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In 2010, Pakistan was devastated by flooding in its agricultural
Indus valley. Nearly 20 million people were affected, and many were
displaced from their homes for months at a time. Many of the
families affected lost all their accumulated wealth because their
homes, possessions and crops were destroyed by the rising
waters.
This project proposes two systems: First, a minimal, pointed
concrete foundation that is a landmark to which families can return
after floodwaters recede. This addresses issues of land tenure and
ease of rebuilding.
Second, a woven system can be used flexibly as furniture,
possession transport and protection, temporary shelter or part of a
permanent shelter. This woven system can be constructed at
different scales for different uses and its technique is grounded
in the local Pakistani means of making rope beds, known as
charpoy.
The charpoy rope bed is a piece of furniture that is owned by
many families in the parts of Punjab and Sindh provinces that I
researched. Its versatility allows it to be used as a surface for
sleeping, eating, and gathering, and its material economy means
that it can be made using few resources. To make this already
ingenious piece of furniture into something more broadly
functional, I removed the legs, made it square for ease of
connection between modules in multiple directions, and used the
inherent tension in the diagonal weave to give rigidity by
introducing a doubly-curved surface. This allows the modules to
span longer distances and gives the surface strings more ability to
take lateral and gravity loads when connected.
The system can function at the scale of a piece of furniture and
be stored or used as a building component, enclosure or substrate
during times where there are not floodwaters. When a flood comes,
the module can be reconfigured using simple sticks or short bamboo
pieces as attachment. It can be waterproofed through secondary and
tertiary weavings and used as temporary shelter when configured
differently.
PUNJAB, PAKISTAN
HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGNCRITIC / TOSHIKO MORIFALL 2011
/ 12 WEEKS
01 View / Foundation Concept02 View / 2 person Shelter03 Diagram
/ Form Generation
TEMPORARY HOUSING SYSTEM
01
02
03
The Foundation serves as a marker of place and allows for faster
rebuilding when disaster strikes. It may have a part that floats
above floodwaters like a buoy and be painted to create a unique
identity, much like the tradition of decorated Pakistani
trucks.
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01 Diagrams / Module Configurations02 View / Drying Rack03 View
/ Possession Transporter04 View / Temporary Shelters05 View /
Temporary Shelters
01
02 03 03 03
The System can be deployed at multiple scales and in different
numbers to give it a maximum flexibility of configurations and
uses. At the small scale it can be used to transport water, filter
water and dry clothes. It can also be used as a small bed or to
transport smaller posessions.
At a larger scale, 2 meters on each side, a module of 3 pieces
can be configured as a float, a storage unit, or different
one-person shelters. When combined with other modules it can be
used to shelter more people, such as a family. The possibilities
for aggregation are only limited by the availability of people in
the family to carry these light structures.
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The module, at any scale, can be clad to create temporary
shelter and structure. In addition, the clad module or unclad
surface can serve as a substrate for other, more permanent,
materials such as mud, straw, waterproof fabrics or even concrete.
In this way, the system is flexible in its material identity and
its outward expression. It can be personalized so that any
settlement built using the system does not appear uniform or
generic.
Mud or Concrete Supported by Tensile Frame
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The goal of our HOME-FOR-ALL is to create an architectural
catalyst to revive the urban downtown of Kamaishi. We are
interested in how the HOME-FOR-ALL will serve as the initial hub
for regeneration, yet the revitalization will not remain within the
Home-for-All. Instead, the home-for-all acts as a catalyst as part
of a larger system, one that generates growth throughout the
commercial district by expanding out into the urban field. This
architecture is active; we are interested in re-thinking
architecture not only as what it IS, but what it can DO.
Kamaishi has lost its center. The shopping street is mostly
empty. In order to revitalize this city, the downtown needs an
inspiring new center from which the community can initiate urban
revitalization.
The downtown was devastated by the tsunami. It left the
commercial district with three new types of urban space: - empty
lots from buildings that were completely washed away, - short
foundation walls where almost the entire building was destroyed, -
open first floors with an intact building above.
The distribution of temporary housing impedes the regeneration
downtown - the housing communities are detached, on the outskirts
of the city. The temporary housing sites are not well connected to
each other, and are too confining. Residents may be placed miles
from their former neighbors, detaching them from networks that are
important for rebuilding the city.
