Studio 22 - Capriccio Folly, City
A Brief Enquiry Into (Sub)Urban Relationships
Josh Cole
A Brief Enquiry into (Sub)Urban Relationships By Josh Cole
Prologue Learning from Philadelphia
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Guild House
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City (the Project)
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City of Suburbia Epilogue
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Capriccio 1 & 2
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Folly 1, 2 & 3
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Diary
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Prologue: The Existing City
Existing Site Plan
The Grid was established by William Penn, the planning developer of Philadelphia. The grid, like in many other American and European Cities was utilised for its ease of repetition and convenienve when planning a city. It also lends towards capitalist gain and maximised street front.
The Block, the direct product of the grid, was densely populated for economic gain, both with commercial business and residential buildings, such as the Row House
Philadelphia Town Hall, the culmination/ centre point of Philadelphia City Centre. From observing the city planning, it can be said that the primary condition of the city was based are ound history and power.
The Squares, namely Washington Square, Logan Square, Rittehouse Square and Franklin Square, were all named after historical figures. They act as nodes that form the perimeter of the city centre
The Industrial Era in the 1800’s brought about Politcal Machines, divided class and gentrified the city centre, driving people of colour and the lower class outside of the city, leading to the degradation of the degredation of the peripheries now known as...
Learning from Philadelphia: The City 2
Existing Site Plan
The Proposed Site, is just north of the city centre in the suburb of Poplar; a small suburban area occupied mainly by low afforadable housing estates, row housing and commerical business. There as multiple reasons for the selection of the site. As it consisted mainly of banal suburban artifacts, it presented as a good opportunity so explore the dichotomy of suburban and urban planning. The site, similar to the City Centre, has four corner nodes - the public square of the suburb; the parking lot. The suburb, a spectator to the city has a different relationship of its occupier to the built form. In the city, the pedestrian is dwarfed by the built form, they meet the same street corner every block and have no relationship to its monuments apart from history books. How can I create a new city condition in the context of the suburb? It starts with the Guild House
Philadelphia City Centre Space/Scale Speed - 3mph - 20mph
Learning from Philadelphia: The Suburb 3
(ArchDaily 2020)
The Guild House - Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown The Guild House is a 6 storey apartment block just North of the City Centre, and to the east of the periphery of the proposed site. Funded by the Friends Neighbourhood Guild (an association run by the Quaker Society), the project was play on pastiche and the international style; the encorporation of classical elements (column, arch), and the use of ordinary material (the brick referenced the plain and banal nature of the suburb) antithesises Le Corbusier as not a construction in a park, but along a streetwalk in an ordinary urban environment.
Guild House - Site Plan
Spring Garde
n Street
The project takes direct reference from the Guild House as way to use the architecture as commentary for its context. I found that, although the Guild House is the epitomry of banality, I could understand Robert Venturi’s and Denise Scott Brown’s approach of distorting an idea and playing with irony, whilst still creating a functional interior
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(ArchDaily 2020)
Guild House - Plan
(ArchDaily 2020)
(Chegg 2020)
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City of Suburbia: The New City The New City is my insight and proposal that combines my understanding of the relationships between the idea/dichotomy of suburbia and the city centre. Under the guise of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, the proposal for the new city is ironic commentary on the planning of the existing Philadelphia city centre. On a macro level, the site’s boundaries are established by four carparks. Beyond these boundaries is suburbia in all of its glory. The existing houses on the site were rearranged in a Hilbersheimer-esque fashion of deconstructing an existing order (the city grid), into the simplicities of the suburban cul-de-sac. The residential zones themselves form another periphery to the centre of the new city. The city centre itself is defined by the monuments of suburbia; the car park and shopping mall. Four high rise structures in the park define each node of the cruciform shape. Leading from the carpark’s is a public square containing a grassy plane on axis with the steps towards the acropolis of suburbia; the shopping mall. Standing tall on its podium, the shopping mall looks over suburbia with joy. Learning from Philadelphia, I became interested in the relationship of the pedestrian and the built form. The pedestrian in the city meets the same stree corner overy block, and is consumed by the shadowing of the buildings above them. The ground plane is consistent, only changing from road to footpath, and foothpath to building entrance. Furthermore, as a city with a rich social and politcal history, there values are stored in the stone of the monumental buildings and the statues that define their city scape. It was important for me to have a deep understanding of this existing context prior to establishing the ideals of the new city. The primary aim of the new city was recompose the idea of the suburb, with the approach an urban scheme. This statement, in combination with the idealogies of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown formed the basis of my project. Whilst I hope that the project still embraces the ideas of suburbia, the formal gestures of the city itself had to use a similar operation of the existing city centre; ground plane, pedestrian, monument. The ground plane of the new city changes for its function; the street steps down to the curb and up to the doorstep. The public park is directly accessible from the street and inturn uses the ground plane to form a series of public squares of activity. The parks are on axis with the giants steps that lead to the carpark and shopping mall. The subversion of monument (from historical building to menial suburban artifact) and the power dynamic of building to pedestrian form the main proposition of the new city. 7
Existing Site Plan
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Proposed Site Plan (Macro)
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Proposed Site Section
