Enduring Values - Manfredi and Weiss

Transcript

• 00:10Good morning. I'm Michael Manfredi.
• 00:12I'm a partner at Weismanfredi Architecture,
• 00:15Landscape and Urbanism, and I teach
• 00:17architecture and urban design at Harvard.
• 00:20I'm Marian Weis, partner,
• 00:22Weismanfredi Architecture,
• 00:23Landscape, Urbanism.
• 00:24And I'm the Graham Chair
• 00:26Professor of Practice at the
• 00:28University of Pennsylvania. What
• 00:29we thought we would do today
• 00:31is talk about enduring values,
• 00:32our enduring values.
• 00:34Architecture is our, in a way,
• 00:37our our life's work.
• 00:38And we'll talk about the kind of
• 00:41passions and issues that drive us
• 00:43through the context of a number
• 00:45of projects that we hope will
• 00:47illuminate how we see the world,
• 00:49how we see our own lives,
• 00:50how we see our own practice.
• 00:53We've been thinking about architecture
• 00:55probably longer than we could imagine.
• 00:58In Marion's case, she grew up in the kind
• 01:03of foothills of Northern California,
• 01:06where the whole of the built environment,
• 01:07both landscape and architecture,
• 01:09were seen as one seen as a
• 01:12kind of synthetic experience.
• 01:13And similarly, I've had the luxury,
• 01:16the pleasure of growing up in Rome,
• 01:18where great architecture existed at
• 01:20almost every kind of block, every street.
• 01:23But more than great architecture,
• 01:24it was the network of open spaces
• 01:27that has left the kind of enduring
• 01:30impression and inspiration.
• 01:34So the idea that architecture is in
• 01:37many ways integral to architecture is
• 01:40something that has driven our practice.
• 01:41Often architects deal only with buildings.
• 01:44In our case, we like to think
• 01:46that architecture is broad enough
• 01:48to deal with environments,
• 01:50with landscapes, with gardens.
• 01:51We see those two as integrated,
• 01:54and that integration is crucial.
• 01:55The world is smaller,
• 01:57more extreme, more challenging,
• 02:00and avoiding disciplinary distinctions
• 02:02is at the heart of our practice.
• 02:05We see a whole of the built in
• 02:07environment as a synthetic experience,
• 02:11and that kind of synthetic
• 02:12experience is crucial.
• 02:14We're confronted with extreme flooding,
• 02:17extreme heat,
• 02:19regardless of geography.
• 02:21So architecture has to be a bunch
• 02:23broader in this ability to engage social,
• 02:26cultural and significant
• 02:29environmental issues.
• 02:30These
• 02:31significant environmental issues
• 02:32also touch on what we want to
• 02:35bring in our work to the public.
• 02:38And in fact, this kind of passion for
• 02:40connecting architecture, landscape,
• 02:41urbanism and the public realm has been
• 02:44motivating our work for a long time.
• 02:46Our recent public nature is evolutionary
• 02:49Infrastructure speaks about the
• 02:51crucial need for infrastructure to do
• 02:53more in nature to welcome the public.
• 02:55And as we think about it,
• 02:56these are truly constructed environments
• 02:58and these constructs are are things
• 03:01that in many ways need to be taught
• 03:03in a very interdisciplinary way.
• 03:05Michael and I are both fortunate
• 03:06to have been teaching parallel to
• 03:08our practice for 30 years now.
• 03:10And in the course of that teaching and
• 03:13research and cross disciplinary studios,
• 03:15we've also been fortunate printings 4 books.
• 03:18We're now working on our bit
• 03:21speaking about this intersection,
• 03:22this dynamic intersection of architecture.
• 03:24There's not just capital A,
• 03:26but architecture is intersecting and
• 03:28affecting and is affected by its environment.
• 03:32And in fact,
• 03:33we're fortunate to have an incredible
• 03:35collection of people in our office
• 03:37that have over the years really
• 03:39shaped inspired us and enabled us
• 03:40to do the kind of work that truly
• 03:42engages the public realm.
• 03:46We've been also fortunate to be
• 03:47able to do some pro bono projects,
• 03:49bringing architecture to communities that
• 03:52don't typically have the opportunity
• 03:54to move forward the very best.
