project15:Frontpage
Project name
author(s):Rudo Valentijn Koot
Summary
Circulation - the concept of form
Circulation is the core concept behind the form of the building. Acting as a dock on one side, and an urban farming park on the other the building will become a hub for social and transit activity. Thus it needs to be able to create space for the user to move from one side to the other relatively quickly, and at the same time accomodate leisure activities. The one activity characterized by haste and the other by slowness causes the building to accomodate two seperate worlds. This is the basis for form, a distinct seperation at the mooring site slowly converges into a large green platform which can be the location of social activities as wel as a distribution hub for people in transit.
Urban Farming - the economic motor
A quick scan of the RDM site reveals that it is an old industrial harboursite, characterized by bricks, glass and steel. This description is echoed in the City Council's development plans for the area in which they simply refer to the location as "stony". These plans then go on further to describe the future vision for the location as being built on two principles:
- Improving the economic structure of the harbour and city.
- Creating attractive and high quality working and living environments.
The proposal is to "upgrade" the area with a new green centre in the form of urban farming. This plays into the City councils plans by both enhancing the economic structure by providing a source of fresh foods within the city limits, and improving the current situation by adding a large surface area of functional and recreational green. Approximately 60 % of the total floorspace in the design will be reserved for urban agricultural activities, which can capitalize on its harbour location by using the water available on site, and the unobstructed sunlight on location. The other 40% of floorspace can be dedicated to other activities such as mooring of boats, shopping, eating (using products produced on site), leisure, hotels, high quality living etc.
The brain Network - infrastructure concept
The brain network is a simple solution to the complex problem of arranging a connection to land (and other entities) from your own or clusters entity. What we propose is a network of individual "synapses" (small, smart, floating blocks which can form bridges) which form connections between the different "neurons" (entities) whose behaviour is governed by a simple (so far) 5 ruled protocol:
- Every entity is connected within "the brain".
- Everything is connected only to its nearest neighbours, no links will go over, under, around or through neighbouring entities.
- No connections are permanent, unless specified otherwise (think of the link to for example land, or heavily clustered entities)
- The system learns from itself by observing traffic patterns across it, thus creating favored routes. These routes are however never permanent and the system will always try new permutations (think of an electrical impulse traveling through the brain, not always taking the same route thus sometimes discovering new shorter/better ways to get from A to B)
- The connection is three dimensional (XYZ Axis) thus it does not impose a design direction on the individual entities.
As you can see the network is simply a logistical system which can also be an attractive feature of the area since it is something new and improves routing and circulation across the harbor, it is not meant as a system which imposes a certain aesthetic on the entities connected to it. It doesn't force a fixed or moving position on the entities as it will simply create new routes when elements are moving in- or taken out of the harbour. Thus it is a simple top-down plan which gives space for your individual bottom-up approach.
Connections
