AA Housing and Urbanism, London Design Workshop Group 2 : Urbanising Industrial Territory

Urbanizing Industrial Territory | Park Royal - NW10

Urbanizing Industrial Territory Park Royal - NW10

8 May 2018

Bhavishya Tara Saripalli Farhana Khaleda Khan Jierong Tan Kamil Hafeez Meenaal Fatma Prakhar Jain Priyanka Sharad Kulkarni

Bhavishya Tara Saripalli MArch Housing and Urbanism, Architectural Association School of Architecture; BArch, MIDAS. Farhana Khaleda Khan MA Housing and Urbanism, Architectural Association School of Architecture; BSc Finance, George Mason University, Virginia.

Jierong Tan, MA Housing and Urbanism, Architectural Association School of Architecture; BSc Architecture, South China University of Technology.

Kamil Hafeez MA Housing and Urbanism, Architectural Association School of Architecture; BA Architecture RIBA Part 1, CASS School of Art and Architecture.

Meenaal Fatma MArch Housing and Urbanism, Architectural Association School of Architecture; BArch, Birla Institute of Technology.

Prakhar Jain MArch Housing and Urbanism, Architectural Association School of Architecture; BArch, U.P.T.U. Lucknow.

Priyanka Sharad Kulkarni MA Housing and Urbanism, Architectural Association School of Architecture; BArch, BMS College of Engineering.

Printed on 8th May 2018 Architectural Association School of Architecture London

Acknowledgement We would like to express our gratitude to Hugo Hinsley for giving us the opportunity to work on this brief and learn from him during the preceding months.

We would like to give a very special thanks to ELAD EISENSTEIN and NAIARA VEGARA for taking their time to guide us, and without them, this book would not have been possible.

Our gratitude goes on to Jorge Fiori and Lawrence Barth for their lectures and the knowledge they have shared with us.

Table of content

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Introduction - Page 1

Understanding the site - Page 7

Thesis Project Research - Page 19

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Urban Intervention - Page 39

Conclusion - Page 93

References - Page 97

URBANIZING INDUSTRIAL TERRITORY

Introduction

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LOCATION

INTRODUCTION If industry is moving towards a knowledge based economy, then industry is related to people. As a result of advancements in technologies and communication, cities are shifting from centres to networked collaborators, thereby displacing industrial territory. This poses a challenge for industries as it begins to create a gap between industry and people, which is vital in urbanizing industrial territory in order keep up with trends.

Creating continuity is vital to how a city works and thus there is a pressure to urbanize the conditions of industrial territory to accommodate these changes while retaining industrial value. The main challenge here lies in the successful incorporation of surrounding and new communities into the area and providing them with better environments of living and working. This study explores ways in which the gap between industry and people can be filled for an industrial territory to remain successful and flexible for future demands. It advocates hybrid environments in urbanizing an industrial territory, with clusters of collaboration that encourages a circuit between manufacturing, production and knowledge, while retaining industry and industrial flexibility. It uses the theme of mobility and integration to approach the site with an urban strategy that will encourage a multi-scalar change for Park Royal.

Located in the Park Royal are of London, the proposition for the site aims to deliver high quality housing and job opportunities in an industrial zone to facilitate London and UK’s growth both nationally and globally. In addition to housing and job opportunities, this idea of belonging to the city will be delivered with the addition of services and amenity spaces.

Using four main principles, the design proposition is able to host these new types of hybrid environments that convert the conditions of an industrial territory bridge the gap between industry and knowledge-base and to promote continuity within the urban fabric. The four main principles are retaining industry and industrial flexibility, mobility and integration, hybrid typologies and treatment of the ground.

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Understanding the Site

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UNDERSTANDING THE SITE

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It is evident within the overall urban area that there is a transformation that is enabled by the insertion of the Old Oak Common station which creates a new centrality of transport, mixed use environments and leisure. It is highly connected to London, playing an important role in shaping west London’s future and driving national economic growth. It is the only place where HS2 meets Crossrail.

This has a ripple effect to White City and Park Royal with high potentials to organize them and deliver meaningful environments around it (Figure 04). White City is host to major institutions and is a hub for research.

It is currently being transformed with the expansion of Westfield, the development of Imperial College’s White City Campus, with new ways of working and living from the BBC transformation and the designation of Strategic Industrial Locations (SIL) for new housing and employment uses. Park Royal is one of the largest industrial estates in Europe and the most important within inner London and benefits from the developments of Old Oak. It is predominantly SIL and Land for Transport Functions.

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Park Royal

Site Old Oak Wormwood Scrubs

White City

Imperial West

Westfields

Figure 01 Site location

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UNDERSTANDING THE SITE

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UNDERSTANDING THE SITE

Location Park Royal is isolated by infrastructure and has been suspended from the rules that have governed the evolution of the surrounding city.This suspended state has served Park Royal well in particular and has nurtured a vital and inventive industrial ecology.

The arrival of imminent connective infrastructure and London’s present needs open up the opportunity to re-think a vast area of the city.

Figure 02 Industrial estate, Grand union canal, Wormwood scrubs, Imperial West, BBC White City, Westfield.

