TYPOLOGICAL CANNIBALISM // PROF. BRYONY ROBERTS // SPRING 2013
BREITSCHEIDPLATZ | BERLIN- This project has an urban ambition - to delineate a zone and create coherence in a space but to do it through local operations. I am seeking to redefine the square; creating a space through a new definition of the boundary. Unlike the megaform, space is dispersed. A unity is imposed on the space, but it is not accomplished through one single geometry. The most successful public spaces in Breitscheidplatz are these "pockets." They are framed on three sides, connected via a continuous surface, and at least one side is closer to the human scale. After locating latent and underused public spaces around the site it was realized that a typical pocket, while a successful public space, has a complete inward focus. This proposal calls for pockets that have this inward focus but also share a connection between each other. Thus the project lies somewhere between a coherent boundary and a series isolated experiences. The coherent boundary provides a hard edge delineating space. Detached pockets provide moments of isolated spatial experience. The plaza and church are legible as a space through the subtle structure, or frame, composed of these 'pockets.'
