Polis Reform. Architectural Thesis

P O L I SR E F O R M[ A R C H I T E C T U R A L T H E S I S ][ A R C H I T E C T U R A L T H E S I S ][ A R C H I T E C T U R A L T H E S I S ]

Photograph of the Tijuana River. Joseph I. Ruiz Tapia 2012 IV

M A N I F E S T OM A N I F E S T O

e territories we inhabit have become less democratic as the world and the local institu-tions that govern them continue worsening a broken system that has been corrupting their economies, their ecologies, the cities, and their societies. ese territories, their geography, the ideologies that develop around and rule them, and even the way cities are planned and architecture is executed, fail to provide new stands and theories towards the discipline and at the same time fail to make any reference to the existing world presed-ents. In various places, more specically in Mexico either bad or what they consider good architecture has become a tool to disguise failed administrations. Although this condition is not restricted to Mexicos architectural exercises, or for that matter the present practices of architecture, it is only logical to use such terrains as ground for investigation and experimentation with a greater theory of architecture.ere are dierent kinds of CATASTROPHES that destroy territories. Natural and man-caused disasters though, share several characteristics that dene them. Several times, they are a result of a long career of misunderstandings of the biologics and the human nature. Once they have reach a point of critical potential damage neither of them can be avoided. ere is where architecture intervenes but not as a savior before those catastrophes but as CURATOR of the destroyed territories. Investigating the conditions of Cities in Mexico and the corrupted system that governs them a problem is then created as a catalyzer to the necessity to comply with an avoidable reestablishment of the system. e continuous erosion of the territories will eventually lead them to a state of emergency where architecture will regain a position as a vital medium in the restructuring of cities and societies. is discipline along ideologic practices that will expand over the decayed territories have to rely on new methods of DEMOCRATIZATION that have to be more successful in responding/reacting to the existing, but also the new tendencies of the reformed cities and the NEW CITIZENS. is process of democratization though cannot fallback in the domains of powers and institutions; instead, the emerging architecture should be subjected to the needs of societies but at the same time should provide new guidelines for the reformation of such societies. Time has come to redene the position of the dierent components that constitute the city. e IREGULAR CITIZEN PRACTICES that have been regularized by the institu-tions and from there become banalities of tradition and culture should become detona-tors of new city and space planning, but in doing so, they should demark themselves from any political or institutional medium. at way, these practices will regain a CULTURAL IDENTITY and will create a new vocabulary towards the re-denition of the POLIS.

POLIS REFORM

Photo composition of a project in Mexico City. Emergencia 2012. Joseph I. Ruiz Tapia.

Photograph of Plaza de la Constitucion (Zocalo). Mexico City. MX.

M A N I F E S T O

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Architecture of Energy [Lebbeus Wo ods]

Ville Spatiale [Yona Friedman]

The Plaza [Barcelona, Berlin, and Mexito City]

O N T E N T S Project ManifestoI .

Conclusion

Project Statement

The City as a Project [history of typology]

Typology Case Studies [the public space]

The New Typology [the museum]

Introduction

The city of Tijuana

Area of Investigation

Rio Tijuana [the tijuana river]

Site Data

Site Documentation

Site Investigations

Precedents

Programs [square meters, public and private]

Public and Private [Activities]

Study Models [Program distribution]

Preliminary Drawings

Space Complexion

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Photo Composition, The Ruin of the City. Joseph I. Ruiz Tapia 2012

I N T R O D U C T I O N I N T R O D U C T I O NI N T R O D U C T I O N Project Statement

Photograph of Pasaje Gomez. Downtown Tijuana, MX. 2012. Joseph I. Ruiz Tapia.

Photograph of Irregular settlement.Tijuana, MX. 2012. Joseph I. Ruiz

Cities of the present have come to be an accumulation of planned and improvised elements of development, for this that any new attempt of urban intervention cannot be subjected entirely to the set of norms that were once governors of city making in the old world. A new catalog or vocabulary has to be generated from the investigation of the very prag-matic characters of the development but also of the ideological and cultural facets of such territory.is project aims to redene the concept of urban node as it simultane-ously attempts to address the current issues of the city of Tijuana, its water conditions, lack of public/democratic space and a series of decen-tralized urban nodes. From the most basic principles of city planning, elements that have somehow been le out of the architectural exercise of the present, the written principles that once emerged from the construc-tion of Roman cities, the project is born and expands throughout a terri-tory in need of a comprehensive urban and architectural intervention. Given the circumstances in which such project arises, the political and socio-economic conditions of the nation in general, this intervention becomes an action to provide the city with a new concept of democratiza-tion. In the process of achieving such goal though, it will become vital to revalue the irregular citizen practices as the new detonators of space plan-ning instead of being dammed by the regular citizen, and romanticized by the artist. To avoid a generic conception of the project and the dierent elements that will conform it given the magnitude of the intervention, a comprehensive envision, more than being a response to the realities of this territory, will have to embrace the most basic cultural traditions and natural tendencies of the citizens of the reformed city.

