Terrain Vague As planners and designers have turned their attentions to the blighted, vacant areas of the city, the concept of “terrain vague” has become increasingly important. Terrain Vague seeks to explore the ambiguous spaces of the city— the places that exist outside the cultural, social, and economic circuits of urban life. From vacant lots and railroad tracks, to more diverse interstitial spaces, this collection of original essays and cases presents innovative ways of looking at marginal urban space, with studies from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, from a diverse group of planners, geographers, and urban designers. Terrain Vague is a cooperative effort to redefine these marginal spaces as a central concept for urban planning and design. Presenting innovative ways of looking at marginal urban space, and focusing on its positive uses and aspects, the book will be of interest to all those wishing to understand our increasingly complex everyday surroundings, from planners, cultural theorists, and academics, to designers and architects. Manuela Mariani is an Italian architect and co-founder of the firm Intadesign. She has practiced in Italy and the Netherlands, as well as in the United States. She is Assistant Director of Foundation Studios at the Boston Architectural College, where she is part of the design studio faculty. Patrick Barron is an Associate Professor in English at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He has received awards from the Academy of American Poets, the American Academy in Rome, the Fulbright Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. His books include The Selected Poetry and Prose of Andrea Zanzotto and Italian Environmental Literature: An Anthology. This page intentionally left bank Terrain Vague Interstices at the Edge of the Pale Edited by Manuela Mariani and Patrick Barron First edition published 2014 by Routledge Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 selection and editorial material, Manuela Mariani, Patrick Barron; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Manuela Mariani and Patrick Barron to be identified as authors of the editorial material, and of the individual authors as authors of their contributions, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Terrain vague: interstices at the edge of the pale/[edited by] Manuela Mariani, Patrick Barron.—First edition. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Terrain vague. I. Mariani, Manuela, editor of compilation. II. Barron, Patrick, 1968– editor of compilation. NA9050.T47 2013 711′.4–dc23 2013006667 ISBN13: 978–0–415–82767–6 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–82768–3 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–52217–2 (ebk) Typeset in Univers by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK Contents List of Figures vii Preface xi Manuela Mariani and Patrick Barron 1 Introduction: At the Edge of the Pale 1 Patrick Barron 2 Terrain Vague 24 Ignasi de Solà-Morales Part I Locations 31 3 Welcome to Bachoura, or the Found City as Interstice 33 Carole Lévesque 4 Open Space Appropriations and the Potentialities of a “City of Thresholds” 48 Stavros Stavrides 5 Three Meditations on the Ruins of Detroit 62 Jerry Herron 6 Perception and Exploration of Interstitial Space: Slots in San Francisco 75 Tanu Sankalia 7 Void Potential: Spatial Dynamics and Cultural Manifestations of Residual Spaces 89 Heike Rahmann and Marieluise Jonas Part II Traversings 105 8 Transurbance 107 Francesco Careri v Contents 9 On the Threshold: Terrain Vague as Living Space in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker 114 Stanka Radovic’ 10 Paradoxical Spaces 130 Guy Königstein 11 Garbage Arcadia: Digging for Choruses in Fresh Kills 138 Jennifer Scappettone 12 Isn’t All Public Space Terrain Vague? 153 Karen A. Franck Part III Applications 171 13 Notions of Nature and a Model for Managed Urban Wilds 173 Jill Desimini 14 Interim Spaces: Vacant Land, Creativity, and Innovation in the Context of Uncertainty 187 Krystallia Kamvasinou and Marion Roberts 15 The Interstitial Challenge: Manifestations of Terrain Vague in Detroit and Clichy-sous-Bois, Paris 201 Jim Stevens and Anirban Adhya 16 Following the Berlin Wall 216 Elizabeth Golden 17 Vague Recollections: Obscurity and Uncertainty in Contemporary Public Memorials 230 Quentin Stevens List of Contributors 249 Index 252 vi Figures 1.1 Fire Pit, Wooded Debris Slope, State Laboratory (Boston, 2012) 2 1.2 Wetland, Graffitied Wall, Train Tracks (Boston, 2012) 4 1.3 Squatter Campsite (Boston, 2013) 5 1.4 Train Tracks, Charles River Footpath, Soldiers Field Road, Massachusetts Turnpike (Boston, 2012) 6 1.5 Underpass (Boston, 2012) 8 1.6 Charles River White Geese, Boston University Bridge, Train Trestle (Cambridge, 2012) 10 1.7 Pedestrian, Ballard Way, Gas Lamp, Fence (Boston, 2012) 12 1.8 Valle della Caffarella (Rome, 2007) 13 1.9 Valle della Caffarella (near the Via Latina, Rome, 2007) 15 1.10 Valle della Caffarella (Rome, 2007) 17 3.1 Tyan Street (Beirut, 2011) 38 3.2 St. George Church (Beirut, 2011) 42 3.3 “Hear it Ring” Installation (Beirut, 2010) 43 3.4 “Have a Seat” Installation (Beirut, 2010) 44 3.5 “Come In” Installation (Beirut, 2010) 45 3.6 “Look, a Door” Installation (Beirut, 2010) 46 4.1 Deactivated Thresholds? 