The Graceful Dancer - New Yongxin Old City’s Entertainment District. Image Courtesy of Estúdio Leonardo Zanatta
This week's curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights public spaces and buildings submitted by the ArchDaily Community. From bridges to squares, from parks to markets and train stations, this article explores the various kinds of public infrastructure that support the urban fabric, showcasing distinct approaches worldwide.
Featuring a bridge that doubles as a garden in China, the redevelopment of public spaces to meet contemporary needs in Montenegro and the Czech Republic, or a pier park in New York, the round-up spans various scales, from single architectural objects to urban strategies, to masterplans. The following projects reveal the ideas that shape public spaces and amenities in different contexts, illustrating diverse approaches towards what constitutes the backbone of the urban fabric.
Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fact that some of the poorest people were hit the hardest by not only the impacts the virus had on public health but also the social and economic shockwaves that came as a result. And now, as we emerge on the other side yet also enter the second wave of restrictions around the globe, urban planners and government officials are beginning to realize that the pandemic has pulled back the curtains on another inequitable feature of cities- the proximity to public parks and spaces.
This week's curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights different competition-winning designs submitted by the ArchDaily Community. From large scale urban developments to small interventions in the landscape, from commercial projects to public spaces and urban planning strategies with an environmental focus, this article showcases a variety of design approaches, programs and scales. The proposals featured are the results of local and international competitions, either creative concepts or projects currently in progress.
The award-winning entries include a range of different projects, designed by both young architects and established firms. An adaptive reuse project for office towers in New York, the redevelopment of an industrial site in China, an abstract installation for a Russian festival, or a masterplan focused on climate resilience and ecosystems protection are a few of this week's highlights.
In a piece, originally published on Metropolis, author Lauren Gallow highlights an urban transformation in California, led by a group of local organizations and designers. The project "replaces a previously hazardous alley with play areas, public art, and native plantings", in order to reveal the untapped potential of the overlooked public realm.
“Playground: Artifacts for Interaction”, by curator Felipe Ferrer, aims to transform the fences surrounding Peru's public spaces into tools for social integration. The project proposes removing the gates enclosing public spaces throughout Lima and Peru's other urban centers, inviting residents to freely enter and interact with the spaces. By removing these "security" mechanisms, which really serve as tools of segregation, and installing benches, playgrounds, and soccer fields, the project aims to divert all the energy, time, and resources put into installing fences and channel it into bringing new life to these public spaces.
A geographic discovery game based on Google imagery, GeoGuessr requires players to guess various locations worldwide using only the clues provided by a Street view. Created in 2013, the game has taken on new relevance amidst the pandemic, as it provides a virtual travel experience. From desolate roads to famous sites, the game teases deductive reasoning, requiring players to make use of any clue, from signs, language, flags, landscape, to pinpoint their surroundings.
ODA has just launched its latest project, an urban vision for the future of the streets of New York. The project titled Beyond the street- Reimagining the flower district proposes to transform a city block from the outside in, altering the pedestrian experience and introducing new zoning changes that would give landowners air rights or tax credits in exchange for handing over their inner courtyards to be transformed into public/private spaces.
ArchDaily had the chance to talk with Eran Chen, founding principal and executive director of ODA, about the firm’s very special proposal that seeks to improve our urban environment. Check the interview and watch ODA’s explanatory movie.
Catering to the Danish capital's aspirations regarding infrastructure and green space, the new IKEA store in Copenhagen designed by architecture studio Dorte Mandrup features a richly plated rooftop park that doubles as a new pedestrian route stretching one kilometre within Vesterbro neighbourhood. Located in one of the city's busiest area, neighbouring the central station, the historic Meatpacking District, and the inner-city harbour, the project's elevated public space offers a respite from the bustling streets, providing the area with a much needed green space.
Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of the Open Boulevards program, an initiative that would temporarily close off car traffic on boulevard segments across several blocks, expanding the public space for dining, cultural activities and artistic performances. The project builds on the successful initiatives Open streets and Open Restaurants, which transformed the city’s streetscape to better serve diners, cyclists and pedestrians amidst the pandemic.
