PHASED DECONSTRUCTION

2nd prize in Rice Architecture’s William Ward Watkin Fellowship for senior projects

DISAPPEARANCE Tasked with the transforming of one out of nine Marina base warehouses on the coast of Valencia, this project seeks to become a space useable by the community surrounding it. Most of the warehouses will disappear over the next few years, and the project takes advantage of the short remaining lifespan of the buildings. This design proposes that citizens be allowed to exploit the building to fit their wishes and needs. The timeline below is a projected scenario for how the building may be used over the remaining ten year span. The architecture becomes an event -- tied to a time. It can e a flea market one day and a live performance the next. Between a few years, it can also change function.

PARTICIPATION The architect assumes the role a facilitator and mediator in the translation of public and private interests into the urban environment and architecture. The architect helps bring a voice to the people. In Spain, the architect is a political figure. Spanish firms like the coop Lacol Architects or Recetas Urbanas led by Santiago Cirugeda are actively moving role of the architect to a mediator between people.

2018: CREATE ENTRANCES In the first phase, the architects create entrances to the building in order to draw in the public. They take off certain surfaces to make the activities within the building more visible to the public. In addition, a control hub is added close to the harbor, bracketing the open-air space.

2019: OPEN ATRIUM In the second phase, parts of the building are taken out in order to open space up for large events such as performances. Part of the ceiling opens up as well to allow natural light to infiltrate spaces. Some interior cladding and structure is taken out as well to open the space up.

2020: REMOVE BARRIERS In the third phase, cladding is taken off of the building so that almost only structure remains. This allows for occupants and artists to appropriate the space to their liking. They can build stuctures of their own using the steel structure of the existing buidling and new materials.

2021: CLEAR SITE In the fourth phase, most of the structure is taken off from the site, although some is kept for the sake of hanging canopies. The site becomes an open field that can be appropriated by the community, unbound by the restrictions of the grid.