harbour courtyard a new passage to reykjavik harbour REDEGØRELSE | AFGANG FORÅR 2013 JOHANN MAGNUS KJARTANSSON | VEJLEDER: MADS THOLSTRUP
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INLEDNING
MOTIVATION During my studies at Aarhus School of Architecture I have been working with post-industrial sites in almost every project and also in my internship. It has not been something I have planned for but this is how the cards have been laid out for me and my interest and knowledge in working with this topic has grown with every year. It feels natural for me to continue along this route in my thesis project and when I saw the plans for Reykjavik harbour I felt it would be interesting to do a project there. The harbour is also something that is international so even though I’m doing a project in my hometown of Reykjavik, the propsals and the discussion I want to bring up can be on a general level. THE DEMOCRATIC URBAN SPACE The Democratic Urban Space, an essay by Associate Professor, Tom Nielsen at the Aarhus School of Architecture has been a starting point for my thesis and I feel it’s topic is very important in developement of new regained harbour areas. With new technology, people have become more mobile and are able to maintain social relations independent of physical frame, the design requirements of these urban spaces dont have to be user defined for certain groups in order for there to be a communal dialog. Rather they focus on creating distinction in the urban fabric that gives idendity to the area on a bigger scale, to a whole neighbourhood, a whole city or even a whole country. “My main point about these urban spaces is that they serve a role in the development of the welfare state understood in the way that they help create the understanding of the multi- tude, of the ‘throwntogetherness’, and the universal in the human condition, which will – maybe – support the feeling and idea that we actually have something together which is worth protecting. That the idea of society is relevant. The idea of paying taxes and voting, and all the other stuff of democratic societies.” I think the point the essay is making and the examples mentioned are very interesting considering the situation in Iceland today. I am interested in how urban planning and architecture can express current ideologies and idendity of the cultures.
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MENTAL CONTEXT post crisis iceland
REYKJAVIK
After being hit badly in the international economic crisis, Iceland is now a country in reconstruction and in the process of redefining itself as a country. After a long period of right wing politics with focus on individualism and a big believe in the capitalistic system, a change towards a more humanistic and socialistic mindset is ongoing. Investigations on the collapse are being conducted, the constitution is being rewritten and new political forces are emerging. The citizens are also taking matters into their own hands and forming organizations to defend people’s rights as they are often trampled upon in post-crisis periods. The crisis has also started a boom in innovative companies and the country was #1 on the INSEAD Global Innovation Index in 2009. With fewer job available, many unemployed people have started their own small companies with new ideas and graduating university students are doing thesis projects that afterwards can turn into small private companies.
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In Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland we can also see this change happening in both politics and in the way people are using the city. The Best Party, a political party mainly consisting of former punkers, artists, musicians and actors is currently running the city with new methods inspired by “Democracy 2.0”, where the use of the internet and transparency in governing are important tools. The citizens of Reykjavik have started to redefine how they use their city and how they want to see it in the future. With initiatives like “Squares on standby”, young artists and architects were invited to make installation in the city centrum, activating and pointing out the potentials of left-over spaces. Seasonal initiatives to close shopping streets from cars and converting them into pedestrian streets have also had good responses from the citizens. An example where the citizens have stepped up is Hjartagardur, where a group of young people have single handidly cleaned up an empty privately owned plot by the main shopping street Laugarvegur and created a communal park with an urban character, graffiti on the walls and a lively atmosphere. Something that has usually been viewed as wrong and ugly like graffiti, is now embraced by the general public as a symbol of rebellion againts the system and the political machine.
