SYMBIOSIS 01 URBANISM by Plateau Team

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P L A T E A U T EA M | SD E 2014

EDITORIAL

The

Plateau Team Newsletter

“Symbiosis borns from the hand of Plateau Team with the goal of providing quality information about current issues related to architecture and construction, and always creating a relationship with their project SymbCity developed for the next Solar Decathlon Europe.”

PLATEAU TEAM

SOLAR DECATHLON EUROPE

Plateau Team is one of the twenty international

It is an academic competition which is organized

teams selected to participate in the new Solar Decathlon Europe edition, to be held in Versailles. It is mainly composed by architecture students (UAH) and Building Engineering students (UAH and UCLM) together with the collaboration of other faculties and schools from these universities, which will provide their knowledge in order to cover all the necessary areas for the creation of an innovative solar habitat. Plateau Team proposes a change in the city model through a sustainable redensification which limits the current uncontrolled consumption of land.

by the French Ministry of Housing in collaboration with the European Commission that promotes research in sustainable and self-sufficient energy housing development.

The aim of the participant teams is to design and build a house that consumes the minimum amount of natural resources and produces the minimum waste during its life-cycle. Special interest is given to the reduction of energy consumption and the generation of the required energy from the sun. During the final stage of the competition the teams will build their houses in Versailles, in a public place named “La Cité du Soleil”.

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Summary Symbi sis 02 06

The Plateau Team newsletter

Symbiosis. Nature and Architecture

WikiHouse & the printed city

URBANISM

SymCity Urbanism

PROJECTS

The Elevated Park “HighLine”

“Rucksack Haus” by Stefan Eberstadt

WikiHouse “The Guide”

Meet our Team

EDITORIAL ARTICLES

INTERVIEW

City and Landscape

Edit: Plateu Team for Solar Decathlon Europe2014. Address: “Press Team”. E-mail press.plateauteamsde14@gmail.com. Drafting Articles and Projects: Juan José Carretero, Javier Nuñez, Jonathan Juan Ordinola and Santiago Jiménez. Design and Layout: Sandra Urbaneja and Ana Isabel Urbaneja. Gratefulness: Angel Cuadrado and Lucia Heras. Monthly Edition in Spanish and English. January 2014 Free Publication for public use, online.

ARTICLE

City and

Landscape

“COMPLEXIFYING THE NETWORKS”

“The American Dream was born in the exhaust pipe of a Ford T 100 years ago.” In that dream hundreds of lovely little houses form lovely straight streets, and the entire lovely neighbourhood greet each other before taking their Ford T to go to work, to the hairdresser, to the centre... In this American dream, every house, like a dollhouse, had its tree with a swing for children, their wooden fence with neatly trimmed hedges and rural road just at 500 meters from the house. That was (and still that is) our ideal of a happy life close to the city (by car, of course) and near countryside (which we never tread, of course). It was also the dream of consumerism, not just understood as economic consumption expenditure (the Ford T was always waiting at the door to take you anywhere because everything was too far), but understood as a brutal land consumption in a time when everyone demanded their deserved ideal plots of happiness. Nowadays that dream has evolved although the basic concept still remains relevant in our mind: “I want it all”. We want to be close to town but far enough away to live a life apparently without stress. We don’t realize that stress is generated when you have to take the car to get everywhere, that is, when the city is expanded to infinite horizons.

P L A T E A U T EA M | SD E 2014

C IT Y A ND LA ND S C A PE | Article Today, the challenge for architects is satisfying people necessity of having as close as possible all the city attractions without losing contact with landscape and Nature. We need to complexity and create new hybridizations in the city, in order to generate a network of overlapping situations that give to the city a new attractive way of living within an urban fabric, fusing elements of the landscape through urban emptying strategies. All these strategies can come given by concepts such as urban recycling, agricultural production, densification... concepts that respect and strengthen the existing opportunities and the genius loci that makes to each element of a network (whether urban, rural or â&#x20AC;&#x153;rurbanâ&#x20AC;?) possessor of unique qualities which also it is integrated into a much larger complex organism, working with other elements of that network.

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ARTICLE

“It´s Called THE AMERICAN DREAM Because you Have to be Asleep to Believe it!” This model of thinking can lead us to discard outdated concepts like the dichotomy between countryside and city and take another way of creating a city where urban and rural are part of the same network of relations through the hybridization of their different properties. However, this model is difficult to insert in our society. It is necessary to change certain habits and be able to see our urban environment from another point of view for this hybridization succeeds. We must be able to detect different parameters at different scales, ranging from urban design to the paths that a person can walk without fatigue.

“Only analysing the different scales that compose the cit y we can get a successful and coherent superposition of net works in regard to the relationship of the cit y with the landscape.”

