Welcome to Mall Street, Elisabeth Frizzell | Cal Poly Architecture Thesis | Studio Clifford | 2021

W E L C O M E T O M A L L S T R E E T E L I S A B E T H

F R

Z Z E L L

California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo Professor Dale Clifford

Fall 2020 - Spring 2021

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C O N T E N T S

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a b s t ra c t An outline of the thesis, the problem it seeks to address, the proposed solution to the problem, and desired outcome of the project

i n t ro d u c t i o n a n d b a c k g ro u n d A preliminary look at the history and current state of the shopping mall, my personal interest in them, and hopes for their future

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re s e a rc h A compilation of my work on the thesis for the Fall quarter, providing the basis for work in later quarters

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design Initial design work done in Winter quarter based on the research phase and on various thought-provoking projects throughout the quarter

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development Continuation of design work through Spring quarter, focusing on detailed portions of the project

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a n n o t at e d b i b l i o g ra p h y Annotations and summaries of readings done in Fall quarter exploring their implications for architecture and their potential relevancy to my project

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A B S T R A C T Th e re t a i l p a ra d i g m h a s c h a n g e d a l o t w i t h t h e a d v e n t o f t h e e - c o m m e rc e s i t e , re s u l t i n g i n t h e c l o s u re a n d abandonment of huge shopping m a l l s a c ro s s t h e c o u n t r y. H o w c a n w e re u s e t h e s e a b a n d o n e d m a l l s t o m e e t n e e d s i n t h e s u r ro u n d i n g c o m m u n i t i e s a n d re i m a g i n e t h e ro l e o f t h e m a l l i n t h e n e w re t a i l p a ra d i g m ?

As communities, o ff i c i a l s , and d e s i g n e r s h a v e c o m e t o re c o g n i z e t h e p ro b l e m s a n d p o t e n t i a l i n t h e s e d y i n g m a l l s , s o m e h a v e a l re a d y b e e n s u c c e s s f u l l y t ra n s f o r m e d a n d h a v e f o u n d n e w l i f e a s c h u rc h e s , m a r ke t s , a n d a ff o rd a b l e h o u s i n g .

Th e m a i n o b s t a c l e i n t h e w a y o f m o re w i d e s p re a d and c o m p re h e n s i v e m a l l - re n e w a l i s e c o n o m i c ; i t c o s t s

a l o t o f m o n e y t o re d e s i g n a n d re n o v at e a s h o p p i n g m a l l . I p l a n t o a d d re s s t h i s i s s u e t h ro u g h re s e a rc h i n t o t h e m o s t c o s t - e ff e c t i v e m at e r i a l s a n d m e t h o d s a v a i l a b l e , s t rat e g i e s f o r e n c o u ra g i n g h i g h c o m m u n i t y i n v o l v e m e n t , a n d t h ro u g h a n a l y s i s o f p re v i o u s p ro j e c t s f o r t h e b e n e f i t s t h at a c c o m p a n y t h i s re n e w e d s o c i a l i n f ra s t r u c t u re . U l t i m at e l y, t h e g o a l i s t o e n u m e rat e s t rat e g i e s t o b e a p p l i e d t o a n y s h o p p i n g m a l l ’s re u s e a n d t o d e m o n s t rat e t h e f e a s i b i l i t y o f t h e p ro c e s s t h ro u g h a n e x a m p l e p ro j e c t ; i f a p p l i e d a p p ro p r i at e l y to every abandoned mall in the c o u n t r y, w e c o u l d s e e i m m e n s e gains in community connectedness and economic o p p o rt u n i t y.

A B S T R A C T

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I N T R O

I N T R O D U C T Th e y a re a n u b i q u i t o u s p re s e n c e a c ro s s A m e r i c a . S u r ro u n d e d b y a m o at o f p a r k i n g l o t s , t h e s e c a s t l e s o f p o p u l a r c u l t u re w e re o n c e f re n z i e d w i t h a c t i v i t y : t h e f a m i l y g e tt i n g photos with Santa, the stay-at-home p a re n t s r u n n i n g t h e i r d a i l y e r ra n d s , the teenagers skipping school in the f o o d c o u rt , t h e m a s s e s o f s o c i e t y out to do what societies do— see a n d b e s e e n . Th e s e f o r m e r b a s t i o n s o f c o n s u m e r i s m a n d We s t e r n c u l t u re a re n o w g re a t , e c h o i n g h a l l s — m o n u m e n t s t o a re c e n t l y b y g o n e e ra . Th e m o at s h a v e d r i e d u p, n o longer filled with cars bringing t h e c ro w d s f ro m t h e o n c e - d i s t a n t s u b u r b s . N o w, w e re t h e s e c a s t l e s ra re a n d a n c i e n t w e m i g h t p re s e r v e t h e m a n d d ra w t o u r i s t s f ro m a l l o v e r

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O N

t o c o m e a d m i re o u r r i c h h e r i t a g e .

H o w e v e r t h e s e a re n o t ra re re l i c s .

Th e re a re o v e r a t h o u s a n d s p re a d a ro u n d t h e c o u n t r y i n v a r i o u s s t a g e s o f d e c l i n e . Th e p re s s i n g m att e r i s o f w h at t o d o w i t h t h e m . S h o u l d we demolish them and completely re d e v e l o p t h e l a n d f ro m s c rat c h ?

Should we leave them as is, to s t a n d a s i n c re a s i n g l y - d i l a p i d at e d m o n u m e n t s o f t h e p a s t ? O r, a s I w i l l a rg u e i n t h i s t h e s i s , s h o u l d w e adapt them to new uses— giving new life to the existing buildings a n d t o t h e s u r ro u n d i n g c o m m u n i t y ?

Th e w a y w e c h o o s e t o a n s w e r t h i s question has potential impact beyond the malls themselves; it c o u l d re v o l u t i o n i z e t h e c y c l e o f construction for all of our buildings.

B A C K G R O U N D M y i n t e re s t i n t h i s s u b j e c t h a s g ro w n up with me— I spent my childhood in the glory years of shopping mall c u l t u re a n d c a m e o f a g e a t t h e s t a rt o f t h e i r d e c l i n e . Th e s h o p p i n g m a l l re p re s e n t s t o m e a b y g o n e m o d e o f re t a i l a n d s o c i a l i n t e ra c t i o n , t h o u g h the underlying need for communal s p a c e a n d t h e d e s i re t o a c c u m u l at e new things live on. Since the needs a n d d e s i re s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e r i s e o f t h e m a l l a re s t i l l p ro m i n e n t ( a n d l i ke l y w i l l c o n t i n u e t o b e s o ) t h e q u e s t i o n a r i s e s a s t o w h at t h e n e x t a rc h i t e c t u ra l re s p o n s e t o t h e s e n e e d s a n d d e s i re s w i l l b e . W h i l e t h e s h o p p i n g m a l l re s p o n d e d w i t h m a s s i v e i n f ra s t r u c t u re a n d g e n e ra l e l i m i n at i o n o f s m a l l - s c a l e , l o c a l d o w n t o w n s h o p p i n g s t re e t s , t h e n e w

re s p o n s e s e e m s t o re q u i re a re v e r s a l o f t h i s . Th e l a rg e m a l l s a re d y i n g , re t u r n i n g t h e s o c i a l a n d c o m m e rc i a l i m p o rt a n c e t o t h e i r o r i g i n a l h o m e s o n t h e M a i n S t re e t s a n d D o w n t o w n s .

W h at i s l e ft o f t h e S h o p p i n g M a l l i s o n l y i t s i n f ra s t r u c t u re , n o w a n e m p t y s h e l l a w a i t i n g a n u n c e rt a i n f u t u re .

W i l l i t b e re d u c e d t o r u b b l e a n d re p l a c e d b y t h e n e w e s t a rc h i t e c t u ra l re s p o n s e t o l o c a l n e e d s ? O r w i l l i t be given new life to meet the needs a ro u n d i t , p re s e r v i n g a m e m o r y o f t h e p a s t w h i l e t e s t i f y i n g t o a rc h i t e c t u re ’s a b i l i t y t o a d a p t t o t h e f u t u re ? I a m e x c i t e d t o t a ke m y p l a c e i n a n s w e r i n g these questions as I sit on the edge o f t h e b e g i n n i n g o f m y c a re e r. I d o n ’ t k n o w w h at t h e f u t u re h o l d s , b u t I a m c o n f i d e n t t h at w e c a n a d a p t t o i t .

