Amir Sadafi Report by Amir Sadafi

Vertical City and Generative Networks Amir reza Sadafi UCL The Bartlett Scool of Architecture MArch Urban Desgn 2010-11 Unit 3 Tutors: Nicolas Boyarsky / Camila E Sotomayor

Vertical city and Generative Networks

Amir reza Sadafi UCL The Bartlett Scool of Architecture MArch Urban Desgn 2010-11 Unit 3 Tutors: Nicolas Boyarsky / Camila E Sotomayor

I , Amir reza Sadafi, confirm that the work presented in this report is my own. Where information has benn drived from other sources, I confirm that has been indicated in the report.

Abstract. WHEN AND WHERE The Tarlebasi and Yensihir neighbourhoods are located just next to Taksim Square (cultural center of the Istanbul). Today, these areas are not able to compete with the surrounding neighborhoods and a regeneration plan is crucial for them. BASIC CONDITION A steep neighborhood, connection network and rural migrants put these areas into a decline process. Recently, the local authority has introduced several proposals for regeneration, but most of them address just one problem. In addition, all plans contain a gentrification process or demolishing some parts of the area. KEY PRINCIPLE In order to reclaim the connection network and use the maximum capacity of the existing potentials, this proposal tries to recondition the neighborhood by permitting the development of a new layer of the urban facilities at different levels of height. This layer of intervention increases the number of people crossing the valley and allows residents to activate their economy. The network is a combination of designer-proposed and self-organized systems which aims to use the neglected spaces to make a new pattern of movement in the city. The concept of the project is based on converting the 2D fixed infrastructure of the ground level to a 3D flexible connection network at different levels of height in order to manipulate with key urban elements like density, open space and public space.

Contents :

1. Introduction

2. Precedent projects

3. Istanbul: The city of layers

4. Site Analysis

5. Vertical Proposal

6. Benefits

7. Conclusion

8 .References

1.Introduction: Urban Verticality Nowadays most cities throughout the world have been facing an extreme population growth, urbanization and densification. Despite the rapid urbanization and densification of cities and their regions, urban design practice has not transformed itself to respond adequately with new solutions to these new conditions. Cities are growing as they used to a spatially inefficient closed system of two-dimensional practice arbitrarily composed of isolated three-dimensional objects. Urban proposals rarely consider the co-ordination of the building usage and urban elements, so the edge of the cities remains the 2D surface between the building blocks, missing any advantages of verticality of urbanism. We therefore hardly see public space extend off the ground plane. This report aims to explore the idea of using the different levels of height in urban activities. Movement, connectivity and flexibility are the main focus of this thesis. This report argues that if the coordinated design is considered between the small buildings and overall urban design strategy, then vertical urbanism could successfully meditate a new environment for lacking facilities and future needs of communities. It then suggests that urban design should occur in three-dimensions, extending through the vertical, without limiting development to only the above ground or only the subterranean. Public space and urban activities could extend through the building blocks from base to top, creating a contemporary interconÂŹnected city form. Vertical urbanism is also one of the solutions to sustainability problems expressed in the widespread urbanization of nature. It can minimize the development footprint and create, adopt the existing urban fabric for future needs, promote the lacking facilities, simultaneously providing additional public spaces, and circulation routes. These ideas are also a positive and sustainable response to the global crisis of hyper-urbanization and hyper-densification. In fact, the focus of the report is on the existing fabric and using the neglected spaces in order to achieve a 3-dimensional movement pattern.

The lift of Lisbon was one of the first modern vertical proposal that connect a valley site to the top hill.

2.Precedent projects

Several architectural and urban design projects address vertical urbanism for different purposes, but not all of them achieve a responsive solution for urban fabric. Among these, two types of projects are more dominant. The first one mostly developed in a very dense fabric like Hong Kong to increase density and the second one was developed by a group of modern architecture in order to segregate functions. This chapter reviews some of these projects and analyses the pitfalls and bright sides for local communities.

