502 Corridor - Alejandra Kaplun & Mario Espinosa

502 CORRIDOR

Kaplun+Espinosa

ITESM CAMPUS QRO

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HOW DO WE LIVE TOGETHER?

INDEX CHAPTER I introduction

large

CHAPTER II corridor diagnosis CHAPTER III coexistence CHAPTER IV justification CHAPTER V iniciative 2

THE CITY AS THE MIRROR OF SOCIETY. medium small

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QUERETARO city.

L A R G E CHAPTER I i n t r o d u c t i o n

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The city as the mirror of the society.

Cities are constantly evolving; they expand, adapt and reinvent together with their inhabitants. In fact, it is the citizens’ dreams and desires that shape the urban landscape, in as much as they should have the power to decide on what kind of city they want to live.

The answer to the question, how do we live together? Has never been the same because the way we live nowadays has nothing to do with how we used to do it. The priorities are not the same; neither are the trends nor the technologies. Ever since the Industrial Revolution the world has changed quite a lot, everything revolves around the idea of living to work, working to produce and living to consume. This industrial fever has affected many cities in which we live in the present moment, the aftermath of a consumeroriented society is severe; it has resulted on a long list of consequences that are just the outcome of a century of bad decisions. Now we get to live in cities that are flooded with cars, we breathe polluted air and we work within unhealthy environments.

For a long period these problems were set aside to continue strengthening industry in order to make as much profit as possible, however this has become an unsustainable situation that

surpasses the capabilities of the Earth, humans have already overexploited it. We are living in a time when we clearly cannot quit on industry and its processes due to the humongous demand for goods, yet that does not mean we have to quit on dreaming about a world that can find a way of satisfying the current needs more as sustainably and responsibly possible.

As architects, we understand that our work entails an inherent responsibility with the act of making cities that are oriented towards the Sustainable Development Goals, that is to say, cities that are not only a collage of beautiful buildings, but instead an integral system that is ruled by a set of strategies which promote a healthy, safe and fair lifestyle.

The design of sustainable communities must deem the industry within it, this is a key component to achieve the economic part of the three dimensions of sustainability. For this reason, we consider of utmost importance to create a method to integrate sustainable production into the urban fabric. This project aims to explore new ways to catalyze urban regeneration in an industrial context located in the city of Queretaro, Mexico, by creating a catalogue of new ideas and typologies that aspire to sort out specific issues of the site and that later on, these could be taken as a reference when addressing a similar case study.

Now it is up to us, the urban planners and architects of the world, to redirect our cities towards a brighter future through designs that go along with the challenges we are facing as a society nowadays. Because the answer to the question, how do we live together today? Will determine if we get the chance of living together tomorrow.

Alejandra Kaplun + Mario Espinosa.

2019’

5

CONTEXT OF THE CITY Queretaro is located in the central area of Mexico, it is only two hours away from the capital city and it is very well connected with other important states of the country; due to its strategic position, this city has always been the perfect place to produce, manufacture and distribute products all around Mexico. Since 1940, and probably even before that, Queretaro has had large companies that serve not only as the main source of employment of the region, but also as the greatest contributors to the exponential growth of the state economy.

10° Exportation QUERETARO

10, 352.7

Economically Active Population

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 2.3%

4.6%

95.4%

Inactive Active

Querétaro

México

THE LAND WE INHABIT.

Querétaro, Qro. 20°35’17’N, 100°23’17’O

0

125

250

375

Km

6

7

city

expansion.

Over the years the city has grown along with the terms and conditions of industry. Massive warehouses are usually built in the surrounding area of Queretaro in order to separate the industry from the urban life; yet this strategy does not work as a long-term solution since the city will always keep growing and expanding its existing boundaries, so it doesn’t matter how far industry is located, the city will eventually reach it and make it part of its urban context.

