2015 Housing assignment

Housing Assignment 2014.2015 Theme - Mixed Use Savonnerie Heymans | Brussels, Belgium Svent Mertens, Thierry Iraguha

60 Richmond East | Toronto, Canada Md. Tarek Morad, Spandan Das

2802 Pico Housing | Santa Monica, USA Ashim Kumar Manna, Sheeba Amir

The village in the city

Savonnerie Heymans MDW Architecture Notre-Dame au Rouge, Brussels, Belgium, 2011

Savonnerie Heymans is the winning proposal from MDW Architecture for the reconversion for the inside of a building block, containing an old soap factory, post office and other businesses, into 42 residential units for the public welfare agency of the city of Brussels. It is part of the policy program called ‘Wijkcontracten’ or ‘District contracts’. This policy was implemented in the 1990s as a way to revitalize neglected neighbourhoods and give them the necessary funds and tools to improve public spaces or renovate/build infrastructure or houses.

The OCMW/CPAS of Brussels applied for a district contract and then chose this location since the inside of the building block was filled with several abandoned houses and the ruins of the soap factory. It organised a contest for architecture firms to build a complex of social housing on the site. MDW Architecture won with the concept of creating a ‘village in the city’, showcasing an architecture that would play a ‘social role’ to balance the stressful city life and the mineral urban areas. The post office and parts of the soap factory get reused while MDW creates new empty spaces within the building block to counter the dense ensemble of build tissue. These empty spaces form the core of the project and structure the buildings around it. They become the town square, the park and the forest of the inner village. The new and renovated buildings around these spaces all get different typologies to mirror the diversity in age groups that the surrounding neighbourhood offers. The inhabitants are able to meet each other in these outside spaces or in the communal room or laundry space. A kindergarten connects the inside village with the outside city and offers day-care for children from the whole neighbourhood.

The site plan offers already some information on how the architects tried to translate the concept of the village in the city into reality. An internal street connects the outside street to the central square. At this central square we find the chimney as the symbolic church tower, a communal room where people can meet each other inside and a room to do the laundry. The central square and the adjacent inner street are the heart of the project since they offer access to every entrance of the units and to all circulation towers. But while the doors all face this square, the balconies do not. These are only located on the south side to benefit from the sunlight, so only one block has its balconies facing the square. If they had faced the inner streets, the interaction could have benefitted the concept even more. The three triplex units in the eastern part face the mini-forest and due to their scale feel more like a cabin in the woods than an apartment in the middle of Brussels.

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The architects wanted to connect to the industrial past of the site. This was achieved by keeping the savonnerie, the chimney and the postal office. They were each given a new usage. The postal office now houses triplexes, the savonnerie has open space lofts and the chimney filters the exhaust gases from the underground parking garage. The building block in the middle is kept small scale, with a small footprint and only three floors high. This attributes to the intimate village feeling together with the small building of the former post office. The higher floors are reached by the three circulation towers indicated in red. Because they are located outside, they offer more interaction with the outside square and street.

The facades of the Savonnerie Heymans change with each building. In line with their concept of mirroring the diversity of the neighbourhood inside their village, the facades are nowhere the same. This does not however mean an eccentric exterior that would alienate the targeted community.

Instead the colour palette is carefully composed which make the buildings feel more as a coherent whole. The materials consist mainly out of metal plates or not galvanised steel for the staircases. This metal and steel is used as a reminder of the industrial heritage that the site has to offer.

In the following text, three of the facades are described in more detail.

The faรงade of the housing block in the middle is a clear example of these reminders to the past. Metal grey-black panelling covers the side of the whole building and industrial steel stairs give access to the duplexes on the second floor. Each unit has its own entrance facing the central square to give more meaning to the village concept. The internal stairs of the duplexes are clearly shown in the faรงade as elements sticking out, contributing to the characteristic image of the building in the complex. This gives an honest representation of the different typologies and these can be easily read from the facade. The southern faรงade shows a three-storey high glass curtain wall, which can be opened to let outside air in a patio. Each ground floor apartment and duplex above it are curled around one patio, making the typologies even more readable from the outside. Wood is used to counter the mineral areas with a warmer feel.

The new building wrapped around the old chimney shares the same faรงade materials as the duplexes.

