The Syrian Souq

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In 2006, I went to Syria in search of souqs with formal spatial and sensorial patterns that foster a public realm. And though I did find such patterns in a public setting, it was a challenge to do much more than take inventory of what I observed, and very difficult indeed to prove that the formally designed market spaces were conducive to public activity. On the contrary, I sometimes found the opposite was true. I met scores of market vendors, street hawkers, shleppers, and shoppers that did not have direct access to formal market spaces and so made do and constantly adapted to edges and boundaries, nooks and crannies, unoccupied building facades, bicycles, etc. Social interaction and engagement were far more apparent, and patterns seemingly enhanced, along the fringes.

Market depiction

Recently came across the graphic novel Market Day by James Sturm. A heavy account of a shtetl market at the dawn of the industrial revolution, Sturm beautifully depicts a pivotal day in the life of a talented craftsman. The sequencing and emphasis on procession through a series of spaces, including the market, effectively help recreate a bygone place. But it is not just nostalgia that makes this work appealing. Though it may not have been a part of Sturm’s intention, the images of market goers shuffling along, as well as the produce on display, in storage, and in transit all highlight the importance of spatial configuration and place in markets and indeed the value of  movement in our lives. Market Day has lent me a conceptual basis for depicting movement, and though I won’t get into detail here, I will add that this graphic novel has somewhat altered my perception of Zola’s Les ventres de Paris.

Review of: Réinventons la ruelle ! exhibition by the 23 architecture firms comprising some of the most inspiring architects in Quebec. MAISON DE L’ARCHITECTURE DU QUÉBEC

A combination of strategies to reduce heat islands as well as to reclaim and make use of urban space has recently sparked people’s interest in reinventing the alley. Building on this, the Maison de l’architecture du Québec’s exhibition Réinventons la ruelle! invites us attendees down a conceptual alley to explore significance and potential uses.

The exhibition consists primarily of models laid out atop two rows of horse-benches with the main visitor trajectory – of a proportionate width to the model layouts – going between the rows along an east-west axis. The effect of this layout is that we visitors feel as if we are walking down an alley and looking into people’s backyards. Within these backyards are an intriguing array of vernacular forms, theoretical constructs, borrowed elements and reinterpreted structures.

In Atelier Barda’s backyard model on the south side of the alley, Petit ferme entre amis, there is an inspiring adaptation of a traditional Montreal coal shed, many of which were destroyed by fire and were all but eradicated as part of the city’s lane greening initiative in the 1980’s, Place du Soliel. This particular shed’s height and form reflects a consumptive based spatial relationship with the triplex it serves, but instead of providing the residence with coal for heating, each floor is arranged for small-scale urban farming: raising small livestock and vegetables. The shed is set on an angle to the triplex and consists of little more than structural components so as to emit light and allow for adequate airflow. This backyard intervention effectively reinterepts the vernacular of the Montreal coal shed, applying it with a whimsical yet sustainable and productive property.

Across the alley is another backyard project that harks on the vernacular of alleys. The »Passer sa vie sur les cordes à linges», by Huma design and architecture, consists of clothespins: 2500 pins clipped to 84 metal clotheslines and encased in transparent plastic. An evidently conceptual piece, the clothes pin yard reminds us of the beauty in the everyday objects and uses of the alley, indeed of the importance alleys serve in routine practices. The conceptual and figurative qualities of this model furthermore suggest possible ritual elements of an alley, through repetition and reinforcement of the clothespin’s role.

Continuing along the lane, on both sides of the alley we come to more than one model that tastefully incorporates the garage door. Garages are found commonly along more commercial and affluent alleys that have evolved to accommodate vehicles. Still, I suspect the designers of M3, Paul Bernier Architecte, as well as others project designers, took a more contemporary cue: the now standard glass panelled garage doors used to open bistro, bar, cafe and restaurants onto the street, effectively connecting street life with the otherwise internalized activity of shops. The models incorporating these doors suggest a similar possibility: the possibility of engaging neighbours and allowing for the creation of a more fluid connection between alleys and backyards, public lanes and private yards.