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Proposed Isometric
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Proposed Plan (Park, Car Park, Mall)
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Moment/Fragment 1 -Comfortable Suburbia
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Moment/Fragment 2 - Empty Public Park
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Moment/Fragment 3 - Public Square/Denise Scott Brown Statue
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Perspective 1 - Highway Sign - Advertisement for new Suburban City
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Perspective 2 - Highway Sign - Advertisement for new Suburban City
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Epilogue: Appendix 1 Capriccio & Folly
Fra Carnevale - The Ideal City (1484)
(Wikipedia 2020)
Perspective
Capriccio 1 - A Contemporary City Rem Koolhaas Site - Paris Projects: Parc de la Villette (competition entry) Koepel Panoptical Prison Dutch Embassy 21
Isometric
Capriccio 1 - A Contemporary City Rem Koolhaas Site - Paris Projects: Parc de la Villette (competition entry) Koepel Panoptical Prison Dutch Embassy 22
Carl Laubin - Cinquecentenario (2008)
(Arch Paper 2020)
Perspective
Capriccio 2 - Is & Ought Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown Site - Philadelphia Projects: Guild House National Collegiate Hall of Fame Vanna Venturi House 23
Isometric
Capriccio 2 - Is & Ought Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown Site - Philadelphia Projects: Guild House National Collegiate Hall of Fame Vanna Venturi House 24
Perspective
Isometric
“There’s a systematic, executive, comittee-generated content that goes into every movie with a big budget, and thats why they have such incredible emotional insincerity shot through them” - Kenneth Lonergan
Folly 1 - Now Showing 25
FOLLY - Section
FOLLY - Ground Floor Plan (First Act)
FOLLY - First Floor Plan (Second Act)
FOLLY - Second Floor Plan (Third Act)
Folly 1 - Now Showing 26
Fragment - Sectional Isometric FRAGMENT - Sectional Detail Isometric
Folly 1 - Now Showing 27
Perspective
Isometric
“I Thought I was the only one who knew” - In the Mood for Love
Folly 2 - In the Mood for Hiding 28
1:100 FOLLY - Section
1:100
FOLLY - Plan
Folly 2 - In the Mood for Hiding 29
Fragment - Sectional Isometric FRAGMENT - Sectional Detail Isometric
Folly 2 - In the Mood for Hiding 30
Perspective
Isometric “You like our owl? Its Artificial? Of course it is” - Blade Runner
Folly 3 - Fragment/Time/Reality 31
1:200 FOLLY - Section
1:200 FOLLY - Plan
Folly 3 - Fragment/Time/Reality 32
Fragment - Sectional Isometric FRAGMENT - Isometric
Folly 3 - Fragment/Time/Reality 33
Epilogue: Appendix 2 Diary
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Philadelphia - Neighbourhoods, Division and Conflict in a Postindustrial City helped me to understand the political and social history of Philadelphia, in particular the way that the city centre was gentrified and its repurcussions. Philadelphia became a ‘City of Neighbourhoods’ post-industry, forming the basis of what is known as suburbia
(Bartlett, Elesh, Adams & Goldstein 1991, 12-13,25 )
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Housing the City: Bartlett, Elesh, Adams and Goldstein outline the housing state in Philadelphia as one of Opportunies - the endeavour of capitalism and development, and; Defense - the struggle of gentrification in suburbs and the displacement of classes, and; Despair - the main driver for low-income housing developments outside of the city
(Bartlett, Elesh, Adams & Goldstein 1991, 26)
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Development Drawing: The Grid breaks down
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Development Drawing: The Grid breaks down
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Development Drawing: The Central Boulevard 39
Development Drawing: The Central Boulevard 40
Development Drawing: The Central Boulevard & The Cul-de-sac
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Development Drawing: The Central Boulevard & The Cul-de-sac
This exercise was adapted from a similar operation that Ludwig Hilberseimer did in many projects, but mainly Marquette Park in Chicago. A method of eroding the urban grid from a high density grid typology to a low density fish spine
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Development Drawing: Ideation of the parking tower and shopping mall
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Development Drawing: Shopping mall facade design
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asd
50 40 30 20 10
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10 20 30 40
Development Drawing: Can the Boulevard be occupied?
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Development Drawing: Boulevard into Cruciform
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Bibliography: In Text/Website/Image ArchDaily 2020, “Love in Las Vegas: 99% Invisible Illuminates Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s Postmodern Romance.” Accessed June 05 2020 <https://www.archdaily.com/894735/love-in-las-vegas-99-percent-invisible-illuminates-robert-venturi-and-denis-scott-browns-postmodern-romance> Arch Paper 2020, “Painter Carl Laubin creates meticulous architectural dreamscapes.” Accessed June 05 2020, < https://www. archpaper.com/2018/04/carl-laubin-creates-richly-detailed-architectural-dreamscapes/> Bartlett, Elesh, Adams & Goldstein. 1991. Philadelphia - Neighbourhoods, Division and Conflict in a Postindustrial City. Philadelphia: Temple University Press Chegg 2020, “History of Architecture.” Accessed June 05 2020 < https://www.chegg.com/flashcards/exam-3-e29db143-b9fd4bc8-9400-8cc96689cdd3/deck> Wikipedia 2020, “The Ideal City (Painting).” Accessed June 05 2020 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheIdealCity(painting)> Texts referred too during semester: Barierre & Lavin. 1997. Interview with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. Cambridge: MIT Press Denise Scott Brown & Robert Venturi. 2008. Interview with Robert venturi and Densie Scott Brown: Is and Ought. Cambridge: MIT Press Eflux Architecture 2019, “Platforms: Architecture and the Use of the Ground.” Accessed June 05 2020 < https://www.e-flux.com/ architecture/conditions/287876/platforms-architecture-and-the-use-of-the-ground/> Vitorrio Aureli. 2009. More and More and Less and Less: Toward a History of Nonfigurative Architecture. Anyone Corporation Pope. 1996. Ladders. Princeton Architectural Press Stierli. 2007. In the Academy’s Garden: Robert Venturi, the Grand Tour and the Revision of Modern Architecture. Architectural Association School of Architecture. Trummer. 2013. The City as an Object: Thoughts on The Form of the City. Anyone Corporation Venturi, Scott Brown & Izenour. 1972. Learning from Las Vegas. Cambridge: MIT Press