AA Housing and Urbanism London East Design Workshop - Group 3

DRIVEN BY PRODUCTION LEVERAGED BY INFRASTRUCTURE revisiting the role of the city

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INTRODUCTION BUILDING AN INTERFACE Including the lower lea valley in a broader area of production

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NE LONDON METROPOLITAN AREA OF PRODUCTION

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DUALITIES OF MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE

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STRATEGY

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MOTORWAYS Reclaiming the A-12

Architectural Association School of Architecture Housing & Urbanism ‘13 Team Alok Kothari Berk Oktem Chao Wang Diego Grinberg Lucia Donizetti Manuel Otero Mingyu Zhu Priya Lonappan Sankalp Sinha Zohreh Ahmad Tutors Jorge Fiori Elena Pascolo Alex Warnock- Smith

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5

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PROBLEMATIZING

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CONDITIONS

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STRATEGY

46

SCENARIOS

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RAILWAYS Stations more than just ‘points’

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PROBLEMATIZING

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CONDITIONS

78

STRATEGY

82

SCENARIOS

90

EXPANDING MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE: INCORPORATING INDUSTRY

112

BIBLIOGRAPHY

122

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INTRODUCTION city as canvas

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city as canvas

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CITY AS CANVAS

Speculative activities compromise global production. Financial operations consisting of individual appropriation of already existing wealth focus on redistributive actions.

This unproductively consumes resources. Real-estate industry is the most important and prevalent mechanism for urban development. Being primarily rent-based and almost completely financially driven, this form of development poses a threat to the social and economic vitality of cities. The homogenizing effect of this approach often undermines the potential for new urban relationships to evolve. Through means of increasing land prices, ostensibly for urban development, the differences between wealth creation and speculation become dangerously hazy.

Instead, urban fabric should acknowledge its capacity as a space for all scales of production to occur. Cities, as substantial concentrations of resources, retain material too valuable to be disregarded. Still embedded within the consequences of a deep financial crisis, urban development methods now ought to be put in question. Speculative procedures could initiate more production-oriented approaches to urban development to result in an understanding of cities as crucial elements of production.

Despite the negative influence current industrial activities´ may have, some of the elements still add social value. Relationships to the urban core have diminished overtime, calling now for reevaluation. With its sometimes-repellant physical qualities, industry formerly at the very heart of urban areas has been continuously pushed outside of the city throughout the 20th century. The constraints it once faced have since disintegrated. This change of urban boundary has allowed for the monopolization and sprawl on space with cheaper land. Though this availability of land sounds promising, it implies a loss of possibilities for unexpected transactions and more productive associations with other urban resources. Urban activities, such as scientific research, education, service provision, etc.,

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could provide important material and be fed by the constant technical innovations that industries produce.

Mobility infrastructure has strong and direct ties to industrial activities. First, these activities unsurprisingly cluster around elements able to support them. Second, the difficult conditions these elements entail decrease the demand on the surroundings. This makes them particularly prone to execute activities in larger portions of space.

Therefore, besides simply being a connection, mobility infrastructure has also been the serving spoon for industrial production, feeding into the very nature of its logistical requirements. Unfortunately, industrial productivity within cities has been devolving, becoming more detached, and disengaging from other urban activities. As a result, the potential role for mobility infrastructure in cities as multifaceted is in many respects on the verge of neglect.

Mobility infrastructure elements are still too embedded in real-estate based urban processes of development. Their presence significantly impacts developing or transforming urban areas. By prompting fluctuation in land price they modify the activities and relationships occurring within them. Instead, as means of using industrial activities to harvest productive combinations with other urban resources, the city should begin acknowledging the potential that mobility infrastructure in re-engaging industries with urban environments.

Contemporary discourse surrounding mobility infrastructure provides insight about the potentials of mobility infrastructure can have. Across scales, authors provide varying opinions, including debates on local impact, undefined spaces and the potential for the underutilized.

At a local scale, the discourse presents illuminates the possibility for urban decay as a result of mobility infra-

city as canvas

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structure. With infrastructural permeation in urban areas, Stefanie Bremer and Henrik Sander argue that “the increase in noise and air pollution determines urban decline.”1 These areas tend to be “unattractive” and “become a sort of inner periphery”. Themes in local infrastructure underscore the idea of specificity, which has been valued in thinking of a composite, productive fabric. In the Lower Lea Valley, local specificity arises from the existing presence of industrial, logistic and manufacturing uses, which happen to merge with the “creative industry” clusters.

A lack of definition surrounding mobility infrastructure creates a challenge for land appropriation at a local scale.

This can be in the form of legal, administrative and even financial terms. Spatially, underutilized areas tend to be “undefined in use, ownership, management, and function”.2 The research also explores how informal activities tend to characterize these areas of spatial neglect, as their framework is murky enough to be left out of legal clauses. “The conditions of enclosure and emptiness” Adding to this, the physical appearances often repel any demand for the space, allowing these alternative activities to proliferate. Spaces where conditions are not fixed provide a greater range of opportunity for investigating the use of design to redefine social organization.

Coupling these conditions a greater range of opportunity arises where infrastructure can be viewed as a system rather than an object. According to Stan Allen, infrastruc1.

ture should be regarded as “space”. In doing so, it produces “complex and unpredictable”3 effects and events that reposition its overall role. This novelty becomes the test for what can address the urban complexities spawned by the social, political and social life of the city.

