okr depth cases laura peters
about brussels and the depth cases
In the beginning of November the group made a study trip to Brussels, Belgium, to find relationships to our study area in London, the Old Kent Road. In a first view, the relation was not clear: how a relatvely small city could have similar aspects to the Old Kent Road, a place with a strong industrial character , mixed with the commerce and housing present on most of the roads in London? Brussels is a mixed city. Walking around it, even in the centre and historical places, you can find housing building with different kind of commerce on the ground flor, some manufacture places, streets only for car trading business, big markets. In 20 minutes from de centre there is Buda, an industrial area in Flanders, witch you can find many types of industries, mixed with housing areas as well. In a exercise arround the city, we were challenge to find and draw depth situations, places you can see throw or walk inside the block or building. The drawing represents a depth case study in the centre of Brussels, Belgium. Walking around the street you can find 4 entrances that leads you true inside a block, ending in a bright pink gallery with a glass roof. The gallery contains shops, nail services, cinema, entrance to a hotel and restaurants, besides an entrance to a housing building situated inside the block, not visible from outside.
Despite the doubtful materiality and use of these space, the ideia of entering a consolidated block by narrow paths, being able to cross by it and connecting to another building inside makes it interesting, peculiar and maybe worth studying. Taking in account and trying to understand the potential this space has, the axonometric drawing shows the buildings that face the street, forming the block, overlapping the path inside, showing where the entrances are and what streets they connect to. The gallery it’s represented with an indication of how the roof and structure are, the walkable public way and what faces it - the shops and services. Also, the empty space between the wall of the outside buildings and the residential one inside generates facades facing the interior witch are also represented. The main interest although is to highlight the public path, that connect the streets and gives depth do the block, thinking it as a third element attached to the block to connect and create shortcuts. That way, maybe other forms of attachments and connections despite a gallery could be tried out, bringing the question on how to create an efficient depth into a block, and what forms it can take - a gallery, an empty space, a park, just a roof, etc.
gre
try
stra
at
housing shops inside the gallerynail services / shops
shops inside the gallery nail services / shoe shops
housing
gree
pstr aat
shops inside the gallery antiques shops / restaurants
housing
retail / shops
retail and shops
housing
cinema
bar bar retail / shops
entrance to the middle building
kt
mar
gras
about old kent road and the depth cases
The Old Kent Road, situated in the southeast of London, was part of an ancient trackway rout, being still part of a major road that connects London to Dover. The area presents a distinguished characteristic then most of the others roads in London. Besides a serie of retail shops through the extension, it has a bunch of industries of different scales, since manufacturing to big recycling centres. The industrial character began to take place in 1811 with the opening of the Surrey Canal, and the road fully consolidated with commercial trades, markets and housing by 1845, when the bricklayers arms station was opened. The area it’s going through a changing process. With the hight value of the land in the central areas the demand for housing in other areas of London has been increasing exponentially. That way, less central areas are being pushed for the construction of housing, generating a rise in the land price, witch in many cases makes small business, considered less economically valuable, leave the area for more suburban ones. But, if the manufacture and small industry continue to leave, this part of the city can lose its historical formation and the value of being a mix and dynamic area.
This sequence of drawing intents to represent an interesting aspect present on Old Kent Road and surroundings. The cases shows situations with an intense use of the space with a mix use, including industries, housing, commerce and smaller sectors like churches and manufacturing. Beyond being exemples of small bits of city where the mix use works and creates a nice dynamic, they all represent cases os depth in the block, witch means that the walkable and visual space inside the block goes beyond the entrance in the facade. This places of depth, usually behind the front of the buildings, are were the city actually works, almost like infrastructures, and they start to be even more interesting when shared by more then one business, like the areas in case. So, the axonometric drawings represents how this places works, the movement and life they have inside, how the business work together sharing the space between them. This places cannot be considered “pretty” or “attractive” as architectural pieces, but they work in a way that has a big value for studying, as say a lot about what the Old Kent Road and surrounding is.
