Rooftop Design interventions for Rocinha
Rooftops of Rocinha, a community in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil Rocinha's Rooftops make up 520528 sq.m of area in total.. This project aims at utilising the rooftops as a second layer of the community to provide additional public spaces, services especially for the younger generation. The project strategy is divided into two phases where the urban acupunctures take place along the high street and then propagate into the deeper network. The rooftops main activities are touristic lounges, children's daycare and social spaces for the local community.
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Building height Map showing the clustering of three different building heights which reflects the potential of creating various rooftop activities if the roofs are being connected
Building Area The above map highlights in black the rooftops of area bigger than 80 sq.m where interventions could be possible. the area of the rooftop and the possibility of connecting it with adjacent roofs play a role in deciding the functional usage of the space.
Topography Map It shows how steep some areas in Rocinha are. They could be developed as local social hubs with a nice view over the city. As for touristic hubs, they are avoided in the very steep locations where accessibility is a challenge Design interventions for Rocinha
Normalised Integration Radius 1200m The darker the shade of blue, the easier the building is reachable from other locations in the network. this is the primary filter of selecting the most suitable rooftops for the intervention. for the local social hubs, they could be shallow or deep in the network, however, when it comes to creating touristic hubs, they are preferred to be located in the most accessible locations.
Design interventions for Rocinha
Easily walkable Hardly walkable
Buildings coloured according to steepness the 3d topography map is projected on the 2d buildings map to illustrate which areas on site could be easily accessed by foot and which areas are steeper.. this is the second filter of choosing which sites are suitable for the design intervention.
Catchment area drug dealing activity. - network measured - Radius 100 m The area of Rocinha has an infamous reputation for drug dealing. The locations of the design interventions especially the children's' activities and daycare should avoid these hot-spots and the areas around them.
Proximity of rooftops to existing hostels in Rocinha. Radius 50 m. Since there are some hostels and touristic accommodations that exist on site, it would be more reasonable to locate the tourists' activities, cafes, restaurants and meeting places in the areas close by.. this map is the final filter for selecting the touristic hubs locations.
School Catchment Areas - network Measured - Radius 250m The darker the building, the closer it is to a school with a maximum radius of 250 metres measured as distance within the network. locations are more desirable for children's daycare Design interventions for Rocinha
Clusters of rooftops suitable for the design interventions
Design interventions for Rocinha
LOCAL DAYCARE Touristic retreat
Chosen sites for the design interventions - 3d view
LOCAL social space
LOCAL DAYCARE
Design interventions for Rocinha
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Chosen Sites for the design interventions - 2d map view
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300m Design interventions for Rocinha
Zoom in on the locations of interventions and the suitable function for each rooftop Top left : Rooftop Cinema and Performance platfrom. Area 425 sq.m Bottom Left : rooftop part and BBQ space. Area 250 sq.m Top right : rooftop kids' playground. Area 200 sq.m Bottom right : rooftop workout space and outdoor gym. Area 180 sq.m
Design interventions for Rocinha
Vision of the overall development of rooftops along the main spines of Rocinha
Social space and bridge connecting rooftops
Outdoor workout area
Kids Area Design interventions for Rocinha
Prototype - hostel's rooftop for touristic activities
Design interventions for Rocinha
Rooftop prototype - nursery or children's daycare
Design interventions for Rocinha
Rooftop prototype - cafe or restaurant
Design interventions for Rocinha
Impact of the spatial design
The Impact of the Spatial Design on the Learning Process and the Students' Socialisation This study is presented as the dissertation research for a masters program. The main aim is to understand how could the spatial design of nine different school buildings impact the learning process and the students socialisation inside the building. The nine schools are presented as a comparative case study based on quantitative syntactic analysis. the main syntactic measure utilised is the visual mean depth : VMD. it measures the mean global number of visual turns to reach one specific point from every other point, and thus its values are comparable between different schools. The lower the value of VMD the more shallow and visible the space is.
VMD of the ground and first floor - school A The analysis shows that the three main social and gathering areas located in the courtyards have an average of 3.4 turns for the VMD. 98 percent of the learning spaces lie in the areas with a VMD more than four. The primary horizontal circulation axis is the most visible route in the school followed by the vertical secondary branches.
VMD of the ground and first floor - school b the school has no major atrium that might enhance the visual connectivity across floors. Still the VMD is in the middle ranking among all schools. This is achieved through a powerful circulation grid spreading across the plans and minimal labyrinth like areas. There is only one axis of circulation as the most visible backbone of the school. Impact of the spatial design
VMD of all floors - school C the variation in the values of the VMD start to increase as spaces get further from the centre and deeper into the two sides, especially the right wing. the VMD shows that the main entrance of the school is situated in the furthest right end of the school causing an unbalance in the depth of many learning and socialising spaces from the entrance. Impact of the spatial design