Two case studies have specifically informed our approach for creating systems which use mobility infrastructure to address urban concerns; these being Urban Think Tank’s metro-cable and Cedric Price’s Potteries Think Belt. Key methods were extracted from analyzing these projects: punctual intervention, relations between actors and the mobility amongst different scales and areas of varying production.

Through UTT’s implementation of a station system in Caracas, the notion of precise intervention addresses architecture as an active way of condensing activity. Intervening in urban areas requires extreme explicitness “thoughtful planning can create new, small communities” greater city”4 and can bring forth new spatial relationships between facilities and mobility. The intervention has the ability to catalyze platforms for transaction or even for new associations.

The pursuit of mobilization is core to both projects. Both the lines of mobility in the metro-cable and the transportation network of the Think Belt facilitate certain clusters of activities to arise and potentially flourish. Cedric Price acknowledges, “There would be no uneasy demarcation

Stefanie Bremer, Henrik Sander, “Creation of Trans-local spaces”, in Thomas Hauck, Regine Keller, Volker Kleinekort (eds.), 2011, “Infrastructural urbanism”. DOM pub-

between manufacture and learning. They would be integrated. To ensure this teaching would take place wherever the particular research and manufacture related to it is sited”.5 PTB provides insight on the interrelation between conventionally unrelated activity and how it can instigate mutually-beneficial change.

Indeed the nature of mobility is connection, which harps on the last major point. Diversified engagement is able to happen through accessibility. When an urban intervention includes other productive areas of the city, each element involve is re-qualified. In the Lower Lea Valley, the reintegration of industrial and manufacturing activities aim to impact the use of urban resources, conjoining research, education, digital design, commerce and other productive activities.

urban resources. Technical industrial innovation has much to learn from education, research, software development, etc. whereas these and other urban activities could be requalified through industrial contact. If prompted with a diversity of contributions and primed with expanded modes of production, the city canvas could be deemed a more productive space.

The re-inclusion of industrial and manufacturing activities could mean consolidation for productivity.. The complexity of industrial methods today is unprecedented. Today more than ever, the production of knowledge and science lies central to industrial activity. No major resolutions have dealt with the scale of this complexity, as important portions of knowledge development are still predominantly oriented towards speculative, unproductive, activities.

For instance, the development of information flow remains geared to financial gain. Crucial to production development are the encounters between industry, manufacturing, services, research, education, and other predominantly 5.

Samantha Hardingham and Kester Rattenbury, “Supercrit 1, Cedric Price Potteries thinkbelt”, 2007,Rouletdge.

lishers, Berlin.

2.

3.

Ed Wall, “Infrastructural form, interstitial spaces and informal acts”, in Thomas Hauck, Regine Keller, Volker Kleinekort (eds.), op. cit..

Stan Allen, “Landscape infrastructures”, in Katrina Stoll & Scott Lloyd (eds.), 2010, “Infrastructure as architecture. Designing composite networks”. Jovis Verlag GmbH,

Berlin.

4.

Urban Think Tank, Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner, 2010, “Slum lifting; an informal toolbox for architecture as infrastructure”, in Katrina Stoll & Scott Lloyd (eds.),

op. cit.

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city as canvas

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URBAN THINK TANK: METROCABLE

CEDRIC PRICE: POTTERIES THINKBELT TO LIVERPOOL MANCHESTER

TO LIVERPOOL MANCHESTER TO MANCHESTER

TO LIVERPOOL MANCHESTER

INDUSTRY SHARED AREA FACULTY AREA: STAGE 2 HOUSING AREAS FACULTY AREA: STAGE 1 KEELE UNIVERSITY HOUSING EXPANSION AREA

3 TO BRININGHAM LONDON LONDON

2 10

TO BRININGHAM

TO STATFORD BRIMINGHAM

TO LEICESTER

4 building an interface

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North East London Emerging Clusters

.E

BUILDING AN INTERFACE

.C

INCLUDING THE LOWER LEA VALLEY IN A BROADER AREA OF PRODUCTION

.D

.A

.B

. NE LONDON METROPOLITAN AREA OF PRODUCTION . DUALITIES OF MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE . strategy

.F

.A RESEARCH MEDICAL AND EDUCATIO NAL CL USTER .B TECH CITY .C DAL STO N CO ME RCIAL CLUSTER .D HACKNEY CENTRAL COMMERCIAL + INSTITUTIONAL CLUSTER .E HOMERTON HOSPITAL AREA .F LOWER LEA VALLEY AREA building an interface

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INCLUDING THE LOWER LEA VALLEY iN A BROADER AREA OF PRODUCTION London´s celebration of the Olympic games in 2012 has raised development pressure in the Lower Lea Valley. In accordance, an Olympic Legacy Plan has been developed in order to outline the transformations to come. Ultimately, it presents a fragmented approach with a real-estate driven orientation. The different elements consist predominantly of housing, sports and recreation. Also with a central element of leisure conjoining the scattered pieces.

In an optimistic scenario the plan will have a positive impact on communities, regarding employment, social cohesion, and general development of the area, but only at a local scale. With slightly more realistic outcomes, the plan will replace industrial areas as a result of land price increase, and will eliminate many of the current potentials the area has as an important element of urban production.

