Knowledge Industries and the City: Long Term Value and the Central City by AA School

Knowledge Industries and the City Long Term Value and the Central City

Contributors Carolina Gilardi Chandra Prajapati Jiawen Qiao Karam Lee Kit Lum Muriel Mulier Seray Nergiz Shuya Zeng Tao Wang Tutors Dominic Papa Lawrence Barth

ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE HOUSING & URBANISM

Contents

Introduction p.6 Pentonville and the Knowledge Neighbourhood

p.8

What is the Knowledge Neighbourhood?

p.34

Future Mobility: Station Districts and the Active Mobility

p.88

Streets and Grids

p.128

Clerkenwell and the New Educational Landscape

p.14

Pentonville, Its Estates and the Deep Block Today

p.52

The Major Armatures: Pentonville Road and the Grand Union Canal

p.104

The Intensive Landscape

Conclusion p.150 Central City Knowledge Neighbourhoods and the New Localism Bibliography p.152

Introduction There is no denying the importance of cities and their appeal as privileged environments, which have only grown over the past centuries. Consequently, the idea of the urban lifestyle has evolved to become richer as we continue to transform and adapt to the many dimensions of density. Crossovers between living and working and an evolving notion of how we choose to move and buy locally within a bigger interconnected area are some of the main threads that we can anticipate will transform how we live. The pressure on central areas has fostered innovation and a mixture between educational, corporate, retail and housing that serves for a rethinking of inclusivity, opportunity and resilience. Particularly with the growth of knowledge based activities, the Knowledge Neighbourhood as the place for these innovations to take place becomes the diagnostic tool that allows different visions for central cities to emerge..

Figure 01// Overview of Pentonville

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What is a Knowledge Neighbourhood?

Cities can be studied in terms of areas, quarters, districts or neighbourhoods. These categories imply not only different scalar approaches and differentiation, but a formal coherence and a socio-geographic characterization. A Knowledge Neighbourhood then, is one way of understanding the works of an urban area that has an integrated character and can be differentiated. In its formal consistency, which is marked by topography, road systems and heritage, to name a few, it is particularly defined by its performance in a larger economic scale, which makes it a better place to live. The knowledge neighbourhood brings together research, education and creatives that take advantage of proximity to generate a network of flexible specialization that not only benefits the industry but also the community where it’s inserted. The knowledge economy, over which the knowledge neighbourhood is built, has been defined extensively but can be summarized as “based on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to an accelerated pace of technical and scientific advance” 1 In other words, the production is not so much based on access to

natural resources or physical inputs but on the intellectual capacities of those involved, making the access to a wide talent pool (either through associations or in-house) and supportive facilities the key aspects for its development. Creative industries, such as the music, film or fashion as well as design or architecture are part of the knowledge economy. These are complemented by tech and scientific research as the other great players in the field. The most important aspect remains in the integration of these to produce innovation: as we have seen in this year with the COVID-19 crisis, the importance of trackand-tracing technology combined with medical knowledge or the impact of communication strategies to prevent the spread of the virus, targeted and ground-breaking solutions arouse by collaboration and mutual support between actors. Although the term can be traced back to the '60s, knowledge production has risen exponentially for the past thirty years to become one of the major engines in both economic and urban development. Lately, we have seen a shift from science parks or creative villages to an integration of the industry in the core of the city. They have

Figure 02// Creative cluseters in Clerkenwell

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► Figure 03// Aereal view of Pentonville Road ►

Figure 04// Kings Cross-St Pancras

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Stations

Figure 05// Access to the Wellcome Collection

► Figure 06// Pancras Square

consequently benefited from the logistic and service potential of a fabric that, while it might be too tight for other productive activities, can easily accommodate the smaller units that make for 90% of the sector 2. There are several views of what defines a knowledge neighbourhood: a place of inclusivity, democracy and creation for culture in a socially-oriented view, or a place of economic talent and creative industries in the productive sense 3. Through this work, we will explore the two converge to promote not only sustainable development but value for residents in the long run. Bringing together actors and supporting their work becomes as important as housing becomes in the equation, and the interrelation between the two one key aspect to consider. Particularly in London, Creative Industries represent about a tenth of the capital’s GVA, making not only for a substantial part of the economy but also a growing one that sees sustained annual increase even though the 2008 economic crisis4. Currently, according to the Mayor of London, it employs one in six people at the country’s capital. This impacts not only the sector directly, but also the supply chain, making it a priority for the administration to promote these 5. One initiative has been the Creative Enterprises Zones, a program giving funding to upcoming areas such as Lambeth, Croydon or Hackney to “boost creative communities” 6 that is complemented by more private-based initiatives like the East Bank’s developments by UCL or Here East. In this context, the existing services and

big-name institutions located in some central but under-developed areas in London, find themselves in an ideal condition to reposition themselves in the creative economy bringing long term value to the area. Clerkenwell Pentonville, located north of Pentonville Road, between Angle and Kings Cross is part of Clerkenwell, belonging to Islington and Camden. The area is greatly populated by housing estates, and although there’re are some small business it remains mainly residential. It is crossed by Regent’s Canal, which links the Paddington Arm to the Paddington Basin, and eventually links the water route to the Thames. The canal, the roads and the geography of the area, with pronounced slopes, determine a spatial condition unique to the area. It is also a strategic area next to King's Cross Station, linked trough the railway system with the UK and Europe. On the south side of Pentonville Road, opposite to Pentonville itself, is the area known as Farringdon or Clerkenwell, which can be said to run down to Farringdon Station. This complements the study area north of the road and is also greatly affected by pronounced slopes and a mostly residential fabric, crossed by Greys Inn Rd, Farringdon Rd and Goswell Road towards the south. Together, these two compose a larger district with great potential but little development. In both, there is a great comparative advantage to other areas of the capital for its connectivity both through the corridor and the transport system,

while there are also a major research and creative institutions and clusters with a pushing presence. This, added to a great number of underdeveloped or badly maintained housing estates and plots creates an opportunity for redevelopment. COVID 19 has not only paused our lives in certain aspects, but it has also made us consider more seriously living trends which were pushing in the past decade. Work-from-home to such an extent and the necessity to remain in our local neighbourhoods almost overnight has created an exponential awareness of the importance of a distributed network of services, of local economies and community building. The growing ecological conscience only supports the idea that we should be rethinking supply chains and mobility systems, which entails a reconsideration of bike docks, car-charging stations and the effectiveness of public transport. The presence of employment opportunity and working spaces that complement the cities central is generally understood as the future of work. The idea that working is bound to be docked in a corporate office has finally succumbed, making us think about integrating working in residential areas. Why not then, think about the upcoming creative clusters as the drivers of change? A knowledge neghbourhood implies a collaboration not only amongst institutions but an extended community impact. Through teaching, local employment and involvement programs, institutions such as hospitals amplify

their impact through structures of care that go beyond emergency assistance. In the same way, University campuses can no longer be regarded as secluded environments, but as centres that concentrate housing for researchers and students as well as industries, networking spaces and cultural venues. Higher Education, Big companies such as Google or Universal, and smaller startup clusters, integrate more complex network in which we find added long term value.

► Figure 07/ Care environments

► Figure 09// Living environments indeep blocks

► Figure 08// Work in times of COVID 19

Pentonville, its Estates, and the Deep Block Today

Streets and roads form a grid that defines the organization of urban enclaves. Their hierarchy defines the character of the spaces in-between that become the urban blocks. Throughout history and in different places, the process of expansion and redevelopment of cities has provided a great variety of patterns, and London is no exception . As a collection of villages that were absorbed by a growing urban spot, the road system in the city has conformed to a variation that spans from a very tight fabric towards the River to a looser perimeter. This irregularity was increased by the bombings and clearances that followed in the first half of the XX century. This complexity has resulted in an uneven block distribution that, on the other hand, provides a diversity that allows terrace houses to coexist with large facilities such as universities or logistic centers in proximity. The very small blocks can only be occupied by a single large building or a series of houses that determine a perimeter, while very large blocks demand an internal mobility structure and are where bigger floorplates can accommodate some specific programs. Looking at these layers there is a diversity in the depth of the blocks that make us question if we need to keep on emphasizing the role of the street.

When we spot these 2-to-3-hectare blocks that are easily accessible on foot but that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be all street defined, a new category arouses. It must be noted that these deep blocks are disruptions that have the potential to generate something different, and as such we take them as exceptional opportunities that complement the finer grain. If we acknowledge contemporary living environments thrive in the integration of workspace and leisure with multiple dwelling options when these are brought together in a deep block the synergies grow exponentially. It is when the burden of responding to the street is lifted that we see the full potential of pedestrian access and a thickened ground. Then, the sports facilities can coexist with offices, workshops and services in a different scenario to the tightly built central London or the suburban outskirts. This nuance makes the area particularly interesting as it enables a productive landscape in the interior of the block. Like the Berlin Block that was filled with industrial workshops, we can think of a contemporary mixed environment as a privileged ground for integrating actors.

â&#x2013;ş Proposal for the Priory Green Estates

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Block diversity: the deep block as opportunity

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Linear blocks in Pentonville

► Priory Green Estate Analysis

The main blocks are accesed trough a central spine. They are divided to reduce their uniformity. The cores are located in the meeting points of the three parts. ►

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Unite d'Habitation analysis

Arthouse analysis

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The Estates Nowadays, these type of blocks in Pentonville are occupied in by Housing Estates. These alternate between elevated modernist blocks and stacked housing, illustrating the mid-century debate over hygiene and density as key factors for improving living conditions. As they were built in a period of crisis, most never managed to provide the collective amenities described in the original briefs, which complemented the residential unit as part of a larger whole. However, they still show an aspiration for a better quality of life which now must be reinterpreted.

only affected the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s construction quality and the lack of collective services but meant a substantial change from dual aspect apartments to a gallery-access scheme. The orientation inside the block is consistent with the modernist period, opening great green areas between the housing units which remains largely unoccupied and had to be fenced following the resident's demands in the 1990s. Since then the Estate that is now managed by the Peabody Trust has undergone some maintenance and security measures following a downfall in the '80s, but not much has been done about the general quality of the units and remains greatly under-exploited.

A significant exemplar is Tectonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Priory Green Estate. The project was built in the 1950s, although the project precedes the beginning of World War II. In this time, it went through numerous alterations that took the original fractioned slabs with multiple cores that promised high living standards to an adapted layout which did with less budget and more area due to the warâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bombings. The reduction in costs not

The linear blocks that compose this Estate present an opportunity for study and redevelopment. Although Priory Green's blocks are fairly simple, having a repetitive apartment unit replicated through its height and that is in most cases also reaching the ground floor, we can see in the analysis of other linear blocks a greater acknowledgement of the role of circulation in determining the units, a differentiation between

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Figure 10 // Historic views

► Figure 11// Main blocks and inner courtyard

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Figure 12// Lower blocks on the west side

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Figure 14// Circulatory system light and shadow play

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Figure 15// Eggcrate structure under construction

ground floor and coronation and shared amenities that start to be distributed throughout the building as we can see even in Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation. Another challenge of Priory Green is that the blocks lack recognition of their position in the urban area, the same typology can be seen in the larger block that faces Rodney Street and in the one that is immersed in the depth of the block. This invites the reflection over how we address the condition of the edge and the interior of the block. Frontality and street definition have also changed in our understanding of linear blocks like we can see, for example, in the Arthouse housing project, and that should be considered when reinterpreting Loubetkin’s proposal.

