Silvia Vercher

ALEGRIA SENCERA

FOC I TERRA

LAS DOS HERMANOS

PORTFOLIO TROPIC DE CANCER

SILVIA VERCHER

LINEA DE L’ EQUADOR

LOS MOUGES LA VEZINA LA DESGRACIA

XICOTETA ILLA DEL BLAT

silvia vercher

architect, urban designer & musican Geography, an specially Human Geography, is the science that studies the worlds, its people, communities and cultures with an emphasis on relation of and across space and place.

I am an architect who specializes in urban design of international global talent, vast sensibility and insightfulness to understand and learn from each context, through my unique artistic vision, strong interpersonal skills, with a prime focus to address societies´ present and future challenges such as climate change, public social space, and housing equality, with a specific design approach for innovative paradigms of historical significance, and rediscovering its unique beauty.

Through my industrious and expansive professional and academic career along America, Europe and Asia, I enjoy working on international complex projects which are diverse and varied in scale and challenge my skills while simultaneously collaborating with professionals from different disciplines, and interacting with clients as well as the related communities to embrace best practices for healthy cities.

I am continually exploring Architecture as a space of public appearance and other fields such as politics, sociology, cinema, music, and photography, where I draw great inspiration from testing and experimenting my ideas as a designer in this century.

HUMAN GEOGRAPHER

“Civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure, and the police take the place of pirates”.

Michel, Foucault. Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias.

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SILVIA VERCHER PONS

INDEX

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RESUME

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RESEARCH PROJECTS

DESIGNER [ARCHITECT, URBAN DESIGNER & MUSICAN]

Guayaquil Architecture & Urban Design Studio Local Project Challenge UN Habitat Urban Thinker Campus 1st UN-Habitat Business Assembly World Urban Forum 10 World Urban Forum 9 Habitat III

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PROJECTS

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INDIA Cultura Waterscape: Lutyens’ Plan as a socio-ecological generator

UNITED STATES Tactical Mutations Detroit version 2.0 58

NEW YORK CITY A sustainable Hunts Point Distribution Center Resilience NYCHA in East Harlem The small apple

GEOGRAPHER

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EGYPT Territorial Shifts: Politics and the City

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CUBA Soundscapes: The Staircase of the Casa de la Musica

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BRAZIL Time Machine: Esplanada do Castelo

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JAPAN Tschumi on Program: Conversations between Opera Houses

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SPAIN Center for cerebral palsy patients SOSTRE

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COMPETITIONS Smart AID System + Station Nursery School Vallecas Plaza

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silvia vercher pons silviavercher@gmail.com (+1) 347 892 0759

EDUCATION

Research Affiliate at the Earth Institute, Columbia University Research Fellow at the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization, NYC LEED AP Building Design and Construction Cerfiticate in Healthier Materials and Sustainable Buildings, Parsons School of Design, NYC Photografy studies, Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Valencia, SPAIN

ACADEMIA

RESUME

MASTER of SCIENCE in ARCHITECTURE and URBAN DESIGN, GSAPP, Columbia University, NYC

2013-14

Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial PRIZE 2014 for the best final semester design project William Kinne Fellows Travelling PRIZE 2014 for personal research project Assistantship GRANT at GSAPP, Columbia University (Director: Richard Plunz) MASTER of URBAN and REGIONAL PLANNING, University of South Australia, Australia

2008

SCIWORLD competition candidate as best final semester “Sydney Research Centre” project BACHELOR in ARCHITECTURE and URBANISM, ETSAV, Universidad Politécnica, SPAIN ERASMUS GRANT for one year Architecture program in ARKITEKTSKOLEN AARHUS, DENMARK Architecture work GRANT in Iceland, Aarhus Arkitektskolen International Architecture work GRANT in Brazil, Universidad Politénica de Valencia B.F.A., MUSIC and PIANO, Professional Conservatory of Music in Valencia, SPAIN

DESIGN STUDIO CRITIC REVIEWER, Columbia University - City College - Ecuador University

1999-2007 2005-06 2006 2004 1991-2002

Current

Boston College - Taylor’s University in Malaysia SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE, Perkins Eastman, NYC / Coordinator

2018-Current

DATA ANALITICS, Perkins Eastman, NYC / Coordinator

2018-Current

SALVADORI’S SCHOOL & GALA, NYC / Oscar Design Award URBAN THINKER CAMPUS, GSAPP & UN-Habitat, NYC / Coordinator ARCHITECTURE & URBAN DESIGN STUDIO III,

2021 2018-2020 2019

Universidad Catolica de Guayaquil, Ecuador / Co-creator MUSIC PROFESSOR / Freelancer

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WORK EXPERIENCE

S E L E C T E D AWARDS & PRESENTATIONS

LANGUAGES SKILLS Spanish Catalan English Portuguese Italian

Native spoken Native spoken Professional proficiency Independent spoken Independent spoken

COMPUTER SKILLS Architecture GIS, ARQGIS, Urban Footprints, Nearmap, Autocad, Revit, Grasshopper, PowerBI, Revit Graphic Design Rhino, Lumion, Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Miro Sketch Up Video edition After Effects, Premier, Final Cut Office Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Onenote, Access Internet & Social Media

PUBLICATIONS

RESUME ASSOCIATE in PERKINS EASTMAN _ NYC Jun, 2017 - Currently Design and manage urban design projects where infrastructure, culture, water, and cities play an important role.

Guayaquil Airport (ECUADOR), 240.5Ha, Master plan, completed

Master plan of the Borough based NYC Jail System (NYC), Master plan, in process URBAN DESIGNER in SCAPE _ NYC Jun, 2014 - Jun, 2017 Design sustainable and resilient Urban Planning and Urban Design projects.

Hudson River (HOBOKEN), REBUILD BY DESIGN COMPETITION with OMA

Brooklyn Strand (NYC), Downtown Brooklyn Master plan, Master plan, completed ARCHITECT in FR-EE _ MEXIC Jan, 2013 - June, 2013 Manage international groups of architects to complete public and private projects.

Plaza Carso (MEXIC), 10,000 sqm, completed

Commercial centre inside Candela’ structures (MEXIC), 1Ha, design completed PROJECT MANAGER in CMD Engineers _ SPAIN / GEORGIA April, 2009 – Jan, 2012 Manage international groups of architects to complete all phases of construction projects,.

New Parliament of Georgia and Millennium Park (GEORGIA), 100Ha, $132,5M, completed

Presidential Tbilisi Rike Park (GEORGIA), 6Ha, $3,2M, completed

World Urban Forum 9, Abu Dhabi, Arab Emirate, by General Assembly of the United Nations: “Aligning practice, communities and education in the implementation of Agenda 2030”

2020

World Urban Forum 8, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by General Assembly of the United Nations: “Aligning practice, communities and education in the implementation of Agenda 2030”

2018

Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador, by General Assembly of the United Nations: “Pedagogy & Practice” and “Water infrastructure”

2017

NYC Public Design Commission, Award for Excellence in Design, SCAPE

2016

NY AIA Honour Award - Urban Design Category: “Beijing Expo Master plan”, SCAPE

2016

William Kinne Fellows Travelling PRIZE: “Cuban Soundscapes”

2014

Australian Student Prize for the Advancement of Architecture Honourable mention

2008

VII National Award for young architects Honourable mention: “School in Madrid”

2007

“Voices and visions of St. Louis”, Harvard University

2016

Publication and exhibition: “Densification in Delhi, India”, Delhi, INDIA

2014

The Sketchbook Project: “Writing on the wall”, Art House Co-op, New York, US

2012

“Concurso nacional de ideas para jóvenes arquitectos”, Madrid City Hall, SPAIN

2007

“Islandsk Bygningskunst”, Aarhus Arkitektskolen and Reykjavik arkitect F.I.A., ICELAND

2006

“Social building Projects”, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, SPAIN

2003 11

human geographer

DESIGNER [ARCHITECT, URBAN DESIGNER & MUSICAN]

SILVIA VERCHER PONS

the pursuit of tomorrow’s cities

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INDIA

UNITED STATES

NEW YORK CITY

SPRING 2014

FALL 2013

SUMMER 2013

GEOGRAPHER

EGYPT

BRAZIL

CUBA

JAPAN

SPRING 2014

FALL 2013

2012

SPRING 2014

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RESEA PROJ

ARCH ECTS

CO-PROFESSOR & DESIGNER CUNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA IN GUAYAQUIL

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GYE’s “NEW CITY” Architecture & Urban Design Studio at the Universidad Catolica in Guayaquil I used the Guayaquil Master Plan, a private and professional project I designed at Perkins Eastman, to test a different business model. I wanted to prove that private sector doesn’t need to finish a project when it is completed, in contrast it can look for other tangible values such as the involvement of academia and the engagement of the community. Together with Guayaquilian professors, Monica Alicea and Filiberto Viteri, I created and architecture & urban design studio based on how to apply the Sustainable Development Goals into the proposed Perkins Eastman Guayaquil Master Plan, at the Universidad Catolica in Guayaquil. The students had to engage the community and design specific ideas based on their analysis and PE proposed Master Plan. Finally they had the opportunity to submit the best project into the Local Project Challenge award at the WORLD URBAN FORUM 10 (Abu Dhabi). The project “Students visions for GYE’s “NEW CITY”” received the INNOVATION IN EDUCATION AWARD at the World Urban Forum 10 in Abu Dhabi. This was a collaboration between Universidad Catolica de GYE and Perkins Eastman.

ECUADOR

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EARTH INSTITUTE FELLOWSHIP

LOCAL PROJECT CHALLENGE Accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals In April 2019, a group of designers from the Earth Insitute at GSAPP, directed by professor Anna Rubbo, issued a call for Local Projects that engaged with the SDGs. We wanted to hear from people from all walks of life: in education, the professions and civil society. Photos, drawings, videos, and websites tell the stories of 35 Stage 1 Education projects. In Stage 2, 19 Education projects were more fully developed. They can be downloaded and printed if you wish to display them. All projects speak to improving people’s lives and the environment. All considered the SDGs. The 2019 Local Project Challenge has been an opportunity to develop and share a project that is: - Local and involves local partners - Responds to any of the Sustainable Development Goals and targets - Participatory and engages citizens as ‘partners’.

By taking part in the Local Project Challenge, the intention was that that participants will: - Learn more about the SDGs - Show how the SDGs can be implemented - Help accelerate the take-up of the SDGs in their communities - Identify and develop important projects; stimulate plans for further action - Share the hands-on experience and knowledge gained - Build new partnerships for action.

CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Stage 1 Projects Some Stage 1 projects have been completed; some are on-going. All indicate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets considered, and disciplinary areas represented.

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Stage 2 Projects Stage 2 projects are one or two A1 or A0 print-ready panels, except for three education projects.

NYC

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URBAN THINKER CAMPUS ORGANIZER

UN Habitat Urban Thinkers Campus

UN HABITAT URBANAccelerating the SDGs in Cities THINKER CAMPUS

Accelerating the SDGs in Cities COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NOVEMBER 13TH ‐ 14TH, 2019

This Urban Thinkers Campus (UTC) at Columbia University addressed the urgency of meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and how academia, the professions and civil society can help expedite action on the SDGs. How can we accelerate the SDGs along with other sustainability agendas? Academic, professional, and civil society participants contributed to this dialogue, sharing experience, knowledge and critical viewpoints. The UTC complimented the ongoing project, Accelerating the SDGs.

Report

SUBMITTED TO UN HABITAT AND WORLD URBAN CAMPAIGN

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

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URBAN THINKERS CAMPUS 2019

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NYC

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Urban Thinkers Campus (UTC) is an initiative of UN Habitat – a campus gathering of urban actors with an interest in advancing the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Columbia University's UTC event was held on November 13th and 14th, 2019 and hosted 80 thought leaders working in the areas of academia, the professions, and civil society. The UTC was held at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) as well as the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), and is part of the Center for Sustainable Urban Development ‘s three‐stage project, Accelerating the SDGs. Representatives from the Center for Sustainable Urban Development(CSUD), Asia Initiatives (AI), Perkins Eastman(PE) and the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization (CSU) developed the UTC concept and its delivery.

“This Urban Thinkers Campus has an ambitious agenda. It has brought together people in education, the urban professions, and civil society organizations. I commend you for committing your time and energy to this Urban Thinkers Campus”

80 participants were welcomed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki‐moon, via a video message: Accelerating the SDGs in Cities addressed the urgency of meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and how academia, the professions and civil society can help expedite action on the SDGs and their targets. A key question was, “How can we best meet the challenge of accelerating the SDGs in cities, in tandem with other sustainability agendas, and inspire each other on this path?”

