1 + 3 + 9 _v.1.2

Architecture is the medium through which we live our lives - an entity which grows, evolves, and adapts as dynamically as the living population who inhabits it.


However, the relationship between context and dweller is symbiotic - not only do we shape the physicality of our environment to meet our needs, desires, and hopes for the future, but the built environment we have created inevitably shapes us in return.  Architecture structures the spaces we live within and outside of:  it creates boundaries and connections, eliminating certain opportunities and promoting others.  It creates the context of our memories, it informs and affects who we are, where we come from, and who we will grow to be, and the dynamics of this relationship are perpetual and inescapable.  

Pittsburgh has historically been defined by its rivers in relation to industry usage.  Now that this historic usage has become defunct, the city is realizing that the rivers need a new purpose and a new place in the identity of Pittsburgh.  Through architectural intervention, this repurposing of the rivers and reinvention of their image within the city and the cognitive maps of its inhabitants can be achieved.  By infusing the design intervention with the current values and projected future goals of the architecture's inhabitants, the dynamics of the symbiotic relationship are engaged.  After the inhabitants take affect on their built environment, their values are instilled in the resultant creation, which will in turn affect both contemporary inhabitants of the city as well as future generations.  The cycle continues when the architecture encourages inverse adaptation by the inhabitants to progress in the future.

methodology - revised.

1.  HISTORIC RESEARCH:  conduct a basic study of the history of Pittsburgh's development as an industrial city in order to gain adequate understanding of the historic background of the rivers' role in this development

2.  BUILD AWARENESS:  identify and research the scope of riverfront developments that have been completed since the collapse of the steel industry, developments that are currently under way, and those which have been planned or proposed for the future

3.  IDENTIFY:  the different ways in which people try to connect with the river based on basic models of interaction with a waterfront  

4.  PRECEDENT STUDIES:  look to various precedents of the ways other cities with waterfronts have successfully incorporated their connection to the water into the city fabric, lifestyle, and economy and identify what types of connection were accomplished and how they were accomplished  

5.  SITE ANALYSIS:  conduct a first-hand analysis of the overall "site" of possible intervention through exploration and observation of the entirety of the riverfront district by district 

6.  IDEA:  identify appropriate goals for renewed use of the river and develop ideas for intervention 

7.  PROGRAM SELECTION:  after defining a focused set of goals and ideologies, create the program for a design intervention 

8.  SITE SELECTION:  select a specific site along the riverfront for the design intervention 

* I imagine that these two processes of site and program selection will end up being developed more or less simultaneously, or perhaps in a somewhat back and forth manner, rather than one after the other

9.  DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 

10.  FINAL DESIGN PROPOSAL

  

methodology

1.  HISTORIC RESEARCH:  conduct a basic study of the history of Pittsburgh's development as an industrial  city in order to gain adequate understanding of the historic background of the rivers' role in this development

2.  BUILD AWARENESS:  identify and research the scope of riverfront developments that have been completed since the collapse of the steel industry, developments that are currently under way, and those which have been planned or proposed for the future

3.  SITE ANALYSIS:  conduct a first-hand analysis of the overall "site" of possible intervention through exploration and observation of the entirety of the riverfront district by district 

4.  IDEA:  identify appropriate goals for renewed use of the river and develop a ideas for intervention 

5.  PROGRAM SELECTION:  after defining a focused set of goals and ideologies create the program for a design intervention 

6.  SITE SELECTION:  select a specific site along the riverfront for the design intervention 

* I imagine that these two processes of site and program selection will end up being developed more or less simultaneously, or perhaps in a somewhat back and forth manner, rather than one after the other

7.  DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 

8.  FINAL DESIGN PROPOSAL

position paper v.1.1 _ 1 + 3 + 9

Architecture is the medium through which we live our lives which grows, evolves, and adapts as dynamically as the living population who inhabits it.


Because it structures the spaces we learn how to live within and outside of, architecture creates the context of our memories.  It also serves as the physicality of the environment that we shape to meet our current needs, desires, and hopes for the future.  These dynamics result in our symbiotic relationship with architecture that inescapably affects who we are, where we have come from, and who we will grow to be.


Pittsburgh has historically been defined by its rivers in relation to industry usage.  Now that this historic usage has become defunct, the city is realizing that the rivers need a new purpose and a new place in the identity of Pittsburgh.  Through architectural intervention, this repurposing of the rivers and reinvention of their image within the city and the cognitive maps of its inhabitants can be achieved.  By infusing the design intervention with the current values and projected future goals of the architecture's inhabitants, the dynamics of the symbiotic relationship are engaged.  After the inhabitants take affect on their built environment, their values are instilled in the resultant creation, which will in turn affect both contemporary inhabitants of the city as well as future generations.  The cycle continues when the architecture encourages inverse adaptation by the inhabitants to progress in the future.

all photos used were taken during this past summer's scandinavia study abroad

Architecture is...

the medium through which we live our lives

structuring the spaces we are born in, learn how to live within and outside of

the spaces we drive around, walk through, run through, sleep and dream in 

it shapes and defines enclosure and conversely functions as that which we measure against in order to develop our perception of the absence of enclosure 

it creates our very idea and awareness of what space is

architecture is what the context of our memories consist of - the stage and setting for the most important days of our lives, and the collective mist surrounding all the days long forgotten 

it grows, evolves, and adapts as dynamically as the living population that inhabits it - a symbiotic relationship that inescapably affects who we are, where we have come from, and who we will grow to be.