Urban Design Portfolio by Deena M-A Bent 2016 Collection
MASTER PLANNING | PUBLIC REALM | SITE PLANNING | BIOPHILIC DESIGN | TRAVEL
About This portfolio is a synopsis of the various project I have worked on during my studies at the University of Westminster earning my MA in Urban Design. Passionate about the natural environment my designs always seek to harmonize the conflicting interests of development pressure, with maintaining habitats for biodiversity.
Content's Curriculum Vitae A synopsis of my work, education, skills and interests.
Public Realm Strategy: Edmonton Green, London UK Edmonton Green an area characterized by modernism and dominated by vehicular traffic.
Urban Design Studio 2: Southwark, London, UK An area facing strong development pressure with low densities and underutilized public spaces.
Master Planning Old Oak Common, London, UK An area slated to become a transportation hub with the interchange for HS2 and Crossrail .
Dissertation: Biophilic Design Case Studies: Singapore, Birmingham, UK & Portland, Oregon Identifies the opportunities and constraints to the implementation of biophilic design .
The journey always continues, the route may change but the goals ; they remain the same.
Curriculum Vitae
Public Realm Strategy: Edmonton Green, London UK
Location & Context Edmonton, an area in the east of the London Borough of Enfield, 8.6 miles (13.8km) north-north east of Charing Cross. The study area is located in the south east section of Enfield, and borders Ponders End to the north, W altham Forest to the east, Tottenham to the south, and Bush HIll Park and W inchmore Hill to the west (See image). It is one of London's greenest Boroughs.
Aims & Objectives Theme 1: Environmental To ensure that the public realm is redesigned so as to ensure that public spaces, and the built environment plays its role in protecting the natural and manufactured elements within the area, buy promoting and ensuring that future development respects the natural environment. Theme 2: Social To promote equitable access to nature for different users which promotes health, and well0 being, social interaction, enhances civic pride whilst highlighting the value of biodiversity and Edmonton Green's ecology.
Theme 3: Economic To revitalize Edmonton Green's economy by creating a functional and vibrant public space encouraging investment and tourism.
Theme 4: Aesthetics and the Built Environment To enhance the appearances of the built environment, focused on urban greening, high quality themed materials fro public surfaces, eliciting an emotional, intellectual, or sensual response hence creating a sence of harmony between design and nature.
Theme 5: Management To ensure the design is easily managed utilizing native plants, and a proposed structure in place, to ensure that an agency is accountable for maintaining and overseeing future development respecting nature.
Edmonton Green: Public Realm Strategies and Interventions
Short Term - De-clutter public realm - Develop maintenance strategy -Introduce street trees/ planting to increase urban green coverage
Medium Term
- Utilize dis-used railway arches - Create buffer along the Green from vehicular traffic - Soften hard edges of concrete dominated places - Create pocket parks to enhance sense of place
Long Term
- De-channelize Salmon's Brook - Create a visual link throughout the area with its past using water - Re-align the round-about
Urban Design Studio: Southwark, London UK The project brief highlighted the design strategy for an area of Southward which is a district located to the south of the River Thames in Central London, lies within the Borough of Southwark, with Elephant and Castle to the south, Lambeth to the west, and London Bridge to the east. The vision was to transform the area in to a more lively and attractive, mixed use development with well linked public open spaces, high quality homes and amenities, and an environment lucrative to support small to medium business enterprises. This is all based on the high developmental pressure facing the area today.
Changes are necessary, as the caterpillar reminds us that if we do not let go of our past, we threaten our growth and existence.
Southwark, London Urban Design Strategy
Objectives Theme 1: Built Environment Restructure area to make better use of land, retain existing listed buildings and exploit location by increasing densities Theme 2: Natural Environment: Sustainable use of Resources Create a thriving and vibrant public realm, that is safe secure, inclusive, and attractive, that improves the existing design of existing public spaces. Theme 3: Transport and Connectivity Provide a hierarchy of connected routes and spaces that link well in to the surrounding transport routes. Theme 4: Social and Community Infrastructure Improve community facilities and encourage a mixture of compatible land uses to increase street frontage and social activity along key corridors. Land Use Theme 5: Local Economy Ensure micro to small and medium business enterprise can thrice under heavy developmental pressure.