I N T R O

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R E S E A R C H

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G E N E R A T O R page 16

D A T A

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S I T E

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P R E C E D E N T S

R E S E A R C H

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The generator project was intended to help us explore our thesis ideas and create something that could suggest new ideas to us over time— it generates thoughts and inquiry.

I made a series of collages based on photos of escalators in abandoned malls, with the basic idea of the escalator as the icon of the modern shopping mall. The collages helped me think through the implications of an escalator as a people-mover and what it says about the current

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retail paradigm. It represents centralized consumerism that detracts from the downtown retail experience and competes with community business. If the escalator broke the boundaries of the mall building, it could move people back toward the main streets and might encourage more genuine social interactions in that context. Instead of being a force that pulls people away from their communities, what if it were turned inside-out and stretched to the scale of a city?

G E N E R A T O R

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The escalator as an icon of the American Shopping Mall, designed to mobilize users to more consumptive possibilities + human abandonment leads to nature’s takeover of what was meant to be an impermeable escape from the Outside World.

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Desaturation highlights sameness of mall experience + detachment from context emphasizes the Mall as a destination rather than an element integrated throughout an existing community infrastructure.

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Current retail paradigm is inwardfocused, designed to pull people out of existing community and into consumer vortex + manufactured social interaction.

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Extend social space beyond mall enclosure + maintain indoor space for alternate functions.

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People-mover on a city scale + return of retail to downtowns breaks enclosing boundary of malls.

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Cohesion between pedestrian and vehicular circulation + new interaction potential in interstitial spaces.

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For my data mapping project, I created a family tree of the retail and advertising industries, tracing the major devlopments throughout history that led to the mall as we know it today.

In contextualizing these devlopments, I found that the rise of the mall was very closely intertwined with the rise of the personal automobile and with the increase of suburban populations. The mall was created to cater to the middle-class, suburban, car-owning family.

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New technology also impacted the advertising industry and eventually led to the massproduced, widespread, and targeted advertisements we see today. These in turn increased mall traffic as the notion of “keeping up with the Jones’” came into the suburban mindset. Together, these elements shaped the mall into its prominent place in pop culture but the same technological advances that led to its rise have now brought its downfall.

D A T A

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1790 Start of the American Industrial Revolution

Local artisans on village main street

1835 Newspapers start running daily ads Mid-1800s Itinerant salesmen emerge

1872 Montgomery Ward Begins Mail-Order Catalog; Founding of Bloomingdale’s Department Store

Downtown shops/ local merchants

Shopping Arcade

Travelling salesmen

Mail-order catalogs

Large department stores

Door-to-Door Sales

1895 Invention of Radio 1908 Cars become widely available

Radio Advertising

Advertising agents

1914-1918 World War I Rationing and Shortages

1922 Country Club Plaza Kansas City, MO First Shopping Mall

1928 Invention of Television 1930s The Great Depression Slows Growth

Shopping district located away from central downtown Strip Malls on Outskirts Decongest Urban Traffic

1947-1952 Post-War Boom Leads to 43% Increase in Suburb Population 1956 Southdale Center in Edina, MN First Fully-Enclosed Mall 1958 American Express Begins Their Credit Cards

Television Advertising

Multi-Level Marketing

Fully enclosed shopping centers

1960s Baby Boomers Enter Adulthood; Shopping Center Industry Takes Off

1970s Innovations Allow For Gardens Inside Malls 1974 First Outlet Mall Opens in Reading, PA

Outlet Malls

1980s Height of “Mallrat” and “Mallwalker” Culture; The Food Court Adds to Social Experience

Telemarketing

1990 Invention of the Internet; 19 New Malls Open in the U.S. 1992 Mall of America Opens with 5.6 Million sqft 1994 First Online Retail Sale; Amazon is Founded

E-Commerce

Internet Advertising

2007 First Year Since the 50s with No New Malls Built

2008 Economic Recession Speeds Decline of Malls

2022 25% of Malls in the U.S. Projected to be Closed

2035 50% of Malls in the U.S. Projected to be Closed

Shopping district returns to central downtown?

Increasing Personalization and Targeting of Ads

Innovations Speed Delivery Times; Increased Convenience; Pandemic Paradigm

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The site I chose on which to test my strategies for reuse was Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, California. I mapped the context of the site to understand it in its surroundings. A map of the traffic flows in the parking lots highlights the vital connection between the mall and the car. The parcel map of the site shows that complex relationships exist where there is split property ownership and indicates the need for a uniting force to bring these separate

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interests together. The major focus of my site-mapping exercise was to create a categorized list of all the pieces that make up a mall. These come together in my interior and exterior taxonomies of a mall. In this endeavor, I wanted to find the things malls might have in common to begin to develop ideas of how these pieces might help or hurt any reuse project attempts.

These lists of items will help me begin to build widely applicable strategies for reuse.

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Top Left: Newspaper piece from 1972 showing the mall a month before its grand opening.

Top Right: Advertising brochure from the early 1970s showing the mall after its opening. The land around it was largely undeveloped at the time.

Bottom Left: Image from Google Maps of the mall and its surroundings today, taken from the same vantage point as the newspaper piece from 1972. The surrounding area has been fully developed.

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2000 ft Sacramento Co unty Line

City of Citrus Heights

City of Folsom

ican

r Ame

r

Rive

City of Rancho Cordova

1 Mile

Citrus Heights, CA

Sacramento

County Line

Folsom Lake

City of Citrus Heights City of Folsom

City of Sacramento

City of Rancho Cordova

2 Miles

Site in Various Scales of Context

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Foothills of the North Coast Range

Citrus Heights, CA population: 88,890

25% of the retail space is vacant

N Edgewood Residential Neighborhood

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75 acres of the 100 acre lot are for parking

Adjacent to Sunrise Center Apartments

Greenback Lane

Sunrise Blvd

6100 Sunrise 2.8 Acres Sunrise Mall Property LLC

7986 Greenback 12.36 Acres Sunrise Mall Property LLC (FED DEPT STORES INC)

6063 Sunrise 25.36 Acres Sunrise CH LLC (NAMDAR)

6198 Sunrise 3.2 Acres Andy Kuen Shian Liu

6100 Sunrise 18.1 Acres Muffrey Trust/ Laurie IND Trust

6000 Sunrise 12.71 Acres SUNSAC Properties

5900 Sunrise 21.27 Acres Seritage LLC

Direction of Traffic in Parking Lots Vehicle Entrances and Exits

Parcels at Sunrise Mall

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1 Taxonomy of a Mall

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2 Signage: Inform, direct, and advertise to anyone close enough to read; Label and define a building apart from its formal and ephemeral characteristics

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Large Rectilinear Buildings: Vast, open interiors offer potential for flexible configurations; Space to accommodate many different uses

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Solar Array: Retroactively increase building efficiency and environmental cleanliness

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Road Network: Extensive connections to vehicular circulation throughout the city; Form and puncture the site perimeter

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Sidewalk: Prescribe routes of pedestrian circulation; Buffer between building and vehicles; Connection-- with interruptions from vehicular routes-- to city-wide pedestrian network

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Surrounding Community: Specific needs, demographics, and contexts act upon the mall to shape it; No two malls should be the same

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Parking Spots: The power of paint to direct and organize within an otherwise uniform and non-differentiated field

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Planting Beds/ Curbs: Delineate and separate space by strategic insertion of specifically-shaped objects

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Trees/ Shrubs: Provide shade and outdoor “ceiling”; Organically screen and divide space; Reduce noise and heat

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Taxonomy of a Mall: Interior Escalator: Efficiently move customers vertically through the mall; Scare small children; Icon of the modern shopping mall

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Balcony Walkways: Circulation overlooks central open area; Single-loaded pathway limits number of tenants

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Seating/ Planting: Indoor planting makes space feel more healthy and inviting; Planters offer opportunity for integrated bench seating

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Stores/ Storefronts: Vary in size and layout to accommodate different tenants; Glass storefront space for advertising and defining character of each tenant

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Kiosks: Space for smaller businesses, events, or information; Populate the ground floor circulation routes for maximum visibility

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Foodcourt: Encourage customers to stay in the mall longer; Allows for convenience and variety of eating options in one space; Mechanical and plumbing consolidation

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Decorative Lighting Fixtures: Opportunity to change seasonally; Commission local artists to display work; Do not actually provide much light

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Skylights: Efficiently and naturally light mall circulation space during daylight; Break monotony of monolithic materials; Require consistent cleaning/ maintenance

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I researched and selected three precedent projects of adaptive mall reuse to investigate the various methods employed and the outcomes achieved.

