Size of Industrial floor and recycle plant

VW Transparent Factory, Dresden, Germany

The size of my building will need flat plan of 400’ by 400’ to accommodate the industry at the scale of the VW Transparent Factory. It might be a 400’ tall cube. Why it is about 40 stories high is because the cost and the construction method of the 40 stories building are very efficient and easy to this city. This city already has many buildings around 40 stories, and its tallest building is 85 stories built back in 1997. So what I am purposing is an achievable monument. People can feel related to it, as well as eager to think that they can build taller than the factory of my proposal.

There will be some industrial floor that is 4 stories high to allow the industrial installation. To support the heavy duty of the industrial activity, I envision one entire floor dedicated for the structural beam or truss system, which means each floor might be 5 stories high. I envision towers of the server space to support the served space (industrial floor) structurally and mechanically as well as the vertical circulation. Let’s say there will be 100 towers/ columns of factory to support the heavy duty floor slabs. The columns will have either egress, restroom, piping shaft, or elevator. Each might takes 300sf, so multiply 100. I guess 30000sf is for the server, and I will remain flexible with the industrial floors. The laboratory space will be sized according the evolvement. 

Valdemingomez Waste Treatment Centre, Spain

 

The recycle plant will need around the 500000 sqft, based on the plan of the Valdemingomez Waste Treatment Centre in Spain. Valdemingomez Waste Treatment Centre by Abalos and Herreros, is intended to serve as a recycling plant for 25 years, then it will either become other kinds of service or dissembled and reused. According to archidose.org, this design is essentially an industrial container. It will change its use after the initial purpose, and still serve the interest of the region, which is what I envision for the industrial floor.

Christian Science( The Mary Baker Eddy Library)

Design Method

I should research the existing program of industrial space and the system for the industrial utility. I want to explore the possibility to re-orientate those elements and to create better architectural space. One aspect in my thesis is to create an environmental friendly factory as the approach to change the negative perception of the factory. I need to investigate the current waste treatment system and to find an architectural way to accommodate it and possibly reinvent it.

I think my design method will start from the exploration of spatial experiences that can capture the sense the serenity. I will do some surrealistic art that will generate a series of experiences or statements visually. Because I am trying to change the people’s perception, I am going to mix the unexpected events in the spaces that people are familiar with.  For instance, I want to show recycling workers scavenging in the junk, but in a cathedral. I want to illustrate the paradox that people are searching for the truth in the junk instead of bible. Cathedral was built to visually inspire people to learn and respect the teaching of the church.

To bring the effect of paradox, I will try to use the industrial fibers such as pipes and wires to build a collage model or drawdel that will capture the rustic sensation of factory. Back in 17^th century, the royal of France would commission to build the retreat house that resembles the peasant house. Renzo Piano uses the pipes as the textural expression of the Pompidou Center. The games in amusement park were reinvention of industrialization. Roller coaster is the reinvention of the railway. People pay good money to see the power of the machine, whereas they ignore the industrial workers in reality. I find the ways that I can make the industrial fibers intriguing.

Once I have decent amount of the experiential moments to work with, I will integrate them into the massing model. I can start to recreate those moments into the feasible forms and make my building the collective form of them. This is where it takes time. However I intend to finish my project in term of the final model and drawings early enough, so I can revisit my project and find the better methods to present it. I think that is the most important part of the development. I am usually struck with design phrase. I don’t want to end up with too much design than I could manage to present, whereas my graphic of the presentation is unclear and weak. Because my project as a factory is an unconventional building type, I need a compelling presentation. I shall explore for the possible interpretations to echo to the surrealistic imagery of the earlier design phrase. Design of my presentation is crucial to deliver my thesis statement, as it shall be a project of its own.

Research Paper

Threshold to a Constructive Culture:

Architecture to Reinvent the Labor Environment and to elevate the Labor Force

Introduction

The creation of a tool is the reflection of human need in response to their difficulty. The creation of architecture is the reflection of human need in response to their environment. Architecture is essentially a tool to shelter and protect us from harms. Architecture is a tool to prepare us for the difficulties to come. A tool is meant to create solutions rather than problems, as is architecture. Like the invention of dangerous weapons, architecture can be built to promote unethical causes. Architecture built on such a cause will lead to instability between human beings. We need to rethink the purpose of our tools, and we need architecture to protect the noble cause. Modern day tools, the materials that elevate human life, are created in industrial building such as the factory. The architecture of this space, where the tools needed for our modern lives are created, is often overlooked or forgotten. Ultimately, the factory is the threshold to modernize mankind.

