URBAN DESIGN: Why do Most Plans Stay on the Shelf? Lecture, Voronezh June 2014 Edouard Moreau, Urban Designer, Founder of Off-The-Grid Studio
OFF
THE GRID STUDIO
The role of the urban designer is changing it’s not only about designing plans he is designing a complex system of ideas, programs, analysis, coordinations, storytelling, roadmaps... it’s as much about the content as it is about the process.
“rupture of scales� Bernard Reichen, Architect Urban Designer
0.1 - 1 ha the public space
10-100 ha the district
1000-10000 ha the city
PART 1
the architect-demiurge* is (almost) dead
* = a being responsible for the creation of the universe
Ville Radieuse
the architect-demiurge is fundamentally linked with over-simplification & “too big to swallow� effects
Kilamba “Ghost Town”, Angola
confessions of a (demiurge) sinner
Example of Doha Port
PART 2
80% of masterplans/designs stay on the shelf (not counting competitions...)
West Kowloon Cultural District
West Kowloon Cultural District First Ideas - 1996
wrong brief wrong site “too big to swallow� over-simplified development program lack of business model limited coordination with stakeholders limited technical studies weak storytelling lack of project roadmap political context ....
Quito, Former Airport
classic practice of
emerging practice of
archtiecture
urbanism
a client has a site and
a territorry exist, but there is a
a budget and needs a
neeed to find and organise a
new building for a new
stakeholders, curate the
use.
program and help raise the necessary funds,
“the role of city planning has shifted from creating a city to editing a city� Hidetoshi Ohmo author of Fibercity,Designing for Shrinkage
“In the early 90s I was very skeptical about the value of planning – about what it could do. Lagos was a confrontation of that skepticism. Initially I thought: yes, this shows that planning makes no sense; it’s irrelevant. But now I’ve begun to see the subtleties in Lagos – that self‐organization is inscribed upon an organized model of the city. There’s a weird interdependence between the planned and the unplanned. Planning is becoming more interesting to me. It represents a cycle from skepticism to an awareness that we have to try to assume the role of planners, perhaps in a new way.” Rem Koolhaas
IS BOTTOM-UP THE SOLUTION ? Tactical Urbanism Guerilla Urbanism Acupuncture Architecture Temporary Use DIY Urbanism Handmade Urbanism Incremantal Urbanism Wiki Architecture ....
“too much bottom, not enough up” Michael Speaks, dean of Syracuse University School of Architecture
“FACTS ON THE GROUND”
quote from Ariel Sharon, who during the endless negotiations about borders in Gaza and the West Bank, just went ahead and build “irreversible facts on the ground”, bypassing grand plans created by diplomats.
“its not to satisfy themselves with immediate interventions but rather to penetrate the mechanisms of power, money, policymaking, politics, etc.. that forms the basis of transformations of our cities. � Wouter Vanstiphout chair of design as politics, Delft University
PART3
from designing bottom-up or plans “factsto onprocesses the ground� ?
PART3
IN SHORT
1. get the brief right 2. get facts on the ground
typical design process timeline
project inception/ brief
concept design
construction
schematic design
planning approval
tendering process
get the brief right
OFF
THE GRID STUDIO
high level cost estimates high-level business model market insight and analysis assistance in investor roadshows
project implementation strategy project phasing / roadmap technical briefs/RFP assistance in project management design and technical reviews
optimization of the layout testing architectural
market assessment
typologies
high-level cost estimates
key anchors:
high-level business
international school + eco-resort
model
“the heroic designer increasingly becomes the curator, editor, and director of collective dialogue-based process. [...] the production of spaces no longer aspires to absolute perfection, but underlies a process.� Philipp Oswalt, architect, founder of urban catalyst
THANKS
URBAN DESIGN: Why do Most Plans Stays on the Shelf?
Lecture, Voronezh June 2014 Edouard Moreau, Urban Designer, Founder of Off-The-Grid Studio
OFF
THE GRID STUDIO