Urban Design and Architecture Portfolio by Sujan Das Shrestha

PORTFOLIO Architecture . Urban Design . Research Sujan Das Shrestha

TABLE OF CONTENTS Academic . Professional . Research

EXTENDING EXISTING SYSTEMS Academic. Millvale . Fall 2017 . Group Project

[NEIGHBORHOOD] GUTHI Thesis . Master of Urban Design . Carnegie Mellon University . 2019 . Individual

TDOT NEXTGEN Academic. ULI Hines Competition . Toronto . Spring 2018 . Group

REST-STOPS : AIDING URBAN MOBILITY Academic- Computational Urbanism . Spring 2019 . Individual

EMOTIONAL MAPPING Academic. Data Analytics for Urban Design . Fall 2017 . Final Project

LANDSCAPE FEASIBILITY STUDY Professional . 2015. Landscape Feasibility Study of Rt. Hon. Prime Minister’s Govt. Residence

NEW MASTERPLAN FOR MINISTERS’ RESIDENTS Professional . 2015. Client - Government of Nepal

RESIDENCE FOR MRS. NARAYANI RANA Professional . 2017 . Under-Construction

RESIDENCE FOR MRS. USHA R. SHRESTHA Professional . 2016 . Built

3D/ DATA VISUALIZATION FOR URBAN DESIGN AND PLANNING Research . Summer 2018 . Carnegie Mellon University

AN ATLAS OF COMMONING Research - Commoning the City . 2018 . Carnegie Mellon University

URBAN REGENERATION OF TAULACHHEN TOLE, BHAKTAPUR Published research . ICEE-PDRP 2016 . 2015-2016 . Author

PERCEPTION OF RESIDENTS ON THE REBUILDING OF HOUSING ALTERNATIVES Published research . ICEE-PDRP 2016 . 2015-2016 . Co-authored with Prof. Dr. Mohan Moorti Pant

RESUME

EXTENDING EXISTING SYSTEMS Urban Design Studio - Millvale . Fall 2017 . Group Project Millvale, previously a vibrant community with its own steel mill, has been hit hard by the decline of steel industry. With its vision set towards revitalization, Millvale adopted the Eco-district plans with the help of organizations such as The New Sun Rising, Millvale Community Library and MCDC to name a few.

a park for the community, affordable housing for the new community, while instilling a value of economic localization that also incorporates a circular economy.

Our studio, geared towards place-making, looked at revitalizing MIllvale Study of the existing urban fabric of Millvale helped us recognize and reinforce the sense of the built environment. Extending the existing systems to establish a gateway to Millvale, our plan incorporates introducing an improved and a new connection to the riverfront,

Right Sketches from our first trip to Millvale.

Case highligting the need for ecological interventions as much of the neighborhood lies in the flood plains

Low Impact Development With most of the neighborhood under constant threat of floods, adopting low impact development techniques, we tried to improve the ecological performance of the site as well. Neighborhood Playbook Formulating how spaces can be activated, which could be the precursor for the intended development was essential in the design framework.

No rth Av en

St. John’s Millvale Church & Preschool

What do you like about Millvale?

St re e

Grist House! (x2)

St re e er m

Millvale grew up. Great people. Millvale Days the best!!!!

Bu tle r

Artsy feel - family friendly.

St re e er id an

Stre

Av e

re e

Girty

tA ve

’s Ru

ton

ylan

hio

Stan

Mar

er gr ee

Family-Friendly People

gut

Sh E

Artistic Community Farra

M Lin

Stre

Aven u

d Ave

nue

t tree

an S

r Al

Riv er

Map Key

leg he

Fr on

Ri ve

tD riv e

Ro ut

Log

Positive Assets

The Millvalians we’ve spoken to have been very energetic and hopeful about the futu This feedback has been integral to our design process.

rth No

tre

Keep your property clean + respect others’ property

tle

Transient population in rental units

re e

No grocery stores

Av e

What do you NOT like about Millvale?

Food desert

re e

Sh E

Help families purchase more houses as opposed to bad landlords buying everything.

gut

Stre

tA ve

’s Ru

Stan

ton

No grocery store ylan

hio

Abandoned buildings and houses

Mar

Av e

re e

Girty

Not enough parking!

er gr ee

Farra

M Lin

Stre

Aven u

d Ave

nue

t tree

an S

r leg

Riv

Map Key

Fr on

riv

Log

Negative Issues

The Millvalians we’ve spoken to have been very energetic and hopeful about the future of Millvale. This feedback has been integral to our design process.

No rth

Movies and family stuff in little park

tle

tre

A more positive outlook on Millvale as a whole

re e

Give long-time renters opportunity to become homeowners!

Av e

What changes would you like to see?

er Stre

Gr ’s Ru

er gr ee

Av e

re e

tA ve

hio

Stan

ton

ylan

Girty

Mar

t re e er

E gut

Lin

Tear down old homes and buildings to create new housing and parking

Farra

Interactive environmental activities throughout like Beechwood Farms

Stre

Aven u

d Ave

nue

t tree

an S

ve r ny he leg Al

er Riv

Map Key

Fr on

riv

Log

Forms of community engagement

Areas of Opportunity

The Millvalians we’ve spoken to have been very energetic and hopeful about the future of Millvale. This feedback has been integral to our design process.

Dot exercises, community meetings, community outreach, discussions with the stakeholders and use of blocks to understand the perception of the resident community

Incremental Development Strategy

In order to revive and further improve the community, a new economic model for the borough is important. Practicing policies and approaches towards self-reliance and community governance would provide a suitable environment to grow as a community and businesses to flourish.

This led us to propose a Local Ownership/ Import Substitution model that would empower the people of Millvale and instill a sense of community.

With this model adopted, it would also enable the community to take ownership of Millvale and work towards achieving a better environment.

With the LOIS model and the Land Trust in place, we would be able to take charge/ control over issues such as affordability and offer it to a diverse community with less economic burden.

The new park and the improved connection to the riverfront, we propose, will encourage more interaction within the community and increase the social cohesion.

Retail spaces along the street and the extension of the built form would further reinforce and improve the streetscape which we hope will provide a great pedestrian experience and identity. The retail allows businesses in Millvale to grow and establish itself.

With the idea of promoting local businesses and extending the streetscape along the road, retail spaces have been proposed along Grant Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, and our new proposed street The new development takes into consideration the existing form of Millvale. The proposed facade strives to continue and reinforce the streetscape of the neighborhood. The proposition of townhouses is influenced by the existing urban form in Millvale. It presents an opportunity for people of different financial abilities to own a house.

Above Views down Grant Ave, Millvale Sketches to match existing streetscape

Above Aerial View of the Millvale View down Grant Ave, Millvale View of Courtyard within the proposed development

The boulevard strengthens the connection between Millvale’s new gateway and the Millvale Riverfront. It connects the proposed hotel development, our proposed parks, and the riverfront in one continuous path. The Millvale Trolley Park will introduce housing, retail, and a commemorative park to the corner of Grant Street and East Ohio Street. This will help to draw people closer to the river, and transform the bad image of “the curve”. Using the existing infrastructure of PA-28, we are proposing a new pedestrian ramp to the river that would create a more direct connection between the Millvale and the Riverfront Park

Above Trolley park at E. Ohio and Grant Ave Proposed Connection to the River utilizing existing infrastructure Right Activity Map in the proposed design Scrap Art Development

NEIGHBORHOOD GUTHI Thesis . Master of Urban Design . Carnegie Mellon University . 2019 . Individual Kathmandu Valley, as a historic city core, home to the Newar community has been romanticized a lot. Although its rich culture and architecture are exemplary, the most important urban heritage is definitely the people of these historic city cores who are responsible for the local culture. A study of such a residential quarter shows that the residents suffered from poor housing conditions and shocks such as the devastating 2015 Gorkha earthquake further aggravated the situation. The lack of aid from the government and financial institutions have placed these quarter under unfavorable conditions in comparison to the temples and other monuments that even have international organizations to help rebuild it. This major incident has indeed exposed the lack of resiliency in the traditional communities of Kathmandu Valley. The study looks at theories pertaining to planning and practices of commoning to evaluate whether the

traditional communities can develop agency to take control and become not just resilient but responsive and adaptive current and future issues they might have to face.

Below Map of Kathmandu Valley locating the historic city of Bhaktapur

ठाउँ | place Defining urban heritage

a Kathmandu b Patan c Bhaktapur

KATHMANDU VALLEY Comprises of three major cities Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur. People belonging to the Newar community have been the primary inhabitants with most of the historic city cores displaying traditional newari art and architecture. Oldest object dated to 300 BCE Home to seven groups of monuments and buildings UNESCO World Heritage.

heritage - noun - her·i·tage | \ �her-ə-tij

• property that descends to an heir • something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor or Tradition • something possessed as a result of one’s natural situation or birth

Defining Urban Heritage For most urban planners and designers, the definition of urban heritage often includes monuments (religious buildings, historic buildings and spaces as well as institutional or social spaces. Often excluded from this definition is the people that inhabit the place or the private sphere that is directly responsible for the art and architecture as well as the local culture. This project takes the position that urban heritage conservation must integrate physical preservation with new tools that allow people to thrive and evolve within their traditional communities. True urban heritage must empower people to collectively shape both their spaces and lives, allowing them to negotiate tradtition and modernity on their own terms.

समस्या | issues

समस्या | issues समस्या | issues

Mapping the Financial Disparity in Bhaktapur

Mapping the Financial Disparity in Bhaktapur In Kathmandu’s traditional urban fabric, the majority of residential buildings are only accessible from narrow lanes or courtyards - leaving most people’s home ineligible for low interest loans. Lots that cannot be accessed through roads or street less than 8 ft wide are not eligible as a collateral in Class A Financial Institutions. This often leads residents to borrow from institutions and people that charge higher interest rates for loans.

In Kathmandu’s traditional urban fabric, the majority of residential buildings are only accessible from narrow lanes or courtyards - leaving most people’s home ineligible for low interest loans. Lots that cannot be accessed through roads or street less than 8 ft wide are not eligible as a collateral in Class A Financial Institutions. This often leads residents borrowfabric, from In Kathmandu’s traditionaltourban institutions and that charge higher the majority of people residential buildings are interest rates for loans. only accessible from narrow lanes or

Mapping the Financial Disparity in Bhaktapur

courtyards - leaving most people’s home ineligible for low interest loans. Lots that a be accessed through roads or cannot street less than 8 ft wide are not eligible as a collateral in Class A Financial Institutions. This often leads residents to borrow from institutions and people that charge higher interest rates for loans.

a Access Type and Width - Main Street | > 8 ft. Collateral - Eligible

Access Type and Width - Main Street | > 8 ft. Collateral - Eligible

c b

b Access Type and Width - Courtyard | < 8 ft. Collateral - Not Eligible

a c

c b Access Type and Width - Main Street | > 8 ft. Collateral - Eligible

Access Type and Width - Courtyard | < 8 ft. Collateral - Not Eligible

Access Type and Width - Interior Lane | < 8 ft. Collateral - Not Eligible

Effects of Gorkha Earthquake 2015

The effects of Gorkha Earthqake 2015 based on a study in 2012 and 2015 in the neighborhood of Taulachhen Tole, Bhaktapur A courtyard in Taulachhen Tole, Bhaktapur before and after the Gorkha Earthquake 2015

Access Type and Width - Interior Lane | < 8 ft. Before Collateral - Not Eligible

Access Type and Width - Courtyard | < 8 ft. Collateral - Not Eligible

Effects of Gorkha Earthquake 2015

After

Before

After

Access Type and Width - Interior Lane | < 8 ft. Collateral - Not Eligible

Issues

Effects of Gorkha Earthquake 2015

Good - 18%

Maintenance Required - 12%

A courtyard in Taulachhen Tole, Bhaktapur before and after the Gorkha Earthquake 2015

Before

Mapping the financial disparity that the financial and government institutions have created allows us to visualize how ineffective current financial policies are in for the resident communities in the traditional historic city cores.

Full Damage - 65%

Poor - 7%

The effects of Gorkha 2015 based neighborhood ofNoTaulachhen Tole, Bhaktapur Fair -Earthqake 64% Partial Damage - 15% Damage - 6% Demolishedon - 7% a study in 2012 and 2015 in the

After

Good - 18%

Poor - 7%

Fair - 64%

Demolished - 7%

Full Damage - 65%

Maintenance Required - 12%

Partial Damage - 15%

No Damage - 6%

Before

After

This issues has further aggravated the situation faced by the resident community who were been displaced by the earthquake in 2015. Without access to low interest rate loans, many face Good - 18% borrowing from institutions Fair - 64% and people who charge a significantly higher interest Before rate.

After

Poor - 7%

Full Damage - 65%

Maintenance Required - 12%

Demolished - 7%

Partial Damage - 15%

No Damage - 6%

State of a residential quarter before and after the devastating earthquake in 2015. Bhaktapur.

