flux city project #2

The project's logic is generated by 2 primary natural conditions:

1.  Drainage Patterns - inherently tied with the terrain of the site, natural drainage lines inform how water will be channeled through the site. Different scales of canals and agricultural fields result from this optimization of natural runoff. In essence, the system is combining typologies of agriculture and channeling.

2.  Sun/Light - when programming for agricultural productivity, sunlight is the second key element (next to water). Sunlight affects the orientation of crop fields, and the density of fields. When deploying buildings on site, shadows cast from the buildings creates consequences/opportunities. Building typologies may morph in terms of how light washes off rooftops, reflects off surfaces, and programmatic needs.

Perhaps a 3rd ecological condition? Maybe later, these are a 2 big ones.

Due to the different scaled densities of the fields, suggestions can be made on the types and mixes of crops grown in the fields. Should it be a mono-culture? Or utilize inter-cropping?

Tree Sketch #2

Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra)

Location: Harvard Yard

This pine tree was approx 60 feet in height. This tree grows quick, but requires full sunlight. Due to one side being shaded by an adjacent building, most of the branches grew in the direction out towards the sun. This is an interesting characteristic I also saw in the pines at the Harvard Forest. This tree grows fine in most soil types, meaning it adapts well in urban environments.

flux city project #1

Chris Reed  -  dooon't stoss believin'

Inspired by the writings of Andrea Branzi concerning manipulable and ever-changing urbanism, I am proposing an agriculturally based community with a re-programmable surface. By creating channels, brackish water may be brought through and utilized as an irrigation source. This water would have to be treated and mixed with groundwater or rainwater depending on the water salinity and its nutrient content. The web of irrigation channels acts as not only of a way to farm the land, but also acts as a social device by activating public space and seeding the construction of new residential and industrial (agriculture) buildings. 

The location is on Willets Point, a floodplain in the heart of Flushing Bay in NYC. As far as I know, there aren't any residential buildings on this site - only auto repair shops and the House of Spices (mmm...Indian). One thing to note is that residential homes on floodplains will be more expensive because of the added cost of flood insurance. The highway interchange that weaves around the site acts as a buffer between the site and the rest of the city, and finding a way to better connect with surrounding neighborhoods is worth thinking about. The proximity to LaGuardia Airport creates noise and ground vibrations on site, and also places strict building height restrictions.

Critical at this early stage of the project is setting up the key questions that will guide the project and prevent distractions. What are the fluxing conditions that drive the agricultural ecology? Sun, wind, precipitation, distribution, flooding? What site factors should be taken in account, what should be set aside? Soil, the interchange, topography, LGA? The ecological demands take precedence over urban development. 

Sunshine.....Celery Stalks!

Tree Sketch #1 - yellowwood

Yellowwood Tree (Cladrastis kentukea)

Location: Harvard Yard

The yellowwood is from the family of legumes (Fabaceae), meaning its fruit is usually a bean or pod (faba). The leaves have an alternating arrangement, not uncommon for legumes. The bark is smooth and muscular. Tree sizes are typically 30 to 50 feet in height, though the one I observed was on the smaller end (25 feet maybe). 

If you know exactly what you’re going to do, what’s the use of doing it?

What one does is what counts and not what one had the intention of doing.  

Pablo Picasso

Give me a fruitful error anytime, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections.  You can keep your sterile truths for yourself.    

Vilfredo Pareto

One gets into a state of creativity by conscious work.

Henri Matisse

All you have to do is write one true sentence.  Write the truest sentence that you know.    

Ernest Hemingway

One day Toulouse-Lautrec cried, “At last I don’t know how to draw.”    

Henri Matisse

A painting is finished when the idea is obliterated.    

Georges Braque

i explain the title of this blog

Society tends to portray kids as shallow and rebellious beings. This is why many adults seem to be rude to misbehaving students, and I have witnessed this happen so many times during my observations in a middle-school engineering class. The teacher for that class was relentless in his derogatory remarks towards many of the students, though they are never received as offense by these students. In fact, I might suggest that many of the students found the teacher’s remarks flattering, in a strange adolescent way of thinking. Some of the teacher’s quotes I found quite hilarious actually, so I will list some of my favorites:

1. “I have a cattle prod in the back for [the students].”
2. “I cannot believe that I have 7^th graders who behave maturely, and then you guys come along and destroy the belief of linear progression.”
3. “You are a statistical anomaly.”
4. “…my hoodie homester homefry…”
5. “…I know it’s very hard for you, but try” (in a lighthearted, condescending tone)
6. Student: “Don’t we need a joystick?”   Teacher: “I think of each of you as my own personal joysticks.”
7. “I cannot wait for the complete and utter end of civilization, and you have to work on my farm.”
8. Student: “We can use balsa wood [to build a kite] because balsa is really light.”   Teacher: “Pull up your pants!

These remarks were generally received with laughs, and I think are an example of what was discussed as “reverse-egocentrism.” These students knew their place in the school and their personalities and identities formed around that – inside they have settled themselves with the thought, “I am who you think I am.”