ADAPTING CULTURES THROUGH TRANSFORMATION TIME
ZEYNEP + ALEXIS
CULTURE ?
DEF. the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.
QUEST
How can we blur the lines in between neighborhood boundaries and th more possible not just l
Does the construct of a neighbor have to imply a private nature of a city dierent groups and begin to express
How can landscape and building start to emerge an
How can the introduction of a continuous mesh adapt to existing lan many social lev
TIONS
heir social life? Can the next ďŹ gure of the neighbor be designed to make local but public civility?
y? Can neighborly interactions begin to break down boundaries between s the identity of the collective whole?
nd the in between spaces can be activated for use?
ndscape conditions of a city to increase uidity, which will congregate vels in the city?
KEY T urban tissue:a network of connections, both physical and experientially and ďŹ nd common ground within a city
socio spatiality: the result of urban sprawl resulting in the seperation of neighbor: a person who lives near another; one’s fellow human being
connected city: a city with uidity in terms of circulation and interaction
culture: the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achieve
identity: the fact of being who or what a person or thing is; a close simil
ERMS that allow for people in dierent socio-economic groups to interact
f groups geographically
n with fellow occupants
ement regarded collectively
larity or aďŹƒnity
DIVERSITY “Ethnic, cultural, artistic, and culinary diversity. LA... a feast for the senses.”
HISPANIC ASAIN CAUCASIAN AFRICAN AMERICA N
NEIGHBORHOODS “The construct of the figure of the neighbor is multifaceted. It not only implies material figures such as windows on the street, but embodies conceptions of self, stranger, other, friend, enemy. Intrinsically, the neighbor is an intersubjective mediation between self and the other: one must be one to have one.”
ETHNIC NEIGHBORHOODS
BOYLE HEIGHTS Established in the 1875, as a cramped riverside Russian-Jewish quarter. Urban renewel at the turn of the 20th century pushed the Mexican population out of the old plaza area into Boyle Heights. By the 1950s, the Russian-Jewish population started moving west to the Fairfax district. This neighborhood is known for its quality aorable mexican food, as well as its underground music scene by some.
CHINA TOWN Chinese railroad workers settled in LA in the mid 19th century in then-rural areas less than mile from china town’s boundaries. They were relocated to make way for the construction of Union Station ins 1938.
KOREATOWN Korean immigrants started arriving in large numbers in the 1960s. LA has the largest population of Koreans outside of Korea anywhere in the world.
LEIMERT PARK VILLAGE This hub of African-American artistic life and culture was designed by the Olmsted Brothersas a model community in 1928. Blacks began moving into the area in the 1950s, after the Supreme Court lifted bans on non-white homeowners.
LITTLE TOKYO Though most Angelenos of Japanese descent live in suburban Gardena, this redeveloped neighborhood remains the cultural center of the Japanese community.
THAI TOWN Though city designated Thai Town in 1999, its origins are in the 1960s, when the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 brought many Thais to Los Angeles to study. A large percentage stayed and opened businesses; in the 1980s, a ďŹ nancial crisis in Thailand brought a new wave to Thai Town.
FAIRFAX DISTRICT Following the movement of Mexican population into Boyle Heights, the Russian - Jewish population began to establish themselves in the fairfax district. It has been its cultural center ever since.
LITTLE ETHIOPIA Little Ethiopia dates back to the early 1990s. This stretch of Fairfax Avenue used to be occupied by Jewish businesses, as the Fairfax District to the north is now. In 2004, former Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn oďŹƒcially bestowed the name "Little Ethiopia" on the neighborhood.
LITTLE BANGLADESH Little Bangladesh is a ten-block area around Third Street and Alexandria Avenue in Central Los Angeles, oďŹƒcially designated by the City of Los Angeles in 2010 that became a commercial center for immigrants from Bangladesh.
LITTLE ARMENIA Its name comes from the large number of Armenian-Americans who live in the area and also from the large number of Armenian stores and businesses that had already opened in the neighborhood by the early 1970s.
SEPERATE IDENTITIES “Porches, stoops, apartment house lobbies and picture windows establish a transition between the private and public spheres, bridging the household and the neighborhood. Side yards, party walls, and fences mediate between neighbors. The political signs and holiday decorations places in a window communicate the occupant’s identity. Sidewalks, streets, and parks, while technically public, belong to the neighborhood, and trespassers are noted.”
CONNECTIONS “To begin to build a more civil society within urban cultures, neighborhood form cannot be set by exclusionary tactics of segregation or boundary definition…Instead attention needs to be directed toward common interests identified with the group and interstitial spaces located between group members. A more complex elaboration of semi-private and semipublic spaces is called for.”
Can the next ďŹ gure of the neighbor be designed to make more possible not just local but public civility?
RECONNECTING LA
ADAPTIVE TISSUES FOR LA
CONVENIENCE AND MOBILITY ...To increase mobility and access to many possible future zones and areas, strategically organized surfaces should be embedded into the existing urban fabric for the “transformation of a ground plane into a living, connective tissue between disparate fragments and unforeseen programs.�
EMBEDDED LANDSCAPE ADAPTATION This responsive and adaptive surface can adapt to changes of the future and connects significant points of the city, while acting as an “instrument of mobility, convenience and social equality.” It is a “connective tissue that organizes not only objects and spaces but also dynamic processes and events that move through them.”
ADDITIONAL LANDSCAPE TO EXISTING TOPOGRAPHY CARVING LANDSCAPE
HIGHWAY
EMBEDDING THE HIGHWAY
VENICE BOULEVARD
PARKING LOT
VISTA HERMOSA PARK
ECHO LAKE / PARK
HIGHWAY JUNCTIONS
HOLLENBECK PARK + JUNCTION
RAILROAD AREA
STAPLES CENTER
SAINT JAMES PARK
JUNCTION