Schindler Award 2008 – Project plans Special Mentions: … · 2008-11-21 · Margareten Gurtel f. # 001 Langenfeldgasse f. # 002 Margareten Gurtel f. # 003 Margareten Gurtel f.

Schindler Award 2008 – Project plansSpecial Mentions: ”Heterarchial Landscape“

School: University of Sheffield (United Kingdom)

Student: Abigail Thomas

Professor: Prof. Russel Light

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Otto Wagner bridge. The bridge dominates the site and cuts off views across to the skate park.

Experimentation with the idea of representing energy or flow of potential movement. Lebbeus Woods ‘System Wien’ uses a series of vectors to describe spaces.

Main transport links

Pedestrian Cyclist Car Tram U-Bahn

Transport nodes

1 - Green space with adjacent car park. Seldom used as quite isolated.

2 - Power station3 - New residential

4 - Tram / U-bahn station5 - Technical college

6 - Tram / U-bahn station7 - New development

New suggested slow traffic link for pedestrians and cyclists.

Area of toxic waste below ground due to gas works which used to be situated here and has left contami-nated soil.

River Wien

River Wien as perceived

Urban grain

Points of interest

Competition site map

Historical Urban Grain

The historical maps show the increased density of the urban grain during the industrial revolution, followed by a dis-semination of the built environment. The site does not appear to have been built on since the gas works were re-moved.

Between 1706 and 1901 the Gurtel wall is still intact and the River Wien flows freely through the site. There are not many buildings outside of the wall.

By 1901 the wall is beginning to be re-moved and the river controlled. The city starts to spread outside the wall.

Between 1910 and 1945 industry is booming, the transport network is de-fined and the built urban grain is at its most dense. The Otto Wagner bridge is built.

1960s - A sports centre is built on the site with a running track. The urban grain starts to break up.

2005 to present day - Urban grain is full of gaps the road network and transport links dominate the site which is neglect-ed by pedestrians.

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The districts surrounding the site follow a pattern of an affluent centre with a poorer outskirts. Each district tends to focus inwards towards the centre as a result of this trend. The site borders on four districts and although it has very good transport links, with three main stations adjacent to the site, it is mainly dead space because all four districts turn their back on it. It has become a glorified traffic island.

Transport routes - the red dotted line repre-sents the walks we took, two main roads converge on the site as well u-bahn, tram and river routes

Urban grain - the wealthier districts (V and VI) have denser grain.

Space Syntax analysis - Movement Space Syntax analysis - Connectivity Space Syntax analysis - Visibility

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Margareten Gurtel f. # 001 Langenfeldgasse f. # 002 Margareten Gurtel f. # 003 Margareten Gurtel f. # 004 Margareten Gurtel & Langenfeldgasse f. # 005 Margareten Gurtel f. # 006 Waiting for the train jpeg. 001 Waiting for the train jpeg. 002 Waiting for the train jpeg. 003

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Urban stalking

This was a technique we used to evaluate how the site was used by people leaving the two stations; Margareten Gurtel and Langen-feldgasse. We waited at the station and then followed commuters off the train until they left the map, to see where they were going and how they would move through the site. It was noticed that the site was rarely crossed, except for people to go to Burger King.

Space Syntax

The software was used as a tool to analyse the urban grain and to see if any problem areas could be identified. The patterns highlight the courtyard formation of the built environment as well as the openness of the site and the way in which it is cut off from the surroundings.

Site analysis and District study

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0 2 9 2 _ 0A b i g a i l T h o m a s U n i v e r s i t y o f S h e f f i e l d S c h o o l o f A r c h i t e c t u r e H e t e r a r c h i c a l L a n d s c a p e : V i e n n aSite layers and potential energy flows - images of conceptual model and plan, sections and elevation of conceptual model

[seeds] that transform the perspective of narrow streets, construct new spaces in old squares, bend facades, rise up from pavements...alien forms and unseen forces that trace the paths of new energies, finally, that, returned to their place within the drawings that gave them origin, will at least attest to the moment that Vienna’s “system” - but not the system of traffic, the ex-change, the society, the government, the tourists, the ideologies - emerged in a multiple galaxy of energetic spaces: Vienna as a force field of potential, at once social and architectural...

[seeds] that for a moment will, at rest, motivate space, project the utopia of transformation and event into space, reveal the social potential of space; and that, after it’s all over, will return to the vault from whence they came, only to destabilise the lines on the walls once again, demonstrating the power of feedback, the force of entropic imagination. - ‘Drawing into Space’ - Anthony Vidler in Lebbeus Woods: System Wien

This model investigates the notion of a force field of potential - what Lebbeus Woods describes as the heterarchical layer to the city, free from the constraints of conventional social hierarchies that Camillo Sitte was addressing.

