case studies
DESCRIPTION
This is the CASE STUDIES section.TRANSCRIPT
drew mcnamaraALL PATTERNED EVERYTHING
Case Studies
near west side, chicago, illinois, usa
program/schedule chance encounter
proposed pattern
existing rehabilitationadministration ampli�cation
complexity from simplicitymobility of studentscultivating the in-between
infrastructure
rotated squaremoire
2011
1965
pre-1960
38
near west side, chicago, illinois, usa
program/schedule chance encounter
proposed pattern
existing rehabilitationadministration ampli�cation
complexity from simplicitymobility of studentscultivating the in-between
infrastructure
rotated squaremoire
2011
1965
pre-1960
39
As a simple preface, the case studies featured in this section have all dealt with pattern, process, planning, and disturbance to some degree. Thinking through each situation continues the conversation of the aforementioned ideas and theories.
Walter Netsch’s Circle Campus at UIC serves as an example of the danger in presuming growth. In the early to mid 1960’s, neighborhoods were cleared to make room for the new campus. Netsch employed his ‘Field Theory’, using simple grids rotated on top of each other to create new complex geometries (Jones). It was touted as providing, “...programmatic and structural flexibility in that it was used as an open-ended design system” (Felsen, and Dunn). Yet, the buildings that this process created are now described as maze-like. Experiences such as this hint that the true potential for pattern, when uncritically adopted (as opposed to adapted), will go unrealized.
While most of Netsch’s original design has been taken down, such as elevated pathways and his amphitheatre plaza, there is important lessons and information that can be gleaned from the project (Jones). The first is the creation of complexity from the interaction of simple parts acted upon by simple geometric operations [such as rotation]. Additionally, while the campus showed little resiliency or adaptability, Netsch recognized the power of the ‘chance encounter’. He acknowledges that what happens between classes may sometimes be more important that what happens during class (Jones). Believing as much, he left plenty of space for these interactions to occur, though one can argue that the scale of the spaces left much to be desired. Proximity, adaptation, and foresight are all important lessons to be drawn from the Circle Campus at UIC.
UIC Circle Campus
PLANNING CASE STUDIESthe casbah
algiers, algeria, africa
?
base pattern | determined
secondary pattern | indeterminate
repetition
variation
variation
loose framework
aggregation | adaptation | evolution
rooftop field
X
current pattern
demo constructionadministration correction
X X
proposed pattern
existing rehabilitationadministration ampli�cation
40
PLANNING CASE STUDIESthe casbah
algiers, algeria, africa
?
base pattern | determined
secondary pattern | indeterminate
repetition
variation
variation
loose framework
aggregation | adaptation | evolution
rooftop field
X
current pattern
demo constructionadministration correction
X X
proposed pattern
existing rehabilitationadministration ampli�cation
41
A second example of planning, or lack thereof, is separated from Chicago by 4600 miles. Much can be distilled from the Casbah. First is a similar lesson learned from UIC, in that complexity can be generated from simplicity. More specifically, the interaction of simple parts. The plan of the Casbah can be understood as a complex aggregate of many simple, residential structures. The loose framework of the streets, as well as the distinct boundary between the more informal Casbah and the formally planned city, serve as limitations (Gilbert). The process that developed the Casbah can be likened to that which lends structural cohesion to the flock, but in reverse. On the macro-scale there is unpredictability and apparent randomness, where as on the micro-scale there is strong intentionality and rich interaction in close proximity.
However, the Casbah also elucidates the hazard of analysis from the sky. It would be easy to assume that if one wanted to replicate the texture of this place, they would design a plan which looked like the Casbah. What is important to realize is that the complex plan of the Casbah is an indeterminate ‘ouput’ of the more rich, albeit relatively simple, interactions between people occurring on the ground, or what can be referred to here as ‘input’. Of course, there is some give in this statement, considering that the plan does lend some richness to the experience, and thus has an affects the interaction between people.
This calls into question the causality of pattern. Are they manufactured, or grown through patterning of processes ala Gyorgy Kepes. Does it propagate on its own, and if not, what measure of control does the designer have?
