Portfolio: Peter Mielnicki, 2012-2016

port fo l io

PETER MIELNICKIM.ARCH

GRADUATE SCHOOL FOR ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITYNEW YORK CITY

2016

CONTENTS

JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER

INTRODUCTION

48

5

stars not stripes

surplus and self-spectaclization

SNIFFPORT

HARLEM WATERSHED & BLOCK PARTY

56

10

DISINTEGRATE MERKATO

SELFBANK

74

22

dissecting dynamic in an Addis market and light rail

presence of memory

INHERIT INHABIT

THERE WILL BE WASTE

80

30

cable cars and walls in Mexico City

trash, trains and trusses for public housing

CONCRETE BED, PROTOTYPE, & OIL-CAN BANJO

EPILOGUE

EISBURG 2040

96

110

106

an ol.factory

a waypoint and a party

SCALE MODELJuvenile Detention Center, p.48

INTRODUCTION

ARCHITECTURE ARISES out of a surplus of skills, time and material. As the act of building is from the beginning of history a function of human settlement, the craft of building is a function of tectonic, political, and economic risk-taking and experiment.

My training in economics for nearly a decade prior to my start in architecture gives an analytical edge to my act of design. The benefit of economic thinking is seeing an unfolding chain of relationships through past and present, across disciplines and events. Tracing chains of value reveals more unexpected information. It is in my new training in architecture that I have recognized personal conviction and compassion for habitat emerge in my evolution in design. Given my two merged viewpoints, I understand that in any field, 'realities' are conceived, conveyed, and narrated. Meanwhile, my reinterpretation of architecture is not only in material terms, but in a reality grounded in the value of architecture's ideas, patterns, and its relevance to society...the frontier of intangible consequences and a tangible art.

What is the nature of surplus at the present moment? For most of the developed world, we live in times of unprecedented surplus and exploitation to a point that our own existence is arguably at risk. More interesting and often overlooked, what deficits persist or have emerged? How can they affect the value of architecture?

Consumers or the Consumed

Chaos at the horse races is perceived out of the self-orchestration of simultaneous and independent roles. In extending that metaphor to our world of high capital mobility, information oversaturation, fashion cycles, instant gratification, extant threats of nuclear war, machine intelligence; defining the real is blurred amid, well, chaos.

We are the generators of this noise, engaged in self-satisfaction at a modern tempo. Meaning itself becomes as cluttered as our physical reality and the virtual one that reinforces it. As consumers of our own realities, we must keep moving. To prevent our own consumption? But that act has already taken place.

5

In Individualism, Isolation

What is often sold as a novelty belies a sacrosanct sameness and adhesion to plutocratic order. Furthermore, the public sphere is marginalized to make way for enterprise of individualism. Its a brilliant twist: the public sphere is where our morals are tested and remade; through its depreciation, our values are vetted only within the consumptive chorus competing for our ever-shorter attention spans.

This engenders a thumbs up, thumbs down mentality, a value system of likes and dislikes. The side-effects of capital and societys introversion have the compounding effect of distancing design from its purpose not a good of surplus, but in service of surplus. This paradoxically resists relevance to the present; by readily subscribing to an all-out liberal market agenda, design becomes a public non-good. We are not advocating revolution (yet), however there is a richness lost in unconscious perpetuation of this formula. By divorcing from the commerce of negligence, an antidote architecture commits to forthright engagement of the present and to an enterprise of ideas.

Self-spectaclization

Consumer society has the odd effect of expressing individuality through the display of certain products to

convey personal traits (in reality, tastes), although these very products are widely available and consumed. That solicited display morphs into a self-spectaclization, reinforced by the displays of others engaged in the same task. Distinction is coded in an array of display, itself a function of disposable capital. While this portends well for consumption, it is rather unnerving for our planet, civic fabrics, and architecture as well.

As a resource, money is a means of communicating and addressing need. As a surplus commodity, money is left composing its own shrines. In the public realm, architecture risks entrapment within fashionable displays of consumption, self-spectaclization, and a competition of objects. It decontextualizes to the point of floating above its domicile, in many cases quite literally (new cities in China or Billionaires Row in New York). Dangerous associations for architecture are as shells for the private societies of the owners. No longer public, but still within the public, it is a spectacle removed from its surroundings.

So, where is architecture for the rest of us?

Sure, architecture has always been subject to the whims of its clients. But when the client no longer feels responsibility toward any checks or balances, then architecture - as the most public form of art - will

6

shoulder all of the visible blame. This doesnt mean the architect should avoid certain projects (or money) deliberately. Instead, it is to be understood that within our system is limitless creativity. Architecture is an art of engaging circumstance while reflecting on value, and systems of value. New technologies, accessibility to information, and an ability to tap into and infect the social pulse are all powerful tools with which to inject potential into our domain. Defining systems of value is trickier. Architecture should not refrain from pushing the limits of the possible, but it cannot neglect to push the limits of the probable as well.

Small and accumulated changes in the everyday support an architecture for the rest of us. This is how much of the built environment evolved over millennia, as people reacted and attuned to their habitat. The history of culture furthermore shaped an aesthetic narrative within the living experiment of city fabrics. The modern movement injected too much hubris, decoupling from the environment and to some deleterious extent, established patterns of habitation. Modern capital in the post-war era emerged with its own systems of logic, injecting further distance - and concurrent homogeneity - in our ways of living.

Sensitivity to habitat and sensibility toward information are required to consider long-term, positive outcomes, with the inherent rigidities of the modern movement nuanced by a more flexible and democratic direction of design.

This action will dehomogenize modernism, consumption, and a presumptive future; rather than going against the current, it pulls separate currents together to simulate productive turbulence. While architecture was never really good at revolutionizing socioeconomic concerns, it is through interrogation of routine we engage more fully the act of living.So as such, architecture is not a consequence, or an ultimate consequence maker - these are extremes - but an intimate part of the loop of our evolving habitat. In this circulation and open to healthy interrogation, it is a powerful currency.

The capacity of design to make meaningful change is tangible, not just in material well-being, which is itself a limiting factor, but in how we perceive space and ourselves (in and even out of that space). An act of architecture is one of living experiment, perceiving changes while consciously and conspicuously testing boundaries with the hope of achieving intangible and simultanesouly visible change.

7

1studio work

HARLEM

BLOCK

WATERSHED

PARTY

A stop between two parks, separated by two dead ends. In between is an urban context under rapid development.No linking indicators, a disjointed flow in recreation by the chaning urban environment.

Robert Mosess vision for public housing was his private concern. The Frederick Douglas houses in the Upper West Side are symptomatic of his formulae, now flanked by upper-income development to the south.

Provide a mirror onto development, not of it. A visual cue materializes the transition of the urban context. Deliberate on urban development. Re-establish the flow of recreation.

A public pool and recreational facility that takes on the spirit of the neighborhood. Taking the logic of typical NYC public housing typology, while inverting the flaws and accommodating for recreational patterns of the neighborhood.

Materials are simple, referring to the immediate context of brick and steel. Bathroom and water amentities must be provided on this 13.6mi stretch of recreational paths.

