RETHINKING HIGH-RISE Make
h i g h - r i s e m o r e s u s ta i n a b l e
F i n a l P r e s e n tat i o n
URD1013YF Design Studio III Ruotian Tan
Inspiration from the Greenbelt Field trip
Community thrives on ecological environment
But what does urban development bring to the nature?
The potential threats of urban development
Vibrant streetscape in human scale
Build in a sustainable way
Transit corridor barrier
The impact of industrial area
Recent Heating Arguement: High-Rises Kill Livability High-rises separate people from the street "What high-rise does is separate large numbers of people from the street, so we end up with a city that is detached from street life, we end up with a city that is based on enclaves and gated communities." —— Michael Buxton, Urban planning expert, RMIT University "Meaningful contact with ground level events is possible only from the first few floors in a multi-story building. Between the third and forth floor, a marked decrease in the ability to have contact with the ground level can be observed. Anything and anyone above the fifth floor is definitely out of touch with ground level events." —— Jan Gehl, Urban design expert
Recent Heating Arguement: High-Rises Kill Livability High-rises radically reduce chance encounters and social interaction "High-rises are simply so tall that they make no visual sense to a pedestrian at eye-level. And because high-rises tend to separate people from the street and each other, they greatly reduce the number of chance encounters that happen, which are crucial to the liveliness of a city and to creating social capital." —— Kevin Kellogg, Architect and real estate developer
Recent Heating Arguement: High-Rises Kill Livability High Rises are not even 'Green' "High-rise buildings are subject to the effects of too much sun and too much wind on their all-glass skins. And all-glass skins are, despite many improvements to the technology, inherently inefficient. Glass is simply not very good at keeping excessive heat out, or desirable heat in." —— Patrick Condon, Urban designer, Professor, University of British Columbia "High-rises use almost twice as much energy per square metre as mid-rise structures." —— BC Hydro (the province of British Columbia's main electric utility)
Figure: Energy use (kWh/m2) and carbon emissions (kgCO2) in 600 buildings of different heights. (Steadman.P from UCL, 2017)
Problem Statement In response to the demand for densification, high-rises have been widely built in the Greater Toronto Area. While providing cities with more capacity, these skyscrapers are also killing the livability of our environment regarding both ecological and social aspects. Urban growth will not cease in the next decades based on projections. Therefore, it is imperative to rethink a more sustainable prototype of high-rise development, aiming to improve the ubiquitous weaknesses of the current high-rise model.
From 2005, Toronto's third and largest high-rise construction boom began. - [36.9% of total] 2840 high-rise buildings, 804 skyscrapers (>100m) （EMPORIS, 2020, No. of Buildings）
Natalie Alcoba of the National Post described this phenomenon as the "Manhattanization" of Toronto.
TORONTO 2005
TORONTO 2015
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Why current high-rise is not sustainable? We lost our yards and green space
Unsustainable architectural design (eg. light pollution caused by glass curtain wall)
We lost decent scaled streetscape and high rises also increased land-use segregation
Overwhelming transportation demands lead to traffic congestion
We lost the opportunity to communicate with neighbors
Increasing energy intensity leads to heat island and has negative impacts on adjacent natural systems
Lose Social Sustainability
Lose Ecological Sustainability
Case study in GGH
Lack of open space and a vibrant street life
Soical and land use segregation
Less eco-friendly architectural design
Aura at College Park
2150 Lake Shore (proposed)
Land use segregation and bad commercial atmosphere due to its design
The architectural design and block structure is not ecological sustainable enough
for ace ck p s blo pen No o ts in the en resid
Murano
No open space for social interaction for its residents
Research Questions Where need densification: What are the criteria for evaluating the level of need for high-rise developments?
How to make new high-rise more sustainable: Create public realm & Improve land-use segregation Is it feasible to create a vibrant street atmosphere and increase land-use diversity by building elevated platforms between towers for high-rise neighbourhoods?
Increase ecological sustainability Can equipping the community with cutting-edge energy recycling techniques reduce its energy intensity? Is it possible to build an automobile-free community by improving the accessibility to rail transit?