The Lower Lea Valley possesses some of the most central characteristics to be used in re-qualifying urban production. Within it, not only are industries are particularly well defined but also the vast presence of clustered industry, reinforces their already established importance. They compose an area embodying specific beneficial features that can add to other metropolitan clusters of production. Indeed, areas situated in North East London, such as King’s Cross, Dalston, Hackney Central, Homerton, or Old Street among many, are emerging as important hubs of economic activity. With each one distinct, they are

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crucial elements of urban development as they touch on medical research, digital, or media etc. All of these could benefit from integration with industrial development. In summary, the Lower Lea Valley and Olympic Development Site should aim to contribute to a broader area of production including the transforming urban productive clusters. This would maximize their potential for working towards an understanding of the city as a vital element of production.

Mobility infrastructure is the element physically synthesizing these various portions of London. While the over ground runs WestEast, the new Cross Rail and existing underground further connect central London to the Lower Lea Valley. The emergence of Stratford as a new transport hub, also hints at the importance of this network. The A-12 constitutes another major piece of urban connectivity and transport linking the area with productive clusters and corridors at a metropolitan and regional level.

North East London Emerging Clusters

However, while these elements of mobility infrastructure govern the distribution of industrial activity at a regional level, they often have adverse characteristics at a local level. In the suburban instance, these elements are distantly located to avoid such conflict. In instances of urban concentration, such as in the Lower Lea Valley, these issues are infinitely more blatant and more difficult to remediate.

building an interface

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NE LONDON METROPOLITAN AREA OF PRODUCTION EMERGING AND/OR CONSOLIDATING PRODUCTIVE CLUSTERS

.D .E

.C

.F

Each line of mobility infrastructure contains intrinsic characteristics, providing urbanity with specific complexities. For instance, the Area Action Plans for Dalson, Hackney Central and Homerton have all demonstrated that railways tend to overconcentrate economic activity around stations. Highways, on the contrary, are marked by their deactivation of adjacent areas. However, the blatant and often abrasive elements of infrastructure in the Lower Lea Valley, in fact provide the basis for rich spatial strategies. In spite of, and even stemming from, their complexities, mobility infrastructure elements are the most promising to establish an urban productive network. Their tight knight bonds with industrial activities provide mobility infrastructure with enormous possibilities to transform urban industries´ procedures and re-include them into a broader area.

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.A .B

.A RESEARCH MEDICAL AND EDUCATIONAL CLUSTER .B TECH CITY .C DALSTON COMERCIAL CLUSTER .D HACKNEY CENTRAL COMERCIAL + INSTITUTIONAL CLUSTER .E HOMERTON HOSPITAL .F HACKNEY WICK CREATIVE INDUSTRY CLUSTER

building an interface

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AREAS OF POTENTIAL TRANSFORMATION

The North East London metropolitan area, already presents examples of networks that actively deploy association to achieve composite results. For instance, the National Health Service, or the area´s Colleges include a vast and varied set of hierarchical elements, like administration and research, all with particular facilities. They are reliant then on the totality of the network to complement their services. All in all, the challenges raised by the possibilities for re-including industrial activities within urban contexts, calls for the establishment of similar systems that lean towards production.

In order to leverage relations that bring industries back to urban environments, mobility infrastructure has inherent potential. The railway connections, particularly Hackney Wick and Pudding Mill, define crucial points of access for North East London to the rest of the city. While Hackney Wick provides access to surrounding emerging clusters, the Pudding Mill is efficient access to more developed and already established London areas, such as the City of London, Fitzrovia, or other emerging around them such as Old street. When each point of a station works with the interstitial segments of the A-12, a broader metropolitan territory can be cohesively envisioned. Definition would thus be achieved by producing an interface through this infrastructure. [concentration/filtering] [layering movement] = [independent development] [cross-pollination]

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building an interface

R EC EN TLY D EVEL OPED LA ND

CURRE NTLY DE V E LOP ING LA ND

VA CA NT LA ND

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DEFINITION TROUGH A NETWORK OF MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE

The proposed strategy consists of two key moves that establish a sequence that will intensify the productivity of the area. The first being the concentration of sprawled industrial activity that can filter their negative consequences, for the development of other areas. This compartmentalizing would still address the needs of heavy transport, manoeuvring space, noisy activities and so on, but would give rise to a second move: the creation of new layers of movement and transportation.

Concentrating, filtering and layering movement could lead to the development of better-functioning areas which can then cross-reference each other.

With mobility infrastructure as the heart of this exploration, the A-12 motorway, in conjunction with the surrounding railway stations of Hackney Wick and Pudding Mill can be tested as drivers for establishing an interface. Ultimately this interface would work towards the inclusion of the Lower Lea Valley as a more complex area of production, by challenging the capable industrial conditions it harbours.

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building an interface

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DUALITIES OF MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE

LOCAL EXTERIORITY

CAMBRIDGE

HARLOW

CAMBRIDGE

M O B I LI TY I N FR A S TR UCTURE : DUA L ITY LOCAL EXTERIORITY

CAMBRIDGE

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HARLOW HARL OW

CAMBRIDGE C A MB R ID GE

building an interface

MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE: DUALITY LO C AL EXTER IO R ITY

HA RLO W HARLOW

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INDUSTRIAL PARKS: METROPOLITAN AND REGIONAL LINK

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building an interface

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RAILWAY’S OVERCONCENTRATION

HIGHWAY DEACTIVATION M O B I LI TY I NFRA S TRU CTUR E : D UA LI TY HI G HWAY DEACT I VAT I O N

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building an interface

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STRATEGY SERVICE NETWORKS NHS

(CONCENTRATION/FILTERING) (LAYERING MOVEMENT) = (INDEPENDENT DEVELOPEMENT) (CROSS-POLLINATION)

