Exterior view of the first two floors, now part of Ecosistema Urbano’s office. Photo: Emilio P. Doiztúa.

Growth

Our office has always had two floors: a ground floor and a basement, connected by the iconic red stairs you may have seen in previous pictures. During several years, the size of the company remained stable and the spaces fit perfectly our daily work: a single room for the whole team, a meeting room, a kitchen-slash-library and a secondary work and meeting space in the ground floor.

In the last three years, however, Ecosistema Urbano has seen a sudden growth, more than doubling its usual size at some point. It was getting harder to fit so many people in our existing spaces.

Some limitations of the office were also sinking in: the lack of natural light, on one hand, and the lack of separated spaces, on the other. At this point, we decided to take the leap… and expand.

View of the new common workspace in the first floor. Photo: Emilio P. Doiztúa.

Moving into the first floor

Recently, we acquired the first floor in the same building, and started the refurbishment process while we continued working in the ground floor and the basement. The building where our office sits was rebuilt after the Spanish civil war, using a wooden structure filled with brick and—as we found out during the construction process—debris.

The first challenge was to expose and reinforce the structure, which had been partly eaten up by termites, and to level the floor, which had a 40 cm—yes, 0,4 meters—difference in a just 10 m wide flat.

The second challenge was to turn the three different floors into something that would feel and behave like a single office. This required fitting a new internal staircase in the limited space available around the central patio.

View of the internal stairs between the ground floor and the 1st floor. Phoot: Emilio P. Doiztúa.

Upgrading the common spaces

The kitchen/library has always been a key part in our daily routine. It’s the place where we socialize, distend and—as part of a singular and valuable tradition—cook and eat together.

By moving the main workspace to the first floor, we freed the whole basement to become a full-time social and creative space. It is now the most multifunctional space, including a workshop equipped with a 3D printer and some electronic tools, a bigger kitchen for coffee breaks and daily cooking, a cool place for our server, a quiet reading corner, a ‘bunker’ room for private meetings and a space for lunch, talks and creative workshops.

View of the flexible space in the basement. A place for creation and social exchange. Photo: Emilio P. Doiztúa.

View of the refurbished kitchen, now finally up to the task of cooking everyone’s daily lunch. Photo: Emilio P. Doiztúa.

Subdividing the office!

During the last decades, especially with the surge of coworking and certain startup culture, there has been a huge trend towards open or shared office spaces. The practical truth, however, is that even in the ‘digital age’ there is much need for separated spaces. The more global and digital a company becomes, the more different conversations have to take place at the same time without interfering with each other.

So our new office has gone from 2 to 6 meeting spaces, divided by glass walls and sound-tight doors, while keeping the same open concept for the main working area and the basement.

View of one of the new separated workspaces, a small workshop in the 1st floor. Photo: Emilio P. Doiztúa.

View of two of the new meeting rooms. At the back, our main meeting room or “space capsule” to the world. Photo: Emilio P. Doiztúa.

On a small note, if you are wondering about the lighting: it’s custom-designed, made in our new ‘workshop’ with a combination of off-the-shelf components and 3D printed parts. But we will be sharing more about them soon, so we will just leave you with a teaser for now:

You can see more pictures about this project in our portfolio.

This is the second time this happens in several years, and this time we were more prepared, with regular backups and other security measures. It just seems the attackers were also more prepared!

So… don’t worry, and bear with us as we chase down every single one of the malicious files. We will soon be back on track and with new content!

The Febres Cordero building was developed within the scope of CUENCA RED, the urban reactivation strategy for Cuenca, Ecuador. The aim of Cuenca Red was to incorporate activities and programs in the Historic Center in order to create a new network of reactivated public spaces. One of those spaces is Febres Cordero, an emblematic and historical building which had functioned as a school for decades.

This building has great heritage value and has one of the largest courtyards of the entire historic center (3,300 m2). It is located on Gran Colombia Street, right next to the tram line. It is comprised of two main volumes, one of them  with much less quality and architectural interest.

The building was going to stop its activities within a few months of the beginning of the project, as the school was going to be relocated into a new building. Also, the school has been an important node of social and economic activity for years on the area. This large community injects daily activity into the center of Cuenca.

Activity from the beginning

One key aspect of the project was not only to design a building with new uses and programs, but also to plan the transition process between one moment and the other. We conceived the project from its Phase 0, in order to unleash, through different actions and activities, dynamism and interest in the future of the building and its interior space.

Space is activated from the beginning, dividing the construction into 3 phasesThe project is planned in 3 phases. The first one is really important, consisting of the opening and reactivation of the central courtyard as a public space for events and activities. This phase is esentially low cost, but its implementation will have a strong impact in keeping momentum and activity around the area, and also generating interest and expectations around the building. Subsequently, the reconditioning and construction of the building will be carried out, and finally the climatic conditioning of the new interior square.

In search of new uses

Following our conclusions of the urban analysis, we noted the progressive emptying of housing in the Historic Center of Cuenca. Although the center still continues to be an active space for tourism and commercial activity, the number of residents is decreasing, moving towards the perimeter of the city center.

This is certainly a problem, especially in the afternoon or the evening, when the shops and offices close, and the lack of activity and people in the area becomes more evident. That emptiness generates unfavorable conditions, like sense of insecurity, or an increase in the number of abandoned or underused properties.

