SYMBIOCITY

PREFACE

How would you best describe a city? Integrated? Chaotic? Autonomous? A large machine with individual cogs working in unison perhaps? Or would you describe it as a furnace? A furnace where different elements are added in and in the end, a single body is forged. Or perhaps a body of parts which are haphazardly sewn together? Each area having its own general product, its own general aspect. Strewn together to create a whole. Infrastructure connecting these different parts, like the circulatory system in the human body. Adapting to an ever-expanding city. That would be the description of a conventional city. Projects within are always trying to improve upon what is there.

This is where I say, fuck conventionality. Pardon the language, but it seems as the best way to describe what we have here. What we have here isn’t focused on improving the quality of life. It is focused on improving efficiency and connectivity. Everything condensed to the point where every square centimeter has a function. Condensed to a point where it becomes a black-hole, pulling in its surroundings without giving a glimpse of what’s on the inside, until one ventures within. In-turn, it is larger than your standard warehouse, larger than your standard shopping mall, larger than your conventional perception of “large”. Size creates its own context.

Symbiocity is a stand-alone, self-sustaining industrial shopping city where the layout is confusing and mesmerizing enough to push people toward compulsive shopping. Maxing out the fun and boosting up your endorphin and serotonin...making you happy and feeling light as a feather, all while your wallet follows suite.

Ladies and gentlemen, Symbiocity is my guilty pleasure, my love and hate relationship. When I think about it, I am entering Symbiocity with my logic and leaving my emotions outside. The word for it would be controversial. Even controversial towards my own self. So hold on to the travellator, you‘re about to lose all common sense while getting immersed within and looking at all the shiny billboards.

I will not give it all away here but Symbiocity is a statement. A statement to what can be, if not necessarily what should be. It is a movement meant to spark a bit of controversy and irony. All that is left is for you to read it. Let go of conventionality and indulge yourself.

Welcome to Symbiocity, please enjoy the ride.

Btian Paul Dorsam

Tolga Can

SIZE MATTERS! Or does it?

Chances are that the “boldness” of this statement caught your attention, and for good reason. Boldness can be interpreted in two ways, either in the implication and meaning or in the fact that the statement you read was in fact written in a bold font. In this case, both work in tandem to convey a common message. The increased intensity of the letter and the fact that it takes slightly more space on the paper captures your attention and that can be viewed as a simple introduction to this project.

Symbiocity is a bold experimentation of size and ambition, how the bold statement above could be manifested and applied to a much more vast scale of urban planning; and not just haunt the self esteem of men for hundreds of years. Symbiocity is an embodiment of sheer density, scale and symbiosis; a conglomerate of elements and entities, all corresponding to create an optimized yet at times quite absurd whole. An effort to challenge the criticisms of the “Big Box” typology and showcase an example of the benefits of one such high scale, high density yet imperfect megastructure.

After all, efficiency comes at a price

Navid Javan Shojamofrad

Rem Koolhaas, 1995

LIESING

Liesing is a district that has been influenced greatly by politics and bureaucracy. The settlement of Liesing dates back to the middle-ages, where it shared close ties to the other villages around it. During the time where land either belonged to certain lords or the church, Liesing was a part of the latter. Together with Altmannsdorf, Hetzendorf, Erlaa, Mauer and Siebenhirten, the municipality of Liesing was under the jurisdiction of the Atzgersdorf parish. Liesing itself had a church, but did not control its own parish. Following the change of land laws in 1850, Liesing was brought under the administration of Hietzing, which at the time was not a part of Vienna. The second half of the 19th century is when Liesing began to grow. The construction of the Southern Railway (Südbahn) through Liesing in 1842, allowed the expansion of industry into the area. A chemical factory owned by Wagenmann and Braun existed just east of the Liesing railway station, and was connected via a branch to the railway line. The location of this factory would be the spot where industry in Liesing would flourish in the coming decades.

Liesing as a district came into existence in 1938 following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. Vienna was expanded to 25 districts and Liesing became the 25th district. During this period, the industrial area of Liesing grew significantly. The railway branch “Liesing Schleppbahn” was expanded to a number of new factories being built, mostly to support the German war effort during World War II. Following the defeat of Germany, Austria became independent again, but was occupied by the Allied powers. The reorganizing of 1938 was reversed in 1946 which once again led Liesing to become independent from Vienna. This led to Liesing falling under the Soviet zone of occupation, rather than the British zone.

Policy change once again affected Liesing in 1892, when Hietzing was incorporated as the 13th district of Vienna. However, since only the northern half of the municipality was incorporated, Liesing and the towns nearby were reorganized as the “Hietzing-Umgebung” district. In 1904, Liesing was granted its own judicial district, which was an important step into becoming a district in the future.

