Launched at the beginning of February , the brainstorming/contest ” Designing Absence ” for imagining the second tower for the Antwerp Cathedral was surprisingly fresh and rich in potential. The conditions were very simple: no participation fee, no restrictions, no sophisticated requirements only a single image provided, and some simple rules.

The task on the other hand, rather challenging: to complete the south tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady – a national monument and part of the list of World Heritage Sites – by taking into account what the organizers emphasized : “… absence creates a blank canvas for today. By generating ideas for a new tower, we can put a focus on the cathedral itself. The given fact of an absent element within an existing structure functions as a great generator for ideas“ By generating ideas in this context the contest has similar aims as the work of Cristo & Jean – Claude, Zevs or Alexandre Orion

In medieval times the cathedral was the highest and the most representative building of the city. Its tower was a landmark that offered guidance in the city’s winding streets and beyond. As a “Fortress of Knowledge” the cathedral served the community and the clergy as principal holder of written information, offering a space for social interaction and refuge in troubled times.  In a brief overview of the elements that define the cathedral, we can identify five main components:  physical, sacred, social, educational and informational.

Given the importance of the building and the nature of the contest we considered that a different approach was needed in order to obtain a plausible and “buildable” solution.

This in where today’s technology comes in handy. Augmented reality is a developing and still untapped field which is growing along with today’s demand for technology. In our case it gives us the opportunity to emulate part of the attributes a built tower would have, without actually building it!

We imagined the new tower as a smart phone app, which functions as a gateway between users and a server hosting information related to the cathedral. The tower itself would be the representation of that information, constantly changing in shape depending on the type of information the server holds, the upload and download rates or the interaction with the user ( perhaps Voronoi ? ).

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Structured on three levels dedicated to tourists, specialists and the local community, the virtual tower is pinpointed to it’s location by GPS coordinates. Different than the existing one, the augmented tower has only one “clock” facing the Cathedral’s Parvise. Due to this fact a distant user must follow the app’s internal compass and “search” for the tower, offering him the satisfaction of realizing his spatial positioning relative to Antwerp and the Cathedral. Only when the user, phone and tower are aligned will the data structures be accessible, of course after some zooming and rotating, depending on the user’s position.

In order to Give Back we imagined that the app could be available for a small fee and that part or all the money raised by selling it could go to the local community in order to be reinvested in green initiatives. By doing so Tower 2.0 will should be able to achieve carbon neutrality.

The local community can expand due to the envisioned app to a global community, who themselves can relate and identify with the cathedral not only in its immediate surroundings but also from anywhere around the globe. A Cathedral will always be a landmark which offers guidance in its city, harbors knowledge and connects people. “Tower 2.0″ is therefore very much present on its user’s minds, yet it remaining absent for those who chose not to look at it – thus a truly Absent Design !

thanks to : Frank Wouters, cobalt123, McKay  Savage, Kevin  Adams and Bill  Tyne for licensing their works under Creative Commons licences. Also kudos to TokyoFlash for imagining the Tibida watch. With the next occasion I’ll complete my collection with it!

Late edit:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Coreland datele astfel obtinute, suprapunandu-le peste zonele / vecinati dupa care am subdivizat orasul in prima instanta, precum si peste densitatile populatiei din fiecare zona, putem sa ne dam seama cum se situeaza Timisoara la capitolul Sport si Agrement.

Inca de la inceputul am plecat de la premiza ca fiecare zona / vecinatate trebuie sa beneficieze -proportional cu densitatea locuitorilor sai- de spatii de agrement si sportive de categorie cartier.

Lipsa de echilibru in cazul situatiei parcurilor existente, in raport cu suprafata orasului se poate vedea foarte clar. Padurea Verde, care ocupa cea mai mare parte din procentul spatilor verzi din oras, are cea mai mica densitate a populatiei pe care o deserveste. Totodata, in imaginea de mai sus, reprezentarea vizuala a ariei aferente Padurii Verzi a fost redusa la 1/3 din dimensiunea calculata, din motive grafice.

O distributie “per capita” a spatilor verzi in oras, in functie de zone / vecinatati si de densitatea locuitorilor in acestea ar arata total diferit. Concluzia este ca o democratizare a distributiei in oras este necesara. Un nou parc in zona Freidorf ar trebui sa echilibreze situatia referitor la Padurea Verde -o zona verde de agrement de interes municipal-, in timp ce extinderea zonei de parc din jurul falezei Bega a putea aduce parcurile mai aproape de locuitorii din centrul orasului, creeind si o legatura in acelasi timp.

Fiecare zona / vecinatate trebuie sa beneficieze de o zona verde de agrement, care la aceasta scara -de cartier/zona/vecinatate- sunt scuarurile. Proportional cu densitatea locuitorilor acestora, multe dintre zone / vecinatati nu au in momentul de fata nici un astfel de scuar. Dimensiunile minime ale unui scuar pornesc de la 1500mp, suprafete care vor trebui identificate de catre Primarie impreuna cu Consiliile de Cartier. Aici, implementarea noilor scuaruri se poate face etapizat, incepand cu zonele care nu au spatii verzi de agrement si nici nu se afla in zona de influenta a uneia dintr-o zona / vecinatate din apropiere.

In aceeasi idee, gasim zone / vecinatati care nu beneficiaza de scoala cu terenul de sport aferent care sa poata deveni centru de coeziune al cartierului, si nici de terenuri de sport de orice alta natura. O etapizare a implementarii de noi functiuni de gen este posibila. In paralel, Primaria ca si administrator al scolilor, trebuie sa adopte un regulament care sa asigure accesul liber locuitorilor cartierului la facilitatile sportive ale scolii. Nu toate implementarile trebuie sa fie secondate de functiunea scoala, Primaria impreuna cu Consiliile de Cartier pot identifica si aici zone ale cartierelor in care pot functiona terenuri de sport. O suprafata minima este cea reprezentata de un teren standard de baschet 28/15m, care impreuna cu spatiu adiacent, parcare si utilitati, ar putea ajunge la 600mp. In cazul implementarii unei sali de sport trebuie avut in vedere un teren intre 1700 si 2500mp.

Piscinele, mai ales cele acoperite de care orasul duce lipsa, reprezinta o investitie mai mare si nu este rentabila referitor la fiecare dintre zonele / vecinatatile in care se imparte orasul. Consideram ca util ar fi implementarea unei piscine acoperite in fiecare zona acoperita de cate un Consiliu de Cartier (19). Se vor prevedea minimum 1800mp de teren pentru o astfel de functiune.

Privind insumat necesarul de implementare a unor functiuni de sport si de agrement in Timisoara, observam ca doar foarte putine cartiere stau bine la acesta capitol, si aproape toate stau rau daca este sa le privim din prisma densitatii populatiei. Cetatenii orasului pot observa, ca urmare a acestui studiu, care este situatia cartierului in care locuiesc din perspectiva facilitatilor de sport si agrement. Consiliile de Cartier pot identifica in interiorul zonelor / vecinatatilor de pe raza cartierului suprafete de teren pe care Primaria ca si administrator al orasului le poate converti in functiunile necesare.

La baza studiului stau pe langa peste 50 de planse, tabele centralizatoare ale datelor colectate la nivelul orasului precum si la nivelul fiecarei zone/ vecinatati, fise individuale pentru fiecare facilitate de sport si agement existenta care indica dotarea si starea fiecareia dintre ele, statistici si planuri de dezvoltare. AICI puteti vedea o serie de planse prezentate in timpul realizarii studiului, in cadrul sedintelor de lucru, la Primaria Timisoara.