The goal of the UTC was to arrive at actionable items (Ideas for Action) by which each participant could bring the urgency of action to their own networks. The aim was to focus attention on the three key areas of academia, the professions and civil society, while keeping in mind issues of intersectionality and environmental justice. A key concern was that younger people have THE most to lose and their ideas for action must be heard.

Examples of Ideas for Action for the design professions, design and planning schools and civil society:

Design Professions

Promote the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda as well as other sustainability strategies as core urban design values, including through professional development courses.

Establish state and national AIA (American Institute of Architects) awards for SDGs and New Urban Agenda implementation.

Design and planning schools

Educate future urban practitioners with knowledge and skills to implement the SDGs, the New Urban Agenda, and other sustainability strategies.

URBAN THINKERS CAMPUS 2019

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SPEAKER: INNOVATOR IN PLANNING

BUSINESS LEADERS DIALOGUE AT THE 1ST UN-HABITAT ASSEMBLY HABITAT, UNITED NATIONS / NAIROBI “With the adoption of the New Urban Agenda in 2016, sustainable urbanisation is now recognised as both a need and an opportunity for improved equality, prosperity, climate change action and resilience. Implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals requires collaborative action by all actors in urban development, and UN-Habitat is responding to this by ensuring high-level engagement with business, industry and investors in line with its new strategic plan.

In the leadup to the First Session of the UN-Habitat Assembly, UN-Habitat convened a high-level Business Leaders Dialogue with leaders from business, industry, investment and start-ups together with local authorities.

The dialogue focused on the ‘value’ of urbanisation and demonstrates the advantages of sustainable urban growth and development, and the proactive role to be played by the private sector.

It was a powerful moment to inspire new approaches to multi-sectoral collaboration and fostered a more dynamic relationship between all stakeholders in addressing global sustainability challenges. Contributors included high-level global decision-makers, leaders, pioneers, innovators, investors, and representatives of subnational governments.

Traditionally, United Nations organisations tend to distance themselves from profit-seeking entities—often eschewing collaboration with businesses given their mandate from member states. This Dialogue set out a new path —one which ensures the global business community can define their own role in advancing the concrete actions required to implement the New Urban Agenda and achieve the SDGs. It also provided the opportunity for UN-Habitat to more clearly define its own areas for collaboration with the private sector. Ultimately, it explored opportunities to strengthen the investment climate together with central and local governments and define mechanisms to facilitate increased investments in urban related initiatives. The outcomes helped to define UN-Habitat’s business engagement strategy and will help to facilitate further multisectoral collaboration opportunities.

HABITAT / UNITED NATIONS

This Dialogue was the third in a series of Global Strategic Dialogues: A two-day Dialogue hosted by the city of Mannheim, Germany on 25 to 26 March 2019; and the United Nations Roundtable on Sustainable Floating Cities: Exploring the Next Frontier for Human Settlements in New York on 3 April 2019.

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By formulating its agency-wide strategy for engaging with business, industry, investors and start-ups through these dialogues, UN-Habitat will be better equipped to lead and convene urban development actors and decisionmakers through multiple platforms, including the Tenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF10) in Abu Dhabi in 2020 and future global platforms. “

KENIA

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SPEAKER: DESIGNER WORLD URBAN FORUM 10

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LOCAL PROJECT CHALLENGE AT WUF 10 WORLD URBAN FORUM 10 / ABU DHABI

UAE

LOCAL PROJECT CHALLENGE

World Urban Forum 10, Abu Dhabi, 2020 CSUD, The Earth Institute, Columbia University

CIVIL SOCIETY PROJECTS PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS EDUCATION PROJECTS

www.localprojectchallenge.org

Accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals worldwide

VOTE IN THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS! WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT UN WORLD URBAN FORUM ON FEBRUARY 12, 2020 The Local Project Challenge is part of Accelerating the SDGs, a three stage action-research project to increase awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals. 110 projects from 39 countries that engaged with the SDGs were submitted in Education, the Professions and Civil Society. 46 of these projects are more fully developed in Stage 2.

Vote in the People’s Choice Awards on the website and leave your comments on projects that you think help accelerate the SDGs. Projects are on display at localprojectchallenge.org.

Voting closes February 11, 5pm Abu Dhabi time.

Article about Accelerating the SDGs: State of the Planet Blog, The Earth Institute

LOCAL PROJECT CHALLENGE AT WUF 10, February 8-13, 2020 VENUE 1 Networking Event 137, Hall 3, Room 17

VENUE 2 City Space Architecture - WUF10 exhibition space, Hall 2, Stand 10, near Urban Cinema

Wednesday, February 12 14.00 - 16.00 Accelerating the SDGs through the Local Project Challenge Moderator: Anna Rubbo

Saturday, February 8 12.00 - 14.00 OPENING of City Space Architecture booth

Spotlight on Brazil: with Vera Tangari, Theresa Williamson, and Andrea Rego AWARDS announcements Breakout Theresa Williamson, Smruti Jukur, Ana Moreno, Joe Mulligan, Naomi Hoogervorst, Anna Rubbo, Vera Tangari, Bruno Mendonca, Andrea Rego, Giselle Azevedo, Alain Flandes, Amanda Abrom, Lance Jay Brown, Silvia Vercher, Ted Liebman, Ayanda Roji.

Inquiries: info.localprojectchallenge@gmail.com

Sunday, February 9 Short talks 12.00 - 12.20 LPC focus: Why, what, how? with Vera Tangari and Anna Rubbo 12.30 - 12.50 LPC focus: Civil Society and the Professions with Silvia Vercher, Amanda Abrom, and Bruno Mendonca Monday, February 10 Short talks 12.00 - 12.20 LPC focus: Education with Bruno Mendonca and Amanda Abrom 12.30 - 12.50 LPC focus: Brazil with Alain Flandes, Giselle Azevedo, Andrea Rego, and Vera Tangari

This project is a partnership between the Center for Sustainable Urban Development, The Earth Institute, Columbia University and the Faculty of Architecture, Federal University, Rio de Janiero, and builds on Global Studio and People Building Better Cities.

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SPEAKER: DESIGNER

GOOD DESIGN, GOOD PLANNING WORLD URBAN FORUM 9 / KUALA LUMPUR

WORLD URBAN FORUM 9 KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - 2018

SHARING GOOD PRACTICES AROUND THE WORLD

WORLD URBAN FORUM 9

INS EASTMAN • HUMAN BY DESIGN

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SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT DISTRICT BLOCK BLOQUE DEL DISTRITO SOSTENIBLE Y RESILIENTE

MALAYSIA

WUF 9 KUALA LUMPUR 2018 Networking Event Sunday February 11, 9.0-11.0, Room 306

GOOD DESIGN, GOOD PLANNING: Aligning practice, communities and education in the implementation of Agenda 2030.

Representatives from professional design firms, academia and research, NGOs and the grass roots will showcase practices that support or advance the NUA and the SDGs. Drawing on experience in cities in Ecuador, Brazil, South Africa and Asia, presenters share insights on implementation strategies (tried, established, or in development) that also support a participatory approach.

Short talks - and Presenters

• Can the SDG/NUA agenda impact the design of the New 250 ha. City Center in Guayaquil?

(Perkins Eastman- Municipality of Guayaqil) Silvia Vercher Pons • Neighborhood Resistance Project Rio de Janeiro (Community –university collaboration) Vera Tangari and Flora Fernandez.

• Are the grass roots active partners in the SDGs-report from a Johannesburg township? (NGO –community collaboration) Jennifer van den Bussche and Lerato Monama.

• The Urban Educators Network (University) Anna Rubbo.

Equal time will be given to a networking workshop activity so that everyone can share experience – from practice , education or the community. Participants will be invited to join the Urban Educators Network, a place for sharing knowledge and experience, as well as curricula innovations that can support the implementation of the SDGs and NUA.

Partners

Center for Sustainable Urban Development, Columbia University, New York, USA Federal University, (FAU-UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro. Brazil.

Perkins Eastman International, Architecture, Planning, Design. New York, USA and Guayaquil, Ecuador Sticky Situations. Johannesburg, South Africa WASSUP, Johannesburg, South Africa

Keep in touch

USA: Anna Rubbo | anna.rubbo@columbia.edu; Silvia Vercher | silviavercher@gmail.com Brazil: Vera Tangari | vtangari@uol.com.br ; Flora Fernandez | flora.fernandez@gmail.com South Africa: Jennifer van den Bussche | Jennifer@stickysituations.org; Lerato Monoma |lerato.d.monama@gmail.

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SPEAKER: DESIGNER

PEDAGOGY & PRACTICE: INNOVATION FOR THE NEW URBAN AGENDA UN-HABITAT III / QUITO

HABITAT III QUITO, ECUADOR - 2016

WATER INEQUALITY

PEDAGOGY AND PRACTICE: INNOVATION FOR THE NEW URBAN AGENDA CULTURAL WATERSCAPES / DELHI, INDIA

SH SH

HABITAT3

LACK OF PUBLIC SPACE

TION LE HE MBIA GN MBIA

992

UN HABITAT III

PEDAGOGY AND PRACTICE: INNOVATION FOR THE NEW URBAN AGENDA CULTURAL WATERSCAPES / DELHI, INDIA

COLLABORATING WITH PROFESSORS, GRASS ROOTS, AND MUNICIPAL DESIGN AUTHORITIES

S EASTMAN • HUMAN BY DESIGN

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HABITAT3

ECUADOR

HABITAT3 - QUITO 2016 _ SIDE EVENT # 1235992

SPANISH ENgLISH

PEDAgOgy AND PrAcTIcE: INNOVATINg fOr THE NEW UrBAN AgENDA WEDNESDAy OcTOBEr 19 2:00 PM - 2:45 PM rOOM: UrBAN fUTUrES

PRESENTING ORGANIZATION CENTER fOR SuSTAINAblE uRbAN DEvElOPmENT, ThE EARTh INSTITuTE, COlumbIA uNIvERSITy uRbAN DESIGN PROGRAm, GSAPP, COlumbIA uNIvERSITy WE INvITE TEAChERS, lEARNERS, RESEARChERS, PRACTITIONERS, NGOS AND GRASS ROOTS ACTIvISTS TO join us in a

conversation about participatory and collaborative approaches to design and planning education and practice that support the implementation of the nua -- AND ThE

SDGS.

TO GET ThE CONvERSATION GOING, WE WIll bEGIN WITh ShORT PRESENTATIONS by EDuCATORS AND uRbAN PRACTITIONERS ThAT hAvE INCluSION AS ThEIR fOCuS, WITh ExAmPlES DRAWN fROm india, south africa, Kenya and the usa. SuCCESSES, ChAllENGES AND TAkEAWAy mESSAGES RElEvANT TO PART 2 WIll bE ShARED. ThE SECOND PART Of ThIS EvENT WIll ENGAGE All PARTICIPANTS IN DISCuSSION Of A DRAfT DOCumENT, “pedagogical principles in support of the nua and sdgs”, WhOSE AIm WIll bE TO AlIGN PRINCIPlES AND mEThODS WITh NuA AND SDGS SOCIAl , SPATIAl , DESIGN AND PlANNING ObjECTIvES. ThE INTENTION Of ThIS EvENT IS TO lAuNCh ThE “urban change maKers resource networK” AND TO bEGIN, COllECTIvEly, TO ARTICulATE A ‘pedagogy to practice’ nua/sdgs roadmap. PlANS fOR TAkING ThIS fuRThER WIll bE ANNOuNCED.

TWO NEW bOOkS by COlumbIA fACulTy WIll bE lAuNChED

towards an urban ecology, ORff, k. improving urban access: new approaches to funding transport investment, SClAR, E. , lONROTh, m., WOlmAR, C. PRESENTERS

silvia vercher urban design program and scape landscape architecture

Justin garrett- moore urban design program and executive director of the public design commission (pdc), new yorK

Jennifer van den bussche research affiliate, csud and sticKy situations Johannesburg

anna rubbo senior scholar , csud and global studio

INquIRIES anna.rubbo@columbia.edu

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ACAD WO

DEMIC ORK

INDIA 2014

WATER & SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE Currently Delhi is under poorly deployed infrastructures such as water, sewage, waste, and ecology. Our intention is to use the existing water infrastructure (baolis, reservois, and nullahs) as a vehicle to promote equal and effective use of social and ecological resources through adaption and mitigation to hold the growth of the city.

delhi jaipur

agra varanasi

Water in Hinduism is more than a infrastructure or physical need. It has a special place because of its spiritually cleansing powers. To Hindus all water is sacred, especially rivers, as for example Yamuna river. Indian medieval settelment patterns hold a relationship with system of hydraulic structure. There was a symbiosis of hydraulics, urban ecology, and governance.

