Kowloon, China
Kowloon, Hong Kong is an example of an area that is too dense (Web urbanist, 2014). This area was destroyed in 1993 as it was a dank, lawless, congested and compacted city. It was packed with at least 50,000 inhabitants in 2.6 hectares just before its demolition. It was under mob rule with prostitution, gambling and drug use. Exasperated with the unsafe, unsanitary conditions, China and Britain mutually agreed to tear it down. In its place, a 330,000-square-foot park was created, completed in 1995. Paths and pavilions inside are named after the streets and buildings of the vanished Walled City.
Density: 19,230 people per hectare .
Height: 12 to 16 Storeys
Case studies
Mi Casa: Choa Chu Kang, Singapore
The development comprises of flats as well as communal facilities such as rooftop terraces, karaoke rooms or swimming pools for people to meet and mingle as high rise living can often restrict the community and vibrancy of the development. Each tower does not have ‘backs’, only fronts which activates all the edges of the building promoting safety. The development is mostly residential, with no mixed use on the ground floor and it only caters for a limited variety of family types which limits the robustness of the building. The raised block design is however essentially a gated community which can enhance community isolation from the wider area.
This development has no transportation running through and instead it encourages the use of sustainable transport. Microclimates are created between buildings catering for Singapore’s humid climate. It achieves this through the incorporation of roof top gardens and differing building heights of complexes.
Density: 962 people per hectare
Height: 5 to 20-storeys
Citadel, Almere, Netherlands
The new city centre of Almere has been designed as a masterplan with underground car parking and shops wand apartments above. The central site is 100 by 100 metres which is divided into four quadrants by two intersecting streets for pedestrians. Underground parking spaces and above the car parks there are 50 shops. On top of the shops there are 46 colourful houses, and an apartment flat including 6 apartments and a parking lot for its residents. This makes for a residential density of 208 dwellings per hectare. The relationship of the apartments with the raised residential area retains a connection with this area although not with the shops. Adjacent to the site a new library, a new hotel, a new cultural center consisting of a pop music hall and performance theater, and a new boulevard alongside the Weerwater utilized for leisure, nightlife, and cultural programs to achieve a vital waterfront.
Density: 499 people per hectare
Height: 3 to 9 storeys
The Barbican, London
The development is mainly residential with some cultural and recreational facilities. There are a total of 2014 flats in blocks arranged around gardens and lakes. Car parking is provided for 2500 cars under the flats and pedestrian walkways above ground level. The site consists market places, museums over an area of 40 acres (Borthwick, 2011) with 22 acres of open space. A quiet precinct created for people to move about freely and influences by Le Corbusier and his modernist principles. This is evident in the use of rough, exposed concrete construction, elevated walkways separate the road and the pedestrian. These are accessed only from within the site which makes it a safe zone but disconnected from the street. A maintenance plan has a strategy for removing waste that residents pay for (Archinomy, 2008).
Density: 238 people per hectare
Height: 5 to 42 storeys
Emmen, Switzerland
MVRDV is a housing concept born out of a Swiss housing competition and has not yet been built out. It is a proposed series of houses and apartment buildings arranged around shared courtyards and individual gardens. Apartment blocks are positioned at the corners of the development, while townhouses line the edges with smaller residences inserted into the middle. The architects hope this arrangement will foster a neighbourhood community. It consists of a total of 95 dwellings. There are 16 different housing types, varying from 30 to 130 m2 and from one to four floors. This will naturally attract a mixed group of inhabitants. The project consists of 9000 m2 of housing, 2034 m2 services and 2925 m2 underground parking.
Outer perimeter block have been created with added interest and height at the corners. It contains a mix the housing types and diversity. Court yards have been filled with missing units to make miniature perimeter blocks then unusual garden spaces. Private and public accesses are created making a sense of ownership.
MVDRV has minimum of 8 metres between properties with approximate depths of between 10 and 8 with some long and thin dwellings of approximately 5 metres wide. Gardens are positioned at ground floor as well as on roof tops. This is accommodated through the staggered form.
Density: 262 people per hectare
Height: 3 to 5 storeys