RADICAL MAPPING PROJECT PRATO
Anabell Ayala Rodriguez
The visualisation of the installation gives an impression of how the space might become more inviting as a passer-by. It also assists to imagine the ways in which the installation intervenes with the sparsity of site to break up the directness of route from entrance to library.
The view depicts the filtering of light and the "dappled" effect it may give based on 1:1 material investigations conducted on the site as a result of social issues we have identified.
The visualisation of the installation gives an impression of how the space might become more inviting as a passer-by. It also assists to imagine the ways in which the installation intervenes with the sparsity of site to break up the directness of route from entrance to library.
The diagram describes the connection to a single plane. The fragile, undulating structure remains inconspicuous underneath the fabric to add three dimensionality to the work.
This example describes how in the installation connects spaces, usually by piercing through the door, out the corridor reaching out to a larger volume.
As part of this exercise, Odelia and I investigated the site at Bibliotecca Lazzerini to identify contextual and social issues. The unrolled elevation explores textures as well as light and shadow in the site.
The diagram describes the connection to a single plane. The fragile, undulating structure remains inconspicuous underneath the fabric to add three dimensionality to the work.
The map describes the location of La Piazza della Stazione. Evidently, the gardens lie outside of the wall which might ad to the sites abandonment or lack of appreciation.
The diagram describes the simplified forms derived from the geometries of the main Piazzas inside the walls of Prato.
Elevation based on Mei Ling Cheah research task
The map describes the location of La Piazza della Stazione. Evidently, the gardens lie outside of the wall which might ad to the sites abandonment or lack of appreciation.
Task 1: Development /
Piazza della Stazione
A rotation of site and precedent in our studio has landed me to propose an installation for Piazza della Stazione.
The previous group have identified the site (one of the only green spaces in the city) is lacking recognition and acting as a throughfare for inhabitants leaving the train station near by. The precedent 'Clouds' by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec has been selected to drive other installation and intervention possibilities in the park.
This has led me to study geometries found in Prato to initialise potential concepts and methods of construction.
Task 1: Foreign Strands /
Proposal
Revisiting and recontructing precedent studies based on Carlie Trosclair, the proposal responds to social and contextual issues identified, Exposure and Sparsity using fabric techniques.
A 1:1 investigation of connection points on site proved succesful and gathered lots of attention from the locals.
Task 1: Precedent /
Carlie Trosclair
Carlie Trosclair is an installation artist who uses malleable materials such as fabric and wallpaper to re-create interior spaces into re-imagined realities that engineer an experience focused on the visceral and psychological elements of embodied
perception. This exercise investigates Carlie's work in terms of assembly, application and aesthetics.
With Odelia Chow.
For more Information on the artist, visit:
http://carlietrosclair.com/home.html
Radical Mapping Prato Studio
Task 1: Foreign Strands / Installation and Radical Map
As foreigners living in Prato we’re interested in exploring the city and understanding the tectonics of the local materials. Having had several sites identified in need of intervention, we were drawn to the forecourt of Biblioteca Lazzerini. Using the architectural qualities of locally sourced fabric, we hope to combat the sparsity and exposure of the site to create a more inhabitable environment.
Photographs taken throughout the installation process have been used to create the video.
The video shows unforeseen faults we had encountered throughout the construction of the installation. At times you will see the tares in the fabrics and the task of repairing these on site by hand. This process was also conducted to shorten or lengthen individual strands in order of the structure to be kept in tension. As the video progresses, flactuations in the tension of the strands become more and more frequent as each strand had to be loosened and tighten at different stages to allow for others to connect. This meant that each group member has to be working together at once to install just one of the strands. The task required a high level of communication between team members and could not be achieved with just one individual.
Task 1: Foreign Strands / Installation Time Lapse
Task 2: Venice Biennale / Precedent Diagrams
The Venice Art Biennale this year was fantastic. This exercise required three selected artworks and artist to form precedent diagrams from their work.
