greenLab

Stuttgart 21

Stuttgart is the 6th largest city in Germany with a population of only 600.000. Nevertheless the specific geographic location in a lush valley restricts the city growth naturally and puts an immense pressure on the urban development in the center.

The city decided in the early 90ies to change the stub terminal to an underground through station. The vast areal of in future unused rail tracks is going to be transformed into a new city district called Stuttgart 21. This project is critiqued for it´s non sustainable master plan (the existing master plan is based on 20 year old standards with regard to building performance and energy supply) and standard non-social architectural proposals. First properties had been used for the development of commercial buildings only. After working hours there are no people in the area.

Stuttgart2X

We would like to challenge the existing master plan and develop new sustainable urban concepts. With the help of discrete models such as Cellar Automata we will examine different approaches to urban design. The performance (environmental sustainability) of such models will be tested with analytical software such as Ecotect.

sustainability

The term ‘sustainable design’ has many interpretations. The Bruntland Report, which illustrated the widespread concern for the state of environment and popularized the phrase ‘sustainable development’, defined it as a way to ‘meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ This includes environmental, social and economical sustainability.

 For building design to embody this ethic of sustainable development, it ought not only to enable reduced resource consumption but also foster environmental awareness on the part of building occupants and society at large.

To achieve this, students must be attentive to the following measures, not only in terms of their technical performance but in the more or less subtle ways of integration in urban planning:

 1.      Quality of the built outdoor environment (architecturally as well as thermal (wind) and daylight (solar access))

2.      Vibrant city district (density, programmatic mix)

3.      Energy efficiency (daylight access of buildings, solar access for housing, density required for district systems, synergies between different programmatic areas)

4.      Water conservation (grey/rain water re-use as part of the landscape concept)

5.      Material efficiency (minimizing environmental footprint caused by building construction)

 A sustainable approach to environmental control begins with attention to existing conditions.  This identifies not only challenges to a comfortable climate but also the most direct, non-invasive ways to meet them.  The most challenging climatic problems are often solved by passive means, using other complimentary aspects of the climate.  When approaching a site with potential sustainable design alternatives, a thorough understanding and sensitivity toward ecosystems and natural processes is needed. 

design process

step1 - research

We will start with investigations of the site based on specific sustainability issues:

environmental sustainability: solar gains | grey water | right of light | thermodynamics | wind

social sustainability: urban farming | governance structures | density vs open spaces | temporal use and gentrification 

A group of two students will each research one of the topics in regards to urban design, architecture and the specifics of the site. 

3 -4 other groups will research into discrete models such as cellular automata.

step 2 - open-source

In Stuttgart each group will present their results and we will reshuffle the groups based on a voting principle (natural selection process). All research of step1 is understood as open-source information of the whole studio - so each group can use any ideas as long as the names of the original author is mentioned.

step 3 - discrete models

Each of the new groups (3 students) will work to develop a discrete planning process based on a pair of one environmental and one social sustainability issue. Since a cellular automaton is based on simple neighboring conditions such a tool will allow each group to design and test different solutions from a local (architecture) and global (urban) perspective at the same time.

The emphasis of urban or architectural solution can be determined by each group but both levels of design need to be discussed in a holistic approach.