Current status of the interior patio of the Febres Cordero School in Cuenca, Ecuador.In this complex context we identified, through a participatory process partly hosted in the school itself, the need of strengthening the resident population living in the center of Cuenca. It was also key to generate conditions for other families to consider attractive and feasible to live there. The inhabitants of the CHC and technicians who participated in the participatory process agree that the building has optimal conditions to become a new “catalyst” of the city. The Febres Cordero building can be reconstructed as a pilot project that will address many of the opportunities and challenges shared with other historic centers in Latin America.

Participatory activities carried out with the students of the Febres Cordero School

A hybrid architectural complex

Febres Cordero does not only house a school, but also commercial premises along the ground floor. The project aims to enhance this aspect, creating a hybrid building capable of bringing together different programs, generating a diverse community that serves as a reference for social and economically sustainable urban intervention.

The rehabilitation of the Febres School seeks three main goals, as steps towards the improvement of the Historic Center:

• Increasing the extension of public spaces in the area
• Providing diverse housing typologies (including social housing)
• Generating a new heart of urban activity through the insertion of new facilities.

Hybrid program of the new complex

To achieve this, Febres Cordero comprises 3 components:

• Rehabilitation of the existing heritage building (4.500 m2) with new apartments, students dormitory, commercial ground floor, common workspaces, rest area and an elevated outdoor public space.
• Construction of a new building (5.000 m2) on the surface freed by the demolition of the unprotected building. It is mainly residential and will also have a series of additional services and facilities that are of a public nature and therefore accessible to the rest of the inhabitants of the complex.
• Reconfiguration of the inner courtyard as a new public square for the city (3.300 m2).

The new building is connected to the heritage building by corridors

A new public square

The courtyard is conceived as a new public square for the city. It recovers the entrances from the 3 adjacent roads and generates an active and attractive, programmable public space. The ground floor will be adapted to reinforce this idea, promoting permeability and the visual connection between the streets and the courtyard.

New public square, with 3 entrances from the surrounding streets

The proposed square includes two conditions: a flexible space with a mobile grandstand that allows the creation of different configurations for cultural and sport events, and a more natural space, a cuencan garden inspired by the multiple existing green patios that together create a network of vegetation and biodiversity in the historic center.

Respecting heritage

We are aware of the historical value of a building like this. After a careful study of the history, typology, and construction of the building (built around 1900), the intervention was designed to preserve and respect its historical value and at the same time to introduce new structures to diversify the possibilities of use and adapt it to the evolving urban context.

The intervention respects and seeks to value the intrinsic qualities of the building, and also wants to create a dialogue with the most innovative construction techniques.

View of the new public space with the mixed-use building connected to the old Febres Cordero School.

Cross section. A relationship between the new mixed building (left), the public square (center), and the heritage building (center and right).

Architectural plans of the refurbished complex.The main strategy consists of concentrating the utilities or technical systems of the apartments in spines perpendicular to the façade line. This way we can  to minimize the impact on the façade and generate cross ventilation in all the rooms. The exterior façade is not altered by any of the interior interventions and will preserve its current structure and image towards.

On the other hand, the roof was in poor condition. Activating the space under the roof with the creation of a new housing ring towards the interior of the patio enabled us to expand the useful surface without impacting the building on its exterior appearance and its relationship with the public road.

Maximum sustainability

In a project as ambitious as Febres Cordero, the most appropriate technical mechanisms must be sought to achieve maximum economic, social and environmental sustainability. The final design and construction systems were devised under the following sustainability criteria: following bioclimatic design principles for better energy efficiency, adopting local materials and construction techniques to improve durability, and considering the economic impact of the construction at a local level.

Adaptation of housing typologies to the structural modules in the heritage building.

Basic outline of the bioclimatic behavior.

The rehabilitation of Febres Cordero is also conceived to be financially sustainable, allowing a short-term return of the investment with the sale and lease of housing and commercial premises, and with the generation of new economies in the urban area.

In general, this rehabilitation project, a pilot within the general Cuenca Red plan, will increase the intensity of use, the possibilities of social interaction and the generation of economies that contribute to the long-term sustainability of the historic center.

You can see the full documents of this project in our portfolio.

As we are focusing this month on hybrid buildings and urban catalysts, we want to take a closer look into one of the key sub-projects of the Plan Idea Hermosillo: the Banco de Ideas (Bank of Ideas).

Identifying an opportunity for activation

During the mapping process of the historical center, both in the on-site surveys and in the participatory meetings and workshops, one of the locations began to stand out as a key spot in the project’s approach: the Banco de Ropa (bank of clothes), a two-storey building used by a local NGO as a collection, storage and re-distribution point for second-hand clothes.

General view of the location of the Banco de Ideas and its surroundings, as seen from Cerro de la Campana.

View of the Banco de Ropa from the No Reelección Avenue, and current façade seen from Avda. Obregón.

