AR598 - SGU
THE DIMENSIONS OF URBAN DESIGN
Ahmed Zainy - Mohammed Alshumesi - Rayan Alshali
Dr. Khaled Youssef
2016-2017
CONTENT 1.0
THE CONTEXT OF URBAN DESIGN 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Urban design frameworks 1.3 Terminologies 1.4 Elements of urban design 1.5 Urban design criteria
2.0
THE DIMENSIONS OF URBAN DESIGN 2.1 Different roles 2.2 Dimensions of urban design 2.3 Design criteria for urban design projects
3.0
CASE STUDIES 3.1 3TI Progetti’s Civic Center 3.2 Diamond Island Community Center 3.3 LYCS School
1.0 THE CONTEXT FOR URBAN DESIGN
1.1 INTRODUCTION
This abstraction adopts a broad understanding of urban design, which is focused on the making of places for people. This definition asserts the importance of four themes that occur throughout the research. 1. It stresses that urban design is for and about people. 2. It emphasizes the value and significance of ‘place’. 3. It recognizes that urban design operates in the ‘real’ world, with its field of opportunity constrained and bounded by economic (market) and political (regulatory) forces. 4. It asserts the importance of design as a process.
Providing an introduction to the concept of urban design, this chapter is in three main parts. • The first develops an understanding of the subject. • The second discusses the contemporary need for urban design. • The third discusses urban design practice.
TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF URBAN DESIGN
The term ‘urban design’ was coined in North America in the late 1950s, and replaced the narrower and somewhat outmoded term ‘civic design’. Typified by the City Beautiful Movement, civic design focused largely on the siting and design of major civic buildings - city halls, opera houses, museums and their relationship to open spaces. Urban design denotes a more expansive approach. Evolving from an initial, predominantly aesthetic, concern with the distribution of building masses and the space between buildings, it has become primarily concerned with the quality of the public realm - both physical and sociocultural and the making of places for people to enjoy and use. Containing two somewhat problematical words, ‘urban design’ is an inherently ambiguous term. Taken separately, ‘urban’ and ‘design’ have clear meanings: ‘urban’ suggests the characteristics of towns or cities, while ‘design’ refers to such activities as sketching, planning, arranging, coloring and pattern making.
1.2 URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORKS
The guide identified seven objectives of urban design, each relating to the concept of place: • Character a place with its own identity. • Continuity and enclosure a place where public and private spaces are clearly distinguished. • Quality of the public realm a place with attractive and successful outdoor area. • Ease of movement a place that is easy to get to and move through. • Legibility a place that has a clear image and is easy to understand. • Adaptability a place that can change easily. • Diversity a place with variety and choice.
1.3 TERMINOLOGY
Urban design is the design of towns and cities, streets and spaces. It is the collaborative and multi-disciplinary process of shaping the physical setting for life in cities, towns and villages. The art of making places; design in an urban context.
1.3 TERMINOLOGY
Adaptive Re-Use conversion of a building into a use other than that for which it was designed, such as changing a warehouse into a gallery space or housing. Barrier-Free Design building and site design which is accessible to all people, regardless of age and abilities. Buffer a strip of land established to provide separation between land uses and typically developed as a landscaped area. Canopy a permanent fixture designed to shelter pedestrians and display goods from adverse weather conditions; a fixed awning.
1.3 TERMINOLOGY
Circulation movement patterns of pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Districts geographic areas of relatively consistent character, such as exhibited in many residential neighborhoods and the downtowns. Enclosure (sense of) an experience in which a pedestrian feels sheltered with a semi-private realm. Buildings, trees, landscaping and street widths are all factors in creating a sense of enclosure. Fenestration the arrangement of windows in a building. Circulation: movement patterns of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
1.3 TERMINOLOGY
Focal Point a prominent structure, feature or area of interest or activity. Gateway the design of a building, site or landscape to symbolize an entrance or arrival to a special district. Landmarks buildings, structures and spaces which create distinct visual orientation points that provide a sense of location to the observer within the neighborhood or district, such as that created by a significant natural feature or by an architectural form which is highly distinctive relative to its surrounding environment.
