SIENA sub|urban
place anything on a blank format, even a point, and horizontal + vertical divisions will immediately be sensed. these tensions, intersecting at the location of the intruding element, are the invisible governing lines of a composition – its skeletal structure. when developed still further in a composition … either implicitly or explicitly … they not only divide the composition into large + small two-dimensional areas, they also conjure up fast + slow, up + down, side to side, diagonal, and step-wise movements on the surface + in depth.
similar governing lines, spelled out three-dimensionally in proportion and scale, in form, space, and function, are seen in great works of architecture. the architect, by the way he creates approaches, passageways, cavities – wide + narrow, high + low, open + closed – programs the movement of our eyes and bodies, and influences both our sense of well-being + our vital efficiency.
Calvin Harlan vision + invention 1970
PROCESS mapping the spokes
Starting at the terze, or thirds, the intersection of the three main ridges that set up Siena’s topographic morphologies, walk through the city along the assigned path towards the porta, or gate, in the city wall. Continue through the porta and into the countryside for a distance of at least two kilometers.
Work in groups of six and sub-groups of three to gather data. Identify and map all the various conditions along the path, the normative street and the so-called wide places in the road, that you have been assigned. Become familiar with all types of urban space in Siena; include all conditions both inside + outside the walls, both the figural + the fragmented. Understand the physical characteristics of the path and the various activities accommodated or thwarted by them, as the case may be. These include program elements such as public and private transportation, retail and commercial facilities, parking and open space, residential density, and civic or private institutions.
Prepare a simple but accurate plan + section of the full extent of the path/condition using collage/montage/drawing techniques. Organize in a series of A3/11×17 tiled sheets at a consistent scale to create a full rendering of the path and immediate adjacencies. Analyze all physical and functional characteristics and represent them in a coordinated and graphically consistent manner. Communicate graphically with minimal text; show the relationship of plan to section and to the larger urban/suburban context. Your purpose is to understand the conditions and to communicate that understanding to others graphically.
DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS mapping the spokes
- Plan: the urban space either figural or phenomenally constituted;
- Section(s): not limited to cross-sections that indicate the spatial sequence procession/movement;
- Elevation(s): all visible edges of the space read vertically, including photo montage;
- Landscape: character and type of landscape, ie park field garden wood, including plant material, walls, hedges, etc.
Each group’s mapping will be joined together on the floor of the studio to show the full extent of these four spokes:
- gruppo porta camollia + gruppo porta romana
- gruppo porta pispini + porta san marco
Out of the analysis and mapping certain conditions may suggest a move or a moment on the part of the group to urge potential development, in one direction or another, in the emerging patterns of settlement taking place outside the walls. The moves or moments you derive may be permanent or temporary, physical or phenomenal. Whatever they are, and however they are manifest, any move or moment must emanate from some articulated trueness in the condition, from its inherent genius loci. Be informed by your experience on the campuses in Newark and Laurentino 38 in Rome in confronting opportunity in the cracks, crevasses, voids + richness of the world under our noses and the populations that inhabit them. Issues of human and environmental ecologies are inevitable in the sprawling car-driven world outside the walls.
- Plan: the urban space either figural or phenomenally constituted;
- Section(s): not limited to cross-sections that indicate the spatial sequence procession/movement;
- Elevation(s): all visible edges of the space read vertically, including photo montage;
- Landscape: character and type of landscape, ie park field garden wood, including plant material, walls, hedges, etc.
- SI09 HG typology 4A matrix ongoing/due daily!
- SI09 HG precedent 4B chiese|piazze due 10 aug 09!
- SI09 HG precedent 5 popUP piazza due 13 aug 09!
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check the schedules itineraries etc page for updated schedule!
Comment by siena2009 1 August 2009 @ 09:47