One mall was turned into office space with outdoor terraces and parking on the roof. Another was converted into a series of microloft apartments with retail on the ground floor. The other had an underground parking area that was opened up and turned into a public park/springs.

The structure was preserved

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in some places to encourage follies like pop-up stores or street performance. The variety of outcomes for these projects demonstrate that there is no one right way to reuse a mall and that varying degrees of reuse are desirable based on the context and intended program. In reusing malls, they become far more sitespecific and offer a wonderful opportunity to breathe new life into a monotonous urban/ suburban fabric and uniquely engage the community.

P R E C E D E N T S

page 30 Westside Pavillion in Los Angeles, California Gensler

page 32 Providence Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island NCA

page 34 Tainan Springs in Tainan, Taiwan MVRDV

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W E S T S I D E P A V I L L I O N , L O S A N G E L E S This mall in Los Angeles was in steep decline, especially after GENSLER

Images from The Architect’s Newspaper article: https://www. archpaper.com/2019/01/google-gensler-one-westside/

its anchor store Macy’s closed in 2018. While the size of the building was prohibitive to re-leasing it to other retailers, its location and accessibility to nearby freeways and public transit made it ideal for a large creative office space. Gensler’s design for the mall’s reuse strips it back to the studs, keeping only the floorplates and structural system, allowing plenty of floorto-ceiling windows to bring light into the deep floorplates.

The openness of the plan made it a fairly easy conversion into office space and its atmosphere is further improved by the transformation of some areas into outdoor landscaped terraces. Parking on the roof also helps eliminate the normal swath of giant parking lots that usually surrounds a mall.

Overall, this project represents the enormous possibilities in reusing urban malls: they are often centrally located and have immense square footage, which can stimulate the growth of the area as the building’s potential is realized. The renovation is scheduled for completion in 2022 and Google has already signed a lease for the whole 584,000 square foot space.

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P R O V I D E N C E P R O V I D E N C E NCA

Images from NCA: http://ncarchitects.com/portfolio/ item/the-providence-arcade-providence-rhode-island/

A R C A D E , This mall was the first three-level fully-enclosed arcade in the United States and opened in 1828. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 but due to lack of profitability, it was shuttered for three years before its reuse. The architects met a need for affordable urban housing by transforming the top two stories into 48 microloft apartments while the ground floor became 17 microretail spaces. The historic facades were preserved, but the interior was modernized with double-hung windows to bring in more light. Additionally, the mechanical and electrical systems were completely overhauled to bring gas, air conditioning, and electricity to all of the units. This project represents a rising trend in urban areas where affordable housing is desperately needed in central locations and where large malls have seen great decline. This project also exemplifies a method of historical preservation that has neither too light nor too heavy of a hand in its intervention.

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T A I N A N T A I N A N

S P R I N G ,

MVRDV

Images from MVRDV: https://www. mvrdv.nl/projects/272/tainan-spring

This mall in Tainan, Taiwan was built on top of an old canal port that brought shipping industry to the area. The mall was dying and was contributing to the “grayness” of the city, so MVRDV undertook the reuse of the site as the anchor point of a larger urban planting effort on nearby Haian Road. The architects removed most of the mall, leaving only some of its structural elements behind to shape arcades and follies around the central area. This central park/pool is located where the mall had its underground parking lot, so it is sunk below street level, providing shelter and oasis from the street while drawing interest of passers-by. The pool portion responds to the rain cycle of the area, being more full during the rainy season than in the dry season, while it also feeds a misting system that cools the area during hot times. The park is landscaped with local vegetation in an attempt to restore the area to Tainan’s natural densely forested condition.

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This larger-scale site plan shows Tainan Spring in its relationship to Haian Road, where the architects designed landscaped pedestrian medians as part of a city effort to bring more greenspace to the urban environment. Tainan Spring is the anchor point of the effort and brings it to a fuller realization.

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Street Level Plan

Park Level (Below Grade)

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This project shows the possibilities for creating private and semi-private space within the public sphere. Since the park is sunk below street level, it is visually and auditorily cut off from the city activity above. The sidewalk space directly above it provides good views into the park, allowing passers-by to visually participate in its more intimate setting. The landscaped paths outside of this directly-adjacent sidewalk space provide some protection for pedestrians while they also encourage people to linger instead of hurrying through. This is the same strategy used along the medians on Haian Road— they offer a more inviting space for pedestrians and improve the overall materiality of the city by dispelling some of its “grayness.”

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Structural Follies Sculpted Planters Provide Some Shelter from Street and Encourage Lingering Strong Visual Connection to Private Space; Follies Allow for More Personal Interaction Park Below Street Level Offers Much Privacy Levels of Private Space in Public Area

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D E S I G N

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H Y B R

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S E C T

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D I A G R A M M

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P O S T - R E V

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A preliminary method for studying formal and programmatic relationships, the Hybrids assignment called us to begin with physical models and then to annotate on top of them through digital or physical means. Through this exercise, I developed my ideas about overlapping spaces for programmatic flexibility and aesthetic interest. I began to also think of extending the program of the project beyond the building’s walls. I sorted ideas for program into Anchor and Auxiliary to consider both

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their contrasting and overlapping needs. The second model I made was entirely composed of jewelry boxes and the only operation I used to construct it was by making notches to slide the pieces together. This process created a form quite reminiscent of the massing vocabulary of a typical shopping mall, except that the masses were combined in completely new ways. This assignment helped me begin to form a spatial and programmatic strategy for my project.

H Y B R

D S

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ANCHOR

PROGRAMS

AUXILIARY PROGRAMS

ANCHOR PROGRAMS: AFFORDABLE HOUSING (AND RELATED FACILITIES) SMALL HEALTHCARE HOSPITALITY OFFICES DAYCARE/ EDUCATION GYM -

AUXILIARY PROGRAMS: - RETAIL - GALLERIES/ STUDIOS - HEALTH AND WELLNESS (SPAS, SALONS, PHYSICAL THERAPY) - COMMUNITY KITCHEN - SMALL BUSINESSES AND NON-PROFITS - LIBRARY

Retail Large, open public Galleries and studios spaces; some smaller private rooms; Small businesses Daycare/ Education partions for easy and non-profits reconfiguration Offices

Gym

Access to special outdoor equipment

Daycare/ Education

Community kitchen

Access to special plumbing needs and dedicated outdoor area

Health and wellness

Library

Affordable housing Hospitality

Access to kitchen and/or special plumbing needs

Community Kitchen

Affordable housing

Health and Wellness

Hospitality

Small, sectioned-off spaces; partioned floor plan

Small Healthcare

Small Healthcare Offices

Small businesses and non-profits Library

Large, open space for public; some small private rooms

Retail Galleries/ Studios

Venn diagrams exploring areas of overlapping needs for different programs.

I studied overlaps between the two categories of Anchor and Auxiliary programs and overlaps between programs within each category itself.

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RIPPLE EFFECT OF PROJECT EXTENDING INTO SURROUNDING COMMUNITY

AREAS OF OVERLAPPING PROGRAMMATIC EFFECTS BECOME COMMUNITY HUBS

GREATEST IMPACT OF PROJECT ON THE SITE IMMEDIATELY SURROUNDING IT

CROSS-AXES CUT THROUGH SITE TO PROVIDE MORE PERMEABILITY AND CIRCULATION OPPORTUNITIES

REARRANGEMENT OF TYPICAL VOLUMES OF A MALL FORMS NEW OPENINGS, AXES OF CIRCULATION, AND OCCUPIABLE PLANES

VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL GRID OF ORGANIZATION COULD BE A TOOL TO ENSURE SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATION ACROSS SITE

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OVERLAP VOLUMES FOR PROGRAMMATIC FLEXIBILITY

DIFFERENTIATE PROGRAM OF A VOLUME BY EXTERIOR TREATMENT (COLOR, MATERIAL, VISUAL PERMEABILITY)?