1.3 TERMINOLOGY
Pedestrian all people on foot or moving at walking speed, including those who use mobility aids (wheelchairs, scooters, etc.), Persons with strollers and buggies, and frail elderly persons. Podium a base to building or structure. Public Realm the public and semi-public spaces of the city, especially the street spaces of the city from building face to the opposite building face (including the faรงade, front yard, sidewalk and streets) and open space such as parks and squares. Rhythm and Pattern relating to materials, styles, shapes an spacing of building elements and the buildings themselves, the predominance of one material or shape, and its patterns of recurrence.
1.3 TERMINOLOGY
Street Furniture municipal equipment placed along streets, including light fixtures, fire hydrants, telephones, trash receptacles, signs, benches, mailboxes, newspaper boxes and kiosks. Sense of place the feeling associated with a location, based on a unique identity and other memorable qualities. Way finding he information available to people which they need to find their way around the city and can be verbal, graphic, architectural and spatial.
1.4 ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN
• BUILDING • PUBLIC SPACES • STREETS • TRANSPORT • LANDSCAPE
BUILDINGS They shape and articulate space by forming the street walls of the city. Well-designed buildings and groups of buildings work together to create a sense of place.
PUBLIC SPACES Public spaces make high quality life in the city possible - they form the stage and backdrop to the drama of life. Public spaces range from grand central plazas and squares, to small, local neighborhood parks.
STREETS They are defined by their physical dimension and character as well as the size, scale, and character of the buildings that line them. The pattern of the street network is part of what defines a city and what makes each city unique.
TRANSPORT Transport systems connect the parts of cities and help shape them, and enable movement throughout the city. They include road, rail, bicycle, and pedestrian networks, and together form the total movement system of a city. The balance of these various transport systems is what helps define the quality and character of cities, and makes them either friendly or hostile to pedestrians
LANDSCAPE It is the green part of the city that weaves throughout, in the form of urban parks, street trees, plants, flowers, and water in many forms. The landscape helps define the character and beauty of a city and creates soft, contrasting spaces and elements.Â
1.5 KEVIN LYNCH Lynch identified five performance dimensions of urban design: • Vitality the degree to which the form of places supports the functions, biological requirements and capabilities of human beings. • Sense the degree to which places can be clearly perceived and structured in time and space by users. • Fit the degree to which the form and capacity of spaces matches the pattern of behaviors that people engage in or want to engage in. • Access the ability to reach other persons, activities, resources, services, information, or places, including the quantity and diversity of elements that can be reached. • Control the degree to which those who use, work, or reside in places can create and manage access to spaces and activities. Two meta-criteria underpinned the five dimensions: Those of efficiency, relating to the costs of creating and maintaining a place for any given level of attainment of the dimensions; and of justice, relating to the way in which environmental benefits were distributed. Thus, for Lynch the key questions were: (i) what is the relative cost of achieving a particular degree of vitality, sense, fit, access, or control; (ii) who is getting how much of it?
1.5 ALLAN JACOBS AND DONALD APPLEYARD
In their paper ‘Towards an Urban Design Manifesto’, Jacobs and Appleyard suggested seven goals that were ‘essential for the future of a good urban environment’: • Livability A city should be a place where everyone can live in relative comfort. • Identity and control People should feel that some part of the environment ‘belongs’ to them, individually and collectively, whether they own it or not. • Access to opportunities, imagination and joy People should find the city a place where they can break from traditional molds, extend their experience, and have fun. • Authenticity and meaning People should be able to understand their (and others’) city, its basic layout, public functions and institutions, and the opportunities it offers. • Community and public life Cities should encourage participation of their citizens in community and public life. • Urban self-reliance Increasingly cities will have to become more self-sustaining in their uses of energy and other scarce resources. • An environment for all Good environments should be accessible to all. Every citizen is entitled to a minimal level of environmental livability, and of identity, control and opportunity.
