WILLIAM

This is my first ever manifesto. I know this is very general but it helps me a lot in terms of understanding the overall Inter 3 agenda. I am currently fixing my statement and it should be done by Friday.

“There are many rules and regulations in this highly compressed and dense environment. A living space has an order which is reliant on its neighbouring space affecting its characteristics.

“I would like to investigate the order of living spaces in terms of its boundaries and the potential of allowing flexibility according to the users' activity within this order. The visual example of my thought could be represented by the grouping of marbles in different containers. The number of marbles stays the same, but the volume and organisation would vary.”

Large - The activities of penguins

Medium - Park benches vs human behaviour

Small - Marbles in jars

"Order is never as simple as black and white. There is an ambiguous order which we known it as the “grey area”. In between the semi-private and public we see the visible boundaries, but how about the invisible boundaries? Could we literally push around these boundaries? I want the users to be able to define and experience these different layers of unconcealed superspace from my design and introduce the concept of open plan living into the superblock, superflat and superwall. We can not just realise their existence but subtly breach them and reveal them in an unconventional fashion such as exploring new ways of using building materials."

A public space is accessible to everyone at all times.
A private space is an area where accessibility is determined by one person or a small group of people.

An open area, room or space may be conceived either as a more or less private place or as a public area, depending on the degree of accessibility, the form of supervision, who uses it, who takes care of it, and their respective responsibilities.

The in-between grey area helps soften the distinct division within territories. Therefore the street space and the building have a very important interrelationship. Street space should be more inviting and the building should be more accessible.

There are sprawls all over LA. Social and ethnic groups are immensely spread out and there are hardly any interactions between one another. The gigantic freeways and grids do not provide a sense of a community but hostility and separation. The purpose of fitting a flee market inside my superblock is to get people out of the car and start walking. They might intermingle with each other, or even start making new friends. The market would not be a linear like a traditional street but a richly varied multi-dimensional experience. Since the flee market is not categorised in any form but full of diversity, this allows the area to dense up and become more vibrant. The residents from the superblock may also take advantage of the close proximity they share with the market and use this communal space.

High density
The prevailing low density greater Los Angeles is in part contributing to this way of life. So in contrast to this the superblock creates an area of high density.

Mixed use of program
New methods of working in the 21st century decrease the physical interactions between people. The social and working space exists in a virtual level rather than the physical level. The superblock aims to takes inspiration from this new ways of living and working but tries to create a building form where the pleasure of the interaction of the old style of interaction would occur.

Specific circulation
Instead of the linear connections that are existed throughout LA, there will be circulation that runs through various types of programs.

Interaction
The design of the superblock intends to soften the transition between public and private space. The current experience of LA is one of extreme polarisation type of space where a person is in either their private space and the public space represents a place of hostility. The car rules here hence the experience of the city is directly related to that mode of transport. The superblock breaks this way of experiencing the space and instead creates areas of interaction between the occupants of the superblock.