01Itroduction

In analyzing the processes of city generation and emergence from its architectural character, amongst other specicities, it is crucial to understand the conception of the word type, and understand such term in its various articulations throughout history, time, culture, and the context in which such term unravels. In order to be able to redene such conceptualizations and apply them to new architectural practices, it becomes elemental to understand the meaning of the word in such domains.

It seems that the question of type and typology could become extremely effective . . . the question cannot be framed simply in relation to formal or methodological issues, but within a scheme that redefines the aesthetic co ordinates of the community through implementing the connections between spatial and formal practices, forms of life, conceptions of thought and figures of the community. ---- Marina Lathouri 29

As a principle, this project intends to dissect the envision of the city by a comprehensive classication of the types and typologies that govern the territory in which such project will be executed, more specically, the proximities of the site that attribute such as fertile ground to land the genesis of new city and space making norms. To start, an objective and very abstract comprehension of type, one that recognizes such term as a critical role in the confrontation between architecture and the city (Lathouri 24) is vital.

Type and Typology On The City as A Project Marina Lathouri

02 Introduction

Master Hauses, Walter Gropius, Deceau DE.Sketch by Joseph I. Ruiz Tapia.

Looking at the very rst acknowledge of the word typos as a law or principle by Quatremre de Quincy gives us a notion of type as a dener of characteristic form or particular physiognomy (Lathouri 24). To extend on this, type in the 18th century is conceived as a domain that catalogs specic characteristics of an architectural intervention. is then bridges architecture, society, and history to envision the architect as a social redeemer (Lathouri 25). On the other hand Walter Gropius over denes type to support his theory of mass production and standardiza-tion of the design elements and the wholeness of modern archi-tecture; Gropius denes type as a set of standards that are not only preconditions but restricting guidelines that make possible the production of a perfectioned architecture based on laws of economy and mass production.

Another level of articulation of type and typology, one that supports the abstract of my hypothesis is delineated by the aims of the new modern city research done in the 1950s. In this articu-lation of the term, a new and more codependent envision of the relation between architecture, history, and place is set as the result of contrasting elements of cultural continuity, rationality, and essence of the architectural exercise.

03Itroduction

In order to comprehend the nature of the public character of a territory it is important to analyze and identify the components that sum up to form the politics of a city. From the economic and social agenda of its governances to the congenital nature of human co-existence, the controlled/intended and the uncontrolled/conicting eects of the political state of the city are components that only in conjunction materialize the urban fabric of the city. In this manner, architectural form is exposed as one of the most extreme and radical manifestations (Aureli 32) before the political conict of emerging cities.

e inherited infrastructural and topological realities of medieval Rome made of this city a very conicting territory to urbanize. From Giovanni Battista Piranesi characterization of Rome as a eld of many possible interventions within its decayed ancient monuments, to his contrasting contemporary Giovanni Battista Nolli, who envision urban Rome as a tabula rasa operation, the citys fabric was weaved by a set of periodical interventions and dierent approaches from the governances of such territory. e innite possibilities within such eld aroused interests on the dierent political forces, more specically the church, which became the principal institution to govern its urban operations.

Politics of the City On The Possibilities of an Absolut Architecture , Pier Vittorio Aureli

The Church as a Governance

Introduction04

Via Giulia, Rome. 1508

Via Giulia, Rome 1508: e authority of the church over the urban interventions in Renaissance Rome became an act transcendence. e creation of new streets that traversed dierent parts of the city were very drastic moves intended by the pope to leave his mark on the citys urban form. But in executing such operations the intervened territory acquired a completely new notion of public and private. e long Via Giulia dened more rigorously the public character of the street and in consequence the set of buildings running along that axis emphasized their condition as private entities. While the concept of circulation laid over such intervention acquired an ambivalent function as processional display and urban contain-ment, the private component became interdependent of the public as the access to and control of such component could only be possible by the existence of the public linear void.

Instauratio Urbis Making of Polis

05Itroduction

06 Introduction

Map of Rome, 1588. Antonio Bordino

e Plan of Pope Sixtus V, 16th Century: Under the papacy of Sixtus V Rome went through a prosper period of planication and restora-tion. As the old fabric of the monumental city expanded all over the territory, the tactic of the church was to take advantage of the already erected pedestals and obelisks profaned from Egyptian temples, and place them outside the new religious structures creating open plazas outside such entities. ese towers then served as guides for the incoming pilgrims to direct them to the churches. In this manner the city starts being dissected and acquiring an urban order by straight lines that connect the erected towers between each other, envisioning such network as a web laid over the city as a tabula rasa.

