.

Impermenance Temporailty reflects the developmental grey zone which engulfs the Bon Pastor district, and its unclear future. The continued displacement of the people introduces new conditions under which the shared values of the community can be utilized for enducing collaboration

Connectivity (new digital media) The community values present in Bon Pastor are a result of environmental, political and social conditions which have developed over time. New forms of digital connectivity can harness the power of the collective into shared vision

Production In this case, production is defined as quantified uniqueness, and increased social welfare through the means of universal participation. The option of combining individual strengths for community benefit can be explored through implementation of new urban startegies.

Physicality Attachment to the physical introduces the dichotomy of subjective and objective ownership. This condition directly relates to both public space usage and responsibility

Real-Time Feedback This concept simply refers to the shortening of the time loop for information. This is a platform emerging in new urbanism, and can introduce possibilites for an inetgrated social architetcure program

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1 - Bon Pastor Case Study

[Re]phemeral Refers to an architecture which is based in ephemerality and collective intelligence. The architecture of [re]phemorality exhibits the capacity to respond to live data recorded through temporary installation, thus defining a participatory urbanism whose functional manifestation is a reflection of the constantly changing dynamics of the future city.

mayor of Barcelona meets with Bon Pastor residents after the demolision of thier homes.

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2

New Urban Toolbox

Social Architecture Platform The new Urban Toolbox is a social architecture platform and typological injection into the fabric of the future city, also thought of as the ‘centre for emergent social behavior’.

It’s intention is to be the receiver of real time data received through the installation of smart building components as ephemeral objects, structures and enclosures in the public space. Interaction with the Toolbox will be made possible through new digital interfaces such as mobile devices and public displays.

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[Re]phemeral - Intelligent Social Urbanism

catalog categorization and sample interventions targeted at social gain and inproved welfare

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2 - Urban Toolbox

Catalog of Ephemeral Installations The purpose of Toolbox is to output a functional agenda through the proposition of temporary interventions in the public space. Catalog entries embody the conceptual pillars of this proposal, and are categorized into the following fields of implementation: (1) new cycles of production, (2) informal education, (3) recreation and sport, (4) social action, and (5) energy harvesting.

The data received is the quantified outputs of social welfare and community time-banked gain such as increased community involvement and informal gatherings, increased level of education and hire-ability, decreased poverty levels, environmental awareness and overall community health, knowledge and participation in simple construction, increased overall community safety levels and self-esteem in youth, women, and the elderly.

New Information Cycle The new cycle of information proposed in [Re]phemeral is a feedback between the output of the Catalog, the installation and function of the program by the user, and the communication of critcal parameters back to the Toolbox, through a new urban materiality.

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3

New Materiality

[Re]phemeral proposes that a smart urban materiality acts as the connective tissue in a new urbanism.

Hair of the City Metaphorically, [Re]phemeral is inspired by hair as an evolutionary by-product. Hair is produced through the passing of dead cells within the body as they are replaced by new ones. Similarly, catalog outputs from the toolbox are derived through the collection of data acquired through the participation of the users.

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[Re]phemeral - Intelligent Social Urbanism

To explore the question of identity, the project follows five conceptual lines to derive a new urban typology for social inclusion in architecture.

catalog of basic physical properties and potential spacial formalization

hypothetical ‘hair’ fibrous composite building component

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3 - New Materiality

Hypothetical Component Physically, hair is a composite material which represents the two complementary physical properties of rigidity and flexibility, as well as high conductivity and combine-ability.

Through the proposing of two hypothetical components under the concept of ‘hair’ we can provide materialized forms for the catalog.

[Re]phemeral network: connecting social program - users - smart material - future social program

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4

Interventions

The following is a breif description of five sample interentions proposed by the Urban Toolbox. Each intervention embodies the conceptual pillars of this proposal, and represents the feilds of implemetation of production, education, recreation, social action, and energy.

(1) new cycles of production - ProtoFarm encouraging community health and lifesytle programs and small scale independant agriculture

(2) informal education - Fish Tank enclosures for community meetings, information displays, and educational play spaces for youth (3) sport and recreation - Urban Play provides shelters, seating, and infrastructure for enjoying the outdoors (4) social action - Street Roof responds to the political aggitation on the site, offering space to host meetngs, parties and to reclaim the public realm (5) energy harvest - Umbrella environmental manipulation and leads to increased environmental awareness and shared ownership IaaC MAA_01

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ProtoFarm Problem: Lack of programming for youth and activities of families and the elderly. Poor quality and accessibility to local foods.

[Re]phemeral Program: Urban Farm to be built on the roof of a closed-down Bon Pastor home. Encourage collaboration and the sharing of local knowlegde related to farming, gardening, entrepenuership, food and nutrition education, and small scale retail.

