GT25_LORENZE_MAXWELL_4

Uncertain Space

a multifunctional social infrastructure

Graduate Thesis Prep GTP Advisor: Anna Neimark HTP Advisor: Erik Ghenoiu Spring 2025

U N C E RTA I N S PAC U N C E RTA I N S PAC U N C E RTA I N S PAC E U N C E RTA I N S PAC E

Maxwell Lorenze_M.Arch 1

Table of Contents Walking Studies

6

Walking Study 1_5th Street

14

_unpublic paths

34

Walking Study 2_Sunset Boulevard

44

_Void Spaces

66

Intersection is Plaza

70

Background Study

----

_The City

108

_Public Space/Social Infrastructure

112

_Notes

114

Top-Down? Bottom-Up? Both?

118

Position

136

Uncertain Space Learning from Uncertain Spaces in contemporary Los Angeles, towards designing a multifunctional social infrastructure.

Ahead is the study of how I choose to study social infrastructures in Los Angeles. I choose to study a transect of the city, that being specific streets. Through this field work and broader research, realities of how people engage with the built environment start to reveal themselves. As is the case with how we are as social creatures, how we engage with our cities is subjective. The truths I study, diagram, and learn from may not be truths for everyone engaging with the city.

More than anything this study is a practice in understanding Los Angeles. A city that I was born in but did not grow up in; which I have lived for the last three years but struggle to call home. It is an endlessly fascinating city to me, especially the built environment of Los Angeles.

How are social infrastructures constructed, reconstructed, utilized, and informally organized?

Who is the urban environment for?

How can the experience on foot give perspective to the built environment?

The goal is to learn from these studies to work towards a design of a social infrastructure or type of social infrastructures which I hope to call Uncertain Space.

Definitions for Uncertain Space Social Infrastructure

Placemaking Public Space

Space Place Faux Public Space

Impromptu Space

Commons Non-Place

a physical infrastructure which assist in the development of social capital. This is the physical infrastructure of placemaking

an act of constructing place by the members of a community

a physical area/volume/extent a physical manifestation of the populous that is shared by all members of the community a physical extent by and for all members of the community

a physical area/volume/extent

the cultural connatation associated with spaces

a physical space that functions in almost every way as public space, but instead of being in the commons it has direct barriers of entry: financially, social, cultural access to the space can come with barriers, and access can be revoked at any moment

a state of mind as much as a physical extent it is a space of uncertainty, and is constructed by a group of people and may not be open to all a place that rarely has barriers for entry other than cultural ones a pure space of placemaking in behest to the urban environment

the extent of everything that is within extents of the public

a space that does not hold cultural or social connotations a space which represents the liminal, in-between spaces between places.

Walking Studies

A study of a path through a city, one that goes through a collection of different areas with unique cultural qualities. Space of acceptance, rejections, and disallowance.

Setting out on this walk I was interested in what I saw as three conditions related to public space and social infrastructure: Public _ In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure.

Faux-Public _ Private space that are meant to portray the qualities of public space but fall within the preview of private property.

Impromptu _ These are uncertain space, these are confusing spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces where people make community where they can make it.

5th St.

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Sunset Blvd.

information to better engage with a reality of the city a decimate information that I was interested in.

Although I am in agreement with the meaning and feeling behind the Debord’s maps. When it came time to engage with the city, I did not want to engage with pockets of the city but instead engage with the city through transects. On these transects I would engage with social infrastructures, the three categories of study broke down to: public space, faux public space, and impromptu space. Within these paths there were spaces of acceptance, rejections, and disallowance_ Public _ In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure.

Faux-Public _ Private space that are meant to portray the qualities of public space but fall within the preview of private property.

Impromptu _ These are uncertain space, these are confusing spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces where people make community where they can make it.

The study of these three conditions begins to highlight the inequalities of access to social infrastructures. It begins to substantiate Debord, that the functional city is a city of isolates surrounded by banality.1 2 3 The two case study sites are 5th Street and Sunset Boulevard.

1 Debord, Guy. Guide Psychogéographique de Paris. 1957.

2 Herrmann, Nicholas. In Search of an Honest Map, Drawing Matter. 2020.

3 Rion, Gilles. Guide psychogéographique de Paris. Discourse sur les passions de l’amour, 1957, FRAC Centre-Val de Loire.

The three maps, from 1909 (Chapter Page), 1932 (Left), and 1906 (Below). All three of the maps are biased, showing points of interest, modes of transit, altered scales, etc. In more general all maps are biased, from the Decatur Projection, to tourist maps, to satellite maps. Nicholas Herrmann in “In Search of an Honest Map”, breaks down the work of Guy Debord and The Situationist International. All maps hold fallacies, the world is never experienced in a way that it appears on paper. My own reading of Debord along with that of Gilles Rion and Nicholas Herrmann posses that Dubords’s “Guide Psychogéographique de Paris,” understands that Paris of G. Peltier’s map is not representative of how people engage with the city. In what way do we engage the urban environment. Is it through a series of islands in the urban environment, of which we experience the relationships between different areas of the city which may not physically touch but directly engage with each other. The map as tool for reading the city is just a canvas where I could add

Diagramming the City

Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown _ Learning from Las Vegas Learning from Las Vegas is a core text in terms of defining how I choose to diagram. Although the content of the research was incredibly different, my study of 5th St. and Sunset Blvd. examine the path of travel and the figures along it through similar methodologies.

Specifically I took great interest in the style, aesthetics, and from of the street diagrams developed by Venturi, Scott Brown, and Izanour. Much like this text I hope to use these studies in more site specific work that has learned from important and influential streets in Los Angeles. Not in the same way in which The Strip is a microcasm of Las Vegas. 5th and Sunset highlight an intriguing representation of a portion Los Angeles.

Donald Appleyard, Kevin Lynch, John R. Myer _The View from the Road This is a text, that has been a corner stone for how I would like to engage and convey information about a street. Although this text is purely about the road and the feeling and “view” from it. The understanding and study of the relationship between a motorist and the city defined much of urban planning and design of the built environment in the 50+ years since this text.

The relationship of the motorist and the city is directly impactful to understanding the city which I witnessed on these studies and through everyday of my life.

Photos shot by myself with a Olympus Pen EE-3 Half Frame Film Camera with 400 ISO Film.

A Framework for Study A study of a path through a city, one that goes through a collection of different areas with unique cultural qualities. Space of acceptance, rejections, and disallowance.

Setting out on this walk I was interested in what I saw as three conditions related to public space and social infrastructure: Public _ In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure.

