The City As a Framework

Architectural Design Studio

Welsh School of Architecture

(Cardiff University) 2017-2018

Design mentor: Zoe Berman

Year chair: Shibu Raman, Michael Corr Individual Project

Creating a mixed- use strategy, where places of work and technical training occur alongside affordable mixed live-work spaces is a key aim of the Maker city. The philosophy of the studio is the site to be improved by altering and adding to the existing instead of the unsustainable approach of total demolition and rebuilding.

Inspired by “De Stadt als Casco” - a principle of bottom-up city development, from the industrial premises of Amsterdam, by which the city is seen as a “casco’’ with multiple possible fill-ups, the project aims to test how underused industrial areas can be turned into an entrepreneurial urban community. According to the vision the users of space are seen not as passive consumers, but as active partners in the development of the neighborhood.

I believe that this new approach to the built environment is the right response to the societal shift from large-quantity mass manufacturing to knowledgebased, high-craft production by skilled professionals and creatives that identify rather with the artisan tradition of entrepreneurship.

Should architects and planners control the life of a community?

In contrast to the current predominantly residential masterplan for the area by the local authorities, this project seeks to create a self-sufficient community that develops gradually over time. The role of the architect is to create a minimum plan or “framework”, but enhance the life-giving qualities of the existing neighborhood. It delves in dept into what are the parameters to create a self-sufficient community that embraces the philosophy of the mixed-use city, here places of work and living are organically combined with spaces of public use and supporting common needs, places we visit.

The project looks at another city with an industrial pastAmsterdam, where urban visions are following a new approach. In Ijburg (Amsterdam), entire streets are built following the concept of the neighborhoods built by the citizens. Another example is “Kunststadt” (Art City) in NDSM Amsterdam, where an abandoned shipyard is renovated and put to use, the city is developed and financed solely by the people, and the architect is commissioned to design and frame the city within the industrial complex, the interior is to the end users.

What a beautiful image: The city is sleeping. Maybe she’s lost her pulse. Nothing and no one can awaken her. Then commes the artist with a gift for the city: A KISS. A soft delicious kiss on the mouth. A flowery kiss is a powerful metaphor. I believe it takes two for a really good kiss.