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SOCIAL WATERFRONT
Social interaction and providing for a certain sense of humanity is what this projects mostly focuses on. The plazas represent the foundation of how social interaction has taken place for ages in history. It is an open and public place where people come together and socialize. At the same time it can be a very anonymous place because of its public character.
These characteristics provide a moment of reflection in the human shelters in which it is mostly about what is being shared. The content of the human exchange is being carried on along different lines and borders which is causing the spread of knowledge about other people, nature, culture, countries, etc. Implementing this in the educational aspect of the plazas lets both projects reach further.
With this structure of networks social statements can be made, which is the main aim of ‘activating connections’. Therefore ‘activating connections’ might be seen as the result of the combined projects. Besides, ‘activating connections’ can provide as the physical connection between all networks whenever the other two networks are physically not able to reach further. For example over water, in between mountains or through extreme climates.
This network proposal answers to the problematisation of the unactivated waterfront and no please to recreate along the water in Gothenburg.
Leonardo Casanova Choca
Thor van Damme
Vera Baerveldt
URBAN FLOWS
Leonardo Casanova Choca
The links between cells cores became a new infrastructure: Virtual roads. These new paths create new areas for future development, connections between the built realm and the water, and shaped PLAZAS, a new space for interaction, learning, and discovering. Each plaza is unique. Its shape, opening, and density will be associated with the paths crossing that point.
The plaza seeks to create a new relationship between the indoor, outdoor, and water. Every indoor space will provide activities for social interaction. Outdoor space will give a new environment to interact and live with the water. Paths will become platforms to move through the city on a more human and social scale. All these elements together will face the lack of social space in Gothenburg.
The relation between inner and outdoor space is fundamental for the interpretation of the plazas. One can’t exist without the other and vice versa. The negative space between these two elements is responsible for providing and creating new explorative environments. This project aims to understand how the physical and immaterial spaces can interact and create new spaces for learning interaction. The aim is to create a new urban space for the connection and transition of people. This perspective shows how the movement is essential to understand the plaza structure, and water as an element to interact and grow.|
USING THE NEGATIVE
Thor van Damme
Bridges can be found all over the world as infrastructural solution to cross difficulties in our landscape. They bring a lot of possibilities and solutions for the users on top of it, but very rarely the negative space under a bridges is concidered as valuable. In this research the main focus became how to exploit the potentials under a bridge. How can something “negative” turn into something “positive”?
In a first step platforms or volumes were placed under the bridge, which served as an ”urban canopy” for the development underneath. In a further investigation hanging elements under those massive structures became a better solution to create a closer relation to the bridge and to ovecome waterways. In combination with some functional parameters as structural limits, the traffic and density of the waterway, the first design was created.
In relation to potential developments of city areas nearby waterfront areas connected to a bridge, the idea came to use the land underneath the bridge, in front of the water as well. This area could serve for potential city expansion and project development. In the end a bridge as we know it today could lose it’s mobility function, by the extinction of the cars. In this case the surface on top could serve as a green coridor between both sides of the waterway. This ”soft connection” could bringe a huge boost in the spreading of local fauna and flora and bring a big added value for the biodiversity in the whole wide area.
SHARING INDIVIDUALISM
Vera Baerfeldt
For this project, finding an unintentional qualitative space that is the result of a form of infrastructure led to bunkers; Something that feels unpleasant to stay in, but somehow intrigues one at the same time. Seeing this as an understanding of how one sees the world, the choice for the human space can be seen as a representation of how one wants to see the world: a space of human exchange; a place to sit, listen, share and understand. Combining this infrastructure type and the human space, results in a place where the pressure of external factors causes increasing of the compactness (an important characteristic of the bunkers) the space by lowering soft and warm elements. This provides a better environment for sharing communication and comfort.
Inspired by the original function of the bunkers, a network of these spaces will grow along boundaries in the area. A network for sharing across the boundaries; Sharing information from one side to the other.
One specific boundary is used in order to show the functionality of the network in Gothenburg. The bunkers are placed along the line, based on functions on both sides and the geographical lines in the area. With either physical or visual connections, the network establishes a sharing system without erasing boundaries.
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