Faux-Public _ Private space that are meant to portray the qualities of public space but fall within the preview of private property.

Impromptu _ These are uncertain space, these are confusing spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces where people make community where they can make it.

The Case Studies My scope of study began with a walking study of 5th Street: from E 5th St. and S Hewitt St. through Skid Row up until W 5th St. Intersecting with the 110 Freeway.

This was followed up with a walking study of W Sunset Boulevard: from Sunset Junction where Santa Monica Blvd. Intersects with W Sunset Blvd. through Silver Lake and Echo Park, up until W Sunset Blvd. passing above the 110 Freeway.

These studies were informed by ample training and experience with Ethnographic Field Work. For all intents and purposes ethnography is a core component of how I study the built environment.

Case Study 1 5th Street From the Arts’ District to the 110 Freeway

A study of a path through a city, one that goes through a collection of different areas with unique cultural qualities. Space of acceptance, rejections, and disallowance.

Setting out on this walk I was interested in what I saw as three conditions related to public space and social infrastructure: Public _ In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure.

Faux-Public _ Private space that are meant to portray the qualities of public space but fall within the preview of private property.

Impromptu _ These are uncertain space, these are confusing spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces where people make community where they can make it.

Case Study 1 examines 5th Street through Downtown Los Angeles. From the Arts District to the 110 Freeway.

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This study went from E 5th Street and S Hewitt Street in the Arts District up until where W 5th Street intersects the 110 freeway.

This walk was conducted on a mild February weekday during the middle of the day.

The walk highlights three spaces_ Public Space

In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure.

Faux Public Space

Private space that are meant to portray the qualities of public space but fall within the preview of private property.

Impromptu

These are uncertain space, these are confusing spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces where people make community where they can make it.

Walking Study

Downtown Los Angeles through the Financial District

Skid Row into Old Bank District of Downtown Los Angeles

Arts District end of 5th Street

Walking Study Notes

Walking Study Notes

Walking Study

Public Space

Faux Public Space

Impromptu

A Story in Photos Ed Ruscha throughout his career utilized photos to depict Los Angeles as he saw it.

In his work Everybuilding on Sunset Ruscha utilizes photos to show a point of fact story of the a snapshot of what Sunset Boulevard looked at that moment in history.

I utilized a Olympus Pen EE 3 half frame film camera to help begin to tell a story of the colors, feeling, look of 5th street from the Arts District through Downtown Los Angeles.

A Story in Photos

Space on 5th Street Public Space

In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure

Faux Public Space

Private space that are meant to portray the

qualities of public space but fall within the preview

of private property.

Impromptu

These are uncertain space, these are confusing

spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces

where people make community where they can make it.

Space on 5th Street Public Space

In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure

Faux Public Space

Private space that are meant to portray the

qualities of public space but fall within the preview

of private property.

Impromptu

These are uncertain space, these are confusing

spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces

where people make community where they can make it.

This stretch of 5th street transects a swath of Downtown Los Angeles.

Through these blocks over about 1.5 miles, many physical realities and examine many political commentaries of contemporary Los Angeles.

Through this spread of the city: gentrification, urban blight, social upheaval, capitalism, neoliberalism, the police state, community, social action, industry, and generosity are all at play.

This walking study, examined how the urban fabric of Los Angeles constructs, re-constructs, and impedes placemaking through social infrastructure.

I broke these spaces into the three categories of Public Spaces, Faux Public Spaces, and Impromptu Space.

Public Space has often been a contentious and elusive target in Los Angeles. L.A. is known for many things; from palm trees, to urban sprawl, to diversity, to freeways, and Hollywood. Really only one public space is captured in the civic identity, that being the beach.

Downtown Los Angeles is some twenty miles from the beach, the public spaces hear are similar to those you would find in any North American city (parks, plazas, libraries, etc.). The parks throughout this particular stretch of Downtown are particularly interesting, other then Pershing Square (a space so dead that it almost feels like a reprieve from the city), they all have gates and fences. Strict closing times at sunset, mean that during some times of the year the parks are only open for 10-12 hours in the day. This stretch of downtown Los Angeles is also marked by what is often a rarity through the rest of Los Angeles, the public restroom. On this path their is no less then four public restroom, although there are four they all sit within a mile of each other.

The public restrooms, and their cousin the mobile shower unit are and indispensable service for the many unhoused residents of Skid Row. Which since the 1970s has been dejure area for unhoused people.

Through that portion of the walk from S. Central to Main St. there is significantly less public space then in the rest of downtown (namely the Historic Core and the Financial District). What develops are informal gatherings, the impromptu spaces. Occasionally these spaces are tacitly connected to public space as continuations beyond the physical limits of the public space.

The last space is a type of note, that is the faux public space. These look like a public space, the act like a public space, they smell like a public space, but they are not public. They are often corporate plazas, they often function as setbacks from the sidewalk, or spaces between buildings, but the one thing is certain, no matter how public they appear, they are not public, access is conditional and may be revoked at any time.

Public Spaces

Faux Public Space

Impromptu Space

Unpublic Paths

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Contentious Space Access to public space, who the publics is for is contentious. This is the case across the world but especially in North America. In Los Angeles the public space and the commons are a constant push and pull, a struggle of construction and deconstruction, and perpetually uneasy balance of access and barriers.

Mike Davis lays out in Fortress L.A. the privatization of public space in Los Angeles, and the nature of the security state in policing faux public spaces. Through this practice, the city learned aspects of security and observance to re-purpose into the urban environment.

Davis very clearly engages with who has access to these different spaces.1 In the case of the faux public spaces: malls, corporate plazas, etc.

They are often oriented towards the bourgeois, well the proletariat services those spaces. The spaces more often associated with the proletariat are often poorly maintained, overly policed, hostile.

In Sasha Plotnikova’s essay for Failed Architecture, Barricades, Boulders, and How LA’s Public Spaces Became a Battleground for the Commons, the effect of hostile architectures and policing on the commons in Los Angeles.

Plotnikova lays out the ways in which the powers at bay use access to public services and resources as tools of control. But it is through this fight over space where communities will push back, “When the state denies the community’s right to social reproduction, the community finds ways to build up physical and social infrastructures that ensure its growth.”2 It is partially through this where we get to the corporate “public spaces” of downtown L.A..

As the public spaces became less welcoming and more hostile in Downtown L.A., more and more corporate “public spaces,” faux public spaces were constructed through the Financial District and Bunker Hill portions of Downtown. Private security in these corporate plazas often reaches into the streets and the lines between public and private blur entirely. These become spaces of contention where access is fuzzy and can often relate to the clothes you where, the color of your skin, and your perceived behavior.

