MARCO GAZZOLA architect +31 6 31 20 56 64 +39 333 48 71 287 marcogazzola.ve@gmail.com http://issuu.com/marcogazzola
PORTFOLIO
Contents
R E F O U N D AT I O N WA L L L I B R A R Y WELCOME!
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PERMEABLE CITY SOUNDSCAPES
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AFSLUITBAAR OPEN RIJNMOND
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FLOODPROOF URBAN FURNITURE SOCIAL CLUB
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ADAPTIVE BUILDING 1/2
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ADAPTIVE BUILDING 2/2
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ENERGY LANDSCAPE
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PEOPLE MAKE INNER CITY P I E K S T R A AT
G A L AT A G R E E K S C H O O L
INTRAMEZZO
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RUISSEAU SAINTECLETTE
ARCHITEXTILES
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THEMES AND PROJECTS 2006-2013
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Foreword
Believing, as William Morris said, that architecture is “the moulding and altering to human needs of the very face of the Earth itself”, through my studies and my work I developed a deep interest in the relationship between built and natural environment. Man-made environment has grown to such an extent that it can now deeply affect natural environment and, in its turn, natural environment is heavily challenging man’s adaptive skills. Nowadays it’s getting harder and harder to identify a border between these two domains. The border has actually become a fragmented edge, with the two realms permeating each other. As designers, we are today asked to shape this new environment, at every scale. But it’s not only about a new context in which to work, it’s also about different issues to be addressed: the lack of responsibility and awareness in what we do (both as designers and citizens), the breaking-up of social relations, the growth of population far beyond Earth’s carrying capacity, people’s migrations and climate change. These are the features to consider in the conception of a new architecture for the ‘edge’. It goes without saying that such a new complex architecture requires a specific approach. In a moment in which the work of designers is questioned by society, I see this need of new tools and strategies as a chance for designers to claim a new, much-needed, social role. Multidisciplinary, site-specific, resilient, self-sufficient, climate-responsive, mimicry of nature, lifecycle, social component, reuse, biodiversity, permeable, flexible: these shall be the key words of our designs from now on. The selection of projects displayed in this portfolio shows some steps in that direction.
April 2013 Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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The typical layout for suburban residential areas: single, detached houses with private gardens. It’s a waste of space and it doesn’t stimulate any kind of interaction between people.
Each building is a carved slab. Making the shape of the building more compact, a large percentage of the site can be green. The typology of the courtyard stimulates social relations and enhances the spatial quality of common areas.
refoundation sustainable dwellings for a changing society Master Degree in Architecture for Sustainability - first year IUAV University of Venice ( I )
We define an inside and an outside and so different degrees of intimacy and privacy. This can make the system of social relations more articulate and interesting. Trees provide shelter from noise and overview from the street. Pedestrian paths cross the site, opening new routes throughout the neighbourhood.
The courtyard opens up towards South and West, allowing sunlight and warmth to reach the dwellings while Northern cold winds have to face compact walls. Tha same strategy is used for what concerns windows and terraces.
The project is located in Treviso, a middle-sized city of Veneto region, in the North East of Italy. This part of the country is one of the richest and industrialized ones and, during the last years, it has attracted many immigrant workers from Northern Africa and Eastern Europe. All this has happened quite fast and people had no time to get accustomed to this phenomenon and problems with integration occured. Nevertheless, we may like it or not, the composition of Italian society is changing. Apart from immigrants, our society is getting older and older, the traditional family is quite rare, many people live alone or in couples. Moreover, the outskirts of Treviso are made of a continous fabric of single houses with their own garden. When asked to design a dwelling complex in Treviso, an architect cannot ignore all this. The first step in designing this proposal was to draw a shape which aimed to be evocative of a different (maybe old-fashioned) living dimension: the courtyard. Believing that living in a city means sharing something with the others, we tried to recall this fact in the layout of the settlement. Then, another issue emerged: privacy. Of course it is a fundamental requirement for a house and for this reason the building grants privacy but it also explores different nuances of it and tries
to structure it. The access to the lodgings is from the courtyard. The ones at the groundfloor level own a small front garden, which marks the passage between the private sphere of everyone’s own house and the common space of the courtyard. When possible, apartments on the upper levels are given a terrace for the same reason. The same principle is applied to spaces inside and outside the courtyard. The green public area around the building, crossed by pedestrian routes which connect the new settlement to the rest of the context, improves the permeability of the context itself. The whole project is based on the balance between private and public sphere. We think that only keeping an eye on this a new, cohesive society can be built. To make sure that social mixing occurs in the settlement, lodgings are very different in size and number of rooms, to be able to attract people of different age, social background, number of members in the family and so on. Sustainability principles and techniques like rainwater collection, solar energy production and evaluation of the life cycle of building materials are also taken into great account.
R E F O U N D AT I O N
insertion of the buildings in the urban context
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R E F O U N D AT I O N
left and bottom groundfloor plan of the whole settlement longitudinal section
right conceptual views of the public areas
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R E F O U N D AT I O N
left west elevation and cross section
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right and bottom conceptual views of the inner courtyard typologies of dwellings
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view of model scale 1:200
R E F O U N D AT I O N
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simulations of solar radiation on the site ortographic projections of the shading on particular walls in specific days of the year
Orthographic Projection
Date/Time: 12:00, 21st Dec Dotted lines: July-December. HSA: 37.6°, VSA: 26.0°
Location: 45.4°, 12.3° Obj 3035 Orientation: 0.0°, 0.0° Sun Position: 178.0°, 21.1°
Orthographic Projection
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Date/Time: 12:00, 21st Dec Dotted lines: July-December. HSA: 37.6°, VSA: 26.0°
Location: 45.4°, 12.3° Obj 3035 Orientation: 0.0°, 0.0° Sun Position: 178.0°, 21.1°
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different openings and colours of the facades according to the orientatation
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R E F O U N D AT I O N
rainwater collection and wastewater management gutters leading rainwater to collection storages pipes leading treated rainwater to users pipes leading greywaters to natural cleansing rainwater collection areas and storages greywaters collection tanks and natural cleansing area
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Venice
VENETIAN LAGOON
Lido
ADRIATIC SEA
Lazzaretto Vecchio
wall library conversion of venice’s quarantine island Master Degree in Architecture for Sustainability - first year IUAV University of Venice ( I )
Lazzaretto Vecchio is a small square piece of land in the Venetian Lagoon where for centuries people and goods coming from overseas where forced to stay for sanitary purposes, before being authorized to access the city. We could easily call it a Quarantine Island. The function of the place gave origin to a specific layout: the whole island is surrounded and enclosed by long linear buildings arranged around a system of courtyards. An old monastery was also there. The principle of enclosure is what gives the island a highly recognizable image and a unique feeling to visitors. After decades of decay and neglection, the municipality has decided to convert the whole cluster of buildings into the museum of the city. The architetcure of the old warehouses is particularly suitable for exhibiting purposes but the existing buildings are not enough to host the whole programme of the new cultural centre. The island is naturally divided into three parts: the Eastern half, with its parallel buildings and courtyards will be the permanent exhibition area; the Western half, with many diverse buidlings arranged around a central square, will provide access to library, mediateque, laboratories, temporary exhibition and visitors centre; the small Southern island will be a hostel for researchers and tourists.
The project is composed by a few elements. First of all, restoration and conversion of historical structures: the process is guided by principles such as defense from high water, respect of historical identity, energy efficiency and reversibility. The second point is a display of pavements across the island which can interconnect all the parts making them usable by visitors without reducing the natural porosity of the ground. The third part of the strategy is the careful insertion of a new building on the Northen side of the central square, along the perimetral wall. The new library is conceptually a new wall, made of books, which runs parallel to the historical one so defining a space in-between where calm and concentration can be found. The library is then covered with a layer of vegetation which, one one hand is supposed to better keep under control the energy consumption of the new intervention and on the other keeps formally old/new buildings and open spaces together by means of lines, paths, routing and visual connection. The design of the library aimed to make it as sustainable as possible: besides the green layer and the optimization of installations using sea water, a great effort was made to achieve a dry construction building.
WA L L L I B R A R Y
left position of the island in the Venetian Lagoon right new layout of the island
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18/19 left main view of the new library plan of the island with insertion of the new volumes bottom main square and new library , cross section bottom right new library, front elevation
WA L L L I B R A R Y
new library ground floor plan, scale 1.200
new library first floor plan, scale 1.200
20/21 new library, cross section scale 1:50
WA L L L I B R A R Y
interior views
sun studies
22/23
right metropolitan area between the cities of Venice, Padua and Treviso and comparison with similar recent urban redevelopment areas in Europe
welcome! venice west waterfront towards knowledge society of 2050 Master Degree in Architecture for Sustainability - second year IUAV University of Venice ( I )
The site of the project is the Western waterfront of the city and the Maritime Terminal in particular. The output needed to be a wider plan for the whole city, a vision for the future of Venice in 2050. This vision followed the guidelines of the Lisbon Strategy produced by the European Union in 2000. According to this document, the only way for the Old Continent to cope with the competition between emerging countries to achieve a leading role in the future world, is to build a society based on knowledge. The European Knowledge Society of 2050, the most competitive and dynamic in the world, shall be based on a sustainable economic growth and a stronger social cohesion. Four main topics (driving forces) had to be explored: Knowledge, Innovation, Tolerance and Welcome. This project focusses on the last one. Knowledge Society must of necessity be welcoming. With this word we meant to describe an open social milieu which offers and receives cultural and technological contributions, able to metabolize them but also to attract them, since its survival depends on this. Venice has always built its fortune on being a welcoming city in this sense, but in the last two centuries it
has not been able to re-invent itself and has undergone a long period of decay. The Western waterfront becomes a new knowledge pole promoting the reestablishment of healthy environmental conditions in the fragile (and heavily polluted) ecosystem of the lagoon. The design process involved the definition of principles, of a method structured into goals, steps and tools. As we already said, the main principle is the welcome but the main goal is sharing (knowledge, resources, experiences...). The project deals with these features by means of creative design and metabolic evaluation of resources. All these steps were dealt with using the holistic model, studying the interaction between the elements which form the project, a project that doesn’t produce a plan (logic of command) but an agenda, an action programme for the achievement of three major goals: increase of social cohesion, preservation and increase of natural resources, increase of ecoefficiency. After understanding the historical, social, natural and physical context in which we were supposed to act we designed a building with a key role in the larger plan previously developed.
WELCOME!
railway lines highways urban areas port areas
Cologne (Germany) - Rheinauhafen
Hamburg (Germany) - Hafencity
Venice (Italy) - Maritime Terminal
Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Oosterdok
Amsterdam (Netherlands) - IJburg
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Old industrial buildings are to be found all around the area
STUDY AREA
SAN GIOBBE (ex Abattoir) Ca’ Foscari University Faculty of Economy
The Maritime Terminal is a restricted part of the city
TRONCHETTO ISLAND car parks and office district
RAILWAY STATION
Large areas are occupied by railway equipment
PIAZZALE ROMA car parks, bus terminal
Quick and direct connection to the mainland
Historical buildings mixed with modern infrastructures
MARITIME TERMINAL cruises and ferries
The Western waterfront is a huge complex of transport infrastructures. It was mainly conceived during Austrian Domination in the 19th c. It was meant to bring by force Venice into the Industrial Age. In the following years, from Fascist Era to the age of mass tourism, pieces out of proportion and with nothing to do with the morphology of the city were added, so that the traditional orientation of Venice was inverted, from seaward to landward. The university premises of San Giobbe and Santa Marta are the physical and conceptual limits of the study area.
SANTA MARTA (ex Cotton Mill) IUAV University Faculty of Architetcure
WELCOME!
Map of welcome infrastructures and networks route from San Giobbe premises (Ca’Foscari University) to the Ex Cottonmill (IUAV) informal - formal (is the interaction programmed or not?) temporary - permanent (is the service always available or not?) physical - virtual (can the interaction be also virtual?) international - local (degree of internationality) passive - active (is the relationship top-down or also bottom-up?) simple - integrated (is the service part of a network or not?)