Many of the ingredients needed to launch an urban activation project are present on the Banco de Ropa:

• It is strategically located in the center of the intervention area (see map). On the main street, near an important intersection and with direct views of the Cerro de la Campana. This location gives the project an excellent level of visibility and maximizes its potential impact on the urban center.
• It presents an interesting combination of building and public space. Two of its facades, equipped with large sliding doors, face different streets, one of them with a small square in front. Right next to it, there is a vacant lot currently used as a parking lot. This combination of spaces creates the ideal situation to experiment with interior and exterior urban interventions.
• The size of the building—around 1,700 m2—and of the surrounding spaces are also ideal, keeping the intervention in an affordable range but allowing a significant level of impact to be achieved in its surroundings.
• The building is the only public property in the area, which enables some approaches that would not have been possible on a privately owned lot.
• Transferring the existing use—as a clothing ban—to another location was deemed feasible and even desirable.
• During the workshops and meetings, several local agents expressed their interest in taking part in the activation of the Banco de Ideas from the socio-cultural and business side. The building is seen as a possible hub for entrepreneurship, gastronomy, and technology, incorporating an educational component in its core.
• The building’s general construction quality is relatively low, but on the other hand offers great potential for reconversion, being able to function as a large container of activities.

All these factors give this location a great potential for transformation and positive impact on the environment. They enable the ability to activate spaces, attract people and become the first step towards the revitalization of the historical center.

This is why this location was chosen as the main intervention of the Plan Idea Hermosillo, being developed as the “Banco de Ideas” Pilot Project.

The Banco de Ideas as an urban catalyst

The name and identity of the Banco de Ideas establish a link between its current use as a clothing bank and future use as a cultural, social and economic incubator. It is a space of exploration, a place capable of kick-starting the social, cultural and economic activation of the area. Capable of functioning as a collaborative “kitchen” in which the city and the neighborhood can experience new activities and ways of organizing themselves, and launch initiatives that improve the quality of life.

This is the role of an urban catalyst: to be one of the first steps on the long process of revitalization of an area of the city. The aim is to create a public and open place that would become a new node of activity, achieving a high impact without consuming excessive economic resources.

Diversifying uses

One of the first considerations when conceiving a new urban space like this one is the incorporation of new uses and programmes that will guarantee its transformation into an attractor of activity.

Many of the proposals emerged during the participation process with different stakeholders. The activities also served to identify the people or groups that could be involved in the subsequent management of the space. The uses and programmes that were identified as relevant for the reconversion of the building included gastronomy, culture, and heritage, entrepreneurship, education, new technologies and sport.

Key themes and activities identified around the Banco de Ideas.

Maximize the relationship with the environment

The Banco de Ideas building is a visual reference for the entire area because of its solid volume and height. It can clearly be seen from the Cerro de la Campana. However, given the importance of its integration into the urban context, the intervention cannot be restricted to an isolated architectural project: it needs to engage with the surrounding environment.

In the adjacent outdoor spaces (the small square on Obregón Avenue and streets) interventions are proposed in order to improve usability, comfort, attractiveness and general quality of the space.

The Banco de Ideas and its surroundings as hubs for new uses.

The location of the building (right next to a public parking lot surrounded by a historic façade) allows for the creation of a unique combination of interior and exterior spaces. The parking lot is incorporated as a temporary expansion space in the moments of low usage, making it possible for the Banco de Ideas to also program outdoor activities.

The four large opposite entrances facilitate themovement of people, furniture and large objects, and provide physical and visual connection through the building.

The project

The concept of an urban catalyst is translated as a hybrid building (see more examples), capable of hosting a wide variety of uses. This building typology lies halfway between the closed and the open, the public and the private, the physical and the digital.

Axonometries showing elements to be demolished (red) and to be added (green) to the Banco de Ideas.

The project is based on the existing building, modifying it according to six key principles: the creation of multifunctional spaces, the connection of interior spaces with surrounding public spaces, the improvement of its climatic comfort by bioclimatic design, the integration of new facilities and technologies to prepare it for innovative uses, the creation of an open and inclusive management system, and the extension of opening hours to create an almost 24/7 facility.

Explanatory diagrams of the main concepts behind the proposal for the Banco de Ideas.

Inside the building, the intervention focuses on improvements that will allow new programmes and increase comfort: more natural lighting and ventilation, an adaptation of the space to new needs, improved accessibility, modernization of basic infrastructures, improvements in the perception of the space, etc.

A central patio combines vertical communications, lighting and ventilation. Three open floors are created, with a flexible distribution aided by furniture and light walls.

Plant and section of the proposal.

A key action for the renovation of the building is the addition o a new façace, made with light structures and semi-opaque textiles over the existing façace. Its design allows, on one hand, to protect the structure and the main enclosure of the building from direct solar radiation, improving its climatic behavior. On the other hand, brings a renovated image to the building while maintaining part of its previous shape.

Image of the building and the surrounding spaces from the outside.

The key to a sustainable management

One of the main challenges is related to the reactivation and management model of the Banco de Ropa building. Improving its physical appearance or incorporating new programmes is not enough. The real challenge is to develop an ad-hoc management model that guarantees its economic feasibility and at the same time promotes its use as a public facility.

This is why it is necessary to have the support of different urban stakeholders (private entrepreneurs, civic associations, local institutions, foundations, NGO’s, volunteers, etc.) organized in an administrative and consultive committee, and a civic board that will operate the Banco de Ideas in its day to day functioning.