Study Area
Evaluation System Where is the place to propose a new high-rise development
Key Criteria
1st: Connect to rail transit （Salat.S, and Ollivier.G, 2017, Transforming the Urban Space through Transit-Oriented Development） - 10mins walk radius to subway stations - 10mins drive radius to GO stations
2nd: Policy support - Official plan：Centres or employment areas
3rd: Potential to build new high-rise development - Available vacant lots - Building construction condition - Household unstable ratio
4th: Growth rate of population - Population density - Population growth ratio
1
1st: Connect to rail transit - Outline - 10mins walk radius to subway stations - 10mins drive radius to GO stations
2
2nd: Policy support - 60% opacity - Official planďźšCentres or employment areas 3
3rd: Potential to build new high-rise development - 40% opacity - Available vacant lots excluding greenbelt - Household unstable ratio
4th: Growth rate of population - 20% opacity - Population density - Population growth ratio
1
Potential sites 1. Rutherford Rd-Primary Centre, Vaughan 2. The Queensway-Humber bay, Etobicoke 3. Confederation Pkwy-Square One, Missisauga
2
3
Rutherford Rd - Primary Centre Vaughan 14.5 ha Strength - Urban renovation policy - Area in transition
Creek
- Close to employment area
Syste
m
Weakness - The old economic centre is in decline - Close to industrial area
Study Area
Opportunity - Introduce new occupants and revital the commercial centre Threats - Creek system across the site - Real estate pressure
City Old Commercial Centre
The Queensway - Humber Bay Etobicoke 48.6 ha Strength - Outstanding ecological and landscape value 䠀甀洀
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- Important employment area for GGH region
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Weakness - Metro network not covered - Industrial impact on the environment - Existing land use segregation, density variation
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Threats - The transportation corridors separate the site into two parts
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Opportunity - Build a sustainable complex in response to the transition of food terminal, the pollution of plant, and transportation corridors
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Confederation Pkwy- Square One Missisauga 11.6 ha Strength - Urban growth centre
City Commercial Centre
- Close to city level commercial centre, work opportunity Weakness - Metro network not covered - Vacant land to build is limited Opportunity - Become another high land value city centre with mixed-use Threats - Gentrification
Ci
ty
Ex
py
- The impact from city express highway
Study Area
Study area The Queensway-Humber bay, Etobicoke - Site is in big transition (OFT, vacant land)
- Several transportation corridors go through
Site Location
the site, separating it and lead to the zoning segregation.
- An important ecological intersection of Toronto's ravine system and lake Ontario which is impacted by industrial uses.
Mimico Go Station
The Queensway-Humber bay, Toronto 37.3 ha Strength 1. High
ecological / landscape value
2. Strong
impetus to build new high-rises
3. Area in big transition —— Onterio food terminal
Weakness 4. Lack of city level rail transit network 5. A huge difference in building volumes and land use segregation
Opportunity 6. Renovate OFT as an economic and employment hub 7. Stitch the low-rise and high-rise neighbourhoods 8. Alleviate the impact of densification and industrialization on the natural environment
Threats 9. The segregation by transportation corridors (the physical barrier that new proposal need to fix)
The Box Site analysis methodology The Queensway-Humber bay
Box Overview
Box Overview
Unit 1: SECONDSPACE
DISPLAY BOARD for multicriteria analysis
Unit 2: FIRSTSPACE
Connect to rail transit
Policy support
Potential to build new high-rise development
Unit 2: FIRSTSPACE
Population growth rate
Unit 2: FIRSTSPACE neighbourhood scale study
A huge difference in building volumes
Land use segregation
Lack of connection
Unit 3: THIRDSPACE
Precedent Study The Interlace OMA - Singapore 16.96 ha Achieve a high density by stacked volumes, while still maintaining a good longrange view interaction with the landscape outside of the project.
Divide towers into mid-rises, and initiate varied terraces that provide space in human scale for social interaction, and meanwhile, achieve the target of reducing energy intensity.
Inspiration - Create open spaces by reorganizing the geometry of building. - Maximize the passive energy collecting by divided towers into mid-rises. - The vertical circulation of multi-mid-rise buildings.
Weakness - Climatic difference, the climate in the tropics and Canada is very different.
Source: OMA, Ole Scheeren, 2013
SITE
TERRACE
112% GREEN
MAXIMIZED GREEN AREA
CIRCULATION ORGANIZATION
Source: OMA, Ole Scheeren, 2013
Precedent Study SHUM YIP UpperHills LOFT URBANUS - Shenzhen, China 10.5ha Built on top of an old commercial complex.
Transfer the density of towers into mid-rises to create a vibrant streetscape with a mix of diverse land-use. Create connections between this superblock with the adjacent urban context and public transportation systems by an elevated path over the city's main arterials.
Inspiration - Increase density in the transition area, keep the original functions and introduce new vitality. - Solve land use segregation by transfer towers into midrises. - Make connections over transportation corridors by elevated path.
Source: Urbanus, 2018
Precedent Study Vincent Callebaut's Paris 2050 - Paris Multiple high-rise building typology with positive energy output.
The plan strives to address major ecological sustainability problems within paris high-rise districts by providing a eco-sustainable high-rise toolkit comprised of 8 prototypes.
Eco bridge with residential and institutional units
Inspiration - A sustainable development renovation plan with the vision of city level. - Comprehensive thinking on ecological sustainability in terms of urban design, architectural design, and how them work with urban infrastructure. - Specific cutting-edge techniques for reducing building energy intensity.
High-rise mixed use complex with green terraces and public transit
Mid-rise renovation with sustainable facades
Source: Vincent Callebaut, 2015
Design intention
New High-rise Prototype - Develop a new high-rise community prototype including: 1. Community master plan 2. A series of innovative high-rise building typology 3. A sustainable energy toolkit that applied to a variety of scenarios in the community (eg. environmental friendly building design, energy recycling retrofit for street)
Source: Woha, 2015