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Figure 03 Location Plan

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Character Located in over an area of 650 hectares in northwest London, the Old Oak Park Royal area comprises of 155 hectares of industries and railway land. There are many disconnected and isolated areas due to poor connectivity. The industrial areas are predominantly composed of large sheds on the eastern side and single-family housing on the western side.

It mainly consists of railways depots, brownfields, light industries and some housing. The urban character if mainly defined by large areas with singular uses with scales that are extreme; 14% of which are in manufacturing and 18% in services, as well as wholesale, storage and transport. The geographical distribution of actors suggests a diverse range of workspaces; some are larger, while others are characterized by much smaller, individualized workspaces, as well as subdivided spaces in larger buildings. In the food sector particularly, there are larger clusters for food manufacturing and smaller clusters for micro food production.

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Figure 04 Workspace identification around Park Royal

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UNDERSTANDING THE SITE

Challenges. Industry and housing are facing transformations.

With the development of new technologies and innovation, the ways industries operate have shifted from isolated heavy components to more knowledge-based and productive environments. As a result, and due to rapid urbanization of the world’s population, industries are being displaced to places further from inner city conditions. At the same time, as a result of shifts in communication, cities have also changed from centers to networked contributors. This poses a challenge for industries as the displacement causes a gap between industry and knowledge, thus industry and people.

Housing has shifted from single family homes to multi-residential buildings and now moving towards hybrid typologies of stacking housing on top of retain and services which tend to be more synergetic and better investments.

Figure 05 Old Oak High street, Canal Garden, Old Oak Common station.

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Figure 06 Ripple effect from expected old oak common

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Thesis Project Research

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THESIS PROJECT RESEARCH

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This chapter discusses two theses from the course Housing and Urbanism at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. Both of the theses explore new programmatic approaches within the same constraints of industrial territory; the first thesis is titled “Productive and Knowledge Hubs” (2016) by Elsaban Vargas with an intervention in Park Royal, and the second thesis is titled “Learning Landscapes” (2016) by Laura Lopez which is located in White City (Figure 07). These theses are analysed based on principles used in its understanding of the kinds of spatial strategies that are introduced to urbanize an industrial territory. It is important that some of the considerations about the organizing and reorganizing of the territory is based on activity and logistical systems that can live alongside and support the new developments and investments in connectivity.

Figure 07 Two proposals; Productive and knowledge hubs, Park Royal; Learning Landscapes, White City

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Figure 08 Thesis project locations; Park Royal and White City

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THESIS PROJECT RESEARCH - PRODUCTIVE AND KNOWLEDGE HUBS

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Productive and Knowledge Hubs Ambition The thesis Productive and Knowledge Hubs, uses as set of principle that helps achieve the ambition of the proposal.

Vargas (2016) claims that there is not enough density or intensity within the Park Royal area to generate any patterns of exchange of sustainable living and production that is able to reach out and pull those actors that are not everyday users, makers or workers in the area. In order to improve this condition, the proposal incorporates housing into the scheme. The proposal aims to create a form of industrial urbanity by creating a highly intermixed hub using five main principles: retaining industry, creating a contained environment, using mono-programmatic typologies, the treatment of the ground and family as primary users.

Retaining industry The primary principle includes the retention and refurbishment of the industrial buildings within the site. This implies the importance of retaining industry in urbanizing an industrial territory (Figure 10).

Figure 09 Productive and Knowledge Hubs

by Elsaban Vargas

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Testing typologies Striations are used to test three different housing typologies based on existing mobility conditions: the linear block, the perimeter block and the point block. Interestingly, the proposal fixates on the linear block with multiple through-access points on the ground level that correspond to the mobility infrastructure, almost to guide the user from an entry point of the site to across it. (Figure 11) Contained environment He approaches housing by using the principle of a constructing a mega-form within the landscape. This mega-form creates a shoulder along the canal, which demonstrates another principle in the thesis, which is to create a self-contained environment to integrate surroundings and thus produce a highly intermixed and productive hub. Thus, the idea of the canal as a primary element is rejected; instead the conditions of the canal are extended into the landscape (Figure 13).

This morphology is justified as it supports the idea of creating a contained, park-like atmosphere.

Figure 10 Linear block as a megaform

Figure 11 Integration of the megafrom

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Mono-programmatic strategies A programmatic strategy is used in approaching the overall site. Instead of using hybrid typologies of stacking different programme, each building has a specific type and is mono-programmatic.This lead to another vital principle derived from addressing the ground (Figure 13).

Treatment of the ground The ground is used as the primary method of integration, where the ground is considered a common territory for collective and public spaces; the absence of private spaces is compensated by placing more ‘private’ collective spaces vertically. This implies that this principle is based on the idea that integration will not only happen on a physical level by creating more connections to different programmes and functions, but rather that integration will happen because the site will generate enough attraction because of the set, particularly the production and exhibition space (Figure 13).

Thus, at phase 1, the thesis only proposes one light bridge to connect the site or the ‘island’ to adjacent ‘islands.’

Figure 12 Striations 25

Figure 13 Explorations of the liner block as a megaform

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Users: families The units are mainly suited for families, rather than individuals (Figure 15). This implies the value of family as the predominant users, as they tend to commit for longer periods of time, create intensity by living, working and learning, and increasing the potential for future infrastructures like schools to come into the area, which will affect the overall success of the site. Families are able to be accommodated into the proposed linear block by using voids and cutaways to bring in light into the double loaded corridor and allow for flats to have multiple orientations. The proposal also offers family units that are two stories to further improve the quality of light and conditions of living (Figure 14).