H AC KN EY WIC K STAT ION HACKNEY WICK

UNIVERSITIES PU D D IN G MILL STAT ION A-12

BOW CHURCH

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building an interface

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STRATEGY

CRITICAL POINTS AND LINES DEFINING INTERFACE A 12

A 12

HACKNEY CENTRAL

A 12

HACKNEY WICK KING´S CROSS

DALSTON

RAILWAY´S OVERCONCENTRATION

POTENTIAL AREAS OF DEVELOPEMENT

INFRASTRUCTURE AS A FILTER

LOWER LEA VALLEY

PRODUCTIVE CLUSTERS

HIGHWAY DEACTIVATION FRAGMENTING AREAS

OLD STREET

LAYER 1 C O N C E N T RAT I N G

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building an interface

AN D

F I LT E R I N G

LAY E R I M PAC T

O F

M O B I L I T Y

2

I N F RAS T R U C T U R E

LAY E R U R BAN

3

S T RAT E G Y

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THE PRESENCE OF MOBILITY

TITLE MOTORWAYS

subtitle the A-12 reclaming

. PROBLEMATIZING . CONDITIONS . STRATEGY . SCENARIO

THE A-12 motorways

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PROBLEMATIZING

IMPACTS OF THE A-12 Deactivation Fragmentation Sprawl

Mobility infrastructure should do more than just provide connections. If its role was conceived of more amenably, mobility infrastructure as an interface could address many more scales.

Currently, the derelict land by the A-12 is perceived as undesirable, and therefore treated as the back of house space, or where imprudent industrial activity occurs.

A series of buildings along the highway could alternatively unfold an interface between the industrial activity and the existing infrastructure.

This would be constituted by services that support new and existing industries, and position them in relation to other productive clusters.

The aim is to use architecture to expand functions of infrastructure and to boost local productive specificity.

Bound to mobility, the area would inherently be linked in to other metropolitan clusters. The expanse of the A-12 route could introduce services, potentially impacting the city region.

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motorways- problematizing

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ADJACENT UNDERUTILIZATION

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motorways - problematizing

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CONDITIONS

The rapid speed demanded by metropolitan and regional connection, helps kneed the conditions of surrounding fabric. The hierarchies of speed along a motorway, including secondary streets, similarly correlate with the built environment. Abrasively, speed results in the underutilization of significant portions of land. Instead, through movement redistribution, areas could be reconfigured.

Likewise, any instance with fast moving cars considers sound as a primary point of contention. In the case of the A-12, many types of barriers such as buildings, open spaces and even forage are required as dampening buffers.

In this particular segment of the A-12, a line of continuous, tall buildings constitutes the West-most frontage, whereas the Eastern canal side has lower, more fragmented industrial sheds.

SECONDARY STREETS: ACTIVITY ABSORPTION

FRAGMENTATION & UNDERUTILIZATION

MOTORWAY: WASTING SPACE

If the aim is to test new possible relations between industrial uses with other activities, the undermining aspects of mobility infrastructure cannot be disregarded and therefore have to be managed.

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motorways - conditions

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SOUND LEVELS

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BUILDING HEIGHTS

motorways - conditions

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CONDITIONS

EARLY PROTOTYPE OF INTERACE FOR HIGHWAYUS

CASE STUDIES

“MEDITERRANEAN ARCHITECTS” continue argument in “DEVELOPING AN ART FOR INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN” (D’HOOGHE, ALEXANDER)

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‘If a garage can srve as an architectural stop between the moving world of teh highway and the static world of a town center, or shopping precinct, it can, if handled as Louis Kahn suggest, become a symbol of the collective and human aspect of what accurs in town or shop.

Garage or station of rapid transit system as stop, is a link between the highway (or train) and pedestrian movement. If designed with sufficient understanding , it can serve as a defining wall, or perhaps a built mountain , for the activity it links with the world of the highway’.

Fumihiko Maki

42

7 Manuel De Solá-Morales

6 Louis Kahn Parking tower Philladelphia

high speed avenue, slow speed street pedestrial paths motorways - conditions

8 Joan Busquets

motorway lightrail pedestrial paths 43

Joan Busquets´ plan for the Beatrix quarter in The Hague provides an example of particular interventions along a motorway that allow development in other areas. Three key moves can be extracted from that project. The first consists on the reduction of noise exposure through the use of preventative glass screens. The second is through the layout of buildings whose scale is not dwarfed by the size of the adjacent highway. Third, is the use of an aboveground light train, connecting the area with a nearby central station without altering pedestrian connection.

That combination manages to reduce the bulk of highways´ repellent conditions.

Noise and pollution are kept away from the recuperated land, whereas a light transport addresses the usual low levels of activity conditioning these areas.

However intelligent or successful the projects may be, they do not monopolize on particular conditions for specific purposes. Instead of aiming at the creation of more complex and productive fabric, these operations tend to homogenize urban environments. Ultimately, they are conceived by making difficult conditions adaptable for market requirements.

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glass screen to control conditions

9 RandstadRail Station Beatrixlaan

lightrail to combat disconnection motorways - conditions

buidling mass as buffer 45

STRATEGY

filtering

46

layering

independent development

motorways - strategy

dependent clusters

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STRATEGY

Filtering services, layering movement Two major moves define a sequenced strategy for the development of the area. The first, constituting an interface to filter the conditions of the A-12, for the developing area. Second, is the transformation of the transportation patterns as a consequence of filtering spaceconsuming, heavy-traffic led manoeuvres.

