We are facing a future full of questions – questions about the development of our cities. Especially in days of scepticism, populism and fear, we need answers of how visionary, green, fantastic, biodiverse, transparent, intimate, adaptable and emotional our future can be. The Why Factory, led by Winy Maas, founding partner of MVRDV tries to answer these questions with a method called design research. A method with refreshing visions that break rules and stereotypic thinking – a true combination of science and fiction.
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Until July 21, a collection of works by Winy Maas students can be seen in the current exhibition at the architecture gallery in Munich. The research lab of TU Delft acts as a future world scenario making machinery. It is a platform that aims to analyse, theorize and construct future cities.
10 years of research and education led to a wide range of demands:
The wish for common sense in a world that seems to be dominated by individualism in (W)ego Cities, the advocacy for wildlife in Biodivercity, the request for openness in Porocity, the desire for amazement in We want world wonders, the push for combination of small scale densification actions in The Vertical Village and the expression of fear of the ultimately killing Absolute Leisure and many more.
The future is coming. Are we ready?
By far not, says Winy Maas. Our current cities consist of towers and blocks that are somehow enclosed, distant, introvert and not mixed with urban life, social possibilities and ecological potentials. How can we enlarge pockets for encounters, for streams of access and communication, for enlarging zones for greenery and animals, for tunnels of cooling and refreshment, for channels and pockets of water and sanitation? What can we wonder about now since almost nothing is impossible in architecture?
Today, climate change casts a shadow of doubt on our civilisation being so self-centred. However, can ‘Green’ ideology, as we know it, embrace the whole complexity of that conflict? Can eco-city, as we know it (Masdar), be a sufficient solution? Students in collaboration with researchers of the Why Factory tried to find answers by illustrating visionary images. They looked for new intimacy between human beings and nature. They invented new cities that grow vertically, new typologies of buildings, that can disappear, or infrastructure that flies in clouds above the cities.
Let’s speculate through the eyes of architecture students and researchers about how our future cities will look like. Or, as Winy Maas would say, if curiosity makes us unique, let us enlarge our curiosity.
For the national laboratory MAX IV in Lund in southern Sweden Snöhetta had to find innovative ideas to deal with the unique parameters. Several aspects were taken into consideration to design the 19 hectares park of the synchrotron radiation facility: mitigating ground vibrations of the nearby highways, storm water management and meeting the city’s ambitious sustainability goals. The MAX IV is the first part of a larger transformation of the area northeast of Malmö aiming to turn agricultural land into a ‚Science City’. The creation of a new, green public park rather than a fenced, introverted research centre makes a difference in public realm.
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The landscape architecture design is based on four important criteria:
Mitigating ground vibrations
Creating slopes and a more chaotic surface reduces the amount of ground vibrations of the neighbouring highway. The flatter the landscape, the more likely the vibrations will interfere with scientific experiments in the laboratories. 3D modelling with Grasshopper – a Rhino plug-in – proved crucial for the arrangement of the sloping hills. The design layout was established by extracting the nature of vibrations into rational values inserted in a generic model. So the landscape designers found out the more chaotic combinations of waves, the better the noise reduction.
Mass balance
With a cut and fill strategy the landscape architects reused excavated masses on site. This secures the option of reversing the land to agricultural use, when the laboratory is no longer on site. By uploading the digital 3D model directly into the GPS-controlled bulldozers, the planners were able to relocate the masses to their final position.
Storm water management
The city planning department of Lund restricts water management inside the site’s boundaries. Dry and wet ponds gather water of 1-year and 100-year storm water.
Plant selection and maintenance
The discovery of a nearby natural reserve area made it possible to use a selection of natural species by harvesting hay and spreading it on the new hilly landscape. The maintenance strategy includes a combination of sheep and conventional machines.
The four design criteria leaded to a unique futuristic landscape, which corresponds with the surrounding context in a natural way. The image of the meadow vegetation on sloping hills as a recreational area is setting a new standard for research facilities’ outdoor areas.
