Resiprocal Permeability: Let the Sea Come Inside the City

Love not too well the work of thy hands and the devices of thy heart; and remember that the true hope of the Noldor lieth in the West, and cometh from the Sea. ~J.R.R. Tolkien,The Silmarillion~

There is in that land a haven that is named Avallónë, for it is of all cities the nearest to Valinor, and the tower of Avallónë is the first sight that the mariner beholds when at last he draws nigh to the Undying Lands over the leagues of the Sea.

~J.R.R. Tolkien,The Silmarillion~ 

The first land creatures were fish that could turn their fins to paws. More and more fish move to the land, especially the young. The land-dwellers change and adapt, separating the more fish-like from the reptilian. Qfwfq's family is almost all dwelling on the land. Only Qfwfq's great-uncle, N'ba N'ga, still lives in the water.

“The Aquatic Uncle”  - Italo Calvino 

The Sea, the Land, and the Land-dwellers

If men believe in reincarnation and the oneness of spirit, could it be possible that we would all remember of what Calvino said about our being on the land? Or maybe, by chance – it was by a risen deepest memory that Tolkien wrote about the land beyond the sea in the Silmarillion?

The fact that the sea-water covered two-third of the earth is something quite recognizable, that sometimes – by ignorance, we fear her so greatly and walked away from her grasp. Yet somehow, we longed for her nice cuddle and look for a gentle wave that comes along the beach. We, the land-dwellers change and adapt. We change and we move, adapt and defensive – that at some point we reject the fact that the land was and always be part of the sea.

Walking along the Gothic quarter in old Barcelona, one might wonder of when would she reach an opening where she could see the sea. The dwellers itself, the people live in the neighborhood – might already be so used to the view and one perspective of what the streets would bring at the end. The routines and perfect layering are what we could see when we reach a section of Ronda Litoral and space that stretched along Passeig de Colom from Colon Statue to Via Laietana. Moll de la Fusta, as all the touristic advertisement would calls it.  A very well-designed space, if I may say – for circulation and connectivity – of the LAND. 

Moll de la Fusta

·         Moll: Catalan - Noun

moll m (plural molls)

1.       quay, jetty

2.       breakwater

·         Fusta: Catalan – Noun

From Latin fustis.

fusta f (plural fustes)

wood

 “Moll de la Fusta” = Wooden Quay; Wooden Wave Breaker?

Is there any wave here that we need a wave breaker? Where is the sea, anyway? What can we possibly sense in this kind of space? Is the city stands next to the sea? Is that why we’re so concern about the EDGE of this city and playing around try to build a perfect wall? We, the land-dwellers – are so proud that we forgot that the city we built, stands accidentally on a piece of land on the sea - that rise a couple more meters so that it slightly higher than the sea level. The ignorance is so great that we also believe that the sea is not a liveable place.

What if…

What if… the wave breaker becomes the water gate? What if… the landscape view of this part of land merges with the other part that reflects them? What if… the EDGE that is actually imaginary – becomes ENTRANCE?

A boundary is not that at which something stops but, as the Greeks recognized, the boundary is that from which something begins its presencing.

Martin Heidegger, “Building, dwelling, thinking” 

Imagine to live where there are no such thing called the EDGE of the city, where the city being a part of the sea and the sea as part of the city; where the landscape view is intact.

Proposal.

1.        Put a reflection on the view of the sea seen from Moll de la Fusta onto the building façade along the way
2.        Open the city for the sea to enter and change the wooden wave breaker into sea water gate

First Step:

Postcards about the proposal, distributed to people especially those in the neighborhood. 

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

There’s no such thing as what we called the EDGE,

When the Metropolis stand as an osmosis membrane

And the reciprocal landscape stretched along the lane…

per·me·a·bil·i·ty/ˌpərmēəˈbilitē/Noun

1.        The state or quality of a material or membrane that causes it to allow liquids or gases to pass through it.
2.        Permeability or connectivity describes the extent to which urban forms permit (or restrict) movement of people or vehicles in different directions

Intervention Proposal

for Metropolis - In-situ 2011

Agnes Stephania___Lilach Gibori

Muchas gracias a:

Tuhan YME

Lina Aboureslan and her kitchen

Wayang Kulit at the Barcelona Pavilion

light, shadow, reflections

it gives a soul to the whole structure 

while defining a blur line 

between the space in the exterior and the interior

at the same time,

it breaks the routine-like, compact, elegant,

linear sight of the space

...

which one is the spectacle?

which one is the spectator?

 the space?

 the enclosures? 

the visitors?

this is a story of a subjective angle

an angle of an objective story

...

of the wayang [shadow]

of

a pavilion

...

spec·ta·cle/ˈspektəkəl/Noun

1. A visually striking performance or display: "the show is pure spectacle".

2. An event or scene regarded in terms of its visual impact: "the spectacle of a city's mass grief"

spec·ta·tor

/ˈspekˌtātər/

Noun: A person who watches at a show, game, or other event.

