Urban
Redemption

and each period is creating a layer
that later becomes an issue
Urban environment is a projection of technological, social and economic changes.
Long Lines Building
Long Lines Building is a 550-foot-tall (170 m) skyscraper in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is a telephone exchange or wire center building which contained three major 4ESS switches used for interexchange (long distance) telephony, as well as a number of other switches used for competitive local exchange carrier services.

The Intercept reported that the building is a NSA base which also houses equipment for controversial government data collection named TITANPOINTE.
High Line
The High Line is a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. The abandoned spur has been redesigned as a "living system" drawing from multiple disciplines which include landscape architecture, urban design, and ecology. Since opening in June 2009, the High Line has become an icon of contemporary landscape architecture.
Rust Belt
This area was once known for steel production and heavy industry. That industry has greatly decreased since the middle of the 20th century. As the name might imply, the area has sort of turned to "rust", like what happens to old steel. Much of this decrease in industry is because of the United States using manufacturers from other countries. It became an Industrial hub because of its proximity to The Great Lakes, canals, and rivers which companies used to access raw materials and ship out products.

How can we efficiently deal with this kind rudimentary artifacts in our urban environment
HOW ?
„

I thought that architecture is not permanent art, something that is completed and fixed, but rather something that grows towards the future, is expanded upon, renovated and developed. This is the concept of metabolism.

Kisho Kurokawa








Basic Principles
of Metabolism in architecture
Metabolism represented an urban environment that was responsive, replaceable and could grow in an organic way. It largely followed the 'megastructure' form that was gaining in popularity with architects and planners at the time, as a means of addressing the growing populations of urban areas and the rapidly-changing lifestyles of the post-war era.
The principles of the megastructure were that it had to be modular, capable of extension and have a framework into which smaller elements could be 'plugged' or replaced.
Agricultural City
Kisho Kurokawa, 1960
Information

  • Architects: Kisho Kurokawa
  • Location: Aichi, Japan
  • Typology: Urbanism / City planning
  • Project Year: 1960
  • Photographs and drawings: © Kisho Kurokawa
Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa designed in 1960 the "Agricultural City". Intended for the replacement of the agricultural towns in Aichi destroyed by the Ise Bay Typhoon in 1959, the accommodation was to be raised above the ground to deal with future Flooding. The grid was intended to be between 300 and 500 meters; Kurokawa challenged the assumption that the city and the country need to be in antagonism.
Agricultural cities, industrial cities, consumption cities, and recreation cities should each form an integral part of a compact community. A distinct urban system should exist between those cities. Agricultural cities have potential as future cities. And that is the reason why it is necessary to have a basic plan for their future expansion.
The basic unit of the rural area of Japan is 500 m x 500 m community centered around a shrine, a grammar school, and a temple. According to the proposed plan, roads, water services, electricity, monorails for work and other facilities are installed 4 meters above the ground. This will enable the common handling and administering of agricultural works.
The way of operating of self -driving cars will change from human driven linear movement to algorithm driven swarm intelligence movement. Self-driving cars will also require the creation of new infrastructure.
Self-driving vehicles
Transportation
Car becoming not private property
Automation of vehicles will also lead to change in ownership of cars. Car as not private property, but something we only rent, will operate by itself, while we don't need it. As a result of it the relationship between road systems in cities and places to keep not private cars will change.
Automation of production sites and storage facilities will lead to change in typology of those. As people are not going to interact with the production process there is no more need for daylight or human access.
Automated production sites and storage facilities
Housing
Sharing economy and owning less renting more
In capitalism, the sharing economy is a socio-economical system build around the sharing of resources. While having the possibilities of changing the working and living environment, the need to own a house is smaller than ever.
As the pace of our life is becoming faster, we are looking for the ways to minimize the number of unnecessary activities. With help are coming subscription based services for everyday life activities like cleaning or cooking.
Everyday service subscription
Office
Co-working gaining popularity
Raising popularity of co-working model and development of companies like WeWork shows that it is more effective to create an open platform for people, who need space to work rather than building company dedicated office space.
Most companies are looking to do one of three things; grow their company, work towards an exit plan, or both. Nowadays the rate of growing is unprecedented, and many companies are looking for structures, which can accommodate the growth without the need to move.
Growth — and exit — strategies
Technology
Development of AI
Advancement of AI is providing new opportunities for predicting changes in urban environment, before they actually happen. Infrastructure can adapt to predicted changes, instead of solving already existing problems.
The IoT helps to build a network of electronic devices, car as well as buildings and elements of infrastructure. This kind of intertwined connections will also affect the urban environment, the need to plan parking and traffic junctions won't be so necessary anymore.
Upcoming Internet of Things
In the time of exponential changes architecture has to become responsive
Corporations
The world's top 100 economies:

