My 5 years in Junk space.
When I am doing my bachelor's in architecture, my university didn't have the luxury to provide us with branded food franchises on campus. We had to go to a Mall, just opposite our university's main entrance for McD, KFC, Dominos and Pizza Hut. The mall also has 4 movie theatres and many more shopping outlets. Among them, we have a chunk of junk space that acted as a lobby for the Mall.
I believe that is where my gang spent most of the 5 years. As the Mall is in the city's heart, it leveraged the accessibility from most neighborhoods and tried to accommodate numerous activities in the junk space. Automobile and cellular industries never left a chance to open a booth on the weekday to market their products(I bought my first 3G Dongle in the same space). Young artists coordinated concerts and flashmobs to showcase their talents on the weekends. The same space acted as a stage for many cultural activities during festive seasons. The Owner of the building generated more income from this junk space rather than his own merchandise branch in the same Mall.
For gangs like us(mostly hostlers), this Junkspace is all we want. So I believe, Junkspace is not entirely junk. Users are happy, the Owner is generating income, City has a new happening spot all of a sudden. So it's in the hands of architects and management to design efficient space that wouldn't become junk.
Sreekar, your memories and use of the shopping mall prove that this so called junkspace isn't junkspace at all. It easy easy for designers to call these places ugly and a waste of space, but to so many people it is their whole life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rachel, this is a cool narrative on the flip side of junkspace. Because our field of work IS subjective, It is hard to speak in absolutes. The old saying, "One man's junk is another man's treasure," I think fits appropriately with your breakdown of your experience of junkspace. I think the concept of adaptability is sometimes overused, but how could we design so that everyone could transform junkspace to see it as you do?
ReplyDeleteYou also remind me of my undergraduate, when my friends and I like the "Junk". Chatting and walking in this space make you feel the noisy and energetic city. But I should admit I agree with Koolhaas, the air conditioner and probably the free Wi-Fi forms the larger net behind the Junk that controls us.
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