The commons is constantly up for contention and is that no clearer the throughout Downtown Los Angeles.

1 Davis, Mike. Fortress L.A., chapter in City of Quartz: Excavating the Future of Los Angeles. 1990..

2 Plotnikova, Sasha. Barricades, Boulders, and How LA’s Public Spaces Became a Battleground for the Commons. Failed Architecture. 2020.

unpublicpaths is a short film conducted in the style of an informative travel documentary.

Collaging qualities of the documentary of the past and the use of the phone in documentation today. Language is utilized to confuse, disorient, and disconcert the viewer, my own narrative is splice and dubbed into German and Spanish as well. unpublicpaths explores the stressful, confusing, disconcerting space of the Downtown Los Angele’s network of pedestrian walkways connecting buildings and plazas throughout the Financial District and Bunker Hill. These paths end one side at 5th St. and Flower St. and that is where my journey began and ended.

These walkways were constructed through the Concept Los Angeles plan created in 1970 by LA Planing Director Calvin Hamilton. In short it was a massive general plan that sought to create large central districts throughout Los Angeles. These centers were to separate the pedestrian from the street elevating these spaces on to walkways connecting rooftop and terraced gardens and plazas. Although his plan called for hundreds of these walkways and thousands throughout the city less then twenty were constructed over seven years (1974-1981).

Today these pedestrian walkways and their subsequent plazas and gardens represent the interplay of public and private. The lines blur so absolutely that the line between where the public ends and the private begins is indistinguishable. Our contemporary public life is defined by spaces like these pedestrian walkways which represent the faux-public spaces of malls, corporate plazas, and commercial setbacks.

You are watched. You may pass through. You are not welcome.

Pedestrian Walkways and Plazas Constructed through the 1970 Concept Los Angeles plan proposed by city Planning Commissioner Calvin Hamilton

5th Street

The Walking Path Across the Ped Ways The journey of the unpublicpaths

5th Street

The Ped Ways Interconnecting the City From buildings in the Financial District up to Bunker Hill.

5th Street

The Ped Ways Interconnecting the City The journey of the unpublicpaths from buildings in the Financial District up to Bunker Hill.

5th Street

Case Study 2 W Sunset Boulevard From the Sunset Junction to the 110 Freeway

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A study of a path through a city, one that goes through a collection of different areas with unique cultural qualities. Space of acceptance, rejections, and disallowance.

Setting out on this walk I was interested in what I saw as three conditions related to public space and social infrastructure: Public _ In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure.

Faux-Public _ Private space that are meant to portray the qualities of public space but fall within the preview of private property.

Impromptu _ These are uncertain space, these are confusing spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces where people make community where they can make it.

This study went from W Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction up until where W Sunset Boulevard passes over the 110 Freeway This walk was conducted on a beautiful Saturday in March.

The walk highlights three spaces, along with making note of vacant, derelict, undeveloped spaces.

The section highlighted bellow is from Silver Lake Boulevard past Sunset Junction.

Public Space

In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure

Faux Public Space

Private space that are meant to portray the

qualities of public space but fall within the preview

of private property.

Impromptu

These are uncertain space, these are confusing

spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces

where people make community where they can make it.

Public Space

In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure

Faux Public Space

Private space that are meant to portray the

qualities of public space but fall within the preview

of private property.

Impromptu

These are uncertain space, these are confusing

spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces

where people make community where they can make it.

This study went from W Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction up until where W Sunset Boulevard passes over the 110 Freeway This walk was conducted on a beautiful Saturday in March.

The walk highlights three spaces, along with making note of vacant, derelict, undeveloped spaces.

The section highlighted bellow is from Echo Park Avenue until just before Silver Lake Boulevard.

This study went from W Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction up until where W Sunset Boulevard passes over the 110 Freeway This walk was conducted on a beautiful Saturday in March.

The walk highlights three spaces, along with making note of vacant, derelict, undeveloped spaces.

The section highlighted bellow is from the 110 Freeway until Echo Park Avenue.

Public Space

In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure

Faux Public Space

Private space that are meant to portray the

qualities of public space but fall within the preview

of private property.

Impromptu

These are uncertain space, these are confusing

spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces

where people make community where they can make it.

Walking Study Notes

A Story in Photos

A Story in Photos Ed Ruscha throughout his career utilized photos to depict Los Angeles as he saw it.

In his work Everybuilding on Sunset Ruscha utilizes photos to show a point of fact story of the a snapshot of what Sunset Boulevard looked at that moment in history.

I utilized a Olympus Pen EE 3 half frame film camera to help begin to document a study in a similar way, also of Sunset Blvd.

Public Space

In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure

Faux Public Space

Private space that are meant to portray the

qualities of public space but fall within the preview

of private property.

Impromptu

These are uncertain space, these are confusing

spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces

where people make community where they can make it.

Spaces on Sunset Boulevard From Sunset Junction to Echo Park

Public Space

In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure

Faux Public Space

Private space that are meant to portray the

qualities of public space but fall within the preview

of private property.

Impromptu

These are uncertain space, these are confusing

spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces

where people make community where they can make it.

Spaces on Sunset Boulevard From Echo Park to the 110 Freeway

Public Space

In the classical sense: libraries, parks, and civic infrastructure

Faux Public Space

Private space that are meant to portray the

qualities of public space but fall within the preview

of private property.

Impromptu

These are uncertain space, these are confusing

spaces, these are edge conditions, these are spaces

where people make community where they can make it.

The Figure of the Map

Public Spaces

Faux Public Space

Impromptu Space

The walking study of W Sunset Boulevard, was almost double the length of the 5th Street walking study, it was hilly, and more car centric. Although the walking path took me through some of the most walkable and desirable neighborhoods in Los Angeles, it was undoubtable that for most all of that time, pedestrians were secondary.

Like the first walking study the core three categories of study were the three spaces of public, faux public, and impromptu. How each of these spaces manifested on this walk was at time a world away from how I perceived them along 5th.

First there were no real corporate plazas, instead the faux public versus impromptu functioned more like a subjective scale. When does a space become a more grassroots, impromptu gathering space?

An example, two coffee shops both boutique chains, one was more of an impromptu space and the other was a faux public space. On the surface both are private property, with an idealized clientele in mind.

But in practice one overtly embeds itself in the community and the other explicitly sets itself apart from the community. This was visible by the community message board in and outside one versus devoid of community in the other. The other method of study was the water test.

