STREETSCAPE AS INDUSTRIAL SPACE Gowanus, Brooklyn, New York
Hannes Van Damme
Master Dissertation Project
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“Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY
FOREWORD
The framework I have chosen for my Autonomous Master Dissertation Project is the Streetscape Territories research project directed by Dr. Kris Scheerlinck. The proposed site and program builds upon the relationship between de research that has been done and the characteristics of the streetscape on the Gowanus area in Brooklyn, New York. As academic promoter I preferred working with Dr. Kris Scheerlinck, due to his active research on proximity, access control and depth configurations on different scales within his research on Streetscape Territories. Streetscape Territories is a given name to his international research that deals with the territorial organization of urban projects, studied as part of different culturs and defined by multiple social networks. Examples of such territorial systems could be a set of properties, of witch the exterior boundaries are constantly questioned and tested by its neighbors, or a house, or storefront that exists as part of a shared portico in a street. The Streetscape Territories research studies historical and contemporary urban projects at different scales and in different locations, from peculiar streetscape to the relationship between different neighborhoods in a suburban area. Trough interviews with Ron Shiffman (Co-founded Pratt Institute/Professor), Stuart Pertz (Gowanus Institute/Adjunct Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute), John Shapiro (Chairperson of Center for Planning and the Environment), Jeff Byles (Interim Executive Director, Van Alen Institute), Dan D’Oca (Co-owner Interboro Partners) we were able to understand the essence of the chosen site and were provided a coherent, critical and challenging context to propose an architectural intervention as a master dissertation project.
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CONTENT
000 FOREWORD 003 CONTENT 007 CHARTER 011 ZONE OF INTERVENTION 018 FIRST VIEW ON GOWANUS 022 PRESSURE ON EXISTING MANUFACTURING Industrial gentrification Residential gentrification 028 WHY REMAINING MANUFACTURING? Local jobs Sustainability Floodzone The streetscape 051 DESIGN APPROACHES Architecture as acupuncture Streetscape as industrial space Thinking about occupation of industrial space 058 STREET AS INDUSTRIAL SPACE 078 OCCUPATION OF INDUSTRIAL SPACE Density Land occupation Spatial arragement and compactness
Open Building system Construction of the industrial buildings Variations Depth configurations 0149 FIRST INTERVENTION Plans, Sections, Isometrics, Models, Collages 0171 SECOND INTERVENTION Facade, Plans, Sections, Isometrics, Models 0179 THIRD INTERVENTION Plans, Sections, Isometrics, Models, Collages 0201 FACILITIES AND TECHNIQUES Tool trolleys Extreme weather conditions Utilities Lighting Drainage and sewerage Concrete textures 0215 DETAILS AND CONSTRUCTION 0221 FLOOD SCENARIOS 0235 TIMELAPS 0241 CONCLUSION
0101 NEW TYPES OF MANUFACTURING?
0245 REFERENCES
0107 DESIGN PROCESS System Multi-story industrial buildings
0247 FIGURE LIST 0251 CREDITS “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 05
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The northern part of the Gowanus area deals with a complex multi-layered structure of pressures and establish a dialogue between upcoming gentrification, remaining industries, unfilled interval spaces, speculations of real estate and the declaration to super funding. Is it still moral to transform these last industrial areas into high dens residential neighborhood to meet on the questions of private developers? Which attitude should we take against the upcoming gentrification and what specific influences does it entail for the Gowanus area? Is ‘mixed-use’ zoning between residence and industries an answer on today’s environmental and economical sustainability? Is still it possible to have an architectural intervention in this complex industrial landscape that builds upon the existing character without transforming the neighborhood?
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CHARTER
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With the Streetscape Territories research team we decided to write a charter. Those guidelines will lead to a framework that allows everyone to work within it. As a promise to ourselves, witch final goal we all want to reach at the end. The following solemn pledge is made to conduct research and design in the Gowanus area: 1. We focus on the existing situation in the neighborhood. 2. We will avoid future interventions that would radically change the environment. After understanding the functioning of the whole area, we can propose a minimal amount of interventions, and they will be conceptually defined and designed as if they have always been part of the neighborhood. 3. We take the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability as a starting point. 4. We base all our findings, mappings and proposals on interviews with inhabitants or local stakeholders and on in situ wandering. 5. We consolidate the existing manufacturing activities and empower them on a long term. 6. We try to reconfigure, reaccommodate, restore or reform, more than adding new spaces, buildings or infrastructures. 7. We will always check multiple possibilities of thinking and intervention and discuss them. 8. We take into account “models of proximity” that are related to accessibility, connectivity and permeability. 9. We guarantee a plural model of “depth configurations” in the proposals. 10. We look for innovation by honoring details, textures and materiality, coherent with the spirit of the neighborhood and use the “crack in the pavement” criteria as a systematic check-up for our proposals and presentations.
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Unionstreet facades - South side
Unionstreet build enviroment
Unionstreet facades - North side
Figure 1. A collage to represent the sequence- going from dense residential neighborhood to the other, passing the gowanus area.
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ZONE OF INTERVENTION ? The zone of interventions is determined by the relation between the characteristic streetscapes in Gowanus area and through the research on existing networks between industrial usage of scape and territories. These existing networks on commercial, social and industrial level can be physicial, visual or determined by ownership and land occupation.
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Figure 2. Analogue picture of Union Street, Brooklyn, NY
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FIRST VIEW ON GOWANUS
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Figure 3. Interview with Stuart Pertz, Brooklyn, NY
“New York needs cement plants, barge ports, food warehouses and other essential logistic support services to keep functioning” - Dan D’Oca -
“Provide a kind of industry that can mix within neighborhoods” - Stuart Pertz -
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Figure 4. Interview at Van Alen Institute, Manhatten, NY
Figure 5. Interview at Pratt Institute with John Shapiro (right) and Ron Shiffman (left), Brooklyn, NY
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FIRST VIEW ON GOWANUS
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The Gowanus canal one of the industrial landscape elements where landmarks and billboards orientate and promote their firms. From an Urban planners point of view, Gowanus area always has been seen as a border between Carroll Garden and Park Slope, but are for me not more than a physical limit that pops-up in the sequence of the street. Today, we could consider the 4th avenue could be seen more as a border or a breaker in terms of streetscapes. The wideness of the road and the height of the buildings along the avenue, creates a hard border between strict residential and mix zone. The gowanus canal was an injector of the industrial activity in history, similar as the 5th avenue does the same today by commercial activity that animates the dense residential neighborhoods around. Industrial areas now have a negative attitude, where people turn their back to. Lately, it is perceived in a way that industry looks dirty and is something what served jobs for our grandparents, for us! The Gowanus area could be functioning as a ‘park’ in between the residential neighborhoods. People go there to run or to walk their dog. The openness and isolation, creates the feeling of a park... Some people read their book in a park, some of them on a bench along hard or soft harbor industries! Both landscapes have a certain dynamic that could be the background of a daily life. The silence of a park, with the sound of singing birds and whispering leaves could have the same attitude or experience as the sound of active industries. The difference from high residential towards industrial gives a different depth configuration and could be easily compared between a Park and an industrial landscape. Out of informal interviews and talks I had with people that are living between Park Slope and left industries along the Gowanus canal, they prefer to walk, run and let their dog out in the Gowanus neighborhood instead of Prospect park within the same distance, due to his complete silence and so a moment of escaping on the daily life rhythm. The Gowanus area is intriguing because of his abrupt boundaries from the manufacturing environment. The functional and introverted nature of those buildings creates these closed off streets with no windows or huge gates. This introverted feeling caused by the close proximity, entry doors and gates are enhanced with steel rolling fences, is depending on the current activities in the street.
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Water plays a particular role in defining the difference between boundaries and borders. Up until the 1950’s the existence and shape of waterways has supported the economy and determined the shape of cities like Mumbai, Shanghai, Istanbul, London and New York. Water, the material, was an urban medium for trade and circulation. But the docks and warehouses and water itself held little aesthetic interest for urban designers; water was just the utilitarian substance of the trading city. “This watery aesthetic provides insight into how inert boundaries are created in cities: viewing space becomes opposed to working space. The divorce between art and work is hardly unique in architecture.” New water-edge projects in Mumbai propose, for instance, to evict a mass of small-scale businesses and pavement dwellers from the waterfront; the justification offered by the developpers is in part visual, that of ‘cleaning up’ the view by reducing the density of people and complexity of uses. The offer of visual pleasure at the cost of mixed social and economical use afflicts similar proposals in Buenos Aires and London - all descendants in form of Burnham’s Plan, all leading to social exclusion in the name of visual order and pleasure.1
1. SENNETT, R. 2011. Living in the endless city. In: BURDETT, R. (ed.) Reflections on Borders and Boundaries. London: London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society.
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PRESSURE ON EXISTING MANUFACTURING?
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The increasing pressure on the Gowanus canal corridor will demolish or eliminate all together, the integrity of this cultural industrial landscape. The most urgent issue, of course, is demolition, which can happen for a number of different reasons. The three most immediate pressures identified that put the historic resources at risk for demolition and other forms of debate are: industrial displacement, new construction and environmental issues. The proposed rezoning framework will change the Gowanus Canal Corridor from being zoned entirely manufacturing to only partially manufacturing. Currently, 38%, the plurality, of the Gowanus Canal Corridor’s population works in construction, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing industries. Rezoning that will decrease manufacturing will cost many jobs. Fewer manufacturing jobs will not only hurt the economy, but will also take a toll on many historic resources. New infiltrating uses will require different types of space and existing structures will either be altered or demolished in response to the new real estate market. While we support adaptive use of space, the example of Greenpoint-Williamsburg suggests that historic resources will be more at risk for demolition than reused. Untill 2005, the waterfront in GreenpointWilliamsburg, like in the Gowanus Canal Corridor, was zoned manufacturing. In 2005, the waterfront was rezoned mixed use and areas zoned manufacturing were greatly reduced to make room for the influx of mixed-use and residential. After being rezoned, Greenpoint-Williamsburg saw an influx of new residential construction. New constructions have an alarming number of 6 to 16 stories, heights neither conducive to the character of Historic Greenpoint- Williamsburg nor the Gowanus Canal. However, new constructions threaten these historic resources with or without approval of the proposed rezoning framework. The three developments that have received the most press, Public Place, Toll Brothers, and Whole Foods, are expected to begin further rezoning of the area. New constructions will bring in thousands of new residents and with them, hundreds of additional cars. The last pressure on the Gowanus Canal faces is on the level of environmental issues. While the historical uses of the canal created the cultural industrial landscape we appreciate and are aiming to preserve, they also provide for the noxious smells and contaminated water and soil these historic resources sit on. Indeed almost all of the land in the Gowanus Canal has been determined to be potential brownfield sites. After only two inches of rainfall, highly visible CSO’s (combined sewage outflows) inundate the canal water.
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1. INDUSTRIAL GENTRIFICATION
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Even in those areas zoned for manufacturing, the current ‘Zoning Resolution’ permits other non-industrial uses that will price out the existing manufacturing. Manufacturing is a high-added activity because a manufacturer’s major investments are in labor and equipment. They have little money left over to pay for land, which means manufacturers pay low rents relative to other uses, leaving them vulnerable to displacement.1 Offices, hotels and most types of big box superstores are permitted as-of-right in manufacturing zones. As result, there are now at least 52 hotels in industrial areas including twelve in the city's industrial parks, areas that the city has designated to be preserved for industrial uses. The city is pushing to encourage development of supermarkets in manufacturing areas, which could become the anchors for new retail clusters. The city definitely needs more supermarkets; just not in it's manufacturing areas. The result is not only direct displacement, but real estate speculations by the property owners which undermines investment by the tenants: if a property owner thinks he can attract a developer offering to buy his land for an office, hotel or superstore, the owner will set his asking price accordingly. Real estate speculation makes manufactures question the future of their locations as an industrial neighborhood and that uncertainty discourage reinvestment, thereby triggering a downward spiral.1 A good example of industrial gentrification could be ‘The old American Can Factory,’ an historic six-building industrial complex on the corner of Third Street and Third Avenue. They redeveloped in 2010 the canning factory into a so-called “industrial haven to a curated community in the creative industries”. They offer the possibility (for people from the upper mid-classes and happy few, selected by the owner of the factory), to rent a workspace to express their creativity. 1. FRIEDMAN, A. 2010. Fifty years of community based planning: Transforming the city’s manufacturing landscape, Brooklyn NY, Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development.