In order to create solutions to the issues of the contemporary world, a society needs to trace back the constructive spirit of the visionaries. My research is to explore the role of industry as it relates to human society and architects, because I believe there are hints of industrial influence in the progress in architecture and the vision of architects. To address my viewpoint, I will explore the subject of Reality and Loss of Social Vitality; Revision of Social Order: Revolution; The Role of Industry and The Constructive Culture.

Reality and the Loss of Social Vitality

The consumptive nature of society and the lack of courage in contemporary architects is becoming the norm. This topic will address these issues from some analysis and theory in architectural terms.

In Anesthetics of Architecture, Leach argues that the seduction of imagery has the manipulative power to stimulate unethical behaviors. He uses Las Vegas as the architecture of persuasion. Seduction in Las Vegas can lead human minds to the mechanized and hapless act of gambling, which Walter Benjamin compares to the experience of workers in the factory. The consumer’s leisure and willingness to risk their money in far-fetched hopes of big winnings becomes a business. “Surface-level entertainment comes to compensate for the tedium of surface-level work, as distraction takes on the role of “free time busy-ness.” Distraction becomes a form of business.”[1] Persuasion in architecture is duplicated to the contemporary built environments that distract us from conscience and exhaust the resources from the world.

In Visionary Cities, Winy Maas warns readers that cities around the world have stamped out the same inevitable pattern of urban development: get rid of industries such as ports, factories and mills, and bring in more developers to build condos, large scale-housing, boardwalks, and shopping malls. These types of architecture will be more instantly profitable than labor-based industries.[2] We see the decline of the necessities of survival, while cities are pursuing the trivialities of our own leisure-time.

Another argument from Winy Maas is that societies respond to the issue of the environment with a superficial solution: “This Green is Preventing the Real Green”. “Green” is no longer a motivating cause, but a law regulating every occupation to obey it. Green has become political correctness rather than a real solution to a very real problem. Winy Maas questions,” When can the individual be librated from the clutches of the green? How can we overcome the absurdity of calculating the impact of each tiny step we make, and move on to discussing collective solutions at the scale of the city, the country and the globe?”[3] To further his view, Winy Maas indicates that commercial marketing is promoting unethical industries through the mask of being “green”. He lists some marketing slogans of “Green” products to prove his argument:

360: The world’s fist eco-friendly vodka. Saving the planet, one glass at a time.

Lead-free bullets for greener war: BAE Systems, one of the world’s largest arms manufacturers, is introducing as new generation of environmentally friendly weapons in the effort to minimize the damage that they can do.[4]

There is a pervasive element in marketing to promote unconscious consumption. We have lost faith and momentum in changing the world because the unethical profiteers have used a noble cause as a mask to maintain their profit-driven agenda.

Referring to the argument in Visionary Cities, the talented and famous architects of our day are lacking the courage to make something profound, and instead they pursue the glamour of publicity. Winy Maas points out that “Pritzker Prize-winning architects are designing vodka bottles and necklaces, whereas unknown developer-architects are building entire cities from the ground-up in the Middle East and China.” [5]He criticizes the famous architects for avoiding the big projects and designing something small, which is easy to succeed, in order to maintain their fame. With his statistic indicating that media is more likely to cover smaller square footage projects, Winy Maas criticizes the media for emphasizing the glamour of a small project rather than a meaningful project at a large scale. He jokes in his frustration that “We cannot build a whole new city out of nightclubs and vases.”

Architecture can be described as “Applied Philosophy in the Built Environment”. The Philosopher explores man’s reaction to other humans in order to find the right behaviors to elevate him spiritually. The Architect studies man’s reaction to the built environment in order to stimulate certain behaviors and emotions from him. However in reality, the knowledge and observations of the architect are prostituted to please whatever the client’s desire is. An architect becomes powerless to stop the propagation of trivial building due to the income-driven contemporary nature of the profession. The true desires of society (money), rather than the true desires of the architect-as-philosopher/builder (social good), become immortalized through his actions. In a cruel twist of fate, the profit-driven private sector pays off the architect to create what they want – a society driven by the temptations of further profit. According to The Anaesthetics of Architecture, Neil Leach warns the readers that an environment built with only seduction will consume its society until there is no more aesthetic mean but the reproduction of imagery.[6] Architects and designers of all sorts need to recognize the risk of exploiting imagery; otherwise, they will create a world they can no longer see themselves in.

Revision of Social Order: Revolution

To maintain the holistic health of a society, people should aim for building a rational environment. A rational environment is the key to sustain the need of the entire society and the foundation to elevate it. Such an environment requires the fair attention to every occupation that provides for a functional society. Without fair attention, people will naturally gravitate toward the hierarchical occupation - the jobs that provide the highest levels of income. If a society allows such occupational prejudice to continue, the social unbalance will reach the stage where its roles fail to communicate with each other. When there is no dialog between the members of a society, the society is no more. It is a tragedy that any society has brought about it’s own destruction because they underestimated the value of the social and environmental harmony. It is an irony that many technologically advanced societies still haven’t learned the lessons from the mistakes of others.