योजना | planning Can ordinary people be trusted to use their heads in the conduct of their own affairs, or is superior wisom needed?

“

Can people free themselves from tutelage by state and corporate power and become autonomous again as active citizens in households, local communities, and regions? -John Friedmann

”

At the mercy of the state and the market forces, there is a need for an alternative model that shares a vision for the good of society. Friedmann’s idea of Radical Planning suggests such a model can be achevied by re-centering political power in civil society that will also reinstate citizen control as mentioned in Arnstein’s “A Ladder of Citizen Participation” Friedmann states that resources such as time, energy, knowledge and skill are pooled in the household economy prior to being reallocated to market, civil society, political community and state. Friedmann stresses on the need to rethink of the household as a sociopolitical entity for the selfproduction of life to transform both the state and corporate economy. For the recovery of the political community, all actors should believe in the reality of common interest and possibility of common good.

Traditional groups called Guthis that focus on collective practice have existed in the Newar communities of Kathmandu Valley since ages, primarily focused on working for the common good. This project builds on the tradition of the Guthi to propose a new means of empowering households in tradtitional communities

Knowledge to Action

tokenism

partnership delegation citizen power

social mobilization

citizen control practice

non-participation

informing consultation placation

social learning

emperical

manipulation therapy

action policy analysis theoretical + scientiﬁc

theoretical + scientiﬁc

knowledge

social reform

citizen power

participation Arenas of Radical Practice

Social Transformation through Planning As Friedmann mentions, it is important that we reinstate the political community in order to advance any reform activities. A political community, according to J.F. has the following characteristics • • Democratic theory has always asserted the soverign right of the people to determince their own forms of governance. But as a form of governance, democracy implies the acceptance of an encompassing view of the whole that is more than the sum of its parts and more than a residual after private interests are somehow subtracted. The very concept of citizen presumes the prior existence of a soverign political community more authoratative than the state . John Friedmann

• •

Their power sxtends over a given territorial base They enjoy historical continuity They are composed of Citizen members They are part of an ensemble of communities among which citizenship is shared.

It lead me to question how can individual ordinary people gain agency to make an impact.

गुगुठ ी | guthi ठी | guthi Council of Members

Guthi finances regular maintenance

Collective Land Ownership

of a wide oforheritage Based range on Caste Guthi finances regular maintenance items and monuments Patrilineal Grouping as or well as Aspects of Territorial a wide range of observance of cultural and Based on rituals Caste orheritage festivals items and monuments Patrilineal Grouping as or well as Territorial Aspects rituals and observance of cultural festivals

Generates Financial and Social Capital Collective Land Ownership were endowed with land donations from members Generates Financial and Guthis Social and sponsors. Capital

Council of Members

Guthis are usually structured

The land was collectively farmed or Guthis were endowed with land donations from members otherwise utilized by the local around kinship, caste or and sponsors. location. community, providing employment geographical

Guthis are usually structured around kinship, caste or geographical location.

and generating income for festivals, rituals and the maintenance of

The land was collectively farmed cultural or heritage items such as temples, and patis (rest-houses). otherwise utilized by the local community, providing employment and generating income for festivals, rituals and the maintenance of cultural heritage items such as temples, and patis (rest-houses).

Property that generates rent

Revenue helps funds repairs and pay for skill and labor

Productive Agricultural Land

Revenue

Revenue helps funds repairs pay for skill and labor

Property rent or and Agricultural produce Guthi is a form of social organization to support cultural and religious activities and resources.

Traditional Productive Agricultural Land

Proposed

Neighborhood Guthi is a form of social organization to create a shared weatlh and advance collective agency among neighborhood citizens

Council of Members

Traditional

Guthi will rely on the collective action of the members and the resources they can share.

Solidarity E co Revenue no

y m

Guthi is a form of social

Guthi based on residency in the neighborhood. The members are bound by the organizationconstitution to support of the cultural new organization.

Sharing Labor, Capital and Knowledge Helps generates Solidarity

Property rent or Agricultural produce

and religious activities and resources.

Pooled labor and capital allows participating households to thrive in the absence of the support of state or market

Appropriate common spaces with uses that beneﬁt the residents and member

Proposed Neighborhood Guthi is a form of social organization to create a shared weatlh and advance collective agency among neighborhood citizens

Guthis Council of Members

Elected Working Committee

Sharing Labor, Capital and Knowledge Registered as an non-proﬁt, the Helps generates Solidarity guthi will have gained the legal

y m

A policitcal community has always framework partner with local authorities and existed in the Newar community in the Guthi will rely on begin the collective action implementing in of the members interventions and the resources form a trust or Guthi in newari. The thetrust built environment they can share. Guthi based on residency in finances renovation of monuments the neighborhood. The and conducts from members are rituals bound by the the profit endowed land constitution ofor themoney new generates.

Solidarity E co no

Citizens share resources such as skill, space and labor.

organization.

This form of collective practices could potentially be reframed to General Assembly comprised aid in community and social design of residents of neighborhood that would be led by the community members. In a way they would be able to form an organization that would potentially work for the better of the residents and collaborate with neighboring communities. Elected Working Committee

Registered as an non-proﬁt, the guthi will have gained the legal

Pooled labor and capital allows participating households to thrive in the absence of the support of state or market

Initiate a microﬁnance lending pool to enable members to gain access to capital

Appropriate common spaces with uses that beneﬁt the residents and member

Revenue helps funds repairs and pay for skill and labor

Productive Agricultural Land

Revenue Property rent or Agricultural produce

गुठी | guthi

Guthi is a form of social organization to support cultural and religious activities and resources.

Traditional Proposed

Guthi finances regular maintenance of a wide range of heritage

Collective Land Ownership

Council of Members Generates Financial and Social Capital Based on Caste or Neighborhood Guthi is a form of social organization to create a shared weatlh and advance collective agency items among neighborhood citizens and monuments Patrilineal Grouping as or well as Guthis were endowed with land donations from members and sponsors.

Guthis are usually structured around kinship, caste or geographical location.

Council of Members

Sharing Labor, Capital and Knowledge Helps generates Solidarity Guthi will rely on the collective action of the members and the resources they can share.

Pooled labor and capital allows participating households to thrive in the absence of the support of state or market

Solidarity E c Property that on o generates rent

y m

Guthi based on residency in the neighborhood. The members are bound by the constitution of the new organization.

Territorial Aspects rituals and observance of cultural festivals

The land was collectively farmed or otherwise utilized by the local community, providing employment and generating income for festivals, rituals and the maintenance of cultural heritage items such as temples, and patis (rest-houses).

Appropriate common spaces with uses that beneﬁt the residents and member Revenue helps funds repairs and pay for skill and labor

Productive Agricultural Land

Revenue Property rent or Agricultural produce Guthi is a form of social organization to support cultural and religious activities and resources.

Elected Working Committee

Traditional Proposed Neighborhood Guthi is a form of social organization to create a shared weatlh and advance collective agency among neighborhood citizens

Council of Members

Sharing Labor, Capital and Knowledge Helps generates Solidarity Guthi will rely on the collective action of the members and the resources they can share.

Guthi based on residency in Citizens share resources the neighborhood. The skill, space and labor. members are bound by the constitution of the new organization.

Registered as an non-proﬁt, the guthi will have gained the legal framework partner with local authoritiesaand begin Initiate microﬁnance implementing interventions in lending pool to enable the built environment

Pooled labor and capital allows participating households to thrive in the absence of the support of state or market

such as

Elected Working Committee

General Assembly comprised of residents of neighborhood

Solidarity E co no

y m

Registered as an non-proﬁt, the guthi will have gained the legal framework partner with local authorities and begin implementing interventions in the built environment

Citizens share resources such as

skill, space and labor. members to gain access to capital

General Assembly comprised of residents of neighborhood Initiate a microﬁnance lending pool to enable members to gain access to capital

Appropriate common spaces with uses that beneﬁt the residents and member

Reframing Guthis In order to realize this new entity, Friedmann also talks on how it is important, regardless of spatial hierarchy, the structure should promote the ability to participate in collective decision making and influence the outcomes. Furthermore, to function politically, people must have appropriate meeting spaces for discussing their common affairs. A right to speech and assembly at least. Capitalizing off of Common Infrastructures The historic urban fabric in the valley is dotted with spaces such as the rest-houses called Patis and Sattals. These types of spaces are neither private or public but exist as common infrastructure. These spaces already facilitate a wide range of activities such as sun-basking or as meeting spots in the neighborhood and one thing people are often seen doing in these spaces is reading newspapers. Dissemination of Information By disseminating ideas of comoning, through comic strips in the newspapers, would engage the community on issues pertaining to the collective action in the public as well as their private domain.

गुठी | guthi Co-ordinated Housing Project

The Neighborhood Guthi provides loans for businesses or construction, creates shared facilities and plans for the neighborhood

Communal Laundry

Renovated House

Neighborhood Meeting Venue

Communal Laundry

Additional income from New Bakery shop, made it possible for the family to save for their children’s education

New Library

Air B’n’B Guthi runs an Air B’n’B in lieu of monthly installments to recover loan taken to rebuild the house Communal Laundry [wife] pursues her interest in accounting, taking classes on weekends

Handicraft business

Communal Laundry

Neighborhood Meeting Venue

Microﬁnance Oﬃce

Renovated House Microcredits from the microﬁnance helps family add a bathroom next to the grandmother’s room

Reframing Guthis

Toy Depot Kids learn the value of sharing

Communal Laundry

Toy Depot New Pottery Business Daughter participated in the pottery training courses and now employs two more residents

Communal Laundry

Rebuild House

Neighborhood Meeting Venue

New Pottery Business

Toy Depot Rebuild House

Rebuild House

Renovated House

Neighborhood Guthi aims to distribute power evenly among the individuals and groups by providing access to forums of collective decision making and ability to influence the outcomes. In order to do so, meetings are held in the common spaces - squares, courtyards and resthouse to discuss the common affairs. As a legitimate organization, the structure guarentees political right that is protected by law and press. Neighborhood Guthi can help negotiate planning for new development and ensure that it benefits the Guthi members.

I plan on building a hotel in the neighborhood. I assure you it will be better for you all too. The hotel would need to share its spaces with us for events and be a member of the guthi to operate.

Making use of the common spaces (squares, rest-houses, courtyards) spread across the trditional historic fabric of Kathmandu to disseminate ideas of collective practices, the new Guthi would engage the community into dialogues that liberate them from the clutches of the state and the market forces towards a more equitable development. Reframing the traditional practices then becomes a vital tool to build consensus and then the built environment. It would empower the ordinary people to author their environment and not become objects of the state and market forces. The new Guthi could potentially support women run businesses that emancipate them from their traditional roles in the society and will potentially support large scale developments such as cohousing.

TDOT NEXTGEN ULI Hines Competition . Spring 2018 . Group Entry TDOT â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Next Generation is a response to the demands of the diverse, growing world-class city of Toronto. The development is a hip and livable community nestled between the ASLA award-winning Corktown Commons and future East Harbor development. The neighborhood creates a unique residential environment through low-rise apartments, woonerf streets and a central square that boasts a community-focused retail experience with co-ops and farmers markets. Toronto is nothing if not hip. And TDOT matches that exceptionally. Startup offices, a centrally located makers-space, and subsidized housing maintain the open and egalitarian atmosphere that has made the

city world-renowned. Public space activation will make this neighborhood a draw for the downtown Toronto area. A global hub of business, finance, culture and arts, Toronto is projected to be the fastest growing region with the youngest age structure attributable to international migration and positive natural increase. Toronto continues to be home to experiments and new ideas, technology and an ever-evolving vision for tomorrow.

Right Masterplan highlighting three distinct categorizations of space

TDOT leverages its locational advantage and serves as the magnet attracting adjacent communities to its offerings of engagement for varied demographic – spaces and experiences for the young and the old, the individual and the collective; spaces that are sensitive to the expectations and the aspirations of the diverse population of the neighborhood– the West Don Lands, the historic residential blocks toward the northeast and the East Harbor development. The multimodal transit hub integrates with the pedestrian grid for the realization of the economic and experiential potential of this development. As the city prepares herself for still greater growth in

its numbers – of people, neighborhoods, and jobs and the consequent increase in demand for housing, community spaces, and employment prospects, TDOT presents answers for these requirements and more by horizontal and vertical integration of varied functions – health, food, retail, culture and art. TDOT shares the Next Generations’ strengths of diversity and dynamism and complements its exuberance with its built form and spaces. The design extends the urban grid into itself and prioritizes the pedestrian experience by creatively weaving together a variety of experiences within a single breath.

Right View along the main woonerf street that accommodates a range of

Below Submitted Competition board.

