Design Report Project 5.0 U+L Jack Penford Baker 07092088
Context Page Page No. Context Page Introduction Ancoats The Dome Boundaries The Minefield Corridor + Barrier Green Space MVRDV - KM3 Economics Carbon Offset Cradle To Cradle Land Area Orchards Food Production Industry In Manchester Self-Sufficient Community High Tech Vs Low Tech Overlaid Industry New Layers Closed Cycles Botanical Gardens Energy Timeline Master Plan Master Plan Bibliography
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Introduction 1.0 Architecture = Humans, without humans architecture is an empty shell, and without architecture humans are lost. Neither one exists without the other. A harmony occurs where the needs of humanʼs seeps into the design of architecture, and a synergy evolves, extruding requirement into a physical form. A timeline of the two shows that they progress as one; public baths to create public order, factories to house an industrial revolution, and skyscrapers to promote symbolic power. The two grow hand in hand with each other, and that bond is ever more apparent and needed today. The human race has catapulted itself in the past century into an exponential destructive path. Population is ever rising, land space is ever depleting, resources running out of supply, and the need for a drastic change is drawing ever closer. The past 30 years has seen “green” become a worldwide goal, cars must become more green, people must be more green, energy must be more green, and buildings must be more green. Except that the use of “more” or “efficient” as partners to “green” has drastically marred our chances of achieving a significant goal in returning our planet back to a closed cycled environment. Instead of reduce we should say eliminate, having a steppingstone is making us feel that we have achieved something noticeable, whereas we have only touched the tip of the iceberg. A call change to all civilisations that will result in the removal of our destructive tendencies is continuously being promoted throughout the world - some ways appear too outlandish, and take no notice of the current structure that we have created around ourselves. Others choose to rely heavily on one hypothetical solution, such as the harnessing of fusion power as a perpetual renewable energy resource. Within the media the politics of becoming “green” is widely published with governments attempting to tackle climate change and become “greener”. Treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol set targets for the world, yet the outputs are individual and they do very little to work together. For example the car industry is being forced to meet government targets and manufacture cars that have reduced emissions. Some have created cars that utilise different energy sources, such as biofuel, except other industries, like petrol stations, of which the motor industry rely on, are not under the same legislations and therefore are not forced to provide the alternative fuel at stations. Whatever your approach to the current search for a solution to climate change, a unity and collaboration will be the only way to survival. Within this manifesto I outline my response to the worldʼs state and the part architecture has to play in the tackling both local and global problems. Although set in a specific location, the project is not specific, rather a generic plan, for a possible future.
Ancoats 1.0 Situated directly outside the city centre, resides Ancoats harbouring a severe lack of occupancy and function. In fact it has not served any distinct purpose since pre World War 2, when it was then the heart of Manchester, creating the industrial foundations for which the city blossomed. Industry covered the urban fabric, factories, warehouses, and dwellings all formed a great working hybrid community that effectively brought money to the city. Post World War 2 saw the depletion of working cities across the United Kingdom. Industry began to disperse outside the city, disjointing the relationship between community and industry. Manchester lost itʼs machine and Ancoats lost itʼs purpose. Occupancy immediately fell, and the once active community dissolved into a sparse landscape. The council began to grow aware of Ancoatsʼs state, and as a solution opted for a transformation and expansion of itʼs only existing function, residency. During the 1960ʼs council flatʼs and houses emerged into the barren landscape, a purpose was being forced out, albeit unsuccessfully. The existence of one function within a community does not equate to a sustainable and independent area. Instead it detracts from the area, and the solution (which is what modern architecture appears to be leaning towards) is a hybrid. A hybrid community will utilise more than one function in order to create positive cycles between itʼs purposes, for example residents work in a shop within their area, from which they then purchase their food and resources for the residency. These simple cycles embedded within a community will catapult it to self-sufficiency and in return money begins to appear from both internal use and external exports. As the situation grew ever more apparent the council began to attempt a new solution, through the addition of green space to Ancoats and itʼs neighbouring boroughs, such as Miles Platting. Lawn and asphalt paths are used as a deterrent to the social problem of youth and crime: (Youth + Crime + Green Open Space = Peace), a rather crass generalisation that has resulted in the appearance of vast unsafe areas of land. With this disgruntling false façade, occupancy has fallen and no one wishes to live in such an area where upon visiting one sees a sparsely populated urban landscape that offers little function. A negative cycle is therefore in place: the area is made to feel like a foul uninhabited landscape causing population exodusl and make the area appear less desirable. Ancoats is perhaps an ironic juxtaposition against other examples of council estates across the country, itʼs problem does not lie with the “hoody” generation, rather the large open green space that occupies such an abnormal land area. People automatically pigeonhole the population as a threatening and destructive ensemble whereas this sweeping stereotype couldnʼt be further from the truth, if one were to visit one would be greeted by a great deal of open space and emptiness of which the source of the sparseness resides. A solution is clearly required to return Ancoatsʼs to what it once was. A solution that not only brings more function to the area, but also revives the community, generates occupancy and creates a new working sustainable heart to the city of Manchester.
