[Epi]Structure: Negotiating Architecture and Strategic Urbanisms

[EPI]STRUCTURE NEGOTIATING ARCHITECTURE AND STRATEGIC URBANISMS

Sean Levesque Wentworth Institute of Technology Master of Architecture 2016 Thesis Studio

[Epi]Structure: Negotiating Architecture and Strategic Urbanisms A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of Architecture Wentworth Institute of Technology by Sean P. Levesque Bachelors of Science in Architecture Wentworth Institute of Technology, 2015 In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Architecture April 2016

Š 2016 Sean Paul Levesque. All rights reserved.

The author hereby grants to Wentworth Institute of Technology permission to reproduce and to publicly distribute copies of this thesis document in whole or in part using paper, electronic, and any medium now known or hereafter created.

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Abstract Recent precedents in urban design prove that infrastructural systems are becoming perceived as intrusive elements to the success of public life and have become misaligned with larger community interests.

Major cities are finding creative ways to mediate the barrier-like state of infrastructures through the burying, complete removal or repurposing of existing structures. Measures such as these derive from top-down planning and policy efforts and as such demand vast amounts of time and expansive budgets.

As a counterpoint to this, approaching this problem from the bottom-up is an increasingly prevailing strategy as a means to mediate the issue of residual space. Concepts such as Tactical Urbanism, Guerrilla Urbanism, DIY Urbanism, and more, have become means for many communities to engage with urban design failures on their own terms.

The use of a strategic design methodology through the integration of three intervention typologiesRapid, Grounded, and Prolonged- reframes lost urban space as a facilitator for public investment in longer-term development. To that end, architecture serves as the negotiator between a system of pop-up, landscape, and city scaled interventions that contribute to the many layers comprising the built environment. Networked together at the local scale, residual sites serve to counterbalance the regional mode of travel with pedestrian and bike paths into a cohesive unit.

Key Terms Lost Space: Residual areas of a city derived from infrastructural necessities and poor land usage and have become useless to public perception.

Rapid: On going process of temporary initiatives that continually reframes residual space at large and highlights its potential for interesting public program

Epistructure: Structure, or organization, within reach. To be among the structure. The system of pedestrian paths and bike routes that are to bring together a series of disparate residual sites.

Grounded: Deliberate landscape urbanism moves that claim a residual site as belonging to the public realm and places it in a more contextual state Prolonged: An architectural scale, in communication with Rapid and Grounded typologies, is employed to establish landmark gathering points

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Contents 0.0 Abstract + Key Terms

0.1 Dedication 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Thesis Statement 1.2 Argument 1.3 Relevance 1.4 Personal Statement 2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Topic Area 2.2 Bibliographic Essay 2.3 Criteria 3.0 Case Studies 3.1 Rose Kennedy Greenway 3.2 Folly For A Flyover 3.3 The Cube 3.4 Marsupial Bridge 3.5 A8ernA 3.6 Highline

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4.0 Design Research 4.1 Methodology 4.2 Frames 4.3 Probes 4.4 Criteria Testing 5.0 Design Outcomes 5.1 Site Selection 5.2 Prototypical Conditions 5.3 Design Strategies 5.4 Rapid 5.5 Grounded + Epistructure 5.6 Prolonged 6.0 Reflection 7.0 Appendix 7.1 Bibliography

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Dedication I would like to thank: My parents, Dan and Lisa Levesque, who have shown me nothing but love and support through life and my education and whom without none of this would be possible My thesis advisors Carol Burns and Ann Borst, who guided me this past semester on my way to produce a thesis project I am proud of And Lynnette, who has been by my side these last four years inspiring me to persevere through the all nighters and countless project stresses and who has been a constant supporter of all that I do.

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Introduction

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ONE PERSON’S INFRASTRUCTURE IS ANOTHER’S DIFFICULTY STEPHEN GRAM + SIMON MARVIN

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Thesis Statement Implementing strategic, site-specific intervention methodologies to achieve the remediation of heavy-handed infrastructural barriers will facilitate engaging and purposeful community development in residual urban voids.

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Argument In order to reestablish cohesion in pedestrian circulation and public gathering points in an urban setting, it is not enough to rely solely on major design or engineering efforts to recreate new and interesting spaces. Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway, for example, saw complete removal of a former elevated Expressway yet still leaves its scars behind. Instead, infrastructure and its existing tangible nature must be viewed with as constraints that provide opportunity for interesting and engaging interventions An incremental manifestation from the ephemeral to the prolonged allows for a parallel understanding of site potential to develop alongside community perception. In essence, lost spacewhere one is forbidden to engage with or even contemplate what these sites could become, no longer remains hidden in the everyday life of a neighborhood. Instead, these sites will be better used as a catalyst that spurs future growth and development in response to initial project phases.

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Relevance Products of traditional top-down planning processes, the layers of infrastructural systems found in the contemporary built environment are becoming increasingly criticized. While walkability and human scale are becoming important factors in city design, there still exist pieces of infrastructure and associated residual spaces that divide urban neighborhoods.