Could you get a free water just by asking for it, and would they let you stay sitting there well you enjoyed your water. One passed the other failed.

Throughout the entire study, it was fully influx when does the financial barriers for entry move an impromptu space of gathering into the faux public space category, it was a judgment call often.

Public space was not overtly present over the course of this walk, but most of it followed a standard path: schools, churches, parks, and libraries.

Lastly a four category became prevalent early in the walk, that was “void.” These were abandoned, undeveloped, vacant lots. Sunset had a fair share of these especially in the final stretch from Vin Scully Way to the 110 Freeway. These spaces opened up interesting questions of land-use, how should these spaces best be developed, and how best could these space be activated to interconnect the neighborhood. One specific semi vacant property is 1111 W. Sunset Blvd, William Pereira’s former Metropolitan Water District.

The Figure of the Map

Public Spaces

Faux Public Space

Impromptu Space

The Void

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Original Municipal Water District Headquarters_ William Pereria_1963 All though the MWD Headquarters was built on the site in 1963, the site has a long and influential history in Los Angeles. It was originally developed as Beaudry Park in the 1870s, before being acquired by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in1883, in 1884 the first hospital in Los Angeles moved to the site, becoming known as Sister’s Hospital or Los Angeles Infirmary.

The Municipal Water District Headquarters was one of many modernist civic building designed by Pereria around Los Angeles. By no mean was it the most noteworthy, it existed with acclaim respect but was never considered as a project worth protecting. The structures most notable qualities are the excoskelital support columns and perforated cast stone facade panels. When the building was abandoned in 1997, it fell further into disrepair.1 Through this period a church, Holy Hill Community Church came on to the site and has since been abandoned, but its structure functions as a wart on the original structure.

In come the developers.

Some 15 years ago the future of the site was uncertain. Two developers had ownership stakes in the site. One developed the tower to the right into condominiums, faithfully restoring the structure to its former beauty. The other portion of the site was owned by large developers. They hatcheted a plan for what would become known as 1111 W Sunset. A megadevolpment spearheaded by SOM, it would see two towers rise on the site, one of 30 stories and the other of nearly 50 stories. These towers would be joined by a Kengo Kuma designed 17 story hotel, along with a “village” of 2-4 story structures. This project has existed in drawings only, in limbo for more then a decade. The line is that they are waiting for permitting. It is believed that the money is not really there for the project.2 This project has been contentious since the onset. When on the site was on the verge of qualifying for historic protected status, the famous concrete sun screens were disposed of destroyed. This act meant that not enough of the historic facade was intact to qualify for historically protected status.3 Since this point that larger portion of the site has remained vacant, in line with so much of what I studied I wonder if this site along with the adjacent intersection Beaudry and Sunset could mark a place to locate the social infrastructure I am interested in.

1 Water and Power Association. Victor Heights.

2 SOM. 1111 W Sunset.

3 Conversation with Erik Ghenoiu

Column by column: Photo MWD 1963, My own photo, My own photo, My own photo, Photo MWD 1963, Artistic Render of MWD 1963, Community Map of Victor Heights, Render of 1111 W Sunset by SOM at Sunset and Beaudry Intersection, Photo of St. Vincent Sanatorium 1884, 1909 Gates Map of L.A. Detail, Photo of St. Vincent Sanatorium, Render of 1111 W Sunset by SOM.

The Intersection As Plaza

What do we consider a plaza?

Do we immediately have an idea of a the European town plaza, the one with a church adjacent?

Is it a space for pedestrians?

Is it a place to gather? Move through? A little of both?

What about an Intersection?

Do cars or people come to mind?

Does an intersection become a plaza for fleeting moments?

-As when Shibuya Crossing fills entirely with pedestrians Or is a moment to build or spur community as Jane Jacobs examines.

Does an intersection become a plaza when the collective citizenry decries it through their actions small and large?

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The Intersection is Plaza The intersection as plaza grew from my first case study, of 5th Street through Downtown Los Angeles. Through my field work, the intersection of 5th St. and San Pedro St. grew as a point of interest. It in many ways functions as the center of the Skid Row district of Downtown Los Angeles. Here the corners were full, of people trying to make home, people sell food and goods, people gathering in community. It had all the functions of a plaza in the most traditional sense.

Through a reading of Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City, the understanding of the Paths and Edges collide on the packed sidewalks of Skid Row. People who are pushed to the edges of our society construct place where there is space for them. The space of these sidewalks becomes more fully interplayed through the plaza interrupted by two arterial roads, thus forcing the functioning of the plaza to those edge spaces on the four corners.

In Los Angeles much of the social interaction is pushed to the periphery- or shall I say pushed into the street. From the barber clipping a person’s hair on Michael Maltzan’s Sixth Street Viaduct, to road racers doing donuts to crowds of none to crowds of hundreds, to low-riders taking over a boulevard, to fireworks lighting up the night sky after Freeman walked off game 1. Much of life happens in the road in Los Angeles; the intersection both becomes an unwilling host to “illegitimate or illegal”public activity where as the “legitimate” public activity is pushed to the corners and edges. None-the-less the intersection manifests as an important vector for public life - the intersection becomes plaza.

Sunset Boulevard

5th Street

The Intersection is Plaza

Camillo Sitte in his 1889 work The Art of Building Cities examines the city and as he considers it a core element of that is the public square has always been a center, has always been a gathering space, it is also the best representative the history, values, and environment of a city. The plaza is the heart or at least an artery of a city or a neighborhood.

The intersection is one of the cornerstones of the contemporary car dependent city. At its core the intersection is the most obvious place of car dependency: from barely enough time to cross a street, to slip lanes, to right turns on red. The intersection is the most explicitly car centric space outside of freeways and highways.

The California Department of Transit’s Highway Design Manual, the standard of designing an at-grade intersection is thoroughly laid out. Although published as the Highway Design Manual, it examines the basic standards of all road design in California. It is immediately clear that the priority in the intersection is the car; transit, pedestrians and cars all of less value then the car and its’ ability to efficiently move through an intersection. Yet none-theless the intersection often remains more then just a space for cars to move through, but an uncooperative host to social activity and gathering.

The diagrams to the right highlight the way in which a road, an intersection aggregates and greatly altering the would be plaza. The upcoming diagrams in the same style are all at 1:1000 scale, The vibrant represents the would be or could be public space and the hues lighter in color representing the perceptibly of those edge spaces. The darker maroon color represents edge objects which are not buildings but instead miscellaneous objects from street food vendors, to advocacy tents, to park space.

