06C_chiaMesa_.jpg

Chia Mesa

By CityLAB and Roger Sherman Architecture + Urban Design

CHIA MESA transforms the strip mall into a prototype and a recovery strategy for Phoenix. Rapid urbanization of the metro area—its unbridled horizontal expansion into the outlying landscape---has destroyed not only its potential agricultural productivity, but its civic identity as well. With CHIA MESA, a new image-ability emerges for the city as a whole---one whose morphology ironically recollects that of the landscape it is rapidly consuming. Instead of being anonymously absorbed into the endless and undifferentiated urban fabric (Phoenix’s own version of Banham’s Plains of Id), the scenario we propose envisions the next generation of strip malls as climactically and socially “cool hotspots” in an arid field.

 

Dana Cuff is Director of the think tank cityLAB and a Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA.
Roger Sherman is a Los Angeles- based architect and urban designer, and Adjunct Professor at UCLA.

BRACKET [on farming]

Down on the Body Farm

Down on the Body Farm

By Rod Werner
Factory-Farmed Architecture: You Are How You Eat

Factory-Farmed Architecture: You Are How You Eat

By Edward Dodington
AGER-AGRI

AGER-AGRI

By CTRLZ Architectures (Francesco Cingolani And Massimo Lombardi)
Microcosmic Aquaculture

Microcosmic Aquaculture

By Bittertang (Antonio Torres And Michael Loverich)
GEOtube: Vertical Salt Deposit Growth System

GEOtube: Vertical Salt Deposit Growth System

By Faulders Studio
Post-Agricultural Speculations

Post-Agricultural Speculations

By Jeffrey L. Day, FACT
Butter in the Mail: Experiments in an Epistolary Economy

Butter in the Mail: Experiments in an Epistolary Economy

By Szu-Han Ho, Jesse Vogler
Aquaculture Seascape Park

Aquaculture Seascape Park

By Moira Wilson
Cash Crops, Energy Landscapes

Cash Crops, Energy Landscapes

By Jason Sowell
Farming [PARK]: Rail, Roadways, and Urban Form Today

Farming [PARK]: Rail, Roadways, and Urban Form Today

By Austin Nicholas Tragni
Migrational Fields: Farming and the Chinese Urban Village

Migrational Fields: Farming and the Chinese Urban Village

By Neeraj Bhatia, Marissa Cheng, Elizabeth Nguyen, Liu Peng, Yang Jiang
Farm Plus: Hybrid Agricultural Landscapes

Farm Plus: Hybrid Agricultural Landscapes

By Ellen Burke
45°50’8”N 119°41’57”W: Hybrid-Poplar Farm

45°50’8”N 119°41’57”W: Hybrid-Poplar Farm

By Ryan Lingard
Beyond Disney

Beyond Disney

By Daniel Kariko , John Raulerson
Learning from Salinas (Hopefully)

Learning from Salinas (Hopefully)

By Bryan Boyer
Seasoned Pasture: A Demonstration Range and Public Park

Seasoned Pasture: A Demonstration Range and Public Park

By Nick Glase
Living Tower: A Vertical Horse Stable for Luxor

Living Tower: A Vertical Horse Stable for Luxor

By Dimitris Argyros
Landgrab City

Landgrab City

By Joseph Grima, Jeffrey Johnson, José Esparza
Cloud Skippers

Cloud Skippers

By Studio Lindfors (Ostap Rudakevych And Gretchen Stump)
Globalgaelisation

Globalgaelisation

By Atelier Eem (Marc Blume, Estelle Nicod, And Francesca Liggieri)
Next page » Loading