Cultural Waterscape DELHI, INDIA Team: Silvia Vercher • Belen Ayarra • Marco Sosa • Zahraa Alwash UD Studio III Director: Richard Plunz Approach: the New Delhi mandate involces desification of the Lutyens Plan for the original colonial city, long considered an international landmark in early 20th century urban desing. In question is the evolution of this culturally significant and highly formalized hallmark from its ceremonial significance as new Capitol of India to expanded meaning as center of a new metropolis.

Repercussion: meeting with Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay, Consulate General of India, to explore the possiblities to achieve the realization of the project.

Awards: - Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial PRIZE 2014 for the best final semester design project.

- Presentation at the Indian Embassy at NYC.

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

CULTURAL WATERSCAPE Lutyens Plan as an engine of a social and ecological infrastructure The project proposes to reorient Delhi’s future growth by addressing infrastructure issues concentrating on lack of water, seasonal flood and pollution. Furthermore, the project aims to reestablish the relationship between the city and the Yamuna River using water as a productive landscape that will generate social spaces.

SURPLUS WATER SUPPLY RIDGE

COLLECTOR NODE ECO-SOCIAL NODE PROTOTYPE

FILTRATION SYSTEM

AGRASEN KI BAOLI RAJ PATH

YAMUNA RIVER PARANA QILA COLLECTOR NODE

ECO-SOCIAL NODE PROTOTYPE

RIVER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT GROUNDWATER RECHARGE

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

SURPLUS WATER SUPPLY

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THE CULTURE OF WATER ZOO NATIONAL PARK

SOCIAL INTEGRATION + DENSIFICATION

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

POPULATION SUPPORT

INDIA

Through the lenses of culture and water the project imagines Lutyens Plan transformed from an imperial symbol of power and inequality, to a democratic space allowing social interaction. Finally, water is the catalyst for future growth of services and densification that will support the city at a regional scale.

The projected 38 % increase in population by 2021 will put an immense pressure on energy, on Delhi’s water supply, at energy infrastructure and public spaces. Delhi currently houses 18 million people of which more than 70% live in unplanned areas, more than 55% of water is imported, causing further depletion of the underground water-table, disconnecting Delhi physically and culturally from the Yamuna River. The project focuses on how Lutyens’ Plan can become a vehicle for equality and adapt at to inevitable changes in the near future, through mitigation, using water as a tool to generate socio-ecological spaces and infrastructure.

The project proposes a bottom-up approach by reactivating existing water nodes (Baolis and Hauz) to stimulate a network system for collection, retention, filtration and recharge of water defined by existing Nullahs (streams). Through creation of specific networked spaces and ecological zones, it aims to generate more culturally relevant public spaces that would also support future population growth. In the first ecological zone our proposal, the Baolis will work as a rechargeable unit and social catalyst and guide future densification through a participatory, sustainable model that will engage the communities and contribute to the local economy. The second ecological zone aims to provide a new rain and gray water collection system while activating the core of the block. The top-down approach in the third ecological zone, the Raj Path, a democratic national symbol in Lutyens’ Plan, will work as a socio-ecological vehicle to collect, filtrate, retain, and discharge clean water to the Yamuna River, and help the underground water table. The intersections of the Raj Path and main avenues will trigger new services, programs and enhance further accessibility.

In conclusion, by reapplying the traditions learned from India, we imagine New Delhi as part of a larger regional network. The new infrastructure will contribute to cleaning the Yamuna Rive, while recharging the ground water and providing cultural spaces for social and economic interactions. We imagine that by bringing water and culture back to the city, New Delhi will be able to respond to future in a more efficient and sustainable manner by using its own resources and assets.

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URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

INFRASTRUCTURE from other areas inside and outside of the state of Delhi, 40% of this water is wasted by leakages in the pipe system and by illegal tapping on this system, and by water contamination with sewage water when there is water runoff during rainy seasons.

water collection and distribution have arisen: pumping, tankers, tube wells, canals, ponds, among others.

Some of these methods generally end up being illegal, corrupted and unhealthy. Moreover, the inequality of distribution shown in the map to the image, expresses the political injustice by Delhi Jal Board over water supply to wealthy and less dense areas such as Lutyens Delhi.

In addition, water scarcity is worsen by the inefficiency of its management: while 55% of the water is imported

Various systems in Delhi depend greatly in water for their functions, such as energy production, industrial processes and human consumption.

With a growing population, these systems expand all over the city and state with an exponential demand for more water. The sprout brings along negative side effects such as air, ground and water pollution, all of them intrinsically connected. With the lack of an adequate infrastructure, not all sectors benefit from the distribution of water. As a result other forms of

Air Pollution

40%

Increase In Population By 2021

6 Cars/household 45% Without Sewage CO2

SPRAWL

Methane Industrial Waste

9 New Energy Sub-stations

r

Pb

ive

Sulfur Dioxide

Chromium

DRAINS DISCHARGE IN THE RIVER

ar

Soil Contamination

22

Hg

Groundwater Depletion 2m/year

un

CO2

Ammonia

Ya m

Sulfuric Acid

31

Wazirabad Barrage

LPCD

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

Delhi imports

LPCD

LPCD

LPCD

LPCD

74

LPCD

LPCD

LPCD

of water

of water is wasted

LPCD

LPCD

55%

40%

rain

36

100%

ad

LPCD

ity 25% not conn to water ected

Water intake for cooling

of Yamuna River is distributed before reaching Dlehi

hdr

201 277 103 202 337 426 509 148

carc

Discharge

ain

h dr

fgar

Naja

cut

Sha

274

Water S

don

Hin

29

70%

s to Delhi contribute ion of river pollut

LPCD

Toxic Food

Lost of Ecology

*LPCD: liters per capita per day

INDIA

THE CULTURE OF WATER

Historic City Node Main road Connections

Agrasen Ki Baoli

The old city

Border

Garden

Castle

Social Nodes

Farming

Religion

Pollution

Dump

Lutyens Delhi

Private

Throughout the history, the locations of Delhi’s seven cities have been strongly defined by landscape and natural elements, such as the river and the ridge. The main example is the Old City, which was established along the river and using water as the main element that is considered sacred and pure in Indian culture. On the other hand, Lutyens’ plan imposes itself

Transportation

Visual

to express authority and power and uses the natural elements only as visual connectors rather than integrating them with the fabric of the city. Lutyens’ Plan turns its back towards the river and neglects most of the existing streams in the area with total disregard for cultural life of the city. India’s is a place where water has always been an integral part of the culture, the

proposed project aims to bring that lost relationship between water and culture back to people, while democratizing the water and open space.

UD

37

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

IDENTIFYING NETWORK SYSTEMS old city EXISTING ABANDON WATER INFRASTRUCTURES

Lutyens Plan

Reservoir

Nullah Yamuna River

PROPOSED ECOLOGICAL ZONES AND CONNECTIONS TO THE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE Lutyens Plan

Central Ridge

Nullah Baoli

Reservoir Yamuna River

Asoli Wild Life Sanctuary PROPOSED ECOLOGICAL ZONES ABANDON WATER SYSTEM: BAOLIS & RESRVOIRS NATURAL STREAMS: NULLAHS METRO LINE ANCIENT SETTLEMENTS

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

Southern Ridge

38

The project involves two-way strategy, first, a bottom-up approach by reactivating the baolis and hauz structures by engaging the communities, the Delhi Jal Board, and organizations such as “Water.org” through a participatory process. This will help to activate larger natural network infrastructure of collection and filtration of water defined by existing nullahs (streams). Secondly, we propose to create new ecological zones (waterscape)

LOST WATER COLLECTOR SYSTEM: BUNDH

for supporting the growth based on different patterns such as wind, social flows, water connections, transportation, and programmatic interventions. Lastly, we propose to use Raj Path, the symbol of democracy as a main collector and filtration system that will help discharge clean water to Yamuna River and potentially decrease its pollution.

INDIA

PROPOSED ECOLOGICAL ZONES

+728

Zone 1: Baoli +728

+722

+744 +730 +744

+717

+718 +722

+717

+714 +730 +735

road

+717 +714

+706

+712

+712

Zone 3: Rajpath

+718

+706 A

+706 +706 C

B

+712

+712 +735

+717

+706 A +706

+706 C +704

B

+709 +707 +706

+724 +709 +734

+720

+707

Zone +704

2: Bungalow zone

+704

+724 +734

+715

+723 +720 +730 +723

+710

+704

+715 +710

+730

SCALE OF WATER’S PROGRAMS

Ecological zone: storage nodes

Roundabout: collect and transport

Raj Path: receive and filtrate

UD

39

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

ECOLOGICAL ZONE: RECHARGING UNIT

Ecological Zones

Existing Conditions

3

4- Neglected Baoli

3 32 21 13 4 2 41

1 1 3 3

1- Dohbi Community 2- High Residential 3- Community

1 2 2

4

2

Open up the block

Methodology

1 1 3 3 4 43

1 2 2 2

2 2

Design approach

5 51 1 5 1

2

STRATEGY OF INTERVENTION

1 1

4

4

1 12 Connection to surrounding blocks 2 Free underutilized buildings for open space 1 2

2 2

4 4

2

1 21 3 42 153 24 35 4 5

Social and cultural nodes Potential recharge of water Potential bungalow reactivation Summer and winter winds People paths

5 5 5

34 3 3

1 1 12 3 24 315 42 53 4 5

4 4

Reprogram bungalows New social spaces and services Heritage reactivation Permeable soil Social integration

Reactivation of existing service area

Existing densification

Bengali Market

High School Baoli reactivation Potential densification and ground water recharge Connaught Place new social spaces and services

Mandi House

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

permeable soil

40

Activation of existing dohbi community Water collectors

Reprogram Bungalows

INDIA

ECOLOGICAL ZONE: RECHARGING UNIT PHASE OF DENSIFICATION PHASE 01: baoli and permeable surface for filtration

Existing footprint financial area

PHASE 02: service densification

PHASE 03: bungalow re-purpose and housing densification

INTERNAL NODE BAOLI water collection and social point

heritage preservation

water table recharge unit service densification

Activation of existing dohbi community community supply

community space changing topography

permeable surface bioswale

70% collected water 25% rechargeable surface

The fist node is characterized by an existing baoli, a neglected monument, and a dobhi community located within the block. This ecological zone aims to reactivate the baoli and use it as a rain water collector in order to recharge the water table. The surfaces of the core of the block will be permeable in order to help the same purpose.

The activation of the baoli means bringing the unit back to life also as a social node, providing open space communities around, while making the baoli more visible as a reflection of the past and traditions of Indian culture.

The green spaces will be supported by reprogrammed densification of existing servants

quarters areas at the rear of the bungalows to public ones.

Some of the bungalows will be reprogrammed for institutional use.

UD

41

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

ECOLOGICAL ZONE 2: COLLECTOR SYSTEM 1 National School 1 1 3 3

2

2

2 Gandhi Smritibig

3 Hungarian Center

1

1

2

3

2

3

EXISTING CONDITION bungalow EXISTING CONDITION

services

neglected community

bungalow

bungalow 7,480”

services

neglected community

bungalow

7,480” private space

semi-private space

private space

private space

round about

private space

semi-private space

private space

private space

round about

EXISTING FOOTPRINT private bungalow

PHASE 01 eco-node/reservoir + new program

1

2

PHASE 02 socio-ecological densification

PHASE 03 housing + services densification

1

3 2

3

EXISTING CONDITION bungalow

services

bungalow

neglected community

7,480” private space

WATER PROGRAM

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

filtration

42

educational and cultural programs

collection

semi-private space

private space

private space

round about

social flows

public space

TYPOLOGY A community bungalowdistribution TYPOLOGY A community bungalow

TYPOLOGY B

METHODOLOGY EXTENSION allows a sustainable densification in the The second ecological zone aims to private private - semipublic - publicTYPOLOGY B HOUSING METHODOLOGY EXTENSION surrounding area of influence. The new provide a new rain and gray water private private - semipublic - public HOUSING typologies that we imagine recuperate collector system to activate the inner their traditional construction to engage TYPOLOGY A SERVICES / WORKSPACE block. The block’s core is the engine that community bungalow and enlarge the internal community. uses the water as a tool to create public SERVICES / WORKSPACE spaces related to its tradition and culture, taking into account the climate change.