MORE OPEN TOWARD CERTAIN DIRECTIONS TO ESTABLISH SPECIAL CONNECTIVITY WITH SLECTED SITE PORTION?

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PUNCTURE THROUGH BUILDING FORM TO CREATE NEW CIRCULATION AXES, NEW PROGRAMMATIC OPPORTUNITES, AND INDOOR/OUTDOOR INTERACTION

EXTEND PROGRAM BEYOND THE ENVELOPE OF THE PROJECT TO FOSTER COMMUNAL GATHERING

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PROGRAMS EXTEND INTO OUTDOOR “POCKETS”

AUXILARY AUXILARY

ANCHOR

OVERLAP SIMILAR PROGRAM AREAS TO BE FLEXIBLE AND EFFICIENT

AUXILARY

AUXILARY

AUXILARY

ANCHOR

ANCHOR SPACES REMAIN TO HOUSE PRIMARY PROGRAMS

AUXILARY

AUXILARY SPACES BRACH OFF OF AND CONNECT ANCHORS

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This is the section I produced for the Section show midway through the quarter. Through this section, I explored one method of bringing public space into a mall. I dubbed this method the “Mallsnake” because I envisioned it as a snaking ribbon of public space carving through the interior and exterior areas of the mall. This would serve as a kind of main street through the project and could contain programmatic areas to bolster its experiential qualities; these

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might include space for busking, demonstrating, vending, sitting, playing, and eating. The goal is to fill the mall with truly public space-not just the illusion of public space that malls tend to have currently-- and to at least partially undo the damage that the mall’s construction did to the smaller local businesses.

The mall becomes a pedestrian downtown center in which the local community actually has some ownership and freedom to adapt the mall to their needs.

S E C T

O N

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M A L L S N A K E : Entrance to snake at ground level.

Perhaps it is not apparent from the exterior but signage will direct you once you’re inside. Fear not.

The mallsnake has many levels; it even branches out to reach the far corners of the mall. Stairwell atria and broad halls connect the various levels and branches.

The mallsnake widens and narrows to allow for various programs throughout its length. Long passageways make prime spots for public demonstrations and events.

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C O

N S U M I N G

M A L L R A T S

The mallsnake is truly public space within a realm dominated by only apparently public space.

The average mall is entirely privately owned; it offers only an illusion of public-ness to its rats.

Private program spaces exist in the void around the snake and are accessible via the different levels of the snake. Retail remains a primary function of the new mall paradigm.

The mallsnake continues beyond the walls of the former mall buildings and enters the long exterior promenade. Hmmm... How permeable is a snake? How far out into the parking lot might it’s body reach?

Once outside, the mallsnake climbs on top of the low auxiliary buildings. People can see it as they approach from the parking lot and excitedly anticipate their coming mallrat a d v e n t u r e s .

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These are diagrams I made to explain and explore my design strategies and outcomes. In one diagram, I worked through a process that any mall might go through in an effort to revitalize and reuse it. In the next diagram, I explored my design outcome so far and highlighted certain programmatic elements both within the buildings and in the “snake.” I included some before and after Nolli maps of the site to explain my concept of introducing more

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public space into the mall in the form of a street and how this public space connected the site to the surrounding community. I also made a diagram detailing one portion of my design/programmatic approach that utilizes large planters as an anchor point for many different design goals and experiential zones. Finally, I made a series of simple diagrams that highlighted the potential in different surfaces of architecture with which I could work.

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S T R A T E G Y

A series of steps a shopping mall might go through on its path to reuse and revitalization. These are the steps implemented in my project.

BIG BOX STORE: The project begins with the large monolith of a shopping mall.

SPLIT: Separate the monolith into smaller pieces by making formerly interior circulation paths exterior.

Increase surface area to volume ratio for added permeability.

VEGETATE: Introduce landscaping into building and circulation for more “green” Main Street vibes.

REHABILITATE: Bring surrounding site back to a more natural condition by removing the majority of the parking lot space.

EXTEND: Bring circulation out into the site. Add side streets, plazas, and programmed nodes for vibrant downtown flair.

CONNECT: Establish connection points for pedestrian, bike, and bus access to extend into the community.

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P R O G R A M

PARK

The Mall is programmed to meet needs in the surrounding community and the Street is programmed for flexibility, variety, and vibrancy to emulate the experience of a typical lively downtown.

PLAZA

ALLEY

See planter diagram under “Explorations” for details

Gym; Cafe; Daycare Retail; Small Businesses Medical Offices Hotel; Community Space Housing

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ublic/Private Space in Current Paradigm

Public/Private Space in Current Paradigm Site

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New Paradigm: Mall as Main Street

New Paradigm: Mall as Main Street

E X P L O R A T I O N S

A look into one detail of the site— planters that serve multiple purposes— and into the potential for reuse in manipulating the three main Surfaces of the Mall: ground, roof, and wall.

PLANTERS FOR SOUND BARRIERS, HABITAT RESTORATION, AND MULTILEVEL EXPERIENCE BUSY STREET: A major intersection at one corner of the site and two major roads bordering the site means there is a lot of traffic noise throughout the day.

PLANTERS: These are filled with a mixture of native vegetation to provide habitat for the local creatures who lost their habitat when the mall was built.

Second Level Path Upper Level Path

SECOND LEVEL PATH: This path connects second level alleys and plazas to the planters. It weaves in between the planters and is good for jogging.

UPPER LEVEL PATH: This path connects third level alleys and plazas to the planters. From the path, people can look out over the vegetation in the planters.

GROUND LEVEL: Space underneath planters is shady and vegetated with native grasses. Great for picnics, walks, dogs, and photos.

SURFACES AS MATERIALS FOR REUSE

The ground plane has the most area of the three Surfaces. It is currently graded completely flat and is covered in asphalt. A path to reuse could include lifting the ground plane in certain areas and cutting into it in other areas to shape experiences and give access to higher levels and underground levels. To revitalize the ground plane, it can be revegetated with native plants.

The roof plane is the most underutilized of the three Surfaces. It can serve as plaza space in connection to the network of paths crossing around the site and can provide viewing platforms. It could also be used for parking to help free up ground space for vegetation. The roof can be punctured to bring light, wind, and visual connection with the interior spaces below.

The wall plane is perhaps the most important of the three Surfaces for its role in defining interior and exterior. Walls can be punctured or altered in material to make them less of a barrier and more of a filter, mediating entry, visual connections, and spatial flexibility. The wall is the primary element that users interact with, and so is highly important in defining the building’s character and function.

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Among the planters on the second level path

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A view of Mall Street from a path atop one building

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After having a fifth-yearwide review at the end of the quarter in which we received feedback on our projects from all the fifth-year faculty, we had one last assignment for the quarter. We were to take a drawing that we had made and annotate all over it, envisioning how we might incorporate the feedback we had received. The process is intended to help us digest everything we heard and to start using it to develop our designs. The goal is to get all

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the information out on the drawing so that it can be pruned later as necessary.

This way we make sure we do not forget about any piece of feedback we got and we give every idea a chance before discarding it. This annotated drawing is dense and messy, but contains some really big ideas that can change the course of my project next quarter. The exercise was helpful in its simplicity and in the lack of concern for aesthetic quality in the final product.

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E W

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PARK

focus less on circulation what other qualities does a Main Street have besides its “streetness”? there is a large mixing of things beyond circulation that produce the classic downtown vibe

could address food insecurity by farming parts of the site

See planter diagram under “Explorations” for details

explain/explore more about how people get here show more context of the mall; relation to former downtown/ Main Street how does it interact with its surroundings? does it turn completely inward or does it branch far outward?

