Sumarria Lunn | Matthew Picton "Urban Narratives"

Last weekend I was browsing through a magazine when I found a notice about this exhibit called: Urban Narratives. The exhibit is quite small in a tucked away gallery off of Oxford Circus, but the work inside was quite inspirational. Matthew Picton is an artist who tries to take the urban plan of a city and deconstruct it to tell a narrative. For example, his London series shows a series of sections of London formed through burnt newspapers that represent the great fire of London. The methodology of map-making for each piece is a direct representation of some unique aspect in that particular cities history that grabs Picton's interest. 

Matthew Picton, "Urban Narratives"

Worlds in the Sky | Imagining the Scene

With the review just around the corner, I started to consider what the atmosphere of the "worlds in the sky" would start to feel like. Rooftops would be used for African fabric-makers to have workshops, people to live in new homes, and some type of new pedestrian network would exist to create connections.

Worlds in the Sky | Programmatic Layout

Creating the photo book helped me realize the abundance of possibilities for which I could program the rooftops. I began by first changing my project name to 'Worlds in the Sky.' This helped me in organizing a layout of certain programmatic areas along different rooftops. I began to ask myself questions such as for whom are the rooftops? how does one acquire the rooftop? how much green space, if any, is there on the rooftops? can the conditions of certain rooftops change seasonally? Considerations began into creating a "home base" from which the rooftops were rented out and a large mall that projected out from this home base and had smaller pedestrian paths across it to each world in the sky. 

Playful Model

Feeling stuck in the 2-dimensional sphere, I decided to build a model of Gerani in which I could play around with programmatic layouts of the rooftops. The model had two phases, the first being non-adjustable buildings which were those on which the rooftop condition was either unusable or was not going to be used; the second being removable rooftop pieces that had differing programs on them to show how layout may change over time. 

Rooftop Culture Around the World

Having considered formal conditions for my design, I realized that I was struggling with what type of program I wanted to consider for the rooftops. For some inspiration, I spent time researching different existing rooftop conditions in the world and created a small photo book called: "Rooftop Culture Around the World." Programs looked at include artistic use, recreational use, economical use, and unbuilt proposals.

Mapping Gerani | Site Analysis

Having chosen my site in Gerani, I started more specific site analysis of the neighborhood through several mappings. I looked at three separate conditions that I wanted to consider when looking at designing a city in the Sky. 

The first was the condition of the residential building type in Athens: the polykatoikia. Polykatoikia are the most extensively used building type within Athens and have several unique characteristics in its ownership structure, form, and historical importance. The structure itself gives a ziggurat-style form to the rooftop skyline in Athens.

The second condition is available versus unavailable roofs. This condition was considered as it would have an effect on the overall layout of the City in the Sky and the accesibility across and to different rooftops.

The final condition was short versus tall structures. This was important to me as I wanted to look at a City in the Sky that wasn't simply a new datum within the city but had variability in section.

With these conditions established, I began to create a Rhino Model of the area and consider how the form of a City in the Sky may come to fruition.