salon des refusÉs 106
LA+ ICONOCLAST/FALL 2019 107
1
1 Lara del Valle Andrade, Ibon Doval Martínez + Pilar Llop Ripollés: The new park functions as the central infrastructure in the reorganization of Manhattan’s sewerage and storm water system so that the park’s geomorphology serves to cleanse the water. 2 Sebastian Sowa, Gianluca Torini + Meike Schröder: Replete with a “tree school” and festive celebrations of trees, the primary program of the new park is a nursery and tree farm supplying the ongoing project of greening the city.
2
3
3 Sergey Ryabov+ Daria Romanova: Individuals take possession and determine the future of 1.6 million 4’9” lots into which the park is subdivided. This catalyzes a process of self-organization and degrees of cooperation over time.
salon des refusÉs 106
LA+ ICONOCLAST/FALL 2019 107
1
1 Lara del Valle Andrade, Ibon Doval Martínez + Pilar Llop Ripollés: The new park functions as the central infrastructure in the reorganization of Manhattan’s sewerage and storm water system so that the park’s geomorphology serves to cleanse the water. 2 Sebastian Sowa, Gianluca Torini + Meike Schröder: Replete with a “tree school” and festive celebrations of trees, the primary program of the new park is a nursery and tree farm supplying the ongoing project of greening the city.
2
3
3 Sergey Ryabov+ Daria Romanova: Individuals take possession and determine the future of 1.6 million 4’9” lots into which the park is subdivided. This catalyzes a process of self-organization and degrees of cooperation over time.
salon des refusÉs 122
LA+ ICONOCLAST/FALL 2019 123
Xian Li, Jiawei Xue + Jiajia Zheng: A temporary waste processing facility creates a new one-inchthick layer covering the entire park. From this, a novel ecosystem emerges.
salon des refusÉs 122
LA+ ICONOCLAST/FALL 2019 123
Xian Li, Jiawei Xue + Jiajia Zheng: A temporary waste processing facility creates a new one-inchthick layer covering the entire park. From this, a novel ecosystem emerges.
honorable mentions 64
Martin Garcia Perez N
ew York is a geologic, atmospheric, and ecologic force increasing in volatility. Singularities are becoming the rule and will continue to shape Manhattan in shorter cycles. But what if the locus of the project is not geographical but the phenomenon? What does it mean, then, to inhabit change? The proposal defines the park as an investigative lapse and explores the possibility of generating a reprogrammable bioinfrastructure capable of catalyzing new ecologies. To do so, a force vector is defined on a new coordinate system. This elementary unit is initially conceived as a mobile selfsufficient laboratory composed of aerial, terrestrial, and underground research units. The structure evolves throughout four main phases: initialization, experimentation, hybridization, and consolidation. The first consists of setting up the technological systems. During the experimentation phase, with restricted public access, the robotic agents weave a biosynthetic mesh that serves as a support for bacterial harvesting and other colonizing ecosystems. When these structures obtain a sufficient resilience, hybridization with human agents occurs, generating new uses. Finally, the structure consolidates and decays producing new topographies and biodiversity nodes. However, these processes are not linear. A finite number of vectors are placed on a system of isolines centered, in this first iteration, on the park imaginary centers. The model evolves from a compact mono-functional system oriented towards ecological succession processes to a set of microclimates resulting from the local interaction of the structures to, finally, isolated systems. Thus, new topographies, paths, centralities, and imaginaries are generated. The evolution of the park depends on numerous anthropogenic factors (e.g., concentrations, uses) and non-anthropogenic factors (e.g., winds, topography, air quality). There will be areas that, due to these variables, will remain crystallized, which means they will enter into longer decay processes, creating new lasting centralities within the park. The expansion of the model will continue according to these patterns, generating new singularities when encountering new urban and rural agents until a new change generates a critical instability that requires a new beginning which will redefine the model’s inputs, outputs, and assets. To sum up, the park of the 21st century is a temporary complex system (complex as understood by French philosopher Edgar Morin), which inhabits the processes of emergency, interdependence, impressibility, self-organization, and instability. A park generated by the hybridization of human and nonhuman agents in which reside the processes of change that will continue to shape this century.
