131025 tower junction book ro

8/13/2019 131025 Tower Junction Book Ro

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ROBERTO OAT WALLACE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................02

RESEARCH................................................................................................................03

DESIGN CONCEPT....................................................................................................11

PROGRAM................................................................................................................15

DESIGN STRATEGY...................................................................................................17

FINAL DESIGN..........................................................................................................23

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RESEARCH

This research presents in a summarized way Tower Junctions princial characteristics and themain cau-ses that lead to theexisting disconnection involvingwithin thesite.

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RAILWAY HISTORY UNDERUSED

WAREHOUSES NATURE CARS

Amongthe most important features ofthesite highlights thehugecommercial area dominated bywarehouses in it.It is for this extensivearea the placeis best known.The pedestrian has littlespacein Tower Junction becauseeverythinghas been designed for thecar scale.Largeparking esplanadesarelocated on thesides ofthewrehouses creatingthis feelingofbeing in a sea ofcars .

Thesite is extremely underused ,finding several empty lots or lots that areused for theaccumula-tion oftrash or old cars .Theselots aregenerally found around therailway line,which itself is a deadspacein the site. Theonly two pedestrian friendly areas areHagley Park and Lincoln Road ,this last

onecharacterized by small scalecommercial stores ,likerestaurants ,hostals and bars ,but that isslowly beingundermined by thelarge commercial warehouses.

Thearea to which Tower Junction belongs,Addington, is a boomingneighborhood that is slowly beingreconverted towards what could be Parnell for Auckland.Theneighborhood has a high demand, but TowerJunction is beingexcluded from its border areas becauseofits poor urban quality and thepresenceof thelargewarehouses.

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS ADDINGTON NOW

RESEARCH

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ROBERTO OAT WALLACE RESEARCH

CAUSES OF DISCONNECTION

COMMERCIAL BARRIER

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OLNRO

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WHITELEIG

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BLENHEIMROAD

1,327mts526mts

1,656mts

224mts

237mts478mts

From themany existingproblems inTower Junction,the onethat draw the

most my attention was thedisconnec-tion.It is really simpleto observethatthemost severeproblems occur alongtherailway linebecauseofthebad

interaction it has with its borders,but itis thecombination offour factors whichend upcausingthis disconnection ,as

wewill see.

Thefirst causeof thedisconnection isthepresenceof a commercial barrier

in themiddleofthesite.WhileamongChristchurch,it is Tower Junctions wa-rehouses weretheproblems hits withmorestrenght,it is still only a portion of

a bigcommercial corridor that has deve-loped in thecity over theyears.It cros-ses thecity from east to west dividingit

into two pieces.Thebad interaction oftherailway lineto the city has led to itssurroundinglots to end upbeingusedfor theselargewarehouses .

At Tower Junction thesituation is wor-sebecause this commercial corridor isframed between therailway lineand

Blenheim Road,a 6-laneroad with hightraffic flow ,with few crosswalks thatconnect thenorth with thesouth.

INDUSTRIALCORRIDOR INTHE

CHRISTCHURCH URBANCONTEXT

Christchurch City

Commercial Barrier

Disconnect Junction

INDUSTRIALCORRIDOR INTHE

SITECONTEXT

Commercial Barrier

Train Railway

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LINC

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WHITELEIG

HAVE

BLENHEIMROAD

RESEARCH

CAUSES OF DISCONNECTION

GREEN ISLES

Thethird causeof thedisconnection isoriginated by a serious mistakewhen

planninga public space.

At thebeginningof theresearch I men-tioned Hagley Park as beingoneof the

few pedestrian friendly places ,but thisdoes not mean it works perfectly.Thepark ,as well as most ofthe parks in the

city ,ends upbeing a green island.Ofcourse,it provides a nice recreationalspacein the city to its users,but theeffect it has ends abruptly at theexact

spot wherethepark ends.

