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The Architecture of Bones

Remaining with the rather morbid topic of my previous post (Bones Repurposed), I thought I would take a deeper look at the other ways people have chosen to remember the dead. This search brought me to the Capuchin Crypt in Italy. The space is located beneath the Santa Maria della Immacolata Concezione church in Rome and houses more than 4,000 deceased Capuchin monks.

The architecture here seems to be more ornate and planned than the architecture in the Catacombs beneath Paris. Instead of creating the walls themselves, the bones are arranged as decoration on the walls in a tribute to the monks that served there. Using these skeletons as a part of the architecture has allowed for more free space in the crypts. Because of the strange nature of this place, the crypts have become quite and interesting tourist destination.

This location is not the only crypt of its kind, but it has certainly stirred up some interesting conversation. It seems that people from all over the world have been able to find a morbid fascination in locations such as this, and there are plenty of other blogs on the subject as well, discussing the fact that this crypt is not the only one of its kind in the world.

There is great curiosity as to what happens following death, and perhaps this is the reason why there has been such a focus on the use of human remains in certain forms of architecture. At any rate, it has certain caught the attention of the world and led tourists to this destination for many years.

Repurposing in Philadelphia

This past weekend I, along with 13 of my fellow English Education majors, attended the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Besides Washington D.C., Philadelphia is one of the few very historic cities I have visited. However, this does not mean the "city of brotherly love" is stuck in the past. I saw many instances of repurposing, mash-ups, and old mixing with new. Take a look at the pictures below to see what I mean.

 

Bones Repurposed

As part of the London Centre program through Ball State, I was given the opportunity to take a lengthy vacation in Paris. This vacation was spent primarily wandering the streets, visiting museums, and eating delicious food, but there was one thing on my list that I found more interesting than anything else we had done during our time there. I managed to talk my friends into taking a small trip down a spiral staircase into a morbid piece of Parisian history. We wandered into a city of the dead and explored what was left for us to find.

The entrance to the catacombs doesn’t really leave a warning to those entering, but it does state “Stop. This is the empire of the dead.” This is the door you are greeted with when taking your first steps into the catacombs beneath the city of Paris.

Many people seem to be reminded of ides of the gates of hell or something similar when they see the way the bones have been arranged. These tunnels were created by the removal of stone for structures above ground and left usable empty space beneath the city once construction was completed and the removal of stone was ceased due to fears that the city would collapse. This meant that the empty space could be used for something else.

The bones within the catacombs are arranged into ornate patterns. These are walls that hide an even larger number of bones behind them.

Behind the ornate walls, there are rooms with even more bones. The bones in the walls tend to shift because of the incredible weight they are holding back. Occasionally these bones must be restructured into a different ornate wall in order to hold back the rest of the remains. Still, this place is open to the public as a silent reminder of the impact the Plague had on Europe. After all, that is where the bulk of these bodies came from.

For more information on the catacombs, click here.

Changing the face of the White River in Muncie

Students of Ball State University often joke about having to live in Muncie. But I feel that in poking-fun at where we live, we often times forget or overlook the good things we have here. Ball State's campus and Muncie as a whole have a lot of green space in both the shape of open lots, quads and the public park along White River.

I posted previously about one of the Center for Media Design's 3 Immersive Learning Institutes, the Institute for Digital Fabrication (IDF). They recently finished a project called reBarn in which they did two things I think are worth mentioning: Firstly, they made found a new use out of donated barn wood from a local "Pennsylvania-style" barn. And secondly, they used it to change the space along the White River in Muncie's West Side Park.

The students over at IDF did what they do best by making a 3D model in Rhino, taking advantage of the unique aspects of the wood, leaving the history of it intact. After cutting and partial assembly (read more on the iMADE project site for details on the process) they assembled the piece, finishing it this weekend.

Muncie now has a new unique piece of functional and recreational art. The IDF students not only repurposed the materials, but they changed a small space in Muncie. Now there is a new reason to go to the park along the White River - its not just open green spaces, its a space that promotes recreational use beyond running along and fishing in the river.
Who says there aren't cool things happening in Muncie?

Check out i.M.A.D.E. on Facebook for updates on future projects!

Repurposing in Action

One of my favorite places to stop in for lunch, grab coffee or quick
beer, is the Blue Bottle in downtown Muncie. It has the cool coffee
shop atmosphere, minus the cliché pretention you find in similar
shops. Two weeks ago when I was in there, I noticed some blue
carpenters tape around a couple large doors leading into the adjacent
building/room. Ever since a stint in construction I can’t help but
look at ongoing construction and imagine myself as the contractor so I
asked Andy, who runs the day-to-day business, if he cared if I took a
few pictures.

This morning I stopped in, curious how construction was going and if
it’d be ready for the opening. Over a hot chocolate I asked Andy a
little more about the building. Like most buildings in Muncie, it has
been repurposed many times. During the Seventies it served as a
Chinese Restaurant. After sitting empty for a while it served as the
headquarters for Congressman Mike Pence (this is where the large table
came from).

Today I was lucky enough to stop by when the contractor was there. He
told me more about the building and how the brick and pine floor are
original. Even more interesting than these stories, is the story
about the adjacent wall. Before renovation, it had been studded over,
and covered with drywall. After knocking out that wall, they dug in
deeper and found layer after layer of wallpaper. Under those were even
more different layers of plaster that had accumulated over years of
different renovations. When they pulled off layers, it created
pockmarks and left the squiggles from old adhesive. As I imagined
myself ripping off each layer, it became more than a wall. I was
staring at the rings of a tree.