However in 1954, a law was passed which re-incorporated Liesing into Vienna as its 23rd district, a year before the occupation ended. The end of the Allied occupation marked the beginning of a period of growth for the industry of Liesing. New factories opened up and the population saw a sharp increase in the 1960s. New residential complexes together with the construction of wide avenues led to the area taking its present day form.

Map of Liesing in 1872, Militärgeographischer Institut (source: wikipeida.org)

Allied occupation zones of vienna, 1945-55

The typology of Liesing ranges from single residential houses to large warehouses for industrial usage. Roughly a quarter of the district is also undeveloped wooded area, part of the “Wiener Wald”. Very little farmland remains within the district as the only the wooded portion has special laws protecting it from any urban development. Medium-density apartments are found along, but not limited to, the Southern Railway. Newer developments are found mostly in Erlaa, as the area is going through urban redevelopment. Starting from the northwest and making our way across, the typology of the municipalities of Liesing are as follows.

Kalksburg: (3.76 km2)

Kalksburg is made up almost entirely of the Vienna Woods. Mostly forested along soft rolling hills, only the southern periphery of this municipality has urban development. The developed area is along Breitenfurter Straße and consists of low-density residential dwellings.

Rodaun: (2.14 km2)

Rodaun is a municipality that is split between Vienna and Lower Austria. Within Liesing, Rodaun is a mix of low-density residential housing, together with a few medium-density apartments as well as a panhandle that extends southwest, leading to the southern-most point of the city of Vienna. This panhandle is mostly wooded area with some single-family homes and cottages as well as a few modern apartments along Kaltenleutgebner Straße. In terms of land area, it is the smallest municipality within the district.

Mauer: (6.396 km2)

Mauer is the third municipality that encompasses parts of the Vienna Woods. About a third of Mauer is wooded area. The remaining two/thirds are all developed with mostly low-density residential dwellings, but medium-density apartments are scattered throughout. The center of the municipality, known as Mauer bei Wien is where the highest concentration of medium-density apartments are located. However, in terms of numbers, they are still low.

Liesing: (2.74 km2)

The homonymous municipality and center of the Liesing district, Liesing is perhaps the most urban part of the district. Centered around the Liesing railway station and Liesing square (Liesingerplatz) the area consists of mostly medium-density residential apartments, along with a few medium-density commercial buildings and even a shopping mall. Low-density, single-family homes are scattered throughout the periphery of the municipality. On the east side of Liesing is where the Liesing industrial zone begins. This area consists of large industrial/commercial warehouses and offices. Large and spread-out structures. The southwest portion of our quadrant is within Liesing.

Atzgerzdorf: (3.76 km2)

Also centered near the railway line, Atzgersdorf is historically the most significant municipality of Liesing. Although relatively small, the municipality is denser than the rest, mostly consisting of medium-density residential apartments. Winding streets have the typology of older European urban areas. The railway station is located to the west of the municipality, but it is not the center of Atzgersdorf.

Erlaa: (2.39 km2)

Perhaps the area going though the most change is Erlaa. New apartment complexes are popping up around the municipality. Although some swathes of land still serve as farmland, even with greenhouses, they are slowly being bought and developed by land-developers. Down to the southern part of Erlaa, lies single-family dwellings as well as part of the Liesing Industrial Area. The northeastern portion of our quadrant is located within Erlaa.

Inzersdorf (8.54 km2)

The easternmost municipality of the Liesing district, Inzersdorf is also the largest by far. Most of Inzersdorf consists of a similar typology to the Liesing Industrial Area. Although the aforementioned industrial zone does not extend into Inzersdorf, the municipality still has a very large industrial zone, full of warehouses. While the Liesing Industrial Area was connected to the southern railway, the industrial area in Inzersdorf is connected to the Potendorfer railway. Apart from the industry, Inzersdorf does consist of residential areas as well. Mostly single-family dwellings, however medium-density apartments do exist.

Siebenhirten (2.51 km2)

Siebenhirten lies at the southern end of the U6 metro line. The area is split roughly 50/50 in terms of residential and industrial/commercial. The southeastern portion of the Liesing Industrial Area lies within Siebenhirten, along with the southeastern portion of our quadrant. The residential half of the municipality ranges from medium-density apartments to low-density single-family dwellings.

CUSTOM MAPPING

1 km2

WALKTHROUGH

Before analyzing the map of our quadrant in detail, we began everything with a walkthrough. This would give us a primary view into the quadrant. Before focusing on certain aspects, we would need to first identify them. What stuck out the most (perhaps even like a sore thumb) was the large Rheinmetal MAN factory; Vienna’s anchor into the world weapons industry. This was our epicenter. As would be expected from a facility such as that, it was closed off and secluded in privacy. Despite having different facilities and buildings within its ground, for us, looking from the outside in, it was just a large box. While the rest of the warehouses had a more open design, in terms of open gates and less restrictive architecture, they were still closed off.

