MEGALOPOLIS
RECONFIGURING PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPE
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Mining dominates till today the economy in Megalopolis basin. The ongoing lignite extraction goes hand in hand with radical landscape alterations, large scale expropriations, serious environmental pollution and a multitude of socio-economic issues. Simultaneously, mining closure in the coming decades is inevitable, as energy production based on non-renewable resources is fading out.
Mitigating environmental issues is a major challenge. The question is however if good use can also be made of the still ongoing exploitation to simultaneously prepare and lay the basis for the future of the basin in ecological as well as in economical terms. Mining is by definition a temporal land use. Why not think of it in terms of transitional land use.
JIANGNAN, SUZHOU
REVIVING TERRITORIES OF HYDRAULIC CIVILIZATION
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Current situation: the expasion of urbanised areas within the Yangtze River Delta results in a major problem of water pollution and the further threats of flooding.
Cleaning polder system Urban area Green corridor Lowlying land
Proposal: the system of ‘wei H2.0’ or agro-ecological polder create the new super ‘green’ that solve the water pollution, protect the fresh water, and intensify the water capacity. 5
Back to ‘Wei’
agro-ecological polder for climate change resilience Studio Spring 2017 - China Minh Phuoc Vu, Nicholas Jacobs, Yuhan-Huang
The southern part of Jiangsu province as well as the rural areas of the Wujiang district are located in one of the lowest areas of the Yangtze River Delta, compared to the other territories in this region. Historically, the largest part of eastern Taihu lake was formed and defined by the polder system landscape. This landscape type was created according to several demands of traditional water transportation and the protection of cultivating activities with the low topographical condition. However, over the time, the rapid pace of China’s urbanization has changed this distinct’s landscape structure. In other words, China’s fringe urbanization or industrialization-oriented from big mega cities of Wujiang and Shanghai into the rural areas in between has been causing numerous problems to not only the spatial structure of the territory in delta scale by the significant and sudden changes of the water body by manmade impacts for industrial and related urban demands, but also to the environment of locals on the neighborhoods scale in different dimensions. Various influences of this trend has changed the meaning of water in the territory from the most vital resource of human life to a ferocious concern, including the inhumane water pollution and the future threat of water inclination issued by climate change. Moreover, the fast expanding pace of big cities and the non-stop increase of industrial areas in the three last decades has led to the disappearance of an abundance amount of agricultural land within the region; consequently, this entails a significant decline of local food production and raises the alarm of food security. As an urgent reaction to this situation, the Wujiang administration as well as China’s government has proposed projection planning visions and policies to protect, preserve, and develop the whole rural area as an independent system in between two big megacities. Nevertheless, the questionable proposed policies, which aims to increase the production capacity in these agricultural areas are mostly focussed on its economical benefits and ignored relevant pivotal ecological considerations. WEI H2.0-strategy aims at an new version of polder whilst learning from its history. It’s a sustainable intervention and development vision for the whole rural area of the YRD territory. The strategy does not only solve the urgent issue of water pollution and the future flooding threat, it also answers to the future of China’s rural fringe. 6
Existing capacity Increased capacity
Open polder strategy in corridor scale
From the concept of single open polder, the strategy is to express the power of this module by applying its logic to the polders in whole corridor. Thereby, the capacity of water cleaning and water storage in every cell of polder will contribute to increase countless times according to the number of polders in the region. Therefore, next to the big blue landscape of Taihu lake and the big dense grey landscape of Wujiang center, the strategy provides the third landscape of flexible blue-green polder that will be change during different seasons, but more importantly this third land increase the capacity of resiliency with water for the whole territory. 7
Urban-agriculture landscape Rural-agriculture landscape Natural landscape
Open polder strategy in corridor scale with DNA characteristic
Existing polder types
At first sight the polder landscape has a very generic morphology. The uncountable polder islands coexist next to each other as a vast scenery of static cells, all recognisable by the shape of their dike and its surrounding moderately moving water. However, as the result of the rural fringe of China, the entire polder landscape is transformed into diffrent polder types, called as ‘DNA’ .Therefore, according to different ‘DNA’ characteristic of each polder type, the concept of open polder is applied flexibly in every situation. By that way, every polder cell not only improve the situation of each neighborhood, but also bring the multiple effects in the scale of corridor. 8
