Terrain Vague: Interstices at the Edge of the Pale

271 Pages·2013·5.901 MB·English

by  PATRICK BARRON, Manuela Mariani

Terrain Vague
As planners and designers have turned their attentions to the blighted, vacant
areas of the city, the concept of “terrain vague” has become increasingly
important. Terrain Vagueseeks to explore the ambiguous spaces of the city—
the places that exist outside the cultural, social, and economic circuits of urban
life. From vacant lots and railroad tracks, to more diverse interstitial spaces,
this collection of original essays and cases presents innovative ways of looking
at marginal urban space, with studies from the United States, Europe, and the
Middle East, from a diverse group of planners, geographers, and urban
designers.
Terrain Vagueis a cooperative effort to redefine these marginal
spaces as a central concept for urban planning and design. Presenting innovative
ways of looking at marginal urban space, and focusing on its positive uses and
aspects, the book will be of interest to all those wishing to understand our
increasingly complex everyday surroundings, from planners, cultural theorists,
and academics, to designers and architects.
Manuela Marianiis an Italian architect and co-founder of the firm Intadesign.
She has practiced in Italy and the Netherlands, as well as in the United States.
She is Assistant Director of Foundation Studios at the Boston Architectural
College, where she is part of the design studio faculty.
Patrick Barron is an Associate Professor in English at the University of
Massachusetts, Boston. He has received awards from the Academy of American
Poets, the American Academy in Rome, the Fulbright Commission, and the
National Endowment for the Arts. His books include The Selected Poetry and
Prose of AndreaZanzottoand Italian Environmental Literature: An Anthology.
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Terrain Vague
Interstices at the Edge of the Pale
Edited by Manuela Mariani and Patrick Barron
First edition published 2014
by Routledge
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 selection and editorial material, Manuela Mariani, Patrick Barron;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Manuela Mariani and Patrick Barron to be identified as authors of
the editorial material, and of the individual authors as authors of their
contributions, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Terrain vague: interstices at the edge of the pale/[edited by] Manuela Mariani,
Patrick Barron.—First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Terrain vague. I. Mariani, Manuela, editor of compilation. II. Barron,
Patrick, 1968–editor of compilation.
NA9050.T47 2013
711′.4–dc23 2013006667
ISBN13: 978–0–415–82767–6 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–82768–3 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–52217–2 (ebk)
Typeset in Univers
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
Contents
List of Figures vii
Preface xi
Manuela Mariani and Patrick Barron
1 Introduction: At the Edge of the Pale 1
Patrick Barron
2 Terrain Vague 24
Ignasi de Solà-Morales
Part I Locations 31
3 Welcome to Bachoura, or the Found City as Interstice 33
Carole Lévesque
4 Open Space Appropriations and the Potentialities of a
“City of Thresholds” 48
Stavros Stavrides
5 Three Meditations on the Ruins of Detroit 62
Jerry Herron
6 Perception and Exploration of Interstitial Space: Slots in
San Francisco 75
Tanu Sankalia
7 Void Potential: Spatial Dynamics and Cultural Manifestations
of Residual Spaces 89
Heike Rahmann and Marieluise Jonas
Part II Traversings 105
8 Transurbance 107
Francesco Careri
v
Contents
9 On the Threshold: Terrain Vagueas Living Space in Andrei
Tarkovsky’s Stalker 114
Stanka Radovic’
10 Paradoxical Spaces 130
Guy Königstein
11 Garbage Arcadia: Digging for Choruses in Fresh Kills 138
Jennifer Scappettone
12 Isn’t All Public Space Terrain Vague? 153
Karen A. Franck
Part III Applications 171
13 Notions of Nature and a Model for Managed Urban Wilds 173
Jill Desimini
14 Interim Spaces: Vacant Land, Creativity, and Innovation in
the Context of Uncertainty 187
Krystallia Kamvasinou and Marion Roberts
15 The Interstitial Challenge: Manifestations of Terrain Vaguein
Detroit and Clichy-sous-Bois, Paris 201
Jim Stevens and Anirban Adhya
16 Following the Berlin Wall 216
Elizabeth Golden
17 Vague Recollections: Obscurity and Uncertainty in
Contemporary Public Memorials 230
Quentin Stevens
List of Contributors 249
Index 252
vi
Figures
1.1 Fire Pit, Wooded Debris Slope, State Laboratory
(Boston, 2012) 2
1.2 Wetland, Graffitied Wall, Train Tracks (Boston, 2012) 4
1.3 Squatter Campsite (Boston, 2013) 5
1.4 Train Tracks, Charles River Footpath, Soldiers Field Road,
Massachusetts Turnpike (Boston, 2012) 6
1.5 Underpass (Boston, 2012) 8
1.6 Charles River White Geese, Boston University Bridge, Train
Trestle (Cambridge, 2012) 10
1.7 Pedestrian, Ballard Way, Gas Lamp, Fence (Boston, 2012) 12
1.8 Valle della Caffarella (Rome, 2007) 13
1.9 Valle della Caffarella (near the Via Latina, Rome, 2007) 15
1.10 Valle della Caffarella (Rome, 2007) 17
3.1 Tyan Street (Beirut, 2011) 38
3.2 St. George Church (Beirut, 2011) 42
