The Community – Sharing Stories

With the start of the course we have explored the suggestion that how we view our environment has an impact on how we treat it. Sustainability in the built environment is as much an action to our surroundings as a reaction to it. Many in the course have already expressed the lack of knowledge surrounding sustainability and its impact on the environment. Your midterm assignment is to explore, through representation, a mapping that will illustrate the inherent forces/flows/metabolisms occurring within your images from assignment 1.

Swyngedouw, from Social Power and the Urbanization of Water, states that urbanization is connected to the transformation of nature and the social relations inscribed within. Your explorations will take a two step process that will attempt to “re-present” the complex relationships of nature and social relations (as well as political and economic) occurring within/around/about the urban condition of your image. By exposing the underlying layers of a site’s perceived urban construct we can better understand the contradictory forces operating. True sustainable design has the capacity to mediate the power struggles that can disengage us from a sites fullest potential. This exercise will prepare us in creating a new process of socio-environmental reconstruction.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Dara Dajani - Cruising Seawater












































STORY

Last summer I joined my friends on a trip to Europe as their graduation gift. On July 3rd, we left to Barcelona and spent four amazing days there. On July 7th we had a plane to catch to Rome, which we forgot to confirm, so we lost our seats. Instead of waiting to catch the next flight out, we decided to get on board of a cruise that was leaving the port of Barcelona heading to Rome; I consider it to be the most rewarding experience.

On the boat trip, what was fascinating was the way the ship dealt with the water all around; water was not only used for transportation but for recreation as well.

As you can see the picture was taken on a ferry ride set out to sea from Barcelona to Rome, the sea water was used as means of transportation on which the ferry travels, carrying on board 2200 passengers of all nationalities, as well as garage capacity for 215 cars.

As for the recreation part, we spent our time relaxing around the ship and swimming in the pools that are located on the upper most level of the ship; the pool, around which, everyone hangs out during the day before they hit the casino and the bars in the late evenings. There are two pools on board, one big, rather deep pool for adults and another small shallow one for kids; the picture illustrates the friendly and enjoyable atmosphere provided by those pools, generating a public bathing area on board gathering all the people and providing a meeting spot. We sat around the pools hoping to get a nice tan, and checking the Italians out.


In the pool, competition arose between us foreigners and the Italians, as we split into two teams playing volleyball and chicken fight, a game in which one carries the other on his shoulders, since the weight is reduced by the presence of the water, and the people on top try to push each other down, until one falls. After a long afternoon of sports, we were so hungry that we got out of the pool, hit the bar adjacent to it, and enjoyed a great meal of burger and fries taking pleasure in the view of the sea.
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