Daria Dmitrieva
Thailand
Fiesta de la caña:
The aim of the project described in this prospectus is to define the main ideas and methods of the vernacular housing and apply them to the dwelling in the urban city. Based on the research of the Uros tribe of the floating islands of lake Titicaca, Peru, the project attempts to re-appropriate the traditional use of totora reed plants as a primary material, it reflects on the inevitable temporarily of the structure and questions the role of an architect in the arrangement and organization of the dwelling.
In an attempt to use the vernacular ideas of self-arrangement, where a role of an ‘architect’ was given to the dwellers of the housing, this project becomes suggestive. In its’ essence, based on the ideas of Stan Allen, the structure of the dwelling creates a ‘field’ defined by a set of conditions and rules to which the ‘boids’ or ‘flocks’ of people are released. Spaces within this field are meant to be formed by people's collective behavior naturally, without a thought of spacial relationship, similarly to the regulation system in ants nest which isn’t purposefully designed but emerges from uncoordinated decisions made by individuals - swarm intelligence. This field is allowed to spread further into the city, creating more possibilities of aggregation. Structures that can be created vary in scale and degree of temporarily.
Located on the outskirts of the small city of Puno, Peru, this project becomes a part of a two week festival of folklore. A large span steel+rope structure with a grid ‘ceiling’ is set up in an open field where areas are prescribed for each of the arriving communities. The community is given a set of flexible flat reed walls modified with the wire mesh. They are used to create an infinite numbers of components - tents, walls, dividers, covers, shelves, doors etc. Those components are then attached to the any point of the grid to create spaces - individual or communal. Only the span, grid, occasional utility cores of water and electricity supply (points of attraction) and the natural elevation and materiality (grave