Design Thesis: Placing Non-Place

•

Placing Non-Place:

Establishing Identity in the Occupiable Threshold

ABSTRACT

“If place can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, then a space which cannot be defined as relational, historical, or concerned with identity will be a non-place.” These non-places are spaces of transience -- they pass time. They are rarely considered worthy of design, and thus create pockets of leftover space in key urban corridors. How can place-making of these spaces provide an opportunity to unite these ruptures in the urban environment, while marking the threshold that they create. This thesis explores how careful, site-specific strategies define the spaces above and below Philadelphia’s abandoned Reading Viaduct as a vital threshold. The intervention serves as a node along a path, a gateway to and shield for an elevated Viaduct Park and a (re)connection to the old Reading Terminal. Non-places and residual spaces become places that promote urban and social cohesion.

SITE

The site is located in Central City Phildelphia, at the edge of the Callowhill West, Chinatown and Chinatown North neighborhoods, and more specifically at the site of the abandoned Reading Viaduct. The Viaduct was truncated in the 1960s, when the Vine Street Expressway was carved across central city. The historically significant landmark presents an opportunity to mend the urban fabric through place-making.

RELATION

Along with its establishment in the greater urban context as a node within a network of parks, the apartment component of the program -- that sits above the park -- creates an opportunity for connection within the city through its use of views. Public space at the end of each hallway, expressed on the facade through glazing, provides views of historical parks and landmarks in the city.

IDENTITY

When the Expressway was built, the Viaduct was truncated. This broke the connection that the viaduct once had with the old Reading Terminal. The old Terminal was then turned into the Pennsylvania Convention Center. In order to suggest the connection of the rails to the terminal, the still existing railroad lines create a system for paths in the park. This translates in pattern and materiality. The treads of the rail lines create a rhythm on the path. These materials adapt to human scale, but suggest the circulation of the past. The system and materiality establish the identity of the park as an old industrial site.

HISTORY

The design educates the public of the site's past by incorporating a museum wall. The wall presents images and brief text. This brings awareness to the historical significane of the site.