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PERSPECTIVE THE HARBOUR
In Iceland the harbour is not only a place where docking takes place. Many towns exist only because of it’s harbour and they are built around the harbour. The harbour also serves as the main social gathering space as there is no town square to be found. Being an island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, having a bridge to the depths of the sea for boats and ships is what has kept the country going for centuries. As the towns get bigger, town centers with squares and town halls start to emerge and a duality between being in the town itself and the harbour of the town starts to happen. The as the town grows to a city, the harbour grows so big that it almost completely detaches itself from the city. Almost every single settlement in Iceland is by the sea so everyone has the feeling of living on an island and not seeing the sea every day would be abnormal. But seeing the sea is not feeling it, and seeing the harbour is not experiencing it. With the deindustrialization of the Reykjavik harbour there is now a possibility to reunite the city and the harbour, and to experience the journeys between city and harbour. “Vi nærmer os kysten, men er der ikke endnu, og måske er ankomsten slet ikke altid målet? Det kan i lige så høj grad være rejsen selv, der er interessant.” “We are approaching the coast, but we’re not there yet, and maybe arriving there is actually not the goal? It can just as much be the journey itselft, that is interesting.” Hans Feldthusen, Claus Peder Pedersen. Approach the coast.
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INTRODUCTION REYIKJAVIK HARBOUR Maritime Museum
SHIP REPAIR YARD
TOURIST PORT city library Museum of modern arts
fleemarket
cruise ship docking
harpan
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THE ELEMENTS
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The two main wind directions are from the north and east
Sea-level shifting up to 5 meters.
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REYKJAVIK HARBOUR HISTORY
Before the time of airplanes and telephones, ships were Iceland’s only link to the rest of the world. They transported goods, people and news to the country, especially to the capital city. The natural harbour was not considered very good because of considerably stron currents. Ships could not dock in harbour and had to lie far fram shore. Goods and people had to be transported in small boats between ship and land. In bad weathers these transportations were often delayed. It wasn’t untill 1913 that construction was finally begun on a proper harbour. The new harbour meant that larger fishing ships were able to operate from the harbour that lead to increased wealth in the city. As time has passed the landfill of the harbour has moved further and further away from the harbour and the original coastline lies some 170 m inland and the current facade of the city is it’s 3rd layer.
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Reykjavik harbour ca. 1960
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REYKJAVIK HARBOUR HISTORY
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REYKJAVIK CITY historical timeline
1880
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1900
1920
1960
1979
2013
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ANALYSE CITY / hARBOUR SEPERATION
BUILDING MASS
PLOT ORIENTATIONS
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ROAD NETWORK
Industry Harbour Housing City Center
ZONES
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ANALYSE CITY / hARBOUR SEPERATION
TOPOGRAPHY
COSTLINE HISTORY
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GREEN / ASPHALT
HARBOUR
CITY THE SEPERATION
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COMPARISON CITY & HARBOUR
THE CITy
GRID / CONTROL OF CITY FLOW
VOLUMES / VOIDS / ROADS
SPATIAL LIMITS
WALLS AS SPATIAL LIMITS
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PERSPECTIVES / VERTICALITY
THE HARBOUR
HARBOURS IN THE HARBOUR / “BABUSHKA” CONTROL OF WAVES
FIELD / OBJECTS / EDGE
SPATIAL LIMITS
EDGE AS SPATIAL LIMITS
PANORAMAS / HORIZONTALITY
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REYKJAVIK HARBOUR MASTERPLAN
In 2009 the Reykjavik city council held a design competition for the future development of the harbour front of the Reykjavik harbour. The winning proposal by Graeme Massie Architects focuses on connecting city and harbour by extending the city fabric to the harbour surface, creating a new urban city on the harbour. With streets, passages and pocket squares the character of the harbour does not seem to be of importance. The harbour is “pushed” all the way to the edge of the area and a new city facade is born. I personally feel that the masterplan has good intention, there is focus on pedestrians and mixed use functions and I am sure the area would serve as a good addition to the city. The only problem I have with the masterplan is that I feel it is only interested in creating urban spaces that are of the city’s character. Now that the city is finally regaining it’s harbour, I find it a bit odd that there is not interest in letting the harbour inspire oneself to create a new experienced based harbour life. In the project I have analysed the masterplan and transformed it with the vision of the new area being a more mix between harbour and city, emphasizing on creating a journey between the two. That will be the main focus throughout the rest of the project.
