CHOOSING A GRID OR NOT?

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The city can be defined as a permanent dense settlement, where the entire arrangement is made so that its density should facilitates human interaction. With the demands for city development to be efficient, the organization of space has become increasingly important. As a result, it has

affected the social landscape.

This project examines the role of choreographed movement and its ability to open up the social

landscape, by creating new intersections within the city.

The work reintroduces many questions and philosophies that originate from the world of art, and intertwine them with examples in architecture. The project demonstrates the important role of movement, as a way to juxtapose and superimpose different communities to create new

mutations.

The further aim is to apply findings and strategies onto a design to address the current state in the city of Umeå.

Today the city center sees a strong hierarchy of

movement that has created by decisions made historically.

There will be an introduction to the history of the inherited framework of the city. As well as a designed promenade that proposes a new way of moving through Umeå,

independent of the limiting borders bottlenecking the current circulation.

Abstract

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HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A CITY HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A CITY BUILT THIS FAST BEFORE?

BUILT THIS FAST BEFORE?

IT’S CHEAP TOO!

WOW, WOW,

I CAN MOVE I CAN MOVE IN ALREADY ! IN ALREADY !

CHOOSING A GRID OR NOT?

Elliot Sundlin Gridded Cities Organization Introduction 1

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1643 1643

The first drawn map of Umeå from 1643 by Erik Widman. City plan was made by Olof Bureus.

Grid plan was applied because it was the dominating way of building cities at the time, and the ground where Umeå was being built was evenly leveled, so it just made it conveinient.

1648 1648

The Second drawn map of Umeå from 1648.

Over the five years of expansion the city had started to disregard the initial grid plan. The outer blocks and borders of the city are more organic and irregular.

1648 1648

Correction plan of 1648.

The same year a correction plan was made to present a strict idea of how the city had to be rebuilt and expanded in the future.

1745 1745

Plan of lots 1745.

Umeå kept on expanding its city center after the strict grid plan in East, West and North. More neig- hbourhoods were added further away then what is seen in the figure, and those did not follow the same logic.

1889 1889

City Plan of 1889.

After the Great City Fire most of Umeå had to be rebuilt. What before was a stream, Renmarks- bäcken, was sealed to build another avenue.

Present (2020) Present (2020)

Within the present plan of Umeå the city has been walled off by two greater edges. One is made up by the river, the second one by the railway. As a result, to exit the city center in either north of south one is left with only 5 options, bridges and tunnels are the only way.

Car roads block off in east and west, were the edge is not as strong, but it is still present. historically these were the borders for the customs.

Lindströms Radical Plan Lindströms Radical Plan

After the city fire of 1888 when the city needed a new plan there was multiple ideas in collaboration that eventually led to the plan that became reality. During the process however Lindström had a plan that was received as being radical. He had neglected a lot of the things that historically had been important, like the strict grid and presented a plan with diagonal avenues branching out from the city center.

His reasoning behind the given suggestion was that there would be a greater opportunity to create more attractive lots that had direct connectivity to the city center.

Elliot Sundlin Umeås Historical Development Introduction 2

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INTERDISCIPLINARY INTERDISCIPLINARY

APPROACH TO APPROACH TO ORIENTATION ORIENTATION

ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURE HUMAN SCIENCES HUMAN SCIENCES

PSYCHOLOGY PSYCHOLOGY

ART/

STORYTELLINGART/

STORYTELLING

Elliot Sundlin Interdisciplinary Approach Preface 3

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Paul Klee’s painting Ad Marginem (On the Edge) features a red ball that is centered in the drawing, with animals, plants and sillhouettes scattered around the edges of the frame. Whichever way you turn the painting it seems like something is always upside down, thus it lacks orientation. If the painting however would be placed on the ground a new logic becomes appa- rent. The red ball becomes a reflection of the sun on a wate- red surface, and the objects on the edges are reflections on what is on land. The painting is a mirror of a reality that stretches outside of the frame of itself, by superimposing these images.

Felice Varini is a Paris-based Swiss artist who through projector stencil based teqniques does mural paintings onto architectural sur- faces. His work is defined by a double condition; A very strict pre- sence of frame, and its total dissappearance. Varinis art is momen- tary in the sense that it is created from a single vantage point where very simple geometry is projected and paintied onto the space. This condition does not enable you to view the geometry from any other point than the original vantage point. Would you pass the point you would see the art work and its framework fragmented, scattered into pieces. Varini has in interviews been very clear with the fact that he does not care too much of the vantage point once the painting is finished, but he finds interest in what happens outside of it.

Eija Liisa Athila is a Finish video artist that has for many years done film installations were her narratives are displayed over multiple panels. By fragmenting the story and multiplying it over several screens, it achieves an effect that amplifies the drama. Athila has always found interest in perception and has drawn great inspiration from the speculative biologist Uexküll, who studied different animals

perceptions of the world.

Athila wants to, through her art, make visible the limits or edges of human perception.

Elliot Sundlin Strategies Within Art Process 4

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Points and Confetti Points and Confetti

fragments/Decoys

fragments/Decoys Paths/CirculationPaths/Circulation Programmes of the city

Programmes of the city

Elliot Sundlin Organization of Umeå Process 5

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CHOOSING PROJECTION POINTS CHOOSING PROJECTION POINTS

Because of the strong borders of the city center the pedestrian movement has been bottlenecked, just like Lindström anticipated many of the streets are not in an attractive proximity to the city center. As a result there has been several parkings that accomodate these lots. The idea is not specifically to regain these spots attractiveness, but to adresss what happens in between from the perspective of a pedestrian.

The open plateau’s within the city work excellently to understand the city from a perspective of scale. Just like Leon Battista Alberti understood rome, elevated on a platue in the middle of the city. The requirement is an open areas, where there can be a distinct exchange of near and far.

CONNECT MULTIPLE POINTS TO CONNECT MULTIPLE POINTS TO CREATE AN ALTERNATIVE GRID CREATE AN ALTERNATIVE GRID

By connecting these different points so that they communicate with eachother, they will achieve an interconnected network. With just adding 5 nodes and connecting multiple of them together the route can unfold in 250 different ways. This way a new grid will superimpose the current one. Creating new intersections withing the city. Sommething Lindström had envisioned over 130 years ago.

Elliot Sundlin Projecting a New Grid Process 6

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Elliot Sundlin Chosen nodes to Connect Process 7

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Elliot Sundlin The In-betweens Process 8

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Elliot Sundlin The In-betweens Process 9

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Elliot Sundlin What Conditions Alters the Perception Process 10

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Elliot Sundlin Moodboard to Apply Strategies Process 11

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Elliot Sundlin Model Exploration Process 12

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Elliot Sundlin Site Diagram Process 13

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Elliot Sundlin Construction Drawings/Silhouettes Project 14

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Elliot Sundlin Construction Drawings/Site Drawings Project 15

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Elliot Sundlin Murals Project 16

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Elliot Sundlin Folly Structures Project 17

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Elliot Sundlin Folly Sections and Insert In-between Project 18

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Elliot Sundlin Walkthrough Project 19

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Elliot Sundlin Walkthrough/End Project 26