TYPOLOGY B METHODOLOGY EXTENSION private private - semipublic - public HOUSING The reservoir will strengthen the existing cultural and educational programs, SERVICES / WORKSPACE providing a socio-ecological node that

INDIA

ECOLOGICAL ZONE: COLLECTOR SYSTEM PROPOSAL public building

typology A

typology B

67” private space N

semi-private space

67” semi-public space

public space

private building

public building

public space

bioswale YAMUNA RIVER

RAJ PATH AVENUE private space N

semi-private space

public space

M

semi-public space

public space

bioswale YAMUNA RIVER

RAJ PATH AVENUE

M

STRATEGY 01: Socio-ecological densification

- public-social node - water collector system - strengthen culture & educational

STRATEGY 02: Housing and services densification

- sustainable infrastructure - mix-used buildings - mix income housing

80% collected water

M

60% supply community 20% supply Raj Path system

M CENTRAL NODE of the ECO-BLOCK Daily: water collector + social space + cultural & educational services Monsoon time: water collector + filtration system

UD

43

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

RAJPATH FILTRATION SYSTEM

main water collection point

government

national center of art programed spaces

buildings Raj Path road

services

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

water filtration terraces

44

the national museum

Collection

Filteration

1.7 billion L/year Elevation

+765

2 billion L/yearReten 3.3 billio

filtration

collection

+765 +751

+735

+751

sand

+717 +735 +700

Sand +717 gravel

A.C

+700

Gravel +693

A.C.

INDIA

first collection point collection wetland

arRetention 3.3 billion L/year

Discharging

Wetland

+693

+680

retention

5.2 bilion L/year

+680

+660

wetland

Discharging clean water +660

UD

45

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

rain water rain water rain water

gray water

Collection and Recharching Unit

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

Roundabout Collector

46

INDIA

To Social Spaces

Raj Path Pools Filtration System To storage unit and Yamuna River

The ecological zone of Raj Path will involve several moments of interaction.

In the first instance, water ponds are located strategically keeping in mind the lowest topographic elevation, which will function as a water collection system.

This water program will be the catalyst of social activities.

The second moment is reinforcing the cultural and the art component,

by facilitating the interaction between existing public institutions such as Andera Gandhi Art center and The National Museum.

In the third instance, the last stage of water filtration takes place, where clean water will be retained in a connected wetland around Purana Qila and through the Zoological Park before being discharged into the Yamuna River.

UD

47

USA FALL 2013 HEALTHY CITIES

“Counter to what you might think, American cities today are growing faster than their suburban counterparts for the first time since the 1920s. If we can intelligently increase the density of our cities as they grow and build the transit systems, schools, parks and other infrastructure to support them, both job opportunities and an improved, sustainable environment are truly within our means..”

“A Country of Cities,” Vishann Chakrabarti

detroit

cleveland new rochelle new york

Well-designed cities are the key to solving America’s great national challenges: environmental degradation, unsustainable consumption, economic stagnation, rising public health costs and decreasing social mobility. If we develop them wisely in the future, our cities can be the force leading us into a new era of progressive and prosperous stewardship of our nation.

Tactical Mutations NEW ROCHELLE & EAST HARLEM, US Team: Silvia Vercher • Dimitra Papageorgiou • Joel Rios • Yimeng Sun UD STUDIO II Directors: Skye Duncan • Justin Lee Approach: If a society can and does learn, then what can and does a city/region learn? Does a city/region learn to better manage its resources? Can a city learn how and where to grow? What are the ways in which a city or region can acquire learning skills, as opposed to reaching a static condition of being ‘smart’ or ‘sustainable’? In this studio we will “learn by designing” what cities learn in the shorter term, and how regions can become smarter in the long run.

Detroit 2020 DETROIT, US Faculty: Vishann Chakrabarti • Omar Toro-Vaca Approach: Study an American city which has an infrastucutal problem. Construct views on Detroit 2020 new project and explain how they relate to the central themes of A Country of Cities with compelling arguments about how the project supports book’s hypothesis.

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

TACTICAL MUTATIONS Recalibrating development models A healthy city or a community is one that develops through its local assets and human resources with an understanding that socioeconomic health of individual is what secures the health of a society as a whole. Once every member and local organization gets the chance to contribute to the community and be part of the growth, only then economic development can be achieved in an ecological manner.

Through the analysis of both sites, East Harlem and New Rochelle, we identify contrasts and similarities in order to recalibrate our assets and opportunities. In doing so, we find our main actors and ingredients to create our framework. In both sites we are diversifying our programs by using the existing local agencies and services to improve the life of the community.

CAR DEPENDENCY

3% 60 %

54 %

RACE INCOME

7% 18 %

Drives by Car to Work &travesls between 20 to 60 min to work

12 %

In New Rochelle, we take advantage of the existing seeds of culture and art along with various BIDs that exist in the city. By strategically recalibrating assets such as vacant retail spaces and underutilized private property, we transform traditional development models to reach the maximum benefits for the city.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

BID

50

GATED COMMUNITY YACHT CLUBS GOLF RESERVE PARKS

BID + FUNDING from different ORGANIZATION + Regional Competitive Advantages for Art + Use of CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

INTROVERTED, CENTRALIZED INVESTMENT

RESULTS

DISCONNECTED CITY FEW BENEFITS RISK BANKRUPTCY

CREATIVE CLASS

DIVERSE JOB MARKET

RENOVATING Of VACANT RE-ZONING

COLLECTIVE BENEFITS

MIX-USE BUILDINGS

CHANGING the IMAGE of the CITY

RESULTS

UNITED STATES Maintance Cost:$133MILLION Pump/Facade/New roof

LA MARQUETA

Built Year LA MARQUETA

1940s M

1950s

PROPOSED 2AVE SUBWAY STATION

M

1960s Park

1970s

M

Ave M

ay ubw

eS 2Av

1980s E9

Built Year

7S

T

Expiration date 2010-2020

Metro North Development Cost: $143.5MILLION Demolish 12 walk-up buildings Construction provides 2,800 jobs

Units

2,600

2020-2030

5,200

2030-2040

4,500

LA MARQUETA

1940s 1950s

M

PROPOSED 2AVE SUBWAY STATION

1960s 1970s 1980s

In East Harlem, thedate assets Units include NYCHA properties, Expiration developers’ interest 2010-2020 and many community organizations to 2,600 create a more sustainable result that can benefit the existing 2020-2030 5,200 residents and surrounding community.

2030-2040 4,500 DISCONNECTED NEIGHBORHOOD

INFILL PROGRAM

INFILL PROGRAM + SMART NEGOTIATION + LOCAL OFFICIALS

20/80 % HOUSING FEW RETAIL

RESULTS

ZERO INTERACTION NO LONG TERM BENEFITS

STRATEGIC INFILL EDUCATING EVERYONE

INVOLVING COMMUNITY

INTEGRATED PROGRAMING

INCREASING EMPLOYMENT RESULTS

SAFER COMMUNITY

In the physical design of the spaces and programs; we breakdown the activities in New Rochelle in various scales, to redefine a more active down town and create walkable districts. In East Harlem we consolidate programs and investments that are scattered around the NYCHA blocks to gain the maximum benefit and define a shared corridor and public spaces bring back the fabric of the city in to the NYCHA blocks.

New Roc

New Roc

New Roc

New Roc

NEW ROCHELLE

Cultural Center

EAST HARLEM

Passive turns to Active within NYCHA

UD

51

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

Downtown NEW ROCHELLE, suburbs and waterfront will be connected by development of four new thematic districts. Strategically phased development decreases the level of financial risk for stakeholders. The first two phases, Phase 1: Entertainment District and Phase II: Theatrical District, are the very first revenue generating units to revitalize the local economy and theatrical heritage of this area. The next two phases, Phase III: Waterfront Trail and Phase IV: Business District, will connect the waterfront area to the business district, that is located next to the train station.

1

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

2

52

UNITED STATES

1 Connection between clusters 2 Programmatic clusters

Cluster I • entertainment, mix-use venue

New Residential & Office Buildings

Library

Apartments Offices

New Roc

Retrofitting Empty Shops

Outdoor

Entertainment Center

Gallery Artists Apartments

Vertical

Cultural Center Box Office

Renovating existing restaurants around the square

rds C

ultura

l

rd

a Tow

Info Point

rds

ont

rfr ate sW

Empty Store Retrofitting

Tow a

Towa

Libr

ary

Gre

en &

Cinema

Seating Arrangement

Pavement Expansion

New New Pavement Pattern

New Bike Lane

Cluster II • theatrical district

Vertical Expansion of Scenery Storage Garden

New Cultural Center outdoor & indoor theater new artist residential

New Pedestrian Passage Towards

Multi-Performance Spaces Opera Cinema Theater

Retrofitting Empty Storefront rds

a Tow

rds

Towa

Skate Plaza

s

ard

Tow

Scenery Workshop Green Rooftop Bar

oc

wR

Ne

Rehearsal Kitchen Multipurpose Room Artists’ Garden

Classrooms Drive-in Cinema/ Parking Gardens Coffee Shop Cultural Center Store

Gallery Administration Restaurant

New Pedestrian St

UD

53

vis

ion

202

5

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

EAST HARLEM has the potential of becoming a regional attraction and a lively community. To achieve this the city needs to reexamine its assets and its centralized development model. The Tactical Mutations Project creates integrated multifunctional districts with complimentary programs, representing the city’s historic entertainment culture and revealing the NYCHAs as a social points where to engage the community.

health + recreation

playground arts&crafts rehab outdoor area exercise area bike route

20%

mixed-use venue

park retail

roj e

health + recreation

sports fields exercise area event space bike route

mixed-use venue

farmers market kitchen studio

communal + education

afterschool program study area daycare vocational school

ep f th

40%

sin

go

+Jobs +Event Space +Workshops +Social Services +Recreational Space +Community Space

40%

40%

ct

Retail Development along the new streetfronts of NYCHA

du

al p

ha

Harlem Children's Zone

gra

30%

12

Children oriented development Sports and Recreation

5

50%

health + recreation

sports fields exercise area event space bike route

20%

mixed-use venue

performance poetry slam playground auditorium

30%

communal + education

11

6

20%

communal + education

vocational school workshops Study area Community garden information center

La Marqueta

54

10

6

20%

50%

30%

health + recreation

playground arts&crafts sports fields exercise area bike route

mixed-use venue

market Space for local and unique preferences performance kitchen studio retail

communal + education

after school programs workshops Study area Community garden information center

Washington Houses

afterschool program study area daycare

Children oriented development Sports and Education

20%

health + recreation

sports fields exercise area bike route

30%

mixed-use venue

market Space for local and unique preferences retail

50%

communal + education

kitchen food preparation area communal farming

3 201

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

Adult oriented development Hospital related programs

"

Adult oriented development La marqueta incubator

UNITED STATES

Cluster III • educational Programs

Retrofitting NYCHA Buildings

weekly

monthly

seasonally

-Art + Dance Classes -After school Program

-Music and Dance Performance -Exposure to Green Space -Creating Play Places

-Community Involvement -Volunteer Activities

renovating and diversifying programs

Organizations -Center for Active Design -Harlem RBI -Urban Art Program

-Harlem RBI -Daffodil Project -Tree-LC

-Harlem RBI -Volunteer Clean-Up

Public Space

Dream Charter School New Dream Charter School

Private NYCHA Space

affordable rental apartments K-8 charter school Non-profit program/office space

196 students k-6 grade Focus on physical education nutrition and health

Community Garden

Developer Landscape Green Landscape Surface

Adventure Playground

Infill

Performing Space

2013 2014 2015 2016

Cluster I • food market New High Rise

Retrofitting NYCHA Buildings

70-30 Affordable Housing

renovating and diversifying programs

New High Rise Retrofitting School

Private NYCHA Space

Public Space

Under Construction to be Housing

Fresh Food Market Community Garden

Developer Landscape Green Landscape Surface Infill

2013 2014 2015 2016

Bike Route

Health Care Center

Organizations -Fresh Food Box Program -Green-market Co. -Healthy Neighborhood -Public Plaza

-Open Space Greening -KABooom -People Make Parks -Health First

-New York Cares -MillionTrees NYC -Bike Lanes

Recreational Plaza

Insurance Center

Programs weekly

monthly

-Fresh Food Market -Exercise Activities

-Health Insurance Center -Basketball Competition -Transform Vacant Land -Plant and Care For New Trees -Riding

seasonally

UD

55

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

DETROIT VERSION 2.0 Recalibrating development models Detroit emerged as a major transportation hub during 19th because of the rise of shipping, shipbuilding, and manufacturing industries and its strategical location along the Great Lakeswaterway. The city emerged as a significant metropolitan region within the United States and reinforced Detroit’s status as the world’s automotive capital. However the filling of the largest municipal bankruptcy case in USA history in 2013 means the end to a declining era in the history of the Motor City Detroit and the beginning of a new Detroit version 2.0. Though all this spells negativity, in December 2012, David Bing Detroit´s mayor supported by funding from the Kresge Foundation , announced the Detroit Future City with short-Term Actions and a Long-Term Planing Initiative.

