skyscraper
free project - 2016
M.Sc. Jan Ciechanowski
Rysunek Architektura, Poznan
skyscraper
The impulse to create this project was an observation of a rising den- sity in cities and the idea of a human being who is compressed into their dense tissue, the one that rarely leaves him enough living space. The quintessence of this state is a skyscraper – inscribed in a metropolis’ skyline, but by no means in a human nature.
fission
What would happen if the hyper-density of a city broke apart at some point and the basic rules of metropolis would be bent, creating a space intended for humans from the beginning to the end?
A space that is not meant to generate the biggest profits, to innovate, to socialise or to enhance one’s performance. To fuse a skyscraper would mean to create a space, where human beings break out of density in order to just be. A floor for contemplation, where the user finds their place and eventually can be perceived not only as a part of an agglomer- ation but also, if not primarily, as an individual.
project
The proportions of a skyscraper are inspired by the ones of the WTC Twin Towers. The floor would ultimately be created through the expansion of two storeys of the building. A central shaft keeps the construction, inside the shaft there are the elevators that allow people to reach the floor as well as the sanitary units. The prototype for the flooring design was the main piazza in Sienna (Italy) that is gradually declining to a certain point. This allows the user, after walking out of the elevator, to sweep the whole floor and at the same time makes the dimensions of the space less overwhelming. The steps of the flooring differ in their height by seven inches and allow the user to move freely (walk, sit, lie). The form of the ceiling matches the from of the flooring – these two are each other’s negatives. I aimed to suggest that the space I created could close at any moment without leaving a single mark in the skyscraper’s original solid form. Then the city would go back to its habitual rhythm and proceed in perpetuating its density.
A hope that it will open again someday remains.
„Manhattanism is one urbanistic ideology that has fed, from its conception, on the splendors and miseries of the metropolitan condition – hyper-density – without once losing faith in it as the basis for a desirable modern culture. Manhattan’s architecture is a paradigm for the exploitation of congestion.”
Rem Koolhaas DELIRIOUS NEW YORK
“The atmosphere of the city is exciting, intoxicating, but exhausting. Half of this intense effort serves no useful purpose, simply makes wind. In the evening, you very much need to get away from it all. “
Le Corbusier WHEN THE CATHEDRALS WERE WHITE