• 03:56And that was really what inspired our
• 03:58first collaboration where a series
• 03:59of pro bono products in Harlem and
• 04:02this Robin Hood Foundation library
• 04:03in Queens is 1 where we were able
• 04:05to create both the community streams
• 04:08through this highly mobile architecture
• 04:10and yet creative destination for
• 04:12learning and engagement.
• 04:16And in fact, this idea of expanding the
• 04:18world of architecture through lecture
• 04:20and exhibitions really is central.
• 04:22It really means this kind of
• 04:23continuum from our practice,
• 04:25our teaching and our research,
• 04:27which is opening up those conversations
• 04:29more broadly on the Benz B and already
• 04:32Michael to speak about free space
• 04:34being within the condition there to
• 04:36the lectures that we've done around
• 04:38something and around the world. We're
• 04:40fortunate to have been invited to
• 04:42exhibit our work at the Venice
• 04:45Finale and Experience said.
• 04:46It's an opportunity to talk
• 04:48about and communicate our
• 04:49values to a much larger world,
• 04:53rather than just showing our own work.
• 04:55We also thought it important to kind
• 04:56of situate our work in the context
• 04:59of important historical models,
• 05:00models that did have an
• 05:02environmental or a social agenda.
• 05:03For example, the Spanish Steps in Rome,
• 05:06one example of a project that's very much
• 05:10about the kind of creation of a city space
• 05:13as well as an architectural element and
• 05:16a social and infrastructural element.
• 05:18So those those sorts of threads,
• 05:21those kind of historic threads
• 05:22that have influenced us.
• 05:23So never quite literal,
• 05:24but we did want to use this opportunity to
• 05:27acknowledge the continuity of architecture.
• 05:29So very, very old discipline,
• 05:32very old art form and it's great
• 05:34success has been in its resilience
• 05:37in terms of adjusting to significant
• 05:39environmental conditions.
• 05:40So we'd like to carry that forward,
• 05:43interior forward in the context
• 05:44of a small pavilion.
• 05:46The idea of creating space
• 05:48is something that's very,
• 05:49very significant and important to us.
• 05:51So we wanted to make a space in the
• 05:54context of the Nesbian alley, a very,
• 05:57very active dynamic space in the Cordorie,
• 06:01which are you know 15th century structures.
• 06:04So here we made a kind of a little Piazza,
• 06:06mini Piazza where we could talk about our
• 06:10work in the context of historic precedents.
• 06:13And these precedents have value not
• 06:16only ecologically but culturally,
• 06:17but it's also in a sort of,
• 06:19in a way,
• 06:20a chance to think about architecture
• 06:22at the micro scale.
• 06:23How could this little pavilion
• 06:26create a kind of quiet space that
• 06:28was very much a social space as well.
• 06:32So both our work placed in the context
• 06:35of other great models became what we
• 06:38hope was an opportunity to think about
• 06:41architectures enduring values beyond
• 06:43the kind of pure surface aesthetic.
• 06:46What does it mean culturally?
• 06:48What does it mean ecologically?
• 06:52The project that actually began our
• 06:54practice was the Women's Memorial Education
• 06:57Center at Arlington National Cemetery.
• 06:59And what was very interesting was
• 07:01precisely what Michael spoke about,
• 07:02something that was connected to a larger
• 07:04terrain in many ways that had a legacy long.
• 07:06But while we entered the conversation
• 07:09and yet to actually transform an
• 07:11historic McKinney and white homicide
• 07:13goal structure that had just been a
• 07:15retaining law into a place that could
• 07:17symbolize the breaking of barriers that
• 07:19when they had made in the military
• 07:21and see these women arranged in this
• 07:24image was the very inspiration that
• 07:27it enabled us to take that story,
• 07:28carve it in glass and allow sunlight
• 07:30to cast in that, you know,
• 07:32carved out space A narrative
• 07:34that would be forever changing in
• 07:36the temporality at sunlight.
• 07:38As we think about that though that
• 07:40very individual voice and story
• 07:42and narrative capturing what the
• 07:43street of where we had served in the
• 07:45military was something that had been
• 07:47invisible and now could be seen in
• 07:49connection with monumental Washington.
• 07:53Another very different project,
• 07:55but no less cross disciplinary,
• 07:58It was the Brooklyn Botanic Misintercer.