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1940

33 629 hab

1960

67,300 hab

1970

113,112 hab

2019

2 ‘ 239 ,112 hab

The history of Queretaro has taught us that it is useless trying to segregate industry from the city, because at the end of the day they depend one from the other. After analyzing the urban fabric throughout the years, it is clear at first sight that the exponential growth of Queretaro is led by a repetitive pattern.

First, an industrial park is built away from the central area, then due to the demand for services a lot of informal housing and businesses begin to emerge in a very organic way, and finally, industry ends up creating new barriers within the city.

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Borders that break the city.

Broken pieces.

CHAPTER II c o r r i d o r

Industrial Empire.

d i a g n o s i s

Non-Inverted pyramid

5 de Febrero is one of the most important roads in Queretaro, it is for sure the fastest but the most crowded one to move from the north to the south and vice versa. Long time ago this road used to be part of a Mexican Federal highway until Queretaro started to grow so fast and the city had to make it part of its main arteries; ever since that moment this long corridor has been an essential component of the industrial development of the region. Large companies are still located in 5 de Febrero, but as Queretaro has continued to grow throughout the years, this road has now become a very problematic area of the city that can no longer attend both, the industry’s and the city’s demands. When analyzing the corridor’s current condition, five main problematics were clearly identified; each of them is related to different issues of the territory, starting with boundaries (Borders that break the city), segregation (Broken pieces), land use (industrial Empire), mobility (Inverted pyramid) and finally quality of urban space (Anti Habitat).

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Anti-habitat.

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Borders that break the city.

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Queretaro has inner borders that break the city into parts, this unfavorable condition extends throughout the main road in such a way that 5 de Febrero itself is a five kilometer long border within the city.

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5 de Febrero

Train Railroad

Av. Universidad River

MAIN BLOCKING ELEMENTS The river and the train tracks are two clear boundaries that turn out to be very predominant when analyzing the urban fabric, these have certainly been key factors for the development of the city in terms of mobility and urban image. Both of them, the river and the train tracks, cross the 5 de Febrero street in a very critical point; these two intersections are extremely dangerous due to the height of the street and the speed of cars, walking and biking along this area is an imminent danger for anyone. This unfavorable condition extends throughout the main road in such a way that 5 de Febrero itself is a five kilometer long border within the city.

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Broken pieces.

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When a city has so many borders it also has a lot of broken pieces; these pieces are usually blocks that result from the breaking lines that are drawn by the boundaries that exist within the city. This situation causes a lot of segregation and very contrasting realities; 5 de Febrero has a lot of these broken pieces that happen along the intersections with perpendicular connections.

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1

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RESIDENTIAL TYPOLOGIES

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15

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3

4

5

6

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14

LOCKED housing blocks

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2

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Inside 20 a residential cluster 21 Duplex Many identical houses Guardhouse Socioeconomic level C- to B

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OUTSIDE the industrial radio 2 Story houses, few with 1 story Plaster, paint Ornamental gate Stair- balcony railings Window bars of iron Garage Front Fence Socioeconomic level C-

INSIDE the industrial radio 1

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4

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middle low middle high

1 Story with quality finishes 5 some houses with a finished62nd floor Plaster, paint Small garage Gates Socioeconomic level D+ to C-

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Industry Backyard:

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2 15

middle

3 16

4 17

5 18

1 Story with low quality finishes Some houses with a 2nd floor under construction None or really small garage, Cars parked 6 in the street 7 Exposed materials 19 20 21 Walls without plaster Building Materials: Brick, concrete Socioeconomic level D+

high

low

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9 22

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15

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Industrial Empire.

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5 de Febrero could be described as the Industrial Empire of the city; during a long time this was the only area of Queretaro that was focused on industrial production, this situation turned the road into one of the most important, busiest and most successful parts of the city.

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PERSONALITY OF THE CITY Due to the huge amount of employment opportunities as well as the economic boost this area triggered, the city continued to prioritize the allocation of industrial land use to many territories that were within or near 5 de Febrero; this gave as a result a massive island inside Queretaro that is oriented towards a single type of land use with a very low diversity in its use.

