contents paradoxcity :: new orleans
// 4
sinking city :: venice
// 6
mapping the tourist flows :: venice
// 10
the slow digital library :: barcelona
// 12
community works :: charlottesville
// 16
subterranean to celestial :: observatory hill
// 21
la praille station :: geneva
// 23
biodiversity on a biscuit :: biscuit run state park // 24 urban acupuncture :: philadelphia
// 26
curriculum vitae
// 29
p a ra d oxcit y 2 0 1 0
fall
studio
|
::
critic:
new Jorg
orleans
S i ewe ke
Working in collaboration with Leah Wener (MLA 2012), we identify a corridor of monofunctional infrastructure crossed only three times in the 2-mile stretch from City Park to the London Avenue canal, isolating neighborhoods and severely disrupting the urban fabric along the way. Complicating matters is the spot flooding of low-lying neighborhoods, experienced during moderate to heavy rainfall when the pumps which drain the city are overwhelmed.
wiltshire avenue Using the urban drosscape created by the CSX railway and Interstate 610, this space becomes a fatten portion of the drainage system where stormwater is detained while waiting to be pumped out to Lake Ponchartrain. At the same time, this area is transformed into a vital public space braided through the existing infrastructure, connecting people to water and the surrounding neighborhoods to each other and to City Park.
paris ave recreation center
gentilly avenue and paris avenue
si n k i n g
cit y
::
venice
2 0 1 0 spring studio | critic: Jo rg S i ewe ke As the most visited place on earth, Venice today stands as an “inert living museum”, a Disneyland-like fossil floating in a lagoon bustling with cruise liners, vaporettos, and tourists on over-priced gondellas rides. The lack of economic opportunity beyond menial service jobs met with a rising housing market driven by tourists’ demands forced most residents off the island. At the same time, worsening acqua alta, or high tides, threatens its physical existence. Instead of costly and misguided MOSE lagoon gate closure system, the design proposes a rule-based system to use acqua alta as a mechanism to alter the city’s hard edge and habitation patterns, drawing together permanent residents and a variety of economies which breathe new life and dynamism into Venice. By giving up the edges of the city to the sea that are now subjected to acqua alta, new marshy spaces are able to exist in the city itself. These spaces act as nodes within the city where new businesses, parks, residents, and tourists could reside. Dynamism and resilience are the qualities most lacking in Venice, and by mimicking the nature of the lagoon (as a landscape in flux), these areas would be places for experimentation in a frozen city where preservation -- not adaptation -- has been the regime for the past century.
RULES 1
All buildings within 120cm tidal range must abandon the first floor to the city.
2
Owners may opt to sell their property to the city.
3
The owner may choose to demolish the building completely or allow the load-bearing walls, foundations, and friction mats to remain
4
Owners may build new structures (residential, commercial) between load bearing walls at the level of second floor and above.
5
The city turns the ground level into spaces which connect residents and tourist to the lagoon.
G
T R E T
A
A
P
R E
T A
R E
A
R ruin as artifact
R
€
R
venetianvenetian P bird habitat
O
G R
T
A
A M
ruin as artifact
E
E
N
T
N T
€
bird habitat
2
tourist accommodations
prevent erosion
I P
tourist accommodations
maintain loadbearing
affordable housing
utility conduit
marine life habitat
prevent erosion
restore wetlandnew souvenirG habitat
demolished to foundation
habitable bracing structures
privately owned
Y
G
R
A
R
demolished to foundation
M
E
A
ruin as artifact
M
N
T
T
habitable bracing structures
A
affordable housing
R
tourist accommodations
R
city-owned
M
M
S
2
E
T
T
E
ruin as artifact
M
bird habitat
N
R
PH I P
A
city-owned
M
privately owned
Y
N
T
demolished to foundation
habitable bracing structures
2
N
affordable housing
E
EXISTING
S
T
PH
new souvenir
prevent erosion
A
within 120cm tidal range
I P
affordable housing
ma
demol foun
outside tidal
habitable bracing structures
privately owned
Y
tourist accommodations
maintain loadbearing
marine life habitat
H
R
outside of 120cm tidal range
€
bird habitat
tourist accommodations
T
maintain loadbearing
H
within 120cm tidal range
maintain loadbearing
photo op
demolished to foundation
A
M
bird habitat
A
marine life habitat
T E ruin as artifact
affordable housing
R
prevent erosion
A
M
E
habitable bracing structures
A
M
H marine life habitat
O
2
R
T
S
PH
restore wetland habitat
outside of 120cm tidal range
R
E
T
maintain loadbearing
2
A
new souvenir
utility conduit
infrastructure
habitable bracing structures
maintain loadbearing