Instauratio Urbis Making of Polis

Place Royale, Paris. 1605. Muse national du chteau de Pau / Jean-Yves Chermeux

e Place Royale, Paris 1605: In contrasts, Place Royale is an example a more socio economical conception of public and private. It consists of a void square carved within the fabric of the city and surrounded by a set of residential complexes that feature a portico on its ground level thus permit-ting the creation a set of autonomous economic entities controlled by the inhabitants of the same living units. is conguration then creates a transitional procession between what is considered the most public space to the most private space. From the street, to the square, to the shops on the ground level to the living units on the top, there is an almost responsive relation between these adjacencies that provide such project with a new notion of publicness, one that comprehends the urban fabric not as a centralized weave of powers controlled by its governances but as a distrib-uted web of social and economic sectors capable of being more

Fabric of Economies Making of Polis

07Itroduction

Piazza San Pietro, Vatican City 1656. Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Piazza San Pietro, Vatican City 1656: e typology of the open square becomes a precondition in the establishment of the church in Rome. e majority of these institutions display a large open piazza in front of it, in several cases, characterized by a central monument or obelisk that serves to guide foreign missionaries to all the religious entities of the city. Basilica di San Pietro, as it was established as the mother of all churches, features a very large open piazza in front of it to house a very large number of pilgrims that come to such institution every year since its edication. e purpose of the piazza was to provide enough space for large amounts of pilgrims to congregate there and commemorate all the religious festivities. As the main character of such space is its public access, a new typology emerges from the demands of a particular institution as it is the church, an institution that cannot function without the people. e notion of public space exibility acquire another level of articulation as they becomes the precursors of an otherwise established system of norms.

The Square & The Institution Making of Polis

08 Introduction

Plaza de la Constitucin (Zcalo), Mexico City MX.

Plaza de la Constitucion (Zcalo), Mexico City 1523: In under-standing the synergies that attribute a public space as such it is crucial to analyze the historic, cultural, and communal realities the unveil in such territory and how they evolve along with people, the most essential compo-nent of the public space. El Zcalo has gone through dierent congura-tions as periods of governance change. From the colonial agenda of estab-lishing the capital of La Nueva Espaa, to the exible character that the square has been acquiring over time, this project reveals the truly dynamic aspect of the city. Being a massive open concrete square surrounded by institutional buildings such as the national palace, the cathedral, and various commercial and cultural entities, this plaza becomes an ideal scenario for any kind of manifestation. From concerts and political meetings, to temporary vendors and manifestations, el Zcalo provides a frame for the execution of any type of activity. is level of articulation of the public domain though is not only bound to its openness and capacity but it is the accumulation of infrastructure, program, and its location that dene the publicness of such project.

The Square & The Institution Making of Polis

09Itroduction

A critical conception of the public space is vital in the re-denition of the typology of the project. e information presented before, conforms a comprehensive understanding of the dierent articulations of the elements that generate cities, amongst others, streets, buildings, monuments, networks, institu-tions and plazas, and the manner in which these elements are governed by historical, cultural, and local components thus extracting the particularities of the projects that provide such with a type or typology. e understanding of the term type as perpetuator of models subjected to the interpretation of particu-larities of site, geography, economics, but most importantly the cultural character of the user, generates a mindset that intends to analyze the preconditions of the exposed projects but also the situation in which such unravel. e axial dissection of 16th century Rome and the perforated fabric of 16th century Paris and Mexico expose the notions of public and private because it actu-ally confronts them before each other thus creating a responsive and interdependent relationship between them.

Unraveling the Public Conclusion of Case Studies

10 Introduction

e conception of the plaza as a more democratic entity than the physical and the representative institutions that govern the city is what I intend to explore and use as catalyzer to attribute the conventional conception of the museum almost as a sacred whole, the capacity of absorbing its material and ideological reali-ties and immerse itself in a projective process of transition from the private to the public, from the permanent to the temporary, and from the material to the conceptual. In this sense, the church being one of the earliest generators of public space although a somewhat contradictory operation to the parable of Jesus Christ cleansing the temple from all the vendors and mercenaries- is to be taken as the analogy to the articulation of the museum as the temple of ideas, visions, and sensibilities.

If the work of art, as stated by Octavio Paz in his essay on Use and Contemplation, is an allusion to a sacred gure, the museum can then be understood as the estate of adoration of such element. It is the abstract holiness of such typology that I intend to address and unveil for the good of a truly democratic context. I will explode its vernacular qualities as well as confront it with a universal articulation of exibility and intensication to provide the territory with a set of congurations that recognize the user as the most quintessential perpetuator of the creation of the city and not as profanators of typology.

In the modern art pieces the sense disappears with the luminance of the being. The act of seeing is transformed into an intellectual operation that is also a magic rite: to see is to understand and to understand is to commune. Next to divinity and its believers, the theologies, the art critiques ---- Octavio Paz 134

The New Archetype The Museum

12 Introduction

Cleansing the Temple. Photographic Collage.Joseph I. Ruiz Tapia.

13Itroduction

Photograph of vectors place in a part of the city of Viena. Lebbeus Woods, 2009.

14 Case Studies

The future of the city need not depend for creative imput on the development of building projects requiring large capital investments and institutional approval, but rather on the redistribution of energy at the human scale of the street and the ro om. --- Lebbeus Wo ods

Drawing of Energy Release in Terms of Vectors, Lebbeus Woods.

