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R a d i c a l
A r c h i t e c t u r e
D r .
C r i s t i a n
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Archipelago (archon + pelagic) Noun (plural) -gos, -goes ,
A sea studded with islands
A group of islands,
T a b l e 1 .
2 .
o f
T h e
A r c h i p e l a g o
F r o m
R o m e
T h e
A r c h i p e l a g o
R e a d i n g
3 .
C i t y s
4 .
T h e
T h e A
6 .
C t i y
l i f e
o f a n d
a s
a s
P r a c i t c e
a
D i v i d e d
W h o l e
P a r t s B a r r i e r s
A r c h i t e c t u r e
r e t r o a c t i v e
T h e o r y .
C i t y s
I n s i d e
o f
a s
B e r l i n
w i t h i n
I s l a n d s A
t o
G l a s g o w
D i v i d e r s
5 .
C o n t e n t s
o f
B u i l d i n g s E v e r y d a y
A r c h i t e c t u r e S t r a e t g y
L i f e
1 .
T h e
A r c h i p e l a g o F r o m
R o m e
t o
a s
B e r l i n
T h e o r y .
Utopia, Thomas More 1516
Absolute Space In 2011 the city as a project of architecture was explored by the theorist Pier Vittorio Aureli in his book ‘The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture’. In many ways I see this as the beginning point of this project. The City which Aureli presents in this work is one of a composition of separate and conflicting parts. The city here is expressed not as an overall plan but ra ther as an
archipelago of individual interventions. This absolutist outlook forms the basis of a theoretical approach to the city that can be held up as an alternative to unlimited urbanisation in the current period of late game capital. Beyond this recent incarnation the city as archipelago has been put forward by many architects as diverse as Piranesi’s view of the antiquity
y of Rome, the landscapes of Karl Friedrich Schinkel or Ungers understanding of Berlin in the context of a shrinking city.
AntichitĂ romane, Piranesi
Rome - Rationalising the ancient city. The theme of the archipelago is encounted in Renaisance depictions of rome produced by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in the mid to late 18th centurary. Informed by early colabaration with Giambattista Nolli, Peranesi produced a serise of intericate etchings of the citys urban grain. These illustrations though stray form the precice methologogy as espoused by
Nolli. The maps are fragmented and disjointed. They do not seek to dwell upon the iconic aspects of the ancient city but rather juxtopose a diverse range of elements such as walls, tombs fountains and the foundations of large structures. The chaotic result of this experiment reveal a city of seperate element in relation to one another.
Glienicke Palace, Schinkel (1826)
Berlin - A city and the Landscape When looking at the composition of projects from the German architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel one can see the sensibility of the construction of archipelagos of architecture in his placing of buildings. This mode of working is typified by the Havell projects undertaken with the landscape architects Peter Joseph Lenne. The projects form a series of architectural
events along the river Havell for use as a royal amenity for the Hohenzollerns. The program is of separate entities which stand apart as pavilions but share a common architectural sensibility. This composition of formal objects as a unified project composed of separate parts was taken up as well in his Berlin projects. Schinkels tactics within the city was not to submit to
an overall plan but rather to view the fragmentary nature of the city as a landscape in which he could intervene just as with the natural landscape of the Havell.
Pavilion Projects, Berlin, Ungers
Ungers and Berlin Ungers in his out look on the pure elements of the city is undoubtedly informed by the plans of Schinkel. With Unges the the ms of the archipelago becomes explicit in his rationalisation of from. The typologies projects undertaken by him and his students at the Technical University of Berlin between 1963 and 1967 provide insight to his thesis. The Pavilions illustrated
within this process and their various configurations are at the heart of a city as Ungers saw it. Just as Piranesi rationalised the ancient city as a series of islands Ungers can see within this line of thinking a way of understanding a Berlin ravaged by war and ideological conflict without being red used to nostalgia.
2 .
