Take1Microrayon. Аn Unexpected Scenarioas an open buildingTRANSFORMATION OF THE PUBLIC SPACE IN LARGE-SCALE HOUSING ESTATES.

research proposalMaster Thesis at the Riga Technical University Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planningdetour at the HCU

Aleksandrs Feļtins

1.The concept of “open building” evolved as an alternative to the mass housing.What if we appropriate it to the opposed but existing realms?“Architectural form may result from a process of transforma-tion”Habraken, J. »The control of Complexity« in Places / Volume 4, Number 2, p.3 1987

CONVENTIONWe begin to see the complex form as a social artifact, and its hierarchical and territorial structure is, ultimatelly, a prod-uct of convention [which] we find in the concepts of theme, system, and type.Habraken, J.

Theme

A theme is what we design when we want others not only to un-derstand what we do but partici-pate in the development of the form.

System

“A system is the product of for-mal rules accepted by all who uses [the form]” Habraken, J.

The Grid and the Zone

Function of the configuration

Architectural field: the grid?

2.To regard the microray-on project as anunfinished one.All the project tools are already in place; all that’s needed isto reorganise, modify and com-plete them.Druot, F. Lacaton, A. Vassal, J. Plus : Large-scale housing devel-opment. Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 2007.

Type“A type (...)is a complex form principle, containig many themes on various levels, which lives outside formal description in the social body that applies it”Habraken, J.

Geometry and Articu-lationAs a tool, used with appropri-ate position rules, the grid al-lows for the generation of ex-tremelly complex and varied arangements. It is the arange-ment we ulimatelly see, no the grid. Habraken, J.

Capacity

3 bedroom flat 88m2

hair dress-er’s saloon

doctorate

grocery’s

bank

workshop....

“It is easy to see, then, how we can work from the bot-tom up as well as from the top down” Habraken, J.

In the majority of cases the pro-fessionals who take care of the interior of the buildings aren’t the same as those who design public spaces, which presupposes a problem. It’s necessary to plan the administration of public space as an extension of that of interior spaces.Druot, F. Lacaton, A. Vassal, J. Plus : Large-scale housing devel-opment. Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 2007.

Territory: the zone(s)?