Mass Studies and BIG

Mutated Slabs and Robotic Towers

At an urban scale, the 'mutated slabs' is an exercise of splitting a single block into a set of heterogeneous but formally interrelated buildings. within the rigidity of a residential grid that is typical of korea, the placement of the newly built forms creates an organized irregularity among the typical hilbersheimer apartment blocks. The spaces can be programmed as a sum (or division) of the pieces which leads to a combination of indoor and outdoor conditions, creating and transforming urban districts while also rethinking the mundane cityscape with towers that dynamically change in profile.

• Along the main theme of Promotion and Architecture, four architecture firms proposedto stimulate the lobby of the Gyeonggido Museum of Modern Art with furniture that investigates a possible future master plan of Ansan City. As an architectural exercise of scales, the master plan activates the long and narrow lobby space with a model of Ansan City and its future structures. The ‘model’ can also be used as furniture by visitors, in an exploration almost Hollywood-esque in its multi-venue adventures and synergistic qualities. This multi-layered study in fluctuating scales opens up new possibilities in developing both furniture and urbanism, while promoting Ansan City at the same time.

  Starting with two simple forms – a block and a cylinder – we investigated methods of decompression as a combination of unique forms/spaces/functions that can be reorganized to create systematic heterogeneity. Like a three-dimensional puzzle set, the pieces can stand alone or act collectively to create a large set of diverse forms and their corresponding programs. These forms yield new typologies and new urban identities for this Ansan futurama, defining new spaces within the city and the museum.

  At an urban scale, the Mutated Slabs is an exercise of splitting a single block into a set of heterogeneous but formally interrelated buildings. Within the rigidity of a residential grid that is typical of Korea, the placement of the newly built forms creates an organized irregularity among the typical Hilbersheimer apartment blocks. The Robotic Towers explore new spatial possibilities along the vertical axis, as a combination of parts that shift constantly. The spaces can be programmed as a sum (or division) of the pieces which leads to a combination of indoor and outdoor conditions, creating transforming urban districts while also rethinking the mundane cityscape with towers that dynamically change in profile.

  At the furniture scale, the Mutated Slabs are spread out across the floor and function as benches, desks, among other things, depending on their orientation, organization and combination. Pieces of the Robotic Tower can be stacked with their function determined by their height from the ground. Taking this exploration further to a third scale, we conceived these two forms as a toy, at a museum souvenir scale, as hand-held puzzle blocks.

  Materiality, production and numerous configurations of a multi-use structure are considered at each scale to further project ideas for a new dynamic urban narrative. All three scales seemingly bring about different modes of examining the process of development, but create an interrelation to each other. Whether as a city master plan, museum lobby furnishings, or a souvenir to reflect on both of those spatial experiences, the Mutated Slabs and Robotic Towers are reactions to the various possibilities in Ansan, its venue for creativity and its occupants, who actively participate in the environment presented.

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New urban proposals for Asan, South Korea

CarLoft

If you live in high-rise condo, then it might have occurred to you many-a-times, what if you could park your car in your balcony! Then, let your imaginations flow! A company called CarLoft is building a new residential project in Berlin that will provide its residents the luxury of CarLift that will enable them to park their cars on the balcony of their floors! The truly innovative concept will enable you to either zoom off or back in your home again within just two minutes. CarLoft will provide its residents their own garden and car-parking space ‘Car Loggia’. The floor space including the aerial gardens and CarLoggias will range in size from 2,411 sq.ft. to 5,802 sq.ft. in penthouse. The prices of the luxury flats start at 450,600 euros. The penthouse, fifthe floor and ground-floor are already sold.

Useful links!!!

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Swissmiss

http://www.mimoa.eu/latest_additions/rss/

http://blog.makezine.com/index.xml

An end to dark satanic homes

Jonathan Glancey

We have got to start building homes worthy of our architectural history and heritage

10 October 2008

The majority of new British homes are horribly mean in terms of space. The old Parker Morris standards applied to postwar council housing were generous by comparison. Houses are homes, not units of space. To lift the spirit and ensure the minimum of everyday contentment, housing needs to be much more accommodating than it has become in recent years.