A strong contributing factor to the Industrialness of the quadrant is a lack of verticality.

The main surface area of the quadrant, especially on both sides of Brunner Straße is dominated by manufacturing and warehouse surfaces, which barely reach over 12 meters.

The Rheinmetall office administration building is by far the tallest building inside the quadrant with a height of approximately 22 meters.

A military truck - Rheinmetall doesn‘t take kindly to prying eyes.

Rheinmetall administration offices - The tallest building within the quadrant.

Warehouses - such “No Entry” signs are a common sight in the quadrant.

In the northern part of the quadrant were the residential areas located, together with narrower streets. The height of the apartments there blocked most sound from the main streets, giving it a kind of isolated feeling. Towards the east side of the quadrant was the hypocenter of the Rheinmetal factory. A remnant from the quadrant’s past – an open field. If we had to select a barrier between the residential and industrial, even though it is not so clear cut, we would select this field.

To mention the hidden elephant in the room, prostitution in the area gets its negative reception. The prostitutes gather along Brunner Straße with their white vans, which they use for their work and offer their services. While it is legal and with its laws, it does create an uncomfortable and unsafe atmosphere. Some might say better in an area such as the quadrant, than in a fully residential one and they would have a point. It is a side effect of a desolate nightlife.

We divided the quadrant into three categories for further analysis; main streets, parks, and side streets. The main streets of the area are Brunner Straße and Perfektstraße. Both are multi-lane streets with many businesses on them. Almost all of these businesses along these two streets have some form of parking lot for their customers – a homage to the auto-dominated cityscape of the quadrant. In terms of street design, both have parking in abundance – on both sides of the street. Trees have also been planted on grassy dividers between the street and the sidewalk.

WIEN SÜD - one of the few modern apartment complexes within the quadrant.

Empty area - a large barren patch of land at the northeast side of the industrial area.

Brunner Straße - the green dividers.

A white van : a common sight during desolate nights

One of the few dedicated green spaces in the quadrant is the liesing river, which winds its way through the west side of the quadrant. It is a narrow river with elevated banks for flood-control. A seasonal path is present next to the river for pedestrians and cyclists. The riverside does have a quaint feeling of nature, despite being surrounded by an urban landscape. Trees cover both sides and do a good job at masking its urban surroundings.

The side streets of the quadrant are generally within the residential areas, since the large warehouse typology of much of the quadrant doesn’t allow for public side streets. On the Atzgersdorf side of the quadrant, the streets are more urban, in the sense that they do not have much greenery, instead consisting of medium-density 2-3 floor apartments. Towards Erlaa however, the streets are much more green as this area of the quadrant is where most of the single-family dwellings are found.

Liesing river - The calmness is almost surprising.

Residential apartments - living in the foreground, industry in the background.

Single-family dwellings - the symbol of suburbanism.

Atzgersdorf Friedhof - technically not a park, yet as relaxing as any.

SURFACE PROPORTIONS

Function tiles : arranged by size

Function tiles : random arrangement

The analysis of the zone revealed several key points, namely the very unclear border between the industrial and residential areas, street prostitution (which could be viewed as the bastard child of a large, industrial, automobile oriented area) and the uneven distribution of public space. The radically different scales between the industrial and residential areas could also be mentioned. The small green areas and a few small commercial buildings meet the massive industrial zones to form a complex mix of industry and residential zones. Through the weak connection between the residential and industrial area, we have an area which is not only loud, but also not very walkable.

The productive potential of the quadrant is great, but it is mired with challenges. What we believe it needs is a direction to embrace its strengths. A certain infrastructure which would develop over time and accordingly to the needs of the quadrant. A sort of industrial jungle in which the seeds would be planted and allowed to grow.

Wide avenues and a plethora of driveways, and parking spaces cater to the needs of automobiles and trucks, while placing pedestrian traffic on the backburner. Public transport is also underdeveloped, as only a handful of bus lines operate within the quadrant. Despite being between the S-Bahn (to the west) and the U-Bahn (to the east) they are well outside of what is considered walking distance.

Graphical perception played a role in coming up with this idea; symbols can be quite ironic. After some experimentation with symbols and signs, we discovered how similar the perception of contrasting elements could be. When we look at some of the most used graphical depictions of a factory and a tree and rotate the factory 90 degrees counterclockwise, a strong similarity to the tree will begin to emerge. The visual similarity and the combination of these elements was the inspiration for this concept; an ever-growing industrial jungle.