park
R
T
G
T
R
new souvenir restore wetland habitat
N
T
A
A M
T demolished to foundation
E habitable bracing structures
R
G
N
E
T
N
G
affordable housing
P utility conduit
T
demolished to foundation
€
E
E
N E
€
privately owned
A
E
R
tourist accommodations
M
O W
N
I P
N
maintain loadbearing
privately owned
O W
R
M
T
H
PO P
marine life habitat
M
E
I P
elevated walkways
support channel embankment
photo op
A
S
Y
E
T
bird habitat
2
PH
R
PO
E
ruin as artifact
T
TO prevent erosion
M
H
TO
habitable bracing structures
A
T
S
Y
city-owned
PH
alternative accommodations
infrastructure
alternative EXISTING accommodations
elevated walkways
E
N
M
E
R
T
restore wetland outside of 120cm tidal range habitat
demolished to foundation
A
outside of 120cm tidal range
within 120cm tidal range
EXISTING
park
O W
R
A
R R
G
G
R
R T
new souvenir
R
maintain loadbearing
utility conduit
R
maintain loadbearing
within 120cm tidal range
support channel embankment
T
PO
restore wetland habitat
T infrastructure
T E
N
E
R
N
demolished to foundation
demolished to foundation
city-owned
maintain loadbearing
habitable bracing structures
habitable bracing structures
park
E
E
TO
utility conduit
N privately owned
Y
elevated walkways
support channel embankment
photo op
G
E
G I P
PH
alternative accommodations
infrastructure
alternative accommodations
EXISTING
elevated walkways
photo op
N
R
E
O W H
A
outside of 120cm tidal range
within 120cm tidal range
EXISTING
park
O W
R
M
S
PO T
demolished to foundation
R
city-owned
maintain loadbearing
within 120cm tidal range
support channel embankment
PO
E
M
T
city-owned
photo op
O W
N
restore wetland habitat
demolished to foundation
habitable bracing structures
habitable bracing structures
maintain loadbearing
photo op
park
TO
G
infrastructure
elevated walkways
support channel embankment
park
TO
PO
utility conduit
accommodations
infrastructure alternative
alternative accommodations
elevated walkways
support channel embankment
TO €
€
€
T
R O
immigrant immigrant P
€
T
€
R O
travelertraveler P
€
T
O
O
building (de)construction The Istrian stone foundations and walls which remain are used to create new dwellings, public spaces, and programmatic opportunities.
a
b
c
d
t h e s l ow digital ba rce l ona 2 0 1 2
spring
studio
|
critic:
librar y
M a rg a r i t a
J ove r,
:: a l d ay j ove r
a rq u i te c t u ra
y
p a i s a j e s
Working in a soon-to-be abandoned industrial rail corridor through the Poblenou neighborhood of Barcelona, the design draws from the burgeoning media, design and publishing economies of its immediate surroundings to create a digital library distributed along a new pedestrian and bicycle corridor. A work in progress, this proposal seeks to understand the site as an industrial heritage landscape which continues to link Barcelona to the world, and as a specific type of public space, the institution of the library, which functions at the intersection of the digital, civic, and urban realms where we project our public identity.
s u b te r ranean to celestial o b s e r vator y hill 2 0 0 9
fall
studio
|
critic:
::
Nanc y Ta k a h a s h i
Focusing on the sensory conditions of the existing forest and the relationship between a headspring in the valley and an observatory center on top of the hill, this design incorporates conceptual models and hand drawings to explore topography, vegetation density, and circulation through a passage from subterranean to celestial.
bi o d i ve rsit y on a biscuit bi s c u i t run state park 2 0 1 0
spring
studio
|
critic:
Kr i s t i n a
::
H i l l
Tasked with increasing biodiversity in a rapidly developing area south of Charlottesville,VA, this 1200-acre parcel acts “rung on ladder�; that is, a relatively small piece of land running east-to-west which connects two larger pieces of land running north-to-south which also possess quality habitat for a variety of threatened wildlife. By making Biscuit Run a connector to these larger patches, visitors are able to begin to share a space with other non-human species native to the region which pass through this area. As a studio, we focused on the designing the perch from which people would begin their visit, the parking lot.
495
490
490 Rim 488.5’
485
+
TW 487.3’
++ BW 485.5’
TW 492.1’
+ + BW 484.4’
480 484
485
485
483
475 484 483
+
482
TW 481.5’
484
+ +
+
+TW 482.7’ +
Rim 483.5’
477
480
+
481
478
BS 472.1’
485
482
BW 477.3’
476
479
+
483
BW 477.4’
481 470
486
484 TS 483.5’
TW 484’
480 480
479 478
477
476 BW 477.1’
+
+
476
TW 475’
+
TW 478’
+
475
BW 471’
474 470
475
472
471
473
469 468
18” wall
18’ parking stall
39’ turn around
470
18’ gathering strip
15’ bioswale
exposed bedrock wall
meadow strip
teak platform
8’ bioswale w/ metal grating
25’ turnaround
18’ parking stall
492’
484.25’ 484.25’ 484.7’ 483.75’
478’
477.75’ 477.25’