honorable mentions 64
Martin Garcia Perez N
ew York is a geologic, atmospheric, and ecologic force increasing in volatility. Singularities are becoming the rule and will continue to shape Manhattan in shorter cycles. But what if the locus of the project is not geographical but the phenomenon? What does it mean, then, to inhabit change? The proposal defines the park as an investigative lapse and explores the possibility of generating a reprogrammable bioinfrastructure capable of catalyzing new ecologies. To do so, a force vector is defined on a new coordinate system. This elementary unit is initially conceived as a mobile selfsufficient laboratory composed of aerial, terrestrial, and underground research units. The structure evolves throughout four main phases: initialization, experimentation, hybridization, and consolidation. The first consists of setting up the technological systems. During the experimentation phase, with restricted public access, the robotic agents weave a biosynthetic mesh that serves as a support for bacterial harvesting and other colonizing ecosystems. When these structures obtain a sufficient resilience, hybridization with human agents occurs, generating new uses. Finally, the structure consolidates and decays producing new topographies and biodiversity nodes. However, these processes are not linear. A finite number of vectors are placed on a system of isolines centered, in this first iteration, on the park imaginary centers. The model evolves from a compact mono-functional system oriented towards ecological succession processes to a set of microclimates resulting from the local interaction of the structures to, finally, isolated systems. Thus, new topographies, paths, centralities, and imaginaries are generated. The evolution of the park depends on numerous anthropogenic factors (e.g., concentrations, uses) and non-anthropogenic factors (e.g., winds, topography, air quality). There will be areas that, due to these variables, will remain crystallized, which means they will enter into longer decay processes, creating new lasting centralities within the park. The expansion of the model will continue according to these patterns, generating new singularities when encountering new urban and rural agents until a new change generates a critical instability that requires a new beginning which will redefine the model’s inputs, outputs, and assets. To sum up, the park of the 21st century is a temporary complex system (complex as understood by French philosopher Edgar Morin), which inhabits the processes of emergency, interdependence, impressibility, self-organization, and instability. A park generated by the hybridization of human and nonhuman agents in which reside the processes of change that will continue to shape this century.
winning entries 40
John Beckmann Hannah LaSota Laeticia Hervy t
he MANNAHATTA PLATEAU presents a dynamic ecological vision of nature integrated with urbanism. The ravaged original surface of Central Park is left as a regenerating wilderness, a temple to the raw power of nature. Built over it is a green mega-structure, a plateau that supports a raised parkland consisting of a patchwork of abundantly diverse interconnecting environmental zones. The bold, linear aesthetic of the plateau offers a new perspective upon the wilderness that lies partially revealed beneath its cut-out surface. The 200-foothigh structure is inscribed by the lines and scale of the city itself – the typical Manhattan building lot (25 x 100 ft) serves as the basic modular. The street grid is celebrated by being projected across the park’s surface, yet the rigid geometry of urban forms is broken down into subsections defined by the flowing lines of nature. In addition, supporting structures containing vertical circulation are clad in glass that directs light back onto the dystopic landscape below, whilst optically blurring the distinction between nature and architecture. The plateau is infused with plants native to the region to re-establish the island of “Mannahatta” prior to the Dutch colonization. These plants form the basis of wild meadows, wetlands, wildlife refuges, and insect habitats.