Again we can find here the same metal panelling, curtain walls and steel stairs. However they are applied differently, but with the same principle. The typology of the building is shown in the faรงade. Here we find long horizontal glass curtain walls as to show the lofts behind it. Between the curtain wall and the loft we find the loggias of each unit. These loggias are all located to the south and serve as a thermal and acoustic barrier for the dwellings. Thanks to being enclosed these bio-climatic loggias can also be used in the winter and can be opened up in the summer. The chimney is an integral part of the faรงade and can be seen as the symbolic church tower in the village.

The third facade is the one from the part of the old soap factory. The old steel beams are reused and are left visible in the faรงade, a clear link with the past. The rest of the faรงade is filled in with white bricks. Bricks like it was before, white to fit in the colour palette. The glass curtain walls of the terraces give it the same styling cues as the rest of the project. A steel staircase connects it also physically with the surrounding buildings.

The wooden window frames were chosen, as for all of the buildings, for their superior heat insulation to contribute to the low-energy aspiration of the project.

As discussed before, the Savonnerie Heymans encompasses many different typologies, each in its own building unit. In the block that separates the site from the street, we find small apartments connected to an arcade in the air. The former postal building houses triplexes, the soap factory has open floor lofts, the building in the back has large family apartments with two to four bedrooms some as duplexes and some as lofts, the block in the middle has duplexes and patio-apartments and the block above the communal room and laundry space is a large duplex with six rooms. These different typologies contribute to the village character and offer a variety of spaces to a variety of people. What follows are three typologies explained in depth that attribute the most to the village feeling.

The building block in the middle has two times an one-floor apartment and above a duplex. Both are curled up against an inner patio which can be completely opened up to the outside (here indicated in green). The large patio is facing the south and is thanks to the glass curtain wall also usable in the winter. The entrances to all units are facing the square.

The building block that incorporates the historic chimney has duplexes on the ground floor and loft with two to four bedrooms on the upper floors. Two of the units are immediately accessible from the central square, the rest is accessible from the circulation towers.

The units are quite standard in size and all have their own loggias located in the south. These serve as a thermal and acoustic barrier. Due to them hanging above the central square creates a more informal and dynamic space.

The block above the kindergarten features smaller apartments with one to two bedrooms. These have their loggias again in the south, above the outside street. Access is only granted from the circulation tower in the beginning of the project which provides access to three outside walkways on which each three apartments are located. The block is somewhat larger scale to fit in the scale of the city.

60 RICHMOND EAST CO-OPERATIVE

CONCEPT IMAGE

SOURCE: :archdaily.com

The image shows an abstraction of the idea of integrating sustainability techniques, mainly basd under the key concept of URBAN PERMACULTURE. Also the bridge signifies the idea of a new innovation of co-operative housing, that is the first of its kind by city of Tornoto. So this image also talks of the newness of the project in conjugation of the strong pressence of ecology.

A FERTILE HABITAT 60 Richmond East Housing Co-Operative.

Stephen Teeple (TEEPLE ARCHITECTS) Richmond East, Toronto, Canada, [Construction Finished - March 2010] This project is rather a part of a larger revitalization project in the Regent Park area in Toronto, Canada. The project is a result of collaborative efforts between the local city councillor, the hospitality workers’ union ‘UNITE HERE’, and Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC). As the Regent Park area in the city had to be revamped and reconstructed as a part of a larger strategic urban revitalization plan, there were many dwellers and local people who had to be reshuffled and relocated to different parts of the city, well provided with new housing.

‘UNITE HERE’ that is a union of the hospitality industry workers were collectively relocated to a new location in a new housing, which would be known as 60, Richmond East co-operative, that designed exclusively for the workers from the Hospitality industry, with a very special care given on their work and living.

The client’s program was a housing co-operative for hospitality workers that would be economical to build and maintain and thus was a key inspiration for the concept of the design by Stephen Teeple. The design is uniquely crafted out that incorporates social spaces dedicated to food and its production that corresponds to the Hospitality Industry and a practice of Urban Permaculture has been employed in the design. This has resulted in a small-scale, but a well-developed full-cycle ecosystem described based on the model of “Urban Permaculture”. The residents also owns and operate a restaurant and a training kitchen on the ground floor that is supplied with vegetables, fruit and herbs grown on the sixth floor agricultural terrace.

The kitchen garden / agricultural terrace is irrigated by storm water collected from the roofs and cleansed by the water harvesting and purification techniques. Organic waste generated by the kitchens also serves as a compost for the garden.

