RECIPROCITY
James Counihan
3 Introduction Brief 9 Research Design Matrix 13 Heritage 21 People 27 Housing Stress 29 Room Schedule 35 Financial 55 Tenure 57 Kitty 61 Funding 63 Reuse 65 Proposal Typical Block 77 Co-living 83 Master plan 97 Outdoor Rooms 99 Environmental 101 Catchments 103 References 07 11 71 105 Contents
The title, Reciprocity, is chosen as an attempt to capture the essence of continuity through forming unity among disjointed events, objects, movements & individual states. When the equilibrium between passive & active, static & dynamic is created, the relationship between strikingly different components becomes interchangeable. Harmony & connectivity can therefore be constructed through balancing conflict initiated by isolation, discontinuation & variance. A beast that aims to tackle the affordability of housing in Newcastle in the overall lack of affordable housing seen in Australia.
Housing up to three thousand people, Reciprocity seeks to engage a new urban condition within the existing BHP administration site & infrastructure. Tectonically & conceptually, the scheme aims to reconcile an inability to maintain rental security in an unstable housing climate, foster cultural identity awareness through communication & incentivise skill development for those seeking employment. An architecture that does more than just house People.
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Abstract
Introduction
Brief
Released by the NSW Government, architectural practices are to consider the role architecture plays in shaping the urbanisation process of NSW. More specifically the NSW Government’s Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Plan predicts that an increase of up to 30,000 residents will be introduced into the Newcastle area by the year 2036.1 But the city can only expand so much with urbanisation on the rise. This paired with a significant increase in housing prices & interest rates means that new housing methods are required to meet the demands. Reciprocity looks towards Europe, where new models of housing are emerging to combat the problems Newcastle faces. A co-operative based model has been developed into the fabric of Reciprocity, seeking to be situated within the norms of Newcastle. However, aims to break away to create connecting living where all levels of income earners can achieve residency.
Reciprocity is a housing model accommodating a population of 3,000 residents across the ground of the old BHP Steelworks site in Mayfield East. Pushing the boundary & height limit of the site, Reciprocity provides so much more than just a home for residents. Containing commercial hubs, entertainment centres as well as the remediation & recycling of capped land & stormwater. In addition to the new dwelling towers, the scheme repurposes heritage-listed buildings on the site, converting them into both commercial & residential use, upholding BHP history upon the site.
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BHP Administration building
Research
Design Matrix
Six concept elements fulfil the backbone of the scheme within a design matrix. These collaborative elements are derived from both theoretical principles as well as both built & purposed works. The design matrix is a list combination of words that have been developed from each principle with a deeper understanding of what each stands for & our outtakes.
The design matrix will be used to shape future design decisions, underpinned by the research that has been conducted. As a result, these key concepts have will form the basis of our design proposal, Reciprocity. They also act as the basis of critique against the current housing markets, standards of living, tenure & finan-
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Agonism Proportional Obligation Affordability Polyvalence Co-existence Integration
Agnoism
Agonism prescribes its political function to a division [of any nature] which cannot be overcome; and can only be institutionalised in different ways to construct new hegemonies. In essence, institutions that govern the architect’s agency for meaningful change. When put into context, social housing must be manipulated to provide space for social growth between those within the program.2
Driven by its physical practice, the technical definition of the German concept Existenzminimum, in terms of dwelling, categories the minimally-acceptable floorspace, density, fresh air, access to green space, access to transit, & other such resident issues that a dweller needs to function. Existenzminium looks at reduction but as expressed, not only the reduction of space but can indirectly affect the cost of living & improve lifestyle. Developed in 1920s German, the concept tackled afforable housing, a problem still relevent today.3
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Existenzminum
Post-work
Post-work criticises how the physical & mental barrier between work & leisure has been de-constructed over time in an environment with a command structure. The lack of division between work & leisure disrupts what is fundamentally binary. A redefining of leisure is required so people’s identities are not so tied to what they do for work. It is thus essential to redirect our values towards an inclusive realm of productivity & leisure. To reinvent a time to leisure.4
Diagoon House