P L A T E A U T EA M | SD E 2014

C IT Y A ND LA ND S C A PE | Article This is due to the large difference in scale that we face: while an urban environment can be developed in a small area (for example, a neighbourhood) the concept of landscape has always been associated with large territories with homogeneous properties.

If we hybridize these two concepts without changing their associated scales, we will just get an entity with 2 different and unrelated parts, instead of getting a single entity with interrelated parts. In conclusion, the superposition of two different frames as urban and rural should be done taking into account the infrastructure and territorial needs (large scale) and also addressing issues such as the domestic, the functional and strokes (small scale). This connection at different scales will lead to the new model of overlay networks, complexity and

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ARTICLE

Symbiosis

Nature and Architecture

“We understand symbiosis like the relationship between two live individuals by which both will benefit” In nature, like Darwin exposed and to a greater extent proved with his theory of evolution, it’s the strong, the fastest, the smartest… but especially those with a greater ability to adapt to the environment and its changes survive. Similarly we study trophic relationships and how in the food chain it is always the big fish that eats the little one. Could this last statement be the absolute truth? I would think otherwise, in particular ecological niches autotrophs, first order consumers, predators or even parasites appear. At first glance you might think that for the benefit of a few, it’s necessary, in order to look taller, to step lower, however it’s not always so. In the marine ecosystem we can classify the shark as the most dangerous predator, all fear him and no one intimidates him, but what happens when you back itches and you need to scratch it? The remora is a fish that meets our question: these esqueneidos are a family of fish that attach to sharks taking away parasites and cleaning them, in exchange, sharks provide them protection and accept them as fellow travelers. This swap of interests is what we call Symbiosis. We a found similar relation between bees and flowers, where they bee feeds on nectar whilst the flower achieves reproduction through pollination. Crocodiles and small herons, clown fish and anemones are other examples symbiotic relationship in which one side obtains protection and food in exchange for the hygiene of other.

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There are also cases of symbiosis in which it’s not just a relationship of convenience, but one that is necessary to maintain life; lichen could not live if the alga, that provides moisture, didn’t produce the food that nourishes the fungus. Returning to Darwinism, from Simbcity, we think that architecture has to evolve by adapting itself to the problems left by the old city and responding to today with inspiration from nature and from all that she can teach us.

THE REFLECTION OF THE ARCHITECTURE THROUGH NATURE “Architecture arises from nature and its back towards nature where it’s going.”

ince the time of pre-hominids living in the trees, or the occupation of the first cave, up until now, where Voronoi diagrams or biomimetic architecture are a common the part of the life of man, nature and architecture have gone hand in hand. We see in classical floor plants or elevations such as the Parthenon in Athens, proportional relationships also observed in Mies Van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion, or in our phones or in credit cards, these similarities are not coincidences but are found in nature and it’s unconsciously tend related to the canons of beauty.

SYMBIOSIS. NATURE AND ARCHITECTURE | Article

This reminds us of the golden ratio, we can find in the growth many plants, in the geometric progression of certain insect shells like dragonflies or butterflies, and also in the Vitruvian Man drawn by Da Vinci or updated the Modulor by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier, that leads even to the Neufert Manual and how again it’s nature who guides us on how to do things right. Voronoi diagrams are another mathematical relationship found in nature, in this case, we can all find similarities between the organization of the bubbles in foam, the spots of a giraffe or microscopical image of a leaf of a tree; and easy compare them to modern Olympic stadiums or “beautiful” buildings, or even furniture, or jewelry that we understand as “organic”. Antonio Gaudí himself found his inspiration in nature, “The tree that is there is my teacher”, observing nature is how he was able to calculate structures for his buildings, in a way that he provided the “trees” we understand as pillars. The last Prizkter, Japanese Toyo Ito also states “My architecture is a bridge between nature and people” and history proves him right for one of his buildings, based on organic structures, did not succumb to the earthquake of 2011. Nowadays green label seems to be popular, but we must not the focus on brands but on lays beyond.

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ARTICLE

Nature has always known what processes to take in order to regulate wind currents, the water cycle, the forest growth or migration of animals. From these and many other processes the planet is balanced and it allows life, its spread and its continuity. As citizens of the global ecosystem, we have an obligation to help maintain this balance, it is through the use of renewable energy or ecological actions that we can counteract the excesses of the 20th century, that challenge the harmonious development of the world as we know it.

The challenge for architects today is to meet the need for people to have as close to all attractions in the city without losing contact with the landscape and nature.