T h e
A r c h i p e l a g o
R e a d i n g
G l a s g o w
a s
a
a s
D i v i d e d
P r a c i t c e W h o l e
A sea studded with islands
P r o l o g u e The story of the post industrial city of the 20th century has been that of population decline and shrinkage across the United States and Western Europe. The footprint of the modern western city has expanded hugely in the last sixty years with the availability of cheap personal transport and the move towards decentralised growth. Glasgow is typical of all of these trends. From a high of 1,185,000 in 1941 the population of the city had fallen to 596,000 in 2011. Here we see a new sustainable base level being formed with current predictions setting out modest growth patterns which will have 668,000 persons living in Glasgow by 2031. This issue of population decrease is compounded by the fact that the administrative area of the city has remained the same. The result of these circumstances is a landscape of separate entities and typologies which can be see as the ‘The Archipelago City’. Any future planning for Glasgow must come to terms with this current period of growth stagnation. The punctured nature of the city when looked at in schematic form offers alternative arrangements for city space. The dialectic between built and unbuilt provides guides for space which can be allocated to city infrastructure and building alike.
John McArthur, Map of Glasgow, 1778
Small Beginnings Dating back to 1778 Glasgow began as a small market town established around Salt Market Street and High Street in what is now the southeastern corner of the city centre. The map reflects buildings typical of their age huddled closely together around a narrow patchwork of streets. The plots are small and the town is surrounded by countryside. So the question that we must ask is how did we get here? By 1823 we begin to see an expansion of industrial activity with cotton spinners, iron works, breweries and chemical works being visible and thus marking the beginning of Glasgow's growth in the nineteenth century.
Medieval City Core 1778
David Smith, Plan of Glasgow, 1828
Initial Growth
Extent of 18th century town 1835
In the previous map the township is closely gathered around the junction of Trongate street and Saltmarket street. In this map the city centre is still located in the medieval heart of the city but the merchant city has begun its formation with George square visible at the the centre of the map. As the century wore on the predominant employer within the conurbation switched gradually from the making of textiles to heavy industry and shipbuilding. Development of the Port of Glasgow and the building of Canals to connect the city to outlying areas can be seen as the precursors of this pattern of growth.
New Plan of Glasgow, 1901
Heavy Metal As the century wore on the predominant employer within the conurbation switched gradually from the making of textiles to heavy industry and shipbuilding. Development of the Port of Glasgow and the building of Canals to connect the city to outlying areas can be seen as the precursors of this pattern of growth. These industrial conditions of the city created quite undesirable conditions among the squalid housing of the poor workers. These were often in close proximity to the docks and the industrial complexes. Those who could afford it looked west to places like Royal Crescent and Woodside in the fast growing suburbs that led on to housing in Hillhead and Kelvinside. This pattern of decentralisation was common in the industrial towns of Britain as people swapped crowded city life for the bucolic burbs. Areas which welcomed the wondering classes retain today their affluence and cach.
19th century expansion 1901
Cumbernauld Town Center.
Depopulation and Decentralisation During the post war period though Glasgow experiences extreme depopulation and decentralisation which has completely changed the face of the city. The the Special Areas Legislation of 1938 took industry away from the river to large industrial estates on the edge of the city. Housing was also decentralised with a program of building new towns continuing from the late 1950’s well into the 1970’s. The movement of people coupled with massive land clearance within the city limits had the effect of carving through the city's grain leaving many areas in a state of dereliction and decay. This legacy continues today with the current planning still dealing with these issues.
Present City Limit Present
1801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901
1911
1921
1931
1941
Population 44,000
Population 329,000
Population 762,000
Population 94,000
Population 420,000
Population 790,000
Population 147,000
Population 478,000
Population 1,034,000
Population 202,000
Population 560,000
Population 1,130,000
Population 274,000
Population 658,000
Population 1,185,000
1951
Population 1,090,000
1961
Population 1,055,000
1971
Population 895,000
1981
Population 774,000
1991
Population 689,000
50,000 persons
2001
Population 578,000
Popu la tion
2011
Population 596,000
2021
Projected Population 624,000
T r en d s
During the Industrial expansion of the 19th and 20th century Glasgow experienced upward trends in population growth. This eventually subsided as the effects of economic decline and deindustrialisation took hold in the middle of the 20th century. Form a high in1941 of 1,186,000 persons Glasgow experienced sharp degrowth ending at a level of 596,000 persons in 2011. The population projected complied by Glasgow City Council for see a modest growth over the next 20 years ending up at 668,000 in 2031 but there modest gains will go nowhere cancelling out the massive population losses of the last century.