If architects hold the ability to emphasize human response through the meaning of form and space, why don’t they apply their sensitivity and talent on the labor workers whose work actually demands a better spatial condition and whose work physically and mentally involves stress and precisions? Labor workers can easily appreciate a space that can condition them for better working efficiency. According to Le Corbusier, the architectural plan should be the mechanism that covers the production, distribution, and construction as the social order.[7] People need to organize their behavior through the rational plan. People should be free from the past and be responsible for their present.

            Once in a while there is an architect recognizing the living condition of the labor workers. Le Corbusier, the pioneer of Modernism explored his vision of an urban utopia in his proposal, The Radiant City. During his visit to the US in 1935, Le Corbusier found much attention directed towards the luxury apartments along New York City’s Central Park, but then added, “My own thinking is directed toward the crowds in the subways who come home at night to dismal dwellings. The millions of beings sacrificed to a life without hope, without rest- without sky, sun, greenery.” He believes his Radiant City is designed for them. The residential district in this project embodied his conviction that the world of freedom must be egalitarian. “If the city were to become a human city,” he proclaimed, “ it would be a city without classes.” [8] Unlike its predecessor (Contemporary City), the Radiant City had no segregation for the classes, because Le Corbusier lost his faith in capitalism. He began a campaign revolutionizing the worker’s rights. He believed in thought for neither of rich or poor but of man. He didn’t want the wasteful consumption of space to become a sign of status, nor the worker housing to be the absolute hygienic minimum. He envisioned both organization and freedom in the society defined by the laborers. Corbusiers efforts show the architect’s attempt to apply his skill to promote the well being of an entire society through redefining the living condition of the labor class. Among all the feature of The Radiant City, Le Corbusier’s biggest emphasis was to maintain a social harmony through the common interest of leisure facilities; the city could give to each family a far grander environmental spectacle than even the richest individual could afford in a single-family house.

Many people are aware of the larger issues that tie to their fates. They want the solution to these issues. However the problem is that individuals are unmotivated to engage themselves in the solution, because a person knows his individual effort is too small compared to the massive scale of these collective issues. He thinks his efforts will go in vain, simply because the others don’t care. Therefore, he sees no worth in putting forward an effort that will alienate himself from his society. Such discouragement has occurred to many individuals. They are howling for a revolution over their frustration. We need to confront our issues collectively, rather than expect someone else to save us with a perfect solution. A good solution will never come if we never engage ourselves in its process. In architectural design, an architect makes numerous experiential models to find a better interpretation of his concept before bring it into reality. Many professionals in architecture agree, “A design is never finished”. Architects will always realize that there is more to the design even when it is constructed, yet they are fond of its process afterward. Thom Mayne, the architect of Morphosis whose buildings are made out of tectonic fragments, has a unique belief that human minds respond to unfinished architectural forms with contradictions as well as imaginations.[9] In Visionary Cities, Winy Maas suggests the construction itself can become an architectural expression or a theatrical play on the stage of urbanity to stimulate more optimistic response from individuals.[10] People enjoy a building even when it is only a process of the design. Such process becomes the sign of the social progress. A good architecture will aspire more transformations in the built environment beyond its site. A solution might never be perfect, but it is more crucial for its cause to engage a society in the culture of solution. Through collective will, a solution will evolve into a greater one to solve larger issues. Architects shall be useful in terms of coordinating the relation between a good cause and its audience. In Architecture or Revolution, Le Corbusier wrote:

In every field of industry, new problems have presented themselves and new tools have been created capable of resolving them. If this new fact be set against the past, then you have revolution.[11]

From the message above, we can see Le Corbusier’s faith in architecture that it is created as the tool that people can use to fix problems, and the optimism that people can revolutionize their society. Architects should see their talents as the opportunity to establish the connection between differences, and capture the beauty of a program or an event that needs social response. We need architects to build the stage for the solutions to reach more audiences. We need to build the church for the solution to spread its mission. We need the architecture that helps us solve our problems. We need the architecture that gives us the courage to overcome our difficulties.

The Role of Industry and the Constructive Culture

People will need a new vision of architecture as the tool to restore a social order. According to Visionary Cities, a vision is the dream that offers long-term, cohesive, seductive, and strong prospects for the future. Winy Maas notes that the ingredients for a vision are curiosity, exploration, fantasy, and real problem solving.[12] I believe a program that fulfills a vision will require the spirit of industrial workers. Industrial workers coordinate their mind and body to operate seamlessly, and are exposed to possible bodily harm in the process. They often need to prepare themselves to apply new methods, which shape their readiness for challenge. Unlike the solider taking lives on the battlefield, they produce tools used for the common good. Through the hands of the industrial workers, we can use the new tools as the threshold to reach a better life.

