Graduation Plan

Master of Science Architecture, Urbanism & Building Sciences

Graduation Plan

Personal information Name Dielian Dijkhoff 4333713 Telephone number +31(0)610361690 Private e-mail address [email protected] or [email protected]

Studio Name / Theme Public Building Studio - Interstices of Memory - Teachers / tutors Nicola Marzot, Niklaas Deboutte -Sien van Dam and Susanne Komossa only until p2- Argumentation of choice of For me, architecture is about creating public spaces, how they relate the studio to each other and how they could 'contribute' to the -urban- environment in order to have 'valuable' and 'livable' places for the public.

Intervening in the public domain, creating a building from a conceptual perspective, that comes from either a masterplan or a strong concept on its own is something this studio could help me further develop and excel at.

Also the theme of the studio: Amorphous space: interstice of memory, the idea of in-between spaces triggered my interest.

Furthermore, I already did the msc1 public building studio – Silkenborg, Asger Jorn museum- which was very pleasing, and wanted after my sidetrack to the chair of Methods and Analysis -ms2 Coney island, proto public space- return and graduate in the Public Building Studio

Graduation project Title of the graduation project The Yellowcab virus- the production of city-farmers Urban framing as a tool to redevelop former brownfield areas in the city of Rome Goal Location: - Rome - / District - Site of the former 'Mira Lanza' complex The posed problem The location This part of Rome is characterized by large abandoned former brownfield areas/buildings, homeless people, vandalized and/or bad maintained buildings, beautiful street-art, schools/universities, a relatively high poverty level -numbers according Istat statistics Italy- and the river which separated and disconnects the Ostiense and Portuense district from each other.

The problem Some people here live under poor circumstances, while beautiful former brownfield locations in these districts, when finally do get renovated and reused, they either fall in the hands of the richer Italians or are in some public function to entertain them, while nothing of these renovated projects are 'offered' to the lager group of poor locals. Examples of these renovated brownfield projects are the lofts -in the former Blondi Mills-, museums -in the former Centrale Montemarti and part of the old Mattatoio- architecture school –Mattatoio- government department - Magazinni Generali- supermarket Eataly –former air terminal- small theater -part of the Mira Lanza- or the proposed project of O.M.A for the Mercati Generali which will be transformed into "a modern civic and entertainment centre" with a cinema, theatre for 3,000 people, art galleries, sport and recreational areas and room for hosting international events.

When walking around in this area, with the space and chance offered to come up with your own design proposal, creating a 'nice and new' public space for the locals comes right to mind. Of course I cannot fix the problems that are there, a building will not be a solution but I can offer a 'new' type of public space that comprehends and understands these difficulties and offers a change to the area with the possibility to create a nicer atmosphere in general, brings more activity to the street -people attract people-

although the above mentioned projects already help to rehabilitated the area -even if they are solely 'luxury' projects-, its still, -and I have not other word for it- this general environment of lifelessness -except for main streets- and bad preservation of property in general.

Problem: abandoned vandalized brownfields and the level of poverty in the area. research questions Can the revitalisation and repurposing of the former brownfields in the Ostiense/portuense area in the form of urban farming, create a active public space that provide a new type of social service that will lead to the reuse and profit of the site for the locals design assignment in which The location Mira Lanza these result. The former Mira Lanza complex is one of these brownfield areas that is abandoned. The building, or more correct term, factory, is vandalized, whereby a large fire from roughly two years ago destroyed a large part of the building complex. The building is on occasion occupied by the homeless, if not escorted out, and since a view years one small part of the building complex is used -on occasion- by a theatre.

Along with the accompanied of a large grass field, the remaining parts of the Mira Lanza complex and the position of the site in general, altogether, gives a great opportunity to developed a - active- type of public urban space that could be in favor of the general population in the area, with the -street- live/activity visible instead of put away in high residential buildings.

The idea Sometimes it is a good idea to go with what is already there and here I am referring to the positives things. A thing that certainly is most appreciated in the area -by locals but also tourists- is the wide variety of food related business there, restaurants, cafes and bars, food and farmer markets. As is the very hip but expensive Eataly -6 euros for a pot of just 150 gram, but delicious chocolate-hazelnut spread (fancy Nutella)-

After research it occurred to me that many of the former brownfield areas and abandoned buildings in this area had a relation with the food industry. Mattatio was a slaughterhouse, the Blondi Mills produced flower for bread, Magazinni Generali was a storage facility which stored -among other things- food, and the well know -former- traditional Italian market space the Mercati Generali.

Being the daughter of a farmer, growing up on the countryside, the rich history of food in the area, the -upcoming- popularity of the Portuense district in relation to food in the present day, the inspiring food exhibition at the Maxxxi museum in Rome, and the knowledge that food will remain an important subject, if not only because the Italian culture is about food, the idea of turning the former brownfield site into an area related to the concept of urban farming seems like a good idea.

Urban farming at Masterplan level (large scale elaboration) Most of the restaurants, bars and food markets are located in the Portuense district, the Tiber river separates the two districts leaving the Ostiense district at a slower rate of development, besides from the famous fleemarket -originates to help the poor people in the area to get cheap second hand items, named held every Sunday morning,- there is nothing special to 'sell' Portuense by. I would like to create a masterplan that visually connects the norther part of the two districts in order to created a closer connection between the areas so they can profit from each others positive points. They are already clear indications that the municipality wanted to create a better connection between the two districts since recently they build the bridge of science -march 2012, 4,2 million- there are now tree bridges connecting the two districts between the boarders where I am focusing on. The idea is to create a mixed park where urban farming -communal gardens, greenhouses, rooftop farms- and public park come together. Furthermore, in order to create an urban farming 'proof' environment certain aspects need to be around, one of those things is a water cleaning facility and the catering of compost which both will have a place in the masterplan -former gasometro lands-.

