P

[0] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 P [introduction]

"With blithe inconsistency, architects and architectural scholars point to the seemingly undesigned sprawl of suburbia and say, 'Don't blame us, we had nothing to do with it.' This avoidance is precisely the problem." Ellen Dunham-Jones, Seventy-Five Percent

{data.

bank}

a project to redefine suburbia

In an article written by Ellen Dunham-Jones for the Harvard Design Review, she observed that seventy-five percent of all new construction occurs in, and fifty percent of the population lives in, the suburbs [1]. At the same time, architecture schools have gradually shifted their focus from practice to theory, or in the words of a poster I recently happened to pass by, from an education of becoming an architect to an education about architecture. During this shift, the focus of architectural discourse largely changed, escaping the reality of the built world favouring instead projects that are more stimulating both intellectually and creatively. Since then, the suburbs, once able to be stereotyped, have grown into complex organisms with complex problems. They are no longer a delicate balance between town and country, but are rather becoming increasingly characterized by sprawl along highways, leapfrogging development patterns, farmland consumption, and road expansion. Because subdivisions and businesses adjacent to one another are rarely ever connected internally, typical suburban development is further increasing dependency on the automobile, and subsequently, is having a profound effect on the landscape it demands. With the exception of the shopping mall, most new suburbs have no defined centre. And the mall—focused solely on commerce—is a pathetic centre at that. Even so, the shopping mall does have some valuable attributes. It is regional, and therefore unique to the suburb. It is monumental, and thus serves as a suburb’s icon. It attracts people, sometimes as many as ten-thousand or more a day. And it is surrounded by acres among acres of parking lots, which provide significant space for potential new development to occur. But the shopping mall is not a public space. And while words like plaza and town centre are used to denote its public-esque character, such words are merely hijacked to paint an illusion of what it pretends to be. Try wearing controversial clothing or using the space inside the mall to demonstrate or protest, and you’ll follow the fate of many who have done so before: an escort out by the mall’s management. Thus, a new public space is needed for suburbia…a place that the community can rightfully call their own. And because the fringes of the pincipal roads are suburbia’s de facto public space, this project intends to transform a public median into a public building. What will it be? Built in the median, this new public building will mediate its surroundings and remediate suburbia. In just one word, it will be a mediathèque. ___

[1]

Dunham-Jones, Ellen "Seventy-Five Percent" Harvard Design Magazine Fall 2000