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Looking into the interior of the block

New living conditions demand an intensified environment that brings living and working together, creating an ecology that benefits all stakeholders. The ground floor, its openness, permeability and intensity become a tool for negotiation which also expands to become multileveled. The monofunctional Estate that currently occupies the deep block needs to be rethought in this key. When considering how this block could be adapted to these new ways of living then, we can say there are roughly four ways to do it. We might say there is a possibility in retaining the form but exploring typological alterations (a), we might think of activating the ground and the unitsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; connection to this changing diagram (b) or we can think more radically as to how much and why we could intensify the existing while retaining the structure (c) or even rethink it completely through a comprehensive redevelopment (d). Later in the book, we will introduce how we could completely rethink this block, but we will now focus on how a radical transformation does not necessarily imply a tabula rasa. The exploration of the Estate as an innovation

cluster not only proves the capacity of the deep block to integrate uses but it also inserts itself in a debate over the importance of typological diversity instead of formal variations. Many projects have done this and serve as bases for this exploration. Lacaton and Vassalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s study of French modernist block expansions shows how an independent structure can serve to redefine the typology and increment the area. Other exemplars such as the Klarenstraat in Amsterdam or the Prefab House in Slovakia show a typological redefinition by innovatively associating the existing area, joining levels and neighbouring apartments to offer diversity while retaining the form . Finally, other projects such as Kempe Tillâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rozemaai Housing in Antwerp show the great effect of the envelope redefinition as the means to completely transform the qualities of the dwelling . This brief description only accounts for a brief enumeration of some of the basic qualities in projects that collectively show a great understanding and care of the existing structure as a support for new ways of living that nothing have to do with nostalgia, but that prospectively explore how to move forward. Priory Green's blocks have an eggshell structural

system. The grid is composed by bearing walls and slabs, in a variation of a system Arup developed for Tecton and that was used in many collective housing projects. While it doesn't alloy for bringing down walls because it doesn't rely on columns or beams, it does liberate the facades completely and supposes a very regular module which serves as the bases for reinterpreting the unit. The longer blocks were originally divided into 12 identical units per floor, with two central cores serving a media of 42 units. After analyzing the structureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restrictions and potential, these could be reconceptualized to create a domestic ecology based on the principle of diversity o users and an extended collective service provision. A typical apartment would be extended to have more outdoor space and an "extra room" for studying, working or doing exercise, as well as a greater balcony that serves as individual outdoor space. But that very basic cellular structure can also become two studios sharing office space and services, or even more extremely, the 4 central apartments could become 12 single units with a greater shared service area catering for different demographics. This extension in the facade

redefines the connection between the unit, the exterior and the circulatory system while retaining the linear type. This is possible because of the structural independence of the extensions, and the non-supporting character of the existing envelope. The lower blocks on the west, on the other hand, have greater street access and should offer a distinctive treatment. The buildings could be rethought as two-story ateliers that accommodate a new type of the living and working unit. If we look at the Cite des Artistes in Paris as an inspiration, the exposed workshop not only serves for commercial purposes but also for the building of a community feeling and increased value to the experience of belonging to the neighbourhood. By creating a podium in between we can bring new services, like a nursery or a gallery, to the interior of the block and connect these small workshops with a greater public. Moreover, the top units that lack the direct street connection, would be served by an elevated courtyard that serves as an alternative to the living conditions on the ground floor. We can now see segmentation and diversity within the linear blocks, which is exactly the

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Active groundfloor and moving trough

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Unit extension and the living and its verstility

Deep block Study Set

Ground floor exploration: the Checkboard

Maze

Bands

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Infill

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Checkboard

Compound

Ground floor exploration: the Maze

While retaining the structure, there are several ways in which we might develop infill. A Compound supposes a consolidation of the perimeter, Bands promote the passage trough the block instead of generating spaces for rest. We might also extend big floorplates towards the interior, creating a porous border that consolidates inside. The Checkboard strategy is interesting in this set as it explores an iteration between inside and outside, public and private, that instead of determining routes trough the block, enables a free exploration trough halls and gardens. Although this system present interesting qualities, the Maze could combine this iteration with more structured progress that preserved spaces of privacy and a differentiated quality to each action, given by the hierarchy and spatial occupancy of the infills. 29

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From the apartment to the room as basic unit

In the larger blocks, we might re interpret the aggregation unit, from a repetitive single-family apartment to multiple lifestyle flats and shared living spaces.

independent rooms in a larger collective unit

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extended family unit

New floor ecologies

two studios with shared ammenities

attitude of Loubetkin when originally proposing Priory Green, thinking about envelope and orientation. By redefining new living conditions, we are inevitably thinking about doing more with the open grounds in between blocks. As the occupation ratio is now under 30%, there is plenty of in-between areas that can be infilled with more flexible typologies and deeper floorplates to accommodate market housing, working sheds and open plan office space while creating shared facilities and congregating environments for the whole compound. While the extensions in the apartments and the collective working facilities on the ground floor can serve small knowledge-based enterprises (which in themselves account for a very large part of the sector ), open plan tower blocks could supplement the offer, giving businesses with more employees or greater machinery a suitable space that could benefit from the smaller companies already present. These bigger players would support an association with institutions such as schools or charities in the area, with which they could promote social programs and insertion policies. What is more, the greater purpose of the increased density and intensity of the block would be to offer a greater

range of services, such as sports areas, a great hall for events and landscape maintenance to the resident body. By retaining the existing structure there are obvious challenges, but we are thinking how this can enable a phased project that remains controlled by the Social Enterprise: these are profitable businesses with a positive social impact, in this case, providing adequate housing to people who canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford market prices. This model is growing in importance particularly in the UK, where it can access dormant funds and is supported by the Councils. In this case, the Peabody Trust ensures the administration and maintenance of the socially rented units here and in other estates trough an active investment portfolio. By liberating prime land for market housing and new companies in Priory Green we could create land availability, which would produce revenue necessary to keep a wide range of services. The tradeoff between the new actors and the residents makes for new employment opportunities and social integration, while companies benefit from local provision but remain linked through a major connectivity hub: the Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cross and St Pancras Station.

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Former floorplan

Two-level studios

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The west blocks are four stories high and can be adapted, with a shared in-between podium, to cater for a new living and working lifestyle: the Atelier.

New layout in the Ground Floor

Future Mobility: Station Districts and the Active Mobility

King’s Cross- St Pancras is one of the most intensely used transport interchanges in London and standing just in the middle of the Euston and Pentonville Coridor and the Regent’s Canal cuts across the site. Every morning, 30.000 travellers come into King’s Cross- St Pancras. The King’s Cross railway lands are adjacent to the King’s Cross-St Pancras transport node and formed one of the largest development sites in Europe. 1 Today, King’s Cross redeveloped into something totally different than ever before. One the thing main thing that should be considered while approaching station districts is to understand of mobility has been changing. Everybody needs to access and experience mobility in stronger ways ever before. Once Weber pointed out: “The design criteria for an alternative future transport system must reflect the flexibilities that the modern city form requires.” 2 Accordingly, mobility and movement are different in our minds, it is not only the journeys from the point of origin and to the destination point but experiencing the everyday activity. All these matters to understand that station areas need to allow these continuities in movements and linkages.

Ideally, a mass transport system is needed that is capable of providing random access directly and it needs to do these transitions between being a passenger and pedesterian easily. 3 On the other hand, if this is the place where everybody goes, station hubs have the tremendous amount of opportunity to put key services such as commercial, educational and health. That’s why large tech companies like Google and Time Warner’s want to be here as one of the main drivers of change. How can we distribute future coming-up living, working and retail services around to build longterm synergy between knowledge industries that want to take place here and neighbourhood? One of the way of doing this is to improve active mobility around the station. Additionally, the notion of armatures and large social infrastructures has already started to change in the time of Covid-19. We are living in a time where being safe is more important than experience. We need to emphasise the active mobility and places that are close to home and embraced by local community more than ever.

“Mobility and movement are different in our minds, it is not something that we just come and go but we experience everyday activity. All these matters to understand that station areas need to allow these continuities in movement and linkages.”

► Figure 1// Granary Square, The Redevelopment of King’s Cross sets an urbanity

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Figure 3 // St Pancras Square

Figure 2 // Distribution of services, St Pancras Square in the middle of two stations, retail services in Coal’s Yard (blue), educational services Central St Martins ( green) and residential complexes on the north.

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Figure 4 // North side residental area of the King’s Cross, 2020

Figure 5 / The Redevelopment of King’s Cross, 2019

â&#x2013;ş Figure 6 // Rotterdam Central Station as a canopy and distribution of services in a huge radius.

â&#x2013;ş Figure 7// Rotterdam Central Station ground floor plan, clarifying services from inside thestation

Rotterdam Central Station is doing things in an exciting way by simplifying everything from the station. It is just basic services, and ground level is just an open plane. How do they look out the services? if we are sorting out the linkage, it enables to reach all the possible services in a huge radius. 38

On the other hand, in Utrecht Central Station, there was growing criticism of the failure of the complex, Hoog Catharijine, to integrate with its surroundings, of the resulting severance of the links between city and station and of the insecurity of the public spaces.4 Huge efforts have been made to solve these problems of island effects and barriers. more we try to put all the concentration to the station areas, we are losing the power of the linkages. Stations are also quite messy places where great number of people try to get something from different places.

Figure 8 //Utrecht Central Station; to the leftof the tracks, the multifunctional complex of Hoog Catharijine and the historic city. To the right of the tracks, the congress and exhibition centre of the Jaarbeurs. â&#x2013;ş

Figure 9// Solution guideline: the system of open spaces, integrating station and city. â&#x2013;ş

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Distinctive elements through the Euston Corridor from west to east; Euston Square, Welcome Trust, Euston Station, British Library, King’s Cross-St Pancras, King’s Place , Angel Building.

King’s Cross-St Pancras is a part of the system that the Euston Corridor establishes connections amongst the distinctive elements. We can distinguish that synergy is already there - including Biritsh Library and Welcome Trust- are located here. One of the thing that is changing is King’s Cross begins to convert the notion of the corridor to the notion of the urban area by pulling back all the services to the north.The concept of the area is to rethink the possible synergies and to distribute services by preserving the fundamental challenge of linkage.