THE GRUEN EFFECT

VICTOR GRUEN

PANDORA‘S BOX

A fitting metaphor for the current state of Liesing and the general goal of this project would be Pandora’s Box, a tale out of old greek mythology. In the old text books, when Zeus wanted to take revenge on Prometheus for giving people fire, which symbolizes godly knowledge that only belonged to the gods, he ordered Hephaistos to make a beautiful woman out of clay and named her Pandora. Zeus sent Pandora down to earth as a gift to Prometheus’s brother, Epimetheus. He also sent a box alongside Pandora, gave them the key and warned them to never open the box. Pandora couldn’t contain her curiosity and one night decided to open the box when Epimetheus was asleep. And that was her greatest failure.

Even though the story was a mythical one the implications are quite real. The box was a gift that was not meant to be opened, and that is how the current context of Liesing and our project come in.

VG VG

Out flew all sorts of evil and trouble that people had never known about. Sickness, hate, crime, envy and and all manner of evil. Pandora tried to catch all of these evils but it was too late and they all flew out into the world and were now a part of mankind. But the last thing that came out of the box was not bad or ugly at all, it was Hope.

We interpret the current situation in Liesing as the opened Pandora’s Box, literally and figuratively. The current configuration of the surface area is not very efficient with a lot of the surface and volume exclusive to vehicles and industry and a lack of clear transition from the residential to the industrial area. Not to mention that this lack of clear identification has led to other issues such as street prostitution at nights along Brunner Straße. The proposed solution is to close Pandora’s box, again both literally and figuratively.

The contents of Pandora’s Box were things that are now a part of every person’s life and in a way define what it means to be human, the imperfections of our personalities.

The project is in all shape and form a box, a massive enclosed volume. A city of its own, made to optimize the functions of the industry and provide a meaningful attraction for the public. By closing the box, the inefficiencies of the area will be contained and solved, a strong border between the industrial and residential areas is formed and a lot of the surrounding area will be freed up to allow other functions to replace them. The closed box will be an anomaly, a versatile infrastructure where both industrial and recreational purposes can coexist, a city of Symbiosis.

Pandora‘s Box by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1881 (source: wikipeida.org)

Victor Gruen (1903-1980) was an Austrian architect and is best known as the main innovator of the modern shopping mall. Being born into a Jewish family, he had to flee Austria to the United States in 1938. This migration led to what became one the biggest architectural innovations of the 20th century.

The premise of the shopping mall was quite simple in its nature. Through his observations of the patterns of urban spaces in Europe and America, he envisioned spaces where cultural, artistic and entertainment practices could come together and create a community for the public and all of its users - Spaces with their individual rules and norms. A mini city of its own. And all cities are designed with a distinct grid and structure.

A European haven, surrounded by an American whole. This idea was realized in the year 1954 when Northland Mall, the first ever shopping mall was opened near Detroit. But the reality of the situation had shifted a bit from what Gruen originally had in mind. His image of a haven for the public had been directed in a much more commercial and economical direction. The investors, upon hearing the original open-air, walkable mall proposal, saw the opportunity to use this innovation to increase their own profits. This structure could be arranged in such a way to orchestrate the users’ movement. The positioning of the shops can be made to maximize the profits of the owners.

Originating from one of the most culturally rich countries in Europe, he had the vision of creating suburban spaces, using the urban structure of European cities. A space that contrasts the big and bold urban grids and structures of big American cities, much more condensed yet finer and more nuanced.

The European city structure, full of dead ends, small alleys and narrow streets was used to better fit and serve the American values of capitalism. An ironic contrast and bastardization of the original idea.

This stark contrast has been used and translated into the concept of Symbiocity. The premise of the European grid within a greater American grid has been used to define the general form the two main entities inside the volume, namely the “recreational” and the “industrial”

Kalamzoo Mall, Michigan, 1959 (source: wttw.com)

SYMBIOCITY

THE BIG BAD INDUSTRIAL HIVE MIND

An early abstraction

BIGNESS OR THE PROBLEM OF LARGE

Rem Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist and urban planner. He has many works analyzing our urban culture and is regarded as one of the greatest urbanists of our time. An essay from Rem Koolhaas’ landmark publication “S, M, L, XL” (1995) is a piece on the antagonism between the small and the big in a city. Koolhaas writes the following as a way to mediate between the two.

I. Beyond a certain critical mass, a building becomes a Big Building. Such a mass can no longer be controlled by a single architectural gesture, or even by any combination of architectural gestures. This impossibility triggers the autonomy of its parts, but that is not the same as fragmentation: the parts remain committed to the whole.