The displaced residents in these communities need a destination
that will:encourage social re-connection, give the residents of
Kamaishi a new apprecation for their urban surroundings, and
provide a more expansive space than they are afforded in their
isolated temporary homes. The goal of the home-for-all is to serve
as that space.
Our Home-for-All is located at the intersection of Kamaishis two
main commercial axes. This enables the Home-for-All to re-center
the city and by catalyzing activity, spread regeneration throughout
the downtown.
We think of the home-for-all as a beacon. It can attract and
accommodate a variety of different types of activity. By bringing
together a broad collection of Kamaishis residents, it can foster
new connections and become a starting point for Kamaishis
regrowth.
A flexible architectural system will compose the Home-for-All,
drawing people in, gathering the community, and by doing so, begin
to repopulate the downtown. By simply offering a community space -
the people of Kamaishi will be excited to leave their temporary
homes and come back to the city. A symbol of the community emerges
through the identity of the Home-for-All as a beacon of
activity.
KAMAISHI, JAPAN
HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGNCRITIC / TOYO ITOSPRING 2011 /
12 WEEKS
HOME-FOR-ALL
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We believe people gather around trees because they serve as
landmarks that offer a node to be near and around. They are special
because they offer different atmospheres during different times of
the year and provide a connection to nature. Our home for all can
learn from the way a tree simply marks space and allows for a
variety of activities under and around it.
People are attracted to the tree because they know it will be a
recognizable landmark to meet a friend, a shaded place to relax,
provide a good backrest when reading a book, or be a pleasant space
for a picnic. Similarly, the basic architectural element -
something between a column and wall - can attract people through
simple surface programming. The adjacency of a table, a bench, or a
shelf invites people to relax as they lean against the wall, gather
around a table and eat, and read while still connected to
neighbors.
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Eating Relaxing Playing GrowingCooking Meeting Reading
Trading
Eating Relaxing Playing GrowingCooking Meeting Reading
Trading
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We are not interested in the tree as an isolated landmark,
however. We are interested in how the composition of many of these
elements creates different spaces. We dont want to divide space
into enclosed rooms, but we prefer to create an open space that is
loosely defined by different activities around and between
nodes.
The articulation of the column-wall can define space as both a
column-like node (unifying) and as a wall, seaming between two
separate activities. We imagine this wall allowing for flexible
program to occur around and on it. It could simply be a - bench,
transform into a - green wall as a flower shop, or become a - table
for an afternoon snack.
Our goal is to activate space by allowing various activities to
occur in the same place, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes at
different times. We have reduced the infrastructure necessary to a
catalogue of different sized surfaces to allow for activities at
different scales to occur. The system is simply composed of a set
of minimally designed horizontal surfaces easily put into a
vertical wall, inviting the user to create his or her own desired
space.
BENCH 450 mm
PANEL SIZES
200 mm INTERVALS
400 mm 800 mm 1800 mm 3000 mm
STEEL SUPPORT ANGLE
REINFORCED CONCRETE
THE USERS OF THE HOME-FOR-ALL CAN CONTINUOUSLY RE-FORM THE
SPACE
TABLE 700 mm
COUNTER 900 mm
BAR 1000 mm
SHELVES/HANGING 200 mm INTERVALS
MEET LEARN AND STRATEGIZE
RESERVE CONSTRUCTAND ADVERTISE
OPERATE AND EARN
REVITALIZE
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As a new HOME at the center of the commercial axes, the HOME FOR
ALL will also provide a space for shop owners and entrepreneurs to
establish their businesses. As such, we want to offer both a HOME
within the city and a place to begin commercial revitalization. As
the Home-for-All aids in the commercial revitalization of the
downtown, its progress is tracked on the entrance wall to the shop,
proudly displaying the new growth of the city.
The home for all is related to the urban through the deck and
the wall. The home-for-all will spread its identity by integrating
its basic elements (column-walls and deck) into the urban
environment. These urban elements will further catalyze commercial
and social revitalization. Open lots can be reappropriated as
places for new natural growth and outdoor activities. The deck
again can be used as a platform for gathering above existing
foundations. The empty first floor spaces of still-standing
buildings can become almost any type of new shop with minimal,
flexible intervention of column-walls and some enclosure. Over
time, the home for all transforms from a single beacon and
gathering point to an element within the forest of a larger system,
a regenerated urban environment.