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Distinct territories from west to east; University Cluster, Somers Town, King’s Cross as main south- north conjunction, housing estates in Pentonville

Pull backs and deep blocks on the north side and gridal structure on the south

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Second row as a potential collector from Regent’s Park through Hoxton

The two armatures in the area, Euston Corridor and the Regents Canal, and the station are part of the layered system with the differentiation of paralel lines and the balancing of flows from east-west to north-south and from arrival to departure in the station. It’s just one of them almost hidden as second row. And we can begin to see the capacities that could be carried on. The fundamental principle is the differentiation of parallel lines being part of the strategy of integration. The projects that is just a block away from these armatures, such as St Pancras Square in the middle of two stations and establishes a greater public realm with a huge number of employment (See Figure 3). In a bit distance away from Regent’s Canal through the north, mainly residentals and educational services are located. Simply, the logic of the redevelopment is to set each service under one roof and collect them with the comparative studies of street and open space scales.

“There are 2 really important armatures that are moving through the area east-west. It’s just one of them almost hidden as second row.” 41

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New centrality near the station

If we conceptualise the stations as eccentrics rather than the centre of everything, we can start to sort out for a ground to build a longer-term synergy between tech companies and residential life by putting a new centrality in a really close walking distance to the station hub. In comparasion to St Pancras Square, we can start to achieve distributing services equally inside 3 hectares, almost in the same areal dimensions as St Pancras Square , but slightly different in terms of being in the middle of two contrast situation, the attractiveness of the station and a more quiter residential environment.

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Envisioning of new deep block in the corridor

On the other hand, we can recognise the morphology of the north is mostly deep blocks and pull backs from the corridor and more grid structure and shallow on the south side. We can start to look at the new opportunities of the new ground that is attached to the corridor that is opening up to the residental life.

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Option 1: consistency in the morphology

What we need to be seeking with these design explorations is turning these area that allows better pedestrian connections by getting rid of the heavy traffic with active mobility and a greater diversity of dwelling and working. In the proposals of comprehensive transformation, housing becomes the key element to make a local hub work in 24 hour in a day. One

of the way of exploring these crossovers can being consistence on the morphology to set a hierarchy between living and working by the greater emphasise of street connections. These dense environment might start to establish its own ground by allowing these transitions between station and neighbourhood.

A conceptual sketch of the envision the new density in a close walking distance to the station.

Ground floor and open space continuity between residential and working

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Option 2: fragmented open block

The other option might be a fragmented block that distribute over a number of buildings that in turn comprise different volumes of varying heights and forms by emphasising the inner centrality. The range of different typologies to diversify the area such as single living studios, or collective living and also work spaces or more intense use of the shared courtyard that could be set as a design framework for multiple actors.

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There are different ways of mixing dwelling and working in the same urban block. The typology of the ilot ouvert in Quartier Massena is a way of seperation of dwelling and work spaces by preserving their own qualities. The apartments, studios and commercial spaces into two telescoped volumes of two and nine floors and one

Figure 10 // ground floor of Quartier Massena

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Option 2: Ground floor that emphasises permeability from Caledonian Road and hard edge from the Corridor.

seperate seven-floor volume. The studios and public programmes opens directly onto the street and apartments are accessed via a patio. Thus, the ilot ouvert succesfully mediates between different users of the city. (See Figure 10,11,18,19) The Berlin examplary, IBeb’s Building, can be seen as one of them contemporary approach that hybridise living and working in the double-heighted studio typology within the slab. Same as Quartier Massena, studios on the ground floor can be accessed from the street and the rue interior connects the variety of units and become a collector of different lifestyles in the same building. (See Figure 12,14,15)

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Figure 11 // different accesses to residents and studios

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Linking grounds with station

Additionally, today in London, we are getting familiar with these major new developments that insist on quite street basis and mix dwellings and work spaces in a stronger sense of establishing a ground. Central St Giles and Fitzroy Place are the examplaries of these contemporary projects. (See Figure 16,17)

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Figure 12// IBeb’s Building in Berlin, the rue interior as inner street to collect variety of units

Dwelling and working in the same urban area but just across one of the best-connected part of the city starts to build up a greater value change with larger companies by interconnecting small and medium enterprise with residental life. We are no longer emphasising the mixture of live and work only but the need of strengething our local centres especially after Covid-19 by considering work environments should be the backbone of recreatinonal environments and retail services. We can start to reliase the imporance of these local ‘living rooms’ or another words local stalliate offices inside our neighbourhoods by using the contemporary typologies that can be adaptable for Pentonville.

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Resident for Researchers in Paris, offers little typological variations and leads us toward a regular and aligned structure. The building is recognizable for its compactness. In plan, the residence appears as a “split cube”, subdivided into three parallel areas: two housing units on both sides and one common space and circulation unit in the middle. Circulation becomes the collector of two splitted volumes. (See Figure 13,20)

Figure 13/ Residents for Researchers in Paris, circulation as collector of two volumes

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► Figure 14, 15 // IBeb’s Building in Berlin, street accessed artist studios and contemporary approaches of double heighted studios.

► Figure 16 // Fitzroy Place by Sheppard Robson ► Figure 17 // Central St Giles by Renzo Piano

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► Figure 18,19 // The typology of the ilot ouvert in Quartier Massena; Christian de Portzamparc’s open block as the new concept of diversity

Figure 20 // Residents for Researchers in Paris

Ddistributing over a number of buildings that in turn comprise different volumes of varying heights and forms by emphasising the inner centrality and continituies through north-south and east-west. Patios, larger courtyards and circulation become both collector and seperator between dwelling and working.

The views from the Caledonian Road and the inner courtyard. Street accesible studios and living in the same building with working environment by seperating entrances and using circulation as a collector.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;...the need of strengething our local centres by considering small and medium enterprises should be the backbone of recreational environments and retail services â&#x20AC;&#x153; .

The Major Armatures: Penronville Road and the Grand Union Canal

The gridiron pattern in Pentonville depends on two parallel armatures that dominate the hierarchy of the grid. While both Pentonville Road and Regent’s Canal present a strong presence in the grid, they run in parallel containing a pattern of differentiation. Historically Regent’s Canal had a strong commercial distribution function, connecting the outskirts of the city to the River Thames. The canal is partially tunnelled because of the topography of Pentonville, that is sloping down towards the south. Pentonville Road extends further east-west as Euston Road, from Marlybone Road to King’s Cross, and geographically depicts London’s Inner Ring Road. Along this corridor Euston Road has different magnets or attractors, as the British Library, Wellcome trust, King’s Cross and St. Pancras station, etc... The challenge is how these institutions become connected not only to a wider public but also bring something to the direct district with its community. Rethinking the corridor in the concept of ‘urban areas as assemblies’ would create a compelling knowledge environment, as mentioned in chapter So we can identify how these major linkages play an important role as

faster and slower east- west systems (see Figure 4 and 5). The armatures are not simply a single line from A to B, but they are both providing a further linkage and at the same time they are collecting a serie of communities. We need to define their physical and latent connections on different scales. An armature according to David Graham Shane is a linear urban system that is sorting sub- elements in the city arranged as a sequence.1 He argues each armature forms a recognizable topological module aligned between distinctive poles. Armature is not a line in a space but an extension of influence and it may look linear but a purposeful armature is transverse where the influence permeates and trickles down. Infrastructure is not a disruption or obstacle but resources. Transverse linkage is both the mobility, micro mobility, the block, (mass), its voids, and infrastructure. This area of exploration has the capacity to densify by organising various urban quarters and penetrating north-south axes.

► Figure 1// Disruptions in the landscape, armatures and their relation to the topography.

District; Pentonville, Clerkenwell, Hoxton, Bloomsbury,.. Institutions Transport hubs Retail clustered

Building as block Assemblages mostly in second row Influence sphere armatures boardering the second row Edge of the boroughs

Green; parks, yards, nature

▲ Figure 2// The influence sphere of the armature until the second row in relation to its bordering district.

“The armatures are not simply a single line from A to B, but they are both providing a further linkage and at the same time collecting a serie of communities.“

▲ Figure 3// The corridor is changing, elements used to connect to a wider city. However, when we zoom in, we end up with adjacent buildings that have nothing to do with each other. We should rethink the corridor as an urban area that works as an assemble.

The quality of an armature generally focuses on the first row development, this could be different. What if we rethink typology along the armatures that balances both the influence on the corridor and its hinterland? The character of the corridor can change by expanding the notion of dual frontage and absorptivity. We can see that the transport hubs along Euston Corridor are having a deeper influence on Euston Road in the depth of the block, but they are doing this very extensively. Maybe too much? Extension into the depth can be obtained through possible variations; through the concept of thickened ground, the open ground floor (one of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cinq pointsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by Le Corbusier), sequence of spaces from street to plaza to courtyard etc...

Because of COVID19 the need for a rethinking of spatial and social distance is interrogated even more and is bringing the existing trend of micro mobility higher on the agenda. Through the growth of a localism trend and bringing in leading institutions and businesses, expertise is added to the armature, the diversity of actors can be increased while at the same time coherence is strengthened.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 4// The importance of Euston corridor as East-West linkage, where the canal meets the corridor 3 times:City Road basin, Little Venice and Greenford.

The topography had a severe impact on how armatures have been growing. Regentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Canal for example had been tunnelled because of the hillside from the north. (see Islington tunnel) After the coming of the railways around 1840, not only the canal started to lose its function but also the geographical constraints are blurred out and cities could grow even faster outside its constraints. Carolyn Steel points out that this stimulated the city sprawl since food distribution became more effective. (source book: Sitopia)

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 5// The canal system, with dotted lines for not realised, but once planned extension.

Regent’s Canal

“Its rhythm provides both intensity and quietness.”

During the 19th century the Canal has been a major axis for import of goods from the midlands to the city and sometimes even beyond that, for example ice from Norway. The interchanging goods in productive warehouses made the borders around the canal and basins a significant working environment. The typology of multistory ‘Interchange warehouses’, literally had to lift the goods out of the water and distribute further into the city for road or rail transport. Tugs, vessels and boats could moor right into the building where hydraulic lifts could carry the goods to the correct level. 2 ”One of the biggest challenges in the building of the waterway was in passing Islington Hill. It was decided to dig cuttings on either side of the hill and then a tunnel, from under the White Conduit House on the eastern side to close to the Rosemarie Branch inn on the western side.” 3 In 1982, the route between Islington Tunnel and Limehouse was completed. After heavy bombing during the world war and the growing competition with the railway the area around the canal lost its vocation and has shifted today to a repository for pedestrians, cyclists, small retail and a scene of culture. Its rhythm provides both intensity and quietness. The canal towpath was a private space until the borough council took a decision in the 1970s, following the 1968

Transport Act national policy, to publically open up the canal as an aesthetically acceptable leisure link. Basins are specifically challenging environments because of their seclusion, they are equivalent to “the cul-the-sac” in the street system. Both the recent improvements of the towpath as bicycle track and the conversions of the light industrial typologies (wharfs, warehouses) create opportunities for a regeneration of the Canal. Both of these are challenging the canal at the same time, the proximity to the City of London and the increasing public transport connectivity have put pressure on the canal to redevelop. “While Copenhagen has its Harbour Baths, Paris its plages on the Seine, and Basel hosts the annual Rhine Swim, the thought of wild swimming along London’s waterways might be somewhat less appealing.” 4 Nevertheless, there are proposals and ideas today to extend the canal as a more prominent linkage. In a competition, Studio Y/N argues that the canal can be used by commuters as a daily transport to work from Paddington basin to Limehouse basin. Among other things, Transport for London is also looking into using the canal for transporting domestic and commercial waste. 5

▲ Figure 7// Revival of the canal, canalival festivities. ▲ Figure 6// Scene of culture. Yearly Antepavilion festival.

