Michael Lu's Blog

Thank you Lima, Peru. Gracias Lima, Peru. This project is dedicated to the inhabitants of asentamientos informales.

Keywords: shanty town, architecture, final boards, competition boards, design, architectural design, pueblo joven, asentamiento humano, urban design, thesis, gabion, escaleras solidarias, arizona state university, luis lu, luis michael lu, l. michael lu, luis castaneda, escaleras amarillas, informal settlements, favela, lima, peru, villa maria del triunfo, villa el salvador, san juan de miraflores, neblivela, fog harvesting, urban farming, terrace architecture

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The project is a CIVIC OPERATION. 3 main terraces house 6 main programs. The junctures are articulated by singular shade elements. To the north left, gabion walls accommodate for everyday informal vendors; the widths between blocks serve ambulantes. The north right will feature 3 vending kiosks that are fixed and represents the other form of informal vending in low income areas of Lima. This “mobile” and “fixed” retail is connected by a covered walkway.

The second terrace is a civic space. The pre-existing soccer field is complemented by the addition of a primary school and community center. These programs are joined by a series of trees which implies transparency.

The third terrace to the south concerns core necessities of the people: food and water. To the left a large fog harvesting device based upon a structure influenced by Ecosistema Urbano intends to capture enough water to irrigate the planted terraces to the east. An outdoor laundry and open air shower for women keeps them close to their community farms and near thier small children in school. Water is reclaimed from these facilities to supplement the fog harvested water for irrigation. These two programs, production of food and water, are articulated once again by a covered walkway.

The diagram is simple and based upon a typical hyperhouse in Lima: The front is mercantile, the core is a living room, the back is reserved for domestic affairs and hygenic functions.

During pre-Final review, it was made clear that the story was unclear. The following diagrams break down the introduction of homeopathic intervention along a singular contour line between the top and bottom of cerros. This equidistant localization of programs implies a democratic stance by the incoming administration in its investment into the low income areas of Lima’s “cinturon de pobreza”. The project is given a name of “SUTURA”, or suture; a series of Open Source Infrastructures intended to be replicated by the people. The project is green [the color of the current Mayor Susana Villaran] to contrast with the yellow intervention of the stairways by former Mayor Luis Castaneda Lossio. This move of creating egress strings via yellow stairs was a brilliant “first move.” It represents one idea but replicated thousands of times. The next logical step is to connect the stairs horizontally with open spaces, civic programs, and amenity infrastructures.