Industry and its enormous warehouses monopolized the city’s landscape, becoming the new cathedrals, with their metal domes and polluted skies.

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Non-Inverted pyramid

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Thousands of trucks, cargo transport, cars and buses go through 5 de Febrero everyday; at the same, an important amount of pedestrians and cyclists are constantly moving around this crowded road. Even though they all have learned how to coexist within the same space, it is almost impossible to ignore the fact that this is a car-oriented street and that it is far from being walkable or cyclist friendly.

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UPWARDS MOBILITY There is no doubt that the way in which mobility works in this corridor may completely go against the desired panorama: A safe, clean and pedestrian oriented street. The inverted pyramid of transport states that vehicles should have the lowest priority while pedestrians the highest one, this is clearly not how 5 de Febrero works.

CARS

TRAILERS

BUSES

CYCLISTS

PEDESTRIANS

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Anti-habitat

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The streets of a city should promote and invite its citizens to walk on them. How can this be achieved?

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main central road sidewalk

main central road

side road

side road

3.16

10.59

11.91

12.00

10.50

sidewalk

3.16

51.30

5 1 . 3 0

m CHAOTIC CONDITIONS By making them inclusive in its design and giving enough space for all types of users to walk or move, by installing good quality urban furniture, giving enough shade, vegetation but mainly by making them safe to use; without these elements people will rather use their own cars.

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ELEMENTS OF THE URBAN LANDSCAPE

In fact that is exactly what happens in 5 de Febrero, because who would ever feel like walking in a place that is full of cars, that has broken pavements, that lacks safe and accessible pedestrian bridges and that has polluted air? Nobody. Never.

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HOW WILL WE LIVE TOGETHER + INDUSTRY? 34

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CHAPTER III c o e x i s t e n c e

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C.502 IS AN URBAN CORRIDOR THAT REINVENTS THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN INDUSTRY AND CITY THROUGH THE EXPLORATION OF NEW HYBRIDS THAT ENABLE AN INCLUSIVE, SUSTAINABLE AND PRODUCTIVE URBAN HABITAT.

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Blvd. Bernardo Quintana

Av. Epigmenio Gónzalez

Vías del tren Río Av. Universidad

Prolongación Tecnológico Calle Hidalgo

Av. Constituyentes Av. Zaragoza Carretera Tlacote

CURRENT CONDITION 40

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vehicular congestion

education

health

green

industry c o mme r c e housing

mi d d l e l o w mi d d l e h ig h mi d d l e high low

bus stops p e d e s t r i a n b r id g e s v e h i c u l a r b r id g e s secondary avenues train railing river streets

STRATEGIES 42

Throughout the investigation process and using our five main corridor problematics, we defined some general intentions that we wanted to establish as a reference for further design decisions and that eventually determine our final result.

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pedestrians and cyclists

pedestrians and cyclists new public transport line (train) sidewalks extension

HIERARCHY An intention we want to provide to the city is the idea of giving the possibility to walk and to return power and posibilities to the pedestrian, and that starts by understanding the number of alternatives that the car has, over other transportation methods.

Borders that break the city.

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RE-THINKING LANES Today, the main avenue has a 51.30 m condition, before making any intervention, the main concern should be, should that lenght be kept as it is right now?

Anti-habitat.

Inverted pyramid.

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rain water

collection system Treatment

Treating drinking water

LEAN processes

WATER Home water collection system

Waste water treatment plant

sewage water Photovoltaic energy

SUN Solar panels

ENERGY Waste sorting Company waste

Household waste

RECYCLING WASTE

LEAN production Green Education

Experimentation new recycling methods/ products Fresh food processing

Primary production

Product innovation

Fresh food distribution

Fresh food consumption

FOOD COLLECT

SHELTER

Recycling centers, power plants, garbage pick up points, productive green roofs.

