Landscape and urbanism portfolio - Peter Malandra

Membership & Program Coordinator :: The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education :: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania :: 2007 to 2009

Transitional Landscapes: Food Urbanism in Philadelphia :: Advisors: Craig Verzone and Kristina Hill:: Fall 2011

Food Urbanism Initiative :: researcher :: Verzone Woods Architectes :: Summer 2011

Terragrams :: researcher :: Craig Verzone :: Summer 2011

contents

paradoxcity :: new orleans // 4

sinking city :: venice // 6

mapping the tourist flows :: venice // 10

the slow digital library :: barcelona // 12

subterranean to celestial :: observatory hill // 21

community works :: charlottesville // 16

la praille station :: geneva // 23

biodiversity on a biscuit :: biscuit run state park // 24

urban acupuncture :: philadelphia // 26W. P e t e r M a l a n d r aw p m 2 k j @ v i r g i n i a . e d u

curriculum vitae // 29

p a r a d o x c i t y : : n e w o r l e a n s2 0 1 0 f a l l s t u d i o | c r i t i c : J o r g S i e w e k e

Working in collaboration with Leah Wener (MLA 2012), we identify a corridor of monofunctional infrastructure crossed only three times in the 2-mile stretch from City Park to the London Avenue canal, isolating neighborhoods and severely disrupting the urban fabric along the way. Complicating matters is the spot flooding of low-lying neighborhoods, experienced during moderate to heavy rainfall when the pumps which drain the city are overwhelmed.

wiltshire avenue

paris ave recreation center

gentilly avenue and paris avenue

Using the urban drosscape created by the CSX railway and Interstate 610, this space becomes a fatten portion of the drainage system where stormwater is detained while waiting to be pumped out to Lake Ponchartrain. At the same time, this area is transformed into a vital public space braided through the existing infrastructure, connecting people to water and the surrounding neighborhoods to each other and to City Park.

As the most visited place on earth, Venice today stands as an “inert living museum”, a Disneyland-like fossil floating in a lagoon bustling with cruise liners, vaporettos, and tourists on over-priced gondellas rides. The lack of economic opportunity beyond menial service jobs met with a rising housing market driven by tourists’ demands forced most residents off the island. At the same time, worsening acqua alta, or high tides, threatens its physical existence.

Instead of costly and misguided MOSE lagoon gate closure system, the design proposes a rule-based system to use acqua alta as a mechanism to alter the city’s hard edge and habitation patterns, drawing together permanent residents and a variety of economies which breathe new life and dynamism into Venice. By giving up the edges of the city to the sea that are now subjected to acqua alta, new marshy spaces are able to exist in the city itself. These spaces act as nodes within the city where new businesses, parks, residents, and tourists could reside. Dynamism and resilience are the qualities most lacking in Venice, and by mimicking the nature of the lagoon (as a landscape in flux), these areas would be places for experimentation in a frozen city where preservation -- not adaptation -- has been the regime for the past century.

2 0 1 0 s p r i n g s t u d i o | c r i t i c : J o r g S i e w e k e

s i n k i n g c i t y : : v e n i c e

All buildings within 120cm tidal range must abandon the first floor to the city.

The owner may choose to demolish the building completely or allow the load-bearing walls, foundations, and friction mats to remain

Owners may opt to sell their property to the city.

Owners may build new structures (residential, commercial) between load bearing walls at the level of second floor and above.

1

2

3

4

RULES

The city turns the ground level into spaces which connect residents and tourist to the lagoon.5

