Eye s o pe n te nde rl y, ends of l ashes c ling to o n e anothe r. Smal l , year ni ng c ries dissolve into the bliss of unknowing. The journey unfolds; learning what it means to o bs e r ve , how to control movement , how to expre s s thoughts. Growi ng a nd grow i n g . F indin g pl aymates, fi guring o ut how to long d i v i de, p i c ki ng out w h i c h Spice Gi r l you want to be w h e n you g row up. L etti ng the world change you. Exp eri en c i ng and more grow i n g . The n reti r i n g , sl owi ng down, ref l e c ting , and c l osi n g th e eyes for t he la st ti me . The n i t repeats, agai n a nd a ga i n. Cycle s. An etern al conti nua nce o f t i m e; rising , fal l i ng , never fai ling to return to the ori gi nal state. Cycles a re t he e ss e nce of h ow we i n habit . W h et h er it ’s life an d death, or whether it ’s e co nom ics, o r the way we d esign, o r eve n our bre athi ng; our heartbeat s: cyc l e s are a def i ni ti on of ou r being.
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How can a multi-functional network provide disaster relief whilst facilitating public life??
PLAN -SCALE 1:300 @ A4 -NORTH
This park is the western most park in Wellington’s disaster relief park space network AFTERSHOCK. Situated on what is currently Glover park, on Ghuznee Street, this location is central to many of the dense commercial and residential areas in Te Aro. This park will be the gateway from the western suburbs into Te Aro for those who require aid and assistance in the event of a Disaster. This park aims to enable organic travel through the site on a day to day basis. The pathways all mimic the desire lines that people already take. It provides shade and shelter whilst enclosing the occupants into a small micro climate. The combination of construction and vegetation reduces the influence of Wellington’s typically harsh environmental conditions to make a place that feels inviting and safe.
The key feature of this park space is the duality if plays. The ability for the park to be a successful public life generator on a daily basis meshes brilliantly with the park turning into a public disaster relief space. The park is designed to encourage the provision of Shelter, Water and Food for those who need it in a disaster event. The Shelter component is temporary and seasonal as sails can be applied and removed from the poles and columns quickly and easily. The Water is provided through collection and storage in the small room-like spaces in the middle of the park. Food is a lot less influential in this design space but will be more evident in other parks in the AFTERSHOCK network. This space provides the possibility of growing food in the water collection boxes or to appropriate the large grassy areas for urban agriculture. The main source of food will be generated through dialogue with the Rouge and Vagabond craft beer bar.
C O L L E C T I O N - S A I L S
The sail system in the design acts as both a means of collecting drinkable water and creating shelter. On a daily basis these shade sails will cover primary pathway and the outdoor area of the Rouge and Vagabond. These elements will enable comfortable conditions that will withstand the environment. As shown in the image of the left hand page the sails should be able to stop water from falling onto the occupants of the park. In the event of a disaster these canvas sails have another purpose. They act as collection surfaces for water and all feed down to retrofitted tanks or into the build trough/ garden boxes. These sails are versatile and can be added to by connecting externally sourced sails to the main spine. The triangulated connections will provide extra shelter and extra surface area for the eventual collection of water. The sails have a surface area of approximately 400m2, so when combined with a 100 year rainfall event, which predicts that 0.043m of water will fall in the first hour, resulting in 17.2m3 of water being collected by the sails each hour = 17200L.
S T O R A G E - B O X E S The forms in this design that act as the spine between pedestrian traffic and the Cuba street corner act as both planter boxes and water collection units. On a daily basis these boxes create little informal rooms that people can reside in. The small amount of privacy enables people to escape from the surrounding urban environments and be encased in an environment of timber and low, dense shrubbery. In a disaster event these boxes are able to hold a lot of the water that might be collected by the sail systems. Being made of timber and plastics these boxes should posses the flexibility to endure an earthquake making them useful as water vessels. The main constraints surrounding these boxes is their endurance of a disaster event, also they need to be wide enough and deep enough for a disaster victim to use a bucket to scoop out the water that they need. The boxes have an approximate volume of 30m3 (accounting for potential debris/ vegetation taking up space). This means that it would take a little less that two hours of extreme rain to fully stock the boxes, which if not replenished would provide 500 people with enough water for 3 days (20L/day emergency rations).