Wetland connection strategy
Diagram Section
The open polder system is run by the combination of open and close dikes in order to create the polder protection layers. These layers allows to natural process of water inside the polder to protect the agricultural activities and increase the water storage capacity at the same time. Moreover, the protection layers give different rooms to organise various forms of agricultural activities. The agriculture rotation system is then applied into that structure to ensure economic values of agriculture. The proposal of wetland also applies the micro-topography design to create the diversity of spatial organization and thereby the wetland bring both of ecological and economiceconomic values. 9
Dry season
Wet season
Open polder proposal
Diagram section
Agriculture rotation system 10
Dry season
Wet season
Open polder system with low density of urban area
Wetland esign process
Diagram section
Looking at the first type of polder with low density of urban and industries, there is an advantage of more acreage of agricultural land that could be design for the creation that big central constructed wetland with the purpose of collecting all the wastewater from different activities within polder and infiltrating it by itself. The big central wetland is located in lowest topography and in between villages and industries. Besides, the new linear wetland is proposal to collect waste water from linear villages and industries in two sides and then lead it to the big central wetland for cleaning process. 11
Summer
Winter 12
Dry season
Wet season
Open polder system with high density of urban area
Wetland design process
Diagram section
According to the second term of polder with high density of industrial and urban presence, the huge occupation of built areas for industries and new urban surrounding has split spatial structure within its polder by forming small fragmented agricultural lands in between villages and urban or industries. In order to implement the idea of open polder in this situation, the design need to solve two essential challenges such as solving the water purification need for both agricultural and industrial or urban activities while the wastewater from urban and industries are distributed into small adjacent. 13
Summer
Winter 14
Proposal development of urban wetland neiborghood
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Complex urban wetland development
In the larger scale, the creation of new wetland would combine with adjacent industries to make the new central places. It not only meet the demands of local people but also attract the needs of other villages outside of polder that somehow contribute to connect with surround areas in the larger system. While the wetland is function as public open spaces for activities like trading agricultural products of local market, growing vegetables in common garden for individual demands or selling, serving the foods for workers and farmers, the old industrial building is recycled
into indoor spaces for related activities like storing and processing agricultural products, recreational services for both workers and farmers, and so on. For these reasons, the design re-organizes the spatial structure of polder by generating the new complex place with various topographical level, provide the great harmony of built and un-built areas by the combination of wetland and old industrial building boxes, and erase the boundary between urban, industrial and rural areas by integrating all elements into one complex system. 16
Proposal development of transport connection
Summer - Water cleaning process
Winter - Water storing process 17
In some specific situations, the regional system infrastructure with higher scale of topography break the structure of polder which it goes through. This kind of infrastructure normally creates small left-over areas when cutting across the polders. These left-over areas are defined as the lowland and surrounded by the high lands of dikes and infrastructure, and significantantly small size to organize productive agriculture; hence, these spaces are an opportunity to create a constructed wetland within the concept of open polder.
Thereby, the constructed wetland is located inbetween the junction of the regional system infrastructure and the local system connection of polder. Following that strategy, the design of constructed wetland with cut and fill provide the soils to make the high land within it and next to entrance to regional connection. This highland could be a strategic location for plugging in the storage for collecting local agricultural products from production activities inside the polder and then delivering direcly to the regional network. 18
PETERBOS - THE BIG, THE BAD AND THE UGLY? RETURNING TO MODERNIST UTOPIAS
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“The shape, the scale, and the colors of garden strips between the buidlings would create a delicate landscape, presenting the compositional balance between natural and human processes.”