Along with building a considered number of homes, we need to refurbish as many properties as we can. Abolishing VAT on refurbishment would bring many generously planned homes back to life, especially those in old suburbs, towns and city centres.

This would also negate the need for “eco-towns” and other unsustainable proposals made by those for whom homes are playthings and patronising social experiments rather than emotional nests.

If I could add a suggestion, it would be quality of construction. Last week, I drove from Suffolk to mid-Lancashire, heading north-west through a string of towns I haven’t visited for years. I was shocked by the low standard of new housing (and town planning, another story) in towns such as Newark, Mansfield, Chesterfield and Stockport, and by the sheer meanness of the homes that, in the early years of the 21st century, should be so very much better.

Driving through the Peaks, though, I was enchanted by the stone houses and villages, and by the sheer quality and rightness of most of what I could see: quality buildings, a man-made landscape true to nature, a real sense of place. Most people living here in the past were hardly well off, yet their homes were modestly beautiful and thoroughly well made.

Too many of the new homes I saw on my trip looked as if they might have been bought off the shelf of some giant flatpack store and plonked down regardless of locale. This is not an argument in favour of turning the clock back. The British once had a genius for translating radical adventures in architecture — gothic, baroque, palladianism — into local landscapes. Look at Holkham Hall — Palladio as a Norfolkman — or Seaton Delaval — baroque goes Geordie.

We need to campaign for more dignified commonplace housing, and this would mean not just more space and more sensible taxes, but a commitment to building gracefully with high-quality materials old and new, whether for a cottage in the Peaks or a new block of low-rent flats in overlooked Midlands towns.

'Boring' playgrounds stifle children's creativity

For decades, local authorities have relied on "KFC" playgrounds - identical kit, 'fence and carpet areas' - which are more focused on keeping children contained in an enclosed space, rather than inspiring them to play.

Now the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe) has called on the Government not to "waste" £235 million worth of earmarked investment, but build more exciting play areas.

The advisory body said too much emphasis in the past had been placed on risk, making local authorities in England "play it safe".

It said most relied on a small number of manufacturers who produced the same basic swing and slide equipment, high fencing and safety carpeting.

Tim Gill, a play expert, said: "The vast majority of playgrounds built in the UK are not well designed.

"They are formulaic and are not grounded in what children actually like to do when they go out to play.

"There is an overemphasis on brightly coloured equipment, an over-preoccupation with safety and far too little thought and time paid to making them playful, interesting places that adults will want to spend time in, as well as children."

The report said a disproportionate amount of money was spent on safe surfaces, to the detriment of more interesting facilities.

"Pressures to minimise risk and liability in the public realm can lead to authorities 'playing it safe', resulting in standardised spaces that fail to delight, educate or offer young people the opportunity to meet or socialise," it warned.

"Fencing originally installed to keep dogs out, for example, is often in reality more about keeping children in."

Cabe said space for play did not need to be fenced off: "Play areas can be in parks, squares and even on streets, where initiatives such as home zones make for safer play on streets directly outside houses.

"Providing a mix of play spaces helps them become places, rather than just thoroughfares."

According to the advisory body, £235 million will be spent on upgrading 3,500 playgrounds in England over the next three years.

It suggested following the example of Denmark, Holland and Germany which have developed natural play spaces, using elements such as wood, stone and mud to allow children to take risks in order to learn their boundaries.

"Those countries have not become as pre-occupied with safety as the UK, even though their facilities meet the required European standards."

The report concluded: "Local authorities should be creative and brave in taking the national play strategy forward.

"They need to take a much more holistic, imaginative and collaborative approach to the design of play space, led by professionals with the appropriate range of skills, knowledge and experience.

"This will enable a radical shift away from those 'KFC' playgrounds, which fail to provide a sense of place."

Sarah Gaventa, director of Cabe Space, a dedicated unit looking at parks and public spaces, said: "This massive Government investment represents an incredible opportunity to provide exciting and sustainable play spaces.

"But we must all stop obsessing about risk and trying to wrap our children in cotton wool, and instead create spaces that allow them to use their imagination in a stimulating environment."