IV. Through size alone,-such buildings enter an amoral domain, beyond good or bad. Their impact is independent of their quality.

II. The elevator - with its potential to establish mechanical rather than architectural connections-and its family of related inventions render null and void the classical repertoire of architecture. Issues of composition, scale, proportion, detail are now moot. The “art”; of architecture is useless in Bigness.

V. Together, all these breaks - with scale, with architectural composition, with tradition, with transparency, with ethics - imply the final, most radical break: Bigness is no longer part of any urban tissue. It exists; at most, it coexists, its subtext is fuck context.

III. In Bigness, the distance between the core and the envelope increases to the point where the facade can no longer reveal what happens inside. The humanist expectation of “honesty” is doomed: interior and exterior architectures become separate projects, one dealing with the instability of programmatic and iconographic needs, the other - agent of misinformation - offering the city the apparent stability of an object. Where architecture reveals, Bigness perplexes; Bigness transforms the city from a summation of certainties into an accumulation of mysteries. What you see is no longer what you get.

Amazon Fullfilment by David Zielnicki, 2017 (source: gsd.harvard.edu)

Percision and absolution. Striving for the necessary perfection. The perfect form. The perfect geometry, a box. The perfect contour, A straight line. The perfect angle, 90 degrees. They call it the “right angle”. What about the rest of them? Probably the “wrong angles”. A perfect maximum. Maximum space. Maximum efficiency. Maximum usability. Maximum dominance. Better profits.

An unthinkable vastness of industrial proportions. A multidisciplinary “mini” metropolis, governed by as many entities as necessary and entities themselves, governed by the infrastructure itsself. A mutual dominance or a mutual submission?

BIGNESS RELOADED

All seduced by the sweet stench of industry, production, consumption and profit. A Behemoth, asserting sheer dominance and resonating a certain gravity solely by its size and as we all know, size DOES matter.

Entities gathered by common ambitions yet separated by strict rules, scales and functions. A delibrate apart-ment in a dense togetherness. Elements collaberating and interacting to further refine the infrastructure. A planned chaos in a near symbiotic whole. And it’s all for the best. Because he who can control disorder, has nothing to fear.

These words attract a specific crowd. Probably not your typical suburban family but rather your inventors, contractors, manufacturers and the fattest of the corporate fatcats. And that’s how it’s meant to be. The “unwantables” of the masses, all gathered in a gigantic volume. For optimized performance, integration and sustainability. A future for better or worse, an urban sacrifice.

The title of the Project is a combination of the two words: symbiosis and city

Symbiosis is a term used in biology to describe the coexistence of two or more organisms within the same ecosystem. The concept of symbiosis is not strictly limited to just coexistence though. It is basically the togetherness of a variety of species in the ecosystem and that is of course not limited to just living but also growing and interacting. The interactions in an ecosystem are all organic in nature and in some cases can be obligatory. An example of an obligatory symbiosis could be parasites that can only survive by living inside another life form. Without a host, they will die.

A more mutualistic relationship could very simply be bees and flowers. Bees need flowers for their nectar which later leads to them producing honey in their hives, while flowers need a way to spread their pollen and create pollination; and the bees do just that. Two entities which at first glance look and function quite differenly from one another, actually collabrate on a very fundamental level and mutually depend on each other for their survival; just as production depends on consumption to survive.

Symbiotic relationship between bees and flowers, 2015 (source: grist.org)

This principle has been translated from an organic concept into an artificial one. What we call an ecosystem in nature can be interpreted as the infrastructure of the box and the two main organisms that coexist are the “industrial” and “recreational” entities. Each with their own subcategories like green areas, commercial malls and performance halls for the “recreational” and the likes of manufacturing, corporate and logistics for the “industrial” entities.

This system could be best described as a collision of grids, with contrasting backgrounds. Each representing and supporting their respective functions.

The recreational spaces will assume the original concept of Victor Gruen, the ideal:

The vision of creating a Haven based off of the European structure and grids for cultural, artistic and entertainment purposes. For this we could look at the structure of some of the most iconic European cities like Vienna or Paris. Both share a very fine structure with epicenters and dense points of interest that when examined closely, resembles something of a spider web. A good example of an iconic epicenter would be the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The two entities are not entirely separated however. Although the recreational levels exist predominantly on the higher levels and the ground is reserved for the industrial park for more efficiency, the configuration of the elements can be quite varied. The corporate offices can climb all the way past the recreational areas and climb to the roof or the bird aviary can go all the way down into the first floor of the basement. One can be relaxing at the plant nursery and have drones pass through the trees like birds to carry their packages to their destinations or the cow that was just being fed by the visitors in the petting zoo is suddenly being transported by an elevator, onto a conveyor belt, directly into the production sectors...