► Figure 8// The secluded Battlebridge basin. View on the south, with on the right hand side, King’s Place. ▼ Figure 9// Because of the topography, the waterway is passing Islington Hill. ▼ Figure 10// Towpath for slow mobility; pedestrians, cyclists.

▲ Figure 11// Section of the 13.8 km of Regent’s canal.

▲ Figure 12// Timeline of the major events around the Regent’s canal and the Battlebridge Basin in specific.

Health & Bio-economy for Pentonville

Copenhagen street

▲ Figure 13// The notion of well-being can be addressed on many scales, from within the home to the city.

Tech + media start - ups

▲ 62Figure 14// Collective ecology from Regent’s Canal to Copenhagen Street

Street as a multi-layered landscape

“An open cooperative for multi-generations as a new living model rejects the model of a community center by updating an urbanity of care.” Rethinking for example the extension of the home towards places where you share knowledge, where a charity event could happen or first aid is provided. Linking these spatial qualities to different degrees of care (like first, second to third line) could be compared to the wider services beyond the NHS, such as housing, schools, and the voluntary sector, that are also playing an important role to cohesive and open communities (see Figure 17). Nowadays there is a need for more intrusive care, which enables remote monitoring care to the home, instead of in institutionalised environment.

Regent’s Canal

Covid19 has even more emphasised the importance of well-being within the neighbourhood. A health and bio economy for Pentonville would be accessible for both the local population and for a wider public, through Euston road and King’s cross as a mobility node. One possible way of envisioning the knowledge neighbourhood is focusing on care. The broadening of care is a response to the changing demographics, the need for alternative living models and the increasing loneliness. Well-being can be translated into space, addressed on different scales, from within the home towards the city (see Figure 13).

Health centre

Sport infrastructure

Shared mooring place

Existing offices, wharehouses

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 19// View on the inner plaza from one of the collective wintergardens.

A possible future of the canal should be a waterfront with a mix of scales that is attractive for multiple actors. The growing creative industry can be integrated within the monofunctional residential fabric; looking for how they can complement, for example in shared workshop spaces, learning centres. They are looking for a closer allocation to a more local, sustainable and fine grain supply chain, talent pool and civic amenities. More than the bigger business industry, the creative industry lies closer to the residential fabric. Creative industries could use their technological knowledge to boost communities or residents to connect on different levels. The exposure of the canal to a wider district that uses the canal as a mobility path is an opportunity for creative industries to open up towards the canal environment and be part of a group of actors that share this particular environment. The care landscape is one of the major drivers

for the knowledge neighborhood. Equally we could imagine that the area transformed into spaces for studios, small-business tech clusters. The performance of the healthcare landscape is visible in clusters around bigger universities, research is preferable a talent attraction pool and commercial businesses flourish. However; collaboration and engagement is a less visible part of the proliferating distributed care landscape. The layout of care homes is typically based around long corridors and same size units as care rooms. An alternative way is clustering units of 2 rooms, as we can see in the precedent of the Elderly care centre in Losone (see Figure 15). In this way shrinkage and expansion would be allowed, since each cluster shares 1 collective space that can become an one bigger space from time to time. Each floor has 2 winter gardens, with on top open collective roof terraces.

â&#x2013;ş Figure 18// Model for cluster sharing, multidirectional vectors.

▲ Figure 15// Elderly home, Losone, Gelata Inches. Schrinkage and expansion of shared space.

0 5 10 LEVEL RESI

▲ Figure 16// Cluster living with two shared wintergardens.

▲ Figure 17// The plurality of healthcare services beyond the NHS.

Cluster Living

Public Lifted Plaza

Offices

Basin Park

Research Units

Arthouse with Retail on Groundfloor

Waitrose

Edward's Square

Residential Tower Primary School Cluster Living

Health Centre

King's Cross station -->

Sport Facilities

Canal Museum -->

King's Place Media+Culture Hub

Battlebridge Basin The canal as a line of integration, brings a collective strip of plinth and towers perpendicular to the Canal. The strip with a stepped plinth creates a basin park as an event space that would extend the special basin condition in a parallel line. The multi-directional vectors and permeability in the morphologies of Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Place and the Arthouse, extend the civic realm inside and outside. â&#x2013;˛ Figure 20// Intensive Care Environment along the canal.

Pentonville Road

Tech companies Creative industries Education

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 21// Tech companies, creative industries and education resources are emerging along Euston corridor. â&#x2013;ş Figure 22// As Kings Cross and St Pancras Square suggests, Euston corridor is an armature based on vibrant activity.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Today, Pentonville Road just looks like a traffic thoroughfare. But in the future, we imagine it begins to work differently. â&#x20AC;&#x153; Different from the quiet Regentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Canal, the Euston Corridor is a much more active armature. Although today Pentonville Road just looks like a traffic thoroughfare, we can imagine it begins to work differently in the future, from the point of view that an armature is something that invites us to think about an integrated piece of an urban territory. How can this change take place? There are clues: one is that things are changing along the Euston corridor, for example, tech and media companies, as well as educational facilities have been emerging. And there are science and research institutions such as Wellcome Trust and Francis Crick, and cultural space such as British library sitting right on the Euston Road. All

these new key developments are already happening and there are synergies amongst them. We can imagine that in the future, more investment will be put in these creative, high tech and media industries, which could be a critical driver for its future development; we want to emphasise that Pentonville Road should be understood not just as one road linking things at a distance, but it is part of a layered system of services and synergies in an urban area and is connected to the notion of integration.

When we look at the morphology and typology closely in plan and elevation of Euston Road and Pentonville Road, we can find there is a tendency for the south side to behave differently than the north side - the tendency for the buildings of the south side to be relatively shallow, and the buildings and assemblages on the north side to be relatively deep, set back or even rotated away from Euston road. We capture the sun

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 23// Wellcome Trust (front side)

that shines from the south so that the collective environments are always on the north side. Meanwhile, buildings on the south side are revealing a potential for how we might see them as more transparent, more permeable, possible to lift from the ground. They can conceivably allow more permeability between the south and Pentonville Road.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 24// Wellcome Trust (backside)

As a current practice, the new part of the Wellcome Trust, designed by Hopkins Architect, represents an exemplary construction of a relatively shallow block on the south side of Euston Road. Contrary to the old headquarter made by grey stones just next to it, the new building is promoting engagement between the Trust and the public realm through its transparency and permeability. Besides, although it is facing the artery, the front side of it is no more important than its backside. Instead, the backside is also working hard to deal with the interrelationship with the blocks behind it. The British Library, on the other hand, represents a deeper compound morphology where a collective assemblage can be created.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 25// British Library and its square

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 26// Along the Euston Corridor, the size and morphology of the blocks differ.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 27// Building as block on the south side of Euston Road while compounds on the north.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pentonville road might work at it best by having a complementary set of different strategies on the south side and north side, to gain different qualities.â&#x20AC;? As mentioned above, the morphology and typology of the north side and south side differ. Then we might argue that there is a possibility of using this tendency both in terms of understanding what was built previously and offers very poor quality and what has been upgraded. Pentonville Road might work at it best by having a complementary set of different strategies on the south side and north side, to gain different qualities. By looking at a number of the projects that start on the basis of the dimension

and characteristics of the blocks, we investigate which typology would suit and which quality and value they can generate. For example, assemblages and ensembles can be created on the north side to generate various collective working & living environments; for the south side, instead of replacing every building in a block, we can make small changes all along the way by working with the pattern of the buildings that are already there.

site 3

site 1 site 2

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 28// Rethinking the whole Pentonville Road through a series of projects to achieve the synergy between workspace, research institute and cultural facilities and living. environments in this area.

Reference exemplar: Lab City by OMA

▲ Figure 29// Generous atrium space offers services and informal meeting points for the employees.

▲ Figure 32// Ground floor and 1st floor plan suggests the 1st row character

▲ Figure 30// Collective space like auditorium opens up to the public when needed, which create interactivity with its surroundings. ► Figure 31// Lab City - Through a diagonal walking route cross the auditorium, the generous atrium is linked to its context. Within the big shed, research units are separated on ground level and linked up on upper floors.

Composed of undifferentiated units, a big auditorium and a diagonal vector across the whole campus, Lab City has the similarity to what we have investigated in Pentonville area. If we look at its morphology in the plan, the outer side of the block - the first row of the research units is relatively shallow, and it got to do double work. First of all, the first row needs to establish the frontage towards something that is not itself. Then it also has to initiate a series of interrelationships amongst a whole bunch of other little blocks on the inside of the project. Focusing on the dimension and paradigmatic quality, the basic units are 16m by 22m, which is suitable from research space, workspace to residential environments. And the units are connected on upper floors and sometimes merged

together to form more generous floorplates or suit various purposes. Another noticeable point is that its ground floor quality. It is inviting the public through the permeable vector heading for the auditorium, passing by a shared atrium. Although one may argue that the whole project is under a big shed and is on the periphery of the city, while Pentonville is in central London, we can still make use of its paradigmatic quality, the inviting diagonal vector making active mobility penetrate into the block, and the intensified notion that the shallow first row has a dual role and the backside of it is as important as the front side.

What will happen on the south side?

Site 1 is just a block away from Saint John Street, which is one of the arteries and there are services, stores and restaurants along with it, which makes it more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists than Pentonville Road at present. To the north of site 1, the Chapel Market contains lots of local shops and canteens, becoming an active and attractive place for the locals. The Angel Building, a mixed-use office building, has already been initiated there by being on a corner of the site, which implies that there could be a fairly substantial extension towards the south and the west. However, the existing terraced housing contributes almost nothing to this urban area in terms of services and collective spaces. We might imagine a future development taking place here, to extend the vitality from Saint John Street and the Chapel Market, creating permeability for pedestrians towards inner Myddelton Square Garden and builds synergies with the Angel Building. By introducing a paradigmatic unit along Pentonville Road (16mX22m) and a diagonal pedes-

trian route leading to a public auditorium, one can start to establish the permeability and the second-row opportunities. As research spaces, 6 units are distributed as a matrix. They are separated on the ground level to offer accessibility into the block, where services and cultural space for this community are located and are connected on upper floors when needed. The backsides of the first-row and second-row units start to perform as vibrant active mobility lines within the block. In addition, the paradigmatic units can be shifted and extended, to suit different purposes. For example, 2 â&#x20AC;?Lâ&#x20AC;? shaped residential blocks are using the width of the units and form a courtyard relationship with the current Angel building.

