A story about how non places become places.

The non place is an ambivalent environment where people are dehumanized. They generally facilitate the movement of people between places, but are not locations where the primary activities of life, work and recreation occur. Non-place is not inherently a problem if it occupies only a  proportionally small area, but it becomes a problem if you have what you might call a deficit of place, or a very low ratio of place to non place.

Do non-places have a negative connotation? Are all spaces ought to be places?  The line between place and non place can be fuzzy.
Some locations could be one or the other, depending on use at the time. But, what happens when you frame a non-place? Does it then change its definition? Does architecture have something to do with it? Or generating activity? Or creating dialogues/people interaction?

We take as a starting point the previous project, and go backwards to be able to bring it further. 

To get more into the project itself, there's an analysis of the different situations we can find in the yards defined by the grid: which type of non place is framed? the highway, parking lots, forest... 

By analyzing the public space and its use, we realize the importance of the human dimension in shaping the city, their interpretation and appropiation of it is what differentiates one place from another.

​

What if?
"In real life as in theater, acting is a prerequisite.

And yet, somehow, the creative freedom provided by performing on stage is somehow tamed down when acted out in real life.
It is this condition of fiction- the reading of a theatrical performance as a moment detached from reality-, which allows for theatrical experiments to be so radically groundbreaking. Why isn't real life the stage where we can act out our desires?
Would fiction become real life and vice versa?"
*Close, closer, Curator: José Esparza Chong Cuy.

​

If we have a look at different references, we see how much people have to do in shaping spaces and transforming them into places.

Who are we, architects, to predefine or set conditions? If humans themselves are capable to make it work, who are we to say "this should be here, that should be there"? Are we really improving space's quality or just restricting it to what we think could be best?

Is architects role in crisis?

So the response is that archtitects are not necessarily architects and architecture is not necessarily a built object. We have to consider life beyond buildings. Environment, economy and society. A networked society, which requires new, intelligent responses to issues of civic space.

​

We need to look at those places, appropiate them, determine uses that would encourage people to interact regardless their social or economic circumstances. A sense of community: everybody is included and everybody feels part of the society.

Going back to what makes a place, we set an equation where y is the place and x the non place. Applying to x the variable (a+b) -non physical and physical- it becomes a place. Those variables are the non physical and the physical apparatus.

a. Non-physical: 
/Activity hubs: + program - footprint --> Compacity + diversity= towers that spread out activity to the yards.
We define the new connections we want to generate. They become physical with a grid that frames non places forming yards and changes topography adapting to the context. Its nudes form highrises. And the rest... green.
The towers are set in the intersections so that the entrance could be either from the yards (and thus intensifying them) or from the different levels of the grid. These intersections raise up but still allow the circulation.

/The Clash
Kista and Sollentuna have different realities, so they have different needs. The first approach would accomodate Kista's program close to Sollentuna and the other way around while the "shared" program will be set in the center. By doing so, we force the inhabitants to cross/bridge the highway. The objective is that later on there will be no distinction between Sollentuna and Kista's users anymore.
For this clash to happen, the program is defined: sollentuna (a), kista (c) and mixed (b, the clash) - later on: "a" and "c" will all become "b".
The variables are the time slot (both in weekdays and weekends), the users (age, occcupation...) and the functions (work-study, culture, leisure, housing, comercial needs).
b. Physical
Prepare the space so that it can be occupied remembering the users are the ones who will really define it.

How do you do nothing?
The ability to particiapate and control our environment characterizes a great deal of our perceived freedoms. 
A series of spaces are "recolonized" giving occupants new possibilities to use and interpret the place. We don't restrict occupants' interpretations, but inspire them. The aim is to question, excite and provoke.

To put forward a proposal for an alternative narrative of spatial practice. 

/Form: "It begins as a path, raises to become an enclosure, or even a room, to later become a cover.
Path_"The architecture exists in real time, and the experience we have of it often depends on our movement towards and through it." -*P.Goldberger.
Enclosure_ "The act of fencing a place, narrow and appropiate it, is one of the most ancient ways to understand the patio.The need of marking and pointing out the territory to show possession and identifiaction." -*Gonzalo Diaz.
Room_ "The room is the beginning of architecture. It is the place of the mind. You in the room with its dimensions, its structure, its light respond to its character, its spiritual aura, recognizing the whatever the human proposes and makes becomes a life." -*Louis Kahn.
Cover_"The roof enhances the heigh definition of the room." -*Juan Antonio Cortés.
Woven nylon fabric, hung from steel cables strung to rings embeeded in each floor proportionating shelter to some of the yards. It can be set in defferent positions.

/Element: We take an element, a wooden unit with two different dimensions: 16x43x70 and 27x43x70.
The proportions have been determined by the human body so that the element can adopt different functions depending on how it is positioned and combined.

Multiple users bring multiple interpretations leading to multiple programs.