afst.bundel 8 MEI 07 - Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

R.L.J.T. Nijsen
The Roca Railway Gallery
Perception as a strategic tool for the redevelopment of
Barracas, an old industrial zone in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Afstudeerrichting
Architectuur en stedebouw
Afstudeercommissie
Dr. ir. A.H.J. Bosman
Prof. dr. ir. B.E.J. de Meulder
O.T.J. Devisch
afstudeerbundel faculteit bouwkunde
38
Datum afstuderen
29 januari 2008
Samenvatting
Barracas, a historical, industrial zone around a railway in
Buenos Aires, formed the area for a deep analysis.
The perception of train traveler and flaneur and the interaction
between the huge scale of the railway and the small scale of the
underlying neighborhood formed the basis of the project.
The analyses resulted in a strategy of six acupunctural interventions
around the railway which resolutely choose for the scale
and potential of the neighborhood. One of these interventions
has been worked out in a design of a station area which is
modestly embedded in the urban tissue and is constructed
around the close interaction between train traveler and flaneur.
Trefwoorden
Urban redevelopment
Perception
Collective memory
Flaneur vs. train traveler
Train station
Afbeelding 1 The basis of the mental analysis of the project is the
diagram of the perception of flaneur and train traveler
Afbeelding 4 Design of the station area
The collective memory of Buenos Aires has been affected by
doctrines and traditional concepts of the city. The working class
district of Barracas and even the whole South zone of the city
are thought to be dangerous and desolate. Even the famous
Argentine writer Jorge Louis Borges described the zone as a
more mature area of the city; a different world.
Over the last century, the south zone changed into an area
which is crossed and divided by infrastructure and abandoned
voids. Roads and railways provide transportation for millions
of people per day from their homes to their work and vice versa.
Rich and poor, different cultures, S, M, L, XL and local and
global activities cross each other.
Traveler and local are confronted with each other for just a few
seconds, to continue their journey or turn back to their everyday
lives. However, the area is more than just deteriorated and
grown together by urban scars. Barracas' central position in the
metropolis and the proximity of the city centre are essential elements
for new possible urban developments in the near future.
The position and the historical and industrial character of the
South zone can be a hinge for the development of the entire
zone and the abandoned Riachuelo river valley.
After a broad analysis in which I detected and documented
some negatively experienced barriers in Barracas, I zoomed in
on the "General Roca" railway. The railway is an important line
connecting the South of the city of Buenos Aires with the South
of Argentina. In its first kilometers from the Constitución
terminus it cuts through the urban landscape of Barracas.
With its changing route - a recessed railway yard, a hill and a
historical viaduct - the railway has a dynamic relationship with
the underlying landscape. The traveler as well as the local flaneur
experiences this cut in a dynamic way of presence and
absence, of manifesting and hiding. However, the cut of the viaduct
causes unique confrontations and occupations,