Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Architecture as Ethnography
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Site Analysis 4
Development Process 15
Understanding Barriers 16
Precedents Studies 26
Related Works 52
Creating a Connection 56
Creating a System 62
A Public Backdrop 64
Central Intervention 70
Intervention I 76
Intervention II 80
References 85
Introduction
Purpose
Establish a precedent for community driven need based
architecture.
Action Plan
1.
Y SHA
ET
PUBLIC
SPACE
RE OF
TU
CE
TE
N
IO
SU
BS
IS
LIG
ECONOMY
RE
A SOCI
Public Space
3.
Site Analysis
Residencial Cantareira
Subsistence
Center of Cultural
Growth
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Topography
Tree Line
Water
Economy
Subsistence
Religion
5.
Public Space
6.
Creating Connections
7.
Site Analysis
Paraisopolis
8.
The image above clearly shows the density and breadth of the
favela. While this research project only looks at a small area of
the neighborhood, its intention is to create a framework that
could be carried along the entire length of the water-way shown
above.
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Development Process
The extreme density of the Paraisopolis favela creates many
problems but also exposes possibilities for urban renewal. In
this case, a polluted water source runs through a poorly paved
intersection. This point becomes the central node for inserting
an intervention that provides public space, protects the water
source, defends against future construction encroachment,
provides for public amenities and resources, and creates a visual
identity for the neighborhood.
1. Target Area - The building identified in blue encroach on
the waterway too densely. The result is pollution and a lack of
access to the water as a resource. These buildings are targeted
for removal and displacement. In some cases they will be
completely removed. In others they can be modified to create a
suitable water corridor.
2. Target Zone - This is the area left void after removal of
the encroaching buildings. It will serve as the base of the
intervention. Its shape is defined by the remaining buildings.
3. Identifying Intersections - Two major axis and the water way
form a focal point for the intervention. Transportation, pedestrian
traffic, and commerce will all intersect here to create the main
entrance and exit to the intervention.
4. Identifying anchors - These are areas of interest along the
target zone. They are potentials for micro interventions such as
play zones for children, commerce zones for small shop owners,
and religious buildings that play into the local culture.
5. Creating Connections - The intervention will serve as a public
corridor to connect these micro interventions, the water, and the
public.
15.
Physical Barriers
And Their Cultural Impact
Alphaville
38th Parallel
17.
Walls
Historically walls have been used to defend an area against
attack or invasion. This is most commonly seen in defensive
walls that surround castles, fortresses, and some old cities,
perhaps the most famous being the Great Wall of China.
However, in contemporary times, such barriers are also used to
imprison or contain. Prison walls and fences are a good example
of such walls. Perhaps the most well known in recent human
history is the Berlin wall, which physically encapsulated half of
a city from the rest. This, of course, was a small part of the Iron
Curtain, which divided East and West Europe, and was often not
a wall at all, but an idea enforced through fear and intimidation.
Within northern America there is also the wall that divides the
United States and Mexico. This boarder wall is intended to keep
illegal aliens from crossing into the United States. The idea of
a wall guarding the boarder has gained popularity since the
terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001, but is also fueled by a political
division within the country, as well as the USAs intention to keep
illegal drugs and weapons out of the country. This wall truly
expresses the dichotomy of American ideals, where a country
that prides itself on being home to a mixed immigrant population
must also defend its boarders from those that would inflict harm.
[1]
Countless examples exist in areas where war and civil strife
have grown. Such walls seek to divide people on two sides of
a conflict. Northern Ireland, Syria, Israel, and North and South
Korea have and are still using such mechanisms to ensure
safety. In these cases, the fundamental question of security
directly conflicts with the lasting peace that can come from
common experiences and exchanges brought about through
unity. Here, the very walls that seek to keep the peace are the
very things that fuel division, strife, ignorance, and paranoia. It
is a great irony that not only are these walls insurmountable, but
the divisions they cause are also making the problems they seek
to address more insurmountable. [1]
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Physical Barriers
Within the Modern Context
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Physical Barriers
Within the Modern Context
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Precedents
26.
the city, so we went to him and asked him to figure out how to
make it beautiful, Geronino Barbosa, director of the Heliopolis
community group UNAS, told the design magazine Dwell.[4]
Beautification can play a large roll in encouraging redevelopment.
When driven by the culture and talent of a place, such
beautification can also establish true ownership and pride within
a community. Of course, many issues remain pertaining to
the structural integrity, safety, and health of existing buildings.
However, such beautification measures can serve to display a
sign of improvement until more lasting improvements can be
made. Also, such projects can help to inform the direction of
future interventions by establishing a style and aesthetic that
reflects the needs and wants of the community.
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Architect:
Urban-Think Tank
Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert
Klumpner
Project Architects:
Michael Contento & Lindsey
Sherman
Project Team:
Maria Augusta Bueno, Carlos
Guimaraes
The priority for this project was equipping
this peripheral neighborhood with
infrastructure, water, sewage networks,
lighting and services in addition to social
infrastructure in the areas of education,
safety, culture, public space, and sports.