ACCESS public
train bus waterbus ferry
private
car boat DWELLING hotels bed & breakfast public dormitory
students residences colleges - hostels students dwellings
SOCIAL RELATIONS green areas theatres - cinemas galleries - museums university buildings public spaces religious buildings ASSISTANCE university cafeterias sport facilities private foundations children - elderly
The goal of the map was to have a realistic understanding of the situation of reception infrastructures in the study area, for what concerns both quantity and quality. From the map we can also see that the distribution of them is not random. Actually it forms a sort of backbone, along which and never too far from which welcome infrastructures are. This is the actual configuration of the axis we outlined to fix boundaries for our study area. Another observation we can make is about the fact that the equipped axis doesn’t touch the port areas we will work on.
26/27 Masterplan - Venice West Waterfront 2050 The main feature is the fragmentation of the huge concrete slabs into new islands, in order to bring them back to a more urban (Venetian) scale. On the West side there is a public park. This large green area is the alter ego of the other major historical green area of the city, the Giardini della Biennale, at the opposite side of the city. Nature is integrated with devices of different kinds which produce energy from renewable resources. Some buildings are in it to provide services and equipment in support of the park and its activities. On the long and narrow island stretching along the bank of the historical centre there is a new part of the city. Its backbone is the tramway line which runs for its entire length. The tramway becomes the main accessway to Venice. Only special categories of cars and buses are allowed to reach Piazzale Roma. With its length and its position along the new marina, the tramway makes this area an important interchange point for the entire lagoon and probably the best interconnected area of the city. Along this new axis there are both dwellings and public buildings. These ones host those activities which are supposed to take part to the renewal of the city, towards the goal of Knowledge Society 2050, the restoring of the lagoon environment and the creation of a dynamic, responsible and happy society.
The diffusion of knowledge takes place in informal ways, it exploits an unlimited resource and enriches the human stock in aesthetics, identity and interculturality. Exchange and condivision take place either in physical spaces or in virtual spaces and for this reason connection to the internet is so important for the sustainable project. The net is the new infrastructure, with unlimited possibilities of updating/upgrading. The space to refer to is between global and local. The goal is to provide places as informal, temporary and integrated as possible; to promote more flexible relationships between public organization and citizens and to restore and increase the natural stock.
WELCOME!
new waterfront and marina
view of the stepped square towards the technological park
low dwellings on the back waterfornt
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WELCOME!
In the 19th century, it could frequently happen to the students of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris to have some work to do on their project just a few hours before the deadline. The only option was to work when they were already on the way to school, on board of the horse-pulled carriage, in French charrette. ‘To be on charrette’ means to be at the final step of a work (especially team work), discussing and finishing its final outcome. The term is still used today to describe those experiences of ‘shared design’ when the designers and all the other stakeholders, who took or will take part to the project, meet in a very informal way, to share opinions and points of view in order to discuss a project that is already at an advanced level. The aim of this is to produce and realize projects (mainly at a large scale) in a more democratic and effective way. In the last years this method has been used succesfully in many situations and centres of research have grown to study it and improve it. This method has proved to be particularly useful when dealing with ‘difficult’ social environment or with our contemporary everchanging society. This could be an effective way to face the problems of contemporary Venice. The city is about to undergo massive changes and important projects need to be launched. All this must be done in close contact with citizens. Moreover, the complexity (environmental and economic issues) of the situation makes it necessary to keep in touch with researchers, universities, spokesmen of the most important economic sectors and obviously the public administration. A Charrette event lasts for a few days and it is divided into specific steps. People have to work in small and wider groups around the same table, experts give short lectures, spaces for producing drawings or maquettes are required and finally a public exhibition is supposed to be organized. Spaces suitable for these steps are provided in the main body of our building. Rooms of different size and with different heights are grouped on the two sides of the atrium (first and second floors) and are connected one to the other by means of ramps. Just around the atrium, in direct relationship with the main spaces, we find smaller rooms for small group activities. On the North side, the service block hosts offices, rooms with technical equipment and an auditorium. The upper floors are a hostel. We wanted the building to provide every service useful to Charrette events, sleeping too. We shall remember that people productivity grows in informal situations rather than in formal ones. For this reason the main spaces are directly linked by staircases and lifts to the groundfloor where a public bar-restaurantbookshop is. The building is directly connected to water.
left Charrette alization of the outside bottom water facade and cross section 1:1000 right ground floor plan 1:1000
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left interior views of main lobby and main charrette hall top main floor plan with different layout options, 1:1000 right model
WELCOME!
main charrette space work in large groups
second charrette space workshop, drawing, models support rooms work in small groups third charrette space exhibitions, lectures
bar restaurant bookshop
open air gallery
central hall roof garden
hostel
open air gallery
auditorium
plotters, computers tecnhical equipment
technical area heating/cooling plant
offices
32/33 Climatic chart tundra mediterranean coastal mediterranean mediterranean mild oceanic humid subtropical humid continental cold continental
Annual average rainfall [mm] 350 - 630 630 - 920 920 - 1200 1200 - 1500 1500 - 1800 1800 - 2100 2100 - 2375 2375 - 2650 2650 - 2950
PERMEABLE CITY water-sensitive urban design towards climate change Master Degree Thesis in Architecture for Sustainability IUAV University of Venice ( I )
Soil desertification very low low medium high very high
There is no other natural resource on which mankind makes such heavy and complex demands as it does on water. Water management is one of the oldest driving forces in urban development. In the past, mankind has used the most advanced technologies at its disposal. Art, architecture and engineering were a unit and worked together. For these reasons water has always been the centre of a fundamental part of mankind’s social relations. Its management reflected the way society itself worked, it was the basis of its stability and embodied the relationship between city and territory. If you ask people about environmental problems, more of them are aware of traffic, noise and air pollution but water is almost never mentioned. We need to drink water every day so why is it not watched with particular care? Why water should be a problem in Europe? Actually the main issues to be dealt with are a shortage of water of outstanding quality and the pollution of water bodies, which goes far beyond the point at which rivers can clean by themselves. In recent decades people have become accustomed to the fact that rivers are not suitable for bathing or springs for drinking. Even tap water is distrusted. Large cities draw only a tiny proportion of water from their own territory but poor groundwater quality means considerable expenses for treating and transporting water. The search
Annual average temperature [°C] - 12 / - 9 -8 /-6 -5 /-2 -1 / 1 2 / 5 6 / 8 9 / 12 13 / 15 16 / 19
for an answer to these questions leads to the issue of the structure of the contemporary city itself. Its development began with the cholera epidemics which haunted many European cities during the 19th century. The construction of sewerage systems and the piping of drinking water to individual houses changed the relationship between the city and the citizens. Many aspects of everyday life were withdrawn from civil authority and handed over to state and municipal bureaucracies making citizens less responsible of vital processes within the city. Significant elements of urban life were no longer directly visible. So the water problem extends between two poles: the material side, as a threat to the quality of the resource, and a social side, which is characterized by the loss of awareness of the problem. The solution is building the ‘water culture’ of our time. A sustainable water culture shall use different kinds of water for different purposes and the same lot of water put to work in different ways in use cascades. This is not simple and there are still many questions to be answered. Can we afford ecology? Are ecology and urban life contradictions in terms? Do towndwellers want to address, or better, under what conditions can they address, ecological urban redevelopment? How can ecology become a guideline for future cities? What do ecological aesthetics mean in concrete terms?
ALPINE REGIME
PERMEABLE CITY
temperatura media annuale - 5 / +8 °C piovosità 1200 - 2950 mm/anno 100 - 120 gg/anno
THE PROBLEM WATER RESOURCES IN ITALY Man’s bulding activities interrupted the water cycle, but neither person nor place is totally independent, all the elements which constitute the planet are connected in time and space. Stormwater management CAN restore the water cycle in urban areas. Data about quantity and quality, people’s lifestyle, environmental threats and future trends give us a framework on what to do and where to do it. CITIES COVER 2% OF EARTH’S SURFACE BUT THEY USE 75% OF RESOURCES
PO VALLEY REGIME temperatura media annuale 9 - 15 °C piovosità 630 - 920 mm/anno 60 - 100 gg/anno
today
EU urban population 75%
2020
EU urban population 80% (in certain countries 90%)
from 1950 to PRESENT DAY cities are grown of 78% their population of 33% The URBAN SPRAWL is the low-density way large urban areas grow, in the form of shapeless spots, with a tendency to discontinuity. No signs of halting in this process. It is getting faster due to improvements in means of transportation.
urbanized land > 25%
90% of existing Italian building stock
lack of planning in the use of land resources uncontrolled increase in energy and resources consumption
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF THE PLANET HAVE TO BE SOLVED IN THE URBAN REALM ITALY IS ONE OF THE RICHEST NATIONS IN WATER OF THE WORLD. THE PROBLEM IS NOT QUANTITY BUT QUALITY AND MANAGEMENT
CENTRAL REGIME C t temperatura media annuale 6 - 15 °C ppiovosità 630- 1500 mm/anno 6 60 - 80 / 100 - 120 gg/anno 6
155 billion m3 ANNUAL AVAILABILITY IN THEORY 2.700 m3 PER CAPITA due to irregularities and ineffectiveness 42 billion m3 ACTUAL ANNUAL AVAILABILITY
AGRICULTURE
49%
INDUSTRY
21%
DOMESTIC NEEDS
19%
PRODUCTION OF ENERGY 11%
764 m3 PER CAPITA
SOUTHERN REGIME temperatura media annuale 13 - 19 °C piovosità 350 - 920 mm/anno 60 - 100 gg/anno
37% of the water flowing in pipes does not arrive to people Italy is the major daily water consumer of Europe: 280 l/pers day 15% of Italian population, from June to September, doesn’t meet its minimal water need (50 l/pers day)
MAX Milan 359 l/pers day MIN Ascoli Piceno 104 l/pers day AVERAGE 90% of the cities 100-250 l/pers day
ITALY’S 97% OF FRESHWATER IS GROUNDWATER. IT MUST BE PROTECTED FROM POLLUTION AND INCREASING SOIL SALTINESS
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WATER INFRASTRUCTURES PERMEABILITY AT THE REGIONAL SCALE
URBAN MODELS PERMEABILITY AT THE URBAN SCALE
YEREBATAN SARAYI
CENTRAL PARK RESERVOIR
HABABA
MATERA
Istanbul (Turkey) 4th c. A.D.
New York (USA), 1856- 1862
Yemen, present day
TYPOLOGY underground urban cisterns for water storage
TYPOLOGY artificial storage basin integrated in a project of urban landscape
MORPHOLOGY on top of the hills a drainage network leads stormwater to basins protected by a fortress; on its way to the city, water passes through terraced fields and gardens and reaches another basin within the city centre partly integrated with the mosque.
Italy inhabited from 10.000 B.C. to 1750 A.D. (some parts are still inhabitated)
THE MEANING OF TRADITION BEST PRACTICES In the 19th century urban water supply and water management systems, which untill that moment had structured cities all around the world, underwent a hiding process. Industrial development and population growth had made them unhealthy and dangerous and new public health regulations were adopted. Rivers and streams were buried or were not accessible anymore, aqueducts and urban water reservoirs became a merely technical fact and no more an urban phenomenon, the city’s backbone, as they were before. Nowadays, dealing with stormwater management and looking for models of sustainable development (in order to produce contemporary ones), we want to restore that precious knowledge and to link our proposal to the interrupted stream of tradition, being aware that a city’s value lies mainly in the stratification of historical layers which constitute it. “[…] municipal control of water gave communal life a decided advantage over rural life. It was an evolutionary development that permitted larger number of individuals to survive. The stories of how our forebears faced the challenge of living in larger groups in a fragile and unforgiving landscape are germane to our own time of severe resource constraints.” D. Crouch, Water Management in Ancient Greek Cities, 1993
SIZE basilica cistern 138 x 65 x 7 m Filosseno’s cistern 64 x 56 x 15 m SUPPLY STRATEGY filled by stormwater or by the aqueduct SERVICE PERIOD from 4th to 15th century A.D. HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATIC CONTEXT mediterranean climate, plenty of water in the sorrounding mountains but constant danger of siege and being cut off from natural water resources
SIZE surface 43 hectares, capacity 4.000.000 m3 SUPPLY STRATEGY the basin was the water reservoir at the end of the aqueduct fed by the river Croton SERVICE PERIOD 1862 - 1993 HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATIC CONTEXT Manhattan has always had a few water resources of bad quality, due the early pollution, that led to the need of bringing water from ouside
POPULATION 30.000 inhabitants
ROLE OF WATER water is the main characteristic of the public spaces par excellence such as the market and the mosque.