Recent trends to mediate these barriers have shown a desire to update, bury, or remove these elements in an attempt to reconnect estranged portions of a city. However, these measures have shown to be complicated, expensive, and time prohibitive efforts that, in the end, may prove to be ineffective at reestablishing a sense of place. The success of New York City’s Highline has spurred similar interests in the repurposing of underutilized space. As evident by Chicago’s Bloomingdale Trail and Miami’s Underline initiative, many cities in the United States are recognizing a public desire for approachable public space.

Emerging trends in community-led urbanism projects, existing at the scale of the pop-up or temporary intervention, highlight a realization that left over sites have the potential to be more than wasted space. Tactical Urbanism, for example, attempts to address this concern by providing a method of design thinking for approachable interventions that develop incrementally and are implemented through the advantageous nature of citizens, private organizations, or neighborhood groups. Architecture, particularly architecture in urban settings impacted by elevated highway or rail structures, has the opportunity to become part of this particular way of thinking, How to capture this attitude of responsiveness and opportunism at the scale of the building is where the relevance of this thesis lies.

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Personal Statement Growing up in a military family has allowed me to live in various parts of the United States, but has limited the sense of “home� in the larger sense of the term. While I was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, it is hard to consider that my hometown. In fact, a majority of my life could be deemed nomadic in nature.

From Virginia, my family and I moved to New Hampshire which followed a period of moving every three to four years- from Hawaii, back to Virginia, and finally Connecticut, where my family has resided for the past seven years.

The tangible nature of the different neighborhoods I lived in have become temporary markers of time within my memory rather than prominent features or issues that may be returned to.

In 2008, I earned the Eagle Scout award- the highest that can be achieved in the Boy Scout program. This was something that I had been working towards since elementary school and it has given me countless opportunities to participate in various community service proj-

ects. The most memorable of which was in 2006, where we took a trip to Mississippi to assist with the One House at Time group with their efforts to rebuild the town of Pearlington following the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

Spending a week helping to construct a new home for a family who lost theirs to flooding, I saw first hand how important maintaining a sense of community is and the role of citizen-led initiatives in pursuit of that endevour.

It wasn’t until moving to Boston to start school at Wentworth Institute of Technology in 2011 that I lived in a city of any sorts. My education at Wentworth has taught me that cities are a complex weave of political, economic, architectural, and environmental factors that all require a thoughtful consideration while designing for the urban environment.

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Literature Review

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Topic Area Traditional city planning processes exist within the realm of shaping political, economical, infrastructural, and civic forces into a uniform vision for the future. Large capital projects, planned top-down via government planning agencies, have historically been unresponsive to the immediate needs of those living within their respective cities and surrounding neighborhoods. Many major engineering projects have responded to a desire to link an urban center with regional areas beyond through systems of networked infrastructure. In the process, the physical manifestations of these efforts have, in many cases, ignored the continued success of the local or human scale- often forcing residents out and clearing swatches of existing neighborhood fabric.

The research contained here deals with the dichotomy between top-down planning methods and emerging strategic intervention responses to developing perceptions of failure. This is a relationship that is rooted in the desire for rapid solutions to areas of conflict in the built environment as well

as a shift in trends related to the departure from vehicle-oriented urban planning. These past city design failures may be approached via a number of different scaled interventions- as made clear by the breadth of case studies now available. In the wide range of possibilities to approach the issue of infrastructural barriers, a study of precedents presents architecture as being a potential solution along side the more ephemeral measures.

It is important to consider that the study of urbanism as the synthesis of many scales into a cohesive, functional whole. To that end, a new building in an abandoned lot does nothing to solve the remaining points of conflict that exist at a larger hierarchy. Rather, the ways by which architecture can become a mediator of multiple intervention typologies, and the potential for growth this allows, serves as a matter of thought in this research.

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Bibliographic Essay Throughout the twentieth century, persistent

approach to urban design and contextual archi-

investment in the networking of regional infra-

tecture should be implemented that allows for a

structures in urban centers of the United States

greater sense of civic ownership thorough use of

has only worked to establish a physical and social

community engagement initiatives and scalable

division among local neighborhoods. As the re-

intervention methodologies.

gional scale is prioritized, the local or human scale falls to the wayside through the resultant bound-

Infrastructure networks have been key compo-

aries created within built environment through

nents and assets in the expansion and function of

construction of highways, subway lines, transpor-

the modern city. The connected nature of energy,

tation hubs, and other such systems. Apart from

water, transportation, or communication systems

immediate footprints of these infrastructural man-

has helped to establish a way of living that, in some

ifestations, pockets of residual spaces are formed

ways, has become an accepted fact of society. By

via a need for buffer zones, support services, and

virtue of what it means to network these systems,

engineering necessities that sit as wasted space

establishing these relationships has allowed cities

within the urban fabric- further emphasizing a lo-

to expand outward further than ever and has pro-

cal divide. While governments and planning groups

vided for development of metropolises while cre-

are attempting to correct what are now being

ating the means for people to feasibly live outside

perceived as city planning missteps the current

the city center in larger numbers. However, the

method of solving these issues is often expensive

side effects of a networked system are that “they

and bogged down by bureaucratic processes that,

unevenly bind spaces together across cities, re-

in some cases, failed to develop a civic following

gions, nations, and international boundaries whilst

from initial planning phases. In such cases projects

helping also to define the material and social

tend to have fallen flat as, quite simply, the citizens

dynamics, and divisions, within and between urban

for whom these projects are intended have no

spaces.�1 Infrastructure as a physical construct

real reason to engage with these newly reclaimed

has in many instances ignored or overlooked the

spaces. Complete removal or reconfiguration of

negative impacts that come as burdens to the

infrastructure should not be the only response

communities these elements slice through. While

to reconnecting a divided city. Instead, a strategic

on one hand this interconnectedness between

USGS aerial photos of Boston in 1955 (top) and 1969 (bottom) during Urban Renewal projects