This project tries to imagine Peterbos as a productive and active urban landscape for the city.
It brings activities and flows to otherwise huge and empty green spaces of Peterbos.
Despite being a part of a series of parks and highrise social housing complexes in Brussels, Peterbos seemed like a disconnected neighborhood, socially and physically. We tried to understand it from the perspective of mobility and movement in Brussels. At a smaller scale, we studied the movement in Peterbos in material terms (the networks of mobility, the infrastructure of movement on site, the obstructions, the boundaries, the qualities they generate) and in terms of the flows (of people, of vehicles).
We propose to densify the urban side by adding more buildings that complement the existing buildings in programme and in type. They generate more activities and movement on the site. Between the ‘forest-like’ areas in north and south where the land is already structured by the buildings, we create more divisions to break down the scale and add more variety. We create strips of gardens. The topography, existing trees and shadows of the buildings create situations to bring variations in the textures and activities on the strips.
Our understanding that the infrastructure of movement in Peterbos is in excess, oversized, homogeneous and dull, led us to minimize it by restricting the car access to the boulevard - to the urban side - and free rest of the site to create a ‘city garden’. The city garden can be seen as a condensation of the rural side into an urban place.
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The ground also becomes a patchwork of different farms and gardens, different textures and colors that not only make beautiful surface for all the residents to view from their high-rise buildings but also contribute to create the huge urban landscape to this area.
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FUTURE URBAN TISSUES OF CA MAU
ANTICIPATING NEW URBANISATION
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WATER POLLUTION COMPOSITION
URBAN FABRIC AND INFRASTRUCTURE
A lack of treatment process of watse water and the present of water lock on the site has been intensify the major problem of water pollution in Ca Mau city.
The expansion of infrastructure along with urbanisation have been broken the structure of surrouding natural and productive landscapes, resulting related issues.
LAND TYPE FABRIC
WATER MORPHOLOGY
The cut and fill strategy has defined the city ‘belt’ which are the vast low lands located in between the city center and the peripherial productive landscapes.
Water plays an indispensable role in running and developing the city under different shapes and scales. All of them co-exist within a logical and interactive system.
THE “RESERVOIRS BELT”
OPEN SPACE AND LANDSCAPE
Taking the advantages of “ the existing lowland belt”, the idea of “Resevoir Belt” is proposed as the longterm strategy to deal with the water issues of territory.
The urbanisation has been rising the challlenge of “how to integrate different landscapes types together as one sustainable system”, meeting future demands
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Ca Mau New Water Filter City Studio Spring 2015 - Vietnam Nguyen Ngoc Minh Chau Vu Minh Phuoc Phan Le Khanh Nhu
Ca Mau, the lowest of the low, the wettest of the wet, was dominated by the presence of natural wetlands. This distinctive landscape type of Ca Mau both gave the city its prosperity as well as dangers. The city periphery was blessed with fertile soil but also incubate the worst nightmare, mosquitoes. While the condition poses great potential as Ca Mau new green necklace, rapid urbanisation following the top-down masterplan is day by day eating up such unique ecosystem. Due to the characteristic of being vulnerable to climate change, housing platform in Ca Mau has to be elevated and the volume taken from the reconstruction of aerated lagoons plus canals will be mobilised for such reason. 26
POPULATION AND URBANIZATION
While the condition poses great potential as Ca Mau new green necklace, rapid urbanisation follo eating up such unique ecosystem.