Gym; Cafe; Daycare Retail; Small Businesses Medical Offices Hotel; Community Space

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Housing

PL

LAZA

ALLEY

more clarity about what programs the “snake” adds to the mall acknowledge that this is a false or artificial Main Street maybe instead of being street-based, the public realm becomes pocket-based?

densify the massive site by adding more buildings/ structures other than just paths maybe it becomes a self-contained city? be more aggressive in design approach

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Spring quarter began with working toward the Detail Show, in which thesis students display a detailed piece of their project to demonstrate their development of design ideas. I chose to detail a section through a portion of the Mallsnake so that I could work through what it might look like how people might use it, and how it might interact with its surroundings.

In the detail, I worked primarily with puncturing through the Mallsnake as a

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method of creating connections between interior and exterior and also as a method for creating occupiable pockets in the walls. The portion of the Mallsnake through which I cut takes on the character of an indoor/outdoor living room with lots of seating nooks, tables, plants, and open space for people to utilize as they choose (in my detail, it is being used for a martial arts class).

I also established a method for incorporating planters for large trees into the structure.

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N G

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Q U I C K P R E C E D E N T S T U D I E S Looking at other projects and drawings to generate ideas for style; also looking for ways to convey openness and adaptability in drawing.

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After the Detail Show, I was feeling a little tired of working digitally all the time so I began sketching various scenarios throughout the project site to develop my thoughts. I also sketched some relationship diagrams between the primary entities of my project: the community, the mall, the Mallsnake, and the natural environment. Since the site is so large, it was helpful to think a little more loosely in sketches instead of feeling like I needed to model or hard-line every detail of the

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project. I took little pieces that exemplified the different types of conditions throughout the site and worked on devloping those through annotated sketches. I focused on: the structure and form of the Mallsnake, the ways people interact with the Mallsnake, the ways the Mallsnake interfaces with its natural environment, and the way the Mallsnake relates to the existing mall structure. Sketching proved to be a refreshing and fruitful method for devloping my project and ideas.

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Section sketches exploring different relationships between the Snake and the outdoor environment.

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Section sketch exploring relationship between Snake and existing mall structure.

Section sketch exploring relationship between Snake and adjacent road.

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From the beginning of the project, I had set an end goal of outlining the strategies for reuse that I had learned through the work I did.

These strategies range from programmatic to formal to interpersonal. They are not applicable only to shopping mall reuse projects; they could be used in approaching any reuse project. As I researched and worked, I discovered that the most important strategy in revitalizing a building is to involve the community in the process from start to finish. If the people around the project feel

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no sense of ownership over it, they are far less likely to support and utilize the new amenities and businesses that the reuse project brings— leading it to stagnate and eventually fail.

Another overarching strategy that I implemented was finding various ways to increase visual and social transparency throughout the project. This took many forms but ultimately seeks to break up the imposing, monolithic nature of the mall and its surrounding parking lot to encourage more interaction amongst people and between people and the environment.

S T R A T E G

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Parking Spots: The power of paint to direct and organize within an otherwise uniform and non-differentiated field

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Planting Beds/ Curbs: Delineate and separate space by strategic insertion of specifically-shaped objects

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Trees/ Shrubs: Provide shade and outdoor “ceiling”; Organically screen and divide space; Reduce noise and heat

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1 1 Taxonomy of a Mall

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Balcony Walkways: Circulation overlooks central open area; Single-loaded pathway limits number of tenants

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Solar Array: Retroactively increase building efficiency and environmental cleanliness

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Road Network: Extensive connections to vehicular circulation throughout the city; Form and puncture the site perimeter

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Seating/ Planting: Indoor planting makes space feel more healthy and inviting; Planters offer opportunity for integrated bench seating

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Stores/ Storefronts: Vary in size and layout to accommodate different tenants; Glass storefront space for advertising and defining character of each tenant

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Sidewalk: Prescribe routes of pedestrian circulation; Buffer between building and vehicles; Connection-- with interruptions from vehicular routes-- to city-wide pedestrian network

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Surrounding Community: Specific needs, demographics, and contexts act upon the mall to shape it; No two malls should be the same

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Kiosks: Space for smaller businesses, events, or information; Populate the ground floor circulation routes for maximum visibility

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Foodcourt: Encourage customers to stay in the mall longer; Allows for convenience and variety of eating options in one space; Mechanical and plumbing consolidation

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MACY’S

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Take Inven

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Taxonomy of a Mall: Interior Large Rectilinear Buildings: Vast, open interiors offer potential for flexible configurations; Space to accommodate many different uses

Signage: Inform, direct, and advertise to anyone close enough to read; Label and define a building apart from its formal and ephemeral characteristics

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Escalator: Efficiently move customers vertically through the mall; Scare small children; Icon of the modern shopping mall

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Decorative Lighting Fixtures: Opportunity to change seasonally; Commission local artists to display work; Do not actually provide much light

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Skylights: Efficiently and naturally light mall circulation space during daylight; Break monotony of monolithic materials; Require consistent cleaning/ maintenance

Increase Tr Introduce

Provide Pu

Overlap Pr

Increase C M A L L S N A K E : Entrance to snake at ground level.

Perhaps it is not apparent from the exterior but signage will direct you once you’re inside. Fear not.

The mallsnake has many levels; it even branches out to reach the far corners of the mall. Stairwell atria and broad halls connect the various levels and branches.

C O N S U M I N G

illusion of public-ness to its rats.

The mallsnake widens and narrows to allow for various programs throughout its length. Long passageways make prime spots for public demonstrations and events.

Extend Pro

M A L L R A T S

The mallsnake is truly public space within a realm dominated by only apparently public space.

The average mall is entirely

Private program spaces exist in the void around the snake and are accessible via the snake. Retail remains a primary function of the new mall paradigm.

The mallsnake continues beyond the walls of the former mall buildings and enters the long exterior promenade. Hmmm... How permeable is a snake? How far out into the parking lot might it’s body reach?

Interweav

community owner the project)

Once outside, the mallsnake climbs on top of the low auxiliary buildings. People can see it as they approach from the parking lot and excitedly anticipate their coming mallrat a d v e n t u r e s .

0’

15’

30’

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Incorporat

and community as

Use Surfac Roof)

Increase S

Rehabilita

Increase U 82

Involve th

(from start to finish

ntory

(of the building and site)

Transparency (visual and social) Adaptive, Flexible Spaces

ublic/Private Gradient (think filter, not boundary)

Programmatic Adjacencies

Connection to Context (address many modes of access)

ogram Beyond Envelope

ve Publicly-Owned Space (greater sense of

rship of the project increases success, relevance, and longevity of

te Lacking Amenities (survey immediate context

s a whole)

ces as Medium of Reuse (Ground, Walls, and

Site Density

ate Local Ecology

User-Operability (for systems of enclosure and comfort)

he Community in the Design Process

h)

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SNAKE OPEN

SNAKE SNAKE ENCLOSED OPEN

SNAKE PUNCTURES THROUGH MALL

SNAKE ENCLOSED

SNAKE RESTS ON OR NEXT TO MALL

TOUCHING

COMMUNITY

MALL

SNAKE OPEN

SNAK ENCLO

SNAKE ELEVATED

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SEPARATED

SNAK E OPEN

FIXED

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AUTOMATIC

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CLIMATE-BASED

EVEN

KE SNAKE OSED OPEN

SNAKE ENCLOSED

relationships of site elements and their potential conditions

SNAKE AT GROUND LEVEL

ENVIRONMENT CLOSED

RABLE OPAQUE

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ECOSYSTEM

TRANSLUCENT

MANUAL

NT-BASED

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S P E C U L A T Th e q u e s t i o n c o m e s a t t h e e n d o f t h i s y e a r ’s w o r k : H o w c a n t h e i d e a s e x p l o re d i n t h i s t h e s i s p ro j e c t b e applied to a wider section of society?

W h i l e m a l l s c o u l d c e rt a i n l y b e o n e t a rg e t o f p ro j e c t s l i ke t h i s , t h e re i s a b ro a d e r a p p l i c a t i o n p o s s i b l e i n a p p l y i n g t h e m e t h o d s o f t h i s p ro j e c t t o o t h e r b u i l d i n g s i n n e e d o f re u s e .