• 08:00It's a small project, but it allowed
• 08:02us to kind of explore this Nexus
• 08:04between architecture and landscape.
• 08:06And here it was a possible
• 08:08sort of sense of taking the garden,
• 08:10which is a beautiful Oasis,
• 08:11and bringing it to the city's edge,
• 08:13bringing it to the vital New
• 08:15York City borough of Brooklyn.
• 08:17So we saw the building,
• 08:19and you can see this kind of in these
• 08:21early origami studies as transitioning
• 08:23from the Gray of the city streets,
• 08:26of the lushness of the garden.
• 08:27We wanted a building building.
• 08:28It could be, in a way,
• 08:30seen as a chameleon and
• 08:32both Mary and I statue.
• 08:33It's a way of working,
• 08:35it's a way of thinking even in the context
• 08:38of sophisticated digital information.
• 08:39So here you can see a little sketch
• 08:41where the building quite literally
• 08:43wanders from the city into the garden,
• 08:46in a way hoping our tensions,
• 08:49the hope that it would kind of seduce
• 08:51the visitor into this gorgeous,
• 08:54very, very beautiful Oasis in
• 08:56the middle urban Brooklyn.
• 08:57It's an idea that perhaps it's less about
• 09:01a building than more about a passage,
• 09:03more about the building acting
• 09:06as a route to invite.
• 09:08It's about the building,
• 09:09in a way, acknowledging this very,
• 09:11very beautiful, very rare Cherry Tree,
• 09:14green Cherry Tree.
• 09:15So the building in a way shapes
• 09:17itself around the Cherry Tree,
• 09:19giving precedence to the Cherry Tree as
• 09:22opposed to precedence to the building.
• 09:25And likewise inside you can learn about
• 09:27the kind of wonders of the botanical
• 09:29world and in particular the Botanic art.
• 09:33So the building has a didactic
• 09:35kind of pedagogical role,
• 09:37but it also has a social role.
• 09:38So it is in a way that kind of root
• 09:41is crowned with a multi purpose
• 09:42room that's used by the community,
• 09:45It's used for lectured symposia
• 09:47and also concerts.
• 09:49So the building has a kind of
• 09:51cultural agenda as well as didactic,
• 09:54pedagogical agenda.
• 09:57Also an opportunity for us to
• 09:59kind of explore how the kind of
• 10:02architectural elements the vegetal
• 10:04can coexist with the mineral,
• 10:05which are typically architectural.
• 10:07So here a green roof changes over the
• 10:09course of the year and changes over
• 10:11the course of time and becomes in a
• 10:14way an architectural protagonist.
• 10:16Just as important as the very
• 10:19clear friating glass is,
• 10:21it's a building that accommodates
• 10:23small groups and large crowds.
• 10:26At times the building kind of
• 10:28almost disappears into the context
• 10:30of a kind of canopy of trees,
• 10:32but it's also a very hard working building.
• 10:34And this is where Mary and I believe
• 10:37architecture has a significant agenda.
• 10:39We collect water.
• 10:40Water is extremely precious,
• 10:42increasingly precious.
• 10:43We can collect water and then
• 10:46slowly release it for irrigation
• 10:48after it's been cleansed.
• 10:50The building also has a whole
• 10:52series of geothermal wells.
• 10:53And finally,
• 10:53it's protected in many ways
• 10:56by the beauty of this kind of
• 10:59evolving chameleon like roof.
• 11:00At times,
• 11:01the roof in a way celebrates
• 11:04seasonal change and becomes this
• 11:06sort of white carpet.
• 11:08And we like to think that architecture
• 11:10has the broadest set of constituencies.
• 11:12We're delighted when these two little rabbits
• 11:15decided to make this
• 11:17building's roof their home.
• 11:21And then we always like
• 11:22to think of a building having
• 11:24a kind of a 24 hour cycle.
• 11:25So at times the building kind of,
• 11:27you know, changes its character and here
• 11:30it's very much like a Japanese Lantern.
• 11:34So in a way, this is a kind
• 11:36of enigmatic building,
• 11:37but also very telling about how we see
• 11:41architecture very much a part of the city,
• 11:43and yet in this case it
• 11:45becomes part of the landscape.