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Boston’s former elevated expressway separates downtown Boston and the North End neighborhood

systems has allowed for places separated by larger distances to become more readily accessible, a s local disconnect has occurred between those who may be physically close but are otherwise severed via economic and social distances between people and places. What this ultimately has done is eliminate consistency among the immediate or local scale at an urban context and divide up portions of cities as a resultant of highway What this disparity between the regional and the local has created is residual, or lost, space within the urban fabric. Lost spaces are understood as being the undesirable urban areas, or “antispaces” that make no positive contribution to the overall larger context. These spaces are not well defined, are without measurable boundaries, and fail to connect other elements within the city. Examples include surface parking lots, “no-man’s-land” along highway overpasses, and abandoned or underused industrial areas. These become remnants of larger planned moves that have been left undeveloped over time. This dilemma of modern open, or public, space can be attributed to several leading factors: urban renewal programs, the Interstate Highway construction initiatives of the 1940’s, zoning and land-use policies, and the attitude of architects of the Modern Movement towards

open space.2 What gets lost, however, is not simply this sense of physical continuity. Beyond the iconic landmarks of a city, there is a collective degree of civic ownership that is vital to the identity of a particular place, and the potential for a revival of lost space within a community can have a major impact on the larger identity of a neighborhood. 3 During the height of the Modernist movement, the design of public open space was often derived as a byproduct and relegated to the in-between zones from one building or parking lot to the next.

Functionalism became a prevalent ideology in city planning. Utilitarian in nature, urban design theories exhibited during the 1950’s and onward gave way to the ideals of “pure architecture,” or architecture for architects. In the mindset of the Functionalists, public space simply served as a way to get to from point A to point B. Space, in essence, has had the potential of becoming “lost” within the public realm. This process of urban development treated buildings as isolated objects and not part of a larger fabric of built form and open space. As exemplified in Le Corbusier’s study on the ideal city, a common precedent for city planning during this time period, three-dimensional relationships or human behavior were typically not given the highest priority. Changing economic, industrial, and

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2.2 Pop-up beer garden at Tennessee Brewing Company sparks future development of a historical site (© Christopher Blank)

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employment patterns have further developed

measure that has been introduced only when it

this issue of lost space in the built environment as

has been deemed necessary. “The city built in the

major gaps in the built form disrupt the continuity

postwar automobile era never fully developed

of the city. 4 Meanwhile, the increasing prevalence of the automobile in the post-war period and

an effective model for civic engagement beyond regular elections and statutorily required public

development of other societal forces has seen a

meetings.” 5 However, a recent shift in trends is

turning away from the urban context as regional

starting to chip away at this. Younger generations

networks were developed to meet this new de-

are driving less than previous generations and car

mand. As open spaces more and more have been

ownership has dropped one-third since 1980 and

given over to infrastructure in an attempt to con-

public transportation options are becoming more

nect into this developing networking of systems,

prevalent while traditional means of transpor-

the concepts of designing public open space has

tation are becoming less relevant. At the same

been lost within the traditional forms of planning

time, as this shift is happening, more people are

processes. Further, an inability or perhaps unwill-

moving back to the city placing more demand on

ingness of public institutions to manage or control

the providing of municipal services. The current

the physical construct of the city has resulted in

formal processes of bringing issues to attention

the further erosion of a collective framework and

and suggesting potential solutions as a means to

physical continuity.

facilitate some desired outcome are proven to be unsatisfactory. Citizens are finding that these

The traditional urban planning processes have

processes are cumbersome, out of date, and far

had, and at times still exhibit, a lack of an effec-

too time consuming to make it worth the effort

tive process of engagement with the community

and are proving frustrating as people are starting

and other neighborhood or institutional actors.

to feel that they have little to no control over the

The typical “top-down” approaches to planning

physical changes that are happening within their

strategies have shown to be mostly counter-intui-

neighborhood and beyond. The City of Boston’s

tive to evoking meaningful change within the built

own attempt at reverting infrastructural space into

environment. Historically, public engagement within

public park serves as a dichotomy between what

these planning processes has been a secondary

may be achieved through purely government-led

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“Umbrella Sky Project” Art instillation in Agueda, Portugal by Sextafeira Produções.

projects versus including community oriented

through capital budget processes, funding, project

dialogue within planning processes. The Big Dig,

delivery tasks, and so forth. This incrementalism,

the removal of the elevated Central Artery in

or piecemeal technique, may prove to be more

favor of a linear park system, has certainly helped

important than a singular, top-down and overarch-

to improve the continuity between Downtown

ing design or infrastructural decisions. The tempo-

Boston and the North End neighborhood. Howev-

rary project typology can start to play a role here

er, this project has been critized by the public for

in maintaining or starting to establish a sense of

being a lengthy, expensive project- the construc-

continuity within a neighborhood and starting with

tion of which holds its own negative connotations.