Wayang is an Indonesian word for theatre (literally "shadow").^[1] When the term is used to refer to kinds of puppet theatre, sometimes the puppet itself is referred to as wayang

Music taken from Gamelan Dewaruci part 01 and Denau by Kua Etnika

El Viento de la Barceloneta

The Wanderers, the Chairs, and the Stories

The Metro station pouring out tourists, with clothes ready for the beach – but also cotton scarves on their neck, as the cold breeze of the spring insisted. It was almost time for sunset, and the clouds hovering above – when 3 strangers set their feet in La Barceloneta. Their faces are different, their gesture are distant, as they come from 3 different corners of the world. Walking by the sidewalk, they’re nothing like tourists – as they begun to enter Carrer de la Sal and recording every details; with notebook in one hand, recorder or pocket camera, and Watson’s faces next to Holmes.

Set in front of apartment’s doors, the chairs in Barceloneta apparently took their attention. These chairs, most of it planted permanently to the sidewalk – are like an extension of the living room. The street are short, divided the blocks and provides the pisos with light and fresh air. The neighborhood  is quiet, and almost free of tourists – regardless the fact that it’s not a very distinct area from the touristic Joan de Borbo. Children playing balls in one corner, and there are skaters on the other -  giving some particular sounds and ambience. 

As an area famous for being a sailor’s and fishermen’s neighborhood, Barceloneta’s like an envelop, with layers of myths and stories enclosed. That’s exactly what have the wanderers found that night and on the following morning: different impressions and different faces, problem or not problem, rejection or acceptance. Their story begun on an encounter with a nice Mexican girl; a pop art collage artist whom neighbor turns out to be a very “sensitive” lady – shouting and swearing her to stop using spray on her work – who eventually brought the police to the site; claimed the street and the sidewalk as her space. Is this means problem?

The following morning, they got another impression from the local elders on the big plaza next to the market: contention, memories, everyday-life and hope. Nothing matters and nothing bothers; even if the pisos are tiny, the tourists seem to increase every year, and immigrants taking their spaces. Some memories about places came to surface, and some particular term reflects their view about immigrants. Is this means problem?

With photos, recordings, and experiences in their pocket, the 3 wanderers went for brainstorming [of course with good meals accompanied – whether it’s with glasses of beer and tapas in Cerveseria, or glasses of wine and home-made cooking lunch].

From Philosophical View to Practical Positive Enhancement

Three wanderers sit in the crowded Cerveseria, with glasses of beer and tapas for dinner. They started another journey, this time in the intangible world of mind and thousands terabyte space inside their brain. They walked through the memory about the spaces, the furniture and the people. They passed several folders of facts and impressions – analyzing place, people and interaction. They stopped at some point, under the issue of friction and co-existing problem; and started to peel it up with several view from different philosophical – as well as socio-political backgrounds. Some cases arise. What kind of impression follows behind some particular terms like Moros or Paquis? In the short journey in the field of thoughts, the wanderers happened to think to destroy the negative connotation by some kind of intervention on the children of Barceloneta.

But experiences follow, and more stories becoming references.

Three students sit in a round dining table, after glasses of wine and a nice home-made cooking lunch. They started a second journey to the land of thoughts.

What is problem what is not? What is friction what is not? What is negative what is not?

What lies in the heart of Barceloneta’s people? The memory about the school and the soccer field or their destruction? The tourists and the immigrants? The simple life and memories about the sea?

What could be done for Barceloneta?

As they review all the thing experienced in Barceloneta, they encountered a simple fact: it's impossible to trace a real problem and give it a solution. They are all total strangers in La Barceloneta. What can 3 strangers possibly judge for only 3 days spent in La Barceloneta? What problem could they truly find? So instead of trying to be a perfect problem solver; they changed direction and decided to focus on the good side in Barceloneta and to enhance it.  Then there they are, remembering their experience – and came up with the perfect implication of the blocks and streets in Barceloneta: the wind; the breeze that is so focal and mostly needed in Barceloneta. The whole structure and openings, and the spaces that made it possible for the wind to flow. Of all that thought, the balconies in Barceloneta took them to other tools for their intervention: los molinetes!

The Wind Vanes, the Kite and the Children of Barceloneta

Project              : Vanes and Kite Workshop

Participants       : Children of Alexandre Gali Elementary School (age 7-10)

Place                : Alexandre Gali School, Parc de la Barceloneta

Aim                  : Gives awareness to the children about the nice breeze in Barceloneta and the configuration of the space that made the implication.

A Search for Children

08.30am. The sun was low, the streets were empty, and the clouds hovering above Barceloneta. Three wanderers started the day with hope and big expectation.

