Collages and mapping

Figuring out the site will take exploration and mapping like...

http://exhuming-architecture.blogspot.com.ar/

http://exhuming-architecture.blogspot.com.ar/

http://bartlettyear1architecture.blogspot.it/2010/10/urban-transects-mapping-project.html

 

http://bartlettyear1architecture.blogspot.it/2010/10/urban-transects-mapping-project.html

 

Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

site analysis: uses group work w Luke Wesselschmidt and Alexander Morley

 

 site analysis: uses group work w Luke Wesselschmidt and Alexander Morley

 

 

Figure ground site analysis created by Laura Wang and team

 

Case Studies

 

 

 

La Strada:

 

 

 

Carpenter center: something to say about taking a stroll in Boston

 

 

 

 

Ponte vecchio: market

 

this example i chose for 2 reasons the fact that the street runs into a bridge on which places of commerce attached themselves the quality of  different buildings on the bridge like a mosaic reminds me of what happens in the villa with the houses

street becomes a container

 

http://www.mikeleung.net/index.php?/sketch/italy/

 

 

 

Teatro Oficina, Lina Bo Bardi, Sao Paolo Brazil

 

street runs through becomes the place for the audience to gather

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Site Visit

Guests in Villa 31

We had the amazing opportunity Friday evening to go into the Villa and sit in on a meeting with architect Javier Fernandez Castro.

 

Inside the school house for a town meeting to discuss development plans with lead architect Javier Fernandez Castro
Photo by Laura Wang

 

 

 

 



Initial Questions/Thoughts

"when you are looking for a solution to what you are told is an architectural problem – remember it may not be a building"

– peter cook and ron herron, “maxims to aa students”

http://the-other-library.blogspot.com.ar/2009/11/and-solution-is.html

Initial thoughts about the studio:

This is from the start a complex studio problem but also a unique opportunity. Unique in that we are asked to consider a reality of Argentina. This is the first time for everyone, instructors that they are taking on a project in the villa. We re looking at a very current issue with social, political and economic depth.

The people determined the use of the vacant area, how can that be respected?

There is a sprawling condition. This villa has grown ...is it a parasite/ viruses


If it is a city with in a city, how then can it be connected, what thresholds exist and how can threshold be entered/broken?

Is it chaos...looking at the aerial view seems to be this mosaic, this conglomeration of structures so perhaps what is needs to be introduced is a system of organization? but there is a system that exists already, 4-5 stacked modules, all different.

There seems to be a crumbling quality to the city, also a sense of sharing in. I was reminded of the Oplatek when I saw them...how everyone starts off with a big piece then you go around breaking off pieces of others waffer until in the end everyone ends u with a small piece of their original piece plus some of everyone elses.

What were the rules/customs that exist within and make it a place that shouldn't be explored unless with someone who knows the area?

Perhaps the school becomes turns into a street or is a street... the plus then can be a node along the street ...a bridge, sports facility, market, piazza, 

What does it mean to have a street? Does it have to be straight, does it have to be solid line? A street acts as a mode of transport...but also is a shared public space for people to gather, to hold activities, is a threshold. In this way maybe the school plus acts as or is a street for the villa. A school street could connect the villa to outside but also provide space to live in...a container or living room for the villa.


issues: how to deal with the enclosed what is open

A note on my professors...I can't help but think of the clock and the candlestick from when I see the pair.  together. they do see like they ll be a fun bunch. Both Gustavo and Gerrado know one of the RWU professors, Bonder. Fabian, I can't quite tell how he'll be...in some ways he reminds me of PChuck only an Argentinian version.

I get the feeling that they are intrigued having a student from a different school...i think they are interested as to how I'll compare to how the Wash uni students work and think.

Also, the three flights of stairs up to studio are pretty steep...but ground floor apartment next door accommodates for that I guess.

The Task

School +...

"We will design a space for learning...And something else"

 The role of schools in "disadvantaged' populations in Argentina extends well beyond the specific educational one. Access to better nutrition and basic health control and services is usually gained by attending school.

At the same time as the permanence of children in schools and the completion of a curricula is always under many social "threats" (i.e. children being subjected to work or home responsibilities that would reasonably be assumed by adults), enriching what is offered in schools and a clearly recognizable  advantage in attending, becomes critical requirement for success in its role.

School has become the first stepping stone in the life of a child, wherein he/she learns a lot more than just rote learning, much more so where other learning environments such as family are "weaker" in their capacity to educate and help break the poverty cycle.

The program of the studio will be a school for the villa that accommodates kindergarten, elementary, and high school students.  Ultimately, however, the goal will be to "create a place that transcends the idea of the school" (ex. school + bridge, school + recycling factory, school + sport facility, school+ craft training facility, school + theater, school + park). Key to the project will be considering the potential for multiple uses of one space.

"The whole idea of the exercise is to introduce the students it the complexity of Buenos Aires urban fabric, the reality of the program needed in our site and to add a program hybridization that recognizes the many dimensions of schooling in these kinds of environment and acts as a focal point for the neighborhood"

The Area

Villa 31

The studio will be working in one of these "spontaneous" settlements or villas (pronounced vijas not viyas here), called Villa 31, in the Retiro area.It is located on a vacant railroad and port authority land and has some very particular characteristics.

Placed in the margins of the central district of the city, its population is favored by better and cheaper access to transport, public spaces, and public services.

It is clearly the most contrasting phenomenon of its kind in Buenos Aires, because of its visibility and proximity to very wealthy areas of the city. Attempts to relocate or impose strict limitations to its growth have been made in many occasions. They have faced strong oppositions from its population and ultimately ended in failure...

 

 

http://www.taringa.net/posts/videos/11960920/Villa-31-Argentina-documental-asi-se-vive-en-el-

primer-mundo.html

AAM - Villa 31 - Entrevistas  

The Studio

Sprawl

Buenos Aires Retiro and Villa 31
http://www.jauregui.arq.br/villa31.html

A city of more than thirteen million inhabitants, often described as a 'Grimey Paris' (a distinctly European feel in the heart of South America), Buenos Aires exhibits sprawl conditions that are unparalleled in other cities.

Buenos Aires is also a city of sharp social and economic contrast. The gridiron pattern of blocks and streets holds "formal" residential, commercial and in some cases small industrial uses. This pattern is interrupted by big urban pieces, which in most cases are public property, holding big transport infrastructure or public facilities and parks. Very vacant land in the margins of these big urban pieces is the result of long-term incomplete processes of use change or obsolescence.

These marginal pieces of land, most often undefined in terms of property or administrative status have been subject to 'spontaneous' settlements. Impoverished population migrating from less developed regions and more recently, from neighboring countries have found their way to enter the urban realm by claiming these lands for dwelling. The acquisition of land and permanence in these settlements is, in most cases, outside a formal market economy but become a fixed feature in the urban and social structure of the city.

Opportunity

Opportunity


Coming to Buenos Aires for a graduate architecture studio seemed very unlikely up until a few short months ago. After 4 years of studying architecture for as undergraduate at Roger Williams in Bristol, RI, I knew I needed at least one semester in a completely new environment and a new experience if I were to continue on with their masters program. Normally, Roger Willams' graduate program offers a studio in Buenos Aires at UTDT run by a slightly nutty man named Bonder, however, this fall, there was not enough interest generated for the program to run...

I didn't like this so I looked into joining another school's program that was also traveling down to Buenos Aires in the fall. After some miscommunication with my Dean, he agreed to look into Washington University of St. Louis's Bs.As. graduate architecture studio...

This was particularly promising news as I was also looking into their graduate school earlier in the year.

A very good opportunity finally came up around mid July as I heard from the Wash U Dean that I could jump on with their studio. This left me little time to prepare but however passing up the opportunity to be around new students, new professors, and a different country would have been regrettable.