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0 2 9 2 _ 0A b i g a i l T h o m a s U n i v e r s i t y o f S h e f f i e l d S c h o o l o f A r c h i t e c t u r e H e t e r a r c h i c a l L a n d s c a p e : V i e n n aFinal Master Plan and staggered site section [Scale 1:1000]

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Master Plan

1 New park 2 Bridge across River Wien3 River park with sculptures4 Hidden river exposed5 Residential apartments with offices on the ground floor6 Offices built into the bridge7 Offices8 Public plaza9 Five-a-side football pitch10 Residential apartments11 Apartments with offices and retail on the ground floor12 Public plaza13 Community Centre14 Rising bollards for delivery access15 Tai-chi lawn16 Boules lawns17 Basketball court18 Skate and bicycle park with cafe and bike store below19 Children’s playground20 Beach volleyball court with ‘beach’ seating21 Out door seating22 Meadow / public plaza23 Out door performance space with terraced seating24 Small hill to block views of the road25 Bridge across Gaudenzdorfer Gurtel

Staggered Section DDVienna Zero

Enlarged section through skate park with bike repair shop and cafe below

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0 2 9 2 _ 0A b i g a i l T h o m a s U n i v e r s i t y o f S h e f f i e l d S c h o o l o f A r c h i t e c t u r e H e t e r a r c h i c a l L a n d s c a p e : V i e n n aCommunity CentreFirst, Second and Third Floor Plans [Scale 1:200]

Third Floor Plan

1 Store2 Fire Escape3 Exhibition space4 Female WC5 Male WC6 Disabled WC7 Open plan workshop8 Seating area9 Store10 Observation

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Second Floor Plan

1 Store2 Fire Escape3 Large group study room4 Small group study room5 Female WC6 Male WC7 Disabled WC8 Children’s library9 Reception10 Library11 Seating / reading area12 Archive13 Open plan staff office14 Observation

First Floor Plan

1 Toy Paradise2 Fire Escape3 Medium group study room4 Female WC5 Male WC6 Disabled WC7 Phone booth8 Kitchenette9 Classroom10 Seating11 Games room12 Observation13 Balcony14 Projection room

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0 2 9 2 _ 0A b i g a i l T h o m a s U n i v e r s i t y o f S h e f f i e l d S c h o o l o f A r c h i t e c t u r e H e t e r a r c h i c a l L a n d s c a p e : V i e n n aConceptual site analysis - The heterarchical city and reports aimed at reference persons

A Moveable Landscape - Making Connections

The park to the North-West of the site seems completely cut off from the activities taking place around it, which is mostly light in-dustrial factories, offices and some residential buildings. Next to the park is a large open area, which was built upon between 1910 and 1945, but is now used as a car park area for the adjacent of-fices. I envisage this park becoming more integrated into the mas-ter plan with a linking route across the river. A path along the side of the river to connect the park to the South-West would also en-courage pedestrian movement through the site, as well as more interaction with the river.

Centric City: a city within a city

Vienna is such a city to me. The pattern of the urban grain and the city’s network of systems are defined by concentric circles. The Gur-tel and the Ringstrasse; each wall (or memory of a wall) encloses a circular area of the city and defines circulation patterns by keeping the flow of fast traffic to the circumference. Permeability towards the centre is difficult and slow. The districts also follow this trend.

The site is a microcosm of this. Fast traffic zooms around the exte-rior, and the centre of the site is barely used. There is nothing there to draw you in or define your route, resulting in a lack of interac-tion with this so called public ground. The competition brief itself describes a micro-city; residences, commerce, transport links and communal space are all required, each one an essential urban ingre-dient, a city within a city.

To successfully integrate the site into the urban fabric of Vienna, circulation patterns and external flows across the site must be shaped effectively, with the use of public space as a tool to control it. Through my master plan I aim to establish new networks and con-nections across the site, re-direct the traffic flow and re-align the ex-isting axes. In order to do this I aim to tap into what Lebbeus Woods calls the heterarchical city; that is the zone which lies within the his-torical and the hierarchical city which is free from those constraints, and within this free zone allow the potential movement flows of energy on the site to shape the master plan.