Ancoatsʼ Current State
The Dome 3.0 What happens socially to a city encapsulated by adjacent cities and towns? Generic cities, predominately in North America, follow Park and Burges Concentric Zonal Model, rings that ripple from the epicentre forming specified social areas. However Manchester is trapped, the ripples can not freely expand, instead they rebound and cascade off one another creating a diverse social amalgamation. The image of the dome (below) describes how Manchester has become surrounded, and it does not follow the uniform expansion and layout of a general city. Urban sprawl has reacted uniquely within the city始s fabric, rings do not appear upon a social map, rather tangents and nodes define the social parameters. Transport pays a large factor in the social make up of areas, rather than the proximity to the city centre, the property of a road defines the area, if it is a direct connection to neighbouring cities, such as Oldham Road, then industry congregates around it, which brings the working class. Suburbia occurs sporadically across the city. Some areas lay within the expected outskirts of the city, some though find themselves a lot closer to the city centre than normal, such as Moston in the North that appears to be suburban except is only 2 miles from the city centre. All these areas have created combinations of strikingly different social groups juxtaposed together in a close proximity. Most notably is east Manchester始s area of Ancoats which has a social landscape that has been in limbo sine the industrial revolution. It now finds itself torn between neighbouring zones of the Central Business District and the Working Class Zone, and is unable to define itself. Young Professionals are housed directly next to the working class, creating a significant barrier that is causing a deterioration from within Ancoats. There is little interaction between the two sides of the social spectrum and community seems all but dissolved. A community driven solution is required in order for the 2 groups to start a relationship and help to become a self-sufficient community.
The Dome
Boundaries 3.0 Boundaries define countries, counties, cities, boroughs, zones, and buildings, except it is the human experience and relationship with space which makes this definition. A wall might create a physical separation, but if circulation simply flows though it then no boundary is created. A boundary can help to see divides within the social fabric of an urban landscape and create a platform for architecture to be utilised as a tool for repairing and improving space within a city. The initial site for this project begins within the city centre and is extruded eastwards until a suitable site is discovered for a project that can interact with the urban landscape of both the immediate context, and of Manchester. The boroughs that occupy the land define the boundaries of east Manchester. Class, religion, and race are smaller capsules that fuse together to create the communities, and the estates are the most visible edges of the translucent boundaries that scatter east Manchester. The city centre is a different picture, here the boundary is defined by the difference in typology not the populations demographic. Consumerism typically depicts the start and end of the city centre, as soon as shops are no longer the prominent function the city centre meets it始s boundary. In order to discover and stipulate a city centre perimeter the public embedded within it must be asked to define the edge, as it is the relationship between space and them that generate boundaries. 10 people were asked to draw the border of which they believe contains the city centre of Manchester. The result (as shown in the image below), portrays a wide range of opinions. The smallest simply defines Piccadilly Gardens and it始s immediate context as the city centre, whereas the largest has chosen the inner ring road of the city. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the layered results is the North East boundary, almost all of the results used Great Ancoats Street as a defining boundary. The immediate appearance of this majority boundary sheds light onto the relationship between what lies either side of it and the effect it has had on the two. The vast barrier that the road creates has expanded into a great rift. The city centre does not exponentially deplete at it始s edges, like the other boundaries, instead it instantly stops. As a result money and function have not diffused into Ancoats and there is a visual and social difference between the two sides. One must note however that work has been begun on the North East side to try and rejuvenate it and bring the two sides back together, however Great Ancoats Street resides untouched and the regeneration plans currently suffer from a significant lack of occupancy.
Combination of Public始s Response to the City Centre Boundaries
The Minefield 3.0 With loss of function and a sporadic social map the immediate North East out from the city centre has become a desolate chasm of failed attempts and a longing for the past: An Urban Minefield. As development begins to take place on the boundary closest to the city centre (Great Ancoats Street) a deterioration is occurring just a few metres away. As the mountain of development rises up the immediate context becomes shadowed and ignored. Empty dead land envelops the landscape, old disused factories clutter the streets, and there is no one in sight. The council estates that are situated a little further east than the development and the minefield, are themselves succumbing to the promise of development and all the positives they have been told it will bring. As a result it is currently full of mounds of dirt protruding the skyline, houses have been emptied, boarded up and left to wait for an unsure fate. Again the problem of occupancy appears throughout the vista. East Manchester is empty. The victorian factories and warehouses, that are scattered throughout Ancoats, are physical memories of a promising past. Industry ran Ancoats, and in return it grew and grew. Except now they have no use, and wait for yet another failed redevelopment plan, but why is it always a failure. Ancoats has all the properties for a successful vibrant area, and the social divide won始t exist if the minefield between the two is removed. Instead of two, it should be just one. The master plans should not focus on one area, but rather bind a large scale plan that offers a new use for Ancoats and a promise to return it to it始s once fruitful state.
