architecture work 2013-2015 po

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04projects

galina lalova

+bachelort h e s i s

My interest in architecture is from early age but in the recent years I began to real-ize the importance of public spaces and urban design. After few study trips to Lon-don and Barcelona and around Sweden I began to be able to compare how the social life differ in dependence with how a city is organized. At a study trip to Patras, Greece in relation to my bachelor thesis I was able to gain a deeper understanding of how people experience the city.

In my works I am more of a visual and analytical person both when in research and when I choose my tools. Photography and drawing is often used for documenta-tion but in combination with an idea which is studied they can turn into pieces of art. In analysis I often connect observation

with interesting theories. Experimentation is another way of developing ideas which I appreciate a lot. Another interest is hu-man behaviour in relation to architecture.

How I can contribute to the program Sus-tainable Urban Design: I believe a certain capabilities in visual representation of ideas is required in order to communicate them with different groups of interested parties. I would like to develop my visuali-zation skills in that direction and also to experiment with different scopic regimes besides that of the camera view which is most popular in architecture visualization right now. Another aspect is my interest in social sustainability which I can integrate in future projects. As in my background I have also a degree in economics, I believe understanding the subject of sustainable development of cities and regions, and especially macroeconomics would help seeing the bigger picture of what a city is.

The research investigates the relation between the idea of the Urban Renais-sance, which promotes the small-scale and mixed-use built environment as seen in traditional European cities, and the social life in the city. In the course of the study I found interdependency be-tween those two concepts as the mixed use is produced to serve certain social and economical needs at the same time as it further develop these needs. The complexity of this relation involves also other elements to hold the model together like habits, desires, urban ritu-als, will, private and public interests and so forth.

I chose to examine a traditional Euro-pean city, which didn’t experience the in-

terruption of the modernist movement, and that is the city of Patras, Greece. Here I found a special social life, which includes something deeper than sim-ple communication. For example that people pay attention and act empathi-cally to others, engage in spontaneous conversations and activities, and trust strangers more often.

Patras characterizes with its dense ur-ban fabric, the small scale of the build-ing blocks and the narrow streets. The mixed use is always present to assure not only the daily needs for consump-tion but also the social interaction.

Within this city I have found that the mixing occurs in the following ways:-mix in space;-mix in territoriality;-mix of users;-visual shiftings (mixing in and out);-and the mix in time.

territories, edges and Multi-functionality in mixed-use buit environments

boundary acting as a membrane

sitting and walking at the same eye level

These phenomena are studied in con-nection with retail extensions on public spaces, boundaries and barriers, urban rituals and in-between spaces.

With the help of theory and observation I was able to distinguish two interesting concepts that act in a special way in a mixed-use environment. The concept of a boundary which is more static and separates by the means of, for example, fast speed as is a highway or a railway does and where biological actors are in danger; and the concept of a barrier as active zone, allowing ignorance or deformations and thus, establishing practices of crossing over.

The practice of standing by or sitting high was discovered as an urban ritual which is a way of communication. As people claim, it helps for a better mood but I also noticed that it creates the possibility for the unexpected meet-

ing because people sit and walk at the same eye level. Here, except the materi-ality, created by previous events, people need to be at the right place on the right moment which leads to the discus-sion of the space as a place.

Another feature in the mixed-use environment is the in-between space. In-between spaces support a sound transition between spaces with differ-ent settings, for example in and out, private and public and so forth, and has flexible or undefined function. The social meaning of the in-between space is that it can help avoiding conflict situations and allows the user to choose how they wish to use the space.

Conflict situation that may occur in a dense and mixed-use environment is for example the space domination, which means that the people have a possibil-ity to control a territory or to disturb the users in it. When the territory limit

is blurred, people need to compromise with their privacy because mixed-use allows different types of access, for example visual. It is crucial to under-stand here that through design, we only change the possibilities of the space, not the behaviour itself!

In most cases, the floating territories enrich the public life but there is also a risk for missperception of what public and semi-private spaces are. People in my research often confuse restau-rant/café with a public space. These are territories that, actually, limit the civil expression and thus, they are not public. Such relations were studied in Patras, and although there are no physical fences to separate customers from people walking by (which contrib-utes to social relations), the process of semi-private expansion on the public spaces has, in some cases, gone out of balance. These are processes that

turns people from citizens into consum-ers and distort the positive effect of mixing different territories.

The purpose of this study is to give a base for mapping as an analytical tool. Through studying the dynamics of interactions and interdependence of a mixed-use environment we will be able to gain a better understanding, and most importantly, we will be able to represent visually what we observe in order to produce a social-friendly design.

To read the whole study, please follow one of the links bellow:

http://www.slideshare.net/Galina_La-lova/territories-edges-and-multifunc-tionality-in-mixeduse-built-environments

http://issuu.com/4349953/docs/galina_lalova_bachelor_thesis_10-08

Mapping space-times by observing and documenting the retraction and the expansion of the retail extensions on public spaces through time.

This villa is a private project and is located on Bejer-strandsgata in Malmo. The house is intended for a single parent and shall correspond to an active social life both in-doors and outdoors, traveling and games. Open floor plan is designed by the principle of flexibility.

An open entrance hall invites the visitor to the more private areas. The different rooms are separated by differences in level, changing the material of the floor, as well as flexible walls.

A requirement for the plan-ning is taking advantage of the evening sun for the grill activities and children’s play. To meet this need, the dining room and outdoor patio is located on the West side.

The kitchen and dining room share common bar table to enable social interaction. The living room, kitchen and patio have a comon fireplace which can be fired from both inside and outside. The master bed-room is separated from the living room by rotating / slid-ing panels attached to rails on the roof. This flexible approach allows the two rooms to be used as one if desired.

