Portfolio 2019 (Academic Vol. 2)

sabrina w. y. ng| 黄蔚莹

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The general ideas of playful public spaces have long been restricted to playgrounds and parks. Play does not and should not only happen in conventional playgrounds. On the contrary, fencing that originally installed at playgrounds to keep dogs out, is often in reality more about keeping children in. Regardless of the typology, any place offering opportunities to play, is playful.

The rapid population growth in Prenzlauer Berg calls for a compact urban play system that takes place on a small remnant piece of a non-building plot land, located above the railway tracks of the Berlin Ringbahn. It aims to act as the urban connector that bridges over the void of the urban fabric. It is an all-inclusive urban play system that not only encourages family-oriented activities, but also place where individuals find ways back to themselves, be reminded that they were once children.

BIRKENHEAD MASTER PLAN & URBAN REGENERATION

Formerly a heavy industrial dockland along the West Bank of River Mersey that thrived in the 19th and first half of the 20th century, Birkenhead town today has suffered significant declination in urban development due to reduction in port activities.

The regeneration project aims to desegregate the local community of Birkenhead by breaking up the existing urban grid that seperates the unused industrial grounds and the suburban district. Along with Peel Holdings’ Wirral Waters development plan, the regeneration project aims to restructure the industrial area, residential area, docks and Birkenhead Park by reintroducing new tram routes that links to Peel Holdings’ new development and transforming Birkenhead into a walkable and self-sufficient town within the Wirral Peninsular.

The pedestrian green spine that runs along the master plan core zone acts as the gateway that links the waterfront docks to the Birkenhead Park. Activity nodes are created with various interventions that lines along the green spine scheme. Vehicle are able to access from the East to the West and vice versa via the 3 paved-over vehicular tunnel ways to avoid the distruption of activity nodes along the motor vehicle-free spine.

PHYSICAL MODEL

DESIGN PROCESS