The proposed model aims to translate
a societys need for equal access to
housing, employment, technology,
services, education, and resources into
spatial solutions.
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Related Works
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Creating a Connection
Developing a Framework for Intervention
56.
Architecture as Ethnography
The wall in this proposal will run through an area where it will best
serve as a community focal point. As such, it will also serve as
a living ethnographic record of that community. This will occur
through a complex construction method, which will create the
wall out of several layers (each serving a specific function). During
this phase of locating the project, several other issues will need
to be addressed. First, the wall must serve as a focal point, so
some physical proximity to the cultural center of the community
should be considered. Secondly, most favelas or shantytowns
are commonly located along some natural resource such as a
river. Often these water sources have been built over, crowded
around, severely polluted, or some combination of all three. The
construction of the wall should alleviate this condition by opening
up a channel along such a resource. Thirdly, as a result of its
placement in proximity to a natural resource, the wall should also
serve to remediate the area as well. This can be accomplished
by allowing the wall to serve as filtration for downhill water
runoff. Therefore, it would be ideal to site the wall uphill from
a water source. Lastly, because the wall will create a newly
open pathway, it will be important to incorporate public space
into its construction or make site considerations for existing
public spaces. In the case where the wall would serve as uphill
water filtration for a downhill source, one side would serve as
bio filtration space while the other could serve as a new public
path with a series of green spaces to help raise awareness for
the natural concerns of the neighborhood. Once the location
of the wall has been decided, the next step in the design of
the wall will be in researching what other functions the wall can
serve (besides its purpose as an ethnographic record of the
neighborhood).
In many cases, favelas and shantytowns are lacking in
basic infrastructure. This can be as basic as electricity,
water distribution, or proper site drainage. However, other
considerations might include information distribution (such as
high-speed Internet), or local access to public transportation.
58.
These are all functions that such a wall could serve. This is due
to the multi layered construction of the wall. At its core, the wall
will need a structural frame to maintain its strength and longevity.
This frame could serve as thoroughfare for electrical cables,
water lines, drainage pipes, or high-speed fiber optic cables for
Internet and data. This inner frame will also serve to house any
filtration equipment necessary for site remediation as well.
The walls outer layers will be built upon the inner frame. The next
layer will consist of materials that will give the wall its character
as a spine, wall, and backdrop. These will be identified based
on their availability within the neighborhood. This could include
recycled building materials from demolished buildings, abundant
stone or timber, or other prevalent materials that have been
discarded (tires would be an example of this). This layer of
material will serve multiple purposes as well. First, it will serve to
give the wall its basic form. Because of this, it will be important
to consider the effect of the form of the wall at certain sections
on its immediate proximity. At this point it is important to explain
that the wall will not always be just a wall. It may become more
porous at certain places to allow passage, light filtration, or even
occupancy. In some areas the wall may become so porous that
its function as a wall is almost imperceptible. Rather, at these
points, the wall may be more of a registration in the landscape.
Lastly, this layer of the wall will need to accommodate the final
layer of the wall. This layer will act as the record keeper of the
ethnography of the community.
The final layer of the wall will be a series of display cases
that will be built into the outer layer of the wall. These will be
simple boxes that allow their contents to be viewed by the
community. Their design will be easily replicated so that the wall
can constantly be added upon. Their contents could include
historic artifacts from the community, art and craft pieces,
writings, drawings, photographs, or any item that represents
the community. These display boxes will be added to the wall
as new content is identified. In this way, the ethnography of the
neighborhood will be living and never complete.
The wall is itself a simple idea. And while its construction may
be complex, it is the idea of a wall that is meant to challenge the
existence of a poor favela in the midst of a thriving city. Walls
are generally intended to separate its two sides. In this way, the
wall at the center of this project will be symbolic of the perceived
separation between the favela and its outlying city. In some way,
the contents of the walls ethnographic record will also represent
this separation. However, this wall will work to redefine the idea
of the separation in these areas. This will be accomplished
through its construction. As previously stated, the wall will be
porous in places, and in others it will even be occupiable. This
will create a form that seems impenetrable and ominous, but
upon further interaction, it will become an indicator of inclusion
and community. This will be further accomplished through its
function as a record keeper. Once completed, the wall will serve
as a reminder to the community of its heritage and culture, as
a representation of the community to the outlying city, and as a
reminder to the city that this neighborhood is part of its texture
and culture and should be embraced rather than shunned.
Such an intervention could serve as the beginning of further
redevelopment in the area and that such redevelopment would
be inclusive of the skills, culture, and character of the existing
community. This can only be done by first truly understanding the
needs, hopes, and culture of the people in these neighborhoods.
Infrastructure
The wall in this proposal is a very fluid idea, capable of housing
infrastructure, remediating runoff water, and creating new public
spaces. Infrastructure can include high-speed internet, Wi-Fi
hotspots, clean water, water filtration, waste disposal, and even
a structural support mechanism for future buildings. Because it
is a protected above ground thoroughfare, it can accept these
functions at a significantly lower cost than conventional means
of digging trenches under existing buildings and roads. These
functions are intended to close the gap between the services
provided in more well-to-do neighborhoods and favelas.
