5.1 Comfort
Malmö, Sweden 80,000 m2 Design year 2008
Case : Västra Dockan How do you transform an existing industrial harbour into a vibrant, dense city with mixed functions? In the competition proposal for Västra Dockan, Sweden, the answer to this question is based on a qualified green activation of the urban space. The Västra Dockan project introduces a master plan where the building volumes serve to create a mixture of streets and plazas, similar to the varied city district of central Malmö.
A – Stays of long duration B – Stays of short duration C – Activity D – Passage
The development of the harbour area takes the history of the location as its starting point ; the narrow alleys and large halls are actively incorporated to engage in dynamic interaction with a modern, urban harbour space with offices, retail, residences and recreational areas.
Thus, Västra Dockan takes a holistic, scientific approach to urban spaces and buildings that provides entirely new comfort and energy-related opportunities. For instance, the effect caused by shadow from adjacent buildings can be incorporated into the microclimatic calculations and the consequences of the wind and daylight conditions determined by the varied urban spaces can be clarified.
The plan is based on a quantitative approach that integrates the microclimate of the city, i.e. wind and daylight conditions. It is organised in four activity categories, defined by the level of activity in the urban space :
58 | DESIGN WITH KNOWLEDGE | COMFORT | CITY
This holistic approach has resulted in an urban space that offers a wide variety of different activity/recreation zones with each their own individual microclimate.