HYBRIDITY & CONNECTIVITY
with one child. Parents would not only be offered the assurance that their children are in a good environment, but would also be offered flexibility. As a twenty-four-hour center that charges by the hour, the cc would accommodate a work schedule that departs from the conventional 9 to 5, a last-minute meeting, a night out, or an emergency. If the cc is located adjacent to other amenities, workplaces, and homes and if some of its amenities such as the library were shared with the larger community, opportunities for social interactions (a public realm) would be in place. It would also catalyze other developments. Transposing programmatic hybridity onto the urban and regional scales can increase density of activity without necessarily increasing building density or increasing it only slightly in certain places to produce a low-density urbanism. The outcome is new hybrid typologies and morphologies that pool human and natural resources to the benefit of all. Resources conserved include time, effort, talent, money, water, energy (fuel, electricity, and human energy), building materials, paper (less paperwork and less junk mail), space, and more. Although recalling the consolidation and increased efficiency applied to the factory, this new integration can occur without “Taylorization,” the scientific management style introduced by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1910s that increased production but also led to dehumanization, demoralization, and class conflict. Rather than dehumanize, this new integration holds the potential for empowering people to fulfill their needs and desires more effectively. This is because a central authority does not impose it and because it contributes to revitalizing the public realm thanks to the time saved and new gathering spaces generated. This kind of integration can reduce commuting, enhance convenience, preserve the natural environment, increase quality public space, and greatly multiply opportunities for social encounters.17 With more time and interaction, people discuss common concerns and generate innovative resolutions. NEW TYPOLOGIES Numerous architects and urban designers have been exploring new typologies — or variations on old ones — with the goal of combining the best of city and suburb while also darning holes in existing urban and suburban fabrics. For instance, at Swan’s Marketplace in Oakland, California, Pyatok Architects Inc. adaptively reused the Market Hall (originally built between 1917 and 1940) to provide cohousing condominium units with a common house, affordable rental units, live/work spaces, a farmers’ market hall, commercial office space, and parking, as well as space for the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) (see Figures 5 and 6).
23