Urban Permaculture is a technique that involves practices of gardening and agriculture to plant food products, grow them and produce them for self-use, within one’s habitat, buildings and houses. It is highly based on the idea of sustainability and urban gardening that is catching up in modern times.

The building is 11 storey mixed-use development and total consists of 85 living units, with 4 Four Bedroom Units, 24 Three & two bedroom units, 33 One bedroom units, having a total super built up area of about 8400 Sq.Mt approxiamately, that also includes commercial spaces and sits on a site of about 990 Sq.mt.

SITE & BUILDING The building is very well set in the context of the neighborhood and site at a road intersection junction, on the corner plot of a larger block, and thus enjoys the liberty of two open sided views of the city and surroundings.

As it is a corner plot, it also enjoys the leverage of easy access, which adds to the advantage of having the restaurant at the ground floor that gives easy public access from one side of the building, while maintaining the privacy of having the private entrance of the inhabitants from the main street side.The building also differs in its appearance to the nearby context, by the virtue of its massing that gives it a more permeable and a transparent feel due to the open terrace garden at the 6th floor.

Site design strategies work to ensure that 60 Richmond East has a much smaller impact on the natural ecosystems and fits within the larger scale of the regional plan. The main strategies includes the use of extensive green roofs on the top of the CONTEXT PLAN building, a permaculture garden the 6th floor, green roofs that assists in the reduction and treatment of storm water run-off, run-off from the roof and precisely not the water absorbed by the green roof, is collected in a cistern and used for irrigating the community garden.

The ground floor has a very well distinguished entrance for the residents and the public for the restaurant and training centre. As it can be seen that the site enjoys an ease of access from its two adjacent sides of the streets , the public relation to the indoors of the building is to be observed, where the designer has only placed public activities on the ground floor, segregating the residential entrance from the restaurant and training facility.

SITE PLAN

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

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It can be seen that all the units are well placed on the external periphery and thus enjoy natural daylight all throughout, and enjoy street views, that is more than one could expect 9m in such an economic setting. The central court that brings in 1 bedroom unit immense daylight is being looped around by a single loaded corridor that runs throughout individual floor and connects all the units, and thus forms the semi-private spaces within Amenities the residential zone.

At various places one may see a set systems of unit placement vertical circulation and public spaces more on the lower floors, as in case of the second level and then on the 6th level where the maximum public space is carved out in form of the terrace garden.

SIXTH FLOOR PLAN

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The vertical circulation are also located at a very strategic location with other ancillary service units and has a separate fire safety staircase stack at its opposite end. The public spaces and private spaces are very well defined on each floor, at every level.

The designer at every level has made an attempt to introduce public spaces through intervening landscape elements. Large open terraces and patios are made visible at most of the levels, especially a the 2nd floor and 6th floor, which includes the maximum public spaces around the central courtyard.

THE BUILDING As said earlier that the building design was based upon a key concept of Urban Permaculture and ecological aspects were also primarily taken into account. The building as said earlier works as a fully developed eco-system model, that grows and produces things for its own uses and consumption, maintains it through certain aspects of sustainable processes like rainwater harvesting etc. generates its own revenue through commercial activity by the people living in the housing itself.

While seeing all such aspects, one can expect this building to be full of variations in character due to the number of activities and spaces needed for it.

To support the terrace gardening, a well-developed system of Storm water cistern has been deployed, and thus this practice of Permaculture has also given way to an open 9 storey court that brings in immense light and ventilation for the building and also supports the ecology of the terrace gardening component.

/SOURCE: http://www.marketwire.com

It is pretty much evident that the massing of the building stands out in its context and reflects something unique about it. It is absolutely not fully cubical and box type structure, rather is a more improvised and a modified formation of solid cubical geometry. The spatial layout and organization of masses is entwined and arranged in such a way that it gives easy access to natural daylight and allows a smooth flow of air. The open court serves enough daylight to the common spaces like the corridor as well as it gives an enlarged visual vista from the inside of the building and enhances the spatial quality and it’s volumetric configuration from within.

/http://www.thestar.com :

FACADE The main configuration of the massing has been done in a very programmatic manner by the designer and not only on the basis of his creative whims and desires. It has been briefly discussed, that how the main façades on the streets actually is reflective of the spaces inside and nothing artificial is viewed outside.