1.5 ALLAN JACOBS AND DONALD APPLEYARD To achieve these goals, five physical characteristics or ‘prerequisites’ of a ‘sound’ urban environment were defined: • Livable streets and neighborhoods. • A minimum density of residential development and intensity of land use. • Integrated activities - living, working, shopping in reasonable proximity to each other. • A man made environment that defines public space, particularly by its buildings (as opposed to buildings that mostly sit in space). • Many separate, distinct buildings with complex arrangements and relationships (as opposed to a few, large buildings).
1.5 RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENT During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the team Oxford Polytechnic formulated an approach to urban design, published as Responsive Environments: A manual for urban designers (Bentley et a/., 1985). The approach stressed the need of more democratic, enriching environments, maximizing the degree of choice available to users. The design of a place, it was argued, affected the choices people could make: • Where they could and could not go. • The range of uses available. • How easily they could understand what opportunities its offers. • The degree to which they could use a given place for different purposes. • Whether the detailed appearance of the place made them aware of the choice available. • Their choice of sensory experience. • The extent to which they could put their own stamp on a place. The approach respectively focused on seven key issues in making places responsive: those of permeability, variety, legibility, robustness, visual appropriateness, richness and personalization.
1.5 FRANCIS TIBBALDS In 1989, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales offered a framework for architectural design sparking an important debate. In response, an urban design framework of ten principles was developed by the then-president of the Royal Town Planning Institute and founder of the UK-based Urban Design Group, Francis Tibbalds (1988 - 1992): 1. Consider places before buildings. 2. Have the humility to learn from the past and respect your context. 3. Encourage the mixing of uses in towns and cities. 4. Design on a human scale. 5. Encourage the freedom to walk about. 6. Cater for all sections of the community and consult with them. 7. Build legible (recognizable or understandable) environments. 8. Build to last and adapt. 9. Avoid change on too great a scale at the same time. 10. With all the means available, promote intricacy, joy and visual delight in the built environment.
1.5 DESIGN MATRIX
2.0 THE DEIMENSIONS OF URBAN DESIGN
2.1 ROLES
UNDERSTANDING THE ROLES AND DIFFERENCES OF
ARCHITECTURE URBAN DESIGN URBAN PLANNING
2.1 ARCHITECTURE
The art or practice of designing and construction building • Function Fundamentally to provide shelter. • Form An art that is appreciated by many for its beauty • Firmness Stability of structure.
“Architecture isn’t just the reflection of the state of society, it’s the reflection of the mind”
2.1 URBAN DESIGN
The design of functionality of spaces between building and structures.
2.1 WHAT IS URBAN DESIGN?
• Art of making places for people • Human interaction with the environment • Involves places such as squares, piazza, streets, pedestrian precinct.
“A street is spatial entity and not the residue between building.�
2.1 URBAN PLANING
The Design & Organisation Of Urban Space & Infrastructure
2.1 WHAT IS URBAN PLANING?
Taking a Look at Urban Planning • Layout of neighborhoods, cities and regions • Fulfilling needs of community & economy Balancing the built & natural environment
“If you can tell a man by his shoes, you can tell a city by its pavements.” Rowan Moore
2.2 THE DIMENSION OF URBAN DESIGN
THE MORPHOLOGICAL DIMENSION 2.21
2.21 URBAN MORPHOLOGY This chapter is in three parts and focuses on the ‘morphological’ dimension of urban design; that is, the layout and configuration of urban form and space. There are essentially two types of urban space system: ‘Traditional’ urban space consists of buildings as constituent parts of urban blocks, where the blocks define and enclose external space. ‘Modernist’ urban space typically consists of freestanding ‘pavilion’ buildings in landscape settings.
A TRADITIONAL URBAN FORMS
B SELECTED URBAN BLOCKS
2.21 URBAN MORPHOLOGY is the study of the form of human settlements and the process of their formation and transformation. Appreciation of morphology helps urban designers to be aware of local patterns of development and processes of change.