A sister project to the WaterShed, however within an existing development. Demographic felixibility must couple with an openness and public accessibility. Merging with the existing landscape while confronting the negative subtext of public housing projects.

CONTEXT

GOALS

CONSTRAINTS

11

MIE

LNIC

KIFA

13.

criti

c TO

MIS

AKI

Harlem WaterShed is a landmark in a restless neighborhood. WaterShed stakes its ground adjacent to the massive Manhattanville viaduct, within sight of the newest edition of the famed Cotton Club. Unlike its neighbor, which reincarnates the past in a new brick building, WaterShed is a product of local demolition, a public utility and present promontory. It is a sort of temple of perennial tempo, a present that simultanesouly will be at each instance of change - built of materials from the past, while not marking a particular point in time.

Recycled utility ducts, steel rafters and bricks re-assemble into a space for the public and of the public; a brick and pipe canvas for expression of urban talent in grafitti. High-grade plastics make the durable slats and sliding doors that shelter the toilets. The wrapping pipes follow the curve of the inter-park path, while providing a shelter for the toilet pods.

WATERSHED

12

...We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time.

T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding

HARL

EM W

ATER

SHED

MIE

LNIC

KIFA

13.

criti

c TO

MIS

AKI

13

2 elevatio

n gain

STREET-LEVEL PLANS

AMTR

AK O

VER

PASS

0 50'

...And the ragged rock in the restless waters,Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it;On a halcyon day it is merely a monument,In navigable weather it is always a seamarkTo lay a course by: but in the sombre seasonOr the sudden fury, is what it always was.

T.S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages

What is a waypoint? What is its meaning in relation to time, its relationship to a space, or a journey through space? For that matter, a journey through time?

This public toilet is an element of a physical journey - a liminal node on a path connecting two parks, one land-based and the other on the water edge; further, it is built during a time of great flux in Harlem. The fabric of the neighbrohood is changing, while leftover facades of brick seem to inhabit another history.

Such a landmark attends neither past nor present. By occupying the unexpected familiar, it is at once everything, what it always was - therfore, a waypoint of timebut not subservient to it.

14

2 elevatio

n gain

125th ST

BR

OAD

WAY VIAD

UCT

15

SCALE MODEL1" : 4'

16

NORTH ELEVATION

PLAN VIEW

0 50'

SUBTERRANEAN PLANS

MIE

LNIC

KIFA

13.

criti

c TO

MIS

AKI

0 50'

BLOCKPARTY

moat gulf bird bath mere inlet well slip & slide lakelet reservoir sluice narrows aqueduct olympic pool harbor culvert gutter container fjord watercourse tank estuary hot tub cove slew canal shallows sound waterpark strait natatorium bath

lagoon puddle millpondreservoir basin lock tub watershed runnel bayou

The above terms can all be associated with the word pool. The challenge is to build a public pool on an existing public housing development. Before asking what is a public pool, it is critical to offer a definition of public good and pool that suits the context and simultanesouly is flexible enough to accommodate a wide demographic range and rapid urban change.

What about some elderly individuals who cant swim, or persons afraid of the water? How do we engage and excite everyones participation to the fullest? How do current neighbors accommodate and new ones join in?

Beyond a recreation center: vista, fountain, swimming pool, quiet space, loud space, amphitheatre, skate bowl, barbecue pit.

18

STREET LEVEL PLANS

0 100'

SKATE BOWL

SHALLOW POOL

SWIMMING HOLE

PLAZA

AMPHITHEATER 2

PARTY DECKS

AMPHITHEATER 1

UNDE

RGRO

UND

ACCE

SS

AXONOMETRIC

21

MIE

LNIC

KISP

14.

criti

c RO

THST

EIN

SELFBANKHow do we re-form our identity; what is it to be the person that is ourself? What role do physical objects play in the [re]formulation of our identity?

Science may never know. Patients with chronic memory loss have been documented to recover lost memory at the sight of a once familiar object, only to lose it all again in some instances. The process of memory formation and retention may never be fully understand.

A public space is proposed in which to deposit memories in their physical form - these are private catalysts in a public context. In exchange for safekeping, all deposits are accessible to the general public. Rentable overnight facilities and other amenities make full immersion in a public memory vault possible.

22

CONCEPTPROGRAMMATIC DIAGRAM

It is a theme park where all thrills are unique and personal. Discovery is perpetual. Identities subtly reformulate with each visit - private context in a public catalyst: a memory bank.

23

RENDERINGINTERIOR

RENDERINGSTREET VIEW

AXONOMETRICPROGRAM / UTILITIESAXONOMETRICPROGRAM / UTILITIES

MO

NTAG

E RETRIEVAL LEVEL & FRAG

MEN

TED M

EMO

RY (STEARNS, 2013)

24

SUB-LEVELSG-1,2

GROUND LEVEL MEDIA LEVELG+1

RETRIEVAL LEVELSG+3,4

THERAPY LEVELG+2

SMALL VAULTS

SMALL VAULTS TOILETS

STAFF(ONE LEVEL DOWN)

RECEPTION

FULTON STENTRANCE

DEKALB AVENUE ENTRANCE

FIRE ESCAPE

LUNCHROOM

RENTALLODGING

COMMON HALL

TOILETS

MEDIACENTER

SCREENINGTHEATRE

RENTALLODGING

THER-APY

SHOWERS

OBSERVATION DECK(ONE LEVEL UP)

COMMONS

THERAPYLOUNGE

0 50

PLANS

SUB-LEVELSG-1,2



THERAPY LEVELG+2

SMALL VAULTS



RECEPTION

FULTON STENTRANCE


FIRE ESCAPE

LUNCHROOM

RENTALLODGING

COMMON HALL

TOILETS

MEDIACENTER

SCREENINGTHEATRE

RENTALLODGING

THER-APY

SHOWERS


COMMONS

THERAPYLOUNGE

0 50

PLANS

SUB-LEVELSG-1,2



THERAPY LEVELG+2

SMALL VAULTS



RECEPTION

FULTON STENTRANCE


FIRE ESCAPE

LUNCHROOM

RENTALLODGING

COMMON HALL

TOILETS

MEDIACENTER

SCREENINGTHEATRE

RENTALLODGING

THER-APY

SHOWERS


COMMONS

THERAPYLOUNGE

0 50

PLANS

SUB-LEVELSG-1,2



THERAPY LEVELG+2

SMALL VAULTS



RECEPTION

FULTON STENTRANCE


FIRE ESCAPE

LUNCHROOM

RENTALLODGING

COMMON HALL

TOILETS

MEDIACENTER

SCREENINGTHEATRE

RENTALLODGING

THER-APY

SHOWERS


COMMONS

THERAPYLOUNGE

0 50

PLANS

SUB-LEVELSG-1,2



THERAPY LEVELG+2

SMALL VAULTS



RECEPTION

FULTON STENTRANCE


FIRE ESCAPE

LUNCHROOM

RENTALLODGING

COMMON HALL

TOILETS

MEDIACENTER

SCREENINGTHEATRE

RENTALLODGING

THER-APY

SHOWERS


COMMONS

THERAPYLOUNGE

0 50

PLANS

25

SCALE MODEL1" : 12'

28

WASTEWILL BETHERE IK

EBE

& M

IELN

ICKI

FA14

. cr

itics

LO

TEK

ONE MANS TRASH ISANOTHERS HOME

31

IKEB

E &

MIE

LNIC

KIFA

14.

criti

cs L

OTE

K

FACADE

VERTICALCIRCULATION

UTILITIES

STRUCTURALSYSTEM

PLANT

3T SILICA AND METALRECUPERATED WEEKLY

FELLS POINT WTS DELIVERY60TD/REACTOR

WASTE REMOVAL ANDPROCESSING

HVAC

RADIANT HEATING

VEHICLEPARKING

ELEVATOR

EGRESS STAIR

SPACEFRAME AND GLAZING

OPAQUE PANELS

Plasma gasification technology is not new. Rather than burning waste, it zaps waste with plasma gas at temperatures exceeding that of the sun, turning it into silica (sand), recoupable liquid metals, and a net output of energy. Greenhouse gas is net negative.

