PROMO-GRANATE | Marseille, France | Unit 21 | 2016

Awarded Distinction for Design 
 DSC_2575 copy

 

When tracing the origin of Heroin you will almost inevitably find that Afghanistan is the source. Afghanistan’s economy is highly dependent on opium farming, which has funded the insurgents fighting NATO forces and corrupted the government. Foreign countries like the U.S. and UK have promoted pomegranate farming to replace the opium fields. However, a pomegranate factory in Afghanistan could not sustain itself due to the instability of political issues and lack of government infrastructure. Therefore, the project seeks to utilise Marseille’s port city location and assist the pomegranate trade the same way it did the opium trade in the French Connection. It is seen as an opportunity to change the image of Marseille as a drug city.
YOLANDA LEUNG PORTFOLIO 6 copy_ YOLANDA LEUNG PORTFOLIO 9 copy_ YOLANDA LEUNG PORTFOLIO 11 copy_ YOLANDA LEUNG PORTFOLIO 26 copy
YOLANDA LEUNG PORTFOLIO 28 copy

 

In the design project, the nature of different boundaries is explored, which are associated with different elements of the urban park. The ‘boundaries’ act as an architectural element in different parts of the park such that not only is the border a mark to a park region but also aims to respond spatially and calibrate the value of the pomegranate products and farming situation in Afghanistan. The scheme also rethinks the ways of access, separation and experience that each could provide in order to draw awareness to the political issues.
YOLANDA LEUNG PORTFOLIO 66 copy_

 

The proposal aims to act as a calibrator where the ‘boundaries’ mediate between park facilities and pomegranate production lines. These three elements merge to form the architecture. The idea is to reveal the political issues in Afghanistan and address a moralistic statement to the public—that is, the privilege of enjoying the public facilities is exchanged for the constant fight of replacing opium farming. The overall scheme is explored as a system with a series of boundaries. The superimposition of the architectural interventions of boundaries and urban park facilities of the proposals is dictated by the implied market value of pomegranate. The operation of the artificial boundary is closely linked to the pomegranate supply and production. The idea of placing pomegranate production lines as boundaries between park facilities reflects the quantitative data of supply and production. It defines the enclosure and distinction as a traditional architectural form to secure and defend.

YOLANDA LEUNG PORTFOLIO 58 copy YOLANDA LEUNG PORTFOLIO 59 copy YOLANDA LEUNG PORTFOLIO 60 copy YOLANDA LEUNG PORTFOLIO 61 copy

It is intentionally positioned in a way that the market value of pomegranate products is registered by the visitors while crossing. Here, an inevitable hierarchy in the park facilities determines the value of pomegranate products, which is reflected in the compositional order, ingress route and amount of boundaries visitors have to cross.

fold_out 3 copy fold_out 5 copy fold_out 10 copy fold_out 11 copy

DSC_2705DSC_2588c  DSC_2609IMG_8351DSC_2700IMG_8408

Colour plan 841mm width 1 copy-1  Colour plan 841mm width 2 Colour plan 841mm width 3

PERSPECTIVE a2 1 copy PERSPECTIVE a2 2 copy PERSPECTIVE a2 3 copy

 

Click to zoom ->

5_small_sRGB

 

Click to zoom ->

Overall plan 841mm width copy