Pharrell and Nigo design Japa Valley Tokyo district with Not A Hotel
Producer Pharrell Williams and fashion designer Nigo are collaborating with Japanese hospitality brand Not A Hotel to design a commerci…
#Japan #JP #Tokyo ##nigo #landscapeandurbanism #NOTAHOTEL #PharrellWilliams #publicandleisure #publicspace #section:all #section:architecture #section:news #TokyoTopics #urbandesign #東京 #東京都
https://www.alojapan.com/1360423/pharrell-and-nigo-design-japa-valley-tokyo-district-with-not-a-hotel/
"The death of George Floyd has become a catalyst for social change and urban redevelopment"
A promising new future for Minneapolis is emerging from the trauma of George Floyd's murder by a police officer two years ago, writes his friend and local architect James Garrett Jr.
I have come to understand the suffering and death of George Floyd (or Big Floyd, as we knew him) as both a catalyst and accelerant for a new wave of social change and urban redevelopment across the Minneapolis-St Paul region. Cities are notoriously durable and resilient organisms, but the complexity of their systems and organizational structures is precarious even in the best of times.
Thousands of mundane processes need to occur every day to keep things ticking along: routine construction and maintenance of public streets, sidewalks, parks, utilities, and infrastructure. Manufacturing, assembly, and shipping. Supply chain transport from ports of entry to warehouses, stores, restaurants, homes, and businesses.
Doctors, nurses, and support staff keep hospitals and emergency rooms running. Firefighters and law enforcement officers respond to crisis calls. This daily dance takes place like clockwork, unnoticed, until it doesn't.
Contested urban space quickly became the most visible expression of discord
The immediate aftermath of George Floyd's globally broadcast murder resulted in a rapid downward spiral of civility and order in the Twin Cities, set against the backdrop of an economic recession within a global pandemic.
Contested urban space quickly became the most visible expression of this discord. Dozens of FEMA-blue-tarp informal encampments seemingly bloomed overnight in our neighborhoods.
Thousands of disenfranchised youth occupied city streets, sidewalks, and expressways as a vanguard of unified resistance to the climate of inequity that made murders like Big Floyd's possible. Meanwhile, masked white nationalist and anarchist agitators hid amongst peaceful protestors, indiscriminately shooting, smashing, looting, burning and destroying at every opportunity that presented itself.
However, from this fog of chaos and disruption, several initiatives emerged that are today helping us reinvent ourselves and transform our communities into more equitable, inclusive places.
In real time, the intolerable conditions and unconscionable disparities in both opportunities and outcomes long-suffered by Black Minnesotans was confronted with explosive waves of resistance from disaffected youth in ways that resonated across the globe.
Art center JXTA is building a new campus with donations received in the wake of Floyd's murder
What arose from this economic, social and microbial turmoil has the potential to pull us towards an alternate iteration of reality, one distinct from the flaws of the first century-and-a-half of Minnesota's history.
I'd like to offer three initiatives for examination here, which I am directly involved in, that were either catalyzed or accelerated by the tragic loss of Big Floyd. These projects are emblematic of the new energy, determination, and commitment of our local community.
The most dynamic of these initiatives began a decade ago but received a new infusion of support and capital during the 2020 summer of protest and racial reckoning.
Juxtaposition Arts (JXTA) has been a bright light in north Minneapolis for the past 25 years, providing innovative arts education, training, mentorship, and employment for urban youth. I helped pioneer JXTA's architecture and environmental design curriculum when I taught there upon graduation from Parsons School of Design and relocating back to the Twin Cities from New York in 2008.
Local corporations, philanthropic groups and individual donors sought out impactful organizations to support
During that period I created an art installation for Afro-Futurism, an international art exhibition at the legendary, now-closed Soap Factory Gallery in Minneapolis. My artwork, entitled Afro-Urbanism, was a kinetic sculpture that imagined the community and economic impact of building a new, state-of-the-art campus at the location of the existing art center.
After numerous iterations and a decade-long capital campaign, this initiative finally crossed the fundraising finish line when local corporations, philanthropic groups and individual donors sought out impactful organizations to support in the wake of George Floyd's death.