“Nature is wise” we often hear, evolutionary adaptation, photosynthesis or symbiosis are some of the greatest discoveries found in nature. We have had centuries to live with these processes but it has not been until we studied and understood them that we were able to use them to our advantage. We could say that nature is the “company” that has had more efforts, time and resources invested in R & D, but the best part is that all this research and development is available to us for free, so we can all use it and promote the natural development, and therefore optimal efficiently.

entities, as large biological assemblies made not of cells as such, but with vital functions. Therefore we can extrapolate the term symbiosis and introduce it as an urban and architectural concept. What relationships of this type can be set in architecture? It is easier to find it in flows, but looking hard you can find symbiotic relationship in morphology. One could argue that the solution for the Maravillas gym by Alejandro de la Sota, is a great example of symbiosis where the truss meets the coverage the sports and classroom space simultaneously.

P L A T EA U T E A M | SD E 2014

SYMBIOSIS IN ARCHITECTURE “We defined symbiosis as the relationship between living organisms in which both benefit each other.”

Many experts talk about cities or buildings as living

SYMBIOSIS. NATURE AND ARCHITECTURE | Article The act of placing advertising on public transport can be referenced to the drag and the Shark, in which one adheres to the other, and in the time that one goes through the cities transporting citizens, the other pays as campaign revenue. From the London Underground also in this case, we got the idea of harnessing the heat produced in the interstices of the network and its wagons to use in homes and public buildings. The Danish firm BIG is of the most interested in the development of this activity in architecture. In Scandinavia they ahead of the curve (Sweden is buying trash because the can produce energy out of it). One good example by studio BIG, is a desire to link supermarkets and facilities such as heated pool. The large stores require high energy consumption in cooling products, lighting, conditioning centerâ&#x20AC;Ś this output also generates heat that must be dissipated in the form of ventilation.

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The Centre for Smart Infrastructure Innovation (CI3) is a public sector entity, general inter est and non-profit whose purpose is to contribute to the development, promotion and development of information techn o l o g y a n d communications (ICT) applied to infrastructure

Such buildings are what we call “hybrid building”, buildings that store more than one program so that they complement each other; an art school with exhibit space, a center for dance with theater or elevated parking with housing. Everyone gets what they need and in turn they give back to others, it seems like such a revolution, however it is the same relation as the one between the sharks and the remora.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize again on the importance of looking towards nature to achieve through it a smarter, sustainable architecture, thus enabling development and ecology as synonyms. As discussed previously “Architecture arises from nature and its back towards nature where it’s going”. In last, we can look at Sou Fujimoto and his “future primitive” where he seeks a return to origins, where the human being lived in and with nature, but especially in his look of architecture to come, architecture defined by a harmonic and self sufficient relationship with nature.

As follows we show you an image from the BIG firm that expresses in diagrams a complete cycle in which “living individuals” use as a resource what others despised as waste.

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SYMBIOSIS. NATURE AND ARCHITECTURE | Article

A heated pool in turn, produces energy needed to heat the water to the right temperature. If we establish a relationship between these two events, we could harness the energy that we are pulling in cool the market to heat the pool.

ARTICLE

WikiHouse & The Printed City “ WikiHouse.cc is an architectural based open source, a library of buildable models. The idea is: you can download on to your computer a model, which later you can print, cut, and build all by yourself. ” A

model library opens for creators and for those who seek out a cheaper and easier way to have and build a house. It is not prebuilt, but it can be repeated infinite times. It seems interesting from a variety of points of view, maybe the most important one would be the collaboration with poor communities, whom the link between architect and client does not or has not existed… Yet! Wikihouse is in itself an upgrade to selfconstruction, taking technology to the next level and putting it to those who needed it more. Take for example the slums of Mumbai. People live under a roof without the need for an architect to design it. But, i fan architect is capable of designing a prototype with an easy built, that can be adapted to the reality of the slum, and that takes in account the human conditions, the weather conditions, the limits that exist, shouldn’t that be repeated and promoted? We suddenly have a new kind of slum structure, a slum that is still built by the inhabitants, but also one that has been previously designed by architects, and different planners, a cleaner more capable slum. A PRINTED SLUM, Doesn’t it elevate the slum, doesn’t it make a more decent place to live in? And by making it more decent doesn’t also give decency to those who inhabit it?

P L A T E A U T EA M | SD E 2014

W IK IH OUS E & T H E PR INT E D C IT Y | Article It is impossible to stop the global world, so maybe instead of fighting against globalization, shouldn’t we accept what it offers and use it to our advantages? The city of the second half of the 20th century has brought a type of city not built by architects or urban developers but rather money, and the lack of it, meaning those who sought a profit through construction, and those who had no means for construction and used the self-building system. But in the mind of both the main idea is to have lesser cost and bigger revenue, so can we as aware architects work in that tactic invisibly? Homes aren’t the only problem within the city, but certainly it is the one that causes more, the lack of diversity in uses, the problems with ghettos, the bad distribution of soil, etc… come from a non-understanding that cities, or more importantly districts, have to be self-sufficient to work.

