Architect as God...

Sevilla is definately creating more and more of an impression on me, this place is incredible...and its funny, when I see someone with a map and/or brandishing the tourists weapon of choice, a camera, I think to myself, 'fucking tourists...' before I stop myself... and I've started to realise something about myself, and some people may disagree with me and rightly so, but taking tours and going to certain places to spectate on certain ruins or architecture holds little to none of my interest, I'm just not overly bothered about it, and I really should be...I'd much rather sit outside in a bar chewing on olives (I've figured out that I eat an average of 1.5 kilos of olives a week...its my biggest food expense...

The competition entry is going really well, in about 2 hours we have a video conference with Studio STL and MWCML, two fascinating non-profit community organisations, about a collaberation with them and the children that participate in their programs. Instead of looking at communities as demographic maps and crime rates and statistics, we are actively looking to engage with the people of the area, something that both StudioSTL and MWCML seem very excited about. Really looking forward it, a little bit nervous though...

I don't want to write up too much about our entry and how we are planning to approach it, and I don't think I could do it justice with my explaination to be honest! But I think we're taking a different fresh approach to a project such as this, and that might set us apart from the other entries..

Janine Benyus Shares Nature's design

Above is a fascinating video on biomimicry, but not in a false 'cell facade' kind of way! We've also being asking ourselves 'what makes a good 'place'?'...how do we go about creating a 'place' for a community in a neighborhood thousands of miles away...

One area I have been finding particularly fascinating is emergence, and how cities are build when there are no architects or planners..I'll try to give you a brief discription;

So, it's obvious that in medieval cities, or cities in poor, 'under-developed/developing' countries where the people build their own house without architects or urban planners. This is often called the vernacular, architecture without architects or more recently, slums. The very word 'slum' carries with it a preconception of filth, disease, high density and poverty...and they are quite valid, but I love slums, there is a magical quality to them which no single architect or planner could ever achieve, ever! 

Le Corbusier used to use the term 'donkey paths' for these types of areas, and I think this shows up his ignorance. Any modernist development such as Pruitt Igoe is a modernist's dream, a 'machine for living in', architect as God, designing how people will live, and how they will socialise...in my eyes this is the main reason it failed, you have to facilitate peoples needs to express themselves and form communities for themselves..give the people the power to empower themselves. Back to the 'donkey paths', the very reason these cities have their character, when someone starts to build a house, they pay attention to who their building beside, and whether or not their building will be in the way of other people's activites, prime example being a path. An architect can design a path from A to B, pour the concrete and leave it dry only to find people dont take that route but prefer to walk across the grass as its quicker, or maybe it catches the sun. Now, why not leave the site for a week or two, come back to site and look at where paths have been worn into the grass, then pour the concrete to facilitate that flow of movement.

Sevilla is a perfect example, beautiful city full of character and charm. Cobbled winding streets and ancient buildings, compare tha to st. louis which, just like all other American cities, was designed on the grid system where the car rules. This is just one factor of why I think American cities don't work, another being density. A city where you can't walk from one side to the other in a relatively short period is a city that doesn't work. Not being able to walk to certain places with the city limits means that there's a dependance on the car...not good!

Above is St Louis with its grid system...good for post men and car salesmen, not so much for the other residents..

And below is Sevilla, winding 'organic/emergent' street patterns with a few grids.

But take a close look at the scales on the bottom left of the pictures...

SPACE and it's beginnings

So, as part of Kamideas, Rowan, Amin and I have been occupying 'SPACE', a really exciting and new concept of a creative space. What started off an an empty white space is progressively becoming filled with donated and found furniture and creative inspiration. 

We started our project like any project should be, site analysis...but this is no ordinary site analysis! So far we've looked at;history of Pruitt Igoe, History of St. Louis, politics, economics, community development plans, population demographics, density, income, foreclosures, homelessness, urban farms, food industry, monsanto, modernist ideals, why Pruitt Igoe failed, and so so so much more, sitting infront of me is a 301 5 year consolidated plan for St. Louis...

I t cannot be denied that Pruitt Igoe, and St. Louis have a rich history steeped in race and culture. I'm starting to feel like there is little we don't know collectively about Pruitt Igoe and St. Louis, however there is only so much you can learn about a place through google. To get a real feel for the place and its people you have to meet and talk to them and their communities. 

Over the past two days Rowan and I have been emailing past residents, community based non-profits, homeles shelters and the dreaded commercial developers. We are currently waiting for responses and hopefully to organise a few video conferences to get an indepth feeling for what is needed in the area. 

Between the three of us there is a palpable excitment for the possibilites for something huge, yet simple. Even when not allowing yourself to dream up ideas, it is impossible not to blurt out a few, and our policy of a structured site analysis then design is becoming frayed! One theme that seems to be a reoccuring one is that of urban farming, education, training, providing for the homeless and creating an idea that will have a knock on effect to the rest of St. Louis...and the world!

Pruitt Igoe Now

"A pioneering mix of race & class. The changing face of American Cities."

Pruitt Igoe was seen as one of the modern movements first realisations. They were designed by the architect Yamasaki, the same architect who designed the World Trade Centre in New York and the 33 11 story buildings were completed in September 1955. Altogether it had 2,868 apartments split into two complexes, the Pruitt complex and the Igoe complex on 55 acres in central St. Louis. Pruitt was originally meant to be for African-American residents and Igoe was for the whites, but not long after moving in the white residents no longer wanted to live in such close proximity to their black counterparts and moved out making the scheme entirely negro. 