My own studio, 4RM+ULA, designed the campus in conjunction with TENxTEN Landscape Architecture and JXTA staff and students. The new facility is currently under construction and will be open for art classes this fall.
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"As a predominantly white profession, we recognise that we have contributed to this pain"
Second, the redevelopment of 38th/Chicago, colloquially known as George Floyd Square, is an initiative by the City of Minneapolis to reclaim, rethink, and reconfigure the public space around the site of George Floyd's murder.
Immediately following the traumatic conclusion of that fateful police encounter with the community, neighbors started to self-organize in order to block traffic into the intersection, to preserve space for people to gather, grieve, and remember what had happened there.
Within a few days, dozens of non-commissioned artworks appeared in the square and the community activists and neighbors took control of the site and began referring to it as an "autonomous zone". A two-year battle ensued over access to this contested space and the divergent interests of community, public works, and public safety.
We endeavor to honor the spirit of this sacred space
Last year, 4RM+ULA formed a collaborative team with TENxTEN and urban planning consultancy NEOO Partners and was hired by the City of Minneapolis to lead an inclusive urban design process for the area. We are currently engaging with project stakeholders to find areas of synergy and overlapping principles from which to begin planning efforts for a people-centric public place that holds space for an officially commissioned, future, George Floyd memorial.
This site has become a pilgrimage destination for mourners and travelers from near and far. It is also a place that attracts people who are experiencing trauma, mental health crisis, and loss of all kinds. It is a location where folks from all walks of life come to reflect and contemplate, individually and with others. We endeavor to honor the spirit of this sacred space.
Since the infamous incident that occurred here in 2020 some corporations, like US Bank, have really stepped up and delivered in unexpected ways.
38th/Chicago, colloquially known as George Floyd Square, will be redeveloped
On the afternoon of May 26, 2020, I parked at the Lake Street branch of US Bank to help distribute donuts to volunteers cleaning up after the first night of civil unrest and vandalism in the area. The following night, the Lake Street US Bank branch itself was vandalized, set on fire and damaged irreparably.
Once the smoke cleared, however, US Bank leadership decided not to rebuild at that location. Instead, they put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) and offered to donate the land – half a city block – to a worthy community initiative dedicated to creating economic opportunity for Black Indigenous People Of Color (BIPOC) organizations.
4RM+ULA was approached by a local non-profit developer interested in creating a new model for community-centric economic development. Together with Seward Redesign, we responded to the RFP by proposing a joint venture development entity, Re+4RM, that would perform intensive community engagement around the site to forge an equity-oriented masterplan.
May our dreams be as big as your impact on this community.
Parcels of the land would then be sold to BIPOC organizations who could deliver on one of four aspects of our vision: Black-owned mixed-income housing and commercial space, a Latinx-owned community services facility, an Indigenous-owned cultural institution, or a Privately-Owned Public Space (POPS) at the center of the site providing a safe communal gathering place for cultural exchange, mourning, protest, remembrance, and celebration.
Last fall, our Re+4RM team submitted a proposal, was interviewed, and selected for this unique opportunity for urban transformation, from a site of destruction to a place of BIPOC ownership, sustainable housing, and collective healing. We will commence our community engagement process once the land donation is complete. Master planning work will follow engagement, and construction could begin as soon as 2023.
Rest In Power, Big Floyd. May our work adequately honor your legacy and may our dreams be as big as your impact on this community.
The main image, taken by the author, shows a tribute to George Floyd at the Conga Latin Bistro where he worked as security.
James Garrett Jr is an architect, artist and writer and managing partner at Twin Cities-based architecture studio4RM+ULA.
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Buro Happold works with indigenous builders to develop climate resilience strategies for cities
Roofs made from living trees and floating houses on reed islands are among the urban planning concepts developed by engineering studio Buro Happold in collaboration with indigenous communities as part of an installation called Symbiocene.
The project, commissioned for the exhibition Our Time on Earth at London's Barbican Centre, presents three proposals for how indigenous building technologies could be applied to cities by 2040 to make them more resilient to climate breakdown without contributing to it.