This is becausetheres a missingele-ment,an intermediary between the

park itselfas an island and thecity thatsurrounds it.This element is none otherthan quality urban connections de-

signed for users ofthe park itself.Thisincludes not only thecar,but also andespecially thepedestrians.

Hagley Park is not operatingat 100%becausefor thepedestrian is just tocomplicated to get to it,and in TowerJunction this becomes even morenoti-

ceable.

It should also besaid that not even the

park itselfis designed for thehumanscale. Its oversized and has nothingtoactivateit that attracts peopleto it.

GREENAREAS INTHE

CHRISTCHURCH URBANCONTEXT

Christchurch City

Train Railway

Avon River

Canterbury Agricultural Park

Hagley Park

Travis Wetland N.H. Park

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2

3 . .

GREENAREAS INTHE

SITECONTEXT

Vacant Lot

Hagley Park

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DESIGN CONCEPT

Theseed of theproject was theresult ofthe pursuit ofa solution to themain connection problemssurroundingtherailway linein thesite.

Thefinal concept was born from theintention ofsewingthe disconnected parts ofthis open wound inthemiddle ofTower Junction.

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145mts

134mts

98mts

BLENHEIMROAD

LINCO

LNRO

AD

WHITELE

IGHAVE

HAGLEYPARK

TrainSt

ation

Thesecond stepis sewing it up.

Sincethe railway is such a strongele-ment on thesite it isnt enough to justcreatethis new grid.It needs something

else.

That missingelement is a stronger stitchbetween theaffected areas that can pull

together both sides and tight them up.

SEW UP

DESIGN CONCEPT

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PROGRAM

Prior to start designing,it was necessary to investigatethepossible program to integratein the propo-sal,to have a clearer notion when start projecting.

In order to do so I picked four main programs:green area,small commerce,residential and communityspaces.

To test them I took thehypothetical casein which I could just fill an entirearea in the city with each ofthem to seeif oneof them solved theproblems for itself.

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DESIGN STRATEGY

Takinginto account that slight notion ofthe program (small commerceand residential -UP / green areaand community -GROUND),which will be useful later,I can start with thedesign phase as such by appl-

yingthe initial concept.

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STEP 3:

Thenew grid is extended usingtheremaints

ofthe old oneto connect both sides.Thisnew grid provides new ground level car pa-ths ofsmall sized lanes.

STEP 4:

Startingfrom Hagley Park and endingon the

small residential park thestitch is placed.Thestitch may comeup and down whenever isnecessary in theway of a continuous path

and it will contain an urban pac k to ensurenew connections.

DESIGN STRATEGY

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STEP 7:

Theproject takes its form from thegrid and

thecreated boundaries beingthered thetough programs and theorange theinterme-diatebetween them and thestitch.

STEP 8:

Untouched buildings arerestored to thepre-

vious sites they had.

DESIGN STRATEGY

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FINAL DESIGN

After all this considerations and applyingthedesign strategy thefinal design came to life.Theresult istheattempt to test a way to counter thedisconnection on the railway and Tower Junction by bringing

thepeople to thesite, deliveringthe missingpedestrian and bikingpaths, stitchingboth sides togetherand activatingthesurroundings ofthelane.

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FINAL DESIGN

DETAIL PLANUNIT ONE - GROUND LEVEL

As you can seein this detail plan of unitnumber one, the community program

is placed underneath the building inan open spacebut protected by theco-lumns ofit. It is properly distanced from

therailway linebut not turningits back

towards it. Green area surrounds thecommunity programs that functions asan intermediary between theroad and

rail lines to the though programs. Thisdisposition,as well as giving a open fa-cadeto the city,provides thesite withnon restrictingprograms,which ensures

that theland can beused at any timeoftheday or night.Next to thecommunityprograms theparkinglot needed for the

buildingis placed tryingto minimizeitssizeand efect.

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FINAL DESIGN

PROJECT SECTION

COMMUNITY

BLENDINGIN

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FINAL DESIGN

PROJECT VIEWS

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View from theinsideofoneof theunits

View from thetop ofthe commercelevel

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