I t c o u l d a l s o a ff e c t o u r g e n e ra l a tt i t u d e t o w a rd h o w w e b u i l d a n d h o w o u r b u i l d i n g s i n t e ra c t w i t h t h e i r s u r ro u n d i n g s a n d o c c u p a n t s . Th e b ro a d t h e m e s I e s t a b l i s h e d f o r t h i s p ro j e c t ( a d a p t a b i l i t y, p u n c t u r i n g , a n d e x p a n s i o n o f p ro g ra m b e y o n d the walls of a building) have i m p l i c at i o n s f o r a n y re t ro f i t , re u s e , o r n e w c o n s t r u c t i o n p ro j e c t . I t h i n k w e a re s t a rt i n g t o l e a n t o w a rd s b u i l d i n g i n t h i s w a y a l re a d y. Th e p re c e d e n t s

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O N

I l o o ke d at s h o w e d a g re a t a b i l i t y t o blend indoor and outdoor space and t o e m p l o y f l e x i b i l i t y f o r d i ff e re n t s e a s o n a l a n d p ro g ra m m at i c n e e d s . I would love to see buildings become e v e n m o re re s p o n s i v e t o u s e r i n p u t - n o t j u s t i n t e m p e rat u re a n d l i g h t i n g c o n t ro l s , b u t i n t h e v e r y s h a p e a n d s i z e o f t h e i r s p a c e . U l t i m at e l y, a m o re f l e x i b l e , re s p o n s i v e , a n d a d a p t a b l e b u i l d i n g i s a m o re s u s t a i n a b l e b u i l d i n g a n d t h at i s w h at w e n e e d t o a i m f o r i n t h e c o m i n g y e a r s i n o rd e r t o p re s e r v e o u r p l a n e t a n d b e g i n t o u n d o t h e h a r m f u l e ff e c t s o u r f i e l d h a s h a d o n t h e e n v i ro n m e n t .

Th i s t h e s i s h a s b a re l y s c rat c h e d the surface of possibilites in this d i re c t i o n a n d I h o p e t o s e e t h e s e i d e a s m o re f u l l y e x p l o re d a n d implemented over the coming years.

Studio Thesis Show Website: dalesdolls.cargo.site

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Open City or the Right to the City?

This article pointed out the issues with designed “community” spaces that are supposed to make the city more accessible but ultimately obey the rules of capitalism and result in gentrification.

The author uses the High Line park in New York City as a prime example of this, noting that the creation of the park drew lots of luxury housing and shopping and ultimately pushed out the people it was supposed to be serving. Design interventions like these always at least nominally seek to activate the public sphere and bring the community together but “even the most radical designers are seriously constrained by the politico-institutional contexts in which they work, and today these are generally defined by the naturalized imperatives of growth-first, market-oriented urban economic policy and by approaches to urban governance in which corporate and property-development interests maintain hegemonic control over local land-use regimes.”

Essentially, however good our intentions are as designers, we are ultimately confined by regulations, budgets, and land-ownership. The author urges designers to assert more control and accept more responsibility in these areas to pursue change in the political and institutional realms. We must be more attuned to the implications and long-term ramifications of our designs and challenge the existing regulatory system in order to accomplish the goal of equal access and the universal “right to the city.”

“The High Line in New York City can be seen as an example of a far-sighted design intervention that is putatively oriented towards expanding and activating the urban public sphere but accelerates processes of gentrification, displacement and exclusion at the neighborhood and urban scales.”

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We Need More Boredom in Our Lives In this reading, Roseanne Somerson talks about her experience as an educator in assigning a project that required students to push through a “squiggly” stage of boredom to discover unexpected and unfamiliar new directions for their work. She believes boredom is the key to unleashing creative potential, having found time and time again that “when curious minds are given enough time, space, and freedom, the imagination has room to roam.” In our digital world, distraction is always right at our fingertips; we never have to be bored or unoccupied and its allure is hard to resist. She advocates for a methodology she calls “critical making” wherein innovation and knowledge emerge “from the realm between thinking and making.” It calls for a constant cycle of radical questioning and making things as a way to conceptualize ideas and “see beyond traditional perceptual and cognitive divisions.” She has seen the people who employ this method become comfortable and thriving in uncertainty and that they come to value both the process and failures. Failure is an opportunity to reassess, to question, to find a new perspective, and to allow the materials to suggest new directions. In conversations with students after the project, they concluded that “when creative people are bored and uncomfortable, their imaginations route them into completely new territory”, but that it was also unsettling to follow their imaginations into unfamiliar paths. She encourages people to push through the discomfort and come upon creative breakthroughs, even as the interferences of technology and distraction make it difficult to willfully sustain prolonged periods of boredom.

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How to Draw Up a Project In this excerpt from one of Jose Luis Mateo’s books, he discusses the steps he takes toward materializing a project. He sees a project as a process with a fixed direction that “begins in an abstract, vague, and diffuse form and gradually takes concrete, material shape.” The first step is to define the issues to be developed in the project by undertaking a study of its full complexity without getting too entrapped in any one piece of it. He warns against using geometry, volume, plans, and description as ends in themselves since they are only to be a result of the process, not the goal of the process. The next step is to give structure to the as yet abstract phantom of the project. This involves “establishing hierarchies, differentiating the parts and placing them in relation to each other, [and] establishing systems of order amidst chaos.” The project gains an organic skeletal logic for growth and networks. Once the project has its internal structure, the final step is to give it material form. Here Mateo discusses two subjects: space and skin. He suggests that space should be shaped through models that are close to full-scale and may examine only fragments of the project at a time. Though space is the void within the project, it is the place where everything happens and so is of ultimate importance. On building skins, he contrasts modern systems with historical ones. In the past, the building was simply a “great perforated [mass]” offering rough protection and which had little difference between the outside and inside.

He describes modern buildings as “hierarchical structures with skin and bones” in which the the skin is shaped in response to different pressures. It responds to its external context and becomes a part of a larger setting while also enclosing the interior.

Its position on a spectrum of opaqueness and openness is determined differently from project to project.

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The Ugly Laws: Introduction “The Ugly Laws” tracks the history of ordinances that are exemplified by this one from late 19th century Chicago: “Any person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, or an improper person to be allowed in or on the streets, highways, thoroughfares, or public places in this city, shall not therein or thereon expose himself to public view, under the penalty of a fine of $1 [about $20 today] for each offense. (Chicago City Code 1881)”. Many cities throughout the world, but especially in the U.S. passed versions of this ordinance throughout history in attempts to preserve the illusion of beautiful, clean, “normal” city life. Activists have labeled these kind of statutes “the ugly laws”, since the laws aim to criminalize some subjective standard of ugliness. Many places have repealed these laws after court cases fell through due to an inability to accurately and consistently judge what constituted ugliness and as activists pushed for more rights and respect for the differently-abled.

The reversal of this legacy of ostracization and ignorance is traced to the Americans with Disabilities Act and the rise of disabilities studies.

Urban and building design play big roles in improving the quality of life for the differentlyabled as well as providing increased visibility for the historical lack of accommodation for them.

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The Century of Biology: Three Views In this essay, James Dwyer discusses three views on how biology will affect us in the next century. The first view is that we will use our growing knowledge in biology to bring about new innovations that will improve the quality of life for all. The second view believes that the next century will be characterized by extreme scarcity and that we will need to work to protect the Earth’s ecosystem as a whole, while letting go of our concern for ourselves. The third view is an intermediary view that Dwyer posits: that the coming years will be characterized by a growing gap between the haves and havenots as innovations will likely only benefit the wealthy while the poor are left to bear the brunt of the negative consequences. In each view, Dwyer describes the vices that would need to be overcome and the virtues that would need to be cultivated to bring about positive change in each case. In general, the vices concern selfcenteredness at the expense of others or of the planet as a whole. The virtues require a reversal or undoing of the vices-- an effort to be more humble and concerned for the well-being of others. Which of the three views a person has will affect the policies they support and how they view other people and the natural resources in the world. Are they to be exploited at any cost or are they to be preserved and wisely cultivated for the broadest benefits?

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The Land Where Birds are Grown This reading by Cynthia Hooper talked about the efforts that have been made to restore California’s wetland habitats for migratory birds.