The public sector will provide the building on a concession basis and will provide resources for the initial materialization of the physical infrastructure. At the same time, it will facilitate its management and operation with the other public agencies involved.

Profiles identified for the co-management of the Banco de Ideas.

This management model is based on good practices from different parts of the world, such as Estación Indianilla (CDMX, Mexico), Cascina Cuccagna (Milan, Italy), Infante 1415 (Santiago, Chile), Chapitô (Lisbon, Portugal) or the Scuola Open Source (Bari, Italy).

The aim is making the Banco de Ideas a self-sufficient project that generates its own economy and activity.

If you want to know more about this project, we recommend you to check the Plan Idea Hermosillo, and the document with the proposal for the Banco de Ideas, which you can read below:

The Banyan Hub project arises from the intuition of the City of West Palm Beach and the CRA to transform the existing Banyan Garage, a car-devoted building from the 70s in the heart of the Downtown, into a new opportunity to activate the city, a hub for dozens of new activities for both residents and visitors.

Ecosistema Urbano has finalized the Schematic Design of the project that has been officially approved by the West Palm Beach City Commission on Oct. 22. The project will be further developed in the next months.

The Banyan Hub in the surrounding context of West Palm Beach.

A hybrid and flexible building open day and night
The Banyan Hub offers in a single building a wide range of different programs, from open and public spaces to reserved and private areas. The wide variety of possibilities that the building brings will have an important impact on the way of living in West Palm Beach Downtown. The programs collaborate with one another, creating a public facilities machine in which each part works separately, but all of them work together to offer the user a superb experience of public-private spaces. The program includes urban plazas, retail and catering, rooftop pavilion, YMCA, business hub, mobility hub, housing, and city support area.
Sustainability and bioclimatic design are key ingredients of the Banyan Hub, that is strongly characterized by its breathing façade, two courtyards, and multiple active and passive climatic devices.

Banyan Hub | A complex program building enveloped by a green permeable skin.

Urban bioclimatic plazas: expanding public space possibilities and multiplying them by 3
The public heart of the Banyan Hub beats on the three public plazas located on different levels:

• A flexible and permeable plaza at ground level, with an open hall connected to the surrounding streets and to the rear passageway, that integrates retail, catering and several support spaces.

Banyan Hub | Ground Floor Plaza layout.

• A covered open-air plaza at an intermediate level for temporary events, including spectacular features such as a digital interactive waterfall or a green courtyard, or local programs as the farmers market.

Enjoying urban life at Banyan Elevated Urban Plaza.     .

• A top terrace, overlooking the lagoon offering a panoramic view of the unique Floridian natural environment and of the whole Downtown. The terrace accommodates a civic pavilion to host civic events (public meetings, projections, performances) as well as private events such as weddings.

Celebrating at the Banyan Hub Rooftop Terrace.

Interconnected public spaces
The three main public spaces will be connected to provide the experience of having a chameleonic journey through different environments. The Downtown is connected to the middle level elevated urban plaza through an exterior escalator that dynamizes the façade on Banyan Blvd., allowing to stop by the retail ring at the first two levels. From the elevated plaza, it will be possible to go up to the terrace using the breathtaking helical ramp around the green courtyard.

Banyan Hub Bioclimatic Design | A green living building.

A building green in the middle
Other uses in the central block of the building are the Business Hub and the YMCA, each of them occupying two levels. Both areas feature the presence of the central green courtyard, an open-air multi-level natural space that gives continuity to the landscaped urban plazas of the building. Moreover, the green courtyard has a relevant passive bioclimatic function as it would help to reduce temperatures by up to 5ºF and regulate ventilation, providing pleasant environmental conditions throughout the year while reducing environmental impact and management and operational costs.

Business Hub | Working at the Banyan Hub in close connection to nature.

A breathing skin
The façade acts as one of the main conditioning systems of the building, filtering the direct sunlight and regulating ventilation. It is formed by an array of individual elements that present a responsive behavior, autonomously sensing the climatic conditions and the needs of the building and changing their configuration. Protected by the external shading, there is a green buffer zone, mainly comprised of a permeable structure holding vegetation and supporting varied activities. This space acts as a second natural filter for light and breeze and contributes to the regulation of the internal temperature through evaporative cooling.

YMCA at Banyan Hub | Exterior running track at 113’ at Banyan YMCA.

YMCA at Banyan Hub | Swimming in the sky at Banyan YMCA.

Living overlooking the lagoon
The upper block of the building is dedicated to housing. The residential units face out to the exterior, enjoying privileged views of the city and the lagoon. A modular system allows for the combination of units of different sizes, ranging from 500 to 1500 sq.ft. Limited living spaces of micro-units are compensated by indoor and outdoor common facilities, specifically conceived to foster the sense of community of residents. Residential units are arranged around a shared courtyard, where vegetation will help to refresh the interior micro-climate, maintaining the appropriate temperature and humidity levels to achieve comfort for users.

Living at Banyan Hub | Outdoor common facilities for residents.

Banyan Hub | Cross section and night elevation in Olive Ave.     .