▲ Figure 33// Existing condition of site 1

▲ Figure 34// Propositional plan for site 1 - Creation of the 2nd row and active mobility in deep block.

▲ Figure 35// An integration of office building, research units, residential slabs and public amenities.

▲ Figure 36// Collective spaces for different users on different levels.

◄ Figure 37// Bevin court has the potential to be converted into studio space or workspace for start-ups ▼ Figure 38// Because of the generous dimension of these warehouses, we can imagine a redefination towards an integrated, welcoming workspace with a central atrium

▲ Figure 39// Currently, the “Y” shape housing project (Bevin Court) and the green space around it take much space in site 2.

▲ Figure 40// Propositional plan for site 2 - conversion of existing buildings + adding new typologies.

Can site 2 start with the slightly changing role of the first-row buildings and the conversion of existing fabric?

By looking at the aerial view photograph, we can find there are relatively shallow buildings facing Pentonville Road all along the way. When accessing this deep block, one can easily notice that the micro-mobility within the block is in low quality and the site is dominated by the Bevin Court housing project, which is extensive in three directions and thus makes it hard for any new development to take place in proximity to it. We would argue that the extensive green spaces around it deliver few services and amenities both to residents and the city. The warehouses, in the south-east of the block, are other key elements. Some of them have been converted into retail space or workspace and the rest are still serving storage uses. Conceivably, we can start to transform this deep block by a slight change of the firstrow buildings and by re-purposing the existing housing project and warehouses, without any radical reorganisations. The nature of the first-row buildings is that they can be lifted,

cut and they invite us to think about the areas to their south. We can imagine that in the future, one can walk right through that permeable first row, and despite being in a deep block situation, the backside of those buildings start to become interesting and absorbing. Then, as we move deeper in this block, one can create lots of different relationships amongst buildings without the burden trying to make a street work, which can improve the interactivity of the social life amongst buildings by having a very high-performance landscape, with lots of services distributed within an open and multi-directional field. For this block, we can imagine a scenario that combines the conversion of existing â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yâ&#x20AC;? shape building and warehouses and the introduction of new typologies, including workspace, sports facilities, multi-media centre, etc.

For site 3

▲ Figure 41// Elevation of Collier Street - relatively low-rise residential building locates on Collier Street, forming a quieter environment.

▲ Figure 42// Existing condition of site 3

▲ Figure 43// Elevation of Pentonville Road - some part of Pentonville Road has been ungraded, but the development is uneven.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not everything will happen at once ...â&#x20AC;?

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 44// A Phased transformation: creation of the 2nd row and re-evaluation of streets and roads.

The existing condition of site 3 is dominated by a building of student housing and office in one impermeable block. The frontal plinth is not in any way addressing the corridor. In a progressive development, we can imagine this first row will not have a complete transformation, but possibly a re-purpose of the student housing towers. Nevertheless, a re-evaluation of the mobility and circulation system around the block is needed to focus on the different vocation of the first row and second row - Collier street on the one hand

and the hierarchy of the north-south routes on the other. In the long-term, we might want to eliminate the triangular plot of Caledonian road when it shifts away from a major thoroughfare. Instead, we focus on the extension of one of the north-south routes, (indicated with the red dashed line in the drawing), making it the main road towards south London.

Soho Slab Block with Innovation Plaza

â&#x20AC;&#x153;But le

Soho Slab Block with Innovation Plaza r Collie

Street

Workspace with Gallery&Retail

Residential Tower

Small Housing Unit Residential Slab

Public Plaza Residential Tower

Workspace with Retail Shared Cultural Space Workspace & Apartments

Workspace with Permeable Ground

Private Housing

Priory Green Estate Community Centre

et’s imagine a comprehensive transformation!”

Joseph Grimaldi Park with Play Area

Existing Housing Existing Housing

Sprot Centre

Workspace with Retail

esidential with Shared Ground

nville Pento

Road

Weston Rise Estate

Dinwiddy House - Student Housing with Open Ground

▲ Figure 45// Comprehensive transformation for 3 blocks on the north side

Active mobility & collective space

residents' amenities recreational terrace

informal meeting point

residents' amenities retail/service

retail&recreation

soho living room workshop

garden

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 46// Services and shared spaces on different levels for different users

The elevation drawing opens the questions of how the character of the major road can change, emphasising the shift that the character of Pentonville road might change to accommodate greater pedestrian and bicycle movement. In addition, it begins to characterise how the rhythm of a street might evolve. We might imagine that there is an assemblage of buildings that welcomes lots of participants within a knowledge network and a thickened ground strategy might be raised to address the street, where the ground floor could be as something that is simply welcoming, and the richer activity space is on the upper floors.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 49// A changing elevation of the Pentonviile Road implies the adaptability for pedestrians and cyclist, as well as the thickened-ground strategy.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 47// The view from the residential tower to soho slabs & innovation â&#x2013;˛ Figure 48// The view from the office building to the urban plaza. yard.

Through a comprehensive transformation strategy, we can imagine that the student housing block would work together with the two other blocks to form a working and living environment. In this proposition, the blocks are deepened to allow more absorbability of the life of Pentonville road into the depth of the blocks. In between the 2 armatures, we might imagine that there ought to be a kind of filtration. The street behind, the second row, ought to be brought to light in a new way. This line of movement will bring new local synergies. We want to look at this environment in terms of being an active centre for the movement that is actually moving through this area in a lot of different ways, not only based upon the automobile traffic but also on slower and active mobility. Within these 3 blocks, there are very different qualities of workspaces and living environments: duplex Soho studios; generous and

flexible working slabs, residential towers on a commercial & workplace podium...There will be a stronger cross over between workspaces and residential life, by creating a civic extension of media, culture and learning environments that start to come together. One of the main purposes is to slow down Pentonville Road, making it more adaptable for pedestrians and cyclists. Through a changing elevation, a more permeable, welcoming interface, as well as a thickened ground strategy, there will be more events take place, more services for both employees and residents, and the synergy between workspace and living environments starts to be reinforced.

What’s your everyday life in here? ▲ Figure 50// Cultural exhibition as a reflection of the productivity in this neighbourhood.

▲ Figure 51// Shared living room / workshop as an interactive space for talents. ► Figure 52// The inviting recreational ground floor.

Exhibition hall, recreational facilities, workshops and sports centre are integrated in these 3 assemblages to create differentiated public realm on the ground level to form active mobility lines within and across the blocks. The collective spaces are also distributed vertically, for example, terraces on the first or second floor of the slabs for employees, shared living rooms and work studios for residents to give quality to their collective working and living. ▲ Figure 53// Community sport centre as shared space for all ages.

▲ Figure 54// Thickened ground as an opportunity for various events taking place. ◄ Figure 55// Ground level permeability and filtration towards quieter living environments.

If we zoom out, we can find that although there are different strategies on the north side and the south side of Pentonville Road and, Pentonville road stops being a line that separates the terrain from the terrain to the south. Instead, it becomes a line of integration of an urban area.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 56// Pentonville Road - a line of integration

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 57// A layered system of first and second row

We want to establish a presence right up on Pentonville Road so that Pentonville Road is understood more not just as one road linking things at a distance, but it is a part of a layered system of an urban area; and we also begin to generate interior environments that belong to a pattern of local life. Possibilities of patterns of integration in the difference between the speedy corridor and the slower canal system can be seen.

Streets and Grids

Looking to the shearing grid system and it topography of Pentonville and Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cross, we investigate what changes it brings to the clusters and patterns of an area and what could change to develop it into knowledge neighbourhoods but being aware that structural and spatial forms are informed by topography and they are in constant evolution. While Armatures give these forms of structure an assembly and patterns of

activities, grids work on the basis of balance and extension and become different through their hierarchy, the aim is to reach intensification by diversification and transformation that is primarily through requalifying the gridness and by changing the attitude towards streets and its elevation.

â&#x2013;ş Figure 1// Disruptions in the topography and their effect on the urban grid and clusters.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 2// The nature of Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gridness. Fitzrovia with a clear grid and perturbations. More to the east this hierarchy is harder to find.

There are armatures running east west in this area of London, and parallel lines to that armature forming an urban grid. Important part of this grid is crossing lines across armatures which adds north south directionality to the grid while linking central London to suburbs.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 3// Layered perturbance, hierarchy in the gridness .

Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nature has a strong difference between fast and slow linkages in the grid. If we look at Fitzrovia, we can see it has a clear grid with perturbations defined by its Georgian squares. Moving more east there are more perturbations due to topography and infrastructure and hence a hierarchy is hard to find.

▲ Figure 4// Tottenham Court Road is flanked with number of eataries and generous foot path. ▲ Figure 5// Russell Square and Woburn Place.

Tottenham Court Road Woburn Place Gray’s Inn Road King’s Cross Road

▲ Figure 6// Gray’s Inn Road and ITN Production building at the foreground. ◄ Figure 7// King’s Cross Road

▲ Figure 8// Layered perturbance, hierarchy in the gridness .

If we look at sets of North-South Road on the southern side of the Euston and Pentonville corridor, the differentiation is evident in its morphology. Building as a block typology and is dominant in Tottenham Court Road with a strictly gridded pattern. Similarly, in Bloomsbury the regular grid patterns shears because of Georgian squares and gives a distinct university

campus environment. Gray’s Inn Road and King’s Cross Road are similar in some aspects where the overlapping of orthogonality of Bloomsbury and organic pattern of Clerkenwell occurs and hence the building typologies are mostly dominated by housing estates and terraces.

KING’S CROSS ROAD

▲ Figure 9// Google earth view of King’s Cross Road, showing terraces on both sides of the street. In the east, the terraces forms around the Granville Square, Llyod Square and Percy Circus while to the west terraces are organized in parallel streets.

King’s Cross Road links the city of London and Euston Corridor, a significant station environment and extends as Caledonian Road further to the North. By its nature as it is radiating away from the city, it collects different urban fabrics, a layering over time. King’s Cross acts as an interface to different neighbourhoods in between Clerkenwell and St Pancras. Over course of time the development of King’s Cross Road, former Bagnigge Wells Road corresponds to the path of Fleet River which has been

confined underground which informs the depression of the area west to the King’s Cross Road from elevated eastern sides; Granville Square, the great Percy Circus and Lloyd Square. However, a part of this logic of grid system, king’s cross road needs comprehensive transformation given that it is underperforming which could have greater contribution to the urban quality and performance.