The Minefield
Corridor + Barrier 3.0 A downward cycle is the only outcome for an urban social fabric that has but one function, residency. 15 % of Ancoats is unoccupied, compared to a 7% average throughout the rest of Manchester. With this lack of occupancy degradation has blossomed. The landscape transforms into a desolate vista, an ugly tumour to the rest of the living entity that is the city. However it isnʼt the city that is the victim, instead the tumour itself, Ancoats and itʼs social community. Geographically it should be flourishing, a stones throw from the heavily commercial city centre, but it isnʼt and function and population appear to be ironic problems for an area of such potential. A great deal of blame tends to be orientated towards the population and appearance of Ancoats and Miles Platting for the lack of occupancy, however it is not they whom are at fault, the problem in fact resides in Great Ancoats Street and Oldham Road. These two significant axis, that border 2 sides of Ancoats, create a large physical boundary between the city centre and Ancoats. The boundary, which stands more as a “Barrier”, is gracious towards vehicle circulation, but it is the human relationship with the barrier that truly defines the separation between the two parts of the city. Upon meeting the roads it is difficult to manoeuvre oneself to cross it in order to gain access to Ancoats, and with a human segregation present, over time the area northeastʼs development has suffered dramatically. Oxford Road, situated to the south of Manchesterʼs city centre, gives a glimpse of an alternative and more successful boundary created by a road. Instead of a “Barrier” it is a “Corridor”. People are subliminally directed both in and out of the city centre as far as Manchesterʼs own boundaries. The “Corridor” works so well with the addition of a student population which live 3 years of their life attached to this one road in Manchester, but also works because itʼs circulation is not across, like the “Barrier”, but along, creating a unified relationship between the pedestrian and the boundary, perhaps something that Great Ancoats Street should adopt.
The Corridor (left), and the Barrier (right)
Green Space 3.0 Green space is seen as a serene peaceful place and is continuously used throughout urban developments in order to offer a soft alternative to the harshness of the built form. However as cities expand green space is losing out to structures, and the connection and relationship between architecture and nature is dissolving. Thankfully new innovate ways are being used as a way to implement nature into buildings to create hybrid built spaces for the future society where natural and urban space are one space. Within the area of Ancoats though something different is happening, it doesn始t suffer from depletion and lack of green space, instead it has far too much which is having an adverse effect on the urban landscape. Parks have engulfed unbuilt areas and are used as filler for a sparsely populated part of the city. 23% of Ancoats is open Green Space, a figure more appropriate for the outskirts, rather than the heart of a city. Green Space is a great tool for the promotion of healthy living as it generates much cleaner air and portrays a hyper-real perfect lifestyle. However as with most things, the ratio between built and park space does peak and, as in the case of Ancoats, detracts from the area having a negative affect rather than a positive. The vast open spaces were perhaps implemented as a deterrent for crime, whereas they are now in fact deterrents for all walks of life. People are just not present within the parks. The occasional person will walk the perimeter, but of the 15,000 within the area, very few use or even go near the open green space. The void space, which the parks have metamorphosised into, fails because of their over use and little function. The latter is a problem that is solely down to Manchester City Council, they maintain and implement green space across the city, except they have chosen to ignore the opportunity that the vast space in Ancoats is. Why is it perpetually left untouched and unused, why not create community driven festivals during summer months, why are there no goalposts for teenagers to practice recreational sports, and why has the green space been left to become empty space? Solutions are limitless except they do offer only temporary functions to a space available all year round. A function is needed that offers a stable use for the space, without removing the positives of green space embedded within a community.
3D Model of Ancoats and the Vast Quantity of Green Space it Contains
MVRDV KM3 2.0 The dutch firm, MVRDV, have been at the forefront of modern architecture for the past 2 decades. Their work is unquestionably justified and orientated around urban based architecture. Their book KM3 is not only manifesto of their designs, but also of their research, as it is the research they carry out that supports the most significant feature of their designs. Through the use of computer models and heavy statistical research they are able to generate outcomes for the future landscape and experiment with possible solutions for our worldʼs current problems. Predominately they focus upon urban sprawl and consumption within a city, and as a result their built form revolves around maximisation of space and the creation of a hybrid function within a single building. Density is a recurring theme throughout the book, and their project; Cube, looks into designing a 3 dimensional space that can not only house 1 million people, but also create a hub that is entirely self-sufficient, everything it needs it generates. The study helps to realise a solution for space within modern cities, it chooses to remove expansion on the x and y axis, instead upwards provides the necessary space. The cube, which is 38km³, 3.37km x 3.37km x 3.37km, has 45% of itʼs space occupied by oxygen production, and 20% is food production. The idea of containment and density of all function takes the idea of hybrid buildings and then extrudes it ten-fold, generating a hybrid city, that uses architecture as a platform to think about the city as one entity instead of a city made up of individual components. This theoretical response to city and programme that MVRDV portray within their book provides a different approach to urban based architecture. As for itʼs relation to the city of Manchester, and specifically the area of Ancoats, it appears far-fetched as it describes an entirely new city. However the ideas shown bare no true scale, and are easily transferable to any site and location. Ancoats(CUBE), is the starting point for programme generation. Utilising the concepts shown within MVDRVʼs work, Ancoats can be transformed into a closed cycle that harbours all functions within a single entity, a truly self-reliant and 100% efficient community that requires no external resources. Generating Sustainable Consumption.