Making an invisible parking
The Banyan Hub will continue to serve as a municipal garage for the city’s needs, as its functioning is crucial to parking management of West Palm Beach Downtown. However, the parking will be completely upgraded using an Automated Parking System technology. With this system, the required 350 parking spots will occupy only the ⅔ of the volume currently used by the existing Banyan garage. Moreover, as the ambition of the Banyan Hub is to be an active piece of the city that projects its active life towards the surrounding context, a specific solution has been designed to ensure that the uses along the façades reflect the dynamism of the building. The 4 levels of parking are enclosed at the very core of the building, completely hidden from the outside; these are surrounded on 4 sides by two levels of retail and catering connected by a public corridor that gives architectural quality to this space while activates it.

About West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency
Created in 1984 and authorized by Florida’s Community Redevelopment Act of 1969 (F.S. 163, Part III), the West Palm Beach CRA is nationally recognized as one of the most innovative and effective Community Redevelopment Agencies (CRAs) in the country and is setting the standard for redevelopment. The downtown core has gone through a rebirth with substantial private investment including commercial and residential development. Public investment dollars total in the millions with a state-of-the-art library, revitalization of the historic Sunset Lounge, streetscape infrastructure, and an enhanced waterfront. The CRA continues to coordinate with the City and other agencies to market and revitalize the downtown.

During our trip to Dhaka, the last march, we wandered through public spaces and we experienced what it is like to be a pedestrian in one of the densest megacity of the world. Our assessment was clear: the capital of Bangladesh really needs to improve its public spaces. Because of the city’s urbanization pace, public spaces tend to be approached as an afterthought and become the residual and scarce space between the buildings. And, as such, it is usually lacking the most basic comfort, accessibility or healthiness.

Public place, however, is one of the most valuable assets of every city. A common ground where public life finds its way regardless of the economic or social status of its inhabitants. That inclusiveness is the basic condition for providing quality of life and equity, especially in a developing city like Dhaka. As we explained in our previous article “5 things you can do in Dhaka´s public spaces”, public spaces host a wide mix of uses. For the poorest in Dhaka, public space is also a place of livelihood, one of the only resources available for a large part of the population. They use public space as an extension of private space or as a place to make commercial exchanges, to organize public or private events, to do sports or to meet with friends, among many other uses.

In Dhaka, public spaces are inconsistent with their uses and don’t meet the inhabitant’s needs in a supportive way. Thus, through the Dhaka City Neighborhood Upgrading Project, we took on the challenge of rethinking public space and adapting it to the context of a dense developing megacity. The resulting combination of general principles, specific design guidelines, and sub-project maps is what we refer to as an Urban Design Scheme within this project.

Urban Design Scheme: A new typology of public spaces

The focus of this project is to invest in what is sometimes seen as the last priority in the urgencies of developing countries: public spaces. It focuses on the rapid improvement of streets, open spaces and public buildings. The proposed strategy has three main drivers: maximizing the benefit for disadvantaged communities, leveraging on the specific potentials of each place, and enhancing connectivity and capacity of building a larger system. Each intervention is considered in connection to a coherent network, as a way to scale up the impact of the proposed improvements in the daily urban experience of Dhaka’s citizens.

According to these goals, we proposed to rethink three typologies of public spaces:

• Comfortable streets
• Natural Open Spaces
• Active buildings

In order to turn this “framework approach” into specific proposals, several sub-projects have been identified: specific streets, open spaces, and buildings where these guidelines can be applied and tested during the forthcoming 5-year long implementation phase.

Comfortable streets: Making urban space livable

At this project’s scale, which leaves out larger scale planning actions regarding complex aspects like traffic, the main challenge regarding the streets of Dhaka is improving their comfort and accessibility, especially for pedestrians, which most intensely suffer the current conditions. The “Comfortable Streets” approach seeks to improve climatic aspects, accessibility, safety, and walkability.

Recreation of a wide road with a “curbless” design, vegetation and urban furniture, improving walkability and comfort while respecting the flow of traffic.

Actions will vary depending on the dimensions, character and current situation of each street. Some streets will be newly developed, and others will be improved in certain aspects like pavements, sewage system, lighting or shading.

The general approach is to establish a “soft” delimitation of areas in order to improve safety and accessibility without completely denying the spontaneous flexibility of movements that can be observed in Dhaka. This is why, for example, we proposed a “curbless” design instead of creating elevated sidewalks… but that will be explained in our next post.

In order to improve resilience and mitigate floods, the proposal is to integrate passive water retention, drainage and infiltration systems in street sections. Another proposed action is adding vegetation to increase attractiveness, comfort, climate and the diversity of the local urban ecosystem. This natural shading will be completed with the installation of artificial shading (made of textile and/or bamboo structures) in several streets as a city-wide pilot project to evaluate their design, function, and maintenance.

Natural Open spaces: A more sustainable and resilient city

The scarce open spaces in Dhaka are one of the most valuable assets of the city. The “Natural Open Spaces” approach treats them as opportunities to reintroduce nature in the city, improving aspects like resilience through water management, air quality, attractiveness and general quality of life.

View of a Natural Open Space. A direct relation between the water and the street, and a strong presence of nature and people.

Under the definition of “open spaces”, different typologies can be differentiated: Playgrounds, parks, squares, ponds and jheels, and open spaces along the riverbank.

In order to create more continuous urban experiences and improve adjacent spaces, one of the first proposals is to remove walls and steps, connecting those spaces to the surrounding streets and between them, creating a network of public spaces at the scale of each neighborhood.