▲ Figure 10// Bagnigge Place with Randell’s tile kilns behind, c. 1800, from a watercolour of the mid-nineteenth century

The mono-functional nature of the typologies; the terraces, estates and slabs and a flat street elevation doesn’t offer what could have been a diverse range of services for community and richer urban experience for the neighbourhood. While the terraces, much like in any parts of London will remain for some time and in this area the terraces sit even robustly around Granville Square, Lloyd Square and in between King’s Cross Road and Gary’s. There are opportunities of transforming the interface of the King’s Cross

▲ Figure 11// King’s Cross Road (formerly part of King’s Terrace), in 1952

Road which is at some instances flanked by Modernist hotel buildings and a deep block in between the King’s Cross Road and the Grays Inn Road filled by light industries.

By exploring a design attitude for the area through projects, it can inform how the north south streets and road could change over time into a liveable knowledge neighbourhood. And how the juxtaposition of new environment and the robust residential terraces would integrate to generate more value proposition. We see opportunities that can proliferate deeper into the block rather than just limited and aligned to the existing road and for that the elevation needs to change. To give much clarity and balance to

grid in its wider context by Transformation of street. New kind of street where active mobility plays a significant role and how that kind of environment will work together with the larger system of corridors. This transformation can be instigated by allowing media, tech companies and biomedical research companies to become a part of the knowledge neighbourhood of Pentonville.

Here the design exploration for transformation is based on how we might requalify the gridness into the block and configure the assemblage of buildings so as to integrate it with larger systems and how the elevation could change that allows the street and deep block for more diversity and performance. The continuity of frontage of the street is frequently Interrupted and eroded by the openings that are not necessarily a streets but links to the inner depth of the deep block. These linkages give the block a gridness whereas â&#x2013;˛ Figure 12// Conceptual diagram showing assemblage of buildings and spaces deep into the block.

the linkages are diverse in its nature, whether through a deck that extends the public realm of Granville Square into the building or the plazas that absorb activities. Extending the civic realm of Granville square into the building and re-establish the new kind of relation of the square, street and deep block while retaining the qualities of topography that allows us a multi-layered connection and integration.

Figure 14// Cross section of King;s Cross Road and Granville â&#x2013;˛ Figure 13// Conceptual Square diagram showing articulated street edge and permeability deep into the block.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 14// Axonometric ground floor and first floor

▲ Figure 16// View from Deck of lab and research building towards the west.

The following projects change the definition of the streets and look for a needed balance through a distribution of key actors for biomedical research, Media and tech companies, start-ups, spaces for the collaboration and residential environments. London’s Knowledge Clusters recommends the necessity of wet labs space for science start-ups in London and mentions that London’s bioscience innovation centre is running out of capacity. On the top of that the UCL dementia and neurology research centre

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in Gray’s Inn Road (Eastman Dental Hospital site) and ITN Productions has already been set as anchor institutions that will help further attract knowledge enterprise. The proposed project aims to create thi synergy by providing flexible office space and space for convening and collaborating

▲ Figure 17// Ground Floor Plan of Lab and Research building.

▲ Figure 18// 2nd Floor Plan of Lab and Research building.

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â&#x2013;˛ Figure 15// Exploded axonometry showing distrbution and typologies of building.

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The design exploration nevertheless draws a close relationship of typologies of buildings, urban environment and knowledge ecosystem. The close juxtaposition would be necessary to bring diversity and contribute to the ecology of the area for which King’s Cross Road is key in establishing connection between the Clerkenwell and Knowledge Neighbourhood in Pentonville, not as a road itself but as an

environment, as a reconceived system of grid. The Role of King’s Cross Road as a hinge between these two different geographies and urban morphology and its development as life science and medical research will potentially consolidate the possibility of developing Clerkenwell into an urban campus.

▲ Figure 19// Redefined gridness in between the Gray’s Inn Road and King’s Cross Road and connection to the wider area.

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The Intensive Landscape

As we have seen in chapter 2, 20th century urbanism offered the possibility of reading the urban landscape as a continuum, independent of the buildings, which formed the city’s effective places. The ground enjoyed a freedom which allowed it to support both circulation and recreation as an extensive field of civic realm with equipment and relations. Sometimes, as in the case of Priory Green Estate, the openness of a collective landscape became a value in itself, and free space could take on almost monumental quality.1 However, the opportunity to think of landscape as simultaneously and extensive urban field and also in immediate relationship to the buildings, which define its character and qualities, was often not pursued to its full potential. At Priory Green Estate it resulted in an empty experience of landscape, that is lacking purpose. Landscape in housing estates or thoroughfares was often left little role other than to form a buffer between shifts or classes. Today, we increasingly expect that landscapes play an integrative role across scales and are part of a layered urbanity. Landscape should not act as a separator but can bring both a system of circulation and an extension of life of interioroutdoor together.

As we have seen in chapter 4 on armatures, the armature doesn’t need a single spatial order but, as for example the plaza in front of King’s Cross that is part of both the corridor and the station area, every part of urban landscape is multiscalar. An intensified landscape, is not only green or blue bodies but can be seen as part of a wider system that has the capacity to diversify the landscape. Green infrastructure has been in recent years a popular term to use in context of environmental planning, it has also proven that landscapes can provide a ‘restorative’ effect on mental health. Ulrich’s research in hospital settings in the 80’s had established that even passive interaction with nature had measurable benefits.2 Requiring a certain density and being sustainable, requires each piece of land (or water) as a principle to be multifunctional and efficient in spatial terms. Another interpretation of landscape is one where the landscape becomes productive and edible. Bohn and Viljoen argue landscapes can be continuous productive urban tissues, that are productive in the economic, social and ecological sense and connected through the city. Their Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL) is a strategy for a coherent integration of urban agriculture in urban space planning, no matter which size.3

► Figure 1// Intensive landscape multi-layered.

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Strategies of Organization of Interstice

◄ Figure 2// Mehr als Wohnen, Hunziker Areal. Grouping of clusters, same buildings belong to different clusters.

During Covid19 a healthy life-work balance is even more emphasised, the need for a better relationship between inside-out and extensions of landscapes needs to be explored. A high performance landscape that is not neutral but charged by its drivers of change by embedding facilities and partnerships between care and media can become a part of this landscape. We will zoom into two design explorations, a set of two housing estates, Priory Green (that is mentioned before) and York Way’s housing estate along the canal. We ask ourselves how can we push comprehensive transformations where a charged landscape is the driver of change?

Landscape can be intensified in multi-layers through vertical platforms or distributed spaces in between buildings. The Kampung Admirality shows the strategy of vertical layering. It frees up the ground floor for active engagement in commercial amenities while the healthcare center with courtyard in the middle level contributes a lot to the community and surrounding neighborhood. The upper level features terraced community parks and living spaces for seniors. The case of Mehr als Wohnen in the Huniziker Areal creates a sequence of diverse open spaces through the deep block. Their distribution of open space and buildings creates a hierarchy of assemblies that form groups. Some buildings can belong to diverse open spaces.

“A high performance landscape is not neutral but charged by its drivers of change.”

◄ Figure 3// Kampung Admiralty, Singapore. Shifting section of terraced layers.

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▲ Figure 4// Collective residential plaza.

▲ Figure 5// Ateliers/workspaces for offices or the community on the groundfloor.

-- urban street -- shrub -- parking space -- path of this residential area -- atrium of House E -- leisure space outside coffee shop -- central plaza -- main road of this residential area -- atrium of House A -- play area -- railway ▲ Figure 6// Mehr als Wohnen, Hunziker Areal, Zürich. Sequence of interstices.

▲ Figure 7// Terraced community park.

▲ Figure 8// Tickened ground inside-out.

▲ Figure 9// Kampung Admiralty, Singapore. Inside-outside green and covered plaza linking to the health centre.

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Challange of the Current Condition

linear block | housing Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School

mix-used tower student accomodation+ companies

Tech-media company

Mix-used blocks

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 10// Existing condition of Priory Green Estate on the second row and Gramaldi Park on the first row.

Grimaldi Park sets a good example as a collective landscape. The park itself has diverse components which are juxtaposed within this block, such as a play area, a basketball field, two separated gardens and two quiet greenspaces. It works as a gathering environment for surrounding areas by providing differentiated activity spaces for various users such as students of the nearby primary school, residents, staff of companies for example in the repurposed church.

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Priory Green Estate | greenspace Priory Green Estate | central facilities

r Prio yG n ree ate est Grimaldi Park | play area

G ri

i ald

k Par

Grimaldi Park | garden â&#x2013;˛ Figure 11// Spatial composition of open space of Priory Green Estate and Grimaldi Park

Priory Green Estate, on the other hand has a large open grass plaza that is fenced off to the wider neighbourhood, which lacks purpose. Therefore, we can argue that the landscape in Priory Green Estate has huge potential to be intensified into a multi-scalar landscape that integrates the wider district.

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greenspace play area

grass

basketball field

Collective landscape Intensive landscape can be allocated within one collective open space, spaces like playarea, basketball field and visual landscape juxtaposed closely in one plane.

garden

garden sports field

plaza

Distributed landscape Spatial Components with spesific functions can be dispersed, creating relatively independent spaces for different activities

Sunken plaza

rooftop garden public raised space play area lobby courtyard

sports field corridor balcony

Multi-layered landscape Differentiated interstices can be allocated into different layers both vertically and horizontally and integrated within buildings

atrium plaza â&#x2013;˛ Figure 12 // Strategies of intensive landscape through manipulating interstices

We can have different strategies in intensifying landscape by manipulating interstices inside and outside buildings. Collective landscape can be seen as a continuum. It creates a gathering space for different interstices, from which different activities can happen at the same time. The interstices in a distributed landscape are relatively independent to each other, but more closely related to the building. While multi-layered landscape integrated and blurred the boundary of interstice and building. 110

typological transformation based on flexible division of plan

Marco Polo Tower| peripheral balcony | vertical core | 30m x 30m Peripheral balcony as extension of interior space balcony

duplex both oriented living

free plan working space

Twin Park Northwest Slab | housing with both oriented duplex apartment | 15m x 36m The regular square plan with core in the middle facilitates the combination with other spaces

collective living space

duplex woking space

Mehr Als Wohnen Deep plan slab | collective apartment with atrium | 24m x 40m The dimension has potential to be transformed into larger working space with shared atrium

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 13 // Typological tranformation of housing and sequence of interstice inside and outside of buildings.

By exploring the sequence of interstices and building in different layers and scales, we can better achieve the aim of an intensive landscape. Since landscape is not only part of the system of circulation and linkage amongst things, but also an extension of life between interior of building and its mediate surroundings.