REST-STOPS Aiding Urban Mobility - Computational Design Urban Design Emerging Media - Computational Urbanism . Spring 2019 . Individual The concept of a rest house originates from the Newari Architecture rooted in the traditional cities of Kathmandu Valley. These were usually placed at entrances of the cities alongside a water fountain such that travelers and merchants could take some rest. At present, this module can be appropriated to ease pedestrian mobility in topographically diverse Pittsburgh as well as address issues regarding the lack of drinking fountains in the region. With regions in and around Pittsburgh facing issues such as flooding, the component itself could also cater to reducing stormwater runoff when placed along steeper slopes. Although this module is similar to a bus stop, the module could be present in any region, along any street regardless of bus routes and provides a space for the public to meet as well, eventually becoming a common space. Pittsburghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s topography to me seems very similar to Kathmanduâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Fascinated how transportation systems have been dealt with topography in the two regions, I was

interested to explore the pedestrian conditions in Pittsburgh and investigate its relationship with the existing public transportation system and ecology. There are resthouses in Kathmandu that allow pedestrians a chance to sit and at times drink from a water spout nearby. For Pittsburgh I explored a version of a resthouse that aids pedestrian mobility in the region that is also integrated to address issues such as stormwater management.

Context Due to its diverse topographical features, the region around the FourMile Run Sewershed was selected for the project. It is also well connected to public transportation system but there are large regions that would benefit from these rest stops. The sewershed comprises of two educational institutions and subsequently a larger student populations, making any improvements to urban commute important.

Top 3D Model of Oakland, Pittsburgh generated in Rhino using Grasshopper Below Methodology / scripting procedure adopted to dynamically create context responsive component distribution system in Grasshopper

Generating Context

Context Response - System Performance

Contours

Terrain

Calculate Slope [Angle of Normal and Z Vector]

Generate [Delauney Mesh]

Assign Color

Components based on Slope Values

Modifying Systems

Place on Terrain Site on Slope < 15 deg

Site Boundary Calculate Field of Absence for Bus Stops

Within 3 ft

Sort

Yes

Sort Site

Site on Slope 15 < 30 deg

Bus Stops

Distance to Bus Stops Street Edge [Edge of Pavement]

Distance to E.O.P

Site on Slope 30 < 50 deg

Place Components

Aligned Components

Analysis The provision of the rest-stops in any region would primarily depend on factors such as • Topography of the place how steep the slope is. • Distance and time required to walk to Bus Stops • Field of Absences regarding Bus Stops The rest-stop does not take up much space, 3’ x 15’ preferable, the gradient of the sidewalk would dictate presence of the following amenities such as a table, stormwater management units, garbage unit, seating, drinking fountain as well as the light and notice boards [on the shed] will be the standard across all variations of the components.

Based on the field of absence and distance from the nearest bus stop, different sites are selected. The need to improve the accessibility to bus stops is clearly evident, These sites are further sorted on the basis on the gradient of the sidewalk. In particular, there are three categories - Slope below 15 deg - Slope 15-30 deg - Slope 30 -50 deg. Components, later discussed, are aligned to the sidewalk each imparting a character unique to the topography.

Right Heat Map created to visualize the different slope and terrain conditions within the defined boundary and dynamically selecting suitable intervention points in Grasshopper, Rhino

Component Selection of components were based on what an urban commuter might need during the walks to and from a busstop. These infrastructures aid people and encourages more people to walk to busstops, effectively increase the walking radius.

b a c

d d e

Shed

Water Fountain

Table

Seats [w/backrest]

Newspaper + Garbage Unit

Stormwater Detention Tanks

Right Scenarios and distribution of components dependent on the slope of the terrain.

Scenarios Scenario 1 [Slope 0-15 degree] When a situated on a flatter topography, the components are swapped to promote discussion among the users and also create an inviting appearance. A table and stool configuration is opted for in this case.

Scenario 2 [Slope 15-30 degree] It would be quite the challenge to walk such slopes so a configuration with back-rest is adopted for this scenario. Other standard components are, however, present.

Scenario 3 [Slope 30-50 degree] The configuration on the steepest slope among the three scenarios, spaces are reserved to allow pedestrians to place their bags or luggage on a flat surface rather than on the ground.

Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Scenario 3

Final Design The addition of rest-stops will not only aid the urban commuter but also provide an opportunity to build social cohesion and be ecologically responsible.

spaces to exist regardless of the built structures.

Component Distribution

Unlike Kathmanduâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case, where such common spaces were built into the urban fabric, the urban environment in Pittsburgh allows such

Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3

Computational Script Preview The parametric design solution was reached using Grasshopper scripts in Rhino. The points selected for the different scenarios were based on the contour profile of the region loaded into the script. Depending on the slope value calculated, the components are placed on the topographical mesh and aligned to the street edge of pavements.

Right Previews of the scripts developed for analysis and design development.

LANDSCAPE FEASIBILITY STUDY Professional . 2015. Lanscape Feasibility Study of Rt. Hon. Prime Ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Govt. Residence The project was awarded as a result of a Tender Bidding process evaluating the financial and the technical qualifications of UDEC Pvt Ltd. The proposed design is done on the eastern section of the Hon. Prime Ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residence, Kathmandu and incorporates the existing built structures as well. Working on the critical details vital to the landscape design, I also led the 3D development and visualization for the project along with preparing architectural and structural estimates for the project. Frequent meetings with landscape designers were carried out to finalize the types of plants to be included in the project and its placement.

Integrating design with existing buildings to improve mobility and increase permeable surfaces

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Checking / Security Unit (Proposed) Meeting Hall

Security Post

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A.F.P. Mess Hall

Prime Minister Personal Secretarait Block

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Description

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Landscape Feasibility Study of Rt. Honourable Prime Minister's Gov. Residence at Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal

Scale : As Mentioned

AR Top 1 Proposed Masterplan 1" Thk Flagstone Paving

Jwagal, Kupundole, Lalitpur Ph. No. : 01-5011149

Date : Shrawan 2071

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URBAN DESIGN AND ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS (UDEC) PVT. LTD.

6" 3"

Anamnagar, Kathmandu, Nepal

Naresh Amatya Kailash Shrestha

PROPOSED LANDSCAPE PLAN

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Building Construction and Maintenance Division Office

Architect :

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Government of Nepal MInistry of Physical Planning and Works Department of Urban Development and Building Construction

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Landscape Feasibility Study of Rt. Honourable Prime Minister's Gov. Residence at Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal

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NEW MASTERPLAN OF MINISTERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; QUARTER Professional . 2015. Client - Government of Nepal A conceptual design submission of a multifamily residential development for the ministers of the Govt. of Nepal, the prowposal was to upgrade the existing single dwelling housing complex by adopting an efficient and modern plan. While modeling the project, I was able to bring into discussions passive solar gain strategies and alternatives to orient the towers and the park. I was also tasked with the research on adopting universal design principles as to create a better accessible design throughout the complex.

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FLOOR AREA : 571.90 SQ.M UNIT AREA : 247.00 SQ.M CIRCULATION : 77.15 SQ.M

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EW MASTER PLAN OF MINISTERS' QUARTER

RIHAR BHAWAN, LALITPUR, NEPAL

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TITLE :

MULTI STOREY TOWER ELEVATION (13 STOREY)

ARCHITECT : PURUSHOTTAM DANGOL NARESH AMATYA

DWG. TYPE :

JOB ARCHITECT : BINITA MAGAIYA/ SUJAN D. SHRESTHA

ACHITECTURAL CONCEPT DWG.

SCALE : AS SHOWN

DATE : SEPTEMBER 2013

FLOOR AREA : 571.90 SQ.M UNIT AREA : 247.00 SQ.M CIRCULATION : 77.15 SQ.M

WELINK CONSULTANTS (P) LTD. Tebahal Tole, New Road, Kathmandu, Nepal Ph. No. : 01-4242347, 01-4242456 Fax : 977-1-4241925

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RESIDENCE MRS. NARAYANI RANA Professional . 2017 . Under-Construction The residence is designed for a family of 4 members and is located at Lalitpur, Kathmandu. The spaces are planned so that ample sunlight enters the habitable spaces even in the winter season along with some of the principles of Vaastu Shastra an ancient planning doctrine. The client required a larger room for worship as it needed to accommodate 5-6 people in order to perform various rituals and is placed at the

North-East Corner suitable for such rooms as per the Vaastu Shastra. The contemporary outlook of the 1800 sq.ft. residence is designed so as to blend in with the new developing residential area. The final outcome - an economical and efficient design that would allow the family to age-inplace. Right Rendered view of the residence

The site with a high water table required a deeper trench with a layer of crushed stone on the foundation footing. This provides a stable footing in case the water table rises during the monsoon. Structural tests were conducted to ensure that the structure is earthquake resilient.

Above Rendered view of the house Right A sample of architectural and structural drawings submitted for building permits

RESIDENCE MRS. USHA SHRESTHA Professional - Design Build - Kathmandu . 2017 . Completed Built for an extended family of five, I designed this house as a place where future generations can continue living. Considering Kathmanduâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s climate, the house utilizes passive solar heat gain as much as possible to heat the habitable rooms. Winter sun penetrates deep into the rooms whereas the intense summer sun is limited to the balconies, achieved through the careful calculation and design of the facade.

Project Cost - $125,000 Duration - 8 Months

Right Habitable rooms such as bedrooms and living rooms have been placed on the southern side, inviting warm sunlight from the large openings during cold winter days.

A region that receives a lot of rainfall, the design incorporates economical yet effective techniques such as soak pits to promote groundwater recharge.

Solar Water Heating system is incorporated to reduce dependence on National Power Grids

Directing rainwater to two different soakpits by adjusting slopes on terraces

Soak Pit 1

Above Schematic drawing of soakpits to promote groundwater recharge Right Top Shot during the construction phase - Large openings allow daylight to penetrate deep into the rooms and frames a scenic natural view. Right Bottom House after completion

EMOTIONAL MAPPING Data Analytics for Urban Design . Fall 2018 . Final Project As an urban designer, one of the heavily emphasized methods of understanding a neighborhood or a territorial entity is usually through the data that is readily available. Primarily the population, the demographics and the income of the region are some of the statistics that grab the attention. This data set is defined by boundaries and numbers, a method that clearly separates and does not include how a space feels and looks. Furthermore, what is hidden from that dataset is how a person feels. As Jan Gehl mentions that qualitative values are also equally important to understand urban life and public space, my attempt through this project was to evaluate similar values. Perceptions of a space that one ties to a place or a neighborhood is also an essential component in this study. Although quantitative datasets have a clearly defined boundary of neighborhoods, people have a less faint idea of the extent of such intangible lines. Cores that express a stronger sense of place are clearly identifiable

Left

but as one moves closer to the edge of a neighborhood, the extent becomes blurrier and this affects how people feel as well. Investigating the subjective realm to understand a place and the different picture it portrays is the overall goal of the study.

Chord diagram showing relationship between place and emotions Right Synthesis of the data as an abstract transition of emotions created using Photoshop and Illustrator based on data generated from survey and Insights for ArcGIS

Data Collection The study is based more on the subjective responses of the surveyor and thus the qualitative dataset would be more descriptive. Geolocation is crucial to locate the attributes to a place and thus for this purpose, An app called Reporter was used as it allows the user to prepare surveys and record data such as the geo-location, sound levels, and weather. The data were directly collected from the surveyor and the sensors on the phone. The dataset generated can be exported as a CSV file or a .json file-format that can be used with Carto or ArcGIS among other tools. A couple of iterations of data collection were performed before finalizing on a set of questions and options that could be useful. Some of the questions that have been included in the final survey were• • •

How big does a space feel? Are the people engaged in the place? What does the place look

• • •

like? What neighborhood are you in? What do you feel? Does the place feel safe?

Above Screenshots of the Reporter App

A couple of busy spots on Forbes and Murry Ave in Squirrel Hill as well as the Strip District seemed exciting to be in.

However, the region north of 22nd St on Penn Ave and Baum Blvd did not seem safe to be at. Analysis Most of the spaces that I felt were not big or closer to a more human scale were present along Murray Ave and then on Penn Ave (Strip District) between 17th St and 22nd street. Most of the big spaces looked more dull, empty, or car-centric whereas spaces of a smaller scale looked defined, pedestrian, colorful as well. Murray Ave and Penn Ave on the Strip District seemed more pedestrian friendly whereas few places of Baum Blvd on Bloomfield, East Liberty and the block between 25th and 26th street on Penn Ave looked more vehicle oriented. However, I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell if the Strip District had ended when I reached the 29th St on Penn Ave. The space was not defined and is open and looks empty as well.

