Urban Design Studio (Prof. Nasrine Seraji), Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (Wien) Austria 1996-97
I-sem was dedicated to exploration of the ideas of urban design and formulating a proposal for the next sem. I explored Vienna on bi-cycle and occasional U-bahn to understand the idea of “city-center” and its relevance in the present, noting and expressing my observations/studies on Vienna. I traced all my travels and eventually created a detiled hand-drawn map of the a city, using it to create an alternate map to express my perception of the city, thus demolishing the idea of “city-center”. Eventually chose the site of Gauss Platz to develop a concept for creating a public space, housing public functions and integrating the elements of site into a connected experience of past and the present.
Urban Design Studio Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria
Discovering the city ofVienna
The site, chosen at the end of I-sem explorations
Chose the site of Gauss Platz, for its uniqueness of combining present and past (present vs Nazi towers in the medieval Garden), linear, convergent and an expanse spaces (river, public square and garden space correspondingly) – the “x”, “y” and “z” (as I termed them).
The II- sem, examined the site – its history (national archives), existing conditions – developing a conceptual model for development of the site into a lively “public space” (a need highlighted by Camillo Sitte and also Otto Wagner, in their works on Urban Design) taking advantage of the proximity of “x”, “y” and “z” and their unique characteristics.