MORPHOLOGY man inserted a city in a natural hydrologic regime in which stormwater flows rapidly from a plateau to the bottom of a canyon; the city absorbed this natural process, interacted for centuries with it, using it for human purposes by means of suitable architectural forms
HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATIC CONTEXT continental climate with cold Winter, severe differences of temperature between day and night and periodical intense rainfalls
ROLE OF WATER the collection of water has always had practical aims but its management has always been a social condenser and the pivot of local culture
PERMEABLE CITY
WATER TYPOLOGIES AND MORPHOLOGIES PERMEABILITY AT THE SCALE OF THE BUILDING
URBAN DEVICES PERMEABILITY AT LOCAL SCALE
KATSURA IMPERIAL VILLA
PONTE VECCHIO (OLD BRIDGE)
URBAN MILLS ISLAND
SEAWALL
Kyoto (Japan), 1620-24 and 1642-60
Florence (Italy), 1345
Padua (Italy), untill first years of the 20th c.
Footdee village - Aberdeen (Scotland), 19th c.
COMMISSIONER, DESIGN, FUNCTION Prince Hachijo Toshihito designed a country estate where he could embody the aristocratic lifestyle of the novel Genji Monogatari
COMMISSIONER, DESIGN, FUNCTION it replaced an older bridge destroyed by floodings, in 1442 city authorities forced the butchers to move on the bridge for health reasons
TYPOLOGY mills were directly built in the middle of the Piovego canal and connected one to the other by paths suspended on water
TYPOLOGY linear barrier placed at the back of row houses to face the storms of the North Sea, 120 m long, 4-5 m above mean sea level
MORPHOLOGY the landscape architecture of the time wanted gardens to represent natural rhythms; artificial basins and hills were designed to emulate nature; the insertion of the pavilions within the landscape sets up all the possible relationships between water and buildings
MORPHOLOGY buildings were first built filling old porticoes, then butchers expanded them on posts above the water; in 1506 Vasari designed the aerial passage on the upper level, linking the Medici’s urban Palazzo Vecchio with the suburban estate of Palazzo Pitti, on the other side of the river Arno
SUPPLY STRATEGY water was used as source of mechanical energy to move the machinery inside the buildings, the reason of building them in the middle of the canal was to make the most of its flow speed
URBAN VALUE OF THE DEVICE when this infrastructure, that encircles and protects the coastal side of the village, passes at the back of the houses becomes part of them, a sort of continuation of their pitched roof, a shelter, but nevertheless it maintains the pedestrian path on its top.
ROLE OF WATER water is the leading element of the composition; it is not just something to look at but a fundamental part of the project
ROLE OF WATER the bridge represents a spontaneous urban growth phenomenon, it is the continuation across the water of the urban fabric
URBAN VALUE OF THE DEVICE this preindustrial settlement was a specialized part of the city; its morphology was clearly linked to its functions and to the presence of water; it maintained the continuity of the urban fabric between the two shores of the canal
HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATIC CONTEXT the system fulfill peculiar needs: defence against the fury of the North Sea and the dangerous erosion of the waves
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project layers
INFILTRATION
urban tools
INFILTRATION BARRIERS ON STEEP SLOPES
VEGETATED SURFACES
ARTIFICIAL POROUS SURFACES
The major design strategy consists in cracking the impervious layer that, due to urbanisation, covers earth surface. Tha aim is to open passages for rainwater to infiltrate into soil deeper layers.
BACK TO NEIGHBOURHOOD SCALE GENERAL MODEL Permeable City works on four levels. Each level corresponds to a major issue dealing with water management. The aim of the system is to reduce urban water needs by means of water-sensitive policies and design strategies. The strategy consists in the insertion, within the existing urban fabric, of a network of ‘urban devices’ made of ‘nots’ and ‘streams’. ‘Nots’ are important points of infiltration, collection, storage and re-distribution of water, ‘streams’ are ditches, swales, channels, trenches or simply gutters that lead water to the ‘nots’. The leading design principle is visibility. In order to restore the relationship between towndwellers and water the new network shall be open and able to provide new urban spaces where water can be experienced. Meeting urban water needs will be easier if dealing with neighbourhood units. The era of large infrastructural networks is at the end. Considering the dimensions of contemporary cities and today’s energy problems, they are not affordable anymore. The city of the future has to be based on neighbourhood units where changes in lifestyle could really be effective on water shortage. The small scale can give citizens back part of the control on water management and raise their awareness. To be effective, projects must be site-specific and as multipourpose as possible.
COLLECTION AND STORAGE The system is composed by to different levels: collection on the roofs of buildings and storage in underground cisterns built under the open spaces.
OPEN DRAINAGE SYSTEM
PRIVATE STORAGE TANKS (for small needs)
SUPERFICIAL FLOODING WATERSQUARE (just a few meters deep)
COMMON UNDERGROUD CISTERNS (for big needs often under a watersquare)
DEEP FLOODING WATERSQUARE (many meters deep)
The runoff collected by the system is drained to infiltration areas or basins or to the urban water treatment plant. In any case it undergoes a partial infiltration due to its flowing through the vegetated canals.
TEMPORARY RETENTION The surfaces of the neighbourhood units work like a subtile drainage paths network. In the network there are ‘nots’, devices for temporay retention before infiltration.
OPEN DRAINAGE SYSTEM (‘canals’, streams...)
SUBTILE DRAINAGE NETWORK (paths a few centimeters deep, gentle slopes...)
COLLECTION ROOFS
FLOATING CISTERN ON RIVERS BANKS
PERMEABLE CITY
techniques NATURAL DRAINAGE SYSTEMS (NDS) “...the future task of urbanisation: the re-establishment, in a more complex unity, with the full use of the resources of modern science and techniques, of the ecological balance that originally prevailed between city and country in the primitive stages of urbanisation.” Lewis Mumford, from an article of 1956
“Water problems must be solved specifically and within the immediate vicinity for every town, every district, every neighbourhood. [...] The city of the future will have to be a city of neighbourhoods in which lifestyle and development are determined on a small scale .”
SITE SPECIFIC DESIGN - PRELIMINARY STUDIES natural permeability
natural porosity
water table
Herbert Dreiseitl, Waterscapes, 2001
MULTIPURPOSE INFRASTRUCTURES
ARTIFICIAL DRAINAGE SYSTEMS (ADS)
floating cisterns
DESIGN OF SOIL PERMEABILITY
superficial watersquare (retention)
superficial watersquare (retention and storage)
deep watersquare (retention and storage)
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PRELIMINARY STUDIES
INTERVENTION STRATEGY
PLUVIOMETRIC REGIME AND CLIMATE
STORAGE CISTERNS CAN BE QUITE SMALL DUE TO RAINFALL FREQUENCY COLLECTION NEEDS ARE MEDIUM DUE TO RAINFALL INTENSITY
PROJECT CASE STUDY 02
WHERE From Turin to Trieste, throughout the Po Valley across all Northern Italy WHEN Two peaks in Summer and Autumn and a marked minimum in Winter during which water shortage is not rare HOW MUCH 60-100 d/year ; 630-920 mm/year ANNUAL AV. TEMPERATURE 9 - 15 °C URBANIZATION
GREEN AREAS Unused and lacking in quality, in spite of their scarcity PARKING AREAS Large, one-task, impervious, increasing heat island effect RIVER Polluted, easily accessible from the city but abandoned all the same, it receive the overflow of the public sewer system in case of heavy rainfall. STREETS straight, sometimes planted, large enough to be re-configurated alluvial plain terraces delta coastal plain
OROGRAPHY AND PEDOLOGY
river
RAINFALL VARIATIONS MAKE IT NECESSARY TO TEMPORARILY RETAIN RUNOFF DISCHARGE TO PUBLIC SEWER SYSTEM TO AVOID DANGEROUS PEAK CHARGES
sea
The Po Valley is Western Europe’s largest ALLUVIAL PLAIN (30.000 Km2). The soil is made by gravel, sand, silt and clay, layered by the river flow. The landscape changes quite frequently along the river Po.
common cisterns DRAINAGE AND INFILTRATION DEVICES WILL BE REQUIRED TO STOP SEWER OVERFLOW GOING INTO THE RIVER THE RIVER MUST BE ACCESSIBLE AGAIN
DETERIORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CITY AND URBAN WATER BODIES (RIVER)
floating tanks
OPEN SPACES AND STREETS PRESENT CONFIGURATION DO NOT SUPPORT PUBLIC SEWER SYSTEM PUBLIC SEWER SYSTEM IS THE ONLY KIND OF STORMWATER MANAGEMENT ADOPTED
TEMPORARY RETENTION IS FUNDAMENTAL TO PROTECT THE RIVER AND TO GRANT THE CORRECT WORKING OF PRESENT WATER MANAGEMENT FACILITIES
THE LACKING OF OPEN SPACE WITHIN THE CITY ENCOURAGES MULTI-TASK INFRASTRUCTURES TO BE BUILT
deep watersquare
OPEN SPACES ARE ONE-TASK SURFACE DRAINAGE IS FUNDAMENTAL BUT SPACE SCARCITY MAKE IT NECESSARY TO REPLACE IT BY MEANS OF A SUBTILED RAINAGE NETWORK SOIL HAS LOW PERMEABILITY
lagoon dunes
ROOFING RE-CONFIGURATION IS THE BASIS OF THE COLLECTION SYSTEM
subtile drainage network PRESENCE OF SO-CALLED ‘NEGATIVE OROGRAPHY’, SOIL SURFACE IS UNDER THE LEVEL OF THE WATER TABLE, TENDENCY TO PONDING, DIRECT CONTACT WITH REGIONAL GROUNDWATER STOCK
SOIL PECULIARITIES MAKE IT NECESSARY TO USE INFILTRATION SURFACES AS LARGE AS POSSIBLE OPEN SPACES PAVINGS MUST INTERACT, IN DIFFERENT WAYS, WITH THE DRAINAGE NETWORK artificial porous surfaces
PERMEABLE CITY
PROJECT
floating tanks for temporary retention of runoff
infiltration areas
design of neighbourhood units surfaces
equipment of the roofs to allow stormwater catchment
watersquare with public facilities and retention/storage devices
linear infiltration with vegetated stripes along the streets up how the system works, concepts: disposal and collection of rainwater down sketch of a watersquare model of a section of the watersquare
aerial photo of the chosen piece of urban fabric with project insertion
0
100 m
40/41
PRELIMINARY STUDIES
INTERVENTION STRATEGY
PLUVIOMETRIC REGIME AND CLIMATE
RESTORING THE CITY’S SPECIFICITY BY RECONSTRUCTING ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SEASIDE; WATER INFRASTRUCTURES COULD MAKE THE TRICK RAINFALL DITRIBUTION REQUIRES BIG CISTERNS
WHERE Southern part of Sardinia, Sicily and the extreme Southern regions WHEN Most rainfalls occur in Winter, long period of intense Summer water shortage
PROJECT CASE STUDY 04
THERE IS JUST ONE PEAK THAT CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS TO THE PUBLIC SEWER SYSTEM
common cisterns
CATCHMENT SURFACE AS LARGE AS POSSIBLE TO FEED VERY BIG CISTERNS
HOW MUCH 60-100 d/year ; 350-920 mm/year ANNUAL AV. TEMPERATURE 13 - 19 °C URBANIZATION
ABSENCE OF ANY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CITY AND SEASIDE collection roofs IN SPITE OF GROUNDWATER SALINIZATION AND SOIL DESERTIFICATION THERE ARE NO INFILTRATION DEVICES
BEACH Large but nused and almost abandoned STREETS Very large, hypertrophic secondary spaces, messy and indefinite but homogeneously hard-paved (heat island effect) FLAT ROOF Almost every building has one OPEN SPACES They are the remainings of private spaces, fragmented but abundant OROGRAPHY AND PEDOLOGY
areas suffering from soil salinization or overexploitation of water resources
CALCAREOUS SOIL Coastal soils where the major cities of this area have grown are mainly composed of limestone. Due to its high permeability there are no surface water bodies. GROUNDWATER SALINIZATION Drawing groundwater without any concern about recharge time makes salted water infiltrate to the mainland causing desertification.