Our site along the Harlem River in the Bronx has a strong industrial past, located under a mile from the Hunts Point waste processing facility. Here, plasma plant will join 300 housing units in five towers. Not only does the plant benefit from proximity to NYC waste, but housing benefits from energy, heating, and a 'truss lifestyle,' generating unique housing opportunities as well as a structurally daring cantilever over the Harlem River.

32

SOUTH ELEVATION

EAST ELEVATION

RENDERINGSTREET VIEW

33

Bronx Pop 1.419M

avg Income 26.7275

pct Pop svy 0.14

td 265.35

COMMERCIAL

avg Income 27.464

pct Pop 14%

td 691.46

Zip Population Pct Total Tons/Pop Income (Ks) Pct Total Tons/Income

10451 45713 22.7% 157.0 29.0 0.2 146.2

10454 37337 18.5% 128.2 25.2 0.2 126.6

10455 39665 19.7% 136.2 26.4 0.2 132.9

10474 12281 6.1% 42.2 26.3 0.2 132.5

10472 66358 33.0% 227.9 30.4 0.2 153.1

201354 137.3

BREAKDOWN

Commercial C&D C&D

weighted 50/50 Diff Putriscible Non-Putriscible Clean Fill

155.91 151.60 4.30 40.71 35.88 79.31

128.06 127.43 0.63 33.44 29.47 65.15

135.88 134.57 1.31 35.49 31.27 69.13

51.21 87.35 (36.14) 13.37 11.78 26.05

220.40 190.50 29.90 57.56 50.72 112.12

RESIDENTIAL

Zip Pop Ratio Pop adj Income Drv GDPsub Wt. GDP adj FINAL ADJ

10451 22.7% 60.24 29.04 0.211476842 56.12 59.83

10454 18.5% 49.20379845 25.15 0.183148849 48.60 49.14

10455 19.7% 52.27170543 26.4 0.192251675 51.01 52.15

10474 6.1% 16.18 26.32 0.191669094 50.86 19.65

10472 33.0% 87.45 30.41 0.221453539 58.76 84.58

137.32

What does 10451 generate?

59.41TD Residential Waste

2.6 lbs / person

10454

50

100

150

200

250

300

10

20

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

10454

RESIDENTIAL WASTE

COMMERCIAL WASTE

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION DEBRIS700

350

60

40

20

ONLY STATEN ISLAND IS WORSE THAN THE BRONX AT RECYCLING COMMERCIAL WASTE, AT JUST 19%

MANHATTAN 29%BROOKYLN 29%QUEENS 28%BRONX 19%STATEN ISLAND 14%

IN-CITY TRANSFER STATIONS

RESIDENTIAL C&D DEBRIS 6%COMMERICAL C&D DEBRIS 15%NON-BUILDING RELATED C&D DEBRIS 79%

NEW YORK CITY CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION DEBRIS BREAKDOWN

CONSTRUCTION

FINANCE AND INSURANCE

REAL ESTATE RENTAL AND LEASING

MANUFACTURING

WHOLESALE TRADE

RETAIL TRADE

TRANSPORTATION AND WAREHOUSING

UTILITIES

INFORMATION

PROFESSIONAL, TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC

MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SERVICES

HEALTHCARE AND SOCIAL ASSISTANCE

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

ACCOMODATION AND FOOD

OTHER SERVICES

UNCLASSIFIED AND OTHER

STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

FOOD

ORGANICS

MGP

PAPER

OTHER

TOXICS

85% 100%

RESIDENTIAL WASTE CONSUMED, TONS PER DAY

COMMERCIAL WASTE CONSUMED, TONS PER DAY

WIWW

WIWW

RiverBend Houses 624

ABC

MIDRISE DUPLEXGARDEN TOWNHOUSE

A

B

C2BR

3BR

CELLAR

2BR

2BR

Harlem River Houses 5711100 Patterson Houses 1788 222Sugar HIll 124 124

Arth

ur A

. Sc

homb

urg

Plaz

a

Observatory Place

Edw

ard

Ston

e Ho

use

Waterside Plaza

225

East

81S

t

171

1 Fi

rst

Aven

ue

One

Car

negi

e Ha

ll

East River Plaza Project

119

And

Thi

rd

Fift

h on

the

Par

k

Via Verde

The

Mont

erey

Sugar Hill Development

21

E 96

St

Abra

ham

Linc

oln

St.N

Icho

las

Hous

es

Morr

isan

ia A

ir R

ight

s Ho

usin

g

Jack

son

Hous

es

Twin Parks Northwest

Mel

rose

Hou

ses

Mott

Hav

en H

ouse

s

Mithchel

Pat

ters

on

U.P.

A.C.

A. S

ite

5

Mar

tin

Luth

er K

ind

Jr.