It marks the first time in decades that Detroit has considered its future not only from a standpoint of land use or economic growth, but in the context of city systems, neighborhood vision, the critical question of vacant land and buildings, and the need for greater civic capacity to address the systemic change necessary for Detroit’s success. In conclusion, the agenda appeals new possibilities to young people who once attracted to the vacant lots resetting from the demolition and new land value. This might act as a trigger for inner city rejuvenation of combined with long term sustainable policies and appropriate financial allocations in specific sectors. By reconfiguring the existing road infrastructure, a new transit network such as light rail or bus rapid transit system can act as an affordable connector for the city.

1

®

"

102

®" 102

§ ¨ ¦ 75

24 £ ¤

®

4,000 DEMOLISHED HOMES

"

39

®

®

10

® 53

"

"

"

8

®

"

3

®"

¨ § ¦

10,000 HOMES WILL BE DEMOLISH

94

5

835.9 PROPERTY CRIME RATE

® 1

"

¨ § ¦ 96

¨ § ¦ 96

® 39

237.7 (US RATE)

¨ § ¦

"

75

¨ § ¦ 94

¨ § ¦ 375

12 £ ¤

®

"

153

it tro De

Riv

er

26% PROPERTY VALUE

®

"

85

¨ § ¦ 75

1.3% - 15.0% 15.0% - 25.0%

16% UNEMPLOYMENT

25.1% - 33.0% 33.1% - 45.0%

®

"

85

$

45.1%% - 64.0%

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

UNSAFE AREAS

56

47% PROPERTY TAX RATES

$246M in taxes and fees uncollected

DEMOLISHED BUILDINGS

GENERAL MOTORS FORDS MOTORS

120,000 JOBS/MONTS AUTO INDUSTRY CHRYSLERS + GM BANKRUPTCY

$

1900

1950

ADDITION 115,000 JOBS

$8.6B REPAID CHRYSLER + GM “CASCH FOR CLUNKERS”

30% WORKFORCE MANUFACTURING

POPULATION

1890

1,8 MIL ARSENAL of DEMOCRACY NO MORE UAW STREETCAR LINE CHRYSLER

2000

2008

2009

2000

BANKRUPTCY $18B

NO2

11% WORKFORCE MANUFACTURING

1990

2

CHRYSLER REPAY LOANS: FULL RECOVERY on the RESOURDES COMMITED

by OBAMA and 50% of BUSH ADMIN

2011

63% 2013

?

UNITED STATES 1 Detroit 2 Timeline 3 Applying Detroit version 2.0 4 Result of Detroit version 2.0

12 IMPERATIVE ACTIONS RE-ENERGIZE ECONOMY

IMPLEMENTING FRAMEWORK for FUTURE

COORDINATE USE LAND REALING CITY SYSTEMS to ENCOURAGE THRIVING COMMUNITIES

COMMUNITY & CITY CHANGES

SIZING NETWORKS for a SMALLER POPULATION

AGENDA for the FUTURE

SHORTERM & LONG TERM STRATEGIES

SUPPORT CURRENT RESIDENTS + ATTRACT MORE PEOPLE

USE OPEN SPACE to IMPROVE HEALTH TRANSFORM VACANT LAND to INCREASE VALUE

SUSTAINABLE RESIDENTIAL DENSITIES

MOVING TO A HYPERDENSITY MODEL PUBLIC TRANSPORT ORIENTED NEW FORMS of INDUSTRY

AGRICULTUR SELF-SUSTAINABLE CITY

GREEN CORRIDOR

IMPLEMENTING TAX BASE

UD

57

NEW YORK SUMMER 2013 RESILIENCE NEW YORK

For Urban Design, “site” is not a given.

Urban Designers must identify and investigate complex, layered contexts, operating at multiple scales within which urban places are embedded. Similarly, the construction of “program” is essential to the Urban Designer’s purview; opportunities exist to extend and expand the field for human action and interaction.

Understanding Urban Design’s primary concern as serving a public clientele and addressing the multiple needs of a variety of stakeholders at differing scales, embedding their hypothesis in a site-specific design for a particular neighborhood, while impacting the larger context of the city. bronx

queens manhattan

staten island

broklyn

Hurricane Sandy hit the coastal of United States in 2012 bringing awareness of the vulnerability of our cities. As urban designers we should consider climate change as an infrastructure in our agenda to design cities more resilience, with the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens.

A Sustainable Hunts Point Market SOUTH BRONX, BRONX Team: Silvia Vercher • Kenneth Mata • Zahraa Alwash • Kate Sammuels UD STUDIO I Director: Kaja kuhl Approach: For Urban Design, “site” is not a given. Similarly, the construction of “program” is essential to the urban designer’s purview; opportunities exist to extend and expand the field for human action and interaction. These explorations are framed by (re)search into the (re)definition of the concept of “infrastructure,” to critically investigate and assess the many layers of public systems relevant for constructing transformative urban environments.

Resilience NYCHA EAST HARLEM, MANHATTAN Professor: Marcela Tovar Approach: Study the agenda of United Nations and understand the importance of Climate Change and Gender to apply them in our projects.

Repercussion: publication in the organization WEDO and scientific journal (in process) The Small Apple SOUTH BRONX, BRONX Team: Silvia Vercher • Yu-Hsuan Demy Lin • Jimena Romero Coordinator: Phu T. Duong Approach: Cinematic approach to think about the city in terms of material and ephemeral flows and engage with audiences through the medium of images.

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

A SUSTAINABLE HUNTS POINT DISTRIBUTION CENTER Resilience food infrastructure The Hunts Point Distribu­tion market in Bronx, NY is vulnerable in multiple ways. First, the Terminal Market has not re­newed its lease yet, siting storage and transportation problems. Secondly, it is has everyday vulnerabilities such as enormous energy use, waste and pollution issues.

This project is based on how to make the market op­erate in a more productive way by creating a model of selfsufficiency. By rein­corporating the existing rail system and adding more opportunities for freight transportation, the need for unreliable truck delivery is reduced. Also by creating vertical storage it is possi­ble to both add space and engineer a faster system of delivery and will keep pro­duce fresh. By reusing the waste of the produce and fish markets in a large bio digesting system, it is cre­ated a system that will re­duce the high refrigeration toll by 30%. In order to further to reduce the refrigeration need and to create another market opportunity, vertical farms Hunts Point Food Distribution Center will be placed on the ex­terior of the buildings. The farms will also use the composted material of the bio-digester, continuing the system of reuse.

Produce + Meat + Fish Lastly to protect the indus­try, a hard barrier will be placed between the water and land to reduce the ef­fects of a 60% city’s fresh produce disaster and sea rise. These solutions will both reduce the overhead costs of running an inefficient market and 40% region’s meat and largest wholesale fish market in the country create better connectivityoldest between the systems.

HPDC

134 vendors

329 acres

reach

10,000 workers Seattle

Transportation

One of the world’s largest Food Distribution Center

$5 BIL/year HPDC

Atalanta Boston NYC Dallas Philadelphia Miami Chicago

36 railcars/day (doubling existing) Reduction 76,000 CO2 Ton /year 103.25 tons

Produce + Meat + Fish

= reach

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

1 rail road box car

60

1 2 3 4 5

4 2

3

0

50

100

150’

5

24 tons

$5 BIL/year

53’ cargo semi-trailer

Seattle

60% city’s fresh produce 40% region’s meat oldest and largest wholesale fish market in the country 1

24 tons

Atalanta Boston NYC Dallas Philadelphia Miami Chicago

Produce Market Meat Market Fish Market Market/Exhibition area Storage buildings rail road access heavy trucks access trucks access train staging area

Produce +

60% city’s fres 40% region’s m oldest and larg fish market in t

NEW YORK CITY Vertical Storage System

before a storm

storage area

unload area

circulation

permeable pavement parking lot

rain garden

soft path

sbronx river

after a storm

10 ft

New Sustainable Distribution Centre

UD

61

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

RESILIANCE NYCHA IN EAST HARLEM Using NYCHA as a mitigation tool for climate change New York City has made significant progress toward increasing this energy effi- ciency and further reducing our GHG emissions and began preparing for the serious consequences of Climate Change. The future greener city just can be done if both mitigating GHG emissions and building climate resilience are working together.

Putting together efforts to address Climate Change on both fronts will allow us to remain strong for many years.

Desertification, deforestation, and urban heat islands are phenomenos affecting actually large population in urban and rur-urban areas. Programs such us REDD+, UNFCCC, Go Green are helping to mitigate this problems.

However, in my opinion, it should be a connection between politicians, ONG’s, communities, and organizations to eliminate the gap of knowledge between them and create a proper plan to mitigate this problems The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has a particular responsibility to provide safe shelter for its residents and to protect its buildings and infrastructure. It could help to mitigate Climate Change with the assets that it has.

Adaptation programs need to involve community in the land to improve their life quality, create organizations, and implant workshops in relation to CC. Mitigation strategies should taking into account the fabric of the buildings, techniques of the new building (generators of GHG emissions), public transportation, pollution, dessert food area, and flood zone. It is necessary an approach bottom-up to see the importance and impact of the change of these land within East Harlem. In this case NAPAS , (national) need to be built from CAPAS (cities) and LAPAS (local).

It is important to prioritzar investments and takes advantage of the assets of certain communities such us East Harlem to succed in the battle against Climate Change.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

Although East Harlem is a vulnerable area, it has a lot of assets that can be used to applied the several strategies that the Plan suggests in different areas such as housing and neighborhoods, parks and public spaces, waterways, water supply, energy and mitigate urban heat effect. Focusing in their assets, as Caroline Moser says “Identifying what the poor have, rather than what they do not have, focuses on their asets” can be really benefitial to mitigate Climate Change and improve the conditions of the community. Moser talks about tangible assets, such as labor and human capital, less familiar productive assets, such as housing, as well as intangible assets, such as household relations and social capital. In East Harlem we have a young population that could be formed to become a workforce, 98 acres of land that an be develop to improve the future needs of a resilience community and a huge amount of existing organizations and developers interesting in the area. So we could apply the strategies of the NYC plan for CC in East Harlem to mitigate CC:

62

Housing and neighborhoods: foster the creation of greener inside NYCHA land where there is a lot of space to build bioswales and Green gardens enhancing the community to increase the sustainability of the neighborhood and help them to finance a better public housing. Implement regualtions and policies to the new developers to take in consideration the issues of the area and the CC (leave the ground floor for retail that could be used by the locals, propose 70/30 housing programs instead of 80/20 and encourage public transportation with bike parkings and metro incentives due to the proximity with the new metro line and the existing one).

Parks and public spaces: create a network of green and blue corridors in the existing empty parks, plant trees and shurbs to help to clean the pollutions of the air (specially closet o metro North), support ecological connectivity between the 24 NYCHAS developments, and provide incentives for green infrastructure that at the same time could generate work for the people. [...]

NEW YORK CITY

NYCHA in East Harlem

UD

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URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

THE SMALL APPLE Hunts Point Distribution Center available for everybdy The prevalence of obesity among U.S. children has more than tripled since the mid-1960s; two-thirds of U.S. adults are now obese or overweight. This national epidemic has not spared New York City and its neighborhoods.

Among children attending Head Start, the prevalence of obesity is similar in the South Bronx (31%), the Bronx overall (30%), and the city as a whole (27%). Among public elementary school children, the obesity rate is 24% in both the South Bronx and New York City, while the rate is somewhat higher in the Bronx overall (32%).2 Among adolescents and adults aged 45 to 64, the prevalence of obesity is greater in the South Bronx than in New York City overall: 17% vs. 12% in public high school students and 39% vs. 26% in persons aged 45 to 64.

Located in Hunts Point region of Bronx, NY, the Hunts Point Terminal Market is the largest wholesale produce market in the world. It receives produce from 55 countries and 49 states. Fresh produce arrives from around the world by boat, rail, air cargo and tractor trailer. It generates $2.4 billion in sales annually Hunts Point Terminal Market provides fresh produce to New York City’s, restaurants, restaurant suppliers, and secondary wholesalers just to name a few. We cater to the largest ethnically diverse region in the world with an estimated population of 22 million.

However, there is not much access to fresh food in Hunts Point area for the small community surrounded by the food industry. A lot of the food arrive Hunts Point food market go directly to Manhattan and other cities.

For families in Hunts Point, fresh food is either too far or too expensive. Without easy access, fast food and unhealthy meal are the only choice left for them.Fresh food should not be expensive and should be affordable.

