Phase 2

Photorealistic render views: Winter and Summer; Urban and Eco paths.

Panels

Panel 1: design strategy, urban and environmental planning, Urban-path and Eco-path.
Panel 2: Systems: Mobility, Ecological and landscape, Upgrading pavillons.
Panel 3: Tipology and Architecture: Building Urban ring, Housing and services


         

http://issuu.com/06487/docs/e12_sweden_results_hammar___low

Emplacement

We can see Hammarö territory like a sum of different systems: Urban, Architectural, Mobility, Landscape and Social. Every layer is defined by a very strong connection with nature, that is the  Identity of the place and its inhabitants.

Natural processes are the driving force of the project, considering nature by three different apectss: environment, heritage and time.

Project considers connection an re-connection like the most important available tools to generate a new natural equilibrium in the place.

Actually existing buildings are not connected with the environment. The lack of pedestrians, bikes and mobility has created an abandoned landscape. Environment and its ecological balance can be  restored developing a new paths system between lagoon and the future town center, between nature and community. This project will create meaning and feeling by wing elements of the historic heritage of the land.

Utilizing the existing structures as an outline for the development, project will allow a permanent urbanistic and architectonic design strategy ready to future growth or decrease of the area. Future development will incorporate cultural elements to the existing urban plan. This heritage of Hammaro concerns:

The existence of pavilions with its old uses; the presence of the long-time paths and its connection between lagoon, farm and towns; typical Swedish rural Landscape with his woods and fields. Design strategy regenerates all these physical characters achieving a restored cultural landscape. At last the project gives prominence to the Time like expression of nature and life cycle, and not like an economical parameter.

Project doesn’t look for a fast urbanism, a totally solved masterplan with a new well-defined urban form. To produce an organic and healthy Hammaro community, we need time and a progressive growth. For an efficient integration of the proposal with social and economical environment, the growth will be divided in different phases like an important resource, not only as an economic point of view, but an opportunity to development architecture with logical of maximum flexibility and progressive adaption. Duration of every phase should depend from natural rhythms of social and economical growth.

Used tools are rehabilitation and  recycling of existing buildings, urban structures and landscape. This project is trying to achieve a model of development that will conserve and adapt the original buildings as main idea to rejuvenate the environment.

The first phase is a social-economical reactivation: re-use the existing pavilions to generate economic growth and social activities that will promote “new” facilities. 

This renovation of the existing pavilions need to be attractive to the younger generation; strategy is to improve coworking and new technologies companies and  creative factories, mixed up with new entrepreneurial activities concerning land use and heritage, like agriculture, breeding, fishing, handcraft, arts, education and hospitality.

To fulfill the necessary this has to be an ever evolving project that will always preserve and utilize the existing structures.

Strategy

- Building the Urban Path

We decided to not consume rural soil but to preserve  forests and agricultural areas. The strategical plan is to create  growth around a closed a street in the shape of a “Ring” producing a new urban pathway with open public spaces and a new stone flooring. To achieve a connection with the existing pavillons layout, we developed  towers dwelling typology and an integrated system of links with rehabilitated pavilions on ground floor. 

The lower plant of the tower is occupied by common spaces, bicycles parkings and meetings rooms. There are glass porches that work as thermal regulators as well as filter spaces which links the pavillions with the houses. The porches also work like an extension of the pavillions towards the street and will act functional spaces for commercial activities or cultural events. 

The urban ring system gives many benefits to the new Hammarö community: 

- The development of a new urban street with better climatic conditions and a safety perception , and improvement of social relationships.

-Centralization and improvement of commercial activities, generation of new public spaces. In this “built ring” pedestrian and bicycle mobility is supported.

- More density

-The environmental rescue of forest and agricultural soil.

Along this path the locations of interchange stations allow cars outside of the urban ring. The perimeter is defined by six storey towers and other activity oriented corridors. Others two or three level buildings will be incorporate to the existing street layout generating new public spaces and completing urban ring. 

These buildings offer differing bioclimatic solutions; the south side will have a double glass facade terrace, the north side will have a totally closed façade containing services and wet areas, and on east and west façade, transparent bow-windows will work like heaters.

Eco-Path

-  Building the Eco-Path

Project defines strategies to restore the existing forest;  to preserve and regenerate the perennial landscape and strengthen the system of  functional vegetation for sun and snow season. Eco Path will be developed on the outward ring around the urban core area. A complete ecological restoration would be necessary to produce the forest and to offer a visual and climatic protection for the new built area:  a natural way of contention of urban growth.