• 11:50When we think about this connection
• 11:51between city and landscape,
• 11:52the Olympic Sculpture Park,
• 11:54which was a Commission from the
• 11:56Seattle Art Museum on the water's edge,
• 11:58was a chance of a lifetime to
• 12:01explore the idea of the urban edge,
• 12:03which is something that has evolved from
• 12:06an industrial edge and the structural edge,
• 12:09and one that created barriers for the
• 12:11community to reach the waterfront.
• 12:13The site for the Olympic Sculpture Park
• 12:15is really not one but three over 40
• 12:18foot Gray change divided by a highway
• 12:20and train tracks and a failing seawall.
• 12:22What an amazing sight for
• 12:24the Olympic Sculpture Park.
• 12:26What Seattle Art Museum to say that
• 12:28we could actually bring together
• 12:29a new landscape that would wander
• 12:31on the city to the water's edge.
• 12:34How easier said than done.
• 12:35This idea of creating connection
• 12:36and passage is not about erasing
• 12:38the infrastructure in our design,
• 12:40but about thinking about animating in fact,
• 12:43the simultaneating trains of cars,
• 12:46of fish or habitat of connections
• 12:49to the landmark needle.
• 12:51All of these came together in something
• 12:53that became 200,000 cubic yards of earth,
• 12:56that would create a new terrain
• 12:57and topography that would connect
• 12:59the city to the water's edge.
• 13:01And so doing we were able to create
• 13:03new topographies in new destinations,
• 13:05a place where art could be free to
• 13:07the public and the public would be
• 13:09free to discover a new landscape.
• 13:11This was one where, as Michael mentioned,
• 13:12we both draw and and and and in our
• 13:15thinking and making and drawing we
• 13:17discover ways for architecture,
• 13:19landscape to property and art.
• 13:21Also situate a place for people
• 13:24to come together.
• 13:25And that discovery is in this
• 13:27case Richard Serra's piece.
• 13:29Wake at the base of the valley is
• 13:32also in many ways an amphitheater
• 13:34that spills from the pavilion.
• 13:36That is a place where music and
• 13:39in fact engagement,
• 13:40can be not just a place of
• 13:43serious contemplation of art,
• 13:44but a place of calcaneal gathering.
• 13:46And in fact that idea though of gathering,
• 13:49is one that really is in place of
• 13:51a larger Vista here to the Olympic
• 13:53Mountains and the name of the Ark,
• 13:55seen in conjunction here with Calder's eagle.
• 13:57This idea of a topography,
• 13:59though that inspires in many ways
• 14:01the unfolding of a landform,
• 14:03was also the unfolding a building to
• 14:05to make these connections between
• 14:07architecture and landscape.
• 14:08Seminole the sketch again is looking
• 14:11at that passenger of the trucking
• 14:13highway in Arterial Rd.
• 14:15making its way through the site.
• 14:16It's also a place of special intersection,
• 14:19literally at this particular point
• 14:21on a switch back trail.
• 14:23We're also dead center in the
• 14:25middle of that road.
• 14:26And indeed,
• 14:27that kind of crossing and
• 14:29passage back and forth is 1,
• 14:30where the simultaneity of all forces
• 14:33are brought together and made more
• 14:35special not by eliminating each other,
• 14:38but because of one another.
• 14:41So
• 14:41we always hope that architecture
• 14:42has a public presence,
• 14:44and we like the idea that someone
• 14:46who may not share it all about
• 14:48art could slide under the park,
• 14:50see something beautiful like Calder's eagle,
• 14:52and be inspired to start to learn a
• 14:55little bit more about the history of art.
• 14:58And similarly, there's something
• 15:00dynamic about trains that in a
• 15:04sense run from LA up to Vancouver.
• 15:06Think of them as mobile sculptures.
• 15:09And in fact, one of the kind of great
• 15:12surprises in creating public word is how
• 15:15certain constituencies are galvanized.
• 15:17In this case,
• 15:18the Trainspotting community meets regularly
• 15:21to photograph trains and slide through.
• 15:23So that was a great gift,
• 15:24the sense that we could be parts
• 15:27of the Seattle community in
• 15:30different and surprising ways here.
• 15:32Art is integrated.
• 15:33This is a a very beautiful glass throw
• 15:36fence by the artist Cherry Osika Hernandez,
• 15:40who interpreted the changing light
• 15:42patterns being also the sense of
• 15:45being a multidisciplinary project.
