DENVER URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK

Context
Denver is a light industrial area located along the eastern edge of a broad industrial belt spanning the southern extent of Johannesburg’s CBD. It sits adjacent to the historic east/west gold mining axis (known as the ‘main reef’). This industrial belt (buffer) is embedded into the surrounding urban fabric, simultaneously woven and disconnected by multiple forces: mine dumps, railways, arterials, freeways and storm water channels.

Locating Denver

We started the Denver project off with an in-depth desktop study of the area, its context and the systems within the area as well as the people who stay in the area. The study was done through online research and through the use of the previous year architecture student’s work and information that they had collected through on-site investigations and interactions. Our UNIT only had one opportunity to go on-site due to safety concerns, with help and suggestions from Prof Kendall and our lectures, we as a UNIT designed a new urban design framework for a section of the Denver informal settlement that would be implemented through phasing during the construction process and possibly be implemented throughout the rest of the Denver informal settlement.

UNIT 2 UDF

 The urban design framework was further broken down into individual briefs which were split into 3 residential open building typologies. The first being the alteration of the existing men’s hostel, the second was the implementation of 4-story walk-up units with retail on the ground floor and thirdly the implementation of mixed-use row houses that would comprise of private and public/commercial spaces. The designs had to respond to the existing context of the area, through spatial planning, through materials that are used and are available in the area, just to name a few.

These are two precedents that I focused on

DESIGN SKETCHES

Ground Floor Sketch Plans

3D Perspective Sketch

The mixed-use row houses that I designed had a commercial and public program on the ground floor and a private residential program on the first and second floors. On the ground floor I proposed a community library as well as a small café that is adjoined to the library. The café spilled out on the public walk way that runs from east to west through our urban design framework and leads to the community vegetable garden. 

Ground Floor Library & First Floor Residential Plans

On the upper two floors I proposed private residential houses that could be used as a single house over two floors that could accommodate for a relatively big family, between 4 and 6 persons. The houses could also be split across two floors, so a single dwelling on the first floor and another single dwelling on the second floor, of which each dwelling would be able to function as a bachelor pad or a and could accommodate up to a small family of about 3 persons.

I decided to propose the use of steel framed construction for the structure of the row houses. I found that this was the closest construction method to the structure and metal use in the construction of the shacks in Denver, while at the same time it allowed for the best variation and flexibility for in-fill in both the residential and public/commercial programs on their respective floors. The use of steel framed construction also allowed for significant variations in the materiality that could be used for the mixed-use row houses. Materials I proposed to use were corten steel panels, corrugated sheet metal, brickwork, timber panels and plywood panels.

VIDEO PORTFOLIO REVIEW

MAIN THEMES FOR QUARTER 1 & 2

Levels / Ecosystem / Response / Capacity

Levels

Levels are a part of our everyday lives and can be seen around us all the time. They form a hierarchy that affects everything we do and how we do those things. The top levels determine the parameters of every other level that is beneath it. Levels can be seen as themes, because they categorize and frame specific elements and features. Levels are an essential part to open building and they can influence the success or failure of the design of the building, while at the same time they also reveal the order in which things are built or installed and thus their importance within the construction process.

Ecosystem

Everything in the universe is a part of a greater ecosystem that is filled with complex networks that work together for the survival of that ecosystem. Areas in the built environment can be looked at as ecosystems as there are many smaller components and networks that work in unison. There are levels within the ecosystem that define the area and give it unique characteristics, for example the topography, infrastructure, built form or even the un-built form of an area. Ecosystems can be tied to context as both refer to the smaller aspects that form the setting and the circumstances that occur in the area. We need to study these ecosystems in its entirety to  be able to understand an area's full context.

Response (Challenging the conventional)

During an in-depth study of the area and interacting with the people who work and stay in the area, conventional terms and their meanings or interpretations should be challenged. By challenging these conventional terms, more investigation is required which in turn helps you to not make stereotypes and presumptions that may be inaccurate about the area or the people in the area. It also helps to clarify what exactly we are investigating and trying to prove and helps us to communicate that through tools and a language that everyone can understand. It even directs how we intend to respond or even not respond to the area.

Capacity

Working together with people who stay and work in an area will help to determine the levels that influence your design within the ecosystem of the area. The capacity of the design intervention will determine its success in response to the current times as well as its success in the future, whether it remains the same or is altered or added to in the future. In terms of capacity in open building, it is the flexibility that the base building creates in order for various configurations of in fill to create new spaces that can serve different functions.  Capacity relates to the design of a building or intervention and its success within the ecosystem.