The cost of an apple is adding up gradually along its trip. From the price of gas, maintenance of the vehicle, salary of the driver, rent for the storage, tax for the retailer, wage of the cashier. The resident in Hunts Point should take advantage of the location of the food distribution center; they should be able to enjoy fresh food with friendly price.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

The project aims to introduce co-op system to the community by setting up two places in the exiting community gathering points. By having the co-op system, we cut down the cost of work force by having community members to work as the cashiers. Having residents working in the co-ops also helps to bound the community and gives the residents chances to understand the food they consume daily. Without the additional cost from the travel, the families in Hunts Point can enjoy fresh food in reasonable and lower price.

64

NEW YORK CITY

UD

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EGYPT SPRING 2014 REVEALING PUBLIS SPACES

Egypt’s growth pattern is manifested through multiple settlements. Each settlement came in form of an occupation/ mostly foreign. but most importantly each settlement was a physical demonstration of political ambitions. each had its armature and its usually understood as a symbol but also as most importantly public space (enclaves and armatures), each settlement either a cine citta, tele citta, or arch citta.

cairo

‫ةرهاقلا‬: ‫ةنيدملا ةسايس‬, Cairo, started the Arab Spring on 18 December 2010.

It was a revolutionary wave of protests instigated by dissatisfaction with the rule of local governments, though numerous factors such as dictatorship, human rights violations, political corruption economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, and a number of demographic structural factors - for instance the right to the city.

Territorial Shifts: Politics and the City CAIRO, EGYPT Team: Silvia Vercher • Belen Ayarra • Faisal A. Almogren • Wagdy Moussa Faculty: David G. Shane Approach: The project examines how cities evolve and develop public space and density over time in cycles of expansion and decline. The emphasis is on the urban actors who generate these spaces. Cities are seen as complex systems involving multiple actors, energy and information flows, resulting in diverse urban forms and systems of self-governance.

Repercussion: publication in process

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

SECTION ACROSS THE DELTA: 200 mi from the one part to another of the Delta

TERRITORIAL SHIFTS 500 ft

360 ft

330 ft

90 ft

110 ft

14 ft

Politics and the City NILE

SECTION ACROSS THE CAIRO: 200 mi from the western desert until Sinai Peninsula

Egypt’s growth pattern is manifested through multiple settlements. Each settlement came in form of an occupation/ mostly foreign. but most importantly each settlement was a physical demonstration of political ambitions. each had its armature and its usually understood as a symbol but also as most importantly public space (enclaves and armatures), each settlement either a cine citta, tele citta, or arch citta.

940 ft

750 ft

500 ft

1100 ft

890 ft

185 ft

45 ft NILE

RED SEA

SECTION ACROSS THE MIDDLE EGYPT: 200 mi from the western desert until Sinai Peninsula

1

4700 ft

SECTION ACROSS THE DELTA: 200 mi from the one part to another of the Delta

2500 ft 460 ft

750 ft

-2 ft

NILE

RED SEA

500 ft

360 ft SECTION ALONG THE NILE: 1,700 mi from the Mediterranean Sea until Sudan 1,500 ft

330 ft 90 ft

2

2,000 ft

800 ft

110 ft

14 ft NILE

SECTION ACROSS THE CAIRO: 200 mi from the western desert until Sinai Peninsula 940 ft

3

750 ft

1100 ft

890 ft

500 ft

185 ft

45 ft NILE

RED SEA

SECTION ACROSS THE MIDDLE EGYPT: 200 mi from the western desert until Sinai Peninsula

The topographic and geologic features of the area create the NILE, the longest river in the world - 4,258 miles - a perfect natural armature where settlements can create their enclaves.

4700 ft 2500 ft 460 ft

750 ft NILE

-2 ft RED SEA

SECTION ALONG THE NILE: 1,700 mi from the Mediterranean Sea until Sudan 1,500 ft

2,000 ft

800 ft

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

430 ft

68

2700 bc

GIZA PYRAMID

-2 ft

1894bc

ANCIENT CITY

MESOPOTAMIA

397 AD 1076 AD BYZANTINE

FATIMIDS

1174 AD

- 1882 AD 1882- 1952 AD AYYUBID 1516 OTTOMANS BRITISH OCCUPATION

FOUNDING CAIRO MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC

EGYPT 1 Nile view from google earth 2 Delta Nile 3 Western desert 4 Formation of the actual city of Cairo

1960 NASSER’S CAIRO

1981-2010

2011

MUBARAK’ REGIME

ARAB SPRING

MODERN CAIRO

JUST CITY

POST OCCUPATION IMMIGRATION

INFORMAL CITY UD

69

Lake Urmania

‫املدينة القدمية‬

Ancient city: Arche-Citta - City of Faith

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

DELTA NILE 22,000 Km² 5.5%

GIZA

Sinai Peninsula

Pers

Hermopolis

LOWER EGYPT

Dakhla

LYBIAN DESERT

Abu Simbel

EASTERN DESERT 600 - 6000 feet

MIDDLE EGYPT

RED SEA

NILE 1,600 Km stony mountain desert

Blue Nile

Lake Chad

ATABARA 11% LAKE TANA 58%

Gulf of Aden

UPPER EGYPT

White Nile Lake Turkana

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

Lake Alber

70

LAKE VICTORIA 28%

Lake Tanganyika

settlements pyramids oasis

t

XOIS TANITIQUE SAIS

SEBENOYTOS

BASIRIS

PELUSE HERMOPOLIS

EGYPT

ONO MODERN CAIRO

BABYLON

KOM EL-HISM TIMHSA LAKE

MANF

DESERT MARGIN LENCHT

1 Gyza pyramids 2 Parafra oasis

GREAT BITTER LAKE

ATHRIBIS

DESERT MARGIN

ARCHE-CITTA are walled cities in agricultural land that are managed by a feudal government where there is a muscular movement.

HELIOPOLIS

LETOPOLIS

GOLF OF SUEZ

GIZA SAQQARA MENPHIS

MILITAR ENCLAVE

DAHSHUR

The Pyramids expressed the position of the citizenships of the cities in the society. They were political architectures that wanted to show the power of the enclave. This political action activated at the same time tourism and economy. The HETEROTOPIA is a special form of enclave that contains exceptions to the dominant urban system.

King’s chamber Queen’s chamber

PHARAON GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SOLDIERS SCRIBES MERCHANTS

449 feet

ARTISANS FARMERS WORKERS

north

south

65 feet

The OASIS are punctual and natural enclaves in the middle of the desert.

The Nature creates these specific enclaves that the people reinforce when they settle there.

2

Agriculture Growth Along the Nile

Urban Growth Towards the desert Cairo CBD

UD

71

‫املدينة القدمية‬ URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

The modern city: Cine-Citta - Center and agglomeration 10th of Ramadan

Alobour Orabi

Alshorouk Albadr

New Heliopolis Shaikh Zayed

New Cairo Six October

Pyramids gardens

City Boundaries

New Subdivison

Nile New Communities

15th of May New Subdivison

The French influence is clear in the fabric of Cairo. The street system is composed by a main axis and the grid attached to the axis. After the revolution, many new developments were established targeting middle-class individuals as a part of Nasser’s regime. The most notable ones were El-mohandissein, on the edge of the Nile, and Nasser city, built on agriculture land. These developments were mostly high-rise apartment buildings. Cairo started expanding vertically, towards the desert land, as most of the Nile’s adjacent lands were looked at as agriculture land. This push towards the desert was by creating new communities in satellite cities to Cairo, and building large infrastructure projects to link it to the city’s core.

This planned policy was manly motivated by personal interest from individuals in Cairo CBD the local authorities.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

1

72

Agriculture Growth Along the Nile

Urban Growth Towards the desert

2

EGYPT

‫املدينة القدمية‬

1 Tahrir square 2 New developments at the desert 3 Informal urban fabric 4 Prayers at Tahrir Square

The just city: Cine-Citta - Center and agglomeration Al-marg

Embaba Waraq

Ezbet Al-haggana Boulaq Al-dakrour

Al-umraniya Manshiyat Nasir

Informal settlements Dar Al-salam

Tea stand Micro-bus stop Car repair shop

As downtown Cairo become crowded and over-populated, and both upper and middle class individuals moved to unfordable new communities, many new slums areas started formalizing for low-income individuals as the were pushed out, these settlements were around the urban boundaries of the city, mainly adjacent to large infrastructural projects. However, this natural fabric was systematic, as it relates to the social formalization of the inhabitants.

Streets were looked at as the major public spaces in these settlements, as there was complete absence of public spaces. These street were adaptive and were used according to time and need. In a analysis study of the rind road, many informal services were established along the side of it to benefit from this large infrastructure from settlers.

3

4

UD

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‫املدينة القدمية‬

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

Meta City: The just city Citizens use social media instrumentally to alert others in their social networks to events and fast changing development, to report police or military violence, and to coordinate action political ambition: the downfall of oppressive regime. Utilizing their form of armature “social media” to organize their media and information exchange Balconies rented for the highest bidders to transmit the situation around the clock. cnn, al jazeera, bbc, are prominent tenants.

Mobilizinf the nation Route to Tahrir Mosques Collection points Important twitter users Twitter user in network

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

1

74

2

EGYPT 1 Christians’ wall to protect the Muslims 2 Twitter map January 21 - February 11, 2010 3 New informal city: Tahrir Square

PROTESTER’S FORM OWN ID CHECKPOINTS

PROTESTER’S BARRICADE SECRET POLICE CHECKPOINT

ARMY NEUTRALIZES ZONE

6TH of October bridge & underside plaza neutralized Army tanks Tahrir Square ocuppation

“The internet is critical, but egypt shows that there is nothing more powerful than humans gathering together physically in the same place” @ERICGARLAND

3

FLAG SELLERS FOOD STALLS

STREET CLINIC

RESTROOMS WATER POINT WALL OF MARTYRS KINDERGARTEN BLOGGERS TRASH BINS

TANKS NEWS PAPER WALL

OVER NIGHTERS SIGN MAKING

KFC CLINIC

CAMPSITE

ARTWORK

DEMONSTRATION SPACE/ PRAYER SPACE MAIN STAGE PHARMACY

UD

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CUBA 2012 • 2013 • 2014 REVEALING PUBLIS SPACES

Before I attended MSAUD program I visited Eusebio Leal, Havana City Historian and director of the restoration program of Old Havana and its historical center (UNESCO World Heritage Site) in Cuba where I got passionate about the public staircase of the Casa de la Música in Trinidad. I named this place Soundscape because through the musical interplay generated amid the physical space, several elements such as current political situation, sociological characteristics, and historical and economical situations in Cuba are decoded.

havana

trinidad

santiago de cuba

Cuba was hermetically shut with its communism politics and suffered huge austerity measures during the Special Period at the early nineties. People were forced to live without many goods. For this reason, a vast amount of brave Cuban people tried to escape the country. This led the politics to open some international investments and bet for the tourism however contacts between tourists and Cubans were prohibited by the Communist regime until 1997.

Soundscapes in Cuba: staircase of the Casa de la Musica TRINIDAD, CUBA Project: Personal research about public spaces Repercussion: Invitation for Noah Chasin to participace in LimerickSoundscapes [Interdisciplinary research cluster that includes applied, urban, and media ethnomusicologists, sociologists, acousticians, and soundscapes composers; based at the University of Limerick, Ireland].

Participation in ARPA with the advisor Noah Chasin and David G. Shane [Adjunct Professors of Architecture, Planning and Preservation], with the collaboration exchanging information about public spaces with professor Mary McLeod and Richard Plunz.

Invitation and collaboration of Cuban representants such as Eusebio Leal [Havana City Historian], Victor Echenagusía [Specialist serving the Department of Applied Research in Trinidad], Luis Javier Baro [first secretary of the permanent mission of Cuba to UN], Dr. Félix Julio Alfonso López [Assistent of the Colegio Universitario San Gerónimo de La Habana in La Habana University] and Dr. Luis Rueda Guzmán [Dean of the Architecture School CUJAE of Cuba.

Approach: To apply Henri Lefebvre’s methodology to reveal the reality and impact of public space and question their meaning. Likewise I intend to identify which are the limits and potentials of the designers in order to build and represent these spaces for the cities of tomorrow. I believe that today, public spaces are being underestimated and are shaped by unplanned elements rather than designers.

Professionals are being limited by trying to resolve formal and programmatic discourses that lack a coherent understanding of the needs of the population and the existing forces such as culture, social flows, climate, and politics.

PERSONAL RESEARCH

SOUNDSCAPES Staircase of Casa de la Musica My intention is to uncover layer by layer the messages deployed in the space in order to get the hidden reality.

As Henri Lefebvre mentioned in The Production of Space “the knowledge of the space is given through codes”.