The main two facades that open on towards the main streets passing adjacent to the building forms an unique view for the passers-by, as it thoroughly is distinguishable with respect to the surrounding contextual buildings. The materials and the finishing of the exterior walls are simply done, as per the client’s program and purpose, there was hardly any room for using much expensive materials and finishing’s.

WEST SIDE ELEVATION

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The 2 facades has a strong composition of spatial organizations of positive and negative spaces in totality. The positive spaces being the exterior walls of various units and the negatives being the carved out spaces from the overall solid volume, which forms all the open spaces as patios, balconies, terraces, the Terrace Garden at the sixth floor and overhang of cantilevered floors at different levels in the whole built complex.

The larger openings as terraces on the South & West facades helps the daylight to come through & also regulates and helps the flow of air within the building.

SOUTH SIDE ELEVATION

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SOUTH SIDE FACADE

/SOURCE: http://www.archello.com

The faรงade skin is also uniquely noticeable in respects of the positive and negative masses, through the colour scheming. The more extruded positive masses are the ones that are finished in a darker shade of grey colour, more towards the black, whereas the negative masses are finished in white colour. The facade also speaks and elaborates of the public-private character, through its enhanced and large open spaces as terraces and patios acts as larger spill over spaces of the building complex , all of which has a public-private integrative quality and allows direct visual access for its users as well as the non-users.

WEST SIDE FACADE SOURCE: google maps

UNITS The units are in a lot of variation, ranging from a 1 Bedroom Residence apartment to 4 bedroom Residence apartment. The units are well distributed all over all the floors and has particular setting pattern in each floor. Residential units starts from the second floor itself, while the ground and the first levels are used as the restaurant and kitchen training centre, which are the commercial frontages of the complex.

If it is seen carefully, there is a typicality of floor layouts from the 2nd floor to the 5th floor, while units from level 9 to 11 sixth floor is completely different from the rest of the floors, as it accommodates the garden terrace used for food production, thus compensating it with lesser number of living units. The first three levels, that is from 2nd to 5th floors, has all types of units from 1 bedroom units to 4 bedroom units, whereas from the 7th to 9th floors, it does not has the 4 bedroom residence unit. All the units enjoy natural daylight as all of them are strategically placed on the external periphery, and connected through a single loaded corridor, One may easily see the segregation of served and service spaces in all units, and most of the service spaces are clustered together so as to achieve an economy in the construction and plumbing services. Most of the served spaces are large in quantity and provided with ample daylight.

units from level 3 to 5

units from level 6 to 8

units at level 2

3d model showing spatial layout of units 1 bedroom unit

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Vert. Circulation

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SOURCE: archdaily.com

The building section, if seen carefully, has a lot of subtle ecological aspects as well as climatic considerations. The open courtyard void is but a larger assemblage of built masses around and acts as an integrated system of the whole complex, in terms of bringing in day light and allow a smooth flow of air to ventilate the whole built mass. The open courtyard is actually starting from the second level, where the residential units start off, and is well landscaped throughout the entire void of the volume, that forms a very crucial space in the overall spatial organization.

In the schematic section shown here, one can see that the how the garden at the sixth floor is supported by the water conservation system at the upper floors, and how it supports the restaurant and the training facility at the ground floor. Also, it is seen that the restaurant and the training facility occupies the ground and the first levels, and are entirely public domains, whilst the floors above, from second level through the 11th level is completely a private domain.

SCHEMATIC SECTION SHOWING RESIDENTIALZONE, THE COURT AND COMMERCIAL ZONE

CONCEPTUAL SECTION SHOWING THE ECO-SYSTEM OF THE WHOLE BUILDINGWITH TERRACE GARDENING SOURCE: TEEPLE ARCHITECTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY References: Architectural record, July, 2010 Canadian Architect, August, 2010 http://www.archdaily.com/ -60 /85762richmond-housing-cooperative-teeplearchitects/ http://www.archdaily.com/tag/teeple-architects/ http://www.teeplearch.com/ Teeple Architects

Housing Assignment 2014.2015

2802 Pico Housing - Courtyard as Social Heart

2802 Pico Housing - View from Pico boulevard Source: www.archdaily.com

Courtyard as Social Heart 2802 Pico Housing, Santa-Monica, CA, USA Moore Ruble Architects & Planners Santa-Monica, CA, USA Santa monica has profound history that emphasis on affordable housing to maintain and promote diverse as well as a sustainable community. Through local voter-approved initiatives, residents confirmed this priority. An example is Proposition R (1990) , which requires that out of all multi family housing 30 % be affordable. Also, proposition I (1998) authorizes city to participate financially in creating affordable housing. Also through affordable housing production program (AHPP) developers of multi-family housing to contribute towards affordable housing production to help city meet the goals for affordable housing.