the small scale can be beneficial to the long-term

In all the large scale planning efforts that went into

goals. These “pinpoint” urban projects may lead to

creating the Rose Kennedy Greenway, what really

broader cultural changes over time. The planning

has transformed the use of this site has been the

process of cities takes time, and has too, due to

inclusion of small-scale interventions and public

the number of different actors and guidelines

art pieces. In this case, solely providing a reclaimed

involved. A simple yet focused intervention has the

space has proven to be an ineffective measure

potential to elicit new ways in which to engage

towards mediating infrastructural barriers.

with a space that motivates others to engage with

When community input is involved from the

the primary outcome of the Modernist Movement

beginning, a sense of civic ownership is fostered

of urban planning was to stimulate private inter-

from project planning and further evolves at

ests, where a sort of “island urbanism” of spaces

project completion. Ultimately what this allows

in-between sites disappear from the public view,

for is an iterative process where qualitative and

these breaks in continuity can start to be remedi-

quantitative data can be derived from community

ated via a fresh and responsive take of a disparate

engagement that may be further implemented

a community-oriented planning process. 6 When

site. 7

into the long-term projects that are meant to be the end goal. The implementation of rapid, small-

The emerging concept of “Tactical Urbanism”

scale interventions carries the momentum from

serves as the testing ground for providing insight

the formal planning process while the project goes

into a community-driven design methodology.

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“Tactical urbanism is an approach to neighborhood

the heading of tactical urbanism can often inspire

building and activation using short-term, low-

a sanctioned outcome that are derived from an

cost, and scalable interventions and policies.” This

unsanctioned physical response or event. Tactical

intervention method does not propose a one-size

Urbanism sees design, much like city building, as

fit all solution, but rather, intentional and flexible

being a dynamic process where final solutions are

response. This stems from the idea that cities in

rarely met.

their entirety can be controlled. To be responsive, however, is to reject this notion and understand

It contemporary cities, the current situation of

the city as a dynamic force with multiple influences

regionally networked infrastructural systems is

coming from multiple directions. The influences,

an aspect of the built environment that is a fact

or the actors, of tactical urbanism projects include

of today’s urbanism. While these systems have

citizens, developers or entrepreneurs, advocacy

allowed for cities to grow and develop, how that

organizations, and in some instances government

affects the local scale has been forgotten. In a

agencies. These types of projects allow for an im-

condition of shifting societal trends, however, the

mediate reclamation, reprogramming, and redesign

state of these infrastructures now considered

of public space by those who are immediately

by many to be barriers are starting to lose their

impacted by urban projects. Tactical urbanism also

relevancy within the local setting. While a total

allows for developers to collect design intelligence

reworking or removal can and has been done, it

from the markets they serve and sets precedent

has been shown that this is an expensive and time

for what is possible to gain public and political sup-

consuming methodology that still fails to establish

port.

a sense of place within the neighborhood scale. A

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This effectively creates a learned response

to the slow, conventional planning processes that

cohesive, bottoms-up approach to urban design

this new form of urban design is countering. As a

and the development of an effective strategy for

community-led response, this sits in between the

reactivating residual spaces will not only allow for

sanctioned, or the government-sponsored projects,

a more meaningful development of public space,

and the unsanctioned “tactical” responses of citi-

but an architectural methodology that engages

zens to their environments. Flexibility can begin to

with the opportunistic and contextual character

occur, however, where the projects that fall under

seen in tactical urbanism concepts.

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End Notes 1. Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin. Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures, Technological Mobilities, and the Urban Condition (New York: Routledge, 2001), 11.

2. Roger Trancik, Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1986), 6.

3. Jamie Lerner, Urban Acupuncture: Celebrating Pinpricks of Change that Enrich City Life, (Washington DC: Island Press, 2014), 43.

4. Trancik, Finding Lost Space, 1-4.

5. Mike Lyndon and Anthony Garcia. Tactical Urbanism: Short Term Action for Long-Term Change. (Washington DC: Island Press, 2015), 81.

6. Jamie Lerner, Urban Acupuncture, 21-22.

7. Philipp Oswalt and Klaus Overmeyer, Urban Catalyst: The Poser of Temporary Use, (Berlin, Germany: DOM Publishers, 2013). 1011.

8. Lyndon and Garcia, Tactical Urbanism, 2-3.

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Design Criteria

INCREMENTALISM Reframes the local perception of underutilized spaces through an incremental and reoccurring process of project implementation to present a more realized potential of the site within the greater urban context.

INFRASTRUCTURE / EPISTRUCTURE Counterbalance the heavy-handed nature of the regional conditions through a systematic implementation of meaningful public spaces and localized circulation networks.

CONSTRAINT Embrace the contextual realities and tectonic characteristics of existing infrastructure constructs as the basis for a proposed intervention and it’s established design language.

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Operation Criteria

SYNTHESIS Establish architecture as the mediating element between the urban and local scales through the development of a cohesive communication between the Rapid, Grounded, and Prolonged typologies.