2031
Projected Population 668,000
Projected growth figure 50,000 persons
City
S p a ce
An obvious result of the historic development of the city and the subsequent population decline of the 20th century, Glasgow’s land use density has also been reduced. As depicted in the figures produced by the ‘Open Space Strategy for Glasgow’ open space within the city now accounts for just under one third of the citys footprint. Land clasifications within these areas are diverse includeings natural landscapes, Golf Courses, Parks & Gardens, Burial Grounds, Civic Spaces, Sports Facilities and Vacant & Derilict land. These figures mark glasgow as an anomoly within Scotland. Glasgow has by far the highest proportion of population living around or near vacant and derilict land when compared with the other major citys. The figure for Glasgow is nearly double that of its next closest neighbour Aberdeen. In addition Glasgow also contains the hargest area of open land than any other city in Scotland at 4738Ha.
61
18 Glasgow
Edinburgh
29 Dundee
36
Aberdeen
Percentage of population living within 500m of Vacan and Derilict Land. (2012)
4738 Ha. 3755 Ha. 2803 Ha.
Glasgow
Total Open Space within Glasgow (2012)
Edinburgh
1400 Ha. Dundee
Aberdeen
Urban open space areas by city. (2012)
Total Land Area of Glasgow 17500Ha
Natural Landscape 1075Ha
Golf Courses 458Ha
Parks and Gardens 1890Ha
Burial Grounds 251Ha
Civic Space 22Ha
Sports Facilities 394Ha
Vacant Derilict Land 656Ha
City open space by Land use Type (2012)
3 .
C i t y s
w i t h i n
C i t y s
A group of islands,
Working within the premise of Glasgow as an archipelago city I undertook an investigation to identify Islands of architecture which compose this separate whole. In choosing areas to look at there were several criteria. The first was historic development. I felt that each of the areas should represent a unique period within the city's development. The examples I chose include the merchant city core, the
tenemen-tal developments of the 19th and early 20th century, suburban areas from the early part of the last century, portions of the modernist city redevelopment and also and an example of the most recent attempts at redevelopment from the late 90’s and early 20’s. Beyond this historical context also an key require- ment is that the chosen islands had a shared architectonic grammar which informs their composition.
S i g h t h i l l
Aerial image
Figure Ground
Building Structure
Built between 1964 and 1969 on a former industrial site, Sighthill represents the modernist legacy of planning and architecture within the city. Dogged with problems of poverty and social issues the development is now considered outdated in planing terms with the area earmarked for extensive redevelopment and has already been partially demolished. I have chosen to represent it in its original state as an adequate representation of the high rise years of Glasgow architecture. This is essential in understanding the dynamics of the city and the interaction of its various parts.
Typology
Ville Radieuse, le Corbusier
Sighthill Tower Types
B l y t h s w o o d
Aerial image
S q u a r e
Figure Ground
Building Structure
Blythwood Square was original developed during the 18th and 19th century as affluent housing comprising of four story Georgian townhouses. Built around a formal square the area would traditionally have been home to some of the most wealthy inhabitants of the city. Now the square and its surrounding streets are mainly in commercial use. In this regard the site was chosen for its unique cultural and social setting. It is a good representation of the formal geometric footprint of the city centre.
Typology
Manhatten
Blythswood Square Grid Type
G l a s g o w
Aerial image
H a r b o u r
Figure Ground
Building Structure Originally a area of heavy industry on the banks of the Clyde it had been largely inactive since the 1980’s. The existing city fabric been extensively demolished and in now the focus of redevelopment in the mode of the London Docklands sporting luxury accommodation and cultural amenities. The redevelopment it currently only partially complete with the first phase of building being complete. In this sense the area remains incomplete as a project. The area has been chosen for examination as it reflects well the latest redevelopment attempts that have occurred within the city over the previous ten to fifteen years.
Typology
Havell River, Schinkel
Glasgow Harbour Landscape Type
P o l l o k s h i e l d s
Aerial image
Figure Ground
Building Structure
Set out in 1849 by the Stirling-Maxwell family in 1849 the area comprises of a series of detached and semi detached property's. Remaining a relatively affluent area since its inception Pollokshields represents an example of a largely intact Victorian suburban layout. The area retains a strong urban villa typology which informs its layout and use. Here the buildings stand alone in an introverted manner amongst dense trees and planting. The architectural language is undeniable and provides social cometary about the areas relationship with the city at large. In this regard it is an ideal test bed for the study.
