A Message
Setting foot in the the Sherman Park Neighborhood as an adult, it was a different, but amazing experience. Living in Milwaukee my entire life on the south side of Metro Milwaukee, I saw and began to learn the good, bad and the ugly of these Milwaukee neighborhoods. Going through MPS as a child, enjoying Milwaukee County parks, and even more so working for the City of Milwaukee has given me a perspective of this city that contributed to the overall experience of developing this project for the Sherman Park Neighborhood. It is a beautiful city where people are eager to explore the city regardless of racial lines, financial regions, and political gridlock. Milwaukee is filled with pride, filled with vigor for the work we put in for our families, our friends, and our communities. We are moving to new heights in terms of the achievement that this city can attain through its citizens and it is more than ever prevalent in the North side Communities. To be able to give back in some way to the people of this prideful city is something that I hope to create a career out of. Through the work, through the conversations, and above all, the people, this city will become an endeavor worth sticking around for.
Sincerely,
Andres Moctezuma Santos
Citizen Architects Studio
School of Architecture and Urban Planning
Sincerely,
Andres Moctezuma Santos
Citizen Architects Studio
School of Architecture and Urban Planning
Precedent
From the beginning, there were many indicators that this project will involve human movement and the expressionism that comes along with it. A precedent study I had looked at was Lawrence Halprin[1], a landscape architect who designed parks and other public interventions. His projects created landscapes that were unfamiliar and different to what people were used to in an urban setting which became the point of attention for people walking by or driving past. Addressing the public intervention in spaces, Saskia Sassen[2] presented commentaries on the way that public spaces are overlooked by the city which continued the research for how Halprin countered the connotations surrounding public spaces. The picture on the right is of one of his projects in Portland that created spaces for the public to provoke movement and rest throughout the space. Seeing his projects reminded me of the Aztec Pyramids in Mexico which prompted me to name the project, Movimiento, which is "movement" in Spanish to pay homage to the initial resemblance of Halprins projects to Aztec Architecture.
Researching his projects, I realized that these parks and spaces were breaking out of the norm in dense urban areas. Taking this idea, I translated it to the Sherman Park Neighborhood which led to the question of how can physical design provoke human movement in order to congregate the community and beyond? |
Finding the derelict spaces
In the Sherman Park Neighborhood, there are several empty lots that have not been incorporated or utilized by a business or organization which in turn has left the spaces to maintain itself. This site map of the area identifies the derelict areas within walking distance of the major intersection of Sherman Boulevard and North Avenue.
These areas were highlighted not only for their empty demeanor, but a few of these have community gardens which thrive off the neighborhood. These community gardens instill a sense of togetherness and neighborly love as it is one of the few things in the area that provokes community outreach.
Through the first few months of the Fall 2017 semester, our studio had met people, organizations, and businesses that were maverick about their community encouraging organic food options to address the food desert this neighborhood is in all the way to redeveloping an abandoned library for a public market. The momentum from the community propelled our studios ideas and inspirations to see how else to benefit and improve this area to meet the needs of the neighborhood and beyond.
These areas were highlighted not only for their empty demeanor, but a few of these have community gardens which thrive off the neighborhood. These community gardens instill a sense of togetherness and neighborly love as it is one of the few things in the area that provokes community outreach.
Through the first few months of the Fall 2017 semester, our studio had met people, organizations, and businesses that were maverick about their community encouraging organic food options to address the food desert this neighborhood is in all the way to redeveloping an abandoned library for a public market. The momentum from the community propelled our studios ideas and inspirations to see how else to benefit and improve this area to meet the needs of the neighborhood and beyond.
Community engagement
In order to achieve formidable advice and solid feedback, our studio group joined the Fall Festival at Tricklebee that they hosted for the neighborhood. Through this event we had built a giant JENGA set in order to make people familiar and comfortable with interacting with new people which was us. This video highlights the moments and the interactions we had with the community in order to harbor feedback on our ideas for the improvement of the Sherman Park Neighborhood.
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The design question
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Through the time the studio has spent in the neighborhood, we needed to observe how outside people see the space while also addressing the concerns of people in the neighborhood. A visit from some dancers ignited an idea that could benefit the neighborhood in a major way with a proper space to host events, provoke community engagement, and provoke conversations in and outside the neighborhood.
This video discovers the dichotomies between dead and alive spaces, how physical design can provoke human interaction and movement. |
Mapping - diagramming
Going forward with the question of how physical design can being to provoke human movement, interaction, and community outreach, I began to observe the common walking paths of people in the neighborhood. This index map/mileau diagram demonstrates the common paths that people took to get to one place to another. The map also connects the derelict spaces in the neighborhood which is indicated by the paint splatters. Unfortunately, addressing all the empty spaces in the neighborhood would require a huge amount of time and resources, so through this map, it showed which area had seen the most traffic and the potential it could have on people walking and driving by it. In research, obersavtion, and mapping, the space that could have the largest impact is the space next to Tricklebee Cafe which is highlighted on the map with a red dotted circle and the most non-linear paths.
Marks
Addressing the Tricklebee Cafe derelict space had several ideas and potentials. Through engagement with the community and business and organization owners, a space where the neighborhood and people from wherever could meet and host events was one of the solutions that could begin to benefit the area. Below are designs for the space beginning with mark i, mark ii, and mark iii.
[1] Portland Open Space Sequence, Ira Keller Fountain, Portland, OR, 2016. - Photograph © Jeremy Bittermann, courtesy The Cultural Landscape Foundation
[2] Saskia Sassen, Public Interventions, The Shifting Meaning of the Urban Condition, pg 18
[2] Saskia Sassen, Public Interventions, The Shifting Meaning of the Urban Condition, pg 18