The design proposition in the thesis, Productive and Knowledge Hubs is able to achieve the ambition of creating a highly intermixed, knowledge and productive hub through its five main principles. However, the thesis lacks in its potential for incorporating the context. By using the canal as a primary element instead of using it a shoulder to contain the environment, the proposal could explore opportunities to integrate the context more efficiently into the design to promote this kind of industrial urbanity within Park Royal (Figure 13).

Figure 14 Floor plan of the liner block

Figure 15 Program structure for the linear block

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THESIS PROJECT RESEARCH - LEARNING LANDSCAPES

Learning Landscapes The thesis, “Learning Landscapes,” located in White City, seeks to contribute towards establishing a visioning study for West London based on a logic of value planning. Specifically, it points towards ways in which Imperial College could begin to have a greater leadership role in the transformation of an industrial territory. This is explored through different fragmented functions that are typically thought of as belonging to the university, however dispersed within a certain area.

This is co-developed with the participation of various actors by collaborating these fragmented functions, thereby promoting significant urban and social transformations. This was proposed to be done by breaking the boundaries of the conventional idea of a university and making it a substantially more responsive environment which holds the potential for the neighbourhood to become a part of the urban fabric.

Imperial college is one of the key actors in the knowledge economy and has a stake in this area of London and thereby also has a stake in the future of the area. However it does not take initiative of thought leadership in the process of the regeneration of West London; there are no clear indications of their contributions towards the city that would be of benefit to their potential researchers and graduate students.

Figure 16 View of the ‘Learning Landscapes’ 29

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Neighbourhood Organization The location of Imperial West can be interpreted as a missed opportunity in relation to the massive transport investment and the impending transformations of Old Oak and Park Royal. The overall illegibility, fragmentation and lack of continuities within the local mobility network makes it a poorly integrated area.

On a larger scale, encompassing spaces with a radius of a 10-minute walking distance around the site (Figure 17), it is evident that a varied segregation of functions, particularly high-density residential spaces on the periphery of this radius support the context for the design program being looked at. This area within the 10-minute walking radius of the site also falls in the proposed White City opportunity area, with significant actors such as the Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial West, Westfield, Hammersmith Park and the Park View centre for Health and Well-Being adjacent to the site.

Imperial West Campus: Initial Proposal The initial masterplan set out for the site of Imperial West in White City (Figure 19), shows Imperial’s ambition of co-locating health and bio-medical research centres with a strong emphasis on commercialisation of research output. Despite the campus’s ambition at becoming a world leading innovation district, it is conceived within a defined boundary of a collection of buildings that accommodate various programs. Therefore, it is evident that limiting the Imperial West White City campus to the development of a site may lead toward the creation of yet another set piece within the area – highly segregated and failing to bring value or incite further transformations.

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Figure 17 Programmatic study

Figure 18 Transport infrastructure diagram

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THESIS PROJECT RESEARCH - LEARNING LANDSCAPES

Architectural Functions In order to overlap the functions of a university to that of a residential estate, the thesis introduces a robotics centre and student housing to the site, thereby making the site an interesting mix of learning, working, living and recreational spaces (Figure 19). This amalgamation of individual built spaces leads to improved patterns of movement and sequencing of spaces that promote the idea of ‘integration over linkage’, and generate an urbanity based on overlapping patterns of living, working and learning, thereby creating a ‘learning landscape’.

The robotics centre performs as the centre of collaboration of formal and informal activities. The sectional differences enable visual relations across levels and create layered and negotiable thresholds between users and activities in the robotics centre (Figure 22). Double and triple heights are achieved, allowing light to reach further into the plan to enable these spaces to be used for larger events or demonstrations, while also allowing for private and smaller workstations.

Figure 19 Proposed plan of Imperial West

The use of towers for housing allows for the rethinking of the need for housing to be directly on the ground level (Figure 21). This type achieves increased security and privacy, while contributing to the creation of a socially rich environment where learning patterns infiltrate daily patterns of living. Long term value is ensured not only for the university but also for future partners and the local community by integrating university functions and residential life through the creation of a learning landscape that permeates the ground; this in turn will give greater support as it begins to become a part of the neighbourhood.

Figure 20 Spatial organization 33

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THESIS PROJECT RESEARCH - LEARNING LANDSCAPES

Knowledge City The thesis puts the idea of a ‘knowledge economy’ through a ‘learning landscape’ by aiming to develop a self-sustaining site. It create platforms for graduate students to learn at the robotics centre which is aided with research, as well as staff it through Imperial’s offers for income to the students. This makes it both a place for research and income, and also a platform where public can learn something, benefitting both the students and the public.This also gives an opportunity to have first-hand understanding of how a potential market is using different kinds of robotic infrastructure to gain insight.

The treatment of the ground as a porous environment is also explored to enhance the quality of the public realm.

While there are merits to each of the case studies in their understanding of developing spatial tools to deliver an urban strategy that deals with bridging the gap between industry and people by creating hybrid environments, it lacks in its exploration of integration though hybrid typologies with the site by using a mono-programmatic approach. There is also an absence in the consideration of the context and thereby fails to create continuity within the fabric which is important for both the functioning of a city and an industrial territory.