The design incorporated large communal hallways meant to reflect the American idea of the porch. The one, two and three bedroom apartments were clean, new and had all of the modern appliances, furniture and amenities. It really was the Le Corbusier idea of the modern living machine, how could it go wrong...

From the very start of residency, the whole scheme only reached a height of 91% and was a breeding ground for crime. The large hallways as well as other features such as skipstop elevators (elevators which only stopped on every third floor) and stairways were all the site of vandalism, crime and general 'antisocial' behaviour... Police were reluctant to answer calls in the complex (approx 2/3rds of all 911 calls wen't unanswered), after committing a crime the person would run into the complex and know he/she could find a safe haven and elude the authorities. 

Broken windows, single parent families, low incomes and unemployment were abundant in the site. The community rooms, the large communal hallways, the stairways and the outside spaces were sources of fear and violence. The Pruitt Igoe scheme had failed badly. 

On March 16th 1972 the gradual demolishment of the scheme began with the rigged explosion of one of the buildings. Many, including Charles Jenks mark that moment as the death of modernism. The architect Yamasaki never mentioned the scheme in his autobiography and has been known to say it was a project he wishes he never did.

“Modern Architecture died in St. Louis, Missouri on July 15, 1972 at 3.32 pm (or thereabouts) when the infamous Pruitt Igoe scheme, or rather several of its slab blocks, were given the final coup de grâce by dynamite.”

Charles Jencks
The New Paradigm in Architecture: The Language of Post-Modernism

Many of the factors for which the project failed are believed to be of social, political, economical and cultural origins, and not design related (I disagree, any good design should not only include all of those factors, but should be based on them). As stated above, the apartments were clean and modern...and autonomous. When I see the vast amount of complaints and inclusion of graffiti in the vandalism and crime aspects which led to its eventual death, I can't help but draw the conclusion that the presence of graffiti as the illustration that within this sterile jungle man need to identify and re-appropriate his surroundings. Modernism was, in my opinion a flawed ideal from the beginning. The idea that a high-rise machine for living with repeated modulars and blank white walls is not a place where a person can draw comfort from...it is not a home. When a community moves into a place such as Pruitt Igoe, the sense of community is extremely low, nobody takes ownership of the space and therefore cares for the space. If a space does not nurture a sense of identity, then vandalism, crime and antisocial behaviour will soon take hold. 

The final structure was demolished in 1975 and ever since, 33 acres and the power station were abandoned, haunted by their past. Today nature has reclaimed the site, a natural urban forest dissected by unused paths now occupy the land and it is on this plot that the design competition is looking for ideas. 

The competition is not a typical physical design competition...but more a calling for ideas, 'to start a conversation' as the organisers have said. They've called for entries from architects, designers, musicians, artists, poets...anyone really! It can consist of one a1 sheet or a 120 second long video...

Exciting.

NO8DO

Sevilla!!

I've been here for just over two weeks now, and I could easily stay another two years...The Spanish have this whole life thing sussed, siesta should be made compulsory in all countries, the whole place just goes dead between 2 and 4. Nights out don't really start until 12, most don't eat until 10...and the cafe culture is something I'm already adopting...basically, it's everything Ireland isn't, and for me it's Peru, but western..love it.

The first week was spent getting used to the surroundings and acquainting ourselves with the place, I feel pretty at home already, and given another 10 weeks I'll be a Sevillian to the core. Last Sunday managed to find the Spanish equivalent to a knacker car boot sale, except these gypsies are willing to sell anything from brand new scooters to empty coke cans and puppies...given my history I've had to steer clear of the boxes of cuteness. Considering buying a bike next Sunday, and definitely plan on taking my camera with me no matter how dodgy it is... Sevilla is an extremely beautiful city, very historic with winding roads and old style pubs/cafes with a healthy mix of new vibrant venues. I'm starting to sound like a tourist now...which, given my research topics is something I've being trying to avoid.

Last weekend a few of our group went on a trip to the local town of Carmona. A really beautiful place, but I couldn't help the awkward feeling of being an outsider looking in..that soon went when we found this awesome place with the best olives I have ever tasted and had a few beers while we waited for an illusive monk bake sale...monk cake definitely dominated our agenda toward the end of the trip...but those ninja cake monks escaped the grasp of our hunger...

One thing that is definitely in no shortage is churches around the south...I'm not sure how strong the religion is in the youth in Spain, it generally seems to be the older generations who populate the religious establishments...but they are extremely beautiful places, and I think there is going to be a lot of restoration projects and conversions in the coming 20 years...

I've been extremely lucky to be placed with Kamideas, a relatively young practice with the exact same ethics and ideas that I hold. Amin is the boss-man, and Rowan and I are the two 'interns' he has been given through the programme. Amin has given us the brief for three main projects, the first of which we are working on at the moment and I will discuss in detail in the next post... The second is very cool...We have a photographic project, titled 'the forgotten spaces'...basically about 'forgotten' spaces around sevilla..but we've had a chat, and I think I'm going to do my project on the homeless of Sevilla, their spaces and stories...the forgotten people and their places i suppose you could call it...then near the end of our placement we are having an exhibition of the images..looking forward to that! Finally we have been given a piece of research and writing to do on space and place...a little too perfect given my current enrolment in a MRes Architecture...