OPEN SPACES ARE HOMOGENEOUSLY PAVED WITH ASPHALT WHICH MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO USE THEM IN SOME OTHER WAY
ASSUMING THAT PUBLIC SEWER SYSTEM SIZING WON’T BE BASED ON THE ONLY PEAK PER YEAR, MEDIUM TEMPORARY RETENTION AREAS WILL BE REQUIRED
surface watersquare
THE ONLY STORMWATER MANAGEMENT IS BY MEANS OF THE PUBLIC SEWER SYSTEM
HIGHLY PERMEABLE SOIL (EASIER INFILTRATION)
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT INFRASTRUCTURES MUST BE AS MULTITASK AS POSSIBLE SOIL’S COMPOSITION GRANTS GOOD RESULTS FOR INFILTRATION EVEN WITH SMALL AREAS
vegetated surfaces
MAINLY PLAIN OROGRAPHY TO BE DEALT WITH IN OPEN SURFACES DESIGN
DUE TO THE HIGH PERMEABILITY OF THE SOIL IT IS BETTER TO PUT INTO PRACTICE ON-SITE INFILTRATION USING POROUS PAVEMENTS
THE DIFFERENT SURFACES IN OPEN SPACES MUST INTERACT WITH THE NEW SYSTEM BY MEANS OF DIFFERENT DESIGN FEATURES WHICH MAKE THEM AN ACTIVE PART OF URBAN LANDSCAPE artificial porous surfaces
PERMEABLE CITY
PROJECT
‘artificial water table’ common collection and storage
design of the permeability of the surfaces within the neighbourhood units
roof arrangements for stormwater collection
linear infiltration
watersquares with public facilities up how the system works, concepts: disposal and collection of rainwater down sketch of the new waterfront model of a section of the waterfront
0 aerial photo the chosen piecefabric of urban fabric with project insertion aerial photo of theofchosen piece of urban with project insertion
0
100 m
100 m
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0
soundscapes inhabited sound barrier Milan Expo 2015 Instant House Competition 2010 - Federlegno Arredo and Politecnico di Milano, Milan ( I ) with Elena Panza and Elisa Fortuna First Prize
The competition was organized by MADE Expo 2010 in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano and FederlegnoArredo. The competition was about the soundscape in the built environment of contemporary Milan. Western culture has mainly focused its attention on the visual aspects of perception, neglecting other sensory aspects just like hearing, touch or smell, which over time have been emptied of their importance. The competition required to make research and experimentation on these issues with innovative ways of using materials, in order to make the building process compatible with the environment, and with design strategies capable of stimulating sensorial perception. Plus, one of the most significant aspects of Milan metropolitan area is the congestion which originates from the necessary cohabitation of functions which are often in conflict with each other. The need to introduce infrastructural networks into a highly anthropised territory required to re-think not only the technical and morphological characteristics of the networks themselves, but above all the way we approach the project. Ecology is one of the fundamental paradigms for the formulation of new residential concepts
10
50 m
which originate from a more structural and meaningful relationship with the context, both natural and urban. We were asked to make a design in contexts which are today considered marginal and extreme. Locations should have been in the vicinity of important infrastructural systems (bypasses, motorways, airports, railways) in which to locate groups or individual elements of temporary dwelling and their services. The theme was an instant house, a temporary small residential unit for young people, with high levels of territorial mobility, connected to particular metropolitan events like Milan Expo 2015. We designed an inhabited sound barrier. It originated from the attempt to give a response to noise coming from the infrastructure (railway) and the will to plan the life cycle of building materials. Overall layout, interaction with existing buildings and their inhabitants, use of open space and the creation of a new kind of urban landscape, to be appreciated also from a moving train, were the main themes explored in the design process. The use of homogeneous building materials all coming from wood (recycled and/or recyclable), keeping an eye of course on its sensorial features, helped us tu fully meet the requirements of the assignment.
SOUNDSCAPES
left layout of the temporary settlement along the railway lines down view of the common green areas where temporary dwellers and locals can meet
Expo 2015 MILAN
Via Giambellino
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0
5
20 m
elevation on the railway side
elevation on the urban side 1
groundfloor plan 1
elevation on the urban side 2
elevation on the urban side 3
groundfloor plan 2
groundfloor plan 3
SOUNDSCAPES
left plans, facades and tecnical cross section down concept sketches
THE AREA BETWEEN THE RAILWAY AND THE BUILDINGS IS NOT USED AT ALL. IT COULD BE OF GREAT USE TO LOCALS!
THE SIGHT FROM THE TRAIN IS EVEN MORE SQUALLID
IF WE INSTALL A NORMAL SOUND BARRIER THE SITUATION GETS BETTER BUT THE RESULT IS POOR
THE INHABITATED BARRIER GIVES A NEW MEANING TO THE SPACE AND WE GIVE SOCIAL RELATIONS AND INTERCHANGE A CHANCE!
THE SIGHT FROM THE TRAIN BECOMES MORE INTERESTING
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Afsluitbaar Open Rijnmond urbanism and multifunctional water defenses Defacto Architectuur en Stedenbouw - Amsterdam (NL) with Maurits De Hoog (TU Delft), Laura Kleerekoper (TU Delft) and Verena Balz (TU Delft).
This research project was conceived by Defacto Architectuur en Stedenbouw in collaboration with Delft University of Technology in 2010. The study was supposed to point out the possible positive effects of the Afsluitbaar Open Rijnmond strategy (flexible barriers for rivers) for the spatial development in the Rijnmond and Drechtsteden region on long and very long term (2050 and 2100). To provide answers to this question a deep understanding of the study area was required both from a historical and an ecological point of view. The Rhine Delta and, to a larger extent, the river Rhine basin, is in fact one of the continent’s most important water systems. Moreover, the area is the place where the largest port of Europe is and the dynamics of this incredible machine were supposed to be taken into account. The water defense strategy used up to now in the area is mainly based on the use of traditional dikes, built with varying height along the rivers, and of exceptional water defense devices, like the Maeslantkering. This strategy is apparently not working anymore. In the struggle against climate change, we can’t keep on raising the height of dikes because it’s expensive and because
of the consequences for the urban space. On the other hand, huge water barriers are even more expensive, in relatively few years they need upgrading, the complexity in their management makes them prone to failure, they can deeply affect local natural ecosystems and, last but not least, they interfere with economy, whose backbone is the river itself. In the last years a more sustainable strategy is being studied: climate change adaptation. The flood should not be fought (basically because we can’t) but it should be addressed in the perspective of adaptation, which means for instance designing urban settlements so that water is allowed to flood some areas without the daily life of inhabitants being completely stopped or their houses being damaged. These goals could be reached by means of the socalled urban resilience (adaptive quays, floating buildings, floodable landscapes etc.). This research project wanted to build the scientific basis and the necessary knowledge background for designers who will work with the adaptive approach, crossing data referring to dikes and unembanked areas with simulations of different possible future scenarios of raising water levels.
AFSLUITBAAR OPEN RIJNMOND
EPK 100 PLAN A
In the first scenario we consider a failure probability of 1:100 for the Maeslantkering, no new barriers but just raising dikes.
EPK 1000 PLAN B
In the second scenario we consider a failure probability of 1:1000 for the Maeslantkering and introducing a second barrier besides raising dikes.
EPK 1000 + RK 1000 PLAN C
In the third scenario we consider a failure probability of 1:1000 for the Maeslantkering and introducing a second barrier besides more smaller barriers upstream the rivers.
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Lopik Werkendam
Kop van Het Land
Dordrecht
grass dike street dike hard dike commercial buildings historical buildings buildings on one side buildings on both sides
Giessendam
Lexmond
Bergambacht Sliedrecht
Krimpen
Rotterdam
Zuidland
Brielle / Oostvoorne
At the beginning of the research, we produced a serie of maps about the whole Rijnmond and Drechsteden region showing place, size and land use of the floodable areas we are studying (outerdike areas) and location, length and typology of dikes. Plus, smaller maps show the dikes or the outerdike areas which are already part of projects or programmes.
Vlaardingen / Schiedam
Categorizing dikes and outerdike areas
new project ongoing programmes
Sliedrecht
Papendrecht
Noordoever Dordrecht
dwelling (High Density and Low Density) historical areas (HD and LD) offices (HD and LD) industry and commercial (HD and LD) mixed (HD and LD) hard surfaces infrastructures green areas farmland parks
Merwede Havens
Krimpen
Alblasserdam
Bolnes
Rotterdam Zuid
Vierhavens
Delfshaven Waalhaven
Pernis
Heijplaat
Rozenburg
Vlaardingen / Schiedam
AFSLUITBAAR OPEN RIJNMOND
new project ongoing programmes
Drimmelen
Lage Zwaluwe
Willemstad
Werkendam
Merwede Havens
Dordrecht
Dordrecht Zeehaven
Gorinchem
Hardinxveld
Sliedrecht
Papendrecht
Hoek van Holland
Lopik
Krimpen
De Esch
Delfshaven
Vierhavens
Vlaardingen / Schiedam
Maassluis
Schoonhoven
Bergambacht
Alblasserdam Noordoever
Slikkerveer
Bolnes
Rotterdam Zuid
Waalhaven
Heijplaat
Pernis
Rozenburg
Ammerstol
Bergambacht
Krimpen
Rotterdam
Delfshaven
Vierhavens
Vlaardingen / Schiedam
Europoort
Hellevoetsluis
Giessendam
Sliedrecht
Oud-Beijerland
Werkendam
Kop van Het Land
Voorsraat
Dordrecht
Zuidland
Brielle / Oostvoorne
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AFSLUITBAAR OPEN RIJNMOND
A_V2100_1000 Dordrecht
water depth [cm] 1 - 50 50 - 100 100 - 150 150 - 200 200 - 250 250 - 300 300 - 350 350 - 400 400 - 450 450 - 500 500 - 550 550 - 600 buildings
grass dike
hard dike
street dike
buildings on one side
buildings on both sides dwelling industry - commerce offices recreation
commercial buildings
dikes dikes to be raised dijring (dikes system)
historical buildings
A sample - Scenario EPK 100 2100 1000 Each basic scenario dealing with water defense (Plan A, B or C) has been overlapped with a flooding scenario (2010, 2050 or 2100) and a return time of the flood itself (100 or 1000). The result is a map (and further zooms on Rotterdam and Dordrecht) with the amount of flooded outerdike areas with buildings in them and, at the same time, which dikes are in danger to fail and which kind of dike they are.
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historical buildings
earthworks - steep slope
raised street level with buffer area and large access to water
hard dike
earthworks - gentle slope
raised street level with no buffer area but large access to water
urban beach
stepped structures with buffer areas on different levels
stepped green structures with buffer areas on different levels
raised street level with no buffer area and limited access to water
concrete slabs
raised street edge with double-sloping cross section
grass dike
TRADITIONAL DIKES
commercial buildings
street dike
ADAPTIVE DESIGN FOR URBAN QUAYS
buildings on one side
rocks
AFSLUITBAAR OPEN RIJNMOND
From traditional dikes to adaptive quays Possible future urban scenarios
WATER ADAPTATION AT BLOCK AND BUILDING SCALE
Buildings themselves are designed to face the flood (floating buildings, buildings on poles etc.). This is affordable for new buildings but can be difficult and expensive for existing buildings.
