The Space of Dynamic Informality

Based on my research on informal practice, I tried to preserve the existing autonomous retail market while reorganizing the transportation structure. I introduced two sets of components, namely the formal and the informal category, together consist of an updated market area with dynamic informality.

In the research part, I studied those informal practices along the new railway of Baku (which is young, simple and clear), set up a theoretical framework with wider universality (based on large-scale logistics infrastructure), and applied them to my design practice.\nMy site is the next stop of New Silk Road in the South Caucasus - a transport station in Tbilisi. Unlike the Baku case, the marginal spaces of the terminals in Tbilisi have developed to a highly mixed level. The program has been developed and replaced several times, the traffic situation is complex, all suitable for some new architectural practice. Based on my theory of informal practice, I tried to preserve the existing autonomous retail market while reorganizing the transportation structure. After researching local elements, programs, and typologies, I introduced two sets of components, namely the formal category and the informal category. The formal category is mainly infrastructure components for the pedestrian, also acts as a framework providing in-between spaces for the informal part - flexible small retail stalls - to inhabit. The formal and informal parts together consist of an updated market area with dynamic informality.\nMy attitude toward informality is that they have values both spatially and socially. Although there are indeed negative reports and inconveniences, the marginal spaces are still full of vitality and imagination. If renovation should happen, it would be best to respect the existing informal qualities and then make new interpretations.