Visualization of human movement in terms of vectors. Lebbeus Woods.

The museum gallery as the repository of the vector rods between interventions in the city.

A R C H I T E C T U R E O F E N E R G YA R C H I T E C T U R E O F E N E R G YA R C H I T E C T U R E O F E N E R G Y

e city is composed and is the result of a series of energy reactions produced by economic, technological, cultural, and social aspects. From the coexistence of the materials that form a building, to the public manifestations expressed out and inside of such building are all processes of energy release that in conjunction create a chain reaction of energy emittance that give the city a purpose and meaning. Without a constant release of energy, architecture and the dierent urban components become useless while such energy accumulates waiting to explode in the form of wars and revolutions. is happens when institutions that intend to contain such energy do not respect the relevance that the public represent in the process of making and re-making the city. For Lebbeus Woods, citizens themselves are the principal providers of new energies. is project is from one side a representation of energy releases through vectors, but more than that, it is the result of the dynamic collaboration and actual energy emittance of various participants that placed those vectors in dierent parts of the city of Vienna. In conjunction, these individual components are the ones dening the space in the city and giving it a purpose.

is project accentuates the importance of the user participation in the events of city planning. In a project that intends to lead with the dierent socioeconomic realities of a nation corruptibly controlled by institutions it is important to comprehend this idea of energy release and accumulation to anticipate programmatic demands and provide guidelines of how to treat the intervened territory on the basis of human scale. To create a method of aggregation will become vital to envision a greater master plan as the purpose of my project is to provide the citizens with new spaces for dierent kinds of manifestation and in consequence constant release of energy.

Lebbeus Wo ods, 2009

15Case Studies

The Dynamic of the City

For the Project a group of collaborators went out in the city placing meter pipes that represented vectors and energy. Although these components were to express accumulation and radiation of energy over dierent buildings, spaces, and the city in general, the labor that went into this dynamic is actually a process of energy emittance by the individuals that participated. is elements then are projections of energy in the present and possible future but at the same time they embody energy themselves.

16 Case Studies

Buildings, Spaces, & The City

Every aspect of the city is compounded of energy and a series of interaction between dierent systems. From the amount of energy needed to produce the materials that would go into a building, to how its dierent components coexist to create a space quality, understanding how the existence of these elements is possible and what they signify to a larger realm of urbanities is essential as it always reads back to the human nature. If we conceive a building, a space or the city as bodies of energy, according to Lebbeus Woods, then they can be understood as a conjunction of vectors that express the dierent energy reactions that provide their existence.

17Case Studies

Humans and Prevailance

If buildings, spaces, and cities are bodies of energy, how do they continue to produce energy to prevail?. ere is where humans come back again as the essence of the architecture. Recognizing the human as a provider of energy for the simple act of existing and being in a determined space should be a priority when creating architecture and the city. Serving a specic purpose is how a building prevails and becomes relevant before the user. ese purposes then will always be related to human manifestations and natural tendencies. For this, the user becomes the mane activator and facilitator of energy into a piece of architecture, without him, the building becomes useless and therefore its existence becomes useless too.

18 Case Studies

Institutions and Revolutions

It has taken hundreds of years to establish a merely fair set of rights for humans. ese rights though are usually ltered through the institutions that govern the territory in which these rights expand. According to Lebbeus Woods, the ideal future would be one in which the middleman (in this case the institutions) disappears for a direct application of human energies. is desire of becoming independent from the governing institutions is the result of the constant restric-tion of human natural tendencies and rights to benet only a certain social group or status. e constant containment in the part of the institutions results in a large accumulation of energy that eventually has to explode in the form of wars and revolutions.

19Case Studies

Photo Collage of Ville Spatiale. Yona Friedman, 1960.

20 Case Studies

Architecture should only provide a framework, in which the inhabitants might construct their homes according to their needs and ideas, free from any paternalism by a master builder . --- Yona Friedman

Sketch Axonometric of a Conguration of the Spatial City Model.

Sketch Elevation of a Conguration of the Spatial City Model. Yonna Friedman 1960.

Sketch Axonometric of a Conguration of the Spatial City Model. Yonna Friedman 1960.

V I L L E S P A T I A L EV I L L E S P A T I A L EV I L L E S P A T I A L EYona Friedman . 1960

Even though this project is a perfect example of the modern, brutalist, mega-structure works produced in the sixties it embodies a number of ideas that have become constantly present in the contemporary architectural discourse. Friedmans conceptualization of societies and architecture at the time he created this model is one that fails to remotely addressed by most of the author architecture. is happens precisely because of that ambition of creating signature products, while the spatial city proposal gives that sense of control and authorship to the user so the spaces created for such user accommodates to his needs and desires.As one of the rst instances of exibility in space planning, although it might be considered the larger visualization of the modernist free oor plan layout, this project intends to dene the entire social and spatial realm by proposing new methods of development that redene and transform components of such realms. From one side this new method of densication demands a great level of user participation, on the other side it creates new possibilities of how the user lives and transforms the set of activities he performs.

e public character of my project demands a rigorous understanding of how much will actually be subjected to the public. It is important to dene the amount of control that the user will exert over the project. Looking at this project is necessary as it addresses terms of exibility and public participation. Architecture as a provider of framework for a social intervention is an interest-ing concept but in order to achieve a comprehen-sive articulation of the social issues a specic physique and idea have to be the consolidators and starting points of a greater social mega-structure. e building itself becomes the framework for the social development.