• 15:47Architecture,
• 15:47landscape or infrastructure is something
• 15:50that has really been an ongoing passion.
• 15:53But similarly Marion talked about
• 15:55reclaiming the water's edge.
• 15:56So here what was formerly a parking
• 15:59lot now becomes a public problem on
• 16:01a bike route in and out of the city.
• 16:05And I think in some ways most
• 16:06importantly, we were able
• 16:08to restore salmon habitat.
• 16:09So here you see what appears
• 16:11to be a very natural beach,
• 16:13but was very, very significantly
• 16:16engineered to mitigate wave action.
• 16:19So that juvenile sound start to
• 16:22create the kind of habitat that
• 16:25had been lost for over 100 years.
• 16:28So the park
• 16:29is seen as his synthetic
• 16:31invention, very much a part of the city,
• 16:34very much a part of Elliott Bay,
• 16:37somehow kind of reconciling
• 16:39those two extremes.
• 16:40And similarly, the Sing Center for
• 16:43Nanotechnology at the University of
• 16:45Pennsylvania was about reconciling
• 16:47the very hermetic nature of research,
• 16:50particularly nanotechnology research,
• 16:52but also the realization that this is an
• 16:55important part of the campus and the city.
• 16:57So it's a very bleak site,
• 16:59very little open space.
• 17:02And for us, the creation of
• 17:03an active Lab also meant the
• 17:05creation of a small quad,
• 17:07in this case a little bit of
• 17:09public space on Walnut Street,
• 17:11so that the building is in a
• 17:13way a protagonist to the city,
• 17:15not just to the ongoing research.
• 17:19But that sort of liminal space
• 17:22between city and research became an
• 17:26opportunity to think a little bit
• 17:28more about how to welcome different
• 17:30constituencies into a lab building,
• 17:32which are traditionally lab
• 17:33buildings are very,
• 17:35very hermetic and impact public.
• 17:36So in a way,
• 17:37we're turning the research inside out.
• 17:41The nature of a clean room and
• 17:42the kind of research that helps
• 17:43them out of the technology,
• 17:44it's very wide sensitive. And in fact,
• 17:46the Sandoval wall is not decorated,
• 17:48but it's blocking out the particular
• 17:50UV rays that would impact the
• 17:52research that's behind those walls.
• 17:54And for us, it wasn't about just
• 17:56the Amber portal that is most
• 17:58typical for a lab in a clean room,
• 18:00but in fact making it a complete
• 18:03illumination and connection between
• 18:04the research on the public spaces.
• 18:06And that in turn actually is in
• 18:09the sequential sending stingers.
• 18:11We also created collaboration spaces
• 18:14that would connect this community in
• 18:17their distinct laboratory spaces,
• 18:19so that even the act of making it
• 18:22up and down the stairs could also
• 18:24become a moment or a discussion,
• 18:26hopefully an inspiration that might
• 18:28enable people, just as in this view,
• 18:31to see each other and by being
• 18:33within eyesight of each other where
• 18:35all those acoustic distinction,
• 18:36there's also a sense of the community
• 18:39with eyesight collaborating together
• 18:40at the very top can't revert over
• 18:43the central green is the Grant Forum,
• 18:45which is a place for 100 people to
• 18:47gather or a group to just overlook
• 18:50the campus in the city.
• 18:52And that, in fact,
• 18:53is one that becomes the legible
• 18:55Lincoln on the campus hovering over
• 18:57the green to declare that in fact
• 19:00there's a an elevated idea that the
• 19:03world of science and the world of
• 19:05community have a role in the in the
• 19:08school and university and the city.
• 19:10As we look at this idea of a role
• 19:13in the city and on the campus,
• 19:14it's one that is always in motion.
• 19:16It's not distinct and separate from,
• 19:18but in fact connected with the
• 19:21community inside the traffic outside.
• 19:23The idea of being able to move
• 19:25around a building and also as it
• 19:27moves through time being legible and
• 19:29it's transformative impact our city.
• 19:34And that idea of transformation though is
• 19:36not always large in scale and sometimes
• 19:38it occurs insight that are bully hidden.
• 19:40The size Center for innovative
• 19:42inking at Yale is in such such a case
• 19:45behind the border back in building
• 19:47or research lab and the Collegiate
• 19:49Gothic S S Restra Kancana building.