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Figure 21 Porosity

Figure 22 Drawings of the Robotics Centre

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Urban Intervention

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URBAN INTERVENTION

Principles While the projects studied suggest opportunities in achieving a set of objectives within a single project, this intervention works with an ambition to reactivate industrial territory to bring a variety of different elements together to show a new way forward.

The intervention aims to urbanize industrial territory in the Park Royal area by creating hybrid environments with clusters of collaboration that encourages a circuit between manufacturing, production and knowledge. Through mobility and integration, it approaches the site with an urban strategy that encourages a multi-scalar change within Park Royal. The proposition aims to transform an industrial territory through four main principles: 1. Retain industry and industrial flexibility 2. Mobility and integration 3. Hybrid typologies 4. Treatment of the ground

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URBAN INTERVENTION

Ambition The urban strategy aims to create a certain way of life that sits on an industrial brownfield and becomes a scene of a way of life through part to whole relationships across multiple scales. At the same time, it also priorities servicing instead of proposing to build the same types of housing that is already present in the area. These begin to dovetail because the living differently starts to form the sense of the area as it begins to become as a part of the larger Metropolis. This is based on the idea that one good idea will be the catalyst of multiplication of good ideas.This has the potential to cause a shift in multiple scales where distinctive environments start to appear and become well integrated as neighbourhoods and corridors, while connecting to a larger system that is influenced by this new way of living.

Figure 23 Aireal image of the site

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Existing Condition The site has three different conditions in terms of its edge.

On the north side is the northern circular road, on the east and the south sides are industries and on the west are housing. The current condition of the site consists of some light industries, a recycling centre and a hill topography. As per one of the major principles, the proposal aims to retain industries and industrial flexibility to accommodate changes in London’s industrial market.

Figure 24 Current site condition

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Integrating Context When comparing the two proposals, the fundamental difference in its approach to the context. While both the proposals are built on the idea of retaining industry and creating contained environments in an attempt to create industrial urbanity, Vargas proposes to create a contained environment with a programmatic approach disregarding the context of the site. Contrary to that, this intervention aims to integrate the wider context by opening up the site for opportunities of integration and future development. It uses a contextual, mixed use approach to create a porous atmosphere that pulls in the conditions of industry and housing into clusters of contained environments that holds the potential of transforming the wider context.

Figure 25 Models of massing study

Figure 27 Access points for the site Figure 26 Proposed intervention in contrast to Productive and knowledge hubs thesis

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URBAN INTERVENTION

Walkability As per one of the major principles, the proposal values mobility and integration, thus connectivity and walkability. The site in located within close proximity of four tube stations, as well as the proposed town centre by OPDC (Figure 27).

These along with bus stations make the site extremely pedestrian and cyclist friendly. It promotes a safe cycling and walkable environment to promote this as the default choice for transport in Old Oak Park Royal area. The intervention proposes the addition of three bridges into the site to make it more porous and connected.

Figure 28 Exisiting and the proposed

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Striations There is a richness in urban quality in the context that the proposal aims to incorporate into the site. Striations are used to develop an urban strategy rather than a programmatic strategy. If the idea of mobility and integration plays a vital role, then it is perhaps by using the existing urban conditions and connections to influence the strategy for the site.

Figure 29 Patterns of movement

Figure 30 Proposed striations 49

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Clusters By creating three strategic moves, the surrounding conditions of industry and housing are merged together to revitalize the site; two predominant clusters are defined based on functions with smaller clusters within them (Figure 29).

This allows for the creation of pockets that invite, pockets that exclude, pockets for activities and pockets for rest. The conditions of these pockets are based on the activities that take place in the buildings that surround them (Figure 32).

Figure 31 Clusters

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Figure 32 Connectivity through yards

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Strategic Moves If these three strategic moves have a role to play that is more than mobility and integration, then it is perhaps the characteristics of those moves that define the types of place-making, thereby creating a different way of living and working (Figure 33). The three strategic moves – the main street, the linear park and the loop, have the capacity through all other interventions to transform the wider context of the area.

Figure 33 Conceptual massing and clustering

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URBAN INTERVENTION

Main Street The main street plays a particularly important role in becoming an urban spine that enables integration through connections, as well as place making and in creating an identity (Figure 34). The concept of the Main Street is derived from its traditional meaning of a “unique blend of housing, retail and civic uses [that] serve as the social and commercial hub of communities� (Toth and Kent, 2014).

Figure 34 Formation of the main street

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The creation of the main street is one of the more controversial strategies, but it holds the potential to transform some of the more difficult logistics related facilities which are vital to an industrial area. The proposal acknowledges that the some of the mobility networks that support the industries are necessary for the operation of industries, and therefore uses the creation of the main street as an opportunity which does not contradict or jeopardize the logistics and functioning of industries. The main street thus provides an opportunity to transform some of those industrial areas on the east, transform the area within the site, and increase the potential to masterplan the western part (Figure 35).