EMPTY FIRST FLOORPARTIAL FOUNDATION WALLSEMPTY LOT
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01
02
01 Book / Precedent Studies of Barcelona and Tokyo02 Infographic
/ Comparative Population Density in New York City
Our site, bounded by water and major transportation
infrastructure, currently acts as an inhospitable and
largely
impassable barrier, dividing: the diverse neighborhoods of
Corona
and Flushing, Citi Field and the US Tennis Center, the 7
train
and the LIRR, and Flushing Meadows Corona Park and Willets
Point. Our goal is to bridge between these places, in the form
of
corridors allowing people to cross the site, and a local density
of
residences and activities that is high relative to the
surrounding
areas (at 2500 housing units over the 100 acre site). High
urban densities can improve efficiencies in infrastructure and
the
servicing of activities and buildings, and can improve access
to
amenities, cultural production, and economic
competitiveness.
The goal is to make this high density socially productive.
Social
productivity can emerge from relations that may be physical,
economic, cognitive, or cultural, and which we cannot design
directly. But we can code for ways for the built environment
to support two fundamental types of relations that, in turn,
enable the others: social relations between people, and
material
relations between people and the spaces they occupy.
This city of relations (as opposed to things or objects) is
not
smooth and orderly, but rather is dynamic and responsive.
Our
codes aim to create a system of flexible relationships that
can
provide the framework for multiple possible cities.
QUEENS, NEW YORK
HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGNCOLLABORATION WITH LIAN CHANG
AND JOHN TODDCRITIC / CARLES MUROSPRING 2011 / 6 WEEKS
CITY/CODE
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0 100 200 300 500 1000 ftCONTINUOUS ACCESSIBLE / PUBLIC
SPACE
GENERIC BUILDING MASS
7 TRAIN
LIRR
The coding of the site was executed based on Data Sets.
The data sets are abstractions of the external relations of
the site, which are made into internal relationships through
a series of connective operations.
Examples of some of the codes that these data sets inform
are:
Identify External Connections Re-connect internal intersections
Identify and Categorize internal intersections
Identify Nodal Clusters
Connect according to Hierarchy of Paths
Overlay of Relevant Data Sets
Categorize Triangles by Area Resultant Nodal Pattern
Connect Relevant Clusters with Primary Roads Resulting Site
Map
[Activity Density] is based on triangles and code for
density
of programmed space
-dwelling density:
-100 housing units / 4 acres
-150 sq. ft. to 2000 sq. ft. per unit
-trade (i.e. all non-dwelling) density:
-500 sq. ft. per triangle
-resulting built density:
-Floor to Area Ratio on each triangle
capped at 10, with a maximum height of
12 stories
[Trade Duration] is based on triangles and codes for typical
minimum durations of activities:
-errand: dark gray triangles code for no minimum
typical duration
-visit: medium gray triangles code for a minimum
typical duration of 1h
-stay: light gray triangles code for a minimum
typical duration of 5h
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01
03
02
04 05
01 Section / Transverse of Station North-South02 Axonometric
Diagram / Unfiltered Public Space03 Rendering / Views from Slow
Passage onto Central Public Space and Citi Field s04 Model
Photograph / Plan View of Station05 Model Photograph / Aerial View
of Central Public Space
Given the codes from the earlier group design, I propsed
this
train station as a neighborhood center and a transit hub
serving
the LIRR and MTA 7 Trains. The Station acts as porous filter
in
the east-west direction, allowing for multiple crossing points
and
gathering points along its length. It stitches the site together
by
asserting its presence as a continuous seam between the two
neighborhoods.
At the mezzanine level, the station acts as a bridge,
providing
multiple continuous paths between Citi Field and USTC/
Corona Park. These varying connections allow for flexible
crowd
accommodation and their different lengths and orientations
dictate different speeds of movement.
The megastructural form of the station is broken up by its
structural system. By using a modular bay to organize space,
the
station becomes a rule-based system, deforming the
structural
frames with respect to the desired program (enclosure) and
necessary structural support. The frames are thin and
closely
spaced at 6-foot intervals. Every 18 there is a primary
frame.
The close, thin frames are deep to provide extra structural
support and to create a visual difference. When viewed
across
(in the porous filter direction), the station is light and
transparent.
However, when viewed at an oblique angle, or when moving
quickly through the station, the fins appear to merge and
the
station is read as a single, opaque figure.
QUEENS, NEW YORK
HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGNCRITIC / CARLES MUROSPRING 2011
/ 3 WEEKS
TRANSIT HUB