• 19:53You could see these side by side,
• 19:54hiding what was really just the
• 19:56rooftop of a single story lab that
• 19:59was left over as a backyard which
• 20:00grew all these lab buildings.
• 20:02A desire for the size set of innovation
• 20:04was to illuminate a place of gathering
• 20:06and collaboration distinct from the labs,
• 20:08but in fact shared.
• 20:10Our effort was to in fact take a space
• 20:13that had been hidden and leftover and
• 20:15create a new campus quad or green during
• 20:18much like the courtyards that you
• 20:20see that define the identity of male.
• 20:22About that identity you could imagine here.
• 20:25This photograph of me in front of the one
• 20:27of the walls was one that was fully hidden,
• 20:29in fact not in fact very inviting.
• 20:32But as we started to think about taking down
• 20:34walls and awkward places of illumination,
• 20:36that's precisely what we're able to
• 20:38do in event a new landscape and a very
• 20:41transparent invitation for collaboration
• 20:43and resetting that idea of what invention
• 20:45and research might wound together.
• 20:47It's one where occasionally,
• 20:49privacy is mounded.
• 20:50This is a amber curtain that can be
• 20:53closed or open or liked and sold.
• 20:56And there are also places
• 20:58of collaboration above,
• 20:59acoustically independent yet
• 21:01visually connected to the after work
• 21:03that you can see happening below.
• 21:06Interestingly enough,
• 21:07innovation doesn't stop at 5:00 and
• 21:09it continues throughout the night.
• 21:11And that amber glow is one that
• 21:13lets everybody know that this is
• 21:14in many ways like the Edison Bowl,
• 21:16a place of invention at the heart
• 21:18of a Yale courtyard.
• 21:20It's also a place of reflecting
• 21:21things in new ways.
• 21:22One of the things we love the most
• 21:24is while many people wonder about
• 21:26the kind of modernist expression
• 21:28of the Boyer Becton building to the
• 21:30right scene within a campus mostly
• 21:32known for the Collegiate Gothic,
• 21:34the SSS building in the distance.
• 21:36We love the way the size center glass
• 21:38which has got a curvature that enables
• 21:40it to be self supporting without columns,
• 21:42is also one that almost makes
• 21:45being a Breyer building like a
• 21:48Scholenegic Gothic sensual companion.
• 21:52Michael's going to talk about
• 21:54a project though that has had
• 21:55enduring impact and has been working
• 21:57over a long time in our office.
• 21:59So what we number of years ago were asked to,
• 22:04in a way reinvent the US Embassy
• 22:07compound in Delhi, India.
• 22:09And this is a ongoing project that will be in
• 22:12construction probably for a number of years.
• 22:15But rather than think immediately
• 22:17about the role of architecture and
• 22:20how do we handle diplomatic spaces,
• 22:21we took a step back and wanted to
• 22:24think about an incredible legacy of
• 22:26Indian architecture and Indian gardens.
• 22:29What we found so inspiring
• 22:32about those kinds of projects,
• 22:35historic projects from Leon's
• 22:36tomb for example, Rodin Gardens,
• 22:39is that here was a case that kind of
• 22:44saw the synthesis of architecture and
• 22:47landscape architecture and gardens as
• 22:49part of a kind of historic continuum
• 22:51and that became inspirational for us.
• 22:53Also inspirational was the
• 22:55Edward Darrell stone Chancery,
• 22:57the original Chancery that
• 22:59was built in the late 50s.
• 23:03And this in fact was in a way America's
• 23:07acknowledgement of India as an
• 23:10important growing and if in democracy.
• 23:13So over the course of 20304050 years,
• 23:17a number of buildings had grown on this site.
• 23:20One of the kind of important characteristics
• 23:23for us was to say that central to new
• 23:27buildings and existing buildings that
• 23:28were to be renovated was a central green.
• 23:31And here we privileged,
• 23:33in effect what the French would call a Tapi.
• 23:36There a green carpet that connects all the
• 23:40buildings and creates valuable open space.
• 23:43And in here you can start to see how the
• 23:46project would look in the next 10 years,
• 23:49as it's eventually built out.
• 23:52But it is.