Students called to design sustainable community

09 January 2009

Technology giant Cisco has launched a competition for architecture graduates and undergraduates to design the “connected community of the future”

The Urban 2020 competition, intended to address many of the sustainable technology issues at the centre of the eco-towns debate, hopes to generate a fresh discussion around environmentally sound urban regeneration.

Students are encouraged to submit designs that champion sustainable ecological principles and demonstrate awareness of the impact of a changing society and technological advances.

The judging panel includes Ken Shuttleworth; John-Paul Nunes, RIBA head of education; Emily Campbell, director of design at the Royal Society Arts; Alison Benjamin, editor of the Guardian’s Society section; and Mike Perry of the BRE’s Intelligent Buildings group.

Cisco is partnering with the universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, the Bartlett, Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen) and University College Dublin, but students from all UK and Irish universities are eligible for the competition.

Entries must be submitted by February 27, and the winning design will be awarded £2,000, with an exhibition of finalists’ ideas to be held at the RIBA.

Learning Log

My learning log is in the form of a blog. This contains entries that reflect my thought processes, important thinking and sources regarding my ‘Big Idea’ concept. Also key articles that I feel may be important or have an effect on my concept.

Also I have been reading texts that help in my understanding on architectural theory as a whole. These have effected no only my perception of space and place but also their context within the city, giving me insights into the different approaches taken through history.

My Research thus far has mainly been Internet based, although I have visited elephant & castle numerous times, looking at the surrounding areas also will need to be done.

This is an area that has a diverse cultural and historical context will London. An area that I originally had little knowledge of other than that's where 'Ministry of sound' is and the 'Heygate Estate’. The ‘Heygate Estate’ has now been chosen as the site for my ‘Big Idea’.

To produce a concept that can bring communities together, new architecture mixed into old spaces with social design that brings together the cultures and communities that inhabit the area.

A major emphasis of my research has looked into housing, the problems and issues caused. As well as looking into successful housing schemes such as ‘Adelaide Wharf’
in Hackney, London. (Architects: Alford Hall Monaghan Morris) This comes at a time when ‘Housing’ is a serious focus for London especially the emphasis on the design of affordable housing as stated by London Mayor, Boris Johnson: ‘The Tory hopeful promised to build 50,000 more affordable homes by 2011 and renovate 84,205 empty properties to help low-income Londoners off waiting lists.’

This has led me to look further into master-planning an area, which I have become increasingly interested in, how this has changed through history, what’s wrong with the current masterplans in place and also key points that are good about them. Can a building bring back a sense of community to an area, also people's effects on buildings and space?

Metamorphosis within the area - changing what was before to something new and looking into how a new system bring back a sense of place to the area.

I am now looking further into ‘Sustainable Communities’, as in what makes a community sustainable and how this is defined. There are many ideals on what makes a place sustainable, maybe I should produce my own?

I need to further my investigation into my topic and start to think about primary sources as well, this is an area I feel is lacking at this point in time. I will look to get in contact again with sources such as Michael Sorkin (Michael Sorkin, is the Founder of Michael Sorkin Studio in New York City, devoted to both practical and theoretical projects at all scales with a special interest in the city) and Edwin Heathcote (He is an architect and has been the critic of The Financial Times since 1999 as well as the author of a number of books on architecture) whom I have previously contacted in my BA dissertation.

Also Professor Alan Phillips has already welcomed a visit to his studio in Brighton, which is currently being organized, his knowledge and experience with sustainable issues and housing could have a big affect on my concept. He also has good links with Bill Dunster who is a specialist in low energy and sustainable development.

For tutorial presentation I was asked to produce a presentation of case studies that would relate to my concept of ‘Architecture for the Community. Socially responsible design that creates spaces for people and produces environments that matter in the community. Looking at how a specific community can help design or affect its own infrastructure, the ways people interact and how this is used to create a sense of place.’ Also looking into using an existing building or buildings that I can re-use or save to provide a new context, facilities, spaces, cultural and economical services etc for they’re surrounding inhabitants.