Hous

es

1440

Tel

ler

Ave

White, Gaylord Houses

2950

Gra

nd C

onco

urse

, Br

onx

2330

Bro

nx A

ve

Harlem River Houses

Riverbend Houses

The

Balt

on A

pt

CL T

ower

Fift

h Av

e La

kevi

ew A

pt

1255

Fif

th A

venu

e

1212

5th

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1974

Hu

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nue,

Bro

nx

THE

STAC

K

Edward Stone House 215The Savoy The Lucerne 225 East 81St The Strathsmore

Arbor House

Paul Rudolph Residences

10.3 UG/M3

17.8 UG/M3

18.9 UG/M3

17.4 UG/M3

14.6 UG/M3

15.8 UG/M3

13.8 UG/M312.8 UG/M3

BA

CD

E

F

G

H

J

K

L

M

NP Q

R S

T

V

W

X Y

Z

6/1000

9/1000

12/1000

12/1000 12/1000

7/1000

12/1000

11/1000 11/100010/1000

8/1000

6/1000

POLLUTION (CONCENTRATION OF FINE PARTICULATE MATTEREPA STANDARD = 15 UG/M3

17.8 UG/M3

A B C D E F G H J K L M N P Q R S T V W X Y Z

PRELIMINARY TREATMENT

UASB REACTOR

PRIMARY TREATMENT

SLUDGESUCTION PVC 3

INFLUENT

SEDIMENTATION TANKS; FLOATING TRASH TO LANDFILL; PRIMARY SLUDGE TO CYCLONE DEGRITTERS, GRIT TO LANDFILL

SCREENING CHAMBER WASTE TO LANDFILL

INFLUENT PVC 10

SLUDGE ACTIVATION REACTORAERATION TANKS

SECONDARY SLUDGE RECIRCULATED AS SEED TO ACTIVATION; REMAINDER COMBINED WITH PRIMARY SLUDGE FOR FURTHER TREATMENT

POTENTIAL PHOSPHOROUS REMOVALTO DISINFECTION TANKS, TO ENVIRONMENT

-

ANAEROBIC UPFLOW

LEACHATE

RECIRCULATION

FAN BLOWERSMOTOR

RECIRC. PUMP

PUMP

FINAL SETTLING TANK

RIAS

RIAS

WIWW

WIWW

SMSR

SMSR

D115D115

D115D115

HARLEM RIVER YARD TRANSFER STATION

HRY:TS

HRY:TS

A:MRF

ACTION MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITY

A:MRF

WIWW

WIWW






CONSTRUCTION



MANUFACTURING

WHOLESALE TRADE

RETAIL TRADE


UTILITIES

INFORMATION







OTHER SERVICES



FOOD

ORGANICS

MGP

PAPER

OTHER

TOXICS

85% 100%



WIWW

WIWW

Lets face it; our modern economy depends on accelerated consumption. In fact, over 80 percent of U.S. products are used once, then thrown away. We generate massive quantities of waste, much of it toxic.

Short of a cataclysmic change in global consumption patterns, waste will follow us wherever we go - from under our beds, to the exosphere (yes, space trash).

STUD

IO G

ROUP

DRA

WIN

GFA

14.

criti

cs L

OTE

K

10454

50

100

150

200

250

300

10

20

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

10454

RESIDENTIAL WASTE

COMMERCIAL WASTE


350

60

40

20






CONSTRUCTION



MANUFACTURING

WHOLESALE TRADE

RETAIL TRADE


UTILITIES

INFORMATION







OTHER SERVICES



FOOD

ORGANICS

MGP

PAPER

OTHER

TOXICS

85% 100%



WIWW

WIWW


ABC


A

B

C2BR

3BR

CELLAR

2BR

2BR


Arth

ur A

. Sc

homb

urg

Plaz

a

Observatory Place

Edw

ard

Ston

e Ho

use

Waterside Plaza

225

East

81S

t

171

1 Fi

rst

Aven

ue

One

Car

negi

e Ha

ll


119

And

Thi

rd

Fift

h on

the

Par

k

Via Verde

The

Mont

erey


21

E 96

St

Abra

ham

Linc

oln

St.N

Icho

las

Hous

es

Morr

isan

ia A

ir R

ight

s Ho

usin

g

Jack

son

Hous

es


Mel

rose

Hou

ses

Mott

Hav

en H

ouse

s

Mithchel

Pat

ters

on

U.P.

A.C.

A. S

ite

5

Mar

tin

Luth

er K

ind

Jr.

Hous

es

1440

Tel

ler

Ave


2950

Gra

nd C

onco

urse

, Br

onx

2330

Bro

nx A

ve

Harlem River Houses

Riverbend Houses

The

Balt

on A

pt

CL T

ower

Fift

h Av

e La

kevi

ew A

pt

1255

Fif

th A

venu

e

1212

5th

Ave

4 The Mile

Obse

rvat

ory

Plac

e

1974

Hu

ghes

Ave

nue,

Bro

nx

THE

STAC

K


Arbor House


10.3 UG/M3

17.8 UG/M3

18.9 UG/M3

17.4 UG/M3

14.6 UG/M3

15.8 UG/M3

13.8 UG/M312.8 UG/M3

BA

CD

E

F

G

H

J

K

L

M

NP Q

R S

T

V

W

X Y

Z

6/1000

9/1000

12/1000

12/1000 12/1000

7/1000

12/1000

11/1000 11/100010/1000

8/1000

6/1000


17.8 UG/M3



UASB REACTOR

PRIMARY TREATMENT

SLUDGESUCTION PVC 3

INFLUENT



INFLUENT PVC 10




-

ANAEROBIC UPFLOW

LEACHATE

RECIRCULATION

FAN BLOWERSMOTOR

RECIRC. PUMP

PUMP

FINAL SETTLING TANK

RIAS

RIAS

WIWW

WIWW

SMSR

SMSR

D115D115

D115D115


HRY:TS

HRY:TS

A:MRF


A:MRF

WIWW

WIWW






CONSTRUCTION



MANUFACTURING

WHOLESALE TRADE

RETAIL TRADE


UTILITIES

INFORMATION







OTHER SERVICES



FOOD

ORGANICS

MGP

PAPER

OTHER

TOXICS

85% 100%



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32

10035 10037 10031 10026 10027 10030 10451 10454 10455 10474 10472

10035 10037 10031 10026 10027 10030 10451 10454 10455 10474 10472

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

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10

20

40

60

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100

120

140

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CONSTRUCTION

FINANCE AND INSURANCEREAL ESTATE RENTAL AND LEASING

MANUFACTURING

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RETAIL TRADETRANSPORTATION AND WAREHOUSING

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Waste generation is a largely a function of income, locale, and population density. We assembled waste data and ran simple regression analysis to determine types of waste generation in the Bronx, N.Y.

Our findings are illustrated here.

10454

50

100

150

200

250

300

10

20

140

120

100

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RESIDENTIAL WASTE

COMMERCIAL WASTE


350

60

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TOXICS

85% 100%



WIWW

WIWW

33

RENDERINGNORTH VIEW

THE BRONX

MAJOR DEEGAN

EXPY

METR

O NOR

TH RA

IL BR

IDGE

MANHATTAN

MADI

SON

AVE B

RIDG

E

AXONOMETRICUTILITY DIAGRAM

Plasma gasification produces enough energy to maintain the reactor plant, with a typical net surplus of up to 50%. Pollution is minimal; CO2 is a byproduct, but far less than a comparable natural gas plant energy output.

Heavy metals are collected, while toxins are broken down by extreme heat. This is a growing technology used worldwide, including in the U.S.A.

IKEB

E &

MIE

LNIC

KIFA

14.

criti

cs L

OTE

K

WASTE DELIVERY BY CSX RAIL

and

PLASMAPLANT

RESIDENTIALWASTE VAC

RESIDENTIALRADIANT HEAT

RESIDENTIALFILETERED AIR

POWERGENERATION

SHREDDER

REACTOR

CONDENSOR

COLLECTORAIR FILTER

GENERATOR

TRANSFORMER

HIGH VOLTAGETRANSMISSION FORREGIONAL EXPORT

LOCAL POWER SUPPLY

GAS + SILICA + METALS

EXPORT


and

PLASMAPLANT




POWERGENERATION

SHREDDER

REACTOR

CONDENSOR

COLLECTORAIR FILTER

GENERATOR

TRANSFORMER


LOCAL POWER SUPPLY


EXPORT

38


and

PLASMAPLANT




POWERGENERATION

SHREDDER

REACTOR

CONDENSOR

COLLECTORAIR FILTER

GENERATOR

TRANSFORMER


LOCAL POWER SUPPLY


EXPORT

Hunts Point, in the Bronx, is a twilight outsourcing zone, a temporary host to New York City waste before it is shipped via rail and truck to states as far as Ohio.

