Just don’t. It’s not good for you."
- Bruce Mau, Incomplete Manifesto for Growth
Submission day.
I learned a long time ago that anything deemed "final" in architecture school is anything but "final." "Final" reviews, presentation drawings, layouts, portfolios... What do we gain from all the hype and buildup and emotion?
School (perhaps design) changed for me when I started looking at "final" products simply as well-crafted beginnings. What follows is a well-crafted beginning:
"Final" competition board : 24" x 36" : Hybrid drawing
A D V E R S E [re] P O S S E S S I O N
Genesis
This is the product of my visits to Grace Baptist Church.
After interviewing three church members—all former residents of Pruitt-Igoe—it has become apparent that there is a strong desire to restore basic amenities to the area. At the same time, it is clear that these amenities must come in the form of a community project : a model entirely different from the large-scale strategies employed in the past and dictating the future; a model predicated on relationships with community members.
Proposal
The project will operate at three scales :
1. Retrofit
Grace Baptist Church is currently raising funds for a community center on a nearby property. The congregation plans to retrofit an existing brick row-house on the site. At the architectural scale, the project will focus on the programming and adaptive reuse of this building.
2. Reclaim
Under the guise of adverse possession laws (“squatter’s rights”), Grace Baptist will incrementally reclaim vacant parcels, establishing connections with schools, other congregations and with the former site of Pruitt-Igoe.
3. Reactivate
The intermediate scale will focus on the programming of these reclaimed parcels : what events or amenities can be implemented to reactivate these spaces? What can be done with little or no preexisting resources? This scale will also address the project’s relation to Pruitt-Igoe : a corridor cut through the site will attempt to link the community center to schools south of the site.
Vision
The project imagines this approach of adverse [re]possession as a model for congregations and community projects in other underserved areas of St. Louis. It envisions a city transformed not by large-scale strategies or outside interests but by its inhabitants.