OWNERSHIP Foster a sense of civic ownership and community engagement through an approachable and participatory process that develops a deeper connection to larger scale efforts of site revitalization.

CATALYST Establish a catalytic attitude that encourages longer-term change and community-led offshoot projects.

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Case Studies

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Rose Kennedy Greenway Location: Boston, Massachusetts Completed: 2007 Program: Public park

The Rose Kennedy Greenway in Downtown Boston is the result of many years worth of work on the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, the Big Dig. The Greenway replaces what was once a major elevated highway slicing though the city that has been hidden below and rerouted into a tunnel system. The project has received much public criticism following a construction plagued by massive budget overruns, huge expenditures of time, and instances of engineering missteps. The end result in the Greenway is by and large agreed upon as being a much-needed improvement

over what existed and has worked to start reintegrating formally divided neighborhoods back into public perception.

What has made the Greenway more successful in recent years has been the inclusion of public art instillations, movable furniture, food trucks, and other such temporal features.

What this starts to show is that simply establishing a new green corridor is not enough to infuse a sense of place into the site.

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Folly For A Flyover Architect: Assemble Location: London, England Completed: 2011 Time Span: Six Weeks Program: Outdoor arts venue and public space

Folly For A Flyover is a six week long project that transformed the disused underpass of a freeway in Hackney Wick, London into an arts venue and public space where local residents and visitors came together and watched, performed, and ate while becoming involved with community workshops and theatre. The project hosted outdoor cinema, performances, and plays as well as café spaces, boat tours, and other events.

The Folly itself was designed as a “giant construction kit” and was built using community

volunteers of multiple skill and commitment level. At the end of the project’s life span, the brick used in the project was deconstructed and used elsewhere. The success of the project persuaded the London Legacy Development Corporation to invest in a permanent infrastructure to maintain the site as a public space.

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The Cube Architect: Park Associati Location: Undefined Completed: 2011 Project Type: Pop-Up, Modular Program: Restaurant and dinning

A site-less structure, The Cube is a pavilion designed to house a pop-up restaurant, dining room and lounge that can be placed in dramatic and unexpected locations- often placed atop rooftops of significant structures. Suitable for up to eighteen guests at a time, the structure is intended to stay at a given location for a period of four and twelve weeks. The project has been conceived as a module that can be taken down relatively easily, is suitable for all climatic conditions, and expresses a maximum in living comfort with its high-quality aesthetics and materials.

This project exhibits a tectonic and system of intervention that begins to play with the relationship between site and architecture. While the locations that this modular unit has been located on are already significant structures that hold meaning in public perception, the temporary intervening of The Cube allowed for a unique take on these sites.

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Marsupial Bridge Architect: La Dallman Location: Milwaukee, WI Completed: 2008 Program: Pedestrian bridge and urban plaza

The Marsupial Bridge is a pedestrian walkway that uses the structure of an existing viaduct in Milwaukee. Originally constructed to support trolley cars, the Marsupial Bridge hangs from the underutilized space of the viaduct and activities it as new public space while reconnecting residential neighborhoods with the Milwaukee River and downtown areas.

The project’s undulating concrete deck acts as a counterpoint to the rigid steel structure of the existing viaduct that weaves through the established construction. The concrete deck is then finished with wood details in response

to the docks that formerly lined the industrial stretch of the river.

This new relationship between the old and the new is derived from an opportunism that comes from a renewed interest in reinterpreting underused structures.

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A8ernA Architect: NL Architects Location: Koog aan de Zaan, Netherlands Completed: 2003 Program: Mixed-use public program

In the early 1970’s, a new highway overpass cut through a small village near Amsterdam, creating a “brutal cut� in the urban fabric.

These formally overlooked sites have since taken on a sense of optimism in the pursuit of activating the residual space caused by this piece of infrastructure. With input and suggestions from the surrounding community, this space has taken on a large number of mixed-use programming including a skate park, supermarket, flower shop, mini marina, soccer field, basketball court, panorama deck, and more.

The large number of programmed spaces found here highlights the potential these broader stroke intervention projects may have on residual space. In this instance, this highway overpass has been transformed from a being perceived as a disaster in urban continuity to an excitement about what this space can actually provide from the neighborhood.

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New York City Highline Architect: Diller Scofidio + Renfro Location: New York City, New York Completed: 2014 Program: Public park

New York City’s Highline is a repurposing of an abandoned elevated railway in the city’s Meatpacking district. Established in 1999, a nonprofit group Friends of the High Line was formed to advocate for the rail line’s preservation and reuse as public space. Their work to draw attention to potentials of this abandoned infrastructure helped to build community support of a public redevelopment for pedestrian use and government support followed. The success of the project has had a major impact on the area, with many high profile projects being developed that have revitalized the neighborhood.

While the architectural details of the Highline may serve as exemplary architectural precedents, the support behind the project that developed among community members and organizations is an example of civic ownership and interest that resulted in a successful outcome.

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Design Research

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Methodology The approach and design strategies to be used in this thesis fall into two different categories- Design Methodology and Implementation Methodology. The Design Methodology, used as a tool to arrive at a final architectural product, is an approach that will employ a certain design language throughout Thesis Studio. On the other hand, the Implementation Methodology that is defined here will work to inform how the design tools established are used in an effective manner. In the communication between both established methodologies, the incremental process of reaching a final product has become an important to measuring success or failures of the project as a whole.