Figure 6. XOPROJECTS 2010. The old american can factory. In: OACF_090204_0 (ed.).http://www.xoprojects.com/images/places/oacf_090204_0.jpg: xoprojects. “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 027
2. RESIDENTIAL GENTRIFICATION
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I’m rather fearful and skeptical when they rezone parts of manufacturing sites now into ‘Mixed-use’ zones to support residential functions. The biggest threat for the coming twenty years, will not be about super funding the canal, but will be ‘how to deal with upcoming gentrification’ due to the extreme low ground values compared to his surrounding. Out of interviews with experts of Pratt Institute about the Gowanus area, they mentioned the weakness of zoning a mixed-use zone. Mixed-zone can't exist in practice! Everything you ever transform or rezone from industrial into residential use (to fulfill wishes the lobbying private developpers) is lost and can never be revert again. In the northern part of the Gowanus canal the pressure of upcoming residential gentrification is the highest. Empty lots, outdoor storage spaces, temporary unused buildings or industrial left overs will be taking in by the housing market with the argument that those spaces are so-called ‘underused’. This pressure is even higher along the waterfront or on the streets that make a connection between Carroll Garden and Park Slope. As part of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process the city should evaluate whether proposed land use change advances or sets back the City’s overall sustainability. For example, each barge that brings material into the city replaces 50 trucks. Continued rezoning of the waterfront for residential use could undermine the city’s ability to implement more environmentally responsible transportation practices.1 1. FRIEDMAN, A. 2010. Fifty years of community based planning: Transforming the city’s manufacturing landscape, Brooklyn NY, Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development.
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WHY REMAINING MANUFACTURING?
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1. LOCAL JOBS
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Figure 7. Life, Work, Create - Facade on Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 032
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The question “what keeps New York City attractive?” for people brings us full circle to the need to retain manufacturing to ensure the city’s diversity and creative vitality, its environmental well-being, and the employment and entrepreneurial opportunities that are pathways out of poverty. It is pointless to invest in green jobs if they have no place to go. In New York, Mayor Bloomberg took the first steps in 2005 by creating the Industrial Business Zones program, which designated 16 areas of the city for industrial development. The strategy was to create “safe havens” in order to stabilize real estate conditions in these areas by declaring the City’s intent to keep them industrial. Unfortunately, the initiative did not include revisions to the Zoning Resolution. In Williamsburg, Gowanus, and Lond Island City factories have been redeveloped as hotels, bowling alleys, and large retail. In Flatlands, a 500,000 square foot distribution site on a rail line is being turned into a Home Depot.1 The city might need to avoid voids within the Zoning Resolution, which currently allows hotels, offices, and big box retailers in Manufacturing Zones and to bring it up to date with new city policy. The City should reinforce the Industrial Business Zones Designation through Industrial Employment Districts, a new zoning that would not allow non-industrial uses in its industrial safe havens. This would stabilize the real estate market in those areas, which would lead to reinvestment and job growth. Gowanus has provided jobs, space, materials and opportunities for Brooklyn and New York City for over a century. In the 1920’s, there were more than fifty businesses operating on the canal, which saw some 25,000-vessel trips per year. Today, with a mix of industry, working artists, and innovative small businesses, Gowanus continues to serve as a local and regional center of commerce. In 2010, the more than 1,000 businesses in Gowanus provided over 8,000 jobs, primarily in services, manufacturing, retail, and construction. This concentration of jobs is equivalent to eight per cent of workers in downtown Brooklyn — the third largest central business district in New York City — and twentyeight per cent of workers in Greenwich, Connecticut.1
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Manufacturing jobs, on average, provide higher wages than other private sector service jobs and provide employment opportunities for individuals with a wide range of skills, education levels, and language proficiency. With its existing concentration of successful businesses, Gowanus is uniquely positioned within the five boroughs to house urban production for New York. In 2010, manufacturing in Gowanus accounted for twenty-one percent of industrial businesses, and over fifty-five per cent of all industrial jobs, illustrating significant job density. There is also room for growth within these industries. It all depends on the mix of diffrent industries, for instance: metal smiths and marble artisans sit side by side with lumber suppliers, scrap yards, recycled material dealers, maritime support industries, and aggregates. This mix creates an ecosystem of production and commerce entirely unique to Gowanus. Manufacturing is far less visible today in New York City. The drop in manufacturing employment and growth of other sectors has reduced the profile and relative importance of manufacturing. 1 Across the country, there is growing public support for rebuilding our manufacturing base. It is a core component of the emerging federal economic policy that investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy should be used to not only improve the country’s basic competitiveness, but stimulate business and job growth in the industries that make the hundreds of component parts for renewable energy systems. The green energy sector is only one area with the potential to generate productions jobs. Cities throughout the United States whose economics were built on manufacturing are developing strategies for their industrial sectors. For example, Chicago and Los Angeles have emphasized the retention and attraction of manufacturing as a key economic strategy for economic diversification. But local production is not only a means to economic diversity; it holds environmental, cultural and social benefits to a city.1 1. Gowanus Works, Preserving place and production, Pratt institute, Graduate Land Use studio, Brooklyn NY, Fall 2011
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2. SUSTAINABILITY
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Figure 8. 2011. Living in the endless city. In: COMPARED, V. S.-N. C. (ed.). London: London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society.
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Figure 8. 2011. Living in the endless city. In: COMPARED, V. S.-N. C. (ed.). London: London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society.
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This first paragraph compares nine different age cities on base of several economies, to demonstrate the importance of fading manufacturing in west urban cities. Today, New York City is leader in changing his nature of urban work, from energy, construction and manufacturing towards a tourism-based economy. New york has the most advanced economy, with 93 per cent of its employed population working in the service sector and only 6 per cent in secondary sector activities such as manufacturing and construction. In this instance ‘services’ or what’s known as the tertiary sector, includes everything from retail to finance, real estate and even public services.1 The nine urban age cities are at different stages of a transition from an industrial to a knowledgebased economy. The employment figures present here show that London and new york have advanced the furthest towards this economic transformation, although neither city has an economy based exclusively on financial and businesses services; retail, leisure, social and personal services continue to be major sources of employment in both cities. Most of the other Urban Age cities retain 10 to 20 per cent of their secondary sector employment - dominated by manufacturing, industry and construction. In some cases, a small agriculture sector also remain. Istanbul's situation - both cities have retained an extensive manufacturing base (around 40 per cent). With respect to the other Urban Ages cities, this difference organizes from the fact that they are municipalities with large territories where manufacturing and agriculture activities still dominate. In terms of formal employment Mexico City, Mumbai, São Paulo and Johannesburg all show over 70 per cent of the workforce employed in some level of service-based activity. But, these statics do not show the importance of informal employment in most cities of the developing world. Mumbai's informal urban economy, for example, engage more than 60 per cent of the workforce often made up of low-skilled rural migrants who live and work in slums. New York City has the smallest part of 7% Manufacturing and Construction of the other nine Urban Age cities.1 1. 2011. Living in the endless city. In: BURDETT, R. (ed.) Vital Statistics: Nine Cities Compared. London: London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society.
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2.1. The environmental need for manufacturing1 The notion that a healthy manufacturing sector is necessary to promote New York’s environmental well-being may at first seem counterintuitive. Buried in our conception of manufacturing are images of dark factories belching smoke and pouring hazardous waste into our waterways while workers are abused below the heels of greedy bosses. While the toxic remains of manufacturing’s past continue to contaminate brownfields around the city, today’s manufacturers are fundamentally different. The smokestacks that manufactures previously needed to generate their own power are gone, replaced by modern utilities or their own renewable energy supply. Government regulations have largely found forced manufacturers to clean up. Now, a new business model and culture based on sustainable business principles is emerging. This business model is often described as having a “triple bottom line” that measures not only profit but also the environmental and social impact of the business. A sustainable manufacturer seeks to reduce waste not only because it reduces the costs of materials and disposal, but also because it consumes less of our planet’s resources and will help the manufacturers expand their markets to consumers concerned about the environment.
2.2. Urban manufacturing Urban manufacturing is geared to design sectors of all sorts (from jewelry to furniture design, from architecture to interior decoration), building trades (customized woodwork and metalwork) and to other sectors that are very much part of advanced service-based economies. Urban manufacturing has several characteristics: firstly, it needs an urban location because it is deeply networked and operates in contracting and subcontracting chains; secondly, it is often fairly customized and hence needs to be in close proximity to its consumers and to a diverse pool of first-rate craft workers; thirdly, it inverts the historic relation between services and manufacturing (historically services developed to serve the needs of manufacturers) in that it serves service industries.
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A very advanced and rapidly growing type of urban manufacturing is emerging out of the diversity of projects to green our economies. It is a mix of more standard manufacturing and the features of urban manufacturing, described above. For much of the 1980s and 1990s, most policy analysts and government economic development agencies in a city such as New York, did not recognize the existence of a specifically urban manufacturing sector. Policy was oriented towards retaining the large, standardized factories, as these were far more visible and known, and had more sizeable workforces. But these were precisely the ones for which it made no sense to stay in the city: they did not need the urban economy with its multiple supplier and contracting chains and diverse craft talent pools. Finally these were the decades in which government policy makers easily fell under the spell of powerful corporate services and finance, with their rapidly increasing numbers of very high income employees and extremely high profits. Eventually, the cultural en tourism joined the list of glamorous and desirable sectors. What was not clear was the extent to which urban manufacturing was growing partly as a result of the growth of these advanced service sectors. For reason, perhaps, urban government generally did not support the sector, even though it was often extremely vulnerable given the sharp rise in the costs of manufacturing in cities dominated by high-profit making corporate services. Indeed in New York City we see that the more dynamic the advanced corporate services and the cultural sector, the more dynamic the urban manufacturing sector; and in addition, the more difficult it became for the latter to meet its basic needs.2 What does it mean to be a manufacturing city in the twenty-first century? At first glance, there are some rather enviable characteristics associated with it. First, there is the economic diversity that makes these cities less susceptible to fiscal crisis – suddenly an asset in the postcredit crunch era. Secondly, looking at the factors on the DNA chart, these are cities where people are more likely to walk or cycle to work, and that have cheap public transport, shared car ownership and low crime rates.3 1. FRIEDMAN, A. 2010. Fifty years of community based planning: Transforming the city's manufacturing landscape, Brooklyn NY, Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development. 2. SASSEN, S. 2011. Living in the endless city. In: BURDETT, R. (ed.) The Economies of Cities. London: London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. 3. 2011. Living in the endless city. In: BURDETT, R. (ed.) Vital Statistics: Nine Cities Compared. London: London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society
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3. FLOODZONE
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Figure 9. THE LINK BETWEEN THE REMAINING INDUSTRY AND THE RISING WATER LEVEL AT 9 FOOT.
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Figure 10. Temporary sewage pipes floating on the gowanus canal
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Up until 1800, Gowanus Creek was a tidal wetland populated by game, fish and oysters. In 1815, Brooklyn’s waterfront began its rise as the primary warehousing, storage, and receiving center for New York Harbor’s bulk products. Halfway 19th century, New York State legislature approves the construction of the Gowanus Canal, transforming the former creek into a commercial waterway. From than on the construction begins for a ‘big sewer’, which has drain an area of Brooklyn known as the ‘Flooded District’. Both drain into the Gowanus canal. In 1910 the construction of the NYC’s combined sewer system caused increase in direct flow of raw sewage and sediment into the canal. In the same decade, the Gowanus Canal earns the nickname “Lavender Lake,” due to the bright purple-pink sheen caused by industrial waste. Up until 20th century flushing tunnels didn’t work out to refresh water in the Gowanus Canal. In 2002, Mayor Bloomberg defines Gowanus waterfront “underused,” and calls for legislation that will “allow old waterfront sites to be converted into housing, parks, and other developments” in his State of the City address. After Super funding designation, Toll Brothers becomes first major developer to walk away from a project on the Gowanus. Later super storm Sandy swamped the Gowanus Canal and his area around with floodwaters containing raw sewage and put a hold on upcoming projects and speculations from real estate development. The immediate future of the Gowanus is uncertain. The effects of canal contaminants and decades of pollution raise questions about public health that are as yet unanswered. The future of land use planning and economic developments will be dictated not just by the rezoning, but also by the outcome of ongoing environmental and ecological remediation processes. Finally, uncertainty surrounding future impacts of climate change and sea level rise on the city’s waterfront calls for new approaches to resilient planning for Gowanus, as much of the neighborhood lies within a flood zone. Next to environmental issues on global warming, rising tides and pollution trough history, the gowanus canal still captures the surface runoff water during heavy weather and summer storms. The hard, paved surfaces on Carell Garden and Park Slope makes infiltration impossible and causes a overflow of combined water in the sewer system called a combined sewer overflow (CSO’s). Ten of these outlets pollute the water in gowanus canal even more. All these water threats combined result in a large scope floods within the gowanus area.
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4. THE STREETSCAPE
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Figure 11, 12 and 13. Analogue photograph at Union Street, Brooklyn, NYC
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Figure 14, 15 and 16. Analogue photograph at Union Street, Brooklyn, NYC
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During informal interviews and short conversations with people living in the surrounding neighborhoods, we can conclude that they all agreed on the fact that gowanus was a passive zone where industrial activity (specially in the north) has left. Due to many unpleasant streets and automotive junk yards and vacant areas everywhere. Most of the inhabitants discouraged us when we wanted to visit the industrial areas at evening or during nighttime. By walking there at night, one can detect several uncountable active places in Brooklyn. Some businesses where cleaning busses, or setting transport up for the next day. Most of the doors and fences where open, music was playing and lights where on what causes a safe feeling and an active street life. The variety of having different activities on street life at different times a day provides for me a social controlled space, rather then a uncontrolled no – go zone. Another characteristic of the gowanus area is the relation towards the streetscape, by using the street or sidewalk as extension of the building. While walking through the area, you will notice an interesting flux of changing sequences and variations of territorial depth, caused by the activity on the street or sidewalk. Most of the manufacturers or car repair shops open their doors and fences to the street to go beyond their limits of the building. They use traffic cone, boards or signs (as invisible territorial boundaries) that say ”don’t even think to park your car over here” to displace parking from surrounding residents. They use the parking space in front to load or unload their materials or being designated for their clients. Not only the street but also sidewalks are used in some parts to repair cars, clean busses or to storage materials. The streetscape is continue changing caused by the territorial organization and overlap of space on the sidewalk and street. Overlap is the result of a specific territorial scenario, with a specific functional program and its location, and an even more specific configuration of access, which defines a different model of territorial depth. Next to the overlap scenarios N.J. Habraken’s also mentions territorial complexity when he discribes systems of territorial overlap: this is the case when a certain area is included in more than one territroy. N.J. Habraken clearly describes the diffrence between a hierarchy of street, open space or form and the actual territorial structure with changing accessibility, which difines territorial overlap. This territorial overlap does nog only depend on morphologic lay-out but has integration characteristics: overlap is the result of a specific territorial scenario, with a specific functional program and its location.1 Temporary or systematicly overlap of industrial activity on the street, shouldn’t be seen as negative in terms of territorial behavior, because every activity works in a different way and time, meanwhile it contributes to a higher level of collectiveness that strengthen the neighborhood. Within an industrial area, it is important to control space by occupying part of the sidewalk, they guarantee a higher level of privacy. 1. SCHEERLINCK, K. 2009-2010. Depth Configurations, Proximity, Permeability and Territorial Boundaries in Urban Projects. Universitat Ramon Llull.
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4.1. Collective use of the streetscape “Collective space is much more and much less than public space, if we limit it to public property. The wealth of a city is that of its collective spaces, of all places where everyday life takes place, presents itself, and is present as memory. And maybe they are more often spaces that are not public or private but both at the same time: public spaces used for private activities or private spaces that allow collective use” 1 “UNDEFINED & TEMPORARY” INDUSTRIAL SPACE ADAPTABLE COLLECTIVE SPACE FIXED DEFINED TERRITORIAL STREETSCAPE
PARKING
LOADING AND UNDLOADING SPOT
SIDEWALK
SIDEWALK ONE- WAY STREET
RESIDENCE/COMMERCE
STOOP
SIDEWALK
ONE-WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
WOOD MANUFACTURING
Figure 17. Section made on Union Street, where fixed defined territorial streetcapes become ‘undefined and temporary’ industrial spaces.
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“Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY SECTION _ UNION STREET
The existing situation is represented in sections, made over several streets in the Gowanus to demonstrate how territorial organization and temporary or systematic overlap of industrial activity interacts with the streetscape. Existing streets and sidewalk are fixed and defined territories, but adapt them towards a temporary and undefined industrial space. Sometimes street will get narrower or pedestrians have to leave their sidewalk caused by a not programmed activity on the street or sidewalk. By using the street as extension of the indoor working place, we can be all sceptical and negative because they use are safety sidewalk and distort our one or two way streets. Union street is an example of a main street that connects east to west for industrial transport and passers. It’s possible that on certain occasions the sidewalk is confiscated by industrial activity which creates an temporary inaccessible and more unsafe space for pedestrians. In my opinion these extension on the street level are hardly unique and create an interesting active dynamic in the street life, where we, as architects or urban planners, aim for every day. Today urban planners are always searching for social control mechanisms on streets and how to animate them. All of this is happening right now in the gowanus area without any preprogrammed function in a safe way. By questioning myself why this happens right there comes out of the fact that this is an industrial zone. Within an industrial area it is still possible to occupy the street as a working place without disturbing many surrounding residents. Many of the automotive industries work within a network. Some plots are rented or in same ownership to storage their cars or materials across the street. During daytime trucks and forklifts are transporting goods from storage to manufacturer what can and will disturb the traffic sometimes, but it is only possible in those kinds of areas. An extreme example on claiming the street by adding boundaries can easily be founded in the Gowanus area. One of the gowanus characteristics are the several dead-end streets towards the canal. Although most of them are considered public streets, there are a few cases where the surrounding companies claim the street by adding boundaries (fences and gates). Most of the time, these spaces are used as loading and unloading spots, car parking and outdoor storage. The added boundaries have signs that cameras guard the premises. Signs, cameras and fences as well as the gate are mechanisms exercising spatial control. The main entrances are situated at the far end of the street, which makes it necessary for the dead-end to be publicly accessible during office hours. After those hours the gate is closed and the dead-end streets goes into lockdown. Here the streetscape actually serves only as industrial space and eliminates the overlap with the public space. 1. MORALES, M. D. S. 1992. Public and Collective Space: The Urbanizatrion of the Private Domain as a New Challenge. OASE.
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DESIGN APPROACHES
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1. ARCHITECTURE AS ACUPUNCTURE. Acupuncture strategy at the limits of the intervention zone to strenghten the borderlines. These are proposed in a systematic order that is in relation to each character and identity of those neighborhoods. Along the border and within their systematic order, they are able to reflect towards the inner hart of the intervention area.
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‘STREETSCAPE AS INDUSTRIAL SPACE’
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2. STREETSCAPE AS INDUSTRIAL SPACE To inject the north of the Gowanus area as industrial corridor within Brooklyn I would reuse the character the area radiates. Characteristicly about the neighborhood is the usage of streetscapes as extensions of the indoor workspaces. This will be defined and reinforced within the project.
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OCCUPATION OF INDUSTRIAL SPACE
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3. THINKING ABOUT OCCUPATION OF INDUSTRIAL SPACE. Many spaces seem unused and are considered as junkyards by people living in neighborhoods around, but are actually serving the industries ‘within an network’. Within this research we define tree types of organizing principles DENSITY COMPACTNESS LAND OCCUPATION
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‘STREETSCAPE AS INDUSTRIAL SPACE’
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Figure 18. Image actual streetscape, Gowanus, NY
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Figure 19. Map to illustrate the spatial arragement between manufactures and intervalspaces, Gowanus, NY 062
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An extreme example on claiming the street by adding boundaries can easily be founded in the Gowanus area. One of the gowanus characteristics are the several deadend streets towards the canal. Although most of them are considered public streets, there are a few cases where the surrounding companies claim the street by adding boundaries (fences and gates). Most of the time, these spaces are used as loading and unloading spots, car parking and outdoor storage. The added boundaries have signs that cameras guard the premises. Signs, cameras and fences as well as the gate are mechanisms exercising spatial control. The main entrances are situated at the far end of the street, which makes it necessary for the dead-end to be publicly accessible during office hours. After those hours the gate is closed and the dead-end streets goes into lockdown. Here the streetscape actually serves only as industrial space and eliminates the overlap with the public space.
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Figure 20 and 21. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 063
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The petrol station on the 4th avenue occupies temporary sidewalks and streets to extend his site. The fixed defined territorial streetscape with the safe sidewalks becomes suddenly the extension of street or waiting spot for clients. By removing all boundaries around his lot, limits become vague and uncertain side walkers adapt their safe space by overlapping the other. Figure 22 and 23. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be 064
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“UNDEFINED & TEMPORARY” INDUSTRIAL SPACE ADAPTABLE COLLECTIVE SPACE FIXED DEFINED TERRITORIAL STREETSCAPE
CLEANING PLACE
OUTDOOR STORAGE ONE- WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
OUTDOOR PARKING
SIDEWALK
SIDEWALK
TWO-WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
POTTERY
SECTION _ NEVIN STREET / UNION STREET
Figure 24. Section corner Nevin Street and Union Street, Brooklyn, NY
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Figure 25 and 26. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be 066
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P At the corner of the Union and Nevin Street, is a bus clean and repair shop situated. The property of this shop is very small considering its large main activity and occupies a lot of public space in order to cope with this disadvantage. On a weekly day, one to two buses are located at the corner traffic lights. Between the corner and the Union bridge he uses the parking lots to park temporary the buses. In front of this bus cleaning and repair shop is a wood shop located. The sidewalk and streetscape is used as loading and unloading spot for incoming materials. This intensive overlap between streetscape and industrial space creates a flux of dynamic in the streets.
“UNDEFINED & TEMPORARY” INDUSTRIAL SPACE ADAPTABLE COLLECTIVE SPACE FIXED DEFINED TERRITORIAL STREETSCAPE
LOADING AND UNDLOADING SPOT
CLEANING PLACE BUSES ONE- WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
DEPOSITORY
SIDEWALK
SIDEWALK
ONE-WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
STOOP
RESIDENCE
SECTION _ UNION STREET
Figure 27. Section on Union Street, Brooklyn, NY “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 067
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On the corner of the Union Street and 3rd Avenue there is a company located that makes wooden caskets or coffins that has over seven gates that are used to load and unload new materials and finisched products. Tire marks on the sidewalk show that the space between the gates is also frequently being used by trucks as temporary parking. Boards and signs on the parking space are used to keep the loading and unloading spots free. Figure 28 and 29. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be 068
“Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY
“UNDEFINED & TEMPORARY” INDUSTRIAL SPACE ADAPTABLE COLLECTIVE SPACE FIXED DEFINED TERRITORIAL STREETSCAPE
PARKING
LOADING AND UNDLOADING SPOT
SIDEWALK
SIDEWALK ONE- WAY STREET
RESIDENCE/COMMERCE
STOOP
SIDEWALK
ONE-WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
WOOD MANUFACTURING
SECTION _ UNION STREET
Figure 30. Section on Union Street, Brooklyn, NY “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 069
“UNDEFINED & TEMPORARY” INDUSTRIAL SPACE ADAPTABLE COLLECTIVE SPACE FIXED DEFINED TERRITORIAL STREETSCAPE
STORAGE
LEFT CARPARTS OILS TIES CHEMICALS PARKING JUNKYARD
PARKING
OUTDOOR WORKPLACE
SIDEWALK
SIDEWALK ONE- WAY STREET
ONE-WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
RESIDENCE/COMMERCE
BACKYARD
SECTION _ PRESIDENT STREET
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BACKYARD
RESIDENCE/COMMERCE
SIDEWALK
TWO-WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
STOOP
OR WORKPLACE
STORAGE
OUTDOOR WORKPLACE
LEFT CARPARTS OILS TIES CHEMICALS PARKING JUNKYARD
SIDEWALK
LK
SIDEWALK
ONE- WAY STREET
STOOP
CAR REPAIR CENTER
OUTDOOR STOCKAGE / MANUFACTURING BUIILDING
SECTION _ UNION STREET
SIDEWALK
ONE-WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
MANUFACTURING
SECTION _ SACKETT STREET
Figure 31. Section on Sackett Street, Brooklyn, NY
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This site at Union Street is the first location of intervention and will explicitly be explained further in the reflection paper. Figure 32 and 33. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be 072
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This site at Sackett Street is the second location of intervention and will explicitly be explained further in the reflection paper. Figure 34 and 35. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 073
“UNDEFINED & TEMPORARY” INDUSTRIAL SPACE ADAPTABLE COLLECTIVE SPACE FIXED DEFINED TERRITORIAL STREETSCAPE
OUTDOOR WORKPLACE
LOADING AND UNLOADING SPOT
SIDEWALK
STORAGE
LEFT CARPARTS PARKING
CONT
SIDEWALK ONE-WAY STREET
GARAGES/WAREHOUSE
SIDEWALK
ONE-WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
COMMERCE
SECTION _ SACKETT STREET
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CONTAINERS CARGO BOXING
LOADING AND UNLOADING CONTAINERS CARGO
OUTDOOR WORKPLACE
PARKING
SIDEWALK
SIDEWALK ONE-WAY STREET
COMMERCE / MANUFACTURING / OUTDOOR STORAGE
SIDEWALK
ONE-WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
SECTION
Figure 36. Section on Sackett Street, Brooklyn, NY
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Figure 37, 38 and 39. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be 076
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The Bayside Fuel Oil Corporation is located along the gowanus canal and distributes fuels to near transport firms in the gowanus neighborhood till Brooklyn petrol stations. Distribution vehicles and cars are filled on the street. The dead end street is not privatized yet, but deals with a high overlap scenario.
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This site at Bond Street is the third location of intervention and will explicitly be explained further in the reflection paper. Figure 40 and 41. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 077
“UNDEFINED & TEMPORARY” INDUSTRIAL SPACE ADAPTABLE COLLECTIVE SPACE FIXED DEFINED TERRITORIAL STREETSCAPE
PARKING
LOADING AND UNLOADING SPOT
OUTDOOR STORAGE
CAR PARKING
SIDEWALK ONE-WAY STREET
RESIDENCE/GARAGES/WAREHOUSE
SIDEWALK
ONE-WAY STREET
SIDEWALK
COMMERCE / MANUFACTURING / OUTDOOR STORAGE
SECTION _ BOND STREET
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OUTDOOR STORAGE + CAR PARKING PRIVATE FIRM
LOADING AND UNLOADING SPOT
WATER TRANSPORT
LOADING AND UNLOADING SPOT
OUTDOO
STREET OF GOWANUS CANAL
GOWANUS CANAL
SECTION _ GOWANUS CANAL
Figure 42. Section on Bond Street and Gowanus canal, Brooklyn, NY
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OCCUPATION OF INDUSTRIAL SPACE
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Figure 43. landoccupation along the fly-over, Gowanus, NY
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1. DENSITY WHAT ABOUT MIXED-USE?
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“Gowanus has the potential to improve its environmental and economic sustainability through diverse, yet compatible land uses. Gowanus is the ideal laboratory for implementing new practices. The opportunity is now! For an industrial district surrounded by residential development, compatibility is of the highest importance to the area’s contribution as a mixed-use neighborhood. Districting and implementation of industrial environmental performance standards will allow commercial and residential uses to co-exist, cultivating a “good neighbor” policy. Gowanus is a prime example of how affordability has allowed artists, businesses and the manufacturing sector to thrive together.” 1 As part of the report from Pratt Institute on the Gowanus area, there is a proposal of mix use where on lower level industrial activity will be combined with residence above. This seems for me no solution to the gowanus as industrial area and the search for new housing! First of all, we are dealing with a flood area that is highly polluted trough history with no housing infrastructure (sewage, facilities…). Even if their was the opportunity (and if it wouldn’t be a creek) to designate this zone as housing, the whole gowanus area would be a fraction of what is needed in New York City today. Finally you will end up, with a extremely expensive neighborhood that belongs to the upper mid class and that will flood every few years. Second, by combing these functions you limit them in their activity (acoustics, outdoor storage, street as working place, transport…) and put the pressure on industry by gentrification to a higher level that will automatically push the industry out of gowanus. The housing above will be cut of from the urban network due to the height of the industrial ground level. This kind of residents will be expensive to meet will comfort standards (thermal, acoustics, entrees). Not only housing will threaten the industrial activity but also commerce! New residence will ask for more supermarkets, cultural centers, services and shops that want to accommodate them on the ground level. Finally, urban planners should be conscious about rezoning because there is no opportunity to rezone residential or mixed-use into manufacturing ever again. 1. Gowanus Works, Preserving place and production, Pratt institute, Graduate Land Use studio, Brooklyn NY, Fall 2011
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? RESIDENTIAL
INDUSTRIAL
INDUSTRIAL
INDUSTRIAL
LOW DENSITY CLOSED OFF // NO PROXIMITY
RESIDENCES CUT URBAN NETWORK MIXED OWNERSHIP COMMERCE WILL TREATH INDUSTRY WILL REZONE TO RESIDENTIAL IN TIME NOISE / DUST RULES THREATS INDUSTRY EQUIMENTS / CIRCULATION CROSSES FUNCTIONS
CLOSED OFF // NO PROXIMITY
PRIVATE OWNERSHIP EQUIMENTS ON ROOF CONTROLED SPACE
HIGHER DENSITY IMPROVES PROXIMITY OPTIMUM BUILDINGS USAGE
HIGH DENSITY PRIVATE OWNERSHIP EQUIMENTS ON ROOF OPTIMUM BUILDINGS USAGE CONTROLED SPACE
Figure 44. Schemes mixed-use.
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INDUSTRIAL
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INDUSTRIAL
O PROXIMITY
SHIP ROOF NGS USAGE CE
HIGH DENSITY PRIVATE OWNERSHIP EQUIMENTS ON ROOF OPTIMUM BUILDINGS USAGE CONTROLED SPACE OPEN // TRANSPORT ANIMATION OF STREETSCAPE
When manufacturing zones shrink and become more value, questions can be raised to the actual density of the industrial landscape in the Gowanus area. Most of the industry exists out of one to two level buildings with a controlled and fenced space around the building where vehicles and outdoor storage find place. In future industrial buildings will have to aim for a higher density on the same plot caused by gentrification and high ground value prices. Raising density and offering 3 to 4 level buildings could combine manufacturers to receive an ‘industrial mixed-use’. New industrial building projects should aim for high density and still controlled space over several owners can use the building in his optimum.
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Depth configurations versus density
Figure 45. Habraken, “The Structure of the Ordinary” MIT Press Cambridge 1998, p215) Increase in depth by adding density (diagram made by Hannes Van Damme after fig. 12.8) a. actual depth b. increasing depth by increasing density c. increasing depth by underpass ground level d. adding depth by overlap on the streetscape
N.J. Habraken1 mentions the possibility of increasing depth by increasing density. The diagrams describe different scenarios of increasing depth but this is not always the case. The difference between the first two diagrams shows only an increase in use and private space. By adding density in the third diagram a public space on a higher territorial level is created to gain access to the higher-level territory private space and thus increases depth. Diagram four shows the claiming of public space by adding boundaries or overlap scenarios. In last cases depth was increased. In the coming project all four scenarios of depth configurations has been used to raize density in combination with de depth. 1. HABRAKEN, N. J. 1998. The structure of the Ordinary. Increasing in depth by adding density, Cambridge, MIT Press
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2. LAND OCCUPATION
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NO LAND OCCUPATION
FULL PROPERTY USE - CAR PARKING - OUTDOOR STORAGE - JUNKYARD
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FULL PROPERTY USE + STREET AS EXTENSION - ZONE LOADING / UNLOADING - CAR PARKING - OUTDOOR STORAGE - UNDERUTILIZED - HIGH LAND OCCUPATION, LOW USAGE
AVARAGE INDUSTRIAL BUILDING - USES STREET AS WORKPLACE / LOADING SPOT / COMMERCE - COMPLETE BUILD-UP PROPERTY - MAYBE TO BIG FOR STARTERS - LOW DENSITY COMPARED TO OCCUPATION - FLOODPROOF?
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1/2 BUILD, 1/2 UNBUILD - ZONE LOADING / UNLOADING - CAR PARKING - OUTDOOR STORAGE - DRIVE TROUGH CUSTOMERS - LOW DENSITY COMPARED TO OCCUPATION - FLOODPROOF?
2/3 BUILD, 1/3 UNBUILD - COURTYARD AS OUTDOOR STORAGE (PROTECTED) - TWO SIDES OF COMMERCE - TWO SIDES OF LOADING / UNLOADING - SMALL STORAGE - NO PASS TROUGH - LOW DENSITY COMPARED TO OCCUPATION - FLOODPROOF?
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2/3 BUILD, 1/3 UNBUILD - TWO SIDES LOADING / UNLOADING - TWO SIDES COMMERCE - OUTDOOR STORAGE - HIGHER DENSITY COMPARED TO OCCUPATION - SMALL OUTDOOR STORAGE - NO PASS TROUGH - FLOODPROOF?
2/3 BUILD, 1/3 UNBUILD - TWO SIDES LOADING/ UNLOADING - TWO SIDES COMMERCE - OUTDOOR STORAGE - PASS TROUGH - FLOODPROOF! - SMALL STORAGE
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2/3 BUILD, 1/3 UNBUILD + ROOF AS OUTDOOR STORAGE - TWO SIDES LOADING / UNLOADING - TWO SIDES COMMERCE - BIGGER OUTDOOR STORAGE - HIGHER DENSITY COMPARED TO LAND OCCUPATION
2/3 BUILD, 1/3 UNBUILD + ROOFS AS OUTDOOR STORAGE - TWO SIDES LOADING/ UNLOADING - TWO SIDES COMMERCE - OUTDOOR STORAGE - BIGGER OUTDOOR STORAGE - IMPROVED DENSITY COMPARED TO LAND OCCUPATION
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2/3 BUILD, 1/3 UNBUILD + ROOFS AS OUTDOOR STORAGE - TWO SIDES LOADING/ UNLOADING - TWO SIDES COMMERCE - OUTDOOR STORAGE - BIGGER OUTDOOR STORAGE - INDOOR STORAGE - IMPROVED DENSITY COMPARED TO LAND OCCUPATION - UGLY DESIGN?
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Figure 46a. Spatial arrangement on Gowanus area.
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3. SPATIAL ARRAGEMENT & COMPACTNESS
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Figure 46a. Spatial arrangement on Gowanus area. 098
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SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT “the property possessed by an array of things that have space between them”
The spatial arrangement of the Gowanus area looks rather negative due to his interval spaces inbetween the industrial sites. But they contain an intresting ‘socio-industrial’ network that is linked trough the area and so gathers all these interval spaces to one district. For me this is the strenght of the Gowanus neighborhood and should be strenghten each time by new industrial developments on every scale.
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A figure-ground diagram is a two-dimensional map, used in spatial analysis, to chart built and unbuilt space. The diagram traditionally serves a common tool where built from is represented in coulour while open space, streets and footpaths remain blank. It is generally used to identify patterns in the city such as development growth, building configurations or traffic flows.
Figure 47. “An Alternative View of the City” by French artist Armelle Caron
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On the gowanus area this figure would lead to a small built diagram caused by the interval spaces in between the industrial buildings or sites. Although this could be look rather negative, these blank spaces have an interesting ‘socio-industrial’ network that is linked trough the area. Some interval spaces are rent by owners for outdoor storage or to extend their industrial activity on other locations. This spatial arrangement (the property possessed by an array of things that have space between them) is strength of the Gowanus neighborhood and should also be strengthened in future for new industrial developments on every scale. Another case study of land occupation caused by underground industrial activity can easily be found in the Gowanus area. Along the 4th Avenue several not yet designated, empty ‘lost corners’ can be found on the border between the residential and manufacturing zones. An example of these underground activities can be found on the corner of the 4th Avenue and Sackett Street has sat unused for a very long time, but now there’s an indication that the city is finally going to make good on a promise to hand it over to the community. The Department of Environmental Protection has managed the space for more than a decade because of ongoing work on an underground water shaft tunnel but promised to give it to the community once work wraps. Back in 2007 the Park Slope Civil Council wondered if there ever would be green on top of the 22B shaft. At that time, there were still years of construction to go. But according to the minutes of last month’s Community Board 6 meeting, the DEP announced that a landscape art/community garden will be constructed on the property. It’s unclear what the actual timetable is for the garden’s construction since there hasn’t been a feasibility study for the project, and community input still needs to be solicited.
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NEW TYPES OF MANUFACTURING?
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MANUFACTURING ON DEMAND FORMATIVE “CASTING”
SUBSTRACTIVE “MILLING”
Todays new complex product?
ADDITIVE
“3D PRINT” Figure 48. Scheme manufacturing on demand The process of manufacturing is changing. In conventional manufacturing, parts are produced by using power-driven machine tools, such as saws, lathes, milling machines, and drill presses to physically remove material and achieve a desired geometry. To achieve this, skilled machinists use sharp cutting tools to carve objects from metal wood, plastic, ceramic, and composites. In a new method called “additive manufacturing,” parts are produced by melting successive layers of materials based on 3D models— 0104 “Streetscape Industrial Brooklyn, NY This allows manufacturers to create complex objects without any sort of tools or fixadding materialsasrather thanSpace”, subtracting them. tures. The process also doesn’t produce any waste material. 3D printing is only one example of “additive manufacturing.” Machinist
Twenty-first century manufacturing is going to be on demand and will be the new kind of niche market for future times. Mass manufacturing has been so predominant as a manufacturing method in the industrial age that designers have long thought about it as the only way to manufacture. 3D Printing was therefore the only way to solve the problem and creates the freedom to think outside the box. You can start solving problems that were hard to solve before, and don’t need a mass market anymore to bring these products to life. Plus, it deeply impacts the entrenched business model of mass manufacturing. If the firm can sell one, if they can make one, you’re profitable. The firm starts to be the inventor and put new products on the market to test and let decide if those products should be made on bigger scale. Economist Hoover said that new economies could only be built on the back of the technology. The location of the Gowanus as industrial area in New York City, positions the manufactures into a niche market. As they will be all in future times! Plus, the life cycle of products will change because designers can interact faster. It’s just like when software moved from the retail store to the web. You will have continuous user feedback on your product, and you can geographically localize products, too. And that’s all without mentioning the massive implications for the medical devices market, where personalization is everything.1 The process of manufacturing is changing. In conventional manufacturing, parts are produced by using power-driven machine tools, such as saws, lathes, milling machines, and drill presses to physically remove material and achieve a desired geometry. To achieve this, skilled machinists use sharp cutting tools to carve objects from metal wood, plastic, ceramic and composites. In a new method called “additive manufacturing,” parts are produced by melting successive layers of materials based on 3D models—adding materials rather than subtracting them. This allows manufacturers to create complex objects without any sort of tools or fixtures. The process also doesn’t produce any waste material. 3D printing is only one example of “additive manufacturing.” Machinist jobs will need to evolve in order to deal with greater complexity. This new manufacturing environment will also need legions of 3D designers and people who can operate and maintain sophisticated computer-based equipment.2
1. NUSCA, A. 2012. 3D Printing: The hypes, the hopes, the hurdles [Online]. www.news.cnet.comi: Andrew Nusca. 2. WADHWA, V. March 06 2012. The future of America’s manufacturing sector [Online]. Available: www.articles.washintonpost.com.
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MANUFACTURING ON DEMAND INVESTMENT
TYPE JOBS
TYPE BUILDING
FORMATIVE “CASTING”
MACHINES
SUBSTRACTIVE “MILLING”
ADDITIVE
“3D PRINT”
SERVICE AND MATERIALS ‘ON DEMAND’
Figure 49. Scheme manufacturing on demand
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DESIGN PROCESS
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Figure 50. Map of possible variations on location through Gowanus 0110
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This map shows where the interventions will be situated and other several future additional projects (dealing in the same kind of framework and dimensions) could be located. The architectural project will start from a framework or a system that allows repeating the project over several places to reinject the industrial character of the gowanus. The dimensions of the project will be based on the characteristic building block size to emphasize the framework.
These three chosen intervention sites will be explained upon next pages.
These are located on other sites and can serve for future simular prototype interventions.
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First intervention.
Between Union Street and President Street 3rd Avenue and 4th Avenue, Brooklyn
Second intervention. Between Degraw Street and Sackett Street 3rd Avenue and Nevin Street, Brooklyn
Third intervention. Figure 51, 52 and 53. Maps of project interventions 0112
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Between Bond Street and Gowanus canal President Street, Brooklyn
This first intervention is situated near the 4th avenue and the high dens residential neighborhood of Park Slope. This lot owns his existence to the position near the 4th avenue, which creates a boundary between the remaining industrial activity and the pressure of the residential gentrification. At this moment the site functions as an outdoor storage and parking space related to the small car repair shops around on the Union and President Street. This lot has a specific relation towards the streetscape, caused by his depth configuration and proximity. The car repair shop in front use this part to load and unload vehicles and make place to storage temporary some ‘left over’ car parts. Later on, those parts are moved with forklifts over the street towards his car repair shop. The sidewalk becomes the extension for these activities and creates an interesting overlap on the streetscape. This site is situated between upcoming residences, small remaining industries and hotels what creates a sensitive area for new industrial activities. The dimensions of this site are 23m by 57m (75 by 187foot). Figure 54, 55, and 56. Google Maps - Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY , http://www. maps.google.be
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The second site of intervention is situated near the gowanus canal along the Thomas Green Park. At this moment it functions more as an outdoor storage place, where containers are stocked and picked up for transport. On the side of the Sackett Street it’s designated for outdoor parking space. The other parts of the bigger building block serve as junkyard, storage for left over parts from cars, automotive sectors and a book-printing firm. The dimensions of the lot are based on the characteristic building blocks sizes trough New York City and are 26m by 60m (85 by 196 foot). This site has an interesting relationship towards the building blocks above (public character of the Thomas Green Park) and bellow (housing lots combined with small manufacturing).
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Figure 57, 58, and 59. Google Maps - Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY , http://www. maps.google.be
Figure 60, 61, and 62. Google Maps - Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY , http://www. maps.google.be
The third intervention is located between the Bond Street and the Gowanus canal. Compared to other parking lots along the canal its function isn’t that different from the others. Most of those sites are designated to outdoor storage, junkyards, bus cleaning firms, parking spaces, mid size manufacturing and distribution of oil and chemicals. At the moment this particular lots serve as a 24hour controlled parking space for the dense residential neighborhood of Caroll Garden. These areas along the canal are very fragile to floods and rising sea tides, and have a negative attitude caused by a down going spiral. Upcoming pressure of real estate speculations on those low value locations does not improve any industrial activity along the canal. A new industrial project on this site could show the opportunities of water transport (barging) on the gowanus canal. Next to this position between a canal and the Bond Street it has a third challenge of having a fenced and privatized dead end street along the site. This street is closed off with high fences and camera-controlled gate and could have an interesting overlap between the two neighbors. The dimensions of this complex layered site are 30m by 89m (98 by 291 foot). “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 0115
1. SYSTEM
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1.1. Organizing principle related to streetscape To stimulate and emphasize the streetscape for industrial activity, loading and unloading spots will be placed in front of the building. They will be the start and endpoint of the manufacturing, which will encourage social activities with transporters, clients, workers and passing side walkers. The building is vertical organized to increase the density on the occupied land and horizontal along the inner court (outdoor storage) to the other side of the plot.
STREETSCAPE FINISHED PRODUCTS STOCKAGE / PACKAGING
MANUFACTURING PROCES
LOADING / UNLOADING
RAW MATERIALS OUTDOOR STOCKAGE
Figure 63. Scheme of organizing priciple in section “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 0117
Figure 64. First drawings concept system
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Figure 65. Relation with the streetscape
Figure 66 and 67. Pictures first system model
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Figure 68. Fire Station, Nishi-Hiroshima, Japan Source: SHOP F., YAMAMOTO R.A. F. 2001. Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station. http://riken-yamamoto.co.jp/index.html?page=ry_proj_detail&id=45&lng=_Eng: Riken Yamamoto”
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1.2. Multi-story industrial buildings1 Changes in concept With the increasing separation of the different types of industrial areas, there was no longer any need to establish production facilities in the smallest possible space, so that the low-rise building came to be established as the industrial building type, a development that was furthered by the introduction of the assembly line. In spite of the prevailing trends, however, multi-story buildings for industrial purposes were planned and realized from time to time. For a long time, the main reasons for erecting multi-story buildings was to further develop existing locations, which due to limited space, could only be done by vertically stacked floors (see figure...). The current renaissance of the multi-story building for industrial uses is based on considerations being debated publicly at the moment in two fields, and which go well beyond the boundaries of industrial manufacturing, properly speaking.
Flexibility and system One of the demands most often made is unproblematic reaction of the building to changed requirements – at best soundless, giving rise to no obstacles, and requiring little or no time. This is a utopian wish, for the enterprise it often does not know what it will decide, even four weeks before the decision. Naturally, there are large differences in degree. With a structural system carefully adjusted to the recognizable needs of an enterprise, one can react to the respective changes with relatively little effort. However, it always means that the system chosen invests, with a certain amount of oversupply and thereby higher investment costs, in a more or less uncertain future as a rule. In the choice of the type and the extent of the flexibility, the careful weighed out prognosis as to possible changes takes on a crucial significance even at the point in time when the building is planned. Within limits prescribed by the system, construction with modular systems offers great disadvantages for the flexible use of buildings. Systems allow different solutions, but they are nonetheless not unique specimens. Construction systems have to be capable of adopting new technological developments and enabling new uses. Often the lack of adaptability to urban planning requirements is cited as a weakness of building with systems. 1. JURGEN ADAM, K. H., FRANK JUTTNER 2004. A design manual for industrial buildings, London, Birkhauser.
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Systems of varying complexity:
Figure 69. Simple, unintegrated systems
Figure 70. Complex systems with undifferentiated integration. Any change is a subsystem always affects the whole system
Figure 71. Complex systems with undifferentiated integration. Subsystems can be changed to a certain extent without a negative effect on the functional efficiency of the whole system
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Figure 72. Resource-conserving production and sustainable uses of the system components by prefabrication
Open system
It is multi-story buildings that meet the requirements for flexibility and neutrality with respect to use to a high degree: through vertical stratification, floor areas of varying sizes and of varying shapes can be combined with each other so that sophisticated use concepts can be realized. An important basis for such building design is the development of a structural approach in which a balance between systematizing and differentiation can be attained. The structural independence of the main structural components – the supporting structure, the external skins, the internal skins, and the building services engineering – represents the conceptual prerequisite necessary for flexible building use. The individual components are separated out according to their functional requirements, individually optimized, hierarchized in accordance with aspects relating to content, and finally integrated to form the building on the basis of a conceptual structure. The procedure of separating and integrating must be organized in such way that the whole structure functions better after integration than it would if individual structures alone where added. In a open system developed like this, the individual structures have the degree of freedom that is possible without affecting other systems. The development of an open system is therefore a basic conceptual component of sustainable and effective multi-story buildings (see figure...).
Industrial manufacturing
The building industry is the least mechanized of all the industrial sectors. In future, due simply to the global interconnectedness of manufacturing processes, all buildings will be industrially produced to a large extent in individual parts, and merely assembled at the building site. The separating out of the parts of a building, as described above, into components that are mono-functional to the greatest possible extent is the prerequisite for organizing an industrial manufacturing process. If the individual building components are adapted on the basis of a precise system of order so that even the connecting detail of the individual building components are standardized, then an exchange of components is possible and they can be re-used elsewhere (see figure...).
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Figure 73. Inspiration of Charles and Ray Eames on their own Case study house 08 in 1948. Figure source: EHKLO, M. 2009. Prefac case study - Eames House [Online]. http://maggiehklo.blogspot.be/2009/11/prefab-case-study-eames-house.html: Maggi Ehklo
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1.3. Open Building system
Open Building is the term used to indicate a number of different, but related ideas about the making of an environment. For instance:1 - The idea of distinct levels of intervention in the built environment, such as those represented by ‘support’ and ‘infill’, or by urban design and architecture. - The idea that users may make design decisions as well. - The idea that, more generally designing is a process with multiple participants also including different kinds of professionals. - The idea that the interface between technical systems allows the replacement of one system with another performing the same function. (As with different fit-out systems applied in a same base building.) - The idea that built environment is in constant transformation and change must be recognized and understood. - The idea that built environment is the product of an ongoing, never ending, design process in which environment transforms parts by part.
1. HABRAKEN, N. J. 2013. Open building; brief introduction [Online]. Available: www.habraken.com/html/ introduction.htm: N. John Habraken.
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Figure 74, 75 and 76. Construction first structure modules, Centre Pompidou. Figure source: D.R.. 2013. Le montage de la structure terminé [Online]. http://mediation.centrepompidou.fr/education/ressources/ENS-architecture-Centre-Pompidou
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1.4. Construction of the industrial buildings. Modern industrial buildings are to fulfill a host of requirements, which the architect and the engineer working together have to translate into a suitable structure. These are primarily:1 - Economical efficiency: Industrial buildings are investments that have to be financed by making profit on the market. Industrial buildings are therefor subject to a particularly stringent cost/ benefit analysis. - Flexibility of use: in times when product lifecycles are becoming shorter and shorter, and manufacturing methods are continually changing, flexibility of use is of central importance. Of great advantage are modular systems that can be extended in a variety of ways and allow conversion, and structures with large clear spans, i.e. interiors with a minimum of columns so that industrial operations are not obstructed. - Fast construction times: the interval between the decision to begin production and the introduction times are therefore of great significance. Therefore construction methods with standardized and prefabricated elements are preferred. - Integration of the building services engineering: many industrial buildings require a high proportion of building services engineering. In typical production plants, about two thirds of the construction costs are for finishing’s and building services, while only about a third goes on the loadbearing structure and construction. The structure must therefore be spacious, enabling supply routes that exceed the currently recognizable need, and should not impede the maintenance and repair of the building services engineering. In addition, many production processes entail very specific requirements for the structure. Heavy machinery requires massive supporting structures with special foundations. The vibration they cause often has to be effectively isolated from the rest of the building. Some production processes require the tolerances of the structural deformations to be limited to precisely defined dimensions. Manufacturing facilities are therefore often preferably designed as low-rise building extending over large areas. Overall, these requirements in the construction of industrial buildings result in a strong preference for implementing above all modular factory building systems with a high repletion factor and individual building components that are prefabricated to a high degree. 1. JURGEN ADAM, K. H., FRANK JUTTNER 2004. A design manual for industrial buildings, London, Birkhauser.
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Figure 77. Isometric view construction system 0128
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There are many different approaches to define a project on the different themes in which sustainable design must meet. Therefore I will use a kind of current legend, this makes it easier to define or criticize a design on his sustainable aspects. 1. Design for components _ The strength of parts_ The main goal of designing for components is to identify and optimize the external form of a product, starting with its size and the arrangement of its parts or components. Each of these are considered as a finished product with an autonomous life cycle, though still in relation to the other parts. The design starts with the analysis of disassembled objects of the same type, taking into account the relationship between the several components, the physical or/and mechanical laws that distinguish them and the technologies of manufacturing. Out of those principle the designer uses the following guidelines: - Combining components of the same material and avoiding the use of different materials - Minimizing waste production - Pre-determining any breakage points to easy rapid assemblage of parts - Avoiding forms and systems that could complicate disassembly Designing for components means also taking into account the accessibility of the product in terms of making it easy to use and maintain.
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Figure 78. Isometric view construction system “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 0131
Figure 79. Components for construction system 0132
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2. Reduction of materials and design for disassembly _The sustainable Lightness of the materials_ Projects created this way also satisfy the principle of design for disassembly, since building needs to be taken apart before it can be recycled especially when it is made from different materials. For this reason, many countries have launched regulations that requires the marking of objects and components for fast indication. 3. Recycling and Re-use _Multi-use materials_ Though similar, the concepts of recycling and re-use differentiate themselves in the products they generate. Whilst recycling involves the transformation and re-use of the material or materials of the project being recycled, re-use puts the object itself back to work, involving purely formal and structural, rather than chemical or physical changes. Recycling includes numerous subcategories, the best known of which are cascade, post-consumer and pre-consumer recycling. The first involves the recovery of materials for increasingly simplified uses with respect to their original one (this is due to the loss in structural and chemical quality involved in their transformation). Post-consumer recycling, the most well known, involved the transformation of materials or parts of a product at the end of its life, following separated waste collection.
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2. VARIATIONS
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STREETSCAPE
STREETSCAPE
STREETSCAPE
STREETSCAPE
STREETSCAPE
STREETSCAPE
RAW MATERIALS OUTDOOR STOCKAGE
RAW MATERIALS OUTDOOR STOCKAGE
RAW MATERIALS OUTDOOR STOCKAGE
INNER COURT
INNER COURT
INNER COURT MANUFACTURING PROCES
MANUFACTURING PROCES
MANUFACTURING PROCES
RAW MATERIALS OUTDOOR STOCKAGE
RAW MATERIALS OUTDOOR STOCKAGE
RAW MATERIALS OUTDOOR STOCKAGE INNER COURT
WATERSCAPE
INNER COURT
WATERSCAPE
INNER COURT
MANUFACTURING PROCES
WATERSCAPE
MANUFACTURING PROCES
BUS CLEANING FIRM
MANUFACTURING PROCES
LOADING PLATFORM
UNLOADING PLATF BUS CLEANING FIRM
LOADING PLATFORM
UNLOADING PLATF BUS CLEANING FIRM
LOADING PLATFORM UNLOADING PLATFORM
Figure 80, 81 and 82. Maps of possible variations on locations
Figure 83, 84 and 85. Schemes on building orientations “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 0135
3. DEPTH CONFIGURATIONS
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Depth configurations “Territorial depth is measured by the number of boundary crossings (…) needed to move from the outer space to the innermost territory” 1 In order to understand the depth configurations of the urban projects, the territorial transitions, boundaries, gaps and overlap scenarios were drawn some diagrams and schemes in section and plans. The schemes offer access configurations, territorial transition and overlap scenarios in floor plan and section. They show where territorial transitions and sequences happen trough the building and where access is limited for collective uses. The last transition at the end of the diagram, called the ‘white space’ is the most intimated space and is used as individual space with no passage to following spaces. The white space is each time placed in the hart of the building, where employees can have their own moment to smoke a cigarette, to have a break or lunch or to make a quick phone call. On the streetscape and inner court most overlap scenarios are caused by the ‘rolcad’-system that loads and unloads materials from transport, outdoor storage spaces and the building platforms. The overlap space in front of the building is situated partly on the street and sidewalks. Overlap spaces in the building are situated on the loading and unloading platforms in the building that are all reachable with the rolcad.
First two interventions
Owners are free to fence the façade of the ground level if necessary (scenario 1), but by leaving it open (scenario 2) it could have certain opportunities for the urban structure of gowanus. In scenario 2, the ground level is open for collective use and has one territorial transition. The ramps to the higher platform on the inner court allow people to cross trough the building as short cut. The conceptual diagram shows the continuity of the pass trough and how the white space acts in the system of territorial configuration. 1. HABRAKEN, N. J. 1998. The structure of the Ordinary, Cambridge, MIT Press
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Case study - Depth configurations
Figure 86. Source: SCHEERLINCK, K. 2009-2010. Depth Configurations, Proximity, Permeability and Territorial Boundaries in Urban Projects. Universitat Ramon Llull 0138
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Figure 87. Source: SCHEERLINCK, K. 2009-2010. Depth Configurations, Proximity, Permeability and Territorial Boundaries in Urban Projects. Universitat Ramon Llull
This case study by K. Scheerlinck1 illustrates the depth and access scenarios based on originals project plans and photographs of the residential project by O. Fujimoto called T-house in Maebashi Gunma in Japan (2003). Within his research he studies the access configurations, territorial transition and overlap scenarios according to the project plans. O. Fujimoto obtained to create an open space where only movable doors separates different spaces to rooms when needed. But out of diagrams and overlap scenarios, you can notice that these movable doors create a overlap space that always should be open to use the door system while this determines the space instead of leaving it open to multifunctional usage. These schemes and diagrams can help during the design to create a qualitative space and to understand the project in depth and proximity.
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Figure 88, 89 and 90. Map of intervention locations 0140
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Figure 91, 92 and 93. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be
Figure 94. Actual depth configuration on the site of the first intervention
Figure 95. Actual depth configuration on the site of the second intervention
Figure 96. Actual depth configuration on the site of the third intervention “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 0141
First intervention
Figure 97. Conceptual diagram of sets of distances within a territorial configuration
In the conceptual diagrams of territorial configurations, there is a distinction between the street and the sidewalk compared to the actual depth configurations. This because there is a specific overlap is designed on the sidewalk which creates a specific space between the street and the building within the project.
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Figure 98. Access Configuration, Territorial Transition and Overlap Scenarios in floor plans and sections
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Second intervention
Figure 99. Conceptual diagram of sets of distances within a territorial configuration
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Figure 100. Access Configuration, Territorial Transition and Overlap Scenarios in floor plans ground level
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Third intervention
Figure 101. Conceptual diagram of sets of distances within a territorial configuration
The potentials of access configurations are exploited in this project, where a dead-end street along the building functions as a first access controller to following spaces. The owners privatized this public street with fences and camera-controlled gate to overlap the street as parking space for buses, loading and unloading spots and outdoor storage. This privatized street will functioning in a similar way to load and unloading trucks. This higher platform is the second territorial boundary to enter the building on the inner court. In the diagram the territorial configuration shows the quality and potential of this privatized street to emphasize the organization and circulation between the buildings. The street becomes suddenly the center of the project although it’s situated on the streetscape. The ending dots symbolize the white spaces and the private bus-cleaning firm on the street side.
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Figure 102. Access Configuration, Territorial Transition and Overlap Scenarios in floor plans and section
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‘White’ Space
Figure 103. Modular container principle
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Figure 104. Integration of white spaces “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 0149
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FIRST INTERVENTION
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Figure 105. Position of the intervention in the model
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Figure 106. Isometric view on the first intervention “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 0153
Figure 107. Position of the intervention in the model
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Figure 108. Isometric view on the first intervention “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 0155
1.1. Groundlevel
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1.2. Section
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1.3. First level
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1.4. Second level
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1.5. Third level
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1.6. Top level
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1.7. Facade
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Figure 109. Picture of model, facade
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Figure 110. Picture of model, relation towards the innercourt
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Figure 111. Picture of model, relation open zigurad building 0168
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Figure 112. Collage of materials in the intervention “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 0169
Figure 113. Picture of model, groundlevel along streetside
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Figure 114. Picture of model, Groundlevel
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SECOND INTERVENTION
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Figure 115. Position of the intervention in the model
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Figure 116. Isometric view on the second intervention “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 0175
2.1. Ground level
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2.2. Section
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THIRD INTERVENTION
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Figure 117. Position of the intervention in the model
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Figure 118. Isometric view on the third intervention “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 0183
2.1. Ground level
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2.2. Section
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2.3. First level
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2.4. Second level
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2.5. Third level
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Figure 119. Picture of model, dead-end street along the intervention
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Figure 120. Picture of model, relation innercourt inbetween the buildings
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Figure 121. Picture of model, relation innercourt inbetween the buildings 0196
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Figure 122. Picture of model, occupation of outdoor storage on rooftop “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 0197
Figure 123. Picture of model, outdoor storage on rooftop
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Figure 124. Picture of model, groundlevel along Bond Street, NY
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Figure 125. Picture of model, Rolcad system that loads and unloads rooftop 0200
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Figure 126. Collage, relation platform along Gowanus canal “Streetscape as Industrial Space�, Brooklyn, NY 0201
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FACILITIES AND TECHNIQUES
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1. Tool trolleys
Figure 127. Usage of tool trolleys in the co-working spaces 0204
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Figure 128. Proposed tool trolleys in the project
TOOL TROLLEYS During company visits, I investigated how tools and machinery was used and distributed to the employees. In Plastic Deceuninck (door and window frames construction company), each employee had his own marked trolley with the specific tools he needed during the manufacturing process. All equipment in the trolleys where marked with initials and counted before leaving. Bigger machinery was stored in lockers near the worktables (as proposed in the project). These trolleys keep the workspaces neat en tidy and allow to work on different projects with different employees within the same co-workspace.
Figure 129. Tool trolleys, company visit Plastic Deceuninck nv
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2. Extreme weather conditions SUNRAYS
SHADING CLOTH
SHUTTER
Figure 130. Schematic view in section 0206
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Figure 131. Perforation in shading cloth
Figure 132. Texture of used material
SHADING CLOTH To give more shade on the outdoor workspaces these shading cloths can easily be installed on top of the outdoor storage roof. Certainly above the open platforms where sunlight enters the center of the building. They are carried by steel wires attached to the koloms and can be slide open in extreme weather conditions. These plastic textiles are easy to clean or install and provide cooling in hot weather by reflecting 70% of the sunrays.
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3. Utilities
Figure 133. Schematic view in section 0208
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REEL - ELECTRIC CABLE Since all the projects are located within a flood zone, electrical connections will be made starting from the first level (5,7meters above the ground level). On each level electrical cabinets and counters will be provided to allow different ownerships through the building. From the cabinets electricity will be distributed on the ceiling to the reels above the worktables. Attention: All connections, sockets, branches and cables should be outdoor resist and waterproof due to the open building and climate. Figure 134. Electric Reel cable
REEL - AIRPRESSURE LINE For each building within the project a central air pressure system will be provided to lower the noise from the compressor. From there on air pressure pipes on the ceiling of every work floor distributes the air to the connected reels above the worktables.
Figure 135. Air pressure line in reel
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4. Lighting
TYPE 3
TYPE 2
TYPE 1
Figure 136. Schematic view in section 0210
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TYPE 1 (Circulation lightning) Hydroproof TL lightning Protection against moisture and dust: IP67 - Housing of fiberglass reinforced polyester (SMC technology) - Diffuser with internal prisms - Impact resistance IK02 - Stainless steel sealing clip - Cable entry back prepared for BESA box Figure 137. Hydroproof TL lightning
TYPE 2 (Lightning above working spaces) LED-lightning industrial Light luxes 250 lux Structure Aluminium Humidity 10-99% HW · Reduced energy consumption and operating costs by up to 80%. · Maintenance free operation - lasts up to 10 times longer than conventional lighting · Great for shock and high vibration environments · 50-80% reduction in energy consumption. · No humming or flickering. · Cool beam - Does not Ultraviolet Figure 138. LED-lightning industrial
TYPE 3 (Outdoor lightning - storages and platforms) Outdoor LED-lightning industrial Brightness Beam Structure
13.500/14.000-Lumen - + - 1400-watt light This spotlight has a beam of 120 ° Aluminium
Figure 139. Outdoor LED-lightning industrial “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 0211
5. Drainage and sewerage
3%
3%
3%
3%
Figure 140. Schematic view in section 0212
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Figure 141. Plan of drainage and sewerage “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 0213
5. Concrete textures
Figure 142. Schematic view of the different textures 0214
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BRUSHED CONCRETE - OUTDOOR FLOORS When the concrete isn’t completely hardened this will be brushed manually so that the brush strokes clearly make structure in the floor. In this finishing the floor has a better anti-slip for the workers at a humid outside climate.
Figure 143. Brushed concrete used on outdoor platforms
POLISHED CONCRETE - COVERED FLOORS Polishing happens when the concrete has hardened sufficiently. After the top layer disappears, the granules are visible in the concrete and more accentuated. Tears, cracks, pits, ... later you can eliminate the floor several times re-sanding and polishing. One brings cuts on to absorb. The operation of the concrete Afterwards you can possibly fill them with a flexible filling.
Figure 144. Polished concrete only used in covered workspaces
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DETAILS AND CONSTRUCTION
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Figure 145. Detail of the coloms
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Figure 147. Montage elements - 1m each
Figure 146. Detail of sandwish panels on the coloms
These elements of 1meter high will be prefabricated and stacked on top of each other at the construction site. Each element contains 3 to 4 holes for tie the steel rods from bottom till top that strengthen all the elements to one stiff element. Later these holes will be filed up with shrink free cement. In this weight is reduced to a minimum by moving the mass in the outer zones to create a higher moment of inertia. This open space in the center can efficient be used to run pipes from ground till top level within the coloms.
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Figure 148. Detail connection concrete plate - foundation- colom
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Figure 149. Detail connection concrete plate - shutters- colom
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FLOOD SCENARIOS
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Global flood scenario
Figure 150. Global flood scenario 1 feet high (year 2020) 0224
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Figure 151. Global flood scenario 5 feet high (year 2030)
Figure 152. Global flood scenario 10 feet high (year 2100) “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 0225
Third intervention
5 feet - 2030
Figure 153. Section flood scenario 5 feet high (year 2030)
Over 1 in 6 chance sea level rise + storm surge + tide will overtop +5ft by 2030 at nearest flood risk.
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Figure 154. Groundlevel flood scenario 5 feet high (year 2030)
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8 feet - 2070
Figure 155. Section flood scenario 8 feet high (year 2070)
Over 1 in 6 chance sea level rise + storm surge + tide will overtop +8ft by 2070 at nearest flood risk.
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Figure 156. Groundlevel flood scenario 8 feet high (year 2070)
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10 feet - 2100
Figure 157. Section flood scenario 10 feet high (year 2100)
Over 1 in 6 chance sea level rise + storm surge + tide will overtop +10ft by 2100 at nearest flood risk.
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10 feet - 2100
Figure 158. Groundlevel flood scenario 10 feet high (year 2100)
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First intervention
10 feet - 2100
Figure 159. Section flood scenario 10 feet high (year 2100)
Over 1 in 6 chance sea level rise + storm surge + tide will overtop +10ft by 2100 at nearest flood risk. 0232
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10 feet - 2100
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Figure 160. Groundlevel flood scenario 10 feet high (year 2100) 0234
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TIMELAPS
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First and second intervention
04:00
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CONCLUSION
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The greatest enrichment for this autonomous master dissertation comes from a confluence of the researches on streetscape territories of the gowanus area combined with the design process. The added value of working within a theoretical discourse on depth configurations in architecture and urban design opens the eyes as a designer to go deeper in understanding the relations between territorial systems and the limits of architecture. The honesty and characteristics of gowanus area are coming out of the spatial arrangement and the collective use of the streetscape. The gowanus area demonstrates perfectly how territorial organization and temporary or systematic overlap of industrial activity interacts with the streetscape. These organizations of overlap spaces and the conjunctions between streets and architectural perimeters became the set-up for the designed projects. The intent wasn’t to repetitive industrial buildings design over the gowanus, but to setup a specific pilot project that combines issues on density, land occupation, compactness, being flood proof, territorial organization and depth configurations all within a high performance industrial building. Given the dimensions of these new projects and all the capability that it should have, we needed to manage space inside. Overlap scenarios in the building allowed me to increase the functionality and spatial quality of space inside. In addition to this I tried to rethink the shared spaces of labors by adding a ‘white space’ in the depth configuration of the project. These white spaces are the most intimated spaces and positioned in the hart of the building where employees can have their own moment to smoke a cigarette, making a quick phone call and to share a break or lunch. This space becomes now an added value to the project instead of a direct translation between architecture and labor regulations. Production processes in the industrialized nations will change radically in future. Development, research, and the manufacturing of prototypes will ask more qualified workers who will have the most demanding expectations as far as their workplaces and their work environment are concerned. For reason, inner city production facilities reflecting the corporate image and integrated into interwoven uses will increasingly gain in significance. Not least, the corporate image that buildings seek to present no longer be superficial, but instead, will relate to content – defined as
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low consumption of resources and a high degree of flexibility – all which a building’s external appearance is supposed to bring to expression. The global interconnectedness of the production process calls for the development of designs for buildings whose structural development allows them to be industrially manufactured, so that easy exchangeability and thus reusability of the components must be feasible. An intelligent open system will also be able to do justice to this requirement. The sustainability of this master dissertation project has been tackled on environmental, economical and social level during this design process. Saving energy by having an open building as infrastructure, materials right from the self, lost parts during construction and transport, in addition to problems tied to disposal, are all issues that make up the fundamental structure of sustainable design. The economical statement that has been pointed in this project of the master dissertation expresses in several thematic. Remaining manufacturing became the backbone of this project, to keep local jobs on industrial areas in New York City. The question “what keeps the city attractive” for people brings us full circle to the need to retain manufacturing to ensure the city’s diversity and creative vitality, its environmental well-being, and the employment and entrepreneurial opportunities that are pathways out of poverty. This project tried to setup a system of frameworks where new young starting entrepreneurs can open their own manufacturing with low scale investments. Therefore a dense, high performance industrial building is needed to inject new types of industries in an aging industrial area. Elements and materials right from the shelf are used to construct the building in a quick and inexpensive way, so that owners or tenants easily can make economics profits. The economical efficiency on industrial buildings is investments that have to be financed by making profit on the market. Industrial buildings are there often subject to a particularly stringent cost/benefit analysis. On social level, this project brings the possibility back to employ poorer, less educated people within their neighborhood and to stop or slow down the residential gentrification on these areas. Rising pressure of real estate and private developers to utilize the polluted canal as new waterfront for residential usage will vanish the remaining housing and people living there.