31 countries
69 corporations

United States
China
Germany
Japan
France
United Kingdom
Italy
Brazil
Canada
Walmart
Spain
Australia
Netherlands
State Grid
China National Petroleum
Sinopec Group
South Korea
Royal Dutch Shell
Mexico
Sweden
Exxon Mobile
Volkswagen
Toyota Motor
India
3,251
2,426
1,515
1,439
1,253
1,101
876
631
585
482
474
426
337
330
294
291
272
260
251
246
237
237
236
299
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Argentina
Hon Hai Precision Industry
General Electrics
China State Construction
Amerisource Bergen
Agricultural Bank of China
Verizon
Finland
Chevron
E.ON
AXA
Indonesia
Allianz
Bank of China
Honda Motor
Japan Post Holdings
Costco
BNP Paribas
Fannie Mae
Ping An Insurance
United Arab Emirates
Kroger
Societe Generale
Amazon.com
129
129
123
123
122
122
119
116
112
110
110
110
110
108
107
107
103
103
103
103
102
102
102
107
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
Apple
Belgium
BP
Switzerland
Norway
Russia
Berkshire Hataway
Venezuela
Saudi Arabia
McKesson
Austria
Samsung Electronics
Turkey
Glencore
Bank of China
Daimler
Denmark
United Health Group
CVS Health
EXOR Group
General Motors
China Construction Bank
AT&T
Total
189
177
175
170
167
166
162
157
153
153
152
150
148
147
143
141
140
140
136
133
132
131
131
143
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
Automation of vehicles is going to change completely car field both from technological and economical point of view. The way of operating of self-driving cars will change from human driven linear movement to algorithm driven swarm intelligence movement. Automation of vehicles will also lead to change in ownership of cars. Car as not private property, but something we only rent, will operate by itself, while we don't need it. Both of these tendencies will shift car related urban environment and change automotive infrastructure.
Living in a global village gives plenty of opportunities to change the working and living environment. Thanks to sharing economy, which is a system based on sharing of resources, renting a car, or apartment in any part of the world was never as easy as now. The need to own a house is becoming smaller every year. The company, which want to Fight for Talent, should consider this tendency and make housing easily accessible for potential employees.
Most companies are looking to do grow their company and work towards an exit plan. Nowadays the rate of growing is unprecedented, and many companies are looking for structures, which can accommodate the growth without the need to move. Also at the same time raising popularity of co-working model shows that it is more effective to create an open platform for people, who need space to work rather than building company dedicated office space. So the office of the future will have to consider this contrary tendencies.
Mobility system
Housing accessibility
Office footprint
As the pace of our life is becoming faster, we are looking for the ways to minimize the number of unnecessary everyday activities. With help are coming subscription based services for everyday life activities like cleaning or cooking. This small change, might have a big impact on the housing architecture field. The company of the future needs to think not only about providing housing but also about making the life of its future employees as easy as possible. The campus of the future hope to locate within support services and amenities.
Greenery in our living environment benefits more than just our health and well-being. It also facilitates water management and promotes biodiversity in built-up areas, and can help reduce the effects of noise pollution. Greenery also helps to raise the property value of homes and offices. Providing access for its employees to green space by companies, will become in the future as important as providing support everyday life services, access to health insurance or entertainment facilities.
Growing popularity of buying different goods' means, the number of storage facilities is growing. The storage of the future can't be located only on the outskirt of the city, but also closer to the urban infrastructure to shorten the logistic path. Automation of production sites and storage facilities will lead to change in typology of those. As people are not going to interact with the production process there is no more need for daylight or human access. The storage facility of future can be smaller and located much closer to the city.
Multiplicity of services
Neighborhood of greenery
Storage area
New look at Corporate Campus
???
Location
Big tech has made the San Francisco Bay Area, which spans the San Francisco and San José metros, the nation's second largest center of corporate headquarters with 35, compared to Chicago's 33. Indeed, the Bay Area increasingly looks like America's new "Second City," at least based on headquarters, a testament to the power of high-tech in the U.S. economy. America's headquarters geography reflects the substantial variation and specialization of the U.S. economy. New York leads in finance and business services, consumer services, and goods and materials. But Houston leads in energy, San Jose in tech, and Chicago in retail and wholesale. Chicago also ranks second in consumer services, and goods and materials, and Dallas takes third in energy. Other cities like Nashville and Minneapolis take third in consumer services, and goods and materials, respectively.