The densification of necessities, such as storage, loading activities, and other services, form a barrier to buffer arduous conditions, while simultaneously providing a platform for productive activities to cross-pollinate. This concentration then demands new systems of movement, potentially even multiple modes of transportation. As a result, there can be a greater control over speed and more precise linkages. For instance, the vehicular traffic supporting manufacturing areas can be woven to intersect with more civic and pedestrian activities whereas a proposed intermediate level of light transport improves the distribution of goods and people.

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Overall there would not only be a provision of necessary services, like storage and logistics but the system would act as a filter of many elements such as people, noise, pollution and other general adverse conditions of industrial usage. After this, the resulting movement is diffused. Freight trucks are restricted from moving past the threshold of the interface.

Existing beyond, logistical movement is transformed into a lighter system where goods and people are transported in search for an easier and more frequent link to civic networks and amenities.

The interface should be flexible enough to accommodate car parking, so instead of dispersing across the entirety, stacking could occur.

This spatiality could include work and studio space, storage across scales (from industry to housing), commercial uses with services coming from the A-12. Each side of the interface would have completely different relationship, as one relates to buffering the A-12, and the

other is to benefit the areas lying beyond encouraging engagement of users, by including housing, retail and civic space.

Its first layer or (faรงade) should particularly be understood as a varying element. Given the characteristics of logistics, it could provide insulation buffering, whereas gradually getting lighter where storage, studios, or other dwelling uses are allocated. The ground level could be permeable enough for unloading goods proceeding through at a new rate. Finally in areas with a greater civic concentration, the faรงade can transition into a system that collects rainwater, reused by residents. Likewise, other building types could be potentially plugged in beyond.

In summary, the service corridor is varied enough to strengthen engagement with wider areas in Hackney and through the mobility of the A-12, with the rest of the city as well.

motorways - strategy

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INDUSTRIAL SPRAWL

50

motorways - strategy

51

CONCENTRATING SPRAWL

WASTED SPACE: INDUSTIAL MANOEVERING

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motorways - strategy

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INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION: OPTIMIZING THROUGH COMMON FACILITIES

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ENABLING FILTRATION

motorways - strategy

55

56

motorways - strategy

57

WALL

58 PRODUCTION

PARKING

WORKSHOP

STORAGE

WALL

motorways - strategy

WAREHOUSE

STUDIOS

STORAGE

INSULATION

VERSATILITY OF INTERFACE

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60

CANAL PATH

WHEN TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS BECOME A PLATFORM FOR EXCHANGE

RETAIL

LIVE/WORK

WALL

RAIN WATER

GRADATION OF PERFORMANCE

motorways - strategy

61

A-12

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secondary roads

light transport

motorways - strategy

pedestrian

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LAYERING: logistical maneuvers local transport pedestrian movement

LIVE / WORK

pedestrian

SECTION

STORAGE

C - C’

R ETAI L

cars STORAGE

PRODUCTION

light transport SECTION

WORKSHOPS

B - B’

HOUSING

goods heavy vehicles

STUDIOS WAREHOUSE

SECTION

64

motorways - strategy

A - A’

R ETAI L / LI V E STORAGE

65

SCENARIOS These two key moves should be only the tip of an iceberg. The concentration of sprawled activities could shield industrial activities from the pressure of real-estate development, particularly from the burden the London 2012 Olympic games have placed on the area. It could also result in an open space freed up for other productive activities. In this sense, the two initial moves ought to unravel a new understanding for the entirety of the site. The new routes unavoidably interlace, thus creating varied conditions for multiple combinations of building typologies, suitable uses, etc. Each area, defined by a different combination of movement lines relates to different industries also engaging with civic amenities.

The crucial aspect of this multiplicity is that different combinations of land could be de-

veloped at independent times without undermining the process as a whole. Along each transportation line, there could be an integration of existing and newly developed activities.

These combinations are expected to develop a series of civic spines that could engage manufacturing areas, but also connect to the centre with civic amenities. As an example, the nucleus of being city farm is connected to the canal, and combined with work studios and residential spaces.

However, neither the spines, nor the combinations of elements and sequence are fixed or pre-established. On the contrary, a diversity of typologies across the site reinforces the possibilities for infrastructure in becoming instrumental to urbanism.

A-A 66

motorways - scenario

67

B-B

C-C

68

motorways - scenario

69

70

motorways - scenario

71

SCENARIOS

72

motorways - scenario

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RAILWAYS

stations - more than just ‘points’

HACKNEY WICK STATION

. problematising . condition . strategy . scenarios railways

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PROBLEMATISING over concentration effect of railway stations

critique - AAP

CREATIVE

LEISURE

A 12

MANUFACTURE

Hackney Wick

Stratford

Victoria Park

Pudding Mill

The conventional approach to a Transport Oriented Development (TOD), which uses stations as the generators is mostly real estate driven. This method usually eradicates the existing functions and replaces it with high end residential and commercial spaces leading to a homogeneous development, destroying the local productivity chains present in those areas.

Similarly, the Area Action plans (AAP) of Dalston, Hackney Central, and Hackney Wick illustrate, station´s concentration power are currently focused on the attraction of investors by providing them space and opportunities. In the case of Hackney Wick, the existing indus-

trial fabric is to be replaced with dense residential mass, whereas public realm comprises mainly cafes, pubs or other similar commercial uses.