3.3 “Hear it Ring” Installation (Beirut, 2010) 43
3.4 “Have a Seat” Installation (Beirut, 2010) 44
3.5 “Come In” Installation (Beirut, 2010) 45
3.6 “Look, a Door” Installation (Beirut, 2010) 46
4.1 Deactivated Thresholds? 50
4.2 Trans-Experiences in the Buffer Zone of Nicosia. (Stephanie
Keszi and Georgia Frangoudi; Supervisor, Stavros Stavrides) 52
4.3 Washing the Abandoned Waiting Lounge Chairs.
(Performance by Andrea Savva) 53
4.4 Airport Chairs in the Buffer Zone. (Performance by
Andrea Savva) 54
4.5 Syntagma Square Reoccupation: Collective Washing Common
Space 59
6.1 Slots in San Francisco 77
6.2 View of Slot. (Drawing by Paul Madonna) 79
6.3 Inside the Slot, “Bracket.” (Photo by Moshe Quinn) 80
6.4 Plan, Section, and Axonometric of Slot. (Drawings by
Catherine Chang) 81
6.5 Light Installation by Elaine Buchkholtz 84
vii
Figures
6.6 Slots Cast as Positive Forms. (Models by Samuel North,
Daniel Begaye and Michael Conrad) 85
7.1 Tokyo Void Space 90
7.2 Odaiba, Tokyo (December, 2010) 92
7.3 Building Surrounded by Fenced-in Vacant Lots at a
Road-Widening Site (Komaba, Tokyo) 93
7.4 Kasu Harappa ONDI (Yanaka, Tokyo) 101
7.5 Butoh Performance at ONDI 101
9.1 The Zone as an Ordinary Terrain Vague 118
9.2 The “Backward” Orientation of Stalker 119
9.3 The Landscape of Human Features 120
9.4 Lingering on the Threshold 123
9.5 Interior Rain: The Ambiguous Relationship Between the
Inside and Outside 124
10.1 Railway (Munich, 2010) 131
10.2 Bench (Eindhoven, 2009) 132
10.3 Windows (Munich, 2010) 132
10.4 Door (Eindhoven, 2009) 133
10.5 Bridge (Eindhoven, 2009) 133
10.6 Ramp (London, 2011) 134
10.7 Tree (Munich, 2010) 134
10.8 Walls (London, 2011) 136
10.9 Road (Munich, 2010) 136
10.10 Window and Street Lamp (Zurich, 2011) 137
11.1 Performer Rebecca Davis Wanders Among Grasses and
Invasive Phragmites on the North Mound of Fresh Kills
Landfill During Fieldwork for PARK on September 12, 2011.
(Photo by Jennifer Scappettone) 139
11.2 Performers Abby Block and Tessa Chandler Placing Threaded
Trash-Texts on the Surface of the North Mound at Fresh Kills.
(Photo by Marina Zamalin) 141
11.3 Audience Participants Atop the North Mound at Fresh
Kills Landfill During a Performance of PARK, Choreographed
and Directed by Kathy Westwater, on November 5, 2011.
(Photo by Marina Zamalin) 144
11.4 Hilary Chapman, Lorene Bouboushian, and Audience Ascend
the Landfill Mound. (Photo by Marina Zamalin) 145
11.5 James Simmons, Hilary Chapman, and Kathy Westwater
Collapsing the City-Block-Sized Word-Chorus. (Photo by
Marina Zamalin) 147
11.6 Rebecca Davis Entwined with Compressed Word-String
Mass, Surrounded by Audience, on the Summit of the
North Mound. (Photo by Marina Zamalin) 150
12.1 East River Waterfront, Brooklyn. An artist and his friends
install “The Pirate” in an abandoned railroad yard. Over a
viii
Figures
period of a dozen years, single individuals and groups of
people intermittently appropriated this section of the
waterfront for recreation, dwelling, production, commemoration,
and artistic expression, despite several closures of the site
by the police. (Photograph by Daniel Campo) 155
12.2 Zuccotti Park, New York. Starting in September 2011, Occupy
Wall Street demonstrators used this privately owned public
space 24 hours a day for two months for political, artistic, and
religious expression, dwelling, commerce, recreation/exercise,
education, and production 156
12.3 The Seine, Paris. Two individuals appropriate a secluded space
on the waterfront for dwelling 158
12.4 Broadway, Times Square, New York. Every summer solstice
since 2002, the local business improvement district association
closes two blocks of Broadway to traffic to allow this form of
exercise/recreation 159
12.5 Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn. A single individual regularly
appropriates a sidewalk near his home for several hours for
production, artistic expression, and commerce 160
12.6 Riverpark Farm, New York. Working in partnership with the
company that will occupy the future building on this “stalled
site,” the owners of the adjacent restaurant grow vegetables
and herbs until construction resumes 161
12.7 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn. Every Christmas, a Vermont
farmer appropriates a section of the sidewalk for two weeks
for commerce 163
12.8 Lent Space, Tribeca, New York. A real-estate developer
invited the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to
install a temporary park, to remain on this site until a luxury
apartment tower is built, requiring that it be enclosed by a
fence and not be called a “park,” as that suggests
permanence. (Photograph from Interboro) 163
12.9 Zacharhy’s Corner, Berkeley. Since 2009, when Zachary was
hit by a truck at this site, family and friends have continuously
appropriated the traffic circle for commemoration 165
12.10 Zuccotti Park, New York. Starting in November 2011, the
police barricaded this privately owned public space 24 hours
a day for nearly two months to prevent all uses by Occupy
Wall Street. (Photograph by Te-Sheng Huang) 166
13.1 Natures Enumerated 175
13.2 Ridge Avenue Cycles 180
13.3 Sharswood Suburbanization 181
13.4 Two Sides of North 20th Street 182
13.5 Ridge Avenue Redefined 185
ix