P

R

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AM

TR

EA

T

ME

NT

2

TR

EA

TM

EN

T

O W NER

SHIP

T OP O

G RAPHY

EXISTING

within 120cm

tidal range

outside of 120cm

tidal range

city-owned

privately

owned

maintain

loadbearing

demolished to

foundation

demolished to

foundation

maintain

loadbearing

habitable bracing

structures

habitable bracing

structures

restore wetland

habitat

utility conduit

prevent

erosion

elevated

walkways

marine life

habitat

bird habitat

tourist

accommodations

affordable

housing

new souvenir

photo op

ruin as

artifact

alternative

accommodations

infrastructure

park

€

support channel

embankment

€

immigrant

P

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NT

2

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EA

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EN

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SHIP

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EXIS

TING

with

in 1

20cm

ti

dal

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outs

ide

of 1

20cm

ti

dal

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city-owned

priv

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main

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rest

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wetl

and

habi

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util

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prev

ent

eros

ion

elev

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walk

ways

mari

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ife

habi

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bird

hab

itat

tour

ist

acco

mmod

atio

ns

affo

rdab

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hous

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new

souv

enir

phot

o op

ruin

as

arti

fact

alte

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ive

acco

mmod

atio

ns

infrastructure

park

€

supp

ort

chan

nel

emba

nkme

nt

€

traveler

P

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G

R

AM

TR

EA

T

ME

NT

2

TR

EA

TM

EN

T

O W NER

SHIP

T OP O

G RAPHY

EXISTING

within 120cm

tidal range

outside of 120cm

tidal range

city-owned

privately

owned

maintain

loadbearing

demolished to

foundation

demolished to

foundation

maintain

loadbearing

habitable bracing

structures

habitable bracing

structures

restore wetland

habitat

utility conduit

prevent

erosion

elevated

walkways

marine life

habitat

bird habitat

tourist

accommodations

affordable

housing

new souvenir

photo op

ruin as

artifact

alternative

accommodations

infrastructure

park

€

support channel

embankment

€

venetian

P

R

O

G

R

AM

TR

EA

T

ME

NT

2

TR

EA

TM

EN

T

O W NER

SHIP

T OP O

G RAPHY

EXIS

TING

with

in 1

20cm

ti

dal

rang

e

outs

ide

of 1

20cm

ti

dal

rang

e

city-owned

priv

atel

y ow

ned

main

tain

lo

adbe

arin

g

demo

lish

ed t

o fo

unda

tion

demo

lish

ed t

o fo

unda

tion

main

tain

lo

adbe

arin

g

habi

tabl

e br

acin

g st

ruct

ures

habi

tabl

e br

acin

g st

ruct

ures

rest

ore

wetl

and

habi

tat

util

ity

cond

uit

prev

ent

eros

ion

elevated

walkways

mari

ne l

ife

habi

tat

bird

hab

itat

tour

ist

acco

mmod

atio

ns

affo

rdab

le

hous

ing

new

souv

enir

phot

o op

ruin

as

arti

fact

alte

rnat

ive

acco

mmod

atio

ns

infrastructure

park

€

supp

ort

chan

nel

emba

nkme

nt

€

immigrant

P

R

O

G

R

AM

TR

EA

T

ME

NT

2

TR

EA

TM

EN

T

O W NER

SHIP

T OP O

G RAPHY

EXISTING

within 120cm

tidal range

outside of 120cm

tidal range

city-owned

privately

owned

maintain

loadbearing

demolished to

foundation

demolished to

foundation

maintain

loadbearing

habitable bracing

structures

habitable bracing

structures

restore wetland

habitat

utility conduit

prevent

erosion

elevated

walkways

marine life

habitat

bird habitat

tourist

accommodations

affordable

housing

new souvenir

photo op

ruin as

artifact

alternative

accommodations

infrastructure

park

€

support channel

embankment

€

venetian

P

R

O

G

R

AM

TR

EA

T

ME

NT

2

TR

EA

TM

EN

T

O W NER

SHIP

T OP O

G RAPHY

EXISTING

within 120cm

tidal range

outside of 120cm

tidal range

city-owned

privately

owned

maintain

loadbearing

demolished to

foundation

demolished to

foundation

maintain

loadbearing

habitable bracing

structures

habitable bracing

structures

restore wetland

habitat

utility conduit

prevent

erosion

elevated

walkways

marine life

habitat

bird habitat

tourist

accommodations

affordable

housing

new souvenir

photo op

ruin as

artifact

alternative

accommodations

infrastructure

park

€

support channel

embankment

€

traveler

The Istrian stone foundations and walls which remain are used to create new dwellings, public spaces, and programmatic opportunities.

building (de)construction

a

b

c

d

t h e s l o w d i g i t a l l i b r a r y : : b a r c e l o n a

Working in a soon-to-be abandoned industrial rail corridor through the Poblenou neighborhood of Barcelona, the design draws from the burgeoning media, design and publishing economies of its immediate surroundings to create a digital library distributed along a new pedestrian and bicycle corridor. A work in progress, this proposal seeks to understand the site as an industrial heritage landscape which continues to link Barcelona to the world, and as a specific type of public space, the institution of the library, which functions at the intersection of the digital, civic, and urban realms where we project our public identity.

2 0 1 2 s p r i n g s t u d i o | c r i t i c : M a r g a r i t a J o v e r , a l d a y j o v e r a r q u i t e c t u r a y p a i s a j e s













s u b t e r r a n e a n t o c e l e s t i a l : :o b s e r v a t o r y h i l l

Focusing on the sensory conditions of the existing forest and the relationship between a headspring in the valley and an observatory center on top of the hill, this design incorporates conceptual models and hand drawings to explore topography, vegetation density, and circulation through a passage from subterranean to celestial.

2 0 0 9 f a l l s t u d i o | c r i t i c : N a n c y T a k a h a s h i





b i o d i v e r s i t y o n a b i s c u i t : : b i s c u i t r u n s t a t e p a r k

Tasked with increasing biodiversity in a rapidly developing area south of Charlottesville,VA, this 1200-acre parcel acts “rung on ladder”; that is, a relatively small piece of land running east-to-west which connects two larger pieces of land running north-to-south which also possess quality habitat for a variety of threatened wildlife.

By making Biscuit Run a connector to these larger patches, visitors are able to begin to share a space with other non-human species native to the region which pass through this area. As a studio, we focused on the designing the perch from which people would begin their visit, the parking lot.

2 0 1 0 s p r i n g s t u d i o | c r i t i c : K r i s t i n a H i l l

18’ parking stall 39’ turn around 18’ gathering strip 15’ bioswale exposed bedrock wall meadow strip teak platform 25’ turnaround 8’ bioswale w/ metal grating 18’ parking stall18” wall

478’477.75’

477.25’

484.7’

484.25’

484.25’

483.75’

492’

477470

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473472471

486

+ +

+

+++

+

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+

++ +

+

TW 492.1’

BW 484.4’

TW 487.3’

BW 485.5’

TW 481.5’

TW 478’

BW 477.1’

+TW 475’

BW 471’

BW 477.4’

TW 484’

BS 472.1’

TS 483.5’

BW 477.3’

TW 482.7’ Rim 483.5’

Rim 488.5’





Documents

Landscape and urbanism portfolio - Peter Malandra