Diagoon Houses by Herman Hertzberger plays with polyvalence as an answer to Existenzminimum. The basic idea of the ‘Diagoon’ houses is to conceive the house as one vertically as well as horizontally articulated space next to a central living area. Accommodating a variety of individual needs fosters inbuilt suitability. The semi-finished products are implemented to give dwellers more influence over the design of their spaces, reducing the initial cost of the structure while providing greater individual programming for residents.5
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The Ingot
In the case of Jack Self’s “The Ingot”, the project re-stitches the fundamental incentive of making a return on an investment through development is reconciled with the needs of the working class. Agonism takes its roots in architecture by challenging those institutions that control the resources necessary to advance the standards of social housing. Whether they may be in the fabric of the architecture programmatically of the financial model that controls the scheme.6
Park City
Park City by Dogma is a strategic urban planning idea that reworks the original framework of an urban town, creating a more connected & dense community. Through a series of steps, Dogma condenses the urban framework of an existing city through partial demolition, connecting existing frameworks & providing common communal area that eliminates levels of private living. Thus, spatially, Dogma is ultimately creating a more breathable, elaborative & connective living space interrating all elements of living.7
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Heritage
With the coal industry starting to dwindle in Newcastle, with mines opening out west towards Maitland, a new industry started to move in. The Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP,) a large company at the time, was known for their silver mining. Between 1880 to 1900, BHP became very wealthy. So wealthy that they were not only mining silver but also started to buy assets such as land & other operating mines to expand their portfolio. Mines such as those mining iron ore. In the late 1800s, BHP became the richest company in Australia. Their iron mines were used as a flux to purify their silver, but in 1898 the new director of mining noticed both the quality & purity of the iron ore itself being extracted from their Southern Australia mines. The two components needed to make steel are iron ore & coal, two of which BHP owned & had access to. With the land owned & the coal already there, BHP started to transport iron to the future Newcastle Steelworks. The site was a swamp, a very difficult site to build upon. With its high water table, the site was dredged, & raised by 12 feet before the construction of the Steelworks started. Production started after its completion & its first product rolled off the lines in 1916. World War I hit & the company more to make steel for the war effort, & once again the company became incredibly wealthy. Eventually moving its offices from Broken Hill to Newcastle.8 After its closure in 1999, as the world turned to more efficient factories producing high quantities of steel, the site located in Mayfield East has been unused. It soil has been capped from the toxic soil acidity & left baron. Ready to be sold to a company for use once again.
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Site, located in Mayfield East
Shadow Study
- Exposed flat site sitting on the edge of the Hunter River
- Slight slope running from West to East
- Flood-prone area
- The site has been slightly capped (1m), the further Steelworks site has approximately 1-3 metres of soil capping
- Roads run along all sides of the site’s boundary. With the major of traffic on the West and Southern boundaries.
- A large quantity of vegetation lines the western boundary. The site is largely covered by grass
- The rest of the site is predominantly bitumen when grass & vegetation is not found
- Two buildings identified as useless, not needed. A further five buildings are seen as both useful & heritage listed
23 Average Annual 9am Winds Average Annual 3pm Winds
Observation;
Site
Summer 9am 12pm 3pm Winter
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Snapchat of the BHP Steelworks in operating conditions
Picture of the BHP Steelworks from an aerial perspective
People
In 2016, the population of Newcastle was 152,948 people, with a median age of thirty-seven years old.9 The release of the NSW Government’s Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Plan (GNMP) in 2018, predicted an increase of up to 30,000 residents will be introduced into the Newcastle area by the year 2036. With the average household consisting of 2.4 people, the area, therefore, requires approximately 12,500 new dwellings. The GNMP is looking at providing housing that holds a greater purpose. Using new & modern housing models designed for specific demographics with certain objectives like “providing opportunities for new housing for workers & students.”10
Reciprocity aims to accommodate the needs of Newcastle, especially those in need of affordable housing during a time of increasing housing prices & rental stress. Statistics provided by Housing Affordability in Australia: Tackling A Wicked Problem will be the basis of the demographic upon which Reciprocity is designed.11 Housing stress will be considered the main factor that will be closely controlled while determining the demographic of the scheme.