Typology Urban Villas, Ungers
Pollokshield s Pavillion Types
G o v a n h i l l
Aerial image
Figure Ground
Building Structure
Govanhill is a densely packed traditional tenement area on the south side of the city. Developed towards the end of the 19th century the area has traditionally been a place for migrants and newcomers to the city. The area remains to this day as a staunchly working class area with a hugely diverse population. The tenement typology dominates the area with large portions of the traditional buildings still mainly intact.
Typology
Barcelona, Cerda
Govan Hill Court Types
4 .
T h e
C t i y
D i v i d e r s
a n d
o f
P a r t s
B a r r i e r s
L a y e r s
o f
I n f r a s t r u c t u r e
Within this logic of an archipelago of architectures, other functional elements of the city exist inbetween informing the built footprint. These architectonic structures are both man made and natural and dictate the form city growth must take. It was the practice of Ungers to ask his students to map these layers of infrastructure in separation so that each element can be clearly shown. When seen together the maps provide a striking image of the city in its individual layers much as an auto cad drawing could be viewed today. These include motorways, rivers, railways and axes within the city. Rather than seeing these elements as challenges to be over come or ignored a more sanguine approach sees them solely as the constituent parts of the city that divide and disrupt its form. Here I have chosen to map some of these elements in isolation and in relation to the chosen City Islands. This process allows us to see properly the relationship between the chosen sites and the architectonich city elements. It is the city dividers which intensify this sense of archipelago and Glasgow presents may types. The motorways and railways of the city work now like its rivers and canals. They act as barriers to be bridged or under cut. The process of setting them out has disturbed the original grain by cutting across streets neighbourhoods. The city axis can be found in many of the formally planned Victorian areas. Examples of these are Dumbarton Road, Great Western Road and leading from Queens Park on to Victoria Road. Rather than acting as barriers, the axis attract growth around them often becoming busy high streets. None the less they still may be considered a significant city element to be worthy of mapping.
M o t o r w a y
a n d
I s l a n d s
A x i s
a n d
I s l a n d s
W a t e r
a n d
I s l a n d s
R a i l w a y
a n d
I s l a n d s
5 .
T h e A
l i f e
I n s i d e
A r c h i t e c t u r e
o f
B u i l d i n g s
E v e r y d a y
L i f e
Metropolis architecture is considerably dependant on solving two factors : the individual cell of the room and the collective urban organism. The solution will be determined by the manner in which the room is manifested as an element of buildings linked togeather in one street block, thus becoming a determining factor of the city structure, which is the actual objective of architecture. Inversely, the constructive design of the urban plan will gain considerable influence on the formation of the room and the building as such.
Hilberseimer, Metropolisarchitecture (1927), pg 270
A Responce to an Archipelago When beginning to formulate a res ponce to the existing conditions of the city one has to set out a clear starting point in which to frame the argument. From reading Ludwig Hilberseimer 1927 tome ‘Metropolisarchitecture’ it is put forward that the issues of the modern European metropolis have their roots in the social and economic changes that began to manifest them selves at the beginning of the previous century. Just as the dislocation of internal space was identified by Rem Koolhaas in his New York manifesto in 1978, a fully fifty one years earlier Hilberseimer was underlining the key importance of properly marrying two features of the modern metropolis,the situation of the individual living unit and the infrastructure of the city as a wider whole. Now mainly forgotten by the architectural profession Hilberseimers prediction never the less remains relevant to the argument and a good starting point in discussing city space. Owen Hatherley in his book ‘Militant Modernism’ provides a accurate critique of the state of building within Britain at the present time. Whether it be the volume producers such as Bellway or Barrett Homes or the phenomena of the architecture spectacular produces by any of the usual suspects Hadid, Koolhass, Rogers, Foster one thing constantly missed out is any critical debate about the interior life of the building. Over the last century many contributions have been made to the discussion regarding the internal life of the building. For this document I have chosen four such examples which present a radical alternative to the ‘architecture of everyday life’ presented to us in the city of today. They are examined in relation to their footprint, elevation and the internal living arrangements which are provided.