In terms of place making and creating an identity, the proposition envisions active street frontages that are developed to sustain a local service economy and will serve the needs of those living, working and visiting Park Royal. The main street will thus become a focal point for social interaction and integration. The main street’s functions and character varies along its length in response to the changing characters of each building, however at the same time, it creates continuity within the site by unlocking potentials for it to join into surrounding sites. The main street also makes important contribution to the site’s existing green topography and blues spaces, which make up the other two moves. (Figure 36)

Figure 35 Main street creating a place for an ‘event’

Figure 36 Main street creating a place for an ‘event’ 57

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Linear Park The proposition incorporates the canal as a vital element into the design with an intention of creating a dialog with the canal. The canal is used to deliver a linear green boulevard.

It proposes three bridges along its length to connect the site to three different areas (Figure 38). Using the existing towpath alongside it, the canal can be used both as a movement corridor as well as a place of leisure and activity. The corridor is widened in key locations along the site to provide street furniture and active frontages for cafes, restaurants and other canal activities. These characteristics of the canal can be replicated and thus provide excellent connections for pedestrians and cyclists to the east and the west.

Figure 37 View of the canal 59

Figure 38 Linear landscaping along the canal 60

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URBAN INTERVENTION

Loop The loop works as a pedestrian opportunity to walk through a diverse and intense mix of uses, places and people, ranging from more active industrial spaces to quieter residential spaces (Figure 39). The route is not fixed and therefore provides the pedestrian to the option they desire, unlike the main street and the linear park. This allows for activities in spaces that are away from the primary element to create a richer fabric around another circulatory route (Figure 40).

Figure 39 Bridging the gap

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Figure 40 Connection through the yards spaces 62

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Treatment of Ground In retaining the qualities of industrial territory, the treatment of the ground plays a particularly important role as the entirety of industrial ground is active and on ground level, a thickened ground is proposed across the site. If this thickened ground has a role to play, it is perhaps the ground is less integrated with the life above for reasons of the fundamental logic of what it is achieving – which is making it a part of a civic realm. However, at the same time, it becomes a part of circulatory route which impacts the overall success of the site as it creates potentials for multiplying civic engagement and commercial opportunities. (Figure 42) This is important in creating more sustainable clustering of jobs and residences to drive more successful learning environments that will lead to more rapid innovations.

Figure 41 View of the public realm next to the megaform

Figure 42 Section through the canal showing the relation between cultural centre and the megaform

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RESEARCH - ORGANIZING PROGRAMS

Research - Organizing Programs RIVER SPREEFIELD HOUSING, BERLIN

The social skills that have developed throughout this process both enrich and facilitate a cooperative way of living. The objectives have been implemented for the most part, and the project generates income in the form of value in its use for both residents and the city.

As a cooperative, we basically care about social issues, albeit initially based on the needs of our members. This is a level that does not occur in a normal assembly because you would have to group yourself “extra” again. This 64-apartments-building in the centre of Berlin creates a lot of opportunities for self-organization, community life, ecology etc. It is not just a nice place to live, but it also integrates the whole neighbourhood through community gardening, co-working etc.

The Spreefeld Cooperative is organized as a creative living space with a work and live environment that responds to the social aspect in a sustainable way. There is tendency for a community to become less cohesive due to different socio-cultural backgrounds. Thus communal– based activities which promote collective living can be implemented to inculcate community spirit. This organization was successful in creating a economical and an environment friendly block.

Three buildings form a confident and distinct unity in their design and position in the urban space. Open to the river and the neighbours, they do not set themselves off like blocks. The individual and communal terraces have become a distinguishing feature; they offer a much-used compensation for the “loss” of open spaces to the public.The viewer in the urban space is the first to realize that these are different houses. The appearance of the ground floors is characterized by the individual handwriting of each office, in the floors above it is rather standardized.

Figure 43 Section through Spreefield showing the veritcal spatial organization

Figure 44 Exploded axonometric showing the organization of spaces in Spreefield 65

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RESEARCH -INTEGRATION OF LIVING AND COMMUNAL SPACE

Research - Integration of living and communal space RIVER SPREEFIELD HOUSING, BERLIN

R50, BERLIN The building proposal is founded on a clear urban design position, robust and precisely detailed architectural design, and both a collective and individual process of occupancy. It has six floors with three units on each floor, as well as a shared roof terrace, large communal room in the basement and yard for all the families. But by all accounts everyone’s getting along well and discussions continue regarding many aspects of living there, including ideas for engaging further with their neighbours, the long time, less affluent renters living in the surrounding towers. . Underneath is a double height, flexible community space which connects the building’s main access with the public street space. It is made available for neighbourhood groups and other public uses. These are collectively built residential complexes in which individuals own their own units but share common spaces.

The purpose of the cooperative is expressly to support in the long term a sustainable way of life of the members infrastructurally even after completion of the buildings. There is a spatial integration of the public private and the communal spaces. This spatial typology had began to be seen as a revitalization tool in inner urban areas This social mix that is created by the organisation of the living spaces with the communal spaces not only encourages a sense of community amongst the residents but also integrates well with the surrounding neighbourhood.

The ground floor is largely open to the public, reflecting its attitude to the urban environment. It includes a carpentry workshop, catering kitchen, studios, day-care centre, and a co-working space. Available to non-residents are Option Rooms – unassigned, unfinished spaces for community, social, or cultural projects. Option Rooms maintain the project’s open character at the juncture of living and urban development.