50 4.2 Trans-Experiences in the Buffer Zone of Nicosia. (Stephanie Keszi and Georgia Frangoudi; Supervisor, Stavros Stavrides) 52 4.3 Washing the Abandoned Waiting Lounge Chairs. (Performance by Andrea Savva) 53 4.4 Airport Chairs in the Buffer Zone. (Performance by Andrea Savva) 54 4.5 Syntagma Square Reoccupation: Collective Washing Common Space 59 6.1 Slots in San Francisco 77 6.2 View of Slot. (Drawing by Paul Madonna) 79 6.3 Inside the Slot, “Bracket.” (Photo by Moshe Quinn) 80 6.4 Plan, Section, and Axonometric of Slot. (Drawings by Catherine Chang) 81 6.5 Light Installation by Elaine Buchkholtz 84 vii Figures 6.6 Slots Cast as Positive Forms. (Models by Samuel North, Daniel Begaye and Michael Conrad) 85 7.1 Tokyo Void Space 90 7.2 Odaiba, Tokyo (December, 2010) 92 7.3 Building Surrounded by Fenced-in Vacant Lots at a Road-Widening Site (Komaba, Tokyo) 93 7.4 Kasu Harappa ONDI (Yanaka, Tokyo) 101 7.5 Butoh Performance at ONDI 101 9.1 The Zone as an Ordinary Terrain Vague 118 9.2 The “Backward” Orientation of Stalker 119 9.3 The Landscape of Human Features 120 9.4 Lingering on the Threshold 123 9.5 Interior Rain: The Ambiguous Relationship Between the Inside and Outside 124 10.1 Railway (Munich, 2010) 131 10.2 Bench (Eindhoven, 2009) 132 10.3 Windows (Munich, 2010) 132 10.4 Door (Eindhoven, 2009) 133 10.5 Bridge (Eindhoven, 2009) 133 10.6 Ramp (London, 2011) 134 10.7 Tree (Munich, 2010) 134 10.8 Walls (London, 2011) 136 10.9 Road (Munich, 2010) 136 10.10 Window and Street Lamp (Zurich, 2011) 137 11.1 Performer Rebecca Davis Wanders Among Grasses and Invasive Phragmites on the North Mound of Fresh Kills Landfill During Fieldwork for PARK on September 12, 2011. (Photo by Jennifer Scappettone) 139 11.2 Performers Abby Block and Tessa Chandler Placing Threaded Trash-Texts on the Surface of the North Mound at Fresh Kills. (Photo by Marina Zamalin) 141 11.3 Audience Participants Atop the North Mound at Fresh Kills Landfill During a Performance of PARK, Choreographed and Directed by Kathy Westwater, on November 5, 2011. (Photo by Marina Zamalin) 144 11.4 Hilary Chapman, Lorene Bouboushian, and Audience Ascend the Landfill Mound. (Photo by Marina Zamalin) 145 11.5 James Simmons, Hilary Chapman, and Kathy Westwater Collapsing the City-Block-Sized Word-Chorus. (Photo by Marina Zamalin) 147 11.6 Rebecca Davis Entwined with Compressed Word-String Mass, Surrounded by Audience, on the Summit of the North Mound. (Photo by Marina Zamalin) 150 12.1 East River Waterfront, Brooklyn. An artist and his friends install “The Pirate” in an abandoned railroad yard. Over a viii Figures period of a dozen years, single individuals and groups of people intermittently appropriated this section of the waterfront for recreation, dwelling, production, commemoration, and artistic expression, despite several closures of the site by the police. (Photograph by Daniel Campo) 155 12.2 Zuccotti Park, New York. Starting in September 2011, Occupy Wall Street demonstrators used this privately owned public space 24 hours a day for two months for political, artistic, and religious expression, dwelling, commerce, recreation/exercise, education, and production 156 12.3 The Seine, Paris. Two individuals appropriate a secluded space on the waterfront for dwelling 158 12.4 Broadway, Times Square, New York. Every summer solstice since 2002, the local business improvement district association closes two blocks of Broadway to traffic to allow this form of exercise/recreation 159 12.5 Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn. A single individual regularly appropriates a sidewalk near his home for several hours for production, artistic expression, and commerce 160 12.6 Riverpark Farm, New York. Working in partnership with the company that will occupy the future building on this “stalled site,” the owners of the adjacent restaurant grow vegetables and herbs until construction resumes 161 12.7 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn.