DESIGN · STUDIO · 11
REYKJAVIK · HALLMERKI
NEW · MIÐBORG TOWN · CENTRE WES · J · C · STONE W1729758
New Miðborg Town Centre is the major project from the first year of my masters degree at the university of Westminster.
The project is located in Iceland, Europe’s most Western and isolated country.
Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, is one of Europe’s youngest cities. Much of the town planning was inspired by American urbanism, prioritising single family houses and wide streets.
This has made densification difficult and is pushing many young people out of the city. While in Reykjavik I met with the city planners who outlined their plans to develop a new district on the disused airfield.
As a group, we developed a masterplan for the district which we named New Miðborg. The first principle of the masterplan is to create green corridors connecting the existing park to the sea.
Transport infrastructure informed the housing packages, ensuring all residents were in walking distance of a bus or railway station.
The new district provides a mixture of housing, offices, and cultural buildings.
The district town centre is highlighted in red. This became the focus for my individual design project.
Miðborg
New Miðborg
Ora
Library S
Book Sorting and Back of House
Kitch
En
My vision for the new town centre is to integrate the binaries of culture and industry; public space and private space; individualism and collectivism; future technologies and history.
Future Solutions Present Issues/ Value Past Heritage
Lab Meeting Rooms Lab Office Space
Research Labs
Digital Lab
atory
Reading Rooms (5)
Study Hall
Stacks
Library Hall
Audio / Visual Studio
d
n-suite
Sleeping Quarters
Balcony
Education Centre Farm Lab
Cafe
Kitchen
Platform 1 (West)
Platform 2 (East)
Restaurants
Ticket Offices
Rail Tracks
Retail
Services
Park
Information Point
Reflective Space
Sagas Display (42 total)
Covered Town Centre
Hydroponics Growing Low Nutrition Consumption
Market Hall
Entrance Space
Dining Hall Writers Room (26 Cells)
Tropical Greenhouse
Nurseries
Public Realm Covered Forest
Entrance Hall and Welcome Gallery
hen
Local Flora Greenhouse
Hydroponics Small Scale
Hydroponics Industrial Scale
High Publishing Rate Sagas Access
Weather Preventing Open Space
Sagas Storage
Monorail Link Lack of Public Transport Infrastructure
I began Before Add some settling bytext creating on a afinal number design of I producesstudies feasibility a number to make of design sense of the studies 200 x 100m for discussion. town centre site.
1.
2.
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13.
By analysing the designs I was then able to create site and design principles for the final buildings. 1. Town Centre Site
4. Thresholds and Views
2.
Offices
New Datum Level
3. Access Points
Offices
Rail Link
East Side Housing
Resi Park
5.
6.
Glass Enclosure
Primary Spaces
7. Connections
10. Covered Forest
8.
9.
Vertical Circulation
Hydroponics Research Centre
11.
12.
Forest of Columns
Living Roof
These images show how the final building integrates into the masterplan.
The Growing Library
Ground Floor Plan
Hydroponics Research Centre
Monorail Secondary Entrance
Monorail Main Station Offices
Monorail Secondary Entrance
The Growing Library
First Floor Plan
Hydroponics Research Centre
Monorail Secondary Entrance
Monorail Main Station Offices
Monorail Secondary Entrance
The Growing Library
Writers Retreat
Second Floor Plan
Hi
Hydroponics Research Centre
Monorail Main Station Market Hall
Covered Park ighline Walkway
Monorail Secondary Entrance
The Growing Library
Writers Retreat
Third Floor Plan
Hi
Hydroponics Research Centre
Monorail Main Station Market Hall
Covered Park ighline Walkway
Monorail Secondary Entrance
The Growing Library
Writers Retreat
Fourth Floor Plan
Hi
Hydroponics Research Centre
Monorail Main Station Market Hall
Covered Park ighline Walkway
Monorail Secondary Entrance
Roof Garden
Roof Plan
The Growing Library
Writers’ Retreat Sagas Museum
Market Hall Offices
Station Platform
Station
The primary building in the town centre is the Growing Library. These two images show the variety of open and intimate reading spaces in the building.
Below the Growing Library is a museum containing the Icelandic sagas. Unlike most modern languages, Icelandic has not changed significantly since the middle ages. This means that most Icelandic speakers can read the saga texts and can connect to their history through them.
The project also looks to Reykjavik’s future. Here a researcher looks out over the industrial hydroponics floor. Through this intense system of farming it is possible for the centre to produce enough food to feed the entire masterplan district.
The market hall within the main building provides a social space where the food produced on the site can be cooked and sold.
On the top floor of the growing library is a covered roof garden. The idea is to provide a light and living green public space during the dark Icelandic winters.
The town centre must be a place for all people to feel welcome. In the writer’s rooms I have allowed the spaces to be customised to represent the diversity of the residents.
This exploded axonometric shows the three main buildings in the New Miðborg town centre.