To increase the general quality of open spaces, they will be systematically equipped with urban services like public toilets, waste management facilities or drinking fountains.

The multiples jheels in Dhaka´s public spaces are an opportunity to integrate them as a unique landscaping feature and a system for stormwater management. Adding vegetation will increase attractiveness, comfort, climate, and biodiversity.

A flexible spatial design, combined with some permanent infrastructures and the installation of temporary structures, can support a greater variety of uses: street markets, small food and drink related businesses, meeting areas that enable sitting, resting or eating, sport facilities, play areas for children, open spaces for cultural events or for the concentration of big crowds, etc.

Active Buildings: Stacked public spaces with a rich mix of uses

In the highly dense urban center of Dhaka, there is a clear need for public facilities that enable the cultural, social and institutional life of the city as “urban catalysts”. Active Buildings are a new urban typology defined by the mix of uses, the sustainable design, the creation of open floors and the integration with urban services and public spaces.

View of an Active Building in front of a public space, offering flexibility, bioclimatic comfort and a sense of openness

These Active Buildings will be implemented in the existing network of community centers owned by the DSCC (Dhaka South City Corporation), and other buildings in vacant lots will be built.

Such buildings will permit the concentration of uses that could not find a place in the scarce public spaces and public building of Dhaka. Floors with permeable facades, shaded rooftops, and open ground floors will actually work as “stacked” public spaces with a higher level of comfort and security, making them accessible to children, women, elderly people, and other vulnerable urban collectives. These new public spaces will include sports facilities or areas for meeting and relaxing. Closed, more protected floors will host offices, libraries, computers and other equipment to enable educational, social or cultural activities.

One aim is to create more continuous urban experiences, by connecting the building with the surrounding spaces and the nearby streets. The ground floor will be left open, acting as a protected extension of the adjacent public spaces. It will increase the surface devoted to public spaces, enable a more flexible use and achieve more visibility and safety in the affected spaces, avoiding black spots. These new public spaces will integrate urban services like public toilets and waste management.

The buildings will be built according to bioclimatic principles, adding shading and vegetation on rooftop and facade to protect against the direct sunlight and to filter air pollution. Open floors and permeable facades will permit natural ventilation. Energy generation and water accumulation will be integrated at rooftop level in order to increase energetic sustainability and decrease their dependence on the city’s overloaded services.

Conclusion: Three Ways of Making Dhaka more livable

One of the main urban design related challenges in Dhaka was to think of new types of public places that can fit in the dense urban fabric of the city and meet the inhabitants’ needs. These three redesigned typologies of public spaces were proposed in the hope of improving comfort, security, sustainability, inclusiveness and several other aspects that can take a city towards the more general goal of livability.

In following articles we will dive into specific ways of approaching other important issues like traffic and walkability in congested cities, informal activity and use of public spaces, and gender inequality.

Ecosistema Urbano is among the designers invited to present works related to environmental sustainability and urban activation. Ecosistema Urbano’s projects displayed at the exhibition are the Eco-boulevard, an urban recycling intervention in the outskirt of Madrid, Spain, aiming at creating a comfortable public space following the principles of bioclimatic design; Cuenca Red, an urban activation project developed in parallel to a participatory process, leading to the definition of an urban strategy and the design of 6 pilot projects in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador; Open Shore, a complex project proposing actions at different scales to reactivate the Downtown of West Palm Beach, Florida, and redesign the its limit between the natural landscape of the lagoon and the urban environment.

In Metropoli Novissima more than forty designers are called to present new scenarios and resources for the so-called “difficult places”. Other designers invited to share some of the most important works on urban renewal are works by: Alejandro Aravena, Archea Associati, Stefano Boeri, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Andreas Kipar from LAND, Francisco Mangado, Piuarch, and Sauerbruch Hutton, with scenarios that go from Paris to Moscow, from Johannesburg to Sichuan, from San Paolo to Milan.

More information at:
http://www.annaliarchitettura.it/comunicati-stampa.html
https://casabellaweb.eu/2018/10/09/metropoli-novissima/

This exhibition shows successful, innovative and participatory examples of Nordic construction and planning. The projects not only bring summer into the city (for example, with urban swimming spots) but also provide light and color in winter (for example with brightly colored subway stations). They also try to demonstrate that functionality and sustainability, consideration and elegance are not mutually exclusive.

We are happy to announce that our project Dreamhamar is displayed in the exhibition until the 28th of September. The redesign of the Stortorget Square in Hamar, Norway, through participation and a network design process, took place during Fall 2011. Citizens took part in a collective creative process that helped us shape the future of the square. Our approach was supported by workshops, lectures, urban actions, communication, and participation tools. Dreamhamar was awarded as BEST PRACTICE by the United Nations-HABITAT program in 2014.

If you are in Berlin and want to check it out, go to The Felleshus. This building is the cultural center and event venue of the five Nordic embassies (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden).