I looked specifically at Urban splash (property developing firm) as they are pioneers in the way they collaborate with architect firms (such Studio EgreWest, AHMM) to redevelop decaying industrial warehouses, mills, victorian terraced houses and other buildings, into modern housing, apartments and penthouses, as well as constructing new build developments. ‘In the beginning there were factories, now left redundant and not working anymore, however many people feel these buidlings are beautiful and could still give a service to the community. We wanted to get them working again. We thought that they’d make good places to live. We thought that we could make them amazing homes, with a bit of imagination and some top notch architecture. Just like other Europeans, we thought people would want to live in our cities, in buildings with a bit of soul.’ Although it will be a long shot, it would be good to get in touch with Tom Bloxham, the founder of UrbanSplash or another member of the company as I believe they’re approach to taking a ‘crappy site’ and turning it into a beautiful, successful building can help me in my idea’s on redeveloping the ‘Heygate Estate’.

My task is now to look at two specific places in London: Spitalfields Market (Shoreditch) and Gillet Square (Dulston)
What am I looking at now:

> Sustainable Communities
> Eco-towns
> Connections of spaces
> Improving the public realm
> Bring people together - civilizing spaces
> London Regeneration
> London (site: Elephant & Castle) issues:
- Housing, entertainment, pubs, the corner shop.
- Leisure/retail aspects
- Public circulation
- Identity
- Cultural segregation
- Youth culture/elderly - safe environments

My Questions + initial thinking:

> Could some of the Heygate be turned into students housing??
> A sustainable Community that brings people together, uniting the area, giving back a sense of place to the site.
> New public and private spaces e.g. library, market, work/live units etc.
> Link back to local community and local trades

Urban Splash - Park Hill, Sheffield - apartments, hotel, offices

Urban Splash - Chips, New Islington, Manchester - apartments, offices

Dongtan > Eco-City

A truly amazing project!!!

Arup unveils plans for world’s first sustainable city in Dongtan, China.........(2005)



The opening of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai will mark the unveiling of the newly constructed eco-city of Dongtan. The first of four eco-cities to be built in China by Arup, Dongtan will be ecologically friendly, with zero greenhouse-emission transit and self-sufficient water and energy systems. The city is being designed around a series of village-style neighborhoods to make it pedestrian rather than car friendly. Dongtan will generate all of its energy needs from renewable sources, with zero emissions produced by the city's vehicles. An energy centre will manage generation via wind turbines, bio-fuels and recycled organic material. A majority of Dongtan's waste will be reused and organic waste will be composted or used as biomass for additional energy production. Human sewage will be processed for irrigation and composting, hence there will be no landfill waste sites. Phase one of Dongtan, a marina village with a population of 20,000, is scheduled for completion by 2010, while 80,000 people are expected to inhabit this bit of paradise by 2020.

Dongtan will produce its own energy from wind, solar, bio-fuel and recycled city waste. Clean technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells will power public transport. A network of cycle and footpaths will help the city achieve close to zero vehicle emissions. Farmland within the Dongtan site will use organic farming methods to grow food.

Dongtan will be a vibrant city with green ‘corridors’ of public space ensuring a high quality of life for residents. The city is designed to attract employment across all social and economic demographics in the hope that people will choose to live and work there.

Dongtan demonstrates to the world China’s ability to work closely with the environment and has provided a methodology for sustainable communities across China and beyond.

We are providing a full range of services including:

• Urban design
• Planning
• Sustainable energy management
• Cultural planning
• Waste management
• Renewable energy process implementation
• Economic and business planning
• Social development
• Sustainable building design
• Architecture
• Infrastructure
• Landscape design
• Ecology

By Malcolm Moore on Chongming Island
Last Updated: 1:17AM BST 19 Oct 2008

This was supposed to be the site of Dongtan, the world's first eco-city, a paradise of sustainable living that would house half-a-million people and set an example to the world.

So impressive were the groundbreaking plans, drawn up in conjunction with the British engineering firm Arup, that Tony Blair himself helped launched the project in 2005 with Hu Jintao, the Chinese president - and earlier this year Gordon Brown pledged that it would be the model for similar towns in Britain.

"Britain and China will lead the world in the creation of eco-cities," the prime minister boasted.

However an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has revealed that Dongtan is still nothing but a pipe dream. The greenfield site, a lush area three quarters the size of Manhattan, remains untouched - and planning permission won by the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC), the property developer which commissioned Arup to design and build the city, has now lapsed.

Under the original plans the waste from rice paddies around Dongtan would be burned to power people's homes, and the sewage from the city would then fertilise the fields. Solar and wind power would help fill any shortfalls and all transport within the city would be powered by hydrogen or electricity.

Arup's plans envisaged 400,000 people living there by 2010, but Yan Zhouyao, a local farmer whose fields lie inside the projected building site, said: "I've never heard of it."

Mr Yan's water buffalo graze on the pristine wetlands that border the Dongtan zone - themselves now a thorn in the developer's side. Environmentalists argue that any building work could have a serious impact on the rare birds that visit the area.

Tundra swans, hooded cranes and black-faced spoonbills are some of the 34 protected species which flock there. Two years ago, a black stork was spotted there for the first time since 1929. There are thought to be no more than 1,000 of them worldwide.

The British company has now backed away from its original timetable. "There is no time pressure on when to develop Dongtan," said Roger Wood, the project manager at Arup.

In fact Dongtan hit the rocks after its main sponsor, Chen Liangyu, the city's Communist Party boss and a member of the politburo, fell from grace in September 2006. Mr Chen, who was educated at Birmingham University courtesy of the British government-funded Chevening Scholarship scheme, was sentenced in April to 18 years in prison for fraud.

Because Dongtan had been under Mr Chen's aegis, it became a political hot potato and nobody within the current Shanghai administration is now willing to touch it.

"Every year in Shanghai you have to renew your planning permission and we are still waiting for permission to come through," said Mr Wood. He also suggested that new building projects had slowed down dramatically because of the current financial crisis.

Despite Dongtan's demise, Mr Brown has continued to promote it as a vision of the future. In February, the prime minister visited Shanghai and said: "I want to congratulate all those involved in making possible the Chinese-British partnership that will eventually lead to 400,000 people living in Dong Tang [sic]."

Notably, Mr Brown did not actually visit the site of Dongtan during his trip to Shanghai, despite Chongming Island lying only 45 minutes away by boat.

The plans for Dongtan have helped to raise Arup's profile considerably in China, allowing it to bid for other prestigious projects. The company has also vigorously promoted its eco-credentials in workshops and conferences around the world.

Mr Wood recently gave a keynote speech at the "3rd Annual Leaders in Construction Summit" in Dubai, entitled Dongtan, China: The Future of Eco-Cities. He said the promotion of Dongtan was part of a "knowledge transfer" to encourage as many people as possible to think about sustainability.

However, after years of milking the glory of designing "the world's first eco-city", Mr Wood began to distance Arup from Dongtan. "We are simply the engineers of a project and work to the programme given to us by our client," he said.

Instead on Chongming Island, which is 45 minutes by ferry from Shanghai, a rash of building has begun around the Dongtan site to cash in on a road tunnel that is scheduled to connect the island to the mainland next year.

Many of the new high-rise apartment blocks are marketing themselves as "eco-cities", borrowing the language of Dongtan but few of its environmentally friendly principles.

Instead, at "Yingding eco-village", tourists can take boat rides, go fishing and enjoy "cockfighting and goatfighting" displays.

At the Ecological Chen Jia New Town, an enormous complex blocks of flats that will eventually house 26,000 families. Ding Tai'an, a 54-year-old former farmer, puzzled over what an "eco-city" might be.

He and his wife were among the first people to move in, 18 months ago. At the entrance to the block, a billboard advertised the development with a picture of the sea and Chongming's new suspension bridge. "Beautify the Environment of Villages and Towns. Build an Ecological and Model Hometown," it said.

But he couldn't put his finger on what the "eco" credentials of his new home were. It is not powered by renewable energy, nor is it built to any particular standards. "For us, ecological means living in an area which is a bit more green than normal," he said eventually. "Somewhere where there are trees".