Visualised through architectural models overlaid with video projections, each concept is based on a nature-based design strategy developed by different aboriginal communities from around the world – the War Khasi of north-eastern India, the Ma'dan of southern Iraq and Bali's Subak farming cooperatives.
Symbiocene features models with overlaid animations (top image) by Buro Happold visualisation lead Paul Eastell (above)
Through a series of workshops between the first nation builders and engineers from British firm Buro Happold, these technologies were applied to the most pressing environmental issues facing our cities – water scarcity, rising temperatures and sea levels.
"Cities all over the world are completely aware that conventional construction is very problematic in terms of the climate emergency and ongoing resilience," said Buro Happold's sustainability director Smith Mordak.
"We have solutions but we're usually looking in the wrong places. If we collaborate with indigenous communities, who have been developing technologies that are respectful of the way that ecosystems work for centuries, then we can have a vision for 2040."
One concept is based on the Ma'dan's floating reed islands. Image courtesy of Julia Watson
The first Symbiocene concept uses the floating islands made from layers of reed, on which the Ma'dan build their homes in the marshes of southern Iraq, to help retrofit coastal communities so they can survive higher sea levels.
This would involve jacking up lighter at-risk structures like single-family houses and building a structure underneath so they can be lifted onto reed islands and turned into off-grid homes with their own energy supply and composting toilets.
"When the reeds decompose, they trap air so they create these buoyant bubbles, which means that the islands are floating," Mordak told Dezeen.
"And then you can create homes on them, you can farm on them because the layers upon layers of the reeds create an island and an earth. And underneath the islands, there are these amazing bio-havens that provide habitat for water life."
Homes could be lifted onto these floating islands to protect them from rising seas
Using pontoon bridges, these floating islands could then be connected to existing infrastructure that has survived on higher ground as well as larger buildings raised up on stilts.
In this way, the project hopes to offer an alternative to common flood resilience proposals like barge communities, which would require considerable resources to build from scratch.
"We talk a lot about retrofitting rather than building new and we wanted to apply some of that thinking to existing waterfront communities," Mordak said.
"A lot of the ideas that have been put forward are kind of like concrete pontoons but we were trying to look at a bio-based approach."
The second concept creates covered walkways from interwoven trees
The second concept uses a trellising technique, which the War Khasi people use to construct bridges from living trees, to form a network of covered walkways connecting city dwellers to public transport stations.
Ficus trees with aerial roots would be planted at different levels over bamboo scaffolds and their roots and branches trained to form dense roof structures that can shield pedestrians from rising temperatures.
"This is particularly relevant in climates where it's getting hotter and actually cycling or walking for any distance is getting increasingly uncomfortable and difficult," Mordak said.
"The trees provide shade, improve air quality and lower surface temperatures through the process of evapotranspiration. That's going to make a big difference to how far people are willing and able to use those sustainable forms of transport."
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The final Symbiocene concept hopes to tackle the problem of water scarcity by moving away from a centralised "out of sight out of mind" water management system.
Instead, it proposes establishing small cooperatives at neighbourhood level, based on the Subak system used in Bali to irrigate rice terraces, which would see locals work together to distribute water according to need and encourage them to use this finite resource more responsibly
"Because water is managed at a local level with a small group of people, it's not abstract," Mordak said. "So you're going to think much more carefully about what you use, and you will be able to see the results."
This concept is based on the living root bridges of the War Khasi. Image by Timothy Allen courtesy of Julia Watson
Instead of purifying all water used across a city to drinking-water quality, the concept proposes a two-step nature-based system, in which neighbourhood reed beds are used to clean water for flushing, showering and other daily activities.
From here, local cooperatives would decide how much water needs chemical purification in order to make it drinkable for the community, with any wastewater used to irrigate nearby reed beds used for growing food.
"One of the questions that came up in the conversation was, why do we in western cities shit in drinking water," Mordak said.
"Why are we using a huge amount of energy and chemicals to create very clean, drinkable water and then we're using it for things that don't need that level of purification."
The third concept looks at cooperative local water management
To select the building techniques presented in the installations and establish relationships with the different communities, Mordak worked with Julia Watson, author of the much-publicised book LO–TEK Design by Radical Indigenism.