21Case Studies

Space frame structure to accomodate program.

Pilotis to elevate structure o the ground.

Horizontal surfaces to serve as oors for programatic modules.

Transportation/Circulat on pathways to commu-nicate and have access program.

Wall surfaces and divisions to compa mentilize de space in and outside of the progra-matic modules.

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In conjunction all these elements create a dynamic and exible system that accom dates to the needs and wants of the users.

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22 Case Studies

The Components

e exible character of this project relies on the standardization of its various components, the columns, the space frame structure, and the surfaces that create enclosed spaces. Such standardization at the same time creates a set of opportunities that can only become matter by the action of the user. e dynamic of such process changes then the way people live, move, and interact with each other; the activities performed by such users will also transform and acquire a dierent sense of dynamism and purpose.

23Case Studies

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Mexico City , MX : Agglomeration

Although Mexico City contains several open plazas throughout its expansion, it is in the center where most where the public space becomes truly signicant in dening the public character of the city. Plaza de la Constitucion or commonly known as El Zocalo concentrates most of the dierent programs that can happen in the city. Along a long wide pedestrian alley, restaurants, arts and cras shops, museums, and other commerce is concentrated. e end of the ally is a huge open plaza where all kinds of manifestations happen every day. e typology gets reproduced, although in a much smaller scale, in several districts of the city where an agglomeration of commerce, parks, plazas, churches, and recreational spaces become the vital lung of such areas.

24 Case Studies

Drawings and Diagrams Exploring the Typology of the Public Space in Mexico City.

25Case Studies

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Berlin , DE : Porosity

Aer the war, the city of Berlin was devastated drowned in ashes and ruble. e reconstruction under the management of the Soviet Union on the east part of the city dened very clearly their perception of the public space and the position of the citizens in regards to its government. Housing and commercial developments created along Karl Marx Allee and Karl Liebknecht Stratze produced a very porous and not so dense urban fabric that leaves sucient space to create parks, gardens and plazas. In actuality this mode of congura-tion provides the citizens with a lot of space for public interactions and manifestations but in its original plan formulated by the GDR (German Democratic Republic), this openness was intended to be beneciary to maintain the city under surveillance thus eliminating alleys and narrow spaces were institutions could not have a clear view of what is happening.

26 Case Studies

Drawings and Diagrams Exploring the Typology of the Public Space in Berlin.

27Case Studies

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Barrio de Gracia, Barcelona, ES: Urban Scenarios

e Neighborhood of Gracia, in Barcelona, is home for the revolutionary protests that are happening right now in the city. e citizens of Catalua gather in several plazas of the neighborhood to have debates and then they go on into the narrow streets and move from plaza to plaza protesting against the political situation of the country. e urban fabric of such neighborhood is perforated here and then with open squares that become scenarios for dierent kinds of manifestations and are connected via pedestrian alleys and narrow streets.

28 Case Studies

Drawings and Diagrams Exploring the Typology of the Public Space in Barrio de Gracia, Barcelona ES.

29Case Studies

30 Site Investigation

S I T E I N V E S T I G A T I O NS I T E I N V E S T I G A T I O NS I T E I N V E S T I G A T I O NThe Tijuana River

31Site Investigation

e projection of the river as a ruin of the city starts detonating the type of approaches that could be taken as methods of operation for this project. e ruins in Rome speak of the ancient character of the city and the transfor-mational capacity of such territory rst from the fallen empire and then to the renaissance interventions and to actuality, the Tijuana River on the other hand performs as pre-Boulle conceptualization of the monument (Aureli 141). A Piranesian approach to the ruin of the river in the city of Tijuana unveils its spatial capacities as it can accommodate thousands of square footage along the main artery of the city. Following the concept of Campi Marti in Rome, the infrastructure of the river becomes the ruin to be restored and the space frame in which the new typo-logical characterizations of the collective unravel to centralize the public domain of an otherwise territory of individual economies. An architectural intervention over this infrastructural centralized extension denotes innite possibilities in regards to other infrastructural projects such as new modes of transportation, reconnecting various economic and residential sectors along its perimeter, allocation of new green areas, and re-use of the water that runs through channeled river. e River then should be conceived as a monument, a public entity housing a public service thus at the service of the people.

Tijuana, Baja California, MX.. N

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02Site Investigations

Zoom Out of the City of Tijuana, Aereal View.