The Casbah
base pattern | determined
secondary pattern | indeterminate
repetition
variation
variation
ciutat vella, barcelona, spain
historic pattern
demo constructionadministration correction
rehabilitation
contemporary pattern
existingadministration amplification
18481268-1835
1997 2001
variation of repetition
programmatic variety
2005
market stalls
bar
elderly housing
recycling
restaurant
archaelogical site
trading
loading/unloadingparking
delivery
self-serve
organizational framework
XX X
42
base pattern | determined
secondary pattern | indeterminate
repetition
variation
variation
ciutat vella, barcelona, spain
historic pattern
demo constructionadministration correction
rehabilitation
contemporary pattern
existingadministration amplification
18481268-1835
1997 2001
variation of repetition
programmatic variety
2005
market stalls
bar
elderly housing
recycling
restaurant
archaelogical site
trading
loading/unloadingparking
delivery
self-serve
organizational framework
XX X
43
Enric Miralles’ and Benedetta Tagliabue’s renovation of the Santa Caterina Market in Barcelona collapses the scale of the case studies somewhat. Though physically constrained to the limits of a building, the two designers have recognized processes and patterns of development that are detrimental to progress. In their words ...“the projects starts by criticising the actual planning and proposes a model that allows for adaption to the area’s complexity” (mirallestagliabue.com). Inserting a new process of development may serve the role of the ‘disturbance’, flipping the state and structure of the area, doing so by administering and amplifying the existing by meshing it with the new. They advocate ,“Planning rules which contemplate something more than the street width and the building height.”
Architecturally speaking, Stan Allen points out that, “Instead of clearing and ordering the site, the architects respect the raucous mix of activities typical of the city center” (Mat Urbanism: The Thick 2-D, 121). A large roof and local variation of the repetitive stalls gathers the many disparate activities and programs, and allows for interactions to emerge on their own.
Santa Caterina Market
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
ginza, tokyo, japan
?
base pattern | determined
secondary pattern | indeterminate
repetition
variation
variety
44
The Nakagin Capsule Tower serves as the smallest scale study of the set. The tower is congruent in several ways with the conceptual tenets of pattern previously stated. The central core serves as a determinate base pattern, over which an indeterminate pattern of capsules is placed. The actual form and aesthetic of the building is dependent on the maintenance of the capsules. As they need to be replaced or removed or updated, the secondary pattern changes. It is more or less a random process. Or at least would have been. None of the capsules were ever replaced or even maintained very well (Ouroussoff).
Understanding the cause for this is necessary for realizing the potential for pattern, when considered as part-to-whole relationships. First, as with Walter Netsch’s UIC campus, there was a error in foresight. While for the campus it was simply the amount of people, with the tower it was the assumption that the processes generating the building would come to pass [the removal and updating of the capsules]. Another issue is that of variety and variation. The capsule tower has a single form that is repeated and varied. Yet, there is no actual variety in the pieces themselves. A variety of capsules may have provided the tower with a resilience to the disturbance that was the change in ownership the capsules experienced. While the first generation of Nakagin-dwellers were passionate, those that inherited them were not, thus letting the tower fall into major disrepair. Here, it appears, that simplicity failed to generate a rich, complex mixture.
Nakagin Capsule Tower
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
ginza, tokyo, japan
?
base pattern | determined
secondary pattern | indeterminate
repetition
variation
variety
45
toronto, canada
downsview park
toronto central business district
11 mi
retirement home
commercial zoning
collegiate institute
post-war suburb
bombardier aerospace
memorial park
public school
post-war suburb downsview airport
hwy 401
black creek
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
metro station
46
Downsview Park in Toronto’s suburbs serves as the most relevant case study, encapsulating issues of base closure, redevelopment, pattern, process, and the resolution of order/chaos, determinacy/indeterminacy. Originally the space was known as Canadian Forces Base Downsview, from 1947 to 1996. In the same year as its closing, 572 of the 644 acre base was transferred to Parc Downsview Park Inc. In 1999 a competition was held for the design of an urban park on the former military base (del Guayo).