I have begun to study this with a series of flow diagrams and mod-els which investigate the negative space and the layered nature of the site as well as this heterarchical layer. I aim to treat the site as a moveable landscape which is shaped by the flows that permeate or encircle it and makes connections with the surrounding parks and open spaces.

Images of first concept model considering the flow of the seeds and the relationship between the elements that divide and define the site; the bridge, the river, the toxic waste and the tram line.

Flow diagrams

Flooding the site with seed-like vectors that have a direction as a tool for analysis. The connection the seeds make with the existing routes [river, tram line, bridge] is passive. If an interaction occurs, they move around, above or below the object.

This series of drawings was influenced by Lebbeus Woods’ work in Vienna and in particular his ideas about a heterarchy and subversion of the social hierarchies that are prevalent in urban design and architecture. With these sketches I tried to explore the idea of a moveable landscape in more detail, an element that is influenced by the field of potential energy which it exists in. This new fluid landscape is shaped by the site’s topography as well as the structures, it becomes fragmented and twisted as it moves across the site, carried along by the invisible energy.

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Reference person 2 - Impaired mobility. Mr. Joe Manser

The whole masterplan is set out on the idea of access for all. There-fore all walkways, bridges and public plazas are suitable for wheel-chair users to move as freely as they like, without their view of the site being obstructed or the way they experience the architecture to vary from an able-bodied person. Within the community centre there are lifts and ramps to allow for freedom of movement and ac-cess to the sports observation tower. Lift buttons, door handles and other tactile elements are kept at a height of 1 meter off the ground to allow easy reach.

Reference person 3 - Impaired vision. Mr. Wolfgang Kremser

The site is set out logically with one ribbon-like route that cuts across it. This will help people with visual impairments to find their way easily. Contrasting colours are used on the elements that protrude into the public space, hopefully allowing for people with visual im-pairments to see them. The public space is left largely open. Differ-ent textured paving ensures that you are aware when approaching the road or a building.

Reference Person 1 – A working mother with infants. Mrs. Françoise-Hélène Jourda

The masterplan describes a city within a city. It is possible for a fam-ily to live within the masterplan zone and not have to leave the four neighbouring districts as all of their needs are supplied with a food shop, schools, offices, recreation and childcare all within walking or cycling distance. This in turn is better for the environment as people living within the masterplan will not necessarily need to own a car. The typical day for a working mother with children would consist of taking the children to the daycare centre which is attached to the community centre then returning to the offices below their accom-modation to work. At lunchtime the mother could see the children and take them for a walk along the river or to play in the park. When it is raining or cold, she could take them to the toy paradise within the community centre instead. After work, the children are collected from day care and taken back to the house after an ice cream in the skate park. Lifts and ramps insure that a pushchair would not be a problem.

Philipp Luy Bauhaus Universität Weimar

volleyballtabletennis playground promenade bridge / undercrossing foyer tribune courtyardadditional passage cafe Wienmanderl beergarden boule Skateparc

promenade next to the Wien and community centersite plan

ground fl oor

community centerfi rst fl oor

community center with adjacent workshopsthird fl oor

work-area and changing

THE INFRASTRUCTURE SERVES EMPTY SPACES THAT CAN BE USED IN ENDLESS VARIATIONS

acessfoyer

adjacent spaces storage changing shower storage equipment fi eld

Ich besuchte Wotrba in seinem Atelier. Zwei Bögen unter dem Viaduct der Stadtbahn waren ihm von der Ge-meinde als Atelier zugewiesen worden. In einem ... schlug er auf seinen Stein los ... im anderen standen Figuren, die ihn bei der Arbeit gestört hätten. Am liebsten, wenn das Wetter nicht zu schlecht war, arbeitete er

draußen. Anfangs fühlte ich mich von der Nüchternheit der Lokalität und dem Lärm der Züge abgestossen, aber da es nichts Überfl üssiges zu sehen gab, da alles was immer hier vorhanden war einen anzog und zählte, fand man rasch in den Ort und spürte, dass er richtig war, er hätte nicht geeig-

neter sein können.

Elias CanettiAugenspiel

In his autobiography Elias Canetti writes about his visits of the artist Wotruba in his atelier under the viaduct of the Stadtbahn.