Axis Mundi Design
Sustainable agricultural zones—including hydroponic farming enabled by rainwater harvesting—feature hanging gardens of local species of fruits and vegetables pollinated by nearby bee colonies. The plateau also foregrounds renewable energy sources, such as solar tiles, Wattway pathways (solar roads), and windmills oriented toward the prevailing wind. The aesthetic of the plateau manifests an underlying conceptual scheme. As with Gilles Deleuze’s A Thousand Plateaus, this structure allows us to envision the conception of the plateau as a patchwork of dynamic juxtapositions that foster endless new connections. Unexpected juxtapositions and extensive circulation pathways are created between diverse zones for theater, cinema, music, visual arts, and local history, as well as activities such as hiking, swimming, and ice skating. The MANNAHATTA PLATEAU uses its aesthetic to bring the diverse elements of nature and urban design into dynamic coexistence. As this project matures, new organic connections and cross-pollinations will occur between the revived Mannahatta plateau and the unplanned wilderness of Central Park beneath, creating a new ecological future from two versions of the past.
winning entries 40
John Beckmann Hannah LaSota Laeticia Hervy t
he MANNAHATTA PLATEAU presents a dynamic ecological vision of nature integrated with urbanism. The ravaged original surface of Central Park is left as a regenerating wilderness, a temple to the raw power of nature. Built over it is a green mega-structure, a plateau that supports a raised parkland consisting of a patchwork of abundantly diverse interconnecting environmental zones. The bold, linear aesthetic of the plateau offers a new perspective upon the wilderness that lies partially revealed beneath its cut-out surface. The 200-foothigh structure is inscribed by the lines and scale of the city itself – the typical Manhattan building lot (25 x 100 ft) serves as the basic modular. The street grid is celebrated by being projected across the park’s surface, yet the rigid geometry of urban forms is broken down into subsections defined by the flowing lines of nature. In addition, supporting structures containing vertical circulation are clad in glass that directs light back onto the dystopic landscape below, whilst optically blurring the distinction between nature and architecture. The plateau is infused with plants native to the region to re-establish the island of “Mannahatta” prior to the Dutch colonization. These plants form the basis of wild meadows, wetlands, wildlife refuges, and insect habitats.
Axis Mundi Design
Sustainable agricultural zones—including hydroponic farming enabled by rainwater harvesting—feature hanging gardens of local species of fruits and vegetables pollinated by nearby bee colonies. The plateau also foregrounds renewable energy sources, such as solar tiles, Wattway pathways (solar roads), and windmills oriented toward the prevailing wind. The aesthetic of the plateau manifests an underlying conceptual scheme. As with Gilles Deleuze’s A Thousand Plateaus, this structure allows us to envision the conception of the plateau as a patchwork of dynamic juxtapositions that foster endless new connections. Unexpected juxtapositions and extensive circulation pathways are created between diverse zones for theater, cinema, music, visual arts, and local history, as well as activities such as hiking, swimming, and ice skating. The MANNAHATTA PLATEAU uses its aesthetic to bring the diverse elements of nature and urban design into dynamic coexistence. As this project matures, new organic connections and cross-pollinations will occur between the revived Mannahatta plateau and the unplanned wilderness of Central Park beneath, creating a new ecological future from two versions of the past.
