STEPHEN X ZIMMERER 2020
WORKS ENCLOSED
SCA
1_SKY LINE 2_SURVEILLANCE SCAPE 3_SEASON 1 COLLECTION 4_LARGESSE 5_RISING TIDES 6_HEROES’ GREEN 7_SOLSTICE FIELD 8_MULTIPLICITY DY
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TYPOLOGY
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Above: Design + Illustration, Lion Mountain Park with TOM LEADER STUDIO. All enclosed drawings represent the author’s work.
SKY LINE LOCATION
SHENZHEN PRC
TYPOLOGY
INSTALLATION
SCALE
BODY
SIZE
30 METERS
YEAR
2019
CLIENT
YU TIAN URBAN DESIGN FESTIVAL
PHASE
CONCEPT DESIGN DESIGN DEVELOPMENT CONSTRUCTION OVERSIGHT
STATUS
CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE
TEAM
ATELIER ALTERNATIVE ARCHITECTURE NEUNI MATERIALS SHANGHAI
ROLE
PROJECT DIRECTOR
2
SKY LINE is a celebration of the linear band of sky that defines Yu Tian Urban Village. Constructed of clear acrylic panels mounted with dichroic iridescent film, it stands four meters tall and two meters wide. It is a parasitic architecture that clings to and activates adjacent structures. It traps narrow bands of sunlight in film and stretches them to a hyper-vertical state, distilling the spatial vernacular of China’s urban villages: uninterrupted strips of sky and vertical planes propel the visitor from one end to the next. Inside, the rusty metal and damp ceramic of the urban village disappear, and the visitor is enveloped by smooth, iridescent surfaces. SKY LINE celebrates the condition which makes the urban village an extraordinary architectural organism, a unique product of its time and place in the Chinese megacity. SKY LINE is a didactic installation predicated upon urban historical research. The bibliography of research supporting SKY LINE included The Great Leap Forward (Koolhaas 1996) and They Come in Peasants and Leave Citizens (Bach 2010), and built upon my own undergraduate thesis which was concerned with identifying a spatial vernacular in southern Chinese megacities. China’s urban villages are vestiges of Maoist-era farming collectives that predate the surrounding city. The condition of Pearl River Delta megacities, having appeared seemingly overnight across the last three decades, inverts the figure-ground typical of urbanization: the contemporary city grew to occupy negative urban space surrounding a patchwork of disconnected farming communes. Containing a rapid and eclectic architectural metabolism, these communes -- now called urban villages -- are defined by linear strips of sky, narrow spaces, and long lines of site. They are pockets of density and diversity inside the sprawling anonymity of the contemporary megacity.
Landscape analysis: line drawings studying space and form in Yu Tian Urban Village.
2
1
E:1
E:2
Construction diagram, SKY LINE.
CIRCUMSTANCE
STRATEGY
ACTION
SURVEILLANCE SCAPE LOCATION
HONG KONG SAR
TYPOLOGY
RESEARCH
SCALE
BODY
SIZE
1 KM (CARTOGRAPHIC RESEARCH) 1 M x 1 M x 1 M (FABRICATED MODULES)
YEAR
2019
CLIENT
HONG KONG DESIGN TRUST SEED GRANT
PHASE
N/A
STATUS
IN-PROGRESS
TEAM
STEPHEN X ZIMMERER
2
The map tracks the spatial footprints of CCTV camera viewsheds in Shenzhen Civic Center, while interlocking architectural machines are devised to engage and manipulate this viewshed in physical space. In conversation, the camera and the machines engage in a continuous dialogue of spatial reconfiguration: the surveillance viewshed of the camera is manipulated by the presence of the machines, and the interlocking machines are in turn capable of reconfiguring and adapting to conceal or obscure this viewshed. The human actor, the subject of the CCTV footage and the agent capable of reconfiguring the machines, becomes a mediating agent between the digital space of camera and screen and the physical space of the constructed environment. SURVEILLANCE SCAPE engages gestures of design (e.g. drawing, map-making, spatial design, digital fabrication, and analog construction) as methods of research to ask and respond to two questions: how might bodies mobilize to negotiate physical and digital space? By what parameters can architecture perform as a physically participatory project? The map is a critique of and departure from McHargian models for rationalizing design decision making based upon ecological suitability. Three iterations of interlocking machine objects have been produced and re-produced to represent iterative, participatory ideas as opposed to a static, permanent architecture. They could be adapted, retrofitted, or reproduced to negotiate with surveillance or to achieve infinite ends.
