THE DESIGN OF “NUEVA CASITA” HAS DEVELOPED FROM FOUR AREAS OF RESEARCH: PUERTO RICAN IDENTITY URBAN “CASITAS” PROGRAM ANALYSIS WOOD STRUCTURES

IDENTITY “Broken Memory” –article by Juan Flores “ Memoria Rota” –articulo por Juan Flores *”espacio intersticial” en donde muchos Puertorriqueños viven sin creer en una totalización de cultura y noción de identidad *Hay necesidad de mantener identidades *Un nuevo futuro que requiere la preservación de lugares reales y simbólicos *Debe reconocerce la “ruptura” no como ausencias pero como lugares con nuevos significados y relaciones “interstitial space” wherein many Puerto Ricans live that is skeptical of cultural totalization and notions of identity There is a need to maintain identities A new future that requires the preservation of real and symbolic places Must recognize the “break” not as absences but as sites of new meanings and relations IDENTITY

“Thus the casita becomes a vehicle through which their builders articulate and defend their national identity, their imagined community, their innate essence determining who they are in the urban milieu,” -- Luis Aponte-Pares CASITAS

Exploration and analysis of programs and activities within the space. Exploración y analisis de los programas y actividades en el espacio actual. PROGRAM ANALYSIS

Indoor and outdoor activities were put together for the search of a meaningful space. Actividades internas y externas fueron puestas juntas en busqueda de un verdadero significado al espacio. PROGRAM ANALYSIS

The Diagramming excercises included locating this project within the larger framework of Nuestras Raices mission. PROGRAM ANALYSIS

Wooden structural elements that blended harmoniously into the landscape, breaking the barrier between the inside and the outside, were inspirational for the new design. Estructuras de madera que se unían harmoniosamente con el espacio, rompiendo la barrera entre lo interno con lo externo fueron de inspiración para el nuevo diseño. WOOD STRUCTURES

Our Goals Nuestras Metas como Diseñadores as Designers take an active approach: unfold the layers of program analysis uncover a design that will resurrect a culture lost and find its new creation Create a place where the Puerto Rican community of Holyoke can find what Flores explained is the missing piece to the “break” – a place that is a home and therefore an identity. tomar acción: *enfoque en funciones princiales del programa *destapar un diseño que reviva a una cultura perdida y encontrar su nueva forma *crear un lugar en donde la comunidad Puertorriqueña de Holyoke pueda encontrar lo que Flores explicó es la pieza clave para la “ruptura”- un lugar que es un hogar y por lo tanto una identidad.

MAIN LEVEL PLAN

LOWER LEVEL PLAN

EAST ELEVATION

SOUTH ELEVATION

views from the farm entrance