THE PERCEPTUAL DIMENSION
2.22
2.22 PERCEPTUAL DIMENSION
Perceptual means the process of becoming aware of physical objects, phenomenon etc. Through senses. Thus the perceptual dimension in urban design embraces the images, experiences and meanings that people attach to the built environment. The Perceptual Dimension of urban design explores how people perceives environment and experience places. This chapter is divided in three main parts: • Environmental perception • Construction of place in terms of place identity, sense of place and placelessness. • Place differentiation and place theming
2.22 PERCEPTUAL DIMENSION
“Environment perception is a way in which an individual perceive the environment.” Sensation refers to human sensory system which could be all four senses or the sense of heat, balance and pain. Perception is far more much than just sensing the environment. Perception is socially and culturally learned while sensation may be stimuli to everyone. It was proposed by Lynch that environmental images were the result of two way process between the observer and the environment. Environmental images require three attributes according to Lynch: • Identity • Structure • Meaning
2.22 PERCEPTUAL DIMENSION
According to Lynch, cities have districts, landmarks, paths, nodes and edges that were easily identifiable and easily grouped into an overall pattern that lead to what we call “image ability” Image ability – it is the quality of a physical object which gives it a high probability of evoking a strong image in any given observer.
PATHS Paths are the channels along which the observer moves. They may be streets, walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads. -Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City.
EDGES Edges are the linear elements not used as paths by the observer. They are the boundaries and linear breaks in continuity: shores, railroad cuts, edges of development, walls. - Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City
DISTRICTS Districts are the medium-to-large sections of the city which the observer mentally enters “inside of,” and which are recognizable as having some common, identifying character. - Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City
NODES Nodes are points, the strategic spots in a city into which an observer can enter, and which are the intensive foci to and from which he is traveling. They may be primarily junctions or concentrations. - Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City
MONUMENTS Landmarks are another type of point-reference, but in this case the observer does not enter within them, they are external. They are usually a rather simply defined physical object: building, sign, store, or mountain. - Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City.
2.22 SYMBOLISM AND SENSE OF PLACE
“Symbolism is the practice of representing things with sign and giving them meaning.” The symbolic role of buildings and environment is a key part of relationship between society and environment. Economic and commercial forces are highly influential in creating the symbolism of the built environment. Sense of place takes into account “the social and geographical context of place bonds and the sensing of places, such as aesthetics and a feeling of dwelling. Term ‘place’, as opposed to space, expresses a strong affective bond between a person and a particular setting. In other words, place is mixed with human values and principles. As a result, place is a particular space which is covered with meanings and values by the users.
2.22 KEY ATTRIBUTES SUCCESSFUL PLACES
Places play an essential and vital role in human life. Each place has it own unique character that is an important issue in social science. The absence of quality of being distinctive and meaningful place is called placelessness. Lacking of a proper place for people, things etc., lacking of a geographic orientation. • With mass communication, and increasingly high technology, places become more and more similar • Appreciation of placelessness provides a framework of reference for urban design. The factors which contribute towards contemporary sense of placelessness are globalization, mass culture and loss of social and cultural relations
2.22 PLACELESSNESS
GLOBALIZATION: • It is multi-faceted process in which the world is increasingly inter connected with centralized decision making exploiting efficiencies and economies of scale and standardization. MASS CULTURE: • These are formulated by manufacturers, governments and professional designers and are guided and communicated through mass media. Uniform products and places are created for people of supposedly uniform needs tastes, or perhaps vice versa. LOSS OF TERRITORY: • Due to emerging modern design concepts, people no longer care and practice their own architectural design which causes loss of territory for them.
