YES, IT’S A WALL

……"Fractured landscapes open a space in the landscapes that opens a space within us for memory". James E. Young, University Of Massachusetts.

While working for UPA Architects I have had the opportunity to work on a whole variety of design projects. Some of them are very complex projects that are characterized by its apparent simplicity. This might sound like a paradox but in Arch. Fernando Romero’s words I would call this “Simplexity”. In this occasion I want to share a project that is located in the area of Barbican Village in Jamaica. Based on our first meeting with the client he expressed his desire to build a touristic complex called Barbican Village. As we were filled in with all the details it was established that the project would have to be built in two phases. The first stage consists of a running fence and a gate house. With these two elements we pretend to create great expectations of what the final stage would be. Since the project is still in the Design Development phase I am going to lay down our “Parti” and what we think is a good approach to this simple but interesting project.

Usually when people think about a wall they immediately picture a solid structure that defines, separates or divides two or more areas. Areas that are conceived as a single entities created by the power of the line and the plane. And is this fracture in the landscapes what characterizes the modern city. Cities that are plagued by walls that not just segregate spaces but also the society. With this exercise UPA pretend to create a strategy where the Wall plays a role of integration more than segregation.

The first step was to identify a protocol that would lead us to develop certain language. In this specific case elements like water, wind and earth gave us the starting point to create a sequence of planes that like origami pieces are fluent and continuous. This element mimics the nature blending itself with its context allowing a dynamic interaction with the user.

Thanks for reading and I hope you find this post interesting, enjoy!!

Walking Around Washington DC

Walking Around Washington DC

As you all know the scientific method is considered one of the most useful techniques to acquire new knowledge. For instance, observation was one of the tools that helped Alexander Fleming to discover the penicillin (accidental observation also counts). But

in this case I do not pretend to construct a hypothesis I just want to share a series of images that keep me constantly oscillating between the two first steps of the scientific method, asking questions and doing background research.

Washington is a very particular city with many characteristics that make this urban settlement a special one. Washington DC is a very young city established in 1790. When I learned that the city that I have been living for four years was only 221 years old several questions came to my mind. For example, How come a 221 years old city is loaded with this amount of history and monumentality? Is Washington DC plagued of memorials, monuments or landmarks?. All this questions were begged in part because of the comparison process that I always go through when observing the city. Bogota, DC was the city where I lived while in college. Bogota was founded in 1538 by Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, which means this city is 473 years old. The lack of a pattern of organization is clear, even if the city has a lot to tell it is not able to because of the absence of proper scenarios to read this stories. But this is not the purpose of this post (hopefully I would be able to compare this two cities in a extensive way later), this post has the only purpose to be observed in a graphic way. In this opportunity I walked around the city documenting with my HDR device some of the elements of public interest that make Washington Dc very particular. I would like to hear some comments and questions, this way we together can establish the

code of this amazing city. I am going to briefly describe my three favorite ones, you also will find graphic documentation of the city itself, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, World war two memorial, Korean war veterans Memorial among others.

The Washington Monument

I will try not to extend with the descriptions; you can easily find information on the Internet or the closest library about these elements. The obelisk is located at the end of the Washington Mall, is considered the tallest obelisk in the world 555 feet 5¹⁄₈ inches (169.294 m). By law is not possible to build higher than this around the District area. It was built in two stages from 1848 to 1884 because the lack of funds and the intervention of the civil war. Walking around the element is easy to tell the difference in color and shading between the two stages. Due to the earthquake in 2011 they had to invest around 8 million USD to bring it back to its original state.

Vietnam Memorial

The Vietnam memorial it is one of my favorites Memorials. Not only for its beauty and relationship with its context but also because of the story full of controversy behind its design and construction process back in 1980. By the deadline of March 1981, 1,421 design entries had been submitted. A jury of eight internationally recognized artists and designers judged all entries anonymously, and Maya Lin’s proposal was chosen by the jury. When her identity was revealed she was harassed because of her ethnicity (Chinese American) and also because she only was a 21 years old undergraduate at Yale University. It’s really hard to explain the beauty of this memorial you have to be there to find your reflection on the shiny black stone between the names of the soldiers who gave their lives in this war. The glossy stone was brought from Bangalore, India.

FDR Memorial

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, it’s a presidential memorial located on Tidal basin which is a man made body of water between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel. The same area where Jefferson Memorial, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial are situated. The human scale of this monument and the sequence of specific moments in history make this memorial a very nice structure to walk by. 5 main areas compose this memorial:

-A single large drop

-Multiple stairstep drops

-Chaotic falls at varying angles

-A still pool

-A wide array combining the earlier waterfalls

I hope you guys find this post interesting, thank you for reading enjoy!

MLK Memorial by Juan R. Morales

Site Plan, Picture by Juan R. Morales