1031URD

RETHINKING HIGH-RISE Make

h i g h - r i s e m o r e s u s ta i n a b l e

F i n a l P r e s e n tat i o n

URD1013YF Design Studio III Ruotian Tan

Inspiration from the Greenbelt Field trip

Community thrives on ecological environment

But what does urban development bring to the nature?

The potential threats of urban development

Vibrant streetscape in human scale

Build in a sustainable way

Transit corridor barrier

The impact of industrial area

Recent Heating Arguement: High-Rises Kill Livability High-rises separate people from the street "What high-rise does is separate large numbers of people from the street, so we end up with a city that is detached from street life, we end up with a city that is based on enclaves and gated communities."

—— Michael Buxton, Urban planning expert, RMIT University "Meaningful contact with ground level events is possible only from the first few floors in a multi-story building. Between the third and forth floor, a marked decrease in the ability to have contact with the ground level can be observed. Anything and anyone above the fifth floor is definitely out of touch with ground level events."

—— Jan Gehl, Urban design expert

Recent Heating Arguement: High-Rises Kill Livability High-rises radically reduce chance encounters and social interaction "High-rises are simply so tall that they make no visual sense to a pedestrian at eye-level. And because high-rises tend to separate people from the street and each other, they greatly reduce the number of chance encounters that happen, which are crucial to the liveliness of a city and to creating social capital." —— Kevin Kellogg, Architect and real estate developer

Recent Heating Arguement: High-Rises Kill Livability High Rises are not even 'Green' "High-rise buildings are subject to the effects of too much sun and too much wind on their all-glass skins. And all-glass skins are, despite many improvements to the technology, inherently inefficient. Glass is simply not very good at keeping excessive heat out, or desirable heat in."

—— Patrick Condon, Urban designer, Professor, University of British Columbia "High-rises use almost twice as much energy per square metre as mid-rise structures."

—— BC Hydro (the province of British Columbia's main electric utility)

Figure: Energy use (kWh/m2) and carbon emissions (kgCO2) in 600 buildings of different heights. (Steadman.P from UCL, 2017)

Problem Statement In response to the demand for densification, high-rises have been widely built in the Greater Toronto Area. While providing cities with more capacity, these skyscrapers are also killing the livability of our environment regarding both ecological and social aspects. Urban growth will not cease in the next decades based on projections.

Therefore, it is imperative to rethink a more sustainable prototype of high-rise development, aiming to improve the ubiquitous weaknesses of the current high-rise model.

From 2005, Toronto's third and largest high-rise construction boom began.

- [36.9% of total] 2840 high-rise buildings, 804 skyscrapers (>100m) （EMPORIS, 2020, No. of Buildings）

Natalie Alcoba of the National Post described this phenomenon as the "Manhattanization" of Toronto.

TORONTO 2005

TORONTO 2015

䰀攀最攀渀搀 䠀椀最栀ⴀ爀椀猀攀 戀甀椀氀搀椀渀最ࣿ攢㜀䘀⤀

䠀椀最栀ⴀ爀椀猀攀猀 搀椀猀琀爀椀戀甀琀椀漀渀Ⰰ 䜀吀䄀 ㄀㨀㄀㔀 Ⰰ

Why current high-rise is not sustainable?

We lost our yards and green space

Unsustainable architectural design (eg. light pollution caused by glass curtain wall)

We lost decent scaled streetscape and high rises also increased land-use segregation

Overwhelming transportation demands lead to traffic congestion

We lost the opportunity to communicate with neighbors

Increasing energy intensity leads to heat island and has negative impacts on adjacent natural systems

Lose Social Sustainability

Lose Ecological Sustainability

Case study in GGH

Lack of open space and a vibrant street life

Soical and land use segregation

Less eco-friendly architectural design

Aura at College Park

2150 Lake Shore (proposed)

Land use segregation and bad commercial atmosphere due to its design

The architectural design and block structure is not ecological sustainable enough

for ace ck p s blo pen No o ts in the en resid

Murano

No open space for social interaction for its residents

Research Questions Where need densification: What are the criteria for evaluating the level of need for high-rise developments?

How to make new high-rise more sustainable: Create public realm & Improve land-use segregation Is it feasible to create a vibrant street atmosphere and increase land-use diversity by building elevated platforms between towers for high-rise neighbourhoods?

Increase ecological sustainability Can equipping the community with cutting-edge energy recycling techniques reduce its energy intensity?

Is it possible to build an automobile-free community by improving the accessibility to rail transit?

Study Area

Evaluation System Where is the place to propose a new high-rise development

Key Criteria

1st: Connect to rail transit （Salat.S, and Ollivier.G, 2017, Transforming the Urban Space through Transit-Oriented Development） - 10mins walk radius to subway stations - 10mins drive radius to GO stations

2nd: Policy support - Official plan：Centres or employment areas

3rd: Potential to build new high-rise development - Available vacant lots - Building construction condition - Household unstable ratio

4th: Growth rate of population - Population density - Population growth ratio

1

1st: Connect to rail transit - Outline - 10mins walk radius to subway stations - 10mins drive radius to GO stations

2

2nd: Policy support - 60% opacity - Official planďźšCentres or employment areas 3

3rd: Potential to build new high-rise development - 40% opacity - Available vacant lots excluding greenbelt - Household unstable ratio

4th: Growth rate of population - 20% opacity - Population density - Population growth ratio

1

Potential sites 1. Rutherford Rd-Primary Centre, Vaughan 2. The Queensway-Humber bay, Etobicoke 3. Confederation Pkwy-Square One, Missisauga