The installation forms an attempt at finding practical applications for some of the indigenous technologies outlined in the book within a dense urban environment.
"If we did a bit more work, you could build the concepts," Mordak said. "They're all intended to be completely realisable."
The idea is based on the Subak system for irrigating rice terraces. Image courtesy of Julia Watson
Alongside the concepts, Mordak and Watson also formulated a "smart oath", recorded on a public blockchain to set out how any kind of profits made from these ideas will be shared with the relevant communities.
"The project has been about how can we facilitate a fair and just knowledge exchange between ourselves, the engineers and landscape architects and architects, and the indigenous communities and the builders of these indigenous technologies," Mordak explained.
"If you're getting a bunch of design fees and you're using these ideas, these indigenous communities should be remunerated for their contribution. If we're not very clear about the way in which that should happen, then they could be exploited very easily."
All images are courtesy of Buro Happold unless otherwise stated.
Our Time on Earth takes place at London's Barbican until 29 August 2022. SeeDezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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BIG and Samoo unveil design for "flood-proof" floating city Oceanix Busan
Architecture firms BIG and Samoo and tech company Oceanix have revealed their design for a first-of-its-kind climate-resilient floating city, destined for the seas off Busan in South Korea.
Oceanix Busan is being developed by UN-Habitat and the Busan Metropolitan City and designed by floating cities company Oceanix in collaboration with partners including BIG and Samoo.
UN-Habitat calls Oceanix Busan "the world's first prototype floating city" and aims for it to provide a model for coastal cities facing threats from flooding and rising sea levels due to climate change.
Oceanix Busan will be a first-of-its-kind floating development in South Korea
It says Oceanix Busan – which expands urban development into the ocean with habitation built on floating platforms – is sustainable, resilient and flood-proof.
The development is composed of a series of interconnected neighbourhoods: initially, it will comprise three platforms hosting 12,000 residents, but with the potential to expand to more than 20 platforms over time.
Oceanix, BIG and their partners designed it to be site-specific to Busan, emulating the characteristics of the city so that it blends in with the existing architecture and culture.
The development will be based around floating platforms with low-rise buildings
"In designing a solution for the most vulnerable coastal locations on the frontlines of climate change, Oceanix's new modular maritime neighbourhoods will be a prototype for sustainable communities informed by Busan's unique juxtaposition of old and new," said BIG founder and creative director Bjarke Ingels.
"Creating a connection between the city and the seaside, Oceanix Busan will expand this spirit onto the waterfront."
While each 30,000- to 40,000-square-metre neighbourhood will be mixed-use, it will also be designed to serve a specific purpose. There will be one for living, one for research and one lodging platform for visitors.
The development will try to emulate the melding of old and new that characterises Busan
The living platform will have diverse housing options, prioritising accessibility, and "intimate alleys" of local food vendors and stores.
The research platform will be a hub for maritime study, with new green economy jobs in areas such as a habitat regeneration centre, maker spaces and dorms.
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The tourism platform will feature eco-lodgings, organic dining and other amenities for visitors to the floating city.
Link-span bridges will connect the floating platforms, and the development will focus on wind-resistant low-rise buildings, terraces for indoor-outdoor living, and large gardens and greenhouses for growing food and creating temperature-controlled environments.
The residential neighbourhood will include intimate alleys for shopping and dining
The platforms will have outposts for recreation, art and performance, as well as some dedicated to resource production, with photovoltaic panels and greenhouses for growing food.
Oceanix Busan will be designed to generate 100 per cent of its required operational energy and have local systems for water treatment, recycling and urban agriculture.
The development will be located in Busan North Port and the first phase will cover 6.3 hectares. Construction will begin in 2023, reported The Independent.
Each neighbourhood will draw food from its own urban agriculture projects
UN-Habitat, the United Nations' agency for human settlements, estimates that 90 per cent of megacities worldwide are vulnerable to rising sea levels, which will exacerbate existing pressures on housing stock.
"We cannot solve today's problems with yesterday's tools," said UN-Habitat executive director Maimunah Mohd Sharif. "We need to innovate solutions to global challenges."