These codes directly applied on the space give us a descriptive level. Then we can decipher the social space using these codes that we observe to understand what is beyond them instead of in their descriptive level. Then the codes will become messages that will give us information about how and why the space is generated. These messages help us to trace the genesis of the space. And finally, if we inhabit messages in the space we will obtain our purpose, the reading of it to understand its reality.

If you observe the space and identify the actions and codes generated on and around it we could start to see messages. These messages are linked codes that give us information about the several layers of culture, ideology, tradition, and so on, that built the space. In brief, deciphering space must give us the knowledge to read the social space of the staircase of the Casa de la Música and understand how it is constructed the real space.

The descriptive function of the staircase connects the Casa de la Música with the street below. However during the night, its function changes completely and it becomes an amphitheater and the best club and best ballroom in the Midwest. It has excellent musical groups (Estrellas de Trinidad, Estrellas del 48, Las Lamas, and so on) and dance lasts until late.

ircase nidad

EVOLUTION OF THE INTERIOR LEARNING PROCESS

uba

78

From the street you have to walk up around 20 wide stairs until you arrive to the first landing. You continue walking up around 12 stairs more until you arrive to another landing. Then, there is a bar (a simple bar to serve drinks) on the right and a place for the band on the left in the middle of this landing, which works as a platform. Between these amenities there is a space with tables and chairs to assist the concerts in live music and dance. Next there are more stairs and another landing that end up at Casa de la Música (Image 03).

staircase of “Casa de la Música” silvia vercher pons / architect + master in Urban Design + musician

The staircase of “Casa de la Música” next to the Church of the Holy Trinity in the historic center of Trinidad (Cuba) is a seemingly common public space that nevertheless per-

CUBA

The staircase of “Casa de la Música” next to the Church of the Holy Trinity in the historic center of Trinidad (Cuba) is a seemingly common public space that nevertheless per- petually oscillates between a sociomusicological condition an [ . . . ] that through music and nonverbal codes brings about actions of behavior.

Visitors to the Casa de la Música experience a shift in grade from structure to street via a wide landing at the top of a [monumental] staircase, constructed so as to properly situate the structure within the city’s built environment. The usual function of a staircase now becomes that of amphitheater where local bands play Latin music

with the church wall servingas the stage’s background. Laid out in front of the stage, the plaza and staircase become the setting for a complicated choreography of relations, desires, and interests between the locals, the tourists, and the authorities.

The different levels of the soundcape (understood here as the physical landscape con- structed and simultaneously obscured by the music that energeizes the space) con- struct relations between Cubans and tourists in which social interaction competes with political control. Music, however, becomes the legitimizing force that allows phisical interaction between the actors and links their sociological,

sexual, and economical de- sires through their movements within the space.

Through the musical interplay generated amid the physical space of the staricase/stage nexus, the elements that reveal the current political, sociological, historical, and eco- nomical situations in Cuba become subtly decoded.

RE UD

79

BRAZIL FALL 2013 REVEALING CUBA […and myself seeing that the remains of ancient Roman buildings, scattered for the most part in gardens and other cultivated areas, are daily diminished either by the damage of passing years, or by the avarice of their owners who, with barbarous impunity, secretly demolish them so as to sell the fragments for the construction of modern buildings…] […our Architects have to be truly blamed for their neglect and stupidity in having omitted the indepth study [of the ruins], that could have served to reestablish the importance and the soundest methods of construction, which (allow me to say) are also desirable in our modern buildings.]

Giambattista Piranesi “Antichità di Roma” [1835]

fortaleza

brasilia

salvador de bahia

sao paulo rio de janeiro

Agache’s plan for Rio de Janeiro (1930) was a hallmark in the evolution of Brazilian urbanism. It encouraged a new global visio of the city and treated topics such as sanitation, street systems and transport.

Its objective was to set principles to solve the city’s functiona problems, to control urban growth and to inculcate Rio’s inhanitants with a social ideal of modern life. The plan was also preoccupied with the symbolic and asethetic aspects of modern urban center.

Time Machine: Esplanada del Castelo RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL Team: Silvia Vercher • Priscila Coli Faculty: Richard Plunz Approach: The city becomes a crucible to be understood both forwards and backwards in time, from extant present-day realities to underlying formational causes and vice versa. The project explores the meaning of building typology and fabric in the evolution of cities worldwide. It questions the canons of architectural and urban historiography that tend to overemphasize isolated urban monuments and heroic designers. Focus is on the culture of housing, with the intent to grasp the political and tectonic devices that lead to specific fabrics in specific urban contexts. It explores design responses to urban “non-design” anonymity within the discipline of Urban Design.

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

TIME MACHINE Densifying the Castelo Esplanade de Rio de Janeiro Our window in conformed by an urban block located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This choice was motivated not only by the series of changes through which it passed, but also by its current conformation and program. The area has typologies of buildings from different periods that in their constitution and positioning on the territory articulate flows and access randomly. Most of these buildings are public such as the Ministry of Education (MEC), the Ministry of Labor and the Church of Santa Luzia, typical examples of Brazilian modernist, art deco and colonial buildings.

However there is a lack of relation between the buildings, a demand of housing in the zone, and big underutilized empty spaces.

The “Esplanada do Castelo”, from the beginning of the occupation of Rio de Janeiro until 1921, constituted a mountain called “Morro do Castelo”. Aiming at the beautification of the city, which at that time was still the capital, and on the pretext of health, “Castelo” Hill was overthrown in 1921 giving way to new land. This area was vacant for ten years getting only temporary equipment such as the World Exhibition of 1922. In 1928 the French urbanist Alfred Agache was hired to draw up a development plan for the city. Agache determined rules for future buildings, as well as the location of public facilities such as ministries that would fall on the area of “Esplanada do Castelo”, part of the plan that remains until today. By 1945, breaking with the patterns of occupation, the Ministry of Education, MEC, was implemented and its free plan constitutes an oasis surrounded by impermeable blocks of buildings.

1

2

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

3

82

BRAZIL

Piranesi (1720-78), an Italian artist; said “our Architects have to be blamed for their neglect in having omitted the in-depth study (of the ruins), that could have served to reestablish the importance and the soundest methods of construction, which are also desirable in our modern building”. As Piranesi, our methodology defines the new city through existing elements instead of starting from a white canvas because we think that the flows, typology and fabric of erased elements could create a modern more functional city at the current time.

So, our plan focus on Santa Luzia´s church, the oldest fabric of the window, and the erased topography, as the reference point and from this we start extracting the most interesting elements of each period of time, such as old paths, typologies and plans, in order to densify the area with hybrids through their relation between them. As a result, we create a mixed-use area with relation within it and the surroundings through the high and the typology of the buildings.

“our Architects have to be blamed for their neglect in having omitted the in-depth study (of the ruins), that could have served to reestablish the importance and the soundest methods of construction, which are also desirable in our modern building”

1 Area selected to study 2 Niemeyer’s building 3 Typology of Niemeyer’s building 4 Deconstruction of the Esplanada do Castelo

4

UD

83

The new city: Connections with the context Situation pre 1920

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

Situation pos 1924

Actual Situation

Agache plan

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

1

84

2

3

DIAGRAMS Rio de Janeiro, Brasil / Priscila Coli, Silvia Vercher

Fabrics and Typologies: New York City - Global Instructor: Richard Plunz

BRAZIL

1 Situation Pre 1920 2 Situation Pos 1924 3 Actual situation 4 Actual situation - plan

The new city: Connections with the context

4

UD

85

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

EXISTING CONDITION

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

The church is the main element which keeps constant on time.

86

BRAZIL

PROPOSAL

Three main existent building’s typologies of the area are reshaped in order to satisfy the current needs of the citizenships.

UD

87

JAPAN SPRING 2014 BEYOND ARCHITECTURE

Architecture is not a single, homogeneous self-container. It is and hybrid because it combines different conditions. Cities are heterogeneous. I am interested about pieces that embodied the qualities of a city, rather than as isolated unites. And each project should generate internal and external tensions, no just as a sculpture.

Bernard Tschumi “Tschumi on Architecture: Conversations with Enrique Walker”

tokyo

Tokyo is a fascinating contrast of the old and the new: one of the world’s most modern cities. Originally called Edo, the city first began expanding as the power base of the 300-year Shogunate, became the capital and grew into the giant metropolis of today. Japan’s transportation networks are centered on Tokyo, and this is the focus of the nation’s politics, economy, business, information, culture, and manufacturing.

Tschumi on Program: Conversation between Opera Houses TOKYO, JAPAN Team: Silvia Vercher Faculty: Enrique Walker Approach: The project aims to examine the trajectory of the notion of program.

Specifically, it will focus on thevarious terms coined in the field since the fifties to describe—in fact, to reduce—actions in space: from function to behavior, from situation to event, from use to organization. The seminar is structured upon twenty exemplary projects regarding questions of program. Each session will interrogate two projects, and scrutinize the concepts they articulated, the objectives they pursued, the critiques they entailed, and the practices they implied. Ultimately, the seminar will attempt to trace a genealogy of design strategies formulated to program architecture.

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT

TSCHUMI ON PROGRAM Conversations between Opera Houses Our window in conformed by an urban block located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This choice was motivated not only by the series of changes through which it passed, but also by its current conformation and program. The area has typologies of buildings from different periods that in their constitution and positioning on the territory articulate flows and access randomly. Most of these buildings are public such as the Ministry of Education (MEC), the Ministry of Labor and the Church of Santa Luzia, typical examples of Brazilian modernist, art deco and colonial buildings.

However there is a lack of relation between the buildings, a demand of housing in the zone, and big underutilized empty spaces.

The “Esplanada do Castelo”, from the beginning of the occupation of Rio de Janeiro until 1921, constituted a mountain called “Morro do Castelo”. Aiming at the beautification of the city, which at that time was still the

Tschumi on Program C nversatinO s between O pera HOuses O

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

B. Tschumi Tokyo Opera House [1975]

90

S. Vercher Pons Batumi Opera House [2010]

JAPAN

TOKYO OPERA HOUSE Bernard Tschumi

Silvia Vercher Pons

BATUMI OPERA HOUSE TOKYO OPERA HOUSE In 1968 there was a competition for a large performing arts complex with an Opera House, a Concert Hall, and an Experimental Theater in Shinjuku, Tokyo. There were more than 200 participants from 23 countries, among them Tschumi and Hollein who both got the second prize.

The winner was the Japanese Takahiko Yanagisawa and the construction of the Tokyo Opera House, called NNTT, was completed in February 1997.

BATUMI OPERA HOUSE I just finished my Architecture career in 2008 when I got a job in a Spanish office to design an Opera House in Batumi, Georgia. The president of the country, Mishaa Mikasveli, set the premises to build Batumi Opera House in front of the Black Sea with the form of a perfect glass cube. Fuksas M. was one of the selected participants. We designed an ice cube with rounded vertexes and our proposal won the competition .

TOH Tschumi´s Tokyo Opera House was his first project after La Villete. Although Tschumi used the superimposition in La Villete but the juxtaposition of elements in the Opera House, there is a clear strategy in both about the autonomy of the system where he uses architecture as a process to develop strategies. The site and the program give these strategies and they are adjusted to specific cases.

Program, for Tschumi is necessary in architecture, in other words, there is not architecture without program. Furthermore, there is not architecture without violence. He suggests different categories of relationship between architecture and program. The first one is dependence; such as the case of the Guggenheim Museum of Gehry where do you need the ramp to follow the program of the museum.

The second one is an independent relation; for instance Crystal Palace and the neutral sheds of the 19 century’s Great Exhibitions that are completely disconnected from the program inside them. The last one is in between relation - fight and love - as most of the cases where spaces are qualified by actions and vice versa; for instance a prison becomes a dance bar or a church becomes a movie theater. In relation to violence, he understands it as an intrusion. He defines different kind of relation of violence.

Firstly, bodies violating spaces, for instance the presence of people in the Phanteon disturbing its geometry. Secondly, spaces violating bodies, such as Holocaust Memorial of Peter Eisenman. Lastly, ritualized violence where there is a frozen relation between action and space and it is needed a complete control; for instance F. L. Wright houses, where the furniture has to be precisely designed. In Tokyo Opera House the traditional rules of composition are replaced by an organization based not on form follows function, form follows form, or even form follows fiction, but rather on breaking apart the conventional components of the theater and opera house in order to develop a new sound.

