productive voidsharvard gsd
instructor: mohsen mostafaviThis pair of projects, located in Onomichi, Japan, investigate a simple idea - how much, and what should we build in a post-growth condition? Instead of forefronting an heroic architecture which resolves Onomichi to an idealized state of being - perhaps a state that never existed as a stable utopic ideal - these projects aim to investigate the productive potential of voids. The two projects - a brewery and a funicular - are organized along two lines: the first parallel to the growth pattern of Onomichi’s shoreline, and the second perpendicular - between the hill and the seaside cities. The brewery collects and distills yuzu, a fruit native to and integral to the life of the Seto region. It is situated along the covered shopping arcade on an “empty” site that features the traces of buildings now mostly gone. The building is composed in three parts, featuring a distillery area, bar / restaurant, shop, and office, which line the existing void, bracketing it against further development. The water ballast powered funicular follows an existing drainage path of water on the hill, and serves as a tool to both clear away old and construct new buildings. The two projects are a negotiation of the two lines , and of the built environment and its relationship to emptiness.