Downsview Park
toronto, canada
downsview park
toronto central business district
11 mi
retirement home
commercial zoning
collegiate institute
post-war suburb
bombardier aerospace
memorial park
public school
post-war suburb downsview airport
hwy 401
black creek
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
metro station
47
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
entries for Downsview Park International Design Competition [’99]woody areas in black; meadowlands in gray
OMA | TREE CITY [winner]
Tschumi Foreign Office Corner + Allen Brown and Storey
48
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
entries for Downsview Park International Design Competition [’99]woody areas in black; meadowlands in gray
OMA | TREE CITY [winner]
Tschumi Foreign Office Corner + Allen Brown and Storey
49
The datum threading the five finalist projects is the philosophical and physical concept of frameworks (Blum). The primary intention behind frameworks is the interaction between a site structure, and looseness that allows for flexible growth over time (del Guayo). In other words, conditions are established for minimal control to maintain flexibility, while maintaining identity and logic (del Guayo). The language used to describe the competition, the entries, and the frameworks themselves runs parallel to that of Andersen and Salomon in The Patterns of Architecture. As with pattern, when using frameworks the designer runs the risk of falling into one of two traps. Either the project will lose its adaptability to new circumstances [read disturbance], or it will lose its organization and legibility [the absolute minimum repetition, redundancy, or structure to recognize a pattern] (del Guayo). It is possible to read frameworks as analogous to patterns, or even as patterns themselves. Similar to pattern, a framework can accommodate many functions and processes within the same structure. As such, frameworks and patterns may accurately be described as protean.
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
natural infrastructure network flexible planting clusters static programming
site + soil preppathway constructioncluster landscaping
natural infrastructure networknatural infrastructure networknatural infrastructure network
current state future plan
50
The winning entry in the Downsview Park competition was OMA’s Tree City. As stated by the firm, “...landscape elements will be planted incrementally over time as funding permits, gradually building up the park’s mass into a flexible patchwork of planted clusters separated by open undesignated areas” (oma.eu). The project proposed three phases that would continue long term, as evidenced by the graphic on this page. However, closer inspection of this statement reveals the inherent risk that this strategy entails. There is much left up to the future, and it should be noted as it was with the UIC project, a future that might not come to pass. In fact, there is not a “...clear articulating element or any rigid component in the whole plan” (del Guayo). Downsview Park elucidates the difficulty in designing and actually implementing flexible, adaptable development. Tree City made a strong gesture toward materializing Kepes’ “pattern and process” manifesto. The merits of the project lie in the acknowledgement of process driving the pattern of development on site. Additionally, the ability create a minimum of structure (base pattern) and then fine tuning by the designer on a local level (deviation) takes advantage of what pattern is capable of.
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
natural infrastructure network flexible planting clusters static programming
site + soil preppathway constructioncluster landscaping
flexible planting clustersflexible planting clustersflexible planting clusters
current state future plan
51
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
natural infrastructure network �exible planting clusters static programming
site + soil preppathway constructioncluster landscaping
current state future plan
52
Currently the project is being headed up by Bruce Mau, who worked with OMA on the original design. The image on the far right demonstrates the balance between determinate program that generates revenue [thus making the project easier to sell], and the original urban park concept. This may be saying something about the extent to which landscape, pattern, frameworks can be used as catalysts for the propagation of larger scale patterns. EMBT’s market renovation recognized the need for some sort of static, programmatic element. Perhaps the shortcoming of Tree City also lay in its heavy use of graphic design and diagram as a method to communicate what most people might read as a plan. As stated earlier, pattern, like frameworks, may accommodate more information than its simplicity may let on. Thus, to tap into pattern’s full potential, it is necessary to consider the experience of pattern beyond the visual senses. In other words, pattern may begin as visual, but it need not be anchored in that realm.
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
natural infrastructure network �exible planting clusters static programming
site + soil preppathway constructioncluster landscaping
current state future plan
...the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily...a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose...
the known known
natural infrastructure network �exible planting clusters static programming
site + soil preppathway constructioncluster landscaping
current state future plan
53