The

a

Plaz

The Plaza

The Stree

t

The Intersected Plaza

The Intersection

E 5th St. & S Hewitt St.

The easternmost of the intersections is at E 5th Street’s continuous terminus in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles. It is a T junction of two low traffic two lane streets in a formerly industrial area with non continuous sidewalks and no crosswalks.

The south western corner of the intersection is the Arts District Park, a Fenced in hard scrapped park with limited tree canopy. The park has high fences and a key pad to entrance. Although it is open to the public during the day that is not the case always. The park is divided between a play area for children and dog park. The divide of the park is produced with temporary fence.

To the northwest portion of the site sits a location of the popular Urth Cafe. Vibrant, always busy, and relatively affordable make it cornerstone for the are around. Urth Cafe’s outdoor area extend past its’ porch and into the street. This action produces great sitting space which have sole control of the limited side walk adjacent. The eastern edge of the intersection is a series of luxury adaptive reuse apartments In general the area is a bit of an isolate. All but one of its’ sidewalks end abruptly without interconnecting to other sidewalks. Instead of acting a corner stone space of the Arts District the space feels like an some what unwelcoming island.

The figures in this diagram what a plaza to the full extent could figuratively look like and what it tentatively functions as.

The Plaza

The Intersected Plaza

The Plaza Figure

The Plaza Between

The Plaza and the Intersection

The Plaza with Objects

5th St. & S Central Ave.

One of the strangest intersections I studies, 5th Street and S Central Avenue functions as the dividing line between the Arts District and Skid Row. That wall effect is produced by only 1 cross walk across S Central Ave. with the entire East of the site bordered by L.A. Cold Storage and large fenced in parking lots, that are never more then 5 % full. Although 5t street continues to the east for one small portion between Alameda and Central 5th is a private street for L.A. Cold Storage.

This barrier creates an obstacle which adding between .4 to .6 miles to walk around depending on the direction. The intersections is surrounded by other areas by unnecessarily large parking lots, warehouses, and small seafood restaurant.

The western portion of the intersection up 5th street is the space where the first tents begins marking the beginning of Skid Row. Instead of an intersection being bridge between different areas of Downtown it serves as a further wall between mobility in Downtown Los Angeles. This wall functions as apart of a broader strategy adopted de-facto as the “Containment Plan” from Los Angeles 1976 community plan.

Although adopted at the behest of Skid Row advocates to save Skid Row from being razed, it also had an effect in containing residents of Skid Row in, often through psychological cues as well as physical infrastructure1

1Gudis, Catherine. Containment and Community: The history of Skid Row and its Role in the Downtown Community Plan, 2022.

The Plaza

The Intersected Plaza

The Plaza Figure

The Plaza Between

The Plaza and the Intersection

The Plaza with Objects

5th St. & San Pedro St.

5th Street and San Pedro Street was the intersection which spurred this study. More then most intersections in this study it is a plaza. It is in many ways the central space of Skid Row. It is packed, chaotic, and vague. Each corner loosely function differently from each other but through a shared harmony.

The NE Corner is marked not by the parking space, or the signs highlighting a potential development on the site, but instead by the public bathroom and bus stop. Around this public bathroom are various tents selling food and goods. As well as space for gathering. The SE corner of the intersection is marked by a small mission and dense collection of tents. The sidewalks are fully impassible in either direction from that corner of the intersection.

The SW corner of the intersection is marked by the widest sidewalks and the somewhat large public housing complex. Kiosks and stalls selling a more regulated form of good, including an “affordable” telecom company selling phone plans. This corner is by far the sunniest, with the least amount of shade. The NW corner of the intersection is in many ways the cornerstone of the intersection with Skid Row Peoples Market. This store is far more then a corner store, function as the main provider of vegetables, produce, and a wider range of groceries for the community.

The four corners of the 5th and San Pedro Intersection are islands of plaza pushed to the periphery, highlighting that the intersection overlaying onto a plaza. The main function transfixed from being gathering to instead moving through.

The Plaza

The Intersected Plaza

The Plaza Figure

The Plaza Between

The Plaza and the Intersection

The Plaza with Objects

W 5th St. & S Spring St.

This is the last of the 5th Street intersections for highlighting. It is unique compared to the other three intersections, it is firmly in the Historic District of Downtown Los Angeles. It has the largest most open sidewalks. All parts of the intersection are surrounded by towers of between 10-15 stories. All of theses buildings date to the 1940s or earlier.

The most unique qualities of this intersection are the large two story book store, The Last Bookstore, on the northern corner of the site. This large book store, although “welcoming” with “public” reading areas, it also has rigid security rules requiring bag checking at the entrance.

Along the eastern side of Spring street is two direction protected bike lane. This functions as by far best bicycle infrastructure anywhere within these studies. It also produces a significantly more pleasant pedestrian experience on that side of Spring.

This intersection is one of many in downtown which feel redundant. For those living and utilizing this portion of downtown Spring functions as a better bike street then a driving street, and 5th functions as funnel to move people out of Downtown Los Angles. The figures on the right highlight the moves of the Plaza that could be and where those actions are instead pushed.

This portion of 5th is regularly closed for community and civic events, including a weekly farmers market on Sundays.

The Plaza

The Intersected Plaza

The Plaza Figure

The Plaza Between

The Plaza and the Intersection

The Plaza with Objects

W Sunset Blvd. & N Beaudry Ave. / Bellevue Ave.

The first of the four intersections from my Sunset Blvd walking study is Highlighted by its’ proximity to the 110 and 101 freeways to the east and south of the intersection respectively.

To the north-northeast of the intersection is Eleysian Park and Dodger Stadium. Although neither of those two are easily accessible from this intersection they create a barrier for the surrounding neighborhood.

This intersection and the spaces around both feel liminal and have been described to me in that way as well. It interconnects Downtown Los Angeles/Chinatown with Echo Park Directly, along with interconnecting Angelino Heights with the small neighborhood of Victor Heights, previous names also include Figueroa Terrace. The neighborhood of Victor Heights is only 15 or so blocks and feels as a forgotten remnant, it was once describes as the forgotten edge between Downtown, Echo Park, and Chinatown by Iris Yokoi.1 This intersection is both the interlocutor to everywhere and a complete non-place at the same time.