Among other initiatives is Community corporation of Santa Monica (CCSM). It is a no-profit organization, committed towards developing and managing affordable housing programs, in order to maintain economic equity in otherwise progressive city with high-end development. The organization uses private and public funds to develop and manage affordable housing.

2802 pico housing is a 100 % affordable housing program with 32 units by CCSM, which provides housing at 30-25 % of market rate. Project also includes a retail and community space around a courtyard. The project provides a pedestrian friendly urban facade in order to engage city and neighbourhood with the residents. Building units are designed around a courtyard, which acts as an active space for social interaction. There are a number of playful bridges which provide access to dwelling units , through a single loaded corridor. Bridges and staircases act as interaction spaces and contributes to the pedestrian scale of the building.

SITE

Location on city map. Source: Google Earth

Location in Neighbourhood: Source: Google Earth

The housing project is located in a residential and commercial neighbourhood on the junction of two streets. Site was earlier used as a gas station, thus making soil remediation as first part of design challenge. Site is combination of areas which fall in two different zoning regulations, with different height limits, densities and parking requirement.

Designer has used this constraint as an opportunity in creating an interesting design with stepped volumes . Rather than creating two big masses with different heights, designer has created three built components around a courtyard with varying heights. Three built components have a height range of three - four story.

Site Plan Scale 1:2500 A pedestrain entrance from the north, on the pico boulevard street , through the courtyard, creates a spatial connection to the street.

Urban Section Scale 1:2500

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Figure Ground Plan

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Public Private spaces

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Vehicular Circulation and Parking North

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BUILDING

Ground Floor Plan

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Pico housing includes a built area programme of 26342 sq ft. Along with residentail area, project includes community space of 1133 sq ft. and a retail space of 582 sq ft. at the junction of two streets. Project includes underground parking space for 53 cars. Built spaces are divided into three volumes and arranged around a courtyard , which helps in breaking down the mass of building. On upper levels, three volumes are connected with corridors, bridges and staircases. The retail space will keep the corner active and also provide services to the residents.

With entrance from the north side, entry to community room from west, laundry room, elevators and childrens play area, courtyard acts as a hub of activities and as important social space. Courtyard also acts as a connecting space for all dwelling units and other activties on ground floor. The criss crossing bridges, connecting different units can also be seen as social space and not just as circulation spaces.

Source: All floor plans are redrawn by authors, on the basis of presentation drawings available on www.archdaily.com

BUILDING

Second Floor Plan Scale 1:500

Fourth Floor Plan Scale 1:500

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Circulation as interaction spaces at various levels. Source: www.la.streetsblog.org

BUILDING

3D view showing building massing. Source: www.la.streetsblog.org

Looking down from building courtyard, one can see criss crossing bridges along with yellow and orange stripes, adding a play of colors on grey walls. Courtyard also acts as perfect place to feel the ocean breeze and get a respite from busy traffic of street . With bustling activities of residents on bridges , corridors and in the courtyard, open to sky space becomes an active part of the housing. With the criss-crossing bridges, a triangular space is formed, when we look above from the courtyard. Courtyard acts as a connecting element for the three built masses of the housing. The cut-out of courtyard also helps in breaking the built volume from a single heavybuilt mass .

FACADE

Pedestrian friendly facade. Source: www.la.streetsblog.org

Main pedestrian entrance of the site is from north, through the courtyard. From the north facade, facing pico boulevard, one can see the courtyard cutout, dividing the mass of building. Criss crossing bridges and connecting staircase strikes a connection with the street. Along with visible connection to the courtyard, street side landscaping elements and corner retail store also act as a pedestrian friendly feature. Designer tries to break down the overall scale by giving different color codes to built mass. On northern facade we can see masses of white and grey, along with colorful stripes of yellow and orange. Altering depths also create illusion of small scale. With its interesting volume and colorful facade, project creates an identity at the important spot of neighbourhood, on a junction of two important streets.

All dwelling units have large windows for ample sunlight and ventilation. Windows on ground floor gets sun protection with projected volume on first floor. Windows on upper floor have deep recess to get protection from sun and to provide buffering from street traffic noise. Windows are designed as alternating horizonal and vertical recess in the volume rather than repetition of same size and type all throughout the facade. Landscape elements in the form of high planter on street side, creates a public-private transition, in between street life and residential units.