A wetland trail will increase a natural progression and will link the urban area to the lagoon, changing  from a static to a dynamic landscape. The wetland line generates constant change all the time within the landscape. The production of smaller community orchards  creates meaning, conservation activities, and constantly changing  landscape that will give the area a strong identity. 

Landscape:

The landscape is based on two guidelines:

A. Restore and regenerate the forest.

B. Using the new wetland (rain gardens) it will connect the lagoon to a wet landscape, that is dynamic and will change over the summer and winter.

The main idea is to achieve  integration with the urban landscape and the first ring of the forest.

New community orchards regenerate the landscape and give identity to the place as well as maintaining a dynamic and productive landscape.

The wetland line creates a strong bio-diversity that help spread  grasses and reeds which follow the pedestrian path through the lagoon.

Urban-path

Urban-path

Tower tipology housing

Linear block tipology housing

Presentation

The project considers time and heritage like expressions of nature and life. The proposal will be divided into six phases, with a maximum flexibility and a progressive adaptation, depending from the natural growth rhythm of the new “community”.

Urban Path. The fist step consists in the re-use of existing pavilions to start a social-economic regeneration of the area. We decided not consume rural soil, but to preserve forests and agricultural lands. Strategical design plans to create growth around a closed street in the shape of a “Ring” producing a new urban pathway with open public spaces and a new stone flooring. To achieve a connection with the existing layout pavillons. We propose a tower dwelling typology, with integrated system of built links using existing pavilions on ground floor. Along the external path, interchange stations keep cars out of the urban ring. New buildings offer different bioclimatic solutions and total flexibility in the adaptation to the environment.
Eco Path. The project defines strategies to preserve and regenerate the perennial landscape and strengthen the system of functional vegetation for sun and snow season. Will be developed on the outward ring around the core urban. A complete ecological restoration would be necessary to produce the forest and to offer a visual and climatic protection for the new built area: a natural contention of urban growth. A wetland trail will increase a natural progression and link the urban area to the lagoon, changing from a static to a dynamic landscape.

References

Working in our countries, Italy and Mexico, it’s very common to treat this issues, trying to use time and heritage like design tools also in everyday professional activities. In our current academic teaching experiences and investigation works, we are trying to apply these concepts to analyze big scale social housing compounds and environmental planning projects. All the works and life of the American philosopher H. D. Thoreau inspire our last projects, especially the book “Walden” contains reflections about how to live with “minimum” taking advantage of natural existing resources without waste. Another inspiring source is the work of the land-artist Hamish Fulton and his walking art performances. All housing projects of Ralph Erskine help us to define characters of a modern social Swedish Architecture, and the Smithsons researches and studies about “cluster city”, help us  to improve urban density, starting from the concept of street. 

Materials

Process

Concept

Preliminary

 

Site analisis

Site

The aim of the competition is to create an independent housing  community with a clear ecologically and socially sustainable profile. Questions of energy, social interaction, services and new ways of living/working should be addressed. Also the slow growth must be considered; the project will have to be developed in stages, but each stage must be able to support itself. The project should manifest a clear identity. Connections to the surroundings are also important; access to the coastline, walking paths in the forests and along farmlands and maintaining existing natural qualities. Interventions must respect the scale of the site, and the existing buildings.

Hammarö is a growing municipality, the growth is slow but constant.The project site has several buildings. The total area of these are about 15 000 sqm, and most of them are nicely tucked into the terrain or between large pine trees. Some of them are empty; there is a restaurant, a kindergarten, a conference centre, smaller companies, and a server space for computers. There is a clear potential for denser housing to maximize the use of the existing buildings and infrastructure by reactivating these and using them as a complement to additional housing.

Hammarö is a neighbouring municipality to the local hub Karlstad, a city with 62 000 inhabitants. Although Hammarö has some local indus- try, it depends heavily on Karlstad. The constantly growing municipality lies on a beautiful peninsula that reaches out into the largest lake in Sweden, Vänern. The area has untouched forests, farmlands and a scenic lake archipelago. Today most people here live in single family detached houses. The municipality owns little land and wants to find an alternative to the surface consuming suburban sprawl. The municipality owns a former nursing home for mentally disabled. It is a number of brick buildings in a serene patch of land. The nursing home and the land around it provide a unique opportunity for the municipality to pursue an alternative to commonplace suburbia. Hammarö municipality has excellent living conditions. The project site is no exception. As one would expect most people here move by car which is why Hammarö is trying to improve public transportation. Today the project site has a bus service, but with more residents this bus connection could be improved to conveniently link the area to Karlstad. Within the strategic site is the beautiful Sättersviken, a blue lagoon, with possibilities to place a marina and foot-bridges along the water.