Elements of Urban Design | Urban Design Portfolio | Cept University

Master of Urban Design

Sathwik Srinath A V PG190862

Table of Contents

1 2 3 4

5

Preface Elements of Urban Design 2a. Building Types 2b. Streets 2c. Open space 2d. Urban Blocks

Workshop

Urban Design Intervention near Vastrapur Lake Area

Design of Public Place near Vastrapur Lake Area

Learnings

1

Preface

The studio was structured as an introduction to urban design

representation and how it is used as a means of design thinking. The

premise is that urban design is best understood and expressed through

the study and representation of the built urban environment. Hence the studio will focus on the study and representation of the key urban elements in cities and will be structured in multiple modules running

through the semester, each culminating with an exhibition of the outcome.

These modules will significantly focus on effectively capturing and

communicating the spatial qualities of the urban built environment.

Module 1 involves perceiving and representation of the key elements

of urban design. The premise is that building types, urban blocks, streets

and public open spaces form the key elements that come together to make any functional urban space. The exercises in this module will enable

students with methods to study each element and how they contribute to

the scale, form, character and their relationship with the larger urban context.

Module 2 final exercise which will involve the application of the

abilities and skills developed in the first module through preparation of a framework plan for an urban intervention. This module focuses on preparing and representing site analysis, design strategies The culmination of this

module will be to prepare a set of effective communication representation drawings for the design and the analysis.

2

Elements of Urban Design 2a. Building Types

In this exercise, the main objective is to capture various attribute of a building in an urban space ,and illustrate its physical relationship and response to context.

The buildings have been categorized into six typologies each typologies have three example each one from Ahmedabad,India and one from outside India.

1. Civic Buildings

2. Administrative Headquarters

3.Hotels

4.Mixed Use Buildings

5. Office Buildings

6. Infrastructure Utility - Bus Stand

Elements of Urban Design 2b. Streets

In this exercise, the main objective is to capture attributes of streets regarding its function and its role in influencing the buildings in it and how streets performs various social and cultural role in urban context. This exercise also try to explore the role of street as a public space along with street as a mobility.

The streets are chosen one from Indian city and another from outside of India.

Leidsestraat, Amsterdam

Edge Type

Ground Floor Buildings Use

Sayyaji Rao Road, Devaraja Urs Road, Mysuru

Edge Type

Ground Floor building use

Elements of Urban Design 2c. Open Space

In this exercise, the main objective is to understand public open space through the lens of scale,proportion,Location and it’s spatial configuration and its use. In this exercise it also tried to abstract the character of public life in an open space.

In further analysis it also tied to analyze the character of the context buildings and its buildings response to the public space, in terms of its opaque and porosity.

The Vessel, New York

Edge Type

Ground Floor building use

Elements of Urban Design 2d. Urban Blocks

In this exercise, the main objective is to understand and analyzing the various attributes of urban block and its components like buildings street and open spaces.

Central Waterfront, Toronto , Canada

Urban Blocks

610 m

Harbor Square Park

513 m

80 m

63 m

Block Perimeter

Smallest 286 m Largest 926 m

Building Footprints Harbourfront Center

Built v/s Open Built Space Public Open Space Private Open Space

Private Open space 23%

Pinnacle Center

Built space 13%

13% 64% 23%

Public O p e n space 64%

3

Workshop : Urban Design Intervention near Vastra Lake area

apur

The Urban Green Trails

Connecting the open space and landmarks around Vastrapur lake through pedestrian friendly walkways.

Context

Vastrapur lake Entrance

Ahmedabad one Mall

Kalyan Pushti Haveli

G.M.D.C Ground

Dilapidated pedestrian pathway

Hanuman Temple

Tibetan Refugee Sweater Bazaar

Gujarat University IT Department Entrance

Existing Condition From our observations, the nature of leisure walking was mostly enclosed areas, like the Vastrapur lake, the new riverfront, or the forest near the old IIM and the streets was just used to Connect from point A to B, where users were deprived of engagement with the street.

Under utilized G.M.D.C Ground Unorganized Street/ Road

G.M.D.C Ground

The streets not responding to its context or to its edge condition

Low permeability Street edge No Pedestrian pathway

Ahmedabad One Mall

The edge of the street is opaque, even for a public building like ahmedabad one mall.

Chaotic and No Pedestrian Accessibility Unorganized Parking

Commercial Building

The unorganized parking limits the pedestrian access to the buildings.

Creating a pedestrian friendly crossing

Concept

The wide R.o.W and B.R.T corridor limits the pedestrian crossing in some of the areas

Urban Intervention

Installing Rumble strips and corbel stone makes the vehicle to retard and helps the Pedestrian to cross the road without being able to have a foot over bridge

Creating a pedestrian crossing, and having a retardation zone for vehicle track for at least from 200 m from pedestrian crossing, by using corbel stone and rumble strips as a surface material for the road. Which creates a safe pedestrian crossing.

Creating a activity driven pedestrian pathway

Concept

Creating a pedestrian pathway parallel to existing streets with covered walkways along with creating space for vendors.

The Streets which does not responding to context(G.M.D.C Ground)

Urban Intervention

Connecting two public spaces commonly used for walking and connecting other centers of Interests, such as the festival place, the mall of Ahmedabad, schools and a temple.

Organizing the Unorganized

Concept The Unorganized street leading to chaos.

Urban Intervention

This urban walk would provide shadow while walking, spaces to sit and to rest, and places for street sellers as an answer based on the urban situation and necessities.