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Population: 152,948 Families: 38,473 Dwellings: 67,497 Age: 0 - 20 years old 22.8% 20 40 years old 30.7% 40 60 years old 25.7% 60 80 years old 14.3% 80 + years old 4.7% Household Compositions: Family households 64.3% Single households 28.9% Group households 6.9% No. of Bedrooms: 1 Bedroom 6.8% 2 Bedrooms 24.9% 3 Bedrooms 42.7% 4 + Bedrooms 23.8% Avg. Bedrooms 2.9 Avg. People per 2.4 Tenure: Owned Outright 29.7% Owned with Mortgage 31.7% Rented 35.4%
Housing Stress
“Housing stress, including both mortgage & rental stress, has increased dramatically from 20-54% for low-income renters.”12 Housing stress is experienced when dwellers are paying more than 30% of their income towards rent. For affordable housing to occur, residents must be paying 30% or less of their income towards the residents in which they live. This number is what Reciprocity aims to match by building both a strong financial base as well as an architectural program that ensures that the housing within the city is both affordable & economically resilient.
The scheme will target those most in need of affordable housing first before filling spaces around these groups with those well-off to build the economically resilient scheme. The scheme requires a mixture of both to run efficiently to escape failure. The groups that have been identified as those most in need are either in severe to extreme housing stress paying up to 63% of their income. Double the amount of affordability.
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Singles Couples
Four person Families
Five person Families
Five person
Co-house
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Rooms Schedule
After consideration of both the population of Newcastle as well as statistics by the Australia Bureau of Statistics & Housing Affordability in Australia: Tackling A Wicked Problem, the following resident ratio’s have been established. Mixing a large portion of housing stress participants with families with & without children to mirror Newcastle’s population data to achieve stability, we establish a model cluster of 50 people. A diverse cluster upon which will be multiple to achieve the desired 3000 residents goal.
When looking at the resident ratios we see a high percentage of singles that make up a bulk of the cluster. This is because those in high housing stress are predominately single like those on benefits or job seeking. Allocating a large portion of dwellings to these groups. Reciprocity also seeks to accommodate the GNMP requirement of housing more students. This will be achieved with the introduction of one five-person co-housing per cluster.
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Five Family
The Kroos family are a family consisting of three generations. Two children in their early teens, their parents & their grandmother. They bought their dwelling over two years ago now & it works perfectly for their lifestyle. They like their space with their own bathroom between them & take full advantage of the communal elements within the building. Grandma is getting old now but still loves to garden & cook most nights, even sometimes for others. They rent out a storage facility on-site as they own a lot of extra items they couldn’t fit anywhere in the dwelling but are enjoying their reduced lifestyle. Grandma gets weekly checkups at the local medical centre & her medication from the pharmacy. But she is not alone, in 2006 one in five people lived in a household that contained two or more generations.16 She enjoys herself here with all her friends & gets to be close to her Grandchildren
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Typical Five Family Floor Plan
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53- A-- A-- A -
Income Groups
Single $42,276 p.a
Couples $84,552 p.a
Families $113,620 p.a
Affordable per p.a
Single $12,682 p.a
Couples $25,365 p.a
Families $34,086 p.a
Affordable per week
Singles $234.90 p.w
Couples $487.80 p.w
Families $655.50 p.w
Room Schedule
8 x Singles
3 x Couples
4 x Four person families
3 x Five person families
1 x Five Person co-housing share house (Singles)
x ÷
30%
Financial
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Financially the project is designed to be a system of affordable housing. Considering both the annual income of singles, couples & families as well as those groups experiencing housing stress, aiming to restrict dwellers to only pay 30% of the medium income of their group. For example, a couple joining Reciprocity would pay 30% of the medium average of couples as found by the Australian Bureau of Statistics17 as their dwelling’s rent. This extends to all the demographics in the “City”. This strategy keeps dwellers within the bounds of affordable housing. By capping dwellers’ rent to 30% of their annual income, the scheme provides equity as an agonistic approach. With diversity within the society, the city has the chance to pull away from conflict which is seen more commonly in the housing market currently, instead providing a more coherent & supportive environment.
