Pauline Barkin
ARCH-4980.1 | Chris Perry, Assistant Professor
APPLIANCE ARCHITECTURE
Transformation and Technological Advancement
PAULINE BARKIN
Challenging the post war notions of disposability, appliNserts render a new typology of self-sufficient and portable architecture that rethinks the process of both restoration and economic renewal in Troy. During the post war period, appliances had a transformative effect on society. They created new expectations of disposability and efficiency. The architecture of the period responded to this societal change by examining the applicability of permanence, interchangeability and modularity.
Projecting into the future, appliNserts function as peripherals, upgrading the deteriorating buildings. These programmatic appliNserts house laboratories, factories and incubation centers for designUfacture, the interdisciplinary collaboration among surrounding universities, local professionals, and trade workers. Together they facilitate a cost effective and modular renovation of abandoned and underutilized buildings in Troy. Not only do they seek to develop businesses that will occupy abandoned structures, but also they seek to improve occupant retention by helping struggling companies develop new products.
The programmatic appliances which house the activities of the new businesses are connected to a series of exterior infrastructural (M.E.P.) appliNserts. The infrastructural appliNserts activate new exterior space while recladding existing façades and forming rooftop canopies. Combined, the appliances form a self-sufficient facility. Critically building on the postwar ideology, appliNserts utilize prefabrication and modularity to enable gradual upgrades, anticipate technological advancement, and promote programmatic flexibility.
Once the existing building is renovated, the appliances are disconnected and the infrastructural appliances remain as the building’s power source. The portable programmatic appliances are transported to their next site, where they aid in the restoration of the next structure, and the development of the next start-up venture.