The Tool is the reflection of human need. Tools exist for mankind to solve problems. Tools are also the evidence of human progress. Anthropologists and many scholars believe that the use of a tool is an important step of human evolution. Before the invention of modern digital tools, humans invented mechanical machinery. Before the invention of machinery, humans invented primitive tools out of the basic ingredients of nature that surrounded them. Every technological advancement in human history has been an example of collective need and individual human invention. Human will is the most important factor in shaping a tool, but there also has to be a place for humans to forge their tools.

The Industrial Factory is the current form of the buildings that make tools and the evolution of the workshop/blacksmith. The Factory is the place to shelter the tool-making process, and more profoundly, a place to bring human creativity to reality. The Factory is not just an economic device to humans but more of a place to celebrate the birth of tools and the coming of solutions.

The Factory is facing the duality of social ignorance and reliance. People tend to ignore the activity within the factory, because the atmosphere of mental and physical exhaustion in the workers and the risk of hazard have an unpleasant presence in today’s leisure-based societies. Critics have in fact degraded factories due to their creation of pollution. Yet people base their lives around the products of these factories. A modern society needs the factory and labor workers to do these unglamorous jobs in order to maintain its modernity. The robotic technology at this stage is still very exclusive and technically restrictive after long years of investment. Today, we still rely on an intensive labor force when it comes to the technological production of highly demanded products such as smartphones. If the robotic technology is available why doesn’t the most technologically advanced country use it to solve its economic crisis instead of using robots to create more junk food and carry out air strikes worth billions of dollars while it is still relying on the labor force overseas to make its products?

Many would argue the negative impact industrial infrastructure has had on society, but from the argument of Fumihiko Maki’s Nurturing Dreams the industrial infrastructures are in fact the forces of modernization that create a dynamic urbanscape in Japanese cities. While defending the presence of the industrial infrastructure in the Japanese city, Maki argues that European ideas of urban formations are unable to supply their own demands. He wants people not to define the city only through the classical definition, but to embrace the role of industry as part of the modern city. Fumihiko notes that those industrial infrastructures have been important roles to elevate the living standard and modernize Japanese society from the ashes of WWII, and their presence in the urbanscape ties to some degree of emotion from the Japanese people.[13]

Industrialization leads modernization. In fact, the forms of the factory influence Modernism. These forms are generated through the new type of activity: labor workers and machinery. Many architects from the early 20^th century were looking at factories as the perfect example of modernism in terms of its building type and its technological innovation, for instance, the curtain wall system of the AEG Turbine Factory by Peter Behrens and Mies van der Rohe[14]. In Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, Reyner Banham captures the optimistic design attitudes toward the industrial building from many architects of the modern era.[15] According to Banham, the Machine Age has influenced economics, morality, and sociology not only with the inventions, but the new formation of industrial activity which architects envision the new type of space for. Banham points out how architects apply the high standard of classical architectural forms such as temples and churches, and push the tectonic expression with the new building materials and construction methods for the design of factories. Le Corbusier in his Toward the New Architecture praises the advancement of engineering with modern tools such as cruise liners, airplanes, and automobiles, claiming that the world had entered a new era and was ready for drastic change in architecture and human behavior[16]. These architects reflect their enthusiasm on their professions through the presence of the progressive industry. It would not be just the products, but also the methods of production. The status of the industry is the reflection of human capability. The constructive spirit is tied to the state of the industry. Therefore we should embrace the role of the industry that inspire visionaries, and bring back the constructive culture.

Conclusion

Today our built environment has been constructed in the interests of capitalism. As a result, architecture becomes a reflection of these interests and leads mass society into a consumptive pattern. People know the world’s resources will be exhausted by their lifestyle. Yet many of them find reasons to walk away from the issue. Why? Because the mass media tells the society that happiness resides in the materialistic means. Therefore architects are hired to build better and bigger shopping malls to manifest the consumer’s society. This society is programmed to believe that more money can make a better life. Therefore people become the believers in the majestic presence of the financial buildings, the temple of the capitalists. Architects have become the master builders of consumerism and capitalism.

Throughout the history, architects and the society have relied on the role of industry. Do we depart from industry, because our life styles demand on the products that leads to the abusive use of factories?

We need to change the perception of society toward the labor workers, by remaking the factory into a dignified environment. People will hold their respect to the people who really produce the useful tools instead of people who base their individual gain on others’ losses or ones who excessively spend on ephemeral fashions. Through an iconic and monumental presence, the factory of my proposal will stimulate the thoughts of people in both positive way and negative way. People will be very aware of what the factory is producing as well as any pollution concerns. Either industry will have to create a solution to treat the pollution, or create new methods of production. As a speculation of my proposal, such manufacturers will be monitored, stimulated, and forced to evolve as its transformation from the negative perception to the positive inspiration. The society will gain the awareness of its issue and the hope in its solution. Therefore, a city needs to use architecture as the threshold to a constructive culture by reinventing the labor environment and redefining the roles of the present industry.