Architecturally, the design of clusters within blocks take an Existenzminium approach. The reduction of floor area per dwelling type & the introduction of communal living, dining, cooking & bathing areas heavily reduce the cost of living by reducing initial building costs. Therefore, reducing the stress on the financial system.
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Tenure
Reciprocity is a co-operative governance structure with different layers of ownership built within its fabric. The implementation of a mixed tenure scheme is used to accommodate those at different levels of housing needs, progression economically & levels of housing stress.
At the top, we have Owner Occupied dwellings. A traditional purchasing structure where the scheme sells off a certain percentage of the dwelling to gain cash flow used to secure deposits for loans. This is an internally run system not exposing the scheme to the market. Participants purchase the dwelling with an initial deposit & make repayments to pay off their dwelling until ownership.
The Shared Equity program sees participants invest an initial amount into the co-operative, securing tenure within the program. This style of tenure is more closely related to the traditional European version of a co-operative structure as seen in ‘Alternate models’.18 This program provides long-term rental tenure at affordable prices for those not looking to own.
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Tenure
If dwellers can not achieve the initial deposit of Shared Equity, the Rental Equity Saver is built as a form of tenure. Where participants agree through a rental agreement on the length of a lease with the co-operative body to save the required amount. Rent is slightly subsidised by the Kitty & the difference goes towards their saver. The money can then be put towards their initial deposit for Shared Equity.
Rental Crisis is the lowest layer of the scheme where occupants pay a heavily subsidised rent provided by the Kitty. Occupants are given opportunities to work & up-skill with local commercial elements found on-site as a form of both rent & income. The last resort provided to those in need. Agreements are made through the co-operative community on lengths of stay & rent.
Specifically, the program aims to foster economic resilience through strategic governance by providing opportunities for upskilling & increased employment viability, as well as generating a flexible program between work & leisure.
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Kitty
Each week, the top two tiers of the financial system, as well as revenue from locally owned (Reciprocity) on-site commercial elements, add money towards the Kitty. This can be anywhere from $24,000 up. The Kitty is used as the backbone for economic resilience within the scheme. Providing both a safety net as well as eliminating the stress from defaults with may occur.
The Kitty is also the main source of funding towards subsidising rent for both Rental Equity Saver as well as Rental Crisis levels.
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Funding
Reciprocity will function off two types of initial investment to fund the construction of the project. These include impact investments, an investment that is made into organisations, projects or funds to generate measurable social & environmental outcomes, alongside a financial return.19 Reciprocity is providing resilient affordable housing towards low-income earners, an incentive that investors could be socially drawn to as an opportunity for ethical investment. But also with the chance of return upon the investment.
The second type of investment is from the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS). The NRAS incentive is a grant that is paid per dwelling. A dwelling is acted under the scheme if it is rented to eligible tenants at a rate that is at 80 per cent or less of the market value rent.20 We are seeking incentives for all three of our lower-end rental dwelling types as we will be providing rental amounts at 80 per cent of the market rate to fund the project.
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Reuse
An example of reuse that Reciprocity aims to emulate is that by OFFICE, a not-for-profit government charity that delivers social housing projects with their framework of ‘Retain, Repair and Reinvest’. Their methodology re-assesses the agency of the existing architecture on site, pushing it to be re-imagined into functioning social housing.21 In their Ascot Vale, OFFICE aimed to retain the existing communities by not relocating residents elsewhere. They repaired the existing structures which reduced carbon emissions & in turn the money saved was reinvested into the project to improve comfort.22 A similar strategy will be used with all existing buildings on-site to not only make room for residents but keeping heritage & history embedded into the site.
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Concept Model Interation 2
Concept Model Interation 1
Proposal
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Internally, the blocks consist of three prominent materials. Plywood, concrete & steel. The materiality of the concrete structural elements paired with soft plywood walls, infused with native climbing plantations, sets the calming & earthy mood for each storey. The internal cladding is left mostly bare for users to decorate themselves to their desired colours & themes. Each level of the building contains different levels of privacy gradients from private, semi-private & communal public areas. This vignette is taken from just outside two of the single’s dwellings within each cluster. Each dwelling has been considered to leave a generous amount of room surrounding the dwelling for residents to occupy & program as they desire as their own semi-private areas.
