Compressor
4 december 2002
2030 – COMPRESSOR OVERSCHIE © 1999
For the Ministry of Spatial Planning (VROM) and Control Group Experimental Housing (SEV)
EXPONENTIAL URBANISM
…stacking slabs of city is one way to create density…
NODES
In this project we investigated the programming of nodes in infrastructural networks. By this strategy we are able to avoid the smothering carpet of low density (housing) programs, which is spreading over Holland. Our aim here is to fertilise urban material with diversity, integrated services, higher efficiency and lower costs. We are convinced that nodes, embedded in existing infrastructural networks, are ideal locations to realise massive programs. These kinds of sites are difficult to develop, but they force us to learn techniques of concentration and intensification, the tools for urban planning in the nearby future. We consider the results of this study a manifesto for exponential urbanism. In consequence of INFRABODIES®, (published in ARCHIS 12 – 1998, ARCH+ 147, L’Arca 139 and Stedebouw & Ruimtelijke Ordening 4-1999), our research in the programming of empty zones surrounding heavy infrastructure (1997) and in particular in consequence of the concept for Schieplein -Urban Turbine, you can find here a summary of our research into the programming of two infra-nodes.
BLACK PAGE
We were allowed to select Overschie as our testcase. Overschie is a small village, encapsulated in the periphery of Rotterdam and seriously damaged by the passage of the A13 freeway, a kind of ‘Berlin Wall’. For us the keys were two infrastructural nodes on its north and south boundary. These provided the fuel for an exponential urbanism. The inhabitants of Overschie are breathing polluted air. Traffic makes them smoke passively up to 17 cigarettes a day. This is one of the black pages in the history of urban planning in Holland. The engine of the transformation of Overschie can be triggered by two elements: the new A13-A16-link and the construction of the A4, both infrastructural bypasses to relieve the A13 from congestion. This highway however will still remain the perfectly situated northern link to Rotterdam.
A13 FREEWAY
In our scheme we buried the A13 underground. Overschie can develop a Central Park on top of the A13. Overschie becomes a village once again.
A13-A16 INTERCHANGE
In our scheme the A13-A16-node will be developed as infrascape: a business park integrated in a lifted landscape. In our scheme the new A13-central Park of Overschie will be covering this node by a parallel soil. This new landscape develops opportunities for a complete new office area for the Randstad. The structural grid is derived from the grid of the present waterways. Overschie Central Park connects the existing Park Zestienhoven to the polder area Midden Delfland over this infrastructural bundle.
KLEINPOLDERPLEIN
The Compressor Kleinpolderplein will be developed with urban programs and housing. This node generates an enormous potential because of its position between the Randstadring, Rotterdam Airport, office area Rotterdam Northwest and the city itself. The underground A13 is combined with a metro tube that links the Central Station, Rotterdam Airport, RandstadRail (present Hofplein trajectory) and the future HSL (high speed train).
COMPRESSOR KLEINPOLDERPLEIN
This is the biggest Infrabody with the smallest footprint we have ever planned. The programming of such a location in such a massive scale is without precedents. Its density is beyond our present day comprehension. Its time window is around 2030. The Compressor consists of stacked slabs of city and reaches a height of about 300-meter. It brings together programs in a dot under high pressure and it makes urbanism inevitable. To program the Compressor, we perforated it with various kinds of atriums for the admittance of light and air and linked it to various types of infrastructure. Its sheer mass exploits the existing traffic square. The resulting density inside forces all infrastructure to the vertical plane. The five floors of the interface take care of all incoming and outgoing traffic by prosthetics connected to the surroundings for public transport, trucks, cars, metro, bus, pedestrians and cyclists. It takes care of tilting the massive traffic flows from the horizontal to the vertical. The floor fields of the Compressor can be considered landscapes with a variety of qualities such as daylight, fresh air and panoramic views. These qualities create zones for specific programs like housing, working spaces, offices, commercial programs, recreation and parking. Obviously housing is nesting along the outer perimeters of the slabs. The root shaped atrium is placed within the infrastructure bundles, is structurally stabilising and provides air, light and views. The slabs of city all have a topside that can function as a public soil. It is possible to program these with landscapes, parks, squares, swimming pools and sports facilities. A high-rise traditionally includes a relatively big core. This core destroys the efficiency of the floor plans. In the compressor we atomised the core. It is exploded in ‘small’ particles and spread over the complete surface. We can do this by using the gigantic columns as tubes, supporting the slabs and at the same time functioning as infrastructural elements: structure becomes infrastructure. The columns are big enough to accommodate emergency stairs, services, etc. Each column supports a ring of elevators around its perimeter. The car elevators are combined in a tower and transport vehicles to a 150-m. height. The vertical boulevard runs through the main rootshaped atrium and is programmed with urban facilities. A structural grid along the boulevard is covered with a cloud of gondolas. These gondolas travel horizontally as well as vertically, programmed to avoid each other. Compared to traditional elevator systems many more ‘vehicles’ can travel in a vertical slot and the problems with stretching cables are solved.
DATA
height 300 m foot print 2.5 hectare (2.5 x 100 x 100 m.)
floor plans 210 X 170 m = 35.000 m2 floors 7 slabs with each 9 floors interface 5 floors, each one for a different kind of traffic flow number of floors 68 gross floor area 2.300.000-m2 net floor area 1.300.000-m2 housing 26 % = 340,000 m2 = 2550 apartments / density = 900 apartments / hectare (100 x 100 m.)
rest 74 % = housing related program, offices, commercial and cultural surface, services and parking