---

[1]  Neil Leach. "The Seduction of Architecture." The Anaesthetics of Architecture. (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999.) 71-88.

[2] Winy Maas, Alexander Sverdlov, and Emily Waugh. Visionary Cities. (Rotterdam: NAi, 2009) 114-117

[3] Winy Maas, Alexander Sverdlov, and Emily Waugh. Visionary Cities. (Rotterdam: NAi, 2009) 130-132

[4] Winy Maas, Alexander Sverdlov, and Emily Waugh. Visionary Cities. (Rotterdam: NAi, 2009) 136

[5]  Winy Maas, Alexander Sverdlov, and Emily Waugh. Visionary Cities. (Rotterdam: NAi, 2009) 72

Winy Maas, Alexander Sverdlov, and Emily Waugh. "The Mniature, The Faithful, The Green, Why Be Visionary." Visionary Cities. Rotterdam: NAi, 2009. 72-212.

[6] Neil Leach. "The Seduction of Architecture." The Anaesthetics of Architecture. (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999.) 71-88.

[7] Robert Fishman. "The Radiant City." Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. (New York: Basic,) 1977. 226-34.

[8] Robert Fishman. "The Radiant City." Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. (New York: Basic,) 1977. 226-34.

[9] Blythe  Alison-Mayne, Penny Herscovitch, and Stephanie Rigolot. Introduction. Morphosis Buildings & Projects, 1999-2008. (New York: Rizzoli, 2009.) 9

[10] Winy Maas, Alexander Sverdlov, and Emily Waugh. Visionary Cities. (Rotterdam: NAi, 2009) 94

[11] Le Corbusier.Toward a New Architecture. (London: Architectural, 1965.) 7

[12] Winy Maas, Alexander Sverdlov, and Emily Waugh. Visionary Cities. (Rotterdam: NAi, 2009) 212

[13] Fumihiko Maki, and Mark Mulligan. Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City. (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008.) 234

[14] Stephen Sennott, R. "Factory." Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture. (New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004.) 433.

[15] Reyner Banham "The Factory Aesthetic." Theory and Design in the First Machine Age. (New York: Praeger, 1967) 79 -87.

[16] Le Corbusier.Toward a New Architecture. (London: Architectural, 1965.) 3-5

Bibliography

Alison-Mayne, Blythe, Penny Herscovitch, and Stephanie Rigolot. Introduction. Morphosis Buildings & Projects, 1999-2008. New York: Rizzoli, 2009.

Banham, Reyner. "The Factory Aesthetic." Theory and Design in the First Machine Age. New York: Praeger, 1967.

 Fishman, Robert. "The Radiant City." Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. New York: Basic, 1977.

 Le, Corbusier. "Architecture or Revolution." Toward a New Architecture,. London: Architectural, 1965.

 Leach, Neil. "The Seduction of Architecture." The Anaesthetics of Architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999.

Hine, Lewis Wickes. Construction Worker on the Empire State Building Some Type of Wire. 1929. Photograph. New York, NY. Knowledgerush. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Lewis_Hine/>.

 Maas, Winy, Alexander Sverdlov, and Emily Waugh. "The Mniature, The Faithful, The Green, Why Be Visionary." Visionary Cities. Rotterdam: NAi, 2009.

 Maki, Fumihiko, and Mark Mulligan. "On the Industrial Vernacular." Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008.

Sennott, R. Stephen. "Factory." Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004. 

Project back in the summer

Site: Rocinha, Brazil

The theme of this competition is “Housing For Better Urban Environments”. As a competitor, I have to choose a site. As an alternative aspect of the urban environment, I think of the slums of many merging cities. The people who are left out of the system create themselves a community that reflects the shadow of the urbanization, which we might call slum.

I pick the most famous slum in Brazil, Rocinha, as my site to represent slums spreading throughout South America. People just keep building on the steep hills from the existing slum. Their lives were in deeper jeopardy as they expend, because the weak treatment of the land. Aside from crime and economy, they are suffering from lack of sanitation and many basic needs to maintain lives. These places need the immediate attention more than those cities that spend time on bureaucracy.

In recent years, Brazil has been cutting down rainforest to farm the crops for export to compromise with “Free Trade”. The price is the damaged and threatened lives of the many natural inhabitants of rainforest. Why is this one of the most fruitful land of sun, rain, and fertile soil becoming a land of the starving and the poor?