source: "The Geography of Corporate Headquarters" by Bloomberg CityLab

One of the largest concentration of corporations
The Geography of Corporate Headquarters
New York
Texas
California
Illinois
Ohio
New Jersey
Virginia
Pennsylvania
Minnesota
Florida
58
50
49
37
25
22
21
20
19
18
Since the 1960s, San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area have enacted strict zoning regulations. Among other restrictions, San Francisco does not allow buildings over 40 feet tall in most of the city, and has passed laws making it easier for neighbors to block developments. Partly as a result of these codes, from 2007 to 2014, the Bay Area issued building permits for only half the number of needed houses, based on the area's population growth. At the same time, there has been rapid economic growth of the high tech industry in San Francisco and nearby Silicon Valley, which has created hundreds of thousands of new jobs. The resultant high demand for housing, combined with the lack of supply, have caused dramatic increases in rents and extremely high housing prices. For example, from 2012 to 2016, the San Francisco metropolitan area added 373,000 new jobs, but permitted only 58,000 new housing units.

source: Wikipedia


San Francisco Bay Area housing shortage
Housing Gap
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
15 000
30 000
45 000
60 000
75 000
90 000
New housing units approved
Job growth
Ridership across the Bay Area's public transportation systems fell by 5.2 percent between 2016 and 2018, according to a study from UCLA's Institute of Transportation Studies, with the region's residents taking 27.5 million fewer transit trips per year.

That decline happened despite a booming local economy that should have led people to use public transit more. It may be driven, researchers found, by stiff competition from ride-hailing apps and a regional housing crisis that is pushing people into more car-dependent areas. The Bay Area needs to unwind that crisis to reverse its transit decline, they wrote, and make tough choices to give transit a leg up on driving.

source: "Bay Area traffic is terrible, so why are fewer people taking transit?" Times Herald

source of "Traffic is Getting Worse" diagram:
www.statistica.com



San Francisco Bay Area traffic congestion
Traffic is Getting Worse
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Washington D.C.
New York
Boston
Seattle
1987
2017
Atlanta
66
65
49
38
40
39
29
119
103
102
92
80
78
77
Development process on the site
In-between roads
The chosen junction on the road I-280 has 11,6 ha of a wasted space.
The aim is to invert negative aspects of the outdated infrastructure and gain the benefits for both the junction efficiency and the local neighborhood.
Connection optimization
25,65 ha
total area of junction
11,57 ha
wasted land in-between roads
100%
45,4%
Automated facilities
The aim is to utilize all possible space in-between roads and use it as automated storage, technical supportive facilities and car related infrastructure like charging or repairing.
11, 57 ha
wasted land in-between roads
9,01 ha
wasted land, which can be repurpoused
100%
77,9%
27,03 ha
gained space on wasted land over 3 floors
3 x 9,01ha = 27,03 ha
9,29 ha
area of biggest Amazon storage in California
The way of operating of self -driving cars will change from human driven linear movement to algorithm driven swarm intelligence. Switching from human to machine driven movement will allow us to change geometries and organization of road systems, which will dramatically shorten distances and travel time.
5,80 km
distance from point A to B - now
8 min
0,85 km
distance from point A to B - after
implementing automated plato
2 min
Office space
Repurposing 80% of wasted in-between roads land, allows also using the space over the road. Building erected on top of the junction will have perfect connection to the transportation system, and will become a good location for any kind of office space.
8 000
number of employees possible to house
179 422 m²
office space over 4 floors
1 600
number of cars possible to park
57 200 m²
parking space in 3 disks
Due to housing shortage in San Francisco Bay Area the corporate campus of the future should also allocate housing for its potential employees. As the office building can house approximately 8 000 workers, 10% will have the possibility to find accommodation on the campus.
Housing space
800
approximate number of residents
260
approximate number of apartments
27 700 m²
housing space in entire building
The building, which can house 8 000 office workers, 800 residents, multiple storage and technical facilities requires to have sustainable energy strategy. As California is well known from using solar power energy, so will the corporate campus of the future.
Sustainability
35 000 m²
area of transparent solar panels
5503 kW
6,36 m² of solar panels produce 1kW
35 000 m² / 6,36 m² = 5503 kW
8 255 kWh / day
1kW of solar panels produce 1.5 kWh
5503 kW x 1,5 kWh = 8255 kWh
3 013 075 kWh / year
8 255 kWh x 365 days = 3 013 075 kWh

results from Ladybug analysis:
2 712 624 kWh / year
260 houses
1 average household needs 6 000 kWh/year
260 x 6 000 kWh = 1 560 000 kWh / year
I-280 junction
The chosen junction is the most crowded one on Interstate 280. The Junipero Serra Freeway, as I-280 is also called, is almost 100 km north-south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California. The I-280 junction is located in Cupertino.
4 km
from Apple Park
3 km
from County Park
2 km
from Cupertino City Centre
The structure of disks is designed as a spacial truss, which is utilizing slabs as horizontal reinforcement. The main part of the building is covered with concrete shell supported on multiple columns and slab throughout all its height.
Structure
utilization
-10,1 %
-8,9 %
-7,6 %
-6,3 %
-5,1 %
-3,8 %
-2,5 %
-1,3 %
0,0 %
1,3 %
2,5 %
3,8 %
5,1 %
6,3 %
7,6 %
8,9 %
Due to optimizing thickness of the shell with an algorithm and effective distribution of columns and slabs, values for utilization and displacement of the shell are kept in reasonable range.

Structure
displacement (cm)
0.00e+00
1.39e-01
2.77e-01
4.16e-01
5.55e-01
6.94e-01
8.32e-01
9.71e-01
1.11e+00
1.25e+00
1.39e+00
1.53e+00
1.66e+00
1.80e+00
1.94e+00
2.08e+00
2.22e+00
10,1%
1. CONCRETE FLOOR / 40 cm flat slab
-60 mm - self-leveling concrete
-100 mm - polyurethane thermal insulation
-200 mm - reinforced concrete flat slab

2. CONCRETE FLOOR / 40 cm flat slab
-60 mm - self-leveling concrete
-20 mm - performance foam
-40 mm - concrete screed
-100 mm - polyurethane thermal insulation
-300 mm - reinforced concrete flat slab

3. CONCRETE FLOOR / 80 cm mat foundation
-60 mm - self-leveling concrete
-200 mm - polyurethane thermal insulation
-600 mm - reinforced concrete mat foundation
-10 mm - horizontal waterproofing: Voltex tape
-100 mm - mad slab
-100 mm - compacted base

4. CONCRETE FLOOR / TT slab
-20 mm - topcoat: protector + densifier
-60 mm - self-leveling concrete
-100 mm - polyurethane thermal insulation
-1200 mm - TT prefabricated slab
(reinforced and compressed concrete)
900 mm - webs, 1200 mm - plate

5. CONCRETE FLOOR / HOLLOW CONCRETE SLAB
-30 mm concrete screed
-500 mm prefabricated hollow concrete plates
-100 mm polyurethane thermal insulation
1. CONCRETE FLOOR / 40 cm flat slab
-60 mm - self-leveling concrete
-100 mm - polyurethane thermal insulation
-200 mm - reinforced concrete flat slab

2. CONCRETE FLOOR / 40 cm flat slab
-60 mm - self-leveling concrete
-20 mm - performance foam
-40 mm - concrete screed
-100 mm - polyurethane thermal insulation
-300 mm - reinforced concrete flat slab

5. CONCRETE FLOOR / HOLLOW CONCRETE SLAB
-30 mm concrete screed
-500 mm prefabricated hollow concrete plates
-100 mm polyurethane thermal insulation