2.22 INVENTED PLACE
Invented place is a purposeful thematisation which is now widespread, extending from shopping malls to festival markets to urban waterfronts. it creates reality out of fantasy in many ways It is successful because it adheres certain principles of sequential experience and storytelling, creating an appropriate and meaningful sense of place in which both activities and memories are individual and shared. Invented places and place theming provides opportunities for urban design and place-making, but the practices raise a number of place-making issues and there has been such critical comment: • SUPERFICIALITY • COMMODIFICATION OF PLACE
THE SOCIAL DIMENSION
2.23
2.23 THE PUBLIC REALM
It contains public life and involves relatively open and universal social contexts, in contrast to private life, which is intimate, familiar, shielded, controlled by the individual, and shared only with family and friends. Dimensions of the public realm: 1- Physical (space) 2- Social (activity) The physical public realm is the space that facilitate public life and social interaction. The activities and events occurring in those spaces are defined as sociocultural.
2.23 SAFETY AND SECURITY
Urban environment threats: 1- Crime 2- Terrorism 3- fast-moving vehicles 4- Air pollution 5- Water contamination Approaches to crime prevention: Control of space/ territoriality: 1- Clear demarcation between public and private space 2- Symbolizing mechanisms and hierarchy of boundaries 3- Space integration to encourage pedestrian involvement or seeing through Surveillance: 1- Increase of properties, activities and functions to increase people’s places 2- Capacity of physical design for resident’s surveillance 3- Increase for routine use of the spaces Activity: 1- Increase of commercial use 2- Sidewalks activity needs 3- Continuous occupation of space
THE VISUAL DIMENSION
2.24
2.24 PATTERNS AND AESTHETIC ORDER
To identify patterns that are coherent and harmonious, we use principles of organization or grouping. Aesthetic appreciation components: 1- Sense of rhyme and pattern 2- Appreciation of rhythm 3- Recognition of balance 4- Sensitivity to harmonic relationships Environmental preference framework (making sense and involvement): 1- Coherence: environments easy to organize and structure 2- Complexity: environments with enough in the present scene to keep one occupied 3- Legibility: environments suggesting they could be explored without getting lost 4- mystery: environments suggesting that if they were explored further, new information could be acquired
2.24 THE KINAESTHETIC EXPERIENCE
Experience of urban environments is a dynamic activity involving movement and time, the kinaesthetic experience of moving through space is an important part of the visual dimension of urban design. Speed, engagement and focus of visual experience: 1- pedestrian: slow and able to freely engage 2- Car driver: fast with low focus and engagement 3- Car passenger: fast with low engagement but high focus
2.24 URBAN SPACE
Positive and negative space: Positive: relatively enclosed outdoor space, can be defined and measured and has a distinctive shape. Negative: shapeless space left over and around the buildings. Defining elements of positive space: 1- Surrounding structures 2- The floor 3- The imaginary sphere of the sky overhead
2.24 URBAN SPACE
Squares: usually referred as an area framed by buildings their function is to exhibit a particular building or designed as a people places, can be used for both. Streets: linear three-dimensional spaces, may contain roads. Diversity of streets: 1- Visually dynamic or static 2- Enclosed or open 3- Long or short 4- Wide or narrow 5- Straight or curved 6- Formal or informal architecture treatment 7- Architectural rhythm 8- Connection to other streets or squares
2.24 HARD AND SOFT LANDSCAPE Landscaping has a narrower meaning than Landscape, it is usually added to hide poor quality architecture or filling blank spaces. Well-designed landscaping adds quality and visual interest and color. Landscape involves concerns for ecology, hydrology and geology.