Shenzhen, Gangxia urban village The first project is in Shenzhen. In this case, the city has transformed from rural enclave into dense vertical fragments. Within the central area there are over 40 villages. The living standards were very poor (narrow alleyways, poor sanitation and water supply, no light or green space). The Shenzhen-based architectural group Urbanism has proposed that rather than pull the urban village down, they could be reconditioned by permitting the development of the new layer of the urban facilities above them and on the rooftops. Beside many speculative large scale projects, urbanism was unusual in building many small-scale infill schemes in urban villages. They provide this area for cheap reproduction of great master works, supplying global and national demand. Urbanism added a carefully placed museum to the village that was full of artists and their shops. Urbanism imagined new public space, commercial uses and green houses to create a 3-dimensional matrix.1 â&#x20AC;&#x153;This project transforms the area into new dense, three dimensional matrix like a minimega structureâ&#x20AC;?. In fact manipulation with density was the priority for this 3-dimentional network.

1 Grahame Shane, Daveid p.2011, Wiley,Urban design since 1945,p230-231

Modular Stairs (Urban Think Tank) This project in Caracas connected each existing building to an escape and circulation route while bridging a twelve-meter site condition. This project has an idea of modular stairs that can be mass produced and installed in favelas. The resulting modular stair system is a repeatable, cost-effective upgrade for pedestrian infrastructure that also provides training in metal fabrication and creates work opportunities for slum dwellers. The stairs are prefabricated and easily installed using a minimum of two foundation points. They are also built away from the surface of hilly terrain, which is especially useful when these passageways become rivers during heavy seasonal rains.2 This proposal had an organic response to the needs of community. We can see a strong relationship between designers and the local community which obtains appropriate data on existing conditions and uses neglected land. In addition, kits of parts and prefabricated materials were the key element for developing the system and connecting the neighborhood.

2 http://www.u-tt.com/

Kowloon Walled City The second project is Kowloon Walled City. This context was a gradual response to high density settlements. A 3-dimensional movement pattern was gradually created, allowing for multiple accesses at different levels; in this fabric the boundary between inside and outside, public and private become more and more blurred. This fabric was a great example of three-dimensional movements and encourages adoptability and intensive mixed-use. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The minimal structure had to constantly transform. A dinner or tea shop would transform into bordello or mah-jong parlor and then dormitory. The production table for noodle making would change for dinner and homework, and later serve as the bed for the whole family, while a plastic toy factory would double as an illegal den for opium users. No room in Kowloon Walled City could afford to satisfy one single usage â&#x20AC;?. This mixed-used walled city had shops, factories, offices, social meeting places and services scattered throughout its sections at different levels.3 The above explanation shows that changing the boundary of open space and public space can have an influential role in creating 3D movement. Although this area faces a variety of problems it was highly successful in increasing density and the key factor in this project is multi-usage of each component.

3 Shelton, Barrie, Routledge, The Making of Hong Kong, p 18-19

Smithsons, Street in the Sky, Alison and Peter Smithson, British architects, introduced the idea of Street in the Sky among the modern architects. They believed technological advances allowed the architect to provide new facilities at upper levels of the ground. They visualized this idea in Robin Hood Gardens. “Unlike the public housing on the other side of the UK, this Modernist architecture wasn’t formed from floating Corbusian slab blocks or elegant point blocks but long sinewy legs enclosing a massive and sterile piece of grass” .Today there is a controversial topic on demolishing it. Some people believe it pioneered the building of Street in the Sky but most of local residents have faced several difficulties in living there and it cannot respond to the new needs of communities. In Berlin Smithsons proposed the raising of a “pedestrians’ spine” up above the road system on a segregated deck system. Services and parking would be below this deck where commercial uses would animate street life in the stretches between small towers. Elevators in these towers would connect to a mixed-use section above, with offices and then housing. The dominant strategy in Smithsons’ design is to use individual buildings as vertical ele4 ments. The main idea is based on segregating zones but using interior part of building can be a key factor for connecting different levels.

4 http://www.urban-age.net/

3.Istanbul: The city of layers Before the Istanbul trip we had done several bits of research on influential urban factors of the city. In the meantime, we realized that Istanbul is a very complex urban fabric with several layers of history, architecture and ethnicities. Although today this city has been changing to the financial center of Turkey and the most populous city in Europe , several problems remain underneath the city surface. One of the main issues is typology and old historical architecture. Most of the places in the central part belong to different periods of history and even a small intervention could damage the historic context, so it is difficult for designers and planners to adopt historical parts to current needs of communities. On the other hand, if they will remain untouched, the residents will move out. Even today, we can observe many of these neighborhoods left abandoned and the area needs an appropriate 5 policy to revitalize. Another important issue in the city is ethnic minorities and rural migrants.