Making Pedestrian friendly walkways through brick jail walls and shading elements

Section The unorganized street parking and Pedestrian pathway

Conclusion

Through these series of intervention we have tried to achieve the following objective in order to make the pedestrian pathway which is activity driven, responding to its context and to have green space along its trails.

Experimental Pedestrian Movement

Event Space

Barrier Free Movement

4

The Urban Place Making

The Design exercise focuses on preparing conceptual strategies of improving the public places, in vastrapur area. To work on detailed project proposal using strategies and localizing it with respect to the context. While also proposing strategies for outdoor furniture, lighting, landscape.

Vision

Context and Site Analysis

Providing space with opportunities for people to engage with the community, and derive strategies for creating activities involving stakeholders.

Vastrapur is located near the western periphery of ahmed The area is predominantly residential, but has commercial and mix Marg and along the edges of vastrapur lake. The vastrapur lake ha people and have peak activity during Morning and evening time.

Sandesh Press

Strategies Vastrapur lake

1. Connecting Spaces 2. Creating Stakeholders 3. Defining the Edges

Principles 1. Scale 2. Proportion 3. Activity Driven 4. Public Engagement 5. Comfort and Shade

Residential Unit (Apartments)

dabad city, and comes under Bodakdev ward. xed use activity along artillery road of Sargam as diverse users ranging from youth to old age

Sanjivani Hospital Lake Overview Ahmedabad One Mall

Kalyan Pushti Haveli

Shree Kamnath and Ganesh Mandir

Surrounding context and urban fabric

Residential Unit (Apartments) Residential Unit (Row Houses)

Street edges occupied by unorganized parking Source :commons.wikimedia.org

Design Strategies

Connecting Spaces

Creating Stakeholders

Defining the edges

Localization of Design Strategies

The above given strategies and principles are adapted to local Context and with response to the stakeholders in a given space, so that it Generate activity and increase public engagement in the place.

Vastrapur Plaza

Spaces for Vendors at the lake edges

Blurring the edges between lake and the street through transition spaces

Creating the transition spaces

Creating Transition space allows to incorporate design strategies and create flexible space at different levels and phases in order to blur the edges of vastrapur lake and streets

Transition 1 Defining the pedestrian pathway

Transition 2 Creating space for stakeholders

Transition 3 Enabling users to access water through levels

Existing Condition

The existing site and edge condition of the vastrapur area lacks proper organization of the space in the street which leads to chaotic environment and encroachment.

Existing condition at the Vastrapur chabutro junction

Existing edge condition of Vastrapur lake

Condition of stakeholders and street vendors

Proposed Master Plan

Connecting the spaces

Connecting the Pedestrian pathway to the lake water body through series of transition spaces, where transition space is designed for stakeholders(Street Vendors) to generate public engagement with space

Detailed view of the edge

Delayering

Creating space for stakeholders along the edge

Space overlooking water body

Space hierarchy created due to existing Physical condition

Softs cape to create harmonious and shaded spaces

Blurring the edges

The Series of transition spaces blurs the line between edge of the vastrapur lake water body and the edge of the street

Delayering

Creating space for stakeholders along the edge

Space overlooking water body

Space hierarchy created due to existing Physical condition

Soft scape to create harmonious and shaded spaces

Connecting the spaces

The Vastrapur plaza/market is to organize the scattered market along the vastrapur chabutro junction and also create informal seating as a buffer space between the road and the plaza

Delayering

Creating space for stakeholders along the edge

Spaces overlooking each other

New Street edge created from organizing the space

Connecting spaces to lake through temple plaza

Sections

Existing Edge Condition

Proposed Edge Condition

Views

View of Vastrapur plaza/Market

View of Food Court/Vendors space

5

Learnings

Elements of Urban Design Module 1

The first learning from this module is to abstract the given context and delayering it based on the level of details to make it legible for the users

Building Types

The Exercise begins with understanding the various typologies of the buildings and how each typologies of buildings responds to its context. Understanding how building typologies changes with respect to its context, Location and its users.

One of the example on how building reacts to its context is, the buildings in public domain tends to be designed with its context were its try to blend in with its surroundings while the buildings in private domain tend to be more inclusive

Streets

Building of private domain

Building of public domain

Streets are important elements in an urban setting which acts as a key link in connecting various other buildings. Character of the streets depends upon its locality,culture and the activities which it supports, and sometime these characters influence the building type and its facade design.

Open Spaces

Open spaces or public space acts as a breathing space for a urban setting. The open space greatly influence on how its surrounding buildings reacts to it. The buildings facing the open space tend to have more porosity and permeability. The height and width of the building defines enclosure of the public space

Urban Block

Understanding and delayering the urban block, helps to understand the inter-relationship between building blocks,streets and open space and how the combination of these elements defines an urban block. Its also helps to understand the activities and function an urban block performs.

Paris Workshop

Paris workshop exercise, were the objective was to make a urban intervention based on a first hand experience from the site visit. It was one of the interesting exercise since it was done with collaboration with student from France,which helped us to understand their interpretation of urban intervention, to develop good communication skills and engage in collaboration in order to arrive at a innovative problem solving technique.

Module 2

The Urban Place Making

With understanding the elements of urban design and how it influence the urban space in a context. The urban place making exercise was about understanding the problems in an urban area and developing the long term strategies and localization of these strategies.

Involving stakeholders of public space in designing the space. Making a successful urban space by creating activities involving public engagement.

This module also helped in expressing all the elements of urban design in a single illustration and also expressing the details of an urban space.

Elements of Urban Design Studio

Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication