3 MOBILITY Project: Flex Hub Dock Program: MAA Master in Anvanced Architecture Emergent Territories Studio Students: M. Carolina Aguirre, Xiomara Armijo, Carlo Caltabiano Director: Willy Müller Tutors: Maite Bravo The Barcelona’s port area is useless for other purposes during the time Cruises and other Ships remain docked, about 9,1 hours/day. Barcelona has 1.628.090 citizens and there is not even 1m2 of space for the people, with 65% public space occupied by mobility. Locals and Visitors cannot use this part of the city. The real protagonists are the Ships instead of the people. The inhabitants somehow perceive the rest as Outsiders as the presence of tourists is very heavy for them. On the other hand, the capacity, dimensions and technology of the Ships, as of their Docks required space, are continuously increasing, and Docks have to be expanding all the time, taking away more and more space to the city; instead of being part of it. The solution is based on a new concept of shared space. The area will be totally refunctionalized taking on account, for the first time since it was occupied, the city, by its people’s needs. A new shared space, Flexible enough to respond to the different demands of the Port as a Dock and as a new Social and Mobility Hub, being able to transform itself according to diverse users and their needs by optimizing its space in different time scales. A smart system as the Flex Hub Dock makes possible to use this area of the Port of Barcelona as both a Dock for ships and a public space as a Plaza. Depending on the needs of the city for public space and of the activity as Dock, the FHD can be totally managed in real time, by embedded sensors and an automatized network system that receives information of space requirements to begin its transition between Plaza and Dock. The FHD system includes an endless number of different possible scenarios. It is a reprogrammable surface that can transform depending on the activities that are going on in the city, the traffic flows in realtime and also the tourists and inhabitants demand for public space that can be programmed using an interactive webpage. scan the code to watch the video
The original aspect of the FHD is the concept itself. A Dock is usually associated as in the limits between the city and the water. But the FHD is able to somehow use the water as land, and transform this land into water, giving the city a whole new layer. Spaces can appear.. and disappear. The innovation relies on the flexibility of the entire system, not only the structure itself, but also the functional open program that able to deal with real-time needs and also programmable requests to have a different kind of space whenever the city needs it. FHD integrates different devices containing sensors that monitor: positioning via gps, height levels, weight, light, temperature, speed, alarm systems, and software applications providing realtime information of different parameters around urban services and mobility. Establishing a range of functions (needs and activities at the port area) and hierarchies according with the top 5 agents among others (cruise ships, cargo ships, people, trucks, containers) the space changes, it can be different every hour, and totally different every day.
The FHD works in different levels that are connected. On one hand, it is supported by an informatics platform that processes real-time data and also programmable activities through the webpage. On the other, it is supported by the System Cells, each one with one core that allows it to work as a network, processing information and also emitting outputs that allow the FHD to physically transform according to the data received. - THE SYSTEM: FHD is based on a smart surface made of hexagonal capsules (4 m diameter), organized as a hexagonal geometry in a double structure interactively controlled in every single cell and also as a compound system. Each hexagon receiving inputs via embedded sensors, is able to move up and down into the water in order to allow the passage of ships through it, so while the ship stands and goes on, the space transforms and after the ship is gone, FHD restores itself. - THE CELL: An hexagonal capsule seals the system on each cell, as a flexible structure covers the gaps between cells as joints.
These consist in air and water flexible tubes that are connected to an expansive core in the center of the capsule. The system replaces the air with water to float when needed to go deep into the water, the core expands while filling itself with air. With light load the system has to use less air, to balance and float; and as higher the load becomes, the system has to use more air to balance again and continue floating. The top panels are embedded photovoltaic cell to provide energy to the system and screens to display traffic signals. Those panel allows water to filter through openings when going into and out from the water.