U. S. A. / Mex International Bor

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Area of Investigation

Presa Abelarto L. Rodriguez


Aer analyzing dierent possible locations for the project, most of them along the Tijuana River, the dierent existing program located along the artery became the determiners when choosing site to work with. e government building, the cathedral, the mall, the museum, and the municipal sports center already start creating a node. e project will come as a consolidator of these components and should create a connection between them but at the same time these institutions should adjust to the guidelines of the new democratic space.

Tijuana RiverTijuana/San Diego International Border Line.

Zona Centro [Downtown Tijuana]

International Border Crossing

Zona Rio [Major Economic sector of Tijuana]


Zona Centro (Downtown Area)

Main Border Crossing Gate

U. S. A. / Mex International Border

Zona Rio (River Area)

Zoom into Area of Investigation in the Center of the City of Tijuana, Aereal View.


e Tijuana River is a 120 mile long river that ows into the Pacic Ocean on the United States side. e main auent of the river is the Abelardo L. Rodriquez water dam located at the southern outskirts of the city and ows north through a concrete channel to the international border of Tijuana-San Diego, shiing west for 9 kilometers once it crosses the border and nally owing into the Tijuana estuary. e rise of the water bed varies throughout the year being almost non-existing during the summer while capable of causing oods during the winter rain period.For over the past decades the river has been a controversial issue since its conception as its concrete surface le no space for vegetation to grow along the river area causing contamination and oods. Over the years it has become a main bisector of the city. While on its west side delimits most of the principal economical areas along its perimeter, on the east side it features mostly lower-middle class housing.

Tijuana Estuary

Presa Abelardo L. Rodgriguez

Tijuana River


The Tijuana River : The Citys Hidrology

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Map of Tijuana Highlighting the River

Site Tijuan RiverReservoir

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e area of the Tijuana River that I intend to use as the site of my project is characterized by its concentration of infrastructure, governing and social institutions, and commerce located along the river perimeter while surrounding this program there is a gradual transition from commercial to mainly housing as the terrain becomes more pronounced.


The Tijuana River : The Citys Hidrology

Map of Land Use in the River Area

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Proposed Mass PublicTransportation Routes[Metropolitan]

Transportation Routes[Bus]Current Mass Public

e topographic conditions of the city of Tijuana make it dicult for residential districts to have full access to bus routes and route cabs as these districts are mostly accommodated on the surrounding hills of the city. e area that surrounds the site is located on fairly at ground making public transportation more accessible to people that work and move on this area. e site itself though, as it is elevated o the ground over the channelized river line, does not have direct access to the current types of public transporta-tion. New lines of mass public transportation have been proposed by the municipal urban department of the city in the form of railways. One running east to west along the whole perimeter of the river starting from the interna-tional border, and one other cross the city from north (from the airport and the manufacturing zones of the city) to south (to the city of Rosarito and various mass housing developments along its course), intersecting the other railway line.


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The Tijuana River : Public Transportation

Map of Transportation Routes in Tijuana


Roads

ParkingFigure Ground

Open Space

e site is an example of the lack or public and open space that the city of Tijuana features along its metropolitan area. While gure ground represents the density in which this part of the city (Zona Rio Tijuana) has grown. Altough it features seveal square meters of open ground, most of these spaces are dedicated exclusively to public parking. is demonstrates the public space character that has been used to plan the city.

SITE


The Tijuana River : Figure Ground

SITESITE

SITESITE

Maps of Ground


1.

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3.

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SOCIAL HOUSING: e rst social housing project in the city of Tijuana subsidized by INFONAVIT (e National Fund Institute for Workers Housing). As many project of this kind it consists of various low-rise apartments with the rst oor le for commercial use. It also features several open plazas and green space.

CATEDRAL DE NUESTRA SEORA DE GAUDALUDE: e new Cathedral of the city is a project that launched in 1976 but up until now only the big atrium in front of the actual church and the funeral niches under it have been built.

MUNICIPAL PALACE: Built in 1986 moved from its original location in the downtown area of Tijuana, this building has a courtyard typology, having all bureaucratic oces around a big esplanade illuminated by a skylight. In the morning and part of the aernoon, there is always a constant tracking of people in and out of the building.

PLAZA RIO: One of the largest and oldest shopping malls in the city. Over time it has become a very busy place during the day and at night. Having a long middle corridor that is also access to all the stores and a cinema at the end, this place becomes on of the few instances of the public (although private) spaces in Tijuana.

El CECUT (Tijuana Cultural Center): Is the main cultural entity of the city. It comprehends a theatre, tow museums, botanical gardens, and an IMAX theatre. Along the year it is home for many cultural festivals and events where artists and speakers from all over the world are presented.

STATE GOVERNMENT BUILDING: is building houses several oces for bureaucrats. It is located only a few meters from the municipal palace providing space for plazas and one of the largest green areas of the city. e building itself features a plaza in front of it and parking on the back and the side.


