ARCH-4980.2 | Jeremy Carvalho, Adjunct Professor

A FUTURE AFTER THE STORM

PADRAIC HEGAN

If the barrier of the human and the machine is porous, then certainly the connection between humans and architecture should be the same. By examining the current stock of urban environment, we are left with the question, “What does architecture need to do?”. I feel that the recent years have identified a yearning of support for the every-man, the makers and doers, the people who take control of their lives and build a new way of living. We are left with the question; can we design a scenario where people are encouraged to adapt their own surroundings into a protective schema that will blossom into a network of communities along a river corridor, spreading as a meme-like idea that is open sourced and encouraged amongst people?

I propose an architecture that uses the current materials on hand to construct a dynamic environment that changes and adapts to the changing needs of its people, an architecture that is a mark of the people who use it. This project will look at the societal consequences of the way we organize ourselves into a scenario that promotes growth and community exploration by creating a pliable system of occupation. It will be one that is sensitive to the needs of the urban occupant as it allows a reconnection with the natural world, re-engaging the city and the waters edge.

By using the power of  human networks to combine talents and skills people can optimize themselves into a real matrix to provide for themselves.  Specifically, this project sees the leftover remains of post-industrial factory machinery and transportation containers as the nutrient to feed the technological hunger of the surviving occupants. The proposed plan is intended to encourage sharing of physical and intellectual resources, while encouraging the individual family units to build uniquely and with harmony with their neighbors.  It is hoped the  new matrix will be seen as an open source community, one that encourages collaboration and the sharing of ideas, embracing new ones as worthy of exploration and experimentation.