winning entries 16
Tiago Torres-Campos THE GEOSCRAPER OF THE CAPTIVE BIOMES New York: April 23, 2118
O
n this day, one hundred years ago, Central Park’s vegetation was suddenly wiped out. In a few days, one of the world’s most cherished landscapes disappeared without a trace. The Gaians were extremely violent in drawing attention to the planetary destruction we were causing. Periods of mourning following brutal attacks are often pivotal in the collective lives of cities. They are times of grief, sorrow, and absence, just as they are times of rebirth, hope, and reconstruction. Above all, they bring about great, meaningful transformation. Soon after the incident, the temptation to grid over the park was tremendous. The temptation to relocate the green lung elsewhere was even bigger. Yet we resisted. Looking back, we can proudly say that the “Geoscraper” – the Park’s affectionate nickname has remained what it had been since its inception on the city grid. Or has it? Instead of acting like a drawing master, the appointed landscape architect diverged from the designs of the Park’s founding fathers. While they restaged a state of virgin nature in the form of a 19th-century picturesque park, the landscape curator reignited a 40-year-old idea of that landscape as a giant horizontal skyscraper. From an Arcadian synthetic carpet, the Geoscraper evolved into a performative landscape machine whose first function was to capture the Earth’s biomes. These were then converted into a landscape program where alternative social and ecological values and
functions were forced to coexist. Building upon the Park’s previous role as the center of one of the world’s centers, the Geoscraper also became an active place for geo-eco-bio-social experimentation. On this day, 70 years ago, I was born in one of the Park’s temporary housing pods. My family shared a plot where we produced our food. On festive days, we all gathered in the big collective kitchen. I learned how to swim in the summer and ice skate in the winter. The Geoscraper taught me about biology, ecology, science, and the arts. It taught me about people. A forest-city in the center of New York where I found my way to becoming an advocate for Earth. Every day I stand up for biomes, ecosystems, species, and individuals in the Earth Parliament. I’m fierce with the critics who question whether we are asking too much of this park. I don’t think they see that this is also a landscape that slows us down and attunes us to gentle practices of noticing and making sense of the world. On this day, 100 years ago, the brutal eco-massacre also opened up a crucial door into rethinking our human relations with other entities with whom we share our home planet. Maybe now we will be able to carry this lesson forward as part of the human project into the other rocky planets.
winning entries 16
Tiago Torres-Campos THE GEOSCRAPER OF THE CAPTIVE BIOMES New York: April 23, 2118
O
n this day, one hundred years ago, Central Park’s vegetation was suddenly wiped out. In a few days, one of the world’s most cherished landscapes disappeared without a trace. The Gaians were extremely violent in drawing attention to the planetary destruction we were causing. Periods of mourning following brutal attacks are often pivotal in the collective lives of cities. They are times of grief, sorrow, and absence, just as they are times of rebirth, hope, and reconstruction. Above all, they bring about great, meaningful transformation. Soon after the incident, the temptation to grid over the park was tremendous. The temptation to relocate the green lung elsewhere was even bigger. Yet we resisted. Looking back, we can proudly say that the “Geoscraper” – the Park’s affectionate nickname has remained what it had been since its inception on the city grid. Or has it? Instead of acting like a drawing master, the appointed landscape architect diverged from the designs of the Park’s founding fathers. While they restaged a state of virgin nature in the form of a 19th-century picturesque park, the landscape curator reignited a 40-year-old idea of that landscape as a giant horizontal skyscraper. From an Arcadian synthetic carpet, the Geoscraper evolved into a performative landscape machine whose first function was to capture the Earth’s biomes. These were then converted into a landscape program where alternative social and ecological values and
functions were forced to coexist. Building upon the Park’s previous role as the center of one of the world’s centers, the Geoscraper also became an active place for geo-eco-bio-social experimentation. On this day, 70 years ago, I was born in one of the Park’s temporary housing pods. My family shared a plot where we produced our food. On festive days, we all gathered in the big collective kitchen. I learned how to swim in the summer and ice skate in the winter. The Geoscraper taught me about biology, ecology, science, and the arts. It taught me about people. A forest-city in the center of New York where I found my way to becoming an advocate for Earth. Every day I stand up for biomes, ecosystems, species, and individuals in the Earth Parliament. I’m fierce with the critics who question whether we are asking too much of this park. I don’t think they see that this is also a landscape that slows us down and attunes us to gentle practices of noticing and making sense of the world. On this day, 100 years ago, the brutal eco-massacre also opened up a crucial door into rethinking our human relations with other entities with whom we share our home planet. Maybe now we will be able to carry this lesson forward as part of the human project into the other rocky planets.
winning entries 18
LA+ ICONOCLAST/FALL 2019 19
winning entries 18
LA+ ICONOCLAST/FALL 2019 19
LA+ GUIDELINES/fall 2018 62
LA+ GUIDELINES/fall 2018 62