EASTERN O B U S OT H E RW I S E VISENTIN ALBERTO
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The context within which we have defined the content of this Second Journal are based on and derive from the studies and researches made during the elaboration of Journal One. In said Journal we had investigated areas such as the Housing Crisis in Shanghai where we investigated, on site during our field trip to Shanghai, the situation in the Old Town of Shanghai. We looked at the social context in the area and how local Chinese interact with each other. We further looked at the population growth in China and in Shanghai in detail and focussed on the population density in Shanghai and on the residential density and the ration of people to square meters in local housing. We looked at building types and on their density distribution. Last but not least, we also looked at similar situations in the western world and focussed on projects such as Le Vele di Scampia and the Corviale in Italy, the Barbican in England, the Narkomfin in Russia and others. The result of our previous investigation, as detailed in Journal One, are the premises on which we based the further work and results contained herein.
INDEX
old town living conditions
6-9
Introduction
10-17
Poly-centric community
18-29
Obus high rise intervention
30-59
Obus architectural scale
60-73
Flat typologies
74-91
Structure & Enviromental strategies
92-113
Design Precedents
[ residential density ] the avarage density in the central area of shanghai is around 24,673 people/ km2 , and the highest gross residential density peak is reached in certain areas of the city centre , with over 90000 people/km2
6
The Old City of Shanghai is the traditional urban core of the modern mega-city. and have a circular area of a 2km diameter, enclosed by Renmin Road and Zhonghua Road, houses 180,000 people, is characterised by its pluralistic way of life that allows communities to engage in a collaborative set-up. The streets become living rooms, the limitation of space in the houses results in people extending their lives into the streets. Streets then become a mix between the private and the public activities. People cooking in the streets, playing cards, even showering. The whole area is like a big house which insinuates social freedom within the old town and its strong sense of community as the streets become the community centre which is the core of the collective way of life. Since 2006 there has been attempts to understand its value through the Protection Plan for the Old City Historical Cultural Scenery Area yet large areas are still under threat of demolition. The low-rise housing schemes , often overcrowded and insanitary , are incapable of responding to the growing pressure of the Chinese housing crisis.
In order to reduce the enormous demographic pressure of the central city and preserve agricultural land from uncontrolled expansion, it is proposed to replace the old central model with a poly-centric regional network that envisaged the construction of a series of new towns. In practice, the government decides to tear down the rundown buildings of the old town and replace them with larger, more modern buildings and to move the resident population there to new cities and new suburbs. This process of having population move out of city centres was carried out, in many occasions, primarily by developers and entrepreneurial local governments which have embarked on extensive urban housing demolition and redevelopment on profitable locations, featuring large-scale forced re-housing of residents. Local governments or developers inform residents that their neighbourhoods are going to be demolished, and residents have to move involuntarily, regardless of their moving intention. The quiet streets are a reminder of the loss of the traditional pluralistic way of life and the deterioration of communities, the neighbouring high-rise buildings showcase a new way of life: a life of introspection.
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Studying the peculiarities and the fabric of the Old Town Shanghai across various time periods (Journal vol.1), we noticed that the site we were surveying: Fuxing Road, the main road dividing and separating the fabric into 4 different areas actually used to be a river . A river that instead of separating people was actually connecting in various ways all the different parts of Old Shanghai. Our team’s aim is that of bringing back the connection concept of the old fabric by following the old river’s path reconnecting the 4 areas of the Old Town of Shanghai. All this while maintaining traditions and existing fabric. Maintaining, that is, the traditions that were built over centuries of pluralism as well as collective life style, increasing affordable housing, improving the quality of life of the inhabitants and creating facilities that were not possible to build in the dense Old Town.
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[ Fuxing Rd evolution: from a river to a megastructure ] 1948
1980
River and Fuxing rd overlap
2040 Eastern Obus
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POLY-CENTRIC URBAN COMMUNITY 11
[ urban communities creation ] The Obus would be a continuous linear form running from east to west. There will be distribution of services, each zone would have a set of programmes which would accommodate facilities missing from the fabric around it and two similar programmes would not be more than 5-7 minutes apart from each other. These dense residential living and large-scale public programmes such as health care, education, sports facilities will be hosted along the all lenght of the obus, creating a poly centric federation of urban communities along the obus, avoiding a mono centric conurbation.