The intersection is surrounded by a dilapidated strip mall, CVS, and a motel as well. To the direct north of the site is the hill overgrown complex which hosts William Perriera’s Metropolitan Water District Complex, which was abandoned in favor of a larger complex a couple of decades ago. The site hosts the now abandoned Holly Hill Community Church, well one portion of the original site, the 10 story tower has been remodeled. It was redeveloped into a boutique luxury housing tower. The remainder of the site has been slighted to become 1111 W Sunset Complex, planned by SOM Including two 30-plus story skyscrapers and a 17 story hotel designed by Kengo Kuma. This development has been planned for more then a decade and for the most part has yet to break ground2 1 Yokoi, Iris. CHINATOWN/ECHO PARK : ‘Forgotten Edge’ Takes a Stand. LA Times, 1994.

2 Sharp, Steven. 1111 Sunset gets the go-ahead from City Planning Commission. Urbanize LA, 2022

The Plaza

The Intersected Plaza

The Plaza Figure

The Plaza Between

The Plaza and the Intersection

The Plaza with Objects

W Sunset Blvd. & Park Ave

This is the second T shaped intersection which I studied. Along the three miles of the Sunset walking study it was one of the few areas that had ample accessible public space. From Edendale Branch Library just to the west of intersection down Sunset Blvd. South of the Intersection, just down 1 block of Park Avenue is northern point of Echo Park. A relatively large green space marked by Echo Park Lake.

This intersection also hosts a relatively large flea market in the building and parking lot to the immediate north of the intersection.

This intersection is vibrant, interconnecting Echo Park’s tow main commercial areas. It is also surrounding by car infrastructure, over passing just east Glendale Boulevard and to the west Alvarado Street.

The intersection already has a bit of traffic calming where Bonnie Brae Street meets with Park. This edge space is a small bit of grass and couple palm trees near the bus stop. It does not feel like a public node in the context of John Chase.1

1 Chase, John. The Giant Revolving Chicken Head and the Doggie Drinking Fountain: Making Small Distinctive Public Spaces on Private Land by Using Common Place Objects. Everyday Urbanism, 1999. 110-119.

The Plaza

The Intersected Plaza

The Plaza Figure

The Plaza Between

The Plaza and the Intersection

The Plaza with Objects

W Sunset Blvd. & N Cornado St.

This is another intriguing and strange intersection along Sunset. Sunset and its’ meandering shape creates ample moments of awkward angles and hard to use space.

It is no secret that the neighborhoods along Sunset, from Echo Park, to Silver Lake, to Los Felize have undergone monument social and economic change through gentrification over the course of the last twenty years. Although gentrification has wholly altered and erased much of the Black and Brown communities of the area.

This can most clearly be seen through the types businesses and who they chiefly pursue at their clientele along different stretches of Sunset. Natalia Molina highlights how the loss of community businesses, like restaurants will further destroy communities and push people out of the neighborhoods where they have called home1.

This intersection holds an intriguing place being that the small-run down commercial strip on either side of the street holds multiple businesses which have called their spaces home for many decades, from a corner store to a beauty salon.

The intersection also is an interlocutor between Echo Park and Silver Lake. Southeast on Sunset towards Echo Park, Sunset cuts through a small hill side create steep, concrete supported hillsides on either side of the streets, greatly altering the feeling of Sunset to a pedestrian.

1Molina, Natalia. The Importance of Place and Place-Makers in the Life of a Los Angeles Community: What Gentrification Erases from Echo Park. Southern California Quarterly Vol. 97 Is. 1, 2015. 69-111.

The Plaza

The Intersected Plaza

The Plaza Figure

The Plaza Between

The Plaza and the Intersection

The Plaza with Objects

W Sunset Blvd. & Griffith Park Blvd / Edgecliffe Dr

The last of the eight intersections is the one that has already been altered the most to the benefit of pedestrians and others. The Sunset Triangle Park used to be encircled by Sunset Boulevard, Griffith Park Boulevard, and Edgecliffe Drive. But in 2012, a one year pilot transformed the stretch of Griffith Park Boulevard to the NE of the Intersection into a pedestrianized plaza as apart of the LA Department of Transit’s Streets for People initiative1, which was in part modeled off of New York City’s Plaza Program started in 2009.

Although the project was pilot for a year, it was a massive success and has remained open for the last 13 years.

This space now holds a couple restaurants and cafes with vibrant spaces which utilize the public space. It also holds two farmers markets per week, and daily vendors selling vintage and antique goods. The space ebbs and flows in terms of size of the markets, but the largest and most vibrant market day is on Saturday.

On Saturdays, Edgecliffe is also closed down around the small park. It is hear where it becomes more clear the Edgecliffe serves little to no purpose on that small stretch along the park. This intersection doesn’t just highlight the successes of the Streets for People program, but it also highlights the way in which that program and programs like it often do not go far enough in ensuring that the built environment is truly welcoming for pedestrians, transit riders, and cyclists.

1 Klayko, Branden. LA Kicks Cars to the Curb, Opens First Pedestrian Plaza. Architects Newspaper, 2012.

The Plaza

The Intersected Plaza

The Plaza Figure

The Plaza Between

The Plaza and the Intersection

The Plaza with Objects

The City

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Davis, City of Quartz Fraker, Siöström, Foteva_Minding the City Jacobs, Jane_The Death and Life of Great American Cities Klinenberg, Erik_Palaces for the People Lynch, Kevin_The Image of the City Sitte, Camillo_The Art of Building Cities Sudjic, Deyan_The Language of Cities Ward, Yolanda_Spatial Deconcentration

Reyner Banham Loves Los Angele (1972) This BBC documentary followed Reyner Banham around the mysterious and foreign place that is Los Angeles. He engages with the good, the bad, and the ugly. He engages with L.A. in the way that it is most expected, that being the car.

He almost mocks how tourists engage with the city in an intensely superficial way.

Banham contemplates the way in which the Los Angeles is so incredibly self referential and absurd that it truly makes sense.

This documentary falls within Roucha lens of engagement.

The Fakir’s Rest_ Gilles Paté_ Paris, 2003

Ed Ruscha_Every Building on the Sunset Strip_Los Angeles, 1966

Ed Ruscha_ Intersections _ Pico Flower Figueroa_1999 and Wilsher, Grant from Los Francisco San Angeles_2001

Road to Nowhere _Erik Johnson_Seattle, 2022

Public Space & Social Infrastructure

Public Space (n) a physical area/volume/extent a physical manifestation of the populous that is shared by all members of the community a physical extent by and for all members of the community. (amalgamation from Merriman Webster Dictionary’s definitions of Public (n.)(adj.) & Space (n.) (v.))

What is Public Space?

“Public space is defined as all places of public use, accessible by all and comprises streets and public open spaces. It excludes the non-built up parts of public facilities and public commercial spaces. Cities are however encouraged to collect information on all the four components of public space”(UN Habitat for a Better Urban Future: Module 6 Public Space.

11)

Minding the City

What makes a good Public Space? How do we judge a public space?

They offer a analytical framework for analyzing public space utilizing neuroscience and architectural understanding of space building. It is 8 parts for analyzing space (p.50): Context: the surrounding of the space; how it interacts with the world Empathy: how our body emotionally connects with a space (embodied cognition) Micro-climate: the unique environmental performance of the space; the thermal feel on the skin Sensory feeling: through sound & smell Activities both invited and/or undertaken are used real & imagined in the space; affordances given Layers of time: How through the day & night the space lives. Throughout the year too.

Specific Tangible Qualities: the materials, the environment, landscape, water features etc.

Atmosphere: The innate feeling of all aspects of the space.

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What are Social Infrastructures?

Eric Klineberg in his book Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life, lays out what are social infrastructures, why are the necessary for a healthy civic life, and what are examples that we can learn from to effect change on the urban environment.

Klinenberg lays out that social infrastructure are the physical places that shape the way people interact. They are the physical conditions that determine if Social Capital can Develop.

“Public institutions, such as libraries, schools, playgrounds, parks, athletic fields, and swimming pools, are vital parts of the social infrastructure. So too are sidewalks, courtyards, community gardens, and other spaces that invite people into the public realm. Community organizations, including churches and civic associations, act as social infrastructures when they have an established physical space where people Can assemble, as do regularly scheduled markets for food, furniture, clothing, art, and other consumer goods. Commercial establishments can also be important parts of the social infrastructure.”

Failures of Public Space From various perspectives it becomes clear the failures of space. From Mike Davis, to Failed Architecture, to Yolanda Ward we begin to understand the insidious ways civic institutions outright fail. Where the commons is overly policed, privatized, and poorly designed. Public spaces in cities still far exceed in caring their weight namely libraries, some churches, and more and more community gardens.

Notes

Notes from Minding the City: Field Notes on Neuroscience and the Poetics of Sustainable Public Space - Harrison Fraker, Peter Siöström, Atannaska Foteva.

Notes from Polyemma RaumLabor

Notes from Socializing Architecture: Top Down Bottom Up - Teddy Cruze and Fonna Forman

Notes

Notes on The Art of Building Cities - Camillo Sitte

Notes on The View from the Road - Kevin Lynch, Donald Appleyard, John R. Myer

Notes on Fortress L.A. - A chapter in A City of Quartz Mike Davis

Notes on Learning from Las Vegas - Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown, and Steve Izanour

Notes on The Giant Revolving (winking) Chicken Head and the Doggie Drinking Fountain: Making Small Distinctive Public Spaces on Private Land by Using Commonplace Objects John Chase

Top-Down?

Bottom-Up? Both?

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This section will engage primarily with a collection of contemporary architectural practices engage with the urban condition. Examples of top-down and bottom-up projects and proposals begin to engage with where I would like to situate my work.

These precedents range in scale, scope, and use. They either act as markers of aesthetic, theoretical, or programmatic interest for my thesis.

In this section there will also be a collection of potentially sites.

With different questions around use and purpose. Each of these will highlight potential paths forward as we move out of this research faze.

Eastern Curve Garden_muf architecture/art_2009 Hackney, London, UK muf architecture/art’s Eastern Curve Garden, is re-purposing of an old railway line in the London neighborhood of Hackney.

The work to transform the site into a bustling community hub, was produced through a combination of ample green space, direct community involvement, and thoughtful architectural inclusions to construct a space which could serve a variety of need for the surrounding community.

I am intrigued by the project in comparison to the High Line. Unlike the High Line, the Eastern Curve Garden functions properly for the community. It serves unlike the Highline which serves tourists first and foremost, to move people throughout the space not to make place in the space.

Granby Four Streets and Granby Winter Garden_ Assemble_2013-2019 Liverpool, UK Beginning with the Granby Four Streets, Assemble’s role was directly in service to the community of Granby in Liverpool. They consulted and worked with the community lead project to rebuild the working class community which had fallen into disrepair.

This project highlights the importance to work with the communities that utilize and live in the spaces where a projects exists. The community lead nature of the project, meant that Assemble was taking a role in working directly within the wants and the needs of a community which loves and cherishes their community.

The second project completed a few years after the original plan and project, Granby Winter Garden is a project where Assemble takes a more traditional Architectural approach to the project.

Taking an abandoned and dilapidated old row house and converting it into a multiuse community space, filled with green space and sitting areas. A part of the readaption of the space was the construction of glass rough, This action was to create an interior community space for members of the community especially older community members to come during colder winter months.

Open House_Matthew Mazzotta _2013 York, AL Open House, is an installation with architectural qualities. It serves as a reminder to the house which predated it and whom it shared the same salmon color.

Matthew Mazzotta worked with the Coleman Center of the Arts, to replace an abandoned house in the downtown of York, Alabama.

The house shaped art installation is free for the community and in 90 minutes with a team of less then 10 the house can be transformed into a theater with the seating for 100 people.

This projects show how little is needed to construct a transformation space for a community. it can become a space of intrigue and of pride for a community.

Lent Space_Interboro Partners _2008-2009 Manhattan, NYC Lent Space is a project that grew out of the after effects of the 2008 financial collapse.

Like much of the architecture that engages within tactical urbanism, guerrilla architecture, and bottom-up modes of engagement, it is rooted in struggle. These moments of suffering are bad for the world and bad for many within the world of architecture but can push architecture to engage with the world in a way that it would normally overlook.

This Interboro Partners project began with wanting to engage with a vacant, yet to be developed lot in Lower Manhattan. This process was to effectively occupy the space with mobile, easily constructible planters, sitting areas, art work, and misc. objects.

These projects were to bring flexible easily constructible “green space” into the middle of the city. Into a part of New York City where there was especially 17 years ago limited green spaces, parks, public spaces.

This specific example of Lent Space was later adopted by the city as an ever moving park space. It also hold some influence on the Public Plaza program which learned about how to utilize underutilized space in the city.

The work of RaumLabor

Space Buster _RaumLabor_Since 2009 throughout the US

Through Space Buster, RaumLabor constructs a mobile social infrastructure. This object highlights the modes at which we can hope to construct space where placemaking can happen and community can be constructed.

RaumLabor like much of their work does not necessarily decry the meaning that should be garnered from their work but instead leaves space for meaning to be attached to their work.

Cantiere Barca _RaumLabor_ Since 2011 Torino, IT Cantiere Barca, much like Space Buster is a project about giving a community the tools it needs to be able to construct community out of the spaces.