3 1
3
2
2
1
3
MAP
1
1
TRACKING CCTV VIEWSHEDS AT SHENZHEN CIVIC CENTER 2
The map drawn for SURVEILLANCE SCAPE engages digital drawing and map-making as gestures of research. It is a response to McHargian models for rationalizing design decision making based upon the “suitability” of various ecological factors, indicating instead how the spatial implications of the digital landscape might begin to explain how the physical landscape is used. The map was drawn using a combination of referenced CAD and GIS data, imagery from Google, Baidu, and Apple maps, and on-the-ground site photography. The CCTV viewsheds are measured based upon the tested viewsheds of PTZ cameras, PTZ long range cameras, and bullet cameras.
1 1 1
PTZ LONG RANGE CAMERA
2
PTZ CAMERA
3
BULLET CAMERA
2
1
Long Range Infrared PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) Camera, 500’ Night Vision Identification Distance: 300’ max. in daylight (ideal conditions)
1080P PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) Camera, 25X Zoom, Auto Tracking Identification Distance: 528’ max. in daylight (ideal conditions)
4K Long Range Security Camera, 7-35 mm Identification Distance for Tele Lens: 251’ Viewshed angle: 30 degrees
1
0% Surveillance
100% Surveillance
MACHINE
01_MILL
02_MULTIPLY
03_ROTATE
04_TESSELLATE
05_FABRICATE
SEASON 1 COLLECTION LOCATION
DIGITAL
TYPOLOGY
SPECULATION
SCALE
BODY
SIZE
200 METERS
YEAR
2019
CLIENT
HONG KONG-SHENZHEN BI-CITY BIENNALE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (UABB)
PHASE
CONCEPT DESIGN
STATUS
CONCEPT DESIGN COMPLETE
TEAM
RHIZOMEDAS XXX
ROLE
PROJECT CO-DIRECTOR
2
Rhizomedas xxx is a design collective that weaves together architecture, technology, and ecology to author stories about queerness and kinship. Named for Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of the rhizome, xxx represents three cross-hairs in space, the smallest number needed to triangulate a position. Based digitally, xxx proposes design interventions that challenge dominant ideas about how bodies perform within and agency is allocated across landscapes. Currently in its first season, xxx is dedicated to cultivating narrative-based landscapes that are spatially flexible and radically queer. The Season 1 collection engages design as a method of research to imagine how four instances of separation (surveillance, segregation, quarantine, and sterility) might become manifested physically -- and how multi-species kinship, kinetics, and interaction can bridge divides of separation. As such, it engages in a dialogue regarding multispecies assemblages with writers including Donna Harraway and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. Using an identical imaginary test plot for each speculative garden, the collection of four speculative garden installations is presented as an opera in four acts, capable of being read or visited in any order. Each act muses on a different physical instance of separation, speculating how participatory intervention -- be it spatially kinetic, edible, audible, or digital -- sparks transformative togetherness with human actors, with landscapes, and with the planet.