The architect lives within and without the Project. Homes are going to be built even without the architect. It is not about saving the world, it’s about participation in areas and with people that in otherwise wouldn’t have the contact, the knowledge or the experience of the architect. According to recent studies, the architect only acts or builds with a 1% percent of the world, (obviously the richest 1%). Another Project based on opensource, debate and dialogue that can be interesting is Cameron Sinclair’s Architecture for Humanity (http://architectureforhumanity.org/) who has organized networks of architect for extreme situation in localized areas. Through volunteer work, competitions, and collaboration, the organization seeks to answer to difficult problems in as many ways as possible with the right amount of investment.

WIKIHOUSE opens the door to creator to construct models that offer diversity of uses at a small cost, for areas where it wouldn’t be logical to found a store, a hairdresser, etc... with the idea of bringing in economies and investments. The beauty of open source is the debate and dialogue. There is really no limit to the possible exchanges the portal offers, maybe grain storage for small communities in Cambodia, or a children’s library in Peru.

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ARTICLE

The Rules to

WikiHouse Guide for Designers “10 DESING PRINCIPLES”

‘Be lazy like a fox’. Rather than solving problems from scratch, adapt other people’s solutions, and then give them credit. Linus Torvalds thought of this phrase.

WikiHouses should be capable of being habitable throughout the year, and as efficient as possible in the use of energy and water. We are working to get to the first habitable WikiHouse prototype built in the near future.

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Design for materials and components which are reasonably cheap to buy, low-carbon and fully recyclable or biodegradable.

Design in such a way as to offer maximum provision for the safety, security and health (both mental and physical) of the users at all stages of the structure’s life.

Design is disruptive when it lowers the threshold. Design structures which can be assembled with minimal formal skill or training, and without the use of power tools.

As a general rule, design for the climate, culture, economy and legal / planning framework in which you live, and you know best. Others will then be able to adapt the design to suit their environment.

Design for mistakes. Try to design components which either make it impossible for the assembler to get it wrong or are designed in such a way that it doesn’t matter if they do.

“It is easier to ship recipes than cakes and biscuits” John Maynard Keynes.

Design to dismantle. The easier it is to dismantle structures or replace individual parts, the better.

“WIKIHOUSE.cc is an architectural based open source of prebuilt housing. It seems like an autoconstruction option that could benfit to poor communities.”

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WIK IH OUS E & T H E PR INT E D C IT Y | Article

Share your work as much and as openly as possible, it might come back better. At very least you’ll have contributed to solving a common problem. All components on WikiHouse are shared uthors are always attributed.

2 â&#x20AC;&#x153; Plate au Te am sugges t an improvement of the e x i s t i n g c i t y.â&#x20AC;?

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SymbCity â&#x20AC;&#x153;Plateau Teamâ&#x20AC;?

The SymbCity prototype of Plateau Team comes

up with a clear intention to solve the problems that the evolution of modern cities present and, specifically, to solve the massive and critical territorial expansion issue, at the same time that offers a restoration of those buildings that, by some circumstances, do not accomplish with the energetic demands we have nowadays, since most of them had been constructed with a matter of urgency between the 50s and the 80s. This way, SymbCity pretends to become a real, social and affordable alternative for building industry, which needs a total renovation in those countries in which economy has been supported in the housing market for the last decades, until the actual crisis meant its inevitable final. Therefore, they intended to get more ecological and sustainable cities and stop their territorial expansion through urban rehabilitation.

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UR B A NIS M S Y MB C IT Y | Urban is m

Urbanism

URBANISM

HOUSING MARKET IN SPAIN “Today, in Spain, construction industry faces terrible challenges and important problems.“

In the 60s and the 70s it was developed a great rise in the number of house buildings due to the necessity of creating new homes for the immigrants that went from the countryside to the European cities. The mass rural exodus meant a great loss on rural little towns and a big increase in the surroundings of the industrial cities. Needs arise of adapt the new city; build quick constructions of houses, infrastructure...

These needs finally became the main business of the country and it keeps on building and expanding. Private banks and, above all, the local Savings banks (funded with public money), ready to get into debt in the short term and to invest in the long term, give credits in so an exaggerated form that the society hadn´t been able to support it with its savings. This supposes an over-investment that evolves lately, and that will mean, at the end, the real estate boom that happened in building industry. In addition, these credit concessions to the housing sector were the 70 per cent of the total investment that had led the economy toward a specialization in only one market.

