Maddy Berthold
Augmented Public Space
Form, Vibrance, Unification
Architecture sees space in material form but MUST also see space as socially produced, human geography. (Henri Lefebvre)
In a privately-owned public space, there are two main stakeholders, the owners and the users. Both of these parties must benefit for the space to thrive. The relationship between these parties can cause either anarchy or symbiosis. Architecture can foster a more symbiotic relationship if it provides uses and benefits for both stakeholders, such as safety, accessibility, and environmental friendliness. Lighting, shading, visibility, circulation, green energy, and amenities encourage use of the space in a way that the owners also benefit.
A vibrant stretch of Alvarado Street in Los Angeles is one of these privately-owned public spaces. Located in Westlake nestled between Koreatown on the west and downtown Los Angeles on the east, is a block-size public space populated by street vendors, locals from the neighborhood, houseless individuals, and public transit users. The block has a building on each of the four corners and at the center of the block is public-space. The buildings are currently used for retail, restaurant, and hospital services. The public space is active on a daily basis by this informal economy of vendors navigating around the permanent businesses, houseless, and transit users. Each day these vendors show up wheeling their carts or driving up to park by the curb to unload their tables, umbrellas, and inventory. Then at night they clean it all up to repeat the actions the next morning. During the daytime seven days a week, the amount of people and vending occurring in the public-space paints the site in a rainbow of color, showing the vibrancy of the culture of the neighborhood. Can added architecture maintain this rainbow while benefiting the owners?
A new roof system will foster an environment on this site to benefit both the owners and the users by formalizing the existing informal economy of the ground level and presenting it as a destination to both visit and travel through. Safety, environmental issues, accessibility, and overall livelihood will be improved because of the new architecture. The roof will be an aggregation of parts, inspired by the vendors’ rainbow umbrella. It will be a group of parts working together to provide protection. Instead of being one solid group though, there will be cuts made among the aggregation in order to let ventilation and natural light through to the underneath ground level. The underside of the roof will also be inspired and utilize the vivid life that occurs on the ground level to add color to itself. It will be mixed in a reflective and muted reflective material to mirror the colors from below. When the space is activated, the color will reflect on the roof above, but when it quiets down, the roof will have less color to reflect. Mirroring the liveliness in real-time. It will symbolize that with the vivid world of people and culture in the space, the roof can also be vivid and colorful.
The roof system will unite the existing buildings and connect the public space to MacArthur Park, which is across the street. The roof intervention will provide amenities for the street vendors, adaptive new uses for the existing buildings, and accessibility and safety for all users. By converting the space into a destination, both the owners of the property and the users of the public space will prosper. Like the rainbow umbrella protecting the street vending cart, the roof will protect the whole informal economy that resides in its public space.
Overall Model Photo
Model Reflection Detail 1
Model Reflection Detail 2