• 23:53It has a beautiful tradition of walls,
• 23:55and embassies often are seen
• 23:58as purely fortified buildings.
• 24:01It's effectively fortresses.
• 24:02But here we wanted to use the kind of
• 24:06wall as a way of inviting different
• 24:10levels of publicans into the compound,
• 24:14from the most generous at the
• 24:16street corner to the most precise,
• 24:17which is a sidorial residences.
• 24:20So the idea of walls, trees,
• 24:22gardens,
• 24:23elements that are traditional
• 24:25to Indian architecture,
• 24:26Indian landscape become part
• 24:28of the palette of the project.
• 24:30So you can see the new construction,
• 24:32the renovated Edward Doral stone
• 24:36building on the right and together
• 24:38they enter into a conversation
• 24:40and create kind of framing,
• 24:42this kind of green carpet.
• 24:44But there were a number of
• 24:46environmental agendas too.
• 24:47We can put a number of spaces
• 24:50below ground which are cooler in
• 24:53the very harsh daily climate.
• 24:56We can capture light through
• 24:57lower level courtyards,
• 24:58again building on this tradition of the
• 25:02Nexus of architecture and landscape.
• 25:05And in early sketch here
• 25:06you can start to see the existing building,
• 25:08the very beautiful Edward Darrell
• 25:10stone on the left with our building,
• 25:12which is one of several on the right
• 25:14here are very large significant
• 25:17canopy Shields and cools areas.
• 25:20And it's also an opportunity to
• 25:23think of reinventing A jolly screen,
• 25:25which can see the sort of interwoven
• 25:28fins of our building on the right.
• 25:30Again, offer opportunities to kind of
• 25:32mitigate the very, very bright light,
• 25:36also the presence of water.
• 25:37Increasingly,
• 25:38embassies around the world are dealing
• 25:40not only with issues of terrorism,
• 25:43but more significantly with
• 25:45issues of sustainability.
• 25:47And here we're going to capture
• 25:49water treated as a very,
• 25:50very precious material in a
• 25:53series of below grade cisterns.
• 25:55So in the dry months after the monsoons,
• 25:58the water can be released and
• 26:00reused in hopefully not only
• 26:03beautiful but very functional ways.
• 26:05So Hunters Point Park,
• 26:07this will be the last project that
• 26:09we talked about this morning.
• 26:12And this in a way brings together all
• 26:16our kind of passions about architecture,
• 26:18landscape, ecology, infrastructure,
• 26:20on a site on the East River that
• 26:24in a way captures the kind of
• 26:27extraordinary views that we think
• 26:28of as being central to New York.
• 26:31But it's also like Seattle,
• 26:33you know, like Marion Military,
• 26:34a site with multiple histories.
• 26:36Originally it was a wetland and
• 26:38then in the great period of
• 26:4119th century industrialization,
• 26:42those wetlands were wiped out.
• 26:45And now it's part was was a derelict
• 26:47site now being brought back to life,
• 26:50but also a site where climate
• 26:53change is making its presence.
• 26:56Knowing this was during Hurricane Sandy,
• 26:59but we had the luxury of thinking
• 27:01about the design a little bit earlier.
• 27:03And here you can see the park seen as
• 27:05a sort of series of charm bracelets.
• 27:07Different program elements sprung
• 27:09along this very,
• 27:10very beautiful and idiosyncratic edge
• 27:13along New York City's East River,
• 27:16but during very,
• 27:17very significant storm events.
• 27:19What we've designed is a kind
• 27:21of a porous edge.
• 27:22Think of a sponge that could absorb
• 27:25water and then translate it into
• 27:28a kind of a new configuration
• 27:30where the kind of damages of storm
• 27:33can be offset architecturally.
• 27:36And yet it's not only the
• 27:38environmental questions,
• 27:38but it's also that sense of
• 27:40urban prospected connection.
• 27:41We're very excited about the fact
• 27:43that perhaps the very best views
• 27:45of the skyline and Manhattan you
• 27:46see not in the city but across
• 27:48the water and the direction of the
• 27:51central green and covered pavilion.
• 27:53We're looking towards that framing
• 27:55of space and in this very vast
• 27:58landscape creating an identifiable
• 27:59landmark with both the Ferry big
• 28:02games and in fact a concession.