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The huge number of buildings (25 million houses in 8,5 million buildings) and the demand generated by the credit loan – for line items of acquisition, rehabilitation, building or any other construction service – added to the monetary politics that happened at the 90s, had led to suppose the m2 price went through the roof. This had meant a huge “real state bubble”. In a time in which Spanish economy must be reformed and building industry needs a new way, the city should be thought as a unique functional system and we must avoid the mass construction.

UR B A NIS M S Y MB C IT Y | Urban is m

SIMBIOSIS â&#x20AC;&#x153;Of those 8,5 million housing buildings, most of them are 4 or more floors blocks, built between 40s and 80s in the suburbs of the most important citiesâ&#x20AC;?

These represent the 51% of the amount of housing stock in Spain. Almost all of these houses had been constructed without energetic technique and with not enough efficiency and accessibility. This is why Plateau Team suggest an improvement of the existing city and, above all, of the quality of their citizens life by the refurbishment of these housing buildings and increasing the height of the city, doing a re-densification of the existing urban fabric, using the covers of those buildings as new urban floor. For making this possible, the project suggests the colonization of those covers, mostly flat roofs, creating a symbiotic relation between the existing building and the new addition, in which both of them would benefit from each other. The prototype or added building would benefit from a consolidated and compact urban fabric, from its public spaces, commerce and equipment. It would also benefit from a functional existing infrastructure with water, electricity and transport services.

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URBANISM

URBANISM “In Spain it does exist a large stock of houses and a big land offer, but a huge part of them is outside of the cities or in isolated urbanizations, and most of them doesn´t have the necessary infrastructure.”

his situation makes the new neighbourhood quality of life not the best one. To equip these areas, the public administration would have to invest a lot of money, a huge investment very hard to achieve. So it would be necessary to build new roads, parks, connections to the public transports, health care centres, educational buildings, etc. Plateau Team considers that density is an essential tool to make city and to get an urban sense of self. Increase the population concentration in one specific place is an opportunity for the citizens to join for common good and take advantage of a better use of space. For these reasons, the main use of the intervention would be residential.

AT AU M || SD SDE 2014 PLA TEA U TTE EAAM 2014

UR B A NIS M S Y MB C IT Y | Urban is m

However, our re-density concept allows us to supply the existing city not only with houses, but also with commercial, equipment and any other use. In this way, the symbiotic relation is also moved to the urban field, supporting the existing urban fabric with the possibility of adding, in a finished space, new and varied functions that would came to solve the urban demands and that would update and invigorate the economic, labour and social potentiality of these urban areas that would require a major scale renovation. Additionally, promoting vertical housing would also mean an improvement of the public space as, by the densification of some areas, we would be able to substitute these old and smaller buildings with public spaces that would be at the end, parks, green areas or new equipment in the ground floor that would be better for the old city. The project looks for these objectives trying not to have obstacles in economic issues, by achieving them with the minimum cost for administrations and particulars, so SymbCity could be materialized in a simple way for everyone.

Public administration would be saving money, because this urban growing does not need to invest more in new infrastructure because of settling on consolidated areas in which we have already all the services and transport infrastructures needed. With this saved money and thanks to the new house selling, we could also make the project with minimum cost for the hosting buildingÂ´s neighbourhood association. Moreover, as they are similar buildings, and most of the times repeated, it would reduce the expenditure and the constructions times, making the viability of the project even more possible. Using industrialized techniques based on low-cost concepts, we could launch the houses at an affordable price and also with high performing conditions, fitting for potential middle class. And it would not only be viable in construction costs but also would mean an important environmental and economic saving in the future as is a zero consumption house that also add its surplus to the hosting building, reducing the energetic price, and it would minimize its thermal lost and would increase its comfort, as Symbcity provides a new thermic efficient faĂ§ade.

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URBANISM

FIRST APPROACHES “To find the areas that would be susceptible to receive the new houses, it has studied the housing estate of the communities at which the universities which form Plateau Team belong: Madrid (UAH) and Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM).” It has searched city areas and districts with houses built between 1941 and 1980 and that have different problems as insufficient supplies, accessibility or existence of dampness. Within Castilla-La Mancha it has studied the six most populated cities of the region: Albacete, Talavera de la Reina, Guadalajara, Toledo, Ciudad Real and Cuenca. In these cities it have founded fifty districts or built areas during the rural exodus that have 23.282 houses located in lineal blocks, “H” blocks, towers and semi-detached houses. These are the 10,8% of the total of houses of these cities. Lots of districts in the Madrid Community were created during those years. The most prominent neighbourhoods created during that time are San Blas, Caño Roto, Valverde, Villaverde, Palomeras, San Cristobal de los Angeles, Vicálvaro and Canillas. These eight districts have 121.555 houses, most of which are located in lineal, branched or row blocks, towers or semi-detached houses. These houses are the 8% of all the buildings in Madrid. In particular, Manoteras area has 2439 houses located in open quarters that need new equipment, like a civic centre, a kindergarten, a workforce training centre or a primary social attention care centre. SymbCity arises as the solution to an urban area with the above characteristics as a vision for the future of cities.