While designing, Andy said the most important idea was to keep the
local feel of the building and community. This was the biggest reason
they stripped it down to the existing interior, and also why they do
there best to get their meat and produce from around Muncie.
Restaurant 2(oh!)4, a play on the address 204 Walnut, will open for
seating next week and have its grand opening November 27. On top of
the existing Blue Bottle menu they’ll add a full breakfast and dinner
menu.

How much time do we take to learn about the places around us? Today I
felt like I was on an architectural-genealogic scavenger hunt. I
called previous owners, employees, visitors, even tried the historical
society (closed until the 17th), to find out as much as I could about
this building (you can read more about this next week). To some,
Muncie is a dying town with an even bleaker future. What about
thinking about how each of these buildings have stories older than
most of our grandparents? Maybe one way of having a better
appreciation for where we live is learning these stories. I’m sure
whatever stories these buildings have that can’t be told by their
rings, can be told by the people they shaped and changed.

 

Amazing Acts in Architecture

The Crooked House in Popot, Poland seems like it came straight out of a Dali painting. Inspired by the fairytale illustrations of Jan Marcin Szancer and the drawings of the Swedish artist (and Sopot resident) Per Dahlberg, the Crooked House was built in 2004 by Szotynscy Zaleski and provides an interesting twist to standard architecture.

It's interesting the difference a facad can make in the way we view a space. More and more architects break the mold on building structure, seeing the potential that streetsides have and reimaginging their affect if we saw something out of the expected.

Buildings like this become tourist attractions, and for good reason. Though the idea of abnormality can sometimes be considered offensive or displeasing, it is this kind of difference that changes our perception of what buildings do and could look like. Space has the potential to hold much more than just traditional design.

For instance, how differently would we look at the world if we worked in an office like the Gherkin Building in London?

What would it be like to walk down the street and see this instead of your public library?

How would our perceptions on church change if we worshiped in a place that looked like this?

There is something to be said about breaking away from the ordinary. Architects should take note of these amazing accomplishments, many more of which can be found at 40 Amazing Buildings Ever From Around the World.

Pictures and info on the Crooked House found HERE.

See a panoramic view of Crooked House HERE.

Building for Change

Talk about Repurposed! When looking at an old out of service school bus most people wouldn’t see a potential bust stop shelter, but that is what artist Christopher Fennell has done here. By resurrecting these old scrap heaps, Fennell has recycled in an unorthodox, but rather amazing way.

 

During our exploration of public spaces we have seen many different ways that people have transformed the areas around them in creative ways, using graffiti or public art and sculpture to repurpose and recreate the space around them. Fennell specializes in using materials that have been thrown out, things considered unusable and unwanted by society, and transforms them into something new. Looking at innovative ideas like this I can’t help but feel that we should be seeing more things like this in our cities and towns. A little creativity can go a long way for changing our world.

 

Photos from The Design Blog.

Check out more on Christopher Fennell Here.

Global Spatial Repurposing

In 2005, a large crack was discovered in the desert of Ethiopia. At first, there were a few theories as to what this rift might be and what could possibly come of it in the future, but after further study the general consensus is that this might be the beginnings of a new ocean. Using their knowledge of similar events and the formation of rifts in the ocean floor, geologists have been able to guess what will happen with this current rift.

It is now understood that this rift, small when you take time to consider the true scale of the world, could become a new ocean in as little (on a geological time scale) as one million years. After all, they do believe the rift opened in a matter of days.

For the full article, click here.

Housing Repurposed

Coming quickly up on graduation has forced me to think about the future and what will happen after I finally complete school successfully. The most important of these new issues that I will have to face is finding somewhere to live. As I started looking around at houses that are on the currently shakey market I realized that there has to be a better way to do this. What is it in certain houses that makes them more unique, more special than the last house. That was when I began looking up different types of housing and came across this trend of taking old churches and turning them into very comfortable houses while still maintaining the original architecture of the space. It's an interesting way to take something that held meaning to the masses and transform it into something that has a very different meaning for a very different audience. 

Green for a Day

Probably one of the first things that might come to mind when you think of a downtown parking spot is parallel parking, and the ensuing headache that often comes with it. Most people wouldn’t look at a parking space and thing of a hang out spot, but that is in fact what the people who came up with Parking Day have basically done. Parking Day is an event created to celebrate parks in cities, but also to emphasize the need for more spaces like those for people to enjoy in their urban settings.

I found it interesting how these people repurposed the spaces in their city by creating a little park in the middle of a busy area. It has been brought up in the past, how when cities are planned they are often made with the car user in mind, but the pedestrians are left out. What is achieved is a space that is motorist friendly but adverse to other forms of travel. Where are the sidewalks, the bike lanes; where is the safety for people who prefer to get around the old fashioned way? Parking Day is, in its own way, bringing us back to this idea; the space was originally for the people, so the people are taking it back.

 Pictures from 2008 National Park(ing) Day

 Photo from Park(ing) Day Inspiration

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have something like this happen in your city or town? And why only once a year, why not more often? Parking Day sounds like a way for us to rethink our spaces, to make them more open and friendly to everyone and not just the people with cars. So, why not? Park your cars, grab your walking shoes, and let’s try this thing out!