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owing the top-down masterplan is day by day
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STRATEGY CITY PLAN
The existing unsustanable vast productive landscape is proposed to become the city largest low-tech water cleansing system by transforming the existing ponds into a chain of aerated lagoons, where as the existing traffic system is re-defined and integrated with new proposed canals in order to bring the values of landscape and function to the city. With the great existing potential combining with the emerging demand to sustainably filter the water for the whole city as well as transforming the wetland, it is foreseen that these territory will be rethought as the city new cleaning machine that at the same time, frame the non-stopped development of Ca Mau, further contribute to the process of densifying urban fabric instead of carpeting it. 30
Common agricultural land
Semi-private courtyard
Private backyard
Common orchard garden
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STRATEGY SITE PLAN
Wetland park
Public courtyard
River side park
LANDSCAPE TYPOLOGY
URBAN SECTION - WATER CLEANING PROCESS 32
Zoom in 1 - New city center
Zoom in 2 - Agricultural village
Zoom in 3 - New Old city
URBAN FABRIC 33
BUILDING AND OPEN SPACE TYPOLOGY
PERSPECTIVE SECTION 34
New neigborhood center
Agricultural neigborhood
New old city
PERSPECTIVE SECTION 35
ANTWERP NEW SOUTH
REDESIGNING STRATEGIC VACANT LANDSCAPE
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PRODUCTIVE & RESIDENTIAL NEW SOUTH Studio Fall 2015 - Belgium Minh Phuoc Vu Hoang Thanh Tran Duc Thinh Pham
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Current situation: the masterplans for Blue Gate & New South, together with existing industry, create a ‘modernistic’ devision between working and dwelling.
Proposal: a new master plan for the whole area, with a mix of residential and productive activities, not only to replace the two current masterplans, but also for future neighbouring transformations. 38
19th century building block
‘Blue Gate block’
Proposal oversized building block
“The city of Antwerp is expanding beyond its 19th-century centre again, and the site of New South is one of the most important puzzle pieces to bridge the gap between what has been and what is going to happen. Although it has always been a key point as the cross of ‘Hard Spine’ (urban) and the ‘Soft Spine’ (green space), the site has been mostly programmed and designed as an end point of both: As it is today, the residential development
of New South completes Antwerp’s inner city, which is discontinued from the rest of the city by the ring motorway. Beyond the motorway are various industries, one of them being the Blue Gate project for contemporary productivity and logistics. As the 21st-century coming towards its adolescence, light industries have become a trend. With new techniques like 3D printing and automated transportation, they provide everyday products, with smaller production and logistical 39
Typological arrangement
Location of activities
Green open spaces
Guides for the proposed mixed building block.
Logistical comb structure
LONGITUDINAL ORIENTATION
Comb green structure
OPEN SPACE & CITY BLOCKS
Principled spacing
GREEN OPEN SPACES
Structure of new master plan for Antwerp New South.
units, but in vast amount. This creates less noise and pollution inconveniences, while being easier to establish due to its minor investment cost. It also generates specialized service employment, to create the specific programming and to design unique products. Less pollution, smaller grain, more employment: it seems like a golden opportunity to get away from the archaic divisions between working and dwelling. If we take possibilities from 21st 40
century productivity into consideration, we could combine the sites of New South with the project of Blue Gate and the production zone of Kiel. This would incorporate the light industry and residential areas into one urban form, something that would create vibrant opportunities for the continuity of the city of Antwerp as a whole. The spatial concept of this design is to weave the natural landscapes into the building blocks, both stretching the urban development until Kiel
Master Plan 1:1000 41
Public amenities
Car infrstructure & parking
Walking, cycling & public transport
Building height
and Hoboken, as linking the various patches of nature into an ecological network. The core elements to achieve this are the oversized building blocks. They are very long and large in order to make space for a diversity of building typologies and spatial experiences. A minimum distance of 40 meters between rear facing buildings is kept as a principle to secure spatial quality: longitudinally, the connection between the natural green space and  42
landscape inside and blocks is kept throughout. A combination of different typologies, including different activities, are compacted within each block. Together, the design enables its users and inhabitants to enjoy multiple spatial experiences, ranging from open space filled with activities, to logistic street, to calm green patches in between buildings, to an active quay, to large natural pieces of greeneries.
QUAY DESIGN 43
Zoom in 1:500 44
Perspective View 1
Perspective View 2
Section 45