"But in this drive for innovation, let's be inclusive and equitable and ensure we leave no one and no place behind," she continued.
The floating city is flood-proof to protect citizens from rising sea levels
Oceanix Busan was unveiled at the Second UN Roundtable on Sustainable Floating Cities in New York City this week.
It is an evolution of the Oceanix City concept designed by BIG and unveiled at the inaugural roundtable event in April 2019.
Floating cities were also given a push in the most recent report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said cities were failing to prepare for climate change and proposed design solutions to protect citizens from extreme weather and rising seas.
Images courtesy of Oceanix and BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group.
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#all #architecture #landscapeandurbanism #news #big #southkorea #busan #samoo #floatingarchitecture #climatechange #unitednations
DSDHA creates public square above the tracks of Liverpool Street Station
Architecture studio DSDHA has created the public Exchange Square in the City of London alongside Liverpool Street Station.
Created for developer British Land as part of its Broadgate estate, the DSDHA-designed park was suspended above train tracks between the station's Grade II-listed train shed and the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill-designed Exchange House, which also spans the tracks.
DSDHA designed Exchange Square alongside Liverpool Street Station
Named after the neighbouring Exchange House, DSDHA worked in collaboration with landscape architecture studio FFLO to add 14,000 plants with more than 140 species to the 1.5-acre square.
The studios aimed to create an accessible landscape that blends nature with its busy urban location. The square is now one of the City of London's largest green public squares.
The creation of the 420-square-metre green space has quadrupled the amount of planting in Broadgate and enhanced biodiversity, which the developer believes will enhance productivity of those working in the surrounding offices.
It is above train lines running into the station
"Creating opportunities for people to encounter nature as part of their daily lives boosts wellbeing and productivity," said Matthew Webster, head of environmental at British Land.
"This new, green space has been designed to enhance both physical and mental health in a variety of ways – through providing an area for tranquillity, opportunities for social interaction, or through encouraging and making it easy for people to visit and move through the space."
An ampitheatre was placed at the centre of the square
DSDHA and FFLO aimed to create a space that could be used for both work – as an overflow for the surrounding offices – and recreation.
Its meandering pathways and cascading waterfall were built alondside numerous curved benches and grouping of chairs to be used for open-air working.
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"Our ambition for this new park was to create a landscape that nurtures both plants and people through retrofitting nature into the heart of the City, breaking down perceived barriers to the surrounding areas, and offering a space that provides opportunities for both recuperation and recreation," explained DSDHA's founding director Deborah Saunt.
An amphitheatre made from terrazzo stone is located in the centre of the square and provides addition space for seating and an area for temporary events.
Curved benches can be used for outdoor working
Exchange Square, which is now open to the public, is one of four public spaces redesigned by DSDHA over the past seven years.
The London-based studio, which is led by Saunt and David Hills, previously revamped the National Youth Theatre in north London and the Smithsons-designed Economist Plaza.
Other examples of public squares and spaces include a multi-level city park in Cyprus' capital designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the Xuhui Runway Park by Sasaki and an undulating public square in Copenhagen that contains parking for 2,000 bikes by COBE.
The photography is by Daniel Fisher.
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Sustainable living is "not viable outside cities" says Hélène Chartier of C40 Cities
Cities are the only sustainable way to house Earth's growing population – but the importance of protecting them from climate risks has been "totally underrated", according to Hélène Chartier of sustainable urbanism network C40 Cities.
"In terms of reducing emissions, living in cities is the best option we have," said Chartier, who is head of zero-carbon development at C40 Cities.
Chartier spoke to Dezeen following the publication of the latest climate report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
At C40 Cities, Hélène Chartier (above) facilitates low carbon urban developments such as Milan's Piazzale Loreto (top image)
The report shows that cities are key players in the fight against global warming, Chartier said. In the countryside, people are reliant on cars and live in larger buildings that are less efficient to heat and power, she explained.
Urban areas, on the other hand, offer an opportunity to service large swathes of the population with decarbonised public transport, cycling routes and sustainable energy, waste and water management systems.
"We know that to have a more sustainable lifestyle, we need to have access to the right infrastructure," she told Dezeen. "And this is not viable outside cities, let's be honest."
