‘Open’ and Other Spaces; Permanent Extensions, Temporary Grounds
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… a fundamental belief in the power of the individual and explores a collective dream world of a continually transforming urban structure that will accomodate a society in flux. “Utopia and/or Spectacle” – Lara Schrijver
Thesis Statement Open Space is commonly attributed as parks, playgrounds and recreation grounds in Hong Kong. They serve as voids to the dense urban fabric, as public space for urban dwellers in the city. Yet there are those other open spaces existing at urban peripheries, devoid of any contextual significance, secluded in hard-to-reach locations. These recreational grounds appear lush and green yet are denied of existence, as a building material, topographical representation and of programmatic value, and in turn, revealing a contemporary phenomenon of “Otherness” most present in emerging cities. Avoided grounds [Building Material] The ground conditions are shrouded as lush green, owing their nature as landfill sites, restoring land with space for waste. While these grounds are decontaminated, the dialectic conditions allow little as foundations for building above, an existence rendered void in architecture. Devoid of content [Topography] The closed landfill sites engage in an eclectic existence with Nature. They exist adjacent to natural landforms of Nature or in the midst. As an effort in mimicking Nature by planting, these grounds serve better as void fields against the solid content of Nature. Voids in context [Programme] The grounds are founded as baseball grounds, archery ranges and golf courses, in seclusion to the surrounding settings of residential and commercial grounds. These grounds engage in a non-dialogue to where it sits. Similarly, these open spaces offer a socio-ecological reading of the society through its artefacts of consumption. The act of making waste precedes an act of social engagement in constructing public grounds. Social thresholds of the Mass population are voided, consolidating the mass membership of new grounds for recreational purposes.
These open spaces offer contested grounds in urban planning an inquiry on the temporal phenomenon of “Otherness” that exists in cities, and challenge the notions of claiming public space for a society in state of flux.
Thesis Project Thesis Intent A critique on the phenomenon of ‘waste’ space designated as ‘Open’ Space, its qualities of ‘Otherness’, and its effects in urban planning. Identify prospective grounds in the city of this phenomenon as method of constructing public space. A projective on a city of spectacles through this phenomenon as a re-reading for the city of collective ownership and membership of public space, at local and global scales. Causeway Bay as Testing Ground The proposed site is Causeway Bay, a district in the core centre of Hong Kong Island. It has a rich history serving as contested grounds for rendering values on entertainment, consumption, recreation and public space. This resonates as a collective dream world to test the value of Open Spaces, its significance as contemporary urban nuclei and representation of the City and its individuals.
Outline of Research & Design Methods Findings Mapping the project through translations and sectioning of the City at global and local scales Actors Identifying roles of urban dwellers in relation to the socio-ecology of consumption and its artefacts, contributing to the dimensions of “Otherness” Scenes Revealing sites of “Otherness” in the City as scenarios in time and space Settings Constructing grounds for testing “Otherness” in the City as guidelines of urban interventions Spectacle Anchoring down extensions of the “Otherness” as a projective for contemporary urban nuclei
Bibliography – “Utopia and/ or Spectacle” – Lara Schrijver, 2011 – “Urban nature and the ecological imaginary” – Matthew Gandy, 2006
– Urban World: Mapping the economic power of cities – McKinsey & Co., March 2011 – Urban World: Cities and the rise of the consuming classs” – McKinsey & Co., June 2012 – Hong Kong Planning and Standards Guidelines and Statutory Plans
References -Teshima Art Museum – Ryue Nishizawa, 2010 -Fresh Kills Land Art Generator Initiative Competition Projects, 2012 -Exodus or The Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture – Rem Koolhaas 1972
– ‘Cinematic Urbanism: a history of the Modern From Reel to Real’ by Nezar AlSayyad, 2006 – ‘Who’s Your City?‘ by Richard Florida, 2008 – ‘Starchitecture – Scenes, Actors and Spectacles in Contemporary Cities‘ by Davide Ponzini & Micheke Nastasi, 2011 – ‘Imagining cities: scripts, signs, memory” by Sallie Westwood and John Williams, 1997 – ‘Spectacle’ by David Rockwell with Bruce Mau, 2006 – ‘Education of an Architect, Cooper Union , 1988 – ‘Mongolia’ – Aitor Throup, 2004 – ‘Fast Twitch’, Desert House – Perry Kulper, 2004 – ‘Tokai: Hiroo and Roppongi” – Akira Yamaguchi, 2002
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