Through a series of analyses and tests, Transport oriented development´s methods of using stations as attracting points for characteristically homogenising processes, will be put in question. The aim is to develop alternative approaches to use railways concentration to unravel possibilities of associations between local specific conditions and other urban resources.

Hackney Wick - Proposed fabric as per the AAP

Kings’ Cross

Typical section - AAP Railways provide for a fast and cheap connectivity from one place to the other, within and across cities. This phenomenon leads to an over concentration of activities around the stations shaping the territory around them in different ways. For instance, within the Lower Lea Valley, Hackney wick, Pudding Mill and Stratford stations have an accumulation of creative studios, light manufacturing industry and high end commercial spaces, respectively around them.

In other words, the railway stations act as ‘points’ of transformation and have an immense potential of generating development in their surroundings.

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Existing fabric against the proposed densification

railways - problematising

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CONDITION case study

site study A

New Socialist Village, Beijing: The new socialist village in Caochangdi, Beijing establishes new spatial and manufacturing strategy, promoting a mixed use cluster in the urban context.

This urban village demonstrates a highly efficient ecology of production. The cooperating units along with spontaneous provocations spread across the entire site making the whole area function as a ‘working village’ which complements the local residents and industries.

Key plan 5th Ring road

B Station

New Socialist Village

A

Hackney Wick area has different typologies of old industrial buildings and clusters which cater to different functions such as the storage, manufacturing, creative studios, etc. However, there is a weak relationship between the station and these building clusters.

New Socialist Village - Location Plan

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Likewise, they make limited usage of open space around or inside them. Instead of using them to extend the resources brought by the stations from other urban areas, they are barely used for loading and unloading of goods and car parks.

In addition, the railway line is creating a barrier resulting into a restricted movement of vehicles and pedestrians.

Section AA

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Detail A: Railway track - A barrier between two sides

railways - condition

Cluster B: Restricted movement of vehicles inside the clusters

Detail A

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underutilised spaces

typology study Adaptive reuse

A. A

B

Building catering to manufacturing and storage facilities for the same production logic

Station

C Hackney Wick - Key plan Nevertheless, studies of existing typologies show potentials in the transformation and adaptation of previous structures to new needs. For instance, the old mono-functional buildings have undergone adaptive reuse incorporating multiple functions (shown in diagrams A, B, C).

B.

Along with manufacturing, the structure also provides for live and work areas for individual professionals

C.

A cluster of buildings catering to various activities such as storage, manufacturing, live and work areas, etc.

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railways - condition

81

STRATEGY index

Concentration/ Filtering

82

index

Layering Movement

Independent Development

railways - strategy

Cross - Pollination

83

concentration/filtering

concentration/filtering

Hackney Wick CREATIVE INDUSTRY

RESEARCH

MANUFACTURE

SHARED FACILITIES

T

he main aim is to have two main productivity chains based on the existing functions around the two stations – one is the creative industry chain at Hackney wick and the other one is the movie & media industry chain at Pudding Mill station.

RECYCLE

Pudding Mill

Hackney wick station to the north and Pudding Mill station to the south are used as the concentrating generators from which a new sequence of spaces aimed at moving beyond.

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S U P P O R T I N G A C T O R S

P R I M A R Y A C T O R S

MEDIA

MOVIE

railways - strategy

85

layering movement

WATERFRONT

PEDESTRIAN

VEHICLE

Hackney Wick

A

hierarchy of vehicular and pedestrian movement will form different spatial and programmatic networks connecting the concentration power of the stations through a series of developing areas -currently empty or underutilized spaces, as explained below: A - a secondary pedestrian link going along the canal will form a network of predominantly recreational, residential and some shared facilities.

B - a primary pedestrian link cutting through the site will connect almost all the areas, be it manufacturing, civic amenities, etc.

C - a vehicular link will form a network between different manufacturing and shared services allowing for the movement of goods.

Civic and shared facilities will make use of the junctions of these vehicular and pedestrian paths with an overlap of open spaces acting as complementary conditions to these uses.

86

Pudding Mill

A.

B.

railways - strategy

C.

D.

87

a new productive spine

Food Packaging

the scenarios Research & Development Facility Roofing Industry

HACKNEY WICK Recycling Industry

STAFORD

OLYMPIC STADIUM

Scenarios: Three scenarios have been thought about which would be tested at the locations mentioned below: - Hackney Wick station - Pudding Mill Station - An intermediate area between the two stations

Movie Set Installation

Shared Facilities

Printing & Media TV Channel

Metal Suppliers

Shared Facilities

Recycling Industry

Delivery Services Fashion Industry Printing

Glass Process

Hackney Wick

Pudding Mill

Three areas of intervention PUDDING MILL

Differentiation of scenarios: - Hackney wick station would cater mostly to the existing functions by enhancing their spatial qualities & would be related to the existing fabric.

Primary Generator Area Secondary Generator Area Supporting Area First Phase Development Overground Productive Spine Station

88

- The intermediate area will have new shared facilities to support the existing functions around it.

- Pudding mill station will create new functions and bigger areas, as presently it is almost an empty land due to the new Cross rail development.

railways - strategy

Hackney Wick

Pudding Mill

Potential furture development sites Shared facilities Creative studios

The new spatial movement through the site

89

SCENARIOS

independent development

independent development

Hackney Wick

Hackney Wick Provocations:

Un- cooperating clusters: The repetitive buildings in this area (as seen in the images above) which are similar in scale and functioning act in an introvert way eliminating a chance of a collective realm to occur.