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masterplan area
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masterplan diagrams
RECONNECT CITY AND HARBOUR
CITY STREETS EXTENDED OUT
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THE NEW HARBOUR DISTRICT BECOMES AN EXTENSION OF THE CITY
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MASTERPLAN ANALYSIS
++ The masterplan fills up the harbour surface with buildings layed out in a continuation of the city’s grid. ++ The spatial qualities and movements have the city’s character, streets and small pocket squares enclosed by the facades of the building volumes. ++ The sequence between city and harbour is an urban street where the destination is, the only thing left of the harbour, the edge. The transition from city to harbour is a boarderline where you suddenly are in the harbour. ++ Views are the extended street perspectives of the city with panorama views only from the edge. ++ All the qualities of the harbour are pushed till the very edge and the city has gained a new facade with new buildings, hiding historical harbour buildings/ facilities behind. ++ The boardwalk along the edge is bounded by city facade on one side and the harbour edge on the other with little variation in space.
* In music production it is called a wall of sound when a song is mixed in such a way that it’s waveform is constantly peaking. The mix is loud but undynamic causing hearing fatigue when sustained over time.
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THE SEA
THE EDGE
THE SURFACE
THE BARRIER THE CITY
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MASTERPLAN TRANSFORMATION
++ I propose a harbour that respects and gives space to both city and harbour, mixing them together along the strip. ++ The spatial qualities and the movements is a sequence from street to square, square to surface, surface to edge, edge to sea etc. ++ The sequence is a gradient between the the city’s and the harbour’s characters. The transition between city and harbour is more blurred and transparent focusing on the journey, rather than the destinations on each side. ++ Views in the sequence vary between perspectives and panoramas, verticality and hotizontality. ++ The sequence is the harbour in the city and the city in the harbour, instead of mearly being streets between the two. The city’s facade of is a mix between new and old, front and back, mass and space. ++ The boardwalk along the edge is dynamic and variable where the edge and the city facade expand and subtract along the way.
* A dynamic mix has more variance in the volume of the wavelength resulting in a warmer and wider sound. Individual sounds and details are more noticable and it causes less hearing fatigue.
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THE SEA
THE EDGE
THE SURFACE
THE BARRIER THE CITY
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32 SEA OD
-FO
FES
CA
N
M
SEU
MU
CRUIS
E SHIP
RM EN
HE
FIS
S
AR TIS T
AT ELI
FI SH ER IE S
STO RA GE / ER
S
SH IE
ER
DESIG
IME
RIT
MA
SHIP YARD
INDOOR SKATEPARK
FI S
HA
WHAL E WA TCHIN G
VOLCANO MUSEUM
A E R A L A I T RESIDEN
HARBOUR M CRUISE
LIBRARY
CANO EUM
IC S U
SHIPS GREEN SLOPE PARK
ART MARKET SQUARE
SQUARE
CENTRUM MAIN SQUARE
SHOPPING STREET
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MASTERPLAN harbours in the harbour
THE FISHING JOURNEY + FISHING AT SEA + DOCKING FISH + SURFACE TRANSPORT + CROSSING BARRIER + FISH-PROCESSING IN HUT
FISHING HARBOUR
TOURIST HARBOUR
THE RECREATIONAL JOURNEY + SAILSPORT ACTIVITIES AT SEA + BATHING IN SEABATH + CYCLING THROUGH PARK + CROSSING BARRIER + CYCLING HOME
SHO
RECREATIONAL HARBOUR
THE TOURIST JOURNEY + WHALE WATCHING AT SEA + SEAFOOD BY THE EDGE WITH + WALKING THE CULTURE ROUTE + CROSSING BARRIER + CONTINUING THE CULTURE RO
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THE EVENT JOURNEY + RIDE THE FLOATING FERRIS WHEEL + SEE A CONCERT IN HARPAN + A WALK IN THE GREEN HARPA-PARK + CROSSING BARRIER + WATCH THE HARPAN LED FACADE LIGHT SHOW FROM ARNARHÓLL
EVENT HARBOUR
SHOPPING HARBOUR
NEY G AT SEA EDGE WITH CITY VIEW TURE ROUTE ON HARBOUR R CULTURE ROUTE IN CITY
THE SHOPPING JOURNEY + ARRIVING BY CRUISE SHIP + ENJOYING THE FIRST VIEW OF THE CITY + FOOD TASTING ON THE MARKET SQUARE + CROSSING BARRIER +SOUVENIR SHOPPING IN THE FLEEMARKET + SHOPPING IN THE CITY STREETS
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MASTERPLAN zoom in
site
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the shopping harbour
KOLAPORT MARKET AUSTURVÖLLUR SQUARE
LAUGAVEGUR MAIN SHOPPING STREET
INGÓLFSTORG SQUARE AUSTURSTRÆTI CAFE/BAR/ RESTAURANT STREET
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site original plan
The Customs office building is a building with a remarkable history. A big masterplan for Reykjavik was made in the 60’s where, like in many other cities of the world, infrastructure and the car was the sollution to all problems. If you ensured enough roads, then everything would run smoothly. Reykjavik could have been one of those cities, where the plan was to build a raised vidact road along the whole harbour, gaining a new imoirtant road and at the same time maintaining the harbour surface. The Customs office building was the first and the only built phase in this plan where one was supposed to be able to drive all the way to the building, park the car on the roof and walk into the building. The harbour surface infront of the building was then completely free for movement between the building and the ships.