Density Diagram Exploring The Relationship Between Surface Area and Green Space Within Ancoats
Economics 3.0 We live in a capitalist society, power and economics are the driving force for 99% of decisions, but it doesnʼt mean architecture has to be soulless, it instead must adapt, become smart and discover solutions that not only create a sustainable society, but create economical sustainability. The economics of architecture and buildings revolves around the construction of the form, once built the budget finishes and a final price is given for cost. Except why must it stop once built, architecture isnʼt the design of the construction process, rather the design of an entity that may exist for centuries. If the architecture deigned costs £100 million, but will yearly generate £10 million in profit, surely the itʼs economic viability should stay alive for as long as the building. Such is the case with energy and architecture, if a building isnʼt carbon neutral, but the buildingʼs function is to remove carbon from the atmosphere, it still isnʼt carbon neutral even if 10 times as much carbon is removed annually than used in construction. Architecture should be judged on their programme, lifetime and the wider context, as it is there where self-sufficiency occurs. With economical sustainability becomes self-sufficiency, the saving/generating of money provides opportunity for it to be spent elsewhere, and if community is entwined with the economics then the money can pour back into itself = A COMMUNITY works within a MONEY generating industry that then feeds back into the COMMUNITY, creating a closed sustainable cycle. As for itʼs role within Ancoats, economical sustainability needs to be utilised in order to provide justification for Manchester City Council, of whom own the majority of Ancoats, both the vast green space, and also the council estates. A solution for the green space needs to be discovered, but it must also offer something in return for the council. The council currently pay roughly £110,566 for maintenance of the green space in Ancoats, of which there is around 0.72km² of. It costs them £1531.48 per hectare of green space annually, however it only costs them £70.96 to maintain a hectare of Allotments. These two significantly different figures offer a direct cyclical solution for an immediate problem within Ancoats, occupancy. Justified economically and providing a communal element to the currently unused green space, Ancoats would only benefit from the addition of Allotments.
Statistical Research into Economical Output from Allotments
Markets + Allotments 4.0 + 5.0
A solution for Ancoats = Allotments.
The addition of allotments throughout the empty green spaces within Ancoats would transform the once baron landscape into a new vibrant working community. Socially the community would unite and become one as they all begin to use the added function and reap in the benefits. Only 2/3rds of the green space would be developed into allotments, as the other 1/3 will remain as recreational space, however the added available funds will help to adapt the spaces into usable parks. The prominent barrier of Great Ancoats Street would remove it始s current programme, and become a pedestrianised zone, for which the local community can use as a new commercial district, in the form of markets. It will also offer a secondary public space for the city centre, Piccadilly Gardens being the primary. With the immediate function layered over the existing urban landscape, occupancy should begin to return. With use comes attraction and ultimately occupancy. The areas function diverts to that of a working community that fuel their own consumption in terms of food and provides an opportunity for selling of any spare food. Money is perhaps the most crucial element to this intervention. Without economical sustainability it would not appear viable. However the allotments already would save the council and annual figure of 拢69,592.85, added to this would be the renting of market stalls and with more occupancy money begins to pour into the area. What is most significant though is that the money is local, money comes from locals and goes back into the locals, no out sourcing required. A self-sufficient community would be generated from the 2 small additions. Although just one element of the community始s consumption, food is still a significant resource, and becoming dependant on oneself reduces environmental impact, and also creates a much healthier lifestyle. Adding the economical viability in the form of being able to sell the food if needs is the beginning of an evolving community, that eventually could become completely self-sufficient. An immediate solution is required as a first step, and the crucial element of the whole plan is that it is adaptable in the future. The allotments are all temporary, and would only supply a small scale of the community, but with the added funds produced from the scheme, money would be able to accumulate and in turn create a newer high tech scheme, able to generate a much more significant quantity of resources. The process may stop there, but it is always able to evolve and transform to the needs of the community
2 Montages Describing Both the Implementation of Allotments and a Market Place Within Ancoats
Carbon Offset 3.0 Becoming “Green” is becoming a religion. All over the world and at all scales we are attempting to fight of “Climate Change”, and architecture is at the heart of it. Over 50% of all carbon emissions comes from construction, and architects are being forced to become “Carbon Neutral”. However becoming neutral isnʼt going to work, we need to become “Negative”. The ratio of new buildings to old buildings is miniscule, a pin prick on the urban fabric of our cities, becoming neutral only delays the inevitable. What about the years of carbon emissions that our buildings have generated since the industrial revolution? Should buildings become less selfish, instead of offsetting themselves, why not offset themselves and those around them unable to do so. Why demolish buildings when adapting them to become better is far more cost effective and emissions will be tiny? Why does the emissions accumulator stop once the building is constructed, can it not be designed to continually remove carbon from the air forever more and itʼs emissions become further and further into the negative spectrum. Our current approach to emissions is not good enough, and perhaps more drastic and innovative measures need to be taken. An interesting dilemma is currently occurring all over the world, trees are becoming a solution to carbon emissions, as they photosynthesise they take in carbon dioxide, removing it from our atmosphere, however they take a fairly insignificant amount and are in no way a plausible solution to that of our carbon emissions. Take Ancoats for example, it has a population of 15,000 , and each person on average has an annual carbon foot print of 10 tonnes. For trees to offset just Ancoats emissions a land area of 2,500,000km², if this land area were to be housed in a 10,000m² floor surface tower with 10m in between each storey, to allow tree growth, the tower would be 2.5km high. It is immediately clear that a solution for removing carbon emissions is a lot more difficult than we are lead to believe, and new ways are needed in order to have any effect on “Global Warming”.