Above Data analysis done using Insights for ArcGIS Using Trycolors.com to create tonal values dependent on the colors assigned to the emotions

Above Synthesis of the data. A gradient stretched to represent the change in emotions felt as I walked down the streets in the Strip District and Murray Ave on Squirrel Hill

3D/ DATA VISUALIZATION FOR URBAN DESIGN AND PLANNING Research in collaboration with City of Pittsburgh, led by Remaking Cities Institute . Summer 2018 In 2016, the Remaking Cities Institute received funding from the Deloitte Foundation and the Heinz Endowments to research and test existing 3D visualization programs for urban design and city planning such as Geographic Information System (GIS), Building Information Modeling (BIM), and 3D simulation programs. Three applications of the software programs were investigated: • To analyze potential and proposed development projects • To test zoning and urban design regulations • To determine the capacity of city infrastructure.

The primary research goal was to select the most appropriate 3D programs for the Pittsburgh Department of City Planning for everyday use. A second goal was to publish the results of the research for the use of planning departments in other cities, private consultants, real estate developers, academics, and researchers. A significant challenge of the study was to demonstrate how to communicate design scenarios and abstract data to elected officials, private developers, academic institutes, and citizens using 3D visualization tools.

Geospatial

ArcGIS for AutoCAD

Export feature class

ArcGIS Pro

Import

Export as .fbx

Right An overview of the workflows I designed for the research .depicting adopted softwares workflows to achieve a certain task

CityEngine

Export as .Dae / .obj

3D Modeling and Visualization

Virtual and Augmented Reality

Communication

Export as .dae / .obj Export as .pdf

Export 2D Linework as .ai or dwg

Import 3D File as .Dae / .obj

Rhino Export as .dae/ .obj

Illustrator

Import 3D File as .Dae / .obj

Share as .dwg

Unity

Share as .dwg

AutoCAD

InDesign

Import .skp

Export 2D Linework as .eps or .dwg

SketchUp

V-Ray [Plugin]

Rendering

Share as .dwg

Run Plugin in Sketchup for VR

VR Sketch [Plugin]

Export or Save Images

Photoshop

Print as .pdf

Export to Augmented Reality App

AuGEO

Revit

Lumion

Story Maps

Share as Layer Package

Workﬂow Overview

Export as Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine

VRML format

Webscenes Scene Manager

REMAKING CITIES INSTITUTE |

Below A video using the workflow was created for the research where models created in Sketchup, Revit and Rhino were translated to a Geospatial tool such as ArcGIS Pro and then to CityEngine, to envision the different scenarios in an immersive environment utilizing the VR capabilities of Unreal Engine.

As the Data Visualization Research Assistant, acting in the capacity as a lead student researcher, I was responsible for developing the workflows across the different identified categories of software that designers today incorporate in their practice as well as investigating issues pertaining to data and software interoperability. The workflows were developed after the team surveyed a breadth of professionals, universities,

Geospatial

3D Modeling and Visualization

and students. Working with the Pittsburgh City Planning Department, we were able to discuss ways to ease collaboration between the public and private practitioners as well as could help disseminate information to the public better. Although softwares do have their share of challenges, the study helps convey the deficiency in the softwares but also highlights the workarounds to achieve a certain task using available and familiar tools. Virtual and Augmented Reality

Communication

Export as .dae / .obj Export as .pdf

ArcGIS for AutoCAD

Export 2D Linework as .ai or dwg

Import 3D File as .Dae / .obj

Rhino Export as .dae/ .obj

Illustrator

Import 3D File as .Dae / .obj

Export feature class

Share as .dwg

AutoCAD

ArcGIS Pro

Share as .dwg

Import .skp

Export 2D Linework as .eps or .dwg

SketchUp

V-Ray [Plugin]

Rendering

Share as .dwg

Run Plugin in Sketchup for VR

VR Sketch [Plugin]

Export or Save Images

Photoshop

Print as .pdf

Import

Export to Augmented Reality App

AuGEO

Revit

Lumion

Story Maps

Share as Layer Package

Export as .fbx

InDesign

Unity

CityEngine Export as Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine

VRML format

Webscenes Scene Manager

Export as .Dae / .obj

VR Visualization

REMAKING CITIES INSTITUTE |

AN ATLAS OF COMMONING Research - Commoning the City . 2018 . Carnegie Mellon University . Supervised by Stefan Gruber

Commoning the City studio at CMU as the research entity in collaboration with Arch+ and ifa is then responsible for the traveling exhibition “An Atlas of Commoning” where we study such practices of citizen-led initiatives that are helping transform the city. The study of these bottom-up approaches then materialized as additions to the traveling exhibition “The Atlas of Commoning” organized around three axes of negotiation: • Tension between ownership and shared access, • Tension between production and reproductive labor, • Tension between solidarity and the right to the world. I was responsible for reaching out to the assigned organizations or people involved in these practices and investigate their process more. The end result was achieved through synthesizing the information through multiple iterations to produce a pamphlet that showcases the organization’s social contract and the instance of commoning diagrammatically.

AN ATLAS OF COM,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,MONING SPACES OF

COLLECTIVE PRODUCTION

An exhibition by the ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) in collaboration with ARCH+

JUNE 29 – SEPTEMBER 22, 2019 RECEPTION

Sat. June 29, 5:30-7:30pm

SALON SERIES

Neither Public, Nor Private Thurs. July 18, 6-8pm

SYMPOSIUM

Designing for a Commons Transition Thurs. Sept. 19 – Sat. Sept. 21

MILLER ICA AT CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

miller-ica.cmu.edu Purnell Center for the Arts 5000 Forbes Ave.

Free + Open to the Public

Research partners:

Host institution + collaboration partners:

Summer Hours

Thurs.–Sun., 12-6pm

Regular Hours

Tues.–Sun., 12-6pm

Supported by:

Illustrations top: Manuel Herz, Rights on Carpet, Teppich Ausstellungsansicht, swissnex, San Francisco, USA, 2017 © Manuel Herz Architects; left: Dragon Court Village, Architekturmodell, TU Berlin, 2018 Photo: Simone Gilges © ifa; right: Latham Street Commons, Pittsburgh, USA, 2018 © Latham Street Commons

Design: Heimann + Schwantes, Berlin

A practice outside the public and private spheres, or state and market binary, I define the commons to be the practice of self-organization, management and ownership of collective resources and spaces. The verb, to practice it, being commoning.

AN ATLAS OF COM,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Reproducing a whole cosmos ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, under one collective roof ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MONING

TUKANO MALOCA AMAZON REGION, COLOMBIA

COMMON GROUND After many other attempts they (the four immortals: Imarika Kaifu, Imarika Borokurí, Imarika Monokurí, Imarika Kayafikí) built a house that looked like a small Maloca with one big post in the center and twelve midsized posts around it. Yaifotsirimaki (the grandfather) said as they asked for leaves: “No, that is not a Maloca. In this house you can comfortably eat alone; in the big Maloca you cannot eat alone. That is a house to eat frogs in. In there a man lives alone with his wife and children; someone who doesn’t plan to celebrate dances … Why do you want to build a Maloca? You live well now. You don’t suffer diseases, gossip or fights; that all comes with the Maloca. The posts bring the disease; the poles and the fence bring the gossip and fights.”

TUKANO MALOCA

They: “We don’t want to talk about that; we brought you tobacco and coca so you can tell us how the Maloca is made.” He: “Well, look here in my chest, (and he measured the distance between his nipples and transferred it to his stomach) – Look; this is how you put in the four central posts. You have to ask for the posts, poles and fence. Everything has an owner, everything belongs to me. Ask in the right way and pay the materials with coca and tobacco.” Excerpt from “The Myth of the Maloca,” in: Martín von Hildebrand, “Origen Del Mundo Según Los Ufaina” [Origins of the World according to the Ufaina], Revista Colombiana de Antropología, no. 18 (1975): 331.

TUKANO MALOCA Research: Maria Mora Amazon region, Colombia, no date Malocas are the traditional houses of the Tukano people in the Vaupés region of the Colombian Amazon. They are often circular in shape and each one serves as a collective shelter for several families. A community is born with the construction of each maloca. The large wooden structure serves primarily as a dwelling, although it can feature many simultaneous uses such as a workplace, a temple, or a burial site. The spontaneous overlapping of productive and reproductive processes inside the maloca contrasts strongly with the modern logic of separation between living and working. The circular spatial configuration offers different zones of activities: the center is reserved for rituals and common activities, while the periphery is more private. The Tukano societies view the maloca as the center of their world. The jungle, the river, and the crops make up the rest of this larger spatial system, which is charged with symbolic and meta phorical significance. In its architecture, the whole cosmos of the Tukano replicates itself on a smaller scale.

BRADDOCK CARNEGIE LIBRARY • Poster: This drawing collage by Sujan Das Shrestha is based on the Urban Design Thesis “The Urban Maloca: A Communal House in the Concrete Jungle” by Maria Mora, with Prof. Rainer Hehl, TU Berlin and secondary sources. Sketches and photographs have been redrawn, modif ied and rearranged. The condensed, edited, and rearranged dialogs are from the following sources: 1. Based on a sketch by Maria Mora, 2015.; 2. Maria Mora, “The Urban Maloca: A Communal House in the Concrete Jungle,” Urban Design Thesis (2015) with Prof. Rainer Hehl, TU Berlin., 3. Building the Maloca, video, Povos Indígenas No Brasil, no date, vimeo.com/137270659 (01:54), accessed June 1, 2018 A research project by the Master of Urban Design at Carnegie Mellon University • Photo: © Martín von Hildebrand, 1977

An Atlas of Commoning: Orte des Gemeinschaf fens An ifa exhibition in collaboration with ARCH+ • ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) is Germany’s oldest intermediary organisation for international cultural relations, having celebrated its centenary in 2017. ifa is supported by the Federal Foreign Off ice of the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Baden-Württemberg and its capital Stuttgart. www.ifa.de/en • ARCH+ is Germany’s leading publication for discourse in the f ields of architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines. www.archplus.net • Graphic Design: Heimann + Schwantes, Berlin © 2018 Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e. V. (ifa), Stuttgart , Germany; authors; artists

AN ATLAS OF COM,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, THE BRADDOCK ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Responsibility Ownership ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, • US ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Steel Group • US Steel Group (1901-1960) (1901-1960) ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, • School District • School District (1960-1980) (1960-1980) ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Carnegie • Braddock • Braddock ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Reviving a 19 century library Carnegie Library Association as a Association community centerLibrary for serving ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, (including • Users “mind, body and soul.” volunteers) ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,M • Organizations that share the space ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MONING

THE BRADDOCK CARNEGIE LIBRARY BRADDOCK, UNITED STATES Access From 1888 – 1980 Enclosed Property

From 1980 – Present Civic Commons

Use

Benefit

Care

• Library open to all but Black and Jews • Employees of Edgar Thomson SteelWorks • Carnegie Club Members (Paid Membership)

• Facilities except library, restricted to members of Carnegie Club and employees of the Edgar Thomson Works and their families

• Employees of steel works and family members • Club members

• Carnegie Endowments • US Steel Group • School District

• Free to all

• Neogtiated and set by Braddock Carnegie Libary Association

• Any user irrespective of place of residency - Children and Teens - Youths - Adults

• Braddock Carnegie Library Association • Users (including volunteers) • Organizations that share the space

PAST AND PRESENT ORGANIZATION

CARNEGIE LIBRARY th

THE BRADDOCK CARNEGIE LIBRARY Braddock, United States, 1889–1974, 1983–present

What started out as a barter with artists, the Neighborhood Print Shop is now a resource for the community, especially the youth, to express their feelings.

The Bathhouse Ceramics Studio is open to all those who want to learn and experiment to work with clay. We share the space with Braddock Tiles, a socially engaged business that produces handmade tiles, while training and employing youth.

When the Pittsburgh region’s manufacturing industry declined, the Braddock Carnegie Library—the first of 1, We share space with 689 Carnegie public libraries to open in the U.S. — fell into organizations that will help disrepair. Led by its last librarian, the grassroots group improve the economic and Braddock Field History Society saved the vacant edifice; social conditions the library in 1983, after reopening a single room as a of children’s Braddock they slowly reoccupied thecommunity. building. Today all usable spaces have been activated with neighborhood-centered services and resources for sharing interests and information. The library lends puppets, tools, chairs and tables for community events as well as art works from renowned artists. It houses a neighborhood print shop, ceramic studio and gymnasium. The completed building renovation and its programs aim at reflecting the dignity of every single neighbor while being guided by Carnegie’s dictum of serving “mind, body and soul.”

