Urban poverty is often perpetuated because it exists on the margins of cities – either geographically or within popular consciousness. But architecture and urban design have the potential to redistribute resources and draw attention to neglected zones. As an early collaborative project with the Inter-American Development Bank, U-TT designed a new city hall and civic center for Mar del Plata, situating it within one of the city’s poorest areas.

Conceived with flexible, mixed use programming in mind, the project comprises a four hectare park and aproximately 8,000 m2 of office, commercial, and civic space. By transplanting public facilities into an underserved community and providing incentives for a diverse population to use the programs and amenities on offer, the project seeks to catalyze a more egalitarian future for the city as a whole.

The sidewalks of cities have become contested zones, where pedestrians usually lose out to cars and other vehicular traffic. The “parklet” model initiated by Rebar represents a simple, “user-generated” strategy to expand the public realm where existing sidewalk width is insufficient to support a vibrant street life. U-TT’s Public Spectacle parklet, commissioned in 2014 by Swissnex San Fransisco, and developed in partnership with Jan Gehl Architects, builds on the idea of encouraging new forms of civic agency by providing an adaptable space for public exchange.

The design uses the full volumetric potential of a single parking space and is able to take on multiple configurations, through a set of moving elements attached to a steel frame. These transformations allow for different uses, such as performances, lectures, screenings, public seating, meetings, and inventive appropriation by users. The parklet is located at the new Swissnex headquarters on Montgomery Street, where it serves as a dynamic bridge linking the programs and activities housed within the building to public life outside.

Swissnex Parklet

Buildings

A Parklet at Night

In the hillside barrios of Caracas, many residents lack clean water and sanitation, with communities often waiting years for the state to install these systems. Developed during the Caracas Case program, the Dry Toilet is a synthesis of infrastructure and design. Built as a prototype in the barrio of La Vega, the non-flushing toilet conserves water and establishes an off-grid sewage and sanitation system that residents can maintain themselves. Diverting liquid and solid waste, the design prevents groundwater contamination and soil erosion, and contributes fertilizer for small-scale agriculture. The Dry Toilet addresses real needs quickly, affordably, and with an approach that can be replicated on a massive scale.

Dry Toilet

The “Yonkers Sports and Event Center” project envisions the transformation of derelict urban space into a multi-purpose sports and recreation facility. Working in partnership with The Armory Foundation’s President, Norbert Sander (winner of the 1974 NYC Marathon), the facility would be situated above the Kawasaki NYC Subway Factory in Yonkers New York and would be designed to reprogram 13’000 square meters.

The center would include a 5,000-to-6,000-seat track and field complex and flexible spaces. Its 200-meter hydraulic indoor track could be used as either a banked track or flat track. An additional removable court would host high school basketball and volleyball games, high school wrestling competitions, collegiate tournaments, as well as concerts, exhibitions and conventions along its flexible spaces.

With an expectation to attract approximately 100,000 visitors annually, the center holds the potential to simultaneously function as a community hub, fostering inter-cultural interaction for an already diverse neighborhood through sport.

Location	Mar del Plata, Argentina
Year	2013 - 2016
Total Area	30,000 m2
Leads	Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner
Project Architects	Michael Contento, Lea Rüfenacht, Lindsey Sherman
Local Architects	Pio Romero, Martin Rosales
ETH Project Team	Scott Lloyd, Sofia Avramopoulou, Lucas Bucher, Stéphane Grandgirard, Lindsay Howe, Daniel Hudson, Marija Gramc Milivojevic, Ozan Özvatan, Giulia Scotto, Giacomo Zanchetta
IDB Bank Team	Ellis Juan, Horacio Terraza, Martin Solier, Federico Scodelaro
Alcaldia de Mar del Plata Team	Gustavo Pulti, Pablo Garcia
Status	Under Construction

Centro Civico