CUSTOMS OFFICE PARKING
CITY STREET
VIADUCT ROAD
WAREHOUSE (COVERED HARBOUR)
GOODS DOCKING
HARBOUR SURFACE
SEA
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site current situation
After the plans for the raised viaduct road were dropped, there was still need for the addition to the infrastructure of the city and a new road was made infront of the building. The building could no longer function as the covered harbour space that it was as a barrier was now blocking the flow. The building got trapped in the city grid and still remains that today. A new function has now found it’s home in the warehouse, a fleemarket that is open in the weekends. Because of it’s former function as a customs warehouse, it is completely closed off to the city side.
CUSTOMS OFFICE
CITY STREET
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PARKING
BARRIER
MARKET CITY/HARBOUR (COVERED HARBOUR) STREET
PARKING
CRUISE SHIP DOCKING
HARBOUR SURFACE
EDGE
SEA
site INTENTION
My intentions for the built project is to regain the Customs building’s status as the covered harbour space by using it as an anchor for a harbour structure that stretches out from the building to the sea. The structure is seen as a shared harbour surface with the market on the city side, the cruise docking on the sea side, flanked by the shared street parking structure. By knocking down the wall on the backside (city side) of the building, the harbour courtyard, as I want to call it, opens up to the city and creates a new passage between city and harbour. The originial idea behind the builgind, that never really became a reality, with the covered harbour space, the docking and the road, is redesigned to merge instead of seperate from each other. The city gaines a new courtyard, not a city courtyard bounded by vertical walls, but a harbour courtyard bounded by horizontal surfaces.
CUSTOMS OFFICE
SHARED CITY STREET
MARKET (COVERED HARBOUR)
SHARED MARKET HARBOUR
SHARED HARBOUR STREET
HARBOUR SURFACE
CRUISE SHIP DOCKING
EDGE
SEA
BOARDWALK
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SEA
CASE STUDIES
ARMATURE & DETAIL Durin the course of the semester I have been inspired by the analytical logic of armature & detail. I have tryed to understand the logic in my own way and will therefore explain it from my own understanding. The best way to explain the logic behind armature/detail is with examples, the lamp (armature) and the lightbulb (detail), the bookshelf (armature) and the books (detail). The kind of armature/detail relationship I have been interested in for this project, working with the identity of the harbour, is between armature as an urban surface and the detail as the inhabitation of the surface. Using the surface as a preperation for an urban activity and then allowing for functions/activities to inhabit it. The vastness of the harbour surface is rapidly being eaten up by many of todays harbour developements. It is understandable that we want to utilize this valuable land to densify our cities towards a more sustainble life. But there should also be places where we celebrate the harbour surface and create new relationships between the city and the sea, inspired by the identities of the harbour. The case studies have shaped my view and intentions for the project during the process and the methodology has helped me to always try to simplify the understanding of the project down to armature & detail.