Crossing the lane we come to Sergio Clavijo-Division’s Repository-me, fittingly made from an airline food container, as the project conveys ideas adapted from the gorgeous & prosaic cinematic musings of far-flung Hong Kong’s Won Kar Wai. Within this backyard appears a wall, a barrier of rammed earth covered with moss and lichens suggesting the yard’s maturation and enrichment over time. Holes in the wall are intended for people to whisper into and leave secrets behind. I must confess that I shared some of my own thoughts with this model: Montreal alleys should be reinvented, and perhaps reinterpreted as galleries, quasi-public venues for neighbours to promenade through and, if desired, open up their enclosed spaces so as to upon occasion share ritual, practice and ideas with their community.

Each back yard model suggests various design possibilities and potential for alley interaction. The sum total of all the backyards and in effect the layout of the exhibit itself reveals invigorating possibilities for reinventing the alley.

http://www.maisondelarchitecture.ca/wp-content/uploads/Ruelle_ComPresse.pdf

http://www.maisondelarchitecture.ca/wp-content/uploads/Ruelle_BioExposants.pdf

Cemetery Manifesto

A cemetery should be designed as a spiritual place where people can saunter and rest in a natural setting in which design and nature draw the mind and feelings to deeper thoughts. A cemetery will only be a spiritual place, if it seems hard to reach, if it requires layers of access, waiting, various means of approach, gradual discovery and revelation. Each gravesite within the cemetery must have elements such as an edge, a path, and a quite corner for sitting in order to enhance the processes of mourning, discovery and revelation.

Koyasan

Woodland Cemetery

XE OM

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XE: xe moto (motorbike)
OM: hold on for dear life

Taipei nights

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Tsukiji

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Koyama-Ville!

map n’ newsletter

Last week was my partner’s bday. & just where do you suppose she wanted to go? Why, where every Japanese woman, especially those who are pastry chefs, want to go: Es Koyama! Es Koyama is the most popular, most famous & arguably best cake shop in Kansai, no Japan! What does this entail? The freshest, most sublime cake experience you could possibly imagine, + a lengthy commute n’ 2 hour line-ups.

From what I understand, pastry chef Mr. Koyama began near Kobe’s Oji-Koen with a small size cake shop of no more than 3 or 4 staff. The shop whipped up French influenced favourites of the Japanese such as roll cake, Swiss roll to westerners, strawberry short-cake, as well as German baumkuchen & stollen. Since the beginning these Koyama staples have been in high demand & business brisk. But as it quickly became known that Es Koyama’s cakes are the best, demand exceeded capacity & Koyama felt the need to expand.

What is unique about this success story is what Mr. Koyama proceeded to do & what secured Es Koyama’s place at the top of the pastry world: Es Koyama relocated to a somewhat rural n’ pastoral location on the outskirts of Sanda, a satellite of both Kobe & Osaka. Why? The fresh air, & presumably the proximity to suppliers of top quality ingredients such as cream, eggs & wheat.

The result? Koyama Ville! The Koyama roll in particular, grew so immensely popular that the new location quickly outgrew its size & so a 2nd, then 3rd, 4th & eventually 5th building was added! These additional 2nd storey structures house a café -which we had to wait over 2 hours, with reservation, to get into- a French bakery complete with French bakers, macaroon shop, chocolatier, offices, as well as baking & cooking school spaces named ‘studios’ or ‘labos’ depending on their specific purpose.

Now, the first thing that crossed my mind while experiencing this cake extravaganza was that Mr. Koyama must be a marketing & management wiz, in addition to being a brilliant patisserie. After all, there I was in Koyama-Ville, about a 1-hour commute out of the urban Kansai area, & yet there were swarms of people, waiting anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours from some roll cake!?!?!? Unlike ourselves, who took the train, most customers seem to drive to Koyama-Ville, some from as far away as Hokkaido! Furthermore, it seems that the popularity of this location has led Koyama-Ville to be a bit of a victim of success, in that it is not secluded on the edge of rural Hyogo as it was just 5 years ago, but is now completely surrounded by surface parking for the hordes that visit, & suburban tract housing that has crept up over the years from northern Kobe.

Giving Es Koyama’s loci & current place, could it not have been possible to locate in an urban setting from the start? Perhaps in a central Kobe ward where Es Koyama could benefit from a community of cake shops and foodies, as in Chuo-ward’s Sakaimachi? Are property values too high for a virtual goldmine that’s sales easily exceed that of the competition? How about Nagata, a grossly undervalued central ward with character & development potential if there ever was one. At the very least, could a setting that didn’t require the largely unsustainable energy sources of suburban tract developments have been chosen? Could a site with easier access by public & common transportation, that dissuades people from driving, have been selected? Would such a locale have taken Es Koyama to even greater heights?