Elements of landscaping: Floorscape: 1- Hard – pavement 2- Soft – landscaped areas Street furniture: 1- Telephone boxes 2- Lightings 3- Benches 4- Planters 5- Traffic signs 6- Direction signs 7- CCTV cameras 8- Police boxes 9- Bollards 10- Railings 11- Bus shelters 12- Statues and monuments 13- Public art
THE FUNCTIONAL DIMENSION
2.25
2.25 PUBLIC SPACE AND THE PUBLIC/PRIVATE INTERFACE
As designers its best to observe and experience public space to gain knowledge to how public spaces work and actually used. Primary needs of humans in public spaces: 1- Comfort 2- Relaxation 3- Passive engagement with the environment 4- Active engagement with the environment 5- Discovery
2.25 MOVEMENT
The heart of urban experience and the biggest factor in generating activity. Pedestrian - must provide watching opportunities for people and worthwhile destinations that are easily accessible on foot Cars - must be away from heavy pedestrian paths and the journey must end at a secure car park Privacy: 1- Visual privacy 2- Aural privacy
2.25 ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
Sun and shade consideration: 1- The sun’s position relative to public spaces 2- Site orientation and slope. 3- Existing obstructions on the site 4- The potential for overshadowing from obstructions beyond the site boundary 5- The potential to overshadow nearby buildings and spaces Wind Consideration: 1- Building dimensions should be kept to a minimum to reduce wind pressures 2- The larger building dimension should not face into the predominating wind 3- Building layouts should avoid creating tunnel effects 4- Protection of pedestrians by the use of canopies and podiums, which reduce down draught at ground level 5- Shelter belts (trees, hedges, walls, fences, etc.) can provide a degree of protection for buildings and pedestrians Lighting: 1- Statutory lighting - provides basic lighting levels, to aid pedestrian way-finding and the secure use of the public realm at night, and the safe passage of vehicles 2- Amenity lighting - which enhances the street scene through flood, feature and low level lighting; and gives night-time colour and vitality through signs, shop-lighting and seasonal lighting.
2.3 DESIGN CRITERIA FOR URBAN DESIGN PROJECT
Defining urban design -will it have impact on the public realm -will it contribute to the creation or enhancement of meaningful place
Visual -has the buildings, streets, spaces and landscaping created drama and visual interest
The context -does the project respect, understand and integrate with existing context -is it environmentally supportive -is it economical and sustainable with good quality has it involved stakeholders
Functional -will the mix and distribution of use helped the social activities -is the planned infrastructure connect well with established capital web
Morphological -has the morphological pattern been understood and created a distinct urban block with well-connected streets and spaces Perceptual -will it contribute in the sense of place (established or new) -will the project create a meaningful public realm Social -will the project encourage safe and accessible public realm -will the project provide a social interaction, mix and diversity
Temporal -has the project been considered in different times and seasons of the year Developing urban design -is the project financially secure for developers, investors and occupiers Controlling urban design -have long term management and maintenance issues been considered Communicating urban design -is the project and vision understandable to the stakeholders and community
3.0 CASE STUDIES
3.1 3TI Progetti’s Civic Center Villacidro, Italy
3.1 3TI Progetti’s Civic Center
The new Civic Center by 3TI Progetti in Villacidro, Italy, is sited at an important reference point for the city, due to both its history and natural features. Located in the "historic garden of the Episcopal Palace," the new center re-interprets the surrounding urban elements, redefining the relationships between its urban and natural surroundings.
3.1 3TI Progetti’s Civic Center The architects’ inspiration for the project came from the Italian poet Gabriel D’Annunzio who describes the local waterfall of Villacidro in his 1882 poem, “Sa Spendula.” Opening with the words, “Densely covered in celandines and thorn bushes / the rocks stand in front of me / like a strange people of athletes / petrified by the power of a spell. […],” he describes the specific qualities of the landscape surrounding Villacidro, located at the mouth of a valley between mountains. The urban qualities of Villacidro have been defined by this landscape morphology, with buildings clinging to the rocky topology, forming terraces squares and gardens; and narrow streets and steep stairs.
3.1 3TI Progetti’s Civic Center
The new civic center is located at a higher elevation, within the historic garden of the Episcopal Palace. With minimal land use, the function of the garden terraces are left intact as much as possible. The complex opens to the city, becoming a park, theatre, forum and arena, as well as studio, workshop and exhibit space. The building has a direct relationship to the historic center of the city, with various programs taking place within both the Episcopal Palace and nearby, renovated former prisons.