Consequences are measurable so close to home - as alarming as the highest rates of asthma in NYC's population adjacent to the waste facilities.

The outsourcing and infrastructure of the waste disposal is primitive, as most waste ends up buried in landfills or burned in dirty ways.

What's the missed opportunity here?

39

SCALE MODEL1" : 6'

AXONOMETRICFLOOR LAYOUT

42

STUDY MODELSITE MASSING

SCALE MODELPERSPECTIVE VIEW

G + 3 : 4 units

G + 4 : 6 units

G + 5 : 5 units

G + 6 : 12 units

G + 7 : 16 units

G + 8 : 16 units

Roof : PublicG + 10 : 6 units

UNITS TOTAL : 78of whichSINGLES : 26STUDIO : 61 BED: 172 BED: 183 BED: 3DUPLEX(1-2 BED) : 8

15,500 ft 2 FACILITIES60,500 ft 2 RESIDENCE

avg 775 ft2 RESIDENCE, OF WHICH1/3 SHARED COMMONS

SINGLESTUDIO1 BED2 BED3 BEDDUPLEXFACILITIES

G + 9 : 6 units

G + 2 : program (day care)

G + 1 : program (salon / laundry)

TYPICAL CONFIGURATION & HOUSING UNITS PER TOWER

SCALE MODELWELDING DETAIL

MIE

LNIC

KISP

15.

criti

c KI

M

McMillan Water Treatment Plantin Washington, DC is an abandoned water filtration site. Around 25 acres of vaulted catacombs housing sand filters lie underground, dormant for decades.

A juvenile detention facility and high school bring the the site back to life, bulding on while making full use of the catacombs underneath. The detention facility revolutionizes the site and its typology.

DETENTIONCENTER

JUVENILE

G + 8' PLANS

48

PUBLIC CIRCULATION

SECURITY LEVEL 3

SECURITY LEVEL 2

SECURITY LEVEL 1

ACTIVITY CENTER

CAFE

PUBLIC PLAZA

SAND ROOM

INDEPENDENT HOUSING

TECHNICAL SCHOOL

NATIONAL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

INTAKE CENTER

MAIN THEATRE

ECKINGTON ACCESSNORTH CAPITOL ST

PUBLIC BATHS

AMPHITHEATRE

BATHS WATER COLLECTOR

BLOOMINGDALE PARK AND FIELDS

SPORT FIELDSWEST GATE

EXCHANGE POINT

HOWARD UNIVERSITY

PROMOTED HOUSING

CLASSROOMS

Over 70 students live on site, while a further 400 DC students with disciplinary records attend the school.

Public baths revamp the sand filters, instigating interaction with an adjacent university and a major childrens hospital and its overworked staff.

Importantly, a detention theatre company adds critical dynamism to the interactions between inside and outside worlds, fantasy, and reality.

FIR

ST S

T N

W

FACILITY AND SITE DIAGRAM

BOOKING & PROCESSING

SAND TUNNEL BACKSTAGE PUBLIC PLAZA BATHS ENTRANCE

INDOOR THEATER LIBRARY COMPUTER CENTER

50

STITCHED SECTION

0 100'RECEPTION AND TICKET HALL

LECTURE HALLS CLASSROOMS OUTDOOR AMPHITHEATER

51

AXONOMETRIC

ROOF PLAN

0 150'

54

BREAKOUT: The facilities break out in unexpected ways; the only juvenile detention center where the public audience plays a critical role.

BATHS: Capitalizing on the aquatic history of the site, the general public is drawn intimately into the baths, in an exchange of trust with the school.

RENDERINGPUBLIC BATHS

RENDERINGPLAZA TO COURT

RENDERINGBUILDING ON SITE

RENDERINGOPEN AIR ROOF PARK

SNIFFPORT

an OL.FACTORY

We are all aware that odors tr igger memories, emotional, and physical responses.

It was recently discovered that odors can elicit phsyiological responses, which can be used to our benefit. The mechanism by which they interact with our olfactory receptors does not take place in the nose, but on our major organs - kidney, heart, liver, and skin, among others. This isnt aromatherapy; its far more sohpisiticated, with enormous potential benefit for our health and well-being.

Not to mention industry.

Odorant treatment br ings together a clinical resort, high-tech medical facility, a taxonomic stockpile of artificial odorants, and a research facility to accommodate a high degree of specificity of therapeutic administration. As no two tastes for perfume are the same, our organisms respond very differently to subtle chemical shifts and var iations of a theme.

The Sniffport makes a home in the desert landscape of Tucson, Arizona. It combines research, therapy, restoration, and manufacture.

Like an odor molecule, it recombines into infinite combintations to adapt to the landscape, program specificity, and the sheer opportunity and promise of an emerging medical field.

55

AXONOMETRIC

a) RESIDENTIAL

b) CLINICAL

c) RECREATION

d) MANUFACTURE

PROTOTYPE 'COMMONS' CONFIGURATION

a.

b.

c.

d.

PROTOTYPE MULTIPLE LEVEL

PROTOTYPE MULTIPLE FLOORS

PROTOTYPE TWO LEVEL, OPEN PLAN

MIE

LNIC

KISP

16.

criti

c AR

AND

A

56

ROOF PLAN

GLAZING

DESERT VEGETATION ROOF

SECOND FLOOR

0 250'

57

RENDERING

RESIDENTIALCOURTYARDRENDERING

RESIDENTIAL COURTYARD

0 250'

INTERIOR PLAN

RECREATION: The facilities weave into the terrain, becoming a geometric mirror of the desert landscape.

CONSONANCE: Each geometric 'prototype' adjusts its orientation and configuration to adjust for climate and program needs.

LEFT PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: SITE MODEL PERSPECTIVE; SITE MODEL TOP; PROTOYPE MODEL SIDE; PROTOTYPE MODEL PERSEPCTIVE; PROTOTYPE MODEL ROOF DETAIL

THIS PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM: RENDERING, RESIDENCE COMMONS; RENDERING, CLINIC SECOND LEVEL WITH ROOF ACCESS

65

0' 250'

THERAPEUTIC ROOMS

ROOF GARDENS & GREENMWAYADVANCED TREATMENT

CLINICAL LABS WELCOME CENTER COURTYARD INDUSTRIAL LABS

RESIDENCES

CHEMICAL MANIFACTURE, STORAGE, & DELIVERY

STORM WATER CISTERN

SECTION

66

ROOF GREENWAY

SECOND LEVEL STRUCTURE

FIRST LEVEL STRUCTURE

ENCLOSURE

INDOOR PROGRAM AREA

SECTION CU

T

AXONOMETRIC

67

RENDERINGODORANT FACTORY FLOOR

2foreign studios

PHOTOGRAPHADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIAMERKATO. JUNE 2015

INTEGRATEDIS MERKATOStudy through drawing: the dynamics of a new light rail line bisecting Africa's largest market, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Elevate

d track

s create

a new

intersti

tial gal

lery: an

island

ecosyst

em of

shelter

s, vend

ing

areas, a

nd ped

estrian

mall.