"To develop this kind of infrastructure and make it efficient, you need a certain level of density."
"Architects have a huge responsibility"
The IPPC's latest report found that cities have failed to prepare for the impacts of climate change that are already touching every region of the world – not to mention the more frequent and severe heatwaves, floods, droughts and storms that are to come as temperatures continue to rise.
To fulfil their full climate potential, Chartier said cities will first need to be decarbonised and become greener, more compact and more resilient to the disastrous impacts of global warming.
"In the past, the focus of climate action was mainly on mitigation," she explained. "It is now urgent to also act on adaptation, as the effects of climate change are already here and will amplify quickly."
Studio Gang designed a block in Chicago for C40 Cities' Reinventing Cities competition
Currently, cities house 55 per cent of the global population while being responsible for 60 per cent of emissions. Unless urban areas are fundamentally redesigned, Chartier said this is only set to get worse as the number of people living in cities is set to increase to almost 70 per cent by 2050.
"The report really insists on the fact that poorly planned cities and urban growth have a very significant impact on global warming," she said.
Buildings account for around half of a city's carbon footprint, so the solution is to eliminate operational emissions from heating and energy use as well as embodied emissions from materials and construction.
"Architects have a huge responsibility," Chartier said. "The way we design our building today is going to change the world tomorrow."
Compact cities are more sustainable
C40 Cities aims to encourage a shift to low-carbon cities through projects such as the Reinventing Cities competition, which will see 49 experimental developments built in 19 different cities.
The initiative forms part of C40 Cities' wider mission to help its members, including almost 100 of the world's biggest cities, reach their net-zero goals.
Outside of buildings, the majority of an average city's emissions are down to road transport. So Chartier suggests that local governments should enforce growth boundaries to reduce travel distances and limit urban sprawl.
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Cities should also become more polycentric, so they contain self-sufficient 15-minute neighbourhoods where all daily necessities are accessible via a short walk or cycle.
This would make space to regenerate and protect forests and other ecosystems in and around cities so they can act as carbon sinks.
"We need to ban all construction that will kill or destroy nature," Chartier said.
All buildings must have climate change risk assessment
As urban areas become denser, they will become increasingly vulnerable to the disastrous impacts of climate change due to their growing populations and the urban heat island effect.
To mitigate this, Chartier said all building projects or urban developments should now start with a climate change risk assessment, looking at the hazards that a site will be exposed to under different emissions scenarios over the coming decades.
"That's really something that has been totally underrated," she explained. "A lot of cities haven't actually assessed in detail where there is a risk."
Construction in vulnerable areas such as flood plains and coastal shores should be banned or limited, Chartier said. And any new buildings should incorporate greenery as well as passive cooling and bioclimatic design strategies to protect inhabitants from heatwaves without the need for air conditioning.
Trees provide shading in this Bangkok home by Shma Company. Photo is by Jinnawat Borihankijanan
Nature-based solutions such as green roofs, greenways and belts are particularly effective, as they can both absorb rainwater and lower local temperatures.
"Allocating land-use for green spaces and permeable soil needs to be compulsory for every new project," Chartier said. "There can even be local bylaws to ensure that all roofs or walls over a certain size integrate a certain percentage of green area, which New York is considering."
Dezeen recently rounded up a number of existing projects that incorporate climate resilience strategies, including a floating villa with retractable stilts and a house in Vietnam that accomodates seven people and 120 trees.
Another key way that architects can help to fight climate change is by considering the consumption-based emissions generated by the people living in their buildings, as Chartier outlined during a talk hosted by Dezeen at Dutch Design Week last autumn.
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#all #architecture #news #landscapeandurbanism #cities #climatechange #c40cities #hélènechartier
Overland Partners designs binational park that "serves as a prototype for border cities"
San Antonio-based firm Overland Partners has released plans for a binational border park between Mexico and the United States that will be built along the Rio Grande.
The design incorporates 6.3 miles of land over a thousand acres on both sides of the river, which is known as Rio Bravo in Mexico, connecting the cities of Laredo in Texas and Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas.
