Along with degree project I'm doing an independent study in furniture making. I'm making a tool cabinet for myself with all hand cut dovetail joinery. Today I realized (rather, I was helped to realize) the similarities in the process of furniture making and what I'm looking at in resort towns. They each have life cycles that involve long periods of dormancy, shorter periods of activity and moments of flux in between the two.
A tree grows for years and years. It takes about ten minutes to cut it down, a day to roughly mill it up. Then it stays stacked for a number of years; usually a year per inch thick. The rough hewn wood is then milled down to very close to the finished dimension for the piece. It sits again for as long as possible to ensure that the boards stay flat. Joinery can be started and the furniture made, which could last 100+ years. The tree is given new life by what it's made into. From seed to dovetail could be 20, 50, 100 years. The table breaks after a long life, its thrown out, burned, back to the earth for the cycle to start again.
Summertime is booming on Martha's Vineyard. Thousands of people come and go everyday, the beaches are packed, week rental prices are astronomical, celebrities are all over the place, and the streets are packed. As the summer winds down and fall starts, the crowds thin, days get shorter, people start moving inside at night because of the cooler nights. The towns are left in the wake of a crazy summer. As winter get closer, the ferries stop running to some harbors, the summer houses get boarded up and much of the island goes into hibernation for the winter. Spring starts, the island starts up again by fixing up and gearing up for the summer ahead. Paint is touched up, construction finishes up, houses start to get ready. A new summer, the cycle starts again.
How do we take advantage of the flux? In furniture, we make something new, give new life to the wood. What is it in architecture?
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Yesterdays Maps
Here are a few of the maps I made yesterday. I have all twelve printed on transparencies that I'm going to bind, but here are a few to see the difference throughout the year.
Also, I'm going to be trying to post something new everyday from here on out.
Also, I'm going to be trying to post something new everyday from here on out.
Yokohama Ferry Terminal
I just got a book out called Flexible: Architecture that Responds to Change the passage on the Yokohama Ferry Terminal caught my eye. It only happens to be a coincidence that it's a ferry terminal, I'm more interested in the ideas behind the project rather than what it is.
"The top deck is a remarkable shifting ground place, a timber-clad pier that undulates to create an artificial landscape that is an extension of the city's Yamashita Park and consequently of the city itself. The client instigated this strategy by introducing the concept of Ni-wa-minato, a 'mediation' between the garden and harbour and also between the citizens of Yokohama and visitors from the outside world. The building therefore also became much more of a resource for local people who use the pier for relaxation and exercise, and the internal spaces as civic facilities."
I think this type of strategy can be part of what I'm looking at for Martha's Vineyard. Comments?????
"The top deck is a remarkable shifting ground place, a timber-clad pier that undulates to create an artificial landscape that is an extension of the city's Yamashita Park and consequently of the city itself. The client instigated this strategy by introducing the concept of Ni-wa-minato, a 'mediation' between the garden and harbour and also between the citizens of Yokohama and visitors from the outside world. The building therefore also became much more of a resource for local people who use the pier for relaxation and exercise, and the internal spaces as civic facilities."
I think this type of strategy can be part of what I'm looking at for Martha's Vineyard. Comments?????
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Ferry Mapping
Today I'm going to map the different ferry routes and frequencies throughout the year to show the ebb and flow of the traffic coming in and out of MV. I think I'm going to print the 12 different maps on mylar and present them as overlays to show the network. Or, I've been thinking about making it model somehow too, but I can't figure out how to three-dimensionalize it yet.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Post-Crit Thoughts
We had our first pin-up the other day with Thomas and our secondary advisor John Hartmann. They made some very good points about the direction of my project. I was planning on doing 'affordable housing' for the locals that get displaced every summer. The problem is that solving this problem isn't architectural. The solution has more to do with local policy and land ownership than architecture.
What does interest me is the ebb and flow of people, use, and money throughout the year in these resort towns. The relationship between the two extremes of the seasons and people who live and visit are one of a symbiosis that only work when the two are working together. While the local economies need the high season to make enough money for the rest of the year, a ramification is that places close and the towns offer much less activity for the locals. Most high seasons are 3-4 months long, with many of the businesses (and houses) closed (or open less frequently) during the other 8 months of the year.
What happens to these buildings the rest of the year? How can we use a building that lays dormant in the winter as an infrastructure to a different use and program for the remaining 8 months? For example, in the summer months in Martha's Vineyard, 14 ferry trips run from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs everyday. After the summer, however, the ferry only runs to Vineyard Haven, leaving the Oak Bluffs ferry terminal unoccupied and unused the rest of the year. Maybe a new ferry terminal could be built that uses the qualities of that space to change into something that the locals could benefit from; a winter farmers market or something that facilitates larger gatherings.