3.1 3TI Progetti’s Civic Center
3.1 3TI Progetti’s Civic Center
3.2 Diamond Island Community Center Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
3.2 Diamond Island Community Center
Being adjacent to the newly emerging center of Ho Chi Minh City, Diamond Island is a group of condominiums on an islet on Saigon River. To make the best use of the empty space of a gradual development program, this multifunctional community center is designed not only for local residents, but also for foreign tourists brought by boats from the city center. Eight large and small bamboo pavilions are scattered throughout a park with rich vegetation along the river. The pavilions are used for various events such as parties, banquets, promotions conferences, and are also planned to be restaurants in the future.
3.2 Diamond Island Community Center
Two large domes are created by pure bamboo structures and measure 24m diameter and 12.5m height. Inspired by a traditional bamboo basket sheltering fowls, the structure is made by skilled workers who weave each piece of bamboo on site. Six smaller pure bamboo pavilions are shaped like umbrellas with 11m diameter and 7m height. The umbrella structures consist of twelve prefabricated structural units assembled, aiming at efficiency of construction.
3.2 Diamond Island Community Center
The large pavilions are double layered dome structures. The outer roof layer of thatch overhangs from the inner basket-like structure to create deep eaves, protecting the whole bamboo structure from harsh sunshine and heavy rainfall. Regardless of the shrouding shape of the roof, the interior space needs no artificial lighting for daytime activities as a skylight and open periphery provide defused daylight. The skylight also functions to discharge hot air from the top of the dome as river breeze cooled by three surrounding ponds flows through the building.
3.2 Diamond Island Community Center
3.2 Diamond Island Community Center Despite the application of several traditional construction methods, the project’s aim is not to reproduce the vernacular, but to create sustainable architecture suited to the present. In order to do this, systematization of production and construction of bamboo architecture is essential and, as a result, the project is a fusion of traditional folk art and contemporary architecture.
3.3 LYCS School Inspired by A Child’s Drawing Hangzhou, China
3.3 LYCS School Inspired by A Child’s Drawing LYCS Architecture has released designs for Hangzhou NO.2 School of Future SciTech City, a kindergarten, primary and secondary school complex in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Encompassing 44,900 square meters, the design takes inspiration from a child’s drawing of his ideal school – a small town filled with child-scaled spaces and “happy” streets. The complex is broken up into 15 gabled volumes, which gradually increase in size and scale to accommodate the range of student ages.
3.3 LYCS School Inspired by A Child’s Drawing
3.3 LYCS School Inspired by A Child’s Drawing “Traditional primary and secondary school planning in modern Chinese cities usually provides students and children with an adult-scale campus environment at an excessively early stage. Such environment gives no help to them in coping with high educational and social pressure. Facing these phenomenon, it is the architects’ responsibility to subversively break these conventions in school planning and offer children with space of their own scale and age in which they will enjoy living and studying,” explains LYCS. Dynamically shaped staircases and corridors are designed to provide both circulation and activity space, while gabled volumes contain common areas for a variety of gatherings and social activities. Envisioned as a “mini-society,” the school will enable students to “build their own social consciousness with daily experience.”
3.3 LYCS School Inspired by A Child’s Drawing
The varying height of the rooflines create a dynamic skyline, while interstitial spaces between buildings offer playspace and courtyards of different paving and landscape surfaces. Building facades vary in color, material and openings to signify their use, helping children to easily identify their location and form a cognitive map of the campus. The kindergarten building, an independent 4-story structure, is located near the main road of the city, and responds to its context with providing a “unified facade that coordinates with the overall urban interface.”
3.3 LYCS School Inspired by A Child’s Drawing Rooftop activity space maximize the structure’s capabilities, and feature space for activities such as gardening, theatre and runway, as well as reading rooms and relaxation areas. Additionally, elevated corridors and public spaces have been intentionally enlarged to connect the 2nd floors of each of the buildings, creating an another plane for public activity.
3.3 LYCS School Inspired by A Child’s Drawing
3.3 LYCS School Inspired by A Child’s Drawing According to LYCS, the variety and exuberance of the design will help children to bond and grow emotionally: “Adhering to a special variation in scale, the design of this entire campus closely follows the growth and emotion of its users.The design notion of ‘the story of a small town’ will allow students and children to enjoy their own fairy tale like campus.”