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UR B A NIS M S Y MB C IT Y | Urban is m

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Plateau Team considers that density is an essential tool to make city and to get an urban sense of selfâ&#x20AC;&#x153;

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PROJECT

The

Elevated park HIGH LINE

Principal-in-charge: Ricardo Scofidio Project Leader: Mathew Johnson

“The High Line is a new 1,5-mile long public park built on an abandoned elevated railroad stretching from the Meatpacking District to the Hudson Rail Yards in Manhattan. ”

Inspired by the melancholic, unruly beauty of this

post-industrial ruin, where nature has reclaimed a once vital piece of urban infrastructure, the new park interprets its inheritance. It translates the biodiversity that took root after it fell into ruin in a string of site-specific urban microclimates along the stretch of railway that include sunny, shady, wet, dry, windy and

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sheltered spaces. Through a strategy of “agritecture” -part agriculture, part architecture- the High Line surface is digitized into discrete units of paving and planting which are assembled along the 1,5 miles into a variety of gradients from 100% paving to 100% soft, richly vegetated biotopes.

T H E E LE VAT E D PA R K | P roject The paving system consists of individual pre-cast concrete planks with open joints to encourage emergent growth like wild grass through cracks in the sidewalk. The long paving units have tapered ends that comb into planting beds creating a textured, “pathless” landscape where the public can meander in unscripted ways. The park accommodates the wild, the cultivated, the intimate, and the social. Access points are durational experiences designed to prolong the transition from the frenetic pace of city streets to the slow otherworldly landscape above.

[

The High Line is a public park built on a historic

The High Line is a public park built on a historic freight railline elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. lt is owned by the City of New York, and maintained and operated by “Friends of the High Line”. “Friends of the High Line” works to build and maintain this extraordinary public park on the High Line. They seek to preserve the entire historic structure, transforming an essential piece of New York’s industrial post. They provide over 90 percent of the High Line’s annual operating budget and are responsible for maintenance of the park, pursuant to a license agreement with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

[

“Friends of the High Line ”

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ABOUT GOTEO Crowdfunding + distributed collaboration Drip is a social network for collective funding (monetary contributions) and distributed collaboration (services, infrastructure, and other resources microtareas) from which encourage self-development initiatives, creative and innovative, contributing to the development of the commons, free knowledge and / or open source. A platform for investment “irrigation capital”, in projects whose purposes are social, cultural, scientific, educational, journalistic, technological or ecological, generating new opportunities for continuous improvement of society and the enrichment of goods and common resources.

“

DNA OPEN CLASS WITH FUNDING FOR PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY CIVIL SOCIETY

T H E E LE VAT E D PA R K | P roject

They provide over 90 percent of the High Line’s annual operating budget and are responsible for maintenance of the park, pursuant to a license agreement with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Through stewardship, innovative design and programming, and excellence in operations, they cultivate a vibrant community around the High Line. “Friends of the High Line” is the non-profit, private partner to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. “Friends of the High Line” works with the City to make sure the High Line is maintained as a great public place for all New Yorkers and visitors to enjoy. In addition to overseeing the maintenance, operations, and public programming for the High Line, “Friends of the High Line” is currently working to raise the essential private funding to help complete the High Line’s construction and create an endowment for its future operations. “Friends of the High Line” was founded in 1999 by two neighbourhood residents, Joshua David and Robert Hammond. The non-profit association advocated for the High Line’s preservation when the structure was under threat of demolition.

http://www.thehighline.org/

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PROJECT

The

Rucksack Haus “Stefan Eberstadt”

“The Rucksack Haus, the “Backpack House “, of the German artist Stefan Eberstadt, whose name is inspired by the cables that allow hanging on the facade of the building which parasites, like the tapes of a backpack. ” P L A T E A U T EA M | SD E 2014

a residential building in the city of Leipzig, Germany. The box dimension is 2.50 m x 2.50 m x 3.60 m, with 9 m2 of space, it is a sculpture but it could also be a room. The Backpack House is mobile and the resident can take it to the next house, providing additional space instantly. In 2004, the Backpack House was in Leipzig, then in Cologne in 2005 and then moved to Bamberg in 2011. Given the definition of symbiotic architecture, we could suggest that it is an example of mutualism, since the structures are mounted on existing buildings, using their existing infrastructure, gaining space and visibility. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a new way to expand the living space; it is developed between art and architecture, form and function. It is an illuminated space, a combination between temporary scaffolding and the minimal sculpture of one of his works. It is an empty bucket by which light enters a free space of connotations, open to the need of users.