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CASE STUDY oslo opera
Architect Snøhetta Architects Location Oslo, Norway Urban armature The urban armature is the white surface of the building that can almost be seen as a floating marble pier that has been cut and raised up. The surface becomes a hill to climb up and enjoy the harbour view, just like any other mounain or hill climb in Norway. The activity is something well known to Norwegian but is now reinterpreted with the harbour surface in an urban setting. The building detail After having lifted up it’s “cut” surfaces there is now a covered space that conveniently be inhabited by any number of activities. The fact that it is an opera is almost not important. The architects of Snøhetta call it the factory and when looking at the volumes without the surface, it almost looks like a factory. The last bit of detail that tells us it’s indeed not a factory is the wooden wave that almost works as a roayl crown stating the buildings status. “The building is not an icon. It’s trying to be the opposite. Because once you allow the public to move about the roof, it is they who generate the expression of the building, rather than the building itself.” Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, Architect and co-founder of Snøhetta
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CASE STUDY nantes school of arch.
Architect Vassal & Lacaton Location Nantes, France Urban armature Placed in an industrial harbour area, the urban armature of this project is the ramp that twirls up the side of the building up to the roof surface. It can be seen as a continuation of the surface that simply lifts the footprint surface of the building up to its rooflevel. The whole footprint surface of the building becomes usable to the school and the rooftop is visualized as being able to function as a harbour surface. The preperation is the concrete pillar grid structure that can now be inhabited by an activity/function. The building detail With a very flexible conrete pillar structure and a surface ramp surrounding it, decks and walls are placed into the armature to allow the inhabitation of the shcool. These structural elements create the buildings interior spaces and stabilize the pillar structure. As in Oslo Opera, the building does not express its inhabited activity, the activity itself expresses what it is.
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CASE STUDY 1111 Lincoln road
Architect Herzog & De Meuron Location Miami, U.S.A Urban armature Clamped between a pedestrian street and a traffic street the armature of this project is seeking to merge the two cultures. Is it a parking garage that allows for inhabitation of pedestrians and city functions. Or is it a pedestrian surface that allows for inhabitation of the car. It’s hard to determine but that must be the beauty of this project. The building detail Its hard not to see this structure in the simplest sense as the bookshelf where the functions, cars, and people are the books in all their different colours. The ideology behind this project is a very positive way of dealing with the anti-social view of the car that has been growing the last decades. Instead of seperating the car from the building, f.ex. in a parking basement, it co-exists within the building. I believe that a project like this does not only influence how people see the car but also inspires us how it is possible to deal with conflicts (in life) in a more inclusive way, instead of always seperate things to try to solve problems. “In order to solve these two key problems - isolation and despoliation - we must plan more inclusive cities, urbanism that integrate rather than encourage further seperation.� Jonatan Bell (2001). Carchitecture. London: Birkhauser
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the structure sketches
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the structure preperation of armature
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The bottom layer surface is laid out
Flanks are extended out between customs building and cruise docking
Structure is adjusted for opening up for flows and views.
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the structure process
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Final proposal
Section - East wing
Section - West wing
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the structure Model
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the structure section
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curriculum vitaE KANdidat
6. SEMESTER | SPRING 2011 Bachelor semester AARCH
7. SEMESTER | FALL 2011 Exchange Student E.T.S.A.M. Madrid
STUDIO Open Script v/ Ann Aloy Kilpatrick
STUDIOS Hecho el Mano (Architecture) Architectual Photography Parametric Design (Grasshopper 3D)
PROJECT AARCH 2.0 New School of Architecture in Aarhus
PROJECTS Cemetario de El Pozuelo El Pozuelo, Spain Museo de las minas de Riotinto Riotinto mining area, Spain
8. SEMESTER | SPRING 2012 Internship ADEPT Architects, Copenhagen
9. SEMESTER | FALL 2012 Semester course AARCH
PROJECTS Trekløveret Børnehage Frederiksberg
STUDIO Spatial Transformation v/ Karen Olesen
Viborg Baneby Urban Project in Viborg
PROJECT Hybrid Condenser Multifunctional hybrid building in Aarhus
Hersted Industriby Urban Project in Albertslund AVIC Towers High rise project in China
WORKSHOP In Flagrante Delicto v/ Dr. Kristen Kreider & James O’Leary
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KONTAKT Johann Magnus Kjartansson Tlf. 50349590 Mail: joijohann@gmail.com
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