Print Shop

For more information, visit: wwwbraddockcarnegielibrary.org

Children and Teen Library

Ceramic Studio

Art Lending Library

The Bathhouse Ceramic Studio came into being, as part of an effort to transform an old church into an art based community center built for and by the people of North Braddock. As its roof needed repair, we asked: Why buy tiles when you can make them and provide skills training and employment for locals? 3

Posters published 1. Tukano Maloca 2. The Braddock Carnegie Library

• Poster: This drawing collage by Sujan Das Shrestha is based on f ieldwork and secondary sources that have been redrawn, modif ied and rearranged. The condensed, edited, and rearranged dialogs are based on interviews with stakeholders, and from secondary sources: 1. Bill Schackner: “From its sweeping stairways to a grand music hall, hundreds tour original U.S. Carnegie Library,” in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of March 20, 2019, post-gazette.com/local/east/2019/03/30/BraddockAndrew-Carnegie-f irst-U-S-library-1888-rededication/ stories/201903300049, aceessed on March 5, 2019. 2. Dana Bishop-Root quoted in Kealey Boyd: “Can Art Lending Libraries Empower a New Generation of Collectors?” in Hyperallergic, April 20, 2018, hyperallergic.com/437125/art-lending-libraries, accessed May 19, 2019. 3. See kickstarter.com/projects/heliotrope/braddocktiles/description, and facebook.com/BraddockTiles/ videos/934064753339074, accessed on September 28, 2019. 4. Jawuan Betto in kickstarter.com/projects/heliotrope/ braddock-tiles/description, accessed on September 28, 2019. 5. Based on an interview with Victoria L. Vargo by Sujan Das Shrestha on October 3, 2018. • Photo: The Art Lending Collection at Braddock Carnegie Library created by the artist collective Transformazium. © Ben Filio for The Sprout Fund

Gym

“A library is about the free exchange of resources and ideas. It operates outside of the dominate or capitalist system.” 2

Right

We are still renovating the Music Hall, access to the building and transforming the basement swimming pool into an event space dubbed the Book Dive. 1

The library is not all about books. We have furniture, gardening equipments as well as puppets you can borrow. ⁵

“I think of it like a good opportuniy to learn how to build stuff and how to communicate with other people. You know, it’s all about learning new stuff.” 4

A research project by the Master of Urban Design program led by Stefan Gruber at Carnegie Mellon University. https://soa.cmu.edu/mud The research was supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, as well as by CMU’s School of Architecture Margaret B. Gruger Fund, the Berkman Faculty Development Fund and the Fund for Research and Creativity of the College of Fine Arts. An Atlas of Commoning : Places of Collective Production An ifa exhibition in collaboration with ARCH+ • ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) is Germany’s oldest intermediary organisation for international cultural relations, having celebrated its centenary in 2017. ifa is supported by the Federal Foreign Off ice of the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Baden-Württemberg and its capital Stuttgart. www.ifa.de/en • ARCH+ is Germany’s leading publication for discourse in the f ields of architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines. www.archplus.net • Graphic Design: Heimann + Schwantes, Berlin © 2019 School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University; authors; artists

COMMON G

Throughout our 130 years we wor adapt to changing needs of the c of these transitions, we continue ing resources needed by and des process of uplifting requires liste and befriending. But it results in a desire to uplift others, and a se problems with solutions rather th experience with drastic economic grounded us in the knowledge th a value system based on culture, learning for all regardless of your ground.

Excerpts from “The road to our future…” billionpenniesproject.o

BRADDOCK CARNEGIE LIBRARY

Ownership

• US Steel Group (1901-1960) • School District (1960-1980)

• Free to all

• Neogtiated and set by Braddock Carnegie Libary Association

• Any user irrespective of place of residency - Children and Teens - Youths - Adults

• Braddock Carnegie Library Association • Users (including volunteers) • Organizations that share the space

• Braddock Carnegie Library Association

PAST AND PRESENT ORGANIZATION

BREATHE PROJECT

Excerpts from “The road to our future…” billionpenniesproject.org/our-past, accessed on May 19, 2019.

We share space with organizations that will help improve the economic and social conditions of the Braddock community.

What started out as a barter with artists, the Neighborhood Print Shop is now a resource for the community, especially the youth, to express their feelings.

COMMON GROUND

CITY OF ASYLUM

[7] ALPHABET CITY KHET MAR

PITTSBURGH, UNITED STATES

City of Asylum creates a thriving community for writers, readers, and neighbors. We provide sanctuary to endangered literary writers, so that the writers can continue to write and their voices are not silenced. And we offer a broad range of free literary, arts, and humanities programs in a community setting to build social equity through cultural exchange. We anchor neighborhood economic development by transforming blighted properties into homes for our programs.

RADIO FREE ASIA BURMA HOUSE

HTAY TANG

House Publication

SILVIA DUARTE JOURNALIST

SAMPSONIA WAY MAGAZINE

HORACIO MOYA AUTHOR

Jazz Concert

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA [4] WINGED HOUSE

WOLE SOYINKA

Sampsonia Way Magazine

[3] JAZZ HOUSE

Alphabet City Center OLIVER LAKE

[2] JAZZ POETRY CONCERT

THE CENTURY MOUNTAIN PROJECT

WILLIAM ROCK ARTIST

Excerpts from City of Asylum, cityofasylum.org/about/mission/, and alphabetcity.org/about-us/ accessed May 1, 2019.

[1] HOUSE POEM

HUANG XIANG 2006

2008

2010

2012

The artist-designed garden is paved with bricks that are inscribed with hand-written alphabet letters in numerous character systems. The original letters in the bricks were contributed by neighbors and visitors, so it is literally a community garden. 1

Alphabet Reading Garden [5]

ORGANIZATION’S HISTORY AND GROWTH

Jazz House

Burma House

Winged House

House Poem

2018

“I left my country in an extreme situation and I came here not for only security; I came here for freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of writing and freedom for living a certain way.” 3 -- Tuhin Das

on te

2016

Countinous work afterwards City of Asylum program

re y St

2014

Refugee artist in residency Non-resident artist

[3]

[6]

[4]

[1]

Sampsonia Way

[7] We grew from a single row house to programming concerts, readings, publishings and screenings. But the artists will always remain at the heart of our mission. 4

City of Asylum Bookstore

Restaurant –Brugge On North

ALPHABET CITY

r St

COMMON GROUND

GARFIELD COMMUNITY FARM CSA membership for weekly produce Sponsorship and Grant

Permaculture is based on three ethics: 1. 2. 3.

Earth care People care Fair share

And twelve principles: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Observe and interact Capture and store energy Obtain a yield Apply self-regulation and accept feedback Use and value renewable resources and services Produce no waste Design from pattern to details Integrate rather than segregate Use small and slow solutions Use and value diversity Use edges and value the marginal Creatively use and respond to change

CSA

Support from 7 Churches

Sprout Fund PNC Trust

Foundations

Family Foundations

Microgreens are delivered weekly

Food

Spring Cookout, Plant Sale, Intro to Permaculture, Volunteer Day...

Farm Tour and Community Events

Fresh Vegetables, Fruits, Honey, Cider...

Mobile Farmer Market

$Income ORGANIZATION CHART

Excerpts from garf ieldfarm.com/at-the-farm/, accessed on May 28, 2019.

Vegetable Fields

Bioshelter

Hives

Cob Oven & Picnic Area

Compost Area

raising concerns for air quality in neighborhoods

drafting new regulations and ordinances

PEOPLE TO

meeting like-minded communities and developing social bonds

developing phased plans to work towards common goal

U NIT Y POR

SmellPGH App

Breathe Project uses sound science and technology to better understand air quality and public health, in order to provide opportunities for citizens to engage and take action.

“Allegheny County remains one of the worst in the country when it comes to protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink. Our risk factors for cancer, asthma, and more are off the charts. Pittsburgh’s recent lead crisis is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our aging infrastructure, particularly in working-class communities.” 1 -- Summer Lee

“As active citizens who are concerned with the air quality in Pittsburgh, we are protesting at County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s office every Friday with indisputable data provided by the crowdsourced SmellPGH App.” 2

COMMON GROUND

COMMUNITY FORGE WILKINSBURG, UNITED STATES

Our mission is to grow an inclusive Community Space dedicated to creating opportunities for Wilkinsburg by supporting small business, promoting learning, contributing to neighborhood wellbeing, and cultivating regional partnerships. From our outreach and community board members, we heard three main values rise to the top. 1.

Johnston Elementary School should continue to be a place for kids, promoting youth learning.

We should promote the prosperity of those in Wilkinsburg through employment opportunities and support to build sustainable businesses.

We should keep Johnston Elementary accessible to all those who went to school there.

Excerpts from History and Mission of Community Forge at: communityforge.github.io/www_dev/about, accessed October 16, 2018.

TYPICAL CYCLE OF URBAN DECLINE AFTER DEINDUSTRIALIZATION ¹

Industrial Decline

Workforce Deduction

Vacant Industrial Infrastructure

Fitness

Teachers People are unemployeed

Crime Scholars

Depression

Artists

Lack of Investor Confidence

Low Aspiration

People spend less money

Low School Grades Low Skill Labor

Dancers

People move to find jobs

Poverty

Vacancy

Dereliction of Industrial Premise

Adaptive Re-use

Sports

Population Loss

Decline of Locality

Business Incubator

Closure of Schools and other Civic Institutions Increase in Criminal Activities

Councelling

Increase in Blight

Astro Club

Social Gathering

Co-working Spaces

Democratic Socialists of America Political Group

Gwen’s Girls

PGH Learning Commons

Free Eye Check-up

I volunteer in the garden on weekends. Many people are excited to see this becoming a community center with opportunities to engage. 3

I help with administrative work in exchange for a co-working space. 4

A burned out brake light is the most common reasons for a traffic stop, increasing the likelihood of police interaction. At “Gimme A Brake (Light)” anyone can get help with fixing their brake or tail lights! 5

Political Events

GHP Fitness Coaching

Xpogo

Are you coming to the the steelpan performance with the Wilkinsburg Youth Steel Orchestra? You’ll love the Afro-Caribbean beats. 2

Community Forge was formed by a group of eight young adults with the purpose of revitalizing the former Johnston Elementary School in Wilkinsburg as a community resource. Currently home to over 30 entrepreneurs, artists, educators, and youth service providers, the community center provides access to space, people, programs and skills with the potential to transform lives. Its main mission is to promote learning, support employment opportunities and contribute to neighborhood wellbeing. At Community Forge, youth empowerment means not only providing youth programs, but also giving them the power to take on leadership and make decisions on issues which matter to them. The Community Forge Youth Advisory Council is actively molding Community Forge’s space and programming, including the co-design of the current playground and educational landscape.

I'm involved with the Golden Pillow project, a community outreach and sewing program for runaway children and homeless youth. I am also working on launching my own fashion brand. 4

The Community Forge Youth Advisory Council is a team of youth who are decision-makers at Community Forge. Currently, they lead our playground development efforts, give advice on programs, and are helping develop and run youth events. 6 I agree with all the rules. I think we should also add the hours when we can use the playground.

A research project by the Master of Urban Design program led by Stefan Gruber at Carnegie Mellon University. https://soa.cmu.edu/mud The research was supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, as well as by CMU’s School of Architecture Margaret B. Gruger Fund, the Berkman Faculty Development Fund and the Fund for Research and Creativity of the College of Fine Arts. An Atlas of Commoning: Places of Collective Production An ifa exhibition in collaboration with ARCH+ • ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) is Germany’s oldest intermediary organisation for international cultural relations, having celebrated its centenary in 2017. ifa is supported by the Federal Foreign Off ice of the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Baden-Württemberg and its capital Stuttgart. www.ifa.de/en • ARCH+ is Germany’s leading publication for discourse in the f ields of architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines. www.archplus.net • Graphic Design: Heimann + Schwantes, Berlin © 2019 School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University; authors; artists

COMMON GROUND

GENERAL SISTERS, GENERAL STORE BRADDOCK, UNITED STATES

General Sisters has an expansive bottom line: 1.

Our investment transforms an unusable building into a building with equity that will remain in the hands of our neighbors.

From the foundation, to the roof, to its contents, General Sisters is built from the generous and active redistribution of resources, manifesting a tangible practice for re-thinking capitalism, and consumer agency; while emphasizing the intersectionality of the economy, the environment, the social and quality of life.

People want to be healthy and nourished regardless of income. Not one of us is healthy until all of us are healthy.

General Sisters is a catalytic space for regional and neighborhood food enterprises as well as a common, safe place for neighborhood residents to gather, exchange and learn together.

Grand View Golf Club

The fracking proposed at the Grand View Golf Club would bore 2500-3000 meters into the earth, then turn ninety degrees and drill horizontally 1.5 km. Fluids would be pumped into the ground, pressurizing the pipeline and forcing oil and gases out of the earth.

General Sisters, General Store Edgar Thomson Steel Works

General Sisters will be a place for creative commerce. Our key ingredients are agency, flavor, and conversation. While we fundraise and build the storefront, we operate a healing garden generating tonics, healthy soil and healthy bodies. We give away and sell our products as they are available. 1

Excerpts from generalsisters.com/2015/03/28/general-sisters-expansive-bottom-line/, accessed October 1, 2018.