The industrial spaces will however embody the American “big city structure” that Victor Gruen’s concept wanted to contrast. A strongly defined, rectangular grid that is easy to understand and navigate. The simplicity of the structure promotes higher logistical efficiency which has always been a prime factor of any productive and profitable business. The best example of a similar grid would be Manhattan, NY.

Such variety increases the interaction between these unlikely counterparts in a rather contradictory and even absurd manner and manifests the ideal of symbiosis, not only through existence, but also through interaction.

Arc de Triomphe, Paris (source: google.com)

Manhattan, New York (source: google earth)

Arc de Triomphe, Paris

Manhattan, New York

Screenshots of grid generation: Axonometry

PARAMETRIC GRID GENERATION

Screenshots of grid generation: Top view

A structure of such vastness requires a more intuitive method of approach. The goal was never to strictly and accurately map out the whole box or to design the whole structure from the ground up; but rather to create a system that can accomodate the neccessary functions, based on the grids derived from Victor Gruen‘s concept.

An intuitive approach needs an intuitive tool. For this purpose a three dimensional grid was designed in Rhino/Grasshopper, a rectangular grid for the industrial volumes and a radial one for the recreational functions.

Grid generation: Axonometry

But these weren‘t built or mixed from the ground up. For a more organic approach the main grid, which is the industrial grid, was used to fill the entire surface and volume. A maximum volume of industry. Then this maximum was broken down by introducing “control curves” which would systematically disintergrate the maximum industrial volume and cause abnormalities and distortions in the structure; a subtractive approach.

In place of the removed industrial volumes, the recreational grid was placed and it also recieved the same treatment and had its own distortions and openings. This method was a useful tool and a way to orient the project and help get an idea of the grids and volumes inside the box.

Grid generation: Top view

1- Single subtraction, based on the quadrant: Brunner tunnel

2- Industrial subtractions

3- Final: Industrial and recreational subtractions

1- The outline of the surface was graphically defined and imported to Grasshopper. This script divides the two big surface areas by a custom amount and creates the three-dimensional industrial grid. Because of this method of division, each extruded segment will be defined as an individual, modifiable object.

3- Probably the most important algorithm in the whole script. The control curves are defined graphically and only accessible in rhino. If the distance between a control curve and the center point of each extruded segment (Variable x) is less than a custom amount (Variable y), that segment will be removed. This can apply to one or both grid types. This script was repeated and a variety of different curves were tested and experimented with.

2- The floors were imagined with a height of 4 meters. This section copies the industrial grid 4 meters up and extrudes it for another 4 meters upwards, to a maximum building height of 24 meters.

4- The radial grid however, was defined parametrically, not graphically. The reason for this decision was the fact that the radial grid is not only extruded to create volumes for the recreational functions, but it also acts as a control curve; removing segments of the industrial grid to create space for itself. This script used 5 times to create a diverse set of radial grids with different segments and sizes.

The entire script.

DIAGRAMS

Epicenter The main attraction and a point of interest. Where a unique activity takes place, e.g. The Grand Pavilion Concert hall. Oasis A green epicenter. A point of interest where the green space is the main function and focus, e.g. The Petting Zoo.

area A small patch or segment of green space

DIAGRAMMATIC SECTION C

Epicenter: The main attraction and a point of interest. Where a unique activity takes place, e.g. The Grand Pavilion Concert hall.

Oasis A green epicenter. A point of interest where the green space is the main function and focus, e.g. The Petting Zoo.

DIAGRAMMATIC SECTION D

Green area A small patch or segment of green space

Andre the cow

Andre was brought to Symbiocity right after he was born. He doesn’t remember much from his parents. Some vague memories but not much else. He would describe his time at the Zoo as simply perfect. He got make many friends with other animals like him. Even the animals that walk on two legs and are all over the place, were always very nice to him. The small ones would love to take pictures and play with him.

The only thing he ever wanted though, was to go to the Beyond. Every few days a few of the most beautiful animals in the zoo were chosen to go there. The chosen ones would step onto the HOLY PLATFROM and travel down to the beyond. And they would never be seen again. He and the other animals had imagined many stories about the Beyond and how it was even better than the Zoo! His only wish was that he would some day have the same honor to be one of the chosen ones.

There is something about size that intrigues us. As much as some of us try to deny it, size does matter. But beyond the Freudian thought that the saying “size matters” provokes, size goes far beyond.

Perhaps it is a reflection of our own insignificance within the scale of our world around us. The urge to leave our mark on the world. The urge to make sure that ours is larger than our neighbors. The urge to impress. Even if we can’t put our finger on exactly what drives our sense of awe at something so large, it is certainly there and we all feel it.

