BLUE MAT

from YingyingYan Portfolio 2023_UCL Application

by yingying yan

JUNKTOPIA

Academic work, Carnegie Mellon University

Year 5 Semester II, 2022

Collective Studio

Location: Pittsburgh, P.A.

Professors: Stefan Gruber

Our urban environment is under predictable, accelerarted transformations leading by top-down masterplaning designs, which is an ineffective approach to many contemprary urban conditions. In contrast, the Urban Collabotory Studio engages urban milieus, the local community, and design intervention targeting the “ongoing transformation of neighborhoods in a meaningful way”. This studio works with Community Forge and Bricolage Theater on the participatory design of a community/performance space. Community Forge is a vacant elementry school that is under the transformation to a community center. Bricolage is an immersive based theater believes in“whatever is at hand” to create something new. The studio worked side by side with the cilents and answered with a final proposal of the spatial transformation, including phasing and a built project in the community space focusing on solvaging and upcycling material in an circular economy matter. Through reusing the blue gym mat, the project transformed the space while retained the memories of many who attended school here. This project also asked how could circular materials make sense at an architectural scale. Given the constraints of nonstandard materials, when should architects and communities pursue adaptive reuse?

Nonstandard materials are so tricky!

Hurry, we graduating in three days!

It’s over.

We don’t have enough tools!