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[ full eastern obus ]
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[ obus key moves diagrams ]
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[ Obus Typologies subdivision ] Division of the Obus was done through the study of existing fabric around the Fu xing Road. Zone 02 is engulfed in high rise buildings, which meant more physical connections with the existing fabric. “Living bridges� are then introduced into the obus, which connect the north and south side of Obus and then trails onto connecting with the existing high-rise buildings. .
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[ zone I ]
[ zone II ]
[ zone III ]
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obus bird eye view
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OBUS HIGH RISE TYPOLOGY INTERVENTION 19
[ high rise intervention area]
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[ site studies ] [ views and orientation ] I
[ connectivity ]
II view of Quiaoja òisted area III possible integration’’ with green area of
mantaining the actual walk paths flows on ground level of proposal in order to create continuity between existing fabric
view of Shanghai finantial distict over Yu Garden core listed area
Xiaotaoyuan listed area
IV view over confucian temple V possible integration of confucian area with cultural programs?
[ programmatic island creation]
[ from nodes to squares ]
creation of programmatic areas, programs will be placed where specific activities are needed along the three different typologies / zones of the proposal.
convert the nodes in main gathering points and access to the proposal
eldelry health medical services hospital green / sport areas cultural educational
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[ area’ peculiarities ] The context within which the OBUS is planned consists of pre-existing structures that will need to be maintained and with which we will need to interface/interact. These consist primarily of three different schools, with a large community of local students, an office building, an hotel and three residential buildings. Additional there is also a commercial mall with numerous internal shops. With all these the OBUS plans to have interconnections or interfaces. The goal being that of avoiding to erase the local culture
main roads residential commercial mall hotels mixed comm | residential education green development areas
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[ existing facade’study ] North building facades facing Fuxing Rd.
We carried out a study of the façade of the existing buildings along Fuxing Road in order to define a solution for the OBUS to minimize the impact and that would best interact with the exiting texture. This survey of the existing context also served to better the planned connections and where best to place them in order to minimize the obus impact on Fuxing Rd .
South building facades facing Fuxing Rd.
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[ obus adapting to site constrains ] this area being caracterized by its high rise commercial and residential building surrounding the site, is where the eastern obus will change from its binar linear shape to adapt to site constrains :
obus adapting to site constrains
avoiding vis a vis with southern high rise buildings
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avoiding vis a vis with northern hotel towers while maximising sunlight
main roads residential commercial mall hotels mixed comm | residential education green development areas
opening views in order to maximise land use
optimal views towards city skyline and south.
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[ massing models evolution ] The new structure will actually greatly improve the local quality of life for the local population of the “old town�. This prospect gives a full view of the complexity of the new installation. We can see two parallel structures that snake themselves along the site; the middle structure consists of the main buildings and cores; the promenade is a continuos elevated structure that runs from east to west linking all the various programs of the proposal allowing one to walk from one end to the other in around 8 to 10 minutes. the lower structure represents the linear park running the lenght of the obus with commercial activities
first iteration model:
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second iteration model:
final iteration model:
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[ programmatic explosion ]
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[ space distribution ]
22 duplex apt. each 55 sq/m
16 one bed apt. each 35 sq/m
6 restaurants each 150 sq/m
art gallery 2000 sq/m
40 studio apt. each 15 sq/m
36 duplex apt. each 55 sq/m
16 one bed apt. each 35 sq/m
school 2500 sq/m
linear park 10000 sq/m of pedestrian only green area
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gallery view from obus commercial area
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OBUS ARCHITECTURAL SCALE 31
[ obus uses diagrams ] This snake like form allows us to minimize said visĂ -vis issue as well as to maximise the sunlight that is available to the new structure.We can also clearly see how the green areas are almost evenly spread along the whole complex and hor the promenade links alls.
commercial
linear park
housing
communal green corners
32
educational
cultural
student
promenade
accomodation
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[ +0m ]
1 fuxing road coming above allowing access to secondary roads 2 residents parking lot 3 resident core elevators 4 exhisting hotel lobby and taxi area 5 exhisting park 6 extension of exhisting mall’s shops 7 exhisting mall connection 1
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On ground “0”, which was kept, we can see, on the right side of the picture, the existing park, the dedicated residents’ parking lot and the resident buildings dedicated elevators, on the left side the taxi area dedicated to the exiting hotel and hotel lobby. In addition, always on the right hand side we can see the various staircase access to the resident building. In keeping the existing ground “0”, with some modifications, we also maintained the access to the existing mall and hotel. What you can also notice is how the road at ground “0” level, at both ends of the OBUS, joins with the underground road proposed in other areas of the obus.
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[ +6m ]
6 extension of exhisting mall’s shops 7 exhisting mall connection 8 restaurants and cafeterias 9 squash courts 10 chinese arts school 11 tennis courts 12 art gallery and exhibition space 13 bridging deck 14 green areas 1
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The layout of the Obus at + 6 meters above ground level, that in fact is now the first level of our structure that fits in between the existing buildings, creating a linear prark linking the proposal to the various existing programs on site . What we can see is that is floor is set so as to accommodate various activities amongst which we can see: a Chinese art school, squash courts, tennis courts, art gallery, restaurants, existing mall shops, etc.. We can also see the various green areas that will benefit the site and that will also be used by the neighbouring hotel guest and office building employees.
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[ +12m ]
10 chinese arts school 11 tennis courts 12 art gallery and exhibition space 15 elevated deck connection 16 exhisting mall and access to offices above 17 hotel pedestrian entrance 18 promenade-gallery meeting point 1
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[ +15,5m ]
10 chinese arts school 11 tennis courts 12 art gallery and exhibition space 19 bridging promenade 20 studio apartments-accomodation 21 douplexes first floor access deck 22 one bedroom apartment access deck 1
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[ +19m ]
10 chinese arts school 12 art gallery and exhibition space 20 studio apartments-accomodation 21 douplexes first floor access deck 22 one bedroom apartment access deck 23 douplexes second floor 24 green residents corners 1
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[ +22,5m ]
10 chinese arts school 11 tennis courts 12 art gallery and exhibition space 19 bridging promenade 20 studio apartments-accomodation 21 douplexes first floor access deck 22 one bedroom apartment access deck 1
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[ +26m ]
10 chinese arts school 12 art gallery and exhibition space 20 studio apartments-accomodation 21 douplexes first floor access deck 22 one bedroom apartment access deck 23 douplexes second floor 24 green residents corners 1
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[ top floor ]
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[ west residential obus visualisation ] Here we have a visualisation of the western area of the Obus, where duplex apartments and one bedroom apartments benefit from south east sunligh. The linear park, being a pedestrian only path is the perfect place for the collective life of the old town’s residents. The residents and the community will benefit of greater livng and working enviroments as well as more cultural venues in the Obus.
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[ perspectival section through residential area ] Here we have a perspectival view of the OBUS and how it stands above the existing ground level as if we were in one of the existing high rise that line the OBUS. We can notice that we have the actual Fuxing road under the linear park level, a walkable and commercial path running the length of the obus. From Fuxing road anyone can access to the mall, residents’ parking lot area as well as the access to the hotel and resident buildings. At -6 meters we can see the central lines of Fuxing road going undergroun (-6) to join the underground road proposed in the other typologies of the obus. Thanks to the High rise obus intervention traffic, coming from said other typologies, would be able to turn in secondary roads in the Old Town Above ground, at +6 meters we have, as mentioned, what is for us our ground zero which is identified by the linear park, all pedestrian, where you have green areas as well as outdoor restaurants, shopping areas, playgrounds, etc.. The various apartments, such as the duplex typologies on the left of the section, start at between +6 and +9 meters from said linear park area.
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[ obus construction layers ]
concrete flowers pot extensive green roof
ventilation system privacy green veil concrete flower railing pot paving insulation concrete slab metal decking suspended ceiling girder water pipes structural column
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[ green veil ]
[ green corners ]
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[ perspectival section through accomodations area ]
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[ art gallery visualization ]
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residential and commercial view
w
FLAT TYPOLOGIES 61
[ 14 m2 student accomodation typology ] In this specific case we can see, the single bedroom layout units that are destined for one or two people occupancy with the bedroom on the north east side and living room facing south and south-west. We also have student apartments on the central section each composed of a single bedroom / study area and shower bathroom. No private kitchen area is foreseen in this case. The students will have access to a communal kitchen area located on each floor. View of the layout of the student apartments that are set around a glass “riad” type central opening that helps in transmitting daylight down through all the floors.The “riad is surrounded by internal balconies that provide acces to the various apartments.
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[ studio plan ]
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[ studio accomodation iso ]
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[ studio accomodation visualization ]
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[ 35 m2 one bedroom apartment typology ] In this specific case we can see, the single bedroom layout units that are destined for two people occupancy. These units are placed on two of the diagonal section of the OBUS and have a very good view of the OBUS itself as well as of the Shanghai background. They are composed of a bedroom giving onto a private terrace and an open space living room kitchen area. These apartments are accessed via a central corridor with apartments on both sides.
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[ one bedroom plan ]
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[ 35 m2 apartment isometric view ]
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[ 35 m2 apartment inner visualization ]
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[ 55 m2 two bedroom duplex typology ] In this specific case we can see, the duplex apartments having a two bedroom layout units that are destined for a four people occupancy. These units are placed at both ends of the OBUS: on east and west side. As these duplex units are in close proximity to the adjacent existing office buildings, we have foreseen an “green� brise-soleil so as to preserve the privacy of the occupants and also to mitigate the sunlight as they have both a north and south exposure. These duplex apartments are accessed via and external corridor having on one side the green brise-soleil. Entrance is on the ground floor and gives onto an open space layout for kitchen and living room. The living room and one of the two bedrooms have a direct access to a private balcony (one each). The other bedroom has a large window giving onto the brise-soleil. The groun floor has a small guest bathroom, whilst the main full bathroom is on the second floor
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[ duplex bedroom plan ]
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[ duplex iso ]
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[ duplex upper floor visualization towards green veil ]
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residential stairs & green veil view
STRUCTURE ENVIROMENTAL STRATEGIES
75
[ 1:200 mdf phisical study model ] The following few pages show the physical model that was generated to show, in a real tactical way, the exact tissue of the OBUS and of how it would interface with the existing surroundings. Said model was also of great help to see exactly how the various programs interacted with each other and how the Public Promenade links, as elevated life line, between all programs throughout the OBUS. It allows residents and the general public to walk along all the OBUS and access all the various facilities.
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[ obus structural system ] The structure solution chosen for the OBUS is that of using a total of steel frame construction that is placed on specific foundation. The use of a metal structure based on beams, pillars, slim slab allows for the potentiality of having many parts prefabricated off-site thus allowing to obtain short construction time, a high degree of precision. The ease of assembly of the structural components in the metal structural work with infill elements and steel roofing allows you to quickly create finished "turnkey" solutions in significantly reduced times compared to traditional systems, optimizing the resources. Additionally there are technical, economic and aesthetic advantages of steel constructions such as: reduced size of vertical structures (pillars), creation of large environments reducing the number of pillars, rapidity of construction, construction flexibility, and recovery of the structure in case of demolition, simplicity of calculation With regards to the foundations we opted for a number reinforced concrete pad (assuming that the ground is capable of supporting the load. Should the If the strength of soil prove to be poor then we would need to consider pile foundation. The pile foundation would transfer the load of the structure to the stiff soil. Regarding foundation to column joints, base plates are welded to the end of columns.
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[ obus construction layers ]
concrete flowers pot extensive green roof
ventilation system privacy green veil concrete flower railing pot paving insulation concrete slab metal decking suspended ceiling girder water pipes structural column
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[ green veil ]
[ green corners ]
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[ obus technical ] Slim floor slab, using asymmetrical beams, to achieve a reduction in floor height and gain in the amount of free space ; Floor heating to achieve an improvement in the well-being conditions inside the apartments thanks to the evenly distributed heat as well as eco-friendly feature of this heating system is that low water temperatures (at least compared to radiators) are sufficient to function well. Green veils, are brie solelil structure placed on the facades of certain parts of the Obus with the aim of protecting the internal environments primarily to assure a certain amount of privacy for the residents. From a design point of view, we carefully choose the second skin of the building envelope and chose a modular green curtain shielding system anchored to the balconies with metal elements and spaced 20 cm away from it, in order to facilitate the growth of the plants as well as the general maintenance and cleaning. Extensive green roof and specific green plant installation on balconies and other part. The green roof installation was implemented, as increasingly widespread and integrated solution within the urban landscape, in order to benefit from their positive effect in: allow reducing the energy consumption of buildings, contributing to the reduction of pollution and improving air quality. Additionally the green roof will present the residents with external social areas where to socialize in a more relaxed atmosphere. Cobble stone to pave the main ground level. This choice was made both from an esthetical and technical point. Another reason for the choice of this type of pavement was to create a visual link with the old old towns dwellings.
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[ 1:75 view on linear livingroom from cafeteria ]
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[ green privacy veil ] obus back faceds facing offices buidings in covered by the “green veil�, becoming a space full of greenery which is rare in the crowded city area. The significance of the project is that it creates a green space, in the heart of mega city, it cools the air that ventilate the obus and gives privacy to the nearby offices windows.
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[ capturing wind ] Air circulation within the OBUS is very important, especially as it is somewhat confined within two rows of existing high rise buildings. For this reason, amongst others, we designed the OBUS to be on an elevated platform. In fact our ground zero is in fact at + 6 meters the existing road level and additionally our first floor level is again at +6 meters above the OBUS “ground zero�. The result is having two wide open spaces one on top of the other allowing for almost unobstructed air flow along the longitudinal axis of the OBUS in an eastwest direction. This circulating the air allows fresh air circulation that helps in cooling the area and also decreases the chance of micro climates (pockets of different temperatures - throughout the OBUS). A steady circulation of the air in the OBUS actually helps to regulate the temperature.
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[ rain water collection ] The recovered rain water in our case will be used primarily for periodic watering of the green areas, thus saving on the consumption of drinking water by storing the collected rain in rainwater tanks. How a rainwater collection plant is made of primarily 5 main elements: • a collection piping on specific surface such as roof tops, ground level ssquare and balconies; • channel the water collection piping towards the main collection pipes; • rainwater filters to be placed before it reaches the reservoir in order to deprive it of residues of leaves, stones or earth. • installation of dedicated collection tanks or cisterns for the storage of the rainwater collected at the vase of the various “cores”; • installation of specific pumps and piping for the subsequent channelling of the collected water from the reservoirs to the various green areas. The tanks can be of various sizes and are usually built and placed in the lowest part of the structure. In our case we can imagine a minimum of 10 collecting reservoirs placed under the various “cores”
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green roof water collection system
soil draining gravel max roots level insulation angled stratum
water collection pipe
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green veil vases water collection system
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[ views and orientations ] The problem of having to place a large structure, the OBUS, within an existing context of high rise buildings was that of assuring sufficient sunlight within the OBUS itself and allowing the majority of the residents to have “good views” of the surrounding arreas. This was achieved by defining a snake like structure so as to have multiple viewing angles. Another problem posed by the existing high-rise building was that of assuring a fair amount of privacy primarily for the residents. The solution was to implement a Brise Soleil structure placed on the facades of certain of our buildings with the aim of protecting the internal environments primarily to assure a certain amount of privacy for the residents. From a design point of view, we decided on a green type of structure so as to have a eye pleasing aspect both for the residents but also for the unlookers from the existing surrounding buildings. I
view of Shanghai finantial distict over Yu Garden core listed area
II view of Quiaoja òisted area III possible integration’’ with green area of Xiaotaoyuan listed area
IV view over confucian temple V possible integration of confucian area with
cultural programs?
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Gallery view from cafeteria
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DESIGN PRECEDENTS 93
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[ breathing house ] VTN Architects
The Breathing house is located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. The plot is 3.9m wide and 17.8m deep, only accessible by a tiny alley with crowded surroundings. Within this extremely high-dense neighborhood, we aimed to design a house that introduces an external environment while ensuring privacy.
Due to the circumstances of site, the opening of the building was physically constrained to the front, top and back of the house. In order to adjust the distance between neighbouring buildings while maximizing the opening area, the architects wrapped the aforementioned three surfaces of the building with a “green veil�, which is made of creeper plants that grow on a steel mesh. This soft layer, as an environmental diffuser, filters direct sunlight and prevents the interior space from overexposure to the outside, without the feeling of isolation. It is composed of planter boxes at each floor slab, with modularized galvanized steel elements attached to it. This structure provides a green view throughout the house, which also protects the residents from the urban crime.
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[ le vele ] Francesco di Salvo, Naples, 1975 It was built between 1962 and 1975 following Law 162, according to which Municipalities with a population greater than 50,000 inhabitants were required to form areas for construction of housing based on the Plan for Economical and Popular Housing scheme. This project in the intentions of the designers, was to favour the integration and implementation of a community of residents, Unfortunately this “utopia” shows its detachment from reality since the 70s, when the Vele di Scampia become a real drug market, with garages used as drug dealers, stairs as escape routes and walkways as towers of control. Among the causes of the degradation of the Vele di Scampia is also, perhaps above all, the failure to complete the original project: the prefabricated trestle structure designed by Riccardo Morandi (the same of the Genoa bridge) was replaced during construction by another structure type with a consequent reduction in the distance between the apartment blocks; the landings, transparent on paper, have become reinforced concrete slabs, radically changing the perception of space. Ada Tolla wrote in the New York Times in 2015 “If someone put this complex in front of me right now without adding any context, no history, I would consider it a really strong piece of architecture. It is important to recognize that Vele di Scampia are not a failure of architecture, but rather a failure in execution and management. Demolition is often an attempt to wipe things out under the carpet, and it doesn’t seem like the right way to learn from the past. “
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[ corviale ] Mario Fiorentino, Rome, 1975 The size of the complex is considerable: it occupies 60 hectares with 700 thousand cubic meters of residential construction and almost 90 thousand cubic meters of extra residential units. The nine-storey area served by 74 lifts, and placed in a splendid position on the crest of a hill overlooking the Roman countryside, leaning towards the sea, appears as an imposing mass formed by two buildings, placed opposite each other for the length of about a kilometre, with balconies and common spaces inside, plus two cellars, a large garage and a basement, distributed in six lots and inhabited by about 6000 people. The complex is formed by 3 main bodies: the main body il roughly 986 meters in length and 37 meters high (9 floors) plus the underground parking. This main body is divided into 5 lots. The second body is also 986 meters long and is parallel to the main one but only 9 meters in height and is also divided into 5 lots but with 3 to 5 floors only. This second body is linked with the first one via 5 elevated bridges. The third and final body is angled at 45 degrees from this second body and is 253,4 meters long with a height varying between 19 to 23 meters. The complex houses a total of 1200 apartments of various size. In spite of the convictions often made by the media and the many negative prejudices that Corviale is subjected to by those who watch it from afar, the perception of those who live in this neighbourhood building is significantly different.
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[ vivienda para jovenes ] Alberto Nicolau, Seville, 2014 The building/complex has a triangular form and this was imposed by the area as the complex was set in between Jaun de Mata Carriazo St on the east, Diego de Riia on the west, Av. Malaga on the north and Virgen de la Sierra on the south. The building / complex tries to hide its global length of 132 meters by the use of a snake type shape. The main residential use consists of 139 homes each of not more than 50 square meters. The ground floor finds all the common services for the accommodations, the administration and the
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[ schots 1 + 2 ] S333 architecture, Groningen, 2002
Schots 1 and 2 aim to be generating forces in re-evaluating the role of housing in urban regeneration. Following their Europan S333 were commissioned a structure plan for the 14-hectare, post-industrial the centre of Groningen.
3 win, architects in 1994 to develop CiBoGa terrain, a site on the edge of
The architect identified the site as being part of a larger urban ring structure of strategic importance in the city’s ecological structure. The urban plan adopted by the city proposes 13 ‘schotsen’ – compact building blocks eroded internally by new forms of semi-public space – that float in an open landscape that operates as a filter zone between the city centre and the twentieth century housing extensions. The multi-layering of activities and landscape offers an alternative to the interiorised and hermetic world of the traditional urban block.
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2 3 9 0 2 7 9