Pruitt Igoe Now
Horizontal Pruitt-Igoe
IVANOVA MARGO
3/16/2012
I think Pruitt- Igoe housing had a rather ambiguous statement of service, both negative and positive at he same time. Now the project is better known in the world for tragic side of its history mainly because of the political, economic, demographic and architectural reasons. But several former residents of Pruitt-Igoe recall those days when they were cooking together and celebrating birders' days at communal corridors with warm feelings. This is told in recently released "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth" movie at an American film festival.
In my proposal I try to address a choice between “American dream” of living in a single-family home and modernist idea of "vertical neighborhoods for poor people” which is traditionally conflicting in American culture.
My intention is to remind the people the fact that Pruitt-Igoe story is not black-and-white. The project’s concept is to design new structures so, as if they were the former towers put horizontally, presenting their distinctive architectural features in a new way. Being built upon the ideas of Oscar Newman, Pruitt-Igoe - 2 is a defensible space. The buildings themselves are no more apartment buildings but town-houses; former communal yards become front and back yards of “Horizontal Pruitt-Igoe” town-houses; and single-loaded corridors become semiprivate streets.
Going that way we can preserve the precious memory of this famous development, demonstrate that the lessons of the history are learned and create a contemporary and comfortable housing able to attract tourists and money by retaining traces of the past.
Horizontal Pruitt-Igoe
IVANOVA MARGO
3/16/2012
I think Pruitt- Igoe housing had a rather ambiguous statement of service, both negative and positive at he same time. Now the project is better known in the world for tragic side of its history mainly because of the political, economic, demographic and architectural reasons. But several former residents of Pruitt-Igoe recall those days when they were cooking together and celebrating birders' days at communal corridors with warm feelings. This is told in recently released "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth" movie at an American film festival.
In my proposal I try to address a choice between “American dream” of living in a single-family home and modernist idea of "vertical neighborhoods for poor people” which is traditionally conflicting in American culture.
My intention is to remind the people the fact that Pruitt-Igoe story is not black-and-white. The project’s concept is to design new structures so, as if they were the former towers put horizontally, presenting their distinctive architectural features in a new way. Being built upon the ideas of Oscar Newman, Pruitt-Igoe - 2 is a defensible space. The buildings themselves are no more apartment buildings but town-houses; former communal yards become front and back yards of “Horizontal Pruitt-Igoe” town-houses; and single-loaded corridors become semiprivate streets.
Going that way we can preserve the precious memory of this famous development, demonstrate that the lessons of the history are learned and create a contemporary and comfortable housing able to attract tourists and money by retaining traces of the past.