Figure 45 Detail axonometric of the clusters showing integration between spaces 67

Figure 47 R50 Exploded axonometric drawing showing integration of living and communal

Figure 46 R50 Access 68

RESEARCH -INTEGRATION OF LIVING AND COMMUNAL SPACE

URBANIZING INDUSTRIAL TERRITORY

NANTERRE CO-HOUSING,FRANCE

NARKOMFIN APARTMENTS

Another approach to the shared spaces is this less dense housing situated in a more dense environment. Like wise the R5O this project also incorporates the participation of the inhabitants from the start of the project, the question of sharing and participation on the scale of a building (landings, garden, footbridge, common room, etc.) within a district is crucial to the creation of environments in which to live together offering greater spatial quality for the inhabitants.

The building project comprises two buildings connected by a footbridge which serves all the upper floor housing.

The building project results from close collaboration with fifteen families grouped together to form an association and it offers fifteen unique housing units meeting each family’s requirements.The footbridge is a place symbolizing the connection between the two buildings. This footbridge is one of the strong features of the project since it overhangs the garden and the common room, enabling residents to interact in a very natural fashion. The floor landings are designed as convivial spaces, large-sized areas where resident can meet, and enjoy their use.

This project saw a shift from family housing to a collective communal approach and emphasized people to occupy the public spaces instead of the individual spaces, hence they reduced the size of the individual units to promote the communal spaces.

The model consists of two different types of living spaces with type K and type F where the type f focused more on the single and smaller groups of people.The building is single oriented with alternate floors letting natural light inside. The long internal corridor connects another block which is more open to the public and accommodates common spaces like the kitchen, dining and the library.This project was not only a progressive step towards a new architecture ,but has shaped the inhabitants manners and values by instilling a collective and communal behaviour to alter the social norms.

Figure 48 Section of Nanterre showing the existing relation of living and communal

Figure 49 Exploded drawing of Narkomfin Apartments showing integration of various spaces through a single unit

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RESEARCH - TREATMENT OF GROUND FLOOR

Research - Treatment of Ground Floor YONGJIA WORLD TRADE CENTRE,CHINA

NANTERRE CO-HOUSING,FRANCE

The functional shift of the WTC area, from a business and financial district to a mixed-use development which includes cultural and recreational facilities and a high percentage of residential properties, will create a forward-looking and sustainable city district that has all the components needed to support economic growth whilst propelling social connectivity and local identity. The programme mix of office and residential ensures an intertwining of functions and activation throughout the day and night. The notion of precious objects on a tray drives the main design concept, where the continuous podium landscape occupies the entire site and serves as a tray-like, green plain for the towers. The harmonious composition of the towers affords a unique image of the development from all different views.

On the ground floor prevails the common spaces like the multipurpose hall, kitchen, laundry, DIY workshop and bike storage that open up to a collective garden space. So it is these outdoor spaces that build the social realm within the space. The garden is the main area where all the interaction takes place.

Figure 52 Conceptual analysis of how the ground flooris integrated through miced use

The composition will interweave with its surroundings, yet will remain recognisable as family of objects.The landscape is the unifying element in the overall design, providing the display element for the tower objects. It is in large parts publically accessible and establishes a continuous green connection that links through the central green axis to the riverfront area. This zoning creates diverse green areas that can satisfy the different needs of residents, visitors and business people alike. the conceptual underpinning of the bordered volumes is that of a tray-like landscape of habitable volumes. ample greenery in form of sky gardens and lounges delineated commonly used spaces– a micro-scaled iteration of the proposed zoning idea that embeds differently themed areas into the water-bordered region.

Figure 50 Ground floor plan showing the integration between living and communal spaces

Figure 51 WTC rendered view of ground activities

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The architectural proposition uses the notion of bigness in creating an intermixed hybrid block rather than taking a mono-programmatic approach to it. The concept of the mega form has a vital role to play in the transformation of the urban area.

Based on Kenneth Frampton’s conditions outlined in Megaform as Urban Landscape, the building is defined as a mega-form and not a mega-structure: 1. A large form extending horizontally rather than vertically 2. A complex form which, unlike the mega-structure is not necessarily articulated into a series of structural and mechanical subsets 3. A form capable of inflecting on the urban landscape 4. A form that is not freestanding but rather insinuates itself as a continuation of the surrounding topography 5. A form that is oriented towards a densification of the urban fabric

Figure 53 Placement of the Megaform

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URBAN INTERVENTION

Concept Genesis The concept genesis explores the basic hierarchy of functions in a mega form, the relationship between different uses and the articulation of the void.

The sections explores the understanding of the way voids cut through the megaform.

The plan understands the ground through a grid and explores spatial sequence and their relations to the surroundings and relations of public spaces.

The typical floor plan uses details units to explore approaches on how to mix residential conditions to working conditions using amenities and services as a shared buffer. These plans were the elongated to create mixed used parallel structures and then transformed to follow the diagram of the ground floor.

Hierarchy of functions.

The concept genesis explores the basic hierarchy of functions in a mega form, the relationship between different uses and the articulation of the void (Figure 54 - ‘layers’).

Figure 54 Concept genesis - Layers 75

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URBAN INTERVENTION

Voids.