Cradle To Cradle 2.0 William McDonough and Michael Braungartʼs book, Cradle to Cradle, addresses the worlds current response to being “Green”. They discuss all aspects of the new religion, but they also suggest new approaches which has catapulted the book into becoming a sought after industry standard in all fields of design. Scientifically they explore materials and redesign them to make them a pure material, causing no harm to anything throughout itʼs whole life time. The book reiterates that we are currently doing “less bad” at tackling damaging effects to our environment, where in fact we should be doing entirely good. For example paper can be recycled, except the inks and chemical treatments are still embedded within the material after recycled, as a result the toxins are still present, and although we have reused we have only prolonged the inevitable disposing of chemical waste in landfills. The book puts up a fantastic argument for change, and it is being implemented throughout all areas of design. Perhaps the most essential element is itʼs suggestion of “Closed Cycles”, or as the title puts it, “Cradle to Cradle”. We currently live in a world where everything follows a linear path, of start to end; “Cradle to Grave”. McDonough and Braungart suggest we begin to design in cycles, where all waste is not thrown away and each process uses the next oneʼs waste. Waste = Food. It forces design to be thought of as a living thing, in which itʼs whole life time is designed, not just the start. In terms of Architecture, we should design buildings that use another buildings waste for construction, and once itʼs lifetime is finished it can be taken apart and reused in a new building. The theory isnʼt just transferable in terms of architectural construction, the buildings functions and space can adapt to be in use perpetually, it may produce a resource that is attached to a different cycle, and itʼs waste is then poured back into the building, for example energy production. The work of Cradle to Cradle combined with MVRDVʼs KM3 “Cube” provides an interesting approach to urban design within Ancoats, and how new architecture can effect the area. A generation of a living machine is needed, a machine that generates food from itʼs inhabitants waste, a machine that joins either end of a cityʼs lifetime, and creates an everlasting cycle.
Land Area 4.0 Space is declining, our planet is becoming congested, the population is growing exponentially, and our consumption is ripping the world apart. Resources are depleting, forests are vanishing, oil is all but gone but worst of all our water and food supply is peaking and a fall is imminent. The majority of Britain始s food is imported from other countries, some as far as New Zealand. Logistically it severely impacts the environment, socially possible jobs and communities scraped, and economically the importation just does not appear feasible, especially when we can produce food on our very own doorstep. Farms produce ingredients for the masses, allotments produce ingredients for the individuals, but why is there middle step to the scale. Urban Farming is forever proposed, but rarely utilised, so why not bring local produce to the next level, use unoccupied space or create new open space to accommodate the growing of vegetables and fruit within an urban fabric. A time is coming where land area and space needs to maximised, and upwards is the only possibility. MVRDV already design within the 3 Dimensions, density is important and their designs maximise space, but what happens when the site includes buildings of which can not be removed. Great Ancoats Street, Old Mill Street and Oldham Road create sides of Ancoats perimeter. The 3 combined occupy a vast amount of land space, needed for the dense traffic that flows through them daily. The roads occupy 2 axis and immediately remove the opportunity for 3Dimensional occupation, a prevention of expansion, except as land space becomes ever more sparse, but still sought after, how can they be adapted to accommodate and generate more space. By taking a direct plan of the 3 roads, offset planes can be created to extrude available land space to a significant area. The platforms offset gain full use of solar gain, whilst creating solar shading for the buildings underneath them, creating a rather extravagant facade system that ties a street together for one purpose. The planes may expand vertically as far as demand requires , and food becomes cheaper and fresher. The idea is not just designed for Ancoats, it is easily adaptable for anywhere in the world, cities can adopt to use several across itself, reducing imports dramatically, whilst creating a much more economically viable food source.
Early Sketches Exploring Solutions for Lack of Land Area
Orchards 4.0 Almost all fruit in UK shops is from abroad. A rather disappointing revelation as however much we may complain about our climate, and itʼs uncertainty, as a country we can grow a vast amount of fruit in our very own gardens. Apples are perhaps the most obvious, but we can also grow nectarines, pears, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, plums, and the list doesnʼt stop there, it goes on, we can even grow citrus fruits in some southern parts. But why havenʼt we capitalised upon this tremendous possibility. Orchards are depleting, since the 1950ʼs 60% of Orchards in Britain have closed down. We began to import from other countries that had more land space to grow fruit, all the while ignoring the possibility of expanding fruit production into the hearts of our cities. Here they would become a Hybrid Urban Orchard. Not only providing fruit, but offering vast natural public spaces, generating jobs, and helping to feed back into the community by attracting occupancy and selling locally grown food at itʼs source. The planes of food production as described in the previous page does not implement ideas from “Cradle to Cradle”, by adding more programme to the planes cycles begin to appear with in the various functions. The waste product from the plants can be reused as fertilisers for the new crops, restaurants using the local produce would automatically promote the Orchard which in turn would attract more customers, increasing the money pouring into the area. A Cafe, restaurant, market, warehouse, brewery would all be housed underneath the Orchard planes creating a hybrid form that envelops the community that surrounds it. Enough fruit could be cultivated from the one structure to supply all of Manchester with itʼs apple demands. 3.5 Acres are required to meet the quantity, a drastically small amount of space when compared to the the additional land space needed to offset the carbon emissions of transportation if it were from an other country. Not reducing, eliminating emissions.