Site Documentation: Surrounding Buildings

Axonometric Drawing Showing Important Buildings Arround the Site.

SITE

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Site Plan of Esistiing Site Conditions

100 m Parking Green Space Open/Public Space Trees Site


Site Documentation : Site Plan and Sections

Zoom in of Section Across Site

Section Across Site

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Amphiteather &Teather

CollectiveDancing

PoliticalMeetings

Basketball

CulturalParades

Street Art

Local ProduceMarket

WatchingSports Games

DancePerformances

Debates

Tennis

Arts & CraftsSelling

Local ArtistExhibition

CulturalTianguis

Concert Plays

WatchingMovies

SocialGatherings

Manifestations

EatingVendors

DesignStudios

Arts & CraftsShops

ArtExhibitions

Artist Shopsand Storage

ImprovisedPerformances

Soccer

Playground

ExhibitionSlots

Shopping

SculpuresExhibitions

Sports Courts

Plaza

Museum

TemporaryExhibition

Commerce

48 Program & Tectonics


Sports Courts

Plaza

Museum

TemporaryExhibition

Commerce

49Program and Tectonics

Most PublicPublicSemi Public/PrivatePrivateMost Private




Most PublicAmphiteather & Plaza

Public & Private by Program Public & Private by Activities

Sports Courts

Temporary Exhibition Commerce Museum

Plaza

PublicSemi Public/PrivatePrivateMost Private


Most PublicPublic

Semi Public/PrivatePrivateMost Private


CollectiveDancing

PoliticalMeetings

Basketball

CulturalParades

Street Art

Local ProduceMarket


DancePerformances

Debates

Tennis



CulturalTianguis

Concert Plays

WatchingMovies

SocialGatherings

Manifestations

EatingVendors

DesignStudios

Arts & CraftsShops

ArtExhibitions



Soccer

Playground

ExhibitionSlots

Shopping


Sports Courts

Plaza

Museum

TemporaryExhibition

Commerce


CollectiveDancing

PoliticalMeetings

Basketball

CulturalParades

Street Art

Local ProduceMarket


DancePerformances

Debates

Tennis



CulturalTianguis

Concert Plays

WatchingMovies

SocialGatherings

Manifestations

EatingVendors

DesignStudios

Arts & CraftsShops

ArtExhibitions



Soccer

Playground

ExhibitionSlots

Shopping


Sports Courts

Plaza

Museum

TemporaryExhibition

Commerce



CollectiveDancing

PoliticalMeetings

Basketball

CulturalParades

Street Art

Local ProduceMarket


DancePerformances

Debates

Tennis



CulturalTianguis

Concert Plays

WatchingMovies

SocialGatherings

Manifestations

EatingVendors

DesignStudios

Arts & CraftsShops

ArtExhibitions



Soccer

Playground

ExhibitionSlots

Shopping


Sports Courts

Plaza

Museum

TemporaryExhibition

Commerce


CollectiveDancing

PoliticalMeetings

Basketball

CulturalParades

Street Art

Local ProduceMarket


DancePerformances

Debates

Tennis



CulturalTianguis

Concert Plays

WatchingMovies

SocialGatherings

Manifestations

EatingVendors

DesignStudios

Arts & CraftsShops

ArtExhibitions



Soccer

Playground

ExhibitionSlots

Shopping


Sports Courts

Plaza

Museum

TemporaryExhibition

Commerce

Permanent & Flexible Prot

PermanentSemi-PermanentSemi-FlexibleFlexible

Activities at Generate ProtActivities at Do Not Generate Prot


Program & Activities

Amphiteather and Indo or Teather

Amphiteather: 1500 m-Collective Dancing-Professional Dancers Performances-Rehersals-Plays-Improvised Theather-Opera-Lectures-Concerts

Teather: 1000 m-Watching Movies -Cultural Documentaries -Politacl Debates- Sports Events

Sport s Courts

2 Soccer Court: 8100 m4 Basquetball Courts: 1500 m4 Tennis Courts: 1500 m

Plazas

Oper Plaza: 3000 m-Collective Dancing-Gatherings-Political Meetings-Manifestations-Art Fairs-Eating-Cafes-Cultural Manifestations

Lower Plaza: 5000 m-Ambulant Vendors -Gatherings-Political Meetings- Art Fairs-Yelling-Eating-Playing


Permanent and TemporalCommercial Space

20 Commercial Units: 1000 m-Local Art Stores-Local Clothing Stores-Local Crafts Stores-Art Galleries-Design Galleries

Temporal Commercial Spaces: 400 m-Hand/Custom Made Jewelry Vendors -Cultural Tianguis -Weekend Swap Meet- Local Produce Markets-Art Fairs

Museum

3 Flo ors: 9000 m-Local Artist Exhibitions-Regional Art Exhibitions-International Art Exhibitions-Modern Art Exhibitions-Class Ro oms-Administrative Offices-Patios- Sculpturing Shops- Sculpture Exhibitions- Storage Space