Tracks

closer

to grad

e verit

ably

cut the

street

in hal

f, rende

ring it

impassa

ble. Ho

wever,

by cut

ting tra

ffic

in two

one-w

ay stree

ts, the

rail for

ms

an inte

rmedi

ate ver

tical sid

ewalk;

people

shuttle

alongi

sde do

nkeys a

nd goo

ds.

The n

ew lig

ht rail

cuts

Merka

to in h

alf; Me

rkato

adjusts.

Dynam

ics shif

t

as the

rail is p

artially

subsum

ed by

Merka

tos

own in

frastru

cture a

nd

comme

rcial pa

tterns.

Merka

tos dis

tinctly

inform

al resil

ience

redefin

es the

light ra

il

toward

a new

condi

tion.

The ra

il line

is reap

propria

ted by

vendin

g and se

rvice st

alls, sh

elter,

storage

, and p

edestri

an cro

ssings a

nd

thorou

ghfare

s.

Station

s take

on sur

roundi

ng

marke

t qualit

ies - ar

riving

rail

passen

gers ar

e absor

bed by

the bu

sy junc

tion, am

idst

shoesh

iners, p

eddlers

,

porters

, and p

atrons.

At

grade-

level se

ctions,

the sta

tion is a

vital

crossin

g for th

e

marke

t.

1b

3b

1a

3a

MIE

LNIC

KISU

MM

ER15

. cr

itic

ADM

ASSU

0 250m

STATIONED PERSON

CURBSIDE ACTIVITY

PEDESTRIAN

VEHICULAR TRAFFIC

STOPPED TRAFFIC

PEDESTRIAN SPEED

Elevate

d track

s create

a new

intersti

tial gal

lery: an

island

ecosyst

em of

shelter

s, vend

ing

areas, a

nd ped

estrian

mall.

Tracks

closer

to grad

e verit

ably

cut the

street

in hal

f, rende

ring it

impassa

ble. Ho

wever,

by cut

ting tra

ffic

in two

one-w

ay stree

ts, the

rail for

ms

an inte

rmedi

ate ver

tical sid

ewalk;

people

shuttle

alongi

sde do

nkeys a

nd goo

ds.

KEY

slow

fast

The ra

il line

is reap

propria

ted by

vendin

g and se

rvice st

alls, sh

elter,

storage

, and p

edestri

an cro

ssings a

nd

thorou

ghfare

s.

Station

s take

on sur

roundi

ng

marke

t qualit

ies - ar

riving

rail

passen

gers ar

e absor

bed by

the bu

sy junc

tion, am

idst

shoesh

iners, p

eddlers

,

porters

, and p

atrons.

At

grade-

level se

ctions,

the sta

tion is a

vital

crossin

g for th

e

marke

t.

2a2b

75

PERSPECTIVESGliding above traffic, the tram cuts time traveled to many places in Addis. Unfortunately, it cuts the city in many places, too - Merkato among them.

From the east, we enter the first station in Merkato, next to the Anwar Mosque. The station is the site of many intersections - of roads, commerce, and religion. Station entrances are used to cross the rail at the divided market. On leaving the station, the ride offers a singular perspective of market activity just beyond the rail fence.

When you stand in place all day with a lot of stuff, congested sidewalks are good for business. Not only does the elevated rail provide shelter above the road median, but it is also a valuable intersection where once chaotic traffic now funnels into Merkato. Relentless construction supports a flow of construction workers looking for relief and refreshment - only one side of traffic is crossed to access the now commercial median.

2

1

a

a

b

b

76

MAPPING ACTIVITYS

TATI

ON

LE

VEL

RA

IL O

VER

PA

SS

INFRASTRUCTURE ARROGATION

GROUND LEVEL ACTIVITY PROFILE

ACTORS AND MOVEMENT

STREET PLAN

INFRASTRUCTURE ELEVATION

INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN

77

Our donkey, once participant in the chaotic dynamics of the sidewalk and street curb, dis-covers a gateway to the market under the new elevated rail portion. The 750m passage south along the rail line as it descends toward grade along a concrete embankment is a fresh route, offering protec-tive cover at the median. Its something of a relief to have traffic only on one side...take off one blinder, perhaps?

3 a

b

There is no return to the previous condition of the market. The new light rail line will become a critical part of Addis Ababa's insfrastructure since it opened in late 2015, with future expansions already planned. Although the market was physically interrupted, its fluid condition has reappropriated parts of the rail line, imposing market conditions back onto the infrastructure.

In reality, it is an evolving dynamic of commerce, movement, and opportunity redefined. Drawing allows us to focus on the interactions of these forces in some measurable way, and graphically explain their dynamics. Hopefully we gain insight toward reinforcing positive symbiosis of market and infrastructure, and advocate for as of yet unseen or untested formulas.

78

CU

RB

SID

E L

EVE

L

INHERIT

RADICAL IN-FILL: transforming walls into cable car stations in Tlacalel, Mexico City.

INHABIT UACM

STATION 2 AXONOMETRIC




81

UR

BAN

SPR

AWL

1973

UR

BAN

SPR

AWL

2010

The expanding city copes with complex issues beyond infrastructure - socioeconomic marginzalization, political territorialization, and informal development, to name a few. Urban sprawl is partly opportunistic settlement for the vast population, much of it informal in nature.

In the vast expanse of Mexico City, areas of high geographic and socioenomic marginalization and political factionalization fray the city fabric. Marginalized city dwellers are affected by social and physical boundaries, long commutes, and a real and perceived lack of ownership of the city.

CHO

& M

IELN

ICKI

FA15

. cr

itic

ESCO

BED

O

82

HIG

H M

ARG

INAL

IZAT

ION

IN D

ARK

BLU

E

HIG

H P

OP.

DEN

SITY

IN R

ED

Tlacalel

PROPOSED CABLE CAR 'WALL STATIONS'

Such is the case in the neighborhood of Tlacalel. Against but with these odds, our intervention here will stretch across barriers, appropriate them, link territories physcially and socially, while encouraging residents' realization of an urban identity.

A cable car system will inhabit these barriers, transforming existing walls and fences into stations, stitching together hilly terrain, and integrating with major bus routes into the city.

A viable quality of life sought by residents at the fringes of the city and its metro is offset by long commute times, up to 8 hours per day, to the city center where income is earned. Our proposal can replicate across the cityscape, traversing geography, servicing the pockets of high density on the margins, bringing new programmatic possibility to marginalized areas, shortening - and expanding - connection to the heart of the city.

83

MUNICIPAL AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS

RETAINING WALL

CONCRETE WALL (WITH ENTRANCE)

GATED FENCE

3

4

2

1

1 2

4

3

Urban expansion is held in check by a few factors, including, but not limited to, availability of vacant land, federal influence at the local level, topograhpy, as well as rival political factions. Many of these apply in Tlacalel. To elaborate, Tlacalel is higly territorialized. Friction results in fragmented neighborhoods, social exclusion, and stagnant integration into greater Mexico City fabric.