5 http://www.urban-age.net/

During the last 50 years Istanbul has undergone a massive number of rural urban migrants . Except farming skills, these people do not have any more job skills and cannot adapt themselves to the urban lifestyle. As a result, many of them are unemployed and it causes future problems like high crime and unemployment. Furthermore, each of ethnicities that are coming to Istanbul has a specific characteristic and any future strategy needs to consider particular social features. In addition, a political footprint is obvious in developments and construction of the city. Most of the dominant developing firms are related to the political parties and in some cases they use several advantages of these lobbies. As can be seen, the development plans are mostly restricted to the high rise buildings outside the boundary of the city. This type of development has created conflict between developers and local people and ethnic communities. The developer therefore, proposes gated communities as a strategic sample of construction.

Strategic view of development in Istanbul The idea of developing gated communities has been changing the whole environment of the city and Istanbul is going to become a more defensive city. In fact, we can predict that we will see a considerable change to below factors: Reduction in social interaction between communities and ethnicities. Speeding up privatization, so the public space problem will become more crucial. Gated communities generally use a larger amount of land which is not compatible with the idea of density.

Looking for Site (the idea of density) Looking for the site starts with idea of the density. From the sustainable point of view; gated communities expand the amount of land use which is not compatible with a new idea of sustainability. With a simple comparison between American cities with European ones, we understand the carbon foot-print of a city has a direct relation to the surface consumption. The ecological foot-print reveals these differences: this factor in an American city is typically 30 times that of the physical city while that of the average European city is multiplied by a factor of 10 . It is widely acceptable that denser living and building conditions in compact cities offer more intrinsic potentials to become less resource consuming than more sprawling cities with sparser living and building patterns. As a result, this report pursues the idea of development in the existing context and uses maximum capacity of the current situation.

Maltape

Gelonsue

Beyoglu

4.Site Analysis On the basis of the above, I decided to concentrate on the central part of the city. In the first analysis I saw a poor neighborhood (Tarlebasi and Yenisihir) just next to Istiklal Avenue (cultural center of the city). I then focused on influential aspects of the area. This area is less than one kilometer from the waterfront and 500 meters to the central part of the city. This potential should not be over looked in future proposals.

Surrounding infrastructure There are two highways cutting through the site (blue line) that connecting the area to the Asian part of the city. Furthermore, one of the Istanbul metro stations is located just on the northern side and joins area to the new CBD and airport. Accessibility of this area to the other part of the city offers strong potential for future plans.

Surrounding Neighbourhoods We can see different types of characteristic next to the area. This chapter is going to analysis these characters and their possible role in future proposal. 1.Taksim square 2.Istikhlal Avenue 3.Office Usage 4. Formal Housing

1 2

Taksim Square: This location is considered the heart of Istanbul. There is a lot of infrastructure crossing this point. For example one of the major metro lines starts at this point and we observe the extension city tram line at Taksim Square. Generally the connectivity of this point to the other part of the city is very strong.

Commercial zone: because of the appropriate infrastructure and tourist attractions there is a great tendency for developers to invest in this area. So, during the last ten years we observe a fast development in office and commercial zone in surrounding the neighbourhoods.

Istiklal Avenue: This is a cultural, economic spine located just next to the Taksim square. The regeneration of this area was proposed in the 1920â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s but reclaiming the connection network in the 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allow the surrounding neighbourhoods to benefit from active situation of Istiklal Avenue.

Formal Housing: The formal settlements in the immediate vicinity show that because of the variety of potential around the site, many people still prefer to live in this area.

Social Analysis: Tarlebasi and Yensihir are neighborhoods located a few hundred meters from Istiklal Avenue, the cultural hub of the city. The area is mostly composed of four or five floor buildings dating back to the late-Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century. Tarlebasi was originally inhabited by non-Muslim minorities (Greeks and Armenians) who moved out of the neighborhood after the changed political framework of the 1920s that excluded minorities. They were replaced by rural migrants from central and northern parts of the country in the rapid industrialization and urbanization era of the post 1950s. The area attracted another wave of migrants in the 1990s this time from the Kurds escaping civil war in the south-eastern parts of the country. Tarlebasi has also become host to African migrants, Romans and transsexuals . The other side of the hill is occupied by informal settlements and has the same quality.

Economic condition In the area most of economic activities are focused just next to the highways. These blocks consist of retail stores, industrial usages, workshops and post industrial buildings. The most important problem in economy is that it is restricted to a limited function (car-servicing industry) and limited hours, so we do not see mixed-use attraction. It causes also poor night life in the neighborhood.

http://www.urban-age.net/

car servicing work shop retailing store

Environmental change and poor neighborhoods The physical analysis shows that the topography and existing infrastructure has had a dominant role in housing quality and residentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; life style. The housing quality map illustrates that the areas in the inner part of the neighborhoods have poorer quality. It also shows that the houses on the steep land are more vulnerable and in poor condition. The below analysis shows that the connection network cannot support the internal part of the neighborhoods, so the existing fabric is a combination of residential houses, abandoned and semi-abandoned buildings. In addition to the above, a lack of facilities in public and open spaces is evident. As a result, neither local nor external people find a tendency to invest on the neighborhood. The site analysis therefore shows that three major problems (rural migrants, connection network and steep neighborhood) put the area into a decline process and the future plan should reclaim the network connection, support a convenient connection over the valley and stimulate the economy of the area to achieve integrated regeneration. .

http://www.urban-age.net/

Site picture

Governmental alternative: Recently, the government has paid more attention to this neighborhood. Two years ago, the local municipality proposed some regeneration strategies, but almost all these plans encouraged a gentrification process and did not support local communities. So â&#x20AC;&#x153;the owners, landlords and renters came together and established an association to oppose renewal. They claim that the current offer of the development company is not fair and demand better conditions. So far they have managed to freeze the process for nowâ&#x20AC;?.5 In addition, some of these plans consider demolishing the historical part of the area and they also encounter problems with local NGOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in this respect.

5http://www.urban-age.net/

In summary, The area is divided into two parts. The first one is a touristic, wealthy, active neighborhood, but by passing a cutting highway, the situation changes and the other side suffers from dense fabric, abandoned buildings and narrow alleyways on a steep valley. The analysis shows that the connecting network cannot support the inner part of the neighborhood and this proposal aims to use the neglected spaces to make a convenient connection across the valley. In fact the proposal should achieve three goals in the project: Activating existing potential like universities, schools, retailing stores and abandoned buildings. Attracting more people from active part of the city. Increasing the amount of investment by local residents and external investors.

5.Vertical Proposal

Dynamic of the area Using a 3-dimensional movement network requires a specific strategy for each area. This character is directly dependent upon the urban fabric and social aspects. It also needs a critical analysis of the usage and how it can interact with the other urban components. The dynamic of the neighborhood can therefore lead us to finding a way of developing a 3-dimentional network. In the case study in Istanbul, most of the large land-use functions are next to the highway. In fact, the main functions of these units are industrial, post industrial and office usages. Almost all of these blocks are isolated and public do not have access to them. Behind big units, we see residential housing. As can be seen, the residential part is disconnected from the main highway. It also evident that the land is steeper in this part. These two factors are main causes of poorer quality in the residential neighborhood. Most of the highways in Istanbul were introduced in the 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. These roads do not consider the existing context of the city and are completely disconnected from the urban fabric. Irmak highway (the highway on the valley) also suffers from the same influence. The priority of movement is for the car vehicles and we see just one pedestrian bridge over the highway. Fast movement of cars also makes it difficult to cross from the ground level. This project chose small part of the neighborhood to introduce its proposal.

Cutting Highway

Big Units

Pushed back residential Blocks

How the network develops This report is going to introduce a series of guidelines for developing the network in the neighborhood and the other areas with this context. It includes the specific design code for each of the above characteristics.

Big Units The big units next to highways mostly occupy a large amount of land and since there is no public access to them, they disconnect the residential zone from the highway. The main usages of them are religious, industrial, educational and post-industrial. In fact, this proposal recommends bringing them into urban activities. These big buildings can be a part of public space and because most of them are relativity high rise, they can provide access to higher parts of the neighborhood. The main role of this arena is to lift the people up and enter them to the proposed system. The images show how these big units are converted into an active part of the city.

Residential Neighbourhood The second part of this analysis is residential buildings. These places are in different conditions. Analysis shows that residential houses are mostly low rise buildings between two to four floors. The conditions vary from completely occupied to abandoned buildings. The roof tops of these houses are mostly unused. The below diagram illustrates how we can put residential buildings in a 3-dimentional matrix and join the neglected places to develop the network. The key factor for growing the system is the buildingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; height and existing conditions.

Main Roads The overall tendency of developing the proposed network is to interact with main roads and leap over the narrow alleyways to reach another main road in the area. The whole idea of this new armature is to convert the fixed 2D-dimentional connection network to flexible 3D-dimentional infrastructure.

Social Interaction

Social Interaction Leaping Dense Fabric

Responding to the lacking facilities In fact by using this system, several neglected spaces like roof tops and abandoned buildings are going to add to urban activities. These spaces can provide the lacking facilities. For instance the proposal convert a roof top as children play ground or design open amphitheater by interacting two armatures.

On other part of the neighborhood the proposal convert a abandoned building to central market and using a roof top of ware house as

a cafĂŠ.

The whole idea of this new armature is to convert the fixed 2D-dimentional connection network to flexible 3D-dimentional infrastructure.

The idea of flexibility for a vertical city Analysis of previous infrastructure shows that the main problem of this kind of proposal is fixed infrastructure. This issue is more evident in Smithsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design. Since we are dealing with a dynamic issue (urban space) it needs flexibility in the components of the network. It allows people to adopt the infrastructure to future needs of the city. In fact, this flexible infrastructure builds from several kits of parts which local can people can assemble by themselves. There are some important factors in designing these kits. First of all they should be flexible, so that people can easily adjust them with the new needs of neighborhood. Secondly, they should be made from local material and using local industries. For example one of the dominant industries is wood. It is recommended to use this material for these kits. This factor also supports the local economy. The other important issue is the neighborhood character. These kits should consider different elements of the city. For instance, in the prototype, I recommended prefabricated places for lighting and greenery. They can also include lighting facilities for gloomy parts. The whole idea of these kits is to adopt infrastructure with the new needs of the neighborhood. So they keep changing during different times. This proposal also introduces some prototypes of these kits as guideline of the project

Prototype of Kit of Parts

Flexible Bridge 46

Sustaining Structure

Scuffle

Sustaining Stairs

Lift

Mobile Crane

Greenery and lighting 47

Sub network One of the aims of the project is to build convenient armatures from active parts of the city to declining neighborhoods. With this network, an increase in the number of people who cross the valley is predicted. This can therefore provide opportunities for local residents to benefit from this market. In this system local people can start social and economical activities by inserting activity on the rooftop and joining to main armatures. The proposal shows how a group of neighbors can create a sub-network by having domestic retailing store on their rooftops. This sub-network can consider more social aspect like a group of housewives introduce book city on their rooftop or it can be more relevant to the existing economy. This part of the project is self-organized intervention to develop the network and encourage local communities to engage with urban activities.

Butchery and Super Market

Book City 49

Proposed-Network

Sub-network organize by residents

Relation between new and current infrastructure The analysis of the current infrastructure shows that there are two types of road existing in the area. The first one is the main roads that are car- oriented. Currently, in this type pedestrian interaction is very low. The second type is pedestrian narrow alleyways which go up to top of the hills. The aim of these networks is to stimulate the interaction in the highways and take the people from one main road to the other one next to it. For example converting a isolated church and post industrial block next to the highways to public space, stimulate social interaction in this arena. The proposal also suggests changing the narrow alleyways to the semi public space. Since most of the blocks do not have internal court yard, local residents can use some part of these alleyways for private uses. But this arena should be accessible to the public during the whole time of the day. This proposal called this arena semi-public space. The below paragraph mention some characteristics of this space. Semi-public: Semi-public space is a term mostly applied to the places those small groups of householders share among themselves and use like public space. However, this arena is still open to the public. In this proposal sub-networks and narrow alley are going have this category. This type of urban 6 The proposal illustrates how a group of householders share a garden in their alleyway. The proposal also suggested, some activities in roof top can be relevant with the activity on the ground floor. For example, in car servicing industry heavy workshops are going to be on the ground floor and light workshops on the roof tops.

6Mostafavi, Mohsen, AA, negotiate my boundary, p 45-47

Developin the network in wider area the proposal tries to introduce a guide line based on the dynamic of the neighbordhood and develop this system in a wider area with same dynamic. this chapter shows, how the network grows in wider fabric.

Implementation of the system Overall, this network is changing the fixed connection network to the flexible infrastructure at different levels of height. These generative networks are divided into two groups. The first one is the public spaces which are introduced by designers in order to facilitate the connection across the neighborhoods. These armatures mostly use abandoned buildings and neglected spaces to connect the neighborhoods. The proposal also encourages local residents to participate in the network with some economical encouragements. These encouragements can be permission for economic activities on the roof top or some other tax free uses. Two key elements guide the development of the network Existing condition Height of the building The second group is sub â&#x20AC;&#x201C;networks. These arenas are created by local people to exploit economical benefits. Local people can join the main 3D infrastructure to start social and economical activities. These arenas are semi-public and people can define a specific time table for public usage. The below paragraph mention some characteristics of this space.

Overlaid of networks

6.Benefits the proposal expext a series of benefits that are going to the whole situation of comiunity. these benefits are divided into three parts.

Convenient Connection

Existing conditions of the neighborhood do not allow people in Taksim square to come to this part of the city. Local residents also face several difficulties with crossing the neighborhood. The primary aim in this project is to provide a convenient connection across the valley. By introducing this connection network, we predict a growth in the number of people who cross valley. This situation can promote the local economy and engage more residents in local activities.

Potential activation and increasing the amount of investments The development of this network is based on using neglected spaces and abandoned buildings. This method converts forgotten spaces to active parts of the neighborhood, which are going to respond to the lack of facilities, public spaces, markets and open spaces on their roof top. The neglected buildings in the neighborhood can also be considered for attracting some of the visitors from Istiklal Avenue by introducing commercial and cultural usage. When the changing process starts, the proposal predicts that land owners and local residents will be encouraged to participate in the regeneration process. This process can be followed by external investors for larger projects.

Approach to sustainability One of the key factors in this vertical project is density. The proposal predicts a gradual increase in the number of residents. In fact, denser urban living makes possible more effective public transport, more journeys on foot through proximity, and more benefits to buildings such as insulation and shared services from adjacency, all of which lead to significant savings in energy use.7

7 Shelton, Barrie, Routledge, The Making of Hong Kong, p 30-32

Activating Potentials

Incease in number of people crossing valley

7.Conclusion This proposal tackles the idea of movement in steep, dense fabric and tries to show that the conventional movement pattern is not necessarily the best option in every context. This vertical proposal tries to look at the topography as potential and to introduce a new connection network on the hilly sites in Istanbul. One of the main characteristics of the project is a flexible infrastructure. Introducing a kit of parts is going to allow designers to manipulate with key urban issues like density. The basic concept of the project is converting a 2D fixed network at ground level to 3D flexible network at different levels of height. The main armature is designer-proposed, but local people can develop this system through a self-organized sub-network. In fact, the idea of a kit of parts allows this network to be distributed freely in any urban fabric with similar characteristics. This 3D matrix encourages multi-function usage in individual buildings and we can expect more activation in urban fabric. The project predicts a gradual change in the neighborhood by these flexible armatures. In the first step, the connection networks are addressing the problematic issues in the site like overcoming the topography, but this proposal can lead to fundamental change in the next phases, for instance using the idea of a kit of parts to introduce a new typology over the existing layer of the city.

Speculation of a new typology over existing fabric

8.References

Shelton, Barrie, Routledge, The Making of Hong Kong, Mostafavi, Mohsen, AA, negotiate my boundary Grahame Shane, Daveid p.2011, Wiley,Urban design since 1945, AD Magazine, Istannbul Andrew Harris,Vertical Urbanism, Backdoor Broadcasting, Company Kevin Lynch, The image if the city. MIT, 1966 http://www.urban-age.net/ http://www.u-tt.com/ http://giampietro3.com/

Vertical City and Generative Networks

Amir reza Sadafi

MArch Urban Design 10-11