01. surrey canal road
art studio housing
workshops
art studio housing
art studio and housing
workshops renewal manegement
art studio and housing
mechanic storage
office
mechanics and storage
office
mechanics
mechanics storage
mechanics
mechanics storage
total area : 7212 m2 total area : 7212 m2area : 3240 m2 walkable walkable area : 3240 m2 maximum hight : 12m maximum hight : 12m of entrances :2 numbernumber of entrances :2 of businisses : 14 numbernumber of businisses : 14 types od use : 4od use : 4 types notes : notes : -it’s possible to cross by foot in the morning -it’s possible to cross by foot in the morning -it will be demolished for the New Bermondsey Station project -it to will demolished -righ next thebe Millwall stadium for the New Bermondsey Station project
-righ next to the Millwall stadium
case 01 surrey canal road
02. verney 02. road verney road
plants culture glass workshop
storage
plants culture glass workshop plants culture storage
glass workshop
storage
offices
offices
storage
offices
house state agents house state agents house state agents
total area : 10893 m2 area totalwalkable area : 10893 m2: 3334 m2 walkable area : 3334 m2: 9m maximum hight maximum hight : 9m number of entrances : 1 total area : 10893 m2 number of entrances :1 number businisses :8 walkable area of : 3334 m2 number of businisses : 8 types od use : 2 maximum hight : 9m types od use : 2 number of entrances : 1 number of businisses :8 : notesnotes : types-it’s od ause : 2 trading -it’s a trading state state notes : -it’s a trading state
storage
storage
case 02 t marchant trading estate
03. southwark reuse and recycling centre
old gas works structures
personal storage
housing, retail and a church
hertz car rental
housing and retail
housing
old ad t ro
ken
department store
vacant warehouse
mothercare centre offices hss hire- tool hire and equipment
tranding estate (case 02)
housing
housing
southwark reuse and recycling centre
This axonometric section of Old Kent Road and surroundings represents mainly the Southwark Reuse and Recycling Centre, a big industrial area were the gas works structures are. The metallic structures can be considered a historic patrimony of the area, once it was constructed in 1830 and worked until 1908, an importing landmark of the area. The drawing aim to study the mix of uses and scales presented in this area, as it goes thru a small and large scale of industry as and residential blocks. In the immediate surround of the road there are residential buildings, retail and services with housing or offices above it, parking lots and some warehouses. The industries blocks are small and most of them presents depth cases, a space between buildings were the entrances and parking are. Further, the area taken by the Southwark Reuse and Recycling Centre creates a distance between Old Kent Road and the north side of the area, once it present a large industry scale. In this scenario, it can be seen how the smaller cases of depth communicates more into a pedestrian scale, more friendly to be next to a hight street. Further north there are more industries trading estates and housing buildings. Besides the industrial sites, residential ones also appear in the section, giving the view of how mixed this area is, as how typologically different the spaces are typologically, but can work together, being both industry and residential spaces important to the life this place has.
case 03 southwark reuse and recycling centre
458 old kent road
04. 04.
458 old kent road 458 old kent road
offices housing estate
religious institution offices offices
housing estate housing estate
religious religious institution institution
workshop
workshop workshop
tool hire & supplies citroen tool hire & supplies tool hire & supplies
pejout chinese
citroen pejout restaurant citroen pejout chinese chinese restaurant restaurant
retail retail retail
total area : 5651 m2 walkable area : 1606 m2 totaltotal area : 5651 m2 area : 5651 m2 walkable area : 1606 m2 maximum hight : 10m walkable area : 1606 m2 maximum hight : 10m number of entrances :1 maximum hight : 10m number of entrances :1 :1 number of businisses :6 number of entrances number of businisses :6 number businisses typesofod use : 4 : 6 types od use :4 :4 types od use notes :
notes : : notes -in between housing and sites industrial sites -in between housing and industrial -in between housing and industrial sites -the industrial site next to itredeveloped has been redeveloped as housing -the-the industrial site next to it has been as housing industrial site next to it has been redeveloped as housing
case 04 458 okr
trying out some strategies
After studying some depth cases in the Old Kent Road area, it was time to try out some preliminar strategies in how to approach a design project in this kind of typology. This strategies were thought using the cases as basis, what was good about them and what need to improve. Also, all of them try to think in how to maintain this typology typical from the area despite the financial speculation and recent projects for the area, in a way that the warehouses as depth situations could work in combination to the new housing projects.
01. active facade creating programs such as commerce in the front facade of the warehouses our any typology helps bringing people to the area our even inside the depth, creating a movement day and night and helping the local economy
02. flexibility in a time of constant changes in economy, its useful to have building and warehouses that could change its layout to contain may kinds os programs and business. A housing project could have a small industry in the ground floor, our a commerce; a warehouse could change its typology to contain business, housing, industry, studios, etc. That way the area can change without the need of demolishing buildings.
03. mixed use
04. cross over
to have different programs in the same building or in a depth situation its important to diversify the use, generating all types of movement around the area, making possible to unite industrial, commerce and housing.
in depth cases, its important to create the possibility for pedestrians to cross over the lot, avoiding dead ends or areas that people are afraid to get in. Also, creates shortcuts and public spaces in combination with mixed uses.