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REFERENCES In order of coming SENNETT, R. 2011. Living in the endless city. In: BURDETT, R. (ed.) Reflections on Borders and Boundaries. London: London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. FRIEDMAN, A. 2010. Fifty years of community based planning: Transforming the city’s manufacturing landscape, Brooklyn NY, Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development. Gowanus Works, Preserving place and production, Pratt institute, Graduate Land Use studio, Brooklyn NY, Fall 2011 2011. Living in the endless city. In: BURDETT, R. (ed.) Vital Statistics: Nine Cities Compared. London: London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. SASSEN, S. 2011. Living in the endless city. In: BURDETT, R. (ed.) The Economies of Cities. London: London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. SCHEERLINCK, K. 2009-2010. Depth Configurations, Proximity, Permeability and Territorial Boundaries in Urban Projects. Universitat Ramon Llull. MORALES, M. D. S. 1992. Public and Collective Space: The Urbanizatrion of the Private Domain as a New Challenge. OASE. HABRAKEN, N. J. 1998. The structure of the Ordinary. Increasing in depth by adding density, Cambridge, MIT Press NUSCA, A. 2012. 3D Printing: The hypes, the hopes, the hurdles [Online]. www.news.cnet.comi: Andrew Nusca. WADHWA, V. March 06 2012. The future of America’s manufacturing sector [Online]. Available: www.articles.washintonpost.com. JURGEN ADAM, K. H., FRANK JUTTNER 2004. A design manual for industrial buildings, London, Birkhauser.
HABRAKEN, N. J. 2013. Open building; brief introduction [Online]. Available: www.habraken.com/html/introduction.htm: N. John Habraken. HABRAKEN, N. J. 1998. The structure of the Ordinary, Cambridge, MIT Press “Streetscape as Industrial Space”, Brooklyn, NY 0247
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FIGURE LIST Figure 1. First collage, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 2. Analogue picture of Union Street, Brooklyn, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 3. Interview with Stuart Pertz, Brooklyn, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 4. Interview at Van Alen Institute, Manhatten, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 5. Interview at Pratt Institute with John Shapiro (right) and Ron Shiffman (left), Brooklyn, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 6. XOPROJECTS 2010. The old american can factory. In: OACF_090204_0 (ed.).http://www.xoprojects.com/images/places/oacf_090204_0.jpg: xoprojects. Figure 7. Life, Work, Create - Facade on Union Street, Brooklyn, NY Figure 8. 2011. Living in the endless city. In: COMPARED, V. S.-N. C. (ed.). London: London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. Figure 9. Temporary sewage pipes floating on the gowanus canal, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 10. The link between the remaining industry and the rising water level at 9 foot, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 11, 12 and 13. Analogue photograph at Union Street, Brooklyn, NYC, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 14, 15 and 16. Analogue photograph at Union Street, Brooklyn, NYC, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 17. Section made on Union Street, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 18. Image actual streetscape, Gowanus, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 19. Map to illustrate the spatial arragement between manufactures and intervalspaces, Gowanus, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 20 and 21. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be Figure 22 and 23. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be Figure 24. Section corner Nevin Street and Union Street, Brooklyn, NY Figure 25 and 26. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be Figure 27. Section on Union Street, Brooklyn, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 28 and 29. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be
Figure 30. Section on Union Street, Brooklyn, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 31. Section on Sackett Street, Brooklyn, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 32 and 33. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be Figure 34 and 35. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be Figure 36. Section on Sackett Street, Brooklyn, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 37, 38 and 39. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be Figure 40 and 41. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be Figure 42. Section on Bond Street and Gowanus canal, Brooklyn, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 43. landoccupation along the fly-over, Gowanus, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 44. Schemes mixed-use, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 45. Habraken, “The Structure of the Ordinary” MIT Press Cambridge 1998, p215) Increase in depth by adding density (diagram made by Hannes Van Damme after fig. 12.8) Figure 46. Spatial arrangement on the Gowanus area, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 47. “An Alternative View of the City” by French artist Armelle Caron Figure 48. Scheme manufacturing on demand, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 49. Scheme manufacturing on demand, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 50. Map of possible variations on location through Gowanus, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 51, 52 and 53. Maps of project locations, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 54, 55, and 56. Google Maps - Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY , http://www. maps.google.be Figure 57, 58, and 59. Google Maps - Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY , http://www. maps.google.be Figure 60, 61, and 62. Google Maps - Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY , http://www. maps.google.be Figure 63. Scheme of organizing priciple in section, by Hannes Van Damme
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Figure 64. First drawings concept system, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 65. Relation with the streetscape, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 66 and 67. Pictures first system model, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 68. Fire Station, Nishi-Hiroshima, Japan Source: SHOP F., YAMAMOTO R.A. F. 2001. Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station. http://riken-yamamoto.co.jp/index. html?page=ry_proj_detail&id=45&lng=_Eng: Riken Yamamoto Figure 69. Simple, unintegrated systems Figure 70. Complex systems with undifferentiated integration. Any change is a subsystem always affects the whole system Figure 71. Complex systems with undifferentiated integration. Subsystems can be changed to a certain extent without a negative effect on the functional efficiency of the whole system Figure 72. Resource-conserving production and sustainable uses of the system components by prefabrication Figure 73. Inspiration of Charles and Ray Eames on their own Case study house 08 in 1948. Figure source: EHKLO, M. 2009. Prefac case study - Eames House [Online]. http://maggiehklo.blogspot.be/2009/11/prefab-case-study-eames-house.html: Maggi Ehklo Figure 74, 75 and 76. Construction first structure modules, Centre Pompidou. Figure source: D.R.. 2013. Le montage de la structure terminé [Online]. http:// mediation.centrepompidou.fr/education/ressources/ENS-architecture-CentrePompidou Figure 77. Isometric view construction system, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 78. Isometric view construction system, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 79. Components for construction system, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 80, 81 and 82. Maps of possible variations on locations Figure 83, 84 and 85. Schemes on building orientations Figure 86, 87. Source: SCHEERLINCK, K. 2009-2010. Depth Configurations, Proximity, Permeability and Territorial Boundaries in Urban Projects. Universitat Ramon Llull Figure 88, 89 and 90. Map of intervention locations Figure 91, 92 and 93. Google Maps - Brooklyn, NY , http://www.maps.google.be Figure 94. Actual depth configuration on the site of the first intervention, by
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Hannes Van Damme Figure 95. Actual depth configuration on the site of the second intervention, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 96. Actual depth configuration on the site of the third intervention, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 97. Conceptual diagram of sets of distances within a territorial configuration, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 98. Access Configuration, Territorial Transition and Overlap Scenarios in floor plans and sections, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 99. Conceptual diagram of sets of distances within a territorial configuration, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 100. Access Configuration, Territorial Transition and Overlap Scenarios in floor plans ground level, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 101. Conceptual diagram of sets of distances within a territorial configuration, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 102. Access Configuration, Territorial Transition and Overlap Scenarios in floor plans and section, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 103. Modular container principle, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 104. Integration of white spaces, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 105. Position of the intervention in the model, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 106. Isometric view on the first intervention, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 107. Position of the intervention in the model, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 108. Isometric view on the first intervention, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 109. Picture of model, facade, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 110. Picture of model, relation towards the inner court, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 111. Picture of model, relation open zigurad building, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 112. Collage of materials in the intervention, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 113. Picture of model, ground level along street side, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 114. Picture of model, Ground level, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 115. Position of the intervention in the model, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 116. Isometric view on the second intervention, by Hannes Van Damme
Figure 117. Position of the intervention in the model, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 118. Isometric view on the third intervention, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 119. Picture of model, dead-end street along the intervention, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 120. Picture of model, relation inner court in between the buildings, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 121. Picture of model, relation inner court in between the buildings, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 122. Picture of model, occupation of outdoor storage on rooftop, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 123. Picture of model, outdoor storage on rooftop, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 124. Picture of model, groundlevel along Bond Street, NY, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 125. Picture of model, Rolcad system that loads and unloads rooftop, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 126. Collage, relation platform along Gowanus canal, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 127. Usage of tool trolleys in the co-working spaces, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 128. Proposed tool trolleys in the project, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 129. Tool trolleys, company visit Plastic Deceuninck nv, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 130. Schematic view in section, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 131. Perforation in shading cloth, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 132. Texture of used material, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 133. Schematic view in section, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 134. Electric Reel cable, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 135. Air pressure line in reel, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 136. Schematic view in section, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 137. Hydro proof TL lightning, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 138. LED-lightning industrial, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 139. Outdoors LED-lightning industrial, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 140. Schematic view in section, by Hannes Van Damme
Figure 141. Plan of drainage and sewerage, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 142. Schematic view of the different textures, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 143. Brushed concrete used on outdoor platforms, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 144. Polished concrete only used in covered workspaces, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 145. Detail of the coloms, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 146. Detail of sandwich panels on the coloms, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 147. Montage elements - 1m each, by Hannes Van DammeFigure 148. Detail connection concrete plate - foundation- coloms, by Hannes Van Damme Figure 149. Detail connection concrete plate - shutters- coloms Figure 150. Global flood scenario 1 feet high (year 2020), by Hannes Van Damme Figure 151. Global flood scenario 5 feet high (year 2030), by Hannes Van Damme Figure 152. Global flood scenario 10 feet high (year 2100), by Hannes Van Damme Figure 153. Section flood scenario 5 feet high (year 2030), by Hannes Van Damme Figure 154. Groundlevel flood scenario 5 feet high (year 2030), by Hannes Van Damme Figure 155. Section flood scenario 8 feet high (year 2070), by Hannes Van Damme Figure 156. Groundlevel flood scenario 8 feet high (year 2070), by Hannes Van Damme Figure 157. Section flood scenario 10 feet high (year 2100), by Hannes Van Damme Figure 158. Groundlevel flood scenario 10 feet high (year 2100), by Hannes Van Damme Figure 159. Section flood scenario 10 feet high (year 2100), by Hannes Van Damme Figure 160. Groundlevel flood scenario 10 feet high (year 2100), by Hannes Van Damme
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CREDITS
Thanks to Pratt Institute: Mr. Stuart Pertz, Mr. John Shapiro, Mr. Ron Schiffman Interborough: Mr. Daniel D’Oca, co-owner Interboro Partners Van Alen Institute: Mr. Jeff Byles, Interim Executive Director Flanders House New York: Mr. Frank Verpoorten, Mr. Kris Dierckx Proteus Gowanus: Ms. Jeanne Liotta Luca/ KULeuven, Associated faculty of Architecture, Campus Gent Mr. Kris Scheerlinck Mr. Ferran Massip, Mr Yannick Bontinckx, Mr. Thomas Stroobants, Mr. Kenneth Notte Support: Ms. Aenea Monteyne, Ms. Rita Bucket, Mr. Jo Geldof Model CNC: Mr. Steven Vandecastele Model elements: Mr. Maurits Bucket Engineers: Mr. Patrick Lints, Mr. Andrea Sollazzo Contractor: Mr. Jo Geldof Proofreaders: Mr William Pitonyak, Ms. Nadine Gekiere, Mr. Norbert van de Velde, Ms. Aenea Monteyne Company visits: Zoutman nv, Sterkx nv, Plastics Deceuninck nv Benelux
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www.vandammehannes.com vandammehannes@me.com +32 477 284 139
The northern part of the Gowanus area deals with a complex multi-layered structure of pressures and establish a dialogue between upcoming gentrification, remaining industries, unfilled interval spaces, speculations of real estate and the declaration to super funding. Is it still moral to transform these last industrial areas into high dens residential neighborhood to meet on the questions of private developers? Which attitude should we take against the upcoming gentrification and what specific influences does it entail for the Gowanus area? Is ‘mixed-use’ zoning between residence and industries an answer on today’s environmental and economical sustainability? Is still it possible to have an architectural intervention in this complex industrial landscape that builds upon the existing character without transforming the neighborhood?