Exhibition: Nordic Urban Spaces. Inspirationen für Stadt und Raum
Date: Until 28 September 2018
Place: Felleshus, Nordic Embassies, Berlin, Germany
Find out more: www.nordischebotschaften.org/ausstellungen/nordic-urban-spaces

In 2016, Dhaka was the 11th megacity in the world with 18.237.000 inhabitants. In 2030, the UN estimate that its population will be around 27.374.000¹ inhabitants. In rapidly growing megacities like these, with large, unplanned neighborhoods, both private and public spaces are affected by dynamics determined mostly by the pressure of the local and global economy. Public space, in particular, tends to be approached as an afterthought and becomes the residual (and scarce) space between the buildings, merely regarded as the minimum right of way and thus becoming hugely dominated by traffic. Due to lack of planning, parks, squares or boulevards are nonexistent, and when they exist, the spaces consist of bare land, often misused and treated as dumping grounds.

Walking is the main form of transportation in the Greater Dhaka Metropolitan area since 37,2% of the trips are made by foot². However, this mode of transportation is far from being the safest. Being a pedestrian can be very complicated as one may encounters lots of obstacle through his journey.

Walking in Dhaka’s streets

The typical narrow street in Dhaka features a continuous surface. There are no curbs, and the whole street can be used either by pedestrians or by light vehicles without much conflict. One of the most noticeable problems is the quality of the pavement. Most of the streets are made of concrete, sand and dirt and become unusable during the monsoon. The only obstacles are the steps that give access to the buildings, which have different heights, and the open drainage channels (side drains). Inhabitants often put “homemade bridges” above them. Street lighting can be found in some streets, but not all.

A street with an uncovered side drain // An example of a “homemade bridge” above the side drain.

In wider streets, pedestrians have to share the street with trucks, cars, rickshaws and street vendors. In this kind of street, there are usually sidewalks, separated and elevated from the traffic lanes by a curb. Part of the traffic lanes and sidewalks are typically blocked by piled goods, stopped vehicles, construction rubbish and hawkers.

Invaded sidewalks in Lalbagh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Dhaka Metropolitan city has approximately 388km of footpaths, 155 km of which are occupied by hawkers³ forcing pedestrians to step down the sidewalk and to use the traffic lanes where they must compete with cars for mobility space. There, they have to avoid parked rickshaws and streets vendors who sometimes also invade the road. Pedestrians have to step up and down the sidewalk to avoid obstacles. The elevated curb becomes an added barrier. Some streets can also be momentarily appropriated by inhabitants to organize events or for a mechanic workshop (see the previous article about “5 things you can do in Dhaka’s public spaces”).

Crossing the roads in Dhaka

Even if walking is the first mean of mobility in Dhaka, public space is not designed for pedestrians and is dominated by traffic. In some large avenues, there is no infrastructure to help pedestrians crossing the roads. In Attish Deepankar Avenue, for instance, pedestrians have to make their own way to reach the other side of the road. They have to cross several traffic lanes, separated by a central elevated strip, and a railway, avoiding several obstacles. By doing so, they draw small informal paths in the urban landscape that urban planners call “desire lines”. These desire lines can help urban designers to shape public spaces.

Can you spot the desire lines?

Through the Dhaka Upgrading Urban Project, Ecosistema Urbano worked to improve liveability, accessibility and walkability in Dhaka´s public spaces. One of the challenges of the project is to make public spaces more accessible and visible, easier to move to and from and to increase safety for pedestrians. Some of the key actions towards this goal are:

• Removing architectural barriers like steps, elevated curbs or open side drains whenever possible, in order to increase walkability and accessibility.
• Widening or creating new pedestrian spaces.
• Permeating limits, establishing visual and functional connections between spaces that are currently disconnected by the presence of physical barriers like walls. This specifically includes opening closed green areas to the surrounding streets.
• Creating inner pathways in green areas or open spaces in order to enable more direct and comfortable routes for pedestrians.
• Increasing visibility and protection of pedestrian crossings.
• Adding greenery to increase attractiveness, comfort, climate and the diversity of urban ecosystems.

A careful asessment on the current dynamics of the streets allowed us to increase the safety and extension of pedestrian areas while avoiding new obstacles (like curbs) and keeping almost the same active traffice section.

Diagram showing the current pedestrian space in a street in Dhaka

Diagram showing a proposal to extend and protect pedestrian areas without excessively limiting vehicles

All these interventions are aimed to improve the pedestrian experience in Dhaka’s public spaces. Each intervention will be connected to a larger system or cluster. Public clusters, referred within this project as “neighborhoods”, are networks of public spaces or facilities created by connecting urban nodes with continuous corridors. Each urban node is a public space or a facility that could act as a driver for urban change. Those nodes can have different characters and uses: community centers, markets, playgrounds, parks, water surfaces and other singular spaces.

1. Bird, Julia Helen; Li, Yue-000316086; Rahman, Hossain Zillur; Rama, Martin G.; Venables, Anthony J.. 2018. Toward Great Dhaka : a new urban development paradigm eastward (English). World Bank Group.
2. Data taken from Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB), Ministry of Communications (MOC), Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Preparatory Survey Report on Dhaka Urban Transport Network Development Study (DHUTS) in Bangladesh Final Report (Appendix Volume). JICA, March 2010.
3. Data from the 2012 Strategic Transport Planning Report.

Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, is one of the densest cities in the world, with 18 million people squishing in 1,528 square km. The average density of the central area of the city has reached a staggering 41,000 inhabitants per square kilometer¹. The city is considered one of the least livable cities in the world, ranked 137 out of 140 cities² in 2017. It is the lowest for any South Asian city surveyed, because of, among other things, air pollution, severe traffic congestion, bad sewage system, hundreds of slums and regular river floodings.

In such a dense and crowded city, the inhabitants make the most of each square meter, making public space a truly multi-layered and multi-dimensional entity. Public space is usually described as an inclusive space, open to everyone, formed by a network of streets, squares and parks. In Dhaka, because of the lack of private space, public space becomes an outdoor extension of living and working spaces. The boundaries between private and public places get blurred because of the way they are being used. Public space becomes a livelihood asset, a channel of flows and a place for recreation and social integration.

Ecosistema Urbano was in Dhaka for two weeks on February of 2018 to study Dhaka’s public spaces within the context of the Dhaka City Neighborhood Upgrading Project (we will write about this soon) and we were amazed by the diversity and intensity of uses in public spaces. Here are just five examples of things Bangladeshi people are doing in Dhaka´s public spaces.

1. Get a haircut enjoying a garden view

Source: Google Street view

In lots of developing countries like Bangladesh, proposing services (or goods) to customers directly in the streets is a good and easy way to make money for people with low level of income, usually migrants. It does not imply any shop or financial investment. Get an old chair, a mirror and some shading and you can offer good and affordable haircuts to pedestrians. This form of entrepreneurship is less risky and more resilient than opening a formal business.

Informal businesses in Dhaka are a huge part of the city’s economy as around 5.000.000 hawkers are working in public spaces³. Most street vendors work on sidewalks, in traffic intersections or even parks or fairgrounds at all times of the day. They contribute an essential service to all socio-economic segments of the population by offering low cost goods and services at convenient locations.

2. Attend a wedding

An ephemeral installation for a celebration in Azimpur Road, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The lack of private and public indoor spaces results in an important need of places to meet and organize events. Inhabitants appropriate public spaces for private events like weddings or celebrations, building bamboo installations for shading and privatizing entire streets for private use. Streets become an outdoor extension of private space, a place for social interactions.

This is why, in every narrow corner of Dhaka, you can find a pile of bamboo poles waiting for their opportunity to become a cheerful shading for any kind of celebration.

3. Repair your car

Outdoor mechanic workshop, English Road, Dhaka, Bangladesh

It is possible to find everything you need in Dhaka, if you know where to look for it. In some streets, it is possible to find car, truck or rickshaw⁴ pieces to repair vehicles and even people who would help you for a few Bangladeshi taka. This activity takes place on the sidewalks, often invading the traffic lanes, worsening the traffic congestion, forcing pedestrians to walk among the traffic and reducing the effective traffic lanes by half their size.

4. Play cricket

A cricket game in a playground in Dhaka, Bangladesh

There is a lack of playgrounds, parks and gyms in Dhaka. In this dense context, every open space becomes an opportunity to play and to practice sports. As a result, open spaces host lots of activities like street vending, recycling, begging or playing. These places can have multiple uses during the day, and one of the most typical ones is playing cricket. Bangladeshi people are great fans of this sport, brought by the British. A pile of old tiles can delimit a cricket field and some trees or an old wall can provide shading for an audience, turning a bare plot into a sport field. Dhaka’s inhabitants develop resilient tactics to make the most of every square meter and to overcome the lack of recreational spaces.

5. A street art visit

Rokonpur girls high school, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dhaka is considered one of the least livable cities, but some parts of the city can be more enjoyable than others. Some streets of Dhaka are very colorful, their walls taken by street art. This mural was made in 2014 during the FIFA World Cup by a group of 200 volunteers that transformed a regular street with a colorful space as a part of the Goal-E project to support their favourite football team. “Goal-E” stands for “goli”, a typical Bangladeshi lane. This kind of art is a way for the inhabitants of the neighborhood to reclaim public space and to appropriate the place.

Public space in Dhaka is a multidimensional entity: a space of appropriation, of socialisation, of exchange and a livelihood asset for the poor. All these uses of space are showing how resilient and creative inhabitants of a megacity can be. But public space is also the place for pedestrians, as 37.2% of the trips in Dhaka are made by foot⁵. In our next article, we will further explore the pedestrian experience in Dhaka.

6. And… a bonus

A goat? A butterfly? An angel?

You can indeed see strange things in Dhaka. Let us introduce you to… the goatterfly! This fairy-dressed animal, trying to find some food among the trash, sums up our impressions of this city: vital, complex, precarious and generally difficult to explain.

If you are curious and want to see more, we challenge you to dive into StreetView and let us know any other interesting situations you find.

1. Bird, Julia Helen; Li, Yue-000316086; Rahman, Hossain Zillur; Rama, Martin G.; Venables, Anthony J.. 2018. Toward Great Dhaka : a new urban development paradigm eastward (English). World Bank Group.
2. Ranking by Economist Intelligence Unit (2017).
3. Statistics from the Dhaka City Corporation.
4. Unmotorised light vehicle with driver
5. Data taken from Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB), Ministry of Communications (MOC), Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Preparatory Survey Report on Dhaka Urban Transport Network Development Study (DHUTS) in Bangladesh Final Report (Appendix Volume). JICA, March 2010.