24 HR
00 MIN
10
MIN
PRESS PLAY (SURVEILLANCE) PLANTS EXISTING FOREST, MATURE TREMBLING ASPEN AND CONIFERS MATERIALS 3X MICROPHONES, 3X SPEAKERS, ONE CUSTOM STAINLESS STEEL SEAT
0M 1M 2M 3M 4M 5M
2 1 3
4
1
6 mm thk. FRAME, STEEL
2
5 mm thk. PLEXIGLASS
3
ONE-WAY MIRROR FILM, mounted
4
LED LUMINAIRE, on-ground
5
EXPANSION BOLTS
5
REFUGIA (QUARANTINE) PLANTS CARX PENSYLVANICA MATERIALS LED ON-GROUND LUMINAIRE, PLEXIGLASS MOUNTED WITH ONE-WAY MIRROR FILM, STEEL FRAME 0M 1M 2M 3M 4M 5M
150 mm PLANTING MEDIUM
SOIL-STABILIZATION SYSTEM
LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE
100 mm x 200 mm x 200 mm UNIT PAVERS, BRICK
RIGID INSULATION (GEOFOAM), dims. vary, milled
6 mm thk. CONTAINER, STEEL
6 mm thk. DISC, STEEL
6 mm thk. RADIAL SUPPORTS, STEEL 300 mm tall TUBE, STEEL
900 mm tall PEDESTAL, CONCRETE 1200 mm dia. FOOTING, CONCRETE
COMMUNION (STERILITY) PLANTS CHICORIUM INTYBUS, RUBUS SP. VAR. ‘JOAN J’, MENTHA X PIPERITA MATERIALS 3X ROTATING PLANTING BEDS (STEEL CONTAINER, GEOFOAM, UNIT PAVERS, LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE, SOIL-STABILIZATION SYSTEM, PLANTING MEDIUM) 0M 1M 2M 3M 4M 5M
LARGESSE LOCATION
NEW YORK NY
TYPOLOGY
SPECULATION
SCALE
SITE
SIZE
91.4 ACRES
YEAR
2015
CLIENT
[ACADEMIC]
PHASE
CONCEPT DESIGN
STATUS
CONCEPT DESIGN COMPLETE
TEAM
STEPHEN X ZIMMERER
The City of New York looks for a new typology of public space that reflects contemporary attitudes and culture while augmenting the climate resiliency of lower Manhattan. Millennials hold an uncertain relationship with landscape, simultaneously groping with colossal environmental challenges fabricated by previous generations while consistently indulging in the decadent ease of the present. LARGESSE is predicated upon the oxymoronic nature of giving the people of New York a world-class public space the size of Central Park as a reward for the warming climate. The masterplan employs a charged, irrational formal language, uncanny spatial experiences, and indulgent program to feed a generation for which nature will never be wild. LARGESSE is a critique of and departure from New York’s Rebuild by Design competition, speculating first that the city should anticipate 20’ of combined sea level rise and storm surge instead of the 15’ anticipated by the Big U, which anticipated a storm the size of Hurricane Sandy but not futures of sea level rise. It reconfigures the existing parameters of how the city might balance infill and habitat destruction in the Hudson River, enabling more robust physical infrastructure in the zone of contact between land and sea. Embedded within the mountainscape are retention basins for freshwater flooding; within the riverscapes, freshwater enters and exits the city through a system of flood gates. The work engages spatial design as a method of research to speculate how it might look and feel when lower Manhattan physically fortifies itself from sea level rise and future storms. Research models included those laid out in Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming (Dunne and Raby 2013), identifying how design can act as a research tool to speculate about possible futures.
Landscape analysis: combined public transportation egress of lower Manhattan, scaled by frequency of use.
