THE POETICS OF SPLACES
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"A disruption in the typical urban flow or a moment of deviation, they are an expression of the city's natural transcendence when left to its own will. What may sometimes be viewed as untidy, unplanned parts of the city, these spaces nurture an instant of fear, or hope, a happening(s) and a memory. If the city is a body and a being, then SPLACES are the entrails; unappealing to some, visually out of sight to many, yet a vital functional part of the whole." Nora Aridi
TYPOLOGY
SPLACES are situated around or beside the functional places in the city. These undefined, uncontrolled margins offer a temporary retreat or hideaway from the more structured conforming spaces. They are momentarily possessed by their users; where they are free to plan, act, and practice their free will without the interference of factors beyond the SPLACE itself. If only for a short moment in time.
DEVELOPING A TYPOLOGY - A PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL DIMENSION
Throughout the years a global typology has been identified and set up. Ranging from abandoned or temporarily un-operated train tracks to narrow spaces in between buildings; commonly found in cities such as Beirut that have developed organically.
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WALK THE SPLACE MOMENTS OF DEVIATION
Event Beirut 2005
In 2005 a one day event was organised in a populpur district of Bierut; Hamra. With funding from the American University of Beirut research board 'Walk the SPLACE' came alive. Hamra is home to two prominent english-speaking universities, and during the civil war the universities became hubs for divided political voices spilling out into the streets of Hamra. The war hit this wealthier part of Beirut quite intensely. As a result, 15 years later, many sites in Hamra were still unresolved properties and became marginalised, in between spaces over time. The original owners had fled or were killed years before leaving their properties and land behind them.
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The event came about as a reaction to the lack of green space in Beirut and an opportunity to tell the story of these Splaces. After identifying a number of Splaces along a route in Hamra, creatives were invited to temporarily 'take over' a Splace. This event became a catalyst for awareness and potential for positive appropriation of these sites in the city.
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INTERVENTION
Design Strategy: Discover - Define - Deconstruct -Â Design
Presented here are potential interventions chosen along a short network of SPLACES in two different cities: Beirut and Eindhoven. The process of design consists of first discovering a chosen district in Beirut and a continuous route across East to West of Eindhoven. By unfolding each cities historical spatial development over time we begin to understand the reasons for how and why the areas developed as they did. The next phase involves defining the SPLACES in a chosen circumference and in the choosing of a network of SPLACES within. After the exact typology was assigned, each SPLACE was deconstructed to map out the exact social and physical identity of the SPLACE through the dimension of time (night and day). The final step is designing an intervention appropriate to the SPALCE itself.
By identifying a network of SPLACES, we delve more deeply into why these SPLACES exist and how they are or are not appropriated.
Based on the findings from the Defining stage a temporary intervention was proposed with potential for the user to adapt the space as required.
Unfolding Eindhovens development overtime
A path was selected at random to look at the in between spaces in Eindhoven allowing for the experience of moments of deviation from the main paths and networks.
By identifying a network of SPLACES, we delve more deeply into why these SPLACES exist and how they are or are not appropriated.
