Giulio Tarquini

The translation of the theoretical structure in practical acts has encountered

different problems, a modification and Improvement of the basic

concepts must be done to make an effecti ve parametric design possible.

The concept of “personalizati on of space” seems too random to become a

design rule, and should be considered as a secondary aspect. Different

attempts have been done trying to find a Market stalls Micro-city within

the city geometric rule that could be applied to the basic components,

making them the “ruled elements” allowing a “guided personalization”.

The study of the component as an isolated element was at first successful.

Through simple translations and rotations of the component’s base plane

a parametric system of possible assemblages with other equal components

has been created, yielding a structure that could evolve towards all

the space directions. The problem has been encountered while considering

all the components as a system. The next component assembled can’t

actually inherit the characteristics of the previous one, so the system is

stuck to the first component potentialities. To solve this problems a

research through different assemblage methods has been done.

1. The subtractive logic:

A volume filled with assembled components was given and the stall was

created by sliding off the unnecessary components.

2. The Cellular Automata

Aggregation based on rules of proximity of cells (identified as components)

that can live, die or born depending by their context arrangement.

3. The approximation logic

Considering a “cloud” of points that can generate components if a guide

surface or curve passes close to it, yielding an approximati on of that

curve/surface.

All these att empts have produced uncontrollable results. The randomness

of the structures yielded is not functional and doesn’t lead to a project or

a guide for the personalization process. The distance between the

theoretical structure, the identity of a market and the parametric design

makes the research stuck. A new approach with an inverse logic is

needed. Instead of starti ng from the component geometry towards a

micro-urbanism yielded through accumulation of components, a considerati

on of the total micro-urbanism with typicalities and functional

aspects of a market should be done at first and the component should be

a consequence of it, its shape and geometry adapted to the necessities

that a market has. The personalization of space should be then studied as

a secondary aspect, and maybe the curiosity it can generate shouldn’t be

the principal aspect of the research.

STUDY OF THE TYPICALITIES IN A MARKET PLACE

A fruit and vegetable market place can be seen as a little village, it

actually has the essential elements of a town, in a smaller number and

size. The space is filled with stands and their arrangement generate the

infrastructure, little roads where the traffic is as bewildering and

congested as during a peak-hour in a central zone of the city; but instead

of cars there are human moving, instead of claxons there are people

shouting, a sort of “pedestrian jungle” moved by the will to sell, buy and

obtain the best deal for the best product. As in a small city, services must

be provided to make the “machine” work, electricity and water are

essential to show, wash and refresh the goods and if the market has is a

stable one, services for the clients should be provided.

A temporary and nomad market is a spontaneous and adaptable structure,

both indoors and outdoors, with a limited duration – usually daily and

sometimes weekly or monthly repetitions. This type of market has a

colonizer nature, because it has to find and recreate its place in an

already structured space. It usually hasn’t a proper hosting structure;

roads, empty buildings, squares, grounds, empty covered spaces are

designated to host them, thus its structure must be flexible and adaptable.

The components framing the stalls must be easy to transport and

assemble, light and flexible, their arrangement must be someway efficient

to avoid congestion. The nature of this market is what I’m interested in.

The fact that a complex spontaneous micro-urbanism has to be created in

a limited amount of time is a challenging subject to approach parametrically.

The space yielded in this type of market is lively, exciting, colourful,

energetic and this is due to its changeable nature, its partial level of

randomness and its system non strictly planned. A parametric design

approach could create a design base that makes this space functional,

maintaining its changeable nature, adaptable to different context and

subsequently modified by its inhabitants.

FUNCTIONAL ISSUES OF THE MARKET

The space produced in a temporary market is a complex one and needs

basic regulations to become functional and inviting. My interest is to deal

with a fruit and vegetable market. Its ancient origin still working in a

contemporary world is fascinating, but to be adaptable in a modern city it

needs a strategic planning. The fact that “country-side” people temporarily

inhabit a space of the city creating a small village between the

concrete walls needs the support of a design mind in order to succeed.

The space yielded should be functional but at the same time shouldn’t

lose its lively characteristic of variability. Is it possible to add a contemporary

design to this traditionally working machine? Can the design adapt to

each context where the market moves? Can the design be flexible for a

successive appropriation by its users?

To answer these questions a study of the characteristics of a fruit and

vegetable market must be done.

1. Portability:

Looking at different temporary markets it’s clear how the transport of the

goods and the stalls is really important, one or more loading-unloading

bays must be identified on the site. In these areas the components for the

stalls must be unloaded from the trucks and roads should start from these

points to allow the transport of the components to be assembled in the

market place and successively the transport of the goods to the stands.

2. Lightness:

The structures are usually light and easily assembled: metal pipes, timber

shelves, tissues… As in nomad villages tents, huts, blankets on the

ground, accumulation of wooden or plastic boxes are the elements of this

infrastructure.

3. Time and circulation:

The time plays an essential role in defining the nature of this microurbanism.

The life of this space starts early in the morning; when the sun

is rising, in the silent city, the colonization begins. The trucks arrive while

the future clients are still sleeping and in the rarefied air of the dawn a

small “population” starts to build its little city filling it with the goods to

sell. The rhythm rises hour after hour and the inhabitants of the village

multiply. Sellers begin to shout, inviting curious buyers to give a look to

their stands, trying to capture their glimpses. Masses of people arrive and

move with different rhythms, frenetic, slow and accurate, confused,

determined, all with the purpose of buying and obtaining the best deal

and the best product, all hypnotized by the beauty of the colours, the

consistency of the goods, the smell of the freshness. In this orgy of

stimulations, the orientation of the inhabitants must be someway guided

through functional paths. To avoid excessive confusion and frustration,

each stand should be clearly visible by the buyers and each seller should

have the visual control of his/her goods to better manage his/her

business. The human swarm disappears in some hours, the time in which

the best goods are gone and the deals are concluded. With the sun still in

the sky the life of the micro-city expires, its structure taken down, packed

and transferred somewhere else and the city swallows the remains of its

presence and the waste.

4. Energy:

To be alive the micro-city needs energy, electricity to connect lights and

devices, fluid, water to wash and refresh the goods. As with the “Gatos”

of the Favelas – the illegal connections to the energy-providing legal

network, bringing stolen power to these cities in the city – the temporary

market, as a colonizing and additional space, needs to be “nourished”

through additional connections to the city power and water distribution in

order to keep itself alive or alternatively have a designate space where

the production and accumulation of energies is obtained.

5. The stall structure and selling of goods:

In this short-life system each stall is a little house where the sellers invite

the buyers showing their products and all its goodness and freshness.

The basic and practical purpose of the market stall defines its shape in a

repetitive way: metallic or wooden light structures supporting textile/

membrane roofs (where also goods can be hung) covering wooden

shelves usually tilted, where boxes in wood or plastic are arranged, filled

with colours and tastes. The seller is usually behind the shelves and

chooses quickly the products for the buyers, standing on a higher level to

the ground to better control and reach with his hands all the goods he is

showing. This system can slightly change but remains more or less

identical. In this repetition what captures the attention of the buyer then?

The quality of the goods is maybe the first element, for intelligent buyers,

but there are other elements that in a more or less repetitive space can

make the difference, as a friendly face of a seller, a loud and clear voice

shouting the prices, or even a randomness in the buyers choices…. But

what if the design of the stall could become another element that

contributed to capturing the attention? What if the repetitive structure of

the same stalls is avoided and each stall becomes a particular “pavilion”

where the goods are shown differently? Would this contribute to make the

market an even more curious space? Would it have an influence on the

clients’ choices, so that each stall would become a little piece of

architecture to appear more appetizing? A parametric relation between

the shape of the micro-city and the shape of the stall could produce an

interesting, various, chaotic and at the same time organized, colourful

space, where the basic characteristics of a market are used as parameters

to make of it a little “Expo” able to change shape depending upon the

context that has to be colonized and its necessities.