Intent of Proposal

I took the inspiration from the jungle, the resourceful and harmonious aspect of it. The food chain system that sustains the jungle can be relevant to the urban environment.

I create a term called “junglification” which stands for the optimism of the green urbanism. Jungle is also referring the organic infrastructure of Brazil.

After all, Brazil is a nation of Amazon. It should be proud of its root, especially in this modernized era.

Systems

This project involves the science about light, air, water and earth. 

1. Solar power amplifier

For the solar energy, I tried to find the method and material that can refract a huge surface of sun light into a small solar panel to maximize the efficiency, and to reduce the cost of solar power installation. That would be some thing like magnifying glass, but thin. Eventually, I found Fresnel Lens.

This building integrates Fresnel Lens to concentrate the entire sun glaze to a focal zone in order to multiply the efficiency. The solar panel will be shifting to track the focal zone to maximize the solar gain.

Since the sun glaze is redirected to the solar panel, the heat will not culminate in the atrium space, at same time, there will still be the gentle natural light instead of overwhelming glaze.

In order to create an automatic shifting system to track the focal zone, I present the pendulum clock system as the alternative of the computer. It can speed up the shifting movement as the summer approaches, just by raising the pendulum. It can reverse the movement as the sun altitude reverse at noon, just by adding more counter weight.

2. Stack Ventilation

Since sun glaze will not fully convert into electricity, the rest of the energy will become heat. While the gain is mainly generated on the top of atrium space as a heat zone, the effect of stack ventilation will take place. Hot air escapes from the top openings, and the cool air is drawn into the space from the rare. In the daytime, air flows with or without the wind. The plan and section in this building shows that the indoor courtyard will allow generous flow of air into the units and travel to the top of atrium, then escape.

3. Rainwater Collection Pool

For the water collecting system, I presented the strategies that utilize the roof spaces to efficiently store the rainwater.

On the waterproof roof space, the water will travel to the ditch, and be directed to the rainwater collecting pool as canopy and pitch roof.

The method might be simple and conventional, but such notion can significantly reduce the landslide issue, and turn the issue into good use.

4. Waterless Composting Toilet System

During the research phrase, I looked into the existing technology of composting toilet. I found the inconvenience and limitation of this system. After I explore the solution of the installation of waterless composting toilet in the high-rise, my design creates the condition to allow the typical composting toilet system to work.

Before the use, users spread the leaves on the bottom before use. After the use, they can push the switch to let the waste drop to the pipe. The diagonal design will allow the waste to travel to the central shaft, and then the composting container. After the composting period, farmers can collect and use it direct to the farm.

5. Adaptability

After all, architecture is about adaptability. This project is suggesting the framework that can adopt in different topographical or contextual differences to improve the quality of environment and lives. Its facade less design is to allow its inhabitants to customize their individual space.

USSR Propaganda Photography/Art

German Car Factory

Site: Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Location of Taiwan in Pacific
Location of Kaohsiung in Taiwan
Location of My Site in Kaohsiung

Site Data

Expansion of the City

Port Expansion Era (1895-1945)

Before 1895, Takao (the former name of Kaohsiung) was an estuarine flatland; there were few settlements inland, and it relied mostly on fishing and farming. According to the 1990 population examination, there are only 7,607 people living in the Takao nearby villages.

In 1895 Taiwan came under the rule of the Japanese. In 1908 the Takao port construction project was started, at which time the “Takao Urban Planning Project” raised the plan of using sludge from the dredging of the Takao port to reclaim land. Thus the Takao port was able to transform itself into a brand-new looking port city from a small fishing and commerce port, through the efforts of the Japanese, over three port construction projects. It was due to the construction of the port that Kaohsiung became industrialized earlier than any other city in Taiwan. 1920 saw some large-scale changes in local administrative structures: Takao was named Kaohsiung and the Kaohsiung Prefectural Government was established, turning Kaohsiung into a top-level administrative district in Taiwan.

Since Kaohsiung established the Kaohsiung City in 1979, its population increased nearly 8% within only five years. The center of the city also moved eastward as urban development and population increased. The urban center of Kaohsiung was in the Qihou District in 1924, and gradually moved eastward to the Hamaxing District in 1930. The total population in Kaohsiung in 1935 was 86,000, 24% of which had moved into the Yancheng District, and the area west of the Ai River was the most densely populated.

. In 1936, the Kaohsiung Urban Planning Project was announced. The plan already covered areas east of the Ai River, and set the location of the train station where it is today. These efforts formed the skeleton and model for contemporary development of Kaohsiung.