New housing typologies: Horizontal and vertical residential development. Co-Living spaces

PRESERVATE

PRODUCE

Education centers, health facilities, government institutions, public space, green areas,museum,cultural centers

EVOLVE

Small and Medium bussiness, commerce, retail, food services, local markets, offices.

EVOLVE Lab, Innovation Hubs, Incubator programs, research labs.

IDENTITY

TRADE

GUARD

CONNECT

COLLECT Recycling centers, power plants, garbage pick up points, productive green roofs.

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PRODUCE

Small and Medium bussiness, commerce, retail, food services, local markets, offices.

PRESERVATE Education centers, health facilities, government institutions, public space, green areas,museum,cultural centers

SHELTER

New housing typologies: Horizontal and vertical residential development. Co-Living spaces

TRANSFORM

Broken pieces.

Industrial Empire.

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M E D I U M

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CHAPTER IV j u s t i f i c a t i o n

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Current situation: Industry vs city

Industry use massive areas of the territory leaving no space for diversity and city making.

N Current situation: A 150 km/h Barrier

A central highway that does not aloud pedestrians to cross from one side to the other.

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HOW CAN WE CREATE DIVERSITY AND CONNECTION?

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City block typologies: A quick glimpse through a global comparative to deternine how unwakable it is right now our big intervention piece.

10.5 min

700 m

9min

600 m

7.5 min

500 m

6 min

400 m

4.5 min

300 m

3 min

200 m

1.5 min

100 m

0 min

0m

Copenhagen, Denmark 6,100m²

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Santiago de Chile 14,127 m2

Barcelona, Spain 15,812m2²

Chicago, USA 8,799 m²

L.A, USA 37, 019 m²

5 Febrero Querétaro, México 138.075,92 m²

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TRAFFIC FLOW: This industrial area is known for being one of the most crowded parts of the city. it is the road with the biggest amount of bus routes and car flow. Millions of vehicles go through this street everyday constantly causing traffic congestion and accidents.

Pre-existing program: Within a radius of 1, 2.5 and 5 km we can observe the abscence of diverse necessary spaces for the city, spreaded away and also not connected.

10 - 15

BUS ROUTES

20 - 25

5 KM

2.5 KM

1 KM

30 - 35

120-130

24:00

23:00

22:00

21:00

20:00

19:00

18:00

17:00

16:00

15:00

14:00

13:00

12:00

11:00

10:00

09:00

08:00

07:00

06:00

13:00

05:00

04:00

03:00

02:00

00:00

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01:00

VIVIENDA VERTICAL

1 KM

12 MIN

5 MIN

8 MIN

3 MIN

2.5 KM

32 MIN

10 MIN

15 MIN

7 MIN

5 KM

60 MIN

17 MIN

23 MIN

10 MIN

CO-WORKING CENTRO INNOVACIÓN PLAZAS PÚBLICAS

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POINTS 0

1

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10

Diversity of Land use Universal mobility Walkability Cycle lanes Green public space Car speed Permeability Traffic flow Density Car Parking

CURRENT SITUATION

Site Facts Block size: 310,703.60 m2 :

Urban Habitat FIG.1 Land use: LI/ Light industry FIG.1 2 : 89industry % 243,798.75 Land use: LI/m Light 2640.65 m2 243,798.75 m2 : 89 % 2640.65 m2

Tota area 2 pt 0 pt 3 pt 1 pt 0 pt 2 pt 3 pt 2 pt 4 pt 5 pt

Diversity of Land use Universal mobility Walkability Cycle lanes Green public space Car speed Permeability Traffic flow Density Car Parking

FIG.2 Land use: CS/ FIG.2 Commerce Land use: CS/and services 34,744.7 m2 Commerce and:11% services 981.56 m2 34,744.7 m2 :11% 981.56 m2

POINTS 0

INDUSTRY COMMERCE MAIN ROAD TRAIN TRACKS INTERNAL STREETS

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22/100

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Diversity of Land use Universal mobility Walkability Cycle lanes Green public space Car speed Permeability Traffic flow Density Car Parking

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HOUSING OFFICE HOUSING OFFICE RETAIL RETAIL

HOUSING OFFICE RETAIL RECONNECT

CUT

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Three new roads connect both sides of the street

New streets are added to the main existing block to create an internal flow that is walkable and inclusive.

