Spiegel im Spiegel

Adopted in 2006, The United Development Ordinance lays out useful rules for the physical development of property. Respecting designated zoning, forecasting but contesting accepted land use at times, Mirror in the Mirror (M/M) slowly re-introduces the understated vibrancy and optimism embedded in the remnants of a modernist project within Durham. Three Moves Towards (In)Finity crafts and shapes a built environment that both meets and challenges the goals of the Comprehensive Plan; economically, historically, socially and culturally.

Reawakened architecture must go both ways. In navigating contemporary issues on housing, land use, open space, and transportation we must not lose sight of the lost and the found. Embedded in what we too often discard in our living history, we might not be too surprised if our current heroic architecture is not embarrassing in 10 or 20 years. Not so here in Durham! Mirror in the Mirror is a development, like the music it echoes, that accumulates by subtle spatial and material moves.

Reveal

According to The Ministry of Public Interest in a Policy Report (2014) it is recommended that any new development and urban design project must allocate 55% of land used to public amenities and community functions. (In)Finity Reveal aims to address the ministry’s agenda by meeting the requirements of the brief towards housing whilst repurposing the enormous surface parking area

into a public park (even amenity centre). A landscape for those in the surrounding neighbourhood, for all. A new energy-efficient and eco-controlled green ramp park will allow external access to the double height open garden/infinity pool capping the top of the existing modernist building. Reveal opens the ground plane and extends to a slow roof incline, a space for local and unusual public functions, in all seasons.

Living Narratives

Based on recent studies produced by The Federal Bureau of Urban Displacement, strategic responses to the rapid development and evolution of Durham address the socio-economics of urban revitalization and inclusive community agency. Leading experts advised that at least 50% future residents should possess an oral history and living narrative. This allows a communal connection to new residents and the young, whilst expanding the site’s agency and civic connection to the immediate area and surrounding districts.  The vibrancy and diversity of the proposed project emerges from a mixed programming; the need to integrate local artists, galleries, workshop networks, cafeteria and other public gathering spaces. A variety of small to medium retail and social services will exist alongside a kindergarten/crèche and local community college for artisanal/vocational studies. Satellite links to North Carolina College and other institutes produces outreach networks.  Nursing and senior care also feature in the careful programming connecting to Duke and other universities.

Mirror in the Mirror

Established by The Department of True History, communities need delicate interventions to conserve their true oral and diverse histories. In order to save the city from itself, local communities must partake in the preservation and celebration of their past. Retrofitting is no longer an adequate term for the ambition of this program and project. The existing 1950s building is the main objective of (In)Finity and mirroring the existing modernist form provides more re-vitalised spaces for new functions and programs. The Mirror in the Mirror - from building to surface to reveal - establishes a new ground above the existing building; an incubator for new urban speculation. The other careful forms flip failure and fantasy until we respect the past for the present it has lost, and we respect the present for what the past always offered. Vibrant, diverse, creative on its own terms; running up that hill, unconditional and inviting.

In collaboration with Steven Schuhmann,