Architecture, Education, Media, Technology

TimeZone, 2008

Date: 08/15/2008

A Van Alen Institute Fellowship Project.

This project was developed as a means to connect people living along a single time zone through an open communication portal, or a TimeZone pod. It was designed to help communities of diverse social, cultural and economic circumstances share information casually on a daily basis in a park, at the bus stop, in the playground, to enhance communication and foster grassroots connectivity for better living conditions along north/south axes. This project was developed with the help and guidance of many inspiring people in and around Van Alen Institute, most especially the fantastically talented FIU and Yale architecture graduate, Francisco Waltersdorfer.

Places connected along the Eastern Time Zone, from Lima, Peru in the South to the US Air Base in Thule, Greenland in the North. The rendering above right is of school children learning from one another, one of the initial priorities of the project.

The TimeZone was first conceived as lightweight inflatable structures easily distributed throughout the time zone.

Rendering: TimeZone inflatable scheme. Lima.

Rendering: TimeZone inflatable scheme. New York City.

Rendering: TimeZone inflatable scheme. Thule, Greenland.

Rendering: TimeZone inflatable scheme. Children playing in school yard.

Rendering: TimeZone inflatable scheme. Children playing in school and learning new games and languages.

Adults communicate through storefront installations….

…or in spatial configurations in public parks.

The team tested milled Corian for its transparency and durability.

A new hardshell pod was designed to be milled from Corian to create stackable TimeZone pods.

Jen Song with students studying first viable prototype, fabricated by Evans & Paul and set up at Van Alen.

Ashley Hanrahan with students discussing TimeZone technology and potential with students NYC high school students.

With one prototype shipped to Colegio Santa Maria Marianistas in Lima, Peru and the other in MoMA, the remarkable and free flowing conversations two groups of students started. The students above in MoMA were excited to talk to their counterparts in Lima.

And simultaneously at the Colegio Santa Maria Marianistas, an all-boys high-school in Lima, the students practiced their English and discovered the potential of this new form of free exchange. The upcoming US presidential election was a popular topic!

On August 12, 2008, the Van Alen Institute hosted an opening of the project. The two prototypes were brought back to the Van Alen space for exhibition and a discussion with collaborators and colleagues about the project, the results of the research, and the potential for informal public gatherings—such as those afforded by TimeZone—to shape the future of local and global exchange along simultaneous shared daily rituals.

Rendering: TimeZone installed in Union Square, Manhattan.

Rendering: TimeZone installed in Plaza de Armas, Lima.

TimeZone was completed with a team of outstanding collaborators including:

Phillip Anzalone, Columbia University; Michelle Chang, Columbia University; Cory Clarke, Tendercreative; Jennifer Flemming, Columbia University; Steven Garcia, Columbia University; Ashley Hanrahan, Columbia University; Eto Otitigbe, New York City; Jen Song, MoMA; Francisco Waltersdorfer, Florida International University; Daniel Yep, Architect, Lima, Peru; Jelena Zoranovic, English teacher at the Colegio Santa Maria Marianistas, Lima, Peru, and Ellen Grimes, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, who generously shared the studios with me that summer as she worked on her own Van Alen Fellowship project.

John Stuart Architecture

TimeZone, 2008

A Van Alen Institute Fellowship Project.

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