DIVERSIFY

DENSIFY

T New types of land uses are added to the block to diversify the territory.

A variety of new program is placed within the levels of buildings.

Level 0 for retail or stores.

4 level buildings to create enough shade for pedestrians Level 6 to have better lighting and visibility.

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A A

C

C

D

D

B

B

A-B = 4.5 min C-D =1.0 min

INCLUSIVE MOBILITY

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A system of interconnected streets that allow people to move around in a safe, easy and effective way

SHORT DISTANCES

Within a few minutes is possible to move from one side of the block to the other.

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URBAN STRUCTURE

LEVEL 0:

LEVEL 0 - 1:

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New roads are added to diversify the territory

LEVEL 2-3:

Offices and services for better visibility of the city

The street corners are destined for shops

LEVEL 3-6:

Housing is placed in the higher parts of the buildings to keep it away from the noise of the street

Create direct access from street to retail and stores

GREEN PUBLIC SPACE:

New green public spaces that promote a healthy and safe urban life

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FIRST MASTERPLAN 68

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Site Facts Block size: 310,703.60 m2 :

Urban Habitat

96/100

Tota area 10 pt 9 pt 10 pt 10 pt 9 pt 9.5 pt 10 pt 9 pt 9.5 pt 9.5 pt

Diversity of Land use Universal mobility Walkability Bike lanes Green public space Car speed Permeability Traffic flow Density Car Parking

S M A L L

Site Facts Block size: 310,703.60 m2 :

Urban Habitat

96/100

CHAPTER V

Tota area Diversity of Land use Universal mobility Walkability Diversity Bike lanesof Land use Universal mobility Green public space Walkability Car speed Bike lanes Permeability Green flow public space Traffic Density Car speed Car Parking Permeability Traffic flow Density Car Parking

POINTS 0

t h e

10 pt 9 pt 1 10 pt 10 pt 9 pt 9.5 pt 10 pt 9 pt 9.5 pt 9.5 pt

2

3

4

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6

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8

9

p i e c e

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POINTS 0

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Diversity of Land use Universal mobility Walkability Bike lanes Green public space Car speed Permeability Traffic flow Density Car Parking

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5% 10%

IC BL PU CE A SP

MERCHANTS

S

ICE RV E S

COMPANIES

20%

PROJECT PROGRAM

25%

PUBLIC + PRIVATE

HOUSING

IC BL PU CE A SP

S ICE RV SE

G

N

ICE

IN US HO

G

IL TA RE

TIO VA NO IN B HU

F OF

PROGRAM

IN US HO

PRIVATE INVESTMENT

PUBLIC SECTOR

IL TA

RE

TIO VA O N IN B HU

10% SCHOOLS

10%

5%

MERCHANTS

BUSINESSMEN

COMPANIES

AREAS

YOUNG ENTREPENEURS PRIVATE INVESTMENT

PROGRAM

PUBLIC + PRIVATE

ICE

STUDENTS

PUBLIC SECTOR

F OF

20%

N

SCHOOLS

STUDENTS

YOUNG ENTREPENEURS

GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS

STAKEHOLDERS USERS

PROJECT PROGRAM

25%

30%

AREAS

L O C A T I O N

30%

OFFICES INNOVATION HUB

10%

BUSINESSMEN

GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS

STAKEHOLDERS USERS

HOUSING

OFFICES INNOVATION HUB SERVICES

RETAIL PUBLIC SPACE

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