RAISING URBAN QUAYS AT NEIGHBOURHOOD SCALE
For existing buildings this kind of strategy would be better. The intervention consists in having the height of quays raised by means of designing features in order to create floodproof neighbourhoods.
MOVING DIKES WATERWARD AND LOCK HARBOURS
Like they did in Antwerp and London, dikes could be moved waterward and inner side-harbours could still be accessible by means of locks and sluices. But still, this method in not suitable for any kind of site.
CLOSING RIVER BRANCHES AND INNER WATERS
The most extreme measure is to close entire river branches with movable barriers just like the Maeslantkering. Of course this would be an obstacle for ship traffic and big barriers are not too reliable.
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flood-proof urban furniture a multifunctional urban device Defacto Architectuur en Stedenbouw - Amsterdam (NL)
At Defacto Architectuur en Stedenbouw we often dealt with issues related to the interplay between urbanism and water management. Those issues were usually addressed to at a large (urban or regional) scale. In this occasion the size of the project was quite small but the topics it refers to remain the same. It is a piece of urban furniture with a multifunctional purpose. The most suitable location for it would be in areas prone to be flooded and especially with few chances to know it in advance. The device is able to provide temporary shelter for people waiting for rescue to come. During dry regime, it works almost as a normal bench. The circular shape define an inside and an outside. The cross section varies constantly. These two features produce an interesting shape which provides many different kinds of seats. People sitting in/on it are not passive users; they have the chance to find the most suitable and comfortable way of sitting. The diameter is just a few meters long and the size itself makes the inner space similar to a room, an open air room, the perfect size for social relations to start. On the other hand, during wet regime, the inner space becomes a sheltering cocoon. Its raised edges and
the flat shape of the external seats, prevent water to pour in, in case of wind and waves. Of course the seat should be made of light plastic materials (like a boat) to make it float on water like a raft. The fact of being relatively light and small makes it easier to move the device from a place to another with a reasonable effort. Moreover it requires no maintenance (which is good being a public property) and many different shapes could be designed starting from this prototype. Even if floods are not occurring placing multiple units of this seat could be also a cheap, quick and effective way to make useless areas more lively, for instance, with temporary land use programmes.
FLOOD-PROOF URBAN FURNITURE
views of the device in dry and wet regimes
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view of the project during the night right page the floating pavilions during a sunny day
social club lights on the waterways of Milan Instant House Competition 2011 - Federlegno Arredo and Politecnico di Milano, Milan ( I ) with Elena Panza
If asked about the name of a ‘watercity’, one would never think about Milan. Of course this can be easily understood but it tells a lot about the transformations which this city underwent in the last years, especially in people’s mind. In the past, Milan used to have a powerful waterways network, connecting the city with a large hinterland between Northern Italy and Switzerland. Today just a few pieces of these infrastructures are left but there is still a network constituted by waterways and water bodies, because when old infrastructures were forgotten, new ones were built for totally different pourposes (as the Idroscalo, the 1920’s water airport for hydroplanes) and some others appeared almost by chance (as the lakes originated from the old open-air gravel pits from the 70’s). Since a few years ago, the municipality is trying to give a structure to these elements in order to turn them into a sort of ‘waterbelt’ linking large green areas all across the metropolitan area. This is the context in which we worked for this competition. It was about designing small facility buildings for this network called Social Clubs, highlighting the social role they were supposed to have for inhabitants. The project was also dealing with the upcoming 2015 Milan World Expo. Our proposal aimed
to take the most out of the water network and its basic characteristics. This could become a new connective tissue for the whole metropolitan area capable of intersecting and keeping together all the historical waterlayers of Milan’s urban fabric. For this reason, our interpretation of the Social Club has been a modular floating pavilion. It could give a major contribution in the structurizing process of the waterbelt carried on by the municipality. The pavilion can cross the metropolitan area moving along waterways, it can be moored in front of different quays in different (sub)urban contexts. Moreover, water surfaces are highly underused while ground surfaces are overexploited: the floating pavilion doesn’t require land and the spot of water it occupies it’s just temporarily occupied and due to that there is no interference with natural ecosystems. The pavilion is modular. This means that the amount of square meters you may need for specific events could be easily reached just by the juxtaposition of more than one module. Plus, due to the peculiar hexagonal shape of the pavilion, many different layouts are possible. During the night, pavilion work as lanterns on the water which, apart from being pleasant, is also a trick to give people more chances to live parks also by night.
SOCIAL CLUB
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river Seveso
Expo 2015 canal
Northern Park
river Olona Ongari - Cerutti pit
Ma
a
san
r te
o igli
v
Na
Lambro Park
Casati pit
‘Bosco in città’ Park Aurora pit
Trenno Park Sempione Park
old
Cabassi pit
Forlanini Park
na
r Olo
rive
Idroscalo Darsena
Calchi Taeggi Park
er
w
ne
top Parco delle Cave, chosen location
riv
a
on
Ol
e
rand
lio G
Navig
river Lambro
right map showing the network of waterways and green areas in Milan metropolitan area
se
built areas
Pav e
green areas
iglio
sites of project
Nav
water bodies existing waterways future waterways
FLEXIBLE LAYOUT
QUICK INCREASE OF FLOOR SURFACE
PROXIMITY TO WATER
MINIMAL FACILITIES ON THE QUAY
NATURAL VENTILATION
EASY TO DISMANTLE (DRY ASSEMBLY)
SOCIAL CLUB
0
1
2,5
5m
construction principle of a module
groundplan and water elevation
INFRASTRUCTURAL NETWORK AT THE URBAN SCALE
PORTABILITY
ADAPTIVITY TO ANY KIND OF QUAY
MINIMAL INTERFERENCES WITH THE ECOSYSTEM
MINIMAL LAND-OCCUPATION
INCREASE OF URBAN PARKS NIGHT LIVABILITY
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CASE STUDY FEYENOORD-NOORDEREILAND
adaptive building urban resilience in unembanked areas 1/2 Doepel Strijkers - Rotterdam (NL) with DS+V - Municipality of Rotterdam, Deltares, Unesco IHE, TU Delft, Universities of Utrecht and Amsterdam
Knowledge for Climate (Kennis voor Klimaat) is a research programme for the development of knowledge and services that makes it possible to climate proof the Netherlands. Governmental organisations (central government, provinces, municipalities and water boards) and businesses, actively participate in research programming through the input of additional resources. The research programme focuses on eight areas, called hotspots. The RijnmondDrechtsteden is one of them. With a substantial unembanked area, the region has the ambition to redevelop these areas, which used to be occupied by industrial port-related settlements, into dense mixed-use neighbourhoods. The basic issue for such a project is climate change: the rise of sea levels and the increase in frequency/ scale of river floods can seriously undermine the redevelopment process. The strategy which has been traditionally used to deal with such problems is embanking. This measure has proved to be not conclusively effective, very expensive and with a strong impact on the urban fabric. To find a safe and sustainable way to live and work in unembanked areas it is necessary
to develop strategies and evaluate measures that either reduce the risk of flooding or adapt to the results of flooding. Urban resilience is defined as the capability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard threats with minimum damage to public safety and health, the economy, and security of a given urban area. It is also very important to make sure that the display of water safety measures is coupled with the pursuit of spatial quality. Urban resilience and design quality are thus the central themes of the research which Doepel Strijkers was called to take part to as designing party. The first step was to identify the problem, understand it and get a closer look to the study areas of Feyenoord and Noordereiland in Rotterdam. The specific features of the areas for what concerns conditions and characteristics of the building stock and the selection of relevant flood scenarios lead to the selection of two sample building blocks. A matrix of possible water safety strategies, matching typology with scale into what has been called Packages of Measures (POM), was developed and tested on them. A team of experts was repeatedly asked to evaluate and comment the proposals in order to achieve technical feasibility and financial affordability.
Kralingse Plas
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
Rotterdam Centrum
Schiedam FEYENOORD NOORDEREILAND
Coolhaven
Vierhavens Delfshaven
Kop van Zuid De Esch
Katendrecht
Rotterdam Zuid Heijplaat
Waalhaven
Charlois
Eemhaven
Pendrecht
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access from street level less than 10 cm
one step from 11 to 20 cm
two steps from 21 to 50 cm
three or more steps more than 51 cm
flood-prone buildings: doorstep height right page damage estimation: vulnerable elements
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
railway line
dangerous goods
primary schools ((S)BO) and daycares (KO/PSZ)
dwellings situated on groundfloor
monuments
sub power stations
64/65 flood dynamics on Noordereiland right page flood dynamics in Feyenoord
+ 3,00 m NAP + 3,40 m NAP + 3,50 m NAP
Current 1:10 years flood
+2,84m NAP
Current 1:50 years flood
+3,04m NAP
+ 3,00 m NAP + 3,40 m NAP + 3,50 m NAP + 3,70 m NAP
Current 1:100 years flood G+ 2100 1:10 years flood
+3,11m NAP
+3,12m NAP
Current 1:1000 years flood G+ 2100 1:100 years flood
+3,30m NAP
+3,31m NAP
Current 1:2000 years flood
+3,36m NAP
Current 1:10000 +3,59 m NAP years flood G+ 2100 1:1000 +3,59 m NAP years flood
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
+ 2,50 m NAP + 3,20 m NAP
Current 1:10 years flood
+2,84m NAP
+ 2,50 m NAP + 3,40 m NAP
Current 1:50 years flood
+3,04m NAP
+ 2,00 m NAP
Current 1:100 years flood G+ 2100 1:10 years flood
+ 2,00 m NAP
+3,11m NAP
+3,12m NAP
+ 3,00 m NAP
Current 1:1000 years flood G+ 2100 1:100 years flood
+3,30m NAP
+3,31m NAP
+ 3,40 m NAP
Current 1:2000 +3,36m NAP years flood G+ 2100 1:100 +3,31m NAP years flood
Current 1:10000 +3,59m NAP years flood G+ 2100 1:1000+3,59m NAP years flood
66/67
G+2100 1:10 000 +4,13 m NAP Current 1:10 000 +3,59 m NAP
doorsteps at street level
electricity boxes 70 cm
open pipes 30-40 cm
window sills at street level 0-10 cm
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
sample building block Noordereiland elevation with expected waterlevels and vulnerable elements
low ventilation openings 0-30 cm
half-sunken basement 0-10 cm
wires and pipelines
68/69
G+2100 1:10 000 +4,13 m NAP Current 1:10 000 +3,59 m NAP
materials of plinth level
open pipes 30-40 cm
electricity boxes 70 cm
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
sample building block Feyenoord elevation with expected waterlevels and vulnerable elements
low doorstep 0-20 cm
low ventilation openings 0-30 cm
mailboxes and doorbells 50-60 cm
low window sills 40 cm
REGULATIONS
COMMUNICATION
EVACUATION
elevating of a building or plot
wet-proofing of a building or plot
temporary adaptations on a building or plot
amphibious building
building as a shelter
regulatory requirements for a building
dry-proofing of a building block
elevating of a building block
wet-proofing of watersides
temporary filling of street openings or openings of a building block
amphibious building block
place of refuge of a building block
ELEVATING
dry-proofing of a building or plot
EMBANKING
FLOATING
TEMPORARY ADAPTIONS
WET-PROOFING
70/71
EXTRA SMALL building part of building private plot street furniture communicating of behaviour in case of floods to the user(s) of a building
SMALL building block square street cluster of buildings
MEDIUM neighbourhood park
€
embanking a neighbourhood
elevating of a neighbourhood
wet-proofing of the public space in a neighbourhood
embanking (parts of) the unembanked area
total elevating of (parts of) the unembanked area
wet-proofing of floodplains in unembanked areas
temporary barrage to protect a neighbourhood
amphibious neighbourhood
evacuation routes to flood-safe areas
regulatory requirements for a neigbourhood
LARGE city district
toolbox of adaptive measures
risk-zoning and regulatory requirements (for different risk zones) in unembanked areas
communicating flood danger by risk maps for different neighbourhoods
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
REDUCTION OF...