The culminating effect is that every cluster starts functioning in isolation reducing the oppourtunities for any overlaps or encounters between different users and uses.

Isolated Clusters

the same neighbourhood.

However, the presence of few ‘provocations’ (accidental spaces) in the same territory have become instrumental in changing this situation. For instance, Wallis road which was initially meant for vehicles has now been converted to a pedestrian street allowing for public gathering promoting exchange between different professionals and people from

Wallis Road

Cooperating cluster: Likewise (and also, learning from the New Socialist Village, Beijing), existing clusters could be connected to form a larger ‘co-operating cluster’ using Hackney Wick station as a catalyst.

Key plan

Provocation

Station

Station

Closed Existing gathering of un-cooperating clusters

Repetitive units 90

Existing Isolated functioning

railways - scenarios

Co-operating cluster

Station acting as a catalyst in bringing about the transformation

91

independent development

independent development

Hackney Wick

Hackney Wick

Spatial strategy:

A - The clustering of different types of working units - one type is the larger working space for big offices and the other one is a smaller and more flexible workspace to cater different users.

B - The canal front has been opened up for the activities such as exhibitions, markets, etc. to promote public gathering.

C - Logistics inside the manufacturing clusters.

D - Living areas are provided in the same cluster to support the entire production chain.

Production Chain

B

ased on the existing functions around the station, like the magazine office, fashion industry and printing facility, a scenario has been thought of, in which the existing printing facility, fashion industry, etc. and the newly proposed shared facility cluster of auditoriums, training centres, conference rooms, etc. start forming a network amongst these functions.

A. Working unit

B. Open Canal

C. Assembly line

D. Flexible neighbourhood

Hackney Wick station as a connector

92

railways - scenarios

93

independent development

independent development

Hackney Wick - New Station district

Hackney Wick Circuation pattern within different clusters A.

C A. Station

CANAL MARKET LIVING UNITS

Hackney Wick - Key plan

MAGAZINE OFFICE

PRINTING INDUSTRY

Retained clusters within the new station district

LIGHT TRACK

STUDIOS

DESIGN SCHOOL

FLEXIBLE INCUBATOR

FOOD PACKAGE

C.

LOGISTIC

CIVIC INSTITUTION

ENTERPRISE

Retained clusters

Manufacturing Shared facilities Creative Spaces

94

B.

Study of a few clusters around the station show that they have an efficient way of segregating the movement of people and goods. This characteristic is a crucial aspect and hence, some of them have been retained while reworking the station precinct.

railways - scenarios

Vehicle Pedestrian

95

independent development

independent development

Hackney Wick

Hackney Wick

Programmatic distribution

Ty p o l o gies

96

1&5. Residential

2. Market

3. Gallery

4. Warehouse

railways - scenarios

97

independent development

independent development

Hackney Wick

Hackney Wick

B

A

A

B

Section BB

Section AA

98

railways - scenarios

99

independent development

independent development

Intermediate Area

Intermediate Area - New R&D cluster

Production Chain

I n the intermediate area between Hackney

Wick and Pudding Mill station, a shared facility cluster (like a Research and development centre) can be inserted to act as a link for the new ‘productive spine’.

The site chosen has an existing under used industrial warehouse situated just next to the canal. A recycling industry, steel manufacturing, glass processing and a few other light industries are situated just in its vicinity. Owing to these reasons, it has an immense potential to be redeveloped as a R&D and live/ work cluster which in collaboration with a major institution (like UCL, etc.) may start co-ordinating with the existing users.

Also, a few of the existing creative studios can become a part of this chain on a wider scale.

100

Vehicular Pedestrian New network between R&D cluster and other functions

railways - scenarios

101

independent development

independent development

Intermediate Area

Intermediate Area

A

B A

B

Spatial strategy - from existing to new

Vehicular

The earlier underutilized canal front around this block has been opened up to the neighbourhood.

Also, the insertion of live/ work and social gathering spaces provide for new overlaps and provocations within this research and development cluster.

Pedestrian

Section AA

Existing block

Section BB Existing condition – Restricted circulation

102

New connections across the canal

Defining the cluster with open spaces & new connections

railways - scenarios

103

independent development

independent development

Pudding Mill

Pudding Mill

T

he second station which defines the ‘productive spine’ is Pudding Mill.

The area around this station has recycling industry, broadcasting areas, movie studios, movie set building company, etc. which define the scenario that can be tested at this station.

In relation to these functions and also adding new functions like printing, DVD manufacturing and shared facilities like performance spaces for the artists, auditorium, etc. the station will assume the character of intensification that would help in retaining the character of this area as currently the area is being cleared out for the Cross rail and IKEA development.

Production Chain

Pudding Mill station acting as a connector

104

railways - scenarios

105

cross-pollination

cross-pollination

If, the two spatial and programmatic tests for Hackney Wick station and the intermediate area are looked together in cohesion, an urban scenario arises which may help in underpinning the strategy of creating a wider scale productive logic. Similarly, the area up to Pudding Mill can be regenerated in relation to the new spine.

The existing manufacturing character of the area could be, thus, retained, and the insertion of necessary civic spaces, shared facilities and live-work areas which can be shared by all the users would aid the realization of the long term production strategy.