Typical Block
As residents transition into the cooperative community, the construction of the architectural design further promotes this process of integration & unity. A typical block consists of six clusters of fifty people. The three hundred people are spread over twelve levels, with the ground floor of each block left as programmable space for commercial use. The block also contains a communal roof terrace where participants can gather in an open aired, airy space to cook, garden or relax.
The block’s strategic planning & design encourages diverse demographic groups, families & individuals to interact in a co-living process through integrating passive & active spaces, mingling & sharing spaces & areas of common interests. The integration of communal living spaces, bathrooms & kitchens are areas that encourage circumstantial interactions among individuals to build new connections & networks. A result of how each room is laid out to circulate a central courtyard is simultaneously a way of communicating on a common ground, where bonding & unity can occur.
With limited to no hard cladding on the exterior of the building, sectionally the blocks are light-filled, airy environments with the overall structure being highly porous. Capturing the state of polyvalence through half floors, where the verticality & differences between levels & groups of people, can also become means of accidental connections. The lightweight frame roof with polycarbonate sheeting lets light penetrate through to the terrace floor, but also down the central voids of the structure. Smells & sounds of food & strangers playing the piano can travel throughout the different levels of building through block height voids. With stairwells as well as two internal lift cores, the structure is accessible to all dwelling types.
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Block Model: 1:100
Block Model (Roof Terrace): 1:100
Co-living
San Riemo, a project by Summacumfemmer with the first housing project by the KOOPERATIVE GROSSSTADT, a housing co-operative found in 2015. Located in München Germany, the project consists of twenty-seven flats that contain communal & commercial spaces. Their adaptable floor programming is used to meet the requirements of each dwelling type’s needs which surround the communal elements such as bathrooms & kitchens. These communal areas are “not purely a place for cooking but at the same time a living entrance hall and distribution space to the surrounding rooms, including the bathroom. One could call this a compromise or an advantage: everyone can decide for themselves how they want to furnish and use this generous space.”23 Similarly, Reciprocity aims to provide not generous space within its communal elements for users to use as they wish. A place of interaction, cooking or passage. A co-living element is embedded into the architecture to encourage co-existing.
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Each platform of the building not only becomes a point of congregation but also plays a role in activating a lifestyle where work & leisure are balanced. This vignette from the communal kitchen spaces represents the coming together of different people in many unique ways & interests. The double-height ceilings of these areas provided architecturally are open, light-filled spaces. A nice place to congregate & cook meals, interact with fellow residents & relax. An internal view of the layering of the clusters looking out onto the view past. This view displays the internal balconies where occupants can dwell while still feeling connected to the rest of the cluster through the verticality of voids & half levels. Vegetation growing throughout as light flows through the cluster.
87 笑死老子了 你吃人家豆 爱屋及乌 少来这套 住嘴好吧 人生就这样 就够了
Couple & Five Family Section Tower
Single & Four Family Section Tower
The facade of the building consists of manoeuvring elements of louvred windows, allowing users input into the interior & exterior of the building. The voids provided by the central courtyards allow sufficient sunlight penetration & the growth of greenery throughout. Looking from the outside in, we can see the porosity of the structure. Instead of hard cladding, transparent polycarbonate sheeting is used for privacy towards the outside world & with the introduction of planter boxes on the exterior, the building brings a sense of life to the dwellers whilst upholding a light-filled structure.
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Site Model 1:2000
Site Model (Expressing Tree Placement) 1:2000
Site Model (Explaining Block Tectonic’s) 1:2000
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Heritage Listed Administration Building:
- Library and educational room/s
- Medical Centre
- Accommodation
- Central courtyard meeting space
- Connection to housing block 2
- Additional Storage facilities
Master plan
Programmatically, Reciprocity focuses on re-conditioning & re-adapting the existing building elements with the site, being landscaped in response to the wider ecological conditions of Mayfield East & the remaining BHP area. Greater Newcastle’s heritage is fundamental to its cultural economy. Regeneration of heritage assets through adaptive reuse will deliver unique & exciting places, along with opportunities for investment & jobs while celebrating their history & character. At the scale of the blocks, our goal was to keep all pre-existing structures on-site & work by adapting our blocks to build complex tectonics to achieve the required amount of blocks to reside residents. The blocks play out upon the axis of existing infrastructure & newly constructed pathways to invite unity & continuity between the housing & communal commercial areas. Blocks combined with hardscaped pathways create outdoor zones which provide chances for respite & refuge, especially in moments of heat or rain. Selected sections of hardscaped pathways contain outdoor room to direct user through site. Recreation & sporting fields are strategically placed at either end of the scheme & an amphitheatre for entertainment.