Orchards and Programme Situated Within Great Ancoats Street
Food Production 4.0 Within MVRDVʼs project “Cube”, 20% of the required space, for utter self-sufficiency, is Food Production. A reasonable figure one assumes, however compare that to total Residential/Office space, 1.3%, one realises how our immediate presence on the planet is fairly insignificant in terms of land area, but when all elements of our consumption are added the space expands tremendously. How then does food production relate to Manchester, is it the same case within a physical city, or is the cube an anomaly. Manchesterʼs population is a little under 400,000, itʼs total size is 11,565 hectares. A lot of the space is unoccupied and includes parks, recreational places, industrial areas and many more zones that are not included in the 1.3% of the “Cube”, but through research and calculations the land area for Manchesterʼs food production is discoverable. By taking the main grown consumption components; beef, lamb, pork, poultry, vegetables, tea, sugar, rice, tobacco, coffee, fruit, milk, and wheat, and averaging the amount one individual consumes, for example one person on average consumes 5.5 chickens a year. The total amount of land area for Manchesterʼs Consumption is calculable: 11,139.7 Hectares. The total is a little bit under the total surface of area that Manchester already occupies, geographically every city in the UK requires another city of identical size, directly next door to produce enough food for itself. Compared to the “Cube” it is not as drastic but still a vast amount of space, and it is the relationship between space and production that is most interesting. Each produceʼs land area differs greatly from one another. For example Vegetable production requires 121 Hectares, compared to 3,600 Hectares for Milk. The question of urban Farming then is not immediately abolished, food can still be grown and meet demand, just it has to be a particular type of food. Cows need space to roam, but fruit does not. Grow food that can be densely populated both in plan but in 3Dimensions as well. The rationing of space is required in order to maximise food production for cities, and, where possible, food should be generated locally within an urban environment.
Diagrams Depicting the Vast Space Required to Provide Manchester With Food ( the image on the right is a close up of the smallest floor sitting in Ancoats)
Industry In Manchester 4.0 The Industrial Revolution transformed Ancoats into a vibrant working community. Workhouses and factories populated the dense streets. Terraces provided the needed crammed workforce with a roof over their heads, and the trains and canals offered the necessary supply routes to neighbouring cities. However times changed and industry earned an unattractive reputation, and it began to migrate away from the city centre at first, and then entirely out of the city. The time for change is once again happening, our fascination with becoming green means that or elements of industry are having to adapt to a cleaner and safer approach. So why not return industry to it始s most successful time, when it was part of the working machine that is the city. Cities have become vessels for the distribution of our consumption. Selfishly they only aspire to give away what is not theirs. None of the produce is generated from the city itself, instead they commandeer resources from other countries. A change is needed that removes the linear line and begins to create of consumers cycle of production and consumerism housed under one roof. A return of industry to the city would bring about fantastic opportunities for the local residents and create financial structure within a fairly distraught community if placed in Ancoats. The vast amount of empty land would be ideal location for a new purpose to the area. Programme would return, no longer would residency stand alone, industry would fuse with it, creating a partnership that relies on each other, no one else. A self-sufficient community. A new era of an industrial city would bring about new industry, unthought of. Food始s increase in demand could result in the addition of Urban Fields, inverted farming, where the rolling hills are substituted for the protruding monstrous council flats. The industry would not stop at the raw material, production houses, a modern factory, would create countless products that could replace the imported in the supermarkets. Beer, pasta and bread could be manufactured, and sold, cutting out the middle men, and producing a cheap local alternative. Perhaps water farms are implemented to replenish the ever depleting fresh water supply. The industrial opportunities are endless, and being embedded within a sparse landscape will only rejuvenate it.
The New Face of Industry in Ancoats
Self-Sufficient Community 4.0 A transformation to independency of a community generates a required relationship between society and the planet, using architecture as the catalyst, the area of Ancoats can become a truly modern self-sufficient community. A fairly popular chain of thought within the modern world is that returning to what we once were is the only way to save the planet. Living off the land, taking what is only provided, and returning anything that is taken, becoming animal like and restoring the relationship with nature to what it once was. A path that although has an ideal attitude, our society could not deal with such a drastic change. However the approach is exactly how as a world we should be behaving. Returning our relationship with nature into a balanced equation of take = replace. Trees of which we deforest should be replaced, food should be replaced once eaten, and resources of which we can not replace, such as oil and coal, we should no longer use. Alternative fuel sources are required, and they are already available. Biofuel utilises old plant matter and transforms it into a combustable ethanol easily usable for car fuel. Why loose all of the technology which we have taken so long to create, why not propel our technology even further, create a high tech relationship with nature without the loss of the low tech principles. Embedded within this High Tech Low Tech relationship sits the community, without them the values are lost, but with them a Self-Sufficient Community is generated. And it is architecture that drives the process, it creates the partnership of the various elements, grouping the programme of the community in an urban fabric. The programme of self-sufficiency relies not on the specific functions but the invisible links created between the individual areas. A master plan of relationships, not rooms.