09.30am. The hope was fading, the faces changed, while the construction workers started to come. Three wanderers sit in front of the Community Centre of Barceloneta, being rejected by 3 schools. Pikima, a Basque lady in the reception of the Community Centre suggested for them to wait until 10.30am, when the director would come and might help them.

10.00am. After some other conversation with locals and a quick breakfast, they run to the library and find a possibility to arrange an activity there. Another suggestion to wait for the director, and an advice not to just invite some children to do the activity in the public space – for it might involves the local authority.

11.00am. A talk with Juanjo, a local owner of a kiosk in Parc de la Barceloneta; after a conversation with some help from Pikima. Some little hope, for them to make it in the park when the children come out from their schools.

12.30am. A door opener arrived. With Andres [who seems to be considered local by the secretary of the school] they entered the school and talked with the principal. Problem solved. The faces changed, the animo was high, and they started to run for equipments – before 03.00pm, which is the time they agreed with the school.

The Spinning Vanes, the Flying Kite and Smiling Faces

4 adults and 20 children walked to Parc de la Barceloneta, with a spinning vane in each hands, a kite with long tail, and smile on their faces. Suddenly, three wanderers became part of Barceloneta. 

Click to see presentation

BCN, May 2011
the 3 wanderers,
https://picasaweb.google.com/118123429836412410013/CitiesThroughTheSenses?authkey=Gv1sRgCKTb-d3Xw_bdXA#5621061788382541122

Agnes Stephania___Hernando Gomez___Michal Doukarsky

for

Metropolis  - Ecosistema Urbano Workshop

Jose Luis Vallejo / Andres Walliser 

Mil gracias a:

Tuhan YME

Los ninos de Escuela Alexandre Gali

El principal y la profesora de Alexandre Gali

Andres Waliiser y Jose Luis Vallejo

Pikima y Juanjo

Forn de pa Baluard

El Vaso de Oro

Los Metropolitanos  

Where are the crickets in Barcelona?

Donde esta los Grillos en Barcelona?

The screech and mechanical uproar of the big city turns the citified head, fills citified ears -- as the song of birds, wind in the trees, animal cries, or as the voices and songs of his loved ones once filled his heart. He is sidewalk-happy. 

~Frank Lloyd Wright~

 Where is the land? Where is the ground?

Can I hear them if I put my ears on the ground?

Where is the sound? Where are the crickets?

I can hear them chirping in my head.

Maybe, I can hear them if I have antennas…


Agnes Stephania for Metropolis 2011
BCN, June 2011

a [Cricket]'s View of La Sagrada Familia

a [Cricket]'s View of  La Sagrada Familia
Poster presented for 36 Views of Sagrada Familia [after Hokusai]
Metropolis Graduate Program of Architecture and Urban Culture
BCN, May 2011

La Sagrada Familia. A monumental symbol or just a neverending construction site of "ruins"? A landmark in metropolitan landscape - or an illutional appearance out of personal orgasm? A guiding lighthouse in the middle of confusing El Eixample - or a legal alien [as Sting would calls it] in the neighborhood?

Walking or hopping East from Jardins d'Antoni Puigvert through carrer Corsega, maybe seen as normal and as boring as walking in any other part in El Eixample derecha.  Anyhow, even if it seems like a long boring walk in similar blocks, everyday life in the neighborhood is full of tones and colours. The scent of lilies up on the balcony sneaking out to the sidewalks, makes a unique mixture of smells with the polen sent from Parc Guell. On the bench just around the corner, an old lady with a cane keeps sneezing - not aware of the polen that stimulates her allergy. A chirping bird flying from one tree to another, competing with the grumpy mortar mixer sounds beyond the high barks of a chihua-hua. People passes by: various colours in various melodies. 

In some points, a wide open linear area divided the rigid blocks makes a linear sight like an axis; but everything else seems the same. People come and go, while there are also those with particular acts. Some with camera hanging in their chess, or those with smiles posing on the chair outside the cafetaria. A beautiful young lady dressed like gypsy sit on the sidewalk in front of an ice cream kiosk, with novel on her right hand. For three kids there, the avinguda named after a local artist here is their soccer field cover with grey grass. 

The trees lining through Avinguda Gaudi; escorts the wanderer with their branches and leaves hovering above, makes a particular enclosure and completed the landscape with warmth. It's a long walk, as you see - but this tiny little legs can take me anywhere.  From the wooden bench to those brownie skin of the trunk. From the smells of cinnamon ice cream to the rich savoury - tangy pizza with anchovies. I stand on a clump of dirt, watching them passes me by. A boy with a ball, old couple holding arms each other, and groups of teenager laughing along the way. 

From this flattened plank of wood, the world seems smaller. I can hardly hear the roar and screech of machines, as hardly can I see the tourists with their cameras. Yet somehow up on the sky - between the range of the branches and the shilouette of leaves, I can still see the arm of the alien - reaching up through the navy blue canvas.