8/3/2019 Alex Spautz Thesis Exhibition Board Final Fall 2011 111213

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Mission Creek is resurfacing in the basement of the Armory,

revealing the waters resilience beyond the capacity of our urban planning influence andcontrol. The Armorys history as military fortress also reflects a framework of authority. The

resurfacing suggests that the wild cannot be entirely dominated and that Mission Creek is

irrepressible. By expanding upon its implications and affects, I hypothesize that thispredicament will provide a means for restructuring conventions and reframing

the future of architecture.

The Generic Grid and the Predicament

Interstices

Ecological Landscape and its

Framework of Interstices

The built environment is a product of its past and sits within a

framework of multiple ecologies. As Felix Guattari posits thatcities are an interconnected system of environmental, socialand mental ecologies, this research identifies infrastructureas the veins of a city through which these ecologies are con-

nected and structured. I propose that history acts as a kind ofthe DNA for all ecologies. The thickest and deepest veins aresome of the most extreme interstitial zones in a city: they arehyper-functional and composed of many overlapping socio-

econmic and environmental boundaries. With higher intensi-ties of ecological functions, urban interstices create divisionsand simultaneous connections between neighborhoods whilealso serving as framework for urban design. Hence I have de-

scribed a future landscape of ecologies based on a diagram-matic unit: the ecological bipyramid where the present day tri-angle is a landscape formed by its historical underpinningsand then in turn forms of its future.

I began my research studying San Franciscos historic wa-

terways, which have determined physical characteristics inthe present day urban infrastructure as well as other social

and governmental boundaries. Resisting historic ecology,the government chose to pave over creeks and level outtopographies, especially along the eastern coast. These

fill zones have nevertheless remained industrial zoning ar-eas and certain streets reflect the original geometry of thecreeks and bays. Furthermore, neighborhood boundaries

are determined by topography which in the case of Mis-sion Creek, describe a historic river basin. I have chosen to

focus on the Mission Creek River basin, although it no lon-ger exists, as it is an extreme interstice in the urban fabric.

Mission creek, which now flows beneath the surface of

our pavement and landfill, has created interruptions in thehighly controlled grid which is a repetition of a unit, in this

case a block. Mission Creek, as an extreme interstice andmarks the point of overlap between many borders of neigh-borhoods, communities and their governing systems. In

present day infrastructure, Division Street reflects the origi-nal geometry and infrastructural functions of the waterway,and the surrounding fabric is also affected. The peripheral

nature of the area sets up a problematic zone for the lo-cal neighborhood and effective flow of and experience for

multimodal transit. The landfill zone lowers the land valueand increases the risk of liquefaction for all buildings ontop of the historical path that was once Mission Creek.

Mission creek is resurfacing in the basement of the Armory,and reveals its resilience beyond the capacity of our urban

planning influence and control. The Armorys history as mil-itary fortress also reflects a framework of authority. This mo-ment of resurfacing proves that the wild cannot be entirely

dominated and that Mission Creek is resilient. I proposeto use this predicament as a starting point for my thesisproject. By expanding upon its implications and affects, I

hypothesize that the predicament will provide a means forrestructuring conventions and reframing the future of archi-

tecture.

The maps (above) describe the exact same frame centered

on where Mission Creek once met Mission Bay, illustratesdifferent points in history. All three are then overlayed to re-

veal what I have defined as an extreme interstice.

To the right is an experiment on revealing the c reek througha series of sections in a 3D Model. In this case I have tak-en multiple sections through the model revealing what are

like sedimentary layers where the historic infrastructure andlandscape have changed over time.

Below is the DNA or sectional code for the various typesof infrastructure, architecture and landscape in all three his-

tories in an attempt to compare the infrastructural patternin another diagrammatic fashion in hope to reveal furtherrelationships.

Ecological Bipyramid

Present Day Drainage Basin and

Historic Coastline

Topography Planning Neighborhoods Industrial Zoning Districts

DNA of the City Swatch from 1700 - 2011

The Armory: 14th and Mission Streets Sits atop a historic tributary of Mission Creek: Arroyo Dolores

Site Model - Present Day Fabric

Proposed Site of Intervention Nataly Gattegno - Resilience: Extreme Environments

theframework

thecity

thecreek

cartographicexperiments

archeologicalexperiments

geneticexperiments

Historical Ecologies

Present Day

Environmental, Social and Mental

Ecologies

Future Ecologies

theproposal

Mission Creek Watershed Infrastructure:Bike Routes, Streets, Highways and Historic Waterways

2011 1899 (Sanborn Map) 1700 (ESRI / SFPUC Historic Bay Maps) 1700, 1899, 2011: Extreme Interstice zones highlighted

Mission Creek Zoom