Components: ProtoFarm uses flexible components to create a tensile web above the city, generating heat energ and collecting water through condesiation and rainwater re-routing. Rigid components are used for re-enforcing roof strcture, bridges and vertical structures for access, creating shelters for retail, and as a framework for garden boxes which release water that is collected.

Real Time Data Collected: Production rate, number of participants, health of plants, local weather data, youth participation

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Short description of the image.

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Fish Tank Problem: Lack of education and community activities. Presence of dead spaces on site as result of construction [Re]phemeral Program: Proposal for enclosed spaces inside the construction areas of Bon Pastor. Information screens act as new digital playground and informal classroom. Public stages offer space to for public exhibit and shows.

Components: Fish Tank uses rigid components as the structure for new enclosed space, and LED screens when connected to each other by stacking. Scale varies Real Time Data Collected: Number of youth, number of women, program of education, projection screens used,

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Urban Play Problem: Lack of recreational spaces and unhealthy lifestyles, no connections to the river, and poor community involvement [Re]phemeral Program: Proposal for re-invigorating the riverside park in the area of Bon Pastor through small structures for children, sports and excersize equipment, structures in the water Components: Mostly rigid componets for small playground equipment and benches for adults, as well as sports equipment like goal posts. Tile members are used for water collection and rerouting for various purposes Real Time Data Collected: Number of youth, sport activties engaged, water collected, water used for cooling, number of strcutures built, size and duration of installations, new flora and fauna growth

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Street Roof Problem: No politcal presence on site and a lack of public activity space.

Decreased levels of community involvement [Re]phemeral Program: Proposal is for a variety of installations in the public realm, including lanterns at street level, frames for small roof structures, tables and benches for expanded commercial spaces, connections to the Bon Pastor market, and new bridges from the old neighborhood to the recreational centre and river.

Components: Street Roof uses rigid components for creating small scaffold structures, and to emit the light energy generated from tensile members over the street. Rigid components also act as plug-in display screens for community information Real Time Data Collected: Number of participants, youth presence, information on display screens, non-local visitors, complexity of structures, time of day for acivities, users of bridges

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Umbrella Problem: Lack of environmental awareness, poor use of energy vs. high consumption, lack of community togetherness and low quality of public spaces in neighborhood centre [Re]phemeral Program: Proposal an environmental manipulation device which can be changed depending of the season or day-to-day weather conditions. Size of device depends on the number of participants Components: Umbrella uses flexible components in a tensile net and rigid components on the ground to collect water and energy from the net.

Real Time Data Collected: Number of participants and number of compinents used, amount of energy produced, amount of energy distributed, volume of water collected, seaonal information, number of homes connected, participation data from youth, women and the elderly

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Conclusion

[Re]phemeral presents a hypothetical scenario in which the social inclusion of people into the processes of architecture forms a new urbanism. This introduces the powerful notion that the role of the architect is changing. In order to remain relevant in a changing urbanism which is inevitable, future architecture must be able to connect top-down intelligence and historical precedent with needs and local knowlegde of the bottom-up. If failing to do so, the added value of the architect will cease to exist.

It is neccessary for projects like [Re]phemeral to introduce questions about next-level integration of smart technologies into the built environment. The potential advantages that can arise through the cross-pollenation of top-down and bottomup principles will aid in the prevention of social exclusion, and ensure that the design of the city by those with the proper expertise remains relevant. Critical to this, as architects, is the understanding and development of new tech related to social media, and real time data in architecture and urbanism.

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REFERENCES Social Architecture (a Manifesto)

The East River Blueway Plan

Luc Galoppin

WXY Architecture + Urban

2011

Design 2012

http://www.slideshare.net/lucgaloppin/social-architecture-ebook

http://www.eastriverblueway.org/

The Casas Baratas of Bon Pastor

Sabarmati Riverfront

Stefano Portelli (Repensar

ment Corporation

Bon Pastor) 2010

Sabarnati Riverfront Develop1997 http://www.sabarmatiriverfront.

http://colabradio.mit.edu/the-casas-

com/2/project

baratas-of-bon-pastor-a-workers-reservoir-on-the-edge-of-barcelona/

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valldaura S elf S ufficient Lab

www.iaac.net Accredited by:

www.upc.edu

fablabbcn.org

www.valldaura.net

[Re]phemeral refers to an architecture which is based in ephemerality and collective intelligence.

The architecture of [re]phemorality exhibits the capacity to respond to live data recorded through temporary installation, thus defining a participatory urbanism whose functional manifestation is a reflection of the constantly changing dynamics of the future city.