Overland Partners was selected to lead the project alongside Able City, a local architect studio in Laredo, through a public submission process.
The team was selected during a meeting between officials from both countries, held to facilitate tourism, trade, and economic growth for the states on both sides of the border.
"The cities had envisioned over 40 individual projects on both sides of the river that would contribute to the restoration of the site ecology, the celebration of their joint culture, and revitalisation of the economy," said Rick Archer and Barbara Warren of Overland Partners.
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Overland Partners held a three-day work session with the representatives of both nations, including the border patrol agencies, to identify key themes for the project. These themes included environment and ecology, culture, security, economy, and binational community.
Overland Partners took the suggestions for the individual projects and combined them into a cohesive plan.
Combining ecological restoration and new infrastructure
Three large areas will constitute the park. The first is a 2.5-mile-long ecological restoration area northeast of the cities.
The second is a mile stretch in the urban cores along the river that will be framed by bridges and feature an amphitheatre.
Finally, a recreation area will stretch for three miles and terminate at the Nuevo Laredo Zoo.
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"We have envisioned a shared Binational pedestrian bridge that physically connects both sides of the river as an extension of the park," said Archer and Warren. "Citizens of both nations would have a shared space for community before checking through customs".
The studio cited the symbolic Highline Bridge, a wire bridge suspended over the Rio Grande to protest border policy, as a touchstone for this concept.
Park to embrace idea of two cities as single community
"This park is a real solution to pressing challenges on both sides of the border," said Archer and Warren.
Historically, one city spanned both sides of the river and was only divided when hard national boundaries were drawn. The design is envisioned as an "abrazo", or embrace, between the two Laredos.
"The reason this park is happening is because Los Dos Laredos, the two Laredos have always seen themselves as one single community with a unique shared culture," said Archer and Warren.
The park will be a shared space along the binational river that citizens of each country could share before crossing the border.
"It is our hope that this conversation will stimulate similar conversations in border cities from Tijuana/San Diego, all the way to Matamoros/Brownsville and around the world," the studio told Dezeen.
The US-Mexico boundary drew attention during the Trump administration, which pledged to reinforce and extend the border wall between the two nations.
Several design projects challenged this idea, including a series of pink seesaws inserted between an existing fence, which was named Design of the Year 2020.
The rendering is courtesy of Overland Partners.
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#all #architecture #news #landscapeandurbanism #usa #mexico #parksandgardens #texas #borderarchitecture
Foster + Partners unveils its first city masterplan in Vietnam
British architecture practice Foster + Partners has revealed its masterplan design for a new 117.4-hectare city in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, that will include residential neighbourhoods, education, medical and leisure facilities.
Titled The Global City, the masterplan was designed by Foster + Partners to include "innovative and sustainable" design solutions and aims to combine an urban context with a focus on biodiversity. It is its first township in the country, the practice said.
Foster + Partners was selected by developers Masterise Homes to design the masterplan for the city, which will feature high- and low-rise apartments, villas, social housing and education facilities, as well as a large shopping mall, medical and administration facilities.
Design aims to "create a holistic, sustainable masterplan for the future"
The masterplan shows the 117.4-hectare city bordered by two waterways that run from the northern to the southern areas of the development.
The Global City will comprise five different neighbourhoods, with green areas, including parks and gardens, located throughout the city to improve its biodiversity.
The Global City will be developed by Masterise Homes and designed by Foster + Partners
"The Global City Masterplan is a fantastic new residential-led development, in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City," said Foster + Partners head of studio Gerard Evenden.
"The design seeks to strike a balance between biodiversity and human wellbeing within an urban context, seamlessly integrating the buildings with a range of flexible, landscaped public spaces and community facilities to create a holistic, sustainable masterplan for the future."
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According to Foster + Partners, each neighbourhood will have distinct characteristics that were developed to cater to the needs of the residing communities.
Residential buildings will be informed by the existing vernacular of Ho Chi Minh City, with brick and timber the main materials used in order to ensure that the new development complements the local streetscape.
Greenspaces will promote physical wellbeing
Its high-rise residential buildings will be located on a central boulevard which doubles as a large public park for the city, providing residents and visitors with riverside views.