He is deeply impressed by the athmospheric quality of this sober and functional environment

foyertribune

courtyard openair lockers bicycle repair workshop sculpture workshop wood workshop metall cafe Wienmanderl

a string of functions serves acces, storage, toilets, changing and the tribune - the mainspaces are empty and change through use and users

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NASTIK / FITN

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roofgardenadministration/library

circular galleryballroom

gamearea/teachersroomclass and grouprooms

newspapers/internet/phone cabins

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INDETERMINATE CONTAINER

COMMUNITYCENTER

When you are inside this simple building, you will still feel the outside, in winter even the cold, in summer a warm breeze

from the natural ventilation.It is very light and responds to the surrounding climate, noise and even dayime - its just a climate-

cover resisting rain and extreme temperatures

The basic form of the communitycenter - large base and high tower will help you to reach all desired areas easy and fast,

because all spaces are to reach through straight corridors or one single elevator.

The community-center is thought as open box, a container that is defi ned through use and users - it will change across the years and you and your children can defi ne its destination and pros-

per with it

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Structurally, the community centre splits into two - the multi-pur-pose hall and observatory is separately supported from the rest. The hall works like space frame construction with the concrete fin walls supporting the roof trusses. The structural concept of the rest of building is similar to that of a stadium roof. The roof is sus-pended from the main arched steel members and the third floor floor plate is also hung. This is then braced and mutually support-ed by the concrete fin walls and the vertical lift shaft. The steel members that arch across the building are painted in the same green tone as the bridge to allow them to look as if they are an extension of the bridge with a landscape below.

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Detail_01

Enlarged Section AA [looking East]

1 High strength stainless steel rod2 Metal clip bolted to steel i-beam 3 Corrugated aluminium sheeting4 Metal baton bolted to aluminium cladding5 100mm thick foam insulation 6 Steel i-beam 400mm deep7 Aluminium roof decking with DPC above8 Movement joint9 Aluminium profile clip10 Powder coated aluminium column 11 10mm double glazing12 Steel i-beam 600mm deep13 Aluminium concealed gutter14 Metal clip15 Facade floodlight16 Stainless steel mesh panel in a steel frame17 Steel i-column 600mm deep

Detail_01 Glazed facade to suspended roof1: 50

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1 Moveable roof panel to allow for large sculptures to be removed2 Studio and workshop for sculptors3 Entrance atrium4 Reading area5 Archive6 Entrance to staff office7 Circulation8 Rear entrance and access to sports pitches 9 Games room10 Circulation11 Circulation12 Suspended staircase 13 Signage 14 Maintenance track [removed]15 Plant room16 U-6 metro track

Section AA [looking West]

Retail/ residential block

Community centre

PlazaRiver Wien revealed

Otto Wagner bridge

Model_04 Short section through Community Centre, showing exposed structure

1: Public plaza, community centre and residential block. 2: View of sculpture park and river walk 3: Community centre front facade

With this project I have sought to create a series of usable public space and therefore ‘reclaim the public ground’ by revealing the invisible force field of potential energy that is latent in the site and developing ways to map this flow. The buildings themselves add a new layer, a fragmented, moveable landscape that shapes and controls this flow. The built forms do not stop this fluidity, the same strategy is used, with the structure as a tool, to control cir-culation through the building. This heterarchical landscape questions the notion that buildings should respond to a social order and instead gives the community centre precedence.

Axonometric of Community Centre, showing exposed structure

Entrance to community centre showing moveable door and signage

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0 2 9 2 _ 0A b i g a i l T h o m a s U n i v e r s i t y o f S h e f f i e l d S c h o o l o f A r c h i t e c t u r e H e t e r a r c h i c a l L a n d s c a p e : V i e n n aCommunity Centre Ground Floor Plan showing plaza and retail / residential block [Scale 1:200]

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First Floor Plan

1 Store2 Fire Escape3 Kitchen4 Servery hatch5 Cafe6 Outside seating7 Fitness room8 Equipment store9 Gymnasium10 Reception11 Female WC12 Male WC13 Disabled WC14 Cleaner’s store15 Male change16 Female change17 Stage area (movable)18 Seating (moveable)19 Multi- purpose hall20 Observation21 Seating/ Equipment Store22 Pram/ toy Store23 Toilets24 Day care25 Signage/ advertising space26 Seating27 Retail space / Offices28 Vertical circulation to residential apartments above29 Inner courtyard30 Office units

Diagram of circulation flow through the building

The community centre houses all the indoor sports facilities, such as the gym and fitness rooms as well as the multi- purpose hall which can be used as a theatre or cinema with the use of flexible seating and a demountable stage. The next two floors consist of the learning facilities such as classrooms, meeting rooms, library and offices. Finally the top floor is dedicated to the sculpture workshops and exhibition space which over looks the plaza and the bridge.

Development Models

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Offices at ground floor level with residential units above