1
TERRACED URBAN FARMING
20’ FLOOD PREVENTION CONTOUR
2
SOLAR FIELDS
TREE PLANTING
3
COASTAL BLUFFS
4
FERRY TERMINAL
5
STORMWATER RETENTION
6
URBAN NURSERY
7
SKATE PARK
8
BEER GARDEN
9
GRAFFITI PARK
10 WEST SIDE BEACH
4
3
2
5 1 1
6
6
8
10
8
7
7
9
9
RISING TIDES LOCATION
MERGUI ARCHIPELAGO TANINTHARYI, MYANMAR
TYPOLOGY
SPECULATION
SCALE
TERRITORY
SIZE
[VARIES]
YEAR
2016
CLIENT
[ACADEMIC]
PHASE
CONCEPT DESIGN
STATUS
CONCEPT DESIGN COMPLETE
TEAM
STEPHEN X ZIMMERER
The Mergui Archipelago represents a dynamic interface at which a history of nomadic sea people, a contemporary marine economy, and traditional rice agriculture bleed into future economies of intensive aquaculture, oil and gas exploitation, and island tourism. The proposed intervention imagines site-specific coastal reconstruction at multiple scales in anticipation of uncertain futures for the developing region to catalyze economic and ecological resiliency. From landscape recycling to deployable concrete machinery, from strategic planning initiatives to timebased infrastructures, the intervention looks to the inevitable rise in sea levels to imagine opportunities for expanded local economy and resiliency. DAILY FISHING ROUTES DAILY FISHING ROUTES DAILY FISHING ROUTES DAILY FISHING ROUTES DAILY FISHING ROUTES DAILY FISHING ROUTES FISHING VILLAGES FISHING VILLAGES FISHING VILLAGES FISHING VILLAGES FISHING VILLAGES FISHING VILLAGES OIL+GAS EXPLORATION BLOCKS (2014) OIL+GAS EXPLORATION BLOCKS (2014) OIL+GAS EXPLORATION BLOCKS (2014) OIL+GAS EXPLORATION BLOCKS (2014) OIL+GAS EXPLORATION BLOCKS (2014) OIL+GAS EXPLORATION BLOCKS (2014) MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MOECAF) MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MOECAF) MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MOECAF) MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MOECAF) MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MOECAF) MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MOECAF) CORAL CONSERVATION PRIORITY AREAS (FFI) CORAL CONSERVATION PRIORITY AREAS (FFI) CORAL CONSERVATION PRIORITY AREAS (FFI) CORAL CONSERVATION PRIORITY AREAS (FFI) CORAL CONSERVATION PRIORITY AREAS (FFI) CORAL CONSERVATION PRIORITY AREAS (FFI) KEY BIODIVERSITY (FFI) KEY BIODIVERSITY (FFI) KEY BIODIVERSITY (FFI) KEY BIODIVERSITY (FFI) KEY BIODIVERSITY (FFI) KEY BIODIVERSITY (FFI) INTER+SUBTIDAL MUDFLAT INTER+SUBTIDAL MUDFLAT INTER+SUBTIDAL MUDFLAT INTER+SUBTIDAL MUDFLAT INTER+SUBTIDAL MUDFLAT INTER+SUBTIDAL MUDFLAT PROPOSED MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (FFI) PROPOSED MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (FFI) PROPOSED MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (FFI) PROPOSED MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (FFI) PROPOSED MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (FFI) PROPOSED MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (FFI)
ATLAS KEY
Daily fishing routes Oil+gas exploration blocks (2014) Marine protection areas (MOECAF) Coral conservation priority (FFI) Key biodiversity (FFI) Inter+subtidal mudflat Proposed marine protected area (FFI)
0 0 0 0 0 0
5 5 5 5 5 5
10 10 10 10 10 10
25 25 25 25 25 25
50 50 50 50 50 50
27 DECEMBER 2000
3:35 AM
+1.8342 m TIDE
27 DECEMBER 2000 3:35 AM +1.8342 m TIDE
0 km
10
25
50
Planning and design intervention are conceived as a response to, and in anticipation of, land use on the upland side of the mangrove. Be it city, highway, agriculture, or aquaculture, a hard edge on the interior of the mangrove prevents the ecosystem’s natural upland migration in concert with ongoing sea level rise. The inter-tidal mangrove provides natural erosion control against the rising Andaman sea; a minimum 100 m mangrove edge will prevent the coast from 90% of storm surge erosion. Analysis maps the ecological and economic anatomy of the mangrove forest and projects the ecosystem’s inland migration throughout the 21st century. On- and off- shore interventions respond to adjacent land use (agriculture, aquaculture, city, highway), wave energy and bathymetry (macro- versus micro-tidal regions), and geologic aspect (edge versus inlet). The project proposes interventions in anticipation of future social and economic change, catalyzing new strategies for making and harvesting land.