RESPONSIBILITY
TEMPORARY ADAPTATIONS
FLOATING
EVACUATION
REGULATIONS
COMMUNICATION
TEMPORARY ADAPTATIONS
FLOATING
EVACUATION
REGULATIONS
COMMUNICATION
EXTRA SMALL
SMALL
SMALL
MEDIUM
MEDIUM
LARGE
LARGE
LIFTING ON URBAN RENEWAL DYNAMICS EXISTING BUILT-UP AREA (ANYTIME)
EXTRA SMALL
EXTRA SMALL
SMALL
SMALL
MEDIUM
MEDIUM
LARGE
LARGE
ELEVATING
URBAN RENEWAL (EVERY 50-100 YEARS) EMBANKING
COMMUNICATION
REGULATIONS
REDEVELOPMENT (EVERY 20-50 YEARS)
EVACUATION
WET-PROOFING
ELEVATING
SOFT (administrative)
FLOATING
HARD (technical, structural)
TEMPORARY ADAPTATIONS
TYPE OF MEASUREMENTS
ELEVATING
EMBANKING
COMMUNICATION
REGULATIONS
EVACUATION
EXTRA SMALL
EMBANKING
WET-PROOFING
EXPOSURE (WATER DEPTH) SENSITIVITY (IMPACT OF FLOODING)
FLOATING
WET-PROOFING
ELEVATING
EMBANKING
TEMPORARY ADAPTATIONS
SHARED AUTHORITIES
WET-PROOFING
HAZARD (CHANCE OF FLOODING)
USER
72/73
POM 01
water safety Current 1:10 000 yrs flood +3,59 m NAP water safety Current 1: 1 000 yrs flood +3,30 m NAP water safety Current 1:
100 yrs flood +3,11 m NAP
new building with no need of safety measures existing building private property existing building with no need of safety measures PACKAGE OF MEASURES 01 - NOORDEREILAND A system of foldable barriers is installed along the quays in order to form a flood-safe perimeter around the whole island. Costs and management of this water safety measure are entirely up to public authorities. The safety coverage is maximum but, although the barrier is permanently installed in the public space, its visual impact is minimum.
+3,70 m (+4,60 m)
Current 1:10 000 +3,59 m NAP Current 1: 1 000 +3,30 m NAP Current 1:
+2,80 m
+3,00 m
100 +3,11 m NAP
gas
water
sewage
sewage
electricity
old water defense line (corrugated metal sheet)
quay construction
average Rotterdam waterlevel -0,50 m NAP / +1,50 m NAP
0
1
2,5
5
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
POM 02
water safety Current 1:10 000 yrs flood +3,59 m NAP water safety Current 1: 1 000 yrs flood +3,30 m NAP water safety Current 1:
100 yrs flood +3,11 m NAP
new building with no need of safety measures existing building private property existing building with no need of safety measures PACKAGE OF MEASURES 02 - NOORDEREILAND The responsibility of water safety is shared between authorities and private citizens. The water defense line is positioned along the facades of the buildings. Every low opening needs to be closed with temporary systems (slots, barrage modules etc). The coverage is quite low, the rest risk is supposed to be covered by insurance and an evacuation plan coupled with building regulations is necesssary. Impact on city fabric is minimum.
Current 1:10 000 +3,59 m NAP
+2,80 m
+3,00 m
Current 1: 1 000 +3,30 m NAP Current 1:
100 +3,11 m NAP
gas
water
sewage
sewage
electricity
old water defense line (corrugated metal sheet)
quay construction
average Rotterdam waterlevel -0,50 m NAP / +1,50 m NAP
0
1
2,5
5
74/75
POM 03
water safety Current 1:10 000 yrs flood +3,59 m NAP water safety Current 1: 1 000 yrs flood +3,30 m NAP water safety Current 1:
100 yrs flood +3,11 m NAP
new building with no need of safety measures existing building private property existing building with no need of safety measures PACKAGE OF MEASURES 03 - NOORDEREILAND The responsibility of water safety is up to public authorities, as construction and management of safety measures. Water safety is here integrated in an urban interior design. A fragmented line of benches becomes, in case of flood, a dike. The impact on the city fabric is justified by the multifunctionality of the system but, due to its permanence, its effectiveness is limited to the minimum water safety level.
Current 1:10 000 +3,59 m NAP
+3,20 m +2,80 m
+3,00 m
Current 1: 1 000 +3,30 m NAP Current 1: 100 +3,11 m NAP
gas
water
sewage
sewage
electricity
old water defense line (corrugated metal sheet)
quay construction
average Rotterdam waterlevel -0,50 m NAP / +1,50 m NAP
0
1
2,5
5
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
POM 01
water safety Current 1:10 000 yrs flood +3,59 m NAP water safety Current 1: 1 000 yrs flood +3,30 m NAP water safety Current 1:
100 yrs flood +3,11 m NAP
new building with no need of safety measures existing building private property existing building with no need of safety measures PACKAGE OF MEASURES 01 - FEYENOORD A new embankment along the quay. The traditional dike is given a new, user-friendly, landscape interpretation. These resilient infrastructure can grant the maximum safety level and it’s completely up to public authorities to build it and manage it. There will be no extra costs for adaptive measures in the construction process of the new buildiings in Feyenoord because the climate dike can efficiently protect the whole area.
+3,70 m Current 1:10 000 +3,59 m NAP
+2,80 m
water
electricity
electricity
quay construction
electricity
average Rotterdam waterlevel -0,50 m NAP / +1,50 m NAP
sewage
+2,00 m
sewage
+2,70 m implemented old water defense line (corrugated metal sheet)
Current 1: 1 000 +3,30 m NAP Current 1: 100 +3,11 m NAP
0
1
2,5
5
76/77
POM 02
water safety Current 1:10 000 yrs flood +3,59 m NAP water safety Current 1: 1 000 yrs flood +3,30 m NAP water safety Current 1:
100 yrs flood +3,11 m NAP
new building with no need of safety measures existing building private property existing building with no need of safety measures PACKAGE OF MEASURES 02 - FEYENOORD Water safety is solved at the scale of the building block. There are no interventions on the public domani. New buildings will be designed and built as adaptive buildings according to regulations in order to achieve at least a medium water safety level. Existing buildings will use temporary movable solutions. In any case an evacuation route designed to fulfill the maximum safety level needs to be inserted into the urban fabric.
+3,40 m +2,80 m
Current 1:10 000 +3,59 m NAP Current 1: 1 000 +3,30 m NAP
water
electricity
electricity
quay construction
electricity
average Rotterdam waterlevel -0,50 m NAP / +1,50 m NAP
sewage
+2,00 m
sewage
100 +3,11 m NAP
old water defense line (corrugated metal sheet)
Current 1:
+2,70 m
0
1
2,5
5
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
POM 03
water safety Current 1:10 000 yrs flood +3,59 m NAP water safety Current 1: 1 000 yrs flood +3,30 m NAP water safety Current 1:
100 yrs flood +3,11 m NAP
new building with no need of safety measures existing building private property existing building with no need of safety measures PACKAGE OF MEASURES 03 - FEYENOORD Adaptive urban design on the large scale: the building block which are closer to the quay are displayed on the gentle slope of a so-called superdike. A design made of large steps dissimulates the presence of the dike in the urban fabric. At the same time the front of it is made readable along the water and designed as a landscape feature. the superdike grants a minimum water safety level for the backland, An evacuation route is needed.
+3,20 m Current 1:10 000 +3,59 m NAP
water
electricity
sewage
electricity
quay construction
electricity
average Rotterdam waterlevel -0,50 m NAP / +1,50 m NAP
sewage
+2,00 m implemented old water defense line (corrugated metal sheet)
Current 1: 1 000 +3,30 m NAP Current 1: 100 +3,11 m NAP
+3,40 m
+3,20 m
+2,80 m
0
1
2,5
5
78/79 Heijplaat - Nieuwe and Oude Dorp relevant flood scenarios
Current 1:1000 years flood G+ 2100 1:100 years flood av. groundlevel
+3,30m NAP
+3,31m NAP
+2,50 m NAP
100 cm Current 1:10000 +3,59 m NAP years flood G+ 2100 1:1000 +3,59 m NAP years flood 0 cm
av. groundlevel
+2,50 m NAP
CASE STUDY HEIJPLAAT
adaptive building urban resilience in unembanked areas 2/2 Doepel Strijkers - Rotterdam (NL) with Gemeentewerken - Municipality of Rotterdam, DHV, Woonbron, Havenbedrijf.
The innermost part of the Port of Rotterdam is called Stadhavens (City Harbours). These areas are characterized by the presence of large artificial harbours with docks and piers. Even though the port-related infrastructures are slowly being dismantled (following the displacement of port activities seaward) and large areas are being redeveloped, a very interesting feature of this zone of the port is the presence of housing enclaves which used to be inhabited by workers of the port. Settlements such as Heijplaat, Pernis or Rozenburg are dwelling clusters surrounded by stacks of containers, huge cranes, enourmous ships and drydocks. The effects of climate change (in terms of rise of sea levels and increase in river flood risk) are going to add in the next years another issue to the already complicated situation of these urban areas. Heijplaat is particularly in danger because of the absence of any water safety device in the unembanked neighbourhood. At the same time Heijplaat is particularly worth protecting because of its historical meaning. The current premises of the Academy of Architecture of Rotterdam are a cluster of monumental buildings which used to be the headquarters of the Rotterdamse Droog
Maatschappij, a company devoted to the construction of big ships. Besides really making the fortune of Rotterdam, the RDM built the socalled Tuindorp (Garden City) for its workers. That was the origin of Heijplaat. After the RDM went bankrupt in the Eighties the whole neighbourhood underwent a period of economic and social decline. The Municipality has recently started a partial redevelopment plan which, together with the moving of the Academy, is supposed to revitalize the area. Water safety, urban resilience and spatial quality are of course central components of the plan but, unlike more prestigious unembanked areas such as Noordereiland and Feyenoord, Heijplaat needs to deal with the business plans of housing corporations and the Port Authority, which have a key role in the process, the first ones because they are financing the plan in order to, obviously, make a profit and the latter because it’s the owner of the quays. These elements made the research and the designing process more complex for Doepel Strijkers which had to face the challenge of coupling sustainable urban design techniques with strategies related to the housing market, in the larger framework of the redevelopment of a former port area with a peculiar historical value. A very contemporary challenge.