Housing Self-Sufficiency Within a Single Structure
Overlaid Industry
5.0
A huge problem that the world currently has is it始s lack of fertile land. We are creeping ever so close to the point of maximum food production on the earth, so why not begin to use land readily available to us, cluttered throughout our cities. As Ancoats is inundated with pockets of empty green space, and requires a new programme in order to improve and escape from the current residential strut it is stuck in, why not use the space as a function. Crops provided an immediate occupation of the baron landscape, and offers a chance for industry to return. Crops such as Wheat can be harvested and transformed into a number of products from within it始s local area. Pasta, biscuits, and cereal are but a few possible choices for the programme that would attach to the crops. However wheat is not the only possibility, Barley can easily be grown, and so can Oats, however the most significant and relative crop is algae. The automobile industry is edging ever closer to an ultimatum, which has to be decided very soon. Oil is not renewable, and will soon run out, but when is it best for them to leave fossil fuels as an energy source and begin to use alternatives, and how different will the alternative be. Hybrid cars already fleece our streets, except they simply do what cars do, just not as bad, as they still use petrol. Hydrogen fuel celled cars are beginning to appear in the american market, but they still use fossil fuels to charge up and can travel limited distances compared to petrol cars. Biofuel however matches the petrol in all aspects, as it is essentially the same thing, only the source is different. The process of generating biofuel is almost entirely carbon emission free, and the only gas emitted is oxygen. As the technology is so similar, existing cars are easily adaptable to use the fuel, however biofuel has one downfall, space. In order to produce biofuel, oil must first be retrieved from plant matter. In USA they choose to use corn, except the yield of corn from the fields is relatively small, and the world is already suffering from a lack of fertile land to provide enough food for our consumption. Thankfully corn is not the only source of biofuel, algae is also, and in fact is much more economical and efficient than corn. An average acre of Corn will produce 145 kg of Biofuel, algae on the other hand produces up to 80,000 kg, a considerably larger amount, 551 times more. So if Ancoats adopts Algae and biofuel as it始s new industry an environmentally self-sufficient community will flourish once entwined.
Cropland and Industry Embedded In Ancoats
New Layers 4.0 The self-sufficient community proposed within Ancoats is essential to the area as it will resolve many of it始s problems. However the addition of industrial programme over the area is not enough to create a full cycle, more programatic layers are required to provide essential elements, such as occupation, within the area. The new layers of programme simply stack over the entire master plan of Ancoats. They join with specific elements of the industrial programme, to create a large cycle map of programme. A platform of culture must be bound to both the industry and existing context of Ancoats. The culture seeks to entice occupancy to the area, it offers a more diverse range of work for the community and helps to generate a new image for the borough, not of depletion and emptiness, but of vibrance and life. The third layer belongs to sustainability, although this programme may not reside in a specific physical space, it does however act as a connection through all of the proposed programmes, ensuring that the plan is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable so that the selfsufficient community may succeed. The last programatic layer is Occupancy. Again no physical form is required to create occupancy, rather than the other programmes generate an opportunity for it. It is the lack of occupancy that Ancoats heavily suffers from, and it is through the addition of a sustainable, cultural, and industrial community that the scheme will work. The overall programme envisaged for this project finds itself occupying not one built form, but several that collectively work together as a hybrid solution for a troubled area.
Stacked Programme Layers
Botanical Gardens 5.0 Industry = Ugly. Since it始s boom, 100 years ago, industry has been shrouded with negative connotations. The erupting chimneys that evict smoke across the skyline, and the pipes that transport toxic waste from place to place, never has industry been an attractive or desirable programme. As it始s ugliness grew, so did the hate for it, and industry was slowly pushed out of the city to the outskirts. Here is where it has stayed since, out of sight, like a heart out of it始s body. Architecture and industry rarely go hand in hand. They take separate paths in terms of building construction, architecture revolves around design of form and programme, and industry is the design of practically. Industrial structures are more machine than building, technology replaces design and engineers replace architects. But why must industrial construction be such a specialist subject, can architects not design the vessels in which industry can develop? In order for Ancoats to expand and develop into a new aged heart of the city industry must return, and with an architectural design the industry can become part of the landscape, and offer more than just production. The landscape needs another layer, one of culture, a new programme that will help to bring occupation and generate a diverse urban fabric; Mechanical Botanical Gardens. The flat ponds of algae required for the industry appear the same as the old empty green space that is at the centre of Ancoats始s problem, emptiness. However in America algae production has begun to expand along the 3rd dimension, vertical tubes help to harness the solar gain that algae needs in order to grow. As the algae slowly cascade down the tubes they are exposed to a great deal more sunlight, resulting in a far more efficient growing process. The hung packets appear to mimic the draping of leaves over branches, and when elevated vertically they appear as great trees in silhouette. Once spread across all green space in Ancoats the area is transformed into a futuristic garden, offering an opportunity for exploration in an urban environment, without the loss of industry. Industry inducing architecture: Industry = Attractive.
Photomontage Portraying Botanical Gardens Within Ancoats
Closed Cycles 4.0
The programmeʼs basis revolves around the concept of “Cradle to Cradle” proposed from the same titled book. With the amalgamation of cycles working in a closer relationship and independence is generated, that is then absorbed by the community that surround and engulf the entire project. The projectʼs programme is made up of 5 rings. Each ring represents a specific area of the design, but each cycle connects to several, entangling the programme and spawning an autonomous machine. The first is the botanical gardens; here Algae emits fresh oxygen into the atmosphere, humans then breathe it in and in return emit carbon dioxide, of which the algae uses to grow. The cycle is complete and each stages waste is the nextʼs food.
The second cycle is Money. It is fed into the community of whom work at the botanical gardens, which in turn produces the biofuel that generates the money. Economical viability is essential to creating an independent programme, that can support itself and carry on providing for the remainder of itʼs life span. The third cycle revolves around occupancy. Ancoats suffers from a tremendous lack of population, and the programme of the scheme must implement ways to provide a solution. The community work with in the botanical gardens that are open to the public, the attractiveness of both the gardens and the sustainability of the community will in turn attract new residents,of whom will feed back into the community. The fourth cycle is a direct relationship between the industry, and itʼs wasteful gas products. The algae requires CO2 to photosynthesise and reach an optimum size, this CO2 is then partially released through the biofuel process, the gas is then pumped directly back into the environment of the algae so it may grow all over again The final cycle is orientated around water and itʼs importance both within the industry and the community. Water has been labeled as a resource that in future periods may become a commodity and rare. In order to create no waste water it has transformed in to a cycle. The canal water feeds into the algae, which purify it through photosynthesis, it then goes to the community for their own supply, before being purified and pumped back into the the canal to start over again. Overall a programme has been generated that utilises Waste = Food.