SEDIMENT: BIANNUAL DREDGING (REUSE) 4:1 LEE-SIDE SLOPE 2:1 OFFSHORE SLOPE
CITY + STRUCTURAL BREAKWATER
100 M MANGROVE PROTECTION, 2050 30 M DEPLOYABLE ROAD SEGMENTS 100 M MANGROVE PROTECTION, 2016
FOREST + ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE
INTERTIDAL MUDFLAT EXPANDS VIA SEDIMENTATION REEF HABITAT
ADAPTIVE DUNE SYSTEM REPLACES PERIMETER DYKE
AGRICULTURE + HABITAT BREAKWATER
SEDIMENTATION ZONE 1.5:1 LEE-SIDE SLOPE 2:1 OFF-SHORE SLOPE 4:1 HABITAT SLOPE 2035 2050 2075 2100
35 M PHASED AQUACULTURE PONDS
AQUACULTURE + HABITAT GROYNE
MANGROVE EDGE AT SHRIMP AQUACULTURE SHRIMP POND (70 M)
+DRAINAGE CHANNEL +MANGROVE SOILS +INTERTIDAL SEAGRASS +SUBTIDAL SEAGRASS +ALLUVIALS
+IMPERVIOUS FILL
MANGROVE EDGE AT TIDAL MUDFLAT
+ALLUVIALS
+MANGROVE MUDFLAT +SUBTIDAL SEAGRASS +CALCRETE SEDIMENTATION +CLAY ALLUVIALS
MANGROVE EDGE AT ROAD
9 M ROAD
POURED ASPHALT 12” ROCK CAP 12” GRANULAR SUBBASE SEPARATION GEOTEXTILE
+INTERTIDAL SEAGRASS +CLAY ALLUVIALS
MANGROVE EDGE AT RICE PADDY (TYP.) 5M +SUBTIDAL SEAGRASS +CALCRETE SEDIMENTATION +CLAY ALLUVIALS
+PERIMETER TRENCH
SLR+100 YEAR STORM WATER+MEAN SLR PROJECTION MEAN WATER HEIGHT 2016 HIGH/LOW TIDE+FULL MOON
+OXIDIZED SOILS +REDUCED CLAY ALLUVIALS
STREET VENDORS, FISHERMEN, SHELLFISH HARVESTING
STRUCTURAL TETRAPODS FROM RECYCLED FLY ASH RECYCLED ARMATURE FROM REGIONAL CONSTRUCTION WASTE
+ARMOUR LAYER (LARGE FISH HABITAT) +CORE +ALLUVIALS +CALCRETE SEDIMENTATION
+CLAY ALLUVIALS
URBAN BREAKWATER
SEDIMENT BECOMES NEW BREAKWATER
BIANNUAL DREDGING +STRUCTURAL TOE
+SEDIMENTATION
+INTERTIDAL SOILS
RECYCLED PLANTATION RUBBER
DEPLOYABLE SERVICE ROAD
DEPLOYABLE HIGHWAY MOBILE, 30 M UNITS GEOTEXTILE .5 M DIAMETER RECYCLED TREE TRUNKS GEOTEXTILE EXISTING WET AGRICULTURE
100 M MANGROVE EDGE ECOSYSTEM
DEPLOYABLE ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE
SERVICE ROAD 2150 SERVICE ROAD 2100 SERVICE ROAD 2050 MANGROVE 2015 INTER-TIDAL MUDFLAT
2 M ELEVATED HIGHWAY EXTENDS 30 M ON EITHER SIDE OF EXISTING SURFACE WATER
H E R O E S’G R E E N LOCATION
WASHINGTON, D.C., USA
TYPOLOGY
SPECULATION
SCALE
SITE
SIZE
3.21 ACRES
YEAR
2015
CLIENT
WORLD WAR 1 CENTENNIAL COMMISSION
PHASE
COMPETITION
STATUS
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FINALIST
TEAM
COUNTS STUDIO
ROLE
PROJECT INTERN
2
HEROES’ GREEN blends memorial, park, and garden into a new type of public space. A highly integrated composition of topography, paths, walls, and plants creates a landscape of dynamic views, distinguished prospects, shaded valleys, and woodland glens. Five 30-40’ wide arcing pre-aged copper walls embedded in monolithic earthworks render historic imagery through digitally perforated holes. 116 Ginkgo trees are planted within a sculptural composition of earthworks and paths to give physical scale to the 116,000 American servicemen lost in the First World War. Dramatically sculpted image walls and robust topography shape a highly physical landscape of remembrance, referencing the iconic European landscapes of trenches and craters. The work was selected as one of five finalists from over 350 international entries. As one of a four-person team, the author was responsible for execution of the physical model, plan diagram, and section illustrations.
