The framing of this Studio was to investigate different fictional projections into the future of Pittsburgh. In many ways architecture is always a future speculation. This can be as simple as proposing a new lifestyle for a client’s domestic environment, or as grand as imagining a new city with new social relations. This aspect of architecture places great pressure on the representations that create the plausibility of this new reality. What will be the role of architecture in relation to the different issues that exist today accelerated into tomorrow?
The fictional narrative I pursued is one of the underground world of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is a city rich with history and layers, holistically and physically. Under Pittsburgh are the remnants of the underground railroad, coal mines and other tunnels from Pittsburgh’s Industrial past. The narratives built from this history depicting the places where the illegal activities ensue connected by a network of tunnels under Pittsburgh.
My project explores this concept of the Pittsburgh criminal underworld on the zoomed in scale of a restaurant in the mainstream Pittsburgh. This restaurant is connected to a speakeasy that opens up to the underground world. This high end location is in Mt. Washington next to other existing high class restaurants and spatially takes advantage of the slope of the mountain. This point in the mountain is able to connect to many of the underground tunnels while still being easily accessible within the city.
The Restaurant and its adjoining speakeasy were designed to explore the idea of hiding in plain site as well as the duality of these two worlds, with the spaces sharing one language of layering but purposefully varying in ways that tell two different stories. Utilizing panelization systems to control who can see in and out of spaces inside and outside of the speakeasy space. This allows for privacy from the world while still experiencing the city of Pittsburgh and the environment inside the venue.