Computer Building (Southern Boundary Entrance Point):
- Additional communal amenities (places of worship/laundries/ etc)
- Main transportation arrival hub
- Supply centres drop off-point (Medical supplies etc.)
- Accommodation
- Connection to housing block 1
- Additional Storage facilities
Second Administration Building (top right-hand corner of site)
- Day-care centre 2
- Additional community amenities (places of worship/laundries etc)
- Accommodation
- Connection to housing block 3
Considering our co-operative type governance structure with mixed tenured groups, we sought to use the existing structures as both residential as well as commercial elements providing services such as a daycare centre for families living within the scheme who can bring there children, increasing a co-existing living. Across the scheme, Reciprocity will provide residence for 3000 occupants with 600 spaces being dedicated to three ancillary buildings.
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Outdoor Rooms
Millenary Park by Ujirany & New Directions Landscape Architects, located in Budapest Hungry, uses transparent, glass shelters that create corridors on its site to distribute users throughout the site. Their ambitions were brought to the scheme with its intention of providing both shelter & spaces between housing blocks whilst not interrupting views of the broader landscape programming.24 With ambitions of connectivity & co-existing, we see the use of these glass shelters as not only shelter & refuge, but a means to direct dwellers on pathways of connectivity. Increasing the chances of mingling & conversation to occur.
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Environmental
From an environmental stance, the Reciprocity will negotiate storm-water intake from Industrial Drive & the vulnerability of the natural site’s floor plains, to be remediated & recycled. This will be achieved by designing specific storm-water catchment systems on the western boundary, collecting water & directing it towards the large water catchment located on the west side of the rolling shed. The western side of the site will be predominantly dedicated to water remediation as water passes through the existing rolling shed, now a dedicated remediation centre for UV filtration.
The water, once leaving the rolling shed, will be channeled throughout the remainder of the site creating an experiential moment between both water & human pathways, furthering the idea of the landscape being seen as a spectacle. With the original site remediated, the scheme pushes further, introducing the processes of irrigation & remediation to the broader surrounding areas of the Steelworks site, eventually the water will make its way back to natural open water bodies, in turn closing the loop.
The proposed blocks upon site exceed the height limits of the site to provide opportunities for mixed communal amenities throughout the housing core, satisfying our spatial objectives internally. But also accommodates the LEP’s expectations of a proposal to be well-serviced by recreational & commercial uses for future residents. The scheme developed also satisfies the GNMP for 2036 in ‘protecting rural amenity outside urban centres through stormwater remediation, improving resilience to natural hazards, particularly the flooding of the site.’25
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Catchments
The Lower Factory Pond by Beglinger + Bryan speaks to our wider ecological ambitions of Reciprocity’s site. The Lower Factory Pond was built in the industrial area Jenny in Ziegelbrücke which has recently replaced its two-stage power station with a single-stage power station. The pond is traditionally man-made with canals & ponds. Beglinger + Bryan laid the ground for a rich ecosystem to emerge on its own by merely shaping its embankments to a specific angle. “Shallow water areas guarantee the survival of aquatic fauna. Embankments caused by terrain modelling at different angles & exposures will produce a high biodiversity.”26 Reciprocity’s remediation & filtering of storm-water runoff from Industrial Drive requires a catchment zone. One which will have to be man-made. Environmentally, this scheme provides the blueprint for reintroducing vegetation back into the landscape, to not force the site to provide more than is required. By specifically shaping the catchments embankments, natural regrow can occur in turn furthering remediation.
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