FACADE

Deep recessed windows provide necessary shade during day Source: www.archdaily.com

Colourful inner facade, allows to breakdown the mass and allows to maximize natural ventilation within the apartment complex. Source: www.archdaily.com

FACADE

Stripes of playful colors on grey wall create elements of interest along with projected windows.

Source: www.archdaily.com

Human scale internal landscaped spaces Source: www.archdaily.com

FACADE

Connections accross the coutyard. Source: www.archdaily.com

Internal facades along with landscape enages the inside courtyard with the surrounding street life.

Source: www.archdaily.com

Facade details.www Source: www.archdaily.com

DWELLINGS Typology 1 : Two Bedroom

Location for typology 1 Floor Plan ( Scale - 1:250 )

Typology 2 : Three Bedroom

Location for typology 2

Floor Plan (Scale- 1:250 )

Typology 3 : Three Bedroom

Location for typology 3

Floor Plan (Scale- 1:250 ) Day Zone

Night Zone

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Source: All dwelling unit plans are redrawn by author

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DWELLINGS

View of Apartment interior and relationship between the private and semiprivate space. Source:www.archdaily.com

Pico housing includes dwelling units of two bedrooms and three bedrooms. Area for two bedroom unit is 100 sqm and for three bedroom , it is 130 sqm. for the ground floor units. Total number of two bedroom units is 22 and for three bedroom 10. Units are accessed through single loaded corridors , which are further linked with bridges and staircases. All units have large windows both on external side and internal side, opening towards streets and courtyard respectively. Large windows provide ample sunlight and ventilation through ocean breeze for the dwelling units. For the windows which open on the courtyard side, privacy can be an issue because of movement of residents through the common circulation spaces.

Dwelling units on the opposite side of the courtyard are also connected through bridges. These bridges act as social spaces and not just circulation spaces.

For all the units, kitchen makes a part of the living room and creates a more open floor plan.

On top floor, units on the side of pico boulevard, step back from its original volume to create a common open terrace for these units.

View of Apartment interior Source:www.archdaily.com

SECTION

Section diagram of the Housing, highlighting environmental design features.

Source: www.archdaily.com

From building section we can clearly see the different volumes of the project. Courtyard acts as a source for cross ventilation, by catching the ocean breeze. Rain water collected through rooftop, courtyard and pavements gets collected in underground rain water tank. Connectivity of differnt dwelling units through bridges and corridor is also clearly visible from the section.Treated black water is further used for landscaping purposes.

SECTION

Corridors primarily as circualtion spaces and interaction spaces.

3D view with images. Source: author

The crossing bridges overlook into the courtyard. The courtyard becomes the social heart of the housing. Source: www.archdaily.com

COMPARISION

COMPARISION Accessibility

The access to the Savonnerie Heymans project is only possible through one central iron gate. This gate gives acces to the internal streets of the project at which every ground floor apartment has its own front door. The architects made sure that this ’front door’policy was applied for everyone, contributing to a ‘everyone has its own house’-feel instead of having internal hallways. The access to higher apartments is achieved by three outdoor staircases which also connects the units with the underground parking. To get inside the parking lot, one can also enter from the street directly instead of having to go inside the site.

The accessibility in 60 Richmond East is quite easy towards the building complex, as it is adjoined with two main streets and the site itself falls on the corner plot. The pedestrian access to both the residential zone as well as the public domain of restaurant and the training centre is well established and connected. The entrances to the residential zone is segregated from the entrance of the restaurant and the training centre. The vehicular access is somehow constrained, and is only towards the west side of the building, and is a very discreet one, which is purposely done, so as to avoid traffic congestion on the main street facing the south side of the building on the Richmond East Street.

2802 PICO Boulevard is located along the intersection of PICO Boulevard and 28th Cross Street, providing two public frontages for the building. A pedestrian entrance from the north, on the PICO boulevard street, through the courtyard, creates a spatial connection to the street. The courtyard plays a crucial role in circulation. The splayed bridges, sculptural open stairs and angled walkways have been shaped to facilitate circulation and offer places for gathering.

The walkways on the various upper levels provide breakout spaces, increasing the sense of spaciousness and visual array of colours enhancing the experience of the inhabitants.