Temporary Exhibition Space

Gallery Spaces: 750 m-Local Artist Exhibitions-Art Galleries-Street Art Demonstrations-Art Studios-Design Studios-Arts & Crafts Classes


Activities by Sector

PublicSemi-PublicSemi-PrivatePrivate


Tectonics: Network of Couryards



Tectonics: Absorbing Mass



Tectonics: Horizontal Layering



Tectonics: Mounded Platform



Tectonics: Perforated Mass



Tectonics: Vertical Courtyard

60 Envision

e Amphiteather

61Envision

Sports Courts

62 Envision

e Plaza

63Envision

e Flexible Exhibition Space

64 Envision

e Commercial Space

65Envision

e Museum

66 Conclusion

P R O J E C T I O NP R O J E C T I O N P R O J E C T I O NProject Statement

e research, concepts, and intentions presented in this booklet have been compiled to form a catalogue that will precede the operations and further development of the concept of democratization of the collective space to formu-late a cohesive approach to the social realities of the territory of intervention. rough a comprehensive analysis of the history of type and the typologies that endorse the particularities of program and how are they situated in time, space, and the community the typology of the institutions can now be questioned and subjected to a new set of norms produced by the synergetic collision of the global but also the local subjects. e revalued museum emerges as the new urban catalyst, a former attribute of the institution of the church, as it develops a projec-tive relation with its contextual intensities. ese consist of a constant negotiation between private and public, permanent and temporal, materiality and philosophy. Such negotiations will be mediated by the activator of the political space, the user. e project will become a eld of energy release and containment producing a character that will then set up the state of exception for such project grounded in over the expansive ruin of the city thus delineating its proliferation.

67Conclusion

Lebbeus Woods. Architecture of Energy. Lebbeuswoods.wordpress. Word Press, 5 Jun.

Woods, Lebbeus. Pamphlet Architecture 15: War and Architecture. Trans. Aleksandra Wagner. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1993.

Nover, Peter, and Kimberli Meyer. Urban Future

Manifestos:Teddy Cruz, p.56-57.

Klumpner, and Luis Efren Santana, p. 92-99.

Ai Weiwei, p. 76-77.

Behavior of Collective Form. Stephanie Rigolot. Culver City: Stray Dog Caf, 2011.

Case Studies:Manzanares River Park Development, 2005, p. 200Los Angeles State Historic Park, 2006, p. 310Pudong Cultural Centre and Park, 2004, p. 396

Andraow, Amale, et al. Mutations: How to Build a City. Bordeaux: Arc en rve centre darchitecture. 10-25.

Kwinter, Sanford, and Daniela Fabricius.

rve centre darchitecture. 566-60110-25.

Reiser, Umemoto, and Nanako Umemoto. Atlas of Novel Tectonics. New York: Princeton Architec-tural Press, 2006.

Architecture. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2011.

Friedman, Yona. Yona Friedman Pro Domo. Barcelona: Actar.

Koolhaas, Rem. Small, Medium, Large,

New York: Monacelli Press, 1998.

Catastrophe: a momentous tragic event ranging from extreme misfortune to utter overthrow or ruin.

Culture: the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group.

Curator: a content specialist responsi-ble for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material.

Contemporaneity: Originating, existing, or happening during the same period of time.

Democratization: a process that must occur on both the electoral and liberal fronts and to progress along four stages, decay of authoritarian rule, transition, consolidation, and deepening and expansion.

Emerge: to rise from an obscure or inferior position or condition.

Informal: not according to the prescribed, official, or customary way or manner; irregular; unofficial.

Type: A category of elements that are conceived under the same particulari-ties.

Monument: An erected presence venerated for its enduring historic significance or association with a notable past person or thing.

Vocabulary Bibliography

68

Joseph I. Ruiz TapiaWo odbury University Scho ol of Architecture

2012

CoverMANIFESTO1MANIFESTO2CONTENTSThePoster1ThePoster2IntroductionTYPOLOGY11TYPOLOGY12TYPOLOGY21TYPOLOGY22TYPOLOGY31TYPOLOGY32TYPOLOGY41TYPOLOGY42TYPOLOGY5TYPOLOGY61TYPOLOGY62CASESTUD1_1CASESTUD1_2CASESTUD2_1CASESTUD2_2CASESTUD3_1CASESTUD3_2CASESTUD21_1CASESTUD21_2CASESTUD22_1CASESTUD22_2CASESTUD31_1CASESTUD31_2CASESTUD32_1CASESTUD32_2CASESTUD33_1CASESTUD33_2SITEINV1SITEINV2SITEINV4SITEINV5SITEINV6SITEINV7SITEINV8SITEINV9SITEINV10PROGRAM1PROGRAM2PROGRAM3TECTONICS1TECTONICS2TECTONICS3ENVISIONS1ENVISIONS2ENVISIONS3CONCLUSIONCITATIONSBlank PageBlank PageBlank PageBlank Page

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Polis Reform. Architectural Thesis