Koyama’s cakes are indeed divine, & Koyama-Ville is as worthy of a visit as Ghibli or USJ, but I am convinced that the experience of Koyama-Ville could be enhanced by a more appealable, sustainable space that is either very bucolic, or definitively urban. So, delicious, but the next time I want cake I’ll pass on Koyama & patron a different pastry shop, one of quality, taste, creativity and location: Mont Plus in Sakaimachi, Kobe.

http://www.es-koyama.com/

Form of Being and Doing: LAUNDRY in Shanghai

2 good things happened to me early in the year: Shanghai and Atelier Bow-Wow: Echo of Space / Space of Echo. The former was my 2nd visit to Shanghai- I made both trips from Osaka via ferry to visit a dear friend- & the latter was a chance acquisition from a bookstore in Kobe. Both my trips to Shanghai and Atelier Bow-Wow’s book gave me some insight into the relationship between physical space and their uses, between Shanghai’s buildings, alleys, people and their LAUNDRY specifically.

I dérived through Shanghai as a way to get at this huge town’s gestalt. What my wandering revealed was a city spoiled with a great variety of cityscape and activity. At the heart of Shanghai are lontang, back alleys bursting with community and social life, shikumen, stone gate houses that are a fusion of the Chinese courtyard house & English terraced housing, & yanshidian, tobacco & paper shops at the entrance to lontang. These 3 unique features provide the city with the foundation of its built fabric and social environment.

A little over a month after my visit I picked up my copy of Echo of Space / Space of Echo. The authors, Tokyo husband and wife architect duo Atelier Bow-Wow, relate how with organic connections between experiences and participants: The places “form of being” always shows the people involved how its “form of doing” should be… Both the “form of being” as a physical environment and the “form of doing” as its development & maintenance are simultaneously present in architectural, urban and landscape experiences. The concept of being and doing emphasizes the connections between the built environment as a facilitator and people as instigators invested in their place. I have so far mentioned 3 elements of Shanghai’s environment that I have identified as “being”, but what are their forms supportive of? What “form of doing” do the 3 “forms of being” facilitate?

Well, the most visually and socially obvious would have to be LAUNDRY. Within the city’s lontang- & these forms of being & doing often flow out on to the streets- you can find pirated DVDs being hawked, hair cuts given, skewers grilling, scooters being repaired, produce sold, games of chess and mah-jong played, but no single form of doing is more prominent than LAUNDRY. LAUNDRY can be found hanging from tree branches, telephone poles, benches, birdcages, basically anywhere and everywhere. When approaching a shikumen, most often what can be viewed beyond the stone gate are garments strung in the air. At the yanzhidian there are usually more clothing items suspend from a TV antenna, or perhaps from the bars on the shop windows. And when entering a lontang… LAUNDRY’s every where and you can usually catch 2 or 3 people chatting away while inspecting there clothing, batting a duvet or using an extended pole to hang there LAUNDRY that much higher and therefore that much more visible to passing audiences.

Of course, I’m sure this phenomenon is not quite specific to shanghai- I did see some handsome examples of laundry being washed and hanging to dry along the canals of Shanghai’s neighbouring water towns- but I was astonished to see such a magnificent show of LAUNDRY. In fact, the everyday relationship between the built environment, laundry and people is nothing short of public, festive and monumental.

I could go on to discuss the air quality in Shanghai and how it possibly accents LAUNDRY, I could mention the many failings in Shanghai’s contemporary cityscape, I could even compare and contrast LAUNDRY in my home town of Montreal, or my current home Kobe, but I want to end with an observation about Shanghai’s forms of being and doing could be further accented and show cased: Shanghai prides itself on being china’s fashion capitol. Could lontang’s and their apparent connection to LAUNDRY be used, as a form of being to showcase fashion? I envision back alley cat walks for the local fashion industry. Grandma’s hot pink pyjamas will hang proudly from a magnolia branch while china’s upcoming fashion labels flaunt their prêt-a-porté printemps 2011. Shanghai and LAUNDRY.