3

4

2

1

1 2

4

3

FEDERAL PRISON

RECREATION FACILITY

MENTAL HEALTH WARD

SECONDARY SCHOOL

84

TLACALEL: BARRIER STUDY

3

4

2

1

1 2

4

3

3

4

2

1

1 2

4

3

Federal infrastructure, including a regional recreation center, UACM satellite campus, mental health facaility, and a SACMEX water plant populate the river valley area. Additionally, a federal prison lies to the south of Tlacalel.

UACM CAMPUS

SACMEX

MENTAL HEALTH WARD

HIGH SCHOOL

PRIMARY SCHOOL

85

CABLE ROUTES MASTER PLAN

PROPOSAL SITE Tlacalel

MARGINALIZED AREAS

CABLE ROUTE

BUS ROUTE

METRO LINES

TOPOGRAPHY

In exchange, they provide land, services, and representation in federal and local government. However, these areas remain highly marginalized and politicized. Residents lack quality services and access to opportunity. Physical barriers are endemic.

Ultimately, we imagine a fringe that is drawn, or stitched, back into the urban core, encouraging and promoting its full participation. This requires a necessary physical intervention - a direct link to modes of physical and economic mobility.

In particular, informal settlement since the 1980s has been encouraged and guided by political factions, such as Antorcha Campesina. They exert influence on regional and federal government, with the power to move people, provide civic amenities, and install or influence political candidates. Antorcha relies heavily on informal settlement, using residents as foot soldiers for its political goals.

86

FEDERAL INST.

STATIONCOST

ANTORCHA

MAINTENANCECOST

EQUITYOWNERS

EDUCATIONAL INST.

OTHER ENTERPRISE

CORPORATE

MUNICIPAL

CABLE REVENUE

OTHER ENTERPRISE

ENTERTAINMENT

MERCHANDISE

FOOD GROUND CONDITION WALLS / BARRIERS PROPOSEDINTERVENTION

SERVICESSTUDENTS

ANTORCHA / PRI

GOVERNMENT LAND

BUSINESS AREAS

PRD

VENDORSPRIVATE LENDING

CHURCH

CEMETERY

50M (pesos)

35M

55M

35M

TLACALEL CONDITIONS

EXISTING BARRIERS POLITICAL ACTORS PROJECT FINANCING WALL AND BARRIER INTERVENTIONS

Our cable car directly intervenes into these constraints. In a twist, we dissect those walls and barriers that demarcate lines of economic and political control. They transform into new currency for commerce and movement.

To do that, we must take scope of physical and socioeconomic conditions of our site, and challenge their current logic with new circumstances. We focus our initiative on the physical barriers that entrench stasis on our site.

ARROYO LA ARMELLA

UACM CUAUTEPEC

TLACALEL

PANTEON

87

TLACALEL LOMA DE LA PALMA VALLE DE MADERO

475 m 375 m 625 m

CABLE STATIONS & SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS

CORPORATE

CATHOLICCHURCH

LOCALRESIDENTS

PRIVATESECTOR

ARROYO LA ARMELLA

Neighborhoods and political control based on voting records(colors from left to right represent affiliates of PRI, PAN, and PRD)

TLACALEL

CAPITAL COSTS and FUNDING SOURCES (units of 250k pesos)

PER STATION

DISTANCE BETWEEN STATIONS

POPULATION DENSITY WITHIN 300m(units of 500 residents)

COMMERCIAL UTILITY(units of 1000 man hours/month)

88

TLACALEL LOMA DE LA PALMA VALLE DE MADERO

475 m 375 m 625 m

LOCALRESIDENTS

LOCALRESIDENTS

GOVERNMENT GOVERNMENT

UACM CUAUTEPEC PANTEON

89

STATION 3 ELEVATION / SECOND FLOOR PLAN SECTION / FIRST FLOOR PLAN

1

2

4

3

1

3

1 CABLE CAR STATION

50m

10m 10mUACMUACM

La Corona

2 AMPHITHEATER3 CHAPEL4 RETAINING WALL

10m

CABLE STATIONS PLANS, SECTIONS, & ELEVATIONS

STATION 1 ELEVATION / PLAN

ANFITEATR

OU

ACM CU

AUTEPEC

SECTION

90

STATION 4 ELEVATION / SECOND FLOOR PLAN SECTION

1

2

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

5

2

4

1 FLOWER MARKET

1 SAND POOL AND WATER FOUNTAIN

10m

10m

10m

10m

2 CHILDRENS LIBRARY

2 OPEN AIR MARKET

3 CABLE CAR STATION

3 CABLE CAR STATION

4 CEMETERY

4 TLACALEL

5 SECONDARY PUBLIC SCHOOL

5 SACMEX WATER TREATMENT FACILITY

STATION 2 ELEVATION / PLAN

TLAC

ALE

LB

IBLI

OTEC

A IN

FAN

TIL

SECTION

91

PERSPECTIVE DRAWINGCABLE CAR STATIONS

3model making

BEDCONCRETE

CELL AGGREGATION

PROTOTYPEANSARI, MIELNICKI, MOLINA, & MIRZA / prof IVALIOTIS

METAL

97

BED

ORIGINAL FRAME

ENLARGED WOOD FRAME

CONCRETE SIDE PANEL

CONCRETE FRONT, TOP PANELS

8 WIRE REMESH IN ALL PANELS

1

3

2

3. PANEL BINDING DETAIL

2. DISASSEMBLY DETAIL

1. REMOVABLE LID DETAIL

NOTES: Concrete panels are bound to bedframe with mastic. Head- and foot-boards have removable lids to access assembly hardware. Bed separates into 6 compenents - headboard, footboard, 2 lids, 2 side panels, for ease of transport. Gross weight of concrete is 226.5kg. No component exceeds 70kg.

1

12

3

PULL HOOK

HARDWARE

MASTIC

98

89

3154

54

34

87

90

30SNAP

5761

11

11 61 57

89

8990

136104

28 34

121

136

1

2

2B

1B

4B

5B

3B

1A

2A

4A

5A

3

4

5

6

3A

7 B

6A

7

6B

7 A

8

9

LOCKING NUTS AND WASHERS

5/8" WASHERS

1" DRILL3/32"7/32"

1/2" BOLTS

1

3

6

4

7

5

2

PIECES

PROT

OTYP

E

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MASTER MOLD: To reduce waste, one mold was used in the entire process, cutting the mold down into successively smaller formwork.

GHOST IMPRESSIONS: Finished aesthetic takes on a new dimension, exploring the boundaries of the organic and inorganic.

BED

100

ANGLED VIEW: The topographical nature of the prototype can be deployed for shading or lighting effects.

SIDE VIEW: Front and back of the unit have unique qualities, and can be tiled in any combintion.

PROT

OTYP

E

101

Antique oil-can, scrap wood, old utensils, and spare instrument parts reharmonize and repurpose to endow a new poetry of music. Inspiration permeates through a new resonant core.

