Urban Succession
PennDesign | Arch 502 | Anette Fierro | Spring 2014
Urban Succession is a utopian gathering of inspiration, ideas, creation, technology, nature, and human enginuity. The projects looks into the natural phenomenon of succession or the overgrowth of nature after a natural or artificial disaster. The site was previously occupied by a car paint factory where the overflow of debris and toxic waste has ruined the soil. This leads to an interesting growth and overgrowth of wildlife that is overcoming the toxic land. The plantlife is strange, twisted, disturbed, and truly grotesque. But on the site where human interferance has played a role in the consumption of the natural land, it has now begun to grow again into a fully operable factory of inspiration. The three large towers seem to grow out of the landscape as a large toxic growth. The towers themselves bolster the growth by creating vertical farmland and new ground for new growth. The large lattice-like structures seem to breath and take on the new life of the area. Each tower is a hub for 3d printing, agriculture, furniture building, research, mass prototyping, and all sorts of bottom up creation.
The inspiration of this project can be seen in the many mappings of the city for interesting growth and connectivity of businesses, residences, markets, shops, and public spaces.
Philadelphia, PA is a vibrant growing city that has become one of the most diverse and interesting spaces in the north east. The cities connectivity to the river along the center spine gives it an interesting feel of natural conection. But the river and its benefits are severly underutilized. This project's site is situated along the riverbanks and proposes a newly flooded landscape to create more mixture of life and redevelopment. The 100-year floodline is exposed and allowed to freely flood the site. This results in a much more integrated and interesting mingleing of site, architecture, and context.