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY [NYC]

TOH We can observe in Tschumi´s work a big influence in Foucault´s analysis of power structures that could aid the struggle against inequality. In Opera House for example he uncovers hierarchy, deconstructing the building in juxtaposed and autonomous strips according to the site and the program. Each strip is both autonomous in its construction system and its architectural expression. For instance one strip is on glass and metal and another is precast concrete depending on its function (lobby or stage). Like in La Villete, it is a very effective organizational system with no hierarchy. Another influenced philosopher in Tschumi’s work is Henry Lefebvre who stands out “what is modernity versus everyday life?”. Tschumi defines architecture as a process to develop strategies. Clearly there is a strategy to transgress architecture in Opera House (and most of his projects) when he connects the building with the society and its city. Most of the Cultural buildings that we visualize are enormous structures out of scale without context that express most of the times a cultural hierarchy and in time an inconsistent program. In contrast Tokyo Opera House breaks this stipulated concept in benefit to a bottom-up approach to enhance the relationship between the building and the citizenship and stimulate their interaction. For instance, we can observe that some of its facades seem the silhouette of a street. Another element that he uses to reinforce this relationship is the glass avenue that connects which becomes a public street responding to an elevated urban highway.

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BOP I was proposed as a Project Manager of the Batumi Opera House, apart from my academic skills and international experiences, because I have a background in Music. This fact influenced my design where I found extremely important the program of the building due to my knowledge about both the music lovers and the musicians’ flows and needs. The form, a shiny glass cube, was given to me by the graphic designer. I realized when I worked for some years for Georgian government that its agenda was to build shiny and transparent architecture to exalt its independence of the grey, massive, and concrete architecture from the Soviet political control. On the one hand, I had not the possibility to design the project considering the form of the building, and on the other one, this helps me to focus on the program and use the façade instead of as an independent shell without connection with the exterior - like for instance the Sainsbury Centre- as an envelope to connect the program with the city. I was not interested in the form but I wanted to use it as a part of the program. For this reason I designed a media façade with LED display and in front of it the anteroom of the Opera House, as a square-stage, with benches to attend the representations outside the buildings in a free and informal way.

My catalyst to attract citizenships to Opera music, unfortunately still a side of its traditional popular culture, was the envelope that the competition imposed us. I believe in program as a tool to generate new links and new programs. I have been influenced by a very strong Spanish architecture style and my affiliation with a volunteer organization, Sostre, which works on sustainable development to work with citizenships and professionals from different disciplines to improve the quality of life in my city, Valencia. Architecture maybe cannot change the social behavior however it could help to explore new possibilities. [...]

JAPAN

TOH Tokyo Opera House is not just architecture. It is more about the space inside and outside, where the context is an important premise. The architecture is rather than a punctual building, an urban element. Architecture is always a multiplicity. It is not static. The hierarchy is broken and program drives the form. The concept of program remains really important. It is a narrative, reinterpreted, and deconstructed by the architect. The cities are heterogeneous self-containers, hybrids, where the pieces embody the quality of a city rather than isolated units. Violence is the key metaphor for the intensity of the relationship between the building and the users. [...]

BOP Which is the influence that architects are experiencing at the current time? It is a trend to think about the future of the cities. Apparently there is common agenda looking for resilience and sustainability. However a couple of weeks ago in the forum about reinventing waterfronts important architects and developers were discussing the future of the biggest cities ‘coasts and ironically the projects that they showed for their future were quite unsustainable and without soul. All the projects could be images of the same “modern” city. Hegels said that Universe want unity but does not want homogenization. Unfortunately, globalization, in my opinion is the agenda that most of the architects, always together with developers, politicians, and so on, are exploring right now. Each city wants to transform itself in another city but be unique. For this reason a lot of architects, like Fujimoto in his Serpentine Pavilion project and Renzo Piano in the extension of Columbia campus, were asked to design a project but with the premise to do not look so much as one of their projects. Each city, or enclave, wants to show its power with a singular and non-contextual building. Each city wants a big container, even bigger than the one next to its city, without importance of the culture, the program, or the future. Construction at this time it is quite similar to Egyptian pyramids, heterotopias per se, that each dynast built as a legacy of their power. Nowadays, most of the architecture fails in the program.

Most of them are cultural and social spaces generated to hold and stimulate a vast amount of people however they get to hold emptiness and lose of heritage and traditions. For this reason I consider them the heterotopias of the 21th century.

I study Urban Design because I think that it is important to learn about love. Architecture, in most of the cases, is in my opinion like sex, momentums in isolated spaces. In my agenda I want to intensify the violence between the element, any kind of design, and the user, from any hierarchy, to get a combination of sex and love which allows another relationship; eroticism. At the present time there are a vast of issues that should be add in the agendas of every Architecture school, such as Climate, the lack of infrastructure or the deterioration of it, gentrification, gender, and so on. The architecture is initiated by society, but in turn it affects the very society that produces it. Maybe we do not have the solution for all these problems, but Richard Plunz, director of the Urban Design Department, talked once that our agenda is to create new problems much more interesting than the actual ones. Agenda is the set of tools that should help us to redefine the new programs demanded by the actual society without neglecting the heritage and mitigating its repercussion in a long term. I believe that a lot of architects of my generation have these potential to change social structures even more than social behaviors if program is one of the premises of their agenda.

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SPAIN 2007 • 2009 • 2010 ENGAGING WITH THE CITY • 2011 • 2012 During my academic experience in Spain,

Denmark, and Australia, I always believed that collaboration with governments and NGOs was vital to good design. I wanted to hone this skill so as to later put what I learn into practice participating in competitions, workshops, and architect affilitiations.

barcelona

madrid valencia

el hierro

Spain is a mediterranean country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Its location between the Western Asia and Eastern Europe makes it a exotic place that have survived to multiple invasions and wars.

Besides it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea and to the north by several national parks and the Caucasus. The capital is Tbilisi and the majority practices Orthodox Christianity. Its architecture reflects the sovietic influence mixed with its heritge of medieval castles, towers, fortifications and churches.

ARCHITECTURE FINAL THESIS VALENCIA, SPAIN Team: Silvia Vercher Faculty: Inigo Magro Approach: Research study of a residential and activity center for cerebral palsy patients in Valencia city.

SOSTRE VALENCIA, SPAIN Team: Volunteer designers Approach: Sostre, a group of architects, is formalized as a voluntary association of the College of Architects of Valencia (COACV) in September 2008.

ARCHITECTURE STUDENT

RESIDENTIAL & ACTIVITY CENTER FOR CEREBRAL PALSY PATIENTES Architecture thesis PROJECT: Final project of Architecture Degree STUDIES: Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, SPAIN DATE: 2007 TUTOR: Professor and architect Íñigo Magro de Orbe PROGRAM: Residential Living and Activity Center for Cerelbral Palsy Patients

UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA [VALENCIA]

SCOPE: Replacement of an existing building in order to re-build a public building to solve the problems of some people in our society. These citizens, with rights of residence and health care, have serious difficulties in their lives in our unprepared cities.

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VOLUNTEER ARCHITECTURE

SOSTRE Recalibrating development models This initiative comes from a group of architects with certain common concerns regarding the social aspect of architecture, which is currently quite forgotten, both architectural education and practice of the profession. Some of us are voluntarily or professionally dedicated to some of the areas where activity focuses in Sostre, and we believe that the project should materialize as COACV Grouping to support increased professionalization of these works.

In Sostre we believe we can contribute to human development from habitat improvement, achieving an ideal space to encourage and enhance social processes. We would like to dedicate our efforts and expertise to investigate, publicize and habitat work that responds to the basic needs of shelter for us all.

SOSTRE

IMAGINA VELLUTERS Program: Competition for urban interventions in the lots of the quarter of Velluters in València.

Objective: Research and give ideas for the temporary use of empty plots in the Velluters quarter. These must be ideas that revitalize the neighbourhood in response to functional, social, and cultural needs, that incorporate environmental quality to its urban landscape. Besides, use the Princess Theater, one of the first ones of the disctrict openned in 1853, as a place to create social activities fot the community.

Scope: Inform the local government of the needs of the citizens and denounce the shortcomings of the neighborhood and pressure the administration to act in the neighborhood regeneration through several activities such as cinema events at the vacant plot.

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COMPET

TITIONS

DESIGNER

SMART AID SYSTEM + STATIONS Innovative Health Ideas National Competition SMART AID SYSTEM + STATIONS will revolutionize public health by pairing a global health information network with a flexible healthcare station to provide everyday access to preventative medicine and unify existing healthcare systems. The SMART AID STATIONS + APP will create a community-based, open source kit-of-parts that can grow and change over time to address local health needs.

As the SMART AID STATIONS + APP fill in the missing links of the local healthcare network, they will also act as data collectors – feeding information into the global SMART AID SYSTEM Blockchain network. This new decentralized and secure network will create a publicly accessible data platform, thereby facilitating analysis and communication across all healthcare stakeholders. By using the SMART AID SYSTEM + STATIONS, stakeholders can understand local public health issues using real time data. The infinite and reconfigurable SMART AID STATION can be customized to respond to local needs.

SMART AID STATION | KIT-OF-PARTS

NATIONAL COMPETITION

The SMART AID STATION is a community-based, open-source kit-of-parts that can grow and adapt according to the local community’s needs. It is a modular system that offers a wide variety of services that can be customized to provide health solutions developed via the SMART AID SYSTEM. Unlike traditional medical buildings, it is scalable and easily interchangeable in order to address the wide variety of ever-changing public health challenges that occur outside of traditional medicine.

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DESIGNER

CONNECTIVITY

Food deserts in the US affect 23.5 million in urban neighborhoods and rural towns. In New York City alone, 750,000 residents live in food deserts. This contributes to a poor diet and higher levels of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

5.0

ACCESSIBILITY

NATIONAL COMPETITION

Gender is one of the main social determinants of health in India. It plays a major role in women’s health outcomes and access to healthcare. In most cases, heathcare is prioritized towards men due to their role in society. This is even more prominent in inaccessible places such as Kibber, India, which sits at 14,009 ft.

As a result, making it only possible for 2% of medical professionals to reach these remote areas.

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IN PROGRESS CASE STUDY5.2 III

NYC

PREVENTATIVE

“South Sudan is a country that is affected by complex emergencies resulting from prolonged conflict, climate change, a broken health system and outbreaks of communicable diseases.”- Dr Abdulmumini Usman, WHO

5.1

The SMART AID SYSTEM + STATION is a global two-way feedback loop, providing real-time health data from the user to the network. Making this data widely accessible leads to local, regional, and, executed correctly, global solutions that are implemented via the distributed network of SMART AID STATIONS. 5.3

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DESIGNER

PLAY AND LEARN COMMUNITY CENTER El Pardo nursery school LOCATION: Spain DATE: 2008 PROGRAM: Nursery school for 0 - 3 years old childre OBJECTIVE: The project starts from the observation of the place. One of the concerns that accompany this projected is trying to extend the useful time of the proposal to the maximum, and also the number of neighbors to which it serves. This will, by the size of the plot, lead us to create a gradation of parks and gardens that will work outside the strict schedule of the nursery.

The wide roads invaded by dense traffic not match with the scale of children proposed. The playground, around which the project is articulated, arises closed on itself. Then it seems a shelter to protect children and create a more graspable space. The classrooms are located in the northwest of the plot. Their access to the patio, with more translucent surface, has southeast orientation to catch the sunlight in cold seasons. In summer sunshine is shaded by deciduous vegetation and perforated panels on the facades. The elevation from the Boulevard hints the rich interior spaces through U-glass and the trees which take the high presence in the city.

VII NATIONAL AWARD FOR YOUNG ARCHITECTS

AWARD: VII National Award for young architects

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DESIGNER

PLAZA PUERTO CANFRANC, VALLECAS, MADRID Competition to rennovate the historic center of Vallecas, Madrid In a society in which daily life is increasingly developed in the private sphere (home, computer, car, work, shopping centers ...) the new role of the city as a public space and forum is very important.

Therefore, a policy that reinforces pedestrian traffic is necessary: ​​ the recovery of pedestrian “oasis”, where life in the open air takes place; the balance of the different types of traffic in the city (pedestrian and road); and the reconquest of the city as a place for the people.

NATIONAL COMPETITION

We understand the square as a meeting point, central to the neighborhood, a necessary VOID in an urban fabric of great building density that has grown in a disorderly way.

The square provides the urban environment with a green and social lung, so necessary to promote relationships and coexistence among residents of all ages. Here there is room for everyone, various activities can be carried out simultaneously without hindering the rest, which guarantees social cohesion and coexistence.

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3,5 m PASO PEATONAL

PAVIMENTO ECOLÓGICO

4,5 m PERMEABLE

PTE. 3% PLAZA DURA

TERRIZO PERMEABLE

5m PASO PEATONAL

SPAIN

TERRIZO PERMEABLE

26 m TRANSPORTE PÚBLICO

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silvia vercher

Academic & Reseach Portfolio

silviavercher@gmail.com

ILLA DE LA PASSIO

TROPIC DE CAPRICORNI

FORMENTERA

ILLA DELS TAURONS

TERRA DE L’ AIGUA