Monongahela River

Between the mill and the proposed fracking at Grand View Golf Club, residents like me suffer respiratory problems and cancer. The Healing Garden is a great place for making new friends and rejuvenating. 2

Plant Tunnel

Labyrinth Garden

GENERAL SISTERS, GENERAL STORE Braddock, United States, since 2012

Our Bioshelter provides an indoor ecosystem in which food can be produced year round. We use insulation, insulated glazing, earth sheltering, animals, rain water collection, solar panels for electricity, and passive air ventilation. 1

You can pick any herbs from the labyrinth garden as topping for your pizza. The oven is hot!

The ground is contested in Braddock, Pennsylvania. General Sisters is the process of building a grocery store as neighbors with the intent to cultivate the ground, and “make healthy eating and gathering around food available within walking distance for the neighborhood.” Instead of consumerism, General Sisters encourages collaborative production, sharing skills and resources taking the neighborhood’s environmental and economic realities as a call to action. When proposed fracking operations upstream threatened the community’s health, the store’s founders paused production to enter into legal battle against the frackers. The community solution—a new zoning ordinance protecting the contested property from industrial use— would also rezone the property of General Sisters as residential. The fight continues as nearby U.S. Steel plant Edgar Thompson has agreed to host fracking pads. The cycle resumes: resources in the ground are leveraged against the struggle for food equity, racial and environmental justice.

North Braddock Residents for Our Future is a grassroots group of residents organized to promote community health and clean air, and fight unconventional gas drilling in our community. 3

For more information, visit: www.generalsisters.com

“We don’t just have rows and rows of crops, we have fruit trees and spaces that are wild that we get firewood from. We have places for neighborhood kids to feel safe and build their forts. We are interested in stability. What we’re doing takes a lot of work to establish, but we’re getting there. Now, we have three annual plots among a mature food forest.” ² -- John Creasy

The labyrinth garden is a great practice of permaculture. It serves three purposes: 1. As a space for meditation and prayer. 2. For supporting a healthy population of pollinators. 3. For growing many perennial herbs.

An Atlas of Commoning: Places of Collective Production An ifa exhibition in collaboration with ARCH+ • ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) is Germany’s oldest intermediary organisation for international cultural relations, having celebrated its centenary in 2017. ifa is supported by the Federal Foreign Off ice of the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Baden-Württemberg and its capital Stuttgart. www.ifa.de/en • ARCH+ is Germany’s leading publication for discourse in the f ields of architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines. www.archplus.net • Graphic Design: Heimann + Schwantes, Berlin © 2019 School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University; authors; artists

• Poster: This drawing collage by Rebecca Lefkowitz is based on f ieldwork, secondary sources and materials that have been redrawn, modif ied and rearranged. The condensed, edited and rearranged dialogs are based on interviews with stakeholders and from secondary sources: 1. generalsisters.com 2. Based on interview with neighborhood resident by Rebecca Lefkowitz, October 2018. 3. breatheproject.org/event/north-braddock-residents-future-meeting/ 4. Dana Bishop-Root, Ginger Brooks Takahashi, Emma Hedditch: an update, January 24, 2018, generalsisters. com/2018/01/24/we-will-open-with-you-an-update/, accessed on October 10, 2018 • Photo: © Chun Zheng A research project by the Master of Urban Design program led by Stefan Gruber at Carnegie Mellon University. https://soa.cmu.edu/mud

We believe that fostering symbiotic relationships between people and nature helps all of us learn, practice and maintain sustainable ways of living.

As the organization’s leaders, we serve as facilitators to help leverage the community’s ability to create healthy environments by providing resources to confidently pursue life changes. As the project evolves, we will continue to work alongside participants—inspiring them to design and build the world they want, while finding a place in the world as it is.

$64,650

Pilot 8-week after school program with young Night Owl Bakers. Collaboration with 2019 Bloomfield Garfield Corporation, Earthen Vessels, and Propel Schools 2018

Garfield

40% Population Below National Poverty Level 60+

40-60

20-40

0-20

Age Demographics

White

Penn Ave

Asian

African-American

Primary High School School

$148,610

College

Education

Latham Street Commons

$198,350 Bloomfield

17.8% Population Below National Poverty Level

Friendship

Age

25% Population Below National Poverty Level

Age

Demographics

Education

Combining ideas from community workshops and designing for the next phase.

Collaboration with UPitt MBA, Action Housing, Peoples Gas 2017

First participatory design activity with the community at large.

Concept development of Night Owl Bakers

Community action days 2016 building rooftop plant beds and vertical plant wall, collaborating with Pittsburgh Collaboration with UPMC Water and Sewer Authority for rainwater collection system. Community co-design sessions to re-imagine future use of storage garages. 170+ responses from community on issues of food insecurity, employment, health, and relationship with neighbors.

First Meeting 2015

COMPARING INCOME, DEMOGRAPHICS, EDUCATION LEVELS AND HOUSING COSTS ACROSS THE NEIGHBORHOODS OF GARFIELD, BLOOMFIELD AND FRIENDSHIP

Excerpts from desisnetwork.org/2018/06/20/latham-st-commons-cmu-design-desis-lab-usa, accessed on May 24, 2019.

Food and Ecology

We are co-creating an inclusive and engaged community, connecting neighbors by collecting and sharing information.

19.2% of Pittsburgh Population Below National Poverty Level

Skill Sharing and Skill Building

LATHAM STREET COMMONS

PITTSBURGH, UNITED STATES

Health and Wellness

We are dedicated to improving the health of neighbors by addressing their social, educational and economic needs through relationships — person to person, person to community, and person to nature.

Community Conversations and Workshops

COMMON GROUND 1.

LATHAM STREET COMMONS Pittsburgh, United States, since 2015

C H TO O L S

Enlightened Protest

FORGE

SISTERS, STORE

Pay what you can for low income families

Community Supported Agriculture 6 Local Restaurant Partners

Garfield Community Farm

Social Donation

Work at farm 5 hours/week to get free product

Farm Income

Labor

Non-profit NPOOrganizations

For more information, visit: www.garfieldfarm.com

collecting data through crowdsourcing and distributing information to public officials and organizations

AN ATLAS OF COM,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, GENERAL ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, GENERAL ,,,,,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Fighting for food equity and environmental justice by ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, exchanging goods, nourishment ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and perspectives ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,M ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MONING

PITTSBURGH, UNITED STATES

Garfield Community Farm is devoted to the best practices in biodiversity and permaculture:

John Creasy and the Open Door Presbyterian Church h ave transformed three acres of previously blighted land perched atop the Garfield hill into a fully operational permaculture farm with perennial food systems of fruit and nut trees, berry shrubs, annual gardens, a labyrinth prayer garden, a cob oven and picnic area, a high tunnel and Pittsburgh’s first bioshelter greenhouse. The bioshelter was designed with passive solar technology, a simple water storage system, and generates its own electricity using five solar panels. Fresh organic produce is distributed through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to people living within one mile of the farm on a pay-what-you-can basis. In the summer, the farm also supports a weekly farmer’s market and donates produce once a month to a local food pantry, while supporting its operation by selling microgreens to local high-end restaurants year round. The Farm equally cares for the Earth as well as for people’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs: thus it stewards ecological diversity while bringing people together around the sharing of resources, education and faith.

• Poster: This drawing collage by Veronica Wang is based on secondary sources and materials that have been redrawn, modif ied and rearranged. The condensed and edited dialogs are based on interviews with stakeholders, and from secondary sources: 1. cmu.edu/metro21/projects/latham-streetcommons.html 2. desisnetwork.org/2018/06/20/latham-st-commonscmu-design-desis-lab-usa/ 3. sketches of ideas for future uses produced at community charrette • Photo: © Latham Street Commons

public officials working towards creating new ordinances and regulations

factual and emperical data on various topics surrounding air pollution

B D ATA

Connection to Local & State Officials

AN ATLAS OF COM,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, COMMUNITY ,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Building community capacity by transforming ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, a vacant school ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,M ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MONING

• Poster: This drawing collage by Gautam Thakkar is based on f ieldwork, secondary sources that have been redrawn, modif ied and rearranged. The condensed, edited, and rearranged dialogs are based on interviews with stakeholders, and from secondary sources: 1. Diagram based on: coolgeography.co.uk/A-level/AQA/ Year%2013/World%20Cities/Decline/Urban_Decline. html 2. barrelstobeethoven.com, accessed on October 10, 2018 3. Interview with Judy Cameron on January 22, 2019 4. Referring to Sharmaine and Junyetta respectively, based on interview with Jacqueline Cameron by Gautam Thakkar on October 4, 2018. 5. evensi.us/gimme-brake-light-free-repair-clinic-1256-franklin-avenue-pittsburgh-pennsylvania-15221/262512358, accessed on October 4, 2018 6. forge.community/programs, accessed on October 4, 2018 • Photo: © Jacqueline Cameron

GARFIELD COMMUNITY FARM Pittsburgh, United States, since 2008

In 2015, twenty-seven vacant garages at the intersection of Friendship, Bloomfield and Garfield were made accessible and then transformed into an incubator for fostering community health, well-being and resilience. Designing with the community at every step, Latham Street Commons (LSC) became a meeting place for sharing new ideas, food and skills. Over the course of two years, hosting communityengagement events on health, food access, climate and energy, the vision for the first social enterprise emerged— Night Owl Bakers. Today, Night Owl Bakers is a career readiness program for young adults meant to improve their overall health by addressing social, educational, and economic needs through relationships—person to person, person to community, and person to food. As a living idea, LSC has continuously adapted to available resources and economic demands. Its mission, however, has remained centered on creating a culture of care that affirms the value and resiliency of all people. Its long-term vision is to create an operational model which can be adopted in other communities.

TAKING ACTION

educating protesters to influence public officials

W North Avenue

LATHAM STREET

E N TO O

POLLUTIO N IR

COMMUNITY FORGE Wilkinsburg, United States, since 2017

Alphabet City

When I arrived in 2004, I covered my residence with Chinese calligraphies of my poems, as joyful and celebratory response to my freedom from censorship. The response from neighbors and visitors was overwhelming and unexpected: Poems were slipped through my mail slot; people came by to hear me read my poems. “House Poem” was the first house publication that contributed to the transformation of Sampsonia Way. 2 -- Huang Xiang

AN ATLAS OF COM,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Improving community wellbeing by creating a place where people, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, food and new ideas meet ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, COMMONS ,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,M,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MONING

collecting data about local laws, public meetings, hearings, and policy updates, while taking action at home

I LK

RELEVANT

RC H

G N

• Poster: This drawing collage by Sai Prateek Narayan is based on secondary sources and materials that have been redrawn, modif ied and rearranged. The condensed and edited dialogs are based on interviews with stakeholders, and from secondary sources: 1. summerforpa.com/environment 2. breatheproject .org/event/fridays-with-f itzgerald/ • Photo: Smell Pittsburgh app for crowd-sourcing smell reports, Pittsburgh, USA, 2019. Photo: Stefan Gruber © STUDIOGRUBER

For more information, visit: www.cityofasylum.org

A research project by the Master of Urban Design program led by Stefan Gruber at Carnegie Mellon University. https://soa.cmu.edu/mud

G N

ENGAGING CITIZENS

addressing and expressing concerns through written media

L VOICE AL S

For more information, visit: breatheproject.org

CITY OF ASYLUM Pittsburgh, United States, since 2004

• Poster: This drawing collage by Jianxiao Ge is based on f ieldwork, secondary sources that have been redrawn, modif ied and rearranged. The condensed and edited dialogs are based on interviews with stakeholders, and from secondary sources: 1. garf ieldfarm.com/about-the-farm-2/bioshelter, accessed September 10, 2018 2. John Creasy in Hal B. Klein: “Grow. Cook. Drink.: John Creasy of Garf ield Community Farm,” in Pittsburgh Magazine from February 19, 2015, accessed on May 19, 2019. 3. Transition Design Case Study - Team Food: Jesse, Rossa, Michelina, Minrui, medium.com/transitiondesign-case-studies-transition-design/transitiondesign-case-study-fcb814757431, accessed September 10, 2018 • Photo: Stefan Gruber © STUDIOGRUBER

22% of air pollution comes from mobility

INCREASING AWARENESS

R THE GE

“I think of it like a good opportuniy to learn how to build stuff and how to communicate with other people. You know, it’s all about learning new stuff.” 4

22% of air pollution comes from homes

TIMELINE OF PITTSBURGH'S AIR POLLUTION

COLLECTING DATA

Air, water and soil are our most essential natural commons. National health experts say that better air quality is one of the most effective ways to improve health. Meanwhile, scientific research demonstrates that air pollution in Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania is still among the worst in the country. In response, the Breathe Collaborative brings together a coalition of citizens, environmental advocates, public health professionals and academics to improve air quality, eliminate climate pollution and make the region a healthy and prosperous place to live. The Collaborative p owers the Breathe Project, a clearinghouse for information on air quality that makes the best science, technology and data available to citizens by increasing awareness, which enables them to engage and take informed action. New air monitoring technologies, GIS systems and other interactive online tools make community-empowered air monitoring systems possible, including the SmellPGH app, Speck, the Breathe Cam and Meter, as well as a FracTracker.