2

3

Rutherford Rd - Primary Centre Vaughan 14.5 ha Strength - Urban renovation policy - Area in transition

Creek

- Close to employment area

Syste

m

Weakness - The old economic centre is in decline - Close to industrial area

Study Area

Opportunity - Introduce new occupants and revital the commercial centre Threats - Creek system across the site - Real estate pressure

City Old Commercial Centre

The Queensway - Humber Bay Etobicoke 48.6 ha Strength - Outstanding ecological and landscape value 䠀甀洀

vin

琀

氀愀渀 攀渀琀 倀

琀洀 吀爀攀愀

戀攀爀

- Important employment area for GGH region

Ra

猀攀 椀搀ⴀ爀椀 ☀ 䴀

攀 猀 椀 ⴀ爀 漀搀 䰀漀眀 甀爀栀漀 栀戀漀 最 椀 攀 一

Weakness - Metro network not covered - Industrial impact on the environment - Existing land use segregation, density variation

搀 栀漀漀

爀椀漀 䘀

伀渀琀愀

愀氀

爀洀椀渀

吀攀 漀漀搀

漀甀爀

e

in

av

䠀椀最

栀ⴀ爀

椀猀攀

一攀

椀最栀 戀

Study Area

xpy

il C

or

rid

or

E City

Ra

Threats - The transportation corridors separate the site into two parts

R

Opportunity - Build a sustainable complex in response to the transition of food terminal, the pollution of plant, and transportation corridors

e

Confederation Pkwy- Square One Missisauga 11.6 ha Strength - Urban growth centre

City Commercial Centre

- Close to city level commercial centre, work opportunity Weakness - Metro network not covered - Vacant land to build is limited Opportunity - Become another high land value city centre with mixed-use Threats - Gentrification

Ci

ty

Ex

py

- The impact from city express highway

Study Area

Study area The Queensway-Humber bay, Etobicoke - Site is in big transition (OFT, vacant land)

- Several transportation corridors go through

Site Location

the site, separating it and lead to the zoning segregation.

- An important ecological intersection of Toronto's ravine system and lake Ontario which is impacted by industrial uses.

Mimico Go Station

The Queensway-Humber bay, Toronto 37.3 ha Strength 1. High

ecological / landscape value

2. Strong

impetus to build new high-rises

3. Area in big transition —— Onterio food terminal

Weakness 4. Lack of city level rail transit network 5. A huge difference in building volumes and land use segregation

Opportunity 6. Renovate OFT as an economic and employment hub 7. Stitch the low-rise and high-rise neighbourhoods 8. Alleviate the impact of densification and industrialization on the natural environment

Threats 9. The segregation by transportation corridors (the physical barrier that new proposal need to fix)

The Box Site analysis methodology The Queensway-Humber bay

Box Overview

Box Overview

Unit 1: SECONDSPACE

DISPLAY BOARD for multicriteria analysis

Unit 2: FIRSTSPACE

Connect to rail transit

Policy support

Potential to build new high-rise development

Unit 2: FIRSTSPACE

Population growth rate

Unit 2: FIRSTSPACE neighbourhood scale study

A huge difference in building volumes

Land use segregation

Lack of connection

Unit 3: THIRDSPACE

Precedent Study The Interlace OMA - Singapore 16.96 ha Achieve a high density by stacked volumes, while still maintaining a good longrange view interaction with the landscape outside of the project.

Divide towers into mid-rises, and initiate varied terraces that provide space in human scale for social interaction, and meanwhile, achieve the target of reducing energy intensity.

Inspiration - Create open spaces by reorganizing the geometry of building.

- Maximize the passive energy collecting by divided towers into mid-rises.

- The vertical circulation of multi-mid-rise buildings.

Weakness - Climatic difference, the climate in the tropics and Canada is very different.

Source: OMA, Ole Scheeren, 2013

SITE

TERRACE

112% GREEN

MAXIMIZED GREEN AREA

CIRCULATION ORGANIZATION

Source: OMA, Ole Scheeren, 2013

Precedent Study SHUM YIP UpperHills LOFT URBANUS - Shenzhen, China 10.5ha Built on top of an old commercial complex.

Transfer the density of towers into mid-rises to create a vibrant streetscape with a mix of diverse land-use.

Create connections between this superblock with the adjacent urban context and public transportation systems by an elevated path over the city's main arterials.

Inspiration - Increase density in the transition area, keep the original functions and introduce new vitality.

- Solve land use segregation by transfer towers into midrises.

- Make connections over transportation corridors by elevated path.

Source: Urbanus, 2018

Precedent Study Vincent Callebaut's Paris 2050 - Paris Multiple high-rise building typology with positive energy output.

The plan strives to address major ecological sustainability problems within paris high-rise districts by providing a eco-sustainable high-rise toolkit comprised of 8 prototypes.

Eco bridge with residential and institutional units

Inspiration - A sustainable development renovation plan with the vision of city level.

- Comprehensive thinking on ecological sustainability in terms of urban design, architectural design, and how them work with urban infrastructure.

- Specific cutting-edge techniques for reducing building energy intensity.

High-rise mixed use complex with green terraces and public transit

Mid-rise renovation with sustainable facades

Source: Vincent Callebaut, 2015

Design intention

New High-rise Prototype - Develop a new high-rise community prototype including: 1. Community master plan 2. A series of innovative high-rise building typology 3. A sustainable energy toolkit that applied to a variety of scenarios in the community (eg. environmental friendly building design, energy recycling retrofit for street)

Source: Woha, 2015