This project more overtly commits to this mission of guerrilla urbanism. The project utilized an dilapidated former community space in a working class neighborhood with diverse population on the outskirts of Torino. There solution was to directly engage with the local community through a series of workshops to assist in teaching the tools for construction and design. A practice of working with community partners through ongoing workshops to learn, design, and build tools to make the space a true community hub.

Werkstatt Haus der Statistik_RaumLabor _Since 2018, 2019, 2020 Berlin, GR Werkstatt Haus, is a project of community engagement, master planning, and adaptive reuse. Like much of RaumLabor’s work it is a project built on direct engagement with the community. To construct spaces for that engagement.

Part of the brief that I find especially interesting about this project is the goal was to reinvigorate an older housing complex. The prospect was to breath new life into an important, large housing complex.

Corona Plaza and the New York City Public Plaza Program In 2008 a program was envisioned to construct affordable plaza space interspersed in areas of the road that were underutilized by automobile traffic or redundant. The program was an incredible success, it provided more small public spaces placed as nodes throughout the city. And it did this at relatively low cost, with limited infrastructural requirements.

The program quickly grew and by the time it was a decade old, it had been responsible for the construction of 74 plazas.

One plaza of note transformed a non-place adjacent to a Subway stop into a thriving community center for a primarily working class community. Corona Plaza served as hub around a subway stop replacing an underutilized road. Along with the project DSGN AGNC partnering with the Queens Museum produced plexiglass tablet that were affixed to light poles, trees, walls, etc. with details of how the plaza has bee conceptualized.1 2

1 Topal, Hanife Vardi and Franck, Karen A. Creating New Public Spaces: The New York City Plaza Program, Journal of Public Spaces Vol. 8 N. 1. 2023.

2 Blanchfield, Caitlin. Naturally Occurring Cultural District: Corona, Queens, Urban Omnibus. 2013

The Igualada Cemetery _Miralles & Pinós _Barcelona 1984 -1990

International Fountain _ Kazuyuki Matsushita and Hideki Shimizu_ Seattle 1962

Urban Park in Tultitlan _Productora_Tultitlan 2020

Skanderbeg Square _514NE w/ Anri Sala _Tirana, Albania 2017

The work of RaumLabor

Through out RaumLabor’s book, Polylemma, their work is richly highlighted. The text highlights not just their aesthetic and design sensibilities but their sensibilities relating to the urban environment and society as a whole. Polylemma stitches their work with essays of their own and with thoughts and mussing of like minded theorists, ideators, and curious folks. From an essay by Sandra Meires, “The 5 principles of Urban Practice, ” to engaging with the work and theory of Archigram, and the theory outcomes of the community engagement they work through.

Of the range of work that stood out in Polylemma, the portion where they engage with Archigram, “By looking at Archigram’s work, you should learn to think, not to do as we did. It’s the think that’s important.”1 This quote when read through the surrounding work and the broader lens of the text and the full catalog of RaumLabor’s work the quote becomes prosaic. The act of engaging with the different projects from RaumLabor to others referenced is not to necessarily to embody the exact characteristics, forms, style, or work.

But it is to instead learn from the theory and the practices to take themes from their work to figure how the social infrastructure may engage with community.

1Dennis Crompton quote from 2008; Raumlabor. Polylemma. 2014.

Allmänna Badet / Bathing Culture_RaumLabor_Since 2014 Göteborg, SD

Floating University_RaumLabor _Since 2018 Berlin, GR

Le Fresnoy_Bernard Tschumi_1997 Tourcoing, FR Architects have intent behind a work but can’t attach a meaning to a work that is for the community which uses it to add.

Seattle Central Library_ OMA_ 2004 Seattle, WA Both Tschumi and OMA highlight spaces where a building with elicit purposes can be lived in through many lens. Although their work does not necessarily reference the type of work I want to produce, I hope to emulate some of the successes.

Teddy Cruz and Fonna Froman The broader text of Socializing Architecture: Top Down Bottom Up engages with their practice, Teddy Cruz as an Architect and Fonna Forman as a social theorist. Two areas of study stick out the most Bottom-up Public:The Functional Dimension of Participation and Topdown Public: Designing Urban Justice. Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman thoughtfully engage with design, policy, social theory, activism, and urban planning.

This text specifically engages with the successes and failure of the urban environment. Both in more visible locals of Medellin and the gray areas of the boarder zone of San Diego/ Tijuana.

A practice that I find incredibly interesting of their work situates amongst their view around examining practices of informal urbanization.

To learn and engage with those activation of necessity but not to fetishize them.

They pose that the role of the architect is as urban curators. And it is through this mode which I would like to work.

Position

Multiuse Multipurpose Multifunction

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Uncertain Social Infrastructure Top-Down Bottom-Up Superimposition Place Placemaking Non-place Public Space Commons Community Tactical Urbanism Urban Curator Informal Informal Urbanization Inert Space Void Spatial Deconcentration Space

Uncertain Space functions as a vague multifunctional social infrastructure which can imprint to the needs and wants of the community that uses it.

Learning from Uncertain Spaces in contemporary Los Angeles, towards designing a multifunctional social infrastructure.

Ahead is the study of how I choose to study social infrastructures in Los Angeles. I choose to study a transect of the city, that being specific streets. Through this field work and broader research, realities of how people engage with the built environment start to reveal themselves. As is the case with how we are as social creatures, how we engage with our cities is subjective. The truths I study, diagram, and learn from may not be truths for everyone engaging with the city.

More than anything this study is a practice in understanding Los Angeles. A city that I was born in but did not grow up in; which I have lived for the last three years but struggle to call home. It is an endlessly fascinating city to me, especially the built environment of Los Angeles.

How are social infrastructures constructed, reconstructed, utilized, and informally organized?

Who is the urban environment for?

How can the experience on foot give perspective to the built environment?

The goal is to learn from these studies to work towards a design of a social infrastructure or type of social infrastructures which I hope to call Uncertain Space.

_Uncertain Space itself is the architecture. _Uncertain Space learns from Bottom-up solutions to constructing place in the urban fabric. _Uncertain Space learns from the Bottom-up solutions to construct a network of spaces throughout the urban fabric _Uncertain Space does not attest to attach meaning to itself, but merely attests and intends to create a slate for those that use it to attach meaning to it. _Uncertain Space seeks to be an open forum of a social infrastructure, one that seeks to engage with the community around it. _Uncertain Space seeks to lay the foundation for placemaking to happen in the non-places. _Uncertain Space is practice in urban curration.