The spaces that the wall creates are based on the thickness
of the favela (and all those who visit) of the complexity and
richness of their heritage, and how all of these small pieces
fit together to create a whole. Its constant growth is a symbol
of the ever changing and growing and evolving experienced
by any community. It is intended to be interactive and to
provide an experience reflective of the diverse life of living in a
favela. Juxtapositions of materiality and textures highlight the
composition of old and new, expensive and economic, local and
nonnative. It is a reminder of how life must retain balanced if it is
to be structurally sound, of how one piece cannot stand on its
own. It is an expression of the fact that each person has a role
to play in the world. In this way, the wall not only serves as a
symbol, but also as an experience for those who interact with it.
Therefore careful consideration must be made when planning
the wall. In some cases it will run along open public space.
In other cases, it will serve as the back of something else. It
can provide structural integrity for adjacent buildings, much
like castle walls provided a backbone for lean-to dwellings
and businesses. It can even be implemented in an area where
existing buildings are at risk of structural failure, brought in as a
structural supplement. This raises the question about what the
experience will be at these locations. In tightly built areas the
wall could serve to bring natural daylight down into dark spaces,
using a more porous construction and light wells or reflective
materials. Here the cultural makeup of the wall would be more
private, perhaps displaying family artifacts or those of previous
inhabitants. Here the wall would feel more like an existing ruin
that has been grafted onto. In areas where open space exists,
public interaction is vital and the wall should reflect a more public
and open attitude. Here community artifacts could be displayed
and graffiti would be more prevalent. Where the wall is close to
a school, it could serve to display the schools accomplishments,
or even provide space for performances by the students or a
safe place to wait for parents. In any case, the wall will act to
serve the community in a variety of ways. Its diversity of form
and function will allow it to accommodate several forms of
programing. Its core will be capable of providing much needed
60.
Community Center
As an extension of this project, the proposal also calls for the
development of a new community center that will relate to
the new wall. This center will serve to harness the direction of
redevelopment within the neighborhood. Its primary purpose
will be to create a place of gathering for the inhabitants of the
community. Here, the community can govern itself, implement
knew initiatives, raise funds, advocate for political involvement,
help community members with documentation, legal issues, and
the like. Its program will supplement economic development,
education (from basic topics to skill and craftsmanship training,
and employment preparation), small business resources,
housing and housing improvement resources, and general space
intended for celebrations and events. The primary purpose of
such a space would be to give the power, future, and ownership
or the redevelopment of the favela to its people.
Establishing Micro-Financing
Micro-financing established by the community center would
help to empower the inhabitants of a community to make their
own housing improvements, purchase new housing, start small
businesses, or grow existing businesses. This would also create
a small stream of revenue in the form or low interest gains from
the loaning of small amounts of funds. This revenue could be
used to expand funding for other projects, reestablish ownership
of buildings and land, or even drive other redevelopment projects
in the neighborhood that could create sales or rental income.
Once again, the main objective of such initiatives is to keep the
ownership of the favela in the hands of its inhabitants rather
than redevelopment agencies with little local investment. Such
initiatives have proven highly successful in areas where a small
amount of money can make a big difference for an individual or a
business.
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Creating a System
Composition of the Backdrop
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Wall Plan
Community
Sounding
Board
Display
Local Material
Core/Filter
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A Public Backdrop
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Central Intervention
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Intervention I
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Intervention II
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References
1. Rice-Oxley, Mark, Andrew Mason, and Daan Louter. Why Are We Building New Walls to Divide Us? The Guardian. Guardian
News and Media, 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
2. Heliopolis. HABISP.plus. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013.
3. Heliopolis, from Favela to Educational Neighborhood. Infosurhoy. N.p., n.d. Web.
28 Nov. 2013.
28 Nov. 2013.
5. Waterson, Roxana. The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in South-East Asia. Singapore: Oxford UP, 1990. Print.
6. Oliver, Paul. Built to Meet Needs: Cultural Issues in Vernacular Architecture. Amsterdam: Architectural, 2006. Print.
7. Harris, Marvin. Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture. New York: Vintage, 1978. Print.
8. Sinclair, Cameron, and Kate Stohr. Design like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises. London:
Thames & Hudson, 2006. Print.
9. Dean, Andrea Oppenheimer., and Timothy Hursley. Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency. New York:
Princeton Architectural, 2002. Print.
10. Bell, Bryan. Good Deeds, Good Design: Community Service through Architecture. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2004. Print.
11. Perlman, Janice E. Favela: Four Decades of Living on the Edge in Rio De Janeiro. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
12. Baan, Iwan. Ingenious Homes in Unexpected Places. Ted Talks. 16 Oct. 2013. Iwan Baan: Ingenious Homes in Unexpected
Places. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. <https://www.ted.com/talks/iwan_baan_ingenious_homes_in_unexpected_places>.
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