C i t ĂŠ
M a n i f e s t e ,
Lacton & Vassal, France (2005)
M u l h o u s e
This project for 14 single-family houses is part of an operation for 61 dwellings created by five teams of architects in the extended space of a housing estate in Mulhouse. The aim of the architect was to produce quality houses that were, for the same price, considerably larger than the standardised housing usually met with. To begin with, the creating of a structure and a cheap and effective simple envelope enabled them to define, on the loft principle, a maximum surface area and volume with contrasting, complementary and surprising spatial qualities. On the ground floor a post/beam structure in concrete supports a platform at a height of 3 m, upon which horticultural greenhouses are fixed. The frame is in galvanised steel, the walls in transparent polycarbonate. Part of the greenhouse is isolated and heated. The other part constitutes a winter garden, largely ventilated via the roof and facade. A horizontal sunshade unfurls inside the greenhouse. The greenhouse principle, with its automated climate-control devices, has enabled solutions to the bio climate to be developed. Later on, the volume was divided into 14 dwellings, set crosswise in duplex form, which profit from all the different qualities offered by the diversity of the spaces.
First Floor Plan
Ground Floor Plan
5 4 5
6
0
1
2
5 4
3
Three Bedroom Apartment Type, Mulhouse 0 Entrance, 1 Living Room, 2 Kitchen, 3 Dining Room, 4 Toilet, 5 Bed Rooms , 6 Roof Garden
L a f a y e t t e P a r k , D e t r o i t Hilberseimer & van der Rohe, USA (1955)
First Floor Plan
First set out in 1953 Lafayette Park in Detroit can be seen as the fruit of a unique architectural collaboration between the Mies van der Rohe and city theorist Ludwig Hilberseimer. With these credentials the project is unmatched in the scope of its ambition and its forward thinking approach to city living. Within the scheme the elements of high rise blocks and low level row houses are married to create a series of semi urban semi suburban neighbourhoods in a lush green setting. The typology of the Row houses here act to frame and programme the park footprint while maintaining the aesthetic through care full landscaping.
Ground Floor Plan
5
5 4
5
1
4 2
0 3
Row House, Layfayette Park 0 Entrance, 1 Living Room, 2 Kitchen, 3 Dining Room, 4 Toilet, 5 Bed Rooms
N a r k o m f i n OSA, Russia (1932)
B u i l d i n g ,
M o s c o w
The building constructed between 1928 and 1930 was commissioned as residences for the officials of Narkomfin the Peoples Commissariat of Finance. The building consists of two apartment types the F-type an apartment over three levels conceived for small families and childless couples and the K-type a larger apartment over two levels for larger families. As the units were designed to prepare people for communal living kitchen facilities are space. The F-type has a sole kitchenette placed in a small alcove. The K-type has a larger kitchen. Inhabitants were encouraged to partake of the communal kitchens, dining rooms, laundries, cleaning services, kindergartens, gyms and libraries. Interior streets on the second and fifth floors gave access to the apartments. All of the collective utilities were located in a separate building accessed by a walk way on the second floor.
3
1
3
1 2
0
Narkomfin Building K-Type Appartment 0 Communal Gallery , 1 Living Room, 2 Toilet, 3 Bed Rooms
W o h n b e b a u u n g
, K N S M - E i l a n d Kollhoff & Rapp, Netherlands (1989)
The Piraeus Wohnbebauung represents a large mixed development in the docklands redevelopment area of Amsterdam. The uniform brick exterior which is presented to the street belied a rich complexity that lies within. This is the unique aspect of the project which attracts me to it. Access to this building is not even reserved to one system.In places point doors onto the street admit inhabitants in others access to apartments is via a gallery. Within the permutations of living space are vast. Smaller two bedroom flats are place towards the south with the larger flats and maisonettes placed to wards the north of the site. The internal configurations are boggling including studio flats, large ateliers and maisonettes. The apartment space can even in some cases be doubled to allow still more different types and sizes with in some cases three story apartments becoming possible in some cases near the top of the building complete with sky lights and large windows. Glazed balconies accessible from the living spaces form a solarium for each unit. The balcony then has folding windows open by a thin slot at the sides so that ventilation can be controlled. Even within this densely conceived development each unit is provided aces to the exterior with a use able exterior space.
