Monday, February 18, 2008

Sunday, February 17, 2008

ABSTRACT

The design process of altering a framework in an urban context, can be enhanced by new development reacting to an older existing fabric. The old and new can have the affect of mediating separate individual actions, bringing them together to create a new whole. Contextualism creates an abstract response to the perceived character and proportions of the surrounding buildings, taking into account the human act of inhabiting. Mixing ‘new’ and old alters the perception of the urban center.

Old cities have existing layers and overlaid patterns of spatial and conceptual order. There exists within these layers an urban fabric, a more intimate scale of complexity that’s serves as a point of origin for a new urban fabric.

At 9th and Callowhill Streets, it has disintegrating structures which creates a scar for this area. This area is unique with its history from building upon the remembrance of past forces, injuries and adaptations. These structures within the fabric bring about new ways of thinking and inventing. They create a new condition of inhabitation because cities are places of density, potential, and movement. It moves at a fast pace and by catalyzing and nourishing it, the inhabitants are able to keep up with it.

Surgery is a technique that can provide a better understanding for the solution of this site. It identifies the actions of cutting and slicing away decaying elements and stitching together a new layer overtop of it connecting different networks that intertwine amongst the users in the site. (i.e. living, movement, travel, and potential) It adheres to the site and melds with the history of it and provides a sense of stability of the site showing how to unclog blocked routes and areas in the site that have been damaged or driven down.

This thesis will show the process of creating a new framework through the needs and concerns of the users. It will develop a set of networks that will create a treatment for the clogged and decaying areas. The need of physical therapy will be proceeded through the amount of elements in the networks being intertwined in this intervention.

Friday, February 15, 2008

CONTINUOUS PROCESS

Scars
Following tissue damage and/or loss from any cause, including damage due to the inflammatory process, there may be a number of different sequelae:

1. Resolution: Dead cellular material and debris are removed by phagocytosis and the tissue is left with its original architecture intact.
2. Regeneration. Lost tissue is replaced by proliferation of cells of the same type, which reconstruct the normal architecture.
3. Repair. Lost tissue is replaced by a fibrous scar which is produced from granulation tissue.

All of these processes may occur in the same tissue, and begin as soon as there is significant tissue damage; healing reactions do not wait for inflammation or other damaging mechanisms to subside, but take place at the same time. The outcome in any particular situation depends on which of the three processes of resolution, regeneration and repair predominates, and this in turn depends on a number of factors:

Resolution.
This tends to occur when there is little tissue destruction. A good example is lobar pneumonia: In the earlier stages of lobar pneumonia the alveolar spaces fill with pus but the alveolar walls remain intact. If the infecting organism is successfully destroyed at this stage (either naturally or with theraputic help) then the purulent material may be completely scavenged from the air spaces by macrophages, leaving the original lung structure intact.

Regeneration

Cell type: Cells are usually classified into three groups depending on their capacity for regeneration. Labile cells are those which normally have a high rate of loss and replacement (e.g. squamous and glandular epithelia, haemopoeitic cells in bone marrow) and therefore have a high capacity for regeneration. Stable cells do not normally proliferate to a significant extent but can be stimulated to do so after damage. Examples include renal tubular cells, hepatocytes, osteoblasts, endothelial cells, fibroblasts. Permanent cells are unable to divide after initial development and therefore cannot regenerate when some are lost. The best example here is neurons.

Tissue architecture: Simple structures are easier to reconstruct following damage than complex ones. For example a flat surface such as epidermis regenerates very successfully, but dermal sweat glands do not. An imperfect attempt at regeneration of tissue architecture may have important clinical consequences: for example, in some chronic inflammatory liver diseases regenerative proliferation of hepatocytes is very vigorous, but damage to the connective tissue framework of the liver tissue means that the regenerated tissue has an abnormal nodular architecture - cirrhosis. The abnormal architecture leads to haemodynamic abnormalities in the hepatic portal venous system - portal hypertension - which may culminate in death due to uncontrollable haemorrhage.

Amount of tissue loss: The idea of regeneration implies that there are cells left to regenerate. For example, if there is loss of a large area of epidermis then its central regions will heal by scar formation rather than regeneration, since the rate of migration of new epidermal cells from the eges of the wound is limited and scarring will proceed before they are able to cover the damaged area.

Repair
The process of repair results in formation of a fibrous scar from granulation tissue. The steps in this process (also termed organisation)are as follows:

1. Phagocytosis of necrotic debris and other foreign material by macrophages.
2. Proliferation of blood vessel endothelial cells and fibroblasts at the edges of the damaged area.
3. Endothelial cells grow into the damaged area, initially as solid buds from these adjacent blood vessels. The solid buds then canalise to form an abundant network of delicate, thin-walled capillaries.
4. Fibroblasts migrate into the damaged area along with the capillaries to form a loose connective tissue framework. This delicate fibrovascular tissue is granulation tissue.
5. The new capillary vessels anastomose to establish a blood circulation in the healing area and differentiate towards arterial and venous types as necessary. Fibroblasts produce collagen , giving the healing tissue mechanical strength.
6. Eventually a mature scar consisting almost entirely of dense collagen is produced. It is a general rule that the volume of scar tissue produced is always less than the bulk of the tissue it is replacing. This can have important clinical consequences where such scar contraction distorts the tissue enough to interfere with function. For example, scarring of tubular structures such as the intestines can produce stenosis of the lumen and obstruction; scarring of the skin around a joint can produce contractures and immobility.

NOTES/FEEDBACK FROM 1/4 JURY

VOCAB - needs to be justified in the beginning - let drawings and media back up vocab
- needs to be delivered - [create dictionary plot for monday-and keep adding to it]

JUSTIFICATIONS - overlaying different materials over each other comparing what has happened
-represent in 2D and 3D

-finding connections-what each thing am i using - cross examining each other- what will work through it

diagrams - needs to be better understood - labeling - vocab statements on each board - showing the research of surgery [plans, sections, elevations]
-mapping - go larger - understand whats around site and show how it was life - my site is 'dead'

documentation - what are the ways of each network - how each network was found
-unitarean diverse activities

users - intertwine even more - what does it mean

look at the roots of surgery
compare and relate those issues towards the site and how the people react - define meaning through it-what is the motive

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Notes

Keep using vocab
users - where do they need ore nutrients - red and white blood cells - creates ayers
hot spots
users - pos/neg reactions - breaking down isolation - human context
specifics towards heaing - upgrades
'prepping stage'
connections towards center city - how to get there