In various different locales, different strategies have been adopted to ensure that agriculture and wild habitats can coexist. This speaks to the importance of local solutions to big problems. No two places are alike so they will require different methods for solving the same issue. For example, some farmers leave certain fields partially unharvested to provide food for the birds who in turn help fertilize the fields.

There need not be an “us and them” mentality because utilizing the appropriate strategies will be mutually beneficial.

This concept applies to my thesis in that no two abandoned malls will be the same or have the same context. The needs of their surrounding communities will be different so they will need to use different strategies to bring the best outcome for everyone. By providing a list of various potential strategies for reuse, I hope to make any reuse project more feasible and appealing to locals as they realize that the whole community can benefit from the process.

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From Learned Pigs to Burning Man This reading outlined the history of itinerant entertainment in America. It began under the strict Puritan rules with small traveling menageries that provided a brief distraction from everyday life and gave the people shared experience to discuss apart from religious gatherings. The traveling shows evolved to include human spectacles of acrobatics and flexibility to draw more onlookers. Next came peepshows and panoramas which were increasingly elaborate in their animation and special effects and which the author of the article describes thus: “viewing the show was a simple one at a time affair, as one simply peered through the small hole, through a miniature proscenium surrounded by drapery, that ensconced the hand-colored prints constituting the scenes. These vistas of London, Florence, or other cosmopolitan settings could be raised or lowered by strings held to small hooks at the top of the box.”

After these initial forms of itinerant amusement came the most famous: the circus. These began as relatively small but soon grew to include many attractions and sideshows. The layout of the circus area was patterned off of World’s Fair set-ups and the circus grew to become like a city in its own right that could be packed into train cars and taken around the nation to be set up adjacent to cities. These temporary places were able to provide people with lasting memories in a way that only physical space can.

The author argues that our digital entertainment today “exist[s] only as remotely participatory mental constructions, all buoyed in part by the residual memory of actual experience.” Festivals like Burning Man are more direct descendants of the old forms of itinerant entertainment.

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Tent City “Tent City” traces the history of homeless encampments in the United States. These have been “more or less permanent fixtures within U.S. cities since the rise of modern industrialism in the latter half of the 19th century.” They would often be on the outskirts or near train stations to keep out of the way of law enforcement and for ease of transience. These became sites of political movement, from the Bonus Army after World War I to Hoovervilles during the Great Depression to Reaganvilles after the end of the postwar boom and as a result of significant subsidy cuts to low-income housing programs.

Policies during the 1980’s increased the criminalization of homelessness, forcing people to the edges of society and leaving many with no safe place to be. More policies since then have made it illegal to share food, sleep in cars, or rest in public areas. These kind of policies attempt to push the homeless out of sight so they aren’t a constant reminder of our society’s failures.

Many of the homeless people interviewed for the article said they preferred the tent camps to the official homeless shelters because they had freedom and dignity to dictate their own schedule and have privacy. This shows a further failure on our part to care for the destitute in a way that doesn’t feel patronizing or uncomfortable and highlights the importance of user input in design. The article highlights some newer ideas for homeless camps that are rentable shacks with access to shared utilities that provide more dignity and stability than a typical homeless shelter while still giving plenty of freedom to the occupants.

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Environmentalism in Landscape Architecture This is an essay by ecologist Robert Cook discussing the history of ecological understanding and its impact on landscape design. Ecologists started with an idea of ecological homeostasis, in which the environment would remain essentially the same over many decades, resisting change and constantly returning to a standard condition after being subjected to change. After many studies, ecologists came to understand environments much better and discovered that nature is actually in continual flux. It absorbs change and emerges differently from it. Different locations adapt to the same change in different ways. This dynamic nature of the ecosystem affected the way people designed with nature. The old stiff hedges and geometric arrangements faded and were replaced with more naturally-shaped arrangements of more local species. New ideas emerged about designing for change and about reconciling the long-fought-over dichotomy between aesthetics and sustainability. It became clear that a truly good and responsive design would be both aesthetically pleasing and sustainable, as it would come from a deeper and more intimate understanding of the local Schematic sketch of the life cycle of a Viola blanda plant conditions. A similar process ought to be used showing the way in which the distribution of growth shifts to in architecture wherein the architect thoroughly younger generations as the clone moves slowly across the examines the site and designs the building forest floor, continually acquiring new locations. accordingly-- including its ability to change over time as site conditions or occupant needs change.

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Architecture’s Identity Crisis This article uses an incident involving Zaha Hadid Architects’ Principal Patrik Schumacher to illustrate a problem in the field of architecture and in large technology companies.

Schumacher made some statements with sociopolitical, economic, and ethical undertones that people reacted strongly against. This raised the question of the architect’s role in shaping society and what our moral obligations are, if any. The article discusses how this situation parallels the issues in Silicon Valley companies like Facebook, Google, and Apple who have had to deal with the ramifications of their technology being exploited for nefarious purposes. Architects have come to realize that their work has major effects on society and that they are often complicit in exclusionary and harmful work.

The industry relies on the capitalist system to source and fund its large projects but some are starting to wonder if there’s another way. What if architecture could (or should) be by and for the people? Is there a way to make big projects happen without the enormous amounts of capital we currently use to construct them? This is architecture’s identity crisis. We are rethinking and redefining our role in society and in the economy to ensure that our projects benefit those who need them.

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Engineering Ecologies

Emerging landscapes: Fraser Island off Australia’s Queensland coast is just one kind of emerging land formation driven by the environmental forces of wind and water. The sedimentation process of such islands is never fixed and therefore their configuration, size and formation change constantly.

101 Luming Wang and Zhenfrei Wang, Associative Design & Synthetic Vernacular research programme (directed by Peter Trummer), Berlage Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2006–07 Projected neighbourhood models as an alternative to contemporary Chinese urbanisation in the Jiangnan River Delta in Shanghai.

Learning from biological systems, the urban pattern is based on the growth logic, whereby the accumulation of cells generates various urban tissues. The topology of the urban network is similar to selfgenerated structures in nature and can accommodate changes due to the economic forces of the housing development.

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In this essay, architect and educator Peter Trummer discusses the ways in which we can engineer ecologies. These involve site-specific interventions that adapt to changing conditions and needs and that may be transitory and nonpermanent. He gives an example of walking structures that were made to move specifically along the Dutch coastline to demonstrate how a project might be linked so closely to its site that it could not exist anywhere else. He also gives an example of an island off the coast of Australia that changes in shape every year depending on the tides, winds, wave direction, and size. This is a very non-permanent condition that might inspire a design methodology of transience. Instead of designing a building to be “permanent”, we could respond to the dynamic nature of the environment and the changing needs of occupants by designing the building to evolve over time. On a larger scale, Trummer gives the example of an urban planning project by his students that utilized cell growth patterns as a form-generator that would allow for changes and could accommodate additions without disrupting the overall health of the neighborhood. This search for a “synthetic vernacular” is perhaps a middle ground between top-down prescriptive design and uncoordinated, potentially unsafe grassroots construction.

Jane Jacobs and the Death and Life of American Planning

“Construction Potentials: Postwar Prospects and Problems, a Basis for Action,” Architectural Record, 1943; prepared by the F.W. Dodge Corporation Committee on Postwar Construction Markets.

[Drawing by Julian Archer]

In this article from the “Places Journal”, Thomas Campanella discusses the impacts of Jane Jacobs’ theories on the planning profession. He argues that her strong reaction against the topdown, large-scale plans of the past lead to an equal and opposite error-- that now planners spend all their time checking codes and dealing with permits. The planners lost their professional prestige, along with their confidence in and ability to make big plans. The author cites examples in his own experience in which the great ideas for planning now come from normal citizens in coffee shops. He also mentions that even Jacobs was upset at the loss of prowess occasioned by her book and lectured planners: “she lamented the absence of just the sort of robust plannerly interventionism that she once condemned.” The idolizing of the grassroots and ground-up style of planning led to the sacrifice of grand plans and visionary morale in the planning profession. There must be a middle ground between the two extremes in which neither the planner nor the citizens have full authority and control over planning but in which they instead cooperate, building on each other’s good ideas and keeping in check their bad ones.

“Construction Potentials: Postwar Prospects and Problems, a Basis for Action,” Architectural Record, 1943; prepared by the F.W. Dodge Corporation Committee on Postwar Construction Markets.