Building Heights
Site Layout
Massing and Built Form Southwark, London UK
Shading and massing
Section across Marshalsea Road
Transect across Ayers Street
Detailing the Design Southwark, London UK
Typology of Blocks Southwark, London UK
Capacity Study Southwark, London UK
Master Planning Old Oak Common, London, UK
Vision:
Formal Considerations and Key Assumptions
A new place, home, office, park and destination, that's urban and green. At its core will be a range of leisure and commercial facilities, exploiting excellent public transport connections to the rest of London; and to the UK; all in a contemporary, lively and distinctive setting; respecting its historical context.
Physical
Locational Context Old Oak and Park Royal sited north- west from inner London, spans 650 hectares of land, bordered by Harlesden and Stonebridge Park to the north, Kensal and North Kensington to the east, W hite City and Acton to the south and Alperton to the west. This area being the planned location of a new railway station connecting High speed 2 (HS2) to Crossrail and the Great Western Main Line, creating a new destination in west London serving as an extended west end, would benefit form a framework which is practical and flexible enough to adapt to changes in the economic landscape over the short to long term.
Creation of a main axis from Harlesden and W illesden Junction to the south of the development, would create an access form Station Road and Harlesden capitalizing on the already established activity within that area. Create a gravitational pull, offering people a seamless option of coming in to Old Oak Common, seeing that no major streets connect the surrounding major routes in to the development. Economic The current market demands residential development, in the form of flats, maisonettes, townhouses and student accommodation, and may continue in the long term. Retail space is not a priority but will serve the purpose of animating ground floors and streets, providing social spaces, as well as generating employment and inward investment. This highly connected area will have the need for hotel and conference facilities for persons wishing to stop over in the area. Social W ormwood Scrubs re-identifying Old Oak Common, as well as broadening its use and function, to ensure that a variety of different users can benefit. Social facilities needed in order to support the new community with residential space of 13,622 new homes with an expected additional population of 35,521.2 persons, in order to ensure the carrying capacity of the surrounding social facilities are not exceed. Environmental The development should be sustainable in terms of developing a low carbon economy buildings with high BREAM standards, the reduction and prevention of waste generation, as well as keeping energy consumption to a minimal based on the arrangement of the blocks. Green spaces will play its role SUDS, recycling surface water and creating habitat for biodiversity. Design Minimize power consumption, buildings sited to take advantage of daylight and reduce glare from the low angled sun. The arrangement of blocks based on the assumption of transit orientation development principles whereas residential office and commercial development will be located as close as possible o the railway stations. Green scarves flow through the development acting as SUDS as well as social spaces, and adds a dimension of informality to the formal landscape of the railway lines and canal.
Key Theories that Guided the Design 1. Peter Calthorpe's Transit Orientated Development 2. Roger Trancik's Figure Ground Theory 3. Kevin Lynch's Mental Mapping
Character Areas Southwark, London UK
Key Details Southwark, London UK
Transect C-C A B
C
B Transect B-B
A
Transect A-A
Dissertation: Biophilic Urbanism Case Studies: Singapore Portland, Oregon, USA, Birmingham, UK
Abstract:
Initial Hypothesis:
Studies on Biophilic Design used in current practice have focused on most aspects of the city, except nature. In this dissertation, I sought to identify how biophilic urbanism is defined, in the context of urban design, identify the opportunities and constraints to implementing biophilic planning and design in the UK, and assess international case studies to extrapolate design implications that can be considered in urban design practice.
Cities that are dense oftentimes provide the mandatory green spaces in the form of parks, and other open spaces, however the opportunity to connect with nature (biophilia) may be less available in the street, neighborhood and city contexts as space is given over to the built environment. I used the three case studies to show how cities can become more nature friendly and biophilic though urban design practice.
The effects of urbanization on biodiversity have been broadly studies and one way of managing the complex and evolving nature of cities could possibly be for Urban Designers to influence or guide developers and built environment practitioners through planning and design propositions that are based on the urban ecological knowledge and sustainable principles that underpins biophilic design.
Biophilic Design Framework Research Objectives: 1. To provide an overview of biophilic design in the context of various scales (street, neighborhood and community/ city) using case studies. 2. Identify the opportunities and constraints to implementing biophilic deign in the UK 3. Identify urban design implications from literature reviews 4. Demonstrate how a master plan framework can be modified to incorporate biophilic design
Biophilic Design Masterplan
Final Presentation at the Faculty of Architecture & Built Environment's Exhibition 2016
Contact Me (07) 341 954-609 dbent18@hotmail.com or w1418632@my.westminster.ac.uk 19 Cardinal Hinsley Close London, UK NW 10 5UT