White Street Pier, Key West
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Supervised Undergraduate Student Research Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects and Creative Work 5-2012 Reclaiming Identity: White Street Pier, Key West Adam H. Richards University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj Part of the Other Architecture Commons, and the Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons Recommended Citation Richards, Adam H., "Reclaiming Identity: White Street Pier, Key West" (2012). Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj/1517 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Supervised Undergraduate Student Research and Creative Work at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Reclaiming Identity White Street Pier, Key West Adam Richards College of Architecture and Design Advisor: Professor Tricia Stuth . e t a t s l a n i g g g i r o t a h t o o t t n n r u t e r o t — l l l a o g s i h n i a t t a l l i w w w r e v e n d n a t o n s a h e h t e y , e m o h f o 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 r e d n i m e 1890 1912 1938 1957 1969 2009 r Key West population: 18,800. Overseas Railway connects Key Railway becomes Key West International First cruise ship to set International Airport (departing a Nearly half are of Cuban origin West to continental U.S. U.S. Highway 1 Airport constructed sail from Key West terminal) constructed e b o t m i 1913 1927 - 1991 October 1962 est. 1977 June 2000 h Aviator Augustin Parla Pan American Airlines Cuban Missile Crisis International Maritime Boundary Elian Gonzalez affair d First U.S. flight to Cuba. Established in Key West as air mail and passenger travel to Havana, Cuba n u May 1995 - present day o r Wet foot/Dry foot policy and los Balseros a Those refugees who do not reach dry land are returned to Cuba or relo- e b c cated to other countries if they fear persecution. e a y o p April - October 1980 n s d s Mariel Boatlifts: 125,000 refugees i An agreement between the U.S. and Cuban governments allowed Cubans to t h h leave from the small port city of Mariel. Most arrived in Key West, Florida. e s e f t 1965 - 1973 l a e i Freedom Flights: 265,297 refugees e r t p Under the Johnson and Nixon administrations, Cubans were allowed to leave in o from Varadero Beach to Miami in order to flee the Castro regime. g r s p p p a a n 1960 - 1962 e o Operación Pedro Pan: 14,000 children H f Out of fear that the Soviet Union would seize their children, parents placed their . l o i sons and daughters on planes to Miami, Florida. f b e . m 1 January 1959 H i l e REVOLUTION n i h s o i p y t e i s t t o n e e x d t i en s d i beyond the p H res . e e n l t, i a x t e t a e c h h t t f o o s o e l m g g e u f r u t t s u l r a e i t h n o e p s s e e . B e u h t t s h i e n i s o i a t l a s r o a s p e e e s k s in i g h to T . e y t s i ta t b n li e s d h miami i a s p r a e st. g n I came to the conclusion that whatever space and time mean, place and occasion mean more, In o a rde d r to establis n h a e p e r e s m e o nc h e f for space in the image of man is place, and time in the image of man is occasion. — an o id e e r n u ti t t c y e — t i a h c rc r h a ite c n tu a re m m o r u f s t n d o i Aldo van Eyck, “The Medicine of Reciprocity, Tentatively Illustrated” e t n a r y a t p h e e S . p y r r e to s is e h n s t i . h I t n ts t p h u e r s h i u d m t n a e n m e s c e a a l r p c is h D f f f o e. r ac s l i g g g p n n a i f f f i c o a n t c e e , c a n r a c c h i Identity :: For architecture, significance can come through its relationship with its inhabitants, if i t n e ig c s t u d r n e a o n f f f f f f e io r s it a n t i a n f g g g e i b through their attempt to establish a feeling of home and of permanence. Past memories d l e g “ n p i r r o o b f s o e f i e e e r x e r i i , s w s t e h u o n b c r e t ” o o a C c c e s o o t g n i d r L i s a a a h y s d t n h s a a ie t r and histories bring definition and significance to a place. Man’s persistence there over time “ o t a em k k k m i n st g ts. Pa p itan o ab s h s in e establishes a sense of home and identity. s s it s ith i w o hip n ts relations s through i o key west ome f ce c s an p nific a , sig c ure e archite ct is ance. For th nific e vide sig fi oes not pro rst ge Existence alone d sture of living things.” Exile :: The thesis explores the link between identity and architecture and the intimate connection between memories and the places in which they are created. If man’s relationship to architecture is often to establish a sense of home, to carve memories into a place, what happens when this link to the past is severed? Separation from an architecture of home can endanger identity. home. o return This separation is the essential struggle of the exile. In this struggle, architecture can become a ing t e is long there. H ere nor either h place. N A tension exists in the heart of the exile, dislocated from home. He is in no catalyst in the reclamation of identity. Threshold :: In the attempt to establish ownership, we begin to draw boundaries on land to ly a return evitab to Cu demarcate territory, in some cases even the sea. For the exile, boundaries become loaded with In b Cuba. a, fo r th m e e fro xile, can only reside in mem ile ory. x The m e Cub to leave one’s ho el the Cu in a to w ation a nd, ban-America ng hic meaning. It is a threshold that, once crossed, establishes a disconnect from home. For the desper n does not con ivi h t gh sider him er l he ou se rev y en lf ut fo lo ith an im nt to the U.S. b ng w migra to ret urn is , in m Cuban exile, this boundary is the ocean: the Straits of Florida. a ny w ay s, a p a havana rt o f t h e p as The Cuban-American :: The plight of Cuban exiles is a living history, spanning more than sixty years to date. Reasons for leaving may vary, though each resonates with enough desperation to leave one’s homeland. The project seeks to create an architectural identity for the Cuban- American, the self-imposed exile: a person who does not consider himself an immigrant to the U.S. but living in exile from Cuba, a person who is neither here nor there. i n v a e h g c u g h o h r a a a t e , a y y y s r C o a a e v n y r a a a l e u u s m o a n b a t e r s w w w i t t o h f f f s e n n o o s a e R R R u g h d e s p e r a t t t i o n t o l e a a a v e o n e ’ s h o m e l a n d , t h e C u b a n - A m a n r t g t e s i o n o e t o c o n t m s d i h d e r r h e i m m i s n e l U U U f i i a a n .