Landscape was conceived and designed in physical model using foamcore, spackle, and wire trees.
SOLSTICE FIELD LOCATION
SILO CITY BUFFALO, NEW YORK, USA
TYPOLOGY
INSTALLATION
SCALE
BODY
SIZE
70 METERS
YEAR
2019
CLIENT
BUFFALO ARTS STUDIO
PHASE
CONCEPT DESIGN FABRICATION AND INSTALLATION
STATUS
CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE
TEAM
RHIZOMEDAS XXX
ROLE
PROJECT CO-DIRECTOR
2
At Silo City on the longest day of the year, visitors encounter a field of translucent pennants, evocative of flags, sails, or clotheslines. Sliding open and closed, the pennants cast shadows and come to life through interaction and play. Each movement dissolves and recreates kaleidoscopes of color and light. A child playing or a family arranging a colorful picnic both map new patterns of color and draw unexpected lines, shapes, and forms. The opening and closing of the pennants invites unexpected interaction between visitors, silo city, and the sun. The result is a double image: one created by the shifting arrangement of flags, the other created by the shadows as the light of the sun traces its course. Each time the fabric is altered, by people or by nature, it draws new configurations. Each pennant faces south to maximize the amount of sun which shines on its surface. Individual pennants, sewn from 12 gauge tinted vinyl fabric, pull open and closed along a metal tension wire, suspended from steel rods and PVC pipe. The installation represents an iterative, participatory idea as opposed to a static, permanent architecture. During its week-long installation, it engaged with an audience of over 200 visitors. It is a co-creation between the spaces of Silo City, visitors, and the sun. No two visitor experiences are identical.
MULTIPLICITY LOCATION
SHENZHEN PRC
TYPOLOGY
RESEARCH
SCALE
TERRITORY
SIZE
1 KM (CARTOGRAPHIC RESEARCH) 2.5 M x 2.5 M (EXHIBITION PRINT)
YEAR
2019
CLIENT
SEOUL BIENNALE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (SBAU)
PHASE
N/A
STATUS
COMPLETE
TEAM
ATELIER ALTERNATIVE ARCHITECTURE
ROLE
PROJECT DIRECTOR
2
MultipliCity is an atlas and projection of migrant worker housing in Shenzhen, contextualized within the urban village. Using the dormitories and villages surrounding Foxconn’s Longhua campus as a case study, the drawing asks by what parameters might the architecture of the urban village begin to reflect its social vibrancy. A speculated future is held in contrast to the interior of the Foxconn campus, in which the condition of the assembly line is multiplied across 450,000 bodies. MultipliCity imagines a future in which community grows upwards through parasitic structures, out-competing the globalized factory to create an adaptive interface for migrant labor. The atlas drawn for MultipliCity engages digital drawing and map-making as gestures of archival urban research. The map was drawn using a combination of referenced CAD and GIS data, imagery from Google, Baidu, and Apple maps, dozens of articles by domestic and international publications, architectural theses, on-site interviews, and on-the-ground site photography. MultipliCity was drawn as a commission for the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism (SBAU) 2019. The atlas is an archival record of Chinese development in a representative urban parcel, containing feng shui woods (pre20th century), old urban villages and temples (ca. 1900-1940), new urban villages (ca. 1990), neoliberal factory complexes (ca. 1988), as well as ubiquitous megacity-scale development along its perimeter. It engages in dialogue with a generation of Chinese architects including Li Han concerned with the axonometic drawing as a method of archival research and urban map-making.
Photography: Tae Yoon Kim, Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism