roots/routes of life defining ostermundigen
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november 2016
AR0021 Aqua Terra Urban Design dr. Fransje Hooimeijer ir. Teake Bouma Annemiek Wiggers 4148762
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preface
The elective mastercourse Aquaterra brings the surface and the subsurface together in the field of urban design. It shows insight in the links between the various processes that play a role above the ground as well as underground. With a workshop day about Dordrecht and an excursion to Switzerland we got in touch with their particular problems and took on the challenge to project these problems on this integral subject. This booklet is the personal elaboration of the field trip to Ostermundigen, Bern, Switzerland. The mayor wants to densificate its town to be able to welcome more residents, but collides with the inhabitants that are afraid to lose their natural, quiet and peaceful environment, as they are living outside the larger city of Bern for a reason. Based on groupwork in the workshops during the excursion week in Switzerland and my own literature research and spatial analysis I developed a concept for a design and adequate principles. This is eventually visualised in four sections, that look to the surface as well as the responsiveness towards the subsurface.
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content
workshop
lectures & excursions...p.7 method & results...p.8
individual sequel...p.11
literature
design...p.48
the urban transect...p.15
drawing ground...p.13
framework...p.16
new urbanism...p.14
analysis
surface...p.19
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morphology...p.20 values...p.22 domains...p.24 tissue...p.26 natural systems...p.28
sections...p.50 T2 Hubelstrasse...p.52 T3 Oberdorfstrasse...p.54 T4 Oberdorfstrasse..p.56 T5 Bahnhofstrasse...p.58
conclusion design principles...p.46
zoning plan...p.61
design concept...p.45
conclusion & reflection...p.62 bibliography...p.64 subsoil..p.31
potential map...p.42
soil...p.32 soil quality...p.34 topography...p.36 groundwater level...p.38 dual pipesystem...p.40
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w o r k s h o p
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lectures & excursions In the third week of may 2015 we drove to Bern, Switzerland with 21 students and Fransje Hoojmeijer as our teacher. For three days we immersed in one of its suburban villages, Ostermundigen. Local architect Christof Goldschmid taught us the village common with a loving enthousiasm. Being good friends with the mayor, who personally sketched a portrait of Ostermundigen to us as well, he represented his concerns about a preferably growing number of inhabitants. Suburbanisation is taking place plus the village is cheap compared to the city and the mayor of Ostermundigen wants to meet the demand, but there has been resistance from the current inhabitants against various suggested construction projects such as a mixed use, large apartment building and a tramline. A phenomenon that has been described to us as ‘dichtestress’, which means the fear of density, and because of Swiss regulations the people can have a lot of influence on local development. With this main objective in the back of our minds we received more specific information from various speakers. Employees of the municipality of Ostermundigen lectured us about water supply and urban drainage within the area, and a representative of the company Nategra gave us more insight into urban biodiversity. Furthermore we went on two small excursions to the local quarry and the geology department of the University of Bern, where we received information about the locally retrieved sandstone ‘Berner sandstein’. After al these interesting lectures and excursions we were put to work.
images: Google Maps
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method & results The tasks of the subsequent workshop included the following: - Proposals for the development possibilities of Steinbruch in connection to Bern (infrastructure improvement) - Proposal for densification (building typologies) - Relating the subsurface to these two surface issues, focus on underground infrastructure and soil (foundation) type (on alluvial fan of excavation of the quarries) We were divided into four research groups with the subjects infrastructure, densification, artificial system and natural system, in which I was part of the densification group. As we were of course on the location of our project we were able to experience and research Ostermundigen intensively and detailed. After two hours of research the groups were split up in half and merged with another subject. For me that meant exchanging my information about densification with some of the group from the artificial system. After little time again the groups split up in a way that every group now existed of at least one person from each subject, so that information on every subject was distributed to everyone. As a last move we were divided again into groups with the same composition but with different people, that got to be your project group for the rest of the workshop. I worked together with Chu Alley, Alexandra Egarmina and Enzo Yap, with whom I presented the results from our project ‘Roots of life’ at the end of the workshop.
LITTLE COMMERCE
Concept
Positioning our project PRIVATE
Grey-green gradient of densification Grey-green gradient of densification Intensification of public nature Intensification of public nature
URBAN
NATURE
PUBLIC
group image: positioning our project
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Slow network to nature - pedestrians & cyclists - one-way streets - greener profiles - integrated infiltration systems Fast network to city life - tramline & cars - densifying gradient starting from the station - mix-used building typologies - facilities group image: concept
FAST NETWORK TO CITY LIFE SLOW NETWORK TO NATURE group image: fast network vs. slow network
group image: from private green to public space
group image: impression of public space
LOCATION OF LEISURE GRADIENT OF DENSIFICATION ROOTS OF INTENSIFICATION OF PUBLIC NATURE
group image: mix-used building typology
group image: strategy map
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Ostermundigen exists of simplistic, topographically formed infrastructure filled in by urban villa’s and appartment blocks with smooth plastering and fields of grass on the side. The artificial system is well advanced in regulation, as there are for example private water retentions and a seperate sewer system. However the infiltration of precipitation can use our attention. This shows in the current use of the natural system, that is very plain, constructed and non diverse. As a village close to Bern, Ostermundigen obviously is the home to a lot of commuters that daily cause a lot of congestion on the one main road to the big city. Meanwhile living outside the city in a calming, green environment is becoming more popular. But how do you densificate a village while keeping the pressure on its natural structure and identity as low as possible? In this project we keep the solution simple. As a first starting point, we defined for ourselves that in this case densification means intensify without expanding. Keeping that in mind, we introduce two movements. One is a grey-green gradient of densification that starts from the area around the train station from where people go to work, and goes towards the natural area with the quarry as a leisure attraction. The other is an intensification of public nature that moves in opposite direction. With these two movements growing towards and into each other a slow network to nature and a fast network to city life will be carried through. The ability to attach more people to Ostermundigen will be enhanced, without growing further into the landscape and taking away the rural atmosphere that the citizens hold on to so dearly.
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own image: final presentations of the workshop in Ostermundigen
individual sequel Regarding my personal project of the aquaterra course, I wanted to take our group work to the next level. Based on literature that encompasses the elements within the proposal I will create a theoretical framework that will be my argumentation for the final design. This will comprehend an elaboration of one of the so called ‘routes of life’, creating sections that will display the transition from the fast network to city life to the slow network to nature.
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l i t e r a t u r e
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drawing ground In his essay ‘Drawing ground, layered time’, Frits Palmboom searches for an answer to the supposed meaning of the approach of landscape urbanism. Hereby he tries to keep up the balance between architecture, urbanism and landscape architecture. This newly created way of tackling design questions has derived from the modern complexity of the built environment, as our work space is subjected to constant transition. What is crucial here is the relationship between land and water, as urbanisation mostly centralizes along coastal areas. The challenge is to keep the balance of the ratio between our urban and natural environment. Palmboom discusses the field and its current issues by a variant of elements that lie embedded within the definition of landscape, being space, ground, time, instrumentation and program and combines these with the ever binding tool of drawing. The notion ‘landscape’ is being reviewed from two angles, the historical art defenition and the modern geographical definition. In which the historical art stands for the aesthetic qualities of the landscape and the modern geographical stands for its biological processes, and both are relevant. Furthermore Palmboom mentions five essential qualities of the landscape that need to be taken into account while designing. Firstly there is the vastness of the landscape, that challenges you to keep considering the larger scale. Secondly the double entendre, as there are numerous contrasts embedded within our landscape from the mundane to the sublime. As a third the dynamic of the landscape is mentioned and described as solidified time with a narrative about its own historic development. A fourth quality is that a landscape is tangible and relentless, a result of physical forces that survive with and despite each other. And lastly landscapes are specific and indigenous and thus typologically assortable, but however not reciprocal. Humans are not producers as much as participants in the landscape’s process of development. This process encompasses the interaction between space, ground, instrumentation and program, placed within a specific moment of time. And drawing is the essential tool for a designer to be able to explore this process. It shows the landscape simultaneously as a construction and a scenery and has the quality to indicate all the different layers. When this skill is being fully exploited it will give the designer a certain freedom to interpretate and create a communicative tool of high quality. This will help to connect all the elements that embody the landscape together in a design as well as possible. Concluding, Palmboom advocates in his essay for a designers approach that derives from landscape architecture to come towards urban design, stating that “not the built environment but the ground is the primary face of intervention”.
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new urbanism New Urbanism is quoted by the New York Times to be “the most important collective architectural movement in the United States in the past fifty years”. Taking the current issues of climate change and oil peaking very seriously, the New Urbanism movement promotes a reformation of the design of the built environment. It is a planning approach for higher quality standards of living in a sustainable matter. As urban spaces continue to gain popularity as a habitat for humanity, the pressure on existing cities and its surrounding landscape is getting higher and higher. Applicable trough all design scales the New Urbanism planning movement consists of ten principles. 1) Walkability 2) Connectivity 3) Mixed-Use & Diversity 4) Mixed Housing 5) Quality Architecture & Urban Design 6) Traditional Neighborhood Structure 7) Increased Density 8) Smart Transportation 9) Sustainability 10) Quality of Life By putting these principles into practice New Urbanism aims to revive ‘the lost art of place-making’. The result should be integrated, complete communities that contain everything that is essential to daily life within a short distance. “Only when humans are again permitted to build authentic urbanism — those cities, towns, and villages that nurture us by their comforts and delights — will we cease the despoiling of Nature by escaping to sprawl” (Alminana, R., Duany, A., Plater-Zyberk, E., 2003, The New Civic Art; Elements of Town Planning, Random House Incorporated).
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the urban transect The urban transect is a theory that states the transition of density. However the theory finds it origination in the science of ecology as a study to the geographical sequence of environments where specific organic and anorganic forms of life live in balance with each other. Based on the principle that certain forms and elements belong in certain environments, the new urbanism movement adapted the transect to an urbanistic point of view. Although the urban transect derives from the normative North-American town, it is quite appliccable globally. This pattern is divided in six stages, T1 being the most rural and natural environment and T6 the most dense one. The stages inbetween represent a slow development in the typologies of the building structures and the surrounding green. The specific standards per stage overlap and integrate these two elements with each other. In the publication of the SmartCode (v.9.2) the zones of the transect are roughly described as followed: T-1 Natural Zone wilderness, including lands unsuitable for settlement due to geographical conditions T-2 Rural Zone sparsely settled lands in open or cultivated state T-3 Sub-Urban Zone low density residential areas, naturalistic planting, large blocks, irregular roads T-4 General Urban Zone mixed use but primarily residential urban fabric, variable landscaping, streets with curbs and sidewalkes, medium-sized blocks T-5 Urban Center Zone higher density mixed use buildings, tight network of streets, wide sidewalks, steady street tree planting T-6 Urban Core Zone highest density and height, greatest variety of uses, civic buildings of regional importance, larger blocks, wide sidewalks, steady street tree planting Then off course there are some exceptions, that are appointed as Civic Zones (civic spaces embedded within their specific transect zone) and Special Districts (not possible to subdivide within a transect zone). Each zone has its own set of rules for urban growth and thus forms a tool for development in which many different stakeholders can get involved.
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framework The problem of the resistance against densification in Ostermundigen is actually a contradiction. Its residents are eager to maintain the peaceful and spacious identity of the town, however by refusing to densify within the existing built environment they force extension into its surrounding natural landscape, making its share smaller. This way living in nature literally gets lost out of sight. However increased density doesn’t necessarily mean increased anonymity. It dóes mean that it is a sustainable solution for the global problem of a growing population since it utilises the space that is already built, instead of that it continues to take up our forrests and grasslands. In addition increased density doesn’t necessarily mean decreased quality of life. To keep up the quality of life that currently exists in Ostermundigen, the urban / landscape ratio needs to preserved. If we review the town by the urban transect, every transect has its own landscape ratio. Right now Ostermundigen encompasses T2 and T3 but it is quite realistic that it will grow to T4 or maybe even a T5 around the station area when in the nearby future the train traffic is being intensified. The rule within this theory is that there will be less nature as urbanity increases, however as Frits Palmboom stated: landscape can simultaneously be a scenery ánd a construction. Nature is not only just there, you can work with it. Additionally urbanity is not only about more and bigger buildings, it is also about better connectivity and diversity. Wider sidewalks, easy transportation and mixed-use development. So what better place than the infrastructure to connect these two seemingly opposite entities. Therefore I propose that at the point where the ratio is shifting towards urban, there will be a diffusion between urban, natural and infrastructure. This way Ostermundigen will be able to answer to the needs of densification without losing its suburban atmosphere.
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T2
T3
T4
T5
infrastructure is the binding factor and thus, the place of the solution 17
a n a l y s i s
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surface Our urban area’s are full places. Streets, pavements, houses, gardens, trees, shops, cars, bikes, people, lantarns, bins, benches, busstops, squares, here and there a fountain. Numerous incentives that are part of our daily lives. All can see their surroundings and feel a certain way about it. Off course these entitites are all part of bigger structures within a built environment. Neighbourhoods, buildingtypes and infrastructure are part of the morphology of a place. Places where people can connect or feel particularly good about are valuable for the town. The seperation of public and private space defines certain domains, based on function and ownership. Functions and morphology again come together in the urban tissue, clarifying where and how people move. And then there is off course the straightforward topography of a place, dealing with height differences, and the natural systems of green life and waterbodies that are existent in the area. The understanding of these specific structures within the built environment will help to create a place-specific, fitting design.
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surface morphology
1 : 2000 infrastructure
neighborhood structure
Here the perception of space is analysed, based infrastructure and neighborhood structure
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surface values
1 : 2000 mobility shopping faith green education
Here the value of place is analysed, devided in the categories mobility, shopping, faith, green and education.
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surface domains
The division between public and private space is very much self-evident. The streets are public domain, as are the green areas. The rest is private domain or semi-private in the case of appartments.
(Source: Geoportal Kanton Bern)
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1 : 2000
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surface tissue
1 : 2000 out of the city to trainstation to supermarket to green radius of reach
A hierarchy is made in the infrastructure based on destination goals and reach.
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surface natural systems
1 : 2000 water green
There are two small parks along the project area, although a little hidden from the main road. Further there is a small unconnected stream and some surface water in one of the parks.
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subsurface Our urban area’s are full places. Streets, pavements, houses, gardens, trees, shops, cars, bikes, people, lantarns, bins, benches, busstops, squares, here and there a fountain. Numerous incentives that are part of our daily lives. But what about the structures that we don’t realise play an import role in our set up environment as well? We can’t (or hardly can) see them, however they influence a great deal of our visible surroundings. Building types and way of constructions are derived from the type of soil that exists in an area. What trees and plantspecies are able to grow where, depend not only on the type but also on the quality of the soil. Natural waterbodies are associated with the groundwaterlevel, as is the possible extend of precipitation. Which again also connects to drainage of water and waste. All these structures are hidden under ground, unvisible for us but majorly important for our built environment. Thus by intervening in that built environment it is essential that we take the subsurface as much in to account as the surface to come to a multi-layered, sustainable design.
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subsoil soil - thickness of granular soil
1 : 2000
100.1 - 150.0 m.
20.1 - 35.0 m.
75.1 - 100.0 m.
10.1 - 20.0 m.
50.1 - 75.0 m.
5.1 - 10.0 m.
35.1 - 50.0 m.
2.1 - 5.0 m. 0.0 - 2.0 m.
The granular soil in this area exists of sand and gravel in the Western part and of clay in the Eastern part. Sand and gravel are permeable where as clay is as good as impenetrable. This means that water can more easily infiltrate in the Western part of the project area than the Eastern part. However the layer of clay is thinner than the layer of sand and gravel and there is more green.
(Source: Well logs from Geoportal Kanton Bern)
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subsoil soilquality - buildingclass
1 : 2000
buildingclass B-D (> 20.0 m.) buildingclass E (5.0 - 20.0 m.) buildingclass A (0.0 - 5.0 m.)
Buildingclass A: Rock formation with max. 5 m. of granular soil at the surface -> high infiltration, small limit Buildingclass B-D: very to medium dense sand, gravel or clay with minimum thickness of 20 m. -> slow-medium infiltration Buildingclass E: Near-surface granual soil with a thickness between 5 and 20 m. on top of a rock formation -> high infiltration In the Eastern part of the area exists a layer of clay -> slow infiltration
(Source: Erdbeben: Karten der Baugrundklassen, 2016)
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surface topograhpy
Half of the project area has the same height, but towards the green part there is an elevation of 30 meters and of increasing steepness.
(Source: Geoportal Kanton Bern)
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1 : 2000
570
575 575 580
585 590
570
575
595 600 605
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subsoil groundwater level
1 : 2000 peripheral area main area, high density
main area, very high density isohypes flow direction
Most of the project area lies in the main area of the groundwater, which means the infiltration of precipitation has to be taken into account while densifying the Northern part. The groundwater level is slowly descending towards the North, which is an important factor for the design.
(Source: Geoportal Kanton Bern)
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544 545
546
547
548
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subsoil dual pipe system
Ostermundigen has a separate pipe system for sewage and drinking water. This is beneficial for the amount of water that has to be treated, and for the contamination of the soil. Sewers are less likely to reach their limit and won’t flood as easily as when there is a combined pipe system. Alos every household has its own private water retention reservoir.
(Source: Geoportal Kanton Bern)
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1 : 2000
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potential map
1 : 1500
Through the analysis of he soil type and quality I found a difference in the rate of infiltration. This is an important issue because there is a need to densify. With more densification there is more hardened soil and it becomes more difficult to infiltrate precipitation. Secondly the groundwater plays a role with infiltration. In the main and peripheral groundwater area water will be able to infiltrate directly into the groundwater table. Outside the groundwater area water will become part of the subsurface runoff process, where the precipitation will flow towards the groundwater body below the surface. However if the precipitation exceeds the rate of infiltration, uncontrolled water runoff on the surface will occur. Based on these notes I determined the possible densification area. Further I see an opportunity in combining the coalescence of city and nature through infrastructure and water management, by creating a controlled surface runoff in the street. Just before the forest there is a complicated area in terms of infiltration rate and this will relief the pressure on the soil and the groundwater. The controlled surface runoff flows on basis of height difference, can be combined with the existing water structure that follows the flow direction of the groundwater and can be used as cooling water for the industries along the railway. Then there lie opportunities to create and/or enhance connections within the city of Ostermundigen. For example the existing green structures and different neighborhood structures. As the infrastructure of focus is mostly a sub-mainstreet, crossings give the opportunity to create places where not only city and nature, but also people come together.
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water runoff above ground connect with existing water structure connect with existing green structure opportunity for water use in existing industry water construction green focus crossing social focus crossing possible densification
thin layer of highly infiltratable soil
main groundwater area, very high density
medium-thick layer of highly infiltratable soil
main groundwater area, high density
slow-medium infiltratable soil
peripheral groundwater area
slow infiltratable clay layer
outside groundwater area
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d
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s
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concept With the theoretical framework that was constructed in the beginning and the potential map with conclusions from the analysis I derived a concept for design. The infrastructure brings nature in the form of a water and green stroke in a vertical way into the city. The city densifies in an circular expansion in the direction of nature, with a limitation defined in the previously shown potential map. The infrastructure brings larger green and people together in a horizontal way along crossing, defined in the previously shown potential map. This is the concept that forms the foundation of the design to densify while retaining the rural atmosphere, keeping the transect in mind.
T5
T4
T3
T2
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design principles
densification
water and green stroke
max. 4 floors
building height
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grass
courtyards
terraces
living above commerce
living above parking
bushes
parking
flowers
trees
water discharge from hardened infrastructure to green and water strokes
green crossings
social crossings
patches on both sides
patches on green side
sitting, reading and socializing
patches on both sides
patches on green side
playing games
patch in the middle
patches on green side
barbequeing
public wifi
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design design
1 : 1500
From the design concept and principles, that followed from the theoretical framework and the analysis, the next design has been derived. The focus lies on the previously chosen route that starts at the intersection next to the railway as the Bahnhofstrasse, followed by the Oberdorfstrasse, the Hubelstrasse and lastly the Steinbruchweg that forms the entrance to the little forest on the Ostermundigenberg. As can be subtracted from the concept and principles the design is build up by places of densification, a contineous green and blue stroke, green crossings and social crossings. Through the theory of the transect and the limits drawn by the potential map the Bahnhofstrasse and part of the Oberdorfstrasse are being densified. This is either done by adding living floors on commercial buildings or by building on / over parking spaces. So either the volume of a building is enlarged (with a limit of max. 4 floors), or parking space is roofed with extra living floors added to it. This means that there is almost no extra space taken by new constructions. This is beneficial for the precipitation limit, as normally that highly increases when densifying a city. Either way, next to the fact that they bring nature into the city, the blue stroke functions as an urban water channel and the green stroke as an extra filtration opportunity. So this is a multifunctional solution. The water of the urban water channel will be partially added to the current water structure perpendicular to the Hubelstrasse, ending up in the groundwaterflow. The rest will flow down to the industry along the railway where it can be used as cooling water. Lastly there are a few appointed crossings where green is more abundant and cooperates with social structures. At these points he street transforms from a space into a place. Alle these measures contribute to a more densified Ostermundigen wile maintaining the natural atmosphere.
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P
P
P
P
P P P
water stroke P
green stroke flowers trees new buildings or extra floors benches wifi games bbq
P P
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sections sections design
1 : 1500
T5
Four sections in the design are visualised in the next few pages, each representing one of the transects. The first section A-A’ is of the Steinbruchweg in transect 2. Next is section B-B’of the Oberdorfstrasse in transect 3, followed by section C-C’ in transect 4 in the Oberdorfstrasse as well. And finally the section D-D’ of the Bahnhofstrasse in transect 5. These sections will provide more insight in how nature will be brought into the city while at same time it will become more dense.
D D’
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T4
T3
T2
B C B’ C’
51 A A’
A-A’ T2 Steinbruchweg
The section of the Steinbruchweg has the most rural feel. It is quiet and lays next to the forest environment of the Ostermundigenberg. Although in terms of precipiationlevels it is not necessary, the water channel starts from this area to emphasize on this natural structure. This way, when in the centre people are unconsciously intrigued by the water channel, it is able to lead them out of the city to the nature. The same goes for the stroke of green. They form linear attractors throughout the structure of Ostermundigen. Underground there exists a network of pipelines. For electricity, gas, fresh water and sewage water. In principle the water channel lets the precipitation flow to the industry in the centre of the city, to be used as cooling water. However if it gets to full, there has to be a plan B. When the waterlevel in the channel has reached a certain point, yet it will be drained into the sewage system.
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ELECTRICITY
GAS WATER
SEWER
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B-B’ T3 Oberdorfstrasse
Onward to the Oberdorfstrasse, where the first section is situated in the third transect. There exists already a parking lot here, which will become paved with permeable green tiles. The water channel will partially be connected to the existing water structure parallel to the street and together go underground and taken up into the groundwater flow. The green stroke will become a bit more extensive as we are getting more into town, with some flowers and an occasional tree.
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ELECTRICITY
GAS WATER
SEWER
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C-C’ T4 Oberdorfstrasse
The next section in the Oberdorfstrasse is of a fourth transect, on a T-crossing. The water channel flows underneath the raod past the crossing. The green stroke again gets a little more comprehensive and the current green ‘break’ along the sidewalk gets an upgrade. By the green stroke it gets more of a distance between the road and becomes a more private and secure space where inhabitants can relax and enjoy. Here is where the first densification starts, situated on a former parking lot. The parking space is still available at the first level/underground/halfway of the appartment block. So parking space won’t be lost and no new space will be occupied. And a nice appartmentblock is surely a better view than a parking lot. As (larger) green is significantly more present here, it is positive for the infiltration of precipitation. While densifiying it becomes a bigger issue as we come closer to the city centre.
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ELECTRICITY
GAS WATER
SEWER
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D-D’ T5 Bahnhofstrasse
The last section represents the last transect, situated in the Bahnhofstrasse. Natural structures as well as the densification peak in this area. Together with the existing green an urban boulevard is formed with the water channel and the green stroke. A wifi-zone and a public seating area is placed along the sidewalk and on top of the parking boxes and the supermarket, appartments are build. Just as in the previous section, no extra space is taken up for the densification. We only go up in height, with a maximum of four floors (see design principles). The water channel works together with the already exisitng drainage of precipitation water on the streets towards the sewer.
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ELECTRICITY
GAS WATER
SEWER
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c o n c l u s i o n
60 60
zoningplan Guidelines for densification:
1 : 2000 T5
T4
T3
corezone
green zone
living zone 2
protection zone
mixed zone
living zone 3
living zone 1
building ordnance
(living & commercial)
T2
public zone
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conclusion & reflection The concluding zoning plan is made by the example of the Ostermundigen Zonenplan 1993. Not a lot has change, except for some added green zones and a small expansion of living zone 3. The most important addition to the zoning plan are the divisions of the different transect area’s. Hereby it is made clear how to keep sufficient balance between nature, densification and diversity. The most difficult step that the municipality has to make lies in the ownership of the sidewalks and the affixation of new levels on existing building structures. Some space of the sidewalk and the street will be taken up by the urban water channel and the green stroke. It has to become a public domain with an increased environmental value. The ways of densification that have been described for implentation, secure the cultivation of private, green ground. In exchange extra appartment levels are added to existing buildings, with a maximum height of 4 floors. This way the city of Ostermundigen can host more inhabitants without overbuilding. With the green and water stroke continuing all the way through the city, from the centre to the nature and back, they form a compensation in the densified city center and a subconscious attraction to both sides. This way the city of Ostermundigen can densify without losing its rural atmosphere. Throughout these structures along the crossings, a few points are more extensively elaborated, to bring neighborhoods together. This forms an extra motivation to let the street and its direct surroundings become more part of the public domain. One that is actively used as well. Lastly these two structures take care of the decreased precipitation level due to the densification and quality of the soil. The urban water channel collects precipitation water and will let it flow partially to the existing water structure where it will be taken up by the groundwater, and partially towards the existing industry where it can be used as cooling water. In the case that the urban water channel is full, there water can be yet drained towards the sewage system. But by adding this extra detour, the pressure on the sewage system won’t become a problem. The green stroke plays a role in the infiltration of precipitation and hereby also adds to the solution. The urban and natural environment grow together inward, relieving the emotional and technical stress of densification and meet at focus points with the morphology and the inhabitants of Ostermundigen. Jointly, the design of the particular route has truly become a route/root of life. Of course the elaboration of this project has stayed quite plain, only touching the surface of all the involved problem fields. However I learned a lot about the particular piece we tend to forget about in urban design; the subsurface. With this project I made an attempt to understand the influences and consequences of the design above the ground on the world under the ground, and it has been an eye-opening proces. To me it only stresses ever more that as an urban designer it is your job to work together with all the involved disciplines and understand at least a little their conceirns. Only then can you come to a fully integrated, accepted and appreciated urban environment.
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bibliography Bau, Verkehrs- und Energiedirektion des Kantons Bern. (2016). Geoportal des Kantons Bern - Kartenangebot. Retrieved September, 2016, from http://www.apps.be.ch/geo/index.php?option=com_easysdi_catalog&view=catalog&context=MAPS_ SPECIFIC&Itemid=46&lang=de Center for Applied Transect Studies. (n.d.). The Transect. Retrieved June 18, 2015, from http://transect.org/index.html International Water Management Institute. (n.d.). Animation of groundwater processes > Hydrological Cycle > Infiltration. Retrieved November 6, 2016, from http://iwmi.dhigroup.com/hydrological_cycle/infiltration.html NewUrbanism.org. (n.d.). New Urbanism. Retrieved June 18, 2015, from http://www.newurbanism.org/ Palmboom, F. (2010). ESSAY Getekend grondvlak, gelaagde tijd.
Various icons from The Noun Project; Andrew Lynne Artem Kovyazin Brad Ashburn Dalpat Prajapati Gan Khoon Lay Gregor CreĹĄnar Juan Pablo Bravo Nicolas Morand Marie Van den Broeck Marli du Plessis Pedro BaĂąos Cancer Sergey Krivoy
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TU Delft Faculty of Architecture & the Built Environment Urbanism MSc2
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