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COMPARISION Public Private

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The access to the Savonnerie Heymans project is only possible through one central iron gate. This gate gives acces to the internal streets of the project at which every ground floor apartment has its own front door. The architects made sure that this ’front door’policy was applied for everyone, contributing to a ‘everyone has its own house’-feel instead of having internal hallways. The access to higher apartments is achieved by three outdoor staircases which also connects the units with the underground parking. To get inside the parking lot, one can also enter from the street directly instead of having to go inside the site.

The accessibility in 60 Richmond East is quite easy towards the building complex, as it is adjoined with two main streets and the site itself falls on the corner plot. The pedestrian access to both the residential zone as well as the public domain of restaurant and the training centre is well established and connected. The entrances to the residential zone is segregated from the entrance of the restaurant and the training centre. The vehicular access is somehow constrained, and is only towards the west side of the building, and is a very discreet one, which is purposely done, so as to avoid traffic congestion on the main street facing the south side of the building on the Richmond East Street.

2802 PICO Boulevard is located along the intersection of PICO Boulevard and 28th Cross Street, providing two public frontages for the building. A pedestrian entrance from the north, on the PICO boulevard street, through the courtyard, creates a spatial connection to the street. The courtyard plays a crucial role in circulation. The splayed bridges, sculptural open stairs and angled walkways have been shaped to facilitate circulation and offer places for gathering.

The walkways on the various upper levels provide breakout spaces, increasing the sense of spaciousness and visual array of colours enhancing the experience of the inhabitants.

COMPARISION Landscape

The Savonnerie aims to be a counterpart to the cold mineral urban areas. It does so by creating a mini-forest, a parc ‘3D’ and a vegetable garden. In front of every building block there is a green space maitained by the inhabitants themselves. While the vegetable garden knows a lot of success, telling by the pictures, the mini-forest could have had somewhat less stepping stones to furthermore increase the ‘forest-feeling’. It is the same case with the parc. While this is certainly a fantastic place to have festivities, the parc feels too formal and designed. This becomes painfully clear with the playground where there is artificial grass instead of the real deal only found on the rooftops.

In 60 Richmond East building, the concept of employing ‘Urban Permaculture’ for food production, also has subtly given way to a lot of open spaces that are well illustrated as indoor green spaces. On the sixth floor of the building, the food garden or the kitchen garden is well placed, from where most of the food production are grown.

A huge open courtyard in the centre of the building, where there is green plantations from trees to shrubs, and a huge wall creeper also grows in one of the courtyard walls inside the building. At various other open spaces like balconies, patios etc. there are a lot of plantations that are done.

The designer utilises the budget and space constraints, incorporates playful circulation elements, hard and soft landscape. Curved benches and elements are designed all over the courtyard with built in landscape components and adding colour within the courtyard.

Five feet high fibreglass planter pots with maple trees acts as the exciting component of the site. On the south edge of the building, designer proposes useful trees like fruit trees, vine planting and rosemary. The landscape uses hard surfaces in various colours and patterns, Planters and benches are designed as curved elements which create a flowing landscape through the courtyard and creates visual continuity with existing vegetation outside the project site.

REFERENCES Savonnerie Heymans http://www.archdaily.com/220116/savonnerie-heymans-mdw-architecture/ http://www.mdw-architecture.com/en/projects/Savonnerie_Heymans/4/

60 Richmond East Architectural record, July, 2010 Canadian Architect, August, 2010 http://www.archdaily.com/-60/85762richmond-housing-cooperative-teeple-architects/ http://www.archdaily.com/tag/teeple-architects/ http://www.teeplearch.com/

2802 Pico Housing 2802 Pico Housing, «2802 Pico Housing / Moore Ruble Yudell» 14 Oct 2014. ArchDaily. Accessed 29 Jan 2015. <http://www. archdaily.com/?p=555258> 2802 Pico Housing, http://www.moorerubleyudell.com/projects/-2802pico-housing Architectural review Board Application , Community corporation of Santa Monica, downloaded on 27 Jan, 2015 at http:// www.smgov.net/departments/pcd/agendas/Architectural-Review-Board/10/20100517/2010ARB20%2802(20%191Pico).htm MADSEN,Deane, 2802 Pico Housing, http://www.architectmagazine.com/multifamily/-2802pico-housing_o.aspx ZEIGER, Mimi, «Reasonable Dream», http://www.metropolismag.com/March2014-/Reasonable-Dream/