The children’s room is de-signed as a special place with a round shape. A decora-tive staircase (see photos) leads up to an emporé. In the evenings, the mooon casts an interesting shadow on the wall created by the decorative window. The emporé can be used as a guest room, hobby / study room, etc. and has a connection to the roof terrace.

sektion a-a

model of the children’s room

plan

The task for this project is to design a public building for spiritual experi-ence. The idea, I developed is to cre-ate a space for public philosophical discussions. A suitable user would be a specialized library or research institutes.The shape is inspired by a tulip and is to show a connection between nature and divine. Along with the trees around it creates a new open space on the South side. There the philosophical forum opens physically and visually to invite for spontanious participation.

North-east elevation

cross section a-asite plan

cross section b-b

North-west elevation

b b

a

a

kungsgatan

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The plans are created using the golden ratio to experiment with the nature’s universal code.

The symmetrical structure allows people to pass straight through. Outside working hours, the two halves of the building are

closed with flexible glass doors. The cafeteria can be opened independently of the rest of the building.

The second floor is used for the stuff such as for offices, lec-tures rooms and breaks.

cross section c-c (site)

plot plan

c c

Clemens Square in Lund is a square which potential was explored in collaboration with another student, Sebastian Renfro. The design decisions and the research are made together as a team. The 3D visualizations are his and the drawings mine but all the material has been created in interdependancy.

As the square is located right next to Cen-tral Station, close to main points and it is the largest of the three so-called entrance squares to Lund (Canute the Great Square and Bantorget) we enhance excisting movement patterns and introduce an en-vironmental variation. We have also used existing plans and developed them further.

diagram of lund with the position of the square

Decorative low-growing vegetation. A higher edge with the possibility of seating.Material: concrete slabs with trapezoi-dal shape, light gray stone block with wooden seats.

Fountain with LED lighting.Materials: cast concrete, concrete tiles, seats by black granite.

Lawn with orna-mental vegetation, materials around: concrete slabs.

The square floor consists of paving stones with non-geometric shape and color full rub-ber floor for bike paths

Lawn with ornamental vegetation,Material around: con-crete slabs

Seats under tree groupsground: gravel, concrete slabs

Terrain

The square’s topographical character turns the place into an island to stay for a while as at the same time, the dy-namic passages are retained and highlighted with a further significance. To stress on coherence and “topography” for the square’s surface is used loose and flexible material such as gravel, concrete slabs, pavement, rubber flooring.

space

integration

topography

The square is currently used largely by bicy-clists. Today’s bicycle parking takes up almost a third of the space of the square, and often there are no vacancies which clearly shows its importance not only for the square but for Lund as cycling city. The solution to this was an underground bicycle parking that will not only be larger than the existing parking lot today, but it frees space above so that other activities can take place where the bikes previously blocked this possibility.

It is situated just off the bridge, by the cafe and the bike park. Shaped to provide protec-tion against both wind and rain, it is a clear marker for the main transition between the two parts of the square.

During daytime the fountain provides physical contact with water and seats around which make it a good observation and recreation site in the center of the square.

During the evening the fountain will attract with varied play of light and water to make people stop and enjoy.

The square now serves mainly as a passage for travelers or working in the surrounding areas. The only business today is the market available when weather permits. The square can take greater advantage of having an activity which is permanently on the square surface. We propose a café which extends the new bridge over the tracks all the way to the square. This turns the café into a hub and provides the cyclists and the pedestrians with an easier access to the square, contrib-uting to less interaction with tram and bus services.

bicycle parking tram station business activities time

The Rowing Club has existed in Malmö since 1883 and the current boat-house was built in 1942, with the help of private contributions. Rowing is a collective sport that is featured in the Olympic Games and offer attractive competitions outdoors. The proximity to other rowing clubs such as the one in Lund and Copenhagen, as well as Canoe Club in Malmö, which is reached by the water link provides the opportunity for joint trainings, competitions, festivals.

After many years of use the boathouse has become too small for the mem-bers and the new boats. The place has also changed with the new building on Slussplan 1 where the boathouse has “drown” in the large scale. The long winter season prevents, moreover, the boat house to have effective use the whole year.

With this proposal, I want to provide an option for efficient training using a hall for indoor rowing. The hall can be used by club members or rented to external organizations.

perspective view over the site

The hall for indoor rowing is designed to match the needs of rowing. With the help of a case study of the sport, I was able to define the construction of the water pool. The water should be about 70cm deep with a dry path in the middle so that only the oars pool in the water.Rowing can be practiced in two ways: with two oars for person (these row-ers are called scullers) and one for person (swipers). The swipers usually have preference on which side should the oars stand (left or right). For this reason, the hall should include both configurations with eight posts each which corresponds to the largest boat for rowing.

The visualization above shows the view towards Malmö Central Station and surrounding buildings in the south. There is a new extra dressing room, directly adjacent to the rowing hall. Currently the rowing club has just one dressing room used by the ladies while the men only have lockers and bench.

ground floor

second floor

third floor

The projects included in this portfolio are a part of the program Architecture, Visualization and Communication at Malmö University. They are from the following courses:

01 arkitekturens grunder/Architecture introduction 02 arkitektur och visuell kultur/architecture and visual culture03 den attraktiva staden/the attractive city04 arkitektur och visuell kommunikation/architecture and visual communication

Course information about the presented bachelor thesis:

OA självständigt arbete (kandidatuppsats i byggd miljö) 17hp/ Thesis (bachelor thesis in Built environment) 17 credits Supervisor: Per-Markku Ristilami Examiner: Victoria Sjöstedt

Copyright © 2016 Galina Lalova

All images, illustrations and drawings in this portfolio are created by the authorif not mentioned else.