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Interconnected Intestices

roof garden

green balcony

rooftop community park terrace atrium

green balcony 112

roof garden terrace atrium interstice between living and working

rooftop community park

colonnade

Interstices (both interior and exterior) play the role of buffer/ interface with their own characteristics to connect different typologies and functions of buildings, also, integrate building with surrounding areas. A proliferation of interstices varies from roof terrace, atrium, colonnades and open plazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, giving landscape a prominent place on multi-layers. â&#x2013;ź Figure 14 // Sequence of diversified interstice in multiple directions.

open courtyard

colonnade

public plaza

public plaza interstice among working spaces

open courtyard 113

Interconnected Intestices

Mezzanine garden

rooftop community park

shared roof garden

terrace atrium shared roof garden

semi-public courtyard parking colonnade

pocket garden

Commercial pedestrian square

sports facility

open plaza open courtyard

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playarea

Deep block provides a testing field for intensive landscape,forming multi-layered spatial sequences through the interconnected interstices. The spatial sequence of ground floor has emerged with gradually decreased openness and accessibility: peripheral commercial square, open office lobby, pedestrian plaza, sports facilities, living-working studio, service space, green path... Similarly, the sequence also appears in the vertical direction, forming a sequence of open squares, semi-open atriums, community Shared roof gardens, and private green balconies.

stepped multi-layers of platforms enables activities and visual landscape juxtaposed vertically...

playareas for children, sports field and healthy facilities , greenspace, leisure plaza, serves plaza, small community park juxtaposed around building

commercial pedestrian plaza as intermediate space, activate working space while providing amenities for residential area.

â&#x2013;˛Figure 15 // Spatial quality of platforms, playareas and commercial plazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

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â&#x2013;˛ Figure 16// Multi-layered terrace atrium in working space.

In the working environment, the intensive landscape is reflected in the mutual penetration of both interior and exterior of office space and landscape at different levels, as well as introducing other elements such as entertainment space, commercial space and facility space.

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â&#x2013;˛ Figure 17// Private green balconies and shared overhead garden.

For residential life, intensive landscape can not be simply understood as a factor to enhance the quality of living, but bring a mixed generational living community together with other urban elements by using the landscape as a visual and activated driver.

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Alternative for Market Driven Development in York’s Estate

▲ Figure 18// Points blocks lose the connection with the landscape around it.

▲ Figure 19// Perimeter blocks are street-based and lose the blurring capacity of the interstice.

▲ Figure 20// Proposal courtyard variations, clustering in a stepped section towards Copenhagen street.

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Current market driven development for York housing Estate would be morphologies as point blocks or perimeter blocks. These would not address the landscape from the inside-out. A perimeter block is only addressing or the street or the courtyard, which makes these secluded inner courtyards that lose their vitality often. Away from these street-based models, we propose an extension of the influence from the canal within the depth, a cluster of different courtyards, plaza’s and yards that would enhance the landscape more intensively. Taking the opportunity of the canal as a collector of different interstices.

▲ Figure 21// Typical 70’s modernist point blocks in Vauxhall.

▲ Figure 22// Perimeter blocks in Copenhagen.

▲ Figure 23// Distributed sequence of courtyards, yards, plaza,.. not a street-based model in Malmö, Bo01.

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Absorbability Strategies York Wayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Estate

York Way

Penton street

Copenhagen street

Pentonville Road

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 24// Strategy 1: The second row is emphasised, with the existing housing estate preserved behind it. This frontal absorbability would fill the first row in phases.

As we have mentioned earlier in chapter 4, the canal acts as an armature, it can be an initiator of two different readings of the surrounding morphology. The canal is part of a larger system that begins to influence how we interpret the wider continuity throughout the area on the north of the Canal towards Copenhagen street. Between the towpath and Copenhagen street there is a need of transition, we could see this in strips or bands. If these are two starting points, it can lead to two different diagrams.

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York Way

Penton street

Copenhagen street

Pentonville Road

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 25// Strategy 2: perpendicular stamps of solids and voids. Perpendicualr absorbability is more effective with comprehensive transformation.

One of them, on the right hand side, is based on serialisation of solids and gaps, without much differentiation. On the left hand side there is a possibility of a stronger rhythm and hierarchy by broadening the ways in which the canal can be addressed with its own integrity. The strips can generate different ways of achieving intensity across scales. Frontality becomes questionable, when a dual frontage needs to be established, along the water and on the second row. Multi Directional vectors, as in the Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Place building, provide a multitude of using the waterfront and the inner squares.

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Exploration of Typology

The canal itself already has hard and soft edges and through the use of topography it can generate moments different in space and time using permeability along the towpath. The existing topography drives the possibility for a thickened ground. The strip with a stepped plinth creates a basin park as an event space that would extend the special basin condition in a parallel line.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 26// Shared space on various levels.

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Furthermore, providing both wintergardens or collective edible gardens a proliferation from both the green or blue landscapes contributes to a healthy and bio economy for Pentonville.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 27// Intensive moments of everyday life along the canal, providing connection and permeability.

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 28// Possible first and second row interventions, extending the influence of the towpath.

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Proliferation of the Landscape

Public plaza

Edible garden

Basin Park

Wintergarden

s rd a ow h t den t a wp Cam To

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The sequence of courtyards, plaza’s, parks, terraces and gardens form an extended urbanity linking the Edward’s square to the new Basin park. The towpath is not a separator anymore, but is reactivated by a bike path, shared mooring places and event spaces oriented to the south. Moreover, the towpath becomes an intensive landscape that can proliferate throughout Islington and Camden.

Edward’s square

Extended school square

s rd a w to h ton t g a wp Islin o T ▲ Figure 29// Exploration of addressing the waterfront, plinth, terraced step section or combination. ◄ Figure 30// Proliferation of the intensive landscape along the canal.

Collective productive terrace

Mineral plaza with sport facilities event space mooring place

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â&#x2013;˛ Figure 31// Linking an intensive landscape accross the corridors, bringing Pentonville and Clerckenwell together.

In building hospitable urban environments it is key to welcoming new people as well as improving the living conditions for current residents. The common ground for the densification of the different projects through this booklet is the aim of an intensive landscape, where new uses are introduced to the existing landscape are introduced, 126 through new passages, public space, shared community facilities which both the

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Clerkenwell and the New Educational Landscape

The reading of Clerkenwellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s morphology as a distinctive entity, a campus, is partly due to its clear borders and intriguing interior fabric. The area is defined by Goswell Road at east and Farringdon Road at west. Pentonville Road forms its north limit while the Smithfield Market marks a clear boundary at south. The sheering of the grids dominates the interior fabric, and results in urban spaces of highly differentiated shapes and types. The intriguing morphology of Clerkenwell witnesses various communities throughout its history since medieval period. The west side, where the River Fleet runs underground, was once notorious as a place of unlawful residents outside of the London Wall. However, the South Clerkenwell was also a fashionable place of celebrated

residents in 17th century. The region is prestigious as a centre of craft and creative industries since the Industrial Revolution, and also has historically been linked with radicalism such as Chartists and communists. Founded in 1894, the City University sits at the east boundary of Clerkenwell. Benefited from the proximity to both residential area and creative industries, the university can play a significant role as a driver of change to the region. On the one hand, life-long learning and other services can be delivered to the communities. On the other hand, researches led by the university and their commercialisation can found strong support from the local media and design communities.

â&#x2013;ş Figure 1// Clerkenwell as a campus and its sheering ground

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Main Image

you can add small image or diagram here

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▲ Figure 2// Forshaw’s London Community map, Patrick Abercrombie, 1943 ▼ Figure 3// Map of Clerkenwell

The 1943 ‘Potato Plan’ by Patrick Abercrombie illustrated London as a city of collection of villages. Being one of them, Clerkenwell is characterised with unique sheering grids and highly differentiated urban spaces, where urban lives not only unfold around open parks but also squeeze into medieval alleys. Hosting a vigorous network of media and creative industries and the City University of London, Clerkenwell situates at a location that suggests a dialogue with some of the major knowledge clusters: King’s cross, UCL, and King’s College London.

► Figure 4// London Knowledge Clusters

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â&#x2013;˛ Figure 5// Divided Clerkenwell

Strangely, there is a strip of land in the middle, almost completely separates living at north and working at south. In housing area amenities and commercial services are very limited, while in working zone privileged offices provide little access to people, for instance to those living in social housing blocks. Somehow at the edge of the living part, there is an amazing little market

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street, but turn to its back buildings do not have any intension to embrace a park of green space. So what if we take this piece of land as an opportunity to imagine a public life based on a logic of landscape instead of rigorous street-confined pattern?

▲ Figure 6// Housing in north Clerkenwell ► Figure 7// Exmouth Market ▼ Figure 8// Spa Fields Park

▼ Figure 9// Working environment in south Clerkenwell

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▼ Figure 10// Perspective, the research complex and plaza

“An urban space testing the possibilities of deep block where public life is driven by landscape rather than confined street.”

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▲ Figure 11// The University of Chicago

▲ Figure 12// The development of Hull-House Social Settlement, Chicago

The City University occupies the east block of the middle strip. Traditionally, there are different approaches to urban university life. One is more about research and its commercialisation, like the University of Chicago; Or the services providing life-long learning are embedded into neighbourhoods, like Hull-House Social

▼ Figure 13// City, University of London College Building, by Michael Woodhead, flickr.com

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Settlement that gradually grown up into 13 buildings of 2 street blocks. We argue that in the future, City University, should merge the two approaches and have very important roles in the processes of both forging the communities and the city developing.

▼ Figure 14// City, University of London main Building, by nbbj, nbbj.com

â&#x2013;˛ Figure 15// University of California, Berkeley, diagram by S333 Architecture + Urbanism

â&#x20AC;&#x153;If we imagine the university takes its first step to develop to the west, then it almost resembles the Berkeley campus, which also has this linear pattern of development.â&#x20AC;?

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â&#x2013;ź Figure 16// Morphology and Typology Study

The further exploration involves morphology and typology studies. Linear strips of deep blocks along the boundary of the middle land are conceived as new interfaces providing, apart from university facilities, amenities and services to the local residence and industries. Extending across the Clerkenwell from west to east, the new university area can be accessed and penetrated from different points in various ways.

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The strips shown here are considered as a guideline, the maximum dimension which contributes to a formal consistency of the urban blocks. They are planned as highly differentiated segments, which corresponds to specific spatial context and intensify the valuable local spatial quality. A series of exemplars are carefully chosen according to different spatial strategies of future pedagogical activities.

► Figure 17// Interior plaza, OP headquarters, by JKMM Architects ▼ Figure 18// Vertical manufacturing space, Navy Yard, Brooklyn

▲ Figure 19// Open ground, LoTex, by Sohpie Delhay Architecte ▼ Figure 20// Gathering space, Lab City CentraleSupelec, by OMA

▲ Figure 21// Atrium, Cranfield University, The Vincent Building, by Sheppard Robson ▼ Figure 22// Stereo plaza, the Commons, Bangkok, by Department of Architecture

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â&#x2013;˛ Figure 23// Privileged university entrance and street amenities

The linear blocks define the boundaries of the university area at north and south sides and respond to local context differently. At the north side, the current storefronts facing the Exmouth Market are reinforced at their back by a low-rise incubator-studio block. The studios and the existing array of shops together form a 40 meter deep linear block, which establishes a new commercial interface confronting the new open space.

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On the other side, a university building defines the street front. While the cafe and shops open to the neighbourhoods at a height 1.5 meters lower than the street, thd] e university members enter the privileged space 2 meters higher than the pedestrian pavement. The building also help to create a semi-privileged courtyard at its back, where a double-height reading space mediates between the courtyard and the atrium.