Beginning of Industrialization (1945-1970)

In 1945, the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan and subsequently took over and combined previously Japanese-owned industries, such as “Taiwan Fertilizer Co.”, “Taiwan Aluminum Co.”, “Taiwan Mechanics Co.”, “China Petroleum Co.”, etc., and Kaohsiung started to be designated as an industrial city, and actively promoted various constructions, such as:

1946 Construction of the Kaohsiung Oil Refinery

1957 Construction of the first plastic material factory in Taiwan

1958 Development of the seaside industrial area

1966 The first export processing zone in Taiwan

1969 The first cargo container center in Taiwan started business in Kaohsiung Port

The 1960s saw great transformations in Kaohsiung, which started as a port and had fast become an industrial city.

Development of Heavy Industries (1970-1990)

In 1979, Kaohsiung City was designated as a municipality directly governed by the province of Taiwan. The Xiaogang District was now part of the Kaohsiung City area, which consisted of eleven administrative districts with total area of about 1,536 hectares.

At the same time, the second port in the Kaohsiung Port had finished construction, the ability to allow free passage of container cargo freighters under 100,000 tons and the construction of five cargo container terminals made Kaohsiung one of the top three container ports in the world.

The major developments in Kaohsiung invested by the central government attracted large immigrant population, accelerated urban development, yet, at the same time, affected the quality of life for its residents.

Economic and Commercial Development (1990-Present )

For a long time, the city of Kaohsiung has acted as the center for industries, politics, living and consumer functionality in southern Taiwan. However, with globalization came the exodus of traditional industries and social changes, and industries in Kaohsiung now face a problem of transformation – gradually moving from second-level industries based on manufacturing to third-level industries based on commerce, and expects to incite the growth of third-level industries with the foundation of industrialization of the past, moving gradually away from traditional manufacturing towards a post-industrial society based on commerce and service industries.

At the same time, building a comfortable city that offers functions of production, living, and ecology and replacing its previous image of a dark and unsightly industrial city have become the guiding principles of Kaohsiung’s development. With the success in solving the pollution problem of the Ai River, Kaohsiung has gradually presented itself as a unique and beautiful waterside city. And, with the introduction of concepts of urban aesthetics and sustainable ecology, Kaohsiung has, step by step, renovated abandoned industrial factories and old port areas for reuse, offering the residents as well as visitors more space for activity and scenic enjoyment. With the activation of the Taiwan High Speed Rail in 2007 and the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit System in 2008, the city’s transportation capabilities have been strengthened and formed a solid foundation for future development.

The uniquely endowed harbor city of Kaohsiung, with a shoreline of 12 kilometers, was designated by the Taiwanese government as a focus area of industrial and economic development and construction as early as 1953, which accounted for its attracting large labor population and becoming the industrial and commerce port city of today.

In 2007, Kaohsiung’s industry is based on third-level industries, assisted by second-level ones. As for the percentage, second-level industries accounts for around 10.74%, while third-level industries make up 83.8% of the total number of companies.

In terms of employment population, Kaohsiung’s second-level industries employees account for 31.41% of all of Kaohsiung’s industrial, commercial and service industries, while the percentage for that of the third-level industries is 67.62%.

However, from the point of view of production value, the annual GDP is 1,522.8 billion NTD, of which second-level industries contribute 71%, while third-level industries take up only 29%.

Qianzhen District

With the convenient proximity to the Kaohsiung Port, this area had been planned as a key industrial base since the Japanese Occupation, and was involved in oil storage, the production of aluminum, weapons, machinery, and later, petrochemical, fertilizer, and wood work industries. However, with the industries moving out since the 1980s, the factories have been shut down and the large industrial site have been vacant. To help industries transform and to better utilize land resources, now the Kaohsiung City Government has designated it a “multi-functional economy and commerce park,” for developing it into the “Manhattan of Kaohsiung,” where heavy industries of the past now transform into a commercial and service industry center. In addition, for the area of Zhongdao, which is a piece of reclaimed land that extends into the Kaohsiung Port as a result of harbor dredging in the 1960s, the City Government has, seeing its unique position and advantages in being in a port, constructed there the first export processing zone in the country. This zone has made a tremendous contribution to the economic development of Taiwan, and is still in production. After three generations of industrial transformation, it is now mainly devoted to the hi-tech industry.

