intent

KEY IDEAS

 model making as provocation

building an intervention to blur the boundries between public and private space

democratic spatial design

activation of the public media in urban environments

OVERVIEW

 

 

The intent of this exploration is two part: discovering new methodologies for thinking about and designing for mediated public space, using those discoveries about media to expand the role of physical infrastructure to a social infrastructure.    The majority of public space in Los Angeles is not in parks, it is in highways and streets.  These are where the majority of us spend the most time in public, and around other people. This type of space has is a defining spatial feature of supermodernity: one which defies identity, history and the ability to relate to other people (Auge). Auge also contends that in these spaces, that the boundaries can be fluid.   In searching for a site with which to experiment, I looked for one which would be conducive experimentation.  Through documenting the travel experience in airports, I realized that high traffic volume of people was important, but a highly controlled, teflon space made it almost impossible to insert a historical identity or aspects of the relational. This is why there are so many commissioned public art projects in airports. I instead, looked for a site, close to home, that was relevant in its role to Angelinos, and accessible in areas of its abandonment.  

The Glendale Narrows is such a place. It at the convergence of the 110 and the 5 freeways, power and sewer lines connecting the Valley to Los Angeles,  numerous surface roads, metro link tracks, and the uprising of several underground rivers from the San Fernando Valley.  While there is tremendous energy that flows through all of these man-made and natural conduits, there is little opportunity for humans to connect to each other, or to this built environment.

 

 

 

The current media conditions in this area are highways signage, and graffiti.  This differs from the majority of the sinage on city roads, because commerical sinage is absent. This media content is in some ways the best of what you would want urban media to say and do. It is typography either for the civic purpose or generated spontaneously by the public. If you ask what that media wants, as Mitchell sugests, here  its either to ensure your safety, to help you find your way, or arguably personalizing or beautifying statement that individuals exist and collectively. Their names make a collage of local identity. 

RESEARCH QUESTION

 

Through model making about this space, I will explore the following question:

how can well-considered media expand the role of physical infrastructure to social/national infrastructure?