When you walk into the main hall of Grand Central Station in New York City, the first thing you are drawn to is the grand ceiling. The ornaments, materials and color, as great as they are, are not what really makes our jaws drop; it is the sheer scale and size of the hall.

This fixation goes beyond built structures however, even beyond our world. Perhaps Lovecraftian in nature, it is the realization of our own insignificance that gives us such a sense of awe – and fear when viewing the size of everything outside of our planet. We understand what we can control and fear what we cannot.

Most structures are governed similarly. However, when a structure becomes so large, it creates its own autonomy. Both on the outside and inside. One wing acts separately from another wing. Governing such a body has its challenges. One cannot overlook every aspect once a certain size threshold is reached. Governance becomes more symbolic, as autonomy takes over. This leads to a certain mystery surrounding it and in turn an appeal.

The skyscraper race of the 20th century was another example of our fixation with bigness. Building taller and taller, always wanting to outdo your competition.

Brooklyn army Terminal by Cass Gilbert, 1949, (source: nycurbanism.com)

Moses the bird

Moses has had enough. He has been paranoid ever since his old owner died and animal protection sent him to Symbiocity. The Bird aviary here is probably a 1000 times bigger than the one he grew up in. And it just doesn’t add up. It is all too good to be true. Every day he plans to find a way out into the free open world, beyond the netting on the roof, which always divided his beloved sunlight into tiny beams; and he hated it. But one day he noticed an opportunity, the storm from last night had ravaged the roof and made a small opening in the western part of the netting. He being the only one to notice it took his chance and it worked! Overjoyed with his new found freedom, he closed his eyes and just flied higher and higher, feeling the sunlight on his wings when suddenly he met the wind turbine.

STRUCTURE

Structure is order, both figuratively and literally. Structure is the cornerstone of civilization. Structure is an antonym of chaos.

Structure is the cornerstone of architecture. Structures give us protection, structures separate us from the elements, we leave our mark on the planet through the structures we build.

Structure is also the definition of a structure. Everything is planned out and executed perfectly. All bodies converging to create a single organism. Everything is structured out. It is a pre-requisite of functionality.

The larger we structure something out; we deal with the challenge of governance. In order to circumvent this, we create subdivisions to individually focus on a certain area. They in-turn add structure to the whole. Dividing it in-turn allows for a greater system as a whole. Instead of a single governance, the larger body focuses on the big picture, the smaller ones focus on the details. When the largest body is merged with other like-so systems, an even greater structure is created…and the process goes on.

Fun Palace by Cedric Price, 1961 (source: interactivearchitecture.org)

Fun Palace, helicopter view by Cedric Price, 1961

When Thomas got the offer to do research at the plant nursery of Symbiocity, he couldn’t refuse. It would be a great opportunity to do something that combats the current industrial trends of the modern world. It was only when he signed all the papers that he realized he is quite surrounded by the things he wanted to reject. Sure, his workspace is beautiful and he had access to top tier equipment, but all the drones that pass through are starting to annoy him. Lately he has been very on edge about it. He feels like they aren’t just passing through to deliver their packages. He feels like he is being watched.

This all built up to the one incident when there was a malfunction in the server room and one of the servers crashed, causing a dozen of drones to malfunction, drop their packages and crash. One of the said drones dropped its package right on top of his head when he was examining the plants. He resigned soon after being discharged from the hospital.

Thomas the botanist

Whitney the new Rheinmetall CEO

When Donald, the old Rheinmetall CEO was fired by the board of directors because of a sex scandal with his repeated visits to the white vans right outside of his office, Whitney was chosen to replace him. She was more reserved but also more ambitious. She wanted to make Rheinmetall one of the main players on the global weapons market. When Rheinmetall was absorbed into Symbiocity, she saw the new infrastructure as unique opportunity to realize her greatest ambition!

When she proposed his idea of „Same day Shipping“ to the board of directors, they all thought she was out of her mind. Sure, it works for Amazon, not for a giant Tank or armored vehicle. Well the profits have been on the rise ever since and Whitney won numerous awards for her innovation in the fields of logistics and management.

Even before the dawn of civilization, we as human beings have always chosen to live in groups. Strength comes from numbers, making our chances of survival greater. From our time in the jungle as groups of five to ten people to modern cities as groups of five to ten million, we evolve as a collective. Density is a constant; scale is what evolves.

These are the nuances in the urban needs of people. While some needs follow desire and necessity, others follow strictly necessity. It is from this strict necessity, where we have some of our most radically dense places in the world. When a place becomes dense enough, it creates its own ecosystem - it becomes self-sufficient.