• 28:05But the idea of shade and shade
• 28:07equity is increasingly important
• 28:09in our ever heating climate.
• 28:11And here you can see the waiting area
• 28:13for the ferry is also one where you
• 28:16could sit under this area and gather
• 28:19not only a place to be protected,
• 28:20but also a place to gather sun
• 28:22here with the solar collectors,
• 28:24gather water to irrigate the park
• 28:26And in fact these solar collectors
• 28:28actually provide the power for all
• 28:30the lighting in the park at night.
• 28:32For us though,
• 28:33it's really creating places for engagement,
• 28:36In this case,
• 28:37a recreational field during the
• 28:39academic days for the school,
• 28:41but then in the weekends,
• 28:42very much a place of relaxation.
• 28:45A former beach that had been eliminated
• 28:47is reclaimed in an elevated and safe area.
• 28:50And again, that idea,
• 28:52this prospect by day,
• 28:53is one that frames that experience
• 28:55of the city at night.
• 28:56Becoming truly magical and on
• 28:58access with us is of course the
• 29:01landmark of the our our most
• 29:03esteemed buildings in Manhattan.
• 29:05The idea though of a collective
• 29:07transformation is one that in this
• 29:09case because urban projects take
• 29:11time was divided over five years.
• 29:13This first phase that you've
• 29:14seen here set the groundwork that
• 29:16included recreational and dog runs,
• 29:18play parks,
• 29:18etcetera,
• 29:19but left behind a space that we
• 29:21were very excited about taking
• 29:23into a completed period of park.
• 29:25And what was this very strange
• 29:27or regular edge with a topography
• 29:29that was interesting and came and
• 29:31for us a source of inspiration
• 29:33to create a bi level park.
• 29:35One that could have a a spectacle
• 29:37of prospect with a peer that
• 29:39would reach out over the water
• 29:40and the more intimate connection
• 29:42to a walking on the water.
• 29:44But that idea of structuring
• 29:46and experience is one that
• 29:48reaches beyond the edge.
• 29:49And in that doing when we walk
• 29:51around this new fortified
• 29:53edge to protecting wetland,
• 29:55that signal of that reaching out
• 29:57to the edge is one that is not
• 30:00hidden but in fact is visible.
• 30:02More importantly though,
• 30:03the idea creating new environments
• 30:05that are protected and you could see
• 30:07this almost like a medieval wall in a city.
• 30:10A fortified edge that becomes an
• 30:12intimate walk on water is also
• 30:14one that creates over an acre
• 30:16of new wetland habitat.
• 30:17In fact,
• 30:18we were able to remove some of
• 30:20the land to enable that wetland
• 30:21to grow and create a new island.
• 30:23We think it's, you know,
• 30:25New York City's first island
• 30:27that is both near the
• 30:29city but across the edge.
• 30:31And it gives you an independent prospect
• 30:32again, to enjoy the city and to have a more
• 30:35Internet connection that's independent
• 30:37from more public aspects of the park.
• 30:41But again, that publicness spectacle
• 30:42is seen here with the prowl of
• 30:45the will of the Overslke,
• 30:46A boardwalk that really is a place
• 30:49that convenes the community.
• 30:50And that in turn has all the prospect of
• 30:53a ship over the water at certain moments.
• 30:56That's the time it reaches full
• 30:58height twice a day.
• 31:00And in closing, what we're really
• 31:02excited about is that for us,
• 31:05the thing that we're most excited about in
• 31:08our work is that it endures when we are gone.
• 31:11And it is a place that's transformed.
• 31:12And it's ideally being transformed
• 31:15by the community that gathers,
• 31:17by the landscape that grows,
• 31:20by the things that we would never
• 31:22imagine being a source of strength and
• 31:25inspiration and also place of exchange.
• 31:28And that is for urban in nature,
• 31:29intimate in discovery.
• 31:31And finally,
• 31:32it truly is for us a place of
• 31:35enduring wonder that we help be
• 31:36part of and feel fortunate that our
• 31:38life's work has been a part of that.
• 31:41Thank you for giving us an opportunity
• 31:44to talk about our passions, what's been
• 31:47driving us for several decades now.
• 31:50And as being said, living in a
• 31:52way these enduring values have
• 31:56energized us in ways that
• 31:58we had never any shrink.
• 32:01Thank you very much.