▲ Figure 24// Urban design guideline and differentiation ▼ Figure 25// Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell, Google Earth

▼ Figure 26// Entrance, Institute of Education, UCL, by Denys Lasdun

▼ Figure 27// Typology and dimension

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▼ Figure 28// Auditorium Plaza + Research Complex

“A hub of lecture halls responds to the shortage of large auditorium spaces in Clerkenwell. Steps, slopes, platforms, and balconies weave together into a field of multi-layered stage where lectures welcome unexpected passengers.”

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▼ Figure 29// Auditorium Plaza + Research Complex

“Deep block - a field of multi-layered paths, playground, educational spaces, and services” 145

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▼ Figure 30// Future research centre of City, University of London

“A typologically and morphologically differentiated educational landscape engaging with and merging into the neighbourhoods.”

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â&#x2013;˛ Figure 31// Intensification of various university facilities â&#x2013;ş Figure 32// Duplication of Berkeley Campus

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▼ Figure 33// Future network of London knowledge clusters

R= 45

“The intensified educational clusters in Clerkenwell and the network of knowledge neighbourhoods in Central London.”

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Conclusion Throughout the past two terms we have used the idea of a knowledge neighbourhood as a diagnostic tool to see how the redevelopment of Pentonville might take place. Making focus on specific aspects like the station area to the armatures, to the requalification of the grid or a novel campus organization, they all retain the vocation to contribute to an integration of an urban area which has the potential to be much more. The collective goal has been to intensify the work environment, generate necessary crossovers with dwellings and the civic structures that serve these two things. At this point we are ought to reflect on what policies should be reevaluated to address this change.

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Bibliography Figures not mentioned are made by the authors stated in each chapter.

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Chapter 1

Chapter 5

1: Powell and Snellman, “The Knowledge Economy,” 201. 2: Creative Industries Federation, “The Uk’s Creative Industries.” 3: Chapain and Lee, “Can We Plan the Creative Knowledge City? Perspectives from Western and Eastern Europe.” 4: Rocks, London’s Creative Industries-2017 Update, 04. 5: “Multi-Billion Impact of London’s Creative Industries | London City Hall.” 6: Mayor of London, “Mayor Announces London’s First-Ever Creative Enterprise Zones.”

Figure 1: Drawing by Muriel Mulier. Figure 2:Drawing by Seray Nergiz. Figure 3:Drawing by Muriel Mulier. Figure 4: https://www.derwentlondon.com/properties/1-2-stephen-street Figure 5: https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/russell-square/ Figure 6: https://www.gpe.co.uk/our-portfolio/200-214-grays-inn-road/ Figure 7: Picture taken by Chandra Prajapati Figure 9: Google Earth Figure 10: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol47/pp298-321 Figure 11: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol47/pp298-321

Contributor: Carolina Gilardi

Chapter 2

Contributor: Carolina Gilardi 1: Busquets, Yang, and Keller, Urban Grids, 16, 276. 2: Druot, Lacaton, and Vassal, PLUS: La Vivienda Colectiva: Territorio Excepción. 3: Delft University of Technology, DASH From Dwelling to Dwelling. 4: Atelier Kempe Thill, “Rozemaai Housing.” 5: Rocks, London’s Creative Industries-2017 Update.

Chapter 3

Contributor: Seray Nergiz

Sources

1: Bertollini, Luca and Tejo Spit. Cities on Rails: The Redevelopment of Railway Station Areas. London: E & FN Spon, 1998.p. 86-106 ,183-189. 2: Andrew Alberts. “Quartier Massena.” in Home Work City: Living and Working in the Urban Block ed. Frances Holliss, Birgit Jrgenhake and Birgit Hausleitner ; Brugge: nai010, 2019, p. 115.

Contributor: Chandra Prajapati

Chapter 6

Contributors: Muriel Mulier and Shuya Zeng

Sources

1: As Abalos argues in Tower and Office. Ábalos, Iñaki, and Juan Herreros. Tower and Office: From Modernist Theory to Contemporary Practice. Rev. ed. of Spanish orig. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2003. 2: Kendall, Stephen H., ed. Healthcare Architecture as Infrastructure: Open Building in Practice. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2019. ,p. 243. 3: ‘Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL): Essential Infrastructure and Edible Ornament’. ResearchGate. Accessed 27 May 2020. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44960513_Continuous_Productive_Urban_Landscape_CPUL_Essential_infrastructure_and_ edible_ornament.

Figures

Chapter 4

Figure 4: https://duplex-architekten.ch/en/projects/hunziker-areal/ Figure 5: https://dac.dk/en/knowledgebase/architecture/mehr-als-wohnen/ Figure 7: https://www.archdaily.com/904646/kampung-admiralty-woha Figure 8: https://www.archdaily.com/904646/kampung-admiralty-woha Figure 10: https://www.facebook.com/chapterkingscross/photos/a.1515739135162443/1515 741088495581/?type=3&theater, http://www.overstreet.co.uk/1-bedroom-flat-to-rent-calshotstreet-london-n1-9dq-p125487479, Google maps, https://www.colliersresidential.co.uk/ Figure 11: own picture (Shuya Zeng), https://www.edwardhorsford.com/venues/priory-greenestate, https://www.latzundpartner.de/en/projekte/klassische-landschaften/grimaldi-parklondon-gb, Google maps Figure 14: https://epiteszforum.hu/fuggoleges-erdo-milanoban, https://behnisch.com/work/ projects/0349#&gid=&pid=2, https://www.archdaily.com/788409/shenye-tairan-building-zhubodesign?ad_medium=gallery, https://www.archdaily.com/904646/kampung-admiralty-woha, https://i.f1g.fr/media/madame/1900x1900/sites/default/files/img/2016/11/sejour-a-tokyophoto-5.jpg, https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a8/00/d8/a800d871f19aa7531d84f40b48d62ee5.jpg , https://www.edwardhorsford.com/venues/priory-green-estate/, https://www.latzundpartner. de/en/projekte/klassische-landschaften/grimaldi-park-london-gb/, Google maps Figure 21-22-23: Apple maps

Sources

Chapter 7

Figures

Figure 1: http://ttnotes.com/granary-square.html Figure 2: diagram own Carolina Gilardi Figure 3: https://www.kingscross.co.uk/retail-space-pancras-square Figure 4: picture taken by Carolina Gilardi Figure 7: https://www.archdaily.com/447649/rotterdam-centraal-team-cs Figure 8: https://www.archdaily.com/801731/utrecht-central-station-benthem-crouwel-architects Figure 9: scanned from: Bertollini, Luca and Tejo Spit. Cities on Rails: The Redevelopment of Railway Station Areas. London: E & FN Spon, 1998. p. 98. Figure 10,11 : scanned from: Andrew Alberts. “Quartier Massena.” in Home Work City: Living and Working in the Urban Block ed. Frances Holliss, Birgit Jrgenhake and Birgit Hausleitner ; Brugge: nai010, 2019, p. 116,117. Figure 12,14,15: https://heidevonbeckerath.com/single/ibeb Figure 18: https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29UP.1943-5444.0000555

Contributors: Muriel Mulier and Jiawen Qiao 1: Shane, David Grahame. Recombinant Urbanism: Conceptual Modeling in Architecture, Urban Design, and City Theory. Chic- hester, England ; Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2005, p. 199. 2: ‘The Interchange Building at Camden Lock’. Accessed 31 May 2020. https://www.locallocalhistory.co.uk/ctown/p050/pa- ges83-89.htm. 3:‘The Regent’s Canal | The History of London’. Accessed 27 May 2020. https://www.thehistoryoflondon.co.uk/the-regents-canal/. 4: Wainwright, Oliver. ‘London “LidoLine” Could Allow Commuters to Swim to Work’. The Guardian, 10 October 2012, sec. Art and design. https://www. theguardian.com/global/2012/oct/10/london-lidoline-commuters-swim-work-canal. 5: Lowe, David. Intermodal Freight Transport. Routledge, 2006, p.98.

Figures

Figure 6: https://www.toposmagazine.com/balloon-stage/ Figure 7:https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2014/05/30/environmental-destruction-warning-canalival-2014/ Figure 8: picture by Carolina Gilardi. Figure 9:https://londoncanals.uk/2010/01/19/londons-three-canal-tunnels-islington-tunnel/ Figure 10:https://london.lecool.com/inspirations/neighbourhood-guide-haggerston/ Picture in the middle: picture by Carolina Gilardi. Figure 15:https://www.inchesgeleta.ch/en/concorsi/en-centro-polivalente-per-anziani/ Figure 17:https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/community-health-services-explained Figure 21: https://novelenergylighting.com/blog/tag/kings-cross-station Figure 23, 24, 33, 39, 41, 42, 43: Google Earth Figure 25: https://www.uniquevenuesoflondon.co.uk/venue/british-library Figure 29, 30, 31: https://oma.eu/projects/lab-city Figure 50: https://www.dezeen.com/2019/11/15/flying-panels-arkdes-design-exhibition/ Figure 51: https://plainmagazine.com/treehouse-living-in-taipei-by-soar-design-studio/ Figure 53: https://www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/whats-on/badminton-beginners/

Contributors: Tao Wang

Figures

Figure 2: https://www.bmiaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Map-of-London-Social-and-Functional-Analysis-1943.jpg Figure 3: picture taken by Tao Wang Figure 6: https://search.savills.com/au/en/property-detail/gbclesclk130435 Figure 7: https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/2241184-exmouth-market Figure 9: https://parmarbrook.com/brittonstreet/ Figure 11: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/university-transitioning-remote-learning-spring-quarter Figure 12: Haar, Sharon, The City as Campus, University of Minnesota Press, 2011., p. 15 Figure 13: Woodhead, Michael, https://www.flickr.com/photos/10816453@ N00/458554329 Figure 14: http://www.nbbj.com/work/city-university-london-main-entrance-transformation-project/ Figure 15: S333 Architecture + Urbanism, ‘RMC 4 Industrial urbanity’, p. 76 Figure 17: JKMM Architects, OP headquarters, https://navi.finnisharchitecture.fi/ op-headquarters/ Figure 18: Papa, Dominic, ‘RMC 2 WIP Cities that work’, p. 5 Figure 19: Sophie Delhay Architecte, http://sophie-delhay-architecte.fr/portfolio/lotex/ Figure 20: OMA, Lab City CentraleSupelec, https://oma.eu/projects/lab-city Figure 21: Sheppard Robson, Cranfield University, https://www.sheppardrobson.com/ architecture/view/the-vincent-building-cranfield-university Figure 22: Department of Architecture, the Commons, https://www.archdaily. com/800497/the-commons-department-of-architecture 153 Figure 25: Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell, Google Earth Figure 26: Patrick Collins, Institution of Education by Denys Lasdun, https://www.flickr. com/photos/padraiccollins/41178582135/

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