Although it gives the feeling of being in a private space, one has the impression of floating outside the confines of the house, over a public space.

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T H E R UC KS AC K H AUS | P roject

It was hanged in September 2004 on the facade of

“

The reference in Sustainable Insulation

“The sectors of the building and industry, should acc ept t heir share of responsibility and influence in global warming and the preservation of valuable energy resources.”

windows systems

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“Install q uality window is critical to achieving good insulation. KOMMERLING you will keep with you the ideal temperature in your home with the maximum energy saving. You will enjoy being at home”

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systems for windows and doors

T H E R UC KS AC K H AUS | P roject

In collaboration with the engineer Thomas Beck, the artist hung by cables made of steel a habitable container on the facade of 14th Street Federkiel Stiftung / Halle, in Leipzig (Cologne, Germany, 2004-2005), within the exhibition “Xtreme Houses”. The structure was presented again in Cologne in September 2005 on the occasion of the International Conference of Architecture “Plan05 - Forum of Contemporary Architecture”. The wall sections are developed with the help of hidden magnets, into a desk, shelves, and a platform for reading or sleeping. The Rucksack House is suspended by steel cables that are anchored to the facade of the existing building. The construction is a welded steel cage with birch plywood as inner lining. The exterior coating is made of grade plywood with a resin absorbent surface, with emphasis on the connections from the sheets of plexiglass.

The new space hangs over an existing space by a perfectly simple, clear and easy to understand method. This option reactivates the idea of a tree house built anarchic character and self, although in this case the structure is placed more prominently and presents a more studied structural engineering. The default perception must be challenged. Currently the work of art is to influence the design and aesthetics of the structures of our environment. Art cannot be seen as an isolated factor, but his duty is to challenge and interact with other fields including architecture and design. In order to exist, must participate in art alien to their own fields.

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PROJECT

The

WikiHouse & GUIDE

“WIKIHOUSE.CC OPEN SOURCE ARCHITECURE”

“The following is proposed not as a fixed set of rules, but as a basic introduction to the design standards for WikiHouse.” SYSTEM The WikiHouse construction system is based on ply wood fins, spaced evenly apart according to the selected gauge of the construction grid. Those fins can vary in size and shape. Once connected together and clad they form a robust timber frame structure.

P L AT EA U T E A M | SD E 2014

T H E W IKIH OUS E | P roject

GAUGE The gauge of the grid (labelled above as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;gâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;) can vary depending on the desired standard construction module in different countries. A 550mm gauge is provided to accommodate plywood sizes of 2400mm x 1200mm where CNC machines cannot cut to the edges of a sheet. In countries using Imperial measurement systems, where plywood sheets measure 2440mm x 1220mm, a gauge of 600mm is standard. Intermediate gauge sizes of 450mm and 900mm (for one-off pieces only) are also accommodated.

A GUIDE TO SERIES Wikihouse components are categorised into series, according to their width. The widths follow a modular grid of 1200mm.

A Series Section 1.2m wide.

B Series Section 2.4m wide.

CA Series For sections wider than 3.6m, compound series are used, such as this one.

C Series Section 3.6m wide. This is the longest span module.

CBC Series

FORM The roof profiles of these series can follow more or less any form, provided it is structurally viable. Equally, footings can respond to sloping topography. One of the future aims of the project is to develop and test two-storey structures.

Theoretically there is no limit to the width of a section, A, B and C modules can be combined in any sequence.

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PROJECT

DESIGN STANDARDS

MATERIAL

The following is proposed not as a fixed set of rules, but as a basic introduction to the design standards for WikiHouse. All designers are invited not only to use these rules, but to develop and change them as they improve.

WikiHouse uses only one basic material, 18mm structural plywood, in international standard sheets sizes of 2400mm x 1200mm (approx. 8’x4’). There are a number of different sheet materials to choose from, but they must have sufficient structural strength. Parts are cut from these sheets using a CNC milling machine.

DOG BONES All inside corners must have a ‘dog bone’ indentation, to accommodate the fact that the cutting head is circular. Mark these ‘dog bones’ out in SketchUp by drawing an indentation 5mm deep and 10mm long (as shown). When cut, this will form the required ‘dog bone’ shape.

FINS

FIXINGS

Each fin comprises two layers of plywood in an identical profile. Fin members are 200mm deep.

At present, WikiHouses uses only three kinds of fixings, M8 mild steel bolts (often BZP) which are, if possible, full threaded, and 4mm x 50mm and 4mm x 30mm woodscrews with a crosshead.