In order to prevent over filling these boxes will have a system that connects to the storm-water system. The model to the left demonstrates how the water is able to fill up quickly and when water reaches near the top the excess is removed through the upper drain.
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The boxes will often not be full as it does not rain every day throughout the year, therefore the boxes most have a secondary drainage system to prevent stagnation, This system will be a drip irrigation system that will seep the remaining water into the grass areas and eventually into the ground water. This can also be the main system for removing surface water but most water will flow off into the storm-water system.
S E A T I N G - E D G E S The edges of the park play an important role in the social life of the park. Most edges sit 0.5m off the ground which is roughly seat height. This should encourage/ invite occupants to sit around and share the space with others. The softer timber edges add a more comfortable appearance that the current parks harsh stone tiles.
Alluvium This soil type consists of sediments and rocks that come from a marine environment such as rivers and lakes. This soil typically is not consolidated making it very weak and allows water to penetrate quickly. Colluvium Much the same as alluvium this soil is weak as it is largely unconsolidated. Therefore it will allow water penetration. Colluvium is the soil type that contains the sediments and rocks that have come loose from slopes and mountains etc. Wellington’s bedrock and soils typically have a Graywacke base.
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs identifies what people need most in order to achieve a life of fulfilment. We have separated the hierarchy into two categories. The basic needs are: -Physiological – breathing, food, water, sex, sleep. -Safety – friendship, family. The growth needs are: -Love and belonging – self esteem, confidence, respect of and by others -Esteem – security of employment, resources, body, and morality. -Self – Actualization – creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, acceptance. Maslow argued that the higher growth needs could not be met until all of a person’s basic needs were realised. Relating these frameworks, we can understand what kinds of needs people will have post disaster.
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Kates and Pijawka’s “From Rubble to Monument”, says that the cycle of reconstruction typically occurs in four stages. The emergency - activities such as search and rescue and finding water and food sources occur. This stage can last from days to weeks. Restoration - repairs to utilities, and to commercial, industrial and residential structures occur. This period varies greatly, but can take between months to years to recover. Replacement reconstruction - This is where capital stocks are rebuilt and the economy of the area recovers to predisaster levels. The end of this phase is when the population, jobs, housing, and services have been remedied. Development reconstruction.- This is the opportunity. This is where a city is able to move far beyond where it was before the event.
AFTERSHOCK-FRAMEWORK Phase 1 is about establishing connections. Implementing a system of pocket parks begins to form the network of social and resilient spaces. These pocket parks serve as an introduction, a “nice to meet wvvvvv” to the proposed network. They are the pieces that connect the spaces together. They fit into a standard car park, providing a pocket of public sanctuary while meshing into the existing urban fabric. They take form of seating arrangements, refuge under shade, stopping points. Here people are able to take a breather. In the event of an earthquake, through their placement, function, and materiality, they would serve as a wayfinding device, leading people towards refuge and support. Phase 2 grounds the design. Here, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs relates directly where we have chosen to begin with the essentials to draw the public in. This takes form of water play spaces and fountains, places for people to enjoy a bite, and areas to bask in prospect and refuge – mirroring Maslow’s basic physiological needs of food, water, and shelter. As an example of what one of these spaces might look like, we looked at the Michael Fowler Centre car park. The car park serves as a representative space for how Aftershock could be applied across Wellington and other disaster-prone cities. The Michael Fowler Centre is a concert hall and conference centre, located close to Wellington’s town hall and council offices. The site is bordered on one side by a major road which runs north along the waterfront and eventually out of the city. The space also forms the link between the pedestrian Cuba Street and the popular waterfront. Phase 3 evolves the design. In order to achieve the upper portions of the hierarchy, we can embed more programmed spaces like a skate parks, playgrounds, sports facilities, bike stations, gardens, stalls for local commerce etc. These types of program draw in particular groups of people. They are speak more to people’s loves and interests and aspirations, rather than their essential inert needs. These evolutions of space would encourage our “Growth needs”.
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BASIC NEEDS
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We used Te Aro’s Existing building footprints to determine locations throughout the suburb that might be empty, green space or general open space and tried to select places that would have a minimal affect on the original city structure.
Te Aro’s population density plays a large part in selecting appropriate locations for the parks spaces. The most dense locations were found to be hotels, apartment complexes and university halls of residences. This diagram takes into account the home locations of city blocks and does not consider where people will be during the day (More people will be at University as opposed to apartments during the day).