Pedestrian footbridges will connect the residential boulevard with adjoining neighbourhoods, providing the city with easy walking routes to "promote physical wellbeing".
"The ambition and scale of the project is striking, and we are delighted to be working with Masterise Homes on this unique residential project, which brings together their progressive vision and our extensive experience in large-scale masterplans to create a distinct global city," said Foster + Partners senior partner Toby Blunt.
"This will be our first township in Vietnam, and we are excited to extend our footprint in the country."
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Foster + Partners is an international architecture practice that was founded by Norman Foster in London in 1967. It has recently unveiled designs for a multi-generational residential neighbourhood on the edge of Bangkok, Thailand.
Other masterplan projects that are being developed by the firm include the new state capital of Andhra Pradesh in India, which will centre a government building with a needle-shaped roof.
Visualisation is by Foster + Partners.
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Sitelab integrates commercial and public space at 5M in San Francisco
Sitelab Urban Studio has completed the first phases of a mixed-use development called 5M in San Francisco's SoMa neighbourhood with Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF) as lead architect.
The project, developed by Brookfield Properties and Hearst, includes a privately owned public park surrounded by a new residential and commercial tower along with rehabilitated historic buildings, including the SF Chronicle Building.
5M includes public, residential, and office space in downtown San Francisco
Oriented around the public spaces, which include the central park and the top of the SF Chronicle Building, 5M foregrounds "the unique alleyways of SoMa", according to Laura Crescimano, co-founder and principal of Sitelab Urban Studio.
"The goal of the overall master plan and design for 5M was to integrate the traditionally dense downtown space and the culturally rich, artistic neighborhood that is SoMa," Crescimano told Dezeen.
Sitelab planned the developement around public parks. Image is by Kathleen Sheffer
A series of towers have been designed for the four-acre (1.6-hectare) site. The first, by KPF in collaboration with House & Robertson Architects is called 415 Natoma. This 25-storey tower has stepped, interlocking masses with two primary towers that have vertical stripping on the facade.
The two towers meet horizontal massing at the lower levels, which have open space for socialising that face into the plaza, and areas reserved for dining and retail options.
KPF designed 415 Natoma to reflect the different elements of the neighbourhood
Also on the site is The George – a 20-storey, 302-unit apartment building by Ankrom Moisan – while another building called N1 is planned. In total, 5M will provide 245 residences.
Across the development, the height of the buildings is indented to be a middle ground between the lower structures of SoMa and the towers of downtown San Francisco.
415 Natoma opens up to Mary Court
While envisioning the neighbourhood as relying on the preexisting culture of SoMa, Crescimano said the design moved forward with a "fabric first" approach.
"We intentionally designed this space to support a plethora of community programming and events, including those that will be hosted by arts and cultural nonprofits and other innovators such as CAST, Kultivate Labs, Off the Grid, and the Filipino Cultural District," she said.
Office space and historic buildings coincide at 5M
The public spaces were designed by Melk and Cliff Lowe Associates, which shaped The Parks at 5M around public art and thoroughfares.
These areas form the city's largest privately owned public space.
The lobby of 415 Natoma is meant to be open for socialising
Sitelabs undertook a lengthy community engagement process during the planning.
"The open space was designed with a stage to support events like the annual Filipino Heritage Festival and aspects like the varied seating support multi-generational use," said Crescimano.
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In addition to adhering to the environmental standards of San Francisco, the project aims for "social sustainability" according to Crescimano.
"The alleyways also increase the walkability of the neighborhood and reduce the dependence on cars, which improves air quality and overall health in the area," she said.
The George is one of the residential buildings on the site. The image is courtesy of Brookfield Properties/Jeffery Mart
"Through design," Crescimano added, "5M is directly addressing the need for more diverse, affordable housing choices in sustainable, walkable neighborhoods".
Other mixed-use projects in San Francisco's downtown include a proposal from Foster + Partners to build a community in a decommissioned power plant.
The photography is byKyle Jeffers unless otherwise stated. The top image is by Brookfield Properties/Steelblue.
The post Sitelab integrates commercial and public space at 5M in San Francisco appeared first on Dezeen.
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