Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
1 + 3 + 9 = Position Paper v.2
Architecture needs to adapt to the changing nomadic nature of society with architecture that is portable and transient.
Today’s society has reverted back to the nomadic culture of our early ancestors, with changing economic, social, cultural, and environmental conditions that require re-transplanting to new environments. While the American lifestyle has become more mobile, our inhabitable environments remain stationary. This is no longer possible in our global, dispersed, portable world and architecture must respond.
In 2008, more than 10 million Americans moved from one county to another1, with almost 2 million of this group moving to different regions of the United States.2 The average American moves 11.7 times in a lifetime, and often moves every 5 years.3 This type of movement pattern most often means moving to a new home or apartment that is stationary but impermanent, in the fact they are often demolished within a 50 year lifecycle to make room for new buildings. With this constantly transient lifestyle, why can’t our habitable dwelling move with us in order to create a sense of permanence within our impermanent environments we move to. Great precedents exist from ancient times and nomadic cultures that still exist today, who have developed design patterns over thousands of generations to support the transient lifestyle. The economic, flexible, and lightweight qualities of this architecture can be adapted today with our advances in technology to provide shelter for today’s transient society. In such a way, the portable architecture necessary can be less parasitic and respond thoughtfully to changing ecologies. Because portable architecture takes into account movability, the value of these structures is in the minimal destruction it leaves behind. The successful application of portable architecture will require special attention to tectonic, spatial, and material characteristics that align with the needs of the current nomadic society of today.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
1 + 3 + 9 = Position Paper v.1.1
The failure of conventional buildings to maintain survivable conditions as a result of natural disaster can be considered a failure of design.
Buildings are vulnerable to natural disaster- how then do we survive temporarily the widespread power outages and damage to buildings.The existing building stock must be reexamined to serve as multipurpose spaces that can serve as emergency shelters in urban environments. In particular, existing arenas, prevalent in every major city, are the most ideal building type to be examined and redesigned to provide more survivable living conditions in the event of extended power outages, loss of fuel supply, or limited water supply.
With the widespread amount of natural disasters that have afflicted major cities from New Orleans to Haiti, it is no longer a matter of where a disaster may occur, but when an area will be susceptible. It is now even more necessary for cities to have more effective responses to temporarily re-shelter displaced citizens. Schools, government buildings, houses, and apartments have all served as temporary emergency shelters, but arenas are now becoming popular choices as shelters. Far from it original programmatic intent, arenas that serve as emergency shelters are currently poorly suited to serve as venues for shelter for extended periods of time. In 2005 high temperatures and deteriorating roof conditions in New Orleans’ Superdome, the city’s emergency shelter for 30,000 people, put evacuees at risk. Transformation of arenas in major city centers to serve as emergency shelters creates not only “temporary” architecture but also “temporary” urban centers. Arenas as emergency shelters become microcosms of a displaced city, with the same social, cultural, and political implications that a city experiences, but at an exaggerated emotional level. With such potential for entanglement of issues, It is even more necessary for government officials to plan for the worst, well in advance and develop effective plans for the transformation of arenas to serve as emergency shelter. Arenas that are transformed into effective shelters that provide conditions to survive not only the physical destruction of disasters, but also the social and emotional destruction will have the potential of improving the long term transition of surviving a disaster.
Buildings are vulnerable to natural disaster- how then do we survive temporarily the widespread power outages and damage to buildings.The existing building stock must be reexamined to serve as multipurpose spaces that can serve as emergency shelters in urban environments. In particular, existing arenas, prevalent in every major city, are the most ideal building type to be examined and redesigned to provide more survivable living conditions in the event of extended power outages, loss of fuel supply, or limited water supply.
With the widespread amount of natural disasters that have afflicted major cities from New Orleans to Haiti, it is no longer a matter of where a disaster may occur, but when an area will be susceptible. It is now even more necessary for cities to have more effective responses to temporarily re-shelter displaced citizens. Schools, government buildings, houses, and apartments have all served as temporary emergency shelters, but arenas are now becoming popular choices as shelters. Far from it original programmatic intent, arenas that serve as emergency shelters are currently poorly suited to serve as venues for shelter for extended periods of time. In 2005 high temperatures and deteriorating roof conditions in New Orleans’ Superdome, the city’s emergency shelter for 30,000 people, put evacuees at risk. Transformation of arenas in major city centers to serve as emergency shelters creates not only “temporary” architecture but also “temporary” urban centers. Arenas as emergency shelters become microcosms of a displaced city, with the same social, cultural, and political implications that a city experiences, but at an exaggerated emotional level. With such potential for entanglement of issues, It is even more necessary for government officials to plan for the worst, well in advance and develop effective plans for the transformation of arenas to serve as emergency shelter. Arenas that are transformed into effective shelters that provide conditions to survive not only the physical destruction of disasters, but also the social and emotional destruction will have the potential of improving the long term transition of surviving a disaster.
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