This is the first banjo of a series built from 2012-2014. Oil cans are a special choice for the banjo pot: the sheet metal acts in a similar way to both the head and resonator of a conventional banjo that give the 'snare' quality of its sound. Oil can shape and density affect the volume, tone, and resonant qualities of the instrument. The unique graphics enhance personality and presence.

BANJOOIL-CAN SOUND

PHOTOGRAPHTAILPIECE

PHOTOGRAPHHAND-CARVED BRIDGE

105

underwater

EISBURG 2040

one world gone

By Andras Balla, Allie Calaguire, and Peter Mielnicki

ULTRAREAL

SEA CITY: A submerged city of pods, each trading and producing specialized resource. Thousands of pods float below the surface.

106

DEC2015

continued well past the eleventh hour. While noticing the water creeping in, we continued dancing until it became an absolute swim. While civilization goes under, some visionaries have, too - with the intent to thrive.

THE INDUSTRIAL ERA BALL

Enter Eisburg 2040.

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...Nothingcan resist the

Lao Tzu

water

ULTRAREAL

A REFUGE: Precise, futuristic pods belie the turmoil taking place on land.

We are telling and giving audience to the biggest story of our lives. Consumption has now consumed the creators; humanitys original coastlines have been subsumed by risen oceans, leaving geographically - and politically - disorganized and contested interiors. It is a collective bargain in which our collective has no bargaining power.

Landscapes have irrevocably changed due to radical shifts in climate. Those left on the surface grapple with vast desertification, intense and frequent natural disasters, newly inhospitable high altitudes, and biosphere destruction. Beyond this are social consequences of extreme political destabilization, economic distress, migration and refugee crises, and conflict.

While interplanetary travel is now an almost unattainable reality, some have turned to overlooked opportunities within our limited biosphere. For a determined group of scientists, designers, and entrepreneurs, the last viable refuge is all around us - albeit in the vast, largely sterilized oceans.

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DEC2015

FROM ABOVE: Like a coral reef, the underwater colony evokes mystery amidst the waves.

They refer to themselves as Eisburgs: part homage to melted icecapes inundating dry land, part token to their visible footprint - where surface activity belies the bulk below. Communities resemble vast networks of floating seaweed pods, where all activity takes place - water filtration, food harvesting (both grown and captured), and manufacture. Individual pods specialize and trade with each other. Few shared resources include air and power, provided by a political collective.

These water patrons build movable, interconnected, and submerged communities, isolated from the hostile surface.

No formal application process exists, participants find themselves typically drawn in - under - by their sheer talents. Life is far from utopic, however; almost fanatical tribalism is too much for some, over 75 percent to return to the surface.

Why isnt there a stampede toward the water? This environment is not for the faint of heart or mind. Exigencies of this medium require technical determination, mental resilience, and high coordination and cooperation. Work on land to develop sub-marine infrastructure is critical; a first true test before going under.

The constraints and harsh realities of the water minimize inefficiencies, disengagement, and rivalry - in exchange for shelter, dissociation, and so far, an overlooked space to flourish. The product is kind of a self-selecting caste of virtuosos, hyper-tuned to their collective survival.

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VIBRANT ARCHITECTURE respects environment and its people. Perhaps there is public crisis today - ongoing social stratification as the fallout of liberalism - and it is evident in the physical manifestation of the public realm, from marginalization of the powerless, altered cityscapes, and conspicuous displays of wealth. It is a reality that we should neither hide nor celebrate, no part of it is sacrosanct but should be perpetually open to scrutiny and reevaluation.

As a designer and thinker, my philosophy is one of inclusion. This is not limited to an appeal to the largest number, but a change in inhabitants perception of themselves and their role in the space or event - the feeling of belonging to or influence on a process. Sensitive design sets the stage for questions that we take home: to reflect on our own well-being and consider how we respect our environment. Heritage also contributes to our sense of place, even when it is not our own. For that reason, it can also be appropriated in positive ways and deployed by outsiders with interesting and profound outcomes.

EPILOGUE

Contemporary dialogue can obsess over image and object, and its failure to cultivate the living fabrics of communities has had disastrous results. The legacy of heritage is often marginalized or itself objectified, and its original sensibilities used to understand complex problems are lost. Ideally, we look past the object itself or the immediate result, but exact a position on the long-run without sacrificing efficiency or flexibility, conscious toward intangible details throughout the design process.

A productive process refrains from over-simplified us and them' dichotomies, but instead accommodates a client and takes ownership of collective consequence. This requires heightened sense of awareness, responsibility, and sensitivity, as well as enterprising ways of deploying and managing materials and information. This attitude is a major counterweight to elitism and object orientation that is self-assuring, which slowly erodes our capacity for relative discourse for the sake of nominal perspectives.

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On communion of information

Architects become well-informed opportunists. We are privileged in a sense of our exposure to actors on all sides - from developers, policymakers, the public, engineers, to the design community at large. We are highly tuned to the environment; resourcefulness that benefits the highest number of participants is rewarded. As the sum of arts, science, and information, architecture can push the unfamiliar, engage the unseen, letting unique formulas fill the inevitable cracks in the fabric of the everyday not to wedge into a breaking point, but to provide cohesion within the overlooked and thus new propositions and methods for the design of living.

Realistically, we work for a client, and in practice, we tend not to look too far over the horizon. Enlightenment is everyones responsibility, and a lack from one side is not an excuse to abandon the pursuit of detail. Channels of information must be kept fluid, and insight must be sought beyond traditional or expected boundaries. Everything is fair game - religion, politics, geology, zoology, finance - and institutions that have survived hundreds or thousands of years certainly deserve judicious scrutiny for their continuous relevance.

In Sum

Our built environment gives us a sense of place and rhythm, and therefore a sense of belonging and a means with which to make sense of

our world. This powerful contextualization erodes when architecture totally folds into the movement of globalization and commodification of place.

At the same time, architects are not necessarily gatekeepers of tradition or advocates of the vernacular. With any growth there are new forms and styles; the architect studies a place with the hope to appropriate and redeploy its norms and rhythms. Visions arent imposed, information is instead accepted and reemerges within a cadence of pattern. Each instance of belonging is a continuous conversation with a place, its look, texture, sounds, and smells.

With that said, good architecture is greater than the sum of its parts. It is some combined quality that conveys a sixth-sense reaction in the user - a type of feeling beyond ownership or belonging...transcending even these localizing tendencies - towards perceptions of universality instilled in the new consciousness it generates. Something akin to the rich voids of the great cathedrals of Europe, the eerie cosmic sensation of Jantar Mantar, the precariously present waterscape of Suzhou, or the architectonic timelessness of the streets of old Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Perfection as an earthly quality is a dynamic balance, where beauty is instinctively expressed and recognized as a consequence of the act of putting together.

The professors and mentors listed in these pages, & colleagues who have enriched my design and education.

With special thanks to

Sara, who believes in my talent

Stephanie, for your humor and intuition

Mama, who made everything possible.

With loving thanks to

Documents

Portfolio: Peter Mielnicki, 2012-2016