In an effort to recognize that any built work is inherently experienced through a personal and physical presence within a space, the primary toolset used in the Design Method

will focus primarily on understanding architecture through perspective. Views that are rarely experienced in built architecture should come as resultants of efforts to understand the atmospheric character of an intervention.

A graphic style, developed during Thesis Prep, creates a dialogue between the existing and the proposed with the proposed intervention, in full color, being overlayed onto a black and white image of the existing.

In looking towards the Implementation Methodology, the final architectural project shall be derived from a three-phased approach that provides a level of neighborhood engagement and synthesis of multiple scales. The project becomes an incremental endeavor that works to prove the larger potential of a residual site.

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Frames

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“30 Frames Per Second” Study of Vehicular Movement In Charlestown

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Design Exploration Exploring design research through a series of frameworks has allowed for a constant testing of ideas and concepts throughout this semester. Working with the idea of Site, Systems, and Program, a number of visuals and models have been created to respond to a series of literature encountered while developing this thesis.

The work contained in this section starts off with understanding the problem of infrastructural derived barriers have on the urban fabric through the framework of Site. Moving to Sys-

tems, a phased project implementation methodology is explored. Finally, a further look at Program starts to create a dialogue between existing residual space and the opportunity these sites have to be something more.

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Charles MGH Station

Boston Greenway

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East Boston

The Problem: Destructive Boundaries When the paths of existing infrastructural elements are highlighted and simplified to their figure-ground spatial qualities, it starts to become clear the power these systems have on the urban fabric. Looking at four separate areas of Boston, this set of frames identifies the problems associated with the present day boundaries that exist within the city. The disruption of continuity in the urban form creates an unappealing exclusionary relationship between neighborhoods.

Allston Railyards

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The ideal situation- direct connection to the waterfront

The interruption in the continuity and connection

The existing conditionbarrier between landmark and community

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Disruption Outside the confines of a plan view perception of the problem infrastructural systems can have on the urban fabric, understanding how the quality of space can be affected by these major barriers becomes important. There is a level of frustration that starts to exist as a major elevated highway, for example, disrupts the route to the destinations or landmarks of a neighborhood.

This set of frames explores this very issue and begins to relate it to the experience of the residential areas of the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. Here the connection to the waterfront and historic Charlestown Navy Yard becomes interrupted by a double decker elevated highway, to the point where this section of the neighborhood no longer feels like a part of this area of the city.

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A public pavilion provides space for community-based activities.

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Opportunity + Program In these residual sites and spaces, there begins to be an opportunistic attitude in the way in which a new program may be intervened within the existing. How to use this attitude in a way that becomes an a catalyst for perceiving previously overlooked sites in a new way becomes a major indicator in how a renewed sense of place may be fostered.

The following framework beings to sketch ways in which the existing structural organization of these pieces of infrastructure may serve as a basis for developing new public program.

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Program Studies

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Existing Conditions

Strategy Development Rapid. Grounded. Prolonged. To mediate the major obstacles and wasted space that infrastructure has caused, starting with a more approachable and metaphorical project in the Rapid typology allows for an early reframing of lost space within public perception. The evolution of the ephemeral to the Grounded carries with it a continued sense of place that allows for more the more permanent projects in the Prolonged typology to have a deeper relationship within the community.

Rapid Typology

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Grounded Typology

Prolonged Typology

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Design Probes

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Final Probe

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Probe Being Engaged

Detail of Responses

Input Exploring the metaphor of the temporary project and the potential for direct community engagement, a full scale mock up into an instillation that both asks a question and displays the subsequent answers was developed. For the duration of the project’s life span, a prompt was given to the viewer, members of Wentworth’s architecture community- “what would you change about your studio space?” Response was to be written on a stick of the person’s choosing with chalk and rearranged into the core structure as they saw fit. As responses became more numerous, the intent was

to highlight a shared desire to better the community at large, or in this iteration, the studio facilities. This probe was by and large a failure in regards to its original intent. While a handful of people responded to the question, it became clear that a sole instillation does not guarantee any outcome. Ultimately, this became a turning point in the thesis to move away from direct interaction with a community to developing a series of strategic measures that serve as a more effective method of addressing the identified problem.

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Selected catalog of pop-up interventions

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Ready Made In and effort to capture the ready-made, ephemeral nature of common objects that could be used to activate a public space, a catalog of such pop-up interventions was developed. The initial project phases, at some level, require a degree of relation to the viewer to be successful in reframing the accepted view of a residual site. DIY Urbanism and Tactical Urbanism rely heavily on this approach as are readily available interventions to private citizens or community

oriented groups.

The ready made approach highlights the benefit of having a continued rotation, of sorts, of different public uses in an economical manner. Ultimately, this allows for the site to remain relevant over time and develops a strategy of iteration to explore how to best activate a space.

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Stitching together proposed projects

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Path One major impact that an elevated infrastructure system can have on a city is the ability to get from one point to another. Routes of travel either become barricaded by the structure itself or are simply unenjoyabe to engage with. More over, a large urban initiative to turn the wide range of underutilized sites into areas more beneficial to the city, there needs to be a method of interconnection between these new nodes of activity. The issue of lost space in regards to infrastructure is better treated when a relatable path of travel is employed.