The terms space and place are often used interchangeably, but they can mean different things depending on the context in which they are used. Placemaking shows that the creation of places transcends the material dimension and involves aspects such as sociability, uses, activities, access, connections, comfort, and image, to create bonds between people and a sense of place.
Designed by Heatherwick Studio, together with landscape architecture firm MNLA, the long-awaited Little Island project is New York’s newest major public space, showcasing a richly-planted piece of topography above the Hudson River. The design featuring a public park and performance venues reinvents the pier typology into an undulating artificial landscape. After surpassing many hurdles, the eight years in the making project is now open to the public, and the bold design is set to become an icon in New York.
Courtesy of Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza & SWA Group
Matt Hickman reports on San Francisco's latest inclusive memorial, for the Architect's Newspaper, designed by SWA, a firm that operates two Bay Area studios (San Francisco and Sausalito) as well as offices in Texas, Southern California, New York City, and Shanghai. Selected by FHMP from a shortlist of four firms that submitted proposals, out of 17 invited offices, SWA shared their winning conceptual design for the memorial at Harvey Milk Plaza.
Kosovo - Implementation during Covid-19. Image Courtesy of UN-Habitat, Global Public Space Programme
The Un-Habitat or the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development, whose primary focus is to deal with the challenges of rapid urbanization, has been developing innovative approaches in the urban design field, centered on the active participation of the community. ArchDaily has teamed up with UN-Habitat to bring you weekly news, article, and interviews that highlight this work, with content straight from the source, developed by our editors.
As the fight against coronavirus keeps on bringing many cities around the world to a standstill, the need to support urban entities and local governments is greater than ever. Although the pandemic has drastically changed our relationship with the public realm, due to all the imposed but necessary restrictions, from physical distancing to limiting access, the demand for public space has not decreased. People still need to go outside, commute, work, study, play, socialize, and maintain a healthy mental state. Discover in this article UN-Habitat’s key areas of focus for an effective urban response for COVID-19 that local and national governments should focus on to prevent the spread of the virus and to develop resilience to and preparedness for events of a similar nature.
Courtesy of Steelblue for the City of Sacramento / Perkins&Will
Global architecture firm Perkins&Will, in collaboration with ARUP, Grimshaw Architects, EPS , AIM Consulting, and the City of Sacramento, have transformed the city's historic train station into a self-reliant and regenerative transportation hub, making it one of the most sustainable public areas in California. The design team worked alongside the local community to create a people-centric 31-acre master plan that reflects what the community envisions for a public train station and gateway to the city of Sacramento.
The City Prosperity Index, CPI, set by UN-Habitat, evaluates urban prosperity according to five parameters as productivity, infrastructure development, environmental sustainability, quality of life, and equity/social inclusion. To a greater or lesser extent, these five factors are represented in the street pattern of every city in the world. Streets have multiple functions as the mobility of people and goods, the supply of energy, water, and information, the collection of waste, the growth of trees, plants, insects or birds, the shadow and sun radiation, the bench where to sit, the place to salute and talk with your neighbors, a playground, or the access to the bakery where you buy the bread. In this sense, streets are public and vibrant spaces, which can perform multiple functions and activities.
People are the purpose and scale of the city. What does a people-oriented city look like? On April 8, 2021, sponsored by "LIFE WEEK ", the first Sanlian “City for Humanity Award” Ceremony was held in Chengdu. It takes "Rebuilding Connections" as its first theme, and hopes to promote a discussion on social values and humanistic care in Chinese cities through a professional and communicative approach, such as awards at this special moment after the epidemic.
Ever since the tramline’s closure, the 800-meter-long strip in the center of Corso Gabetti and Ponte Regina Margherita in Turin, has been abandoned. To make use of the dead area and give residents an extra space outdoors following Italy's severe pandemic repercussions, non-profit cultural association Torino Stratosferica has transformed the tree-lined strip into Precollinear Park, a temporary public space fit for socially-distanced leisure.
