Adapt | The Supra-Urban City
8
The Vertical Neighborhood | Social Sustainability
Hong Kong provides the premier setting for experimentation into arcology, where conditions of extreme densities, diverse economies, and preference for the vertical converge for this utopian vision. In the vibrant city of Hong Kong, historic housing demands, the intense reliance on agricultural and industrial imports, and the fact that massive buildings devour 89% of all generated electricity, all point to the need for a new archetype of buildings and systems to be implemented. There are two integral components to the success of an arcology; the Social Sustainability and the Environmental Sustainability. The coordination of these responsibilities gives the programming and structural design to the tower. Taking cues from successful urban neighborhoods, social sustainability is about the integration of residential, commercial, and business interests into a flexible and expandable community. Units, or “Vertical Neighborhoods,” are strategically composed to reflect the diversity of the traditional street, by providing all essential services within themselves, while leaving room for growth and development. Environmental sustainability is demonstrated through passive systems and the organization of technology. Industrial and agricultural processes are composed to complement each other by the flow of waste, water, energy and food. This arcology looks to internalize the processes of aquaculture, waste treatment, water treatment, and the concept of living directly with local crop production. This is ambitious architecture, this is an arcology.
Only a few key components go in to creating a successful neighborhood: access to goods and services, amenities and entertainment, strategic placement of public/green spaces, and walkability. To achieve these components and maintain strong personal and vocational connections, the tower is divided into several “sub-towers” each housing the necessary elements of a successful neighborhood. Each sub-tower houses residential, entertainment, business, and commercial services, offering the ability to live, work, and play without leaving your neighborhood. Each vertical neighborhood starts with a large public plaza surrounded by shops, businesses, and other service industry program. As one moves vertically from this heart of the subcity, program becomes less dense and more residential; mimicking the gradient of a large metropolis as it becomes individual suburbs. Each micro-community benefits from the next: creating an overall network of communities that make a socially sustainable stable tower, while every sub-tower is sandwiched between smaller collection of floors for either Recreation, Education, or Farming.
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8
7 6 1
7
8 4
7
4
5 4 3 5
4
4
2
3
2
3
7
3 7 4
2
8 6
3 6 7 6 6
1
6 7
3 5 5 4 3 5
7 6 6 4
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4
1
1
Exterior Circulation
5
Business + Office
2
Interior Circulation
6
Studio/1BR Apts
3
Green Space
7
2/3 BR Apts
4
Retail + Service Industry
8
Condo/House
1000000716
Systems + Technology A fully integrated system begins with a passive planning strategy to maximize site conditions such as light, wind and water, and is then strengthened through a diverse array of technological innovation and traditional agrarian practices. The program is distributed vertically to allow consistency and ease in the flow of byproducts.
Water + Waste Water management is critical in Hong Kong. Channels in the top of each concentric ring captures rainfall filters it and distributes to Cisterns, while piping in the bottom of the ring moves waste water to treatment plants and programs in the building for reuse.
Energy Collecting Mesh
Surface make use of Solar Panels Wind Turbines fill Mesh Gaps
Development Systems
3D printing on tracks Construction components
Vertical Neighborhood Residential Levels
Farming + Grazing Plane
Agriculture Grazing Space Livestock Barns Waste Water Treatment
Public Levels Residential Levels
Agricultural Levels
Solar + Natural Light
Farming Fish + Water Algea + Energy
Recreation Levels Vertical Neighborhood Residential Levels Public Levels
The Neighborhood | Programmatic Breakdown 1
Agricultural Levels Farming Fish + Water Algea + Energy
Exterior Circulation
2
Interior Circulation
3
Green Space
4
Retail + Service Industry
Passive design principles are enlisted to create large openings for natural light. The core is hollowed to create a light well, furthered by expansive openings within each unit’s facade. The ring’s infrastructure is also capped with an array of solar panels, capturing solar energy. The energy produced by the building is used throughout the tower.
Crop + Aquaculture
Orchard Production Greenhouse Horticulture Fisheries Algea Fuel
Recreational Spaces
Open Air Sports Fields Swimming Pools Bike + Running Tracks
Education Levels
Wind Engery + Ventilation
Vertical Neighborhood Residential Levels Public Levels
Connects Neighborhood to Neighborhood
5
Recreation Levels
Business + Office
Connects Floors within each Neighborhood
6
Studio/1BR Apts
Greets travelers as they step off circulation paths
7
2/3 BR Apts
Concentrated near the heart of the Neighborhood
8
Condo and House
Arena Street + Public Levels Museum Space
A flexible, permeable skin allows energy generation and passive cooling throughout the building. The facade can react to environmental conditions providing calm, cool interior conditions while allowing natural ventilation where appropriate. Furthermore, large wind speeds at high altitudes will be captured with turbines inserted into the building’s mesh facade.
Residential Neighborhoods
Developable Greenspace Gardens + Parks Interstial Open Space
Retail
Distributed between public and private
Transit Hub
Tower Structure + Function
Environmental Site Analysis
%
% 60
TR
AN SP
OR
TA TI
ON
AG R
18
N
DI
IL
BU
GS
CO2 Emissions
ST
RY TE
DU /IN
W AS
RE IC
UL TU
5%
Actual Emissions
Projected Emissions
38 36 Influx of Imported Nuclear Energy
34 32 1990
1995
Allows for flexible & adaptable program
Lateral Bracing + Environmental System
3D Printed Infill
Floor Plates
Structural Skin
Connects Rings + Supports Program
Circulation + Structure + Water
Inner Rings
Outer Rings
Ring Circulation from Plaza
Elevators to each Plaza
2000
2005
2010
2015
Automobile and Boat Access
Projectedand Population Growth Flexibility Adaptation
42 40
Larger housing units with ‘yards’ and garden space
Transportation + Connectivity
Projected Population Growth
89
%
Electrical Usage Emissions
Present Day
44
4%
Aides in the gradient from dense urban to residential suburban
Building Adapts in Response to Need
46
S
NG
DI
IL
BU
Circulation + Structure + Solar + Water
Structure, Circulation, and Flexible Program
The structural rings create the foundation to this arcology, with the function of carrying dead and live loads, primary circulation, as well as providing water movement and enegry collection. The rings connect the interior and exterior of the floorplates, which are equipt with 3D printers on a track system. The plates and printers allow the residents to determine programatic and spatial configurations that can be altered at any time, based on need. When the need for additional agriculture, education, commerce or residential arises, 3D printing can reorganize potential spaces. The rings are reinforced with a structural facade that that wraps the tower and provides energy production and C02 mitigation. Ideally, the tower can be segment into sub-communities, as vertical neighborhoods, that strengthen the character of the arcology.
% 11 HER OT
Accommodates density near Neighborhood Center
Subterranean Transit
2020 2013
2025
2050
2075
3000
View of Plaza at the base each Neighborhood Unit
The arcology taps into the extensive shipping and travel networks of the city. An open air plaza on the ground floor accepts the pedestrian into the arcology and can quickly wisk them to the various neighborhoods via vertical transportation. Dropping below ground, a travel hub provides connection to the city subway system, or the marine dock that emerges into the bay.