2
1 4 3
4 3
1
3
4 4
3
2
0
3
Wohnbebaung, Two & Three Bed Appartments 0 Entrance , 1 Living Room, 2 Kitchen, 3 Bed Rooms , 4 Toilet, 5 Balconies/Solarium
6 .
I s l a n d s A
o f
A r c h i t e c t u r e
r e t r o a c t i v e
S t r a t e g y
R e t r o a c t i v e
I n t r o s p c e t i o n
The strategy of this portion of the examination was apply the case studies chosen in the previous section to the specific islands identified within Glasgow. This process of juxtaposition was conduction by Ungers and Koolhaas in the initial incarnations of ‘Berlin as a Green Archipelago’ with the intention of completing existing islands of architecture within the city through the introduction of social condensers. These reference were subsequently removed from later versions of the document as they were seen by the authors as being to inflammatory a subject matter to be included as the piece was being presented to politicians within west Berlin for actual consideration. My intentions in such a task are far less high minded. The retroactive strategy to m an method of practically evaluating some of these chosen examples of international architecture specifically within Glasgow. The operation there fore can be read as hyperbole or sensationalism. To this end I paired each case study with a city area which i felt complemented it. This was done to underline the relevance of each precedent to the existing city and to open up the possibility of a larger debate about housing and living within the city. This debate to me is vital as the city enters another cycle of regeneration and self examination particularly in the wake of past failed attempts at urban planning.
M i e s
Towers
a n d
H i l b e r s e i m e r
Row Houses
Here the row house typology as found within Detroit has been paired with the tower typology in Sighthill. The tactic is an at temp to activate the area at the base of the towers by adding density to the area. This process of rationalising the space through architectural intervention adds a program to the open areas in the form of providing gardens for the row houses. In this way the modernist landscape and the aesthetic is preserved in keeping with its original conception while at the same time resolving the towers connection with the ground. In addition the row House add to the area a diversity of accommodation by providing larger units for families and also external green SPCA not possible on the upper floors of the towers. This dynamic of high and low scale works well within the development in Detroit as the row housing and their courtyards bring life to the park landscape while the high towers provide stunning views over the city.
i n
S i g h t h i l l
Towers & Row Houses
K o l l h o f f
Tenement
&
R a p p
i n
G o v a n h i l l
Wohnbebauung Super Block
In Govanhill I chose to place the Koolhoff & Rapp Wohebauung. The reasoning behind this is reinforcing the court typology of the area which is dominant within the area the block cuts across the existing street grid and provides a dominant feature on the skyline. The Wohnbabauung here operates as a super block in the same vain as the Vienna Hof projects. In this line of thinking large scale housing is placed at the very centre of the community acting as a condenser for activity and life. The form in this setting is overtly political to my eyes at least when looked at in the light of the Vienna projects. Mass housing is not pushed to the edge of the city but maintained squarely within it.
Tenement and Wohnbebauung Super Block
O S A
Grid
i n
B l y t h s w o o d
S q u a r e
Narkomfin
The Narkomfin Building was placed within the formal Georgean Blythswood Square. The internal nature of the Narkomfin building here reflects well the uniform pattern of the city center grid. The radical program of the Narkomfin here could be used to subvert this area traditonally associated with wealth and civic. This is also an interesting proposition given Glasogws trend towards decentralisation of housing. There is somthing quite liberating about placing large housing accomadation right in the center of the city.
Grid & Narkomfin
L a c t o n
&
V a s s a l
i n
P o l l o k s h i e l d s e
Pavilions
Cité manifeste
Finaly Lacton & Vassal’s comunal housing block was to added to Pollokshield. The built landscape of Pollokshield visually resembles the the area in Mulhouse in which the building stands. The suburban scale is matched by the low rise block. Internaly though the various plans offer diversity and choice not found within the ridgid typology structure of the area.
Pavillions & Cité Manifeste
7 .
A
s t r a t e g y
f o r
?
G l a s g o w
H a r b o u r