S-JOINTS At the moment, a basic S-joint is being used. The aim of future versions will be to develop an all-plywood wedge joint, making the system much less intensive on bolts. S-joints are distributed around the fins. There are 3 basic rules for doing this: 1. No piece may be longer than 2370mm. 2. S-joints should not be located on corners, as these are the areas under the most stress. 3. S-joints on each layer of fin must be staggered and mirrored. The structure must be bolted around the S-joints. Bolting holes are modelled as 9mm squares in sets of six at the locations shown. This is a guideline only, not a strict rule. S-joints are staggered around the structure, so usually neighbouring S-joints will ‘share’ sets of bolts.

P L A T E A U T EA M | SD E 2014

T H E W IKIH OUS E | P roject

PRIMARY CONNECTORS (C1) Holes for primary connectors must be located at key strategic locations around the section. Primary connectors are inserted into slots, and join in remote, ranch grabbing tight and strong structure areas. The slot in the primary connector is designed so that no matter how to collect it, dovetailed.

SECONDARY CONNECTORS (C2) Secondary connectors are located at key positions where they serve as lintels for windows and other openings, as well as lateral bracing for the structure as a whole. Secondary connectors are designed to slot into place. Note that most secondary connectors, like most primary connectors, have a 60mm diameter hole in the centre. This is to allow services (pipes, wiring etc) to be run through the house. The notches in the side allow access for a screwdriver, so the sides of the secondary connectors can be fixed into the fins. These screws do not do any significant structural work; they just hold the secondary connectors in place. As well as an 18mm wide and 30mm deep notch, 3mm squares must be drawn onto the fin as pilot holes for these screws.

HOOKS AND TABS Hooks and tabs for cladding panels protrude outside the fin profile.

PANELS External panels are designed to slot over the hooks on the main structure. Note therefore that the holes have to be large enough to allow the hooking-on and slotting-down movement. The hooks on the main structure can then serve as fixing points for cladding if required.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The purpose of the WikiHouse construction set is that the end structure is ready to be made weathertight using cladding, insulation, damp-proof membranes and windows. WikiHouse is still an experiment in its early stages, and these have not yet been prototyped or developed further. All the information shared on WikiHouse.cc is offered as an open invitation to architects and designers who are interested in putting open source solutions to these problems in the public domain.â&#x20AC;?

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INTERVIEW

Meet

Our Team David Peña

Student Team Leader

“PLATEAU TEAM”

S: What is the relationship between urban planning and sustainable development?

D: City infrastructures are currently oversized with respect to the reach of the city, in that they are designed to serve the suburbia. The compact city model of Symbcity requires the review of road networks to enhance public transport and clean vehicles, including bicycles; the introduction of renewable energy sources, and promotion of activity in the center instead of the suburbs. The city is not only ready for, but needs projects like SymbCity to be a reality energetically and socially. S: What are the benefits of the re-densification of the existing city?

D: With the re-densification approach that D: The origin of the city was the rational distribution of resources to enable the imSymbcity stands by, the need for road inprovement of living conditions for the frastructure would be reduced due to human being. a reduction of journeys that ideally “The city is not only Today, with the depletion of the will be by public transport, and planet, the resources are again ready for, but needs self-sufficient energy generation scarce, and urbanism has the would be done at the district level projects like SymbCity to difficult challenge of making and not at user level. be a reality energetically cities sustainable, so that both and socially.” concepts have become insepaHowever, the most important rable. benefit that Symbcity is offering to users of “old housing” is a rehabilitation that increases energy savings and it S: Are the existing infrastructures designed takes in account the current crisis to be ecoto support the growth of the city, as is the one nomically accesable. proposed by Plateau Team?

P L A T E A U T EA M | SD E 2014

ME E T OUR T E A M | I n terv iew

40 S: Is the SymbCity house designed for a single type of building or could be implemented on any type?

D: SymbCity is an intervention methodology based on symbiosis between old and new homes, and on respect for the existing urban structures, but envisioning a renewal of these structures. On its design we have sought integration of a wide range â&#x20AC;&#x153;SymbCity is an intervenof housing types. To do tion methodology based this, we have developed a versatile modular construcon symbiosis between tion system that does not old and new homesâ&#x20AC;? overload the old building. S: How viable is the SymbCity project today? D: The re-densification based on the increase of buildability is a tool that until now was not possible with the legislation of our cities. However, following the crisis and the need to rehabilitate, it begins to take hold in the Spanish law that there is a need for new bills and new general plans for cities such as Madrid. Furthermore, the project is fully economically viable as it poses a balance between public investment and tenants, minority, and private investment, making the operation profitable. In addition, the industrialization of housing construction SymbCity allows quality homes at moderate prices.

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The