Kaohsiung and its Harbor

Arial Views of Qianzhen District

Dream Mall

Section Cut and Road Contour of Dream Mall

View of Qianzhen District from Dream Mall

View from Dream Mall

View from Dream Mall

View from Dream Mall

View from Dream Mall

View over the courtyard of Dream Mall

View of courtyard

 Contrast between Dream Mall and industrial site at night

View of industrial site from Dream Mall

View from Industrial Site toward Dream Mall

View inside the Dream Mall

View on the roof of Dream Mall

Scene on the Roof

View from the ferries wheel of Dream Mall

View of the industrial complex next to Dream Mall

Site Analysis

Agendas and Contradictions of My Site Choice 

First, the main purpose of this project is to capture the attention of big scale of audience through its presence. So it will be set in urbanscape. Ideally it needs to be visually identical in the urbanscape, which means not too many tall buildings around. Second, I envision this project to be the center of the city to enforce the sense of the mental direction. But maybe I am trying to create another center to mirror the current center.  Third, it needs to be accessible. Maybe it needs to be on the spot where there is an existing flow of the people, but not bad traffic congestion. Forth, the regional demography will determine the magnitude of the effect of the project. I want to bring the confrontation to the active audiences that might mean a region under redevelopment. But Maybe through revitalizing the older neighborhood can bring new face to the region and serve as the reviving spirit. Fifth, I want to establish a statement to the mainstream, which is more of a commercial neighborhood. It can compete with the existing commercial buildings. It will have more interaction with the flow of businessmen and visitors, but there will be more tall buildings, distractions, bad congestion, and less flexibility. Setting this project in the industrial area will dignify the regional identity. It will have better congestion, flexibility. It can establish itself as the center competing with the traditional model of the center. It will encounter less problems, but maybe the provocation and confrontation is what I am looking for. People will have the mental boundary to ignore the industrialized area if there is nothing to attract them. One old industrialized neighborhood became less active, and it was partially rezoned. The modern and higher standard of the roads were laid, and the lot offers more freedom in building form. Since the latest mall in that country was built, that place is like Disneyland. Should I do opposite?

Resolutions

Site for the Factory

In Taiwan, people don’t have mental boundaries toward the poor place, because the poor people don’t really hate the rich as in many other countries. People have tendency to live in the cities, not because outside the outer city is dangerous, but simply inconvenient. City means the zone of convenience, socialization, and attraction. So if there were no attraction zone or reason outside of their convenience zone, people wouldn’t go through a zone lacking in any of those conditions. Let’s look at the nature of the social behavior as a passive energy. Convenience, socialization, and attraction zones are the passive systems to capture that energy. Let’s call flow of people as “passive audience”. Since my project isn’t built to on any of those passive systems, it will need media to advertise itself to reach the passive audience, or locate itself strategically on the passive system in order to engage more passive audience.

In this case, I find an attraction and socialization zone. That area offers the flexibility, contemporary zoning, existence of industrial infrastructure, and the tourist trap, Dream Mall. The reporters estimated the record that Dream Mall had 100,000 visitors in a weekend. Dream Mall is almost like the Disneyland of the city.

Dream Mall: New Center of the City

Dream Mall: Passive System to collect the passive audience

Left: Dream Mall  Right: Existing Factory( my site for Dream Factory)

Although my project is a statement against the consumerist society, I can’t deny city’s achievement on the redevelopment of this area. Because of the new layout of the streets and new zoning for more architectural freedom, this area is symbolizing a new hope for contemporary city. While this hope is the new attention of the city, I can capture that social momentum and elevate it to the next level. Another fact to consider is that this area was developed as the industrial junction between the city and its seaport. Kaohsiung’s seaport is losing its competition to its giant competitor, China. Nevertheless it is still ranked the sixth largest in the world. By revitalizing and reinventing the industry in this area, this area will ultimately become the threshold between the city and the industrial seaport region. This seaport doesn’t need to be any bigger, but it can make itself a model example of the world by reinventing its industrial culture. My project will both transform the consumer’s nature and dignify the industry marking the new center to unite all regions of the city.

Commercial and Mixed Residential Zoning

Industrial Zoning

 The Frontier of the Industrial Territory

Commercial Zone (Blue);  Industrial Zone (Yellow) ; My Site (Red)

Statue of Labority (Julius Caesar with safety helmet, wrench, and blue print to conquer the commercial north (blue) from the frontier of the industrial south (yellow)!)

Aspiration to the industrial culture (yellow)

Hooray! Men in Tools

Site for the high-rise Farm

As for my high-rise agriculture, I want more adoptability.  It will be ideal to fit in the genuine cityscape of Taiwan that composes fragmental activities. It should be accessible to the public and evolves with its neighborhood while suggesting a new typology in the future. The first of its type should be built not in the zone that are transforming into the contemporary city block, but on the generic and authentic Taiwanese block. At the same time I want o draw the office workers a step closer to the nature. So because it is close to the high-rise buildings that shade will be the key to form the program in the framework, therefore I can demonstrate the harmony between the reality and imagination. So the site I find is between the small infrastructures and the big blocks. Solution resides in the duality. Solution is the bridge to connect the differences and link to the future.

Site Analysis of the Vertical Farming 

Analysis of Urbanscape and Activityscape

List of Urban Elements

Density by regions of Kaohsiung

Growth of Vertical Farming