Hackable Infrastructures
Inhabiting the Margins of Contemporary Rome

Metropolitan Rome is a vibrant and dynamic collision of the pressures of globalization, urbanization, and migration. The form of the city is fluid, and a wide array of informal settlements and structures persist within the formal city fabric. In the periphery, much of the urban form is 'unplanned,' driven by the ever-changing conditions of the market, speculative development, and 'abusive' construction. Informal settlements, once a negligible and overlooked part of the city, are escalating in scale and intensity, and are dictating future development to a large extent. In this ever-shifting milieu, the planning structures of the municipality must respond to increasingly complex flows of populations, capital, and commerce. 
Our work in Rome interrogates the margins of the contemporary city, finding new models for viable, productive urban environments in forgotten, underused, neglected, and emerging zones at the city's edge. We find throughout the city a variety of examples where innovation, improvisation, appropriation, and informal activity is redefining the character of urban life. Through a series of investigative case studies, we are working to distill a set of successful developmental tactics, extrapolating the findings of the research through speculative architectural, infrastructural, and urban designs.
We have worked throughout the year to foster a broad dialogue in the reconsideration of the urban periphery, by engaging local architects, planners, community advocates, community leaders, and students to help define the city's most pressing needs, and by proposing actionable, participatory design and construction strategies that might help to solve them.  Our direct involvement in a series of public events including lectures, workshops, exhibits, and conferences has extended the project's reach.
We are working to compile the urban research and design proposals in printed form for publication, and as a multimedia installation for exhibit later this year.  We plan to realize part of the research findings through participatory design projects in a series of collaborative workshops with other professionals and local communities this summer.

Sound Barrier Housing

Speculative Infrastructural Proposal
Rome

Filter Bridge

Speculative Infrastructural Proposal
Rome

Agri-Collector

Speculative Infrastructural Proposal
Rome

Occupied Infrastructure

Demolished Informal Housing
Via Mandrione

Orto Abusivo

'Abusive' Garden
Rome

Insediamento Abusivo

'Abusive' Settlement
Rome
BIO
http://www.agencyarchitecture.blogspot.com http://www.agencyarchitecture.com

Ersela Kripa and Stephen Mueller are founding partners of AGENCY, an award-winning research and design practice established by in New York City in 2006. By drawing on a wide range of design technologies and research initiatives, the practice works to establish the architect as a tactical operator in an increasingly urbanized, and globalized world. AGENCY engages contemporary global culture through a range of commissioned architectural projects, speculative proposals, urban research, film, and photography. In each project, the practice strives to identify and capitalize on what makes each client, site, or social context truly unique, taking advantage of circumstance to propose new modes of living. 

The partners have recently completed research and design for their upcoming book, entitled 'Elements of a Tactical Urbanism,' which catalogs and extrapolates successful design and development tactics in informal environments throughout the world. AGENCY is the winner of the 2010 ONE PRIZE,  an international design competition for creating productive green space in cities hosted by Terreform 1. The practice's work has been exhibited internationally, most recently through invited participation at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Sofia Architecture Week, Eme3 International Architectural Market in Barcelona, and SUPERFRONT Gallery in Los Angeles.  

Ersela holds a Bachelor of Architecture with honors from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University.  Stephen holds a Bachelor of Architecture with Distinction from the University of Kansas, and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University.

All text, project images and photos copyright 2011 AGENCY Architecture LLC, All Rights Reserved

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