Spaces in motion
Hybrid collectivities for a nomadic practice
A ARBARA, R CALZADO, L LECEA
2020, ATLANTIS Magazine TU Delft
Hybrid collectivities for a nomadic practice
A ARBARA, R CALZADO, L LECEA
2020, ATLANTIS Magazine TU Delft
Societies have for a long time argued upon our nomadic versus sedentary forms of relating to space. Cain and Abel have been the first symbols in representing these two archetypal ways of dwelling the world. Cain being a farmer and Abel a stockmaster, represent the two different natures of human existence; the sedentary, devoted to the cultivation of the soil and the definition of land, and the nomadic, being a shepherd, a subject that is scattered across an expanse of territory. These two terms have been examined again in the contemporary spatial discourse. Opening them up in today’s complex and fast changing urban environment seems more relevant than ever before.
Transient typologies (the unit)
Under the stress of a global health crisis, cities were asked to take fast and precise solutions. The faster cities were able to adopt urban solutions and adapt their infrastructural typologies, the more effective their measures were too. In the scenario of an overcrowded healthcare system, Paris opted to transfer patients to its neighboring regions. To do so, trains were turned into temporary hospitals. In a similar way, New York brought the world's biggest hospital ship to anchor in Pier 90 and become an additional hospital for the city. The post Covid-19 city developed a new dynamism. It learned that trains can become hospitals one day, and massive concert halls the following one. Functions move along the city, changing neighborhood dynamics and providing external infrastructure at the exact place where that is required and whenever needed. This makes urban space capable of overcoming health crises, adapting to major cultural events or providing better services for each season. A typological switch makes the city grow in resilience.
Under the stress of a global health crisis, cities were asked to take fast and precise solutions. The faster cities were able to adopt urban solutions and adapt their infrastructural typologies, the more effective their measures were too. In the scenario of an overcrowded healthcare system, Paris opted to transfer patients to its neighboring regions. To do so, trains were turned into temporary hospitals. In a similar way, New York brought the world's biggest hospital ship to anchor in Pier 90 and become an additional hospital for the city. The post Covid-19 city developed a new dynamism. It learned that trains can become hospitals one day, and massive concert halls the following one. Functions move along the city, changing neighborhood dynamics and providing external infrastructure at the exact place where that is required and whenever needed. This makes urban space capable of overcoming health crises, adapting to major cultural events or providing better services for each season. A typological switch makes the city grow in resilience.
Fluxes of encounter (the city)
It is not yet clear how and if a city should end. The 21st century metropolis dilutes into a land of infrastructural nothingness before it becomes a new urban cluster. This nothingness is broad and grey. It consists of highways, big boxes, and little civic consciousness. Speculating upon future alternatives, this grey could become the primary source of energy circulation. Redirecting this flow towards alternative urban usages, an atomized new urban pattern could rest on top of the existing structures. The small plot division of this new layout opposes the broadness that is found below. The constant flow of the infrastructure is visible from the new streets. Its intensity is not ignored; it nourishes the daily urban habits through both energy and passenger flows. This unit based maze starts and ends; it has become a place on its own.
It is not yet clear how and if a city should end. The 21st century metropolis dilutes into a land of infrastructural nothingness before it becomes a new urban cluster. This nothingness is broad and grey. It consists of highways, big boxes, and little civic consciousness. Speculating upon future alternatives, this grey could become the primary source of energy circulation. Redirecting this flow towards alternative urban usages, an atomized new urban pattern could rest on top of the existing structures. The small plot division of this new layout opposes the broadness that is found below. The constant flow of the infrastructure is visible from the new streets. Its intensity is not ignored; it nourishes the daily urban habits through both energy and passenger flows. This unit based maze starts and ends; it has become a place on its own.
Shifting boundaries (the territory)
August 2120. Group X is on the move, in search of a new place of staying. Water pollutants in Aziad destroyed any agricultural production and made potable water and irrigation poisonous. For the first time, they will cross the physical border of the river and move to the “other side”. Not knowing where to settle, they decide to traverse the boundary on foot. They are almost there. GPS tracking, 500 meters away. Nevertheless, the more they approach it, the further it appears. Aren’t they moving? Or is the borderline shifting? GPS, 800 meters away. That should not be possible, borders are amongst the most rigid man-made inventions. Until they realize it, they are moving on the borderline, going downstream. Instead of a border, they encounter a floating pathway, a corridor for people on the move. Along the river, places of staying and spaces of movement are intertwined.
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August 2120. Group X is on the move, in search of a new place of staying. Water pollutants in Aziad destroyed any agricultural production and made potable water and irrigation poisonous. For the first time, they will cross the physical border of the river and move to the “other side”. Not knowing where to settle, they decide to traverse the boundary on foot. They are almost there. GPS tracking, 500 meters away. Nevertheless, the more they approach it, the further it appears. Aren’t they moving? Or is the borderline shifting? GPS, 800 meters away. That should not be possible, borders are amongst the most rigid man-made inventions. Until they realize it, they are moving on the borderline, going downstream. Instead of a border, they encounter a floating pathway, a corridor for people on the move. Along the river, places of staying and spaces of movement are intertwined.
Memory box (the interior)
The box of memory is the digital version of every house. It includes the walls, the floor, the different doors and windows, and all sorts of objects that have ever entered this place. The digital tracking of the objects movements is presented as the only footprint of past activities; the long evenings, the summer mornings or that one huge party. Once the activities stop, the walls of the house store the displacement of objects across time. The housing unit becomes the carrier of bites of memories, that when put together can predict new spaces based on the analysis of previous movements. These new spaces are an updated version of the previous one, more efficient and optimized. The footprint of motion turns into the main element to predict a future design. A design that is new but has old memories.
The box of memory is the digital version of every house. It includes the walls, the floor, the different doors and windows, and all sorts of objects that have ever entered this place. The digital tracking of the objects movements is presented as the only footprint of past activities; the long evenings, the summer mornings or that one huge party. Once the activities stop, the walls of the house store the displacement of objects across time. The housing unit becomes the carrier of bites of memories, that when put together can predict new spaces based on the analysis of previous movements. These new spaces are an updated version of the previous one, more efficient and optimized. The footprint of motion turns into the main element to predict a future design. A design that is new but has old memories.