I have explored and diagrammed the works of:
Alice Channer in the Arsenale, The Danish Pavilion and The Russian Pavilion.
The artist explores the verticals and horizontals of space through the use of materials. This makes the artwork totally dependent on the context around it. To highlight her concept, the artist has describe her work as "stretchy" even though some of the materials she works with aren't flexible or stretchy in nature. For example, the print on fabric that hanged from the ceiling at the Venice Biennale, had used computer aided softwear to stretch the image onto canvas.
The artist focuses on the body often in her artwork, usually through implying the body through the absence of the body. For example, a casted belt that is suspended in the air implies the body. This diagram describes how. For more information on Alice Channer:
The pavilion was a stage for men and women to perform the artists concept. The Greek legend on Danae's miraculous conception references through the gold coins that rain onto the females underneath as a symbol of lust and greed and the corrupting influence of money. The diagram describes the continuous cycle. Coins fall, raining onto the female audience who pick up portions that get lifted onto the a mechanism that drops them once again.
The artist explores the verticals and horizontals of space through the use of materials. This makes the artwork totally dependent on the context around it. To highlight her concept, the artist has describe her work as "stretchy" even though some of the materials she works with aren't flexible or stretchy in nature. For example, the print on fabric that hanged from the ceiling at the Venice Biennale, had used computer aided softwear to stretch the image onto canvas.
Reflective Evaluation of Task 1:
This project is about space; it is about taking an open site and attempting to soften, shade and enclose it. The final product is a provocation or study into how the space above a piaza or public place plays an important role in the feeling for the inhabitants below. The simple fact is that people attract people, and any effort to create a public space, which is inviting and active will act as a catalyst to that cycle.
Our experience in installing the design in the site was difficult, there are always unforeseeable constraints that measure the efficiency and effectiveness of the group and final purpose of the design. For us, windy weather conditions slowed the processes down. However the most problematic factor was the material constraints. As we had 4 different types of materials, some of them were able to endure the strong wind and hold itself intentions and some could not. The majority of time was spent repairing fabric strips that were torn in the construction process.
The radical mapping process was challenging. The group of us had located public areas in Prato to perform a series of spaces with fabric as a way to engage with the locals and enhance curiosity. A number of people approached us and we approached a number of people, handout out our flyers that were written both in Italian and English. In one occasion, one of the locals who was Chinese could not participate in the rad map process as he could not read Italian or English. As students who had conducted research on the demographics of Prato and its large Chinese population, we could’ve acknowledge them by providing a translated copy of the flyers. However, the man appeared to be thoroughly amused by our posing and performance.
Our group projects proved successful and gathered lots of publicity and attention in the community of Prato. Some of our projects appeared on the local newspaper and also on tv. Here is a link to the interview TV Prato conducted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UN-dCMdVJQ
The project- series of small, provisional and interstitial architectural interventions which insert temporary program (in this example its a florist) into vacant/empty shops in the city. The project aims to operate similarly to the transient street vendor but provides a formal occupation.
The analysis of the informal began through investigating the specific urban condition that facilities their practice and their functional profiles. Take the street vendor as an example- He situates himself a busy corner and implies as commercial space around him. He relies on being able to back up quickly and relocate depending on weather conditions, events, trends etc, What’s interesting is that he takes this space with him and this is one element that I concentrated on in my project.
The view that depicts the designs in the Piaza del Commune. The design aims to reinvigorated a commercial area making use of the qualities of informal modes of retail.
The project- series of small, provisional and interstitial architectural interventions which insert temporary program (in this example its a florist) into vacant/empty shops in the city. The project aims to operate similarly to the transient street vendor but provides a formal occupation.
