Exodus Reversion- Infrastructure for Disobedient Autonomy

By LO Tong Kit / 11 June, 2014 / Final Thesis Title, Thesis Statement and Project Description, LO Tong Kit / No Comments

THESIS STATEMENT

The thesis speculates how architecture becomes a political exception, across seamlessly between conflicting sovereignties through little different of geo-political urban settings, eventually inverts the frozen border condition creating a territorial effect.

 

WALTER BENJIMAN

‘Everything will be as it is now, just a little different’ …could eventually change everything

 

The SITE, taking advantage of its anarchic but relaxing tension status. is at Cyprus UN buffer zone, a no man’s land Abandon for 40 years divided the island into, Northern Turk & Southern Greek. Northern is unrecognized internationally except Turkey while Southern Greek is EU country.

 

Film

 

As the recent social tension shifts from politic to economy, the zone’s in-between geography, anarchic condition becomes an illegal treasure hunt attracting various intrusion that indicates the pressure as well as the opportunity for the zone to be developed for both communities.

 

To systemically facilitate this phenomena towards a peaceful future, it does no substantial change but disobediently re-occupies the zone through autonomous productive infrastructure, in name of UK and Russia backed corporation creating non-national sovereignty as political masquerade to cover ‘voluntary’ peoples to work together free from subsequent military & political affection.

Site

Three urban strategies are invented, emerges progressively in time depends on the political change, from conservative to aggressive, each impact other, reversing the ‘Exodus’, finally has the power to negotiate the political outcome. It is tested in three representative sites of different rural urban, population, footprint, program and border fence condition.

 

Architecture (Cluster)

Scenario

1

The first starts with the area with less political sensitivity with conservative approach:

2

The second starts with the area with more political exposure and aggressive approach

3

The final one at the political core of capital city with neutral approach
Site

Rural urban edge

Lympia/ Louroujina, abandon village

The only Bi-community Village, Pyla, abandon farmland

The last divided capital in the world- Nicosia, commercial area
Population NIL >500 NIL
Border Footprint M (500m W.) L (>1500m W.) S (50m W.)
Program Sustainable Industrial Zone Agricultural Zone Internal Trading Zone
  Recycle Factory

High-Tech Manufacturing

Mini-waste to energy plant

 Greenhouse/ farm

Livestock shelter

Seawater & solar harvesting

 Trade/ commercial market

Banking

Balloon type wind Turbine
Ex. Zone Open area of cleared minefield condition with illegal dumping site Abandon farmland Urbanizing with resort & institute Congested heritage ruins, with sometimes open fire, protest
Ex. Border Fence Open border, but without crossing Open border, with formal crossing Security fenced border, with formal crossing
Proposed Strategy Factory started along one edge, growth by time eventually occupies one edge, formalized the dumping site Greenhouse agriculture facility reoccupies the abandon farmlands, oriented to prevailing wind, started at one side growth by time Clusters of tunnel arranged as per ex. street grid & perpendicular to underground watercourse by passing the zone connecting both side, growth by time
Urban impact/ projected outcome Intensified the edges creating one side factory town, one side worker’s village Overpass the zone of both side becomes continuous nomadic landscape re-open the whole river and supporting the collapsing building Preserve the zone creating a side by side commercial area
Underlay REINFORCE THE EDGE ERASE BYPASS
  CONDITIONAL CO-OPERATION UNCONDITIONAL STITCHING THE CAPTAL POLITICALLY

 

These infrastructure of just a little different settings, ‘becoming outlaw spatial product that could exist outside normal jurisdictions, can be proliferated to dissolve its formal form of border, finally changing everything towards a peaceful future thought architectural contribution.

 

‘Division, isolation, inequality, aggression, destruction, all the negative aspects of the Wall, could be the ingredients of a new phenomenon: architectural warfare against undesirable conditions. this would be an immodest architecture committed not to timid improvement but to the provision of totally desirable alternative

Rem Koolhaas 1972 Exodus or ‘Voluntary Prisoner of Architecture’ in London

 

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