Closed Cycles Combined
Energy Timeline 4.0 + 5.0 Architecture continuously finds itself deigning with only the present in mind. Very few buildings offer a means of adaption for the future, and as a result find themselves surviving for less than 50 years. Why don始t we design with the future in mind, predicting challenges that may occur and giving an opportunity for future generations to add necessary elements in order to survive for a much greater life span. The biofuel process has 3 main emissions, the majority is oxygen which is immediately pumped into the atmosphere of Ancoats, creating fresh Mancunian air. The second is a small amount of Carbon Dioxide that is pumped back into the Algae trees for the process to carry on. The final gas is Hydrogen. Around 10% of the emission is Hydrogen in it始s purest form. Although one of the simplest and most common atoms, we rarely use it in it始s individual state. However research in the past decade has accelerated exponentially into develop a Hydrogen Energy source, the results show that it is a clear alternative for petrol within the motoring industry. The problem though currently lies with the production of pure hydrogen. Currently fossil fuels have to be burnt in order to collect any hydrogen, but new techniques are being experimented with, and within the next 20 to 30 years hydrogen will become an entirely emission free gas. As we stand fossil fuels are the leading energy source for cars, but they are running out and the alternative is Biofuel, however that then uses vast land space and will be eventually replaced by hydrogen, before we eventually produce an energy efficient fusion power plant (the reaction of two hydrogen atoms into one helium atom, the process that fuels the sun). So in order for this project to adapt in the future a hydrogen storage facility is implemented into the the structure. Here hydrogen is stockpiled until the technology catches up, and when it does a vast supply will be readily available for consumption. Creating hybrid adaptable architecture will generate a significantly greater sustainable life to a building and it始s programme.
Hydrogen Silo Timeline; Fossil Fuel to Biofuel to Hydrogen to Fusion
Master Plan 5.0 The final form for the project is an amalgamation of a new theoretical response extruded through 3 Dimensional occupation embedded in a self sufficient community. Low tech concepts are entwined with high tech design, and the overall form solves the problems at the heart of Ancoats. A response to the lack of occupancy and function has induced a programme and form that addresses the issues on a grand scale, whilst centralising programme within one structure. The botanical gardens occupy the vast empty space that Ancoats is littered with, existing pathways and the canal create journeys through an urban environment, whilst the juxtaposition of industry sitting within nature creates a fresh and peaceful landscape for the public to explore. The scheme utilises ideas presented in Cradle To Cradle, the industry is not only a cycle, but connects to others, providing the basis for a self-sufficient community. The residents of Ancoats are an essential part of the whole project, it relies on them to fill the jobs produced, but in return they receive a redeveloped topography that generates clean water, recreational space, and a source of income for both the individuals and the community. Overall the design embraces Ancoats, transforming it in to a new industrial heart to the city of Manchester, discarding the old inhibitions and replacing them with a modern hybrid urban landscape.
Site Plan Depicting Botanical Garden Locations (green) and Biofuel Plant (orange)
Master Plan 5.0 To the east of the site lays the structure that encumbers the programme of the scheme. Here a hidden building generates the source that fuels the future development of the site. Algae from the mechanical trees are poured directly into the biofuel plant housed under an erupting hill with in the terrain. The biofuel plant occupies the first two basement floors, algae is squeezed and then deposited as fertiliser, the oil (from which biofuel is made) secreted from the algae is then treated and fermented to create the combustable fuel of which most machinery can work off. When ready it is pumped to the Biofuel(petrol) Station on the opposite side of the road, and here is where it sold, and the economical viability is ascertained. The ground floor level is where a car park and oxygen bar sit. This floor function is to attract and create occupation. Visitors may drive to this structure, park, then experience the botanical gardens in their own way, before returning to the oxygen bar to sample pure oxygen manufactured from within Manchester, a true symbol of Mancunian life. The user始s final step is upon exiting they meet the Biofuel Station, here they may choose to refill their car, and give something back to the area. Although the building is discretely hidden within the landscape, two elements are purposefully left on show. The chimney and the silo, two strikingly industrial images, however their purpose no longer is the emission and storage of green house gases, rather the emission and storage of new breathable air and an alternative energy source. The final programmed floor, at the bottom of the building, is where the water purification process is centred. Here the communities waste water is purified before being sent back to the canal where it will once again be used by the Algae trees, ones waste is another始s food. The outcome is a dense stacked programme, the functions begin from this epicentre but branch out across the whole site, connecting the industry and community together, and successfully transforming Ancoats from an empty space in to a vibrant self-sufficient community. A model transferable world wide, and a different approach to architecture in the urban context.
Programmatic Section of Proposed Form
Bibliography 6.0
Source: MVDRV - KM3 McDonough and Braungart - Cradle To Cradle BIG - Yes is More Rem Koolhaas - Delerious New York OMA - S,M,L,XL Dezeen.com (architectural news blog) Wikipedia.com (Algae + Biofuel Research Source) Manchester City Council (information on park land)
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