(IN)TANGIBLE HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

The accumulative nature of our post-digital and post-natural moment materializes in the context of urban transportation. Considering the relations between society and technology, many see a multi-modal network as our interface; you are the cursor, and your smartphone as the input device. Massive amounts of ubiquitous personal GPS data records your physical activity, the system shares and delivers real-time travel information related to mobility routes. Theorists such as Shannon Mattern remind us however “a city is not a computer” and cannot be reduced to simply data and algorithms. The physicality of a multi-modal transportation hub then serves as the nexus of such hierarchies and categories. By focusing on social optimization within this typology as well as physical construct, the users and the discrete objects that inhabit a multi-modal transportation hub can help in the consideration and improve the future of the whole of this network and its accumulative nature, and offer a critical role of computation within the future of heritage. This paper describes an applied method that challenges the normalization of “Family Objects” —building blocks in Building Information Modeling (BIM). New York Policy Analyst, Benjamin Villanti, reminds us that the Madrid subway system —handling more than 487 million passengers and 19.6 million tons of freight moved in 2017—is an example that other cities can adopt. For these reasons, an academic studio travelled to and researched the rail system in Spain, experiencing first-hand the high-speed rail systems, its architecture and urbanism from Madrid to Barcelona. Case study building simulations are processed and utilized in the design process that then elevates a practice that passes down cultural aspects, traditions or simply ubiquitous content. This studio agenda works in conjunction with ongoing research afforded by the USDOT University Transportation Center and Center of Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions (CM2).