ROTTERDAM CENTRUM
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
dijkring
dijkring DELFSHAVEN
ring
dijk dijk
ring
COOLHAVEN
VIERHAVENS
RDM Terrein NIEUWE MAAS
Quarantaine Eiland
Heysekade
g
Oude Dorp
dijkrin
Nieuwe Dorp HEIJPLAAT PERNIS
CHARLOIS dijkr
WAALHAVEN
ing
EEMHAVEN
Waalhavenweg main accessway to Heijplaat dijkring
dijkri
ng
Stadshavens critical topography of unembanked areas +2,75 m NAP +3,30 m NAP +3,60 m NAP +4,00 m NAP
80/81 RDM 1902-1950 (Re)development 2010-2020
Garden City Heijplaat 1914-1942
Expansion Garden City 1943-1952
Social housing 1953-1989 New construction 2011-2015
Urban renewal 1990-2008
Port-related buildings unknown construction year
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
hard / rocks
hard / dock
soft / green
soft / natural
left mapping of quay typologies previous page analysis of building periods
82/83
+3,90 m NAP +2,90 m NAP
Plan A adaptive strategies on building and block scale responsibility to private parties / shared
Model 0 Nieuwe Dorp raising the groundlevel of the whole area (public and private space) of 1m new groundlevel +3,90 m NAP
Plan B adaptive strategies on building and block scale redesign of public open space
+3,90 m NAP +3,40 m NAP +2,90 m NAP
responsibility to private parties / shared / authorities
Model 3 Oude Dorp evacuation route/areas at level > +3,90 m NAP and training of inhabitants with information campaign damages to buildings covered by insurance
Plan C climatic boulevard as new water-defense line along the Heysekade and elevation of groundlevel in the Nieuwe Dorp (up to +3,40m NAP) responsibility to authorities
Model 7 retaining wall along the Heysekade
+3,90 m NAP +3,40 m NAP
Plan D damming of the Heysehaven and development of a floating neighbourhood responsibility to authorities / shared
overview of possible intervention plans
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
+3,90 m NAP +3,40 m NAP +2,90 m NAP
+3,90 m NAP +3,40 m NAP +2,90 m NAP
Model 1 Nieuwe Dorp
Model 2 Nieuwe Dorp
raising the groundlevel of private space (gardens and footprints of buildings) of 0,50 m
raising the groundlevel of the whole area (public and private space) of 0,50 m
new groundlevel private spaces +3,40 m NAP groundlevel public space +2,90 m NAP
new groundlevel private spaces +3,40 m NAP rest risk (up to +3,90 m NAP) covered by other adaptive measures
rest risk (up to +3,90 m NAP) covered by other adaptive measures
+3,90 m NAP +3,40 m NAP +2,90 m NAP
+3,90 m NAP +3,40 m NAP +2,90 m NAP
+3,90 m NAP +3,40 m NAP +2,90 m NAP
Model 4 Oude Dorp
Model 5 Oude Dorp
Model 6 Oude Dorp
buildings are protected with temporary devices (sandbags and movable barriers) up to +3,40 m NAP
protecting existing buildings blocks up to level +3,40 m NAP
wet-proofing of buildings up to level +3,40 m NAP
rest risk (up to 3,90 m NAP) covered by adaptive measures
rest risk (up to 3,90 m NAP) covered by adaptive measures
rest risk (up to 3,90 m NAP) covered by adaptive measures or insurance
Model 8
Model 9
superdike along the Heysekade
resilient infrastructure adapting to varying water levels
+3,90 m NAP
+3,90 m NAP
+3,40 m NAP
+3,40 m NAP
84/85
Plan A adaptive strategies on building and block scale
architectural typology block with courtyard water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology block with courtyard water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology block with courtyard water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology row house water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology detached house water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology detached house water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology row house water-safety measure water-defense barrier
architectural typology row house water-safety measure water-defense barrier
architectural typology row house water-safety measure water-defense barrier
responsibility to private parties / shared
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
architectural typology row house water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology row house water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology row house water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology detached house water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology detached house water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology detached house water-safety measure elevation
architectural typology detached house water-safety measure water-defense barrier
architectural typology detached house water-safety measure water-defense barrier
architectural typology detached house (patio house) water-safety measure water-defense barrier
86/87
Model 7 retaining wall along the Heysekade
existing situation (re)design
+4,00 m +3,10 m
G+2100 1:4000 +3,91 m NAP
+2,95 m
+2,85 m
-5,00 m NAP SAMPLE SECTION
0,50m 1,90m
5,00m
2,00m
2,20m
2,00m
2,50m
6,50m
2,50m
2,00m
1,00m
10 m
responsibility to authorities
electricity gas water
climatic boulevard as new water-defense line along the Heysekade and elevation of groundlevel in the Nieuwe Dorp (up to +3,40m NAP)
electricity
Av. R’dam waterlevel -0,50 / +1,50 m NAP
Plan C
sewage
Current 1:1000 +3,30 m NAP
SAMPLE SEGMENT
Model 8 superdike along the Heysekade
existing situation (re)design
G+2100 1:4000 +3,91 m NAP
+4,00m
+2,95m
+2,85m
-5,00 m NAP
10 m
SAMPLE SECTION
SAMPLE SEGMENT
1,00 0,50
2,50m
2,50m
2,50m
2,50m
2,20m
2,00m
2,50m
6,50m
electricity gas water
electricity
Av. R’dam waterlevel -0,50 / +1,50 m NAP
sewage
Current 1:1000 +3,30 m NAP
2,50m
2,00m
1,00m
ADAPTIVE BUILDING
Model 9 resilient infrastructure adapting to varying water levels
existing situation (re)design
+4,00m
+3,65m
G+2100 1:4000 +3,91 m NAP
+3,20m
+3,30m
Current 1:1000 +3,30 m NAP
electricity
sewage
electricity gas water
Av. R’dam waterlevel -0,50 / +1,50 m NAP
-5,00 m NAP SAMPLE SECTION 6,80m
2,20m
2,00m
2,50m
6,50m
2,50m
2,00m
1,00m
10 m
2,50m
SAMPLE SEGMENT
metal sheet
basalt paving
plastic geocells and earth
coloured porous asphalt
open-celled paving grid
porous asphalt
open-jointed paving blocks
88/89 right leisure cycling and forest gardening next page bird’s eye view of the site with design features and explanatory flow diagram
energy landscape rethinking interstitial spaces of infrastructures Doepel Strijkers - Rotterdam (NL) with De Urbanisten - Rotterdam (NL)
Doepel Strijkers, in partnership with De Urbanisten, was invited by the Municipality of The Hague to present a proposal dealing with an innovative reinterpretation of the place called Prins Clausplein, the huge multilayered intersection of the highways A4 and A12, one of the main gateways to the city. The aim was to give a new meaning to the interstitial spaces of this infrastructure, possibly connecting it to the system of interventions that the city is realizing on the way to its energetic self-sufficiency in 2040 : an energy landscape. The first step was to put together a structured definition of energy, broadening the meaning that this idea usually has. It became clear that energy can have different forms and each of them can be used in different ways. Actually energy flows from form to form. Each form works according to a different pattern, which can be represented by cycles. If you want the different forms to cooperate so to optimize the production of energy you need to make the cycles match. Which ones of those forms could have been the most suitable for the characteristics of the area? Which ones could have been more easily inserted in the system of energy production that The Hague is putting together? Which ones could have been integrated in the design of a landscape?
Studying the specific features of the ways of producing energy, some were selected which could also have been interesting for the development of a business case, to make sure the project would be self financing and effective. After having a closer look at the area, some interesting elements which could have helped building an identity for it, emerged and were immediately introjected into the design. The connective fabric of the whole energy landscape (and nevertheless a most active part of it) would be a forest, a monumental, vast, eternal forest. This image is going to mark the entrance to The Hague, making it recognizable for everybody. Locally, the components of the concept which are kept together by the forest would characterize a spot, also responding to practical requirements. Such an experimental intervention could be a good source of inspiration for other cities, could be a didactic mean to introduce people to sustainable production of energy and, last but not least, has to be enjoyable as a suburban park. For these reasons a lot of attention was put also into the design, at a smaller scale, of the buildings and objects which are laid out like contemporary follies throughout the forest.
ENERGY LANDSCAPE
90/91
ENERGY LANDSCAPE
previous page selected sources of clean energy and related lifecycle and efficiency patterns left overlapping of single patterns in the framekork of energy landscape concept below algae farm and biomass power plant
92/93
right flow of energy and matter between the components of the system below intermodal point at the biomass power plant and biofuels tank station at the stadium
ENERGY LANDSCAPE
schematic layout of the components of the system throughout the site
94/95
sustainability profile 2040
next page concept visualization of Rotterdam’s inner city with densification and greenification interventions
people make inner city densification and greenification strategies Doepel Strijkers - Rotterdam (NL) with Municipality of Rotterdam, TNO, Sander Lap, Drift and Interreg IVB project MUSIC
In the age of shrinking cities and shortage of natural resources - land above all - it is clear that economy of scale is one of the most important issues in contemporary urban planning. Research shows that proper densification has many advantages but quantitative parameters are as important as qualitative ones. In fact, one of the main problems with contemporary urban sprawl is that it doesn’t provide the spatial and social quality which used to be inherent in ancient inner cities. How can the relatively sparsely inhabited inner city of Rotterdam be densified in a sustainable manner? Although in other large cities in the Netherlands 10% of their inhabitants live in the inner city, in Rotterdam that is only 5%. Increasing the number of inhabitants from 30,000 to 60,000 over a period of 30 years: is this possible? Under what criteria? And is densification a realistic option at a time when the viability of large-scale building projects is uncertain? These issues have been investigated by the project team which gathered strategies applied by architects, developers and the Municipality and selected from them successful forms of densification and
greenification: in all, seven of each. These were then assessed against the city’s sustainability profile and tested on a three-dimensional virtual model of the inner city. The result is actually a (possible) picture of future Rotterdam. The publication which followed is one of the tangible products of the Municipality of Rotterdam’s participation in the International Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam 2012. It explores the hypothesis that densification coupled with greenification can produce a sustainable city and presents the findings, supported by input from inhabitants, entrepreneurs and specialists. The didactic component was indeed one of the key elements of the research, as testified by the very title of the book. In a time when people are actually very far from architecture and architects, the research group tried to convey technical and datasupported content in a way which could be easy to understand for everybody, since only people can make the inner city.
PEOPLE MAKE INNER CITY
96/97 right overview of potential new dwellings per neighbourhood, 2040 next page overview of potential new green areas per neighbourhood, 2040
TRANSFORMATION
SKYBORN
HIGH-RISE DWELLINGS
INFILL
WATER DWELLINGS
GROUND BASED
DO-IT-YOURSELF
PEOPLE MAKE INNER CITY
QUAYS
PLAYGROUNDS
GREEN ROOFS / FACADES
PARKS
GLAMOROUS GREEN
SQUARES
BOULEVARDS
98/99
PEOPLE MAKE INNER CITY
previous page smart bioclimatic densification
left total densification and green potential, 2040 + 20 000 dwellings + 140 ha green + 5 000 trees
100/101
Piekstraat new headquarters for a shoe design firm model of the project
Doepel Strijkers - Rotterdam (NL)
Piekstraat is a street situated in Feyenoord, in the Southern part of Rotterdam. Along this street some very valuable buildings are displayed, remains of the industrial past of the neighbourhood. One of these historical factories was chosen to be converted into the new headquarters of a shoe design firm. The building is articulated into two parallel halls; both are long and narrow, with windows only on the short sides. At the same time the ceiling (a fascinating wooden structure with skylights) is very high. The programme for the new premises of the company was divided into closed and open spaces, according to functions, hierarchy, designing process, need of privacy etc. Doepel Strijkers managed to find the way to get the most out of the peculiar features of the building: lack of daylight, the only windows are located at the two ends of the halls; unusual floor surface/volume ratio, a narrow building with an almost three storey high cross section; monumental structures, the two halls are connected by a serie of arches on pillars which dominate the image of the interior and should be preserved. Next to these issues aroused by the building itself, Doepel Strijkers put into practice strategies of sustainable reuse and conversion of buildings, in the attempt of
giving an answer to a very contemporary problem. The need for light and the will of optimizing the use of sunlight lead to the insertion of a greenhouse in the middle of the building. The greenhouse enfolds the working spaces which need privacy and silence. To provide these spaces with an independent entrance, it goes through the open arches. On the top floor, the most private, quite and bright space of all is the showroom, covered by the transparent glass canopy of the greenhouse and situated directly under the skylights. The other working areas surround the greenhouses, which also work as a separation between the two main departments of the company. Natural steel structures support the wooden floor which spreads throughout the three greenhouses. It sticks out of the wooden block in the minor hall, where all the services, facilities and technical spaces are grouped. Some other objects give a final touch to the scene, emerging from the landscape of white desks: radical chic blocks of secondhand plastic crates, as storage spaces and cupboards and a red Bianchina, the cult Italian car from the Sixties, at the entrance. Both objects take part, everyone in its own way, to the second life that has been given to the building.