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Criteria Testing

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PINE STREET BLOCK CONDITION O1 EXISTING CONDITIONS SCALE: 3/16=1’

WALNUT STREET BLOCK CONDITION O1 EXISTING CONDITIONS SCALE: 3/16=1’

KAYEM FOOD BLOCK CONDITION O1 EXISTING CONDITIONS SCALE: 3/16=1’

KAYEM FOOD BLOCK CONDITION O2 EXISTING CONDITIONS SCALE: 3/16=1’

Existing Sectional Conditions

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Criteria INCREMENTALISM Reframes the local perception of underutilized spaces through an incremental and reoccurring process of project implementation to present a more realized potential of the site within the greater urban context.

SYNTHESIS Establish architecture as the mediating element between the urban and local scales through the development of a cohesive communication between the Rapid, Grounded, and Prolonged typologies.

INFRASTRUCTURE / EPISTRUCTURE Counterbalance the heavy-handed nature of the regional conditions through a systematic implementation of meaningful public spaces and localized circulation networks.

OWNERSHIP Foster a sense of civic ownership and community engagement through an approachable and participatory process that develops a deeper connection to larger scale efforts of site revitalization.

CONSTRAINT Embrace the contextual realities and tectonic characteristics of existing infrastructure constructs as the basis for a proposed intervention and it’s established design language.

CATALYST Establish a catalytic attitude that encourages longer-term change and community-led offshoot projects.

Socializing Infrastructure Criteria testing for this thesis has been explored through the sectional conditions that exist along the study area. Elevated highways or train tracks already create spaceit is inherent to what they are as physical objects in the built environment. These spaces, however, are not social ones- though they have the potential to be through a thoughtful design strategy. Framed within the scope of the three design typologies that has been a constant theme, the existing sectional condition is compared with the potential an intervention has to activate these spaces and

then tested against the established project criteria.

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Selected Rapid Studies

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Selected Grounded Studies

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Selected Prolonged Studies

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Design Outcomes

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Site Selection

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Site Selection- Chelsea Massachusetts The site chosen to serve as a test for the development of the following design strategies is Chelsea Massachusetts, located just north of the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston.

Like many major urban areas in the region, Chelsea has to deal with a major highway artery, remnants of the days before the Big Dig project in Downtown Boston, that divides the city in half. Much of the space underneath the elevated portions of the highway are used as parking lot, storage of public works materials, or in some cases nothing at all.

Culturally, Chelsea has an up and coming art scene with multiple, low profile venues scattered throughout the city. An example of which includes the Boston Sculptural Services building, where artists and sculptors can rent out studio space. A major event takes place every summer, the Chelsea Art Walk, that coordinates these venues for a number of events that spurs a wide variety of public participation.

This city has been chosen because it exhibits

a number of the prototypical issues that have become the focus of this thesis. At the same time, a number of opportunities have become apparent because of this. Running along the length of the highway is a twenty foot wide service path- an existing condition that has made this project feasible. Additionally, Chelsea’s physical relationship to Boston, a city of which has eliminated a number of its highway overpasses, speaks to the political and economic advantages the one city may have over the other.

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Aerial plan highlighting residual space

Existing site conditions

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Prototypical Urban Conditions

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KEY GATEWAY STRAIGHT CURVE TRANSITIONS ANOMOLY

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Straight

Curve

Transition

Gateway

Anomaly

Identifying Points of Conflict The issues that derive from the constrained relationship between urban fabric and elevated highway system can be approached by condensing the issue into a series of common site conditions that speak to the physical nature of a particular infrastructure system. Categorized as either Straight, Curve, Transition, Gateway, and Anomaly Conditions, these are a series of prototypical conditions that can be applied to the City of Chelsea as

well as other urban areas around the United States.

This approach helps digest the large scale effort that comes to solve the city planning issues of an entire, making the project as a whole more feasible in a shorter time frame.

To that end, these are the specific moments that conglomerate into the bigger picture issues at hand.

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Straight Long, linear axis of infrastructural elements that inhibit cross-sectional travel; a wall-like condition. Encourages movement along the Chelsea Low Line while offering pockets of activity in adjacent residual space

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Curve Radial element that disrupts an urban continuity via a more aggressive physical presence. Establish as larger areas for gathering points and primary hubs of activity

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Transition The on and off ramps of a highway and the moment the regional and local scales come together. Develops unusually defined sites. Establish as points of pressure that require a more constant reframing within neighborhood perception

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Gateway Relationship of infrastructure to natural and political boundaries. Establish as opportunities to introduce users to larger urban and architectural initiatives through grand and purposeful gestures

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Anomaly Unique points of conflict that do not fall under the previous infrastructure conditions. Establish as opportunities to test more unconventional means of intervention

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Design Strategies

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Rapid An ongoing process of temporary, popup initiatives that allows for a continued interest and reframing of residual spaces within the local community.

Grounded A direct sense of place is established through urban design elements and landscape improvements. Stakes a claim in the existing site in response to success or failures of the Rapid projects.