The sections explore the understanding of the way voids cut through the mega form (Figure 54 - ‘section’).

Ground.

The plan understands the ground through a grid and explores spatial sequences and their relations to the surroundings and relations of public spaces (Figure 54 - ‘plan’).

Plans.

The typical floor plan uses detailed units to explore approaches on how to mix residential conditions to working conditions using amenities and services as a shared buffer.

These plans were elongated to create mixed used parallel structures and then transformed to follow the diagram of the ground floor (Figure 55).

Figure 55 Concept genesis

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Circulation Diagram The two parallel structures are not only connected visually but also share the void spaces and connects to each through bridges on multiple levels (Figure 56). This also acts as event structure in connection to the activities of the void space vertically and horizontally.

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Figure 56 Circulation diagram within the megaform connecting private and public spaces on several floors 80

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Mega Form The mega form plays a vital role in activating the main street, the canal and the green space and creates a connection to the industrial cluster. The block is permeable on the ground level in a way that invites a connection for different uses (Figure 58). For example, how a recycling centre can enable a circular economy within the site but also work as a starting point of a network extended to all of the park royal.

Figure 57 View of the main street

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Figure 58 Street frontage and the relation with the deeper block 82

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URBAN INTERVENTION

Strategy The strategy of functional distribution within the building is based on our five major principles and the treatment of the ground, middle and top.

Ground.

The ground creates an active frontage for the main street by providing retail and services like a grocery store, salon and multi-purpose event space, as well as provides street furniture for rest. It also creates a different kind of frontage along the canal. The proposal pulls in the condition of the canal and extrudes the conditions out to the canal to create a space for different activities and events.The interface builds a transparency between the inner spaces to the linear space and blue space. In terms of the connectivity, the ground level connects the green space or the hill to the canal and across the canal via a bridge. This space works as a junction for where the canal meets the loop and the main street thereby becoming a hub for integration and connectivity. (Figure 59)

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Figure 59 Overview of the whole site massing

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Middle The middle is used to satisfying existing housing demands and securing improvements to public amenity spaces. It offers residential units and working spaces that support the functioning of an industrial zone. It provides shared amenities like a nursery, local library, laundry services and a bar which is easily accessible via the bridges (Figure 60). In terms of the work space, the proposal offers traditional work spaces for mature firms. In addition to that, it also provides co-working spaces that offer skills training and employment opportunities for local people and smaller businesses and start-ups.

(Figure 61) Top On the top, the structure is rotated in different angles to create levels of terraces that are connected to each other and mimics an outdoor environment. It provides opportunities for the occupants of the building as well as the local economy like having a communal farm, places to host events and for leisure, all while providing excellent views. Together with the landscape, it enriches the qualities of the main street. (Figure 60)

Figure 60 Sections through the megaform showing adjaceny within the mixed use program 85

Figure 61 Exploration of porposed megaform - Exploded axonometric

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Conclusion

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CONCLUSION

Conclusion Since industry is directly related to people, it is important to create people spaces alongside industrial territory to revitalize industry and industrial flexibility. The proposition values the richness of conditions in the context of the Park Royal area in developing a form of industrial urbanity. It aims to deliver an intermixed hybrid site that will work as a multi-scalar driver for the future change for Park Royal (Figure 62).

One of the main considerations is the recognition that industrial sites are fully active on the ground level and they require their logistics systems and, in that recognition, raises the importance of finding a solution that does not create any extra burdens for those systems but overlaps in finding different ways to integrate and connect in order to create ‘people spaces’ alongside an industrial area. The treatment of the ground and the creation of the main street can help in achieving that.

Through the treatment of the ground, the proposal introduces a strategic dimension of how to operate within the context through diverse typologies that are host to different types of activities. It also allows for the retention of industry and industrial flexibility by retrofitting old buildings and stacking new programmes on top of them or create meanwhile uses to intensify the area. It maximizes the potential of existing opportunities such as the canal and the new walkable mobility proposed in the intervention. The main street has the potential to extend into the conditions of a fully industrial area without conflicting with those potentials and capacities. In some places, it can sit alongside logistic centres, with walk-in areas and different kinds of spaces in between. But in other places, it would have actual main street characteristics. On the west of the site, it has a potential to connect the conditions of housing to industry. The successful development of the main street provides opportunities to masterplan the area on the west for future developments of hybrid areas. While this intervention may have a long procurement and delivery process, it is important to note the value of meanwhile use in industrial territories. Warehouses and sheds and the interstices between them can be transformed with light structures to create meanwhile projects that can intensify the area in its process of urbanization.

Through the theme of mobility and integration and the four major principles, the intervention is able to create clusters of collaboration that encourages a circuit between industry, living and working, thereby manufacturing, production and knowledge, while retaining industry and industrial flexibility. It uses a urban approach to the site, driven by a contextual strategy that will encourage a multi-scalar change for Park Royal.

It is important to note that this intervention is simply a visioning study since the conditions of Park Royal are much more complicated as it is a part of the Strategic Industrial Locations; it has multiple land ownerships and a lack of primary actors to deal with the current trends and the challenges it poses for industrial territories. For an area as vast and as important as Park Royal, it would require layers of urban designs to successfully urbanize an industrial territory.