Urban farming at the Mira Lanza (fine detail elaboration) Other things that need to be established are a learning center and a farmers market. The learning center is important to transfer the knowledge from other farmers, otherwise a lot of mistakes will be made in the startup process and this a costly. The farmers market will provide an opportunity for the farmer to sell the food they don’t need themselves, and buy cheap food from other farmers. Behind the Mira lanza site stands a large row of high-rise residential buildings, two of the buildings will be demolished in order to create a stronger concept for the masterplan park. The demolished houses will find a new place on the Mira Lanza grass field but in smaller amounts and in a 'campus oriented' way for people to live -temporarily- to get the hang of urban farming and really engage.

Process Method description

During different stages of the development of an architectural project, different kind of methods will be used. In the beginning of the project a didactic theoretical research is performed by the means of reading literature about the topic, the site and a so called ' desktop research' which was further enriched by a 2 week trip to discover the site and surroundings. Along side a theoretical research later on in the project the process will be supported by the development of sketching and making conceptual models inside a large model of the site (1:500) and models to ' search for' a desirable architectural form and materialization alongside the development of program. For the development of the masterplan and research of the site itself, architectural tools as making diagrams, photo collages, schematics, maps and plans which will be used and made digital with either Photoshop or AutoCAD. For the development of the actual building, case studies while be examined, combined with the previous named architectural tools, the project while be elaborated into a final design. In the near end the project while be rendered in 3d by the use of Maya, Mental-ray and Photoshop, and a fiscal model while be made, booklets and poster wile be made in InDesign.

Literature and general practical preference Aureli, P.V. (ed.). (2013) "the city as a project." Ruby Press, Berlin

Anderson, R. Harrison, M and Roanhors, V (2012). "Starting a farm in you city: transforming vacant places." [pdf-file] Delta Institute

Ciorra, P and Rosati A. (ed.). (2015) "Food, Dal cucchiaio al mondo." Quodlibet, Centuray arts, Rome

Design Trust for Public Space (2015) "Farming Concrete, Data collection toolkit, Methods for measuring the outcomes and impacts of community gardesn and urban farms."

Golder, H.B.L (2013). "The Urban Farming Guidebook, planning for the business of growing food in BC`s towns and cities." [pdf-file] EcoDesign Resource Society

Jacobs, J. (2009) "Dood en leven van grote Amerikaanse steden." [translated version] Sun, Amsterdam

Marinario, I.C. and Thomasse, B. (2014) "Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City." Indiana University Press

Stohhandske, S (2011). "Urban farming in Vancouver." [pdf-file] Simon Fraser University

Schumacher, F (1928) Ëin Volkspark, dargestellt am hamburger stadtpark." Kastner and Gallwey, Munchen

Van Lengen, J. (2008) "The barefoot architect, a handbook for green building." Shelter Publications, California

Caste studies without literature: Lufa farms Projects from, van Bergen Kolpa Architecten

Reflection Relevance I think I already have mentioned some of the relevance within the posed problem and design assignment section but I will elaborate In short: the urban farming project I am working on can be named a hybrid model. This means there is a combination of a mission-driven model and a commercial model. The mission driven model, as the name implies, is not so much about the production but is more about the social benefits it brings, this model needs to be supported by grants and volunteers. The food is either meant for the community and or donated to homeless. The commercial model is about production on a larger scale, and intended for selling. In the hybrid model, and now I am quoting the delta institute, "can be a social venture, or a venture that uses established business principles to address systemic issues of social, environmental, or economic sustainability, these enterprises tackle the challenges of urban farming by crating value within a community through job development and education, while expanding the economy through revenue driven production."

Alongside some other positive effects of urban farming in general (like waste reduction) there are a lot of abandoned vandalized brownfields site in the area, not only in this part of Rome, but also in other cities in Italy, (the Mira lanza has 6 factories in total, throughout Italy that are all abandoned) and Italy is one of the European country's that struggles with a high poverty level in general, especially in the south, that these spaces can be rehabilitated and used to created viable public spaces that are connected to the food production industry, for the people that seek out and want the help of others.

Time planning The studio is regulated under a strict schedule which leaves barley room for a personal time planning, according to our teacher –Susanne Komossa- it is not necessary to construct a individual time planning. Therefor I will only highlight the important dates, further I would like to point out that I have no additional courses, minors or exams I am (re)taking during the msc4 period, my only focus while be the public building studio.

Research, finding location and direction Msc3 P1 presentation 13th November 2015

Masterplan and concept of the building Msc3 P2 presentation 22th January 2016

Elaboration on large scale, thinking about climate/construction design Fully developed 'conceptual' design Making detailed plans sections and elevations Msc4 p3 presentation week 12/13 (not certain) 2016

Elaboration of the small scale, Focusing on climate, construction, installation and technical details (1:5) and drawings Finalizing the design, and make a final model of the end result, perhaps one or two 3d renders. Msc4 p4 presentation week 19/20 2016

Weeks to perfection everything, some (more) renders Msc4 p5 presentation week 24/26 2016