27/02

CRITICS DAY!!

parasiting is the word. i am parasiting a highly populated/dense city. i chose new york, but i am really not that sure anymore. it is my excuse to answer a more generic question, i think: how to respond to lack of space (specially public space) or an intention to densify cities.

i chose new york because 1000m2 lots are very manageable. and because i know it quite well. the thing is a size like mine (54200 m2) could easily occupy an entire neighbourhood in a two-floor basis. the program could change according to the needs and ways of life. but i need really diverse characters more or less next to each other. and there is already a lot of existing commerce.

a first thought was connecting residential and office buildings through a network of commercial space and general leisure. that really doesn't exist in new york. i could imagine that on some other city with a more diversified distribution of office space. in new york (as in other many cities - and i can thing of AZCA in madrid, too) there is a financial district that is very compact. businessmen-targeted commerce would really work. and it does work because it exists already!
working on ground zero was so tempting. i mean, it is a completely empty space lacking activity, and surrounded by frenetic workers going round and about, hungry and thirsty and wanting to relax after work or buy groceries because they dont have time to buy it anywhere else. there used to be a huge commercial activity, as i have seen in some studies. it is also amazingly connected (there is a train station, 2 metro stations, a huge parking lot nearby and it is even close to the docks!) the problem is i would need a much bigger size to be able to do it well. the place has such a connotational energy that it is very tricky to work in it, and there is a need for a really big emblematic structure to make america recover from 9/11.
and, of course, that would mean building from scratch, not parasiting at all.
* i went over the idea of parasiting the buildings around to take advantage of the activity i mentioned, but i would really have to make it office-oriented and i dont really see the potential.

so. being quite generic and picturing a sort of sprawl-like mall on the existent city, i thought it might work on the eastern south canal area (theres tribeca - obviously "triangle below canal" and the meatpacking district over there, some area below little italy that i really dont know much and the financial district). somethig i know is that, whereas soho is fully packed with shops and nice cafes and everything, there seems to be a hole on this area (and then as we go down the commercial activity arises again in the financial district). anyway, i need to get more information about this because i thought about it like 5 minutes before presenting the project - yes, throwing away all the thinking ive been previously talking about.

-----> so he did understand the essence of it, i think. it is not a sole building, not a tower. the idea of parasite implies that it is something smaller than the existent (i dont think he meant literally smaller, but in a sort of hierarchy of usage). and he also warned me that i have to be aware of the fact that i cannot build on the street, under the buildings or through the buildings.

all that said, i think there are some issues to deal with:

- the real size and SCALE of the project and how it could look like for a pedestrian.
- what are the active hours and where? WHY is it attrative, to WHOM?
- precise INFORMATION. metre squares, population, examples of similar existent buildings (in size and/or function)
- what is the height of the buildings? what is their shape?
- how does it deal with the streets?
- how do people get there?
- what kind of commerce is there? material goods, services, entertainment, wellness... how does it materialize in spaces? IS IT EVEN MATERIAL? HOW DO PEOPLE BUY?
- make the program RADICAL
- how many people are there at the same time? what times of the day?

and more importantly to purify the idea:
DOES IT PARASITE...
JUST THE BUILDINGS (THE FUNCTION IN THEM) ???
JUST THE STREETS/METRO (USING THE BUILDINGS AS SUPPORT) ???

IS IT A NETWORK OF CONNECTIONS?

HOW DO PEOPLE MOVE INSIDE? HOW DO THEY GET TO/FROM DIFFERENT POINTS?

HOW IS THE PLACE ENJOYABLE?

WHAT IS THE TARGET AND HOW DOES IT CHANGE FROM ONE AREA TO ANOTHER?

I REALLY NEED TO GET RID OF THIS IMAGE I HAVE OF IT FLYING ALL OVER. IT STOPS ME FROM GOING FURTHER.


*** and now, some other interesting issues that came up in the critic (i transcribe literally my notes)

. scale
. how many people AT THE SAME TIME?
. what do they do?
. where do they come from?
. maximize destination (character)
. be specific
. give public space
. see population! and what kind
. 2 pieces of city not connected --> the linkage
. (he can be convinced!!) specific: compare size, demography
implication
. "brand" of my idea!
. examples, search references
. TARGET --> information + specify
. HEIGHT and SHAPE of buildings
. MEASURE streets and buildings
. something that has been proved to function
. references to reality (law, existent m2 + buildings)
. large size --> not to make it too abstract, have PHYSICAL connection
. ways of relating
. EXISTENT COMMERCE
. metro (but assume they come walking)
. RADICALIZE PROGRAM
. middle class goes shopping
. HOPE. SOCIO-POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS. INVENT A RESPONSE TO EXISTENT SHOPPING MALLS. INVENT A NEW COMMERCE TYPOLOGY (new way of buying). not just something that works financially
. services are a kind of commerce! what other forms? how do they materialize?
. generic project in existent places --> generally doent work. if we abstract the conditions it does (prototyping)
. program = what we sell, target
site = interesting, provide conditions to develop
IDEA.... is something else -----> ARCHITECTURAL IDEA (and good architecture please...)
. POTENTIAL of place and idea
. not good mixing functions. only if it gives sense to the shopping
. you can hold on to the ESSENCE (connection, creating new city, parasiting...)
. make timetable + areas!
. PLAYFULNESS
. maybe it JUST parasites the buildings. maybe it JUST parasites the street and doesnt have to do with the building (they are the support)
. is it a system of 2nd public space wherever there's place? is it focused on the buildings? is it a 2nd net of quick connections?
. interesting how people get in and move around
way of enjoying the place
way of buying / is it material?





** note: key words for the atelier: "i can imagine it", "be honest to yourself", "a vision", "temple"