The library is not all about books. We have furniture, gardening equipments as well as puppets you can borrow. ⁵

City of Asylum provides sanctuary to exiled writers so that they can continue to write freely. The initiative rehabilitates houses on Pittsburgh’s Northside for use by writersin-residence, and commissions a public artwork that incorporates a literary text on the façade of each house. The “house-publishings” have transformed Sampsonia Way into a walkable public library and contributed to the neighborhood’s re-vitalization. Since 2016, City of Asylum at Alphabet City has offered a home for writers, readers and neighbors with spaces for readings and performances, writing workshops, as well as a restaurant and a bookstore. The facility and its programs are a unifying agent in the community, bridging the full array of economic, cultural and racial diversity.

GARFIELD

Excerpts from “10 Health Facts you need to know” from breatheproject.org/resources/public-health/#health-facts, accessed October 1, 2018.

58% of air pollution still comes from industries

“Particulate matter 2.5 comes from diesel trucks, trains, cars, and coal”

(...)

TH DATA WI

Art Lending Library

An Atlas of Commoning : Places of Collective Production An ifa exhibition in collaboration with ARCH+ • ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) is Germany’s oldest intermediary organisation for international cultural relations, having celebrated its centenary in 2017. ifa is supported by the Federal Foreign Off ice of the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Baden-Württemberg and its capital Stuttgart. www.ifa.de/en • ARCH+ is Germany’s leading publication for discourse in the f ields of architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines. www.archplus.net • Graphic Design: Heimann + Schwantes, Berlin © 2019 School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University; authors; artists

AN ATLAS OF COM,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, COMMUNITY FARM ,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Practicing cosmopolitan localism by cultivating and ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, stewarding abandoned land ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,M ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MONING

Our air poses a significant threat to public health with an increased risk of heart and lung disease, asthma, diabetes, cancer and premature death.

10. The construction of the Shell Petrochemical facility in Beaver County could erase 30 years’ worth of regional air quality improvements and bring a variety of health risks from the VOCs it will emit.

BREATHE PROJECT Southwestern Pennsylvania, United States, since 2011

“A library is about the free exchange of resources and ideas. It operates outside of the dominate or capitalist system.” 2

CITY OF ASYLUM

• Poster: This drawing collage by Aditi Thota and Chun Zheng is based on f ieldwork, secondary sources that have been redrawn, modif ied and rearranged. The condensed, edited and rearranged dialogs are based on interviews with stakeholders and from secondary sources: 1. cityofasylum.org/creative-placemaking/alphabetreading-garden/, accessed May 2, 2019 2. https://cityofasylum.org/portfolio/house-poem/, accessed May 2, 2019 3. VOANEWS: voanews.com/a/tuhin-das-bangladeshpoet-activist-and-writerin-exile/4009361, accessed October 10, 2018 4. WESA: wesa.fm/post/storycorpspittsburghhenry-reese-and-diane-samuels#stream/0, accessed October 10, 2018 • Photo: Chun Zheng, 2019

“Heavy Industry - Clairton Coke Works is one of the biggest pollutions”

“29% of days in 2017 had good air quality”

“Top 10 most polluted cities in the nation with year-round particle pollution”

“Top 2% of US counties for cancer risk from air pollution”

Ceramic Studio

AN ATLAS OF COM,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,, Revitalizing a neighborhood through ,,,,, new lines of communication, ,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,, cultural exchange and collaboration ,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MONING

Allegheny County ranks in the top 2 percent of counties in the U.S. for cancer risk from air pollution.

For more information, visit: wwwbraddockcarnegielibrary.org • Poster: This drawing collage by Sujan Das Shrestha is based on f ieldwork and secondary sources that have been redrawn, modif ied and rearranged. The condensed, edited, and rearranged dialogs are based on interviews with stakeholders, and from secondary sources: 1. Bill Schackner: “From its sweeping stairways to a grand music hall, hundreds tour original U.S. Carnegie Library,” in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of March 20, 2019, post-gazette.com/local/east/2019/03/30/BraddockAndrew-Carnegie-f irst-U-S-library-1888-rededication/ stories/201903300049, aceessed on March 5, 2019. 2. Dana Bishop-Root quoted in Kealey Boyd: “Can Art Lending Libraries Empower a New Generation of Collectors?” in Hyperallergic, April 20, 2018, hyperallergic.com/437125/art-lending-libraries, accessed May 19, 2019. 3. See kickstarter.com/projects/heliotrope/braddocktiles/description, and facebook.com/BraddockTiles/ videos/934064753339074, accessed on September 28, 2019. 4. Jawuan Betto in kickstarter.com/projects/heliotrope/ braddock-tiles/description, accessed on September 28, 2019. 5. Based on an interview with Victoria L. Vargo by Sujan Das Shrestha on October 3, 2018. • Photo: The Art Lending Collection at Braddock Carnegie Library created by the artist collective Transformazium. © Ben Filio for The Sprout Fund

Pittsburgh ranks as one of the top 10 most polluted cities in the nation in regard to year-round particle pollution.

PITTSBURGH, UNITED STATES

When the Pittsburgh region’s manufacturing industry declined, the Braddock Carnegie Library—the first of 1, 689 Carnegie public libraries to open in the U.S. — fell into disrepair. Led by its last librarian, the grassroots group Braddock Field History Society saved the vacant edifice; after reopening a single room as a children’s library in 1983, they slowly reoccupied the building. Today all usable spaces have been activated with neighborhood-centered services and resources for sharing interests and information. The library lends puppets, tools, chairs and tables for community events as well as art works from renowned artists. It houses a neighborhood print shop, ceramic studio and gymnasium. The completed building renovation and its programs aim at reflecting the dignity of every single neighbor while being guided by Carnegie’s dictum of serving “mind, body and soul.”

We are still renovating the Music Hall, access to the building and transforming the basement swimming pool into an event space dubbed the Book Dive. 1

Gym

BREATHE PROJECT

S PIC TO

THE BRADDOCK CARNEGIE LIBRARY Braddock, United States, 1889–1974, 1983–present

Print Shop

Children and Teen Library

Toxic air in our backyard poses a significant threat to public health and sickens people in all our communities.

POSING EX A

COMMON GROUND 1.

MAK IN

Responsibility

• Carnegie Endowments • US Steel Group • School District

Care

• Employees of steel works and family members • Club members

GRASP I

Benefit

• Facilities except library, restricted to members of Carnegie Club and employees of the Edgar Thomson Works and their families

BRIN GI

From 1980 – Present Civic Commons

Use

• Library open to all but Black and Jews • Employees of Edgar Thomson SteelWorks • Carnegie Club Members (Paid Membership)

Access From 1888 – 1980 Enclosed Property

AN ATLAS OF COM,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,, ,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,, ,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Enabling citizens in environmental activism through ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, science and technology. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MONING

BRADDOCK, UNITED STATES

THE BRADDOCK CARNEGIE LIBRARY

TA L

CARNEGIE LIBRARY

COMMON GROUND Throughout our 130 years we wore many different hats to adapt to changing needs of the community. As a result of these transitions, we continue to refine our role of providing resources needed by and desired from our patrons. The process of uplifting requires listening, sharing, partnering, and befriending. But it results in a connection to the uplifted, a desire to uplift others, and a sense of being able to face problems with solutions rather than despair. This direct experience with drastic economic and societal change has grounded us in the knowledge that our Library is part of a value system based on culture, exchange and life-long learning for all regardless of your social or economic background.

ARD HE

EVOLUTION, COLLABORATIONS AND PROGRAMS

The research was supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, as well as by CMU’s School of Architecture Margaret B. Gruger Fund, the Berkman Faculty Development Fund and the Fund for Research and Creativity of the College of Fine Arts. An Atlas of Commoning: Places of Collective Production An ifa exhibition in collaboration with ARCH+ • ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) is Germany’s oldest intermediary organisation for international cultural relations, having celebrated its centenary in 2017. ifa is supported by the Federal Foreign Off ice of the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Baden-Württemberg and its capital Stuttgart. www.ifa.de/en • ARCH+ is Germany’s leading publication for discourse in the f ields of architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines. www.archplus.net • Graphic Design: Heimann + Schwantes, Berlin © 2019 School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University; authors; artists

AN ATLAS OF COM,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Crafting hope through ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, the powers of art, education ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and community ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, MANCHESTER ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,, CORPORATION ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,M,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MONING

BIDWELL

MANCHESTER BIDWELL CORPORATION Manchester, Pittsburgh, United States, since 1968 When Bill Strickland met Pittsburgh Public High School art teacher Frank Ross as a young African American man in the 1960s, he found a mentor who awoke his latent passion for pottery and helped him experience the powers of art, education and community. Wanting to give back, Strickland opened a ramshackle arts school in 1968 known as the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild. Four years later he was appointed director of a struggling building trade school in the neighborhood where he began to expand its program and mission. Today, along with a thriving jazz label and concert series, Manchester Bidwell offers free arts education for public high school students as well as vocational training for a broadening range of subjects, including culinary, horticulture and various medical fields. Convinced that “environment shapes behaviors,” Strickland eventually raised enough funds to construct a 62,000-square-foot vocational education and arts center designed by architect Tasso Katselas.

“Producing food, and establishing access to it, has been integral to the project from the beginning. We believe that if we place food, one of our most precious resources, at the center of our work, we can have an impact on the knowledge, civic-mindedness and function of a community health and well-being.” ¹

COMMUNITY MATTERS

Sometimes building a neighborhood grocery store as a neighborhood means to pause building the store, and focus on the long term wellbeing of our neighborhood. So we joined the fight to ensure environmental justice in our neighborhood and confront the myths of industry bringing prosperity became a priority and clear working model. 4

COMMON GROUND At Manchester Bidwell Corporation, we have a simple philosophy – environment shapes people’s lives.1 1.

Hope is a physical thing. It’s an experience. Hope looks like an environment that creates the sensation that life is worth living, particularly for those members of the community most in need. Poverty is a disease of the spirit, more than it is an economic condition. People are born into the world as assets not liabilities. Creativity fuels enterprise. Given the chance to dream, anyone [who has] an opportunity to do something, can change the world.

MANCHESTER B DWE 1965: Frank Ross teaches Bill Strickland pottery, and helps him to graduate from high school

1968: Strickland starts Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) in a row house on Buena Vista Street

1972: Bidwell Training Center (BTC) hires Strickland as executive director

1966: Strickland starts college at University of Pittsburgh

CORPORAT ON

1981: BTC partners with Warner Cable to exchange technician training for cable service installing and repairing

1989: BTC begins pharmacy technician & EKG program

1988: MCG establishes School of Swing 1987: MCG jazz hall completes

1970: MCG adds photography to program in another house across the street

(…) 4.

1969: First student exhibition at St. Michael’s Church

1987: Senator John Heinz sponsors $1 million for Culinary Arts Program

1985: BTC introduces National IBM Information Science Program

2000: MCG includes Design & Digital Arts Program

1994: MCG establishes record label, MCG Jazz

1996: First jazz recording wins Grammy Award

1998: Medical Coder Program 1986: MCG builds new center on Metropolitan Street

World class environments create world class people.2

1 Excerpts from manchesterbidwell.org/about/, accessed October 1, 2018. 2 Bill Strickland in “Manchester Bidwell Corporation: Half A Century of Making People Whole,” mcgyouthandarts.org/manchester-bidwell-corporation-half-a-century-of-making-people-whole, accessed on May 24, 2019.

2002: Drew Mathieson Center, Horticulture Program

2000: Patient Unit Coordinator Program

1991: BTC adds chemical laboratory technician program

1999: BTC builds Harbor Garden Park

2007: Strikland publishes “Make the Impossible Possible” 2008: Bill speaks at TED 2008: MCG hosts National Council of Education 2013: MCG Jazz launches 2014: Expands Digital Studio to include 3D model/print, laser cut, and other technolgies

Assembly (Ongoing Culinary) MLK Exhibition

Student Exhibition

Ceramics Studio

Drew Mathieson Center “Art is a bridge. It connects you to a wider world, to a broader experience. I don't expect a bunch of poor kids from the streets to become overnight aficionados because they see a pretty picture, but don't try to tell me that exposure to the arts doesn't have the power to change a human being.” ¹ “Our powerful fusion of mentorship, education, beauty, and hope creates a safe space in which our students, young and older, can feel comfortable learning. We are so confident in our vision that we founded the National Center for Arts & Technology to create similar educational environments across the nation…and the world!” ² -- Bill Strickland

For more information, visit: www.manchesterbidwell.org and www.mcgyouthandarts.org

“We have worked extensively with the community over several years to learn about their needs and wants. This process allowed the project to grow out of the specificity of the place, our local economy and culture.” ²

Night Owl Bakers will be a classroom for learning, with basic baking skills, increasing knowledge and responsibility gained through an after-school program.

• Poster: This drawing collage by Yang Gao is based on secondary sources and materials that have been redrawn, modif ied and rearranged. The condensed and edited dialogs are based on interviews with stakeholders and from secondary sources: 1. Bill Strickland: Make the Impossible Possible: One Man's Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary, New York: Currency/ Doubleday (Random House, Inc.), December 31, 2007. P. 15. 2. manchesterbidwell.org/about/about-mbc/history, accessed on May 25, 2019. 3. manchesterbidwell.org/2018/06/inspired-byinnovation-sams-story/ • Photo: Manchester Bidwell Training Center, Pittsburgh, USA, 2019. Photo: Aditi Thota © STUDIOGRUBER A research project by the Master of Urban Design program led by Stefan Gruber at Carnegie Mellon University. https://soa.cmu.edu/mud

Transportation problems might discourage students from attending classes. This is why, buses are sent to every Pittsburgh Public High School and bring students to the cen

Pittsburgh based case studies represented in the exhibition Pictures from the â&#x20AC;&#x153;An Atlas of Commoningâ&#x20AC;? exhibition at the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh

URBAN REGENERATION OF TAULACHHEN TOLE, BHAKTAPUR Published research . ICEE-PDRP 2016 . 2015-2016 . Author Abstract This paper is focused on the study of a traditional residential quarter—Taulachhen Tole, at Bhaktapur. With a majority of the residents of the quarter already living in an unfavorable physical circumstances, the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake further rendered the neighborhood uninhabitable. In order to rehabilitate and improve the livelihood of the resident community, this study documents the living conditions of the neighborhood quarter in terms of physical parameters such as living space, physical condition of the dwelling and damage situation on the one hand, and cultural aspects such as community structures and their forms on the other. On the basis of this documentation, the paper discusses one of the alternative redevelopment plans—the cooperative housing environment, which emphasizes on preservation of the traditional urban fabric as well as the religious and social features to provide continuity and preservation of the social, spatial and ritual structures. The plan rehabilitates the existing households with substantial increase in the living space, open space and other facilities. The dwelling units are designed to maintain the traditional façade and streetscape incorporating the reuse of craftwork and building materials. With the potential on tourism and commercial development, the study also proposes essential community services with necessary improvements to service during emergency situations.

Left Streetscape before the earthquake and a proposed streetscape. Right The condition of the settlement before and after the earthquake in 2015

PERCEPTION OF RESIDENTS ON THE REBUILDING OF HOUSING ALTERNATIVES Published research . ICEE-PDRP 2016 . 2015-2016 . Co-authored with Prof. Dr. Mohan Moorti Pant Abstract The paper makes a study on the perception of the households towards the possibilities of reconstruction of their dwellings damaged by the tremors of Gorkha Earthquake 2015. The case studies are from two localities of Bhaktapur, one from Kathmandu, and one from Bungamati. The survey identifies houses of different degree of damage due to the earthquake and studies the location, plot shapes, surrounding building situations, and access to the dwelling unit. The resident household owner was given three different alternatives in the rebuilding of the house. First is to rebuild the dwelling in the existing plot by the owner, the second is first to make plot adjustment planning of the concerned area before the owner carries the rebuilding work. The third is to build cooperative housing with living space arranged in a single or two floor levels where the construction will be managed by community cooperative or public institution. This paper then makes an analysis on the correlation of the existing dwelling environment properties and the perception of the residents on the various rebuilding alternatives. Keywords: Reconstruction, Bhaktapur, housing alternatives, urban renewal, regeneration

काठमाडौँ उपत्यकाका शहर बस्ति पुनरुत्थान िथा पुन:ननमााणका केहह सम्भाबनाहरुको सचित्र अध्ययन यस पाम्फ्लेटमा काठमाडौँ उपत्यकाका ऐतिहाससक नेवार शहर बस्िीमा पाइने नतन िहको संरचनाको हालको स्स्िति र यसको पुनतनमााण सम्फबन्धमा सचचत्र व्याख्या गररएको छ।

यी शहर बस्स्िहरु समयकालमा पररवार संख्या बढ्दै जााँदा नतन सित्रका बस्स्ि बाक्लो र घना िइ पहहलेका केबा-िरकारी

बारी ससाना चोक मा पररणि िए । घर िागबन्डा िै मोहडा

तिनै प्रकार का संयोजनमा घर संख्या उतिनै २७ छ / िर दोस्रो

र, िेस्रोमा समलेका ककत्िा र समलेका घरको बनोट छ।

फराककला बाटा र चोक छन ् । सबै घरमा घाम लाग्छ । गुहठ

घर र सामुदातयक प्रयोजनका िबनलाइ पतन ठाउं िएको छ।

अझ िेस्रो सामुदातयक संरचनाको ढांचामा चोक अझै ठु लो र फराककलो हुनुको सािै हररयालीलाई पतन पयााप्ि ठाउं छ ।

साघुरा िए, र िला िपपदै जादा ४ – ५ िलासम्फम पुगे । िल

त्यस्िै सामुदातयक घर वा गुहठ प्रयोजनका लाचग पतन प्रशस्ि

नतनको बस्स्ि दे खाउछ । यस नतनमा सरदार एक घरलाई २.५

ठु लो काम हदन्छन िन्ने यिािा अहहले हामीले दे ख्यौं।

हदएको चचत्रले २७ घर र एक गुहठ घर िएको एक वा दुइ आना जग्गा पना आउछ । सााँघुरा गल्ली, साग र साना चोक

िएकोले घरमा राम्रो संग घाम लाग्न सक्दै न । िर यहााँ आ्नो

ठााँउ पुगेको छ । यी ठू ला चोकले िूकम्फप आहद पवपद कालमा

दोस्रो र िेस्रो शैलीको बनोटमा पतन हरे क घर पररबार पहहलेको

समुदाय छ, समुदायको आ्नो सांस्कृतिक परम्फपरा छ र

आ-आ्नो नतन र स्िानमा बस्न सक्छन । घर-िवनको रुप

नतनलाइ गि बैशाख १२ को िूकम्फपले गम्फिीर क्षति पुयाायो।

– १३०० वगा फुट छ र आवश्यक िए केहह िल माचि गना

बस्स्ि बनोटको पतन आ्नै बबशेषिा छ । शहरका धेरै यस्िा

अबका आउने हदनहरुमा नतनका यी घरलाई सबलीकरण बा

परम्फपरागि शैलीमा बनाउन सककन्छ । घरको क्षेत्रफल १०००

सककन्छ/ सहकारी सामुदातयक शैली मा २ बा ३ घरको ियााङ्ग

पुन:तनमााण गनुा पने स्स्िति छ ।

साझा हुने र पातन टं की, सौया उजाा जस्िा चचजहरु साझा

पुन:तनमााण गना परे मा कसरी गने ि ? िल हदएका चचत्रले

िन्दा धेरै सस्िो [२५--३० % सस्िो] पना आउछ ।

साबबकको ककत्िामा फेरी आ-आ्नो घर बनाउदाको स्वरूप

सुपवधाहरु सम्फिब हुन्छ । पतछका ३, ४, ५ र ६ पेजमा केहह

पुन:तनमााणका तिन सम्फिाबना दे खाउछ । चचत्र नं १ ले

दे खाउछ, जुन पहहलेको िन्दा खासै फरक हुाँदैन । चचत्र नं २

पुरै ननीमा िएका ककत्िालाई एकगठ गरर पुनसंयोजन गरे र

बनाउदाको स्वरूप हो । त्यस्िै चचत्र नं ३ संयुक्ि वा सामुदातयक आबास शैलीमा संयोजन गररएको स्वरूप हो । N

बन्दोबस्िी मा हुने िएकोले पहहलो र दोस्रो प्रकारको स्वरूप

पुन:तनमााणमा समेहटएको इलाका जति ठु लो ियो त्यतिनै धेरै नतनहरुका बस्स्िलाइ पुनसंयोजन गरर बनाउदा बस्स्िको

आवास वािावरण साबबकको स्स्ितिसंग के कस्िो फरक हुन्छ

िुलनात्मक अध्ययन गरर दे खाइएको छ ।

सामुदातयक प्रयोजनका िबन

चचत्र नं १– साबबक ककत्िामा तनमााण गदाा को स्वरूप

चचत्र नं २– ककत्िा पुनसंयोजन गरर तनमााण गदाा हुन सक्ने स्वरूप

चचत्र नं ३– ककत्िा पुनसंयोजन गरर सामुदातयक शैलीमा

तनमााण गदाा हुन सक्ने स्वरूप

Pamphlets designed to visually communicate the different rebuilding alternatives to the resident community. The pamphlet became a interesting tool to engage the community and initiate dialogue on what would be possible if we develop a collaborative and collective effort .

SUJAN D. SHRESTHA

357 Somerville Ave, Somerville, MA . (412)-224-0976 . das.sujan@gmail.com . www.shresthasujan.com

SUMMARY 4+ years experience as an architectural designer and researcher working on a breadth of projects of varying scales and passionate to investigate and design sustainable urban context for communities. Currently looking for an opportunity to work in a multi-disciplinary environment.

EDUCATION Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA Master of Urban Design

2017 - 2019

Purbanchal University, Bhaktapur, Nepal Bachelor of Architecture

2007 - 2013

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE TEACHING ASSISTANT - Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA Aug 2018 - May 2019 • Assisted and provided consultations for students in the Advanced CAD, BIM, and 3D Visualization and Urban Design Systems Studio. DATA VISUALIZATION RESEARCH ASSISTANT - Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA May 2018 - Sep 2018 • As the Lead Student Researcher, researched on 3D Data Visualization for Urban Planning and Design for the Remaking Cities Institute in collaboration with City of Pittsburgh’s Planning Department. • Designed workflows, incorporating a range of Geospatial, modeling, VR/AR and communication software packages, to acheive a specific task pertaining to urban design and planning. OUTREACH INSTRUCTOR - Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA Sep 2017 - Dec 2017 • Collaborated with two other outreach instructors to teach high school and middle school students sustainable urban design through a project based in Millvale, PA. RESEARCHER - ICEE-PRDP 2016, Bhaktapur, Nepal Oct 2015 - Apr 2016 • Co-authored and published two papers on Urban Regeneration of a historic neighborhood and the Perception of the residents on reconstruction after the Gorkha Earthquake 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal. ADJUNCT LECTURER - Khwopa Engineering College, Bhaktapur, Nepal Jun 2015 – Jul 2017 • Co-taught the Residential Design Studio for students in the 2nd year of B. Arch with two other faculty. • Collaborated with three other faculty members on the Conservation Studio for 4th-year students with a focus on research and documentation of a traditional historic city core after the earthquake. ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER - Interior Exterior Concept, Kathmandu, Nepal Apr 2015 - Jul 2017 • Established client relations and business, attracting new clientele and projects. • Conducted meetings with clients to discuss and develop projects, and formulated programs based on budget availability. • Designed residential, workplace spaces and partnered with other professionals for educational and healthcare projects. • Successfully executed two residential projects on a turnkey basis within the available budget and schedule. ADJUNCT LECTURER - IEC College of Art and Fashion, Kathmandu, Nepal Aug 2014 – Jul 2017 • Facilitated as a thesis advisor, developed syllabus and conducted digital and design communication courses for students enrolled in the program. • Motivated students to further improve their graphical communication skills through the use of hand-drawn sketches and computer applications. • Solved problems through efficient communication skills through drawings as well as verbally. ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER - Urban Design and Engineering Consultants Pvt. Ltd., Lalitpur, Nepal Apr 2013 - Mar 2015 • Involved in the designs of multiple projects ranging from individual dwellings, multi-family housing, landscape, pharmaceuticals, educational and healthcare buildings. • Supervised construction of projects according to the specification. • Reviewed building bylaws and regulations to conduct zoning and massing analysis for projects and site analysis. • Produced floor plans, detail drawings, construction documents, 3D models, visualization renders and as-built drawings

• • • •

for projects. Performed cost analysis based on estimated architectural and structural works to facilitate tendering and bidding for multiple residential and landscape projects. Consulted and coordinated with designers, structural, electrical, and sanitary engineers for building permits and project construction. Revised and improved the CAD standards and practices. Mentored interns and recent graduates.

SKILLS • • • • •

3D Modeling and BIM - AutoCAD, SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, Grasshopper, V-Ray, Lumion Data Visualization - ArcMap, ArcGIS Pro, Carto, CityEngine, Insights for ArcGIS, StoryMaps, Unreal Engine, Unity Graphic and Content Design - lllustrator, InDesign, Microsoft Office, Photoshop Interaction Design - VR, TouchDesigner Fabrication - Laser Cutting, Power Tools

das.sujan@gmail.com . (412)-224-0976 www.shresthasujan.com