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Figure 62 Potential expansion of the proposed strategy

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References

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography London.gov.uk. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/park_ royal_atlas.pdf [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Pps.org. (2018). Placemaking Main Street into a Destination Downtown. [online] Available at: https://www.pps.org/article/placemaking-main-street-into-a-destination-downtown [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Anon, (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/organisations-we [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Robson, S. (2018). FirstCentral, Park Royal, NW10 - Architecture - Sheppard Robson. [online] Sheppard Robson. Available at: https://www.sheppardrobson.com/architecture/view/firstcentral-park-royal [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Vargas, E. Productive and Knowldge Hubs, Architecture Association Archive.

ArchDaily. (2018). Nanterre Co-Housing / MaO architectes + Tectône. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/779035/nanterre-co-housing-mao-architectes-plus-tectone [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Archinect. (2018). Housing Case Study: Narkomfin Apartments | Matthew Wieber | Archinect. [online] Available at: https://archinect.com/mwieber/project/housing-case-study-narkomfin-apartments [Accessed 8 May 2018].

ArchDaily. (2018). R50 – Cohousing / ifau und Jesko Fezer + HEIDE & VON BECKERATH. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/593154/r50-nil-cohousing-ifau-und-jesko-fezer-heide-andvon-beckerath [Accessed 8 May 2018].

ArchDaily. (2018). R50 – Cohousing / ifau und Jesko Fezer + HEIDE & VON BECKERATH. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/593154/r50-nil-cohousing-ifau-und-jesko-fezer-heide-andvon-beckerath [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Lopez, L. Learning Landscapes, Architecture Association Archive.

Kenneth Frampton, Mega Form as Urban Landscape Dictionary.com. (2018). the definition of industry. [online] Available at: http://www.dictionary.com/ browse/industry?s=t [Accessed 8 May 2018].

ArchDaily. (2018). Coop Housing at River Spreefeld / Carpaneto Architekten + Fatkoehl Architekten + BARarchitekten. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/587590/coop-housing-project-at-the-river-spreefeld-carpaneto-architekten-fatkoehl-architekten-bararchitekten [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Cohousing-berlin.de. (2018). Spreefeld Berlin | CoHousing|Berlin. [online] Available at: http://www. cohousing-berlin.de/en/node/1037 [Accessed 8 May 2018].

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LIST OF FIGURES

URBANIZING INDUSTRIAL TERRITORY

List of Figures Figure 01 Figure 02 Figure 03 Figure 04 Figure 05 Figure 06 Figure 07 Figure 08 Figure 09 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 Figure 18 Figure 19 Figure 20 Figure 21 Figure 22 Figure 23 Figure 24 Figure 26 Figure 25 Figure 27 Figure 28 Figure 29 Figure 30 Figure 31

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Site location Industrial estate, Grand union canal, Wormwood scrubs, Imperial West, BBC White City, Westfield.

Location Plan Workspace identification around Park Royal Old Oak High street, Canal Garden, Old Oak Common station.

Ripple effect from expected old oak common Two proposals; Productive and knowledge hubs, Park Royal; Learning Landscapes, White City Thesis project locations; Park Royal and White City Productive and Knowledge Hubs by Elsaban Vargas Linear block as a megaform Integration of the megafrom Striations Explorations of the liner block as a megaform Floor plan of the liner block Program structure for the linear block View of the ‘Learning Landscapes’ Programmatic study Transport infrastructure diagram Proposed plan of Imperial West Spatial organization Porosity Drawings of the Robotics Centre Aireal image of the site Current site condition Proposed intervention in contrast to Productive and knowledge hubs thesis Models of massing study Access points for the site Exisiting and the proposed Patterns of movement Proposed striations Clusters

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Figure 32 Figure 33 Figure 34 Figure 35 Figure 36 Figure 37 Figure 38 Figure 39 Figure 40 Figure 41 Figure 42 Figure 43 Figure 44 Figure 45 Figure 47 Figure 46 Figure 48 Figure 49 Figure 50 Figure 52 Figure 51 Figure 53 Figure 54 Figure 55 Figure 56 Figure 57 Figure 58 Figure 59 Figure 60 Figure 61 Figure 62

Connectivity through yards Conceptual massing and clustering Formation of the main street Main street creating a place for an ‘event’ Main street creating a place for an ‘event’ View of the canal Linear landscaping along the canal Bridging the gap Connection through the yards spaces View of the public realm next to the megaform Section through the canal showing the relation between cultural centre and the megaform Section through Spreefield showing the veritcal spatial organization Exploded axonometric showing the organization of spaces in Spreefield Detail axonometric of the clusters showing integration between spaces R50 Exploded axonometric drawing showing integration of living and communal R50 Access Section of Nanterre showing the existing relation of living and communal Exploded drawing of Narkomfin Apartments showing integration of various spaces through a single unit Ground floor plan showing the integration between living and communal spaces Conceptual analysis of how the ground flooris integrated through miced use WTC rendered view of ground activities Placement of the Megaform Concept genesis - Layers Concept genesis Circulation diagram within the megaform connecting private and public spaces on several floors View of the main street Street frontage and the relation with the deeper block Overview of the whole site massing Sections through the megaform showing adjaceny within the mixed use program Exploration of porposed megaform - Exploded axonometric Potential expansion of the proposed strategy

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