P I E K S T R A AT
plans of floor 00 and 01, scale 1:200
102/103
P I E K S T R A AT
previous page small hall, view from entrance door top cross section with elevation of facilities block, scale 1:200 left facilities block concept and functioning of wardrobe
104/105
120
0
2000
1200
P I E K S T R A AT
320 360
0
previous page big hall, view from a workstation
960
left second-hand crates as storage elements bottom reference images
106/107
right site redevelopment and related issues next page sustainability features of the project
Ruisseau Sainteclette contrat de quartier durable “Autour de Léopold” Doepel Strijkers - Rotterdam (NL) with Artgineering - Rotterdam (NL)
For this project Doepel Strijkers were asked to take part to the definition of the sustainability features of a new building which was supposed to play a key-role in the neighbourhood contract of Ruisseau Sainteclette area. Such a redevelopment programme promotes housing quality, employment and social integration at neighbourhood scale with a partnership of public and private investors and cannot be without taking sustainable design as starting point. The first action was to make the building and its closest surroundings part of the network of urban green areas (pocket parks) which is part of the fabric of Brussels. This goal is achieved in different ways. First of all by opening to public and connecting with each other the former backyards surrounding the site, a green porosity strategy. The same issue can be dealt with on building scale with green roofs. The presence of a sport centre on the ground floor and of a children daycare on the upper one, makes it even more important to give strong role and meaning to green areas. This can be done by inserting facilities like playgrounds or urban agriculture sites, to enable socializing and
environmental awareness. Other sustainability features are related to innovative production of energy: what if the flat roofs of the neighbourhood could be rented to install photovoltaic panels to produce clean energy? Reducing energy consumption isn’t less crucial. Green areas already favour the reduction of so-called urban heat island effect but much more can be done with an attentive desing of air circulation throughout the building. At neighbourhood scale an energy cascading system could be organized. Socially speaking, the principle of appropriation is also very important: people don’t take care of common space unless they feel like it is partly theirs. A broader pavement can suggest and stimulate innovative use of open public space, if properly designed.
RUISSEAU SAINTECLETTE
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Galata Greek School a showcase for the Rum community in Instanbul Doepel Strijkers - Rotterdam (NL) with ABOUTBLANK - Istanbul (TR)
The Turkish government has lately started to give back properties that had been confiscated during the last decades to the Greek Orthodox community in Istanbul. The so-called Rum community wants to regain the role it used to have in Istanbul society. A good chance to do so is represented by the reposession of the building which used to be the Greek school in the district of Galata. The building dates back to the beginning of the Twentieth century, has a rigid layout and a rather monumental character. These features don’t actually match with the ambition of the community, which would like the building to become an open, informal and flexible location for events of social and cultural relevance at city scale. To give an answer to these ambitions a workshop was organized, in which Dutch architects were supposed to collaborate with Istanbul-based offices. The proposal elaborated by Doepel Strijkers and AboutBlank is an attempt to make the building as flexible as possible, in terms of use of the different floors, by introducing a new system of routing. A new, half internal half external, staircase makes it possible to access each floor directly from the street,
keeping the programme of each floor separated from the others. The building can still work as a whole but it can also host activities with different time schedule, interior design features or surface requirements, when it’s needed. Moreover, the intervention makes the new use of the building visible to passers-by: the entrance to the tunnelstaircase is located directly on the pavement, as an invitation to pop in and have a look, while the new programme on the roof top is discretely visible from all around the building. The old roof is converted into a roof village which could represent a great mean of promotion for Rum community, considering the mild climate of the city. This one was chosen among many options because, if used to establish an urban agriculture site, it could have worked as a spin-off for the whole building, with a programme of activities ranging from cultivation to consumption of food, and if used as temporary accomodation for artists, it could have turned into an open-air art workshop. At the same time, a lot of attention was paid to reducing the energy consumption of the building, both for sustainability issues and to guarantee the economical viability of the whole project.
G A L AT A G R E E K S C H O O L
top floorplans, street level to roof terrace, with highlight on interventions left views with insertion of the interventions in the urban fabric
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STARTING POINT
STRATEGY
CONTROL OF
A
RESPONSE TO
CLIMATIC ISSUES
USE RELATED ISSUES
humidity
comfort
STATIC RESPONSE TO USE
view
STATIC CLIMATE RESPONSE
traditional textile low innovation
B
seasons RESPONSE BY MACHINE
CLIMATE RESPONSIVE SURFACES temperature
PROPOSALS
PROGRAMMED CLIMATE RESPONSE
traditional textile low innovation
day/night
C INDIRECT CLIMATE RESPONSE
DYNAMIC
ventilation
noise insulation use
(human activities)
light
hybrid textile high innovation
acoustics
architextiles climate-responsive textile surfaces Doepel Strijkers - Rotterdam (NL) with Fokkema & Partners Architecten - Delft (NL)
RESPONSE TO TEMPERATURE
D DIRECT CLIMATE RESPONSE
This project was part of a multidisciplinary research aimed to determine possible uses of textiles in contemporary architecture. The work started with questioning the very meaning of the word ‘textile’and testing a range of different products and the possibilities inherent in each of them. At the same time an effort was done in trying to give a new interpretation to a category of materials - textiles - which have always played an important role in architecture. The hypothetical setting that was chosen for the proposal is an existing building, located in the urban fabric, which undergoes a process of conversion of its function. The main issue to deal with, in such a case, is to grant indoor comfort for the user. It goes without saying that the basic requirement of the intervention was to be sustainable and cost-efficient. Apart from architecture, textiles have always had another important use in our society: clothing. They are particularly suitable for this use because of some properties they possess: thermal insulation, noise insulation,
smart textile high innovation
transpiration, softness, possibility of being folded, relatively light weight, affordability, they can be completely natural etc. The same properties can be effectively used in contemporary interior design. During the last years new textile materials have been artificially created and one of them - textiles from shape memory alloy was integrated into the design in order to give traditional textiles the responsiveness they usually lack. The properties of a textile coupled with the incredible features of shape memory alloys lead us to a range of climateresponsive textile surfaces. Assuming that the site was an empty, completely glazed, standard floor of the aforementioned existing building, it was possible to place different layers of these surfaces in different ways, with a very interesting spatial outcome. The general concept which keeps all the options together is the so-called climate zoning: take the most out of free energy gains (i.e. sunlight) and create the necessary indoor climate conditions only where needed.
ARCHITEXTILES
EXTERNAL VARIATION PATTERNS
INTERNAL VARIABLES USE-RELATED ISSUES
SEASONS
DAY/NIGHT COMFORT
WC WC
B
VIEW
WC
EXTERNAL VARIABLES CLIMATIC ISSUES
A
D B C NOISE INSULATION
A B
HUMIDITY
A B ACOUSTICS
D
D TEMPERATURE
A
B
VENTILATION INTERNAL VARIATION PATTERNS
LIGHT
USE (HUMAN ACTIVITIES)
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PROPOSAL C INDIRECT CLIMATE RESPONSE Patches of traditional textile open and close by means of the response to variations in temperature of interwoven shape memory alloy threads.
ARCHITEXTILES
PROPOSAL D DIRECT CLIMATE RESPONSE Three-dimensional modules, made of woven shape memory alloy threads, directly respond to variations in temperature by expanding and contracting.
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE 00 MAXIMUM VIEW
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE 01 MINIMUM VIEW
THE FACADE IS MOULDED BY CLIMATE AND CONTEXT EACH MODULE IS AN INDEPENT UNIT WHICH ADJUSTS TO LOCAL CONDITIONS
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Intramezzo Italian urban canteen competition
The urban canteen is a new typology of restaurant which has recently been spreading throughout many European cities. An urban canteen is a place where it is possible to find nice food for a reasonable price. The main features of it are the very high quality of the food, the way it is served and the atmosphere of the restaurant. In this case, high quality means sustainability. Food undergoes processes which are sustainable from the beginning to the end: it is produced with sustainable techniques, it is as local as possible, it is served according to the seasonal pattern, it is delivered only by certified suppliers. The interior of the place also contributes to promote social awareness thanks to the choice of materials and furniture (natural, biobased, reused). These specific features attract a public which is generally highly educated and who can enjoy such a place. To adopt such a concept to give a stronger and more conving identity to a new chain of restaurants was the goal of a competition to which I was invited to participate. In this case the focus of the company was on the triangular Italian sandwich called tramezzino. The idea was to give a new interpretation to this classic of Italian culture. Nothing of the
traditional meaning and value of it should have been lost. The goal was to enrich this image by increasing the awareness of people tasting it. At the same time, it should have been possible to export this format all over the world, to make the Italian origin recognizable and the sandwich enjoyable for everybody. The competion was organized to give the restaurants where the sandwich would be served a coherent image. The proposal pivots around the concept of the urban canteen but considers also all the traditional issues dealing with the design of such a social space: comfort, different kinds of spatial situations matching with different social behaviours and consuming patterns, sustainable design, flexibility, integration of extra features like small events, live music, Pecha Kucha Nights, book crossing etc and last but not least, awareness-raising. The project can be summarized by the service bar. This piece of furniture is inspired to the showcase of a jewellery shop: only the shop assistant has access to the items from the back of the cabinet and the tramezzino is presented as if it was a jewel. Moreover, the cabinet has a colour code to link the different sandwiches to the geographical map on the back wall.
INTRAMEZZO
combination of design features into a hypothetical inside view
THEMES AND PROJECTS 2006 - 2013
PROJECT
PROJECT
PROJECT
COMPETITION
Sustainable dwellings for a changing society Treviso (Italy)
New Museum of the City of Venice and refurbishment of the Lazzaretto Vecchio Venice (Italy)
Venice West Waterfront towards Knowledge Society of 2050 Venice (Italy)
Redevelopment of city centre and design of a new town hall Espoo (Finland)
Master Degree in Architecture for Sustainability, Iuav University of Venice ( I )
Internship at Sergio Pascolo Architects, Venice ( I )
October 2006
February 2008
COMPETITION
PROJECT
RESEARCH PROJECT
RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION
A self-sufficient floating house in the Watergraafsmeer Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Multifunctional urban furniture
Aflsuitbaar Open Rijnmond Rhine Delta and Drechtsteden (Netherlands)
Waterwonen in Nederland A.L. Nillesen (Defacto), J. Singelenberg (SEV) NAI Publishers
Internship and work at Defacto Architectuur en Stedenbouw, Amsterdam (NL) February 2010
PROJECT
PROJECT
PROJECT
RESEARCH PROJECT AND PUBLICATION
Adaptive building, urban resilience in unembanked areas - Feyenoord Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Adaptive building, urban resilience in unembanked areas - Heijplaat Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Energy landscape The Hague (Netherlands)
People make the inner city Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Work at Doepel Strijkers, Rotterdam (NL) June 2011
PROJECT
MASTER DEGREE THESIS
EXHIBITION
COMPETITION
Conversion of a 1930’s cinema into an innovative theatre Udine (Italy)
Permeable City - sustainable urban design models for stormwater management
Blue in Architecture 09 Water, Climate Change and Architecture Exhibition of the Master Degree Thesis at the International Symposium in Venice (Italy)
Instant House 2010 - Soundscapes First Prize inhabited sound barriers in Milan (Italy)
July 2009
July 2008
RESEARCH PROJECT
WORKSHOP
COMPETITION
PUBLICATION
Spatial survey towards Havenvisie 2030 Port of Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Reading the floodplain Flood risk awareness Zollhafen, Mainz (Germany)
Instant House 2011 - Social Club floating modular pavilions for the redevelopment of waterways in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy)
Annual Young Blood 2010 annual of young talented Italian designers awarded in fields of architecture, fashion, art, photography and graphics
February 2011
COMPETITION PROJECT
PROJECT
RESEARCH PROJECT
Piekstraat - new headquarters of a shoe design firm Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Galata Greek School - a showcase for the RUM community Istanbul (Turkey)
ARCHITEXTILES
Intramezzo - Italian Urban Canteen interior design proposal for an innovative slow food restaurant
March 2013