The existing building program across the whole of Te Aro helped determine the need for essential needs/ basic needs. This diagram shows that many of the buildings that can facilitate food and water (bars, restaurants, cafĂŠs and supermarkets) are located on Cuba Street and Courtney Place.
Determining the primary access routes through Te Aro is an important layer that enables us to place parks within reasonable distances of the routes that will most likely facilitate aid when a disaster event occurs.
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Glover Park is currently a public parkspace located on Ghuznee Street in Te Aro, Wellington. This park space utilises a terrace layout with a lot of grass to create a place that is not very pleasant to be in. The main occupants of the park are those who use it as a short-cut to cross from Ghuznee street to Cuba street.
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The Park has a local craft beer pub/ bar called the Rouge and Vagabond which has done wonders on increasing the public life f the space (on a sunny day). This establishment has appropriated the south western “terrace: and has created an informal outdoor space. The park does not enable users to move trough easily. The existing paths all cross the natural flow of the space and forces people to create desire lines across the park. These desire lines tend to cross diagonally from the north west to the south east part of the park as people take the short-cut mentioned earlier. This space is slightly off one of the busier streets in Te Aro. This means that it would be a great location to redesign and appropriate for the needs of the AFTERSHOCK network.
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Current Routes Desire Line
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S Y S T E M - D E V E L O P M E N T
WAT E R - S Y S T E M - D I A G R A M
Rainfall
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Sails collect and direct water into the collection boxes
Overflow drainage to storm-wate
Storm water Runoff
Garret St storm water pipe 300mm concrete
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7.2K L/h 1 in 100 year rain event
30K L Capacity
Enough for 500 people for 3 days
Secondary collection box drainage leads to a drip irrigation system for the turfed area
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Ground water
DISASTER RELIEF PUBLIC SPACE NETWORK
POST STRUCTURES
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
COLLECTION - STORAGE - DRAINAGE
400 m2 sail area
30K
Cross bracing establishes structural integrity Cross braces are welded onto the steel framing
Steel framing provides the tensile strength to withstand the fluctuation in the sail
Rainfall passes through the sails
The base plate to which the steel frame is welded is bolted to a concrete block or the concrete ground finish
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1 in 100 year flood event
In the event of a disaster the shade/ water collection sails can be rigged up quckily due to the hooks interlocking with the cross bracing rungs in the steel frames.
The post structures diverse nature allows them to be used for various purposes on a day to day basis. These functions may include lighting, space for pinning up media, meeting points etc.
s into the water collection boxes Alternatively the shade sails could be left up so that on sunny days pub crawlers can hide from the sun.
Using hooks on the sail system allows the shelter to be made higher or lower with ease.
DISASTER RELIEF PUBLIC SPACE NETWORK
COLLECTION BOXES WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
COLLECTION - STORAGE - DRAINAGE Structural components made from reinforced concrete to promote strength and longevity
Box base is tiered to fit with the terraces layout
30K L C
The top pipe prevents overflow and evacuates excess water into the swale system
The bottom pipe leads to the turfed area to help irrigation
Dry spell - Bottom pipe used
At any one time (if boxes are full)
The box systems combined have a maximum:
30K L Capacity 17.2K L/h intake
Capacity
As an individual requires
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of water per day for drinking, cooking and maintaining hygiene.
The park can contain enough water to provide
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people with 3 days of supply. based on the terrace bed space
Rainfall event - Fills box to overflow pipe
DISASTER RELIEF PUBLIC SPACE NETWORK
SWALE SYSTEM WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
COLLECTION - STORAGE - DRAINAGE
Steel grate enables ground plane to remain at road level
This catchment area has a ground plan m2. In the event of a 1 in 100 year floo be approximately 50mm of rainfall wit Therefor This park space needs to be a approximately 390000 litres of water o water system every hour.
Bottom channel directs water flow into the Garret St storm water pipe
Middle tier can facilitate the removal of detritus and rubbish Garret St storm water pipe has a 300m diameter and is made from concrete
The park faces danger in a flood even from not only the surging torrent of water but the contaminants that will come from the immediate area.
ne surface area of approximately 8500 od event NIWA predicts that there will thin the first hour. able to channel and direct out of the swales and into the storm
Cuba St storm water pipe has a 1200mm diameter and is made of brick
Storm water runnoff containing hydrocarbons and heavy metals can contaminate supplies and make short term life in this temporary living space miserable