[Drawing by Julian Archer]

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The Kind of Problem a City Is In the last chapter of her famous book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”, Jane Jacobs addresses the kind of problem that a city is. She argues that planning has failed for so long because planners did not understand the nature of the problem they were dealing with. Following in the scientific and mathematic zeitgeist of discovery in those fields, they applied the strategies used in statistics and science to solve the problems of the city, assuming the problems of the city to be the same as those addressed by statistics and science. However, Jacobs argues, a city is a problem of organized complexity; it is not the problems of organized complexity dealt with in statistics nor is it a problem of simplicity as dealt with in basic algebra and scientific experiments. Organized complexity is the most complicated problem of all to solve because every variable is intricately connected to every other. They are organized, but there are so many and their connections so complex that the methods previously used to attempt to solve them fall utterly short and have dire consequences. Jacobs offers that we start looking at the problem of a city as it really is and apply the methods appropriate-- like those that deal with the organized complexity of biology.

Once we start understanding and approaching the problem appropriately, we might begin to find solutions.

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The Accidental Planners “The Accidental Planners” tells the story of some artists/ activists who led a reuse project for a building in Berlin that was deeply intertwined with public feedback from the very start of the design process. They began with simple public awareness campaigns that pretended that the building was going to be reused and generated so much attention and support that they got the local government on board with actually going forward with a project. The process was highly collaborative between the government, the public, designers, and five different partner organizations, serving as an example of how we can include more people from many disciplines in our design process. They set up a building on the corner of the site to be a public workshop where people could stop by and participate in charettes and townhalls and could pitch their ideas for the building’s future. This led to massive and unprecedented public involvement in the project and ensured that the firms competing for the project bid all had ample information about what the people wanted instead of deciding the design and program by themselves. Ultimately, the building complex will be shared by artist studios, office space, residential towers, a kindergarten, and space for “experimental uses.”

This project represents a shift away from the old design methodology in Germany that was very top-down and masterplanned. It also sets a great example for other cities to reuse their old buildings instead of continuing the cycle of new construction, abandonment, and demolition.

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Space, Place, and Gender Our perception of the modern phenomenon of “time-space compression” is very focused on the movement of capital and the few businesspeople involved in its movement. This compression has negatively impacted those on the fringes, those who are literally skipped over by the 747s busing the well-off to and from their various gallivants. The author argues for redefining our concept of “place” to include social connections and experiential factors; “place” is currently too grounded in physicality and arbitrary borders that do not encompass the many cultural exchanges behind the people, shops, and restaurants that we see.

The author worries that our current idea of place breeds a reactionary clinging to the familiar in the face of the perceived threat of change-- that xenophobic tensions rise as we seek stability in what we see as “ours.” In contrast, the author argues for less of a focus on physical land or touted history. She suggests that “what gives a place its specificity is not some long internalized history but the fact that it is constructed out of a particular constellation of social relations, meeting and weaving together at a particular locus.”

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Community Plumbing The hardware store or general store serves as a unique example of how buildings can be vibrant hubs of community. The shopkeeper often served many roles for the community and provided a meeting place for members. Though these particular “general store” and “jack-of-all-trades shopkeeper” typologies have disappeared over time, the author offers hardware stores as continuations of the community-building ability in which their predecessors excelled.

She focuses on the Crest True Value Hardware store in North Brooklyn as an exemplary model of what a community-oriented hardware store looks like. The store hosts an art show every year and many other community events like pumpkin carving festivals, film screenings, and concerts.

Through these engagements with locals and an excellent service policy, the store has become a center of its community.

The author gives a detailed history of the general store and how it segued into the hardware store of today. While not every store type will have this kind of background in community-building, the article suggests that we can build this dynamic relationship into many kinds of establishment.

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Site-Seeing: Constructing the ‘Creative Survey’ The authors of this article propose that architects undertake an additional kind of site analysis which they have termed “creative surveys.” Their criticism of the standard kind of site analysis is that it focuses on only the physical aspects of the site and is often only done once, after which the site plan drawn up by the architect becomes the “site” and there is no further observance of the actual site. The architect becomes possessive of the site and the design, often resulting in public opposition when the design is revealed in which the affected community had no say.

The authors propose that we survey the site in new and different ways that involve the users and the community in the analysis and feedback process-- that through the creative survey, both we and the public learn something about the site as we step down from our high towers and enter the site from their perspective.

Some methods of creative surveying that the authors include are: having children fly flags from the site to see where their peers in the town can see them, dancing in a public square and asking observers for their thoughts about performance and the site, and licking the various surfaces at the Barcelona Pavilion to gain new sensory information about it. These and other techniques require the architect to do more than a cursory, one-time look at the site; they encourage creative thinking, community involvement on a new scale, and provoke a much more meaningful understanding of the site within its context.

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Fibrous Organisations “Fibrous Organisations” is a thesis project by Cordula Stach and is a series of experiments with woven material to understand its self-organizing capacity and the development of a system to model such materials. She began her process by pulling and manipulating single threads within a woven fabric and recording the results this had on the fabric as a whole. By doing several of these experiments, she was able to measure the exact properties of the fabric and make a digital program to model it. She then used this system to scale the form-finding and material exploration to an architectural application.

She was able to translate the material properties she had observed into an architectural gridshell system, since it had a similar geometry and could undergo similar manipulation processes. She envisioned a pilot project of an office space with a partly changeable landscape. This landscape would not be “a typical open-plan arrangement, but a matrix of interconnected rooms, with some visual aspects and connections similar to those of the raumplan, as a result of the undulating terrain and roof and the connections distributed in various sectional arrangements and heights.”

The circulation areas and the primary office spaces served as control spaces that required certain heights and widths and over which the lattice is draped. The lattice is fixed around a perimeter and the primary office and circulation areas while being allowed to self-organize in all the areas in between.

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Pleated Composites “Pleated Composites” is a thesis project

by Edouard Cabay in which he examines the potential for using pleated materials in architecture, specifically in relation to water management systems. He began his process with physical and digital modeling of pleats to explore their self-organizing properties and see how they responded to various types of manipulation. He developed a parametric setup for folding the pleats and laying them over double-curved surfaces. This system also helped him to quantify the results of various changes to the material.

His experiments produced both structural and environmental possibilities for the pleated system.

When the pleated material was hardened with a resin, the increased crosssectional height acted as the structurally active height of a beam. The environmental uses of the system are seen in that “the combination of surface curvature and pleats makes it possible to collect, channel and store water strategically on the surface.” This creates a thermal mass and an opportunity for natural cooling with no mechanical ventilation. It could be a beautiful and effective way to manage water on a building surface while also providing its own structural support. He moved from fabric to fiberglass to flesh out the molding and manufacturing process that could potentially be used in the field. This technology has especially good implications for areas that are normally dry but have occasional downpours.

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Porous Mats “Porous Mats” is a thesis project by Gabriel Sanchiz Garin and is an exploration in using parametric design and digital fabrication to produce a potential substitute for the inefficient mat-building typology common today. His process began with “producing a skeletal framework articulated through the interstitial spaces left between pressurised containers.” He created molds for casting plaster around airfilled cushions; depending on the number of cushions, the resulting skeleton framework had different numbers of arms. He used this series of tests to create a parametric set-up, wherein variables could be shifted to produce differently articulated forms.

After this form-finding process, Gabriel studied the thermal properties of various casting materials to find one that would give his system the most efficiency. He included his studies on the environmental performance properties into the parametric system so that the product could be configured to suit specified environmental circumstances. He studied literature on the issues with mat-buildings and summarized his findings thus: “The critique of contemporary mat-buildings condemns both the excessive amount of circulation space required, as well as the failure to deliver sufficient environmental exchange between interior and exterior. This is down to wrong proportional scaling of courtyards, as well as the hard threshold that strictly divides interior from exterior.” He proposes the porous mat as a solution to the environmental issues in mat-buildings and implemented a pilot test project with his system in Brazil to monitor its performance.

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W E L C O M E T O M A L L S T R E E T

E L I S A B E T H

F R

California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo Professor Dale Clifford

Fall 2020 - Spring 2021

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