Prolonged Program becomes established in a relevant community oriented use through a longerterm architectural intervention. Acts as constant hub of activity.

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Strategies for Change With specific conditions identified, developing a strategy for engaging with these points of conflict allows for a targeted and efficient process of target implementation. Each intervention typology- Rapid, Grounded, Prolonged- are assigned as a direct solutions to one or more of the prototypical conditions.

The advantage of this is that there becomes a systematic approach working in the larger

field of residual sites to quickly employ a design intervention at an appropriate scale.

Each typology should work together within the larger Epistructure system. To that affect, there should be a constant relationship maintained between the three along with the potential for a project to scale up from small to large if deemed necessary.

Solution

Condition

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Straight / Grounded In the urban fabric of Chelsea, the identified straight conditions as a stand alone element encourage a constant linear movement up and down the Epistructure path. To establish a purposeful sense of place and relevant programming, a Grounded Strategy is to be employed to encourage a continued use within and among the highway structure itself.

Solution

Condition

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Curve / Prolonged Areas where the highway curves its path exhibit sites that have been most affected by the cut the infrastructure has made.

Larger residual sites exist which allows for the Prolonged, or architectural approach to be employed to best reestablish a continuity within the urban fabric.

Solution

Condition

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Transition / Rapid The transitional spaces, or the spaces that exist as awkward and odd examples of residual sites, require a larger degree of continued reframing. There is an ephemeral nature associated with these particular sites and, as thus, the Rapid Typology will be employed.

Solution

Condition

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And

And

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Gateway / Synthesis Gateway conditions, and their relationship to an additional natural or political boundary, have a more stand-alone characteristic to them. As such, Gateway sites require a purposeful integration of all three typologies and have the potential to exist as standalone projects that still tie into the large Epistructure system.

Solution

Condition

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Or

Or

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Anomaly / Intention Anomaly conditions and their unique, sometimes bizarre, characteristics allow for the designers intent to begin to be a higher order of design. These sites serve extreme testing grounds that can support several different typologies.

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Rapid Typology

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INTERACTIVE LIGHT INSTILLATION

KURT PERSCHKE “THE REDBALL PROJECT”

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Infrastructure As Gallery The existing structural characteristics become the basis for a system of curated public art and instillations. This establishes these sites as being open to more meaningful outlooks in regards to public use and further sets up a character of using the existing as a constraint that works inform the proposed project in an interesting way. To that end, the Rapid typology exists as a system of intervention by which curated work can be implemented and custom pieces can be installed MAURIZO NANNUCCI “WHERE TO START FROM�

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MARK DI SUVERO “CLOCK KNOT”

JEF AEROSAL STENCIL

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DANIEL ANGUILU MURAL

FLORENTIJN HOFFMAN “RUBBER DUCK”

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CAITLIND R.C. BROWN CLOUD

JEF AEROSAL STENCIL

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DANIEL ANGUILU MURAL

AFTER ARCHITECTURE “TWO FOLD BENCH”

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Grounded Typology + Epistructure

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the CHELSEA LOWLINE

PUBLIC ARTS CORRIDOR + LINEAR PARK

2.3 miles of bike and pedestrian pathway linking the City of Chelsea to Charlestown + the Town of Revere

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Proposed Epistructure path with selected sites identified

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Transition Project

Curve Project

Straight Project

Epistructure Networking these sites together, now embedded with a renewed public perception, is a system of bike and pedestrian paths that make use of an existing service road that runs alongside the highway itself. This encourage a mode of travel that was not possible prior as well as provides for new cross-grain circulation routes that begin to reconnect portions of Chelsea.

Gateway Project

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Path Characteristics

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Sites for temporary projects + infill projects

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Community garden infill vacant lot

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Prolonged Typology- Test Project

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Art Gallery + Observation Tower The primary architectural project that serves as the major test piece for this thesis at large, a new public art gallery and observation tower is proposed at a point in Chelsea where train tracks and highway intersect.

Integrated into the larger Epistructure initiative, gallery space program constrains itself around a large concrete retaining wall, allowing that piece of structure to be the point of entry into the proposed architecture.

As an extension of the proposed path network, the building pierces through the level of the elevated highway allowing views back

out to the city and beyond. Both billboard for ongoing exhibits and way finding point around Chelsea, this observation tower acts as a central landmark in a large system of renewed public spaces.

As a mediator of scales and typologies, the proposed architecture becomes the standard by which future development projects are implemented as land value around the Chelsea Lowline increases over time.

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Section through observation tower

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Exploded isometric

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Final model

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Reflection

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Critical Evaluation By and large the system of design strategies that has been prevalent during a majority of this thesis development, always existing in a series of three (although by different names at different points in time) has presented itself to be an exciting opportunity to do much more with. The Grounded Typology in particular, had there been more time, could have been a whole semester’s worth of work on its own.

Ultimately, the implementation of this system has only just begun. The concept as a whole can certainly reach an interesting potential beyond the time restraints of this past year.

As I move forward with these ways of design thinking in mind, I take away the ability and future aspirations to take a large scale urban issue, condense that down, and arrive at an end product that provides a relatable human scale while creating a cohesive synthesis between the many complicated layers that comprise the cities we experience in our lives.

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Appendix

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