Task 3: Tactical [radical] Urbanism
A two week project prompted by an observation of the informal consumerism in the city. The street vendor is one of many examples that fall under this category. And although there was a very clear social issue of minorities, segregation social class etc, I was drawn to consumerism because, by its nature it highlights the inequalities in Italian Society. The project asks,
“Are there underlying qualities in the way informal consumerism operates in Prato? and
“Can we extract these qualities and deploy them as urban devices to instigate a Re-Formal - a new approach to consumerism with the ambition to regenerate a vacant area in Prato?”
Reflective Evaluation of Task 3:
The studio required a tactical/radical response to a social issues obtained from our experiences and observations of the city. The project identified a group of minorities who operate in informal and illegal consumer organisations using a case studies of the street vendor as the main example. The project focused on the aspect of consumerism firstly because of its challenges but predominantly because by nature, consumerism highlights the inequalities of social class, in particular Italian society. Consumerism defined a group people as “informal” or “non-traditional” not only because of the way they operate but also because of the product they sell (non-Italian, made in China etc.), their appearance, their language and what they consume.
It was interesting to dive further into this issue and examine the distinctive urban condition and structure that facilitate informal practices to propose a scheme that doesn’t offer a hopeful utopian resolution addressing the social issues because it was clear to me that these deep-rooted Italian values and traditions were slow progressing. Therefore, the project is simply and observation the informal, an extraction of qualities from the informal and implementation this qualities on the formal.
The project was particularly successful and opportunistic because of the precedent analyses in conjunction with a secondary observation of the city and it’s economy. Renew Newcastle gave a purpose to the project. These small scale, ubiquitous and iterative spaces need to occur in Prato because of the high number of vacant shops in the city that dead areas. They occupy Prato in an unprecedented manner, offering a the element of contemporary that the medieval city lacks without destroying or imposing on its rich history.
The successes of the Renew Newcastle Project indicate that this kind of bottom-up approach could potentially revitalise the area of Via Luigi Muzzi through creating use of an empty spaces. For a studio that is set to engage with tactical/radical techniques, the design offers an architectural comprehension with the same conceptual ambitions as Renew Newcastle. Part of the discussion with the panel suggested that the projects was too design, however part the abstract/design intent highlighted that the project would “look at the roles of design, commercial distribution and public services to help propose futuristic guerrilla tactics” in the city of Prato.
Part of the critical discussion with the panel after the presentation circled around budget and cost. New information was revealed about the costs and charges of retails space in the city of Prato. The design does not go into depth about dollar statistics however, being speculative it suggests that the operation would be free.
Abstract:
The project identifies a group of minorities in the walled city of Prato today, who operate in informal and illegal consumer organisations, for example, the street vendor, the flower seller, drug dealer etc. The scheme examines the distinctive urban condition and structure that facilitate informal practices as well as their functional profiles. It asks, how do they operate? What do they sell? What consumer tactics do they use? In order to extract an urban strategy that will in-formalise the formal to breakdown the tensions between the two modes of consumerism. Essentially, the project will propose a formal program that operates in an informal way.
The system is largely based on a current urban regeneration strategy implemented in Newcastle, Australia and adopted by other cities such as Melbourne and Sydney. Renew Newcastle has been established to find short and medium term uses for buildings in its CBD that are currently vacant or up for lease. Renew Newcastle encourages community activity, artist interventions and cultural projects to redevelop buildings and/or areas until they are commercially viable. This precedent research was prompted by another observation made in Prato, the Affittasi “for rent” signs. The posters are frequently displayed in shop fronts and buildings in dense areas of the city wall with promising cultural, community and artist potential. The affittasi signs is particularly common in the western areas of the Prato Centre, specifically Via Luigi Muzzi. Therefore, the project will address this site to describe the flexibility of a scheme that responds to the fluctuations in the Italian economy.
The project will also look at the roles of design, commercial distribution and public services to help propose futuristic guerrilla tactics and solidify the “informal” in Prato.
To watch a video on a short introduction to Renew Newcastle, click here.
For a PDF copy of the final presentation click here.