Not really this...but a little.
What does interest me is the ebb and flow of people, use, and money throughout the year in these resort towns. The relationship between the two extremes of the seasons and people who live and visit are one of a symbiosis that only work when the two are working together. While the local economies need the high season to make enough money for the rest of the year, a ramification is that places close and the towns offer much less activity for the locals. Most high seasons are 3-4 months long, with many of the businesses (and houses) closed (or open less frequently) during the other 8 months of the year.
What happens to these buildings the rest of the year? How can we use a building that lays dormant in the winter as an infrastructure to a different use and program for the remaining 8 months? For example, in the summer months in Martha's Vineyard, 14 ferry trips run from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs everyday. After the summer, however, the ferry only runs to Vineyard Haven, leaving the Oak Bluffs ferry terminal unoccupied and unused the rest of the year. Maybe a new ferry terminal could be built that uses the qualities of that space to change into something that the locals could benefit from; a winter farmers market or something that facilitates larger gatherings.
Not really this...but a little.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Wintersession Update
I guess we've been back in our studio space for 3 weeks now and it's been interesting to see everyone's different processes and ways of getting into their projects. Most people have changed their trajectories slightly (or a lot) since last semester, I being one of them. A lot of the undercurrents are the same, but the actual focus is quite different from what I started with.
Still interested with routines, I've chosen to look at various resort towns because of the semi-annual expansion and contraction of population, economy, and mood of these places. What are the ramifications of these shifts from winter to summer, summer to winter? Specifically, I've been looking at Aspen, CO and Martha's Vineyard, MA and the people who are displaced by the influx of wealthier people (low-income workforce can't afford to live in high-priced resort town). I'm going to be working with Martha's Vineyard for my eventual proposal and am using Aspen as another case study to learn from.
The interesting thing is that the relationship between the locals and the wealthy tourists is not only symbiotic but also parasitic. The high-tourist seasons generate a massive amount of money for both the towns and local people, but also raise housing sales and rental properties making it nearly impossible for the local population to sustain living there, forcing many people to move to bedroom communities.
I've been reading a lot about affordable housing and gentrification, but I'm not entirely sure that is the answer. I've done a few sketches that begin to try to bring two unlikely situations together. For me, these towns have a lot to do with contradiction and contrast. New - old, rich - poor, winter - summer, swollen population - very few people, etc. The sketches below are trying to describe bringing these two worlds together in some way using existing infrastructure from Aspen and MV. You can read into them how you like.
Also, I'm going to MV tonight to spend the weekend there interviewing people, observing, researching, recording, feeling, to see what happens. I'm going to be recording what's open now as opposed to the summer, how people live, what towns offer what, what is necessary, etc. We'll see how it turns out, but I'm very excited to go to Martha's Vineyard with new eyes.
Still interested with routines, I've chosen to look at various resort towns because of the semi-annual expansion and contraction of population, economy, and mood of these places. What are the ramifications of these shifts from winter to summer, summer to winter? Specifically, I've been looking at Aspen, CO and Martha's Vineyard, MA and the people who are displaced by the influx of wealthier people (low-income workforce can't afford to live in high-priced resort town). I'm going to be working with Martha's Vineyard for my eventual proposal and am using Aspen as another case study to learn from.
The interesting thing is that the relationship between the locals and the wealthy tourists is not only symbiotic but also parasitic. The high-tourist seasons generate a massive amount of money for both the towns and local people, but also raise housing sales and rental properties making it nearly impossible for the local population to sustain living there, forcing many people to move to bedroom communities.
I've been reading a lot about affordable housing and gentrification, but I'm not entirely sure that is the answer. I've done a few sketches that begin to try to bring two unlikely situations together. For me, these towns have a lot to do with contradiction and contrast. New - old, rich - poor, winter - summer, swollen population - very few people, etc. The sketches below are trying to describe bringing these two worlds together in some way using existing infrastructure from Aspen and MV. You can read into them how you like.
Also, I'm going to MV tonight to spend the weekend there interviewing people, observing, researching, recording, feeling, to see what happens. I'm going to be recording what's open now as opposed to the summer, how people live, what towns offer what, what is necessary, etc. We'll see how it turns out, but I'm very excited to go to Martha's Vineyard with new eyes.
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