106

railways - scenarios

107

cross-pollination

cross-pollination

RESIDENTIAL

DELIVERY PRINT

Hackney Wick

BOOK STORE

Hackney Wick

MAGAZINE FASHION DESIGN

STATION SHARED FACILITIES

FOOD PACKAGE

RECYCLING INDUSTRY CAFE

RESIDENTIAL

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT FACILITY MANUFACTURE STUDIO RESIDENTIAL MANUFACTURE

RESTURANT STUDIO

PUB RESIDENTIAL

SHARED FACILITIES

Pudding Mill

RESIDENTIAL MANUFACTURE

Pudding Mill

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT FACILITY STATION SHARED FACILITIES MEDIA INSTITUTION CAFE MOVIE SET INSTALLATION

RECYCLING INDUSTRY

RESIDENTIAL CREATIVE INDUSTRY CREATIVE INDUSTRY

In

conclusion, the existing and proposed functions can form a chain on a local scale and can start interacting with each other on a regional scale through both tangible and intangible networks evolving from the rail stations.

MOVIE STUDIO

CIVIC LINK PRODUCTIVITY LOGIC

108

railways - scenarios

109

EXPANDING MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE: INCORPORATING INDUSTRY

111

EXPANDING MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE: INCORPORATING INDUSTRY

This investigation relies on mobility infrastructure as an urban instrument. The key moves that governed our exploration ultimately question the conventional roles for mobility infrastructure. Engaged and revised to a new degree, are the organization of actors, the establishment of relation and the concern of financial processes.

When infrastructure is understood as architecture and/or urbanism, the capacity for engaging urban productive elements is enriched at multiple scales. The strategy has been, thus, built up as a flexible method, open to multiple possibilities of sequencing and combining new development with existing resources. These adaptive qualities are tailored to encourage a gradual transformation of the area towards an industry-oriented urban pole.

112

expanding mobility infrastructure

113

EXPANDING MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE: INCORPORATING INDUSTRY

To rethink how industries can be knitted back into urban environments, the problem becomes also spatial. The debates surrounding mobility infrastructure elaborates on its current limitations; stark divisions and unpleasant atmospheres.

With increasing awareness the indispensability in redefining industrial spatial performance is becoming acknowledged. Industries are prevented from being efficient because their operations, such as loading, are allowed to sprawl wastefully.

Concentration could provide a series of precise collective services, perhaps even the opportunity for unprecedented exchange between industries and with other activities.

114

expanding mobility infrastructure

115

EXPANDING MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE: INCORPORATING INDUSTRY

To further this coexistence, concentrated services could be composed to filter the repellant aspects of industry. The movement of goods, people etc., could be layered, softening the transition between elements. Through filtering and gradual layering, the harshness of industrial environments primes the conditions for civic, collective, live/ work associations to be fostered.

116

expanding mobility infrastructure

117

EXPANDING MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE: INCORPORATING INDUSTRY

A spatial rethinking of the Lower Lea Valley, its industrial presence and its massive infrastructures, could be the equation for a more fruitful role in the city. The benefit lies in the specificity and particularity of its features, which could add a new dimension to urban production. Given that lines of mobility infrastructure already provide a multi-scalar, physical link, the opportunity exists for immaterial links between research, education, commerce, digital development etc.

It would be a major feat to transform productive capacity or to redefine social organization, however this investigation indulges mobility infrastructure to carry that role. Often, it’s hard to see the benefits of mobility infrastructure because of the perpetual complexity it harbors, spatially, socially and economically. By understanding infrastructure as architecture and urbanism and by applying these strategies as a response, there could be a shift from an embellished landscape to a production-oriented fabric.

118

expanding mobility infrastructure

119

EXPANDING MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE: INCORPORATING INDUSTRY HACKNEY WICK

A 12

A 12

A 12

HACKNEY CENTRAL KING´S CROSS

DALSTON

PRODUCTIVE CLUSTERS

HACKNEY WICK STATION

HACKNEY WICK STATION

FILTERING ACTIVITIES ALONG INFRASTRUCTURE

AREAS OF DEVELOPEMENT

LOWER LEA VALLEY

UCL HUB OLD STREET PUDING

MILL STATION

PUDING

LA Y E R R E D I F Y N I N G

120

M O B I L I T Y

I N

T H E

1

L L V

expanding mobility infrastructure

LA Y E R C O N C E N T R A T I N G

2

S P R A W L

MILL STATION

L AY E R 3 I N T E N S I F Y I N G P R O D U C T I V E C L U S T E R S

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Illustrations: 1.

Photo: “Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Opens from July 2013.” London Legacy Development Corporation. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2013.

2. http://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/2011/07/05/metro-cable-caracas-urban-think-tank/utt_mc_section-la-ceiba/ 3.

Hardingham, Samantha, and Kester Rattenbury. Cedric Price: Potteries Thinkbelt. 1st ed. Abingdon: Routledge, 2007. Print.

Supercrit.

4.

Hardingham, Samantha, and Kester Rattenbury. Cedric Price: Potteries Thinkbelt. 1st ed. Abingdon: Routledge, 2007. Print.

Supercrit.

5.

Image: Maki, Fumihiko, Nurturing Dreams Collected Essays in Architecture and the City.

6.Image: “The Louis I. Kahn Collection.” The Louis I. Kahn Collection. N.p., n.d. Web. March 2013.

7.

Image: Manuel de Sola-Morales, De Cosas Urbanas. Page 102 8. http://es.paperblog.com/joan-busquets-715939/ 9.

Photo: “RandstadRail Station Beatrixlaan Den Haag / Zwarts & Jansma Architecten.”ArchDaily. N.p., n.d. Web. May 2013.

10. http://www.hawkinsbrown.com/studio/new-socialist-village

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