Over the past hundred years, we have redefined the scale of living together. Our industrial inclinations have pushed the limits of cities and in turn, we brought up radical ways of coexisting.

Economics play an important role in our desire to live so closely. Proximity to what drives our lives forward gives us a sense of comfort. But where do we draw the line? Moderation seems like the logical explanation, but it cannot be generalized.

What one person considers a dream; another could consider it a nightmare. One could enjoy working with others in a dense urban environment but also have the need for a quiet retreat when he is not working. On the other hand, one could also want to work right next to where he lives, or even work where he lives.

From the outside looking in, perhaps the lives led in these super dense areas are not ideal, but in terms of productivity, they are nothing to take lightly. Once you have removed as much distraction as possible, what is left over will only help you work more.

“Density is a constant; scale is what evolves.”

Kowloon large illustrated by Kazumi Terasawa, H.Kami, 1997 (source: thisiscolossal.com)

Max the kid

After studying very hard to get top grades at school, his father promised him to go to Symbiocity and buy him a new Xbox One. The car ride to Symbiocity felt like forever, and when they finally got there, Max could barely contain his excitement. His father was a bit confused on how to order what they wanted on the Symbiocity phone app, Symbi, but after following the instructions of the assistance-bot, he placed his order for an Xbox and got his waiting number. “Nr. 69 – In Processing” the app read.

When Max saw the green box that has his gift in it, he started jumping up and down, begging for the conveyor belt to move faster. After what felt like an eternity, the box was moved straight off the belt and into the trunk of their car. Just like clockwork, their order was placed, processed and delivered without a hassle. Both drove off as happy campers.

The grandest, most functional building in the world is useless without connections. Good buildings have their connections designed around them, while great buildings are designed around their connections.

Connectivity is the integration of a structure to its environment. As our structures get more sophisticated, so do our methods of integration. Our cities are constantly evolving, while our needs change with them. Connectivity can be something as simple as a front door, to a complex network of walkways, roads and tracks – a multimodal system. Connectivity is a driveway, a loading dock, a door, a bridge, a tunnel, a railway station or a fiber-optic cable, a power cable or an RDF transmitter. Connectivity is also the sewage system, the power transmission.

While a building can be defined by its function, connectivity is what validates it.

Hudson & Manhattan Railroad by Edward L.Burlingame, 1909 (source: wikipedia.org)

Julian the CEO of Symbiocity

Standing on his office’s private balcony, overlooking the Orion atrium, Julian thought to himself of all the work he put in to open Symbiocity on time. Getting together all the assets, companies and contractors was no small task, but it is the reason why the investors chose him to manage the project.

He was a man of steel, a cutthroat businessman and a ruthless planner. His opening speech was met with a serenade of applause and he kept on playing it back in his head, while the Jazz ensemble played their hearts out down below. As his helicopter was being prepped up above to take him to his private jet, to fly back to his wife and estate in the Austrian Alps, he put his arms around his mistress and gave her a kiss of happiness, and relief

Krystal the prostitute

They say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Krystal was one of the many white van owners of Brunner strasse. Things weren’t very easy until she got closely acquainted with Donald, the old Rheinmetall CEO. She made a lot of cash by using this connection to her advantage. After SYMBIOCITY came to being she tried her best to find a secluded spot in the underground parking lot and she waited for Donald to come back; and she waited and waited but he never showed up. Little did she know that their relationship led to Donald getting fired and replaced by a new female CEO; and no, she wasn’t bi/curious.

A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON

Imagine you are looking through a keyhole, your view should expand the closer and more focused you look… but the only way to view the whole process is to combine different views from different keyholes. When they come together, they complete a picture. That is what we have aimed for. A process and structure that is best viewed from afar, and when viewed up close, something that is changing indefinitely.

It is what you hate to love and love to hate.

Unfathomable yet a substantial cultivation utilizing tremendous immensity.

Imagine something big, not big, but BIG. Not only big, but also functional. Every square meter of it. Compressed. Dense. Efficient. Self-sustaining, yet focused outward. An economic hub that is self-contained. Every part integrated into the superstructure, yet autonomous in its own right. It is connected to the outside, yet isolated.

What’s in the box, you frantically ask? Everything…. and nothing. Its functionality is quantum-like in a structure. Observe it one way or the other… and it can change. And that is the point. It is not something that is concretely planned out. Its charm is in its mystery… what’s around the corner? What’s in the next hallway?

Imagine you are looking through a keyhole, your view should expand the closer and more focused you look…but the only way to view the whole process is to combine different views from different keyholes. When they come together, they complete a picture. That is what we have aimed for. A process and structure that is best viewed from afar, and when viewed up close, something that is changing indefinitely.

This is Symbiocity.